Hi all! It's so rare that I see anyone use any of the papers from this Fabriano 1264 series. But I like them for drawing and sketching. Have you used these papers and how would you rate them?

I know that not every critic, reviewer, or consumer can create art.

But I'm tired of the ones who always say...

"XYZ is not what it used to be"

or

" I could make XYZ better "

....in relation to any form of art or media,

And yet they don't ever try to bring back "the good ole days" themselves by actually creating said art

Especially if they have the talent and passion to do so

Don't they say that the greatest love that you'll ever have in life is self-love?

I feel like people should live that way as well Instead of relying on someone else's vision for what they value as a creator that may not align with yours

You're allowed to not like it. But to make some sort of overall claim on the state of art is kinda silly to me.

Because if you liked it, you'd never make a conspiracy think piece about it

Consuming art is like hanging with people. it's cool to do, but relying solely on them for happiness will inevitably end in disappointment

I mean hell, I enjoy making art for myself after I check out any artist because I understand the idea that the best way to make me happy is the art I create for myself.

Not some other artist who's trying to fulfill their own vision

After all, they're not making art for me.

if I just do happen to like it, that's a bonus. But at the end of the day, I'm nothing more than a dollar sign to them

Idk, I'm just tired of people making the same arguments of the state of art over and over, when the best way to deal with it is to find your own self fulfillment

Especially when you have ability as an artist to make something similar to what you find "value" in when it comes to art that you enjoy

Is there any easy ways to stop this other than putting a paper sheet between the pages and mod podge? I heard about art sealants so I might go and buy some… are there any recommendations you guys have?

Hey guys! So I've been drawing for a good bit now, but I'd consider myself pretty early on in my art journey. Besides drawabox and some art books I've picked up, I've never really followed a structured course. So, after seeing Antonio's Videos everywhere in my algorithm, I decided to pick it up.

The first thing I did was the starting roadmap. And, overall, I thought it was fun! Most of it was just review from DAB, so I can't really say I learned too much, but I really enjoyed the learning process. It starts off with a video of the instructor explaining the lesson for 4 to 10 minutes, then 2 - 4 assignments for said lesson, then repeat. In these assignments you get a prompt, a downloadable file to draw on, and once you upload your completed assignment, you get XP and access to the assignment's solution. At the end of a section, you'll be given a final assignment where you have to make a put together art piece.

Overall, I find this really enjoyable! I like the gamified nature of the whole thing, and while I feel like DAB does better in terms of teaching you perspective, Artwod teaches you form manipulation a lot better (plus it's a lot less grindy). I found the first section so fun that I decided to buy 3 more months of access.

The next roadmap I decided to take on was their environment one. At first, it introduced a lot of really helpful information that opened my eyes, but as the course continued, I found myself becoming increasingly frustrated with it. What would happen is a video would explain how to create something (a cloud, mountain, terrain, etc.), then have you move into drawing it. Thing is, the videos are so short they do not cover all the information necessary to complete the assignments. Also, the drawing prompts are never more than a single sentence, so sometimes you'll be instructed to do something with a lot of room for interpretation, but according to the solutions, they mostly wanted a specific type of drawing without much interpretation. So this is it's been generally going as of recently:

Watch the video > Do the assignment > The assignment solution would be completely different to what the video had shown > Get frustrated and feeling like I wasted my time

Although I am learning at the end of the day, the format has become grating. I feel like this issue could easily be solved if they create the assignment first, then create the video lecture around the assignment's solutions. Imagine a math teacher is teaching you addition, then you're given a test with some addition, but mostly multiplication. You fail the test, but afterwards, the teacher explains how to do multiplication. Like, sure, at the end of the day I did learn addition and multiplication, but it's not a very motivating loop.

I also feel like a lot of these lectures suffer from expert blind spots. Sometimes they'll do something without explaining, then you're left to your own devices.

Overall, while I do really like the gamified nature of the whole thing, I feel like the way they approach lectures and teaching is really lacking. Either create the assignments first then structure your lecture around them, or create lectures specifically explaining your thought process on the assignment. Now is ArtWod worth it? On the one hand, I am definitely learning, but on the other hand, the assignments are so vague and the lectures are so short that it usually doesn't help with actual practice, making it pretty demotivating. For me personally, at around $30/month, I'd say it's too early to tell. But gun to my head I had to say, I'd say I'm just barely leaning towards no. I like Antonio and all of his lecturers, so I'm really hoping things look better in future roadmaps. When my subscription is up or if things adjust, I'll drop an edit for my final verdict.

tl;dr:

Artwod has fun gamified features, and I do love the way they teach form manipulation. They also teach a lot of eye opening stuff, but in the environment roadmap, the lectures and assignments seem to be lacking in information, causing every assignment to feel demotivating. As of right now, I'd just barely not recommend ArtWod.

I feel like everyone who’s figure drawings are hyped the most got super strong styles but idk if I’m reading into the wrong aspect.

Hi yall!

I do reduction printmaking, and do it in my apartment. I live with roommates and so do everything in my (very small) room to avoid making a mess in the rest of the unit. I use gamblin relief ink, which is linseed oil based, and usually clean it off using baby oil and paper towels.

I'm a bit worried about potential issues from using the oil-based ink - one, it's messier and more difficult to clean up, and 2 - it leaves a bit of a smell. I open my window when working, but it still sort of smells like linseed oil in my room after. Does anyone have experience with working with oil-based inks like this in a small space? Should I switch to a water-based ink to just make my life easier, even though it has less consistent results?

With all the distractions on our devices making it hard to drag ourselves away, and sometimes a lack of creative energy or force, do you still paint every day, every week etc?

I hope this is allowed but what do you all listen to while creating?

I prefer my playlists and random youtube videos, but what's the main thing/s you all listen to, if anything at all.

I'm talking about comissions done for individuals and not companies. Do you add these filters and watermarks to prevent them from using your art for other purposes or in case they post it somewhere and someone else ends up stealing your art?

I’m making a comic set in the 80s and I feel like I’ve hit a wall with references. I’m using old catalogues and scouring through movies of the time for inspo, but sometimes I just want to search for something specific and I can’t seem to find it. I always get “80s inspired” but not authentic. Sometimes I’ll stumble across something on 80s subreddits that happens to match, but never when I’m actually looking for it. Specifically things like architecture/ interior design ( not home design but things like stores and public spaces. ) and graphic design from products, packaging etc. To get more specific some places I need to design are a pharmacy, a grocery store and a homeware type store like bed bath and beyond, just to list a few. 

I’ve been watching a lot of Miami vice because that’s the vibe I’m going for, but are there any specific books, catalogues, or websites where I could find what I’m looking for? Or is there some keyword I’m missing when making the search? Because searching “80s” anything just gets me neon triangles or AI slop. Thank y’all for your help!

I was given a nice set of gouache paint for Christmas but I've never used gouache before. Does anyone have any advice on the best way to go about learning it?

I've been doing watercolor, acrylic, and oil painting for years and I'm fairly good at all of them. Is gouache similar to any of those?

So i have these phases and cycles of productivity, and it goes like this: i drew for a week of just fun doodles, after that i drew somethings that i feel have higher quality, then the next day of that i drew somethings that requires even more time and effort, but still manageble. And then I draw somethings in my head that's out of my current level, it takes days of planning, and i cut back on finishing it, or making any art for a week or two. How do you deal with this issues?

Before I go on with more detail I will lay my main question to start this discussion flat

Starter:

1. Should art teachers be able to give such a large assignment with a limited amount of time to students who are NOT focused in pursing art?

2. Is their anyway to complete a large color pencil drawing in 2 days without pulling multiple all nighters.

Mind that my class is not college level it is a highschool level Art II class.

We were given only 4 classes to finish this project. Each class is 1hr and 40mins. Equal too 6hrs about so. It may just be me that is falling behind because I put to much effort into my drawings. But either way that is not nearly enough time to color in color pencil a 20x15 sheet of paper.

I have tonight, Sunday and part of Monday to finish this. Is it only me that thinks this is an insane prospect for a high school level class. This takes up all my weekend and study time. This has lended up to be more than homework.

I’ve been making a story about people who have turned into bugs. Most with human body’s and about one or two limbs that are insect. I have my first character that is very inspired by tank girl but now I want to have a character with a more elegant and fashionable look. How can I achieve them looking like they belong together? Should it be through color or should I just keep the whole world at that tank girl style.

Artists who go from greyscale to colour is it normal for your values to get ruined? Do you spend a lot of time fixing those values and colours?

I find to make my colours look good, a lot of times I have to spend extra time on the colouring which is normal, but is it normal for me to lose some of the brushwork I put in my values early on…. I feel like I end up losing some of my values and having to render for a second time. It’s kinda annoying because it looked good in greyscale but then I end up messing it up

Last time I experienced this sort of thing was over a decade ago, but here I am again, lol. Anyhow, there's this cartoony sort of style I've done on and off for like 20 years now and wanted to use it for a new comic because I was tired of the more traditional anime-esque work I'd been doing for coms and whatnot. Threw some design ideas at the internet and was met with "oh I see you're inspired by Hazbin Hotel" or "nah fam that's too similar to Hazbin Hotel".

So me, who lives under a rock, goes and looks it up. Honestly man, I thought the art was pretty cool, and I even dropped some art pieces for the community on that subreddit. No hate here.

But I'm just so confused as to how my art is apparently super similar. I mean, we both use shit-eating grins, but that's been a thing forever. It seems like it's really all that's similar? The characters I shared are based on Pathfinder characters, too. An example of my Boogeyman and the Pathfinder one. Or my Jack and the Pathfinder Jack.

My inspirations are characters like The Joker from the old Batman animated series, or Him from Powerpuff girls, or the elaborate outfits and color schemes from various Tim Burton work (Jack Skellington's grin was always a big favorite, especially with the curled mouth corners).

I'm sure plenty of other people have experienced this sort of thing but it's starting to concern me that this is going to actually cause problems for the production of this webcomic? I'm curious what other people have experienced and how they handled it. I don't want to totally change the style because of a similarity, but this is also an actual product and how I make money, so the whole "just ignore everyone and draw what you want" thing doesn't entirely apply here. I want to be reasonable of course.

And if so, what are some of your research techniques? I really love symbolism, and I love when other artists use symbolism in their work. I want to do more research so I can bring that detail to my work and widen my visual vocabulary.

I have a tube of this fluorescent pink oil paint (think from h lobby? been very long time and i just opened it.) The back has half a square filled for opaque and 2 stars for lightfastness while my other tubes have 3. It is very very thin but i have packed so many thick layers ontop one another. My biggest concern is that since i am using it straight out of the tube if that means nothing and the whole painting will fade eventually.

I don’t know much of lightfastness and how cadmium reds apparently fade etc. But it’s such a main color on this painting, and i’m wondering if it’s only going to be okay if i store it away in a dark basement- dare never sell it to anyone ever- or if it’s possibly okay? I don’t think a varnish will help the color(?) so i’m not sure what i could’ve done other than a pink acrylic wash underneath (wish i did but alas).

how do nsfws artist look for references? like a certain type of wound, guts/blood, drugs, weapons, sex positions without looking up straight up porn? im having difficulty finding these types of reference and im really lost/stuck on how to

I am looking for something extra tough and durable for drawing and painting on (mostly with acrylics but in more of a watercolour/gouache type style). By durable I mean something that resists damp and mould, like if papers are stored in a basement or outbuilding. Would yupo be a good choice, and what weight of yupo papers would I need?

And I'm wondering why the paper seems always so relatively light, like 85gsm-110gsm? This is very light for art papers, the best printer papers I have are 90gsm-100gsm. Why is yupo paper so light?

I have never used this stuff before, any tips or advice would be much appreciated.

I feel so stupid and ashamed.

I'm painting an object inside an indoor swimmingpool. Half of this object is underwater. On the top half of the painting we have a huge window, covering the entire wall, floor to ceiling. There Is a wonderful landscape behind the window.

What does the water look like? Should It reflect the whole landscape outside, hiding what's underwater? Should it be semi-trasparent and show the bottom half of the object? Should It be something in between? Does It depend on the position of the sun?

Hello you lovely lot!

I'm after your wisdom and insight.

I'm becoming easily disheartened when being creative recently because I can't make things the way I used to. I have cubital tunnel syndrome and because of this experience weakness, pain, and pins and needles in my arms (hands included) which, as expected, effects (or affects lol) my ability to make art. I took a long long break after graduating uni and I'm trying to find my groove with it again, especially because I can enjoy doing it more so now without deadlines than I could back then.

So, my question to you is, how do you modify your practice to accommodate chronic pain?

Are there any fun tools or mobility aids / attachments you've found helpful? Do you do things a different way than the 'norm' or just different to how you used to before your pain? What are your tips, tricks and workarounds that you've found whilst developing your practice?

I have wrist splints but cubital tunnel syndrome is caused by the ulner nerve in the elbow getting compressed. The splint that's supposed to help with that keeps my arm completely straight which isn't optimal in any situation to be honest, and especially not here! I'm going to see if I can pad out some of my drawing tools to help with achey pincer grip but otherwise I'm at a bit of a loss at what I can do to help myself?

I dabbled in soft sculpture at uni, mixed media art and digital drawing a lot towards the end, but tips on how you create despite your pain within any practice are welcome! Even if they're not directly applicable to me, or wouldn't necessarily benefit me or my pain, I'd love to here about what you've learnt and about how you've adapted!

Sorry for the longwinded post, I hope this is appropriate for this sub! Thanks for reading and thanks for any tips you might share :)

Hi Guys,

I’ve recently been getting really into using the Neocolor wax pastels and have made some really cool pieces. But they have all been small pieces. I much prefer working in large format. Ive heard of oil sticks, but they are different from what I can tell.

Do you guys have any recommendations. If not, Im wondering if it would be crazy to buy a bunch of neocolors and melt them down into a larger stick haha.

I've been doing art for almost 5 years now. Mainly doing cartoon character stuff with occasional going back to the basics and figure drawing. But here's the problem, I can't apply life drawings well with my art. And I'm wondering if I start doing drawabox, my art will get better.

Should I start doing drawabox or no?

I see a lot of posts here regarding Artist's block, but does anyone else here have a problem with too many creative ideas? Sometimes it can be a little overwhelming having too many ideas and not enough time to do them.

I graduated this last fall and presented my final portfolio of work within that show. The intention within this show was to discuss gender, expression, identity, facing external perception of others’ gender, and understanding the luxury/privilege and commitment of Hormone Replacement Therapy. I presented this work in a week long show and I got a lot of really affirming praise but I felt like I didn’t get the critique I need to really build off of this experience as an artist and a student. I would love to share and discuss my work with you all in order to make that growth if possible.

Here is a link to the show, there is further examination of each piece in the show within the website: https://octaviangrey.com/forging-form-1

I don’t got a pc or a monitor or a drawing tablet that isn’t an I pad

Hello,

I want to find alternatives to the 24 set of the Derwent Drawing pencils. They're such gorgeous colours; however, I've had a lot of hassle this past week regarding the quality and trying to find replacements (I won't go into detail, but the wood is awful quality in the two sets that I've had to buy, 1 set was splitting and exposing the full cores). I would like to find Faber Castell Polychromos or Caran D'ache Luminance pencils (I'm open to suggestions, however). Honestly, I've come to Reddit as a last resort to find some good-quality pencils, and I know you guys will be a lot more helpful!!

for context, i'm a recent high school graduate (19) who'll be going to college this fall. outside of side gigs, i'm sitting at home the whole day -- i have all the time to draw, yet, i only spend 2-3 hours (split between 1-3 sessions) most days! and even so, my drawing/practice sessions feel unproductive. i feel bad about this. constantly feeling like my art isn't good enough, i need to improve, i should be drawing more. (won't have time in college, likely)

i've been doing drawing as a hobby for a while now, but only started taking it seriously beginning december 2023. and i've improved a lot since then (art in profile), although i still feel like i'm lacking many skills that other artists seem to have. for example, i find it difficult to draw anything consistently. i know i need to improve my construction and sketching characters, so i've made it a point for myself to draw at least one fullbody/a few torsos a day. sometimes, i feel like don't know what i'm doing when i'm sketching, and even though i use 3D forms, it feels like trial and error.

drawing is supposed to be fun, it's supposed to be a hobby, but i usually don't have any ideas (not very creative), so i end up drawing random characters and poses from imagination instead. and it's difficult to get myself to *study references*. i think it's a discipline issue and not being used to references. i'm not sure. sometimes it feels like i have to make the drawing sessions "fun" by not forcing anything so i can actually get to drawing.

as a result, i come out of these practice sessions feeling like "i haven't drawn enough" or "it wasn't productive". getting good at art is something that is really important to me, to the point that it's the only thing i do that isn't social media/youtube, basically forcing myself to draw (because what else would i be doing then?)

i'm looking for help on how to handle self-imposed stress, and how to make my drawing sessions more productive (so i have time to do other things like exercising and trying new hobbies). thank you so much!

Because generally I like my drawings better in my physical sketchbooks than I do in Procreate or CSP