Up until now, all I’ve been doing is copying from a photo reference for practice. I’ve mostly been focusing on poses, anatomy, and foreshortening. But I want to start drawing without a reference or from “imagination”. what steps should be taking in order to do that?

Hi,

I'm applying for art at USC and I'm unsure of whether to pick BA Art or BFA Fine Art? I specialize mainly in realistic charcoal drawings/paintings, which would be more suited to my strengths? I understand that the BFA is more traditional art-oriented but I'm wondering if it's harder to get into? Also, is the BFA Fine Arts super hard to switch out of since it's more rigorous?

I paint mostly acrylic on canvas so paint cracking isn't so much of an issue. I was tempted the other day to speed up the drying with an electric blanket. Also I was wondering could one of those portable radiators be handy, like if you put it under an easel. Sometimes when I'm in a hurry for wet watercolour to dry I'll blast it with a hairdryer, but that's the only thing I've tried.I'm relatively new to this and wonder what tricks other people have for speeding the drying process?

I recently started experimenting with engraving zippo lighters, however I would like to try and paint them as well without harming the functionality of the lighter. Does anyone know a somewhat sheer enamel or paint I could use that is safe and can resist the heat?

im preparing envelopes to mail with little white stamps that i used pigment ink on- however, the ink never dried after hours, nor does it set with blowing a heat gun over it for at least a minute. the white pigment ink always smears either way.

i cannot use toxic fixative sprays for the envelopes since i live in an area that is consistently at or below freezing, so using them outside (never mind drying them while they gas off) is impossible for me. i also worry about the risk of warping the envelopes with moisture from sprays

how can i set this pigment ink to prevent smearing?

I've only got 70 colors so far and I've been having to use ChatGPT for most of the colors so far but I want to see what folks favorite colors are

In the early-mid 90s, there was a particular style I noticed on a lot of things. It's a bit hard to describe, so bear with me. The style is fairly realistic, often set at dusk, lots of lights on. Cars tended to be a main theme, often quite reflective, and generally somewhat numerous. The style is often very colorful as well, with cars tending towards greens, blues, purples, etc., with the saturation dialed up a tad on everything else, but not technicolor. If anyone remembers MicroMachine playsets, the style was often seen on them (I recommend the Super Auto World playset as a very fine example of what I mean). I'm sorry I can't be more descriptive, and I wanted to try to post a picture as an example, but can't seem to. Maybe I missed something about not posting one in the rules (if so, I'm sorry). Thank you for any help, suggestions, etc.

Since many stores put sales for the Holidays I was wondering if you have any good ones I should be adding to my collection. I am mainly interested in books for those interested in the basics that would be useful in manga and comics (For example I have my eyes on "Anatomy for Artists: Drawing Form & Pose" by TomFoxDraws and "ANATOMY DRAWING CLASS" by Rockhe Kim)

Im learning how to draw and I heard there were different brands that had better tools and I’m trying to find out which one is the best so in yall honest opinion which brand is the best.

I am a partially blind artist who is doing a solo show next year! I’m very excited.

Since blindness is a major theme on my work, I’m excited to make the show as accessible as possible. I’m making sure that each painting has a brailled image description that guests can borrow. I’m also planning on placing QR codes next to each piece with a link to an audio description of each painting. I just wanted to share because I’m proud to work on a show by us for us

For me many of my best pieces have come from them.

When you’re not feeling particularly creative, motivated, or inspired, what’s your go-to practice to get your creativity flowing again?

Lately, I’ve been struggling to feel passionate about my art, but I still want to keep painting and practicing. I usually listen to audiobooks, music, true crime, or watch Twitch/Youtube while I paint, but I’m feeling a bit lost and unsure where to direct my focus or what new interests to explore.

I work a social job (tattooing), but over the past year, I’ve become more isolated and mainly talk to my boyfriend and family now. I tend to avoid my coworkers since they’re 15+ years older than me, which makes it harder to connect.

Where I live, winter is usually the slow season for work, so with fewer tattoo appointments, I have more time to paint. I’m excited to be painting more, but I’m feeling like I’m losing my inspiration and passion. Any directions to active art communities, tips or advice would be really appreciated!:)

I’m a transfer student who switched to a BFA because it was highly recommended but I ended up having to switch back to a Bs in Visual Arts because I didn’t have a strong “Artist statement” or “intention” due to me not really already having a set theme, process, and overall personal work. And I didn’t really have a lot either with only being here for a year and a half. I know what really matters is my work ethic and portfolio but I really can’t help to feel like I somewhat failed at something important.

"You should do this/draw this/etc!" Does anyone else get really agitated with comments like this? I get it a lot, especially with my dad who also has done some artwork. It really makes me frustrated because if I wanted critique or tips, I would ask. If I'm showing you a finished piece you can certainly tell me what you think of it, but otherwise it just makes me not want to show them anything again. I could just be weird because I am autistic with ADHD, but who knows.

I am going to pose soon for a university art class and the instructor requires that I shave/wax all my body hair prior to being nude. Is this standard?

I'm trying to paint porcelain with the set in the oven type paints. I've used them before and set them in an oven but now I've moved to a new place and the oven is no longer an option (it is a fire hazard).

I was wondering whether it would be possible to set in an airfryer?

Seems like a stupid question considering that it's just the heat that sets the paint but I want to be sure I'm not wasting hours on something that can't be done.

(Any tips on porcelain paint at all would be greatly appreciated as well, I mentioned I've used them before but it was just once for a small project)

I can’t find it on resell so is there any cheaper places to get everything and any tips anyone has?

I want to make band merch

So as you can tell by my question I live under a rock and am kind of bad with social media. I was recently tagged with a bunch of other people by Jen (a nice artist I follow) as part of an art share she was responding too. Does this mean that I should also respond to the art share with my own work and tag other people? The art share doesn't mention anything about tagging people but I noticed a few artist that responded were tagging some friends. Sorry if this is a silly question but I've never had anyone tag me for stuff like this before.

Edit: Thanks so much for the help guys! My minor social media crisis has been resolved lol

Once again im continuing my weeks of practicing but i feel like im not improving it got to be the way im studying and practicing. When i focus on one area like anatomy/gesture i come to understand the basics of it but then when i focus on the head/face i struggle . Once i understand the basics of head/face i go back to drawing things i see on Pinterest but i struggle drawing anatomy and faces . Its like i know few things of both areas but i cant figure out how to use both at the same time .

So I'm doing a personal project on VR and its capabilities in the art world, and I was wonder how much does it cost for schools to give sculpting supplies like rocks and slabs out? typically (if anyone knows) how much do schools pay?

I love working with marker but can’t seem to find the right supplies. Even though I buy ‘waterproof and water resistant’ black liner it smears when I add color marker. Can someone recommend the correct supplies.

I can draw almost anything, but when it comes to poses they never turn out right...

I want to hear how you all balance both. I enjoy backgrounds a bit more.

I have some posters that got scraped. They are matte poster boards. What do you recommend the best way to fix this is? I'm thinking colored pencils? Maybe? I have one day!

https://imgur.com/a/DRviNVr

Your personal experiences with paint markers highly appreciated. Thanks!

Hello,

I am an author of 2 webcomics, one which has concluded and another that is still updating. They are called "Catching Up" which is my own characters and story (this is the one that is finished), and a fancomic "Rapture in the Clouds" which is a sonic the hedgehog comic featuring the characters Sonic and Knuckles. Both webcomics are being posted to my normal websites like FurAffinity, InkBunny, Bluesky, NewGrounds, etc. as well as ComicFury, where I have their own custom website for the specific comic.

The issue arises where the current comic (Rapture in the Clouds) got taken off of Comic Fury because people were reporting it due to the question of the characters's ages where I have deliberately stated in the comic they are of age, as well as making the point that SEGA removed the "canon ages" thing around a year or two ago. That said, the head admin and owner of the hosting site, reached out to me and told me they had to take it down. I spent 2 weeks with a friend of mine coding the website and I had something cool in store for it that unfortunately won't ever see the light of day.

That is, unless I find another comic hosting site that allows NSFW content of sonic characters, and allows custom HTML5 and CSS code for the comic site in question. That's what I am trying to find. I've tried looking into site hosting resources like Caard but they do not allow NSFW art that would fall on the pornographic side of things.

It is really unfortunate that this is how things had to turn out but I don't know any other sources than ComicFury that would allow me to post my comic to. If anyone has ideas of a hosting site that would allow it, please let me know! I'd hate for the code that took weeks to make to essentially go to waste.

Hey guys, i am having this really frustrating problem of not beeing able to come up with character ideas and designes and i wanted to ask for some advice.

It feels a bit like a continuing problem that i have when i draw in general. Eventhough i get ideas occasionally, i yet fail when it comes to execute them..

• coming back to characters, i have two bigger ideas for ocs for more than a year now and i wasnt able to find a design that pleases me so far.. My already existing oc are also suffer because of this problem that i dont know what do with them and it makes me kinda sad..

Most of them have pinterest boards with dozents of inspirations, so maybe its just a case of experimenting too little ?

thanks in advance!

I love art, but some of my favorite mediums are digital art and acrylic painting. When it comes to digital art, I like drawing characters a lot. In the past, I used to make a lot of original animal creatures by either combining random species into one or finding an object and turning it into an animal. Over the past year, I haven’t been feeling that inspired to draw original things for a number of reasons. I didn’t want to feel unproductive though, so I started challenging myself to draw existing characters from video games I played or people I enjoyed watching on social media. This was a way to keep my skills sharp, learn new techniques, and encourage myself.

But my sister made me feel like I should be getting back into original stuff. I’m not sure what to do though.

I thought about finding a doll maker or something, throwing a bunch of ideas around, and then drawing it in my own style.

Any other ideas? I’m mostly into fantasy and my art is mainly cutesy and safe for work.

I always do the worst rough sketch of where I want features to be and then I focus in on each part one by one to 'fix' it. I do the eyes, then the nose, then the mouth, then shape the face, add skin colour. My WIPs look absolutely terrible until I get to a certain point as it may be a realistic looking eye and then the rest is trash. When I've seen videos of people drawing they sometimes draw a perfect line drawing of what they want, add the colour and then start to shade it. I've seen people use layers. I tend to draw it all on one layer. What method do you use? I worry that I'm doing it wrong