I think @James Paris and @BansheeSquad have pretty much covered the subject. But I share my own experience that may be of some use to you. Living in a third world country, where everything is very expensive, I always have to buy by doing a lot of research and analysis of the products. At first I had a wacom bamboo, but I could never finish transferring my skills to digital because of the way of draw on the tablet but look at the monitor, now that Im traing to professionalais and with the encouragement of some colleagues, I decided to take the leap to the graphic monitors. If I had had the money I would buy the wacom cintiq without hesitation, but as I said before money is an issue so I investigated the Xpen and the Huion, after a week of investigation I ended up buying the Huion 22'. I am more than satisfied, in fact if i could I would not buy the cintiq anymore. Mainly because the Huion 22' (not plus) is a pure screen, without buttons (I use keyboard shortcuts), which makes it a large tablet but it doesn't take up so much space (I have a very large desk anyway). To resume, if you are in a low budget situation i recomend Huion brand over xpen (you can watch comparative youtube videos). something to note, maybe if you don't have a good computer, you could get a used Ipad pro, (although I don't like mac in general because of its policies) procreate is very good and you have a professional portable tablet. But well even used the ipad pro is more expensive than a huion tablet.

Nice to read you =) For me, I'd say my art parents are mainly Frank Frazetta and Gil Elvgren I keep the artworks that inspire me most in this pinterest boar: https://www.pinterest.com/dudtsdodom/art-goals/ that is an evolving board where I add what inspires me most / what I'd like to e able to do .. How about you?

Oh sweet an excuse to gush about my favorite artist. At the start of art journey I had a lot of "art parents" but as my journey went through the artist that mainly influence me trickle down as I realize that their style did not match what I was trying to say.But here are the art parents that I consider the most prominent: -Dean Cornwell;at the start of my journey I was a massive Dean Cornwell fan,I actually just wanted to be a cornwell copy at the start and want to only paint like him.I was obssesed with his composition,his use of thick paint and especially his vignetting.I think I only looked at his artwork for nearly 2 years just trying to copy his result(I even had an album in my ipad of 270 piece and fragment of his art).But at some point in time,I finally did a painting in his style I was happy with but had no desire to do it again.It made me realize that even though I still enjoy his composition and vignetting,I did not share the same vision and mindset as him.I did not enjoy working in thick paint and my idea also didn't fit with it.So after 2 years I largely abandoned him,though I still take his composition and vignetting,as stated above. -Andrew Wyeth; Wyeth made me realize the thing I was missing in my artwork,with Cornwell I was just trying to study his technical skill and his great craftsmanship.Andrew's work made me realize that it is equally important to think of the mood and emotion of the painting.("Christina's world" and "that gentleman" really hit me when I first found them).It also made me realize how important it is to leave out elements in a picture and let the audience participate in the painting.He also inspired silent hill 2,the game that resonate with me the most in term of feeling.To this day I still played "Never forgive me,never forget me" and "white noiz"when I finish a painting to see if I get the mood right.(By this point I pretty much gauge how succesful a picture is by how much it fits "never forgive me,never forget me") -James Bama (particullary his western work);Bama is the artist I am most obssesed with right now,Unlike the first two,I love Bama both for his craftsmanship and mood.His use of thin oil paint is so unlike what's anything right now.He paint in a photorealistic style,yet there's still loosenes in the fabric of the clothes.Reproduction on the internet does not do him justice,it doesn't reveal all his subtle layering and thinnest of the paint.I recommend buying his book,the art of James Bama if you are interested in his images. -Adam Hughes;I've found his work about a year ago and couldn't get enough of it.Whenever I am struggling on the shape design of a character or a background,I would look at Hughes work,There's a cover he did for the 2018 superman's run-I think it was issue 6-where he simplified the mouth and the left eye as 2 simple lines,yet he still uphold the structure of the faces,he indicate the cheecks and subtle muscle anaotmy with his shapes.It is damn amazing and it made me realize that you can have both simplicity and solid face structure in the same painting. -Zun;not what people consider a great draftsment,but goddamn does he make some terrific character design and ideas.The touhou series are games that I played and instantly make me want to illustrate them.It's a series where there's barely a story but enough fun character interaction and world building to put yourselves into it.It's a series where if you make fanwork, you can played up the funness and lightheartedness of the characters (Sr pelo's touhou parody is a good example.)Or you can go to the complete opposite and make it depressing (I.E. Flan want to die) and both would still fit the tone of the series.This is not to mention the hundreds of musician he inspired and the countless catchy song that was created. Those are the big ones,then I wanted to put Takehiko inoue,Naoki Urasawa, Satoshi Kon and that great lineage started by Katsuhiro Otomo who didn't prioritized making their character pretty,but giving them as much humanity as possible.But I would be rambling.(Even more than I am now). Anyway,I hope you're having fun with the draftsmen podcast!That episode on art parents is probably one my most favorite episode-I think I watched it about 10-20 times min since they released it-just because I love watching people talked about their favorite artist and giving their opinion on them.(Just hearing Marshall talked about his love for Durer or Stan's love for Fechin is damn fascinating!It make me sad that there aren't more episodes like that where they just sit down and talked what they like or don't like about an artist (kinda like that heinrich Kley sketchbook tour). Anyway, the exercise you mention sounds great!I hope you can one day finally find your style and voice :D

sorry for the mess, any feedback is appreciated

Hello missinglee, in my experience somewhere on the product box it says what type of binder that medium contains. On the other hand, I am one of those who go to the supplier and talk to a vendor, and if I can, try the tool on the spot. Anyway, your curiosity aroused mine and I did a quick search for information (mainly wikipedia) about Conte crayons, Pastels and pencils. As for the Pencils, I read that they are the most varied in that the lead can come in many varieties of materials, drier or more oily. The Conte crayon describes them as something more similar to graphite or charcoal, which I think are more dry than oily, I don't know, I have some at home I should try them. And as for Pastels, the same thing happens with Pencils, there is everything. My conclusion and advice is that you visit a supplier and consult him, or if the only option is to buy online, see the products that interest you and then visit the website of the producers and see what information about their construction they provide you. Here I leave the wikipedia links, there is quite interesting extra. Conté - Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/conté Pastel - Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pastel Pencil - Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pencil

beautiful portrait. The only advice I would give would be, as toast64 said, you can push that dark values even further, and the background a more homogeneous tone just to keep yout highlights only for the subject. With that two thing i think you can pop up even more this fine lady.

Hi all, my covid got so bad I had to be hospitalized today (asthma = owch), but I've gotten out of the hospital now and should be able to do a video for tomorrow! Life throws funny things at me, haha. At least my arm still works!

hello, @Anubhav Saini. I'm new here in the community, this is my first attempt to participate and help a fellow artist.   In order to help you more in detail, it might be good if you give an idea of ​​where you are pointing with the figure, what would be your idea of ​​the most finished drawing, such as if it is walking fast, or angry, or entering a place. etc.  As for the gesture I think it's quite clear, he's walking, something common when walking is that when the right foot is in front, the right arm is behind, I think it's something we do naturally to balance ourselves, I'm not sure. and regarding the shoulder area, what looks a bit strange are the lines that join the shirt with the sleeves (of the shirt), on the left arm the bottom line of the sleeve should be crossing the line that outlines the back, on the right arm the line that outlines the chest should be crossing the bottom line of the sleeve. (with your permission I could better illustrate this last point with a quick sketch on the drawing you shared) Also to help accentuate perspective, you could play around a bit by making the limbs that are positioned furthest from the camera a bit smaller than the ones in front. I hope the observations are useful to you. much encouragement with your drawing. cheers!

Hi everyone, my name's Manuel, I've wanted to participate in an art community for a long time, between shyness and just practicing I never did, it seems that I arrive at the right place. I hope to actively participate with good vibes and meet nice people and help each other with our goals. Some of my Stuff, currently serching for some way of improve my speed: