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Hey, let's start a newcomer's art chain!✨
Heya, my name's Zenith, nice to meet ya! I love the way this site looks already and I'm excited for what the future holds for it.
Let's drop some of our art down in the replies and a little message introducing yourself if you want.
Here are some of mine:
1 month ago
736
1mo
On Giving and Receiving Critiques
By Laura W
Seeking feedback is necessary for artistic growth, but it is also possibly the hardest thing to find reliably. Good teachers and excellent peers can lead you on the path to having a thorough understanding of your craft.
Being a helpful teacher yourself is another acquired skill-set. How do you know when you have helpful advice, or just a personal preference? It’s worthwhile to make the effort to be a helpful peer to your fellow artists. You’ll make good connections, broaden your appreciation for different art and ideas, and strengthen your understanding of art concepts by verbalizing them to others.
=== HOW DO I GIVE A GOOD CRITIQUE? ===
A good critique tries to consider the artist and their goals. Give context for your opinions, and try to be objective about what is technical vs. your own personal tastes and biases. Ask artists what they want to improve on, and be curious about their interests. Try to frame things positively, and push people to have hope and want to work hard.
“I like this pose, but the shoulder is looking dislocated. You might need to move it forward to make it feel more natural, like in this reference.”
“There’s a ton of detail going on here, but it can be better to have a few places of lower detail to balance out the composition, here’s an example.”
“What sort of art do you admire? I feel like you are aiming for this style, but knowing more about your goals might help us give advice.”
=== WHAT ARE EXAMPLES OF BAD CRITIQUES? ===
Bad advice does not consider the person receiving it. Critiques shouldn’t be designed to crush someone's spirit or make them feel hopeless. If something just isn’t your thing, it may be better to let people comment who are more experienced and interested in that area of art. Even if someone is picking up concepts slowly or getting frustrated, it’s not an open invitation to treat them poorly.
“There is nothing I can say to you other than read lots of Loomis books.”
“Stop drawing anime.”
“Fan art is unoriginal.”
“This style is a fad that will go away, you should just do something else.”
“You just need to try harder.”
“You’re too much of an amateur for me to even start critiquing”
=== HOW DO I GET USEFUL FEEDBACK ON MY WORK? ===
Help us cater to your artistic needs and goals. When posting work, consider including this information for context:
- Tell us what your objectives where with the piece you want critiques.
- Share anything you were struggling with while you were working on it.
- Tell us what your goals are as an artist. Are you a hobbyist learning landscapes for fun? Putting together a portfolio to get into art school? A professional refining your skills in a certain area?
- How long have you been practicing this form of art?
- Who are some artists you admire who's style you strive to have in your own work?
=== HOW SHOULD I RESPOND TO CRITICISM? ===
There are a lot of ways you can respond. Generally, it is polite to show that you appreciate that someone took the time to give you feedback on your work.
It’s important to keep in mind that critiques on your work aren’t personal attacks. Feedback is meant to help you see things from a different point of view. An artist might be trying to guide you away from mistakes they feel they made in the past.
Arguing with the person critiquing you won’t be productive. It is their opinion based on their knowledge (or lack thereof). Think of them as simply opinions intended to help you out.
You don’t have to accept every critique that comes your way, especially if the critique is subjective rather than objective. With time and experience you’ll have a better understanding of where you want to go with your work. Try to keep an open mind, but also have confidence to shed advice that doesn’t serve you.
If someone is being hostile and rude or is actively trying to discourage you, report it.
=== KEEPING YOUR EGO IN BALANCE? ===
Egos come with being an artist. It is just a fact. If you didn't feel good about your work and didn't enjoy creating it, why would you do it? The sense of accomplishment is a great feeling, and you SHOULD feel good about the hard work you do.
In communities, it’s easy for egos to get a little out of control. When a bunch of artists in a room, each with their own opinion of what is good art and what isn't is always bound to lead to a bit of head butting. This is a community that is meant to be friendly and helpful. Be proud of yourself, be proud of the work you do, but keep it in check. Be respectful to your fellow artists who are different from you.
As much as possible, be open to criticism from people of various skill levels. Whether you choose to use them or not is up to you, but be open to the fact that they're going to happen. If you accept them with courtesy and grace, and maybe try to learn a bit from them and open your mind, you will help make this a strong community.
If you choose to disregard everyone who gives you advice because you consider yourself better than everyone here, then this is not the community for you.
Finally, people who post rude, off point or otherwise useless comments posed as criticism will be penalized by the mods. If you see posts such as this, use the "Report" feature to get the attention of the moderators.
=== WAIT, WHAT IF I THINK I SUCK? ===
Everyone has to start somewhere! Art takes hard work, and it doesn’t help to get down on yourself. Being humble is fine, but remember that having a little confidence is sometimes needed for motivation. Believe that you are worthy of kindness and that your art has value, even if it's just to you.
Find enjoyment in learning and studying, it’ll guide you through the times when you are getting down on yourself. Just remember, begging (or demanding) praise, attention, or sympathy won’t generally go over well with your peers. Wanting to work hard is what gets you support. Embrace your work ethic and show effort whenever you can.
2 months ago
11
2mo
New character designs. Critiques welcome
Working on a Graphic novel about Jews living in an artificial shtetl in the desert. Inside they are forced to perform in a human zoo and learn science and math so that the regime can use there skills.
the robot guy is Rabbi Mendy. The girl’s name is Leah. And the boy’s name is Yoav.
I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m taking the marvel course. Hopefully I succeed.
3 days ago
0
3d
I need a learning roadmap
I want to create my own manga, in my own style. No hurry to get there, but I am not sure how. I once had a teacher that told me I should start with the fundamentals, but what are those exactly, and what should be the learning order?
2 weeks ago
11
14d
Some discussion about my personal project
I have decided to started working on my first comic book. I am not sure what will really come of it but I want to do it anyway. I am caught in something right now, so I am waiting until next summer when I will finally have time to work on it. So far I am only sure about two thing -
One, the length; I want it to be a single volume book, about 150-200 pages. I think that should be manageable for my first project. And I am guessing it would take me about a year to finish it.
Two, the theme; I want to draw fairy tale-esque fantasy stories.
I do have a lot of other things going on in my head, but these are the only two things I have locked on.
There is one other question that I think I should decide on right now. That is the format.
At first I had thought of doing a collection of short stories, called "one-shots" in comic book terms. Each one-shot would be 40-50 pages and 3-4 stories will fill a volume. I could pitch individual one-shots to be published in comic magazines or similar publications before being compiled into a volume. It might be easier to get published for a newcomer in that way.
Alternatively, I could just do a 150-200 page long story. It will be somewhat comparable to a movie. These kind of stories are called "graphic novels" in the west (I don't like that term). Seeing how there aren't many "comic magazines" in english, this format might actually have better odds of drawing a publisher's interest.
I am still brainstorming story ideas and haven't decided on anything yet. Then it suddenly occurred to me that the format I am going for (collection of short stories) might not find many takers. So I am trying to settle this question first.
3 weeks ago
5
21d
Posting references on other platforms
By @rudysterner
I'm practicing portrait drawing using references (photos) purchased on the Proko site. I intend to post the drawings on Reddit as well as Proko. Is there any rule against posting the reference along side the drawing?
4 weeks ago
1
26d
Exploring Unconscious
By Sumit Gupta
I am inspired by work of Freud, I am sure many of you have experimented in Surreal art. Since i am just at beginning i try to keep a pen paper near my bed and draw what i could remember from my dream. Thats lot of wierd stuff i draw but unconscious is all about that. Can you please share if you have gone down the path of surreal art and what is your process for that?
1 month ago
2
30d
would love some help / critique on this face study / value study i did.
By Morphex
Drew the same face twice and tried to shade on of them but i just cant seem to get this right. How many times should i draw this face / angle to truly understand it?
Also i just cant understand shading. The value scale helps very little because i still dont understand values.
But i would love some critique. Thx. sry bout the bad image. I use a h3 when i sketch.
2 months ago
0
2mo
Study Group
By Tasha
Hello fellow art learners, trying to get a group of people together to form a little study group! This is for dedicated learners who want to improve their skills… with critiques from others etc. if ur interested send me a message and i will link over the discord!
2 months ago
0
2mo
Unaware how much to charge
Hello everyone i want to know what is the fair price to charge for the following in the American market please can anyone tell me!!!
1.portrait for a3 size and A4(also carricature)
2-single page comic strip with 5 panels(a3 and A4)
3-book cover design and for character design
I do not know the fair price and I am confused how much to charge based on American market
2 months ago
3
2mo
Alternative to newsprint paper
By Ruben Blanco
hi! i'll keep it short. In my country art stores don´t sell newsprint paper pads to practice with charcoal and shipping is too expensive. Do you guy know of an alternative paper to practice with?
2 months ago
4
2mo
Anyone else who likes ART HISTORY and classical approach to art??
By Ray
Hi! I'm new to this site but I would like to talk about some things that have been stuck in my head for quiet some time now. I've always had an interest in classical approach to art. I love the feeling of being in an art gallery and really just studying by looking at paintings from last centuries. My most favorite period is baroque. Especially baroque painting and architecture.
And what I also find very interesting is how we actually ended up from very classical approach to contemporary, conceptual art today - postmodernism. I find it so fascinating how the art world was changing during different times.
Anyways the main reason for this topic is that I would love to meet people with same/similiar interest when it comes to art history, classical approach to painting, drawing. I want to improve as a classical painter (Even though I'm still a student) but I also try to think more conceptual in art.
I think that connections are the most important thing when it comes to this field. You can introduce yourself under this topic if you're interested. I'm excited to meet new people who I could talk to about art history, classical painting and so on. :))))
2 months ago
1
2mo
Soooooo.....anyone else in here participate in Inktober?
By Sean Carney
Because I'd sure like to see what others have dreamed up for the prompts.....
2 months ago
1
2mo
Reference Photo Organizer App?!?
By @ickabod
What was the app for organizing your reference photos that Stan recommends in a video? Its a free one
3 months ago
2
3mo
Personal Projects for beginners
By Robert
So I am not very experienced with art. I am currently doing the figure drawing fundamentals course. I would really love to do some paintings of portraits or characters (e.g. like samdoesarts). I really don't have time to commit to a project and do the course at the same time. The course will probably benefit me in the long run but I want to do something else aside from course work. I am not very confident in my abilities and I kinda expect a perfect drawing after seeing the stuff on instagram. I know it is not realistic.
Is there any beginner friendly personal projects I could do? I personally like Ink, portraits and figures/characters. Big fan of 2d animation as well
Would appreciate any advice. Have a good one and thanks for reading
3 months ago
0
3mo