Art Thread

[Lordy]

I came across this post a while ago, it'd probably help with your situation. Just replace 'shrimp' with 'Tailless Whip Scorpion'.

[alaskan nerd girl]

I was uncertain as to where to put this since the proletariats locked the thread I was going to put this in... So if the proletariats don't want this here p-please delete this post, I don't mind. I'd rather it be deleted than to cause trouble. So sorry in advance.

[Spoony]

Hahah, nah, no trouble man. We're pretty easy going around here.

[Dire]

No you aren't.

[YCobb]

Dire I don't know what you're talking about

The proletariats are so easy

[Vax]

Guilty

[TheStranger]

Society is fucking bullshit

[AwkwardSkeleton]

I want to be a webcomic artist but I have absolutely no artistic talent whatsoever so somebody teach me how to draw.

[Riku]

Uh
I can't quite tell if you're joking

[Dire]

Try facebattling up to people who can draw and maybe all their years of hard work and practice will magically endow you with skill. I hear that's how all the cool kids got their talent.

Or you know, practice and look up tutorials and practice some more. Artistic skill doesn't just happen after one or two lessons. Everyone of us here makes an effort to learn new techniques and then practice those techniques until we've mastered them.
If you want specific advice about materials or effects or proportions... go ahead, ask away. But the onus is on you to actually learn, not on anyone else to teach you.

[Rinoko]

But what if he wants to be a cool kid

[Dire]

Then he can buy a cap and wear it backwards.

[Rinoko]

Silly Dire, the cool kids wear their hats slanted off to the side, not backwards.

[Riku]

What's more, just being able to draw means nothing for webcomics if you don't have a story or premise to go with it. Which means you either have to be good at writing, or be partners with someone who is. Not only that, character design and environments are fairly important. that's the whole reason I'm starting my story over again (that and I've retconned several fairly major things in the last few chapters of the initial draft). Even if you're going to "go cartoony" you still have to have not just the ability to draw something, but the skill to draw it solidly over and over and over and over and again, but this time at a slightly different angle, and then again and again and...you get the idea.

So long story short, having the ability to draw is only like, a third of making a comic.

[DoNotDelete]

Yeah, you need to be a reasonably good writer, illustrator and editor if you're going to try being a stand-alone comic/webcomic artist, so if you're not too hot on writing it's sometimes worth seeking out somebody who writes a lot and offer to illustrate their stuff for them, you can also further break down the illustration component into penciller, line artist and colourist - if you're a good line artist but weak colourist, for example.

In regard to comics: personally I'm still struggling with finding an art style I can stick with consistently and turn out at a reasonable rate - and I've been drawing on and off for the best part of the last decade. Also I've spent the past few years studying up on how to construct stories and write characters well. You never really stop learning in regard to artworking and writing - but you have to get to a point where you have to 'settle' for what you can achieve here and now - and sometimes you need to make compromises in regard to artwork detail too.

It's not something I find myself able to do very often, but if you can find the time and energy you should try to draw something every day - even if it's just a quick half-hour doodle.

I think at the beginning it's just important to get in the habit of drawing - don't worry about the accuracy of proportions and stuff like that - a sensitivity to that kind of thing comes with practice, so if you want to focus more on emulating a cartoony style for the moment that's okay (you will get jackasses calling you out because your artwork isn't proportionally accurate or 'too stylised' - just don't get disheartened and keep at it).