As always, I’m self-taught, so take my advice with a grain of salt, and please do add your own below, if you think you’ve got anything to share ! Traditional art tips are difficult to come across (or maybe I’m just very bad at google searching ahah) so it’s nice if you can help !
Anyway !
- gel pens don’t work on printer paper, but they’ll stay put on Canson/thick paper where they won’t be absorbed. Use them if you can, they’re just so delightful to play with !
- I think a good thing to remember as you colour is like… Try to colour as if you were sculpting the item ? Like if it’s an arm try to colour as if the arm was solid and in 3D and in front of you, because I mean, you WILL get pencil lines/scratches or whatever they’re called, right ? Strokes ? Are they strokes ? Anyway, there’s a good chance your strokes will be visible, but at least if the lines follow a curve or the hollow or the bump of the plane of skin you’re trying to colour, then it won’t look as weird. Of course, keep crosshatching/layering in mind, don’t always go in the same direction ! But I always try to colour as if the thing I’m colouring was being carved, and I think it really helps ^^
- If you want a real nice dark “black” colour, try layering dark blue/dark red/dark blue/dark red, add a layer of black, then another layer of dark blue. You can do that with any other colours of course but these ones will get you really close to black. I think it’s the mix of the contrasting colours that gives it this high black quality ? Maybe it’d work with magenta and green for example ? I’ll have to test it out
- Really like if you want any of the shadows to pop in let’s say, a cyan drawing, add red to them, because the scanner will separate the values and colours and you’ll get a clearer result. Adding green to the shadows of a pink also works ^^
- lowering cyan values on post-scan fix can help getting your browns better ! Lowering the blues will make the purples more, well, purple, and lowering yellows will make deeper reds. I’m getting closer to defeat you with every step, scanner !!
- pure black is good and useful, actually, and I’ve been a fool to not use it before. Very dangerous though ! Usually very thick and greasy ! Be careful with this one :O
that’s all I have for now ! Please, if you’ve got any traditional tips for others, consider sharing them ! I for one hunger for knowledge, and I’m sure others are too ^^
A few other tips and some general knowledge for tradish art:
- putting a very bright color where u would normally shade gives a nice new vibe,, but otherwise for realistic things add the complimentary color of tge color you need to shade.
-if u cant remember the color pairs: red, blue and yellow are the base. Red and blue get u purple. Whats the compliment color: the base color u didnt use = yellow. Same with blue + yellow = green, the complimentary color? Red. Red+yellow= orange // blue.
- erasing what u did on a wood board with oil pastels is tricky, to be able to wipe it clean do the following steps pre maturelly: draw ur sketch, cover the wooden board with plastic glue (that white thick thingy, not too much glue tho), let it dry for a day. Then if u wanna erase some pastels that u put on it, u can scratch the thicker chunks with ur nails or a ruler, and erase the remaning pigment with a rubber. Works like a charm.
- in general i find that pastels go together better if u use max three color families. Like reds, blues, greens, purples….
-ask ur friends to pose for u for random practice, gets u some interesting poses u wouldnt have thought of (and clothes u might have not thought to put together)
- anything that has a very liguidy form (ink, water color) dont expect to control, the beauty is letting it flow, its a discovering process not a plan and get result process (i mean it can be but,,, its trickier…)
- no need to buy oil pastel pencils, you can just cut a tiny piece of the regular oil pastel, making it have an edge and there u have a small edge/tip to use.
- always buy extra white!!!! Always!!!!
- things that go out in the wash: oil pastels, pencil, chalk anything grainy really. Things that wont: Spray, acrylic, oils, extreamly dense watercolor (like maybe after a few washes…)
- general about paper: anything above 240 grams should be fine if u dont overuse the water each layer u work on, but duplex paper is the best for anything watery, it shouldnt wrinkle, (but still be mindfull of layering the water) .
- hot pressed paper is the smooth one, cold pressed is the rough texture one - very good for anything that needs a few good layers like watercolor, color pencils, pastels…
- dont put a brush full of acrylic paint in another paint, not only u will ruin a good chunk of the color but it later gets moldy and stinks like hell.
- always dry brushes facing up - ull thank me later.
- find what u like drawing and what excites u to do in every piece u make. Develop that skill further (coloring, character design, conposition, inking…) not only is it fun but its a good way to find ur style if ur lookin for one.
Also: butterflies can see about 30 base colors and we should all die mad about it.
