Welcome to Gaia! :: Posts By User Unknown User | Forum

I've always had a problem with markers just because they ARE so expensive. I can pick up a set of nice watercolors and mix my own colors for a fraction of the cost that aquiring all the marker colors would entail. Markers do mix and all, but not to the same degree that watercolors can, so you need more colors... and a tube of watercolor lasts a heck of a lot longer then a marker >.<

Don't get me wrong. Marker can look great. Just... the expense. *shudder*

Microns. Easy to find at any art store. Once they dry they are waterproof, so you can watercolor/marker/whatever over them if you wish. They don't smear 2 seconds after they're down. They come in a variety of sizes. They are relatively inexpensive and not a mess. Rapidographs and quills are swell and all, but you can get spatters and they're horribly inconvenient, IMHO.

All of the art on neondragonart.com 2007 and earlier was done using a wacom graphire 4x5. (same thing as today's bamboo). I highly recommend this tablet for beginners. You don't want to spend more then you have to to find out if you like creating digital artwork, and the graphire gets the job done.

If after a year you find yourself spending more then 20 hours a week in Photoshop it may be time to consider buying a larger tablet, or going for the sexy sexy cintiq, where you can draw RIGHT ON THE SCREEN. I recently purchased one of these and though it was pricey, if you spend a good deal of time working digitally each week, it's well worth the money.

Yeah... Gaia isn't the place to complain about anime art, as... yeah...

If its any consolation, most artists grow out of it when they get out of high school and over their weeaboo phase of "lolcartoonsmadeinjapanarethebestbutdon'tcallthemcartoonstheyareanimeanditstotallydifferent". Those that continue with art are likely to get some real world perspective and realize that anime cannot be marketed for everything, and branching out will better you. After branching out and learning silly little things like anatomy, perspective, and good composition, if the artist chooses to return to anime they're usually better for having had the deviation/education.

Of course, most artists will just stop and fade away after a year or two. Many get discouraged when artistic progress doesn't come easily and just up and quit. Others just loose interest in drawing. *shrug* See it all the time.

If you know there is room for improvement in your picture (and judging from your description you seem to think so!) then perhaps its worth spending a bit more time on. If you're having trouble with the wings and know that the wings are not getting cropped out, I'd recommend checking out pictures of birds of prey. (they have NICE big wings, easy to see).

http://windfalcon.deviantart.com/art/Realistic-Wing-Tutorial-II-31471478 <---a good wing tutorial I found on deviantart. Worth the visit!

I've just ever understood how someone can be pleased with the praise they receive for work that IS NOT THEIR OWN. The people commenting on how much they like the art are commenting on the stolen art, not THE USERS creation. How could you get joy from that?

You make me sad.

Inside.

As this is the promotions forum, I felt compelled to whor- advertise myself to the masses.



If you enjoy weeaboo fantasy art, dragons, creatures, and the like, I have a rather colorful gallery. My site used to boast over two dozen art tutorials, but many of them were poorly drawn or executed. I'm slowly going through and replacing all of those tutorials with new ones with clearer instructions and better artwork. So far I have... 2. Wonderful. I have a couple of online comics that were discontinued a couple hundred pages in... more wonderful an oekaki board, and er... forums? Because clearly people on forums need more forums to visit.

Microns are relatively inexpensive, disposable pens, and come in many sizes. They're also waterproof when they dry, which makes using markers or watercolors on top of them fantastic. Note that you should probably wait 15 minutes after inking to allow the pens to dry. They don't into your paper, and you get a very consistent line.

The only thing I like better is rapidograph, but they require quite a bit of cleaning and care that you don't splatter when inking. They're fairly pricey as well.

There's so much of it because it's simplified, making it relatively quick to create. (instant gratification anyone?) Of course, the nature of anime art is that it MUST be quick, as it was originally intended to be used in art and rapid comics that can publish chapters weekly.

Anime art also has an established fan base, meaning you don't have to work as hard to create your own. In fact, you might have gotten into anime art because YOU are one of those anime fans.

People can look at their own anime artwork and gloss over the fact that they may have a long way to go with anatomy because they are so pleased with the fact that they were able to draw something resembling anime, something they are fond of.

I realize not every artist draws anime for all, or any, of these reasons, but these are trends I notice.