Digital art is something that has taken the art community by storm and it’s something that we’re seeing more and more of. Digital art is everywhere and we’ll take a look at the steps that you can take to help you learn digital art and to improve your skills and your portfolio.
With digital art, it can be easy to make mistakes, but with practice, you can get better. You have to draw basic shapes firstly like circles, rectangles, ovals, squares, triangles, etc.
These are the building blocks of digital art because everything you draw starts with these basic shapes. However, don’t just stick to these shapes.
Sometimes, you need to come up with your own unique shapes because the shapes you use say a lot about your art. So, let us discuss How to learn digital art.
Table of Contents
Learning Foundational Art Skills
Practice sketching shapes
Art can be a difficult thing to explain. To begin learning the basics, one usually starts by learning the very simple shapes and blending them into more complicated ones as they progress.
In digital art tools such as Photoshop, you’ll begin with simple shapes like that of a rectangle or circle. Then from those, you’ll practice blending those shapes into more distinct levels of depth with 3-dimensional objects such as cones and cylinders, etc.
Learn to shade of pictures
You can look at examples of how to shade three-dimensional objects using different light sources by looking at objects around you. If you make an effort to study them, you will see the masters of the great technique used centuries ago still in use today.
Remember that your shadows should be consistent with your created lighting for each object. You will want your shadows to belong if the source is behind the object (called ” Backlight “), short if it’s beside the object (called ” Side Light “,) and no shadow if it’s in front (called ” Front Light “).
Learn different points perspectives
Linear perspective with one vanishing point can be seen when you are standing on a straight stretch of railroad tracks looking down the track.
If you are facing the direction of travel, your left-hand side will have one set of parallel tracks that appear to converge at a distant point in the distance.
Likewise with your right-hand side, making it appear as if these two sets of tracks are endlessly extending off into infinity side by side. This is also called the one-point linear perspective.
When drawing based on a one-point linear perspective it is important to bear in mind which set of railroad tracks are closest or farthest away.
Draw people, objects, and landscapes from direct observation
Once you’ve become comfortable with the basics of drawing, it is time to start studying life more closely and honing your skills! Draw from life and practice gestures and still life by using traditional tools like charcoal and pencil.
After spending some time alone or in a group to learn how to draw figures from real models, you will be ready to partake in a figure drawing class – this is an invaluable tool for any artist’s skill set.
Learn the color theory by focusing on the color wheel
Colors next to one another, like blue and green, are analogous colors. They look good together. Colors directly opposite one another on the color wheel, like red and green or yellow and violet, are called complementary.
They contrast wonderfully with each other. Color is a huge part of digital art – use your imagination! Once you feel confident with the basics of drawing from life, perspective, shading, shadows, shapes, and color theory, you’re ready to embark on learning digital art.
Choosing Your Hardware and Software
Choose your computer and stylus
A stylus is a tool used to mimic a true painting experience with a touch screen tablet. It comes with a special pen that allows the user to draw on the screen in a similar fashion as if it were paper. This can be very helpful when attempting to illustrate digitally.
Download GIMP or Krita for free
GIMP is a free alternative to Photoshop that allows people to edit photos and create art. It is often more difficult for beginners to use, however, as the interface lacks the intuitive simplicity of programs like Krita.
Krita is a painting program used to edit photos as well as make traditional-style pieces of artwork. It is quite easy for novices to pick up, making it a great choice for those who want a simple way to get started editing both images and traditional pieces.
To do it, look to the needs of your audience and pick a simple program. If you want to further personalize your efforts afterward, explore additional programs as time allows.
However, remember that learning too many skills at once may be confusing for a beginner or even an intermediate user.
Consider Corel Painter for digital painting
Corel Painter, like Krita, is a digital painting program. It costs money and its mimicking of how traditional paint can be on canvas is what makes it so unique and special to some artists.
Those who use this program love many aspects including its realistic result display of how colors would merge on canvas instead of on paper as it would normally do.
You can try out their 30-day free trial to see if you like it before deciding if you want to continue using the program for one dollar every month.
Choose Clip Studio Art or Paint Tool SAI for creating manga and anime
Clip Studio Paint and SAI are both popular programs among manga and anime concept artists. They have tools that Photoshop and GIMP do not, such as automatically smoothing out every outline drawn for a comic-book-style effect and the ability to create sleek and smooth drawings respectively.
And because both programs were created specifically intending to cater to their target fan base, they each come with tutorials created specifically for manga and anime characters making these programs much more appealing in their respective categories.
Pay for Photoshop
Photoshop can cost a lot of money, but it is a useful tool and is considered the industry standard program for digital images and graphics.
Professional animators and designers who understand that their market value is intrinsically tied to their skill set may find themselves better off with this expensive program as the investment will be worthwhile.
Conclusion
The digital art may look like something very easy to create with the help of different apps available out there. However, in reality, it’s not that simple to learn digital art. Digital art is the opposite of traditional art.
Digital art is all about using technological mediums to create art. The tools for this are very different from conventional art. You can even use digital art to create traditional art.
The digital art industry is growing quickly year on year, but it can be difficult to learn, especially if you’re starting from scratch. Digital art is a new medium that most are still learning to master.
However, with digital art, you are at the crossroads of traditional art, photography, and computer graphics. This will give you a unique view of the medium Here’s a blog that will teach you how to learn digital art.
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