I have never been able to answer this question. I have no favorite, catch-all, 100% best for everything color.
I’m finding more and more that I like the colors of the ninja turtles, though. Red, blue, purple, orange, and green… I think TMNT has influenced me even more than I thought!
If I had to pick 1 color to draw in for the rest of my life, though, I would use blue.
I have never been able to answer this question. I have no favorite, catch-all, 100% best for everything color.
I’m finding more and more that I like the colors of the ninja turtles, though. Red, blue, purple, orange, and green… I think TMNT has influenced me even more than I thought!
If I had to pick 1 color to draw in for the rest of my life, though, I would use blue.
I have always been drawing, ever since I can remember. One of my earliest memories is being mad at age 3 because SOMEONE put CHALK in the crayon bucket and I bit it to test and BLECK.
In 2nd grade, my dad told me that I would need to learn to get really good at drawing circles, squares, and triangles if I wanted to do art seriously. That’s when I started reading art books and constructing drawings with shapes.
In 7th grade, I applied for an online art archive and was utterly rejected because my stuff was definitely not up to scratch. I was pointed to Tracy Butler’s art and fell in love with art as a means of storytelling. I wanted to get good. Really good.
After that, I took every art class public school had to offer, and filled sketchbook after sketchbook on my own time. Art class was helpful because my teachers forced me to do stuff I didn’t want to do (cross-hatching, life study, learning art history), and it was all very beneficial. They also gave me access to free art supplies that I never would have been able to afford on my own– paint, pastels, illustration board, clay, kilns, etc.
I got accepted to a university in the Animation Major, learned that my arm and procrastination tendencies couldn’t handle it, and switched to Illustration. Color theory and observational drawing weren’t at all new to me, but it was GREAT to study side-by-side with people who actually CARED about it instead of being forced to. And I probably learned more through one semester of advanced figure drawing than I had in any other class.
None of the classwork were things that I couldn’t have learned on my own; art class is not a magical thing. People can take all of the art classes in the world and won’t improve if they don’t consciously practice and observe. But they are great motivators and I am so glad that I took those classes. Even Art History, because man I have a much better appreciating and understanding for the master works now. Context really is everything.
Anyway, I still have a lot to learn, but to answer your question… if we consider 7th grade the starting point, I guess I’ve been doing art “seriously” for… 17 years? OMG…
Now go look at Tracy’s art and be inspired: @lackadaisycats
I have always been drawing, ever since I can remember. One of my earliest memories is being mad at age 3 because SOMEONE put CHALK in the crayon bucket and I bit it to test and BLECK.
In 2nd grade, my dad told me that I would need to learn to get really good at drawing circles, squares, and triangles if I wanted to do art seriously. That’s when I started reading art books and constructing drawings with shapes.
In 7th grade, I applied for an online art archive and was utterly rejected because my stuff was definitely not up to scratch. I was pointed to Tracy Butler’s art and fell in love with art as a means of storytelling. I wanted to get good. Really good.
After that, I took every art class public school had to offer, and filled sketchbook after sketchbook on my own time. Art class was helpful because my teachers forced me to do stuff I didn’t want to do (cross-hatching, life study, learning art history), and it was all very beneficial. They also gave me access to free art supplies that I never would have been able to afford on my own– paint, pastels, illustration board, clay, kilns, etc.
I got accepted to a university in the Animation Major, learned that my arm and procrastination tendencies couldn’t handle it, and switched to Illustration. Color theory and observational drawing weren’t at all new to me, but it was GREAT to study side-by-side with people who actually CARED about it instead of being forced to. And I probably learned more through one semester of advanced figure drawing than I had in any other class.
None of the classwork were things that I couldn’t have learned on my own; art class is not a magical thing. People can take all of the art classes in the world and won’t improve if they don’t consciously practice and observe. But they are great motivators and I am so glad that I took those classes. Even Art History, because man I have a much better appreciating and understanding for the master works now. Context really is everything.
Anyway, I still have a lot to learn, but to answer your question… if we consider 7th grade the starting point, I guess I’ve been doing art “seriously” for… 17 years? OMG…
Now go look at Tracy’s art and be inspired: @lackadaisycats
ALAS… no, I am not at the moment. I have a very long post here explaining why, but the “short version” is this:
And… I can’t really work on either of those right now because I have lymphedema as a side effect of cancer treatments years ago, and have been unable to afford the stuff I need to manage it. Sitting at a desk to do digital art aggravates the condition and puts me more at risk for things like micro tears and blood clots, which could result in death. It’s also really painful, especially after I work an office job for 8 hrs a day, 5 days a week, and usually have to stand for the 30min train ride home.
But hopefully I will be able to afford treatments in the next couple of months, and that will enable me to get back to work on these things, get caught up, start preparing for conventions again, livestream sessions, etc.
This is also why all of my art lately has been really crappy cell phone photos of sketches on paper… because I would have to sit at my desk to use my scanner. Whew.
Thank you for asking, though! When/if I am open for commissions in the future, I will be sure to post here and let you know! 😀
ALAS… no, I am not at the moment. I have a very long post here explaining why, but the “short version” is this:
And… I can’t really work on either of those right now because I have lymphedema as a side effect of cancer treatments years ago, and have been unable to afford the stuff I need to manage it. Sitting at a desk to do digital art aggravates the condition and puts me more at risk for things like micro tears and blood clots, which could result in death. It’s also really painful, especially after I work an office job for 8 hrs a day, 5 days a week, and usually have to stand for the 30min train ride home.
But hopefully I will be able to afford treatments in the next couple of months, and that will enable me to get back to work on these things, get caught up, start preparing for conventions again, livestream sessions, etc.
This is also why all of my art lately has been really crappy cell phone photos of sketches on paper… because I would have to sit at my desk to use my scanner. Whew.
Thank you for asking, though! When/if I am open for commissions in the future, I will be sure to post here and let you know! 😀
Digital is much easier on my arm, so when I can get to my desk (not lately because I SERIOUSLY need to get those wraps before I spend any more time at a desk outside of my day job), I favor Paint Tool Sai for sketching/inking and water-color style painting, Autodesk Sketchbook Pro for sketching and markers, and Art Rage for crayon/chalky stuff. I kind of cycle through them in phases for whatever I feel like doing, so it’s all terribly inconsistent… but I DO process all of them through Adobe Photoshop CS6 (or CC if I’m at work) at the end for level and color adjustment.
You can read more about my digital stuff here: http://gabapple.tumblr.com/post/130978403621/hi-sorry-to-bother-you-but-i-was-wondering-what – it has pictures!
For traditional media, I love drawing with ball point pens. But sometimes I prefer 0.5 mechanical pencils. I used to color with prismacolor pencils, but it destroyed my already injured arm… so I tend to stick to markers (prismacolor) when I’m doing “serious” stuff, often blended with just a LITTLE bit of colored pencil (cheap crayolas).
Lately, I’ve been experimenting with brush pens and highlighters and I am LOVING it. They’re way more portable than watercolors, and so much less messy. But once I can be at my art desk, I’d like to do more watercolor and ink wash stuff.
Pens, though. I love messy sketching.
Digital is much easier on my arm, so when I can get to my desk (not lately because I SERIOUSLY need to get those wraps before I spend any more time at a desk outside of my day job), I favor Paint Tool Sai for sketching/inking and water-color style painting, Autodesk Sketchbook Pro for sketching and markers, and Art Rage for crayon/chalky stuff. I kind of cycle through them in phases for whatever I feel like doing, so it’s all terribly inconsistent… but I DO process all of them through Adobe Photoshop CS6 (or CC if I’m at work) at the end for level and color adjustment.
You can read more about my digital stuff here: http://gabapple.tumblr.com/post/130978403621/hi-sorry-to-bother-you-but-i-was-wondering-what – it has pictures!
For traditional media, I love drawing with ball point pens. But sometimes I prefer 0.5 mechanical pencils. I used to color with prismacolor pencils, but it destroyed my already injured arm… so I tend to stick to markers (prismacolor) when I’m doing “serious” stuff, often blended with just a LITTLE bit of colored pencil (cheap crayolas).
Lately, I’ve been experimenting with brush pens and highlighters and I am LOVING it. They’re way more portable than watercolors, and so much less messy. But once I can be at my art desk, I’d like to do more watercolor and ink wash stuff.
Pens, though. I love messy sketching.
Cats are not my favorite animal. HOWEVER, they translate REALLY WELL into comic form because they are easy to draw, easily recognizable, and very easy to emote with because their entire body is made of a liquid-rubber substance. With fur.
They are also very entertaining to watch and get to know… Cats can act as cool and calm as they want, but they are such slaves to instinct and they need people way more than they pretend to. Really, they’re a great analog for human life and relationships, which is perfect for a comic about my very human life portrayed by anthropomorphic animals.
Exaggerating expressions and reactions is helpful for cartoon art; it’s more believable than the very subtle expressions that real people generally use in normal situations. But since drawings are symbols, the opportunity to really sell the emotion is there. Cats alternate between the extremes naturally already, so why not?!
Plus fuzzy things are great.
Cats are not my favorite animal. HOWEVER, they translate REALLY WELL into comic form because they are easy to draw, easily recognizable, and very easy to emote with because their entire body is made of a liquid-rubber substance. With fur.
They are also very entertaining to watch and get to know… Cats can act as cool and calm as they want, but they are such slaves to instinct and they need people way more than they pretend to. Really, they’re a great analog for human life and relationships, which is perfect for a comic about my very human life portrayed by anthropomorphic animals.
Exaggerating expressions and reactions is helpful for cartoon art; it’s more believable than the very subtle expressions that real people generally use in normal situations. But since drawings are symbols, the opportunity to really sell the emotion is there. Cats alternate between the extremes naturally already, so why not?!
Plus fuzzy things are great.