Started taking my 2D art foundation class for my degree. We basically had to cut out stuff from magazines that represented the elements of 2D design or something like that.

Anyways here’s some pics of my poster board. I tried to make it funny since this shit was pretty easy. But I’m not gonna lie this kinda feels a bit useless to me. Especially since it’s college, but eh I’m probably being too negative now. Hopefully it’ll get better as the semester continues

What paper do you guys and gals suggest I can buy in bulk? A sketchbook can be quite expensive and while regular printer paper is very cheap in large quantities, it's simply not suitable for regular shading because it's too smooth of a surface to really hold subtle changes to the shading. What do you suggest?

For general sketchbook purposes I get the yellow Strathmore Drawing sketchbooks. You can also get the Sketch paper pads, but those are thinner paper with less tooth so it might not be what you’re looking for.

The green Strathmore toned drawing pads are generally really good for sketching if you get a white pencil as well.

The unfortunate reality is good paper costs money, and if you’re doing graphite work you are going to want something that can hold it well.

Alternatively you can also get big newsprint pads they’re really cheap, but if you switch to graphite (messier yes, but much more fun and darker darks than pencil) it works well, and you’ll be able to get the same type of studies in.

To summarize all of that: if you’re looking to build skills with pencil go for the cheaper paper and tough it out.

If you want to make finished full graphite compositions, it might be worth it to try out charcoal, pencil tends to be seen as inherently a sketching medium, and you’ll probably constantly be asked if you’re going to be inking or coloring the pencils.

wanted to get these scrunkly cuties if i wasn't broke (they're biohazard plushies i found on ebay)

The first thing I see when I finally decide to pop in this thread:

Bro went the naked man dimension, not what I was expecting to see coming here.

PFFFFF! Sorry for that being one of the first things you got exposed to in this thread lol!

My classmates and my professor were definitely giving me strange looks since I was one of the few people who tried to make their poster boards funny.

You give me something easy to do and there’s an 50/50 chance I’ll make it funny or actually make it look cool. I think we both know which route I took.

I got some charcoal pencils, but why do you say that charcoal is a factually better tool to use?

Yall actually bother with supplies? I only really use whatever school supplies I have lying around

Also, 2nd question, does anyone else here omit the blending stump entirely? For me, it smears and blurs everywhere and I find it ruins my drawing. I don't care for hyper-realistic photocopy like drawings. So I guess I can omit using one? I dunno, it's a tool but wanted to hear feedback if I was shortchanging myself not using one.

Getting your values accurately blocked out is a lot more important than softening some of the edges between them, so yeah, focus on the first part first and try blending after that. If it doesn't look great with hard edges between values, chances are it won't look any better with them blended.

Charcoal is generally much faster than graphite since it's softer, so you can block in forms a lot quicker, this is especially good for doing still lives/gesture drawing quickly. Also a single piece of charcoal is much darker than your standard array of pencils, so you can get really deep shadows, and by smearing/using a softer hand you can still get the lighter values in.

On top of this you have a much larger flat with charcoal sticks so you can get bigger fills in. The downside is, it is much more prone to smears/smudging and getting everywhere. to preserve permanence make sure you have a fixative spray (I just use cheap hairspray).

Also as mentioned, finished pieces in charcoal are much more readily accepted than finished pieces in pencil would be.

I'm not saying charcoal is factually better in every scenario than pencil. Sketching on the bus, or on a lunch break, pencils will take it evertime, same for doing sketches and layouts for ink drawings. But if you're doing studies in a studio environment, or want to do final compositions, charcoal is generally a superior tool (that is pencil adjacent) to learn. But pencil will also do just fine. Charcoal pencils are good to have to get in detail on full charcoal pieces or if you're working at a smaller scale, but when you're working at the larger scales that charcoal is most effective at, the extra cost and loss of variability makes them not as worth it to use.

The only time I've ever used one was in classes where we were explicitly told to use them. Also sometimes for colored pencil they work, but I don't really do that type of blending much with colored pencil. It's a nice tool for if you're doing realism, or need smooth blends, but since you said you don't do that you don't really need them.

By realism, you mean just happens to be or leaning towards realism or did you mean the photocopy realism I was specifying?

A more accurate way to put it I guess would be if you’re drawing anything with very smooth/soft/subtle gradation and shading that a pencil on its own would be less effective at depicting.

Also blending stumps/tortillions can be used to get different textures that pencils can’t really do on their own so look into that as well.

Maybe, I use a mechanical pencil for not only for work, but also for drawing.

I messed up an inked piece this morning because my hands wouldn't stop shaking, Any tips to steady them?

Jesus its BUSY in here:

Ghost your strokes so you can make quicker, more confident lines. Going slow and too careful will result in shaky lines.

Mixed up the order and now I’m covered in ectoplasm.

i wish we could change wallpapers on ng to the old ones from years gone by :)

I hate to say this... But I absolutely hate pork.🤢

They're beautiful artworks, that's for sure!

I'm really starting to get and accept that drawing or painting is in a way, a one way street or like an escalator. Digital can train what I see as a negative mindset is that you can turn back when you should be seeing a drawing as only going forward. Make a mistake? You could erase partially, but you should see every decision as going forward instead of turning. If that makes any sense.

tl;dr I'm really starting to see a process of drawing as always going forward. Any mistakes of any kind should just be regarded as just part of the process and either learn to incorporate them or just accept them if they're minor enough.

i think i lost my tablet pen when i moved am i cooked. i barely drew digitally anymore anyways but it was nice to have for touchups and coloring.

can you order replacement pens for these things or are they calibrated to work with only the exact drawing tablet you own? mine's from middle school so i'm not very optimistic that they'd still manufacture them even if they did work :P time to go fully traditional i guess

I have had to replace a tablet pen for my intuos 4 about five years after having it, so it’s pens are not locked to a single device (unless we’ve reached that point of the dystopia by now)

Check the compatibility specs for your model with whatever pen the current model is using, they’re probably the same or at least compatible with yours.

Failing that you can look for the specific pen model you had on eBay, I’ve had luck finding cables for discontinued electronics/hardware there — not 1-1 exactly with your issue but pretty similar type of thing.

I will also add at the end here, sometimes the pens are stupid expensive, depending on if you want to get more into digital art, and if your tablet is old this might be a jumping off point to get yourself a newer one — I know I’m waiting for anything to go wrong with mine so I’ll have an excuse to upgrade.

Should I add a outline around them or leave it as it is.

This is my first time using a small color palate.

To any one that sees this:

I'll be in the Philly area next weekend, I'm going to see The Hives live at the Fillmore. This is just a call to anyone that will let a stranger crash at their place for that weekend, 27th to the 29th. I'll get a hotel if I need to, but I want to explore my options first before I leave. DM me plz :,(

Have a nearly complete gundam model for today

I haunt the help forum a lot, and I'm just venting that I'm pretty tired of seeing Ai prompt people going huh what?? my art isnt Ai!!! (it clearly is) why was it removed???

Compounding this is that its people who are trying to prompt out pixel art specifically, which as far as I can tell is immune to any sort of Ai trickery. Ai does not understand or emulate the basic concept of what a pixel is and the specific fundamentals and principles of pixel art are beyond most people, let alone an algorithm. I dont think it can ever be programmed to do that specifically, and even if it could theres no incentive to, any effort to cover it up would need to be done by somebody who does and it would significantly degrade the forgery and still leave tells that it isnt legitimate, ai frauds cannot comprehend this so it keeps happening. At least its very easy to tell. Its about as easy to tell as somebody taking a photograph and using a filter on it, since that is about the limitation of what they can imagine doing.

What is the point of trying to trick people like that? Any admiration for the work is not yours, its the algorithms and the patchwork of works the generation is based off of....

Can anybody share their ways of naming their OCs?

I usually tend to use 4 ways:

1. Use misspelling of words (e.g: Infinate instead of infinite, could also be a variant of Nate)
2. Come along a randomly generated one in my head (and find out it's already taken by some business)
3. Just give them video game usernames (my worldbuilding is already a bit game-oriented)
4. Go all-out weeb

Recently, I just named one of my OCs Gari Daunt. I'm quite proud of it, as it does not strictly fit into any of the 3 categories. (And it even comes with a surname)