I Love Your Art Style So Much! I Completely Forgot That I’d Followed You, But I Saw Once Of Your Klance

i love your art style so much! i completely forgot that i’d followed you, but i saw once of your klance comics on my dash and thoughts it was sooo good! 😋 anyway i’ve been going through your blog all morning and it’s just so amazing and your art style is so cute! i would literally buy comic books from you! anyway, i do traditional art a lot and haven’t really gone into digital, but i kinda really want to nowadays.. any advice for just starting out? (tablet suggestions, marketing, etc.) 😊

Hello and thank you so much for the compliment! It’s going to be a while since a lot of planning, writing and drawing needs to be done before I can print the comics, but I’m happy to hear that you would buy. ^^

Advice about starting digital drawing….there’s so much this post could become a novel! But I guess I’ll start from the main thing: software and tablets.

Software

Okay, so, there are a lot of different programs for digital drawing and it might take a while before you find the one that works for you. Most artists that I know of either use Photoshop, SAI, CSP, or Procreate. As of now and for the last 3 years, I’ve been using Clip Studio Paint (CSP for short) for both my digital illustrations and animation. CSP is kind of like…a Mac version of SAI if that make sense? There’s so much to the program but it’s not as daunting as Photoshop. Also! Right now, they’re having a Black Friday Sale, so, the program cost only $25 for the whole weekend. It’s far more affordable than Photoshop and you can do the exact same stuff without having to take out a loan or something haha. Also, Photoshop isn’t and was never meant for digital drawing since it is originally a photo manipulation program. You can still use it for digital drawing if that what suits your tastes, but SAI and CSP are specifically made for digital drawing so the interface, brushes, and all that stuff were made and designed for the digital drawing. However, SAI is only for PC users. If you’re a Mac user (like me), I would recommend CSP. But if you don’t have money, there are free programs as well! Medibang and Krita are free drawing programs and are just as good (and I would argue good dupes) for SAI and CSP. I would suggest trying out the free programs before making a purchase for CSP, SAI or Photoshop though. Going from traditional to digital is an odd feeling so it’d be such a waste if you spent money and found out that digital drawing isn’t for you, ya know? 

Tablets

Alright! So, here’s the thing about tablets: buying the most expensive one isn’t always the right choice. There are plenty of tablets that are far more affordable than a Cintiq. Also, you’re only starting out so I would never advise to go out and buy a $1000+ tablet when you don’t really know if you like digital drawing yet. My first tablet was a Bamboo tablet by Wacom and it was only $100 (at that time). I would suggest buying a small tablet like the Wacom Intuos Small or a Huion since their prices normally are under $100. There are some mid range ones ($200-$300) like the Intuos Pro and XP-PEN that perform just as well as a Cintiq but I wouldn’t buy those unless you were really starting to think about working as a digital artist.

For digital artists, tablets are an investment. I currently own a Cintiq 13HD and iPad Pro but one is for personal use (iPad) and one is for work (Cintiq). Since I mainly do computer animation and digital illustration as my job, I needed to get a tablet that performed better than my small Bamboo Intuos. Also, I needed one in order to improve my workflow and efficiency. So, don’t go out and buy a Cintiq. Try out a smaller tablet. Or even better, if you have any friends who have drawing tablets, ask them if you can try them out and see if you like the feel of it. 

Tips/Advice for Digital Drawing

Okay so I’m just list off certain things I’ve learned along the way that I wish I knew when I first started digital drawing haha.

1. Take the time to learn your drawing program. Learn the interface, the hot-keys, shortcuts, tools and customize it to your liking for optimal efficiency. 

2. Use references! It’s okay to use references!

3. Don’t compare yourself to other artists. You’re only just starting so it’s not good to compare yourself to someone who has had more experience at digital drawing than you. You’re going at your own pace and that’s okay.

4. Your first drawings are going to be bad, and that’s okay. Sometimes you gotta make a hundred bad drawings before you get a good one. 

5. Be willing to try out new techniques and different methods.

6. Flip the canvas while you draw, don’t wait until you’ve finished the drawing. Flipping the canvas can help find inconsistencies.

7. Layers are your friends! You have friends, right? You know their names, right? So how come you don’t remember your layers’ names? Label your layers so you don’t end up sketching on the wrong layer!

8. This is if you own a Cintiq (or something similar): If you’re right-handed, customize and put all your hot-keys and shortcuts on the left-handed side of your keyboard. If you’re left-handed, put it on the right side. Efficiency boosted by 1000%.

9.  Have fun! Draw what makes you happy!

Lastly….marketing….well, I don’t really do that? Ah, it’s one of those things I’m not sure what to say cause even I don’t know if I’m doing it correctly haha. Or at all. But if you’re looking to establish a following centered around your art, I noticed there are 2 types of digital artists: the one that solely makes original content (OCs and their own stories) and the other one that makes fanart. Now, there are a variety of different digital artists. I’m just saying these are the most 2 common types I see. I’ve noticed…that if you make fanart…you’re more likely to gain traction faster. Since fandoms are such a huge thing now on social media, it’s easier for your art to get noticed if you draw fanart from a popular show, movie, game, etc. However, this doesn’t mean that if you don’t draw fanart you won’t build a following. In fact, there are tons of artists who solely create their own original content and hardly draw fanart but have a following that’s 10x bigger than mine. It really comes down to what you want to do. Actually, you can do whatever you want as long as you are enjoying it haha. If drawing fanart makes you happy, go for it. If drawing your OCs makes you happy, go for it. Personally, I love drawing fanart cause I enjoy creating scenarios and comics of my favorite characters outside of canon. I do have OCs and stuff, but I hardly post them cause they’re a bit more personal (and also I think no one would be interested in them haha). But yeah…I just think you should draw and make work that you enjoy cause that attracts people to your work. Sorry, that was a really long and confusing(?) answer but I hope that helps you haha.