NOT trying to be a downer! Just looking for any insight or advice!

I, 30 F in mid-south America, graduated from my BFA program in 2016. And I... haven't done very much since then.

Mostly just worked in restaurants. A few odd jobs as a Production Assistant. That kind of work.

A few years ago I started working on a graphic novel, mostly just to pass the time because I felt very strongly that there was nothing else I could do with my art. But, after a few years of production, that all fell through. (I was able to sign a contract for my GN with a publisher, but they weren't happy with my drawing speed so I was let go.) I try to stay positive about it though. I still have the art that I finished, over 80 pages of line art, which can at least go into my portfolio to show that I haven't been doing nothing in all the years since I've graduated. Even though I didn't take the BFA -> mark/eting agency route like my classmates did. I suppose if I had, I would be making good money in an agency by now. But I didn't take any of those jobs even though I got a few offers right out of school because I told myself that working in market/ing would be "settling".

For all these years, I'd held on to the idea that I would just "work on my portfolio some more" until I could "break in" to the animation industry. But I've given up on that idea lately, with everything that's happened there. So now I'm asking myself if it's time to go back to school for something else, anything else that I might find fulfilling, instead of continuing on just getting by with odd jobs...

I just feel completely unqualified for everything I want to do. I decided to try getting into publishing instead (doing volunteer editing for a magazine and taking courses for an Editing certificate at the moment) but getting an entry level job in publishing feels impossible when the few that I apply for keep going to candidates with MA's in english or publishing, which feels unnecessary in my opinion.

The kicker in all this for me is that I've been drawing a lot the last few years, my portfolio is much better than it was back in 2016, and I feel like I'd have a much better chance at breaking into animation now if I tried. But now the animation industry is in shambles, so it feels truly pointless to keep holding onto hope for myself.

And now I'm finding myself looking at Bachelors programs again, trying to pick between pursuing a degree in Civil Engineering or an MS in Mental Health Counseling, and trying to figure out which state I should move to now so I can get in-state tuition.

Anyway, I guess I'm just writing this to ask if anyone else in this group has ever found themselves at 30 with nothing else to do, and what they did about it.

I am going to be teaching an in-person series of classes for artists on essential skills, and would like to hear what you see as helpful things to learn in the art world. I'm planning on quick classes (1-3 hours depending on the subject) on skills such as how to stretch canvas, or how to properly stretch and tape watercolor paper. What are some items that were, or would be, helpful to learn?

I am 21, and geez I feel old even though, I am still young and still alive. I feel like this since I know many people younger than me are better. Like I feel like my art isn't where I want it to be. Also these people are more succesful than me like getting more money and the worst part they act very ungrateful for the following they have.

I want to go back to the days where I just drew stuff because it is fun and I like it. Not a chore where I am competing against others or feels like a checklist of ideas I might not get to.

I want to know if other struggle with this and what do you do about it?

I’m currently getting into drawing and i’m looking to invest in a digital device soon. I was curious as to how far practicing by hand will transfer into my skills of drawing digitally.

I see reviews about these brush rinsers on Amazon and local online shops: It's like a toilet/water dispenser where you press a button to replace paint water and clean your brushes.

Even if they're original and high quality (maybe Rinse Well or MEEDEN), they still leak at the plug/stopper and wastes the water you put in the container.

I was wondering if anyone has experienced the same thing and/or have some solution for it? I thought it was adding something on the plug covering it, or maybe the screw needs to be tightened?

It's a really helpful tool but I don't want to pay money replacing it if it inevitably leaks.

Hi everyone, so I’ve been an artist for a while and have mainly focused on drawing animals to the point where I’m pretty comfortable at stylizing a dog gesture or drawing pretty much any kind of animal from memory. When it came to people I’ve always struggled and opted for a hyper-realistic style using only reference. I’ve tried so hard to draw people from memory but it kind of always looks like a simple adventure time style person with noodle arms and a blank expression, and when drawing from reference it’s like I focus on every wrinkle and pore to the point where it looks like a grotesque mad magazine style caricature. I’ll admit they are pretty funny but it just isn’t the vibe I’m going for. I love anime art and have always wanted to draw effortless stylized characters with extreme perspectives and interesting outfits but no matter how much I reference and try to emulate my favorite artists it just doesn’t work and I take a long break from trying. I’ve been at this for about 10 years now. There’s a huge mental block preventing me from drawing people, much less stylized people from imagination. Where do I even start?

I know this is a hard question to answer but I want to be happy with my art instead of changing and changing, and I find how I want my lineart to be perfect to be infuriating so how can I make my lineart less perfect and how can I force myself to not make my lines so perfect.

Hey everyone,

I’m an artist who wants to start working on a series inspired by Black history and culture—both in Africa and across the diaspora. My goal is to bring attention to the strength, resilience, and hardships within these narratives through visual art, but I want to approach it with the utmost respect.

I’m very aware of the risks of coming across as exoticizing, performative, or speaking from a top-down lens, and that’s something I want to avoid entirely. I’m reaching out to ask: How can I represent these stories in a way that’s informed, authentic, and respectful—without overstepping or speaking for the community?

I’d really appreciate any advice, thoughts, reading suggestions, or feedback. Thanks in advance for your time and energy.

Peace and respect

Recently I’ve wanted to study values and colors and looked up a video on how to study those. I watch the video and after finishing it I’ve lost all motivation to even study bc of the art shown in the video. I’m aware there’s no way I could be as good as someone that has practiced for years but I can’t do anything about his disheartenment. Everyone always says the find inspiration in other peoples art when all I feel is dread and and sadness that I can’t and might never be able to draw as good as them. How do I fix this or is this even fixable? I’ve been trying to beat it for so long but it just makes drawing impossible for me.

Hello everyone, I've been asked by a painter friend of mine to help them with a project. It's supposed to be a view from a balcony over a seaside, painted on the ceiling, walls and the floor, where a person can stand on the floor and pretend they're on the balcony.

Image explaining the illusion: https://i.imgur.com/v0F9DhV.jpeg (just an example photo, not the real project)

We don't have a problem with the sketch or painting per se, but we aren't sure how to warp/stretch the parts that are supposed to go on the ceiling, side walls and the floor, so that when you look at it from a distance, it looks like one, continuous photograph. The only wall we can paint the image on as-is is the front facing wall, obviously.

I hope you get what I'm trying to explain, sorry, English isn't my first language.

Do you know of any techniques or tutorials we could use to make this project happen? Should we use some kind of a grid maybe? We will have a digital sketch prepared in photoshop and we're thinking perhaps we could use the perspective warp somehow but we have no idea how to make the actual modification.

Hello,

I've picked up on some patterns just from videos I've seen here and there. Like using multiple layers, and setting one to multiply for shadows, for example. Or quickly using the select tool to make it easier to quickly color in an area.

I'm struggling with a lot of technical aspects. Like finding the right brushes, and what different uses are for each. I'm just at the "drawing basics" part of my journey, but I'd like to dabble into other stuff as I slowly get through this, but am not sure of how to navigate a lot of the rest of the digital side.

Also, I'm wondering what other "tricks", shortcuts, optimizations could be beneficial that I might not be aware of. I'd rather not have to stumble into them all accidentally and was hoping there is a good course somewhere for teaching some specifically some of the digital aspects of learning.

Thank you for any help!

In title, just curious if any one knew any communities where this is practiced!

So I'm trying to get an ipad for art, and I'm stuck between a 13" M2 (6th gen) ipad air for $620 or an 11" 5th gen ipad air for $420. Which one should I get? Not sure if the bigger screen is worth the extra $.

Individual pencils are cheaper here so I'll get them anyways. But should I choose the set colors or choose my own ones? What do you think about the colors in the sets? I want to get 36-46 pencils.

These are my renditions of Eva & Sparda DmC. Finished Eva, so I'll be coloring Sparda soon..

It's been a long time since I posted anything here. But anyway any feedback is cool...I know there's some mistakes on it. So I'll likely be more consistent on making sure they look much better

Eva colored piece https://youtube.com/shorts/HuJ4hZpbnas?feature=shared

Sparda lineart https://youtube.com/shorts/--UF2WtAN8c?feature=shared

• Intentions: What were you aiming for with this work? What are you trying to say/show with this?
  • I'm mostly trying to make a necromantic tome for this. I'm mostly trying to make this as a way to show off my progress as I started drawing 8 months ago
• Inspiration: Share your inspirations related to this piece. What do you like in their work and how does it inspire yours?
  • My inspiration just came outta nowhere as I was mostly just drawing the skeletal hand as practice and memorizing the structure of a hand as I'm a bio college student.
• Direction: What direction do you want this critique to take? Do you want critique to be focused on one specific point (e.g. rendering technique,) or an overall aspect (e.g. concept) or anything at all?
  • I want it to be anything at all as like I said I started drawing 8 months ago.
• Your own critique: Provide your own judgement based on what you have written for the points above. This will help those commenting avoid telling you what you already know
  • I feel like it could be better like the lines a little more straighter and smoother and better pen control as I have a tendency to push on my pen hard which makes the lines bolder.

Also if you guys have any good companies to buy haptic gloves please tell me its a pain with my hand getting in the way.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1319458277695688704/1358488293439705259/IMG_0268.png?ex=67f40650&is=67f2b4d0&hm=7f46fe3165c42a990c4488839fc4d7e2b911b55970c60f81d6797e0197eb4960&

I recently bought some acoustic wall panels from Home Depot and I’d like to paint them, but they’re PVC material.

What kind of paint can I use for that?

I’ve heard some artists use thumbnail stretches to help them draw a pose, scene, or character from scratch. But I’m still kind of confused on how you’d go about doing something like that. Has anyone here made a thumbnail sketch before? If so, what do you usually do them and whats the process of making one look like?

Hey Folks! So I just recently tried to create a portfolio and I just wanted to I could get good feedback for my future endeavors. I don't think this one is that good or like makes me seem like a "Hireable" Artist but still, I needed to make it to get my diploma.

along with it, I think I have a problem in that I am inspired by a lot of sources (like niche games and pop culture stuff ) so I do not want to settle over an art style yet (even tho I used to wish for that before but the pressure hindered my growth)

and also I am not sure of what niche of art to go to like I wish to generally become an independent artist who can work on his personal projects but also get some projects from outside so that I can earn...and also foster a community of artists, because where I'm from, I feel we still do not have one (we do have some but it is on very macro levels )

Other than all of this, I am open to any amount of feedback or anything else you feel like to mention!

Here's the link:

https://www.behance.net/gallery/220737675/2D3D-Artist-Portfolio-%282025%29

Thank you so much in advance!

This feels like an age old question but I was surprised after googling and watching several youtube videos I couldn't find a thread or video that directly answered my question.

So I have a Huion tablet currently, it's a Kanvas 13 not sure which generation (I've only had it about 2 years and it was a gift from my brother). But it handles all of my drawing needs just fine and I've gotten very comfortable and use to drawing on it. But I am coming up on alot of money from my tax return and thinking of possibly getting a new tablet.

Why get a new tablet if you're comfortable with what you're drawing on?

Great question, although I enjoy my Huion and have gotten used to a work flow, I can't help but wonder, what is the "Drawing Feel" specifically on other tablets. From my experience drawing digitally there is a learning curve to getting used to a screen but you generally get over this over the first few days. That being said I switch alot back in fourth between sketchbooks and will frequently bring my drawings to the computer so although I am used to switching back and fourth. I just wonder is that small window of time it takes me now (maybe an hour or two) to get used to drawing on the tablet artificial? When I see people draw on the ipad it certainly seems like the drawing feel is more paperlike and less glossy across the screen, although I don't know I've never drawn on one. I have a paper like screen cover for my huion and this has made things better but is there something I'm missing out on? If this helped my efficiency finishing a drawn I'd definitely see this as a plus. If it matters, I am a student about to graduate and I'll be working in this field. So I am considering efficiency if it helps me get done with projects faster. Anyway sorry if this post seems redundant but I never see anyone talk about this point, they'll mention every other talking point under the sun, even hitting on responsiveness between tablets but yet they fail to mention how does it feel to you subjectively. I don't care about the technicalities of this many hertz, this graph of drawing pressure, etc. Art is pretty intuitive and everyone here should be able to easily explain to me what feels better.

TLDR; I'm only considering the drawing feel comparing Huion and Apple. Does the drawing feel of the apple feel better and if so is it a signficant difference, do you feel like you can get your work done faster because of this percieved difference? If so elbaorate, 50% faster or very slim margin. Efficiency is the main thing driving my curiosity. Also kind of a side note, I rest my hand on the tablet a decent amount while I'm drawing, (i know you're supposed to use the shoulder but I like drawing this way lol) will this be a problem if I'm switching to a ipad which is touch screen? I don't want to constantly be moving my canvas or accidentally drawing things.

Hey everyone, I’ve been going back and forth between pursuing a career in coding (which I’ve been learning for a while) and my true passion, which is art. The problem is, I feel like I'm just learning coding to appear smart and make money, but it doesn’t bring me the same fulfillment that my art does. My concern is that if I go all in on art, I'll end up struggling financially, which scares me.

I see coding as a "safe" path that promises a good income, while art is more uncertain and doesn’t seem as practical for supporting myself long term. But, honestly, I feel torn because I love creating, and that’s where my heart is.

Has anyone else felt this conflict between pursuing something financially stable versus following your true passion? How did you balance the two (or did you have to choose)? Is it possible to make art your career without staying broke?

Would love to hear your thoughts and experiences.

I bought my first posca. it was 16 pack and I used all pens and the white pen was not like the others

1- when used it it wasn’t new 2- it’s so watery

Idk if it was used or something but I hope it’s not :(

I'll preface this by saying I'm in the UK. I use acrylic paint pens a lot in one of my practises. I know some refillable ones exist, but has anyone got any experience with them please?

I know I'll need the paint to be a bit thinner, but do I need to use a specialist acrylic ink, or can I dilute my standard acrylics with a liquefying medium of some form?

If so, is there a known ratio?

Will I need to replace nibs regularly?

I'm disillusioned with the provision of some colour shade groups in pretty much all acrylic paint pen producers I've tried; and I keep hitting points where my existing pens are constantly running out of specific shades. I would love to also be able to be more sustainable.

(As well as being an artist, I'm a sustainability procurement researcher for a furniture company and am aware acrylics aren't sustainable; but I believe that functional sustainability is about picking your battles and baby steps towards something better are better than nothing)

Thanks in advance!

Hello!

I'm in search for possible best thick paper for my beloved matte pencils from Faber Castell (plus eventually Mars Lumograph Black). Mostly im sketching things like stylized portraits (not hyperrealistic), some weird stuff from imaginery ; )

Im drawing with HB & 14B from FC (sometimes 8B), and with HB + 6/7B from Lumograph Black.

I need a paper that will best reflect the intensity of the blackness (possibly also reduce the gloss of 14B a bit) and allow for expressive drawing.

Format A3+-

Is there anything suitable for such pencils on the market?

To this day I have tried the products of my national brand, but I would also like to check others if there is perhaps something better.

Hello, i would like to learn to color my works but when i am using the bucket tool, the color goes over the lines when I select "expand" when the lines are thin. Do you know some methods or programs that make coloring easier? I am using Firealpaca currently.