r/ArtistLounge

Hey all, new to this community, and happy to be here. Just wondering if there are any other American Expats working and living in Europe in this group?

I’ve been binge watching YouTube art tutorials and tips videos again because they motivate me and I like them

But I’ve noticed something in a lot of the “art tips” videos from multiple creators, they all have the advice to have some art be kept private and not posted ever. They stress that this could be difficult but it’s worth it so just try

A lot of the tips generally revolve around posting art. Like if you click on an OC video, half of the advice is how to make it stand out or how to get attention or how to respond to criticism

It’s just extremely odd to me as someone who doesn’t do social media but does tons of art privately and never posts it.

The impression I’m getting is that most people post a lot or most of their art and I just didn’t expect that. I’ve been doing it regularly since I was a kid and digitally for 12 years. I’m kinda curious about it

Anyway, does anyone have site recommendations so I could try it out once or twice and what are your thoughts on it

For over 10 years, I've wanted to be a full time artist and creator. I dove into making tons of art pieces, tabled at a variety of shows/comic cons, sold online, had art in galleries, created YouTube videos, poured hours into social media and more. I had off and on had a few part time jobs, never full time until this year.

I took a big hiatus away from my whole pursuit of my art career this summer and beginning of fall. It wasn't as refreshing as I thought it would be. I spent a huge amount of my time on my phone doing nothing. As I slowly arose from that hiatus, I made some artwork but it's felt completely hollow. This has been my story since trying to get back into things this fall.

Taking a huge step back since I've been struggling with motivating myself now to do any art, I've been pondering what as been fueling me and what I'm even trying to do or say with my art. I can't believe that only now, after everything, I realize what's been motivating me had been fear.

Fear of failure, fear of not making money, fear of disappointing others, fear of not making it and needing a job.

It had been fueling me to do anything this entire time. Mainly the idea of not making it and having to get a job had been paralyzing me with fear for way too long. And now, I have a job I like and can support myself. And it's not as scary as I thought it would be.

So the question I'm grappling with right now is: what the heck is motivating me now? There's no more fire under my ass telling me I need to do anything. I can do nothing and no one will care. I can say I have these deep motivators like needing to show others awe, wonder and the beauty of the world. But honestly, it's still not enough to make me create. Because why? Why does it matter? What am I going to do with these big canvases after I paint them? Have them collect dust in my closet since it's a niche genre of art? Do I even want to be a full time artist anymore?

What are the reasons you make art? What motivates you? What do you do with your artwork? Do you share it? I want to make things again. I just can't motivate myself now. I can't see the reason why.

I see a lot of posts here asking if/should/could someone do this/that as an artist

You’re an artist

There are no rules, whatever rules you’ve heard are made up

Do whatever you want to do

If you don’t have red use blue

Draw whatever you want with whatever you have

Bic pens and crayons are valid art supplies

Use craft paint until you can buy golden

Paint on cardboard until you can afford canvas

Dumpster dive for things to paint on

Just make art

It does not matter

The only way to fail as an artist is to not make art

Keep making art and you’ll never fail

Sincerely an artist who learned things the hard way

I obviously wanna get better but my mind glances over the basic stuff and I was wondering if there was a way around that. I run into this issue when trying to learn a new method (inking, digital art, etc.)

So I have a very similar art to this other artists (I am not stating their name), and they stated that if people reference or take inspiration from their art or artstyle, it makes them uncomfy. I had my artstyle for at least 2-3 years now and I tweaked and changed it over the years, at first I was fine with this until I was accused of copying and referencing their work because we had an similar artstyle. I was kind of annoyed as nobody can own an artstyle because normally, as you keep drawing your artstyle gets inspired by many artist in the art community. So I don’t get why people accuse and call out other just because they have a similar artstyle. I know that tracing and heavy copying is not allowed but for me my art wasn’t similar to that artist‘s art and I got jumped by their fans because of this. I got told by many people to stop copying their artstyle and find out your own one, but the problem is that I had this artstyle for a few years and I am really used to it. I am really confused because even if I draw a small part that is included in their artstyle I get called out, Eg- circle highlights at the side of the face, jelly like rendering etc.. I honestly don’t want to make them feel uncomfortable but I just don’t get why some artists don’t want people to take inspiration from their artsyle. Any opinions about this?

Uhh ok reading some of the comments, some people asked me about the artist‘s name is but I really think (in my opinion) that it’s not a good idea as the artist is probably a minor, (judging by their behavior) and I really don’t want to make this a big deal. I just wanted an opinion on it as it was my first time experiencing this. Sorry if you don’t agree with this but I hope that you’ll understand, and for the people that are skeptical about this post because it’s a new account, I just wanted to let you know that I made this Reddit account because one of my friends suggested it to me when I told her about the situation.

I’ve been painting for what feels like a very long time and I am wary of getting too stuck in my ways so I try to explore new and interesting palettes regularly. I find it refreshing and it gives me versatility. But I still am always curious what else is out there, for example some colours hardly ever use and I really struggle to incorporate in a harmonious combination even if I love them on their own but in a palette they just muddy things up or are just too intense. We all have our favourites and I think the palette I’ve defaulted to most often is the Zorn palette (yellow ochre, ivory black, vermilion, and titanium white), because it works so well with figures and portraits… and with so few colours the mixes are never dull or muddy, but I am curious what everyone else is reaching for as their go to palette.

I have this painting ( acrylic on canvas) I finished it around June. I’ve been staring at it too long and now I see all kinds of details I don’t like and would like to change. But I already varnished it.

So is it possible to remove the varnish or should I just leave it?

If it’s possible, how should I do it?

Is it true anybody can draw or is it propaganda? I’ve seen the kids who could draw from their head whatever they imagined and put it into paper having zero training, while the rest of us could only make stick figures. But now as an adult I keep hearing “you can draw if you want to!”, and I’m just wondering, is it true or do they just want to sell me a course?

I picked up drawling after years of not and have been abit rusty. However I've taken this time to practice things like anatomy and character design. Unfortunately in the process of doing so I accidentally burnt myself

I've been taking it easy but I also am feeling the need/want to drawl again. How do I do this without further tiring myself out? Should I just do a small doodle? Work on my big project but only make small progress? Should I avoid drawling all together until I've fully recovered? Should I just push through the burnout all together and hone my craft? (Unlikely but I'm open to suggestions)

If it helps I'm mostly doing this as a hobby and to help some friends out with personal projects like DND or Yt Videos. There really isn't much pressure or any money on the line, but I still want to get better and shake all the this rust off. (Preferably without getting drained)

Edit: I genuinely didn't expect this question to be in the FaQ, sorry about that. I would still like to hear other people's perspectives though on how they handle burnout. I know it suggests to try starting something fresh but I already have so many "new" and unfinished projects of many different styles and I don't really want to start a new one. I just want to continue drawling without making my burnout worse but idk how

I'm not like totally heartless lol I understand the feeling of being lost or overwhelmed. But I feel like I see so many threads that are a variation of...

• "I want to climb a staircase, but I've been too unenthused to climb the stairs. How can I climb the stairs even though I don't feel climbing the stairs? Is there a trick that'll make me want to climb stairs"

• "I want to climb this staircase. Is it okay to run up the stairs? Can I walk down the stairs? Can I take periodic breaks on my way up the stairs? Will the stair police beat me with a stick if I'm not climbing them right?"

• "I heard there's a singular $10 bill at the top of this staircase. I've never ever climbed a stair in my life. SHould I quit my job and studycourse so I can make a career out of climbing stairs?"

Like damn, the world would be better if people retained a childlike curiosity towards things. Idk lol

So basically I have been supporting this digital artist for some time buy requesting commisions. They were very happy that people started noticing their profile and became more active. Thing is I want to gift them something special, that can give value to their artist journey. It could be either physical but as of now prerably digital.

Hello everyone. I've been wondering, how many traditional artists are in this group who tried and abandoned digital art? I'd be interested in hearing your stories, why have you decided to not continue doing it anymore?

I watched this video yesterday, and I have to wonder: are there spaces that are less prone to bullying than others? Are the big social media websites more prone to bullying than small sites like Cara.app?

_

I'm scrolling reddit and I passed a few pieces that were pretty bad. One in particular was a great idea executed poorly.

All of a sudden I was filled with ideas on how to reimagine the concept.

That got me thinking about the title. I would never look down on an amateur artist. I believe every human should be required to draw a picture at least once a frickin month. It's so relaxing. Anyways....amateurs rarely get recognition. Yet they're probably responsible for more ideas than we really realize.

And isn't even better than being inspired by a masterpiece? The master has perfected techniques that others want to emulate, but now you're risking it being derivative if you take inspiration from it. If you're inspired by an amateur artist, you're going to have to rely on your own techniques to achieve your plan. Which should lead to you developing a more personal style.

Right?

Any excerises to get better with line work? I always have a compulsion to make it all a very uniform size, which tends to look off, and when I do try to add more variation it never seems to be correct. I've been drawing for quite some time with a bad habit of never finishing pieces, so I'm really out of practice with this. Any advice or excersises?

I mistakenly got the sand eraser refills for the sakura, and when i used them on my derwent i maybe got half a centimetre before i had to change nibs. Are there any out there that are made for derwent or do i need to switch electric erasers?

A lot of people probably just want something pretty on their wall but others hope to be intrigued, excited, or moved in a certain way

Hi everyone,

Hope you are doing good

I am a visual artist, I am currently working on an art project about the forms of memory — not their content, but how they manifest when we remember.

When you recall something, what do you experience? Is it a still image, a short film, a blur, a sound, a color, a physical sensation? Or maybe just a presence, with no visual form at all?

I’m trying to gather different ways people see or feel their memories, to build a kind of representation of how memory appears — an archive of the inner film that happens in our mind when we recall something.

I’d love to hear how you experience yours, in any way you want to describe it.

(To be clear, I’m not studying this academically — it is an intuitive visual art project about perception and memory.)

I ask people IRL but I am also curious to ask a wider online audience about memories. Also these are my first steps at posting on reddit so feel free to let me know if I am missing something and if you have any questions ! :)

Many thanks

Ok so, this might be a stupid question for some, but i have to ask. ive been really interested in digital art since I was young and i always noticed that artists, after outlining their sketches, they would paint their characters gray, and then colour them. What does the gray help with? Ive heard of grayscale but it doesn’t make sense to me since the character is covered with the same shade of grey, not different shades. Is it to help check if the outline doesn’t have any open spaces?😓 I tried searching but i can’t really find information related to this since I don’t really know what im talking about.

As the title says. I've seen this around every now and again, 'do not copy/trace/take inspiration from my art'. While the 'do not copy/trace' makes enough sense to me, I can't understand the last one. I feel like it's not even possible to specifically *not* take inspiration from any one given thing, since we take inspiration from all of our memories and experiences all the time. What do you all think?

I'm talking the kind of advice that made you go huh!?!? because it made no sense and makes you wonder if they know what they're even saying, mine was "don't use guidelines (they meant vanishing points) in perspective drawing because its a lazy cheat"

I just bought a $37 pen that broke within the first hour of use and I feel absolutely awful about it lol, I need reassurance that I’m not the only one who’s spent good money on something only for it to go horribly wrong 😭

Am i the only one who draws perfectly on the right page of sketchbooks but not on the left page…????

why is that….Does this happen to you too?

Made an animation for a contest. Someone asked if animation is mine and someone else replied "No it's not theirs". I literally have some of my process of creation in my profile (which I informed them on), why do they keep denying it? Is this rage bait? And if so, how do y'all artists deal with such occurrences? I never had to deal with this previously. Also part of the reason I didn't wanted to post my art before was cuz I was afraid of it to get stolen. But someone accusing of my own drawings to NOT be mine is... I feel like my anxiety is partially playing into it but I don't want my rights to my own art questioned and denied when I show evidence I made that.

Hi guys, may be a bit of a silly question but I was just wondering if it would be possible to trace my graphite drawing using tracing paper and a non photo blue pencil, and to them transfer that blue onto a separate paper for inking? I was thinking in the context of potentially doing my own comic book. I have never used a non photo blue before so not too sure how well they interact with tracing paper. Thanks for your help in advance! Also, would a lightbox be useful for this?

i love art, i love to learn, and greatly value all the wonderful teaching youtubers out there, but this isnt about them. I want something funny. Im not always in the mood to turn my brain on, sometimes i just want to consume art content and people talking about what theyre working on without it being from the lense of a teacher. Can i get some recommendations of who you watch for non educational art content? I like funny or commentary videos, people making animatics, sketchbook tours or really anyone just talking about something theyre working on or a passionate about. Anything thats just people making art not teaching/critiquing art does that make sense?

i hope i explained that well but just incase, some examples of the content i mean are people like drawfee, emma artly, lavander towne, actuallyrea, monster garden etc, im sure theres way more and thats why im here please tell me your favourite art guys!

My mouths in my style are literally just one line in various shapes or two if it's a open mouth. It's a bit easier if it's African lips because I shade African lips differently with the coloring but with any other lips, it's kind of hard because unless they're wearing lipstick, it's just a line or two.

So I guess I'm mainly asking you to stylize a cleft lip, my account has my art if you want reference on my artstyle, thanks in advance!

I really want to improve and I know in order to do that I need to make something, anything, first. But sometimes I just look what I make and I’m like damn…

It just kills your motivation sometimes you know? Idk. Please tell me you know what I’m talking about because I know of the artists on here just make what they want and they don’t think much about it but I’m a thinker, I’m an over thinker actually. So I’d love to hear what other over thinkers have to say about this if possible.

I am a self-taught artist that has had some success with their painting (some exhibits, magszines etc.). But time and time again, I keep getting told that I will never get into a gallery or really be successful if I don't have a formal qualification. Unfortunately, I have been chronically ill for the past 3.5 years and can't go to a university to get a degree. I have very little energy (about 2 hours a day). So I was wondering if there were any good diploma courses that are online and self-paced? I know good art programs on the internet are tricky to find because it is a very practical subject, but I thought it would be worth a try to ask!

I'd be super grateful for any tips you can send my way!

I know this is a long shot but here it goes.

I'm GenX and growing up had an uncle with a poster of what can only described as a split-view of "modern society" and hell, if that makes any sense. If I remember correctly "society" comprised of a chaotic outdoor scene with a mountain maybe volcano, people running around (and *I think* a pit) and being thrown into "hell" with demon/devil like characters.

Edit: The poster was landscape and the "wide view" with characters being about the size of an adult thumb. :)

Although young at the time I found the poster fascinating AF! He eventually gave it to me in early-mid 80s but over the years was lost in one of many moves. At the time the poster was probably 15+ years old and already in bad shape so wouldn't have lasted much longer anyway. Now here I am 30 years later hoping someone might know what I'm talking about. TIA!

For me that most tutorials on Youtube don't work at all lol, or just are not for everyone. Like, it's a lot harder than they show it.

I’m thinking about entering an art course because she is one of my favorite artist! I haven’t entered any courses in art and just wondering if they actually help.

I saw a TikTok a while ago. He was talking about (I don’t know if it was a website or a book but it was a set of practices that’d increase in difficulty) and how ever since he started, it actually improved his art. I know this is very broad description but I can’t find anything about it anymore, and I know this might just resonate with somebody

Hi! I want to start making my own merch, but I don't want to make stuff like plastic pins or acrylic stands/keychains because I feel bad about about how it impacts the environment... Ideally I want something that's actually useful and not Just pretty. Feel free to share your ideas:)

I always struggle when adding detail to hair, it either looks too flat or too messy. I try using different brushes and layers, but it never feels natural.

How do you guys approach drawing or painting hair so it looks realistic but not overdone? Do you go strand by strand, or think more in shapes and light? Any tips or brush settings that help?

Art stores are my version of Disneyland. I walk in calm and collected… and leave hours later with 10 things I didn’t plan to buy. Every time I completely lose my mind, my eyes can’t focus because I want to look at everything. I always tell myself I’ll just “take a quick look,” but somehow hours disappear. Yesterday I went in just to buy colored paper, and I genuinely couldn’t decide which color was prettier… so I bought them all. Please tell me I’m not the only one who does this. 🙈 Also, does anyone else have a weird obsession with wooden paint sets? They’re just too beautiful to resist.

I've spent about a year just learning and trying to do perspective drawing, but I still can't draw perspective heavy things like buildings. At what point do I need to stop?

Too expensive, takes too much time, what's the point, I will quit anyway, it's just a temporary itch, I have other things I need to focus on, I don't want to practice, I feel overwhelmed, I know I will be frustrated when I can't express my vision due to lack of skills, nobody will care, it will take time away from other creative pursuits, I have no talent, I won't be good at it, I tried and quit before so why try again, I don't even know what I want to express...

I've been trying to take art more seriously recently because I haven't been improving at all in art for the past year. I saw that some artists that im following made art courses in patreon that are fairly cheap, I'm still not sure whether I should buy one of them or buy an art course from a professional artist. Please give me some advices (English isn't my native language so sorry if there are any grammatical errors)

I’ve been using art books and video tutorials but I’ve been hearing other people say it’s super important to take art classes and courses or else you won’t reach full potential. Is this true? Right now I don’t have the time or money to enroll in any classes and courses so I’ve been trying to teach myself with the resources I have access to.

I am new to Fiverr, so I probably should have done more research into this artist before commissioning. I was acting on trust and good faith, and it seems like for this situation perhaps more caution should've been taken.

I commissioned a pixel art character for one of the video games I am developing. The artist I found had a portfolio I liked and a 4.9 rating, so I thought, for sure, I will get an excellent result.

I ordered 3 characters. I submitted my references, and paid a total of about $300 AUD. This was ~a week ago.

I received a progress pic today with the artist going "Do you like it? If so I will move onto the next stage!"

I almost cried. One of the three characters I commissioned is black, and they came back completely white. Not even the "not dark enough" problem or an ashy gray - the character is the exact same shade as my other characters.

There was also a huge style difference. Not only did the art not look like their portfolio, the artist literally traced over an RPG Maker base (which is probably why all the characters are white).

In addition to that, one of the character's outfit is a completely different colour. The hair had no shading at all and it looks completely flat, making the RPG Maker base look incredibly detailed in comparison. The golds on the outfit are literally yellow.

Do I even ask for changes at this point? I feel like if they are tracing over an RPG Maker Base and can't even vary the skin tone of their characters, it's probably a lost cause. They might simply not have the skill to do it. And the fact that they made my black character completely white just leaves a bad taste in my mouth and I don't want to continue. I'm just sad. If they can't or didn't want to draw POC, they shouldn't have accepted my order.

Would I have grounds for a refund? Note that they have not "completed" the order yet. I think the angle of them possibly using someone else's work to represent their own on their portfolio might be my best case, but I'm not sure.

UPDATE: Thank you everyone for your replies!! I reached out to Fiverr support with my concerns, primarily around how the art style doesn't match their portfolio, and the tracing of the RPG Maker base (I don't own RPG Maker and have no idea if the artist does, so I actually have no idea the legal implications of essentially owning stolen art). The Fiverr staff responded pretty quickly, agreeing with how the art doesn't match the portfolio. I have my money back.

I recently bought a set of acrylic markers and I really enjoyed using them. I came from watercolor and gouache so my sketchbooks are all watercolor paper. Can I still use them with my new markers? I heard you only use smooth paper with the acrylics, but most of my sketchbooks are textured. I do have a hot press sketchbook thats kinda smooth. Can I use that instead? As much as possible I don't want to add another sketchbook 😅

Can I skip anything in the course I have to pay for like the New Masters Academy and Schoolism courses and just stick to the YouTube videos, books, Proko and Drawabox?

I have drawn my entire life but as I got older I never really went the artistic route as an adult, I went majoring in STEM instead. For me, I suppose I like the stability of other jobs (If I did art I see myself doing freelance, so as opposed to that). I feel like after a certain point I would worry about how competitive the scene is, but also I guess I've always been a huge science kid too. What do you think?

I'm newly transitioning from traditional drawing and painting to digital. It's been a few weeks, and I know I can't expect my art to look flawless from the start, but my biggest issue is how wobbly my lines are. I have health conditions that make me a bit shaky most days, and I feel that's intensified by how smooth the tablet is vs pencil and paper. I've started with cubes just to get a feel for proportions and practice, but I can't seem to draw a straight line or even trace things without being super zoomed in. I've heard stabilizers are bad to rely on when you're first starting out and should generally be used for final line art, not sketches. Trying it helped my lines look more like how I intend, but I don't want that to mask an underlying skill issue.

On paper, I use multiple short strokes to make lines, and I'm under the impression I should be making longer, quicker strokes when doing digital. I've seen some artists say to try drawing with your whole arm instead of your wrist, but I'm not sure what that means or if it would help me here.

Any advice is appreciated! :)

I'm using Krita and an older Wacom tablet (no screen)

There used to be an artist who had the best artstyle I have ever seen. I really loved her art, Ive always wanted to draw like her.

I had already screenshoted some of her art because I liked it and I wanted to go back and look at it at anytime.

Recently, she got into some drama that I honestly dont care about, and deleted everything from her ig. I was so pissed. So I looked up her username on google and found her reddit account and saved the drawings that were left there before she deleted them, I also found her other art on some obscure websites and eventually used the way back machine to download the rest from her website and tumb ler accound using the internet archive/wayBackMachine.. I also fpund some reposts on Pintereest and other places. I have 101 drawings archived now. I dont plan on posting them anywhere.

I know this feels wrong to do but I really love her art, I wish she'd continued to draw...

I tired searching her real name (it was on her site) in hope of finding a new account of hers but I didnt find anything.

This is not the first time this has happened, it happened before and I didnt save anything, everything was gone forever.

Has anyone ever done anything similar?

Working on a charcoal series I’ve called “Structures of the Abyss” just different architecture in strange or haunting places. I’ve currently got a mausoleum, an obelisk, and a castle, while sketching for a temple and gate. But are there any other strange or obscure pieces of architecture that could fit this kind of theme?

For instance, whenever I would doodle on my work in gradeschool I'd have plentiful of comments on it with this being one of them. As a kid I wouldn't think about it much and figure it to be nothing more than a compliment, which I guess it is. Even now I still get that compliment a lot, most typically by non-artists, but It kind of has started to irritate me because I don't know how im supposed to feel when I receive it.

And when I really thought about it, why does everybody keep going on about this "such natural borne talent you have! Wow! I can't even draw a line! ahah!"- that kinda awkward confrontation most every artist has with someone who thought it'd be the highest of compliments- when its just as much trial and error as any other hobby? I would never get such a comment while im crocheting, sculpting, or photographing.. People seem to think anyone can do or learn those things but drawing is apparently an unattainable talent you must have the genes for when its just learning, passion and effort. Like any other hobby.

So why is this such a common occurrence? I didn't start out being able to draw this way, why do people automatically assume being an artist is just in the blood?? sincerely, I don't understand. I wouldn't compliment a baker by exclaiming "Holy mackerel! These pastries are amazing! You must have such natural talent to be able to whip up summa these!" That'd probably be seen as weird. Why not to an artist?