sam ♡

but if it IS much trouble, cuz we'll have those days, just consider this an appreciation note. wuv ur art! keep it up! (⁠ ⁠◜⁠‿⁠◝⁠ ⁠)⁠♡

i took a really long time to answer this ask because, even i myself, think i have so much room to improve when it comes to my line art 😭 i'm probably not the best to learn from, but i love yapping about my process... so while i'm here (after a whopping 11 months later that this question was asked), i can put together some amazing tips that i've learned, which i really think have changed my (art) life! (and thank you so much for liking my art!)

1. kind of brush:

i use a brush that i created myself... yes!! if you go into the clip studio brush settings, you have so much freedom to edit brushes. don't be afraid of it! my favorite kind of brush is one that is slightly chiseled, like a marker. and i use a slightly textured brush shape that kinda resembles crumpled paper.

the pressure sensitivity minimum threshold i've set for line thickness is 0, meaning that i can get really thin lines with light pressure, and i also have the opacity locked. meaning that the lines won't change in opacity depending on how much pressure is applied...

i also turn anti-aliasing off and stabilization at 0 when i'm sketching to reduce the lag from pen to canvas- that helps me draw faster... i also adjusted the pressure sensitivity curves based on advice from a youtuber- which you can refer to this video here!

i know that's a ton of technical terms i just threw out... honestly it took me like 5+ years of just being in the drawing world to figure out what works for me. but at the end of the day, i recommend trying out many-many brushes until you find one you like. and as long as you enjoy the process, you're good to go- no matter what tools you use!

oh- and in addition to my main line art/sketching brush, i use a TON of custom brushes downloaded from the internet for fun or for certain effects- some both paid and free, from other artists... you'd probably be able to find the same ones i use easily! they include brushes from guweiz, dino_illus, nakdi, kuroshiro, minjye, kunmang, jida, john kafka, airi pan, ruanjia, hana, yuming... and more from the csp assets store or gumroad and deviantart... quite a large bunch i've gathered over the years! 😭

2. tips on improving digital lineart:

a big canvas is better because it improves the overall appearance of the lines. aim for at least 2000-3000px wide! i know it's difficult at first, but it just takes practice and subjecting yourself to torture to get better at it!

if you're like me and never really did drawings traditionally (just digital), trying to draw traditionally anyways and practicing things like straight lines, circles, and cubes will actually improve your line-drawing technique, even digitally... i was so shocked LOL. i practiced drawing with charcoal for a couple months (and even fountain pens!) based on advice from andrew loomis and drawabox.com... that changed the way i approach lineart and my technique improved so much!

observe speedpaints and other artists' hands. the way they approach drawing the line itself matters a lot! (for ex, where to start the line when drawing the hair pieces)

try observing, REALLY closely, the lines of artwork that you like. you'd be so surprised what you noticed if you stared for a really long time. for example, we all have this belief that lines need to connect, but 99% of the time, many artists don't even connect their lines! lineart styles really exist, and studying how other artists draw them helps!

speaking of, visually oriented line art tips include:

— thicker line art = means the object is closer to viewer

— gaps between lines = creates visual interest for the viewer to fill in

— lines don't exist in real life, they represent changes in plane. that means that having a line in-between areas of shade on a sleeve (but the same plane/flat surface) isn't as important as having a line in-between the crease of an arm fold! so you don't need to put lines everywhere, just think about where the plane/surface changes (like the sides of a cube), and that helps.

drawing the lineart at low opacity, like 65%. i always did this for the sake of style, but apparently this technique helps you avoid getting caught up in lineart-errors (explains why i like it...)

drawing with vector layers is helpful. i needed a better computer that could handle them- but once i got one, i really enjoy vector layers because the lines come out extremely crisp no matter what?! you just can't use liquify, so i try to use transform instead.

i always flip and rotate the canvas like CRAZY just to draw lines better. some angles are so hard to draw if you don't rotate the canvas at all... so i have "F" and "R" as my keyboard shortcuts!

draw with your whole arm, and not just your wrist. it helps with drawing stable lines!

"warming up" actually does help- i used to not believe in that practice but it actually does help HAHA

3. do i blend my line layer:

while this sounds vague, i actually understand completely what you're talking about 😆 i used to dread this step because i always feared "committing" to my final artwork. like, i'd put in all this work blending the line layer just to need to change something afterwards. after all, in order to blend the line layer, i'd have have to merge all of the layers, right?!

the short answer is: i do, but only a little! it actually is a very nice, last-step, to rendering. i try not to go overboard with it. but if you merge all of your layers, you can blend your lines into the colors and it can make your art look a LOT neater. it takes up extra time (and it's not necessary) but i find myself doing it just because i care about the little details hehe

but also... i feel a lot less anxious blending everything because i've grown to be super experimental with my process. if an artwork doesn't turn out the way i wanted it to, i'll just remember what i messed up on and try to avoid it next time! after all, i think the core essence of learning happens through making mistakes 🥹