We should consider values, light and materials each as separate entities, they each hold a number of properties individually - it's the combination of all of them that produce realistic lighting scenario. On top of this we build in anatomy, stylisation, design, colour theory, construction etc. - these are preferences and techniques that we can apply to the raw material to achieve any look we want. How we arrange them is composition. Each element - an object, will behave consistently in a vacuum. We can then add more of them which increases the complexity. Every time you add a light source, object, character etc. it ramps up the number of things to juggle at one. Being able to do this doesn't guarantee people will care, nor understand what you're yammering about, but it will show up in your speed and flexibility later. If you'd like people to enjoy the art more, you need to stylise all of this in a consistent and easy to digest format for people who don't spend their time thinking about art.

Light We've covered many types of light so far, first step was being able to see and analyse light and shadow. Being able to differentiate between midtones, core, occlusion, caustics etc. If we can see it, if we can understand why it's there, it becomes another tool for us to use. We can do this at any time - just looking at things - people will give you weird looks as you stare off at random objects. You're looking to breakdown patterns and behaviors whenever you get a chance. Passive observation. This is looking for things like: "The brightest highlights here" and noticing things such as how light is falling along the forms. Light sources Every light source can be considered it's own separate entity. How bright it is, the point of origin, the emission shape, the hue, all of these elements change how objects are going to be affected. If something needs extra attention - give it an isolated light - a light fixture pointing at a sculpture, a lamp above a table in a restaurant, floodlights on a field. We improve our understanding of the world by thinking about examples of similar circumstances when we'd use each lighting scenario and what sort of effect it has on the overall mood. (This is useful when thinking about weather and atmosphere too) Materials The arrangement of patterns of values in the form of an object will make it feel like a different texture Materials change appearance based off different conditions: wet, burnt, bent, scratched, broken, pierced, rusted etc. If it behaves in an unexpected way it will stand out Designing Once we understand anatomy, each of the parts gets changed by thinking about what sort of manipulations we can do. Shrinking, enlarging, adding and removing quantity etc. We can do anything we want, but if there isn't a grounded structure that it pulls from, it may be a bit difficult to understand what we're looking at. On the other hand, if we want to make something like an old god, we want to reject structure, make it feel otherworldly Shape design and interest can be practiced separately by filling pages with shapes and geometry, to get a natural feel of things - similarly vfx is very helpful since there isn't a set shape, you just have to feel it out in the moment. 'Faking it' It seems like we have to learn all sorts of random stuff to be a better artist - you don't need an expert understanding, but knowing 1. how to find the info and 2. get to the important parts, we can make something feel like what it should be without spending 20 years studying intricate details about things we will move from in a few minutes, eg if you want to draw a watch, it needs some way it tells the time, and how it's held/positioned, some gears or mechanisms for how it works. This is necessary if you're cartooning - it doesn't matter when the clock gets broken, all that matters is 'there's a bunch of mechanical nonsense that flies out' - on the other hand if you want very articulate, very specific designs, you need to go the other way and get granular about details, this is architecture and design where specificity matters a lot Time investment What you want to draw effects what sort of outcome to aim for. Generally, the thing you put more time into, is the one you're going to get good at, and then eventually know enough about it to sell if you want. It all depends on who you are and what sort of art you want to make. If you don't follow that inner guidance, you're going to end up listening to what everyone else wants out of you

Drawing for process This isn't valued nearly as much as it probably should be. People get hung up on the idea of results, pressure from the outside world because they misunderstand how creativity works perhaps Either way, the reason you draw, it matters, for money? for friends? to relax? to learn? To process emotions? There's no right or wrong, but it will greatly change how you approach creating All art is good, it's already enough because you made it, but if you want 'technical accuracy' or 'evokes a specific feeling' or 'has large monetary value' etc, the definitions will change what counts as 'good' depending on who you ask and when No talent Talent is like a stepping stone - it gives people a headstart, but the main factor for improvement is how you're showing up and how consistently - 2 minutes each day might not make you an art god, but it's still more than nothing at all. There's something to be learned from everyone if you look for it - how they show up, what sort of art they make, how they do it, why they do it. It's a long game of working your mental muscles. Burnout and community Sometimes the best thing to improve your art has nothing to do with the creating - it means getting away from your studio and talking to people, looking at stuff, thinking about ideas and taking a break. Always drawing is a misconception - sometimes it means gathering references, planning and thinking about the next step. Things will improve when we stop trying to finish a piece in one sitting - good art takes time, it needs room to breathe. Values in complex compositions (I'm still a bit stuck here, I think local colours are giving me a headache it's making seeing value patterns more difficult, unsure, it's just complicated I'm sure something will click at some point) Style It's a lie Well, technically not, but it isn't important to worry about. Style emerges as you create more stuff. We can copy established artists to get a feel for what to do, achieve some better results early, but if we want to do it for ourselves, we have to follow what is right for us, since there's so many different ways of showing up in the creative world

What now? Draw more, look at more stuff, keep practicing Making something in a style that people will go out of there way to want to see? That's going to take time - stuff like comics, proper illustrations, 3d models that move etc.

Right now we're working with a frankenstyle made of lots of different components, it's going to look a bit janky for a while as we work out better workflow. The longer we can stay in this phase, the less pressure there is going to be from external expectation - we aren't looking to build an audience, since there isn't really anything to show them yet.

Add a texture layer as an overlay - very subtle, by using a picture we can give it just a little bit of interest. You can even use multiple to create collages or even wrap them around forms if you're painting - this is useful for adding textures and patterns with lots of repetition

Using one of the darker blend modes and you can also add in some noise as a background as if it's your paper surface - you can get this effect with a big paintbrush and just put some basic marks down - minimal effort, big difference: (You can put this layer anywhere, underneath the subject, behind the background, over the top, it just depends what you're drawing)

Brushes - in your asset store and across the internet you'll find a trove of brushes to try - it's very easy to get overwhelmed or overexcited and just download every brush pack there is - less is more, have fun with it, but you're looking for the ones you like the feeling of so you know what they do and how they control, so when you're painting you can focus on what you're doing instead of spending extra time looking for the exact brush every time you want to make a mark - you'll just grab the one that feels right in the moment "something that textures" is more important than having 50 niche ones for very specific things - this was some random dry brush, just having a little bit is enough to make it feel like a material, but you find specific ones if you want something that looks nicer

Tip: Use textures sparingly in points of interest - some is great, but if you slap it everywhere it starts muddying the focal points Tip: It's up to you where you put it, but it works best if you keep it consistent - "I'll add texture most in the light areas" or "I'll deepen the shadows with texture and ignore the light areas" These are quick ways to give your drawing, just a bit of extra finish without much effort. You can also use techniques like hue jitter, value overlays, or colour adjustments - mood, atmosphere, colour theory, you have lots of options You combine it with your understanding of light, shadows, values and textures and you can pull off whatever look you want by swapping stuff in and out - you're in total control if you know what to look for and how to change it

Anyway, the drawings are not that important, this took a few minutes, the thing that matters is extending this into your actual pieces. If you use a certain combination of stuff it will always look roughly like that no matter what you draw - this is what you'd recognise as an artists consistent style - it looks good because they decided all of the details through practice and experience - you can mirror brushes and workflows, but it's never gonna turn out exactly the same way, because your hands move differently, you think differently, make different decisions. But that doesn't mean you can't mirror certain parts of someone's workflow to nudge what you're doing closer to a workflow you like.

(Diablo launch keyart, Blizzard) Identifying the purpose of the art Things look very different depending on what it is it's for. A poster that hangs on a wall, a concept sketch of a building to be included in a game, a design for a character in an animation - art for commercial use, art for personal expression, abstract paintings to explore a theme, sculptures commissioned by committee and community to upcycled trash of things found on a beach, drawing to learn certain things or capture a specific moment. Having an idea of what it is that you're creating lets you set the expectations. A salaried dedicated artist with 40 years industry experience is going to draw in a very different way to someone dropping a couple panels of their comic in their breaks at work. - It's all art, but knowing who you are, and what it is you're doing will put creativity into perspective and set the pace accordingly. it gets broken down further - drawings for gig posters, menu art, concepts of landscapes, environments, characters, to full illustration, key art for marketing, animations for safety videos. To conventions, sales on the road, commissions, adoptables. Or you don't even tangle art up with money at all. Drawing for self, testing mediums and technique, pursuit of knowledge or chilling out and having fun. You need to work out your own relationship with creativity. That is the real secret to feeling fulfilled with it. Doing things a certain way just because someone else told you so is a fast track to burn out.

(Genshin Impact concept art Paris showcase - Icyveins) Why do we need that? We need to be able to identify and understand what it is we're looking at to begin with. We ask questions about where it came from, why it looks the way it does, what choices did the artist make and why. What sort of time constraints were they under, what influences did they have. If we can work out the answers to questions like this, we can replicate parts of a workflow and make similar decisions as people with more experience.

(Steven Universe Issue 1 cover B illustrated by Katy Farina)

Understanding the fundamentals What are we actually making decisions about? You don't jump from stick figures to fully polished commercially viable, in demand and perfectly executed over night. Understanding what they are is one thing, working out how to manipulate them is another, working out how to do that in an aesthetic way is another. It's an incremental approach, the more stuff we understand the more options we have.

(Gravity Falls screenshot - animation) What we'll find is that certain things follow a consistent pattern. e.g fore, mid and back grounds)

(Rick and Morty screenshots - animation)

We're looking for patterns, different things that someone can make a choice about.

(Your Name. [2016] Makoto Shinkai)

(The Little Mermaid [1989] Ron Clements & John Musker)

(This much I know to be true [2022] - director of photography - Robbie Ryan)

Photos, artwork, nature, there is inspiration and choices being made of different things everywhere, you just need to work out what you're looking for. So we're breaking it all down into parts - anatomy, lighting, composition, values, textures, color palettes, shape designs, costumes, camera angles, perspectives etc. But that's super complicated right? SO let's simplify it as - "What's my main subject - what am I trying to convey" - this could even be a theme or a feeling "What should I change to get that outcome" The breakdown

So as we approach a piece of inspirational art we're trying to extract as much data as we can. Looking out for the specifics - what are the lines like, do they have weight, what sort of shape and angle do they have - are there even lines How do they draw different subjects, what features get emphasised, exaggerated and distorted, what gets reduces, removed and replaced We're looking at pictures from commercial products right now, but we can do this with anything you can look at - color palette choices, line quality, textures - what's hand painted, what's a brush - the more visually complex it s the more practice you'll need to be able to do it

(Suzume [2022], Makoto Shinkai)

The important part is answering "why did the artist do that?" "How do I feel drawing it that way."

Replication Then it's implementing it into our work. Actually drawing it. While we're learning, we're copying, zooming in, color picking, bashing and comparing, lining up the different art from the same artist looking for patterns. We're dismantling everything we can figure out. Then trying it for ourselves - testing what worked, what didn't, working out key differences. Working out what parts of our workflow make it so that it doesn't look like the thing we're trying to replicate. We can work out an average of hat we understood by trying to implement it into unique pieces and comparing what did or didn't work. It doesn't make sense to try to match an artist 100% - we all have micro movements and decision making that will alter and vary parts of what we're doing - whatever comes out at the end, that's us, that's our 'style'