#howtoimprove

One year ago I started out with digital painting and made some decent progress (I think). Many people ask me, how I learned on my own painting in Photoshop in that time. For this reason, I’d like to share with you all my art resources, that I had been using and still often take a look into for repetition. If you have any other tips for us, let me know in the comments! If you don’t want to read all, just click the links! The Basics There is a ton of good tutorials on Youtube for the first easy steps in Photoshop. I started out with some, that I don’t consider good right now, so I want to recommend you another one, that I found much later. The tutorials of CTRL+Paint cover pretty much everything that you need to know about basic painting. They are easy to understand and follow. And they are completely free! https://www.ctrlpaint.com/library/ For the next step one should probably decide whether to go for a realistic look or going directly into manga/comic style. I recommend learning first the fundamentals of realism, before getting into styles. This way also your manga/anime art will look much more convincing. Starting with painting realistically The first tutorials I watched to paint humans (full body/ portraiture) were from Ahmed Aldoori (also having a great tutorial for blending!) and Jesus Conde (great skin tutorial and also environments covered!).

Ahmed: https://www.youtube.com/user/revolutions34/videos

https://www.youtube.com/user/JesusCondeArtStudio

Other great basic tutorials (but also some more advanced ones) you can find in Draw with Jazza, KNKL and Xia Taptara and Sycra. But be cautious: They are not realistic (some paintings come close though).

Xia: https://www.youtube.com/user/idrawgirls/videos

https://www.youtube.com/user/Sycra

In addition, I must say that some content is contradictory between these artists and I can just recommend to either try them out yourself and pick one or rely on only one source, that is most attracting you. I decided to rely more on Istebrak, I want to introduce as follows.

My main source for realistic painting though is Istebrak. She is doing some great tutorials, critiques and also has a google community where you can post your (realistically attempted) artwork to get critiques by her and the community. She might sound harsh sometimes, but her content is really professional and helpful. It is a great resource for beginners and advanced people likewise! I was mostly relying on her content to improve in painting and it helped me a lot! Try always to critique the paintings she is showing yourself and watch her suggestions after and you will learn a ton and also be able to train your eyes to actually SEE. Google: https://plus.google.com/communities/106157483273509078501 Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Istebrak Comic Style For a more comic oriented approach I recommend Draw with Jazza and for a mixture of comic/anime styles KNKL. But I didn’t use their tutorials often.

https://www.youtube.com/user/KienanLafferty

https://www.youtube.com/user/DrawWithJazza

Istebrak also has one tutorial for a realistic approach for anime styled painting. Go and check it out!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CF05uz5fd90

I also like the art of Sara Tepes, but it is much stylistic, so I don’t recommend try out that style as a beginner. You can learn a lot from her but please stick with fundamentals first. Other than these I didn’t watch any tutorials on how to do anime style. If you have any suggestions, let me know!

 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWgMcluGLnaVpCWmscaFs_Q

Landscape For my first paintings I needed some information about painting landscapes. I didn’t get too much into it, but I was mainly watching Istebrak’s videos on this matter or Walid Feghali, whose environments look insanely good! And also Jesus Conde, of course. I also got a glimpse on Noah Badleys Landscapes tutorials, but you will need time for these!

https://www.youtube.com/user/Feroyn

https://www.youtube.com/user/noahbradley

Animals For one piece I had to get into painting a tiger. For this I used mainly the tutorials of Aaron Blaise. He works for Disney and can do both- realistic and also stylistic painting. He is a must to check out. https://www.youtube.com/user/AaronBlaiseArt

General (advanced) tutorials you should also watch as beginner

I LOVE Marco Bucci, but he dumped me unfortunately when I asked him to marry me (LUL). But his videos are SO much into depth, entertaining, short but really really informative. You must go check out his tutorials, like NOW.

https://www.youtube.com/user/marcobucci/videos

I also liked the tutorial on how to plan lighting by Tyler Edlin. And the Tutorial series from Swatches is just LOVE (especially the one on values is really valuable… Get it? :D) It is usually for 3D modeling in Blender, but here and there are really good videos also for us painting artists on the channel Blender Guru.

https://www.youtube.com/user/TylerE2284

https://www.youtube.com/user/AndrewPPrice

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiU1-5VronbfeScuABAJC4A/videos

If you are already more advanced it might be interesting for you to have a look at the levelup series on youtube. They have amazing content and feature many professional artists as well. https://www.youtube.com/user/levelupsessions/videos If you have the money and you want to get good at art really seriously, then you should consider paying for personal mentorship that many artists offer (Istebrak, Swatches, Bucci …) or to buy also purchasable tutorials. Tutorials you need to pay for

By now I only bought tutorials from Sakimichan and Ross Draws. I recommend Sakimichan, as soon as you got the fundamentals done. I don’t recommend starting with these tutorials, if you never ever painted before. It might take you longer to get things like anatomy, lighting and so on done correctly. RossDraws tutorials are more or less commented videos on his painting process, which is also really interesting to see of course. I am considering buying also Bucci tutorials and the artbook from swatches. I will update as soon as I worked with these! Getting critiques First of all I recommend joining Istebraks Community, because you can get critiques there quickly and all for free. Also, some other youtubers give critiques on Portfolios for free, but you must be really lucky to be “chosen”, e.g. Swatches (but these critiques are sooo good!). Getting critiques is really fundamental for improvement. So, you really should consider to get them, whenever you can. Depending on what you are aiming for I recommend getting one of the mentorships I talked about earlier.

Another way is to join an online class. I found some great looking ones on https://2d.cgmasteracademy.com/ where also my idol teaches. The prices are really tough though. I did not take part in these classes yet, but they look really promising. Resources that are not video tutorials

Another website I can recommend (to train many poses) is Posemaniacs. It will give you many random poses that you quickly need to jot down. http://www.posemaniacs.com/

I will also drop some links here of pages with tutorials that I looked through as well.

 https://design.tutsplus.com/tutorials/the-secret-to-realistic-painting-how-to-master-value--cms-23457

 https://www.creativebloq.com/illustration/13-ways-improve-your-card-art-41619873

 https://www.pinterest.de/characterdesigh/

 https://www.daz3d.com/animation-and-poses#p=7 (for getting some pose ideas)

Improving communication skills is a valuable endeavor that can benefit you both personally and professionally. Here are some steps you can take to enhance your communication abilities:

Active Listening: Practice active listening by giving your full attention to the speaker, maintaining eye contact, and avoiding interrupting. Show empathy and understanding by paraphrasing what the speaker said to ensure you've understood correctly.

Clarity and Conciseness: Strive to communicate your ideas clearly and concisely. Organize your thoughts before speaking or writing, use simple language, and avoid jargon or technical terms when speaking to non-experts.

Body Language: Pay attention to your body language, as it can convey as much information as your words. Maintain an open posture, make appropriate gestures, and use facial expressions to express emotions and engage with others.

Empathy and Understanding: Practice empathy by trying to understand others' perspectives and emotions. Show respect for their opinions, validate their feelings, and be considerate of their experiences.

Confidence: Build confidence in your communication skills by practicing regularly and stepping out of your comfort zone. Start with small interactions and gradually challenge yourself to communicate in more complex or unfamiliar situations.

Seek Feedback: Request feedback from trusted friends, colleagues, or mentors on your communication style. Be open to constructive criticism and use it as an opportunity for growth and improvement.

Continuous Learning: Engage in activities that promote continuous learning and skill development, such as reading books on communication, attending workshops or seminars, and seeking out online resources or courses.

Practice, Practice, Practice: Like any skill, communication improves with practice. Look for opportunities to engage in conversations, presentations, or public speaking events to hone your communication skills in real-life scenarios.