#keprion

I heard there was some cute OC kissing over here on tumblr ;)

Thought I’d join the party and draw my character, Latai, with @keprion ‘s character, Norn~

(I thought since so many people found this useful on my DA, I’d post it here and see if anyone ells could find this useful and inspiring.)

I had a friend of mine ask me the question "What kind of advice would you give to someone who has never drawn before and wants to become good?" First off, I do not claim that I know everything about art (in fact I'm learning that I know very little) or to be the most talented artist out in the world. Truth be told I would argue with you and claim that I am far from. I'm humble and intended to remain that way. With that said, I though these guide lines would help you newer artists better understand yourself and become comfortable in looking for your flaws and working on them.

1.            Study from life and the nitty, gritty stuff!

               This sounds like a no-brainer to some of you out there, but if at least half of you were the kind of artist I was, you wouldn't catch onto this until you were in high school or perhaps further down the line. I count myself lucky however because I had a teacher who taught me "look with your eyes and not with your mind," and while It took me some time to understand (like... three years to be honest), I look back and I realize that, that phrase has taught me so much more than any of my other art teachers. Looking with your mind is like trying to drive a car down an interstate when you've never done it before. You might crash and burn and this is most often the case when you're striving for good anatomy. If you learn how to gesture draw (seeing only the negative space) and working your way inward, you'll find that after hundreds of tries you will notice a greater improvement in your works. You must also look at the muscles underneath, sometimes skin and hair/fur can alter your perception of what good anatomy is supposed to look like. Don't be afraid to mess up or be slow! You guys can get this. Another great thing is to watch people draw live/ speed sketch/ look into buying anatomy books. But be careful! There are a lot of cruddy ones out there.

2.            Don't worry about how fast you learn!

                               I never really had a problem with this because of the fact I'm a fast learner when I have a deep passion for something, but I've known a few artists out there who have. First off, it never really ends well and sometimes artist will become discouraged and 'break the pencil'. It can happen one of many ways, either someone tells you your art isn't that good enough, or you end up comparing yourself to other artist who are further along than you. Perhaps you're not at the same level with those of your same age group or younger? WHO CARES?? If I worried about this I would be crying myself to sleep when looking through TamberElla and tuliplou's galleries! You have to be positive and have confidence in yourself; without that you'll find yourself living in a rut, not stuck, but LIVING one. Get over it, accept you're not as good as then, but move on, use it as motivation to become better! If you ever feel like crap, then get into a power pose and tell yourself, "I'm not as good as I want to be, but I will get better, I will surpass my current self and I will fulfill my dreams." I know this won't help all of you, but I hope at least some of you will get this and remember everything I say. I really hope so.

3.            Never settle!

                               Gods! This is the worst thing you can do, and I've done it before. I've looked at my art and thought, "wow, I'm so talented" until I was shot down. So. many. times. and I laugh at myself today! Never, ever say that you're at the place you want to be, never! Professional artist will even admit to having some kind of doubt in their skill and ability. And it's perfectly fine! Don't be the person who tries to tell everyone else how they should paint without giving some thought to your inability. Be humble. And NEVER! use the excuse that 'it's my style'; because it's not and should not be an excuse for you to settle with bad anatomy.

4.            Lean your mediums!

                               I know this also sounds like a 'no-brainer', but honestly L used to be so afraid to use pencil to shade. I used to be afraid of messing up a 'master peice'. However! After realizing the truth I wasn't as good as I wanted to be and doing some research and watching tutorials, I saw that some artist really dig into the paper. Using super dark colors or really bright ones. Then one day, while watching an episode of FZD design school, the comment 'treat everything as a sketch' came up and I have lived by it since. Some artist also make the mistake of using a million, bazillion layers. However it's not nessisary because when painting with acrylics, there is no ctrl Z or ctrl/at/z. Don't be afraid, it's not the end of the world if you screw up one drawing because you should know that you have just as much of the same ability to re-create it and move on.

5.            Take inspiration from everything!

                               I mean this quite enthusiastically. For example my flesh tails are based on a little something that happens to the female body every month. I used to suffer from terrible menstrual pains that left me hunched over and groaning; waking me up in the middle of the night and causing me to miss school. So out of my frustration I created my first flesh tail, Alorixnorn (whose name originally meant 'blood-tail') Not saying everyone should make creatures from bodily functions, but inspiration is everywhere. Use your imagination, see dancing monsters from spoons coming out the draws to steal the ice-cream in the night; or taxidermy animals coming to live to play cards. Anything can be something funny and grand.

6.            Never doubt yourself

                               I really want everyone to know that they are already great artists. Everyone of you will become better. And never doubt yourself because in the end no one can tell you that you can no longer draw except you. You are your worst bane. You will be your downfall so don't have doubt. Always tell yourself, "I will be good, I will become a great artist, and no one can tell me otherwise."

A fun little dragon/ lizard thing I drew for no reason at all except I wanted to do scales and something with lots of teeth!

Art(c)Amber Hernandez 2015 / Keprion.deviantart.com

Werewolf of VanHellsing by Keprion

Just wanted to take a time to apreciate the werewolves of the movie VanHellsing. Done on Canson Mix Media paper, 98Lb or 160 g and Scholar Prismacolor pencils as well as Faber-Castell PITT artist pen. Finishing time is 4 hours.