411 : Art Tips & Tricks 

This page is just a small blurb about some of my personal art tips and tricks. Note that these are just stuff that helped me and may or may not help you too. If you need any tips on items not listed here, please don't hesitate to email me. Cool.

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• Drawing & Perfecting Your Style
• Inking
• Colouring
• Black & White: Shading with Pencils
• People's Questions

Drawing & Perfecting Your Style
  Here are several things that have helped me and may help you perfect your own style.

• Practice, Practice, PRACTICE! ... As with ANYTHING you do, practicing daily will help in perfecting your own style! I know it sounds cliché, but it took me almost 15 YEARS to perfect a style I am happy with, and that came with drawing daily as often as possible.
• Visual Aids Help ... Now, I'm not saying to just outright COPY someone's style (that's just like stealing), but if you take a picture and draw the pose in your own way, it will help you learn what your limits are. For example, my style today developed from TRYING the Sailor Moon style, and mixing in some of my own techniques. The best visual aid, however, is real life itself. Using a real photo or image helps you learn proportions, texture, shading, and especially what you need to work on (like hands or feet).
• Body Part and Angle Practices ... Having trouble with hands? How about feet? Then just draw a full page of hands, or a full page of feet! Find reference pics from REAL LIFE, and draw the body part from several different angles. The ones I normally do are front, back and left/right side views. Another good angle is the 3/4 front-side or the 3/4 back-side, which are "diagonal" views. These angles are more difficult than the front-side-back, but it REALLY does help with proportion drawing and perspective drawing.
• Be Original ... While drawing in, say, the Sailor Moon/animé style is fun and cool, don't emualate it too much. Once you develop your style based on the animé style (or any style for that matter), it is VERY hard to try to change your style for more originality (I'm STILL trying, unsuccessfully). The whole idea of artwork is ORIGINALITY. Would YOU like someone drawing EXACTLY like you and claiming that they themselves have created the style and not to steal it? No. I didn't think so. It's all about originality, mefriends.
• Skeleton Drawing ... This is my term for those little shapes defining body parts which artists use to position a subject for an image. Believe me, it works wonders, and not only for people and animals! I NEVER had proportions down until I decided one day to draw using circles and shapes. Doing skeleton drawings also gives you a preview as to what your pose will look like and how much of the paper your subject will take up. Use skeletons like you use the bathroom (bad analogy, but it got my point across... I hope), unless of course you don't go to the bathroom when you have to... meh. Hopefully I'll have examples for this soon.

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• Felt Tip vs. Artist Pens ... Personally, I can't ink nicely with artist pens worth dog doo. Hence why I stick with good old office felt tip pens. In my opinion, they are easier to work with and aren't nearly as expensive ^^ Hee. Right now, what I use is a fibre-point porous pen, which is very similar to a marker. You can buy these in boxes of twelve and, depending upon how much you use them, the box can last you at LEAST 6 months (I haven't bought a new box in over a year ^^). But, as I always say, use what is best for you. But, if you do want to go for the artist pen look, use technical pens. My set cost me damn-near $90 Canadian, but they work beautifully.
• Beating the Jitters ... Ugh, who ELSE has that HORRIBLE case of the jitters everytime you're inking an awesome picture? Blarg, this is just the way things are supposed to be, I suppose, but there's a way I ink that at least HIDES any of these horribly icky errors. Simply use the thin tip of the pen and gradually thicken the line to your likeness. Also, go really slow and keep your inking board as close to you as possible. If it's just caffene withdrawls that are giving you the jitters *cough*, just down a Pepsi while working on it ^^ Hee hee. And yes, I'm serious.
• Use Different Point Sizes ... The beauty of marker-like pens is that you can use it really thick or really thin. However, if you don't have these pens, standard felt-tip pens with varying point sizes will work nicely. Use the thin point for facial details, light lines and textures. Use thicker pens for outlines of characters, heavy shading, and colouring in black areas. Hopefully I can provide examples of this soon. Meh.

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• STAY IN THE LINES!! ... Blarg, now if I can only follow my own advice... I cannot, for the life of me, stay inside the lines. *sigh* Se a vida é.
• Experiment ... to find out what media you can best colour with. Me, I prefer pencils because I always have done my art in pencils and have somewhat perfected it to MY liking (whether anyone else likes it, I don't care). A good way to test your media preference is to draw a bunch of sample images on some heavy paper and just colour away! Also, if you are weak at using one media (for example, I'm HORRIBLE with paints), every so often use that media and create a picture from scratch. Eventually you will get better at using it.
• Clash of the Colours ... Don't make too many pictures in which the colours either clash or just do NOT match. Don't ask me why, but whenever I do it, it looks icky. Some people can do it without making it look horrible, but not me *sighs*.
• Shading and Light Effects ... Blarg blarg blarg!! Whenever I see this done very badly it drives me bonkers. When you want to darken an area, do NOT use black, rather a few shades darker than the colour you are using. The ONLY time you should use black is if it is the LAST dark colour above the colour you are using as a base colour. For example, a standard green is being used as a base colour. To darken an area, use a DARK GREEN. However, if you are using a navy blue for a base colour, BLACK would be the next colour down in a standard box of 24 pencils (or whatever media).
     Lightening areas is just as simple as darkening areas. Using your base colour, and assuming you're using pencil crayons, press lightly for areas you want to appear textured, and gradually get darker back to the base colour's original intensity. Also, if you want to add some colour to your lightened areas, pick a colour a few shades lighter than that of your base colour (ie. a green could be highlighted with a light to mid-yellow, or a navy blue could be highlighted with a light purple or sky blue, depending on how intense you want the light effect to appear). As well, using a white pencil over any media will either lighten an area a full shade or blend colours together nicer.
     By blending colours together in this fashion, you can make your images have a very smooth-looking appearance. Another idea is to buy a blending pencil by PrismaColor, which can be purchased at Staples Business Depot in a set with a blending marker, 2 erasers, a sharpener, a pencil, and a pencil extender for $12.00 Canadian. Blending pencils and markers blend colours together smoothly without lightening the colours. You can read more about blending techniques with a PrismaBlender below.
     Whew! There's my two cents worth. Hee. ^^

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• The 4 Pencils ... There are really only 4 lead types you need to create a simple black and white pic -- HB (sketching), 3B (drawing), 5B (shading), and 6B (deep shading) -- all of which CONVEINIENTLY come packaged together in a starter kit from Wal-Mart in the stationary section. If, however, you really want a good set, you can buy a set of 12 any office store or art supply store.
• Erasers Rule ... Not really, but a good eraser is important. Those pink school erasers? NEVER EVER EVER EVER use them for your artwork!! They always leave icky-gross smudges and pink scratches all over your paper. The 3 best erasers I own and cherish: my ArtGum (the tan-coloured erasers); my plastic eraser (the white rectangle ones); and my kneaded eraser (the gray mouldable ones). ArtGums are "dry erase" and won't smudge when you use them, and they are great when you want to lighten an area but not totally erase it. White "plastic" erasers, as they are called, is just an all around great eraser and good for any type of drawing. Finally, kneaded erasers are great for erasing small details, as they are mouldable and you can make them into any shape. All three of these erasers can be bought at an office supply store (most of the time you can find them sold as a set of three). They are great and I recommend you use and cherish them as I do. They are the Three Muskateers against bad drawings (oy-vey, again with the stupid analogies...).
• HB is Your Best Friend's Initials ... ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS start a black and white image with a standard HB pencil or technical pencil with HB lead. The good old HB's draw lightly and erase easily if you make a mistake, so long as you don't press hard. Do NOT use mechanicals (those push pencils from BIC) if you are a beginner. Mechanicals, if you don't use them properly, can sometimes leave "after images" after erasing, which means that you can still see the original image's outline very lightly or the impressions have been marked into the paper. Either way, draw the image VERY LIGHTLY in HB pencil, this includes all details and which areas will be darkened.
• Kleenex is Not Only for Boogies ... It's also good for preventing your hand from smudging your artwork and from dirtying up your hand. Just place a folded sheet underneath your hand before starting to shade, as darker-shade pencils have a bad habit of smudging before you finish your picture =Þ
• And Q-Tips Aren't All About Wax ... Erf, I really wanted to keep this to myself, but since I am here to tell you some tricks I have learned, here goes. Believe it or not, Q-Tips, of all things, make great tools for shading because of their soft and thin cotton end. Just use it like you would a pencil. Also, try rubbing the tip of the Q-Tip on the side of the 3B or 5B pencil's lead to darken the end, then simply shade only with the Q-Tip. All of my black and white art was done using many many Q-Tips.
• Shading ... is not very difficult but does require some skill. Assuming you have the 4 pencils I have mentioned above, here are my steps to shading a basic image.
    After you have finished sketching your image, go over the darkest areas first with the 3B pencil. The 3B won't smudge until you're ready to start shading. Use the 3B to darken areas such as facial features and muscle definitions.
    Once you have completed your 3B work, move on to the 5B pencil and start darkening several areas for texture and light definition. Use a Q-Tip or Kleenex to smudge and dictate the direction of movement or texture (me and my silly art terms. Meh). Upon finishing this use the 6B, which is almost a charcoal pencil, to darken black areas. Note that 6B's smudge badly and SHOULD be used only at the very end. Once your picture is complete, go back to your HB and highlight areas or darken lines. Also use an ArtGum to remove grey smudges from your white areas, and a kneaded eraser to add bright highlights in certain areas.
    Speaking of the ArtGum, if you happen to shade something too dark, just lightly brush the ArtGum over the area until it has lightened to your desired tone. Good old ArtGum ^^

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The PrismaColor Blending Pencil

  I noticed your little note about emailing you if we had any questions or needed any help with anything not mentioned on your site. Well my question is *HELP* with using the Prismacolor blender pencils. I have searched the web and can't really find any help with using them properly and that is my concern. I can use them; but am I getting the best I can out of them? Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,
Kim Stewart

   Well, first of all, Kim, I'd like to apoligize for my lateness in replying to your email. That makes me a schmuck. Secondly, I would like to blatantly point out that while I am honoured at you asking me about the Prismacolor Blender, I myself am an amateur at its use. So, to answer your question, I have started using it on my most recent pieces, to test its limits.

   First I will start by telling people what it is used for. The Prismacolor Colourless Blending Pencil is used, as it is stated, to seamlessly blend colours without decreasing the vibrancy, shade, or value of a colour. It does NOT increase highlights, nor does it darken areas, but it merely blends several colours together to create a smoother look to a picture. It should also be noted that the Blending Pencil only works with Prismacolor or other soft-lead pencils. I have tried it with my Crayola set, but to no avail. It sort of works alright with my set of Laurentiens, but it really likes my Prismacolors. The reason? Prismacolors have super- soft lead, making them easier to work with and more succeptable to smudging (the lead "flakes", so to speak), while the blender has hard lead, making it sort of like a paintbrush, I guess. I can't really explain it.

   Alrighty, so, the proper use of the Prismablender (that's what I'm calling it from here on in). My oh my oh my. Is there really a proper use for them? Mayhaps, but I haven't found it yet. The best I can do is give you advice from what I have learned.

• CLEAN IT OFF BEFORE COLOURING A NEW SECTION! ... This can be done by scribbling on a blank paper until all the colour has come off of it, or sharpening it. I know it is so very obvious, but silly me, I messed up a few pictures because I didn't clean it off.
• Don't Press Too Hard ... Because it is a hard-lead pencil, it has the ability to be evil and leave ickies all over your artwork. As well, various paper types will crash under the pressure, like sketch paper and I would assume scrapbook paper (I'm not quite sure what scapbook paper is, so bear with me). The best thing to do is to pressurize (i.e. vary the way you press down on the paper) when colouring with it. For example, if you are trying to blend a shading job you have done so that it looks smoother, start hard on the "inside" and work your way out, softening the pressure as you go out. Continue over the area until the desired smoothness has been aquired. Note that if you press to hard, if leaves a weird funky shine on your piece and/or a gross indentation/ripple in your paper.
• Test it out if you are Unsure ... You don't want to ruin a piece you have worked so hard on, so you may want to try out a shading technique prior to attempting it on the final. Take a sheet of the exact same paper type you are currently using, recreate the area on that sheet, then test out a blending method. Try various weights on area, and you'll know exactly which one you want and how it'll look on the original! Remember to clean off the lead before moving on to the original.
• Try the Prismacolor Blending Marker ... The Prismacolor Blending Marker is not necessarily for the PrismaMarkers. You can buy it individually or with the PrismaColor Coloured Pencil Accessory Set (verbatim). The PrismaMarker Blender breaks down the pigments in the pencil crayon, making it blendable (sorta like the Smudge Tool in Paint Shop Pro). Using it gives the colours a very soft and smooth look, almost like a watercolour look. Note that it only does this with Prismacolors (I've tried it with my Crayolas too...) It may work with Laurentians because they are soft lead. Anyway, to get the watercolour feel to the image, go over the area in even strokes several times. Do not worry about the "wet" look on your paper -- it does dry clear and unnoticeable. When used in combination with the Prismablender, it just makes the area look smoother and flowy-er (if that's a word.)

  Well, that's the best advice I can give you on the usage of the Prismablender. Remember, the only way you find a nifty-cool effect with the blender is if you experiment, and hey, let me in on one you discovered :) I hope this helps both you, Kim, and everyone else looking for info on Prismablenders :D

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That's all I have for art help tips for you today! If you have a question or help on something, don't be afraid to send me a note and I'll answer it to the best of my knowledge. I have been doing art for as long as I can remember, so I'll probably have a solution to your problem :)

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