Similar to traditional art, you must consider a lot of things before jumping into the drawing process, like the devices, software, techniques, and ways to improve your skills. But do not let them turn you off! We have compiled some of the important steps on how to make digital art, to make things easier for you to navigate.
Key Takeaways:
Apart from the convenience, Wang & Wang proves that the future of digital art is quite promising; many individuals from various industries, who involve drawing digitally, have earned high income. If that fact sparks interest in you, check out the steps on how to draw digital art and follow them to start your digital art journey.
Drawing Tablets for Digital Art (Freepik)
These days, many brands release their version of drawing tablets, offering exclusive features and tools; it makes sense if they all confuse and make you overwhelmed in choosing the right option. However, in general, only two categories of drawing tablets you should consider instead: the display ones and the non-display ones.
The display ones mimic traditional art. You can see what you are working on on the screen, but they are generally expensive, like iPads and XPenn Magic drawing pads, especially if you are just starting. Worry not, because some professional artists do prefer to use the non-display ones, like Wacom and Deco Series.
Yet, you truly need to practice your muscle memory and coordination because non-display tablets require another device to connect with, like a laptop or phone.
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Drawing Software for Digital Art (Freepik)
The second step in how to make digital art is choosing the digital art app. There are tons of drawing software programs out there. The most notable one is Photoshop, but its features are so intricate, more suitable for professionals, not to mention that it is a paid app.
The second choice is Clip Studio Paint. Many artists enjoy creating their artworks with this app because of its wonderful features, like 3D model support.
However, if you are on a budget, Krita is free to use. It offers numerous beneficial features, including the brush stabilizer and the colorized mask tool. Another option, especially if you only have your smartphone, is ibisPaint. It provides you with what you need to draw, especially for manga-style drawings.
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Drawing Tools for Digital Art (icon8.com)
After choosing the device and software, you must be wondering: how to make digital art? The first one you need to think about is the canvas. If you are a traditional artist who wants to learn drawing digitally, you must be familiar with the importance of choosing your canvas size.
Before beginning your first stroke, you should think about the output or goal: where you want your artwork to go, like Instagram and printing machines.
Otherwise, it will be harder to adjust things later on; you can even accidentally ruin your hard work. SamDoesArts recommends the width be 4320 px and the height be 5400 px to maintain a good resolution, yet with a reasonable size.
In addition to that, do not forget to set the DPI (dots per inch) at 300. This helps you if you ever want to print your art later on. Next, change your color picker to the classic one, the square one, so that you can recognize the colour values and saturations more easily.
Afterwards, get to know the layers of your chosen software. Shyfoxx Art implies that there are no limitations on your number of layers, as long as you can organize them. But usually, you need to make sure not to color in your sketch layer.
The last yet important tool is the lasso to colour your art. It helps you to color a specific area that you have outlined with it.
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Drawing Techniques for Digital Art (ClipStudioPaint)
Practice makes perfect, but where to start? It is always good to start from the basic skills, like anatomy and simple shapes, to strengthen your foundation. Viyaura states that amazing outcomes do not come overnight. It is recommended to slow down and appreciate every small improvement, not to compare yourself with others.
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After knowing the steps on how to make digital art, creating drawings digitally truly needs preparation, does it not? You must choose the right tools, comfortable software, and supportive devices. Also, every artist always improves themselves by practicing and re-learning the basic tools and techniques to get a better outcome.
Although your art’s visuals speak for themselves, typography in it should align and polish it too. If you struggle to find a suitable font for your art or signature, be sure to check out Creatype Studio and choose their font collections for digital arts that catch your fancy.
