This is 100% why my prof used to always tell me, "Don't spend 3 hours zoomed in on something that you can't see from a foot away, or you'll spend another 3 hours trying to kick your own ass."
That's one of the many things I'm struggling with in digital art: a consistent level of detail throughout the painting that also manages to contributes meaningfully to the whole image. In conventional art, that's actually a no-brainer, more or less, for you can go only so small. But in digital art, where you can zoom in and out and in and out again, it becomes quite a challenge. I think maybe one should always fix a minimum brush size for every painting one's doing and not fall below it, no matter what.
@@lonestarr1490 I think you make a really good point! Try to think of the painting process as a whole and don't zoom in too much. When we focus too much on detail, our paintings may start to look muddy or too conflicting. keeping some things soft and others objects sharp. Your background should always be softer than your main subject or character. I honestly find this pretty hard to do in digital art too because I usually focus on one thing at a time like the (i.e. character first with linework/color, then the background) when doing both can be benefical sometimes. However, you should do what you feel is best for you. Thank you ^-^
@@lonestarr1490 Something that I do that helps a lot is to duplicate the canvas, I always have a smaller canvas in black and white, so I check if the details are enough and if the levels are correct
@@user-ep4gs7kn4w The bigger resolution/image size may not be compatible with some social media sources or other platforms, but besides that, I also agree with this idea :)
I've always found it most convenient to treat the eyes as one object so they will be coherent first, upper and lower eye bounds for both eyes then any folds, upper eyelid light sketch for both eyes draw the inner and outer corners of both eyes, unless it's a weird angle where the curve of an eyeball is the edge, in which case do that at the same time as the corners draw the outline of where the pupils and iris will be then draw lashes at the same time, detail the whites of both the eyes at the same time, etc The eyes should be fairly even and coherent so that you can begin detailing, if not, repeat as many times as necessary to get it right
@@user-sb1sg5lh7l I draw eyes zoomed out then zoom in when coloring. I'm pretty new so proportions are pretty hard for me (I've been saying I'm new for 5 years now, I hate my life)
Eyes are probably the easiest part of a drawing at least to me, it’s really just a bunch of little Illusions and then when you zoom out it makes the shape it’s supposed to look like. Lol.
One thing I learned from other YT artists that's helped me tremendously reduce time spent on stuff like this is to never be zoomed in more than 100% unless you're working on something that requires a lot of precision or small complicated designs that you know will still look good zoomed out. People who're looking at your art will likely never zoom your art in so... you end up just wasting time and effort. It becomes a hassle at first to stop your self from zooming in too much but after a while, you get used to it.
I mean... not entirely true? The reason why a lot of experienced artists don't zoom in a lot is because they have huge ass art displays to draw on, which means there is no particular reason to zoom in. People like myself have to zoom in for accuracy (I have very bad wrists and hands). Sometimes, we work on very LARGE drawings, so not adding detail is a surefire way to have an unfinished product once it is printed out. Also, I can guarantee a lot of those artists are illustrators, and a lot of illustrators don't actually make prints. They make good-looking art for commissions, or to post on Twitter. Stuff like that doesn't require a buttload of detail, no. Now, as an artist, I DO zoom into other people's artwork so I can see every detail. A LOT of artists like to look at details. Most illustrators DO NOT. Not everyone is an illustrator, though! While I think it's valuable that you learned not to waste time and effort, I think you're chalking that up to the wrong reasons.
@@nomoretwitterhandles Thank you for the more detailed explanation! Tho I hoped people know they should look at comment section more as at friendly advices than at strict rules to follow. Of course, will you zoom in during drawing or not depends on the level of detail needed for the final product and on your technical limitations. I think the original comment can be rephrased to be clearer as an advice to understand at what circumstances and distance people will observe your artwork and keep it's detail level accordingly reasonable.
@@VladSyrota Very true, but a lot of these "friendly advices" can do more harm than good, especially if you're inexperienced. Sometimes learning the right things for the wrong reasons can damage your progress. That's something I've learned the hard way.
One time I was drawing an alien and gave him strawberry nebula style eyes. Had to zoom real close to get all the detail in but was surprised when it looked really good imo zoomed out. I lucked out on that one. One of my favourite pieces too.
Over the years i have heavily simplified my eyes compared to what they used to be. Sometimes heavily detailed eyes can look jarring if the rest of the drawing doesnt have the same amount of detail. Its one thing if youre just doing it for fun, do and draw whatever makes you happy and you think is fun! For a more balanced style, try to simplify the details in the eyes where it matches the rest of the piece. Not only do you get a balanced work thats easier to look at, but you also dont have to spend so much time doing details that most likely wont be visible when you zoom out
Hey people here’s a small random tip if the smile on your drawing looks creepy! Select the eyes and make them a a bit less tall Select the smile and make it less wide
I felt this… when you spend so much time on one eye and include so much detail that the idea of working on the other one is just so daunting. Always makes me feel tempted to just draw an eye patch or some hair over the other eye 😂
@@whatdoyoucallanalligatorin9174 that helps for sure! Although I still have trouble fine tuning the details afterward (even once I have the eyes laid out) because I think my brain tricks me into thinking they’re the same size until I hold it up to an old fashioned mirror and am horrified that they aren’t 😭
You should only add detail to the parts of an image that receive the most attention or that you want to receive the most attention. It’s perfectly reasonable to obscure the eyes entirely for the sake of the image. Many paintings have little brushstrokes for eyes, hardly even showing any detail. That being said, eyes are very important when you draw a person. Their presence or absence can be rather striking depending on context.
I'm drawing right now, and decided to take a quick YT break. This video was such perfect timing because I'm literally struggling with drawing eyes right now xD I've spent a whole hour erasing and doing it over and over again!!! This is on paper too :')
as an anime artist, unfortunately i have to spend an ungodly amount of time on the face, and ESPECIALLY on the eyes. but a good thing comes from what is considered appealing, at least in anime art. You can save a whole ass 3 hours of time on the entirety of the face by using less detail on like the skin. Overall, the smoother it looks the more appealing it becomes. Never overdo it unless you are trying to paint like a hulk or something. Save the energy for the eyes, because as human nature goes we like to look at the eyes first when it comes to the face. Just... don't spend an ungodly amount of detail on it.
why i love procreate, you can put the drawing as a reference and see how the drawing looks zoomed out in real time when your working on small details to make sure you actually drawing important stuff
Hi ronillust! I have been a fan of your work ever since about 2020-2021 and I really wanted to develop my drawing but I couldn't get any time right and my motivation flew away the second I finish one drawing. Even if I finish the drawing sometimes I just ain't satisfied with what I have done, so I'm planning to relearn everything this summer so that I can be proud of myself for at least a month. Do you guys have any advice for me? Any drawing advice? although I'm better at traditional drawing, I really want to practice both
Gonna hijack this meme video to give some legit art advice inspired by the video. Don't finish one eye before starting the other! If you add all the detail to one eye before you've even started on the other then it'll inevitably come out uneven. Treat the eyes as a single connected feature rather than two separate objects and it'll be a lot easier to place them correctly. Secondly, if you're right handed then make sure you start with the left eye (and vice versa if you're left handed). If you start the other way around then your hand will be obscuring the first eye when you go to draw the second, so you won't be able to compare it as you draw. It would be like trying to draw a cube without being able to see the lines you've already drawn! My eye's still have a lot of room for improvement, but these are just a couple of tricks that helped me get them looking more consistent.
I've never considered that second tip and will try to utilize it intentionally to see how it works. I'm sure I've done it without thinking, since I'm right-handed, and English is written left to right, and as such, the eyes are drawn left to right, but I will be paying attention to it now.
Gonna hijack this comment to give some legit art advice inspired by myself, a professional artist. Your first tip is only useful for very low level beginning artists. You wanna know how to get better at drawing both eyes? By always drawing eyes. It doesn't matter how many. Just draw eyes, pairs or not. Once you master eyes, it doesn't matter when or how you draw them, or in what order. I always draw one eye at a time, and I always have been. As for your second tip, this is really only useful for traditional artists, but most of us already know this (because details will get smudged). Digital artists can just flip the canvas. It's literally that easy. Also, you should learn how to hold your pencil/pen differently. If you're always covering something as easy to see as an eye, then you need to move your hand. Fluid hand movement is a MUST for aspiring artists. If you're always going to be stiff, your art will also be stiff.
@@nomoretwitterhandles Ooh, would you happen to have your works displayed anywhere? And, would you also happen to be a teacher? I'm curious about what other tips and lessons you might provide outside of the context of RU-vid comments.
@@missseaweed2462 I don't post my art online because I don't crave validation or anything. I mostly do commissions between big clients and keep it at that (in terms of sharing). Though if you're insinuating I'm a liar, I don't appreciate your condescending attitude. And yes, I am going to become an art teacher soon. Art education is one hell of a major lol. Though honestly, I might just get my degree and hold onto it for a while, because I want to teach English as a second language in order to get the hell out of my country. Once I can become a resident of a place I feel comfortable in, I think I'd be pretty excited to teach more than English. I have a lot of passions, so I can't limit myself to just one. I suggest you broaden your horizons as well.
@@nomoretwitterhandles Ah, I see! I was being genuinely amicable, although the platform doesn't really let that get across. ^^' I see! I bet it's definitely quite a bit of work! I wish you luck with each of your endeavors, and I'm sure you'll find success in them. And lol, who's to say my horizon's aren't broad already? They're always being broadened, of course, but I've done a lot of different things over the years in writing, instrumental and composing music, woodworking, botany, origami, crafting, and, of course, art, so I'm not holed up to merely drawing and weaseling out art tutorials on the interwebs.
This reminds me of something. I followed my friends advice and had signatures hidden… EVERYWHERE in tiny details where you have to really zoom in. That way if the main signature is cropped out by no good thieves claiming my work I can zoom in on one of hundreds of mini signatures dotted all over the drawing and laugh at their faces as I claim whats rightfully mine! *Insert Evil Laughter*
Well, seeing that first zoom out made my heart go so light I instantly lost all hope in my dreams, ty I will now proceed to draw three rocks for five hours
it just even more when almost %90 of social media murders the art compressing it to a point where you can't even see the detail even when zoomed in because of how much the quality got lowered
I draw two black circles next to each other for the eyes, put two black dots (the size varies) in the middle for pupils, then use the fill tool with an off white color (very slightly blue) for the sclera. But I'm an animator, so I have to draw the same character 100+ times for a finished project.
Countless hours of work and gand cramping get casually put to the side as you silently whisper "Aight, now for the other one" Truly sums up the life of an artist
Ok but all jokes aside this meme video is a pretty good demonstration of obsolete details, especially how the eye seemed so detailless when zoomed in, but looked like a beautifully reflective eye when zoomed out. Always remember to look at your art at the size that others will see it
