Traditional or Digital?

[HistoricalyIncorrect]

Hello there! How are you?

I am as fresh for artistic drawings as it can be and i do not hide i am in quite of a pickle.
my traditional art is not good at all so i was thinking about digital drawing and i wanted to ask few questions.

Is drawing digital easier or at least less frustrating?

Should i keep drawing traditional to get better?

If i am going to start digital drawing then what steps should i take?

What tips could you give a novice about drawing?


Well, i think that is all for now.

Thank you for support and im sorry to take your time.

 

[HistoricalyIncorrect]

So the point is, I think you should keep trying to develop traditional art skills. I'm no artist, but I don't think doing digital art is going to do much for you if you haven't already developed some basic artistic skills to begin with.

thank you for a kind word sir. i will do my best to get better

 

[MissNook]

In my opinion, you should think of both but begin with traditional only. Issue with digital is the cost. Except if you're really the kind to draw with a mouse, you will certainly undergo some costs (tablet essentially since there are some good free software).

Traditional and digital have both their interests to progress as an artist. Digital helps you play with colors and composition with more freedom than traditional (for those who likes to try things and play with things, it's a great tool). Traditional art is freedom of places and allows you to do more observation sketches which is really important. It's also more substantial and cover things that digital won't (material and textures, depth, a lot of possibilities like cutting the paper, play with lots of materials and so on).

Your brain won't use the same mechanism with traditional and digital. So to improve you may want to use both. But keep in mind that some shortcuts of the digital may "hinder" your traditional progress and some techniques of the traditional will also do the same for your digital progress. Like being able to always erase in digital doesn't make you work on your lines as much as in traditional. And creating a painting with a tradition technique in digital will cost you a lot of effort and time and will result in a not-so-good result due to digital tools not being used.
It's normal to be able to do things with one medium and not being able to do it with the other, so don't let yourself get frustrated over this ^^

 

[Fiorabeast]

As someone who did traditional first, then did digital afterwards, the former is WAY more important to practice a lot with. Reason being, I have seen people who drew digital first, but when asked to draw traditionally, most couldn't handle it or struggled with it since they were too use to having the advantage of using the undo-button and stuff to adjust their works.
With traditional, if you are using paints like watercolor, acrylics, etc... as well as ink pen, you can't erase it so you pretty much have to use your brain to problem solve and figure out how to make that 'mistake' a part of your work.
Honestly, I'm still struggling with digital due to the fact that layers tend to confuse me when I work and, for some odd reason, working on the computer tires me out WAY more than drawing traditionally. Not to mention, it feels like I can't focus at all in trying to complete works really.
I actually really want to stick with the former, but because all the cool kids do digital, I kind of feel like I have to do that in order to get noticed and stuff (like, traditional is 'old fashioned' while digital is something everyone wants more of...).

To answer your questions though:

Is drawing digital easier or at least less frustrating? That depends on you and your learning speed. Having traditional media knowledge on hand, it lightens the learning curve, but it's kind of a different beast (no pun intended!) altogether so... (For me, I find it hard really...)

Should i keep drawing traditional to get better? Big definite YES here!

If i am going to start digital drawing then what steps should i take? Investing in a pen tablet helps, imo. Because pretty much everyone uses it and it's pretty much a requirement. For digital programs, I would suggest finding free ones like Fire Alpaca or Medibang Paint as they have limited features but do a pretty good job in getting started. Then if you want to try what everyone else uses like SAI, Clip Art Studio, or Photoshop, either save up or... do the illegal means (the latter is your choice but...)

What tips could you give a novice about drawing? Besides drawing a lot... Try to like draw stuff from life and copy from books for practice and stuff. I honestly recommend (if you can find a nearby class that you can register cheaply) life drawing classes aka studying naked humans because it will teach you some basic anatomy and quick sketch studies which is helpful for if you want to get an idea or thumbnail and gesture down. Drawing still lifes too. Also, find out what your attention span and your comfort zone is because art is such a huge mental strain, that you find you might end up a little insane from trying to figure out if you are improving or not, lol. Oh and, find out what you like to draw because usually that helps keep the motivation going in trying to improve yourself.

I hope this helps, and sorry if it got very wordy here...

 

[HistoricalyIncorrect]

In my opinion, you should think of both but begin with traditional only. Issue with digital is the cost. Except if you're really the kind to draw with a mouse, you will certainly undergo some costs (tablet essentially since there are some good free software).

Traditional and digital have both their interests to progress as an artist. Digital helps you play with colors and composition with more freedom than traditional (for those who likes to try things and play with things, it's a great tool). Traditional art is freedom of places and allows you to do more observation sketches which is really important. It's also more substantial and cover things that digital won't (material and textures, depth, a lot of possibilities like cutting the paper, play with lots of materials and so on).

Your brain won't use the same mechanism with traditional and digital. So to improve you may want to use both. But keep in mind that some shortcuts of the digital may "hinder" your traditional progress and some techniques of the traditional will also do the same for your digital progress. Like being able to always erase in digital doesn't make you work on your lines as much as in traditional. And creating a painting with a tradition technique in digital will cost you a lot of effort and time and will result in a not-so-good result due to digital tools not being used.
It's normal to be able to do things with one medium and not being able to do it with the other, so don't let yourself get frustrated over this ^^

thank you very much for your support. Other than inviting for beer maybe i will be able to do nice commision for you one day

 

[HistoricalyIncorrect]

As someone who did traditional first, then did digital afterwards, the former is WAY more important to practice a lot with. Reason being, I have seen people who drew digital first, but when asked to draw traditionally, most couldn't handle it or struggled with it since they were too use to having the advantage of using the undo-button and stuff to adjust their works.
With traditional, if you are using paints like watercolor, acrylics, etc... as well as ink pen, you can't erase it so you pretty much have to use your brain to problem solve and figure out how to make that 'mistake' a part of your work.
Honestly, I'm still struggling with digital due to the fact that layers tend to confuse me when I work and, for some odd reason, working on the computer tires me out WAY more than drawing traditionally. Not to mention, it feels like I can't focus at all in trying to complete works really.
I actually really want to stick with the former, but because all the cool kids do digital, I kind of feel like I have to do that in order to get noticed and stuff (like, traditional is 'old fashioned' while digital is something everyone wants more of...).

To answer your questions though:

Is drawing digital easier or at least less frustrating? That depends on you and your learning speed. Having traditional media knowledge on hand, it lightens the learning curve, but it's kind of a different beast (no pun intended!) altogether so... (For me, I find it hard really...)

Should i keep drawing traditional to get better? Big definite YES here!

If i am going to start digital drawing then what steps should i take? Investing in a pen tablet helps, imo. Because pretty much everyone uses it and it's pretty much a requirement. For digital programs, I would suggest finding free ones like Fire Alpaca or Medibang Paint as they have limited features but do a pretty good job in getting started. Then if you want to try what everyone else uses like SAI, Clip Art Studio, or Photoshop, either save up or... do the illegal means (the latter is your choice but...)

What tips could you give a novice about drawing? Besides drawing a lot... Try to like draw stuff from life and copy from books for practice and stuff. I honestly recommend (if you can find a nearby class that you can register cheaply) life drawing classes aka studying naked humans because it will teach you some basic anatomy and quick sketch studies which is helpful for if you want to get an idea or thumbnail and gesture down. Drawing still lifes too. Also, find out what your attention span and your comfort zone is because art is such a huge mental strain, that you find you might end up a little insane from trying to figure out if you are improving or not, lol. Oh and, find out what you like to draw because usually that helps keep the motivation going in trying to improve yourself.

I hope this helps, and sorry if it got very wordy here...

Of course it will help me! thank you very much for all this information. I will try to make it up for you one day just remind me

 

[Snowsnow11]

totally go for traditional art. We already have tons of artist working only in digital which really bores me sometimes :/ Finding a good traditiona; artist is so so difficult now. They don't get as much attention, faves and comments but they're appreciated! For me I stopped watching every digital artist with a nice style because it's too much for me. If it comes to traditional, I can see the style better because everyone uses different tools like colored pencils, markers, watercolors, oil paints.... You just can't have the same art style in traditional while in digital many pieces look almost the same
Keep practising your traditional and you'll see the difference soon. Greetings from a fellow traditional artist

 

[HistoricalyIncorrect]

totally go for traditional art. We already have tons of artist working only in digital which really bores me sometimes :/ Finding a good traditiona; artist is so so difficult now. They don't get as much attention, faves and comments but they're appreciated! For me I stopped watching every digital artist with a nice style because it's too much for me. If it comes to traditional, I can see the style better because everyone uses different tools like colored pencils, markers, watercolors, oil paints.... You just can't have the same art style in traditional while in digital many pieces look almost the same
Keep practising your traditional and you'll see the difference soon. Greetings from a fellow traditional artist

I will do my best ma'am

 

[SevenArms]

I'm a digital artist, but I start traditionally, and still do studies and some color experiments traditionally. Digital art can be very tempting, it looks easy and faster. Truth be told, is only like that once you have the foundations studied and learned by heart, and still you will find a ton of new thing to learn each day. Art is about patience and constancy, it doesn't matter what subject or medium you choose.

Digital art have a learning curve like all the mediums, you can be a master with oils and when you grab a tablet you will struggle the first times. Also the work flow from digital and traditional is not always the same. If you're thinking in going digital, and you have the capital to try it, go for a economic tablet first and a free painting program. I think Autodesk sketchbook is free and have some nice effects, if you are willing to pay for a software, Clip Studio Paint is sometimes on sale for $30 and it offers almost the same things as Photoshop (Is the program I use)

But in general, if you are starting, I strongly suggest to get yourself a cheap sketchbook and a ball point pen, and draw every day! Every artist have 10,000 bad drawing inside them, the faster you put them out, the better artist you become! So draw EVERY DAY! Use ball point pen so you can't erase your mistakes, you can learn more from a mistake than from a masterpiece. I you don't have ideas to draw, try to make life studies, practice perspective, or try a challenge. There are a lot of daily sketching challenges on internet, or something like Mermay or Inktober.

Hope this would help... have patience and enjoy the ride! Wish you the best and keep drawing!

 

[Hatiblackwolf]

I am a traditonal artist because it is harder for other artists to steal/copy. Digital art isn't really your art since you're teaching a computer to do it and my hands are very unsteady plus I don't have the tools to do it. Meanwhile, you can make traditional art out of anything which is why I like it.

 

[Dendariiis]

I feel like to draw digitally you need to have a good grasp of traditional art as well. I know someone who makes great lineart traditionally but cant shade worth beans. If she has no idea how to shade on paper, the same will be true on digital lineart.

The computer wont do the art for you, so if you dont know human anatomy drawing a human digitally wont be any better than your traditional. But you do get an undo button with digital, which is great.

Also paints are crazy expensive, I spent 50-70 $ when I was doing landscapes, although it does last awhile. So digital does allow you to only have a one time fee for tablet and program, my tablet was around 80$ and clip studio 30$

It also depends on what you want to do with your art as well.

Either way, draw every day if you can, practice practice practice! it'll only get better.

 

[HistoricalyIncorrect]

Thanks to everyone for the support. I am not very good but i think i can see progress, i will upload few of my sketches soon. thank you very much for your opinions!

 

[WhiteTigerCub]

For my personal experience, all my friends who are illustrators passed to digital from traditional. Talking with them about this approach, they all told me they passed to digital in a moment of their life they wanted to experimenting new techniques, new ways to do illustration. None of them used digital for learning purpose or semplicity.
In my opinion, you could start improving your drawing skills in a traditional way, that maybe is the more "natural and human" way to draw, and thinking about digital more like a techinque instead of a regular way to draw. Personally, I'm not good in digital. When I grab a Wacom pen I feel as if I'm using the left hand.