Author: achuvs96

5 Tips for creating incredible illustrations

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Here are a few important tips that will help you sail smoothly in the world of illustrations.

Design for the User: One might lose himself trying to make stunning visuals. But it might become too unrelatable for the audience or the end-user. In this case, it will be better to start illustrating a basic sketch and add visual details to satisfy you as well as the user.

Avoid complex symbols: It is crucial to avoid any sort of symbolism that pertains to any culture or language in your illustrations. It is also wise to avoid any colors that may be offensive to your target. Do a brief study on the audience.

Follow color hierarchy: Use a minimal color palette of two to three colors. It helps the user to understand the hierarchy in the illustration better.

Spacing: Ensure that there is plenty of breathing space and as few elements as possible in your design. Remember that less is always more.

Use Grids: It gives you more control. It can help in abolishing the vagueness in your work.

Understand all these rules well as you learn and break them once you master them.

Drawing textures using pencil: What You Need To Know

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The smoothness or roughness of a surface is called texture. The type and amount of texture determine how much light reflects off it.

A hard and smooth surface like metal or glass reflects all the light. As a result, it creates sharp, crisp edges and contrasting highlights and shadows.

A soft surface like cloth, absorb the light, and create smooth transitions between light and dark values.

On a rough surface, the light hits only less area, which creates a softer range of highlights and shadows. Ridges on the surface catch all the light creating dark shadows.

Here are some tips to draw common textures.

Clouds appear in the smooth sky. First, lightly crosshatch with a pencil. Blend smooth with the cotton to create the sky. Erase out the sky with the white eraser to form clouds.

The water surface is reflective with ripples on it. Use a side-to-side rocking motion to draw this. Small parallel gaps between the lines act as the reflection in the water.

To draw foliage, work in layers. Scribble random lines to create the leaves. Draw the branches that are not hidden. Then add more layers. Use an eraser to lift off highlights.

Keep these tips in mind before you draw your next picture.

How to paint an abstract art?

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how to paint and abstract art

Art is perspective. It depends on the point of view of people that enjoy and create it. Abstract painting is probably the epitome of the case. There are however, some tips you can make use before starting with your abstract art.

Use reference image: Using a reference image can give you a rough idea to start working on. You can abandon the reference as your painting takes shape.

Find focal point: Fix a place for your eye to begin and end. It is best to have it off-center to reduce the definitive nature of the paintings.

Consider the values: Limited range of values often makes a painting look shallow and meaningless. It is better to add dark values and complement it with lighter values accordingly.

Turn the picture upside down: This is an effective way to analyze the painting. This will help you to find out odd-looking areas of the painting.

Fill the edges: Don’t leave the edges unpainted. It could give a ‘central’ feel to your painting, which is something you don’t want in your abstract.

Use your feelings: Make your emotions the subject of your painting.

Have a concept: Try to express an idea through your abstract. Anything as simple as weather to current global scenarios can become its theme.

Start painting your heart out now!

What is the difference between watercolor and gouache? Find out

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Difference between watercolour and gouache

In a single glance, gouache and watercolor look almost identical. Gouache, which is a member of the watercolor family, is a medium that can be used just like watercolor. 

Artists can use gouache on watercolor paper or any other surface suitable for watercolor. It is also possible to use your watercolor brushes for gouache, and you will not need any specific chemicals to clean them either.

Just like watercolor, one can rewet gouache with water to make changes and corrections or thin it with water to make it more transparent.

Yet, gouache is different from watercolor. This is because, on a structural level, gouache is made different to watercolor.

Compared to watercolors, gouache has larger particles of pigment. As its particles are tightly packed together, gouache is opaque. 

The opaqueness makes gouache great for illustrators who want accurate photographs. The same quality makes it almost useless for achieving glowing effects sought after by watercolorists.

So the next time you’re looking for a new medium to try or are just curious about gouache, grab some colors, and start drawing.

Drawing: How to find time everyday?

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Draw everyday

If you wish to improve your drawing skills, daily practice is a must. Let’s see ways to squeeze in some drawing exercise in your day to day life.

Reduce your TV Time: Stop binging on TV and start using that time for drawing. An even better option would be to try to merge both the activity by expressing what you see on TV in your drawing.

Keep doodling: Make 5-minute or even 1-minute drawings to continuously involve in the process of drawing. This way, you will be able to draw readily whenever you want.

Doodle while listening to something: It can help you to draw as well as retain more of what you have just heard or read.

Get up earlier: Wake up 30 minutes before your usual wake up time and squeeze in a drawing warm-up. If you’re not a morning person, try to do the same at night instead of morning.

Stop procrastinating: Do it now. No matter how small your drawings are, these small contribute to improving your skill can help a lot in the end.

Get better at drawing by finding time for daily practice with these easy steps.

Tips for painting from your imagination

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Draw from imagination

Wouldn’t it be cool if you could draw whatever you want without any reference? But it is generally observed that artists find it hard to do so. Here are some tips that will let your imagination come to life through your paintings. 

Don’t copy: First, don’t even copy the reference as it is. Use it only to get an idea about the different perspectives, scales, and proportions. 

Use your favorite medium: When you already find it hard to draw from imagination, using an unfamiliar medium will only make it harder.

Break down the image: Learn to break down the image into basic shapes. Trace these shapes onto paper proportionately and combine them to form the final artwork.

Make a reference sheet: Use reference images, study the various perspectives thoroughly, and make a detailed drawing sheet of all these perspectives from your memory for later use. But ensure that you don’t rely on the reference sheet to draw every time.

Improve your imagination by improving creativity. Do this by using active memory to retain almost every detail in your mental imagery. Even though the process of drawing from imagination is not easy, continuous practice can help you achieve this goal.

Tips for painting watercolor portraits that you should know

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watercolor portrait tips

Some super easy but not so popular tips can save your time when painting watercolor portraits. We will be listing down some of them below.

Start with the face: Sketch the eyes, nose, and mouth and details like shadows and highlights with a pencil.

Use a kneadable eraser to lift the dark pencil strokes: Make it as light as possible. The excess graphite can make the painting look dirty.

Mix your paints before you start painting: Decide all tones and values you need before you start painting.

Use wet on wet technique to paint the skin: Wet the paper before painting and add darker values following lighter values. 

Leave the highlights unpainted: In case you paint over it, don’t use white watercolor to paint highlights. Instead, use gouache or white color pencil or pen for adding highlights if needed.

If the paint dries off while painting the skin, wait till it is completely dried before adding darker values. Once it’s dry, wet the portions you want to paint and add the layers of darker values on it.

Paint the skin first and then add finer details like eyes and lips. In short, work from whole to part. Follow these tips for painting watercolor portraits easily.

4 Habits to become a better artist

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become a better artist

If you’re an aspiring artist, you would have met your worst enemy of all time: the art block. The worst thing about an art block is that many times, it is self-inflicted.

Here are some habits you must build to say goodbye to art blocks for good.

Bye-bye takers: Next time someone asks you for free artwork, say no. They do nothing but drag you down. Anything is more appreciable when it comes with a reward or a price.

Stop scrolling: The internet is the best thing when it comes to both amplifying or sabotaging your creativity. Try to choose your sources of inspiration from outside the screen.

Don’t try to be original: Instead of trying to draw something that is a hundred percent original (which is almost close to impossible), observe existing ideas from a unique perspective and express them authentically in your drawing.

Be grateful: In other words, stop being narcissistic, which is a complex that develops over time. The world doesn’t owe you anything just because you’re an artist. Be grateful for whatever gifts you have in life instead of expecting more of it.

Start enjoying your art life more with these habits.

How to preserve your pencil drawings

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Nothing is more painful than seeing the drawing that you’ve been working so hard on going to waste due to a lack of proper preservation. Learning how to preserve your artwork is just as important as drawing itself. 

Let’s see some ways to preserve your pencil drawings.

Parchment paper: Use parchment paper in between two drawing sheets. This waxy paper will help to preserve your drawing for a long time.

Lay your drawings flat: Store your drawing horizontally, thus preventing rolling corners and wrinkling of the paper.

Fixatives: Use a matte or glossy finish spray fixative to coat your drawing to prevent it from possible future damage. Be careful to use the fixative in a properly ventilated area.

Avoid frequent handling: If you want to archive your artworks, avoid handling them now and then. Preserve them in a practically inert space with lesser interactions with humidity and sunlight.

Use clear bags or laminations that allows your work to be seen without being removed from the protective covering. All techniques have pros and cons. However, it’s always better to resort to one such technique to make your artwork live longer.

Surrealism: Basics You Should Know

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Surrealism has been one of the most popular branches of art, and it is so because of the sheer strangeness of this style. In surrealist art, nothing is bound by the laws of reality, even though the images are realistic. Here are some ways to help you get your way through surrealism.

Find objects that interest you and connect them: The connection has to be so irrational that it should shake anyone who stumbles upon it.

Get inspired: Inspect works of great masters like Dalì and Magritte to understand how to blend all your ideas. These pioneers of the style have created innumerable surrealistic masterpieces.

Keep the initial sketch as simple as possible: Work in layers and add more layers as you start adding more details.

Lighting: Lighting and composition are just as crucial in surrealism as it is realism. Identify the light source and adjust the shadows and highlights and mid-tones accordingly.

Ultimately, all you need to draw surrealism is the ideas in your head. Give life to absurd ideas and ditch all the rules of art with this style.