Me: deciding to draw
My cat:
Mushroom Jellyfish!
Anyone in Albuquerque on June 10th has the possibility to find and keep this little buddy!
please never feel bad for taking shortcuts in art. its ok if you copy and paste the other eye. its okay if you use the circle tool or the line tool. its okay to use a reference. its not about doing it the hard way, its about creating something. i promise you, you arent a worse artist for using tricks and shortcuts. its about the end product, not the process, and you shouldnt torture yourself with the hardest methods imaginable if it wont change your art in the end
And also you’re gonna hurt yourself doing that. Need to draw several chains? Use a brush. Need to draw 5 layers of lace? Use a brush. Stuck on a hand for 2 hours? Use a ref.
Nothing is worse than being hunched over your drawing for 4 hours doing something that can be done in 2 mins. That quickly approaching life-long arm/shoulder/spine injury isn’t worth it. Trust me. I have chronic pains.
This whole “the only way to be a true artist is to do everything the hard way” is bullshit. As a professional artist, I’ve traced things. I’m especially bad at machines, so I will absolutely find a reference and trace it. If I can’t find the perfect photo, I will find one of those free 3D models that you can view in real time, get the position and camera angle I need, and screen shot it. I still draw it in my style, it’s still my art. But you can save so much time and energy and anxiety just by giving yourself some help
