August Q&A - leave your questions here!
Added 2020-08-15 18:27:32 +0000 UTCHello!
Hope you're all doing good! Please feel free to ask whatever questions you like for this month's Q&A - questions about art, my life, how deep and dark porn can get, etc. - I've been less active the last couple days because I got some of that good mouth surgery. Nothin' too crazy, just been a bit dizzy from the pain meds as I recover but I've worked out a few things I really want to get out for you all.
Specifically things that address the questions asked during these Q&A's that I feel are repeated the most - how I study, how I design characters(with full breakdown PDF's for reference), scheduling & book collection references etc. Hopefully these coming posts will be a good reference for people who are asking these questions and looking for more in-depth answers.
Thanks for all your support as well, I'm looking forward to seeing what you all do with the Rei prints - please send me pictures if you do get it framed!
Dave
Comments
Hoping I'm not too late on this. Thank you for taking the time with my question last month, "prove them wrong" has been my everything mantra for years now. Can't explain to you how inspiring it feels to be reminded that's the answer. If you haven't addressed it previously, could you talk a bit more about how you wrestle, and refine with ideas, if you do? How do you decide when you're processing a direction to take or explore within a design or painting? Thanks for everything Dave.
Nicholas P
2020-09-01 14:26:38 +0000 UTCWhat’s up Dave! I know I was a big fan of your Backwood Carver Stories. Last month you gave us a few memorable moments, can we hear a few more stories? Ok for my art question: I am very interested (along with other patrons) on how you use your Greg G’s photoshop texture brushes from GumRoad. It seems to be something you just do in the background while you focus your tutorials on the characters/line drawings etc. Can you talk us through some of your Greg G’s brush techniques or better yet just make a separate in-depth post solely focusing on your approach to building the backgrounds/textures with these awesome brushes. I know you don’t like being told what to do but I had to just throw it out on the table! Thanks again for all you do!
Rave Dapoza
2020-09-01 12:44:22 +0000 UTCI've heard you say and warn of people falling for their own hype of becoming an "ARTIST". Can you remember a time when -- or if -- you felt yourself becoming like that, and what did that feel like if so. I hope this doesn't sound like a loaded question. Also, what's your favorite slang for penis? I really like the term pig. Stay well, thanks.
Ian Marshall Pellerin
2020-09-01 01:29:30 +0000 UTClol
S Omar
2020-09-01 00:03:49 +0000 UTCHello Dave! How are you? I was wondering, what are your favorite books for learning drawing and painting? Thanks in advance
Vincenzo Laruccia
2020-08-31 21:30:49 +0000 UTCHey Dave, I have been following you for years and trying to practice on my own, but I'm just too god damn stupid to actually learn how to draw and paint. All I can do is copy kinda decent, but when I try to draw from imagination, KIDS DRAWINGS all over the place! Am I completely retarded or am I just doing something wrong? lol On that sense, do you still have any of the old live streams when you did studies daily somewhere? I always find that looking back on a artist struggle really inspiring, so if you could upload some of them here would be amazing. Thanks Dave, and keep being awesome!
Bruno Machado
2020-08-31 10:05:50 +0000 UTCHi Dave, In the orc tutorial (super awesome by the way) you went more into the business & money side of things which nobody else seems to ever talk about. I learned so much, so thanks! I've been working hard and getting consistent freelance work for a while now which is great, but i still suck at the non-arty side of things, and when you mentioned how much you earn I definitely realised i was doing something wrong. I know magic pays the most as far as illustration work goes, so currently working towards that, and you've said before that advertising jobs are really well paid, but i've no idea where to look or what sort of work to show to attract those kind of jobs. Any advice would be great, and thanks for doing this patreon! <3
Sam Denmark
2020-08-31 07:26:23 +0000 UTCHey Dave, what are some albums/bands you're listening to while you work these days? I got really into Lazerhawk and Perturbator years ago because of the skull and shark teasers. Just curious if there's anything you've had on repeat lately. Big love.
Jacob Loren
2020-08-29 22:39:36 +0000 UTCThe number of controversies and plagiarism in the art community is really scary. I started to doubt if this is the line of work I want to pursue. What is the best way to get out of this mindset and have a smooth and painless transition into a professional working environment and earn money from doing illustration? After all, I've been drawing for 9 years now and abandoning all this experience, hard work, and most importantly a part of my identity because of this controversies and difficulties seems also wrong to me.
Zuzanna Horaczuk
2020-08-28 06:10:01 +0000 UTCHey Dave, those new Jace and Nahiri mtg painting are amazing! Do you plan to do anything with the artist proofs ( if they are still giving those)? If you plan to sell them I would love to get them from you instead of buying it as a regular card.
Mush
2020-08-27 11:12:08 +0000 UTCHey Dave! You may have already answered this, I wanted to know if I should copyright the comic I'm working on before I publish it? Thank you for sharing your art and wisdom!
Aaron Randall
2020-08-27 02:01:24 +0000 UTCHow is it Dave wanted to know how you make decisions on posing is it to help with the lighting you have in mind or do you rough in a basic pose then look for reference to flesh it out etc. Thanks as always just really eager to get to work professionally in art. Keep on a rocking.
Robotcoconuthd
2020-08-27 00:43:24 +0000 UTCHey Dave! What was the workflow for the Logan and Terminator posters. Did you come up with the composition yourself or did the art directors give you the layout. Also how do you get such great likenesses for all the characters. Thanks!
Tony Chris
2020-08-27 00:12:36 +0000 UTChello Dave! what was the process to make the Destiny comic? bungie gave you a script or you wrote the story with dan? and whats the dynamic in working with all those characters, you got game assests from bungie for every character or you just search for references ?
BenjahTD
2020-08-26 20:35:13 +0000 UTCHey Dave! When working on your scripts, how many drafts/iterations do you and dan go though before you start the drawings and how much of this process has change since you guys started lichman.
Michael
2020-08-26 19:18:00 +0000 UTCHey Dave, Quick comics question for you. I heard it said somewhere before that because you are making so many drawings for a comic book, you have to settle for any individual drawing being about 65% of your current skill level (100% being a finished painting or illustration, I assume). How true has this been to your experience? I am coming to the end of my time studying at an atelier, and I'm wondering how best to mentally break away from the expectation that any finished piece is worked and reworked over and over again over dozens or even hundreds of hours. Thanks man!
Rauv_Art
2020-08-26 18:51:23 +0000 UTCHey Dave, hope you’re all good. How accurate do you find the colors, hue and saturation are on a Cintiq? The colors seem different on my Cintiq in comparison to other monitors and devices.
Dean Brorson
2020-08-26 10:48:19 +0000 UTCDave what is Smut and Forgery? And how do we get access to it?
Colorblindraws
2020-08-25 05:45:18 +0000 UTCHey Dave, i'm 27, still live at home, been drawing for 4 and a half years and spent 10 hours drawing an anime girl tied to a chair because its the only money i have earned in 3 months. I guess what I'm asking is, do you think a regular air powered nailgun is enough to penetrate a human skull?
Bogsloth
2020-08-25 02:02:49 +0000 UTCHi, Dave. Are there any specific settings you put for your clip studio dopest pencil/water colorbrush to get your textures? Sometimes I get the nice, sketchy lines I want then other times it's just super opaque and too hard of a line. Maybe it's something to do with canvas size or maybe my line control? Thank you in advance.
Paul Bautista
2020-08-24 20:47:01 +0000 UTCHi Dave!, can we have your photoshop brushes as well? Thanks!
Mediocre Artist
2020-08-24 20:45:36 +0000 UTCHi Dave, wishing you a speedy full recovery from your mouth surgery. By the time you're doing this Q&A, I hope you've already fully recovered. Thanks for answering our questions last month. These Q&As are really appreciated. My Question(s): When doing an illustration, at what point would you call your piece finished? Have you ever been at a stage in your career in art where you were constantly going back and trying to change or fix something in the piece?
Figmenter
2020-08-22 23:40:46 +0000 UTCHey Dave! I've started a study group to make practicing and applying the fundamentals more interesting. Each day, for two hours, we study one subject, like anatomy, light, color, etc. The first hour is rote practice and the second is application. Do you have any recommendations for exercises, studies or techniques to practice? Also, do you have general advice or reflections about running a study group from the Crimson Daggers days? Thanks in advance and for your consistent content- I have learned so much from your work and its made me a better artist.
Ian Storey
2020-08-22 15:55:27 +0000 UTCHey Dave! Which of your political beliefs do you think would alienate the largest percentage of your audience? Actual question: Do you have any advice for someone trying to figure out where in the art industry they fit in? Do you think it's better to "be your own artist" and then find work that fits your style or just decide on one job you want, and then tailor the look of your art to fit that specific job?
Louis Whitworth
2020-08-21 18:09:18 +0000 UTCHey Dave hope everything is going well! Appreciate all the useful knowledge you’re constantly dropping on us, you’ve really motivated and inspired me to pursue art more seriously than I have been lately and stop being content with a regular 9-5 job. Anyways, as for my question, when you’re working on a piece digitally, do you prefer using a pencil or brush tool when you’re outlining or adding detail or texture? I find the main thing that I struggle with is adding final details that really pop or making my lines too thick or more apparent than I’d like them to be. I really want to achieve a more painterly or concept art type of look than the “comic” style I have now. I was formerly using only PhotoShop but recently got into Clip Studio because of your videos. Thanks man!
jdawgmurkin
2020-08-18 20:23:43 +0000 UTCHi Dave, hope you recover soon from the mouth surgery. As for the question: as we juggle life, the struggle to find our place in the market, improving our art, making personal projects and so forth, does it help to try and develop a sense or method to one's artstyle? For example, categorize three levels of application (simple, overall, highly rendered). I feel so much of one's potential and goals in life gets wasted because of time constraints, the modern rushed consumism and other responsiblities we can't foresee, that maybe adding some efficiency in the form of "pre-set styles" can help many of these to happen and flow more often. It could also help with practicing different things whilst getting shit done. Thanks for the time, all the best!
Abner Boldt
2020-08-18 17:13:54 +0000 UTChi Dave, I really like the work you did for league of legends and the witcher, what adivice do have on achieving that realistic and deatiled stlye? Also your backgrounds for evangelion are really strong, whats your adivce on learning to paint landscapes?
elijah eddings
2020-08-17 16:50:52 +0000 UTCHey Dave, any advice on how you approach the lighting in your pieces and how the light effects color? No matter the style you’re going for in your pieces they always seem to have great dimension and colors to them. When I’m doing studies from life or photos the light and color seems clear, but when I work on more original pieces it feels lost and sometimes I lose my initial sketch by over rendering trying to figure it all out. Any advice is appreciated, like maybe putting Color and Light by James Gurney into a blender and drinking it to gain its knowledge? Thanks a lot, this Patreon is super helpful.
Tommy Worthington
2020-08-17 15:16:01 +0000 UTCMy man! Thanks for answering last month's question, it helped alot. Another question I have for you is style. I love your new anime/manga inspired direction. I want to follow in the same steps, but worry that I may not get the same amount of work from people with the switch. What thoughts do you have on that? In my core, I feel like it's just a natural human fear of 'fear of the unknown', so my brain is making reasons for me not to try. Thanks for any insight--love you.
Jonathan Rector
2020-08-17 13:47:38 +0000 UTCQuestion: also one more, if your aspiration is to draw like Terada or Kim jung gi (not the style) with the marker and make awesome murals like they do, what your best advice on how to achieve that?
Ahmed Alqirsh
2020-08-17 02:02:05 +0000 UTCQuestion: hello Dave I seen your study schedule online, I practice about 10-12 hours a day of drawing so that I could fast track my to where I want to be, your thoughts?
Ahmed Alqirsh
2020-08-17 01:59:22 +0000 UTCHey Dave, Thanks for love and your answer about roughing out comic pages. Wondering about when your'e figuring out the story, Do you tend to go chronologically or figure out some major plot points then figure out the in betweens? working on my own story and working on some of the plot holes has been tough. Do you get stuck much like this or maybe having a writing partner significantly helps with that? *dont need to read this part in the video* forgive me for asking here, I never received the poster from the kickstarter and still hoping I might one day. I PM'd your patreon, mentioned it in the email for address for the original sketch, msgd on kickstarter and last reply I got from Dan via twitter was in December 2019 he said he'd try again. I'm not fussed about when if it's hard at the moment but if you could least save one aside for when it's possible. that be great. If it's not possible, please let me know so I can stop hoping to receive it one day. no love lost, I know you have allot on your plate. cheers
Andrew Gibbons
2020-08-17 01:53:57 +0000 UTCHallo Dave, I also noticed u and kim like making accents, and just wondering which american accents are some of ur favorites, I know Boston has a super strong one. And also, if u want, some of ur world accents speaking english too Thanks as always, keep up the good work man
Colorblindraws
2020-08-16 23:09:05 +0000 UTCHey Dave! One of the questions I most see asked to every artist that publishes complex arts is how long did it take to make that art. I think social media really screwed up everyone's sense of time invested in arts because everyone publishes only the most polished work and when an amateur artist sees a profile with 30k followers the person thinks that he needs to publish every two days a new piece to get more followers. I'm sure the trend with everydays being done by 3D artists doesn't help too. I wanted to hear your thoughts on what I said, specially when the algorithms favors those who publish all the time and not everyone being comfortable with sharing WIPs, studies, etc. Thanks for the great content!
Protski
2020-08-16 19:00:45 +0000 UTCDave, hope you're ok man. I love listening to these Q&A's and have a question about Art Directors. Specifically how to contact them but more importantly how do you stay in touch? Heard from Noah Bradley he sent them postcards back in the day, other than that no one seems to talk about it much. Now I'm wondering if there is some sort of courtship stuff that is somewhat expected from artists when working with WOTC or similar clients, you know, to stay in touch or make an impression or whatever. Also any pitfalls or stories you can share from past experiences with ADs? Much love. Julian
Julian Hellwig
2020-08-16 09:56:21 +0000 UTCHey Dave, I have a question on the balance of cool and warm tones in an art piece. When I use it, It generally looks more Street Fighter concept art looking, way more saturated. I wanna know how do I go about employing cold and warm tones in a more natural way and what should I study to get that natural effect?
Levail Naik
2020-08-16 08:58:21 +0000 UTCDo you have any interest in other artistic endeavors? Alla prima? Sculpture?
Faolan Grady
2020-08-15 21:15:15 +0000 UTCHey Dave, I have a question about sketching and line art. Recently I saw a video with a cool tip from a dude named chroma moma that when your line art looks kinda bland and simplified compared to the sketch, it’s because the sketch itself isn’t actually detailed enough and the rough lines and perspective lines give the illusion of complexity. I’ve been struggling a lot with this, have you ever run into this issue before? How would you suggest dealing with it?
Nixolas
2020-08-15 20:27:49 +0000 UTCUnrelated, ever had any home invasion related experiences? My boyfriend and I found a super tall homeless guy sleeping in our bed, he was even wearing boyfriend's sleeping mask
Esteban Sanchez
2020-08-15 19:58:43 +0000 UTCHey man, hope all be good! I'd really love specific advice on how somebody barely starting out in illustration can get work (like starting from zero work experience just a good level of schooling/workshops/self teaching) Specifically good websites to use and how to use them would be super useful! Usually the answers I get are p vague
Esteban Sanchez
2020-08-15 19:53:16 +0000 UTCThanks for answering the previous questions Dave But I forgot something Ive always wanted to know How are your freestyle rap skills? U dropped some sick bars last QnA while Aing a Q, so I wondered if u have some more to show Peace yo!
Colorblindraws
2020-08-15 18:37:01 +0000 UTC
