that looks so cool <3

Are you self taught or schooling?

thank you!

and a mix of both- i was in the "regional arts program" at my high school, so i had art class every day for my four years and built up a lot of my foundational skills
but that was almost entirely traditional media (one semester out of 8 focused on digital, and in that semester we learned the basics of colouring in photoshop, but most of that time was spent on photography and photo manipulation)

so i definitely had a lot of help building up my art skills, but when it comes to digital painting, at least, i'm pretty much completely self-taught!

i am going to school for animation in the fall, though, and i'm really excited to see where a focused & intensive college program takes my art

Ohh right~

so for someone looking to improve on their skills, would it be better for them to take some classes, or try to figure it out themselves?


(oh that will be really fun! I've always kinda had the feeling I would like to go to an animation workshop or such, but I know I'm not near that level needed to go..)

It really depends on who you are! I know plenty of people who are Very Skilled Artists who never had art classes, or didn't take classes until they were already really good! If you have the motivation and the discipline, you can get a long ways on your own. :)

My advice, as someone with kind of middle-of-the-road discipline levels: If you are in a situation where you have the opportunity to take a class/if you have the money to do so, go for it! It can only help.

In terms of practising on your own, i find what works best for me is to pick one thing to practice, and focus on improving That One Thing, because otherwise i'll be overwhelmed by how many areas of art I need to improve. If you're at a loss, a good place to start is figure drawing!

Even if you rarely/don't draw humans, if you're going to be doing any sort of humanoid art, it really helps to understand human anatomy first.

Here's a good website! http://artists.pixelovely.com/
They have a decent stock of people and animal photos, and you can adjust the settings to give you a "class" sort of experience! (But you don't need to do that-- when i was focusing on my figures, I exclusively did 30 second drawings because I wanted to be able to get gestures down quickly. Do what works for you!)

(Thanks, I hope so!!)

Some workshops are geared toward people without extensive experience! I'd pay attention to the description and requirements for workshops, and of course look up reviews if they're available!