Random Art-Related Opinions

Art Styles in General

 People in the art community seem to focus on "finding" an art style and analyzing art styles too much. Artists (especially absolute beginners or teenagers) overthink styles or try to establish a static art style. It's better to not think about your own "art style" and just have it naturally evolve over time by learning fundamentals and copying others. It's especially bad to use your art style as an excuse for bad fundamentals or to brush away criticism.

 That being said, it is interesting to see how other people view your art in third-person perspective. Especially art style or other artist comparisons. I personally think my own art is VERY identifiable, even more so since I draw traditionally.

 One of my favorite things about art is seeing how the artist's personal style seeps into their work. AND how different the the works I all enjoy are to one another. I'll keep copying and trying out different art styles.

Skill Levels

 Nobody should be ashamed to make beginner level art just because they are a beginner. I love seeing lots of beginner / "bad" art. You can make someone happy and communicate your feelings even if your skill isn't great. Soulfulness is a real thing. I agree with the two cakes comic. I don't think you have to be perfect at art before trying new things out. Overall, if you draw a lot and try different things (and learn fundamentals directly or indirectly), you should improve in the majority of cases, right? Don't underestimate your ability to grow. People have different art-oriented objections as well, and that's okay.

 I don't want to sugarcoat things and say skill doesn't matter at all though either. Some art looks bad. Professional artists (or people doing art as a job) need *some* level of skill (and niche) to be successful. Nobody wants to feel bad at something. It's obvious why high skill is desirable. But it's also not some moral failing to make bad art lol.

 Humility is a virtue. You can be confident and humble at the same time, and I dislike when people act overconfident or overestimate their skill level. It's generally better to underestimate your skill instead of overestimate it.

 I want to be hard on myself and compare myself to people who completely and utterly outclass me. Let's be honest; we all have moments where we work hard on something and think it looks like hot shit... until we look online and see someone better than us. But my objective is using that frustration as inspiration instead of an excuse to degrade myself.

Critique

 I value honesty. Like the kind of honesty that someone thinks when they see your work, not just what they would say to you in polite conversation. I wish I could understand how people *actually* perceive me or my the things I draw. I've also been frustrated when art communities "softball" critique in spaces where critique is encouraged or open. Hugboxes don't help me improve; genuine feedback does.

 I will never give feedback when someone doesn't directly ask for it. Art is personal. I understand not everyone wants critique. I don't want absolute beginners or 13 year olds to be overwhelmed and feel terrible. Nor do I condone comment sections on social media being flooded with terrible comments. It surprises me in a negative way seeing Tiktok comment sections being flooded with the meanest remarks for likes like a competition.

Why I Draw

 Actually drawing makes me happy and feels pleasurable to me. It's not usually something I have to make myself do (unless there's an expected result I need to achieve like a task). I've drawn since I was a child and doodled in class mindlessly. I enjoy the tactile sensation of holding tools and manipulating materials which is why I much prefer tradtional art. I prefer coloring to sketching or inking.

 Drawing is how I can make my internal thoughts into the material, especially since most of my art is related to character art (fictional worlds). Seeing myself improve makes me feel furfilled.

---

Finding Other Artists / Resources

 I'm on Pixiv, so I will often look on a Booru for artists and then follow their Pixiv. Or just find someone through Pixiv tags. I don't want to use Xitter, so I just use a dummy account to follow and view content.

 Pinterest. On one hand you get an archive of pictures for easy organzation and inspo, especially when artists delete on a whim. On the other, it's reposting someone's content without permission 99% of the time and then forcing people to create an account to view said content plus ads... But it's crap now anyways with the sea of ads and AI sloppa. Not just art too. I was looking at a floral arrangement inspiration for an event. Instead of showing pictures of flowers, the Pinterest algorithm just flooded my feed with ads of fake plastic flowers you could buy from Etsy dropshippers. It's almost worthless as it is right now. Same with vintage clothing references. All AI.

 For now, I'm happy just with YouTube tutorials, the commonly recommended art instruction books, and Line of Action. I also love artbooks from an series, like a collected art collection from a show I like. Or photobooks / sets with real life pictures.

---

The "Anime Art Style"

 I obviously like the overall "anime art style" a lot. I like how many "sub-variations" there are on it in. I think that western pseudo-anime, anime-inspired hybrid art styles can be very cute, but sometimes I wonder if certain artists would be better off commiting to drawing in a straight-up anime style. I want to continue drawing anime art since character art is my main interest, but it would be nice to change things up as well.

---

Traditional vs. Digital

 I don't think either is better than the other, genuinely. I prefer traditional, but digging up my old drawing tablet would make things more convenient in a lot of ways. Digital is painting with pixels.

---

Art Supplies and Mediums

 I don't think people need to spend $$$$$$ on the very best art supplies in the world, but you should feel good using your art supplies. My stupid watercolors are expensive, but the colors would look like absolute shit if I used some Crayola watercolor tray for kids. It's pleasurable to use my art supplies even if the actual artwork doesn't turn out the way I want.

 I hate graphite and charcoal. I very much dislike getting pencil on my hands anyways while sketching. I hated seeing gray shiny fingers in school as a kid from when other kids would get graphite all over them. I don't like pastels for similar reasons, but I like the creaminess, color, and texture of (preferrably oil) pastels. I would use gloves.

 I used to hate watercolor because I would always overwork the paper. I still overwork the paper, but I'm much better at watercolor than how I was prevously. Alcoholic markers are probably my favorite aside from watercolor, but I'm annoyed at having to refill with ink and getting bad QC markers that are already dried out. Colored pencils are fun, but you have to put work into getting color payoff. Get a colorless blender! I want to try watercolor pencils out more in the future.

 I don't like acrylic paints, but I'll try painting again when I become more skilled and have an idea for an actual canvas. I have never tried oil paints.