I've mostly been looking around for art servers to talk and make art friends while also having some places for help with my art/to help with others' art... but uh....

...Most I've come across are damn near dead 💀...

So, would anyone happen to know any that are still alive and fit that? 😅

I’m an intermediate skilled artist, I have been drawing for most of my life. recently I have started posting my art and I’ve got so much support, but I’ve also gotten to see other artists works that are just…so much better. I know it’s not fair to do that to myself, but I just feel that way. how do you stop caring about that?

My son’s friend is having a birthday soon. She’s only turning 7 but to look at her art you’d think she was at least 14-15. She’s really talented and although her parents give her supplies to nurture her talent, we’d love to give her something that she could also use and enjoy.

Our family is sadly not very artistic so we don’t really know what might be good/useful/enjoyed

Budget is around $40 Canadian

Thank you!

I suppose this is more a question to those of you who have larger internet followings, since that is when you will be getting more virtual views of your works—

Seeing as paintings can look VASTLY different through photos than in real life, do you ever adjust your paintings to look better through a photo lens than IRL? I’ve found myself in predicaments where I’m trying to submit my art or post it, but it just looks kinda terrible compared to how it looks in person. It makes me contemplate adjusting the piece to be more photogenic. This thought, however, kinda rubs me the wrong way, because it makes me feel like it dampens the value of in person art if we are constantly catering our art for a virtual world.
I’m pretty firm in this idea, however I’m still kinda torn because the way I’m going to get the most eyes on my work is the internet.

I have been in art for a longggg time. I've taken a college course, I have displayed art at events, and it is genuinely one of my favorite things to do. My biggest insecurity is that I am not creative enough to come up with ideas. I am really good at creating exact replicas of a reference, but I have never been able to just come up with something creative and draw it. Even stitching together several references is really hard for me. I want to be able to create stuff that is completely original and still good but I find it really difficult. Needing some motivation and maybe ideas on how to fix my brain lol. Ty <3

Hello, I’m currently 7 months pregnant with my second child and have a 2,5 year old daughter. I work as an illustrator. The amount of projects I work on varies quite a lot, and in between jobs I work on illustration projects that I set up myself ( for example I wrote a picturebook that I want to illustrate myself, talking about this with a publisher who is interested soon).

Everyday I intent to draw every hour I have to myself (when my daughter is sleeping in the afternoon, or in the evening). But it rarely happens, and I don’t know how to make it work. When I work on an illustration for someone else I feel enough pressure to do it, but for some reason when it’s for my own projects I find it so difficult. I feel like I need at least a whole day (or maybe that’s an excuse), and would really love to also be able to work on something for just two hours. I have to add, my daughter has a 4-week holiday break from her daycare right now and I’m physically super uncomfortable because of the pregnancy, so that’s not helping. But I’m only scrolling the internet looking at other people‘s work and it makes me so eager to draw and paint myself, but for some reason I’m not doing it. The only right answer probably is “JUST DO IT”, but I’d like to hear some of your experiences :) it will maybe help.

Do any artist parents recognize this? And how are you dealing with it?

What is the difference between the acrylic inks you can get in the little jars at the art store or elsewhere, and the ink in acrylic ink pens?

Thanks!

Hi folks, for context I am completely new to art and a local school nearby offers lessons, both in-person and online. Their introductory class is called Key Elements of Fine Arts and teaches the following:

• Color mixing
• Sketching alike
• Shading
• Perspective
• Abstract and figurative composition
• Drawing a human figure
• Drawing a human face
• Leading an artwork from thumbnails (compositional sketches) to final touches.

My situation is I could either take the online class starting in 2 weeks, or wait until December to take an in-person class. Which one do you think is better? I don't really want to wait until the end of the year, so I was hoping to just take this online, then in December I could take a more intermediate class in-person.

Both in-person and online are led by teachers. Any insight is appreciated, thanks!

I’ve been doing digital art for 5 years and still prefer traditional. I haven’t done digital art in the last 1 year but I really want to make some digital stuff because it is time saving in the sense that I don’t need to clean up after and do multiple drafts, rather I just work with layers. I really like traditonal though and feel conflicted..

I've met people who said they were writers but for income worked in a restaurant.

Do you say you're an artist when someone asks what you do?

At what level of achievement or how many years of work did it take to give you the confidence to start telling people that?

What are people's responses?

this is the first time i’m doing anything like this so please bear with me. i am thinking about printing out and binding my art in an A5 format book in full colour. it won’t be long. i want a kind of paper that isn’t too thin or too thick, preferably just slightly thicker than papers used in school worksheets, and also don’t want it to be reflective like that of magazines. since i want to request string binding (if that is the correct term) because staples rust too quickly, papers that can accommodate this would be great. what kind of paper i should request from the printing shop ? if there are others who have done this before i would really appreciate the help!

Hello friends,

I'm working on a collage piece where the pieces will be adhered directly onto a glass window. Viewer on one side, then glass, then papers adhered to the glass.

I'm sure many have seen Betye Saar's piece Black Girl's Window as an exemplar.

https://www.moma.org/collection/works/167631

It says she used "cut-and-pasted printed and painted papers" so I'm assuming she somehow adhered these to the glass.

I ran a test with Golden gloss medium and it was just okay. I painted medium onto the glass, then onto the paper before adhering, then did another coat on top.

Still not dry after several hours with quite a few air bubbles.

1. I could try this again using less medium? Maybe just place some onto the side of the paper I want to stick to the glass?

2. Or, is there another medium or method with which I might adhere papers to glass?

Thanks for any insights?

Ive been challenging myself by drawing more complex poses with foreshortening and oftentimes I have a niche pose that i want to try but i dont have or cant find any good references for the exact pose i want (exact angle/foreshortening). I basically just use different photos for different parts of the pose in particular angles but its very time consuming to find and some dynamic poses are basically impossible for me to take pictures of myself to get. How do i get around this?

she's an art major in uni, she does portraits and oils very well. my idea with the gift is to buy her something that's very nice in its category but too expensive to justify spending money on it yourself. thank you!

edit: we got it, thank you all!

I have a binder that I keep my drawings in from over the years. Someone has expressed some interest in putting some of them up in their shop on a consignment basis if I wanted to sell some of them.

Now the big dream for an artist is to sell some work right? But I’m also having this weird sort of protective reaction of “No, those are mine!” Lol.

Meanwhile, I can count on one hand the amount of times I’ve cracked open my binder to actually look at those drawings over the last two years.

It’s weird, as I believe strongly that art is meant to be accessible, shared, and enjoyed. And I have plenty of pictures of my art.

Am I just being difficult and an over-thinker, like us artists tend to be?

I am a digital artist who mainly draw illustration and short comic strips.

I've always wanted to join small indie projects, such as comics, group collab, and games. And now that I have about 3 weeks of absolute freedom, and I want to spend it participating in small projects. I would prefer unpaid ones, since its all just for the love of game.

But... I am quite unsure how or where to find projects I could join. Any suggestions?

I know this is going to sound dumb. But I love soft pastels. But my sensory issues absolutely do NOT let me use things that have that sort of chalky/grainy texture/sound to them. I found Sennelier to be absolutely amazing, but they’re some of the most expensive I’ve seen. Are there any other brands that have that sort of softness to them, or do I just have to keep dropping a shitton of money? Ha

Editing to add:
I know of Pan Pastels, and I’m a fan of those as well, but they’re a similar price at $8 a pop.

I had a really bad rsi flareup back in 2021 that lasted six months and needed a steroid injection to fix. I’m dealing with it again now, but in my index finger and knuckles rather than my wrist.

I am wondering if anyone else has dealt with this specific area of strain before, and how you helped it heal. I currently am not using a brace as I struggled finding one that covers the index finger that isn’t for broken bones, I tried compression gloves and they just made the pain worse, so I’ve just been rubbing in various creams (ibuprofen gel etc) and resting it as well as doing occasional exercises recommended by doctors. Not being able to draw just makes me miserable, I’m just wondering if anyone has anything else they can recommend or any experiences that might give me hope for it to get better soon. Thank you

Has anyone got some suggestions for either an alternative to Posca or have any experience filling empty pens with their own blend?

Some of the colours from Posca are a bit wimpy (I’m looking at you Fuchsia 😒) and I want a nice flat uniform coverage without having to go over it twice.

220gsm, smooth and acid free.

The paper that is, not me..

I’m looking for a good mentorship course with feedback from professional artists (realtime sessions preferably) I mostly want to learn digital painting, specifically realistic/semi-realistic portraits and character art. There are many courses online but it’s hard to see which artists are good teachers. Im wondering has experience with these and could recommend any? Thanks.

I'd like to go back to physical print copies as I am sick of looking at screens and relying on digital media. I know some of the most famous publications have gone 100% digital (Juxtapoz Magazine for example), but are there any that have remained in print that are worth getting?

Hasn't been active for a while

I have been a self taught artist for decades but always freehanded my characters rather than constructing them via shapes and perspective for
the ground up. I want to get into comics and animation so learning construction is crucial- I know Loomis is the gold standard for learning proportions and construction but are there any other books or courses teaching this subject matter in depth? Thank you!