Advise from you wonderful creative people.

[Avalon-Sky]

Hi all,

So I am brand new here, and would love some advise from you wonderful creative inspiring people...

Basically I am 20 years old, I alwayes loved drawing as a child/ writing storys and really wonted to be a 3D artist, which then changed to graphic design and creating websites with photoshop, flash dreamweaver etc as I got older, because i always thought that 3D was beond my capabilitys.

Anyways skip ahead a little bit, insert a foundation degree in computer science I then decided that nothing was beond my ability. A burning desire to be much more creative, stumble across this website and imagine FX magazine and the realisation that I really did wont to be a digital artist no matter what, it just took me a few years to find that child again.

So at the begining of october I started to learn how to draw, currently i am doing perspective forms with scott robertson from the workshop, a traditional art course book, and drawing in the anime manga style.

Really sorry about all this wafle i'm finally getting to the point, so i got myself a wacom intous 3 A4 SE about two weeks ago...

And would really like some advise on how yoou use your's and how you got over things like not being able to spin your pad because i can't draw stright lines on it for the life of me like i can on paper, or maybe the kind of excersis you did on your's to get used to it.

and advice on what kind of brushes you use for concept art or maybe a crash course on the kind of brushes you use, or guides if such things excist.

And finally really just advise on the kinds of things you should be doing, or the things you did to become a good artist. I ordered myself the photoshop digital painting and tablet book last week so hopfully that will provide some insight and i also purchest unlimited access to the Art Trek Video Series with Charlse Burnard but i need to get better on the tablet before i can embark on that training.

Anyways whoo sorry for such a long post i'm just so excited about the future i've set myself up to start a games design degree in september also so i really can't wait for that.

Really like the look of the Massive Black DVDs also i love video training so i will probably get all of those eventually.

Right stop typing, really any advice from you wonderful people would be amazing i look at the work on here and feel like i'm about to cry at the shear briliance I just really can't wait until I can post my work.

Thank You very much for any help

Avalon-Sky

PS: I'm not sure if this is the right place for this so please move if needed

[Elwell]

Sorry you haven't gotten more response yet. It's probably because you've asked a lot of really general questions. Most of them have already been answered many times, it's just going to take a bit of searching and browsing on your part. So, do that, but also don't hesitate to jump in and start posting work, get involved in discussions, etc.

[J Wilson]

I know it's really tempting for every new comer to make one of these "So I decided I want to be an artist. Where do I start?" threads. Really though, spend a good couple of hours actually reading this forum instead of just just checking out the art. There's enough reading material here to last you a REALLY long time.

[Rabid]

For the trouble not spinning your pad try finding your arbitrary rotate key in either PS or Corel whatever you may be using. Set that key as one of your tablet hotkeys and simply hold the key down while you drag across the image to rotate it. This way your rotate the art without having to contort your body or flip around the tablet.

Be advised...if your canvas is large or detailed there may be a delay depending on your computer.

Here it is in PS, set the shortcut key and then do the same for your tablet...

[Cohen]

the most valuable thing you can do is just draw. I can't stress enough how much you need to experiment. I guarantee you that making mistakes is the best (maybe only) way to real improvement.

As for improving skills with the tablet itself, I just chucked my mouse as soon as I hooked my tablet up. everyone is a little shaky at first but it becomes natural faster than you think, just keep using it.

other than that I can't suggest much more without seeing where you are in your art. but I would say before you jump into a style, you should pick up some artist's anatomy books like bridgman, loomis, or peck.

Welcome to CA and to the graphic arts. Now go draw absolutely everything you can think of.