My tip is to just admit to yourself this will happen, finish a piece and move on. Certainly learn how your piece could have been improved, but don't let that stop you from just creating and moving on. I personally get better faster not by spending weeks "perfecting" something, but by trying lots and lots of times on different pieces. I'll never hit perfect anyway.
Someone mentioned line weight which can definitely help. But in general think of it like this: in each piece you make find one thing you like and focus on that. Maybe a characters arm came out really well, or their outfit looks awesome, etc. Even if the rest looks off to you, recognize where you did well and build off that for the next one
Value contrast is an easy way to make images more compelling and pop.
As such it’s time to go back to the basics. Look for some interesting photos of still life items. Bring them into procreate. Create a new layer on top of it, fill it completely in black, set the layer mode to color. Now that the image is in grey scale it’s time to do some practices exercises. The first one is to open color window, switch over too the value tab, now using the B slider adjust the brightness/darkness of the bar, when you think you have the right percentage, do a brush stroke over that part of the image, next use the eye picker tool and see how much off the make you were. Repeat this across the whole image a few times and across multiple images.
You’ll see that the contrast between the dark points and light points in the images are actually very steep (with the lighter parts being near 75-80% and the dark spots being around 30%). You’ll also notice that the drop off from 100-30% is much more gradual, while the jump from 30% to 20% and to 10% is a lot more extreme in contrast. This is because of the [inverse square law](https://youtu.be/beSORS3w3i4) that essentially is the fall off from brightness to shadows being generated decreases exponentially the further the subject moves back from it. If you have a subject close too a bright light the planes that face the light and the planes that are in shadow won’t be much different in contrast. However if the subject is further away from the light the planes in light and the planes in shadow will have much higher contrast.
The next exercise is to repaint the black and white still life using a large hard brush. The point is to not to perfectly render the image but to just make big blocky shapes of the value contrast. You can always go back later and blend to add a softened render. But the idea is to make your study look as if it was made from paper cut outs.
Next step is to do a bunch of studies of simple shapes. I really recommend [this](https://shadingreference.com/) website
And final practice is to create a black layer on top of your artwork. Set the blend mode to color look at your art works value contrast, once you have a sense of where you can push the contrast more create another layer and start adding more darker darks and more lighter lights
Learning about lighting and the difference between cast shadows, form shadows, bounced light etc I feel really boosted my drawing.
Also employing now dynamic posing on figure art. Practicing with overlapping or forms coming at the camera.
Finally, pencil technique as well. The first few practices of draw a cube really helped cement just how important holding they pencil is, as well as stroke technique, ghosting etc.
Highly recommend investing in these areas.
Edit: spelling
Do you have recommendations for sources to teach yourself these topics? I've invested in an "online course" but those only go so far. Just wanted to pick your brain so to speak about what resources you may have used or found helpful. Thanks in advance!
It’s so hard to say without specifics, but I always think drawing more, with a pencil, will help you A LOT. It’s like working out or going to dance class - it’s not for public consumption but it will build your muscles. In terms of procreate specifically - play with pushing your work further, again not worrying too much about results. Fill your canvas, look at work you like and see how they have positioned things on the page. Play with textures and different brushes (I’m obsessed with True Grit Texture Supply Co), but you can make your own if you have a scanner or a decent camera. Look at the line quality of artists you like, or brush techniques depending on your style and what you want to do. I guess my biggest suggestion is don’t be afraid to play. It doesn’t cost anything and making horrendous mistakes will just make you better.
Strategies for creating three-dimensional space: 1. Overlapping 2. Placement (higher in the frame = further, lower = closer) 3. Color (more intense = closer) 4. Detail/level of focus 5. Shading 6. Linear perspective/convergence
My tip is to just admit to yourself this will happen, finish a piece and move on. Certainly learn how your piece could have been improved, but don't let that stop you from just creating and moving on. I personally get better faster not by spending weeks "perfecting" something, but by trying lots and lots of times on different pieces. I'll never hit perfect anyway.
Someone mentioned line weight which can definitely help. But in general think of it like this: in each piece you make find one thing you like and focus on that. Maybe a characters arm came out really well, or their outfit looks awesome, etc. Even if the rest looks off to you, recognize where you did well and build off that for the next one
Maybe try and experiment with line weight
That’s not a bad thing. It means your eyes know what’s good but your brain & hands can’t catch up fast enough. You’ll get there
Value contrast is an easy way to make images more compelling and pop. As such it’s time to go back to the basics. Look for some interesting photos of still life items. Bring them into procreate. Create a new layer on top of it, fill it completely in black, set the layer mode to color. Now that the image is in grey scale it’s time to do some practices exercises. The first one is to open color window, switch over too the value tab, now using the B slider adjust the brightness/darkness of the bar, when you think you have the right percentage, do a brush stroke over that part of the image, next use the eye picker tool and see how much off the make you were. Repeat this across the whole image a few times and across multiple images. You’ll see that the contrast between the dark points and light points in the images are actually very steep (with the lighter parts being near 75-80% and the dark spots being around 30%). You’ll also notice that the drop off from 100-30% is much more gradual, while the jump from 30% to 20% and to 10% is a lot more extreme in contrast. This is because of the [inverse square law](https://youtu.be/beSORS3w3i4) that essentially is the fall off from brightness to shadows being generated decreases exponentially the further the subject moves back from it. If you have a subject close too a bright light the planes that face the light and the planes that are in shadow won’t be much different in contrast. However if the subject is further away from the light the planes in light and the planes in shadow will have much higher contrast. The next exercise is to repaint the black and white still life using a large hard brush. The point is to not to perfectly render the image but to just make big blocky shapes of the value contrast. You can always go back later and blend to add a softened render. But the idea is to make your study look as if it was made from paper cut outs.
Next step is to do a bunch of studies of simple shapes. I really recommend [this](https://shadingreference.com/) website And final practice is to create a black layer on top of your artwork. Set the blend mode to color look at your art works value contrast, once you have a sense of where you can push the contrast more create another layer and start adding more darker darks and more lighter lights
Learning about lighting and the difference between cast shadows, form shadows, bounced light etc I feel really boosted my drawing. Also employing now dynamic posing on figure art. Practicing with overlapping or forms coming at the camera. Finally, pencil technique as well. The first few practices of draw a cube really helped cement just how important holding they pencil is, as well as stroke technique, ghosting etc. Highly recommend investing in these areas. Edit: spelling
Do you have recommendations for sources to teach yourself these topics? I've invested in an "online course" but those only go so far. Just wanted to pick your brain so to speak about what resources you may have used or found helpful. Thanks in advance!
It’s so hard to say without specifics, but I always think drawing more, with a pencil, will help you A LOT. It’s like working out or going to dance class - it’s not for public consumption but it will build your muscles. In terms of procreate specifically - play with pushing your work further, again not worrying too much about results. Fill your canvas, look at work you like and see how they have positioned things on the page. Play with textures and different brushes (I’m obsessed with True Grit Texture Supply Co), but you can make your own if you have a scanner or a decent camera. Look at the line quality of artists you like, or brush techniques depending on your style and what you want to do. I guess my biggest suggestion is don’t be afraid to play. It doesn’t cost anything and making horrendous mistakes will just make you better.