Trying Digital

Long ago, with my first attempts to use Photoshop, I felt like it was a waste of my time and money. I didn't know how to use Photoshop and drawing with the mouse was the worst experience that made me quit after a few hours of trying to figure out how to make some piece of art.

Yes, at that point I wanted to start an art career, but every forum or website I checked it was mostly digital art or photography that makes you earn, or that or I was simply on wrong websites.

Disappointment made me quit on art, my daily drawing became more like one painting in 4-5 months or even longer. The time was extending and for every next paint, it took me even more time. I couldn't do digital art, my drawing was getting worse.

Thought of buying a tablet was crossing my mind but I never made that step because no matter how much I wanted it, I knew it will be used once a year, I will spend a lot of money to buy it to end up collecting dust.

Now, nearly a decade after, I got a drawing tablet. Nothing fancy, I don't even know which brand it is, as it was ordered from eBay and instructions are on Chinees, no brand name only model type that appears once I connect it to my laptop.

Whichever brand it is, I honestly do not care as now I'm being more than happy for having it.

The excitement when I plugged it in for the first time I can't even describe. The mixed feeling of happiness and fear of my clumsy side destroying it, push to the background fact that the first few strokes were terrible.

The next day the same feeling was still present and I couldn't wait to try it some more. Every line I tried to do or circle it was ending by looking nothing like I wanted it to look. The weird feeling of holding pen, looking at the screen at the same time and not looking at the paper in front of me like when I use paper for sketches felt so odd. Whatever I tried to draw it would be generous to say that it looked like I was drawing with the opposite hand, it looked more like I was drawing with my foot. It was time to change my strategy.

I know I've been saying to my self how I should start drawing daily for 2 months now, but all I did is kept watching videos on YouTube of other people drawing or painting. So I went again to YouTube. An interesting fact that I found out is that once you switch from traditional to digital pen and tablet it might take from 2 weeks up to a month just so your brain, hand, and eyes get used to it. Another interesting information came from a YouTuber that is actually a wedding planner with tips and exercise to train your hand-eye and brain. I downloaded these sheets and tried it instantly. It took me some time to do it, but I did it again the next morning and again in the afternoon. Repeating lines and shapes on these sheets just 3 times I could notice a huge improvement.

The next problem was not knowing how to use the program, because this time I decided to go with Krita instead of Photoshop, just in case if I don't like it again. I won't say that I feel embarrassed for not knowing how things work in some programs only because that did not stop me.

During all my researches and wish to draw again, so many times it was mentioned Skillshare and I wanted to give it a go. So many talented people taking their time to teach you bunch of different things. I chose one of Krita for beginner's class and spent 4 hours just watching it.

As always I rushed things, didn't take notes because I thought that I'm smart enough to memorize it all. After only watching the class for 4h I wanted to test it. Not doing suggested exercises or given projects or prepared sheets, I wanted to do something simple and see if I can apply at least some of the things used in the class.

Of course, with my urge to rush, I made something simple for less than 5 minutes.

It might not be much for someone who is a pro digital artist but for me, not knowing how layers work out, this was amazing, especially because it didn't look like I used my foot to hold the pen.

Encouraged by something that for me looks kinda decent I thought I learned how to use Krita and tablet, so I gave myself a bigger challenge.

This time I wanted to draw a character from a game that I was playing long ago, just as a memory of the game. I used a screenshot as a reference. The original picture is a side look with a floating pet around the head, but I wanted to make my drawing more like a front point of view.

I know it does not look perfect, and I bet someone else could do it better but for me, the person who has a tablet for around a week and newbie for Krita or any other program, I could freely say that I'm proud on myself.

Not giving up when it becomes hard is the key, persistence will always pay off eventually.