AuthorTopic: "Equipment" for working on the go?  (Read 4283 times)

Offline Chironyx

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"Equipment" for working on the go?

on: February 06, 2018, 10:54:06 pm
Train rides, bus rides, random free time in public/work, there's lots of room to squeeze some drawing time - but I personally find it a little hard to actually get work done on a smartphone using a pixel app, the small screen just about triples the worktime..

Soo, do any of you use any sort of equipment to draw pixels on the go? A tablet, or perhaps you even pull out a laptop?
I would to hear about it if you do, how comfortable it is, and what model you're using, etc, could use some inspiration on that subject  :P

Offline API-Beast

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Re: "Equipment" for working on the go?

Reply #1 on: February 07, 2018, 12:49:00 am
I would suggest you to pick up drawing. If you really want to do pixel art on the go you can use squared paper and use that as pixel grid.

Offline Ai

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Re: "Equipment" for working on the go?

Reply #2 on: February 07, 2018, 06:05:14 am
Yeah, after some drawing on gridded paper and some practice pixelling, it's not too hard to figure out how a particular drawing will render into pixels. Mainly, you learn to think ahead of time about what scale of features you can use that will remain legible in pixel format.

Working with a relatively coarse medium like charcoal can also give an experience of drawing that is qualitatively more like pixelling.
« Last Edit: February 07, 2018, 06:12:04 am by Ai »
If you insist on being pessimistic about your own abilities, consider also being pessimistic about the accuracy of that pessimistic judgement.

Offline Chironyx

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Re: "Equipment" for working on the go?

Reply #3 on: February 07, 2018, 10:21:44 am
I would suggest you to pick up drawing. If you really want to do pixel art on the go you can use squared paper and use that as pixel grid.

Yeah, after some drawing on gridded paper and some practice pixelling, it's not too hard to figure out how a particular drawing will render into pixels. Mainly, you learn to think ahead of time about what scale of features you can use that will remain legible in pixel format.

Working with a relatively coarse medium like charcoal can also give an experience of drawing that is qualitatively more like pixelling.

I've tried to draw in a notebook, but oh god do the bus bumps make it hard haha
When you draw pixels digitally instead it's much easier to fix your bump lines, or not have them in the first place because you use a large zoom when you work
But seeing that both of you reccomended it, guess I'll fight the bumps, I managed to draw a little on my way just now
My initial thought was getting a tablet to draw on, I wonder if anyone in these forums uses one (or an iPad) to draw pixels on in such rides..
🤔

Offline eishiya

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Re: "Equipment" for working on the go?

Reply #4 on: February 07, 2018, 01:19:55 pm
It's a lot easier to avoid bumps when working on paper than on a smooth tablet screen.

I third drawing, but for a different reason: public places, including public transportation, are an excellent for doing studies. Don't "waste" that time on something you can do elsewhere, use it for something you can only do there. Do some people-watching, draw interesting people and things you see, draw interesting lighting situations, etc. Quick observational drawing will make you improve at drawing those things, help you with future character designs, make you faster and more confident, it has innumerable benefits.

The bumps also don't really matter when you're just doing these sketches rather than finished artwork. It doesn't need to be perfect, and it doesn't matter what it looks like, since the drawing is a process for learning, not for the creation of a product. But, even so, as you draw while riding more, you'll develop a sense of when it's "safe" to draw and when you should observe instead.

Offline Chironyx

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Re: "Equipment" for working on the go?

Reply #5 on: February 07, 2018, 01:55:17 pm
It's a lot easier to avoid bumps when working on paper than on a smooth tablet screen.

I third drawing, but for a different reason: public places, including public transportation, are an excellent for doing studies. Don't "waste" that time on something you can do elsewhere, use it for something you can only do there. Do some people-watching, draw interesting people and things you see, draw interesting lighting situations, etc. Quick observational drawing will make you improve at drawing those things, help you with future character designs, make you faster and more confident, it has innumerable benefits.

The bumps also don't really matter when you're just doing these sketches rather than finished artwork. It doesn't need to be perfect, and it doesn't matter what it looks like, since the drawing is a process for learning, not for the creation of a product. But, even so, as you draw while riding more, you'll develop a sense of when it's "safe" to draw and when you should observe instead.

What you're saying makes perfect sense to me now, you're absolutely right, it would make much more sense for me to work on skills that I wouldn't be practicing otherwise in such rides
After all, pixelart and regular drawing are seperate skills imo, I've been drawing pretty nice pixels for a long while, but I still can't really draw well with pen and paper..
And yeah, I guess that as long as I'm improving, the final product doesn't matter much

I didn't think of observing people, patterns and shades, that is also a great tip!

Thank you, this response helped me a great deal, I'll keep at it with drawing/sketching!

Offline RAV

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Re: "Equipment" for working on the go?

Reply #6 on: February 07, 2018, 11:05:00 pm
There is a huge overlap in skill between all forms of art, that people call fundamentals. Perspective, lights, composition, anatomy, gesture, colour theory, etc.
Most of these you can effectively train with pencil and paper, which will have a direct impact on the overall quality of pixel art you are making, or any other art medium.

Someone can throw you a stick and some shit, and you'll still be able to make beautiful art with it, if your fundamentals are well practiced.
For this reason, there is a catchy phrase going: "Tools don't matter". But what it really means to say is "The most important art skills carry over".

Because at some point you will have to answer another important question. Why implementing your vision in this form of art, not the other?
Why pencil? why painting? why pixels? why sculpting? Why modeling? What exactly do each of these add to the basic idea of the vision?

It is the point you will dive into the creative technicalities of a specific art form, that justify your art choice.
That means your fundamental art skills are expressed in a unique way with the choice of your art form.

On one hand this means, if you got no art fundamentals, what is there to express in pixel art?
On the other it means, if you have no creative ambition with what makes pixel art technically interesting, you make pixel art weak.

Having said that, I like the suggestions given earlier, that you should use the opportunity of having to travel outside for classic observation studies on the real world with quick pencil sketches.

Offline Chironyx

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Re: "Equipment" for working on the go?

Reply #7 on: February 08, 2018, 06:55:50 am
There is a huge overlap in skill between all forms of art, that people call fundamentals. Perspective, lights, composition, anatomy, gesture, colour theory, etc.
Most of these you can effectively train with pencil and paper, which will have a direct impact on the overall quality of pixel art you are making, or any other art medium.

Someone can throw you a stick and some shit, and you'll still be able to make beautiful art with it, if your fundamentals are well practiced.
For this reason, there is a catchy phrase going: "Tools don't matter". But what it really means to say is "The most important art skills carry over".

Because at some point you will have to answer another important question. Why implementing your vision in this form of art, not the other?
Why pencil? why painting? why pixels? why sculpting? Why modeling? What exactly do each of these add to the basic idea of the vision?

It is the point you will dive into the creative technicalities of a specific art form, that justify your art choice.
That means your fundamental art skills are expressed in a unique way with the choice of your art form.

On one hand this means, if you got no art fundamentals, what is there to express in pixel art?
On the other it means, if you have no creative ambition with what makes pixel art technically interesting, you make pixel art weak.

Having said that, I like the suggestions given earlier, that you should use the opportunity of having to travel outside for classic observation studies on the real world with quick pencil sketches.

Yeah! I've wanted to mention in my last response, it seems that drawing and sketching on paper can improve your pixelart - while improving your pixelart doesn't really improve your drawing and sketching.. for me at least, and that's because even though I know how to shade in pixelart, I'm not that good at it in other artforms
So yeah, one should practice his fundamental art skills to a point where he is able to use them in all sorts of artforms, and the best way for me to do that is probably with a pen(cil) and paper.

Thankfully, I know what appeals to me in pixel art and why I chose it, or at least I strongly believe that I do, I'm still trying to nail down my pixel style as I draw around, improving, sometimes it feels like every piece I draw is in a slightly different style haha