thank you! and oh gosh, it’s been a while since i switched over myself, so let me see,,

don’t worry if it takes a while to adjust to the feeling of drawing on a tablet– it can definitely be a weird transition! drawing on a tablet either had too little or too much resistance when i started out, and it just…isn’t…paper. the first few things i drew digitally didn’t look too great, partially for my skill level at the time lol and partially because i just wasn’t used to it.

sketching digitally felt especially weird for me, and i had trouble with it when i started. if you find yourself feeling similarly, an option is to do sketches traditionally and just take a pic/scan them in to finish digitally

for digital art programs, it’s pretty overwhelming stepping into a program for the first time! i think it helps to take the time to fool around and figure out where things are: how to paint, how to erase, how to use layers. fancier stuff like in-depth brush settings, memorizing keyboard shortcuts, fancy tools etc, are just extras & they’re easy to pick up later down the line once you’ve got the basics down.

to me what really sets digital art apart is layers, and the magic of undo. you could absolutely just do art on one layer but layers are so convenient, and really come in handy! i feel like knowing how to use layers (and having an idea of how to organize the layers for a piece) just comes along with experimentation. personally, knowing about clipping masks and layer modes is a must!

oh, and if you have the capability, it’s nice to be in the habit of drawing on a large canvas– after all, it’s hard to scale up, but easy to scale down. my typical canvas size is like 3000x4000px at 300 dpi, but if i know i’m going to go to print i’ll make it anywhere from 5000px to 9000px in either dimension.

i think i’ve gone through everything on my mind, but if you were wondering about something more specific feel free to ask!

Ohh, thank you!

with programs, I mainly use SAI. My brush settings are kinda boring: I use the default brush set to ‘(simple circle)’ with no textures, blending, dilution, or persistence. Rarely, I’ll also use the blur tool set to ‘spread’, but 99% of the time I just use a brush & eraser combo.

Thank you!