Help me, I am 100% new to digital work

[Happy Hare]

Hello all, up until a month or two ago, I was completely traditional in art. I drew everything on paper, whether it be with pencil, pen, colored pencils, inks, watercolor, etc.

Well, I decided to try out Anime Studio, but find myself at a loss as I know nothing about digital art.

I was thinking that I should try drawing some of my own characters first, and then trying to play with them in Anime Studio (I'll abbreviate it as AS10 from now on). Is it better to draw it in vectors? I am not even sure what the best way to go about doing that; should I be purchasing Adobe Cloud too?

I tried drawing in AS10, but the eraser button was always unavailable.

I have the will and perseverance to learn, and would appreciate it if you all could help me out and share some tips... thanks!

[mtbuck24]

Hey Happy Hare check out my channel I give step by step tutorials on how to use ASP

[Happy Hare]

I feel like those are too advanced for me at the moment, would you mind addressing my previous questions?

[mtbuck24]

um....

Two ways of going about it...you can draw in Vectors like I did here. It's all just about getting used to the tools. Or you can take a ps file and add bones and move the images around if you are wanting to animate that way.

If you are committed enough you will learn the tools that are part of the program

[djwaterman]

I think you should still draw and design your characters on paper and then bring those into ASP and trace them with vectors, or if you want to avoid vectors, scan the original artwork and prep them to use in ASP (you could use GIMP instead of renting Photoshop). The first thing I did when I started playing with this program was to create a head in Photoshop with the look, colors and textures I wanted, then took that image into ASP and tried my best to re-create it with the vector tools. If I try to design anything inside of ASP it never works, I have to put the ideas down on paper first, so keep doing that regardless.

I haven't touch ASP for about a year and will be re-learning it all over again, so I understand your frustration. Start with something simple is my advice.


I just added this link to a simple tutorial that could be helpful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSRlsjqwDSo

[strider2000]

I know nothing about digital art.

Hi Happy Hare. I'm betting you'll get lots of good ideas from the folks on line. But let me start out with basic context info, rather than how to's, which will surely follow.

First you want to realize that there are three basic types of digital artwork, but they can be combined. The types are Bitmap, Vector, and 3-D objects. Bitmap images are essentially a 2-d grid of points that you paint. Programs that focus on this approach are Photoshop, Manga Studio, Corel Paint etc

This approach is most like your experience. In fact some programs focus on trying to create as natural an experience as possible.

Vectors are connected points. This is a little removed from your exprience. You basically draw a curve and then you can assign a thickness to the line, called a stroke in may programs. If the curve is closed, that is the end connects to the beginning, you can "fill" it in with color, called a fill in many programs. Programs that focus on this type of artwork creation are Adobe Illustrator, Inkscape, and even Anime Studio. The key thing to keep in mind is that the vectors are a set of points that you can manipulate even after the initial creation. This is unlike drawing and erasing on a piece of paper. Instead it's more like placing a chain necklace on a table top to create a shape and then moving parts of the chain to modify the shape later if you wish.

So, if you want to delete the shape, you don't just erase it, you select the points (in Anime Studio, drag an area with the dotted rectangle tool, in the upper left, around the vector) and then press the delete key. Now, the eraser tool can erase like you think, but it's actually modifying the points of the vector. If you use the rectangle (Select Points) tool you'll see the points turn red. You can then drag those points with the Transform Points tool. If you're going to create art this way you need to read the user's guide and play a bit, because there's quite a number of gotcha's for traditional artists (like how to make sure the curve is actually closed and dealing with complex shapes) Also, if you use this I'd strongly suggest you avoid using the "paint bucket". You want to use the create shape tool. Otherwise you'll spend a lot of time trying to figure out why things filled the way they did (or didn't). Here's a video I made that shows a little about creating shapes within the context of Anime Studio https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvKRm_YvGDE. But I'm sure you'll get better links.

The third approach is 3-D objects. Programs that focus on that include Blender, Maya, Silo (I'm not up on the current best modeling software, but I'm sure there others). This is very far removed from your experience. It's most like sculpting, but the software interface is likely to be very complex for you right now.

Now the interesting point is that Anime Studio can use and integrate all these types of artwork. For art creation they use vectors, and as a result can actually create 3-D images (but it couldn't really be called a 3-D modeling tool). It doesn't allow you to create bitmap files, but it does allow you to import bitmap art (AS 11 has just added some very nice improvements for importing and staying synched with Adobe Photoshop (psd) files. So you really should have at least AS10, which you seem to, but I'd recommend 11 for you, because of the improved PSD support). I've found the upgrades to always be worth it.


Ok that's the context. Now some quick recommendations that are what I would do if I were in your shoes, but it's just my thoughts in hopes that they can help. I'm sure others with have great ideas.

I'd highly recommend starting with a bitmap program to mimic your current skill base. It needs to export photoshop files. You're also likely to want a scanner. You don't need anything expensive. Scanners have been around long enough that even the base models are good, especially if you're just starting. Check out this that was done in Anime Studio. It's beautiful!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RcGC_ZN4DA

(Aside: in looking for the link it looks like chucky may have done that. Great job! If that's true then I'd definitely say to get his input )

You may really want something like Corel Painter, depending on your budget. From what I hear it has very good natural media tools. I'd personally recommend Manga Studio 5 (not EX, you don't need that at this point). It's only $50 and in version 5 they greatly improved their painting engine. Photoshop has been around a long time and many artists know it, but even artists who have been using Photoshop a long time are agreeing with the great value of Manga Studio, and it's not just about price. Look for reviews and comparisons on line. Manga Studio can create vectors, but they don't easily import into Anime Studio so I'd recommend against it.

The final thing I'd strongly suggest is looking on line and becoming familiar with the concept of layers and exploring different techniques to create a final image (there are quite a number of approaches you could take... just play ). To import art into Anime Studio you want to start to understand how computer programs work with transparency, _especially_ if you're wanting to scan images. The reason is that when you try to color over scans you may not get what you expect. You need to understand things like normal and multiply layer modes as well as the concept of anti-aliasing.

My suggestion is to start with the types of things you normally do and then play around with trying to import, them by scanning, them and modify them in your bitmap art program. For animation, other than backgrounds, you want to then learn how to decompose your art into layers that can be animated. So try to decompose them, save them as layered PSD files and then import them into Anime Studio (choose "individually" when the dialog comes up). And then animate them. The tutorials in Anime Studio on working with bitmaps (and textures) are good. If you're familiar with the workflow of sketching, inking and coloring you might try that as well with your bitmap program.

I'd advise against picking a project you want to do and then doing it in vectors in Anime Studio. You're likely to just get frustrated, because the things you haven't learned yet. Instead I'd suggest just playing with vectors in Anime Studio to see how things work. I'd also suggest playing with brushes, transparency and styles. From there will come interesting ideas as you play. I'd also advise against buying and vector program until you're absolutely sure you, in particular, need it. Anime Studio has really improved their vector tools in the last releases. At first I found it extremely challenging, but now it's really nice (especially if you remember to use the create shape tool )

I hope that's been helpful and at least gets you pointed in the right direction.

Have fun

Oh Duh in reviewing what I wrote I forgot to mention a pen monitor. You really really really really ought to consider getting one. Cintiq's are by far the best, but they're pricey. Windows Surface Pro 3 is portable and great, but only a 12 inch screen. That might be good enough for the art creation. A bit small for Anime Studio, but doable. A number of us are suggesting improved support for tablets in the next release. I just recently purchased a UGEE 19 on Amazon. It's a nice starter monitor for about 1/4 the price of a Cintiq of the same size. Lower resolution, no express keys and make sure they group you buy it from checks that there are no dead pixels on the screen, but I like the one I just purchased.

I just saw that chucky posted an article that you might really be interested in viewtopic.php?f=5&t=27514&p=155745#p155715. It talks about frame by frame animation,but it also does a great job showing how the new changes to Anime Studio 11 are well suited to a more natural media approach. In fact, unless you knew better you might think it was painting, not vectors ... told you he was good.

[Dalv]

Hi there,
Lots of good advice here but I thought I'd share my experience.

Many Anime Studio users recommend drawing characters and scenes using the vector tools for maximum control when animating. While Anime Studio might excel in this style of art, personally I've never been a fan of vectors. They look too clean and perfect.

Thankfully there's another way to animate in AS.

I use raster characters myself. It's true there are limitations to using image based characters but I find it's easier to actually draw my characters than manipulate points for vector art. To me vectors feel more like drafting and less like art.

To start I'd recommend getting a Wacom or comparable drawing tablet. Any pressure sensitive tablet should work but you cannot go wrong with their brand. Older models secondhand are cheap and competitors like from Monoprice are also cheap. I use a secondhand Wacom Bamboo but also have a Monoprice tablet as a backup.

If you're considering Photoshop for drawing then you should look into a program called Krita first.

Krita is free and has an amazing brush engine. Best of all it exports to .PSD (Photoshop) so it'll be compatible with Anime Studio and Photoshop should you decide to buy into it or collaborate with someone who uses it. Photoshop can do a lot, and it does it all well but it's not always required to start.

The way I work: I draw my character in Krita, color it, then separate the body parts I want animated into their own layers which I name to keep organized, from there I export it as PSD file and then I can rig it easy when I import it into Anime Studio since the layer information is still there.

How I learned Anime Studio was by watching every single webinar put out by Smith Micro and quite a few 3rd party tutorials to fill in the blanks. I eventually lurked at this forum soaking up everything I could learn.

If you're hitting a wall on creating vectors don't worry, I was too and I'm familiar with vectors and digital art both.

From my experience many tutorials/webinars seem entirely too focused on the vector based experience and the best image based character webinar I could find is in Spanish. Victor (aka Selgin around here) had rigged a He-man action figure and while not being in my native language I felt that watching it was my final "AHA!" moment for learning ASP's core functions.

[Happy Hare]

Thanks for all the advice everyone, I'll be trying them out over winter break.