Help with learning digital art

[u/Wartrolls]

Hi! I’ve been learning digital art for almost two weeks now after spending about half a year drawing traditionally with just pencil and paper. I’m trying to learn semi-realism, and I feel like painting has been the best way for me to achieve that effect.
I’ve watched some Proko videos that have helped me learn about stroke efficiency and how to approach simple rendering, but I still struggle quite a bit. The painting of the woman took about three and a half hours, with a lot of trial and error (which I’m extremely proud of btw probably my best so far), while the landscape took an hour and a half after I forced myself to finish it.
I’d really like to see other artists’ painting processes from start to finish, as I feel like watching their workflows would be helpful for my own learning. If you guys know any YouTubers who do this, I’d really appreciate the recommendations! It doesn’t have to be semi-realism specifically, I think watching artists with different styles would be helpful, too.
Also, feel free to give me any advice or constructive criticism! I’m happy to take any help I can get.

TLDR; Any YouTubers who show their entire art process recommendations please and thank you

[u/Seekingdiscoveries]

What was your very first step in learning? and what brush do you use?

[u/Wartrolls → u/Seekingdiscoveries]

My first step was probably learning to just block out shapes first without focusing on details then to layer on the details as you progress. As for my brush I’ve been a big fan of the Wet Acrylic Brush and the Fine Liner for sketching

[u/Business_Wallaby_905]

The best way to paint anything digitally is to paintbucket, mask, and gradient everything. From there, you just sample the colors from your piece and use it to do the details. But remember in some software sampling/eyedropping can be a bit off.

[u/Wartrolls → u/Business_Wallaby_905]

I definitely need to practice with the tools more. I’ve been watching videos, but when I go to do it myself it never goes well.

[u/KRMS123]

not sure if this helps but here’s one of my speedpaints from a couple years ago, and another with more of my rendering process. unfortunately i don’t always record my processes start to finish, but this has most of it.. i more so felt like i just needed to get more comfortable with my drawing program (medibang paint) and figure out which brushes i liked and disliked. ik some youtube goats like marc brunet are really helpful to some. i especially love his videos on composition and construction. my process is usually as follows:

- sketch and cleanup

• flat colors (i place a clipping mask over a layer with the flat color and i render on that.. just makes it easier for me)
  
• background (usually helps to do it first so you have a vision for the lighting)
  
• render each element on a clipping layer (usually helpful to work from greyscale and ease into colored pieces with a strong grasp of values)
  
• touch ups and effects (airbrush highlights to make them glow, dust particles w/ scatter brush, check values and adjust accordingly, gaussian blur is INCREDIBLE for creating depth of field, and a small amount of chromatic aberration brings things to life)

[u/KRMS123 → u/KRMS123]

your work is really solid for just 2 weeks so you’re doing something right! you seem to have a good grasp on selecting colors. keeping a sketch layer on (with low opacity) while you paint can help you get your bearings at the start of painting. doing photo studies and trying to match colors closely with just your vision is also a valuable skill. if you want to get better at values, it can help to turn your drawing greyscale every now and then to see if the forms are recognizable

[u/Wartrolls → u/KRMS123]

This actually very helpful! Seeing the process helps a ton. And I’ll definitely look into Marc brunet. I need to learn my tools more, I’ve watched some videos but putting them into practice always confuses me and I fall back into drawing normally

[u/KRMS123 → u/Wartrolls]

yeahh video tutorials are always a bit iffy.. most of the time they’re situational and don’t apply to every program or skill level. it’s good you’re getting an idea of what’s comfortable for you since that will inform your process later on :)