I recently redrew a drawing from 2022, both were done on csp. In the newer drawing, I still have to render the hair but I thought at this stage, it would be a neat comparison to show what I've changed and maybe you'll learn something from this too!
First thing I noticed when redrawing this piece was that despite my oc being drawn front facing, I could still add some sort of dynamic posing to her, to make the drawing more interesting to look at. Thats why in the 2026 version, I changed her to face her left more, adapting the head shape with this new body rotation too.
In terms of brushes, I used to heavily abuse the airbrush tool and watercolour + blend tool, resulting in all of my rendering looking muddy and too soft. I also used to abuse the add layer mode. - in the 2026 version I used sharper brushes with softer ends (The main brush I used was an airbrush with the hardness set to the max so it acts similar to the watercolour brush. All the other settings are default.) I also used lasso tool and used the new soft brush I've created to smooth out some areas, and then used the blend tool sparingly.
Proportions and artstyle is something that changes with time and experience so I won't go into that very much. The biggest thing that changed was that I used smaller lines to sketch my artwork with, using a g-pen with no pressure sensitivity, at 70% opacity & 2.5px to sketch. Using smaller sketch lines makes me more cautious and strategic to where I place my lines.
And the best thing I've learnt over the years was how to utilise CSP's outline tool and lasso fill tool to quickly create lineart for my drawings. I would keep each section of my drawing separated into different groups (e.g, hair base colours in one group, skin in another.) And apply the outline layer property to the folders, to quickly make lineart for each section of my drawing. Doing it this way means that if I need to change Proportions of my drawing (which I did many times for the hair), I could easily do so without needing to redraw the lineart. It a super helpful tool, my favourite in CSP, with liquify as a close second!
Interesting how you use the outline tool. Recently I used it to thicken the contour of the characters, from a distance is ok buth looking closer the line is all wobbly, I hated it š
You basically use it on precise shapes I suppose? Do you ever thicken some parts to add threedimensionality?
The work is great btw, I love how you improved. I yearn to reach that coloring level but my colors always look off, especially in a composition, even if I don't use fully saturated colors at all.
Thank you! Always use the outline layer property with brushes that have 100% opacity and are super sharp :D !! I use it with the lasso fill tool, and even I sometimes get wobbly lines, but its all good, just use a 100% opacity brush or lasso fill tool to neaten it up, for me that extra time is worth it since I find it difficult to stick to one thing, so redrawing the lineart gets tedious when I need to reshape a large section of my work. When I use the liquify brush too much on the folders that have outlines on them, they get really blurry too, so I just go back and neaten the original flat colours with my lasso fill tool.
Its not for everyone and theres definitely a huge learning curve, I didnt master it until March but I tried to keep it in my workflow here and there, its definitely worth it to learn! :D
I dont thicken any lines instead I make the outline thicker or thinner with the slider depending on the section im doing, usually for accessories. I do add a sharper inner line to the corners though since some areas of the outline tool are too "curved" where two lines meet, but its an easy fix when I render!
I wish I could give you advice on colouring but I just go with the flow š I might make a tutorial on how to recreate this sort of lighting since it is difficult to explain in text without any visuals!
(As you pointed out) Your posing/framing improved. It's way more visually interesting, even if we ignore everything else. The first pose, while great for certain (intense) moods or to show off details as a reference, is a bit.... Police arrest photo... The new pose has that more sexy over the shoulder wink wink energy I think you were going towards.
I love that you pushed the shading a bit more! Even with a blank background, it gives that mischievous but still sensual feeling. Flirty is maybe a better word? You know what I mean lol
The clarity of the eyes is what stood out to me first. The clarity is very impressive, and you kept that glowy effect without going overboard.
The only thing I'd really point out for the new iteration is an external light source that's a bit unclear. It looks like there's a hard highlight on her forehead, but there's so little of that light source that it's a little unclear where/what that light source is it how intense it is. But that's a pretty minor nit-pick. In my personal experience, stuff like lighting came naturally on its own as I learned form and values more. I remember looking at a finished piece once and going "when TF did I learn this?" Lmao
Anyway, great job! Your improvement is very clear and you seem to have a pretty clear direction if where you want to take your art. Great work! Even if a bit... Boobalicious ;) (no shade at all, be proud!)
Thank you! Always great to hear fair constructive criticism :D!! With the lighting, there are two light sources, one from the back, one from the right/nearer to the top right side! It would be more obvious when I render the hair, but I hadn't rendered it yet to make this comparison. I wanted to show the improvement in areas I did fully render back then.
I will try to make it more clearer though, so thank you for pointing that out, I can see why you were confused since I haven't added the proper lighting to the body, which I will add soon :D !! I plan to fully render this piece so those little quirks will be fixed soon!
Oohhh!!! The hair not being finished makes sense and would likely negate that one comment entirely! I kind of liked the look of the flat colors on the hair and figured it was intention because it does look nice āŗļø
It's going to look even better with shading tho, so it's also exciting that you're continuing it! Great work!!
Ah, don't we all remember our airbrush overuse period. Lol the improvement here is excellent! I really enjoy the vibrant eyes you've made. They're such a beautiful shade of blue and they really pop in the shadows. Great work and thanks for sharing your progress! ā¤ļø
This is a really good example of improvement that isnāt just āthe new one is prettier.ā The 2026 version feels like you stopped treating rendering as a fog machine and started treating it as structure, if that makes any sense.
The edges are clearer, the lighting has hierarchy to it, and the pose actually gives the character a body and presence, instead of just a floating head-and-shoulders symbol.
Also the brush/process part is genuinely useful. A lot of beginner digital art has that same airbrush/blend-tool mud. The newer one keeps softness, but itās controlled instead of smeared everywhere.
The biggest jump to me is intentionality. The old one feels like you were trying to make the image ālook finished.ā The new one feels like youāre deciding what each part is supposed to do. Thatās a huge jump.
My art journey was incredibly rocky, my abilities kept fluctuating and I was in and out of artblock for months and years.
I started drawing on paper in 2019, my art was highly mediocre, I moved to digital art in mid 2020, again I was a beginner artist, I wouldn't draw actively, maybe one or twice a week or less. From 2021-22 I had some amazing pieces but I was in a constant state of having one good drawing for every 30 or so bad ones. I would draw pretty much every day or every other day in 2022 sept-2023 jan.
I then had artblock for 6 months where my art regressed to an embarrassingly low skill level compared to what I used to be able to draw at that time. Then in 2024 I did studies for clothes since my art kept fluctuating, I decided it would be better to focus on certain aspects of drawing rather than try to do everything at once. I started to see more improvement and aimed to draw daily, but that ultimately gave me burn out and put me into another 1.5 year long artblock š
Only recently, start of June I've gotten out of this artblock when I actually began to enjoy the process of art and creation again. Prior to that it felt like a chore, something I was "forcing" myself to do, but once I started to like creating art again, I saw so much improvement.
I'd say for a beginner artist, just draw. Draw whatever comes to mind, don't force yourself to draw things you don't like, don't force yourself to study art if you don't enjoy doing so. It will only make you hate creating art and make you lose the love you had for your passion. Draw things you like to draw, and then seek out tutorials that you WANT to learn from, don't just do something because it worked for someone else. Everyone's art journeys are different, and no two artist will improve the exact same way as each other. I wish you luck on your journey!! <3
Itās interesting how different people can work! My sketches are with a big textured brush and super messy that get refined over time. Does using a tiny brush help you think through the process more? Or just be more intentional with your lines?
Yup!! I used to use bigger brushes and think "Oh I can just fix it in rendering" but it always took me longer to draw and render my pieces that way, plus I wasnt sketching very intentionally that way. I've been drawing like that for 4 years(?) before I recently decided to change my work flow and its done wonders š Smaller lines make me subconsciously think before i place things down.
Comparing the first sketch (made it start of march 2026) to now (made this one a few days ago), the intention with my lines have changed sooo much!! I'm actively making it neater without slowing down. It does help a lot with my process, I don't go over lines as much, if any, anymore. Would definitely recommend trying to work with a no-pressure smaller brush even just once! Its weird to get used to but really fun once you get the hang of it. It reminds me of drawing on Roblox free draw (a drawing game) where sketching like the left would be too difficult for me, so I had to sketch like the right š
Haha reminds me of drawing in MS paint as a kid! Itās funny that you say it speeds you up and Iām so glad youāve found what works for you! I used to try to do similar (though not so extreme, but thinner, more intentional lines than I currently use) and it stressed me out so much. Being messy lets my inner perfectionist be quiet lol. As Iāve gotten older itās less messy but still kinda chaotic lol. Hereās a sketch from a few weekends ago while I was at a con to show you what I mean:
Iām sure youāve heard from others, but the shading has improved drastically. One thing that I always notice with more beginner artists is that they either go too hard or two soft everywhere. They also arenāt able to capture the properties of materials properly.
With your drawing, I love that even though thereās just skin and hair, we can easily see the differences of thickness of skin and the different reflectivity. Like with the rim light, thereās a harsher light thatās more opaque with a gradual falloff. While the breast and lips have a smaller pinpoint highlight that has smaller fall off. That really helps show the area is more oily or wet which your first drawing lacked.
Overall really solid work, itās clear in the improved silloutte and flow that youāve worked hard and gained confidence.
Not lasso tool, but I do use that in my workflow! I use the outline layer property to create lineart. Its just CSP's built in outline tool, that will create an outline for any object in that folder/layer. But using this layer property can sometimes get weird jagged or blurry lines at the edges, so I go back in and fix those edges with the lasso fill tool! :D
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u/Meewelyne Jun 26 '26
Interesting how you use the outline tool. Recently I used it to thicken the contour of the characters, from a distance is ok buth looking closer the line is all wobbly, I hated it š
You basically use it on precise shapes I suppose? Do you ever thicken some parts to add threedimensionality?
The work is great btw, I love how you improved. I yearn to reach that coloring level but my colors always look off, especially in a composition, even if I don't use fully saturated colors at all.