Good book on digital art?

[Evelyn]

My lil bro is getting into digital art. I know that he is getting a drawing pad for Christmas and really want to get him a book that will help teach the concepts of making art digitally. I’m picturing exercises, lots of pictures, very helpful, versatile styles, teaches the basics and builds on that, golden advice, has examples, etc.

I might have an impossibly high standard, but does anyone have any ideas/books that have helped them/etc?

I know basically zilch people around here these days (as it really been 6 months+ wow??) but @the-fledgling-artist you’ve always been so helpful and I respect your work greatly. @anyone-else-too

(oh to clarify i said little brother but he’s ~16 so I’m looking for adult level stuff, not kids’ books haha)

[Arindown (Gracie)]

@evelyn

I can’t think of any books that I know of, sorry. You might be able to find some videos on YouTube that he could watch, or just finding digital art that he could use as reference.

Aeden Peterson (Andrew Peterson’s son, I don’t know if you’ve heard of him) does some really nice digital art. Also, Chalice (who is on Story Embers) is really good at it. You could probably tag her and ask if she has any advice.

"If I'm gonna break, I'll break like the dawn." -Nightbirde

[Evelyn]

@arindown thanks (:

ahhhh I’m embarrassed I didn’t think of tagging Chalice

@chalice (((:

[Chalice]

@evelyn

Hey Evelyn, sorry for a bit of a late reply.

I honestly don’t know how much of a help I can be here. I’ve tried looking for digital art books myself, but haven’t been able to find anything without… *ahem* bad images. I’m going to have to look again though. (Books are one of my favorite ways to learn. :))

Sorry I couldn’t recommend anything. xP

ENFP-T/Artist/Writer/Musician
“Creativity takes courage” -Henri Matisse

[Naiya Dyani]

@deeprun Any suggestions for this?

Hearts are like matter--they can be beaten down, torn, and burned, but they cannot be destroyed.

[Anonymous]

@evelyn

What kind of pad and what kind of program is he looking to use?  A lot of things, in my experience, translate across all programs but it’s helpful to know the actual tools involved.  I.e., most tutorials I’ve found or the books I’ve seen are geared for people using Adobe Photoshop.

I went the weird route and got Corel Painter so when I was looking for books on how to actually use the thing, I found one called Digital Painting for the Complete Beginner by Carlyn Beccia.  Amazon carries it.  It was immensely helpful because it dealt with both Corel and Photoshop AND the basics for digital painting as a whole.  Some of it is probably dated but a lot of the fundamentals are there.  I still go back to it from time to time.

That and lots and lots of youtube videos have been my go to.  I’ve just started to venture into Photoshop but the Corel website has a lot of tutorials as well.  I would imagine that almost any drawing software would probably have tutorials on their website.  They want you to know how to use the stuff.  Skillshare also has a lot of tutorials for digital art.  The lesson format there is very helpful too.

Thanks for the tag @naiya-dyani

 

[Evelyn]

@chalice hehe I’ve discovered the same thing

@deeprun hmm he doesn’t have a program yet (he’ll pick one after he gets the drawing pad I guess) so I honestly don’t know how to answer your questions. At this point I’ve given up on finding something, which is too bad. But I expect he’ll end up just watching a lot of youtube videos and such

[The Fledgling Artist]

@evelyn Apologies for the late reply, haha. I personally haven’t ever encountered any books specifically about how to do digital art. Probably because art programs are basically always updating, changing, and evolving, as technology does. So any books written would become completely outdated in a matter of years. Haha. I would suggest getting him some solid books on how to do traditional art, and then locating some youtube tutorials on how to use whatever program he has/will have. 🙂 Because aside from knowing how to navigate the digital program and tablet, it’s really all the same skills involved in traditional art.

"Though I'm not yet who I will be, I'm no longer who I was."

[Evelyn]

@the-fledgling-artist ahhhh makes sense. Thank you for the advice! Very helpful

[The Fledgling Artist]

@evelyn Yeah, no problem! Tag me again if you think of any more questions I can help with 😀

"Though I'm not yet who I will be, I'm no longer who I was."

[Evelyn]

@the-fledgling-artist thanks fren (:

[Author]

Posts