FAQ

Made an FAQ for answers and to keep any questions I answer all in one place. If you got any extra information or anything you're curious about, let me know! <3 Doesn't even have to be about art. I know about a few other things, and what I don't know about I can ask someone about. C:

I want to get into streaming. Got any suggestions?

I do live streaming using join.me, which is free and doesn't take up too much space on your computer. It's also browsing based, so you can pause it pretty easily and you can watch in multiple tabs with no trouble. The downside of course is you can only have a maximum of 10 persons watching, which isn't really a problem if you only have a couple people who watch your streams. (I get max one or two, so eh, it works.) I also have a livestream account, which automatically records streams if you tell it too, but it's a bit of a hassle and you have to remember all this login info, and I'm not really there for that. It's great because it has no limit on how many people can watch, and it has a better chat system. Watchers can also pause it to lower bandwidth usage if they're only there for the chat, so there's that. But it doesn't keep your place, so I don't really see any point in pausing. Personal preference and amount of watchers is key though. There more popular people usually lean towards livestream.

As for recording yourself, livestream automatically does and uploads it for you, if you set it up, so it takes no memory on your computer. If you're like me and you don't use livestream though, you can do a screen recording using quicktime which is free and has it's own encoders! It's also pretty good at compressing, so you can lower your file size pretty easily. This also gives you a hard copy of the stream should you need it. (The long version is key, because even if you do put it on the internet, if you use this method you are the only one with a copy of the long version of the recording with the original sound, making it virtually impossible for someone to steal your art. But this is only works if you put up the sped up versions on youtube. 8x - 20x is my preference, but I wouldn't go any lower than 4x speed. To easy to recover the info lost speeding up the video. Then again, I'm paranoid.)

The downside of course is it takes up memory, but depending on how much you stream and how much memory you have, it's not really a problem. The biggest stream I have before compression is 2.5 GB, and that's 2 and a half hours long, so they dont take up too much space. Plus, you can adjust your file options, such as removing thumbnails, which will make your file a LOT smaller. Then all you need to do is throw all these backups and your art on a 1 TB drive and never worry about it again! (Think of it as a big box in your attic for all your digital art, only it's about the size of a pencil case, and a lot sturdier.)

If you're interested in a backup drive, this is the one I have, and it hasn't failed me yet. Also, all of the stuff I've suggested, except for the backup drive, are completely free! Join.me and livestream do have premium versions which allow for better streaming and more viewers, but they work pretty well even without them!&nbsp;

TL;DR Version
 Join.me
      Uses less space to run
      Multitab viewing
      Easier to control
      Viewer limit of 10
      No logging in. Once you have the client you can stream wherever, whenever.

 Livestream
      No viewer limit
      Better for popular artists
      Requires login
      Automatic stream recording and posting of the full length video
      Less memory required after client is installed

 Quicktime
      Use this for recording your streams if you use join.me
      Records a full version with sound
      Better backups, should you need them to prove your artwork is yours
      Good for compression
      Does have MINOR video editing capabilities. You need other software to speed up the video.

 Parting Advice
      Get yourself a 1 TB backup drive[~65 USD]
      If you can't afford that, get 8/16 GB zipdrive [~8 USD/~13 USD]
      You can also keep your backups on sta.sh, google drive, or dropbox.
      Use whatever free editing software you can. Imovie may be majorly useless, but it works for this.
      Set up an account on livestream and join.me anyways, even if you don't plan to use one. Who knows, you might need it later.




I'm Looking for a new drawing program, what do you use?

Also, if you're still looking for a drawing program, FireAlpaca is free, and it works great! Nice filesizes, good tools, and very simple to use. It's like SAI and Photoshops cute baby made entirely for drawing. It also works on mac! >w< If you need any help with this program or any custom brushes, I can help out! I know a good chunk about it and fire-alpaca is a REALLY great group with a lot of wonderful resources to help you become a master!

Also if you haven't decided on a tablet yet, you can get an intuos touch small for 99 bucks and it comes with autodesk's sketchbook pro and artrage free. I haven't used artrage so I can't give you a review on that, but sketchbook pro is about as close as you can possibly get to traditional drawing. You can make your own brushes, plus it has it's own brushes that work almost exactly like the real thing. Everything is named in a smart way, and it comes with presets for every type of copic there is. Even if you already bought a tablet, the free version of sketchbook ain't too shabby either. This program also has a great deviantart community, autodesk-sketchbook! (This is the official one for both the free and paid versions!)

Finally, if you've used flash and want something with a vector setup, try out inkscape! It's a pretty neat program, though it does take a little figuring out. I suggest watching some speedpaints and tutorials if you can! I'm still learning so I'm afraid I won't be much help if you need it, but there are a bunch of great tutorials out there! I don't know any good groups for inkscape since I'm new to the program myself, but if I see some I'll let you know! C:

TL;DR Version:
 Firealpaca
      Free!
      Works like Photoshop/SAI
      Has a great group, fire-alpaca
      Easy to use right out of the box
      Can create custom brushes

Sketchbook Pro() and Sketchbook Express()
      Only 40USD                                                                Free!
      Works almost exactly like traditional tools!                    Works almost exactly like traditional tools!
      Has a DA Community! autodesk-sketchbook           Has a DA Community! autodesk-sketchbook
      Easy to use out of the box!                                          Easy to use out of the box!
      Can create custom brushes!                                        Can't create custom brushes.

InkScape
      Free!
      Works in vectors like Flash
      Has a GREAT online community on the official website.
      Got a little bit of a learning curve




I can never get my lines straight! Anything I can do? [Curve tool/Pen Tool Tutorial]

I'd suggest the pen tool! It works kinda like the wave tool from MS Paint. You make smooth lines by adjusting two or more tangents or "handles"!  You can do long lines very quickly with no sweat! Another option is utilizing Sai's Stabilizer tool! I'm pretty sure it's part of the pen settings, but I'm not positive. (I have a mac, so I dont have much experience with Sai tbh.) 

Basically the way the stabilize feature works is it takes your mouse movements and slices it up into points. The slower you go the more points it keeps track of and draws out, the faster you go the less points it calculates and the smoother the line. The higher the correction/stabilization the less points it calculates per second and the longer it takes to calculate your line. (At least that's how it works in FireAlpaca, which also has a stabilizer too.)

If you're using a tablet, adjusting the stabilizer settings is probably you best bet. If you use a mouse however, it will take you less time and you will have more accuracy if you use the pen tool. The only downside is that the line thickness/weight is constant so you have to go back and thin/adjust lines as necessary.

TL;DR Version:
Pen Tool/Guided lines
      creates smoother lines by using tangents
      Available on pretty much every type of art software
      Movement does not effect the line
      Best for Mouse users

Stabilizer
      creates smoother lines by averaging mouse locations per second
      Available on SAI, firealpaca, and I think photoshop??? lemme know if you know any other software lemme know
      faster movement = smoother lines, slower movement = more wiggly lines
      Best for Tablet users




What kind of tablet do you use?

I have an intuos touch small! That's also a wacom. They run about 80 bucks brand spanking new, and they are VERY sturdy. If you're starting out and you need a tablet, this is the one for you! Mine has been thrown, dropped, sat on, and tossed, and it still works perfectly! The driver is also a one click install, so that's nice. It's also nice and small, so it's perfect to keep in your backpack for on the run. 

The only downside is it is not wifi capable right out of the box. For about 40 bucks though you can upgrade it to wireless, and it's literally just plug and play! With that you should be able to get a year or two more out of your tablet, so it is definitely worth the investment! I'm not wireless, but I've checked multiple sources and it should be compatible with the intuos touch small! You should also be able to buy these from all your local electronics stores! DON'T GO TO WALMART THOUGH. They will rip you off and online walmart seems to have the worst reviews. Plus they have really nasty business practices.

All the links go to the wacom store, which has the most competitive prices as far as I know! They're also the most reliable since they you know, make the product. Hope this answers any questions you had! C:



Got Any Tips on Shading?

Cell Shading (Best for Mouse Users) [Tutorial]
If you're trying for cell shading I think you should use selection shading. Basically you make a layer on top of your color layer, but under your line layer. You fill the entire layer with an arbitrary color. (Cool colors work best for shadows.) 

Then, set this layer to multiply. You will probably find that it makes your art a little TOO dark. Go to the layer -> Hue and adjust it until all the shadows look about the color you want. For a nice amount of depth I would do 2-3 shadow layers, so that you have light shadows, deep shadow, and a nice buffer(if you need it). 

Now turn off all but one of these shadow layers. Now go to your selection tool and change it to lasso mode. (The lined box. It'll be the first tool in the forth section on the side. The modes are determined by the drop down menu at the top.)  Now go through and select all the places where you DON'T want shadows, and delete them. (Backspace works on PCs, but for Macs you need to go to layer -> Clear or use the delete button if you have a desktop.) Repeat with the other two layers, starting with the buffer and moving on to the deep shadow layer. If you're more comfortable working from shadow to highlight, start where you would want your deepest shadows, and if you prefer working towards your deepest shadows start with your base shadow layer. Once you're happy with that you're done with the shadows! At this point I would toss it all in a folder where you won't be tempted to mess with it to much.

Make another new layer and fill all of it with another color. You want this to be the OPPOSITE of whatever you chose for your shadows. (Warm if your shadows are cool, and visa versa.) Set this new layer to add and adjust as necessary. Now highlight everywhere where you want highlights and fill them using the fill bucket. Once you finish this you can either leave it as is, or add extra white spots for a little flare. After this is when you would do all your overlays and junk. This is the method I usually use when cell shading, and when I use other programs like photoshop. This is also the method that LuckySquid uses. (Or at least very close to it. She does it using masks, but since firealpaca masks are still a little iffy I do it via deletion.)

Soft Cell Shading (Great for Tablet Users)
If you want to do soft cell shading, follow the same steps as above to get colors you like. Once you have your desired shadow colors make a new layer and name it something like "the shading palette layer" or "shade palette". This will be the layer we color pick from later. Turn all your layers to normal mode. 

Use the eyedropper or the alt key to color pick the final shades for your shadows and highlights, and draw them onto the empty layer we just made. Now clear or delete the shading layers, as you can't use them as they are. Make a new layer for each one and turn them back to the corresponding layer modes. 

Use the pencil tool on the side at 20-60% and paint in your shadows, color picking from the shade palette layer you made earlier to get the right colors for the shadow. (If you are using a program other than firealpaca make sure pressure based opacity is turned ON.) Using the pencil tool and doing a lot of strokes will help you blend the shadows for a softer, more controlled look. Repeat this with the highlights and you're done! After this is when you do overlays and junk. This is the method I use for the most part.

C-c-c-combo Breaker (Uses both methods)
The final method is to go through all the steps using the cell shading method, and then use the pencil tool to blend. I would make one of the mouse keys on your tablet the alt shortcut so you can colorpick quickly since you will be doing this a LOT. 

If you haven't blended before (either using firealpaca or otherwise), make a new layer and colorpick either your main color or the shadow, and paint into the opposite color using light pressure. Now color pick the resulting color and use it to blend. Repeat until it's as smooth as you want it to be! C:



What's the difference between the Vanishing point snap tool and the Radial snap tool in FireAlpaca? [Tutorial]
I'll definitely be breaking all of them down in a tutorial, but here's the short version, from left to right:
Off - Turns all snapping features off. Use for free drawing.
Parallel - Used to make parallel lines. Best uses are probable for rough panelling in comic, using in combination with the radial snap (5) to do 1 point perspective
Crisscross - Pretty much the same as the parallel setup. No reset abilities available.
Vanishing Point - Used to do 2-3 point perspective. Best for doing backgrounds or environment pieces. 
Radial - Used to make lines radiating from a single point. Best uses are for patterns with radiating lines and using it in combination with the parallel snap (2) to do 1 point perspective.
Circle - Used to make quick and easy circles! Will come out the neatest out of all the other ways to make circles in firealpaca
Curve - Used to make curved lines. Just pop some points along a presketched curve, and bam! All done. 
Snap Setting - Used to reset whatever snap tool you are working with. For Parallel it resets the slope of the line, for vanishing point it resetse both points, for radial and circle it resets the center, and for curve it allows you to plot new points. It does NOT work with the crisscross snap tool.

Got any tips for pixelling?
I would try out these tutorials! >w<
[Especially for DA Avvies][Super Pixel Breakdown][Some Great Extra Tips! >w<]


What do the create selection from brightness/opacity do in FireAlpaca?
I just checked out the new create selection tools, and for the most part they just select what's on your current layer.
Create from opacity selects it based on the opacity from whatever layer you're on. (So if you have 50% opacity then it will have 50% selection.)
Create from brightness selects based on the contrast on the layer.

How do you do pixels in FireAlpaca?
Well my workflow is a lot like the tutorials from before but here's what I do - 
Start out with a canvas roughly 3-6 times your final size (I usually work with 300x300 since my stuff is usually 50-100 pixels tall) and sketch everything out. If you have any opacity double your layers until it gets about as opaque as possible without destroying details. I usually save at this point and switch to a new file so I can reference the full size lineart and color pick my reference image if need be. Take the opacity on the sketch layer down using the slider in the layer editor and make a new layer. Then you follow your lines using either an aliased one pixel pen tool or the dot tool. Once you finish the lineart turn off the sketch layer fill in your lines with the appropriate colors. (I do this in a seperate layer, but you can totes do all of this in one layer. The only layer that needs to be separate is the sketch. Make sure you turn your fill bucket to expand - 0.) Make a new layer and set to multiply, and add your shadows using the pen/dot tool. Add highlights the same way, but instead use add instead of multiply. Finally, to animate the bounce just delete one or two lines carefully and fill in the spaces by moving the remaining pixels back together and patch as necessary.


What got you into making tutorials?
Well, to be completely honest, it was because E-Matt asked about shading, and he was just getting into FireAlpaca. (Which is a program I really dig it ahaha) Anyways, he asked for some shading tips and I figured, hey! Now's as good a time as any right? So I made my first shading tutorial. (Check it out here yo) It got such a great response that I decided to do more! And now here I am!


How long have you been drawing digitally? 
I have been drawing digitally since I got my first tablet back in 2005. I was terrible at it and didn't start doing it seriously until around late 2012. I didn't really use my tablet until around 2009/2010, mostly cause the only software I really had access too was MSPaint, and I didn't do much with anything but bases. In the summer of 2012 I started doing a lot of reaction images and RPing, so I did a bunch of quick fire stuff in paint. (You can still check it out on my art blog, I haven't taken down the old stuff yet.) I got my mac from the college I chose in late september and started using SketchBookExpress since it was free and I didn't have paint anymore. Of course at that point the tablet I had wasn't touch sensitive anymore since it was old as balls at that point. Got a new tablet (again, from school) in January 2013 and have been drawing pretty much entirely digitally since. (Excepting art class assignments and sketchbooks during classes that aren't computer intensive.)


How do you go about creating adoptables? (how does a design pop into your mind, how do you pick the colors for it)
First things first, I make myself a base. I never really save them unless it's a specific species so most miscellaneous adopts are done entirely by hand. Then I usually either go for a theme, or look at the specifications the person ordering the custom has made. If necessary I'll google something vague and relating to my theme to get the clothing styles I want, but otherwise I use patterns I already know. I also have a nifty tag for general fashion over on my blog. Color choices are usually based on what colors are required, and then moving on using complimentary and split complimentary color schemes. I use other color schemes too, but those are my favorites. If I'm really stumped I will also go over to colourlovers and search using either a key word or a color.

Is there a luminosity brush in FireAlpaca?
Sadly, there is not. BUT WORRY NOT. I GOT YOU.
To make things glow in FireAlpaca:
1. Draw whatever you want to glow. Make sure it's on a separate layer from the rest of your piece.
2. Once you're happy with it, duplicate that layer. (Make sure it is your top most layer. The glow will show up on every layer under it, but not over it.)
3. Blur that layer until the glow is as big or little as you want it.
4. Set that layer to add and adjust the opacity and hue as necessary. If you are working without a background, or the glow bleeds into transparent areas of the piece, then instead of setting the layer to add you should go to Layer -> Hue, and desaturate and brighten the layer until the brightness looks about right. This way, no matter what the background is whenever you upload it, it will still "glow".

As an add on to the program question, here's a list of goodies!! For more, please look in my resources both in my favorites and in my own gallery. [Green is free, Blue is paid.]
 FireAlpaca
 Sketchbook Express
 Inkscape
 Animation Paper (For animation. Very nifty!~)
Sketchbook Copic (MUST have sketchbook express or pro)
Paint Tool SAI (PC only)
Paint.NET (DON'T UPDATE)
Lazy Nezumi Stabilizer (PC only)
Sketchbook Pro [30 USD]