Guide How To Improve Your Art Submissions! ~ Guide For Your Work Section

This post is aimed at people submitting art in the Your Work section.

We have a huge amount of talented & beginner artists on the Wynncraft Forums, but too often I find that the images are not the best quality and it isn't the artwork that is the problem.

Heads up: This isn't how to get better at creating art. This is my opinion on how to present your art.

-+- For sketchers! -+-

Spoiler: (That means drawing on paper)

Tip #1 ~ Try to draw on clean paper

• I find that many sketches are on lined paper, dirty/smudged/colored paper. Plain paper is the best if you're trying to scan or take a picture.
  
• Many sketches I have seen are among a few other sketches too, so it is sometimes hard to figure out which sketch is the main one. Either erase the other drawings, or cut out & paste onto another sheet of paper.

Tip #2 ~ Lighting & camera quality

• It is important to realize that your eyes adjust to the darkness of the room, but your camera does not. Always try to avoid using the flash, because it makes your art too bright and the border too dark.
• Instead, turn on the room's light or a not-too-close lamp (face the lamp's light upwards if you can, for balanced lighting! This also works with torches). It is always better to have white light rather than yellow light, so the sketch's colors are not changed.
• Set your camera's setting to macro if you can. It makes it focused.
• Hold your camera steady! A close-up photo can be blurred even with a very small shake.
• Use a photographic camera device rather than your phone (if you can). Phones are usually built for using apps, websites and games, and aren't focused around camera quality. Using a photographic camera (no, not a professional, expensive one; a small, cheap one is fine) can make a lot of difference.

Tip #3 ~ Increase/decrease your image size

• You probably know this one, but use the zoom! I can't see your 1cm by 1cm sword design if you took a photo of it from halfway across the room!
  
• Don't zoom in too much, though! There is a difference between a camera and a microscope; one is made for viewing very small objects, and the other is not.
  
• Don't draw tiny! Once you've drawn your sketch, on another piece of paper (plain and clean, hopefully) scale it up. You can now also add more details if you want.
• Once you have your image, use Photoshop or a cheap/free ripoff (idc) to make the image larger (or smaller... trust me I've seen super large art on these very Forums). If you want a reference, 600x1200 pixels are probably the maximum (the maximum acceptable) dimensions.
• Make sure that the image is kept in proportion! Multiply both the width and height (length?) by the same integer (no decimals!).

Tip #4 ~ Draw, scan, color, post

• I've noticed that a lot of you like to color in (uh... I mean "render"!) your sketches with colored pencils. However, your variety of colors that you have (no matter how vast) is no match for the 16,777,216 colors available on LED/LCD screens (Take that, Derwent™ watercolor 72 pack!).
• Rendering artwork digitally is quicker, and there are no "pencil grains", dark/light spots or white gaps.

Tip #5 ~ Pencil sketches < finelined sketches

• If you sketch using a greylead (graylead for all the Americans/others) pencil, once you are finished you should trace over it with a fineliner (a thin "texta", black pen, marker pen, etc) and then erase the pencil marks underneath. It looks neater and there shouldn't be any smudges.
• Make sure to fineline & erase before rendering!
• There is a lot more contrast. Black and white is much better than grey and white!
• If you scan your drawings, black and white is literally the best way to go, and there won't be as much "faintness" of the lines.

-+- For digital artists! -+-

Spoiler: (Using Photoshop or similar software to make art)

Ok so for digital artists, no headings, just dot points (I'm running out of time!)

• If you're serious about digital art (or you hate using your mouse... just like everybody else) you should get a graphics tablet, complete with a stylus. Yes, it costs money, but you can draw even better than on paper (trust me). Using a normal tablet only lets you use your fingertips.
  
• Once you have your image, use Photoshop or a cheap/free ripoff (idc) to make the image larger (or smaller... trust me I've seen super large art on these very Forums). If you want a reference, 600x1200 pixels are probably the maximum (the maximum acceptable) dimensions. Make sure that the image is kept in proportion! Multiply both the width and height (length?) by the same integer (no decimals!).
• Sketch on paper first! Then use those lines as a guide, and trace over them! This is the best way to go if you don't have a graphics tablet. Seriously.

Sorry digital artists, I couldn't think of any more tips right now. Check out the tips for sketchers because a lot of those apply to digital artwork as well!

-+- In conclusion/TLDR -+-

Rushing the "publishing" stage is almost as bad as rushing the art itself.


(Uh oh I sound like someone from a photography forum... and I'm on a gaming forum...
Also what am I doing? I've wasted half a day of the school holidays writing boring stuff!)

Phew! That's a lot of words. Was this actually helpful for you? Let me know in the poll!

~ noelscrap

 

Now we are missing only one thing: talent.