Help with MASTER STUDY

[LouisWinter]

Lately I've been compiling art from artists that catch my eye. After some browsing I've found two that really appealed to me.

Kinu Nishimura. This was an easy pick but I was already familiar with her art because I'm a Street Fighter fan

J. C. Leyendecker. It's hard to pin-point, but there is something fantastic about this one's works.

The truth is that I don't find my own art style very appealing, or at least not as much as these two. If I could produce pieces like these, I would have the confidence to much much more. My goal is to shift/ improve my art during the hiatus after my chapter one.

So am I suppose just trace the subjects works until muscle memory builds up? or go off of how other's study their art?

[cherrystark]

I think for comic artists, you should learn how to draw as many styles as possible. Like the trend of doing this.

If you are lucky enough to draw comics or be an animator for a living, you're not realistically going to make money off just one style. Just like writing, a varied portfolio makes you look better in the long run.

[moontokkym]

I'd say you can trace while simplifying to try and understand the use of shapes and proportions and how the body and environment transforms, but you can also do that by referencing the image and working to understand the differences between the work and real life.

Out of the two styles you've highlighted, one is manga on the more realistic side of what people generally think when they hear "manga" and JC Leyendecker is straight up realism from things like old sports illustrated magazines and adverts from before photography was commonly used for those so it seems like you're aiming for slightly simplified realism.

Also from the looks of it, both are traditional art (or possibly digital art imitating old traditional art looks in the case of Nishimura). Leyendecker is obviously using paint, either acrylics or oils for their work, and Nishimura's line and colour technique is very similar to traditional ink lineart with watercolour and alcohol marker colourwork. It might be a good idea to test out some traditional art methods if you haven't already, some things are just easier to obtain with traditional mediums.

[kalmia]

Throughout Uni we’ve been doing Master copies which are essentially this. We take a piece of art from a “master” and then copy it onto our own paper. This can be a great way to understand the colors, shapes, and overall design and stylistic choices a professional used and where.

If you’re wanting to understand more about their art, try doing a copy and using the grid method, if you’re unsure what that is then you can probably find a better explanation from google than what I can give you lol. Just make sure the dimensions are equal to or congruent to the ones on both papers. Then using the grid method you can copy the art much more accurately. After doing the grid method, you can always try just eyeballing it and see how close you can get to the original which is a lot more fun but also more time consuming in my opinion.

Make sure you’re actually paying attention to the details. Really look at the piece and think about why the artist did something one way versus another and what that brings to the piece. Why did they use thin lines? Why did they add an outline here but not here? what does this color add to the piece? The point of copying others works is to understand their thought process better and figure out how they got from point A to point B. The quality and technical skill of my art increased SIGNIFICANTLY after doing this for a couple of months along with figure drawing. Just go at your own pace and have some fun with it as well!

[thepenmonster]

If you are lucky enough to draw comics or be an animator for a living, you're not realistically going to make money off just one style.

Oy~ The push back a person can get when they tell young artists that the best way to make art your day job is to "sell out" and copy what's popular.

[moontokkym]

That's not in any way what @cherrystark said.

There is a massive difference between copying a popular artist's style as a freelancer to create essentially dupes and undercut their prices and being able to adapt as needed as part of an animation team to be able to draw in the style of the project so that characters and places stay on model.

One is morally dubious and in some cases illegal, the other is a necessary skill for the job. Cherry was talking about the second type, getting hired as part of a team and adapting to the best style for the project.

[LouisWinter]

I'd say you can trace while simplifying to try and understand the use of shapes and proportions and how the body and environment transforms, but you can also do that by referencing the image and working to understand the differences between the work and real life.

The difference between their art and real life? Thats a very interesting strategy. Thanks.

[NickRowler]

While this video is sort of silly and focused on cartoony styles, I think it's a good at showing how you need to look at small details used in a style and see how you can apply that to something new and unique.

Trancing won't do much beyond just doing a direct copy.