I want to learn how to draw. Should I start digitally or traditionally?

The best medium to start in is one where you can do a little bit each day, analyse what you've drawn to look for areas to improve, and try again and again without feeling pressure to make every drawing perfect. So for me, a cheap sketchpad or a bunch of printer paper, a mechanical pencil (doesn't need sharpening, not messy and the line weight is always consistent) and a nice big eraser are the best tools for starting out.
It is good to get some familiarity with digital tools, because you will want to learn them eventually, but when working digitally, it's really easy to get swept up in effects and fancy rendering before you've mastered your basics; things like pen control, volumes, perspective and line of action. Keep things simple first, even though it will mean your early work isn't shiny looking and instagram-ready, it will definitely pay off later if you have a real understanding of how to draw things like mass before you start shading that mass with fancy brushes.

Traditional. The skills you learn from traditional drawing, such as pencil pressure, line strokes, etc. can transfer fairly easily to digital, but it's a bit harder to do it the other way around. You might find yourself drawing traditionally one day and wondering why you're pressing nonexistent buttons to undo a mistake!

It’s not just me!! that is the freaking worst feeling ever

I definitely think traditional first is the way to go. You’ll need all the skills from traditional for digital, anyway. In my personal experience, the digital learning curve is pretty steep, but more for things like switching out brushes and learning the best colors etc. Having the foundation definitely helped, though.

I use my iPad (which I already had) and ibisPaintx as well as a stylus I got on amazon for less than $30. I know you said budget wasn’t a problem, but it’s also okay to start on digital with simple options, kind of like how @nostalgicroxas was saying to start drawing on printer paper. It doesn’t have to be the best of the best. Because what really matters is that you start

What are you wanting to draw and with what media? Have you drawn anything before or literally just starting out?

I see, then I would do lots and lots of life drawing - you could go to a class or there are a few Youtube tutorials online. I've had many years of life drawing lessons and I still struggle, but get better and better the more I practice.

My comic is fantasy themed too. I've recently had to buy a sword and bow because I like to make my own reference pics (not just an excuse to buy an awesome sword and bow).

For learning to draw in general, traditional is probably best to start, and has a much lower barrier to entry. You can work wonders with cheap pencils and printer paper or notebooks--no need to spend a bunch of money on fancy art supplies. (i.e. I drew this a few months ago on a piece of printer paper with a cheap mechanical pencil whilst bored at work: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/OyrK6e2)

However, digital does offer some advantages if you want to get yourself a tablet and some art software. I don't have much input on beginner tablets anymore, but there are plenty of free and cheap art programs out there. Personally I think for comics, you get the most for your money out of Clip Studio Paint since it has a lot of built in comic making tools. Digital allows for use of layers and an undo button, which does make it easier to fix mistakes and make edits.

In either case though, the most important thing is practice. Anyone can learn to draw, but you have to be willing to put the work in. A lot of people will insist you learn anatomy and fundamentals first, but while you should spend some time with those things, they do get pretty tedious so don't be afraid to just have a go at drawing whatever you like. It probably won't be good the first time, but by the tenth time or the fiftieth you draw that thing it'll look a lot better. Otherwise, I can't recommend using reference enough, whether it's photos or work from other artists you admire (just don't like, plagiarize it and call it your own). And finally, making a comic as actually one of the best ways to practice art because it forces you to draw consistently and challenge yourself, so that's also highly recommended once you get a grasp on the basics!

Really I started traditionally, but I wasn't able to upload anything due to having no decent scanner. Really just old printer paper, number 2 pencils and maybe if I'm feeling fancy, pencil crayons are appropriate enough to just start with and they cost absolutely nothing. That's the advantage, low cost of entry, and easier to see the full picture.

For digital, you can upload you drawings to social media much easier without a scanner and you get to learn alot of difficult to grip with aspects to digital art early. The problem is the cost is a lot higher. My digital tablet is a cheap Huion 420, so nothing fancy here. And yes medi Bang is an excellent starter program, free and perfect for comic making. There's also fire alpaca and krita. The issue is when you first learn digital art, it gets tempting to use ALL the effects and texture available, without any understanding. That's fine it helps you learn, but just know that looking back at your old art would be an eyesore tour.

Another thing, since you just starting out, you will rapidly improve especially if your doing a comic. So a page 12 would look vastly improved from a page 1, so just make a short comic to begin and finish and not worry too much about how different the 1st and last page looks, its normal. There's alot of youtube videos online to help you with certain art programs so its a good idea to watch them, probably even when your drawing. I find them relaxing.

Traditional! Definitely! Personally, i started with tradit. and it helps so much with digital afterwards, you dont hv to focus on all the cool features and drawing correctly. And you can always gradually start digital-ify-ing your art, like drawing a sketch and coloring it in your software of choice.

for digital art, MedibangPaint is awesome! It comes for free on phone and computers, and iti has a pretty cool community, with tons of art already on it, and they do a ton of contests for motivation, XD.

Hv fun!
Mira

(also, McKay and Gray is a GODSEND, i learned so much just by watching their videos.)

For me, both.
You can make steady progress in both formats, see what feels right and don't have to set aside time to practice the other.
I'm still at stage 1 in both area's though.

Start with traditional as you have more control on what you want to draw and what you actually draw.
Once you've build up some confidence start digital; you'll notice it's harder to make your hand draw what you want to draw, so start with the basics and be constant (don't get let down if it takes you time to properly draw digital, it always happens).

I generally agree with the "Start with traditional" advice repeated a lot in this thread so far! The easiest way to start learning the basics is definitely to just grab a pencil and some paper and go at it. Look up basic how to videos and articles on the internet, ask questions here if you have them, etc.

However! I think in your situation you could probably make the jump to digital a little faster than a lot of artists who started younger tbh. Since you have the means to get the equipment and software needed, and already have a specific end result in mind (webcomics), I do think you could probably make the jump to digital once you feel comfortable with the basics. It feels, to me at least, similar to when I made the jump into marker art as a kid- once I wanted to start getting more "serious" about art in middle school (lol!) I invested in some art markers and started learning those tools in addition to continuing to learn about drawing in general. In this case it's more the learning curve of how drawing on a tablet differs from drawing on paper and the tools that your art program has at its disposal.

When you decide to finally get a tablet for the digital drawing I would definitely recommend looking into a screen tablet if money isn't an issue. The wacom varients (cintique line & etc.) is really nice but really expensive. I use a Huion Kamvas GT-191 personally which is a little more affordable and has served me well the last... 2 years I guess I've had it. Drawing on a screen like that isn't exactly like drawing on paper, but it's much much closer compared to the non-screen tablets. I used one of those sparingly for years and you definitely get used to it but it's definitely another hurdle to overcome. I've heard lots of good things about drawing on ipads with Procreate (software) as well, but I'm not sure if that software is well equipped to handle comics tbh... someone with more experience might be able to speak on the matter.

That's great improvement for just a week! Especially looking at the first attempts vs the last ones is awesome (although it makes sense considering the research that happened between then and now).

I have one tip to try out as you continue to refine your head shape This is just an assumption from reading the above, but I think one thing that is probably lookin "off" to you about the heads that you've drawn so far is that they have kind of an overly pointy "snow cone" shape so far where it looks like the triangular chin shape is coming directly off of the circular base for the head.

image.png1093x885 506 KB

You might consider trying something more like this, where the lines coming directly off the circle are actually straight down, to define the area of the face where the cheeks go, and then from those you angle inwards to define the chin. It looks a little different in everyone's style, but this way your faces will have some width to them and give the mouth some room to breath (pun semi-intended). From there you can experiment with different jawline shapes and cheek shapes, but it's a good starting point

Can't wait to see another progress post in the future!

I would guess traditionally. It's much easier to do, you don't really need the hassle of a tablet and pen, not even a computer, and once you're done, if you need to go digital, it should be an easy scan into PSD or CLIP, etc Good luck! I suggest Posemaniacs.com as your first stop too.
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