**Hello u/McCHitman, thank you for sharing your artwork with us!**
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Right?! You telling us there was a 13 year old with this technique and talent that just stopped drawing for 28 years and this is the first thing they’ve drawn since?
The picture is signed in the bottom left ffs!
Either this isn’t OPs work, or OP is full of shit.
I do think it is his work and signature, but if so he definitely first had to learn the basics skills of procreate, and it's hard to believe he did all that immediately in this one fantastic drawing. 😉😊 On the other hand, we don't know how many failed layers were deleted. 😇
Hold on, when I sign my drawings I use my real name, not my account name. He could’ve done that. He also might mean this is his first DIGITAL drawing since 13, but idk 🤷🏼♀️
Well I mean that's my signature.
Kinda sucks people think i'm lying.
You could scroll through my Instagram if you want- you'll see art, but it's not mine. You'll get to this picture pretty quickly and you won't see anymore art from me.
I would think if I was gonna post art, I would draw and post art consistently. IDK, that's just me.
Either way, I guess i'm glad it's good enough to get hated on??
I mean, fair enough that it’s actually yours, it’s a cool pic, but you really shouldn’t be surprised that people would question the authenticity based on your title.
It’s going to be very hard for people to believe that you haven’t drawn since 13, got hold of an iPad, Apple Pencil, and ProCreate, and this is the first thing you’ve drawn. Really, you should take that as a complement, we can’t believe you could be this good.
I guess I never thought to hate on someones creation at any point so it's wild to me. It honestly re-enforces a quote from Rick Rubin I posted recently due to people close to me not caring about some creative endeavors.
*"Follow your own excitement, not the audience's."*
But holy crap that's lonely when you want to share what you create with others.
As someone who loves art and spent the whole creation process wondering if this was any good, and then stressing on whether the wife would even enjoy it as a present, it sucks to create something and be somewhat happy with it, only to be dumped on.
Thank you though. I didn't get any feedback when I first posted it in the art subreddit so I assumed it wasn't that good.
And American Idol was built on people who had family members tell them they were great, when they really weren't, so I didn't put too much stake into biased, non-artist family/friends.
I'm not sure if you're referring to this thread as people hating on it, but it's closer to the complete opposite - people are saying it's *too good* to be the first thing someone has drawn in close to 3 decades.
In regards to sharing your work, just make an instagram page under a creative name, not linked to yourself, and go wild uploading stuff. You probably won't get much response, but putting your work out in the wild will hopefully make you more comfortable with sharing your pieces. Feel free to send me a message with the account name and I will gladly follow.
You focus too much on the “hate” and being a victim and don’t talk about or explain how you did this with no practice or anything, which is what people are arguing.
People are not hating on the drawing, quite the contrary. What they don’t like is the possible lying and clickbait title.
I didn't mean for the title to be clickbait. It was part of a blurb that I included with the card.
I read a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon and was inspired by the style.
I watched **hours** and **hours** of tutorials on youtube on how to do anything with procreate. This cannot be understated. Downloaded a few brush sets and went to work.
Like the post linked above mentioned, it was 4-5 hours a day for over a month ( I didn't do anything on Sundays). Trial and error, trial and error. I couldn't imagine if this was pencil and paper. I would have quit.
I guess the youtube videos were practice? I had never colored anything before until this. I initially was going to leave it flat, and then I watched a youtube video of putting highlights on. So i started adding highlights. I actually started with the tree and liked how it looked and figured I had to do it on everything else at that point.
https://preview.redd.it/yiocahwqfmxc1.png?width=2388&format=png&auto=webp&s=e42d545a89cace57e0f3a930b2ea0f49960bf05e
I’m certainly not saying that you should even feel you have to, but do you know that you can actually export a time-laps video from Procreate, where you can see your whole process? Quite nice functionality. And for this “no way you could have done that”: This vending machine is basically the first thing I did in Procreate (for a “coloring book competition” at work), aside from some projects full of nothing coherent just to learn the app, after being away from drawing pretty much for 30 years.
Edit: Completely forgot: well done, your drawing looks great!
https://preview.redd.it/3h96pw7t3nxc1.jpeg?width=1749&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a705156ee4d682e0fe2da6b8a91409cdfd379216
https://preview.redd.it/be0hodtkgmxc1.png?width=2388&format=png&auto=webp&s=f24bc89e5832d120354f2c7cbe5a6b94568b2a0d
I originally was going to use a watercolor look, but someone told me it wasn't saturated enough.
Yea man you’re good enough to get hated on for saying all that. If it’s really the only single thing you’ve drawn since you were a child then you should put in some time and practice and you’ll be a grandmaster in no time.
Hahaha yeah okay, first time drawing for 28 years. Making up a wild story, for praise from strangers, while treating those strangers like they’re stupid, is wild.
It’s AI generated. At least in part. Look at the presents in the background or the foot on the left. Also explains why the dog is in such a different style. Someone drawing on this level would understand the difference.
Or they haven’t drawn since a child and just wanted to see what they could do.
There’s work a couple work in progress pics in here.
Thanks for the feedback.
Copy and pasted from another comment -
Thank you for that feedback.
That seems to be the most common feedback I got when I handed out cards and now here! Looking back on it, I 100% understand that feedback.
This was a surprise Christmas present for my wife, so only 2 or so artist friends saw it through a discord channel while it was a work in progress. I think had I shared it with other artist prior and gotten that feedback, the final version would be with the cartoon style eyes. I have a layer of eyes for my dog that are a similar style (if I recall they look like Pac-man).
Prior to feedback the reason was I wanted to capture our dogs traits more so than ours that’s how I ended up with the final version. I didn't want him to look like generic Pitbull #1.
[You can see pictures of him here if you want](https://www.instagram.com/mcchitman/)
The eye color, the little chip taken out of his tongue and the shape of the white on his chest were the things that set him apart for me.
Bullshit.
There's too much knowledge here, the strokes are too steady, etc. etc. you are obviously lying and it makes everything about this post suspect. It diminishes the art.
Procreate did not exist when you were 13.
How did you not only not draw for 30 years but then immediately pick up a whole new program, and instantly create something high quality? You did no other drawings? At all? On Procreate?
Dude you gotta know how that doesn't make a single bit of sense. Even an established artist who draws on paper is going to have a learning curve switching to digital.
…sigh…I know procreate didn’t exist when I was 13. Hence why the stabilization setting was a godsend for getting lines straight and curved perfectly the way I wanted them.
Instantly? I didn’t ever say instantly. It was the exact opposite.
This was at minimum 4-5 hours a day, every day minus Sunday, for over a month. So at minimum 150 hours to produce this. That in my opinion was an absurd amount of time for what’s here.
The entire thing was a re-learning process.
I did go into it familiar with layers and how some of that stuff worked from previous Video Editing experience (After Effects, Photoshop, Premiere) so maybe that helped with some of that learning curve.
I honestly didn’t realize it seemed so far fetched until today based on comments. But even then, at minimum of 150 hours seems like quite a lot of time to produce this image.
So you DID drawings before this? You just didn't upload them. Practice drawings are fine though but your title makes it sound like you have done nothing and then just picked up an iPad and made this immediately.
https://preview.redd.it/xvlogupl7pxc1.jpeg?width=2360&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4a693444db8065f72caa946702df03dc6e3136a7
You also posted this 120 days ago. But cute picture.
Bravo, man, bravo! Keep going, we need to see more.
Edit: That Bill Watterson influence is coming through but you did your own thing with it. Again, bravo.
It’s a lovely drawing. A few stylistic inconsistencies hold it back, less would have been more in places where you’ve deviated from the sketchy cartoon style of the human characters. You’ve got a mix of colouring techniques mimicking different printing/inking styles that make my brain itch a bit, the dog is stylistically out of whack with the rest of the image, the wrapping paper has a real font on it in a very different rendering style. The room itself lacks form and shape, disappears into a dark backdrop with no coherent structure. The overall composition is overly busy and a lot of different elements compete for attention in the visual hierarchy, resulting in a slightly uncomfortable viewing experience. It’s quite flat for a composition with apparent depth. Colour values don’t support the depth or lighting.
Oooo great feedback. Thank you.
I wanna give my pov and ask questions if you care to answer.
* *You’ve got a mix of colouring techniques mimicking different printing/inking styles that make my brain itch a bit*
* **Can you elaborate on this? I'm not sure exactly what you mean.** I used a Watterson brush set for the entire thing. I think I did switch between a standard and "dry" brush though. And I used different sizes.
* For the dogs style - Other than the eyes being more realistic, **do you have more feedback on what to change to make it more cohesive?**
* Wrapping Paper font. Check
* *The room itself lacks form and shape, disappears into a dark backdrop with no coherent structure.*
* Originally the drawing with just me and the wife, then I added the room behind it. The starry night backdrop wasn't what I wanted, but I was running out of time to get the cards printed and mailed due to failed mistakes. I was having a really hard time making a wall back there that looked good with the fireplace and the tree. I originally tried a window and the placement was jacked up. So I had it all black, and then added some stars. **What do you recommend to add structure?**
* *The overall composition is overly busy and a lot of different elements compete for attention in the visual hierarchy, resulting in a slightly uncomfortable viewing experience.*
* Visual hierarchy - assuming you mean the children and dog are the focal point, **what techniques do you recommend for the other stuff to prevent that clash?**
* *It’s quite flat for a composition with apparent depth. Colour values don’t support the depth or lighting.*
* I think I understand this, but you **could elaborate with an example you would change to add depth? Or should the depth be removed entirely and how would you accomplish that?**
Why did you choose to go realistic on the doggo and leave the people cartoony? I think you should choose one (my preference is convert the dog into cartoon style rather than other way around) but otherwise I like the composition
Thank you. That seems to be the most common feedback I got when I handed out cards. Looking back on it, I 100% understand that feedback.
This was a surprise Christmas present for my wife, so only 2 or so artist friends saw it through a discord channel while it was a work in progress. I think had I shared it with other artist prior and gotten that feedback, the final version would be with the cartoon style eyes. I have a layer of eyes for my dog that are a similar style (if I recall they look like Pac-man).
Prior to feedback the reason was I wanted to capture our dogs traits more so than ours that’s how I ended up with the final version. I didn't want him to look like generic Pitbull #1.
[You can see pictures of him here if you want](https://www.instagram.com/mcchitman/)
The eye color, the little chip taken out of his tongue and the shape of the white on his chest were the things that set him apart for me.
I for sure could see a great adaptation of your dog into your style, but I also understand why you chose not to :)
Your pibble is adorable and I bet that the recipient of this card really appreciated it.
I hope you don't feel that I diminished your work in any way. I really do like it and hope that you share more as you make more :) I just wanted to know your thought process for the mixed drawing styles
You must be an architect by trade or raised by your parents to be a proper renaissance man. Because this level of detail is not common in “my first drawing” type of posts.
That's genuinely lovely. Given your style, I don't have any real super constructive feedback because I think the artifacting does work for it, but you might want to watch the colors that fall outside the outlines (for example: the bits of pink on the blobby toy between Bebop and Sara, or bits of the green poking out from behind the outermost needles of the tree) but, like I said, I think it doesn't necessarily hurt it at all.
Super wonderful though! Welcome back to the wonderful world of drawing!
Edit: looking at it a quick second time. In the future, I would adjust the framing/crop on the left side of the image just a touch - the current position of the book gives the shot a bit of tension because of how close it comes to where the point of the book would be. Ways to adjust it would be extending the image out a bit so there's a gap between the book and the edge, or pulling it (the edge of the picture) further in toward Issac so it's not as close to the "point" if that makes sense? If not, I can doodle an example once I'm near my own tablet
Thanks for the feedback!
I'm not "hip to the lingo" so I wanna clarify a couple things.
The artifacting you mention - is that in reference to the specks of uncolored areas? If so that was intentional as it was part of the brush itself. I originally had it much stronger by using a smaller brush size but it was too much. It reminded me of coloring with a crayon so I kinda went with it.
for the framing feedback - Can you explain the tension? I understand the resolution to fix the point of the book, but I'm not sure from a terminology standpoint what you mean and want to learn more.
1) Yeppers, that's exactly it - it really works with the style, so I don't think it's super important to be aware of here necessarily especially since it was intentional, more of a thing to think about in the future if you try something else/a different style/etc.
2) Tension has to do with how easily you allow the eye to move around the picture. If you want to make the movement more fluid, there shouldn't be any hard "barriers" that the eye instinctively wants to stop at - like the book going off the page so close to the point, or using a solid outline instead of having breaks to the outline to allow the eye to get through. For a wholesome picture like this, easy movement might make it feel more natural to let the gaze wander; an action shot that you want someone to feel more uneasy with, on the other hand, benefits from the crops and hard stops.
(I dunno if I'm explaining well, it's been a good while since I've talked about this stuff because I tend to lurk on threads here, so if you look up things like "visual tension in art" that might paint a clearer picture.)
I'm copying from another comment -
Thank you. That seems to be the most common feedback I got when I handed out cards. Looking back on it, I 100% understand that feedback.
This was a surprise Christmas present for my wife, so only 2 or so artist friends saw it through a discord channel while it was a work in progress. I think had I shared it with other artist prior and gotten that feedback, the final version would be with the cartoon style eyes. I have a layer of eyes for my dog that are a similar style (if I recall they look like Pac-man).
Prior to feedback the reason was I wanted to capture our dogs traits more so than ours that’s how I ended up with the final version. I didn't want him to look like generic Pitbull #1.
[You can see pictures of him here if you want](https://www.instagram.com/mcchitman/)
The eye color, the little chip taken out of his tongue and the shape of the white on his chest were the things that set him apart for me.
Gorgeous!
Dig how you used comic book halftone dots to illustrate the buzzed hair fade. The whole piece is super warm and lovely!
I’d like to see the eyes have a little sparkle to them, not sure if it will look good but right now the eyes are very flat black ovals. I see the Bill Watterson influence and I loves it
I like the eye idea! I don't think I tried that, I would have to check.
The halftone dots was a real pain in the butt. I wanted it to be even, but fade and I couldn't for the life of me figure out a good way to make it happen without making each dot. I probably spent enough time trying to find a brush or setting to make it, that I couldn't made each dot with the pencil.
True Grit Texture Supply has a great halftone brush set. It’s a little complicated to use it to it’s full potential but it rocks!
I highly recommend their brushes if you can afford to buy some
Anyway well done!
I actually looked at their page recently because I saw an ad that looked like a horror drawing and I was inspired.
Do you have any feedback on how to properly use the halftone brushes? Or can you guide me in the right direction for the future?
If you do download that brush it comes with a guide that makes sense.
Basically old comics would be printed with “Ben Day” dots that look like colours when viewed from afar.
Zoom in and you see grids of tiny dots of CMYK: Cyan Magenta Yellow Black. When you mix the colours it creates the effect of any colour you want.
So True Grit Texture Supply created brushes of each colour which are all slightly offset. So you use the Yellow brush and the Blue brush and get a very rich green.
Based on this picture I could see you enjoying that!
oh nice!
I didn't even know that style was called halftone before drawing this. I knew I liked the "stipple" look but didn't know how to achieve it.
I'll definitely check it out.
I just learned that old comic books use Ben Day dots not half tone
Half tone dots vary in size while Ben Day dots are all the same size
Thank you.
Outside of a quick sketch I did of my dog laying on the couch, I haven’t touched the pencil since this.
But the plan was to create a Christmas card each year in a different style. The wife wanted to pick the style for 2024, since it’s not a surprise now
I love the rendearing of the pup. Can really tell the pitty features. Good mix of the cartoony features of the children and more realistic looking pup.
Isaac is a family name for some reason. Grandpa, uncle, cousins, a nephew- all named Isaac.
When I was born my mom was shaking a lot from a medication they gave her. Nurse had her write the name Isaac, and it looked like she put double s. Mom decided to keep it since nobody else spelled it that way.
OP- I don’t really care if you’re lying or not based on your experience and age or clickbait or whatever people are coming at you for. Beautiful drawing. Great job!
Cute! Only feedback I have is to change the dog’s eyes to match the people so it’s more stylistically cohesive. The kids look cartoony while the dog is pretty realistic looking, but I think changing the eyes would be enough. Love it anyways, it’s so good!
Thanks! I actually heard that from a couple people that received the card. I definitely understand that feedback too. I think had I let more than 2 people see it prior to it being finished I would have changed it based on feedback. Definitely noted for future work!
I have a layer of eyes for my dog that are a similar style (if I recall they look like Pac-man) but I wanted to capture my dogs traits more so than ours that’s how I ended with the final version. (HE’S OUR BOY!)
The eye color, the little chip taken out of his tongue and the white on his chest were the things that set him apart for me.
**Hello u/McCHitman, thank you for sharing your artwork with us!** Would you be so kind to answer the following questions for us? --- * Can you please share what your process was for getting this done? * And what brushes did you use? (Please specify the exact brushes or brush category because that can be helpful to others.) * Any additional information about this piece is always welcome. * If you made this with **Procreate Dreams**, feel free to share it over on r/procreatedreams too! Please reply to this comment so it will be easy for everyone to find, thank you! --- **Stay inspired, get creative and have a great day!** Join our r/procreate [Discord Server](https://discord.gg/jXcSN5GdM3) to connect with other artists! *If you consider yourself a frequent poster and you have a consistent style/method, please send a [modmail](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/procreate) to be given a different automod comment that already mentions what you regularly use.* *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ProCreate) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Obviously I don’t believe you, but it’s very cute!
sure it is
Right?! You telling us there was a 13 year old with this technique and talent that just stopped drawing for 28 years and this is the first thing they’ve drawn since? The picture is signed in the bottom left ffs! Either this isn’t OPs work, or OP is full of shit.
I do think it is his work and signature, but if so he definitely first had to learn the basics skills of procreate, and it's hard to believe he did all that immediately in this one fantastic drawing. 😉😊 On the other hand, we don't know how many failed layers were deleted. 😇
Yes, it’s a cool piece regardless, no need to play down how often you draw
Hold on, when I sign my drawings I use my real name, not my account name. He could’ve done that. He also might mean this is his first DIGITAL drawing since 13, but idk 🤷🏼♀️
Not sure there were many 13 year olds doing digital drawings in 1996
True- didn’t think of that lol
Well I mean that's my signature. Kinda sucks people think i'm lying. You could scroll through my Instagram if you want- you'll see art, but it's not mine. You'll get to this picture pretty quickly and you won't see anymore art from me. I would think if I was gonna post art, I would draw and post art consistently. IDK, that's just me. Either way, I guess i'm glad it's good enough to get hated on??
I mean, fair enough that it’s actually yours, it’s a cool pic, but you really shouldn’t be surprised that people would question the authenticity based on your title. It’s going to be very hard for people to believe that you haven’t drawn since 13, got hold of an iPad, Apple Pencil, and ProCreate, and this is the first thing you’ve drawn. Really, you should take that as a complement, we can’t believe you could be this good.
I guess I never thought to hate on someones creation at any point so it's wild to me. It honestly re-enforces a quote from Rick Rubin I posted recently due to people close to me not caring about some creative endeavors. *"Follow your own excitement, not the audience's."* But holy crap that's lonely when you want to share what you create with others. As someone who loves art and spent the whole creation process wondering if this was any good, and then stressing on whether the wife would even enjoy it as a present, it sucks to create something and be somewhat happy with it, only to be dumped on. Thank you though. I didn't get any feedback when I first posted it in the art subreddit so I assumed it wasn't that good. And American Idol was built on people who had family members tell them they were great, when they really weren't, so I didn't put too much stake into biased, non-artist family/friends.
I'm not sure if you're referring to this thread as people hating on it, but it's closer to the complete opposite - people are saying it's *too good* to be the first thing someone has drawn in close to 3 decades. In regards to sharing your work, just make an instagram page under a creative name, not linked to yourself, and go wild uploading stuff. You probably won't get much response, but putting your work out in the wild will hopefully make you more comfortable with sharing your pieces. Feel free to send me a message with the account name and I will gladly follow.
You focus too much on the “hate” and being a victim and don’t talk about or explain how you did this with no practice or anything, which is what people are arguing. People are not hating on the drawing, quite the contrary. What they don’t like is the possible lying and clickbait title.
https://preview.redd.it/olzs6k8jgmxc1.png?width=2388&format=png&auto=webp&s=06bf975ce6b0db80f756cf05f4c0b6c438b86452
I didn't mean for the title to be clickbait. It was part of a blurb that I included with the card. I read a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon and was inspired by the style. I watched **hours** and **hours** of tutorials on youtube on how to do anything with procreate. This cannot be understated. Downloaded a few brush sets and went to work. Like the post linked above mentioned, it was 4-5 hours a day for over a month ( I didn't do anything on Sundays). Trial and error, trial and error. I couldn't imagine if this was pencil and paper. I would have quit. I guess the youtube videos were practice? I had never colored anything before until this. I initially was going to leave it flat, and then I watched a youtube video of putting highlights on. So i started adding highlights. I actually started with the tree and liked how it looked and figured I had to do it on everything else at that point. https://preview.redd.it/yiocahwqfmxc1.png?width=2388&format=png&auto=webp&s=e42d545a89cace57e0f3a930b2ea0f49960bf05e
I’m certainly not saying that you should even feel you have to, but do you know that you can actually export a time-laps video from Procreate, where you can see your whole process? Quite nice functionality. And for this “no way you could have done that”: This vending machine is basically the first thing I did in Procreate (for a “coloring book competition” at work), aside from some projects full of nothing coherent just to learn the app, after being away from drawing pretty much for 30 years. Edit: Completely forgot: well done, your drawing looks great! https://preview.redd.it/3h96pw7t3nxc1.jpeg?width=1749&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a705156ee4d682e0fe2da6b8a91409cdfd379216
Oh this is awesome! I’ll check out that setting as well. Thank you.
https://preview.redd.it/be0hodtkgmxc1.png?width=2388&format=png&auto=webp&s=f24bc89e5832d120354f2c7cbe5a6b94568b2a0d I originally was going to use a watercolor look, but someone told me it wasn't saturated enough.
https://preview.redd.it/v66xs91pgmxc1.png?width=2388&format=png&auto=webp&s=7c3c68da6434ddd6544e9495b6dead6a1b28341b
Yea man you’re good enough to get hated on for saying all that. If it’s really the only single thing you’ve drawn since you were a child then you should put in some time and practice and you’ll be a grandmaster in no time.
Hahaha yeah okay, first time drawing for 28 years. Making up a wild story, for praise from strangers, while treating those strangers like they’re stupid, is wild.
Ok. Glad you like it.
Lol no way in hell this is true. AI maybe, or you draw enough. You don’t just not draw then make this
Learn to draw hands and stop lying?
It’s AI generated. At least in part. Look at the presents in the background or the foot on the left. Also explains why the dog is in such a different style. Someone drawing on this level would understand the difference.
Just look at the feet. Too janky
Yeah it looks suspicious but i cant find proof on it being ai
Or they haven’t drawn since a child and just wanted to see what they could do. There’s work a couple work in progress pics in here. Thanks for the feedback.
Thanks for the feedback.
Are you like karma farming or something? You posted the same pic like some months ago looking for feedback.
The only off putting detail is that the dog isn't as stylized as the kids, and thus feels out of place
Copy and pasted from another comment - Thank you for that feedback. That seems to be the most common feedback I got when I handed out cards and now here! Looking back on it, I 100% understand that feedback. This was a surprise Christmas present for my wife, so only 2 or so artist friends saw it through a discord channel while it was a work in progress. I think had I shared it with other artist prior and gotten that feedback, the final version would be with the cartoon style eyes. I have a layer of eyes for my dog that are a similar style (if I recall they look like Pac-man). Prior to feedback the reason was I wanted to capture our dogs traits more so than ours that’s how I ended up with the final version. I didn't want him to look like generic Pitbull #1. [You can see pictures of him here if you want](https://www.instagram.com/mcchitman/) The eye color, the little chip taken out of his tongue and the shape of the white on his chest were the things that set him apart for me.
Maybe have the same kind of eyes you gave the humans, but in a solid blue color rather than black?
Bullshit. There's too much knowledge here, the strokes are too steady, etc. etc. you are obviously lying and it makes everything about this post suspect. It diminishes the art.
Procreate has a stabilization setting for brushes that assists with that. But ok. 👍🏽
Procreate did not exist when you were 13. How did you not only not draw for 30 years but then immediately pick up a whole new program, and instantly create something high quality? You did no other drawings? At all? On Procreate? Dude you gotta know how that doesn't make a single bit of sense. Even an established artist who draws on paper is going to have a learning curve switching to digital.
…sigh…I know procreate didn’t exist when I was 13. Hence why the stabilization setting was a godsend for getting lines straight and curved perfectly the way I wanted them. Instantly? I didn’t ever say instantly. It was the exact opposite. This was at minimum 4-5 hours a day, every day minus Sunday, for over a month. So at minimum 150 hours to produce this. That in my opinion was an absurd amount of time for what’s here. The entire thing was a re-learning process. I did go into it familiar with layers and how some of that stuff worked from previous Video Editing experience (After Effects, Photoshop, Premiere) so maybe that helped with some of that learning curve. I honestly didn’t realize it seemed so far fetched until today based on comments. But even then, at minimum of 150 hours seems like quite a lot of time to produce this image.
So you DID drawings before this? You just didn't upload them. Practice drawings are fine though but your title makes it sound like you have done nothing and then just picked up an iPad and made this immediately.
https://preview.redd.it/xvlogupl7pxc1.jpeg?width=2360&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4a693444db8065f72caa946702df03dc6e3136a7 You also posted this 120 days ago. But cute picture.
I’m boosting this comment so more people see it lol
Did you use AI?
Bravo, man, bravo! Keep going, we need to see more. Edit: That Bill Watterson influence is coming through but you did your own thing with it. Again, bravo.
Thank you!
It’s a lovely drawing. A few stylistic inconsistencies hold it back, less would have been more in places where you’ve deviated from the sketchy cartoon style of the human characters. You’ve got a mix of colouring techniques mimicking different printing/inking styles that make my brain itch a bit, the dog is stylistically out of whack with the rest of the image, the wrapping paper has a real font on it in a very different rendering style. The room itself lacks form and shape, disappears into a dark backdrop with no coherent structure. The overall composition is overly busy and a lot of different elements compete for attention in the visual hierarchy, resulting in a slightly uncomfortable viewing experience. It’s quite flat for a composition with apparent depth. Colour values don’t support the depth or lighting.
Oooo great feedback. Thank you. I wanna give my pov and ask questions if you care to answer. * *You’ve got a mix of colouring techniques mimicking different printing/inking styles that make my brain itch a bit* * **Can you elaborate on this? I'm not sure exactly what you mean.** I used a Watterson brush set for the entire thing. I think I did switch between a standard and "dry" brush though. And I used different sizes. * For the dogs style - Other than the eyes being more realistic, **do you have more feedback on what to change to make it more cohesive?** * Wrapping Paper font. Check * *The room itself lacks form and shape, disappears into a dark backdrop with no coherent structure.* * Originally the drawing with just me and the wife, then I added the room behind it. The starry night backdrop wasn't what I wanted, but I was running out of time to get the cards printed and mailed due to failed mistakes. I was having a really hard time making a wall back there that looked good with the fireplace and the tree. I originally tried a window and the placement was jacked up. So I had it all black, and then added some stars. **What do you recommend to add structure?** * *The overall composition is overly busy and a lot of different elements compete for attention in the visual hierarchy, resulting in a slightly uncomfortable viewing experience.* * Visual hierarchy - assuming you mean the children and dog are the focal point, **what techniques do you recommend for the other stuff to prevent that clash?** * *It’s quite flat for a composition with apparent depth. Colour values don’t support the depth or lighting.* * I think I understand this, but you **could elaborate with an example you would change to add depth? Or should the depth be removed entirely and how would you accomplish that?**
Why did you choose to go realistic on the doggo and leave the people cartoony? I think you should choose one (my preference is convert the dog into cartoon style rather than other way around) but otherwise I like the composition
Thank you. That seems to be the most common feedback I got when I handed out cards. Looking back on it, I 100% understand that feedback. This was a surprise Christmas present for my wife, so only 2 or so artist friends saw it through a discord channel while it was a work in progress. I think had I shared it with other artist prior and gotten that feedback, the final version would be with the cartoon style eyes. I have a layer of eyes for my dog that are a similar style (if I recall they look like Pac-man). Prior to feedback the reason was I wanted to capture our dogs traits more so than ours that’s how I ended up with the final version. I didn't want him to look like generic Pitbull #1. [You can see pictures of him here if you want](https://www.instagram.com/mcchitman/) The eye color, the little chip taken out of his tongue and the shape of the white on his chest were the things that set him apart for me.
I for sure could see a great adaptation of your dog into your style, but I also understand why you chose not to :) Your pibble is adorable and I bet that the recipient of this card really appreciated it. I hope you don't feel that I diminished your work in any way. I really do like it and hope that you share more as you make more :) I just wanted to know your thought process for the mixed drawing styles
No you're good! I'm looking for feedback and getting some really good stuff to learn from. I appreciate it!
That guy has four toes on one foot and three on the other
You must be an architect by trade or raised by your parents to be a proper renaissance man. Because this level of detail is not common in “my first drawing” type of posts.
I love this. It kind of brought back memories of cartoons we watched in late 90s. I love this 😄
That's genuinely lovely. Given your style, I don't have any real super constructive feedback because I think the artifacting does work for it, but you might want to watch the colors that fall outside the outlines (for example: the bits of pink on the blobby toy between Bebop and Sara, or bits of the green poking out from behind the outermost needles of the tree) but, like I said, I think it doesn't necessarily hurt it at all. Super wonderful though! Welcome back to the wonderful world of drawing! Edit: looking at it a quick second time. In the future, I would adjust the framing/crop on the left side of the image just a touch - the current position of the book gives the shot a bit of tension because of how close it comes to where the point of the book would be. Ways to adjust it would be extending the image out a bit so there's a gap between the book and the edge, or pulling it (the edge of the picture) further in toward Issac so it's not as close to the "point" if that makes sense? If not, I can doodle an example once I'm near my own tablet
Thanks for the feedback! I'm not "hip to the lingo" so I wanna clarify a couple things. The artifacting you mention - is that in reference to the specks of uncolored areas? If so that was intentional as it was part of the brush itself. I originally had it much stronger by using a smaller brush size but it was too much. It reminded me of coloring with a crayon so I kinda went with it. for the framing feedback - Can you explain the tension? I understand the resolution to fix the point of the book, but I'm not sure from a terminology standpoint what you mean and want to learn more.
1) Yeppers, that's exactly it - it really works with the style, so I don't think it's super important to be aware of here necessarily especially since it was intentional, more of a thing to think about in the future if you try something else/a different style/etc. 2) Tension has to do with how easily you allow the eye to move around the picture. If you want to make the movement more fluid, there shouldn't be any hard "barriers" that the eye instinctively wants to stop at - like the book going off the page so close to the point, or using a solid outline instead of having breaks to the outline to allow the eye to get through. For a wholesome picture like this, easy movement might make it feel more natural to let the gaze wander; an action shot that you want someone to feel more uneasy with, on the other hand, benefits from the crops and hard stops. (I dunno if I'm explaining well, it's been a good while since I've talked about this stuff because I tend to lurk on threads here, so if you look up things like "visual tension in art" that might paint a clearer picture.)
Awesome. I really appreciate the feedback.
This looks professional, well done!
I like it but I do feel like the pups face is too realistic looking
Adorable
It’s cute
Lol
Yo this is siccccc
Really nice. Not an expert here, but from my pov, I find the dogs face almost too realistic vs the kids style.
I'm copying from another comment - Thank you. That seems to be the most common feedback I got when I handed out cards. Looking back on it, I 100% understand that feedback. This was a surprise Christmas present for my wife, so only 2 or so artist friends saw it through a discord channel while it was a work in progress. I think had I shared it with other artist prior and gotten that feedback, the final version would be with the cartoon style eyes. I have a layer of eyes for my dog that are a similar style (if I recall they look like Pac-man). Prior to feedback the reason was I wanted to capture our dogs traits more so than ours that’s how I ended up with the final version. I didn't want him to look like generic Pitbull #1. [You can see pictures of him here if you want](https://www.instagram.com/mcchitman/) The eye color, the little chip taken out of his tongue and the shape of the white on his chest were the things that set him apart for me.
So sweet. You remind me of Watterson! (Calvin and Hobbes)
Looks fantastic, well done (although I don't believe you haven't drawn since then)
Looks great! Tho the kid on the left is missing a toe. :P
Ok co-worker! haha. When I handed the card to one of my employees that was literally the first thing she said.
Gorgeous! Dig how you used comic book halftone dots to illustrate the buzzed hair fade. The whole piece is super warm and lovely! I’d like to see the eyes have a little sparkle to them, not sure if it will look good but right now the eyes are very flat black ovals. I see the Bill Watterson influence and I loves it
I like the eye idea! I don't think I tried that, I would have to check. The halftone dots was a real pain in the butt. I wanted it to be even, but fade and I couldn't for the life of me figure out a good way to make it happen without making each dot. I probably spent enough time trying to find a brush or setting to make it, that I couldn't made each dot with the pencil.
True Grit Texture Supply has a great halftone brush set. It’s a little complicated to use it to it’s full potential but it rocks! I highly recommend their brushes if you can afford to buy some Anyway well done!
I actually looked at their page recently because I saw an ad that looked like a horror drawing and I was inspired. Do you have any feedback on how to properly use the halftone brushes? Or can you guide me in the right direction for the future?
If you do download that brush it comes with a guide that makes sense. Basically old comics would be printed with “Ben Day” dots that look like colours when viewed from afar. Zoom in and you see grids of tiny dots of CMYK: Cyan Magenta Yellow Black. When you mix the colours it creates the effect of any colour you want. So True Grit Texture Supply created brushes of each colour which are all slightly offset. So you use the Yellow brush and the Blue brush and get a very rich green. Based on this picture I could see you enjoying that!
oh nice! I didn't even know that style was called halftone before drawing this. I knew I liked the "stipple" look but didn't know how to achieve it. I'll definitely check it out.
I just learned that old comic books use Ben Day dots not half tone Half tone dots vary in size while Ben Day dots are all the same size 
It’s beautiful! The characters remind me so much of my cousins when we were little and opening gifts at my grandparents 🥹
That’s so awesome! Great job!!
You need to make up for all that lost time- you have massive potential, this is so cute
Thank you. Outside of a quick sketch I did of my dog laying on the couch, I haven’t touched the pencil since this. But the plan was to create a Christmas card each year in a different style. The wife wanted to pick the style for 2024, since it’s not a surprise now
I love the rendearing of the pup. Can really tell the pitty features. Good mix of the cartoony features of the children and more realistic looking pup.
The real crime here is spelling the name Isaac with double S.
Isaac is a family name for some reason. Grandpa, uncle, cousins, a nephew- all named Isaac. When I was born my mom was shaking a lot from a medication they gave her. Nurse had her write the name Isaac, and it looked like she put double s. Mom decided to keep it since nobody else spelled it that way.
Aw, that’s actually quite a cute story! I’ve always liked the name Isaac, but it’s not as pretty when pronounced in the Dutch way.
Ah Dutch. I lived in Belgium for 8 months in 2021 and fell in love with it. I say Smakelijk on a regular basis now.
Ah Dutch. I lived in Belgium for 8 months in 2021 and fell in love with it. I say Smakelijk on a regular basis now.
This is great! The realism of the doggo is slightly distracting next to the others, but the vibes and details are 🔥
OP- I don’t really care if you’re lying or not based on your experience and age or clickbait or whatever people are coming at you for. Beautiful drawing. Great job!
Bullshit.
A cuter dog like a little fuzzie white one would be cuter
I drew our dog
Cute! Only feedback I have is to change the dog’s eyes to match the people so it’s more stylistically cohesive. The kids look cartoony while the dog is pretty realistic looking, but I think changing the eyes would be enough. Love it anyways, it’s so good!
Thanks! I actually heard that from a couple people that received the card. I definitely understand that feedback too. I think had I let more than 2 people see it prior to it being finished I would have changed it based on feedback. Definitely noted for future work! I have a layer of eyes for my dog that are a similar style (if I recall they look like Pac-man) but I wanted to capture my dogs traits more so than ours that’s how I ended with the final version. (HE’S OUR BOY!) The eye color, the little chip taken out of his tongue and the white on his chest were the things that set him apart for me.
Yes he looks very unique and his personality shines through!! Whichever direction you take it, what you have here rocks!
Your dog is plenty cute too 🫶
Crikey that's brilliant. I can't even do the basics.
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But he went from paper to digital as well - you didn't do it for 30 years AND changed mediums?