Drawing!!!

Aww thanks but lemme make a list:
-the line art for the hair is trashhhhhhhhhhhhhh, especially next to her right shoulder (my right, not hers)
-the eyes are a bit off
-the lips look a bit weird
-her face isn't as rosy as I would have liked
-the shading in general is a bit off and is basically nonexistent

that would be awesome (thanks, I'm glad u like it)

Does the app you're using have layers? Layers are magic, especially when it comes to lineart (but also shading and color)

yeah im using medibang and it has layers

which i tried to use with the line art but the thing is I want my art to sorta be like punziella's (idk if you've heard of her) where you can't see the line art so it would be like on a layer under the actual fished product

Great! Layers are your new best friend
I'm struggling to explain it, but having layers allows you to separate your artwork into different compartments. If you have, say, a lineart layer and a color layer, it means you can draw/paint on one and not affect the other. (this is probably self-explanatory, tbh, but it took me far too long to figure out lol)
Locking a layer means that whatever you do while it's locked only affects what's already on the layer. So, for example, you could draw your lineart in whatever color you want, then lock that layer and draw over it in the specific hue you're looking for
Other random stuff:

• short strokes give better lineart than trying to drag the pen/stylus (think wrist, not arm motions)
• The "fill" tool should be used sparingly, if at all (at least in my program, the edges always look really messy and I find it easier to just color it all in)

(this is so hard to explain in words I might have to come back with screenshots if it doesn't make sense)
(I'm so sorry I'm a mess)

so i kinda messed up the drawing bc i went in after to add line art since it looked worse without it

So you're kind of struggling with clean crisp edges which aren't lineart?

Sorry, I'm slowly realising that I don't really know much, and what I do know I don't know how to put into words

But I do understand the lineart struggle! (If you mean what I think you mean) I drew this a while back but the lineart on top was messing it up and made it look really weird, so I had to go back with a new layer on top of the lineart to blend it out to something more like this

yeah that's exactly what I mean! I try to use lineart then add a new layer on top with the actual drawing, So blending edges helps?

That helps a good bit, i guess I gotta work on my line art skills mostly

Yeah, sort of! I think what's really helpful is to have a group of layers with both the lineart and the base underneath (so just the basic minimalistic silhouette of the figure), then copy that and merge it together, then lock it and paint on that layer. It keeps both the sharp edges of the lineart while also letting you do your thing on top
(and the nice thing about layers is that you can keep adding new ones as you go so if you mess up, you just delete that layer or part of the layer rather than the whole painting)

(coming from traditional lineart to digital lineart is kind of a struggle, but once you've done it for like a month or so it improves drastically)
so yeah, keep it up! I promise that this is 1000 times better than my first attempts at digital art (…. or like my first two years of digital art, tbh)

How did you do the ground in the finished product of the last one? I like the texture of it, that reminds me of punziella a little bit

I downloaded a special brush set and played with it until I liked the results…
(I'm lazy)

Yeah, sort of! I think what's really helpful is to have a group of layers with both the lineart and the base underneath (so just the basic minimalistic silhouette of the figure), then copy that and merge it together, then lock it and paint on that layer. It keeps both the sharp edges of the lineart while also letting you do your thing on top
(and the nice thing about layers is that you can keep adding new ones as you go so if you mess up, you just delete that layer or part of the layer rather than the whole painting)

Yeah. How do you merge the two together? (sorry my comprehension skills are a bit slow)

I downloaded a special brush set and played with it until I liked the results…
(I'm lazy)

ok cool ill have to look into that

No worries! On my laptop the merging shortcut is ctrl+e, but I'm not sure how it works in medibang

oh ok! Btw, is your laptop touchscreen?

Nah, it's this 7 year old monster
I love it
I have a really cheap crappy art pad with pen pressure

I think this might work for your app?
http://medibang-official.tumblr.com/post/164006402497/can-you-fuse-layers-together-on-the-medibang-app

ok so I guess that might be what I have to do then bc I have a crappy laptop that isnt touchscreen too but i dont really know what kind of art pad i would get for it (some are really expensive) and most people do digital art that way but idk what im doing

oh thanks!

Same!
The one I have sells for like 20 dollars these days, I think
EDIT: Google tells me it's not even sold anymore these days
yeah idk I don't think the tablet really matters when you're starting out

Ok that is great news bc i dont really have all that much money to spend but i really want one, atleast a cheap one to start with then i could work my way up

Exactly! As long as it has good pen pressure it literally does not matter what you start out with

Ok cool! And thank you, you have been a huge help!

@winter_winkle So I was just recommended this video on lineless art, which I think is actually closer to what punziella does (from what I can tell). It's definitely easier than the weird roundabout thing I told you about so… idk this might be helpful to you? I guess?

Ooooh this is good thank you!!! I’ve actually been practicing digital art a bit and this is a great time to start working on not using lineart