Artists, I have a question to ask of you

[Walker of Darkness]

I've been considering buying a tablet for working on art, such as a bamboo or something. What would you all recommend for a starting tablet? Also, what kind of tips do you have for a weak artist? To clarify what I mean by tips, I'm shooting for a more manga art style(to work on comics and the like), dipping into realism later once I have that down for the most part. I'm wondering what advice you would have for me along those lines. And art programs, because god knows how many there are, but keep in mind I'm working an a rather limited budget for this.

[Herzinth]

First off, you should try to go realism before manga. Otherwise you'll be breaking rules without understanding how or why. Builds bad habits.
A basic Wacom Bamboo should be good for beginning.
If you're on a PC, Paint Tool SAI is good.
Also, have some "totally legal" Adobe Creative Suite CS2

[AwsonRew]

Inb4 Sherlock word wall

[Walker of Darkness]

First off, you should try to go realism before manga. Otherwise you'll be breaking rules without understanding how or why. Builds bad habits.
A basic Wacom Bamboo should be good for beginning.
If you're on a PC, Paint Tool SAI is good.
Also, have some "totally legal" Adobe Creative Suite CS2

How does one before the other change much, I wonder. Are they not completely different art styles? And what is this CS2 sorcery?!

Inb4 Sherlock word wall

I need this

[ImANargleHunter]

I have an intuos

[Herzinth]

How does one before the other change much, I wonder. Are they not completely different art styles? And what is this CS2 sorcery?!



I need this

Manga is still based off of reality. It just takes some rules and bends them.

[Sherlock Holmes]

I've been considering buying a tablet for working on art, such as a bamboo or something. What would you all recommend for a starting tablet? Also, what kind of tips do you have for a weak artist? To clarify what I mean by tips, I'm shooting for a more manga art style(to work on comics and the like), dipping into realism later once I have that down for the most part. I'm wondering what advice you would have for me along those lines. And art programs, because god knows how many there are, but keep in mind I'm working an a rather limited budget for this.

Learning art -- you're doing it backwards.

As Herzi already mentioned -- you start with Manga, you're going to cement yourself in bad habits that will be extremely difficult to change later on. Start with realism and learn good habits, so that you can work in any style later on. You're going to stunt your learning if you work backwards and it'll take you much longer to get to where you want to be.

A Bamboo is a good starter tablet, especially if you're on a budget. I've heard good things about Gimp and Paint Tool Sai for programs that are on the free/inexpensive side. ArtRage isn't bad, either. (And that's fairly inexpensive - I think it's only, like, $60 or so.)

Inb4 Sherlock word wall

[ImANargleHunter]

I can link you some free Sai.

[Walker of Darkness]

Manga is still based off of reality. It just takes some rules and bends them.

I figured as much, considering the need of proper proportions, angles, lighting, shading, and whatnot. They always seem so drastically different to me, however, but thinking on it now I can see the need to start with realism.

- - - Updated - - -

Learning art -- you're doing it backwards.

As Herzi already mentioned -- you start with Manga, you're going to cement yourself in bad habits that will be extremely difficult to change later on. Start with realism and learn good habits, so that you can work in any style later on. You're going to stunt your learning if you work backwards and it'll take you much longer to get to where you want to be.

A Bamboo is a good starter tablet, especially if you're on a budget. I've heard good things about Gimp and Paint Tool Sai for programs that are on the free/inexpensive side. ArtRage isn't bad, either. (And that's fairly inexpensive - I think it's only, like, $60 or so.)

Oh wise and benevolent master Sherlock, teach this blind fool the way of art, I beg of thee.

[Sherlock Holmes]

Manga is still based off of reality. It just takes some rules and bends them.

This.

Look at even the old masters of surrealism and abstraction.. People like Picasso and Dali started off with realism -- they had to learn how the rules worked so they could understand how/when it was appropriate to bend or break them.

Pretty much every professional animator/comic artist I know (and several who work in manga/anime specifically) started off learning realism and that's why their work works. They understand how to construct figures solidly -- you can't make stylistic choices if you don't understand why you're making them.

Every week the artists at Pixar have life drawing classes to help their artists be able to punch more depth / life into their works, even though their movies are quite stylized.

When you have a basis in realism, you're not limited -- you'll be able to create anything you can imagine and make it look convincing. If you start off with something already stylized, you're cutting off your nose despite your face and it's extremely difficult to evolve beyond that point - you've stunted yourself. The best you'll be able to do is have work that never looks unique because all you know is how to work based off choices someone else has already made, not choices you've made. You'll be a hack or a copycat artist at best, to put it bluntly. Don't do that to yourself.