Q&A for How to Make Digital Art

Make a rough sketch of whatever it is you want to draw, and make it as rough as you want. Afterwards, add another layer above the rough sketch and use thicker lines (around 5 or 6 pixels) to create the lineart. If you think the lines are too wiggly, use stabilizers to automatically straighten them out. For coloring, add a third layer and place it under the lineart layer, and color using the fill and brushes. If you are just starting out, wait to shade your digital art until you are better at creating digital art.

A drawing tablet isn't necessary, but it does make drawing a lot easier. With your mouse, there's no pressure sensitivity, so your lines won't look as nice as they do on paper. If you are wanting to get serious with digital art, then I recommend a drawing tablet.

Yes, if you are not good at drawing or do not have much inspiration for a sketch, you can use a photo. You can load the picture into the program you are going to use and sketch an outline of the photo. You can even leave the photo in your picture as coloring and shading. It all depends on how you want it to look -- if you want it to look like a drawing, then draw on it. If you just want to edit it in some cool way, then mess around and have fun with it.

If you're just starting out, download a free program like GIMP or FireAlpaca. Once you get more advanced and into digital art, save up to buy Adobe Photoshop.

Most to all retailers online including Amazon, eBay and even some of the online electronic store versions and major office supply stores (some tablets are more-often sold than others), but this can widely vary by which store you look at for your digital tablet.

You may be thinking of a "Wacom" tablet, with a similar pronunciation. Wacom is a brand that creates many different types of drawing tablets, such as Bamboo and Intuos lines. There is no such thing as a walking tablet for digital art.

Yes, they do, especially if you have a stylus, which would allow for better lines and details. A regular computer and cursor would work, but it would be more difficult.

SkecthFab is a good program for digital art creation. Deviantart and Artstation are two popular websites that feature user-created artwork.

A scanner would transfer pictures you make on paper onto the computer, while a printer would transfer a picture on the computer to paper. If you have an all-in-one printer/scanner, you can use that. If not, you would have to buy a separate scanner (or go to the library and use a scanner there).

Don't try to be a digital artist just yet -- instead, improve your drawing, design and related skills on paper, getting together a whole lot of ideas that you can do later. As well, save money for the necessary items or work out whether you can borrow any from school or a local library.

Yes, using a touchscreen can be very helpful in drawing, but a stylus or pen would be even better. If you don't have a touchscreen device, then you can get a graphic drawing tablet to help you draw more naturally.

You can use a mouse, and if your laptop has a touch pad, you could buy a cheap USB mouse. However, mouses do not have pressure sensitivity, and do not work like a pencil on paper the same way a tablet does

You should be able to save your image/drawing to a Google Drive (you need to be connected to the internet for this). Then, on your computer (using Chrome as your browser will help you find it easier, but the Windows 10's browser should be able to install apps), you can just add the Google Drive app to access the file you saved. You can transfer it to your hard drive from your Google Drive, or you should be able to open the image with your digital software program by pointing directory access to the Google Drive. Just remember, you can only work offline if you transfer the image to a hard drive.

No. From step 2 the screenshots are from Photoshop, but the steps are almost the same.

You can totally do that! Try sketching the outlines of everything in your desired colors in a separate layer so that they show better. If you color over it with your program you will have more options for tweaking it, but all of the decisions are up to you.

You don't have to use digital art programs. Drawing traditionally is just as good and very easy and fun to do, don't feel pressured to do digital art just because other people are doing it.

Most smartphones have apps that can use the photo app to scan items with fairly accurate representation. However, there is no good substitute for a nice scanner. If you don't have access or can't afford one, check out your local library.

You could do that if your camera is good, but if the pictures are, blurry then it's best to use a scanner.

MediBang Paint is a good app. : You can find it in the Play Store for free!

Sketchpad is good, and if you want to animate easily, you could try Scratch (not recommended for beginners, though, as it has limited tools).

There is no right or wrong way to draw, so no, that is not cheating. Furthermore, using a picture for the outline of a drawing reduces the need of drawing a background. Just remember to cite your sources.

Yes, you can do this on a phone. All you need is a stylus and a program such as Autodesk Sketchbook. For a stylus, look for the Adonit Jot Pro or any others by Adonit.

Sai is better - you have cleaner strokes, and it's just easier to use. If you're looking for something free, try GIMP or FireAlpaca. If you don't like Sai, try Corel Draw or Photoshop.

Yeah! Anything is okay with digital art. As long as you're happy with it, that's what matters.

Yes, of course!

Generally, Paint Tool SAI, Adobe Photoshop, or Clip Studio Paint would be recommended for a tablet.

Yes. Every graphic tablet works when it comes to digital art. If you are a beginner, I suggest either a Wacom Intuos draw or any Huion tablet under $100.

Of course! Making digital art takes talent and skill just like the other art forms.

A pen or stylus for a digital tablet makes drawing easier, however, it is not absolutely necessary. There are generally two types of stylus: a capacitive or passive stylus, which won't simulate drawing with a real pen on paper e.g. pressing down hard and soft, varying the angle of the pen etc. and an active stylus, which will simulate drawing with a real pen but requires a battery or charging and some form of connectivity with the tablet e.g. Bluetooth etc. Capacitive styluses are cheap to buy, active styluses are more expensive.

Many mobile devices such as Android and IOS have scanner apps available for them to scan images and text via their camera. CamScanner is one such example.