The Four Effective Ways to Learn 2d Digital Art!

When I started building this site, I hope to inspire people how to learn 2d digital art on their own terms. That is why I don’t give step-by-step instructions on how to draw digital art on the computer.

But if you are looking for instructions that give a 1-2-3 style procedure to learning, then I would have to say this site is not for you. There are plenty of sites out there that will teach you how to draw a specific object in a number of steps.

I would suggest doing a search engine query on those.

On the other hand, if you are genuinely interested to learn 2d digital art, then this site is for you! My instructions are there for you to experiment on your own so you can figure out the best way that works for you, and yet, follow the rules of realistic drawings so you learn effectively.

There are four main areas I will concentrate on: imitating, experimentation, inquiry, and self evaluation.

1. Learn through imitation!

Copying isn’t a word that we are used to seeing as an acceptable learning theory. Teachers in the olden days look down on it and so does society in general. It wants you to be creative. As an ex-student teacher, I tell you that’s gibberish.

Why? It’s because most educators fail to realize that copying is a means of learning basic concepts in a field of expertise. How far do you think civilization will go without imitation?

The question isn’t whether or not you’re copying, but it’s a question of what happens after you have copied something. If you finish copying and stop looking back at what you’ve done, then yes, it is detrimental to you. It’s even worse when you claim it’s your own work!

However, if you’ve finished imitating a concept and you begin to look back on what you’ve done, then that’s where your true learning begins!

Thus, to learn 2d digital art, you will need to copy! That’s why I’m asking you, when ever I put up a lesson, to replicate my lessons. In other words, just copy it! You will learn the basic tools and techniques to get a firm foundation of learning.

Just don’t claim it as being your own work. At least, not yet!

2. Learn 2d digital art through experimentation!

After imitating the instructions, you will start to form your foundation. That is, you know where to begin and how to begin constructing 2d digital works of art.

Given that knowledge, you can use it to experiment on what you know. You can do so by drawing in similar but different ways, or find new ways to use the same tool. The goal of experimentation is to get comfortable with the tools.

Just think of it as building a house of knowledge. Basically, you’re building on a good foundation already set out for you so your house is stable no matter how high you go in your learning!

Of course, experimentation is not enough. You have to make sure you’re experimenting in the right path. Otherwise, you’d be just wasting your time. This is why I don’t give step-by-step instructions and why I’m asking you to learn 2d digital art through realistic drawings!

Also, when you’re looking at the works of other established artists, understand that you’re looking at the ends. You need to look at the means of how they did it and understand what they know to paint it.

3. Learn 2d digital art through inquiry!

Basically, you ask yourself questions and then answer them. The key is to find opportunities to learning beyond what you already know.

Some key questions are:

• What has already been done successfully?
• What advantages are there to learning it this way?
• What happens when I try something else?
• Can I use this in future paintings?

Moreover, you may discover multiple answers to the same questions. Regardless, asking questions is the biggest learning concept that you should learn and master.

And this leads into the last learning concept that we will talk about: self evaluation.

4. Learn 2d digital art through self evaluation!

So what if you already answer your own questions? What good will those do when you don’t have a way to know if it’s right or not? That’s why you need to learn how to mark your own progress!

It’s been known that you judge yourself harder than how people judge you. Though as negative as it seems, use it to your advantage!

Start with a goal in mind. For example, I want to learn the human form better. I would then split it into categories like movement, shadow, lighting, and proportions. Then, I would rank them in order of importance.

From there, I would put my own grading system in. What will be your level of achievement that will give you an “A” in that category?

If it helps, dig up an old report card from school to give you ideas on how to create a marking scheme to evaluate yourself.

And when you do succeed, you will discover that these four categories will form a loop! For example, as soon as you learn to draw something really well, you begin to copy your own techniques. Therefore, just repeat the cycle to advance your learning!

But perhaps the most important thing to learn 2d digital art is that all this is possible when it’s fueled with persistence and motivation!

Return from Learn 2d Digital Art to Concerns.
Return from Learn 2d Digital Art to the 2d Digital Art Guide.