Art for Templethegreat (and how I drew it!)

  Hey dere, Gammers!  Crazcadlober here, back wid anoder post.  *cough cough*

  Yeah, I'm sick.  It's kinda better now, (it started with a sore throat and that was the worst, now I'm just stuffed up) but I'm still sick and so I'm taking forever to do things.  So for those of you who are on timezones that are further ahead in the day.... sorry for the sorta late post.  (but hey, all you folks on Pacific time and other timezones earlier than mine, you probably haven't even noticed so... good morning I suppose?)

  So, all that aside, here's how I drew this Masterpiece for my friend Templethegreat ^.^

STEP 1)  I looked on Google for an image of a wolf to reference for pose and lighting.  Remember- reference photographs are an artist's best friend.  Drawing from life or reference truly helps with getting anatomy/proportions correct, and by no means is it 'cheating'.

STEP 2)  I sketched the basic shapes on a sheet of cheap printer paper (this isn't the actual sketch since I forgot to scan that, but it's how I sketch, so it illustrates the point at least).  One thing beginner artists often do is start by drawing the outline of their drawing, without sketching or using any guidelines, and this leads to the drawing being lopsided and disproportionate.  Break an image down to basic shapes and guidelines so that you can make sure that everything lines up and is at the proper size!

STEP 3)  I finished and cleaned up the sketch on paper, adding all the details that I wanted to be in the lineart of the masterpiece.

STEP 4)  I want to draw more backgrounds, so I used the airbrush tool to create a nice simple background.  I wanted it to look nice, but not distract from Templethegreat's wolf in the finished masterpiece.  I decided to go with a snowy forest scene, like in the wolf reference image I used.

STEP 5)  Since I don't have a drawing tablet, drawing digitally is hard.  So that's why I drew the sketch on paper.  To get my paper sketch into the Animal Jam painting program, I laid the paper with the sketch on it onto my computer screen, turned the screen brightness to 100%, and traced along the lines using the Paintbrush tool in black (so that I could kinda see it through the paper).  I think this method would work best using thinner paper, such as tracing paper, but printer paper suffices.

STEP 6)  I blocked in the colors, filling in the areas using the bucket tool (but I forgot to screenshot that part), then started using the Smudge tool and Airbrush tool to soften the edges to remove the pixelated effect and add details.

STEP 7)  I continued adding shading and details and viola, here's the finished masterpiece!  Now it's just awaiting approval!

  I hope you enjoy this masterpiece and these tips!  Remember, artists aren't born with the ability to draw great art- we practice.  With enough practice, you can draw ANYTHING.  Even I still have many things to learn (and practice drawing!) about art.  If you want to be an artist, start drawing right now.  Practice drawing at least half an hour every day.  Watch how-to-draw tutorials on YouTube.  Check out how-to-draw books from the library.  Anyone can be an artist, and that includes you!

  That's all for today!  I hope that my tips help, and that you have a fabulous day full of butterscotch candy and superhero coloring books! (because who doesn't like coloring in superheroes while eating candy?)