Frequently Asked Questions

Drawing
Adobe Photoshop
Mixoos
Adobe Illustrator

I need to use the Adobe Creative Suite for my day job as a freelance graphic designer and commercial illustrator. I’ve also been drawing for like a billion years, back when Photoshop was the absolute best option. I feel like if I was starting my digital art journey now, I’d be looking into Clip Studio Paint, Krita, or Rebelle first.

References & Resources
PureRef
VirtAMate Content warning: Nudity, sex
Pexels
Unsplash

Video Editing
Adobe Premier Pro
PhotoMosh Pro
Handbrake

Streaming
OBS
Kruiz Control
StreamElements

Screen Recording
OBS

System
Windows 10

Art
Wacom Intuos Pro S  It will be 10 years old in 2023 and still working great!

Streaming & Recording
Elgato Stream Deck
Elgato Master Mount (desk clamp)
Logitec Stream Cam
Shure USB Mic

Computer Specs
CPU AMD Ryzen 5 5600x
GPU AMD RX480 with 8 gigs VRAM
RAM 32 gig DDR4

Monitor
It’s an LG, and it’s old. That’s all I can tell you.

I do, however most of the time my flat rate commissions are closed because a lot of my art time goes to creating monthly rewards for mail clubs on Ko-fi! Ko-fi supporters always get first dibs at flat rate commission spots. Flat rate commissions do not include a commercial license.

That said, I am freelance commercial illustrator and graphic designer, so commissions are always open at my day job rate ($60 Canadian per hour) because the hourly rate enables me to work on commissions during my work day. If you choose to commission me at an hourly rate, a commercial license is included.

Yes… and no? I went to Emily Carr University of Art + Design, however I graduated with a Bachelor of Communication Design (my school’s pretentious way of saying graphic design) although my first year of university was in the general fine arts program. I also was lucky to have a very supportive mom, who sent me to an art-focused high school and let me take evening painting courses when I was a teenager.

If you’re wondering if post secondary art school is right for you, I only have my own experience to go by. In the programs my university taught, the focus was more on learning how to write essays and talk about why what you made is art or design. We didn’t learn practical things such as technique, marketing yourself, or business practices. I actually ended up needing to do a business mentorship program after graduating to compensate for a lot holes in my education.

I feel like university was good for graphic design, since a large part of that is explaining your work to your client, but for the art I make, a fine arts degree wouldn’t be relevant. Being self motivated to improve, learn and grow will always take you farther than a degree.

There isn’t a magic trick to improving quickly, but in my experience, choosing something to improve on, then doing studies from references is the most effective way to grow your skills. I regularly do studies that never see the light of day. In fact, most of the time I don’t even save the file! Studies can look at the macro, like colour or composition, or the micro, like specific body parts or textures. In my experience, focusing on one thing at a time is the most effective.

Doing a study with an open mind- not thinking of how it might look on social media, not trying to turn it into a finished piece- and being able to look at it critically without feeling bad or discouraged is an important part of it. No one improves without many failures, so being able to be honestly evaluate your studies (or take honest critique from friends or teachers) will take you far. Nothing in life is a straight, even progression, so don’t be discouraged by failure and keep on trying!

The best advice I can give is more like reassurance: Thing won’t be perfect when you start, and that’s ok. Don’t get caught up in the details because you’re definitely going to end up changing things once you get going anyway. You’ll be starting small, so it’s more to your advantage to start streaming right away and building an audience.

If you aren’t used to streaming, watch others first and make note of what you think is interesting and what makes you tune out. And as weird as it can feel, rewatch your streams after to make note of what you can improve on.

I regularly hear people say they really want to stream but don’t have the confidence yet. The thing is, no one is confident 100% of the time, even if you’ve been streaming for a long time. It gets easier, but that’s from experience, so the best way to work on your confidence is to throw yourself into it. I can’t say enough how small you’ll be starting out. Like, you have more chance to embarrass yourself in front of people at the grocery store than you do in your first few months of streaming… Aaaaaand I hope that comes off as reassuring ಠ_ಠ

One of the following three things usually helps me out:

1. Doing studies on things you want to improve on. And sometimes a study can end up becoming inspiring and turning into a finished piece!
2. Participating in a Draw This In Your Style challenge. DTIYS are art prompt where an artist posts a piece of art, usually an OC,and invites others to draw it. Sometimes there are prizes, and the artist hosting it should be reposting the art! You can find challenges like this all over social media using the #dtiys hashtag.
3. Fanart! Drawing a character from a show or game you love takes out the stress of character creation and can be a good breather (If you’re primarily a fanartist, doodle an OC? Or disregard this completely and pretend there are only two tips!)