Help not me forgetting my own thread again </3

This is a hard question! Probably electronic/techno and its various subgenres. Trap, drum and bass, dubstep... big fan of all of it.

Is it fun being a forum mod?

I quite like it. I've always been a big fan of things often deemed as 'tedious'. Sorting through forum posts, finding original images and checking image hosting websites is something that I quite enjoy so the role fits me well.

How did you learn to draw backgrounds *v*

I wish I had a satisfying answer for you, but the truth is I just drew them. A lot of them.
I never shied away from drawing backgrounds and started pretty young so I never worried about what they looked like.
Here's one from 2015 ish, back when I still drew on MS paint!


So, just like other elements of my art they improved over time as I never stopped drawing them. My perspective isn't great and I'm still improving on interiors and man-made stuff, but I do still have a few tips if that's what you're after!

1. Perspective grids.
Super easy to draw up yourself, quick and relatively self explanatory. There's tonnes of tutorials out there explaining perspective, I'd definitely go and find some of them.
They can be as simple as this! This one is for one point perspective.


This is two point.



Annnd so one, you can do like five point perspective but I'm dumb as hell and can't make sense of it. but grids can help you work out where to place things in an image and generally just help with composition.
This article that I definitely read all the way through might explain it better LMAO

https://concepts.app/en/tutorials/how-sketch-perspective-grid/


2. Atmospheric shit I don't know the name of
Things further in the distance have less contrast and are paler/closer to the sky colour. So fade things out and render them less the further into the distance they are! They also tend to be less saturated.

3. If you're lazy like me, use tech.
Honestly, with how the art world is now, use the tools you have at your disposal! Often you can 'cheat' perspective by using things like 3D modelling. I use Blender for complex backgrounds, I'm not great at it but it does the trick and helps me learn a lot too.
I often make a scene in Blender then sketch over the top to get my background sorted.




Blender too complicated? There might be a game you have on hand that can help. Before using blender, I'd actually make mock up versions of my backgrounds in Minecraft.
Hell, you can even use tin cans or pencils to make a rough version of your scene in real life and take a photo of that! It can all help to get things in proportion and looking right.

Obviously there's the usual tips of use references and practice etc etc [references are always key, I thought I knew what a lamp post looked like, I was wrong]. But those tips are used so much so uh,, who cares about those LOL

But anyway, don't be afraid to experiment and don't be afraid to make backgrounds that don't look right or are flat or etc etc, just keep making 'em and you'll be improving before you know it.


Cough
Anyway that's long as hell but that's a lot of how I learned [and am still learning] backgrounds.

[All art on this post is mine woooooh]

What is the one thing you wish you could tell an artist who is budding or learning?

Me when I accidentally lock my own thread:

At least I think it was me lol

Oh my god I have so many things to say to new artists it's hard to pick just one.

Though, if I had to pick just one thing it'd be to not forget to enjoy the process. Creating stuff is cool, it's a uniquely human trait to create things just for the enjoyment of others and for ourselves. Art is fun, it's meant to be fun and if you want to avoid burn out you need to keep it fun. Don't worry too much about things being perfect and especially don't worry too much about what other artists are doing. If you start your art journey by constantly comparing yourself to other artists and putting yourself down, you're setting yourself up for a journey of always being disappointed with your art.

So

Yeah that's usually what I say to all new/learning artists, but I think it applies to all artists - Even I have to remind myself sometimes!

Other things I love to tell newer artists are:

-Don't be afraid to experiment; you'll learn a tonne from it.

-Do not assume you know what something looks like, you'd be surprised by how often your brain is wrong

-Try not to get too bogged down with studies/refs/learning. It's also fine to just draw something from memory for fun and it's good to get a balance of both.

-Speedpaints are a great way to see how other artists do things, go watch em.

-Studying other artists [with credit/permission etc] especially the old masters can be just as helpful as studying photos.

-Try not to get too wrapped up in trying to sell art, the market is very saturated and you need to be patient.

-Photorealism/realistic art doesn't need to be your end goal.

-There's literally tutorials for everything, if you're stuck you can probably Google it.

How long did it take you to become a mod? How many times did you have to apply before getting accepted? Also, how long have you used blender?

I believe I applied four or five times, starting in 2019! I applied most times applications were open, so it took quite a few attempts ahah. I'm glad I didn't become a mod on a few of my earlier attempts as I definitely still had some maturing to do 😅

I've not used Blender for long at all - only a few months. So I'm a complete noob with it! I only use it to set up my scenes/draw over the top of. If anyone has any tips I'd absolutely love to hear them as I'm very inexperienced.