Hi @agathe! It's not hard to make these textures. You can either download them online or photograph a piece of textured paper on your own (in even light) and clean it up a bit. The trick is not to have the texture take over and look too fake. I use mine as overlay layers and turn down the opacity or desaturate them, depending on the kind of effect I want.
I can relate to your cat painting. I only live about an hour and a half from the French border (though sadly I never go there), and I love the people/scene-watching. The little octopus on the wall, and the tentacles sticking out of the bin, make me laugh and I'm thinking that if the cat became more prominent in the piece--maybe in a "disaster waiting to happen" kind of way?--that would take it from study to children's book portfolio material. I can see from your IG that you already have a whimsical sense of humor, and you said it's not finished yet, so that's why I mentioned it. But maybe this isn't the purpose of this particular piece, so take it with a grain of salt...
@Kristen-Lango thank you!
Not sure what is and isn't appropriate posting wise but I'm assuming since we're artists nude figure drawing is fine. If told otherwise I'll certainly remove it.
Just felt so good to get back into this after missing a month of it. I'm fortunate enough to have a fiancee that runs a figure drawing group once every other week. It's some of the best practice and I meet some of the best people when I'm there. I also feel like I visually see the most improvement in my art by continuing this practice. It's worth every minute spent there.
Draw, Draw, Draw, Draw and Draw Some More!
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/levisimpson55/
@LauraA I've recently been messing around with adding paper textures to some of my drawings as well, I really like the effect it adds to the work.
Where are you located off the French border? In any case, thank you so much for your comments, they are very sweet. I was originally thinking of adding the cat reaching for a fish or hopping into a bin ( I actually have a video of the real one doing that), I will try to think of the best way to rework it!
website: https://www.agathedenis.com/
instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dessin.agathe/
@Blitz55 These are beautiful! Have you been doing figure drawing long? Do you find that it helps when drawing in a less classic/academic style?
website: https://www.agathedenis.com/
instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dessin.agathe/
@agathe said in SVS Virtual Studio MARCH 2023:
@Blitz55 These are beautiful! Have you been doing figure drawing long? Do you find that it helps when drawing in a less classic/academic style?
Hi @agathe, yes, I've been doing figure drawing consistently (minus a few covid years) for about 5 years or so. I'm fortunate enough to be in a relationship with someone who runs a group so that's really helped.
As far as if it helps with less classic/academic styles I would say a big astounding YES! I would consider figure drawing, especially live and in person, as an absolute cornerstone of practice for just about any artist doing any style.
I could probably go on and on about the different areas in which you will see improvement such as your observation skills, ability to take what you see and get it down on paper, visualize organic forms in 3 dimensional space...etc. These are not even the things tied to anatomy of the human figure of which you will become better at as well, including gestures which is beyond useful as a model will pull poses you never thought about drawing.
Every aspect of it can be utilized in your creative process be it realistic oil paintings or a very stylized cartoon strip, it will benefit from it because it's just good practice.
Now that said, if you can't find a figure drawing class you can still draw from photos. Photos are great but they do have their limits, your mind won't be pushed nearly as much as it would when trying to decipher how to take a 3 dimensional object (person) in front of you and put them on paper. Photos do the flattening out part for you, but still useful to practice from regardless. Especially for difficult poses no model could ever hold for extended periods of time.
At the end of the day figure drawing is just a part of what I think is by far the best practice for any type of artist. Observational drawing from life, always draw from life. If you want to draw and don't have an idea, warm up from life. Draw that lamp, stapler, car, plant, anything. It doesn't matter if what you want to draw is purely imaginative, it will absolutely benefit from the act of drawing from real life.
That may be a lot more than I needed to write but I get carried away. And to be honest, this act of drawing from life has absolutely changed me as an artist, specifically one who typically just wants to draw fantasy weird make believe stuff that doesn't exist. 
Draw, Draw, Draw, Draw and Draw Some More!
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/levisimpson55/
A while back I asked some SVS community members to help guess the personality of some of my caterpillar designs for a personality test app, and I am proud to say that the app has gone live, and it is mindblowing to see my illustrations live within something bigger!
Here's the link if you'd like to try the free test (free until 31 March) it was quite fun to do. Also fun for me to conceptualize each result type into illustration.
www.instagram.com/art.melc.illo/
www.artmelc.com
I write weekly on mondayblues.substack.com
@ArtMelC They look amazing! Great work!!!!
@Mia-Clarke Thank you!
@ArtMelC Very cool to see this project come together!
@LauraA Haha prego! E un po 
My partner is Sicilian and we go every year, so I am slowly slowly learning 
fingers crossed we can move there one day! Are you living in Italy? 
@ArtMelC What a cool idea! And they look great!
The link didn't work, but I was able to Google it and find it. I came out tenacity, which was interesting, but I guess I can see it. Funny, I don't feel like a workaholic!
page 1 WIP for a short 5 page comic story I'm working on
@Mimi-Simon I love this! Can practically feel that ocean air! And I love that camera angle, with all that open sky.
Portfolio: www.nickydrewillustration.com
@LauraA Wow- your colors, lighting, and linework are stunning! They drew me into the world you made. The little details like the crow picking at a bone on the floor really add to the storytelling, too. And I like your character designs.
@LauraA I actually really like the way you do their faces. Maybe it's because of all the anime I've watched, but I like the fairly naturalistic style paired with more stylized expressions. I often do the same thing with my characters for the same reason you do.
Portfolio: www.nickydrewillustration.com
@Mimi-Simon I love this! The perspective is so good
I just mailed off this bookmark that I made for a charity auction. It's run by a troop of Brownies in the UK and helps support a primary school in Zimbabwe. Always makes me happy to find ways to use my art for good things. Hopefully this one catches someone's eye at the auction! 
@MiaNova thanks! the perspective was a doozy! I made thumbnails then delayed starting to draw for a couple months because I was afarid of drawing that down shot. 
But now that i'm finally tackling it i'm pretty happy with the result (assisted by lots of clip studio perspective rulers)
@NickyDrew Thank you! making the viewer able to feel the atmosphere in a piece is something I strive for.
A while back I asked some SVS community members to help guess the personality of some of my caterpillar designs for a personality test app, and I am proud to say that the app has gone live, and it is mindblowing to see my illustrations live within something bigger!
Here's the link if you'd like to try the free test (free until 31 March) it was quite fun to do. Also fun for me to conceptualize each result type into illustration.
