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Digital Art:
As technology advances, so does the potential of digital art. Many artists nowadays are trying out digital art as a medium of such to do art. However, the transition from a traditional medium to a digital one is not always smooth. Though there are a lot of skills and instincts that are transferable to digital art, there are many aspects of digital art that must be known to help beginners have a better ground on learning digital art.
I’m here to give a few tips and tricks that can be very useful to beginning digital artists! I have experience with the digital medium for five years now so I know the basics pretty well. Some of the advice stated here is directed to beginners only. However, I hope experienced people in the medium could learn a bit more from this!
- V Mokhtar, Staff 2020-2021
On Having a Comfortable Setup
On Having a Comfortable Setup
All artists have their preference on how they like to work. A digital art program would like to emulate this by giving artists the ability to customize their program. You can move and hide certain functions in your user interface to change it to your liking. I suggest looking up online on how to adjust the windows but a normal art program would have an option in the ribbon that says “Window”. Here you can select what can be added or removed in your workspace. However, like what I said, I strongly suggest you still look up how to adjust windows and functions since programs like Krita have a more convoluted way of adjusting user interface (namely, you need to go to the Dockers option which is under Window before you customize the items on your screen).
Fig. 1. A collection of different artists’ setups depending on their program.
Fig. 1. A collection of different artists’ setups depending on their program.
Here in Figure 1, I have compiled my own and my friends’ workspace with our programs. Some of us use multiple programs. Each of our setups are different and appeal to us individually. For my personal setup in Krita, I use a lot of large thumbnails to help me read the words easily with my poor eyesight.
On Keyboard Shortcuts
On Keyboard Shortcuts
Though this won’t reflect the actual quality of the art, this does greatly improve your efficiency to work. Utilizing keyboard shortcuts could save minutes, and even hours, of time when working. Of course, this doesn’t work with mobile since most mobile art programs have an interface that aims to be as efficient as it can be.
Here is a list of shortcuts from the art programs that I use. I have separated them between the ones that are universal and the ones that are program specific.
Universal Shortcuts
Universal Shortcuts
Ctrl + S = saves the document
Ctrl + Shift + S = save the document as a different file
Ctrl + C = copy an image/text
Ctrl + X = cut an image/text
Ctrl + V = Pastes the image/text last copied
Ctrl + A = Select all
Ctrl + T = Transform
Ctrl + W = Closes the file that is currently open
I = Color picker tool
B = brush tool
F = Fill bucket tool
Space = Navigate the canvas (For as long as you are holding down the space key)
Ctrl + alt + C = Resize the canvas
Ctrl + E = Merge layers
Medibang Paint & Firealpaca Shortcuts
Medibang Paint & Firealpaca Shortcuts
Ctrl + Q = Alpha-Locks layer (prevents you to paint over what you have already painted in the selected layer)
6/7 = Flips canvas horizontally/vertically respectively
Arrow keys = Rotates canvas
E = eraser tool
Right click = Color picker tool (For as long as the right button is being held)
Alt + click = Color picks the color you selected
Ctrl + 1 = Zoom in
Ctrl + 2 = Zoom out
Ctrl + D = Deselect the currently selected area
Ctrl + Y = Redo
Photoshop CC Shortcuts
Photoshop CC Shortcuts
M = Marquee tool
V = Move tool
G = Gradient tool
Ctrl + D = Deselect the currently selected area
Ctrl + Shift + X = Liquify tool
Backspace = Deletes layer
A = Shape select tool
S = Shape tool
E = Eraser tool
Ctrl + Y = Redo
Krita Shortcuts
Krita Shortcuts
Ctrl + Shift + A = Deselect the currently selected area
Ctrl + click = Color picks the color you selected
Ctrl + space + dragging up/down = zooms in and out of canvas
Shift + dragging left/right = adjusts brush size
Shift + space + dragging up/down = rotates canvas clockwise/counter-clockwise
Ctrl + Q = Closes program
Ctrl + Shift + R = Pastes the last copied image as a reference (the image will be placed outside of the canvas area)
E = changes the currently selected brush into an eraser (note that there it does not go to the eraser tool. If you want to paint using that brush again press the E key again.)
I/O = decreases/increases the brush’s opacity by 10% respectively
-/+ = zooms in/zooms out of the canvas by 10% respectively
Ctrl + shift + Z = Redo
Ctrl + shift + I = Invert selection layer
It is important to take note that some keyboard shortcuts serve the same function as another. Programs are like this, so you need to test whatever feels the most comfortable one for you to use. This list may look intimidating as well to parse through information, but you don’t need to use them all! Like I said see which ones work for you. I also refrained from adding every single shortcut available in an art program since some of them are for features I found personally unfitting to add. Feel free to search about your program’s shortcuts and see what works best for you! If you use a drawing tablet, most of the time there are buttons both on the stylus and on the side of the pad. You can input shortcuts as well in these buttons to your liking. This is typically done in the tablet’s server application.
Follow more of V's guides on Digital Art here:
Follow more of V's guides on Digital Art here:
Shortcuts & Setups
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