Art mediums

[Kenjomik]

I haven't been able to find any discussion on art mediums on here, so I’m curious about you guys’ opinions on the many ways of creating art

What type of mediums do you use to create your own artwork with and what types of mediums have you tried? Maybe traditional mediums like watercolors, oil paint, acrylic paint, pencil, ink or markers? Or maybe you create digital art? If that’s the case, what software do you use?

Is there any art medium or art style that you particularly like or would love to master? If you use or have used several different kinds of mediums, is there any that you think is particularly difficult to use, or particularly easy?

Personally I like to create art both digitally and with traditional mediums. On the computer I use PaintTool SAI and an old Wacom Bamboo Fun, otherwise I mostly do pencil drawings, which is also what I’m the most comfortable with. I feel like I have less control over what I’m doing when I do anything digital, but I guess it’s just lack of practice.

I’d love to be able to paint well though, be it traditionally or digitally. I’ve got some old tubes of acrylic paint lying around and am considering giving them a go sometime soon. I also really like pieces done in watercolor, but the inability to erase or redo seems daunting.

[Lurigo]

I like using both digital and traditional media.

When I started out, I only had pencils. And also a phobia for colouring that I developed in kindergarten (xD), which made me only use graphite pencils, so I got pretty good at that. I absolutely love doing shading with pencils, it's quite fun!
It was only about two years ago that I bought a set of colour pencils and tried to use them. It took some getting used to and a couple of adjustments to the method I used with graphite. But it came out alright. I'd love to try and draw with them again sometime. Had gotten a "burnishing" pencil in the mean time, and I've been meaning to try it out with a drawing.

As for other traditional media, I used gouache paint in school once. It was really weird, works like a mix of regular watercolour paint, and acrylic. (It's still watercolour paint, but had traits of acrylic.) Was not very skilled back then, so the thing I painted didn't look that good. Was still an interesting medium to work with. Think I may still have the set here somewhere, assuming it hasn't dried up yet.
I occasionally drew with pens, but that was mainly when I was bored and accuracy wasn't a concern. It's a bit too immediately "permanent" a medium for me to use efficiently. Without enough practice, at least. I got a brush pen about a year ago. Only messed around with it so far, but I'd imagine it'd be fun to work with once I get the hang of it.
I'd love to be able to "ink" my drawings. In some styles it can look quite awesome!

Then there's digital media. Once I really started getting into deviantART, I often saw the digital artworks people posted, and I quite admired what some managed to pull off. After reading about different materials one might need to start with anthro art, the inclusion of a Wacom tablet sparked some curiosity. For a while, I was determined to get one of the old Graphire range tablets the page had mentioned. (The page was quite old, even at that time.) But, they were discontinued years ago and weren't available here at all to begin with. Managed to track down a basic Genius tablet at the local computer store. Bought it, messed around with it and didn't do much for the first year or so.
It was only later that I dusted it off and really tried to put some effort into it. All the settings and options that Photoshop offered was quite overwhelming, and somewhat frustrating, for me to be productive with it. So I heard about PaintTool SAI. I got that and figured everything out a lot quicker. Managed to get to an acceptable skill level. I later discovered a local online store stocked Wacom Bamboo tablets, and became determined to get one. Bought a Bamboo Fun S, which I got on the same day as my new laptop. I loved the different and more responsive feel of the Wacom.
Improved even more with that, and got to a level that I never thought I'd get to. (Same with like every other media, but yeah. xD)

All in all, I quite like working with both traditional and digital media. They both offer some neat advantages, along with their respective drawbacks one needs to take into account. One little pitfall of digital media one has to be careful of, is getting too comfortable with the undo button. It tends to affect one's use of other media. xD

[Kenjomik]

Awesome thorough post!

I absolutely love doing shading with pencils, it's quite fun!

Shading with pencils is fun indeed, and I love being able to just doodle around with them and have it come out much nicer than when I try to do the same on the computer (which usually ends up as a total mess).

It was only about two years ago that I bought a set of colour pencils and tried to use them. It took some getting used to and a couple of adjustments to the method I used with graphite. But it came out alright. I'd love to try and draw with them again sometime. Had gotten a "burnishing" pencil in the mean time, and I've been meaning to try it out with a drawing.

I have a set of colored pencils that I almost never use, it takes a long time and lots of patience to color anything with them.

I occasionally drew with pens, but that was mainly when I was bored and accuracy wasn't a concern. It's a bit too immediately "permanent" a medium for me to use efficiently. Without enough practice, at least.

The permanency of mediums like pens or watercolor is intimidating. I’m busy conquering my fears now with my new pens and water-soluble ink pencils. Gotta preserve those whites, gotta preserve those whites...

I got my Wacom Bamboo Fun quite a few years ago but I haven’t used it that much to be honest, although that might've got something to do with the fact that I haven’t drawn much over the last couple of years at all, at least not compared to when I was younger. I should perhaps add that I'm a huge fan of maps, and I find drawing maps in a vector graphics program like Inkscape quite fun (since it allows me to mimic the style of modern maps)!

One thing I really like about traditional artwork is that you actually have a finished product in your hands when you’re done.