What areas of art should I focus on studying?

[dusty hull]

I've never studied art and I want to start. Yes, I've watched several tutorials, but I've never followed them. I've always liked art, and at least where I live, art is a mandatory subject in school, and I'm currently in a class specifically for art... But in all those classes I've had throughout my life, no one TAUGHT art. The only thing they taught in class was color theory, but they never helped us put it into practice or gave us constructive criticism about our art. So I've only done what I wanted until now, but without any foundation. But now that I'm drawing like this (the drawings in the post), I feel like I'm missing something, but I don't know what. So what should I start studying? Can you help me make a list of where to start? I think I'm lost because there are so many things to study and different ways. I want to draw everything: landscapes, objects, animals, characters, etc... And if you know of any useful videos, could you please recommend them? 🙏

[dusty hull]

I wanted to add that I didn't follow the tutorials, but somehow, watching an artist show their process made me improve. This is a drawing I did after watching a tutorial on how to paint skin... but over time, I improved each skin in my drawings after watching that video. I think what I'm trying to say is that I never did a drawing without the goal of being an illustration. I always just did my drawings, but without 'studying' what I was doing, I think that's the problem I want to change. And from now on, I'm going to start doing studies... but of what?

[tall spear]

Backgrounds?

[bold plaza]

yes backgrounds

your characters look amazing adding backgrounds will enhance them even further

[astral loom]

I would also recommend working on your greyscale contrast, based on these pieces your work tends to be just two values (one light one dark) when you should be working with 3 a light a mid and a dark to make your pieces more readable

[past sluice]

Backgrounds yes, clothing folds, and what stuck out to me first was your hands

They are all relatively in the same poses and such, with not much variety. Middle 2 fingers stuck together, palm usually out and not resting on anything

Basically, there isn't a lot of diversity. The same thing with small tweaks

I would learn how to draw hands from other perspectives and directions and such

[terse zephyr]

To be honest, you’re doing a lot better than most beginner or even intermediate artists who’ve actually studied. In my opinion, the best place to start is always the fundamentals. That way, you won’t need to rely on others to tell you what to study—your own gaps in knowledge will naturally reveal themselves as you go.

There are tons of videos on this, but this one is short and straightforward. If you follow along, you should be able to identify your weak points pretty easily. And once you feel satisfied with your fundamentals, you can start diving into more advanced topics like edge control, design theory, appeal, stylization, and so on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRiUjL9qmE8

[dusty hull]

I apologize for the late reply... but I can't stop thinking about what you wrote. I don't mean to be rude... but why does the contrast in grayscale matter so much? I've looked it up and I know it's to create contrast between each part of the drawing, but there are artists who, even when painting in grayscale, leave the work light and then add color, and it still looks good and eye-catching. And in real life, there isn't always that much contrast. I'm genuinely asking. If I prioritize color over grayscale in my artwork, does that necessarily result in a bad drawing?

[dusty hull]

Is this is what you were talking about?

[astral loom]

Exactly!

[dusty hull]

Same colors, just with different contrasts Which one looks better? and why? @astral loom

In grayscale, the one with more contrast looks better to me, but then the color version doesn't seem natural.

idk why

But I definitely notice that the drawing with more contrast is much more readable. Ty for the help

[astral loom]

I personally prefer the one with more contrast however i also agree that it makes it feel less unified especially with how harsh the shadows become. Its purely personal choice that i use as part of my process to (as you said) make my pieces more readable

[astral loom]

I would even recommend playing around with only increasing the contrast of the clothes and hair while keeping the face the same contrast as the original. I have no idea what this is called professionally however i think of it as micro vs macro shadows; where the face keeps the mid value but still has light micro shading, whereas the clothes and hair take on the Light and Dark Values and have macro shadows.

[terse zephyr]

IMO I prefer the one with the lesser contrast. I know you aim to make your artwork clearer, but increasing the contrast of light and dark doesn't work well with the vibe of that particular artwork. That artwork gives the vibes of a cute, soft, and warm feeling. Yes, Increased contrast makes it clearer, but it betrays the subject of your artwork, that's why it kind of feels unnatural.

You know, things like lesser clarity isnt necessarily a bad thing. it's only bad when it's not intentional.

[potent dirge]

Higher contrast isn’t always an all or nothing thing. It can be a tool to guide the eye to where you want it to go. For example having high contrast with the eyes of the character. Making the back arm more in shadow so the line the eye travels is a clear path from the front boot up the body to the face settling on the eyes. Everything doesn’t have to massively contrast with each thing around it.

Contrast is also hugely stylistic so the way you use it can be unique to you. You might enjoy low contrast with small sections of purposeful high contrast. Entirely up to what feels right to you. But I would experiment with it and see how it changes your work.

Personally I would mix elements from the original and the high contrast. Specifically taking the back leg and arm from the high contrast. The eyes and the headband from the high contrast and combining it with the original drawing. Then you have focal points and additional clarity without compromising with the softness of your style

[astral loom]

Hey would i have your permission to show you on this drawing the difference between manually changing contrast compared to just increasing the contrast setting?

[dusty hull]

Sure!!

[astral loom]

Hey sorry for taking so long, lifes been busy, anyway! I wanted to show you more of what i meant, the left is the one you showed of what happens when you just increase contrast, however what i did (bottom) was use an overlay layer and black to darken large portions of the character and then i used the light yellow highlight color of the hair on a soft glow layer to highlight large portions. All this does is give the veiwers eye somewhere specific to go, i personally put the focal point on the eye and shoulder however if what really mattered in this piece was the flowers you could emphasize that too!🥰

By not “generically” increasing contrast you keep the softness of the original work and your colors dont become so stark, but you still get the enhancement of being able to tell what is going on within the drawing from farther away

I hope this helps🫶 this whole thing is really subjective and i realized that the harshness of the automatic contrast might’ve swayed you from trying to mess with it. Your art is so so pretty 😭 and i love the way you use color like the girl in the white shirt is so beautiful! I wish you so much luck on your art journey🥰 keep experimenting!!

[dusty hull]

🫶 Thank you so much for your help!! I think I got it, and I'm going to start practicing right away. I don't know if it's weird 🤔 , but you explained it better than many YouTube videos I watched. Maybe it's because it was direct help with my drawing that made it easier to understand. THANK YOU SO MUCH!! 🙏

And many thanks to everyone else who also lent a hand. I wouldn't have realized some of the 'issues' in my drawings without your help, and I really valued your insights!