Shy Artist – The Dreams of Art

  

 

Shy Artist – The Dreams of Art

I have a lot of dreams as an artist. I want to improve my drawing skills. I do okay with nature, but I want to draw animation-style characters. I’m currently taking lessons from Chommang Drawing on YouTube. He has a long history of working with anime studios in Korea and has spent years teaching people how to draw. He encourages us to “draw freely like a child.”

Chommang Drawing YouTube Channel

I started wanting to draw anime after watching some of my favorite anime shows. There are so many that I can’t even remember all their names, but two of my top favorites are Demon Slayer and Naruto. I also need to learn animation because the content creator Serenity of the Mind has many ideas for videos he would like to see animated. One is about why he started his channel. Others include sleep video ideas, stories about Grandmother Serenity, and, of course, cats.

My biggest challenge is that I’m older than dirt, so I do everything very slowly. That means I have to draw all sorts of things—people, cats, fat people, old people, skinny young people—and then figure out how to animate them.

Tools I Use

Canva

I use Canva for simple animation. It’s easy to use and has both free and paid versions. I use the paid version so I can create green screen content for my artwork. For example, I animated a leaf falling beside a vase in this short using Canva:

Vase Calm Short

Nature Sounds | A Minute of Calm (The vase short is the last one in a three-part short series.)

Canva website: www.canva.com

Kdenlive

For more complex animation that Canva can’t handle—like animated waves or moving circles—I use Kdenlive. It has a steeper learning curve, but there are helpful tutorials on YouTube. AI tools like ChatGPT and Google Gemini have also helped me a lot.

Here are two of my videos made using Kdenlive:

Sleep: Serenity of the Mind: Tranquil Twilight for Deep Sleep

Sleep: Serenity of the Mind: Otherworldly Dreams

Kdenlive website: 

Synfig

I’ve also started learning Synfig, a 2D animation platform. It’s professional-level software and can create intricate animations. It’s not the hardest platform out there, but it definitely has a learning curve. Fortunately, Synfig has one of the best user forums I’ve ever seen, along with excellent YouTube tutorials.

Here’s a video where I used Synfig to animate a mushroom:

Sleep: Deep Sleep Music Video

Synfig website: 

My Painting Journey

I also dream of becoming a better painter and illustrator. I’ve taken several lessons through Craftsy.com. One of the first was Startup Library: Painting with Watercolors by Kateri Ewing. She offers several great classes:

Learn to Play with Your Watercolors

Learn Basic Brushstrokes

Watercolor Methods: Color Mixing

I also took Mix It Up! Mixed Media Step by Step by Lindsay Weirich.

Craftsy offers an all-access pass for $123 a year, which I think is a great deal. They offer lessons on everything from sewing and gardening to painting and other crafts. I do not earn any commission by mentioning them—I'm just sharing helpful resources that may benefit others as much as they have helped me.

Craftsy website: 

If you have any questions, feel free to email the owner of Serenity of the Mind. He’ll make sure I get your message, and I’ll be happy to assist however I can.

Next Time

Next time, I’ll share a new adventure I’m starting: making my own watercolors and learning about something called Glow Core. I’ll also introduce some wonderful artists I’ve learned from on YouTube, whose free videos have helped me a great deal and are available to everyone.

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