So this is technically related to writing my original stories. I’ve always envisioned my stories in my head as “anime/cartoon” in spite of the adult content. I started getting back into drawing after not doing so for years because I want to be able to take the images in my head from my stories and actually SEE them. I’m even contemplating making small comics of my favorite “scenes” from my books.
Problem is, and I know this is part of the process, that it’s really frustrating when you have this like 4k awesome graphic novel in your head of your story, of a grungy futuristic city, cool cars, the awesome characters and then you try to draw them and then… stick figure. It’s so maddening to draw and whatever is coming out is not even close to what’s in your head. I know it won’t get better if I stop, but OMG it’s frustrating. Are there resources people use for backgrounds? Perspective? I tried Magic Poser on my phone but it’s tediously painful to move a model into position on a tiny screen. There HAS to be a way that I can quickly sketch ideas out without having to be an expert in drawing ALL the things?
magicposer exists on pc as well though it’s an outdated version, but there’s also a pc only alternative called designdoll! it’s by terrawell?? i think?? maybe?? i used to use it, it was ok, i prefer mp by a landslide but dd is still solid
blender is also a SUPER smart tool, i know a lot of artists who have it integrated into their workflow - you can do anatomy and posing in it, but you’d have to create the model yourself or find free ones to use, people and myself use it to model backgrounds/in/exteriors/etc more instead that you can then draw over if you want, or you can mesh and texture it entirely to use standalone!
blender can have quite the learning curve though, and isn’t the friendliest on low tier pcs ^^;; it can seem super confusing and daunting, but it’s pretty simple once you learn to ignore most of its features to only focus on the few basics that you need to make simple and basic architecture :]
What if I’m making up a place though? Like it’s a fictional world? I was thinking of getting photos of like my neighborhood growing up and even NYC, and using those as references, but somehow I’ll need to add my own original touches so it’s clear this isn’t actually said neighborhood/NY.
Unless you are setting a story on an exoplanet, references of real places are very helpful. It is impossible for you to draw the same exact place as the neighborhood, unless you focus in on the most minute details. Use some imagination and make the architecture look unique to your world.
Ideally that’d be nice, but I expect those people will need to be paid for their work, and I’m not in a position to do that for them. Just a single commission can be pricey. That’s also part of why I got back into drawing. I realized if I really wanted to visualize my story, I had two choices. Break the bank and pay others to do it or spend my own time/money to brush off the dust on my drawing skills and eventually, very painfully lol I’ll get there.
That’s true. I was thinking when I’m confident enough, I can try drawing some stuff on Webtoon Canvas. That seems to be where a lot of people put their experimental/rough concepts of comics.
Which makes Magic Poser even worse. It’s supported on iPad but not Macbook? Makes no sense. 
designdoll in that case isn’t available for mac, but blender is :]