r/Artadvice Apr 17 '26

Announcement What’s New in r/ArtAdvice (and What’s Next)

13 Upvotes

Happy Friday! We've been hard at work behind the scenes and are excited to share a number of updates we've rolled out to improve the community for everyone.

A Fresh Look

With a new logo and color palette, we wanted to make this space feel more recognizably "us," drawing inspiration from redline corrections seen in constructive critiques, and pairing it with a dark blue background that is easier on the eyes. (A special thanks goes out to a friend in the graphic design industry who helped make this design possible!)

Automod Update

We previously tested an Automod feature that reminded users to include context in their posts. This ended up causing confusion and was mistaken for a warning or removal message, so we've axed it. (See: "In Progress and Coming Soon" for what we're trying next.)

Crossposts

Crossposts have been disabled to keep context easily accessible without extra clicks. Since making this change, we've already seen an increase in engagement and traffic, along with less spam. Woo!

Post and User Flairs

Starting May 1st, post flairs will be required to submit a post. For now, flairs are optional to help users get used to selecting them before posting. We want to keep the subreddit organized and let users filter out content they're not interested in, especially Commissions and Pricing. (The "No Commissions Posts" option is available in the sidebar or top bar on mobile.)

Most users seem to have a solid understanding of the flairs and are applying them well. Here's a quick breakdown of what each one means:

Post Flair Description
Critique Ask what to change or how to improve.
Techniques and Tools Ask how to do something or what tools to use.
Commissions and Pricing Ask about pricing, selling, or managing commissions.
Discussion and Theory Discuss ideas, concepts, or "why" questions.
Resources and Tutorials Ask for or share learning materials.
Social Media and Growth Ask about growth or visibility.

Please keep Rule #5 "No Self-Promotion" in mind when using the Commissions and Social Media flairs.

Some of you have noticed our user flair 🧑‍🏫 Community Mentor! It's our way of celebrating users who consistently engage respectfully and help others grow through thoughtful, constructive feedback. We appreciate you helping keep r/ArtAdvice a supportive space!

So, how does someone actually earn the Community Mentor flair?

  • Provide feedback that explains what works or can be improved in an artwork.
  • Offer applicable and practical advice.
  • Be consistent in giving constructive critiques.
  • Avoid aggressive communication, and always follow the rules.

The Community Mentor flair is assigned manually by moderators. There is no formal application process, and users cannot request this flair.

Note: This flair does not mean the user is a professional artist, or that their opinions are authoritative. It also does not mean they represent the moderation team.

Have ideas for new flairs? Let us know in the comments!

Rule Updates

As previously mentioned in our Community Feedback & Suggestions announcement, our rules have been updated to better reflect the purpose of the subreddit, which is to give and receive art advice. The core principles remain the same, but they have been expanded to better address common ambiguous issues that tend to arise in Reddit communities.

In Progress and Coming Soon

  • A new subreddit banner is in progress.
  • Our community wiki is currently in the works as we await Reddit's system migration. This will become your go-to hub for information on rules, flairs, policies, resources, and more!
  • More detailed policies, especially regarding AI, will be added soon.
    • In the meantime, please refer to Rule #4 "Keep Art Human" for a quick rundown of how r/ArtAdvice handles the topic of AI.
  • We're working on implementing an Automod response triggered by keyword phrases that automatically provides a list of resources, allowing users to focus more on anecdotal or specific feedback.
  • As the sub continues to grow, we plan to reopen mod applications in the coming months. Those who are active and engage with the community will have our focus.

Community Initiatives

There's something exciting brewing in the background! Along with all these changes and updates, we're planning on:

  • Developing structured guides exclusive to our community.
  • Hosting AMAs and/or interviews with working artists to share their insight into what has or has not worked for them in their process.
  • Involve members to contribute to the community wiki to help curate a reliable set of resources.
  • Contests and giveaways to help growing artists thrive in their career or hobby. (We just need to dust off the old law book to make sure everything is in compliance before moving forward.)

We love hearing from the community, so if you have any feedback on these changes or suggestions to share, please leave a comment below or send us a message via Mod Mail!


r/Artadvice 4h ago

‎Discussion and Theory Midtone questions

Post image
203 Upvotes

I keep coming across this sort of picture where people show how having more saturated midtones makes the colors look better. Is there a reason behind this? Is it just because of the typical sunlight environment?

The thing is that it seems to look more realistic when the midtones are more vibrant. Is that just an exaggeration thing? Is it just more visually appealing or is it actually something that occurs normally? Sorry if this doesn’t make sense

I like to look at art more “scientifically”… like in order to apply it I feel like I have to know what’s going on & truly understand it.

I see Angel Ganev push the saturation of midtones a lot, too, so I’m wondering why. Thanks


r/Artadvice 14h ago

‎Critique - Yes Drawover Which color scheme is better?

Thumbnail
gallery
824 Upvotes

r/Artadvice 14h ago

‎Critique - No Drawover Color and Hsadimg practice

Post image
82 Upvotes

Left is the reference, right is my drawing.
I’m trying to improve my art right now and would appreciate any tip and feedback on this!
Edit: sorry about the typo in the title… it’s color and shading practice


r/Artadvice 15h ago

‎Commission and Pricing Would you pay $15 for 2 chibis like this?

Thumbnail
gallery
96 Upvotes

I originally planned to charge $25 per piece, but due to an urgent situation, I had to lower my prices to start at just $15 for 2 chibis.


r/Artadvice 7h ago

‎Critique - Yes Drawover Can’t seem to find it!

Thumbnail
gallery
12 Upvotes

I have been drawing since forever and even though i think im okay, i can tell something is off with my art. It never gets attention and i understand it’s generic… but i love styles like mia ikumi (tokyo mew mew), Naoko Takeuchi (sailor moon), satoshi ishino (excel saga, tmm, death note), and takeshi obata (death note)

Ik my style could benefit from use of traditional materials but honestly without tutorials i dont know what I’m doing, plus i have no space in my cramped apartment for anything but my laptop (i don’t even have a TV!)

My realism/life drawings are all much better received than my anime art. I’m really good at life drawing and portraits, but I don’t really find fulfillment in them because i like cuter, more stylistic drawings… yet they continuously fall flat. Other people draw in highly stylistic anime/cartoonish styles, sometimes even with less anatomical accuracy but they can still develop followings/are well received. So what can i do to make my art better? I feel like there’s some glaring issues people won’t tell me because they’re scared to hurt my feelings..

My life sketches are so good to the point people ask me why I’m not just drawing realism. But it just doesn’t being me joy…


r/Artadvice 4h ago

‎Discussion and Theory OC- Untitled

Post image
4 Upvotes

I’m running this account for my aunt Heather, the artist. She has Down syndrome. She spends hours on each painting and this is just one

This is only one of a couple others that I feel speaks to me in a certain way.

This isn’t even close to the best and most mesmerizing painting she’s done (there’s a terrifyingly beautiful painting that I want to post but I’m afraid of it getting stolen or somehow her not getting the credit she deserves

I’m posting this one painting for now to ask if I’m alone in feeling the intention and meaning in the brush strokes that my aunt painted?

The other main reason I’m posting is to ask how I can help promote her amazing art online without it being stolen?


r/Artadvice 10h ago

‎Discussion and Theory Some chickens! Would love to hear opinions and cc

Post image
15 Upvotes

r/Artadvice 1h ago

‎Critique - Yes Drawover Can someone help me with proportions?

Post image
Upvotes

r/Artadvice 13m ago

‎Critique - Yes Drawover Any advice on what I should work on? These are the first drawings I've made in three years. I've been trying to learn how to render and shade illustrations properly since I've only ever done flat-color drawings with a black airbrush for shading before this.

Thumbnail
gallery
Upvotes

(images ordered from first to drawing to most recent)
Also are these commission worthy? I'm planning to do these types of drawings, probably for about 20-30$ hopefully if people are willing to pay. But I'll do around 10 more of these types of drawings to see if I can keep the quality more consistent.

note: the first 3 are cropped as they might be too suggestive.


r/Artadvice 2h ago

‎Critique - No Drawover I’ve been trying to do shading and I’m having trouble since I never before. It just doesn’t look natural.

Thumbnail
gallery
3 Upvotes

yes, these aren’t original characters but they are original designs, concepts, and art by me.

i’ve just been struggling with shading because I use Procreate and (until recently) I didn’t even know there was more pen options than the ones I make so I just really need advice and criticism. constructive tho, thanks!


r/Artadvice 7h ago

‎Critique - Yes Drawover Want to make it more vintage and like old master like-drawing, But it appears like semi-realism. Any help?

Thumbnail
gallery
6 Upvotes

Hi! Call me roz! Recently I fell in love with the old paintings type of feel qnd i really wanted to be able to draw like that! This isn't the finished piece yet but my motivation lessens every single minute as I tried to render. I just feel like it didn't reach my expectations for the result that I wanted. And it made me not what to finish after :(

Any fine artists would like to help me? The second to last slides are the examples I wanted... thank you!


r/Artadvice 9h ago

‎Critique - No Drawover Light or dark? What Version is better?

Thumbnail
gallery
8 Upvotes

I kinda like both


r/Artadvice 5m ago

‎‎Techniques and Tools Attempting to fix composition

Thumbnail
gallery
Upvotes

First is before second is after. I feel like composition is one of my weakest points and this one really highlighted that. Some advice on how to improve composition in the future and things I might have missed on my final one would be appreciated. I was also going for a flat look so that at least is on purpose.


r/Artadvice 40m ago

‎Critique - Yes Drawover Advice please 🙏

Thumbnail
gallery
Upvotes

This is in order of newest to oldest from today to about 2 or so months ago


r/Artadvice 10h ago

‎Critique - Yes Drawover Looking for critiques on my art

Thumbnail
gallery
6 Upvotes

r/Artadvice 13h ago

‎Critique - Yes Drawover new to drawing/painting - critique welcomed!

Thumbnail
gallery
11 Upvotes

I’ve found a hobby in oil-inspired digital art that I want to get better at. Here’s a recent painting I did and a reference photo that I didn’t try to exactly repeat. (Mine is first and I don’t know who created the reference unfortunately)

I know that I need to work on depth, right now it looks like two flat layers on top of each other. Any tips on how to achieve better depth? Any other critique is welcome too!! I’m eager to learn and get better :)

Used procreate on iPad


r/Artadvice 1d ago

‎Critique - Yes Drawover am i good at mixing realistic features with anime-ish artstyle? recent works as examples

Thumbnail
gallery
279 Upvotes

before i already posted chuu (girl with red ribbon) artwork here (i fixed it slightly) and tried to apply critique with my work. hope i made progress since the :D

i'd also like to take criticism on anatomy and composition or whatever


r/Artadvice 9h ago

‎Critique - No Drawover How do I improve this? I don't know how to keep up but I'm still not happy with it, it looks so much different from the reference

Thumbnail
gallery
6 Upvotes

r/Artadvice 9h ago

‎Critique - Yes Drawover Hi! I’m pretty proud of this drawing and trying out new techniques

Post image
3 Upvotes

I’d like to know people’s thoughts about it and what I can improve


r/Artadvice 5h ago

‎Critique - Yes Drawover Self-taught artist seeking honest feedback on portrait and bust studies

Thumbnail
gallery
2 Upvotes

Hi! My goal is to start taking commissions, even small ones, and eventually become an artist who specializes in portrait and bust drawings.

Since I’m self-taught, I often wonder about my current skill level and how I compare to other artists at a similar stage.

These are drawings I made yesterday. Some of them I like, while others I’m not very happy with, but I decided to share them all together. When practicing, I usually focus more on structure and proportions than facial features. Some are more finished, while others were stopped after studying the structure. I’m still not used to finishing my drawings, so some may look a little rough or messy.

I’d sincerely appreciate honest and constructive feedback on my current level, strengths, and what I should focus on improving first. Thank you!


r/Artadvice 14h ago

‎Critique - Yes Drawover Anatomy help??

Thumbnail
gallery
9 Upvotes

I need to practice anatomy more but I can't even draw basic geometric shapes. I struggle with boxes & making things look 3 dimensional. I've tried gesture drawing but that always felt I was just drawing scribbles & I wasn't learning anything. I know I need to practice more, but I'm impatient & I can't deal with making mistakes. I also have motivation issues.

The images are not in order. Some of them are older. Tbh, I feel like I was better in the past than I am now.


r/Artadvice 2h ago

‎Critique - Yes Drawover DAY 36!!

Thumbnail
gallery
1 Upvotes

I love blocktales omg.... I'm so gonna draw Hatred at some point sometime soon but Fear, Greed and Solitude was all i had the motivation to draw today!

Also, my first ever side perspective and more practice on sitting!!