Dude how do you make your art seem so... cinematic? It's fucking gorgeous and I want to know how you do it.

Oh wow thank you so much, that’s so nice :’’’O !!! Idk how involved an answer you wanted but this is the stuff I think about when I’m trying to get that cinematic feeling.

1. Consistent perspective makes the space feel real. It doesn’t have to be exact, but if you’re drawing one character from a down angle, make sure everything is in that same down angle or it’ll flatten the image (a cool effect if flat is what you’re going for, but not super effective in getting cinematic shots).

2. Differentiate between your foreground, midground, and background. This is a bit of a cheat, but if you’re focusing on something in the MG, blur your BG and FG because that’s how cameras and eyeballs work. It gives the instant illusion of depth. Sticking some foreground elements in a drawing usually makes it feel instantly more perspective-y too, plus they can be used frame or point to the main elements.

3. Use tone to indicate depth. Try colouring your FG with a dark tone, your MG with a medium tone, and your BG with a light tone. Now try reversing it. See what feelings you get by messing with tones in the FG, MG, and BG.

4. Use lighting to direct the eye. Eyes are drawn to the area of highest contrast, generally (where the darkest values meet the lightest ones) so put the highest contrast in the places you want people to look. Indicate where the light is coming from by how it interacts with FG, MG, and BG (ex. If the light source is coming from the MG, it might not actually brighten your FG elements at all so they’ll be dark or they’ll pick up a rim light).

5. Draw in a film aspect ratio hahaha. For my more movie looking drawings, I tend to draw in 1:89 which is cinematic widescreen.


I hope this was actually helpful and not a bunch of useless garbage. 8’)