Hello all!

I'm Nanominyo, and I'm doing 100% traditional art this year. During my first Art Fight last year, I completed 18 attacks, and only 2 of them were digital. Most of these got TYs beyond a few attacks posted on the last day of art fight *~~Ouff, but reality is a lot of people don't check art fight after the last day.~~*

One thing I've noticed is that many people say they don't want traditional art. In my experience, that's often not actually the case. I've had almost everyone I've attacked enjoy receiving traditional artwork because I put just as much effort into presenting the finished piece as I do into drawing it.

A clean photo can make traditional art look almost like it was scanned, and you don't need an expensive camera or a scanner to achieve that. Here are a few things that make a huge difference - and make more people not hate recieving traditional artwork.

*~~No one likes recieving a bad picture of a drawing.~~*

With years of experience of photographing traditional art, here is 4 major points of traditonal art photographing that beginners might not think much about:

# Rule 1: Don't let there be distractions in the image

Nothing but the character should appear in the picture. People want to focus on the illustration, not on visible paper edges, messy desks, or random objects in the background.

**How to fix it**

Crop the image on your phone or in your preferred editing software so only the artwork is visible. Try to minimize everything outside the illustration. You want the image to have one clear focal point.

# Rule 2: Don't use weird filters

Filters should improve the colors of your artwork, not change them. Heavy filters or unusual lighting can make the character look strange. Only use stylized filters if they're an intentional part of your presentation. Otherwise, aim for colors that look as close as possible to the original artwork.

**How to fix it**

Some phones automatically add processing when you increase the brightness, so try to take the photo in neutral lighting first. Then make any necessary color adjustments using your phone's editor or your preferred editing software.

# Rule 3: Don't let the picture be blurry

If the picture is blurry, take another one. A bad camera isn't an excuse.

I photograph all of my artwork with a OnePlus Nord 2 - a phone that's often criticized for having a mediocre camera. Despite that, it still produces clear photos because presentation matters more than expensive hardware. Most modern smartphones are capable of taking good photos of traditional artwork.

**How to fix it**

Hold your phone with both hands and let the camera focus before taking the picture. If your hands shake, rest your elbows on a table or prop your phone against something stable. Take several photos and choose the sharpest one afterward. If the image is still blurry, move to a brighter area so your camera can use a faster shutter speed.

*~~I had to work hard to get a blurry picture~~*

# Rule 4: Don't take pictures at an angle

It might look artistic to you, but the recipient wants to see their character clearly. Art Fight might be leaning into being a social platform, but it's not Instagram. A straight-on photo is almost always the better choice.

**How to fix it**

Hold your phone directly above the artwork so the camera is parallel to the paper. If possible, place the drawing on a table or the floor and stand directly over it. Turn on your phone's grid lines if you need help keeping everything square. If the photo is still slightly crooked, straighten it in your phone's editing tools before posting.

# Breaking the rules

Of course, these rules can be broken for artistic reasons or because your editing options are limited. Every phone has different built-in editing features, so use whatever tools you have available.

Your background doesn't have to be perfectly white - it just needs to be a single, even color that doesn't distract from the artwork.

I also highly recommend drawing your lineart with an ink pen. If that's not an option, a ballpoint pen can work, but it may smudge while you're erasing your pencil sketch and generally takes a little longer to dry than most fineliners or drawing pens. It's easier to photoedit something dark on paper to pop and look clean over a light pencil sketch. You don't always need to add colours either to your drawing - it just needs to look clean.

Traditional art deserves just as much love as digital art. A few extra minutes spent taking and editing a photo can make a huge difference in how your work is received.

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This isn't meant as criticism - it's an attempt to help more people enjoy receiving traditional art. Most of the dislike I've seen toward traditional attacks seems to come from poorly photographed artwork rather than the artwork itself.

If you have any other tips for photographing traditional art, I'd love to add them to this list!

And, of course, there will always be people who are simply ungrateful or have very specific preferences. We can't change that. This post is for everyone else - for the artists who want to present their traditional work in the best way possible.

  
(Also working with a limited collage maker so excuse the horrible collages - they just needed to get a point across)

People don't hate traditional art - you just suck at taking pictures