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Art Ref - Blog Posts
THE ONLINE ARTIST HANDBOOK
So I think a lot of us are struggling with being an online artist these days, with the navigation of various socials being increasingly obscure and even perilous at times
It’s why I had an idea: The Online Artist Handbook
What is the Online Artist Handbook ?
It’s a collaborative google doc where all artists all over various social media websites can contribute their knowledge of said socials to help everyone thrive ! This includes becoming more familiar with various customs and ways to post as a part of building your online presence, and things to watch out for.
The document is completely free and open-source: everyone can use it, edit it, cite it, download it, whatever !
How does it work ?
There are two documents: one document is used for submitting notes about various social media platforms, and a second one is a read-only document where all the information is properly written out to ensure clarity and ease of reading.
I’d like to contribute !
That’s so awesome ! Thank you so much ! You can contribute to the document yourself here: [Google doc link]. The clean version of the document can be found here: [Google doc second link]
Remember to add yourself to the contributors section to be credited for your help !
Let’s go Tumblr ! Let’s create a community artist resource !
Can't afford art school?
After seeing post like this 👇
And this gem 👇
As well as countless of others from the AI generator community. Just talking about how "inaccessible art" is, I decided why not show how wrong these guys are while also helping anyone who actually wants to learn.
Here is the first one ART TEACHERS! There are plenty online and in places like youtube.
📺Here is my list:
Proko (Free)
Marc Brunet (Free but he does have other classes for a cheap price. Use to work for Blizzard)
Aaron Rutten (free)
BoroCG (free)
Jesse J. Jones (free, talks about animating)
Jesus Conde (free)
Mohammed Agbadi (free, he gives some advice in some videos and talks about art)
Ross Draws (free, he does have other classes for a good price)
SamDoesArts (free, gives good advice and critiques)
Drawfee Show (free, they do give some good advice and great inspiration)
The Art of Aaron Blaise ( useful tips for digital art and animation. Was an animator for Disney)
Bobby Chiu ( useful tips and interviews with artist who are in the industry or making a living as artist)
Second part BOOKS, I have collected some books that have helped me and might help others.
📚Here is my list:
The "how to draw manga" series produced by Graphic-sha. These are for manga artist but they give great advice and information.
"Creating characters with personality" by Tom Bancroft. A great book that can help not just people who draw cartoons but also realistic ones. As it helps you with facial ques and how to make a character interesting.
"Albinus on anatomy" by Robert Beverly Hale and Terence Coyle. Great book to help someone learn basic anatomy.
"Artistic Anatomy" by Dr. Paul Richer and Robert Beverly Hale. A good book if you want to go further in-depth with anatomy.
"Directing the story" by Francis Glebas. A good book if you want to Story board or make comics.
"Animal Anatomy for Artists" by Eliot Goldfinger. A good book for if you want to draw animals or creatures.
"Constructive Anatomy: with almost 500 illustrations" by George B. Bridgman. A great book to help you block out shadows in your figures and see them in a more 3 diamantine way.
"Dynamic Anatomy: Revised and expand" by Burne Hogarth. A book that shows how to block out shapes and easily understand what you are looking out. When it comes to human subjects.
"An Atlas of animal anatomy for artist" by W. Ellenberger and H. Dittrich and H. Baum. This is another good one for people who want to draw animals or creatures.
Etherington Brothers, they make books and have a free blog with art tips.
As for Supplies, I recommend starting out cheap, buying Pencils and art paper at dollar tree or 5 below. For digital art, I recommend not starting with a screen art drawing tablet as they are more expensive.
For the Best art Tablet I recommend either Xp-pen, Bamboo or Huion. Some can range from about 40$ to the thousands.
💻As for art programs here is a list of Free to pay.
Clip Studio paint ( you can choose to pay once or sub and get updates)
Procreate ( pay once for $9.99)
Blender (for 3D modules/sculpting, ect Free)
PaintTool SAI (pay but has a 31 day free trail)
Krita (Free)
mypaint (free)
FireAlpaca (free)
Libresprite (free, for pixel art)
Those are the ones I can recall.
So do with this information as you will but as you can tell there are ways to learn how to become an artist, without breaking the bank. The only thing that might be stopping YOU from using any of these things, is YOU.
I have made time to learn to draw and many artist have too. Either in-between working two jobs or taking care of your family and a job or regular school and chores. YOU just have to take the time or use some time management, it really doesn't take long to practice for like an hour or less. YOU also don't have to do it every day, just once or three times a week is fine.
Hope this was helpful and have a great day.
I love the way you draw bodies sm! They're always so fluid and unique!! Do you have any tips?? (other than the super obvious look at a reference lol)
hi thank u!! rather than just looking at refs, i explained how i actually use them here in a big old post, and how i keep those poses fluid!
another tip tho, and a more recent thing i’ve been doing, is that i use a ref just to decide a general idea for a pose and then pick my favorite lines either within the reference already or i make up my own
^^ for above, i very loosely used the reference at all. it just gave me an idea to start with for a pose and then i picked dramatic curves i really wanted to do and pushed the pose to show those lines.
a lot of my fluidity comes from caring more about those lines showing in the pose than the pose or anatomy actually making sense LOL
this is a more direct reference !! i liked the angle and the point of the knees, so i started there and then exaggerated what i wanted to draw more swoopy :3
additionally helps line confidence to use as few lines as possible.
it makes a lot of organic swishes and pretty lines if u try to keep each section of a limb or whatever to just a few strokes. 2-3 if ur really wanting to push it!
I get asked a lot for tips with coloring black people, so i put together a little tutorial! (and bumps my kofi if you found this helpful)
RadenWA is honestly a hero for these
they're got even more than these, too!
It's done! You can find the Absolutely Ripping It Up pack here.
Tear your artwork. Decay it. Blast a giant hole into it. Go nuts. Note that these are compatible only with Clip Studio!
here’s 200+ freebie brushes | and my brush tag is here ✨
Hi! Do you know where to find any good references for the inside of the agency? I've been struggling to find any. Sorry for any inconvenience
Not an inconvience at all, thank you for the question!
I've found this absolutely amazing model on Steam with a detailed interior by TOYO1515:
It has 43 pictures, even showing a kitchen and bedrooms, and how it would look in dim light.
Here is a post with the Sonic X agency layout by @futuristichedge
I don't want this post to get too long, so below the cut are two IDW screenshots and four from Sonic Heroes:
(the lockers tend to be in different locations more often than not. According to Sonic Heroes the ones in the first panel are in the right location (so opposite the desk on the same wall as the door) but in Sonic X they're to the left when facing the desk (so like the second panels)).
I'm really sorry for the horrifically blurry screenshots, unfortunately I can't get better ones.
“What brushes do you use?”
Don’t underestimate the basic round brush! Using and downloading custom brushes won’t magically upgrade your art skills. Here I only used the “Hard Round” and “Soft Round” which are default brushes in most programs! 🎨🖌️
Exercises for all the homies who want to have a long career drawing.
The true problem with being an artist and drawing all day (as I wanted my whole life) is that human backs are not designed to hold that position, so it is very common for artists and designers to have really stiff shoulder blades, creating a chain of muscle strain towards the arm AND the back… and a lot of pain.
These are some physical exercises for artists and honestly anyone who works at a desk.
(all credit to my physiotherapist)
Exercises for all the homies who want to have a long career drawing.
The true problem with being an artist and drawing all day (as I wanted my whole life) is that human backs are not designed to hold that position, so it is very common for artists and designers to have really stiff shoulder blades, creating a chain of muscle strain towards the arm AND the back… and a lot of pain.
These are some physical exercises for artists and honestly anyone who works at a desk.
(all credit to my physiotherapist)
there are 2 kinds of mangaka when drawing: the ones that hate woman and the ones that love woman
And, guys...
i think ryoko kui really loves woman.
I have to draw a lot of gold and metal for my work, but wasn't happy with any of the metal tutorials i could find around. I prefer really specific instruction, so after some research i put together what i think works as a generalist's guide/tutorial. Not perfectly accurate, but i hope it's helpful!
Dont know if you were joking about needing catboy references a couple of weeks back but here ya go
Theres one for sheep too if you need that
the sacred texts.... thank you for bestowing it upon me
