Resources for Artists

[mocha.]

Hi!

I thought this would be a useful thread to make to help budding artists and artists who want to improve in general!

There are so many resources available online that it can be overwhelming to decide what to watch/do first. I want to compile a list of the most helpful resources you’ve come across so please feel free to leave links in the comments below and I’ll add them to this post

Here are a few I personally like:

Planes of the Head
- a helpful resource for understanding where the face dips in and sticks out, really helpful for shadows and highlights.
- moveable model

Line of Action
- a website filled with references (they also have a variety of different animal references!)
- you can set a timer which is perfect for quick sessions and deepening understanding of shapes/anatomy in a short period of time.

SenshiStock
- another website filled with reference photos, the poses here are very dynamic and are updated regularly. I also particularly like how they use a variety of models with unique features!


Some YouTubers I enjoy who have lots of videos focusing on hair/hands/bodies etc:

SinixDesign
- has a range of videos with detailed explanations

Sara Tepes
- helpful videos & hints and tips!

ErgoJosh
- constructive videos and tutorials

 

[Firesquids]

Hi!

I thought this would be a useful thread to make to help budding artists and artists who want to improve in general!

There are so many resources available online that it can be overwhelming to decide what to watch/do first. I want to compile a list of the most helpful resources you’ve come across so please feel free to leave links in the comments below and I’ll add them to this post

Thank you for this, I found a few of these quite helpful!

 

[jadetine]

I also decided to start looking into portraits and character design, and I keep getting recommendations for RossDraws:

Beautiful stuff! He's very encouraging.

 

[mocha.]

I also decided to start looking into portraits and character design, and I keep getting recommendations for RossDraws:

Beautiful stuff! He's very encouraging.

Oooo I didn’t realise he had a YouTube channel!! I follow him on Instagram and his artwork is amazing - I know what I’m binge watching tonight! Hehe

 

[mocha.]

Found another great resource!!!

this is an interactive pose-able character reference tool which comes with soo many options! It even has a mermaid option that’s free to use during May! You can move joints and move it around into any pose - I’m adding this to my favourites as I have so many ideas for poses but have no idea how to execute them without references (which are difficult to find sometimes).

hopefully this is helpful for all of my fellow artists out there!

JustSketchMe

Character posing for artists

justsketch.me

 

[jadetine]

Resurrecting this thread to share some wealth:

https://www.artstation.com/learning

ArtStation is continuing to serve high-quality art tutorials for free. There are so many subjects and software-targeted videos, it's pretty easy to search and handy dandy.

Magic Poser - Best 3D pose reference app

magicposer.com

And similar to JustSketchMe, there's MagicPoser

But of course, as much as I despise the mess that is Pinterest, there are a lot of great references there...

 

[mocha.]

Just bumping this for awareness!

 

[Kitsuragi]

ty for bumping this, im gonna bookmark it

 

[LittleMissPanda]

Best resource right here. It taught me everything I need to know about art

Spoiler: best resource

 

[mocha.]

 

[.: Meri :.]

For those interested in anime-style art, I've recently seen a couple of videos by oridays on Youtube that I've really liked! ^^ He seems good about giving actual methods to practice/practical applications for the advice he gives (because I know we're all tired of hearing "learn how it works and practice : ))))" from tutorials aljkdsdkllkjsf). It seems like sound advice for any anime-ish style too, not just ones similar to his own!

Loved the box method for drawing heads in this one!! I wanna do some practice with turnarounds too, but I think I'll be viewing heads as boxes from now on tbh

^Good explanation of how hair works!

 

[mocha.]

@Merielle OMG I discovered this channel the other day too! I binged watched the videos haha. I’ve started using the box method for heads and it’s so much better than circles. Revolutionary.


Edit;

Adding this video as it’s really helpful to see how other people study anatomy. I’m trying to make practise part of my daily art routine, but sometimes it can be overwhelming trying to make things ‘perfect’. This video helped me feel a little less overwhelmed!

 

[wrenbow]

Hope it's okay to bump this

I've been refreshing myself on anatomy and Richard Smitheman's Figure Drawing Fundamentals videos on YouTube are the most useful breakdown of the forms of the body that I've seen!

Video 1
Video 2
(Linking like this because of the thumbnails just to be safe)

Different explanations work for different people of course but I find it really helpful to know the names of the muscles and bones and where they attach to each other, what body parts they move etc. because it makes it easier to understand how movement affects their shape. He's also pretty concise considering the volume of information in these videos, and he only covers what you need to know for drawing specifically so it's not too overwhelming.