Drawing Resources

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Hey people,

I started this journal because I had been dissatisfied with my art skills so since May 28, 2011, I've been on the hunt for material to help me out. PLEASE NOTE: This journal gets UPDATED! So check back every few months or so for anything new! And if you find something useful, please suggest it! If you have your own collection of resource links, please share them! :D And if you're browsing this list and encounter a site link that no longer works, let me know. :)

ANNOUNCEMENT! My journal is becoming too big. So soon in the future, I will be making a PART 2 to this journal. Some of these sections will be moved there, and the ones left behind will be expanded upon!!! Please continue to leave suggestions. Let me know what has helped you out. I would love to know.


UPDATE!  December 29, 2014: Instead of making a PART 2, I will be moving all current information found here and will be making all future updates on my website, ArielleJay.com. A link to the page will be shared once I got it where I want it to be. i decided to take this route because then I won't have to worry about eventually making a PART 3 journal and everything, including new things, can be viewed in one place. There will be at least one deviantart section, though I might make more than one deviantart section. In any case, you'll be able to know which is resources on deviantart and which is not! And since I know things change, items, accounts, and pages get deleted so there will also be a feedback form for you to report broken links. It will also be usable for reporting other useful sites! 


A donation is not required to utilize this resource, but would surely be appreciated! Donate here [if you want]!

So far I've found these sites helpful:

01. Get Better at Drawing Just some helpful tips.
02. Fossfor's Labratory This site had a ton of photoshop tutorials, among other interesting things.
03. Illustration Tutorials Scroll a little bit down to find Categories in the right column and it lists a bunch of links to tutorials for drawing people.
04. Free Art Tutorials This place offers tutorials on oils, watercolor, acrylics, drawing, pastels, ink, and more.
05. Free Art Lessons This site offers helpful art lessons for drawing various things.
06. Drawspace.com This site offers TONS of great resources (FOR FREE) for drawing whether you're a beginner, intermediate or advanced level artist.
07. Human Figure Drawing Proportions This site really breaks down the human figure.
08. Rey Bustos Links This has a bunch of helpful links to designers, institutions and galleries, anatomical references, and more!
09. Gurney Journey This is a blog by James Gurney "for illustrators, plein-air painters, sketchers, comic artists, animators, art students, and writers" and contains a lot of interesting things that maybe could give you some inspiration.
10. RateMyDrawings.com is a site where every artist on the site uses the same online tools to submit their art, so the only thing rated on each artist is how skilled they are with the program.
11. WikiHow - Improving Drawing Skills supplies various articles with tips and helpful steps on various art improvement aspects.
12. Daily Writing Prompts I find prompts even for writing helpful for drawing. So it's worth checking these out to get you to draw things you don't normally draw or think about.
13. Reference, Reference, Reference is a forum post listing a whole bunch of tips, references, tutorials and other goodies.
14. The Pixel Tutorial A really great step-by-step process of how to make awesome pixel art.
15. Anything3d Models is a network of a compilation of real photos of models that have been rotated 360 degrees and put together in a simple program so you can see them at multiple angles. This functions a lot like posemaniacs.com
16. CharacterDesigns.com is a site dedicated to providing photosets, tutorials and more. You can view their tutorials here: characterdesigns.com/index.php… and you can view their photosets here: characterdesigns.com/index.php…
17. TL;DR Whether you like anthro or not, this site provides a pretty lengthy tutorial in regards to it. In order to truly master anthropomorphic characters, you have to have an understanding of the anatomy of both beings you're "meshing" together, and this site provides a fair amount of attention on both human and animal anatomy. It also discussed the process of shading.
18. Artnatomy is an interesting site that featured a dual-language Flash tutorial about human facial expressions. Worth checking out.
19. Fantasy Art Resource Project (FARP) is a part of Elfwood displaying a bunch of different tutorials on art, writing, or other things like history, or even scanning your images. It's definitely a helpful resource.
20. Tutorials by Cedarseed When I checked this out, I entered with a lot of previous knowledge of anatomical proportions, but Cedarseed provides a far more in-depth understanding. So I highly recommend you thumb through these gigantic, lengthy, but extremely helpful tutorials.
21. Sites like... provides a length list of several pages of sites like Human Anatomy for Artists which is a site with thousands of high-resolution photos. The only reason I don't like sites by 3D.SK is that you have to pay in a subscription plan to see the photos of their intricate library.
22. Fine Art Fundamentals is a blog that provides drawing step-by-step processes, exercises, tips and this really huge list of resource websites.
23. 4FreePhotos.com - Public domain and free photos is a site of photos available to the public domain. Photos are always great for drawing references.
24. MyPhotoshopBrushes.com is a resource full of free brushes, patterns, custom shapes, styles, gradients and tutorials.
25. Color Scheme Designer is a very interesting online resource that allows you to create multiple kinda of color schemes. So if you really struggle with color theory and all that, or are just feeling stumped about what colors to use in your next piece, this is really great.
26. ConceptArt.org is well-known to many of us on deviantart.com though I don't hear many using ConceptArt.org as a resource. The forums are full of very helpful material, here's a few to get you started: Discussion on Edges, Some Technique Tips, and a Tutorial for Painting a Building. There's also threads supplying helpful textures and resources like this one.
27. Anstellos is a SerialLinker is huge collection of links of various topics assembled by Anstellos.
28. Foot Photo Reference is a series of feet photos, which help for drawing references.
29. Color Pencil: Techniques & Tutorial is a tutorial that covers a quick note on paper, then discusses pencil types, techniques, sharpness and pressure, blending and vibrancy, then shows a nice little development process tutorial of a landscape piece. Very nice if you're trying to figure out color pencils.
30. Drawing Pencil Sketches is a cool site that covers techniques, styles, subject matter, etc. for drawing sketches in pencil.
31. Blurb is a cool site for you to use for creating books about anything you want. The prices for production of books and shipping them out are pretty reasonable. Not exactly about improving your work, but many, if not all, artists want to find useful resources for publishing the work they do make. I wrote a journal about it more here: anomalies13.deviantart.com/jou…
32. Free Online Tutorials at 0tutor.com is a blog that has tutorials for programs like Photoshop, Flash, Illustrator, drawing, and coding websites. I haven't had the pleasure of viewing everything, though the tutorials I have seen are clear and easy to understand.
33. Marlez's Art Links for the Interested Artist is a tumblr post that is exactly what it's called.
34. Using 3D as a Starting Point for a Digital Painting is a really helpful tutorial about what the name suggests. It is fully equipped with interesting pictures and there are four pages of detailed step-by-step information.
35. Scott McCloud Inventions is page from Scott McCloud's website covering ideas that he has developed. Scott McCloud is a well-known cartoonist and comics theorist and has published several helpful books along the lines of these topics.
36. 3CH for Web Prompt Generator is helpful for generation prompt topics that you probably wouldn't think of in a thousand years. Prompts are helpful for many reasons, one being that they give you a topic of focus for your next creation if you're struggling to find one.
37. ICrit.org Resources is a small list of helpful resources, advice, and articles on various topics like light and color, perspective and anatomy.
38. Books and Resources posted by fellowBro on MediaFire. has a bunch of downloads available for you to learn about many art-related topics like drawing and anatomy. I'm not entirely sure on the legality of this stuff, but I always figure if you're not trying to sell it or otherwise turn a profit from it, then sharing is okay. Just make sure nothing has a virus.
39. Drawing from a Timer, this is one of many sites out there designed to set up a timer amount for you to draw a pice to help you practice studying the appearances of photos. Practicing by drawing gesture drawings and drawing in a short amount of time trains you to focus on what's important in shaping a pose and things of that nature. And it's good to get you to practice drawing faster if you do this long enough.
40. Delicious.com Art Tutorials Search, here I've ran an "Art Tutorial" search on delicious.com. There are tons of results, so be sure to check them out. Of course, you can run your own related searches through this interesting site as well.
41. TBD.
42. TBD.

I'll add more when I find them. :D

Also, feel free to suggest art sites. :) I'll add them to my list if they're helpful as well.

And some tips:

Tip #01. Use lingerie catalogs. You can find a lot of catalogues for both women and men. The photos give you good anatomy ideas and interesting pin-up poses. Other catalogues, such as ones from Ikea, could also help with designing objects and backgrounds, so don't dis-concern yourself with catalogues, take all into consideration for your art composition.
Tip #02. Use various magazines. I've got magazines from all walks of life, like muscle mags, gossipy type of magazines, magazines from Oprah, and even some food magazines. Fashion magazines also help you design interesting clothes for your people.  
Tip #03. Books about artists. Get the type of jumbo-sized hardcover books that feature artists you like, if you can. Try to discover some photographers. You could check books out at the library and scan a copy of images you like or buy your own books and create a personal art book collection.
Tip #04. Get a camera and take photos. Be careful of taking photos of people on the street, they might get upset. If you have a few willing friends, take photos of them doing things naturally and use those photos for references later. Do this as often as necessary. Try to figure out how you can set up your camera and take pictures of yourself, this way you can create the poses you want to draw.
Tip #05. Study anatomy not through the eyes of an artist, but pick at it like someone learning medicine would. Try reading about anatomy in medical books, and even take a few anatomy tests to increase your understanding of anatomy. Medical books also help you understand how people are affected by things from their environment. If someone ingests something bad, how does this cause their body to react or how does it physically change them?
Tip #06. When trying to practice drawing, study how light hits the object. Light and shadow are key determinations of the 3-dimensional appearance. Try to see the object as defined by the shapes of light and shadow, and not as the object itself. For example, look at your hand, don't see it as a hand, but as the light and shadow that forms it.  
Tip #07. TBD.

Other Helpful Journals by Me:

If You've Got an Art BlockI've had an art block since May 2010 and it's finally starting to defrost.
I've found that one thing that's helping me defrost my art block is just forcing myself to draw. :XD:
I set up a 17x11in canvas in Photoshop CS5 and start doodling. I tell myself "Fill this blank page with stuff." I experiment with new brushes, brush sizes, and colors. I also experiment with color application. So if you have an art block, just open a Photoshop doc and force yourself to draw. (Or um, if it's easier or you don't have a tablet to work with, bust out a piece of paper and doodle little sketches.) Anything that comes to mind. It also helps if you maybe narrow yourself to limitations if you're feeling stumped. For example, I limited myself to Anomalies characters so I've been drawing them a lot and focusing on my story as a result giving me inspiration to draw and create more.
It's pretty fun. I don't think about anatomy errors and issues. I don't focus too much on sticking within the lines of my doodl
You want to make a Flash Dress Up Game?But you're not entirely familiar with Flash? WELL FEAR NOT! Deviantart supplies A VAST AMOUNT OF TUTORIALS from people who know and have some fair amount of understanding of what to do.
So I'll help you get started by supplying some information and also recommending a couple very nice and informative tutorials about Flash. Plus don't be discouraged if you suck at drawing in Flash, I provided a fair amount of information for an alternative solution at the end!  
What you need:
- Flash* (any kind of Flash where you can write Action Script 2.0... NOT Action Script 3.0, these tutorials cover AS 2.0. Flash is not a free program (legally). You can obtain Flash at Adobe.com.)
- Time
- Patience
*If you're wondering what kind of Flash I use, I'll tell you. I use a super old school Flash that does the job juuust fine. It's called Macromedia Flash MX, also known as "Flash 6.0 r25" Yuuuup, really old. I've had it since junior year in high school (approx. 5 years). I have Flash Pro
Tips on How to ImproveMy good friend, Draethius, had posted a DA journal a long time ago (almost a whole year) that he has long since removed that was about how he didn't feel like a real artist and wasn't sure how he could improve. So I wrote him an essay lengthy Note in reply. And I kind of forgot about it since it happened along the time when I was throwing a tantrum over that one chick I call Otto.
But I was going through some documents from my Back Up files and found the document I wrote to Drake and decided "Hey, I should post this! :D" Granted, there's moments when I kind of go off on a tangent, but I think this could be helpful to someone...maybe?
Here it goes:
I can't tell you how to feel like a real artist, but most cases, artists are never satisfied with their work and are constantly pushing themselves to get better. This is a good thing, otherwise we'd never improve. But it can also be a bad thing, if you push yourself too much, you can essentially burn out. So
My Color TutorialsHey guys,
I spent a few days writing these tutorials for you so I hope you take the time to read them and maybe even learn some stuff from them:

You can download both tutorials in a ZIP here: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=VMMVW7HA
I also shared some helpful resources in the comments, so be sure to try them out:

Lastly, I shared some extra material, some tutorials that helped me figure out my own path:

Again, I hope all this is helpful to you. :)
Anomalies13
Other helpful stuff I've written:
You want to make a Flash Dress Up Game? by Anomalies13Tips on How to Improve by Anomalies13
Lovely Bunch of ResourcesHere's a list of some of my favorite sites for various resource needs and then some other stuff too! :D Let me know if I should keep this entry updated periodically. I find stuff all the time. :)
Creating Characters & Art:
Names #1 - Behind the Name
Names #2 - Behind the Surname
Character Bio Sheets - Over 60 resource links here!
Avoiding Mary-Sues! - Universal Mary-Sue Litmus Test
Appearance Resource #1 - Hero Machine 2.5
Appearance Resource #2 - Fabrica de Herois
Appearance Resource #3 - Gaia Avatar Creator
For Science Fiction Writers/Artists - Contes


Stuff on deviantart:

01. Tutorials and Resources This is my collection of tutorials and resources that I find on deviantart. Sometimes a resource is just a photo for reference, or it can be a texture, stock image, or photoshop brush, etc.
02. Memes This is my collection of Memes. Sometimes they help inspire new art and well, you need an idea in order to practice something. ;)
03. Resources and Tutorials from what-i-do-is-secret is a pretty interesting collection of poses and tutorial resources.
04. Library reference-Humans is a huge list of resources to help you out with anatomy. It's provided by ArtistsHospital, a group I recommend checking out below. Here's a network of resource goodies that cover many things, not just humans, by the same group. So if you have time, browse through that stuff, there's probably some really good gems to be found.
05. Comic Artists tools and resources [1] [2] [3] is a series of journals by jeriweaver back in 2007, compiling exactly what the title suggests.
06. Links and Resources is a journal of links put together by NouStudio that lists places you can go to name your characters or helpful writing resources. (And it doesn't hurt to do a bit of writing even when you're an artist so this is worth checking out.)
07. Music and Sound Resources is a journal by dancewiththesky that directs you to where you can find Open Source music. This kind of music is great for if you want sounds to edit without infringing on copyright, not to mention great for if you want to record live video streams without worrying about infringing on copyright because this kind of music is under Creative Commons licenses. dancewiththesky also wrote an article called Essential Tools and Resources that lists free software for artists to use.
08. Powers, characters, limits is an interesting journal by Artists-at-the-Ready that talks about characters and limitations to avoid "God-moding" and other character development no-nos.  
09. Resources is a nicely compiled list made by MadKatter full of writing tips, worldbuildings, critiquing, and a bunch more.
10. Helpful Links for Budding Artists is a journal written by Dana-T that supplies some pretty nice drawing resources. Dana is always resourceful and helpful. I've seen a few critiques by her, she always has some interesting tutorial or website worth checking out.
11. TBD.

Some Recommended Tutorials and Resources:

:thumb78999414: THE GRAIN TUTORIAL by DanLuVisiArt Coloring Tutorial by sakimichan:thumb34222893: Advanced DressUp Game Tutorial by BonnieMcBop Flash Tutorial for Newbies by madelief Dress up tutorial by Hapuriainen Blender Brush by BBs-Brushes Klavik Download In Description by chchln Dark Simplicity - gallery CSS by Sedma Lineart and SAI tutorial by suzuran:thumb257414389: eXo Studio Character Generator by thetani Unique Features Tutorial: Pt 1 by jeinu Unique Features Tutorial: Pt 2 by jeinu Unique Features Tutorial: Pt 3 by jeinu Tutorial: boobs bras n lace 3b by klinanime Skin Tutorial by acidlullaby:thumb113266500: Tutorial Mania by Sh3ikha MAGIC bubble tutorial by Apofiss Jad's Copic Tutorial by Jad-Ardat:thumb244656865: IFX - Strike A Pose by WarrenLouw The Perspective Tutorial by sashas Photoshop: Painting Tutorial and effects by alexiuss How to Dye Paper by hibbary


Observe photos (and in some cases, even stock) from artists here on DA:

TheMaleNudeStock AdorkaStock mjranum-stock vishstudio mihai2k DaveAyerstDavies BirdsistersStock Torsal artdibujar Random-Acts-Stock ZirTuan RaCorb willow32 Film-Exposed nadurspike nastyalight LongStock Lynnwest-Stock jademacalla RobynRose mizdestiny


These are groups I find helpful (meaning, I'm a member of them):

Divine-Tutorials TutorialsForYou ResourceNation MEME-Station Photoshop-Favourites Tutorial-City KickYourOwnAss SketchDumps DontGiveUpOnDA prompt-it-up PhotoshopFreebies


These groups are worth checking out:

Animal-Resources Tutorial-Central TutorialsClub tutorialsgroup DigitalArtTutorial ArtistsHospital Tutorial-Island DACipher tutorials-for-anyone DeviantResources ProfessionalTutorial 100x100resources TutorialHouse The-Daily-Sketch MissionImprovement Take-out-Teacher Improvement-Center Growing-Artists Learning-People Open-Critique CritiqueCommunity 1001Critiques ImproveChallenge FeedbackRevolution CritiqueGuru Intermediate-Artists The-Art-Academy Xis-art-institute Constructive-Critism Improvement-Club ProjectComment one-stop-stock Fractal-Resources TipsAndTricks photoshop-tutorials


And suggest a helpful group if you know one! :w00t:

:new:Promote your work: :new:

Other than Deviantart, these are other art sites to promote yourself on:

1. Behance

2. Shadowness

3. Concept Art



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I'm always looking for more resources, so if you have some suggestions for drawing tips, tutorials, resources, stock photography, groups, etc., basically anything that helps you draw or get better at it, leave a comment! :)



And let me know if you want me to start a new section of resources that you don't see here. I'll be happy to start a new resource search. ;)



And please don't forget we can now Favorite Journals! So if you like this journal, give it a +Fave. :+fav:



© 2011 - 2024 Anomalies13
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Michernan's avatar
Thank you, excelentes tips