Author Topic: Art Tips Thread II (Read 247722 times)

SuperParadox · « **on:** March 17, 2012, 01:31:29 PM »

Idea originally by Maullar

Welcome artists and musicians!
Like the title says, this is a place for everyone to get music and visual art tips. Please don't be afraid to leave links, recommendations or just general tips. The more we have the better! Also, if you have any questions or want to request some help feel free to do so.

Visual Art Links

Motivation, general tips and links
10 Tips To Become A Better Artist
10 Other Art Tips
Need Motivation?
Stop Whining, Start Working
Verb List
Creativity Prompts
How to learn?
Idea Generator
Fuckyeaharttutorials
Art-and-Sterf
PSG Art Tut
Ways to avoid art depression
A list of things to study
Noah Bradley's Blog
10 things you can do to become a concept artist
Fresh Designer

Drawing Tools
Pixe Lovely
Hands for Drawing
Posemaniacs
Love Castle
Gesture drawing tips
More on gesture drawing

Anatomy and References
Pack of academic drawings
Male Bodies Ref
Varying Your Body Types (Female)
Hands Part 2
Bird wings
Moar anatomy refs and moar
Female anatomy Ref
Real Model Drawing References
Feet and shoes
Maullar teaches fundamentals
Basic Anatomy
animation gestures
Unique Features Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
The Book of Bones
Guide to flexibility
Feet drawing guide
Hands and forearms
Some tips on legs
Oppai tips
More Oppai tips
Leg Anatomy
Arm Anatomy
Arms and Hand
Loomis Hands
Over the Shoulder Tutorial
More Hand and Feet

Heads and Facial Features
Basics of a Portrait
Facial Features Tips
Semi Realistic eyes
Lackdaisy construction
Scurred faces
How to draw the ear
Skull and facial features
Noses
Ear tutorial
Facial Hair

Animals
Animal Noses
Sheeps and Goats
Deer Sketches

Clothing/Fabric
Frills
Shoes
Drapery
How to draw Cloth
Folds
Costumes
Shoe Refs
Collar Refs
More shoes
Suits
Armor for Women

Backgrounds
Rock Tut
Speedpainting Tut
Clouds Clouds 2
Water
Dirt n' Grass

Color
Understanding Color Relations
Color Theory
Understanding Color Temperature Relations
Skin Tutorial 1 Skin Tutorial 2
Colors
Shading Tips
Rendering
How I see color

Composition/Perspective
Top 10 composition rules
Perspective Tut
Compsition Tut
Perspective + Composition Part 2
Another Perspective Tut
Guide to tangents
Composistion!
Obeying Screen Direction
Semi-basic Perspective

Traditional
Russell Stutler on sketching
Shading Basics
Watercolour Tuts
Graphite Portraits
Shading and Blending
Colouring with Coloured Pencils
Watercolour Cheat Codes
Graphite Tutorial

Digital
Digital Painting
Character Design in Photoshop
Howtodigitalpaint.com
Inking in Photoshop
Digtal Painting Study
Watercolours In Photoshop
Painting realistic hair
Cleaning Lineart
Concept Art 101
Game Art
Character Design
What Makes a Character
Blending
Step-by-step painting
Paint tool Sai tutorials megapost
Cell Shading
Coloring traditional lineart

Youtube and Livestreams
Maullar's Perfect Art Class :V [Live Stream]
Online Art [YouTube]
Draw Tips [Youtube]
Sinix Design[YouTube]
Sycra[YouTube]
CGArtSuccess
FZDSCHOOL

Other Resources and Refs
Simply Textures
Hair Styles
Dresses I like
1920's Fashion 1930's Fashion 1940's Fashion 1950's Fashion
Vouge

Free art software
My Paint
Fire Alpaca
AutoDesk Skecthbook Copic Edition
Gimp
Krita

Recommendations

Andrew Loomis books
Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards
30 Second Drawings on Posemanicas *Please don't use posemaniacs as a main source for anatomy studying*

Music Links
Learn How to play piano
Learn How To Produce Your Own Music In LMMS [Youtube]
*Haha, Musicians please help me out with this part... :derp:

DX7.EP · « **Reply #1 on:** March 17, 2012, 04:49:40 PM »

Illustration:
I highly recommend the book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. It helps correct many common mistakes in illustration (crushed forehead included) and offers a pretty effective approach to drawing things that really helps out. The later versions also include a bit on colour theory.

Music:
I guess we music-oriented types can cover for that.

General Tips (for music-writing):
- Can't find a sample or instrument you exactly want, only approximates? After getting to the close match, modify it by adjusting a few parameters, adding effects, layering sounds, or even editing the raw sample directly (it all depends on what you intend to do, as well as your work setup). It certainly beats having to scour the web for what you want most of the time.

Specific Tips (for particular synths, programs, etc.):
- MSGS may be shit, but it's still a bit versatile. Some patches, for instance, can be modified to simulate a low-pass filter.
- FM synth users are best off downloading or purchasing a pack of presets for their synthesizers, even if they know how to program them, since it can take too long to do the latter. Many of these presets come in SYX files you can import directly into your DAW, so that the instrument loads directly. DX-7/TX-7 patches are most common and will work with most 6-op or higher FM synths, as well as FM7/FM8.
- Sonar X1, Vista/7/8: External MIDI synth playback can cause a good but of latency, usually on laptops and weaker systems. Turning off MMCSS under Audio -> Playback and Recording alleviates the problem (tested on ThinkPad x201, comparing 64-bit Win7 to 32-bit Win2k3 R2).

pineyappled · « **Reply #2 on:** March 17, 2012, 05:01:34 PM »

Add posemaniacs to the links list.

SuperParadox · « **Reply #3 on:** March 18, 2012, 02:03:50 AM »

@EP Thanks! I'll leave the specific tips in your post, (Unless you want me to put it in something like a wordpress post so it can be made into a bigger list later?)

and Posemaniacs added to the list!

Quad City QBs · « **Reply #4 on:** March 20, 2012, 02:38:48 PM »

can we add this to the OP too

Quad City QBs · « **Reply #5 on:** March 21, 2012, 09:37:09 PM »

Here's another good tutorial with a little bit of everything, and in addition I'd like to shamelessly plug my Livestream channel :V

SuperParadox · « **Reply #6 on:** March 21, 2012, 11:39:04 PM »

Oh crap I thought I added the PSG link, it totally slipped my mind.
And thank you very much for the livestream! :V

SuperParadox · « **Reply #7 on:** April 22, 2012, 03:44:21 AM »

Whoops! I almost forgot about this topic!

Added about 12 more links to the Visual art section and will most likely add more in a few hours along with some music tips.

Happy drawing! or something like that.

Quad City QBs · « **Reply #8 on:** June 26, 2012, 07:55:08 PM »

Lines keep running into each other? Try this guide to tangents.

Quad City QBs · « **Reply #9 on:** June 27, 2012, 01:31:35 AM »

Reposting here because I think it's generally useful:

Quote from: Bad Appellant!! on June 26, 2012, 10:51:24 PM

What is meant by grasping the fundamentals is to see a cute girl, or a dinosaur, or a house not as a collection of lines, but as an amalgam of simpler shapes. Although a drawing is made of lines, it's not the lines that you're drawing. As the above linked shadow exercise shows, sometimes you can do away with lines entirely--because it's ultimately volume that you're trying to show, the peaks where light gathers and the valleys where light can't get in. As an illustrative example, and these links are slightly NSFW:

I start with a basic stick figure to get the pose down. At this point I'm not worried about details at all, as long as the joints are in the right places and proportions are about correct (torso and arms 2 heads long, each half of the leg a little less). For further guidance, I draw in a ball and plane for the head, a cut-off egg for the rib cage, and a couple angled ovals at crotch level to represent the pelvic bones.

Second, I start adding volume to my stick figure. In this, art books provide useful practice - these studies come from Loomis's Figure Drawing for All It's Worth.

Only here, with the underlying form, pose and shapes laid out, do I concern myself with hair and eyes and other details.

e: Finished product.

Quad City QBs · « **Reply #10 on:** July 01, 2012, 06:06:52 AM »

Russell Stutler on sketching

Quad City QBs · « **Reply #11 on:** July 03, 2012, 01:09:58 AM »

For those of you on the art-appreciator side of things--Ctrl+Paint's Matt Kohr speaks on critique and how to make it as useful as it can be.

Teewee · « **Reply #12 on:** July 11, 2012, 02:47:43 PM »

Looking at the ten tips to become a better artist, I have a question: how do I learn to accept failure as a positive thing? I can read those tips, but I don't know how to apply them :/ I'd appreciate help with this.

SuperParadox · « **Reply #13 on:** July 12, 2012, 06:12:49 AM »

Quote from: TERMspeon on July 11, 2012, 02:47:43 PM

Looking at the ten tips to become a better artist, I have a question: how do I learn to accept failure as a positive thing? I can read those tips, but I don't know how to apply them :/ I'd appreciate help with this.

I don't know how to explain it properly. But I'd say the way I try to accept failure as a positive thing is to just move on and be happy with the end results even if its nowhere near the results I imaged...

That is, if I'm not punching myself in the face after I finish a drawing. :derp:
I'm still learning how to accept failure myself for the most part.

Quote from: Bad Appellant!! on July 03, 2012, 01:09:58 AM

For those of you on the art-appreciator side of things--Ctrl+Paint's Matt Kohr speaks on critique and how to make it as useful as it can be.

And Matt Kohr's other videos are very recommended for those into digital painting. if anyone wants to, check out his site. :V
http://www.ctrlpaint.com/

Teewee · « **Reply #14 on:** July 13, 2012, 03:59:38 PM »

Hm, i c. Thanks for the answer, though I could still use more help with that.

Also, another question: how do I make drawing something that relaxes me? I heard that's a common effect of drawing, but more often than not it makes my mood worse, perhaps due to not being able to really accept failure.

Kaze_Senshi · « **Reply #15 on:** July 13, 2012, 04:35:30 PM »

Oh, I am reading now the art tips, but I am missing some music tips, I am starting to learn eletronic keyboard by myself and I am using this site (http://www.zebrakeys.com/lessons/) as initial reference, the beginner lessons are pretty good in my opinion . Also I am training to use Linux Multimedia Music Studio (LMMS) in my computer to create musics for my game, a good tutorial for dummies to create musics using only your computer and LMMS is this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFomRRDkv84&feature=my_watch_later_videos&list=WL9501DDAF04E0560B .

Music artits pls give me more tips links

KrackoCloud · « **Reply #16 on:** July 13, 2012, 05:12:57 PM »

Quote from: TERMspeon on July 13, 2012, 03:59:38 PM

Hm, i c. Thanks for the answer, though I could still use more help with that.

Also, another question: how do I make drawing something that relaxes me? I heard that's a common effect of drawing, but more often than not it makes my mood worse, perhaps due to not being able to really accept failure.

Well in a way you answered your own question :U
People who find drawing relaxing either have little standards in mind, or they're so good they don't have to try. So it's the mindset and/or skillset.
You and I, we probably don't have either. :U
I definitely don't always find drawing relaxing. But at the very least, I do find it fun. Like chess or Touhou, it's fun and frustrating at the same time. Seeing a drawing turn out the way I like it feels great but takes forever - But that's just part of the game, imo.

fondue · « **Reply #17 on:** July 13, 2012, 06:28:18 PM »

Would go to them but avast! is being a douche :getdown:

pineyappled · « **Reply #18 on:** July 13, 2012, 06:31:26 PM »

Use MSE. :I

e-

Quote from: TERMspeon on July 13, 2012, 03:59:38 PM

Hm, i c. Thanks for the answer, though I could still use more help with that.

Also, another question: how do I make drawing something that relaxes me? I heard that's a common effect of drawing, but more often than not it makes my mood worse, perhaps due to not being able to really accept failure.

If you don't like drawing, just stop...?

Teewee · « **Reply #19 on:** July 13, 2012, 08:01:24 PM »

@Krackocloud: then, that brings me back to the issue of getting able to accept failure.

@Kinoko: Due to my circumstances, drawing is not something i can simply give up. I need to become a good artist for the sake of my future. It's complicated...maybe I'll make an entry in LettyJournal about it sometime.

KrackoCloud · « **Reply #20 on:** July 14, 2012, 01:48:38 AM »

Accepting failure is pretty straightforward. You just acknowledge that a drawing sucks (usually not that hard :U ) and work hard not to make the same mistakes next time (Practice!).

I should mention that if drawing is really going to be that vital to your future, you might not have the luxury of treating it like a hobby. Depending on how serious things are, relaxation is probably the least of your concerns. Then, treat it like any other discipline - Math, music, etc. Meaning at times, it's going to be slow, boring, discouraging, and you're just gonna have to force your way through things.

SuperParadox · « **Reply #21 on:** July 14, 2012, 07:55:07 AM »

Quote from: TERMspeon on July 13, 2012, 08:01:24 PM

@Krackocloud: then, that brings me back to the issue of getting able to accept failure.

@Kinoko: Due to my circumstances, drawing is not something i can simply give up. I need to become a good artist for the sake of my future. It's complicated...maybe I'll make an entry in LettyJournal about it sometime.

Having little standards in mind if you're trying to relax is the best way to go. Seriously, don't even worry about how it turns out when you're drawing to relax, scribble all over the place. Doesn't even matter if you can identify what it is in the end.

Also pretty much what Kracko said. If you're going to need art in your future you better start pushing yourself. I dunno exactly what you want to do with your drawing skills in the future. (I'd love to know why its so vital!) But I'm sure its not going to be easy to get there. It never really is. Its pretty much all hard work.

I mean for example, I've been lacking actual practice for the past few weeks. So as of yesterday I've made a drawing routine witch includes me sketching for about 3 hours everyday taking breaks in-between and whenever I start to feel unmotivated or catch myself getting impatient and loosing my attention I do a 10-20 in place jog and I find that gets me back on track. From there the time I draw everyday can increase once I get used to my previous hours. Trying something like that would be an option. I mean doesn't have to be the exact same thing, choose your own time and source of motivation if you want.

And never go near Christopher Hart's books. :colbert:

Lastly, two links I want to highlight:
Need Motivation?
Stop Whining, Start Working

Teewee · « **Reply #22 on:** July 14, 2012, 11:26:52 AM »

@KrackoCloud: I somewhat understand (that I'll need to get more serious), but what do you mean by forcing my way through it? Go through more good books, at a faster pace than I do now? Also, other than realizing my drawing sucks, how do I identify my "same mistakes"? That part always confused me.

@SuperParadox: Answering your advice in order:
I can try that.
What do you mean by "pushing myself"?
On my off-time I guess I'll go typing up a post explaining my situation and post it to LJ.
Yeah, of course it'd be hard work....I've been at it for over 4 years.
Hmm, I think I can make a routine like that. I think that'll help.
Yeah, his books are the devil. They're really not for beginners.
I'll go try the advice in those links. Thanks.

Vyrien · « **Reply #23 on:** July 14, 2012, 06:06:08 PM »

Quote from: TERMspeon on July 13, 2012, 08:01:24 PM

@Krackocloud: then, that brings me back to the issue of getting able to accept failure.

@Kinoko: Due to my circumstances, drawing is not something i can simply give up. I need to become a good artist for the sake of my future. It's complicated...maybe I'll make an entry in LettyJournal about it sometime.

Just, whatever you do, under any circumstance, don't give up.

Practise
makes
perfect.

Yes it's old, it's tired, it's cliched but it is true, and if you give up now thinking you are shit, then you will always be shit. It will take time, but it will come, you just need to be prepared to put in the extra effort. As for dealing with failure, it'll really sting when someone points out that your art is bad, but the harsher they are, the faster you grow as an artist. I can't really tell you how to react when someone knocks your efforts but if you learn from your mistakes then that's the fastest road to improvement in my opinion.

As another more personal example, this is one of my best efforts from early 2011: OC Rinae
These are speedpaints/WIPs that took 1-2 hours from early June 2012: Medicine and Remilia

I'm not the best by any stretch of the imagination and am probably not qualified to give this kind of advice considering the QUALITY of my drawing :V, but keep at it and you will most definitely improve.

Also, it's great to see the art tips threads revived, I love 'em!

KrackoCloud · « **Reply #24 on:** July 14, 2012, 06:17:40 PM »

Forcing your way through doesn't necessarily mean going faster, esp. if that means you won't absorb the knowledge and skills as well. You just need to be more relentless in drawing. Spend more time practicing, and practice even you don't feel like it. It's comparable to hardcore studying for some other discipline.

Seeing your own mistakes can be pretty difficult. Sometimes it takes days before I see a big glaring flaw in one of my drawings. If you really can't find any mistakes, then you've got to ask for criticism. It'll hurt, but if you've properly acknowledged that your drawings already are bad, then it makes more sense and is easier to accept and work off of.

Also, try doing more focused pieces, like just the head and upper body. This way, it's easier to pinpoint problems.
Once you have one part down, increase the scope of your drawings, or start playing with harder poses. If you try to do everything at once, it can be overwhelming to address all the problems. You might not even know where to start fixing things.
This kind of thing applies to a lot of skills, like game programming or music. If you go in trying to make an FPS from the start or playing some awesome VGM, you just might walk out totally disheartened. I guess the lesson is just be patient.

SuperParadox's links seem pretty useful, so I'd further encourage you to take a look!
Also, I too feel like disclaiming that I'm still an amateur. If my advice is good, that still doesn't mean I'm an awesome 'drawer.' :U

fondue · « **Reply #25 on:** July 14, 2012, 07:58:22 PM »

How to draw hands and feet/shoes.
Also, I found this website and it contains some midis of the Touhou songs. I was thinking with FL Studio 10 I could use them to make remixes of the touhou songs, but is there a better way? IMO copy and pasting midis sounds newb-ish :V

Quad City QBs · « **Reply #26 on:** July 15, 2012, 02:50:09 AM »

Quote from: KrackoCloud on July 14, 2012, 06:17:40 PM

Seeing your own mistakes can be pretty difficult. Sometimes it takes days before I see a big glaring flaw in one of my drawings. If you really can't find any mistakes, then you've got to ask for criticism. It'll hurt, but if you've properly acknowledged that your drawings already are bad, then it makes more sense and is easier to accept and work off of.

Truth. Another method is to try and get a different perspective on your own work--to see your drawing, if not objectively, then at least as a figure and not just 'hey, here's Reimu.' If you've watched my streams, you'll notice I flip my canvas a lot--SAI does it instantly with the 'H' hotkey, and it's very helpful for spotting errors and things that just look plain weird. On paper, you might turn the paper upside down and take a good look to see if you can pick out anything weird.

Teewee · « **Reply #27 on:** July 15, 2012, 12:16:54 PM »

@Vyrien: I'd love to take the "never give up" advice to heart (honestly), but considering I've gone through 4 years and have made so little progress, time considered... well, that makes it way easier said than done. Also, to clarify, I can deal with the sting of someone pointing out my art is bad, it's just that I can hardly take the sting of hardly executing my drawings well.

@KrackoCloud: I think I get it now. I'll be more relentless, make more focused pieces, and more thoroughly check those links. I'll try to be patient :ohdear:

Vyrien · « **Reply #28 on:** July 15, 2012, 02:04:14 PM »

Quote from: TERMspeon on July 15, 2012, 12:16:54 PM

Also, to clarify, I can deal with the sting of someone pointing out my art is bad, it's just that I can hardly take the sting of hardly executing my drawings well.

I understand, in that case, have you perhaps tried a different style or type of drawing? Naturally I draw semi-realism and it's very difficult for me to draw something cartoony. It could be that you are forcing yourself to draw in a certain style when you'd have much more ease drawing another way. Or maybe you just aren't good with people, I know I'm not. :3 Lastly, if it is anatomy as a whole you have trouble with, try figure drawing studies. I find memes, progress drawing videos, exercises and tutorials are also really helpful. It took me a total of six years to get to the level I am now, three of those I made little to no progress in. So I'll reiterate, don't give up! We are all here to help.

Kracko is right with the focused pieces, I found just sketching heads/hands/eyes etc. incredibly helpful.

Paintchats are useful as well when the people aren't just doodling anthro. OTL

Teewee · « **Reply #29 on:** July 22, 2012, 03:00:16 PM »

Figure drawing's what I've mainly been doing, yeah. As for another style...well, anime's the style I want to learn to draw well in. What do you mean by memes, progress drawing vids, and such? Could you give me some examples, please? Thanks for the support, though. As a man with no money and thus few resources, I'm glad to have people helping me out from the kindness in their hearts.

Also, Vyrien, I'm sorry you had to go through 3 years with little to no progress. That kind of thing should never happen to anyone. :ohdear:

Also, how do I learn to draw more accurately by looking at other people's work? Just looking doesn't really give me any insight. :/ Also, could someone please correct this rough sketch I made so it looks right, along with arrows pointing to the corrected parts compared to the original? I seem to learn best when I see corrected versions of my own flawed artwork that way.

Author Topic: Art Tips Thread II (Read 247722 times)

pineyappled

pineyappled