ACT Creatively!

Alan and Carrie Tupper, Creative Developers Extrordinaire.

[mandaamsbt]

Download: CS5 Brushes ( works with CS6 )

CS4 Brushes ( works with all versions prior to CS4 )

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A lot of people ask me while livestreaming what brushes I use, and since I only use some out of certain brush packs, I figured it’d be easier to just clump the ones I use the most together.

If you want to download all the content from the original brush packs, you can download them here:

k04sk Brushes ( also a combination - credits in their description. has a TON of brushes to experiment with!!) castrochew Brushes - Skin and Hair Texture Brushes

if you have any problems downloading / getting brushes to work, please let me know :8)

[princenishi-blog]

AVERY'S GLORIOUS COLOUR TUTORIAL

ok i get a lot of asks relating to my colour-mixing “abilities”, so i figure i’d tell you all how i mix my colours!

tutorial under cut.

Read More

[loish]

another one of those disney princess coloring page thingies (like the one i did a few years ago). this is the coloring page i used and this is the inspiration for the palette/style. just a fun exercise! drew it with a normal tablet (as opposed to a cintiq) which was weird.

[mermaidshells-blog]

This is a really good exercise! IMMA USE IT.

[kalidraws]

Today I gave my students a quick presentation on some of the basic considerations for composition, which I am now sharing with you! I’ve given them separate talks about color and tonal value/contrast, which are also super important compositional concerns. (I’ll be sharing those presentations too once I properly format them)

I personally love learning about different compositional techniques. It’s fun to think about the ways that the brain views & sorts images, and how we can trick it into feeling a certain way or looking at certain aspects of an image first! It’s easy to fall into compositional ruts (which I am also guilty of) because a lot of art gets by with mediocre, though serviceable, compositions. If you can generally understand what’s happening in an image then it’s generally fine. However, it’s the truly great compositions, where everything in the whole image has been considered and ‘clicks’ together, that bump up an illustration to a visual slam dunk. NC Wyeth is one of my favorite artists for this reason: his compositions are rock solid, varied based on the image’s intent, and always enhance the mood or action he is depicting.

For extra reading, some online compositional resources that I’ve found helpful or interesting include: Creative Illustration by Andrew Loomis (download it for FREE. Such a great book all-around.) Gurney Journey (check out the “Composition” tag, but really everything he posts is great) The Schweitzer guide to spotting tangents Cinemosaic (a blog by Lou Romano with some truly WONDERFUL compositions captured from various films) Where to Put the Cow by Anita Griffin

Happy composition-ing!

[dailydoodly-blog]

Stuff like this is why I’m glad I browse Tumblr more these days.

[shanehillman]

Great write up here! Take note people!

[1000drawings]

by Redmer Hoekstra

[blue-ten]

Trakoclock asked:

Hey, if you don’t mind sharing, I’ve always wondered how you got that soft celling look on your characters in your comic. Any tips? I’m currently working on my own comic and I kind of want to go for a less harsh form of cell shading. Thanks!

A couple people have asked about the way I color things and I’ve been meaning to post a tutorial on it :]. I’ve never been too good at describing my process, but I hope this helps!

[eyecaging-deactivated20190707]

Drawing like a Painter

Made me think about how I approach my line art more. I want to try heavy shadows sometime! Looks so fun!!

[xxbluandorangexx]

[actcreatively]

Hank Green talks about creation and why it's so terrifying. A really awesome talk.

[eternal-dannation]

Expression Reference Dump- Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9

Part 10

Part 11

Part 12

Part 13

[actcreatively]

x

[quillery]

I got a question about the way I add textures to my drawings, so I went a bit overboard and made a quick tutorial!

Almost all of the textures I use are from here. Textures are honestly not that hard to find—Google will easily lead you to plenty of sites where those resources are available for free.

Also keep in mind that this method is mostly just for sprucing up sketches, not for taking a full illustration to finish. I definitely would not recommend relying on a formulaic method like this for coloring everything you draw. It’s just an easy way to make a doodle look more presentable!

I use Photoshop CS5, but I don’t use any super fancy tools in this tutorial, so I’m pretty sure you can still use this process or something very similar to it in older/simpler versions of Photoshop or even entirely different programs like SAI (I haven’t explored SAI much yet, though, so don’t quote me on that).

One last thing: the key to learning Photoshop (or almost any other program) is basically to press all the buttons to see what they do. Look through all the menu options, click all the weird little symbols, just explore and experiment! I’m entirely self-taught in Photoshop, and that’s how I did it. It’s a lot of fun! Good luck and happy arting!

[altabestudio]

Adding character diversity: Faces (Ladies)

Unique Features Tutorial Pt 2 by jeinu

Tips on how to draw not so cookie cutter characters! Observations in real life are key to notice different shapes of faces. Placement of eyes, size and shape of nose, lips, eyebrows, chin and even cheekbones really can distinguish a character! Don’t let your character have same-face-syndrome, even if it is “your style!” Practice makes perfect!

[walonvaus]

Scott Eaton’s Bodies in Motion Reference Library

One of my all time favorite anatomy references is this handy dandy little webpage here.  More than 750+ male and female photos in sequence?  check.   Outstanding b/w lighting on all of them?  check.  All SFW images but enough skin showing where the muscle placement is?  check. Contortion, fencing, parkour and other poses included?  checkity-check.

All of that for free?  Aw yeah.

Go take a look around.  ;D 

[eyecaging-deactivated20190707]

How to cloud

Source- http://www.androidblues.com/cloudtut.html

[oldmanyellsatcloud]

Reblogged more for the rest of you, though I’ve always loved how 2D art can produce the illusion of rich lighting.

[dresdencodak]

I mentioned before some of my favorite character designs in the world of comics and have been meaning to tackle this subject again. I came to realize, however, that “character design” is itself a fairly massive subject, and that it would be best to break the topic down...

[belovedlights]

(tutorial)

i just did a cool thing that i think would be useful if you’re like me and sometimes have a hard time picking colours / a colour scheme for an image

basically i just took a brush with moderate spacing, turned on colour dynamics and set all the hue/sat/brightness to a low (~10%-30%) jitter, picked a base colour, and drew a line down the side of the canvas

it’s sort of like when some people save colour swatches so they can keep their shading consistent, but more for playing around with different tones and lighting on a single surface. it’ll probably be pretty good for skin which is very multi-tonal by nature.

a lot of colours came out that i probably wouldn’t have picked manually, but they still looked pretty cool. and it saves a lot of time because now i have a broad range of colours without having to browse through my pantone swatches or open up the colour picker.

[byeeeeeeeeeeeee-e-deactivated20]

Pugs chickenscratch guide to facial differentiation and character design-type stuff? :3 Like seriously, if you guys ever want me to redline/critique/give you tips/answer anything basically, I have my ask box open. Pugs use their powers for good, most days.

[yamino]

http://www.zvork.fr/vls/

Emlan just showed me this awesome lighting assistance tool! If you can get past the creepy stare, it’s really great reference for drawing faces in different lighting!

[hohomylad]

EVERYTHING I EVER WANTED IN LIFE

[msmandapants]

Way cool!