Art tips and critiques! @art-advice - Tumblr Blog

The Male Torso Top Image Row 2 - 5 Row 6 Bottom Image

a series of composition tips i’d been sharing on twitter!

and since some people had asked, i’ve put up a pdf version of this on gumroad along with a layered psd of one of the example images too

tips would be really appreciated, but it’s up for free!

#composition

scribbled-death

First tutorial posted up for Patreon Supporters is now available for everyone! Please read the tutorial carefully. If you have a question that is not in the tutorial I’ll be happy to answer it. Want me to make more tutorials and even video walkthroughs? Support me on Patreon!

Deviantart || Twitter || Webcomic || Commissions

all-hail-the-antler-king

@elaatmik

#effects #sparkle

nevver

Undo the Damage of Sitting

artist-refs

(Technically, this isn’t about saving your hands… but if you draw, you’re probably doing a lot of sitting, so…)

death-420

#exercises

fujo

SenshiStock’s gallery consists of millions of pictures that are free to use as reference.

General Drawing Poses Sit and Kneel Dramatic and Reaching Drawing Poses Magic and Hogwarts Drawing Poses Staff Weapon Pose Reference Hammer, Axe and Bat Pose Reference Sword Weapon Drawing Reference Small Bladed Weapon Pose Reference Gun Weapon Pose Reference Bow and Arrow Archery Stock Foreshortening and Perspective Poses Dynamic Flying Falling Action Poses Deafeated or Laying Drawing Poses Magic Crystal Magical Girl Wand Weapon Transformations and Dance Cards Back Pose Reference Pin Up Inspired Poses for Drawing Performances Poses Life in General Poses Fights and Fighting Pose Reference Leaning Poses Classic Sailor Senshi Poses Wings Sailor Moon Villains Pairs Romance or Couples Pose Reference All the Male Stock Hanging Stock Drawing Reference Three or More Groups Instruments Mirrors Whip Technobabble

ladyshinga

OMFG wonderful

suaine-deactivated20140607

I was just thinking, hey, maybe I could practice some more.

#poses #stock

kyletwebster

Real, pressure-responsive halftone painting is now possible in Photoshop, with my new Halftone brushes.

#brushes #photoshop

anatoref

Rocks! Row 1, 2 & 5 Row 3 & 4 Row 6 & 7

#environments #backgrounds #surfaces

ronyavalentine

Do you have any tips for drawing round ladies? :D

Hiya anon!

Well, I’m still learning myself, but here’s a few tips I usually keep in mind!

1.) “Fat” is not just a big belly!

Fat distributes everywhere, but not necessarily equally! Like at any weight, every body is different and has an unique shape! Some keep a hourglass shape, some become more pear-like, some are shaped like teardrops or apples… but the basic thing is, fat doesn’t just choose one place where it WON’T gather. It may not be as visible in some area compared to another, but in real life, it’s reeeeaaaaalllllyyyy rare to just find a person whose fat only stores in their bum, thighs and tits, leaving their waist, arms, neck and etc slim. Keep the body pleasant and thick all around, not just in the places where the weight-gain is the most imminent!

Keep the round shapes in mind!

2.) Rolls! Folds! What are they?

What are they? Not something to be afraid of, that’s for sure!

Basically, don’t hesitate to give your characters fat rolls. Skin folds, stretches and moves along with the body, and so does the fat under it! However, a lot of people who draw rolls tend to give the character many super small ones — this is not how rolls work! Usually, the thicker the person, the thicker the rolls — they increase in size, not necessarily in number.

Rolls are the most preminent in places where the body moves the most, AKA the joints. Fat folds over itself and creates creases and ‘rolls’.

3.) HOWEVER….

(No references here, sorry!!!)

When we age, our skin loses its elasticity and it can’t keep the rolls and folds thick and perky. In our youth, our weight can be held up way better than in our elderly days due to the stength and adaptivity of our skin which disappears as we age. Thus, fat tends to droop lower with older people, and the rolls appear thinner. This can also happen if someone who has had a LOT of weight packed up suddenly losing a big chunk of it — the skin can’t adapt and will begin to “droop“ down and lower. Make sure to keep such factors in mind when drawing and planning how the weight of your characters should be carried!

And then, a lil tip that;

4.) Study references and real life!

If you yourself pack some weight or have access to internet, libraries or just life on the street, you will see how bodies at different weights and shapes work and move. Use references, see for yourself — try to find how fat distributes and especially, HOW IT FOLDS! Folds and rolls seem to be one of the biggest problems many have while drawing thicker characters, and that’s ok — we’re taught as a society that fatrolls are inherently bad and disgusting, therefore there are not many situations where we’d find ourselves just… staring and studying how the fat in our bodies works and moves. You’ll learn quickly, though!

I’m still learning myself, but especially since every body is different and the weight we pack acts in unique ways, it can be really challenging to find the ‘absolute’ right way to draw thicker characters. Don’t give up! You’ll get the hang of it eventually!!

#fat #body shapes

hejibits

Hello, friends! I gave a seminar on Adobe Flash last night, and figured I’d also put the slides online for anyone who was interested in learning the program! Because of file size/bandwidth limitations, I can’t upload any of the example FLA’s, but you could easily find alternatives on YouTube. The dog pictures also made more sense in context. Well, kind of Tumblr hecked up the last few images in this post, so here’s an Imgur album of all of the slides at full resolution

#flash

houdidesu

hi there!! may i ask if you have any tips when it comes to making a color palette/picking colors? the colors of your finished pieces (and even your wips) are always amazing to look at!

ALRIGHT ANON BRACE YOURSELF. I spent a really long time on this sO HERE COMES A REALLY INTENSIVE COLOUR TUTORIAL AKA Houdi learns much in college painting classes.As usual, we need sth to work with so we’re gonna use my OC Anna. Everyone, meets Anna.

Anyway, every drawing starts with a sketch. We have a sketch plus a crash course on warm and cool colour idk why I wrote “hot” and “cold” here but whatever it’s late.

ANYWYAY, what you’ll need to know is red = warm and blue = cool. Anything deprived from these two are gonna be either cool or warm based on the colours surrounding them, so there is no in between. And an important thing related to palette is the line colours. If you’re painting without lines then it doesn’t matter, obv. But choosing the line colours for your drawing is very important. I used to do dark red but HAHA no. Lately I’ve been enjoying a lot of greyish purples and blues, since they’re pretty dark and neutral.

While we’re at it, let’s talk grey. Below is a horrible chart of complementary colours –> greys.

Idealy, they all should be cool machine grey. But alas, I’m not pulling out my oil paint for this and I can’t really blend digitally like I blend tradinationally sO WHATEVER. Anyway, greys are important in your piece. At least for me. It calms the colours down if it’s too vibrant, and lets the eyes travel throughout with ease. I’ll show you the differences later!

Now on to the actual colouring. Usually I start out with the lightest and then shade. Here I’ve blocked out the part where I want the shadow to be. What I do when I choose colours to shade is I use a warm and cool colour, not neccessairly complementary. It depends on which colours you like. I would advise to not use too saturated colours as of yet. I would blend those colours out, and choose the greyish/greenish colour they make. Sometimes you would get purple too, I usally just choose it from the colour wheel if I need it.

Now is the time to choose a darker slightly more saturated colours for the shadows. And just, blend everything until u die. More layers of shadows adds more depth, but it’s also can destroy all your colours altogther, so I suggest 3-4 shades + blush (is applicable) at most. (Althought 5 is when the fun really starts. It’s also kinda advanced and I suck at it lol)

Anyway, colouring lines makes the face lit up.

Hair. Same process.

For the clothes, I chose a really de-saturated blue, and a yellow that’s not too bright. You can see the most saturated thing right now on her is the hair, the eyes, and the buttons on her collar.

Below I have messed around with the saturation. And while to each their own (I kno, that really saturated one might look temtping but stay with me), if you’re just starting out with colours, try to use a more variety of saturation. Too saturated makes it very hard on the eyes, and the printing is gonna be hell on Earth. Too much de-saturation is just meh for me. Ofc, there are artists who utilizes these colours very well, but they know when to and not to abuse them. Just play around and see what you like. BUT TRY AND USE SOME GREYS THEY ARE MAGICAL. And no absolutely no black for shading. Just don’t. please.

Anyway, filters. I like overlaying. Just don’t abuse it cause when you’re doing traditional art after this you’ll cry.

Here’s some colour relationship charts I had to do in college lol it was really hard to mix them with oil paint.

I hope that was useful for you anon! There is another question for how I do BG and PLEASE BE PATIENCE WITH ME IT’S TAKING A VERY LONG TIME TO COMPILE THINGS TOGETHER ;;;;;

#coloring #color theory

anatoref

Planes of the Face Row 1 Row 2 (Lleft, Right), & 3 Row 2, Right Row 4 Row 5 Row 6,7, & 8

#planes #faces #heads

feredir

dear lord, I cry every time I see your blog ;_; (LOVE the Supernatural art >.<) But can you make a tutorial on how to draw the outline of the face correctly? I mean, I get the features right, and can get them looking in different directions (up, down, right/left, etc.) BUT IT'S THE FRIGGIN FACE OUTLINE THAT THROWS ME OFF, you know, the curve of the cheek (ESPECIALLY connecting the corner of the lips to the forehead), chin, neck and all that stuff. Pleeeeese help!!

Thanks very much!! I’m not entirely sure what you’re asking but I hope this helps ;;

So our faces are shaped the way they are because it’s skin and muscle draped over an underlying structure aka our skull. Spooky!

This looks eerily similar to the typical ball/crosshair/etc face frame… because it is lol. If you’re having trouble with the cheek you can mark in the area where the cheekbones are as a reference point when setting up your face.

If you don’t want all your people to look like Benedict Cumberbatch all you have to do is draw a curve from the edge of the cheekbone down to the chin.

UMM for necks I think the basic thing you should know is that there are 2 strips of muscle that come out from behind the ear and wrap around to attach to your sternum. Usually people simplify it to 2 lines on the neck like in your favorite animu but now you know what it really means!

Please let me know if this was completely off the mark from what you were asking lol ;;; BUT UM YES

#heads #faces #anatomy #tips

stanprokopenko

Anatomy Tracings is one of the assignments we'll be doing throughout the course. Here's an example of how to do one.

To download images to practice anatomy tracings on go to proko.com.

#anatomy tracing #studies #personal save

madlori

Writing advice you're not going to like.

People sometimes send me Asks wanting writing advice. I suck at it. I don’t really know how I do the writing, or how one should do the writing, or what one should do to get better at the writing. All I can ever think to say is “write a lot of stuff and you will get better at the writing.” Which is true, but hardly a bolt from the sky.

Well, as it turns out, I do have one piece of Legit Writing Advice, and I am going to share it with you, right now. If you were in any of my writing workshop groups at a con, you’ve heard this advice already.

Warning: you’re going to fucking hate it. But if you do it, you will thank me.

If you have a piece of fiction you’re serious about, something you might want to actually shop around, or just something you really are into and want to make it as good as you can…do NOT edit it.

Repeat. DO NOT EDIT.

REWRITE.

As in, print out the whole fucking thing and re-enter it, every word (or use two screens). Retype the whole thing. Recreate it from the ground up using your first draft as a template. Start with a blank page and re-enter every. single. word.

I hear you screaming. OH MY GOD THAT’S INSANE.

Yes. Yes, it is.

It is also the most powerful thing you will ever do for a piece of fiction that you are serious about.

Now, let’s get real. I don’t do this for most things. I don’t do it for my fanfiction. But if it’s something original, something I might like to get to a professional level - I do it. You absolutely COULD do it for fanfiction. It’s just up to you and how much time you want to sink into a piece.

You can edit, sure. But you WILL NOT get down to the level of change that needs to happen in a second draft. You will let things slide. Your eyes will miss things. You will say “eh, good enough.”

The first time I did this, on someone else’s advice, I was dubious. Within two pages, I was saying WHY HAVE I NOT BEEN DOING THIS ALL THE TIME. I was amazed at how much change was happening. By the time I got to the end, I had an entirely different novel than the one I’d started with. When you’re already re-entering every single word, it’s easy to make deep changes. You’ll reformat sentences, you’ll switch phrases around, you’ll massage your word choice. You’ll discover whole paragraphs that don’t need to be there at all because they became redundant. You’ll find dialogue exchanges that need reimagining. Whole plot points will suddenly be different, whole story arcs will reveal their flaws and get re-drawn.

You cannot get down to the fundamental level of change that’s required just by editing an existing document. You have to rebuild it if you really want your story to evolve. You will be AMAZED at the difference it will make.

It will take time. It will seem like a huge, Herculean task. I’m not saying it’s easy. It isn’t. But it is absolutely revolutionary.

Try it. I promise, you will see what I mean.

*PSA: Tipsy!Lori wrote this post. In case you couldn’t tell.

mooncalfe-deactivated20231020

maybe i should try this with my comic scripts.

imaginetheending

I love doing this stuff because I am weird. Usually what I do is wait until the end, when all thoughts are on paper, and then I start completely over.

It’s good advice!

#creative writing

jinjidraws

Could I ask what your brush settings are? :3

i started to use Clip Studio Paint a few weeks ago and use the standard pencil tool for OLs and sketches and this one for coloration

But you can also have my old Sai brushes:

Sketch and lines:

Color:

#Clip Studio Paint #brushes

mylittledoxy

Please support me so I may continue making tutorials and guides for everyone!

https://www.patreon.com/doxydoo?ty=h

groundlion

HEAD’S UP ARTISTS THAT RESIZE IN PHOTOSHOP. This really saved my life. I’d noticed that gross halo around art whenever I resized something but never knew how to get rid of it til Onta showed me and ahhhhh. I’m just so happy there was a solution to it so I really hope this helps others out too!! (also look at more cute bear faces I drew~)

owlgams

YOU HAVE SAVED MY LIFE, I do some contract work often and I need to transform objects and layers all the time and I noticed this the other day that the quality of each element was going fuzzy and gross and It made me a bit like “oh crap wtf”

thank you!!