Artist Help HQ

We're here to help you to the best of our abilities, so feel free to submit/ask anything! Enter a tag in the search bar, such as tutorial, reference, redline, etc!~

[fyeahartisthelp]

Can we affiliate? We are a new artist alert/advisory blog, similar to artists_beware on livejournal. Trying to get some submissions. Thanks!

Wow, this has to be our first affiliation request. Wish you guys luck!

[randgris-deactivated20131023]

As a place where a crowd of artists is hanging out, pixiv is filled with tips, tutorials, and resources. But having a deal with its tags-based works arrangement can be a challenge. There is a list of tags labeling useful stuff on pixiv. メイキング — “making”. Step-by-step records of...

[sinisteray-deactivated20161114]

Can’t remember where I found this, but from the watermark I can only assume the source is ImagineFX magazine, the September 2008 issue.   If this gets enough notes I’ll caption each photo with the text displayed in each page! (‘Tis a bit small. Curse you, tumblr, get some better zoom! <shakes fist>)

[mitose-deactivated20240229]

Twitter / rokissh: この描き方めっちゃ楽だったからツイ　15秒で薔薇みたいな何か …

[sweetblossoms]

WAIT SO THATS HOW YOU DO THE THING

[weedofficial]

tomlinsass:

i kept bugging my mom about not buying me my favorite popsicles

and she kept saying “lacey i will buy them i will buy them relax"

and i came home one day and my mom was like “i bought popsicles" 

so i go to the fridge and open the freezer omg

why did you do this 

mom i know u can hear me

wHY 

WHY TELL ME 

HOW DID YOU EVEN FIND THIS MANY TO BUY AT ONE TIME OMG

[fyeahartisthelp]

Some of us in the more...warm...US states would love a mother like this.

Happy summer guys!

[kelpls]

MY FROND asked me how i draw shoes and then i got really into it and drew a whole bunch of SHOES HAHAH I hope this helps someone 

DON"T worry about getting the shape perfect at first bc you can always edit it later!! ALso this is just my really quick way of drawing shoes IT PROBABLY ISN"T EVEN RIGHT SOMETIMES LIEs down

[mosserole]

Shoulder Tips

[mosserole]

Hip Tips

[erykdonovan]

Perspective Grid 101! I’ve had a few people ask me about perspective, so I figured it was time I just did one of these tutorials and did a step by step. I hope it makes sense to people! A couple of notes on this - 1. There are a number of different ways to make grids. This is what I do, and it works for me. I have found this to personally be the easiest method, however if something else works better for you, use it! 2. This tutorial is designed for people who work traditionally. If you do your drawing in photoshop or manga studio, there are many quicker and more effective ways to make grids. I do all of my drawing on paper, and so this method is very useful for me. 3. Despite the appearance, this is actually really fast once you get the hang of it. Yes, it’s still faster in photoshop, but I can easily make a good grid on my page in less that 5 minutes, often under 2. The more you practice and understand the basic concept, you’ll figure out ways other ways to use it, and it will become like second nature. When I first started it often took me 20 minutes or more. 4. Feel free to share this, if you want to use it elsewhere, ask me first! If I can help people make better comics, I’m all for it! This Tutorial ©ErykDonovan

[paperseverywhere]

Incredibly handy, thank you.

[fyeahartisthelp]

just the kind of think I've been looking for!

-Companion Ehbi

[fyeahartisthelp]

The -Painty Style- Tutorial by =ehbi

[ladybeluga]

Tutorial of the Day

Placing Figures in Perspective by ~kiolia

[mollfie-deactivated20220102]

Tutorial - How To Draw Hair 1 by =DarlingMionette

[old-helpyoudraw]

Become a better artist tips from ImagineFX

[snart]

This is incredibly helpful for making walking sprites.

Just want to post this so I can share it with other people.

[usbdongle-deactivated20200531]

yesterday somebody asked me how i got the red-blue false 3D looking effect in the drawing of dipper that i posted, so I wanted to make a quick post about it in case anybody else didn’t know how!

first, you’re gonna want to condense the whole drawing (or at least, everything you want the effect on) to a single layer. then, duplicate that layer. 

right click on the duplicated layer and select “blending options”; this window should pop up. what you’re looking for is the part i’ve circled—Advanced Blending.

uncheck any of the boxes and hit okay. Go in close and, with the move tool, move the top layer slightly in any direction—you should notice the off-color effect when you do. Unchecking R, G, or B should have different effects, depending on what colors are in your drawing. I normally only uncheck one at once.

[old-helpyoudraw]

WA’s BOOT Anatomy Tutorial Pt2 by RadenWA frm DeviantArt

[fyeahartisthelp]

Hello! i love this blog, I love the tutorials you offer- but since I do not use Photoshop, I don't know how to replicate many of the tutorials. Currently I use 'Open Canvas' to paint with. Do you have any links to OC tutorials? Or possibly suggest an inexpensive alternative to photoshop?

Hi there! Sorry about this really late reply. I don't know of any tutorials for Open Canvas, but maybe searching on deviantart for "Open Canvas Tutorial" will help you. As for software alternatives:

I personally use Clip Studio Paint Ex, which is only around $5 a month for 7 months, then you get to use the software for free for the rest of your life. It's in japanese, but there is a translation team on the forums of sai.detstwo.com that have a complete translation of the software in case you can't understand japanese. The program is pretty straightforward though, and you'd be able to figure it out anyway. It's a very powerful program.

There is also Paint Tool Sai which cost around 30$ or so, but I'm not entirely sure. It's a favorite among some digital artists. 

Other alternatives include the GIMP, which is free and has actually updated to include many of the tools that photoshop does. 

-Ehbi