Art Reference Blog

I like to do the art thing he/him

[ikimaru]

How are you able to capture emotion and microexpressions in your comics? I've never been able to and you do it so well!

Do you post on ao3 or do just do more comics?

thank you! you can convey most of an expression through eyes/eyebrows alone, here's some examples

you can do that by changing the tilt and distance of the eyebrow and how much of the eye is covered by eyelids! if you're drawing more realistic it can be a bit harder since the changes will be more subtle

then the mouth can give a different meaning to an eye expression or go along with it, but yeah it's mostly trying those different options, the angle at which you're drawing a character helps with emphasis as well

some characters emote in a way that can be harder to convey or has less range so it also depends from which character you're drawing!

I suggest you look at how cartoons do it, since most of the expression will be done through the eyes and mouth they tend to be a lot more extreme, then you can tone it down a bit for your art if you need to

and no I don't post on ao3, I usually don't write!

[color-palettes]

Walk With You - Submitted by alliveirrr

#887F28 #C29743 #F0B58C #F29086 #F37472 #BD023F #682B0F

[color-palettes]

Sugar in My Coffe; Sugar in My Cosmos - Submitted by SeesawSiya

#14080d #ce2c7f #ed8433 #e9dedc #cc9ecc

[clevermanka]

🍁 Xavier 🍁 (@xavierck.com)

Here are 543 images (1.5GB) of items at the Philadelphia Museum of Art arms and armor exhibit You're free to use them for anything, even c

[the-ocean-is-trans]

casual reminder that this museum has their entire collection digitized and available free for public use: https://art.thewalters.org/ and they have armor/weapons there

[color-palettes]

random song(?) to listen to, i think- Submitted by: fastman27

#6B9B57 #97C46A #C0DA74 #D5E0A6 #EFF0CA

[color-palettes]

It feels like I’m in heaven (or going insane) - Submitted by: fastman27

#FFF4E8 #F7CFC6 #DE999B #6E507A #1B1A38 #07050E

[color-palettes]

Always On That String - Submitted by pocky-b-blogging

#0D0808 #382D27 #B87333 #EFDFBB #BDB882

[color-palettes]

You wanna see me dunk? (you guys ready?) - Submitted by: fastman27

#B5FFF1 #9BD69A #6AAA67 #46815D #294642 #15282E #0A181E

[malacandrax]

I know I say that I'm kinda nuts for doing the amount of visual research I do, but at the same time: Specificity is SO much more compelling and real feeling, and imo not getting references often makes things look more amateur.

Eg. drawing a sofa- my mental image of a sofa is something like this:

Like. Its a sofa. It works. But it's not very convincing, the pillows are kinda wrong at the back, and it's not really giving any information about the owner. Even if you want a basic sofa... What kind of basic.

comfy and cheap?

kinda rigid?

inherited? ------

who does this comfy cheap ikea sofa belong to anyway?

guy living alone?

teenage girl?

Grandma?

Anyway I'll get off my soapbox but specificity is sexy and fun and it can do your storytelling for you!

[haridraws]

I accidentally learnt a lot about sofas via drawing fantasy / historical comics and I feel like it made my art and my life better.

Like in one project I'm working on (set in early 1800s England) most sofas had a similar shape, but I tried to learn a bit extra so they still felt distinct!

It's also pre-mass production when most people couldn't actually AFFORD much clutter or variety, but I think there are still ways to show differences!

And not to be an insufferable nerd, but I do now sometimes notice BEAUTIFUL detailed fantasy art of eg. a rough, battered medieval tavern that also has the most luxuriously polished mahogany Victorian furniture of all time...

I too love a button-backed sofa, but is it always the MOMENT for one?

Is exact accuracy a huge deal or more important than storytelling? NO!!!! But usually you don't need to know anything about furniture to see the vibe is a little off, and a little visual research can add a lot to a drawing, and just be INTERESTING.

No, suitcases weren't a thing in 1800, yes I put them in anyway to give a VIBE

IMO in fantasy, being more specific and conscious of what realworld things you might be drawing from can help avoid 2nd-hand-fantasy orientalist, generic 'Eastern' settings, and gives you a chance to go look up cool craft and fabric art from around the world.

And honestly, looking up real historical settings taught me just how much European fashion, architecture and design has been deeply, inseparably intertwined with trade and colonialism in other parts of the world for thousands of years. (Persian rugs, mahogany furniture, so much wallpaper and almost all block and textile printing, dyes, colours, silk dresses, cotton anything. Anyone who tries to tell you traditional british culture means white culture is lying to you on more levels than you think.)

I just feel these are valuable things to be more conscious of in general, and made me more thoughtful about how everyday stuff gets designed and made.

But IF you do care about accuracy, specificity can also help you avoid accidentally drawing the default ikea chair of the mind into your space future / ancient China / 1400s Bohemia yaoi

[color-palettes]

I love reading an educational post on tumblr only to find out via the post’s notes that the info is either extremely outdated or a complete fabrication, truly the greatest social media platform on planet earth - Submitted by: fastman27

#FFF0E8 #D8D6A5 #79BE6B #3E7D67 #30374D

[yyshcul]

could you please do a tutorial on how you do your risograph style drawings? they look so cool 😭😭

[manicpixievamipre]

Black Widow 🕷️ 🕸️

Vanessa Hidgens, Halloween 2022

[retquits]

someone on my straw page asked how i make my art ✨glow✨ so i put together a little guide!! 🫶

this is an easy trick that helps dress up a super rough sketch (and adds a pretty cool effect to lineart too)!

[albanenechi]

Drawing bases & pose references pt 102

HELLO GUYS!! Pride poses are finally here! I hope you'll like them 🫶🫶 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈

Thanks for your patience and sorry for the lack of poses last friday. I'm changing things a little bit, I'll be now posting on wednesdays only, 5 poses for free and 5 for patrons!

Enjoy!

[rivriderart]

I was asked by a friend yesterday if I could offer basic tips about comic paneling. As it turns out, I have a lot to say on the matter! I tried breaking down the art of paneling using the principles of art and design, and I hope it helps you out!

EDIT: uh uh there are a lot of people reblogging this, so i figure i may as well append this now while i can lol

This whole thing was very much cranked out in a few hours so I had a visual to talk about with a friend! If this gives you a base understanding of paneling, that's awesome! Continue to pull in studies from the comics you see and what other artists do well and don't do well! You can tell paneling is doing well when the action is flowing around in its intended reading format.

Here's the link to the globalcomix article from which I pulled the images about panel staggering! Someone sent in a reblog that it wasn't totally clear that the 7th slide mostly covers what NOT to do in regards to staggering, and that is my mistake!

I saw in a tag that someone was surprised I used MamaYuyu too, and I don't blame them lol. If I had given myself more than a couple hours maybe I would have added something else on, I just really admire MamaYuyu's paneling personally.

uh uh, final append: I am by no means a renowned master of paneling, so if you find anything off base here, by all means, counter it with your own knowledge and ways you can build upon from here! Art is always a sum knowledge of everything we find. 💪

[ilovegayvampires-og]

Collection of images and memes for anyone who doesn’t know what to draw (edit: I added way more ❤️)

[mellon-soup]

More on patreon!