We're Sketch Peddlers!

A private sketch therapy blog with the intent of building a support network and a sense of community between doodlers.Here you will find: reference material, music, motivation, drawing challenges, and more

[skeleslime-phantom]

Hey slimy bro, I'm trying to get better at drawing oozy, slimy and drippy stuff and I'm having trouble getting the look right. Got any tips you can spare?

Eyyyy I gotcha bro!

[s0ffia]

websites:

Animation World Network

Animation Backgrounds

Animation Magazine

Animation & CGI

Animator Island

Anime News Network

Cartoon Brew

Character Design References

On Animation

Reference! Reference! (free database for animation)

11 Second Club (monthly character animation competition)

tumblr blogs:

animationart

animationforce

animationtidbits

aspiretoanimate

calartscharacteranimation

disney-moments-sketches (Allen Ostergar’s blog, animator at Walt Disney)

drawingforsuckas

fuckyeahconceptart

storyboardresources

theanimationarchive

theartofanimation

wannabeanimator

resources/tips:

Animation schools: 1 / 2 (Top 50 USA) / 3 (Top 100 international)

Which animation school is right for you? (Ringling vs. CalArts)

Don’t want to/ can’t afford art school? you’ve got other options.

Animation Mentor: The online animation school

Art school exercises!!

51 Great Animation exercises

20 things you can expect as a traditional (2D) animation student that they never tell you

A Survivor’s Guide to Life Inside an Animation Studio

Animation basics: The art of timing and spacing

Animation Notes From Ollie Johnston

Animated chart of the basic principles of animation

10 Second tip: Always Anticipate

book: Animation: Learn How to Draw Animated Cartoons by Preston Blair

book: A System for Planning and Timing Animation by Glen Keane

book: Timing for animation by Harold Whitaker and John Halas

book: Gesture Drawing for animation by Walt Stanchfield

Basic 3D Animation Terminology

Digital pencil test!!

Keys to Emotion in Animation

Lessons from Disney’s Zootopia

Model Sheets central

The importance of Acting in Animation by Segio Pablos

Printable exposure/dope sheet

Phoneme Chart

Recommended reading for animation students and enthusiasts

The 5 Types of Animation

The Know-How of Cartooning 

The Unofficial Truth about The Animation Industry

Why Disney Sends Its Animators To Life Drawing Classes

Walk/Run Cycles reference

What is Pixar looking for in Animators? (scroll down)

Portfolio Advice for The Disney Animation Internship

What is Rigging?

3D Rigging Terminology

3D Modeling Terminology

tutorials:

Animation for Beginners: Where do I start

Animation Physics (Video tutorials on physics for animation artists)

Animation tutorial part. 1 AKA “the secret of animation”

Appealing Poses in Animation

Background & Movement in TV

Blinking tips

Breakdown tutorial (middle frame between to keys)

Drawing & Composition for visual storytelling

Drawing for Animation

Drawing a Likeness

Animation fundamentals + tutorials

Filmmaking: Composition and Framing

Getting Shape Change

How to animate using photoshop

How to animate Characters in Perspective

How to Animate Head Turns

How to Draw Gesture

OpeenToonz tutorials masterpost

Overlapping Action and Drag

Portfolio tips / Making A Successful Portfolio

Lyp Sync tutorial

Line of action

Basics of good cartooning 1-12 by Sherm Cohen

Squash & Stretch tutorial

Squash and Stretch 2

Storyboarding tutorials by Sherm Cohen

The Illusion of Life: 12 Principles of Animation

Tilt, Flow & Rhythm

Underlying Structure When Animating Expressions

TVPaint tutorial: Uploading and Coloring Scanned Animation

supplies (traditional animation):

10 Essential Art Supplies for the Traditional Animator

How to Use a Light Table for Animation

Making a Simple Animation Lightbox

Peg bars, Animation Disk & Desk

softwares:

free

Blender (3D creation suite. It supports the entirety of the 3D pipeline: modeling, rigging, animation,etc)

Emofuri (animate using .psd files)

Google Sketchup (

Live2D ( animation/drawing software

OpenToonz (Studio Ghibli’s open source animation software)

Pencil2D (create traditional hand-drawn animation (cartoon) using both bitmap and vector graphics)

Renderman (Pixar’s free 3D rendering software)

Sculptris (Free digital sculpting tool by the makers of Zbrush

SculptGL (Online modelling program)

Synfig (2d animation using a vector and bitmap artwork)

paid

Zbrush (digital sculpting sw by Pixologic)

Mudbox (digital sculpting sw by Autodesk)

Cinema 4D (digital sculpting sw by Maxon)

TVPaint  (2d animation)

animation studios:

Aardman (Bristol, UK)

Blue Sky Studios (Greenwich, USA)

Dreamworks (Glendale, USA)

Fox Animation (USA)

Imagination Studios/CN (Burbank, USA)

Industrial Light & Magic (San Francisco, USA)

Laika (Hillsboro, USA)

Luma Pictures (USA / Melbourne, Australia)

Nickelodeon Animation (Burbank, USA)

Pixar (Emeryville, CA)

Rise FX (Berlin, Germany)

Studio Ghibli (Tokyo, Japan)

Sony Picture Imageworks (Vancouver, Canada)

Sony Pictures Animation (Culver City, CA)

Walt Disney Animation (Burbank, CA)

Weta Digital (Wellington, New Zealand)

inspiration: worth watching short films

Coda by and maps and plans

Contre Temps by the Contre Temps Team

Duet by Glen Keane

DOG ENVY by Olivia Huynh

Fallin Floyd by  il Luster

French Roast

Gravity by Ailin Liu

In Between by Gobelins

Jinxy Jenkins and Lucky Lou by Michael Bidinger and Michelle Kwon

My Big Brother by Jason Rayner

Night Light by Qing Han

Nephtali by Glen Keane

Nocturne by Kari Casady

Historia de un Oso by Gabriel Osorio

Home Sweet Home  by home sweet home the film

One Bright Dot by  Clément Morin

Stickboy by Giant Ant

SOAR by Alyce Tzue

Tsunami by The Animation Workshop

Thought of You by Ryan Woodward

Vagabond by  The Animation Workshop

5 Gobelins Shorts That Pay Tribute To Women Animation Pioneers

[trisketched]

How to Make Your Art Look Nice: Lighting

Think your drawings are lacking that extra “oomph”? Maybe adding a little bit of lighting can help!

_________

The “How to Make Your Art Look Nice” Series

Flow and Rhythm | Thumbnailing | Mindsets | Reference and Style | Color Harmony | Contrast

[trisketched]

How to Make Your Art Look Nice: Lighting

Think your drawings are lacking that extra “oomph”? Maybe adding a little bit of lighting can help!

_________

The “How to Make Your Art Look Nice” Series

Flow and Rhythm | Thumbnailing | Mindsets | Reference and Style | Color Harmony | Contrast

[gingercatsneeze]

1. Ah Fai was a chief animator for McDull’s animated features. He’s super cool. Ultimate senpai. 

2. Previous post on breakdowns right here 

Some thoughts on acceleration and force

I presented this in the order of how I slowly understood the trick of delivering force - first an abstract concept of impact taught by Ah Fai, then a more complicated discovery on the acceleration pattern, last back to a more abstract concept of breakdowns. 

Like I’ve previously stressed, 2D animation is everything but one single approach. There’s no one rule that rules them all, but interchangeable ideas with math, or physics, or music, etc. There’s no “perfect” animation either, but what is perceived as organic and dynamic. E.g., using the Fibonacci numbers to animate didn’t bring me a perfect animation! On the other hand, a tiny change in the pattern could already make the feeling of force so much more powerful. 

Not so much of a tutorial than a personal experience. I hope you find this interesting hahaha 

[anatoref]

Drawing Challenges Row 1 Row 2: Left, Right Row 3 Row 4: Left, Middle, Right Row 5

[tojothethief-deactivated2019051]

Making a comic in MediBang

[glorious-draenei-eyes]

@rinkhet

[scarves-the-boy]

This would make things so much easier, where can I download it?

[tojothethief-deactivated2019051]

It’s free! http://medibangpaint.com/en/

[rapidpunches]

QUICK

FREE ART PROGRAMS I USE AND RECOMMEND

MEDIBANG PAINT PRO

FIREALPACA (the lightweight version of the above and really good for a slow computer)

GIMP (I use this primarily for editing purposes not drawing).

KRITA

WHERE I GET MY SUPPLIES:

JETPENS Check it out!!! 

Jerry’s Artarama

Dick Blick

REFERENCE  FOR DRAWING PRACTICE

jademacalla

null-entity

senshistock

posemaniacs

DIGITAL ART STUFF

Palette Generator

Color Blender

CHARACTER DESIGN STUFF?

Comparing Heights

Body Visualizer

[miyuliart]

I’ve been studying the classic black tie dress code (mainly from here) so I thought I could share my notes. Maybe they can be helpful to someone else, too. If I made any mistakes or things are really confusing please tell me.  I also have some notes on white tie which I could share as well…

[anatomicalart]

Let me link Yall’ to this holy grail. I present to you Character Design Reference on [Pintrest] || [Tumblr] || [Twitter] || [Facebook] || [YouTube]

I couldn’t even include all of the reference boards this blog contains on this photoset. That’s right! There’s EVEN MORE! There are pages and pages of them! It is an inspiration treasure trove! Bookmark this link! Fill your life with inspiration!

[anatoref]

Using Shapes Row 1 & 2 Row 3 - 5

[grizandnorm]

Tuesday Tips - Some pointers about gesture drawing. #norm #grizandnorm #gesturedrawing #tuesdaytips

[vulture-jack]

Why Krita is Awesome: A Collection of Reasons Why This Program is Worth Taking a Look At

Krita is a painting program that has been around for a while, and in the last few years, underwent major changes and improvements.  Because of these improvements, many artists are using it not just because it is free, but because it offers amazing features.  These are by no means all of the great things Krita has to offer, but simply some of my favorite features of the program.

1. The Brush Engines.

Yes, engines.  As in plural.  There are many.  And they all do different things.  There is no way you could possibly capture all of its possibilities with one screen shot, but here are just some of the possibilities. Along side standard round, square, and shape, and textured brushes, there are brushes that smear, blend, and create interesting abstract strokes.  There are brushes for filters, and one of my favorites, the Experiment Brush, which is basically a pre-filled lasso tool. 

Brushes also support weighted smoothing, or brush stabilizers.

This is incredibly useful for line art.  And while I do not usually use this feature, it is something that I feel many programs are lacking, such as Photoshop.

But its brushes aren’t the only thing about Krita with variety.

2. Color Selector Customization. 

Whether you prefer something basic, or something more complicated, Krita will likely have what youre looking for.  You are not likely to find yourself missing your other program’s color wheels.  There are even more options than this, and other color selectors.

Gotta love that customization.

Krita also has some great naviation tools.

3. On the fly rotation, zoom, and brush sizing.

With krita, zooming, rotating, and brush size scaling are all smooth, and dynamic with the use of hot keys.  These are features I miss when in other programs.  To zoom, Ctrl+Middle mouse button, hover over the screen to zoom in and out.  The same with shift rotates (press the ‘5’ key to reset rotation).  Holding down shift and draging your brush on the canvas dynamically changes its size, allowing you to see the change, and get the exact size you want without brackets. Brackets also work, if that’s what you are used to.  Krita also has highly customizable hot keys.

4. The Pop Up Pallet

The pop up pallet is a set of your 10 favorite brushes (which you can edit), and a built in color wheel that appears when you right click on the canvas.  It is incredibly useful for switching between those few brushes that you use in almost every picture.

5.  Real time, seamless tiles creation.

Pressing the W key in Krita will infinitely tile your canvas, and allow you to work real time on simple to complex tiled images.  You can zoom in and out to see how your tiles work form a distance, and paint freely to create seamless artwork easily, without having to check using filters and manually tiling. Very usefull for patterns, backgrounds, and games.

6. The Symmetry Tool

This one goes without saying, Krita supports both horizontal and vertical symmetry, along with a brush that is capable of radial symmtry with as many directions as you like.

Go nuts, kid.

There are many more reasons why this program is awesome.  And it is only going to get more awesome.  And the coolest thing about it, is that it is 100% free.  So go check it out!  There’s nothing to lose. Krita isn’t for everyone, it can be hard to get the hang of, and it is not meant for photo editing, it is a program completely focused on digital painting from start to finish. 

Give it a go and see if Krita is the program for you.

[isharton]

Thing i learned some time ago!  hope you all find it helpful ( perspective grids can be your friend!)

[tempreclude]

3 Random Pose Generator Websites For Pose Referencing

Basically im just putting together the 3 most useful websites for pose referencing that ive come across over the years because you know, they’re crazy useful and I could be saving someone a lot of time by just putting them all together in one post. Below each description is a picture from the generator described so you know what to expect.

— PoseManiacs. Pretty well known generator thats good for understanding how muscles work and what they look like. They have a timed version and pose library as well in case you want to practice gesture drawings or challenge yourself. Also (and this may not be as well known,) but they have a site with a selection of maneuverable hand poses too. I think they’re beginning to work on adding other body parts, since theres a couple beta body parts as well. You can click on the blue buttons at the top to scale, mirror, and rotate your object.

Quickposes. This website provides you with nude photos (some with or without underwear) out of their library of interesting models and poses. There’s also an option for clothed models as well. Great for figure drawing in general. Timed version and pose library available.

Atarichan Drawer. Provides you with a random framework skeleton that you can rotate to draw at any angle. This is my most recent discovery so im not too familiar with it, but according to the directions, you ctrl+z to undo up to 7 times, space+drag to move around, and space+drag > release the mouse only and click save to set a position. The instructions says that “you move a viewpoint in space+drag and confirm it when balls are piled up,” but im not really sure what that means and havent been able to figure it out yet. To my knowledge, there is no timed version or pose library available.

[orsob]

some hands and feet practice sketches, used this site - pixelovely

[tanglefootcomic]

So I probably shouldn’t be dispensing advice on this subject given that I draw fingers with anything from zero to five knuckles apiece depending on my mood and I frequently put knees in places they shouldn’t be, but here I go anyhow!

I don’t exactly have a calculated, methodical approach to drawing the figure. Most of the time, I try to nail down the movement and emotion in a pose before I even begin to think about the accuracy of the anatomy. If I worry too much about constructing a perfectly-proportioned figure – at least in the preliminary sketches – it tends to suck a lot of the dynamism out of my work. When I do thumbnail sketches I try to make my lines as long and free-flowing as possible, without getting too hung up on little technicalities like the fact a person’s legs are not typically five times the length of their torso (I usually fix these mistakes later on. Y'know. Most of the time). Just about the only things I’ll try to pin down in these quick sketches are the angles of the head, shoulders and pelvis, the midpoint of the torso, and sometimes the curve of the spine, just to make sure my poses aren’t too far outside the realm of anatomical possibility. Once I’ve gotten a pose to the stage where it expresses the mood or motion I’m going for (which usually takes several different iterations), then I’ll start to work out where all the various parts ought to be. Which isn’t to say I won’t make bones curve and joints bend in totally improbable ways if it suits my purpose.

So having just re-read the above, I feel like it’s really not particularly helpful. I guess I owe whatever skills I’ve acquired to trial and error rather than systematic study, so my working process is about three parts total chaos to one part vague instinct. But for anyone just starting out, I can’t overstate the importance of studying from life. This doesn’t necessarily mean you should take life drawing classes (although they’re great, and I wish I’d taken more) – just watch people as they walk or ride bikes or light cigarettes or lift heavy boxes and try to build up a basic mental model of how the human body works. Pay attention to people’s body language and various quirks and mannerisms and file them away for later. I think I owe most of my artistic ability, such as it is, to having constantly observed the people around me – far more so than the time I’ve spent actually sitting down and drawing. So, y'know, everyone thinks I’m a creep and I never get invited to parties, but on the plus side I’m able to make an extremely meagre living by drawing silly pictures. Everything’s a tradeoff.  

[shingworks]

I’m going to be terrible and bulldoze some observations into this post:

Angles: TF takes mega advantage of angles and positioning. You rarely see the drawings of the faces, torsos, whatever at neutral or “head-on” positions; they are often tilted in a dynamic way or the camera is located in a position where there is a feeling of movement even when the figure is at rest.

Swivels: Check out the way large elements are pointed, where the midline is and where a perpendicular arrow would be facing if drawn outward from the midline. You’ll notice that TF draws a ton of things like the torso pointing one way, and the hips another. Or the face looking in one direction and the body turned 45 degrees away. And the feet, which are actually one of the things I find most distinctive about TF’s work, are often aligned in crazy ways that bring to mind flapping, tapping dance moves. EVEN MORE DYNAMISM

Flexing: How can you even stuff more movement in there WELL TF does it by making the individual elements within the larger groups flexible in their own right. Look at the way that the feet, which most people will draw rigid as if fit in a shoe, curve like a C shape. You find minor lines of movement all over the body in addition to the major ones in the spine and limbs. All of this while retaining the proper basic skeleton inside of legs and such (no curves on the femur). The best part is that TF’s observational powers informs where to add fat and muscle to the proper areas and create the characters that we gotta slam that reblog button on

Anyways just some observations for me and you because Tanglefoot is one of those artists that you learn from literally every time you see their posts, and because I deeply love this work.