SketchWorks Labs @sketchworks-labs - Tumblr Blog

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Welcome to Sketchworks Labs. This blog is run by @tonytylerdraws and is intended as a resource for illustrators and comic artists on Tumblr

Tips, Tricks and Tutorials Masterlist

This is a regularly updated master list of resources. Also included are a list of tags.

This blog is a work in progress

#pinned post #pinned intro #art tips #art resources #art tutorial #comic resources #digital art #art reference #coloring advice #comic tips #digital coloring

carmahnart

Hey y’all I have an announcement! My web app that I’ve been working on, Afro Index, is now live! It’s a visual reference library of Black hairstyles, for artist, animators, writers, and anyone who wants to learn more about them!

Check it out at afroindex.org! 💛✨

A reference library for Black hairstyles with accurate naming, structured filtering, and curated reference images.

#art resources #art reference

kyri45

✨My FREE online workshop on INTRO TO STYLIZED ANATOMY is BACK!✨

If you missed it the first time then this is your chance!

What we’ll do:

realistic human anatomy vs cartoon anatomy

proportions for cartoon characters

breaking downp characters anatomy

What you’ll need:

a drawing tablet + PC or a tablet +stylus (you can also print the PDF and follow with paper and pencils!)

1 hour of your time

a drawing program (Procreate, Photoshop, Ibis Pain, Clip Studio Paint,etc…)

pdf files you’ll receive a couple of days before the workshop

The lesson will be RECORDED! So as long as you are registered, you can watch it later during the week in case you miss it :)

capsyst

With the whole situation involving Adobe Animate being discontinued (but then maybe not), I thought it might be a good time to talk about my favorite animation app: Procreate Dreams.

Now I know Dreams had a rocky start, but with this latest update they’ve definitely made it a lot easier to use and I wanna share with you what you get and how to work with it because I feel like a lot of people don’t quite understand its potential yet.

For starters, we need to explain what Procreate Dreams can and can’t do. Dreams is a traditional 2D animation app. It is designed with hand drawn animation in mind. That means drawing every frame yourself. There’s no ability to rig 2D models with bones here. It is also raster based, meaning that rescaling animations and artwork upwards will result in blurriness. It’s also a little limited on some features, but that is changing as they update it.

Dreams is very much timeline based. Your main work area is going to be this timeline screen.

The timeline is where all your elements will be assembled. Backgrounds, sound effects, flip books etc. All of that goes into the timeline and you can adjust, key frame, and move around the elements all you want.

The Stage shows what the camera will see. Anything outside of the stage won’t be rendered.

Groups are going to be your best friends. By using the Group Lasso tool, you can select multiple elements from the timeline and merge them together into a group. This way you can have multiple layers for a character such as having a lineart layer, a color layer, an effects layer, etc, and all of that gets merged together into a single group on the timeline. You can always open the group up, adjust the elements individually, move them around, and ungroup them if you need to. And best of all, you can key frame and transform groups without disturbing the original artwork within the groups.

Now if you want to add an animation to the timeline you’ll wanna click the + icon on the right and select “Add Flipbook.” This will create a new element on the timeline. When you go to edit it, it’ll take you to this new screen.

This is where you’ll do the bulk of your animating. If you’ve ever used Procreate’s Animation Asssist feature you’ll be right at home. At the bottom of the screen are your frames. You can drag them out to create holds. Add new frames. Group multiple frames together so you can move them all easily. And even add multiple layers to the same flipbook.

Of course there are your standard Procreate drawing tools at the top. Under settings are the onion skin settings which you can turn on or off. Yes, Procreate Dreams finally has a lasso tool now too. Basically this is just the window you work in to animate your character and you can add or remove as many frames as needed.

Sound also plays here so you can synch up your animation to audio that is already on your timeline. Great for lip synching!

I know it seems like a lot, and I’m not going to go into super detail on how to use it, but I thought giving a quick overview of what you get would help people nervous about spending money on a new program understand what they’re getting.

I’ve been using Dreams for about 2 years now and it’s my go-to animation program. I love it. Yes there are other apps that may have more and better features, but it’s so easy to use and navigate and work with that I just find the interface much more intuitive. Again, if you are at all familiar with Procreate the art program, you’ll be right at home here. The biggest hurdle is just learning how to get into a workflow that works for you.

For me, I like to sketch out my rough keys to some audio on the timeline, then make a new layer and refine it. Then duplicate that layer to add color to it. Then group it all together so I can make final adjustments on the timeline. That’s been the most efficient way I work.

This animation I made for my Minecraft Story Mode short, for example, had me animating the 2D characters on top of a pre-rendered 3D video I added to the timeline.

So it’s actually entirely possible to use Dreams as a sort of video editor too. There’s a limit to how many video tracks you can have, but if you just need to make some edits on the go or add a little animated flair to a video… you can just DO THAT with Dreams! It’s even possible to do rotoscoping and compositing if you really dig deep into the weeds of what Dreams offers with clipping masks…

Oh yeah, one big advantage Dreams has is that all files imported into Dreams is contained within the file itself. So if I import 25 sound effects and 2 videos and plop them into the timeline to make an animation, I can send the Dreams file to someone else who has the program and they’ll be able to see and make edits to the video without needing to download additional files or worry about elements being lost. Everything is contained within the file which means you can potentially make a pipeline where you have one person make the storyboards, send that file to a key animator, have them animate their scenes in the file, send that to someone else who adds their own, etc, and by the end you just have one file with everyone’s contributions!

Anyway, I hope I was able to sing Dream’s potential and praises. I know it won’t replace Adobe Animate. But if you’re looking to get into making your own 2D animated videos and are familiar with Procreate already, it’s a good starting point!

Oh also it’s a one time purchase of $12, you own the app, there’s no subscription service AND the Procreate team is adamant against using Ai. Just in case you needed any more convincing!

Anyway, that’s Procreate Dreams. I love it. I think it’s a great program. And everything I’ve made on my YouTube channel has been made in Procreate Dreams. So if you need more examples of what it can do, feel free to check out my channel for more examples.

And of course if anyone has any questions about Procreate Dreams, what it can do, what features it has, or how to use it… please please PLEASE feel free to ask! I’ll be more than happy to try and explain anything I can!

#Animation #Procreate Dreams

feefal

you've always been a long time inspiration of mine for character design and colors!! just saw your stitched up piece again and just wanted to ask how you post such nice looking gifs-- every time i try to it just comes out dithered and crunchy :'(

Heheeee shucks, you’re too kind❤️ I always use this site for gifs, works like a charm! Tumblr is pretty frugal with gif resolution, but the ones made through this site is just below the threshold without making them crunchy

Online GIF maker where you can create animated GIFs, banners, slideshows from sequence of images. Upload frames and make a GIF or merge and

#Art resources

Breaking coloring rules

#coloring advice #Youtube

pianta

i got to try out byvegalia’s amazing new braid and curly hair brushes!! these are LIFE SAVERS, they are so cute and easy to use!

🤎 get them here! use my code AEPOYI for 10% off ✨

midwinterhunt

Hot Writers Don't Gatekeep

the writers REALLY liked my artist resource post, so I thought i'd give y'all my dragon hoard of things i use for writing

Reverse Dictionary, you type in the meaning of a word, and it gives you a bunch of words that mean that. (MY MOST IMPORTANT OFFERING IN THIS LIST)

Slang Dictionary, what it says on the tin.

Anglish Translator, Anglish is if English evolved without borrowing from other languages and it really itches my brain (Anglish is if english grown without borrowing from other languages and it truly itches my brain)

Incorrect Quotes Generator, Put character names in, and incorrect quotes come out. Really fun way to goof around with your characters' dynamics.

Handspeak, an ASL dictionary

Library of Babel, Odds are, the finished version of your wip is in here somewhere

The best fantasy map maker i have ever used

Glitch Text Generator is one I use A Lot, does ť̷̨̢͓̤͔̤̤̝̺̯̄̔̄̌̄͗͒͋͂͋͝ḩ̵̼̜͍͚͕̏̓͊̈̉̆̄͐́͗͒̈̃̊̚͜i̵̻̐̇̎̏̀̋̌̃̇̿͘̚s̴̮̔̂̇͒͑͝͝ͅ to your text

Totally not bootleg microsoft office

Emotions Thesaurus a guide for writing emotions and their associated body language

Mythcreants, has a whole bunch of stuff you can read to learn more about the technical aspects of writing

A decent article talking about what to think about when creating a language

Trope Talks, particularly good for beginner and younger writers or people who have a hard time reading. Honestly this whole channel is a fantastic format to get information into my adhd rattled brain.

FOR MY AO3 BESTIES! Postimages will host your image forever so you can embed it into your work

Ambient Chaos, sometimes the only thing in the world that can kick your brain into writing mode is nuclear sirens and lofi beats

Radioooooo, play a station from any place and year. Particularly helpful for period pieces.

midwinterhunt

Food timeline, when foods were invented

tahbhie

Creating Aesthetic Posts On Tumblr! 🎨

Do you know the exciting thing about formatting on Tumblr? You get to do what you want with your post.

However, if it's still confusing how you can make that happen, let's dive in right away.

♡ 🌹 ♡

STEP ONE: Know your post.

Figure out what your post is about and get it ready. Is it a prompt, an excerpt from your story, your characters, or writing tips and advice?

Ensure you already have the draft edited and ready.

STEP TWO: Major headlines or titles.

If your post has headlines, use the biggest font for the title. Examples:

⚔️ Five easy ways to get a novel done in 6 months.

Chapter 2: A Broken Mirror. 💔

👉Interview with my characters.

STEP THREE: Minor headlines or subheadings.

If you have subheadings or minor headlines, use the bigger font. Examples:

✯✯Read books to be a writer.

✯✯Attend local writing events.

✯✯ Share your work for feedback.

✯✯Write consistently

✯✯Set goals.

STEP FOUR: Colour and highlights.

You can colour your text too, to prove a point, highlight an important message, or for beauty. Long press or highlight the word, phrase, or sentence you wish to add colour to. Example:

With the recent activity happening lately, it has been concluded that it's dangerous to go outside at night.

Give me a reason why you chose to call at such an odd hour.

Cats and dogs are great pets.

Be my bestie!

STEP FIVE: Bold and italics

Long press or highlight your words to bold or italicize. Example:

I can't believe she just said that.

STEP SIX: Embedded link and link box.

If you have a link you want to share, you can do it in two ways.

👉 Embed the link in a text by long-pressing or highlighting the word, phrase, or sentence, clicking the chain icon, and inserting the link. Example:

Buy me a rose if you love what I do to support me.❣️

👉 You can also click on the chain icon to generate a link box, then paste the link in it, and click enter. It would show the content of your link. Example:

If you'd like to support me, buy me a rose.

Follow on Ko-fi.

STEP SEVEN: Emojis.

Use emojis to enhance the beauty of your posts when you feel the need to. Example:

My beautiful plushies just arrived, guys; unbox with me!! 😍🧸

STEP EIGHT: Emoticons

Use emoticons. They are similar to emojis, but made up of signs and symbols. You can use them as emojis or as beautification. Examples:

✅ I pranked my brother with water balloons yesterday; now he hates me. :(

☞⁠ Some items my friend asked me to get for her birthday. ☜

☞⁠Heels

☞⁠Balloons

☞⁠Dress

☞⁠Cake

☞⁠Confetti

☞⁠Donut

☞⁠Punch bowl

STEP NINE: Use listicle

To organize your work and keep it clean, make use of lists. Examples:

Wake up in the morning.

Brush your teeth.

Wash your face.

Eat breakfast, and

Drink coffee.

Wake up in the morning.

Brush your teeth.

Wash your face.

Eat breakfast, and

Drink coffee.

STEP TEN: Images and image descriptions.

You can use images that are free for use on sites like Pexels, Unsplash, etc. Example:

You create your own images on Canva. The image could be infographics, mood boards, etc. Example:

Image descriptions: To increase accessibility, click on the ellipsis on your image, click 'add alt text, then enter a description of your image. See examples above!

If you are an artist, your art can be added to your post where necessary.

STEP ELEVEN: GIF

Use GIF when you feel like it.

STEP TWELVE: Memes.

Create memes on sites like Memix to add a comical side to your post. Example:

OR writing-related memes like:

STEP THIRTEEN: Polls.

You can add a poll to ask the audience questions, giving them specific answers to choose from. You can also set how long you want the poll to last from the drop-down icon, and have up to twelve options.

To create a poll, click on the beach wave-like icon located in the lower right, next to the two human-like figures. Example:

How best do you like your coffee?

Hot ☕

Cold ❄️

Depends 🤷‍♂️

I hate coffee 🤮

Voting ended onJan 8, 2025

STEP FOURTEEN: Music.

The headphone icon is to add any music to your post. Could be a music that speaks more of your character, etc.

STEP FIFTEEN: Tags

You can tag your mutuals, friends, or people you want to see a certain post. In most cases, writing games and challenges.

@tahbhie

Before posting your formatted post, add # to increase the visibility. There's an option under your post that lets you do that. Click the plus icon and you're on your way. Popular writing tags: #writerblr #writers #novel writing etc..

☞ You can mix all of these ideas to get what works best for each of your posts.

#writeblr #writers on tumblr #writing tips #tumblr tips

kotori-mochi

Can't afford art school?

After seeing post like this 👇

And this gem 👇

As well as countless of others from the AI generator community. Just talking about how "inaccessible art" is, I decided why not show how wrong these guys are while also helping anyone who actually wants to learn.

Here is the first one ART TEACHERS! There are plenty online and in places like youtube.

📺Here is my list:

Proko (Free, mostly teaches anatomy and how to draw people. But does have art talks and teaches the basics.)

Marc Brunet (Free but he does have other classes for a cheap price. Use to work for Blizzard and teaches you everything)

Aaron Rutten (free, tips about art, talks about art programs and the best products for digital art)

BoroCG (free, teaches a verity of art mediums from 3D modeling to digital painting. As well as some tips that can be used across styles)

Jesse J. Jones (free, talks about animating)

Jesus Conde (free, teaches digital painting and has classes in Spanish)

Mohammed Agbadi (free, he gives some advice in some videos and talks about art)

Ross Draws (free, he does have other classes for a good price. Mostly teaching character designs and simple backgrounds.)

SamDoesArts (free, gives good advice and critiques)

Drawfee Show (free, they do give some good advice and great inspiration)

The Art of Aaron Blaise ( useful tips for digital art and animation. Was an animator for Disney. Mostly nature art)

Bobby Chiu ( useful tips and interviews with artist who are in the industry or making a living as artist)

Sinix Design (has some tips on drawing people)

Winged canvas (art school for free on a verity of mediums)

Bob Ross (just a good time, learn how to paint, as well as how too relax when doing art. "there are no mistakes only happy accidents", this channel also provides tips from another artist)

Scott Christian Sava (Inspiration and provides tips and advice)

Pikat (art advice and critiques)

Drawbox (a suggested cheap online art school, made of a community of artist)

Skillshare (A cheap learning site that has art classes ranging from traditional to digital. As well as Animation and tutorials on art programs. All under one price, in the USA it's around $34 a month)

Human anatomy for artist (not a video or teacher but the site is full of awesome refs to practice and get better at anatomy)

Second part BOOKS, I have collected some books that have helped me and might help others.

📚Here is my list:

The "how to draw manga" series produced by Graphic-sha. These are for manga artist but they give great advice and information.

"Creating characters with personality" by Tom Bancroft. A great book that can help not just people who draw cartoons but also realistic ones. As it helps you with facial ques and how to make a character interesting.

"Albinus on anatomy" by Robert Beverly Hale and Terence Coyle. Great book to help someone learn basic anatomy.

"Artistic Anatomy" by Dr. Paul Richer and Robert Beverly Hale. A good book if you want to go further in-depth with anatomy.

"Directing the story" by Francis Glebas. A good book if you want to Story board or make comics.

"Animal Anatomy for Artists" by Eliot Goldfinger. A good book for if you want to draw animals or creatures.

"Constructive Anatomy: with almost 500 illustrations" by George B. Bridgman. A great book to help you block out shadows in your figures and see them in a more 3 diamantine way.

"Dynamic Anatomy: Revised and expand" by Burne Hogarth. A book that shows how to block out shapes and easily understand what you are looking out. When it comes to human subjects.

"An Atlas of animal anatomy for artist" by W. Ellenberger and H. Dittrich and H. Baum. This is another good one for people who want to draw animals or creatures.

Etherington Brothers, they make books and have a free blog with art tips.

📝As for Supplies, I recommend starting out cheap, buying Pencils and art paper at dollar tree or 5 below. If you want to go fancy Michaels is always a good place for traditional supplies. They also get in some good sales and discounts. For digital art, I recommend not starting with a screen art drawing tablet as they are usually more expensive.

For the Best art Tablet I recommend either Xp-pen, Bamboo or Huion. Some can range from about 40$ to the thousands.

💻As for art programs here is a list of Free to pay.

Clip Studio paint ( you can choose to pay once or sub and get updates. Galaxy, Windows, macOS, iPad, iPhone, Android, or Chromebook device. )

Procreate ( pay once for $9.99 usd, IPAD & IPHONE ONLY)

Blender (for 3D modules/sculpting, animation and more. Free)

PaintTool SAI (pay but has a 31 day free trail)

Krita (Free)

mypaint (free)

FireAlpaca (free)

Aseprite ($19.99 usd but has a free trail, for pixel art Windows & macOS)

Drawpile (free and for if you want to draw with others)

IbisPaint (free, phone app ONLY)

Medibang (free, IPAD, Android and PC)

NOTE: Some of these can work on almost any computer like Clip and Sai but others will require a bit stronger computer like Blender. Please check their sites for if your computer is compatible.

So do with this information as you will but as you can tell there are ways to learn how to become an artist, without breaking the bank. The only thing that might be stopping YOU from using any of these things, is YOU.

I have made time to learn to draw and many artist have too. Either in-between working two jobs or taking care of your family and a job or regular school and chores. YOU just have to take the time or use some time management, it really doesn't take long to practice for like an hour or less. YOU also don't have to do it every day, just once or three times a week is fine.

Hope this was helpful and have a great day.

"also apologies for any spelling or grammar errors, I have Dyslexia and it makes my brain go XP when it comes to speech or writing"

animalphotorefs

Boosting this in case any of the programs and books suggested are useful.

All the photos on this tumblr ad the animal photo reference site I run is another resource available for artists to use!

As long as you’re not using AI to create your art, you can reference / trace / draw / recombine / make any sort of art you want, with any of the photos, for free.

#art help #art resources

adorkastock

🎉SURPRISE PACK!🎉 Male character reference sheet, featuring @blumineck (David the Arrow Bard). This is a Ko-fi exclusive pack. For just $5+, you'll get 12 pose reference sheets to make your best character art ever! Get it here: ko-fi.com/s/9c507dfc0c

#pose reference #adorkastock #senshistock #drawing reference #art resources

isa-ah

THERE IS. a website. that takes 3D models with seams and pulls it apart to make a plushie pattern and informs you where things need to be edited or darts added for the best effect. and then it lets you scale it and print off your pattern. and I want to lose my MIND because I've lost steam halfway through so many plushie patterns in the mind numbing in betweens of unwrapping, copying all of the meshes down as pieces, transferring those, testing them, then finding obvious tweaks... like... this would eradicate 99% of my trial and error workflow for 3D models to plushies & MAYBE ILL FINALLY FINISH SCREAMTAIL...

isa-ah

so this website let's you:

import a model

create seams in browser

tells you how accurately the seams will recreate the model when sewn

let's you designate fur direction

let's you import markings so the pattern shows exactly where they go on the piece

let's you add little measurements on the model that are also visible on the pattern

let's you paint the model to play with fabric colors

let's you name each piece so it's easy to sort the pieces later

let's you scale it beside a human

then calculates how much of each type of fabric you need, BASED ON YOUR DESIRED SEAM ALLOWANCE..

and finally gives you the finished pattern with the detailed names and instructions it's transcribed from your notes

this is. beyond. this is BEYOND. and as far as I can see it's free???

adorkastock

There's still plenty of time to help me raise money for LGBTQIA+ orgs! 100% of the sales of this pack (and direct donos to Ko-fi) will be split with: The Trevor Project, The Theater Offensive, and Transgender Emergency Fund MA 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️