Resources for Artists
General Art Theory
Anatomy Books
All books by Andrew Loomis. PDFs of the books are available here for free download.
Figure Drawing For All It’s Worth and Drawing The Head and Hands are currently back in print.
Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist is also good.
I like Cyclopedia Anatomicae for all the different animals it has in it too.
More Books
Elemental Magic, Volume I: The Art of Special Effects Animation. This is a book for animators, but I’ve found it’s insights incredibly useful for rendering the same “special effects” like water and smoke in illustration.
Understanding Comics and Making Comics by Scott McCloud (I actually think even people who don’t make comics ought to read these, they have lots of info useful to anyone who draws characters and scenes)
James Gurney’s Color and Light and Imaginative Realism are also chock full of useful insights and information.
Online Resources
- Articles
How To Steal Like An Artist (And Nine Other Things Nobody Told Me) (This article is really insightful!)
- Anatomy
As the poster here says, Andrew Loomis was reincarnated as a Japanese man and this is his website.
Mhampton Lecture NotesTwo Three Four Five Six Seven
The head from many angles
Fat People and Varying Body Types
Straights vs. Curves
How to draw an ear
Veins of the arm
Trick for drawing bent arms proportionately
Drawing Eyes and pupil placement
- Animal Anatomy
Canines vs Felines - Canines vs Felines heads
- Fantasy Anatomy and Character Design
Thoughts on Wings (on humanoid figures)
Giving Your Characters Unique Features
- Expression and Pose
Body Language Reference Sheet
Tracy Butler’s guide to Expressions
360 degree expression tool
Push Your Poses Tips from the folks behind Spongebob
The Facial Expression Repertoire
- Composition
Composition tips
Composition and Perspective
‘The Secret to Composition’ Tutorial
- Light
PSG Art Tutorial
Light: A Detailed Tutorial
Gradient Tutorial (Or about how light diminishes in intensity)
- Color
Gamut Mask
Color Scheme Designer
COLOURLovers (great place to find color schemes
Contrast is Color
- Perspective
Perspective tips
Perspective without vanishing points on the page
Composition and Perspective
- Backgrounds
- Comics
Comic Strip Artist’s Kit
Wally Wood’s 22 Panels That Always Work
Crossing the 180° (or) Obeying Screen Direction
- Rendering and Detail
Skin Tutorial parts one and two.
How To Paint Realistic Hair.
Common Digital Painting Mistakes
- Tutorial makers and hubs
Reference Photos
Lupinicious (photos of wolves)
Swillowness Horse Stock Photos
Puget Sound Wing Image Collection contains images of many species of bird’s wings. Many show both above and below.
Feline Comparison
Wardrobe Remix is a thing where people take pictures of themselves wearing outfits they like. It’s not supposed to be fancy, just your regular clothes put together in a fun way. It’s a great way to see all the different ways you can dress your characters (it’s also a great way to see lots of different kinds of people and how much they can say about themselves just standing neutrally in front of a camera. Some look at the viewer, some meekly hang their heads, others look defiantly in another direction. Some smile, some don’t, some scowl. Does the demeanor of the subject remind you of one of your characters? Well then, what are they wearing? Might be something they’d wear!).
Advanced Style is a blog of photos capturing great stuff old people wear. So kind of like the above, but with seniors.
Sleeves, necklines, collars and dress types
Tree Encyclopedia for pictures of specific species of tree.
Photographic Height/Weight Chart
Athletic Body Diversity
Haircuts for Men
A Handbook of Ornament
Bugs
This guy takes really excellent pictures of bugs.
This other guy takes great macro videos of spiders.
Bug Guide for specific species of insect, spider and such.
Painting
DIY moisture retaining palette for acrylic paint
Acrylic paint tutorial
Tumblr Blogs
