Spent a long time on this art resource/reference masterpost! Finally starting to edit to add more. This will be REGULARLY updated so it’s gonna get huge. If you have a request for resources for me to find OR have a resource you want me to add, just send me an ask :D
General Anatomy/Human stuff:
body quick tips
painting/drawing straight hair
how to draw eyes
arm squish/bend tip
chest/pecks with raised arms tip
long hair how to
male torso anatomy (back)
learn manga male anatomy (torso & arm)
male torso anatomy (front)
head and hair tips (scroll a bit, it’s in one of the images!)
Everyone says NEVER TRACE!! THAT'S ART THEFT! Ok but we can do a little crime in the name of Learning.
Trace to learn, not to earn.
I like to take my own photos, but you can study whatever you want. Link back to original photos, and don't post copied artwork unless the artist is dead, cool with it, or both.
As always with learning, start every sketch with the intent to throw it away (trash for paper, quitting without saving for digital) This takes the pressure off and lets you make Bad Art, which is very important.
So let's make Bad Art of a Deer
because I happen to have one handy
Start with a photo of your subject in a nice/neutral pose with all four feet visible. (so not like me)
Freehand copy it. Try not to stylize, focusing instead of matching proportions and pose. Don't get too detailed!
It's ok if your art looks terrible and has broken legs. I've drawn LOTS of deer so I have a leg up. Everyone's art sucks in their own eyes and here's where mine went wrong:
Either lasso-distort (recommended for beginners) or redraw a copy of your first sketch with your reference behind it (scaled to match the main body of your sketch)
Put the original and modified sketches together and compare the differences. Write it down if you want. This shows you where your eyes saw things the wrong size, so you can correct for that next time.
After learning about both deer and yourself, try freehand copying again.
Marvel at your newfound knowledge and skill!
but there's always room for improvement
You can stop here and move on to your real drawing, Or do another freehand-fix-compare cycle. I actually overcorrected my "draws heads too big" and veered into "heads too small."
Another note on tracing: Learning HOW to trace is more important than anything you could learn By tracing. Draw the Anatomy, not the outline. In real life, things don't have outlines, they have bones.
These are from the same shoot which is extra useful for consistency. The lines are minimal and follow where the animals joints are, and only important parts are drawn.
You won't know what Important Parts means right off the bat, which is where in-depth study comes in. You need to do learn the hard parts to do the easy parts right.
Tumblr actually advertised something I was interested in, for the first time ever. I just went and checked out this little game and the opening gameplay made me cry a little because it was so gentle and kind. The whole game appears to be gentle and kind!
I admit I paid for the full game just to so I could poke around and be sure I knew what I was talking about before I made this post, so I was able to customize Amaru’s colors.
The game is designed to help players over a 2 month period, so I’m not entirely sure what happens after that. But basically, you arrive at this world and this tiny, winged cat-like creature named Amaru crawls out of the bushes, shaking and scared, and in order to help him, you have to be calm first. The game takes you through a beginning breathing exercise, and Amaru relaxes enough to accept a bit of food and to warily regard you.
Through small meditations, completing your 3 daily goals (which you get to set and they are small! Things like “go soak up some sunlight outside for a little while” and “spend 30 minutes doing something creative for yourself” and “eat a food” and “write down something you’re grateful for” etc) and very quick mini games, Amaru learns to trust you. You get to send him out on explorations of the various areas in the land, forcing you to take a break from the game. He wakes up and goes to sleep at your wake up and sleep times (which you get to set) so you can’t play with him when it’s bedtime. The whole game revolves around taking care of yourself in order to take care of Amaru- which is the first time I’ve seen a virtual pet app that so well mirrors that part of having a real pet.
Anyway, the game and many of the base features are free, if you want to give it a try. I don’t often recommend things, but I think this one is worth checking out.
Hey hey hey! 💕 🤠 I am trying to find some references/tutorials of the heads in different angles like left, right, top, from the back etc. If you can please and even if you can't thank you! Love your account.
This one was pretty highly requested and includes drawings that cover chins, jaws, necks, and heads.
Notes & Measurements
Approximately : bottom of eye to the bottom of the chin = chin to collar bone
Do not flatten the back of the head, unless your character has a dent in their head.
It’s easier to draw these angles if you draw a cross that guides the eye line and then the flat vertical ( | )line of the face.
For the back. of head, I think the most important part for a convincing drawing is paying to attention to how the neck/shoulders look from behind and then the ears!
Hope this helps!
Thanks for reading! If this post helped, please consider reblogging it or sharing it with your friends! ❤️
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“Brown eyes are so plain and ugly you can’t even compare them to gems like emerald and saph-”
Stop.
Carnelian
Cairngorm
Cassiterite
Smoky Quartz
Zircon (brown)
Citrine
Diaspore
Dravite
Enstatite
Hessonite
That’s not even all of GORGEOUS BROWN GEMS THAT EXIST IN THIS WORLD. Just like there are a lot of beautiful brown gems they’re a lot of BEAUTIFUL BROWN EYES. BROWN IS A GORGEOUS COLOR. Start treating it like one.
Apparently a lot of people get dialogue punctuation wrong despite having an otherwise solid grasp of grammar, possibly because they’re used to writing essays rather than prose. I don’t wanna be the asshole who complains about writing errors and then doesn’t offer to help, so here are the basics summarized as simply as I could manage on my phone (“dialogue tag” just refers to phrases like “he said,” “she whispered,” “they asked”):
“For most dialogue, use a comma after the sentence and don’t capitalize the next word after the quotation mark,” she said.
“But what if you’re using a question mark rather than a period?” they asked.
“When using a dialogue tag, you never capitalize the word after the quotation mark unless it’s a proper noun!” she snapped.
“When breaking up a single sentence with a dialogue tag,” she said, “use commas.”
“This is a single sentence,” she said. “Now, this is a second stand-alone sentence, so there’s no comma after ‘she said.’”
“There’s no dialogue tag after this sentence, so end it with a period rather than a comma.” She frowned, suddenly concerned that the entire post was as unasked for as it was sanctimonious.