The SSMB Tutorial Thread: Update (8/30)

[Nepenthe]

If our forum's got nothing else, we have a nice glut of artists on here. But one of the cons of being creative is that we hit walls where a concept or process seems unfathomably difficult. We've all been there, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who's seen people lament these kinds of blocks in the status updates. So here's a potential solution!

The purpose of this thread is to gather a collection of tutorials, resources, and links for the purpose of improving one's artistic skills. It'll inevitably focus on drawing and digital painting, but you're not limited to those disciplines! If you've got anything on writing, animation, 3D art, music, programming, costume-making, whatever it is you're interested in, then it's welcome here. Variety's the spice of life after all, and different things may allow people an easier time to jump into other activities they hold interest in but nevertheless don't know where to start.

Rules and Guidelines:

 

• What Counts: Written/image tutorials, videos, books and pdfs, web pages, asset downloads (ex. Photoshop brush sets), etc. Basically, if it teaches you something and/or gives you an aide, it can be posted here.

• Give Credit: You're free to directly post material to your heart's content, but everything must come with a link back to the original source! This is both for the sake of documentation and to adhere to the plagiarism rule. This does not count if the material in question is yours, of course, and for documentation's sake a direct link to the post will be made instead.

• Tell and Show: Give a description of the resource you're providing: what it plans to teach you, the difficulty level, if it's actually available for purchase (if it is, try to remember to include a link!), and any other information you find pertinent. This allows people to immediately know what you're actually posting as well as give the topic some form of discussion value.

• Don't Take A Mile: By all means, post impressions of the tutorials provided, offer better ones if you can, and provide samples of any work you've done using the resources here. However, try not to turn this into a catch-all Showcase thread. You can post a clear example of your first stabs at something or any noticeable improvement (I totally want to see some before-and-afters), but large or continuous posts of finished work that would be better suited to your own personal thread are disallowed.

Edited August 30, 2013 by Nepenthe

[Lady Soniko]

Gotta give my input on this because of Penthy being my drawing rival, but i HIGHLY encourage you to purchase the Animator's Guide by Richard Williams, it's chock full of stuff you need to know and stuff you wouldn't even think about learning that could help you hone your skills, it's also filled to the brim with Richard's humour, and his quirky little doodles, In fact we were told to purchase it as our Animator's bible when i was on my animation course, seriously there is no other book on the market that comes close to it's helpfulness, just wish it wasn't so heavy and large xD.

However my main focus lately has been on Clothing so this natural drapes and clothing flow will also help greatly, thanks bby <3

[Urban Flow]

Very interesting Topic I must say. Nice Job!

[Sean]

I think this topic is worth a pin.

[Silencer226]

Well I recently bought this nice little book here entitled

Drawing People How to Portray the Clothed Figure

While I have not had a chance to fully utilize it yet, it does cover a lot from figure relationship to wrinkles in clothing and etc... It actually covers more than just clothing. I had no intention of buying this at the store but I flipped thorugh the pages and thought hey this has some nice stuff in it. Even tells you to relax and how to just let it all flow.

Hi-Fi Color for Comics

Master Digital Color

Basically textbooks with projects on a disc that you can work on and learn from. So you're not using your own shit, big whoop, the goal is to learn the software and it's capabilities.

I've also recently stumbled upon ImagineFX they have several workshops you can download and work with. And if you want you can subscribe to their magazine which almost always has some new thing for it's subscribers to work on.

Granted I am just now learning this stuff myself but these have been helpful to me

Edited November 3, 2012 by Noel Mu-12 Vermillion

[Nepenthe]

Great contributions Noel; thanks. x3 The first book caught my eyes the most because breaks down the art of drawing in a classical manner, which is difficult to get across without images or without a teacher showing you like I've been privy to. Seeing that stuff's gotten me back in the mood for drawing figures. I get very lazy on that and feel like a bad person for awhile. =(

Also, that ImagineFX site looks amazing. Awesome-looking stuff to download. And it's free. <3

[Silencer226]

I was mainly interested in manga style drawing so that's how I stumbled upon ImagineFX. I subscribed to them and bought a few digital versions of their magazine. I've been inspired by it to be honest *blush*. I want to be an Illustrator I've invested so much into this stuff this year so I'm not backing down.

And yes the first book is awesome, I think you'll get a lot out of it.

[Silencer226]

Alright, I hate bumping, and I hate double posting but I think this thread could use a revival. I'm just going to list a few books that I bought back in January that I've found to be helpful.

 

How to Draw Comic's The Marvel Way

 

This is book has pretty much fixed my approach to drawing people. I know I know, its comic art but it has gotten me in the habit of "layering" my drawings instead of trying to "build rome in a day". I've grown to enjoy this book and it also provides various gesture poses for you to practice. 

 

Bridgman's Complete Guide to Drawing From Life

 

Contains a lot of reading, as well as a fucking ton of example sketches to replicate. I've been working in this book since February, and I have noticed improvements. Not sure if I'd recommend this to someone who has never attempted to pick up a pencil to draw ever.

 

 

Lessons in Classical Drawing: Essential Techniques from Inside the Atelier

 

This one, comes with a DVD and you can see the artist work from scratch. I haven't used it much but it has a 5 star rating on Amazon.com, one simply cannot use more than 1 book at a time.

 

Currently this is all I've been working with for the past few months, I will add more later, as I do have a few other books I've purchased but have not had a chance to dive into.

Edited April 29, 2013 by Black Raven

[JezMM]

Oh oh I gotta add what is practically my bible these days.
 

 
It is essentially a series of "lectures" about the art of... well, making comics, presented entirely in comics form with fantastic humour, examples, and excercises throughout (both presented through the comic itself, and as optional chapter break activities).
 
This book is just seriously amazing and full of invaluable advice.  Frankly it'd be easier to just let some example pages to do the talking:
 

(Of course fear not, this book does not shoehorn you into a particular way of drawing, only a page later does he touch upon the benefits and differences created via highly detailed, continous scenery shots within comics).
 
(Three more contained in the spoiler, just for the sake of bandwidth).

 

 

The entire first chapter can be read for free with Amazon's Look Inside feature, and the bonus mini-chapter specifically about webcomics can be read on his official site here: http://www.scottmccloud.com/makingcomics/five_half/00.html

 

If you're really into comics, I'd also recommend his two previous books, Understanding Comics and Reinventing Comics (also presented entirely in Comics form like Making Comics is!) - though the key elements of these books are touched upon in Making Comics so they aren't required reading to fully utilise Making Comics.

 

UK Amazon Link

 

US Amazon Link

 

Also avaliable on Kindle as well as physical copies.

 

Trust me, this book is well worth your money if you want to make comics.  I've read it a good 5 times now and it is still informative and enjoyable.

Edited April 30, 2013 by JezMM

[Silencer226]

Hmm, so I have these books.

 

Sketching Manga Style Vol. 1: Sketching To Plan

Sketching Manga Style Vol. 2: Logical Proportions

Sketching Manga Style Vol. 3: Unforgettable Characters

Sketching Manga Style Vol. 4: All About Perspective

Sketching Manga Style Vol. 5: Sketching Props

 

I've browsed through them and they have some pretty good information. In fact it took me forever to track them down, unfortunately I have no idea where you can get these books at a good price. You might find "other" ways to "acquire" them. Sometimes you can find some by browsing ebay they're like $70 a book almost.

[Nepenthe]

Finally updating this thing, not with massive tutorials but with something else I feel is just as important in the life of an artist. I've noticed members here having trouble with the inability to see their projects through to the end. We get excited at the potential then realize we don't have a clear-cut path to finishing our ideas. Sometimes the project is absolutely mountainous and we lack the tools and know-how to start scaling it. Setbacks happen: We forget to save things, files corrupt, this particular piece of art is difficult to do, we lose something outright. Well, I've got two resources here to help you out with that. First: Trello!
 

 
Trello is amazing; think of it as a sticky notes system with infinite writing space and functionality. Add checklists, color coordinate, upload relevant files directly to the notes from your computer or even Dropbox and Google Docs! You can also add other members to your boards, allowing them to work on your projects in tandem with you! But what ultimately makes it amazing is its ability to help you properly visualize your project and break it down into clear-cut manageable pieces. It's very difficult to do any large art-related projects when the only thing I have in my head is a fuzzy idea of what it'll look like when done. Using this website, I've basically soared ahead of schedule in my animation class, and I've gotten farther on personal projects than I would have otherwise. Best of all, it's also free. :3
 
But before you start Trello'ing, it's also pertinent to figure out whether or not your project is even tenable in the first place. Organization and visualization are half the battle; honesty and self-knowledge is the other. You should understand your artistic capabilities as well as your work ethic, and create projects that pertain to those abilities. Stop setting yourself up for failure. Instead, use SMART Goals.

 
I know it looks like cheesy inspirational shit, but this is something that has been used through the world of industry and business, and is something we've used in our school, because it just works. It basically forces you to ask yourself: Is your project specific enough to even go ahead with production on? Are the various aspects to it manageable? Is the entire thing realistically attainable? Are all the parts to your project relevant, or can some tasks be scaled down or eliminated? What are the time limits on the project? Answering these questions and others will allow you to take that idea for that epic graphic novel you've got and run it through the wringer to test its actual attainability, or to make it so that, yes, you can actually accomplish it.

 

Again, I know it's not as exciting as "Free Tutorial Guide From Super Amazing Artist" and whatnot, but I hope these things will be useful to you guys in future endeavors.

[Ferno]

Oh oh I gotta add what is practically my bible these days.

 

 

It is essentially a series of "lectures" about the art of... well, making comics, presented entirely in comics form with fantastic humour, examples, and excercises throughout (both presented through the comic itself, and as optional chapter break activities).

 

This book. Best comic-related book I ever stumbled upon years ago. This was the book that led me down the path to wanting to do comics back when I was on the fence over whether to pursue either comics or animation in the future. It showed me that yeah, you can make characters come alive, you can bring people into a whole other world, or even create a thrilling and captivating experience that almost feels like you're watching it happen on a screen, all with either the flashiest software known to man, or a standard sheet of paper, and ballpoint pen. The tips included are also pretty great, and they really helped me out and still do whenever I look through it again. I'd definitely recommend it, as well as the others mentioned.

[Silencer226]

I'll probably look into getting that book eventually, comics are something I do want to pursue at least once.

[InfinityAlex]

Oh, well this seems interesting. I'm not sure whether this classifies, but I've found this tutorial to be rather useful. It's a general spriting tutorial to help one make tiles. It was originally designed for making Sonic styled tiles, but I believe it to be universally applicable.

Original link: http://www.themysticalforestzone.com/sprites/Sonic/tourtorails/BG_tut2.png

All credit goes to Gamenerd Advance.

Hopefully this helps someone.

Edited September 9, 2013 by InfinityAlex

[Nepenthe]

Oh, well this seems interesting. I'm not sure whether this classifies, but I've found this tutorial to be rather useful. It's a general spriting tutorial to help one make tiles. It was originally designed for making Sonic styled tiles, but I believe it to be universally applicable.

http://www.themysticalforestzone.com/sprites/Sonic/tourtorails/BG_tut2.png

All credit goes to Gamenerd Advance.

Hopefully this helps someone.

 

Oh noez, the link is broken; says one does not have permission to access it from this server. D:

 

Also, updating because I stumbled upon two tutorials so illuminating that I need to try them now. Like, right now. It concerns how to lay out cityscapes and interiors. I always did it the way I was roughly taught in school, which is starting from a horizon line and just building from that. Frankly, I find that tougher than it should be to do, especially if you're doing an original layout, simply because it's easy to be off in your spacing of objects, or skew the perspective if you didn't draw the line long enough, or fill up a page with too much line work, because your reference point is just a single line. It's made me stay away from doing backgrounds, which is a such a big flaw in my artistry as to be embarrassing. What good are my characters if I can't depict them in backgrounds, after all? But this simple thing has given me an epiphany.

 

Town Scenes/City Scapes

 

Interiors

 

So yeah, brb, gonna draw all the buildings.

[InfinityAlex]

Damnit. Would it be alright if I put it in image form under a spoiler please?

[Nepenthe]

Yes, but it's also pertinent to link back to the original page or source. The point of that is to lead people to sites where more material may exist and ultimately expand the amount of content available to SSMB, as well as to abide by the plagiarism rule.

[InfinityAlex]

OK. I will put in the original source, if that'd help.

[Silencer226]

Ok, my friend told me about this website called Posemaniacs.com. Basically its a website filled with digital models that you can practice drawing. There is even a 30 second gesture drawing app on the site that is tons of fun. I did 12 minutes worth of them without noticing. It's quite a challenge and pretty fun, because when you aren't able to finish a gesture, you think "I'LL GET THE NEXT ONE FOR SURE" and you just keep going it like a game. .

 

Posemaniacs Link

Edited September 21, 2013 by Mr. J