Questions, Discussion and Tutorials

Grifter

Use this thread for:

• asking questions pertaining to the forum or art instead of making a new thread for them
• discussing said questions or issues in the forum
• posting links to useful tutorials you come across on the Internet
• post tutorials that you made yourself

Mods, please add links, tutorials, and links to useful posts to this post whenever you see them.



Downloads

• Six Andrew Loomis books
• OpenCanvas v1.1 b71
• Photoshop Brushes

Tutorials

The Structure of Man: Video Tutorials on Anatomy by Riven Phoenix
http://the-structure-of-man.blogspot.com/

Basic Lighting/Texture/Form Tutorial and Reference Guide
http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm

Alduar's Abstract Art Tutorial/Process
http://alduar.iseenothing.com/tutorials/abstract/

Pens 'n' Pixels Tutorials (Colouring especially useful)
http://www.pensnpixels.com/instructional.html

Feng Zhu Design Tutorials
http://www.fengzhudesign.com/tutorials.html

Tom Nguyen's "how to draw breasts"
http://www.comicon.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=39;t=000176

Another good Tom Nguyen article
http://www.comicon.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=39;t=000144

Team Special Olympics Tutorials
http://www.teamspecialolympics.com/tutorials.php

Portrait Artist Tutorials
http://www.portrait-artist.org/

Pencil Portrait Tutorials
http://homepages.tesco.net/p.wilkinson/index.html

Scanning Line Art
http://www.steeldolphin-forums.com/htmltuts/scanning_lineart.html

Flatting Tutorial by Mark Sweeney
http://www.dave-co.com/gutterzombie/dload.php?action=license&license_id=1&file_id=21

Speedpainting Tutorial by Angel_of_Bacon
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6167278083166388456

A Buttload of Drawing Tutorials
http://www.drawspace.com/

Erik Gist Drawing and Painting Principles
http://www.erikgist.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=131
http://www.erikgist.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=132

Dan Gheno Life Drawing Articles
http://www.dangheno.net/pteachingsindex.htm

Walt Stanchfield Notes on Gesture Drawing for Animation
http://www.animationmeat.com/notes/waltstanchfield/waltstanchfield.html

Glen Vilppu Drawing Articles
1. Never Underestimate the Power of Life Drawing
2. Gesture
3. Spherical Forms
4. The Box
5. Introducing Material and Proportion
6. Drawing Ellipses
7. From the General to the Specific
8. The Landmarks of Anatomy
9. Seeing Anatomical Masses
10. Seeing The Figure As A 2D Object
11. Using Tone To Draw
12. Getting a Handle on Direct Lighting
13. Using The Idea Of Atmosphere



References

Wally Wood's 22 Panels That Always Work
http://joeljohnson.com/archives/2006/08/wally_woods_22.html

Over a Dozen links to Misc Reference Photos
Penny Arcade Accumulated Forum Knowledge/Reference Links

Online Colour Scheme Generator
http://www.steeldolphin.com/color_scheme.html

Colour Theory Guide
http://www.worqx.com/color/

Blambot Comic Fonts
http://www.blambot.com/

Microsoft Web Development
http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/beginner/web/tier1/

Pose Maniacs Drawing Tools
http://www.posemaniacs.com/blog/

Books

Essentials/Basics

The Natural Way to Draw by Kimon Nicolaides
Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards

Color

The Elements of Color by Johannes Itten
Painting With Light by John Alton
Color Theory by Jose Maria Parramon
Color Management: A copmrehensive Guide for Graphic Designersby John Drew and Sarah Meyer

Design

Design and Form: The Basic Course at the Bauhaus and Later, Revised Edition by Johannes Itten
The Non-Designer's Design Book by Robin Williams
The Non-Designer's Scan & Print Book by Sandee Cohen
The Non-Designer's Type Book by Robin Williams

Anatomy & Illustration

Dynamic Anatomy by Burne Hogarth
Dynamic Figure Drawing by Burne Hogarth
Dynamic Wrinkles and Drapery by Burne Hogarth
Drawing Dynamic Hands by Burne Hogarth
Dynamic Light and Shade by Burne Hogarth

Human Anatomy for Artists by Eliot Goldfinger
Anatomy For The Artist by Sarah Simblet
Artistic Anatomy by Richer & Hale
Bridgman's Complete Guide to Drawing From Life by George B. Bridgman

Drawing Lessons from the Great Masters by Robert Hale
Anatomy Lessons from the Great Masters by Robert Hale and Terrence Coyle

DC Comics Guide to Pencilling and Inking Comics

Learning Software

Photoshop CS2 Bible
Illustrator CS2 Bible

Comic Book Storytelling

Graphic Storytelling & Visual Narrative by Will Eisner
Comics & Sequential Art by Will Eisner
Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud
Perspective! For Comic Book Artists by David Chelsea

Animation

The Illusion of Life by Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas
The Animator's Survival Kit by Richard Williams

RubberAC

maybe you shouldn't copy paste so directly. The other thread isn't exactly sucked into a black hole

Munch

elisieu's comic making thread is ful of broken images, just FYI.

And does anyone know of any sites that may have short sequential scripts? I know Marvel has that Spider-Man one available, but I'm looking for a little bit of a variety.

Lly

How about this time round we add useful links that people provide to the OP so we build a good reference list?

Grifter

Well, that was the original intention of the thread but I think bombardier stopped caring and then he left and nobody else took care of it. PM any links that you want to put in the OP. These should preferably be tutorials or useful tools.

ImDrawingABlank

I'm sorry if this has been answered somewhere, I did a few searches for SLR's and didn't seem to come up with something quite relevant. I'm really wanting to get into photography again, and the only camera in my house as of right now is my parents $300-$400 digital, which is sadly lacking in all of the SLR functions I've come to love. Now I'd love to get a digital SLR, but that seems a bit out of my pricerange. I'm not entirely sure on how much I want to spend, cheaper is better obviouslly but I know I dont want to spend the cost of what I'd be looking at for most of the Digi-SLR's I've seen. I don't know much about camera's themselves, but I do prefer editing images digitally as opposed to in a darkroom (which I can do, but being out of school I dont know how to access one anymore, and im not very good at it if I did). Here's a basic rundown of what im looking for in the camera.

I usually take landscape shots, mostly of industrial buildings and such but the option to take a super fast shutter speed shot is greatly welcome (such as catching a raindrop splash). I usually hang around close-midrange shots and I doubt I'll use a telephoto lense often, although I do have one from my dad's old SLR (camera stolen, lens wasn't with it at the time). Mostly I'll be using black and white film, it's my favourite type of photography, although I dont think this effects much if anything in terms of the camera's quality. Obviouslly I'd like for the camera to be able to withstand being dropped a small distance at very least, but it's not like im going to be doing it on purpse ever (I'm usually pretty good with this, I've yet to ever drop a camera)

I'm looking lately at the Nikon N65-N80 (depends on price-feature), but I'm not sure if it's what I need. I don't know what manual and automatic focusing are on an SLR camera, and im entirely used to focusing the picture myself through the controls on the lens, will those still be there on an autofocus SLR? I dont mind manual loading or rewinding of the camera, but if it can do it automatically that's even better. If anyone can help me decide on a camera and lens combination that would suit my needs I'd really appreciate it.

Also, if someone could recommend the easiest, and highest quality way for me to transfer all pictures taken on a film camera to a digital format on my computer that would be awesome, as I dont know how to do it myself quite yet.

-SPI-

I've always liked this set of tutorials and tips by Prometheus ANJ
http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm

Cerium

I've had a tablet PC for a while and I've used photoshop for a few years now, but until I saw that video of Gabe inking that sketch I never thought to put the two together (...heh).

I know the tablet supports pressure sensitivity and the eraser functionality and all that jazz since Windows Journal suppoprts it fine, but I can't figure out how to get it working in Photoshop CS2. Between google and the help index I was able to find my way to this:



...but it still doesn't work. I imagine the warning symbol means something bad, but I couldn't figure out a way to make it tell me what it was angry about.

Secondly, I can't figure out how to set a different brush for the eraser side of my pen. In Journal it works as an eraser, but again PS gleefully ignores the change.

Can anyone point me to the settings I missed that will get this working?


Thanks in advance
-C

Ravenshadow

Because I go everywhere with my book it tends to move a lot and the friction between pages is starting to smudge my pencil drawings.

anyone know how to protect a sketchbook from smudging?

Mayday

Apply fixative spray. It's something you should be able to get in every artful supply shop.

Tam

-SPI- wrote:

I've always liked this set of tutorials and tips by Prometheus ANJ
http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm

's already up there, sir.

Dog

Cerium ~ I've been working on the same thing the last few days.

Checking out the handy-dandy Help index, I found "To set pressure sensitivity for digitizing tablets" and "Adding brush dynamics". There is also a typic on just "Brush Dynamics" which gives alot of good info.

The first topic pretty much shows what you show above. The second has this cute little note on that error icon, which I also get ...

Note: Pen controls are available only when you’re using a pressure-sensitive digitizing tablet such as the Wacom tablet. A warning icon appears if you select a pen control but have not installed a tablet.

Sooo . . now I'd like to know why Photoshop thinks my PoS tablet doesn't exist and how can I prove to Photoshop that it does exist. Apparently, I have an imaginary, even mythical PC tablet. (it's an Aiptek Hyperpen, so maybe it just doesn't recognize such an abscure brand)

*grumble grumble* *siiigh*

multimoog

Does anyone know of a good online resource for manga-style screentones for use with Photoshop? I assume there must be websites where you can download hi-res screentone and effects images. There are several books on the subject that come with CDs, but these are Windows only... and I'm on a Mac.

-SPI-

Tam wrote:

-SPI- wrote:

I've always liked this set of tutorials and tips by Prometheus ANJ
http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm

's already up there, sir.

That's me paying attention.

Grifter

multimoog wrote:

Does anyone know of a good online resource for manga-style screentones for use with Photoshop? I assume there must be websites where you can download hi-res screentone and effects images. There are several books on the subject that come with CDs, but these are Windows only... and I'm on a Mac.

Filter>Sketch>Halftone pattern.

Sublimus

I just tried that halftone filter. Does anyone remeber how Mr.Dave did it? Was it, like, a "half tone gradient"?

Grifter

Sublimus wrote:

I just tried that halftone filter. Does anyone remeber how Mr.Dave did it? Was it, like, a "half tone gradient"?

http://www.tutorialized.com/tutorial/Create-A-Halftone-Effect-In-Photoshop/6474

http://biorust.com/index.php?page=tutorial_detail&tutid=135

Delzhand

Okay, photoshop brush setting question. What brush settings should I use to create an effect of an actual paintbrush, sort of japanese calligraphy style, or as seen here:

Grifter

You can do that with default brush settings.

MagicToaster

...you can always do the effects by hand.

EDITED FOR STUPIDITY

Delzhand

grifter81 wrote:

You can do that with default brush settings.

Okay, I guess I don't understand. It seems that the default brush settings are 35px round with medium edges. I've got a tablet, I'm asking what brush shape, jitter, splatter, etc. to use.

Grifter

Set the brush size to pen pressure. Then draw. You do know how to draw, right?

multimoog

grifter81 wrote:

multimoog wrote:

Does anyone know of a good online resource for manga-style screentones for use with Photoshop? I assume there must be websites where you can download hi-res screentone and effects images. There are several books on the subject that come with CDs, but these are Windows only... and I'm on a Mac.

Filter>Sketch>Halftone pattern.

Yeah, I know about that. And it's not really the kind of thing I'm looking for. I'm talking about something like these:

http://www.mangaarts.com.au/screen_tone_catalogue.htm

except online and in a high-res format. The books I'm talking about are from this series:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Draw-Manga-Computones-Techniques/dp/476611471X

and include some really great ready-to-use screentones. Except, as I said, they're for PC and I'm not.

multimoog

Delzhand wrote:

Okay, photoshop brush setting question. What brush settings should I use to create an effect of an actual paintbrush, sort of japanese calligraphy style, or as seen here:

Yeah, tha looks like it'd be much easier to just grab a brush and some cheap black poster paint. Water it down, paint it and scan it. Much less time consuming than figuring out settings and whatnot.

Grifter

multimoog wrote:

grifter81 wrote:

multimoog wrote:

Does anyone know of a good online resource for manga-style screentones for use with Photoshop? I assume there must be websites where you can download hi-res screentone and effects images. There are several books on the subject that come with CDs, but these are Windows only... and I'm on a Mac.

Filter>Sketch>Halftone pattern.

Yeah, I know about that. And it's not really the kind of thing I'm looking for. I'm talking about something like these:

http://www.mangaarts.com.au/screen_tone_catalogue.htm

except online and in a high-res format. The books I'm talking about are from this series:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Draw-Manga-Computones-Techniques/dp/476611471X

and include some really great ready-to-use screentones. Except, as I said, they're for PC and I'm not.

I guess that you missed my second post on the subject.



http://www.tutorialized.com/tutorial/Create-A-Halftone-Effect-In-Photoshop/6474

http://biorust.com/index.php?page=tutorial_detail&tutid=135

Lly

Another useful thing for the OP would be a list of the best books available and short summaries of what they offer and what level of ability they are aimed at. I mention this because i am making a christmas wishlist and don't know what books to ask for!

Pious

I got two questions.

1.)I have always had trouble drawing real people. I'm alright at making up people, cause that is reletivly easy, but what features of the face should I look for when drawing real people.

2.)Caracatures, I have done a few of those and they don't turn out so great, especially when I draw someone who doesn't have noticably funny features to make fun of. Should I ask them to smile or something?

I actually had 3 questions but I forgot one.

EDIT: I remember now. This has nothing to do with drawing really, how do I take stuff from video, like stuff I have downloaded, and make it into a animated sig, avatar, or just take a picture from it. I tried print screen for the picture, but all I got was a black image.

Grifter

Lly wrote:

Another useful thing for the OP would be a list of the best books available and short summaries of what they offer and what level of ability they are aimed at. I mention this because i am making a christmas wishlist and don't know what books to ask for!

How To Draw Manga

jk

I'll put one together after work.

Lly

Haha.

Was just about to post:
"HELP! My ps brush no longer shows it's outline so i can't tell how thick it is ... the preferences aren't changing anything ... what did i do?!"

And as soon as i started typing i noticed the caps lock was on which, having been turned off, has fixed the problem. Thanks again PAAC, you're the best!

MagicToaster

My 11 year old cousin has shown some intrest in drawing. She wants me to show her the steps I take when I draw.

I was thinking I could get her a sketch book and how-to-draw book for X-mas. Anyone got any suggestions as for said book? Remember, she's 11.

Munch

Ben Caldwell has a few books out that shows how he does his very fun, cartoony style. I flipped through them at the library once and they seemed pretty basic.

I'd say just buy her some books using styles that seem geared toward her interests. If she likes managa and anime, get her some manga/anime books, if she likes more traditional, western art, get her something like Drawing Comics the Marvel Way, or if she likes Disney films try to find some books that use styles reminiscent of Disney stuff.

Honestly though, at that age I'd think that just encouraging her to draw whatever she feels like, and exposing her to good art, will do more good than instructional books. Just shy away from anything that makes art look like work.

Tam

MagicToaster wrote:

My 11 year old cousin has shown some intrest in drawing. She wants me to show her the steps I take when I draw.

I was thinking I could get her a sketch book and how-to-draw book for X-mas. Anyone got any suggestions as for said book? Remember, she's 11.

You could hand her a few sketchbooks and some pencils and tell her to draw shapes, everything she sees, and a few things from her imagination. Seriously, guide the girl. If she's talented, she ought to get instruction in addition to praise. I'd be better if every comment I got before I came to the AC wasn't "Oh wow! You're SO good! You should never ever study any technical skills! You should just draw unstructured abortions of characters until you hands bleed!!!!!!" More or less....

Sorry. Well. Good luck on being a guide/teacher, Mr. MagicToaster

Orikaeshigitae

MagicToaster wrote:

My 11 year old cousin has shown some intrest in drawing. She wants me to show her the steps I take when I draw.

I was thinking I could get her a sketch book and how-to-draw book for X-mas. Anyone got any suggestions as for said book? Remember, she's 11.

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. You'll need to explain parts of it to her because it's aimed at adults, but if you thoroughly explain the exercises to her it'll give wonderful results.

My girlfriend's got an on-the-side job right now helping to teach kids from 6 to 16 using that book.

Pious

Go with much's advice, he has the right idea about her being a child. She needs to have fun first, not make it a chor to learn anatomy. She needs to learn her pencil, what I mean is that she needs to get used to making quick strokes of the hand and such. Then when she is older she can pick up anatomy books. I remember when I first started, some of the anatomy books didn't make sence to me, but when I got older I could understand alot more.

Fantasyrogue

I think it kinda depends on her current interest in drawing and how much she's been doing it too. I remember when I was that age I spent a lot of time already drawing and around that age I got hold of some little books (I looked on Amazon but they don't seem really available there, entirely possible since I'm in Europe).. They were by a guy named Felix Lorenzi (they may suck I haven't looked in them for years). But when I was that age, these small books which focused on getting the basics of a particular subject (people, nature, animals, perspective) were great. I also had Jack Hamm's book on cartooning (although at that age I found it to be old-fashioned and "stupid".. I was still an 11/12 year old and couldn't appreciate the basics behind a style much, I just saw the 50s/60s style stuff and went "ew!"). I'd say based on my own reaction on older stuff that at the very least you want something very basic or with a more popular style.. as the older stuff can throw a young person off.

Estilo

Pious wrote:

1.)I have always had trouble drawing real people. I'm alright at making up people, cause that is reletivly easy, but what features of the face should I look for when drawing real people.

I'm assuming you're talking about people drawing from life. In this regard you should be looking at everything. I don't think there's any need for specific features unless you're characterizing or sketching extremely quickly. Ideally you want to SEE eveything as a whole and the relationships between all things, not just easily identifiable bits and pieces. When you learn to see features and all the relationships, shapes value and lines within, without thinking about them as a bunch of nouns seperated by methods and concrete distinctions you will be seeing clearly and your drawings should suggest as much.

Chop Logic

grifter81 wrote:

Lly wrote:

Another useful thing for the OP would be a list of the best books available and short summaries of what they offer and what level of ability they are aimed at. I mention this because i am making a christmas wishlist and don't know what books to ask for!

How To Draw Manga

jk

I'll put one together after work.

Thatd be really awesome. Maybe we can make a thread about it? I have a collection of Graffiti/Street art books I can reccomend/review.

Grifter

Has anyone used google adsense before? Is it any good? I'm thinking about putting it on my site.

Orikaeshigitae

A lot of people make very good summaries of Adsense in this thread.

Mace1370

Hey guys, I have an HP TC 1100 tablet PC and I'm having trouble getting pressure sensitivity to work in CS2. I go to the brushes tab and have Shape Dynamics checked. Then, I set the drop down menu under Size Gitter to "Pen Pressure" but my brush size still doesn't vary with pressure sensitivity. I've tried messing with all the different slider values (Size Gitter, minimum diameter, etc) but none of them seem to affect pressure sensitivity. Is there anything else I am forgetting to try?

Jarmo

Mace1370 wrote:

Hey guys, I have an HP TC 1100 tablet PC and I'm having trouble getting pressure sensitivity to work in CS2. I go to the brushes tab and have Shape Dynamics checked. Then, I set the drop down menu under Size Gitter to "Pen Pressure" but my brush size still doesn't vary with pressure sensitivity. I've tried messing with all the different slider values (Size Gitter, minimum diameter, etc) but none of them seem to affect pressure sensitivity. Is there anything else I am forgetting to try?

Maybe you have old drivers or such thing?

One forum advice that you should download and install latest "wacom tablet" -driver(s) and try it after that. If pen pressure doesn't work even after that you should uninstall it and install it again. This was one tip that worked on some guy at some other forum.

Is the pressure sensivity thing working on other drawing apps?

EDIT:

Some page says that your Tablet PC is the ONLY Tablet PC that doesn't have pressure sensivity feature on it.