Hey SAI users
Get your acrylic brush and give it these settings
Just
Just trust me
I just went back through over 900 liked posts and dug out all the art tutorials so i can keep track of them. I guess this might be helpful to some of you guys, so here you go.
Here we go then!
Freeware
Alchemy - this is a really fun program. You play around making abstract shapes until you start to see something in them, kind of like a Rorschach test. Then you use the shapes as a base to draw it from.
MyPaint - a pretty decent painting program that also has the benefit of working on Unix systems.
openCanvas 1.1 - I haven’t used openCanvas in years but it was a nice program with a pretty unique feel to it.
ArtRage - Only used this a couple of times donkey’s years ago just before I got oC, but I’ve heard good things about it.
The GIMP - In a similar vein to Photoshop, but free. I couldn’t get on with it when I tried it out a few years ago, but it’s pretty popular and is available on Unix systems and Macs.Sketchbook copic: a bit different program
Not-free-ware
Photoshop - Standard painting fare. Probably the most flexible program (particularly the latest versions) but not designed to act in a “natural” way. If you’ve used it for painting versus something like Painter you know what I mean. Who the fuck pays for it though? Google “Photoshop tumblr masterpost” and take your pick.
Paint Tool Sai - Far more affordable and definitely worth paying for if you can. The brushes are very decent (especially when they’ve been tweaked a little), the gui is simple and intuitive, and I dare you to find a program with which making smooth lineart is easier.
Corel Painter - My program of choice for most things. More tools than you could ever possibly use and pretty cheap on a student license, providing that you can prove you’re a student! It’s got a few bugs but if you want realism or a more natural feel than PS or SAI this is the program for you.Anatomy
anatomy and rotation of the head
Expressions
emotions and facial expressions
expressions from different angles (love this site)
Poses
Skin tones
paint some life into your skin tones
Colouring
gamut mask tool (very nice!)
5 easy ways to improve your colouring
fucking gradients, how do they work
achieving a painterly look in SAI
kuler (more colour schemes)
Brushes
a very nice setting for the sai acrylic brush
photoshop fur brushes (and tutorial)
Other peoples masterposts
love your fellow artist (anything from prompt generators to animation background here, very nice)
e-books
art e-books (mediafire download)
even more e-books (including human anatomy, animal anatomy, cartoons, animation, composition, design, scenery, perspective…)
Tutorials
a pretty extensive general art tutorial
tumblrs
criminallyincompetent (check out their #reference and #tutorial tags, they’re gold)
i think i’m gonna put a link to this on my about page for easier access dudes
鎖のめんどくさくない描き方
fuck where was this tutorial i’ve needed it my whole life omg
FUQ U CHAINSSSS
MOTHER OF GOD…
Neat!
all those times, I’ve been drawing chains like a fucking idiot,
but now… but now
IS THIS REAL LIFE
Forest Interior tutorial by dpaint
Here is a way to organize the complex information of an interior forest. This will work no matter what your rendering style happens to be. Whether you are an impressionist painter like me or a realist, the basic building blocks for the picture are the same the only difference is how far you want to carry the finish. This photoshop demo is based on a traditional painting I did a while back.
The challenge is to arrange the information to give you the illusion of space where no horizon is apparent. Forest scenes work best when you use clearings to establish a foreground or middle ground to help divide space in the scene. It doesn’t matter if you are painting jungle or alpine forests the abstract qualities of design still apply.
It helps to visualize the anchor points of the composition first. These objects will have the most detail and can be flagged or spotlighted for greater effect. They will give your eye a place to go in the image allowing you to use areas of less detail as counterpoints.
I always start with large areas of color keyed to the average for that mass this helps to unify the shape. I set up the different layers and work between them to balance color value and shape. Once these are established to my liking I begin to develop and refine the painting adding interest as I go.
It’s only natural to feel inferior when comparing yourself to other artists!
But it’s really not reasonable if you think about it. That 13-year-old you find on the internet isn’t drawing your art. They are drawing their own art. That seems like an obvious statement, but it’s like making pizza with a friend. If the pizza they make tastes better, whatever! It’s not your pizza. It’s theirs. So your friend is good at making THEIR pizza but they’re not making your pizza. Art doesn’t belong to one individual.
Your art is your art, and only you can make it the way it is. Whatever it is, it’s yours and yours alone.
artists tip #15
There is no right way to choose your color palette, all colors work well together. To get a color palette just experiment it’s the only way you’ll get things done, experiment and practice.
i’ve decided to share a list of all the go-to tutorial, texture, psd, and stock resources i’ve been hoarding for however long i’ve been on tumblr. i consider all of these essential for making graphics, gifs, colorings, edits, etc. you’re welcome in advance!
♕ textures
↳ 99mockingbirds | accio-glow | actofmadness | butterphil | callmebrandon | felineofavenueb | watsonjohn | gemmaarterton | halcycongillan | kimigasukidatta | lookbackseefoward | loseanhour | mirand-ah | neverlands | quinnanderson| northerndawn | ohmygryffindor | pearlredlights | planets-bend-between-us | purplebass | -reduxe | shadowplay | slayground | netherfields | thorodinsons | truesouls | veronicaglory | vikyvampirs90 | wicked-fate♕ psds
↳ 99mockingbirds | absinthefee | lupini | bellepsds | brilliant-psds | caps-coloring | cherriepiepsds | coloring-mania | delacourting | dirrtylady | drunkandcoloring | ettudis | hopelland | katni-ss | lovephotoshop | mareluna3001 | mycolorings | neverlands- | psychadeliachild | paintmeapsd | planets-bend-between-us | psdelicious | psds | redcarpet&rebellion | revolte- | shadowplay | slayground | thebeauty-of-solitude | truesoulspsds | wicked-fate♕ tutorials↳ neverlands- | 99mockingbirds | callmebrandon | lookbackseeforward | katni-ss | jesseramblings | goldminegoldmine | mirand-ah | pearlredlights | planets-bend-between-us | purplebass | shadowplay | slayground | netherfields | thorodinsons | truesoulspsds | wicked-fate | bellepsds | dirrtylady | cherriepiepsds | mareluna3001 | lovephotoshop | tumblr-tutorial
Improving Your Artistic Skills: Lesson Learned from Pokemon
e1n:
The recent ask about improving got me thinking, so I thought I’d share this with you guys.
Now, I’m gonna start with a very cliche thing, but improvement does take a long, long time. I was told by a teacher that if you notice improvement within a few days/weeks, that means you’re still sucking hard, haha. Because when you’re at a really really low skill level, it’s much easier to improve, but once you’re decent, it takes way longer to improve, and the journey gets harder.
Here’s a good Pokemon analogy: When you’re playing Pokemon in the beginning, it probably takes you a few minutes to level up from 5 to 6, but after you beat the Elite Four, leveling up from 55 to 56 takes goddamn forever. This is exactly how art works. Your skill in art is like your Pokemon. Once you’re at a decent enough level, it takes goddamn forever for you to level up. The difference here is that in Pokemon you’re capped at lvl 100. In art, there is no ending; you keep leveling up, and it gets harder and longer everytime. The ending is when you die.
Although, that said, if you’re noticing no improvement in months, then it’s either one of two things: 1) you’re already at a decent enough skill level that it’s going to take longer to notice improvement, or 2) you’re not practicing enough.
And while we’re on this subject, let me emphasize once again how important it is to step out of your comfort zone and try doing things you’re always afraid of, or is always bad at. Even if you won’t end up mastering that particular skill, there is something to learn there that you can apply to the stuff you’re already comfortable with, that will make it better.
Here’s another Pokemon analogy: If you’re on lvl 55 trying to hit 56, will you go back to Route 1 and beat up lvl 2 Rattatas (or Bidoofs)? Or will you go to Victory road and tackle Pokemons that are around your lvl? Unless you’re a complete grinding masochist (or EV training, but that’s another long story), you would definitely pick the latter. The higher level Pokemons are harder to beat, yes, but you level up faster because they give you more EXP! This is the same in art! Tackling things that you’re not comfortable with can only help you level up faster, because they give you a lot of EXP. Sure, you might lose the battle, but you still keep that experience you gained from tackling that higher level pokemon. And after recuperating, you can try again and eventually you will win, and you will level up faster than committing a massacre on Rattatas.
You cannot believe all the wisdom you obtain from playing Pokemon.
