THIS IS THE MAIN PAGE. The locked version is solely for backups.

THIS IS FOR EVERYONE BY

EVERYONE.
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Top right -> Change editing to suggesting
First and foremost however, dont say things like add this or that. Its YOUR job to add it if you
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CLICK HERE TO VOICE YOUR OPINIONS/IDEAS

/ic/ - A STICKY
This is an alternative sticky for /ic/ that will hopefully one day replace the dated sticky that is
currently in place.
Links to other guides this was cobbled from:
http://hubpages.com/art/how-to-draw-learn
https://sites.google.com/site/ourwici/#tut
http://ic-sticky.wikia.com/wiki//ic/_sticky

HOW TO USE THIS STICKY

This is a resource for old and new. Every aspiring artist, from furry fetishist, to concept designer,
to modern art con man and beyond needs to learn the basics at some point. This is that point.
Since there is no finish line in art, there is no finish line to this guide. Resources of every level
shall be here, from Loomis heads to Da Vinci's doodles. Recommended youtubers, websites, dvd
series, instructional books, artbooks, and maybe even actual physical galleries themselves. To find
the area you are concerned with, use this handy dandy section map:

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction to Drawing
The Fundamentals
The Mindset
The Process of Art
Tools of the Trade
Resource Materials
Artists to Know
Being Professional
/ic/ Culture
/ic/ Communities
Other Places to Learn
Glossary

TO DO - LOCKED VERSION

INTRODUCTION TO DRAWING
You're not supposed to get all of the concepts and information here in one sitting. Take away what
you need, one section at a time. If you're looking to grind experience, multiple sessions are
encouraged to avoid overloading or burning out.

So you want to draw?

Young, old, crippled, smart, able-bodied or paralyzed, everyone can learn to draw. Drawing
is a skill which takes years to master, and "talent" is nearly irrelevant when factoring in time and
effort. When it comes to art, it's a crawl to get good (a whole lot of it), but youll be actually see
things start clicking in your work. So how do we start learning? By getting rid of bad habits, then
learning the fundamentals.

What is symbol drawing?

Symbol drawing is drawing your simplified idea of reality as opposed to what you are
actually seeing. Its the smiley face, the yellow sun in the corner, a tree that looks like broccoli,
eyes without eyelids, and the dick on every gas station bathroom stall. As long as you are
drawing with symbols, you will not improve. glib facsimile

Getting past symbol drawing

To stop falling into the traps of drawing symbols, youve got to draw what you are literally
seeing. Your eyes only see three things: values (light or dark), hues (red or green), and their
saturation levels (vivid or dull). Weve got to simplify these into our drawings, without substituting
them for the fuzzy images in our mind. By observing an object and neatly comparing angles, sizes
and relations to one another, you can quickly learn to copy an image one to one. Ready for a test?

This is Picassos sketch of Igor Stravinsky upside down. Draw it without turning it upside down.
But I dont know how to draw, thats why Im here. - (You)
All you gotta do is just pick up a pen/pencil/stylus and draw.
Think of each and every line as separate, and the only thing that matters is its shape, curve.
Where it goes and where its from. Dont think in words or wholes, but in shapes and lines.
Pay attention to the angles and length of each line.
Once you are done, flip your drawing vertically, and check it out.
The books that hammer these into you as hard as possible are:
Keys to Drawing - Bert Dodson (great to learn how to see and what should be going on
your mind while drawing) or Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain - Betty Edwards (a

second less popular choice, because of its bullshit pseudoscience [it helps if you actually do
the exercises with the viewfinder and materials](WHICH ARE FUCKING GIMMICKS THAT
YOU CANT USE DAY TO DAY)).
These are HEAVILY recommended for beginners. Read them now if you havent, then spend a
week~month doing everything and making sure you understand them.

SERIOUSLY. DO IT.
Do the entire book. Lurk /ic/ if you want, but focus on the fucking book. (Dont lurk /ic/ while
doing this, /ic/ is a toxic place and you should avoid it as much as possible.)
Done? Okay.
You can now draw what you see, which is a hurdle many never pass. You can get it through
instruction, or you can get it by drawing a fuck ton. Sooner or later, you are actually copying
whats in front of you instead of an abstract concept in your mind.
However! Even though copying is an essential skill for artists, it's almost useless when drawing
from the imagination (which is why some photo realistic artists are unable to draw a simple figure
from scratch). Once you've left the spectrum of symbol drawing, you can start doing what you
really came here for: drawing from the imagination. For this, you'll need to learn things like
underlying form and gesture, perspective, color theory, composition, and more. Just a bit longer
until those, first lets give some heads up on:

COMMON MISTAKES
(for more [specific] tips including the most common anatomy mistakes, head over to Anons
Advice)

Not actually practicing

Just reading the books will get you nowhere. You can have perfect conceptual
understanding of the fundamentals, but if you dont put in the time to make it a part of your
subconscious mind, then it means nothing. Youve got to be able to put your pen to paper and DO
IT. Youve got to know how to do it, then actually do it over and over until its instinctual, until you
will never NOT know how. PUT IN THE TIME, AND PRACTICE.

Getting comfort zoned

"But I don't need this stuff, I only want to draw X! I love X!" - Were here to tell you the
most proven way to draw the best X, so dont worry! You'll still learn if you draw loads of edgy
2deep4u sonic ocs, beautiful frolicking horses, or giant battle lolis. That is if you are introspective,
look at the mistakes you made, and work on improving the flaws. However, youll learn FASTER
and MORE with more rounded and conventional learning methods! The most important thing is
knowing that you still can improve your stuff, and one of the best ways to do is stop avoiding
things you feel weak on. As long as you have something you love to draw, and you put the time
into drawing it (well), youll see improvement.
There are exceptions; quantitative practice (without introspection or critique) can also go horribly
wrong.

Not doing still lifes

Still lifes are absolutely vital when it comes to drawing from the
imagination. It really knocks form and shading into you. When you copying
from a photograph, youre drawing a flat representation of a flat
representation. When you do a still life, youre trying to represent a 3d
space onto a flat 2D plane. Noticing proportional relationships, seeing
slight shading changes and realizing that means a turning in space, and
realizing that highlights are just mirrors are all little parts of the
knowledge gained from still lifes, and just writing out doesnt convey that
to ones dumb instinctual brain enough. Once you draw from imagination,
you can use all youve learned to make it real.
If you want some more in depth learning you can also read up on
the physics of light and do some good ol wikipedia research on light
effects such as occlusion shadows, subsurface scattering, bloom, etc.
Cylinders, cubes, spheres, and cones are the most basic of basics for a REASON, nearly
everything is built out of them. After youve got those move up to random clutter and mirrors. Get
LOADS of mirrors. Go to your amerifat or yuropoor supermarket and buy cheap mirrors (four foot
by one and a half) mirrors for seven bucks a pop. Flimsy as shit, and they have no stands/hangers
but you can figure it out. (Ive got five [billion], so I can see myself and subjects in any angle)[I
can also see sounds and gaze into the abyss of the fifth dimension]

Drawing with the wrist (video)

When drawing we tend to use only our wrist due to writing. This creates
smaller lines (and often scratchy) due to a smaller radius of movement. A better
method is to use ones shoulder, as it makes your range huge, your lines smooth,
and can be mixed with the wrist for more variety. Youve gotta force it upon yourself
for the first few days, but eventually youll make the switch and itll be automatic.
Two practice methods are to never let your wrist touch the drawing surface, and
practicing loads of large and then smaller shapes while keeping conscious of using
your shoulder.r pressure. I find the best time for the exercises (in the videos), is
during any sort of break, after finishing a piece, and definitely if I feel anything from
my wrists.
You can also visit /fit/ and start getting ripped, there are many advantages to
it.

Chicken Scratching
As a beginner, you are unconfident and unused to drawing long, clean lines, so you draw a
bunch of short, scratchy lines that bunch up in an unappealing way. This is called chicken
scratching. Its best to work on getting rid of it early, before it becomes a habit and sticks around
for longer than it should. I cant imagine trying to learn line weight when one cant even draw a
single smooth line.
A popular method of becoming confident in drawing long lines is ghosting. To ghost, you
need to know where you want your line to start and where it ends, visualize the type of line youd
like, then practice drawing that line by hovering your pen and moving your arm back and forth
until you feel you can get it, and you actually put it to paper for that one sweet long stroke. Sort
of like a person practicing golf swings. To make them look sexy however, takes much MUCH more
than just ghosting, it takes loads of practice. Thats pretty much what 90% of what drawing is. Try
to avoid correcting by redrawing the line, which just makes the mistake darker, and think more

about getting it right the first time. Some practice exercises for this are connecting dots, trying
perfectly straight lines on top of each other 8 times in a row, adding curves into the mix, etc.

Going overboard with styleA lot of new artists believe they have style because
they are drawing in a unique and special way. Stop it. You arent a special
snowflake. There's a difference between a veteran having a style and a newbie
having one: the veteran is aware of what he is stylizing and why, and you are just
wasting paper. You need to understand all the fundamentals to stylize properly
. Your 1 2 3 copy and paste anime style is a desecration to the honorable land
of the rising sun. Learning what makes real life look real, and then taking away all
the parts you dont want or going overboard on the parts you enjoy is how actual
style is achieved. Stop now before it becomes a crutch.
Not checking for mistakes
Your brain progressively starts to ignore mistakes by getting used to what ones drawing.
In a beginners work, this increased drastically due to lack of skill and knowledge. To counteract
this, one should develop a habit of getting fresh perspectives, especially through critiques. A good
way to gain a new perspective is to ask friends (preferably people who understand that you want
the truth told, and arent fishing for compliments) or art peers. If you are self conscious of your
work, then after you are finished with a drawing, wait a day then look at it, comparing what you
were trying to do with what you did and figure out how to work/improve on the new day. Mirroring
the images is also a more immediate way to fix problems, and especially useful for digital works
for finding quick and small mistakes. Looking at the image backwards gives you a fresh
perspective so youll instantly find mistakes. Find out what the flip shortcut key is and abuse it.
Warning: Disappointment guaranteed.

Getting stuck
We know, drawing is a struggle, it takes time, you may not like what you draw now, you
may never like what you draw. The eye surpassing the hand. You may feel demotivated, you
may not see the improvement. But trust this piece of arbitrary text, you ARE improving if you are
drawing an hour (or two or six or ten) a day (Based Feng Zhu recommends five for optimal gains).
Still though, you need to practice effectively and with purpose. So before you post on the forums
asking for motivation, remember this: Discipline > Motivation. If you get into the habit of working
hard, no matter how you feel, youll be able to tough it out. If you think your drawings need
emotion or you need to be in the mood then stop and think. If you toughed it out now and
gained more skill, and THEN when you WERE in the mood, youd draw even better. Besides,
painting more makes you feel better which makes you want to paint more.
One good way to keep track of your progress and shake this feeling out of your head is to
keep your old sketchbooks and skim through them every time you don't feel confident, you will
(normally) see a huge difference between your first drawings and your current ones. This is also a
neat way to get inspiration.
If you are having trouble coming up with something to draw, then Im about to slap you.
You can just look straight ahead and start drawing, you can ask other people for what to draw,
just fucking DRAW! DONT LET YOUR DREAMS BE DREAMS, and dont remember to GO FAST to
your sketchbook/tablet. Procrastination is the bane of artistic improvement.

Avoidance of imagination and the unstudied

Studies are great and all, but the goal is to learn to draw from our inner self. This can only
be learnt by drawing without a reference once every so often. Dont get caught in a spiral of fear
where you can only do studies satisfyingly, only to notice your imagination pieces are lacking, and
run back to studies; This only lets the gap between your imagination and studies continuously
grow, increasing the fear. Sure, non-artists will love your studies, but is copying others stuff what
you want to do? A solution is to not post/share studies.
Related to this is the habit of not branching out your visual library. Sure, you can practice
apples all day long, and your apple studies will look great (everyone is fucking good at apples
btw), but youll only be learning apples. Throw in an orange or kiwi once in awhile see how you
fare. This is often seen with hands and feet. Yes, we are aware, drawing hands can be painful. But
I believe the pain is a sign of learning. I have personally drawn so many hands and feet that they
have become my strong point. I have gone from hating hands to loving them more than anything
else. You can make this transformation yourself, you just need to stop avoiding them, and put in
the mileage. We are tired of seeing people with decent EVERYTHING in anatomy, except the hands
and feet.
TLDR; dont be afraid, draw what youre bad at.

THE FUNDAMENTALS
Ready to actually start LEARNING?
Suggested study path, but its up to you:
Primary
Observation and Sight
Line and Shape
Construction and Form
Perspective
Secondary
Values
Color
Tertiary
Composition
Narrative
Design
Style

Observation and Sight

recommended material:
As stated before, the first thing one must learn is how to see. If you cant accurately see
and draw whats right in front of you, then you cant deconstruct it to see its buildings blocks,
which you use later on to mix it up. Observe the world around you, pay an artistic amount of
attention to every shape, silhouette, curve, value, negative space, line, color, just EVERYTHING at
all times IRL. Be insane about it, leave humanity behind. DO KEYS TO DRAWING ALREADY.

Line and Shape

recommended material: Draw a box
You gotta be able to draw a nice line, and then use those lines to build your basic shapes.
Your cylinders, boxes, circles, ellipses, cones, all that good shit. You need these because pretty
much everything can be simplified them, so if youre ever being confused by HOW DO I DRAW
THIS, try to think of it in block hard shapes and then see how you can modify those to make it

look closer. Nice line weight (variation in large/thin hard/soft lines) can help a viewer read an
image better, with heavier lines being out lines, and lighter lines being things that you want to
fade away.

Construction and Form

recommended material: Sycra on construction and Draw a box
If you suck at drawing from imagination, construction is for you! Construction is the act of
laying down the basic frame for your piece, then adding onto it and refining it until you have a
workable drawing. A pencil sketch of a stick figure becomes a bunch of basic shapes (boxes,
cylinders,etc.), then gets refined further with some shading, and finally gets completed by the
details. A good way to learn on how to construct is do the opposite onto real life objects. Figure
out how you could simplify them, and then rebuild them. Always try to draw a rough idea of what
you want in the end, and compare your construction to that throughout the process, so you never
lose sight of your original idea.
The most basic shapes for this are the cube, the cylinder, the sphere, and the cone. Pretty
much anything man-made can be broken down into to these shapes, and lots of organic things
too!
After you learn to get your creative juices flowing, you might still have a problem with your
works. Everything looks flat. Your drawings look like drawings. Theres no form. Form is when
your art looks like it has physicality and depth to it.
A whole lot of things go into making your work look 3d, from rigorous knowledge of
shape (sphere, cube, cone, cylinder, and everything in between) to shading which shows a light
source and perspective to nail what the actual dimensions on an object would be. For a long time,
youll just be guessing or thinking its magic, but the more you practice drawing objects as if you
could see them (dotted or lighter lines going through the image) the more likely itll all click.
Perspective
recommended material: Perspective Made Easy
Perspective is the most maths youll be needing art besides counting all your furrybux. The
term means the system of tricking a viewers eye that what they are seeing has depth, three
dimensions, physicality, whatever you call it. In every perspective drawing there is a horizon line
which is a flat line virtually an infinite distance from you where you base all of your measurements
from. All objects in a perspective drawing are made using lines, and all lines -- if allowed to
extend infinitely -- will appear to intersect with the horizon line at some point. Lines that are
parallel will appear to intersect on the same point on the horizon line. These are called vanishing
points. There are LOADS of books for learning perspective. Try out the recommended one if you
dont see any you enjoy. If you dont get it right way, remember to practice. Sometimes you need
to read three books and watch a video series before you really get it (or anything) down easily
enough. The biggest factor is practice, practice, PRACTICE.
Anatomy and Gesture
recommended material: Vilppu Drawing Manual AND Figure Drawing: Design and Invention
So you got two arms, two legs, a head, some feet maybe, perhaps a face. Hopefully a
ripped
bod.
With that sentence, could you draw a person? No, no, NO! There are 206 bones in the human
body and 640 muscles. If you want to draw a human like a human actually looks from
imagination, you need to know ALL of them. LUCKILY, most people dont care about complete
accuracy on the human body, just that it looks right. To make your drawings LOOK right, youve
still got have a nearly complete knowledge of the human body, down to every knuckle, and every

eyelash. You could wing it with partial knowledge, but anyone who knows more than you can tell
at a glance, and anyone else will instinctively feel its off.
HOWEVER: We arent making scientific models here. While its good to know enough
anatomy to be able to make an ecorche, its more important to add the most essential element:
LIFE to your drawing. You do that looking at how people exist, the little casual gestures the
human body makes. A slight lean on the chair, the hard push on the ground during a run, the
ease at which you stand. You look at how our muscles align and flow across the body, how we
push and pull with gravity and ourselves, and the lines of action.

Light and Value

recommended materials: Series from Sycra.
Light and value is tricky since it is accompanied by many optical illusions. For example: a grey
surrounded by pure dark may seem considerably whiter (Aryan master race). You have to
understand these traps not to fall into them. The value of something is based on the angle at
which the light source is hitting it. So always think of the angle at which your surface is. Drawing
rocks is a good way to learn to do this. If you just started, heres what you want to be told: let go
of pure whites and blacks.

If you want to learn this shit, do value studies, aka copy/breakdown/rebuild an image into
grayscale and understand why light bounces how it does.
For painting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRJnn0UMQRQ

Color and Colour theory

recommended materials: Color and Light by James Gurney
Just like light and value, you can be tricked on the color of something based on what colors it is
surrounded by. This was seen by many in 2015 when the black and blue vs white and gold
controversy sparked.
There are many names for different sets of colors that go well together and there are multiple
charts that can help you understand them. If you just started, heres the thing you want to be told
: Stop using pure saturation.
Try out Interaction of Color by Joesf Albers, anon recommends it for how our perception of color is
relationship based.
-a good exercise with acrylic/oil paint is finding one of those lowes paint sample cards and just try
to mix the

Composition and Design

recommended materials: flooby noobys guide and Creative Illustration by Loomis
Placeholder for now. If you are hot shit, then write this section.
It is about controlling how different parts of your picture look like to create a visually pleasing
outcome.
Read up Gestalt.
http://graphicdesign.spokanefalls.edu/tutorials/process/gestaltprinciples/gestaltprinc.htm
http://facweb.cs.depaul.edu/sgrais/gestalt_principles.htm
http://www.users.totalise.co.u
((Plan for this section, I will be writing a lot here - Alaya))
((Dunning-Kruger effect, the path to getting gud the battle with yourself when drawing - will I
improve, keeping up motivation, the drive - the will to keep drawing, procrastination, my personal
experiences (Or any anons experience with this))
Once you know you can draw a circle or a box, the hardest part is putting in the time and practice.
You have to gain the mileage, the 10,000 hours to mastery. und Working a little bit here or there
a week isnt going to cut it. Maybe if you are a hobbyist, you dont really care about getting good,
and just the act of drawing itself, then this really isnt the place to be.
We are here to get good.
k/~kbroom/Lectures/gestalt.htm

THE MINDSET: What matters is discipline, getting up

in the morning, and drawing for hours on end. Some
people, especially procrastinators and NEETs have
trouble with this. Once you know you can put in the
time, you can actually start to grind out what you
when need to learn to be able to draw creatively and
proficiently.
Aguri's guide - get good in one year
Lavaflake's blog - daily journal of getting good.
Get into Last Artist Standing!
BELIEVE IT!
First off, no, you arent going to do 10 hours a day starting tomorrow if you have been doing less
than one hour a day the past 6 months. You want to burn out? This is how we burn out. But hey,
weve all lied to ourselves about future effort and this isnt going to stop you. But when you do
fail, as 99.9% do, try one hour a day, dont give up completely.

I do owe a lot to /ic/ when I started out, for making me realise my art was shit and starting me
on a road of self-discovery. It didnt give me any direction (please dont spend 2 years doing
nothing but photo studies and self portraits, actually design something) but you learn everything
eventually if you are really thinking enough about your drawing and doing research and more
thinking. Drawing on livestream everyday for 15+ hours a day to study (you know the kinda guys
im talking about) doesnt get you anywhere compared to painting an original piece for 1-2 hours
a day while thinking about how to make the best fucking piece in the world each time, and then
thinking about why you suck, patching those holes up with study after (even if its just
observation, you dont have to put a pen to paper to study)
A second piece of advice in thanks for anyone studying on /ic/; never study before creating. You
do not learn anything that way in art. If you are not improving from studying Loomis or life
drawing or Hampton its because youre not drawing enough figures from your head . This is
absolutely golden advice and it took me 3 wasted years to really realise myself. Nearly all of the
art process is intuitive, and requires asking questions to yourself first to really achieve an
understanding. - tehmeh

Okay, Im not good yet, so my words are trash, but this is my mindset when it comes to art. Lets
put in a ballpark figure and say that around 1% people pursue art in some form or another. Im
entering into this world fresh, with only the knowledge Ive absorbed here or there, but really Im
clueless on how it works. All I know is one thing, and thats my dream of becoming great at art.
Now, what do I have to do? Since Im trying to become great, I mentally distance myself from the
hobbyists, the photo-bashers, everyone and anyone who doesnt care about really getting good.
Ive got to think this way if Im going to improve. Now, Im in my mind, Im competing with the
people who have made it, but since Ive just started out, Ill never get on their level except with
time and effort. Ive got to put in hours and hours, have my entire life revolve around art, and I
plan on thinking like this for years to come, because THEY DID, and thats how they made it. Im
going to need to wake up to morning gesture practice and go to sleep doing value studies. During
my breakfast/lunch/dinner break times, Im reading about art, associating myself with art chats,
art communities, collecting reference images while I shove down hastily made sandwhiches. I
need to be like this If I want to improve. Sure sure, I could put in only a few hours a day, but then
Id just be a hobbyist. I want to be more, I need more, I want to improve and be the best I can
be, and maybe even better. Everything I do, everything I make, will be compared to everything
that has been. Until I show the world something that it has never seen before, Im not worth
anything. Its going to take years, its going to take dedication, but I know I can get there, just
like so many before me. Youve just gotta put in the time, the effort, and the will. AND PRACTICE
PRACTICE PRACTICE.
Yo, write a schedule then follow it. If you dont follow it slap yourself physically and mentally, you
dirtbag.
AND THEN ILL COME TO YOUR HOUSE AND FUCK YOUR SHIT UP, PRIVATE
How to make good goals, the short guide:
- Specific - know beforehand, plan what to do next.
- Measurable - take note of date and save your progress to see the overall picture of
a months work
- Realistic - dont be delusional with your expectations
- Time bounded
NEED MORE OPINIONS

THE PROCESS OF ART

sketching to cleaning to rendering
studying and creativity.
need to add to this
this is for stuff like whats the best way to learn or whats the best way to polish my stuff or
anything that is actually doing the art. Not the theory/selling/tools, but the WHEN I PUT THE PEN
TO PAPER, WHAT DO I DO NEXT?!!?!?!? Its the section thats forgotten about in between draw a
circle and draw the rest of the fucking owl (First, plan what youre going to do with dots,
circles, or construction methods. Then, go over the rudimentary thumbnail and outline with
slightly darker lines. Find the darkest values, note where they are and then render everything in
between fgt) {note: feel free to edit or elaborate}
NEED MORE OPINIONS

TOOLS OF THE TRADE

Why shouldnt I buy the most expensive materials?
This has been an endless debate for a long time, while some people sustain that you
should buy expensive material as it has more quality to it and so is way more comfortable to
use*, the truth is that using expensive materials won't make you better, just as buying the books
we recommend here won't give you knowledge instantly. We highly advise you to find the middle
ground between expensive and cheap, such as using printer paper and a good pen to do studies.
Unless you're loaded, in which case, do not pay attention to such trifling concerns.
There is no right or wrong or best medium or material. The art comes from inside you. The
tools you use are not the art, they are just tools, find out the best and most optimal way to use
whatever you have carefully chosen to pick up as a tool.
*This depends on which tool or medium. For example, in oil, it is literally the case of youpay-more you-get-better-quality. (But oil is a difficult medium that gets all over the fucking place
and ruins clothes and shit. For beginners, start with something like acrylic or watercolor.)

Traditional
Pencils
How to sharpen your pencil: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw-piPn9d6Q

Graphite Pencils
Staedtler pencils: (the most basic bitch Mars Lumograph) Buy lots of them because theyll fall all
over the place and the lead within will crack anyway. Buy an 8B and practice controlling your arm
strength to produce a range of values.
Pentel GraphGear 1000 Automatic Pencil: I like the weight of it. It has a narrow sleeve so its easy
to see the point or use it accurately against a ruler. The sleeve is also retractable so less prone to
breaking if you keep it in your bag. It also has a nice range of lead sizes available.
Kooh-I-Noor: Pencils and other traditional tools with a very good price/quality ratio. Perfect for
practice.
Uni Kuru Toga Mechanical Pencil.

Colour Pencils

Paper
Life drawing, still drawing and gesture drawing: A2 Newsprint
Generic drawing: Any paper will do lol but if you want to make it glorious then get something acid
free with at least 150 gsm in paper weight, or maybe even toned or texture stock.
NEED MORE OPINIONS

Ink
Pens
Staedtler pigment liner is a great felt tip pen for anyone interested in ink drawing.
Pilot G-tec-C4 good balance between a cheap and a expensive ballpoint pen, doesn't tend to form
ink blobs, is NOT waterproof. There's a similar version of this pen which is the Hi-tec-C, which is
technically the same pen.
Pentel brush-pen is (as the name suggests) an ink pen with a brush tip, allowing for inking
without the need for dipping the brush in ink. It is one of the best brush pens available (used by
many great artists like Kim Jung Gi and others) and for around 10$ it's a steal. Be warned that
this is a more advanced tool that requires a lot of practice to become proficient in using it. It is
however great fun to use even for beginning artists. (Try it out, making strokes with a brush pen
is akin to receiving oral sex)

Markers
Paper
You want to get bleed-proof paper. (making paper cuts a thing of the past)
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Paints
Paint Theory
Paints, regardless of medium, share a few common characteristics that you should know.
Light fastness

Paints: Acrylic
?

Paints: Watercolour
Good starter brands:
- Talens Van Gogh (colour chart)
- Talens Rembrandt (colour chart)
- Holbein (colour chart)
- Winsor and Newton ()
Technically not watercolour but can be treated as such:
- Kissho Gansai (link)
- Kuretake Gansai (link)
Brushes

Paper
http://kmyechan.deviantart.com/journal/Watercolor-papers-review-380307649
Arches is expensive, its really good, but i think it smells like raw fish vagina so i stopped buying
it.
Fabriano is pretty good.
Cuthberts Mills is okay.
Canson is cheap, the paper tears/sheds a bit too easily, but its cheap and good enough for
babbys first painting
Daler Rowney watercolour papers are all shit. Do not buy.

Paints: Oil
Oils are a bigger hassle as well as being more expensive. They however make your pieces be
worth more, if you're looking to make a profit.
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Digital
Drawing Tablets
Wacom
The default for most people is going to be Wacom because they have a stranglehold on the
industry due to their pens without batteries way back when. Their stuff is whats supported on
everything. If you are going to buy anything from them, then make sure that its at least medium
size and that you dont go for the wireless addon, as it doesnt work 100%, ergo trash. The
biggest detractor on Wacom on drivers that can get a little iffy, and that the USB port is fragile, so
just be careful with your shit, and try to always have the most up to date stuff. Also, its going to
be more expensive than the competitors, tough shit. Website
This is a large purchase, and we need as much data as possible to help anons.
I have a Wacom Intuos4 Large Pen Tablet, and I like it, but Ive only had that and a Wacom Intuos
Pen and Touch Small which sucked and you should never buy. Avoid the small stuff unless you are
just using it for Osu!

Not Wacom
Monoprice: website (review and driver installation guide here)
Huion 610 pro: website
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Screen tablets
-Cintiq is the go-to brand for professionals that do not have the time to learn drawing tablets.
They are the art world equivalent to tactile screens. No other provider reaches their quality at the
time of writing this (2016). However, they are by far the most expensive as they range 1k to 3k.
Most professional illustrators on screen tablets will use this model. Website

-The Surface series by Microsoft is the best computer/screen tablet currently on the market. Some
people prefer them over the companion ( the mobile version of Cintiqs). Every iteration has been
noticeably better than the last, you can expect the future to be much more inclusive of the surface
as an art tool. website
-THE IPAD PEN AND PRO ARE A JOKE.
-Theyre actually pretty great to draw with, but its iOS so your choice of software is
limited.
-Anything without pen pressure is a waste of your time.
-Huion screen tablets are, as of 2016, still a knock off 30% off Cintiq with a triad of annoyings
little things, but hey, 300-1k savings.
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Programs
Painting and Drawing
Paint Tool Sai - updated 03/10/2014 (preview version released in 2016) - $50 - Every weeaboos
program. Easy, fast, lightweight, and jap. No GFX magic though.
Photoshop CC - updated 11/30/2015 - $10/mo - The professional standard. So SOMEONE mustve
used it. Write up why its good. Has effects and shit.
Industry standard, nobody will hire you for knowing Krita. Barring a potential employment as an
artist, Photoshop is the Windows of art softwares: everyone uses it, it can do a lot of stuff, some
fairly decently, some not as much, but most of its tools are never gonna be of any use to someone
who just wants to draw. Its targeted at multiple kinds of professionals with diverse, sometimes
overlapping, needs; an all-in-one image editing software in short. Lots of plugins, lots of custom
brushes, does its job.
Manga Studio - updated 07/10/2015 - $45 - Actual mangaka use this. It has loads of tools and
stuff (like everything else ever, what makes it GOOD and RECOMMENDED?). Someone write up
why its good .
-As an actual Manga Studio user I can vouch for it with a quick outline of its pluses: the UI
is great, even has a very touch-friendly alternative UI for if you get something like Surface Pro or
Cintiq Companion. It works very well for what it does, great native line smoothing and pressure
sensitivity with adjustable pressure curves, tools like oil brush and water colors and sub tools of
those that all have fairly unique, adjustable properties as far as color mixing and etc. goes. Its
just overall a more art-oriented program than Photoshop. Also nice comic panelling and text
bubble editable shapes. And the ability to do vector art as well as raster on different layers.
Krita - updated 02/04/2016 - FREE - Open source painting, built for linux but works well on other
platforms. Has issues, but its functional for free. Aims to be a viable replacement for commercial
painting applications like Corel and SAI, and is under active development backed by a Kickstarter.
Has alpha support for an animation toolkit (I dont know why this is a thing but it is). Krita Gemini
on Steam is a non-gratis build of vanilla Krita but is technically still free (if youre willing to go
through the trouble of building from source yourself)
Corel Painter - updated 01/12/2016 - $430 - will type shit up later
MyPaint - updated 01/15/2016 - FREE - Great for sketching (as opposed to painting? its called
mypaint). Infinite canvas, and lots of brushes, sensible and minimal defaults that get out of the
users way, plenty of room for customization. May have problems with losing focus on Windows,
but is extremely polished on Linux. MyPaint also has a scratchpad window, native gamut mask
editor, and obscure (but useless) color selector shapes tailored to a painterly workflow. MyPaint is
more hobbyist oriented and casual but has potential for srs work.
Mischief - updated 01/19/2016 - $15 - Great for sketching. Barely any brushes, but they feel so
good. Infinite canvas, but no changing shortcuts. Makes use of unique drawing technology that

allows infinite-zoom without loss of clarity. Runs very well on potato computers. Tailored for
hobbyists or idle doodlers, but has potential for srs work.
Colors 3D! - Be hip and cool and digital Paint on your 3DS. Truly the greatest tool for drawing.
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Animation
EasyToon - updated 11/07/2010 - Free - Simple little sucker that only makes black and white gifs.
Use it for thumbnail, unserious works. Shithead Action was made on it. Fucking Bahi JD. Fuck him.
Wish I was as good.
TVPaint - updated 02/2015 500 Has a bunch of brushes. The closest possible alternative to
traditional animation. The UI is very french but its controls are intuitive. Opposed to vector based
software like Flash (Adobe Animate) TVPaint is raster based so you can take advantage of
textured brushes with very little lag. Introduced in TVP11, CTG (lazy brush) Layers allow you to
color your animation stupidly fast opposed to the finicky fill tool.
Flash - Standard industry program but is being quickly replaced by other programs (such as
TVPaint and ToonBoom). The UI is simple compared to other animation programs and allows for
convenient customization. One of the programs biggest cons are the lack of brushes (theres only
one paint brush and one pencil from what I remember, someone double check) and how that one
paint brush is unpredictable and overall shitty. Lots of effects and systems available within the
program though, which makes it good for 3D Animation or copying the drawn frames manually
from another program. Something Ive seen done is drawing the frames on Photoshop or Sai the
pasting and copying the frames into Flash.
Krita - Updated ___ - Free - An open source alternative to TVPaint, it is still being worked on, it
pretty much allows you to operate krita as it is on a timeline.
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Pixel
MSpaint - updated 2001 - FREE - Find an older .exe, the current mspaint sucks. Its fun to use, so
simple. Paint.net is the next step up from MSpaint
Aseprite - updated 02/29/2016 - $10.49 - Designed for pixel art, simple interface, support for
layers and animation, considered best pixel art editor by /vg/agdg/ (if I remember correctly).
Older versions are free or you can build it yourself from source code which is distributed under
GPL v2 license.
GraphicsGale - updated 12/11/2015 - FREE -You do pixel art? Write up why its good. $18 if you
want GIF, ICO, CUR, ANI import/export.
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3D modeling software
Blender - updated 10/11/2015 - free 3d modeling software. Complete suite (3D modeling,
animating, sculpting rendering, etc). Write up features.
Powerful and customizable, but very steep learning curve. Basic shit is done via hotkey only. Some
controls may be counter-intuitive to most.
Max/Maya - updated 06/15/2015 - unfree 3d modeling software. $1.5k yearly subscription.
Complete suite (3D modeling, animating, sculpting rendering, etc). Industry standards in
modeling/animation. Please dont animate in 3ds Max. Some prefer modeling in Maya directly, Max
is easier to pick up IMO. Dont sculpt in either.
Zbrush - updated 03/25/2015 - Extremely powerful industry-standard sculpting program, dont
know. Specializes in detailing or creation of high poly concepts.

Sculpturis - free, basic digital modeling software, not updated anymore the guy who made it was
hired to work on Zbrush
3D printing- 3D printing has been gaining in popularity and notoriety and is a good way to make
the physical objects that you model/design exist. Check your local area for available printing
services, price is usually determined by size and amount of material used. Many different
materials and colors can be used to print commonly used are plastics such as PLA and ABS. Its
very important to note that your file must be a .STL or .AMF to print so after you save your
modelled file convert it. You can also download designs already made at thingiverse and print
those. Its actually not very hard to do and 3d printing is being explored by many artists today as
a new medium.
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Posing software
Design Doll - updated 12/15/2015 - Program for posing anime marionettes. Havent used it, need
more opinions.
Poser 11 - Generic 3d modeling program. Havent used it, need more opinions.
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Image Viewers
Nomacs - updated 12/17/2015 - Free and all that jazz, and it has FRAMELESS MODE (Oh god,
that frameless mode). Slideshow timer maxes at 99 seconds.
Picasa 3.9 - updated 12/8/2011 - Someone put this here, why? . As of March 15, 2016, we will no longer

be supporting the Picasa desktop application. For those who have already downloaded thisor choose to do so before this
dateit will continue to work as it does today, but we will not be developing it further, and there will be no future updates.

Zoner Photo Studio - updated 2015 - NOT FREE - It's better than your windows photo viewer, you
can zoom in easily, blow up, make a timer on the diaporama, etc. on the free version (lasts
forever).
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Apps
Video Speed controller - Google chrome extension that allows you to more precisely control the
speed at which videos play ( webms included!), it's good if x2 doesn't cut it and you'd rather have
it x3.9.
Ghostery and ublock origin - Makes browsing anywhere a blast. Ghostery, a program to block
trackers and ublock origin, a program to block ads that does not track your info.
Disconnect - Pretty similar to Ghostery but also has a safe search engine that spits out Google
results (pretty sure) without tracking.
Adblock Plus - Blocks ads, annoying scripts, annoying popups, etc. Can make your own filter but it
comes with a few defaults.
Noscript - Blocks annoying scripts, pretty straightforward.
HTTPS Everywhere - Encrypts your connection so every site you visit is HTTPS.
Pureref - Pay what you want program that is basically a clipboard for images. Too many options
for free. Check it out.
Sketchbook Pro - Apple, Android, Amazon, and Windows phone app. Its probably the best
drawing app for mobile and is compatible with Wacoms mobile styluses.
Sketchbook Express - Free version of Pro with some features locked.

NEED MORE OPINIONS

RESOURCE MATERIALS
this section currently looks like shit and needs LOADS of work.
first thing first should be replacing all urls with the links function, and just having them look like
this with descriptions of what they are.

Videos
Beginner/Fundamentals
Shading Light and Form - Basics - value/light and form
Structure Basics - Making Things Look 3D - construction/form/perspective
How to Draw Gesture - gesture
Dynamic Sketching 1 with Peter Han - line and shapes

Reference channels
endlessreference - animation reference, walk cycles with grids and frame counts

Websites
Poses, Gestures, and Figures
Quick Poses - The most varied and largest pose gallery it seems. Has options for custom time and
challenges where you you do 2m - 30s drawings of unique photosets.
Sketch Daily - r/SketchDailys pose library and viewer. Doesnt have a whole lot of images (2k) but
the interface is nice.
Pixel Lovely - A decent enough figure drawing. Has a class mode where time is increased as you
go, with break times built in.
Pose space - Lots of nice models and poses, made for figure drawing. Handy filters for gender,
lighting, props etc.
Croquis Cafe - Youtube channel with models posing for figure drawing that arent just still images.
Anatomy 360 - Models you can spin

Stock reference and models

Photo Reference For Comic Artists - will come back to later
FaeStock dA - good clothed poses and one of the more attractive models on dA
Sankaku Complex - naked ladies doing lewd things for your drawing pleasure
Pose Emporium dA - an okay reference account
Senshi Stock dA - another deviant art for stocks
Textures - its literally just called textures. GUESS WHATS THERE?!
Character Designs.com - A decade old stock reference website. They got a lot of stock to them.
Humanae's tumblr - Portraits with varied skintones.
Fine Art - costs money, should I remove?
Face Research - Combine different faces to create an average
Hairfinder - Cant think of some hair? Well, hair you are!

3D viewers
California Academy of Sciences - THIS IS HOW EVERYTHING SHOULD BE - LOADS of hi res photos
of skulls from every angle meshed onto 3d models you can rotate at your whim! Never be
confused on how to draw Platanista gangetica ever again!
Skull Sketcher - Now one for the human in you! Great program for drawing skulls, with multiple
models.
Kineman - And for the entire skeleton, a posable 3d model.
Inner Body Skeletal System - More in depth information about each bone.
3D sk - human photo references for 3d artists and game developers AND YOU!
Anatomy Next - 3d model viewer for sculptors
Dessin Pose Viewer - nip 3d model viewer.
Pose Maniacs - Contains hundreds of 3d models stripped down to the muscle, with the ability to
rotate and use grids. Also has detailed models fully rotatable in the hand viewer, not just hands.

The Classics
Web Gallery of Art All Paintings - all of them
Google Cultural Institute - the rest of the fine site that brought you dolphin skulls. It has LOADS of
everything. paintings, history, maths, you name it!
Wiki Art - More old art!
Artists Creation Books - old books. that isnt a bad thing! Five hundred years of the masters
dissertations!

Composition reference and movie screenshots

1000 Frames of Hitchcock - A thousand screenshots for ever hitchcock film. Automated.
Doctor Macro Galleries - Few screenshots for LOADS of films.
Leave me the white - LOADS of screenshots for still a lot of films. Automated?
Frame Filter Blog - Person taken shots of films!

Animation
Animation stuff MEGA - animation books
Reference reference - animation reference with frame counts
RowVid - Frame by frame for youtube videos/animations

Randomizers and Generators

Alchemy - a program that creates random colors and lines, if you just want to do something
different.
Lifefromz Idea Generator - Just a random sentence.
Chaotic Shiny - A DnD generator from political buzzwords to planets.

Downloads
We need to go through all of these links, one by one, and figure out which other links are also
worth recommending. We gotta surpass /ourwici/.

Links linking links

Anon's mishmash - pastebin loads of links for every odd and end, a hassle to go through
Book thread links - pastebin (9/10/2015)

Final Trinity post - tumblr post with art reference tumblr accounts links

Megas and Mediafires

8ch.net/loomis/ - mega.nz book collection
Fellowbro - mediafire ebook collection
Mike's book collection - mediafire
Anon's collection - Books, software, and videos mega.
Reference and infographics - mediafire, be aware, its not a zip and will take forever to download
one by one. Maybe someone should do it and make it a zip?
Dibujo's Books - Google drive collection

Image Packs
Academic Work - mediafire with over 4k images
Bouguerau collection - mediafire with 130 images from Willima-Adolphe Bouguerau
Mucha collection - mega.nz with 149 images from Alphonse Mucha
WW II collections - mega.nz with 151 images from the second great war.
Electron Microscope collection - mega.nz with 54 images of really small stuff like a dust mites face
or a grain of sugar.

Books
+(Visit the book thread on /ic/ to find any of these and much more)
(need more books here. the more essential, information loaded, the better)

Beginner/Fundamentals
Keys to Drawing - Bert Dodson (/ic/ recommends)
Everything from Loomis is free.

Perspective
Perspective Made Easy - Ernest R. Norling
Perspective! for Comic Book Artists - David Chelsea
Perspective Drawing Handbook - Joseph D'Amelio
Perspective - Gwen White

Anatomy and Figure

Vilppu Drawing Manual - Glenn Vilppu
Figure Drawing: Design and Invention - Michael Hampton
Bridgman's Complete Guide to Drawing from Life - George Bridgman
Figure Drawing for All Its Worth - Andrew Loomis
Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist - Stephen Rogers Peck
How to Draw and Paint Anatomy UK - ImagineFX Presents
Strength Training Anatomy - Frederic Delavier

Hands
The Book of a Hundred Hands - George Bridgman
Drawing Dynamic Hands - Burne Hogarth

Heads
Heads, Features and Faces - George B. Bridgman
Drawing the Head and Hands - Andrew Loomis
Artists Guide to Facial Expressions - Gary Faigin

Animation and Gesture

The Animator's Survival Kit - Richard Williams
Force Dynamic Life Drawing for Animators
Gesture Drawing for Animation - Walt Stanchfield
Drawn to Life: The Walt Stanchfield Lectures Vol. 1 & 2 - Walt Stanchfield

Composition and Storyboarding

Art of Storyboard - Don Bluth
Creative Illustration - Andrew Loomis

Painting
Alla Prima - Richard Schmid
Color and Light - James Gurney

Comics
Understanding Comics - Scott Mccloud
Making Comics - Scott McCloud
Theory of Comics & Sequential Art - Will Eisner
Framed Ink - Marcos Mateu-Mestre

Animals
Animal Drawing Manual - Vilppu
The Art Of Animal Drawing - Ken Hultgren
Atlas of Animal Anatomy - Ellenberger
The Artists Guide to Animal Anatomy - Gottfried bammes
Animal Anatomy for Artists - Elliot Goldfinger

Apparel
1000 Poses in Fashion - Rockport
Dynamic Wrinkles and Drapery - Burne Hogarth
Drawing the Clothed Figure - Michael Massen
Drawing Drapery from Head to Toe - Cliff Young
Fashion Illustration for Designers 2nd Edition - Kathryn Hagen

Architecture and Environments

How to Draw and Paint Fantasy Architecture - Rob Alexander
Architecture: The Whole Story - Denna Jones

Traditional Techniques
Rendering in Pen and Ink - Arthur Guptill
Drawing Realistic Textures in Pencil - J.D. Hillberry
Solving The Mystery of Watercolour - Taylor Ranson

Old and Proven

Drawing Course - Charles Bargue
On Drawing Trees and Nature - J.D. Harding
NEED MORE OPINIONS

ARTISTS TO KNOW
Educational Artists
Loomis - recommended TOO much because he is so amazing.
Vilppu - pretty cool.
Proko - a glorious love child between the two above
Scott Robertson - gots two great books
Bob Ross - OLEVhttps://www.youtube.com/user/glennvv/videos
James Gurney - very informative blog
Stapleton Kearns - Landscape painter with encyclopedic blog
Sycra Yasin - Not the best artist ever, but has done a lot of analysis behind the process of drawing,
informative.

The Classics
Loomis
Da Vinci
Alphonse Mucha
Rembrandt
Caravaggio aka fucking Michelangelo Merisi
Michelangelo Buonarroti

Meme Artists
Loomis
Sakimi chan
kronpr1nz
Kim Jung Gi
Ruan Jia
Craig Mullins
(Krenz?)
Irakli Nadar

Great Artists
Georgia OKeefe - Probably one of the best pastels artists ever
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BEING PROFESSIONAL
How to not be gypped
An important part of art as a trade is knowing your worth. A lot of artists often say things like,
I'm closing commissions". Unless you got loads of bank, or have a steady income, this shouldnt
happen. If you cant keep up with the rate of commissions, that means you either have bad work
ethic OR you are popular. In the first case, you need to buckle down and figure out a process so
you can satisfy people, and for the second, you should raise your prices so you get more money
for your efforts. Sometimes people won't commission you because you are charging too little!
Imagine if a doctor was charging you 16$ an hour... youd think its a scam? It's the same with
art. You need to try different combinations to see what pays the most, is it better to get five
commissions at $200 or twenty-five commissions at $125? Getting two or three 2000$
commissions (high rollaaaaar)? How much work are you putting in? Is it better to work as an
instructor, flat or per hour rate? Freelance or in studio? Which ones give you the most artistic
exposure, freedom, press, following, pride? I hear a lot of people say this: I dont want to do this
commission request. If you cant be fucked to be payed to draw, you arent being paid enough,
raise your prices.
Some companies will try to coax you into working for free, always say no. Working for free lowers
the market value of artists as a whole, PLUS a waste of your time and will never lead to paying
work or so-called exposure. Here is an infographic on working for free
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How to be a cheap fuck

Many people steal printer paper. Dont steal my FUCKING PRINTER PAPER.
Order a package of 200 Matador ballpoints from Bangladesh, best fucking ballpoints ever made.
200 for ~$3

For Wacom users

Wacom has pens with nibs that wear out over time, so that you have to pay for more (and also
because we live in a world with physics). If you dont want to spend your hard earned dosh on
1000000% marked up nibs, then just buy .065" Universal Nylon Trimmer wire. Cut it to the exact
length of how a standard nib is, then use sandpaper to soften it down to a nice point. It costs like
10 bucks for a nearly infinite supply of nibs this way, compared to Wacoms 6 for $12.
NEED MORE OPINIONS

How to not be a cheap fuck

http://artists-beware.livejournal.com/
Dont skimp out on tools. If you actually want to learn how to draw, then get the things you need.
Dont always stick with the shittiest of ballpoint pens and 2 cent pencils. Get the right tools for the
job, and probably a little bit more for some leeway.
NEED MORE OPINIONS

Where to advertise
So you want to get your name out. Maybe your commissions are running low, you want to boast,
or your father is disappointed in you - but if only you had that hundred thousandth follower he'd
finally approve of you. A big part of getting known is posting EVERYWHERE. Where is everywhere?
Hentai Foundry - Tip: Post hentai
Fur Affinity - Tip: post furries
ArtStation - Tip: post highly rendered works
Deviant Art - Tip: post my little pony or force feed fetish
Reddit - Tip: act overly humble and post bad paper studies and cross-post and repost
Tumblr - Tip: post fat, black, hairy trans girls
Facebook - Tip: post stupid inspirational or controversial stuff that people will share
Instagram - Tip: be a pretty girl
Pixiv - Tip: post hentai and cute girls doing cute things
Patreon - Tip: have good reward tiers and have every single post on every platform link to your
Patreon
Forums such as /ic/ - Tip: post frequently
IRC - Tip: Find a good channel, get some acquaintances, and casually slide in that you draw.
These strategies, may, however, hurt your reputation as a noble and humble artist if thats
something you care about, but they are undeniably effective in the short term. Remember that fan
art is the number ONE way to reach a new audience no matter which strategy you go for. Keep an
eye out for what fandom is currently exploding. Also, try and post something finished once a
month to look productive. Lots of artists fall through the cracks because they only finish two
things a year so people forget about them.
NEED MORE OPINIONS

/ic/ CULTURE
I'm new to /ic/, what do I do? Well youve taken a good step by reading the sticky.
Heres a short guide to threads that are almost always available. You can find them by using the
search bar or browsing the catalogue.
/ic/ Thread Guide:
Beginner Thread - For posting studies and receiving critique. If you have an obvious lack in
fundamentals, youll be referred to this board.
Question Thread - Self explanatory.
Draw Thread - Post your draws.
Alternative Art/Anime General - Post your weeb draws.
Animation General - Post your moving draws.
Porn Thread - Post your tiddy draws.
Pixel Art Thread - Post your pixel draws.

DO NOT:
Make your own threads before having lurked for a week.
Make or reply to any of these low quality and repetitive threads:
Boohoo, I can't improve, I have no talent ;_; - Talent is negligible, work hard instead of
crying.
Boohoo, I can't motivate myself - Motivation is irrelevant if you stick to your schedule.
JUST DO IT.

So theres this guy called [youtube instructional artist] - If they make you salty, watch
someone else.
Look at my art what do you think - see the thread guide above
Hey, I have a technical question about - post in the question thread.
Hey, look at my photography/3dcg/video/origami art - Wrong board.
Look at this bad modern art. - BAHAHAHAHAHA WE KNOW, FUCK OFF.
I am a better artist than the rest of the board and you guys know nothing - Please leave
Ilastrat.

/ic/ Specific Rules

For those smart asses out there, yes, all regular rules (of 4chan) do apply
User-created artwork is submitted for critique, and visual art is discussed. Do not claim
authorship of works you did not create.
Only constructive criticism will be accepted. Rude or offensive comments will result in a
ban.
Requests for free work of any sort are forbidden.
Discussion of drawing tablets belongs in /g/. - Ignore this one.

Anons Advice

Material
If possible scan your drawing, especially if it's small. Check your local
library/school/printing place for a public scanner. Scan at preferably at 300 DPI and edit
values and size as needed. Do not scan your furry hentai at the local library you autistic
faggot.
If a piece is larger than a scanner can allow, photograph it (or stitch images together from
a scanner). If possible borrow a DSLR camera which is great for high quality and gives
raws. If you dont, thats fine. Make sure the piece is flat and level on the wall (white wall
works best) to save trouble in post editing, try to make the lighting even and as not
discoloured as you can and dont shoot at an angle. Hang/tape/pin-ing will help shooting
steady. Natural lighting can help if the lights you have arent working. Put white paper
behind the piece or paint the wall white. Having proper documentation of your art really
helps. Also tripods.
Record the size and materials you are working with.
Use gimp/photoshop/etc. to edit as needed (levels, color balance, size usually)
Really I mean it resize, rotate, and dont apply crap filters before posting, you have the
tools available.
Remember, the computer screen distorts the drawing no matter how hard you try, so
minimize the impact.
ALWAYS have a saved master copy of your work saved. Preferably both on the cloud and
thumbdrive.
Document everything for proof and nostalgia.
Knowledge from different fields will always help you, learning some basic photography so
you can shoot your own work and basic graphic design will help you distribute and touch
up work for showing to other potential whatevers.
Your local library is a great resource. Go there once in awhile and find a book by an artist
youve never heard of. You might get inspired.
Dont put yourself on a pedestal because youre good, because 110% (not a typo) of the
time there will be someone better than you.
Use resources. All the best artists use them. You know that one you really like? Yeah,
them too.
NEED MORE OPINIONS
NEED MORE OPINIONS

Anatomy
Hands: Hands are roughly 50% palm and 50% finger. Dont go cheap on construction. Its
an easy ratio to remember.
Importance does not equate to size: Eyes are smaller than you think. Things are not
made important by their size. As a matter of fact, the face is probably smaller than you
think. THIS IS ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT TO REALIZE FOR BLACK PEOPLE: I dont know
what it is, but blacks tend to make the facial features absolutely huge. Stop it.
One foot in, one foot out: Its not uncommon for artists getting comfortable drawing
figures to reuse the same pose over and over. On the topic of feet, if you just started off,
youre probably drawing them too small. Do yourself a favor and put your foot to your arm
and see how long they really are. Do yourself another favor and look at how much
verticality the foot gains, its less flat than you might think.
Generic poses: Stop hiding feet, legs, hands, ears, the second eye
(eyepatch/hair/winking). You are only making the next drawing where you need the
feature more painful for yourself.
Muscle dont look uniform: For instance, look at this guys right arm. Where does the
muscle really start to expand? Look at these calves. Same thing.
Show less, know more: Sometimes, trying to demonstrate that you know something,
shows you know less. *dunning kruger cough* This is the case when you miss the subtility
of things. For example: Many beginners try to draw smile lines with darker lines than they
need to. The want to demonstrate what theyre seeing is overpowering their judgement.
The lines are actually very light, so either leave them out completely, or make them
thinner. By the way, this is also VERY common in in the philtral column and philtral dimple.
Using clothes to hide bad anatomy: Whatever the case may be, even at a pro level,
you draw the body (however simplified) and then the clothes on top. Drawing the clothes
first will cause more problems than it solves. A dress wont hide your inability to draw the
female form. The same is applicable for the hair and the skull.
Straightness in the body: Necks are not perfectly straight, they are bent forward, look at
a side view. Actually, nothing is perfectly straight: the body is filled with alternating masses
that help with balance. An added effect of this is that it guides the eye through alternating
flows.
Eyelashes do not go upwards: The most common piece of symbol drawing is found in
the eyes. Often times, people put eyelashes directly up/down, however, it should be noted
that eyelashes actually go outwards. They do not go towards the side (this is an illusion
caused by having a round surface, so things in the distance have more opportunities to
stick out and take space. Dont believe me? Look at an eye in profile. All going the same
direction, and its not upwards. All upward-ness is caused by the make-up mascara whores
exaggerating their upwards tilt. Also, fucking clump your eyelash strands together you
degenerate.
There are no straight lines or perfect circles in nature: Nowhere in nature will you
find a perfect straight line, curve, or shape. Seriously, try and find one. The Earth is slightly
oblong, grass is curved, the eye is not a sphere, etc. Of course, man-made objects (rulers,
printer paper, buildings) will have straight lines and other man-made objects (lacrosse
balls, erasers on pencils, circles) will have perfect curves, but theyre not really nature.
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Memes (WARNING: OPINIONS AHEAD)

What are memes?
They are ideas that are contagious. Perhaps they are this way because you can relate and
understand them easily, such as money means success or because you find humor out of them,
smh tbh fam. Since memes are ideas that have intruded into from others and can form into
beliefs that you act out on, maybe even subconsciously, I believe they should be carefully
nurtured or spurned.

Good Memes

The idea that you dont need to pay for schooling in order to learn art: Having teachers and
competition in the form of peers struggling around, and having sunk cost through time and
money can be a huge motivator in forcing you to improve. None of those things are
exclusive to art colleges and, money especially, dont need to be exorbitant. You can get
teaching from a variety of websites, or asking others for critique, or through books. I will
never downplay the importance of a mentor who knows your skill, and can teach you one
on one, but most state art collages dont have the personnel who will actually care or be
good for you. Few art colleges are actually amazing/good. Id like anons to recommend
actual good places in other places to learn so if you are thinking about this path, you can
go there to find out.
That you should always be striving to improve yourself: A comfort zone is for the weak and
stagnating. The moment you stop expanding your boundaries and experimentation is the
moment you start regressing. Art has no ceiling to when it comes to learning, so there
should never be a reason to stop learning.
That popularity can inflate ones ego and be detrimental to your ability to self critique: Im
not saying making it bigs makes you shit. Im saying thinking yourself as big does. There
will always be someone better than you, and always someone trailing behind you, ready to
overtake you. You need to know that popularity is fading, but skill is forever.
That photoshopping/bashing excessively to achieve easy results detracts from ones skill:
Sometimes the end justifies the means, but if you cant pick up a pencil and draw your end
product, at least even minutely, then youve lost your way. Dont lose your way.
Copying 1:1 isnt all there is to drawing: Art is a gateway to the imagination, we have
cameras guys, you should know this by now.

Bad Memes

Post yer werk: Just because someones drawings are worse than yours doesnt mean their
opinions are wrong, but usually it does.
Merc_wip: HOWEVER, their work DOES show how much time theyve spent studying the
craft and their relative experience in drawing, so it CAN be if the person is telling you know
they know how anatomy works, but posts a drawing so chockful of broken bones the
depicted person would die if made real. Posting Merc_wip pretty much means you know
you dont have the skill to back up your words, IE: you dont know what you are talking
about. Try to redline instead.
Hey guys, first time drawing/sketching/painting/on computer, what do you think?: Yo, yo,
yo, yo. You are posting your FIRST thing into a new medium or style? Literally for what
purpose. You KNOW its going to be bad. YOU KNOW IT! This is ESPECIALLY redundant
when asking for critiques of such things. You havent incorporated the cycle of self critique
and improvement at all if its your first drawing! Compare your drawing to what you were
going for, and realize that its not there yet, and try three more times, THEN ask for
critique.

Being overly defensive about criticism: If you are at /ic/ you are here for artwork and
criticism. If you Wow, you work in THAT medium/style/site/topic? What a faggot: all that
matters is if its good
If I change the face, then its my work!:
want the criticism to actually help you, you need to listen to it. The very act of being
defensive creates mental barriers and blockades in your mind that makes the criticism fall
short or not hit as hard as it should. Try to be open.
If I put pen to paper, then Im an artist!: Lets just set the baseline as being able to have
actually people want to buy your art. Not saying that money validates art in anyway, but as
a baseline for skill.
The SPARK
Ligameem

Internet Memes
If you borrowed them then you owe me
i'm looking forward to this to be honest, family
we all are
maybe the joke is that i never actually post it
What about gondola? Its not terrible since its a simple exercise in experimenting different styles
and composition

/ic/ COMMUNITIES
Samefags and (You)! Get to know who's behind the anon.

Chatrooms
Wonder who you're fighting with on the forums?
Us! Were the people on the 4chan Artwork/Critique board discord chat. Join us!

Paint Chats
gimme recommendations
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Groups
Last Artist Standing - Lavaflakes creation to make us all create! Thread here.
4chan dA group - Brand yourself a faggot!

OTHER PLACES TO LEARN

Here are some other people who are trying to teach you, yes you! How to get good at art.
i really need to make this look better and figure out a system for it ;=;
//This category needs to be re-thought or absorbed (AND CONDENSED) into "Resources".
//On the "Tutorials" section:
There are so many useful tutorials out there and the list (at the time of writing this) covers hardly
anything essential. Might be more helpful to scrap this section and give suggestions on what kinds
of tutorials to AVOID using.
my reasoning for this section not being in resource materials is that resource materials are
basically static. they never update or change too much. This stuff however updates/changes/has

new lessons/classes. Its places you GO to and STICK with. Not just download or use. Not sure
how to treat the tutorials section. I was aiming for the largest and best tutorials, not any of
those shitty how to draw a face with four panels. Im looking for huge long rants and
explanations, stuff that you can just digest in a day.
(removed the suggestion/comment box, but kept the words, as seen above, because it made this
section look ugly, maybe try to just highlight the section name next time?)

Youtube
Sycra - Tutorials and talks about style
Proko - Classic approach on construction
Alphonso Dunn - nice pen & ink tutorials
MoatDD - (Marks Drawing Tutorials) fundamental exercises with the tablet
FZDschool - has a neat podcast - industry talks
Sinix - corel painter insights
Cubebrush - Tutorials, talks a lot about PS
China Digital Painting - Timelapses
LevelUp - Podcast interviewing professionals.
Alejandro Garcia - Physics discussion with a focus on animation
Xia Taptara - idrawgirls wide range of how-to tutorials
Jeff Watts - Classic fine artist and bossman of Watts Atelier
Anthony Jones - robotpencil dude with painting tips
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Websites
Ctrl+Paint - Introduction to digital art and rendering
Draw A Box - Introduction and full year course on form
New Masters Academy - Demonstrations and lectures of traditional art. Also has a youtube
channel.
Autodestruct NEED MORE OPINIONS - maybe include paid sites with some sort of reviews? (watts attelier, NMA,
etc)

Large Tutorials
Android Arts' art tutorial - rendering guide
Itchy Animation's light tutorial - light tutorial
Flooby Nooby's visual storytelling guide storyboards and composition guide
Remind Blog's making comics comic books blog compilation
Hue Value Chroma's modern color theory color theory
Tom Richmond's inking tut pt.1 - inking 1
Tom Richmond's inking tut pt.2 - inking 2
I am Peth's penmanship lessons - how to write pretty
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Blogs
James Gurneys Blog

Communities
Concept Art - good if you want to skim through sketchbooks for inspiration
Deviant Arthttp://www.conceptart.org/go/artjobs/ - why is this good
Pixiv - japanese community
Crimson Daggers - another sketchbook site & sometimes they do google hangouts
Furaffinity - Its furry and not the best, but its there.
IRC - a lot of IRC channels are art-based and can help you

Real Life
Look up your nearest city and join a life drawing club/class. I think www.meetup.com is a good
place, but if your city is less populated maybe try looking up the local art school.
Your local library probably has tons of books that can help and might order them for you if they
dont have it. Mine actually has art lessons.
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GLOSSARY
Anatomy - Science of the bodily structure.
Bleed - When a drawing is cropped in printing, or when ink seeps through a page.
Blending - The mixing of colors. Mainly used in reference to painting.
Chicken Scratch - Multiple scratchy lines where one line would do.
Chroma - The intensity of color. High means more color, low means less color.
Comfort Zone - Not improving or expanding ones knowledge for fear of failure.
Eyeballing - Judging distances and relationships by eye.
Form - The illusion of solidity or three dimensionality.
HSV - Hue, Saturation, and Value.
Hue - A shade of color, unrelated to its value or chroma. The outside of the color wheel. Red,
blue, green, yellow, etc.
Line weight - The variations of a line. From a lighter thinner one to a heavy bold one.
RGB - Red, Green, Blue. In relation to how those three shades of light mix into any other shade
when added to one another.
Saturation - The intensity of color.
Speculars - Highlights on glossy surfaces.
Study - It ISNT mindlessly copying a photo. That isnt totally useless you're eyeballing
(proportion sense) will get better. You'd be going down the Mark Crilley route however. When
doing a study, the goal is to learn the underlying form, construction, balance, texture...
anything! of the subject. You're trying to learn by analyzing it. Try to merge your knowledge of
construction while you're drawing from a reference. Take it one step at a time, though. For
gesture studies, focus on simple lines, then observe the balance between the lines that represent
the body. For construction, disregard the gesture parts. Only try to focus on the seeing in 3D
forms.
Texture - Details used to show the material of surfaces, or break up monotony.
Value - The shade of light. Think grayscale.
Visual Library - The images,visual information or knowledge that leads to a better illustration
that you have stored in your head.

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THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS.
IF YOU DONT WANT TO FORMAT/READ ALL THIS SHIT/WANT TO START ADDING YOUR VOICE
RIGHT AWAY, WRITE YOUR STUFF HERE:
Follow the form with your brush strokes