#art tutorials

[hansoeii]

Your backgrounds are so impressive and I always really struggle with them. Do you have any tips?

Hey!

I gotta be completely honest cos I honestly don't know what I'm doing most of the time, especially when it comes to backgrounds, haha. It's still something I try to improve at. I'm happy to hear that you like them tho!

When I do draw backgrounds, I like to stay simple. I'm mostly focused on drawing characters, so when I do draw backgrounds, I add them to compliment the characters, rather than to distract from them.

I'm not the right person to give tips on this though, but I'd like to redirect you to some great resources:

I'm currently taking a class over on schoolism. It's a class by Airi Pan on Foolproof Concept Art, it's been super helpful so far! The subscription is 30€ a month, which I know is a LOT for many people. For me as well, but I'm just paying this one month for this class and then I'll cancel it until I'm done with art school, cos I'm planning to take more classes afterwards. But if you can afford it, I can really recommend checking it out!

But there's of course also amazing free tutorials, for example:

Tips for Drawing Backgrounds! by BaM Animation

Perspective Drawing in Photoshop! Grids and Tips by BaM Animation

How to Paint Envirenment Concept Art by Victor Staris

How To Draw Figures in Perpsective by David Finch

YouTube is PACKED with incredible art tutorials!

I also made this PDF with art resources for my fellow art school students a while back, so maybe it's helpful for you guys as well! Feel free to download it. It's in german, but it's mostly just links anyways! :)

[8pxl]

♡ JUBILEE | pacific northwest based pixel artist

♡ WAYS TO SUPPORT MY ART

↳ wallpapers ↳ prints & merch ↳ cross stitch patterns ↳ deskmats & tapestries ↳ sticker by number kits ↳ continue to like & reblog my art

♡ MY PIXEL ART TUTORIALS

↳ simple landscapes (old) ↳ city tutorial (old) ↳ water reflection (old) ↳ clouds tutorial ↳ how i use values ↳ color process ↳ BONUS: bluesky 101

♡ OTHER PLACES TO FIND ME

↳ bluesky ↳ kofi ↳ discord server ↳ instagram | facebook | twitter | no longer active

♡ FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

WHAT PROGRAM DO YOU USE? ↳ photoshop (i do NOT recommend it) WHAT PROGRAMS DO YOU RECOMMEND? ↳ pixquare (you can get 30% off with code 8PXL), aseprite, graphicsgale, even krita! HOW DID I LEARN PIXEL ART? ↳ trial and error basically. I started by just trying to create, and once I hit roadblocks I would google tutorials, or find similar artwork to what I'm trying to achieve. i started heavily doing monochromatic work then eventually working into more complex pieces! GOOD RESOURCES ON LEARNING PIXEL ART? ↳ lospec is a great learning resource. has tutorials, color palettes, and a large community. there's also lots of great tutorials on youtube, like adamcyounis. there's also saint11's great tutorials.

[rubatozis]

repost , figured this would be handy for somebody

[emilpixel]

Simple tree tutorial

[kyri45]

🌟 My FREE online workshop on STYLIZED FACES is coming back! 🌟

This is for everyone who was not able to join last time!

What we’ll do:

construction of the face + different faces shapes

stylized eyes, noses, mouth

What you’ll need:

a drawing tablet + PC or a tablet +stylus (you can also print the PDF and follow with paper and pencils!)

1 hour of your time

a drawing program (Procreate, Photoshop, Ibis Paint, Clip Studio Paint,etc…)

pdf files you’ll receive a couple of days before the workshop

The lesson will be RECORDED! So as long as you are registered, you can watch it later during the week in case you miss it :)

[gingersnappish]

A Big Collection of Art Tutorials

I find art tutorials really useful and also, sometimes quite far-flung. I'll come across one cool resource here and another incredibly helpful post in a totally different place, months later. I've been collecting bits and pieces of art advice that ease my way for a long time now, and I wanted to make a post to share some of the good art resources I've come found all in one place! GENERAL RESOURCES The Etherington Bros. have an enormous repertoire of drawing advice on their blog and I find almost all of it spot on! Griz and Norm have an incredible tumblr chock full of tutorials!

Drawing Den is a great tumblr that collects how-to-draw resources! Zephy.fr has some lovely free tutorials on their Insta (their main site is paid, but I've found the free resources to be quite helpful all on their own)

Sycra has a truly wonderful YT channel comprising a zillion vids on practically every topic - he's been going a long time and it's all excellent (his stuff on human anatomy and figure really fixed some difficulties for me)! DRAWING PEOPLE THIS is my favorite basic breakdown on expressions! A HELPFUL WAY to conceptualize drawing hair! People are complex - simplifying with CLEAR SILHOUETTE helps!

Aging or de-aging characters can be rough- THIS HELPS imo! WHEELCHAIRS are easy to get wrong if you don't have one/haven't studied how to draw them - and this is a very helpful remedy!

CLOTHES Hats are difficult to get sitting right and THIS POST helps a lot!

Suits and formal clothing can be A Lot: THIS LAYS IT OUT helpfully!

Historical Menswear is tricky: TRY THIS LINK by Shoomlah

And as always.... DON'T FORGET TO STRETCH YOUR HANDS!!!

(this makes a big difference in the long run, I can't emphasize enough that you oughta try a little stretching on the regular!)

[ljesak]

hopefully this makes sense and helps someone! this is just how i do it tho, somebody asked me so i made it

[mewsmagic]

Here's a lil comic strip about how you can protect your art before sharing it to the public!!!

Against AI and against art theft too!

Click on 'read more' to see the extra tip I mentioned at the end!

Geez been working on this since the Meta AI things blew up but I only finished just now!!

Here's the extra tip I mentioned at the end:

you can use http://haveibeentrained.com to search for your images and find out if your work has been used for AI.

In there, you can choose to opt out, but AI companies are not obligated to respect it so it isn't too much of a protection unfortunately 😭

Also be aware that they are associated with AI and they did try to badmouth glaze so artists wouldn't protect themselves; which's very bad for a company that allegedly are on the side of the artists.

Also!!! There's a new type of AI that I was just made aware of last week, Copainter.

It completes unfinished work, which can be used for 'stealing and claiming it theirs', so put a cat picture in the next wips you post as well!

Funny protective measure I know LOLLLL but here's the tests for yall cynical people:

Perhaps I'll complete this comic with this info one day, but just these 10 slides took a looot of work so probably not happening anytime soon 😭

Thank you for reading everything though, I really appreciate it and hope this will help 🫶 be careful out there, privacy issues have been crazy recently!!!

[1alchemistart]

Damian hair tutorial when 😪? Love your art btw!!

OK SO embarrassingly enough, i have drawn him so much that it just comes to me instinctively now. so i had to break his hair down for the first time since may 2022 and i think this would help??

at its most basic, his hair is just a big ole circle with a hairline so if you put those two down, the rest should come fairly easily! and ofc a lot of referencing always helps

i use PureRef for referencing and have a page for him if anyone wants it JSDFLSDKL

also you didn't ask but i might as well, so here's a small breakdown of his eyes, too!

i hope this helps in any way!! :D

[categorised-art-tutorials-tips]

Blend Mode Types for Digital Art Drawing (Procreate, Clip Studio Paint, Photoshop, Fresco, MediBang, etc)

Credit: Procreate Handbook

[moncuries]

hi! i love your art so much! i'm super super new to art, never really done it at all, but The Brainrot has led me to wanting to learn. i think where i usually mess up is the hair. how in gods name do ppl draw hair?? if you could post one of your art tips & tutorials on how to draw hair (maybe step by step) i'd be eternally grateful. thank you!

hello! yes. SO since we are just doing hair ill go for shorter hair bc its what i draw most often.

i dont usually draw the scalp/bald head anymore esp for headshots but we will use it to explain. to start, i use a thicker brush for hair lines and press lightly. it gives me more felxibility.

step one i define where the hair splits. MOST hair has a part or a split, even if its only at the front. i sometimes draw more bowlcut/justin bieber bang front pieces but not ofteneeee

this seam helps me with the direction of my hair chunks. i usually mess it up or obscure it later, but for starting out it is helpful.ee

then i define the outer shape/silhouette. keep in mind: hair sticks up a LOT from the scalp usually. so if you have that bald head guideline, poof out. this pattern i show on the side of out/in/out etc works for a lot of hair textures if you amp up the curves, but not all so experiment and dont give everyone the same texture.

from here i add a few lines to the inside but NOT TOO MANY. think of CHUNKS, not strands. also as with the rest of my art, i dont close or clean my lines a lot. i erase the scalp line if i had one before i do this, as it will mess up the flow

and then i colour and define a lot of shapes that way! dont forget sideburn area, roots, and that hair casts shadows! Hope that helps! :] <3

[krissiefox]

A list of blogs where you can get free stuff. Please respect each blogger's terms of use!

https://www.tumblr.com/darklack-obscurite Free sprites for making RPG games!

https://www.tumblr.com/sonicfangamebot Many free Sonic fan games!

https://freegameplanet.tumblr.com/ Free PC games!

https://armorgames.tumblr.com/ Armor Games flash games can be played for free at the link in their bio!

https://rpgmakernetwork.tumblr.com/ Free RPG maker games!

https://obsidiandawndotcom.tumblr.com/ Free Art Resources!

[hijennyt]

Someone asked me how I went about making the bg in my last piece, I thought I'd upload it here in case it would be useful for anyone else. To start, I focused on getting the silhouettes and capturing the location’s design elements. In this case, it’s Treviso from Dragon Age: Veilguard. Once I had the basic shapes, I essentially repeated many of the silhouettes and design elements. Sometimes I would transform, squash, or stretch them to make them look a bit more varied without seeming too cut-and-paste.

Since the city is far in the background, I kept it to just 2–3 values with minimal detailing—just enough to hint at form. Since it was a personal fanart piece, I felt that was sufficient enough, but would probably go into more forms if it was a client piece. One helpful tip is to use Blender for building reference models if you have the program. If not, in-game screenshots work really well too! I actually included some screenshots I took as reference here. lol

I was also asked how to get more into backgrounds, I’d recommend taking things one step at a time. You don’t need to dive straight into a full-blown background piece on your first go. Start small: maybe add a tree, a bit of a wall, horizon line or even ask yourself questions like, Would this character be walking in the woods? Would it be sunset? Or nighttime? Then branch out from there.

On the more passive side, follow some amazing background artists who inspire you to love backgrounds as much as figures. Nathan Fowkes is one of my favorites. The more joy you find in it, the more likely it’ll become a habit.

If you want to actively pursue backgrounds, then the usual foundational/thumbnail studies (perspective, layout, composition, etc.) are super helpful. Background and composition studies can also go a long way—but I’ve already rambled enough.

[emilpixel]

Simple rock tutorial

[godbirdart]

Looking at your recent commissions, those backgrounds are soo pretty!! Do you have any tips for backgrounds? I always struggle with them :>

aAA many many thanks!!

backgrounds can absolutely be a struggle but they don't have to be! they just require a little more creative planning~!

whether it be a commission or a personal drawing, if I'm building an elaborate art piece i focus on establishing the background First.

the background is the stage for your character! planning the background first will make it easier to tailor the character's actions and how they interact with the environment around them.

planning the background first can be the difference between your character standing awkwardly front and center with the setting going on behind them, or actually participating in their environment.

if i'm super stumped for background ideas, i browse stock image sites to get inspiration. sometimes it helps to doodle on an image to generate some ideas - kinda like you're playing with JPEGs like dolls.

that said - while i'm pinpointing WHAT i want to draw, i keep the ideas loose. i don't want to focus on the itty-bitty details until i've got the overall aesthetic and layout in mind, as i might get inspired to add something in later!

THUMBNAILING

if you're planning a big piece it can be helpful to break it down into something bite-sized before you go all in and start lining or painting. these are "thumbnails" - fast little sketches that establish the scene in a way that doesn't consume a lot of time or effort. it's also great as a little perspective exercise as a treat.

here i decided i want to draw a character walking home in a back alley street. with these photo references in mind, i can plan a layout and how the character will act in the scene. is this a candid shot? are they posing cutely? are they looking down at us in a tense way? there are many ideas to be had!

after you've chosen the layout / vibe for your idea, you can scale up your thumbnail to your preferred canvas size and start fleshing out the details. be sure to keep referring to your reference images to get additional ideas, such as storefronts, items, props etc!

3D MODELS

If you're trying to create a unique environment that photo references simply cannot help you visualize, 3D models exist! This gives you that ability to rotate / scale things for better visualization. Clip Studio has a vast catalogue of 3D models to download For Free that you can fiddle around with. i know there are many 3D builder sites out there as well, though i've never made use of them so i'm afraid i cannot recommend any off the top of my head. hell, you can even use the Sims game to design a setting and go from there!

also if anyone is going to come into my house and say 3D models are cheating: they are not. using a 3D model to better grasp an angle or get a better idea for perspective is not cheating. using 3D models to help plan the environment in your art is not cheating. they are no different than brushes; these are tools made to HELP YOU. use them!

PERSPECTIVE

perspective and angles can make a HUGE difference in the art piece. there's nothing wrong with static long shots! if that's what you want to draw, do it!! there's no right and wrong here!

but if you're finding your work to be a little robotic and stiff, slap an angle in there. consider an overhead view. these same techniques are applied to photography and film! nothing wrong with wide shots, but every once in a while it can help to throw in a dutch angle.

if there is one note i'd like to leave off on, it's that your backgrounds do not have to be 100% accurate-to-life to be Good. unless realism is something you're really striving for in your style, don't feel compelled to nitpick every brick and leaf in your art. us artists can tend to over-prune our work until our art looks a little bare and soulless. flaws can give your work character, and that's often a lot more appealing than how accurate the scale ratio between background building A and building B are [again, unless you WANT to go for that realistic look then you can fuss over those details all you like].

i hope this helped a little! MY APOLOGIES FOR MAKING IT SO LONG AH