Luis Bolívar

ideas of exercises to help with your practical art skills, as well as things to keep in mind while making art and new ways to find inspiration:

draw every day

recreate a drawing you did before, but better

draw something using only simple geometric shapes

do studies of famous artworks

listen to artists explain their work, it’s super interesting

take life drawing classes (or use online photo resources)

find an artwork you love, and work out why

draw caricatures of friends

set a 1 minute timer and draw an object as quickly as possible

draw something you can’t see, eg. music, emotion

research artists you admire and find out how they work

think about composition: what stands out, what recedes etc.

find a famous artwork you hate and work out why

sit outside and draw the landscape

copy a photo exactly

draw a scene from a film

draw the contours of an object not the outline

visit an art exhibition near you

draw your bedroom

look up tutorials online - there’s so many useful ones!

practise creating contrast between light and dark in pictures

research colour theory

do a self portrait

learn about art history! Research different movements etc.

try a new medium

consider the feeling you want to portray with the artwork

draw without looking at the page

draw a character from a book you’ve read

draw something you don’t usually draw

look at your pictures in the mirror to help you see problems better

follow artists and galleries on instagram for inspo

draw an ugly object in a beautiful way

try using only bold, bright colours

plan your colour palette before starting an artwork, and stick to it!

if you usually work in 2D, make something in 3D

always remember to add shadows

draw an object which is important to you

use 5 lines to depict an object, make every line count

draw using negative space

always draw from life when possible!

think carefully about which direction the light is coming from

study proportions and anatomy!! 

draw your pet

research items symbolic meanings in art

make an art blog to compile images that inspire you

draw using only straight lines

try accentuating any subtle colours in an image

draw models from fashion websites

sketch with friends! They always have great ideas

keep drawing even if you find it hard, you improve with every mistake!

{my art masterpost might also be useful to you} 

To get early access to my comics, nsfw art and more please consider joining my patreon!

Inktober prompts!

31 days of spooky and Autumn related prompts!!!

Rules- not to many rules but still.. 1. Do every day! 2. Prompts are open for interpretation of course e.g witchsona could be yourself, a friend an oc whoever. Entire scenes/illustrations can be drawn or just the prompt. 3. You MUST ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY use INK! 4. Pencil and colours allowed to but ink is the important part!!

Day one-Witchsona! Day two-Spider webs Day three-Magic! Day four-Pumpkins! Day five-skull/bones Day six-your Halloween costume(draw yourself/oc whoever wearing your outfit) Day seven-Zombies Day eight-Your familiar(crow, toad cat etc.) Day nine-Autumn leaves Day ten-Stars! Day eleven-Gemsona!(they’re magical and halloweeny right? XD Day twelve-Zombifed!(you, oc etc.) Day thirteen-Sweets and other goodies! Day fourteen-Vampires! Day sixteen-Cats! Day seventeen-Owls! Day eighteen-Your Hogwarts house! Day nineteen-something scary.. Day twenty-The moon! Day twenty-one-spell book! / casting spells! Day twenty two-Ghostifed! Day twenty three-A nightmare! Day twenty four- plants! Day twenty five- your cosy outfit! Day twenty six- candles! Flames! FIRE!! ;D Day twenty seven- Haunted..?!?! Day twenty eight- Skeletons!! Day twenty nine- In the dark! Nighttime! Day thirty-Piratesona! Day thirty one- Trick o treating!

1. Ah Fai was a chief animator for McDull’s animated features. He’s super cool. Ultimate senpai. 

2. Previous post on breakdowns right here 

Some thoughts on acceleration and force

I presented this in the order of how I slowly understood the trick of delivering force - first an abstract concept of impact taught by Ah Fai, then a more complicated discovery on the acceleration pattern, last back to a more abstract concept of breakdowns. 

Like I’ve previously stressed, 2D animation is everything but one single approach. There’s no one rule that rules them all, but interchangeable ideas with math, or physics, or music, etc. There’s no “perfect” animation either, but what is perceived as organic and dynamic. E.g., using the Fibonacci numbers to animate didn’t bring me a perfect animation! On the other hand, a tiny change in the pattern could already make the feeling of force so much more powerful.