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me, thinking about how hanzo is a 38 year old man who used to be the leader of one of the largest crime syndicates in japan and also attempted (nearly succeeded) to murder his brother:

People are asking us how the art we share can be so good.

The answer this time isn’t so simple. An artist has his own way on shaping his style, he takes his time to experiment and so it becomes quite difficult for others to try learning his art style and making it their own. It’s even wrong.

But we can tell you that many artists learn by getting inspired by others’ art. Watching an artist while he paints can be motivating - and of course it can teach you a few technical tricks.

So, here there are ten YouTube channels you should check out.

1. FZD School of design

It’s a school founded by Feng Zhu, amazing concept artist with a lot of experience in video games, films and commercials. His videos are real episodes/lessons and they are very helpful. And, well, they even have a school in Singapore…

2. China digital painting

This channel doesn’t feature tutorials but shares full video processes by Chinese artist. In this period we are seeing many young artists inspired by an art style that’s typically Chinese - it features dramatic lighting and mood. Though such a technique can be found in other artists like Bouguereau and  Rembrandt.

3. Ctrl + Paint

A channel dedicated to the digital painting in Photoshop. Very helpful for those beginners who want to learn how to use this software and how to get better with art in general.

4. Level Up!

One of the most known groups of digital art of Facebook can be found on YouTube as well. The founders are Wojtek Fus and Darek Zabrocki. Each session (episode) features a different digital artist. This is great because you can compare the different painting processes. The main theme of this channel is concept art and fantasy/sci-fi illustrations.

5. JJ canvas

This is the channel of Jorge Jacinto. He uploads speedpaintings, but they are very inspiring if you want to look at how a wonderful surreal landscape can be created in twenty minutes - in time-lapse of course.

6. Webang111

Another channel with time-lapse videos. Very inspiring if you are into colorful and cartoony illustrations.

7. Ross Draws

His art is wonderful and his videos are super funny! Check out his channel if you want to see how a fantasy illustration can be created from a simple idea - I mean, he starts with two rough lines to close the video with a breathtaking illustration. Crazy.

8. The Portrait Art

Okay, we know. This channel is not about digital art. But it’s amazing art anyway and if you are into realistic portraits, you can get inspired by watching these videos.

9. Cubebrush

Another channel with time-lapse videos, but a few are commented. The videos are about 2D and 3D paintings.

10. Noah Bradley

This artist is a master in the concept field and he doesn’t only talk about his digital method but about his career as well, giving lots of hints on how to become a better artist and how to enter in the art industry.

they are towering fortresses good for taking shelter from sun, rain, and vicious birds

excellent hiding spot

they provide a path in crowds so we small ones can get through

can use as large pillows 10/10 would recommend

drawbacks

what do their faces look like

they’re always looking around like ‘SHIT where did my small friend go did i lose them’ worry not tall friend i am down here

?????

Since there’s been a spike in people asking me 2003 related questions lately and I know a lot of different tutorials out there, I made this beginner’s masterpost to help some newbies out.  This is the engine that OFF, Yume Nikki, Ib, & Pom Gets Wifi were made on, feel free to purchase it on Steam or the official RPG Maker website for 20$ (or for like 4-5$ on a steam or humble bundle sale).

NOTE: Most of these tutorials and all of these resources should work on RPG Maker 2000 as well.

The basics of game design

 a nice collection of articles here on RPGMaker.net.

how the hell do i get this program to work

Ebeth’s RPG Maker 2003 Guide for Complete Newbies (Reblogable Version)

an introduction guide to the old translation of RPG Maker 2003

understanding how events work

switches as explained by bleet

understanding switches and variables

how to use switches

understanding conditional branches

changing the “Start, Load, Quit” options on the menu screen

making a treasure chest

making a door

copy and pasting events at the speed of light

create an easy password puzzle

implement a game of rock, paper, scissors

making a boulder puzzle

how to appear smaller on the world map

making a repeating/endless hallway or road

how to create diagnal stairs (and moving backgrounds on maps!)

make your game work WITHOUT RTP

understanding pointers

activating events by proximity

implementing weather

double tap to dash!

hold shift to speed up

create a condition to know that the game has been loaded (for new game + and other stuff)

have NPCs follow behind you, aka a caterpillar system (this): tutorial one | two | three | four | five

making an action battle system (like the 2D legend of zelda games)

custom menu tutorials: one | two | three

one way of debugging your game

more tutorials here

Fangame Specific Stuff

The Pokemon Resource Kit - a nice big collection of graphics and such to use for a generation 3 (firered/leafgreen & ruby/sapphire/emerald) type game!

How to Start your own Yume Nikki Fangame

How to create effects in Yume Nikki: Tutorial 1 

How to create endless hallways for Yume Nikki Fangames

How to make a “wake up” key for Yume Nikki Fangames

My tag for Yume Nikki Fangame Help

YumeResource was a blog created specifically for Yume Nikki Fangames

huge list of OFF spinoff/fangame resources

Creating battle sprites in the Mortis Ghost/OFF style

Check The Spriter’s Resource for any sprites you need to use from any game

sample games that were made for you to open up in the editor and see how events and such are done

A Sample Game for the Old RPG Maker 2003 (don’t worry, you can import games made in the old engine into the new 2003)

Mystic Sunrise, a sample game for the new RPG Maker 2003

graphics

Basic tips & links to some pixel art tutorials

my graphic resource masterpost

how do I get a talksprite/portrait/full body sprite to work (these)? one | two | three 

how do i make a message box with more details on it?

how do I get the correct coordinates for a picture i’m importing in?

how do these chipsets/tilesets even work?

can i change the sizes of characters or tiles?  short answer: no 

Do you have any templates?  Heck yeah I do.

how to fix the invalid color depth error

how do I fix this weird color around my character?? The proper way to import graphics & a reblogable post about importing graphics.

Menu error you might get in the New 2003 and how to fix it

Panorama/Parallax mapping for 2003, aka making your maps in another art program then importing them in as a backdrop

why not try and hand draw your own maps 

how do i water tile??? 

map making: a set of guidelines

elevation made easy

make custom lighting for your game

If I want to create a room full of eyes that follow the player, how would I do it?

music

my stupidly big music masterpost

My First Game Jam’s Resource list

footprint sounds

You can search for stuff on soundcloud that’s free to use - click on tracks -> filter -> then click on “to listen to” and change it to “to use commercially.”  There’s a lot of free video game music and other types of music on there, so check it out.

nightmargin’s music maker suggestion

list of free and open source music programs

famitracker - for your NES chiptune style music

Pulseboy - an online chiptune maker

as3sfxr - an online sound effects maker (coins, jumps, explosions, level ups, etc)

online .wav converter to convert music files into the .wav format

online .mp3 converter to convert music files into the .mp3 format

Other

Sharing your game once it’s done.  Make sure to check everything!

So, you want to translate an RPG Maker 2000/2003 game?

Common Problems when trying to open up games and how to fix them

Yumeresouce can answer ALL your questions about 2003 and more, no matter what game you’re making

I’m most familiar with 2003 since that’s my engine of choice, so until I start doing more research on the other RPG Makers, I can only do 2000/2003 for now.  If you want to do your own masterpost on any of the others though, I encourage it! :)

bc bad methods just teach u bad shit BUT the good methods arent always the super difficult methods. sometimes theyre actually the easiest, and u just have to have the sense to know which is which (like, “is this the product of good knowledge i have being expressed in a more efficient way” vs “am i avoiding obtaining the knowledge i would need to make that jump and in stead relying on inaccurate information to make bad decisions that take more effort”)

when u see a shortcut that seems solidly based in ur good instincts, TAKE IT. art is full of shortcuts and fakeout bs u use to make people think what youve made is an act of witchcraft in stead of just a collection to visual information that is otherwise meaningless. thats all art is: a bunch of visual STUFF that is objectively meaningless. i isnt REAL, but an artist makes it SEEM that way; thats some fakey cheaty illusory bs

ppl act like art should be this super difficult grating process, and sometimes thats true, but its not its DEFAULT STATE. for me its almost never ever like that; when ur feeling like that, it should only be when ur eyes are ahead of your hands (or, a part in the learning process where ur eyes see mistakes thar ur brain doesn’t know how to fix yet, so u keep making the same mistakes and getting frustrated; but dont worry, this just means ur about to take a big leap of skill!) otherwise, for me, its natural and easy and only results in tiredness after a few hours

learning how to draw should be like learning anything else; at a healthy, beneficial pace and in the most efficient way possible. future employers dont want artists who take the most time on the most painful methods available bc its “impressive”, they want employees who can churn out the best shit the quickest. that’s productivity. that means “cheating”

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. 

a couple ppl asked abt this. from flat to finished !!! a quick way 2 get ur flat colors looking like u spent time on them when rly it was just a couple of minutes!!! extra stuff in the captions

websites:

Animation World Network

Animation Backgrounds

Animation Magazine

Animation & CGI

Animator Island

Anime News Network

Cartoon Brew

Character Design References

On Animation

Reference! Reference! (free database for animation)

11 Second Club (monthly character animation competition)

tumblr blogs:

animationart

animationforce

animationtidbits

aspiretoanimate

calartscharacteranimation

disney-moments-sketches (Allen Ostergar’s blog, animator at Walt Disney)

drawingforsuckas

fuckyeahconceptart

storyboardresources

theanimationarchive

theartofanimation

wannabeanimator

resources/tips:

Animation schools: 1 / 2 (Top 50 USA) / 3 (Top 100 international)

Which animation school is right for you? (Ringling vs. CalArts)

Don’t want to/ can’t afford art school? you’ve got other options.

Animation Mentor: The online animation school

Art school exercises!!

51 Great Animation exercises

20 things you can expect as a traditional (2D) animation student that they never tell you

A Survivor’s Guide to Life Inside an Animation Studio

Animation basics: The art of timing and spacing

Animation Notes From Ollie Johnston

Animated chart of the basic principles of animation

10 Second tip: Always Anticipate

book: Animation: Learn How to Draw Animated Cartoons by Preston Blair

book: A System for Planning and Timing Animation by Glen Keane

book: Timing for animation by Harold Whitaker and John Halas

book: Gesture Drawing for animation by Walt Stanchfield

Basic 3D Animation Terminology

Digital pencil test!!

Keys to Emotion in Animation

Lessons from Disney’s Zootopia

Model Sheets central

The importance of Acting in Animation by Segio Pablos

Printable exposure/dope sheet

Phoneme Chart

Recommended reading for animation students and enthusiasts

The 5 Types of Animation

The Know-How of Cartooning 

The Unofficial Truth about The Animation Industry

Why Disney Sends Its Animators To Life Drawing Classes

Walk/Run Cycles reference

What is Pixar looking for in Animators? (scroll down)

Portfolio Advice for The Disney Animation Internship

What is Rigging?

3D Rigging Terminology

3D Modeling Terminology

tutorials:

Animation for Beginners: Where do I start

Animation Physics (Video tutorials on physics for animation artists)

Animation tutorial part. 1 AKA “the secret of animation”

Appealing Poses in Animation

Background & Movement in TV

Blinking tips

Breakdown tutorial (middle frame between to keys)

Drawing & Composition for visual storytelling

Drawing for Animation

Drawing a Likeness

Animation fundamentals + tutorials

Filmmaking: Composition and Framing

Getting Shape Change

How to animate using photoshop

How to animate Characters in Perspective

How to Animate Head Turns

How to Draw Gesture

OpeenToonz tutorials masterpost

Overlapping Action and Drag

Portfolio tips / Making A Successful Portfolio

Lyp Sync tutorial

Line of action

Basics of good cartooning 1-12 by Sherm Cohen

Squash & Stretch tutorial

Squash and Stretch 2

Storyboarding tutorials by Sherm Cohen

The Illusion of Life: 12 Principles of Animation

Tilt, Flow & Rhythm

Underlying Structure When Animating Expressions

TVPaint tutorial: Uploading and Coloring Scanned Animation

supplies (traditional animation):

10 Essential Art Supplies for the Traditional Animator

How to Use a Light Table for Animation

Making a Simple Animation Lightbox

Peg bars, Animation Disk & Desk

softwares:

free

Blender (3D creation suite. It supports the entirety of the 3D pipeline: modeling, rigging, animation,etc)

Emofuri (animate using .psd files)

Google Sketchup (

Live2D ( animation/drawing software

OpenToonz (Studio Ghibli’s open source animation software)

Pencil2D (create traditional hand-drawn animation (cartoon) using both bitmap and vector graphics)

Renderman (Pixar’s free 3D rendering software)

Sculptris (Free digital sculpting tool by the makers of Zbrush

SculptGL (Online modelling program)

Synfig (2d animation using a vector and bitmap artwork)

paid

Zbrush (digital sculpting sw by Pixologic)

Mudbox (digital sculpting sw by Autodesk)

Cinema 4D (digital sculpting sw by Maxon)

TVPaint  (2d animation)

animation studios:

Aardman (Bristol, UK)

Blue Sky Studios (Greenwich, USA)

Dreamworks (Glendale, USA)

Fox Animation (USA)

Imagination Studios/CN (Burbank, USA)

Industrial Light & Magic (San Francisco, USA)

Laika (Hillsboro, USA)

Luma Pictures (USA / Melbourne, Australia)

Nickelodeon Animation (Burbank, USA)

Pixar (Emeryville, CA)

Rise FX (Berlin, Germany)

Studio Ghibli (Tokyo, Japan)

Sony Picture Imageworks (Vancouver, Canada)

Sony Pictures Animation (Culver City, CA)

Walt Disney Animation (Burbank, CA)

Weta Digital (Wellington, New Zealand)

inspiration: worth watching short films

Coda by and maps and plans

Contre Temps by the Contre Temps Team

Duet by Glen Keane

DOG ENVY by Olivia Huynh

Fallin Floyd by  il Luster

French Roast

Gravity by Ailin Liu

In Between by Gobelins

Jinxy Jenkins and Lucky Lou by Michael Bidinger and Michelle Kwon

My Big Brother by Jason Rayner

Night Light by Qing Han

Nephtali by Glen Keane

Nocturne by Kari Casady

Historia de un Oso by Gabriel Osorio

Home Sweet Home  by home sweet home the film

One Bright Dot by  Clément Morin

Stickboy by Giant Ant

SOAR by Alyce Tzue

Tsunami by The Animation Workshop

Thought of You by Ryan Woodward

Vagabond by  The Animation Workshop

Floral Photography Inspired by Claude Monet by Nikita Gill

Poet and photographer Nikita Gill experiments with a series of floral photography the concept of impressionism and the important play of light and dark. Inspired by the riveting work of impressionist painter Monet, her work aims to mimic the color scheme, intensity and the weather conditions the classical artist worked under.

How to Make Your Art Look Nice: Lighting

Think your drawings are lacking that extra “oomph”? Maybe adding a little bit of lighting can help!

_________

The “How to Make Your Art Look Nice” Series