#ambertext

There's something truly magical about finding a short film where you can clearly tell just how much of it was made by hand. Paper textures, collage backgrounds, painted effects added directly on top of printed film footage... Even the parts done with digital assistance are refined in such a way to make them match their handmade assets, which is one of my favorite things to see in art. In only a couple of minutes, I was captivated by this cat's dreamy little adventure, and left appreciating all the love and detail poured into it, and wanting to see more of this creator's work, especially since she's starting a monthly challenge to make more short mixed media films like this!

The creator, Ameya's Realm, actually posted up a video today talking about the process of making this film, which reminded me to share the original, and I would highly recommend watching this video as well!

(Taken from my BlueSky thread) For anyone interested in figuring out whether they actually like watercolours or not, I made a discovery! Just save yourself the trouble and spend your money on the really nice, heavy, pure cotton paper to use. The paper matters so much more than I wanted to admit.

Seriously, I've been hemming and hawwing for actual years over whether I actually like using watercolours, when I have to fight with feeling like my glazes are too weak, or like my paper always warps too much, even when I blot excess water off my brushes. Trust me. It's the fucking paper.

And you don't need to buy yourself a huge expensive pad or block of paper if you just want to see how it feels! You can get a single sheet of 300 gsm paper from the art store and cut it up into smaller panels to play with. But it does give you a clearer idea of what it SHOULD feel like.

I'm having so much fun with my painting right now, and feeling like I'm actually getting the results I want! My technique wasn't actually bad, it was just being held up by using weak-ass paper that couldn't handle my true power.

Once upon a time, I used to regularly share link collections of helpful art resources here that I would stumble across on my various feeds and timelines, both to keep track of them for myself for later reference, and to share them with others who also might find these resources useful or interesting. And considering how many websites most folks are spread across nowadays? It seems like as good a time as any for me to start doing this again! Feel free to share and reblog to whoever you think will benefit!

(I would recommend that if there's any links that you find particularly helpful, perhaps save the image or video to your computer for safekeeping. I have no idea how long Twitter links will work because of obvious site shenanigans, even with Nitter as a workaround...)

TIPS, TRICKS, AND TECHNIQUES

Drawing easy straight lines in CSP with line variance! (I use this one all the time now):

https://nitter.net/PharanBrush/status/1573559518830940160

Every layer blending mode explained in detail!

https://nitter.net/DanHollick/status/1583080119068807168

A digital inking tip for unsure artists: use a blurred sketch!

https://nitter.net/quasimaddi/status/1585011119277555712

Tips for drawing motion blur by hand:

https://nitter.net/stardustjarr/status/1553140493462241280

Divide layer trick for removing unwanted colours for a picture! (Works great for cleaning up scans)

https://nitter.net/DaveRapoza/status/1513918096922226694

Quick perspective tip: think in several layers of depth!

https:/nitter.net/toni_infante/status/1530209210558042114

A trick for handling 1-point perspective in backgrounds:

https://nitter.net/djamilaknopf/status/1478738291386204160

And another interesting perspective insight from someone else in the same thread:

https://nitter.net/Masa_Ikku/status/1478747970233585667

Easy architectural facades for buildings: paint it flat, skew, and expand!

https://nitter.net/DevinElleKurtz/status/1481791432490815489

Sinix Design: Anatomy Quick Tips. A playlist of videos focusing on how to break down and draw specific parts of body anatomy. (A favorite resource of mine!)

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLflflDShjUKH4EfZyf0vuKEuqeqvlV0Qd

EDITED TO ADD: Thank you to Honeybees for a wonderful link to some additional book resources!

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1vEv0qEQKeGuWI4MPUcX8adWtNuGtTgSB

This folder contains:

"Anatomy for Sculptors", "Anatomy of Facial Expression", and "Form of the Head and Neck" by Uldis Zarins. An invaluable set of resources for understanding the 3D volumes of the human body from all angles! Goes into detail about skeletal structure and musculature, with photos and 3D models to help break down structures.

Volume 1 through 6 of "Hamm Tips", an amazing PDF archive of knowledge from the late Jon Hamm's art advice Twitter. Covering a wide variety of topics from inking to composition to visual narrative, there's a little bit of everything to learn here! (These PDFs are also still available to purchase on https://jessehamm.gumroad.com/ Proceeds go towards supporting Hamm's wife.)

The Morpho Series by Michel Lauricella: "Clothing Folds and Creases", "Fat and Skin Folds", "Hands and Feet", "Simplified Forms Anatomy for Artists", and "Skeleton and Bone Reference Points". A collection of detailed drawn figures and studies covering a variety of essential topics. Especially helpful if you find it easier to learn from seeing drawings rather than photos or 3D models!

DOWNLOADABLE TOOLS AND ASSETS

Baydews shares their favorite CSP brushes:

https://nitter.net/baydews/status/1607413330444169219?t=wH2Ijop-0llRr_HUF-0PTA&s=19

Master list of CSP brushes and assets!

https://cspmasterlist.carrd.co/

CSP Perspective Box asset:

https://nitter.net/PharanBrush/status/1687876570764238848?t=82DGi0khF8qtZTrndemHhg&s=19

Extensive 3D prop resource (Models can be imported into CSP and more!)

https://thebasemesh.com/

REFERENCE MATERIAL

Line of Action, a figure drawing resource tool! Most folks probably know this one, but it's still worth pointing out as a favorite for gesture drawing practice of many kinds:

https://line-of-action.com/practice-tools/figure-drawing/

AdorkaStock, another great resource for pose photos:

https://www.adorkastock.com/sketch/

A reference search resource for finding photos of human heads from specific angles:

http://referenceangle.com/

A similar resource to above, but for animal heads from specific angles:

https://x6ud.github.io/#/

And another, for finding photos of poses with limbs in specific positions:

https://x6ud.github.io/pose-search/#/

Japanese terms for certain eye shapes, with photo examples:

https://nitter.net/authorkurikuri/status/1597780432526925824?t=45tt1w6XFisqf53wLpW4TQ&s=19

Need pose inspiration for a mermaid? Try photos of skaters!

https://nitter.net/BelgharbiHouda/status/1521578742203752453

Actual mermaid poses, in 3D model form, with multiple turnaround angles:

https://nitter.net/kingcholera/status/1466065821835403271?t=QOTTQ_NaM4lC67hjaIWHKw&s=19

KingCholera's Patreon is a great resource for free 3D model poses! (Select "public" in the Tier dropdown at the top of their Patreon post feed to get a list of currently available free resources):

https://www.patreon.com/kingcholera

Another example from KingCholera's public ref collection: shoe refs (turnarounds)

https://www.patreon.com/posts/480-shoe-pt-2-70970957?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=postshare_creator

PAID RESOURCES

Eco-friendly bubblewrap substitute (helpful if you sell merch):

https://www.ecoenclose.com/shop/greenwrap/

Plushie sewing templates and tutorials from an awesome plushie artist, NazFX:

https://nazegoreng.gumroad.com/

MISC RESOURCES

Font help: good title and body typeface pairings:

https://nitter.net/Unenthuser/status/1539391099919224837

Font: SS Pretzel comic-friendly font:

https://nitter.net/salinsley/status/1445752040123092998?t=JqHW97mq0Zsie84vddCkPg&s=19

Rarebit: a Neocities webcomic website template:

Yes, yes it did.