Asked by adamdmurray adamdmurray
Where is the course you're on? It looks awesome.
Oh god, how long ago was this sent? The course I’m attending is nothing fancy, it’s a FETAC level 5 course that is held mostly in the art room of a secondary school. Specifically, it’s the ‘Portfolio Preparation’ course.
I’ll admit, it’s not *quite*what I was hoping for (there’s a worryingly little amount of life drawing) but I’ve got to meet some cool people there.
My apologies for taking this long to get back to you, Adam. You’d think having being on Tumblr this long I’d be used to it by now!
EDIT: Whoooooops, I just realised I never properly answered your question. I’m attending the course in Carlow.
A Bucketload of Art Reference/Tutorial Books in PDF form
What the title says. These books cover everything from anatomy to composition to animation & comics:
http://www.mediafire.com/?i44dwzkf9j9n8
Here’s an excellent book on inking:
http://www.mediafire.com/?evgdvv348z914
Also, if you don’t already have ‘em, Andrew Loomis’ books are pretty much the best-of-the-best:
http://www.alexhays.com/loomis/
There is an absolute wealth of information contained in all these books, more than enough to last you a long, looooooong time.
Just reblogging this for those of you who may have missed it yesterday. It’s an absolute motherlode of scanned art reference/instructional books.
A Bucketload of Art Reference/Tutorial Books in PDF form
What the title says. These books cover everything from anatomy to composition to animation & comics:
http://www.mediafire.com/?i44dwzkf9j9n8
Here’s an excellent book on inking:
http://www.mediafire.com/?evgdvv348z914
Also, if you don’t already have ‘em, Andrew Loomis’ books are pretty much the best-of-the-best:
http://www.alexhays.com/loomis/
There is an absolute wealth of information contained in all these books, more than enough to last you a long, looooooong time.
Today I gave my students a quick presentation on some of the basic considerations for composition, which I am now sharing with you! I’ve given them separate talks about color and tonal value/contrast, which are also super important compositional concerns. (I’ll be sharing those presentations too once I properly format them)
I personally love learning about different compositional techniques. It’s fun to think about the ways that the brain views & sorts images, and how we can trick it into feeling a certain way or looking at certain aspects of an image first! It’s easy to fall into compositional ruts (which I am also guilty of) because a lot of art gets by with mediocre, though serviceable, compositions. If you can generally understand what’s happening in an image then it’s generally fine. However, it’s the truly great compositions, where everything in the whole image has been considered and ‘clicks’ together, that bump up an illustration to a visual slam dunk. NC Wyeth is one of my favorite artists for this reason: his compositions are rock solid, varied based on the image’s intent, and always enhance the mood or action he is depicting.
For extra reading, some online compositional resources that I’ve found helpful or interesting include:
Creative Illustration by Andrew Loomis (download it for FREE. Such a great book all-around.)
Gurney Journey (check out the “Composition” tag, but really everything he posts is great)
The Schweitzer guide to spotting tangents
Cinemosaic (a blog by Lou Romano with some truly WONDERFUL compositions captured from various films)
Where to Put the Cow by Anita GriffinHappy composition-ing!
Stuff like this is why I’m glad I browse Tumblr more these days.
(via koltron)
2 crazy friends
Nikki and John. .u.
A highly accurate depiction of me when trying to draw during breaks in my course. Drawn by the sickeningly talented Waterlok!
Time for bed to rest my queasy stomach. Before I go, though, here’s a few contour drawings I did.
Now, I sort of cheated here in that I was looking at the page a few times while drawing. My main reason for doing these is because I’m far too stiff and robotic when it comes to drawing the human figure, especially when it’s clothed, so this is my attempt to sort that out. I’ll be adding this to the 30 second drawings I’ve been doing as part of a daily artistic exercise/kick up the arse.
I think I’ve managed to give myself a mild dose of food poisoning. My stomach is none too pleased.
Because everyone needs a gif of making ice cream sandwiches on their blog.
This is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.
Going to the store tonight. Adds ice cream sandwiches to list.
need this in my life
I am only sharing this because ‘Swept the Rain’ (from the Pixeljunk Eden OST) is currently playing in my iTunes and syncs almost perfectly.
(via koltron)
Concerning Twitter
Tumblr user demophon asked me earlier if I deleted my Twitter. To answer: yes. Yes I did. I really should have pointed this out sooner, considering I still have a link to it on my Tumblr’s main page.
Basically, I decided to shut down my Facebook (not permanently, mind) due to it becoming nothing more than a procrastination tool. On top of that, I also decided to quit browsing both Reddit and NeoGaf, due to both websites being like that giant piece of candy lying around in your fridge: you know you shouldn’t be nibbling away at it, but because it’s there you think “what’s the harm? Just one more bite…”
Anyways, it didn’t work out very well, considering Twitter became a surrogate Facebook/Reddit/NeoGaf for me, leading to me posting countless inane things (all within a 140 character limit!), anything to avoid drawing.
So, I decided to cut Twitter out of my life as well. So far, it’s been going well, and it’s actually nice to be out of the loop for once. I haven’t a clue what’s going on in world news or — most importantly — pop culture right now and, y’know what? It’s actually kind of refreshing.
