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Top Tutorials | A directory to amazing guides + Q&A Thread: Ask questions here!

SuSa

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Well, I've stumbled across the interwebz for quite a while now - and often times it's searching for how do I do _______. There are so many tutorials out there, but some don't go into nearly enough detail - or some are just to bland, and others are just too bad!

My inspiration for this topic was PurpleKecleon's tutorial that you can see here. I've read over plenty of color theory tutorials and how to use colors, but her's is the best I've found by far! It even pointed out a few things I've never truly given thought with color theory and the true importance of hue's and saturation.

And so, this topic came to mind. While her tutorial is fairly new, this won't be a rule for amazing tutorials out there - so I decided "Why not make a directory with some of the best tutorials on the internet?"

This thread is free to re-distribute on any forum because all it does is make a directory anyone is capable of doing and expanding upon. I'm sure this has been done before, but for me this will be my original copy. All additions will be added to this thread, by me - and when I post it on other forums; if they wish to suggest a tutorial, it must be done via this thread.

How to make Suggestions

If you would like to suggest for a tutorial to be added, please use the following format:
Code:
Creator:
Link to Tutorial:
Category:
Sub-Category (If applicable):


Index​

Feel free to add upon/suggest changes to this index. I know some thing's aren't exactly named very well and I myself am not really an expert on things. ;) Also feel free to suggest sub-categories if you feel the need (EG: Animal Anatomy, Human Anatomy)

  • Anatomy
  • Color Theory
  • Coloring/Shading
  • Perspective
  • Drawing Basics
  • Photography
  • Graphic Signatures/Tags
  • Web Design
  • General/Other


Anatomy

Kitten-chan's Tutorial on Faces and Expressions
Kitten-chan's Tutorial on Feet
Kitten-chan's Tutorial on Hands
Kitten-chan's Tutorial on Human Figure

Nambroth's Realistic Bird Wings Tutorial

Hands Tutorial by JohnYume

Drawing the Human Head by Ron Lemen

Drawing the Neck by Geist & Alley Cat

Face Proportions by Geist

Color Theory

PurpleKecleon's Color Tutorial

Coloring/Shading​

Artgerm's Color Process

Yellow-Eyes Color Process

Kuitsuku's Lineart+Cel-Shading Tutorial

Torture-Device's Digital Painting Tutorial

Fur by Sullivan (Part 1)

Fur by Sullivan (Part 2)

Clouds by Meago

Perspective

Drawing Basics

Photography

Graphic Signatures/Tags

Senthrax's Signature Tutorial

Web Design

General/Other

Ditton03 Painting on Feathers

Gravija-Sunrise's Line Art Tutorial

The-Artists-Cubby Choosing Photo References

One Layer Painting by Nami-kun

Fox Fire Walkthrough by Ashwings

 

Geist

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Once I saw an amazing tutorial on creating structure by shading and lighting focus.
And I can't find it. :[
 

SuSa

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These aren't for tutorials made by SWF members however. It's a directory of amazing tutorials from all over the internet.

The goal is to have some of the top tutorials that are large and cover as much detail as possible listed. Take a look at the two I put up there to get an idea.

The signature/tag tutorial covered far more than just "how to make ______" but covered important art concepts such as color theory and the rule of thirds. It then went on on how to make one of the two signatures shown.

The color tutorial by purplekecleon covered a vast amount of information on color theory, and was really well done in an organized manner - giving many examples along the way.

The goal is to try and find the best of the best tutorials.

(I have one or two for web design and I think one for anatomy, I just need to find them)
 

global-wolf

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Colors and coloring are pretty different things, Purplekecleon's tutorial teaches about color, not actually how to color something. I think colors and coloring should be separated, colors can be combined with shading if you don't want too many categories. Also I think there should be a misc. categories for nice art tutorials that don't really fit with the rest.

I have a bunch of tutorials saved to my computer, I can't view stuff on deviantart though :( I'll just put the name and the information here for now. They shouldn't be too hard to find.

Name: Choosing photo reference
Creator: The Artists Cubby
Link to Tutorial:
Category: Anatomy (kinda difficult actually... not quite anatomy but that's the closest one. could also be perspective, colors. maybe make a "general" category?)
Sub-Category (If applicable):

Name: Feather painting tutorial
Creator: dittin03
Link to Tutorial:
Category: Misc.
Sub-Category (If applicable):

Name: Pepper IFX Process
Creator: Artgerm
Link to Tutorial:
Category: Coloring (not quite a tutorial, but the pictures are very informative.)
Sub-Category (If applicable):

Name: Photoshop lineart coloring
Creator: Kuitsuku
Link to Tutorial:
Category: Coloring
Sub-Category (If applicable):

Name: Realistic bird wings
Creator: Nambroth
Link to Tutorial:
Category: Anatomy
Sub-Category (If applicable):

Name: TD's coloring tutorial
Creator: Torture-device
Link to Tutorial:
Category: Coloring
Sub-Category (If applicable):

Name: The basics of line art
Creator: Our very own Hondafoo! (gravija-sunrise)
Link to Tutorial:
Category: We need another category... Susa think of one xD
Sub-Category (If applicable):

Name: Windy day walkthru
Creator: yellow-eyes
Link to Tutorial:
Category: Coloring
Sub-Category (If applicable):
 

SuSa

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Added the ones I could find. I think the "Choosing photo reference" was the only one I couldn't find.

Added the General/Misc. category.

I'm thinking of making a seperate category for "color process" as I don't really see them so much as an amazing tutorial than a "This is how I do my art" type of thing... =\ but that could very well just be me.
 

SuSa

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Look at general/misc (other? I forget what I named it)

Already had your tutorial up. <3

i already like this thread.
i just watched purplekeckleon's tutorial, and it was really interesting~ one day i'm gonna go through all of these x3
very good idea 5/5
Glad you liked the idea. Now I need to go find the **** tutorials so I can add more to this list. :awesome:
 

SuSa

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Thanks for the sticky!

Added 4 of Kitten-chan's amazing anatomy guides. :) I almost forgot I had fav'd those on my old account with the meaning of going through them again as reference~ time to redownload them to read them and practice using the tips given, etc.

I have a few on muscles and another on human anatomy somewhere.. :o
 

ZIO

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I always wanted more examples of the anatomy as made famous by Marvel and DC.

Also - that color tutorial was a nice read. :)
 

Neon Ness

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Umm.

You... You don't need to bump a sticky.

I'm sure SuSa'll add more stuff to it when he can. ^^;
 

SuSa

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I've updated with everything that has been suggested. If you feel the OP is empty find more tutorials. All of those Kitten-Chan anatomy ones, PK's color tutorial, and Senthrax's Signature tut were all from me. It's pretty much all I have that I feel is worthy of being in this thread.

I have quite a handful of tutorials, none of which I'd consider overly amazing - unless combined with another 10 similar tutorials.
 

global-wolf

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I posted hoping that someone would see the new post and click on it. This thread seems to have been forgotten.

I'm not accusing you of anything Susa. All of the tutorials I think are excellent are already in the OP.
 

SupaSairentoZ7℠

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I was wonder if anyone has knowledge or knows a video guide on making signatures with text but with images inside the text, I use PS CS5. I apologize if this is the wrong thread to ask but I couldn't find an thread based on questions people would have for stuff related to this. Fill free to move this post if need be Neon Ness. Thanks in advance!

:phone:
 

Starphoenix

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I was wonder if anyone has knowledge or knows a video guide on making signatures with text but with images inside the text, I use PS CS5. I apologize if this is the wrong thread to ask but I couldn't find an thread based on questions people would have for stuff related to this. Fill free to move this post if need be Neon Ness. Thanks in advance!

:phone:
Are you meaning something like this?

 

Starphoenix

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Unfortunately I cannot help you with PhotoShop. I use Fireworks.

:phone:
 

Starphoenix

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They aren't the same with some of their feature huh?

:phone:
Well I'll tell you what you do in Fireworks, hopefully it will transition to PhotoShop.

Under the text settings there is a button to change the color of the text. Below the colors will be another button that says "fill options". At the top where it says "solid" will be an expandable menu, look for the option that says "pattern". You'll be able to select pre-existing patterns and import pictures to set as a pattern. This is how I achieved that result with the text posted.

The only other option is to only have the text outlined, put it above your selected image and manually cut/erase around the text.

:phone:
 

NTA

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How do people go from simple sketches to a full animation with clean images such as these?





I'm also interested in making pixel art. My main objective is primarily the pokemon style since I've been planning to use new trainers in my gba and for use in rpg maker and similar stuff...

Here are some examples I've seen

 

Neon Ness

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How do people go from simple sketches to a full animation with clean images such as these?
Practice practice practice of the basics--understanding form/lighting/human anatomy and so on. I'm not an animation expert, but I imagine that it starts with storyboards to understand the sequence of events. Part of the 'cleanness' of the images comes from inking/coloring I believe. The sketches are taken into a digital program like Photoshop/Illustrator where someone carefully traces the important outlines in some dark color/black. Colors and shading are probably added on layers underneath afterward. Of course you can ink with actual pen but digital usually allows for faster/more efficient workflow in animation.


I'm also interested in making pixel art. My main objective is primarily the pokemon style since I've been planning to use new trainers in my gba and for use in rpg maker and similar stuff...
I think if you can draw, you can sprite. First I would study the Pokemon sprites themselves--see what traits they have in common, what makes the "style". What colors do they use? How are the eyes shaped? Where are the outlines black and where are they colored? Stuff like that.

If you want to make trainer sprites then you might want to practice drawing drawing people/anatomy from real life to start. Even though Pokemon people are stylized cartoons, knowing how real people look will help you making your own sprites from scratch. You'll understand why arms/legs are drawn a certain way, where facial features should go, etc. You'll also understand lighting/3D forms and how to transform them into a few pixels efficiently.

Also: http://www.pixeljoint.com/ My source of pixel art inspiration. :> Check it out and see how other people work with pixel art.
 

NTA

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Thanks. I've seen many tutorials about pokemone sprites and I've had to deal with them for a few years from rom editing.

It's been years since I've draw though. Gotta start from somewhere though. Just not sure where :(
 

Neon Ness

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Yeah, I mean I'm not saying to practice drawing for years straight and nothing else, since spriting seems to be your main focus here. It's just a lot of times drawing things out on paper is much faster/easier for planning basic ideas and forms. So I suggest practicing spriting and drawing side by side.

If you're not sure what to start drawing then don't worry about it right at first. First study some sprites in the style you want, then make your own. If anything in your sprite looks wrong or weird, then go practice drawing/spriting whatever that is--hands, feet, shading, colors, whatever, until it looks right. Identify your weaknesses, and attack them one at a time.
 

NTA

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I've just been wanting to draw in general but I've always wanted to be able to make my own custom sprites.

What about when a person says to start with the basic shapes... does everyone do that?
 

A_man13

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Yeah, I mean I'm not saying to practice drawing for years straight and nothing else, since spriting seems to be your main focus here. It's just a lot of times drawing things out on paper is much faster/easier for planning basic ideas and forms. So I suggest practicing spriting and drawing side by side.
This. As good as you may be with photoshop, drawing on a sheet of paper will always be more efficient for planning out digital artwork; sprites or otherwise. Although drawing and redrawing a figure can be time consuming and difficult, it is still infinitely easier than doing the same thing in photoshop where a simple 1 pixel brush stroke can drastically alter a sprite (particularly in the outline). Simply grabbing a pencil and planning out what you want to sprite can easily make this process much less strenuous not only by giving you a point of reference when you go to create the sprite but also a chance to hammer out the details of exactly what you wish to create without the rather cumbersome nature of spiriting.

Good luck learning spriting, though! It takes time to master, but it's worth the effort.
 

Neon Ness

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What about when a person says to start with the basic shapes... does everyone do that?
Yeah, that can also be a huge help for drawing really complicated forms. The 4 I normally try to work from are cube, cylinder, cone, and sphere. Practicing these helps understanding the 3D form of complex objects.

Think about trying to draw something like a shoe. Drawing all of the little details can be intimidating, so the first thing to do is get the basic form on paper. Is it shaped most like a cube? Like a cylinder? It might be a combination of two basic shapes overlapping each other, but you can use those to get the overall idea of an object.

When drawing it helps to start really big and basic, then work your way to more and smaller details. This kind of thing can transfer over to spriting as well and help iron out ideas.
 

Chronodiver Lokii

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For the person asking about SAI in the other thread...

I can probably do some form of demo for you. Just let me know. I do most my work solely on SAI, so I'm used to the different forms of shading.
 

❀W.E.M.P.❀

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So we are all just going to use this as the social thread amirite?

Sorry once again for my inactivity, but I have been working hard on my comic project. Just within the last 24 hours my girlfriend decided to end our relationship so I will have a lot more time to post on here.

Lokii I got a new computer so I need the link to your blog again, or wherever your art is kept :p

edit - to stay on topic, uhhhh I need a tutorial on.... how to.. draw??
 

Neon Ness

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Yeah, we all miss the social, but it was closed for a reason :C We can't try to use other threads as a substitute.

Although I hope you'll post some of your recent comic work in the Crit Topic/your old thread. :D
 

Geist

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Sorry once again for my inactivity, but I have been working hard on my comic project. Just within the last 24 hours my girlfriend decided to end our relationship so I will have a lot more time to post on here.
:C
dayum
you get an e-hug from geist
edit - to stay on topic, uhhhh I need a tutorial on.... how to.. draw??
How to draw whotttt
 

Chronodiver Lokii

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Awww D: I add to the e-hugs! That's really awful, man!!!
Come back to Pittsburgh. We'll cheer you up.
(using the crazy shenanigans as usual xD)

And my site is http://littlemisslokii.wordpress.com

We're all kind of moving to skype for the more social stuff, so just add one of us, and we'll add you to the chat. I think my skype links in my contact postbit things.

But yeah, whatchu wanna draw? I'm sure we all have a collection of tutorials for you. I know i can steal some off one of my teacher's websites cuz he's awesome and stuff : D
 

❀W.E.M.P.❀

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Sorry Neon Ness I didn't know about dat skype chat!!!

Anyway thanks for the E-hugs.

Umm any tutorials on drawing ( as opposed to digitally painting ) water? I know thats weird but now I feel obligated to actually want a tutorial so I don't feel like a poop butt haha
 
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