-Burne Hogarth’s Dynamic Anatomy

-Betty Edwards’ Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain

-Jack Hamm’s Drawing the Head and Figure

-James Gurney’s Color and Light

-Betty Edwards’ Color

These are pretty much the best for the basics.

Type them into Amazon and I guarantee you’ll find something.

Also: I can now say from experience that The Animator’s Survival Kit is very good.

And, um. Steer clear of “how to draw” books like the Chris Hart series, because frankly it just seems to teach young artists lazy cliches rather than having very much useful information in it. The books above have all of the few handy tidbits Hart drops and then some. Not trying to diss him as a person or anything but I’ve flipped through his books before and they’re less helpful than, say, “Neondragon” Pfeffer’s stuff, which I have a habit of buying for my sister because she likes to trace the pictures and color them. Good luck!

-SA

aivii:

I gave your pencil back anon, now go draw with it!

(Thank you, by the way)

monochronisme:

Tips on how you should consider your sketchbook, as an art student (or not). It helps ! I feel way too concerned by this.;;

neil-gaiman:

I’ve seem to be hitting writer’s block far too often now. My grade in my creative writing class is suffering because i don’t turn in anything because i’m never really satisfied with anything i do. all my good ideas seem to turn into bad ones once i write it down. How do you get pass writers block?

 whimsyrachy

You turn off your inner critic. You do not listen to your inner police force. You ignore the little voices that tell you that it’s all stupid, and you keep going.

Your grade isn’t suffering because your writing is bad, it’s suffering because you aren’t finishing things and handing them in. 

So, finish them and hand them in. Even if a story’s lousy, you’ll learn something from it that will be useful as a writer, even if it’s just “don’t do that again”.

You’re always going to be dissatisfied with what you write. That’s part of being human. In our heads, stories are perfect, flawless, glittering, magical. Then we start to put them down on paper, one unsatisfactory word at a time. And each time our inner critics tell us that it’s a rotten idea and we should abandon it.

If you’re going to write, ignore your inner critic, while you’re writing. Do whatever you can to finish. Know that anything can be fixed later.

Remember: you don’t have to be brilliant when you start out. You just have to write. Every story you finish puts you closer to being a writer, and makes you a better writer.

Blaming “Writer’s Block” is wonderful. It removes any responsibility from the person with the “block”. It gives you something to blame, and it sounds fancy.

But it’s probably more honest to think of it as a combination of laziness, perfectionism and Getting Stuck. If you’re being lazy, don’t be. If you’re being a perfectionist, don’t be. And if you’re stuck, figure out where the story went off the rails, or what you got wrong, or where you need to go deeper, or what you need to add to make it work, and then start writing again.

I’m lucky enough to have a friend who encourages me to draw. Recently she even started critiquing my work- something I’m not used to getting from anyone, but I’m thankful for nonetheless. Part of her encouragement includes requesting me to draw various things— and while it’s true that I’m not drawing as regularly as I should, I dislike having someone repeatedly asking me to do for them. (Nothing against drawing for her; I’d just rather offer that kind of stuff on my own volition.) Am I taking her for granted? I have to wonder if I’m just being stingy/lazy. 

It sounds as though what you’re resenting is being asked to draw things she wants, rather than being asked to draw…

However it also sounds as though your friend is trying to help you by giving you motivation to draw. You could tell her that you don’t mind being asked to draw, but you’d like what you draw to be left up to you.

Although honestly, personally, I would see this as good practice for the future… There aren’t going to be many jobs where you’re told to draw whatever you want whenever you want.

I don’t think you’re being stingy, but you may want to talk to her about it. Maybe you two can come to an agreement.

detectivedeathmachine:

pirateskates:

astroize:

you guys know all my secrets now

That’s actually a really great, basic guide to caricature.

Exactly.  There is nothing more to learn past this.

Actually this is very nice.

artreferencesforyou:

Stop Comparing, Start Advancing

eskiworks:

I really love this short article because it talks about something all us artists struggle with; comparing yourself and your work to others. These are all valid and valuable points, but the one I ALWAYS say to people is number three, just in different words. It says “rather compare and despair, admire and inspire.” YES. There is no need to get down on yourself for what others have accomplished. You cannot help how you feel, but you can use your feelings to better yourself instead of digging the grave of your artistic ego. Use those emotions to fuel yourself on your journey as an artist.

animationtidbits:

Dreamworks Storyboard Notes

apfelastrid:

amazinglyartisticadvice:

Take care of your hands. Keep them warm in the winter (fingerless gloves. I swear by them), use gloves when you’re handling sharp or corrosive things, exercise them after handling heavy things, try to keep them safe. Use common sense and don’t take risks!  Try not to spend too much time clicking things on the internet aka get offline and sketch sometimes. Don’t grip your pencil too hard. Your hands are even more important to you than to the average person, so take good care of them!

(Personally I’m paranoid enough that I am in the process of training my left hand how to draw and write and function the way my right hand does. Insurance.)

Yes yes yes, I can’t agree more. I didn’t take good enough care of my own dominant hand, and now I have spend the last 7 months with a nasty inflammation - which is getting worse still..
I have trained my left hand (I’m right-handed) to draw and write nicely; it’s slow, but it looks just like when I use my right hand, and it has become a reflex to use both hands while drawing now.
So people, if you treasure your hands, take good care of them - I know I’m never going to neglect mine ever again EVER.

Pardon me I am going to use this to reinforce the lesson, so to speak.

I am very glad you’ve managed to train your left hand though!

Take care of your hands. Keep them warm in the winter (fingerless gloves. I swear by them), use gloves when you’re handling sharp or corrosive things, exercise them after handling heavy things, try to keep them safe. Use common sense and don’t take risks!  Try not to spend too much time clicking things on the internet aka get offline and sketch sometimes. Don’t grip your pencil too hard. Your hands are even more important to you than to the average person, so take good care of them!

(Personally I’m paranoid enough that I am in the process of training my left hand how to draw and write and function the way my right hand does. Insurance.)