art books on the internet archive for you
figure drawing for all it's worth (+ creative illustration)
will eisner comics and sequential art
will eisner graphic storytelling and visual narrative
understanding comics (+ making comics)
folder of various animation production art
burne hogarth drawing dynamic hands
perspective for comic book artists
be free
I've recommended this one before, but for all the non-human vertebrate likers out there... the art of animal drawing
See more posts like this on Tumblr
#ref for later #ref for art #ref for artists #usefulart books on the internet archive for you
figure drawing for all it's worth (+ creative illustration)
will eisner comics and sequential art
will eisner graphic storytelling and visual narrative
understanding comics (+ making comics)
folder of various animation production art
burne hogarth drawing dynamic hands
perspective for comic book artists
be free
Feminist fantasy is funny sometimes in how much it wants to shit on femininity for no goddamned reason. Like the whole “skirts are tools of the patriarchy made to cripple women into immobility, breeches are much better” thing.
(Let’s get it straight: Most societies over history have defaulted to skirts for everyone because you don’t have to take anything off to relieve yourself, you just have to squat down or lift your skirts and go. The main advantage of bifurcated garments is they make it easier to ride horses. But Western men wear pants so women wearing pants has become ~the universal symbol of gender equality~)
The book I’m reading literally just had its medievalesque heroine declare that peasant women wear breeches to work in the field because “You can’t swing a scythe in a skirt!”
Hm yes story checks out
peasant women definitely never did farm labour in skirts
skirts definitely mean you’re weak and fragile and can’t accomplish anything
skirts are definitely bad and will keep you from truly living life
no skirts for anyone, that’s definitely the moral of the story here
Now, a skirt that’s too long will be harder to work in–skirts brushing the floor may look elegant, but is also a tripping hazard–but that is not a problem with skirts in general, it’s a problem with that particular skirt not being suited to being worked in.
Skirts are very practical. You can hike them up if you’re hot or need more freedom to maneuver (this is called “girding your loins”). If you need to carry something, you can lift up your hem and make a pouch just like the person in yellow in the bottom picture above. If you need to handle something hot, a skirt generally has enough material you can hold it out from your body to use as a hot pad. (Tight skirts were only used by people who didn’t need to work/move until the invention of elastic fabric.)
Long skirts were markers of class almost as much as gender. Both men and women in the European middle ages wore extravagantly long garments to indicate both “I’m so rich I can afford THIS MUCH fabric” and “I don’t walk in the mud, I pay servants to do that for me.”
Skirt hiking: Definitely a Thing. (Janet’s tied her kirtle green/above the knee and not below…)
Love this post, and want to add: another example of the “empowerment means shitting on feminity” is the bizarro way that this genre attacks basic survival skills like cooking and sewing as pointless, inferior or mutually exclusive with masculine pursuits (like your lady knight should probably know how to cook for herself and sew her own wounds and patch her clothes while she’s on her quest through the North to rescue her boyfriend, or this happy couple is in for a world of hurt!)
Or to quote one of my all favorite posts, “fuck women’s contribution to our survival.”
Historically, skirts have been the garment of choice for almost every culture, gender and class. Breeches, or pants, were created specifically for riding horses.
Meanwhile, men wearing skirts.
*bangs gavel* NEEDS MOAR SKIRT
(Seriously, the notes on this post are a goldmine for people mentioning their cultures where men wear skirts. I couldn’t fit them all in. This is missing toooons of cultures from every part of the globe, especially Asia, Africa, and the Americas.)
Ancient Rome
Modern Morocco
Medieval Europe
Traditional Saudi Arabia
16th century Russia
Traditional Papua New Guinea
16th century Turkey
Modern India
i deliver propane. this means driving a large truck, then dragging a heavy hose up to one hundred and fifty feet through people’s yards, usually in deep snow and severe cold. i was the first woman my company ever hired.
and when i showed up for work in a skirt, all the men went BALLISTIC. they told me i’d trip, i’d get stuck, i’d freeze, i’d quit within the month when i found that i had underestimated how hard the work was. i asked what they thought women wore to work outside before the mid twentieth century, and they told me “women didn’t work outside then. they stayed in the house all the time.” and that’s when i learned that hatred of the skirt is another way of erasing women’s history–if you can pretend that all women were too hobbled by their clothes to even function, you can pretend that they never contributed jack shit to society.
anyway i’ve been doing this job in a skirt for three years now, and all the men should be jealous of my complete range of movement and infinite layering potential.
Before the Spanish showed up and WRECKED OUR SHIT, precolonial Filipinos all wore skirts, dresses, and/or loincloths. It is much easier to weave a single piece of fabric, or a single tube of fabric, than it is to weave the fabric, pattern the fabric, cut the fabric, and sew the fabric into breeches. Why would you do that unless you had a practical reason to?
There were occasional examples of what looks like breeches in the Boxer Codex, a late 16th century Spanish manuscript that contains illustrated examples of the attire of the various ethnic groups in and around the Philippines, (along with ethnic groups from other Asian countries), but irl most likely those were just malong/patadyong (a garment that is a tube of fabric) tucked and tied to create breeches.
Please enjoy the below illustrations.
(There is a critical lack of mention of hanfu, yukata, or hanbok on this post. I only have the expertise to cover hanfu, but I don’t have the strength, spoons, or enough expertise to feel comfortable handling that so I’m hoping a hanfu expert can weigh in!)
this
all of this
personal ramble time:
i was about 3-4 years old when i declared to my Mom that i’ll only wear skirts cause i can. she was sceptic cause i was a bit more mobile and energetic so she tried to reason with me - at least wear pants for the slides or when i climb. i refused.
i was exclusively wearing skirts (all shape and form i could find and i inherited from friends and family) till 6th grade when i tried to wear jeans for the first time. it was my stubborn self who decided and it was strange so i still keep to skirts if i can, but a loose pair of pants is okay (especially if it’s patterned with something)
all this to point out the sentiment behind hating skirts -
anytime i tried to make new friends with a girl soon and i mean like first 5 topic we chatted about they got defensive out of nowhere (or right after they asked if i really only wear skirts and i told yeah, duh)
the most common deffense was that it’s just not practical.
the second that it feels uncomfortable.
the third that it makes them feel selfconcious.
and every single fucking time they were talking about this or a variation of this
cause most people in the ‘modern world’ defaults skirts with smart or celebreatory attire and for some unknown fuckin reason it’s this nightmare that the default skirt shape in people’s mind is a form fitting pencil skirt.
and i always tried to tell them that there’s so much more out there. That you don’t have to default to this. That even i don’t like this kind of skirt, cause i love when it’s loose and it swishes as i go, the sound it makes, the little dance of its own and a pencil skirt is the ABSOLUTE ANTITESIS OF ALL THAT’S GOOD IN WEARING A SKIRT
but sadly this is the mental image of a modern woman and i’m so so sad for anyone who stops and chickens out from wearing a skirt because of this.
i’ll wear one if the occasion calls for it but this is the monster misguided feminists fight against. cause this is the skirt people think is only there to make you an eyecandy (i worked hostess adjacent job and yes, this is the standard uniform, and if you think about stuardess or secretary and all the usual 'sexy costumes’ yes it has a basis in history that you can hate and fight against)
it’s foolish to fight it. it’s just a piece of clothing. you have to wear it somehow either by feeling out of place your whole life or embracing it or simply changing to something more comfortable.
cause in the end of the day your clothes are not you but are for you. so find something that’s comfortable, lets you move/sit/walk as you like and enjoy the texture and the color and the movement or shape it gives you.
thank you for letting me ramble about this
it always baffled me why i’m the weird one for wearing skirts.
happy to see more and more people embrace it again.
Anonymous asked:
hello! whats your thought process behind creating poses? do you use reference, pose yourself or are you simply able to just imagine it alone? there are a lot from you I don't think I've seen before, hence is why I thought to ask this question
the concept had originally stemmed from me watching a video about poses ingeneral.
velnna answered:
I don’t use references for poses 99% of the time, and when I do they’re explicitly linked or attached to my posts. The process is pretty much just me putting together the pose with simplified shapes, muscle/anatomy outlines and motion lines, and I’d say the most important parts of it are, once again, having a somewhat solid understanding of anatomy and 3D volumes (which imo go hand in hand)
this ^ is what my first sketch pass tends to look like
The main type of reference I use is anatomical, so stuff like écorché dolls or medical diagrams to see what muscles are at play and how they connect. Posing is kinda like solving a puzzle to me, it makes the process more fun if I have to figure out how the pieces go together c:
This dude is my main reference
As well as countless of others from the AI generator community. Just talking about how "inaccessible art" is, I decided why not show how wrong these guys are while also helping anyone who actually wants to learn.
Here is the first one ART TEACHERS! There are plenty online and in places like youtube.
📺Here is my list:
Second part BOOKS, I have collected some books that have helped me and might help others.
📚Here is my list:
📝As for Supplies, I recommend starting out cheap, buying Pencils and art paper at dollar tree or 5 below. If you want to go fancy Michaels is always a good place for traditional supplies. They also get in some good sales and discounts. For digital art, I recommend not starting with a screen art drawing tablet as they are usually more expensive.
For the Best art Tablet I recommend either Xp-pen, Bamboo or Huion. Some can range from about 40$ to the thousands.
💻As for art programs here is a list of Free to pay.
So do with this information as you will but as you can tell there are ways to learn how to become an artist, without breaking the bank. The only thing that might be stopping YOU from using any of these things, is YOU.
I have made time to learn to draw and many artist have too. Either in-between working two jobs or taking care of your family and a job or regular school and chores. YOU just have to take the time or use some time management, it really doesn't take long to practice for like an hour or less. YOU also don't have to do it every day, just once or three times a week is fine.
Hope this was helpful and have a great day.
"also apologies for any spelling or grammar errors, I have Dyslexia and it makes my brain go XP when it comes to speech or writing"
Boosting this in case any of the programs and books suggested are useful.
All the photos on this tumblr ad the animal photo reference site I run is another resource available for artists to use!
As long as you’re not using AI to create your art, you can reference / trace / draw / recombine / make any sort of art you want, with any of the photos, for free.
There used to be a lot of activities that took place around a populated area like a village or town, which you would encounter before you reached the town itself. Most of those crafts have either been eliminated in the developed world or now take place out of view on private land, and so modern authors don't think of them when creating fantasy worlds or writing historical fiction. I think that sprinkling those in could both enrich the worlds you're writing in and, potentially, add useful plot devices.
For example, your travelers might know that they're near civilization when they start finding trees in the woods that have been tapped, for pitch or for sap. They might find a forester's trap line and trace it back to his hut to get medical care. Maybe they retrace the passage of a peasant and his pig out hunting for truffles. If they're coming along a coast, maybe your travelers come across the pools where sea water is dried down to salt, or the furnaces where bog iron ore is smelted.
Maybe they see a column of smoke and follow it to the house-sized kilns of a potter's yard where men work making bricks or roof tiles. From miles away they could smell the unmistakeable odor of pine sap being rendered down into pitch, and follow that to a village. Or they hear the flute playing of a shepherd boy whiling away the hours in the high pasture.
They could find the clearing where the charcoal burners recently broke down an earth kiln, and follow the hoof prints and drag marks of their horse and sledge as they hauled the charcoal back to civilization. Or follow the sound of metal on stone to a quarry or gravel pit. Maybe they know they're nearly to town when they come across a clay bank with signs of recent clay gathering.
Of course around every town and city there will be farms, more densely packed the closer you are. But don't just think of fields of grains or vegetables. Think of managed woodlands, like maybe trees coppiced-- cut and then regrown--to customize the shape or size of the branches. Cows being grazed in a communal green. Waiting as a huge flock of ducks is driven across the road. Orchards in bloom.
If they're approaching by road, there will be things best done out of town. The threshing floor where grain is beaten with flails or run through crushing wheels to separate the grain from its casing, and then winnowed, using the wind to carry away the chaff. Laundresses working in the river, their linens bleaching on the grass at the drying yard. The stench of the tanners, barred from town for stinking so badly. The rushing wheel-race and great creaking wheel of the flour mill.
If it's a larger town, there might be a livestock market outside the gates, with goats milling in woven willow pens or chickens in wooden cages. Or a line of horses for the wealthier buyer or your desperate travelers. There might be a red light district, escaping the regulations of the city proper, or plain old slums. More industrial yards, like the yards where fabric is dyed (these might also smell quite bad, like rotting plant material, or urine).
There are so many things that preindustrial people did and would find familiar that we just don't know about now. So much of life was lived out in the open for anyone to see. Make your world busy and loud and colorful!
You mentioned coppicing:
The coppice and pollard systems are one of my favorite pre-modern things, it's just so visually unique and sensible, but most people haven't heard about it.
When you coppice, you cut the tree close to the ground, so only the trunk is left, then the tree puts out fairly straight shoots that are great for firewood. They would typically have these trees harvested on rotation so new trees would be ready every year.
This is a coppiced tree:
When you pollard, you cut the tree to the trunk, but higher, and let the branches grow for longer. They'll be be nice and straight (depending on species) with fewer knots, and suitable to various crafts without much need to work the wood. Sadly seems to be etymologically unrelated to "pole", though the branches from these trees were used to make poles. Part of why you do this instead of coppicing is that the shoots are out of reach of animals.
This is a pollarded tree:
It's very likely that you'd see something like this as a sign of civilization as you came toward a town or village, depending on the species of tree that they have available, though note that this is something you do when you have a timeline of many years, rather than something you set up for the year after.
Everyone says NEVER TRACE!! THAT'S ART THEFT! Ok but we can do a little crime in the name of Learning.
Trace to learn, not to earn.
I like to take my own photos, but you can study whatever you want. Link back to original photos, and don't post copied artwork unless the artist is dead, cool with it, or both.
As always with learning, start every sketch with the intent to throw it away (trash for paper, quitting without saving for digital) This takes the pressure off and lets you make Bad Art, which is very important.
Start with a photo of your subject in a nice/neutral pose with all four feet visible. (so not like me)
Freehand copy it. Try not to stylize, focusing instead of matching proportions and pose. Don't get too detailed!
It's ok if your art looks terrible and has broken legs. I've drawn LOTS of deer so I have a leg up. Everyone's art sucks in their own eyes and here's where mine went wrong:
Either lasso-distort (recommended for beginners) or redraw a copy of your first sketch with your reference behind it (scaled to match the main body of your sketch)
Put the original and modified sketches together and compare the differences. Write it down if you want. This shows you where your eyes saw things the wrong size, so you can correct for that next time.
After learning about both deer and yourself, try freehand copying again.
Marvel at your newfound knowledge and skill!
but there's always room for improvement
You can stop here and move on to your real drawing, Or do another freehand-fix-compare cycle. I actually overcorrected my "draws heads too big" and veered into "heads too small."
Another note on tracing: Learning HOW to trace is more important than anything you could learn By tracing. Draw the Anatomy, not the outline. In real life, things don't have outlines, they have bones.
These are from the same shoot which is extra useful for consistency. The lines are minimal and follow where the animals joints are, and only important parts are drawn.
You won't know what Important Parts means right off the bat, which is where in-depth study comes in. You need to do learn the hard parts to do the easy parts right.
Next up: how to study bones and muscles.
"Study the anatomy study the anatomy" but they never tell you HOW. It's not "read a book," It's more like flailing around wildly and crashing your browser from too many tabs.
This is going to be about How to Make a bones and muscle chart. Because even if your art sucks, you learn so much more by doing than by seeing.
References I gathered: X X X X X X X X
Get Set up. Get a photo, like above, but it doesn't have to be the same photo. And now... gather reference.
We'll start with bones. Search up "[animal] skeleton" and get photos or super scientific illustration. Add in things like "top view" to spice it up.
Next, search "[animal] skeleton sketchfab." This pulls up 3D models that you can rotate in your browser. Remember that these are art and the anatomy is only as good as the artist, so pick a good one.
Time for bone!
The spine is the most important, and in a lot of animals it will surprise you. Draw it in over your photo and then add spikes because skeletons are punk. These are not scientific and I didn't count them because their number doesn't matter to art. So you better be referencing from scientists and not me!
The rest of the bones and some notes. These are my notes to myself about things I want to remember. My personal discoveries in anatomy that made my art better. You can make the same notes but also make sure you have your own thoughts on there as well. that's how you help yourself the best. Be as detailed or vague as you want.
Same deal with muscle. Here are my personal notes to myself. Label stuff that is important to you. I actually grouped a bunch of muscles together based on what is visible from the outside. Muscles are way more complicated than this, but Baby's First Anatomy Chart gets to be simple.
This is good enough for me because I have intimate knowledge of the other muscles working under and over these ones. Feel free to add as many or as few muscles as you like. You chart your own course.
This is very VERY much not an anatomical chart. I'm sure there's nerds out there pulling their hair out looking at this. But listen, it works for art!
And you know the wildest part about this?
I don't need to look at it to use it. The act of making your own anatomy chart puts that knowledge in your brain. Like how you can make "cheat sheets" even for tests that don't allow them - the act of making the sheet helps you remember what you struggle with most.
And after all that complexity? Your simplification will be based on Real Knowledge and you'll put those random circles in the right spots.
Look at all this hard work you've done. Eventually this will be second nature to you.
Show me what you make! I'd love to see what creatures yall make anatomy charts of.
Photo Reference Packs
I put together some photo packs and uploaded them to my gumroad. You can use them and this guide to study! So far there's only a Doe and a Fawn pack, but if I get sales I will put in the effort to do more for deer, horses, cats, birds, and anything else I can point my camera at.
@animalphotorefs is a great place to get photo refs of many different animals and is in fact made for that purpose! You can freely download the photos, use them in art projects, and if you want to trace them to learn, or upload whatever you make with them, it’s usually fine! The site has its guidelines listed, and anything not stated, you can contact the owner about
Boosting because this is a great guide on learning to see and draw anatomy.
To clarify prev: if you’re making art or learning to do art or even vaguely thinking about art-like ideas, you can use the repository photos!
As long as you’re not using GenAI for it you can trace, sketch, scribble on, scrapbook, decoupage, satirize, collage, sticker over, sculpt, animate, make cartoons of, paper mache, finger paint, wood-burn, and anything else you can think of with the photos.
The only guideline is for your use to be transformative/derivative in some way: please don’t reproduce a copy of the images without using them in something or changing something or making your own version. An exception here is if you’re showing the references you used alongside a piece - just link back to the site alongside it. You can post your art and sell art you made using the reference site with no restrictions - it’s your art!
Traditional European Christmas time monsters, photographer across the Europe by
Charles Fréger.
1850s-1860s archery outfit.
Look at the cute little pocket diary hanging from her belt!
iloveblackswordsman
I could never hate on Casca, like I’m sorry but it’s just… since I have read Berserk for the first time (in a moment of my life where I was extremely vulnerable bc of a certain relationship) I immediately set my eyes on her and they stayed there. I know that many times I don’t talk much about Casca because, well… “iloveblackswordsman”, Guts yumeshipper, riako and soulbonder, Guts in absolutely everything… however, from the beginning it’s as if she’s been an extremely special character to me. She’s one of the only characters who manages to put into writing what I feel is the way I am, not only that but when I try to read Berserk, again and again, I always pick up some detail about her that makes me even more enchanted by her. I literally have fits of rage every time I’m discussing her and someone ends up saying some EXTREMELY stupid opinion. IT’S THAT DEEP. I understand how her writing often ends up being misogynistic and, let’s face it, Miura isn’t exactly a master at writing female characters, but even in the midst of all that she still manages to stand out with her depth and sometimes… I don’t know, I feel like I fail her by letting myself be carried away by my favoritism for Guts. What’s funny, coming from someone who, the first time they read Berserk, fell in love with Casca, HATED Guts, and honestly couldn’t care less about that damn Griffith. Yes, my feelings have changed, but every time I reread Berserk, it’s like I’m reading it for the first time when I saw Casca. When I saw that the fandom hated her, I was like, “What…?”. I used to hate Guts but then I love him, I used to feel so indifferent towards Griffith but then I have a love/hate relationship with him, but with Casca? Oh it’s like my love for her only grows
Either way this is ANOTHER vent post about my complicated feelings with Berserk LOL feel free to scroll
