More tutorials are definitely on the way.

One of them will be an ebook on colour (partial credit goes to my fellow deviant ~BrotherOfMySister for suggesting a tutorial on colour, causing me to look into it and discover that EVERYTHING I THOUGHT I KNEW ABOUT COLOUR IS WRONG, and thus become obsessed with learning what the truth about it is). I will post some of the most useful/interesting tips from that to deviantART — but it will consist largely of the information that can be found in the wonderful Dimensions of Colour by David Briggs, except more artist-friendly.

I also have various half-written tutorials and notes on things like how to draw spheres, inking, optical illusions (that one may become an ebook too), how to deconstruct a style, etc. but I'm not sure which of those will see the light of day.


The more I learn about drawing, the more I realise perspective is perhaps the most key thing you need to understand. Loomis mentioned this in Successful Drawing; now I'm starting to see why.

I was drawing a cartoon tiger the other day, getting confused and attempting by trial and error to correctly bend the stripes around its slouching body. If I had just laid out basic perspective, I could have been like, "Okay, the eye level is here, so everything above/below and to the left/right of that will be bending outwards". Problem solved. (Or at least made easier.)

The thing is, perspective has some very counter-intuitive facts, which make total sense once you learn the reason, but are utterly confusing if you don't. Generally when perspective is taught, they don't go into much depth about the reasons for things, so you have to sit there and work it out yourself. Basic questions like, "Why do circles appear as perfectly symmetrical ellipses when they're in perspective, instead of more distorted or squished at one end?" are not even addressed. They just teach you rules of thumb. (No wonder many artists hate learning perspective!)

And this makes it difficult to apply the rules of thumb, because what if you're in an unusual situation where the rules you memorised don't apply? If you understood the reason behind what you're doing, you'd be able to work out what to do. If you just rely on rules of thumb, at some point it's going to look wrong.

Learning perspective is the process of learning to see things in 3D in your mind. Manipulating shapes in 3D space in your mind isn't a skill some people have and some people don't — no one has it until they learn perspective (or spend a lot of time with 3D models).

So, guess what — all those figures you've been drawing rely on either your knowledge of perspective, or your ability to do a carbon copy of what you see. If it's the latter, you're not going to be able to change them much before they start looking unrealistic. If it's the former, you'll be able to use your knowledge of perspective to change things around, or even construct from imagination, and still have it look realistic.

(For those of you who can do some stuff from imagination without having learned perspective: that's from learning rules of thumb or having an inexplicit understanding of stuff that perspective teaches explicitly.)

Been trying to find a style for my own comic about current events and history (which I may yet someday make). So I've been looking to art that does it well for study.


Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud described a triangular compass of cartoon styles, with its three corners as: realistic (e.g. photos, modern super hero comics, etc.), language/meaning (simplified detail, cartoony), and 'picture pane' (abstract or artistic stuff). The 'meaning' corner looked interesting, because it only kept what was necessary to convey the same meaning, and conciseness = awesome.

*humon is very good at this. She has very simplified characters, but every line has a meaning. They have a fantastically large and clear range of expressions, and such dynamic full-of-motion poses that I've rarely ever seen before. Her characters are never stiff: even if they're just standing, they will be slightly slouching, or will be standing straight with their back slightly arched, or whatever suits their personality. You'll notice in this picture, Finland is the only one with a completely straight body, and even that is used to convey personality -- he sticks out:



Also the characters are quite 3D: the heads are clearly spheres that can move in any direction (unlike silly anime where there are a couple different angles where it's possible to draw a head). I think her style has a lot of knowledge in it, so I'm currently studying it. I may or may not produce a tutorial with what I've learned (depending on whether I can be bothered after I finish learning it, and whether she minds, and whether anyone wants it).

Classical Disney is another style I've been studying. Outstanding. There's so much knowledge in it, I hardly know where to begin. Very 3D, lifelike yet simple and characters. Even the eyes tend to look as though there is really a spherical eyeball under there.

And of course Loomis. Can't be serious if ya don't study Loomis. (Well, you can, but it's harder.)

This marks a new, more art-focused version of my DeviantArt account. I have removed most of my stamps, and will not be posting more. My old stamps can be found here.


The eye is so fantastically complicated and subtle to draw, yet understandable when you break down why it looks the way it does. Check out Gary Faigin's book Facial Expression for details about this, but here're some examples:

1. The upper eyelid dictates a lot of expression. Any white between it and the iris indicates surprise, and the more white, the more shocked the expression. On different people, it comes down to differing degrees, but if it goes down enough to touch the pupil, the eye takes on a tired or relaxed expression. It rarely covers the pupil, as that obscures vision and only happens in near-sleep states.


2. The lower eyelid, on the other hand, can be as low as anything and it doesn't change the expression. More white below just makes the eye look bigger, and doesn't change the expression. The reason is that the lower eyelid doesn't actually have muscles to pull it down -- there are only muscles that can bring it up (unlike the upper eyelid). Pulled up, of course, makes expressions like squinting/glee or anger.


3. The only time the lower eyelid drops down is when the eye is looking down. Since there's no muscle that does that in the eyelid, the reason it lowers is because the cornea actually pushes it. When it does, a little crease can appear (note: the bottom eyelid doesn't usually have a crease!).


4. Similarly, the upper eyelid is pushed by the cornea when the eye looks to the side. What this means is the highest peak of the eyelid moves roughly with the iris (the eye is not an almond shape -- the part above the iris bumps up a bit more, usually on the inner side).

Another thing I've found of value lately is: getting good at basic 3D shapes. Everything is essentially made up of basic shapes (plus some stretching, squashing, twisting -- practising basic shapes being stretched, squashed and twisted is good practise too). Once you get this, and start to see the basic shapes in the stuff you're drawing, you'll be able to work out where the faces are that the light hits or that are in shadow, and the contours and so on, and your drawings will look less flat as a result.

I've started a list of DA art memes, because there really should be one.

If everyone could post any memes they know of, I'd appreciate it.


Edit: First of all, updated the link above. Second of all, I figure I should include all the links in my journal, in case the topic gets lost or locked or something:

[link] Nyu's Art Meme -- perhaps the most famous

[link] Neko & Reggie's Avatar Meme

[link] Dawnie's Original Character Meme

[link] Pyreo's Fan-Character Meme

[link] Birds of Decay

[link]  Vanessa's Random Meme (art/characters/fandom/misc.)

[link] Zelle-Sama's Character Meme

[link] Kingdom Hearts Meme (by tythecooldude06)

[link] Game's Meme (by rinoapereira)

[link] Cruel's Yaoi Art Meme

[link] Captain-Savvy's Pirate Meme

[link] Myst Meme (by Artoveli)

[link] Transformers Art Meme (by Transformersgirl/Neko/Hakudoushi)

[link] gamerchick03's ILM Art Meme

[link] shellnekoconeko's Villain Meme

[link] Bleach Meme (by frontsideair; DA link: [link] )


[link] Character Meme (by twelfth: [link] )

[link] Inkswitch's Character Meme (by WarriorPoetess)

[link] Rose Nightshade's Character Meme (with added Naruto)

[link] Kateikyoushi Hitman Reborn Meme (by miyukiko)

[link] Kikinova's Character Meme

[link] InvaderXJaden's Original Character Meme

[link] Dragontrap's Original Character Meme

[link] Mikala's Original Character Meme (by trombonegothgirl84)

[link] Bidi's Character Meme

[link] Wcy's Character Humiliation Meme (with added Invader Zim and 4chan meme references)

[link] Sonic Fan Character Meme (by gamergirl07)

[link] HEAVENSONG'S Character Meme (with added randomness)

[link] Liger's Original Character Romance Meme

[link] Super-Terrific OC Meme (by BeanyCoffee)

[link] Jay's Character Meme

[link] xXSweet16Xx's Character Meme

[link] Taylor's Character Meme

[link] Spinelsun's Original Character Meme

[link] Acid's Original Character Meme

[link] MarshmellowKitten's Character Meme

[link] Artemis's Three Character Meme

[link] Kiddo's Sexy Meme

[link] 100grim's Bleach Character Meme

[link] Mila-Valentine's Lover's Meme (for OCs/OTPs)

[link] Reyn's Character Psychoanalysis Meme

[link] DA Music (Art) Meme (by maeoneechan)

[link] uppuN's Harry Potter Meme

[link] uppuN's Harry Potter Meme 2

[link] Inoni's MGS Meme

[link] Super Mario Meme (by turkeychicken)

[link] Xiaolin Showdown Art Meme (by megasean3000 )

[link] kristehvampire's Resident Evil Meme

[link] Metalocalypse Fan Meme (by AngelofMaDnEsS666)

[link] Leila's Cute Crossdress Meme (by leila-stoat)

[link] Zhao Meme (by NoSelfControl)

[link] Phoenix Wright Meme (by Gate-kun)

[link] Phoenix Wright Meme (by MiniMask)

[link] House MD Art Meme (by MiniMask)

[link] MST3K Art Meme (by MiniMask)

[link] The Mighty Boosh Meme (by HalianFromPlanetZork)

[link] Smash Bros Meme (by AlisaChristopher)

[link] Ran's Pixel Art Meme (link broken -- can someone find another copy?)

[link] Izu & Tia's Meme (a pixel art meme by powderedvinegar)

[link] Visualise (a block colour meme by pichu4850)

[link] Pokemon Art Meme (by ChibiSilverWings)

[link] Pokémon Art Meme (by H-Balth)

[link] Chibi-sama's One Piece Meme (by OreChibiSama)

[link] One Piece Meme (by ForeverFrabjous)

[link] One Piece Meme (by AlienKid932)

[link] Pirate Meme (by StripeyMistress)

[link] Din's Epic Meme (by TheOriginalDin)

[link] OC Art Meme Remix (by misuteru)

[link] Emotion (Facial Expression) Meme (by simplecomics)

[link] Character Expressions Meme (by kittydemonchild)

[link] 25 Essential Expressions (by napalmnacey)

[link] Style Meme from PIXIV (uploaded by Rubber-Soul)


[link] Almighty Tallest Meme (by bleedingstargoddess)

[link] Fanservice Meme (by meganecrew)

[link] Spirit and Chad's Crack Meme (by spirit-the-titan)

[link] Room Meme (by xtoxicityx)

[link] 'Most Retarded Meme Ever' (by Zeh-True-Chaomaster)

[link] Puffy's Halloween Meme (by Ravenpuff)

[link] Bedhead Hair Meme (by yuumei)

[link] Someone Else's OC (by ayuna-chan)

[link] Pokemon Type Meme (by aquamizuko)

[link] Handwriting Meme (by the-green-beanie)

[link] Rivals Meme (by SarahN)


[link] The Ganondorf Meme (by krazifreak)

[link] Zelda Meme (by CyborgEskimo)

[link] Maz's Zelda Character Meme (by Mazoku85)

[link] Another Zelda Meme (by Humanoid-Magpie)

[link] Zelda Meme (by 0Fallon0)

[link] Legend of Zelda Meme (by Phycosmiley)

[link] Zelda Meme (by darthbiscuit80)

[link] Zelda Art Meme (by Fairy-red-hime and Hakumei-23)

[link] Zelda Meme (by sapphire-warg)

[link] Zelda Meme (by weezy-the-zelda-fan)

[link] The WoW Meme (by CrimsonViber38)

[link] Pokemon Pixel ID meme (by zilleniose)

[link] Share the Luv - A Charity Meme (by checkered-fadora)

[link] Character Meme I: Ages (by AmberNeely) *

[link] Character Meme II: Supports (by AmberNeely) *

[link] Hetalia Meme (by illimitefancy) *

[link] Axis Power Hetalia Meme (by A-La-Blithe) *

[link] Hetalia Genderbend Meme (by Alikurai) *

[link] Helatia Meme (by KAGEnoSORA) *

[link] Cait's Hetalia Meme (by caitlyn8248) *

[link] USA Meme (by yu-chan23) *

Asterisks (*) are put next to newly added memes.

Stars () indicate recommended memes. [Recommendations are judged by a) interestingness of questions, b) aesthetic presentation, and c) uniqueness. I try to limit the number of recommendations I give out per topic.]

(I might organise them into categories later.)

----

Update: I found another list -- huzzah! [link] There are some nice ones there.

---

Update: I no longer keep this list up to date, but I do add memes I like the look of to this collection: [link]

'Lo all,

My pageviews are nearing 2000, and I think it's time I did a "Thank you for 2,000 pageviews" picture. The question is: who or what should it be of? Suggestions welcome. ^^

And, in an effort to get more motivated to draw, I will offer three people free drawings of their choice. ^_^

The rules are:
It has to be either a character I'm familiar with, or if it's an original character, there has to be a detailed description of it.
Gotta be in a style I can do. So, probably either anime-style or furry. Or it could be a Deviant Stamp or something.
I may decline to draw backgrounds, but we can discuss.
Unless they're simple characters, there shouldn't be more than 2. The idea is that I don't want to have draw a really complicated picture. I spend enough time on pictures with just one character in it. >_>
I might take a long time with getting the picture done, so don't complain if I take ages.
Depending on the drawing, it might be either a sketch or coloured, but I choose (unless you specifically want a sketch. But colouring takes ages so not sure if I'll do it).
I'm open to discussion if you have an idea that breaks a rule, but I'll only take it if it seems fun for me.


I'll give the slots to the first 3 people who post here (given the rules). ^_^


1. -- Her OC: Aeri or Seth.

2. -- An imaginative fluffy sheep.

3. -- A satyr. ^^


If all goes well, I might offer another batch of free drawings, so don't worry too much if all the slots are currently taken.

I thought I wouldn't; I said most custom journals look worse than the standard; and yet, here I am. Nah, I like custom journal colours when they look good. I think this one is quite ugly at the moment, but I wanted to purple-up my journal a bit more, so this is a temporary fix. Expect me to make a better layout at some point.

Also expect a buttload of oekaki pictures soon-ish. I ordered a touch screen a couple of days ago. ^^ It should arrive after the weekend. Man, I can't wait. I like the idea of oekaki, but I really don't like using a mouse or tablet. I find it hard to get the hang of drawing where I'm not looking. Also, I think the tablet I have isn't such a good one. But with my new touch screen, I'll be drawing lots more.


In other news, it's my birthday on the 22nd. Sigh. I hate getting older. Oh well. Feel free to buy me presents for it. ^-^