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Just some helpful stuff that I'd like to link back to in future journals. Most of these books have already been referred to in the past, but I wanted to update the list and make a new journal that doesn't sound like it was written during the worst summer ever.
Generally, I recommend all of the following topics:
- Composition (photography books sometimes have helpful advice)
- ART HISTORY (study the masters, get to know where stuff comes from. I promise it won't hurt you, and I can assure you, even Japanese artists have to learn to draw real stuff.)
- Drawing from Life (yeah I think it's boring, too. It's helpful. Your camera is great, too, but sometimes cameras distort perspective.)
- RESEARCH I'm not just saying that because I love research, I love research because it's awesome!
If you're not a reference freak like me, that's okay. I chose to make art my life. You have probably decided to do something else with your life, though I know a couple of you out have your own libraries. How you do what you do is entirely up to you! I'm just offering my own references.
Yes, some of these are textbooks from college. I don't own the fairy book, I bought it for someone one year for Christmas. It's loaded with good advice.
DRAWING
- - Basics - -
Design Basics, David A. Lauer and Stephen Pentak
Drawing the Head and Figure, by Jack Hamm
Anatomy and figure construction by Sloan Andrews (1935)
The Art of Drawing (The Grumbacher Library B-077) by Walter Brooks (1965, $1.00)
Drawing the Living Figure, by John Sheppard
- - Animals - -
How to Draw Cats and Kittens by Frank C. Smith (Scholastic, 1986 - childhood inspriation)
How to Draw Animals, by Jack Hamm
- - Fabric/Clothing - -
I do not currently own any books, but I do spend a lot of time looking at fashion and costume books at bookstores and libraries. Catalogs and fashion magazines are also wonderful.
- - Basics for Fun - -
Faeries, Mermaids, and Angels: Creating Magical Worlds with Watercolor, by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law
Anatomy for Fantasy Artists, by Glenn Fabry, Ben Cormack (Contributor)
Drawing Cutting Edge Comics, by Christopher Hart
Drawing Cutting Edge Anatomy, by Christopher Hart
Vanishing Point: Perspective for Comic Book Artists, by Jason Cheeseman-Meyer
How to Draw Anime & Game Characters, Vol. 1: Basics for Beginners and Beyond, by Tadashi Ozawa
How to Draw Anime & Game Characters, Vol. 2: Expressing Emotions, by Tadashi Ozawa
- - Fun - -
Freaks!: How to Draw Fantastic Fantasy Creatures, by Steve Miller
Fantasy Artist's Pocket Reference: Dragons & Fantasy Beasts, by Finlay Cowan
DIGITAL
- - Basics - -
The Non-Designer's Design Book: Third Edition, by Robin Williams
Photoshop CS3 in Easy Steps, by Robert Shufflebotham
Illustrator CS2 in Easy Steps, by Robert Shufflebotham
InDesign CS2 in Easy Steps, by Robert Shufflebotham
- - Fun - -
Hi-Fi Color for Comics: Digital Techniques for Professional Results, by Brian and Kristy Miller
Imagine FX, magazine
Layers, magazine
The Magazine Stands!
WRITING
- - General - -
The Writer's Digest Handbook of Novel Writing
www.sfwriter.com/owindex.htm How to Write (website), by Robert J. Sawyer
- - Genres - -
World Building, by Stephen L. Gillet, edited by Ben Bova
tinyurl.com/googlebooks-howtow… How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy, by Orson Scott Card - Viewable Online!
- - Writers - -
This is not a list of favorite authors! That would be madly long! These individuals made the list not for creating my favorite characters of all time or writing my favorite books, or because I couldn't put their books down and read every one, but for style. They are here because of the way they write. For depth, brilliance, and crazy-awesomeness. The first four are writers I reach for instinctively when I need advice.
Robert Jordan
Stephen R. Donaldson
Mary Stewart
Gary Jennings (you should be +18, though ...)
Bram Stoker
J. R. R. Tolkien
Micheal Crichton
Generally, I recommend all of the following topics:
- Composition (photography books sometimes have helpful advice)
- ART HISTORY (study the masters, get to know where stuff comes from. I promise it won't hurt you, and I can assure you, even Japanese artists have to learn to draw real stuff.)
- Drawing from Life (yeah I think it's boring, too. It's helpful. Your camera is great, too, but sometimes cameras distort perspective.)
- RESEARCH I'm not just saying that because I love research, I love research because it's awesome!
If you're not a reference freak like me, that's okay. I chose to make art my life. You have probably decided to do something else with your life, though I know a couple of you out have your own libraries. How you do what you do is entirely up to you! I'm just offering my own references.
Yes, some of these are textbooks from college. I don't own the fairy book, I bought it for someone one year for Christmas. It's loaded with good advice.
DRAWING
- - Basics - -
Design Basics, David A. Lauer and Stephen Pentak
Drawing the Head and Figure, by Jack Hamm
Anatomy and figure construction by Sloan Andrews (1935)
The Art of Drawing (The Grumbacher Library B-077) by Walter Brooks (1965, $1.00)
Drawing the Living Figure, by John Sheppard
- - Animals - -
How to Draw Cats and Kittens by Frank C. Smith (Scholastic, 1986 - childhood inspriation)
How to Draw Animals, by Jack Hamm
- - Fabric/Clothing - -
I do not currently own any books, but I do spend a lot of time looking at fashion and costume books at bookstores and libraries. Catalogs and fashion magazines are also wonderful.
- - Basics for Fun - -
Faeries, Mermaids, and Angels: Creating Magical Worlds with Watercolor, by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law
Anatomy for Fantasy Artists, by Glenn Fabry, Ben Cormack (Contributor)
Drawing Cutting Edge Comics, by Christopher Hart
Drawing Cutting Edge Anatomy, by Christopher Hart
Vanishing Point: Perspective for Comic Book Artists, by Jason Cheeseman-Meyer
How to Draw Anime & Game Characters, Vol. 1: Basics for Beginners and Beyond, by Tadashi Ozawa
How to Draw Anime & Game Characters, Vol. 2: Expressing Emotions, by Tadashi Ozawa
- - Fun - -
Freaks!: How to Draw Fantastic Fantasy Creatures, by Steve Miller
Fantasy Artist's Pocket Reference: Dragons & Fantasy Beasts, by Finlay Cowan
DIGITAL
- - Basics - -
The Non-Designer's Design Book: Third Edition, by Robin Williams
Photoshop CS3 in Easy Steps, by Robert Shufflebotham
Illustrator CS2 in Easy Steps, by Robert Shufflebotham
InDesign CS2 in Easy Steps, by Robert Shufflebotham
- - Fun - -
Hi-Fi Color for Comics: Digital Techniques for Professional Results, by Brian and Kristy Miller
Imagine FX, magazine
Layers, magazine
The Magazine Stands!
WRITING
- - General - -
The Writer's Digest Handbook of Novel Writing
www.sfwriter.com/owindex.htm How to Write (website), by Robert J. Sawyer
- - Genres - -
World Building, by Stephen L. Gillet, edited by Ben Bova
tinyurl.com/googlebooks-howtow… How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy, by Orson Scott Card - Viewable Online!
- - Writers - -
This is not a list of favorite authors! That would be madly long! These individuals made the list not for creating my favorite characters of all time or writing my favorite books, or because I couldn't put their books down and read every one, but for style. They are here because of the way they write. For depth, brilliance, and crazy-awesomeness. The first four are writers I reach for instinctively when I need advice.
Robert Jordan
Stephen R. Donaldson
Mary Stewart
Gary Jennings (you should be +18, though ...)
Bram Stoker
J. R. R. Tolkien
Micheal Crichton
Anti-AI Rant #2
As artists we often argue over what art is or should be, splitting hairs over fine lines between form, color, composition, and especially content, but by God we can all agree: AI is not art. It doesn't even inspire conversations about art. It's just infuriating to realize that all the thought you imagined going into a piece is all a lie and never happened, and was just cooked up by a computer trained on art by real humans who worked hard to learn how it was done in the first place. Brush strokes? Fake. Light, Shadow, Form, Color, Texture? Fake. Composition? Fake, because the "artist" never took it into consideration. The computer made it, and the user said, "That's pretty. I'll save that one." (Rant #1 is on my blog. I keep forgetting to actually post it because I kept hoping it would become an irrelevant tirade. It has not.)
Time to update that Marasuchus.
People seem to like my Marasuchus reference model, and that thing was so rough. 😅 Y'all. I'm gonna make a new one with updated source material. My model frankly does little to contribute to the paleoart community - nor was it meant to do more than show how I was using Photoshop to work around my frustration at the time. Finding information on that particular animal is quite tricky and requires keeping up with the latest studies, as not a whole lot is really known about it, so I'll include some of that information and my latest thoughts in the new model. I'm already somewhat at odds with statements I made in the old one. -- Disclaimer: I am not a paleontologist or paleoartist in any way. I've been out of the science world for a long time (for almost as long as I was in it ... God. Where is time going....). I'm just a fan and fiction writer who wanted to build a better Marasuchus. I also don’t draw skeletons particularly well, so I will also link to folks who did it better. Stay tuned!
Patreon is LIVE and ACTIVE
Shapeshifting semi-magical dinosaur space agents. 1990s Southeast USA. A series of science-fantasy fiction that uploads around 2 chapters per month. A writer/artist's sketches and editorial process. Patreon is LIVE. $3USD Tier will also post to Ko-Fi as often as possible. Please understand that I will be doing what I can to minimize the amount of additional work I need to do outside of writing, due to work/life constraints. I'm trying to make this as easy as possible for myself but still entertaining for the rest of you (which means I will probably minimize my time on Twitter except to continue using it as night shift entertainment). www.patreon.com/ryozaealliance ALL MATERIAL FOR FIRST THREE CHAPTERS is CURRENTLY UNLOCKED! Check it out now! Sign up today to support the project! Ko-Fi contributions are also welcome! Your support will help contribute towards future perks, professional editing, publication, and the goal of seeing the whole series come to fruition.
PATREON- 10.31.2022 -this time with a better plan.
Barring life's insanities, I will be uploading CHAPTERS to PATREON 10.31.2022. From the website blog: "I’ve tried to start up Patreon once before, and it didn’t go well. In my defense, there was a lot less going on in my life, and I had overly-lofty goals because I was under the mistaken impression that Patreon is about offering lots of stuff. I don’t exactly have time to keep up with a whole lot of subscription tiers and fancy rewards, as I’m already stretching the limits of my available time and energy. But really, that’s not what it’s all about, is it? If you’re here, it’s because of the book. And that’s what ultimately matters. "What I do have is a solid 1/3 of a book — that is to say my current edits lie somewhere around the 1/3 mark and I feel relatively confident with the present iteration, at least to the point where I’m not having to explain myself (as much*) when other people read it. That’s really what this is about, after all, isn’t it?" [...] "October 31st is the date
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