Ran37

Picking the right colors for your work can be a long process. It's about more than just personal preferences. Colors can behave strangely. Some things work better together than others, but sometimes tried and tested combinations suddenly don't work in a piece, or colors that usually don't go together are an unexpectedly great match. What madness is this?! Rest assured: There is reason behind this madness: Color Theory. It's a term that I think many have heard before, and only few really understand. But it's a very important tool for visual artists. The basics are simple, but it can get pretty complex, and getting the hang of it takes a lot o

A good composition can turn an 'average' artwork into something memorable. It's more than just 'how to make things look nice'. A well thought-out composition can guide the eye of the viewer, telling a story in just one single image. Even artwork that's technically perfect can be boring if no real though was put into the composition. It's not always the case, but composition often goes hand in hand with perspective. Many artists struggle with this (both beginners and more advanced), but a basic knowledge of perspective can really take your work to the next level. It's an essential tool for drawing credible backgrounds and landscapes. The bas

In a previous journal we had a look at color theory (Find your way around DA #3: Color Theory). But once you've figured out what colors to use you realize you've barely started. You have to figure out where to place your shadows and light, and what is the best way to add the colors to your canvas? In this journal I've collected tutorials and references that cover these subjects. This list is not complete! There are so many tutorials on DA, especially for coloring, it would be almost impossible for me to list them all. When an artist has multiple coloring tutorials I've usually picked only one or two, so be sure to check out their galleries!

One of the basic skills in art is anatomy. Although it sometimes may seem as if an artist doesn't bother about the anatomical corectness of their characters (cartoons, anime, caricature), you can be sure that they know perfectly well how to draw it if they had to: Know the rules, so you can break them all the better.    Unfortunately that's much, much easier said than done: Learning anatomy is bloody hard. It takes time and dedication to learn just the basics, and even established artists often struggle with it. Luckily many people have gone before us, and some of them have been kind enough to make tutorials, to hopefully make it just a tin