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submitted by feilen
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Hi!

I see a lot of people aspiring to become an artist. I would love to help each and everyone of you, but then I end up repeating myself like a broken record.

As such, I will probably from now on just link to this thread (or perhaps it could be included in the sidebar if deemed worthy enough. Or perhaps someone is better at explaining then I am, in which case I'm all for you rewriting what I tried to say.

These are all things I wish I would've known when I started out 6-10 years ago Seriously, I wish I had known

I just got a tablet/want to become an artist, where do I start?

Alright, this is not going to be pleasant, and I know this is not what you want to hear, but it is true;

Start with the fundamentals. That means learning to draw basic 3d shapes (from here on referred to as: construction shapes), recognizing objects as construction shapes, learning human anatomy, recognizing the construction shapes that make up the human body...

THEN learn animal anatomy (anthros are mostly human in anatomy), learn color theory, values, gesture drawing and so much more. Practice daily, even if its just a small sketch.

Drawing is a skill and you need to be prepared to do a lot of work and study hard to get better. If you do this you will improve over the course of mere months. It is certainly rewarding :)

This is overwhelming! Help, where do I start!?

I understand that. You will probably start with construction shapes. Those 3d shapes make up everything, yes everything. After that probably human anatomy, and after that animal anatomy if you wish to draw anthros. After or preferably between human anatomy and animal anatomy pretty much work on things like color theory, values, gesture and the like simultaneously. You should start seeing your flaws, and from there on decide where you need to improve

Any resources you can recommend?

I recommend you pick up some drawing books (NOT the how-to-draw books as those do not teach you the fundamentals, rather get something among the lines of "drawing fundamentals" or "drawing for the beginner"), watch art relates youtube channels (sycra, proko...) and search for drawing anatomy videos on youtube.

I recommend you watch this video by sycra about the fundamentals of art to know what you need to know as a certain type of artist

This video by sycra is really interesting too, its about learning art and comfort zones

/r/learnart can probably help you too! Theres a huge multireddit of art related subs, I recommend you take a look at that

I believe /r/sketchdaily has a huge list of resources as well.

Brony or not, I find that /r/MLPdrawingschool as a lot of good general drawing resources as well. You just have find it.

this guide on how to learn how to draw seems really good as well, but I haven't really looked through it myself, I just found it

Other than that google is your friend

I can't figure out how to anthro nose/paws/legs/..., help!?

First and foremost ANATOMY. Learn your anatomy, look up tutorials if you got the basics down but struggle with something small.

You could always try /r/furry for help, but I personally feel /r/furryartschool is going to be more of a help. If you are comfortable posting your (possbily anthro) art in other places, I recommend /r/learnart These places are only going to be helpful if you actually know your fundamentals.

If something looks off, flip your canvas (if you work digitally) or rotate your paper/use a mirror (if you work traditionally. It will trick your brain into processing the whole drawing again and you will be able to see the problems, most of the time.

What supplies do I need

This depends on your medium.

If you want to draw traditionally, You have to get just a regular 2B Pencil or an HB pencil. You can also get a graphite pencil set, with different hardness pencils, but you don't have to. You can also draw in mechanical pencil, I personally prefer this. If you get a mechanical pencil, get 2B to 2H lead depending on your preference. B is softer lead but also darker, and H is Harder lead but also lighter. You need a eraser as well, just a regular one will do if you are starting out, and ofcourse paper. You can just use regular copy paper if you are just starting out

If you want to draw digitally and work on a laptop or desktop, you have to get a drawing tablet. (not talking about ipad-like tablets here) I recommend wacom. Might be pricy but for sure worth the money.

One thing to note about wacom, they used to have the bamboo line as cheap step-in drawing tablets and the intuos used to be the professional line. The problem with bamboo was that these were often faulty. Lots of bugs with a shaky cursor or non smooth (jagged) lines. They recently renamed the entire bamboo line to intuos, and renamed the intuos 4/5/..? to the Intuos Pro. I do not know the the issues with the ex-bamboo tablets persist, Just thought I'd let you know.

If you happen to have a Surface pro (1 or 2, not 3) or Samsung galaxy note, you can get the bamboo feel stylus because these products have a wacom digitizer. I for sure recommend a surface pro if you have the money. I use it all the time, and it works perfectly as a drawing tablet :D

Otherwise if you have a tablet like an ipad you can buy one of the bamboo styluses, and you should. It helps a lot. I don't have one myself so I can't recommend using an ipad as your medium.

A couple of other things I find myself saying a lot:

• Lined paper can mess your perspective up, which is not good. If you draw in school during class, get a 'refillable' notebook and put some extra blank pages in there without lines. (Not sure how those notebooks are called in English, sorry) You can also get a binder with a ream of copy paper inside. This will give you a solid surface to draw on. Alternatively, glue a envelope to the back of your notebook and put some spare blank paper in there.

• Draw in pencil if you are a beginner If you draw in school I understand that you want to draw with what you have in hand at that moment, but try to draw with a pencil. You see, even the best artists avoid drawing in ink unless they actively seek out the challenge. Every line you make with a pen, is permanent. You can easily mess up a drawing. If you are a beginner, always try to draw in pencil. Get a mechanical pencil if you really need a pencil that looks like a pen due to reasons. Inking comes after the sketch and is often done with fineliners or brush pens. No need to worry about that as a beginner though!

  I do not approve of procrastinating in class and will not be held responsible for bad grades

• Practice as much as you can! This is a big one. Practice daily and you will see improvement over the course of mere months seriously. It's crazy. You might not notice as much at first because with increase of skill in drawing also comes an increase in skill of observing Therefor, you will be able to spot more and more of your mistakes. This is why artist always tend to think they suck, while they do not. You often look up to other artists that are better than you and that makes this feeling worse There's a lovely graph explaining this but I cannot find it sadly :(

• Having said that: Find someone who is better than you and who inspires you. Strive to become just as good as that person. Ofcourse do not copy people's styles Style is not that important and will come eventually when the fundamentals are there

• Use reference images. Do not one on one trace the reference images, rather look at them and try. I personally like senshistock but I am slightly biased because I used to be active in the community she once started this for. Still, unbiased it is a great resource as well. /r/sketchdaily has a list of more resources

• Most important thing of all have fun! if drawing is not fun, then studying is going to be a lot harder too. Sometimes it's important to take a break and draw what you want to draw :)

If you have anything to add, let me know. If I am wrong somewhere, feel free to point out, I merely started again on art myself so I am not a pro at all. Most of this is just stuff I wish I knew six years ago when I started drawing (I took a 2 year break and never really studied anatomy before)

I do not claim to be an all knowing fur. I just want to help

TLDR: Fundamentals! ANATOMY! It is super important, even if you just draw for fun

Edit: formatting

Edit2: added section about lined paper and drawing in pencil as I find myself repeating that a lot as well

Edit3: added section about practising and inspiration

Edit4: added some resources and note on fun

submitted by Espurra
[link] [55 comments]

Inspired by Hatoful boyfriend, considering picking it up off the Steam sale.

Another variation would be 'which anthro(s) from popular literature/culture would you put in a dating sim?', but I'll let someone else make that thread :p Only dragons for me!

submitted by teryxc
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submitted by Ivytheleopard
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I do hope everybody’s holiday’s went well.   Here is a last Christmas bunny miracle.

New Members

Welcome to our newest member R. A. Meenan!

Member News

Gene Breshears’ story “The Luminous Pearl, or the Second Tail of Sora” was published in July in North American Fur and is now available online.

Renee Carter Hall released her holiday ebook Wishing Season (Amazon / Smashwords) and also has anthro-themed stories in the first issue of STRAEON and in Stories in Future Tense: The 2015 Word Branch Publishing Science Fiction Anthology.

Huskyteer’s ebook Learners, featuring two short stories, is now available from Bad Dog Books and Amazon (US / UK).

Rose LaCroix’s novel The Linen Butterfly (sequel to The Goldenlea) is scheduled to debut at Further Confusion this month. Check out the cover here!

Mary E. Lowd’s space opera fable “The Little Red Avian Alien” was published in Luna Station Quarterly.

Patrick “Bahumat” Rochefort has launched his new web serial From Winter’s Ashes and will begin regular updates this July.

James L. Steele’s novel Huvek is now available as an ebook, and his short story “The Cable” appears in Abandoned Places.

And our associate member Weasel has two poems in the holiday anthology To Hold a Moment Still and also has a story in the latest issue of the literary magazine Earth Is Huge And We Are All On It.

(Members: Want your news here? Start a thread in our Member News forum!)

Market News

Several anthologies currently remain open with spring deadlines — check out our Paying Markets page for more info, and remember to keep an eye on our Calls for Submissions thread and our Publishing and Marketing forum for the latest news and openings!

Guild News

Members — we’re open for guest blog post submissions for 2015! Good exposure and a great way to help out your fellow writers. See our guidelines for the details.

Need a beta reader? Check out our critique board (you’ll need to be registered with the forum in order to view it).

Remember, our forums are open to everyone, not just FWG members. Come register and join the conversation!

Want to hang out and talk shop with other furry writers? Come join us for the Coffeehouse Chats, Tuesdays at 7 p.m. Eastern, Thursdays at 12 p.m. Eastern (but no chat today because of the holiday), and Saturdays at 8 p.m. Eastern — all held right in the forum shoutbox. More info here.

That’s all for this month! As always, send an email to furwritersguild (at) gmail.com with news, suggestions, and other feedback, or just comment here.

 

Title is self-explanatory.

submitted by fa_mirror
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submitted by HappyWulf
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Hope you all have a good one! _^

submitted by YoshiChief
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What is the strangest gift you’ve received? We have been the recipients of some odd ones, from pens that light up, to spatulas, to everything in between.

Join us as we ring in the new year with something not-at-all-related to resolutions!

Metadata and Credits WagzTail Season 3 Episode 52

Runtime: 30m

Cast: Firefoxkac, Levi, Wolfin

Editor: Levi

Format: 128kbps ABR split-stereo MP3 Copyright: © 2015 WagzTail.com. Some Rights Reserved. This podcast is released by WagzTail.com as CC BY-ND 3.0. If distributed with a facility that has an existing agreement in place with a Professional Rights Organisation (PRO), file a cue sheet for 30:00 to Fabien Renoult (BMI) 1.67%, Josquin des Pres (BMI) 1.67%, WagzTail.com 96.67%. Rights have been acquired to all content for national and international broadcast and web release with no royalties due.

Podcast image by sanja gjenero. Used with permission from RGBStock. Strange Souvenirs - What is the strangest gift you've received? We have been the recipients of some odd ones, from pens that light up, to spatulas, to everything in between. - Join us as we ring in the new year with something not-at-all-related to resolutions!

submitted by jonaseet
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submitted by electricfoxx
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submitted by super_tycoon
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submitted by Freshlaid_Dragon_egg
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submitted by aLovelyTwitch
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How do you make a fursuit? Very lost. :S

submitted by iizepic128
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submitted by DatEmoTho
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Happy New Years to all the fellow Furries out there, have a great year everyone.

submitted by Toxic_Muffins
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submitted by IWasNeverMeantToBe
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You guys are awesome pawsome! My life has been so messed up but I know this new year I will grow anew! I love furry art! Furry people! Furry errthiing! Thank you for all! Hugs all round! :3 (careful my tail is sensitive!)

submitted by JayEster
[link] [18 comments]