Tutorial and Reference Resource Center

[SkyBound 825]

No matter what level you are as an artist, such a journey towards improvement need not be a solitary one and is far more enjoyable and fulfilling with the company and support of others.    Some create art as a hobby and recreation while others wish to make it a profession, but no matter which you may fall under, all of us do it because we find joy and pleasure in the simple act as well as improve upon our skills.   This is one reason I feel that Octavia’s Hall here can be such a valuable resource on the forums for aspiring artists, no matter what medium you choose to express your artistic creativity, as it gives everyone a chance to share their work with their fellow members and gain valuable insight and advice on how to improve and grow.

 

In an effort to build upon Octavia’s Hall to make progress toward this goal as well as assist these budding artists in spending less time looking for resources and more time drawing,  that is where this little thread comes into the picture.  Essentially, I wish to build a library of sorts, because we can never have too many of those!  In here, I hope to provide a diverse array of tutorials, references and other such resources, categorized by subject and skill level, for easy and convenient access all of those that are interested.

 

To me, anyone and everyone has the ability to draw, write, create music or create any sort of art imaginable; it is not some mystical gift or talent that is bestowed upon a few individuals by the alignment of the stars or any such nonsense.  It simply takes time, practice, support and, this is quite important, having fun to help foster and bolster a creative individual.  It is my hope that this little project of mine will at least help those in that regard, or at least help them learn something new and build upon their skills.

 

But one person cannot do this alone, as there is a nearly infinite pool of wealth out there, which is where you come in.  If you find a tutorial, reference or resource that you feel would be a great addition to this collection or if you have a suggestion to make operations run smoother or easier around here, please feel free to either PM me or leave a comment!   As with every other threads on the forums, all posts must adhere to the Global Rules (no excessive blood/gore, vulgarity or any other NSFW content, no advertising, etc.) so please keep this into consideration when suggesting new materials to be added.   I would also ask that if you do provide a proposed tutorial, please try to provide the name of the artist whom created it.  This is not entirely necessary, but I would love to give the artists credit where credit is due (and I know I have failed to do this thus far, though I do hope to remedy this soon).

 

I am hoping to add additiona tutorials and sections (including sculpture, music, plushie building and other mediums if possible) over time goes by, so I do ask for your patience until everything is initially set up.  I know there is a lot of room for improvement here, which will take some time.  Until then, please excuse the chaos around here, leave any suggestions or thoughts you may have and enjoy!

 

 

Ponies

• Basic Equine Anatomy

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• FiM basic bodies

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wing

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

Expressions

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

Hair

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

Lighting and Shading

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

[ghostfacekiller39 23,857]

Oh boy, now I might actually learn something about art.

 

Meh. My artistic skills have always been lacking. Don't have very steady hands, and I'm a perfectionist to an extent. With the dog days of summer upon me, though, I might actually have quite a bit of use for this little library of sorts Given I literally spent all day today staring at my computer screen, refining my not-so-refined art skills might be a bit of a thing I can do. 

I'll definitely be using this
 

[Adorkable 2,737]

Wow, Sky. This looks amazing!

 

I can tell you've put quite a bit of time and effort into it, I'm proud of you. ^^

 

This will definately help those who wish to learn the ability to draw ponies, and for that, I thank you.

 

You never know, Sky. You could have just started the career of the next lead artist of MLP FiM. ^^

 

Good job, bro. I expect awesome things like this from you. Keep it up! ^^ (\

 

Oh, and spoiler overload. xD

[Lady 55]

Wow, this are SUPER helpful!

If I can suggest something, I've honestly been having problems with lineart and coloring. XD

 

I can't seem to find the right way to make lineart for my sketches, and easy way to color.

 

If you can find some of these tutorials to use, it would be amazing. You would be my life-saver, because those are the tutorials I spend most of my time finding. ;3;

[SkyBound 825]

Wow, Sky. This looks amazing!

 

I can tell you've put quite a bit of time and effort into it, I'm proud of you. ^^

 

This will definately help those who wish to learn the ability to draw ponies, and for that, I thank you.

 

You never know, Sky. You could have just started the career of the next lead artist of MLP FiM. ^^

 

Good job, bro. I expect awesome things like this from you. Keep it up! ^^ (\

 

Oh, and spoiler overload. xD

 

Do not even get me started on the spoilers!  Embarrassingly enough, that aspect took me far longer than it should have to make it work properly.  It is amazing what chaos a missing '/' from a spoiler tag can cause.  And I cannot see the forum needing a lead artist, but it is quite a nice thought nonetheless.

 

Regardless, thank you very much for your kind words!  Though I know there is still much to be added and improved upon (the thread itself looks a bit dull, for starters, so I that will need a nice make-over) but I am hoping to build up a respectable amount of resources for this.  Only time will tell, right?

 

 

 

Wow, this are SUPER helpful!

If I can suggest something, I've honestly been having problems with lineart and coloring. XD

 

I can't seem to find the right way to make lineart for my sketches, and easy way to color.

 

If you can find some of these tutorials to use, it would be amazing. You would be my life-saver, because those are the tutorials I spend most of my time finding. ;3;

 

I do have a few tutorials on both line work and color theory, though not as large of a collection as I would like.  However, I will be more than happy to remedy that and post what I can.  Just out of curiosity, do you mainly work with traditional mediums or digital, as tutorials may vary depending on your preference.  Either way, I will be sure to find suitable references for both but I just want to be sure that you can get the most out of this, as you asked first.

 

And thank you again!

 

Oh boy, now I might actually learn something about art.

 

Meh. My artistic skills have always been lacking. Don't have very steady hands, and I'm a perfectionist to an extent. With the dog days of summer upon me, though, I might actually have quite a bit of use for this little library of sorts Given I literally spent all day today staring at my computer screen, refining my not-so-refined art skills might be a bit of a thing I can do. 

 

I'll definitely be using this

 

 

I can fully relate to the perfectionist aspect, as I consider myself one as well; I will literally drive myself rather mad if I believe that a line is just slightly out of place and before long, I end up erasing half of my drawing.  But I have slowly begun to learn that art and drawing does not require absolute perfection and there is always room for specific interpretations and exaggerations (to an extent, of course).  That is half the fun of drawing is that you though is to do something that cannot be seen in real life, and it adds that much more  life and dynamic to your work.

 

But I do hope that you find some use in this when you do decide to try your hand at some art.  Be sure to post your work when you do, as I would love to see it!

Edited June 25, 2014 by SkyBound

[Lady 55]

 

 

I do have a few tutorials on both line work and color theory, though not as large of a collection as I would like.  However, I will be more than happy to remedy that and post what I can.  Just out of curiosity, do you mainly work with traditional mediums or digital, as tutorials may vary depending on your preference.  Either way, I will be sure to find suitable references for both but I just want to be sure that you can get the most out of this, as you asked first.   And thank you again!

 

Not a problem!

Oh, and I would like digital please. :3

[Adorkable 2,737]

I cannot see the forum needing a lead artist

 

Nor can I, which is why I said "lead artist for MLP FiM".

 

Slow down on that speed reading, Sky! xD

[SS Patches 138]

Oh thank the Golden Goddesses that there is a Lighting and Shading Tutorial here i really need to learn how to do shading XD and at least they are simple enough tutorial's i guess which for some reason i can never find... must be my bad luck

[SCS 7,443]

This is amazing. Thank you so much for taking the time to put all of this together, Skybound. I have no doubt that it will be a tremendous resource for a great many people over the coming years.
 
Also, if possible it would be awesome if you could add tutorials for drawing landscapes, buildings/structures, nature scenes, and so on.

[Onylex 2,836]

This is a great idea! 

I know when I was a novice artist that every little bit helped when it came to learning about art.

 

Something that I think would greatly benefit this thread is if there were some tutorials on jester drawing.

Jester is something that can really help bring drawings to life and give a piece more energy.

 

I also think that if you had a link or tutorial on the principles and elements of art/design it may give people some insight on manipulating there works to make some really high quality stuff. 

 

You know, things like:

-Composition 

-Contrast

-Color theory

-Perspective

-Story telling

 

etc...

 

^ Although it maybe a little advanced it can defiantly help. 

If I ever find an awesome tutorial or make a decision to create tutorial, Im defiantly up for posting it. 

[Ninja(Pinkie)Midget 180]

Thanks for putting this together.  I've always had what I consider to be a limited set of skills when it comes to drawing, but maybe I can polish my skills up and get to a level where I like what I draw.

[Sunset light 302]

Loving this forum it is now my everday wonder

[Goodleg00p 30]

Thank you, wonderful person

[Ynopemos 13]

 Thanks for posting this references, they are wonderful!

 May i give some tips here?

 

One thing to say for starters is to not give up. Many people think in drawing more as a born talent, but is more of a skill, getting better with practice, and even if some people may have more hability in it, there is certain level of proficience wich is acessible to all.

 When begining, many people tend to force (press) the pencil. Draw soft (lightly) lines and only remake (reforce) the correct ones. Artists never get the draw right in the first strokes, they remake various times, correcting errors etc. in sketching way before make the finishing.

 Also dont keep making little strokes back-and-forth with the pencil (as if you were sawing a piece of wood). Just make a full movement, it desn't matter if is not correct - if you want to make a circle, make the full round move, even if the circle comes distorted - thats how your brain learns what you want and start calibrating your muscular memory (and that takes some - varying from person to person - don't worry).

 A good way to practice is copying the artists you like, thats how you get your influences. You'll note that even when you get good at it, your art is not equal to the original you were studying. That's ok for various reasons, both physical (maybe you are right handed and the artist is left handed etc.) or mental (your influences are different from the artist). Dont worry. You are developping your own style. Accept the way your body and mind works and improve on it the way you can. Art is not an exact science, with only one correct answer.

 And practice on paper, even if you plan to only work with digital drawing/painting. Some things you'll only learn when working on paper as the mind processes are sligthly different.

 Some people think the art should come perfect at first try, and that is biggest reason for frustation on begginners. If you done a sketch and you don'liked the result, just leave and use other part (or side) of the sheet, but just look at your sketch and try to see what you don't like first, and then try to fix that (but don't scould yourself, there's no need or use for that, you are learning, and thats how works).  

 Think in drawing as sculping. You beggin with a crude block, start removing the parts you dont want and only add details in the end. There is no right or wrong way to do it, just the way you like, and thats the best way.

 Use cheap material in the beggining and only get expensive if you fell that you need it.

 Some good basic exercises to "calibrate" your hands: pick a sheet of paper, and fill with lines - horizontal ones, then vertical ones, and then diagonal - you can even draw one above other, it doesn't matter, just choose one direction and fill the page with full, soft moves, without worrying about making them perfect.
 Then turn the other side (or pick other one) and start filling with cicles (bubbles) of various sizes (even inside or above others), again, don't worry about getting them perfect. then pick another sheet and do the same with squares (and again don't worry about getting then sharp).
 The last one is a little complicated: draw a square, draw a cross inside of it , divinding at half horizontally and vertically, and then make a circle inside, touching the "walls" of the square only where the lines of the cross touch it. Again fill a sheet with various sizes and don't worry about mistakes.
  Also when doing that last one, you can keep cycling around the circle and then stop at one of the square divisions making an inside turn to the other division (like a bite in an apple), then do anothe full turn normally an when you reach the division just after the one you "bited", do it again till you complete the circle.
 Then, you can do all of these exercises on opposite direction - if you drawed the lines up to down, now do it down to up, if you draw the circles clockwise, now do it counter-clock and vice-versa - and then do all using waving lines (including the last ones changing direction). I know it sound silly, but believe, it really improves hand coordination and line quality/control.

 Wow, that was long. I hope this helps, altough is more theorical, basic stuff, i've seen too many people give up in the beggining, wich is really sad.

[Holiday Agnaktor 1,435]

I really want to learn to draw the pones, and this will definitely help.

Time to get learnin', and then doodle all day in schooooool!

[Whirlwind 1,047]

This is Very useful.

Thank you for sharing this

[TBD 17,228]

good to see how the lighting shade works. thanks!

[Tilgoreth 1,915]

So these three links I think would be helpful. Also Drawing On The Right Side Of The Brain is a book not a tutorial. But I think it is very helpful. 

http://drawabox.com/

https://design.tutsplus.com/tutorials/how-to-draw-a-stick-figure-a-complex-guide--cms-23620

https://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201

[碇 シンジン 27,427]

I've noticed that mirroring your drawing can help you on pinpointing some errors, since our eyes can deceive us. 

[Jesse Terrence 2,963]

Wow, didn't expect to see a lackadaisy cats' tutorial on a pony thread!

That takes me waaaaaaaay back!

Anyway, awesome recopilatory of tutorials!

I have a question, though.

If we find other tutorials, can we contribute them to the cause?

[Totally Nyx 35,498]

On 11/28/2019 at 1:16 PM, Jesse Terrence said:

If we find other tutorials, can we contribute them to the cause?

Of course. I'd love to see this guide continue to grow.