Tutorials and Help

C

Charter_Mage

Pokémon Master
I thought it would be a good idea in the Creative section to have a topic to put up any websites we found to have good tutorial, or found useful when doing artistic things.
I also thought it would be a good place if anyone was having trouble with a certain something they are drawing or a program they can't get to grips with (as i so often do myself), and other people could offer advice, or suggest any helpful tutorials.

Heres some websites with good tutorials that i have found:

Polykarbon
This is a good website, they have some very useful and easy to understand tutorials for both Manga and Photoshop, there are also other things to look through on the site like the Japan section, and a small list of helpful books.

Manga University
This website has a few choice tutorials, but i think the best part of the website is the extensive list of How to Draw books for sale, in both pounds and dollars.

Manga Punk
Not a huge amount on this website tutorial wise, but the ones they do have are easy to follow, and i found there one for the male figure quite interesting.

Elfwood
There was a while back when i was addicted to this website, it's a website for displaying art just like Deviant Art, and just like Deviant Art i could spend hours looking through the thousands of wonderful pieces. But theres more to Elfwood. Theres also a tutorials section with a very good selection of tutorials covering many subjects from Fairies to Photoshop, and even things like writing, theres also a few pretty good photo reference sections (hands is good), and if thats not good enough you can always just look through the galleries for inspiration :)
 
First - let me state that there is no substitute for practice!

That said I find nothing aids the will to practice more than fresh ideas and the desire to to try something new. So here are some of the online tutorials (or sites containing tutorials) I recommend. Not all are devoutly "Manga" but they are all the more worthy for it.

Comic Colours
Creating Comics Illustrating Resources
Furiae
Steel Dolphin
clone.Manga
makeshiftmiracle

Some additional points on learning to draw manga...

:arrow: You can't go wrong with practicing real life drawing. Manga in all it's forms is an exageration, not a deviation, from the real world. All comic/animation artists start with real life references. When a thing does not exist in real life models are often built as a substitute.

:arrow: A knowledge of technical drawing can be a plus giving you a real feel for composition, perspective, etc, etc.

:!: Do listen to your art teacher! Mine was bonkers and I hated her for not allowing me to use a pencil - ever! But under her madness was a valuable lesson - Try everything! Find what works and when. You only handicap your creativity when you limit yourself in any form.

:idea: Finally draw what you love. Drawing something that doesn't excite you is dull and you probably won't finish it - there's plenty of time for meeting deadlines etc later in life!

Did I mention that there is no substitute for practice! :D
 
Back
Top