Issue #3
October 29th, 2006
Nominations are Still Open!
FANART
Fanart: As Easy As 1, 2, 3
(Jump to Gallery)
by Annoying Schizoid
What comes to mind when you think about art classes? The paint and the canvas? The fun and the excitement? Well, in my case, it has always been...the expensive tuition fees and the posing naked people. Of course, those are all stereotypes because practicing art is actually more fun than most think. Another stereotype—which happens to be the nastiest of them all—is that one needs to be Artistically Gifted from birth to ever put a pencil to paper and be proud of it.
This is ridiculous. Anyone can at least draw, but some just need a little guidance to make things easier, and you don’t need to pay $800 a month for a professional art class to find that.
This month’s article is a little special. Instead another page of The Wonders of Fanart, here is a list of the most helpful art tutorials I could find. (*Ones with asterisks are the ones I think are most worth seeing.)
For Beginners
Even if you’ve never drawn so much as a stick figure, a little helpful instruction can take you a long way. Trust me, I know from experience.
DRAWING
-People:
~ Portrait Art
~ Portrait Art
-This was designed just for art “newbies.” It’s helpful (if not a little intimidating).
~ Dragon Paint
-Simple and really helpful, it has lots of images and explains the basics in steps.
~ Dragon Paint
-Another nice tutorial from They have a whole list of great, simple tutorials, and they’re definitely worth checking out!
*
-It moves. Sketching and then coloring of an eye, shows where, when, and how to shade, and more.
-Anime:
~ Polykarbon Tutorials
-Really helpful for learning to draw anime and just people in general. has loads of anime tutorials, and they’re all really easy to follow.
* ~ Sai-Manga-Tuts
-This is just great. It’s 6 pages long, but it really does have all you need to know.
-Eyes are the most popular anime feature, and this is really simple and really easy to follow.
-Other:
~ Dragon Paint
-It may be boring and a little confusing, but it really is essential to any sort of art work to know about this.
COLORING
-For Photoshop, though you can apply the same techniques in most digital editing programs.
*
-This not only outlines for us how to use these techniques, but it also compares all the coloring methods. Very, very, very nice. (And it has a cute little raccoon!)
-More eyes, and guess what? It’s Artemis. (It seemed only appropriate to have it here.)
-When you scan a drawing, the best way to color it on the computer is to clean it up first and make the outlines very clear. This shows you how to do it. For Photoshop.
3-D
-Lots of tips for basic 3-D art on Blender. Nice.
If you’re a little more advanced…
DRAWING
-People:
* /
-This takes you through the process of sketching a portrait. You can see how the artist gets in all the shading and details. This isn’t the only technique there is, but it works for her, and I love it.
-This is mostly about outlining your drawing, including importance of line-weight, where you should put details, and other neat little tricks.
-Anime:
~ Polykarbon Tutorials
-Again, Polykarbon has awesome anime tuts. This one is about how the shape of the body and posture depict a character’s personality.
~ Polykarbon Tutorials
-Yes, the giant robots! This page almost makes drawing them look easy.
COLORING
-Coloring with Copic Markers. This is really good, professional, and it looks fun (to me at least).
-Dejichan’s way, which isn’t the only way, but it’s pretty good and her guides are so friendly they make me want to smile. For Photoshop.
-A very well-explained method to coloring skin beautifully. (Usually for cartoons)
-This is not quite cartoon/anime, but not quite a sketch. Nonetheless, it’s a great tutorial, chock full ‘o details and goes through everything from the face, to the hair, and even to a cool green snake.
*
-This is just amazing. It shows you how you can pull off digital masterpieces without those fancy Photoshop programs. Vive le Paint!
-Wow, this is really cool. Explains all those sparkly, shiny effects in pretty fantasy pieces. You should know a bit about your computer’s painting program (like Photoshop) in order to understand it.
3-D
GALLERY: Drawing Styles
Now it’s time for the fun stuff. This gallery shows off some examples of different styles, from the realistic to the animated! Enjoy!
Isn’t this a lovely picture? To be honest, I was hoping that whenever I might host this particular fanart here, it would be to talk about the AH ship—but this is also a great example of realistic art. Artemis and Holly are drawn here with a lot of detail and look about as real as they can get. A cool thing about this fanart is that it was done with traditional media. A lot of people prefer using computer graphics, but sometimes color pencils are the best way to go.
Using different shades of color, the artist shows depth in the all the right areas, from the dips in Holly’s neck and face which make her skin look real, to the more intricate shading of the hair, which not only shows depth and color, but also indicates how the light shines on it and gives it motion. Adding to the wonderful colors and details, there is my favorite part of this picture: facial expression. Artemis has an incredibly intense look on his face and Holly’s happiness is almost contagious. It takes a lot of skill and understanding of the human body to pull off such a tender feeling.
This is a character sheet, yes, but it’s a perfect example of the “cartoon” style. Unlike sketches, cartoons don’t have to look real and they usually exaggerate certain physical aspects in order to express personality, especially in caricatures. Another thing cool about cartoons is that the artist can develop his or her own, unique drawing style, which is just what ChessaB has done. Her style is very distinct and shows us exactly how she sees the AF characters. She is one of my favorite fanartists on the web, and I’m really sad that she’s left deviantART.
The biggest high point of this picture is how individuality is illustrated through, well, illustration. Butler, the silent protector, is drawn with suspiciously squinting eyes and a low, small mouth. Artemis’ face is thin, long, and tapers off into a despicably pointy chin, hair slicked back to give him that untrustworthy-aristocratic-look. I could go on and on about the rest of the characters, but you can see for yourself how great this group is.
Here is where I must admit some bias. This is anime, and one of my favorites from Way Back In the Day—and why not? Japanese animation (“anime” for short) is more than just big eyes and gravity-defying hair. It’s a very diverse style, ranging from the ultra-cute chibis and the super-deformed to the detailed and the realistic. Often anime involves very delicately placed details, especially in the areas of the face and the hair, and in this fanart, Artemis flaunts very nicely drawn hair and expressive eyes.
Hair and eyes aren’t the only aspects of the anime style...but they certainly are important. Like American cartoons, anime artists can form their own style.
Neneno is great at drawing adorable characters with large eyes, and here Artemis looks adorable and devious at the same time. Though the eyes are big, they are drawn in a way that doesn’t make him look naïve, while big eyes usually translate as childish in American cartoons. It’s true that Artemis looks very much like a child here, but you still get the feeling that he knows something you don’t.
Title: “”
Artist:
The detail and coloring of this picture never ceases to amaze me. This is somewhat similar to a realistic sketch, although it uses digital coloring methods rather than traditional. Such incredibly thorough coloring shows not only depth and light source, but also texture. (Example: Holly’s smooth skin versus her bangs)
In addition to texture, there is an unbelievable amount of detail here, especially in her hair, eyes, and lips. We can see individual strands of hair on her head and see the slightly more ridged texture of her glossy lips. The irises of her eyes are done so realistically that they stare at you from across the screen. But, technique and style aside, my favorite part of this picture is the way Holly is depicted (youthful and almost doll-like). Although this is not quite a cartoon sketch, the artist still manages to draw with individuality.
You’ve reached the end! And so have I, so it’s almost time to go. But before that, I’d like to congratulate for winning the Summer Contest at the !
I hope you enjoyed this month’s article, and like I said, any comments, suggestions (or—hopefully not—complaints) can be voiced through the Orion Awards Forums!
