Jasmo

First of all I would like to start off with: I would not be where I am today, skill wise, without spending the majority of my time practicing, researching and observing. It has taken me years to get from where I started to where I am now and I am still working on improving my skills because not all of them are at the same level. I did not take the 'well rounded' approach to art but rather the 'get good at one thing' approach. It works for me but it may not work for you. Find out what you can do then stick with it and then practice, practice, practice!(and get feedback from people who know how to give it, if no one ever points out things you can improve on you might be stuck doing the same thing over and over until you look at something and go 'awatafuq?')

Second of all I would like to mention that I use the crap out of references every time I want to make something. The idea of what I would like to make pops into my head and then I go searching for things to help me better understand my idea and to see bits and pieces of it. I may not know how to light something the way I'm thinking or I'm not sure if a person's arm can bend that way so, I look it up.

The main reference I use for characters and humanoids is DAZ3D, the free version. You don't get an exact replica of a real Human being but it is close enough. Most of the time I find a stock photo of a person in a pose that is close to what I'm looking for but not perfect. I then go into DAZ, replicate the stock photo pose then tweak it to the final pose I'm looking for and adjust the final angle accordingly.

The second main reference I use for buildings and geometric shapes is Sketch Up, also the free version. I can build entire floor plans, detailed rooms, etc. for whatever I need. It's really cool once you get the hang of it(you can find YouTube tutorials on how to use it).

Combine DAZ and Sketch Up together and you can make something like this: <da:thumb id="396063892"/>

And here are some helpful tutorials and Deviants who have made tutorials that I use all the time:

How to Use a Reference(as in, how to use a stock photo of a person as a reference)

Lighting/Shading:

Basic Lighting and Shading(super basic)

Perspective tutorials:

Perspective and Composition Pt 1
Perspective and Composition Pt 2
Perspective and Composition Pt 3

Deviant's tutorials I use often; they cover just about everything except animals, you can find their tutorials in their galleries, most have a dedicated folder to them. If they don't you can search 'tutorial' in their gallery:



(she's got mad tutorials and references, they are awesome!)


All of the stock people I find inspiration from(they may or may not be active and some are NSFW):

(this guy will spam you, he's got over 20,000 deviations!)

Inspirational Artists: These are some of the artists that I get inspiration from on a variety of things(they aren't all digital artists!).

(you can find him on youtube)

All of these things help but there is nothing like observing real life and practicing until your fingers fall off your hand. Practicing is a large part of my growth because I learn new things every time I make something and I'm always trying to adjust and grow even more.

Remember:

Practice, learn from previous experiences and practice some more. You will eventually get to where you want to be. It may take years but do not fret: you will get there.

I'm still getting there.
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This is the list of people I watch, minus my friends. I watch these people because I like their art and they are inspiring to me. Even if I have listed that the person is inactive it's worth checking out their gallery and yes, I did check each and every one of these people to see when they were last active.

The majority of people I watch are digital artists. This is because I am working to becoming a digital artist myself. The digital artists range from comic book artists to master digital painters. Everyone else that I watch, like the 3D, artisan crafters and photographers, are still inspiring to me. I do watch a large amount stock artists and as I find more I add more to my watch list, these stock artists can help with art block. When I have art block I just roam around their pages and more often than not I get inspired by a pose.  

3D
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Artisan Crafts


-I got my wedding ring from these guys. ^_^
-I've bought two necklaces from her.

- he's not completely inactive
- same with this one



- a little inactive

- I want to buy many, many things from him!
-awesome leather worker, I would love to commission armor from him.

Cosplayers





- a little inactive



- a little inactive




Fashion






Photography

















Photo manipulators

-a little inactive



Traditional
- fashion





- a little inactive
- a little inactive





Stock

- inactive




-inactive

-inactive
-inactive
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-inactive


-inactive






- a little inactive




-inacitve

- a little inactive


Digital

















- inactive
-inactive

- inactive




















-inactive


-inactive














-inactive




- inactive



- inactive













:iconDarkKenjie:


- inactive