Reddit mentions: The best artist drawing aids

I completely took everything down. Look up a good disassembly video on YouTube before you start, but it's really a pretty simple gun. All the plastic is a 2 piece clamshell design. Just be careful of all the springs and linkages pertaining to the trigger. Take pictures of it all before you remove it for reference when reassembling. As far a prep goes, I like to sand plastic with a very fine sandpaper (600 grit if available, but no rougher than 400) to avoid deep scratches, and then clean/degrease with mineral spirits. The black, grey, white, and clear coat are ordinary flat Krylon, and the blue is heatproof engine paint.

When painting, more light coats yield a better finish than fewer heavy ones. There are untold numbers of tutorials on YouTube for spray painting if you're not well-practiced at it. The [digital camo stencils] (https://www.amazon.com/Redleg-Camo-Digital-piece-stencil/dp/B00IIPW7D2) are pretty easy to use. I'd recommend practicing on something you don't mind screwing up first, though. I did it on that ammo can in the background of one of the pictures. On this particular one I did white first, then grey, then black. [Reversing the order with the same colors looks very different.] (https://imgur.com/a/LiAJ8) The same goes for [other color combos,] (https://imgur.com/a/CBdk3) so experiment on other crap before you decide exactly what you wanna do to the gun.

If you would rather keep it simple, [single color] (https://imgur.com/a/k65uF) paintjobs are simple and easy while still looking good, and [two tone] (https://imgur.com/gallery/kSuLV) schemes can be done with just some masking tape, an x-acto knife, and patience.

Edit: If you decide to paint the barrel and buffer tube as well, for the love of God, don't get any paint inside them. I don't know what would happen with a little inside the barrel (probably nothing), but I wasn't careful and a little paint inside the buffer tube will gum it up real good. Trust me. Roll up a piece of paper inside the buffer tube and tape off the ends of the barrel. Also, I like to hang my parts from wire on a clothesline while painting (makes it easier to cover all sides uniformly) but with a little care it can be done on a flat surface too. Just don't turn anything over before it's dry, and let things sit overnight before reassembly so you don't smudge anything while it's still wet.

Some of this might just be common sense, but it might be helpful. Ask yourself quantitative questions about sizes, lengths and angles. Is x wider than y. Is the angle I drew bigger or smaller than the reference. Is this shape fatter or skinnier. The whole time you're drawing, make comparisons. Compare your drawing to the reference and compare the aspect you are drawing to other parts of the drawing.

Pick one length and treat it as your base unit. This is the one unit you will treat as a benchmark. You can compare some lengths to any other length in the drawing, but be sure to choose the me back to this basic unit to check your work.

You can use your pencil as a guide for comparing lengths. When drawing from life hold it up at arms length and perpendicular to your eye (keep the distance constant so it isn't skewed by perspective) and grip it so that the distance between the point and your fingers matches what you see. Then you can use this to compare other lengths that you are observing. You can do the same with a reference by laying it down on the photo.

A good tool for this is a proportional divider. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005QSBA2S/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_EtZWCbWTPDG6F

You can adjust where the pivot point is to scale up or down your drawing from what you are seeing. As long as you keep the pin in the same place, you will get consistent measurements of proportions. And you can use the v shape to measure angles. You can us it for photo reference by touching the points to the page like a compass. Or you can use it for life drawing (just make sure you keep it the same distance away, using it with your arm fully stretched out

Practicing with one will help build your intuition for angle and proportions if you use it smartly. Make your best guess, and then use the proportional divider to check your work. Over time, you'll improve if you do it this way.

Just general tips on the subject?

• Draw first - lightly and loosely, always! - then measure, see how far off you were, and correct it. This makes it easier to figure out what sorts of errors you make often: judging widths too wide, heights too short, the eyeline too high, the browline too low, whatever.
  
  
• Try drawing sight-size. People conflate sight-size drawing with doing Bargue plate copies, but really it just means drawing a thing at exactly the same size you see it, so instead of measuring proportionally you measure directly; if a person appears six inches tall, you draw them six inches tall. If you want to draw them bigger, move closer to them, and if you want to draw them smaller, move further away. This makes measuring and judging distances easier, and goes well with the draw/measure/correct method I mentioned above. I find it's easier to have my drawing tool in my drawing hand and a separate measuring tool in my off hand, rather than trying to measure with my pencil / charcoal stick / whatever. Anything long and thin is good; some people use thin knitting needles or barbecue skewers. I like using a set of proportional dividers - this is the one I have - because you can use it to measure directly or use it to scale things up or down, and it does both very accurately. You can also use them to judge angles by holding it vertically by one side of the divider and then setting the other side to the angle you want to measure.
  
  
• Start with the biggest shapes first and make sure they're correct before you move on to smaller ones. Make sure those are correct before you move on to even smaller ones. Make sure they're all correct, or as close as you can get them, before you start doing any kind of fine details or rendering. Often beginners will start with a particular bit that they really want to draw, pour lots of detail into it, and then move onto the next bit, pour lots of detail into that, and move onto the next bit, and are then disappointed when it all doesn't come together. Having everything placed, proportioned, and angled correctly - lightly and loosely, I can't stress that enough - right from the start gives you a blueprint to build a successful, accurate drawing.

Someone I know pointed this out to me about two years ago. I tried it out and it sucked. There's NO WAY the eyes in the OP's pictures were made with these decorations.

• The cardboard tubes aren't durable enough for long-lasting decorations. At the first sign of rain they'll turn to mush, and they'll soak up morning dew like nobody's business. A halfway decent breeze will send them flying, or at the very least dislodge them from their perches.
  
• They're difficult to set up, being round and all.
  
• Glow sticks suck. Even the big full size ones aren't bright enough to cast a good spooky glow on the clearest of nights, and if you've got a fog machine, or natural fog rolls in, or if the bushes you're hiding them in are somewhat dense, you're screwed.
  
• Glow sticks suck even more. They have to be replaced every night, assuming you want more than one night's worth of decorations. Aside from the cost, that's a lot of plastic to throw away.
  
• The light from the glow sticks is inconsistent, being brighter on the bottom of the tube where they're resting than in the middle or on the top, and a lot of light leaks out the sides.
  
  So, what to do?
  
  Spirit Halloween makes these ($17 as of this writing) which are pretty darned good. They're AC powered, three to a set, randomly blink, made of dark green plastic so they blend in really nice, and have some pretty sturdy plastic hooks to hang them.
  
  But you want to go homemade, here's how I addressed the shortcomings of the toilet paper roll version.
  
  

1. Crimp both ends of the tube into half-moons, like this, but large enough so the crimped parts overlap. Close one end and seal it with a piece of sturdy tape (duct, gaffers, etc).
   
2. Cut out the eyes as you'd want them.
   
3. At the top of the tube (defined as the highest point of the tube above the eye cut-outs when the tube is set flat on a table) cut two small holes about 3" apart, centered on the tube.
   
4. Run a black zip-tie through the holes and connect, leaving a loop of plastic to act as a hanger. Trim any excess zip-tie.
   
5. Spray the inside and outside of the tube with a quick coat of black PlastiDip. This will protect the tube from moisture. Allow it to dry.
   
6. Put a piece of painter's tape over the outside of the eye holes, then give the inside a quick blast of silver spray paint. Remove the painter's tape and allow it to dry.
   
7. Buy these. They're battery powered; I've had them last about four evenings without dying so they're pretty efficient, and the batteries are replaceable when the time comes. Put one or two into each roll, then crimp the other end of the tube shut and use a piece of tape to keep it closed.
   
8. If you want more of a "glowing" eye effect, tape a piece of frosted plastic over the eyes to diffuse the light. You can also color the plastic with markers to get difficult colors and patterns, like bloodshot eyes and such.
   
   Yeah, this is pretty complex for a little DIY decoration. OTOH, my daughter and I had fun making them together and we now have about a dozen of them that are now going strong on their third Halloween.

Scott Robertson: How to Draw? Great book if so :)

Yeah, the ellipse templates are very expensive, $110 US for a set of small for me, almost $200 for large. Same with the equal space divider I saw him use in one of his videos. I found one for $300 lol (didn't buy it).

Sweeps are quite pricey for what they are too imo. The only place I know is a UK site here, but they're called 'curves' or 'french curves' rather than sweeps. Maybe searching for those terms instead would help.

Like I say though, the ellipses are helpful, but not necessary. You can do the grid plotting with ellipses exercises digitally and save yourself a good $100 - $200. Most grid building in the book doesn't use them, and once you learn what a cube looks like, you can do it without anyway. I used them for maybe 1 week out of the 6 months I spent with the book.

The oval template you're looking at is only for 45 degree ellipses. It might get you in to a habit of drawing the same grid over and over again, which sort of defeats the objective of the book. Its philosophy is lots of different types of grids where you have full control over what they're made up of.

Alternatively, what about something like this, or maybe this.

If you got both, you wouldn't need your ovals anymore (they're 45 degrees), and you'd have 60, 45, 50, 40, 35, 30, 25, 20. Not a full set of 15 but pretty darn close for about $15. They'd be quite small on the page though, but probably enough to learn with.

Edit - $15 for this one. Even more selection. I think that's about as close as it'll get to a full set. These are small compared to the ones linked above though. I think I'd prefer the ones above even though you lose the 55, and 15.

Brush, in my humble opinion, is a musthave. You don't need anything fancy, don't you have some shitty old brushes at home? Any kind will do. Also I've seen people using another pen to load, it's a matter of preference. You dip one nib and load another with it, but you need to have two holders for that too...

For starters I would also reccomend getting one of these or these to help you with the guides. It's a boring chore so making it faster and more effective is a good way to motivate yourself actually do it :)

Lightbox is a nice overall thing to have for a calligrapher, but not an essential tool. You'll need about $40 to get one.

I can't comment on the more usual supplies since it seems like you're set, but I'm probably missing something so I'll let more knowledgeable people answer about that.

What do you need a compass for???

I've been self teaching myself up until this coming January, when I'll be taking on a graphic design minor. A few things that I use that I happen to really enjoy are:

• 7.5"x 9.5" dotted paged Moleskine Classic Notebook (softcover I find, personally is better than their hard covers) >Moleskine Notebook<
  
• I sometimes will also print out dotted loose sheets or grid-lined loose sheets from template websites >PrintablePaper<
  
• I really like the Pentel RSVP Black ink fine-tip pens, but this is after a lot of trial and error of finding a minimally smudge, smooth continuous pen that works for lefties that isn't gel ink.
  
• I would invest a little bit of extra money into getting a METAL ruler, rather than a plastic or rubber one as the plastic and rubbers might deform, but the metal ones will always keep their shape. >Metal Rulers<
  
• I'd also get some circle stencils and a compass. >Compass & Circle Stencils<
  
• It took me a really long time to feed into the hype, but when I did, I regretted not trying them sooner, but those Zebra Mildliner highlighters you see all over Pinterest, Tumblr and all other sites for bullet journaling and such are actually super nice and high-quality. They come with a chisel AND a fine tip, and so I carry them around wherever I go if I bring my notebook with me. >Mildliners<
  
  I hope this helps you!!! Good luck in your studies.

What a lovely idea! For me, it's been fun testing out materials and finding what I like to use. Depending on her media interests, here's what I'd recommend thinking about:

A Brush Pen (especially for cartooning on the go!):
http://www.amazon.com/Pentel-Pocket-Brush-Refills-GFKP3BPA/dp/B002LJRKN8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1448983878&sr=8-1&keywords=cartooning+brush

A Nice Brush:
http://www.amazon.com/Winsor-Newton-Kolinsky-Pointed-Brushes/dp/B0013E68TO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1448984196&sr=8-1&keywords=Windsor-Newton+Series+7+sable+%232

Some Ink:
http://www.amazon.com/Speedball-2-Ounce-India-Super-Black/dp/B0007ZJ8TM/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1448983937&sr=8-3&keywords=ink+cartooning

A Brush Cleaner:
http://www.amazon.com/General-Pencil-Company-Masters-Preserver/dp/B0009RRT9Y/ref=pd_sim_201_12?ie=UTF8&dpID=512oIauSQjL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR149%2C160_&refRID=1J5XTFQ5TBWPSS5E39AV

An Ames Lettering Guide:
http://www.amazon.com/Alvin-Ames-Lettering-Guide-AL666/dp/B001DNAHRO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1448984324&sr=8-1&keywords=AMES+LETTERING+GUIDE

A copy of Making Comics by Scott McCloud (SO useful!):
http://www.amazon.com/Making-Comics-Storytelling-Secrets-Graphic/dp/0060780940/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1448984007&sr=8-13&keywords=cartooning

The charcoal contrast looks great. I found this video which is very relevant to your drawing. It's a mixed graphite/charcoal drawing of the beautiful Audrey Hepburn. She has jet black hair like Alita in the reference photo.

Yes, use graphite first and then charcoal last. You can prevent smudging by using a piece of paper to rest your drawing hand. When you're finished with your art, you can spray it with a fixative like this which has a matte finish.

Here's a secret weapon to use for values: a value chart. Our eyes deceive us. When dark values are next to semi-dark values, the semi-dark value can appear much lighter than it is. Print out the chart and place it on the reference picture and all areas where the value changes on Alita's face. You'll get a sense of how dark or light the values are in the reference. Then use that value chart on different areas of your drawing and you'll know where you need to darken or lighten.

Here's another secret weapon: the proportional divider. You don't need to use grid lines. Actually you can use none or only a few lines. Some people claim it's cheating, but that's nonsense. You still have to draw the picture and it will improve your sense of proportion. Here's the dirty secret: many portrait artists will use it to check their drawing. They will draw it freehand, but will check the proportions with the divider or compass or pencil. Here's the quick video and here's the longer video by an art teacher.

I don't see many comments on actual technique, but I believe sharing ideas is very important.

I happen to love office supplies, so to me, this is a lot of fun :)

Find something Crafty!!! I love crafting cool things. This stamp set seems to fit your tubular vernacular!!! http://www.amazon.com/KellyCraft-Jimbo-Lojik-Polymer-Stamp/dp/B00EYAFALQ/ref=sr_1_17?ie=UTF8&qid=1409076439&sr=8-17&keywords=funny+crafty (I cant figure out the linky thing!)

Dazed and confused!! such a great stoner movie. I have tapioca pearls to make homemade boba tea; stencils or Pokémon stickers for journaling. Those are my silliest/non practical items that I desperately want. 😜 all items are on my
under $10 wishlist

Thanks for the awesome contest!!

sometimes it will be easier to find a thinner, stronger piece of paper, then finding a larger one. my preferred papers are glassine, and tracing paper, because of their strength and thinness. this is the glassine I use, because its big, and relatively cheap ~~~http://www.amazon.com/Folia-Transparent-Paper-Assorted-Colors/dp/B0042SRBOY/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1371905508&sr=8-8&keywords=folia+craft+paper

To add to this, here's a stencil that I liked as well as a small ruler. :)

Thank you! I found that it was impossible to find a large photo of the feather pattern, and also very difficult to find an image of it that was straight.

I was in Fred Meyer and I saw the Seahawks cape, and that had a small version of what I was looking for. I ultimately blew it up, and printed it out to use to create my stencils.

This was the result for that, if you would like to use it.

For the stencils, I used these 4mm thick sheets from Amazon. I bought a 10-pack. While creating the stencils is tedious, it certainly beat the idea of painting one feather at a time on the wall. With 10 stencils, it went much faster than expected.

Hope this helps!

Edit: To add, Lowes will mix the exact Seahawks colors for you. I had a 14' by 10' room, and I used 1 gallon of wolf gray (it was close, but just the right amount), and ordered 1 pint of the green and blue (although I had plenty to spare).

It is marginally--very marginally--possible that garden centers and nurseries have a few of them tucked away with the flats of petunias. Stop calling florists, and call garden centers. Walmart, you'll have to go down there and look, the grunt on the phone won't know.

They're not really a cut flower, and they're not really a garden center plant. They're an old-fashioned cottage garden plant, and nowhere near as popular as petunias and marigolds. Hence, market forces decree that they're not something you can just walk out and purchase, outside of the random garden center anomaly.

Hobby Lobby to the rescue.
http://www.hobbylobby.com/Floral-Wedding/Flower-Stems/Blue-Forget-Me-Not-Spray/p/4496

Store finder.
https://www.hobbylobby.com/store-finder

Amazon. Be creative.

https://www.amazon.com/Forget-Me-Not-Stencil-Paints-Plastic/dp/B008FPI57C


https://www.amazon.com/Martha-Stewart-Crafts-forget-Me-Not-Stickers/dp/B003PQ7QV2

You can buy mats that react to water to practice brush strokes. The mat dries when the water evaporates and is reusable, plus it saves ink.

When you decide to use paper i reccomend getting a proper rice paper set up :)

A mat like this: https://www.amazon.com/Chinese-Writing-Water-writing-Practicing-Calligraphy/dp/B00IPD5F5E

totally go for it. I actually made $110 in like 2 hours a few weeks ago. I dont get out and do it enough anymore though.

Couple of tips for you

1. buy rustoleum, weather proof spray paint. in your pitch, tell your customers that you have weather proof spray paint that will last for years
   
   
2. buy reusable stencils such as these
   
   
3. print off a picture off a painted curb and carry it around on a clipboard to show buyers what you're selling them
   
   
4. $10 is a good price point

If anyone wants the low-tech option, I've used the "Night Sky Star Stencil" kit for my kid's room. I painted the ceiling a nice deep blue, then painted the stars in white, with the glow-in-the-dark paint over the white. Then you can put some fine splatter where the milky way goes.

You can get these not quite the same, but still interesting (and useful).

Lighting stencils! like this one from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Field-Template-English-Metric-Stencil/dp/B004I0C00G/ref=sr_1_24?ie=UTF8&qid=1484907072&sr=8-24&keywords=lighting+stencil

I understand. Well, there are many different styles of printing for you to choose from.

I cut my teeth on printing in 10th grade drafting class. We were expected to print legibly on blueprints in an architect style, so we spent countless hours just writing the alphabet. Same goes for boot camp. In boot camp we had to stand watch and keep a log. If the text was printed in anything less than perfect, we were punished. So we practiced and practiced and practiced.

Work on your letters. One by one. Over and over. Either buy some graphing paper for guidelines, or buy a ruler and an Ames Lettering Tool. Learn to use it and your letters will improve.

Is there much of a difference between Lettermate and Envelopemate? I'm thinking of ordering this one on Amazon right now... you get both sizes and it's Prime eligible!

The Original Envelopemate - 3 Tools-in-One

The easiest way to do wheel I know of is to paint them black first (if there is rubber) then use on of these to paint the centres. Just tape off around the size you want, hold it against the wheel and spray at a 90 degree angle to it.

I did, I used the second smaller stencil from this set, which I carry around in the back pocket of my notebook cover. I use it to make straight lines as well.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CDB9FSW/ref=cm_sw_r_em_apa_i_N8h2Db21289G1

The notebook is a Stalogy 365

I really want a [Set of 2 Artistic Drafting Art Templates of Various Shapes and Designs] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01EEVIRXW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_TYt0Ab6D7JXRZ). Lol that wasn't super catchy!

When I took my architectural drafting course, we used this template to make lines in light pencil (which would be erased later):

http://www.amazon.com/Alvin-L666-Lettering-Guide-L-666/dp/B001DNAHRO

http://www.amazon.com/Organic-Chemistry-Stencil-Drawing-Template/dp/B00MNKC0EE

The Ames Lettering Guide helped me when I was practicing my lettering to be a draftsman.

Lettering guide. Should be between $3 and $6, can be found many places online or in specialty art stores. Literally invented for making ruled lines.

Lettering guide! or are you talking about the parallel rule that's table mounted (that's a mayline and it's got a cabling system)

https://www.amazon.com/Alvin-AL666-Lettering-Guide-Template/dp/B001DNAHRO

They are asking for stencils they can print. You cannot take a piece of paper, print it, and have it work as a stencil. You have to cut it out using the paper as a template. Cutting it out is the part that is tedious and makes it look like shit when it comes to digi camo because you can very easily spot defects.

Here are some ready made stencils.