Best products from r/ArtFundamentals

First off, that's so thoughtful!

I'm no expert by any means. I am very much a beginner with not much to show for it, but I got into watercolor in a roundabout way through calligraphy and hand lettering. Now, despite only putting in some months experience, I have poured hours into finding a nice starter set for myself, so hopefully I can shortcut some of this for you.

I respectfully disagree with the other commenters. As convenient as national chain hobby shops are, they are pricey for that convenience, and I rarely find people who know a lot about one thing versus a little about a lot of things. The only exception I've found to this near me is Jerry's Artarama, but that might be different where you are. If I'm in a pinch and I can't wait the two days for shipping, I will only go into a Michaels or Hobby Lobby if I am armed with one of their 40-50% coupons. Even then, 9 times out of 10 it is more expensive than ordering via Amazon for the materials I am looking for. Additionally, since they can only carry so much inventory, I only find (1) the most basic (cheap in price and quality) items or (2) very famous names.

Watercolors can seem very expensive if you're measuring price per mL, but remember that high quality pigments are meant to be diluted with water, and a little bit goes a very long way. Watercolors are also meant to be mixed! Your SO will want to learn about color theory as she goes (tons of great youtube classes on this too), so that also means to start she doesn't need a massive set. So long as she has most of the primaries she will start coming up with all the colors she needs for her project. Additionally, as she gets more into it, she might find that while she likes her set from X brand, she likes the burnt sienna from Y brand, and the french ultramarine from Z brand. Getting tube colors + an empty watercolor tin will give her a strong base to start painting right away but the flexibility to add her own colors piece by piece as she plans more projects and paintings. Also, when tube paints dry in the tin (you can rewet them/reuse them later), they become portable, giving the same convenience of pan sets.

This was my starter set from [calligraphy] (https://www.amazon.com/Kuretake-Picture-Letter-MC20-36V/dp/B001MPA6W4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1511058329&sr=8-1&keywords=kuretake+gansai+tambi+watercolors). I love the pigments, but in retrospect I could've gotten by with WAY LESS colors. In retrospect, I should've gotten something like this with a tin. Remember, the tin doubles as a mixing palette. Daniel Smith is a very popular American brand, but surely not the end all be all. Windsor & Newton, English brand, is also popular, and they have a fairly good "student" grade line called Windsor & Newton Cotman where you can save some money but not skimp out on too much quality.

Watercolor is almost exclusively done on paper. Now, since water and paper generally don't mix, you'll be concerned with the "pounds" of the paper. For everyday practice, many watercolorists are comfortable with 140 lbs spiral bound pads of cold press (meaning it's a bit rough in texture, not smooth). I like spiral bound because you can flip through and work on a few different concurrent projects (for the love of god, make sure they're completely dry first though q.q). These will buckle and warp with very heavy water application. Final projects, or anything meant for professional scanning and printing or super heavy wet work, you will probably be buying 200 lbs+ paper as needed. These can be bought in blocks/pads or as single sheets. As the pounds go up, so does the price.

Brushes! These can also get very pricey, but as with the pigments, there may be some sense in it. Higher end brushes are affixed with either natural or synthetic (or a mix) of hairs that (1) hold more water than cheap brushes and (2) keep the hairs from falling out into your paints or painting. I personally use Windsor and Newton brushes, but I don't have a lot of different types yet, and that seems to be fine to learn on. A round brush goes a long way, as you learn to put down a lot of color or very fine lines depending on how much pressure you put on the paper. As a starter set you might get two round brushes in two sizes like a 4 and a 12.

Finally, while there are lots of artists in Art Fundamentals, I might post this specifically in /r/learnart or /r/watercolor for more insight. Most of us here are working on constructional drawing with pen and paper, not necessarily painting.

I have not tried other ones yet. I have been considering Schoolism or Society of Visual Story telling. I have opened and started fidiling with Michael Hamptons figure drawing book, but i felt that i needed to concentrate on boxes a little longer. I wanted to be able to rotate a box freely and make each one look like the one before, just rotated, before i started to try to build more complex shapes like faces and torsos and then rotate them. I have gotten to a point im almost satisified with rotating boxes and cylinders and have moved onto building my own complex shapes, then rotating them. No other courses have the perfect structure that drawabox has (to my knowledge at least). I really liked the structured learning.

I dont know what to say about motivation/perseverance. I see it come up a lot on /r/ArtistLounge as well as here and i never know what to say. I feel like it is a question for /r/selfimprovement or something like that, because it is really more about how you approach life vs. about drawing. Its easy for me because its basically the main thing i enjoy in life and its my main motivation to stay alive lol. All i want to do in this world is be able to create amazing images as naturally as possible and not struggle to accomplish a drawing. I just want it to flow from my mind to my hand and i know that to get there i have to work at it constantly. Good luck and dont let to much negative self talk get involved. Its just a matter of lots of practice and lots of analyzing how you are currently drawing in comparison to where you want to get. I completely struggle with implying form/shadow with a pen, but it gets better every day. Try to take a long view and realize that it will be years and years before you are happy with a drawing and you might not ever be happy because the whole thing is a constant desire to be better and thats where the enjoyment needs to come from.

A lot of the people I recommend draw a box to get very OCD about it and take, in my opinion, way too long on the exercises. So yes that's what I recommend but with the exception that you don't get precious about the program- just take as long as uncomfortable recommends.

For instance, I have a friend that will not move on to lesson 2 until he can do rotated boxes perfectly, even though it says right in the tutorial it's introducing more difficult stuff to challenge you. So IMO that friend will likely never do lesson 2, because he got discouraged he couldn't rotate the boxes. The sad part is that I know having done it if he'd just try and fail and move on and come back to it after a few lessons he'd ace the darn boxes.

In difficulty, figure drawing eclipses any other type of drawing, so that's the main reason I suggest do draw a box, it will build motor skills and confidence. As far as realist schools of thought, I can't recommend Robert Beverly Hale highly enough, he preaches constructive art, and not merely drawing what you see but also what you know. In fact, one of the first pages in "Drawing Lessons from the Great Masters" is several men an artist drew which he constructed out of cubes, and even with the simple cube setup the author points out all the anotomical knowledge the artist emphasizes, even on a cube he clearly made points for the sternum, sacrum, 7th vertebrate, etc etc.

Proko and Vilppu can speak more authoritatively on the matter than I can, but from the gist of it naturalist methods are more time consuming because the method is considered arcane (not valueless, just kind of obsolete), because you make a mark, measure your mark, compare, erase. Repeat until perfect. You just keep measuring things and it's kind of formulaic and route.

If you haven't already, check out some Bargue plates. They are not anywhere near drawing from life or a plaster cast, but they are an excellent way to distill form, and to "see" form better than you've ever imagined. Seriously just look at this foot it is the epitome of "footiness" and once you reproduce it and other Bargue plates exactly you just see things different.

Charles Bargue was a virtuoso artist, who rendered 3 sets of plates of, I believe, 100 drawings each, for apprentices to reproduce on the road to mastery. He drew them purposefully with no cast shadows on the model (meaning the nose or other body parts don't interfere with the form by casting a shadow) and they are similar to what you'd see if you stuck a plaster casting in a very bright but also very diffuse pure white lightbox. This obscure and arcane method has been used by Van Gogh, Dali, and even the impressionists Monet and Manet, who were the last people to apprentice under a proper Bargue atelier; after they learned how to be master draftsman, they swore off drawing black and white but went on to change how we see light.

So while definitively a naturalist method, Bargue plates are great learning tools nonetheless. For me they work perfectly for something to draw to stay sharp when I don't feel like producing an original composition, it's a great non-consequential practice tool.

The best figure artist of all time imo is Gustav Klimt and I mention him because I think one can learn a lot just by deeply viewing his work. He would have models lie down on a bed so they looked gravity defying in their stances, just such virtuosity you should check him out, especially the sketch for Medicine which he did in only 30 minutes. He demonstrates the pinnacle of knowing your subject matter.

It's great that you've been practicing these for a couple months already and overall I'd say the main area to focus on should be getting that consistent ellipse form with a smooth round end and a subtle curve on the sides. Some of your ellipses are flattened on the ends and some others lose that curve and become straight on the sides instead of subtly curved. This is all expected when starting out and to really get good at ellipses it'll take months upon months of regular practice.

The upper 3 columns are your strongest for sure so what I'm saying about shape mostly pertains to the lower 3. Also in some areas watch for the minor axis moving off course - if you aren't rotating the page slightly as you move down this will naturally happen.

To nail down the the shape just keep practicing but also I think buying an ellipse guide like this https://www.amazon.com/Alvin-TD1267-Ellipse-Master-Template/dp/B000KNPX2M/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=ellipse+template&qid=1566888566&s=office-products&sr=1-2 or even printing off your own the use as a reference will really help. When doing the rows of ellipses exercise for example I'd pick a degree that I struggle with (your small degrees look better so try going larger like 30-70 degrees) draw one of the template ellipses (or just trace from a printed sheet) as your first ellipse at the start of each row. When you're working then you can compare your ellipses to the example and see what's off.

Lastly, thinking of drawing ellipses as a set of distinct yet interdependent skills helps assessing the quality objectively so I'd suggest breaking it down into these skills when setting goals and doing specific exercises:

Skill 1) Drawing a true ellipse shape: i.e. looks like what you'd see from an ellipse template - not too flat ontop/bottom, ends are round not a sharp point, no symmetry issues). Smaller degrees tend to be easier to do wellI find but the closer you get to a circle the harder it is to do well, especially when larger than an inch or two.

Skill 2) Placement pt1: aligning the minor axis. If you're drawing a correct ellipse shape (1) then you can easily tellif your ellipses are aligned by finding the major axis (end to end) and see if the perpendicular is lining up.

Skill 3) Placement pt2: getting the degree right. This take experience placing ellipses inside of squares andknowledge of perspective grids which I won't get into here but to actually use them this final step along with (1)and (2) will make your ellipses usable in perspective drawings. Your exercise here doesn't cover it but others can.

Skill 4) Line quality: I put this last since it's something you always will want but it takes tons of repetition and timeto do clean ellipses again especially true for larger ellipses with a larger degree. For the most part just keep this in mind and gradually work to improve over time w/o letting this get in the way for everything else

Lol I too I retreat back to drawing my cute girls after I'm done with the lessons for the day.

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Fun is good and it's okay but I do think if you practice only when you're having fun you wont get very far. Some days you just don't feel like doing it and if you listen to yourself on those days, you wont progress on that particular day. And that's fine if you're okay with that of course. But if your goal is to progress every day, you do it regardless of how you feel about it.

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Actually, the feeling of difficulty and struggle is a good indicator that you are out of your comfort zone, and you are doing something right. If it's always easy and fun you are simply not progressing very fast.

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This book talks about it fair bit. Practice isn't supposed to be fun, if your goal is to progress.

https://www.amazon.com/Peak-Secrets-New-Science-Expertise-ebook/dp/B011H56MKS

Well, you are supposed to do them with a felt-tip pen, but you don't need fancy ones for artists. I tried a lot of different ones so far, and honestly, I don't see much of a difference between most brands. Where I live you can get cheap "fineliners" in every store that sells school supplies, even supermarkets. These will do fine.
These https://www.amazon.de/Fineliner-STABILO-point-10er-schwarz/dp/B01BCE27BC/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1511466535&sr=8-9&keywords=fineliner are the ones that are most common in my country, but so far I like this one the most from all cheap ones https://www.amazon.de/edding-Fineliner-office-liner-schwarz/dp/B000KJME8W/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1511466493&sr=8-3&keywords=edding+office+liner
I have no idea if these are common in other countries as well, so it' mainly just to tell you that cheap pens work completely fine :)

If you can't even get these I guess you could start with ballpoint pens as well, as long as you switch to the recommended supplies as soon as possible :)

Good luck!

Thank you so much for the thorough critique!

> Make sure you're using a ruler to draw the minor axis

Yeah... Should have done that :) I didn't know where to go when the minor axis line was off-center, I chose to just try to reach both ends of the funnel, but the solution was to avoid that in the first place.

> Onto the boxes and I notice you've missed a page of plotted perspective here but I'm going to let it slide because you've clearly grasped the concept on your following exercises. Make sure you go back and do a page count before you submit to ensure you haven't missed anything.

Oh whoops, forgot to upload this one, and should definitely have done a page check on the drive folder before submitting (and not just in my sketchbook): https://drive.google.com/file/d/10UkGfCbqMVBRD83dXbqO33blY6_A3BT0/view?usp=sharing

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> Your rough perspective shows a few signs in the line quality of getting a little overwhelmed

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> you definitely need to work on those feelings of being overwhelmed when looking at complexity.

Upon introspection, I think this is a combination of doing these in an uncomfortable position and just being tired, which ties back to my struggles with the rotated boxes. Thanks for noticing this, I can now work on taking more frequent breaks, and not trying to "push through" when I'm tired. This leads to wobbly lines and awful results.

I think this is the biggest takeaway, and thank you for putting emphasis on those feelings, really helped crystallize this realization.

> P.S. I noticed a cat drawing (it's adorable). If that's your cat, I require you to pay the cat tax in the Discord Patreon channel. ;)

It is unfortunately not my cat, but a super cute stock photo. Someday, I'll have a cat and draw it in all kinds of different poses. Right now I only have these to practice with: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Vivid-Arts-Ginger-Dreaming-Ornament/dp/B00GY4XWLK?ref_=fsclp_pl_dp_10

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Have a great day!

Not sure if I have the exact same issue but I do get eyestrain while drawing. I started consciously making sure I don't lean too close into my work while I draw and I also bought some "computer glasses" to help with bright lights and computer screens which also caused strain.

Taking short breaks from your work to either go outside and focus on stuff far away or close your eyes while you cover them with your palms also helps a lot. Not really a solution to the problem, but it relieves the pain and reverses any vision loss you might get from working.

Hope this helps, good luck.

I appreciate and thank you for spending this time for my benefit.

This breakdown that you did, in conjunction with my formal critique, have exposed me to several areas of improvement that I otherwise would not have been aware of and were invisible to me prior.

You are actually hitting on the same things Uncomfortable is: namely, observational stuff. You are absolutely right that I'm making stuff up. And again, I wasn't even cognizant of this prior to. Seeing it on the page is really what I needed to connect the dots, so thanks for the images also.

Antlers: I totally understand. The left one was a function of running out or room on the page. The one on the right is totally made up and subconsciously trivialized. Point taken.

Regarding the line weights: I'm over drawing with a brush pen. While I very much working with this pen, I totally understand the feedback about it and will either drop it's use or scale it back for a bit.

I'm using a Sakura Pigma Micron 08 (0.5 mm) and a 9x12 book. the brush pen is this. I use Imgur brightness improvement on my images because I cannot figure out how to take clear pictures, even with all the lights on, the windows open, in the middle of the day. This does tend to wash out some of the construction lines, and in turn pulls the attention to the brush pen lines.

I will use a caribou in my remediation work. I can't promise any execution improvements, but I'll be trying! Thanks again.

Hahaha just realized you mentioned Drawing Lessons from the Great Masters further down below, along with Bargue plates. Thanks again!

Any of these are perfect: http://www.parkablogs.com/picture/fine-liner-pen-shootout-%E2%80%93-comparison-of-fine-liner-pens-market

I bought a bunch of different ones on jet pens to see how I liked them. I liked the sakura micron and found them at a good price here: https://www.amazon.com/Sakura-30062-6-Piece-Pigma-Micron/dp/B00K3KRQM2/ref=pd_sbs_201_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B0008G8G8Y&pd_rd_r=F12VBK6T0M7GG39RJ29V&pd_rd_w=UhHfh&pd_rd_wg=5NgNo&refRID=F12VBK6T0M7GG39RJ29V&th=1

6 should last a damn long time, even though I've already destroyed two of them :P

I was skeptical of these pens making that much of a difference at first, but after using them for a bit they do exactly what they should: force you to use the shoulder because using your wrist with them is impossible; and give you a fat, bold, unforgiving line urging you to get things right the first time and draw with confidence.

Lessons 1 and 2 do permit ballpoint pens, but lesson 3 pushes for felt-tip pens, "For these, I insist you use a felt tip pen, as it will force you to deal with your pressure control - an issue that will help across various other drawing media."

Felt-tip pens die really quickly, yes. You can swap to try out other brands and get them in bundles for a bit cheaper, that's what I did for the Microns, just make sure they're all the same 0.5mm widths. I often went to a local art store with a coupon to get them for cheaper as well, Micheals (in the US) nearly always had some sale with a coupon.

I have heard of the Copic Multiliner SP and got one, though I have not used it, I've read this is the better alternative for Microns, that it lasts much longer and you can swap ink cartridges.

If you're up for some research, here's a good guide for these types of pens, I personally use an Isograph pen after getting tired of dying microns.

From what I've found in the sticky, no:

>Figure Drawing Resources
>
>Many of you know that I removed my figure drawing lessons a while back, on account of me not being satisfied with my ability to teach that material. While I have taken courses that vastly improved my ability to draw figures, professionally my focus lies with environments, vehicles and props rather than characters, so my grasp of the material just isn't solid enough. That said, here are some resources you may wish to use instead that do approach figure drawing in a more analytical manner. I haven't gone through them myself in any great depth, but from what I've seen, they're a good starting point.
>
>Stan Prokopenko's YouTube Channel.
Figure Drawing: Design and Invention by Michael Hampton.

No one really has "talent". It's a matter of working hard and putting in the time and effort to developing a skill.

That Huion would be perfectly acceptable though! You also have the option of a Wacom Intuos, which is a similar price.

https://www.amazon.com/Wacom-Drawing-Software-Included-CTL4100/dp/B079HL9YSF/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=wacom+intuos&qid=1555854274&s=gateway&sr=8-3

The difference between these two brands is ultimately a preference, so you can go with either and get fairly similar results. I'd honestly go with whichever one of these is cheaper for you.

Look in your local library for a book titled: "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" by Betty Edwards.

You don't have to read the whole thing at first, just try doing some of the first few exercises. If you feel like you can work that way, it's a good way to go.

You don't need the workbook and materials kit. just the book and your own pencil and paper. The older editions are just as good to start with as the newer ones.

https://www.amazon.com/New-Drawing-Right-Side-Brain/dp/0874774241/

Aren't copic incredibly expensive? Iirc my art-prof said those are best for serious sketching but run out very fast.

These are stabilo. They're cheap in Germany, but they might not be widespread elsewhere.

Worth a look imo. Haven't used Faber yet, had no reason to switch so far.

Oh well. Even so, it's an investment in yourself. It will never go down in value and in reality if 10 bucks a month make a serious difference (imo) one should go out and fix finances first by earning (not saving)

I spent $14 on an introductory drawing book
($14 for finally convincing myself that I just might be able to draw is a pretty good deal in the long run) that is now collecting dust because I realized midway through the second lesson that I had no idea how to draw circles, and I wanted to be able to draw good circles.

Then I realized I couldn't draw lines either, and that scared me enough to look for other resources.

Drawabox has already taught me how to draw lines and circles (and... boxes), so I think $3 a month is a steal. I think it's certainly worth more than $1, which is why I didn't pledge that amount when I signed up.

Thanks!
I did some searching and came up with these:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0787DTHJR/ref=sspa_dk_detail_1?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B0787DTHJR&pd_rd_wg=MQpGv&pd_rd_r=J2BWN6F10H76SRT4XQVV&pd_rd_w=xBV6T


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0787DTHJR/ref=sspa_dk_detail_1?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B0787DTHJR&pd_rd_wg=MQpGv&pd_rd_r=J2BWN6F10H76SRT4XQVV&pd_rd_w=xBV6T

Are they any good?

Few links for you

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Color-Light-Realist-Painter-Gurney/dp/0740797719/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1525359997&sr=8-1&keywords=light+and+color+book

Moderndayjames https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCI8GDFj5BQCQrSHITFebzkA

Marco Bucci https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcCJ2CU-bFw&list=PLLmXZMqb_9sbNLM83NrM005vRQHw1yTKn

Found all of the above useful :)

Pretty sure the Drawabox website has pens for sale now. (They were out when I got started so I purchased these .)

I recommend getting Steve Huston book on figure drawing. It helps me a lot in my beginning year. https://www.amazon.com/Figure-Drawing-Artists-Making-Every/dp/1631590650/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1535985514&sr=1-1&refinements=p_27%3ASteve+Huston

https://www.amazon.com/Stabilo-Point-Pen-Sets-wallet/dp/B0007OEE2E/ref=pd_sim_229_17?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=T36T1P49YZW6ACZJQ0BT

these are felt tip cheap and pretty solid

Well there’s a Wacom intuous tablet that’s about $80 (and this one comes with software apparently which is a bonus) . Wacom is a big company and even though they can have incredibly annoying glitches, I’ve been pretty impressed with the customer service on the whole. I had an issue with a charging jack on my last Wacom tablet and they repaired it free of charge as the issue was a manufacturing problem.

For a strict under 70 budget there’s also something called the Ugee . I have zero personal experience but I’ve read the name on a couple “top ten tablets for less $$$” lists.

I am not sure if they are global or not, but Stabilo work fine too. I think they are mainly German, but I wouldn't know

Give either a try I'd say. They don't exactly break the bank ;)

> I was just wondering if I should move on to other resources after I finish DaB

Yes.

Personally, I own this book which is fun for doodling, but the last drawings I did from there were in 2014.

I also own Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, by Betty Edwards, did a couple of exercises but got so frustrated I stopped drawing for another 2 years.

Now I got back to Drawing for the Absolute and Utter Beginner, by Claire Garcia, just did the first tracing contour lesson, and since she wanted me to draw lines and elipses, I thought "hey, /ArtFundamentals has a much better take on drawing lines and ellipses than this book, so I'm here.

Nevertheless, I'm planning to get back into the book and draw from here as well, just so I can produce anything more than lines for a while :P

A set of Sakura 08 (.5mm) is similarly priced

A tiny bit more pricy, ($20 USD for 12 compared to $16.5 for 10) so I would really need to know how these compare. The Sakura's have amazing Ink that was able to survive a washing machine. (I accidentally left a sticky-note sketch in my pocket; there wasn't ANY bleeding of the ink, just minor distortions where the warped during drying.) The pens themselves have minor durability concerns (Weaker nibs than Staedtler, an infrequent leaking problem that happens occasional enough to warrant mention, and worst of all imo the labelling can rub off, making it hard to tell which pen is which once you've had them for a while)

Pigma Microns are flawed, but they're my favorite pen especially for the price point.