(Part 2) Best products from r/SketchDaily

Only 5~ months ago did I decide to get serious about improving my art in my free time. For most of my life I only doodled occasionally. So I thought I would describe my plan of action with books and resources that I will likely be using. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

My process will be basics of construction-> perspective -> figure drawing -> digital art and rendering. Approximately 45% will be improving, 45% will be doing what I want for fun and 10% will be a daily sketch(this subreddit) that takes anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour to complete. for fun I will be doing anything from digital to water color.

Construction and perspective: First I am starting my art journey by completing draw a box . Next I will go through Marshall Vandruff's Linear Perspective Videos and Perspective Made Easy simultaneously while referencing with how to draw by Scott Robertson. Briefly I will gloss at Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain or keys to drawing pulling ideas of where I might find weakness.

Figure drawing: Once those are finished, I will begin my figure drawing phase. I will move onto free proko subsided with loomis books such as this, other photo references sites like http://reference.sketchdaily.net/en and Figure Drawing: Design and Invention. I will also reference Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist and maybe more depending on my budget.

digital art and rendering: For the final stage of my journey, I will venture into ctrlpaint. Simultaneously I will be reading How to Render, Imaginative Realism: How to Paint What Doesn't Exist and Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter

After that.... I don't know. We will see were I am in a year.

I recently bought a book called Graphic Artists Guild Handbook: Pricing & Ethical Guidelines, 15th Edition and it has pretty good information about pricing and other stuff. So far it's pretty good but it may be a bit pricy(depends where you're from obviously), but if you're interested in starting out selling your art, I highly recommend it. It's a bit technical so it's no bed-side reading!


Kendyll Hillegas has also great information about selling your art and about some general stuff also, so check her out also!

I had this book https://www.amazon.fr/Morpho-Anatomie-artistique-Michel-Lauricella/dp/2212139144 as a reference but I don't have it anymore and yeah, it was a great help, I should rebuy it when I can.

Thanks for the advice, anyway!

And thanks for the cake day!

Wow, thanks! Um, the best thing I ever learned about color was to liberally use warms and cools to indicate planes and depth, and (as an extension of that) never use black or white paint. This book is technically about oil painting, but has a lot of excellent color advice for all types of painting. Hope those links are interesting/helpful! :)

I've never used a black paper book before, but I do use White ink markers and pens for highlights on my work.
It can be a challenge to work with though because it tends to be a little chunky. For all intents and purposes you're trying to draw with White Out.


The Pigma Gellyroll Classic 08 is really good (Honestly I feel like you can rarely go wrong with Pigma pens.)


I can't find a link for it, but the Recollections Signature Opaque White Marker is pretty good too.

I totally agree with you on the animation ones! My personal favorite is Avatar: The Art of the Animated Series!

I have never heard of those field guides and am excited to check them out. A personal little dream of mine is to one day produce a field guide for one of my favorite video games.

I do figure drawing 3 or 4 times a week, and try to join special events if available. I find it extremely relaxing.

There are so many books out there but my favorites are Mike Matessi's Force dynamic drawing and Bill Buchman's Expressive Figure Drawing. Those two books should bring you a very long way!

Here are my drawings from last night's session

Either the Canson XL mixed media pad or if you're good with loose paper the copic paper is amazing for markers.

It says it's paper but it's more like card and markers blend beautifully on it.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B007POWU34/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_10?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&psc=1

Its hefty for sure. Traveling with this thing is going to be challenging although the 75 lbs (110 gsm) is the paper weight not the shipping weight.
Looks like amazon.uk has an option Big Book

Hope that Helps!

I use a brush pen. It's a neat tool. It allows for sketchy stuff like the dog I did, and you can slow down and do finer lines. I'd recommend buying on eBay, since you can get them in bulk. The only downfall is that the ink goes quick. Thanks for the feedback!

I'd love to link to an amazing amazon illustration, but it wouldn't be mine... Here is the inspiration, and here is the drawing.

Thank you! The pen was the Kuretake Zig Cartoonist dip pen with the G-Pen nib and Speedball Indian ink and the paper was a Strathmore Visual Journal (this one, I think). I used the same ink and an old paintbrush to do the inkwash in the background.