Welcome Artists! An Intro and a list for learners!
First off HELLO! Welcome to HollyHammerArt.com I'm Holly! I'm a part time artist full time dog mom. I've got two adorable puppers named Ollie and Moose. I am currently the lead character artist for Roll the Dame Dice an Actual Play D&D campaign that streams on Twitch and YouTube. I have an obsession with TTRPG's, comics, and animated movies and shows. I ADORE fantasy and anything witchy.
From a young age I was fascinated with art, I adored animated shows and movies and was a huge comic book fan. I would thumb through the pages of comic books for hours often skipping the reading part and just staring at the artwork. I would go to conventions and browse the artist alley for hours talking to artists and creators.
As I entered middle school and high school my interest in learning to draw waned, I never “took it seriously” and realized I was no where near where I wanted to be skill wise and my art teachers weren’t interested in the students that weren’t top of the class. So I stopped
drawing. I would doodle and goof around here and there but never took it to the next level.
About three years ago I started playing D&D again and I was asked to create a character for a game. So I did I gave her a back story and drew a picture of she and her brother. To say it was not my best work to date would be an understatement but it had been ages since I had drawn. Well I love playing the character but the game ended before it really began. I started tweaking her story and background and started creating a world around her. Eventually I redrew Val and her brother Ven. Not long after though I was asked to DM, so I created a cast of characters and these characters eventually found themselves in Val’s story.
I took a hiatus from art again and about a year or 2 later as I started building the story around her I took another try but this time I used references. I took my time. I started really looking at styles I loved and how I could incorporate them. It was a weird transition. Something clicked. Since then I have been building my story, designing my characters and working my butt off to learn more about art.
Long story short I wanted to put together a list of things I used to step up my game in a short time. This isn’t something that will work for everyone but at least a list of resources that artists can pick and choose from. I’m still learning but I can see improvement with every piece.
TLDR: Here's the Magic! (Links in Title)
For Anatomy!
A great book for learning anatomy with pages and pages of references!
Anatomy of the Facial Expression
A great book for facial construction and how muscles effect expressions also, references!
Morpho Books! Feet , Muscles , Simplified Forms and many more!
I love all of the Morpho books they are small and easy to travel with and full of references and info!
Wanna know how muscles work? This is a great reference book for how muscles move, great reference and over draws.
Also a great book for reference but more importantly application!
A staple for any artist!
For Non-Anatomy topics:
James Gurney Color and Light & Imaginative Realism
Every artist must read these are wonderful! I am making my way through them slowly but great information!
Framed Ink - For Composition
A great book for artists looking to learn more about composition in and out of the comic page!
These of course are just a few amazing books there are plenty more I will cover in a later post but if nothing else I hope this is a great starting point for artists that need some help!