How to begin creating ART?

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„ZOMG how did you do that? I wanna do that too!!” – says you when you see a masterpiece here on dA, or anywhere else, and don’t know where to start.
The purpose of this huge collection of tutorials is to give you a starting point.
That said – these are other people’s methods, you have to find your own style, so be open-minded!
Becuase of the wide range, some of the tutorials aren’t from deviantART, I’ll mark this with a (o) .


PHOTOGRAPHY</u>
Since Nicephore Niepce made the first photography in 1826 (or 1827 by other resources), the art and method of taking pictures changed dramatically.
Guide to Giving Good Critiques by ThePhotoCritic - as the title suggests, it focuses mainly on the post-process: giving opinion, but contains such terms and techniques (Rule of Thirds, Color Terms, Lighting Terms, etc.), it worth a read.
Depth of Field: Live Tutorial by PhotographyChannel - explaining the eye-popping effect of „DoF”.
Concert Photography by contains-mild-peril - Part 1, Part2, Part3 - tricks on the stage: how to capture concerts, and get your first dollars.
Flash Photography Tutorial by photobandits - using the flash for taking photos.

For more information, a huge variety of photography clubs await you. May I recommend:
photo-class, ThePhotoCritic, Photo-Hut.


TRADITIONAL ART</u>
Traditional art is as old as humanity itself. From the first cave drawings, evolution created the most realistic paintings and weirdest styles.
This category has lots of sub-categories, so keep an eye out.

BASICS
New perspective on perspective by HOON - perspectives explained as never told in school. Must-see for architecture-drawings!
Dynamic Figure Drawing by tigrin - this will show how to draw – not technically, but „how to bring energy and movement into a pose”.
Drawing with Sincerity by tigrin a true help for „creating believable expressions”.
What Mediums Teh Marit Use V.2 by Marit - everybody has their own tools, but if you have absolutely no idea what to use, this tutorial can help.
Drawing Clothes And Folds by Crysa part one, part two</u> - creating folds, explained very well, with excellent examples.

MEDIUM
- Colored pencils
Lukiih's color pencil tutorial by Lukiih - a very popular tutorial, and for good reason!
Colored Pencil Tutorial by f0xyme - shows a good way of coloring.
color pencil tutorial yo by chunkbucket - what 4 pencils can create…

- Watercolor
Water Color Tutorial by NOT-AN-ANGEL - „It will show you the process taken to complete a painting done… which will include a few tips about water coloring.”
ROSiE's WateRCOlour TuToRiaL.: by o0littlehands0o - beautiful details, and a peak how to tune up the result when digitalized.
Watercolour Tutorial by noke89 - how to create a truly astounding painting!
Watercolour Demo by misskittyoooo - the secrets of an eye…

- Marker
A Marker tutorial by taintedsilence part one, part two - the technique of highlights in focus.
Too's Tutorial -Marker Basics- by toounit part 1, part 2 - anime-styled coloring, with beautiful details!
Giname's Copic Tutorial I by Giname - again anime, focused on the head.

ANIME
The famous and well-known style of  Japan.
Although the name is wrong: the right term is ’manga’, because ’anime’ is a variation of the word ’animation’, indicating that main target audience is television, cinema, etc.
But dA uses here ’anime’, so I’ll do that too.
Drawing Anime Faces Tutorial by Crysa - a wonderful tutorial explaining everything about the head & accessories.
Tutorial - drawing anime heads by Serio555 - less detailed version, perfect for the basics.
Drawing Anime Hair: Bangs by Crysa - still head, this time the wig.
Comic Tutorial by MangaLoca - your best resource for making your very own manga-comics!
kiss tutorial by AuroraCarina-chan - the anatomies of a kiss…

Too much of heads? Then go to Sai-Manga-Tuts for a large collection of anime-tutorials, including bodies, expressions, and lots more.

Finally, don’t forget (o)How to draw manga – Manga University, an excellent source for free, detailed, easy-to-learn tutorial-collection. Also, you may purchase here some books for further reading.

ANIMALS AND DRAGONS
The wide range of our favourite (mythical) animals created an entirely new gallery.
It is impossible to mention every single one of them, but here are the most important ones:
Basic Animal Anatomy by Cedarseed - the very beginning of drawing every animal. Dogs, cats, horses… start here!
Drawing Birds by Cedarseed part 1, part 2, part 3 - pretty self-explanatory. Excellent work and well-detailed.
Drawing the Horse by Cedarseed - with lots of types and figures.
Myth's Dragon Tutorial Part 1 by mythori - covers the head, wings, body, and everything of this mythical creature. (Following parts are digital colorings which doesn’t belong to this category.)
Dragon Tutorial by raerae - shorter version of creating a full-body dragon. Perfect if you’re in a hurry.
Asian dragons tutorial by Cedarseed - the classical, Chinese form of the dragon is now in your hands.
Simplified Gryphon Tutorial by lizkay - the easy way to draw gryphons.
Wing-Movement Sheet 2 by lizkay - superb anatomy-help for drawing the pose of wings.

HUMANS
Last but not least, the Homo Sapiens.
Entire books can be filled with the anatomy of the human, not to tell the 6 billion-variation in the world.
Remember: if you need reference, you have a mirror.
Z Big Guide to Body Drawing by Cedarseed - head, body, proportions. Everything for basic appearance.
(o)Dragon Paint Art Tutorials – The Human Body - mainly proportions, about the entire body.
Guide to Human Types by Cedarseed part 1, part 2, part 3 - Cedarseed explains the differences of each countries. Where do you want to go today?
-Hands Tutorial- by odduckoasis - shapes, techniques, anatomy of the hands.
-Foot Tutorial- by odduckoasis - shapes, techniques, anatomy of the feet.
How I draw char. pose by pandabaka - now, on to some dynamism! Tips & techniques on moving and posing.


LITERATURE</u>
One of the highest form of human evolution is the communication. Using prose (this includes novels, stories, dialouges, etc.) and poetry (featuring rhymes, verse, etc.), several forms of telling something are possible.
Tips For the Novice by suture - foundations for the creative writing.
10 Writing Dont's by Emotional-Writings - mistakes which should be avoided.
Active and Passive Voice by onewordatatime - what’s the difference between them, and when to use them? Read all about it here.
Tips and Helpful Information by Lit-Source - not ’one’ tutorial which explains the basics, but a tutorial-collection for general help.

Finally, important clubs to visit: suture, onewordatatime Lit-Source.



DIGITAL ART</u>
From the first pixels to photorealistic renderings, CGI (Computer-Generated Images) is one of the ruling form of art.
While working with computers can make a few steps easier, don’t forget one thing:
”Working digitally doesn’t mean the coputer does the work for you, it just means you don’t have to wash the colors off your hands after you finish.” - TranscendenceEngine
NOTE: if it comes to photomanipulation / image-editing program, I’ll point to Photoshop. The reason is because this is the most used and well-known software. While other applications may have different tools and methods, you could try to create a particular effect in your program – remember, don’t be afraid to break away from the examples!

BASICS
Colour Theory in a Nutshell by Cedarseed - base handling of colors: the color wheel, contrasts, hues, values, and other terms.
Color Profiles for Photoshop 2 by lucky13 - colors in use: RGB, CMYK, and first steps to DeviantPrints. (Flash video, wait while it loads.)
Basic Basics 01 Layers by photoshoptutors - if you’ve never worked with Layers before, here’s the perfect chance to do so.
Blending Modes Tutorial Video by lucky13 - an important use of the Layers: the Blending Modes.

- The GIMP
The Gnu Image Manipulation Program is the biggest rival of Photoshop, because it knows (almost) everything Photoshop knows and it’s for free. They say it’s also harder to learn – you decide it; visit the official site for goodies: (o)www.gimp.org.
Lineart tutorial for GIMP by pheona - taking care of linearts (focusing on the Path Tool).
Cell AND Soft shade in GIMP by pheona - Sailor Pluto showing the art of digital coloring.

If you’re looking for the club, here it is: the-gimp.

- OpenCanvas
Another popular program, although it isn’t for free. Yet, an earlier version (1.1) is free to download, you can do it (o)by clicking here. (Warning: the link leads directly to the .exe file. Since this version doesn’t require an install-process, this .exe is the program itself!)
Complete Guide to openCanvas by Luthien-Rogue - focused directly on version 1.1; your best guess for getting started!
3D Painting Tutorial by CunningFox - coloring, with OpenCanvas, and making furs.
Get your cloudy Groove on by hibikio - making the clouds.
Oc Koishii Tutorial by koishii-kitty - excellent tutorial for inking, and coloring of a brilliant picture!

The clubs for OpenCanvas: openCanvas open-canvas.

PHOTOMANIPULATION
Perhaps this is the gallery which can’t be explained enough in the world. Anyway, I’ll try…
The BlackArts - PS tutorial by Vysionous - this is especially for dark arts, but it’s excellent for beginners: explaind base ideas of lighting, texturing, etc.
The Fangtastic Tutorial by wycked - creating a vampiric fang from a „normal” tooth.
Using Filters by TheElfenbein - not all of the Filters, but if you’re completely new to these, check this first!
Water Reflections Tutorial by justinr623 - basic skills for creating reflections in water.
Tutorial 1 - Old look ENG by klondesign - ah, my weak spot, the retro-look… Textures, blending modes, opacities. What else could you wish for?
Advanced skin cleaning by AeonOfTime - not necessarily hardcore manipulation, but I felt I should put it here. How to touch-up a messy picture.
Dark Book Of Photoshop by subcity - contains how to create: magic (or „tentacles” ), fire, light, textured skin, blood and demon.
QuickTips: Textured Text by lukeroberts - I couldn’t resist to put here the creating of an advanced (textured) text.
Tone and colour enhancement by bosniak - massive practice of Color Balance, Hue/Saturation, Levels, Selective Colors, and Layers.
Multiuse Light Tutorial by Staldren - finally, (does that word exist in photomanipulation?) how to make realistic, spooky lights (sunrays, etc).

DIGITAL COLORING & LINEART
Coloring digitally and working with linearts aren’t the same, yet they exist always together, so I’ll introduce them mixed. (Note that lot of tutorials handle them together anyway.)
Note also that a frequently used coloring method is: make a transparent lineart-layer (naturally, the transparency is between the lines), and under this, create new layers for base colors. Above the color-layers (and under lineart-layer), you can make the shades, also on different layers. (Working on lots of layers can be confusing for the first time, but this will be helpful later when editing, or you/someone spotted a mistake, and you can correct it easily.)
Advance Tutorial ActZer0 by spirapride - cleaning very messy scanned lineart.
Heavy Lifting Tutorial by augustc4 - separating („lifting” ) lineart.
Clean lineart with photoshop by Abuze - handling and cleaning the lineart.
Carnival of colors - Sphere by AngelicPanda - the very basic of coloring: shading the sphere with cel shading and soft („normal” ) shading technique.
Carnival of colors - Cube by AngelicPanda - the very basic of coloring: shading the cube with cel shading and soft („normal” ) shading technique.
Cleaning up lines tutorial by joulee - and basic use of colors on characters.
TUTORIAL - How to Soft-CG by Kaze-Hime - anime-styled (cell-)shading.
oO PStutorial1 Oo by pacman23 - painting a realistic head.
PHOTOSHOP TUTORIAL by brilcrist - fantasy-styled coloring.
Fur Tutorial by Fatal-mantis85 - painting the fur for animals.
-Anime Eye Tutorial- deluxe by ryo0oki - painting the different styles of anime-eyes.
(o)”Updo” tutorial - painting the wig.
How To Make A Digital Painting by Norke - one of my personal favourites, this tutorial reaches realism.
+TUTORIAL FULL VIEW+ by Joey-B - the steps of a brilliant, fantasy-like painting.

- Pen Tool
This is a common tool for making new, smooth lineart. It is also the beginning for vector art.
You mostly won’t need this if you have a tablet.
.: Pen Tool Tutorial :. by turp - more likely from the technical side, and perfect for this kind of basics.
How to use teh pen tool by NCH85 - how to use in action!
lineart with the pen tool by acaraluv - focused on two-kind of pressure simulating methods.
The Lineart Tutorial by sashas - well detailed and explained (lights, strokes, etc).

VECTOR ART
You probably remember vectors from maths. What has it got to do with arts then, you ask?
A lot. In fact, there are two kind of filetypes when creating images: pixel-based and vector-based. Pixel-based images contain info about every single pixel, one by one. This results in an easy-to-edit (brightness/contrast, colors, etc.) type, yet big filesize. Vector-based images don’t contain these, but mathematical equations about every single line (path, shape, color, etc) and colors. This results smaller filesize, and both hard-to-edit parts (e.g. you can’t „ paint” on a vector-based image that easily) and easy-to-edit parts (e.g. you can control lines and shapes while in pixel-based images it’s nearly impossible).
A vector-based image can be noted by the smooth lines, sharp colors, and in some cases, brilliant decorations.
Lemon's Vector Guide - Ver 3.0 by lemontea - your best point to start creating vectors. Also includes how to vectorize from a photo.
vector art for photoshop by doompatrol - how to vectorize a picture.

- Illustrator
Adobe Illustrator is a true vector-program, becuse it is entirely based on creating vector-based images.
Adobe Illustrator's Symbols by lucky13 - explaining and exploring the Symbols-feature.
Basic Illustrator Gradients by lucky13 - handling the gradients.
Solid to Transparent Gradients by lucky13 - advanced gradients.
Tutorial - Illustrator Inking by reed682 - not quite vector art, but I felt this should go here: basic tools explained, brushes, paths, etc.
Pepsi Can ID Tutorial by zilla774 – Part1, Part2 - creating a Pepsi-can.

3-DIMENSIONAL ART
„3D” is the term for showing that the image doesn’t have only x,y dimensions, but the third z dimension too. This creates „real-life” pictures, including photorealistic images with the help of „raytracing”.

- 3D Max
3dsmax Dice Tutorial by kheng Part A, Part B, Part C - initial settings, materials, modeling… your best spot to start!
3DSM Realistic Glass Tutorial by Alpha-Leader - the making of a realistic orb.

- Maya
Screw driver tutorial for maya by BaRToNiX - from first steps to photorealistic results. HDRI images included!
3DnuTTa's Car Design Tutorial by 3dnutta - creating a car. (Advanced level.)

- Cinema4D
Simple Modelling Tutorial C4D by Ikaruga - learn how to model a headphone.
C4D Nurbs Modelling-Spoilers by Hyperphuzion - Nurbs modelling is essential in every 3D-program, learn the Cinema 4D-way here!
Particle emmiter by cinema4d - first steps with the particle emitter tool.

Finally, a must-see for Cinema 4D-users: cinema4d.

LANDSCAPES AND SPACE
Actually, this name should be „Terragen and planets”, but it sounds better this way.
Advanced planet creation by alyn - the best, most complex, and detailed tutorial for making a planet. Texture included.
Realistic Planet V.1 by sphereuk - less detailed, yet excellent for making very good planets.
Planetary Clouds Tutorial V2 by sphereuk -  putting clouds on a planet. 26 cloud images included!
Stars tutorial by alyn - if you want to make space, you’ll need stars.
Exploding a Planet by alyn - you like that planet you’ve just created? Now’s the time to destroy it.
Introduction To Terraspace by TerraSpace - „Terraspace” stands for: ’Terragen’ + ’Space’, which shows that this kind of art uses both Terragen-renders and planets (space, nebula, etc.), creating a unique and fantastic scene.

- Terragen
Speaking of Terragen: it is a small yet powerful program. You can create wonderful lands and valleys with it. While using 3D technology, the result is photorealistic and superb – however, some post-process are always handy…
You can view Terragen’s homepage at (o)www.planetside.co.uk/terragen.
(o)Terragen Tutorial by Carol Brooksbank - not the latest version, but shows every feature well-detailed, with lots of examples.
Selectively Frame Images Tut by terragen - a way to post-process Terragen render.
(o)Ashundar’s Mega list of Terragen Tutorials - a huge collection of tutorials, categorized. Very useful!

Fortunately, lots of clubs await you if you need inspiration, further resources, or just want to browse: terragen TerraSpace TerraStock ( - downloadable Terragen-renders) TerraPro terrawatch.

FRACTALS
Fractals are also based on complicated maths, although the result is wonderful and pleasing to the eye. The very first versions of fractals (lots of years before) weren’t this colorful and pleasant, but Mandelbrot created a more visional result; you’ll find this name frequently if you dig yourself deeper into fractals.

- Apophysis
The free fractal-making program. Get it here: (o)www.apophysis.org.
Also, deviantART’s official club: Apophysis.
Apophysis Tutorial by sya - wonderful and complex tutorial, from first steps to post-process in Photoshop.
Basic Apophysis Tutorial by darkmetalhead - step-by-step creation of a „flame”.
Apophysis 2.02 FAQ-Tutorial by datagram - „This isn't really a <<how to>> on Apophysis, it is more of a <<this does this>> tutorial designed to explain each of the many functions in Apoph.”

- Ultra Fractal
If you have some spare money, you can buy Apophysis’ biggest rival here: (o)www.ultrafractal.com.
And get inspiration from deviantART’s club at Ultra-Fractal.
UF Tutorial by fib3rglass - nice, huge tutorial about creating a fractal, from first steps to layers (and others).
Simple Fractal tutorial by MeddlerInc - as the title suggests, a simple (smaller) tutorial for working with Ultra Fractal.
The Anti-Spiral Tutorial by FarDareisMai - breaking from the common looks and creating the unique fractal.

ANIMATION
Animation with Image Ready and Flash.
Image Ready comes with Photoshop. Although animations can be made with Photoshop too, for later purposes (optimizing for web), I recommend using Image Ready.
Image Ready makes .gif animations and Flash .fla (due to the versatility of this format, animations/games/websites can also be created with it).

- Image Ready
Tut- Animating with ImageReady by Jupeboxgal - create a „drawing-based” animation. Basics well explained.
Mini Animation Tutorial by fossie - simple and useful.

- Flash
Learn Flash by CameronBurke</em> - interactive, entertaining tutorial from beginning to action scripts. (Flash presentation, wait while it loads.)
Preloader Tutorial by h3llbringer - for larger flash files, a preloader is handy: it shows the user how much data is loaded/still needed to start the presentation.
Basic Animation. Tut no.2 by Flash-R-Us - the basics of the flash-animation.

The club Flash-R-Us is entirely based on flash-tutorials, browse here if you seek more knowledge.


MISCELLANEOUS</u>
Last but not least, a mix of different categories. These are not here because they are unimportant, I just felt I couldn’t put them anywhere else.
Isometric Pixel Art - Complete by rhysd - Pixel Art creation; excellent guide from first steps to various techniques.
ASCII art tutorial 1.0 by diamondie - the way of ASCII creation.
(o)HTML Beginner's Guide - HTML Dog - I’ve seen dozens of HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language)-tutorials, but I was quite impressed when I saw this one. If you ever want to learn how to make webpages, HTML is essential. Why not start here?
(o)CSS Beginner's Guide - HTML Dog - personally, I’m still learning the use of Cascading Style Sheets, and this page helped me a lot. And believe me… if this made me understand CSS, everybody can.
Journal Structure: a reference by thespook - if you want to create CSS for your Journal, this can be great help with the visual explanation. Further links to help are in the Comment box!
Your Signature to Brush Movie by lucky13 - it will become very useful sooner or later if you can make your very own Photoshop Brushes, and this is your best spot to start! (Flash video, wait while it loads.)
Framing your works by facist - how to create the aesthetic post-process: adding frames and text. Great examples and explantion of fonts in use.
The Ultimate Guide to Textures by textureific - how to make your very own textures: from photograph to digital blending.
Submitting Stock Photos by sammigurl61190 - if you want to publish stock photos, you should read this first.
Mini Sculpture Tutorial by DestinyBlue - make your very own small-sized sculpture!



As I am writing this, all of the tutorials on deviantART were reachable.
You know tutorials, I know tutorials, everybody knows tutorials which aren’t listed here but could be useful. The purpose of this list isn’t to discover underrated ones or show every single one of them – that would literally mean thousands of tutorials!
However, if you wish to seek for more, go to the Resources Gallery and you can find further readings under the Tutorials Gallery.
If you have a question, or feel the need to discuss something, don’t hesitate to do so in the Resources Forum,or if it’s font-related, the Fonts Forum.
If it’s still ain’t enough, visit these places: (o)www.pixel2life.com, (o)tutorialoutpost.com, (o)www.photoshopgurus.com.

Very special thanks to the wonderful Gallery Directors of Resources: nichtgraveyet for encouraging and helping in this collection, and the gorgeous bleedsopretty for re-structuring the entire Tutorial-Gallery and keeping Resources in shape.

Now have fun!
© 2006 - 2024 Bleeding-Dragon
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