– National Doodle Day in the UK
– Colorful Logo Pack by Pure Method
– Free Twitter bird illustrations for use from Luc Latulippe.
– Sam Gwilym dot com site relaunch
– Christine Marie Larsen March Robot of the Month
– 42 Free Polka Dot swatches and Patterns
– Spanish Guitar vector illustration by Desfaziendo Entuertos
– Background color design by asp experts.
– Inspiration for patterns by Verner Panton
– GoMediaZine offers a free sampler from their Vector Set #14
– Make a PLAYFUL yet ROBUST 3D letter design
– Buy layered Vector and Photoshop files for as low as $1!
– Editorial cartoons by Doodle.nl
– New Illustrations by Phil McAndrew
– 9 Polishing Techniques for intensifying your Vector Illustrations
– Carbon Fiber texture samples from Chris Spooner
– Sonali Vora shows you how to warp text inside a heart shape
– Always Hungry by NIARK1
– Wonderful Illustration from Hellofreaks
– Brand Design for Babo Tea House by Dacosta
– Go HABS GO zombie style!
– Reimagined Video Game Characters by Tom Rhodes
– Chinese Flower Design by Anicka
– Suit Up! – A gathering of artists creating 54 playing card images.
– J-Three Concepts – Jared Nickerson Illustration Gallery
– Create a Simple Vibrant Light Effect in Photoshop
– New shop for Stock Icons is open – IconDock
– Sketch motel presents – Super Villains
– “Ikkle Tewwa” new characters by Steve Rack
– Young grasshopper – learn to make a stylized vector version
– 40 drawing techniques compiled by Chris Spooner (Spoon Graphics)
– Crazy-Cool Vectors in Illustrator & Photoshop
– Latest Original work from SKAFFS
– Tiny Kitten Teeth: Hand-painted webcomic by Becky Dreistadt
– Create a Customizable Aluminum and Glass Styled Vector Emblem
– Cool glasses by Karo Knitter
– Design Skateboard Graphics
– Free Vector Stock Images
– Amateur Illustrator : Art & Illustration Community
– Jami Noguchi sketches the morning headlines on his Nintendo DS
– Catch Dani drawing daily at 10am EST on uStream
– Inspiring Lighting Effects
– Mini Cooper S by Asuarch
From Ideas to Pixels – The Process from concept to finished rendering.
Adding Gradients to Text
Gradient Stroke Tutorial
Watch Dani draw live!
The making of “Abe”
Illustrate a Malevolent Skull in 8 Steps
Rabiscos by Mathias Townsend – Illustrations
David Habben – Deck artwork for “On Deck 4″ – Montana Skatepark Assoc.
Veerle shows you how to draw a coil in Illustrator in three steps!
Create an Angry-Clean Bar of Soap
Computer Arts 105 – Wicked Illustrations
Make 3D Yet Flat Looking Shopping Basket Icons
Illustrator Quick Tips #1 – Complex Symbols with Pathfinder
God’s Mountain III
Swans for Peace
Children’s Dreams Illustrated
Inky Monsters “do” PBS – Stefan Bucher
Vector Freebie: Skeletons
Illustrations by Jules
3 new Illustrations from ‘The Stuntkid’ Jason Levesque
Credit Crunch Heroes by Sasan Saidi
Volume 12 of humus available.
New SuperGirl cover
I’ve gathered another set of wonderful drawing tutorials from around the ‘net. Each one focuses on a particular aspect of drawing and style. Check them out!
This is a good tutorial on understanding the scope of the complete process from a pencil sketch to a finished digital rendering.
Adroit Designs Illustrator Tutorial
Don Benni Photoshop Tutorial
Here are two different tutorials (one for Illustrator, one for Photoshop) that achieve the same end result – an awesome rendering for a sports car.
A quick and easy tutorial on how to draw Japanese Koi fish – a traditional symbol of good luck.
Even though the holidays are over, you can adapt the process shown in this sexy holiday pin-up tutorial to create an interesting composition of your own.
Learn how to transform a photo of yourself into a digital drawing using Illustrator.
Here’s a simple tutorial showing you how to go from doodle to digital in 10 steps!
I’ve received a few questions in regards to drawing methods and software, and what programs I’d recommend. Before some of you run off, thinking that this post is going to turn into an infomercial or a shill session, take note that some of the software I’ve linked to is actually open-source and won’t cost you a thing. Here’s some of the programs I recommend.
Product: Inkscape
Price: N/A (Open Source)
Inkscape is an Open Source vector graphics software. Many of its toolsets and functions are similar to ones found in Adobe Illustrator, CorelDraw, or Xara X. Your work is saved as a Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format. It supports many of the advanced SVG features (cloning, markers, alpha blends and more), and is able to perform complex path operations, bitmap tracing and a ton of other functions you would find in the larger commercial software. The best part of this vector software being open-source is the community support on constant tweaking that comes out of it.
Product: GIMPShop
Price: N/A (Open Source)
GIMPshop is a modification of the GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP). Its a free/open source program, developed to replicate the look and feel of Adobe Photoshop. If you’ve used Photoshop before, you will feel comfortable using this version. The only current drawback is that GIMPshop does not support Photoshop plugins, but all of GIMP‘s own plugins, filters, effects and brushes work just fine.
Product: Pencil
Price: N/A (Open Source)
Pencil is a free/open source animation/drawing software. You can create traditional hand-drawn animation (cartoons) using both bitmap and vector graphics. It’s easy to use, and requires minimal effort to make drawn characters come to life – rather than spending a ton of money on a program like Adobe Flash to create your animations, you can achieve the same result with Pencil.
Product: Serif DrawPlus X2
Price: $99 USD
DrawPlus X2 is a cost-effective program with easy-to-use drawing and painting tools and special effects you can use to create outstanding drawings and designs. You can easily import and export files in various popular formats (PSD, SWF, EPS, etc.) Instead of spending hundreds of dollars on ultra-pro software, you can achieve the same effects for a fraction of the price, and still function using those proprietary formats.
Product: Xara Xtreme
Price: $89 USD for standard / $249 USD for PRO
Boasting the world’s fastest graphics software engine, Xara Xtreme combines the use of flexible illustration tools with the ability to handle photo manipulation and editing. The benefit of Xtreme is the use of a single application for all types of creative work – you can create vector drawings, DTP, photo composition, Website design or Flash animation. Xara offers two versions – the standard model, and an enhanced PRO model with more goodies such as tutorials, templates, example files and fonts. Another suitable option for those unwilling to spend hundreds to achieve professional results.
Product: Autodesk SketchBook Pro
Price: $100 USD for digital download
Autodesk SketchBook Pro is one of the best digital sketchpad programs on the market. You can easily use it in place of pen and paper and the transition from physical to digital takes less time with this product. The great thing about it is its artist-friendly, easy to use and reacts well to gestural movement when you combine it with a digital stylus and tablet. I highly recommend this product, as I’ve been using it for a few years for my own work.
Product: Adobe Illustrator CS4
Price: $599 USD / $149 USD Upgrade
Adobe Illustrator is the industry standard for digital illustration, and has been for years. With its endless number of tools, filters, effects and settings, you can easily make any basic illustration come to life with ease. This versatile program is used for all types of scalable vector artwork, and you can export to a million different formats. If you haven’t used Illustrator, you need to give it a try to understand how amazing this program really is. It has a hefty price tag and a steep learning curve, but its well worth the dough, and there are plenty of resources to get you up to speed in no time.
Product: Adobe Photoshop CS4
Price: $699 USD / $199 USD Upgrade – Photoshop
$999 USD / $399 USD Upgrade – Extended
The highly regarded Photoshop is the other weapon in a digital illustrator’s arsenal – starting out as a simple photo-editing tool, artists around the world have been creating masterpieces with it for almost 20 years. Everyone and their dog knows about this program, but fewer can actually afford it. This is the digital artist’s main tool, and many of the amazing digital works you see all over the place owes its beauty to this program. If you havent used it before, you need to try it, just like Illustrator. You wont be disappointed. Its pricetag is high, but its payoff is huge.
There are many others which I haven’t mentioned, but will add in the future – like PaintshopPro, Paint.net etc. I hope this short list gives you a bit of an idea on what is available. There are trial versions for all the paid licensed software if you’re interested on trying them out – I highly suggest you do.
idrawdigital is looking for you – the reader – to get some exposure and have your work and profile featured on the site. Without the reader, this site wouldn’t exist! So, in order to get a better understanding of the readers out there, I’d like to feature some established and some up-and-coming artists.
So here’s what I’d like you to do – fill out this brief questionnaire and send it to me, along with a profile image I can put up with your answers!
Name:
Alias (if you have one):
Location:
Current Occupation:
Website/blog:
Artist/Writer that inspires you:
Reading material that inspires you:
Websites that inspire you:
Are you a Mac or a PC?
Weapon of choice? (Illustrator, Photoshop, etc)
How long have you been using digital media?
Do you consider yourself experienced, still learning or brand new?
How did you come across “idrawdigital?”
Send me your comments and I’ll add you to our new Featured Artist section!
Join the idrawdigital community today!
This is probably the most common question most aspiring illustrators bring up. We’ve all been there before – you have all these great ideas in your head, you’re totally prepared to put pen to paper (or stylus to tablet) and you start scribbling like mad – unfortunately what your brain conjures up and what your hands create are two totally separate things.
You say to yourself – how the heck do I draw [enter item] ?
Well, I can’t tell you how to draw everything. I can point you in some promising directions though. Check these tutorials out for some help!
A lot of people want to skip the pencil/pen to paper idea and would like to start from scratch using Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. I found this two-part tutorial on DaniDraws.com that shows you how to go about making your own comics from blank canvas to a complete inked and colored illustration.
Here’s another great lesson from GoMediaZine on how they’ve created a ‘comic book styled’ look to their promotional posters – and the process behind it.
Ever wondered how to draw a Kangaroo? How about a giraffe – or maybe just how to draw a dog or cat? Here are a bunch of simple tutorials you can follow to get you started – from how-to-draw-and-paint.com
Most people understand how to draw a basic vehicle, but not all vehicles are equal. This series of tutorials from HowStuffWorks.com shows you how to draw cars, trucks, vans, classic cars and more.
DrawingCoach.com has a wonderful video series on how to draw people for portraits effectively.
From sketchinghouse.com comes this simple tutorial on how to use perspective to create realistic looking buildings within the city.
There are many other tutorials out there for drawing basics – if there’s one you’d like me to showcase, let me know and I’ll add it to this list.
