Some great and simple tutorials from DerSketchie on DeviantArt
They have more tutorials in their Gallery so check them out!
The Duck Webcomics
Highlights from The Duck!
The Adventures of Alec Immortal
Featured comic for May 15, 2013
The Adventures of Alec Immortal is about a crazy, headstrong, some might say “belligerent” young lady. Nothing will get in the way of what she wants to do, no matter who gets in the way or gets hurt. This is an entertaining comedy comic. It’s very stylised and cartoonish and also pretty funny! The pages are mostly in colour. The writing mostly consists of a series of very short comedy story arcs.
The order of the pages is a funny quirk, but it doesn’t take you long to get used to the backwards nature.
By Jewel’s Lips, rated E
Read The Adventures of Alec Immortal
“One of the most fascinating archeological finds in Russia has been the discovery of hundreds of “birchbark documents” (messages written on the bark of birch trees with a sharp stylus) that were created from the 11th to the 15th century.
The birchbark documents of Novgorod are a major source for information about life in Medieval Novgorod because they are not the writings of church theologians or political leaders, but rather, personal messages, IOUs, love letters, shopping lists, and so on. One of the most fascinating items, in my mind, is a collection of children’s drawings that have been unearthed.
Children’s drawings in the Middle Ages?! Even if such things were created in period, how could they have survived to the present day? After all, finger paints, magic markers, and crayons were not yet in use, paper was far too valuable of a commodity to waste on children, and refrigerator doors were unavailable for the display of Junior’s artistic genius. Most of the products of childhood inspiration probably were expressed on the ephemeral canvas of dirt or sand.
But birchbark was a different story. The bark was widely available (although there are indications that excessive use of the medium caused a decline in the local birch population) and easily cultivated. Anyone could use it. When one was finished with the message, it was simply thrown into the mud, where the presence of water and clay created an unusually bacteria-free environment which preserved the documents. So, we have the ideal medium: cheap, easy to come by, and (thanks to unique geology) preserved for hundreds of years.
The drawings from Novgorod that we have found appear to all come from a Russian boy named Onfim, who lived at the end of the twelfth century or beginning of the thirteenth century in the city of Novgorod. By the estimate of the archaeologists who unearthed his works, he was around seven years old at the time that he made these drawings.
Onfim was being taught to write, but he was obviously restless with his lessons and when he could get away with it, he intermixed his assignments with doodlings. In this first example, he started to write out the first eleven letters of the alphabet in the upper right corner, but got bored and drew a picture of himself as a grown-up warrior impaling an enemy with his spear. To remove any doubt about the identity of the warrior, he even labeled the person on the horse as “Onfim.”
Fantasies of becoming a mighty warrior were not the only things that Onfim thought up though. In another example, he took the piece of bark that he was practicing on (left), turned it over (right), and drew a picture of himself disguised as a wild beast (which he identified by writing “I am a wild beast” [Ia zver’] over it). The beast, with its long tongue (or fiery breath), is apparently still a friendly beast as it is carrying a sign that reads “Greetings from Onfim to Danilo” [Poklon ot Onfima ko Danile]. Danilo (i.e., Daniel) was probably a friend, perhaps even a schoolmate sitting next to Onfim.
Onfim liked to draw people and while his artistic aptitude may have been lacking, he was prolific.”
Realtalk; Olfin has some really cool design sensibilities and I love his faces and bodies and what I’m saying is that we should all draw fanart for this medieval child.
Quackcast Episode 125 - 2013 DD Awards Time
Niccea tells Ozoneocean all about this year’s DD comic awards! They’re just starting and just beginning to pick up steam! You can join the discussion to help direct how the awards will work, you can try and become an awards judge or you can even try and get your wonderful webcomic nominated for a DD Award!!!! Actually, even if you don’t DO a comic you can nominate your faves and help along with the whole process. At the moment they want you to submit a bit of artwork on a fun theme where your characters try and raise money to help with the awards, as a way of showcasing your stuff and helping you get nominated/voted for. Just go to the DD award comic!
Skanks Swords Sketches: WHY DID NOBODY TELL ME ABOUT THIS PALETTE
In at least Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign CS5 (maybe other programs/versions too), if you go to Window > Extensions > Kuler, you get a palette with preset color palettes that compliment each other, as well as a tool to help you make new ones. Then you…
(Source: mysticorset)
For people curious about my settings
1. I use the brush tool for almost everything, even for lineart. Easy for rough sketching.
2. Blending, works better with a texture thrown in.
3. Flat brush gets you a semi painterly look, wonderful for laying down color and whatnot.
4. Overlay abuse, I actually do most of my color blending with them haha
Brushes downloaded from here I believe
Quackcast Episode 124 - 60 Challenges in 60 Minutes
With ozoneocean away having fun this week, it falls to Banes and skoolmunkee to pick up the slack! Our chosen topic is “Challenges” - those longer-term thematic projects you see around, meant to get you off your drawing/writing duff and doing stuff that makes you better. They can be fun though! From the simple DeviantArt meme sheet to the gruelling Pokemonathon, we mention all kinds (although I’m not sure we mention sixty different ones…) for drawing, writing, and even a few for comic-making. Some are more famous than others, and some you might even just make up on your own! We do agree it’s more fun to do them with other people, though. Don’t forget you can find lots/get good ideas by searching for a likely challenge and adding ‘tumblr’ to the search.
With ozoneocean away having fun this week, it falls to Banes and skoolmunkee to pick up the slack! Our chosen topic is “Challenges” - those longer-term thematic projects you see around, meant to get you off your drawing/writing duff and doing stuff that makes you better. They can be fun though! From the simple DeviantArt meme sheet to the gruelling Pokemonathon, we mention all kinds (although I’m not sure we mention sixty different ones…) for drawing, writing, and even a few for comic-making. Some are more famous than others, and some you might even just make up on your own! We do agree it’s more fun to do them with other people, though. Don’t forget you can find lots/get good ideas by searching for a likely challenge and adding ‘tumblr’ to the search.
Speaking of different body shapes. These are all basically peak human bodies.
How come 99% of them don’t conform to what the entertainment industry tells us is the perfect body?
This is a FABULOUS set of body refs. So glad this came back across my dash so I could reblog it here :D
These images are from a book by Howard Schatz of various Olympic athletes, which was titled “Athlete.” You can buy the book [here]. Also, have some more photos from it:
Featured comic for May 1, 2013
A monster’s job is to go forth into the world of little children and scare the pants off of them! But the poor little froggy monster Fear has fears of his own, mainly the dark. Coming the the real world in search of candles to fight his biggest fear, he inadvertently makes a friend…
This is a comic aimed at younger viewers. The storyline is very simple and straight forward and the art style is bright, bold, extremely professional, but also quite simplified. It would make a great picture book or animated cartoon. Even so, the story is touching enough for people of any age.
By penicillin07, rated E.
