A mouth-watering fuck-ton of hand angle references.

By Shadowcross on DA.

Well, despite my best efforts to accommodate people's wants and to respect artists' work, there are still a select few who give me (give us) grief over foolish things like copyright infringement. I'd like to address that for a second, to whom it may concern.

Before I delve into it, the above picture is a screen-shot from my former DeviantArt account. I'd talked with this guy many times; he's a very intelligent and well-informed individual, and at one point he was browsing my old art and left this comment for me. I told him that I'd begun to put my signatures on most images, along with watermarks, but I wasn't bothering with marking the crappy images (someone would have to stoop to new lows to claim ownership of the shitty sketches I make). The nuts and bolts being I'm not the only one who is making this point. People who know how the internet works know that it is up to the individual artist to mark their own art. One of the first things you'll be asked if you decided to make a legal case out of it all is, "Did you mark the image in any way so it could be traced directly back to you, and did you mark it in a distinct way that proves you're the owner?" (Another would be whether you paid for an official copyright for your image or not.)

(I blotched out the examples 'cause they had my name on it... Here're the revised examples: ©USERNAME 2010, 2011 © USERNAME 2011 USERNAME©2013 USERNAME 2011© 2011 © USERNAME Replace "Username" with your username, obviously. Or, preferably, your real name.)

Most of these explanations are in this blog's FAQ, so I'll try to not be repetitive. What I will say, though, is that this isn't a commercial blog. It's a casual web portal where we collect all the helpful art tools and references for people to better their art. We've never once laid claim to any of it. People say it's our job to source. Tumblr says it's our job to source. A dire, dire mistake Tumblr makes, however, is that they don't differentiate commercial blogs from casual ones (a very big legal lapse in their rules and regulations). People, on casual websites, post whatever they want whenever they want, with whatever tags or alterations or claims they wish. Though I don't want to associate ourselves with such a vague and potentially harmful category, we are casual. We do not publicize or benefit financially or socially from this in any way. We're just chillin' on a blog, helping friends out with art. We've sold nothing. We've published nothing. We've been paid zilch. And that makes a huge difference in our terms of responsibility with sourcing. Do you source every image you send in an email to a friend? Do you put the website at the bottom of the images you print out to decorate your locker? You sure as hell don't. Would you do it for a magazine or newspaper or book? Hell yeah. People are financed for such things. People make money, get publicity, and climb the career ladder for such things. People benefit from that. But here? When we're just some college dudes giving unofficial art advice to some struggling artists who draw for a hobby? Any jury would not agree with you that we're the bad guys, here.

Something I will reiterate is that it is your responsibility to mark your own art when you publish it on the internet (I'm no exception with my own art). If you don't understand that people will save your art to their computer, upload it to different sites, claim ownership of it, and/or even sell it with or without your permission and without knowing it was you who originally made that image, you are being very, very, very ignorant. You're supposed to be paranoid on the internet, because anything can happen. It is forever YOUR responsibility to mark your image. Websites that say an image is copyrighted to you simply because you upload it there (like DeviantArt, for example) sure as hell don't cover the big picture. Now, DA also gives you a watermarking option (or, at least did when I was on there), which does solve most of the problem, and is awesome. I always used that option. But if you don't check off that option and your art is just sitting there visually unsourced, YOU are not taking the necessary precautions to protect your property. That responsibility falls on YOU, and you don't get to blame me or anyone else for it. (That, of course, changes if someone is claiming they made your image and/or are trying to sell it [which, again, we are not doing], but you're also at fault for making it harder to prove that that image was yours to begin with.) You will never convince a jury that a blog like this is in the wrong.

Not only that, but, in the FAQ, I've explained why this blog is legally safe for posting anything. If you want the big PDF that explains everything, here you go (they keyword to look for is "Intermediaries", 'cause this blog is a web-portal and is therefore classified under Intermediaries... also look out for the term "Safe-Harbors"):

http://www.wipo.int/export/sites/www/copyright/en/doc/role_and_responsibility_of_the_internet_intermediaries_final.pdf

Please note that the PDF addresses worst case scenarios and hardly applies to this blog in terms of "severe cases of infringement". Particularly since I always (genuinely) tell you all that I'm more than willing to credit you or take your art down if you simply ask me to.

Something people rarely consider is that I have every single image that's on this blog already saved to my computer (obviously; that's where I upload 'em from). So, I didn't create this blog for myself; I made it to help you guys get better with anatomy (just like virtually each artist who made the original images). If this blog, for whatever reason, gets deleted, it doesn't affect me in any way whatsoever. All of these images, plus many, many more, are well-organized in my computer files for me to access and utilize 'em whenever I feel like it. It does, however, hurt everyone else, and yourself, immeasurably. Sure, you may have saved many (if not every) image on here. But, even then, there are many who rely on this blog as a resource. Not only do you get new references every week, you have a way to search them up via tags. Not only that, but me and the Intern Admin are here to help you find what you're looking for, on occasion. It's insanely convenient. That's the point of this blog; convenience. We can totally find whatever we're searching for whenever we like, but we're choosing to help you all out as well, 'cause we want people to learn and feel confident with themselves and their art (your art). We lose nothing if the blog gets deleted. You are the only ones who will get hurt from it.

_________________________

On another note, if anyone wants help with copyrighting or wants information on it, I'm more than happy to help (or even make a reference for it). I'm good friends with a few lawyers (some who have been practicing for over 20 years) and even a judge, so I have good resources to pick at. Plus, I know the laws pretty well (I study some law; for hobby, and for even protecting my own art and creations). I implore that you always mark your art in a prominent way that you know won't be removed. Signatures, websites, watermarks, even cropping or taking a photo while blocking part of the image with your hand or something.

A delicious fuck-ton of human knee references.

Yeah, just a quick mention of one of the above images... there's a cyst on one of those muscular diagrams... don't... don't include the cyst in normal anatomy. Unless you want to. But, yeah. Just thought it was worth mentioning.

[From various sources]

A glamorous fuck-ton of hand references.

[From various sources]

Artist Poll #8

About how old were you when you think you became an artist? (Put answers in text box below this post; Answers sent through mail will be ignored and deleted.)

(A) Since I was able to hold a writing utensil (babyhood) (B) As a kid / pre-teen (no older than 13) (C) When I was a young teenager (13-16) (D) Older adolescence / pre-adulthood (16-20) (E) As an (early) adult (about 20-45) (F) Later adulthood (about 45-60) (E) In my pre-elder years (about 60-75) (G) As an elder individual (about 75+)

[Ignore this random question mark --> ?]

An exquisite fuck-ton of canine references.

To see the text of the larger images, you gotta reverse-image search 'em.

[From various sources]

Artistic style prompt #1.

Note that this is just for artistic practice only and is obviously not an anatomical reference post.

The Style: Pointillism is generating an image with only dots. Typically, a "single" pigment is actually composed of several, meaning that if you're standing a distance from the image, it would look like one colour, but once you examine it up close, you'll see three or more in that same spot. People may start a certain pigment with the lightest colour, then add more or less of the second darkest where desired (to generate a basic depiction of highlights and shading), and then finish with a generously applied dark colour. Others make clusters of each "dot" (meaning they will make dots of all three pigments touch to form a super-dot), and each pigment will be a different size in that dot (meaning, if you're colouring in a shaded section, the darkest colour would be largest in the cluster, and the lightest the smallest). You can have a space between the dots (meaning if you're drawing on white paper, you can see the white in between) or you can limit it to only those colours (you may not get a coloured sheet of paper as a substitute for making dots... you must manually add all three pigments as dots). There is the type where you don't mix the colours and simply utilize one pigment for shading and so on, but you may not do that for this exercise. Mixing the colours and making them work is part of the challenge. Usually, very different colours are utilized for a single pigment (like in the above example, where the person utilized green, yellow, and blue for one subject), but we're not doing that for this exercise.

The Challenge: You're more than likely acclimatized to working only with lines. If you thought structure was difficult before, now you don't get to connect anything. For this challenge, you may NOT sketch out a light structure with pencil first. You must only dab it out with marker as you go along. No lines are allowed on this image. You know what? Pointillate your signature, too. No. Lines. (Okay... you don't have to pointillate your signature... but it'd look cool.) There are two lighting sources on the skull; one from the right, and one from the left. There are two provided pallets; in each pallet, there're two horizontal rows. Pick one row to be the lighting for the right side, and the other row for the left (doesn't matter which is which). You may not mix pallets or pigments in rows. The light source might come at a 45-degree diagonal from the front, or they'll come directly from the sides (however you prefer that), but don't go beyond 45 degrees. You can makes the lighting come from above/below, left/right, all the diagonals, etc., but they are required to be directly opposite one another. Like mentioned, the skull can be human, an animal, or some creature not of this earth (be you so bold). Whatever it is, do NOT choose something basic (like a jellyfish skull [yes, I know jellyfish don't have skulls... that's... that's the entire joke... I gotta acknowledge it because I'll otherwise get loads of people saying "Hey dumbass, you know jellyfish don't have--" yes, I know jellyfish don't have skulls... now it's not funny anymore 'cause I explained it all, so you ruined it for everybody. I hope you're happy]). Go with a bull or lion or dinosaur or human or unicorn or whatever. Do not make a cartoon skull. Or, if the skull is cartoon-derived, make a realistic version of it (I advise sticking to non-fictional skulls, unless you think this is all too easy and you want to make something... not of this world. Make it as detailed as realistically possible (depending on how detailed you're willing to go, you may want to look up the texture of bone). Now... you can be daring and add carvings or paint or something decorative (like feathers or beads or whatever) if you're finishing early and/or want more of a challenge. You may not, under any circumstances, utilize any decoration to cover up a part of the skull you don't want to draw (designs may not obstruct the anatomy of the skull any more than 8%). The only possible exception to this is if you make an irreversible, permanent mistake (like if you're working with ink or something)... THEN you may work some design over it. You're the judge of whether you're doing the challenge properly or not. (And, of course, all designs are to be pointillized as well.)

Time Limit: You will likely make mistakes and want to start over. If you start over once or twice, the time limit will reset to three days for that piece of paper. But once you are on your third attempt, you are stuck with that final three day reset (meaning if you start over a third time and you're on your second day, you'll only have one day remaining). Don't spend your three shots experimenting; practice the dotting techniques on a separate piece of paper.

Tips: Make the lighting appear natural (meaning the colours will comingle in certain areas). Know how you dot the image (with larger dots or simply by using more of a certain shade) so you are aware of how to express shading and highlighting.

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This challenge is not for a prize or anything. This is simply a fun activity for individual practice. Challenge yourself, tumblr artists! Good luck!

When you finish your creation, share it with everyone by reblogging this post and pasting the URL to the art into the text section. I’m excited to see what you’ll create!

A maybe workable fuck-ton of bison anatomy references.

Someone I knew a while back once commented on bison looking clumsy. Well, I disagree. Think of 'em like dogs. Just as flexible and playful and dorky. They move similarly to bovines/bulls. And, like brown bears, people underestimate their agility. They're made to get the fuck away from predators (not as successfully as they'd like, but they have evolved fairly well, nonetheless).

[From various sources]

A luscious fuck-ton of human skull references.

Two of the above images are GIFs, so wait for 'em to load. And I just thought of something that really ought to be mentioned; A very common mistake on drawing skulls is the eye sockets. People often make 'em smooth and solid on the inside, but it's not accurate to have 'em completely closed off. There are holes in the eye sockets that lead to the inside of the skull, 'cause the retinas connect the eyeballs to the back of the brain (so there's obviously an open space for the nerve to travel through). Sealed-off sockets are aesthetic, and for people who don't want to put any more work into a tangible model of one. Just be aware of that when you're sketching it out.

[From various sources]

A sweet fuck-ton of owl references.

Before anyone asks, yes, that skeleton at the top belongs to an owl. It's not a chicken, it's not a hawk, it's an owl. Owls are all puff and no bone. That's why they're the silent killers of birds. They blend in, swoop without sound... they're frickin' ninjas.

[From various sources]

Artist Poll #7

How often do you draw (create art)?

[Type answers into the question box below this post! Answers sent via mail will be disregarded.]

(A) I doodle on something every chance I get. (B) Once or twice a day. (C) Once (maybe a couple times) every few days. (D) About once a week. (E) Maybe once every other week. (F) Less than a few times a month. (G) Other (Please elaborate)

  Ignore this random question mark --> ?