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    Your Favorite Learning Resources

    silentheart00

    Outside of CGCookie, that is.  As great of a resource this is, I've found some subjects lacking in a deeper explanation or understanding of a particular subject.  Some of my favorite resources I recommend to others are:

    1. drawabox.com - A very good resource to help anyone build up their fundamentals from a very practical and goal-orientated approach.  You start by fine-tuning your motor control with small daily exercises, then build into simple shapes, and then complex objects.  Take it slow; it's all about gradual improvement.
    2. Figure Drawing for All It's Worth by Andrew Loomis - An excellent resource for anyone looking to improve their character portraits.  The art style is older, but the art instruction is sill relevant.
    3. Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter by James Gurney - An excellent resource to develop your understanding of how light interacts with color.  It's concise but packed with great information.  It's grounded in traditional art, but the theories behind it are applicable to anything.
    4. Perspective Made Easy by Ernest R. Norling - This functions more of a quick guide, but it still has some great tips and tricks when working with perspective.  Very clear and concise.
    5. Successful Drawing by Andrew Loomis - I got this for Christmas, so I haven't dived deep into it yet, but if it's anything like his other book, it's going to be very good.  This is more of an introductory book after scanning the first couple of pages.
    And a resource for game development, if that's your thing:
    1. The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses by Jesse Schell - The holy text of game design.  Taking you through every possible aspect of game design from brainstorming to UI design to understanding why your game is interesting or not, it's the required book for game designers for a reason.  Yes, you are a game designer, too.

    I'm more art-bent, but I'm interested in things related to what I do, like programming to help supplement my understanding of node programming.  So, what are your favorite resources outside of CGCookie?
    Reply
    • r
      Chetan Ranjan(ranjancnr) replied

      Youtube channels like proko, sycra, Aaron blaise etc. I just bought Color and Light from James Gurney.

    • Jonathan Lampel replied

      When it comes to games I'm always looking at Extra Credits and GDC on YouTube. 

    • silentheart00 replied

      Have you read through Color and Light yet?  What do you think of it?

    • silentheart00 replied

      I'm subscribed to GDC, but I keep forgetting to watch the vids lol.  Some good stuff on there, too!

    • Jonathan Gonzalez(jgonzalez) replied

      There is this article on our favorite resources posted a few weeks back: https://cgcookie.com/articles/our-favorite-resources

      Other than that, I'd definitely recommend Jesse Schell's book as well. I bought it after watching his TED talk on a similar subject. Definitely got me excited to start thinking about game design with every day things we do. On the other end of that is another book I'd recommend by Jane McGonigal called Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World. Where Jesse's book covers the design process, Jane's covers the psychology behind why people enjoy playing games and the benefits of them. Worth reading in cojunction.

      Other similar books that I have and slowly reading are:

      Theory of Fun for Game Design

      Game Programming Patterns

      Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made

      3D Math Primer for Graphics and Game Development

      Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship

      I also watch GDC videos quite a bit as well as mentioned in the first article I linked. I think they're a great resource to learn from. Even if you don't have any idea how they accomplished what they did, just getting the birds eye view of how they work can be quite fun to learn about.




    • Jonas Grund(meadoc) replied

      I am currently working my way through these books and tutorials

      • How to Draw by Scott Robertson
        A very technical approach about linedrawing and perspective drawing. The content goes in the direction of correct concept drawings of sci fi cars and buildings. In addition it pushes your brain to hand coordination and forces you to draw correct.
      • How To Render by Scott Robertson
        This will be the next one, after I´ve finished his first book. Shading rules and color rules.
      • https://www.ctrlpaint.com/library/
        I recommend this website. The author has a lot of free video tutorials about painting digitally in photoshop. I really like his way of teaching and his methods. I always keep my eyes open for different aproaches. For a little extra money you get intense Tutorial packages.
      • The painting sessions of Ty Carter
        When I can spare some money I look into the videos of Ty Carter on gumroad. It is just interesting how he approaches a piece and works his way through. He has a very illustrative style.
      I can definitly recommend you these books and tutorials I´ve worked through:
      • Art Fundamentals by 3D puplishing
        An interesting collection of basics such as Anatomy, color, perspective etc.
      • Aaron Blaise Anatomy Workshop 
        I really like his simplified approach as an animator. He focuses really on the anatomy parts that matter.
      • Aaron Blaise Character Design Workshop
        If you consider to push your character designs for stylised animation you will get handy tipps here
      In addition - what really pushed my understanding of character design: the magazine CDQ (Character Design Quarterly). It has some tutorials and amazing artists in it. It is an interesting ressource
    • silentheart00 replied

      Yes, I've read that article.  Pretty neat!  I wanted to see what the community used, as well.

      I have some of those books, too, because my SO is a programmer and wants to make games, too.  We share books.  I'll have to check out some of the others you've recommended, too!

    • silentheart00 replied

      Oh, wow!  Thanks for the recommendations!  I appreciate the different resources and viewpoints.

    • r
      Chetan Ranjan(ranjancnr) replied

      silentheart00 I have not gone through it completely, I am at the beginning where the use of red and green color in magzine is mentioned. So, till that point, I love the illustrations, they are really inspiring. Once I have finished the book I will share my thoughts on it. :)

    • silentheart00 replied

      Sure, sounds good =]