Welcome!!

Welcome to the Illustrator's Toolbox, my personal collection of illustrating and art related tools, resources, and references.  The things that have helped me become a better artist. 

Before we move on, I must thank my sister for her many contributions to this list.  An amazing artist, she did a ton of digging on her own and lead me to many of these wonderful sites.  Thanks, sis!

To access the tools, resources, and references, simply scroll down to the section you are most interested in and "click" the link. 

As I find more things that are useful to me, I'll be adding here.  So check back often!!  And, as always, if you have a suggestion of an item you'd like to see included here, please let me know. 

Enjoy!!

My Bookshelf...

When it comes to illustrating, here are a few books that have really helped me.

• Dynamic Figure Drawing - Burne Hogarth

• How to Draw The Marvel Way - Stan Lee

• Drawing and Painting Fantasy Figures - Finlay Cowan

The Basics...

Color Theory and the Psychology behind Color

• Color, Contrast, & Dimension (Poynter.org) - an interactive color experience.

• Color Theory - Janet Lynn Ford

• Reading The World of Color - an article on how "color affects humans psychologically and physiologically (mind and body).

• Tutorials On Color - Color Theory, Color Schemes, and Psychology of Color

• Understanding Comics - Scott McCloud via Ted Talks -  A "must watch"

Lighting

• James Gurney's Journey - Contre-jour lighting Post

Visual Design

• The Artist's Toolkit: Visual Elements and Principles

• Composition and the Elements of Visual Design - Robert Berdan : Photography Composition Articles

• Elements of Art - Picturing Books

• The Principles of Design - Joshua David McClurg-Genevese : Digital Web Magazine

Important Articles & Posts...

• 75 Artists You Should Know And Where To Find Them - DaniDraws.com

• 25 More (Artists You Should Know And...) - - DaniDraws.com

• Feeling Your Way Around the Grid - Mark Boulton

• The Neurological Basis of Artistic Universals - V.S. S. Ramachandran

Artists I Recommend...

• Brom

• Charles Vess

• Jamie Hewlett

• Jaime Jones

• Jason Brammer

• Jon Foster

• Josh Middleton

• Michael Whelan

• Mike Wieringo

• Stephan Martiniere

• Wayne Barlowe

• William Stout

Sites and Blogs I Recommend...

• Animation Backgrounds

• Animation Treasures 1

• Animation Treasures 2

• The Art Department - Irene Gallo's Blog : Irene is the Art Director for TOR, Forge, and Starscape books

• Art and Observations - Josh Billing's Blog

• Art Plz - Emma Coats

• Austin Translation - Austin Madison's Blog

• Bad Dreams Good Nightmares - Scott Altmann

• Cartoon Brew - A great collection of cartoon-relevant content.

• Cloakroom - Steven MacLeod

• ConceptArt.org - a community of artists interested in helping eachother learn about art.

• Drawn! - The Illustrating and Drawing Blog.

• EntreComics.com

• Fill This Space - Patric Smith's Blog

• Gorilla Artfare - Group Blog : Prepare to be inspired!

• Gurney Journey - Jim Gurney's Blog.

• Jumpola - Print, Clip Art, Type, Photography and Graphics SW Resources

• Hire An Illustrator

• Illustration Art - celebrating great artists of the 20th century.

• The Illustration Exchange - site for collectors of fantastic illustration art.

• Illustrators' Partnership of America

• Kambodia Hotel - Moro Roger's Blog

• Lines and Colors - a visually stunning blog about drawing, sketching, painting, etc.....

• Leo Matsuda's Blog

• Nate Wragg

• Pascal Campion

• Society of Illustrators

• Spectrum - The Best In Contempory Fantastic Art

• The Jolly Green - Sean Taylor

• Tim Sale - Heroes wikipedia

• Treimanized - Lissa Treiman

• Vi-Dieu Nguyen