Bookmarks for the Fantasy Artist Part II

I know. I promised this second installment in November, but family time, turkey, unruly cats. . . I just ran out of time. But I’m back with more valuable bookmarks for fantasy artists. If you missed my first post on Informative Blogs, check out Bookmarks for the Fantasy Artist Part I. The bookmarks I’m sharing are from my Digital Art Resources folder; which is made of several more folders. I don’t have the definitive list. These are just the bookmarks I’ve collected so far. This month I’m sharing the contents of my Learning folder.

Learning Bookmarks

I call this my learning folder, but it could also be named Amanda’s eLearning Wishlist. The folder consists of two different types of sites: online schools and video lessons. As you can see from the photo above, I have more video lessons than schools. I haven’t bought these, so I can’t comment/review on their quality, but I probably will buy more than a few of them. Below is my top five from the folder.

Art Camp – Noah Bradley’s Art Camp. I’m giving serious thought to signing up for this 12 week course next year. It’s not cheap, but it’s doable. The only drawback… It begins in late May and ends in late August–the same time I’d be preparing for Dragon Con (if I pass the jury). So, that’s something to consider.

Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art (Online Courses) – There’s a reason I’ve put LAAFA between Art Camp and SmArt School. Their Fantasy Illustration and Drawing from the Imagination courses are very tempting!

SmArt School – If I won the lottery, I’d sign up for SmArt School as soon as registration opened. It’s another distinguished school and it’s online!! But right now, it’s just not in my budget.

Visual Storytelling with Iain McCaig Vol.1 – This is just one video lesson from Gnomon I have bookmarked. These are very affordable. This one with Iain McCaig will be the first I buy, but first I need to get through the holidays!

CtrlPaint.com Video Library – Free. Absolutely FREE. Matt Kohr has an impressive and valuable library of videos for learning digital painting, fundamentals, and more. And they are all FREE.

There are two links missing from this folder. One is IMC – Illustration Master Class and the second is the TLC Workshops. I recently deleted them because there’s just no way I’m going to be able to attend unless my circumstances change drastically in the near the future. I’d rather focus on what I can do or at least work towards.

What learning resources do you have bookmarked?

amandamakepeace.com

Bookmarks for the Fantasy Artist Part I

I’m a tab collector. As of this minute I have twenty-seven tabs open in Google Chrome (including this one). They range from Kickstarter campaigns to Art Show info for various conventions. Some of these tabs have been open for more than week because they need somewhat immediate attention and I don’t want them to get lost in my bookmarks. Others I will bookmark for later. I have a lot of bookmarks, more like a museum worth. I imagine I’m not the only creative person with a bookmarks folder like this one–folders within folders.

My Library of Bookmarks

 

Yeah. I might have a problem. At least it’s organized (for the most part). I thought I’d share some of my most valuable bookmarks in an on going (no where near regular) blog series. For this first post I’m going to share one of my smaller folders.

Informative BlogsInformative Blogs

I don’t follow a lot of Art or Fantasy/SciFi Illustration blogs. If I followed all of them I’d spend all my time reading blogs instead of painting. Some of these I’m subscribed to and others I rely on either myself to check them or Facebook to let me know there’s new content. Two of the sites I have bookmarked are open in my browser tabs right now.

The ArtOrder – Jon Schindehette’s fab website. “ArtOrder is a community of artists dedicated to the education and mentoring of the art community.”

His blog posts cover creativity, portfolio tips, business guides for artists, illustration goodies and more. He also conducts challenges/contests. That’s how my little phoenix painting ended up at Spectrum Fantastic Art Live this year.

One Fantastic Week – A weekly web show hosted by Sam Flegal and Pete Morhbacher.

Most weeks they have a guest artist that joins them in talking about fantasy illustration, conventions, marketing, and of course, their week. I’ve been catching up on the previous episodes and learning a ton! I’ve also started blocking out one hour on Tuesday mornings to watch the show live.

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The other websites in that folder are just as information, but I’m going to leave that up to you to discover.

Muddy Colors – There’s an incredible Game of Thrones painting in today’s post.

Kelley McMorris – Kelley’s blog has supplied me with many excellent convention tips.

Gurney Journey – Doesn’t this need an explanation? It’s James Gurney’s blog. The creator of Dinotopia!

PACT – Professional Artist Client Tookit. This is a subscription site, but they do have free articles you can read.

CtrlPaint.com – I’ve mentioned this site in the past because of the amazing video library, but the blog is a great too!

Kiri Østergaard Leonard – If I was a better blogger my own blog would look more like Kiri’s. I’ve gleamed some valuable information from her posts.

As I mentioned, I can’t read all the blogs. But I do sometimes wonder, am I missing out? Is there a blog I should add to this folder? If you know of one, share it in the comments!

amandamakepeace.com