Art Resources for Beginners
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If you’ve ever thought something along the lines of “oh I think I’d like to find some art resources to help improve my art” and then turned to the internet to begin your search, you’ll know what an overwhelming amount of information is out there and how hard it can be to find something you actually like.
In an effort to save you some time and frustration, I’ve collected a list of some of my favourite art resources I use and that have influenced my art journey and style.
Youtube Videos
YouTube is a beautiful treasure trove of tutorials if you can sift through all of the content that isn’t for you. Here are some of my favourite channels for art:
Shayda has loads of tutorials about drawing flowers with markers and watercolours, and she also lives on Prince Edward Island which is one of my favourite places in Canada. Her videos are really simple and clear and always high quality!
The thing I like about this channel is that it’s quite heavily focussed on interviews with artists and it’s great to hear the stories and perspectives of experienced creatives.
PearFleur does lots of painting process videos and her art is so so beautiful. Even if painting isn’t your medium of choice there’s a lot to be learned from watching this artist.
Pypah’s Art is great for process videos, tutorials and studio vlogs. She’s another incredible artist and I’ve definitely learned a lot from her channel.
I love Fran’s art style but I enjoy watching her channel because she talks about the difficult realities of being an artist. It’s really useful for days when I’m feeling down about my art to know that even artists who I consider to be established and successful have difficulties with their art.
I enjoy this channel for art studio vlogs and the process of having an online art shop. Also, her art is cute!
I’m not an experienced artist, but I like to share videos of my process on my channel to help other artists see what I do to create my illustrations. I like to just leave the audio natural so instead of listening to me talk you can just relax and enjoy the sounds of pencils and birds.
Creativebug Classes + Workshops
I really like Creativebug’s online classes and they have so many options. You can watch tutorials in all sorts of mediums and styles, and some exercises are just about exploring creativity in whatever format you like. You have to pay a small subscription fee but I think it’s really worth it for the quality of the classes.
Some cool classes to get started with are:
Drawing and Illustration Basics by Heather Ross
Creative Boot Camp - Six Exercises to Spark Artistic Discovery by Lisa Congdon
Books
Sometimes it’s nice to cosy up on the couch and browse through a real book, so here are a few of my favourites:
The Art of Up
The Art of Moana
The Art of Dreamworks Animation
Visual developments books are so cool and it’s great to flick through and see a range of sketches and finished art for movies I love. All visual ideas start somewhere and books like these are a cool behind the scenes look at the creative process.
I’m not one for magazines but I will make an exception for this one. I love this magazine. Each quarter they feature amazing illustrators with tutorials and interviews and it’s so valuable.
I got this book as a kid and it helped improve my understanding of some art basics. There are lots of books out there like this but this is the one that I grew up with and it’s great for brushing up on some fundamentals.
Hopefully these resources provide you with some ideas to explore in your own art. I find it really valuable to have go-to sources of inspiration when I’m feeling a bit stuck, so collect a few of resources that you like and have them somewhere handy for days when you’re lost.
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