Research Guides: #Art, Art History, & Art Appreciation: Creating Art

Drawing & Sketching

Quickposes
Quickposes is a tool for art students, illustrators or anyone who wants to focus on improving their drawing skills. Filter photos by what you want to practice, set a time limit, and even display images flipped upside down.
SketchDaily
Generate photos of bodies, body parts, or animals including criteria for clothing or not, action pose, and angle. Display can be timed.
Projects & Reference Materials
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Via the Hobbies & Crafts Reference Center

Playing with Sketches: 50 Creative Exercises for Designers and Artists by Whitney Sherman
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Collection: EBSCO eBook Collection (1 copy)
Published: 2013
This book brings you through a series of basic warm-up exercises that can be combined with later projects. Then you'll move quickly on to more challenging and engaging exercises, including word games, dimensional shapes, and inventive sketchbooks and letterforms, eventually creating a “toolkit” of ideas and skills developed through the process of play.
The Urban Sketcher by Marc Taro Holmes
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Collection: EBSCO eBook Collection (1 copy)
Published: 2014
Packed with art and advice from Marc Taro Holmes, artist and co-founder of Urbansketchers.org, this self-directed workshop shows you how to draw inspiration from real life and bring that same excitement into your sketchbook.

Painting

The Savvy Painter
Host Antrese Wood talks to experts in the field about the business of art and how it gets created. Every week, we talk about representational painting, abstract art, alla prima painting, art competitions, art materials, watercolor, oil painting, how to get into an art gallery, how to succeed with your art business and so much more!
Painting Lessons with Edward A Burke
The intention of these lessons is to provide basic painting skills and to also move you beyond fundamental techniques; to help you explore the endless possibilities of creating art through painting in your own unique aesthetics.
Projects & Reference Materials
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Via the Hobbies & Crafts Reference Center

Painting Tools and Materials by Walter Foster Creative Team; Contributions by: Maury Aaseng; Varvara Harmon; Jim McConlogue; Jennifer McCully; Patti Mollica; Paul Talbot-Greaves; Caroline Zimmermann
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Collection: ProQuest Ebook Central (unlimited users)
Published: 2017
Discover the essential tools, materials, and techniques needed to get started in painting. The Artist's Toolbox series provides easy-to-use reference guides for beginning and aspiring artists.

Photography

LensWork
These short 2-4 minute talks focus on the creative process in fine art photography. LensWork editor Brooks Jensen side-steps techno-talk and artspeak to offer a stimulating mix of ideas, experience, and observations from his 35 years as a fine art photographer, writer, and publisher. Topics include a wide range of subjects from finding subject matter to presenting your work and building an audience.

Achieving Your Potential as a Digital Photographer by Harold Davis
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Collection: EBSCO eBook Collection (1 copy)
Published: 2015
The ideas presented have been formulated by Davis over many years working as a creative artist and award-wining photographer, and in the celebrated workshops he has developed and led all around the world. These concepts are presented with accompanying exercises so that readers can put them into everyday practice.

Geoff Lawrence
Numerous free digital photography tutorials covering all aspects of photography.
Digital Photography School
Digital photography tips and tutorials for camera owners of all levels.

Complete Digital Photography by Ben Long
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Collection: EBSCO ebook Collection (1 copy)
Published: 2013
Advice and clear how-to information on every aspect of digital photography, from shooting to postproduction to printing

Sculpture & 3D Art

Ceramic Arts Network: Freebies
Free guides to working with ceramics from the American Ceramic Society.
Sculpting Project Guides
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Via the Hobbies & Crafts Reference Center
Thingiverse
Find or share design files for 3D-printed objects.

Graphic Design

Design Elements: A Graphic Style Manual: Understanding the Rules and Knowing When to Break Them by Timothy Samara
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Published: 2007
Graphic design is a'visual language,'and brilliance is recognized in designers whose work seems to break all the rules, yet communicates its messages clearly.This book is a fun and accessible handbook that presents the fundamentals of design in lists, tips, brief text, and examples.
Graphic Design School by Abbie Vickress; David Dabner; Sandra Stewart; Eric Zempol
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Published: 2017
The essential introduction to graphic design for the digital era. Provides a comprehensive introduction to visual design for modern media.
Telling the Design Story by Amy Huber
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Published: 2017
This book teaches designers to craft cohesive and innovative presentations through storytelling. From the various stages of the creative process to the nuts and bolts of writing for impact, speaking skills, and creating visuals, Amy Huber provides a comprehensive approach for designers creating presentations for clients
White Space Is Not Your Enemy by Kim Golombisky; Rebecca Hagen
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Published: 2016
A practical graphic design and layout guide that introduces concepts and practices necessary for producing effective visual communication across a variety of formats—from web to print.