Another Art Resource Thread

VibrantFox 2025-12-29 06:05:50 UTC #1

Like the title says gonna try and put another one of these together, so if you've got something new you've found or something old you remembered let's put them together here so folks can learn and improve together

My only rule is NO AI. There's no debate on this and I'll likely flag any responses that include it. If you're genuinely unaware fine but I'd prefer to keep references in the thread human made please

At some point later on I'll be digging through bookmarks and search to find others that folks have made to list here but for now happy sharing

An additional note, if you'd like more specified tips or resources feel free to comment asking for those and I can try to pin them or reply and ping you or someone else can but I'd like this to spur a bit more discussion and sharing towards helping each other grow a lil new years revolution even

MASSIVE PILE OF TIPS TOOLS AND RESOURCES STARTS HERE

Forum Threads
Threads made by folks here on our forum with compiled references much like this one. Some of the shared resources may be redundant or repeats but no harm in being thorough

https://forums.tapas.io/t/the-tapas-art-master-library/78015
https://forums.tapas.io/t/resources-for-artists-list/84255
https://forums.tapas.io/t/share-art-videos-or-resources-that-have-inspired-or-helped-you/73988
https://forums.tapas.io/t/free-art-production-tools-and-resources/54511
https://forums.tapas.io/t/anatomy-tips-learning-resources-for-self-taught-artists/50235
https://forums.tapas.io/t/lets-be-helpful-and-share-some-resources-and-wisdom/53472
https://forums.tapas.io/t/lets-share-cover-creating-resources-tutorials-and-tips/74171
https://forums.tapas.io/t/art-studies-exercises/43080
https://forums.tapas.io/t/tutorials-courses-books-tips-etc/43241
https://forums.tapas.io/t/resource-dump-pile-it-on/26158
https://forums.tapas.io/t/what-references-do-you-use-for-poses/70648

Art Resources

Reference Collections/Compilations

https://setteidreams.net/

https://thundercluck-blog.tumblr.com/tagged/tutor%20tuesday

https://www.instagram.com/etheringtonbrothers/
https://x.com/Manga_Materials
https://x.com/mangamaterials2

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/18E49JBLYwbtTyx24hpYQ8cj6-IJ0r3hK

Anatomy
Includes posing tools and reference photos

Posing Tools/Software

http://justsketch.me/
https://magicposer.com/
http://www.posemaniacs.com/
https://www.terawell.net/en/index.php

Photos

https://www.adorkastock.com/
https://jookpubstock.com/

Pose Ref Drawings/Models
https://www.deviantart.com/kibbitzer/art/A-LOT-of-free-reference-sheets-847901758

https://toyhou.se/UnknownSpy/characters/folder:3719217

Color
divvied up between resources and tutorials

Refs

https://colorsupplyyy.com/app/
http://paletton.com/#uid=1000u0kllllaFw0g0qFqFg0w0aF
https://www.degraeve.com/color-palette/

https://toyhou.se/14258690.color-pallets-f2u

Tutorials

https://medium.com/@bimawithpencil/about-gamut-masking-on-digital-painting-6753ad7a195b

Screentones, Patterns, Textures
https://www.deviantart.com/nirakone/gallery/scraps
https://www.transparenttextures.com/

https://texturelabs.org/
https://www.textures.com/

Environments + Backgrounds
Divided in two parts between shared tutorials and tools to assist (i.e. games or programs that allow for crafting or creating indoor or outdoor spaces)

Tutorials

https://twitter.com/javi_draws/status/1087771751445155840

Tools

https://planner.roomsketcher.com/

https://www.reubenlara.com/perspectivegrid/
https://floorplancreator.net/

Pictures
https://spotlight.it-notes.ru/

Maps
https://www.pinterest.de/pin/906279124984801391/

Miscellaneous Reference Collections
non-specific (or hyper specific depending on personal opinion) photos and more of stuff that's not just natural environments or people

https://www.evanerichards.com/index
https://ikeamuseum.com/en/catalogues/ikea-catalogues-through-the-ages/
https://film-grab.com/
https://www.si.edu/openaccess

Art + Writing Prompts
stuff to spur ideas, art challenges, exercises etc

https://clairepurslow.github.io/generator/

https://www.tumblr.com/marnie-mixs-meteors/700029797845319680/oc-interview-questions-nature
https://www.rwwny.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/02b-egri-character-bone-structure.pdf
http://byrdseed.com/emoji/
http://promptplease.tumblr.com/

Software/Websites/Tools

Drawing Software/Websites

https://medibangpaint.com/en/pc/

https://www.systemax.jp/en/sai/

https://malmal.io/

https://www.photopea.com/
https://www.aseprite.org/
https://www.gimp.org/
https://www.getpaint.net/index.html

3D Software

https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/twinmotion
http://esotericsoftware.com/

3D Assets/Items

https://www.acon3d.com/en/toon
https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/

Animation Software

https://toonsquid.com/

Comic Specific Resources

Lensing 2025-12-29 06:13:44 UTC #2

Poses, not real humans, but the poses are really good, I don´t use this for quick
sketches, I use them as reference for panels

https://figurosity.com

I love this page, as you can guess it´s about dimensions, sizes in comparison,
great tool for me for backgrounds

https://www.dimensions.com

3d models, we all need them

VibrantFox 2025-12-30 04:48:17 UTC #3

Another that I somehow forgot about (I have a lot)

There's also some updates to it that just went live so~

Krysteena 2025-12-30 07:23:17 UTC #4

I love sketch lab but I wish they had more like trying to find pistol cross bows the other day was hard because there are not that many!

VibrantFox 2025-12-30 07:31:51 UTC #5

i think the last time I was looking for weapon references i went to adorkastock and posemy.art otherwise browsing through youtube or tiktok videos to get an idea of how something is used and what proper form looks like then winging it with poseable models and rough sketches

that said i dug up another site just googling crossbow poses out of curiosity coz admittedly i've seen pretty few of those

https://www.photo-reference-for-comic-artists.com/

feuersichel 2025-12-30 09:57:47 UTC #6

Tip for gun references: search for cleaning instructions, then you'll be able to see every details

feuersichel 2025-12-30 10:01:52 UTC #7

And here som refs for animals:
https://www.animal-photo-references.com/

silverraven0 2025-12-30 14:57:22 UTC #8

Anatomy, bones and muscle

https://x.com/artanatomylab?s=20

https://x.com/kato_anatomy?s=20

Extension to true ref.

https://x.com/theposearchives?s=20

Another reference based on angles

http://referenceangle.com/

Apps you can use on Android/iOS

Easy pose (can use some locked assets with ads. Limiting)

Magic poser (unfortunately kinda unusable because many items are locked behind premium/subscription, but if you have the cash, the one time payment premium usually enough since you can add a lot more characters instead of just 1 character for free users)

Handy (for hands only. Paid app around 3$.)

Live home 3d. (Need time to get adjusted with, but they're pretty nice for basic home or room design)

For other type of reference apps, you can try to search pose or reference and usually many will pop up. Some also free, but these are what I use or used to use.

There's also site for 18+ pictures that you can use as poses reference but I don't think I can just post it here lmao.

(It's been a while idk if I can or not)

VibrantFox 2026-01-10 21:29:36 UTC #9

Found this one on Bsky on making doujin

VibrantFox 2026-01-22 02:22:53 UTC #10

lil bump ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎

Lensing 2026-01-23 12:24:41 UTC #11

Do you guys have any good recources for expressions?
I´m thinking about a specific page dedicated to it.
I have books with expressions

VibrantFox 2026-01-23 20:10:48 UTC #12

There's a few mixed into the ref collections resources category (realizing now how much of a clusterfuck the op kinda is) but Etherington Bros are usually my main go to

https://x.com/EtheringtonBros
https://www.instagram.com/etheringtonbrothers/

Thundercluck also has some compiled into a big ol pdf here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1v3z2Z-KoTKvzsK4RFQsf07burKhUnQ8J/view

More often than not if I'm feeling stuck I'll just google "facial expression drawing reference" and see what comes up but if I'm seeking reference of specific kinds of exaggeration I start narrowing down to styles I'm looking to mimic or whatevers close enough in images and then experiment on my own

Doing a quick search I found these which are pretty goof for human references:

https://www.bodiesinmotion.photo/expressions

http://referenceangle.com/

but again doesnt hurt to just browse expression charts other folks have drawn and see how you prefer to exaggerate certain features.

VibrantFox 2026-02-05 01:05:28 UTC #13

bumping this again with one of my favorite threads on tumblr talking about black hair 🤎

VibrantFox 2026-02-05 01:36:44 UTC #14

woop one more (maybe) but tumblr post sharing art books on the internet archive~

aaannnnd another talking about specificity when it comes to adding details to things

VibrantFox 2026-02-06 17:15:49 UTC #15

Another twitter thread with black hair refs that also shares some more within the replies

https://x.com/kutsante/status/2019702079850455379