Creative Resources

I've been wanting to share some of my favourite creative resources for a long time.  Since it will be awhile before I have anything decent to show, I'm making use of this interim to share some of my essentials resources with you!

1)  Andrew Loomis Art Instruction Download (FREE)

Andrew Loomis was a well known American Illustrator and an art instructor.  He had published quite a few art instruction books during his life time.  Some of them had become out of print.  But thanks to the good folks at Escape from Illustration Land, we are now able to download all of the books for free.

2)  Dover Publications:

In my humble opinions, Dover got one of the best collection of reference books on art images.  There are 2 of them which are my favourites.  I use them all the time.

- Plants: 2400 Copyright-Free Illustrations of Flowers, Trees, Fruits and Vegetables

- Animals: 1419 Copyright-Free Illustrations of Mammals, Birds, Fish, Insect

3)  Flickr:

What can I say?  One of the best place to find amazing photo about almost anything.

4)  Deviant Art:

Chalk full of young-and-upcoming artists' work plus tutorials for all mediums.

5)  YouTube:

(I can't think of any commentary to write about it, except the word AMAZING!)

6)  Color Lovers:

If you need inspiration about colors, head over to CL to have a blast!

7) Art Supplies (online store):

Though I love my country very much, in terms of source for art supplies, we have very limited supply here in Aussieland.  Apart from the most basic art materials, I got the rest of my art supply from online stores such as Dick Blick USA.

8)  Books on "Talent" and "Drive":

For decades, I had believed that writers, painters, musician etc possess natural born talent for their achievements.  And that artistic flair come to these creative people easily.  While mere mortal like me could only dream of being original or ever be great like them.   

The following 2 books help me to understand and to explain my own "unsettled" belief.  If you too have the same doubt about talent vs. hard work, I encourage you to read them and make your own judgement.  (BTW, if you have any eBook reading programme on your computer or own an eReader, you could buy them in eBook format.  The e-version is cheaper than the hard copy. My links are of Kindle version.)

- Talent is Overrated:  What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else (by Geoff Colvin)

- Drive:  The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us (by Daniel H Pink)

7) Book on "Procrastination":

Every now and then, I need a straight to the face, no bullshit, even close to brutal reminder of what procrastination is all about.  Below is the book I'm currently reading to get over my procrastination.

The War of Art (by Steven Pressfield)

That's about it for now.  I hope you'll enjoy them as much as I do. And pls do share of your view on them with us.

Cheers and have a fantastic weekend!  xxoo