J. Holt the Illustrator
@jholtillus
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Illustrator. Comics from myth & history. Overly enthusiastic videos on art & illustration. Have beloved wife & many younguns.🏺 Links at
Tennessee
Joined August 2011
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I'm coming up on three years of drawing Theseus. Greek myth, humor, adventure, hedgehogs. These were some of my favorite pages to draw. But you can read the entire thing on my website (and buy books).
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I think this is my best video. It's 19 minutes of analyzing the color theory of Aladdin. It never really took off on YT, so why not try it here? I'm not convinced people want long videos on here, but if it goes mega-viral (like art theory content tends to) I'll admit I'm wrong.
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The YT link for those who like the Youtubes.
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@MatthewTheStoat
It seems like the image generators are less and less able to mimic different styles. All the AI images are converging into one specific "look" that is less like art than ever.
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It disappointed on YT, so I posted it here 6 months later and now and it got me to 90k views on YT through the link. You all have 10k views left in you? I've never had a video break 100k and I may need it later for bragging purposes. If not that's ok but I'd be a fool not to ask
I think this is my best video. It's 19 minutes of analyzing the color theory of Aladdin. It never really took off on YT, so why not try it here? I'm not convinced people want long videos on here, but if it goes mega-viral (like art theory content tends to) I'll admit I'm wrong.
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Hey if this blows up enough maybe somebody will know one of the Aladdin animators who can tell me why one scene uses the that amazing teal/red combo then just never touches it again like those palettes grow on trees.
I think this is my best video. It's 19 minutes of analyzing the color theory of Aladdin. It never really took off on YT, so why not try it here? I'm not convinced people want long videos on here, but if it goes mega-viral (like art theory content tends to) I'll admit I'm wrong.
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I'm mesmerized by the artwork I see floating around Twitter. What I rarely see are breakdowns of what makes good work so good. So I'm nerding out on aesthetics, starting with the work of
@somartist
, whose landscapes pop up in my timeline every day.
I'm planning to create a
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By viewer request, I did an aesthetic investigation into the brilliant illustration work of
@Alariko_
. These are just a few of my findings.
I also had a lot of fun saying the name "Alariko", though probably wildly mispronouncing it.
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Well I posted one of my Youtube videos on here on as a lark. 24 hours later I sextupled my Twitter following and crossed 10k on Youtube. I can explain none of this, other than kind people retweeting the video. I appreciate that.
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If you like this painting of a brachiosaurus no one will know. It'll be just between you and the brachiosaurus.
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I experimented to see if folk would watch longer videos here like they do on Youtube. The video went viral and this is what I learned from the stats. 🧵
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Since
@Adobe
has gone mad, I'm downloading Krita to vet for personal use and to replace PS in some of the courses I teach. The misty landscape in the background had a familiar feel and sure enough it's the work of
@somartist2
. A good omen.
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The Highwayman from Over the Garden Wall not only haunts your dreams with his alluring dance moves, but he's a prime example of how loose ends in a story make the world feel big.
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It's almost Hobbit Day (09.22). So for the love of
#Tolkien
, here's every LOTR comic I've ever made. 👇
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Gimli's gift.
#LOTR
#LordOfTheRings
#gimli
#lotrmemes
#comics
#webcomics
#comic
#webcomic
#legolas
#Tolkien
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@artbyhumans
"I tried to go on a hike but I couldn't get past all those hideous trees."
"I tried to hug my child but couldn't get past their creepy miniature arms. Get bigger, arms."
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Today I'm musing over the work of
@Minotaur_Man
Paul Reid --part of my ongoing project to examine great work I see on Twitter to understand just a few of the variables that make it great.
If you have ideas for artists or artworks I should examine, tell me (I'm making a folder).
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I follow several of those culture accounts because post lots of nice photos. But the lamentations are amusing considering just how many incredible working artists are lurking about the very same platform.
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@TheNazzaro
I stopped on this scrolling through my notifications because the color in your profile pic is superb. I see you know the secrets as well...
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@GPrime85
It has a lot in common with language. You can study the components forever and have a strong working knowledge, but eventually you've got to speak and stumble all over the place before you get the intuition for how it all fits together. Tough to teach, tough to learn.
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I've been playing TMNT
#ShreddersRevenge
. It brought back the arcade classics so potently I was driven to draw a turtle.
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Art begets art.
This is a neat color theory breakdown. Aladdin was one of my main influences for Spinstress. I tried to implement the same theories to varying success on 4-5 page scenes with multiple panels and a hodge podge of different Disney render styles.
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Very. Old. Friends.
#LOTR
#LordOfTheRings
#gandalf
#lotrmemes
#comics
#webcomics
#comic
#webcomic
#bilbobaggins
#Tolkien
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I did this Adam West Batman portrait years ago. Looking at it now, it could probably use some reworking. Maybe I'll take another run at it.
#batman
#adamwest
#illustration
#digitalpainting
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Whales can't fly. Yet
@GFromenteau
seems to have made us okay with seeing them defy gravity. So let's delve into the madness and obsessively examine the techniques and the art historical precedents in four minutes or less.
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Will people watch 44 minute videos of an art historical tale from Renaissance Florence if I pepper it with every absurdist joke I can think of? The Tale of Two Artists (Who Hated Each Other)
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How Over the Garden Wall builds its magnificent world. New video. Uploading the whole thing here. Watch it and prove this is a video platform. Any benefit to me is obviously unforeseen serendipity.
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@Culture_Crit
How dare you attack Enya after she made the Fellowship of the Ring credit scroll so legendary?
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Sorry for not responding to more of you —my video went viral the day before I was traveling. For all new followers I also illustrate things. Multiple comics and currently prepping this Greek mythology card game for crowdfunding. More about it at the link in comments.
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The careful control of value between foreground, midground and background makes even something with this much detail so comfortable to view it's like laying your eyeballs in a feather-down eyeball bed.
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@somartist
Not to fear the ugly stage. Any piece of artwork has a stage where it's clear what you were going for, but it's as far from good as it can possibly be. With experience, you know that you're laying the foundation. When you're new, it looks like you failed.
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I'm working Illustrator Spotlight videos into my regular schedule. Short, sweet, and analyzing an aspect of an active illustrator I've found here on social media who's doing phenomenal work. This one looks at the ink work of
@KononenkoElena
. Enjoy.
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Inking. I still struggle with it. But if I try to break it down into something comprehensible, you get the following video. Full video link in comments.
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Aladdin has some of the best color of any animated film. I've been looking for a way to talk about this for years, so I recorded an 18 minute video exploring it. Here's the first 2 minutes. Full version in the comments.
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Anyone with a lot of experience in art probably knows this already, but this is one of the themes I try to give my students in critique --self-esteem (really the lack thereof) is a big inhibitor to critiquing art, learning from it, or even enjoying it.
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Elf-eyes are a double edged sword.
#LOTR
#LordOfTheRings
#legolas
#lotrmemes
#comics
#webcomics
#comic
#webcomic
#twotowers
#Tolkien
#Elves
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The entire Lord of the Rings except Elrond has an anger problem.
#comic
#webcomics
#lotr
#LordOfTheRings
#comicstrip
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When I was a kid, I always liked when comics had a "how to draw" section. So I've put one in Theseus Vol. 2.
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@owenbroadcast
I show this to my university students along with 3 other paintings and ask them which best represents the concept of death. Isle of Death has easily won every time for years. Except this term, Oak Fractured by Lightning (Vorobiev) won handily. I'm still pondering the shift.
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This is my favorite style of inking. The lines articulate the form with contours, builds the deepest level of shadows, and implies the textures all at once. Different inkers lean to different priorities, but this balance is my favorite.
Hello, today is my Birthday! ✨And the best gift for an artist is a retweet of his artworks 🌱🌿
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I've used Photoshop almost every day for more than a decade, but it's...declining. It freezes incessantly, and prompts me to use AI with such tenacity I suspect it's taking bribes from Skynet.
What's the least painful illustration software adjustment? Krita? Gimp? Other?
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Having used Photoshop for drawing for over a decade, it's definitely strange to open it for that purpose and be continually prompted with "but what if you didn't instead?"
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The video did really well, accumulating 7M impressions with a 4.2% engagement rate. At least one of the QTs had even more than the original post.
It makes it clear that most things go viral by being amplified by bigger accounts. 2/11
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I just noticed
#AncientGreek
was trending. And I make an
#AncientGreek
graphic novel retelling Theseus as adventure and comedy. This is the cover for the second volume that I'm sending to the printer in the next few days. Now the opportunistic pitch is complete.
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I had a sizable influx of followers this weekend, so to frighten you away, here's a comic I drew to cause people physical pain.
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I struggle drawing spooky things. It doesn't come naturally. This was an attempt to practice the art of the spooky.
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@Tonpa2
I draw a graphic novel retelling the myth of Theseus as an adventure, comedy, and coming-of-age tale. Available online and in print. See profile.
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The Twitter crop is gone? Well now I have to test it with this comic entitled "Life as a Hylian Potter."
#webcomic
#comic
#zelda
#legendofzelda
#whatinhylia
#oot
#webcomics
#comics
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Tomorrow I'll finally get to start work on a new video. In the meantime here's Harry the Sociopath
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In Venice, looking at this model of a lion sculpture by Canova, trying to understand how it has such a sense of WEIGHT. After mulling it, I think there are 2 key elements —1st is the complex morphing of the anatomy as it presses the foundation (very difficult artist stuff) 1/
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A tragedy in four panels.
#gaming
#skyrim
#skyrimmemes
#elderscrolls
#gamer
#gamermemes
#comics
#webcomics
#arrowtotheknee
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I'm happy to make analyses of popular art/animation, but I also want to constantly remind that technique & theory can be learned by giving the same study to the indie artists. Here's an an re-up of a video studying
@Alariko_
's living buildings while I'm working on a new video.
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I've analyzed these pages by
@dannyearls16
before, but I reworked and expanded it for YT. A maximum nerdy analysis of the visual hierarchy across four pages.
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Pretty sure mithril is a Heavy Metal.
#LOTR
#LordOfTheRings
#gandalf
#lotrmemes
#comics
#webcomics
#comic
#webcomic
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After years of dealing with "Illustrator Back" I very hesitantly invested in a standing desk. It's working far better than I imagined. Still terrible at managing wires though.
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Practice is a heck of a thing.
I started digital painting when I was 22. I'm 27 now. A lot can change in 5 years - keep going! 🌱
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How do you turn flat animated characters into highly rendered paintings? This artist breakdown from last year fell a bit under the radar, but it hinges on an that question. Focusing on the work of
@DaveRapoza
. Worth a watch if you have 4 minutes.
@DaveRapoza
is one of the first artists I discovered on Twitter. Here's an attempt to breakdown just a few aspects that make the work so unique.
Other breakdowns can be seen sequestered on the Highlights tab of my profile.
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Design. Play-test. Redesign. Print. Play-test again. Redesign a third time. Second prototype en route. Getting this game ready for late summer little by little.
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@TeawithTolkien
The LotR Ext. Edition is a three day vigil occurring annually during the month of December, typically overlapping with the historical release days of the films (17, 18 and 19). The films are viewed in halves, with an intermission for thematic feasts (e.g. second breakfast).
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I'd like to get back into videos highlighting illustrators I see on Twitter. But for now at least here's a snippet from my new video on criticism pitfalls & methods talking through a couple of pieces from
@Rux_Dacoromana
. Artwork worth seeing.
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Art history saved me from horrible creative burnout early in my career as a graphic designer. Full video analyzing a work by Caravaggio as a means of becoming a better illustrator is in the comments.
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@dannyearls16
brings an extremely unique set of design skills into his illustration. In my effort to better understand great illustration by obsessive examination, here's my 4 minute aesthetic breakdown of some of the best comic work I've seen on the web.
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@Justinoaksford
I'm consistently bewildered when I hear things like this. What art faculty are teaching commandments? Art "rules" are about countering problems green artists constantly repeat. They should always be treated as training wheels.
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This is ripping good color theory. Complementary scheme, good mix of temperatures and values. Red rim light and warmth pull the attention to the center. Despite being recessive there's still temperature variety in the greens. And the president is accurately depicted as nude.
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@theryangeorge
Yeah, I'm never going to get used to that. And as a person on the Internet, what I think matters a great deal.
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So posting videos to Twitter/X is going to remain a part of my marketing strategy for videos, as is Youtube. 11/11
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Originally painted the background just for the exercise. But I didn't know what to do with it. So now: moments before tragedy.
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@onemegawatt
A lot of artists hope that there's a way around it, but studying the physical world and the human body orients your understanding of shape and motion, and there's no substitute for it. You communicated well.
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Every illustrator finds some gimmick they can't live without. Mine is foreground panels hovering over backgrounds scenes.
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@DaveRapoza
is one of the first artists I discovered on Twitter. Here's an attempt to breakdown just a few aspects that make the work so unique.
Other breakdowns can be seen sequestered on the Highlights tab of my profile.
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One of the Mearas, unless my eyes are cheated by some spell.
#LOTR
#LordOfTheRings
#gandalf
#lotrmemes
#comics
#webcomics
#comic
#webcomic
#Tolkien
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If you only ever engage with one thing I've made, let it be my first (and only) animation The Bison and the Butterfly, which so mastered the fields of drama and animation that it was futile for me to pursue them further.
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The shifts in the ink colors between characters gives this something extra. The values between the fills, BG and inks are carefully balanced for optimal contrast. These kinds of subtle choices by illustrators are what I love to hunt for.
My cover for Fantastic Four
#24
! Very happy to get to do this one, and to draw my guy Ben Grimm again. Out August 21st! ⚪️4⃣🧱🔥
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You've likely seen this representing the "Fall of Rome." But it doesn't. This is the 4th of 5 paintings by Thomas Cole (c. 1833-6) in a series called The Course of Empire.
There's a political reading that Cole intended, but here's two more on nature and human psychology 👇🧵
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A portrait of me annihilating the like button every time an illustrator puts red and blue next to each other
These are cropped versions .here is the full version for Red
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My Lord of the Rings joke comics are the most popular thing I make, but I can only do them when a joke strikes me. But one just struck me. Time to get sketching. In the meantime, here's an oldie.
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Did a couple of mythological monster cards yesterday.
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I don't have a stat for this, but I noticed that QTs got a lot more attention than just RTs, even by the big accounts. QT seems to have a quality of endorsement that a simple RT lacks. Just an extra thing I noticed. 3/11
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I haven't seen this film since it came out but this background makes me think I should.
Jumping way back to an animation background I painted for DreamWorks El Dorado. Acrylic.
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Okay, Adobe, it really seems like you're trying to chase the illustrators away at this point.
So how's that desktop version of
@Procreate
coming?
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