List of resources for learning art

I get asked often about what resources to use, which videos to learn from, etc, so I decided to compile a list of the stuff that really taught me a lot :

BOOKS:

The art and science of digital composting 2nd edition (Ron Brinkman)

A huge, complex but complete volume on anything digital composting ; history of VFX, computer graphics math components, the nature of digital images, signal, all the way to production breakdowns of some of the most groundbreaking VFX shots of the last two decades.
I think I read it about 4 times, one of my friend borrowed it but I forgot who that was, so I’m probably going to order it again, just to have it in my library :D

Framed ink ( Marcos Mateu Mestre)

Practical examples of framing, lighting and storytelling (comic book oriented).
Cheap and good .

Framed perspective ( Marcos Mateu Mestre)

Great book on perspective drawing, I also recommend Framed perspective Vol. 2

Alla prima II (Richard Schmidt)

A must have for every wannabe painter, you can easily apply that stuff to digital painting.

The Color Correction Handbook (Alexis Van Hurkman)

This book goes really in depth about color grading for cinematic images, but it drops some little gems of knowledge about human perception of colors, temperature and contrast along the way.

The VES Handbook (visual effects society)

If you thought the other books I mentioned are in depth, here comes the winner!
This books covers the entire visual effects (VFX) production system down to the last polygon, it’s organised by chapter, each one being a discipline / role in a VFX studio,
prepare for an avalanche of information!

COURSES:

Schoolism:

They just recently started a new subscription model, for a hundred bucks you have access to all the courses (1$ to switch, hehe), it used to be like 500$ a course when I started out , so you guys are so spoiled ! Here are a few that I recommend :

Lighting fundamentals (Sam Nielson)

This is the courses that transformed me into a lighting geeeeek, I just loved his scientific approach to a seemingly abstract topic, this is a really complete course.

Designing with color and light (Nathan Fowkes)

Listen to this guy’s smooth voice as he explains lot of cool stuff about light and composition, great for beginners.

Painting with light and color (Dice Tsutsumi and Robert Kondo)

They have some interesting way of explaining things, and also the way they use digital life painting to explain is great.

EdX : (website)

EdX is a online learning platform hosting various MOOC (massive online open classroom).
I think platforms like these are the future of scalable, high quality education.
You can get free courses from MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley.

FXPhD: (website)

Same kind of subscription deal as schoolism, y’all lucky!
The website is focused on technical VFX and 3D animation training.

I recommend you start out with :

History of visual effects , I promise you’ll have 10.000 more questions by the end of lecture, this is the perfect place to answer them :)
I recommend any courses by Matt Leonard or Mike Seymour, (especially on math stuff), if you want to go deep into software training, they got you covered!
Also they have theses great breakdown and blog post about news and technology advancement.

YOUTUBE / FREE VIDEOS:

Free doesent mean bad ! so here’s a list of good ones:

Cinematography Database is a YouTube channel dedicated to explaining cinematography and cinematic lighting techniques trough 3D rendering and how it translates to a real world movie set. ( Thanks to Marek Tamowicz for the suggestion )

Illustration vs concept art (design cinema EP 53)

Visual library (design cinema EP 52)

CTRL PAINT this Matt Korh dude put so much work into making this library of free videos, high five!
It can cover you from total noob to beginner in digital painting.

I will keep adding things as I probably forgot a lot of cool ones, but this is the list so far, I hope you are hungry for knowledge, because dinner is ready !