Ultimate art steps …600+

This is my another ultimate lifetime project. I've created the syllabus for teaching myself how to become an artist....and if I can, you can too.

After years of researches...I can guarantee you most artist knows most of these micro steps, even though they didn't notice but they have these skills set ... And because they don't know, that's why they can't teach you. So I cracked down every tiny necessary steps for me and you to follow.

I create steps from easy to hard in order. Even if you don't know how to draw anything in your life, But if you can learn and beat the challenge by passing these 600 steps in order, one by one, you will become a greater artist than mine.

For now, I can write only an index of everything, I'll deep down into each topic later on how to learn it when I can.

Basic skills (memorizing, spatial relation, observation 1 and control) 

Dot

Line

Triangle

Box

geometry

Circle and oval

Combined shape

Modified shaped/freeform/curve

Rotation 2-D

Mirror

See through

Basic perspective

Parallel line
Parallel curve
Parallel shape
Almost parallel
Box 1 point perspective
Box 1 point with xray
Box 2 point perspective
Box 2 point with xray
Box 3 point perspective
Box 3 point with xray

Intermedia perspective 
Prism : 1-point (cylinder included)
Prism : 1-point with xray
Prism : 2-point (cylinder included)
Prism : 2-point with xray
Prism : 3-point (cylinder included)
Prism : 3-point with xray
Sphere
Sphere with see through
Oval
Oval with see through
Tapered prism
Circular cut prism
Oval cut prism
Cup
Prism with same face but not the same size
Pyramid and cone
Tetrahedal

Advanced perspective (engineering drawing)
Front side top : Box (back and forth)
Front side top : prism
Front side top : cylinder
Front side top : curved geometry
Isometric: box
Isometric : prism
Isometric : cylinder
Isometric : curved geometry

Contour
Box contour + xray
Prism contour + xray
Tapered shape contour + xray
Ball and oval contour + xray
Complex prism contour + xray
Hole-shape contour + xray
Non-pararell form contour + xray
Freeform contour + xray
Bended, curved, sheared prism contour + xray

Basic Modification 
Union 2D
Intersect 2D
Union 3D
Intersect 3D
Slice: box, prism
Slice: circle, oval
Knife cut: box, prism
Knife cut: circle, oval
Slice and knife: union shaped
Slice and knife: intersected shape
Rounded corner : box,prism
Rounded, bumped, curved : ball, oval
Rounded corner : freeform
Extrude
Folding
Bending
Hammering
Lathe
Twisting
Bridge, Welding, Wrapping

Observation skills 2
Reference to Landmark : point
Reference to Landmark : area
Reference to Landmark : freeform

observation skills 3
Sense of contrast and brightness
Sense of color
Sense of scale
Sense of speed

Expert perspective 
2D to 3D : boxes
2D to 3D : boxes with hole
2D to 3D : simple geometry
2D to 3D : curved geometry
2D to 3D : complexed geometry
2D to 3D : freeform geometry
Wireframe
Shadow casting on plane(box, prism, oval, freeform etc.)
Shadow casting on curved, rough surface
Scale up, scale down perspective
2 viewports picture to 3D
1 viewports picture to 3D
Simple perspective from imagination
Line to shape
Curved centerline to cylinder
Curved centerline to prism
Curved centerline to bulk-lean prism
Curved centerline to twisted shape
2+ Curved centerline to shape and joints

Camera 1 (basic angle)
Dolly rotation : box
Dolly rotation : prism, cylinder
Dolly rotation : tapered prism
Dolly rotation : combined shape
Dolly rotation : rounded shape
Dolly rotation : freeform
Dolly zoom Foreshorten : boxes
Dolly zoom Foreshorten : prism
Dolly zoom Foreshorten : cylinder
Dolly zoom Foreshorten : freeform

Simplified mindset
Simplified complexed 2D to 2D
Simplified complexed 3D to 2D contour
Simplified complexed 3D to boxes, prism
Simplified complexed 3D to cylinder
Simplified complexed 3D to 3D
Simplified freeform 3D to 3D
Construct simple 2D to complexed 2D
Construct simple 3D to complexed 3D
Construct simple 2D to complexed 3D

Basic shape drawing
2 lines to 2d plane
Plane to 3D
Draw flag
Draw curtain
Draw skirt
Draw can
Draw glass, jar, cup wine glass
Draw bottle
Draw wheel
Draw container, chest
Draw door, window
Draw condominium
Draw simple house
Draw fence
Draw staircase

Texture
Hatching technique
Gradient
Hatching with gradient
Cracked texture
Smooth texture
Stone
Wood
Fabric
Metal
Fur
Skin
Pebble
Liquid
Honey, sticky liquids
Glass
Fracture object
Melt object
Reflection
Blurred reflection

Camera 2 (advanced angle)
Fisheyes: box, prism
Fisheyes: geometry
Fisheyes: curved object
Distorted: geometry
Distorted: curved object
3D flip
Guessing front/back : geometry
Guessing front/back : curved
Guessing : exterior
Guessing : interior

Intermediate modification 
Inbetween : solid
Inbetween : squeezing
Inbetween : bending
Inbetween : twisting
Inbetween : wrapping
Inbetween : soldering
Inbetween : joints and interlock

Drawing from imagination
10 seconds to forget drawing : 2D
10 seconds to forget drawing : 3D
Don't look while drawing
2 hours interval
Draw by description: 2D
Draw by description: 3D
Grid system+point system+curved system
Unparalleled grid system+area system+scribble system
Combined 2 things together: simple shape
Combined 2 things together: complex shape
3D to 2D front/side/top
3D to any angle 30/60/120 etc.

Color and shadow theory
Type of shadow (black and white)
Type of shadow (gradient, gray scale)
Mass painting (shadow without line)
Hard edge or soft edge and feeling)
Reflection (grayscale + color)
Ambiance occlusion
Contrast and brighness with feeling
Type of shadow (color)
Color family : hot and cold
Color family : matched and mismatched color/ opposite color
Color blending
Hue and saturated with feeling
Color composition: 70 20 10
Color change by lighting l, environment
Inner glow, outer glow
Skin color
Hair color
Reflected color (metal, mirror, transparent

Basic Anatomy
Mindset of drawing anatomy
Body major landmarks+ref applying (point,line,area)
Boundary box with landmark
Boundary trimmed box+cylinder
Connect the joints
Body minor landmarks
Boundary: full body
Simplified: head
Simplified: neck and shoulder
Simplified: arm
Simplified: hands and finger
Simplified: torso, hip, belly
Simplified: combined upper body
Simplified: hip,pelvis,belly
Simplified: hip,upperleg,butt
Simplified: legs
Simplified: feet
Simplified: lower body
Simplified: head
simplified: full body
Major body folding+ref applying
Simplified: full body+fold+pose

Advanced anatomy
Head: bone and muscle group
Head: skin and fat
Head: fold and expression
Neck and shoulder: bone and muscle group
Neck and shoulder: skin and fat
Neck and shoulder: fold and movement
Shoulder, upper arm, lower arm: bone and muscle group
Shoulder, upper arm, lower arm: skin and fat
Shoulder, upper arm, lower arm: fold and movement
Torso,waist,hip: bone and muscle group
Torso,waist,hip: skin and fat
Torso,waist,hip: fold and movement
Hip, plevis,upper legs: bone and muscle group
Hip, plevis,upper legs:skin and fat
Hip, plevis,upper legs: fold and movement
Upper leg, lower leg, feet: bone and muscle group
Upper leg, lower leg, feet: skin and fat
Upper leg, lower leg, feet: fold and movement
Face feature (eyes, jaw, ear,nose,mouth)
Hand and fingers
Hand and fingers with object interaction
Hair: fundamental
Hair: realistic
Hair: cartoonist
Breasts, chest
Hip
Butt
Penis
Vagina
Full details anatomy drawing + shadow : head+neck
Full details anatomy drawing + shadow :head neck shoulder
Full details anatomy drawing + shadow :neck shoulder torso arm hand
Full details anatomy drawing + shadow :yorso hip pelvis upperleg
Full details anatomy drawing + shadow :hip pelvis upperleg lowerleg feet
Human body in 30 45 60 120 180
Human body in top view, down view, isometric
Human body in Foreshorten, fisheyes, panorama

Pose
Gesture drawing
Gesture to boundary box
Boundary box to roto-bean, mannequin
Mannequin to fold and Landmarks
Add details to each body parts
Simplified human in any pose
Full details human in any pose
Pose from imagination

Sense of action
Action pose+gesture
Sense of force : force drawing, dynamic drawing
Sense of speed : Speed line, blur, motion trails
Sense of impact : Impact, distorted shape, destroyed object
Sense of falling : midair, falling, fall impact
Sense of floating: in air, in liquid, in space
Sense of fluffy, softness
Sense of tension

Clothing 
The Main folds
The minor folds
Type of fabrics
Leather, coat, shirt, latex, fabric (upper part)
Jeans, trousers, shorts(lower part)
Skirt, dress, full dress (full body)
Underwear, bra, bikini
Swimming suit(every type), wet suit
Cape, cloak, poncho
Hat
Sunglasses,glasses,visor,earing, branchlets accessories
Fashion design, cloth creation
Glove
Boots, shoes, flipflops
Armor: mediaval, fantasy mediaval, shield, fur suit
Armor: military suit,vast suit, gun belt, modern shield l
Armor: futuristic suit, scifi suit, space suit
Armor: unrealistic suit, unrealistic proportion suit
Armor: energy shield
Robotic, android,machine (clean)
Robotic, android,machine (junk,, with nots and wires etc.)
Giant mech, super robot(human form)
Giant mech, super robot(nonhuman form)
Biosuit (venom likes)
Nano suit (particle likes)
Era: fantasy mediaval
Era: steampunk
Era: cyberpunk
Era: space opera
Era: scifi fantasy
Era: utopia
Era: distopia
Era: theme base era (ex. Plant kingdom, ant kingdom, miner colony, inside a belly of a whale)

Environment 
Nature view
Water and liquid flowing, pouring splashing dripping
Rock, pebble, ground texture + dynamic
Tree, forest, bushes, flower
Wind, cloud, steam+(flag and balloon)
Storm, rain, rain storm, tornadoes
Sea, wave, hurricane,tsunami
Fire, fireball, firesteam,candle
Hiuse,tavern,building
Furnitures
Cars,van, truck, vehicle
Bicycle, bike,tuktuk
Airplane, helicopter, drone
Tanks,mpv,atv
Ship,boat, battle cruiser, battleship
Ballons, zeppelin,
Submarine,rocket,torpedoes
Space ship, starfighter
Heavy space cruiser, space battleship
Space station
Star, asteroid, space anomaly, meteor
Fantasy objects, fantasy environment
Scifi object, scifi environment

Camera 3 (composition - still image) 
9 grid
Golden ratio
No rules
Frame size logic (CU, MS,LS, ELS)
Ratio logic
Camera angle : up down crane dolly logic
Camera angle : Rotation logic
Camera angle : Lens and depth logic
Camera angle : distortion logic
Different between comic camera and cinematography camera angle (still image)
180 degree rule and character facing
Camera frame, angle relate to emotion
Break the rule and feeling
Snapshot between frame

Animal anatomy
Horse
Cat, tiger, lion
Dog, wolf
Mouse, mice, rat, squirrel
Bird,crow,hawk, eagle
Chicken,duck,swan, goose
Insect,centipede,bee,hornet,larva
Tentacles,squid, octopus
Fish,shark, dolphin, Whale
Oyster, anemony
Crab, shrimp
Snake
Slither,worm
Fantasy: dragon, wywern
Fantasy: beast
Fantasy: rock type creature
Fantasy: plant type creature
Fantasy: sea creature
Fantasy: sky creature
Fantasy: futuristic creature
Ghost, spirit, divined creature, Holy pet
Zombie, undead, decomposed creature
Mech animal

Character creation
Type and format of characters (protagonist, antagonist, round, semi round, etc)
Style choosing,silhouette,age,body type
Biography,race,trait and how to present them
Physical trait,ability,career,fighting style
Personality,motivation,strong and weak points, life style
Social skill (background and personality related)
Mental trait, how they react to the world (happy, sad, panic,angry etc)
Expression (face and body language)
Over exaggerated : physical appearance (SD, Chibi, unrealistic body type)
Over exaggerated : emotion (the way they talk, act, body language)
Unique physical feature for standing out
Unique personality for standing out
Sex appeal, Seductive body type (realistic and unrealistic body proportions)
Sexual expression, sexual body language
Human
Non human: elf, imp
Non human: orge, goblin
Non human: centaur, deertaur
Non human: mermaid
Non human: lower half monster
Non human: minatour, giant, beastman, werewolf,dragonborn
Non human: dwarf
Non human: ghost,siren,phantom
Non human: slime,tentacle humanoid
Non human: Birdman, dragon,wywern man (have limb, no hane)
Non human: Skeleton
Non human: Undead, zombies (human proportion)
Non human: Nechromorph,addorminator(partial human proportion)
Non human: dryat,plant type
Non human: crystal, rock, elemental
Non human: Android, robot, humanoid
Non animated character (transport, nature object, household object)
Cloth and weapon design according to the character

Activity
Idle
Walk, run
Sit, lay down, sleep
Eating, drinking
Reading, thinking, writing
Climbing, jumping
Talking, shouting
Fighting (melee)
Fighting (short range)
Fighting (long range)
Hurting, bleeding, beaten
Broken bone, lossing limb, decapitate
Nearly dead, dead
Hug,kiss, foreplay
Tasting, licking
Romantic activity
Sexual activity

Style and feeling 1 : Art style
Introduction to all style
Main focus and mindset
Line style and tools
Line or no line
Line texture
Width of the line (even and uneven line)
Stroke (sketch, short, long, scratch etc.)
Hatchering, texturing and reason behind
Special effect (glitch, glowing,particle,fog etc)
Unreal, no reason line and its effects
Shade and shadow
Cell shade or smooth shade
Color method with shadow
Mixed style
Action line for each style
Unrealistic boundary, break the rules
Paper and canvas

Style and feeling 2 : character and background
The main difference for each style
Silhouette, body proportions and meaning behinds
Face proportions
Genders
Ages
Expression and body language
Character : Realistic, hyper realistic
Character : Semi-realistic
Character : Western style
Character : Eastern style
Character : Cartoony
Character : Concept art
Landscape : Realistic
Landscape : Architect
Landscape : fine art
Landscape : concept art
Landscape : anime
Landscape : western comic

No boring tips
Good pose is not a correct pose
Choosing the right camera angle for the scene
Composition, positioning, aspect ratio
Character positioning matters
Line, curve, box, contour can tell you different story
Texture is more important than you think
Contrast and brightness leading mood and tone
Color choice
Lighting and shadowing for dramatic scene
Theme and context, message inside the picture
Background is the whole story
Sfx can make a picture outstanding
Storytelling, the way of presenting, cutting and editing
Body type always hint audience
Compare with social, other artist,other platform
Trending, fan art and marketing
How long to post, interval, among of post

Storytelling1 : overall
Why art needs storytelling
Basic of storytelling (what when where why who how)
Sending the message
Expectation from audience
Timing and emotion graph

Storytelling2 : World setting
Lore and history/Era
Biomes
Culture and politics/religion and believe
Economics
Science and technology
Disaster and world conditions
How world setting affects people

Storytelling 3: script writing 
It's all about sending a message
Theme, genre, premise, lock story line, log line
Type of storytelling (3 acts, hero’s journey, linear story, slice of life etc.)
“What if” method
Goal and obstacle
Emotion graph
Raising and downfall
Climax and ending
Boring time
Dead Air
When the story making no sense and how to avoid it
When a character act out of a character
Selling point for marketing

Storytelling 4: character creation
Format of characters (round, semi round etc.)
Role and background
Bio, psycho, social traits
Personality
Dramatic need
Strong point/ weak point
Goal and obstacle
Appearance
Character development during the story
Interaction between characters
Dialog and body language
Unique element to make character outstanding, not boring

Making of : manga and comic book
The difference between each type of manga, comic
Characteristic of each comic type
Art style : character
Art style : background
Page layout
Camera angle
Sense of speed and Speedline
Bubbles, font and layout
Onomatopoeia (soundfx)
Cover/ back cover page
Gimmick and Easter egg

Camera 4 : camera for movie and animation
Basic rules of cinematic camera
Scene blocking, camera movement, character positioning
How to present a shot for 1 person
How to present a shot for 2 persons
How to present a shot for 3 persons
How to present a shot for 4+ persons
Establishe shot : meaning and how to use it
Close up shot : meaning and how to use it
Uncanny, abnormal camera angle
Shot and scene transition : dimple and stylish with meaning
Symbolic shot : philisophy of the shot
Money shot : (epic shot/ dive through shot, etc)
Long take
Camera style : cinematic
Camera style : anime
Camera style : advertising
Camera style : fashion show
Camera style : documentary
Camera style : handycam
Camera style : music video
Camera style : 90’s retro
Camera style : Abstract


Psychology and philosophy of art
Why sketch looks better than the line (gestalt psychology)
What really is an observation skill
Landmark is the key of everything
Box is an outbound, anatomy is an inbound
Why unrealistic looks better than realistic
How to practice effectively (recall interval rest)
Does Storytelling really matter?
Simplified mindset
Eastern vs western art style
What is creativity
What is concept and how to use it
Art block and burnout
How to capture the moment of interest
Invert thinking
Taste of audiences
AI art vs real art
How to draw from imagination
What is “visual library” and how to build one
Correct pose vs good pose vs exaggerated pose
How to send a message
Camera of anime vs cinematic vs series vs manga vs game

Publishing and marketing
Target audience and platform
Trends
Fan art vs Original
How often should I post
What time should I post
How to make your art outstanding
Public relationship and how to reply your audience
Community building
Make your audience co creators
Commissions
Streaming
Sells vs branding vs marketing
The strongest point of your art
Be an idol, not an artist
Advertising
Allies and Enemies
Unrelated topics that help you boost the audience engagement
Revenue, tax and banking system
Copyright and patent

Art of hentai
What is sexy vs gravure vs hentai vs pornography
What is sex appeal and how to make it
Why something is sexy but something is not
Mindset of hentai artist
How to express sexy, seductive character
Modifying body type for more sexual attractive
Romantic element
Foreplay and sex positions
Sense of softness
Sense of fast and strong
Sexual activities and how to express it
Camera angle for sex scene
Sexy cloth
Fetish, non ordinary sexual taste
Storytelling
Fan services
Dialog and onomatopoeia
Cover and ending message
Publishing and business


Making of : Novel and light novel
(Have no idea yet)

Making of : Anime, Cartoon, 3D animation and movie
(Have no idea yet)

Making of : Game
(Have no idea yet)