if you're looking to learn how to draw or improve your skills I'd recommend going to your local library and checking out some physical how-to-draw and reference books! libraries are amazing resources and aren't utilized nearly enough. in my opinion, as an artist who has drawn all of my life, most online resources aren't actually helpful (especially not for beginners), and a lot of good things are locked behind paywalls. the library is free!!!

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fundamentals

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reference / inspiration

human

biodigital - 3d human anatomy models
anatomy360 - 360 degree 3d scans
3d.sk - 360 degree photos and 3d models
line of action
posespace
/r/sketchdaily references
justsketchme - 3d posing software
figurosity
photo reference for comic artists
faestock @ deviantart
adorkastock @ deviantart
pose-emporium @ deviantart
philippe faraut figure sculpture gallery
idols @ sankakucomplex - 18+ONLY!!! idols and cosplayers
hand poses galore - mostly cartoons
hairfinder - hairstyles
characterdesigns
/r/humanporn
/r/humansaremetal

animals

line of action > animals
/r/wildlifephotography
/r/alltheanimals
/r/natureismetal - warning for [natural] animal death / violence
/r/birding
/r/birdpics

environments

mapcrunch - random locations on google maps
/r/earthporn
/r/desertporn
/r/waterporn
/r/seaporn
/r/skyporn
/r/spaceporn
/r/gardening
/r/houseplants
/r/botanicalporn
/r/geologyporn
/r/autumnporn
/r/winterporn
/r/cityporn
/r/architectureporn
/r/infrastructureporn
/r/houseporn
/r/cabinporn
/r/churchporn
/r/roomporn
/r/abandonedporn

objects

/r/food
/r/foodporn
/r/culinaryporn
/r/dessertporn
/r/carporn
/r/motorcycleporn
/r/boatporn
/r/starshipporn
/r/machineporn
firearm schematics
/r/gunporn
/r/knifeporn
scan the world - 3d scans of statues and other artifacts

design

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assets

colors

pickr - color picker
coolors - color schemes
adobe colors - color schemes
color hunt - color schemes
colormind - color schemes
lol colors - color schemes
lospec palette list - color schemes designed for pixel art (but can be used for other things too)
material UI colors - color scheme
flat UI colors - color scheme
0xrgb - color scheme
bootlat ui colors - color scheme
tailwind - color scheme
fluent - color scheme
nord - color scheme
dracula - color scheme
color leap - color schemes from different eras
color lisa - color schemes used by famous artists
nippon colors - color schemes used in japanese art
zhongguose - color schemes used in chinese art
brandcolors - colors used by brands
palette generator - automatic color scheme from image
colorspace - generates a palette from one color
colorsafe - create a color palette with accessibility in mind
randoma11y - generates a 2 color palette with accessibility in mind
hello color - generates a 2 color palette with accessibility in mind
colorpicker for data - creates a gradient between two colors
coolhue - gradients
colorful gradients - gradients
webgradients - gradients, available as png or css
colorsize - colors from words

stock

all the free stock - search
creative commons search - search
find a photo - search
everypixel - search
the stocks - search
wikimedia commons
unsplash - license
pixabay - license
pexels - license
barnimages - license
kaboompics - license
morguefile - license
shotstash - creative commons zero
the pic pac - image packs. creative commons zero
nappy - focused on black and brown models. creative commons zero
reshot - creative commons zero
isorepublic - creative commons zero
negative space - creative commons zero
stocksnap - creative commons zero
burst - creative commons zero
altphotos - creative commons zero
cc0.photo - creative commons zero
absfreepic - creative commons zero
alana.io - creative commons zero
foodiesfeed - food-centric. creative commons zero
cupcake - creative commons zero
life of pix - public domain
rawpixel - public domain
libreshot - public domain
good free photos - public domain
copyright free photos - public domain
smithsonian open access - public domain
new york public library - public domain
british library - public domain
biodiversity heritage library - public domain
project apollo archive - public domain
old book illustrations - public domain
from old books - public domain
public domain review - public domain
coverr - video stock. license
life of vids - video stock. public domain
pngimg - transparent png renders
public domain vectors - public domain
undraw - vector illustrations. license
the pattern library - seamless patterns
wild textures - seamless textures and patterns. license
いらすとや　クリップアート

fonts and typography

fonts in use - inspiration and identification
typewolf - inspiration and identification
fontmeme - inspiration and identification
fontjoy - font pairings
google fonts - open source fonts
fontsquirrel - free + commercial use ok
fontlibrary - free + various open licenses
dafont - free + various licenses
fontesk - free + various licenses
fontspace - free + various licenses
codeface - for programming / text editors
nerd fonts - symbol/icon/glyph fonts for programming / text editors
the league of moveable type - free + open source
indestructible type - free + open source
velvetyne - free + open source
ドットコロン　フリーとオープンソース
use modify - free + open source
oldschool pc fonts - fonts from old computers and operating systems
caveras - fonts from video games
arcade font writer - arcade game text generator
arcade font engine - arcade game text generator

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digital art

software + tools

clip studio paint - closed source, but extremely powerful painting and illustration software with an EXTENSIVE assets library that is regularly updated by other CSP users. you buy it once and it often goes on sale. I highly recommend it.
krita - free + open source painting software. I'd go for this one if you can't afford CSP or don't want to use closed source software.
medibang paint pro - freeware. comparable to krita and CSP.
paint tool sai - lightweight painting/illustration shareware. was pretty much every internet artist's go-to until clip studio and krita came out.
fire alpaca - very similar to sai.
procreate - ipad exclusive, but great app if you can afford apple's overpriced tablets.
petallica paint - web app that colors sketches/lineart. this is built-in to newer versions of CSP.

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traditional art

art supplies

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pixel art

software + tools

aesprite - $20 open source software
graphicsgale - free open source software
pyxel edit - software with a focus on tileset editing
piskel - browser-based open source software
lospec editor - browser-based pixel art software
paint of persia - name-your-own-price. meant for rotoscoping.
juicefx - easily create animated effects for pixel art
particle fx designer - create animated effects, like explosions and smoke
blast fx - same as above
pix2iso - turns any pixel art isometric
lospec crusher - compress .png files beforehand so they arent automatically compressed when being uploaded to social media
lospec scaler - resize pixel art without distorting it, so you can upload it to places like twitter without being ruined by twitter's thumbnail cropping

guides + tutorials

lospec art tutorials
2d will never die
les forges pixel art course
gas13
pixel parmesan
so you want to be a pixel artist? by yarnninja
creating pixel art by cure
tutorial by make games with derek
pixel logic by michafrar (paid)
tutorials by sadface
tutorials by androidarts
tutorials by slynyrd
tutorials by saint11
[youtube] aesprite for beginners by mortmort

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2d animation

software + tools

opentoonz - free + open source program used by studio ghibli
pencil2d - open source
tv paint - closed source and absurdly expensive
clipnote studio - recreation of flipnote studio, the animation app on the nintendo dsi
storyboarder - free + open source storyboarding software

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3d modelling + animation

software + tools

blender - free + open source. you can model, render, and animate with it.
wings 3d - free + open source. more simple than blender.
autodesk maya - industry standard, which means it's closed source and disgustingly expensive
crocotile 3d - $25. makes simple models from tiles
picocad - name-your-own-price. tiny modeller for making tiny models
vroid studio - free. specifically for making vtuber-style avatars

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photography

software + tools

adobe photoshop - pirate it or don't bother.
photopea - free + in-browser. seems to be an attempt at a 1:1 photoshop recreation, sans some more advanced features like the timeline
gimp - free + open source image manipulator. often cited as the closest alternative to photoshop, which is a fair description. however I have extensive experience with both of these programs (before i understood good piracy practice I used gimp exclusively throughout middle school) and I've always preferred photoshop in every aspect. also bad name lol
pixlr - free + in-browser
polarr - free + in-browser

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other tools

ezgif - online gif creation + editing
tinypng - image compression
picdiet - image compression
bulk image compressor
waifu2x - web app that upscales art + photos
photobash - free and in-browser. edit photos using webgl
remove bg - automatically remove backgrounds from images
death generator - create custom game over screens
error generator - create custom windows error messages
word art - make 2000s microsoft office wordart
earthbound text labs - custom earthbound / mother 2 text boxes