Line Of Action Website Review

If you’re an artist, chances are that you’ve spent hours cruising along on Pinterest, Google, or even the picture packages you can get from Gumroad. But one of the most underutilized reference websites I’ve found is Line of Action, where there are thousands of pictures at your service, even if you need to dig a little to find them.

What is Line of Action, you ask? It’s a website that has resources for artists of varying talent levels, from beginner to expert. You can find reference photos of figures, animals, hands and feet, scenes and environments, and faces and expressions – all at a click of a button, all loaded into one compact website.

This is a great resource for students as well. They offer timed sessions where you can pick out your criteria, and get timed from 30 seconds to 10 minutes, to hone your skill of quick sketching. Not only can this help when you’re painting from your brain later on, it helps you see the world in shapes, which can help break down complex objects so they’re easier to draw. Another pro are the lists of recommended books on the home page, along with a forum where you can ask questions and meet other artists.

That’s not to say that this is the Holy Grail of reference and learning, though. The website itself is a little old and poorly coded, so sometimes you need to dig in order to find a particular link. And for a website solely dedicated to artists, finding and saving the reference photos can be daunting, because there’s no mass search feature. Add in that this is something made for artists, the design leaves a lot to be desired.

Overall, if you ignore the packaging, this is a site that’s jam packed with tools to help beginner artists learn how to break down pictures and the art of figure drawing. The timed sketching sessions is one of the handiest features available online, along with how easy it is to access and search through the forum topics.

It’s worth checking out, and if you like it, think about subscribing to help them continue being such an all encompassing resource. Maybe they’ll even be able to handle a UX redesign.