J. Holt the Illustrator
@jholtillus
Followers
7,314
Following
709
Media
891
Statuses
2,255
Jordan Holt. Comics from myth & history. Overly enthusiastic videos on art & illustration. See my card game at 🏺
Tennessee
Joined August 2011
Don't wanna be here?
Send us removal request.
Explore trending content on Musk Viewer
Palmer
• 480216 Tweets
اوساسونا
• 381143 Tweets
Chelsea
• 275885 Tweets
سوريا
• 122582 Tweets
Minnesota
• 94458 Tweets
Leicester
• 79535 Tweets
Osimhen
• 77666 Tweets
Okan
• 73588 Tweets
Kasımpaşa
• 59865 Tweets
#GSvKAS
• 53884 Tweets
#الهلال_الخلود
• 49181 Tweets
BRIGHT AT BOF500GALA
• 44470 Tweets
#UFCParis
• 33179 Tweets
Rosie Duffield
• 30594 Tweets
Kentucky
• 28374 Tweets
Pampita
• 28336 Tweets
Ole Miss
• 25815 Tweets
Leverkusen
• 23292 Tweets
Osasuna
• 20189 Tweets
Kerem
• 16665 Tweets
Konate
• 15632 Tweets
Ferran
• 11080 Tweets
Baylor
• 10930 Tweets
مالكوم
• 10336 Tweets
Pinned Tweet
It's been too long since I pitched my work.
I'm Jordan Holt. I draw a satirical comic about the mythical hero Theseus (). I've developed an illustrated Greek myth card game (). I make videos about art on Youtube (link in bio).
3
11
83
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.
237
12K
74K
The YT link for those who like the Youtubes.
9
203
2K
@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.
12
11
923
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.
237
12K
74K
18
94
849
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.
237
12K
74K
7
38
846
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
18
74
564
Hobbit Day approaches...so in celebration of the 22nd of September, here's a thread all the Lord of the Rings jokes I've ever illustrated. 🧵
4
60
634
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.
7
50
477
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.
37
11
468
If you like this painting of a brachiosaurus no one will know. It'll be just between you and the brachiosaurus.
8
20
271
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. 🧵
3
16
236
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.
7
24
227
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.
4
36
219
Why is hand-drawn animation great? ENERGY.
this piece on instagram somehow isn't playing so I'll re-upload here...
109
4K
44K
3
2
156
It's almost Hobbit Day (09.22). So for the love of
#Tolkien
, here's every LOTR comic I've ever made. 👇
4
32
147
Gimli's gift.
#LOTR
#LordOfTheRings
#gimli
#lotrmemes
#comics
#webcomics
#comic
#webcomic
#legolas
#Tolkien
3
64
144
Here's a reason drawing does more than create an image. What I once dreamed of doing, I can now do, and what I now do I realize I can move beyond.
Every time you draw you get a reminder that you have the capacity to become better than before, because you've already proved it.
1
19
131
If Hollywood is looking for a new cinema trend, I recommend massive, traditionally-animated historic and mythological epics. Give me the animated Iliad.
16
13
130
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).
7
11
129
@KnowledgeArchiv
Absolutely. The figure of Adam is reclined away from God and the figure of God is bridging the gap, taking the larger burden of contact from the man. Michelangelo invested the image with theology in such a natural way that it's easily missed in the first (several) viewings
1
5
125
@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."
1
1
119
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).
11
24
118
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.
9
14
122
@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...
2
0
110
@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.
2
3
106
I've been playing TMNT
#ShreddersRevenge
. It brought back the arcade classics so potently I was driven to draw a turtle.
3
21
86
@Alariko_
It's a problem. I suspect digital colorists who fall into that trap haven't mixed colors physically enough to understand value and saturation. That's what helped me.
1
0
88
Watch how it changes once blue is introduced.
0
6
72
I've been around. Lived life. Seen a lot of memes. This is the top meme.
1
5
73
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.
3
15
151
0
3
68
Nothing worse than reading a J. Jonah Jameson comic and 95% of it is about Spider-man.
A sketch for the hero.
3
2
70
Very. Old. Friends.
#LOTR
#LordOfTheRings
#gandalf
#lotrmemes
#comics
#webcomics
#comic
#webcomic
#bilbobaggins
#Tolkien
1
20
66
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
3
18
61
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.
1
9
57
I created a mythology battle card game somewhere between casual and complex. I created 67 illustrations for an 84 card deck.
I'm crowdfunding, but I gambled on myself and ordered all the decks up front so I can ship immediately at campaign end.
I worked hard. It's a fun game. I
1
14
60
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)
7
9
55
@Culture_Crit
How dare you attack Enya after she made the Fellowship of the Ring credit scroll so legendary?
1
0
47
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.
5
7
51
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.
2
2
51
@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.
1
3
49
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.
0
1
49
I'm agonizing over what direction to go with this box design.
12
3
50
Drawing and painting are in of themselves good things. Most artists are receiving less acknowledgement and pay than is justified for their labor and skill. That's a shame. I hope it changes. But participating in art is fundamentally good. And that is an encouraging thought.
5
2
50
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.
3
8
48
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.
1
8
45
I have zero interest in being political here, but I have a huge interest in craft. The fact that
@evanvucci
(already a Pulitzer winner) could have the wherewithal to compose and capture a shot like this is a testament to the unique abilities held by great photographers.
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump raises his fist as he is rushed off stage after an assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Butler, Pa.
@apnews
2K
10K
66K
2
5
45
I've drawn many things over the years but this is the most moving.
2
7
45
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.
3
9
44
The entire Lord of the Rings except Elrond has an anger problem.
#comic
#webcomics
#lotr
#LordOfTheRings
#comicstrip
2
15
42
That desire to avoid drawing work by examining others' illustrations, then compounded by recording an impromptu video talking about composition. Thanks
@turksworks
(Rich Davies) for the fantastic subject ( unbeknownst to you).
3
7
41
Elf-eyes are a double edged sword.
#LOTR
#LordOfTheRings
#legolas
#lotrmemes
#comics
#webcomics
#comic
#webcomic
#twotowers
#Tolkien
#Elves
3
14
40
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.
3
6
39
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.
1
2
40
I've never seen Treasure Planet. How egregious a sin is this for someone who claims to love animation?
13
1
38
@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.
1
3
35
I've been brushing up on drawing basics with figure and sculpture studies. Pericles bust.
1
2
36
Be well. May the bonds of fellowship only occasionally break.
0
0
46
I've spent months working on an Ancient Greek card game. Here's the artworks of the Ancient World that inspired some of them.
1. The Artemisian Bronze c. 460 BC
There's a big argument over whether this is Zeus w/ bolt or Poseidon w/ trident. But I Zeused 'em.
3
6
34
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 🌱🌿
74
2K
7K
1
3
34
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?
13
1
33
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?"
3
3
32
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
1
0
32
After you've drawn thousands and thousands of pictures, even the loose assembly of a pencil sketch contains so much comprehension of the subject that it feels like a finished piece.
2
2
32
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.
1
9
31
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.
1
4
30
These cards have been designed, re-designed, tweaked, changed, reworked and I...think they're actually done.
3
5
31
I struggle drawing spooky things. It doesn't come naturally. This was an attempt to practice the art of the spooky.
7
2
31
Sketching from a WWI photo of a French soldier in a gas mask. The pencil process and then it skips ahead into painting (I failed to record the betweens)
2
2
30
My figure drawing isn't where I want it. So lately I'm spending all my free evenings with a reference pack just sketching as many figures as possible
5
1
30
I've found a thousand new illustration techniques by perusing Twitter. I've closely studied the work you post and I'm a better artist for it. This platform has its pitfalls but thanks to all the artists, illustrators and craftsmen—I like it here.
0
0
30
@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.
2
11
29
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
2
5
27
This is one of those hot takes that sets the comment section on fire but I think Alex Ross draws very well
6
0
28
I'm very simple and a Greek soldier on horseback doing action thrills me like I'm five
1
1
29
Tomorrow I'll finally get to start work on a new video. In the meantime here's Harry the Sociopath
2
1
28
Trying to tell people about your indie comic
1
2
28