Skills of an Artist

"Welcome back to another Skills of an Artist!"

Skills of an Artist is a series of live action step-by-step instructional drawing videos by Strong Bad. They were posted on the @StrongBadActual Twitter account, and later uploaded to YouTube, before finally being added to the TV Time Toons Menu during the post-Flash site update. The series was typically released every week or two, but is no longer updated regularly. It is based on the scene in the Strong Bad Email dragon when Strong Bad first draws Trogdor, as well as the scene in Fan Costumes 2016 when he draws Homestar Runner's star; the background music from those scenes is also used. Near the beginning, Strong Bad always says some variant of the phrase "I make drawing FUN!", which also debuted in dragon.

All videos feature a real Strong Bad-like boxing glove holding a marker, explaining as he draws. Earlier episodes were drawn on a whiteboard designed to look like lined paper, but starting with Skills of an Artist LIVE!!, it has been replaced with an actual sheet of paper (still with the fake lines). He frequently makes up words to describe shapes, such as "side-take" for the outline at the side of an object, or "squishtangle" for the shape of a slice of bread. Earlier videos were simple and filmed in one shot, while later videos use occasional cuts, fades, and effects, and sometimes even cuts to other scenes. Most of the time, the drawing increasingly gets more exaggerated over the course of the video. For example, a sandwich eventually becomes Strong Bad eating a giant pig's head sandwich, and a majestic eagle becomes an eagle's sketchy older brother spinning a pizza.

Videos

#	Screenshot	Name	Running Time	Twitter Date	YouTube Date	Toon Menu Date
1		Strong Sad's Severed Soolnds	1:58	10000August 18, 2017	10000August 24, 2017	1January 15, 2021
2		Sammich	1:54	10001July 12, 2017	10001August 24, 2017	2January 15, 2021
3		Cannonmouth	1:38	10002August 2, 2017	10002August 24, 2017	3December 31, 2020
4		Posh Toilet Paper	1:36	10003July 26, 2017	10003August 24, 2017	4January 15, 2021
5		Muscleman	1:38	10004August 24, 2017	10004August 24, 2017	5December 31, 2020
6		End Boss	2:14	10005September 4, 2017	10005September 4, 2017	6January 15, 2021
7		Cartoon Characters	2:05	10006September 11, 2017	10006September 11, 2017	7January 15, 2021
8		Eagle	1:23	10007September 21, 2017	10007October 4, 2017	8January 15, 2021
9		Classic Stand-up Arcade Game	1:48	10008October 3, 2017	10008October 4, 2017	9January 15, 2021
10		Skills of an Artist LIVE!!	4:23	10009October 11, 2017	10009October 12, 2017	10January 15, 2021
11		Tennis Shorts	2:13	10010October 18, 2017	10010October 25, 2017	11January 16, 2021
12		Large Bean	2:08	10011October 25, 2017	10011October 25, 2017	12January 16, 2021
13		Cornucopia	2:09	10012November 8, 2017	10012November 9, 2017	13January 16, 2021
14		Clownbread	1:50	10013December 6, 2017	10013December 14, 2017	14January 16, 2021
15		Draccus	2:15	10014December 13, 2017	10014December 14, 2017	15January 16, 2021
16		Guitar	2:19	10015February 7, 2018	10015February 8, 2018	16January 16, 2021
17		Diskette	2:09	10016February 14, 2018	10016February 15, 2018	17January 16, 2021
18		Barf Bag	1:52	10017February 21, 2018	10017March 20, 2018	18January 16, 2021
19		Really Cool Boat	2:53		10018August 8, 2018	19January 16, 2021

Music

Sheet music

The music that plays in the background of the series, originating from the drawing scene in dragon, was given the title "Skills of an Artist" on the Homestar Runner Original Soundtrack Volume 1. The song returns in Happy Trogday, Fan Costumes '09, and Fan Costumes 2016 in reference to the aforementioned scene. The song was given a more upbeat remix for the "nerd culture" advertisements in sbemail 206. The sheet music was featured on day 2 of the Decemberweenvent Calendar.

A more relaxed version of the song was used in Cartoon Characters, and would continue to be used in Yonder Website's subsequent appearances in Characters from Yonder Website, Haunted Photo Booth Teaser, and Mr. Poofers Must Die, and as one of the radio songs in Dangeresque Roomisode 2: The Intersection of Doom & Boom.

Trivia

• The first four episodes were released on Twitter in an order that doesn't correspond to their official number on the TV Time Toons Menu. These four episodes along with the fifth episode were released on the same day on YouTube.
• A live "Skills of an Artist" drawing instructional hour was held at Multiverse Convention 2025.

See Also

• @StrongBadActual

External Links

• watch playlist
• forum thread re: "Skills of an Artist"