mariaashby64

[mariaashby64]

Life has been kicking my butt for the last month, but I finally had enough time to finish these WHA sketches.

My friend asked me why I drew with both red and blue pens. I said because the red comes out a lot lighter than the blue I often use it for my construction and then go over the final image in the darker blue. I also find it helpful to trace over the lines I've drawn, it gives me a better feel for how the mangaka uses their lineweight. I correct it as I go too. Helping my drawings get that little bit closer to my observations.

[mariaashby64]

Guess what manga I started reading.

[mariaashby64]

I really like writing Arlo and Yake's friendship, however cute/troublesome it gets.

I could do it a million different ways. But I wanted to focus on canon for once.

Yake comes from a different village where having a cursed eye is extremely taboo. He befriends Arlo, unknowing of his condition.

[mariaashby64]

whats a stereotype for your country that you absolutely do. mine is that i unironically go "eh" and apologize a lot and i often drink maple syrup straight

[mariaashby64]

I DIDN’T BACK UP MY FIREFOX BOOKMARKS

UPDATE

My computer is currently in pieces so there won’t be any art posts for the next while. Please wish fast shipping upon me.

[mariaashby64]

UPDATE

My computer is currently in pieces so there won’t be any art posts for the next while. Please wish fast shipping upon me.

[mariaashby64]

Thinking of buying OuterWilds and recording 10hours of footage just so I can edit an amv to Sea of Voices Porter Robinson

[mariaashby64]

POV: you're watching two idiots pretend not to care about each other at the Sunday family dinner.

[mariaashby64]

POV: you're watching two idiots pretend not to care about each other at the Sunday family dinner.

[mariaashby64]

I got that brain worm that makes you make an AMV

This is kinda a proof of concept I made for myself of my vampire romcom Idea Vamp! (working title). It's been my silly-escape side project lately, very much inspired by early 2000s anime romcoms. The story would follow Jamie, a down on her luck college dropout who's been unknowingly cursed, and Alana, a bubbly vampire who's just moved to the big city. The two get stuck together due to circumstances and Jamie is made aware of the magical underworld around her thanks to Alana. Lots of cryptid hyjinks as the two grow together and fall for each other.

Song: Her by JVKE

cw: some blood

[mariaashby64]

Do you ever think about what Kelly went through during Brothersong?

Well, okay, he had two Alphas, his pack, and his mate, to pull him through but we've seen both Carter and Joe during their extended periods away from their tethers and how their grips on reality slowly slipped.

Do you think Kelly became quieter? Angrier? Did he snap more often? Do you think he got into arguments with Robbie over something stupid and then find him in the evening and curl up next to him murmuring apologies? Do you think Ox or Joe would just sit with him? That the garage gang would show just little more physical comfort? Do you think he heard the echoes of memories down old corridors? Did his eyes ever flicker? Was he blue?

Do you?

Do you think about it?

[mariaashby64]

Summer streams and afternoon- Aww Sparks! What the- Arlo! What did I tell you about picking up random things?! Gross, I thought it was gonna bite me!

[mariaashby64]

Anyone know how to recover missing DELTARUNE savefiles?

I hunted down my old computer and while I was able to find deltarune on the device there were no save files, for neither chapter 1 nor chapter 2.

I checked \appdata\local but was unable to find anything. Even booting up the game shows that there's no old saves in there.

Any tips or am I just replaying the entire thing?

[mariaashby64]

Rebloging this with some tutorials a friend shared with me.

Does anyone know any good tutorials on how to colour characters with dark skin?

Like, just a few shades lighter than black, kind of dark.

My preferred style is very comic-esque black linework with cell shading - so it's very easy for details to get lost. It's also hard for me to translate things like undertones, from real life references into flat colouring.

Also anything on colouring lips (any skintone honestly). Since they're part of a character's face and thus stick out very obviously when you do them wrong.

[mariaashby64]

@lucybellwood

Hi, thank you for taking the time to reply, it's very much appreciated.

This was a good wake up call. I didn't even realise I was slipping into that mindset.

I guess my need for efficiency comes from the concern that my only time for art is outside the hours of my 40hour work week, hampered also by other things in my life (I've mentioned my rsi on this blog before). Combined with the fact that I used to run a comic for a considerable length when I was younger, it frustrates me that I don't have the time or ability that I did in my high school days. I want to create so many things, but have neither the time nor money to make all I want.

Make no mistake tho! I'm not just sitting around, waiting for my comic. I've been pushing myself; making practice pages and working on my weak areas such as backgrounds and digital to print colouring. (As well as things I enjoy such as hatching/inks). Slowly working myself up to bigger projects!

I do wonder about the logistics, though. Just from a pure curiosity aspect. The weird details in the process, that one wouldn't normally think of unless you were familiar with the comic making. And you obviously work differently than I, so I look forward to hearing part 2 of your reply.

Hey, do you mind talking about your process on seacritters a bit? It looks like you do it traditionally and I was wondering how you go about that? Like, from the thumbnails to pencils. What size page do you pencil on. If you have to change things for editing reasons do you erase/cover your drawings or scrap the page and start over? If you make a mistake on the inks would you fix it up with whiteout or do it in digital post? (Or do you ink digitally)

I guess I've been wanting to make a comic for ages but have been scared that doing it traditionally just wouldn't keep up with the modern industry. (Tho I suppose there's a difference between working on a whole book at once rather than something serial) Anyway I'd love to hear your thoughts!

I love asks like this! Although I'm gonna answer it in two parts, and the second part is more important so it comes first.

"I've been waiting to make a comic for ages but I'm scared that--"

Listen. Listen to me. I am like you. My brain is so good at dissecting all the reasons it might not make sense to do a thing in a particular way, which is often a way to get out of doing a thing at all. I have practiced this my whole life. I am talking to myself as much as anyone else when I say that art is very rarely practical and even more rarely efficient and it is desperately important to fall in love with the impractical, sensual, un-plan-out-able parts of making pictures come alive.

If you're at a stage in your career when you need to become economical with your work in order to make a living from it, we can have a different conversation, but I don't think that's what this question is about! If you've never made a comic and you want in your heart of hearts to make a comic and the fear of "keeping up" is stopping you from doing that, I want to help you set that fear on fire.

Art is about pleasure. If it is pleasurable for you to draw on paper, MY GOD, DRAW ON PAPER! If it is pleasurable for you to ink by hand? To rule out the lettering guidelines with an Ames guide? To lovingly render all the individual links in a chainlink fence? Who am I to stop you?!

Some of the most popular webcomics from my youth—comics that still enjoy massive followings today—ran on unfathomably erratic update schedules. Hell, I just reblogged a post from someone coming out of the woodwork to share some art for the first time in three years and people are going absolutely feral over it!

Sometimes making art takes a long fucking time. Sometimes being alive stops you from making art for a long fucking time. There are circumstances where making efficiency your god is necessary, but your first comic doesn't have to be one of them.

Figure out what brings you pleasure and draw from there. Start with something short. Let yourself play. I say this like it's easy and I know it's the hardest thing imaginable some days, but I'm always trying to remember. Every artist you know is trying to remember.

I believe that we'll get there eventually.

[mariaashby64]

Proposed deleted scene for @cryptocism's fic Frequency.

[mariaashby64]

Proposed deleted scene for @cryptocism's fic Frequency.