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day 16 of inktober (@alksnd 's prompt): redraw an old art work

redrew a fairy oc i drew back in 2009??? so like 15 years ago? holy crap that's more than half my age. my redraw was just a quick little sketch since that's all i had time for. would love to have more time to redraw my old pieces some more to compare. at the very least i can say my anatomy and proportions have improved hahah

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"saguaro"

day 15 of inktober (@alksnd 's prompt): plant

i miss arizona sometimes. did you know saguaro cactus can only be found in the sonoran region of arizona and mexico? it can't be naturally found anywhere else in the world.

side note: i'm gonna be busy for the next couple days so i might not be able to post for inktober for the rest of the week :(

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"feet study"

day 14 of inktober (@alksnd 's prompt): page of [body part] studies

i suck at drawing feet so here's a whole page of me practicing them. i used the line of action website and doing a little 30 min class session really brought me back to my art school days hahah. doing this little exercise has helped me realize that if i'm gonna draw feet i'm gonna need a reference cause feet are weird man. i miss gesture drawing, might have to start implementing it a bit more in my daily practice.

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"just one bite"

day 13 of inktober (@alksnd 's prompt): vampire

we are entering the inconsistent and lazy era of my inktober journey hahah. been busy working on other things so haven't had the time or energy to focus on inktober prompts. drew up this quick sketch tho

(if you find a full-colored finished version of this on another tumblr blog then i probably finished it and decided to put it on my side blog lol. probably won't finish it anytime soon tho but we'll see)

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"madame moon"

day 11 of inktober (@alksnd 's prompt): easy-to-draw oc

so i missed a day. whoops~ i have the day 10's prompt art as a wip but just didn't have the motivation to finish or post it. oh well~

day 11's art is based off this oc for an animated show that i have an idea for. it follows luna who is blessed as a vessel of the moon spirit. the title of "madame moon" is passed on to each vessel and they receive powers and responsibilities. she is aloof and distant due to some of the history associated with her predecessors. it's kinda of a magical girl story ala star vs the forces of evil except if the lead was raven from teen titans and she traveled around the world like the gaang from avatar the last air bender. you can see the influences for this story very plainly hahah. her outfit is based on a filipiniana, a cultural dress from the philippines. she also has a counterpart, "sire sun" who wears a barong. this is a ceremonial outfit and she usually just wears a black dress.

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Sequences from my finished animation. Inspired by a dog named Teacake.

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"the little prince"

day 9 of inktober (@alksnd 's prompt): redraw a book cover

the little prince is my favorite book and the cover is so simple and iconic. i changed up the pose and added his rose and the milky way. really happy with everything except the title haha. i rewrote that thing like a bajillion times and still not satisfied with how it turned out. used the water color brush and i think it was a more successful attempt this time!

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"tiger pig"

day 8 of inktober (@alksnd 's prompt): make a mascot (combine two animals)

when i was a kid i had this national geo kids magazine that i had a picture of a tiger and pig getting along. i think about that sometimes and here's the tiger pig mascot amalgamation. where does the pig skin end and the tiger fur begin? stop asking questions i don't have answers to. literally so exhausted so just a doodle today.

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"under our skin"

day 7 of inktober (@alksnd 's prompt): current otp

literally so obsessed with detroit: become human right now that i have a dedicated side blog for it and am doing another round of prompts for it this month (i've been crazy busy drawing hahah). this is connor and markus from the game and i ship them even though its not canon (when is a fandom ship ever canon). they're both androids that have retractable synthetic skin which covers their android body which can be seen as pictured here!

color palette was inspired by "偽顔" by yama. it took me forever to finish this piece!!! like a whole day and now i'm exhausted. might add shading in the future but fore now just putting it out there.

if you see a zoomed out version of this drawing with a different @ and with a shirtless markus, congratulations you found my dbh side blog. I try to keep them separate bc this art blog is supposed to be more "professional" hahah.

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my current schedule

5AM - 7AM: terminal insomnia sets in and i wake up earlier than i want no matter how late i sleep

7AM: let's draw!!!

9AM: post drawing on tumblr, scroll for a bit

10AM: let's draw some more!!!

12PM: keep working on wips, occasionally take a tumblr break

2PM: oh shit i should probably eat

3PM: back to drawing~

5PM: play neopets

6PM: i could do chores... or i could draw just a bit more

11PM: wtf when did it get this late? i'm exhausted holy shit.

11PM-2AM: keep drawing until my brain succumbs to sleep

*repeat*

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"you awake?"

day 6 of inktober (@alksnd 's prompt): an animal/pet

drew my dog when she was laying on top of me waiting for me to wake up haha. tried using a watercolor-like brush. not super happy with the result but definitely worth experimenting with. like trying new brushes to see the results i can get!

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"i was looking everywhere for you"

day 5 of inktober (@alksnd 's prompt): childhood fave (character)

it's hard to imagine anyone not favoriting howl pendragon from howl's moving castle. a literal icon and childhood staple.

still obsessed with the pink color palette. i think it ended up being a bit too desaturated. the hand took me forever!!! trying to find a good reference to analyze was tough. debated adding shadows and lighting but decided to just post as it was because i had spent a lot of time on it already. i like the matte look tho!

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This literally just happened to me!!! I knew it was weird because I kept trying to clarify an art style (since I can do different ones) and they said they want it to look like the ocean (this was a commission for a pet portrait btw). And when I asked for a specific picture as an example they sent me a photograph. Not exactly an art style. Then they kept pushing me for my Paypal email, but I told them I would rather have a contract drafted first that I could email to them. But they said they were too busy and just needed my Paypal email and that they'll send the money now. I politely told them I rather have a contract and that they can find someone else if they don't agree to my process. At least they moved on after that but definitely saw all the red flags and have them blocked now.

Artists, let’s talk about Instagram commission scammers

There’s been a huge rise in commission scammers recently, mostly on Instagram. A lot of new artists don’t know what to look out for, so I figured this might help people.

How they begin

Usually the scammer will write to you asking about a commission. Something deceptively cute - mostly I encounter asks about pet portraits, with one or two photos sent. They’ll probably try to sell you a sweet little story, like “It’s for my son’s birthday”. They will insist that they love your artwork and style, even though they don’t follow you or never liked a single piece of your art.

What to look out for:

Their profiles will either be private, empty, or filled with very generic stuff, dating at most a few years back.

Their language will be very simple, rushed or downright bad. They might use weird emojis that nobody ever uses. They will probably send impatient “??” when you don’t answer immediately. They’re in a crunch - lots of people to scam, you know. 

They’ll give you absolutely no guidelines. No hints on style, contents aside from (usually) the pet and often a name written on the artwork, no theme. Anything you draw will be perfect. Full artistic freedom. In reality they don’t really care for this part.

They’ll offer you a ridiculous amount of money. Usually 100 or 300 USD (EDIT: I know it might not be a lot for some work. What I mean here - way higher than your asking price, 100 and 300 are standard rates they give). They’ll often put in a phrase like “I am willing to compensate you financially” and “I want the best you can draw”, peppered with vague praise. It will most likely sound way too good to be true. That’s because it is.

Where the scam actually happens

If you agree, they will ask you for a payment method. They’ll try to get to this part as soon as possible. 

Usually, they’ll insist on PayPal. And not just any PayPal. They’ll always insist on sending you a transfer immediately. None of that PayPal Invoice stuff (although some do have methods for that, too). They’ll really, REALLY want to get your PayPal email address and name for the transfer - that’s what they’re after. If you insist on any other method, they’ll just circle back to the transfer “for easiest method”. If you do provide them with the info, most likely you’ll soon get a scam email. It most likely be a message with a link that will ultimately lead to bleeding you dry. Never, and I mean NEVER click on any emails or links you get from them. It’s like with any other scam emails you can ever get.

A few things can happen here:

They overpay you and ask for the difference to be wired back. Usually it will go to a different account and you’ll never see that money again. 

They’ll overpay you “for shipping costs” and ask you to forward the difference to their shipping company. Just like before, you’ll never see that money again.

The actual owner of the account (yes, they most likely use stolen accounts to wire from) will realize there’s been something sketchy going on and request a refund via official channels. Your account will be charged with fees and/or you get in trouble for fraudulent transactions. 

You will transfer the money from your PayPal credit to your bank account and they will make a shitstorm when they want their money back, making your life a living hell. They will call you a scammer, a thief, make wild claims, wearing you down and forcing you into wiring money “back” - aka to their final destination account. 

Never, EVER wire money to anyone. This is not how it’s supposed to go. Use PayPal Invoice for secure exchanges where the client needs to provide you with their email, not the other way around.

You can find more info on that method HERE.

What to do when you encounter a scammer:

Ask the right questions: inquire about the style, which artwork of yours they like, as much details as you can. They won’t supply you with any good answers.

Don’t let the rush of the exchange, their praise and the promise of insanely good money to get to you. That’s how they operate, that’s how they make you lose vigilance. 

Don’t engage them. As soon as you realize it might be a scam, block them. The sense of urgency they create with their rushed exchange, and pressure they put on you will sooner or later get to you and you might do something that you’ll regret later.

Never wire money to anyone. Never give out your personal data. Never provide your email, name, address or credit card info. 

Don’t be deceived by receiving a payment, if you somehow agree to go along with it. Just because it’s there now doesn’t mean it can’t be withdrawn. 

Here is a very standard example of such an exchange. I realized it’s a scam pretty fast and went along with it, because I wanted good screenshots for you guys, so I tried going very “by the book” with it. 

Please share this post, make it reach as many artists as possible. Let young or inexperienced artists know that this is going on. So many people have no idea that this is a thing. Let’s help each other out. If you think I missed any relevant info, do add it as an rb!

Also, if you know other scam methods that you think should be shared, consider rb-ing this post with them below. Having a master post of scam protection would AWESOME to have in the art community.

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"shoe study"

day 4 of inktober (@alksnd 's prompt): shoes you want

these are nike air jordan retro 6s in mint foam. i first saw them in this music video and was like those are kinda cute! my current shoe rotation doesn't really need them though so i probably won't ever get them.

this is the first time i ever really spent a lot of time focusing on shoes. i am not a fan of drawing them and nor am i great at drawing them. i really respect artist who add really detailed shoes to their pieces. i don't usually use a grid to draw but with shoes proportions are so important so i felt like i needed the grid to get it down. it was certainly a learning experience drawing these. i felt like the longer i drew the shoes, the more i understood its construction and the drawing turned out better for it. it took a long time just to get the line work done so i decided against coloring them to save on time hahah.

posted this on the wrong blog initially so reposting here hahah

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"starflushed"

day 3 of inktober (@alksnd 's prompt): artistsona

this is my artistsona, star! i've always been in love with stars and celestial type things. the star moles are placed where my actual moles are on my irl face. i have a couple more but for simplicity i stick to those prominent ones. i really went hard on the sailor moon 90's anime magical girl aesthetic for this. was the pink overlay necessary? no. but does it make the vibe? yes.

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i just adjusted myself in my seat by pushing up against the arm rest with my hands and my wrist that popped on my drawing hand. maybe that's a sign i should take a break ahhahahah.

i should also reevaluate the ergonomics of my current work setup.

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"pretty patty"

day 2 of inktober (@alksnd 's prompt): today's lunch

i forgot to take a picture of what i ate today so i had to look up some reference photos to draw this. not happy with the wrapper but i think i did an okay job! tried something more painterly this time. i like experimenting but once again this took a lot of time >_<; i've been digging adding pink to my palette lately.