#//i should upload more random sketches more often

[michaeldschmidt]

//IRENE'S PARENTS CONTENT BECAUSE IM INSANE !!!

[bittycmd]

It's already have been over a week since ch1 post, huh?

Thank you all so much for kind words about OSC! as this project will be a beginning of my hobbyist 'carrier' (read as: passion project) that will probably take my free time from work whenever I'm not playing video games (I am afflicted by a curse that makes me do 100% achievements) or studying or doing any other passion or hobby projects.

here is a cover page that would have started the au; if not for a surprise that tumblr actually has an image limit of 30! (I got lucky huh?)

(tumblr refusing to upload this to my chapter 1 post is actually the reason why this post exists, so you guys get a lot of info now lol.)

Thank you again for supporting me on this journey! Below is just more info and plans and all that, for you who love reading that.

The first chapter changed and grew, firstly from a much different point of origin, having other chapter names and growing from a just 10-15 page chapter to a 30 one, and from planned 1 month to taking 3 months!

So what's next? Well... Chapter 2 which I'll probably not post as a whole chapter, but in parts. It will provide me probably more motivation and you all more frequent posting of story. (if you love getting whole chapter drops, dw, there probably will be chapters that I'd prefer to post as a whole)

ok, let's try a fun format of Q&A!

Have you started work on chapter 2?

yes. for the whole week i've managed to make...

check notes — 1 page...

oh god...

What? One page!? In over a week?!? Are you lazy???

I actually have been drawing like crazy and it's just i don't put that work on comic pages. Instead I've put it on sketches based on MD RP with my friends, that I have not posted here, because posting rp stuff without context is like trying to make drone drink water without dying.

Will you post the MD RP stuff you talk about??

... maybe... if you ask nicely (￣y▽￣)╭ ..... (it's some good stuff)

why are you talking about MD RP you do with your friends in OSC au info post?!?

no reason... -v-

will OSC au be outside the tumblr? Or you have any other social media?

maybe on bluesky? i should post more on bluesky, i haven't posted a single art there, instead i posted about mickey 17 there... and escape from pork belly. god i should post more there.

twitter is out of question, i'm not going back there. I no longer post on reddit and i don't even have a tiktok or other social media. I'm mainly tumblr boy (I love it here) with bluesky side that I should post on more often.

I should also learn how to AO3, so it's archived and easily searchable!

What is estimated time of work on chapter 2?

I cannot estimate that, unfortunately. I work when I can, and when my body allows me. And it usually refuses when I want to work on the comic, which frustrates me too often.

Will the au be easily readable???

there is a plan to set-up a master post that will list, (and link to,) all the chapters/parts of them, and it'll be always reachable from any chapter post and from the pinned post. Also each chapter will have standard links for first, prev and next post. This, of course, is for convenience of reading! (fueled by spite to one of my fav au's not doing that bare minimum.)

I miss OSC random skit comics, will there be any more? :(

Most of those skit comics i had to cut because my brain decided they were perfect for the overarching plot so now I basically soft locked myself from making more.

BUT! With more chapters uploaded I'll be free to create more outside of plot OSC au skit comics.

THE OSC AU SUCKS THE AA AU IS BETTER WHEN CHAPTER 1 OF MD&AA AU WILL COME OUT!?

woah there! The md&aa au will actually have much different plans. they are only plans and nothing has been set in stone yet. But when I'd start putting it into place you guys will know :3 and I hope it'll be awesome.

will you monetize it in the future?

uhhh probably not. I see art as something that should be free to experience (even if it's some fanart au webcomic based on existing series). but that's also a weak excuse! Because the real one is setting up patreon or ko-fi is terrifying to me! I'd be so lost, and then paying self employment taxes! oh god the horror!

don't even get me started on commissions! ',⊙﹏⊙'∥

(i'd love to make comms or set up tip jar one day but without a super detailed step by step guide for dummies, i'd probably be lost with doing all that)

all those general questioned sucked! i want a very specific question answered!

well those are what asks are for! I am also trying to be active in comment section but I get bad anxiety, so unfortunately no promises.

Also my inbox is filled with mostly drawing requests, which I will need to state now, that I'll no longer will prioritize them, and I'm not promising to do them, maybe even ever.

[deadmanrising]

Seventh Tumblr Post!

Ever since enrolling myself in some courses at my local community college for the summer, I haven't had too much time time to draw. I've been spending most of my time taking notes and working on assignments, and it doesn't really help that I often tend to procrastinate and get distracted during my study sessions. But that's exactly what brought me to draw this "little" thing. While taking notes one night, I found that a resource link provided within to students was, for whatever reason, a Wikipedia article on the topic. Then for another unknown reason, I started typing out random things I like into the search bar and read their articles--and occasionally clicked the links within those pages. Needless to say, I fell down several rabbit holes and learned several fun facts before ending up at the articles for Morrigan Aensland (Darkstalkers) and Roger Smith (American Dad!,) which I found absolutely hilarious in the sleep deprived state I was in at the time. I had decided then and there that I would draw both characters.

I decided to draw Morrigan first since while I prefer her design and the liberty I get in terms of posing, I enjoy Roger better in just about every other category and felt like I should warp up before drawing him. I swiftly got my reference images from the games Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and placed them into Photoshop and got to work on my rough sketch. Like pretty much woman I've ever drawn, she is built like a man (mostly because I find it easier to draw like that.) I just broke everything down into basic shapes and lines and did my best to replicate them. Although I didn't recognize the shape at the bottom of an image as her boot, but instead as some sort of bone, which would come back to bite me in the butt later on. Then I hastily tacked on her boobs after realizing that I forgot to draw them earlier, which would also haunt me later on in the process.

Much like the comic in my last post, I wanted to keep a much more "sketchy" style to the line art, and went ahead with what is now the refined sketch with the expectation that it would be part of the final product. I started with the face which I decided to keep consistent with the last time I drew Morrigan, accidental increased line with and all, and with what was in my reference image from Night Warriors. I then traced over my rough sketch and added detail wherever it was necessary. Then, I drew her clothes and other small details and marked everything that might have been hard to see in a temporary yellow, which would've been redrawn in black after coloring. By this point, I realized that I didn't really like the look of sketchier line art on this style, so I went ahead and redid everything in the cleaner line art that would make it's way to the final product. It was also the point where I realized that the "bone" was actually her shoe after noticing that I forgot to draw her other shoe.

At this stage of the process, I decided it might be fun to upload my uncolored line art to my personal Instagram's story, which is something that I would continue to do in excitement. Applying the base colors commenced once that was over with, which was where the Marvel 3 images really shined since those are where I took my colors from. I took a break from drawing since I needed to start working on my class work, but immediately ended it once a friend sent me a DM questioning me about the pose and boob proportioning, informing me that I gave "her a G cup, bigger than her damn head." I learned several un-fun facts about boobs and their properties that day, and I honestly wish that there was some way I could forget them. I explained that it was an accident, but I'm not sure she really believed me. I used the screenshots I took for my story to figure out a way to make the boobs smaller and eventually decided on curving the left one up a little sooner and straight up shrinking the right one. I also had a problem with the way I drew the top curving downward a bit too soon, so I also fixed that (and so did my friend, but I didn't notice that until after I had already fixed it.) With that over with, I went into Photoshop and fixed everything there before adding some final details. I applied some light shadows, highlights, wrinkles and folds throughout the the entire piece. I was feeling pretty good about it by then, so I whipped up a quick background using a chalk brush--before adding a date, watermarks, and signature to stay consistent with the rest of my stuff.

For my first attempt at a fully digital drawing made explicitly for fun in nearly four years, I'm somewhat proud of it. I still think I made the boobs just a bit too big, and I'm pretty sure I drew Morrigan just a bit too tall. But overall, I'm still happy with the final product despite all that, and seriously wish to keep improving.

I hope you enjoy it, and any and all constructive criticism is welcome!

[rrinku98illusts]

Awake at the end of 2023 + Updates + Artbomb Incoming

Long time no see guys! And I hope you all doing well too. Firstly, I want to say thanks for all the support since 2015 (especially for the IG friends I met back there when I was new) till this day which a lot of you enjoyed my art! Almost a wonderful decade full of Lonks heh.

Maybe it's really a thing that I should separate hobby and work, since I'm working at a more professional creative work (illustrations, branding, UI UX and side stuff like working as video editor) which I'm currently passionate about, and I need to put aside fandom stuff for a while since I needed lots of time and space for managing my IRL stuff.

I felt bad too that I made some of my online + IRL friends worried, heh. I'm actually doing fine, better actually. Also trying to touch grass too, like actually going for a healthier lifestyle :D I've been investing my time for gym and morning walks.

However I'm planning a comeback again just to post some fresh art too, along side with a collab which I spent a long time to finish. Also including the ones that been sitting as an unfinished eternal WIP on my files! Here are some spoilers :

Collab Pieces (full color + random alt sketches of it)

Some old art + WIPs

New art that I recently made in mid 2023

As for future art (both LoZ / other fandom / personal art), I can't guarantee that I will upload often due to my limited time to do fandom stuff, but I can guarantee it'll to be more of polished quality rather than quantity. Hope you all have a nice day, and see you on the flipside :)

[dreadnotau]

Happy one year of Dread Not, everyone!

Yeah, it really has been that long already. It honestly doesn’t feel like it’s been a year at all! Even if you just recently found the comic, or stuck with it since the first promotional post, thank you. This project has been one of the most fulfilling I’ve taken on in a long time. And, as usual, I’d like to say some things on this occasion.

Firstly, hoo boy the numbers are bigger than I imagined they’d be. As of writing this, the Tumblr account has 295 followers, and the Twitter account is sitting at a comfortable 41. That is a LOT of people. As some of you may recall, I made a milestone post when we reached 100 followers on Tumblr, and I genuinely thought that would be the biggest milestone I reach that year.

I didn’t even notice when we got past 200 followers (most of whom were coming from my youtube channel of all things), and now we’re close to 300! That’s madness!! Especially for a project like this that’s being handled by exactly one person with minimal help from a friend. (That friend is @meowchela btw I feel like I don’t promote her enough. She’s basically the reason this comic exists at all, she’s wonderful).

Obviously I don’t want this whole post to just be about the metrics, I wanna talk about other things that surround this comic. Like how much of a mess working on it tends to be. I don’t wanna turn this into me whining about school but, long story short, I’m in my last year of high school right now, prepping for college and writing my thesis (I think that’s the right English word…) and it’s all VERY hectic.

I’m not gonna pretend that I’m trying my hardest at all of this, I will be the first to say my time management is awful, I’m just bringing this all up for anyone wondering why updates are so slow, and why I missed the page upload on catholic Christmas. It all gets a bit hard to keep up with sometimes, but I won’t stop working on this comic, that’s for sure! Paradoxically, somehow I’m more motivated to work on Dread Not if I should be doing other things. I think it’s pure spite at this point.

Speaking of responsibility, I promised more bonus content both on Tumblr and on Twitter on several occasions and, as you all can probably see, that has not happened yet. The simplest explanation is that I often don’t have ideas for what kind of bonus content to even make. Sketches of the characters? Finished drawings of the characters? Scrapped scenes from the comic? Non-canon scenarios and scenes? The characters’ design references? Canon facts about the characters and the world that I wasn’t able to include in-comic? More speedpaints??

I’m sure these all sound great on paper, but I have no idea how much time and energy I’d have to potentially allocate for each, and how much they’d actually impact people’s interest in the comic. For now, the bonus content will stay minimal until I can think of something reliable and interesting to release as said bonus content.

If you’re really invested in Dread Not, though, I’d recommend joining the discord server! It’s not too big, it has around 20 people in it so far, and I like to think it’s a fairly casual server! The reason I’m promoting it here is because it helps with my motivation to work on the comic a LOT. It really makes a world of difference when you can talk to people one on one instead of just relying on numbers on a post.

If you don’t want to join the server but still want to share your thoughts on the comic, the ask box is always open, and so are my DMs! Both here and on my main Tumblr. My main Tumblr got a bit of an upgrade recently, so I’ll maybe be more active there than I was before. Maybe. No promises.

On the bright side, I have nearly the whole story planned out now! I know that might not sound like much, but the story has been very loose with it’s structure so far (as you may have noticed). The story jumps from character to character at near random, some ideas are left hanging for tens of pages on end until they’re picked up again, and the narration in the yellow boxes feels arbitrary at best and out of place at worst, at least when I go back and reread it myself. This is because act 1 was sketched out in it’s entirety before I started actually fully rendering and releasing the pages online. So, the story of act 1 was made in a very “explorative” way, in that I had only vague concepts I wanted to get down on paper eventually in my head, and a blank canvas to work with. The pacing and structure of it has been a little lacking because of that, and I’m doing my best to right that wrong by planning out acts 2, 3 and 4 before beginning to sketch them properly.

Speaking of, I can finally put a somewhat number to how long this story will be! All of what’s been released so far, and what I’ll release in the foreseeable future, is only part of Act 1. Act 2 will be a bit more hectic, and although I don’t have the exact number yet, I’m *assuming* the overall page number of it will be similar to Act 1. Act 3 will be a doozy, as it’ll technically have two intermissions as well. And Act 4 is a beast of it's own. It’s all almost too long to even think about without getting stressed immediately. But I know it’ll be worth it! Now that I have an actual path set out for me, I can try and tackle this growing giant of a project with more of a plan than I had when I started.

Although this is Dread Not’s first anniversary, I’ve actually been working on the comic for quite a bit longer than that. If we don’t count the concept phase, then just the comic itself is nearly two years old! (Jesus, time flies) But I do want today, the 23rd of January, to be the proper and official Dread Not Day. It doesn’t have any significance other than bringing a smile to my face, though. And hopefully to yours, too!

Here’s to another great year of working on this behemoth of a project, and probably several more after that because this story isn’t gonna be done anytime soon! Pour one out for my drawing hand, folks, it’s a long road ahead.

And, again, thank you for reading. Thank you for sticking with me and for enjoying what I’ve made. I hope you’ll enjoy what comes next just as much, maybe more. Stay tuned!

[deardragonbook]

How I make Fantasy maps and why I don’t share them

I think social media causes oversharing. Not all the time, not for everyone, I definitely am not one of those “social media is destroying the current generation” kind of people. Like every piece of technology there’s pros, there’s cons, and I’m not going into them. 

Except for this very specific statement about oversharing; now, a lot of people feel pressure to upload lots of information about their book! And one of the things I see uploaded a lot are fantasy maps. But now you have a problem, if you’ve listed every town in your kingdom, what if you need another one later? 

See, I didn’t make my fantasy map for my followers, I made it for me, so I can add in my towns and mountains and rivers and keep track of where those stuff are. 

If and when something show’s up in the book, I add it. Some stuff I know are going to come up later so I add it, some things I know because of the history of the kingdom, cool, added. 

Everything else? To be added. 

And this gives me so much more freedom! 

If you’re a plotter, and you know every turn your book is going to take and you don’t need to worry about things changing or new things coming up, then go ahead, make a map to share. But if you’re someone who gets new ideas on the go, and those ideas are often much better, then there’s nothing wrong with keeping this piece of paper to yourself until it’s complete. 

Now, with all of that said, here’s a photo of the map I use: 

I usually go digital, but I wanted something that didn’t need to take up one of my screens so I grabbed some paper. Before I started I knew a couple of things, I knew Oppida was inland, I knew Aerradra was near the border and surrounded by mountains, I knew Kinosum was touching the Corevire border, I knew Undequitar existed and so did a random port city (Ruboako) and the island for the mermaid, Neapo. 

With this in mind I kinda sketched out a mostly random shape. Placed all the things I knew existed, including the train line to Aerradra and all the cities from the first book (Errad, Nubilum, Aerradra and Oppida). I added in the bits of forest I knew were there, the river that plays a role later on and some other stuff. 

I did some logical train tracks (that’s what the lines are) because most trains tend to branch out from a big city and then have connecting lines (kinda like a spider web), and then little circles where towns will probably go later on.

And that’s all. It’s not pretty, it’s not ready to share. It’s just a quick map I can easily depend on. And that’s all your fantasy map need to be! 

It doesn’t need to be perfect or complete. If you don’t know everything that’s going to happen in your series, why would you know every town in your kingdom or every character’s surname? What’s important is to not forget what is already set out. What’s important is to have a general idea. 

Anyways, there’s how I do fantasy maps. If you’re deep into the series and do know a lot more about towns and stuff, you should probably check out somebody who can tell you how to make pretty maps. I’m very much more of a writer than anything else. But I sitll hopes this helped in some way! 

I recently created a link tree so check that out for all my socials and my book!

[ee-furoido]

So... Jade x Raven DUO magic when?

Ah! I’ve been waiting to write this for a while, and since @raven-at-the-writing-desk mentioned getting a similar ask, I decided to continue her story.

Raven’s Part 1 is here. My story is Part 2!

...But Only One to Let Go

The courtyard was packed with loitering students; some studying, others lounging on the grass. It was a place of solace for most students, to not have to think about the worries of their classes and tests. But not for much longer.

Jade was sitting on a bench in the center of the courtyard, a notebook and pencil in hand. He was sketching the flora of the courtyard, although his eyes were not on the page. While his hand moved effortlessly across the paper, his gaze lingered on the students. Every once in a while, he would scribble a note to the side of the latest thing he had drawn.

Perhaps another interesting note to tuck away for future use. No wonder there was a wide berth around his bench.

“J-Jade Leech!”

An almost eerie silence fell over the courtyard as the loud chirp rang out. A petite girl with long, black pigtails stomped up to the Octavinelle vice dorm leader. Jade’s gaze shifted to her, placing his pencil between the pages of his book and closing it shut. His narrowed eyes took in her flustered cheeks and clenched fists. A piece of black paper seemed to be crumpled up in her hand.

“Oya, oya, Miss Raven.” He said, pulling his features into a polite smile. The same conciliatory mask he was so used to slipping effortlessly over his more piercing and inquisitorial stares. 

Even within the courtyard's silence, the other students felt a rush of relief. His attention had turned to her. But even then, they watched with bated breath.

“How may I be of assistance today? I was not expecting you to come to me of your own accord like this.”

Jade shifted to one side of the bench and patted the seat next to him. An otherwise kind gesture, but that would entail getting even closer to him. Raven shook her head. She was fine where she was, shouting at him from 10 feet away.

“I assume you received the grade from our midterm exam as well.” Raven huffed, waving the scrunched up paper in her hands before crossing her arms. “I can’t say I’m pleased, and I’m quite certain you’re not either.”

Jade’s smile slipped for only a moment before he gathered it back up. He cocked his head to the side, his thin-lipped smile curling up even further. “Who knows?” 

“Wha- what does that mean?!” Raven sputtered. “You’re saying you’re fine with the C that Professor Crewel gave us!? I for one will not stand for it.”

She pointed at him with a steady finger. “We’re going to retake this test and if that means I have to force you to….. I- I will!”

With a light chuckle, Jade stood up, brushing eraser debris from his uniform as he did so. In only two steps, he was looming over the young Crowley, a wide grin showing off his dagger-like teeth. “Fufu, perhaps you should calm down, Miss Raven. If you continue on your little rampage, you may bite your tongue.”

“Calm d-”

Although she was already flustered, Raven’s face turned a brighter shade of red, one mixed with both anger and embarrassment. She clenched her teeth, trying to stop herself from striking his chest with her fists. ‘Can’t let him win.’

Jade let out another chuckle, amused by Raven’s resistance.

“Since you require a partner for this portion of the exam,” he said, curling his knuckles under his chin, “I suppose I cannot say no. Ah, I sincerely cannot leave a helpless creature in need.”

Much like the start of their most recent partnership, Jade extended a hand towards the bird, a literal offering of his help. “I’m sure you’ll be able to return the favor someday. Shall we adjourn to the training field?”

In a moment of deja vu, Raven’s eyes focused on his black gloves. How snugly it fit around his fingers, how cool it was to the touch when she had grasped it last. She wanted to forget her frustrations and take it once more.

With a deep intake of breath, Raven gave a pout, crossing her arms once more. She would hold her ground, not get lulled in by this siren. “... Yes, we shall. But as equals.” She spat his own words from the examination back at him. “There won’t be any favors or pay for this.”

Jade chuckled as Raven turned on her heel and promptly headed towards the gymnasium.

“As you wish.” He breathed to himself as he followed her.

The courtyard quickly filled with the buzzing of muted conversation after they left. The witnesses left behind whispered to each other about the scene that had played out. It wasn’t often that Jade Leech himself was at the center of potential gossip, after all. 

Raven found herself waiting at the training field alone.

“I’ll only be a moment late.” Jade had said. “There is something I must retrieve first.”

A moment had turned into 20 minutes, then almost an hour. Raven did her best to hold back tears of frustration. She felt foolish, thinking he would be there without question, to care for his grade just as much as she did.

Of course he wiggled out of this when he could, the slippery little eel. ‘I did not shake on it, so he didn’t deem it necessary to actually show up.’ Raven’s thoughts steamed as she kicked her sportswear sneakers. ‘That uncultured, underhanded, untruthful…. slimy-’

“My apologies for the tardiness,” Jade’s voice rang out. While she had been simmering in her own thoughts, he had arrived. And he seemed to carry a large silver orb about the size of a basketball. He had also taken the time to change into his athletic uniform, his usually buttoned up attire replaced by a long sleeve shirt and a half-way zipped up tracksuit.

Raven tore her eyes away from his exposed collarbone to the thing in his hands.

“Where have you been and… wh-what’s that?”

The mer-eel chuckled, tapping a few buttons on the orb before responding. The silver surface started to flicker blue and Raven could hear a light whirr as it powered up.

“A new artifact from the students of Ignihyde.” He explained. “Ever since their successful projection mapping during Halloween, there's been talks on other possible uses of the technology.”

“It came to my attention about a month ago that a few of them were working on what they called a Battle Application Droid. I had no need of it then, so I merely put that piece of information to the side at the time.”

“It took a bit of convincing to retrieve this from the Ignihyde students who have been completing the prototype, but in the end they knew what was good for them, fufu.” Jade’s chuckle was remorseless, only filled with amusement.

Raven almost thought to ask who the poor mob was that had found himself under Jade’s thumb, but thought better of it. Jade would most likely not give a straight answer, anyway.

“... So how does it work, then?”

“Essentially, we should be able to engage in a mock battle with holographic enemies.” He turns his attention back to the ball and inputs more on the keypad. “Ignihyde has access to the cameras of the school since they help maintain security. They also manage the servers where we upload all the videos from Dorm Leader battles and exams. Based on their algorithms, it should give us a randomized battle.”

Satisfied with the scenario he set into the orb, Jade hit the largest button on the side and rolled it out into the field.

“W-wait! Why’d you just-”

“We may need to stand back, Miss Raven.”

Jade threw an arm out in front of the bird and pulled her back a few feet. His hand clutched at his magical pen in his dominant hand. Seeing him prepare, Raven grasped her magical quill as tight as she could.

There was nothing else she could do at this point. No time to prepare, no time to back out.

The ball beeped a countdown in the middle of the field before erupting in a wave of blue light, sending a bright blue shock wave through the partners.

“Kh-” Raven flinched with grit teeth, using Jade's arm to shield her eyes from the light. She gripped onto his sleeve until it dimmed, and only then did she chance a look at their surroundings.

Her beak dropped open. They were in the coliseum. 

'Well, no, of course we aren't.' There was a light blue haze over what should be the stone slabs of the arena, as well as moments of static. But otherwise, it was an almost flawless holographic replica of the coliseum.

Ignihyde’s projection mapping had grown, no longer needing physical objects to display images. 3D holographic projection had arrived.

“Be prepared.”

Jade’s voice seemed so far away to Raven in that moment, but it snapped her back to reality. Facing them from across the field were two faceless students, magical pens raised.

“... Th-they cannot actually hit us, right?” Raven’s voice twittered from behind Jade’s arm. 

“Perhaps, perhaps not.” Jade said. “If you would like to stay standing there and test that, Miss Raven, then be my guest. However, I would prefer to come out of this unscathed and am unwilling to experiment, fufufu.”

“Wha- You-”

A light chortle before Jade quickly pushed Raven away to the side as he jumped in the opposite direction. Right where they had been standing only a second prior, a pillar of blue fire erupted. The flames crackled as it burned up the sweet digital oxygen. 

Despite the close call, neither felt the heat. The simulation really was only an artificial emulation, after all.

“Seems like this should be quite easy to defeat.” Jade’s eyes glinted, the Ignihyde blue of the digital landscape dancing off of his olive and gold irises. “Especially knowing it cannot harm us.”

“We need to think like it can harm us, Jade…!” Raven squawked out from where she had tumbled onto the ground. “Otherwise, what is the purpose of this training?”

“I do believe it is for you to get a better grade, is it not?”

“YOU-”

Raven caught herself. There she went, falling into his rhythm, ready to bite back at the merest provocation. Professor Crewel’s words rang in her ear again.

“Your coordination could use much improvement. You were yapping at one another for almost the entirety of the battle.”

He wasn’t wrong then, and even now she could see them falling into the same pattern. Her fingers gripped her quill even tighter. What was it about him that caused her to act this way?

…

“Miss Raven!”

She had pulled her attention away from the scenario for only a second, but that was all it took for the simulated opponents to take advantage. A large ball of water was hurtling towards her—

—and was intercepted by a column of real leaves and wind, slamming down to the ground like a wall, just in time for the digital water to hit it and disintegrate.

“Fascinating.” Jade muttered, racing over to where Raven was pushing herself off of the ground. “For our physical magic to be able to intercept the holograms… Fufufu, this is much more technologically advanced than I expected.”

He glanced down at the smaller student, flashing a mocking grin. “Eyes open, my dear. I won’t always be there to save you.”

He turned his attention back towards the virtual opponents.

“Now is the time for our counter-attack.”

It didn’t take long for the two of them to find a rhythm, to defeat wave after wave of artificial enemies. Although smart and biting quips were still thrown out from time to time, their wordless communication was their impenetrable defense—whenever one was targeted by an enemy, the other was on hand to assist. While one prepared their stronger physical attacks, the other parried incoming attacks.

Seamless unity.

The sun had started to set on Night Raven College, and the two were almost out of breath. Six waves of faceless blue students they had fought, and it was taking a toll on both of them. Their uniforms were a mess with dirt and grass stains, the crystals of their pens were both getting cloudy.

This was the last round dictated by the orb.

This last enemy was relentless, its speed faster than the others. Almost before either could react, it would send fireball after fireball downrange, keeping both Raven and Jade on their toes.

“Tch!” Jade growled, jumping out of the way of yet another blue ball of flame. “Relentless…”

He paused to catch his breath, gripping his pen. “Miss Raven, we need to settle this quickly, we should—”

“Watch out!” Raven shouted, pulling Jade towards her and onto the ground. A blue swirl of leaves from the other AI barely grazed the top of their heads.

A moment as they realize the position they were in. Jade had fallen, propped up on his hands, hovering over her. Half a heartbeat passed—

Jade rolled onto his back, panting and holding back a chuckle. Raven shook her head, trying to will away her fluster. Now was not the time to be thinking of how close that was.

“Eyes open, I won’t always be there to save you.” She shot at him, the same words he had mocked her with before.

Jade sat up and eyed the two opponents on the other side of the field, warily. From the looks of it, the two mobs were preparing a powerful spell, a duo…

He pushed himself off of the ground and reached his left hand out for Raven. With another light and exhausted laugh, he spoke.

“I’m pleased to know that you have my back when I require it, Miss Raven.”

A warm sensation emanated from Jade’s hand, one that Raven could not describe offhand. But it compelled her to take his offered hand this time, a static of magic crackling as the two of them touch. Another wave of blush scrawled across her cheeks. She gripped the quill in her other hand.

“Sh-shut up, Jade, I’m only doing this because I have to.” Her temperamental defense mechanism rising once more. 

Jade would have let another laugh escape him, but as the two of them connected by both touch and words, he could feel a second wind surge through him. In almost an instant, his exhaustion melted away. 

His heartbeat grew louder every second, and he could sense the magic radiating from his core to his pen.

His gaze fell on the artificial students.

‘Give no quarter.’

An immense pillar of water crashed down where the opponents had stood. Despite their distance, the water from the attack splashed all the way back to the two weary students. Jade gritted his teeth with determination.

The second strike materialized three large pillars of water dropping the AI to the ground, their magic concentration lost.

Jade’s eyes glittered with malicious glee as he swung his magical pen a third time, covering the other half of the field in a destructive wave of water. The digital enemies flickered under the pressure and disappeared—

—Quickly followed by the rest of the projection. The simulation was over.

“Well,” Jade said, wiping the sweat and dirt on his brow with his equally dirty sleeve. “I suppose this is a day well practiced.”

Raven nodded, letting out a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding during his ultimate attack. “Yes…”

…

“Jade…?”

“Yes, Miss Raven?”

“... Y-you can let go of my hand now.”

“Fufufu, of course, as you wish.”

Jade untangled his fingers from hers and gave a light, polite bow. He made his way to the center of the field to pick up the prototype B.A.D., wiping off the battle residue with his shirt. 

Raven stared off after him, proud of the difference their day of practice made. 

They would be ready for the makeup exam. No doubt about it.

[thisstableground]

Hello! I wanna start drawing again and I'm really fond of your style, I was wondering, do you have any drawing tips? ❤️

okay sorry this took a couple days to reply to because i wanted to think about it, but i think my main advice is to divide up your artistic time into practice and art. this drawfee video on how to practice effectively explains it really well (this section is at around 13 minutes, i haven’t watched the rest of it yet bc it’s a long vid but i bet there’s other good advice in there too): practice is input, drawing is output. practice is learning new information about things you don't know how to do – you're not making a final piece. 

practice is things like:

experimenting with different ways of holding the pen/pencil. holding a pen/pencil for drawing is different than how you'd hold it for writing – you want to hold it higher up, and use looser arm movements. different angles will give different effects (see here). holding a pen for a tablet is different to both a traditional pencil and a writing grip. if you have a tablet that picks up on palm contact, try getting a drawing glove so that you don't have to hold your hand at an unnatural angle. draw different lines and shapes and get used to the different effects you can make.

experimenting with different ways of moving your hand. a general rule to follow here is the bigger the shape, the more of your arm you should use to draw it. a lot of people draw primarily with just their fingers or wrists moving because they feel more control there, which is great for fine detail work but doesn't translate well to bigger sweeping shapes, and thats where you end up with wobbly lines or having to draw several scratchy lines instead of one smooth curve. if you want more confident lines you need to draw from the elbow, or the shoulder. it takes some getting used to but it's definitely worth it for keeping your drawings lively instead of stiff, and your wrist will also feel less strain.

learning to draw basic 3 dimensional shapes. boxes, cylinders, spheres. just draw a whole lot of them from different angles.

learning how to break down a complex form into basic shapes. a good way to do this is tracing – tracing has a bad rap as being stealing, but as long as you're not uploading a traced image and passing it off as your own it's a great way to train your eye to understand how forms work together, particularly for something complex like anatomy. draw over an image and break it down into basic shapes. then try to copy those shapes onto your own paper without tracing. do it over and over until you're better at it. (this method of redrawing is called iterative drawing, it's a great practice technique). 

theres broader practice and then narrow. having a mix of both is good: quick sketching a whole figure some days, other days really focusing in on like “this is how a nose work”. go with what feels right in the moment.

and then the output, the actual drawing, is when all this practice pays off - these are your pieces that you work on to show people, or the things that you want to make, this is where you chase your creativity and passion. keeping them separate really helps to stop your art feeling like a chore and keeps you from overworking your full pieces (incorporating too much practice into your creative art); it also stops you stagnating or becoming frustrated with your lack of improvement (not practicing enough).

you don't have to be super strict with yourself about when to do which thing; you'll probably go through phases of doing a lot of practice, and then phases of doing a lot of drawing.  if you're really struggling with one thing, that's often a sign that you need to do more of the other to balance things out.

other advice:

learn to be bad at art. this is good during practice with things like timed figure drawing or whatever where you just don't have time to make it good, but it's also good in drawing/creating: just letting yourself make “bad” or silly or quick things for the fun of it or to get an idea out. nothing has to be perfect and the earlier you learn to be bad at art the quicker you'll get good at art, and the more you'll enjoy it too

to expand on that, while tablet drawing is great, i've found that i improve a lot more rapidly  when i do at least some of my practice a) on paper but also b) in pen or marker or paint, anything non-erasable. the ability to undo and erase infinitely in digital art is great for full pieces but doing your practices in pen means you're forced to be lot less precious and so you learn quicker how to be more decisive and confident with your lines because whatever you put there, you’re stuck with it.

if you're stuck, try something completely out of your comfort zone. use different materials, restrict yourself to a specific colour palette, ask for prompts, set a timer. sometimes there's just too much choice about what to do and it can be paralysing: giving yourself a totally arbitrary restriction can actually push you to be more creative and to get out of a rut (recommending more drawfee here, their random shapes challenge videos are a really good example of this)

you don't have to find your style. it'll find you. it's good to observe what you like about other people's art and try to consciously think about it, it can be really good to ty and mimic those elements yourself during your practice, but for your actual drawings you don't need to think about your style because as your ability improves it will come out naturally.

this applies mostly to traditional, but try to have your paper tilted slightly rather than flat on the desk – i prop my hardback sketchbooks up on a book. if you have your paper flat then you're more likely to get a little bit of a perspective distortion from top to bottom, especially if you're working from a reference, because you're looking at the paper from a different angle than you're looking at the reference so it can look fine when you're drawing but then when you look at it head-on it's just a little off. it also makes it easier to not hunch up over it and get a backache.

FLIP THAT CANVAS. i don't know why this works but its a time-honoured artist technique for making sure that there's reasonable symmetry especially for drawing people: draw your picture out, then flip it. you'll be able to see a lot clearer where the proportions are off. make changes, flip it again, keep doing that. it's harder with traditional media to do this but if you have some tracing paper you can turn that over, or just take a photo of your work and flip that.

a little frustration can be good if it’s motivating you, but if it's so much that you're tearing up your drawings or wanting to quit, you either need to change up your approach for a while or you need to take a bit of a break. i  know people say you have to draw every day and if that works for you then do that, but personally, i don’t: i go through phases of drawing all the time then not at all for a few weeks, and that works better for me than forcing myself to work on it every day and i often come back to it a lot better because i’ve given all the practice time to actually sink in. breaks are an important part of learning, whether its hour or a day or a week of just walking the fuck away from the sketchbook and doing something else.

stretch your arms and wrists often, especially if you're drawing for several hours. here's the routine i use, it’s only ten minutes but it makes a big difference. and if you've overdone it and your hand or wrist or back is hurting, don't push through it. drawing is surprisingly physical and i’ve fucked my hands up real bad several times not listening to a slight ache and having it turn into full on RSI

i hope some of that helps! there are a lot more specifics i could get into about a million different things but the overall gist of this is that you should be aware of all the different options you have and can dabble in, and try to find a balance of learning and creating that allows you to improve without sucking all the joy out of it.

[elfchensdcartblog]

How I do my Doujinshi

This is not the „only“ way or perfect way to do it, just mine.

Idea/Theme.

First I get an idea. It’s often something suddenly popping up in my head. Like a random thought/headcanon or an inspiration I got from reading, a picture, even real life.

E.g. for „Melon Seeds“ it was the thought about telling kids how babys are made -> „man plants a seed in the belly of a woman“

Brainstorming

After the idea, I jot down everything that comes to my mind about it. That’s just rough and without an order. Just things that come into my mind. That could be a Mindmap, a list, random scribbles and texts/papers... I often already think about an idea during the day and jot down my thoughts in the evening somehow more ordered.

In this step I also think about characters if there are any new. Mostly they don’t have names now. Since I’m bad with names. Mostly I just name them „main girl“, „girl“, „kudo daughter“... 😂

Plot

Now I try to find a rough storyline. I think about what should happen in different parts of the story.

The beginning - should address the overall problem. (To stay with „melon seeds“ -> Kazuhas try to say she’s pregnant and hint to the main part (melons) )

Raising up to the climax - leading the reader to the turning point of the story. Here it’s „small Heijis story about melon seeds“.

Climax - Turning point of the story. Short stories mostly have just one, in longer stories I often include several ones but have an overall climax I head to. To stay with melon seeds - Heijis realization through the promise as kids is the climax/turning point.

Falling action (optional) - sometimes you don’t just want it to end right after climax. Especially for long stories you want to show some small pieces of the outcome. In melon seeds I nearly got right to the end after the climax. You could see the small part with coming back to the present and Heiji running of as falling action.

end - how should the story end? I often have just a rough idea of it.

Script

After I’ve the main points of my story, I fill them up with scenes and ideas, like what phrases do I want the characters to say or what should they do in which situation? It’s totally free how detailed this step is. For me it’s very different for each story. For short ones I often have most of it already in my head and don’t need to note much. For long stories I work a bit more.

e.g. for Heisuke I did a rough description what I want to draw on each page. For the upcoming Heizomi story I write a detailed script (more in style of a theatre play with speech roles etc) without exact paging details. For wedding bells (~62 pg.) I just wrote a small description of the scenes.

Storyboard

Now I draw each page as a thumbnail and think about what will be seen and which camera angle, what to show, which panels etc I use. It’s still just a draft and I change it often while drawing the real doujinshi.

For most stories I often decide in this step on all the speech (beside some important phrases I came up during the process before)

Rough sketches

I take the storyboard and transfer it onto my actual drawing medium and drawing size. Since I mostly do the Storyboard in a Journal, this means to draw it again in my drawing program Clip Studio Paint. (Or to drawing paper if I want to work traditionally but that’s not the case anymore)

Detailed Sketches

I sketch out everything in detail. While the rough ones are mostly just random geometric figures, now the characters get their appearance. I also draw in the panel lines.

Inking/Black/Screentones

Detail work to make it look good 👍

Lettering/Word Baloons

Now the finishing step is deciding on all the texts and baloon positions. It’s not easy to always find the right place and think about a good conversation to follow 🤔

That’s it, now it’s ready to upload 🤗

[vetyr]

hi! i'm not sure if you've answered this already but i saw on instagram that you are majoring in mechanical engineering at cornell. i'm going to be in an accelerated medical program in uni, and i'm worried that i won't be have time to draw, study art, practice, etcetera. seeing you consistently producing art amazes and inspires me. how do you balance art and all its things with such an intense major?

Hey! I get this question often, so I figured it’d be a good idea to assemble a decent response to it. Long post incoming. TL;DR: I gotta force myself to draw sometimes, because my mental health probably depends on it. 

The honest answer is that I’m actually not that great at uploading art while I’m at school. During freshman year especially I’d just shut off the art side of my brain during exam season—a period which could last anywhere between two to five weeks and began again within a week or two due to Cornell’s batty exam schedule—in an attempt to study more effectively. I figured that less time on art equated linearly to more time on academics, which directly led to more academic success.

Turns out, uh, it’s not that simple. I finished up my sophomore year this spring and I realized that I do way better academically and mentally when I spend some time drawing throughout the day. I don’t know what it’s like for others, but I guess that my brain is just wired such that after a lifetime of drawing, quitting cold turkey for an extended period of time is really not ok for me.

Drawing in class (see the pics in this post), doodling stuff for friends, taking commissions, or studying a figure even just for twenty minutes a day is enough to work. Pushing myself to draw is often quite difficult, especially when I’ve got an exam/problem set/project looming over my head. To anyone in this position—in school or otherwise under enough stress that the thing you love causes you anxiety, fear, or boredom—I’ve got two tips.

The first is that drawing for ten minutes or less a day will make you feel orders of magnitude better than not drawing at all for another day in a row. Even thirty seconds will likely get the job done for you, mentally. I’m not going to BS you and say that you’ll improve much if you draw for ten minutes a day, every day, and no more, but it will give you peace of mind. Even as someone who’s trying to improve their art I find this fact really valuable, simply because I know from experience that getting yourself comfortable with drawing a little bit every day is a really reliable method of getting yourself to draw a lot every day. When you finally have the free time to draw (weekends, breaks, etc.), you’ll thank yourself for setting up that stepping stone.

The second is particularly meant for students with a very specific problem: avoiding making art because you should be studying instead. My roundabout solution works well for me, but may not work for a student who genuinely does not have any free time in their day, so keep that in mind. For me, it works to remind myself that I can easily spend one to three hours a day mindlessly browsing the internet or watching videos, but for some reason my mind takes no issue with this even during exam season. When I’m hesitant about picking up the tablet pen because I’m thinking about the exam in four days, I just tell myself that I’m replacing the time I’d be wasting anyways with something that I consider fulfilling.

I wish you the best of luck with everything (’you’ referring generally to anyone balancing art and school/work; this ask is old enough that the original asker may well be a doctor by now, who knows), and I hope you and art have a good relationship in the years to come. Cue random sketch.

[ikimaru]

Do you plan on uploading anymore speedpaints? Even if they're old or new, I would love see more. You should also include the sketching part, I think it adds that pizzazz of watching an empty canvas to one of your amazing pieces

I responded to this a few days ago so here’s the more lengthy explanation lool

I /usually/ don’t record speedpaints anymore for a bunch of reasons:

- my drawing process is very chaotic and I often work on 3 or more pics at the same time, when I get bored of one I switch to another and so on, it helps me not to look one same pic for too long while working on it, so sticking to just one pic for the whole time feels forced to me (I also almost never finish pics in one seat which means every time I have to reopen the recording program and set up the previous window ratio again which is. annoying)

-  my recording program doesn’t do window-lock meaning whenever I open discord or any other window it ends up in the recording so I have to pause/unpause a lot and the pause screen ends up in the recording as well which is also annoying if it shows up every few seconds once the video is sped up (and is also a pain to remove them all in the editing program skdjg it can take hours)

- I like to watch videos or series/movies at the side of the screen while I draw and I can’t do it if I need to use most of the screen for the recording

- my “sketching part” of pics at times can look /really/ weird in a “floating eyes and other random stuff” or “is that an alien” kinda way and I mean it’s hilarious but I usually don’t feel like sharing that lmAo

- it takes me way too long find a song to use in background, and putting the speedpaint together takes me longer than the picture itself at times, also uploading it on YT takes an hour too for just a few mins of video

so this is the longer explanation of the main reasons if you were curious 😂

all in all, just too annoying to keep doing it, but I’m glad you’d like to see more of them haha

[drink-n-watch]

  Genre : Action, comedy, supernatural, urban fantasy, science fiction.

Episodes: 12

Studio: Bones

  Being a teenager is hard. Your body does all sorts of crazy things, your hormones go wild. And you’re supposed to figure out who you are through all that? How is that a reasonable plan? And what if there’s a chance that “who you are” is someone very dangerous to everyone around you? But certainly, that couldn’t apply to Mob! If anything, the boy is too soft in every sense of the word. He couldn’t hurt a fly. Even if he somehow manages to summon up the emotional rigour, there’s no way he could catch the fly and still have the strength to do anything else. No, a boy like Mob is not someone to worry about. Not when you have evil spirits, shadowy psychic organizations and smooth-talking con artists to deal with already. What could some quiet, unassuming boy possibly do?

Well, it certainly took me long enough to get to this one. The second season is already out and done before I got my lazy behind to watch the first. There’s no real reason for that. I always knew that I wanted to watch Mob Psycho 100, I just didn’t know why.

get ready to have your mind blown!

I don’t think I’ll shock anyone by saying that Mob Psycho has a very distinctive look. I’m not sure how to describe it. “Sketchy” as in it looks like sketches. The outlines are a little rough. The character models go through wild transformation on a regular basis. The colours are purposefully flat. It’s not at all in line with a lot of the more popular trends in current anime aesthetics.

I loved it. I thought about at least 4 people I could recommend Mob Psycho 100 to on the art alone. But I also know of at least 2 people who refuse to watch the series for the same reason. I guess you have to choose for yourself.

One of the definitive upsides to having more “naive” art and fluid character models is that animation becomes less restricted. There are some crazy physics going on in this show and it’s really fun to watch. One thing I noticed is that while everyone else zooms around the screen, Mob is largely immobile during combat. For a second I thought this might be an animation shortcut but I quickly realized that this goes hand in hand with the running joke (pun intended) of Mob having no physical stamina. Nice little animation character building!

he might need a bit more than encouragement

As the show is unexpectedly character-driven, I was happy to hear such an accomplished cast. I can’t really single any performance out. For me, I would say the strength lies in the undeniable chemistry between characters. The relationships are very important in the narrative and the actors’ performances go a long way toward selling them.

I had heard a lot of vaguely good things about Mob Psycho 100. Mostly personal to the writers. It’s simply a show a lot of people like. However, as I was planning on watching it, I never looked too deeply into why people were enjoying it so much as I didn’t want to spoil myself. That’s probably why I never heard just how smart this show is.

The writing in Mob Psycho is clever and witty. Not just the dialogue mind you. The setups, the visual metaphors and yes, the dialogue, all of them are just..smart. clearly smarter than me. For example, there’s a running gag about Mob accidentally bending the spoon he’s eating with during dinner. His mom exasperated tells him to try and be careful while his dad jovially chimes in that “he’s a teenager, let him bend a few spoons”. I love this joke. It my type of absurdist humour but even if you don’t, I can still use it to illustrate my point. First, it works on many levels. The Yong ones may not register it as a joke at all, older viewers might register the light nonsense, while the others could pick up on the innuendo. It’s like Pixar at it’s best, offering the possibility of being understood and appreciated from multiple angles and therefore by varied audiences.

spoons are a recurring visual metaphor for Ritsu’s insecurities and inability to relate to his brother, often shown in how refections get distorted in the curved surface… 

But it goes beyond just that. These dinner scenes are some of the extremely rare occasions we see Mob’s parents at all, yet we instinctively get so much from them. We know they eat as a family regularly enough for this to be a repeated event, probably just about every day. We know both his parents are comfortable enough with Mob’s powers to either scold him about them or poke fun as if it was no more special than talking with his mouth full. We know his mom is a bit fussy but cares about him and his dad is easy going. We can tell that Mob has a caring and close family which partly explains his crippling fear of accidentally hurting loved ones. We know all this, from one very short , very natural, running gag. Impressive!

Mob Psycho has some masterful exposition free character building. By the middle of the very first episode. Having only seen Reigen and Mob, I already had a pretty good idea who they were and how they related to each other even though I knew almost nothing about them. To me, that was smart writing. And to a lover of character driven shows, it was irresistible!

You may be wondering about my lofty title. You see, while watching the show a few things started to bubble in my brain. There were these themes of growing pains, of having a hero with the mindset of an ordinary guy in extraordinary circumstances, of self imposed isolation through guilt and fear as well as difficult family bonds and disappointing mentor figures. Basically, it really reminded me of Evangelion. I said so on twitter.

Surprisingly only one person was horrified by this statement. But I stand by it. I prefer the subtler approach of Mob Psycho 100 and I will happily point at this show when people tell me quality anime is no longer being made.

Of course comparing Mob Psycho 100 to Neon (grrrr) Genesis Evangelion is rather pointless. Save from the themes and character archetypes, they are drastically different in tone, genre and even message. It’s apples and oranges. In fact when I mentioned Pixar earlier, it wasn’t random. There’s a lot about Mob Psycho that makes you think it’s a kid’s show. A smart one that can easily be enjoyed by adults but still remains accessible to younger audiences. Consequences never get too bloody, villains are fairly uncomplicated evil so far. You always know exactly who to cheer for. Despite all its wit, it stays straightforward in its morality.

But who cares. There are many brilliant works that are written in a way that can be enjoyed by audiences of all ages. That’s part of the brilliance really! And this is one of them.

dimple was a great sarcastic audience surrogate

Favourite character: Reigen

What this anime taught me: When you shave hair it grows back twice as long

One should always be drunk. That’s all that matters…But with what? With wine, with poetry, or with virtue, as you chose. But get drunk.

Suggested drink: Clairvoyant

Every time Mob performs an exorcism – take a sip

Every time Reigen uses a “special move” – raise your glass

Every time Mob attempts to run – take a sip

Every time we see the super awesome Body Improvement club – cheer!

Every time Mob’s % changes – take a sip

Every time the art style changes – take another sip

Every time Ritsu protects Mob – take a sip

Every time Dimple possesses someone – take a sip

Every time Reigen gives good advice – listen..in stunned silence

Every time we see the Kageyama house – take a sip

Every time we see a spoon – get a snack!

I love Bones’ visuals. They really speak to me. So once again I uploaded a whole bunch of screencaps to Pinterest and Imgur.

    Mob Psycho 100 s1 – The New Guard Genre : Action, comedy, supernatural, urban fantasy, science fiction. Episodes: 12 Studio: Bones Being a teenager is hard.

[selunare]

Back to Tumblr + Practice Experiences

Hi everyone! After over a month hiatus I am back to Tumblr. I hope you have been all doing well:)

It's been an amazing break. My art style and anatomy changed a lot over the last weeks and I am more statisfied with my drawings. My main focus were 5 minutes challenges (all in all I did 40 since november last year), studying anatomy from photos, creating or redesigning characters and practicing poses a bit.

5 minutes challenges is something I can recommend to everyone who wants to strengthen their drawing skills. They are also great practice if you need to warm up or don't know what exactly you want to draw. It helped me much to loosen myself from expectations and perfectionsmus because it is normal that the sketch won't become a detailed masterpiece in just five minutes. Often I just drew my usual front view bust drawings but I noticed the differences between the individual sketches and that helped me to get a better eye on what looks right or wrong. Sometimes I also got nice ideas for using the sketches for better drawings.

Before I started with my practice, I had no idea how important anatomy and references are and how much of a difference they can make if you practice with them. Just recently I drew a picture with two of my OCs and it still surprises me how much you can improve with just references and drawing a proper anatomy. I will upload a picture of the process as soon as it is finished as I think that it could help other artists as well.

Designing characters was something that I enjoyed but I was often too blocked to come up with new ideas. During my hiatus I started to change that and tried out new things. I designed quite a few characters from my fantasy story and it was such an amazing experience to breathe life into them through drawing. Drawing and writing complement each other so well. I also got a little bit further with my story project. For the first time I wrote a scene from the perspective of my antagonist and now I really like him and his connection with one of my other characters. Suddenly the characters started telling me their story and I even finally know the story goal of one character. It took me so long to get to that pointxD

In my last journal I talked about changes that were to come as soon as I came back to tumblr. So I will reveal them: I already started with this process but I want to go into another direction with my drawing style. It will be less Sonic styled and more Manga and maybe Anthro like. I am still not sure how I should best explain it but I guess it doesn't matter because you will see it when I upload new drawings anyway. I want to keep my old stiff drawing style behind and evolve further and that's why I will change my username. I thought long about this step and it took me a while to find a fitting name. As soon as I have Core Membership on deviantart I will change my name on tumblr and deviantart.That doesn't mean that I will not draw Sonic characters anymore. It just means that it won't completely look like the official Sonic style anymore.

Completely random note: Paint Tool Sai Version 2 is just amazing:D I enjoy using it a lot. I will get back soon to uploading drawings:)

[thekleesh]

Hey what’s up Tumblr it’s been a little while

I haven’t made an actual post besides reblogging my girlfriend’s art on here in a good few years and I figured with seeing how Twitter is doing these days, now might be a good time to post a big-ass update.

NUMBER ONE:

My YouTube channel is doing well! I just posted this big huge sexy video about emulation and why you should do it and why it isn’t illegal (if you do it the right way). I’m super proud of it. Check it out!

In addition, I have uploaded a few other videos since my last post that I think (most of) are pretty cool, so if you enjoy this one I implore you to give the rest of my channel a shot.

Here’s one of my favorites.

Here’s another one for good measure.

NUMBER TWO:

Since my last post, I have also made a significant change to the way my streams are broadcasted. Up until last month, I used Twitch for all of my streaming endeavors. I did decently well for myself, met some great people, made some amazing friends, and even received a handful of payouts. I already made a big announcement video going into greater detail about this, but the short version is I am no longer on Twitch. I decided I didn’t like splitting my attention between Twitch and YouTube, so I have fully moved over to streaming on YouTube. It was a big change considering how long I’ve been on Twitch, but I am confident in my decision.

If you would like to see the farewell stream I did announcing all of this and going into greater detail as well as answering some questions, that’s right here.

NUMBER THREE:

I have been doing art still! I don’t do it particularly often, but I have a couple pieces I’m willing to share with you today. I’ll likely make separate posts for these later on, but I’ll stick them here in the meantime to make my post look longer than it actually is.

The first one is Marie from Splatoon! This is part of a collab I did with @skyeroxy where she sketched both Squid Sisters, and we each painted one. I am incredibly happy with how the collab turned out and I think I did a good job with Marie. I would hope so, because she’s my favorite.

Earlier in the year I also took a crack at drawing Captain Amelia from Treasure Planet. I rewatched the movie on a whim one day and each time I do it only solidifies the fact that it’s my favorite animated Disney movie, it just doesn’t get old.

Once again, these (and a few others) will get their own posts probably later in the week.

NUMBER FOUR:

Just kidding there isn’t a fourth point. I would just like to reiterate that yes, I will likely be more active on here than I have been. Even if Twitter doesn’t fizzle out in the next few days I really enjoy the much more relaxed atmosphere that exists on this site, so I’ll probably spend less time on Twitter and more time here regardless of what happens.

I have two blogs, there’s this one and my side blog.

I will reserve this blog for serious announcements like videos and maybe stream alerts (which will be deleted after the corresponding streams have concluded). My side blog is for frequent reblogging of things I enjoy like video games, memes, cool art, you get the idea. Basically retweeting on cocaine. If Twitter really truly does go down in a pit of flames, I’ll use my main account (this one) to post random bullshit thoughts and opinions and jokes and whatever else I do on my Twitter currently.

Aaaand for good measure, some links:

YouTube (Main Channel) // (Live)

YouTube (Stream Archive)

TikTok (FUCK this website I just post clips from my streams on it)

Twitter (A bit redundant to put this here but hey, it’s here)

I am technically available on other sites, like my Twitch account is still around, but these are the ONLY ones where you’ll find me active in any capacity. I still use Twitch but only as a viewer these days.

I’m working on a new public Discord server as well, I’ll post the invite to that when I feel it is ready. It’s coming along.

Alright, that’s it. Thank you for reading.

:]

[architectnews]

arch8 Re-Vision competition 2021

arch8 Re-Vision Design Competition, 2021 Contest, Architectural Prize News

arch8 Re-Vision Design Competition 2021

1 July 2021

arch8 Re-Vision Competition

RE-VISION

We laughed, we cried, we raged against the dying of the light, which was the ending of our favorite shows. Sitcoms have been there since the dawn of tv… From a CRT television to a flat-screen to our laptops to all-powerful OTT platforms, sitcoms have come a long way. But there is always that one show, that one sitcom you can watch over and over. Whether it’s before you go to bed, during your meals, or after finishing the most boring assignment ever.

The one with a character you admire, the one whose dialogues are like your second language, you got the idea… Right! We’ve seen it so often that we are aware of all the details. So what if we tell you that now you can change it and show people your perspective. Show them how it could have been if these sitcoms were shot in this day and age with you as their interior designer. So now, you’ll have the same people as before but with the needs of today’s world.

Whenever we propose a design for our clients, we try to incorporate every requirement of them. But our ideas are based more on our experiences and less on the profiles of the users. Because well, for God’s sake we just met them!! So if we are provided the possibility of knowing our client inside out, can we now propose the best-suited design for them? (Of course, we can!)

Having said that, ARCH8 is here with yet another competition for you all, this time an interior designing competition. We shortlisted 3 most famous sitcoms of all time: Friends, Big Bang Theory, and How I Met Your Mother.

Re-design any one of the following apartments:

1. Monica and Rachel’s apartment 2. Joey and Chandler’s apartment 3. Sheldon and Leonard’s apartment 4. Ted and Marshall’s apartment

You can download the .cad files of floor plans at arch8.in

Character Sketch

A little something to help you out.

1. MONICA: Monica is a chef in her early 30s. She is obsessive about things being clean and in order. (‘ Things shouldn’t be just ‘health department’ clean, they should be ‘Monica clean.’) She likes to host gatherings and invite people over for dinners and parties. She is the ‘mother ‘ of the group and can be sometimes dominative.

2. RACHEL: She has switched jobs from being a waitress to an executive at Ralph Lauren. All her friends come to her for fashion advice. She likes to shop. Rachel is very careless (as she says,” I shouldn’t be allowed to make decisions anymore.”) She is funny, spirited but pretty self-involved. She does not easily get along with other women (“That’s OK, Girls tend to not like me”).

3. CHANDLER: Chandler is a funny guy (Jokes are his ‘thing’). Chandler works in statistical analysis and data reconfiguration but nobody knows where he works (he’s a ‘transponster’). Chandler’s generally embarrassed by his parents, his job, and his relationship status. His sense of humor helps him cope with all of these problems. He is notoriously sarcastic. He is the highest-earning member of his friends’ circle.

4. JOEY: Joey is an actor whose work can be seen in the show “Days of Our Lives”. He is a child at heart and a foodie (Joey doesn’t share food). He likes all the kitsch art. He never gets in a serious relationship. He is dim-witted but good-natured. He likes to play foosball and is a big fan of ‘Baywatch’.

5. SHELDON: Sheldon is a theoretical physicist. He lives his life with rules and regulations and is obsessed with logical reasoning. He is interested in comic books and science fiction. Sheldon comes off as a stereotypical nerd and really has no qualms about it (but he is not crazy, his mother got him tested). He is socially awkward and likes to spend most of his time at home and at work.

6. LEONARD: He is an experimental physicist. He is a huge fan of Star Wars, science fiction, and comic books. Leonard is extremely nerdy and mainly associates with people who fit this description (“12 years after high school and I’m still at the nerd table.”). He also plays the cello. He is lactose intolerant. He lives in the apartment by Sheldon’s rules and regulations.

7. TED: Call him an architect, a hopeless romantic, or a know it all, you can say that he’s the embodiment of it all. Since college, Ted has been in many toxic relationships where he was considered an outcast or “not traditionally cool” i.e dorky. Interests… telling stories, falling in love, believing in destiny, avoiding confrontation, Renaissance Faires, crossword puzzles, Star Wars, breakfast foods, show tunes, girls who play bass guitar, giving “the best” gifts, and reading serious literature. (Random girl: What made you want to be an architect? Ted: Well you know, the soul of an artist, hands of a master craftsman… it was inevitable)

8. MARSHALL: Though he is arguably the kindest member of the group, he never shies away from a spirited debate, usually shouting “Lawyered!” if (well, “when”) he wins. A lawyer who’s madly in love with his partner in crime, Lily (his fiance). Creator of a funk band called “The Funk, The Whole Funk, And Nothing But The Funk”, he is a 6’4, supernatural (i.e Bigfoot, loch ness monster, and ghost) nerd and a foodie with a passion for star wars and playing (and winning) board games.

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENT

The Proposal to be presented on One Landscape Oriented A1 Sheet. Proposals may be presented using any technique of your choice (sketches, diagrams, 3D visualizations, model photos, CAD drawings, etc.) Team code (UIC) to be mentioned on the Top Right-Hand corner of the sheet. The proposal MUST NOT include ANY INFORMATION (name, Organization, School, etc.) that may give away your identity. All text must be in ENGLISH, with a MAXIMUM of 150 WORDS for project explanation. All dimensions should be imperial or metric units.

SUBMISSION FORMAT

841MM X 594MM Submit in .jpeg format of file size not more than 5Mb. Submit your entry at: hello@arch8.in The subject of the mail: Your UIC (XXXXX) Name of the file uploaded: Your UIC (XXXXX)

*Participants Teamcode (UIC) will be provided by ARCH8 once you have completed the registration process.

REGISTRATION DETAILS

Indian National / Foreign National

Early-bird Registration 1st July – 15th July ’21 350 Inr / 7 US$

Standard Registration 16th July – 31st July ’21 420 Inr / 10 US$

Late Registration 1st Aug – 15th Aug ’21 540 Inr / 15 US$

NOTE: A team can have up to 3 members. The amount is non-refundable. Late registered participants will receive 5 extra days for submission.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

Anyone can participate irrespective of profession or qualification, and present their ideas. Participants can submit multiple entries but that would require multiple registrations. A team can have up to 3 members.

TIMELINE

Registration deadline: 15th August 2021 Submission deadline: 20th August 2021 The submission deadline for all the participants who registered between 1st August and 15th August is 25th August 2021 Result announcement: 30th August 2021

*All the Deadlines are 23:59 – 24:00 IST (INDIA) The following dates can be a subject of modification, if necessary.

PRIZES

Total cash prize worth 15,000 INR.

Winner: Cash prize of INR 7500 + Acknowledgement on our website and social media + publication of the participants’ interview (Video) on website + 40% discount on your next architecture competition + certificate of achievement

1st Runner-up: Cash prize of INR 4500 + Acknowledgement on our website + publication of the participants’ interview (Video) on website + 30% discount on our next architecture competition + certificate of achievement

2nd Runner-up: Cash prize of INR 3000 + Acknowledgement on our website + publication of the participants’ interview (Video) on website + 20% discount on our next architecture competition + certificate of achievement

10 Honorable mentions: Acknowledgement on our website + 10% discount on our next architecture competition + certificate of achievement

Participation certificate for all the participants.

EVALUATION CRITERIA

The competition aims to explore how participants think through the basic functionality of spaces of the house, meaningful conceptualization behind design, thoughtful aesthetics, and expressive presentation.

Entries will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

1. ORIGINALITY 2. INNOVATION 3. PRESENTATION

FAQs

1. What is the nature of the competition? ‘RE-VISION’ is an open idea design competition challenge that is open for students, professionals & any individual with a creative mind.

2. Who can participate in the competition? Architecture students, Architects, Interior Designer, Civil engineers & anyone with creativity can participate in the competition.

3. How many members can be a part of a team? A team can have a maximum of 3 members. You can also participate individually.

4. Will every participant get a certificate of participation? Yes, every participant who submits a panel will receive an e-certificate.

5. What should be done in case a payment mode is not available in a particular country? We request the participants to write about the issue at hello@arch8.in to get other payment options in such a case. We will send all possible payment methods.

6. How will a team get its Unique Identification Code? The Unique Identification Code ( UIC ) will be mailed to your registered e-mail address within 24 hrs after completing the registration process. There is only one UIC code for all the team members of a team.

7. What is the use of a Unique Identification Code? All the participants are requested to use their UIC at the top right corner of your submission as it is your identity for the competition-related processes.

8. What to do if a participant does not receive the UIC after making payment? In such cases, the participants are asked to mail their payment receipt hello@arch8.in.

9. Does the 150-word limit include legends & one-liners in the sheet? No, the 150-word limit is for the proposal explanation only and it does not include the legends & one-liners on the sheet.

RULES AND REGULATIONS

1. In case you still have questions related to the briefs and the competition, please send them to hello@arch8.in 2. It is possible to amend or update any information relating to your registration including the names of team members once registered, mail us your query at hello@arch8.in. 3. Participant teams will be disqualified if any of the competition rules or submission requirements are not considered. 4. Team code (UIC) is the only means of identification of a team as it is an anonymous competition. Hence, a submission with its UIC will be disqualified from the competition. 5. The official language of the competition is English. 6. The registration fee is non-refundable.

arch8 Re-Vision Competition image / information received 300621

arch8 Architecture Competitions

arch8 Lock-Unlock Competition arch8 Lock-Unlock Competition

arch8 Street-a-float Design Competition 2021 Street-a-float Design Competition 2021

arch8 studio Competition arch8 studio Competition

Architectural Contests

Architectural Competitions : links

Architecture Competitions

Archiol A4TC Architecture Thesis Competition Archiol A4TC Architecture Thesis Competition

CUBE Design Competition 2021 CUBE Design Competition 2021

REVERENCE: Memorial Structure Design Competition REVERENCE: Memorial Structure Design Competition

Comments / photos for the arch8 Re-Vision competition 2021 page welcome

The post arch8 Re-Vision competition 2021 appeared first on e-architect.

[kellymcleanpromotion]

Ceramics Memory in the mould .

The st mags goblets .

The queen's gambit.

2020/21

Ceramics 2021 Memory

In this project we are asked to look at various techniques to create multiples of our chosen objects. A timetable been useful to stay on track to complete a selection of samples as the firing schedules will need to be taken into account often 2 or 3 firings are needed to finish a piece. Research should include artists and recorded analysis, evaluation and sampling ideas for chosen theme. Mould making using different techniques and materials.

A full evaluation report can be uploaded to personal blogs or in sketch book formats.

My chosen object and my interpretation of memory takes into account the actual process of taking a mould which gives a lasting imprint of the object of how it was in that moment. No matter what happens to the original the memory of its former self is kept intact.

I decided to look at various bottles including my teenage son’s aftershave bottles, as they have grown that beautiful baby scent of baby powder has disappeared, new memories are being made and no doubt the overbearing smell of designer aftershaves will forever be with me. (Definitely better than their bedroom). The techniques I have chosen to work with are creating plaster moulds, scratch and slip, slip cast and press moulds. Since being in lockdown learning I learned a lot about the need to make lasting memories with the children, spending quality time with them and finding balance between work and home life, sampling will include found items from outside as well as interesting items in the home. I also intend to look over older projects previously unfinished. The piece was originally designed using a pre made mould and clay taken straight from the ground of my daughter’s primary school. These pieces will give me the opportunity to look further into alternative firing techniques. Given that the clay is reclaimed I see it as a memory of what it was and what it is now.

Artist Research

https://madelena.com/majolica-pottery-3-types.php

I found myself looking at interesting decorative finishes from around the world. Interesting articles and imagery have been recorded by Pinterest board.

https://pin.it/6Py6LO7 Pin boards reference

Main Considerations.

Choosing the best object.

Plastic

Glass

Cardboard

Lino

Wood has to be coated beforehand

Breakages will require more time to recreate or can be fixed together before casting.

I used cobalt oxide which is highly toxic and the use of masks is necessary.

Creating Moulds

The best way for me is to create large clay walls around object to pour in plaster which has to be at correct consistency, if when mixing the plaster starts to feel warm it is drying up. It is important to think about quantity of plaster required. Any clay that has plaster could crack in kiln.

Mindful of wastage. Clay walls can be reused only to build boundary walls and must be completely sealed. I also find it more efficient if leaks do occur as blocking and reducing spillage is quicker and less likely to cause any major issues.

I also looked at the process of making my own silicone moulds using water, fairy liquid and silicone which is relatively easy and cheap creating some interesting moulds I found this particularly

Satisfying when mixing the texture when silicone with soap. After creating a mould around the object allow the silicone to rest and set, the opening of the sealed piece is better to be slit in a jagged cut to allow the mould to be put back together it’s important to only cut down sides and leave the bottom sealed completely. Melted wax works very well with the silicone open the top with a hole and pouring the melted wax through a funnel easily made with a piece of acetate and tape as seen above.

The silicone moulds are very useful when working with mixed media and materials and can be used for multidisciplinary practices. Wax, resin, plaster, slip, soap. These moulds and materials can then be used in jewellery design, glass art and sculpture. I look forward to learning how to cast glass from wax from a chosen silicone mould.

Technical notes

Slip cast is the process of pouring the clay slip into a mould however I found this to be too thin in line with the pieces I was trying to create.

The mixture has to be poured in evenly and left to form a successful piece.

Press moulds can be flat or 3d and cast as two halves, I prefer this method as I have more control over the weight, thickness and the joins. Joining the two pieces is done by scratch and slip method which helps to ensure a bonded seal that is less likely to cause any cracks when fired.

The first firing is the bisque process raising the temperature slowly to drive out any water and carbon content. It is a good idea to dry out your clay to at least bone-dry state before putting into the kiln.

Top temperature is between 1000 and 1100 °c, the piece can then be decorated with coloured or transparent glazes. Glazes also come in matt finish it is best practice to follow manufacturer instructions this is also best when using decals to decorate ceramic and glass.

Slip cast 1st attempts Sometimes it goes perfectly wrong.

The queen’s gambit.

Decorative finishes, Oxide, Glazing and brush strokes

Reclaimed clay

Oxides with transparent glaze 1060°c

These goblets were bisque fired natural clay, using clay tool I tried to create a Japanese style of blossoms using thin lines. After the initial firing I decided to look at alternative options and used cobalt oxide which I rubbed into the cracks and washed off however I felt that I would like to define the strokes more so used a thin brush to paint the Oxide on to the surface. Afterwards I decided to look at various Glazing options and found myself experimenting using transparent glaze and rubbing it off I used a couple of thin layers just to test how this would look and see if it would create a crackle look to give the impression of aging. The results were really interesting and I fell in love with this piece not just its colours but the texture and the imperfections created something really exciting. The techniques used in layers and the adding and taking away of glazes also gave me a sense of palimpsest. This soon became increasingly interesting and I began to look at alternative ways of making multiples from a mould that would be completely identical in shape, material and form, fired at the same time yet creating completely different colours and random decorative pattern, the art of design vs chance. The process of raku interests me and with this in mind I have started to look into building an alternative kiln to create multiples of randomised decorative pots ,pans and goblets. To do this I will need to look at pit and barrel firing techniques and build one safely. The project was definitely an enjoyable experience and I intend to explore the industry and alternative options in my future practices.

Overall, I believe that I used my time, materials and resources including lectures online and in work shop effectively and created unique personal interpretation of the brief and found the techniques enjoyable.