#And colouring those sketches in a way that's quick but also looks good

[lienwyn]

Kang Yo Han in his natural habitat, as observed by Kim Ga On

OR

You want to fuck that old man so bad it makes you look stupid

[thewomanwhoboughttheworld]

I reckon it is widely accepted that Crowley and Freddie Mercury were, at the very least, besties, sometimes lovers, sometimes had a fling or dated. But I have feelings and headcanons nobody asked for that I have to share.

They met while Freddie was still in college. Freddie saw Crowley, drew a quick sketch of him and got up and gave it to Crowley. "I promise I will draw you a better one, dear." He never did, but Crowley still keeps the drawing and miracled it to always look like just made.

Crowley never really liked Mary Austin. He didn't like her when she was Freddie's girlfriend and always found a way to inconvenience her. He still doesn't like her, especially after she put Freddie's belongings up for auction. He liked Jim Hutton, however.

Freddie kissed Crowley first. It was after a rehearsal of one of Freddie's early bands, Crowley was giving him his feedback. Freddie just leaned in and kissed him. He avoided the demon for the following two weeks as he was confused (he still hadn't realised he liked boys) and felt embarrassed.

Even though they were both adamant that there were no feelings involved, they both deeply cared for each other. Neither would admit it, saying they were only friends who (more than) occasionally hooked up, but they both knew there was more. However, Freddie fell a bit harder even though he knew Crowley wasn't in love with him. It did hurt a bit, but he was eventually fine with it.

Freddie actually knew about Crowley and Aziraphale being a demon and an angel. Crowley told him one night while they were both drunk and then Freddie remembered and asked him. Crowley tried to deny it, but Freddie insisted so much that in the end, he decided to tell him everything as he knew Freddie wouldn't tell anybody. And he never did, he treated this like his own secret.

The first time Freddie saw Crowley's eyes, Crowley thought he would be scared. But Freddie just said: "I know they're snake eyes, but they remind me of my cats. And what a lovely colour, darling. Yellow's my favourite, you know?".

Crowley ranted A LOT about Aziraphale to Freddie. He was always going on about how much he hated his being a goody-two-shoes, how infuriating his constant reminding him that he was actually a good person and how the fuck can 6000 years be too fast? Freddie just smiled because he knew. He could see how much Crowley loved that angel. It broke his own heart, because he knew he could never be loved that much, but never said a word.

Freddie did write a lot of songs about Crowley and Aziraphale. Obviously Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy, but also Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Somebody to Love and many more. Spread Your Wings is specifically about Crowley and he knew. But what Freddie would never tell anyone, a secret that he brought to the tomb with him, is that he wrote Love of My Life and You Take my Breath Away for him. (told you that Freddie was in love, my poor baby suffered too much in his life).

Freddie taught Crowley how to play the piano.

Crowley auctioned for some of Freddie's belongings. He got some kimonos, some handwritten sheets and his piano. He couldn't let anyone else have it.

Crowley never really left Freddie's side. He was always that mysterious, dark and handsome man showing up especially when Freddie needed someone. People eventually accepted it as part of Freddie's charm as he was always so secretive about his personal life.

Freddie let himself be vulnerable only around Crowley. Just as Crowley took off his glasses with him, Freddie allowed himself to cry only those times in which they were alone. He cried in Crowley's arms so much when his illness was worsening, when he was scared of how much he would have suffered. One night it got so bad that Freddie was basically begging Crowley to end his suffering and Crowley had to perform a miracle so that he could sleep. Neither brought it up ever again.

When Freddie died, Crowley was there with him. He gave Freddie just enough life to allow him to say some words. "You promised me you wouldn't come," Freddie told him. "I'm a demon, I lied" replied Crowley with a broken voice. He then sat on the bed and stayed with him until the very last moment. Aziraphale was there too. He followed Crowley without telling him because he felt he needed him. Aziraphale took away Freddie's suffering so that he could go without pain.

That same night, Aziraphale tried to persuade Crowley to stay at his library because he thought Crowley needed a friend. Crowley refused, hopped on his Bentley and drove away. He parked in front of his apartment building and found a used packet of cigarettes and an old pair of sunglasses that belonged to Freddie in his car. As the radio passed Love of my life, he couldn't hold it anymore and burst into tears. He cried hard, really hard. He felt a familiar hand on his back but didn't look and didn't ask. Aziraphale never said anything either and didn't leave until Crowley stopped crying but before he could be seen. He remembered how much it hurt and didn't want Crowley to grieve alone.

Master post: here

[leathfaic]

Ghost and Soap tattoo headcanons because the brain worms demand it right now!

In my mind at least Ghost has a lot more tattoos than just his sleeve, it's just not common knowledge because until he gets together with Soap no one ever really sees him undressed except maybe for medical staff.

The sleeve was the beginning but he's adding to them whenever leave allows, on his chest and back, on his legs and his other arms and even his hands. Ghost is also the kind of guy that is very stoic while getting tattoos, the pain doesn't really bother him, he's been through so much worse, but he's not the guy who's chatting with the artist either. He just sits through it. Similarly afterwards he's pretty disciplined about the aftercare required. Sun rarely is an issue with the way he dresses and he plans his leave times around the appointments so he can take it easy for a while.

When the inevitable itching starts he just glares at the spot, never actually touching it, but he gets fucking irritated for a few days.

And while he's not the best at taking care of himself in many aspects of his life I can actually see him take good care of his tattoos in the long run, because I imagine him getting them to cover up scars, especially those left by Roba and his men. It's his way of reclaiming his body. The motive itself often isn't as important as the fact that he chose to have it put at that spot. The meaning isn't in the design either it's in the fact that it was his decision to wear it, unlike the scars that were forced upon him.

And then there's Soap, he's only got the one tattoo that we know, at least when he meets Ghost.

Its faded from sunlight exposure and because he never took proper care of it while it healed, even caught himself scratching it once or twice when the itching started. Its always exposed and he rarely thinks of putting sunscreen on, so naturally the tattoo has a hard time and the colour fades quick.

So at some point Ghost asks him if he wants it touched up. He's making an appointment with the artist he trusts anyways and he'd be happy to bring him along. Ghost knows that for Soap his tattoo does have meaning, that he's fucking proud to have made it into the SAS and that he got kinda sad comparing the crisp lines of Ghost's tattoos to his own.

Soap ends up agreeing although he's wary since he can't see it go better than it did last time. But if anything the fact that Ghost is allowing him to come along for this is such a huge sign of trust that he just can't refuse it.

And Ghost's tattoo artist is going to have to recover for a moment because Soap is so fucking chatty compared to Ghost, the pain is kinda exciting to him so he talks more and more and the artist hears more words out of Ghost in response to Johnny than he ever did before. Would wonder if it was the same man if they weren't literally continuing work on a tattoo they had started.

Once they are both done Ghost makes sure Soap takes proper care of the new ink. Threatens to tie him to the bed if he starts scratching at night (something Soap finds entirely too exciting). Shares his care products with him and makes him wrap it up for the first weeks and months. Is always at hand with some sun screen, at least for the arm, even when they are in the middle of nowhere. It's worth the trouble to squeeze some sun screen in his pack when he gets to see Johnny so happy about how good his tattoo looks again.

And once he sees how a properly taken care of piece will look Soap wants more. Ends up accompanying Ghost to the studio whenever he goes.

He's creative, most of what ends up on him is based on his own sketches, always with meaning behind it for him. The next thing he gets is a certain skull based on a specific mask that he wears close to his heart (making Ghost go through emotions he wasn't aware he was capable of having). He also helps Ghost with giving some of his ideas form often redrawing endless variations to make sure Simon doesn't just pick one that seems okay and fitting for its purpose but one he really likes to look at too. Poor man almost loses it when he sees one of his sketches inked on Ghost for the first time and its a good thing they are on leave because he's not gonna let him out of their bed any time soon. Purely to protect the new ink from the sun of course.

[kedikatzen]

Do you have advice on how to draw characters with different body types and faces like you do? Me and my sister have been amazed with you art style since your first comic and its a big insperation to us

Tons, and I honestly need to just make a video on it x'D But I'll do my best to make something cohesive here, while keeping it quick. I'm also definitely not the expert, I'm just somebody trying to learn as I go and trying to constantly improve.

I bring this up first because this is something of a bad habit I've noticed a lot of people slip into - I've slipped into it myself, and had to make a conscious effort to get out of it. When it comes to bad habits in art, I try to point them out and cut them out, because it'll be harder to steer away from doing it once you've made it a go-to.

You really want to strive to create bodies that are similar "weights" or "builds" while also still looking different. Some people are top heavy and some are bottom heavy. Some people are skinny and other people are lean, they're different. A good way to practice in a way that builds better habits would be to draw a bunch of bodies in a certain weight or form category that still look different.

When it comes to those little things that set your characters apart, you want to strive to keep those unique to them as well, and while this is nice:

it might be relying too heavily on the little details to set characters apart. All your characters wearing different coloured t-shirts doesn't change that, at the end of the day, they're all wearing t-shirts. Try to break things down to the bare bones, and make sure they're still distinguishable and unique to them.

That said, don't become so fixated on making each and every person so perfectly unique that it stunts you. Some characters will have the same bodies, some characters will have similar faces, etc. Aesthetic still plays a role in overall bigger pictures, characters should be cohesive with each other if they're all in the same world, etc.

The single best thing I think you can do as an artist is go out and draw real people. Draw shapes, draw quick sketches, draw structures, draw what you see. There's so much variety and beauty out in the world, it's the best place to find inspiration and practice for your work. I used to sit in cafes or at parks or even bus stops and just draw shapes I saw, very basic shapes and gestures but it got me out of my comfort zone and helped me see more variety.

[akaiitori]

Attack Dog - Rendering Breakdown

OK here's an attempt at explaining how I go with illustrations. This isn't necessarily an 'effective' way to paint, but rather it's a process to maximize my personal enjoyment. I encourage you to do the same! Find those steps you have the most fun with, and exploit the hell out of them.

For this post, I'll be going step-by-step for this illustration

1- Sketching

A Mess. I don't like making lineart unless I'm super in the mood for it. In this case, I couldn't be bothered to spend a lot of time in the sketch. I often use 3D models as a base for paintings because, if I'm making a painting I only want to paint, not to stress out on anatomy.

2- Blocking values

I only start painting with colour if I'm certain about what I want to do. In this case, I wasn't. When it comes to visual information, values (light and shadow) are more important than colour, so it's easier to block those out first than trying to improve the values in an already coloured piece.

This is a very insightful video if you want to see if a greyscale-first process could be useful for you. Marco Bucci's content in general is a treasure.

Here's a link to the head model used for light reference

3- Paintinggg hell yeah babyyyyy

Not much to say here except, look at a lot of reference. I only limit my canvas to one or two reference pics to not get it super crowded, but I'll always have more pictures open on my browser, tablet, etc.

There's this little app you can use to compile reference pics. I don't use it because the act of opening it is too much work for me but, it's a neat tool.

The main brushes I use for rendering are the following:

Regular round brush with pen-pressure opacity.

Custom triangle brush. It's just a triangle with some texture layered on.

Clip Studio Paint's textured paint. Unmodified.

Custom square brush. Same as the triangle, but it's a square.

Clip Studio Paint's gouache brush. Unmodified. Good for blending.

"Fur block-in" from this pack. Excellent for blocking in feathers.

"triple line" from this pack. Very good for adding texture.

You don't need this many brushes, but I like the variety to keep things interesting. I'd say that only #1, #2 and #7 are essential to me.

A quick trick I used for the muzzle was to make the wires with a white brush, on a layer with border effect.

I considered explaining how to shade feathers here but, it was making this post a little too long. Even more than it already is. But, let me know if a guide on drawing feathers is something you'd be interested in seeing!

4- Colours

For this one I kept it simple. I liked the values and I wanted to have a very stark contrast with the red blood. I made some quick tests with gradient maps trying out different palettes, using gradient maps and overlay layers.

While I enjoyed #1, at the end I went with #5 as it worked better narratively. The clinical white and silvery shadows give a stoic indifference to the blood, which fits with Blackbird's character.

The muzzle and situation on itself aren't a canon event happening, so it also felt more fitting to keep a more stylized 'colouring' rather than actually putting in the character's colours and scene. For this colouring, I only used a single gradient map, but it's not rare if I end up using several, placing masks for areas of different colours.

When it comes to colouring greyscales in character colours I follow a different process, for which I'll use another illustration as an example.

(this is Loketh, he belongs to my partner)

So, for this drawing I also started with a grayscale, but started adding colour in much earlier.

1- Black and white base render

2- New layer with a flat colour, put it on overlay. This will serve as a base for colouring, kinda like glazing on a canvas for a traditional painting

3- Adding character colours, in a new layer on overlay mode. You can do this in a single layer, or make new layers for each new colour. Just keep it loose, no need to add all detail yet.

4- Colouring the shadows. I used a gradient map adjustement layer, set to overlay. Made the lights green, and the shadows purple.

5- Flatten and paint! Now this is the step to add all intricate colour details missing from step 3.

5- Post-Processing

This is a term more used in 3D renders, where it refers to colour corrections and final tweaks. Things like adding depth of field, motion blur, vignette, any final filter.

For almost all my art I'll add a grainy noise layer and chromatic aberration, I just think it looks neat. You can also add paper textures or flat colours on top of you image and set that layer to overlay, it helps to tie everything together.

AND THAT'S ITTT

I hope this was useful, and remember to just have fun with it :)

Further reading:

Marco Bucci's youtube account

Jason Rainville's blog with breakdowns of his illustrations

Sinix Design's video on colouring skin

Anatomy For Sculptor's 3D models for muscle reference (cw nudity)

[nadiajustbe]

Random Scarlett and Browne series headcanons because this fandom needs content (there was supposed to be more Albert, but it turned out to be a little bit for everyone)

He literally adores comfortable knitted sweaters, I mean, he canonically lived in one in the first book, but hear me out: when choosing, his favorite would be purple, followed by brown and light and dark gray.

Albert would have loved those coloured animal patches that they sometimes give to children in hospitals. I mean, I don't know what animal species are left alive in their world, but giraffes or tiger cubs would have been good for him. It's just cute, don't look for logic.

He is sometimes picky about food, in terms of, of course, the harsh realities of survival with Scarlett, he will eat whatever he can, but I think if possible he would have some kind of limited diet of favourite foods and dishes.

Scarlett, on the other hand, eats and loves absolutely EVERYTHING, because it is literally the only way for her to survive and she is used to taking whatever comes to hand. Although, I think she has some favorites too: fish and meat, most probably not so much greens (??? at least because they are not so easy to get and process, and also because I think so). But with all that said, she doesn't really think about it in most moments.

Joe, in contrast to this, also likes meat and fish, but he leans more towards fish because, c'mon, he literally lives and moves on a raft, he doesn't have that much choice, so I'm sure he can fish well)

Scarlett doesn't like chocolate, Albert likes milk chocolate or chocolate with nuts.

Ettie loves all kinds of sweets, although she hasn't had many in her life, so she enjoys fruit, for example.

Thomas also loved sweets, and it was literally the only reason they were ever in the McCain household in the first place. (I absolutely do not want Ettie to bring up Scarlett's trauma in any way, but there you go)

I saw a headcanon, it was @mellowkotto's I think, about Scarlett being terrible at playing computer survival games, and it really fits, but listen.

Albert is a very fast learner, so he would be really good at survival games because he would understand the mechanics and the rules of the game very quickly. This would create a pretty strong contrast, because in reality, things are a little different even after Albert's survival lessons. This led to a whole series of headcanons between me and my bestie about how they would play Minecraft, but that's a topic for a whole another post.

That's the only thing I'm saying from there: Albert built himself a house, tamed a dog, an ocelot and built a garden on his first day of play.

Scarlett spent the whole night trying to kill monsters with her bare hands because she's so angry that there are no knives or guns in this "bloody game" (don't tell her about mods), but then she just burrowed into the ground a few blocks down to survive.

Albert likes his pillow and bed to be warm

Scarlett likes her pillow and bed to be cold.

(It doesn't matter anymore, because if they share a bed, Albert canonically will be sent to sleep on the floor)

Albert falls asleep quickly, almost instantly, no matter how easy or hard or crazy the day has been.

Scarlett falls asleep for a long time thinking about her past and the results of the day, and even meditation doesn't always help. (Because they are both traumatised, except that Albert tends to ignore his traumas/not trigger them much, and Scarlett tends to live in them more than she wants to.)

Albert likes to play with Ettie, spinning small rocks or things in the air in front of her in a circle, like an invisible juggler when no one is looking.

Scarlett is pretty good when she needs to draw a quick sketch of a plan on a piece of paper, although she usually prefers to analyse the situation on the fly and keep everything in her head. And she and Albert are both terrible artists, seriously, some of Ettie's drawings are much better than what they can create even as a team.

(Although I think Albert would like to practice to better understand Ettie, for whom drawing is her preferred method of communication instead of words)

Both Scarlett and Joe are quite canonically gamblers, the only difference is that Scarlett spends large sums of money on gambling, not really caring about winning (she has trauma, just leave her alone), Joe mostly plays for fun, playing, for example, cards with Sal, for example, with a maximum bet of a few coins for show.

Mallory has been trained formal, clean language while working for the Faith Houses and the authorities, and so even if he speaks in a threatening and violent manner, his speech always remains calibrated. Therefore, it was another minus to his perception at Scarlett that she greeted him with a bunch of curses and a fist directly to his face from the truck cab.

And, regarding Mallory, in his childhood at Stonemoor, he would try to bring Dr Calloway some kind of gift after her "experimental sessions", whether it was a flower from a vase or a crooked drawing. Calloway was genuinely pleased with such thing, not because she really loved Mallory, but because it was the clearest indicator that her system was working and that this child was definitely attached to her and would do what he was told.

Despite the fact that Scarlett had the cuss-box after she joined the Brothers of the Hand, I really wish that the idea to pick up this tradition had come to her on her own, not on someone else's suggestion. Perhaps she had a similar jar for monitoring bad habits in her old house and then remembered it.

[romanticallyghosting]

small compilation of ways i keep the sketchbooks nice and spicy looking. couldnt tell if you actually wanted this or nah but have it anyways. as a wedding gift

literally always have highlighters nearby in a pencilcase. if not those, coloured pens work just as nice, and sometimes even better due to how little they make everything else bleed. but i had a set of highlighters w me 24/7 at school and they only lasted like, 6 months? cuz of how much i worked them to death

i have a small hoard of.... around 30 or so sticky notes in diff colours and patterns. used to use them way more but theyre a nice way to either make quick backgrounds or cover up mistakes when drawing w pens. on a similar note, i also have an entire folder of scrap paper i use in place of that sometimes, just from random things. mb candy wrappers, or tea boxes. yknow. just fun paper.

people always look at me like im insane when i say this, but i adore sketching with pens right away. pencils make everything muddy and smudgy, pens dont smear and are, obv, in a shit tonna colours.

sometimes, i pick a colour for a day and roll with it. for example, i randomly pick a red pen to doodle with during class, and then only use the red pen for the rest of the day, and the next day is like, idk, a blue one. i like how it makes days easier to tell apart, but this may just be a me thing

washi tape !!!!!!!!!!! can be used to stick in random wrappers or notes OR used to secure the sticky notes from earlier so they dont peel off that easily (although i usually use a gluestick for those anyways)

acrylic paint is a friend. a good friend. best friend (right after pens). good for fun bgs, could be fun t just mess around w!! i was lucky enough to find proper NEON acrylic paint tubes as well, to add to the eye bleedingness!! theyre fun, everything can go on top of acrylic [:<<

stickers. adore stickers, cherish stickers, marry stickers. theyre nice. i love stickers. esp smiley face ones

anyways yeah. ily

saving this. SAVING THIS!!!!

TY LOVE I WILL CHERISH THESE TIPS

[dancingsunflowers-ocs]

Objects from jeans to ruler for Annette Buckley? (accidentally sent in the wrong thing but looking forward to that answer as well haha)

👖 JEANS - what is their go-to outfit?

Annette’s go-to outfit would definitely be oversized, brightly coloured jumpers or cardigans, a pair of denim jeans or dungarees, completed with some brightly coloured Doc Martens.

🎨 PALETTE - can they draw? what do they like to draw?

Annette is quite a good artist. She really likes to draw cutesy cartoon sketches of people and animals. Whether she’s been somewhere, she always leaves a quick doodle of an elephant on either a napkin or a page from a notebook.

🎡 FERRIS WHEEL - are they someone who wants to kiss at the top of the ferris wheel?

Not really, unless she was dared to. While she really likes thrilling fairground rides (she especially loves rollercoasters!!), she’s not the biggest fan of heights, so a kiss at the top of a ferris wheel wouldn’t be her idea of something that’s romantic..

⏳ HOURGLASS - are they usually late or on-time?

She tries her very best to be on-time, but she’s always the one to arrive late at events.

🔫 PISTOL - do they trust people easily? how easily will they turn their back to someone? have they been backstabbed before? will they betray someone if given an ultimatum?

It can take Annette a while to trust people, especially when people who she considered “her friend” in the past have turned their back on her. If someone has lost her trust, she will give them a few chances, but if no apology, she will cut ties with that person all together.

🎀 RIBBON - how would they fit into other worlds / aus? what aus would you like to try out? what fictional world would they fit / not fit into?

I haven’t really thought of any aus for her.. I suppose I do like to imagine a “future/modern” au where she and Steve are married with a family of their own (we know from season 4 that Steve wanted children in his future 😉)

📎 PAPERCLIP - a random fact.

Annette and Robin have their own secret sisterly handshake that they always do when they decide to give a promise to each other.

📦 PACKAGE - what are some "most likely to..." that can apply to them?

Annette is the type of girl that is “most likely to….” not forget your birthday (she’s that organised!!) or injure themselves while doing chores in their apartment or even dare someone to get either a tattoo or piercing without their parent’s permission.

🖍️ CRAYON - what advice would you give to them?

I would probably advise her to.. loosen up and live life!! Breathe your way to a calmer, healthier, happier life. Stay true to yourself!

⚙️ GEAR - what are your ocs thoughts on science & art? which do they give more importance to? how much value do they place on each?

While she finds science fascinating, she also finds it very confusing, but she can see the importance it gives.. She however, loves art.. she is very interested in classic Hollywood films and old photography, she can often give out “random” facts about various old actors from what year they were born to their past affairs and relationships. Annette prefers artworks that are brightly coloured and bold. She finds old historical paintings such as those from the seventeenth century “quite depressing and dull” and she finds taxidermy to be “very creepy” (she had a classmate in school who used to keep taxidermy animals, which gave Annette mixed feelings..)

🔧 WRENCH - are they good at fixing relationships? or do they tend to avoid doing so?

She tries her best to fix relationships, as much as she probably wouldn’t show it, she hates to see relationships fallen apart.. but on the other hand, if those people have broken their promises and trust, she thinks it is probably best to cut ties with those people, after they are given a few chances.

❇️ SPARKLE - what is their most prized possession? what do they value?

Annette’s most prized possession is a soft toy pig called “Popcorn” which she had since she was a baby. Whenever she feels down, she would always go into her room, lie on her bed and cuddle him close. She probably wouldn’t show it, but she would be absolutely devastate if she lost him!!

📏 RULER - is your oc well educated? where did they get their learning from?

Annette is really well educated, she was one of the smartest girls in her grade, while she was in school. She pretty much taught herself to read and write when she was a small child with not much help.

[bersergner-blog]

Escape from Tombstone - Learning Outcome Matrix (pt.3)

Skills learned/Knowledge advanced:

Photoshop- I spent a lot of time polishing my Photoshop skills and I feel like I'm starting to catch up on the skill-gap (still only switched over from traditional art 4 years ago). So I incorporated more things like subtle gradient, editing saturation, lightness and contrast, utilising the lasso and magic wand as well as Layer styles and modes to enhance my art. This manifested in ways such as more warmth to skin-tones and more effective shadows and colour co-ordination.

Animation- I learned to apply Animation concepts such as squash and stretch without breaking the semi-realistic feel of the game. Animating for games in general requires specific understanding such as attack timing (a jab wants to be snappy and efficient, long, detailed animations can slow down combat dramatically and make the game difficult to enjoy) I also tried very hard to keep consistent anatomy while adding some stylistic motion and bounce.

Maya- I learned to utilise Maya for quick Greyboxing of ideas in the service of Environmental Concepting and consistent perspective.

Unity- I dove into Sprite scaling and filtering, generally learned the full ins and outs of the Sprite Editor and slice tool, was forced to edit Pivot points to make my animation work, learned 2D Rigging and utilised Layer order for sprite rendering distance correctly.

Programming- I learned some new Character controller programming patterns from the tutorial I was following. Making sprite flipping simpler.

Character Art- I pushed my Character designs hard this module, particularly Portraiting, focusing on expressing personality and creating intriguing, memorable faces. This carried through into Posing, which I used even outside of animating to get character personality across, such as the Goon aggressively preparing to swing his pipe at the viewer. I also pushed my understanding of Anatomy, especially hips and legs, which was always a problem area for me artistically. I also really pumped out those Clothing variations as my portfolio was missing them.

Environmental Art- Environmental concepting does not come naturally to me. Imagining the places and putting them to paper still took a lot of time, trial and error, but I am very proud of the results and believe I have made major and irreversible advancements that make me confident in approaching Environments.

Light & Colour- I explored Colour and Light even further this module as it's always been a low-key problem area for me. learned about colour emotions and 60-30-10 rule as well as exploring expressing character through colours and tones.

Props- Weapons and Environmental Set-dressing. Another area my portfolio was lacking in, so I was happy to rectify this during this project.

Presentation- Another problem area (can you tell I had lots of them). I would often abandon images before they were fully complete, in an inherent effort to 'catch up' and broaden my skillbase but this developed into an inability to get a "finished" look out of my images. So I really doubled down on the process from sketch to final picture and the final graphic design and polishing that gave it that extra oomph. Still a lot to learn here, but we're making strides.

Efficiency- Incorporating AI into the idea-generation phase has been helpful in breaking deadlocks and creating an influx of unique concepts. I also pushed my Thumbnailing by re-using good anatomy as mannequins to provide a lot of variety in concepts efficiently. Greyboxing in Maya has also been a huge time saver for environments and consistent perspective combining this with my new understanding of the Shapes tool for filling makes it much quicker to design geometric areas in perspective.

Project Management- Through the process from concept to final product I learned valuable skills in Time management, adapting to change, finishing, finding solutions and not shying away from a challenge, maintaining productivity without burnout and was forced to adopt a self-promotion mindset.

Video Editing- Something I've been meaning to get around to for ages, being forced to make a self-promotion video finally got me to engage with my editing software. Forcing me to adapt and learn. However I never did manage to figure out the audio balancing which gives it an amateur feel.

[the-tzarina-alexandra-paracosm]

Some of my favourite art - a timeline

Part 14: 2024

The first half or so, at least

January. The fake album covers series. This is only a concept sketch but I really like how it looks even so, and I like the logo too.

February. This is actually a panel from my comics. This is one of the more detailed drawings in my black white and red rough sketch style. I like the pose, especially since it was so difficult for me to draw something like this in the past.

April. This is hands down my favourite panel from all the FIF comics I've done so far. The concept and the composition are very good.

May. Self portrait. Technically traced over a photo, but, as I've come to realise, even tracing in an aesthetically pleasing and artistic way is its own skill. (And the colouring and shading as well as the composition is done without tracing anyway). The first full colour picture of the year.

June. Quick sketch for my hacker story.

June. I like how I drew the babies here. Drawing the poses was a struggle, but I'm glad I didn't give up on it. I also liked drawing that transparent ball.

Early July. My first artfight this year (@ user is_noah). This is definitely the best drawing I've made this year, and the highest effort one. I spent about 3-4 full days drawing this, so a cumulative total of 20 hours or more. I like pretty much everything about this drawing, the shading, lighting, colour, mood, perspective, anatomy, poses, composition, clothing, character expressions etc etc. I feel like it looks just as I envisioned it in my mind if not better. And most importantly the emotion, the angst grief etc is there. What I struggled with the most was definitely the composition.

Late July. My second and last artfight this year, and a very high effort drawing for my friend @sea-angle. I like the lighting, colours and poses here. The composition was definitely the biggest struggle, but it was very much worth it. Although I spent a full week on this, I think the net time was about half of the other drawing.

______

The way I would characterise this year so far is that I'm still in an experimental phase especially in terms of subject matter, and am constantly going out of my comfort zone. At the same time, this is the period of time in which my artstyle is the most "my own" it's ever been, and the skills I've acquired over the years stacked up, thus enabling me to draw things that would've been extremely challenging even just last year. And to be fair, they were very challenging this year too, but I was determined to see them through to the end. My biggest improvements have been in terms of anatomy (+ poses), lighting and especially composition, which I've also put a much higher level of intentionality in.

But all of this did not occur overnight. If this 15+ year retrospective showed me anything it's that even those years that I felt like I was stagnating or regressing in my art, were actually crucial steps in building skills that would define my art in the future. I am extremely grateful for the journey I've had so far. I hope that any artist who reads through this series feels encouraged, because every new drawing means progress, even when, or especially when we feel it the least

[characterdesignillustration]

Character Design Final (Part 1)

^Notes from Toby's Presentation

Thinking about the composition for my poster has me thinking about what genre of poster I'm going to be developing. It's not something I thought about until now, I mean, I've been developing styles based on multiple different sources but now I have to think just what medium is my "story" going to be presented through (be it film, tv, book, or what not). For me, I think it's important to first say which medium would present my story to it's fullest potential.

TV - I don't think my story would make for good television. TV series are usually long and drawn out, pulling together many introduced elements to a climax and then paying it off whilst teasing what's to come. My story follows one singular character and his way through one single major situation, lacking any of those long threads and clues to some bigger narrative. There isn't a reason for the shroud to appear, it just does. Sort of like the fog, or the bodysnatchers, they just appear and are more of a tool for symbolism than a tool for narrative or lore.

Book - I think my story would make a decent book. Book length is variable, they provide ample opportunity to show character thoughts easily, and they're less geared for developing franchise and more geared toward delivering a good story. My main issue with attempting a book cover is that they bring lots of focus to it's title as the main selling point, and while I don't mind making the title a focus point, I don't want to minimalize everything else to bring focus to the title.

Graphic Novel - This is such a broad genre which is great. It's a visual book, so most of my comments about the book manifest here. But the visual element takes host here which basically means the cover is less focused on the title, and more focused on spelling out visually what happens in the novel, and since my story relies heavily on visuals it makes it easier to show ideas rather than telling.

Movie - Movies are also much more broad of a concept, but for my story it definitely works. I feel like my story could be neatly packed into a movie format, relying in visual symbolism to give depth whilst having visuals of epic proportions. Things that might be hard to capture in the small budget of a television show, or the crammed panels of a comic can easily come to life a movie form. Movie posters are also quite varied, giving me a multitude of options/styles to draw from, and explore both grandure and minimalism within the same boundaries.

Summary/Making the decision:

I'm going with a movie poster. It makes the most sense because it fits the story I'm trying to tell and it gives me many influences to pull from/compositions to use.

I've also got to think about what genre my story fits into movie wise. I'm looking through this website: https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/movie-genres-list/#experimental-genre To figure out what genre my story fits into.

After some searching, I've found a couple that might fit. - Dark Fantasy - Apocalyptic - Psychological - Monster -

^Here's some posters that have interesting compositions that I might use in my own thumbnail sketches. I want to play with perspective, and I like the idea of using fish eye perspective to capture a panoramic view.

QUICK MOODBOARD:

MOVING INTO PLANNING:

What I want to show:

I want to capture the size of the monsters in comparison to the character, because of that the monsters will have to be larger than the character.

Next would be showing some kind of road/rail/path that the character is on. Symbolic of the journey he's going to make as a character throughout the story.

The character smoking/drinking, showing his self defeating nature.

The character looking forward, or faced away from the danger, symbolic of his tendency to run.

Colour Pallet:

Character/Explosions/Fire:

Monsters/Environment:

^These two colour pallets compliment each other, which means that the character and the destruction of his home are front and center among a moody blue background. It also means that the eye will be drawn to the character first, and then the monsters. I feel like if a monster is less readable and takes a while to process it can be a whole lot scarier once you realise it's actually there. You'll see the character, then the danger, not the other way round.

THUMBNAIL SKETCHES:

Thumbnail Sketch #1: Getting started.

This first thumbnail sketch was just an attempt to get into the grove of things. I have hunter cleaning a pistol while monsters flow out of his head (not literally) as a symbol of how these monsters feed off negative emotion and he has lots of that. It also shows his self destructive nature with the gun pointed in the direction of the flow as if hunter had blown his brains out and the abstraction is the blood flowing out. But, I feel like the idea behind it is cool, it doesn't present any link to the environment/setting, which is also important to show.

Thumbnail Sketch #2: Scale.

This composition is a lot better in my opinion, it's a lot fuller and displays the environment along with the sheer scale of these monsters. However, there could be more directional lines pointing towards the character, and he could also be along the cross section of the rule of thirds. The bridge also acts as a dividing line, drawing a line that's being broken down, a breaking down of the barrier between worlds. It's cool, but I can do better.

Thumbnail Sketch #3: Film convention.

In this third sketch I've been playing with some conventions usually associated with film. Take this Batman movie poster and how everything in the composition is centered to the middle rectangle of the poster, and look at how the characters fade. That's the sort of feeling I was trying to capture, it allows me to present a focus on hunter as a character instead of a small part of a bigger picture. But, I'm not sure about it, something feels quite barebones in a way I don't really like. The negative space feels like a vacuum and doesn't compliment the used space at all.

Thumbnail Sketch #4: More scale, defined monster.

This composition I did freehand without much help until I added a horizon line which definitely allowed me to structure the whole thing a lot better in terms of the highway bridge pillar and how the extra body and car was positioned. This one both simplifies and complicates the composition. It's simple because it only has two vocal points being hunter and this giant monster which I came up with, fusing multiple influences together (just look at my mood board). I need to make the character less static though.

Thumbnail Sketch #5: Eh....

For this sketch I took heavy inspiration from the movie poster for "To Live and Die in L.A":

I liked how this looked on a surface level observation, but then realised once I started sketching that this works better with perspective rather than just being flat. Plus, this composition is more focused on hunter than anything else, which works but I'm not sure if this is how I want to make my poster.

Thumbnail Sketch #6: Experimenting with perspective.

The idea here is solid, having the character in a calm field while it all breaks down into another scene where the town is getting destroyed. But it's visually cluttered, and takes a while to fully process.

Thumbnail Sketch #7: Toning it down.

Here I'm applying a similar concept of separating hunter from whats going on around him as a way to frame the world as this whole seperate entity from him, his disconnect from reality. I'm not sure if it's enough though, it's not nearly dynamic enough to capture people's attention.

Thumbnail Sketch #8: Fisheye

This composition here specifically uses perspective to distort the image, adding some much needed dynamic motion to the image. I also really like how I've made the title here, sort of lining up with the fisheye distortion. I wanted some action in there, some threat, I want this small army of monsters coming towards him and a giant monster creeping up on him, making it look like he's completely overwhelmed by the sheer power of these creatures. It's important to add some stakes, or some action to make everything feel alive.

Thumbnail Sketch #9: Vertical Title.

This is a pretty basic composition fitting within the rule of threes. It works, especially with the foreboding horror of the skeletal bird man burning down the city, but other than that it's not awfully out there, not a bad thing though.

A3 TESTS FOR FEEDBACK:

I chose this composition to adapt into one of my three because it's quite a basic and solid choice. It's well structured, and is clear.

2. I chose this composition because it's the one I spend the most effort on. I also wanted something more closed off, more personal.

3. This fisheye composition is probably my strongest fundamentally, it's super dynamic and lively.

REFLECTION (BEFORE FEEDBACK):

I really enjoyed doing this and I feel like I have a good foundation to work with, a good selection to choose from. Hunter Price isn't a favourite for me, but I'm sure that'll change once I get to fully realizing his character in the final poster.

[amandi-mga2024mi5014]

Research on creating character designs

A few main takeaways I learned through my research:

Redraw your characters several times, don't settle for the first iteration of your character. A few ways you can do this is by changing the shape language of your character and seeing how that fits their look and characterisation. Another way that you can do this is by doing several quick sketches of your character, and exaggerating or changing one body part/aspect of their design each time.

Choose a 'theme' for your character. This theme could convey their philosophies, motivations, intrapersonal conflicts, etc. the theme could also covey the overall message of your narrative. Use this theme to then drive your design. link every design choice back to this theme in some way, that way you can create a cohesive message of everything your character is about.

everything about your character needs to be easily communicated through visual language.

Always keep clarity in mind. Your character design must have clarity in terms of silhouette, palette, and exaggeration.

Silhouette

Break your character down into a silhouette, and see if they are easily recognisable from that silhouette alone. Examine the silhouette and separate some of the shapes to make them more clear and give the overall character more clarity. Use big identifiable shapes to to make the characters more recognisable.

you can take this one step further by taking the characters head and adding a weird and unique shape to it. this is a useful design trick that helps your character stand out in a crowd and even demonstrates the direction they're facing.

Now that your character looks more clear in a silhouette, check which shapes you can push and exaggerate to make it an iconic design.

Shape language

Use shape language - the kind of shapes you use inform us of a character's role in the narrative. Almost all characters can be broken down into circles, triangles, and squares. This visually communicates the personality of the character within an instant.

Squares imbue a sense of stability, trust, and stubbornness in the viewer.

circles are friendly, bouncy, soft, welcoming, warm, and happy.

Triangles, with their hard sharp edges imply edginess, danger, intensity, and speed.

don't use conflicting shapes and commit to a shape motif. this reduces clutter and emphasises the things we want to emphasise.

In more realistic art styles, these big identifiable shapes usually manifest in the form of big clothing, hair, items, or weaponry.

Palette

When it comes to palette, don't use too many colours. Be selective and use a colour hierarchy. in a colour hierarchy, there is one dominant colour and then a few other supporting colours that don't compete with the dominant colour.

when figuring out colouring, break your character down into values. make the design greyscale to then analyse the values and see if there's any colours competing for attention. staying in greyscale, play around with the values of the design until you find something that looks good.

remember to check how your coloured characters would look against their environment background. Again, check for whether the values compete and prevent the characters from standing out.

character colour palette is similar to their silhouette. A good character design should be recognisable from rectangular colour swatches. Remember to make use of colour theory to convey your character's personality.

Your use of colour can also inform viewers about where your characters are from. Historically, cultures and societies closer to the equator tend to have more colourful clothing and art while those further away from the equator tend to have more muted colours.

Exaggeration

Use exaggeration to create characters that connect emotionally with an audience. Try stripping down certain details and pushing proportions and colour to directly connect the viewers to a feeling. The lack of realism actually allows audiences to connect more easily with the characters.

Employ McCloud's 'masking effect'. focus on how a character makes you feel and emphasise the visual aspects of them that convey that feeling.

Have body variety. Using the same body proportions for all of your characters is very boring to look at and isn't representative of reality. A character's body size and proportions can also tell us a lot about them.

character's bodies are made up of essentially three parts; head, torso, legs. varying the difference between these three shapes is what makes a character design interesting. if your character design starts to feel bland, play with the proportions of these three parts or even try grouping these sections in a more dynamic way.

Lineups

when creating more than one character, its important to design them all in a lineup so that you can create complimenting shapes and proportions and be more precise.

[portraitmypet]

What Pet Portrait Artists See During a Session

When it comes to painting/sketching a moving dog, there are a few things that happen that can make it more challenging. One of the main challenges is the proportion of the dog's head compared to their body. A posed dog will give you an idea of where the front and back legs should be, but with a moving dog, it can be difficult to determine which way they're going to turn at any given time. Also remember that it's best not to be too detailed when painting/sketching a moving animal because they aren't going to stay still long enough for you to get everything perfect!

Another challenge is getting all those little details right - fur texture and facial expression are especially important here! If your subject doesn't sit still long enough for you paint without interruption (which can take hours), then just try doing some quick sketches instead!

The differences between painting a dog in good lighting vs painting a dog in poor lighting.

The difference between painting a dog in good lighting vs painting a dog in poor lighting is dramatic. In this blog, I'll show you why and how light affects the appearance of your paintings.

Lighting can make or break a portrait. It is the single most important element to consider when painting any subject matter, whether it's humans or animals. The way light hits your subject will help determine how they look on the final canvas—whether they appear dark and sinister or bright and happy! A few basic rules apply:

Light needs to be consistent across the whole painting (don't leave one side of their face in shadow)

Light should complement each individual's features (bronze-colored fur needs warm tones; white fur needs cool tones)

The challenges of painting other animals, like cats, rabbits and birds.

Painting cats is a lot harder than painting dogs. Cat owners might think that their cats would be more willing to sit still and pose for their portrait, but this is not always the case. Sometimes they are even less cooperative than dogs!

Cats are skittish and don’t follow commands like dogs do. They also don’t like wearing clothes or sitting in one place for long periods of time (especially if there is an open window nearby). If your cat enjoys being outdoors or has been trained to come when called by name, it can be even harder to catch him when you need him most!

What the artist is looking at when they paint - the details that people don't notice on their own pets.

As a pet portrait artist, I'm always looking for the details that most people don't notice about their own pets. For example:

The colour of their eyes. Some dogs have brown eyes, some blue and others green. If you are trying to paint your dog's portrait from a photograph, it can be difficult to get the exact shade of your dog's eyes right if they're not looking directly into the camera!

The shape of their nose - because many breeds have different kinds of noses depending on what part of the world they came from (e.g., Bulldogs were bred in England so they tend to have short snouts.)

The shape of their face - some dogs are bred with longer faces than others; this is especially true with smaller breeds like Chihuahuas and Pomeranians whose faces tend to look long compared with larger breeds like German Shepherds who often have shorter muzzles (the area between where an animal's nose meets its mouth).

How to get a pet to pose (hint: it's much easier with small dogs vs large ones!).

Finding the right pose for your pet can be a challenge. Here are some tips that will help:

Use treats. Have some of your pet’s favorite treats on hand, or have your assistant carry them in a treat bag to help get them in position and keep them there for as long as you need. If it’s only one or two bites, it’ll be worth it!

Let them use their toy(s). Most dogs love toys, so let them pick out a favorite and then use that to get their head turned toward you so you can capture his/her gaze just right. It might take some time to get this right, but I promise—it will be worth it!

Take breaks if necessary. If your subject gets bored or tired after 5 minutes (or less), take a break and come back later when they are ready to go again--but don't wait too long before trying again - once they've lost interest completely it may take days before they'll want another shot at posing!

Pet portrait artists work hard to capture your pets exact likeness.

Pet portrait artists work hard to capture your pets exact likeness, but there are challenges that they face when painting other animals. Birds and rabbits have a similar problem as dogs in terms of being difficult to paint in poor lighting conditions. Cats can be particularly challenging because their fur is so dense and may obscure details, making them difficult to capture accurately on canvas or wood panel. However, there are some ways you can help your pet portrait artist achieve the best results possible:

Make sure you have good lighting when photographing your pet for reference images for the artist (see our blog post on "How Pet Portrait Artists Work").

Avoid using flash photography because it tends to wash out colors and makes it harder for artists to see details clearly. If it's not possible using natural light then try doing a photo session with a diffuser over one side of the camera lens or bounce flash off walls/ceiling/floor etc...

[handcalfieetherington]

so, your probably wondering how this thing just spawned out of existence huh?

yeah...Same  

to talk about the process of making this thing is going to be sort of long winded so hand tight while I go over everything.

I needed a title cover for my alternate comic series, understandable right, yeah I guess so, comic covers usually look good right? yeah we can both agree on that so let’s just take you through the methods and story of this thing okay?

so it started out with the earlier sketch where I doodled some of the character from faulty visions and honestly for some reason the doodle really stuck with me for some reason I decided to use it as a reference point for a theoretical cover for this segment of the comic 

so yeah, things started off with this new sketch expanding on the idea a bit, showing the Main characters Jess and Steve just kind of chilling near a canyon with an exploded middle area to show a bit of the story telling implying that the area there hanging around in might of been where one of the nukes went off, pretty dark theming for what I earlier stated to be a buddy adventure comic about a pupil-less Lady and her sentient Tv but considering it’s a background element you’d have to further put thought into to understand the greater implications of I’d say it’s fine to show something considering it isn’t fully upfront with the darker concept of this initially being where a nuke went off.

also quick note about the mild face change I made with the mouth, I personally felt it added more character to her, combined with the pure white Eyes it gives off a sort of “no thoughts head empty” type of vibe and I was kinda endeared to that idea, that Jess is trapped in this completely horrific and hopeless situation yet is completely oblivious to that fact through sheer the sheer power of never questioning where all the humans went, you see a lot of straight man type characters or skilled warrior type character or someone who grows into that archetype be the main character of an apocalypse story, so flipping the script and having somewhat who is completely oblivious to the implications and horror of everything around them yet is also scarily adept at self suffixion despite literally having no idea what the hell is going on is a very funny twist on the trope.

So as for colours explaining my process I began  by doing the colours of the characters first before anything with the background being in post i’ll just show everything together though.

ah right the sky, using a similar tactic to my last project I used the gradiant tool with a combined reddish pink and purple to make a convincing looking sunset view and then adding a sun in there as well to complete the look, as sunset covers are really appealing in my eyes and we don’t see those types of views in apocalypses much so having a more pretty view would change things up a bit in a good way hopefully

moving onto shading for the characters first I really tried to make extra care to show how the setting sun background effects the lighting and hading of the characters in the foreground with the side closest to the sun being brightened near the end and the harshness creating a bigger contrast with the rest of there colours being darkened from the far harsher shadows made by the bright lights and setting sun.

with the shading for the background wanted the tips of the mountains to better show the brightness of the sun contrasted by the lower areas growing ever darker as the sun slowly lowers ever more. 

and here we are back at square one, aside from the dirt applied, to the sign at the bottom right, so were done right? haha no! we still have at leas a few more things to add at this point.

to add more to the comic idea included the logo design had made sometime after completing this piece along with a white segment to show the issue number and brand name. 

at last i had selected a font to serve as the title, one that would fit the “post apocalypse theme as well as serve as contrast with the somewhat comedic title of the comic.

And at last to finish it all off a old paper layer to fully complete the old comic look.

let me just say i am shocking proud of how this one turned out and is probably my second favourite piece of the project, the lighting position background use of lighting and dedication to the bit make it a massive step up from the previous one made and sort of show as a showing of my improvement over the last year or so, utilising an old comic story as a piece in the project itself was honestly one i’m somewhat proud of coming up with as again, it was an opportunity to show my growth over this past yeah, what i learned, what mistakes I’ve learned to avoid and how I innovated from the last piece. 

[actuallytalldumbass]

Yeah that's something I'm sure most (if not all) people struggle with. I got back into drawing as a hobby like 3 months ago and let me tell you. It's amazing. I feel so fucking happy because of it and it gives me something to look forward to and work on instead of doomscroling and then blaming myself for wasting so much time.

For me one of the big blocks is, well, drawing in a sketchbook. There's this belief that they're supposed to be beautiful and full of amazing art, but that's such bullshit. Those are called art books. Sketchbooks are for sketches. For the ideas, the quick thumbnails, doodles, mistakes and lots of trials and errors. You might want to start drawing in a random notebook (or loose paper) instead of your sketchbook. For me it really takes the pressure off and I dont focus on making everything perfect anymore. Just choose some notebook, clean paper, dotted, ruled or grid. Whatever you like. You can decorate it a bit (but not too much/ in a way that will make you intimidated to use it!!) And just let loose. Starting is a hard part to get through, but one you finally do it, it will get easier.

And if you mess up, dont rip away the page or scribble on it. Just go to the next one and start over (I personally add little notes like 'not really what I was looking for :/' or 'kinda shit but whatever', so that whoever sees those can read the notes and think "oh okay, guess it wasn't his best work")(even tho literally no one sees those sketches💀 but whatever, it makes me feel better and more comfortable)

There are also some very important things you have to remember. And it goes for a lot of other things too! Not only drawing (or writing).

1. You're most likely criticizing yourself too harshly (belive me. That 'shaky' line is fine. And you don't have to erase and redraw the whole thing. It might be a good idea to just cover it up with some paint (but make sure it's still at least partly see through)(if you're drawing traditionally) or just change the colour of the sketch and lover the opacity of the layer (if you're doing it digitally) and start drawing over it! (on a different layer ofc)

2. Don't think about what others think about your work. Don't think 'but what if they won't like it?' Let them. The most important thing is that you had fun making it and that you're happy with what you did.

And definitely don't compare yourself too much to other people's works. We live in a time where it's so effortless to see what others and doing that we get overwhelmed with content, works and ideas of other people. It's easy to loose yourself in all of that.

3. You might want to try out other media/materials if you're stuck in one place. (Change is difficult! But can be nice) It can be very refreshing to draw your idea using different materials (even if you might not feel super confident in them)

4. I beg you. Dont push yourself too much. Take breaks. (Seriously) Once you begin something you get used to the way it looks and it's so easy to notice all the little mistakes (that might not even actually be there) (I once spend like an hour trying to draw a shape only to look at it the next day and think "wtf was I on last night? It's literally fine and how I wanted it to look." XD)

And the last one, that gives me a lot of motivation :)

5. There's always someone that wants to see your work.

No matter how shit you might think it is. No matter how much better it looked inside your head. There is someone that will look at what you made and it will cause them so much joy. Its honestly fantastic. The times I made smth that I wasn't super happy with but decited to still post it/ show it to someone and they loved it is bizarre to me. There will be someone that will see your work and think "i wish i could draw/write/whatever like that." All while you were looking at someone else's work and thinking the same thing.

STAY MOTIVATED AND KEEP GOING!! I'm sure you'll get out of the pain that's an art block and will make so many things you'll like

(You'll make it out. You always do in the end.)

idk how to get back into drawing i think about it everyday and when i manage to pull my sketchbook out i just stare at the blank pages

[inkdemonapologist]

💀 Call of Cthulhu: Haunted Hijinx Masterpost 💀

Our Bendy Call of Cthulhu party!!  Sketch and lines by me, colours by @inkyvendingmachine, Sammy’s design by me, Joey’s design by @inkyvendingmachine, Henry’s design by @inkcryptid, and Jack’s design by @whatyouwantedmetosee !

AAAAA LOOK AT BOO’S COLOURS... IM SO HAPPY WITH HOW THIS TURNED OUT!!

I was just thinkin about how the boys never got a proper introduction (since they’re all Bendy characters) and wanted to give them one... while also nodding to, uh, well, some of the, things that have happened!!! Also to be able to introduce them to friends who are not as familiar with Bendy; honestly I’m still just really delighted by the concept of “CoC game where we all play various employees of a 1930s animation studio.”

[transcript under the cut]

Joey Drew

Co-founder and face of Joey Drew Studios, he’s the one who got the whole thing started! Even if he’s not a great artist and didn’t technically design any of the characters he claims as his, he’s remarkably good at making other people believe in his irresponsible dreams with nothing but fast-talking and charm. 

Rumours that Joey is “tangled up in the occult,” has “magically bound his employees’ souls together because it makes better cartoons,” or that he once “etched a ritual in his skin that enables a cosmic horror to possess and transform his mortal body at cost to his mind” are, of course, greatly exaggerated. 

Henry Stein

Co-founder of Joey Drew Studios and Joey’s best friend from college, Henry is a skilled animator and the one who actually designed the studio’s most popular characters. He’s a quiet family man whose wife and kids are the most important thing in his life, but no matter how well-meaning Henry might be, he has a hard time saying “no” to his over-ambitious best pal. 

Hypothetically, he would be willing to study a lot of questionable magic to find wards and spells and blood rituals to protect those he cares about... if he, y’know, happened to have developed a strange golden glow to his blood after too many potions to boost his spiritual power, which is of course completely ridiculous. 

Sammy Lawrence

The music director for Joey Drew Studios; he manages sound for the show and works closely with Jack to write all the show’s music. Brilliantly talented but hot-tempered and particular, Sammy doesn’t much care for cartoons, but he loves music and can’t do any job half-way.

He’s definitely not subconsciously repressing that one time an encounter with an eldritch deity left him as a manically devoted cultist of Nyarlathotep, such that it’s developed into an alternate mental state that could surface at any moment. Don’t ask him about “the Prophet.”

Jack Fain

Sammy’s lyricist for years, Jack eagerly accompanied him to Joey Drew Studios so they could continue to make music together. Friendly, optimistic, quick to crack a joke and then laugh at that joke himself, Jack is an unassuming and amiable guy who tends to make friends wherever he goes — even with the likes of Sammy Lawrence. 

Jack had no idea there were any occult goings-on at the studio and certainly didn’t get involved. He would have no need to learn how to separate his soul from his body and astral project to a madness-inducing realm; terrible dreams about a friend in dire trouble are just dreams, after all.