#Did I make this to trace over in 2D art???

[sumikatt]

a generative AI workflow for art that can't reasonably be detected as "AI use"

before we start:

I am an artist with original art in my art tag dating back to 2017

I think intellectual property is a farce and i hate copyright

I don't think image scraping and using it as training data is stealing, the same way I don't think piracy is stealing

I have used my own laptop hardware for these image generations, not any online service

Images are not described, apologies

Step 1: Concept (txt2img)

Let's do a basic edgy fallen angel character as our example. The prompt was something like "fullbody edgy fallen angel, short hair wearing leather vest, chain accessory, broken halo, wings"

Model used: Counterfeit v3.0

Model used: Flat 2D Animerge v4.5

Step 2: Pick and choose parts, then trace

Since I've traced over a completely new image, it is impossible to detect that I've used generative AI at all. It can't be reverse-searched. For all intents and purposes, this is "original artwork by a human".

You can stop here, but I wanted to toss it back in to see what I'd get.

Step 3: img2img generation

I've added a dark background and an outline to the boots for clearer separation of character and background. This generation was done with a high CFG (guidance scale).

For reference, here's high CFG to lower CFG from left to right.

Step 4: Upscale and paintover

Obviously, these aren't flawless images. So we'll paint over some parts manually until it becomes "human art"

I only did the face for brevity's sake. I've fixed lighting, flattened out the noise, fixed her vest, and overall tried to make it more consistent. Direct paintover is a harder to execute, but it is completely possible to cover all "tells".

It's not my best work as I'm not that experienced with anime style illustration, but it will pass a general AI sniff check (using sightengine).

for comparison, here's some of my other original paintings.

Closing thoughts

You'll never really be able to actually 100% identify any art as AI generated or assisted, unless you're literally watching an artist over their shoulder. Models are only getting better at generation. Generative AI is just a Pinterest replacement in terms of art tools, really. Harassing artists and fearmongering about the use of AI is stupid and reactionary. You can still enjoy art even if it's generated.

The end

[phoenix-inblue]

I made a 3D model

[localcryptidsteg]

Tracing, Style Theft, and the need to be Unique

A comment chain on Instagram got me thinking about these things earlier. Someone asked what common art advice is actually bad advice, and I left a short list that Ive heard, among which is "dont trace."

Naturally, this ruffled some feathers, but heres the deal: so long as you arent line-for-line copying the majority of someone elses work and passing it off as yours? Theres absolutely nothing wrong with tracing. Copying and tracing are two different things; think back to the old "how to draw" books. How they blocked out anatomy and taught you the relative distance of things with lines and joints. Tracing... is essentially doing the same thing. As a learning tool for personal use, being able to take a picture and draw the skeletal frame over it helps you with perpesctive and anatomy immensely! It even helps in stylization. Tracing develops the skills you need in order to replicate something, replication develops the skills you need in order to stylize.

Which brings us to our next issue.... style theft isnt a thing. It doesnt exist. Unless youre forging paintings and passing them off as the real deal, there is absolutely zero reason not to look at the techniques and stylization your favorite artists use and replicate that. Again, it helps you develop skills like shading and coloring and lineart. And having your own "style"? One that has to be completely different from anyone elses? Thats bullshit! Most artists dont just have ONE style. The best artists have several and go out of their way to continue learning more!

Think of it this way: we wouldnt have 2d animation if actual artists gave a flying fuck about their "style" being copied. The Renaissance artists would never have risen to prominence if their teachers hadnt sat them down and told to paint how they did. Bob Ross would never have had a tv show if mimicking how someone else creates mattered in any way at all.

The way you develop your own style is simply this: you look at your favorite artists, you analyze what elements of their work make your brain happy and what are enjoyable for you to do, you mash them all together and voila. Your very own (not really at all) "unique" style.

I think this frankly terrible and counterintuitive art advice trend is killing artists. When you go online as an artist and preach to a bunch of younger aspiring artists that invaluable tools for growth are inherently bad and wrong and theyre evil for using them, you do three things at once:

First, you make them fear creation. "I want to draw or sculpt or knit or what have you, but what if I accidentally copy someone? Then Id be a bad person!"

Second: you kill the joy of creation. They become too focused on the end result and never really learn how to make for the sake of making.

Third: you block their avenues of progress. In order to get better at your craft, you really do have to try everything. Trying to make certain techniques into something "off limits" only serves to hinder that progression. It causes stagnation which in turn causes frustration, which leads us back to issue 2.

When I was a kid, my grandma would drive two hours to my city every year for my birthday, and every year she would take me to the art museum. My grandma loved art with every fiber of her being. She was thrilled when my mom went to art school. She was estatic when my sibling and I took up drawing. But she never, EVER tried to make anything herself. See, when she was in school, her art teacher had told her she wasnt very good. And she, being a kid, believed it. And she stopped trying. She would never color with me and my sibling, would never try drawing with us when we begged her to join in. Shed chuckle and say "oh, I couldnt draw a straight line with a ruler!" And sit and watch us work and rave over how good we were at it instead.

When she hit about 80 or so, her memory started going. But she still loved the museum and she still loved art. One of my aunts talked her into taking one of those "how to paint" classes at a little studio near her house. She painted a cake. And you know what? It was a really friggin good painting! Itd be hanging in my room right now if my aunt hadnt called dibs!

My point is this: anyone of any skill level can learn to draw or paint or whatever. Im a major proponent of this; I always have been. But shaming creatives for how they do it, for how they learn it, for what they make? That destroys the drive to create, and it can last a lifetime. Who knows what my grandma could have made if not for that teacher? Who knows how many young artists felt nothing but shame and guilt over their work and quit because of bad-faith art advice?

[kankuroplease]

Did/ do you ever trace poses/ body parts etc while drawing & do you think people should or shouldn’t do it when they’re still learning anatomy

Full disclosure, i hate these kind of questions because there’s really no one answer. I think I traced once when I was a little kid and got lectured for it because my mom is an artist too so 🤣

I will always say reference over tracing, because not every picture will have “correct”/best possible anatomy for learning (be it artist who aren’t certain about it themselves or cameras flatting a 3D object to 2D) and tracing just duplicates those same problems, so what did you actually learn?

Tracing can help streamline a process. I.e. with 3D models, you can easily have the body structure or environment done quicker. But it’s a double-edged sword technique.

References, in my experience, make you be more aware of your intentions and thought process while drawing. Like with life drawing, the human is a reference that everyone will draw differently because of skill, style, angle, and interpretation, but they all have to take note of what’s in-front of them.

It’s really a balance and I can’t tell people what will or won’t work for them with their art.

[ivettel]

behind the curtain ep 4

bit late with this one but i wanted to finish laundry first so here we go.. notes on this bitch

right off the bat, yes! i did rotoscoping!

what! after avoiding it since 2017!! shoutout to jennifer @antoniosvivaldi for inspiring me to do that, btw. you should absolutely check out her stuff if you haven't already--her style is so unique and refreshing!

for the most part, i think they turned out swell--after effects behaved itself for once, which like, thank fuck, because i was on a call with fio @maranello and others at 1 in the morning like "haha! i totally know what i'm doing!" narrator voice they did NOT know what they were doing, they were making educated guesses based on past horrible experiences (hence avoiding rotoscoping for years 💀).

but this is meant to be educational lol so! what is rotoscoping? simply put, it's a tracing technique. it has its roots way back in animation when tech was starting to pick up in like the 1920s and artists wanted a more efficient way of animating. rotoscoping is one of those tools that've been used differently from how it was originally intended, which is actually? so cool from like, a media arts study perspective?? because it's commonplace to use it for live-action film and vfx work as a way to mask scenes out and isolate them in addition to its original use of mapping things to isolated scenes. i won't bore you with the stuart hall encoding/decoding stuff, but just know that i find the development of digital art circa adobe dominance fascinating. i am using this century-old animation technique to impose my blorbo upon the eyes of thousands.

ANYWAY. i really liked this particular mask--it has a lot of movement but still manages to flow nicely?

me: [cuts off luke's arm] fio: i think that's his arm me: oh... my god

next up: the lightsaber

goodness. where do i start. well first of all i had a vision of something much more 2d when it comes to lightsaber anatomy, lol. but i extended my subscription for maxon and figured--why not take full advantage of this while i've still got it? so i got this 3d model of luke's lightsaber. it's untextured and unrigged and clunky but thankfully it had most of the inner parts so as far as i'm concerned i struck GOLD.

idk what i can really say in terms of like What Is 3d Modelling, because i think people have an understanding of that. so we'll go instead thru my process!

i added materials and added a null object (does that count as rigging? for something as straightforward as this?) to do a simple rotation animation on the first day...

and then i had an idea before bed to separate the parts like that one scene in the clone wars where they show how a lightsaber is assembled, except i haven't watched the scene so god knows how they animated it NKJFGNDFKJGDF. anyway the day after, this was kinda where i got:

keyframing on c4d is a Bitch because u can't just Access The Graph Editor you have to go through the dope sheet and change ur views and it's just. annoying!! coming from an after effects standpoint! but i can see how it's optimized for Actual Animation work so ughgh. we deal. onwards..

asked the team over at usergif and natalie @kenobiis suggested putting in a kyber crystal to fill out the middle. i ended up taking the og "laser" cylinder and modifying/animating it because uh THIS is the real inside of a lightsaber and i am not putting all that into a 3 second gif LMAO. but yeah i fine-tuned the animation and plopped it in after effects, then fiddled with video copilot's saber to make luke's blade.

u might notice the motion blur--that's re:vision's RSMB! i also added a little bit of depth of field with frischluft, but it doesn't show up well in gif form. speaking of things that don't render well:

there is A FUCK TON of aliasing going on. i couldn't make any anti-aliasing settings work for some reason so i ended up trying to smooth it out in ae.. to probably not a lot of effect. i got the very edges around it smoothed out with the classic gaussian blur and a matte choker method, but the black rings are killer. ugh. it's whatever, i figure i'll work something better out for the next time.

finished animation in c4d + the final gif:

the rest

everything else is fairly basic and intuitive i think? obviously used shape layers + alpha mattes, my beloved. i fucked up a little on the text because i think i made my offset keyframes backwards somewhere in the middle of the process but at that point i was too lazy to go back in and fix it. oops!

anyway if u got this far hello thank u i hope this was informative in some way. if u have any questions don't be afraid to ask :D

[spider-xan]

Finally, someone who agrees that What If's artstyle is ugly as hell. Can't speak for the story, because I can't be bothered to watch it due to the godawful dollar store TellTale Games artstyle. I get what they were going for, but it looks weirdly uncanny from the trailers I've seen. The slightly cartoony but stilted animation isn't doing it any favors. All the nice effects and lighting aren't gonna save the ugly character models. TellTale did the comic book stylization a decade ago and while the animation isn't the best, it's still better to look at and the characters don't look like they got botched lip fillers.

Yeah, there is something really strange about the art style where it's like, on a technical level, it looks 'fine', but I get this weird unpleasant visceral feeling when I look at it, like it's occupying this liminal space between stylized animation versus realism, but also between flat versus 3D rendering, if it makes sense? And everyone looks like a plastic toy come to life, yet lifeless? It also just looks cheap in a way that's probably explained by D*sney exploiting and underpaying workers, and while I don't want to open up a fight about AI art, someone pointed out that it has that smooth AI-generated look, and I can definitely see that too.

What is really absurd though is that I just checked the Wiki page for the series, and I'm genuinely baffled that the art style is described as 'iconic' and has the 'monumental and powerful' feeling of the films? And it's supposed to be inspired by Leyendecker and Rockwell, which I don't see bc it just looks like they traced over the MC* actors to me? Apparently, the original potential ideas included a different art style for each episode or basing the look on Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko's work, and traditional 2D animation was considered, but they couldn't find a studio for it, so they ended up doing 2D cell-shaded 3D models, which explains the uncanny liminal look and energy, but only to a degree bc that can still look good, and this does not.

[vitaliadev]

2023.12.27 (w12.29, 3:50am)

I also did a direct study that day. Never have been a fan of both studies and realism style, until artist kse332/ Seung Eun Kim.

Doing studies is very hard, if you cannot turn off your brain fixing shit based on info you already learned. Doing live drawing was really helpful to understand how to turn off this habit for me, I visit DrinkNDraw local events(Estonia) couple times a year.

Also, I totally lack education in arts, fully self-taught and the studies were a subject i somehow totally skipped in learning.

So, successful study for me goes this way:

1. stare at the reference and let your hand do the thing without thinking. preferably barely glancing at your list. When you do, your mind will "fix" stuff which will actually distort anatomy.

2. because u will eventually mess up too much, the cheat code is to put a pic on your canvas and color-pick. This way the reference is very close, so your eye can measure better. Another way is to trace over the drawing before coloring (coloring book style), but i do it on rare cases when i cannot fix my anatomy to a point i get stupidly stubborn aobut it. Tracing is only ok for studies, otherwise it is art theft, imo.

3. optionally finish up the painting with already exaggerating and adding up stuff (overlay, highlights) that you do not see directly in picture but feel it will make the art pop. This will change colors you color picked, so it own't be a super direct study.

4. open new canvas and close the reference. Now doodle from memory similar pose (2nd pic)

5. (last pic, oc doodle i will continue) make a random doodle in different pose, no references and no thinking of the work you already did. You will realize you understand some aspects you learned thorugh this study isnt are able to draw them form different angles (your brain made a 3d map of the object based on your 2d study, soemthing like this).

to sum up, in this study I learned manboobs.

P.S. i may or may not have a pinterest board specifically for Jack Gyllenhaal.. Prisoners is one of the top movies everyone should check out. What a masterpiece. Also, I just like fighting movies & bloody dirty characters with strong wills (and/or questionable morals)

[alanshee-keeper-of-realms]

Speaking from one artist to another, I saw a hurtful anon that insulted your artwork and that makes me angry for various of reasons — BECAUSE I'M A FUCKING ARTIST WHO WAS ONCE A BEGINNER (Sorry for my outburst, but I needed to get this off my chest)

Whoever sent you that without publicly giving you a positive constructive criticism or useful tutorials - they don't realize how beginning artists also exist. Art exist in many forms like illustration, digital, music, pictures and literatures. To call one art "shitty" isn't the best criticism to go around, but you can prove them wrong by asking them if they can do better OR you can keep on going to see how much love your art will receive that they'll stop giving awful comments. They can't stand a certain art style they don't like? Give tips and tutorials! Give kindness, and solutions. But I guess that'll be too much for them?

I never knew the Ninjago fandom was this toxic when people are calling some arts ugly. People have this weird but terrible mindset that certain art styles are better than the other. If the whole artists have the same art styles, it'd be pretty boring and repetitive to see, we'd rather have something new instead for a change. I love to see your art contributing for The Owl House fandom, welcome btw! I know people will love your art there and get more love and positivity. ^^

Thank you I am actually working on a Raine Whispers AU art piece for everybody from the Fanfic WIP I posted

The Song of the Owl Beast

That post really didn't bother me because of the shitty art comment(though it's understandable why it would upset other artists wish I could hug yall that would allow me)

It doesn't bother me because well I like my art and I know there's people out there that might like my art as well, just because a few people say that doesn't mean my art is bad itjust needs improved and I've always been actually quite like Eda (if we compare me to a character) people can throw things at me all they want but it takes a lot for me to be actually upset.

Like I always say, I'm only vocal when I'm actually upset over something. I'm silent when I'm not and it's okay,

I'm very proud of my style because I have a lineless art style that has taken me 4 years(ditched the lineart and sketch layer full time in 2019) to develop and learn and I'm still learning more about how to render it properly, but during this process I know it can be quite ugly. Especially when I'm doing my sketch layers before the rendering as you can see with Raine here I've gotten to that phase, and if I was to share it, it can look kind of uncanny valley haha

I still have to trim the face back down and correct the nose and eyes in general,

What did bother me about that Anon more so was being accused of tracing my art, because there is no way one can trace my art well at least not easily... because there's no lines to trace.

My art style is very very unique in the sense that outright my style doesn't even have a sketch layer to copy. It's stupidly hard for somebody to trace this sort of style where the artist has learned anatomy enough where they can shape the color into the shape one needs like I do.

One can try, but if you don't have enough experience, it won't turn out looking right. Basically, the closest comparison I can put it to is like molding clay only digitally and 2d, so I need to make it look 3d.

(Some anatomy practice fails haha)

I don't think there's anybody else.... at least that I've seen that does this type of style. But if there are people, I would love to know them, because honestly, I have felt alone with this certain art style and not really knowing what to call it or how to render. I know it's lineless, but the technique isn't like other lineless artists as they usually have sketch layers at least.

I appreciate the welcome into the fandom I've already felt very very welcomed just by the interactions I've already received, I haven't had my page this active in years, honestly all it took was me moving a fandom and I wish I had seen that sooner.

You guys really already have helped me in a way nobody else in the Ninjago fandom ever did and that's just opening my eyes even more to how toxic it unfortunately was, because this is all what I was just looking for is a supportive loving fandom that will accept me for all my crazy quirks and ideas.

You guys even got me to do my art and writing already! I hadn't felt inspired in weeks, especially after that retraumatizing event a couple of weeks ago,

I honestly was at the verge of quitting and then I started getting into Owl House and then on the Valana Alt, I started posting and my blog was so active right off the bat, something I again hadn't seen in years on this account. And then you wonderful anons came in telling me to keep going and I wanted to hug you and tell you thank you,

People are actually interacting with my posts, and here I've transferred over a few, and it doesn't matter to yall that I've double posted. You guys still reblog and like it. Some even make comments! And that for somebody like me who has been in a fandom situation where they didn't do that at all, that means the world to me guys honestly, and I will never be able to say it enough, you've already shown me support and love and for that again I can't say it enough

Thank you

[kajinovaa]

Hi hello I absolutely love your art 💞

Like literally it makes my day and I get so excited every time I see it. I aspire to one day have a hold on my own art like you do owo. (If my going absolutely insane in tags ever seems like a bit much my bad lmao hekdudodhdkdhdk)

Saw your recent post about building blocks when drawing characters n I had a few questions if you didn’t mind?

Are the building blocks something you actually draw out each time before sketching a character or is it something you’ve sorta just memorize and imagine when drawing?

How did you begin using the blocks? Cus like I’ve def used shapes before but making them 3d like that seems kinda ruff 👀 hskdhdkshsksh.

Do you feel like it helps at all with executing anatomy?

Thanks again, and I hope you’re having an alright day ówò 💜💜💜.

Heyo~ Firstly, glad you love my art so much. Knowing that my scribbles have a positive impact on people means I'm doing my job right as an artist. :> And you can do it! Just takes patience with yourself, practice, and trusting the process of improving even though there are days when you don't feel it. Don't worry about the tags, I read every single one people leave behind cuz it makes my day and most of the time cracks me the fuck up lmaoooo So for the building blocks question, I'll answer it in parts:

Are the building blocks something you actually draw out each time before sketching a character or is it something you've sorta just memorize and imagine when drawing?

It's actually something that I've come to memorize over time! I don't draw those shapes unless the position or the structure of how I want the character to look like becomes more of a hassle and requires more critical thought into the process. Most of the time, I draw out of memory how each section of the body looks. So the funny thing is, I wasn't actively thinking about 3D shapes on a 2D plane until about the beginning of this year. A last minute resort to this would be to use a free virtual doll online, or Clip Studio Paint's virtual doll function, and rasterize it into an image I can vaguely trace over and define the shapes that I want.

How did you begin using the blocks? Cus like I’ve def used shapes before but making them 3d like that seems kinda ruff 👀 hskdhdkshsksh.

Unfortunately, in order to start using the blocks properly, you need to get a good solid grip of how a 3D shape would look from your perspective, and an even tougher concept to grasp is playing with the perspectives. Examples of basic shapes that you can use to mess around:

Do you feel like it helps at all with executing anatomy?

Absolutely! In its most basic form and combining the shapes, you can determine the complicated structures into a more simplistic format!

Please be advised, I'm not exactly an expert in these areas, but I do know just enough to get by KLDSGHHKLGKHL Thank you, hope you have a nice day as well, and hope the quick demonstrations have helped you in some way :D

[doublerainebow]

Artist Resources (Part 1?)

This is basically just going to be a bunch of resources I have found to be useful. I can’t say that I’ve used all of them, but I’m sure they’re all worth checking out.

I’m also gonna try to put a detailed description for most of the links so you have a better idea of what you’re getting. I apologize in advance if some of them are redundant lol

(I put “Part 1″ if in the case I make another one)

~Links to Tutorials, Tips, Resources, etc~

Another Resource List -- Leads to another Tumblr post. Apparently, the post isn’t mobile-friendly, so it’s suggested to view this on Tumblr browser. Has a bunch of other links. I’ve checked out a few of them (mainly the copyright stuff lol), and it seems that some of the links may be a bit outdated. Still, it doesn’t hurt to check out the links.

Arms and Legs -- Leads to another Tumblr post. A handy tutorial on elbow and knee placement.

Art & Game Dev -- This leads to my personal playlist of a bunch of YouTube videos. Has a bunch of tutorials and interesting videos that I’ve collected over the course of a few years lol.

Blamblot -- A website that contains resources and tutorials on comic lettering. This is primarily in reference to western comics, but it doesn’t help to take a looksie.

Commission Calculator -- Leads to another Tumblr post. Helps artists to stop selling themselves short.

Comparing Heights (hikaku-sitatter) -- A height comparer for centimeters.

Comparing Heights -- A height comparer for feet and inches.

Mouth Shapes and Lip-Syncing -- Leads to another Tumblr post. Useful for... drawing mouth shapes.

Reference Angle -- Useful for when you’re trying to map out a face from an odd angle.

Soft Proofing for Printing -- Leads to another Tumblr post. Helps when you’re trying to make prints of your artwork.

Textures -- A website full of different and mostly free textures. While this website is made for 3D texturing, it can also be useful for 2D drawings. Signing up gives you 15 free credits everyday, and you can use those credits to download some textures for free.

The Models Resource -- A website of models ripped from a wide array of games.

The Spriters Resource -- A website of sprites ripped from a wide array of games.

The Textures Resource -- A websites of textures ripped from a wide array of games. 

~Links to Stock Images~

Please check out whatever policies they may have for their images before using them!

(not sure if any of them are active anymore as I followed some of these accounts a long time ago when I used to be more active on Deviant Art lol)

adorkastock (formerly senshistock)

anatoref -- Leads to another Tumblr post. Has a bunch of hand photo references

charligal-stock

HumanAnatomy4Artist -- Does contain nudity

null-entity

PhelanDavion

RobynRose

~Links to Other Artists~

Akihito Yoshitomi -- Yoshitomi is a mangaka who has tutorials on manga making. He also has an insightful series in which he drafts and draws a 30-page manga in 18 days. Remember that every artist works differently and his process may be different from another’s.

Drawfee -- Drawfee is an improv drawing show of four artists: Nathan Yaffe, Jacob Andrews, Julia Lepetit, and Karina Farek. While they don’t have tutorials in a sense, their videos explain the different processes they go through as they draw. They also occasionally provide tips, tricks, and resources in their videos. They do have another channel and a Twitch channel where they host drawing classes in addition to other fun shenanigans.

EtheringtonBrothers -- Has a bunch of useful and eye-catching tutorials called “How to Think When You Draw”.

Mark Crilley -- Mark is a comic artist, specializing in manga, who has a bunch of tutorials about anatomy, perspective, comic making, and other things.

Miyuli -- Miyuli is an artist who posts tutorials on their Twitter. Their tutorials range from anatomy to clothing to other things. They even have a few books of art tips. Currently (as of the time of posting this), their 2018 version is free for download, so I highly recommend you download that. Some tips may be outdated, but they should still be helpful.

Whyt Manga (Twitter/YouTube) -- Odunze is a comic artist, specializing in manga, that has a bunch of tutorials on manga making and drawing characters of color.

~Links to Free Programs~

Blender -- A free 3D program if you’re into 3D modeling and such. I also personally haven’t used Blender (I use Maya lol), but I know it’s a respectable program.

Krita -- A free painting program if you can’t afford Photoshop or Clip Studio Paint. I personally haven’t used Krita, but I have recommended it to a few friends and they have positive reviews about it.

Paint Tool SAI -- Okay, this one isn’t free, but it’s a significantly cheaper painting program where you don’t have to pay a subscription. It’s 5,500JPY (~50 USD). I’m not sure how well it still works on modern computers (the last update was 2016), but I still use it here and there because I love the pen tool feature it has, and it still works like a charm for me.

~General Tips From Raine~

Raine admits that she’s guilty of not following her own advice, but Raine hopes that the tips that she does know will be beneficial to someone who will follow them. She’s also going to keep all her tips under the cut so as to not make this post a huge wall of text (even though it technically already is lol)

Also, if you have some resources, tutorials, tips yourself, please feel free to send them to me and maybe I’ll make a part 2 to this post!

ALWAYS LOOK FOR REFERENCE. This should really go without saying. You can’t draw from life if you refuse to observe life itself.

If you can’t find the exact thing you need, MAKE YOUR OWN REFERENCE. Time and time again, I can’t find something exactly that I need. So instead, what I do is that I take pictures of my own reference. Sometimes I even grab a friend and take pictures of them doing whatever it is I need.

Have a mirror handy when you’re drawing. Sometimes what you need is actually right there in front of you.

Having trouble drawing something? Do some studies. Take the time to understand what it is you’re drawing. I can’t remember the exact story, but I heard that the people who were working on Tarzan were having a hard time drawing his hands. So, what they did was spend a few hours looking at hands to try and understand how they work.

IT’S OKAY TO STUDY THE ART OF OTHER ARTISTS. Just as we look to the old masters as a reference, it’s definitely okay to look at modern-day artists for reference. Just don’t go copying exactly everything that they do, or worse, trace what they do. Just don’t do it... at all.

Not every line needs to be realized. The viewer of your work will automatically connect the dots.

DO NOT TRASH YOUR OLD DRAWINGS. Please, never ever do this. Your old drawings have value to them, even if they look terrible to you. Old drawings may hold ideas for things you could do for the future. They also serve as a way to see how far you’ve come as an artist.

GETTING BETTER AT DRAWING TAKES TIME AND EFFORT. You’re not gonna get better overnight. It’ll take months, or even years, to feel like you’re a competent artist, and even then, you’ll still have room for improvement.

DON’T LOOK DOWN ON YOURSELF IF YOU’RE TAKING A LONG TIME TO GET BETTER. It’ll be better for your mental health in the long run.

Alternatively, DON'T LOOK DOWN ON OTHER ARTISTS EITHER, ESPECIALLY TO MAKE YOURSELF FEEL BETTER. You know the struggles it took for you to get where you are, so don’t go putting down other people when you’ve been in their shoes once.

KEEP DRAWING. If you’re not making an effort to get better, then you’re not going to be better. I get that it’s hard to find the inspiration to draw (I’m very guilty of this), but just keep trying. It doesn’t have to be big or spectacular. You don’t even have to post it if you’re the type who likes to post their art stuff.

Try to find references from real-life. It’ll help you better understand form, lighting, shadows, etc., especially if you’re going for a more realistic kind of art style. Otherwise, finding reference from things like cartoons, anime, comics, etc. are just as good.

Try new things. Try new art mediums. Try a different art style. Switch up the way you do things. Maybe you’ll hate it, maybe you’ll like it. Who knows if you don’t try.

Watch time-lapses (or speed draws/speed paints) of other artists!

Pinterest and Google are your friends if you need tutorials or references or whatever.

If you’re offering commissions, DO NOT WORK UNDER YOUR LOCAL MINIMUM WAGE. You are literally devaluing the work you actually put into a piece.

I like to think I’m an aficionado of Photoshop, so feel free to ask me questions on how to achieve something! I’ve used Photoshop for about 11 years now and know my way around the program. On another note, I do recommend setting custom keyboard shortcuts in Photoshop because the default shortcuts are terrible (in my opinion), and because having custom shortcuts increases the speed of your workflow.

Because I’ve been seeing this a lot lately in Twitter, you’re never too old to start in art. Art is just one of those things that anyone can pick up at any age because the only thing you really need to get good in art is time, diligence, and patience.

Try not to post hi-res images of your artwork to prevent art stealers from selling your artwork in high resolution.

Always, always, always add your signature and watermark on your artwork. I like to add my signatures and watermarks in places that’ll be hard to erase or crop out. I’ve also seen people add their signatures and watermarks in creative ways (ex. on a character’s shirt). You need to protect your work in an era where people will just blatantly steal it and make profit off your work.

Tag List

@reality-is-often-disappointing

[crown-anon]

aah i thought of a req!!!!! could i maybe request one shots or hcs (separate) w dream, sapnap, n wilbur with a s/o (preferred he/him!!) who draws a whole lot,, n one day they catch him drawing him?? tysm :]

@ghcstbnr asked

gn i just realized i made a typo i meant cc catching reader drawing them- but ty again :)

of course! it's kind of long, sorry about that

I took a little creative liberty with the notion of "catching you drawing." also Sapnap's looks kind of long but it's also dialogue heavy. if you want me to redo it, I will. hope you like it 💗

& a note to everyone else, I don't write for Wilbur yet! I only write for the dream team at this time. sorry about that! this will probably change in the future, though, so look out 👀

CW: swearing

format: one-shot

people: dreamwastaken, Sapnap

pronouns: dreamwastaken's piece is ambiguous, Sapnap's piece uses he/him

edited 27 April 2021

—

dreamwastaken

since he doesn't use his camera, you find yourself with your boyfriend in the studio more often than not. when he's gaming casually, you play together, or one of you will cheer the other one on. when he's streaming, sometimes you interact with the viewers, or read donations for him; sometimes you just sit next to him, soaking up his energy and warmth. when he's working long days and long nights to edit videos, you're content with just relaxing together in the same space. at times you have to drag him out to the kitchen to eat, or help him to bed if he passes out, but…he's really cute when he's focused. (and you're starting to think he does it on purpose just so you can dote on him.)

today is a little different. he's recording for a manhunt that's meant to drop in a couple days. you're quiet, trying to avoid disrupting them. you're perched up on the loveseat, staring fondly at him across the room. he's so animated, the way his eyes shine when he talks to his friends, how he tears up when he laughs…

Patches mews at you from the arm of the couch, as if to say, disapprovingly, I cannot believe how sickeningly sweet your inner monologue is.

and you try to understand where she's coming from, you really do, but the sun's starting to set, and the gentle rays slotting through the blinds are shifting from white to gold.

he looks so divine, you decide. it's unfair. how could I not love him? he's seriously pretty. and before you can stop yourself, you're sketching him out on your tablet. you glance up at him fast to get the details right, and look away just as quickly. he never meets your eyes. soon your whole page is covered in little Clays, capturing the way he feels, the way he acts, the way you feel about him. Patches jumps off the chair, with all the moving. and before you know it, you've drawn up a whole page of concept art of your unfairly beautiful boyfriend. Patches was right about me, you muse to yourself.

fuck. Patches. the same Patches who's been meowing at you for the better part of an hour, now sitting patiently at the door? there's no way Clay didn't pick up on all that noise, you fret. but he's still playing, looking intense as ever. relief washes over you, replacing the guilt.

come here, girl, you think to yourself, knowing Patches wouldn't have even understood you if you spoke. sorry to keep you waiting. and you rise, slipping quietly out the door with his cat in your train.

—

you're coming back to the studio. Patches, fed and sated, is napping in another room. opening the door, you have to stop yourself, you freeze. your boyfriend's kneeling on the ground, sitting on his heels, right next to the door—you'd have hit him if it opened any further.

"baby, what are you…" the words die on your tongue.

my book. my sketchbook. my sketchbook full of drawings of him. shit, he's gonna think I'm such a simp! the embarrassment, the shame, the fear, it's overwhelming you.

you hear your voice break. "…what happened to recording…?"

"finished half an hour ago," he says simply.

and that was that. for the first time in ages, the silence hanging between you was thick and heavy with tension. you wait. and wait. and wait. you wait for the criticism, the hate, the argument that never comes.

suddenly, he seems content with what he's seen, when he looks up at you adoringly, and takes one of your hands, giving it a soft squeeze. "is that…me?"

you've lost your voice, all you can do is nod.

"you…you think I'm beautiful?" he glows.

ah, I suppose I did write that, somewhere in there. you look away. all the things I've said…

he brings your hand up to his lips and leaves kisses on your knuckles.

you sound small. "do I not tell you that enough?" you pause. "that you're beautiful? that I love you?"

and just like that, his nervousness dissolves into euphoria. you both start laughing at the same time.

"oh my god—" he wheezes. "—you're so sappy."

"only for you," you blurt out, and start laughing harder. but he quiets, he hesitates.

"only for me," he repeats.

you sink down onto the floor next to him. he's staring so fondly at you, you can't help but smile back.

"only for you," you affirm.

he rests his hands on your knees, pulling himself closer to you. he's so close to you, you can feel his blush. you let your eyes close, softly.

but the kiss never comes. instead, you're met with a "then what about all those drawings of Patches?"

laying on the floor, tangled up in each other, in hysterics, you distantly think I hope he remembered to leave the call from recording earlier.

—

over dinner, you meet his gaze, and he gives you that look. that stupid, handsome look; the one with the smile and the danger behind his eyes. he makes a point of pausing mid-bite, but it takes you a minute to notice that he's stopped eating.

"what's up, honey?" you ask, sounding a little more concerned than you should have been.

he shrugs dramatically. "oh, nothing…just figured you'd appreciate a muse." there it was. the teasing. you knew it would happen eventually. but the tone, it's kind, it's tempting; gentle, unlike a serious jab.

so all you do is roll your eyes, but you can't help the way your mouth quirks into a smile. "you're so dumb," you murmur with affection, and shake your head at nothing in particular.

Patches curls her tail around your ankle as she passes you by.

—

on the couch hours later for movie night, you're the last one up. Patches is curled up in Clay's lap, purring. Clay, in turn, sleeps soundly in your lap. (you think if he could purr, he would, but he settles for humming softly when you play with his hair.) you might think it's funny looking back on it later, but it feels so tender and vulnerable now. you like calm evenings like this one. Studio Ghibli plays quietly on the flatscreen; you don't know which one, you're not really paying attention anymore.

you're busy tracing the contours of Clay's skin, feeling more than seeing his shape in the dark room. mapping him out in your mind, learning his figure like you're seeing him for the first time again. you think you understand him a little bit better, every day you spend together. and with confidence, you make your first stroke, illuminated by the moon.

—

Sapnap

you only barely stop yourself from drawing a big "X" across your paper. exhale, and start erasing furiously. don't rip the paper—well, we didn't need that sheet anyway. ball it up and throw it at the dark, cobwebbed corner of the room. along with the rest of your mistakes.

you're trying. you're really trying. but those lips. his fucking lips. fuck.

your boyfriend smiles at the camera as he gets a donation with a sweet message on it. it should be so easy. he's right there. right here.

you check the time. it's been an hour. you've been trying, and miserably failing, to get his lips right for an entire hour. today, at least. you scoff at yourself, your misery, and pinch the bridge of your nose. it isn't fair.

his camera's on, and he's live, so you know you can't be in there with him. nobody knows you're together, and you don't want know what kind of backlash to expect if people found out. so you've been avoiding his streams…the whole room where he streams, really.

you've kept yourself busy by drawing. and you've cycled through many subjects in your life, and eventually, been able to draw whatever you put your mind to with enough time and effort. the problem is, your sights have been set on Sapnap, even for months before you got together. okay, maybe that isn't the problem. the actual problem is that you fucking suck at drawing him.

you get going, start it out, do an okay job, but midway through screw it all up somehow. to make things worse, your reference is his 2D image. he doesn't…know that you draw him. you're terrified to say. so you can't use the real life Sapnap as a reference, like you would prefer.

ugh, and this one's ruined too. you rip it up and throw it at your growing pile of paper balls, but being tiny confetti-sized pieces of paper, they don't make it very far. great, something else to clean up later, you huff at your own thoughts. it isn't fair.

—

"[name]?" he calls for you. you're one step ahead, already opening the door. you can't remember when you got here and decided to brood outside his room.

"hey, do you think you can—" he tears his eyes from his camera, his waiting audience, to look up at you expectantly. when he sees you he stops immediately, looking concerned, standing to meet you.

"what is it?" your voice is flat.

out of view of the camera, he mouths, are you okay? you only shrug and avert your eyes.

he falters, contemplates, sits back down at his desk and starts to talk to his viewers. "hey guys, I'm sorry for the short notice, but I gotta cut this stream short. my…" he glances at you for approval, only to see you motioning with your hands as if to say, no, don't.

(you yourself don't really know what for. no, don't end the stream for me? no, don't out us like this?)

he looks back. "…my friend…something came up with my friend. I have to take care of it. it's really important." you can tell he has trouble finding the right words. you can tell it throws him off, he's acting out of character for his internet personality. do you blame him? isn't this your fault? "sorry again. bye guys!"

the second he made the last click, he gets up and pulls you into a hug. it's unexpected, it knocks the wind out of you. you're certain he feels the tension.

"babe…what's wrong?" it's muffled by your neck and the sweater you're wearing. you just hold him, saying nothing.

he pulls away and holds you by the shoulders. "look at me. what's wrong?"

you feel all the more embarrassed. it's so silly to be upset about. "I…I…well, it's a lot."

he shakes his head, to say I'm not going anywhere, but his expression softens, his grip loosens. "do you want to talk about it?"

you sigh. "it started as 'I can't draw for shit', then it became 'why am I afraid of asking you for help?', and finally, worst of all, 'why the fuck can't we be seen together?' it isn't fair. it's never been fair. I'm sorry."

he thinks about it for a second. "okay, what makes you feel like we can't be seen together?"

"are you joking?" you snap. "we're two fucking boyfriends. in this society." he didn't look hurt by the outburst, but the guilt crept in anyway. "…I'm sorry."

he shakes his head, "do you really think I'd let that happen? I wouldn't ever let anyone hurt you, darling. remember that."

"I know, I know…" you don't know what to say. "it's easy to forget, I guess."

"what are you afraid to ask me for help about?"

"I…" shit, you guess you have to tell him. close your eyes, breathe, "I've been drawing you. trying to draw you. but I can't, it never turns out right."

you peek, and he's red in the face, stuttering. "me? you draw me? of all the hot people out there?"

you furrow your eyebrows at him. "don't give me that shit. you know you're cute."

he shakes his head incredulously. "are we talking about the same person here?"

"dude, your smile is literally the most radiant fucking force of nature I have ever seen."

"you're hot too! why are you coming after me?"

"I'm not 'coming after you', you're being defensive about your looks, when you shouldn't be! you're gorgeous, baby."

you're both giggling like girls at a sleepover, the anger and frustration long forgotten. now it's a war of who can be more grossly in-love with the other.

"what part of me," he manages between laughs. "are you having trouble drawing?"

"oh god," you groan, remembering yourself and your dilemma. "your lips."

"my fucking lips? you would think that—"

"no," you warn. "shut up. don't say it. don't you dare say it."

he leans in close, his hands have moved up to cup your face. you shiver.

"don't worry," he grins. "I won't."

the kiss is long and sweet, nothing like the ones you've shared in the past. he takes his time, you savor each other. you feel time stop ticking, you feel your heart stop beating, you feel the way he tilts his head. you grab him by the collar of his shirt and pull him in. and when you part, you're breathing heavy, in tandem.

"thanks," you manage. "but I needed to see your lips, not kiss you into next saturday."

"nah," he laughs. "I think you needed that too."

you choose your words thoughtfully. "do you need me, too?"

he hums, and—

ding!

dreamwastaken donated $69!

:)

you could die. you could really, seriously die.

the response is instant. you don't even see Sapnap move from you to the PC, flushed down to his neck, apologizing, apologizing, and apologizing again. "change of plans, guys, we're doing an art stream!"

the chat is filled with "huh?"s and "what?"s.

"huh? what?" you didn't have the time to process what just happened.

karljacobs: I thought we were doing a make-out-with-our-secret-boyfriends stream :(

he smiled warmly at you. "yeah. my lovely boyfriend is going to draw me! he's been wanting to for a really long time, and his art is really good. let's go get your stuff."

you're in so much shock that he makes it past you and out of the room, while you stand there waiting. after a pause much longer than you intended, you hurry after him.

—

down the hall, in your room, he's got your sketchbook tucked under his arm, closed. you're sure you left it open when you came out.

you only barely get the words out. "um, did you…go through it? please don't laugh."

your heart sinks when he laughs heartily, but he grabs your hand, resting it on your book, about to hand it off. but he holds you there for a second. "of course not. I respect your privacy." he ponders for a moment. "I respect you."

you can feel the sigh of relief when you let it out. "I…love you."

your holding your book now, as he moves to collect the boxes containing your pens and pencils and colors. he gets them all together, but before he picks them up to head back, he turns around to face you. "is this too much?"

you absently reach for a hand, tracing over the lines on his palms. and you think about it. am I okay? is this too much?

"I don't think so. not with you. I'm okay."

he moves to open the door and grab the rest of your things. "well then, let's not keep them waiting!"

—

edited 27 April 2021

[quaranmine]

Hi quara I am once again overcome by the urge to learn artTM and I was wondering, if you could tell, how did you actually learn art?

Hi!!! Short answer? practice

Long answer? spite

basically, I always liked arts and crafts as a kid. but i was not super interested in it, and instead began to focus away from visual art to stuff like writing. my 7th grade notebook had so many stories! Then, in 8th grade, I asked to have art as an elective, and was denied. They wouldn't let me take the class. I had already bought a sketch book for the class since I knew I wanted to take it. I didn't want to take the sketchbook back to the store, or hoard it with all my other notebooks.

So, driven by spite because of my school administration, i decided to fill it anyway by myself. and fill it I did. and another, and another, and so on.

I'm mostly self-taught. I drew anime based on tutorials I saw on pinterest. I joined a group board/community of novice artists on pinterest and posted there for people to critique. I started using markers primarily because I saw them all over the internet, and they're still my primary medium. I had very little formal instruction partially because the art program at my high school was a trainwreck (too complicated to explain) and by the time I had proper teachers I was like...beyond the rest of the class in ability. I went to a small school, the same teacher taught grades 6-12 at different times of day. we didn't have advanced classes, and i was so advanced beyond my classmates that the teachers just let me do my own projects. i dont say this to brag i just say it to mean i literally did whatever i wanted in class and never got taught anything (since the projects were too easy). the only formal art education i have is one (1) college class on 2D design and color theory which definitely did help me in composition.

to actually give advice though...? i used a lot of internet tutorials, many of which were probably pretty bad. But i think what helped me the most was probably drawing based on photos--not tracing. I used to carry a mini sketchbook with me and some pens (because i felt my lines would be more certain if i couldnt erase) and draw people i saw around, or pull up a reference photo on pinterest. i did this constantly when i was bored or waiting somewhere.

I would recommend paying attention to underlying shapes and guidelines. when i was a kid i thought drawing circles before you drew something was dumb, but I think it genuinely helps. break things into shapes and pay attention to how much space they take up. draw from photos and from life, and make sure you draw what is actually there rather than how you think it should look. make a reference library of pose photos/people to draw. and then fill up many, many, sketchbooks because what really helps will just be doing it over and over again.

and pay attention to other people's art--pieces in museums, fanart on tumblr, etc. what do you like about it? what do you notice about the lines, the shapes, the colors? what about the composition? look at nature/real life too--how the sun hits that leaf or how someone tilts their head. everything is art!

[godliath]

Making 3D References in Clip Studio Paint

Thought you guys might be interested to see how I use Clip Studio Paint for putting together custom 3D references! (FYI I use the iPad version, but everything here applies to the regular desktop version as well.)

A lot of people know CSP as a great digital art alternative to Photoshop (which it is, don’t let Adobe extort you if you can help it), but I personally use it almost exclusively to make references! Its 3D features are pretty robust and what I’m about to show you is only the tip of the iceberg.

Here are a couple of my CSP references with their equivalents in Rainfall:

As you can see, I use it mostly for shots where characters are interacting (especially couple interactions!), because I tend to have a very specific idea of how I want the pose + camera angle to look. 

Assets

I use modified versions of CSP’s stock human models and a mix of downloaded assets from their website. I rarely have to look beyond the free assets, but the few times I did, $10 was enough to secure me a huge amount of “Gold” content.

(Tip: Click the “Detail” button to the right of the search bar to filter by 3D content.)

Relevant Interface

These are literally the only things I use in CSP, so don’t ask me what other parts of the program do lol.

Click here to see all these images larger

Operation Tool - This selects 3D models in the layer and allows you to manipulate them. Apologies for my chicken scratch.

3D Material Palette - Includes all poses, human models, and objects. I’ve created some custom folders in a feeble attempt to organize all the shit I’ve downloaded.

Body Type Settings - CSP comes with a few default human models in both realistic and more anime-style proportions. You can modify the models’ height, fat/muscle distribution, specific body part proportions, and more. You can also save these as presets for future use. (See above)

Making Backgrounds

3D is fantastic for setting up scenes with significant background elements. It can be a huge time saver, especially if you’re going to be drawing it multiple times from different angles.

I used a bunch of downloaded assets to create this “set”, making sure it looked good at the angles I was planning on using in the comic.

Once that was done, I posed the character models as I needed, took screenshots at the right angles, and traced over the background objects. Tracing is fine. If this was a technical exercise it’d be one thing, but I’m here to make a comic.

Here’s an example of a looser approach for less prominent backgrounds. I used the boxes as guides to draw in the rest.

---

I hope you enjoyed this behind the scenes look! 3D is a really great supporting tool for 2D artists and with CSP, it’s more affordable and accessible than ever.

[fadedtale]

♦ Golly, it’s been a hot second! This may as well be a bit of a tradition; posting an update whenever a certain game does, huh?

Anyhow;

♦ TL:DR; Underfade/Colorless and its subsequent AUs, as well as the rest of the Undertale blogs under my wings, are in an indefinite hiatus. Should the faded!Frisk AU ever revive, then this blog (fadedtale) will serve as the main hub for it. The original blog will no longer be running at all.

♦ I’m doing great by the way!... but if this little message somehow reaches out to others from this tiny corner of the wide internet, here’s a full report on the status of things;

--

       – UNDERFADE/FADEDTALE RELATED –

❥ Why is fadedtale becoming the main blog for your AUs when you still have the original blog?

♦ Ha ha, it’s quite simple really!

I no longer have access to the original blog.

The email I used for it? I can’t remember it. Any record I have saved for what that email could be is also unfindable?? Please believe me when I say that I have tried near everything I could to try and recover the blog. A solid portion of the time away from this AU is the utter despair I felt not finding any trace of what made that blog in the first place.

Watch me say that and then find the email I need to claw my way back into it. Until then;

Goodbye, Underfade/Colorless It will forever exist as a relic of its time; a personally cringeworthy yet humble seedling for the monstrosity of a brainworm it is even to this day.

❥ Underfade/Colorless, cringeworthy?

♦ Immensely!

Not because it’s an Undertale AU, and not because Undertale is. Undertale is genuinely, unironically, epic and joy inducing -- thus, the work I’ve done for Undertale through these AUs is also joy inducing.

However, as the years have passed, I’ve become increasingly unhappy with how I managed things. I can’t look at that blog without feeling like I’m drinking raw lime juice, ha ha.

On the plus side; I’m happy with how much I’ve grown and changed since the blog’s establishment! That’ll be my overall takeaway... even if my past, not-nearly-as-cool self may forever exist within its own bubble of the internet.

❥ What about your other blogs? 

♦ I have no idea what the fresh hell is happening with my other blogs, as basically the only blog I do have access to still is fadedtale. So... my other UT blogs share the same fate as the original faded!Frisk blog: stasis.

❥ So... what’s the plan? 

♦ Well-!

As much as I want to come back and finish what I started, it has been difficult to find the motivation to.

Between real life, finding myself with real (!) paying (!!) art jobs, getting the therapy and rest I need to in between contract work, surviving 2020 and building myself up to higher heights, there hasn’t been much room at all for these AUs. I cannot guarantee, at all, that I will have the time or energy to return and work/roleplay for this as I once did.

I did think of just writing out at least the Underfade/Colorless AU and putting it someplace like Ao3, either as a series of notes or as a flimsily written fic, with either or being accompanied by the artwork I have accumulated on and off throughout my years’ long hiatus. I’m perpetually on the fence on this front!

Maybe by the time deltarune Ch. 7 is out, we’ll come back to all of this.

--

       – UNDERTALE RELATED –

❥ CIN, CIN, CIN, DELTARUNE CHAPTER 2

♦ YO

WHY DO YOU THINK I’M WRITING THIS STATUS UPDATE. COINCIDENCE??? NO

In all seriousness; deltarune chapter 2 was a delightful and inspirational experience!! The series really is a nostalgic-feeling one. It’s why I keep coming back to it I think, ha ha. I hope everyone’s had a fun time with the new chapter, too!

--

      – GENERAL NEWS –

❥ How’ve things been?

♦ I graduated college! I work as a full-time 2D animator! If you see my name in places, you can go “whoa! That’s a bird!”

I’ve been to weddings, I’ve been to graduations, I’ve been across the country, and I’ve been at home with my loved ones for over a year...

All in all, I’ve been just fine!

❥ What have you been up to lately?

♦ 2D animation contract work, mostly! Being loosely active in my typical haunts, too. I want to say my most active one nowadays is Discord, ha ha.

One of these days, it would be nice to pick up my britches and make my own game or webcomic. My current work in the 2D animation scene is saving up for that sort of dream.

Maybe I’ll see you there! Maybe not. I’ll let you know when deltarune chapter 7 lands.

❥ I want to talk to you! How do I do that?

♦ Echoing my last status update; I’m on Discord! If we don’t share a Discord server or if we haven’t RP’d when I was active, then... whoops.

The next best option is skybluescarf, which is my permanently queue-ing fandom blog. It may take a month or year to see messages from there.

❥ Anything else you want to mention?

♦ Kris, Chara and Frisk all canonically use they/them pronouns 🎉 This is an indisputable canonical fact and I’ve gotten enough therapy to take pride in my assertiveness, which I am exercising right now in order to aggressively stand for this notion.

Anyone who ships these characters with adults are free to take a vacation to hell!

Anyone who ships Cha//risk or any of the human children with Asriel, romantically, can also give me a wide berth. I see them all as friends/siblings and am firmly asserting this as well.

Otherwise, that should be all for now. Thank you all for your time and patience.

I’ll see you all later!

[artificialqueens]

Honeybee (Utica/Rosé) - Paper Lash

A/N: Hello everyone, it’s so great to get back to writing! This is my submission for the ‘Nostalgia’ challenge! Inspired by “Honeybee”, a song by the band Steam Powered Giraffe!

Just as a reference- Ross is Rosé’s boy name, and the pronouns are she/her in drag, he/him out of it! While Utica/Ethan will use they/them pronouns through the story! This one shot will most likely be paired with a prequel writing as well! Stay safe everyone!- Paper Lash

Ethan woke slowly at the sound of their alarm as it rang through the quiet room. This late in the winter, the sun had just begun to rise at this early hour- and Ethan, well, had just fallen asleep a handful of hours before, physical exhaustion pulling them away from the large in progress painting- propped close by an easel beside the window in their room. It took up the majority of the wall, allowing the small-town student the perfect view, and reference to the buildings of the big city. It was their third year, fall semester in New York- and they still weren’t used to the sights and sounds the city offered- but there was one major change they happened to love. They had met Ross within the first week of classes last semester- spurred on by their close friend, Mikey- or ‘Mik’ for short- to join a beginners dance group held by a few students in their department. As a painter, Ethan had only really met other ‘physical’ artists, graphic designers, 2D artists or even makeup artists- like Mikey himself. The students of the performing arts, confident and outspoken people, were the type they usually kept away from. Ross, along with his two best friends, lead the class- and from there, the two seemed to click together. The pair were the epitome of ‘opposites attract’.

As they stretched, and rose from their bed to get dressed- they reached for their phone, scrolling through their spotify- selecting an old playlist from high school, filled with hours of old, gentle music that would calm them through the anxieties of high school. They felt a bit off this morning, most likely from the lack of sleep, so they could use all the help they could get. Sweet, slow plucks from the guitar suddenly filled their room, a vocal hum trailing behind, when suddenly- words spilled into their ears-

“You didn’t have to look my way… Your eyes still haunt me, to this day- but you did… Yes, you did-”

The tall student’s pale face suddenly flushed, those old, sweet lyrics could make their brain think of no one else- but Ross. Those deep-set hazel eyes that only appeared wider with the occasional pink shadow. Ethan hated to admit it, but they were a bit jealous of Ross- or, Rosé- how beautiful and handsome she could look at the same time… Ethan couldn’t think they’d ever look as beautiful as Ross or Rosé- not in a million years…

“You didn’t have to say my name… ignite my circuits, start a flame- but you did…” Either name- Ethan or Utica, the little nickname Ross and his friends had begun to call them- however Ross would address them, would always sound like a song in the tall redhead’s ears. That warm, baritone voice would hug those syllables as they would slip from his lips- rushed and snappy, or slow… calm- pulling Utica out of the trace of their brain, back to the real world- it always made them so nervous, but, they couldn’t hear it enough- Quickly, they tapped at their phone, placing the song on repeat as they quickly got dressed, grabbed their things- and headed out the door to catch the early morning bus across campus. “You didn’t have to smile at me- your grins the sweetest that I’ve ever seen… but you did. Yes, you did…-”

Oh that smile, they could look at that smile all day… Ross’ lips were as animated as the rest of him- smiling like the sun, spilling beautiful notes from between them… setting Utica’s nerves on fire with a mere smirk- “You didn’t have to offer your hand- cause since I’ve kissed it, I’m at your command… but you did…-” “Oh! Turpentine erase me whole- cause I- don’t want to live my life alone!- well, I- been waiting for you all my life…

Set me free… my… Ho-ney bee…” Any stranger could see the cherry red flush of the young student’s face- here they sat, alone on the bus, bundled to hide from the city’s morning chill… glancing out the window, yearning for the person they’d see in mere minutes. Ethan would meet Ross and his friends for breakfast- the only time of the day they could just sit and relax before the chaos of their shared day.

“Hello Goodbye, Twas nice to know you, How I find myself without you- That I’ll never know…-”

Like magic, those dreamy song lyrics seemed to quicken just as the redhead stepped off from the bus, walking into the main campus building- now practically running to the tune of the music- long legs in stride, filled with a sudden anticipation- The words continued, their wide eyes looking through the café- “Hello goodbye I’m rather crazy, and I never thought I was crazy- but! What! Do I know?… I let myself go…-”

“Why’d I have to be into a short brunette?” Utica mumbled to themself, a giggle in their voice. They weren’t sure at all why they suddenly felt so… anxious, a rumbling in their ‘nuggets’ they couldn’t quite place- couldn’t get rid of- until their eyes met the sight of Ross, seated at a table, chatting along with two other brunettes, his closest friends- whom Utica knew as ‘Jan’ and ‘Lagoona’… Quickly, they seemed to rush over- just as they lyrics seemed to abruptly end- Breathless- they stood in front of the trio with a wide, cherry-lipped smile, carefully pulling their earbuds from their ears, tucking them away as they took the seat right beside Ross. He stared at them with a puzzled look on his face, staring into Ethan’s green, babydoll eyes. A chuckle slipped from his lips- potential words brought to a halt as Ethan tugged him close, placing a long, lingering kiss to his lips- staining them the same, rose petal red. Carefully, they pulled away- cupping the side of his face as they continued to stare, that same, blissful smile adorning their face as it had before- “Good morning- Honeybee-” Their accented voice cooed, suddenly bringing a bright flush to Ross’ face. His two friends began to chuckle at his flustered appearance, bringing a wider smile to Utica’s face as they seemed to relax, facing forward once more- resting their head atop Ross’ shoulder. He cussed toward his friends, brushing off their teasing laughs. “A-anyway- as I was saying, you assholes better bring it next practice- or I swear…” Ross’ words seemed to cut out in Ethan’s mind as they relaxed against him, hugging his arm close- simply enjoying the warm presence he gave… he was the one thing, with the help of their friends, that made Utica feel at home in this loud city- their Honeybee.

[sylleboi]

𝕮𝖔𝖒𝖎𝖈 𝖇𝖔𝖔𝖐 𝖈𝖔𝖓𝖋𝖎𝖉𝖊𝖓𝖙𝖎𝖆𝖑 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖘𝖚𝖒𝖒𝖊𝖗 𝖕𝖗𝖔𝖏𝖊𝖈𝖙 - 𝕾𝖙𝖆𝖌𝖊 𝖔𝖓𝖊 | 02/06/20

There are two types of textures;- Implied texture is basically texture that appears to be there, but it’s an illusion.- Actual texture is texture that exists and can be felt by touch.So I have been falling behind with what we as a class have been doing online on Moodle, making it feel increasingly difficult to approach it and get things done since it feels like things just keep piling up, but I have decided to give it a shot and just go for it!

The following message/messages were left for us on the Moodle forum;

01

“Hi guys,

Thanks to those that attended the Zoom meeting this week. Well done.

If you are committed to progressing next year I will need to see the following:

- Post a reply to this thread to show you are checking in with Moodle

- Interact with a least 1 of the summer school activities

- Attendance at ALL subsequent Zoom classes.

- A Conscientious and studious approach to the summer project

The time line for what happens next in terms of your studies will be as follows:

Tuesday 26th May - Summer project posted to Moodle and emailed directly to college emails (This will give you a chance to read/obtain equipment/purchase core text)

Monday 1st June - Zoom Lecture - Reviewing the brief and discussing research activities and practical tasks. Q & A

Monday 8th June - Zoom show & tell - Discussing progress so far / issues / findings / examples / Work in Progress

Monday 15th June - Zoom Break out groups / Smaller discussions

Please if you are in contact with any of your classmates/peers who have not be interacting can you please encourage them to do so, the longer we abstain from learning the harder it will be when we do get back to the 'New normal'.

Happy Wednesday!”

- Post a reply to this thread to show you are checking in with Moodle

I posted a short reply to show that I am active on Moodle.

- Interact with a least 1 of the summer school activities

I am yet to do this, but will be attempting my best to catch up.

- Attendance at ALL subsequent Zoom classes.

I have already failed this, but will attend the Zoom classes schedule ahead.

- A Conscientious and studious approach to the summer project

I will be working towards living up to this over the next few weeks as we work on the Summer School Project.

02

“Hi guys,

Hope you had as good bank holiday, here is the Summer project as promised. 'Comic Book Confidential' is a project that will allow us to start thinking about the type of work we will create in our 2nd year as well as addressing the theoretical and academic ideas we will need to start thinking abound discussing in detail when we return.

This week, I want you to do the following:

- Read the brief thoroughly and write down any questions you may have

- Order your core text book, Scott McCloud's 'Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art'

- Obtain any of the necessary equipment if you do not currently have this

Please ensure you start your research from Stage 1, and begin to write notes for the questions; as I will be asking you to relay your new knowledge next Monday (1st June) in our first Zoom lecture/discussion. I will forward an invite in a separate email and on moodle. I look forward to working with you guys on this, it will be a good one.

Best Regards,

David Dixon”

𝕮𝖔𝖒𝖎𝖈 𝖇𝖔𝖔𝖐 𝖈𝖔𝖓𝖋𝖎𝖉𝖊𝖓𝖙𝖎𝖆𝖑

The brief;

03

“Hi guys,

Thank you everyone who joined us yesterday for the launch of our Comic Book Confidential Summer Project, there was a great turn out.

I have attached the PDF of the presentation for you to look at and use as a resource.

Please begin stage 1 and make sure for next week you have your viewfinder made and you are able to talk about either a comic book of your choosing or answer some of the questions of stage 1 with clarity.

Any question please post to here and I will answer as soon as possible.

Cheers

DD”

I  missed this zoom call, but got some notes and insight to what was talked about during the call from a peer.

This brief is the first surrounding the topic of sequence art/comics that we have done as a class. Comics can be described as being a “sequence through illustration”; a series of images, sometimes with no dialogue showing an action or conveying a space of time in just a few panels, like glimpses of a film, showing key moments to portray the meaning of the sequence.

On another note, we are allowed to animate the project if we want to.

For this brief/project, we are required to put some form of narrative together, based off of our own personal experiences with the 2020 lockdown, making it a personal project to each of us. It is also required to be non verbal.

During the process of making our comic sequence, a short film showing the process from start to finish.

AIMS:

Make at least 5 comic book pages with at least three panels per page

Build a narrative exploring the ideas of isolation and coming out of lockdown

Understand how to create the passing of time

Explore the basic characteristics of a comic, BASICS!

A series of juxtaposed images creating a narrative or a selection of images.

An aesthetic response to our viewer done using a selection of images in a deliberate sequence. - “Sequence art”

Can we link this back to year 1?

I did a workshop at the very beginning of the year (19/09/19) called Fragments/Clips. It focused on experimental editing and making something unconventional with what resources we were given, much like we are asked to do with this brief; creating comic strips from the resources we find within and around us.

𝕶𝖊𝖞 𝖆𝖗𝖙𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖘:

We can find our own if we like but the suggested artists are;

- Hokusai

- Aiden Koch

- Sam Elston - former student from our course that will be visiting us.

Can you define what a comic is in your own words?

Comics can be described as being a “sequence through illustration”; a series of images, sometimes with no dialogue showing an action or conveying a space of time in just a few panels, like glimpses of a film, showing key moments to portray the meaning of the sequence.

What are the characteristics of a non verbal comic?

The primary characteristic for non verbal comics is the lack of words used. Non verbal comics are told solely through illustrations that, when you “read” it, will come alive like an animation that doesn't move. An example of non verbal communication could be something as simple as a smile, often indicating happiness, or perhaps a lack of expression can indicate boredom or something of a much darker background, like contempt or bloodlust. 

What different forms of comic can you find, and how are they different?

A number of comic genres pop into mind immediately; Science-fiction comics, Superhero comics, Fantasy comics, Teen comics (humour), Adult/Erotic comics, Manga etc. Comics can also come in many different types of mediums, some that I can think of being Webcomics, Graphic Novels and Comic books.

How do comics communicate their messages?

In comics, with both verbal and non verbal communication within them, the major selling point is the illustrative work. Each panel represents a time, with each gap between the panels representing a passing of time. Much like glimpses of a sequence, put together in a harmonic composition with the goal to be compelling to ones eye. The message/messages that the artist want to portray can be executed through visual language; line, shape, form, texture, value and colour. All of these elements play into a successful comic strip.

I will give a simple example of each of these used to convey the same thing;

* Note that all of these will be left as examples and may look a little rough around the edges since they are just there to show the effects of visual language and nothing more.

Line:

Within visual language, line work is one of the most prominent and frequently used across all comic genres. In fact, the earliest comic that has been traced back to being from 1837 is made up of only line work, meaning no use of colours, values, textures etc. 

It was called The Adventures of Mr. Obadiah Oldbuck and was originally published in several different languages across Europe, among them an English translation meant for the British in 1941.

For this first example, I have used only line work and included some shading using various hatching techniques (much like what has been used for the comic of The Adventures of Mr. Obadiah Oldbuck). This has resulted in a very classic feel of comics, made up by only blacks and whites.

I attempted to make this classic style transform into a more modern style by applying a few halftones on top, resulting in the following outcome:

As you can see, by applying these halftones as overlays, the piece successfully achieves the look of a manga/comic book/webcomic, rather than the previous classic style.

Shape:

By using shape in art, one can easily and effectively archive much with little. Shapes can be used in several different ways to convey different emotions. Because this ‘comic’ page is based on action and a narrative of climax, I chose to emphasise on sharp edges as they are commonly known to communicate danger. For example, I changed the smoke into fire and made it look much alike shattered pieces of glass, yet again to indicate it as being something dangerous to touch.

Each line is straight and rarely bends; creating some interesting shapes, squares, and triangles;

Form:

Form is most often describes and applied to something that is a three-dimensional subject, such as clay sculpting, although generally speaking, it is connected to things that are 3D, (three-dimensional) meaning there is an aspect of extra depth that you can’t normally archive with 2D. This is emphasised by light and dark values. (low and high contrast), otherwise known as shading.

For this example I attempted to make the line-art I had done earlier feel more real and lifelike by adding these different shades of grey.

Texture:

There are two types of textures;

- Implied texture is texture that appears to be there, but is really an illusion.

- Actual texture is texture that exists and can be felt physically by touch.

Since I am doing this digitally to speed up the process, I will be doing this by using the technique of implied texture.

For a long while now, I have been building up a collection of high quality scans and pictures of a large variety, based on the advice of my teacher when we were playing around with the visual language of texture in a past project. Out of these, I chose just a couple to play around with in Krita;

Now all that was left to do was to layer these on top of the artwork I had done earlier and have, as I mention before, a play around with them using different layer modes such as colour dodge, screen, overlay, soft light, hard light, multiply etc. I came up with a handful of different textured outcomes, but will be posting just a few of my favourites and put the rest into a gif;

The reason that I chose this one as being one of my favourites is due to how successful both the textures layered together translated so clearly and well. It gives a lovely look of it being aged as if it were torn out of an old comic book and scanned into a computer.

Now this one I am especially a big fan of! Although inverting the values got rid of the majority of the details within the art work, It doesn’t take away from the subjects and narrative, but the most compelling thing about it is how it strongly reminds me to the look of lino printing.

An example of a great artist I found that specialises in this medium of artwork is Valdis Baskirovs. I have chosen to compare their work to this comic strip in particular because their subjects are also most often animals, including canines.

Below are some examples of their work and work process doing lino printing:

Value:

Value is often described as a way of drawing with light, where value is based on how light or dark a given colour or hue is. Values can easier be understood once they are visualised on a scale or a gradient.

The scale above ranges from white to black, with a number of grey tones in between, but any hue/tone has a similar scale that goes from light to dark;

Different colours or values can be achieved by adding light or dark hues, in the case shown above, adding white to it to lighting it, or by darkening it with black.

Colour:

Last but not least, colour is an incredibly important part of visual language. It is used to convey a feeling, narrative or meaning within a given piece of artwork.

For this comic page, I have decided to go for a more cartoony and simplistic style, since that is what the line art communicates with it’s sharp and clear edges; but instead of just splashing any random colour on, I wanted to try and make it monochromiatic, meaning that all the colours have the same base tone, and therefor relate and harmonise with each other. The base tone for the example shown below is a muted orange-yellow.

I applied a layer of texture on top for two reasons; one being to make the piece feel more connected, but also for the reason being that this texture makes the page look like damaged or burnt paper, again to subconsciously communicate the fire being dangerous. 

Can you list the similarities and differences between the three artists (Katsushika Hokusai, Aidan Koch & Sam Elston)

From looking at these three artists work side by side, I came to notice that they all seem able and confident in portraying more with less. Everything from line work and choice of colour is basic, simple, yet it still shines through as strong artwork. It feels like there is room to breathe due to the lack of business.

All of the three pieces of artworks shown below have the above in common. They feel light and minimalistic, using a variety of pastel colours and light values with the occasional dark black lines and/or splashes here and there.

I will be keeping this in mind for when I attempt drawing my own non verbal comics/sequences - the saying that less is more.

Example of the work of Katsushika Hokusai.

Example of the work of Aidan Koch.

Example of the work of Sam Elston.

- - -

𝕱𝖗𝖆𝖓𝖘 𝕸𝖆𝖘���𝖗𝖊𝖊𝖑

Frans Masereel (1889–1972) is the creator of the wordless graphic novel “The Sun”, or “Le Soleil”. Frans was a Flemish painter and graphic artist whom worked primarily in France, completing over 20 wordless novel during his career, with his novel “Passionate Journey” or “Mon livre d'heures” from 1919, allegedly being his best work.

“The Sun”/“Le Soleil” Consists of 63 pages showing prints from woodcuttings, and is a contemporary retelling of the Greek myth of Icarus. Briefly explained, the protagonist of the novel continuously attempts to seek to the Sun by any means possible, but before he succeeds, he is sent plummeting back down to Earth.

𝕾𝖍𝖆𝖚𝖓 𝕿𝖆𝖓

Another artist that has added to the genre of wordless novels is Shaun Tan, which work we have studied for a past brief before. I will be talking more particularly about his graphic novel “The Arrival”, originally published in 2006, it is made up by 128 pages intricately drawn in pencil and later edited to fit the aesthetic and look off an old book.

After “reading” through this graphic novel, I was left thinking that this book is very touching and makes your mind wander off in thought.

It follows a man that cannot use words, thus the readers are experiencing everything as he is; silently. The protagonist, a man, leaves his wife and daughter to board a steamship to cross the ocean; all for the reason of building a better future for his family. - This book touches on the journeys that immigrant’s go through and experience on their travels. Although the reader clearly experiences the mans inner isolation, they also get to share his new found joys.

Below are some of the pages found within this book: