#I did not put inks... i do not enjoy doing lineart

[heretherebeturtles-comic]

~ Hi there ! You said you wanted to break into the comics industry, do you plan to make and publish your own personnal comic in the future? Or would you rather be hired to make comics for already existing franchise like TMNT or Zelda ?

Your art is stunning and your skills are impressive !

I have plans to make my own comics, whether that be self-publishing or through a publisher. I have many short stories and episodic series that I would love to create and share.

It would also be so cool to be hired to work on pages or covers for more official comics. I'd be SO satisfied doing thumbnails/storyboarding/page layouts, colours, or lettering as a job!! Especially anything official for TMNT, I would explode (˶0◡0˶)

[alicenpai]

"Lament! Terror! Despair! I shall kindly teach them all to you! And in your final moment, I... shall kill you by my own hand!!"

pandora hearts print for anime north this weekend 🥀🖤🤍

I also put this up on my inprnt! there's a sitewide sale for 40% off right now 🌟

For this drawing, I really wanted to emphasize the gothic and chaotic, convoluted nature of the series. Pandora Hearts has become a lot of things to me, as someone who's read it since I was like, 14 years old. but I eventually found the perfect words to sum up the series - a cross between a Shakespearean tragedy and a Grimm fairy tale.

The ink brush + watercolour brushes I used turned out so well together!! I wanted the style to be kind of a nod to like the manga cover art you'd see from the late 90s to 2000s, kind of like Mochizuki's early approach to traditional art.

A lighter approach to both the lineart + coloring also helped me not strain my arm too much - besides work, I stopped doing full illustrations due to the amount of work being heavy on my arm/shoulder T__T. my last full illustrations were the TGAA/DGS zine + WHA zine pieces back in Dec-Jan, but my heart really lies in illustrations more than anything and I definitely want to get back into it!! (as long as my physical health allows it!!)

anyways, above is the thumbnail/inspiration board for this drawing! I also did some quick chickenscratch studies of others' drawings to help me get a sense of their composition. I started on the top left and then made a sort of meandering curve through... definitely went through a lot of ideas for this one. If I explained the intended symbolism.. I would be here.. all day..............

the candles were definitely first inspired by an animation of a lighter I did during art skool... and then I did this AA Dahlia animated illust... and then this OC charm (below) I did in 2022...? maybe I should draw fire more often. it's like, the way that fire looks in animated keyframes that I really like drawing out, and I guess I kinda really enjoyed translating that into a non moving visual medium??

This drawing simultaneously took SO long but I also sped through it?? I had to like... not dwell too long on certain parts... like for example I think some individual character compositions really could be a lot stronger... because I knew this would be a beast of a drawing, I didn't want to spend an unnecessary amount of time focusing on details when I should be looking at the big picture. and I know that's a bad habit of mine!! I'm trying to unlearn my perfectionism!!

thanks for reading if you got this far, hope ya enjoy it!! and I hope I'll keep drawing Pandora Hearts in the future (clearly I haven't stopped since high school omg) and I hope to draw some more Vanitas someday beyond just chibis!

[psygull]

11, 12, and 13 for artist asks !

11. do you listen to anything while drawing?

most of the time, yeah! if it's related to a specific project or character i'll listen to my corresponding playlist if it exists. if i don't have one i have a giant playlist i shuffle lol. sometimes i'll listen to podcasts, but that doesn't happen very often, e.g. my memento piece i did while i was listening to the film reroll podcast episode about it. if i'm feeling REALLY manic i'll put one song on repeat the entire time i'm working. i finished a commission on exclusively hotel california once

12. describe your process while drawing

pretty basic, i think? i'll usually start with a scanned traditional sketch. not many of my pieces have been fully digital recently, which is fun. lately i've been skipping lineart entirely and either cleaning up the sketch or painting over it once i've got some colors down. i've also been enjoying throwing paper textures and noise on at the end

13. talk about a wip you like!

i actually fully inked a drawing recently and i think i've got an interesting direction to do the coloring in. it's a donovan and red thing image #3572129834 but I think it's cool at least

for this artist ask game!

[wanderer-w00lf]

This comic and my experience

Look, this one looks familiar.

Oh boy... this one is a long one.

Where do I start...?

Maybe you guys need a bit of context real quick. Some time ago, a user called, Play tops decided to gather a couple of artist and ask about making a comic all together for the fandom. I was part of them, and of course I said yes. Everything could be quite normal there, like, we made the comic and that's it... right? well...

He told us several times that he was gonna help too, but when we where distributing the works, there was always an excuse. At fisrt it was: "I don't have that software" well, I worked the fist pages in a software he told me he had, so he could help, but he didn't; then he would always answer with a solid "I don't how to do that", like:

Script? NO

Storyboard? NO

lineart/inking? NO

Colours? NO

He would always said that he was feeling "left out" while I tried everything to make him part of it, but he would always deny.

After a lot of negatives and weeks holding it, I was growing tired, and this guy started to say.

"I don't have time" as his excuse.

Now, I know we as artist usually don't have that much time, especially because most of us are in college or highschool, but, this kept prolonging for months.

And, you wanna guess something? I was busy too, yet still, I had to find time however I could to make some drawings because, With only studying is not enough. If I'm an artist i need to have art in my accounts and portfolio, so yeah, his excuses where making me feel like I was wasting time.

One day I simply decided It was enough.

You all don't know, because basically I haven't shared it yet, but I have a lot of other comics I did in the past that for one reason or another I never finished or plublished, right now I have a few of those in an undefined hiatus, so feeling yet another one was going into the exact same direction made me angry.

So basically I started to working without him. I made everything, storyboard, lineart, colour, text. I was determined to finish it just out of pure spite. Spite to whom? to life, to Play tops, to every "friend" who ask to work together to finally leave without any warning and or response. I did it out of pure spite because I was tired and this comic was not gonna be another comic I put into the drawer in an undefined hiatus. So yeah.

My good pal Renzo was the other guy who wanted to make the comic and he was the greatest moral support in all of this; he made the script obviously, but he made it clear to me that he could not help me in another way, but if he could he was gonna try, and that was more than what playtops was giving us. He did help me all the way.

It was hard, and even tho I enjoyed every page I finished, that made me feel even more frustrated, because, the three pages that took us like 5-6 months, where completely finished in a week, all by myself.

At the end I finally finished the two stories and the relief I felt was, overwhelming. I "returned" the projetc to playtops because if someone else wanted the sequel they had to ask him.

And that's the story.

I kinda decided to remain a bit anonymous because, well I didn't wanted the people to say I was "Stealing" Playtop's work, and because I didn't want to fight in social media. You all people are toxic AF.

This is not a cancel post or anything like that; this is more like:

A me venting everything.

I usually remain silent no matter what, because that's how I am.

But, if i'm venting right now it's because I indeed have a motive behind.

Basically what I'm asking here is... You all want this comic in Tumblr?

If you don't I still have a couple other things I'm working on. I love this fandom I still have plenty more ideas I want to make and share with all of you.

[aerialworms-art]

October wrap-up

So! October is at an end! And I have not finished Spocktober/Trektober. Let's see how I did!

My goals for the month were:

To have fun :3

To get used to finishing drawings

To get used to posting them, too!

To have fun :3

To improve my sketching and lineart skills

To end up with a bunch of finished drawings (of Spock!!!) :3

To let go of a bit of my perfectionism

TO HAVE FUN :3

So how do I think I did?

Having fun:

I had a lot of fun with it this year! In previous years, I've pretty much immediately devolved into an anxious mess because there were too many options and I bit off more than I could chew. This time around, thanks to my guidelines (only inking, not spending too much time on each day, sketching and thumbnailing in advance), it was a lot easier to let loose and have fun thinking up ideas and enjoying the process. Plus, I let my friends know I was doing it this time around and got encouragement and support, which was lovely.

Getting used to finishing drawings:

I did better at this than I thought I would! There are several drawings I've finished this month that I would have given up on if not for this goal. Do I think they were all my best work? No. Did I learn from the process? Yes! And some of the ones that have gotten the most notes were ones I thought no-one would like and struggled to finish. So! I also figured out new ways of motivating myself to finish things, which is also very helpful.

Getting used to posting things:

Also went better than I thought! Although I didn't manage to maintain a cushion of queued posts like I wanted to, the response I've gotten from actually posting my art has been amazing! I've gained several new followers (hello!!) and gotten so many nice comments, and went from being afraid of posting anything to tentatively looking forward to people's reactions, which is a huge improvement for me. Getting that accountability of posting publicly also helped keep me going when I felt like giving up - seeing my friends laugh when I showed them my silly comics or getting nice comments really made me feel like sharing my art is worthwhile. So thank you to everyone who reblogged my art, commented, liked, etc. I'm glad you did!

Improving sketching and lineart:

I definitely think I improved my art skills. Getting into the habit of thumbnailing really helped take the pressure off the sketching phase, and trying so many different ideas pushed me out of my comfort zone and forced me to try drawing things I wasn't so confident on - look how many hands I drew!!!! As for the lineart, I think I've gained a bit more experience in using pens, although I did buy a whole new set of them halfway through the month which put me on a new learning curve. Lineart's never been a huge favourite of mine, and I do miss using my tablet to do lineless art, but the nature of the challenge did help me to loosen up and experiment to keep my mind engaged the whole time.

To end up with a bunch of finished drawings of Spock:

Check! I have 14 finished drawings, with another four sketched and needing inking, plus a whole load of thumbnails to work from in future. I may go back and add colour to some of the days for funsies, but there's several that I can just put on my wall as-is and be proud :)

To let go of a bit of my perfectionism:

I definitely did! Like I said, there's a few of the ones I've posted that I'm not too proud of and know I could do better on, but I've spent all month purposely smacking my hand away from perfectionism, and I know I've tried my best given my limitations. I'm still proud of myself for getting this far, and for posting when I was anxious, and for improving my skills, and now I get to stick up my art on my wall and be proud of it! I'm not magically cured by any means, but I do have a bit more evidence that perfection is not a good goal to pursue, so I'm going to keep this experience in mind for the future.

So what now?

I do have thumbnails for almost all of the rest of the prompts. I am doing NaNoWriMo this month, and I have a digital piece that I want to finish for the 5th (holy shit. three years.) So I think I'll take a little pause on these prompts, but I don't want to stop. I'll keep coming back to them, and keep posting them, until I run out of prompts or motivation, whichever comes first. I've really enjoyed seeing people's reactions to my Star Trek art, especially the comics! I also have a backlog of SPN fanart I want to post, so I'll probably queue some of that to come out soon.

TL;DR: Watch this space!

And if you've been following along/commenting on/reblogging my art this month (or anytime), thank you so much! It's folks like you that make sharing art worthwhile!

[pythonmelon]

For the artist asks: 6, 9, and 14!

Thanks for the asks!

6) Currently I'm just really inspired by other independent artists! @psshaw , @grosskelly , @artsydudejude , @abby-howard , @possessedpasm , @everydaylouie , @dimetrodone , @quesadillawizard , @coyoteprince , @pixel-lightart , @turboemmy , and @zooophagous come to mind, as well as others. They've all got such rich, unique styles and subject matter that I could just get lost in and I encourage checking out their work, there's a lot to learn and appreciate.

9) Currently I'm trying to improve on my textures! I'd like to add some depth to my digital work, emulating traditional textures like inks, newsprints, and paints would be nice

14) Oh my art has changed wildly. Let me drag some older examples up...

These are just some examples of my stuff through the years- 2011-ish, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2020, and 2022 are the rough timestamps on here but I jumped around a lot stylistically, pulling from things I enjoyed, and I had a WEIRD period where my art morphed from this very simple style to something more animeesque to stylized realism (there was a SUPER ugly phase) etc until I finally got comfortable and frankly while I always have room for improvement I have had a lot of fun lately just experimenting with a lot of different styles, playing fast and loose with shapes and rendering, even if I'm not that consistent with what I put out currently. Never know what to expect what I feel like putting down! Simpler shape, stronger colors, and inkpens and stuff are my bread and putter currently. I'm trying to push my character designs and enjoy myself. Notably I also took FOREVER to get comfy with doing digital art really, until I learned a lot of tips and tricks and figured out what worked for me I hated rendering digitally most of the time, and I still do most of my sketches traditionally, but I'm getting more and more comfortable with my digital lineart and rendering mostly thanks to things like Artfight where I get to experiment a lot in a short amount of time!

This has also reminded me that I want to revisit more of those stylized full-page pieces I did in Highschool like the bird dragon thing above

[kirathehyrulian]

Non-Challenge Art 🧝‍♀️Zelda Outfit Designs 1🧝‍♀️

Feel free to take the lineart and color it yourself if you want. All I ask is that you credit me for the lineart if you post it somewhere.♥

👇(Art Notes and link to base/template below the cut) 👇  

Artist notes: I actually made this Zelda template and started inking the outfits back in 2016, but never finished it.

Fast-forward to now, I’m currently experiencing I guess art block or more likely depression that’s keeping me from being productive with my other art projects. So I decided to go back through my old files which happened to be some Zelda wips and saw this piece. This is actually one of three sets that I had sketched years back. The other two sets are nowhere near done, but the first only needed the last outfit inked. Idk, It felt obtainable to me so I decided to go back and finish this since I’m not getting any good progress with my other projects. This just seemed like the perfect baby step to gain back some confidence right now.

Anyways, so I did update the base face from what I had originally, because I wasn’t satisfied with how that looked, and finished inking the last outfit. Then I erased the base where the clothing would go then merged the layers. Then for tumblr viewing convenience I copy pasted the individual outfits to new canvases and then colored them there. I’m not the best colorist. I tried my best, that’s best I can do.

If anyone wants the actual Zelda base/template that I made so they can make their own outfits, I’ll put it in the AO3 post because tumblr is weird about nudity. Not that it’s explicit, it’s like a Barbie doll without clothes and hair. But, just in case, it’s going over to AO3. Same request applies tho, if you’re going to use the lineart or the template/base I ask for credit for which ever you use if you post or submit it somewhere. Thank you!♥

AO3 link [click here]

And as always, Enjoy, if you can!♥♥♥

[nenes-art]

Let me flex a bit these character designs I did for a story that my sister is writing on Wattpad. It’s only in Italian for now and it is an interactive story where the readers can choose what happens next. I think it’s a pretty interesting idea, though it’s hard to manage but she is doing an excellent job! You can find it with the title “Beyond the sea”.

Since I can’t draw the characters from Haikyuu in my style (they tend to look like monsters TvT), I used the original character references to create these references. Lineart played a huge part in these drawings, I really enjoy drawing the lineart, more than coloring, I had fun inking over the thin lines that are usually used in animation.

Also, due to the fact that these drawings were requested by my sister I had to adapt to her will. See for examples how Baki, Tendou’s stupid chicken, has Hey Hey from Moana as base. I had to make it a little fatter but, in the end, it’s Hey Hey.

I hope you like them, do you have a favorite one?

In the picture where they stand all together my sister and I put them so they follow their original height.

[solkat-edits]

woah a pq sprite edit tutorial ft. mod kk (paint tool SAI)

MOD KK....: SO UH. this is primarily to help a pal of mine, but like i thought it’d be good to make a post / tutorial in general, so here’s a tutorial which features the process of how i did this dave

since i use sai, this is a tutorial mainly for sai, but you can follow along easily on other art programs since functions are similar and etc. the link to the sai i use can be found here. 

tutorial starts under the read more: 

BEFORE WE START, any sai users, here are my brush settings regarding lineart / linking, and in general, these are the settings I use for all my art and edits. Size wise, I usually draw with 1, but for line width, I’ll change between 1, 0.8, and 1.5.

1. So first and foremost (wow, look the way I’m typing got more formal), you want to open the sprite you want to edit on. Here I have Dave. A good resource for sprites / assets from PQ is from this blog, in case any one needs it. 

2. If you need to, make edits to the base. Usually, if not the hair, I’ll make an edit to the character’s shading colour or their face. In this instance, it’s going to be the latter. So in this picture, what you want to do is colour pick from his skin, make a new layer and on that layer,  you’ll ‘erase’ (draw over) his expression. 

2.1. Lower the opacity on the coloured over layer so that you can see his original expression- mainly I do this so I can see the proper placement of his facial features and such. Here, I’ll sketch the change I want. 

2.2. After it’s sketched out, I’ll line it proper and fill it in, and now he’s like smug (shame that it gets covered up by his bangs in the finished edit).

3. Now we’re to the fun part! Well, onto the more fun parts. Here is where we’ll start our sketching. Sketching isn’t mandatory, especially on smaller, minor edits such as changing shirt colours or adding small accessories, but if you want do things like drastically change their haircut, or to give them a new outfit entirely, sketching is probably a good idea. Anyways, lower the base’s opacity, and then  decide what kind of outfit you want to sketch on your base, and do it. 

4. After sketching, you’re gonna line! Lower the opacity on both the base and the sketch- though that’s probably a given. Completely optional, but I tend to put my layers in a folder set for organisation purposes. Also, please name your layers, it’ll help you good (OKAY SO LMAO. I forgot to take the screenshot of me mid lining, so I eyeballed all my finished lines out to make it look like it was incomplete.)

4.1: Anyways, yay! The lining’s complete. I know this is supposed to be a tutorial, but process photos are fun too. 

5. Now we’re onto pre colouring. I say pre colouring because this is like setting the base for colouring? Yeah. Anyways, I’ve made another folder set for colouring, pulled the base sprite into it, and then set a coloured background under the base for transparency and etc- I usually go with a colour which will contrast the piece’s main palette, which in this case, is blacks and shades of red. 

5.1. Now we’re going to put the base colour into the newly created lineart. What we’ll do here is turn the transparency on the base sprite down till it’s completely gone, and then we select every inside of the lineart.

5.2: With the base ‘white’ (the greyish white) colour from Dave’s original sprite, we’ll fill the lineart. 

5.3 However, after this, you’re going to want to check your transparency because it won’t always be perfect- actually, it won’t be perfect. Usually, you’ll get that small,  shitty white outline which overall imo ruins the piece when it’s transparent. 

5.4. What you’re going to want to do to rid of this, is- going back to 5.2, after you’ve filled it, and you still have the selection on, you’re going to reverse the selection (arrow pointing to it, ‘pologies for non sai users because I don’t know the equivalent), and then erase. It’ll seem like you’re just erasing the background, but I swear it’s worth it. 

5.5 See? Now it’s clean. Yay!!!

5.6 After that’s figured out, you’re going to want to redirect your attention back to the base sprite, and then erase all the shit that’s leftover from it, such as Dave’s sleeve which is poking out from the side, as shown in the pic. 

5.7 Bam. And now he’s all cleaned up proper and ready to roll. 

5.8 A completely optional step, but my favourite since I love lining. What I usually do, so that the lines look smooth(er), and more precise with the style, is that I ink it a bit to create line width variation in certain parts of the sprite, and also to create shadows.

6. Finally on colouring- I’m probably numbering all this shit wrong, but you know what, I sucked at math. Anyways, colouring- figure out your palette, and basically base colour parts of your sprite. The blackish part on the shirt is an airbrush texture. 

6.1. Tip: If you’re using dark greys or blacks, I’d recommend just picking the exact shades from other PQ sprites so they’re all??? Idk, the same? To put it simply??? Yeah. 

6.2. Shading is- another probably basic thing, but I’m explaining my particular process, but how I go about shading is by making a clipping layer over the layer I’m currently shading on to ensure that it only colours on that part. Then, I put it on multiply, and then toggle around till I get a good mid shade. To each their own, however, these are just my tips and tricks that I use personally. 

6.3. And after you’ve shaded your entire piece, you’re done! Yay, he’s edgy now! 

6.4. Though I did make my end sprite with a texture, and for SAI users, it’s relatively easy. Just open the png file of your sprite so that all your layers are in one and it’s a happy pic, and then go to to the textures drop down menu and select your texture. For this, I decide to use the grunge texture. I also used this texture on my Derse Prince edit, and I used a TV screen texture on one of my Hal edits. I don’t know if texture packs come with other art programs, but if they do, just experiment and see what you like! It’s not obligatory, but it’s a nice touch for some edits. 

Other than that! We’re finished! I hope you enjoyed- apologies if anything said was over complicated haha ;;. 

[darkkept]

RULES. repost; do not reblog! tag 10! good luck!

TAGGED BY: stolen from @salt-water-and-glaives forever ago TAGGING: Steal it from me or I will kill again.

BASICS.

FULL NAME: Astraea Andromeda Lucis Caelum NICKNAME/S: Stray, Rae/Rae-Rae, Starshine BIRTHDAY: February 28th NATIONALITY: Lucian LANGUAGE/S: Lucian, Tenebraean, Old Lucian, Altissian, fragments of Imperial SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Pansexual ROMANTIC ORIENTATION: Panromantic RELATIONSHIP STATUS: It’s Complicated (verse dependent)

CLASS: White Mage

HOMETOWN / AREA: Insomnia, Lucis. Born a royal in the Crown City, Stray was raised in the highest echelons of Insomniac society. Raised above most, she was kept largely to the world of privilege and safety afforded by the wealthier circles of her walled world. CURRENT HOME: On the road

PROFESSION: Princess, Advocate

PHYSICAL.

HAIR: Inky black in color, shot through with traces of blue highlights. It falls thick and loosely curled to her mid back, though is often styled tidily up and away from her face in vintage styles. After the fall of her homeland, she cuts her hair just above her shoulders and only styles it minimally.

EYES: A dark shade, leaning heavily towards a steely blue. Downturned and mono-lidded in shape. Has long dark lashes framing them, often accented with a hint of black eyeliner along her upper lids and highlighter to obscure dark circles beneath her eyes.

NOSE: Straight, with a slight downward turn. Average sized.

FACE: Diamond shaped, with an angular and overtly feminine face giving way to a pointed chin. Slightly elongated in imitation of her father in his youth, with no noticeable scars or discoloration

LIPS: Wide and plush, naturally a pale pink. Often decorated with a smear of neutral lipstick or gloss during public appearances. Most often pulled into a placid or neutral smile.

COMPLEXION: The light ivory skin of a person who does not often brave direct sunlight, with warm undertones. While she might burn at first, with time she’ll settle into a soft tan when introduced to the world outside of the city. Appears more ashen in the post-Nightfall world, due to a combination of factors.

BLEMISHES: None, and should any appear. they’re likely to be photoshopped out or made to disappear via make-up.

TATTOOS:  A small lineart of a feather on her left hip, a remnant of a past relationship. The feather means a lot to  her on again off again boyfriend, and she thought it would be a cute surprise for him. That on again lasted all of two months after this tattoo. She’s mortified by the mere thought of the ink on her hip now.

HEIGHT: 5′1″

WEIGHT: Around 105-110 pounds.

BUILD: Slim and diminutive, with delicate bone structure and slender limbs. While there is some toning along her upper arms and core, she remains slight. Her figure is relatively straight, with little in the way of curves.

ALLERGIES: None.

USUAL HAIRSTYLE: in public: A vintage brush out or demure braid will be her go to hairstyles when facing the people. The  styles are made more elegant by the inclusion of hair accessories, usually dark silver clips to contrast off of her dark locks.

in private: Keeps her hair loose or in a low ponytail, letting her curls simply be so long as they are out of the way. She’s not particularly fussed about her hair when her time is her own, and actually enjoys just letting it loose and bouncy down her back.

at work: Kept into a messy ponytail or bun with long, loose curls falling at the sides of her face if not swept back behind her ears.

USUAL EXPRESSION: You know how newscasters have that perpetual, unnerving buoyancy to their smiles and unblinking eyes? Unfortunately, that is Stray, who wants to always appear affable and trustworthy to the people. Smiling softly, eyes bright, but in an altogether neutral expression otherwise, she might come off as insincere were she any less pretty.

USUAL CLOTHING: The modern goth meets the vintage rack. Stray has an appreciation for old school elegance, be it tea-length dresses or old pencil skirts and cardigans, the more femme the better. Her choice of fabric is overwhelmingly black, though she accessorizes with shades of red and magenta. Has been known to wear sunglasses when out in the world. Polished black heels are a must, as Stray refuses to live at her actual height.

PSYCHOLOGY.

FEAR/S: Seeing as Stray is a person to define herself by her use to others, she has a twofold fear of uselessness and imperfection. If she is not the best she can be, the nshe struggles to understand who she is or what her purpose might be. Beyond this, she has a deep-seated fear of losing what little family she has, which unfortunately comes true during the course of the narrative. 

ASPIRATION/S: Above all, Stray hopes to see a Kingdom united, with no walls and prejudices. Her primary goals as a political figurehead focus on the plight of the Outlands, and especially that of refugees. She hopes to one day make reparations for what her forebears did so wrong in handling those outside of the Crown City.  Her more personal goals are mainly defined day by day, though as of the game’s primary plot, she is focused totally on finding her brother and keeping him safe. After his loss, Stray throws herself into finding a conclusion that does not end with her brother being sacrificed to Bahamut’s game.

POSITIVE TRAITS: Approachable. Caring. Generous. Just. Passionate. Playful. Witty. 

NEGATIVE TRAITS: Evasive. Insecure. Self-sacrificing. Smothering. Subservient. Workaholic.

MBTI: ENFJ-T - THE PROTAGONIST

Protagonists are natural-born leaders, full of passion and charisma. Forming around two percent of the population, they are oftentimes our politicians, our coaches and our teachers, reaching out and inspiring others to achieve and to do good in the world. With a natural confidence that begets influence, Protagonists take a great deal of pride and joy in guiding others to work together to improve themselves and their community.

The interest Protagonists have in others is genuine, almost to a fault – when they believe in someone, they can become too involved in the other person’s problems, place too much trust in them. Luckily, this trust tends to be a self-fulfilling prophecy, as Protagonists’ altruism and authenticity inspire those they care about to become better themselves. But if they aren’t careful, they can overextend their optimism, sometimes pushing others further than they’re ready or willing to go.

People with the Protagonist personality type are passionate altruists, sometimes even to a fault, and they are unlikely to be afraid to take the slings and arrows while standing up for the people and ideas they believe in. It is no wonder that many famous Protagonists are cultural or political icons – this personality type wants to lead the way to a brighter future, whether it’s by leading a nation to prosperity, or leading their little league softball team to a hard-fought victory.

ENNEAGRAM: The Reformer

ZODIAC: Pisces (sun sign), Libra (rising sign), Taurus (moon sign)

TAROT: Death: “You can be a bit intense and find yourself drawn to dark and mysterious things. You’ve been through a lot and have probably seen your fair share of endings, but probably cope with it through humor. On top of that, you are surprisingly easygoing – you’re open to change, try not to let past baggage weigh you down, and seek out new experiences” (there was a quiz going around and that’s where the description comes from)

TEMPERAMENT: Sanguine

SOUL TYPE/S: the caregiver (change)

The quintessential characteristic of a Caregiver type is the desire to take care of others. For this reason, Caregivers may be drawn to the long-term care of children or the elderly. Though some Caregivers find their need to nurture satisfied by raising a family, many others seek out work in such venues as schools, hospitals, and animal shelters. The long-term care of those with Alzheimer’s, autism, and mental illness often becomes the responsibility of Caregivers.

If you recognize yourself as a Caregiver, you may already have noticed the tendency to put others’ needs ahead of your own. This trait makes it essential that you go out of your way to take care of yourself as well as those around you. Remember that you’re no use to others if you’re not healthy or fit enough to help them.

You are loyal to the extreme, and you guard those who are entrusted to your care with your life. Fighting another person’s battles can be important if that individual is unable to stand up for themselves, though you should be cautious not to dis-empower those in your care by not allowing them to do things for themselves.

Your empathy allows you to understand nonverbal emotional signals. This ability will tell you when someone needs your help, and how best to assist them. It is common for Caregiver types to intuitively know what someone needs at any given time.

VICE/S: Stray is someone who cuts loose by thrills. A favorite vice is driving fast, racing around the Crown City once the streets are emptied. She tears across the roads like a stunt driver, handling her car well but with a blatant disregard for traffic laws. She has also been known to take part in recreational drug use in secret, favoring marijuana to unwind when her stress peaks. 

FAITH: Formerly a lapsed adherent to the Astrals, the six gods of her native Eos, with a particular focus on the veneration of Bahamut as patron of her family. While raised a proper faithful child, Stray never had a vested interest in the Astrals, and began to put her faith instead in the physical world over the spiritual. In the time since the fall of her homeland and the revelation of her brother’s fate, her disinterest has turned to outright hatred, and she now aims to work against the gods and their ambitions.

GHOSTS?: Misidentified daemons, in her honest opinion. If the haunted painting can actually be possessed by one, who knows how many times ghosts have simply been misidentified species of Daemon? She wants to believe, however.

AFTERLIFE?: She’s unsure what shape it takes, but does believe it exists. Whether you ascend to dwell with the Astrals, or go on to watch over your loved ones from above, she cannot say, just that she doesn’t think life ends just because your body dies. Not that it immediately concerns her, seeing as a lot of her ancestors end up stuck in a ring for all eternity.

REINCARNATION?: A fascinating theory she’s seen bandied about certain Outland beliefs. It’s not truly in line with the Astral-based faith she was raised in, but she does think it’s a beautiful idea. Though, she does tend to treat it irreverently when drawing comparisons between the Founder King and her younger brother.

ALIENS?: You mean like the kind Cor swears up and down he saw driving through Tenebrae once? Sure, she totally believes the Marshall. 

POLITICAL ALIGNMENT: Revolutionary. At heart, Stray sees little use in a continued monarchy, and believes in equality for the people who would ideally represent themselves. Outwardly, she settles for being the more liberal royal, campaigning for changes to at least two generations of perceived injustice against Lucian citizens.

ECONOMIC PREFERENCE: Surprisingly frugal. Most finery she owns was either a gift or a necessity for osme event. On her own, Stray has a preference for function over anything else, and durability over couture. This might go a long way in explaining several of her vintage interests.

SOCIOPOLITICAL POSITION: Royal, the eldest child -- though not heir -- of an established monarch. Stray is at the highest level of Lucian society, trumped only by her father as ruler and brother as heir. 

EDUCATION LEVEL: University educated. Topped her classes throughout her private education, and truly excelled in high school. Earned her Bachelors in poli sci, despite intending to study medicine at the start. Her education goals have been put on hold due to her familial obligations, though prior to the treaty signing she intended to continue on for a Masters.

FAMILY.

FATHER: Regis Lucis Caelum, King - deceased

MOTHER: Aurea Lucis Caelum, Queen - deceased

GODFATHER: Clarus Amicitia (her father’s Sworn Shield)

SIBLING/S: Noctis (younger brother)

EXTENDED FAMILY: Ardyn probably counts here as her 114 times removed great uncle. In the more realistic, she has a maternal uncle on the council, and a few younger cousins she sometimes hangs around with.

SIGNIFICANT OTHER(S): Verse dependent.

NAME MEANING/S: Astraea is derived from the root Aster, meaning ‘Star.’ This was the name of a classical goddess of justice and innocence. Andromeda roughly translates to ‘mindful of man,’ and was the name of a bound princess in mythology. Lucis Caelum is a Latin surname, taken from the words for ‘light’ and ‘sky.’

Her first and last names become ‘star of the light sky’,’ in juxtaposition to her brother as the ‘night of the light sky.’

Stray is a nickname derived from her younger brother’s attempts to pronounce her name as a young child. It was easier on the tongue than her full name, and stuck among both the royal family and the prince and princess’ closest friends.

HISTORICAL CONNECTION: The eldest child of the royal family of Lucis, a dynasty dating back 2000 years. Though not the heir -- inheritance favors female rulers only when there are no men left -- Stray is among the latest link in a very long chain of duty and magic. She is 114 generations removed from the Founder King, and sister to the long-prophecised Promised King.

FAVORITES.

BOOK: Stray is most engrossed in medical journals and any technical publications that come her way. That is, she has more time for magazines than books. When she has a moment to sit down, however, she has a taste for poetry and the classics -- Tragedies, especially.

MOVIE: Legally, the princess is required to say that she enjoys a good drama, and is very interested in the yearly award circuit nominees especially. In private, the princess prefers less conservative fare, namely erotic thrillers. There is something about the interplay of sex and danger that she enjoys. None can know just how lowbrow her tastes are.

DEITY: Outwardly, she will admit to being a great admirer of the stalwart Draconian who protects her family and their kingdom. In private, she often had a soft spot for Titan, shouldering the load of saving the world from calamity. Now, she thinks they are all unworthy of worship.

MONTH: October.

SEASON: Autumn.

PLACE: Her private chambers within the Citadel, where she can really  be herself at the start and end of every day.

WEATHER:  Cool and overcast, with the threat of rain on the horizon not quite reaching her. The kind of weather where you bring your umbrella just to be safe, but still go about your day.

SOUND: The laughter of her loved ones.

SCENT/S: Roses. Sea salt. Old books. Her partner’s cologne/soap.

TASTE/S: Honey. Molasses. Black tea. Apples.

FEEL/S: Leather. Fur. Velvet. Scar tissue.

ANIMAL/S: Chocobo.

NUMBER: 13

COLOR: Magenta

EXTRA.

TALENTS: Public speaking. Problem solving. White magic.

BAD AT: Obeying traffic laws. Expressing and working through negative feelings. Accepting failure.

TURN-ONS: nonsexual: Older/stronger partners. Emotional intimacy. Risk-taking. Tolerance for others.  Free-spirits. sexual: Spanking. Praise. Roleplay. Big dicks. Being able to let her partner take control. Laid-back sex.

TURN-OFFS: Degradation. Unyielding. Lack of compassion. Traditionalist views. Immaturity.

HOBBIES: Socializing. Reading. Research. Racing. Clubbing. Chess.

AESTHETIC TAGS: Stars. Midnight. Moon cycles. The serpent. Rebellion. Stranger in a strange land. Girlhood gothic. Shades of red. Growing up too fast. The healer has the bloodiest hands. All-loving heroine. The dutiful daughter. Shields. Dark mirrors. Breaking cycles. Dark curls. Sensuality. Who’s a heretic now?

[dotzines]

Artist spotlight: Linkyu!

✿ Patreon ✿ Twitter ✿ Tumblr ✿ Pillowfort ✿ DeviantArt ✿ PIXIV 

Header source: [X]  

Introduce yourself Hi, I'm Linkyu; I am here as a digital artist, but I'm also an independent game developer at Duality Workshop. My favourite genre is Sci-Fi, closely followed by Fantasy. I like to write dark themed stories, but most of the time I'll make sure to make them hopeful. I don't like sad endings. As for the fandoms I'm into... I'd say, mostly Touhou; everything else has been a thing of the moment, but touhou stayed. When did you start drawing? Are you a digital or traditional artist? I started drawing more seriously a bit before I entered college, when I entered a dA RP group, before groups actually existed. Yeah, remember that? Good times. I then got more serious-er when I was around 20, but have been struggling to stay productive in art for the past few years. I really enjoy traditional, but my go-to is usually digital. Do you use any traditional mediums? If so, which are your favorites? Mostly, pencils and China ink. Given the chance, I'd like to get more into oil painting though!

image source: [X]   Why do you prefer traditional over digital? (or viceversa) It's a matter of convenience, really. I can try many things quickly digitally, and simply swap layers or try modifiers on the go to see what sticks. Also, there's no Ctrl-Z on paper. What do you think is the most challenging part about being a traditional/digital artist? Since you can undo every stroke, it's easier to lose commitment on a piece. Similarly, files are very easy to hide and forget, in my experience. What inspires your pieces? For the most part, it's from what I think is Cool. Or if I feel like a story would have a stronger impact with a picture, then it would inspire me to draw that. But mostly, it's cool things that inspire me. Things that make you go "wow", you know? If those things make me go "wow" enough to be inspired to draw something about them, then hopefully I can make people go "wow" from that too.

image source: [X]   Explain your "everyday" drawing process It's kind of all or nothing. I either have a very detailed scene in my head, or just a basic idea. Either way, though, it all starts with a very rough sketch with thick lines, then I refine it once or twice, make it a clean lineart, put some flats, then I colour correct while I shade the picture. Depending on what I have in mind, I might skip some steps if I just want to get something out, rather than focus on the technical skill of it. Do you have an artist you admire (or more than one)?

Recently, I've been huge on Jack McGee (@DroolingDemon on tumblr)! The vibe and dynamism of his art is exactly the kind that I've tried to achieve but couldn't see how. His current webcomic (Star Impact -- check it out!!!) has taught me a lot about technique that drastically sped up the way I draw. Is there an artwork you are most proud of? Why? There's this piece I'm working on, where I'm trying to push myself as far as I can currently go, and I really like it so far; I can't show much yet, but the last time I've done that, 6 years ago, is still the piece I'm the most proud of: https://feryuu.tumblr.com/post/60925152689

Do you listen to music (or tv shows/films/anything else) when drawing? Ye-- currently it's a lot of western music, but EDM is a common one, usually. I tend to avoid lyrical songs though because otherwise I end up distrating myself singing along and... not ... drawing,,,

image source: [X]   What makes art interesting for you? Art is an incredibly powerful medium for conveying messages and feelings. I like that about it. What do you do when art block strikes? When I feel like I can't draw anything, or that no idea seems good enough, I just settle for less. Each day is not worth the same quality, so I shouldn't worry about what I end up doing. Once I stop worrying about what I'm doing, I tend to actually go further than I intended, actually... What’s the most valuable art advice you’ve ever received?

Always Colour Your Pieces. It's okay to make sketches; I regularly participate in Sketchavember, actually. But unless you really work it out and polish the B&W aesthetic of the piece, it will be glossed over in a feed. Coloured pieces grab the eye a lot more. Besides, I believe colour theory to be a fundamental base, so, any excuse to practice colouring is a good excuse in my book.

[ignla]

Final Production Evaluation- last part

Finally Toru, who I had the easiest time drawing. Now she is very fast naturally and cape is just a strength and speed enhancement from the deity. I designed her look around olympic sprinters because of that (her cape looks over her like the flag you'll see them wear of their county too). Toru was the one I mention in eval part 3 having joined ST and the deity of her free will. She did so because she wanted power to be able to lead her life how she wanted and not by her parents command (they were gonna sell her off).

Overall-

My Final Product turned out different than I had anticipated. At first I was going to create a shot animation loop of ST but that feel through once I realised that I wasn't likely to finish it in he time span. Here was an early version of it with the star point and end point visualized. It was just going to be a loop of her taking the deity off, looking defiant and then putting it back on. But it would symbolise how she was more in control when the deity wasn't on her to help portray her situation. I was looking at the moblie game Epic Sevens smooth animations and wanted it to look like the movemnt you'd observe if you checked the characters in the menu. Sadly that didn't come to fruition but I ended up at the idea of the character sheet because of it so it wasn't time wasted.

I believe that I managed to transfer my understanding of altered states into a visual response rather well. For not being what I set out to create I'm pleased with the result of my final product. It fits the function of a line up by informing others on the characteristics of my creations and their objects from the deity while helping me keep them in relative size of each other.

To get to my final response, I had to do a lot of visual referencing so I could be confident that my drawing was conveying the message I wanted to send of the characters. I tried experimenting mix and matching line less work ( ST's hair) with line work and found I greatly enjoyed the result I obtained from that. However I only liked it on her, everyone else looked better with the line art.

I feel like I could of Improved upon the designs of pretty much all the character except Tolm and ST. I found that drawing them prior to the act of putting them in the line up allowed me to visualise a more cohesive design which helped explain the character. In hindsite I could of covered Koko's stomach to better inform the viewer of attempts to be like ST, as it makes her seem more childish (even if I said that was a good thing earlier). Also, I thought that I could of improved on the way I drew them, perhaps if I'd drawn them with a less smooth pen I could have the parts of the deity (Everything black basically except the character lineart) look more like they don't belong to any of the characters. That they call the shots.

Through my reaserch of paredolia I think the project helped broaden my visual awareness enough to consider using those to create character designs out of that I would other wise have to think up a pose, design and colour scheme for from my own imagination. This project also helped me figure out that I really do need a plan for everything if I want to get my work done in time, if I'd done so I might of actually made the animation of earlier.

Evidencing and exploring my work was most easiest for me when I made work( illustrations) out of it, just looking it up would lead to me subconsciously using the ideas but not remembering were I'd got them. Brainstorms and mood boards would give me a place to start, but I'd end up never looking back at them again after the initial idea.

The project did help me broaden my technical skill because I didn't think to use reference before, if I didn't know what something looked like exactly I would either change my drawing ideal around it or simply draw it and deal with the result, so it helped me in realising that it's okay to just go search up a reference.

Before this project I wouldn't of considered just making a mess with art supplies (ink blots) and seeing what I could envision creating from them. It's made me feel more confident in just seeing what I could come up with If I just let loose on a page and then refined it until it became interesting piece which could help inspire the rest of my projects.

[get-something-to-write]

Prompt from bullet anon(?): “ Prompt 152 for your favorite Hamilton ship? ”-          “ Stop texting me weird stuff so late at night. “

( what a relatable prompt )

A/N: I wouldn’t say this is my absolute favorite ( that title belongs to Marliza! ), but is my guilty pleasure ship. Heh.( BWAHAHA I IS A REBEL ) Maria’s texting name is Angelica’s contact name for Maria and vice versa, to show how much those suckers are in love.

Maria: 19, freelance artist who quit college, basically what you’d expect a full time artist to do on Tumblr

Angelica: 22, majoring in PoliSci and Journalism, interns under George Washington

3rd POV omniscient 

Warnings: nothing, at least this time, except for poor editing ( I'm too cheap for a beta :P)

Ping! Ping!

Angelica stared at her phone, watching text notifications blink across her screen in a rapid succession. She was waiting for a makeup tutorial on YouTube to load already, so she tapped on the notifications to see what Maria Lewis was sending her.

Maria <3: so ive been working on some art commissions

Maria <3: and this weird thing came to me

Maria <3: if mammals have hair and create milk

Maria <3: therefore

Maria <3: that means that the coconut in my kitchen

Maria <3: is a mammal

Maria <3: u get it right?

Even without any presence nearby to react to such a thing, Angelica let out an exasperated sigh and glared at her dimly-lit screen. Of course Maria was sending her weird shit at 1 am in the morning, because what sane person would? Although, she was heads-over-heels for the artistic girl, so she only half-joked about being irritated by the texting.

Angel the Angelic: y the heck r u sending me this

Angel the Angelic: also that’s not how it works

Angel the Angelic: besides, its super l8

Angel the Angelic: get to sleep so u can wake up 4 ur job

Maria <3: nah I don't have work today

Angel the Angelic: ugh can’t ur commissions wait 4 morning

Maria <3: it is an unspoken rule to never interrupt a writer or artist at work ;)

Angel the Angelic: k fine, but I'm sleeping now

Maria <3: gn then, or good morning actually

Angel the Angelic: please go to sleep

Angelica Schuyler barged into the living room of Maria Lewis’s apartment, with the latter wearing only underwear and an oversized hoodie. It hardly affected the taller woman much, since she was commonly seen in her apartment. After all, Angelica did have the spare keys.

However usual it was to have her in Maria’s place, Maria herself was becoming redder by the second as she was being caught wearing, well, not much. By her undying crush, Angelica Schuyler.

“ Stop texting me weird stuff so late at night, “ she said, plopping down on the couch after a day of working at her journalism/political science internship.

“ Eh, benefits of being a decent artist and not having to go through college. “

“ I don’t really get how you don’t stress out about not having a major. Lucky you, I suppose. “

“ College isn’t for everyone Angelica. “ Maria brought out some chai tea and granola bars that the older woman apparently was addicted to. Angelica studied Maria, making a show of flashing her eyes up and down. Feeling very numb inside from running around doing errands for the higher-ups all day, she spaced out and glared at the ceiling, attempting to count the amount of times the fan was spinning to distract herself from the fatigue and Maria’s body leaning on her side.

“ Hello? Ang? You want a bar or not? I’m gonna eat it if you don't want one...” Maria chuckled. Registering her words, she became a little crimson at the cute nickname and her teasing voice.

“ Oh no, you wouldn’t dare do that.”

“ Oh yes I would, just to spite you.” Growling, Angelica pounced on Maria, struggling to steal the beloved granola bar from her hand. She snickered, throwing the snack across the living room. During the process, Lewis had been pinned to the couch and was blushing furiously, although Angelica mistakened it for raucous laughter.

The normally serious woman sitting on Maria’s knees had crossed her arms, looking perpetually annoyed.

“ Ugh, now I have to get it. Thanks a lot Maria Lewis. “

“ You are very welcome my lady. “

Huffing, Angelica awkwardly scrambled off the younger girl to snatch the granola bar. She gazed at Maria’s face, which was red as a tomato. It was easy for her to read most people, but she was always confused by Maria

Maria was a fairly good actress, able to mask her emotions if needed, but never did around Angelica. Perhaps there was a chance that they mutually loved each other after all.

“ Well, while you enjoy your snack, I'll go back to working on my stuff. And tell me when you leave, ‘kay?” Angelica merely nodded, chewing through the granola bar while flipping through all the assignments from class. There was also a minor article from her internship, but it wasn't much. She contemplated staying over at Maria’s, since she was feeling too lazy to go to her shared apartment with her siblings.

After finishing her bar ( and went to the kitchen for more ), she was curious about what Maria was creating this time around. Angelica always loved looking at people's hard work, especially Maria’s. She was always quite amazed by the younger girl’s art.

“ Hey Maria! Uh, may I see what you are doing?” Angelica hollered, somewhat politely.

“ Actually, I'm just putting on some pants. Kind of indecent to not be wearing some when there's someone in your home, ya know?” Huh, that's pretty strange. She's been acting weirder and weirder, why would she refer to me as a stranger in the apartment?

“ Well, I would like to see what you’re drawing or painting or whatever. “

“ Eh, I’m the lineart pieces right now. And, you can come in now.”

Angelica stepped inside the only bedroom in the apartment, smiling to herself as she viewed the minimalist room, with the exception of the art desk that contained  an organized clutter of cabinets labeled with the specific kinds of supplies. There were two watercolors drying on the wall, and the desk itself contained some sketched papers and few of what Maria was currently working on.

The drawing tablet and laptop were sitting on her bed because of the little space on her work area. Angelica wanted to aid her artistic friend more, maybe upgrade the apartment or endorse her art so she could have better luxuries. Angelica knew better than to ask so; Maria Lewis was a proud girl and was used to striking it out on her own.

She placed her arms gently on Maria’s shoulders, loosely hugging her neck as Angelica perched her chin on her head. Her hair was oh-so-soft. She twirled a strand with her fingers, absentmindedly playing the curly hair as she peered at Maria’s hand sketching out a majestic griffin. 

Angelica sniffed her hair, taking in the intoxicating scent. She didn't notice how Maria had stopped drawing and stared deeply into the paper.

“ Hey Angelica? You're kinda distracting me a little, uh, are you sniffing my hair?” No response, solely because Angelica had leaned her body weight against Maria and was slowly drifting out of consciousness. 

Angelica mumbled something, most likely about the younger girl to continue drawing, but Maria was having none of that. If the Angelica Schuyler was tired from staying up real late and doing her college stuff, she would push her into the closest bed. Okay maybe that sounded weird.

The Schuyler observed Maria as the artist sighed, swept her papers and pencils aside and considerately made sure Angelica didn’t stumble onto the floor as Lewis stood up from her swivel chair. Maria gently dragged her over to her mess of blankets and pillows.

“ Honestly, you should take a nap. Or stay over for the night, you can't go anywhere if you’re gonna fall asleep standing up. Actually, whether you like it or not you’re sleeping over for the night. I’ll text your sisters. You’re probably asleep by now, I should stop rambling to myself.” Angelica was truly unconscious by now, surely. Maria half-ran to her living room to snag her phone.

During that time, Angelica had internally realized where her body was laying and  the simple smell of someone she recognized and loved dearly. She snapped her eyes open, mildly confused that she wasn't gazing over Maria’s shoulders.

She was actually relaxing in bed, Maria’s bed for the matter. A thin blanket covering most of her body. Its scent consisted of lavender and ink, an odd combination but nonetheless pleasing to Angelica’s nose.

Angelica squawked a little as Maria strolled back into the room and they stared each other awkwardly as she inched towards Angelica. The silence was practically sexual tension to any outsider had there been one there.

“ Would you want to sleep with me?” Angelica blurted out before cringing to herself. Way to creep out one of your best friends, Angelica.

The other looked just as surprised. Maria looked down at the floor as she slowly slipped into bed. In another impulsive movement, Angelica grabbed her arm and swiftly pulled her down, instinctively shifting around so Maria was comfortably settled on her side while facing her.

Both of them were glowing crimson, mere inches apart. Angelica was quite perplexed as to why she was feeling so ruffled by this. It wasn’t as if they had never made contact before. But those has been innocent hugs and cuddles during group sleepovers, perhaps watching sappy or horror movies.

Maria flipped over, desperate to not stare into those curious brown eyes. Her thoughts glazed over how it was impossible that the wonderful and confident Angelica Schuyler could possibly love her back. She nearly dismissed this situation as a thing that Angelica did when she was fatigued when a pair of arms warmly hugged her sides.

Holy shit is she actually cuddling me in my bed? What the hell is happening? Maria’’s face grew even redder, and had not gone unnoticed by Angelica who had very keen senses. Angelica used one hand to turn Maria’s head over.

“ Goodnight, and I love you too.” Coming to a decision that Maria indeed liked her back, based on her reactions, prompted Angelica to duck her head under Maria’s chin and lightly kissed her neck, her tongue poking through her teeth.

She smiled at Maria’s shock and sudden gasp before cuddling her even tighter, limbs wrapping Maria like a pillow. Angelica felt the tension on her fall before Maria calmed down, even pressing herself against Angelica a bit. Eventually, they peacefully slept fro the rest of the day and night.

For once, neither of them regretted staying up past one.

Hey there! This, as usual, got out of hand and I did not expect myself tone writing so much for this one. Hope you enjoyed this, leave a note or two, and send me requests! Rules on are on my bio. 

( you can find my fanfics under the crimson-writer tag )

[dotzines]

Artist spotlight: Elleth!

✿ Ko-fi ✿ Twitter

Header source: [X]  

Introduce yourself Hi! I'm Elleth, I'm a 21 year old a self taught artist just about to graduate as a Psychologist. I currently live between Argentina and Spain but I've been moving between countries and continents my whole life, so I can't really say with confidence that I'm from anywhere.I love most fantasy themes and I'm a BIG LoTR and Anime nerd! I'm a sucker for story-centered games, some of my favorites are Shadow of The Colossus, The Last Guardian, Witcher III, TES, RDR2 and Soma. I'm currently into BNHA and She Ra cuz I love me some heroes!  When did you start drawing? Are you a digital or traditional artist? I've been drawing since I could hold a crayon (yes, crayons y'all) but I only started taking it seriously and actually puttinf effort into it some months ago or so. I'm a mainly digital artist, tho I still start all my sketches traditionally. Do you use any traditional mediums? If so, which are your favorites? Yeah, I mostly use pencils and watercolors. Watercolors are my absolute favorites, I love how dynamic and calming they are ^^

image source: [X]   Why do you prefer traditional over digital? (or viceversa) Well, actually I dont have a strong preference, I want to improve my digital art and it's easier for me to keep a consistent production of art that way (art supplies are kinda expensive where I live so drawing digitally is way cheaper once you do the tablet investment) Also I love how clean my pieces can be when I do them digitally. I mostly do traditional as a way of self care now, it calms me What do you think is the most challenging part about being a traditional/digital artist? Practicing and actually spending the time to learn how the software works and it's functions What inspires your pieces? Anything, from shows or games I like to nature or just things I find funny

image source: [X]   Explain your "everyday" drawing process I mostly have an idea in the middle of psychology class (cuz I'm a responsible student) I do a draft of it in my sketchbook and play with different ways of bringing that idea to life. When I end up with something I actually life I take a photo of the sketch and then, when I get home, I start tracing the sketch in my drawing tablet. There I tweak the design and any anatomy mistakes (which are a LOT cuz I don't know anatomy to save my life), from ther it's just the stardart: I do the lineart, base colors, do the background, then add light and shadows to the whole piece, add details and check for mistakes and voila! Art. Then I post it on Twitter and look at it only to notice a mistake, I take it down, correct the mistake and post it again only to notice ANOTHER mistake, and so the cycle goes on and on. Do you have an artist you admire (or more than one)?

I'm literally inspired by almost every artist I see! I try to learn from every art style and artist I see, I try to see where I can improve from seeing their work. I also tend to like artists from their personality more than their work, I love to see supporting and kind artists more than crazy good artists that treat others as their inferiors. Some artists that really inspire me are: @Kf1n3 @souratgar @Velinxi @kroovv @SHelmigh @Amaretta_ @cherriielle Is there an artwork you are most proud of? Why? I'm really proud of this WIP I'm currently working on: https://twitter.com/EllethsArt/status/1124055356445986818 But an actual finished artwork I'm insanely proud of is this one: https://twitter.com/EllethsArt/status/1119694506662797312

Do you listen to music (or tv shows/films/anything else) when drawing? Yeah! I watch BNHA or just Jacksepticeye or other gameplay vids (I told ya I'm a nerd), sometimes I put on a speedpaint or a stream of someone I like hearing, for music I mostly put on lofi or something that goes with the mood of the piece (I need that sweet inspiration!)

image source: [X]   What makes art interesting for you? All that it represents, art can be healing, it can be a way to deal with stuff we can't even speak about, it's in our very essence. You can see at someone's work and see their personality, what they like, their fears, it's like looking at someone's eyes. Ahhh I'm sounding really corny but I really think art is the window to the soul. What do you do when art block strikes? I just try to relax and doodle something I like or just stupid things (like trying to make cats out of splooshes of black ink or my OC's doing stupid things) If that doesn't work I just leave it be and do something I enjoy, watch a show that inspires me, go for a walk, writing things for future comics, etc. Usually fanart of things that currently inspire me gets me out of the artblock. If not I'll just stop and try and do something the next day, it usually gets a lil better each day, so it's just a baby steps situation. What’s the most valuable art advice you’ve ever received?

PRACTICE! And don't compare yourself to others, you're your own person and your art is as unique as you. It doesn't have to be perfect, it just needs to be yours.

[dotzines]

Artist spotlight: Skinny Cheeto!

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Introduce yourself Hi! I’m Hannah, an aspiring animator or illustrator, specialising in the weird and wonderful. I love stylised art, coffee, and niche references that no one understands. When did you start drawing? Are you a digital or traditional artist? I’ve enjoyed drawing for most of my life, but I decided to properly take it seriously about three years ago when I started drawing regularly and sharing it online. I’m primarily a traditional artist (particularly with my schoolwork portfolio) but I also enjoy digital and wish to improve at this. Which mediums are your favorites? Did you try going digital? I love inking my pieces, and working into it with markers, watercolours, or occasionally acrylics. Pencils are also quite fun to play around with. And yep! I do digital art when I have the time, but traditional definitely comes easier.

image source: [X]   Why do you prefer traditional over digital? (or viceversa) I like the feel of working in traditional - for me I just feel more rewarded as I see my piece take shape. It’s also easier for me to be precise, for example with lineart, etc. What do you think is the most challenging part about being a traditional/digital artist? With traditional, definitely the idea that to a certain extent your mistakes are permanent. It definitely shapes how you work, when you need to avoid messing up. With digital, I find (with a wireless tablet) hand-eye coordination is tricky and takes time to get used to. For example, in digital lineart it takes much longer as I struggle to get nice crisp lines first time. What inspires your pieces? I’m inspired a lot my the genres of fantasy and sci fi. I’m a big fan of comics and comic book films like Thor:Ragnorok. The bright colours, detailed costumes and unique costumes genuinely appeal to me, and I’d love to reach that standard in the future.

image source: [X]   Explain your "everyday" drawing process I try to come up with an idea - sometime I’m bursting with different concepts and other times it takes a search through prompts on Pinterest and Instagram! Then I lightly sketch it in, building up detail. Once I’m happy with the sketch, I lighten it with a kneaded eraser and start inking. I find my drawing changes a lot for the better as I ink, as I put down lines based on feeling rather than tracing exactly the lines. The I put in colour, which can vary from quick marker blending, to a wash of watercolours. Do you have an artist you admire (or more than one)?

I adore Loish’s art style. Her use of composition and unique shapes is fantastic, and motivates me to get out the habit of same face syndrome. Moreover, her use of colour is phenomenal. I also love the art nouveau period, with artists like Mucha inspiring me greatly with their themes and concepts. Is there an artwork you are most proud of? Why? I can share it once I’ve posted it, but I did a piece for an OC zine recently and I’m so so proud of it. I really pushed myself with digital painting and in particular lighting and colour. I feel like it’s a sign that my digital game is steeping up, and it motivates me to keep working hard.

Do you listen to music (or tv shows/films/anything else) when drawing? I listen to a lot of random playlists, particularly when I have to really focus. When I’m doing lighter work, I love watching light hearted series like Arrested Development and Ru Paul’s Drag Race.

image source: [X]   What makes art interesting for you? It varies so much from person to person, and really reflects your innermost thoughts and feelings. Art is unique to each person and provides us with escape, relaxation, and motivation. I love looking at other artists and being inspired to work to develop my own unique look that is easily associated with me. What do you do when art block strikes? I watch art tutorials and speed paints on YouTube, try figure drawing or using prompts, or if it’s just unbeatable, I step away for the day, and give myself time to breathe. I thinks it’s important not to burn yourself out when you’re stuck in a rut. What’s the most valuable art advice you’ve ever received?

It’s so hard to choose but when I learned about the rule of thirds it really saved me. (Also finding out about same face syndrome!)