#I feel like I'm definitely getting better at making graphics in photoshop

[lraerosesims]

How I draw: Silver Metallic Buttons for Sims 2 Textures

As we all know, Sims 2 doesn't really appreciate large file sizes/dimensions for it's textures, so sometimes you have work very closely with the individual pixels. Here is how I draw buttons. Video is sped up so don't feel like you need to draw as fast as me!

Side note: this tutorial is created on the basis that you already know how to use the basic functions of Sims BodyShop to extract the texture file. There's plenty of tutorials out there explaining that so please don't ask me to clarify on that part. Anyway, on to the buttons...↓↓↓

What you need:

A PC

Digital Drawing app (like Photoshop, Krita etc)

A Graphics Tablet with pen - you could try this with a mouse but I wouldn't recommend!

And obviously Sims 2/Sims 2 BodyShop

First off, create a new layer - we don't want this button permanently stuck to our base texture. Then I get a standard hard edge brush (I use Krita as my drawing software, so just use whatever hard brush is available in your preferred software/app). Because I'm making relatively small buttons, I make my brush 7.09px in size. Select a mid to light grey colour as the base. Make a single circle.

Then decrease the brush size to be nice and small. As a comparison to my 7.09px circle, I decrease to 0.01px for this next step. Choose a slightly darker grey colour and lightly sketch in a 'semi-circular line' about 3/4 of the way around just in from the edge of the circle. By lightly sketching - and not pressing down hard, you'll get varying tones on each pixel to represent different reflections on the 'metal'.

Next choose a darker grey again, and lightly sketch around the similar area as the last colour, but don't be too fussy on hitting the same pixels - we want varying tonal values for our shadows.

Then choose white and lightly sketch the 'catch light' part of the button. This doesn't need to be right in the centre, in fact it's better if it's off to the side, or towards the top more. We're not always facing directly towards a light source so this creates a more realistic lighting effect. You'll see me select the same mid to light base grey I used just to lightly dust over the edges of the white area to soften it a tiny bit (only do this if your white edge is a little to crisp).

After that I go back and forth between a few different tones of grey to lightly sketch over the parts we haven't really drawn on yet. This just helps create some gradual shading that enhances the 'roundness' of our very flat, very 2D button texture.

Once you're happy with the shadowing (remember it looks somewhat janky this close up, but you can always zoom out to see if the button looks more smooth when further away), you can then make another layer, and drag it below your newly made button layer in the layer menu. Select a soft edge brush and increase the size to slightly wider than your buttons overall size (I chose 9.14px compared to my 7.09px button)

Choose black from the colour wheel/palette and lightly build up the shadow underneath the button, gradually increasing size and opacity until desired tone. If the colour of the 'garment' in this texture is light then keep the shadow to a minimum, if it's dark then the shadow needs to be deep enough to show up.

Zoom out and inspect how this button looks further out. If you're satisfied, then merge the button and shadow layers together, copy/paste it as many times as needed for the garment you're texturing and Voila! You made buttons for a Sims 2 Texture!!

Feel free to ask any questions below - I'm definitely no professional, especially in creating tutorials so I'm more than happy to clarify if something didn't make sense.

[elv1raes]

okay but i've seen over $20 being charged for a single icon border. as a creator who ALSO makes content for the rpc, i get charging & i'm 100% behind people charging money for their work. however, i think it's okay to recognise that there are definitely some overcharging trends in the rpc. in 2019, a creator i was friends with was charging $1 per psd. now she charges $5-10 for the same quality psd. she even updated her deviant art to change her past $1 psds to $5-10. i don't think it's crazy to point out that a large portion of "trendy" content in the rpc is behind a paywall.

like $20 is insane, but like it's really none of my business. every time i make resources i wake up to 47 messages about discourse about charging or not charging, overpricing (i've never made templates for over $10, and even so, it was because i hand coded a bunch of stuff, everything else was max $5), this guy did that or whatever and like i don't even carrreeeee because at the end of the day you really can just move on and ignore it. my other problem is, i really don't feel compelled to take part in discourse that includes using "classism" and "gentrification" so loosely, because these are words with a LOT of weight, and i've experienced both in my personal life. like sure, call out the overpricing in the rpc if you want, i just really, really am not the guy to try and talk to about it. i just get on here, spam the dash with templates and shitposts and leave. my rp bubble is very small, i stay away from discourse, because at the day it's exhausting, and i also think it's weird to go into a random creator's inbox and complain about other people but that's just me.

my take though is i think this is a product of treating the rpc as part of this secret club that only accepts people with very specific aesthetics and it's just always kinda been like that. i've been in the rpc since i was like 10 (which probably altered my frontal lobe too much) and i've seen the shift from trends, from glee to marvel, to everything, and i definitely felt like i was being left out because i didn't know how to use photoshop, let alone afford that. but i also i was like 14 and had no business on here anyways. i've seen a lot of people shift back to just basic text + color schemes and it makes my heart happy. do what you want with your graphics and aesthetics, i really don't care, but i do feel so much less pressure on myself when i'm not striving for aesthetic perfection.

but my advice for people is to just seek out free resources more often. @freesources is a great place to start, @ariapsds makes some of my fave psds for free. both make on par, actually better quality than stuff behind paywalls. you just gotta find the right places. focus on that, and you're golden.

[kitkatt0430]

2, 8, 9, and 15 for the New Year's ask game!

2. Will you participate in any fandom exchanges or fic challenges, etc? 

I like participating in fandom events - prompt weeks, bingos, etc. I'll probably do a belated Flufftober for last years prompts soon, since I only filled... two of them? And hopefully next Flufftober I won't immediately feel my energy for writing snuff out on me.

Sadly it seems that some of the events I used to participate in have gone away. Hartmonfest being the most recent and the one I'm most sad about. I considered volunteering to take over running that one, but I didn't feel like I had the energy to really focus on it the way an event needs. Maybe if I'm feeling less worn out later this year I might reach out to see if I could revive it on a trial basis. I kinda feel a bit like I'd need to brush up on my photo manip skills though (gotta make a fun header for an event, right?) and... I haven't really done much in that area since high school with, like, the 2006 version of Photoshop in my graphic design class. So this might wind up being something I push off until next year.

8. Is there a story idea in your mental vault that you’ve never been brave enough to try writing? Is this the year? Can you tell us about it?

Usually it's not so much about being brave enough but having enough inspiration. That said, I've had a longer look at the body swap trope with Cisco and Hartley in mind for a while and who knows, maybe this'll be the year I finally start making progress on that idea. It'll be a more serious take than the fic I've already done with it - Cisco struggling to deal with Hartley's hearing while Hartley learns Cisco visions hurt a lot more than Cisco's been letting on - and it'll be something of a mutual annoyances to friends to lovers type deal.

9. Short term goals… what do you hope to complete this week or in January?

The Flufftober prompts. And maybe the Rose/Jack/Doctor week prompts I didn't finish last year. Try and get back into my writing headspace before I start tackling some of my older series again.

15. Do you foresee any personal or professional obstacles this year, that would keep you from creating fanworks? 

So the wasp problem isn't 100% over yet, but it's hopefully going to continue to be in decline. That was a big stressor for me last year - I think more than I realized at the time. If they do come back in bigger numbers, that'll probably stress me out again and slow my creative side down again.

The home reno I had going on last year was another source of stress and while I will be doing part two of that this year, it'll be much smaller in scale - mainly painting and replacing some heavily painted-over wood paneling with drywall, as the paneling as seen better days. No flooring replacements or turning reach-in closets into walk-in closets. So it shouldn't take nearly so long or be nearly so stressful.

I'm especially looking forward to painting the fireplace. It's brick, but kind of a dirty looking off white with a few splotches here and there where it got stained a kinda... puke green tbh. A dark gray paint with a new wood mantle will make it really nice, I think. It'll go well with the light gray I've used everywhere and I'm thinking a navy color for an accent wall. Or possibly two walls. Still in the early stages of decision making.

I'm aiming for spring for the reno, which should give me plenty of time yet to prepare. But I'd expect that to interfere with my writing time since I'll have to pack those rooms up beforehand and unpack them later. Also going to get some of the furniture (definitely the couch and a rug I've had ten-ish years) professionally cleaned. They've both been through a lot and could use a deep cleaning.

[madseance]

robocalypse probably never: a.i. & art

I used to be a professional graphic designer. I quit for a variety of reasons. Like the time I wanted to teach a couple of my coworkers Photoshop, and my boss said, "Well, if you do that, what will I need you for?" Or the fact that none of my superiors could genuinely tell that my work was any better than what they could whip up in Canva. It absolutely was; but if they couldn't see it, did it matter?

I've thought about this a lot lately with all the A.I. business going on. The whole "will A.I. replace artists/writers/etc" conversation seems to be focused on whether A.I.-generated content can ever be as good as human art. Whether it will ever be, in every perceivable way, equivalent to human art.

I don't think that's the right question, though, and I don't think that's what's really bothering people. It's not what's really bothering me.

When I quit graphic design, I went back to school to study biology and psychology, with vague ideas of maybe switching into computer science and A.I. learning. I presented one paper about affective computing, thought about it a bit more, and decided it wasn't the field for me.

I don't think a computer can ever meaningfully simulate being human; I don't think we'll ever see the kind of truly indistinguishable A.I. everyone always thinks is just around the corner. I'm not worried that an algorithm with a typewriter will ever produce Shakespeare.

What worries me is that, whenever computers do reach their limits of simulated creativity, whatever slapdash approximation of human art they're able to produce will be good enough for most people. That they won't be able to tell any meaningful difference, the same way my boss thought anybody who could work Photoshop could replace me.

Right now, there are no end of websites pushing A.I. tools to generate blog posts and essays and articles purported to be equivalent to or better than human-written ones. Websites are already full of their output. If you're looking solely at things like that, it can feel like there soon won't be any place for human writing. The same with all the A.I.-generated "art". If everyone's so impressed with the seven-fingered image mashup nonsense these tools crank out, maybe there's no point in humans even bothering to make their own art anymore.

But there are two things I've been thinking about that contradict that.

One: I've touched on this a bit, but all the A.I. generated stuff ranges from amusing nonsense on the high end, down to absolute incoherent garbage. However good it's supposedly going to get any minute now, it's going to have limits. As a friend just pointed out to me, it sure can't fucking physically paint yet. I can definitely see art that is fully outside A.I.'s wheelhouse becoming more valuable because of that. Even with writing, just to take one example, everyone who's paying for it on the internet right now knows that there are a few things A.I. is okay at and a fuckload it's bad at. Even the content farms are saying "do not submit A.I.-generated garbage to us." If you want good writing, you need a human. Humans who can fucking write may end up being more valuable thanks to A.I., not less.

Two: This one's a little less concrete, but I think it should be even more important, because I think there are more important things about art than its monetary value. Even though my ex-boss probably still thinks Canva is better than me, I fucking know better. And there are quite a few other people who know better, too. One time, my workplace did this pop culture event, and I made a flier for it that I knew the target audience would think was cool. And I was right, because not only did it help bring in record numbers of attendees, one girl literally asked me to print her a fresh copy of the flier to keep with her other souvenirs of the event. No one ever fucking did that about a flier a coworker bashed out in five minutes using clipart.

My point is, you cannot make art for the 75% or 90% or 99.99998% of people, as the case may be, who can't tell the difference between it and computer-simulated garbage. You already don't. You don't make it for the people who don't get it; you make it for the ones who do. No matter how much of a content-farmed corporate hellscape the world of professional creativity becomes, you have to ultimately be in it for those rare moments where it connects with somebody. Those are not going away unless the machines replace every single human with a Terminator or whatever the fuck.

So no, I'm not really that worried about A.I. replacing me any more than I'm worried about ignorance and apathy replacing me. The SEO-content-monetisation-engagement drones are more than welcome to keep asking chatbots to generate shitty blog posts for each other to not read. It doesn't have any more to do with me than it ever did.

[jackwatters]

FINAL FUNDIMENTALS 1 REFLECTION

Over the course of these past four weeks I've learned many essential skills in terms of graphic design. Specifically, utilizing Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. Each program having it's own obstacles to overcome, and it's been quite difficult to wrap my head around most of them. However, I do feel like I have a more comprehensive understanding of the basic tools for each program, and how to use them.

For illustrator, I found the Bezier curves quite difficult to use at first, however, through numerous moments where I had to use curves I've definitely gotten better at placing them. Thinking about where the apex points of a shape are, and then placing curve points at the apexes, that's probably what helped a lot in my improvement.

For photoshop, I caught onto a lot of the tools quite quickly, though I did initially have a little trouble with selection. The whole subtraction and addition to selections got a little difficult, especially with trying to hold so many keys at once. But, I eventually got better.

For InDesign, I found that trying to get text to flow around an image was pretty buggy. Sometimes it would work, sometimes it wouldn't, but eventually it did. I'm not sure if that was the computer, or just me making some simple mistakes I didn't initially see, and since we didn't spend much time on InDesign, it still lingers in my head a bit.

I'd say this course was very informative, and I definitely feel a lot more confident than I did when first starting off. Going from knowing nothing about how to use any of these programs, to having a solid foundation knowledge on how to use their essential tools, in only four weeks as well, it's all a little jarring, because it feels like an impossible amount of information to digest. Like if it all just popped into my head after a blur, because I feel as if I'd been shot out of a gun and have now just suddenly hit the wall. But, hey, it's all useful information that'll go to good use.

[madiblog]

Final Reflections

At the beginning of this module I was extremely overwhelmed. Adobe is so new to me, i'd had it on my laptop from high school and tried to look at in my own time but it scared me.

Illustrator: After doing a few weeks of drawing bezier curves and starting to understand the importance of control over handles I feel pretty confident drawing shapes. Shortcuts were a BIG HELP here. The pengin week is still pretty confusing to me but the basic skills I feel confident on. I can see myself using Illustrator a lot in the future, it's good for making posters, drawing and making logos etc. I do prefer tracing on an app like procreate on the iPad but Illustrator definitely producers better quality images.

Photoshop: I very much enjoyed playing around with curves and hue saturation on photoshop. I don't fully understand how to cut things out well but thats okay. The tools are a little confusing. My friend Sophie sits next to me and luckily she has experience in photoshop. She helped me a wee bit here. I'm very grateful this was one of the first things we looked at because it lined up with my first project in photography. Having both classes at the same time ment my confidence build faster.

InDesign: This program is still very confusing to me. I think i'm starting to get it. The one thing I really can't figure out is how to get page numbers to look nice. It felt like there were A LOT of tools and settings and it could be hard to find where they are. Just like the photoshop, InDesign lined up with Graphic Design and made it easy to carry over knowledg between the two classes.

A struggle in this class was definitely following along and keeping up. I am proud of how much I was able to keep up but i did get a bit overwhelmed sometime.

[kakujis]

it's okay! for a min there, i thought that my long replies may had scared you away lol. that's true, tumblr have never been perfect but it is the best platform for fandoms because copyright doesn't seem to apply on here.

the game did hinted that a little considering kuras and mhin do have a relationship with each other where i wouldn't be surprise if they play an important part in each other routes.

that's true! kuras have the most mysterious aura, we mainly just saw how he interacts with others but everything else was a secret. kuras might be a fallen angel though and it would explain how he was able to attach the mc arm but not revealing his method because of that reason.

as for mhin, it is a possible considering they was similar with the layout when they appeared a shadow CG where the MC first found the senobium but that sound too simple.

i agree and the studio must feel the pressure considering the amount of funding they have gotten so if they release an unpolished version of the game, lot of fans are going to be upset.

have you try using their template? canva is meant to be an easy alternative to photoshop. tbh, the graphic making on there is a little bit harder now because lot of their assets have watermarks printed on them to get users to upgrade their membership.

er, i don't think it's that simple anymore to make anime/manga banners on there because they got rid of the background remover as a free feature and other things. but it's easy to make a fic banner (like the name) on there but need time/effort to find the correct font etc.

maybe, you could try playing the other origins to break free from the rut? it's worth a shot and designing those outfits must took forever but it was the perfect match lol.

i get where you're coming regarding mhin because they do seem the perfect character for the themes of the game aka horror gothic literature, their personality, interactions and outfit just completely fit with the theme.

i just looked up their sprite again/general official art and they definitely have black roots underneath, as far as i can tell because their hair wouldn't stand out as much if it was completely white. i bet doing the makeup for vere cosplay would be the most fun part.

redspringstudio also released a valentine day quiz for the game that reveal your match from the game. i have copied the link below if you want to take it.

https://twitter.com/redspringstudio/status/1639061400269234178

thanks! i suppose that's siblings for you but i hope you're dealing a lot better with the social awkwardness and anxiety. i wouldn't have assumed this from your replies so i'm sure that is some progress!

so i was old enough too for the 2nd generation but did not properly dive into the genre till mid 2010s but all those groups were breaking up lmao. i was just an exo fan.

i had to looked up audition online and the game is apparently korean so the kpop songs being available on there make sense. which groups were you into?

i remember seventeen from their debut and apparently, they were suppose to have 17 members but life happened. ah, i'm sure that jun would be happy to have you as an awesome fan. do you have any of seventeen merchandise or just kpop in general? are you still into kpop?

it actually does but i feel like it always get brush under the carpet. ah, i hope you won't goes through another one. did you see yuzuha at the end of the battle with tajiu/black dragons where she say that she love him and run away with tears streaming on her face, that was something else ;-;

if i recall correctly, senju was the only female character in an actual gang (?) i feel like the author used emma's introduction as fanservice though considering takemichi travelled back to that period to find himself in that karaoke room with her.

what do you think? i feel like emma got done dirty but the author didn't do that with the other female characters intro so i'm assuming he must had gotten pressure to do that from the editors :/

i know who mt.lady is but does she get a lot of time in the manga/anime? don't worry, i'm sure you will be able to recall more of your favourites at a later time! ^^

i think you would like IB and the witch house then! they are rpeg horror games that came out in the early 2010s but they won't be an intense as claymore. do you like to consume blood and violence in a format of a tv show too then? or just in a game?

well, if anyone is going to get their hands bloody, it will definitely be ais considering touchstarved won't be the typical otome game. there is another horror otome game but it's long to explain.

wasn't mhin introduction the only one with actual blood (?) i'm sure it was considering he used that knife to kill the soulless. leander would just be something else as a yandere, at least with ais and mhin, it would be clear black and white lol.

but i feel like mhin would resist the dark thoughts till the mc get in actual danger or try to leave forever? mhin would be in denial though till the very end. but ais would probably give the mc the most freedom because he's got the soulless at this beck and call, so he have nothing to worry about unless the mc have a death wish. what do you think?

i think you should try a little bit more because i really do enjoy talking to you! well, i don't think there is anything to worry about as long as you're following the rules etc, the worst thing that can happen is that you won't get a reply and that may happen but another user will come along.

i didn't know discord was that popular to get an otome game inspired by their server lol. well i guess, that's one of the fun thing about otome game that you will never know what's around the corner as a player.

there's this really cool free otome game called cinderella phenomenon that's available on discord, i think you would enjoy it a lot but i'm sure there is a true route if you're a fan of stuffs like that.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/568770/Cinderella_Phenomenon__OtomeVisual_Novel/

kazutora really was a loose rocket back in those days lol, another character that would be terrifying as a yandere. kazutora have a proper backstory but it didn't get animated in season 1 because it was released as side chapters (?) something like that so it wasn't in the actual manga hence why the studio could skip it but apparently, it's explain why his relationship with baji was like that.

i think izana is a cool character where it's rare for a villain to care about his childhood friend (kakchou) because most of them are lone wolves lol. do you think izana's character design would be the best one when it'll get animated?

i do recommend that you do it sooner than later and the comments tend to be really nice too like they put a smile on your face when you'll get one. it's give a writer motivation too when they get a user subscription!

nice! i will try to find them so i can read them, do you remember the characters? and the best way to find a post is to scroll through the archive or you can save a reblog in the queue lol.

no worries, take your time, i hope school is not stressing you out too much. do you have any upcoming exams? also, take your time with your replies.

that make me so happy to heard! ٩(｡•́‿•̀｡)۶ such a nice thing to say, thank you! i dk how to describe my writing style but i feel like it's based on you actually experiencing those events irl lol.

how about your? how would you describe it? also, do you write your fic in one go or take breaks in between? apparently, a lot of fanfic writers are night owl.

you would probably need to pay extra attention to the dialogue then because that seem to be the key differences between each origins. wait, sen came back from the dead? i'm a bit lost. the studio will only give us easter eggs till the very end like the pixar universe lmao.

his bad end could be quite unpredictable but if there was multiple bad endings per character, mhin's one can either be tragic or disturbing. any ideas?

ah, trial and error and there's probably be walkthrough for guidance because i'm sure a fan would finish the game within three days lol. mhin's smile could be soothing in their good end or sinister in their bad ending, who knows lmao.

but leander's bad ending would probably be the most gruesome because he seem like a trap character. your thoughts?

i've got up to episode 16 and i like there's no friendship is power troupe in there. how about you? tbh, i don't mind because storing stuffs is just a hassle. that's true, shipping is a hit or miss depending on the brand.

i agreed with that, all otomes game operates in that format and the budget would disappear in seconds if they did full voicing. if they did that, no one would take the intense/horrifying/emotional scenes seriously. i dk if you've heard of Dangan Ronpa but the studio did both with the franchise, voice actings for events and grunts stuffs for interactions!

it's understandable because the studio wasn't expecting to get funded that quickly. but you are right considering the next goal is so big, i don't think they could add anymore things either unless they delay the game.

the struggles! are you watching the new bleach arc then? is it good? it's on disney+ where i live. what characters are on your bnha poster? i have to looked up his breed and i bet he must be super fluffy!

i've only heard of stardew valley, is that a bit similar with animal crossing? er, does mario/pokemon counts ? lmao and some otome games. are you going to see the mario film?

tbh, the one with female characters can be pretty vile, like the brand know that they will sell regardless it so toning it down is an option lol. i had to google her too and i can imagine with her character design.

how about the phone calls? do you keep up with them? they're still using the side events trick? man, that's becoming a norm now with mobile games esp if they're free. what side events do you have your eyes on?

what? i did not realise they were the same company, my mind is blown away! do you remember voltage? it was another mobile otome game brand that operates like shall we date. did you find out about obey me via tumblr?

to be fair, obey me cast is really huge which you don't see in an otome games and there is nice poc representation too. i hope that wish of your come true one day! have you ever been to an anime expo?

damn! but they must have been designing that since 2020? because i think i saw draft designs of the characters that was created in 2017 for obey me. are you going to play the sequel?

noooo don't worry! i just hav a really short attention span lool, so i always forget to do something or get distracted during replies xd!! also lemme see if i can categorize our talks a bit! i'll do touchstarved bits, other media, and then life stuff at the end! also i'll put it under a readmore! also merging ur other ask onto this one <3 .

touchstarved:

yes! i love the kuras + mhin dynamic! like the way that mhin doesn't trust anyone but likes kuras anyway. it's cute! and yeah! i wanna know where his angel origin comes into play! i wonder if the senobium is full of angels... hmm. also yeah i hope the studio doesn't rush or anything! i bet the support is overwhelming!! theyve been gaining followers on twitter like MAD. i'm genuinely amazed we reached all the stretch goals!

yes! mhin is the only one who actually gets bloodied in their cg. personally, i think we should've seen some blood on ais after he almost murders that one dude, such a missed opportunity!! for a bad end, i think i can see mhin abandoning mc or leaving them behind, i think killing them may be a bit of a stretch! i think mhin doesn't actually wanna hurt anyone physically, just the soulless and demons and since mc doesn't fall into that category they most likely would struggle with that!! okok so about the yanderes, i think leander would definitely hide it with his clinginess! likeee he's just a clingy bf, he holds your handle just a little too hard, or keeps you a little too close, but it's never outright unless he has like a whole breakdown episode LOL. everytime we talk yan ais i blush like mad.. man i love him. i agree tho we'd def have the most freedom w ais! he has eyes everywhere as well!

also ahh i see well. that sucks ._. sdjfsdjkfnsdf. hmm, i'll probs just chill with my little banners for now LOL. and yeah!! i'll def try to doo that, i've just been so into tokrev again and daydreaming about them like mad!!!! ig i was never out of tokrev its just the hyperfixation got a bit more intense again LOL. also mhin really does fall into the gothic horror genre perfectly!!! so pretty! also yesss i agree! i think besides the makeup for vere, the hair would be suuuper fun! OH I DID THAT QUIZ TWICE AND I GOT AIS TWICE LMAOO <3333. they know me so well (why is he the most common answer?!)

yes! it says on her chara page that she's a "reanimated warden" who is burdened by her "immortality". she's seeking revenge and her own death! also oh definitely! they need to keep the hype up! so little hints will most likely be given throughout!! i think leander is pretty volatile!! like seems nice, but is actually not afraid to hurt mc maybe?

i'm still super duper awkward imo, especially in real time situations LOL. but its easier online thru replies cus i get as much time as i need to reply!! but thank u! <3.

other media:

OMG NONNIE... i used to be an exo blog LMAOOOO, im still in the process of going thru my old posts n deleting almost everything. there's like.. 36k posts on this blog, i really need to go thru n delete oops. who did u stan in exo? i was a chanyeol, lay + sehun stan!!!

besides exo i was in a ton of groups like bap, b2st (now highlight), infinite, monsta x, 2pm, b1a4, and a ton more boy groups. i was mostly into girl groups actually! my favorites were f(x) and nine muses, alongside sistar, aoa, miss a, etc. yes i remember that too! i watched their debut the day it came out, same w bts!! i don't have any merchandise really, besides a onewe album + photocard of kanghyun <3!! if i ever saw jun irl id pass out n cry fr fr. LOOL. as of now, i'm back into kpop and i'm a major sunmi stan!!

personally, i think emma could've had more screentime FOR SURE!! i don't reeeally like how she was handled but i don't like how a lot of them were handled. i always thought the whole takemichi is gonna cheat on hina thing was super weird LMAO? so i totally get why u think thats weird and fanservicey. i wish yuzuha had more screentime after the black dragons arc but i get why at the same time but still... but yes i DID SEE HER CRY AND I WANTED TO HOLD HER SO BADLY UGH......... shes so wifey. shes such wife material<3333. i wanna give her the world and hold her hand and tons of kisses sobbing fr. yeah! senju was the only one who really.. fought fought, but i think yuzuha not fighting more was a missed opportunity!! she literally kicked the shit out of inui like.. let her fight cmon now.

so imo, mt. lady doesn't get that much screentime actually... ╥﹏╥ but i'm pretty happy with what we DO get. i think some of the women are written really well like lady nagant and mirko!

OMG i've actually played IB and the witch house (never finished this one i couldnt beat the final boss??? at least from what i remember!) but i was obsessed with IB, i played it a ton especially because i LOVED gary LOL. i do watch some bloody shows like the last of us, but i watched the game first LOL. also, i did watch the netflix series, you, which was pretty bloody. personally tho, i don't really like to watch tv shows all that much and mostly stick to anime oops.. but that's why i love unohana from bleach, if u've seen it!

YES ABSOLUTELY ON IZANA.. DID U SEE HIM ANIMATED TODAY?? I LITERALLY LOST MY SHIT KASNDKSNF my entire discord profile is dedicated to him rn!! i genuinely believe if baji and kakucho didn't exist, izana would be my number one. <33 i'm so obsessed with him! i wanna eat him!! i wanna eat him!! anyways.. eep. yes yes, i need to actually read tokrev manga from the beginning, i feel like i missed a TON! i'm gonna do that one of these days, especially cus i wanna read about pah n tora in particular! i do enjoy tora's character growth tho, i think it's one of the best in series besides taiju!

i finished blue lock today! i was super peeved by what i watched too LMAOOO, so let me know what u think! who are ur fav charas at the moment? i loveee kunigami and chigiri, but especially kunigami <3!! i have heard of dangan ronpa and it HAS interested me before! i've just never delved into it!

YES I WATCHED THE NEW BLEACH ARC<33 i've read the entire thing haha so it's just fun to see everything being animated and everyone's opinions on it! it's soo hard for me to keep my mouth shut tho eee. i just love to talk about my favorite interests~! also for the bnha poster it's all of class A actually!

stardew is so much fun, have u played? it's not all that similar with animal crossing imo. farming is a big aspect of it, not so much design! and yes of course mario + pokemon counts haha! i just recently got into pokemon w the newest game! i don't think i'm gonna see the new mario film, unless my bf wants to see it sometime!

oh god, the phone calls in obey me eesh. i get so giddy whenever i get them!! especially from lucifer hehe like call me back!!! but yes i'm keeping up w them, im actually most excited for them! so the recent madam rose event was really good. was deffo obsessed w mammon! but i also have been dong some of the revival events, i want the horror lucifer card sooo bad ugh!! i actually found out about obey me from their facebook page HAHAH, i was linked to keep my accounts!

YES! did u play the shall we date stuff too? LOL. oof biggest obsession for soo long. i loved ran from destiny...ninja 2? i think is what it was called LMAO. YES I REMEMBER VOLTAGE.. omg i think it was like samurai love..or something but iw as OBSESSED W IEYASU. my friends used to point how different ran and ieyasu are! literally diff ends of the spectrum lool.

i'm deffo playing nightbringer! im already pre-registered for it! i do love that obey has soo many brown characters eeep!

life stuffs:

thank you btw! it's definitely more of a me thing! i'm actually pretty sensitive, but i'm working on it ^^. also, ahh i think it was more like it's easier to use than a chatroom... kind of like, mystic messenger! also thank you! i'll check this game outt!

school is super duper uber stressful!! but i'm trucking through!! thank you <3!! also of course, i love reading new stories and looking at people's writing styles. <3 ahh my style... i'm not sure, i like flowery language hehe. my friend once described my writing as feeling like their head is full of.. steam? smoke? i cant remember, but it was a huge compliment to me eee because i feel a little fluttery when i write stuff! if i'm super inspired i can write a fic in one go, but most of my finished fics either took me a week to write or months, there is no in between LOL.

yeah i will! i'm just trying to find mental capacity alongside time for it!! i have one fic in the drafts on ao3 which will automatically publish sometime this month i think! yeah i get tons of motivation when i get any comments or reblogs on my work on here so i bet it'd be nice to get comments on ao3 too<3. also the oneshots are baji + kakucho!

i've never been to anime expo! but i've always been asked to go either by family or friends hehe. i may go one of these years! i do drive yes, but i have horribly anxiety over it LOOL. i got my license like last year and barely drive >..<

deffo will look into the app! i'd love to get some nice prints <3. alsooo its gonna be all my wisdom teef unfortunately... so i hope it all goes well UGH!!! im just a lil peeved they told me i need to do nyeow. like why didnt u tell me before ><!!!

[autisim]

Welcome to the Castelli Legacy! 

This is my random Sims legacy challenge which will be (hopefully) running for 10 generations. I’ll be following the whims and autonomy of my sims as much as possible, and using randomized rolls to create my sims and generate random gameplay events. To start with, here’s my founder: Leone Castelli! (randomized using my generators here and here)

Leone Castelli

Appearance: Tan skin, medium brown hair, hazel eyes, fit build, blue colour scheme, and a scar above their eyebrow. 

Traits: Neat, foodie, loner (...for now)

Gender: Genderqueer & AFAB (mostly uses they/them pronouns, but is fine with close friends and partners using he/him pronouns)

Sexuality: Pansexual and polyamorous (attracted to all genders and wants to form committed romantic relationships with multiple people)

Aspiration: Part-time student (wants to maintain their grades whilst working a part-time or full-time job)

Job: Career hopper. Will be switching between three full-time careers - a mixologist, conservationist, and doctor - and two unconventional freelance careers - an alchemist (producing potions) and a fizzer (producing fizzy drinks).

Hobby: Video games (must spend at least 3 hours per week on activities relating to the video gaming skill)

Legacy Type

I’ll be rerolling these every generation (using my generator here) because I think it makes sense for each heir to have their own criteria for who they want to be the next heir (plus it shakes things up a bit, which is the whole point of me doing a random legacy challenge).

Strict Equality - The next heir must be a different gender to Leone (either a woman, woman-aligned or feminine-of-center).

Foster - Only adopted children are eligible to be heirs unless there are no adopted children, at which point naturally born children become eligible.

Tolerant - The species of a child doesn’t affect their eligibility as heir.

Living Will - The eligible child with the highest friendly relationship score with the Leone will be named heir.

Throuple With Help - Leone must have two romantic live-in partners and a non-romantic helper sim living in their house.

Three children - Leone must have a total of 3 children.

Also here are some additional facts about Leone Castelli under the cut, for anyone who’s interested.

Leone describes themself as masculine-of-center. They previously identified as a butch lesbian before coming out as genderqueer and realising they’re pansexual. They still feel an affinity to the lesbian community though, and they often have a lot of lesbian friends.

They had top surgery about four years ago and are super pleased with the results, but they don’t intent to start taking testosterone.

Leone had to have a hysterectomy due to medical issues, so they’re unable to have biological children. They aren’t too upset about this as they had always planned to adopt children anyway. 

Leone left school early at 15 to be a full-time carer for their terminally ill mother, who sadly died when Leone was 20. Leone misses her a lot.

Their father passed away a few months ago after struggling for years with depression and alcoholism. Leone feels ambivalent about this because their father was emotionally distant and an all-round awful guy, but they also feel guilty about moving out whilst seeing him spiral downwards after their mother’s death.

Leone’s maternal grandparents were originally from Veronaville and moved to Windenburg when Leone’s mother was a toddler. Leone’s father is also from Veronaville, but moved to Windenburg as an adult.

Leone has been homeless and living in their van for a couple of years now. They’ve managed to scrape enough money together to buy some land and they’re excited to finally create a place of their own.

They’ve had a series of different low-paid jobs but have never actually enjoyed the work they’ve done. They want to get back into education and do a biology degree, but have to save up before they can afford that. 

Leone enjoys both cooking for themself (even though they’re not that good at it) and eating out at restaurants, particularly diners.

Leone isn't really shy, but is naturally introverted and only enjoys being around people for a short while. This and their tough appearance makes people think Leone is cold and emotionally distant, but they can be very loyal and dedicated to their friends.

Leone loves doing housework and organising things. This goes back to when they were a carer for their ill mother, when doing the household chores was one of the only things that gave them a sense of control and achievement in their life.

[melsie-sims]

Hi! I was wondering if you made the banner for your BACC posts and if so, how did you do it? I'm having a bit of trouble making my own and cannot find any tutorials anywhere. Thank you so much! (feel free to ignore this if you don't want to answer, that is totally fine!)

Hey friend!! I answered this question here over a year ago if you'd like to take a look. I'm aware my reply is a bit vague so I'm gonna do it better. If you have specific questions I can try to answer them the best I can... but I'm not a graphic designer. I don't even use Photoshop.

Alright. So here goes.

Background: First I decide on a color scheme. For my BACC I have four different colors for the different seasons. Those are my first layers and I just alternate between them as I need them.

For my Occult Save banner I added an overlay of a screenshot I had of the night sky. You can definitely do something like that too, although I advise you not to make it too busy or else it might be difficult to read.

Font: Then I have the text. I use a font that I downloaded. You can get a ton of cool ones and they work for Gimp as well as Photoshop. You'll need to add them to your "Font Settings" and if you're using Windows and make sure it's installed properly. I'm sure there's a tutorial somewhere on how to do that. 💜

Details: My advice is not to make the banner too cluttered. Only include the necessary info. For my BACC I have the current household and the season/year. If you're doing a legacy you can have the family's surname and the generation # in a smaller font.

Icons: This is the link to the downloadable Sims 4 icons that I use in my posts. It hasn't been updated in a while so some of the newer packs are missing... I just googled those and found other people that uploaded the files. You can add them to decorate your banner, but again, keep it simple! Too much clutter will make it hard to read.

Inspo: My main tip for inspiration is to just look at what others are doing! Obviously don't copy them completely because that's rude, but it can help you decide where you want to place your text and what kind of vibe you want to go with.

I really like @justkeeponsimming's banner for their DITFT posts. They include their main sim's portrait. I also like the more minimalistic look that @thetiasaan has for their LEPacy. @witheringsims is doing the Super SIm Challenge and uses aspiration icons for the banner which is super neat! I like @coatedinhoney's banner for their legacy. It's chunkier which looks really nice with minimal text. You could also do a gradient like @chelseasanidiot does for their NSB. That's really nice! Just scroll through your dash (that's literally what I did for this list) and find a style or two that you really like... then go from there!

Hope this helped! Happy Simming!

[iminye]

1, 8, 19, 22, 39 for the graphic maker asks please? And i hope your days get better 💕

Thank you so much for your ask! I hope so too! It really wasn't the greatest of days but it can only get better ✨💕

1 How did you get into graphic/gif making?

I don't actually know? If I had to pin down a point in time when I discovered that this is fun then definitely the time we had a graphic design course in middle school where we were supposed to make our own calendar! I still have said calendar and frequently take a look at it and see how I improved.

I sadly don't have it with me at the moment but it was an objectively really bad Doctor Who themed atrocity. Still glad that I took that course. I probably wouldn't have discovered the fun in graphic making.

8 Your favourite graphic or gif you created

This is not easy to be honest BUT I personally still very much love my Finwë edit, the children of Elrond and Elros. This, this and this are also some I like A LOT.

Also shameless advertisement for my side blog but I'm still way too much in love with how my Lan Wangji edit turned out affdhsg

19 Your favourite fandom(s) to see graphics / gifs come from

Anything that comes from the c drama side of Tumblr. I don't think I need to tell you this but whenever I go on the mdzs tag I am overwhelmed with wonderful creations! But I really love what the creators here in the Tolkien fandom are doing as well!

22 What is your biggest improvement since you started making graphics and or gifs?

COLOURS. I used to be really bad at putting colours that work well together. Also like general photo arrangement. It was a huge learning curve and I'm glad I improved so much. Simplicity is also something had to learn how to implement and I'm nowhere near where I want to be

39 What software do you use to make graphics / gifs?

I mostly use Canva (the free version) for the arrangement of my more simplistic edits because I love the creative freedom it gives you. For colour editing and like photo editing in general I use VISCO, Photoshop Editor and the default filters my phone provides (all free). Like these are some of my favourite filters and they are the default ones my phone provides:

I also use some basic collage app if I just want to make a grid like edit. The one I currently use is called InCollage.

Feel free to also send me an ask!

[aelaer]

More Oblivion Ramblings

No story in this one. Rather more OOC anecdotes (that have been in my drafts a while because I've been playing more than writing the last three or so weeks).

1. So I ended up pausing on the main quest much longer than I planned because I found out two unpleasant things:

Infiltrating the Evil Cult means losing all items and gold you carry. To make it so I didn't lose all my hard-earned stuff, I downloaded a mod that includes a bank for gold and item storage (though I use a free chest Jauffre gives me for item storage right now). So with that solved, I figured I was ready to rumble.

Nope. The infiltration quest involves sacrificing an NPC. And Stephen ain't gonna do that. I read the wiki on ways to save him and basically I need to create spells to help save the NPC. But I needed to level up much more to get those spells.

So yeah, so Stephen doesn't have horrible guilt about not saving the captive, I'm leveling him up so he has a fighting chance.

2. One of the quests I did took you into someone's dreams! And it was a complete nightmare! Ahhhh it was great, to save the man and himself Stephen had to do all of these type of puzzle quests for patience, courage, and so on. I loved it. Also, he went into the man's head naked (or at least video games version of naked). Very comic v4 of him. Definitely feels like astral projection.

3. For a while I had the game difficulty at 40% (around level 4 when I tried Kvatch for the first time... that adventure's coming up), then 45%. At around level 9 or so, I upped it to 50% again (which is default) and I'm forcing myself to learn some actual strategy spells that aren't just fireballs. More Stephen-like stuff like illusions, shields, etc. (But I'm still most fond of fireballs.) This also has prevented the game from becoming too easy so that's fun.

4. I discovered that a mod that I thought was working actually wasn't. This mod revamps all the main cities in the game graphically and adds more quests to them. I'm glad I didn't have it on originally, because comparing the differences with the vanilla game and the mod is insane. I can't believe how much work people have put into this game over the last (nearly) 15 years with user content. It makes the cities so much more immersive though, it's really great.

5. At one point I accidentally turned into a vampire. Wiki said that the curing of vampirism was quite challenging so I went back to an earlier save. Besides, if I ever want to explore that part of Stephen's comic book lore Oblivion-style, I can always find more vampires.

6. As I discovered more facial feature mods that helped alter the old ugly settings, I messed around with Stephen's face several more times. I haven't messed around with it for a couple weeks now though, so I think he's at his final version and as close as I can get him looking like Stephen without creating my own custom textures for the hair and clothing. And naturally I got a mod that allowed cloaks because he just didn't feel right without something similar to the Cloak. I wish I was better at photoshop so I could make textures of his clothes...

[eintsein]

thought, i'd better ask instead of dm. so here goes: loving your posts. i read you're using a wacom and ps. how do you use it? can you give us details? where do you draw your inspiration? how do you plan/prepare your posts? how much time do you invest? a lot of studyblr focus on their photos/notes looking pretty, so i'm wondering how you draw the line between functionality and superfluity? xoxo

ok first of all wow those r a lot of questions, but i'll try my best to answer them

idk how much detail u want but i just use my wacom and photoshop to like design and illustrate

i mostly get design inspiration from behance and dribbble

i get post inspiration from

my daily life - e.g. "i'm having X problem; what if others have that problem too? let's do some research."

other people's lives - e.g. "3 people i know are struggling with Y; I think I know how to tackle Y. maybe readers can benefit from my experience."

things i read online (which is a lot but generally things i see from flipboard or medium) - e.g. "topic Z is currently trending. how do I feel about that? how does that relate to my life?"

how do i plan my posts?

make an outline of the things i wanna cover

expand on that outline with ideas of my own

do research and see what others have said about the topic

determine what format would be the most effective for said post based on given information

if it's a mostly text post

i write out the paragraphs

then make a title graphic

if it's an infographic/photoset/visual based post

i sketch out design and graphic ideas for the post

then execute in photoshop

(this is definitely a question for a much longer post so i apologize for the briefness)

how much time do i invest? it depends on how busy i am. if i have time, i might do 10 hours a week; if not, i can produce a long text post + 1-2 graphics in under 5h a week, which is less than 1h a day if spread evenly. graphics based posts take longer to make, especially when they include illustrations, so i opt for text based posts or very simple graphic ones when i'm particularly busy.

how i draw the line between functionality and superfluity? if i'm gonna be honest with you, i gave up focusing on physical aesthetic a long time ago. that's not to say i've completely given it up; i just focus on functionality and let physicality follow.

for example, take this page from my microecon notes (@ bottom of post).

why do i box and capitalize "Cournot Heterogeneity"? because it's a heading, a higher level of information than what's below it.

why are equations boxed in red? to make them easier to find among all the black text and endless equations

why do i skip lines? so i can make out the different terms/variables/numbers in each step of the solution. if not, they would appear more like a texture than actual, readable text. terms and conditions are designed like a texture of letters so that readers won't digest them. you wouldn't want that in your notes, would you? you’d rather have something your eyes can easily latch on to and your brain can easily grasp.

i guess the main principle is to do whatever makes your life easier and fulfills the purpose of what you’re doing.

if my notes were all in plain paragraph form with no formatting whatsoever, they would be very hard to read, it would be difficult for me to retain any information from them, and they wouldn’t fulfill their intended purpose.

(this also could be a much longer post so again sorry for being brief)

[pentragons]

i apologize for the bother but can i ask what are some of your favorite brush/ handwritten fonts? or your favorite fonts in general? i'm making a graphic set and am having a really tough time choosing fonts for it everything i try seems to be too big or just really unfitting and you always choose really nice fonts that really fit the graphic and don't look misfitted. apologies again for bringing this to you

Anon, please don’t apologize for asking, I would love to help you and it is not a bother at all!! Thank you for being so kind!! (๑❛ᴗ❛๑) I completely know how you feel, fonts are so important when making graphics and oftentimes the look of the whole graphic depends on the font(s) used.I’ve already talked about three of my favourite fonts in general, they are not handwritten but AMAZING for graphics:- Justus: I simply love this font, I think it’s my favourite! I use it on almost everything and most of the time, it’s the only thing that looks right to my eyes. I honestly wouldn’t know how to edit without it lmao. It looks great whether you use it in Versalitas or Italic, and it works for both graphics and gifs alike!~- Oranienbaum: Another great, sophisticated looking font! I used this one for the headlines in my Zelda timeline graphics and really like it! It can be used for headlines or regular text both. - Calendas Plus: I love this font so much I even created a twitter account to download it :D I used it for most of the texts in my Zelda timeline graphics and it’s simply my favourite font for longer texts~ IT LOOKS SO GOOD AND CLASSY & I definitely need to use this one more!!- Other regular fonts I can recommend: Fanwood (classic), Exodus (more design-ish), Adam CG (bold for headings)As for handwritten fonts, I don’t use them as often but here are a few I have downloaded:- Bromello: I am actually going to post a new edit later today where I used this font for the headings! While it is thicker than most handwritings, I think it still has an elegant, bright look and it’s my favourite handwritten font!- Dancing Script: A thinner alternative I also really enjoy!- Sign PainterBrush Fonts:

- Woodlands - Odachi- MacbethTips: - In general, I would recommend spending some time browsing sites that offer free fonts, most notably behance.com! Simply type in ‘free’ in the search bar and most results will be amazing free fonts! Making graphics is a lot of trial and error. A lot depends on the fonts and if I cannot find one that works, I will often scrap the whole edit because it gets too frustrating. ;__; - So having a collection of good fonts downloaded is really important!! - I think that using unique but simple, well-made fonts is often the best approach. I would recommend to only use two (maximum three!) fonts per graphic! Otherwise, it’ll end up looking crammed and can ruin the look of your whole graphic. - Try playing around with the Photoshop font settings. Adding a shadow, changing the letter/paragraph spacing, using capitals or paragraph styles, … can also change the look of a font for the better! Change font sizes (I often think the smaller the text, the better it looks), create different text layers and move around each word to see if you can create a cool effect by organizing the text in a pattern, use the warped text tool, … - there are a lot of ways to make fonts looks exciting and more suited for your graphic. A few days ago, I made a graphic set where I changed something about the font in every image: one has two different font sizes, one two different fonts, one warped text, one text organized in a pattern. It makes editing more fun and your graphics will look like you’ve put an effort in when in truth you just clicked on a few Photoshop tools (¬‿¬)- If there is ever any specific font that I used which you would like to use as well, let me know!! I save all my edits as PSD so I can always come back to them and see what I’ve used. I hope this was helpful, if not or if you have any other questions, let me know!! (✧◡✧)❤

[repentingrph]

Me? I'm confused about aesthetics tbh. Although I've been on Tumblr for so long, aesthetics is something that just perplexes me. Some people want super tiny icons/gifs, and are even opposed to medium-sized gifs but still say they welcome underused fcs? (I've seen this happen in closed rpgs too. Not every underused fc's have tiny gif icons and not everyone has the time to make them.) Idk. Aesthetics is just something that isn't important to me and I just don't get the point of it sometimes.

TOPIC: WHAT ARE YOU CONFUSED BY IN THE RPC

Again, sorry for the late response! I am 1000% in agreement. I love graphics, don’t get me wrong, but it’s a little sad that I see more photoshop/theme tutorials than anything to do with writing. I definitely see more posts that are meant to be ironic about thinking about writing but then not actually writing, and I kind of feel like the “aesthetics” part of it has something to do with our procrastination because we are striving to hit on all levels like promo posts, finding the perfect gif, getting the right theme, etc. It’s exhausting and time-consuming.

What bothers me is when players force their partners to match their aesthetics. To me, that is a sign of a toxic player and you’re better off avoiding them. People need to remember that their jurisdiction stops at their own blog.

[tomiokasensei]

hello marilyn!! it's been a while, it's your secret santa! 🎅🎅🎅 i apologize i'm sending this message more late of this week, i had to finish a project this week so it was a little hectic for me! how are you? did your week went well for you? i saw you changed for a new header!! 👀👀👀 god it looks even more cuter! i love how giyuu looks in that outfit, his santa hat hanging that way it is so endearing. how can be look always so adorable each time? xD super pretty marylin! i really enjoy traveling too, i was lucky enough to go to spain (well it's our neighbors it's more close hahahah), england and to italy! i so recommend to go to italy, it's really beautiful and it feels so magical! the art, the place, the people everything is just so awesome, i felt so at home there so i bet you will enjoy it as well marilyn when you get the chance! :D ohh to japan how i wish to go there too! i'm so happy they open the borders and you're able to go, wish you a great time, to enjoy yourself and have a safe flight marilyn! 🥰🥰🥰🥰 nice! i still have to watch blue lock, there is so many anime this season that you can't have the hang of it all but for what i saw it's been pretty amazing! i'm so happy you got interested in blood+ i really hope you enjoy watching it ^^ thank you marilyn! it's always a pleasure to make your days more better and bring you a smile with these messages and interactions! sorry for being so late messaging hopefully i will be more active these next week, not being overflowed by projects for now ^^ if you don't mind what are you studying? do you have a plan in mind for what you want to work on the future? what is your dream job? :D may you have an amazing week marilyn be sure to take care of yourself! see you next time.😘😘😘😘

hi, hello, secret santa~! ! ! 😍 don't worry about about late messaging we all have things to do in life and i hope you are going good on your end despite your hectic projects! 😅

thanks for the comment on the new header 💜 i always love how ufotable, as deadpan as he mostly is, still makes giyuu quite expressive! 💙 i noticed that sometimes he would have his hand under his chin deep in thought and yet still could look super adorable as the new christmas art shows that 🥰 

that's right! portugal and spain are neighbours and that is really neat to be able to see how the culture and people are there! i hope to get my chance to vibe there, the architecture there is like a whole work of art! and i can picture the festivities there!! 💜 you are so fortunate to be able to see italy!! wow i do want the opportunity and from what you said about it that it is like i dreamed about 😊 i hope that japan will be an unforgettable experience (it would definitely be an escape cuz it is literally anime central lol!!!) but i want to see the real japan for it's beauty...

i agree so many animes this season and kinda hard to consume it all, i also recalled that another part to spy x family was out at some point but i have yet to watch it ( i only saw the first 10 episodes or so i think lol) and blue lock instantly got my interest cuz i am a football fan and an anime about it seemed so fun! 😃and i love getting recommendations to anime because there are times i find it hard to start a new show and end up rewatching something like 5 times or so... so when my secret santa from last year (shout out to @anyaaforger 🥰) for telling me about blue period because its premise resonates with me so well i would have never heard of it until then lol💜 i will definitely start blood+ soon and i am excited to watch it!

btw i am majoring in graphic design 👀 and through it i am able to utilize most programs outside of photoshop, i have learned more about typography, logos, design concepts, and branding/ how to be more communicating though art... however, my dream job is in concept art/ animation... or just being a full time artist! i dream of being able to create works of art that i want to create rather than what is needed through a company, being able to draw what is fun rather than the "boring" stuff all the time lmao i respect artists like artgerm in being able to create licensed art and anything he wants for a business and i hope to be able to do the same sometime 🥰

thankyou for your lovely messages, secret santa! 🎅 i do mean when i say that they bring a smile to my face, i hope you are going to do great in this coming week! stay safe, hydrated, and have a ton of fun! unil next time!! ✌️😊

[i-draws-dinosaurs]

Hi! Do you have any tips on getting into digital art? I'm getting an art tablet soon, but I don't know where to begin. I want to draw animals if that helps

Congrats in advance on getting a tablet! I’m still pretty new to the whole digital art thing myself (I only got my first tablet like one-and-a-half years ago), but I’d be happy to give some tips on getting started!

1. Don’t try to create a masterpiece the first time you use the tablet. This might sound a bit obvious but the first thing you should do with a tablet is a lot of sketching and messing around to be able to get the feel of using a tablet, which can be a pretty unfamiliar sensation. If you expect yourself to be able to create a beautiful digital painting the first time you use a tablet, you’ll probably be disappointed. Just playing around with little sketches is a much better way to get accustomed to digital drawing.

This is the first thing I ever drew with a graphics tablet. Just a sketch of an Allosaurus head with which I then proceeded to attempt an obscene amount of detail and gave up after I barely started. It’s okay to start small!

2. Play around with the brush settings in your art program. Most art programs have a wide variety of brush settings that you can fiddle around with to adjust size and transparency based on pen pressure, as well as different styles of brush that give different effects. I’d recommend messing around with these a bit while you’re doing your practise sketching to find a brush type that is most comfortable for your style of drawing.

You can get a ridiculous amount of variation in brushes by fiddling around in the settings. I use Photoshop, but other drawing programs probably have similar tools. There are plenty of tutorials online on how to create your own personal brushes on different art programs, which can be a fantastic way to personalise your art and make it a bit more special.

3. Practice shading and highlights. One of my absolute favourite things about digital art is that it gives you the ability to easily create strong, bright highlights over your drawings, which is something that you just can’t do easily with a lot of traditional media such as coloured pencils. If you put in the time, effort, and practice to get this right, you can create really solid, three-dimensional-looking art. I can’t offer a lot of great advice on this since it’s still something that I’m working on myself, but there are plenty of tutorials on the internet on shading and highlighting in digital art that are really worth checking out and studying.

This Teratophoneus is probably one of my proudest achievements in shading and highlighting so far. The ability to draw light colours on top of pretty much anything is incredibly useful for creating good, solid highlights

4. Don’t feel pressured to be amazing at digital art immediately. There is definitely a learning curve to becoming good with a graphics tablet, and you almost certainly won’t be able to create beautifully-lit, photorealistic art right away. I’m still very early on in my digital art exploration, so I know that it can often be disheartening to see accomplished digital artists creating amazing pieces of art while you’re still trying to figure out how to use the lasso tool. The important thing to remember is that these artists probably have years more experience than you. That being said, if you put effort and care into practising digital art, you will improve at it, just like any other art form. Your first attempts will probably not be all that impressive, but your first attempts do not reflect what you will develop into as a digital artist.

Two dinosaur heads, drawn by me, roughly 1.5 years apart. I only just found this really old drawing today, and I am honestly shocked by how far I’ve come. Art improvement might be hard to notice as it happens, but it’s so rewarding to look back and see where you came from.

And finally, the two most important ones (in my opinion):

5. Experiment with whatever you feel like. Digital art is an amazingly versatile medium. You can essentially make your artworks look like anything you want to. That can sound quite daunting, but it’s a great opportunity to spread yourself out and challenge yourself artistically. Want to draw something simple and cartoony? You can do that. Want to draw something so detailed it looks like a photo? You can do that too! Want to just go completely nuts with colours and see where it takes you? Guess what, you can also do that!

Don’t be afraid to try doing something new with digital art. I have at least three very different digital art styles that I can use interchangeably whenever I want it, and I feel like that’s the real power of digital art. The ability to create whatever you want to do, whenever you want to do it, however you want to do it. The ability to diversify and branch out and explore completely new styles and methods without having to worry about resources or media or buying lots of expensive pencils or paints that you might never use again. Whenever the mood strikes you, just sit down and start creating anything you want.

ABOVE: The many digital art styles of Tas. From abstract graphic design to realistic, anatomical illustrations, digital art is an incredibly broad medium.

6. Keep practising traditional art. This is something that I think is essential as an artist. Digital art should not take over any traditional art methods that you already use. Instead, it should be treated as something to expand your range, not replace it. I’ve raved about digital art quite a bit in this post, but to me there’s still nothing that feels better than a graphite pencil on a sheet of paper.

I drew a series of Triassic reptiles in graphite last year, and they remain some of my favourite restorations of prehistoric animals that I’ve ever done. Don’t underestimate the humble HB pencil.

The great thing about doing digital and traditional art is that one method informs the other. You might figure out some cool new technique with watercolours, graphite, coloured pencils, or whatever you prefer to use, and then use that same technique in your digital art. Likewise, digital art can also influence how you approach your traditional works. I have personally learned a lot more about shading since I started creating digital artworks, and I’ve been able to apply that knowledge to my traditional pieces as well.

This Bi-stahieversor is my most recent traditional artwork, and almost all of the shading and texturing techniques are based on things that I’ve learned from doing digital art. I highly doubt I would have been able to learn these as well if I hadn’t done a lot of shading practice in digital art.

Well, this has turned out to be significantly longer than I thought it would be. If anyone else has any other advice, please feel free to add it! I’m sure there are plenty of more experienced artists out there who have much more to teach than I could at this point in time.

Good luck with your new tablet, Anon, and best wishes in your artistic endeavours!