#I may render this out properly but for now……. I sketch

[galaxystt]

new scar skin goes hard btw

[tarithenurse]

A suitable arrangement - 2

Fandom: MCU AU. Pairing/starring: Loki Laufeyson x fem!reader. Word count: 1362. Content: The audacity! A/N: I WROTE 18th CENTURY LAST TIME – THAT WAS A TYPO: it should have been 19th. Also I don’t think this will be a super long series...but it’s something. Let me know if it’s okay, please. Send ASK if you want a tag and please reblog. Also using my old tag list so if you’ve been tagged but don’t want to be on the list, just let me know.

2.

You can’t breathe properly. Admittedly, that might have more to do with how tight the maid laced your corset but you probably still would have been short of breath as you prepare to head downstairs to the sitting room where Lord Laufeyson is waiting.

Father has been clear in his orders: don’t bore the man to death and for goodness sake speak up when spoken to. He doesn’t understand how it is his own doing that you are so quiet.

Braving the steps, you make it down in the foyer with a rustle of fabrics and try to stride confidently through the doors.

There’s your father, standing by the book case and sending you a heavy look to remind you of your role.

And there’s Laufeyson, getting up from the settee with a bouquet of flowers in his hand, the other stretching towards you as he bows politely and as the good girl you are, you hand him yours as you courtesy, allowing him to kiss your knuckle lightly.

Then he presents you the bouquet: red tulips. It’s a bold statement and you can feel the heat rush to your cheeks as you accept them with a soft “thank you”. Thankfully Maude is there right away to whisk the flowers away, she will most likely put them in a vase in your chambers.

“You will have me excused,” your father says and leaves the two of you alone quite contrary to etiquette – but then again, your father has never really concerned himself much with the needs of the ladies including you.

So you straighten up, taking on the role as hostess and offer Laufeyson the opportunity to reclaim his seat as you sit on the settee opposite of him.

“Tea?” you manage to offer.

There’s a smirk on his lips. “Gladly.”

Chiming the little bell, it only takes Maude a moment to return and accept the order for refreshments. Then you’re alone with Laufeyson once more and you can feel your nerves fray ever so slowly.

“You may be wondering what caused me to near you at the debutante,” Laufeyson begins to explain, “I saw you, deeply enthralled in the artwork and I am quite an admirer of the arts myself. My intention was so converse upon the subject as it is rare I find any with the same love for it as I hold.”

You nod. “I understand,” you manage to press out on a breath.

There’s a gleam in his eye. “Do you dabble in the visual arts?” he asks, forcing you to speak further.

“I...I draw, yes.” It’s hard to get the words to be more than a whisper and you try to fight down the wiggling in your discomfort. “Mostly charcoal sketches, though.”

“And what is your preferred subject?” he keeps pressing.

“P-people,” you eek out.

He smiles again, the same smile that many must find warm and endearing but you can’t help but feel more appropriate for a cat that’s caught a mouse. And you are the mouse.

“I suppose your father makes one of your recurring models, then?”

You shake your head. Although you’ve managed to sketch your father a few times, he never takes the time to sit down, allowing you to render him properly. No, what you do is you draw from memory or make quick sketches of people passing by that you see from your window. Maude is often depicted on your paper, mostly when you’ve made your way to the kitchen while she’s cooking but you have never dared to ask her to sit model for you. Thankfully, Elena is differently keen to assist, often striking silly poses in which she looks dreamily at flowers or her own mirror image.

“No?” Laufeyson seems genuinely surprised. “Then perhaps I may do the honour of sitting model one day?”

If you hadn’t felt flushed before then you do so now at the idea of anyone else seeing you work and, even worse, the result thereof.

“Oh, I couldn’t ask that,” you gasp.

“Nonsense!” he declares. “It would be my honour.”

He looks at you expectantly but thankfully you are saved from answering him just then as Maude arrives with the tray of tea and biscuits. Pouring for your both, she manages to catch your eye and discreetly nod towards the space next to the guest. Narrowing your eyes, you try to silently remind her of her place and she does leave right away, closing the doors softly.

“Diligent help,” Laufeyson comments.

“Yes, quite,” you whisper.

He turns to you. “Pray tell...what does it take to hear your voice ring true and clear like I heard that day? Must we sing?”

You nearly spill your tea at his boldness. “Lord Laufeyson!” you gasp softly.

But he is undeterred, coming to sit next to you on the seat and grasping your slightly trembling hand. “What I heard that day was not the shy sparrow I see before me now but a bold lark and I intend to win that mesmerizing creature over and have her sing my name.”

Snatching your hand back, you don’t dare meet his gaze. You get up and walk over to open the door, a clear indication that the visit is over. He does follow. Even accepts to go to the front door but that’s where he pauses as Maude comes rushing with his coat and hat.

“Until next time, miss [Y/L/N],” he smiles crookedly.

You have no way to ban him from visiting again unless you can convince father...and speaking up again him is beyond your abilities. So you just courtesy and see the bold visitor out the door.

---

In the days that follows gifts are delivered to you: flowers of ruby and pink hues, boxes of confection, even a delicate silken shawl that must be worth more than half your wardrobe.

Thankfully, though, Loki Laufeyson himself remains at a distance.

That is...until the next ball.

Lord Stark has invited and all of course attend. It had not been long before Elena had been swept up in the dances, leaving you to stand by yourself. You’ve half made up your mind to go exploring the halls for more art when a figure approaches: Laufeyson.

Smiling coyly, he extends an arm. “A dance, miss?”

You know it would be rude to refuse and so you accept, linking your arm in his and hoping that a dance will deter him.

Hand in hand, you float across the floor, finding that he is exceptionally good at guiding your movements despite your lack of familiarity with the steps. Sure, you’ve learned them, taking lessons like any young bachelorette, but you have never truly danced before as none have ever asked you. Now, not only are you dancing but you’re dancing with Lord Laufeyson and you feel the envious glares of many of your peers. Little do they know you’d love to trade places with them especially as his large hand supports your back, nudging you slightly closer to him.

In all fairness: it’s not that Loki Laufeyson is a sore on the eye or has a bad reputation. Quite the contrary. His features are beyond handsome, raven hair and sharp cheekbones and jawline match the air of nobility. And his stature! Tall, lithe, strong, slender. No, he truly is a wonder to behold. And you have only heard whispers of admiration about him.

So why your dislike?

You do not dislike him, actually. You fear him and his perfection. You know you can never measure with him. And now...now for some reason he has made it his mission to hear you speak or sing and it scares you beyond measure to be heard. Everything is so much easier when you can go about unnoticed.

As the music comes to a halt and the dance finishes, you are about to excuse yourself with yet another courtesy when he pulls the boutonniere from his coat and tucks it behind your ear. You hear the whispers and soft gasps at his actions, you feel the heat rise to your face unbidden...and you see the warmth in his eyes as he takes your hand, kisses it, and bows.

[datrb]

2023 art review!

Even if this year wasn't the biggest on art, due to my physical condition (especially in last couple of months), it would still be nice to look back on what i did as an artist throughout it!

This is gonna be a fun ride...

So, let's dive straight into it, shall we?

Continuation under the cut

January

2023 started on a high note, with me just having finished the King piece, and moving on to the next big thing, being an AvA3/5 double piece.

Sadly, during the process i messed up big time which led to me being unable to finish the piece the way i wanted to, rendering this project an eternal WIP. However, i still cherish the idea and do wish to either redraw, or complete it.

February

Doing 2 big projects one after another did end up affecting my overall drive, so i spent majority of that month just making sketches.

First one is a little redraw/redesign of my old character - Derek, whom i used for a roleplay with my friends like 3 or 4 years ago, and second one is Deach, a character from my fantasy setting.

Also, back then i joined a new fandom, people in which have reminded me of my admiration for SCP, after which me and my friends proceeded to make OCs for it. Was a fun time! (Also this access card was sold by me as a YCH, sadly i couldn't really find buyers, so yikes)

March

By march is slowly started recovering from january's disappointement and was a bit more productive already. One of my friends really helped with it too.

A musician friend of mine reached out to me, asking to develop a design for a villain character in the plot he was working on. After listening to the theme song i couldn't resist. This ended up being one of my favorite designs so far, and i adore its look in neon.

In the meantime, i kept working on my fantasy setting, refining more minor details of designs and stories, yet having to reserve only to making sketches as i was too busy with college and other projects. Characters you see on screen are Ian and Lanfor respectfully. One is a strong yet troubled mage and other is a great Emperor, and even better person.

April

I'd say april was one of the most productive months of this year, mostly because i managed to snatch some time for myself and my setting, which allowed me to complete two full pieces and achieve some extreme progress with my story.

This piece is an illustration to a scene i wrote for two of the characters, Lanfor and Emile, called "Night Visitor". This was a scene of a reunion of two old friends. A bittersweet, yet a lovely work. Love both the written one as well as the illustration.

This one was more of a... Proof of concept. Needed to test out the expresiveness of the design for one or a relatively new characters - Covlar. Was originally a simple sketch on paper, but i couldn't resist the urge of making it into a complete illustration. I then proceeded to make a few notes for this scene. Both want to write it properly and avoid it at all cost... Best to avoid it, for my own sanity.

May

May was a bit of trainwreck, because i got a brand new laptop, which took me quite some time to get used to and even more time to reassure myself that it is in fact alright for me to draw on this suspicioiusly thin piece of tech.

Ironically enough, the only vomplete piece i drew that month was drawn on my old laptop. This screenshot redraw was to made to honour the premiere of AvA6 ep.1. Sadly, i did it a bit late because fo technical issues, but i still had a ton of fun doing it.

June

June was... Chaotic, to say the least. Mostly because i finally got comfortable with the new laptop and could now draw a lot more freely due to it being a lot more compact than the original one, which worked almost like a PC. Besides, i got a ton more free time because semester finals ended up being a breeze.

Ended up making a ton sketches and doodles, that i didn't actually plan to finish, but still enjoyed a ton. Here are some of them

Then, ofc, the memes and the gand redesign, because AvA6 just had to break all of my portrayals. But, i mean, after AvM s3 my original designs did become a bit dated.

The biggest pride and saddest of failures was this picnic piece, however. I still plan on finishing it, but it is hard doing so, when i have changed quite a bit of my artstyle by now.

July

July was quite lazy. Semester ended and i spent that entire month out of the city. It was a great time, very peaceul indeed.

And again, that musician friend from before came into clutch, asking me to develop another design for his other project. And again a villain. He said he really liked how i draw bastard type of characters.

August

Well this is where fun began. End of summer break means i have just this much time to actually draw something i would never have time to draw normally.

For me to draw something to commemorate a new episode is almost like a tradition at this point. And, given how long it's been since i made anything that would require effort, no wonder i have chosen arguably the most complex piece to pull off energy-wise. Yet i did and now i simply adore this piece, even if it did render me disabled. (I crunched through all of this piece, pulling off 40+ hours of work in just 4 days, so naturaly it ended up worsening my condition by a lot)

Then i also proceeded to do all of these tiny side projects, like Victim ask, which i couldn't last long at due to my condition, and working on a design for my favourite streamer. (Which i cannot show as the work is not complete an it's best if i avoid spoilers)

September and October

These two months i spent being unable to draw at all via a doctor's advice. Arguably, these two were the hardest months for me to handle.

I assume you can imagine how hard it is to suddenly stop being able to do what you love, regardless of how much you wish to do it.

Novemer

*Nervous laughter* I... actually still wasn't allowed to use my hand, but that didn't stop me and i ended up making an entire series of sketches to celebrate AvA6 ep2.

"Small in big quantity will sure be less exhausting than a single big thing" - (C) Me, proably

I will admit, i still adore all of these sketches and each of them deserves to become a fully fledged piece in it's own right, but i really better keep them as they are. For my own safety.

December

As you way have expected, this month will stay without a single thing from me. It's not because i don't want to, but because i can't. And, given the circumstance, it better stay that way.

Afterword

I finally got my diagnosis and soon enough i will start active treatment for my condition. It would be a shame to make this worse than it already is with impulses like those that happened in november, so i am making this post as a way to draw a line for myself.

It is still kinda crazy to realize that there are quite a few people interested in what i make, so i will make sure to take my recovery as responcible as possible, and then come back to you with even more art in the upcoming year! Let's be positive about it.

[k0nstanta]

hii!! i was wondering if I could ask what is your usual colouring process? how much time one fully coloured piece and doodle take! I adore your ocs so much they inspire me to draw more myself:3 they feel so alive!

hi anon! thank you vey much, i'm very happy to hear that you feel inspired!

i wrote up a little something for your questions under the cut:

so, first of all, the way i color things ranges from drawing to drawing, especially if i feel like playing around in the process. sometimes i decide to try something out (palette, filter, technique, brush etc) and if i really like how it looks i may recolor the entire drawing lol. point is, there's a lot of sidetracks to my process (especially now, since i'm trying to get used to a different art program than the one i used previously) but the very basics of it are as follows:

1. i sketch and line whatever it is that i want to draw (this might take a while depending on whether i have a solid idea right away or not; in the latter case i might do some thumbnails first to figure out how i want the drawing to look. you can't really see here, but when i line things i usually draw on the same layer as the sketch, and after i'm done i adjust the brightness/contrast settings of the layer to get rid of the sketch underneath. it might seem like i'm just making my life harder this way, especially since this method only works if you sketch with a lighter color (or make it lighter in settings before starting lineart) and your lineart is drawn with a solid opaque brush (which is how i always draw), but it helps me to not get caught up on trying to make the lineart precisely follow the sketch. it also makes changing things on the go much easier, since i only have to erase on one layer.

2. after i'm done lining, i underpaint with a solid color (usually the skin color, but sometimes something random), then block the alpha channel and color over it with flats;

3. i don't color everything at once, instead going piece by piece, which helps to keep the drawing balanced color and contrast wise. i pick a desired area with magic wand and then go about rendering it properly (which usually involves adding some value variance with an airbrush and then laying down shadows/highlights/etc). you can't see this here either, because for some reason i forgot to do it this once, but i also usually lower the opacity of the lineart layer halfway when i color. it helps me concentrate on colors and how they look together better;

4. when i'm satisfied with color, i recolor the lineart to be whatever color i think fits the piece better and change lineart layer settings to either multiply, color burn, or linear burn. after that i just play around with filters, add decorative details, and clean everything up. it's also worth noting that sometimes i starts trying out filters/effects directly while coloring because i want to explore some alternative colors or palettes; i also have a tendency to pick very pale & unsaturated colors so messing around with HSB (hue/saturation/brightness) & depth/contrast settings while coloring helps a lot.

5. cropping it & there you go!

this one took me 1,2 hours. depending on how complex the drawing is it might take me much longer (especially if im working on a commission) so i'd say my average time drawing is somewhere between 2-6 hours. if a drawing takes longer than that i break it apart into several days of work. don't draw for too long! it's bad for your health.

as for sketches, as i mentioned previously, it all depends on whether i know what i want to draw or not, and if i do, i usually just go straight at it:

this one took me 20 minutes. on average, a doodle can take anywhere from 10 to 40 minutes, more if i want to make it look fancy, but at that point it enters the vast limbo between sketch and finished piece.

that's it! sorry the gif quality is really bad, it's the best i could do. here's a video of the same stuff, hopefully in somewhat better resolution

[niloycentral]

Welcome to Niloy November 2023!

We’re glad you want to join the fun in our inaugural year! This is something I hope to generate every November for fans of Aloy x Nil, new and old.

What is it?

Above, you’ll find a table of one prompt per day of November, most of which contain special significance to the relationship between Aloy and Nil. For those participating, simply take the prompt and create something around it for that day.

What can I make?

Whatever you feel most comfortable creating!

If you’re a writer: a drabble, ficlet, even a poem! No word count minimum or maximum, but in the spirit of the event, I recommend no greater than 2500 words.

Artists can do sketches, doodles, fully rendered pieces, comic pages, whatever they are inspired (and have the time) to create.

Gif-makers, virtual photographers, and other types of visual media are also more than welcome to participate and we encourage it!

For prompts that limit gifs and virtual photography, alternates have been provided – though you are welcome to use the alternates for art and/or fic for the given dates, if they inspire you more.

In addition, you are not limited to one form of creation. If one prompt inspires art, another inspires writing, another has the perfect shot from in-game photography, feel free to mix it up!

The only ask is that whatever you create be new for the prompt. However the prompt inspires you, run with it! Some may feel “on the nose,” but those can be fun to explore metaphorically too!

What are the restrictions?

For fic submissions, please use the appropriate submission tags below the text box. All ratings are welcome provided they are properly labelled.

As per Tumblr guidelines, we cannot show any NSFW art or photomodes. If your submission contains NSFW material, please submit a suitable crop preview or censored version that can safely be displayed on Tumblr. The post will also, if possible, have a Mature community content label. This also applies for other types of Mature content.

Can I team up with someone for art or writing for a prompt?

Yes! Fics and art are welcome to inspire each other.

Where do I post?

Wherever you feel comfortable sharing. Fics should be posted on AO3 and you are welcome to share the link on your own social media or in a server. Mostly, I encourage you to submit it directly to the niloycentral tumblr.

If you have a Tumblr: You can submit it directly to niloycentral, or tag your post with either #niloynovember or #niloynovember23 – both will be tracked! You can also @niloycentral.

If you don’t have a Tumblr: You can submit the art or photomode itself directly, or link to your creation on other social media (Twitter, Instagram, AO3, wherever it is hosted) through our niloycentral submissions page using the following format:

Creator: your @(social media) or your alias

Prompt: what day/prompt you have submitted

Plus any applicable tags as per checkboxes below the submission area.

#niloynovember and #niloynovember23 will also be tracked on Twitter, but to make sure we see and catch everything, I encourage submissions to niloycentral Tumblr!

Do I have to do every prompt?

We don’t want anyone to get burnt out or frustrated. Some prompts will inspire more than others and we all have days where we just can’t. You definitely don’t have to do every prompt to be included! Your creation will be featured whether you do all 30, or 19, or 12, or if you even only do 1. You’re more than welcome to continue working on the prompts after November as well.

Do I have to do them in order?

No… but if you do submit to the blog for a prompt from later in the month, we will schedule your submission to post on the proper day (based on EST). Any submissions from previous-day prompts will be posted as usual.

Prompts are being released now, but we ask that you do not post until November 1.

Happy creating!

Prompt list below:

Light

Rain

Fire

OT3 (Alternate: Sharp)

Triumph

Honour

Sun

AU - Historical [pre-2000s] (Alternate: Fly)

Wink

Remorse

Throwback

Cleanse

Partner

AU - Genre [sci-fi, horror, etc.] (Alternate: Mask)

Free space/Your choice

Shadow

Hands

Release

Moon

Coping

Reputation

Joke

Hope

Loss

Steel

Innocence

AU - Modern (Alternate: Mask)

Soft

Ride

Meme

[vampireantihero]

How are we midway through March?

Good morning everyone, and happy Monday! I hope you all are doing well today. I woke up super tired on Sunday, not realizing that it had been Daylight Savings Time. Why do we still do this to ourselves? Asking several politicians for a friend. 

Before we get too far into today’s news and updates, here’s this week’s schedule:

The Mood and Composition Class

I’m still working hard on the mood and composition class that I’m putting together. Last week, I finished the color keys that I was working on, and now I’m onto doing the final sketch pass for the large illustrations, which will all be available at high resolution for Ko-Fi members for free. (They’ll also be available for sale in my shop). Here are the color keys:

As you can see, I didn’t add hair or features to some of these, and the thumbnails are mostly flat blocks of color. I did this mainly to makes sure I was getting the mood I wanted from the piece, and these were just quick studies to make sure that this is moving in the right direction. I’ll talk more about this in the mood and composition video when I get to how I handle my drafts. A lot of what goes into this isn’t figuring out the colors so much as figuring out the values, and choosing colors based on that. Here’s the same sheet, laid out in values:

As you can see, the values make a lot of sense in this regard. The snow one is one I’ll have to tweak these night scenes for, but I’m largely happy with the value range I have in these. Color keys like this save so much time when you’re trying to make a decision on a color palette, because you can color and flat the entire thing in a fraction of the time that it takes to make an entire piece. Now, I can go into the bigger pieces with more confidence and have an idea of what I want these pieces to do.  

The script is mostly typed up, so the largest hold up with this class is finishing the art and recording the video. I’ll do my best to get this out by Friday, but if it’s not ready, I’m not going to rush the artwork, either. If it’s not ready, I’ll be putting up a speedpaint of one of the pieces.  I know it’s been quite a while since I’ve announced this class, and I’m sorry for how long it’s taken me to put together! It’s a lot of information and a lot of demo to record. 

Ko-Fi/Sub Rewards — Wallpapers

As a gift for missing the last month’s wallpapers, I’ll be rendering all 16 of these and putting the high resolution wallpaper files up for you all to download for free. They’ll also be going into the store as singular downloads, or as a pack of all of them to download. I may also augment some of these a bit in order to turn into merch, and put them up on Redbubble/in my shop. Again, I’m hoping to have them done by this Friday, but if not, they’ll be done by the end of next week for sure. Keep an eye out if you’re interested in these!

St. Patrick’s Day

St. Patrick’s day is my husband’s birthday! As always, I like to keep my weekends open in case I want to play games with stream or if I have a special event coming up, but I think this weekend I might largely be away from the PC and unavailable in order to properly celebrate with him. It’s been a really hard start to the year for both of us, so I’m hoping to give him a good weekend and make him feel like it’s a good time. If anyone wants to reach out on the Discord, let him know you’re thinking of him! He’ll appreciate it. Speaking of, if you’d like to join the discord, you can do so here — just let us know how you found us. (He’s LegendarySapling in there, one of the mods with his mascot as his icon.)

I think that’s everything for this week! As always, I hope you all take care of yourselves. Drink your water, and do what you can. Love y’all. (Also, a friendly reminder: If you'd like this newsletter directly to your mailbox, you can sign up here.)

[echoalias]

Ficlet for Randivor April Prompt 24: Horses.

I didn’t think this was really worth posting as it doesn’t go anywhere, but it’s words, so... May as well!  XD

“They always give me so many freckles.”  Randvi says, frowning at the poster pinned to the wooden slats at the back of the station house building.  She has her hands on her hips, resting close to the pair of colt six-shooters slung in leather holsters about her waist.  Her jeans are old and well-worn and comfortable, and she has her hat low across her eyes, so that she has to tilt her chin up to peer critically at the drawing of herself.

“You do get more in the summer.”  Eivor says matter-of-fact, looking over Randvi’s shoulder.  There’s a cut in her shirt sleeve – from getting caught on a nail as she ducked behind a building during the crossfire – and she smells of gun smoke and sweat.  But beneath her Stetson, her eyes are sharp and her grin is feral.  Behind her, the horses stand obediently where they were left, and in their saddle bags lays the heavy bounty that has Eivor is such good spirits.

There’s a reason why both their faces are on wanted posters, after all.

“True.”  Randvi agrees, at length, but then pulls a face, anyway - riled.  “But not that much!  And look at my teeth.  My teeth certainly don’t look like that!”

“That’s because no one could ever properly capture your smile.” Eivor croons, and ducks close and grins at Randvi, until the other woman’s expression breaks, and she rolls her eyes, and returns the smile.  “Your hair is right, at least.”  Eivor offers, and turns back to look at her own poster, nailed into the wall right beside Randvi’s.  A pairing in life as well as in the eyes of the law.  Both are hashed in black and white, with WANTED emboldened above, and a hefty price below.

“Mine never know if I have one eye, or two.”  Eivor continues, squinting with both perfectly clear blue eyes.

Now, it is Randvi’s turn to tease.  “And that’s because you’ve always got a gunsight in front of your left.  And people are normally ducking.”  She adds, laughter in her voice, to which Eivor smirks.  “Also, I wonder if maybe Alvis’ rumours may have spread…”

“Ah, One-Eyed Eivor Wolf-Kissed, she of many names and many murders.”  Eivor chuckles.  “It was a camp fire joke that continued on from town to town.  I don’t even know why he still spins the tale.” Randvi shrugs alongside her, recalling such jovial times spent about a roaring fire in jovial company, hidden in the woods or abandoned farmhouses, and with crates of beer to be shared and enjoyed.  The Raven gang all come from many walks of life – outcasts and murderers and artists and vagabonds – and together they have become a family.  They laugh together, and fight together, and for each other.

“Maybe Holger even drew some of these wanted posters!”  Eivor finishes, with a laugh.

And that too, is another joke.  But it sparks something in Randvi’s quick-thinking mind, and becomes: an opportunity.

“You know, you could be onto something there, my love.”  She says, the idea running wild like a train with its brakes cut.  “A decent sketch.”  She waves her hand at the posters, and Eivor turns to her, expression focusing.  “Increase our bounties to more suitable amounts.”  She smirks and Eivor smirks back in agreement.  “Then we get Sunniva or Norvid, say, to hand us over, all quietly.  They can claim our reward.  And then come nightfall, we...take our leave.”  She finished, voice lilting with good humour.

“Oh, I like the sound of that!”  Eivor smirks, and the excitement dances in her eyes - always up for a challenge, especially if it brushes too close to danger.  “But, as cunning as your plan is, Little Red.”  She continues, tone lowering, and Randvi raises an eyebrow questioningly.  “I see one flaw.”

“And what is that?”

“Holger’s talent.”  Randvi snorts out a laugh, and eyes the posters again.  They are at least vaguely personable.  Holger would render them caricatures, unrecognisable - and thus, unclaimable bounties.

“True, I suppose.”  Randvi says.  “Life can’t all be easy bank robberies.”

“Speaking of easy.”  Eivor says, and she is looking over Randvi’s shoulder.  In the distance, there is a cloud of dust rising across the plain, wafting through cactus groves and dried out scrub, and heading in their direction.  “I think our good friends from Heston Bank have finally figured out where we ran to.”  Randvi glances to follow Eivor’s gaze, and hmms irritably.

“Better keep running then.”  She says, and turns for her horse.  A grand, golden creature, with a mane and tail of silver.  His tack is decorative and extravagant because Randvi appreciates the finer things in life these days - when she can get them - and a nice saddle makes for easier and faster riding when people are hot to chase them.  “Stick together?”  She questions, as she swings herself on board, and the stallion shifts and throws his head, sensing the building unease of the situation.

“Always.”  Eivor says, as she puts her foot in a stirrup and throws herself onto her grey mares back.  She’s gathered the reins and dug in her heels a second later.  “Yah!”

They both take off for the horizon.

[bookofchaos]

Week 1 Evaluation of working on Sacred Liminality the comic

This week I overwhelmed myself.

First it started off with excitement!

That snowballed into anxiety.

I let myself get ahead of myself.

I have a lot to learn when it comes to using a digital canvas as a medium. There's even more to learn when it comes to creating comics.

I attempted my first colored piece via cell shading. It's so cool, y'all. But I'm soooooooooooooooooooooo bad at it.

I forgot I needed to use different layers and ended up messing up the piece.

I am still proud of it. It's more than I've ever done! And I definitely learned that I *need* to remember layers are a thing.

I also have so much to remember when it comes to social media.

I have a software I'm using to help me try to keep all of my organization in order... but even so, I'm still having a hell of a time.

Part of this is due to my failing to acknowledge that I require time to set all of this up.

I got plenty done. Two character sketches, one kinda rendered, and a comic strip with 5 panels. Plus, add on setting up and editing multiple different social media platforms to look kinda similar. (Koji, Tumblr, Twitter, Reddit, Imgur, and ComicFury). I even attempted to set up a website. By then, I was way to overwhelmed to get past setting up a basic domain name.

What I've learned is I need to scale back, and I think I'm going to push back the release date. I can put out bad art. That's fine with me. Actually that's one of my goals. Put out bad art. Just put out, honestly. Haha (I'm a sex novel character *wink wink*).

As I revaluate, I think I want to set it up so I have a month to get pages started and inked. This will give me time to also actually practice and learn how to cell shade properly. I also want to do a bit more re-working on the comic page I have. I may post it with this just as a reference for myself of where I started.

I also want time to work on other pieces so I can give my brain a break from working on the comic page. I want to be able to look at it with some freshness before posting. This distance will - hopefully - allow me to critique my art, make changes, and ultimately make it better in the end.

Other things that came up - I'm an anxious bean. I'm horribly scared of what other will think of my work. Like on one hand, I want important people I look up to see it and be like 'Hey, you're a badass,' but I don't want to put out my art because jeezus christ some asshole is gonna say something mean and I'm going to be a bawling sack of tears. (And my run on sentences are strong with this one).

Then there's the lingering issue of feeling like a failure because I am not keeping to my initial time tables I set for myself. Even now I want to cry because it's like 'Fuck, I use to be able to do this.'

Mind you, for reference since many of you know nothing about my life, I am currently thirty. I haven't produced art at a regular rate since high school back in 2008-2011. Because of life, I let my art go. My art is kinda like a time capsule in that way. It still reflects the knowledge my brain and body has of drawing and coloring of a high school student.

While that doesn't bother me because art is just something I can get better at, it does suck when I remember creating as if it was breathing. I would walk into a class, sit down, and doodle or sketch or continue on a project. And it wasn't like I didn't have worries back then. I just could push them to the side. Art would take over, and I'd create.

Now I have to shovel through more of my brain shit before I can start. the process is a bit more stiff. I have to work at doing art... and I know that will change as I progress... but damn man, I'm shaming myself for not having the skills and progress of my 17 year old self.

I've been through worst. This won't stop me of course. I am just in the midst of finding that internal kindness that will help me.

Journaling has always helped. That is part of why I built it into my process. First views and ya know interacting with a creator... All that marketing jazz. But also, like, I kind hope it humanizes me. Maybe someone else will see it and say they've experienced similar. It's always nice to not feel alone.

Creating can be lonely, especially people just starting out on their own. I know I feel alone sometimes. Thankfully, I am strong enough to lean on myself. Haha

I don't really have any special way of ending this other than simple promo stoofs.

Promo Stoofs Ahead

Hey, I'm writing/drawing/promoting a comic.  This will be my personal little experiment using my newest deck of cards. Being a bit high, I was illuminated with such a fantastical idea which I am now bestowing (or cursing) upon the internet. I have no idea at the time of writing this what the plot will be, who will be the main characters, nor what words shall be spoken. Accompanying each tarot inspired panel shall also be optional written pieces connecting each panel via delicately chosen (or incredibly rushed) words for thine eyes to feast upon. Come along and enjoy the chaos as we both discover the next panel together.

As of now the comic won't be dropping until Dec 21st, 2022 or in pagan terms - Yule! I'm hoping to gift - possibly curse - the world with my art (and myself with a well created comic). Anything I release before then will be of course promotional in nature.

(Wheel of the year reference below for anyone new to pagan holidays. Stevie Storck Artist.)

I do have other social media. Check my link tree out as I also will be posting on YouTube concerning connecting spirituality and art.



I really do appreciate you stopping by!

Have a lovely day.

Keep creatin'!

[droogiesanddiscourse]

HCs: R.P. McMurphy with an Artist S/O

Original Message: @anon “HELLO YOUR MAJESTY MAY I PLEASE REQUEST H/C’S FOR R.P MCMURPHY WITH A ARTIST S/O?❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️”

A/N: HELP!!! WE’RE WRITING FOR R.P. MCMURPHY NOW AAA!!!! I am so so so so SO excited to get into this, I love this man so much I believe in Jack Nicholson supremacy. I love u bby thanks for the request! No warnings! Have fun! 

• This man is the biggest, most lovable goof out there. I don’t think he has a serious bone in his body. He’s always got new tricks up his sleeves to keep you on your toes, and you never know what to expect with your relationship with Mac.

• Of course he knew you were an artist even before you started dating. But he never really got to see much of your work, or your work process in general. And that’s okay, he respects your privacy. 

• Kinda. 

• Okay, not really, he wants to see what’s in that sketchbook one way or another. 

• “Whatcha’ doin’ there, baby?” He’ll sneak up behind you, catching you off guard as you try to frantically hide the sketches you made of Mac. Always being too quick for you, he snatches your sketchbook up, dangling it above your head out of reach. 

• “Aw my baby’s an artist!! Don’t be shy, don’t be shy! Let me see what you’re up to, okay?” He holds it above your reach again as you frantically jump up, trying to take it back. He can’t help but smile at this, you were just so cute when you get flustered. 

• Much to your dismay, he opens up your sketchbook and flips through the pages, shocked when he finds multiple sketches of him. His face drops in surprise, finding page after page of just nothing but him in various poses - sitting on the couch, his face in his hands, smoking a cigarette. For the first time, Mac is actually rendered speechless. He couldn’t believe someone would actually care about him enough to actually draw him. 

• “Look at that! That’s me, isn’t it?” Mac points, You nod your head, happy he likes your art and didn’t find it weird or anything. He gives you a smile back, matching your energy. “Wow, and after all this time you were hiding this from me??”

• Mac will hold the book up to his face, trying to match the pose you drew him in. He’ll point at the sketch, then back at his face, then at the sketch, then back at his face. “Ya, see that? Like lookin’ in a mirror!” This makes you both laugh. 

• He’ll lowly whistle in appreciation as he thumbs through the rest of your sketchbook. “You don’t gotta hide this from me anymore, hear me? I think these are absolutely fantastic, and I mean it.” He looks up at you, “I really wanna see what you create next, okay? Keep me in the loop.” 

• And with that, he gently tosses your sketchbook back down onto your desk and walks away, whistling a tune to himself like nothing just happened. He always enters any room in a whirlwind, and exits casually, leaving you a bit confused. He’s got a big personality. 

• He loves holding on to the little doodles you make, but he’s kinda a whole mess and will be like “Oh this...yeah this is some of your best work! I really love this one, mind if I keep it?” and then he shoved it in his pocket like an DUMMY. But he doesn’t do this with like, any malicious intent or anything he just wants to carry them everywhere he goes but like. He crumples them haha. But that’s how he shows his extremely chaotic affection and he NEVER loses any of them. He isn’t organized in the slightest, but he has his own ways. 

• He can’t draw. At all. I mean I’m not sure if this man knows how to hold a pencil properly. And that's okay! Because sometimes he’ll just like to sit with you and steal your pretty colored pencils / markers / pastels / paints and make some of his own “art.” Eventually you just buy him his own sketchbook so he can sit next to you and doodle with you. 

• Sometimes you gotta remind him to not waste paint though, because this man will just put giant GLOBS of paint on the canvas you give him, and he’ll get it all over the place too. But he’ll claim it’s apart of his ~artistic process~ and you ~can’t rush perfection~

• “Hey, c’mon! It’s ART, don’t you see? Hold on, get a better look at it.” He’ll hold it up in front of your face, nothing but a chaotic mix of colors and textures. “It’s very deep, I guess you just don’t understand, everybody’s a critic...” he’ll mouth off in a sarcastically sassy manner, barely being able to contain the smirk coiling on his lips. 

• PAINT NIGHTS??? Yes absolutely yes. Mac seems like the type of guy to want to watch a painting tutorial on VHS or something and have the two of you follow along, step-by-step. Bonus points if you get a little tipsy beforehand too, that just adds to the silliness and fun of it all. 

• Mac is just really honored to have such a talented and amazing s/o like you :’) 

[project-paranoia]

Live Watch: Thousand Autumns Episode One

Oh wow someone got the good... guzheng? Something in that family of instruments anyway. They got the good music for that. And the animation is beautiful and beautifully synchronised to the clip excerpts.

And the imagery! The opening with the symbol of the Dao, and then main character number 1, Shen Qiao, all in white, in a fantastically and subtly ornamented outfit - I love the textures of the cloth they put in on the animation here, cloth and clothes textures are so easy to get wrong and they’ve done it beautifully here. I think this is supposed to be Shen Qiao’s original sect leader/zhangjiao outfit and he looks properly leaderly in it.

And this, followed by a closeup of Yan Wushi’s hand holding the ring of contention, and then Yan Wushi himself, very handsomely rendered in 3d animation - and again I have to voice my appreciation of the cloth textures. That’s actual subtly 3d brocade textures they’re rendering there, with the correct flow for how cloth hangs on the body, and the correct variances of light on the areas with thicker brocade and it is, frankly, very impressive. And they didn’t lose colour saturation doing it either, making that purple robe look suitably luxurious. The shiny hair ornament and one sidebang in white is a nice touch as well. As are the hints they set right in the opening that Shen Qiao and Yan Wushi are ... opposites, and complements, linking them back to the Yin/Yang balance of the symbol of the Dao.

So much love for this opening song it’s so good. Also going to be a pain to translate accurately with a proper sense of the poetry of it, but so good.

Alright episode 1 proper, 风雨欲来. The coming of the wind and rain, literally, I think. Maybe even the foreboding or oncoming storm, if you’re going for the feel of the term instead of literal translation. Oh. Oh that opening montage with the bird’s eye view and the fog and the high mountains - I was so taken by this scenery I sketched and tried to paint it at least 3 times. It’s a very moving shot. Also very much in the grand tradition of xianxia/wuxia, and also, even without a word, hinting at the traditional stance of the Mt Xuandu sect - to 出世， to remove themselves from the world to cultivate in the seclusion and clarity of the literal peaks above the clouds and dust of the world.

Oh. Oh that opening shot. The challenge to combat by Kunye to Shen Qiao. The.. subtle and ornate embroidery and brocade and patterning on Shen Qiao’s sect leader robes is so awesome. The wave motifs repeated in the 3 layers of robes, even on the hair ornament/冠 in his hair, the resolute look on his face! The closeup shot of the 山河同悲 sword - and what a name for it. A sword named for, if I may be excused poetry in translation - compassion and pity and fellow feeling for the griefs and pains and trials of the world as encompassed by the mountains and rivers - what a blade, and what a name, and what a bearer that would be worthy of it. A very good hint, at the kind of person Shen Qiao is, even before they have him open his mouth.

The contrasting costuming decision for Kunye et al is also very nice, hinting at the cultural differences between, say, the peoples that live on the central plains and the more nomadic groups living on less kindly land, shown in the different materials available/preferred - leather, furs, etc  vs cloth, silk, cotton etc

And the fight choreography! So nice! The 3d animation works really well here,in that there’s no limitation to the capabilities of human bodies and it’s possible to really show in the visual medium the knock out drag down fight between 2 people whose martial - and quasi magical - capabilities are already at potentially mountain splitting levels. Not to mention also, showing that a Shen Qiao who isn’t being handicapped by sabotage... really can wipe the floor with Kunye if he wants to. And then, of course, once the fight gets to Half-step Peak and they’re out of sight of inconvenient witnesses, the signal for the ambush. And then the effects of the sabotage take hold.

Ah, flashback to 20 years ago, to provide the audience with the world info we need to understand the rest of the story. Not to mention also informing us why Hulugu would even bother. Or why Kunye coming in to challege Shen Qiao is so narratively important. And also introducing the ring that so many would fight over later.

Yan Wushi’s character introduction.. is quite something. As is Yu Shengyan’s. Ah, Shizun, congratulations on exiting your 10 year cultivation seclusion, would you like the highlights on the changes in the world in the past 10 years? But also a good show of character, because they have him not even looking at Yu Shengyan, but looking away in the distance, and telling him to only tell the most important bits, he’s not interested in useless words. Also serves as a nice introduction to some people who’ll be important later, and giving us a time marker for when Shen Qiao ascended to the sect leader post - 5 years ago, after the death of his shizun Qi Fengge. Ah Yan Wushi, your characteristically arrogant attitude - aside from Qi Fengge, who in life was worthy of being the first among all the wuxia world, the rest are not worth even mentioning. And here too a little hint that Yan Wushi might care a little bit in some way for those who are his, including his disciples - He tells Yu Shengyan that this location, this Half Step Peak that they’re at, because of its physical characteristics, is good for him to cultivate to the next level of understanding/enlightenment of the martial arts used by Huanyue Sect.

I love it whenever they hint that the more... developed characters whose martial arts are very good have improved senses. A little flow of blood in the water, Yu Shengyan notices something is wrong, looks at his shizun, and receives a nod of affirmation that he perceived correctly and should take action. And then after that, they come upon a body of one of the Mt Xuandu disciples, and Yan Wushi’s verbal remark that today, Mt Xuandu is troubled and not pure and clean. And then Shen Qiao literally falls from the cliff top - and the pan up makes it very clear that for most people, this is a lethal fall.

And then the surviving ambushers attempt to finish the job when Yu Shengyan checks whether Shen Qiao is still alive... and Yan Wushi takes the training opportunity when he sees it, and tells his disciple to use his strongest techniques to take on the remaining assassins. And then, when Yu Shengyan can't quite wipe the floor with them... criticizes his lack of growth, as might be expected of Yan Wushi, and steps in to really wipe the floor with the assassins, as might not be expected of Yan Wushi. Also doubles as a really nice display to the audience of his level of strength. In fact.. listening to the voice, I think one of those assassins appears, unhidden, in later episodes. Heh. Plot continuity, a nice one. As are the assassins having common sense, recognising Yan Wushi's infamous technique, and running before they're cut down.

Ahahahaha yes Yu Shengyan, your shizun really had you pick that fight for training, and he's really about to pick up Shen Qiao and have him rescued on a whim. Also nice to review, on rewatch for the details, that part of this whim is perhaps curiousity as to Shen Qiao's ability to survive and/or recover, as hinted by the thin thread of strength provided by the Zhuyang Ce, that Yan Wushi identifies as the thin strength keeping him alive, despite the aforementioned lethal fall.

Heh. Yu Shengyan – and maybe Huanyue Sect's other job – information gatherers aka spies.

Ah, Yan Wushi, you really are fascinated by people's reactions under stress, aren't you.

Shen Qiao awakens! Oof, the amount of damage – can't see, amnesia – damaged or even broken meridians – the donghua doesn't mention how much time passes, but given that Yu Shengyan mentions that Shen Qiao's broken bones have only just finished healing – could not have been a matter of days. Weeks, maybe even a month, minimum. Unless Yu Shengyan meant that the bones have only just been set – which could mean a few days. And then the mindscrew from Yan Wushi, telling poor amnesiac Shen Qiao that, yes, your name is Shen Qiao, oh, and you are one of my disciples from Huanyue Sect! Someone sure is hasty to put his poke the injured person plans into action! Ah Yan Wushi, if you could please give Shen Qiao a break, he just had a near death experience! But also – the scope of the injuries – yes, it benefits Yan Wushi's plotting but also – Shen Qiao was injured beyond the scope of ordinary medicine? Yu Shengyan has to be stationed to basically care for him until he is able to awaken – and presumably recover – appropriately!

Alright, time marker, 3 months after previous events.. okay. Shen Qiao can walk, some, though the animators were careful to make it a clearly pained walk, in comparison to how he was moving pre-Kunye fight. And then of course the blindness, which may also explain how they've animated him moving with more cautious steps. And the coughing, and the eyes that can't focus – all in all, a detailed and careful show of how badly injured Shen Qiao still is. Can't help sniggering at every 'shidi' I'm hearing him say though. And Yu Shengyan... yes, really, even though you and your shizun can't quite believe it, there really is a person this kind and considerate of other people.

The appearance of the weiqi board motif! Strategy, and planning, and part of the arts of the refined gentlemen..and the hint of how Shen Qiao is perceiving/visualising the input that he hears, since he can't see right now. And the hint that he might be using qi to help sort through what he hears – well enough that he can identify it's a weiqi board, and even the piece being placed. Very Awesome. Especially when they show Yan Wushi possibly testing Shen Qiao's capability to perceive the world around him by hesitating and purposely not putting down his piece.. and Shen Qiao very naturally picking up the piece – black, the correct colour and the one Yan Wushi was about to play – and putting it in the correct position on the board that Yan Wushi was about to place. Is it any wonder that the next thing Yan Wushi checks is the state of his recovery?

And then we have Yan Wushi's characteristic multipronged planning – creating trouble for Hehuan sect, training for Yu Shengyan, testing opportunity for Shen Qiao. Very excellent, any and every outcome has benefit to Yan Wushi.

Ah the encounter at the medicine shop. Hm. Okay, the sharing of the medicine is clearly a hint to Yan Ziwen of some kind that he and his should be especially cautious tonight, perhaps even to run for their lives tonight. Though it's maybe a hint in the actions, and not the words, because the words don't sound suspicious at all. Neither do the actions, if you were watching as a observer and didn't know Yan Ziwen's paranoid character – a blind person would unsurprisingly wish to be extra careful where they put their hands. And at night, on the attack... for all that Shen Qiao can't quite see, and is currently relying on the rest of his senses... he can tell that something's off about Yu Shengyan's actions. And then... Shen Qiao remembers... the sword, and what Qi Fengge taught him. And then the confrontation, and the near strangulation by Yan Wushi... Shen Qiao has such a nice literary register to his speech. Four word phrases even under severe near strangled stress, with the right philosophical meaning to make his point to Yan Wushi. And then the reveal of Yan Wushi's plotting. Very nicely done.

And now, the first of Yan Wushi's many many invitations to Shen Qiao to forsake his daoist path and join Yan Wushi's ... evil sect is not the right word. Demonic path is technically correct but has moral overtones that don't fit. Join Yan Wushi's cultivation path, maybe. Join and get bloody revenge on everyone who's wronged Shen Qiao – and already there are so many of them. And we the audience wonder for half a second – is he going to do it? Is this going to be a revenge story? And Shen Qiao flat out refuses in words, in the first of many times. And then Shen Qiao walks away from Yan Wushi. Here the animation is a delight again – the audience gets to see the little micro expressions that flit across – he's actually walking away?! And then Yan Wushi does his dramatic gifting of the bamboo stick. And too, a few seconds later, the reveal of their movements being spied on by Duan Wenyang, and Yu Shengyan's orders to continue searching for .. something. Ah, the plotting in Thousand Autumns. Always a delight.

[babbushka]

hey z 👀 i recently have the huge urge to start drawing but i'm so bad at it :( i always doodle in all my classes but they are literally so bad until today where i realized that artists are freaking cool and i wanna learn how to draw properly. i searched on youtube but... then i remembered your beautiful work and that stream you did once and i wondered if you had any tips ? perhaps a book or a video ? to get started on how to draw... 😶

Hello my darling anon! I am so happy that you’ve decided to pursue making art, and I’m honored you came to me! As someone with a fine arts degree, I can absolutely give you some resources that might be worth checking out, but please know this one thing: art is entirely subjective. What one person thinks looks good, another may absolutely hate. As long as you’re happy, and enjoying the process, try not to fixate too much on the outcome. And always remember that representational art is not the only kind of art that is valid or worth celebrating! 

That being said, here are some things that I’ve learned are really beneficial to keep in mind, from my many years of drawing, painting, and sculpting:

(under a cut because it’s long lol)

RESEARCH! This is one of those things that I know may seem kind of counter-intuitive, but I fully believe that by surrounding yourself with art, you’ll be more inspired and informed and motivated to make your own. Browse through online galleries, learn about the different art movements and find ones you like, follow contemporary artists and really dive into the work that’s all around you! Notice the things you like most about the art you’re drawn to. Is it the style? The use of color? The textures or lack thereof? Is it the composition? What about the rendering? Are you drawn to more photo realistic work, or work that has a looser interpretation? You don’t know what you like until you start looking at asking yourself these questions! 

Use reference!! I know there is a taboo in the online art criticism community for using references, but honestly? References are incredibly helpful. Every great artist you can think of used a reference, whether that’s a live model in front of them, a collection of sketches done beforehand, or a collection of photographs taken and collaged together. Use reference with wild abandon! If you want to draw a bird, you will not be able to do so without looking at a picture of a bird. If you want to draw a person, you have to know what they look like, so go do some research and get to sketching!! 

Make studies. This kind of goes hand in hand with the reference. Find something that you like (an object, a person, a landscape) and try to replicate it. Notice the things that you manage to recreate successfully*, and the things that you might need to work more at. Then do it again, paying attention to the improvements. Rinse and repeat. 

Time restrict yourself. Often we get so hung up on the idea that everything we makes has to be a masterpiece, and everything has to be fully rendered. I believe that this stunts our ability to develop skills because if we’re hung up on perfection, we’ll never get to explore. So, challenge yourself to quick gestural drawings. 3 minutes. 5 minutes. 10 minutes. Capture the essence of the idea without worrying about the details. See how many things you can get down on the page in that time frame -- it doesn’t have to be good, it just has to Be. 

Now, onto books! These aren’t so much step-by-step guides (because really the only way to improve is to practice** but more on that later) but rather are aimed to help you open your eye to the idea of drawing. 

Drawing People:

Drawing for the Absolute and Utter Beginner by Claire Watson Garcia

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards

Complete guide to drawing from life by George Bridgman

Anatomy for The Artist by Sarah Simblet

Drawing everything else:

Keys to Drawing by Bert Dodson

Landscape Painting: Essential Concepts and Techniques for Plein Air and Studio Practice by Mitchell Albala 

Perspective Made Easy by Ernest R. Norling

Learning about the different art movements and their key players:

Art Through the Ages by Helen Gardner

The Story Of Art by H. Gombrich

Ways Of Seeing by John Berger

Isms: Understanding Art by Stephen Little

As for videos, I can’t say that I have too many suggestions other than searching for things like speedpaints or timelapses. I think it’s really informative to watch how other people approach drawing on their own projects, and I always tend to learn something about process when I can just sit and observe the way they go about their piece. 

Clarifications:

* = When I say “successfully” I don’t necessarily mean photo-realism. I mean, when you are drawing, and when you’re finding your style, you should be conscious of how your work is reflecting that. Are you more abstract? Are you more impressionist? Are you more concerned with color and form rather than detail, or does detail mean the most to you? These are the things you have to keep in mind when determining if the work is “successful” or not. Is the piece evoking the feeling that you want it to have, is it going in the direction that you wanted it to, is it representative of your plans for the piece, etc. Successful =/= hyper-realism, unless of course, you are aiming for hyper-realism. 

** = Practice is, undoubtedly, inarguably, the most important thing to get better at any skill, but especially art. And do not be mistaken, art is a skill, just like anything else. People aren’t just born magical artistic geniuses, it is the result of hundreds of hours of practice, learning muscle memory, learning color theory and relationships, learning composition. Artists work hard to produce the content that we do, and that hard work should be celebrated! You’re going to work hard too, so embrace it :)

TLDR; Your art is unique to you. No matter what anyone says online or in books, you have to create the things that make you feel something. Don’t be afraid to experiment with styles or aesthetics that are outside of your comfort zone, and don’t feel like you have to stick to the rules that the art world has put in place. Practice practice practice, work hard, don’t give up, and have fun :) 

[stry-someone-to-remember-you]

Plan(ed) to Have Something Ready, By The Ball Drop &/or Tomorrow!!! If Everything Works out...

Hey Everyone, 

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVE!!!

Wow, this is the second message without any art added or anything... LOL... Seems odd really to do this without having something up by now... By the way, yes the current avatar pic is related to the comic as you’ll come see soon. It’s and early sketch so some kinks aren’t worked out in the current image. But it was the one I was ready to have when I made this blog so there was at least something...

So as you probably can see by this title, I do plan on having something posted... I just don’t know to what extent. Due to some family drama, and continually piling on work I wasn’t able to get my Christmas Pic out to you guys, which was just a static scene with a few of the characters to get us started here. But... well family got in the way, continually decorating till Christmas day... a lot of things going on, bickering (though we all love each other) it’s just... you know life. I fully expected this as well, which is why I promised something before New Years, but didn’t specify as to what.

I postponed that idea to be released today or tomorrow, after seeing how I was completely unable to get to the work by Christmas Eve. But, by the looks of the progress I made on it and my families continually need of me till we get some things done in this house (that always has something to be done in it... LOL, at least things are coming fairly together).  So lets just say, I may not have anything out by tomorrow. But with hopes I want to have something out. So We’ll see. I could release early the character sketches. But I want to keep this blog clean as possible, so I feel releasing the character profiles, cards and blogs together prior to the Prologue, would fit better and keep this page having a cleaner look to it at the start.

 Maybe even by midnight tomorrow PST I could have something... But that again depends. I need to clean stuff for the internet/cable guy and I’m seriously allergic to dust... So the next few days I may be in an almost sickly comatose state regardless of the precautions I take. If dust gets kicked into the air at all and isn’t properly vacuumed up, than I’m often sick for days... I feel like all I’ve been doing the whole month is cleaning or working story wise on this comic... Mostly cleaning if you ask me, but at least after Saturday things should be more relaxed and I can have a better work schedule planned out. So yeah, that’s my life...

But DIDNT’ WAN TO LEAVE YOU HANGING with this Negative Nancy Talk ;D ;P ;D lol....

I want to tell you what I have so far:

I have the Christmas Image at least with the basic building blocks to complete it. Like I’ve drawn where I want things, but not detailed anything... So that’s why it may be a day or so... Technically its a Happy Holidays and New Years piece, but with the Christmas Tree in it I have the habit of calling it such...

I may have plans to detail it a bit more then I plan on having the comic, but that also depends on things. I may just leave it in the same style and not fully decked out to make it easier to finish...

~Several Characters for the beginning have their final forms created. These are major characters that will be scene in the prologue. I’m just having to figure out out little things with background characters in some instances.

~The prologue is almost completely written out. I had a change of heart a week ago on some things and had to change it around, which is why the written format for the prologue isn’t complete as it initially was. I just felt some things didn’t fit, so I added and took away some things so it flows better and also works both fanfiction wise for the story, but easily mixes for the Ask AU... I also have at least the beginning portion of the Intro script written, the parts unaffected by the changes. However, parts of the intro will be written out, depending on the questions you ask the characters in this prologue so these portions I’m leaving open on purpose. It’s the plot driven portions I’m mentioning that I’ve changed slightly. ;) I have fun plans for the prologue. Remember this story has a clear direction I’m taking it with plot. But the Ask portion will be a part of it, I have such a fun way of Ask’s being tied into the plot driven story, and it will change depending on the context, person and setting which makes this really fun to plan out. 

                   -With that said, here’s an early heads up, that for Ask Questions, I will allow any sort of asks, but if it has potential to spoil a part of the story, then I won’t answer it. Alongside this, I’ll allow Anon magic to a small degree. I won’t include Asks that like spoil something for a character, or tell the character where someone is, give away what someone else is doing to another character, etc... Unless it may fit the context, but generally I won’t use these types of asks. I will allow Anons to appear occasionally rather then just be unseen voices, as I have fun ways of incorporating Anons into the story that also works with different points in the plot. I will accept things like... say a dog or cat to appear for ex. amount of asks. I already know who they’ll be and have been planning out their designs, but I may draw the line at other animals (e.g. horses, fish, racoons, squirrels, lizards, etc.) Although, I do really love rabbits, I chose to make it concise to just two animals that if asked could appear. It’s not because I can’t draw them but I don’t want things getting out of hand. Types of anon magic I’m not going to use if put in the Ask portion, are things like giving people certain powers or items that may completely effect the tone or plot of the story, accept maybe if I did a non-canon AU to this au for fun one day. I will go more in depth in the general rules later. In no way is this to discourage anyone from asking such things. I may set reminders at times if I get to much of something. But, in general I’ll do what I can to make this a fun Ask blog all the same.

~The Larger Summary, I promised like a trailer would be in the comic form I have rendered the Script for, and have two slides so far drawn out, just not completed. (for the time I didn’t have around the Holidays compared to normally I actually surprised myself with this)

~The story itself is really coming together, I already have a starting and stopping point (which I had prior to this blog) as it will have several Acts and Arcs, some which have greatly changed and take on new depth since the point I started this blog. The themes and story in general are drawn out pretty well.  I don’t have all the chapters I’d want fully written. As I have my plan, but I also want to get the prologue in first, just to see if there’s anything I should change with my concept. It’s just a precaution, something I’ve learned well when taking on something new. So I don’t have things that are written in stone and hard to change if the form I’m hoping to take doesn’t work out and needs to be retooled or something. But these are minor and shouldn’t change the overall scope and plot I’m taking this story on either.

~I’ve created several of the character bios, many in fact are already written in true Henry Stickmin fashion. But as I took inspiration to make this into a AU as well, I will possibly make both the bio cards and show a static shot of the characters alongside it or something... It’s an idea, but I want this to also be the easier comic. But, considering that I’ll always have a static shot I use as reference for any character I make, this is what makes this more realistic to occur as well. ~I’ve nearly drawn out all the characters for the intro portion. And already know how I’ll handle Anon’s in the story. In the Prologue itself, I’ll actually have you Anon’s being referenced as audience members in a conference of sorts. Think of it like those conferences when a new Apple or Microsoft product is first advertised as something new to the news conference, those big rotunda’s where someone's being interviewed and presenting the hot new item. Think of the opening to the prologue being something like this scenario. So the questions directed at the character in there, who... *cough* I will introduce later after I fully render both their character profile and have their character bio(s) fully done. Which considering how fun and easy it’s been to do this so far shouldn’t be to long now... Although to keep from getting questions to soon on them, I may hold off on posting the Characters and Bio’s till I have that Intro/Trailer completed... I’m still considering which to do first actually. But top on my list out of all of these is having my cover art for the top completed. That’s something I admit though I have the layout I have hardly started on and should focus on first.

~I’m also taking close looks at how to properly make the rules for this group. When I posts either the Character Bios, Holiday Pic, OR the Trailer Comic... Maye even just the cover art... Then I will try to have out an official Rules list. The one I have on the group posts is just general stuff... But I’m reconsidering some rules I already wrote... Basically keep things family friendly, be kind an courteous, nothing vulgar or disturbing. 

I may change this from a PG-13 comic to maybe PG-15. I’ve realized recently, there are some points that some characters do swear... sometimes more then once. I’m not someone who talks with vulgarity myself, but I sure can write characters with it.... Let’s just say I’m going to see if in those scenes I might just bleep out words and see if the dialogue still comes through. But, I dunno... LUCKILY, we don’t have to worry about many of those scenes till way further into this comic. So lucky for either of us, this isn’t a major concern at the moment. And on the plus side it’s not the crudest words I could have chosen so... it may still work as a PG-13 work... I’ll make this decision soon as possible. 

Another reason for the sudden change, came as I realized as the story goes, and even in early chapters there will be scenes where blood is shown and physical mortal danger and peril is experienced by the characters. I do have heavy theming sometimes, later on it may seem constantly about. As this story is heavily Drama/Mystery and some suspense based. As the story progresses it will become less Drama/Mystery and more based around the drama/suspense itself. This will obviously be some more intense scenes that showing less blood would allow me to make PG-13, however I also don’t want to undercut the certain tones using representations of a mortal wound would bring. I also want to look at things like these future scenes realistically. Which is why I’m mostly considering changing this story to a PG-15 or at least more certain I am. I just don’t want people shocked that I’m doing this. I don’t feel this story will be R, there was a time where I heavily considered it. But for once I decided no, I didn’t want that. I just didn’t want to open the door for scenes I didn’t intend to have in this story. There will be heavy themes that my have TW for some people. But I didn’t want some TW’s  that having a R rated story could potentially have. I mean certain themes people are free to write fanfictions for, and depending on the content can make art for. But again this will be family friendly group... As You can see I’m considering more then a little here when it comes to the official rules. These details will be followed up on the official rules post.

~~~~~~

Now I apologize for the length.

The structure of this and the previous Authors Notes will probably fall under their own category for length. I’ll work to make sure posts in the future won’t be so long and hard to read. It is early morning for me when I woke to write this, and I found once much of the day passed that I still wanted to include the stuff I did into this update.

I have more to tell you, but I think this post has spurned the energy in me out. Anything that I missed in this post, I’ll try to remember to update in the next post (hopefully after I get some art on here). What I can’t do at the moment is promise dates right now till I’m more certain of schedule to work on this or can promise that my general allergies won’t cause me to delay this at all. But I can confirm that I should have several things coming out this next month, including the comic Prologue I hope. Depending on the traction the comic and fanfic gets, I may try to work on it quickly, or take my time with it. I may do a mix of both as my perfectionist self won’t let me just shoot something out without giving it my all first. I’m shushing that side slightly so this comic will be easier on me then the more detailed one I have planned. All the same, I’m planning to work on this one more at the moment till I can get an idea of my work flow. Sometimes the easiest route of work is better for planning, rather then diving head first into the deep end right away. You don’t learn to swim by jumping head first into the ocean. Piece of advice that it took years for me to learn myself ;). Anyways, I figured since I did promise something hopefully by today or tomorrow, I’d give you a formal update... Also... Well I can’t promise that updates won’t be like this in the future. I’ll try to keep them concise. But as people who know me, well have learned when it comes to personally talking I tend to write or talk out epistle. So... When I give updates, I may have lengthy ones... I’ll try my best to keep this side of me out of updates, if I can help it. Anyways Happy New Years Everyone!!! I hope everyone's Christmas and Holidays were extra special, despite the state of the world!!! 

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVE AND DAY!!! Sincerely, <3 (Mod) Sweet Heart Blaze

[swifty-fox]

Hi! I know you posted it 4 years ago but I only just saw your "Adam Parrish Ventart" image and it's so lovely. I'm just so impressed by the rainbow reflections on his face and his HAIR - keep looking at it trying to figure out how you mastered the coloring but I can't. I was wondering if you'd ever post the layers individually from your works, or do a tutorial, because I literally can't even comprehend how you got those colors so perfectly.

Hey!! So I actually really only work on 2-3 layers and my style is much different now, however i can give a quick rundown of what i do! I'm working on a piece currently so I’ll use that guy

Firstly however, i learned the most important thing to learning tone is to work in b&w a lot (i have for the past 2 years) so you can understand how light and dark NEEDS to look. I was then able to translate to color after a couple years of only doing b&w 

I will say that in that particular image, the rainbow was just a basic overlap of color over the normal painting 

but essentially I start with my sketch 

So firstly I start with a sketch. Sometimes I start with an actual sketchbook sketch and then redo it digitally but not always. I start really loose, just trying to get form and function down. This can take a while, this sketch took like 6 hours or something (they can go really quick too though sometimes) 

Next thing I do is I block out color. I don't have a lot of screenshots of this stage but i use that same blue I sketched with to lay out some very chunky shadows like you see here. Underneath that i add all my basic colors, really loose and easy with it. I then will decide what tone i want the image to be overall, in this case I wanted to keep it pretty cool and blue so I filled a whole layer with a muted blue color and set it to overlay or soft light (i can't remember) but I usually stick in that little cluster for this step. This helps marry all the colors together. I adjust transparency as needed. 

next thing i do is what I like to call “effects” This is a technique I picked up from photographers and it helps me get the dramatic colors and tones in my image. I do this by using overlay gradients as well as curves, levels and color balance. Really I just fiddle with these until I get something I like 

I then merge all my layers except for the effects group into one layer. I then create a layer on top of THAt and that's what i use to render. Sometimes I’ll create additional layers for small things but merge frequently once I’m happy. 

So what my painting ACTUALLY looks like is this: 

I then just keep rendering and rendering until I reach a point where I am happy with the piece. I may go back and redo some of the effects now that there’s more colors and tones to the image but that's basically it! 

A couple tips: don't make everything super soft and blended, our bodies and objects have harsh and soft areas and a combo of sharp and soft shadows will help you really push your painting. Flesh tones usually contain elements of blue, purple yellow & pink and you should do your best to subtly add those in.

Now I will admit that painting darker tones is not something I’m super good at and it is a shortcoming of mine and something that i am practicing very hard at, but I do know unless done properly blues and purples can really wash out dark skin, so please be sure to be referring to BIPOC artists where you can to learn their methods for painting skin. 

But yeah, I’ve come a long way emotionally and skill-wise from that piece, here's a few other paintings ive done with this method! 

I don't know if any of this helped but hope so in some way!!!

[windsorgirllove]

The Prince and The King: Dirk Strider and Kazuaki Nanaki

It may be 4 whole months after the Epilogues came out, but guess what - I’m still thinking about Dirk Strider. And who can blame me, considering… well, everything. Dirk caused a lot of different reactions from everyone, but the way that his character finally clicked for me was watching him take over Jake’s mind and realizing “oh, he’s trying to ‘all will be one with the King’ them”. And then I realized that that would make sense to literally one other person in the whole world, so I decided to write an essay about it. As you do.

Spoilers for Homestuck, including the epilogue, and Hatoful Boyfriend and Hatoful Boyfriend: Holiday Star.

      I. Who are these nerds?

For those of you who don’t know, I’ll give a quick summary of these two characters before I start comparing them.

      A. Dirk Strider

Dirk Strider is one of the human characters in Homestuck. He is the biological father of Dave Strider and Rose Lalonde, and is an alternate Universe version of Bro Strider. He grew up alone in a post apocalyptic world after an alien queen took over Earth. He is the Prince of Heart and a Derse Dreamer. He is a big gay nerd. In the Homestuck Epilogues, his worst traits come out: his self obsession and his splinter selves that come about due to Heart shenanigans, which led to him making some… morally dubious decisions. By which I mean obtained ultimate power and started rewriting the wills of his friends because “he knows best”. Also he’s aware of the fact he’s in a story now, so he became the narrator. And in one of the timelines present in the Epilogues, he killed himself.

      B. Kazuaki Nanaki/The King

Kazuaki Nanaki is a bird featured in Hatoful Boyfriend: Holiday Star. He is a depressed college student studying literature. He fell in love with a boy who ended up pushing him further and further into depression, until the two of them decided to kill themselves. Kazuaki went through with it, his boyfriend did not. He woke up in the afterlife alone and scared. He ends up creating a star from a candle and a chair, which attracts other souls to it’s light. He lured people in because he was lonely, but didn’t want to get hurt again, so he absorbed all the souls into his will, and became the King of the star. And then all the characters end up in the afterlife too, most of whom are still alive, and it’s a whole thing.

So how are they similar? Well, they both are clearly mentally ill, both gay, both killed themselves, both took over the wills of their close friends. Let’s look at their big three narrative similarities: their ascension, their revenge on boyfriends, and their takeovers of will.

      II. The Ultimate Self v Kinghood

The Ultimate Self is a concept that was brought up at the end of Homestuck and was explored properly in the Homestuck Epilogues. It seems to be the endpoint for all of the godtiers, wherein they fully realize their Aspect. For example, Rose is ascending as well, and since her aspect is Light (ie knowledge), she gains knowledge of all timelines all at once. Dirk’s aspect, meanwhile, is Heart, which here means soul, so his Ultimate Self is all his splinters combining into one person. (As I sidenote, I wonder how much their classes play into this - Rose is a Seer and is seeing timelines, and Dirk is a Prince and is destroying everyone’s sense of self). It also appears to come along with an awareness of the narrative structure and the fact that they are in the story, which certainly does wonders for the mind. Dirk takes control of it - the narrative, that is - because he believes that he knows best for all his friends.

One thing we know for certain is the ascending fucking hurts. To quote Rose Lalonde: “I am ascending, and it’s terrible.” This process was enough to fully push Dirk over from “has poor judgement and a god complex” to full blown “evil and knows it.” He gains the power to take away the free will of all the other characters, and wants to make them all ascend and then stick their consciousness into robots that he made, because it’s “better” for them. He already carries this plan out with Rose, who he selected to be first because she’s the most like him. Essentially, he wants to make everyone just like him.

Meanwhile, Kinghood seems to have a lot of similarities. Kazuaki seems to gain some reality warping powers once he dies - he is able to transform a room with a candle and a chair into a star with a lighthouse and a throne. He basically makes his world run on fairy tale logic. This extends even to his form. Throughout the game, the characters are represented by photos of birds. However, when Kazuaki is the King, he is rendered in watercolors like the rest of the Holiday Star. Later, when he gets angry, he distorts into a darker colored being with multiple heads, and in his true form he is a monochrome pencil sketch. He also can appear anywhere on the star at any time, because all the residents of the star are under his hivemind. He can control the layout of his home, which is also visible from the outside (in the real world). He can create zones in the star specific to the people within in order to convince them to become one with him. And perhaps scariest of all, he can know the secrets of the people in the star, and toture them with their deepest darkest fear.

So ascending and Kinghood are very similar, except that Kinghood seems to be more in the line of eldritch horror.

      III. “I’ll Never Let You Break My Heart Again”

Dirk and Kazuaki also have meaningful romantic relationships with other boys that go super duper bad and end up being their start of darkness. Their whole evil plan can basically be boiled down to getting revenge on the boy who wronged them.

      A. Jake

Jake English is the boy that Dirk was in love with. He is from the same universe as Dirk, but from several centuries in the past (which is the present for us). He is the biological father of Jade Harley and John Egbert. He grew up alone on an island in the Pacific, and styles himself as a manly adventurer. Jake and Dirk end up dating when they enter the game, and break up after a few months because they’re dumb teens who can’t communicate and so are all of their friends. In the Epilogues, Jake is unwillingly wed to Jane Crocker, another of their friends, in the Candy Timeline. In the Meat Timeline, Dirk has taken control of the narration and forces Jake to confess his love for Dirk in front of a huge crowd.

      B. Uzune

Hitori Uzune was the guy that Kazuaki was in love with. He was a fellow college student at the university Kazuaki was attending, and was similarly fucked up and depressed. He convinces Kazuaki that they should kill themselves, and the two of them overdose on pills. But just as Kazuaki is drifting away Hitori gets up and steals Kazuaki’s identity in order to get revenge for his dead brother. That whole thing is actually the main plot of the game, kinda. Hitori refuses to call an ambulance for Kazuaki even as he changes his mind, and let’s him die.

      C. Angry Gay Selfrightousness

So first of all I think we can agree that Kazuaki is a little more valid for going off the deep end here. But they both did have a similar experience in love. Both of them felt deeply betrayed by the boy they loved. Both of them were super pissed about this, and it shows in their supervillain plans. Neither of the are directly setting out to get revenge, but their desire is written all over their actions.

With Dirk, he spends an inordanent amount of time calling Jake stupid while he is posing as the narrator, as well as inserting thoughts about himself into Jake’s mind when he’s about to have sex with Jane. (He’s also just weirdly horny the whole epilogue, in general.) After driving Jake to do his public confession in the Meat timeline, Dirk responds with “And to love Dirk is to obey him” in the narration. And finally, right before he’s about to fuck of to space Dirk plans this epic confrontation that ends with the quote that heads this section.

As for Kazuaki, the whole way he was able to become the King was because of the trauma that Hitori put him through, namely the killing him part. He absorbed people because of not wanting to be left alone again. And once Hitori enters the dream he turns all his focus onto him, blinding him and forcing him into a small pocket of the dream so he can’t hurt anyone again. And even after he is defeated he still reaches out and tries to grab Hitori.

Even when the two of them try to move on, they can’t.

      IV. “All Will Become One With the King” - Narrative Takeovers and the Hivemind

In order for there to be a narrative takeover, there has to be a narrative in the first place. And both Homestuck and Hatoful Boyfriend certainly have one, and I don’t mean in the sense that they are a story that we consume. I mean that there is a narrative thread that the characters themselves are aware of.

      A. Homestuck “Canon”

Let’s start with Homestuck, which in the Epilogues actually brought the term “canon” into the vocabulary of the characters via one Rose Lalonde. As a Seer and fanfiction writer, it makes sense she would be familiar with it. In the epilogues she discovered that there was something wrong with the timeline they were in - it was “non-canon”. This is different from the timeline being doomed, although it is similar. In both cases it means the timeline in question is fading away.

As defined by Rose, in order for a timeline to be canon, it has to be three things: 1. It has to be true, 2. It has to be essential, and 3. It has to be relevant. True as in true, essential as in essential to the characters or the story, and relevant as in relevant to the audience. Knowledge of the idea of canon seems to come along with ascending to the Ultimate Self, since the only people who know about it are Rose, Dirk, and Alt!Calliope.

Once Dirk ascends and realizes that the timeline they’re in is “non-canon”, he seizes control of the narrative in order to steer it back to canon and stop it from fading away. And once he takes control, he gains the same knowledge that the author would have of all the characters (except for Roxy because of his voidy-ness). He also wants to make everyone else ascend to their Ultimate Selves as well, and then take away their agency. How this worked is that he believes that their bodies wouldn’t be able to handle ascending (even though his did) and he makes them robot bodies because he’s just so nice. And the first people he assimilates are Rose and Dave, his children. And also as I said above, he inserted thoughts into people's heads and made them do things they wouldn’t normally do.

And Dirk taking control of the narrative isn’t an isolated incident, either. The narration has been passed around like a basketball, or more accurately stolen like loose change by a clumsy pickpocket. For the most part it is regulated to the cherubs - Caliborn and Calliope, as well as Doc Scratch - and Andrew Hussie. And that’s not even to mention all the people that give commands to the characters. The fabric of the text is very present in Homestuck.

      B. The All Knowing Eyes of the King

The King also tries to take control of the narrative as well, although not in the same way as Dirk. He isn’t aware of the fact that he is in a story in the same way. However, by trying to bring the whole cast into his hive mind he is essentially taking control of the narrative, since whoever controls the characters controls the story. He can’t full on insert thoughts into people’s heads like Dirk, but he can know the secrets of the people in the Holiday Star, similar to Dirk gaining the knowledge of the author. Then he uses a person’s deepest fear to convince them that the world outside is too scary, too dangerous, and it is safer to stay with him. Plus he uses creepy picture books to do it, which is certainly an aesthetic choice.

Two of the best examples of this is how he deals with Shuu and Yuuya. In Shuu’s case, it’s his most effective argument for staying on the Holiday Star - possibly because it is so similar to his own. Shuu was in love with a (married) colleague of his, but never told him, even as he passed away. Being as this was the only person Shuu cared about, he fell into a depression and also started murdering people. The King convinced him that there was nothing more in the real world that he could find a use for - that it would be better if he stayed here, where he could experiment and research forever. It worked so well that it took the ghost of his love to shake him out of it.

On the opposite side of this we have Yuuya. Yuuya was not actually supposed to be on the Holiday Star, but he dove in (basically) in order to save his little brother. And The King probably had the best chance of blackmailing him, because Yuuya has done some shit - including the murder of his infant half-brother. He did this in order to help his little brother, but still, jeez. The King uses this to convince him that he’s a bad person, that he would be better off in the Star, where his guilt couldn’t hurt him anymore. This doesn’t work, mainly because Yuuya is a more emotionally mature person that the King. He refused to be converted, because all the bad things he’s done has made him the person he is today, and to get rid of that would be irresponsible. His whole speech ends with this truly phenomenal quote: “It’s my grief. And you can’t have it.”

      V. Conclusion

So, what have I learned from this? Um, don’t trust gay men I guess. And also that mental illness and suicide is a very serious thing. I feel that with this essay I have run into the problem that my professors have told me numerous times - I can identify an interesting point, but I have trouble drawing meaning from this. So if any of you can figure out what this connection means, please let me know! Mostly to me it seems like there are definite links between my favorite stories, and it’s that giving in to despair is not the answer.

      VI. Miscellaneous: The Meta of HB - Hiyoko as the Narrator

Hatoful Boyfriend is not quite as meta as Homestuck - nothing really is. But it isn’t the benchmark of weirdness for dating games for nothing. And most of this weirdness revolves around Hiyoko, which makes sense. She is the narrator after all - and I don’t just mean that in the normal story sense. I mean that in the Homestuck sense as well.

Hiyoko is aware of the fact that she is in a game. She makes references to her stats, and is aware of the interface of the screen. She also doesn’t know the name of the town she’s lived in all her life until someone else says it in Holiday Star, because it was never established in the first game. She is also aware of alternate universes of each romance route. Because Hiyoko dies. A lot. She dies in Shuu’s route, in the neutral route, and in the true route. And in Holiday Star (which in it of itself is an alternate universe to the main game) she meets Death and is able to recognize him from all the other times she’s died.

The important thing to get from all this is that unlike Some People, Hiyoko never goes crazy from this fact. She’s in a game, and she knows it, and she’s cool with it. It should probably be pointed out that Hiyoko is dumb as a box of rocks, and with ignorance comes bliss, they say. But still, it is interesting to see an example of a character with meta knowledge who manages to deal with it, instead of going full supervillain.

[stedes-black-bonnet]

My Baby Does Me: Chapter 34

POV: John Deacon x reader

Notes: Sorry this one is late! I’m only a trash human person.

Warnings: Swearing? 

Abstract: Brian May asks, “If you knew the outcome of an argument before you had it, would you still have it?”

------------------------------------

“You’ve ruined me.” Roger Taylor yelled, throwing his arms up in the air. This was pure Taylorean melodrama at its finest. He was wearing an odd combination of borrowed clothes he’d never pick out on his own, which made it worse; clothes were confidence for Roger, and this get up made him feel like...well, like a jock in a porno flick. The yellow sweatshirt of Freddie’s made him look like a lemon cake with light frosting at the top. Jim had fitted him in a pair of his white pants; saying he had plenty, and no one would notice if one pair went missing. He had then called him a dessert, which Rog thought was generous considering his swollen eyes from crying, his burning throat from vomiting all afternoon and evening, and his lack of glasses meaning he couldn’t see anything. He was a mess. A lemon cake mess. An upside down cake. His life had turned upside down, and now he had to right it, shift it back into place, and fix what he had destroyed through his own hubris. Roger Taylor was, if anything, a tragic hero; and, yes, you could quote him on that.

This was perhaps fitting, since tragic heroes typically couldn’t see, and he had made himself blind to everything raging and building in his heart. Even sans glasses, now that he could see, however, he had to admit he did look like a lemon cake, and he didn’t like it; Roger hated every second of not being in control. And his attack of Stendhal had rendered him quite hopeless and aimless; colors were slowly returning, he felt less anxious, less insane. This was due to the fact he had decided to commit and not ignore his feelings, something is rarely did; love made people afraid, especially if they thought they didn’t deserve it. The second he realized what he wanted to be doing the rest of his life--who he wanted to be with--he didn’t want to spend one more second not doing that. Once he made a choice, he went with it to the hilt. More hero imagery to stroke his ego, just how he liked it. So, his easy option was to borrow clothes and rush over to the one person he needed to see above all others. This choice was the only choice. “You’ve ruined me,” he repeated, stomping a purple-shoed foot on the floor to punctuate his feelings. “I hope you’re pleased with yourself.”

“I am.” Lydia glared back at him. “I bloody well am. Do you think it is some cosmic treat having you come into my life and turn it upside down? You’ve ruined me too. Completely.” She turned away from him, in her slinky tea-length black dress and over large cut-off denim vest. Her black lipstick was mesmerizing and dramatic; Roger fell in love with her even more, every second was a rehearsal for falling, a practice in devotion. They were in her art studio, which, until recently, had been filled with started canvases covered in black paint. They had all been rough sketches, waiting to take form in her violent slashing monochromatic art. Now, they all looked entirely different. Plans changed. She had. “Orange” and “Purple” had happened to her. Roger had happened to her.

There was color there, in her art, now. And her in heart, too.

Now, they would always be color.

“Most people would be honored if I did, you know that? Begging for it. Beggin’ for me, mate.” He shot back looking at painting after painting. He was having a hard time maintaining his scowl; he knew the sudden eruption of color in her life had been because of him just as much as the lack of it for him had been because of her. Everything was her, now. What a pair they made.

Lydia looked back over her shoulder at him, and said, “Oh, I’m sure some people would be.” A strap of her dress slid slowly down her shoulder as if she had planned it; maybe she had. Her skin was glittery with rage, which made her all the more beautiful. Everything she wore was a battle plan, every shoe a declaration of war. Roger couldn’t take his eyes off the slit in her dress, running all the way up; her skin-colored tights had small red sequins sewed into them at random, enticing spots. When the strap on her dress fell, he was compelled to put it right and kiss her shoulder, her neck, but he stopped himself from giving in that easily; he was equal to her vim after all. He had techniques to break her, too. It was unfortunate he looked like a literal dessert, however. His power wasn’t his own. Lemon cake did nothing for him.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” His cerulean eyes narrowed.

“Exactly what it sounds like.” Lydia rolled her eyes. “Check your ego; not everyone wants to fuck you.”

“Hard disagree, Lydia.” Roger said, smiling sweetly. “Everyone wants to fuck me. All the time. It is all people think when they look at me. It was all you saw. When we met. Don’t pretend it wasn’t.”

She froze, and slowly turned around to face him properly. She put her hands on her hips, tapping a gold-pointed heel at him with every word. “What did you just say to me?” Every word was slow, every word was weighted. She licked her lips. Waiting.

“When you approached me in the bar, were you thinking anything else but ‘there’s that famous bloke, I wonder what he’s like in bed?’” He was sinking his blade into her. One inch at a time. Enjoying every damn second.

“I was thinking other thoughts, Roger...that’s not fair.” She said demurred. “And you know it.”

“Oh? Precisely what other queries were you thinking when you licked my hand?” Roger asked cockily, hands on his hips, smirk on his lips. “What?” He lifted a hand up to his ear, leaning in towards her. “Don’t have a clever retort for that? Everyone wants to fuck me; but, you’re the only one I want to fuck, Lydia.”

“I feel like that’s what you’re doing right now.” Lydia sighed exasperatedly. “Is this supposed to be romantic or something? Am I supposed to swoon after being insulted? Go wow! How lucky I am: he just said he loves me! After calling me a whore.”

“You’re putting words in my mouth…”

“Which words?”

It was now or never.

“I didn’t call you a whore.”

She waited for him to take the other part back, but he didn’t.

“As for loving you, those are words I want to pull from my lips every day for the rest of my life. You’ll get used to it.”

“Roger! Now isn’t the time for romance like that! We’re fighting!” She was getting close to being defeated and they both knew it. She was crumbling all her defenses in front of him. She couldn’t help it. But she could put on a good show of it, at least. “You’ll excuse me if I don’t entirely want to believe your sweeping romantic declaration.”

“Listen,” Roger said, “I could have anyone.”

“Well, rub it in, asshole! That’s supposed to make me feel better?”

“Lydia: I could have anyone. What does it mean that I’m here with you? Really think about it. You know the answer; you’re just as brilliant as I am.” He placed a hand over his heart. “In here.” He couldn’t believe such romantic words were coming out of his mouth, he really couldn’t. And yet here he was, trying to profess his love, and royally cocking it up. But he was trying, and that’s what mattered. It was all that mattered in the end. If he had to choose one thing to do right for the rest of his life, it would be this.

“If you could have anyone, and you’re here with me,” Lydia said, “it means I’m the one you want.”

“Yes.” He answered. “Unequivocally.”

“You’re the worst person I know.”

“I don’t expect that will change.” Roger said, slowly closing the distance between them, testing the waters.

“I won’t let you win. Just like that.” Lydia said, grasping at straws.

“I don’t expect you to, nor do I want you to.”

Lydia sighed, still not entirely convinced.

“Listen,” Roger said, risking it all. “I love you.”

“You’re insane!” Lydia back away from him a step, but only one. “Are you crazy or something? I swear to God, Roger, if you answer with any form of ‘crazy for you’ I will punch you.”

Roger smiled, and licked his lips; he had already been punched once that night, why not risk it again?

“I take it back!” Lydia shirked. “I know what that face means; you’d like it too much.”

“I love you.” He took a step towards her.

“You can’t.” Lydia said softly. “It’s been--what? Two days?”

“I love you. Two days? Two hours?” He took another step towards her. “Does it matter, really? We can date for months or years, and it would all equal the same exact thing, it would all circle back to the same realization: we’d look back and say we knew then, and ‘then’ would be the day we met. So why wait?”

She stopped.

“Why wait? When we know?” Roger took another step towards her. “I love you. Love me.”

Lydia was running out of alternatives.

“Wait! Y/N! Stop.” Deacy said, running after you up the first flight of stairs towards your apartment. This assent was very different from the last art deco climb the two of you shared together. This was equally as personal, but entirely less intimate, less touchy-feely, less sexy. It was just as urgent, equally as passionate, and definitely oddly alluring.

“I already know what you’re going to say; so save it.” You said, resting at the crest of the first landing, catching your breath. You wanted to get away from him and collect your thoughts. So many mixed emotions were rushing through your head and you needed time to sort through them. You had punched Roger Taylor, and found out the man you were falling in love with had had a wife, that she had died terribly, and that he hadn’t told you personally. He should have said it before your first kiss. He should have said something; there’s always time for something like that. You make the time for it. You’d rather have the hard truths upfront than years later. You’d always rather know the truth.

“There wasn’t exactly time to tell you.” Deacy said, reaching for your hand. For the first time, he had become predictable. Predicable in action and words, and you didn’t particularly care for it.

You pulled away. “I didn’t exactly like being told by Jim. By Jim. You should have been the one to tell me. You. Not him.”

“I should have told you, I would like to have told you.”

“It shouldn’t have been someone I had just met yesterday.”

“You just met me yesterday.” Deacy’s voice was cold, hard, and factual in its cruelty.

“You had your tongue down my throat, and your hands inside me yesterday; I think that moves up our level of knowing each other regardless of time, don’t you?” You fired back, venom in your voice, dripping down your hands.

“Fair point” He said. His voice was tired. He was tired; there was so much drama here suddenly, and before it had been simple, elegant, and effortless. He sighed. He wished he could have told you differently, that this moment wasn’t happening on a staircase in the middle of the night; something about the setting made it rushed and terrible like an afterthought. This wasn’t how he wanted to be having this conversation, nor the moment he wanted to be stuck in, and yet he relentlessly rocked back to it time and again, like a glutton for punishment, kicked upon the rocky beach by ruthless waves; everything always came back to Veronica.

You breathed deliberately, with cause, and said, voice barely above a whisper. “You had a wife.”

“Yes.” He said. “And she died.”

You looked at each other, then. There was a shrug in his gaze. As if you were recounting the death of someone less personal, someone you both had never met, but read about it in a newspaper, or history textbook. It wasn’t a vise upon his heart at this moment. It was simply a fact of his life and her’s. Veronica had lived and then she had died. These things happened every single day. And it had happened to them.

“The fact of her death will never change. It is immovable. Her death is a fact. It always will be. She died. I didn’t.” He was angry, you noticed. Maybe even resentful. There was a dire acceptance in his voice you had never heard before. “She died, but I didn’t.” His voice was gruff and his eyes were shining. “I’m not required to die too just because she did. I don’t have to mourn forever. She died. I didn’t.”

“She was the most important person in your life.”

“Yes. She was.” And he spoke this next truth for the first time, and felt it coarse through his body like a tonic. “But she isn’t anymore.”

His grey eyes met yours. You were two hands holding again. Something had shifted.

“When should I have told you?” He stood close to you, a stance of apology in his body language. He wanted this knowledge for future reference, you realized.

“Before you touched me with love on your hands and in your eyes.”

“I should have stopped myself and told you in the moment?” He asked.

“Yes. It would have stopped the action, I might have been shocked, or even concerned. But I wouldn’t have been angry, and you wouldn’t have been a liar; those two things are true now, however. And whereas I can forgive them, and you, I will always wonder what you’re keeping from me.”

“I never want to keep anything from you.”

“Then don’t; it’s that simple.” You sighed. “We’ve just met; not everything needs to be this urgent or melodramatic. We don’t need to rush into anything.”

“I’m not rushing; when you’ve had a partner die, it tends to put things into perspective.” Deacy took your hand. “Here’s the thing: I haven’t felt this way about someone in ages, and I want to explore what that means. It isn’t a promise of forever, or even of love, but of seeing what this is between us and what it can be.”

“I could agree to that…” you said lightly.

“That doesn’t mean I don’t have feelings for you beyond liking you.”

“I know.”

“I don’t want to scare you.”

“You won’t; if you don’t lie about something so important again, you won’t. I’m not made of glass, Deacy. I can take what you have to say about your past without shattering.”

Freddie was guarded, looking at his husband behind a mask. He had, perhaps, made a huge mistake, and it was about to come back to haunt him fully and forcefully.

“You don’t understand.” Jim said. He was pacing. Jim always paced when he had something on his mind, something important to say. He was whipping up and down the aqua-colored living room like an athlete doing laps. His white pants and red shirt made him look like an Italian race car driver. “You always understand, but this you bloody well don’t.”

“I’m trying, darling.” Freddie watched Jim’s frantic pacing, wondering if he should intercept him, hold him, embrace him. Maybe best to let him get it out first, he reasoned. He straightened his yellow tank top to occupy his hands and his mind.

“It comes down to who I am. It is who I am. Freddie, listen to me; you stopped me from being who I am.” Jim’s words were frantic and kinetic; Freddie knew his husband needed to get the words out to move past them.

Freddie’s brow pulled together sharply. “Who you are is someone who’d beat up my best friend?”

“Peripherally, yes; what he said was irredeemable.”

“And he needed to be what? Taught a lesson?”

“Yes.”

“And by you?” It was a fight now. Not an act, not entirely foreplay, but just then it had slipped into an actual fight.

“If not me--who?” Jim asked loudly? “I didn’t see any of you all, who’ve known him forever--his best friends--do anything! None of you jumped up to stop him. That poor girl shouldn’t have had to defend Deacy. You all should have jumped at the chance to defend him. Literally shot up out of your seats.”

“And punched him?”

“You should have stopped him. Because it was the right thing to do. It was the moral thing. That would have been being a good friend.”

“We would have been good friends to beat Roger up?”

“You’re held up on the delivery when its the message that matters. You could have used your words. Anything. I wanted to act. I wanted to stop him. And you stopped me. You stopped me from categorically doing the right thing, Freddie.”

There was a silence in the room, interrupted only by the soft mewing and skidding around of the litter of cats romping around the room.

“I need to do the right thing, Fred.”

“It’s who you are, darling.” Freddie said.

“Yes.”

“I know that. I hear that. You’re the best person I know. Always striving to do what’s right in every situation. You are admirable. Gracious. Handsome. Uniquely right. You are ethical when most people want to shy and runaway. I treasure that about you.”

“Then why stop me?”

“Listen,”

“Don’t say ‘listen’ like that. Nothing good ever comes after that word.”

“Listen, darling…” Freddie smiled; he couldn’t help himself.

“How can I fight that?”

“You can’t.”

Jim stopped pacing, and sat in an armchair, waiting for Freddie to continue.

“You cannot just go around beating people up, especially Roger. Even if Roger deserves it. And we all know sometimes he does. I refuse to believe beating someone up is the right thing to do categorically, to use your word.”

“Maybe. Maybe not.” Jim said, stubbornly.

“You could have used your words.”

“It wasn’t enough. You saw him. He was manic.”

“Okay. How about this then: Queen is a public figure. I cannot have my husband, whom I love more than anything, going around beating up our drummer.”

“You cannot have it? Like you’re forbidding me from beating up Roger Taylor?” It was almost funny. And under any other circumstances, Jim and Freddie would have been laughing about it. “It sounds like an order. A command.”

“Think of it as more of a very strong suggestion. Roger has a bit of the madness in him, darling. He’d put you in jail just to spite you, even if he knew he deserved whatever you did to him.”

“You of all people could afford to bail me out of jail.”

“Yes, that’s not the point, dear.”

“Isn’t the point: don’t beat up Roger for my own safety? Because, newsflash, darling, I don’t care about my own safety.”

“Well, I do.”

“I thought the point was you stopping me from being who I am, and doing the right thing.”

“I don’t agree it was the right thing. There were other options before punching him out.”

“Yeah, options none of you took; easy for you to say then, Fred.”

“Back to this again?”

“We will circle back to it until it is solved, my love.” Jim said, smiling and spreading his arms out in a gesture that should have been welcoming but really meant bring it, bitch.

“I have another option.” Freddie sat on the elaborate teal-colored leather sofa. He crossed his legs. Raised a perfect eyebrow at his husband.

“I’m listening.”

“We skip to the part where we’re having rage/makeup sex?”

“Tempting…” Jim said, trying to focus on the matter at hand and not his sudden overwhelming desire for his husband. “This doesn’t mean you’re right.”

“No, of course not; if anyone is right here, it’s you.”

“You’re not just saying that to expedite things…?”

“Darling, you know I hate admitting when others are right. Especially when it means I’m not.”

“Right.” Jim licked his lips.

“Right.” Freddie tilted his head, and bit his lip.

“I have no idea how to make this album.” Brian pulled nervously at his hair.

“You’ll find a way.” Miami bought them another round.

“I can’t.”

“You must. Contracts are a bitch.” He clicked his glass with Brian’s.

“Yes, so are you.”

-------------------

Tag List:

@phantom-fangirl-stuff @triggeredpossum @obsessedwithrogertaylor @groupiie-love@partydulce @richiethotzierz @sophierobisonartfoundationblr @psychostarkid @teathymewithben@smittyjaws @just-ladyme @botinstqueen  @mydogisthebest @little-welsh-wonder @maxjesty@deakysdiscos @yourealegendroger @marvellouspengwing @molethemollie @deakysgirl@arrowswithwifi @tardisgrump @mikey-sway

[stanprokopenko]

Process for Successful Drawings – Caricature Essentials

This is an example by Court Jones based on his video on Shape Design and Facial Features caricature lesson.

***

I figured a good way to end the course is with a caricature of Stan the Man himself, Mr. Prokopenko.

Stan’s likeness is a little tricky. It could go many different ways. Even with his heavy eyebrows and manly stubble, he still has kind of a baby face. So to help me out, I decided to use the Spirit Animal technique to come up with the exaggeration. After some thought, I’ve determined that Stan’s Spirit Animal is… a beet.

Now I know what you’re thinking, it’s just because he’s Ukrainian and I’m stereotyping. And that’s not true at all. Stan is actually a huge fan of beets. Every time I see him at lunch, he’s enjoying pickled beets or beet salad or just a big ole’ bowl of borscht. His favorite song is Beat It. The man is beet-crazy! If you see him at a convention or out on the street, feel free to just give him a handful of beets. He’ll eat them raw.

Thumbnail Sketch

Of course Stan’s large cranium and thin neck coincidentally worked really well with the beet shape. So I begin with some thumbnail sketches, to try and figure out how to make Stan’s face work on this beet. I soon realize his features should sit low on his head, because his forehead and hair take up more real estate than on the average person. I think the concept here is a good start. But the features aren’t executed in a way that’s accurate to him. So I end this one and try sketching from a different angle.

For this second sketch, I maintain the same basic concept of the inner beet spirit, but I thicken the beet-neck just a bit at the top. I also like the idea of really small features set into a large wide head. It’s funnier. This one is working much better than the first sketch. Although I’m not a fan of straight-on views. I prefer more dynamic angles that allow me to show the three-dimensional quality of a face. So I move on to a photo with a more interesting angle.

Again, I try to maintain the beetroot proportions for the head shape and then place the features on top of that. In this thumbnail sketch, I’m able to draw a more dynamic angle which I push even further to give it more visual interest. And there’s even a slightly sassy expression on his face that I try to make more obvious in my sketch. Because of the interesting angle and expression, I feel like this is the one that I can take to the next stage. The likeness needs some work, but that’s what the rough sketch is for.

Rough Sketch

I begin the rough sketch by tracing directly over the thumbnail. I use some simple guides to align the features in perspective on the head. And I slow down a bit to give more attention to each feature. More time than I allowed in the thumbnail sketch phase anyway. One of the distinctive traits about Stan that isn’t strictly physical is the darkness around his eyes. His eyes are heavy-lidded, but also a slightly darker tone than the rest of his face. So I try to indicate that in my rough sketch.

At this point, it feels pretty good, but I’m not entirely sold on the likeness yet. Something I’ve learned about likeness is that it’s usually easier to see with the use of light and dark values, rather than with just lines. I could continue crosshatch shading to darken the values, but for the sake of speed, I add some more shading with a large brush. It’s pretty rough and simple, but I think it does add some visual information to define the likeness which wasn’t there before, like the volumes of the forehead and cheeks. When I squint down and blur my eyes, I really see it. So It’s just enough to confirm that I’m on the right track even if it’s not perfect yet.

Abstraction

For this next stage in developing this caricature, I flip the rough sketch over to better see any structural problems and then draw a Reilly Abstraction on top of it. The rhythm lines of the Abstraction are drawn from one side of the head to the other to help check if things are lined up or if they need to be moved. Some features, like the eyebrows, are going to be asymmetrical, so I allow for that and look for unintended distortions and asymmetries. I discover that the ear I drew on the rough sketch was too low. But for the most part, everything else was in a good spot. Even if all the features are determined to be well-placed, these geometric rhythm lines are most helpful because they act as an idealized template of Stan’s head – sort of a cleanser, washing away the rough lines of the earlier sketch, so that I can trace much more nicely designed shapes and features in the right locations at the next stage.

Oh, and besides the ear being too low, the Abstraction helps me figure out that the head would look better if the forehead was more bulging in front.

Final Sketch

After a quick check, I flip it back around, dim down the Abstraction and begin my final linear drawing on new layer, tracing over the Abstraction, but with much more attention to the exact shapes of the contours and features and also to the quality of my lines.

This lesson is all about drawing caricatures with special attention paid to the visual design. As I’ve said, a good exaggeration and likeness is not enough. To draw at a professional level, you need to slow down and spend time creating a refined look or visual design. It doesn’t have to be realistic and based on anatomy, like my work. You can draw abstractly or simple and cartoony. But whatever it is, you need to figure out what you want the finished style to be and then keep working on this until you’ve achieved that look. Tracing over the previous drawing is a great way to do that.

Now, the problem with being the judge of your own progress is that while you’re learning, your artist’s eye may not be able to see all the flaws that a more experienced artist may see. As you continue your studies, your eye will improve, followed by your hand’s ability to make the right marks. But during this time is when it’s important to have a teacher, mentor or at least another artist at a higher level of development help you and let you know where you can improve. Eventually though, you’ll be able to look back on your older work and wonder why you missed all those drawing problems the first time around.

With my linear lay-in finished, I now add the soft edges. Wherever a form transitions from a light to dark value, that transition will be either a hard, firm, soft or lost edge. Once those transitions are all in, I finally start to add the values, which is the final stage of this drawing.

I always seem to have the most success in a drawing or painting when I work on a middle grey background. In the premium version of this course, I demonstrate shading drawings with different strategies. On my David Bowie caricature, I shade on a white background, which shows how it negatively affects my perception of the values on the face. Working on a white background prevents me from shading as darkly as I should because the bright white fools my eyes into thinking a value I use on the face is darker than what it really is. A light-middle grey, as I’ve used here, sets me up right in the range of what Stan’s caucasian flesh tone already is. So even before I begin, I’m in the right value range.

Most of the time in a realistically shaded portrait like this is spent working in the middle range of values. Or the halftones. The dark accents and bright highlights are fun and give the drawing more visual punch. But they wouldn’t work if the the middle values aren’t properly figured out and correctly placed first. The meat of the portrait is in the halftones. They are what’s going to sell it to the viewer. And the halftones are usually all within a very narrow range on the value scale. So there’s not much room for error. If you shade the halftones with too much contrast, the subject will look shiny or metallic. If you don’t have enough contrast, the portrait will look dull and flat. And if you don’t shade and cover the shapes evenly, you may get spotty or streaky effects where bits of light or dark peek through your strokes. So make sure you’re using the right tool for the job.

Most of the Photoshop brushes I’m using to shade here are very subtle brushes already. One stroke from them doesn’t cover much because they have heavy textures applied to them. I have to keep on adding stroke on top of stroke to lay down a value. It’s similar to using very light pressure with a hard charcoal or graphite on a rough paper. In fact, I think my main brush here is called “Shady Graphite” by Kyle Webster. It comes standard with the latest version of Photoshop. But you can find or even create similar brushes in other painting apps.

Also, it probably goes without saying, but when shading a drawing or painting, use the largest brush for an area that you can. You want to be able to cover broad areas with less brush strokes. But to get hard edges or for textures like the hair and stubble you’ll need a smaller brush. But those should be used sparingly, lest you end up with a streaky and sketchy rendering. Most of your time in a drawing like this will be spent using large brushes.

Some final bits of advice to create professional quality caricatures with a strong sense of design are: First and foremost, keep working on it until you can’t make it any better. Push yourself to draw and paint like the people you admire. If you get to the end and aren’t sure if it’s a success, get up, walk away and come back to look at it with fresh eyes. Or flip it in reverse one more time to examine it backwards. If there are any structural problems, they’ll be much more obvious. If you can correct those problems, then do so. If there are just too many problems to fix, you may need to go back a few steps and start again from your rough sketch or Abstraction.