#I only steal it from Pinterest for posing and not the style of it

[spaceumbredoggos]

Reblog if stealing and tracing AI art in your own style then poisoning it to ai models is valid.

[dreamtydraw]

do u have any advice for someone starting to draw?

Hmmmm I have a bunch of advices the thing is they worked one me and might not work on everyone but let me share things that helped me in my art journey.

It’s a long post with advices and resources so i hope it can be helpful.

On advices :

Accept the fact that not every art you'll make will be good. Unless you're a full on professional with years of experiences you'll always need to learn things and so, often you'll find flaws in your art. That where it's important to remember to have fun , art shouldn't stress you into making flawless products.

Doodle often. Again you don't have to daily make detailed artworks but doodling will help you progress and helps with creative process.

Find an art format you like. Just like you can't ask a guitarist to play piano, every art mediums are different with their rules. I would advise you to experiment until you find something you're the most comfortable with ( ex i like markers, color pencils and digital art but I despise oil painting )

The quality of your material does matter. It doesn't matter on how well you draw but it does matter in helping you work better so sometimes it's worth saving up for better materials ( do research on what seems the best for you ). This apply for digital tools too ! I only like one app and it's ibis paint...

Copy. Now this doesn't mean blindly trace or steal but find artists or artworks you like and try to find WHAT you like in it and then try to copy it on your own. This goes for anything you want to reference visually, find what you like in it and copy that, if you just copy the reference you don't do much more than being a printer.

Flip your canvas or use a light tablet to turn your sketch. This help you notices anatomy errors more visibly so you can correct them before starting the clean up.

Don't sleep on cartoon. A lot of people say "learn realism before finding your style" and I'd say that not for everyone. If you want to get professionally into art or works on your anatomy then yes you should learn realism because it's the fundamental of anatomy but that not an obligation. One thing you can learn from tho regardless of what you try to do is cartoons. Cartoons are exaggerations of posing, expressions and designs and learning some cartoons rules might help you understand a bit better some notions ( mainly shapes languages and expressions )

Find something that motivates you to draw. Draw for fandoms, draw your oc, draw for yourself but having something that makes you want to draw is important. It's very important that you don't base your motivation on other people's opinion of your art.

Get inspired by other medias. Search about symbolism in other art form, get inspired by movies, books, videos games, people, objects, design etc… Humans are good at making creative stuff, it feed the spirit.

Now on ressources ( That i use or have used )

My personal pinterest board for visual reference

Scan of morpho, a good morphology book

Scan of morpho, about fat and muscles

Post with resources about fat

Tips about character design

Links to Kasey golden Chanels for cartoon inspiration and material review

Post about shapes designs

Hope this can be of help !!

[greenhorn-art]

Prince of Shadows, Lord of Thieves by alkat

Fandom: The King's Avatar | 全职高手

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Category: Gen

Words: 1 929

Once upon a time, their exploits were immortalized by artists and writers across the tapestry of history. Once upon a time, they were worshipped as gods and reviled as demons. None of that stopped the Met from stealing all their shit.

About the Book

FONTS: Alegreya [Google Fonts], Lato [Google Fonts]

IMAGES: all art made by myself @greenhorn-art for this fic

MATERIALS: regular ol' printer paper (8.5"x11", 20lb, 96 bright); ~2-2.5mm binder's board; Neenah cardstock (8.5"x11", 65lb, bright white); Cialux bookcloth (black); waxed linen thread (30/3 size, white); wheat paste (1:4 flour:water); paste wax (from a friend, unknown ingredients&quantities, some kind of wax and turpentine/mineral spirits)

PROGRAMS USED: Affinity Publisher 2; Affinity Designer 2; Bookbinder JS | Renegade's Community Imposer (settings: Quarto, snug against binding edge, custom signatures of 2, 1, 2 sheets).

Text & QR codes printed with colour laser printer (duplex, flip long edge), images printed with inkjet printer. QR codes generated with LibreOffice Writer, snipped, saved, and inserted where needed.

BINDING: quarto (quarter-letter) size, sewn board binding with french link stitch and breakaway spine.

.

So this one all started because the visual of HST's outfit was so fun that I was possessed by a visceral need to draw it. Inspiration slapped me across my mind's eye, and much like a medieval knight being slapped in the face by a glove (which didn't actually happen, that's a myth that sprung from the throwing down of a gauntlet. but that's beside the point), I felt bound to take up the challenge. Which lead me to draw a few more, and then I ended up binding the whole thing.

(Also, I find it really amusing that the famous Terracotta Warriors were just storage for YXs stuff. And the gang going 'shopping' at various exhibits for gifts for friends/family,, like that sure is SOME window shopping! I can hear it now: 'Oooh I'll take one one those SMASH, and that SHATTER, and throw in some of those CRASH, they're going to love these! 😇'. All in all, it was a fun little read, and fun little project! :D)

About the Art

Because this was initially a one-off drawing I tried a new art style (and struggled to at least not stray too far for the rest). It was fun and helped me think more about shape and visual focus, instead of being caught up in the details.

The crow (based off of image ID: 4039963 from Rawpixel) and the red umbrella on the front cover were filled curves made with the pen tool. The illustrations' poses were based off of a combination of images found on Google and photos taken by myself.

Pinterest is awful for sources, but it would have been handy to pin the references I'd googled. Only remembered to save the one of a man sitting at a desk. (I deliberately searched for someone sitting with bad posture because YX is described as being "slumped" over the desk. I figure that since "the laws of physics held no meaning to ["cursed souls eschewed by the natural order"]", they'd also be immune to mundane things like discomfort from sitting hunched over for too long. Back pain images were a gold mine! All I had to do was choose one with lighting that would give me a silhouette.)

The Myriad Manifestations Umbrellas and illustrations were drawn in Procreate.

I opted for a more plain umbrella design because it's not (presumably) a fantastical weapon in this story. Though the initial version did have YX cradling the donghua!MMU.

For the scene breaks I inserted the images, pinned them inline as character, and adjusted height and baseline in the pinning menu to fit.

The author wrote one scene break differently than the others, using multiple empty paragraphs instead of just one. Following suit, I used a different image for that particular break. I wanted to reference vampires somewhere, so for that break I made two bloody spots resembling bite marks. The blood spots were made with a group of shapes in Designer.

On cover design:

Because the MMU is what sparks the whole heist, I wanted it on the front cover.

Earlier iterations involved a full cover spread with a man's shadow standing before a shattered glass case, with a plaque mounted on the wall to the left providing information. The plaque was formatted like a museum label and had the author, date published, title, event collection, and story description. I'd also added a QR code to it. Ultimately, I abandoned the concept because it was difficult to decipher what is was when only looking a one cover at a time.

My second idea for the cover would have been a bookcloth-only cover with a cut-out of the MMU on the front, acting like a window showing off an image of the MMU on paper below it. (Inspired by the work of a number of folks over on Renegade's Discord. Here's a few examples gleaned from a quick search: szynkaaa's lung cutouts, some of EHyde's books, and the front cover of Spock's massive all-in-one TGCF). As fun as that would have been to try out, I felt it didn't quite suit the style of the art so I nixed that too.

Eventually I landed on the back cover design with the Met exhibition webpage. At last, I felt that the back & white and simple-shapes-background went with the artwork. The webpage viewed on the phone is based off of the Met's actual website. I took a snip/screenshot of the Met's logo from the banner at the top, then looked at their exhibitions' pages and eyeballed it to create my own. (Threw in the QR because I wanted the easy access to the fic online on the back cover). I chose to use a phone screen rather than I computer monitor because it worked better composition-wise. And besides, while YX may be allergic to owning a phone, SMC is not. I imagine that she saw the news while on her phone then messaged him.

The front cover came together after that. An umbrella for the MMU, and a pop of red. One of YX's messenger crows. A black shape in the background similar to the back cover's, sort of creating a spotlight over the umbrella and placing the rest of the cover in shadow.

Trying New Things: Applying a protective finish to printed covers

Over on the Renegade Bindery Discord, folks have spoken about using a beeswax & turpentine/mineral spirits 50-50 mix to seal printed covers (thank you Kate). According to my dad that's just a paste wax, so he threw 3 different ones at me and said 'have at it'.

I tested them out using the same paper and inkjet I'll use for the cover. I was looking at 1) whether the paste wax affected the paper colour or print quality, and 2) the finish. After applying one coat each and buffing them out I had my winner. Then I applied & buffed two more coats to it and tested 3) water resistance by dripping tea on it. The liquid beaded up and wiped away without staining -- good, three coats will work nicely.

(Test results: Mystery paste wax from a friend wins.

The commercial SC Johnson Paste Wax Original formula (intended for woodworking) has a nice dry shiny finish, but coloured the paper slightly brown -> disqualified

My dad's homemade stuff has a nice shiny/satin finish and didn't change paper's colour, but it felt slightly tacky even after buffing it -- maybe I didn't buff it enough?

The gifted paste wax has a matte finish, didn't change paper's colour (in the image below this one has 3 coats. The paper is now slightly off-white, but still acceptable), and while not as dry-to-touch as the Johnson it was not as tacky as the other homemade stuff.)

When I print out my quarto covers, I print front and back covers side-by-side on the same page*, with some guides to ensure I'm cutting and gluing in the correct place. (The guides mark the boundaries of the covers and start of the turn-ins, and stop at the edge of where I cut. Before cutting I flip it over to mark the guides [see marks indicated in image below] on the wrong side and connect them so I can see where to glue/place book. Then flip it back over to cut, right side up.)

*I'm being economical here at the cost of possible warping damage. This layout means that I'm only using one sheet of paper, but the grain is running in the wrong direction (across the book instead of preferred head-to-tail/top-bottom). This could cause warping issues, but I'm OK with that. I'm hoping that by just gluing at the edges, instead of pasting down the whole thing, warping will be minimized. (I use wrong-grain endpapers most of the time with larger books anyways).

I applied the paste wax before cutting out the covers, working carefully to avoid accidentally creasing/bending the paper (which happened twice, but it was minimal and I hardly notice it). Doing so before cutting ensured that the cover material was completely covered. Even the turn-ins -- something I later came to regret. After all, wax is used specifically so that things don't stick to it. It made it rather difficult to drum on the endpapers because I was trying to glue something down onto a waxy surface. It all worked out in the end -- perhaps due to the fact that there were multiple layers of wheat paste which could adhere to each other, followed by being squashed in a press.

[miiukkaa]

How do you replicate the Rise style so well?? And animate so well??? Do you have any animation tips???

OOH POG POG, OKAY SO!! (also thank you ahh!!)

replicating a style

i feel the need to first point out that no one should do this to quote unquote steal someone's artstyle. being able to emulate a specific style is a good trick to learn for jobs in which you have to do just that (animation, comics etc.) i personally love being as canon compliant when it comes to fanart so i go crazy:

studying the source material! in general with drawing, you think you know what something looks like but when you draw it out, it may look weird and off!! this is when you're gonna want to hoard a lot of screenshots from the source material to study/draw over/redraw based on them. as you're drawing, you may realize that "WOW okay so i didn't know that part was so angled and sharp, i thought it was a near perfect circle!" (me when i first drew mikey's head fr).

repetition!! don't avoid drawing simply because you're thinking you're not good enough yet. art is something you get good at with trial and error so you'll only ever get better if you draw, draw and draw!!!! not only do you learn more with each drawing, you'll also get more comfortable with the overall process :)

(gonna throw in a mystery number three which is not really tied to replicating styles BUT!!! doing anatomy studies is a good way to improve your solid drawing skills fast!!! im linking my pinterest folder that i use for anatomy studies every now and then below the line to help anyone get started!)

animation tips

i'm like, 90% self-taught so i may not know the correct terminology for everything... but you're definitely going to want to study the 12 principles of animation!! there are a LOT of youtube videos available on this particular subject!! once you have gone through each principle, you may want to try and do little animation practices with these in mind!

i think ROTTMNT really kickstarted my personal learning curve as i'm just SO ridiculously eager to learn anything and everything i possibly can, i mean i have never in my life been so excited to just learn! i heavily recommend following the rottmnt animators' online profiles and go through their galleries/portfolios to study their work! it's all so amazing...

tldr, STUDY the source material and REPEATEDLY draw/animate and take active notes on what you could improve on, still. you got this!!! >:]

some links that other people have kindly compiled with lotsa references/tutorials and tips. i recommend eyeballing through them and checking out anything that interests you! :]

[lorezhaze]

🌟🪻 General Roleplay Inquiry Post 🌀

intro & info:

Lo, 22, he/they, EST time zone.

Very minimal triggers and limitations, 19+, 3rd person literate writing (at least a paragraph), discord only.

mxm or nbxm, I hardly ever do straight or lesbian ships (I’m just not as good as writing it).

I love world building and knowing the other character’s feelings. I also love getting to know my roleplay partners and becoming friends of sorts + a sucker for creating playlists and Pinterest boards.

NSFW scenes and/or undertones/themes at some point. I do like smut, especially paired with angst and certain dynamics, but if that isn’t your thing and our writing styles are otherwise compatible we can always keep it limited or fade to black.

CW(!): From here down, my plots or OC’s backgrounds may contain triggering content, I attempt to remain vague and non-descriptive given these are just outlines!

plots i’m willing to explore:

Stalker falls in love with someone, all falls apart when things go too well and their obsession crosses paths with them and they eventually go out, but break up. The stalker is determined to watch over their lover while also keeping others away from them until they “come to their senses” on their own time.

Son of a rich politician falls in love with a narcoleptic sex worker he hires.

Alternatively, an older man with a successful career, empty marriage and multiple kids ends up falling in love with a slightly younger intersex and narcoleptic sex worker, the first and only sex worker he hires (think Stan and Angel from Pose vibes).

Post-apocalyptic setting, final survivor of a run down camp continues to live among the undead of their loved ones. another survivor from a nearby camp stumbles upon the ruins of the previous camp while scavenging and sees someone alive on the other side of the fence, living with the dead as if they were dead as well. Day by day they come back, bringing their new things, trying to bring some life back into them again. 16th-19th century setting:

Enemies to lovers, a member of the royal family ends up falling for a knight that saves their life, unfortunately, this knight just happens to be the royal’s childhood enemy.  

The youngest son of a royal is 7th in line for the throne and has health issues, thus has no chance of inheriting the throne. in attempts to grasp onto any bit of power his father has, the royal marries off his frail and feminine son as a wife to a prince of another territory, an upcoming heir of a throne (loosely inspired by sporus and nero).

The King allowed his son (Lucien) to be abused by his painting instructor growing up, all this rage builds up and explodes when Lucien tries to convict his instructor, but the King instead pardons the boy’s abuser during a set of public trials outside the castle. Lucien, a teenager and young Prince at the time, kills his father in front of everyone, unintentionally becoming King himself from then on. Despite exiling his abuser after the bloody trial, the then Prince, now King is seen as cruel and scary, not to be crossed even nearly ten years later. Meanwhile, a citizen with a sick sister is caught stealing medicine. Being on trial with King Lucien is scary enough, but medicine thieves in particular are known to be punished heavily, since the Princess, who is one of the only people thats kind to the prince-now-king, makes a majority of the medicine available. During a public trial, the thieve’s mother pleads for his life and Lucien realizes that the thief is someone he knew, that he had recognized those fearful eyes from somewhere else. He was amongst the crowd when he killed his own father. He spares the thief, and allows the best doctors to treat his ill sister. As long as he works directly for him in the castle until his debt is repaid.

It is tradition for the royal family to keep their children within the gates of the castle and away from the public eye until they are grown enough to handle it. The Princess was introduced to society at the age of 13, but every year the reveal of their younger and troubled son (Lucien) his delayed for various vague reasons. Everyone is both eager and suspicious, which doesn’t help matters. This is when the royal parents essentially give up when the boy turns 21, allowing him out with no announcement to the public. While practically frolicking through the flowery fields, enjoying the feeling of the grass and the new sights, he has a love-at-first-sight moment with another boy (your character). This is just an ordinary boy from a hard working family, and since the Prince was never revealed, he has no idea the boy he’s immediately smitten with is the Prince everyone is eagerly awaiting to meet. That is until he finds out, obviously. Misc:

(Movie theme) The Hunger Games, two people from opposite teams. Queer themes; gay men, trans person called upon as their assigned gender at birth.

(Movie theme) 50 first dates: (OC: Meadow-Lane) - unfinished/rough draft idea.

(Movie theme) Ego: Character A gets hurt and temporarily loses their vision. While their wealthy parents look for a medical solution, they have them live in the guest house and hire a caregiver, character B, to stop by everyday and take care of them. Naturally, character a and the caregiver get close, but there’s a big problem: character A is a superficial, seemingly shallow and straight. As a result, character B feels pressured to lie about their identity and what they look like when character A tries to guess what they are like.

I’m more than willing to hear out any of your plots/ideas as well!

OCs (Pinterest boards linked!):

Lucien - Royal prince held under the control of his King father, struggles from physical and mental disabilities from past abuse. Abuse via paint instructor creating a complicated relationship with art.

Lena - Delusional obsessive-compulsive stalker with dangerous tendencies/habits, they/them pronouns (unlabeled).

Emrys - GNC bisexual man, caregiver, related to Lena (older half-sibling)

Celeste - Post-apocalyptic OC, unlabeled/gnc, 27, loses their mind after their family, friends and everyone else in their survivalist camp perishes, but continues to live among them as if they’re dead as well, numb and on auto-pilot mode.

Emmy - Intersex narcoleptic sex worker, 22, he/she/they pronouns. adopted into and estranged from a wealthy well-known family after their biological father died overseas and they were taken from their mother by the system.

Daniel Laurie - Cisgender bisexual man that typically presents as straight, coparenting his daughter aged 6, severe daddy issues and a hard past/upbringing despite being the only son in a wealthy family.

Damon - Cis bisexual male working crime scene data analysis by day while performing annual vigilante killings by night, hoping one day he’ll have somehow got to at least one of his past abusers that he can’t recall the faces of. Struggles with PTSD, paranoia and mild facial blindness from past abuse via his step-father and others he called upon.

Del - Cis gay male, bloodluster (custom hybrid species, more species info included w/ full bio). Mother died shortly after he was born and was raised as an experiment by who he assumed was his father only to escape after he attacked and ate him. Survives off human blood and flesh, doesn’t like to hurt anyone and is terrified of someone else just as awful as his mad father finding out of his existence.

Alexei - Trans hunger games victor from district 6 (transportation/metal-workers, modifying the district to work on the production of transportation as well as the train tracks to give them a little bit more of a purpose). name was pulled for the hunger games a few days short of their 19th birthday, which also sparks their journey with their gender identity + presentation.

Meadow-Lane: Severe short term memory loss, free spirit.. (more info coming soon)

Xena - Trans femme black vampire (more info coming soon)

feel free to inquire for full bios of characters!

fandoms/ships i’m willing to explore:

(bolded characters are those i’m willing to write as)

OFMD Izzy/Blackbeard Izzy/Blackbeard/Stede Izzy/Lucius Jim/Lucius

HANNIBAL Will/Hannibal

MR ROBOT Tyrell/Elliot

Candy Shop AU: No 5/9 hacks or fsociety, Tyrell runs a Swedish sweets/candy store that lately Elliot frequently visits for the same fix of cherry hard candies, and to steal glances at the good-looking store clerk. After talking it out in therapy, Elliot’s therapist, Krista, convinces him talk to him and be honest about how he feels.

Post-Apocalypse AU: After the world goes to shit whatever left of New York that wasn’t completely ruin down by the undead is primarily taken over by a few different groups. When Elliot’s group becomes completely run down with major fatalities, Tyrell’s group (which he happens to lead) decides to lend a hand to an old friend. Little does Tyrell know Elliot was injured in the attack, and little does Elliot know the infection is less straight forward than they anticipated.

UNTIL DAWN Josh/Chris Josh/Mike

(Post-prank, twins live) Josh is the openly gay friend in the group, Mike becomes curious after walking in on Josh hooking up with someone at a party and later can’t get it out of his head.

SCREAM Billy/Stu

Other beloved honorable mentions include: Killing Eve, Sally Face, Yellowjackets, The Wilds, Sherlock, Life is Strange (Nathan and Warren) and sometimes Harry Potter (Drarry)

[konigbabe]

Do you have any tips on writing fighting scenes?

Oh boy, I might. Will share all info that I've gathered from research while writing 'steal the thunder'.

Writing a fight scene can be tricky. It shouldn't be too rushed but be careful to not make it too long with repetitive action. If you go by word count, I'd say somewhere between 1.5k to 6k is a good 1v1 fight scene.

Now to the actual tips (hid it under "Keep reading" because it's longer):

Read up other people's fight scenes from their works. I tried that, unfortunately for me, I didn't like any of what I read but it might be helpful to you. I'd suggest to look up fight scenes within the fandom you want to write for. Ask around on Reddit or Tumblr if someone has any suggestions. But I don't consider this a neccesary step.

References - find youtube videos, drawings, watch fight scenes from action films to see how the movement goes.

I watched self-defence and offense/defense techniques on Youtube. Looked up specific types of defense like "attack from behind defence". There are lots of self-defense tutorials on YouTube that can help. Also Pinterest has good fight scene references. Don't be afraid to use the fight scenes from the original source and twist them. Add your own, mix it and blend it in.

Incorporate real martial arts influences. Pick a fight style(s) that would fit your character. You have Wing Chun, Tai chi, Kung Fu...

For example when I was writing the fight scene in STT, I used this X/Twitter thread from @/lightning446 as a reference. The person explains Kashimo's fight style as "influenced by Wing Chun". To elaborate more: "He feels through his opponents with economical movements using his hands...elbows and palms...combines with rapid punches." – I made sure to implement this fight 'technique' into the fight. I also watched Wing chun tutorials on YouTube to understand the technique and use some moves.

Mix action with dialogue. It gives you more space, helps you build tension and show the relationship between the fightning opponents.

Don't focus too much on feelings or detailed descriptions. Fights in real life are chaotic, rarely go "according to rules". Everything happens fast.

But still describe feels occasionally. B punches A but suddenly feels wetness on their hip, why?? Because during the movement, A managed to slash their side. They didn't see it but they did feel it afterwards.

Use their surroundings. Even in films and in real life, people tend to use what's handy as either a weapon, a shield or as a distraction. They throw stuff at their opponent, use sticks and bricks as weapons. Try not to stick to only fists or one sword.

Don't overpower one opponent. Make them have ups and downs. Make them gain the upper hand only for the opponent to do something that causes the character to lose that upper hand.

Do a circle: Character A starts the fight, is visibly stronger and have more advantages. Looks like an easy win. Character B picks the pace, finds a weapon, startles A and gains the upper hand for some time. A gets beaten. A gets up, swipes B off their feet, causes them to lose balance for example and gains the upper hand back. B gets beaten. And so on...

Give everyone strengths and weaknesses. No one's interested in reading a fight scene with an OP who obviously wins the fight every time.

Plan the fight, the "poses". Make sure the positions and counterattacks make sense and are consistent.

Don't make A get into a chokehold but suddenly they punch and kick B. Make A for example grab B's wrists/forearms. Hurt B, twist their arms etc...might step on their feet and throw B over A's shoulder. But punching someone that has you in a chokehold is nonsense.

Remember events that might influence the fight later on. B got stabbed in their right bicep?! Then their punches and strikes using their right arm will be weaker (or they won't use that arm at all to avoid pain).

Fights aren't fair. Connecting this to the previous point/tip. Make A strike and aim for the wound. Make them dig their fingers into the wound, make it hurt all big and pretty.

Another example: Character A gets their left ear bit/sliced off which makes them go deaf on their left side. Make character B attack from that side. A won't hear them...

Last thing - Give your fight a twist. It's not neccesary but it does keep the reader engaged and interested. Make it seem as character A is about to win but suddenly their plan fails...

Example from my STT: With a flick of your wrist, you send it slicing through the air. A blade of nothing. A thin line etches across his chest, traversing from ribcage to his already wounded shoulder. Nowhere to dodge now that he's standing between two metal beams. Or so you thought. He charges. The white of his robe tainted with scarlet. The cut isn't deep. A flicker of irritation crosses your features. Stamina waning; this could've been your last-ditch effort. The final move. And it failed. It makes him smile. A sinister twist of lips that morphs into a grin. Moving fast, his expression resembles one of a predator closing in on its prey. The ruby stain on his robe seems to accentuate his aura of danger, a stark contrast to the pristine white it once was.

I'm sure there are many tips on the internet that might be helpful more; but these are the ones I figured out myself when writing a fight scene. ♡

My biggest tips would probably be the "mix action with dialogue" and "incorporate real martial styles". These were the ones I enjoyed the most during the writing and editing.

Sorry for any grammatical mistakes, wrote this in one go without beta reading it.

[hypherr]

Hi, I am contacting you because I saw you mentioned somewhere that you have adhd, and I was wondering how did you still reached such incredible level. I have adhd too, and drawing has always been my passion also. But despite a whole life of practice, and doodling almost all the time, I always had a very hard time to understand anatomy and other technics, and because of adhd, I can’t focus neither motivate myself consistently to learn technics. I am also very inconsistent to draw proper illustrations, and also struggle to get things finished. Because of this, I have the feeling that I will never improve, and I gave up my life dream to become an illustrator. So, I was wondering how did you reached such incredible level despite of adhd difficulties, and if you had some helpful tips. Best regards.

Hey dude! Yeah, I can totally give you some tips that worked for me up until I got medicated :D I know a LOT of folks have to deal with ADHD, so I’m more than happy to try and give you some advice. 

I will preface that I tend to hyperfixate on things like drawing, so I put 200% effort into learning about it and I enjoy trying new methods of painting/drawing/whatever else. It’s still moreso reliant on the individual artist, but the below list is what I do and have done that kept me going:

Make studying into something that is interesting. By that I mean you don’t have to simply draw/study a pose for life drawing, you can make it interesting by drawing a character in that pose/doing that action so that it becomes something you’re more invested in instead of something you’re doing to just get better. I usually draw my OCs in the poses that I’m studying from pinterest or whatever, and it makes the process a lot more fun -

Do what YOU want, not what others say you should do. Not every style or process is for everyone. Stick with what interests you and it’ll make your ADHD brain happier. Getting trapped into the idea of “Oh, I should be good at line art” or “Oh, I should be really good at drawing in X style” when you’re not really interested in either of those things will bore you to no end. Personally, I settled with the fact that I don’t have patience for line art, I loathe using opaque brushes, and I despise having a million layers on my paintings. SO, I don’t do a line art pass; I just clean up my sketch layer which becomes my line art, I don’t use opaque brushes, and I keep my layers really limited. My way of drawing and painting is kinda unorthodox and I always have to explain it to clients when I send WIPs (I’m srs the way I work confuses ppl, especially non-artists lol), but the end result is always what they hired me for, so there are no complaints. Plus, I am MUCH comfier drawing and painting in my own “unique” way, and they’re cool with that. **NOTE: I still recommend checking out tutorials and such, but don’t feel like the artist who created the tutorial is god and that you must follow their teachings to a T. Ex. I love the artist kawanocy, and I have some Patreon stuff from him. His art process is too slow and clinical for me personally, but I still take bits and pieces from his teachings to incorporate them into my own workflow/my own art hacks. -

Only study when you want to. Naturally this doesn’t apply to you being in school for art (sometimes u gotta cry and just study away for an assignment), but if you’re not in the mood for drawing/studying, just don’t do it. It’s fine to take some time off!! I’ve had periods of months w/o drawing, especially during summer when I was in Uni. Sometimes you need to wait for inspiration to find u again -

Study from artists you admire and it won’t feel like studying.  FIRSTLY do not steal from artists you admire, just study their work. It is fine to trace AS LONG AS YOU DO NOT POST IT AND/OR CLAIM IT AS YOUR OWN WORK. DO NOT DO THAT. I REPEAT, DO NOT CLAIM TRACED WORK AS YOUR OWN WORK. IT IS NOT YOUR OWN WORK. IF YOU POST TRACED WORK, YOU ARE STEALING ARTWORK AND BEING DISGRACEFUL AND DISRESPECTFUL TO THE ARTIST. Tracing is fine for STUDYING ONLY because your hand follows the path of the original artist’s hand and you get a literal feel for how they work and where their pen goes. I don’t rlly do this anymore, but I used to, esp when I wanted to do some low-brainpower studying.  The main point of #4 tho is to not be shy abt taking bits of ppl’s style and using it for yourself. Ex: I really really REALLY admire the art of  @/xafeelgood on instagram. I am particularly in love with the way they draw bodies and faces. @/chenbearpig on insta has an amazing style too, and I love love LOVE the way he paints. @/kawanocy has a very beautiful rendering style, and his lighting is v dramatic and impactful.  Obvi there are more ppl I admire than just those 3, but those were a lot of my inspirations with art when I was in uni, and they helped shape my style and made me excited to keep pursuing art and trying their styles/painting methods. You have to find artists who make you excited to keep going, and just study their art a bit, or watch a speedpaint to see how they make such glorious art. It is really fun and I always enjoy trying to breakdown how they do their art stuffs so that I can try and do smth similar!! -

Don’t give a fuck about how fast other people draw, how good other people are compared to you, or your follower count. The most helpful thing I told myself this year that has sent my career and drawing/painting ability into the next level is, “I don’t care.” So what if other people are better than me? So what if I’m not the greatest artist ever? I’m still good. I’m still getting paid. I’m loving art again. I’m still trying hard. I’m just not getting that worked up abt art anymore. It’s HARD to not give a fuck, I know that, but it’s only art. It’s really not that serious. It’s not life or death. You’re just here to have a good time and work towards getting better at illustration/drawing/whatever, yeah? It’s so cheesy, but we all have our own paths to take to get to where we want to go. I have died inside realizing that people who are like 16 are 100x better than me already. I used to feel like shit and like my progress didn’t mean anything compared to how amazing other people are, but now? I just don’t care. I’m doing my own thing and I’m vibing and enjoying my drawing time, and that is all I can hope for!!

That is all I can think of right now u3u I guess a final note to leave off on is that all of these tips probably won’t 100% work for you, and that’s totally cool. Again, it’s highly dependent on the individual, but I still hope some of these thoughts and suggestions can help you find ways to make drawing fun and interesting for you. 

I hope you keep drawing and illustrating, my dude u7u that is the best way to keep getting better

[decaffeinatedartisthug]

Steal like an artist

One of the things that I found particulary difficult when I started my art journey, is the so-called “refernce study”. At first, for example, I tended, as I said in one of my previous posts, to copy every exact detail of my art references. Also, I liked to use artwork as my only source of inspiration, and not real life references. This one in particular, is the worst mistake you can do when you are learning, as real-life references force you to study how real bodies work. Also, they push your brain to memorize instinctively the real anatomy, and it gives you the possibility, in the future, to not use references at all!

Artworks are good references too, but only when you use them to study how the artist works and extrapolate some techniques.

So steal, but only like an artist! 

1. How to choose real references: this particular point is very important. How do we choose references? It seems like an easy job, but it really isn’t, as most references aren’t very good for your art. For example, let’s see this picture: 

this is a very good reference, as it proposes a very particular pose and natural lights (two things that beginner artists hate but have to learn). Meanwhile, this: 

can you see the unnatural lights and the very simple pose?

These are some pinterests boards and youtube videos you can use to see some more references: Drawing wiff waffles, Angel Ganev, Ergojosh, Paintable

2. How to learn from other’s art: as I said, artworks are an infallible source of ideas and tips. Do not listen to people that say the contrary: artworks are an incredebly important source of improvment if used correctly. How do we, however, learn from them? 

this is an artwork from loisvb, one of my favourite artists of all time. What I like about her style, is the shading and colors. Her palette is so varied, but never ill-fitting. Also, look at the shadows, how she uses them to make her art 3D! Through her I learned how shadows work in different poses and how to make your artworks more interesting.

3. YouTube: One of the many positive sides of Youtube, which is a huge platform costantly filled, is the unlimited number of art channels. Art channels are really helpful, and they are filled not only with tutorials, but also a lot of “sketchbook tours” and “let’s draw together”s. This last one in particular, is a type of video that i’m absolutely in LOVE with, basically because the artist talks about something regarding their art journey meanwhile drawing. They give helpful tips and make you want to draw with them. Another thing that I love, are Livestreams, basically because is the same thing as a “let’s draw together”, but it’s in real time, and you have the possibility to ask questions during the real composition!

Here are some videos you might like!

[2jaeh]

Body Paint | Wong Hendery

Genre: fluff, mature themes

Warnings: slight nudity, body painting ?, slight hair pulling, dirty talk

Words: 1,5k

AUTHOR SIN

Youre partnered up for a painting project with Hendery, when he has the the brilliant idea of painting each other...for the project Ofcourse.

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

You set a couple canvases onto the wooden floor of the studio you and Hendery had rented for your upcoming art project. It was for the varsity final exhibition and the task was to be completely experimental while perfectly collabing with your partner. Hendery, the quirky black haired boy you were partnered with walked into the room sipping on his ice coffee, 

“Any ideas yet ?” He smiled sweetly as he set down his backpack and walked over to the tray of paint. 

“Nah” you shook your head and sat crossed legged on the floor, “what about you ?” 

Hendery joined you on the floor before pulling out his ipad and you scooted closer to him to take a look. Your eyes widened when his pinterest board was practically filled with body painting art pieces, ranging from a back piece to a completely full body canvas. 

“B-body painting ?” you raised an eyebrow, 

“Yeah, I think it's interesting and it will perfectly showcase a collab as well as create something different from everyone else” Hendery explained and sipped the last bit of his drink. 

You wrinkled your nose at the screen, unsure of how this was going to work, how much body would you be painting exactly ?

“Problem ?” Hendery chuckled, leaning back on his elbows as he stared up at you, 

“How much are we painting ?” you scratched your head nervously, eyes still locked on the majority of his moodboard being close to nudity. 

“I think full body, front or back your choice” Hendery answered calmly, “I brought my tripod and camera so we can do it now, take a few pictures and edit it for the exhibition”

You stood up and Hendery discarded his coffee cup and immediately brought his shirt over his head. 

You stood up and Hendery discarded his coffee cup and immediately brought his shirt over his head. 

You stood up and Hendery discarded his coffee cup and immediately brought his shirt over his head. 

“Wait you're for real, don't we need to plan ?” you stuttered as the boy continued to strip down to his black boxers. 

“We should go with the flow I think it would look better if it was freestyled” He replied as you took in his confident semi nude figure waltzing around the room. 

You thanked the heavens you were in somewhat decent underwear today, especially ones that aren't too revealing. Hendery locked the studio doors and taped a piece of paper over the window just in case and began mixing paints as you reluctantly began undressing. 

“Don't be nervous, remember those people who were butt ass naked in our class two weeks ago ?” Hendery chuckled as he continued doing his duties. 

“Oh yeah that was really something” you reminded yourself of that dreadful experience. The only reason why you agreed to Hendery’s plan was because you were comfortable around him despite never seeing each other like this. He was an extremely sweet person and had always been respectful toward you and your peers. 

“Front or back ?” Hendery asked as he stood on the plastic sheet he laid out. 

“Back, I really don't want to be face to face with your uhm” 

Hendery burst out laughing when he realized what you were hinting at, “noted.” 

You gathered your favourite colours and got to work on his back, which was gloriously broad and honestly the perfect human canvas. Hendery hissed at the cold paint making contact with his skin but finally eased up when you began your workflow. It felt awkward at first but eventually became fun, as you watched your piece come to life against his golden skin. 

“I guess you're going with a darker style huh? I've always liked your work” Hendery mused as he lifted his arm making it easier for you to cover his ribcage. 

“I'm surprised you like it since your style is the complete opposite of mine” you chuckled, “its like good meets evil”

“I think that's why this idea is really going to be perfect, wow I can't wait to see the outcome of it” Hendery stretched up in turn making his muscles flex, which was quite...the sight. 

You were coming close to the details around the side of his neck and the closeness made Hendery really take notice of you, like really take notice. He watched you concentrate as you worked on his skin, your tongue darting out while painting was incredibly cute to him. 

Hendery had no idea you paid attention but you were definitely aware of him studying you and it kind of made you feel a bit more comfortable that you weren't the only one ogling. 

“Okay i'm done!” You took a step back and admired your work, “It actually looks pretty good.”

Hendery stood at the backdrop while you snapped a few solo pictures of him and showed off your artwork. “Wow it looks dope, those demons on my thighs are kinda sexy” he teased and you rolled your eyes, “they're supposed to be creepy not sexy” 

“They can be creepy and sexy, just like you” Hendery stuck his tongue out, “come on demon princess it's your turn.”

You and Hendery both agreed on a front facing canvas since it was a good contrast to your piece on him. You sucked in a deep breath as Hendery neared you with the brush and the instant contact made you flinch, 

“Too cold?” he cooed, as he carefully began working on your sternum area. 

“Y-yeah” you chuckled nervously as you felt his warm breath hit your chest, Hendery looked up at you, eyes slightly narrowed before his lips curled into a grin,  “I'm sure you can handle anything babe.”

Where the hell did the sweet boy from earlier disappear to and why the hell did he just turn you on with just his words ?

Hendery quietly painted away, making sure to steal glances at you and his fingers danced lightly across your skin. He was gentle, making sure to touch you appropriately at all times even though you wished he wasn't so courteous for a second. 

“Okay I'm all done we should take pictures before it gets messy” Hendery ran over to the camera and began snapping a few shots of you. You were about to walk over to the camera to see his work when he held his hand up to stop you. “Wait we need to take a few together! I just want both canvases to look perfect”

You nodded and stood back in place while Hendery set up a self timer and jogged over to you. Thinking it was just a normal picture you stood as you were before but Hendery moved your arm to caress his face while he faced the other way and wrapped his arm around your waist. 

“Art is sexy remember” He winked as you recalled that stupid line your fine arts lecturer once said. You bit down on your lip and got into position, feeling a sense of excitement of Hendery’s grip being a little firmer than before. 

Hendery set the camera up once more and this time you orchestrated a position where Hendery stood behind you, showing a good portion of his back piece, and you faced front while he and you and him interlaced fingers. 

“For the finale we should make out, and kinda show the aftermath of the canvas” Hendery suggested and bit down on his lip, “are you okay with doing that?”

“Eh yeah that's actually a good idea” You agreed and Hendery quickly set up another self timer. 

Hendery grabbed your face in his hands as you wrapped your arms around his waist and looked up at him. His bright eyes suddenly darkened as they drifted down to your lips and pressed them against yours. The kiss was heated, crazily passionate for two people who had no prior feelings for each other. Hendery’s lips were soft and sweet, you could still taste the coffee on his tongue from earlier. His hand moved to your hair and he surprised you by slightly tugging on it which caused you to moan into the kiss. 

“Oh you into that huh?” he purred, and sucked your bottom lip between his teeth. 

He made you dizzy with lust. One simple kiss and you wanted him right then and there. He wasn't shy to grab your ass either as it was the only thing he was thinking about for the past four hours. 

“I think the….shutter...went off” you tried to catch your breath as Hendery’s lips already moved to your jaw and his hand gently squeezed his artwork around your throat. 

“Mmm, oh yeah” He sighed and licked his lips, breaking away from you and made his way over to the camera. Hendery sat up the final shot for the messed up canvases finale and made his way back over to you. 

The two of you posed side by side but you both could clearly hear the other person panting heavily after that heated kiss. 

The camera shutter went off and Hendery grabbed hold of your wrist and turned you to face him, “So y/n, There's only one shower” he smirked, “...do you want to wash away our artwork together ?”

[harrysgoldenline]

okay so i saw one of these for niall but, one where y/n can’t afford harry’s life style but doesn’t like him paying for her and it’s just angst with fluff at the end?

Hii!! I got SO SO SO carried away doing this and it ended up not being too angsts so I really hope you still like it! And I’m sorry it took so long but I just got the inspiration for it and all just came to me at once! Thank you so much for requesting 💖

The Best Gift

The store was bright and flashy, yet somehow simplistic, the different display cases making the girl glance around quickly as she took in the new space filled with diamonds, pearls and jewels, although this being her second time here, only because of him, she didn’t think she would ever get used to it.

She felt completely out of place, walking through the luxury store with Harry wearing an ensemble costing close to three thousand dollars and she was wearing a dress from one of her favorite online shops costing her around $60, with that being a splurge.

“Anything catching those pretty eyes?” He smirked, nudging her slightly but still keeping his grip tight on her hand, guiding her throughout the store he has been through more times than he can count, “we got all day baby, try on anything you want!”

“I’d rather you give the fashion show.” She laughed, going up on her tip toes and kissing his cheek, “We’ve been in her thirty seconds and I’ve seen you staring at four different pairs of trousers.”

He gave her a small nudge, before leading her to a seat outside the changing room, due to the fact they got in trouble last time for having her come into the same one was him. He gave her a quick peck before he started grabbing his items, flashing her a wink before he disappeared into the short hallway and into the dressing room, giving her a cute wave before shutting the door.

She giggled softly to herself, biting her bottom lip and shaking her head, wondering how on earth she was lucky enough to have him as her boyfriend, be so lucky to have him be in love with her? It would never fully click.

Her eyes wandered around the shop, admiring the different materials and luxury items she could never even dream of purchasing. She wishes she could, especially dreaming of being able to buy something Harry would buy for himself and just be able to try and repay somehow for everything he has done for her.

Harry has taken her on so many different trips, gotten her custom gowns, designer shoes and jewelry and it made her feel terrible. For his birthday, she picked up extra shifts, stayed late, and did some babysitting in order to get him some new rings and a recording microphone he could hook up to his phone or laptop he could use instead of using just voice memos.

He loved it of course, wearing the rings all the time and enjoyed being able to get a better sound when an idea would spring up on him, but she still felt guilty. Harry would get her a thousand dollar bag and a matching diamond earring and necklace set.

Letting out an impatient sigh she stood and began wondering around the store a handbag catching her eye, well her dream bag really. She has had it plastered all of her Pinterest board and was just in love with it. She carefully ran her fingers over it, heart sinking as she checked the price tag and instantly retracted her hand, feeling wrong for touching it, so she just stood and admired.

“Okay darling, what do you think?”

The girl jumps at the sudden voice, pulling her back to reality and she turns to look at him as he is standing directly behind her, a large smirk covering her face as she takes in his appearance.

He struck a few poses, blushing a few moments later after some staff members noticed before shyly standing straight, giving her a quick twirl as he was dressed in grey wool trousers and a pattered sweater.

“You look so handsome.” She softly smiled, reaching her hand up and rubbing her hands over the material, “its really soft... I love it, absolutely perfect for you.”

“Thank you angel... now you go pick something to try on.”

***

After Harry trying on a few different outfits, and him forcing her to try on a dress (which she didn’t end up getting for obvious reasons), they were headed for check out, Y/N helping him carry his items to the counter where they both stood, her eyes widening at the price growing and growing.

“Hey Y/N, you wanna grab some smoothies from next door and I’ll meet you there and we can head back to my place?” He suggested, handing over the place pair of trousers, “I’ll be right there, gonna get the car pulled up.”

“Okay!” She happily smiled, “The usual?”

He nodded and gave her a quick kiss and she was off, entering the overly priced smoothie place nearly a minute later, quickly ordering their drinks and waiting over to the side.

A few minutes later they called her name, giving her the drinks and she left with a quick thank you, a smile covering her face when she sees Harry in the car pulled up outside, running over to the car with a smile and happily hoping into the passenger seat, handing him his drink with a kiss on the cheek.

He gave her a happy smile, stuck in a daze as he stared at the girl, a large dopey grin glued on his face.

“What?” She laughed, cheeks turning pink as she started buckling her seatbelt, “Why are you staring at me?”

“Just so in love with ya, sunshine.” He grinned, leaning over and giving her a long kiss before pulling back, switching the gear of the car and driving off.

She blushed, giggling to herself as he kept stealing glances at her throughout the drive back, “Look at the road!” She laughed, covering her face, “I love you but right now is not the time to stare, you’re gonna kill us.”

He grabbed her hand closest to him, bringing it to his lips with a quick kiss before seating it down on the armrest between them, holding it there for the rest of the drive.

Soon enough they were back at Harry’s, him grabbing the bags before she could so she just carries in both smoothies, scurrying in close behind him, following him into his bedroom where he starts putting away his new clothes.

“Darling, could you grab what’s left in that last bag please?” Harry called out from his closet, putting away his new sweaters and trousers.

“Of course!” She called back, walking over to it as Harry sneaks out of the closet, watching her reach into the bag.

She kneeled onto the bed, reaching into the deep white bag and her eyes widen at the feeling of leather, rather than the soft feeling of fabric, eyes looking up and meeting Harrys as he leaned against the inside of the doorway with a smirk, raising his eyebrows at her as if to urge her to keep going.

She shakily wrapped her fingers around the handle and pulled it out of the bag, an audible gasp escaping her as she quickly looked up at Harry, a proud grin covering his pink lips.

“H-Harry.” She shakily began, shaking her head as the images of the price tag overwhelm her memory.

“I’ve been seeing ya look at it online and when we went in the store last, then again today so I just had to get it for you my love.” He explained, walking over and sitting next to her on his bed, “Do you like it?”

She shook her head rapidly, dropping the purse onto the bed and covering her face as tears filled her eyes, knees pulling to her chest. Confused, Harry instantly took her into his arms as he got the complete opposite reaction than what he was expecting.

“I-Is it the wrong color? Shape?” He began, “We can take it back-“

“It’s too much!” She interrupted, “It’s so expensive! You cant keep… keep spending this money on me its not fair! I’ll never be able to repay you, we have to return it.”

“Repay me? That is not what this is about, I got this for you because I am in love with you and I wanted to get you something that you’ve been wanting for a long time. You’re always working so hard, Y/N. I wanna spoil you.”

She brought the back of her hand back up to her eye, wiping away her tears before looking up at Harry, heart breaking at the dejected face he was making. The girl leaned into him, arms going around his shoulders as his meet her waist, pulling her onto his lap, moving her hair out of the way and kissing her shoulder.

“Your love, Y/N…” He began, “is the most valuable thing you could ever give to me. All I ever want in this world is you and you alone, okay?”

She nodded, burying her face in the crook of his neck pressing a kiss to the warm skin before pulling back and looking into his eyes, “Okay.” She sniffled, “I-I’m sorry, I am- Thank you, Harry. I really am grateful, for everything, it’s just a little overwhelming.”

“I know you are, you don’t need to thank me angel. You got the sweetest little heart.” He chuckled, pressing quick kisses up her neck before leaning their foreheads together, “You’re the best thing to ever happen to me, no gift can top that… Although I do really love those rings you gave me.”

“They’re no Gucci....”

“Hey! They’re my favorites.” He grumbled, fingers digging into her hips as he pulled her closer, kissing her softly, “I love you so much, more than you will ever know.”

“I love you so so so much, Harry. Even without the gifts or anything… you know that right?”

“I know.” He shyly smiles, heart growing in size as he knows the girl in his lap is the one he’s been dreaming about, “and I know you’re the best gift because you’re my soulmate, Lovie. You’re my forever.”

[faefictions]

Lonely People | Ch 3

Pairing: Harrison Osterfield x Reader

Word Count: 3,360

Playlist and previous chapters can be found on my Master List (link in bio)

Wednesday morning, y/n groggily pulled herself out of bed. She still hadn’t replied to Harrison’s text from the morning before. 

She had felt bad about inviting him and Tom, just to have the shit show with Jace unfold. Her apology was sincere, but the morning after, she felt weird about continuing the conversation after he had said that they still had a great time. 

She pulled on a warm sweater and a pair of black jeans before rushing through a simple hair and makeup routine in her bathroom. By the time she was out the door, she had 15 minutes to get to class. Her walk was 10 minutes on a good day, but that morning wasn’t too nice to her. 

She was already 1 minute late by the time she passed the coffee shop she always stopped at. She figured since she was already late, she might as well stop. 

She walked into class 8 minutes late, her professor looked up from his spot in the front of the classroom. 

“Well look who decided to show up,” he called, the smile on his face anything but sincere. 

“Better late than never,” her expression mirrored his as she made her way to her seat, where Harrison was already settled. 

Her professor made his way over to her seat as well, gazing down at her as she pulled her laptop from her bag. 

“I thought we agreed the tardiness was going to end.”

“This will be the last time.”

“Somehow I don’t believe you. And quick tip, next time consider skipping the coffee. Might shave a few minutes off of your commute.”

She scoffed at him as he walked away. 

“Sorry I’m late,” she said to Harrison, not looking at his amused face while she pulled up the app she used to sketch. 

“That little interaction was worth the wait.”

They spent the next 15 minutes discussing style. They both decided to go for some more daring looks, hoping it would score them some extra points on the final grade. 

Halfway through the hour, they all packed up their stuff and made their way to the theatre building. The room they used to store costumes was huge. The walls were lined with endless racks stacked upon each other, all filled with hundreds of garments. The middle of the room was filled with circle racks, all containing various types of clothing. 

Y/n dragged Harrison over to a rack filled with jackets that looked straight out of the closet from a pimp in the 70’s. Harrison’s initial reaction wasn’t too excited, but as she searched, he was pleased with the few she plucked from the rail. 

“How do you feel about a royal purple?”

“I look good in everything,” he bragged sarcastically. 

“Oh do you now?”

“Sure do.”

“Would you like to test that theory?”

She started to back up towards a rack full of cloth that appeared to be colored like various animal skins. She didn’t break eye contact as she got closer, reaching for one of the garments. 

“I could make the ugliest thing in here look amazing.” 

She closed the distance between her hand and the item, pulling if off the rack and holding it out to him. Upon closer inspection, he found that it was a cow costume, udder and all. The only missing piece was a head. 

“I’ll be back,” he called. He disappeared through the door, going into one of the dressing rooms kept off the side of the black box that the theatre department occasionally held events in. 

Y/n continued to look for pieces she liked. She knew the assignment was fashion, and her portfolio had to be bigger and better than any other students. That meant she had to get out of her comfort zone and present more than one kind of outfit. She chose some interesting t shirts, sweaters, and pants, hoping Harrison would return soon to help her with her decisions. 

As she was going to search for some pairs of shoes, she saw the cow print out of the corner of her eyes. She met Harrison’s gaze, and the second she took in his appearance fully, she burst out laughing. He approached her, keeping a smug look on his face. 

She reigned in her laughter as he approached her, holding his hands out to present his full appearance to her. 

“You look ‘udder’-ly amazing.”

“I told you, I can make it all look good.”

He winked at her, sending a small blush across her cheeks. But she sent that flustered feeling away as quickly as it came to her. 

“So I found some other items, but I wanted to know what you thought. Want to go try them on?”

She followed him to the dressing room this time, waiting right outside the door while he tried on the full outfits she had laid out for him. 

They had narrowed it down to 3 definite outfits, but she was hoping for five.

They went back in to search for some more clothes, but y/n was getting increasingly frustrated with the quality of the clothes. 

"We're really scraping the bottom of the barrel now," she groaned as she pulled another button up shirt from the rack. It was brown with a darker brown pattern on it. It almost resembled the inverse of a Louis Vuitton bag, it was just 15 times uglier. 

"You just have no taste," she heard a teasing voice from the other side of the rack. She rolled her eyes before she stood on her tip-toes to see over the clothes. "Put a sock in it, Robin," she spat at the boy as he showed a rude, sarcastic smile.  

Y/n grabbed the clothes she had gathered and made her way back to the dressing room with heavy feet. 

"What was that all about?" Harrison asked, trailing behind her. 

"That's just Robin, the bane of my existence," she huffed, shoving the clothes into Harrison's hands so he could try them on. 

"He had some pretty nice outfits chosen."

"Are you trying to say he has better taste than me?" y/n asked, half offended, half chuckling. 

"No, just saying, it would be a shame if they somehow ended up in our pile."

"I'm not sneaky enough to steal them," she laughed, but he just winked at her in response. He handed her the pile of clothes and quietly made his way back into the costume room. Y/n kept her distance, but watched intently as Harrison made his way towards Robin. He pretended to look on the same rack until Robin ended up setting his pile of clothes on a chair. Y/n almost couldn't contain her laughter as she watched Harrison not so stealthily grab one of the sweaters and trip over his own two feet as he ran back to her. Luckily he didn't fall and didn't catch Robin's attention, but it was still funnier than the sight of him in the cow costume. 

At the end of the hour, they had found a full 5 outfits. 

Harrison sure had the cockiness of a model, fully convinced he could make anything look good. But his sense of humor and willingness to sabotage her competition were traits that y/n could get behind. 

They returned to the class room to get the rest of their belongings. Y/n was about to head home, her arms full of their clothing items, when Harrison stopped her. 

“Are you busy right now?”

“Well, I’d like to set these down, but besides that, no.”

“Would you want to sketch out some more ideas with me? Get ahead of everyone else?”

She took a second to think about it, but the idea of being ahead of Robin was too tempting, so she nodded her head. 

Harrison took half of the clothes from her arms and began to walk. 

They decided to drop all of the clothes off at her apartment and work in her living room. Sierra and Jace were both in classes and y/n figured it was easier to just stay there to work. 

When they got inside, she took all the clothes from his arms and took them to her room, telling him to make himself at home on one of their couches while she took the clothing and hung them all in her closet, hoping to prevent any wrinkling.

She retuned to the living room with her laptop. Harrison was eyeing the decor in the room as she opened her computer to show him some of her ideas. 

She had collected a plethora of inspiration, some saved on boards on pinterest and others saved into a folder on her computer. As they went through different possibilities, she crudely sketched out any ideas that came up between them.

Y/n found herself surprised by how much she enjoyed Harrison’s input. She wasn’t exactly used to working on projects with other people, but that had never been a problem. She usually preferred to work alone, and the stuff she could come up with was amazing. But Harrison’s input was extremely helpful to polish her ideas. 

A few hours and hundreds of pictures later, Jace and Sierra came into the apartment together. Y/n and Harrison were laughing about the picture she had pulled up. She was trying to convince him that the ridiculous pose was a must have for the portfolio, Harrison didn’t seem to agree. They were both still laughing about it when the door opened, halting the laughter coming from y/n. 

“What’s going on here?” Sierra asked, amused at the sight of her best friend on the couch with her new boyfriend’s best friend. 

“We’re working on a project,” y/n stated quickly, shooting both her roommates a knowing look. She knew what they were both going to assume about her being alone with a boy in their apartment, but she wanted to shut that down the second it came to their minds. 

“Sureeeee,” Sierra trailed off as she disappeared into her room, making y/n roll her eyes and chuckle in annoyance. 

Jace disappeared into his room without a word, and y/n hoped that would be the end of their interruptions, but Sierra came back out and asked for opinions on her outfits every few minutes, wanting to look good for her date with Tom. 

As they were trying to focus after Sierra had interrupted them for the fourth time, y/n and Harrison both jumped when loud music started playing from behind Jace’s closed door. 

“Well, so much for working,” she grumbled, pushing the laptop mostly closed. 

Sierra walked out of her bedroom one more time in a stunning red dress, not too fancy, but still beautiful. 

“That’s the one,” y/n said to her, smiling at her friends appearance. 

“I hope you know this headache is on you,” Sierra replied annoyed, gesturing to Jace’s bedroom door on the other side of the apartment. 

“Si…”

“I’m not going to say any more. Just fix it before his ear drums rupture. Please.”

Y/n just nodded her head, trying to avoid Harrison’s gaze. 

Sierra disappeared into her bedroom again, starting to do her hair and makeup. Her plans with Tom were hours away, but the girl could spend days trying to get her appearance just right. 

“So… I know you told me not to worry about it the other night, but seriously, what is going on with you and Jace?”

Y/n let out a frustrated groan, collapsing back into the couch. 

“If you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to, but I mean, you’ve got me so curious.”

“It’s dumb, really, he’s just mad about something that happened a few months ago. It’s a long story, but we just started talking again recently, thanks to Sierra’s meddling, but somehow it’s my job to make everything better, even though he was the one who got us into this mess, and I’m sorry, I’m rambling.”

“No, it’s fine.”

“But I will talk to him about it eventually. And I am really so sorry that you have to witness all of this.”

“It’s fine,” he reassured her nonchalantly. She breathed a sigh of relief as he grabbed her computer to pick up on the last picture they had left off on. She had successfully danced her way around the full story, something she was getting too good at. 

After another hour of looking at pictures, Harrison mentioned that he had another class to get to. 

“You should have told me sooner, I could have made you something to eat before you left. “

“What are you, my grandmother?”

“Growing boys need to eat,” she joked back in a croaky old voice. 

They both laughed as he grabbed his bag and headed for the door.

She didn’t really want him to go. He was good company, something that was hard for her to find. She was excited to be working with him on this project, glad that they were becoming better friends. 

Once Harrison left, y/n headed into Sierra’s bathroom to keep her company while she curled her hair. 

“So…”

“Don’t, Si.”

“I have to. Are you guys a thing?”

“No, we are not a thing. Why do you have to ask that every time a boy does so much as breathe in my direction?”

“That’s not why I’m asking. I saw you laughing when we came in. I… Well I don’t think I have ever seen you smile like that.”

“What do you mean? Of course you have. I smile all the time.”

“Yeah, but not like that. Well, I guess, when you won that contest in the first month we were hanging out you were just as happy. What was that for again?”

“It was just a photo contest.”

“Well, yeah, when you got the framed picture and the $100 check, I had never seen you that happy. And I haven’t seen you act like that since. So, as much as I love Jace, I am officially switching sides. I’m shipping you and Harrison. And you can’t do anything to change my mind.” 

Sierra was picked up by Tom around 5:30. She had probably asked y/n 100 times if she looked ok, each time getting a “You look just as amazing as you did five minutes ago.”

After Sierra left, y/n decided that it was time to try to talk to Jace, mostly so Sierra would stop bringing it up. 

She knocked on his door, but the music playing inside was too loud. She tried again, louder this time, but he still didn’t answer. She couldn’t tell if he was ignoring her on purpose or not, but she opened the door anyway. 

She was met with the sight of Jace lying down on his back in bed, eyes wide open and staring at the ceiling. One of his hands rested on his chest, the other hung off the side of the bed. He didn’t notice as she entered slowly. She made her way over the record player on his desk and turned the volume dial, bringing the level down so she could speak. 

Jace looked up at her as the music faded, but looked back up at the ceiling once he saw who it was.

“I was wrong,” she said reluctantly, avoiding eye contact with him. 

“About what?” he sighed.

“I shouldn’t have asked you not to talk about it.”

“No, it’s fine, we don’t…”

“No, Jace, I… We can’t keep doing this. So say what you need to say. Yell at me, scream if you have to, but we need to get it all out so we don’t keep going between ok and you hating me.”

“I never hated you,” he stated sadly, sitting up to look at her. 

“You don’t have to lie for my sake, Jace. I fucked up and I hurt you, it’s ok to hate me.”

“Peach…” he trailed off, not knowing how to react to her. He had seen her at some of her lowest points, but through it all he knew her as strong and relentless. But looking at her now, she seemed weak, and it hurt to look at. 

 He scooted over and patted the space next to him on the bed. She didn’t hesitate before taking it. They sat in silence for a moment, neither one knowing what else needed to be said.

“I could never hate you.”

“Jace, I’m not dumb. The way you look at me now, it’s like I’m the last person you would ever want to be around. And I mean, I get why. I just can’t keep going in circles.”

“Y/n, I don’t hate you. I just…”

“Just what, Jace?”

“I feel the exact same way that I did 2 months ago. But that’s my problem, not yours.”

She felt terrible. Here they were again, him telling her how he felt, and her unable to reciprocate. Sure she loved him, and she wanted to love him in the way he loved her. But she just couldn’t and it made her feel so incredibly guilty. But she refused to make the same mistake she did last time. 

“I’m sorry, Jace.”

“What would you have to be sorry about?”

“I didn’t exactly react in the best way.”

“You can say that again.”

She smiled and softly hit his shoulder. 

“I shouldn’t have yelled at you. I just panicked.”

“I don’t get why. You could have just said you didn’t like me back. I understand that. I was kind of expecting it.”

“I know, I should have.” 

“So why didn’t you?”

She stared down at the carpet for a minute, trying to come up with the proper response. Deep down she knew why she did what she did. But that wasn’t something she could talk about now. Not yet.

“You know what, actually just forget about it. I ordered some take out, should get here soon. I got you your favorite, so let’s just…”

“Jace…”

“If you don’t want to talk about it, don’t do it for my sake. I’ll suck it up.”

He couldn’t bear looking at her anymore. He had only seen her in such an emotional state when he would find her after she had nightmares. She always looked so distraught and it broke his heart every single time. He couldn’t sit there and be the reason for his pain. 

So he walked out of the room, leaving her sitting on his bed staring after him. 

The music was still faintly playing from his speakers, so y/n made her way over to shut it off before she slowly followed him out. She watched him quietly make his way over to the couch, but before he could sit down, she rushed over and wrapped him up in a tight hug. 

He was startled at first, hesitating to return the embrace. But he turned in her arms so he was able to wrap his around her. He knew that was her way of simultaneously apologizing and thanking him. Apologizing for being such a mess, but thanking him for doing his best to deal with her. 

And that was all he could ask for from her in that moment. It was what he has hoped for when he had initially confessed to her. So he was content with it now. 

The silence continued for the rest of the night. When their take-out came, they ate right next to each other, the only noise in the apartment was the movie playing in front of them. It was the most quality alone time they had spent since the incident, and they were just happy that the silence was no longer heavy. It was no longer filled with guilt or regret, it was just a silence. 

Sierra came home late to see y/n fast asleep on Jace’s shoulder, who was sitting on the couch watching a documentary through droopy eyelids. 

“I see you two are getting along for once,” she whispered, catching Jace’s attention. 

“Shut up.”

“Did you two finally talk about it?”

“Sure.”

“That doesn’t give me confidence that I’m not going to have to deal with this same shit in a week.”

“We’re fine now, Si. How was your date?”

“Amazing,” she smiled. 

(Add yourself to my tag list, link in bio)

Tags: @embrace-themagic​ @fanficparker​ @baconlover001​ @chloe-geoghegan1​ @chonisberonica​ @heartbeats-wildly​ @saturn-aka-six​  @ghostofdrfluke​ @calum-hoodwinked-me​ @peterplanet​ @mischiefmanaged49​ @bucky-newtlock​ @johnsambrosemcclaren​ @r3ader​ @lizzyosterfield​ @nicotine-sunshine820​ @hrryhllnd​ @itsjusttor​ @ciannemar83​ @emistrash​ @happyharrison​ @hiding-behindmy-glasses​ @thenoddingbunny-blog​

[wind-swirl]

Improve your art through your mindset!

Here are some things to keep in mind and that will help you improve your art, especially if you're a beginner.

1. Good art takes time

Don't expect to finish a good piece of art in less than an hour. If you want your art to look good you also have to be willing to invest time in it. Good drawings can take weeks to finish! So have patience and take your time for your art.

2. Copying

"I should never copy, copying is the same as stealing. Everything I draw has to come from my mind only." - NO. NO. NO! Quite the opposite! If you can you should always use references! Take whatever inspires you (photos, drawings, games, anime, creature designs, etc.) take whatever colors you like! Copying is NOT a crime or even a bad thing! Just make sure you always have multiple references ready - the more the better! DON'T just copy ONE image. Mix them together, add your own fantasy and make something new and unique! And if you're a beginner it is okay to even copy whole images for practicing purposes! In that case though you should not upload your practice drawings unless you have permission to do so from the original creator. This also counts for photos!

3. Sketches

Try to always make more than one sketch before you start defining the drawing. They can be really rough sketches that take less than a minute to make - little thumbnails with different perspectives, moods, formats, angles, poses, colors. They will help you decide on a composition that works well!

4. Research

Before you start drawing you should collect inspiration and references. Look through dA, Pinterest, Artstation, Google, whatever and find things that are related to what you want to draw. They will help you with #2 and #3.

5. Think about what you're doing

Try to find out why you're doing things the way you're doing them and don't just do them. Find out how people you admire do those things. Why did you chose this brush for painting? Is there a brush setting that might work better? Why did you chose this color? What could improve the quality of this drawing you're making? Don't stop asking questions while drawing!

6. Custom brushes

Yes these are great! I'm using them, too, and I'm using them a lot. But why do they look so good when some people use them and look crappy when you're using them? Because they are not meant to be the final thing! Personally I use custom brushes in sketches and paint over them in the process to integrate them into the picture and into my style. Example of not very good use of custom brushes: Wolf Sun Better use of them: Take My Home II (Yes, those were both made by me and they both use 90% custom brushes.)

7. Tutorials

Looking at them helps. We all have things to learn! If you don't know where to look, try these out:

The Ctrl Paint Library - A great collection of short videos that will help you with a wide range of topics. How to Draw Backgrounds with Character - Among the best things I've found on dA to this day. My Favourites - Some tutorials I found helpful. Or simply this: #tutorial  

[thelamephotographers-blog]

Double S

Alright. 

This is my first rant. It's currently midnight where I live. You ready for this stupidness? I don't think you're ready for this lameness. I mean.. dumb.

This is the original. This is the person who made me decide, "hey.. lets make a frikkin blog to vent all my frustrations with complete strangers on".

I often find things eating at me. When I upset people, I just want to fix it. My fault, or not.. I just want to make things right.

I am a young photographer. I looked up to Double S for the longest time! She inspired me as an artist. While I was in high school, I heard of her for the first time.. and ugh! She was wonderful. She was everything I aspired to be in the fine art portraiture industry, and more..

Now. Lets skip five years forward.

I messaged double S.. ugh. I just wanted to be a local photographers friend! I wanted to collab so hard. I wanted tips.. I wanted knowledge.. I just wanted a new friend who had the same passion and style as me. I was new to the area as far as photography went.

In my head... it worked out great.

Now.. Double S had ignored me numerous time. Hey.. thats okay. I understand! This lady is practically a photography GOD to me at this time. She's just... ugh. Serious goals man.

One day, I see Double S post a status. She posts Pinterest images in the comments of said status.. Its an outdoor boudoir. These images were inspiring! They were beautiful, and I NEEEEEEDED to be apart of this! I comment, going outside of my tiny bubble knowing I could be rejected. I say, "I would LOVE to be apart of this!"

Fast forward a bit.. and Double S and I decided to collaborate on this shoot. We chose two models! We were styling it, talking to the models.. and she took the business side over. Thats fine! I got say in it!  I helped choose outfits, and models, AND props...That was fine by me. She can totally have the contact with our models. I was just excited to meet her! This woman who went viral. This one all my friends had their senior photos done by in high school. I assumed, great. We have the contracts signed with an understanding of everything! All is well. There was miscommunication since the beginning.

Long story short... the day comes. I opened up to this photographer, she opened up to me.. It seemed a little weird however, she didn't have many friends in the industry. I was amazed at all this drama she knew about! I fed into it. I am so guilty. I listened, and was surprised. I could not believe the words she was telling me about these other photographers! Now.. at this point, I got Leary. I fed into it. She ranted, I ranted.. I listened. Dumb, Dummy dummy dumb dumb!  (I won't go into detail, due to privacy reasons).  However, we talked back and forth like friends. Joking about situations, people.. you know. Friend things. She had mentioned how she ignored my messages, and then one day saw my page and said "wow. She's actually pretty good." (This was the first and only nice thing she said about me) She told me she left so many groups, because it upset her seeing these people and how they made her feel bad about her own work. Okay, I totally understand. I wanted to relate with her. We had a convo about a local photographer who steals clients from others  (thats a whole different story... lets call her Nacho) after she told me about a few photographers who copy her ideas and steal her ideas... and this photographer (nacho) , to the T copies me, (we are talking outfits, location, and the exact spot and pose I did!) and others. Double S had talked about certain things this photographer does to copy her too! Wow.. I am so glad she understands me. I just needed to vent a little. It hurt me, being in a small town.. these things made me original.. and they weren't original after these things happened. She understood me! Wow!

Day of the photoshoot comes. It goes great. I pose a model, she fixes it. She poses a model, I fix it. It went pretty good. She made fun of me during the shoot, but eh. I don't take things seriously! I even brought my blanket for warmth, and ended up using it during the shoot. I took it as fun teasing! It was a little negative, but hey.. that could just be her personality, right!? Thats fine. I can deal!

Now, short time goes by. I believe around 3 days. Her and I talked super often, laughing about things, making fun of silly things.. It was like we were super close. I talked to her, explaining "Wow, I cannot wait to learn more. Shooting with you has already taught me more on posing the woman body!" Ugh.. I talked her up. I just continuously told her how amazing she was! I am HUGE on raising others up!

So, I ask double S.. "Will you second shoot for me?" It goes fine. My new light set wouldn't  work, she had a speed light.. ugh, thank heavens! Saved my butt. I am so glad the second photographer I hired (yes, hired. Keep that in mind) had a backup source.

Couple days go by. We edit a couple boudoir images, and Double S messages me. She was freaking out! Her images were out of focus! Her darn lens. I felt so bad. She asks if she can edit one of mine or something to post along with a few other messages, and I just volunteered.. "Girl. I don't care! I can do six or three doesn't matter, I was gonna edit extras because I love them hahahaha Girl don't stress"

So, I do. I deliver them. Okay, awesome.

I edit our second model. I post them. Okay, whatever..

I get a message. This models husband didn't like the ones I posted of her! Crap. He was fine with the ones double S posted. So, our model asked if she could pay me since I couldn't use mine. I did not even know where to begin.. so I agreed. I said, Sure. Just pay half of what the session would cost if you want since I cannot use the images of you for my port like originally planned.

Well. that was the wrong answer. I let double S know about it all.. and she got livid.

Crap. I did something seriously wrong apparently. I told her, hey.. you can have the money! She offered, I just figured it was good business practice. Nope. She was angry. She wouldn't chill out. She wouldn't let it go. I tried so hard, begging her to let me know what I could do to make it right. I just let her be mad at me, continue to make petty remarks until I finally was over it. I. BEGGED. HER. I pleaded. I kissed her butt. I didn't realize I did something bad. I asked advice.. every CLOSE friend of mind (again didn't mention the situation or names), agreed I did what I should have.. Yet.. I was just worried about upsetting her. She told me, she doesn't understand why this model would pay me, not her.. blablabla..

Now.. she kept making remarks saying it was her shoot, she should be paid if anything.. she did it all. She posed. She styled. Her idea.. I was like, WHOA. Absolutely not. That.. that was NOT true, and I told her every single thing I came up with. Now. After being ripped into, I had enough.. She made me feel like crap. She ripped me a new one.. I mean. Harsh.

I messaged a local photographer. He was friends with tons of people in the area! My friend T told me about him, saying he is super nice if I want to collaborate with a chill person.

I message him. I had messaged him in the past about random things! Trying to make new friends in the area I had moved back to.

The message read as following.

"Hey! I have a question. I'm working hard on modeling the female body this new year, I was wondering if there is a resource you prefer? I was working with/learning with another photographer but long story short, it didn't workout or we could steal T and do some fun stuff LOL

He replied:

Oh no, sorry things didn't work out!

so are you talking about posing? Or modeling in general?"

Thats it. It was great! No drama, no names, no obvious conflicts.. Him and I talked on and off for a couple weeks...

and then I start seeing more statuses from double T.

So, I made a blog post.. because I fed into it. I felt like I needed to fight back, since I knew she was talking badly about me. Statuses, etc.

My post basically said I collabed with another photographer after seeing these amazing Pinterest images she found.

Whoops, bad thing to say..

That escalated. Maybe that was bad of me.. I don't know. It was petty, but I felt the need to defend myself.. which, does NOT make it okay.

She made a huge post.. I get on Facebook. Guess what face I see? The second model. She took her out behind my back, doing another boudoir shoot of her. She posted this photo, and ripped into me in the post. I mean.. wow. No names, but obviously about me. She talked badly on my style, bad about my posing, bad about everything.. ugh. It was awful. I was so sad. I blocked her after messaging her, because I was so upset! I couldn't believe she did that. She admitted to it being about me.

Then, she proceeded to tell me how I have no idea who I am messing with, nobody cares about me, and she knows I've been talking bad about her.. WHAT!!?!?!?!?!?!?!? NO WAY! I had not said a single word about her. She tells me nobody cares, and blablabla.

She acted completely innocent. Eventually, I just said one thing. "I don't understand why you have to be such a mean human." I was so done.. I couldn't believe how nasty her words were. Letting me know how irrelevant I was, and how nobody cares and nobody would ever copy me.

She calls me. We hash it out, that was the end of it... or so I thought. Turns out.. this other photographer was the one she said I talked bad about her too. She pretended she heard about it from other people, which I mean.. was obviously not true. It was rough. Turns out, those two were talking about me behind my back. She didn't go into much detail.

Well. I hadn't talked to her. She talked bad about me to this photographer, and hey.. it bothered me. Should it have? No. She bullied me, and scared me into thinking she could Ruin me.. all for what? What did I do? Exist?

We stop talking. The last thing I heard from her, was her asking if I lost a lens cap.

I see her at the store, avoiding eye contact.

I made the decision.. that hey. If she wants to talk bad about me, good on her.. but I won't give her a reason. If somebody believes her.. then they aren't worth convincing.

I get on Facebook yesterday. Turns out, she blocked me. I can only assume it was due to the encounter at the store, or because I posted a status looking for a second shooter when she used to be mine.

Truth is? It hurt me. I still cannot believe something so silly arose. I begged and begged. I didn't want her destroying my name.. I was so nice. I let her rip into me. I did. Multiple times, before finally standing up for myself..

Truth is? I am a people pleaser. I begged her. Literally, begged her. I begged her to let me know what I could do, or what I should have done. In the end.. those people will always find a reason to not like you. Count on that. I did things wrong, but you know what.. those people? Will always find a way and a reason to hate you.

I learned a lesson. You DO NOT need to please everybody. Sometimes, people will hurt you in order to heal themselves. Let them. Learn YOUR lesson, move on.

Is it dumb drama? Absolutely. Is it something that eats at me? Sure is. Is it silly? absolutely.

[christophergill8]

IRS' 2017 list of Dirty Dozen tax scams definitely has a 'Groundhog Day' vibe

It's Groundhog Day and for many folks that brings to mind the Bill Murray movie of the same name more than the Pennsylvania rodent who purportedly can forecast weather.

Bill Murray as weatherman Phil Connors in the 1993 film "Groundhog Day." (Photo courtesy Columbia Pictures)

In case you haven't seen it, in the 1993 Harold Ramis movie Murray is a television weatherman who, after being dispatched to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, on Feb. 2 to cover groundhog Punxsutawney Phil's emergence from his burrow, finds himself living the same day over and over and over again.

Murray's character Phil (we see what you did there, movie makers) is the only person in his world who knows this is happening. The movie has become pop culture shorthand for finding yourself doing the same thing over and over and over.

Groundhog Day tax scam repeats: That's the feeling taxpayers are getting this week as the Internal Revenue Service has started issuing announcements of the scams that make the agency's 2017 Dirty Dozen list.

The Dirty Dozen is the annual compilation of the 12 worst and/or most prevalent scams and cons perpetrated upon taxpayers.

As it did last year, the IRS is releasing the 12 scams separately. So far, two have been identified.

And so far, the 2017 Dirty Dozen list looks a lot like the 2016 version.

Phishing still reeling in victims: Fake emails or websites still are a major tactic of crooks looking to steal personal and tax information, so much so that the IRS put these phishing schemes on the latest list of Dirty Dozen tax scams.

The IRS says it saw a big spike in phishing and malware incidents during the 2016 tax season. And already this year, new and evolving phishing schemes have appeared as scammers try to confuse taxpayers during filing season.

Email schemes in recent weeks have targeted tax professionals, schools, payroll and human resources personnel, schools and all of us plain old taxpayers.

Typically, criminals pose as a person or organization the taxpayer trusts or recognizes. To this end, they may hack an email account and send mass emails under another person's name or pose as a bank, credit card company, tax software provider or government agency.

Criminals also go to great lengths to create websites that appear legitimate but contain phony log-in pages. Once there, the aim is to get victims to provide passwords, Social Security numbers and other information that can lead to identity theft.

Even if you don't enter your tax or other personal info, scam emails and websites can infect victims' computers with malware without the user knowing it. This can give the criminal access to the device, enabling them to access sensitive files or track keyboard strokes, exposing login information.

"These email schemes continue to evolve and can fool even the most cautious person. Email messages can look like they come from the IRS or others in the tax community," notes IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. "Taxpayers should avoid opening surprise emails or clicking on web links claiming to be from the IRS. Don't be fooled by unexpected emails about big refunds, tax bills or requesting personal information. That's not how the IRS communicates with taxpayers."

Not IRS calling: Then there's the persistent telephone tax scam. Although a raid at an Indian call center last year put a dent in this scam, the IRS says it remains a major threat to taxpayers.

During filing season, the IRS generally sees a surge in scam phone calls in which criminals impersonating IRS agents make aggressive and threatening phone calls to potential victims. I've gotten more than half a dozen of them.

The fake tax agents typically threaten police arrest, deportation, license revocation and other things if the call recipient doesn't send payment, usually on a prepaid card, for a fake overdue tax bill. Others fake IRS agents try the carrot, saying that if you can prove who you are by providing personal and tax date, they will send you a tax refund that you are due.

"Don't be fooled by surprise phone calls by criminals impersonating IRS agents with threats or promises of a big refund if you provide them with your private information," says Koskinen. "If you're surprised to get a call from the IRS, it almost certainly isn't the real IRS. We generally initially contact taxpayers by mail."

Scams ahead: Judging from these fist two items on the 2017 Dirty Dozen tax scams list, it likely will look a whole lot like last year's version.

Here's the full 2016 offenders list:

Identity theft

Phone scams

Phishing

Return preparer fraud

Offshore accounts

Inflated refund claims  

Fake charities    

Falsely padding deductions   

Excessive business credit claims  

Falsifying income to claim tax credits

Abusive tax shelters    

Frivolous tax arguments.

Don't be a scam victim: The bottom line to beating tax identity thieves this year is the same as it was last year.

Be skeptical. Don't take a caller's word for any tax claim.

Don't reply to any calls or emails about taxes without first confirming that the communique came from a legitimate source.

Contact the IRS directly if you think you might owe taxes. It's better to get out in front of an overdue tax bill and make arrangements to pay Uncle Sam rather than fall for a crook's line and send him the money instead.

Today's Daily Tax Tip also has some advice on how you can protect your tax identity.

Finally, keep reading the ol' blog. As the IRS releases the rest of its 2017 Dirty Dozen tax scams, I'll post them here.

Weather scam: One final rant here, this one about that large ground squirrel up in Pennsylvania. I am holding the critter personally responsible for the 30-degree temperature difference today.

Chilling with a martini is probably as effective a use of the groundhog's time as trying to get the animal to predict the weather! (Photo from Groundhog Greetings Pinterest board)

We went from 83 degrees yesterday here in Central Texas, to the 50s today. I want my warm weather back!

And it's all a scam anyway. With all the TV cameras surrounding him, Punxsutawney Phil is always going to see a shadow, either his or one of his handler's.

Plus, as Murray's movie character Phil notes, we usually have another six weeks of winter anyway, with or without the early February faux forecasting foofaraw.

You also might find these items of interest:

4 tax cyber security tips from IRS, NY tax officials

Milwaukee Bucks' players, other employees tax data stolen in phishing scam

Phishing criminals pose as potential tax clients to infiltrate tax preparers' systems and steal data

from Tax News By Christopher http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DontMessWithTaxes/~3/QBp-129Qjbo/phishing-phone-scams-groundhog-day-style-recurring-tax-scam-irs-dirty-dozen.html