#I've always admired artists a lot so I wanted to try learning how to draw

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Drew WWX and LWJ after I finished my rewatch of The Untamed a few months ago. I have gotten marginally better. May this set a benchmark for what to expect from this blog.

June 2023 redraw, June 2024 redraw

[yan-lorkai]

Hi!! I loved your hcs of the Octotrio with a yuu that seems to only have a talent in art. I related to it a lot because sometimes I feel like I’m not good at anything else other than drawing.

I was wondering if you could do the same prompt with Riddle, Ace, Deuce, Cater, Leona, Malleus & the Scarabia boys please? If that’s too many you can just do Leona, Malleus, & Scarabia. Thank you 😊

.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡ A/N: I guess everyone has one of those episodes, huh? I've been writing for more than 8 years now and sometimes I get hit by the "aa but I'm only good at writing, I should totally try something" and then I try something new and hate it bcs I really love to write and nothing can compare lmao. Anyway, I hope you like this darling, I did all the characters requested too btw ~

.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡ Ace would be playful and encouraging, but his competitive nature would lead him to manipulate situations to keep you close. He’d play little tricks to make sure you stay dependent on him, offering "helpful" critiques that subtly undermine your confidence in anything but your art. His lighthearted facade would hide a deeper need to be the center of your attention, he is your muse, the one you use to practice, the who inspires you, making sure that you see him as the only one who truly understands and supports you, all while ensuring you don't realize how he’s subtly sabotaging any other talents you might want to try to explore, for he fears you will not want to spend more time with him anymore if that was the case.

.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡ Cater would use his social media prowess to make you art the talk of the school, ensuring your work — and by extension, his support — is always in the spotlight. However, his validation would come with a price, as he subtly isolates you from others, creating an environment where you feel your art is only appreciated by him and his curated audience. Cater’s charming persona would hide his darker intentions, as he manipulates your into believing that your worth is tied to the art you create under his influence, all while keeping you emotionally dependent on his constant praise. You're already good at other things, so surely you don't need to have another hobby, right?

.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡ Deuce, unlike Ace, would be fiercely protective of your artistic talent. He’d encourage your art with an almost desperate intensity, pushing you to try different brushes and pens, different scenarios and things, but he'd also pressure you to stay focused on what your good at, ensuring you don’t waste time on things you never tried before. His possessiveness would manifest in his need to be your protector, to the point where he'd become intimidating towards anyone who tries to steer you away from your art, that does not apply to yourself, while he think your drawings / paintings are very beautiful, he would not force you to make it more if you're having an episode where you doubt your skills and think you are good only on the art field. If you want to explore new things, Deuce will be by your side the entire time.

.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡ Riddle would be intensely supportive yet controlling, pushing you to perfect your craft while ensuring you don't stray too far from his strict rules, even more if you are already his lover. His obsession with your success would become borderline suffocating, as he constantly monitors your progress and enforces discipline to keep you on the right path, nurturing your already beautiful talent. To Riddle, your art is flawless, it's personal and have a touch of you in every drawing, be it digital or traditional. When you come to tell him about your doubts, about how you're only good at art, Riddle promptly sooth you with gentle words, albeit he is a little awkward while talking. He offer to teach you about whatever you want to learn but be prepared because he is somewhat a strict teacher.

.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡ Leona would admire your dedication to your art, and he would ask questions about it too, learning as much as your interest as possible. However, his possessiveness would be almost primal, keeping you close under the guise of protection, ensuring you don’t waste time on anything — or anyone — else. Leona would be dismissive of your attempts to explore other talents, reinforcing that your art is the only thing that matters. His control would be subtle yet overpowering, as he ensures your world revolves around him and your art, leaving you with little room for anything else.

.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡ Malleus would shower you with endless admiration, captivated by your artistic talent, even more if you were influenced by an artistic movement. He'll notice all the little details, the subtle way the traces converge, how the color scheme is perfect, the way the shadows and the light reflect. He is your number 1 fan, so supportive of you. However, his intense fascination would drag you into his lonely world, where your art becomes your only outlet and he is your audience - though he has your drawings framed and hung on the walls of the castles, so everyone can look at it and admire. Malleus may not understand your struggles and why would you want to pursue another hobby, but he can arrange anything you may want to try at least once, from singing and dancing to sewing and knitting, even the art of potion making, archery or fencing. He just know you're going to find something you like as much as your art, and if you are happy so is he.

.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡ Jamil would secretly nurture your talent, subtly guiding your creativity while undermining any attempts you make to excel elsewhere, he sees your art as something free and with many meanings - it makes him relaxed in some sort of way and Jamil wants to be a little greedy here, he wants you to continue creating more pieces, always keeping you under his watchful eye as you started drawing / painting. There's just something so intimate, so calming about it he can't wrap his head around. He loves watching you creating your art, feeling is guard lowering just a little. If you ever approach him with your doubts, Jamil take you to the kitchen so he can teach you a few things about cooking. It's a different kind of art but when all is said and done, it's just as good as when you're creating and make you feeling accomplished.

.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡ Kalim would be so overwhelmingly supportive and enthusiastic about it, showering you with gifts and opportunities to nurture your artistic talent, buying everything you may need to create your art, a new software? Sure, no problem, he brought the most expensive one too. A few new pencils and pens? Right away. You need more frames and paints? It will be here in a couple of hours. However, his naivety mixed with possessiveness would lead to unintentional control over your life, as he tries to keep you happy and close by his side. Kalim’s well-meaning gestures would create a gilded cage, where your art flourishes but your freedom is slowly stripped away. He would be oblivious to the suffocating effect of his love, believing that as long as you're happy creating art with him, nothing else matters, leaving you feeling trapped and not knowing how to communicate with him. He have done so much for you already!

[mistercrowbar]

As someone who's just started trying to learn art a bit later in life (I'm 29) I feel pretty far behind the artists I admire (such as yourself). Any words of advice for an older amateur who's just getting started?

Find your art obsession and keep drawing it! I've had a few friends start late and improve steadily just from getting into D&D and wanting to draw their characters. Learn the basics of anatomy so you can draw your blorbo. Then learn backgrounds so they have a place to be. That will lead you into perspective, then drawing objects, you wanna give them an appeal outfit so that gets you colour theory, etc etc. Just keep trying to answer a new "how do I draw X" question with each illustration and you'll improve.

If you want more focused improvement, try finding some local or online art classes. Drawing figures from life is always the best, then from photo, then from illustration. Pair figure drawing with learning construction shapes (boxes & spheres etc) and internal anatomy (all the little muscles). Do studies of other works you like to understand how the artist did the thing you find appealing. I don't have any specific suggestions for classes/tutorials/books, for me it tends to be a lot of, I want to draw [object] so I search for an image reference and slap it on the canvas while I draw.

Medium can make a huge different too. Digital art is cleaner for sure but the physicality of pencil and paper, paint and canvas, and other traditional media can be really fun and leads to more of those happy mistakes. And say you just don't like the lineart phase of an illustration, well, fuck it, just clean up your sketch and bit and slap colour on it and paint it up a little.

Lastly, this one can be really hard, but don't tear yourself down comparing to other artists or because your art isn't getting engagement. Try to find some peers you can learn alongside. Draw for a handful of other freaks who love your blorbo too. Try not to let the joy of art get sucked out of you.

hope some of this helps!

[hansoeii]

Several things: -LOVE your art, it’s amazing! Especially the one with Crowley and Aziraphale under the umbrella - which software do you use? Your art always look SO gorgeous (cheeky quote from GO right there lol) - how did you get so good at drawing?And thank you for encouraging other people to keep drawing and being so kind as I sometimes can’t help but compare my sketches to others and feel silly, but I guess it’s just a learning curve… Thank you so much for bringing your art to the world!😊

Thank you so much!!

I use Clip Studio Paint for drawing and Photoshop for small adjustments!

2. Haha thanks! Honestly...it's the hyperfixations. I managed to improve a lot in just a year because I've been drawing SO much cos there's so many shows and movies I became obsessed with that I wanted to create art for. So by drawing a lot I just naturally improved. For example these two Illustrations are just a year apart:

I actually didn't actively try to improve, it's been a while since I did proper studies (I just don't really have the time for it between freelancing and art school), it just happened.

But I can absoluetly recommend going on YouTube and look for some art tutorials if you actively want to start improving! There's some channels that helped me so much back then:

moderndayjames

Incredible shape language and super insightful tutorials on all kinds of topics! I learned so much from him.

Ahmed Aldoori

So many awesome tutorials on so many different areas of art. Love it.

Marco Bucci

Incredible tutorials on color theory and understanding how color works in general! Learned SO much from him!

Sinix Design

The OG tutorials I began learning from. I watched his videos religiously as a teen. I adore his painterly style and adopted it in some way, haha.

Ethan Becker

This dude sometimes drops these tiny art tips that just completely blow my mind and that I adopt immedietly. He's super entertaining but also such a great teacher.

And I can also recommend checking out this book by James Gurney if you want to get better at colors!

And for anatomy I highly recommend the Morpho books!

But improvement doesn't only come from drawing a lot. A lot of the time I don't draw for a while and just study the world and artists around me and suddenly I improved when I get back to drawing. Don't ever overwork yourself to the point that you don't enjoy what you do anymore. Take breaks and listen to your body!

I learned to try and not compare myself to other artists, which helped a lot. Through conventions and social media I made so many lovely artist friends and realized how we're all struggling in a very similar way. A lot of us don't even really know what we're doing most of the time, haha. But we help each other out, it's such a wonderful community. I think when you're not actively part of the community it tends to feel like other, more successful artists are some kind of art gods that have perfected the craft and never struggle. But believe me, all the artists you admire go through rough times all. the. time. Sometimes what they do feels easy and natural, other times (more often than not) it feels like you have to try and learn how to walk all over again and you start to doubt your abilities. I personally go through that so many times.

So what I'm trying to say is that instead of comparing yourself to the artists you admire, learn from them instead. Ask questions, befriend fellow artists, study the artists you enjoy and just have fun with it!

And finally I thought it would be fun to share some of my horrendous Johnlock fanart from a decade ago for some motivation:

I hope my answer didn't overwhelm you, but I thoight it would be nice to give a more detailed answer!

Have a wonderful day and keep drawing! :)

[thezenanna]

Your bridge started to burn when you ran all across it.

Patreon | prints | portfolio | commission | Buy Me a Coffee

story behind this weird erie looking illustration (if u dare)

I recently had a bad fallout with a fellow tattoo artist friend whom I treasured so deeply like a twin sister (she looked exactly like me). I think it's neat when you're surrounded by people who are good for you (i.e, people who respect your experience, supports your growth, but won't hesitate to call out what you can do better as well as learn from you).

But it sucked when the person I realized was good for me wasn't at all genuinely good for me.

She burned away every single bridges down to the last one which is me.

If you bump the brightness on your device to max, you can faintly see an eye lurking in the background. It was a drawing I did of her eyes.

She was and still an amazing artist. Her personality was fierce unlike my soft one. People kept mistaking us as twins everywhere we went. So we started bonding like sister. I've always longed for an older sister figure in my life. She thought that I was much better than her actual younger sister. We made a promise that if we ever did something the other didn't like, we would say it to each other's face instead of hiding it and risk it piling up til one day one of us couldn't take it anymore. She was caring and helpful to me. I've always been attentive and treated her with utmost affection (more than my actual brother even).

I could say as many admirable things about here as well as her flaws. I saw her flaws but I looked away, or at least tried to think the best of her, such as coming up with some reasonable explanation for her unreasonable actions sometimes. I was mentally justifying her problematic behaviours with other people in other words. The way she treated other people wasn't okay sometimes, and I would say something to made her feelings valid and kept my actual opinions to myself, while receiving a much different story from others. It was working until it wasn't. I didn't see it coming because I would never thought one day she would direct those problematic behaviors right back at me.

She is a narcissist. I won't go into details what exactly she did to me, but it was enough to tell me that she didn't treasure me as much as I did to her. Hells, she never really treasured me at all. I felt deeply betrayed. I'm the kind of person who wears their heart on their sleeves, so the whole thing left me devastated for weeks, even a bit now still.

My girlfriend and my other tattoo colleagues who actually care about me pointed out and analyzed how she was gaslighting me and using me. She literally had problem with each and everyone in the studio and now me, the person who has been the most affectionate to her. They didn't want to intervene because they respected my personal life choices. My tattoo mentor sort of predicted the whole thing for awhile as well. I still would like to believe that she did actually cared about me at one point but then it turned into something else selfish.

All that said, I didn't regret loving her like my twin sister. I would not change all the things I did for her. I'm a firmer believer in love and kindness are what make people even though it sucks that some doesn't think of them so. My mentor asked me if I was trying to to fix her when I was close to her. I said no, I never thought of her broken to begin with. I just felt like she was so alone and she seemed like she lacked a lot of love, so I was happy to give her.

She could have been the greatest, but shame she just had to go burn down all the bridges and pushed out everyone.

That being said, I still believe in love and kindness, and will open the doors happily for everyone who comes into my life, even if it means risking my heart.

I'm most proud of myself for not quitting art, for still getting up in the morning knowing that I lost a sister. Even when I wasn't producing any commercial illustrations that benefit my career, just drawing alone has been quite meditative in helping me process my feelings peacefully, as well as giving me something to do, keeping me away from moping in bed.

[kokonoiis]

artist's admiration── ❝ maybe falling in love with kokonoi hajime was easier than you thought it'd be ❞

Ⅰ. tokyo revengers ft. idol ! k. hajime x stylist ! gender neutral reader Ⅱ. drabble / 1.5k wc Ⅲ. tw. slight abuse of power if you squint but also not really at all. Ⅳ. a/n. alright we're so here to kick off the bonten idol au that i've been cooking, of course i have drabbles planned for all of the members and some more characters than just the bonten idols so,,, let me cook let me cook. most won't be nsfw for now but the nsfw is coming i'm sure

" haji- what are you doing ? " kokonoi knew what that tone of your voice meant better than anyone else. he knew he had a few second in total to stop everything that he was doing, but with the eyeliner wand in his hand, he was already committed and had no intention of stopping already. it was just a little graphic eyeliner, it couldn't be that hard, right ? he swore he remembered doing it all the time whenever he was in junior high, so he couldn't be so bad at it. at least, no one came up to tell him that his eyeliner sucked, so that's all he needed for confirmation that he wasn't terrible at eyeliner.

but before he really got to test his hypothesis, you were already behind him, your arms crossed as you hovered over kokonoi while he squinted at the mirror, trying to really see what he was doing. " you don't have your contacts in, do you ? "

" no, they give me a headache whenever i'm performing. the fans say i always look mad whenever i'm performing so i don't want to wear my contacts anymore, " it sounded reasonable to him, but you just let out an exasperated sigh, reaching over him to grab the eyeliner pencil from his hand.

" if you can't see what you're doing, how do you expect to be able to actually draw a good wing ? " you asked, trying not to show your annoyance at his flippant nature, knowing that if you got into an argument with him over something like this, it could last hours or more, and you really only had about forty minutes to completely do his makeup now that kokonoi was fitted into his stage outfit. but, of course, you couldn't just let it go without being a little annoying about it. " besides, i've seen what you looked like in junior high.. i don't think you're, uh, practiced enough to my standards. whatever is on your face in forty minutes reflects my skills, so i need to make sure it's perfect or its my head on a spike. understood ? "

" not really. " kokonoi looked up at you through his mirror, shaking his head as you settled down into a stool next to him. you swiveled his chair around so he was facing you, and redipped the eyeliner wand, leaning forward to do your job.

" maybe i'll teach you how to do your own eyeliner when you're not going to be headed off onto stage, yeah ? " you mused out loud under your breath, that focused look in your eyes as your free hand took his chin and tilted his head so he was looking straight ahead, resting your hand there just in case you needed to move his head again. " then we'll have much more time to thoroughly teach you and it won't reflect poorly on me, you know what i mean ? of course i want you to do your own makeup if you like it, but damn, i can get fired over this. "

there were unspoken words that refused to fall from your lips, of course. you were a makeup artist first, and everything else came second. that included any feelings that you might have towards anyone you might be working relatively closely with. and kokonoi hajime was on that list of people you couldn't really afford to fall in love with.

you spent at least an hour or more nearly every single day with your makeup kit looking at his face all day every day, and with that closeness came natural conversations. you learned the two of you had a lot of things in common, like how you both really enjoyed sweet things and really didn't have a taste for anything spicy, or how you both enjoyed messing around with fortune telling from time to time. just small things about both of you that you've learnt over the span of your time as a makeup artist for bonten.

but no, you couldn't fall in love with kokonoi, it was literally your job on the line. the only reason you landed it in the first place was because you were in a relationship at the time, and it was an unspoken rule that a makeup artist had to almost prove that they wouldn't fall for their idols. lord knows what would happen if someone caught wind of your feelings for him, or if the wrong people snitched. those emotions weren't necessary for your job, so you cut them out.

while trying to push him away, though, he almost seemed to lean harder into talking with you, as if he'd never met anyone who he couldn't sway with his words one way or another. but you were stubborn in your ways, and you made sure that he was always aware of how hard headed you could be. and that stubbornness really was what kept you from really connecting with the romantic feelings that had sprouted for kokonoi.

" you're staring. "

you blinked a couple of times, your eyes widening slightly before you narrowed them again, dragging the eyeliner across his lid. " well, yeah, i'm trying to fix what you did. " the lie was effortless, but not perfect, especially since he really only made one simple line and it really wasn't going to be hard to fix at all.

" uh huh, " kokonoi found himself laughing softly, a knowing smile on his face. " if i didn't know any better, i'd say you're falling for me. "

" me ? falling for you ? no, never, " you denied it pretty adamantly, turning his head so you didn't have to fight with filling in the pretty thick wing that you gave him. the rest of his makeup was simple, so you wanted the wing to be the standout point this time. he had monolids, so the bat technique was your favorite to use on him, and it worked pretty well as long as he could sit for the extra time while you filled it in with the fine tip of the wand.

you kinda liked how he never fought back with you as you moved his head from time to time, your hand sat on his chin comfortably. it gave you some sense of power and made you feel a certain way whenever he looked up at you and the two of you made eye contact with each other. but.. that didn't mean you were falling for him. " i'm your makeup artist, koko. "

" and you're pretty, " kokonoi had whispered immediately, as if he didn't even think before he spoke. " i think you're pretty. and i spend quite a long time looking at your face while you're doing my makeup. you always have this one crease in the middle of your brows-- "

" alright, alright, koko, i got your point ! stupid.. "

" what ? i just complimented you and you're going to call me stupid ? rude. "

you felt your cheeks heat up in embarrassment, trying to shake your head an alleviate the blush on your cheeks that you were so sure he was able to see. " you never asked me to compliment you back. that's like giving a gift because you expect one back, kinda rude, right ? " pulling away from him, you admired your work, tilting his head a few ways to make sure it looked good from all angles. of course, it was kokonoi hajime, he was going to look perfect with any makeup you put him in.

" you are a weird one, you know that ? "

" nope. i've never heard that one before a day in my life, koko. "

" oh, then let me be the first to tell you, " kokonoi grinned a little bit, leaning forward to press a small kiss onto your lips, throwing you off guard completely, but not necessarily in a bad way. you found yourself kissing him back within seconds, enjoying the feeling of his lips on yours. he tasted like the flavored lip balm he always applied before you did his lips, and you could smell the cologne he was wearing. were people looking ? you didn't know, and for the moment, you didn't care, either.

when he pulled away, he stood up, brushing off his stage outfit with a nonchalant hum, as if your world wasn't spinning because of him. " i think you're a weird one. but i'll see you after this performance, okay ? you'll have time to teach me how to draw my own eyeliner, right ? "

you weren't entirely sure how well he would do in your class, but you figured that the extra practice couldn't hurt. " uhm. yeah. i'll see you then, i guess. " you mumbled underneath your breath, feeling both deflated and ecstatic about spending more time with kokonoi where you weren't staring into his face trying to make sure that his foundation was even and making sure his eyeshadow was perfect on both sides. " and, for the record, koko. i think you're the weird one. "

" well, make sure to watch this weirdo perform his best ! " you would make sure to watch from the sidelines and silently cheer him on. maybe falling for kokonoi hajime was a lot easier than you thought it would be, and maybe you were okay with that. as long as he didn't ruin the makeup that you'd worked so hard on.

──kokonoiis 2024

[syaolaurant]

Hello hello, I love your work and was wondering if you'd be open to making a little breakdown of your art style?

It's really interesting to me and I love taking bits of different artists art style elements and incorporating them into my doodles to get better

Totally okay if you don't want to! 💜💜💜

Take care and have an amazing life ���💜☺️

Hello!! Thanks for asking 🤗 I'm not making a little breakdown of my art style I already WROTE A WHOLE ESSAY ABOUT IT!!

Sorry I exaggerated it a bit🥲🥲...

I was very happy to receive this ask, but at the same time I felt worried. Honestly, I didn’t know how to give you a relevant answer because  I don’t even think I have a consistent art style 🥲. Except for my usual chibi style which I feel most comfortable with, I feel my style constantly changes. So after going back to review my old paintings, I think my style is a combination of children's book illustrations and Japanese anime style. Many times I have received comments about my paintings looking like they are from children's books, and I agree haha, maybe because I mostly draw small characters in big settings and I usually use bright colors. 

My favorite artists:

My drawing style is mostly influenced by my all time favorite artists Heikala and Koyamori, I stumbled across their Insta accounts during my 1st year in college (that was 10 years ago) and from then my drawing style gradually took shape. I also admire Paulina Cassidy, mostly because I like her whimsical nature sprites theme. Recently I’ve been investing in Stephanie Law’s artwork, her coloring technique is so god-like that I hope one day I can reach that level…

Ideas and Inspirations:

Japanese anime/manga culture has had a great impact on my childhood. It was a dream come true for me to be able to pursue my college study in Japan. I think this journey greatly affected my current style. I draw lots of things from small doodles to funny comics. I'd describe my drawings as “silly and cute” since I love to make people laugh and I also live for the fluffs (Sometimes I drew angst too but it still turned out cute haha..). Aside from that,  I prefer making “storytelling” illustrations with colorful backgrounds. My favorite things to draw are tiny characters in big scenery, I like to create peaceful static moments that when looking at them help warm my heart and calm my mind. 

When making game fanarts, I usually take screenshots as references for background and imagine how the character will act in that setting. I just do what I feel comfortable and use my own judgment for composition … which… sometimes results in weird perspectives (and you know what I’ve just discovered the rule of third recently 😅…). 

Characters:

When it comes to drawing characters, I honestly don't know how to explain my style. I think chibi is my most recognizable style, apart from that I usually draw characters in semi-chibi (is it the right way to call it??) or simple anime style. I don’t usually draw characters with dynamic poses or movements ( that’s why I still suck at anatomy and expression 😩😩). I think I’m shifting from anime to a more cartoon style since I kinda have same face problem and  I’m trying to practice face shapes.

I think my character drawing style is most influenced by Akihiko Yoshida (who is behind many FF/Nier/ bravely default concepts), as I always draw my characters with chubby round faces and dreamy eyes. I made an example of how I usually draw my characters below.

Technique: 

Watercolor technique is quite complex so I’ll explain how I always do my paintings in another sharing post. I’ve posted part 1 of my sharing here. Generally, I love using bright, saturated tones and black ink brush pen or color brush to paint line work. 

. I hope I could answer your question. I’m definitely no expert, all the things about art I've learn was self-taught but I'm happy to help anyway I can. ���💕

And you 🫵🫵 yes you dear sweet anon! I wish you a happy life too!!!! 💕💕

[38sr]

Hi Lee Cree!! I love your animations and I'm a big fan of styled Art and animations. I wanted to ask you how did you develop your art style, what brushes do you use, and did you go to an animation school!

Hello Night! Thank you so much for your support! As for your questions, Imma go backwards haha.

No, I didn't go to an animation school but a private fine arts college in Massachusetts. They did have an animation program but it was so new (4 years old) that it didn't have any real resources for me. So I ended up teaching myself how to animate the way I like.

Second, brushes. I've already answered the brush question in a previous ask . Though I will be honest in that I haven't really been using these brushes lately since I am a fickle being haha. But in all seriousness, I'm very much a default brush tool gal 'cause I don't really believe in a "brush tool that will make me draw better." By no means is this targeted towards you, Night, but I want people who are reading this to understand knowing an artist's specific brush tool and settings won't suddenly make your art change. You still have to learn how to use that tool in a way that works for yourself. For myself, I don't need fancy settings and effects. I'm the type of artist that will take a Crayola marker over a Copic marker because I just need something that works and will bend it to my liking. But as of right now, I've been using the default G-pen tool in Clip Studio with default settings (7-10px) 'cause I just like how it looks. I'm sure it'll change again but my point is that please don't get too fixated on what brushes I use because it's not as fancy as you think it is. ^^; Last one, style. So lemme let you in on a secret, Night: I don't really have a style haha. This is such a hard topic for me to explain because I....don't really care about "style" but rather I look for how artists execute certain things in art. I'm just good at breaking down someone's style and figuring out how they execute foundational drawing cornerstones. For example, Tite Kubo (Bleach) draws the lower of the face longer (which gives a more angular, mature look) as opposed to Furudate (Haikyuu) who draws the lower portion of face shorter than real life (which make the style read more youthful). This is something I learned during my time in art school since I mostly took fine arts classes. We often spent a lot of time dissecting other artists work and trying to replicate it. So, I approach my work in the sense where one day I'll go, "I'm gonna draw the eyes like Christie Tseng" but then the next day I'll go, "What if I drew the eyes like Mitsuru Adachi?" My "style" thrives off of learning the visual cues of artists and seeing if I can replicate it. And once I do, I adjust it to fit my sensibilities so I can add it to my arsenal of "styles" haha. And, if you've noticed that's how I'm able to switch up my drawing between shows like My Adventures with Superman and One Piece. And at the end of the day, what y'all are seeing is an accumulation of years of analyzing, deconstructing and reconstructing techniques from artists I really admire and trying to mix them together into something that feels uniquely me. And it's always changing. I think a lot of emerging artists can fall into the worry of not having a "distinct visual style" and in my art journey that visual style is just a result of practice, experience and experimentation. Of course, y'all can probably tell I'm super influenced by anime but outside of anime I'm also inspired by western artists (like Manet and Degas). I guess what I'm trying to say is that when it came to developing my "style" I gave up of being a "stand out" which was very freeing for me back in college. It allowed me to study artists outside of my field and experiment with their techniques to create my own unique hodgepodge you see today.

[lich-loved]

I'm going to be asking a lot of artists I follow this question, but how did you develop your style? It SEEMS like most people find their style and stick with it forever, just making improvements and iterations. I tend to work in a lot of different styles because I enjoy doing that, though I know there are things I gravitate towards as well. But I wonder what your journey was and how you got feedback and improved while staying true to what you enjoyed?

that's a great question!

i feel like growing up on the internet - especially in the dark deviantart days - i was exposed to a lot of different art styles and had a lot of favourite artists whose work i admired or really wanted to emulate. so, i think my 'style' developed out of copying bits of other artists whose work i admired. i really loved (and still do) the desaturated, work of hamletmachine and the way that they use hard blacks and flat colours. that was hugely influential, when i first encountered it. other artists i like and who i think are a big influence are @skincube, @ston-henge, and @choodraws.

i think that some of what is characteristic of my 'style' also developed out of necessity. for example, i basically learned how to draw armor from getting really obsessed with world of warcraft, and i think people would say that fancy, baroque armor is pretty typical of my art now. other media has been influential too - d&d, berserk, warhammer 40k, etc.

in terms of feedback, i went to art school. i was fortunate in that nobody ever told me to 'stop' drawing a certain way, but i did get told to try different things, and I always did so, at least once. i don't really worry too much about 'staying true' to what I enjoy. i've been experimenting with a lot more black lately in my illustrations, rather than the clean lines that i think people associate with me, and doing more (bad) digital painting. I might get tired of that and do something else -- i'm not worried about getting 'stuck' in a style i don't like.

just to give you some idea about how much my style has changed, here's the same illustration, first from 2012 and then from 2018.

and then something more recent.

[meggahamicide]

Do it have tips on how you draw? Preferable your comic strips? Speaking of, are you a self taught artist?

I am indeed mostly self taught, been drawing since probably before I could talk. Save for the things I learned through a few videos online and some art classes in school, I haven't really had anyone to teach me how to draw. With that being said, sometimes, I wish I was taught by someone else simply because they'd be able to point out that I was doing things the hard way.

Maybe one day I'll do some online classes or something.

As for your other questions, I don't actually have that much experience in comics save for a few pages here and there. I know you're looking for something technical, but I can't give you that right now (maybe ask me in a year, lol).

However, I do have something else I think is important to learn that it to me a while to really understand (even longer to put to practice). So with that in mind and putting myself at risk of sounding a little preachy:

Try not to be a perfectionist!

I often find myself stuck in a loop of never finding a piece good enough, of rendering and rendering until it becomes overworked and loses the spark that made it interesting in the first place. It's why I tend to lose sight of why I create: to have fun and spread my joy and passion for art with others.

Having the skill to correct poses, expressions, page layout, and everything that goes between comes with time and practice. Being able to see mistakes is a good thing, but it's always beneficial to remember that your human. Flaws are part of being a person and often times makes your art more interesting simply because of its imperfection.

Next: Take your time and be patient with yourself!

So much of today's social media is surrounded by comparisons and I am no saint in this; I fall right into rabbit holes of comparing my art with that of someone I admire. All that really does is make me hate my own stuff and the skills I've worked years to improve. It makes me see all the skills they have but I don't. It makes me think that I should be at the same advanced level as they are, but I forget, and I think a lot of other people do too, that we are all on our own art journey. Maybe you started drawing later than someone. Maybe you just don't pick up certain skills as fast as someone else. Maybe you're simply younger than someone else. Maybe you've been on a hiatus and you haven't drawn in a while.

No matter where you are in your journey, it's important to remember that you are your own person, you work at your own pace. Remember to take a look back on where you were a few years ago, remember that improvement is not always instant, that there are things you can't learn overnight. There are goals you have that are bound to be difficult to reach. You're going to get frustrated and impatient and it might make you want to give up altogether, but for every struggle, there is always the satisfaction of success in the end as long as you don't give up and give yourself the compassion and patience you deserve.

Geez, this turned out a lot longer than you probably wanted to ready and I'm sure it's not exactly what you were looking for, but it's what I had to offer.

But as proof of my overly dramatic rant, I give you a drawing I did in March of 2021 to a current Wip that I've been working on, over three years of progress:

[copepods]

Hello, I'm here to bother you with my questions and statements as per that one post lmao

I really admire your art!! I'm really curious about your coloring process, your colors always look so cohesive even when they're colors that aren't neccessarily in the realms of things like "Complementary" and "tertiary" and all that other basic color theory I've learned about. I'm an intermediate artist looking to get better at color mixing and I'd love to know how you go about it :)

thanks so much!

i tend to favor the same sets of colors that i reuse a lot-- usually orange and blue in some form. sometimes i mix it up and use red and blue, or orange and purple (like below), or yellow and blue-- usually i keep it to 1 main warm color and 1 main cool color.

from there i just try and sort every element in the drawing into 1 of those colors. for example in this piece:

every element has been sorted into either Purple or Orange, so even though the drawing has a lot going on, there's still a sense of cohesion. there are plenty of objects that aren't either of those colors, like all the iterators for example, but they still have an orange filter applied to them so that they'll all have a similar undertone.

you also want to pay attention to your lights and darks-- for example in the work above, the central drawing is light, and the iterators are light, but spearmaster and the borders are dark. this helps separate all the different components in the drawing and keeps things from getting muddy. it can help to assign a certain color to light and another color to dark-- so everything orange is lighter, for example, and everything purple is darker. you don't have to, but it helps!

that's pretty much it! undertone is kind of the big key-- if you tint everything in your drawing with the same color, it'll look cohesive. keep the values distinct so it doesn't feel muddy (applying a black and white filter can help, so you can see what the pure values look like without colors in the way) and experiment!

[polarisbibliotheque]

So like, less of a suggestion and more of a question - I recently found your works and have just been blown away by the details (like, seriously, you're on the top of my favorite writers list) and just how... perfect you craft everything? I genuinely inspire to be like you, but the problem is that I've hit a rut - I'm super unsatisfied with my writing, and whenever I try to get back into the writing zone, I just fall flat. Is there any advice you could give on how to improve one's writing? What would be your tips and tricks at getting into that writing zone?

(Do apologize me taking SO LONG to answer, but I had some health emergencies the last couple of weeks and ended up in the hospital – I’m doing better now, chilling at home and trying to recover. My doctor is 90% sure I have Crohn’s Disease and I’m having many ups and downs trying to find a proper treatment that I seem to respond to. BUT…)

…I hope you are aware of how much you made me smile, blush and almost indulge into my teary eyes upon reading this. Hahahaha seriously, thank you SO much!! I can’t even thank you enough, I’m just in pure awe that another being in this big ol’ world we live in thinks so highly of my writing!!

I mean, not even I think that highly of my writing. Notice a pattern? ;)

One thing I learned being an artist – not only writing, I also draw, play the piano, write music on my free time/when inspiration hits, everything creative, I’m there, doing it – is that we’re never really satisfied with our work. We will always think we could’ve done something better, and we’re definitely going to be pretty “meh” about a lot of things we do – even when other people think it’s a masterpiece.

And that is good! We’ll always strive to perfect our skills! You just have to remember to appreciate the work you do even when you’re not completely satisfied with it. You will get to where you want to – but then, you’ll wish to improve even more! And that is awesome!

But hey, I do have some tips and tricks on improving and getting into that writing vibe!

For the people getting to the party now, my main tip on improving is here, in the first part of the answer for this ask! Now, now…

(long post below, as expected YEE BEEN WARNED!)

Regarding improving:

Read. A. Lot. Hahaha I know that’s quite an obvious one, but it’s really important. Personally, I think reading mindlessly just to fill a quota of “I read 25 books a month” doesn’t work. It works when you absorb it – when you allow yourself to plunge into the world of the book you’re reading, feeling the characters, the emotions, the settings… That helps you build your “mental library” so to speak! And sometimes you’ll find things and expressions you like that you might use both on your daily speech and while writing – for instance, I have this awful thing of saying “there’s a lack of wings to my words” whenever I’m speechless, because of Homer’s Odyssey. I freaking LOVE that book, I loved that expression, I use it all the time, and it has definitely bled into my writing.

WRITE! A LOT! Write bad stuff, good stuff, short 2 pages thing-ys that you go “hey that’s a good idea!” but you’ll never actually turn into a full story, random scenes, fanfiction, stupid fanfiction, serious fanfiction, self-indulgent stories, stories for your family, stories for yourself, stories for whoever wants to read or not, dreams that could be great stories… The point is to write. It’s much like drawing or playing the piano: if you don’t practice, you won’t get better and you won’t develop your style. The more you practice, the better you get! So don’t be afraid to write bad stuff, cringy stuff, or ridiculous stuff – or even stuff you thought would be awesome and turns out bad, or stuff you think will never turn into anything that turn amazing! One way or another, you’ll be refining your craft!

Identify what you like on writers you admire. I started noticing that while reading The Silmarillion. The Lord of the Rings is my favorite book since I read it for the first time when I was 15, but I didn’t pick up The Silmarillion until I was around 22 – and by then, I started underlining with a light pencil all the phrases I liked most, something my mom did on her old books when she was around my age. I then started taking a look at what I liked about Tolkien’s writing so much – and in other books too: what kind of phrases seemed to resonate more with my soul. Which ones brought tears to my eyes and a smile to my face. And then I notice I tend more to the unconventional ways of describing things.

For instance, instead of going like “she was beautiful, with pale skin under raven dark hair, blue eyes shining on her fair face” I tend to go for the unconventional, sort of eerie, not so much taken for granted kind of describing “her beauty glowed like the first pale star to glisten in the evening sky, under a deep sea of dark, velvety hair, making her eyes twinkle like sapphires with a smart look while carrying the light she kept in her soul”. If I had to, the second one would be how I’d describe Arwen or Lúthien, giving them that ethereal otherworldly beauty they have. It's also the one that evokes more feelings inside of me rather than just a mental image.

That’s why I try to describe some things in a different light. When I’m writing, I want people to feel something – but how can you describe that feeling of joy when you hug someone you love and the whole world fades for a minute? That’s when I go for the “his heart bled with gold while his hands never wanted to let them go. For a minute, time seemed to stop and there was nothing else but his heartbeat intertwining with theirs, beating as the same song – even if theirs was more melodic while his was more melancholic. It was that kind of tune that made his lungs not remember how to breathe and his eyes pour – while his lips reflected all the gold that cascaded from his heart.” It’s a quick (rather ridiculous) example, but I do think about some things: how when I feel like that, I tend to have a hard time breathing and I do cry, but it’s because I want to smile so much I cannot contain it. Then I try to describe those feelings with metaphors and poetic stuff because I’m a melodramatic bitch.

Jokes aside, it’s because I like that sort of writing that has that beauty behind it – or more of a melancholic approach. It’s what resonates the most with me and I adopted it, even if sometimes it feels too… Abstract. I like that ability of people piecing the abstractness together and having their own interpretation – and that’s what makes people have different feelings while reading the same thing.

Is this for everyone? Absolutely not. I bet some people despise all that poeticness I like to put on words to lace them like a painting, you know? So, the more you re-read the things you like, you’ll start identifying what resonates with you and you can apply that to your own writing!

And that doesn’t mean you’ll have to be locked on that writing style as well. I’m currently trying to finish a book (I hope someday I can publish it) which is a cyberpunk style story, with lots of inspiration from Cyberpunk 2077, Blade Runner, John Wick (yes, Keanu Reeves sends his regards) and all that poetic writing doesn’t quite fit there. I’m using more of a direct approach, but there’s a lot of existentialism and reflecting on overcoming grief, trauma, owning your own life and contemplating one’s own mortality – and that’s where that poetic, metaphoric, melancholic, bittersweet characteristic of my writing style comes into play. And then everyone starts cursing and shooting each other again :)

Having a style doesn’t mean getting stuck in it – it means knowing when and where to use it!

Now regarding getting into the writing zone:

I freaking ADORE music and it helps me A TON while I’m writing. It’s like setting the mood. I’m trying to be sexy, or mysterious, or having that vampire-y vibe? Depeche Mode playlist it is. Fight scenes? Metal and Electronic. I need to freaking focus and get to work without thinking too much about the music (or start dancing like crazy whenever a song I love comes in and there I am, dancing and singing in my room at 3 a.m)? Piano playlists – classic, modern, everything and anything, as long as it is piano.

Playing music that goes with what I’m writing also helps. For my cyberpunk book, for instance, I put on the Cyberpunk 2077 OST playlist/radio on, or I search for “Cyberpunk Ambience/Playlist” on Youtube and let it roll while I write. For my King Arthur stories (yes, still working on them), I put on Celtic music compilations, Enya, Loreena McKennitt or the piano playlists. For my vampire stories, be the medieval or the near-future one, dark piano, Dark Wave, etc. Perhaps searching for that one playlist that has to do with your story setting and listening to it for some time might get you in the zone!

I also usually write deep in the night. Because I’m a spawn of Dracula. After everyone at home has gone to sleep, I make myself some hot tea, sit on my computer, start listening to music and write. That’s because I know I won’t be interrupted, and I can do just that. Sometimes, I start writing at 1 a.m, other times earlier, other times later. Try to notice when your ideas seem to flow better and when you get more into the zone – but please, don’t be unhealthy as I am and go to sleep at a decent hour. I’m not an example here with my sleeping schedule hahahaha

Cringy moment: when I’m stuck, I act the last scene I wrote as one of my characters in the shower and, usually, ideas start to come in (and I have to get off the shower). Hahahaha now that’s just a weird one, but I have NO idea why, my best ideas arise in the shower. Water has a weird effect on me, so sometimes I just stand there with warm water pouring over my head and, lo and behold, I’m exiting the shower in a hurry because I just got my writer mood back HAHAHA so maybe some very mundane activity – like cooking, taking the trash out, cleaning the room – might be where your writer brain will come to life. You never know.

Needless to say, I talk to myself a lot, sometimes as if I’m talking to the characters. That is a very bad coping mechanism I developed when I was being bullied at school – I used to pretend Dante was with me when I was alone or something had happened and I needed someone by my side, so nowadays I have a very easy time writing this man. I started doing that with some of my characters, and that goes for repeating lines or part of the stories I’m writing to see if I can get un-stuck. It’s not the greatest of things, but it works. My neighbors might think I’m crazy, though xD

When I’m completely unmotivated or I keep staring at the blank page without being able to write, I try to immerse myself in what I’m writing about. So, if I’m stuck on my cyberpunk book, I watch some Cyberpunk 2077 let’s plays, I re-watch the Edgerunners anime, I re-watch Blade Runner, I re-read some parts of Do Androids Dream of Electrical Sheep? or I, Robot, I listen to Blade Runner’s soundtrack, I even try to play Cyberpunk 2077 (while praying not to get motion sickness or not having my pc exploding from overworking). If I’m stuck on my King Arthur works, then I re-watch the 2004 movie (may the gods bless Ioan Gruffudd and his wonderful Lancelot and Mads Mikkelsen as my beloved Tristan), re-read the 3 books on the Chronicles of Arthur series, listen to some Celtic music, research Arthurian stories for hours on the internet, search for my encyclopedias at home to see if they have something on King Arthur, read obscure translated manuscripts from ancient times on it … So, immersing yourself on reading, researching, listening to music, watching movies, playing videogames, listening to stories, watching series, reading mangas, watching anime, documentaries, going to the movies, basically doing anything that has to do with the theme you’re writing, may get you in the mood. Next time you sit down to write, it might flow wonderfully!

I don’t force myself to write, though. If I do, I usually can’t write a single decent word and I’ll hate it. If things aren’t flowing – and this I learned with my mom, who also draws – I leave it for a while and go do something else. Maybe I’ll have some warm tea, or watch a completely unrelated movie, or read my current book, or talk to my parrot in the kitchen, play some piano, draw a little, or just take a good nap. My mom says it refreshes the head and the eyes, and when you come back to it, you’ll be a lot more inclined to find things that weren’t working and let those creative juices flow.

I also have a very weird search history and I’m not ashamed of it. All writers do, and it’s better to have a weird search history than not knowing what you’re talking about, honestly. And sometimes, researching takes a lot more time than writing and might get you motivated – time spent learning is never wasted. Even if you’re learning what kind of dates grow in Greece and are offered to Apollo (bless his heart).

Sometimes, I write something completely unrelated, with a very different theme, and stupidly goofy – and that gets me back to the writing vibes. Sometimes there’s just this need of writing something for the sake of writing, and you just want something foolish to make you smile like a goof. It’s valid and it might be your ticket out of writing-rut-land.

Now some little uncalled for advices:

I spent too long being self-conscious and too serious about it. If it’s not your style, don’t force it. Some people need structure, other people thrive in chaos – know what’s your style and go for it. I hate planning novels, for example. But I will outline the main points of the story and the ending – the rest, well, the characters have to show me whatever else they’re doing, and I have to go with it. Sometimes there are huge arcs I didn’t plan as a main point of the story, but they pop up in the middle of it and they are important – I like leaving that room for impromptu writing/creating. So, find out how it works for you, not how it works for everyone else.

You don’t have to create masterpieces right at the first time you’re writing. Take my King Arthur thing-y for example. I wrote the full story when I was 15. When I was in college, I decided to re-write it. And then, when I was at work, I decided to re-write the re-write. And now, I just took all my files, read them, thought about it all, outlined a whole new story and decided to write anew. Not re-write, but take all that work and write as if I had never written anything before – in the original file, the main characters were 15 years old and in school, now they have their jobs at Universities and work on the secret society that is now a lot more fleshed out and built with loads of new characters around (including a new one I created yesterday after months not thinking about it).

If I hadn’t written the Twilight-sort of embarrassing thing when I was 15, I wouldn’t have this whole universe, characters and story to build upon nowadays. It wasn’t a masterpiece, but it was a good idea – and I’ll keep working on it until I’m happy with it. It’s been 13 years I’m working on it now, maybe when it reaches its 15th anniversary, I’ll be able to finally let it see the light of day!

Don’t listen to the “NEVER DO THIS!!” advices. Seriously. Writing is a form of art – and, as in all art, there isn’t a right or wrong. By all means, see what people are saying it’s bad and you should never do – I watch and read those advices so I can learn to be better too! – but don’t take it to heart. As Captain Barbossa would say, it’s more of a guideline than rules set in stone. Sometimes, something people say you should NEVER EVER do is something that works perfectly fine for you and your style of writing. Learn to make up your own mind: learn new things, listen to advices, but absorb those that resonate with you and leave those that don’t. That’s how you create your own opinion about things and how you find your writing style!

One fun thing to point out on this as an example: me, my mom, my sister and my dad ADORE reading. My sister loves Jane Austen, my mom is a super fan of Dostoyevsky and Russian literature, while my dad lives for Isaac Asimov and all things sci-fi. I love sci-fi, my mom can’t stand it. I read Dante’s Inferno in a week and my mom couldn’t get past the first verses. My sister can’t read poetry at all and is terribly bored by Lord of the Rings. My dad read my Chronicles of Arthur books and even told me to buy the complete the series. Me and my sister enjoyed Khaled Hosseini’s books a lot, but my mom never felt like reading them.

All of this to say: it’s not a matter of who’s more intellectual than the other, it’s a matter of who likes which kind of literature and writing styles. Some people are more comfortable with one way of writing or a certain kind of literature and can’t stand others – and that’s ok. Writing is pretty much the same. THERE ARE NO FIXED RULES! BE A REBEL!

If it helps you: character sheets. Around 8 years ago – or more – I searched and searched online for the character sheet that could help me the best. I had never done it before and thought it was quite useless, until I downloaded one and started filling the infos on my main characters of my Arthurian sort of story. Lo and behold, they became SO MUCH BETTER and that’s when I started rewriting everything: I understood all characters a LOT better and made better decisions when writing them. It doesn’t work for everyone, though, but it’s a lot of fun for me. Currently, I don’t use it much because I now know what are the main things I need for my characters to seem alive, but it’s always nice to have a reference when you’re writing.

My cyberpunk story, for instance, it has A BUNCH of characters with scars, different hair colours, different eye colours, the way they dress, birthmarks, cyber-implants, cyber-prothesis, dressing styles… And sometimes I get lost in it. So it’s nice keeping a character sheet when I go like “wait, she has burn marks on the left arm or the right arm…?”

And keeping a file on worldbuilding might be helpful as well. I noticed that writing my cyberpunk thing. The first thing I wrote was a huge file explaining the city, the factions, the districts, people’s styles, who are the viruses, the sub-types of viruses, the political parties, the police and secret police, the difference between artificials and organics, how does access to the world works, what is the Ocularis system, the most important corporations, their names, their owners… And all those things will probably never appear on this story.

But I felt a HUGE difference. Instead of info-dumping right at the beginning to make the reader understand how the world is built and how it works, I started it right at an important point in the story. No one knows anything about how things work, but, as the characters speak to each other, they talk about so many things that the reader catches things and pieces together how all things are organized.

Don’t try to explain everything. Tying with I said before, if you have a very good idea of how things work, how the characters relate to each other, how they react and how they think, you won’t need to info-dump. I usually think I’m seeing my characters going about their day and that is ALL I’m describing: what they are saying, feeling, thinking and doing. If I feel something is missing for people to fully understand, then I add something quite minimal to help. But I don’t overexplain: people are intelligent and they can piece things together.

Don’t go full Marvel movies and explain everything as if no one can understand unless you say it. Go Nolan and try to make people understand with images, feelings, glances, metaphors and such. It’s very effective in writing! (Don’t get me wrong, I do like Marvel movies, but they have become those kinds of movies that require little mental effort because literally everything will be explained in a huge monologue or through dialogue. You don’t always need dialogues – and if you say “oh that’s too ambiguous and people won’t be certain about it” that’s the beauty of art: it’s always up to interpretation)

Having someone to read and give you feedback might be very helpful too. I have a few friends every now and then I send some of my stories so they’ll read and give me an honest feedback. I try to listen to their opinions and refine my work – but if I think they critique doesn’t make sense, I thank them anyway and keep on doing my thing. Like I said, know when to take what makes sense and when let go of something that doesn’t. Also: feedback is NOT a personal attack. DON’T TAKE IT TO HEART. See it always as something you may need to improve – and you’ll improve quicker.

At the end of the day, writing is art. And all art is relative.

Your art will be great to some and horrible to others – and that’s ok! Again, learn to NOT make it personal (the critiques, I mean, because art is always personal and that’s wonderful, I think).

And repeat after me: you will not please everyone. The point is to make yourself proud. You’ll find your people along the way.

Do it because you love. Do it because it comes from your heart, from your soul. The world has become so filled with content, mindlessly created by artificial intelligence so we will keep consuming, that things have lost so much of their soul.

To make art, to write, is to have soul. If you have that heart, that passion in your work, it will show – and people will follow. When you sit to write, don’t make it a chore, don’t make it an aesthetic tiktok post, don’t follow the routine of this or that famous artist – do what you have to do and let your heart flow. Do it for you.

I think that’s the main advice I can give. Don’t do content to post on social media and look good, do your art. Push your boundaries, test new things, write in ways you never did before, but do your thing.

When everyone is doing the same thing over and over again, you’ll realize your words will stand out by doing what you want to do.

Again thanks for attending my TED Talk xD

[entropicbias]

i’ve always admired how you draw, what have you studied to get to this point? i tend to think way too much when i draw which has always been my downfall with it over the years

i get questions like this a lot and i never really know how to answer them. i guess i just look at pictures and drawings of things i like and try and replicate it with my own ideas. i think i also have your problem, where i think too much when i draw. something that frustrates me with my art in particular is inconsistency and lack of skill. so, i always have these really awesome drawing ideas that i feel like match my skill, but when i try and draw it, i can't get the anatomy or the perspective down. i have problems with consistency in my style as well, which isn't that bad. i think i view that last bit more as improvement and being able to draw whatever you want however you want is nice, but in terms of being able to do the first thing with an inconsistent style, it just drags you back. cause you have to learn anatomy two different ways. sometimes i'll read a comic or come across a piece of art i really like and go "man, i should learn how to incorporate this into my own work!" specifically with noses, for me. for a good year i abandoned drawing them because of a style change, and then i read a spider-man comic and got pissed i didn't have noses in my own style. so, i dunno. another thing i'm really sensitive about is my coloring and rendering skills, something i feel like i've very recently learned how to do. the way i draw relies on me winging it and is based on the fact that i've been practicing for years. so, i dunno haha.

i wish us both luck in our drawing ventures. take it easy on yourself, even artists you look up to don't have it figured all out yet.

[scribz-ag24]

Do you have a set process for coloring and rendering / adding texture to your art? If so, would it be alright for me to ask what goes into that process? I'd love to learn how an artist I admire goes about their work!

Omg I'm so flattered, I'll try my best to explain it!! ^^

Tho, okayyy, I apologize beforehand for how incoherent this might be, since I don't really have a set process at all and mostly I fake it 'til i make it haha. I'm the first to admit that I don't have a ver consistent method and that shows in how irregular in quality my art can look, even inside the general sketchy look.

(Btw sorry if some of the fanart i use for example doesn't make you comfortable but I've tried to find the best examples for each type of coloring haha)

I'll start with the brushes I rely on the most, tho I admit i made the mistake of downloading too many brushes and textures so I might use others on rare occassions xddd

These are basically the brushes I use the most. The "mezclador redondo" is just CSP's default paintbrush and I only tweaked it to find sth I liked and felt comfortable with for both lining and painting

As you can see here I only used one layer for lines and other three for each of the guys' colors. I colored it all with the default brush (tho unfortunately I lost the settings I used for this drawing in particular and haven't found them again rip). In drawings like this I just do a sketch, clean the lines (no lineart) and then paint it. After the base color I start laying out different hues to make the coloring more interesting.

This one was the same. One layer for coloring, manually adding lighter hues (see the more light and yellowish color on grovyle's left leg compared to the shadow) or darker tones. I try to add color to the shadows as well to make them feel less flat, and an airbrush in overlay tends to help with that (tho here I just used a brush).

Here you can see that I often paint over the lines on another layer to correct mistakes in the "lineart" lol. I also applied an airbrush (layer mode overlay) over celebi to make her more bright. I wanted to put this one to show that coloring doesn't have to be detailed to look nice enough. Here Celebi basically has no shadows at all but the tone of the drawing makes her look cute anyways imo ^^

In these two you can see adjustements over the full image again (yellow layer), but I also wanted to show that I don't have a set number of layers either, it depends on how many I feel like using. Again, sorry for the lack of consistency but im too lazy to have a proper method lmao

I will also use harder brushes and tone changes sometimes, instead of blending them with less dense brushes. I am also fond of adding hard lighting in some drawings. You can experiments with it on a top layer and delete it if it doesn't fit, so it's always worth a try.

Another thing I recommend is studying and copying artists you admire or like. Add things from their styles into yours, see how they work with proportions and try to use that in your own art. It has helped me a lot and, without looking to fully copy anyone's style, it does give you some ideas of how you wish your drawing would look, which motivates me (when it doesn't depress me lol)

Finally, the texturing isn't consistent either. I use one of CSP's/Downloaded texture packs, put a grainy texture on the canvas, set it to overlay and adjust the opacity until I'm satisfied. In these two images you can see I am not consistent in coloring even in the same comic lmao. But we are doing this for fun, so I think experimentation is always sth worth exploring ^^

And I think that's all I have to say. I don't control color theory at all, so I can't really explain how I choose colors. I look up some tutorials on youtube and pretend I understand lol. Ig the one thing I tend to do a lot is changing hues in a base color to make it look less flat, the same as with shadows.

Anyways I hope this was helpful or that it at least waas what you asked for haha. Thank you for the interest!! :DD

[nerves-nebula]

Are you ever you ever insecure about your art? And could you explain you answer to that?

Venting to you now

Drawing has taken a lot of effort for me, more than usual recently. I started working on something I originally felt really passionate about. It's more common for me to very quickly give up or get bored so I was really excited to be able to post some artwork. But I ended up not liking the result and I'm not sure if I'm willing to try something else. I've given up on trying in a lot of parts of life to try and save energy to do something I thought I was passionate about (art) but I am still lacking the motivation. The reason I reason I really wanted to share it was because I'm terrible with self-motivation. If I can't make at least one person genuinely go 'oh, neat' even for just a second and even if they soon forgot later, I'd feel like I'd have a reason to keep living (to keep making art). If the only people who'd see it end up disappointed I'd want to disappear.

It's not what art should be. I know it's value is like a person's. It's worth more than how someone reacts to it, right? But I can't apply that rule to myself. I should seek support from the people who 'know' and actually care about me, but I don't want their appreciation. I want some imagery status of a 'good artist' because that's what seems to give me dopamine.

I also wanted to mention how much I admire how open you are with your struggles. I want to be the same but I'm scared of people thinking less of me. I know that's dumb but I don't know what I'm good for if I can't make people happy. If I'm not going to be content with myself I want to not be a nuisance at least. I like to think that if I stopped caring about my impression on people, I'd be better off. But I'm scared that I'd have to learn to like myself. I don't like myself and I have no interest in liking myself. I don't see the point.

oh boy, this is gonna be a long one. also, don't take anything i say too seriously, i don't know your situation and I'm barely an adult. anyway, response under the cut

soo lately I'm less insecure about my art and more frustrated when things don't come out well. but i still post that shit !!! I'm still insecure if i'm doing, say, a project for homework, and i don't think i did as well as I could have, but in my personal artistic endeavors it's more about getting it done than it being perfect (for example, my webcomic! my motto is any comic made is better than no comic made and if people don't like that then it wasn't for them in the first place)

the thing about me is that drawing and art and stories is all i've ever had. it's my main form of interacting with the world. these days i make art the same way I live, which is to say in spite of wanting to kill myself. I would LIKE if my art was perfect, and i would LIKE to not be in pain. but i AM in pain and i have to live anyway, and my art ISN'T perfect but i'll make it anyway.

and i like when other people's art isn't perfect either, when it isnt super polished. I think that definitely helped. seeing artists whose work i fell head over heels for when it's never been more than sketches and a bit of shading. it really cemented in my mind that it isn't art being technically perfect that makes it worth while.

i've gotten a lot of people saying kind things to me, saying how much they enjoy my art and my blog in general. and though it doesn't always help, it sometimes inspires me to imagine the number of people who appreciate my stuff who might never mention it to me. I myself am used to lurking and not interacting very much (a habit I'm trying to change since I know artists & creators love feedback most of the time) i know it sucks to not know if anyone gives a shit for sure, but you really can't make that your only reason for doing art, cuz half the time you prolly wont even know if your art deeply affects people or not. it's fine to want that attention but you gotta have something else goin on too, at least I do.

i also know the fear of worrying that you'll lock yourself into something you don't want to do, or something you'll lose passion for. for me, I generally rotate a cast of characters & interests around for years a time before making significant progress. There were spans of times where I'd go years without thinking about loose stitches, but none of that time developing other stories & characters was wasted. it gave loose stitches enough time to properly cook, and the story is still developing under my hands as i draw it, influenced by my other stories and other characters.

it's ok to abandon something and pick it up again years later, or to never pick it up again at all. it's ok to hate the way something turns out but to keep making it anyway because you have to move forward (at least, I do)

moving forward despite not liking the original product is the only way to progress, I think. I don't super like a lot of the first pages of loose stitches but I'm still grateful that past-me posted them because that means present me is at page 76 !!

If I can't make at least one person genuinely go 'oh, neat' even for just a second and even if they soon forgot later, I'd feel like I'd have a reason to keep living (to keep making art). If the only people who'd see it end up disappointed I'd want to disappear.

the problem with this mindset (in my opinion) is that some people aren't going to like your art and that's got nothing to do with the art itself. if you want to find people who go "oh, neat" then you have to keep posting until they see it. trust me, they're out there. like, i don't post for people who can't stand the idea of child abuse, i post to FIND people who want to interact with stories about child abuse the same way i do.

it would be insane to stop trying to find those people because someone else was disappointed or upset by my art. which isn't to say you gotta lock yourself into doing one thing, but that you gotta post what you care about, and people who also care will find it. posting fandom stuff with the same themes as your original art certainly doesn't hurt either, if you REALLY want to find those people faster.

It's not what art should be. I know it's value is like a person's. It's worth more than how someone reacts to it, right? But I can't apply that rule to myself. I should seek support from the people who 'know' and actually care about me, but I don't want their appreciation. I want some imagery status of a 'good artist' because that's what seems to give me dopamine.

art should be literally whatever. it's worth is literally whatever you want, it can be a big deal or not. i'm not sure what part of being a "good artist" gives your brain the Good Feelings juice but I'd investigate that feeling more and try to figure out the roots of it, cuz then you might actually be able to figure out what it is that motivates you. approval is nice, yes, but i like approval for things i enjoyed making even more.

I also wanted to mention how much I admire how open you are with your struggles. I want to be the same but I'm scared of people thinking less of me. I know that's dumb but I don't know what I'm good for if I can't make people happy. If I'm not going to be content with myself I want to not be a nuisance at least. I like to think that if I stopped caring about my impression on people, I'd be better off. But I'm scared that I'd have to learn to like myself. I don't like myself and I have no interest in liking myself. I don't see the point.

i always find it amusing when people refer to my "struggles" if only because I don't really consider them that way. to me it's just like, a thing that happened that sucks. i don't consider myself "struggling" with it, even though I guess that's what's happening. also, let's be real here, it's not like I'm using my real name. this is an anonymous tumblr blog. though, my openess on here has actually lead to me making more art about it IRL so. eh.

anyway, lucky for you, you can stop caring about what other people think without necessarily liking yourself! for me, it's about spite (sort of). I don't like myself much more than I used to, I just decided I hated everyone else more haha. I still care what people think about me, and I'm still scared of what people might do to me, but I'm also not bending over backwards to please people i dislike. I just get annoyed at them instead.

i did this basically just by repeating it until it became true, lol. there's only so many times you can petulantly say "well fuck those guys anyway they suck" before it becomes your true first reaction.

at some point, i decided i needed to pick and choose who i wanted to please, because it can't be everyone. that's just literally not possible. so i looked at the kinds of people i liked and appreciated, and basically disregarded everyone else. it's the whole "don't take criticism from someone you wouldn't take advice from" thing (not sure where that comes from)

obviously you should probably try to internalize the idea that you even HAVE to be "good for something" but that's way easier said than done. i find it more useful to devote yourself to finding a few things (causes, people, philosophies, niche interests) instead of just general usefulness. because then you can form stronger relationships, be useful, AND not burn yourself out trying to please everyone.

take all this advice with a grain of salt though, I definitely need therapy and this Bitter Angry Defensive persona will probably need to be deconstructed soon... idk. i think it's outlived its usefulness to me but i'm not sure what to do next hahah.

sorry if none of this was helpful or the point. im not even sure why i wrote this much, i kind of just ramble sometimes. i hope you figure it out!

[soldrawss]

hi sol!! i love your art so much <3 do you have any tips for developing a style? i’ve been struggling with mine and i really admire yours!

ps i love how positive you always are you’re an absolute gem <3

OH GOSH you would not BELIEVE how often I get this question and I never have any idea how to answer it!

I've known since I was a kid that I want a soft, eye-pleasing art style. The kind that if you put it in your mouth, it would feel chewy and warm. Does that make sense? I also wanted a more American art style (since anime was so cringe when I was just starting to draw, I tried to stay away from the very cliche anime eyes and body proportions, and that sort of has always stuff with me)

I guess my biggest piece of advice is to consume a LOT of different media and take what you like best out of all of them and start there! I remember tracing a lot of my favorite artist's art to get into the habit of how they draw certain things until I could do it on my own! (Tracing is absolutely fine when you are starting out, but only as a learning tool. Do not post said tracings on any social media platform and try to pass it off as your own)

And also make sure to draw consistently and draw, a lot of the time, for yourself. You don't have to do it everyday, but progress is slow, and sometimes you don't always notice improvement until months or even years later, so make sure to stick with it! I've been drawing for almost 17 years, and it's only been within the past year or so that I am FINALLY confident in my art enough to be proud of it and to like how I draw. Make sure you are patient with yourself, it will come to you eventually. <3