#but my username is literally artblock

[artblock-tm]

Hey here is a genuine ask to fill your ask box , what is your advice to somebody that struggles coloring digitally ?

Genuine ask? Buddy, you've come exactly to the wrong place.

You see, for a very long time I've had to deal with an art app that DIDN'T have a fill button. I had to color all that shit in by HAND. It was long and exhausting.

Now here I am with an art app that has a fill button. Figuring out how to use it, messing around with the brushes, I'm still trying to figure out coloring. I'm not entirely sure what you're asking for specifically, but I'll try and give you a few tips!

I like using colors that contrast. Not too eyestrainy, but have a certain pop to them. Especially if there's one aspect of a character you want to focus on.

I tried looking for examples in my art, and this was the best I could find with my OC Karmin. The flower on the right of her head (our right, her left) is a darker color than the others around her upper area, and therefore stands out. (Sorry, I didn't have the time to crop the picture to just show her! aaa)

If you're asking about shading, those again, are mostly darker colors than the surface they're on. Making them too black makes the shade look dull, however. I like to lessen the saturation as well when it comes to finding shading colors.

Another little fancy thing I like to do with coloring is highlights! I admittedly go overboard with these, but hey I think they look cool-

My favorite highlights here are the lightest red on this character's cloak. They are mostly angled toward the direction of the moon, but they also extend back more (please note I have no idea how light works so maybe don't take my advice with this). It adds accents to your art and makes it pop out more.

Another tip for coloring or color schemes in general that I use is deciding on a palette. I mainly like to stick to warmer and colder colors with certain characters (for those who don't know- warm colors are red, orange, and yellow, while cold colors are green, blue, and purple). Of course, you can have a mix (brings out the contrast I mentioned earlier. Having warm colors in a piece that mostly has cold colors makes the warm colors stand out).

I hope this was helpful and answered what you asked. If it didn't, I'm so very sorry but I have chronic dumb bitch disorder.

[metazensae]

Hello! Just wanted to say that you’re an amazing artist and a huge source of inspiration for when artblock just. doesn’t. go. away. So thank you for creating beautiful art! Ily( ^ω^ ) Also for the ask meme, what about number 1?

HEAOIKGHAEHGHEAHGHEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH ////////////////////

i’m literally about to cry. I have so many ups and downs and especially feel unimportant or invisible doing the kind of art that i do, so hear you say this touches me deeply!!! 

Wishing you the best on defeating artblock whenever it does come your way!!!

OK NOW TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION!  

The meaning behind my url:

Long story - 

Weeb friends were calling me Izzy-sensei (god this was 12 years ago)

I felt too nerdy to type that as my username so I changed the spelling to Zensae and used that for years. 

Someone out there was ALSO using Zensae as a username and had already grabbed up the twitter account with it. I experimented and started adding suffixes and prefixes so I could keep some regularity.

When I made tumblr, I was just using it as a personal blog where I used to spill my thoughts and I was really emo jaksgjakjgklas so I was like META and just put that on the front of the word.

It’s embarrassing, but the tl;dr is

sensei –> zensae + (meta-)  = metazensae

Also Zensae was my old avatarrrrrrrrrrrr I drew in…… 2005/6? a fallen angel OC bc who doesn’t make one of those when you’re in high school...

Does he look familiar? 🤔🤔🤔