#but also art is subjective so improvement is just feeling more comfortable

[smooshednetwork]

WAIT IF YOU'RE 14 THEN WE'RE THE SAME AGE SO NOW I DON'T HAVE AN EXCUSE TO BEING WORSE THAN YOU WTF 😭😭

I’ve been alone in my room for like 4 years now, I don’t go to school (at least not as often as most kids) and I cope with that through drawing alot, I’ve had 4 consecutive years to improve because didn’t have school. I’m sure you’d improve at a similar rate if you were in my position. :)

[moonchild033]

Moon in the Houses (Part 1)💃💝

This is primarily based on how Moon is related to CHANGES and what possible changes moon placements can bring over time. I've included some other random points too.💛

(These observations are based on the whole sign system, sidereal charts and all obs are subject to change with other aspects in the chart, so don't conclude anything with a single placement, take whatever that resonates and leave the rest,hope you enjoy giving it a read, take it lightly!) ❤

Moon in 1st house- Your overall personality might easily change from time to time. You could also make frequent changes in your appearance. The way you express yourself, whether you are in your confident era or low self esteem era can be easily noticed. You could've been someone who cared a lot for others and emotionally highly expressive but suddenly don't give a fu*k anymore and more closed off. In younger years you could've been more short tempered and take everything personal or straight to the heart, after sometime you find yourself easily moving on and not bothering too much. You are that person whose fashion sense improved a lot and had a mad glow up, people from your school could be amazed by seeing your recent Instagram photos lol. People could say, Oh i almost couldnt recognize you, especially around and after the age of 22. No matter the ascendant, your eyes could be very expressive and frequently blinking or distracted. You can experience significant weight gain or loss, sometimes you feel fat and sometimes lean, your weight could also fluctuate a lot but anyways pretty AF.💅🤩

Moon in 2nd house- You could be an extreme saver, then could think life is to live why am I saving all this if I can't be happy NOW?! So u start to spend, then regret ur decision and go back to saving. You can face difficulty in differentiating between a hobby skill and technical skill you want to improve and pursue, especially can think about making your extracurricular skills as a main source of income. Ex.:You could be doing nail art for fun, then suddenly decides to make it a main career, not satisfied with the outcome and back to keeping it as hobby, this cycle can be noticed. You like to learn many languages or can easily adopt to different accents/slangs in speaking same language. Your stamina could've evolved from being great to lowest or vice versa. Your voice and tone might change, you can experience dry throat or have a husky voice. Food can be your comfort zone, eating good food can easily lighten up your mood instantaneously. You can be emotionally attached to your things, during childhood you could be that kid who had a fancy pencil that you don't give to anyone because you love and value it too much.💸⚡

Moon in 3rd house- You could love your younger siblings or sometimes can't stand their presence, there is no inbetween. Your hearing capacity can reduce due to over usage of earphones, you could be someone who calms down by hearing music continuously. You could've been timid or scared to voice out your feelings or thoughts during young age but turn out to be more vocal about things you care about, striking them hard with your words boldly over time. You can just play music and go on a short trip or at least to the market or neighborhood places often to lighten up your mood quickly. You can find it hard to stay determined for a long time, the cycle of starting something enthusiastically, then feel bored, then rethinking whether it's right, then again feeling dedicated to start again can be seen. When compared with 2H in the same sense, 2H is more about feeling confused and 3H is more about feeling bored or distracted easily. You could write a daily life diary or a secret diary from childhood and maintain it. You just write out your emotions, whether it be just writing your life incidents in a diary or turning it into a poetry.🤠☺

Moon in 4th house- The main theme here is how much of a homebody you are, then suddenly wanting to run away from home, then missing home so much, wanting to come back, again pissed off about staying in home for longer periods, then wanting to leave can be observed. Also the number of times you could've changed your house can be more than other placements, it doesn't have to be residing in different cities everytime, it could be just going to different neighborhood but the changing of houses can be there. Either you love your mother so much or have emotional scars from her, no inbetween but in both cases, the person can have a lot of sympathy and protective of mom. Incase of good placement, you can inherit maternal property easily, incase of neutral or bad placement, maternal properties could be in dispute. These people yearn a lot for comfort zone, they secretly want people around them to pamper and help them be comfortable. Afflicted moon can cause breaks in primary education, strong moon placement can give change of schools.💞💫

Moon in 5th house- For some people, this can give major fluctuations in their mood, like they can go from being extremely bubbly to cussing at somebody in a microseconds. Can give interest in astrology. They could be curious to know what others will think about them and pay attention to it a lot. Incase of strong placement, you could've been the role model kid in your family, a star in whatever you did whether it be studies or extracurricular, this is that cousin we don't want to have lol. You can express your thoughts very clear and loud, you can be opinionated in various topics and tend to stick to it. Your intelligence is not limited to only the course you study, you expand your knowledge to different topics, especially can like politics or just a person who likes to stay up to date with everyday news and happenings. For some people, this can give a major love relationship earlier in life, if other placements support too then this is a potential placement that can attract a young, beautiful spouse and end up marrying the same person.😍🌟

Moon in 6th house- You could feel choked with 9-5 jobs, can feel like it sucks out your joy and damages your mental health. You could've been someone who lived a structured life and entered a fine corporate job but it makes you rethink whether you have to continue doing this, you could've resigned from a hectic routine job atleast once or desperately wanting to do so. Your mental state can directly affect your health (happens for everyone but more easily for this placement). You could overthink a lot about something someone said eons ago. You are a conflict avoider, you don't get into anyone's issues or like to be a mediator, you yourself tend to gravitate away from conflicts even if it's directed towards you. Your friends can complain about this how you are not standing up for them but the issue is you can find it hard to stand up for yourself. Overtime this could flip off and you can burst out with a co worker or someone who's been pissing you off, gaining a shocked reaction from everyone. You can change from avoiding conflicts to slamming into the center of it by mentality fluctuations you could gain over time.😌💣

Let's Learn and Grow Together!💋💅

With Love-Yashi ❤⚡

(Here's a GIF I liked sm lol 😭😂)

Moon in houses part 2 here! ✨

MASTERLIST💖

[kaiserouo]

Wow i actually have enough rendered pieces to make an art summary this year. Just barely tho

Ramble below, also template ref

Oh god where do i even start. This is the part where i reflect on myself and do nothing about it afterwards.

In thems of topics, it's mostly just apex d2 and wf. I've never made my own world and characters because most ideas that i have the motivation to make into art comes from me playing the game. Maybe that's why I don't really treat a lot of my original character as "original characters", because they're still bound to a game instead of, you know, born out of the blue i guess.

I barely did render this year... I mean, not just this year of course. I think I slightly got the hang of it these two months? At least I kinda have a pipeline that I can follow and could tolerate / fix some of my mistakes in the later stages (e.g., picking wrong colors for flat color and wanna fix it during rendering etc.). It's... kinda like OOP? Decoupling code? I think it just comes down to opening a million layers and not feeling bad about it. Anyway I think one of my improvements comes from here.

Another improvement would be the speed of doing sketches and the complexity of the lineart I can handle (idk how to say that). I need to draw comics and there would be a lot of people in there, so even if I don't practice specifically I still need to draw some human figures. The complexity part is due to me getting into warframe just because of how fucking complicated they all are. Maybe instead of lineart complexity I should say I'm comfortable drawing somewhat complex characters now without my brain overloading and immediately giving up. Still haven't drawn BT though.

That's probably all the obvious improvements I can think of. I didn't read as many books as last year, but the two main books I read last year are for perspective and anatomy, which I do find very very useful. I still often go back to check some anatomy stuff this year, and with me spam drawing comics I think I can draw human figures better than before... if I only consider proportion that is. I think I have to redo anatomy all over again especially for the muscle part. Also probably should do more real human reference practice... Well, you can probably guess why I said that at the start.

I do think the reason why I do so little rendering is because I mostly do comics. Most of my ideas have a plot and my idea list is waaaaay too long to actually color the comics. And as I feel more comfortable drawing comics I fear more when I wanna do rendering because of the skill gap I have between the two subjects. Also most of you come for silly comics so why do I do full rendered pieces anyways... Yeah, after typing that sentence I do feel wrong thinking like that. But oh well, I guess I can't escape the curse of liking to see numbers go up.

Speaking of numbers, here's some of them. Good thing I don't have to deal with Tumblr API myself.

That's... quite a lot of followers, for me. I mean I don't stay in only one fandom so I have no idea why most of you followed me. Also sorry to ultrakill fans I just don't draw a lot for that game but I see some of you liking a ton of ultrakill post and immediately follows me. Kinda felt that I baited you folks for following me tbh...

Also 3 of my top 5 posts (2234 > 1726 > 1641 > 1531 > 1321) are ultrakill and I only have 27 ultrakill art posts (a lot fewer than other games) so... um, maaaaybe you should consider unfollowing me to clean up your timeline...?

Aaand here are the note stats per month because I've already typed this much so why not just include literally everything in one post

The only thing I can analyze is that the note and post number started to lose correlation due to how much ramble shitpost I have these months.

Okay that's it. I intended to make another art summary for the lineart / unrendered art pieces, but there's just too many to choose from and I don't think you can infer more from these given that the rendered pieces already has lineart in them. Mostly.

[meanbossart]

Some art-advice asks I've been meaning to reply to!

I use Clip Studio Paint Pro, though I'm not sure what tips I could give just in general. Just experiment with new things often, draw as much as your lifestyle allows, watch how other people do their work but try to avoid "Dont do THIS thing ever" type lessons and tutorials. Use as much reference as you'd like and take your time! To this day a simple sketch can still take me several hours to do depending on what it is.

Thank you so much!!! I didn't do any kind of formal art schooling but I've always been inclined towards arts and crafts, and started taking drawing semi seriously when I was about 17 (I'm 27 now). I draw a lot of inspiration from western comics and my favorite artists are jason shawn alexander and sean murphy.

Oh I'm so flattered to hear my stuff's inspired you to take up drawing again, I have a bunch of little crafty hobbies but art is by far the most fulfilling one to me - largely because you're constantly learning and improving.

You're definitely onto something already, I am constantly looking at other people's art (even If it isn't a style I would want to emulate) and analyzing how the pieces come together to create the final product. In my opinion this is pretty much the best way you can go about learning besides real-life reference drawing. You can even take something into your software of choice/print it out and trace it (just to yourself, of course) to get a sense of hand-motion and line use.

As a beginner I think there's no shame at all in taking heavy inspiration from your favorite artists, as long as you aren't straight up copying things and calling them your own. Your personal style Is likely to come out naturally, with time. That's very much how I started myself!

Also, just be patient with yourself, try to have realistic goals for your skill level while simultaneously being proud of everything you do. Even if you absolutely despise a drawing, you still drew something! And even if it doesn't feel that way you most definitely learned from it. Use learning tools and tutorials to whatever point you feel comfortable with but don't get stuck on people's arbitrary rules - unless we're talking about something tangible like real-life application of traditional art tools, things like anatomy, perspective and light are to be referenced from - but It's not the goal to emulate them 100% unless you ARE going for hyperrealism. As someone who uses a ton of reference these days, I can tell you first-hand that I often find myself straying from it on purpose to make a piece look more interesting.

Lastly, draw things you enjoy! Don't let anyone else dictate what you SHOULD be doing and don't fall into the trappings of wanting to stick to one specific style, process, or subject matter.

Good luck!!!

LOL thank you so much for your very evocative compliments! I haven't ever done a timelapse, not that I remember at least. I'm not sure how they work but I do so much of "I'm gonna try this thing 5 different ways and then decide what I like" that I'm not sure how comprehensive that would be LOL

I could put together a process showcase or something though, I feel like that might be better even, since I get to explain a little of what I'm doing through text and display how I use reference. Something to consider!

[amerricanartwork]

Do you have any tips for drawing? Anything really

Well, "any tips for drawing" is rather vague, so I'll just offer some general advice for now, which is more about how to learn and improve than how to draw any specific thing. If you'd like some more specific advice, though, I'd love to help where I can!

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Use references when you're stuck on something! No artist is ever "too good" to use references when they want to draw a particular thing better. References can be photos or other artists' art (ideally with credit depending on how closely your art resembles the original), though I don't use the latter much because trying to copy another artist's style typically doesn't work as well as just keeping the inspiration in the back of my mind and going with the flow.

Speaking of that, finding an art style is a gradual thing, from what I've experienced. To me, it seems to be a thing that develops over time as a result of how different artists solve different problems. You don't have to stress about getting any one "style" with your art; just focus on solving problems with your drawings, and it'll develop its own unique look by virtue of you being a unique person and consciously or subconsciously adding new things to the solutions you find. If you are looking to emulate a specific style, try to pick one that solves problems you have with drawing or (to go off the previous point) appeals to what you enjoy, or perhaps what specific genre of art you plan to do.

To go further, Always look to solve problems. If you're struggling to draw a particular thing, try to figure out what specific part of the drawing is challenging for you, and look for ways to improve on that aspect. If you realize you struggle drawing hands — or even more specific, you struggle drawing hands in dramatic poses where the fingers are curled — for example, set the goal to find a method to draw hands in those kinds of poses, then relax. I usually find a solution to these kinds of problems within days of setting the goal, and I don't even have to search super hard. In fact, sometimes more comfortable methods of drawing certain things just pop in my mind!

Save any tutorials or references you find especially helpful! I like to bookmark YouTube tutorials I like, as well as the blogs or websites of any artists whose work I find inspiring. I also have a HUGE Pinterest board with tons of tutorials on drawing all sorts of things, so that definitely helps!

This is perhaps one of my biggest tips: try to get in tune with your "artist intuition" in a sense. Recognize what things you already do and don't like to draw, not just in the subject, but the general process you use to think about and draw an image, what parts of said art process you enjoy the most (line art, coloring, shading, sketching, etc.), and what kind of art you want to make in the future or what purpose you plan to use your art for. I've found understanding these things about myself really helps figure out which art tutorials will be more or less useful, and which art styles/processes feel comfortable to me. This is not to say you should never seek to improve, but rather, look for a means of improvement that fits your natural drawing preferences and habits. Maybe the Loomis method isn't the easiest way for you to visualize the human head, and another method works better. As long as you get the result you want, the process can be tailored to fit you specifically, even if that means using a process that's obscure or even exclusive to you.

You will never be perfect, and can never stop improving. So don't worry so much about making sure you're "good enough" to draw the ideas in your head. I know it can be worrying to think you aren't skilled enough in certain aspects to bring your ideas to fruition, but because you can never stop improving, if you need to be "good enough" before you can draw the things you love, you'll be waiting forever. So don't bottle up your ideas just because you think they won't turn out very professional. Instead, just do your best in the moment and note what you can get better at afterwards. And worst-case scenario, you can always come back and redraw the idea once you've improved.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Okay, well, this was the stuff I could think of so far right now. I hope this helps!

[chronocrump]

Hello Chronocrump, I recently stumbled upon your art the other day, and I couldn't stop staring at your gallery.. It makes me realize there is so much thats lacking from my art that I really want to improve on. I felt desperate to contact you, but wasn't sure if it would be rude. I wanted to try to ask you, how do you approach drawing? Do you structure it first, or start with a gesture drawing? Focus on the form or perspective first? Etc My other question might seem strange, but I wanted to ask how do you hold your pencil? Ive learned that different pencil grips can drastically change the quality of someone's art. Thank you for your time. I'm sorry if my message is to long, or you don't want to respond back. I wanted to atleast try, but also let you know that your work has been very inspiring for me to keep trying.

I'm glad to answer your questions, it's seriously no problem. I wanna start by telling you how amazed I was when I checked your profile to see your work. I know you have a huge lack of confidence in it, but your art is genuinely beautiful, and frankly, looking at it, I found it hard to believe that you would be asking me for advice...from my perspective, you're way ahead of me. You're certainly better with color; you might notice I really only post sketches lol. I really don't want to dismiss or downplay your feelings about it, but I have to let you know how I felt looking at it. To me it seems like your brain is telling you your art isn't good enough when it very, very much is.

Anyway, enough gushing from me lol. On to your questions.

Usually when starting a drawing, I very loosely and lightly sketch the overall form of the pose I wanna do. Very rough basic shapes/forms to get everything in its right place before I start really drawing it with confident lines. Even then, all the lines are subject to change; nothing is sacred. To be honest tho, I usually mess up the proportions and have to fix them a bit lol. I try to sketch cleanly and concisely, meaning I try not to draw a lot of lines in a spot that could really be done with just one or two. I'm not super strict on that tho, at the end of the day while I try to draw efficiently, I also want to draw comfortably. So with something like a big circle for example, I'll draw that pretty sketchy. In terms of perspective, I'm trying to get better at it, but when considering how I want to use it in a drawing, it's part of the initial image or idea I have in my head, so I lay it out from the beginning. I do also draw structure lines on the face, just a simple cross to plan where the center of the face will be. Lately I've also tried taking more pictures of myself for pose reference and it works well.

Most of my practice comes from studying my favorite artists and trying to emulate the specific ways they structure their drawings. I should actually be doing dedicated practice sessions with that, but I digress. Recently I've been trying to practice from photos first thing in the morning, tho I'm finding it hard to commit to doing it daily. I just go on pinterest and find cool poses, then draw them, trying to get down the basic shapes and prominent features more than focusing on minute details. I've posted some of these practice sketches on here but there's a few more on my twitter if you wanna see what I'm talking about.

In terms of my pencil grip, I'm not sure...since I was little, I've always had an unusual grip. Looking it up, I guess it's like the "dynamic quadrupod" grip, but with my forefinger farther back. Really the most I try to do is draw less with my wrist and more with my forearm. Some say you should "draw from the shoulder", and that sounds right...I guess it's all about avoiding straining your wrist and getting carpal tunnel lol.

Anyway, I'm flattered that you would ask me for advice. To be honest, it makes me feel like I should have more confidence in my own art. And you should too! I can say that, objectively, your art is very good. I hope my advice was actually helpful and not generic stuff you've heard before lol. Good luck in your art journey.

[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! :]

[the-martyrfication-of-the-matron]

Hi! I have a question about your art- how did you get comfortable in drawing/art and sharing it? I've been drawing for forever and have since decided to study fine + visual arts in college. I'm a little insecure in my art as of late... Any thoughts are appreciated! Thanks so much!

I keep making really long posts for this haha, i'll try to keep this brief

Positivity - Talking nicely about your art does weird wonders. it won't make you entirely secure in it, and it won't work straight away, but the nicer you talk about it, the nicer you'll think about it. Every time you draw something, even if you think it sucks, just go 'look what i did :D' either way. It's important to be nice to yourself.

Redraw - Find your old art and redraw it. It'll give you a good point of comparison for improvement, and show you the good parts of your art. It's also a good way to make yourself less insecure about old drawings you don't like too much, because if you redraw it, then you have a better version right there! Consider all your bad art a future redraw.

Variety - I mostly do digital fanart, but i think it's important to do variety, not even just for skill purposes, but just to remind yourself of what you're good at. So, whatever you usually do, put that aside for the day and find another medium, or technique, or subject matter to depict. I occasionally find myself drawing still life and landscapes in graphite, and i am actually more proud of those drawings than my usual art haha. So maybe you'll find a skill you're good at to be proud of (even if it's not particularly your favourite)

Sharing - Show your friends your art. Do it, if you don't already. Show your classmates, your teacher, do it somewhere public, or just whip it out of your bag somewhere random just to show it off. It can be daunting, b u t, most people are very appreciative of art, even if it's not great, and showing it to people irl will help you feel a lot more comfortable about posting it online.

i'm not great at advice. and honestly i'm only comfortable about sharing my art because i have a huge ego. but... i am happy to help :) if you ever need anything, feel free to ask

[green-alien-turdz]

Art tips for beginners? :3

I'm gonna try n be helpful here, but please keep in mind that I've been drawing my whole life, so I can't give you the perspective of someone who is just startin out.

1: Don't give up. Cheesy as fuck, I know. But you are gonna get pissed n fuckin angry when somethin doesn't turn out how you wanted it to. Don't let this discourage you! Use your mistakes and errors to keep on improving. There's no need to tear up drawings or delete anything that you aren't 100% satisfied with because you are growing in your abilities. AND TRUST that it is so rewarding to see your progress over time.

2: Challenge yourself n expect to hate it. Try all sorts of styles (cartoon, realism, or even just photo studies), do few details, do loads of details, do timed drawings, etc. Test the limits of what you can do. Similar to the previous advice, you need to allow yourself to be angry n hate the product that comes from this because you will eventually start finding your own creative style n process.

3: Don't pressure yourself beyond belief. You will not be an 'amazing' or 'visually appealing' artist from the get-go. If you are gettin burned out, allow yourself to take a break from time to time. With this though, once you start gettin more comfortable, even when you're burnt out creatively- I HEAVILY encourage you to keep doing small drawings OR other creative things to keep your mind going.

4: Experiment wit different mediums n shit like that! Explore! There is so many different forms of art to fuckin enjoy. Digital, traditional, watercolour, acrylic, clay, fuckin anything. When you get into non-digital mediums, keep cost in mind, but there are plenty of cheap alternatives that are great when you're startin out (also once you get 'better', you can control these much better, n they don't look like the initial cheap product). I personally use a lot of dollar tree shit n I used to steal from the art class in my school (but that was more out of necessity, if you can avoid it, please do. You can get in HUGE trouble if you're caught). But the main message is to experiment n try new things because there's so many different mediums out there.

5: Take in the world around you. Look at everything n think about how you could portray that in art. Really study the world. The faces people make when they don't think they're makin any, the grime that most people ignore building up on everyday objects, how people's body language says a LOT about how they feel, the way light casts in obscure ways, etc. Instead of just viewing the things around you, really look and take in the experience of bein human. Even impressionistic art holds these intricate details. You just have to be open to the experience.

6: Appreciate, but don't compare. I cannot stress dis shit enough, your art is your own, it is no one else's, so there's no need to harp on "oh this person draws x,y,and z better than me" n blah blah blah STOP! Dawg, you are doin your own shit, don't worry about if you're not on the same 'level' as others, or don't have the same 'capabilities' as some mfs. When you see other people's art, appreciate the things that they can do, but appreciate what you can do too! Especially when you're first really gettin your foot in the whole art shit, it is important to not judge your abilities compared to others who may have a lot more experience under their belt. I think it's totally okay to look at art n be like "oh that's super cool, I'd definitely like to improve on things like that", but never use it to put down your own art. This shit is subjective bro, you'll get to where you want to be. It takes a lot of time, it's not linear, but you WILL. It may not be how you expected it to look at first, but that's okay! Give yourself grace. Art is for you, at the end of the day.

You are gonna fight with yourself n the art itself, but that's totally normal! Art is one of the best forms of expression n I really hope the best for you. I know I was vague as shit n this isn't no tutorial on how to draw a realistic portrait or some shit- but that's because there's no right way to do this. Go balls to the walls or just dip your fuckin toes in. Approach it how you want, there's no right or wrong way to do art. I hope that this was somewhat helpful n I wasn't just spewin shit outta my ass n I truly wish you a good art journey

[otterdoesart]

12, 14, 16 for the artist wrapped! ♡♡♡

Hi thanks for asking!

12. Favorite pairing/character/subject you created art of this year?

My favorite character was my sona Orion! I definitely feel most comfortable drawing them so I feel like every piece of them turns out well :) I really don’t draw them that often tho

14. What's one pairing/character/subject/body part/object you want to explore next year?

I definitely want to improve in general. I’m definitely at the point in my art journey where all I can do to improve is to study. I really want to streamline my rendering process and make it something that’s more fun for me to do. I also want to experiment more with texture

16.What piece was the quickest to create?

I’m not really sure how to newer this question since I’ve started posting pieces at all stages, I’ve gotten to the point where I can sketch, line and color a piece all in just 30 minutes.

Instead I’ll tell you that this piece took the longest at over 4 hours

[sambeawesome]

I feel like something that is under-talked about in the art community is what improvement actually is.

Improvement is much more complex than just 'anatomy better' or 'colors better'. It can also be speed, efficiency, familiarity of concepts/subjects, comfort, confidence, etc.

I feel like we get so caught up in the immediately obvious stereotypical visual improvements, that we miss out on SO MANY underlying factors that contribute greatly to those improvements. And it's ALL improvement! Celebrate yourself & your progress. <3

[doodlesfromthebird]

Heya I've been drawing for a few years now but I'm still learning every day and I'm more than aware of the skill gap between me and others which is fine I am willing to work hard and improve. You and your art is a really big inspiration to me and I hope to reach your level someday. Can't help however but be really demotivated and easily affected by the difference between me and others and I know I shouldn't compare myself with people who have been drawing for wayyy longer than I have. What was your experience while improving your art? Any words of wisdom from the bird? I love drawing and I don't want to lose this kind of connection to it but most of the hours I spend practising are driven by spite and hatred over my own self aaaagh is this too personal lol thank god for the anonymous option lol I LOVE YOUR ART, I look at everything your passion for art overflows through your work.

Hey, pal! It's nothing to fret over, and I'm glad you feel comfortable sharing this! I think getting all your thoughts out this way is already good way to start, and I hope that alone was able to let off some steam on the subject.

I absolutely know how this feels, and it's still something that crops up for me time to time, too! It's gotten easier to manage over the years, but there's certainly times where it's taken the wind outta my sails and sunk my energy to be creative.

I think when you're wrapped up in that headspace, the best thing to do is stop the struggle and don't try to force progress. Don't even allow yourself to problem solve, or ask anything from yourself when that cloud's over your head. There have been plenty of times where I just end up making myself feel worse by simply asking "why do I like to create in the first place?" because I'll come up with overly critical answers "well, it's the only thing I'm good at"

Wait til you've distanced yourself from that frustration, and then give yourself time to reflect. Why do you actually enjoy making art? What about your connection to your creativity is so special to you? At what point in time did you enjoy drawing the most, and why? Why do you want to improve in the first place?

It's difficult because I think it's wonderful that you're pushing yourself to improve and practice. There's been many times where I've wished I could go back in time and tell myself to get more serious about practicing sooner. However, I absolutely don't think it's worth putting strain on your connection with your creativity. I think spite can be a powerful motivator, but when it's fueled by your own dissatisfaction and hatred for your own work, it cuts off the flow of that essential part of you that loves to create for the sake of it.

Sitting down to practice is going to feel like torture, because that spark of joy just CAN'T get to ya when you're trying to appease that part of you that thinks its you're gonna get left behind if you don't work harder. Brute forcing improvement has absolutely worked for some people! But it's also completely normal for that work style to make YOU feel miserable if it's at odds with how you actually enjoy drawing.

Is this all to say that you should only try to get better when you're in LOVE with how you feel about art? Not at all! You don't have to try and add any special feelings or force positivity, you just have to remove the resistance and the burden you put on yourself as best you can.

So if I could suggest anything, as corny as it may sound: be more kind to yourself. I mean it! Make peace with where you are. Celebrate your small wins. Detach yourself from it, if nothing else. Your art isn't always going to look better than it did yesterday, but look back on your work from a year ago! If you don't like the way your art looks, that's fine! That can be 100% true and it doesn't have to be a bad thing. You're going to improve. Take inspired action and practice in a way that draws that connection you treasure with art closer to you. Spend more time listening and indulging in what the creative in you wants to do in between study sessions.

I can comfortably say that I'm at the skill level where younger me would have wanted to aspire to be at. And yet, I have MANY days where I look at my work and wished it looked like someone else's. I still stare at a blank canvas with an idea in my head and feel dejected because my skill level isn't up to par with what I want to achieve. I promise you your art has value the way it looks Right Now.

Once you give yourself that grace, you're going to start looking forward to practicing. The inspiration that'll hit is going to motivate you to try things you might never have thought you'd attempt. Once you look at your work differently, your work is going to change. That's not going to be easy at first, but you can start by just saying "I am where I am, and I'm getting ready to be even better."

If you're interested in some suggestions to maybe get in the flow, while also satisfy the brain's need for Progress when practicing just isn't hittin' right:

Challenge yourself to scribble whatever pops into your head. Anything. Maybe it's absurdly complicated! Who cares. draw The Last Supper from memory in five minutes as best you can. Draw an insane fight scene with stick figures in weird angles. Your brain is going to !!HATE!! doing it, but that's fine! It's going to force you to detach from it. Allow yourself to create something that's bad and can be thrown away right after. Don't spend more than 30 minutes on these. Take the most complicated ideas off a pedestal by just Attempting them anyway.

Challenge yourself to draw only what would appease your inner child for a full day. If you used to trace over screenshots from a tv show to insert a fan character in, DO THAT. Draw something while listening to the soundtrack of one of your favorite video games as a child. Draw an alternative book cover for one of your favorite childhood books.

Practice anatomy by turning the models your referencing from into your favorite characters.

Color/paint a scene/character by picking colors from a screenshot in a movie you really like.

put on a favorite show/movie and draw for the entire duration of an episode/movie run-time. Draw passively without the intention of showing it to anyone.

draw a bunch of large, wonky shapes that fill up the entire canvas/paper and draw mini illustrations contained within those shapes.

IF ALL ELSE FAILS!!! GO TAKE A NAP!!! :) Don't be hard on yourself for being hard on yourself, either. Allow yourself time and ease.

I hope any of this brought hope, or comfort, or even just something to consider. I'm so glad you enjoy my art!! Thank you for your kind words. You and I and everyone else are walking this same road to improvement, and even though sometimes it might not feel that way, we're ALL walking side by side. You aren't alone, friend.

[invalidstories]

"In the end, we'll all become stories."

About me:

Hello there! I'm Sage, a 21-year-old writer, and student who goes by they/them pronouns. If anyone is asking, I've always been asexual. Writing has always been my passion—it's where I feel most alive, pouring my heart and soul onto paper. I've even turned this passion into a side hustle, selling my written works to those who appreciate it.

While writing is my main hobby, drawing also holds a special place in my heart. It's my creative outlet, a way to unwind and let my imagination run wild. You'll often find me doodling in my sketchbook or experimenting with different mediums, though it's more of a hobby than a profession.

But let's be honest, most days I have motivation for neither and will be binge reading instead. It is the perfect hobby for me as it is probably the closest I will ever get to teleportation.

Also while most people might disagree with me, math is fun. I like math for its confusing, and afterward making sense ability. It is something that helps me keep busy.

As for my personality, I'm a loving and carefree soul, always looking for the beauty in the world and eager to spread positivity wherever I can. But some days, just like werewolves in the moonlight, I turn into a villain. *evil laugh*

On my blog, you will mostly find snippets of my writing, from short stories and poetry to essays. I also share glimpses of my artwork, if I feel confident about it, or other things like reblogs. I welcome asks and DMs about mostly anything, and I am open to discussing any topic so please don't feel afraid to reach out. Anything I write or draw can be used as an inspiration or prompt and it could be reblogged but not reposted without a proper link for credit. I also look forward to feedback on where I can improve.

When it comes to ethics, honesty, and authenticity are important to me. I also try to respect the perspectives of others. I am not comfortable with making explicit sexual content (ex. sex, NSFW, rape, underage), hate speech or discrimination, highly controversial or polarizing subjects (ex. politics/religions), body horror, gore, or other extreme violence. I don't appreciate reposts without credit, but you can always continue the stories I write.

Coming to the end, if you're looking for a blend of writing, art, and a sprinkle of sunshine, just like the perfect coffee that can warm you to the core of your heart after a cold day, you've come to the right place. Welcome to my little corner of the internet—I'm so glad you're here. :)

My Masterlist is where all my stuff is linked so it is easier to access.

[apraxvalith]

This might be an odd question to ask, but what would you say is a good way to get better at drawing smut? I've tried working on improving my anatomy and expressions, which has helped, but I still find myself cringing at anything I draw that's spicier than bare chests. I just can't take it seriously, but I want to draw some smut! Did you go through the same? Any pointers?

Ooooh this is a great question actually! Get ready for a tl;dr response because I like to talk about this shit, lol.

First: my general suggestion for getting over the cringe factor would be to just consume a lot of porn. Like a LOT, both drawn and live action, and be extremely honest with yourself about it - what turns you on and why? What is an artist or scene doing that you really like? Do you like the way an artist draws cum, or the shading on those tits? If you can identify that and get comfortable with your own feelings and interests, then you can lean into that energy and make art that feels successful (and arousing, rather than cringe!) to you. Make your own library of art and live action porn and revisit it frequently. I say this because I think the biggest hurdle for me personally was bridging the gap between the porn I enjoy consuming and the art I was comfortable with/felt capable making, and there was definitely some awkwardness while I figured that out.

Also: getting very comfortable with anatomy is an essential foundation, but it's only part of the skill set for drawing NSFW. Of course, I really recommend doing studies from porn screenshots, gifs, etc - but also do studies from other artists. IMO successful drawn porn does so much that live action can't. It utilizes different levels of exaggeration (anatomy and expression, camera angles, extreme closeups, more cum/fluids than real life) and has it's own visual language to convey sensation (think shock and motion lines, blush, sweat, breath clouds, xray shots, SFX, etc).

Even if hentai isn't your thing or you don't have a super cartoony style, I think it's very worth studying hentai manga to observe everything I just mentioned. Also, JAV (Japanese Adult Video) utilizes a lot of dynamic poses and camera angles that differ from western porn and have helped me a lot when thinking about how to draw more interesting scenes.

In general though, drawing porn is really a balance between taking the craft/your technique seriously and not taking YOURSELF too seriously. All porn is kinda over the top and a little dumb sometimes tbh, so draw that stupid orgasm face. Make the dick bigger than you originally drew it. Draw 50% more fluids. Chances are if you're already a little hesitant about the subject matter, you have plenty of room to push those things without veering into the realm of "too much"!

And most importantly, have fun with it! NSFW art is one of the most affirming, freeing, and *interesting* creative spaces to play around in, and if you really immerse yourself in it I think it's enriching in a lot of ways, not just artistically.

Sending lots of lewd creative energy your way, and I hope my rambling is useful!! ✨️

[termagax]

sometimes people do ask me for advice on how to love their own art more and i always feel bad that i dont have very good tips. but i think the thing that helped me get so comfortable is that my own art is all super self-indulgent, so when i want to look at content of like, my ocs or whatever, i HAVE to look at my own stuff. it means i look at my own art a LOT, and i have an intense fondness for the subject matter, so it helps me feel better looking at it. even the ones i dont so much like i can smile and go but my friend is here!!!!

combine that with a naturally very analytical eye. i am the Noticer i always notice every detail in my own art and the other art i look at and with a lot of time and practice i have a pretty good sense of critique that i dont invest a lot of emotion into? like you guys have seen me blab abt my pieces before i notice every shortcoming and its just a matter of a)accepting that the piece needs to be finished at some point regardless of if i can fix it and b)knowing what to do better on next time. it also helps to use that eye to look at VERY old art and compare it to what you do now. i love looking at art from when i was like. 12-17 and comparing it to current stuff, you can see the foundations for a lot of what i do now and it really helps to get a benchmark for how much x amount of time will do for your skill. im especially fond of doing year-gap comparisons, youll see me post all the time abt what i was up to this month last year because i think a uear is the perfect amnt of time to see my art grow. close enough that a lot of the process is more or less the same and you remember making them but distant enough tjat there is marked improvement and visible change. being able to see your progress REALLY helps u feel better imo, it gives you a sense of "if this is what i did this year, imagine where ill be NEXT year"

thats the other thing i do is like..my art is ROUGH its messy and fast and i like it that way. it makes every piece lower stakes because i know i can just do it again. or finish this one whenever i feel like and move on to something else. or come back in three weeks to change something. im not very precious with my work. i keep everything in one massive file and take grainy screenshots of my program to post stuff and i have no file organization and i regularly lose them on accident to autosave failures and other such stupidness. but i think u have to break that sacredness in order to lower the stakes for yourself. it helped me overcome a lot of my art anxieties and self loathing when i just accepted that like. if i rlly hated something in my sketchbook i could just tape something over it. or tear the page out. if a drawing isnt going well i can just delete the layer or erase the whole thing. its not sacred and messing up isnt the end of the process, yk? this is also why i try not to spend more than like. 2 hours on any given piece. because then i sunk cost myself because i Have to see it through and then i push out a picture i dont like just because i felt like i Had to finish it.

in general just try to notice when your art makes you feel bad and investigate the source of those bad feelings and try to mitigate them. i always burn out when i try to "finish" a piece "properly", so i stop working on something once i stop feeling it. i hated looking at my own work so i only drew things that made me happy to look at. consistency in style/process bores me so i dont bother with it. your art is FOR you. you are the only audience that matters. the process has to be fun or you wont ever want to do it. GO FIND THE FUN

[steelthroat]

For the artist ask, if these are good for you:

5. What’s your favourite thing to draw?

18. What are you currently trying to improve on?

30. What inspires you to not just make art, but to be a better artist?

Oh hiiii!

Super good! Let's see...

5: hmmmm actually whatever is on my mind at the moment. Everything could turn into my favorite or my most hated thing to draw depending on my mood, honestly...

But I'd say horses have been somewhat of a comfort zone/favorite subject of mine since I was 4 so I'll go with them.

Oh and clouds, clouds are so easy and fluffy-looking. Yeah, those are also nice I have fun painting them :)

18: hm, dynamism and composition. I can draw almost everything when it's static, but the moment I try to do something more dynamic- ah it feels stiff, stiffffff.

But idk I feel like I have to improve on almost everything, I kind of like the things that I do, but I want to do them better and quicker, so yeah also that.

30: either seeing other artists having fun and doing the things that *I* wanna do or my drive to tell stories. I've always made up stories and characters but them existing in my mind is not enough.

I need those things or fantastical imagery to be REAL, and I want other people to see what's in my mind, and I want to see what's inside theirs and what happens if we create something super cool together.

So it all boils down to my need to share a piece of mind with the rest of the world and connect with others without the need to speak because art goes beyond simple communication.

So yeah, to be able to do so the way I want, I have to improve. If I become a better artist, it becomes easier for me to show everyone else what I'm thinking about :)