#but the textures i used make tumblr very unhappy when i try to add any of my watermarks bnsdhbjdfgdf

[skydigiblogs]

THOSE WHO ARE LEFT BEHIND

[ID: A stylized piece of art depicting Apocalymon from Digimon Adventure. Apocalymon is a humanoid Digimon whose body appears like an emaciated corpse. A cape of his own skin covers his body, and enormous tubes come out from his back and torso. His body ends in a knit of flesh akin to the roots of plants, and he rises from a golden pedestal engraved with digital visuals. He is drawn in rough colors and hunched over in pain, with grit teeth and his only visible eye wide. Colors are rendered using a thick, textured brush.]

[bonbonbunny]

I can never design anime boys to be cute and it's upsetting :(

OH NO!!!!!!!!!!  Please do not be upset!!!!!!!!!  Be good and kind to yourself, especially in things that are so uniquely your own, such as the art that you create!!

I can’t tell from this short message what specific things might be upsetting you (like if it’s creating an attractive design for a character, or if you feel inhibited by your art style or perceived ability, etc.), so I only have really generalized advice!!

If you just can’t seem to get the idea of a “cute anime boy” down, strongly referencing or even just flat out copying existing art of your fave characters can start to give you some ideas.  Lots of my early art where I figured out what was attractive about certain characters came from just marveling over certain specific panels in manga and re-drawing them.

Why was this one specific panel from Record of Lodoss War so ridiculously appealing to my childhood self? I DON’T KNOW!!!  But it was good practice to attempt redrawing it when I didn’t feel very good at drawing to begin with, to have a final product that at least KINDA looked like something cool.

(Ofc, this “just copy existing art!” advice doesn’t extend to copying/tracing/reposting an indie artist’s drawing you found online…… try to stick to official art and stuff!)

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If you’re on the other end of the spectrum, and you’ve been drawing for an entire lifetime but just aren’t feeling happy with what you’re creating, well……..

lots of other artists would respond to that problem with “JUST KEEP PRACTICING!” and yes, that’s true, you will definitely keep learning and making minute changes as you innately learn new things, but……..

at some point, you will probably just be happier to embrace exactly what you dislike about your art, you know?

If you don’t think that the anime boys you are drawing are “cute,” well, maybe you can embrace the “uncute” stuff that keeps showing up in your art?  If their proportions and anatomy are off, really push that anatomy into something unique, something that only you can draw.

The legendary artist Yoshitaka Amano portrays anatomy that is just all KINDS of weird. Stylization and abstraction can do wonders for you when you are feeling stagnant and unhappy with what you’ve been creating, ESPECIALLY when you have a very specific vision in your mind (”cute anime boy”) and can’t seem to put that vision onto paper.

It’s a slippery slope to say, “If you can’t figure out anatomy, JUST FORGET ABOUT IT,” but if you’ve been at practice at it for years and years and your fingers just aren’t working with your brain, you’re allowed to leave conventions behind for the sake of your well-being and work on embracing your weaknesses instead of getting aggravated at yourself for them.

There is an artist on tumblr named @yeehun who I think draws some of the most gorgeous “these proportions are so completely bananas, but beautiful anyway” anime art I have EVER SEEN!! Example 1 - Example 2 - or just browse their archive.

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And, I’ve been using anatomy as the example here, but I truly do mean that any “weakness” you have in your art is likely something that can be embraced.  After so many years & years & years of struggling to do fine lineart (and physically hurting myself doing so, as my fingers are just not dexterous enough to work for the amount of delicacy required and were often in pain after a lineart session), I finally just…….. embraced messy lines.

They’re shaky, they’re rough, they’re too thick, the coloring is a mess at their edges, and they get worse the closer you zoom in.

Guess what?

I LOVE THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love my messy, painty lines!!!!!!!!!! They add texture!!!!!! My fingers aren’t in pain!!!!!! I get the lineart step over more quickly and can move swiftly on to coloring!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

…

Anyway this got really long and I don’t even have any idea if I addressed what you might have been worried about.

At the end of the day, JUST CREATE ART!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  IT DOESN’T MATTER IF IT’S GOOD OR BAD!!!!!!!!!!!!  KEEP DRAWING THEM ANIME BOYS (IF THAT’S WHAT YOU REALLY LOVE, ALTHOUGH MAYBE DRAW SOMETHING ELSE IF YOU FEEL STAGNANT WITH THEM THOUGH, THAT’S YOUR CALL, YOU DO YOU)!!!!!!!!!!!!!