#got to think real hard about how i do my own lineart too!

[nikrei]

Colored!!

i h8 coloring. whatever, yuri kart

[vampstel]

I had a question and this is solely so I can practice my own terms

- what references do you use when you draw guys

- How long have you been drawing guys for? How hard was it to draw them? (I know it’s probably been a little while but I’d like to know when you really got the hang of drawing guys)

I love it when you draw guys because I can use that as inspiration and a perfect reference since you draw guys so well.

For your design with me videos. How many layers did you end up using?

I mainly have Henry. He’s got such a cool outfit and I wanna use your ocs as a guide to creating my own…? Idk if this makes sense I just absolutely love your work. Your style is so unique and amazing.

Gonna be 100% honest, my answers for these questions are not going to be satisfactory or good so uh… beware 🫣

1. I don’t use any special references for masculine characters

Finding references for men or just masculine characters in general isn’t hard or special. It’s just about as normal as finding references for feminine characters. All you really have to do is find good clothes, hairstyles, and real people/already existing characters to get inspiration from.

Can’t really tell you much when it’s such an ordinary process to me unfortunately 🤷 Even for poses it’s the same. I’ll just find pictures on Pinterest, recreate it in a 3D model app and boom… A man on my canvas. Scary…

If you’re struggling with men, I think it’s good to just practice drawing real men sometimes. From celebrities, models, to just ordinary people. It helps with anatomy and figuring out how to depict traditionally masculine features. If you’re struggling with masculine designs… Don’t be afraid to depict men more ‘flamboyant’ and less bland. Masculine clothing is not as boring as people say it is, trust me :P

2. Ever since I started drawing. So when I was a kid lol

I’ve never been one of those artists who only drew one kind of gender representation and struggled with the rest. I can draw women, I can draw men, I can draw just about anything [minus mecha] even at a young age. It’s never been difficult for me to draw masculine presenting characters. What was (and still is) difficult to me was anatomy; Which was an all around issue regardless of character design.

I’d say I’ve gotten better this year, though. Or around late 2023 when I drew Royale High art of Lawrence and Rei. That’s when I got more confident with showing art of diverse characters and got more confident drawing different body types in general. Since before that, I kind of just kept art like that to myself since it was ugly and unpleasant to me 😭

So uhhh yeah… Anatomy’s the issue. Not the gender or anything. Since if I drew bad men back then, I drew bad women too LOL

3. I have no idea 💀

Assuming you mean canvas layers and not like… editing layers:

Layers are one of those things that vary from canvas to canvas and can’t be replicated 1:1 ever. It just depends on the style and the process you do. For example, I often use lots of layers to section off different parts of a drawing. From different colors and pieces ofclothes, to lineart, to shading, and more. My layers can go anywhere from 20-100 with this process. But, if I’m painting or sketching. it’ll be at most 2 layers.

Just depends on what you find more comfortable!! If you’re wary of mistakes, it’s good to use lots of layers so you don’t get confused which part of a drawing is where. Plus, you can erase parts easier without erasing the whole drawing altogether. So if you don’t like… Say your hair shading, you can delete the layer for that and redo it. You can also recolor parts easier too.

And If you want something more carefree, do less layers. Sometimes drawing with less layers and limiting yourself to 1 or 2 helps build line confidence and I suggest trying it out. It’s a great way to practice ^_^

[shotorozu]

fluffvember day 1 — doodling/sketching

todoroki shouto

“stay still. oh, and don’t forget to breathe.”

legend : [Y/N = your name] reader uses they/them pronouns, gender neutral. reader has a water quirk for convenience

word count :

notes : okay, so here’s my logic— i plan on doing three days, and back in november 5, i planned on doing 15 days— but then i said nvm because i got too stressed out so,, yeah. three days, so sorry :((

YOU’RE PRACTICALLY multitalented at this point, at least to todoroki shouto. you’re humble, and he finds it amazing due to the fact that you remain humble— you don’t shove it in people’s faces, and sometimes he wonders if you even know how talented you are.

besides being in the hero course in UA, and being his classmate— he knows how much you like art. if you’re waiting for aizawa-sensei, he finds his mismatched eyes watching you scribble doodles onto your sketchbook.

on saturday afternoons in your room, he watches you fill your cup with water— water droplets dispersing from the tips of your hands, as you prepare your watercolor.

watching the pigment disperse onto the sheet of paper, your brush gliding gently against the thick sheet of paper— the sounds of the brush were almost therapeutic. he almost understood why you spent most of your free time watching bob ross (if you weren’t training, spending time with him, or eating)

he’s on the opposite side of your bed, and you look ethereal— basking into the sunlight of the fine weekend, he watches in silence as you erase any stray pencil strokes, and draw on more precise lines onto the lineart.

“what’s on your mind?” you ask, but you don’t look up— you’re too focused onto your art piece, and he couldn’t blame you. he wonders how someone’s mind could create such a piece of work.

but then again, it’s you. you’re unpredictable, in the best way possible.

he knows that artists don’t really like being asked to draw people, even someone as dense as todoroki shouto would get that. but he wants to take that shot in the dark, he’s been thinking about this for a long time— so why not get it out?

“do you think.. you can draw me?”

a smile erupts onto your face, and you flip a page— practically abandoning your piece as soon as he asked. “i never thought you’d ask, shouto.”

he smiles. well— that worked for sure, but now what? what does someone do when they’re being drawn? “just sit comfortably, shou.” you say, as you draw a circle

shouto sits stiffly against your bed, his hands are on his lap— and he’s holding his breath, trying hard not to move as you sketch out his features.

“stay still. oh, and you can breathe,” you chuckle, and he exhales. frankly enough— you’ve wanted to draw shouto for the longest time. his face was just an entire pinterest moodboard, and it felt like you’ve drawn him a thousand times already.

yet— you don’t actually have a real artwork of him. not a completed one anyway.

“shouto, try to relax yourself.” you put down your sketchpad for a moment, and your hand dances along his shoulders. it feels like you have a rock for a boyfriend, truth to be told.

he sighs, and he melts into your touch— it never failed to calm his tense muscles down. you move back to your sketchbook, and his position is much more relaxed, toned down to your liking.

a cerulean and steel colored eye stares at you, observing how focused you look right now. he wouldn’t mind seeing this for the remainder of his life, that is— if you allowed him.

you’re adding extra shadings, and his heart is skipping beats. he doesn’t know why he’s so excited to view your art, not like he hasn’t flipped through your art portfolio before (with and without your knowledge, but shh). but it always amazed him.

“you can look now,” you say, while you’re signing the corner of your page with your signature. it’s a simple sketch of him— just a pencil drawing so far. yet, he can actually see the texture you’ve placed in everything.

down to the pencil strokes that you’ve created for hair, clothes— even his scar. it’s perfect, and even if you claim that it’s not exactly what you call ‘best’

he loves it, so much.

you’re talking about how you want to ink it as soon as possible, but he’s already pulling you onto his lap— burying his face into your chest.

“i like it a lot.” he says, but it’s slightly muffled. he’s tracing patterns onto your back, and you chuckle

“i didn’t know you liked art that much.” he hums, while you’re putting away your sketchbook so any result of cuddling wouldn’t crease the pages.

“maybe i could join your art sessions next time.” he connects a warm kiss onto your lips, and your place your hands onto his shoulders

“sure thing, shouto. though— be prepared for potential mess.”

“i wouldn’t mind getting messy, especially if it’s with you.”

you choke slightly, “do you know the weight of your words, shouto?” you’re unsure if he meant it in a innocent way, or he had suggestive intent in his words.

he looks up— chin pressing against your chest, while he shines a knowing smile to you. “absolutely, love.”

—

likes and reblogs are appreciated, thank you so much for reading!

i do not own bnha/mha. boku no hero academia/my hero academia and it’s characters belong to horikoshi kohei. i only own the writing

do not steal my work

[princeanxious]

What art are you most proud of? And please show us a pic if you can! <3

Not gonna lie, this was actually p hard to answer. I’m honestly proud of any piece I get done, especially any full body, full color, full background pieces, and I refuse to let myself out-right hate anything that I draw in general now-a-days, unfinished or no. I draw for fun, always have, so I try not to put too much worry on how good something looks so long as it gets my idea across in a way that I like, or that I tried?? (And ik being proud of a piece doesnt have to tie into what the end result looks like, im just covering that base) I looked through all of my recent digital art on my ipad(that i’ve had what, 3-4 years at this point?) and found myself about just as happy with each finished piece-

-Except one. There is one piece that I forget about constantly but I’m honestly super proud of the amount of effort it had put in to reach the end result. It probably sees a number of glances infrequently(due to my sporatic activity on said blog) but isnt posted to this blog’s art tag.

It’s the blog banner I drew for my @thelostguardianau fic, of the(at the time) whole cast in the au. You can find the post to reblog it from here but i’m also adding it below for reference. (* and honestly I’ll mention every other art piece in this au posted to it’s blog stands at having this same proudness, as each individual characters complicated design fed into this big banner, each one having a giant set of uniquely drawn wings, complex body markings, and unique clothing and features. And I would not have been able to complete this banner without having those singular character chart pieces finished first, except for Thomas’s design, who has yet to be posted for ✨reasons✨)

This fricking Banner was and still is(for now, *wink*) the most ambitious piece I’ve managed to finish. It took me so long, my wrist hated me, my ipad hated me, my ipencil hated me, medibang hated me, this piece pushed the limits of the poor app. Every time I try and open this piece up on the app it takes a solid couple seconds to open, save, and close.

From sketching to lining every single character, to having to uniquely match up Their Wing Sizes and Heights, because Guardians are fucking Tall, so Wing size and Height size was hell to calculate and portray. Why, you might ask?

Because I was limited to the proportions that would actually fit into a tumblr mobile banner. Which, funfact, is much smaller than you’d think!

I had to make sure they’d all fit, wings and all. And they didnt fcking want to. But I made it fit, because I wanted a full body + wings cast banner and goddamn it that was going to happen. And I did. And I lost a fuck-off amount of detail-space for it.

Coloring it wasn’t exactly difficult, but I will once again point back to this app hating this piece and it draining my battery because of it. I work in layers. My lineart will have 5-6 different layers in color before I combine them and set the hue to black, but I still keep my lineart seperate in that each character has their own lineart, and the background lineart is seperate.

I had their lineart, and probably still do, seperated into Seven different layers, one per character, each one w/ an extra masking layer for their wing glow. Each character got their own folder for colors, and had multiple layers for each colored section: clothing, skin, skin blush + eye whites, hair, wings, body markings, marking glow. And then there was the background layers, and the glowing affects, ect. The whole piece stands at having about 80 total layers having been used over the course of making it.

So yeah, Medibang does not like this piece when I try to open it. xD

But really, setting aside fighting and babying technology thats being pushed close to its limit, the real pride comes from the fact that this piece has Seven fully colored, near-full body characters drawn, all touching and interacting and accurate to the scale that I made. It is the most amount of characters in one piece that I’ve ever drawn, colored, and finished, and I’m pretty fricken proud of it.

Which makes it all the more daunting that said banner is going to get an upgrade, because it’s a Character Cast Banner after all, and its going to have four more fully designed and full winged characters added into it.

And by upgrade, I mean I get to redraw the whole dang thing. Because I gotta rearrange ✨everyone’s✨ positions. And at this point, the only way thats possible is by starting over.

wish me luck on that. o_o;

[236kmh]

your art motivates me to want to get better at drawing cars. UR ART IS SO AMAZING.

can i maybe get some tips?

have a great day!!

HELLO SKY!! good day! sry late reply

First of all, thank you ehe~ also it's very nice to see that if that's the case!!! GOODLUCK WITH DRAWING MORE CARS!! VROOM VROOM TO YOU lol

NOw, about the tips hmmmm. tbh I don't have any.. but I'll list some that i thought of now! that's kinda helpful for me!

- use references!!! be it real cars or from the franchise. Use them to your advantage!

- when drawing the vrooms, have a good idea of their overall shape. Their simplified form. For example, i think Finn's shape is a normal car but with large missiles on the sides and curvy and super cute, and compared to Rod, hes a muscle car so he's more Big and bulky, he's very much a rectangle cute car. Just keep that in mind.

- note fixed parts as well. For this tip, it's specific to their, well, parts. Just imagine how Finn's lights are aligned to his moustache, Rod's wheel at the back are big as shit, etc. Just keep those details in mind so the og car design is.. well translated into your own style!

- redesign. If the og car design isn't working with your style, then fuck it up and make it work with your style! ( you work the rest with your angle) or if you just feel like it. Ex. I made Leland's eyes violet because they are cuter, or for Finn, I place his sidemirror thingies wherever i feel like it so that those things wont obscure his beautiful face and I made them triangles so theyre cuter.

- try dynamic poses and angles! Now that you have a good idea of the car design, try doing the deal of drawing those guys; specifically in weird poses so you'll really work hard on how to maintain the cars shape and design.

- lastly practice and have fun! Besides looking at Finn too much, I doodle him a ton so I kinda got a little okay with drawing cars. Also just did color studies things. They were all pretty fun too! Like woah cars so cool. Also, with having fun, just experiment a ton with the coloring, make the red go green sometimes, fuck it, and the lineart, make it messy. All that good stuff. Make sure to enjoy the process because cars are fuckin complicated.

GOODLUCK SKY!! hope.. my tips.. are kinda helpful. IDK but just practice a lot, look at references, and make sure to have fun while practicing

[onedivinemisfit]

2020 Creator’s Self-Love Extravaganza

Boy howdy, but it has been a year. So much so that I felt the need to dig up this meme so I can lavish myself with a little TLC, ‘cause you know what? I deserve it! And so do you. This year has been tough, and even in the best of times it can be a real struggle to remember that, instead of being your own worst enemy, you should strive to be your best cheerleader. Remember to be kind instead of cruel, to forgive rather than condemn yourself. Creativity is hard, and it is always a journey, never a final destination, so let’s take a moment and sight-see where we’ve been this year, yeah???

Rules: It’s time to love yourselves! Choose your 5 favorite works (fics, art, edits, etc.) you’ve created this year and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you’ve brought into the world in 2020. If you don’t have five published works, that’s fine! Include ideas/drafts/whatever you like that you’ve worked on/thought about, and talk a little about them instead! Remember, this is all about self-love and positive enthusiasm, so fuck the rules if you need to. Have fun, and tag as many fellow creators as you like so they can share the love! <3

Tagged by @bubblesthemonsterartist​ <w<

1. Shirayuki and the Black Bear-King - I won’t lie, this one meant a lot to me, personally. I had been dying for a theme native to my home country, so when I got the opportunity, I swore to myself up and down and sideways that I would deliver. It’s rare that I get to unite fandom and my own culture, so this was immensely pleasing. And detailed... and time-consuming... 

2. Those were the days my friend - To be fair I didn’t really want to pick only one work from this year’s Obiyukiweek because WOW. I didn’t think I had it in me. Rarely have I overcome my own expectations in so solid a manner. But this too, was the work with the most emotion going into it, I just knew that if I was going with this sort of theme, it had to be well-done. It was also my first time making faux-screenshot type art!

3. Mothers - This is actually a three-picture series, but I’ll just preview the one I loved the most <w< I’m still in shock over how quickly these were sketched and rendered, I can barely remember creating them - tis what happens when I zone out completely, and why I suck so much at tutorials~ But I was really pleased with the result, because I wanted to symbolize the softness, the age-worn longing for a mother who is gone. ;;

4. The Story Paneling Redraws - here too it’s rather a series of pictures instead of a single one, but wowie was I surprised I could actually do this?? I had drawn AUs and changed a scene or two before, in big, single pictures, but never had I attempted to take it to this level, where I redrew whole segments of a manga, to fit my own AU. And it worked?? I actually could “retell” a story, in simple formats, to make my points visually easier to convey. That was an amazing feeling - and shocking, too.

5. The Snuggle Fight Club - ah yes, the sketch that took forever to turn into lineart that took another eternity to colour and render... ewe Most of the reason I’m so pleased with the outcome here is that my track record for finishing art that gets that old, is really really bad. At some point I usually end up abandoning them to the sands of time. But not this time! Hah! 

Gosh this made me realize a lot of things about myself actually >/////> I’m proud even, what the heck.

I tag; @claudeng80​ @sleepykaru​ aaaaaand @jhalya​ - and anyone who feels like doing it <3

[ankhisms]

the always wonderful shelley @shanheling tagged me to do this thank u so much!! i think that everyone i wanted to tag has already been tagged to do this but if you feel like doing this feel free to consider urself tagged by me!! im putting this under a readmore bc its long and i ramble a lot

the piece i was tagged to explain my process on is this oc piece! unfortunately i have a habit of deleting my original clip studio file once ive finished my art and saved it as a new png file, so i dont have the file to show the sketch and different stages of this piece. but I still can go through my general process and talk about how i did that piece!

1. planning

honestly i think about the art that i want to do a lot, and in this last year or so ive thought about the art i want to do more than ive been able to actually create and finish that art that i want to do. for my planning i tend to do a lot of different thumbnail sketches for the art im thinking of

these are some examples of thumbnails, a lot of times ill do thumbnails just on pencil and paper and with some of these theyre done quickly with my fingers on my phone note function on a day where i was feeling too bad to get up and draw on paper but still wanted to get the thumbnail ideas down. two of these are for the same songxiao piece that i still havent finished and i have more thumbnails digitally on clip studio for the same piece, i do a lot more thumbnails when a piece isnt working the way i want it to and theres times where ill completely scratch a thumbnail or a sketch and start over in order to do more thumbnails because i dont feel happy with some aspect of it.

two of these are small gouche painting thumbnails for two pieces i did maybe a month or so ago, i did the thumbnails and then tried to expand on them digitally and im wanting to do more thumbnail paintings like this in the future because it was fun

for the piece of my oc trio it was based off a series of ask prompts i got for a few different outfit prompt memes i had reblogged, so i based their outfits on the ones in the meme. when im drawing figures i tend to try and get the movement down in the poses when im sketching, i do several rough sketches of the pose before beginning to start setting down lines (if im doing lineart at all because sometimes i dont like doing lineart and do a more lineless painting kind of style). i really try to get my art to convey some kind of emotion, in the oc piece i wanted it to feel fun and like youre seeing three best friends while theyre out on the town having a fun night

2. creating

this is the only real example i have of a piece in the middle of being filled in and created, this piece is one that im really not very happy with & have had lying around for a while and ill probably scrap it and try to come at it from a different perspective at some point. but anyway it still shows what i do, i lay down a kind of neutral gray color underneath my final sketch/lineart if im doing lineart in that piece and then i start picking out the colors that i want for the piece and kind of setting out a pallette for myself. i dont do this color pallette thing 100% of the time but i do it really often, especially if im working on a commission or a larger piece where i know theres going to be a lot of colors or if its a piece where im not sure exactly what color scheme i want so laying out the colors together helps me kind of decide what kind of scheme i want. i am sooooo picky about my colors in my art i am genuinely obsessed with colors in art and there are times where i really have to stop myself from working on something forever just constantly adding more colors or putting little tiny changes and gradients in the colors.

after ive got the colors i want down i tend to try and block out parts of the piece with the base color for that section, and then i start to paint with the colors that i want to go on top of that base color from there.

once im satisfied with the colors/shading/rendering and everything ill go back and look over things and will fix things that look off or sometimes completely redo segments if they dont look right to me. when i was younger and mainly doing digital art using my phone and my fingers i would use a lot of filters and overlays on top of my art once i was done, and honestly im glad to not be doing that anymore because i dont think it made my art look any better. i do color adjustments and sometimes will put on a color overlay or a layer to emphasize the shadows and the light in the piece, but i try to keep those layers to a minimum and like i said before i have a tendency to obsess over the colors and ill spend a good amount of time in the color adjustment tool of clip studio and then ill just decide "actually it looks fine as it is" so yeah!

3. posting

i feel like i dont have a lot to say here gbfm i mean i honestly have a lot of thoughts about the relationship between artists and social media and how social media changes our views on art including our own art and how we can feel like we constantly need to be posting new art and just become content machines churning out new stuff. but ill save that rant for another time. i used to be really concerned about how many notes my art would get when i was younger, and i dont at all blame anyone who still is very concerned about that bc it sucks when u work hard on something youve created and then you dont get a lot of recognition for it, but honestly within the last two years or so i feel like ive begun to have a lot healthier relationship with posting my art. i really just post my art on my art blog, reblog it to my main blog, and then thats that yknow! i do really appreciate any and all support people give me, it means the world to me, but for me having the mentality where i dont need to post all the art i make and i dont need to be posting every day or every week or every month even has been a lot healthier for me because then im not constantly asking myself why didnt this get notes is my art awful??? and yeah i just kind of post it and my brain goes okay were done with that art we gotta make more

ive honestly been struggling a lot with art thru the pandemic and if youre reading this and have been struggling with creating in any way recently or even before the pandemic, please know theres no shame in having trouble creating and it doesnt make you bad at whatever it is u create!

thank you for reading this, feel free to consider urself tagged by me again if u want to do this!! love u all

[marikaaajoy]

my relationship with digital art and how BNHA salvaged it

I just wanted to let out my thoughts but I can only do it here :>

This might be a downer for some people but I’d like to share it with people here. BNHA means the world to me and this is why.

I first started drawing when I was 7 years old in 2006

I think it’s ugly now, but 7 year old me remembered being so proud of this because this is a drawing of my stepfather. This is the only drawing I have that was from my childhood. I think the aim here is to draw in anime style BUT I didn’t even watch anime back then. I had a classmate who loves anime and she taught me to draw in school. Drawing became a favorite hobby immediately after that.

Then it was 2013 and I was 14 years old. Drawing is still my favorite thing to do besides being on the computer. I love anime at this point too. My parents bought an iPad for the whole family, but I was almost always the one using it. I discovered an app called ArtStudio and thought “Wow, I can draw without making a mess and with only my fingers” because I was always too lazy to take out my drawing materials and clean up afterwards.

These were my first digital drawings. The pirate one was the very first. I got obsessed real fast. I can color so easily, undo any mistake, layers are a blessing too. There was just so much more freedom. I always sucked at coloring in traditional art and I didn’t like the mess (idk my hands get so messy traditionally)

The next year, it was 2014, I was 15. My birthday is in a couple of months and I knew my parents were planning to buy me something pricey (I think it was a laptop) so I approached them and asked if they could just buy the Wacom Bamboo as a present which was cheaper anyway and I even explained how it works to them and how it would allow me to draw on the computer instead of the iPad. I tried really hard to be convincing. I would have prepared a powerpoint presentation if I had to.

They did give me the wacom as a present. They even gave it to me months before my birthday so I could use it already. I thought I was the luckiest teen in the world with my parents.

These are a collection of my favorite works from 2014 to 2016. The middle one was my second drawing using wacom and Paint Tool SAI. I was a part of a lot of fandoms in those years lol

It gets downhill from there :/

April 2016, my mom and I moved to Japan, while my stepfather and siblings stay in my country. It was tough. For someone who is obsessed with anime, you’d think I’d be thrilled to live in Japan.

I was. Though only at the first few months. It’s not the same as it’s portrayed in anime (I should’ve known but I used to be blinded by anime). It was just lonely. The language barrier sucked and then lots of financial and family issues until my parents split. I got my first boyfriend too and I thought I was blessed by the nicest boy, but the relationship became extremely toxic but I didn’t have it in me to walk away.

All the shit that happened affected me mentally and emotionally. My biggest outlet which was digital drawing, was also out of the question because I did not have a computer/laptop when we moved to Japan. We left it in our home for my stepfather and siblings, even the iPad. I have my wacom with me, but no computer/laptop to use it with. I couldn’t draw.

I tried though. I used my phone to draw, but it wasn’t the same. Then the life problems got piled up, things got worse, and I just lost motivation in anything. Literally anything. From 2016 to 2019, I stopped watching anime, I dropped out of all the fandoms I’m in, I stopped watching my favorite TV series or movies, and I stopped drawing. I even got a bit disconnected with my friends who lived in my country (we talk regularly online). My family was broken so I gave all my attention to my toxic relationship as well which made everything worse too lol

I didn’t draw besides from a few scribbles and the drawings above. I did try digital art on my phone a couple of times again and even posted them on my IG, but they weren’t any good. Eventually, I got mentally and emotionally drained and dropped out of senior high school. I just stayed home for almost a year, leeching off of my mom. I felt even more worthless and my life had no direction at this point. Nothing mattered anymore.

April 2019 or so I think, my (ex)bf bought me a laptop. He says it’s a gift, but I think the real reason was to make up for something horrible that he did (which is stupid because money /gifts won’t resolve anything). I have a laptop. I can draw again, but I didn’t. I didn’t care, I wasn’t interested in drawing anymore anyway.

Welp. June 2019, I went back to my country. My (ex) bf stayed in Japan. The distance helped me end the relationship and my friends were there (they always were) to help put me back together along with two trips to therapy. I went back to finish my senior high school in my own country this time. That said, I have to stay in my country for school (but I was happy because I didn’t wanna go back to Japan yet when the breakup was still fresh and with going back to school, my life has a direction again.)

It was weird. I remember just being sorta lost and confused because I used to put my time, effort and everything into my previous toxic relationship, which was now gone. I was free and I had so much free time that I didn’t know what to do with it. I got so used to doing nothing and being nothing.

This is where BNHA enters.

Dunno when it started, but I started seeing Bakugou frequently online. It’s usually just Bakugou. I knew who he was because my friend suggested BNHA to me back in late 2018 I think but I didn’t watch it since I’ve lost interest in everything at that point in my life.

But ye I thought he hot af but I still didn’t watch BNHA.

But then for some reason he REALLY kept appearing in my social medias and it was really frequent. The last straw was when I saw a pic of him in UA’s gym uniform and thought “damn boi aight imma watch bnha for u” (y’all gotta admit he looks good in those colors with his combat boots XD )

I watched BNHA. Fell in love with Iida along the way. Then I switched to Tokoyami (but Shoji was hot too so aaaaa), but then angry emotionally-constipated sea urchin head caught my heart again. But oof. BakuDeku moments really made me feel some type of way I haven’t felt since I moved to Japan. It felt new but nostalgic. I fell hard in that ship.

I started obsessing. From memes to posts to fanfictions to buying merch to filling my room with BNHA posters. I realized I was reverting to my old self from the time I was still happy and it was thanks to BNHA (and the good people who helped me through the worst too)

Shit I wanted to draw BNHA, I thought.

I mean, I have a laptop, I still have my wacom and drawing softwares. I could totally draw digitally again if I wanted to.

But guess what

I can’t :c

My hand physically cannot draw. My drawings don’t look the way I want them too. 3 years of not drawing really destroyed any skill I had. I was back to square one.

September (yeah they’re ugly, I laughed at it). If you’re wondering why I drew on paper, it’s because, for some reason, I really CANNOT draw digitally. I mean it. I can barely sketch digitally at this point. The lines and shapes just doesn’t come to life. They’re just scribbles. But somehow, I can kinda draw on paper with a ballpoint pen. But yeah, that was the best I could do at this point in my life

After that, I still tried to draw, to regain my old art style, but it didn’t happen... It just doesn’t look or feel the same. Drawing used to be fun. But during this phase, it felt like my ugly drawings were just mocking me (probably was just too emo that time lol)

Weirdly, around a week or two I think, after my half-assed attempts at drawing, I managed to draw digitally somehow o.o

I did a Midoriya and Todoroki drawing like this too. It was my first post here on Tumblr I think. The annoying part here is that I cannot draw digitally unless I draw on paper first, take a pic, and then trace the lineart. I couldn’t draw directly on the computer. Granted, drawing on paper and drawing on digital is very different for me in the first place anyway. But it was still a pain. And it still looked like shit. I can only draw stiff poses :/ it seems like my brain decided to delete all data about anatomy and posture and backgrounds. My lineart here is even messy af. It still really not the same as my old style.

By 2020, I think I got my old art style back. On March, I made this. This took me 27 total of hrs to make.

Right now, I think it’s not bad, but back in March, I was disappointed with the result. This is when I finally broke down crying because it didn’t look good enough and I hated that it took me 27 hrs to draw “bullshit.” I was angry at myself for losing interest in drawing for 3 years when I could’ve used that time to improve. I had to start all over again and it still didn’t look good. (Current me thinks that the drawing above is alright. I was just a lot harsher to myself back then. Used to have a lot of issues but I’m doing great now)

I cried myself to sleep that night. Woke up wanting to cry again. I wallowed in sadness for a couple of days. Eventually told my friends what’s up. Got some pep talk. Even talked to my sister (she’s great, she always hypes me up with my stuff and sometimes I think she’s my biggest fan with how she appreciates my drawings and I’m really grateful for that).

My world turned a 180 and I was weirdly positive after all that crying because brain chemicals and shit. I had a revelation. If I hate how my art style looked so much, then I should have been putting effort in changing my art style, not trying to regain my old art style (that I don’t like anymore)

I researched a lot. I analyzed different art styles and anatomy again. I did everything I could think of to find a style that works for me. I might have even neglected school for a bit to focus on digital art lmao

After all that work, I posted a fanart of middle school BakuDeku in their classroom. I love that fanart so much even if I probably have better ones by now because that was the first fanart I made that I felt like I could be proud of and it was the first one I made in my new art style. It was a milestone for me.

March 2020, I moved back to Japan and without the toxic relationship, I’m a lot positive now. Happy. I’m myself again after the previous bad years. I’m still continuously learning though, trying to improve, but at least, now, I found my own art style :) I really suck at interacting with people online, but I’m always grateful for the support everyone has been giving my fanarts. I’m happy when my content makes people happy.

This is why BNHA is important to me. The series is great alone, but it’s not just that to me. BNHA is so much more. It’s what made me find the passion to create again, only this time, it’s focused on drawing (I used to write, but now I just draw, but maybe I’ll write again for BNHA).

My family is supportive with my love for BNHA, but I think they don’t know the deeper reason why I love it. Sure, I was fine living on with nothing much going on in my life. I’ll finish school, get a job, work until I die or something. It was okay. It was the way of life. But BNHA gave my life color again. I wasn’t just blindly going through life anymore. I have something to look forward to everyday now. BNHA even became a bridge to other things. Ever since then, I’m a lot more open to people, to try new things, to explore and not just live through life and waste away. I got better at leaving my comfort zone. I’ve never been happier in my life :D

Thank you for supporting my fanarts. Thank you so much for giving me a chance to express myself through BNHA. I hope to make more content in the future and improve even more :)

[istnyjulian]

Hi! I love your art style! Your colours are very vibrant and you always capture the essence of a character! I was wondering how you drew your art pieces? What do you use and what steps do you take to make them? Who would you say is the hardest character in All Hail King Julien to draw?Do you have any tips for drawing lemurs + other AHKJ characters? 💚💛

You don't even know how much your words mean to me! THANK YOU HUNDERT TIME! People like you are a great motivation for me to keep going with my art and make people happy with my art cuz it was ALWAYS my big dream! To make people happy with my work! ~~ <3<3<3 

“I was wondering how you drew your art pieces? What do you use and what steps do you take to make them?“

To be honest, I'm not willing to give advice on drawing techniques, because I'm self-taught, I have never participated in any workshops. All I can is what I have learned by trying different things and watching others. Usually when I give advice, there will always be someone who draws professionally and points out the mistakes that I certainly make from a prefesionalist point of view. 

Therefore, if you are looking for professional advice, you should certainly ask someone else! XD I don't want you to get into bad drawing habits. BUT if you want to know how I do it and what motoda I practiced it is fine. I will show you what and how. ;)

I will explain everything in turn using one of my drawings as an example. (That’s humanisation of Becca from AHKJ, of course. ;))

 At the beginning I make a sketch. As long as I think it's good enough! XD I follow the pictures of the characters to best convey important details. I draw some of them from memory. ;) I use a regular school pencil and eraser to make a sketch. You can buy all this at every market.

Then I do lineart and I use eraser to remove pencil residue. To make lineart I use pigment ink, usually: uni pin fine line or Faber-Castell Ecco Pigment but normal fineliners are also great and sometimes I use them too!

When the lineart is ready it is time for the colour base. This is very helpful because the color is even and there are no unsightly clearances. Personally, I recommend Winsor & Newton Promarker but to be honest I didn't use others, that's why I don't have a real comparison. I can only say that promarkers fulfill their role well. For small surfaces I also use regular markers. They are easier to get and also work ok. :) Promarkers are expensive and you can buy them mainly in art stores.

The next step is shading and giving shape and depth using colored pencils. In my opinion, this is the most important step in creating each drawing. I have been using Bruynzeel crayons for several years because this set of crayons I got as a gift once and I still use them, but in the case of some colors I also use the usual random coloured pencils, which I have after school. 

Actually, the work is ready here. I add white elements to get a nice effect on the eye. This is not necessary, but I like it. You can do it with a white ball pen or just like I do with a regular liquid concealer.

Optional at the end of the last color details that can be added to the already colored drawing (this is just an additional effect and some people do it in the program on the computer) and voila! Your art is done! It probably doesn't look like your imagination, but calm down. This is normal. ;)

“Who would you say is the hardest character in All Hail King Julien to draw?“

Oooh, it’s hard to say only ONE character! There is so many hard character to draw for me... 

Aye-ayes are very difficult for me because I can't draw their wrinkled skin so that it looks quite natural. In my performance it looks ... strange. 

It often happens that some lemurs drawn by me do not completely resemble their original counterparts, because I can not quite keep their characteristics. However, Dorothy is certainly one of them, but sometimes Horst and Pancho (if not his specific fur color, it would be hard to guess that I drew him :P). 

It's difficult to draw Rob's hairstyle too. It hurts cuz I like drawing  him!

Indris (mountain’s lemurs) are too hard to draw because their strange body shape. 

I’m not good with drawing snakes + Dr S has kind of athypical designe and if you draw him with normal cobra head he look completelly different. Not so cute! ;) 

Clover/Crimson is hard to draw becuase her head shape. This is a typical pattern used to draw lemurs' children, but you can't follow this lead. She is not a child. 

Tammy! OMG, no comment! I can’t draw her! :( 

Hands... or maybe wings of Andy are complicated to draw... They works more like wings or hands? XD

As you can see, it's very difficult to choose one or even a few characters that are the biggest problem for me. I'd rather say that each character has one (or more) drawback that makes me cry when I draw it. ;)

“Do you have any tips for drawing lemurs + other AHKJ characters?”

My advice is to draw the way you feel! Do not worry about the fact that something doesn't look like in the show, or that you add some features for canon character. I saw a lot of people who draw according to their own concept and be sure that it doesn't spoil the reception of these characters! On the contrary! It lets you see something more in these characters. Something that the artist sees, and everyone interprets characters in their own way. It gives inspiration to another artist. You can view photos of real lemurs, but you don't have to. Some people draw lemurs as if they were cats. I assure you, however, that lemurs in no way resemble cats, neither appearance nor character ... but what's wrong with someone presenting them in this way? NOTHING! Everyone has the right to their own interpretation. And who knows, maybe something will come of it. My advice is be creative and try different things! There are no bad fans! And there are no bad artists (they are only inexperienced). Each of them is trying to convey something and enrich the fandom with a new point of view! Be one of them and throw away the conventional thinking that leads to nowhere.

Thank you very much for your amazing questions! You made my day! ~~ ^^ 

And sorry for my English!

[comicteaparty]

April 4th-April 10th, 2020 Creator Babble Archive

The archive for the Creator Babble  chat that occurred from April 4th, 2020 to April 10th, 2020.  The chat focused on the following question:

What is something you’ve improved with in regards to writing or comic creation thanks to working on your story?

carcarchu

Oh this one i can answer definitively. it's 100% lineart. forcing myself to have to do lineart for hours everyday is definitely a way to force yourself to get better at it while i still don't like it it's something that i can do now without being scared about it

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

Colouring. I had to get really creative in expressing emotion and hinting plot devices with colour. Also got much better with drawing gesture drawings due to looking at a lot of references!

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Either writing dialogue or drawing/painting backgrounds... I used to be particularly awful at writing dialogue. It was too stiff and formal, and sounded a lot like old prose. Now, because of writing a comic and going through several scripts, the dialogue is a lot more natural, and the pacing is more realistic to actual conversations. And the other: backgrounds. I really used to not even draw them at all, and doing a comic forced me to have to think about environments in scenes. So I went from drawing floating characters to having to consider where they are and how it affects the story/mood.(edited)

Feather J. Fern

Paneling! That was my main focus to figure out how to do good paneling to have clearer pages

Deo101 [Millennium]

Honestly? Everything. It's all gotten better and I've learned so much. I would say my biggest improvement is probably in my time management, and art wise is probably composition and layouts. But it's hard to pick because I've grown so much in every aspect!

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

Biggest thing I learned was to keep the story small and focused - and that the smaller, more human struggles are much better in creating tension than the whole default "the world's gonna end!" thing. Mind you, I still love a good "world's ending" story, but you gotta make people CARE about the people in that world first!

Holmeaa - working on WAYFINDERS

ohohohoooo I have done more drawing in photoshop in this short time I have worked on Wayfinders, than the rest of my life! That has given me some skills for sure! Coloring is another one, and generally just efficiency and flow in a comic

Nutty (Court of Roses)

For me it's been my use of color, and getting more confident in experimenting with it to really drive home a scene's mood!

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

The clearest improvement I always notice is my layouts - I’ve gotten more adventurous with panel shapes and placement as time has gone on, experimenting with more interesting designs for the whole page. Some of those experiments haven’t been totally successful but it always feels like a worthwhile try. I’ve gotten some really, REALLY cool layouts out of these experiments, and I love seeing how dynamic the panels have become compared to my first chapter. Also speed. I’m so much faster now. Thank gooooooodness (edited)

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

@LadyLazuli (Phantomarine) I've definitely noticed the experimental panel layouts! They're really cool.

AntiBunny

Planning. Book 2 is when I started using sketchbook thumbnails to plan ahead. The luxury of that first draft meant I could rethink panel layouts and how to best express the events happening if I first had an idea of what was happening laid out.

Also digital art by necessity since I switched to digital during the current arc. I was decent at lineart already, but other aspects have really challenged me to grow as an artist. I had to totally rethink the way I create backgrounds for instance. During this time the background quality actually declined a little while I got used to a new method, but experience has improved my skills greatly as I force myself into new methods.

DanitheCarutor

Hmmm maybe paneling, speechbubbles and backgrounds? My current project is my second real attempt at doing a comic, but I have learned a lot of stuff from the community and general art and story tutorials. Backgrounds and bubbles were the worst for me when first starting out, I only read manga before starting so the speechbubble shapes did not fit with how English is written. Plus I've only drawn wooded fantasy settings before making my comic, so using a ruler, figuring out perspective points and drawing buildings was very new to me. I still hate drawing cities and such, but I've gotten a lot better at it and it is easier to do now. Since I mostly stuck with B&W before my current project, coloring also kind of improved? Depending on who's looking at it. Lmao If I were to think about story/characters/dialogue, I have no idea if I've improved. Honestly, I don't pay much attention to the quality. Also my brain kinda says it's all bad regardless of what I make.(edited)

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

For my Improvements: I'm getting better at my comic panels, as I adjust to the vertical style. Before I've always drawn the standard format. It's more than just boxes, I try to keep a variety of sizes. I'm picking up roughly how much 'gutter space' I need per 2-3 panels.etc I'm also improving on choosing colors that fits my love of detailed linework.(edited)

OH! I'm also learning about Clip studio shortcuts, how to use the assets they provide which makes the process, abit easier on me. Things I need to change, is I want to get a good speedy coloring style, without referring to my usual coloring.(edited)

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

the more I worked on the comic, the more I feel ambitious in making different angles and perspective. So it's really hitting me out of my comfort zone which is good! lol Though I'm trying to keep in mind of my speed, what I feel like I've improved a bit is trying to keep in mind of paneling and dialogue.

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

Process! Space and i have definitely figured out the most productive way to produce content at the rate and quality that also provides us with time for our own projects. Comics are a useful tool that helps you discover ways to better organize your creative workflow for sure!

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

I think probably scenery. I used to dread drawing inanimate objects but now I feel more confident in filling in a scene & even look forward to it sometimes. Maybe also page composition and paneling but I still have a lot to learn there

eli [a winged tale]

One of the reasons I embarked on the webcomic journey is to push myself to improve not only storytelling but also utilizing art to create a reader experience that would be difficult to replicate with just words. I’d like to think that 9 months into making A Winged Tale, I’ve improved on deciding when is a good opportunity to invest more into backgrounds vs character dynamics and when should be focused more on sequences of panels and composition. While the comic is written in a four panel format, more and more I’m finding areas where the story could be told by breaking those rules (attached pic). It’s a balance and I hope going forward I will improve more in pushing the limits of panels and find ways to express the story in fun and interesting ways.(edited)

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

Wow that's a very good description @eli [a winged tale] I look forward to reading more of your story journey

eli [a winged tale]

Thanks so much Joichi! I’m eager to keep learning~

Capitania do Azar

I'm gonna go with planning and actually getting it done. I'm so much faster because now the process is much more streamlined to me

kayotics

My whole comic was started s an exercise to just get better at comics generally so I’d probably say every part I’ve improved at? The biggest things are probably colors and the upfront planning process

Phin (Heirs of the Veil)

Ooof hard question. I think my main improvement lies with page and speechballoon layouts and writing natural feeling dialouge. I'd say maybe also character acting?

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

I'm slowly learning how to create more engaging comic narrative. I read and research in the polished prem webcomics to see what makes them engaging? Like I'm going to challenge myself by creating a series of short stories with a reoccurring set of characters. Every new comic series I create is an experience, trial and error. Sometimes I skip the writeup and just go in blind, trust my own instincts. I'm glad to reach out and talk about it than in my own head. I hope by this year, I'll have at least 2 chapters of Hybrid Dolls out.(edited)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I've definitely gotten better at planning/ outlining multiple chapters ahead of time. I did not even do this when I was doing the first 10 something chapters. (I did attempt an outline before I began the comic, but the story changed significantly from the outline by the time I started the comic, and I did not try to do it again for a long while.) I can't remember when I started, but I do recall having a lot of trouble the first time I tried to do it. It's gotten a little easier each time, though. In fact, I just spent the past few days outlining the next few very important chapters, de-tangling some big tangles. I'm really glad my outlining (and overall writing) skills had leveled up, because HOO boy, I don't think my 2014-2015 self could have done this!

I also became friends with enviros. I had already become somewhat comfortable drawing perspective when HoK started, but I had a sort of mechanical approach to it, like "oh I need some enviro for these establishing shots, guess I'll draw them." But now I LOVE drawing enviros! (some types anyway...) It's my comfort activity, something I treat myself to after a long day! In the thumbnails for my next few pages, there's a few enviro-heavy panels that I have to remove, because I drew too many of them (and the pacing got too slow as a result). I have to stop myself from drawing too many of these.

My biggest improvement is probably I've come to understand my characters and my themes much better, but that's more of a "I got better at making HoK" than a "I got better at making comics." There's definitely a difference between the two.

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

@keii’ii (Heart of Keol) ah I totally understand I tried the outline method before I start but my story changed alot after I drew it. So it start to feel like a waste of time for me, but I'll still write an outline to make sure to plan where my story heads(edited)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah! I needed to draw those first few chapters to understand the direction of my own story.

The drawing part is an essential part of self-reflection, to try to understand what it is that I want out of the story. The answer has always been there in my heart, but I'm not able to see it clearly from the get-go.

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

I end up breaking scenes and put them in for future episodes, since I want to get a certain flow in the story.

It could be tricky to see what it is you want out of the story until you are in at least 3 chapters in?

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I needed way more than 3 chapters -- though granted, my chapters are short, so that could be a part of it

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

I see the early first script as testing the water. like a test to figure out the characters personalities. Unless you are bringing in old characters which you knew before?(edited)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Even if the characters have been with you for a while, unless I have made a comic with them, there is a big chance that the characters will completely change, too.

DanitheCarutor

You know, I was thinking about about this, mostly about how I wouldn't have been happy if I was able to finish my comic the day I started. Then I realized I'm happy that I didn't. The first chapter wasn't the best, I was just learning how to coloring a comic, still fleshing out my characters and was still brainstorming small kinks in the story. I also still didn't have as much of an understanding of perspective, or panel and bubble layout. Even though I still have a lot I need to work on, I've gotten a lot better in all those aspects. Even though my use of color is weird, I've definitely gotten much more confident in it, enough so that I experiment and take a lot more risks with style. Even though my panelling can be boring, I have a much better understanding of how I want a page to look. I've improved a lot with my planning as well, like even though my thumbnailing/storyboarding only takes maybe 30, I've learned to step away for a bit if I don't like a layout, or analyzing why I don't like it and brainstorming ways to make it better. If I had magically finished the comic all at once, it would look really bad and may have been less readable.

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

That is inspiring to hear about your improvement @DanitheCarutor

Natsu-no-Hikari

Chiming in! Just this week, Miko (my co-creator) and I were discussing how far we've come from when we started our first comic (https://liarsgotoparadise.com/) vs. where we are now. I think there have been a lot of learn experiences, such as art, dialogue, general editing - but especially with pacing and character interaction. We regret that we didn't stop to focus more on that interaction, as we wanted to move ahead in the story...and now we can't change that, except to start now and not allow ourselves to grow impatient. Take our time and enjoy the journey - that's our new motto. There's a time to rush ahead in perilous moments, but there's also definitely a time to catch our breaths and let the characters mingle and speak. It's an improvement that will become more noticeable going forward in Liars and our second comic as well.

[mysticsparklewings]

I’m Not Dead‪

I'm not laughin', You're not jokin' I'm not dead I only dress that way Out nowhere take me out there Far away and save me from my Self-destruction, hopeless for you Sing a song for California --My Chemical Romance, "Boy Division" ____ Have you heard?? Have you heard the news?? Well if not, I'm gonna tell ya: MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE IS BACK, BABY!!! :D On Halloween, we got the announcement that they will be playing a show in Los Angeles, California on December 20th. And just a few days ago we got the news that they're also going to New Zealand, Australia, and Japan which basically confirms to me they're doing so sort of tour, whether they actually call it that or not. There's still a lot we don't know for sure; whether this is just a one-time reunion tour or their official comeback tour, if we'll be getting new original music both at the shows and available for download/purchase or if they're just going to redo their existing music and covers, if it's only going to be the main four that were there at the end or if there will be some of the other members that were in and out over the years rejoining them...Where all they're going to go on this tour...the list goes on. But! The important thing, at least to me, is that they came back at all. Six years. Six years we've waited and hoped and prayed, been let down by false rumors and speculation...And now it's actually happening. I just... Hence why I had to make an art piece celebrating the occasion and as an excuse to talk about it. (I figure if I'm going to dump my opinions on the internet I might as well make some art to go with them. Sue me. ) Originally, I was planning on making something more along the lines of true fan art, as this is more pseudo fan art here, but I just couldn't settle on one good idea that I felt really comfortable pursuing. Although I am still considering doing an updated (or at least colored in) version of my Killjoys, Make Some Noise! (lineart) I did a couple of years ago...we'll see. Anyway. Since we did get the news on Halloween, it's worth noting that originally I'd been debating if I wanted to do any makeup this year at all or just slide on a mask since my only plans were going to Krispy Kreme, who was offering a free donut if you showed up in costume. But after the news broke, my decision was made for me. I had to. MCR isn't strictly associated with skeletons/skulls, as has become my preferred Halloween costume, but The Black Parade, their second album, does have a little skeleton as the leader of the marching band, and the band members did wear skeleton/skull inspired makeup during that time. Admittedly this year's makeup wasn't nearly as involved or elaborate as what I've done in years' past, but it beats last year's absolutely nothing. I ended up taking a few pictures to preserve the look, as I always do even though I rarely take photos of myself, and I would decide to draw one of them where I was trying to do this face that Gerard (the frontman and lead singer of the band) has made on a several occasions; this wide-eyed intense stare. Partly because this, I'm sure, is very close to my actual face when I heard the news that they're back, the makeup was inspired by them anyway, and also because it pairs very well with one of my favorite lines from my favorite song by them. Said line being, obviously, "I'm not dead I only dress that way," from Boy Division, as cited at the top of the description. If I'm being completely truthful, I can't even really put my finger on what it is about Boy Division specifically that makes it my favorite, as I've yet to hear an MCR song I truly do not like, but I think there's something in the lyrics of the full song that just sells it for me in combination with the high-energy music. But whatever the case, it is my favorite nonetheless. Beyond that though, it's really hard to place the rest of them in any coherent order because, at least to my ears, they're all really great. Anyway. So I went about drawing my face, erring slightly more on the realistic side than usually (but obviously not too much) in hopes of capturing the facial expression. Which, it's pretty good, but I do think it could've been a little better. I think my biggest problem was getting the eyebrows a mouth right, and I'm still not sure they're quite there since my real eyebrows are pretty translucent and the mouth was hard to balance between looking logical and more neutral than sad/angry. And I think maybe the proper expression was a little more apparent in the sketch, but it's pretty normal to lose some feeling between the sketch and the final product so that I won't discount too much. After that, I had to take a break from the drawing to think about how to color it in any style it and everything. I ended up transferring the sketch to Mixed Media paper after deciding I wanted to use alcohol markers as a base but not knowing if I'd need to adjust it with colored pencil and/or other mediums on top or not, and I did the lines with my Faber Castell Polychromos once I felt like just black lines would be too harsh and thinking colored lines would be better. Plus, the Polychromos are very non-reactive to water, so if I really wanted to I could add watercolor or something water-activated without having to worry about the lines getting messed up. I did not consider how the Polychromos would react to the alcohol markers, but other than one or two spots where the top layer of pencil kinda dissolved after some heavy layering (which was easily fixed by just going back over the lines in that area again really quickly), fortunately, it worked out okay. Although sweet sparkles I swear it took at least twice as long to actually do the lines as opposed to normal between having to apply enough pressure to get the right amount of color down and working on the differences inline weight.   Anyway. I was a little worried about some of the shading/effects I'd be doing with the markers, but I think I did alright with it. This mixed media paper (Strathmore 400 series for anyone who cares) is nice and thick, so I had plenty of room to layer up and blend as I needed to get the look I was going for. This came in especially handy around the eyes and on the nose when I told myself to at least try and get the colors like the photo before cheesing it and just using straight (or nearly) black. The only area that I think came out a little rough is really the skin, mainly the forehead. But that has more to do with 1. There isn't much contrast on the face in the photo so I didn't want to take it too far in the drawing and 2. I think I may have started slightly too dark for skin this pale. I realize that's a weird thing to say, but when you're pale as a ghost like I am, you'd be surprised how easy that is to do. And to be fair, I probably could've tried to adjust that with colored pencils, and my original plan was to add some white pencil on top in the areas of the face where a highlight would naturally hit (forehead, bridge of the nose, cheekbones, etc.)  But by the time I got done with the markers, I honestly felt like it was nice enough without any additional pencil that I thought it might be best to just leave it alone. Since I still have the original drawing, my thoughts may change on that and I could update this eventually, but for now, my decision stands. On the other hand, I was actually pretty pleased with how the hair turned out once it was colored. That is until I scanned it in. I don't know why, but the darkest shadows in the hair were too dark and too bluish on the scan, despite everything else looking fairly color-accurate. I fiddled with the scanner settings for a few minutes to try and fix it, but it became quickly apparent there wasn't much to be done about it at the level. Which meant I had to try making the adjustments in Photoshop. Now, I've done my fair share of scan-fixing, photo editing, and just color adjustments on digital art, but for the life of me I could not get things to work the way I wanted them to here. It became to the point I'm starting to suspect if the actual true-to-life shades of purple of the drawing are just really hard or even impossible for computers to capture and/or create accurately. Fluorescent colors fall in that category, surely they're not the only ones. In the end, after more time than I bothered to document messing around with settings and adjustments, and firmly decided I was not going to essentially manually re-color/shade the hair digitally, I tried the only other thing I could think to do. I took the hair, as I had been for all my adjustments since the rest of the colors were fine, on a separate layer and took all the saturation out so I was left with just the gray values. And I noted while I was at that point that it didn't seem to be an issue of the contrast between the shadows and the rest of the hair. The transition looked perfectly acceptable in grayscale. Then, I added a color layer on top of that one, clipped it to only show up on the hair, and changed it to an "overlay" layer so that I would get the values from the gray layer, but colored purple. It did take a couple of tries to get the right shade of purple for the color layer, and I'm sure it's still not 100% accurate to the IRL drawing, but it's a heck of a lot closer than it was. And this gets even weirder when you consider that just a few days before I made this drawing, I made a different one for a friend where I used the exact same marker colors for the hair, blended in almost exactly the same manner, on the same paper, and it didn't have this problem when I scanned that one in. I have never in my life. Anyway. The accessories actually didn't give me much trouble in drawing or coloring. Admittedly, I did tone down how many feathers and stuff are actually on the tiny hat for my own sanity's sake, and while I did my best with the lace on the choker, I don't have a ton of practice with drawing lace like this so I'm sure it could be improved. Although I did decide to color both of those areas (what I didn't draw/fill in with the pencils at the line stage) with a super dark blue-violet instead of a gray or straight black for the purpose of not totally hiding the linework I'd put in and to make it just slightly more dynamic. Which I think was a good call as it seems to tie in pretty nicely with the grayish tones on the face. Other than that though, I did try to stay fairly accurate with my color choices, and I think I did pretty well with that, all things considered. (Despite having a much larger selection than I did just a few months ago, I do still need a wider selection of alcohol markers in some areas just for the sake of color accuracy and smooth transitions.) Once my face was done, then came the text. I searched for a while, hoping to find an MCR appropriate font that I could hopefully add by hand, but my search came up empty. I did find one I really liked the look of though, called "Miserable." So I scanned the drawing in and after the aforementioned hair struggles, I got to play with the placement and structure of the words. I knew I kinda wanted something that just has that "I'm a logo/t-shirt emblem" kind of feel, and in the end, I think I got that. But I do think I could've planned out the drawing itself a little bit better in terms of the space left to fit the words into. I really didn't do myself a lot of favors on that one.   It has its problems, but I'm still really actually kind of proud of how this turned out...and that's really all I have to say about it. Eh, maybe I'm just really happy because I know why I made it in the first place. Now if MCR can just come within 1-2 hours of my location so I can actually go see them...please... ____ Artwork © me, MysticSparkleWings ____ Where to find me & my artwork: My Website | Commission Info + Prices | Ko-Fi | dA Print Shop | RedBubble |   Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram

[heysawbones]

Watchmans

It is 2018. I have been reading comics for over 20 years, and making them for about ten. I have never read Watchmen. 

I even own the damn thing. I’m not sure when it got into my collection; it’s almost as if it was assigned to me when I started making comics where people fuck and say bad words. @beesmygod suggested that I ought to actually, you know, read the book. Assess how it’s aged. To make a long story short: it’s okay.

To make a short story long, I’ll break my assessment down into sections. People love that.

Art

It’s great. It’s not exciting, but it’s incredibly solid. It doesn’t feel “off”, while at the same time it never comes off as excessively referenced. The color palette can be jarring, and played a part in me not reading the book for a long time. I stopped noticing it after a while, and sometimes if you squint real hard and ignore the lineart, the colors look cool together in and of themselves. A notable exception: Nite Owl looks absolutely ridiculous without clothes on. It’s like Dave Gibbons got the script, read “chubby man” and thought, aw no, people hate looking at those. Nite Owl is the Ken Doll genitalia of Fat. It’s off-putting.

The comic makes great use of layouts, and pages always end on good narrative beats. Easy to follow (visually).

Story

Watchmen is what happens when a friend of yours tells you about some drama that’s clearly really exciting to them, but not to you. You don’t know the people involved. Your friend tells you everything that happened, and maybe even in the right order, but doesn’t tell you why you should care. That was the biggest issue for me, really: the story couldn’t convince me to invest in the characters. Is it because there are too many of them, so the focus is too broad? Is it that none of them are interesting people? The women in particular are boring in this comic, though at least the original Silk Spectre has a good line or two about Tijuana Bibles. I’d say that the women are less characters than props, but that would imply that the males had depth. Rorschach is the only character who, while not deep, has any weight to him at all. 

There are a lot of references to the Cold War and Mutually Assured Destruction in this comic. There’s even a somewhat obscure reference to Nixon’s “Mad Bomber” strategy, which impressed me. Even so, I don’t feel like the comic makes the best use of the material. The threat of nuclear annihilation feels like background noise, even as the world encounters a potential crisis over the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. This is more than a cosmetic issue, as the threat of annihilation is what drives the climax of the book. Going into Ozymandias’ big reveal, my initial response was, “Was this really necessary?” Things didn’t seem bad enough to warrant something so dramatic. Imagine what kind of shit he could’ve pulled if he was fully prepared for the Cuban missile crisis. What a drama queen. I assume this was an oversight; of all the criticism hurled at Ozymandias by the other characters, nobody tells him that he’s overreacting - just that they can’t believe he’s doing this “mad scientist shit”. When it’s done, they say, “All we did was fail to stop him from saving the world”. No, you failed to stop him from throwing a tanty. He didn’t save the world. It wasn’t in imminent danger in the first place.

All of that said, it’s not a terrible comic. It’s ambitious as all hell, which I respect. Is it a great comic? Well, we’ve collectively decided it is, so that means it is. Is it a great comic on its own merits, read in 2018? Not really. It has too much trouble with all of its moving parts, and knowing how to prioritize them properly to keep people focused. They even layer another comic in, a narrative-within-a-narrative. It’s an interesting affectation, but it doesn’t help with the impression of noise. It’s a real noisy comic.

On Rorschach

People have accused Watchmen of romanticizing the self-aggrandizing, tone-deaf attitude and behavior of Rorschach. A friend of mine believed he was an author insert. I think you’d have to assume the author really, really dislikes himself to believe that. Rorschach is not meant to be liked; he’s meant to set the book’s tone/thematic conflict, and he’s meant to be understood. In understanding him, you may find things about him that you do not hate. He isn’t even always wrong, which I think confuses some readers. 

Rorschach is incredibly obnoxious. I think the author was pretty open about that. If you have to be beat over the head with constant declarations of how shitty a person is to be satisfied that the author isn’t glorifying being shitty, I just don’t know what to tell you. 

On The Comedian

He’s like Dadaism if Dadaism was fascist, instead of the opposite of that. The shittiest nihilist. I don’t get him. Is he just there to suck? Why did anybody put up with this guy? Sure, he moves the plot along, but otherwise, man. Why are you here.

Moral relativism

The book’s thematic conflict seems to be “moral relativism versus absolutism”, but I can’t tell where the book ultimately lands in regard to that question. Perhaps that is the point, as we utterly fail to do that in real life, as well. Or, perhaps the book forgets about the thematic conflict partway through. It’s hard to tell. What the book does concretely do, is drive home how even moral absolutists can’t agree on what the correct absolute morals are. Just... like in real life. I wish the comic touched on this theme again near the end. It would have helped pull things together.

On women

Alan Moore’s depiction of women in this comic is just a dang bummer. It really is. Every living woman in the comic is defined in some way by her relationship to sex: a prostitute, a woman who falls for her would-be rapist, a woman largely kept as a consort to the human stand-in for nuclear weapons. A woman who loathes her husband’s work because it keeps her from getting the sex she wants. Two women get in a fight about being gay and having sex. Neither of the living female heroes gave much of an actual shit about fighting crime, and even seem annoyed to be dragged along. Rorschach has problems with everyone, but women in particular, he doesn’t see as people. None of these things in and of themselves are necessarily indicative of an author’s narrow view of women - this might be controversial, but I think even “a woman who falls for her would-be rapist” could theoretically be done well. When nearly all of your references to women are like this, it’s a pattern. It would be one thing if this pattern only showed up when viewed through Rorschach’s narrative lens, but that isn’t the case. This is normative. Sucks.

2/5 arbitrary stars. Historically important, interesting in that context. Not that interesting, otherwise.

edit: @gunwildversuseverything , thanks for the heads up

[coco-chip]

Do you have any advice for someone who wants to try digital art? Like‚ is there anything you wished you knew when you first started or what programs are best for beginners? I want to try it I just have not idea where to start. Sorry for the stupid questions. (I really love your art btw)

Sure! I’m not the best with this since I’m not professionally trained but I’ll tryThis got long so I’m putting it under a cut

Program

For me the best free program out there for digital artists is Medibang Paint  It is very extensive and constantly getting updates! I would still be using it if clipstudio pro wasn’t so good. 

Speaking of Clipstudio, It is a very good program but I wouldn’t recommend it to beginners because it does not have a beginner friendly UI and it is not free.

Tablet

As for starting out what to draw that’s up to you but personally I would start out with a cheap and reliable tablet! Some people prefer using Ipads but I like having pen pressure. So the best cheap and reliable tablets is Huion. I honestly think Huion is miles ahead of wacom. 

For your first tablet do not get wacom. They are much more expensive than they need to be and not even better quality.

I would still be using Huion if they had pen computers but only Wacom has that right now. My first tablet from Huion was this one (which isnt on their official store for some reason?) I think this type of model that’s cheap and has no shortcut buttons is perfect for a beginner! but there’s a wide variety you can get for a good price! Size is important! I wouldn’t get anything smaller than 8x5 inches. You need enough space to comfortably move your arm. Not just your wrist, that’s how you get cramps

Shortcuts (your best friend)Why do I say no shortcut buttons on a tablet is perfect for a beginner? Because Keyboard shortcuts are so so much better and easier. There’s a lot more buttons you can use and hook up a certain shortcut too. Even if you do get a tablet with shortcut buttons I suggest using the keyboard shortcuts. Use Shortcuts Here’s a good video on the medibang shortcuts 

Stretch

Carpal tunnel syndrome is a serious issue. Always do a quick stretch before drawing and I’d suggest just doing it sporadically throughout the day

here’s some good stretches

Anatomy

Anatomy is tricky! I still don’t get it and I’ve been drawing most of my life

When I started out I watched and followed these videos

I would also suggest doing plenty of body studies. Something I used to do is just input terms like “egyptian model” find a random image from that and draw that person. or I would put in “cutest dog” and draw that image. These are just studies for practice but if they spur an idea thats all the better

I think the most important part of figuring out anatomy is the ability to break things down into shapes. This tutorial series helped me understand shapes better but there’s plenty of good tutorials out there that break the body into shapes like this

I do have a dedicated art tutorial tag that you can peruse

General advice

Use Layers - the best part of digital drawing is layers! When starting out a piece use one layer per item. First do the sketch. Then do a layer on top of that of the body. Then of the hair. Then of the clothes. Don’t be afraid to make a new layer just for some extra details. I always merge finished layers (never with the sketch) for easier tracking but you don’t have to. 

The internet’s your friend - The best thing about this modern age we live in is the vast amount of information we can get! If you ever think “man how do i draw x?” Hop into a search platform and type in “how to draw x” read as many tutorials as you can and you’ll always know a little bit more than you did before (though you should make sure safesearch is on)

it’s okay to trace sometimes - A lot of people say don’t trace! but there is a tme and pace to trace. When you’re learning its okay to take real life pictures of objects or people and trace over them to understand porportions and feel. However, never post anything you trace and claim it as your own. Don’t trace for every picture. Tracing should only be used as a learning tool, just like anatomy practice

You don’t need shading - if you’re like me and you hate shading you really don’t need to do it! Look at all of my art pieces I think I’ve only shaded for like 3 or four of them? and I only shaded for effect. Shading is really not that important. If you have nice lineart you don’t even need color! 

The bad advice

here’s bad “advice” I got from art tutorials when I was younger that you should really ignore

“men and women’s bodies look drastically different, women are all curves men are all hard lines” - this is so so so wrong I don’t even know why tutorials say this. If you want to draw people look at real people! I think it’s best to think about the type of character you are drawing. If you are drawing lets say a short man type in “short man” into a search platform and draw from there. If you want to draw a muscular women search up “muscular woman”. this is also good for drawing characters of different ethnicities

“Don’t use oversaturated colors” - saturated colors are super fun! You jsut have to use them right, when drawing or coloring with saturated colors make sure to keep the color palette consistent. Aka either draw in all satruated colors, Or have only one thing in a saturated color to make it pop, or have only one thing non saturated for effect. Don’t have an even mix of unsaturated and saturated colors that can look confusing

And that’s everything I can think of right now! Thanks for the ask and for the compliment! I hope some of this helps you! 

[arecomicsevengood]

Jim Mahfood’s Grrl Scouts

I texted a pal to let him know I was thinking about buying the new collection of Jim Mahfood’s Grrl Scouts, and I was surprised at the total ambivalence of his reply. Considering our shared interest in comics that are kind of garbage, but interested in capturing youthful subcultures, I thought I’d get a “hell yeah man do it.” Mahfood’s style has changed a good deal since I read it in high school, and honestly the Magic Socks series looked fresh to me: While before Mahfood’s lineart was pretty stiff, sort of like colorforms or something, with thick lines, his interest in graffiti now manifests in lines and figures that are loose and gestural, the colors that fill in his compositions are bright and vibrant. Did I expect the story to be good? No, not at all. The new trade collection includes a backup on the “making-of” where the artist admits his intention with the comic was always to just do something exactly like Tank Girl, something that it seems like he can only admit to now that he has collaborated with Alan Martin on recent Tank Girl comics, but oh man holy shit do I ever not think that’s a good goal to have. The ideal influence for Tank Girl to have on someone is for them to dress like the character of Tank Girl, you shouldn’t try to make comics like Tank Girl, which are pretty hard to actually read and never very funny.

Credit where it’s due to my mom: When the Tank Girl movie was coming out, and the character and comics were being explained on Good Morning America, she asked the dude at the comic store I was shopping at to show her some issues, and she decided they were not for her. At the time I was disappointed, but in retrospect this is up there with when I explained the band Blink-182 played “pop-punk” and she responded “isn’t that a contradiction in terms?”

But not to throw Tank Girl under the bus, Jamie Hewlett’s art is indeed rad as hell, I maybe prefer his Shade The Changing Man covers to the ones Brendan McCarthy did, and Mahfood’s cartooning now has a visceral energy to it that pops off the shelf. The issue with the writing in Grrl Scouts is that it’s brain-dead, a id that runs on references and cultural signifiers, My interest in buying the book and reading it plummeted when my skim brought me to the pages where Hunter S Thompson shows up as a spirit guide, and the author photo where Mahfood wears a bandolier.

In a climate where the critical discourse has deteriorated, and people praise things for the politics it seems like they have, ignoring their aesthetic value, Mahfood, a dude I think legitimately has a cool drawing style, still sort of gestures towards aesthetics the way other comics gesture towards politics. Like, rather than include a gay character who tells off a villain for fat-shaming someone, Mahfood will have panel where two characters quote Handsome Boy Modeling School. Rather than induce in the audience the sense that reading the comic is a political act that affirms them, it wants to tell the audience that the comic it’s reading is cool, the way that Prince Paul is cool. However, the really-not-that-political act of having minority representation in a work of fiction still places more demands on the writer than what Mahfood is doing, which is basically signaling that he’s just hanging loose and doing what he feels like. What’s weird about that, then, is it that even though this is totally non-focus-grouped, independent work, it still kind of feels the same way that like Coca-Cola paying for a fake graffiti “street art” mural does, like it’s trading off of something that already exists to build its brand. Only Mahfood’s graffiti-influence style is trading off of the historical existence of Hunter S Thompson, and he himself is the sort of person that would be hired for the sort of project I’m describing- One of his first high-profile projects was the Generation X Underground Special Marvel Comics put out in 1998.

At the same time, looked at honestly, Mahfood’s work does function as a sort of aboveground version of a zine. It doesn’t conform to notions of quality, but I like it as a form of communication, of someone talking about music, and the things they think are cool. It feels adolescent, and dumb, and contrived, but I feel like I recognize the person who makes it and could get along with him. I like it, because I like comics, though it doesn’t work as a narrative. The characters are thin, but you can read through them, to get at a feeling for the character of the creator. This is not the best effect you can achieve, but it’s something. It’s something you can get from zines, through people you meet in real life or via mail order, and this can be a transformative experience. This, the version you can get at a comic store, is kind of dispiriting.

Grrl Scouts’ version of what’s cool also includes guns and doin’ cocaine. I disagree! It is kind of crazy to think of the way Brandon Graham’s stuff also contains a graffiti influence, but in so many ways is a more satisfying reading experience, and Mahfood has been making fairly high-profile professional work for way longer. It’s not fair to compare them at all, but right now I’m thinking about how Graham specifically does not include guns in his comics because he doesn’t think they’re cool, and so creates sci-fi weaponry instead: Nonetheless his stuff still feels like it has higher stakes, due to actual emotional involvement with the characters.

This may or may not be relevant to the topic at hand, but it is something I’ve been thinking about: The rapper Lil B has been incredibly influential in ways that cannot even really be calculated. One of the reasons it can’t be calculated is because he never got signed to a record label, besides putting out a double-LP of ambient music on a noise label. The lack of record label support, if anything, just demonstrates the irrelevance of record labels. And then I realized that calling Lil B “The Based God” actually points out that I sort of feel about him the way some of the devout feel: If you do not believe, your words are not relevant. But I can’t say definitively if the problem with Jim Mahfood is that he doesn’t like Lil B because I don’t think he’s weighed in on the matter, I’m just kind of assuming he doesn’t fuck with it. I really don’t know. I guess I mean more that Lil B is someone who sort of blew up the landscape, with a different relationship to tradition, and makes space for things to flourish in ways he couldn’t. So in this example Mahfood would be like Lil Yachty or something, although in other ways he’s like an old dude who probably hasn’t liked a new rapper since Def Jux folded. But I’m becoming that dude too, now that I’m my thirties. So this is maybe how I feel like I can relate to Jim Mahfood. I feel like I can call this comic “retarded” without anyone yelling at me for being “ableist” because no one who would use that word would be interested in defending the honor of Grrl Scouts.

I guess I should explain what the “plot” to Magic Socks is. But oh my god, it’s so stupid, and it doesn’t matter at all. Honestly, maybe the most accidentally revealing moment here is when a character says that Grant Morrison’s Doom Patrol is pretentious, but The Invisibles is a perfect balance. The Invisibles feels really dated on the basis of its constant cultural referencing, creating a sort of hypertext for itself to exist in as opposed to developing its own system as a work of fiction that can sustain itself. The values Mahfood and Grrl Scouts have seem dated and anachronistic, but also it seems like telling a story, even a really weird story, would be beyond it. It’s a comic that wants to be fun and wild and comes off as sad, the way an older person romanticizing youth, or lamenting the way the young are now, is sad. That the art is developed way beyond what a younger Mahfood could achieve hints at a form of aging gracefully that gives the book an even greater disconnect.

Bill Sienkiewicz does a pin-up in this comic. Like Mahfood, Sienkiewicz is also a veteran of the pages of Oni Double Feature, although he was already a legend, and Mahfood was an up-and-comer. Comics is so divided up by scenes and strata these days and I hope Sienkiewicz has seen and been given copies of comics by the past decade’s more exciting younger artists. At the same time, while a younger Bill Sienkiewicz worked with Frank Miller and Alan Moore, it seems like Jim Mahfood would benefit from working with writers more skilled than Kevin Smith, his most high-profile former collaborator.

[pikuna]

Let’s start the new year with the first sheet of my Dragon Age Characters. My Warden is fairly new, just one month old actually. Over the years I got more familiar with the lore and such, so I decided that a Dalish Warden would be actually interesting and I really did enjoy playing with her. 

Riza had a lot of problems drawing the lines for the armor and I can understand that, hard to get a good screenshot of it. It took me too a long time to color this, tho I’m very satisfied with the result. (But the details…*sobs’) First time using textures, really hope it has the desired effect.

Lineart © Riza23 (dA) Colors © Me/Pikuna

Character Sheet Template

More infos under the Cut

Anra is a little trickster and loves to play pranks or outwit others. After many incidents she stopped doing those things with her own clan members, but continues so with other people. Later on she also doesn’t mind doing dirty mercenary jobs, also she does them only with Zevran as company. 

Unlike most of her brethren she doesn’t mind humans that much, as long as they don’t insult her or her people in front of her. She is curious about the customs and traditions of the other races, while participating in her own only on special occasions. (Like Tamlen’s funeral.)

Despite Anra appearing rude and nonchalant towards the world, her community sense is still big, helping those who are in real need of it and cares deeply for those she calls friends. At first she wasn’t so keen on being a leading figure in the fight against the Blight, but she soon realizes that she hasn’t much choice and sees it as a chance to follow in her father’s footsteps as a leader. 

Relationship with Companions

Alistair: They go along rather quickly and well, since they are both person who like to joke around most of the time. After the battle of Ostagar, Anra develops a kinship with Alistair, given that they are the only surviving Wardens of Ferelden and giving him comfort when he mourns Duncan and the others. She doesn’t care much about Alistair’s royal blood and respects his wish not to become king. Soon they develop a sibling-like relationship, with Anra teasing him and giving is self-esteem a push here and there, while he tries his best to prevent her from doing rash/stupid decisions. 

Morrigan: Like everyone else, Anra has a hard time approaching Morrigan, but she isn’t very deterred by the behavior of the witch and thinks it’s best to have her on her good site. While Morrigan doesn’t approve of Anra’s tendency to help every second person, they bond over the fact that they both were raised outside of society, spending their childhood amongst woods and animals. 

Leliana: Anra loves to listen to the stories and songs from Leliana and also to learn more about the religion of the humans. They would often sit at the fire deep into the night, exchanging tales and facts about their people. Besides showing Anra some combat techniques, Leliana also teaches her to sing. Anra also thinks that Leliana is very attractive and has not only once offered her to join her and Zevran in their tent. 

Sten: At first Anra was rather intimidated by the large Qunari and also questioning her decision to take him along. But she soon learns to trust his word and also proofs herself to him. Still despite her curiosity about the Qunari in general, Anra has not much patience to converse with Sten much. Instead she amuses herself with the delight of him getting delighted by the cookies she brings him.

Wynne: Anra would never speak it out loud, but she is glad to have person along that has the wisdom of age and can provide guidance. Even when it appears that she isn’t really listening to Wynne’s advice or scoldings, Anra takes them to the heart and tries to follow them. She always gets sad, whenever Wynne starts talking about her being so old and soon to be dead, since Anra has come to see her has mother figure and often seeks comfort from her. 

Zevran: Maybe Anra wasn’t swooning over Zevran, but she still was charmed from the first moment on. For one thing, she was glad to have another elf in the group, especially one that was raised in the cities. For another, he wasn’t judging her for the more unethical choices/things she does and gladly accompanied her on some shady jobs. While Wrynne tried to teach Anra some manners, Zevran made it his job to show her how to act in human society, often resulting in little desasters, but also a lot of laughs. Like him, Anra saw their relationship just as having fun together, but the more she learned about Zevran, the more her heart ached to show him what a good life he could have, hopefully together with her.  One of the main reasons why Anra later decides to agree to Morrigan’s ritual was because of the promises she made to Zevran, to not leave him alone and that they together would visit her clan.

[franeridart]

i miss your haikyuu art so much it was the best - dont get me wrong i fucking adore your bnha art but like,,,,, haikyuu,,,,,,,

Well pal, aren’t you lucky, you might have been missing from my blog in the past two weeks but if you scroll down just three posts you might notice I’ve been drawing haikyuu again (x x x)

Anon said:People don’t remember baccano anymore? :o

I assumed so since it’s been ten years since it aired and the fandom has always been small and quiet anyway, but it looks like I assumed wrong!!!! That made me so happy, honestly? Baccano’s my fav anime ever, it’s always super nice to see it appreciated!

Anon said:I’M HAPPY YOU LIKE BACCANO! NOBODY KNOWS IT

Anon said:Omg thanks for the baccano au I love it.

Anon said: BACCANO!! I love you so much right now!!!

Anon said: YOU DID A BACCANO CROSSOVER!! IVE NEVER SEEN ONE DUDE MAJOR PROPS TO YOU!!!! I literally love that series, it was one of my first ones so seeing it mixed with one of my current favourites is surreal!!

Anon said: DID YOU JUT DO A BACCANO AU OMG ITA BEEN SO LONG SINCE IVE WATCHED THAT IT WAS MY FAVE 😭😭😭😭😭 i cried so much during it all the time it was so badass

This is exactly what I was talking about!!! So HAPPY all of you love that anime as much as I do! And thank you SO MUCH for liking the crossover!!!!!!! ;O;

Anon said:Fran, just out of curiosity, what colors do you associate with Bakugou/Kirishima/the rest of the squad?

The ones I use to write their dialogues! Orange for Bakugou, red for Kirishima, gold for Sero, yellow for Kaminari and pink for Ashido! :D

Anon said: tumblr has been a butt and not notified me of your post but i saw your nishinoya and i died i love the way you draw him and boiiiiii bokuto and kuroo be looking smokin and your kiribaku (is that right??? im a failure i cant remember!!!:( ) is amazing SO MUCH FLUFF i die of happiness. keep up the lovely work 💕👌👌👌

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL THE KIND WORDS HOLY SMOKES!!!!!!!

Anon said:I love your art its so amazing.

Thank youuu ;u;

Anon said:I was just wondering if I could use one of your drawings of Kuroo as a phone background (just for personal use! It’s fine if you don’t want me too! I’m a huge fan and I hope you’re having a nice day~)

Sure! As long as it’s just for personal use I don’t mind at all!!

Anon said:Oh wow, thanks for the tutorial! I think it will be really helpful!

I’m glad to hear that!!!! :D

Anon said: what is the jock / nerd thing?

At this point it’s mostly a meme, I’d say haha

Anon said:ASDFGHJKL *-* Your art is to beautiful for the world

That’s!!!! Too kind of you oh man (〃´ﾉω`〃)

Anon said:Your kiri is so pretty.

THANK YOU!! Every Kiri is super pretty tho, it’s the intrinsic Kirishima-ness of the Kiris that makes them beautiful whatever style they’re drawn in! :O

Anon said:YOUR ZORA ITS SO GOOD I LOVE HIM AS MUCH AS YOU DO AND WHEN I SAW YOU DRAW HIM I WAS LIKE: a m a z i n g 💕💕💕

OH MAN THANK YOU I love that disaster of a trickster so much I’m glad I could make him come out okay ;O;

Anon said:so i left tumblr a while ago?? but i check back every so often bc ur pretty much my favorite tumblr artist ever

Aw man thank you so so so much this means the world to me! ;u; sometimes it’s hard for me to see any improvement in my own art so knowing that you can see it helps a lot!

Anon said:your art is literally my favourite thing in the entire world i love it all! i hope you’re having a good day and taking care of yourself! x

GOSH THANK U I hope you’re having the best day too, anon!!!!

Anon said:Asahi is so pretty when you draw him, I love it; my gentle son, in your amazing art style.

I’M!!!!!! Glad you liked him!!!!!!! That boy is 100% out of my comfort zone so knowing he came out okay is super nice!!!!! :D 

Anon said:The way I drew the bakusquad in that one set of images … They’re like … On the cover of Vogue or something. It’s aesthetically good to my eyes man. Also you kinda got me into tetsukami?? I don’t understand it at all but now im into it BC of ur fanart and bc of other fanart but Imma blame u and im grateful to have another ship to hyperfixate over. Anyway I love youu and your art man, i wish u many good days

Oh man I love you too anon this ask made me so happy???? And I’m especially happy I could get you into tetsukami! It doesn’t make much sense as a ship, does it? But they’d be fun interacting and their quirks work well together, so I have fun thinking about them! I hope they’ll interact in the classes 1a and 1b will have to share in the future! :D

Anon said:Oh I love your Noya’s, so glad you drew my boy again!:)

Thank you for liking him!!!!!! He’s hard to draw but I love him and he makes me happy!!! What a boy!!!

Anon said:Have you seen little noya in the newest chapter

I HAVE little boyo already had his blond hair how cute is that! The newest chapter made me really warm inside I really loved the whole speech Noya made ;u; my inspiring little lightning bolt !!

Anon said:I really really love your bnha art! But put some highlights on the kirabakus one, you probably have the quirk to melt my heart with them ;w;

That’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever read!!!!! Thank you SO MUCH!!!!!! ;O;

Anon said:Who do you think would propose? Bakugo or Kirishima???

I actually answered a similar question a while ago! But I can’t find it so I guess to sum it up I mostly think at some point it’d just become something both of them have talked about throught the years enough times that by then it’ll just be something they are gonna do, sooner or later, and when it’ll happen it’ll be more like “we have a stable income and a house and a dog and a cat and are p much already married we should really do this already” - in a scenario like that either of the two works, for me haha

Anon said:the best thing was that I just a moment before u posted I felt bad and pissed ad sad, but then all that disappeared ;V;

I’m!!!!! So happy to know I could help you like that!!!! ;O;

Anon said:Can I just say, I’ve been following your art a long time (I’ve always loved it!) and I’ve really noticed a lot of growth and improvement in your style? The thing that always impresses me most is how you are able to take simplified facial features and make them SO expressive. You convey emotions so well and I love it so much. Thanks for always giving us art to smile about! Hope you are having a lovely day!

THANK YOU SO MUCH OH MY G OD!!!! I’m!!!!! crying!!!! probably!!!!!!! FrICK!!!! ;A;

Anon said:KINONOYA!!!!!!

INDEED!!!!! What a good relationship they have!!!!!

Anon said:You draw Sero so good oml he’s too pretty

Anon said:THAT SERO YOU DREW!!! *clutches heart* n i c e !!!!

;O; I’m glad you like him?????? gods!!!!

Anon said:I love the way you draw Kaminari, he looks beautiful in your art style! ^^

SOB you guys are all so nice to me I’m gonna cry for real here ;U; thank you!!!

Anon said:Whenever I’m sad I look at your art and everything feels better.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! happy I can help you with your mood!!!!!!!

Anon said:When you Kiri with his hair down, I’m always like “that’s it, that’s the cutest Kiri ever” and then you draw him with it spiked and I’m like “no wait, there it is, the cutest Kiri.” And now you go and give me both Kiri’s in that adorable pair of sketches and how is that even fair because how am I supposed to handle that? I can’t even decide anymore. All your kiris are the cutest Kiri.

THANK YOU !!!!!!!!! All Kiris are the cutest Kiris tho, aren’t they? What an inherently cute boy he is!!!

Anon said:i showed my friend your art and since we both find it super good, we both decided to try to draw more regularly because we want get better and get a smooth(? idk how to say it in english lmao) style like yours so thank you for the motivation/inspiration!!

:O !!!!!! I hope you and your friend will have fun while at it, anon!!!!! :D

Anon said:I love your bakushima

AND I LOVE YOU

Anon said:drawing ppl from above is so cool though!! i really like these kinda pics ✨ (esp bo and tetsu, so /cool/!!) dont give up, fran❤

Please don’t enable me anon, if you give me the green light I’m gonna keep on drawing that sorta angle forever hahahaha (thank u so much for the compliment, tho!!!!)

Anon said: ahhh i love your recent kiribaku drawings! they are so cool!!

That was about the red and teal ones, right? Thank you so much!!!! Working with colors like that isn’t something I do often, so I’m really really happy that you guys ended up liking them!!!

Anon said: Row! Row! Fight the power!!

I don’t know what brought this on but HECK YES

Anon said:Man I love all your art, fanart and OCs alike! And your BNHA is such an inspiration and one of the reasons I started writing fic. Have a great day!

OH BOY that’s such a nice thing to know!! I hope you’re having lotsa fun writing fics, anon!! And I also hope you’re having a great day, too!!!

Anon said:OK, i’m sorry for sounding this emotional, but OMG your art makes me cry. it’s just… so beautiful… *there i go again* *crying*

*hands u tissue* thank you so much but please don’t cry!!!!

Anon said:I’M CRYING LUCA’S BIRTHDAY IS THE DAY BEFORE MINE, I’M A PHYSICS MAJOR, A MAJOR DOG (and cat) PERSON, AS WELL AS A MORNING PERSON LIKE WH A T

You’re the second person that tells me they’re really similar to one of my ocs!!!! I wonder what that means? :O but it’s a fun thing to know, anyway!!! :D I hope you don’t mind Luca being so similar to you, anon haha

Anon said: What do you think would happen if eraserhead erased fatgum’s quirk?

He’d probably just lose his ability to absorb hits and then re-use their power? :? but if he’s fat he’s gonna stay fat and if he’s slim he’s gonna stay slim, I think :O

Anon said:Oh my god you know kekkai sensen I’m actually crying I love kekkai sensen but no one I know likes it/knows about it and aaaaaaa I love your art and you drew something from kekkai sensen and thats amazing!!!!

I’M GLAD YOU LIKED IT and I know right? Kkss has such a small fandom! Which to me is super weird considering how much following Trigun used to have? :O it’s definitely one of the best anime I’ve seen in recent times, tho!!!

Anon said:FRAAAANNNNNNNN!!!! I’m soo excited!! I might be getting a tote from your shop for Christmas! My friend asked what I wanted, so I looked at your store, and chose a tote with Mina, and Hagakure (?) And he told me to send him the link!

HOLY SMOKES THANK YOU FOR BUYING MY STUFF ANON THIS SERIOUSLY MEANS THE WORLD TO ME!!!!!!!

Anon said: Your art is so good! I especially love your black and white stuff! Its really punchy! Also all your Kiribaku content makes my heart melt!!!!!!

*gross sobbing* thank you so much!!!!!!!!!

Anon said:would it be okay…if i drew luca (giving credit to you tho obv) i just love him so much GOD

YES!!!!!! Please do link me to it if you do draw him, I wanna see!!!!! :D

Anon said:Hey! I really liked your OCs and i was especially intrigued by Max and Leo!! Do you mind telling us more about their relationship? They look so sweet!!! Love ya and keep being awesome!

Thank you so much for liking my kids!!!! ;O; and sadly I can’t tell you too much about them cause their story is a bit still up in the air as far as details go, but in general they used to be best friends back when they were kids, then the accident that gave Leo his scars happened and for reason they lost track of each other for a long while - they met again recently, tho! Leo’s been in love with Max since they were babies and being able to talk to him and interact with him again makes him incredibly happy/mushy/soft but also absurdly and unreasonably overprotective since he’s really, really scared of losing him again - Max… because of plot-related reasons hasn’t realized that Leo is the kid he used to know back when he was super young, so his falling in love with him happens as the story progresses. He finds the overprotectiveness silly and unecessary, but he doesn’t exactly mind it? He has a feeling it helps Leo more than it helps him, so he lets him do his thing. All in all, maybe Max takes more care of Leo than Leo of Max. Welp, their story is kind of a mess haha

Anon said:Have you ever thought about doing nsfw? Or at least something kinda hot?

This is actually answered in my faq! But yeah, no, I don’t do nsfw, sorry! Something kinda hot… maybe in the future? But I gotta be in a very specific mood that doesn’t come around too often, so I dunno if and when that’s gonna be!