#gotta sketch gotta get into the mindset...

[deoidesign]

Hm... I'm feeling benevolent...

[salty-an-disco]

brain blank on ideas, so drew some guys just standing there

[mc-tummy-blur]

Explaining to his next victim about The Make Believes and Nick Lightbearer to show them that he understands the music (and Nick) more than they do

Based off of that scene from American Psycho y’know

Click for better quality

Check my pinned post to see links on how you can help the people in Palestine

Bonus sketch: Aftermath

[alicenpai]

🌟 ART SUMMARY 2024 🥂

this was a year where i didnt draw a lot, despite that, i tried to make every drawing count. thank you all for the support in 2024, here's to 2025 ! 🫶

⭐ [read more starts here]

i continued my goals from last year with regards to perfectionism. the tldr is that i strongly feel my perfectionism kept me away from completing as many drawings as i could, and i had to make an effort to just finish drawings no matter how lukewarm I felt about them. especially since i could just edit them a bit afterwards, i've tried to get over the fear of reuploading. 2024 was a strange year, it came and went in the blink of an eye, even more than previous years! life has been stressful, so i've been trying to focus more on myself and taking time off drawing. ironic, although i think i succeeded in that above goal, i expected to get more drawings out of it, but ended up taking more time off drawing anyways. towards the end of the year, i started feeling more burnt out, and drawing became a slow and arduous process. i think part of the reason was because 2024 was my first year doing 5 events - 2 full weekend conventions (anime north and otakuthon), and 3 single day events (bamtori fall aapi market, toronto game expo, bamtori jinglebam market), when in the past 2 years i'd just opt to do 1-2 local cons. it was also my first time doing single day events, which were super chill! although you have to both set up and tear down on the same day, i felt more casual at those events, had more time to chat and look around. back to my point - despite being fun, doing so many events took its toll on me - especially during the colder months of the year, where i wasn't so used to going to events haha! usually i take fall as the time to rejuvenate and recover from summer events, but i couldn't really do that this year. i kept questioning myself, "does this drawing have appeal? will people buy this?" "is my art hireable?" and it's just not a healthy mindset to have. next year i'll try to draw more of what i enjoy and what's on my mind, instead of worrying too much if it's sellable! *feeling like the HAHA YES sickos meme* - 2025 art goals outlined below: - oc zine (aiming for a character guide with some test comics) - character interactions & poses! e.g. dancing, hugs - generally stuff that's more difficult to draw. my art is more illustrative, but sometimes i wished it was more engaging emotionally? like i want people to smile and cry with my characters... - illustrations that challenge me. when i say illusts that challenge me it's pretty abstract - do research and gather inspiration for every illust.. compositions that are difficult/complex and take a while to draft.. strong theme.. it's more for me to understand AHAHAHA. as the years go by you can see my art becoming more unified in theme and self indulgent... i want to keep going, i want to make art that is uniquely mine. less priority: - get used to sketching! truly miss how i used to fill up sketchbooks every year - sticker sheets (this is on the less priority list bc i will probably fulfill this goal regardless) - oc merch (happy with the stickers i made in the last 2 yrs, let's keep going!) - silly things! e.g. 4koma, silly doodles. comedy is an art, it IS a skill you can study and chip away at (e.g. comedians and comedy writers). make sure i take notes on really stand-out jokes i find funny & why

other various things to try and draw more of: - group pictures - animals - layouts and props. i find layouts and anything with hard surfaces difficult to draw, which is why i draw a lot of flowers and fabric LMAO. one thing i gotta do is start by either drawing characters holding props more (easy baby steps!) and/ or start drawing props around them and make my way towards harder things (e.g. practice drawing a character sitting, i'll start by drawing a simple chair, then a table, then objects on that table). this is also one of my weaknesses - draw the ground they're standing on if possible, e.g. characters standing on a grid - vehicles, if i can. i mostly draw stuff from fantasy series where cars don't exist LOL but i'll try...

[rebeltigera]

Art tutorial for talentless souls like me? 🥺

I'm not one for tutorials tbh. I can't usually push my point across enough for people to understand sooo no tutorials from me. I could give you links to random Pinterest tutorials I never used and it would be good as much as I would give you one

I can try to help you understand art I guess. Give a little advice , but still it all would be just rambling from me . You do what you want with it

Learn that artwork is a combination of 2% of talent , 20% of happy accidents , 30% of being miserable in life and having enough of today's society, and another 90% is hard work and learning how stuff work . And fun.

And there's no really easy way about it. If you don't like learning stuff art ain't for ya ( yes , ya gotta train your muscle memory how to draw shapes. Yes you gotta practice)

Art is like math but in colors

Once you get a hold of it it sticks . Once you learn how to add one color to another you start to understand what are you doing

And then some random bullshit is happening on your canvas and you have no idea what's happening

If you are a beginner - do not compare yourself too much to others - I know it's hard and it might hurt seeing other artists be better than you. It makes you unmotivated and helpless.

Yeah, I too get like that sometimes

But

You gotta have an open mind and mindset ready for finding new ways of thinking. You see art you like? Try to understand it. How does it work? Why are you liking it so much? Is it colors? Composition? Complex /simple style?

Once you find the answer, give it a try .

Don't copy

Do your own thing . Take inspiration, let your inner self bleed onto canvas and just draw.

Oh and Do not discriminate a sketch. Most of us don't even finish those

Man I got poetic today ...

[scriveyner]

Hello! I've been so amazed with your writing 😭 your kid fic gives me so much life ❤️❤️ congratulations on your 2023 fic wrapped achievements too! As a follow writer, that made me curious, how do you managed to write so fast? And do you have any writing tips to share in general especially in writing dialogues and description? Thank you so much in advance for answering! ❤️

Thank you so much!!

I don't think I write that quickly anymore, I used to churn out a ton of fic a day and now I go long stretches without. But good practice is my favorite site ever, typetrigger.com ; it's what generates a lot of what I tag as microfics. It gives you a prompt that you have to fill in 300 words or less, and the prompts cycle out every four hours so if you want to write something you gotta do it then.

I've been using that site for 10 years, and if you look at my profile I've done over 500 of the typetriggers! I think it helps with getting over the "must be perfect" mindset which traps a lot of people and also feels like the writing equivalent of a sketch. Here's a scene, here's a though, here's a bit of passing dialogue...and maybe you can build something more after.

Writing tips in general - the old favorite that no one loves to hear is just to write a lot and read a lot. All writing helps, even if it's not progressing the word count on a project. Write a poem. Write a journal entry. Narrate to yourself as you're doing chores. Annoy your friends by talking in rhyming couplets. Etc.

I love to write dialogue and there is SO much unpublished, unrefined fic I've dropped in chats and saved in notepad files that amounts to this format:

I can find files like this for every fandom I wrote for, all the way back to Fullmetal Alchemist. It's just how my creative process works, lol.

Thanks again for the lovely compliments, I hope maybe a little of this helps you? If not at least you get to laugh at a little glimmer of something that never made it into a fic.

[meadow-roses]

reblog to get an ask, you say? well. i love your sketches and doodles and have been checking your blog pretty much daily for almost three years now to see your green ember, keepers, deepwood, and shifters art. i love felix and skylar's dynamic and id love to know more about their relationship in particular!

Oh my goodness thank you 🥺😭

That means so much! I'm so glad you've enjoyed it all and you've been here 3 years????? 😭😭 Thank you,,,, 🥺🥺

Oh man there's so much for Felix and Skylar afcfhf the story has kinda built itself around these two basically since it's conception like 4 years ago. It's hard to describe it cause I can't think of any trope they slot into nicely to shorthand describe them 😂

Since I don't know how to put this concisely I'll just ramble about them under the cut lol!

So Felix is this funny guy who's super chill and casual about stuff all the time but also is so so oriented around friends. He'll meet someone and just be like "You're my new friend now I decided", which meshes with Skylar's 'loner protagonist' tendencies hilariously. Skylar's just cruising around the universe with Gigi, popping in here and there to save the day then disappear as spontaneously as he arrived under this assumption that it will always only ever be him and his brother (hair blowing dramatic in the wind(that's all he really needs, right?)). Then he meets this guy who's just as stubborn as he is that he can't seem to shake off his tail?? It doesn't matter what time or planet or dimension he goes off to, this guy's always there! It's like the universe itself is pulling this on him. He doesn't like how the guy's face lights up whenever he sees him and sometimes he says some pretty crazy stuff like "we're best friends in the future" like that would ever happen. 🙄

Meanwhile Felix is just struggling. His entire life has always been structured around "his people"- friends, neighbors, family, coworkers- anyone he can make a connection with. But now they're all gone, and worse still he can't settle in and try to make new connections, he's gotta figure out how to get home! In the midst of all this he keeps running into the same kid over and over and over again who seems to be living in this mindset that he's the only person who's really real. It starts out with him thinking "man this kid needs an adult in his life" but the more they hang out the more they develop this mutual respect for each other. Skylar may be a teenager, but also he's brave and capable and has seen so much- he's literally hundreds of years old. Felix may be a silly softie who likes following rules so much he invents his own and his hair style is super dumb, he doesn't fit the impossible standard of "manhood" Skylar's father set for him, but he is pretty brave and capable and something about how he talks about his own kids hurts somewhere deep down (though he'd never admit it) and he just WANTS to be home SOMEWHERE actually. Despite all the pretending he can't fully bury that ache.

So reluctantly, not like he'd actually admit that's what he's doing, he starts purposefully crossing paths with this crazy weirdo who's trying to map the universe (?? literally what kind of idea is that??) Skylar may be human but he hasn't lived like a human for so long it's almost like he's become some Other magic thing. ...and the more time goes on the more Felix changes too. By the time he finally finds his home he's changed so much from the (admittedly unusual) man he was before and there's no going back. And it kind of ends up that all they've got is each other who really understands what it's like... seeing all of time play out in snapshots here and there, dying a hundred deaths and watching the hundreds of lives being lived all around you.

Please please go read this comic August made :DDD (at this point Felix still doesn't know really what happened, why Skylar left home and refuses to even try to go back. So he's got as much context in this conversation as you all do. ;)

There's so much of this too that just goes unsaid in their relationship. Felix is a quiet guy and he's not great with words- especially spur of the moment- if he's gonna say something he's gotta plan out the whole "script" in advance. Skylar's got so many layers of emotional repression and is like. allergic to ever giving a straight answer to anything or talking about his feelings (yuck), but they don't need words to know how much the other one cares. You just end up with these two dudes who just... they love each other, ya know? The closest I've ever seen their dynamic get to another piece of media is Kuzco and Pacha from "The Emperor's New Groove". 😂

Anyway thanks for reading this far. As I'm sure anyone who follows this blog is aware I am insane about these guys adsfdsaf

[lupucs]

Do you have any recommendations for character modeling in blender?

Ooh boy I never know how to respond to questions like that, but I'm gonna try my best and list some stuff which helped me personally, so hopefully this will be helpful to you guys too.

A lot of what im gonna say is probably gonna sound really generic but generally speaking just watching one tutorial series and calling it a day isn't gonna cut it.

Something that helped me a whole lot was having a clear goal in mind (like I remember the first thing I wanted to do was translate my OCs in 3D). Picking something I was invested in is what pushed me to do my own research (and now its Deltarune fan animations lol). Knowing how to maintain motivation and going in with the right mindset is the most important thing imo.

I use Blender for my 3D work, which is free and open source. I personally prefer it over paid software like Maya or 3dsMax, especially for modeling and sculpting (I remember I had to use Max and Maya for a while but overall it was a pretty agonizing experience to be honest, so I switched back to Blender, which just feels a whole lot easier to use for me personally lol, but really at the end of the day just pick the software you want. This is just my personal preference). If you have a potato laptop like me, I definitely advise you to use Blender tho as it is very lightweight compared to other 3D programs, plus it can do the same things and then some. Not to mention there are way more free resources on Blender stuff so it's easier to get access to the info you need. Anyways Blender-simping over, moving on!

Tutorials are always a great idea, but you're also gonna have to learn how to do problem-solving. 3D can be a really technical and rigid medium, so being patient and knowing how to do independent learning is very important. Take a look at box-modeling, sculpting, texturing and procedural shading. Unfortunately that's gonna involve a lot of annoying situations and moments of immeasurable pain, but once you're more familiar with how things work, it's super fun and rewarding!

Don't forget to have fun and experiment! It's easy to get lost and overwhelmed by the technical aspects of 3D but it's important to just let go and make silly things. Also talking to other 3d artists with similar interests helps a ton, especially more experienced ones but I am aware not everyone has access to that (plus not everyone might want that, esp when you're an introvert like me haha!)

If you gotta sell your soul to a corporation then focusing on one particular subset is gonna be useful for animation jobs, as this is what most studios want. Some artists might like specializing into just one area, and that's totally fine but for me who prefers to be a generalist, it just kinda ruins my joy for 3D to restrict myself to just one part of it. Plus if you enjoy doing what you do, you tend to learn a lot faster anyway.

This might be a bit of an uncommon take, but one of the most stifling pieces of advice I have received from industry 3D artists is to only focus on one thing (as in, only skill up your UV-unwrapping, or only do rigging, only do hard-surface modeling, only do organic environment modeling and so on). NUH-UH! Just do what you want fam. Make the spoingle-boingles pet cats. Focus on the things you like. Make barney the dinosaur destroy the whole set. Model, rig and animate them if you want. Really, just have fun. Obviously you gotta do some self-checks and see where you need to improve, and where your strengths and weaknesses are, and focusing on those areas can be very helpful. Just make sure you're having a good time doing it, and don't be too harsh on yourself. Definitely take a break if you're overwhelmed.

You don't have to be able to draw to be good at character modeling but making turnaround sketches helps me a whole lot whenever I make 3D characters. Knowing how to draw will also benefit your sense of design and shapes, as you can use your drawing skills for texturing and adding your own flair to your models.

Another thing I would do is look at other people's 3D models and study the topology and the way they model things. This also helps a lot with motivation. Obviously you don't wanna copy, just study the way other people model things and see what other talented artists come up with! There are a bunch of free Blender rigs you can download and study on your own, not to mention useful videos and streams on YouTube. The Rain and Snow rigs are pretty awesome. Some of this stuff is behind a paywall but I recommend checking out the free resources of the "Settlers" project for highly cartoony modeling and rigging (this playlist is very useful, I didn't watch all of it but some parts have been pretty inspirational to me). Also just following 3D artists you like and looking at their art for inspiration will help you stay motivated.

Hope this is useful!

[leaves-and-inks]

🌾 ROLLING ON THE RIVER 🌾

I was able to work on this much sooner than I thought!! don’t worry, I plan on doing all the suggestions (and maybe more, we’ll see) I just got a bit of a plan for how I want to go about it :)

It’s been nice working on this series. I find it so easy to overthink my process and art, constantly trying to make things perfect or fit certain criteria. Sure, by nature of being a series, I am thinking about matching it to the other pieces. But being able to step back from the usual worrying about nit-picky details and just drawing fun animal on recycled material has a great. It feels like i’m making art for the sake of it again, something I haven’t felt like I’ve done a whole lot of the past couple years or so. I gotta say, I can probably thank the “daily” drawing challenge I did on my instagram story for putting me in this mindset!!

Hoping to get the other two animals I have planned done soon!! I’ve mainly been working on them to take a break from assignments, and considering finals are approaching, there will be lots to take breaks from (if I can afford to haha). Hope you’re all doing well!!

I hope I can keep up the naming these after songs/lyrics, I’m not so sure I can 😅

You can find the first post in this series linked here!

[ID: A hand holding a black and white illustration on tan paper with uneven edges. behind it is a white tapestry with a pattern made up of illustrated green leaves, slightly out of focus. The illustration is a black heron head looking up in profile view and to the left, its beak slightly opened. it sits in a white circle. All the details and the eye are sketched in with white. it crops at its neck in the bottom right quarter of the circle. the Heron is also stylistically fluffier in comparison to the real animal. In a larger circle surrounding the heron head are vines with wild geraniums with stylized leaves and thorns. Most of the thorns, vines, and leaves are colored in black, but some are just a white outline. Some plant material breaks out from a larger circle behind them and the heron drawing, Over top of the plant life radiating out from the center of the heron’s head are sketchy white lines. the paper is thin, and has a slight scaled pattern to it.

Image 2: cropped version of the previously described illustration. the photo goes to the edges of the page, and the illustration is centered. the radial lines on the top and bottom of the page are slightly cropped.

Image 3: crop on the heron’s eye and beak. details in the feathers and beak are more apparent. the crop cuts off just before the neck, the tip of the beak, and most of the vines and flowers.

Image 4: crop focusing on the geraniums and vines. details such as the thorns and leaves are more apparent. along with the ends of the sketchy, radial lines. the crop only showcases the top right quadrant of the piece, cutting out all but the top of the Heron’s neck, most of the white circle, and most of the other plants. /end ID]

[corner-stories]

🍐 🍈 🍇

fruit emoji ask game for fic writers

🍐 Is there anything in canon that you absolutely hate and love to fix in fics? A wrong choice made, a fuck-up in characterization, a misunderstanding never cleared up, a conversation never shown onscreen, etc…

I wouldn't say I hate this but I would argue that it's criminally unexplored. I think a lot of things post-Rumbling were not explored as much as they deserved to be, like the state of Paradis Island, what Mikasa has been up to in the 3 years after the Battle of Heaven and Earth, as well as what exactly the Ambassadors have been up to during that time.

There's like... so much story to be told in here and it just gets glossed over. And hey, if we're not gonna get a sidestory/OVA about characters who aren't Levi, then I guess I gotta make it myself.

🍈 Who’s your blorbo and what are some of your favorite headcanons/ideas about them that repeatedly show up in your fics? Free pass to rant about blorbo opinions.

I'm a Jean Kirschtein girlie, have been from day one. A lot of my headcanons are about him pursuing art in his spare time. As a kid he began sketching with whatever he could find, usually pencils or charcoal, then as he gets older he comes across new supplies like coloured pencils and watercolour paint. I just think it's very human of him to pursue something small that makes him happy, despite all the chaos going around him.

Like damn, he seems to be the only Scout who has a hobby and that's how he barely kept it together over the years.

My end game for him really is him living at some seaside cottage where he spends the rest of his days painting. He deserves it.

There's also my Commander Kirschtein AU, which is exactly what it sounds like. Jean is the Commander of the Scouts because that's what us SNK fandom geezers believed would happen in the future. I just... I just really like the idea of Jean being in Command despite how it actually went down in canon.

🍇 Is there a particular scene/episode/book/etc that you want to just write a million fics about, over and over? Which one?

I'm not sure if this counts as a "scene" but as a Jeankasa truther, I've noticed that a lot of fics (as of recently) either take place post-Rumbling or during the timeskip between 850-854. It's essentially a genre of its own and I find myself eating that shit up. So I guess it's more of a in-universe time period that I wanna write a million fics about.

Also I just need to mention that a lot of the fics where Mikasa and Jean hook up during the first time skips are sad. Like... I'll be reading the most delectable citrus I've seen in a while but it will also feel sad. We love angst in the Jeankasa community, I guess.

I've written some post-Rumbling Jeankasa where they're just living a quiet cottagecore life, but I should write more. Something I'd actually love to write more about is specifically how they got together. And along the way, Mikasa slowly processes her trauma, maybe picks up a hobby that makes her happy, and learns to love again.

One of my ideas for them is Jean living that quiet seaside cottagecore life I mentioned and Mikasa finding that he's been on Paradis for years and didn't tell her. The reason why is that he wants her to be safe and him being considered a traitor to the island would jeopardize that, so in that he feels like he has to distance himself for her so she can live a peaceful life. And as one can imagine, Mikasa has a lot of conflicting thoughts on that mindset.

[mealbits]

i think what i love the most abt ur art is that ur always drawing things you clearly enjoy and u can tell bc of the way ur works all look like they were made with love and i guess what im trying to say is how do i do that lol

I GET HOW U FEEL SO MUCH. truth is back in liiike 2020 i was exclusively creating art for this blog in a 'What Does My Audience Want?' mindset, and if you do want to get into fields that center around Art/Design for An Audience theres no harm in doing that in moderation(but back in 2020 it felt like all i did was make art for other people lmao). one major thing that helped me make this blog more about My Art for Me and less My Art for Someone Else was rethinking how and why i made art. my art was 'the thing i have to put on my blog today' but nowadays its more 'this project im doing to learn XYZ while also drawing what i want to draw' (i also have more projects and ideas overall because of it!!!! thats also something i noticed just now lol) that shadow gijinka i just posted used 2 be a ditched sketch from. last week? i forgot abt until i lined, colored, and rendered it just for fun (and to do some more paint-adjacent rendering cuz thats my jam) since i do plan to get into commission work this year i am aware i gotta prioritize more Art Studies and 'Learning how to draw for other people, figure out what they want, etc.' or whatever. uhhh tldr i wanted to get better at art without hating art so i do studies with shadow the hedgehog and anime girls.

[heelhausen]

hello. crash & friends momence bc fuck it we ball. sometimes u gotta give ur little kayfabe guy some friends

crashmax

crash goes nowhere without his sketchbook + an overstuffed pencil case of assorted colored pencils. he sketches to center himself. at some point he notices maxwell freakin' the fuck out and tells him to sit his ass down and color before his blood pressure explodes his ass. crash provides an inked piece from earlier in his sketchbook and max just. sits and colors while crash continues sketching.

max doesnt realize how fast coloring calmed him down until way later. but it worked, and it worked well, and max is mad about it. not mad enough to say no a few weeks later when crash offers him another inked piece to color.

it becomes part of a ritual for them. crash sketches and inks. max colors it in. they listen to broadway soundtracks or a podcast or weird youtube videos. They vibe. It’s a good time overall.

Max tries to roast Crash’s hometown when they fight in Crash’s home turf, but Crash just keeps nodding and going “so true bestie” because Crash loves making fun of his hometown and will do so at every possible opportunity. Max wants to strangle him.

crashpunk

Two most annoying people to watch a horror movie with. They can quote the entirety of the first saw movie by heart. They will do this whenever bored.

When there’s a show on Crash’s home turf, Crash will always try to drag Punk out to his favorite board game cafe. Crash and Punk are also the two most annoying people to play board games with, because they both subscribe to the “I don’t need to win, I just need to fuck everyone else over” mindset of playing games. You will make the mistake of playing Catan with them exactly once. Only tried and true masochists will opt for a second game

Speaking of home turf— Punk is the one who gets dragged along to go dirtbiking while they’re in Crash’s hometown. Crash is nice and drives much slower than usual so Punk can get used to the track and feel comfortable

Crashhausen

As avid collectors of toys, Crash and Danhausen spend a lot of time together just browsing Facebook marketplace and looking at listings together. Sometimes they find good shit, but usually they just end up laughing at people being weird or dumb

When Crash decides to try his hand at sculpting weird little creatures, he gifts his first attempt at a not-deer figurine to Danhausen. The hooves are made of teeth. Danhausen named him Reginald and displays him proudly with his action figures

the trickster&demon alliance is strong. Danhausen curses you, Crash dabs on you, and their collective power gives you erectile dysfunction for at least three days. do not fuck with them less you want a wizard curse upon your penis

In support of evilhausen, crash rocks up in black and red gear wearing a necklace of fangs and carrying a realistic plush Canadian goose, which is the most evil thing he could think of

[manosaldibujo]

How do you get inspiration to draw stuff?

(↑ can't stop drawing the same thing everytime)

Well, I could say that I consume a lot of stuff that I like and get me in the mood to draw new things but honestly I really recomend having a dirty sketchbook.

One you have NON respect for it, (I use mine as a cupholder and as a tool to smash clay sometimes) like you gotta almost insult that bitch.

You can have others sketchbooks that are more expensive and fancy buy at least ONE that is your bitch.

Sooo eventually, since you don’t care about the output of anything that comes from that sketch, you start to get brave and a lil crazy, so the creativity starts to flow. What am I gonna lose after all? I dont care if it’s good or bad, let’s try something I’v never done, something whit out anatomy or sence, whatever nothing matters here !

This mindset has reallyyyy help me a lot because I get inspired by the feeling of random freedom that I created, no longer relying on pinterest or other artist that much. I feel like I’m free of doing whatever garbage I want because is for me and only me ! And that estimulates me so much whit new and crazy ideas. So after almost abusing my sketch during the day, I can use the ideas made there for a good, clean, and finished piece ( in the expensive sketch jaja).

So yeah, just don’t be afraid of braking the rules sometimes! Give you the chance to make whatever you want regardles of what your art teacher or youtube tutorial says, at least from time to time !

Here some of my sketches! I hope this help you in some way, every one get’s inspired by different things so don’t give up and find what rally fits you 💜

[insaneinthearazometrain]

things i use in my art:

use references. i know this is probably obvious but IT HELPS !! feel free to use as many references as you need and don't be afraid to open up a sketchbook to, well—sketch out your ideas and play around with composition !

train your eye to see larger shapes instead of relying too heavily on your brains judgement. some people turn their paper + ref upsidedown so they get the shape right instead of their idea of what it looks like.

“perfect practice.” something my music teacher told me back when i was younger—it doesn't matter how much you practice if you don't try to get better.

experiment with composition. if you're not sure how things are gonna look, take a page out of your sketchbook (or make a new canvas if you're on digital) and doodle a rough sketch of the shapes youre thinking of

take breaks. sometimes you've been working on a piece for too long n it looks PERFECT, but when you look back you notice all the mistakes. or sometimes its the opposite !! sometimes it looks so so ugly but then you take a break and suddenly you can't believe you even drew that. also sometimes your hand will hurt but u wont notice until u stop drawing. drink water, go to the restroom, eat, nap; all of these are good ways to take breaks without the whole "…but i could be working" mindset

save your wrists by using more of your elbow and shoulder instead of your wrists. also don't forget to stretch (i've got funky joints…learned not to rely too much on finger joints n wrists the hard way ouch)

don't draw too much in the dark. i know the night is tempting but turn on a lamp. also drink water, eat, take care of yourself please. (refer to #5)

draw stuff you like. when you like something and you're drawing it, it's like "WOAH i get to draw [xyz] !!!" and you have more fun with it. oH but don't pressure yourself to be perfect !! i say perfect practice but perfection is just the image you had in your head

don't be afraid to experiment !! sometimes u gotta screw it all n just have fun. use funky colors !! go insane with shading !! eventually, you'll just pick out the stuff you like from your experiments and develop a really cool n unique style <3

bored ?? just have fun n doodle stuff. break all the rules. kill someone with your art. art the hell out of a random friend (ask beforehand). draw your pencil a thousand times over. make a really detailed envelope. have fun !! art is supposed to be fun !!

go insane yeah

any tips 4 art

[sunfishingart]

as someone who really enjoys viewing WIP/sketchbooks and the process of art, I really don’t apply that to what I share

even the sketch dumps here tend to be cleaned up and I think that’s really messed up my mindset abt posting for fun here and I gotta get over myself

[keefiswhoiam]

September 02 - 2024 Monday

10:30pm

6/10

Today went by kind of quickly, I basically jumped from one project to another and didn't really stop aside from my normal breaks. I watched some more of that wolf show this morning and Summer Camp Island. I wish I could put more focus into it though. Something I did notice about today is how easily I can get into this cycle of work where I burn myself out and it's simply because I'm trying to do too many things at once in my head and not taking even small meaningful breaks. I think I've attuned myself to this kind of behavior and it is not healthy or efficient so I've been trying to think of ways to improve. I think even 10 minutes of whimsical focus on my funny little cartoon would be great for me.

I had to sketch a lot of commissions today which was a lot of reading/thinking and less drawing which is stressful when I do it on stream because there are big chunks of time where I am doing nothing on screen. It didn't help that I didn't wear my avatar today since I was tired and didn't wanna deal with it. Speaking of tired, I really had to push through my small workout this morning because of that and I did not clean anything. RS joined the stream this morning while he waited for PZ to get to his house. We chatted a good bit and even got some basic plans in the works that I'm kind of interested in. He got me intrigued to do work for TDS again except this time I'd insist I'm paid properly and I'd work at a reasonable pace. This could be the extra income I want to make for MFF in december. I had meant to take a nap before lunch but I didn't have time.

Lunch was weird because I didn't have an appetite but I was hungry. I made soup and I put garlic in it which was a mistake but I still ate it. I also had crackers with cheese and a couple with jam.

I think I did decent on today's request and I finished a personal drawing of mine. I'm not too proud of how it came out and the numbers reflect how mid it is, it wasn't a very good composition or anything. It has flaws I've been repeating lately regarding how I do limbs and how I organize the foreground objects. I didn't put in the patience I should have. After that I worked on DS's Adora avatar getting it rigged up all nice and tidy in the up to date Unity project I have for her avatars. I was freaking out trying to make sure I didn't screw up any of the animations and toggled because there were so many things connected but I ended up doing it flawlessly and I am very proud. I also added a couple of little things I think she'll like. I was in BR's discord while I worked but I shouldn't have been. I knew I could have used some alone time to decompress and focus but I also haven't been in there for awhile so my obligation to catch up with them defeated my self preservation. When I was done working I played this worm game with them which they were doing for someone's birthday whom I do not know. Then I left to search for avatar hairstyles with DS. We found a few decent ones but we still gotta search more before I'm ready to put them on her.

How I felt tonight highlighted one of the subtle issues I face regularly. I'm not enjoying myself as much as I think I should. I'm moreso in a state of stress during almost anything. It's not severe to be like "hey I'm stressed" but it very slowly whittles me down. I think mindfulness could have helped with it but tonight I'm only mindful after the fact. I feel like anything could be the "break" I need if only I can do it right. It's more of a mindset thing than an activity thing. I also want to figure out how I can get myself some more of that me time I want without having to do something extreme like isolate for 2 days in VRchat. It's hard to do it in small doses I'm finding. With VR, especially on the first day, it was easy because I knew this was all I had to do so there was nothing else to think about or look forward to. How do I operate like that in a shorter time span with stuff around every corner?

I want to check in with my friends tomorrow I think. Maybe I could make some kind of little perspective taking exercise out of it. Just gotta figure out how.