#having more fun with screentones

[miscellaneousrenaissant]

[abd-illustrates]

💜 Doppel & Glass 💜

Finally got round to doodling some of the Heartless crew again - been juggling some very intensive work and life stuff lately so it was therapeutic to get lost for a lil' while drawing this one. (Thanks again to everybody who voted in those polls a bit ago - The results were very interesting so I'm looking forward to drawing more of the most-voted characters sometime soon)

[DO NOT EDIT OR REPOST TO OTHER SITES / ACCOUNTS] ♻️reblogs are lovely tho!♻️

[humanmorph]

therapy, huh

[liquidstar]

a friend who'd wait :)

[iveneverplayedmegaman]

Pg. 184!

Thank you wind, that would have lasted for hours!

[kelbunny]

Good afternoon, I have a couple of ideas if you're still looking for suggestions. If you're not averse to adding to the ocean that is the Temenos fandom, it would be nice to see him interacting with Partitio. They seem like they would be fun together [either platonic or romantic]. If you are averse to said flood then Caits. Caits are fun and adorable. Thank you for considering.

Why let Castti have all the fun in bullying our favorite merchant hehe

I'm always up for drawing Temmy, he's my favorite as well ;D

If you want to send in a request, please read here

[dunmeshistash]

Interview to celebrate the opening of the Ryoko Kui Exhibition

About Delicious in Dungeon: Story making

Q1. Your first long-running series has lasted for about 9 and a half years. Has it been different from your previous experience drawing short stories?

A1. Compared to short stories, the series has been easier because the same characters appear each time. But I was surprised to find that I got tired of drawing the same characters too many times.

Q2. You have said before that the overall structure of the story was decided before serialization began, but how much of that had you communicated to your editor? Also, what kind of communication did you have during the series production?

A2. The goal was something we discussed and had decided on from the beginning. The goal itself was simple, but the path to get there was more difficult and took longer than imagined.

Q3. Regarding the overall story concept and development, did you write out or put anything down in writing (such as the plot)?

A3. I did, but it was simple.

Q4. Did you come up with the dishes based on the monsters you wanted in the story? Or did you come up with the monsters based on the dishes?

A4. It depended on the story, but usually the story came first followed by the monsters or food. I feel like that was most often the order.

Q5. As you progressed in drawing the series, what elements of the characters, story, or world expanded or grew in the most unexpected way?

A5. Nothing particularly unexpected perhaps. When I used to draw web manga, I tended to think up inconsequential settings. So, from the beginning I tried to restrain myself as much as possible and not expand too much. I was surprised when my editor said "Let's expand it more," in the second half of the series.

Q6. "Delicious in Dungeon" starts with a relatively simple setting, but as the series and the labyrinth exploration continues, the map slowly expands little by little in the readers' minds. It becomes more three-dimensional, revealing the secrets of the world, and taking on a multilayered structure. Are there any sources that you used as a reference, or which influenced you in creating this multilayered structure?

A6. A long time ago, when I was working on my personal web manga (fantasy), I drew it however I wanted, thinking that "Only people who can read this will read it," but I regularly received feedback that it was "unreadable", so I tried to make it as easily. accessible as possible.

Q7. The series combines many elements, including "fantasy", "gourmet", "battles", and "puzzle solving", but I think it's also important that it is a "comedy" which makes people laugh. Could you let us know if you have a creative commitment towards depicting humor?

A7. My hopes are that I can make it fun for people to read.

[page 5]

About Delicious in Dungeon: Drawing manga

Q1. Please tell us about the drawing tools you currently use, both digital and analogue.

A1. In terms of analogue tools, I use a light box, a G pen, a round pen, and a brush pen. And for digital, I use CLIP STUDIO PAINT and a Wacom LCD tablet. Screentone pasting is always done on the computer, so ultimately it all ends up as a digital manuscript.

Q2. Do you have any rules or reasons for using digital and analog separately?

A2. I'm always looking for ways to draw better and save time, so the exact approach is probably different for almost every chapter. Personally, I feel that analogue methods create more appealing lines, but I feel like digital saves time, so maybe I'll do a digital rough sketch and do the inking by hand… I might have been using a G pen, and maybe I'll try out a turnip pen, or this time I'm short on time so I'll draw it entirely digitally, but with digital I can redo it over and over, so maybe analogue is still faster, and so on and so forth. I'm indecisive in this way and so haven't developed a consistent process.

Q3. I understand that you prepare 3D data for your assistants to draw the backgrounds. What kind of data did you make for "Delicious in Dungeon" ?

A3. You could call it 3D, but it's not a proper model, just something to help with the rough sketching. I line up cubes to share the perspective and sense of scale, and they use it as a reference.

Q4. At the beginning of the series, the characters and backgrounds were somewhat simply drawn, and it seems like they became richly detailed over the progression of the story. What was your intention behind using these different styles?

A4. It's simply that my technique isn't stable. I thought I'd put a lot of effort in at the start. I remember being confused when my editor asked me to add more in to the drawing, and I wondered "Where…?"

Q5. Thinking about the food, were there any menu illustrations that you were particularly satisfied with, or which you struggled with?

A5. I've never liked my own food illustrations. But the times when I read other people's manga and thought "That looks delicious," I think it's been more an influence of the movement, the staging, and the situation than the drawings.

Q6. For the world maps and the terrain of each continent, did you refer to any maps of the real world? I feel like the shape of the 'island' is similar to the shape of Fukuoka Prefecture or Kyushu.

A6. I didn't reference any specific geography, but I did try to put thought into things like whether a developed city would be near a river or the sea, and what the coastline would look like. I'm pleased if it feels similar to a real place, because it means my interpretation was pretty accurate.

About Delicious in Dungeon: Other

Q1. Which is your favorite monster?

A1. Nightmare.

Q2. I'm sure you have received a lot of feedback from readers in countries and regions outside of Japan. Please tell us if there was anything from them that made you happy, was unexpected, or which made a lasting impression on you.

A2. When you play foreign games, there are times when you think "Why did they translate it into Japanese like that?" But having been on the side of having something translated, I've realized some things are unavoidable, or endless, and there are many things that don't matter either way from the author's perspective, so it was interesting.

About Ryoko Kui's short story collections and herself

Q1. Dragons are a consistent and important motif in your work. Was there any particular work or experience which inspired this? Also, are there points about drawing dragons which you find interesting or have had to work hard on?

A1. It's less about liking dragons, and more that I'm interested in the worlds in which dragons exist. When I draw dragons, the depiction in itself has a sweet feeling to it. I have never had a pet reptile, so I don't have a very good understanding of them.

Q2. Unomiya University in your story "The dragon's school is on top of the mountain" has a Faculty of Dragons, Department of Environmental Studies, and Department of Technology Studies, and a Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. If you were to enroll in the university, which department or faculty would you like to enter?

A2. I probably wouldn't be accepted….

Q3. The collection includes a short story staged as an essay manga. Are you a fan of essay manga? Please tell us about any genres of essay manga that you like.

A3. I love all kinds of essay manga. I read them often.

Q4. If you were to make your own game, what kind of game would you like to make?

A4. I prefer being a player when it comes to games.

Q5. When did you first start drawing illustrations (doodles)?

A5. I don't exactly remember when I first drew a picture, but I think I started drawing manga around the fourth or fifth grade of elementary school. in my notebooks and had my friends read them.

Q6. What is the most fun part about drawing manga?

A6. Every part is fun and hard in its own way.

Q7. Please tell us if there is anything you "just can't stop no matter what".

A7. My procrastination habit.

Q8. Could you please tell us if there's something you want to draw now?

A8. I've been working continuously since the serialization, so I'd like to take about 2 to 3 months to just draw whatever I want.

[randomyuu]

i keep the warmest truth.

Well you look at that. Another comic hahahaha why did I do this to myself—

But I do enjoy drawing this comic! It was a different kind of challenge, where this one focuses a lot on close-ups, so I need to learn about the subtlety of expressions. Can’t say I learn a lot (I use lots of copy-pasting of the same position lmao), but I still learn... something!

This beautiful one-shot fic is titled i keep the warmest truth by Dehawny. If I have to summarise the fic, it’s basically Ace!Gojou and Adorable!Yuuji. It's more like gray ace but better keep the “A” going, haha. And as usual, the fic is NSFW, so please do read the tags before you decide to give it a read.

Ace!Gojou is something I don’t know I need. I think I love almost every kind of Gojou headcanons, but Ace!Gojou holds a special place in my heart. I could be biased as someone in the ace spectrum, but the way Dehawny wrote Gojou and Yuuji’s interaction is truly heartwarming. And also a bit possessive, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Possessive Gojou is my jam.

And Yuuji. Oh, dear lord where do I even start with this boy. I don’t have enough vocabularies to express how much I adore Yuuji. Him being his horny teen-self and constantly worrying about making the pleasure mutual is too much for my heart. And he’s still understanding of Gojou’s sexuality. Yuuji is kind, like that. Don’t mind me as I’m crying out happy tears in the corner.

Alrighty, below are my thoughts as I drew this, as usual haha:

After I got a taste with comic-making from my previous GoYuu comic, this one is a bit easier to plan once I narrowed down the scene I want to draw. I wanted the comic to start with Gojou positioning himself and Yuuji in the futon, bringing up Yuuji’s question weeks ago, but that means I have to draw 10+ pages and I was like, “haha nope”. I still love my hands, thank you very much. So I start with Yuuji’s reaction after Gojou explains a bit about his sexuality.

Panelling is still a struggle. In a way that I still feel that the layout can be improved, but I can’t for the life of me figured out what needs to be improved. I guess this kind of thing will come eventually, but not now.

During the sketching, I must say I got super hyped drawing Gojou’s eyes. That eye close-up? I really want to try making it as ethereal as possible in an achromatic setting. It’s intimidating, don’t get me wrong, but I have always loved drawing eyes since I was a kid and this is a fun thing to test my love for eyes.

If I have to complain… it would be the intimate position of them laying on the futon. I never really try drawing “couple-like” positions before, but it was really hard! Like, holy shit, can you guys stop being so awkward looking? Where the hell did I draw it wrong??? Thankfully references have helped me a lot with positioning.

The line art took sooo much time because I realise I want to make Gojou and Yuuji more… buff (kinda) so I need to re-sketch a bit :(( but the result is better than the previous one, so I’ll take what I can get haha. And I start to really like using screentones for shading—once I properly learn how to do manga layout, I think I might fall in love with drawing mangas!

But overall, this is a fun process to do, and I hope you enjoy the comic and this rambling of mine! :D

[mgnemesi]

This took me FOREVER, and I might've... exaggerated a bit (with the mood, with Zenitsu's sudden unexplainable fear for his hands, to the amount to sfx, dialogue, screentones...), but I feel like I'm improving as I go, and it was fun, so I'm happy with myself ♥

I still don't have a set style/definite/immediately recognizable way to draw Inosuke and Zenitsu, and I've been experimenting with different ways to ink Inosuke's hair. I don't know if I like this version more, please let me know your preference if you can. :D

This is a response to the 120th prompt on the 週刊伊善  weekly inozen Twitter Account 「かまど炭じろうから見たふたり」. Thank you @inozen2020 for planting this seed into my brain ♥.

There's an almost kiss there, but I don't think it merits the r-18 tag. Please do let me know, though.

Once more, this is a western-style doujinshi, so please read it from left →to→ right. Thank you. available on both Pixiv and Twitter if you prefer those platforms ♥ Also will post it shortly on my FB.

[hansooyung]

hansooyung's coloring tutorial & ctiys: alma time! 🍒

hello everyone! though i've been meaning to for a while, i've finally gotten around to making my first manga coloring tutorial! i'll be going over cleaning panels and screentones, choosing base colors, and finally shading and lighting.

this will also be a color this in your style challenge, so if you're willing, feel free to post your colored panel and tag me in it!! i'd love to see all the results :)

find details under the cut! 🦋

DISCLAIMERS:

this is just how i personally color! i know for a fact that some of my other friends follow other methods and have such beautiful colorings <33

for colors specifically, i play around a LOT. if you don't like your color scheme for the time being, mess around with it! i don't use psds since i like to mess around by hand with color palettes, but maybe i'll look into it for the future.

i explain a lot just bear with me gang 🙏

TECHNICAL STUFF:

software: ibis paint x (on iphone). i use ibis since it is FREE for all phones and it worked on my chromebook as well.

while this tutorial is made for ibis paint x, everything works on other softwares except the brushes, which i've provided alternatives for below.

brushes: i will be using dip pen (hard) which is automatically included with ibis, and two other brushes i made myself which you can find here and here. for more brushes, @/bkdkdh was incredibly helpful and posted her awesome set here!

for other softwares, you can use similar brushes. dip pen (hard) can just be the default brush, while wet edges is just the default brush on lowered opacity (and more of a rectangle/marker shape?). watercolor pencil is a watercolor brush in the rectangle/marker shape as well. if you can't get the shape, you can always smudge your lines into shape as well, so don't fret too much! a bunch of people only use one brush for coloring everything (which is insane to me, personally, they are so talented!)

fun fact: the first brush listed that i made was originally called "aki tao watercolor smooth" 👍

ok here we go guys!!

STEP ONE: CLEANING THE PANEL

i think of this part as setting up the panel for coloring! usually it's pretty exhausting cuz it's all b&w but it's all worth it i swear. the panel i'll be coloring is this beautiful one of alma from chapter 2:

imgur link here (x)

a lot of people redraw their lines to avoid screentones, which is extremely helpful. however, i work on a phone and my fingers are not steady even with the stabilizer turned all the way up T~T. i do it this way, but a different (possibly easier) way may work for you!!!

your first step will be to remove all the white, giving us a transparent background to work with. THIS IS THE NUMBER ONE REASON WHY I USE IBIS PAINT X.

when you upload the image to ibis, a popup comes asking if you would like to "extract line drawing". this creates a lineart of your image. click yes, and your work is like 90% done.

if you're not on ibis, you can redraw your panel, put lineart layer on screen, etc. or you can just extract line drawing from ibis and upload to software of your choice

for those of you not on ibis, i've included the line drawing here (x) if it looks black, don't worry and set your background to white.

omg i was not kidding when i said i explained a lot. ok now onto the three main steps of cleaning the panel:

cleaning background

removing screentones

repainting black lines

for cleaning the background, we're going to clear off all the extraneous stuff. this includes the text in the speech bubble, the gradient screentones behind alma, and the panel line on the left side. just use your eraser tool and go crazy! (i forgot to save the panel at this point of the coloring OTL)

for removing screentones, we're going to remove all those "dots" that mangakas use for shading. these are used to show value for b&w art, but since we're coloring we don't need them—a lot of people have really cool ways of incorporating screentones in their colorings though, and it looks amazing! i used it on nana's hand in my bnha coloring.

remove the screentones from alma's hair and jacket with your eraser tool. this will take time, but it's worth it in the end!

for portions with a bunch of lines, you can create A NEW LAYER and redraw some of the lines. that way, you can erase indiscriminately from the original layer but the lines you drew are still there. again, like i said, my hand is really shaky so i don't do it a lot, but it's extremely helpful for smaller parts where i have control! i used this on alma's jacket, and here's a screenshot of the process:

(i made his jacket purple so i could distinguish between layers easily).

it should look like this when you're done:

for the final step of cleaning, i like to erase all the things colored black (the collar and strings of the jacket, along with the back part of his hair). that way, i can color them in with dark colors and it adds to the whole look of the coloring.

i've circled the parts i'm going to erase below:

and it should look like this when you're done!

ok everyone cheer we're ready to color now!!!!

STEP TWO: BASE COLORS

CROWD CHEERS ok lets go!

this part is the most important to me, because it sets the tone for the whole coloring. i like to use three-four main colors in my colorings, and it's usually background, skintone, hair, and the secret fourth color. the secret fourth color is usually whatever color fits the character's vibe, or if the character's color is the bg, it'll be an accent color.

for example, with my nagi coloring, i used white for the hair, i had my skintone, i had blue as the main coloring vibe (as nagi's color), and black as the accent color.

for alma, i chose his main color to be red! it's the color of his hair and his jacket, so i wanted it to be vibrant and stand out. since blue contrasts red, i went for a greyish-blue shade for the background. (i went for grey rather than solely blue because then it would clash rather than complement).

disclaimer please please please take your device off night mode warm mode f.lux whatever you have. this has screwed me over more times than you may think :(

i like to make my vibrant colors closer to the right end of the color square. for alma's hair, i chose this color:

i dragged it down from the corner a bit but kept the saturation since his hair is kind of dark. we can use vibrant colors to shade it though, so don't worry!

here's his hair and the background together:

now from here, play around with skintones until you find one that matches the hair!

i usually drag around the wheel to the orange-red intersection, and have it on the lighter, more saturated side. here's the color i chose for alma's skintone.

i thought his original skintone looked a bit too orange, so i pulled the saturation back a little bit (moved closer to the left side of the square).

after that, color in his jacket with a bit darker red than hair, choose a gold color for the accents on his jacket, and color in the black parts with a grey-ish color (we will change that later).

here's the base colors!

if it looks a bit bright, don't worry! we can change that with shading. or you might just have to. accept the light.

STEP THREE: SHADING AND LIGHTING

wooo we made it!!!!!!! ok now i lied, we have a bit more of base colors to go. on a layer above the skin, color in your teeth and tongue. for pieces that have a more red feel (like this one), i like to make the teeth and the shading a more vibrant blue color. (for blue pieces, i make it a purple!).

IMPORTANT NOTE: ALL SHADING AND ALL COLORS SHOULD BE DONE ON NEW, CLIPPED LAYER.

i'll then go in and do some light shading with my wet edges brush. i'll use a darker color for hard shadows and then a lighter, more vibrant color to accentuate it.

next up we have blush! a lot of people do this in very different ways but i like to do it directly under the eyes, in a vibrant red shade. make a new layer above the skin and clip it on. color pick alma's hair and drag it to the most saturated shade (red corner). then using the watercolor pencil brush, lower the opacity of the brush and drag a line under the eyes on both sides.

make sure to erase the portion of blush that goes above the eyeline. i also added some lips for alma as you can see, and then added a red line under the eyes! this was back to the regular dip pen (hard) brush on 100% opacity. it may take a few tries to get your blush to the way you want it, so don't worry too much.

now we can start our actual shading!

i break this part up into three steps: skin shading, blue shading, and light shading (highlights?)

for all of them, think about where the light is falling and how it will look on alma.

quick interlude about brushes: i use the watercolor pencil brush for softer, bouncy looks (like blush and noses) and i use the wet edges brush for more hard lines in shading.

again, make a new layer above the skin and clip it on. (i like to have it below the blush, so it doesn't cover it). for skin shading, i take the vibrant red and lower the opacity of the wet edges brush by a significant amount (specifics don't really matter, as long as you're happy with it). i'll trace his neck, from the shadow of his face, shadows of his hair falling on his face, ears, and nose. (for the nose i used the watercolor pencil brush for a softer look).

this is what i have once i'm done!

next we have skin shading part two, where we basically make a new layer on top of our first shading, lower the opacity further, and trace outside whatever we just did to blend it in more.

i used the watercolor pencil brush since it's more softer shading meant for blending! i also added it around the eyebrows for depth.

next up we have our blue shading! this is a technique that i learned from @/bkdkdh's colorings, but adding blue as a shadow really adds to the whole coloring. using the watercolor pencil brush, select a light-ish blue shade (a bit more saturated than background color) and use it to shadow a few more areas than your skin shading. i always make sure to hit the underside of the nose, cuz i think it adds depth!

finally, to wrap up our skin shading we have our lights. i use an orange-ish yellow color, which i set pretty light to not blend into the skin. using the watercolor pencil brush, i'll basically highlight any areas opposite to where the blue was, and highlight different parts. i always highlight one side of the nose as well.

i erased the line around the nose since we now have shading there, and added a darker shade to the teeth since i felt it wasn't shaded enough.

now onto the hair!!! (guys we're almost done bear with me, skin and hair are the two main things and then you can half-ass the clothes)

color pick alma's hair color, then drag the red a bit further down to get a darker yet still saturated color. here's mine:

then, using the wet edges brush, draw lines of shadow wherever clumps of his hair fall or overlap with each other. you can have the opacity set to whatever level you want, i just went with around 90. just try to follow the natural lines and patterns of the original line drawing, and everything should work out fine.

here's how mine looks! then, just like we did for skin shading, place a layer on top and lower the opacity to around 50%. place some more shading to blend it in. you can also shade more parts with this shade for some softer shading. i actually forgot to take a screenshot of this step but you'll see it in the next one!

for our (almost) last part of hair shading, take a layer and place it below both of your shading layers. this is going to be our highlight layer! you can see it below, labeled 49%.

remember how we set alma's hair a bit darker from the corner color? now select that corner color and draw highlights in the center of each hair clump.

lightly visible but it's there!

now here i skipped around a bit bc i was having fun and forgot i was doing a tutorial, but repeat the shading (not highlighting) steps with darker colors for alma's jacket. you should have your base layer, a dark shading, and a softer shading for blending.

we're almost there guys!!!

for the pretty much final step of shading, select a light blue color and do some blue shading with the watercolor pencil brush opposite to wherever your darker shading falls (just like we did on the face). make sure to do it to both your hair and your jacket! here's mine:

now for the black portions, we're going to color the whole thing in a dark blue color. just alpha lock your layer and make a big stroke of dark blue, almost black. for our black shading, we're actually going to go lighter.

select a lighter (but still dark) color and place highlights on the base layer, then take an even more vibrant, lighter blue and place it on the very outside for highlights. a better example of this would be nagi's legs in his blue lock uniform here. then, choose a shade to apply shading to the gold accents on alma's jacket and we're done!

CROWD CHEERS!!!!!

STEP FOUR: FINISHING TOUCHES

we made it guys!!!! for finishing touches, i'll usually do background effects or text or that kind of stuff.

step one is coloring your lines. you can add a new layer and clip it to your lineart, or simply alpha lock your lineart and color directly on top. for hair i like to add vibrant blue/purple lines, along with a few red ones. for skin lines i try to do dark brownish purples, but leaving some black is good too bc it adds flavor!

i colored in the text boxes and added shadows using the wet edge feature, then added some text. for the glitch effect, i duplicated the lineart, dragged the layer below all of my colors (including speech bubbles) and then used the glitch effect with height full from ibis. if you don't have ibis, you can look into features on your software, or you can also just drag your lineart layer a bit to either side and color it in. i also applied just the tiniest bit of noise on top of everything

and there we go!!!!! we made it to the end :)

if you've read all the way til here, thank you so much! if you decide to color this panel of alma (or any other panels!) don't be afraid to post them and tag me for a color this in your style type of thing! (you can also put it in my tracked tag, #user.roy) i'd love to see everyone's works :)

here's the full timelapse: (it stalls for a bit at some times but hey we can't have everything)

[zero06iranosaurusrex]

DISCLAIMER:this all are a fiction works and not any of em based on real deals,i use other pop cultures fictional medias as references so...maybe a little bit talk about this kinda...random au that i made yeah all of em are connected each others and also an expansion lore of my other LT AU:divided horizon and yes the main characters are....different in each of em,and also they kinda...have different stuffs to dealt with and to solve,and each shits that happened onto them was caused by different factors like bugs's problems was caused by his encounter with cecil which made him become aliven't,ace dealt with losing both of his parents,and other shits,yakko and his insecurities beneath his fun and easy going attitude and buster with...a lot of terrifying shits happened to him which i refuse to elaborate more because...graphics so yeah ....angst here n there lmao but yeah don't worry,every stage of grieves has redemption arcs and solving problem times and they eventually would got it somewhere in the middle of their stories

also a test page of the first arc because....i need to dealt wit moires on the screentone oTL

[bleushark]

og spider gang (the laocoön group)

for an assignment in one of my art history classes, we had to recreate one of the artworks we looked at, so i chose the sculpture laocoön and sons (aka the laocoön group, amongst other names) i’d include the sculpture but yk artistic nudity

i did not need to put in this much effort but it was really fun and i’m really proud of it !

uh more thoughts below the cut cuz i have a lot of stuff to say about this waha

i knew i wanted to do a greek sculpture, cuz they were the most dynamic pieces of art we’ve looked at in class so far. we discussed the use of heroic nudity, and how that technique is still used today in the form of superheroes wearing tight suits. so combining a greek sculpture with a superhero felt so perfect! choosing spider-man was easy, since he’s my favorite superhero. in the assignment description, my professor said we could modernize the artwork. spider verse felt so perfect since the first movie revolutionized animation and inspired many artists to incorporate some of the movie’s style into their own artwork- me included. the idea of itsv miles, peter, and gwen fighting doc ock as laogoön and sons came naturally from there!

while i wasn’t trying to replicate the art style, i tried getting the proportions of the characters down the way they are in the movie, as well as the small, slightly different screentones of each character. i finally found some perfect screentone brushes to do so! if u want them lmk and i’ll link them :D i couldn’t get the proportions exact since i didn’t have time to study the movie, but i did my best using the art book and some screenshots… i still got them to a point i was happy with tho :D

[recurring-polynya]

Writing/Art Update 6.25.2024

Oh, it has suddenly gotten much quieter in my house (smaller child has gone to camp; husband who talks on the phone all day has gone into the office, so it is just me and the quiet child who likes to be left alone). I should...I should take advantage of this. I will try to take advantage of this.

I have been puttering away on the same story I was puttering away on last week. It is now...around 3700 words. It still has the same number of [fill in this parts] (although at least one of them now spans a shorter gulf). It still does not have an ending. At least it is a story that I am enjoying spending some time in.

I don't know why I can't write short things any more. It takes a couple of hours to write something that's 1-2k words. It takes a week to write something 3-4k words and that's if I'm really struck with inspiration. I'm stuck in this swampy middle ground where crafting is required, which is very laborious and is very down in the weeds, where it all looks like shit until you can manage to zoom out and be like "oh, this is pretty good actually." Might as well be working on something longform, if this is how it's going to be. :/ Oh, well.

I continue to draw lieutenants. I am almost done drawing lieutenants. (I lie, I have actually been inking lieutenants). I have one left to go (it's Sasakibe, and I only left him for last because he's the leftmost, it's nothing personal). I think I'm probably going to add a very basic background. I did figure out how to do the animation thing I wanted to do--it's very easy, actually, although it does require two separate pieces of software. I have been working on this for so long! It's not even, like..."good", because I did it all with, like, ballpoint pen brushes and screentones because I love homemade comics and I wanted it to feel like a homemade comic. (btw, if you like these things, too, please check out Halftone Hospital, an amazing set of pay-what-you-like art resources for digital comic-making that I found this week and have been having a lot of fun with) With a little luck I ought to be able to finish that up this week.

Oh, and in case you missed it, I have decided I am going to start archive-locking my adult fics (and probably the other ones in the future), so if you care, either get an ao3 login or download 'em. (you can also always ask me).

[animehouse-moe]

Monthly In the Garden With My Landlord, Volume 1: Surprising Charm

Based on the just the synopsis, I'd say I was curious about this series, but I don't know if I was ever fully sold by it. Because of that, I'm very glad that I ended up picking it up regardless, as there's a lot of charm and energy that this first volume brings, making it a series centering around adult romance that I think quite a few people will enjoy, and for quite a few reasons that I'd love to illuminate.

Let's start with the idea of the story. Asako Suga is a manga editor that was just dumped by her girlfriend, leaving her in an apartment full of memories and firsts that are tied to her now ex. Because of that, in a spur of the moment decision she decides to move into a house that's being rented for pennies on the dollar and seems to have nothing wrong with it. That is, until she moves in and finds out that her 19 year old Landlord, and ex-idol, is living there with her.

I think it's an idea that a lot of people could be turned off by, but here me out on it. It's actually really fun, and well executed. Asako, and Miyako (the ex-idol-now-landlord) have just the right balance of comical and shallow traits as they do deep and impactful ones.

Sure, Asako might be a sucker for a pretty face, and that might have played into sticking around. But, she's more than that. She doesn't immediately fall in love with Miyako because she's pretty, but rather she struggles to maintain an appropriate amount of distance from this young adult, largely because Miyako struggles to be an adult.

And really, that idea itself opens up the story so much.

Asako and Miyako struggle to form deep relationships with people. Asako falls under the stereotype of being suckered in by looks, and Miyako is in the position where looks is all that people care about. Neither are able to directly connect with someone and form a deep and emotional bond, not even in the romantic sense necessarily.

I mean, the manga itself addresses that as Miyako takes to calling Asako onee-san a whole bunch, which perfectly highlights their beginning relationship. Miyako relies heavily on Asako, while Asako is babying Miyako.

The idea of romantic feelings is present, don't get me wrong, but it's absolutely an undertone to the pair forming a deeper relationship that extends past superficial tendencies. Because of that, I really hope that in future volumes they struggle with the expression of those feelings and they struggle with how it changes the shape and form of their relationship.

Anyways, let me share my love for the art. It's got a very light feeling, but that doesn't diminish the feeling of it or the detail in any fashion. It's still very present and strong, but it's not not got a heavy lineweight or strong shading or lighting and whatnot. I guess you might call it "flat", but I don't really think it's a bad thing.

I think the only thing I could really complain about is the environment art, since there isn't too much of it, but that's par for the course with a lot of manga these days. What's good though is that the mangaka fills that vacancy very comfortably. Subtle screentones that fill gaps, intelligent paneling and focus, and mindful layouts that work to really fill panels and use negative space. It's not anything incredible, but it does plenty to be aware of the gaps in backgrounds.

I think most important though is their willingness to break molds. They really don't restrict their characters to the confines of panels, routinely breaking out from those lines or existing entirely separate from them, or even having them partially cut off from them.

Speaking of characters, these designs are really damn good. The level of detail and uniqueness they carry is really great, and something that I think can be very rare to see.

Just look at the smaller details, Miyako's eyes are a different shape to Asako's (which are then also different to Hatomori's, who is a supporting character). Then look at the noses and mouths as well. Asako generally has a more squared off mouth, while Miyako's is rounder. Similarly, Asako has a more prominent nose while Miyako has overall softer and rounder features, but has larger/more prominent eyes.

It's really great design language that is very rare to see in a lot of series these days.

Even better is the expressiveness of these designs though. Character acting has a prominent role in a series like this, and Yodokawa's designs work wonders in regards to that. They work great both in terms of subtle and extreme moments, which creates a really nice feel to both ends of the first volume.

Also, the design sense and posing? Absolutely sublime. Yodokawa really has considered everything about these characters. Asako tends to wear more plain and "typical" outfits, while Miyako brings more energy and style, and all of Miyako's outfits are just so pretty.

Really, there's not much of an end to how much I enjoy the various pieces of this first volume. There's so much that I'm not doubt leaving out a considerable bit of charm and quality from this post, so I really recommend people give the manga a try. It's promising to bring a much more friendly and positive adult romance story, but not without depth or emotion. The art is endlessly engaging and fun, very stylish and well utilized, and the characters are such a treat. Just read it if you can.

[platygalk]

October birthday part 2!

One of my favorite characters that I never show enough appreciation, I thought Nagisa could use a more ambitious background than just slapping some screentones together... And then I got a bit too ambitious...

Have fun trying to find your favorite collectable book, or some of the even more obscure references, because I spent way too much time on them!

[athenaholmesartistsguild]

First Previous

Finally managed to finish this page! Aside from some moving shenanigans, I also found that rendering every comic page in full color was a lot of freaking work! I wouldn't mind it if I enjoyed it, but I noticed that I just wasn't super into painting my comic pages anymore so that made working on them kinda tough :/

The next pages I'm experimenting with a black-and-white screentone shading style that I'm enjoying a lot more! I'm blending it with my sort of pen-and-ink inspired shading style (you can see it a bit better in the first two pages in this comic and my 'Brutus' comic I did a while ago) and I'm having a lot more fun with it.

Now that I'm settled into my new place I'm gonna try to go back to weekly uploads on Wednesdays so look out for that! I have the next page finished so I can at least stick to that schedule for a week!