#help my artstyle is always changing

[soukiismet]

Idk why my artstyle always changing-

[bumblebug5]

i think it’s very disappointing how much i see mae drawn skinny. the majority of nitw art i see depicts her as such, despite her describing herself as round in game. it’s a dialogue option that you literally can’t miss since the mirror scene is unavoidable

you can choose the other option, but you still see this one regardless of what you pick. mae is ROUND. this means she is NOT skinny. i guess some would argue that because her arms and legs are smaller that she is, but that’s literally just because of the game’s artstyle. EVERYONE is depicted that way, so it doesn’t change the fact that she is fat

another piece of dialogue describes her as “sturdy.” being a chubby person myself, this is literally what my mom called me when i was little. it’s really upsetting to see a character i love and relate to so much misrepresented this way when she is canonically built like me. it’s already rare to see good representation of fat people, so erasing the ones we get doesn’t help

next time you draw mae please try to keep this in mind. and to everyone who draws mae chubby already, i love you forever and always. thank you

[cripplecharacters]

Hi! I’m working on an original character project that I want to include a lot of casual representation in (“casual” meaning that the characters don’t need a justification for being disabled/fat/POC/etc, they just are because people can and do exist that way in reality!)

I was wondering if you had any suggestions for finding resources for drawing facial differences(and maybe other visible disabilities), especially in a cartoony style. I’ve looked through the Facial Equality Week tag but would like to see more examples, and since my art is so… goofy, for lack of a better word, I would love any help I can get in integrating differences without being offensive or upsetting.

Sorry if this is a bother, and thank you for all that you do!

Hey!

I'm not aware of any guides for drawing facial differences specifically (or at least, good ones. There's 1 billion tutorials telling you that scars are just a Singular Line, always, but that's not... correct), but perhaps someone in the notes could help out?

For my own advice, you could check out this old post I made. Because you mentioned your art being cartoony, I would specifically urge you to not overexaggerate facial differences the way they often are. A prime example would be how a lot of cartoons portray strabismus;

It's just a funny gag to them rather than, IDK, how some of us look like. Not to mention that one of these is also a mockery of intellectually/developmentally disabled people with "Derp" in the name, but that's beside the point here.

It's the whole "the character is crazy/stupid/wild/whatever and that's why they have it" that's the problem with how it's often shown. You can also see it in how characters who don't even normally have it will be shown with it for a scene where they're saying something nonsensical, etc.

Another example that's nowhere near as rampant is the split-face thing with various facial differences being used. Mostly vitiligo but sometimes also facial palsy. I'm talking about this weirdly perfectly halved face that looks extremely different on each side, often used to imply that a character is two-faced but mostly just signals that the author doesn't know how vitiligo looks like.

[note: vitiligo also shows up on lighter skin. I wanted to make sure it's visible here for tutorial clarity purposes.]

This one is just weird because it straight up doesn't look like that. I have no idea where it came from, but it should go back there. Facial palsy doesn't make someone look like the antique comedy/tragedy theater mask.

Unless I'm forgetting some other annoying cartoon trope, these would be the big ones that you should stay away from.

Outside of that, it's really on a case by case basis on how a specific FD should be drawn because they're so different. A birthmark can just be a differently colored patch of skin, but a craniofacial difference would require some more changes to be included. Alopecia is well, lack of hair, and can be done very easily but ectrodactyly can be more complicated to show properly because of the limitations of a cartoony artstyle when it comes to hands. And while I do think it would be great to see more of those facial differences that tend to not be included in art at all, there's nothing wrong with deciding to go for the things you can represent more faithfully, especially if you're just starting.

I will say that if you're making an honest attempt at being respectful and trying to get it right, most of us will still be excited to see your work. Even if it's not perfect or has some inaccuracies. I will take a "'yeah more or less' correct with a happy, human character" over a "Very Technically correct but tagged as #tw burns and with blood splattered on them" any day.

Lastly, I wanted to share some art featuring characters with facial differences (and other visible disabilities) that are done in a cartoony, or at least somewhat simplistic artstyles (I'm using both terms very widely here) - maybe it will give you some ideas.

Man with Treacher Collins syndrome (also one of the first pieces online where I saw a character with an FD portrayed in such a lovely way. A fav of mine.) Girl with Pfeiffer syndrome Too many characters to count Woman with burns Woman with a limb difference Multiple characters again Animation featuring people with Down syndrome [youtube] Multiple characters, including a girl with neurofibromatosis, a burn survivor, a girl with a cleft lip and another with TCS [twitter]

If you have a more specific art question ("how do I draw a person with XYZ facial difference?") you can send me an ask on @saszor. I prefer to stick to the writing theme on this blog but would still like to help if you need it.

Hope this helps,

mod Sasza

Edit: apologies for the lack of alt text on one of the images, it has been fixed.

[candyje11yfish]

ty! \(^_^)/ feelin good so ill try answer in detail for ya!!!! 

most of the time i just do basic cell shading. here ill explain my rendering process after i choose my base colours, ill try keep it short & sweet!! nvm warning buckle up its really super long.

flat colours -> fully shaded!!

⭐️Picking shading colours!

usually it's just the base colour with +saturation OR a hue shift! i dont really lower brightness.

This is what i mean by HSB, i never use the colour wheel i prefer the sliders!!!

i like my art to look super colourful so i do things like shading pink with blue instead of with a darker pink or red, as shown in the above callie piece.

examples ft lumity:

skin: i always keep it very simple & cartoony! over the nose, below the eyes, the neck & sometimes the tips of the ears is where i'll put shading

hair: as u can See, it's not darker than the base colour at all!! for dark hair like luz's, i brighten & saturate the colour, and for light hair like amity's i just shift the hue a little!

⭐️more kewl tips:

colourpick from yourself!!!! instead of making a new colour for everything, try using a colour u already have down!!!! like below: by limiting my colour palette, it looks more harmonious

really messy image but i hope u get what i mean. also the "off white / black" thing is a separate choosing base colours thing!! i can expand on that if anyone's interested 😙

shove halftones in wherever they fit. here are the 2 pngs i use!! there a rlly good alt to gradients, i used a LOT of them in that callie piece!!! clipping mask over where u want it & alpha lock to change colour.

⭐️here's a WHERE i put the shading:

look st the environment ur guy is in!! pick where your light source is coming from & look where that light will hit and where it is blocked by something.

bounce light: the sun's light is also shining on the grass! so powerful the green reflects right back!

this is kinda more realistic lighting now.

i kinda just put a circle wherever theres a corner!

and i put that Beautiful Shape a lot wherever. i change it a little depending on the character, sometimes its triangular or squarey but thats the base shape! i dont even know what its called but i love it.

look at this hello weird shape guy!!!

actually, my grandfest art are probably some of the most detailed art i have! u can see urself where i put shading & stuff - they do have more desaturated colour palettes though:

& here are some additional examples ^_^ flat colour -> shaded -> multiply layer -> lighting

in this one u can see the hand & leg at the back are completely in shadow too :)

anyway i think that's kinda it? i dont really know how to explain it, i just do what feels & looks right to me??? remember that im Not an expert & this is just how i do things :)

i will always repeat my no1 tips tho: keep drawing!!! and copy ur fave artists!!!!!! it really will hell u find what u like!!!!!!!!!!!!

i hope this post helps a little & answers ur question😇 never be shy to ask me anything cuz i love answering & chattin w u guys!!!!

EDIT: just saying these arent set rules or anything!!!! u can see just how many times i Dont follow my own advice LOL. my artstyle is super inconsistent, i rarely draw things the same every time

[handalea]

Team Natsu Magic HC

So I was rewatching the gmg arc, and something I really appreciated about the artstyle was how they made the celestial spirits glow compared to humans at nighttime, and it got me thinking of how Lucy's magic makes her fit right in with them but also look normal with the rest of her team, and it kind of spiraled from there so accept my brain rot pls.

Lucy

As I was saying above, Lucy's skin & hair faintly glows in the starlight/moonlight. It's not that noticeable when she's standing next to other humans, but when she's with her spirits at night, she looks like she belongs with them.

Lucy is covered in light freckles, and occasionally they will move across her skin like shooting stars, or random lines will faintly connect like a constellation. It occurs more when she's around her immediate family or spirits. Team Natsu has a game where as soon as they see it they treat it like a shooting star, and everyone makes a wish. Lucy didn't notice it until they started doing it, and was freaked out about the freckles for a little bit.

Lucy practices what we would consider practical witchcraft, she has an altar set up in her apartment that she changes every time a new zodiac season starts. Even though she knows her spirits and has close bonds with them, she does this to feel close to other celestial spirits when they meet. She is also superstitious, and on nights when the team is safely asleep in her apartment she will put lines of salt across entry points in her apartment to ward off evil.

Natsu

Natsu is always warm. Always. I know this is something that is exhausted but that boy wears crop tops and shorts constantly, and also loves walking around barefoot. He only wears the duster every once in a while, and team Natsu considers it bad luck when he does, because Fairy Tail always gets into conflicts when he does.

Natsu can use his hands like a heat gun, which is useful for when Lucy has to repaint her apartment when things get covered in scorch marks. Natsu finds it boring but Lucy threatens to not make him dinner if he doesn't.

Like Gajeel and Cobra, when Natsu starts to get really angry his skin starts to harden, and it looks like scales are emerging from under his skin. Watching them fully break through the skin when he uses dragon force scares the shit out of his enemies.

When him and Lucy eventually settle down and have kids, he has Gray, Wendy and Ezra help him gather scales from his dragon force to make a scarf for their children. Lucy and Erza get into knitting, and eventually drag Wendy and Gray into it too, and the entire team helps make the next generations scarves.

With his dragon senses, Natsu is fully tuned into his teams scent. He knows the scent of their favorite food, their blood, their hygine products. While he does know the rest of the guildmates general smell Natsu has fully committed his closet families smell into his brain.

Erza

Erza has to set a time every month where she sits down and repairs her armor and sharpens her swords. Before the team fully started leaning on each other the entire process would take her like 5 days, but with Lucy sitting down and asking Erza to teach her how, eventually the rest of the team started helping her. Lucy hosts it at her apartment, and they make a weekend out of it. Eating greasy food, talking shit on their enemies and discussing the latest guild goss, they manage to knock out Erza's monthly chore in two days.

Erza has to keep a mental inventory stock at all times. With how much swords that break during battle she has a revolving number in her head at all times, it's exhausting at times when she can't stop thinking of it before she goes to bed.

Team Natsu has managed to learn to glance at Erza when she's reequipping and from a single second can guess which armor she's getting into, and they're able to adjust their battle strategy/team work without speaking.

Gray

Gray will have steam coming off of him constantly when it's warm outside, and on those days no one blames him for his stripping habit.

At this point the entire team is used to seeing him naked and they don't mention it if they are at one of their apartments, but they all have an extra pair of clothes for him in their travel packs when they are out in public.

Lucy will gravitate towards him when it's hot outside, the mist feels nice, and as they got closer it's common for Gray to have a hand on her ankle/ shoulder to help cool her down. Wendy and the exceeds pick this habit up as well.

On the colder days Grays skin actually hardens, think of how Twilight described the vampires skin, and it will also sparkle lightly.

In his off time Gray participates in ice carving competitions, but he will have to travel to go to them. He is banned from participating in any of Magnolias since he always wins and it has started more than one fist fight.

Wendy

Wendy is very sensitive to the weather, and can usually tell when a huge storm is coming before it hits Magnolia. She has helped save lives by warning the town of incoming deadly weather events, and helping them prepare for it.

Wendy moves silently, her footsteps are as light as air. While Team Natsu is used to it, she constantly scares other people in the guild and she feels bad about it, while the rest of the team finds it hilarious.

While her nose is not at the level that Natsu's is, she has gotten over her pride and has asked him to train her, and she is slowly picking up her team mates smell.

Natsu and Wendy curl up together on long train rides, usually both resting their heads on Lucy's lap. Wendy can't explain it but that woman makes the worst of the aches go away.

As Wendy starts getting more powerful she gains the ability to generate thunder storms and tornado, she also doesn't need Carla to fly. She doesn't use the ability though unless she's in dragon force, she doesn't care if she can fly on her own. Her and Carla are a team dammit.

[kokoasci]

A really distinctive feature of your art style is the white outlines you put around things. It gives it a very shiny and polished look, and makes shapes distinct from each other. How did you develop this technique? Would it be weird to you if I started using it in my own art style, as someone who's always trying to make everything look bright and shiny?

hey !! yeah so this actually started as an accident, I used to do lighting by placing a hard light layer w/ pink over lit areas and accidentally changed it to an add layer once. i liked how it looked so i started using that to highlight things and eventually saw that it rlly works for defining shapes, esp w/ hair and clothes

i usually like to think of it as a way to outline where light and shadows meet to create contrast w/ a base tone. i also like using different brushes and colors to make certain parts of a drawing more interesting (for me, the most boring part of my style is the hair and clothes. adding lighting there helps uplift it)

absolutely feel free to take inspiration, i think building an artstyle should be taking the parts you like from other artists so i would be honored :) here are some tips and what i generally follow while doing this. good luck !!

[really-burnt-toast]

Do you have any tips for drawing? Also I hope you have a good day

Giving tips is hard for me because I mainly have a yolo mindset during drawing, but I made a little explanation about how I draw stuff; I hope it helps!

My biggest tips to drawing are probably ones you've heard before; A LOT of practice and be really fucking stubborn.

Ive been drawing all my life and with every drawing I feel it come easier and easier, I learn by looking at others art and borrowing aspects of their art which I love most; how some draw ears or noses or do shading... Your artstyle is a patchwork of the things you adore. If you dont like an aspect of it, you have the right to change it.

And keep in mind, even if people claim it; art shouldn't have rules. If you want to use black for shadows or draw highly detailed folds on a cartoon character despite it not matching the style, DO IT.

Art should be fun. Dont let others suck the fun out of drawing.

I tend to hate my old art a lot, but I've consciously kept it up no matter how hard I cringe at it. It's what helped me get to where I am. They are a part of me and have given people joy. Dont be afraid of mistakes.

Also, my whole profile shows that you shouldn't be afraid to go back and change things. I've made like 5 different designs for each character, and they constantly change even now. I made Narinder's old design because I didn't have the skill yet to draw him how I wanted, but now I have! Just stay persistent, and eventually, you'll reach the point you want to be at.

Poses have always been hell for me, but look! I did the thing!

So yeah,

be persistent, practice, and BE SHAMELESS

[entiqua]

I love your artstyle!! Do you have any tips for drawing?

thank you so much! i'm really happy you like it!!💗 as for tips, what i would say would change drastically depending on what kind you're looking for, but some very general ones:

draw what you love and want to see most, regardless of whether anyone else wants to see it. if you don't enjoy what you're drawing it'll never come out as good or genuine as something your whole heart and soul is in. i mean you'd think this would be a no-brainer but sometimes i've had to sit back and ask myself 'if no one was ever going to see this except me, would i actually spend time drawing this?' and i was surprised by the answer

that said, it is also completely valid if your motivation for drawing is to draw for other people! there have been plenty of times where i was too artblocked to draw my own ideas but was still able to draw commissions or gifts and enjoyed it simply because making other people happy with my art makes me happy.

don't get too caught up in having a consistent art style. in my experience this 1000% hinders you

having your sense of anatomy degrade over time without you noticing because you keep drawing the same types of characters is a very real thing! if this is a concern to you be sure to draw a variety

follow a billion artists that you like the art of and you will have endless inspiration injected directly into your brain every time you open social media

my favourite practical tip for those who draw at a desk: keep a small mirror next to you at all times. absolute game changer for quickly referencing hands

if you're drawing digitally, make the canvas huge! in my experience this lets you draw messier/faster and you can't tell at all when you zoom out. if you tend to get stuck spending unnecessary amounts of time micromanaging pixels (me💀) keep it zoomed out while drawing

related to the above point, messy drawings can have far more expressiveness in them than neat and polished drawings. nowadays i never do lineart and go straight from 'barebones stickman pose' to 'varying-levels-of-coherent sketch' and use that as my lineart. sweet freedom from the sketch-looks-better-than-the-lineart phenomenon

if your goal is to improve, then you really do have to scrutinize your art, figure out what you're not satisfied with, and commit the time to focusing on it. 'practice makes perfect' kinda rubs me the wrong way because of how much i've seen it interpreted as 'just draw everyday and you'll magically improve' but genuinely it won't get you very far if you don't actively think hard about what you're trying to improve and take the steps to do it. is this a hot take idk. also hand in hand with this, not every artist is trying to improve and you shouldn't feel bad for this! maybe you just wanna make a little headshot doodle of your fave blorbo and that's your only drawing goal ever. awesome. maybe you know your art has flaws but it's passable enough to convey what you want and you're perfectly satisfied with that. (this is the stage i'm usually at). also awesome!

don't hesitate to draw something because you think it's out of your skill level. the worst that can happen if you draw it is that it comes out terribly but you learned something and can always redraw it better in the future. the worst that WILL happen if you don't draw it is that you'll never draw it. and then it will sit in the back of your brain haunting you for years. it's not like i'm speaking from experience or anything aha

look up 'hand stretches for artists' and do them if you draw a lot unless you wish to summon the wrath of the carpal tunnel demons

of course, these may not necessarily work for you, and most importantly(!) these are coming from the perspective of someone who is primarily a hobbyist. some of this won't be practical for people who need to build an audience, maintain a consistent style for work, etc. these are just things that have personally helped me over many years of drawing :)

[dinakisss]

How do you draw so well? I really love your artstyle(it’s so expressive and just tickles my brain in a way)! Can you share me your secrets?

Oh thank you! I'm glad you like my work!

I can share some tips even though I really don't think I posses the skill set nor am I in the position to give out advice

I think you should always prioritize stylization. Your aim should be to create something new and unique. Make your art distinguishable, put your soul in it.

And your art style will change, my work will definitely look different next year, but it grows with me. So it's really a never ending process.

But don't be afraid to experiment, take ideas from others, make ugly art, draw ugly people, incorporate elements from other works into your style be creative and of course have fun.

Also sometimes take breaks from drawing, it helps a lot.

AND DONT FORGET TO FLIP YOUR CANVAS❗️❗️❗️❗️❗️❗️❗️

And use references ofc( I rarely use them not because I’m so talented amazing and cool but because I’m lazy as hell!!! I ain’t gonna spend 20 minutes searching for a fuckass pic😭(and I can always tell if I used reference to draw or not so pls))

First time posting non napoleon related art here omg(oc’s👅👅😝)

[starrysharks]

OK heres zeno coloring tutorial 2.0 !!!! i'm gonna do it kind of in chapters i guess?

chapter 1: choosing base colors

when i'm choosing base colors i always pick everything based on a specific off-white! my 'default' off-white is this kind of very light cyan color but i change it regularly based on character designs/environment/lighting whatever,, examples here!

for callie in this piece, i based everything off of this pinkish color! her skin tone, tentacles, outfit etc are all chosen to harmonise/contrast with the pink color

and with this piece, i used a slightly darker blueish color as they're in space but there's still a lot of light... and the lighter colors in the background (the explosion) make a sense of depth i guess? i used that blue color and chose similar cool colors to harmonise with it!

so i more or less base the tone of the colors in the piece off the off-white! warm off-white = warmer colors (like the nova valentine's day art) and cold off white = cooler colors (like the explosion nova and paro art). but i switch up this formula often !!

chapter 2: coloring specific things

here i'll go over some specific textures and stuff like skin and hair ... skin first !!

for skin, i like to use a variety of tones! there are different ways to draw cooler and warmer skintones that other people have gone over way better than i have but basically for skin i use this part of the color wheel and pick the darker tones of oranges/reds/pinks etc. (for darker skintones, i go to the middle of the color square thingy, and for lighter tones, i usually slide down the upper-right side)

when it comes to shading skintones, it's pretty straightforward, just a darkish-purple and a pinkish color on 100% multiply, and i always add a little shadow on the nose and blush becuz i think it's cute

(also i like to add reflective spots on darker skin tones sometimes because 1. darker skin tones reflect in real life and 2. it's fun)

next up is hair... this is very specific to my artstyle but i like to add 3-6 long oval line thingies to the hair to mimic reflection ! it looks cool, it's a good way to show off different colors in the design and i like to switch it up sometimes based on a character's personality!! (like how the frye pic above has a lighting bolt shaped hair thing, or how my teto design has a wing shaped hair thing to mimic her wings in her chimera form!) (note: it doesn't always need to be lighter than the actually hair color and it usually isn't)

for other materials like metal, screens, etc etc... i just add random X marks lol... and reflections!!!

(also, just a general thing, but adding little saturated lines to shading really adds depth and color imo!!)

i would put more tips with refs but tumbles only allows 10 images per post ;w; so i will simply close off by saying don't be afraid to add overlays and filters to your art!! overlays can really help harmonise colors and filters like brightness and contrast can help colors pop... try not to completely rely on them for color choice tho!!

and that's basically it !!! this is not a definitive 'how to draw/color' post... i am not a color theorist... i just wanted to show people how i choose colors cuz a lot of people say they like my color choices! honestly i don't know much myself but i hope that this and the philosophy of 'do what looks good' will help you all o_ob thank you and goodbye

[exocynraku]

sorry if this is a bit strange to say but your style is so charming :] are there any specific inspirations you have? ALSO can i ask where you learned anatomy from? drawing cats has always been a pain for me and i’m wondering if you have any tips… and i hope you have a lovely day!!! love your works so much :]

thank you veery much.. warrior cats related? ursiday, lupiine, thunderc1an/rebe adventures, movdotmov, assignedk9, bunnyfarm and many popular warrior cats artists on youtube come to mind. otherwise, a lot of what I take inspiration from is manga. i didn't really learn it from anywhere persay, just practice. if you look at some of my first ever wc designs, i could definitely do better now LOL. i'd love to give you more specific tips but literally how i learn is just draw cats. i drew almost all day every day in early covid days when i wasn't in school, and did like, 10 designs a day. ( i wouldn't recommend doing this though, cause now i have Wrist Pain <3 ). so my best advice to you is just draw cats. i never had a problem with seeing my art as 'bad' because in the beginning i was horrendously egotistical and though whatever my current artstyle at the time was was absolutely peak, but i know a lot of people do, so you really need to push yourself forward. even if you see problems in your art now, you have to keep drawing to rectify them. you could study a hundred art books and go to dozens of dozens of classes and look at tons of tutorials but if you don't actually DRAW anything, you aren't going to learn. if you're experiencing artblock, draw something you like which is easy for you (i usually draw my fursona). etc. the minimal amount of tips i CAN give you is to trace. not in like a post-it-online-claiming-its-yours sort of way, but find an artist you like and trace their pieces. specifically, trace the things you like from them, like the paws or face. i do this not often i would say but enough it's able to help me, plus it usually gets me out of ruts where i don't like certain parts of my art. also, real pictures. i'd say this helps more for things like understanding cat anatomy vs how to stylize it. for resources, i'll give you this and this. i can also say, if you're not liking your art, it might be the brush you're using. change it up, i have TONS downloaded and will spend literally hours finding and editing one to what i like. also, get rid of any idea of an "artstyle". you may develop something concrete eventually, but don't stick yourself to a box in the beginning. also, KEEP EVERYTHING. going back and looking at my old designs and art is extremely entertaining, and it can show you how much you're improved over time. tldr: just draw. it's how i learned. a couple other things, but 90% of it is literally just keep drawing.

[soukiismet]

Transferred student AU × Female SKK AU

[all-lee24]

I also wanted to say your art is really inspiring. As someone who's a perfectionist I often end up not posting art because I keep on fretting over certain things in my art looking messy. So seeing how messy and beautiful your art is has helped me overcome that (and even inspired my own artstyle!)

Thank you this makes me so happy the hear!! I’ve had a similar issue, my art never felt “done” and I’ve always stressed over it.

Oddly it was AI that made me change my mindset. AI art was all smooth and perfect but it lacked the sort of charm or dynamic of a creative output.

And I just realized “who even cares about perfectly rendering anymore if AI does it, AI can’t do THIS”…this being keeping things intentinally loose and messy haha

Art will never be perfect, which is fun, it means it’s an endless game, but also stressful that’s for sure. Happy drawing my friend!

[limbus-corp]

Welcome to the library.

Faust hopes you find your book in this place.

Hm? No, no, nothing is amiss, Faust assures you. This is how it has always been here, and how it will always be, ever since I created the library.

CHARACTERS UNLOCKED:

Faust and Heathcliff

List of characters

Current Chapter:

1. Eat you alive

List of chapters

BLOG INFO:

//well hi there! This is a blog for my swap au between ruina and Limbus company! I thought it’d be fun to make a blog for it!

//this is specifically an interactive story askblog, meaning we’re starting at the beginning of ruina, and through asks, we’ll unlock new characters and such!

//artstyle may differ between posts. This is simply for ease of drawing. My main style (that you see in this post) will be reserved for comics, whereas my simpler style will be used for most asks.

//Please read below the read more if you want to ask, just so you have more info! Have a fun time here :)

Interactive askblog? What's that?

Basically, you all help progress and change what happens in the story! This isn't only done by unlocking characters, but by also deciding what occurs in the story, and how character relationships may change.

Sending asks:

Don’t be afraid to get silly! Though this blog is trying to get through a story, I don’t want it to be 100% serious.

Please don’t spam asks trying to send Heathcliff books. They get lost in the post. And the system doesn’t work like that! Try to get him thinking about a certain topic

Have a canon char or oc or even an abnormality you want to interact with us with? Send them in! You can either send them in to fight, or just to ask questions, either works!

Story progression

As seen on the characters post, you need certain things to unlock new characters. A new book, and for Heathcliff or Faust to talk about a certain thing. Chapters progress every time a new character is unlocked. They don’t really mean much else, and are just there as a way for me to track things.

I’ve tried not to make progression quests hard, but if you need a hint, I will provide one.

Characters

“Whose swapped with who??” You’ll have to stay and find out. I’m not revealing.

“This character works better swapped with this character though...” though I did base off of personality or story similarities, most of these swaps don’t actually impact the characters themselves, so it doesn’t matter who they swapped with in the end, I think.

Also, characters maayyy be a bit ooc, as I'm not too well versed with all of them. I'll get better, I promise <3.

//That is all for now! I will probably update this eventually however

// Most asks will be answered with a piece of art, bigger asks may get lil comics of art, and small asks that I can't draw for will just be text. Though I aim to have at least 90% be art. so answering may be slow, I apologize

//Normal blog rules and all that. Be nice, be respectful, no NSFW... yknow?

//This blog is also ran by the same person (me <3) who runs @dieci-association .

[anzuhan]

ANZUUUUUUU PALLETTE REVEAL PLEASE, MY LIFE IS YOURS😭🙏🏻🙏🏻

(im trying to learn ur artstyle cus it looks so cute😞😞)

good luck with it !

dont really know how to explain this or what you're even asking for ... if its color picking, anzu always picks all colors manually by eye. there are some filters applied (gradation maps at the end of the process) but most of the time its not that big of a change (see below, first is unfiltered and 2nd is after the gradation map applied)

also dont really go that much off refs for colors and always tend to edit them accordingly to what anzu feels like it fits for the current piece at hand. art above is kaneko lumi (vtuber in first pic below) dressed as mayfair from the upcoming phantom brave game (woman in second pic below);

the colors anzu picked for either lumi or the outfit dont match 1:1 with the refs, because anzu prefers to keep a reduced color palette for most pieces (here its black & those blues for the darker ones and red to peachy yellow foe the light ones); given the warm colors were dominant, picked a blue for the bg as well to contrast the chara silhouette.

dont know what else to say, anzu just sort of does all this stuff 'automatically' by now ^^; so hope maybe it helped in the slightest

[itsnotmourn]

Not ship chart related but I think your art is so pretty!! Do you have any tips? Especially with coloring if it’s okay <] (/nf)

waah thank you very much! i'll try and explain but here’s my colouring-specific tips, or at least how i choose my colours !! <3

unless for stylistic reasons (e.g. greyscale drawing), i personally avoid pure black, greys and white for colouring. go and choose off-colours instead! for lineart, black is okay but i always go for an actual colour anyways heheh. for the background colour of your canvas, sometimes an actual colour (rather than white or grey) may help you pick your palette to be more harmonised!

following this, i also don't like using pure/neon for colours (aka the top right corner), unless it's for a certain aesthetic or artstyle (e.g. the character has a "toxic/radioactive" aesthetic; the character is a scenedog (or similiar); or highlights). see below for examples! they may be subtle but sometimes the subtly can make the difference you are looking for, especially if you're looking for a natural look. if you're aiming for the bright/old 2000's artstyle, then pure/neons may be your friend!

when i'm casually drawing characters (oc or not), i rarely colour-pick from the reference image. i find that when you're "forced to make the palette", it can come out more pleasing to your style/atmosphere of the drawing! it’s more personalised that way... like yea, that’s my favourite versions of those colours! i'm not saying that my colours are better though, only that "hey that's me! in those colours!!" you can have the reference image on the side or go by memory. here’s me doing this with pride flags:

nowadays, when drawing the spooky month characters—who have simple designs god bless—i can just imagine their reference and adjust the colours in my head lol example: if i know that Lila's colour palette is purple, and that her winter sweater is coloured lighter than her hair, then i can just go ahead and pick whatever shade i want following that rule!

(of course, always double check with the actual reference for physical design inaccuracies and skin tone if it applies. my advice above is just for general hair/clothing colours! …because yknow you don't want to accidentally whitewash a character's skin in the name of aesthetics lol. if you’re unsure and want to be on the careful side, please do colour pick the skin at least !!)

moving on... gradient maps and certain blending modes (like exclusion, luminosity and darken) can be a game changer too. for normal drawings (e.g. drawings with no environment), i use darken the most because it changes a few colours rather than the entire piece... (the percentages are opacity levels!)

oh and as a really basic shading tip without using blending modes: sometimes, you just gotta go for grey. shading a warmer colour? use grey to make a cool tone. shading a cool colour? use grey to make a warm tone. not all the time (because you don’t wanna make your shading seem muddy), just sometimes…

and that's that! there's always exceptions to rules and often times, your headshot doodle ends up as one big experimental mess (in a fun way, hopefully)!

this is how i choose my colours though most of the time, it is just me going “good enough”

i think we're pretty similar on how we like warm colours! i enjoy going the simple/lazy route and avoid blend modes but then again, shading is a whole different thing…

hope this helps in any way !! <:3 !!! <3