#helped a lot as a warmup AND a brain break LOL

[erismourn]

also. do you have any advice on how you draw exos. specifically when it comes to like breaking down their form in a 3d space. chewing on them /pos

ok so my 3 biggest tips for drawing exos:

USE A REFERENCE. the reason I can make my exos passable to look at is because I reference heavily. 3d models are best of course, but half the time I don't care to open up blender and look at them.

PRACTICE. do some exercises to get better at 3d shapes. trace some images of exos! tracing is a really good way to learn.

LOOK AT THE WAY OTHER ARTISTS DRAW EXOS. some artists I like are lavenderarts, rivaldi22, ninthriven, trialsofsaint14, monstyra, sylenth-l, and fmab. i look at what they simplify and what they don't, how they shade, and so on, and try to implement their tricks into my own style

this is one of my fav exercises that has helped me get better at understanding 3d shapes. it's smth I really struggle with - my brain doesn't picture objects in 3d space well, which makes driving a car very interesting. but this has helped.

this exercise just gives you an idea of volume and form that I really like. I'll fill up a whole sketchbook page with just these blobs for a warmup. it's great!

with that said I'll try to take you through my process of drawing an exo but please take it with a grain of salt as I'm still learning

some things to note:

despite being robots, exos are humanoid in shape. familiarizing yourself with human anatomy, ESPECIALLY the skeleton as exos have no skin, is really important

exos generally have the same shapes underneath their external plating, approximately the shape of a human skull (open a 3d model of an exo and remove its external face plating and you'll see what I mean)

the mouth on an exo is generally higher up than it would be on a human face. they don't have a nose to get in the way of the mouth, so the mouths are a little higher up

you can do whatever you want forever. there's a lot of stuff that I simplify when I draw exos - for example, I have very little patience for figuring out what the struts and supports inside the cheek/jaw area look like so I usually just draw them all the same unless I'm going really hard at it

when I'm drawing exos I try to focus on how the features relate to each other. I know where the eyes are supposed to go on a human face (about halfway down the cranium), so I know where they go on an exo. from there, it's about relating things to the position of the eyes.

I try to take note of important characteristics on an exo's face. I don't necessarily get as detailed as taking notes like in the image below, but this is a good start it you want to get familiar with exo features. I grabbed these two pics off destinypedia as an example

it's also important to remember that exos are very angular and have facial planes versus the smooth transitions we typically see with human skin. you don't need to necessarily draw them super precise - just a line hinting at the change of plane works wonders for making it look 3d.

these are very sloppy because I did them in like 2 minutes each but I hope it comes across how I've implemented what I said???

I hope this is helpful. you just gotta practice a lot, and if anyone faults you for your robot anatomy being off slightly they can go fuck themselves lol. everyone who draws knows that robots are hard to draw and shouldn't dunk on you for making mistakes. godspeed brave soldier

[caroldantops]

Hi there! A little new to tumblr and discovered ur blog and I love it! I’m sure you are super busy with the awesome monster kink write ups, but I was wondering if I could ask a question! (Sorry if this is in your FAQs/pinned, I couldn’t find it.)

But I was wondering how do you specifically get in the mood to write, how do you get over writers block, and any tips for someone struggling to get into writing? (Just realized that was 3 Qs…)

About 2-3 years ago I was a marvel wlw writer with a pretty decent following and got a surprising amount of attention, especially for my first story. I then got overwhelmed and started planning too many ideas and plots (aka kinktober kicked my ass). Eventually I decided to take a month long break that turned into years. During that time I wanted to jump back in but something kept holding me back. Now I feel genuine anxiety when I even think about writing, and I keep making excuses like “the lighting is off”, “it’s too late/early in the day”, “I’m too tired/hyper” etc. I really want to get back into writing (they have introduced soo many marvel ladies since I stopped, lookin at you yelena) but i just have this dumb mental block. A part of me is nervous bc I’m scared that my writing skills aren’t what they used to be, but eff it this is for fun and I’ve always been able to get over that fear. People keep saying “just write a sentence, get over yourself!” But I just can’t seem to do it.

ANYWAYS sorry about my self pitying life story, and feel free to ignore this lol. GOOD LUCK ON THE MARVEL MONSTER MASH!!

hi bubs! ur totally find, i've known a lot of people that struggle with this same thing and honestly i had a period for a while where i wasn't writing anything.

i think the one very important thing here is that if it makes you anxious, you don't have to write. don't put pressure on yourself to do it if you're not really ready.

but if you think you need to push yourself to get over the rut, start small. rather than going for a more 'formal' fic, maybe try throwing some headcanons around. make a lil bulleted outline of an idea u have rather than fleshing it out completely. i like using those as warmups when i have a block. it gets the inspiration juices flowing without the pressure of needing it to 'sound nice'.

and dont let burnout get to you. your brain is a muscle and resting it is important. if writing doesn't happen, it doesn't happen. but i also know how that's hella frustrating when it happens. i feel like you sound like you're in a place where u know your limits better, and that's honestly the best way to avoid that burnout again, by not taking on more than you can handle.

maybe your writing isn't what it used to be, but that's okay. you'll get there again. like i said, your brain is a muscle, and it might need to go back to the 5lb weights before it hits the big boys again.

and honestly most importantly: focus on what YOU want to write. even if it's not stuff that maybe you think other people will like, i always feel way more fulfilled when i spend time on stuff i love, like this monster celebration (even when it's hella work)

i hope this is at least a little helpful! i probably didn't say anything new, but i hope i can at least offer u the comfort of knowing this is absolutely something that a ton of writers including myself experience. and I've gotten thru it so i believe that u can too <3

[eldritch-araneae]

Tell me how are you so awesome at drawing

Oh wow, that’s a big question!

I’m not good at explaining things, but I’ll try my best!)

First of all, I’ve been drawing for a long time. I think it really began when I was 14, now I’m 28! During this time I had shiton of self doubt and I even wanted to drop drawing entirely two times bc ppl were talking about talent and I thought I cant get better because I lack it. Oh boy if only my past self knew some simple truths I know now hah!

I wont start telling you about learning basis and practice yada yada bc cmon we all heard it so many times already. So I’m just gonna tell you how I feel generally!

Like I said already, this take LONG TIME to get good a drawing ( and any other skill tbh), it took me 14 years to get as good as I’m right now and I’m still improving. Yes, and forget about concept of talent, it don't really exist and will hold you back. So please be patient!

I feel like it partly because you develop you muscle memory over time (I wish someone would tell me about this when I was younger, that would save me a lot of grief aha), that why you might feel like you understand what you are looking at or hoe to draw something step by step, but your hands refuse to execute it! So, don’t worry about this, it’ll get better I promise :)

Also, don’t forget references! They are essential, you can’t just draw something from your head when you don’t really know how this looks like right? Also tracing (or more like breaking down into familiar shapes) the reference is super-duper helpful ( and just in case, it’s NOT the same as tracing someone’s art and claim it as your own, this is a huge no-no). That’s muscle memory again, your hands ( and by extension your brain) will start to understand what it’s looking at when you trace.

That’s how I drew Hat Kid’s spaceship! I was tracing and re-tracing the in game blueprint ( the one in bedroom) and combing this with in game model and also having realizations like “hOLD ON! THERE IS SUPPOSED TO BE A WINDOW” lol. Same with rooms as well, it saved a lot of time and energy for me!).

So yeah use references ( but just in case, check sources because not all models and photos are royally free to use! I personally prefer using 3d models like in ClipStudioPaint or Design Doll), they will help you a lot!

Also, tutorials. Or more like - experimenting! Don’t be afraid to use the technique you stumbled upon. Even if you wont like the result, you will still learn something from this!)

And remember, every artist is different and learns differently. Something might work for you, something will not and that’s totaly okay! Like I’m not doing stuff I’m supposed to do, like warmups, studies and such. I usually learn “on the go” and from normal ppl perspective I’m not even supposed to improve....but I do! Somehow it works for me and it’s fine ahaha XD

So yeah, I think that’s all I can think of for now, I hope it will help.))