#i could draw traditionally but originally was planning on drawing digitally

[fabulous-gabulous-theartist]

"I'm gonna draw today!"

New season of Queer Eye drops.

"Fuccccckkkkk!"

My priorities are a bit skewed.

[blueskittlesart]

hi, correct me if i'm wrong but i seem to remember you saying that you're majoring in illustration! i'm currently in the process of applying to colleges and i plan on majoring in illustration as well, so i was wondering if you had any advice for portfolios. I could really use some tips on the presentation aspect specifically, bc I'm a little lost when it comes to stuff like the arrangement/organization of pieces, how I should crop my pictures, etc. any advice you can give me is greatly appreciated!!

hi yes i can totally help you out with this! i like to think my college portfolio was pretty good bc i got accepted to every school i sent it to lol :) the main pieces of advice that i was given when building it were this:

studies and pieces that show off your technical skill are great, but limit them to around a third of your portfolio at most. art schools DO want to see that you're technically skilled and can like, draw a charcoal still life or a self-portrait, because those ARE important skills to have, but ESPECIALLY if you're applying to a school that's more known for contemporary fields like animation or illustration, it's much more likely that they want to see your creative mind at work. the single best thing you can put in your portfolio is a BODY OF WORK, and specifically a body of work that shows off your own ideas and your own take on whatever you're producing. this means 3+ pieces that are interconnected or related to the same central theme. my portfoilo, for example, consisted of 2 or 3ish traditional, technical pieces which showed that I had a certain level of technical skill, and the ENTIRE rest of it was devoted to a series of original interconnected narrative comics I'd written and drawn. Every reviewer I met with told me that this was what made my portfolio stand out to them--it showed that I was not only technically skilled, but that i had something i wanted to DO with that skill, that I had direction and drive with my art and was able to produce work that reflected that. If you're maybe (definitely) not quite as ambitious as me, something like a series of 3-5 interconnected illustrations or a short comic if you're into that might do the same thing.

as a side note, if you DO have a body of work as the central focus of your portfolio, a lot of colleges will be interested in your process as well! for example with my comic portfolio, i used one slot to demonstrate my process, because I penciled every page traditionally before digitalizing it and i had extensive character and worldbuilding sketches. I wouldn't devote more than one slot to it, but if you have a body of work where the process is important to you it could be worth throwing in!

arrangement is tricky, but the advice I generally heard was "put your best stuff first." whatever you're most excited about, whatever is going to grab someone's attention the fastest, that's what you want to have in your first slot. (I actually don't think I followed this advice on my applications LOL but it's what i was TOLD to do and i think it's solid advice.)

in terms of editing, assuming we're talking about traditional pieces being photographed, you want to make sure your pieces are 1. well-lit, (DO NOT TAKE YOUR PHOTOS WITH OVERHEAD LIGHTING. wait for an overcast day and take them outside trust me) 2. legible, (no weird shadows obscuring parts of the piece, high-quality enough that no details are lost due to digital pixelation, etc) and 3. as color-accurate to real life as you can make them. most of this is just about getting a decent-quality camera (a newer iphone should be fine) and a good location. (outside and overcast, as previously mentioned) you may want to throw your pics into photoshop and play with the balance slightly, but I wouldn't do anything too drastic, try to get the most accurate photo possible without any editing. (if your pieces are small and flat, scanning them in may work better. most public and school libraries have scanners you can use for free.)

finally, cropping. the general rule that I was taught is to crop the piece, not the photograph. if you've got a piece on paper and you're not sure you like how the actual drawing is oriented on the paper, crop the PAPER down to size, and THEN photograph it. your photos should aim to show the ENTIRE piece from edge to edge (unless it's a detail shot obv) and I even like to include a little bit of extra "breathing room" around the piece so that it's clear exactly where the dimensions of it end. here's a piece I used for my college portfolios for reference:

i lowkey do not like this piece now but that's not the point. this is what i mean by breathing room--a few extra inches of space around the actual canvas so it's clear that this isn't a closeup and you can see where the canvas actually ends. the same is true for digital pieces. if it's a full bleed illustration (something with full color all the way to the edges of the canvas) just make sure you like the composition cropped the way it is and submit the full piece as-is. if it's a floating spot or something similar without hard edges, leave a bit of white or transparent breathing room around the edge of your image.

hope this helps! if you have any more specific questions lmk :)

[secret0codename]

Jane a little remodeled

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Hello guys, I don't know if you missed it lol (I probably wouldn't miss it myself 😅)

☆ I came to post some Jane's Headcanons here because I decided to draw her and I came up with some really good ideas. Creepypasta, even if I left for a while, always comes back and doesn't move forward lol! I hope that if you stay to read until the end, and like it, comment something to help me improve or correct mistakes! If you want to share yours or things like that, that would be perfect too ^^3 I'm not a big account, I just like to share kkakaka. ☆

JANE VAUGHN

☆ Well, in my Jane headcanons, she originally ended up being one of Jeff's victims, but she was always very "vigilante" and it turns out that after everything that happened she ended up hating Jeff (I promise to write more in depth about it sometime, it's still very shallow)

☆ Jane started working for the police as a kind of "help" for the local police, she searched for criminals that the police couldn't find or who hadn't left any traces. She was extremely good at what she did, she was totally cautious about everything she had planned, together with her wife Mary Vaughn she looked for them to be able to arrest them or in some cases kill them!

☆ Somehow one of the cases followed by the FBI reached Jane's ears, an "unpredictable" killer who had never been found, there were no clues and no victims who survived his attacks. Most died the same way, but a few specific ones died in grotesque ways, Jane did not fail to spurn her superiors who somehow managed to contact the FBI. After a long time of conversation Jane managed to get an entry into the case so she could enter as a "detective" she already knew who was committing the murders but just wanted to confirm.

☆ After a few months, Jane had already realized that Jeff was really the one they were looking for, and it was no surprise to her that they were making slow progress, so she tried to help them in a way that would not hinder her own investigation. She was not very socially active, she only spoke a lot when necessary, and was extremely formal with the others. She communicated more directly with her wife.

☆ Jane manages to have a lot of contact with those she trusts. I would say that apart from Mary, perhaps her closest relatives are her in-laws or her sister.

☆ Jane keeps in touch with Liu because they are both looking for Jeffrey, she will definitely need Liu and he will need her, they both have agreements, nothing personal, just work.

•Well, it was super short, but I hope you liked it. It was kind of a preview in case I write the full story of my headcanon! I really base it a lot on the version where she met Jeff as a teenager, but they were neighbors, not close friends. Jane was really affected. If I have the courage, I can post my hand-drawn version of her on Thursday! (I'll do it traditionally and then I'll transfer it to digital, with a lot of effort, lol)

[morimakesfanart]

2020 Oct 10 -Lucid Dream: The Last Push to Make Sindria's Prophet

*It's my birthday, so I'm adding another chapter to the Adventures of Simpbad :D

*I have been lucid dreaming since around the age of 6. I keep a dream diary and draw parts. Sometimes I like what happens in my dreams so much that I use it in my stories; that's why I go by "Mori's Lucid Stories" for my original work.

*I have had several dreams involving Magi so I've decided to add them to the Adventures of Simpbad Collection :3 The art will mainly be edited photos of what I put in my dream diary. I will draw things digitally if I didn't end up drawing anything traditionally.

*This dream happened when I hit the first road block in writing Sindria's Prophet and was the push I needed to fix it and what lead me to choose to post Sindria's Prophet online :3 Also, I didn't think I would be posting this dream when I started drawing it, so the first half isn't as well drawn as the last few pages.

*The original versions of this are still up on Tumblr, Instagram, and Twitter. This version has a novel version of the dream added, and cleaned up art of the original photos of the pages.

*I did rewrite a bit of the text in the images, but please let me know if there's any part that still isn't legible. Also so everyone knows, all of the purple and pink was done with colored ink traditionally, so I tried to keep that feel with the edits.

~POV Mori~ I was having an anime convention dream. I get those fairly often since cons are some of the most liberating experiences I've had. I had finally accepted that I had been hyper fixating on Sinbad for the past 5 years. I had tried my hand at writing fics but most stayed as concepts and drafts. I decided to try writing my first self insert Isekai, and had hit a road block. Thinking so much about an anime/manga was probably why I was having an anime convention dream.

I passed by a manga seller and decide to take a look. The only official English translation of The Adventures of Sinbad was a short run the first few volumes in Singapore. But here in this dream someone was selling official English versions of every volume. It didn't matter if this was a dream, I was going to buy them!

Having successfully made my dream purchase, I wanted to go somewhere I could sit down and read them. As I was about to leave, a familiar color palette appeared in my peripheral vision. King Sinbad was standing by the same bookshelf I was just at!

I knew he was tall, but it's different seeing him in person. Even with all of my fixating on him, Sinbad had yet to appear in my dreams. He was right there though! 100000% That was Sinbad! But this was a convention dream. He could be a cosplayer and not the real deal. The line often gets blurred in my dreams so did it even matter?

Two gold eyes turned towards me and I ran for the cover of another bookshelf. He was gorgeous in person and my heart could not handle it! Who knows what would have happened if I actually talked to him?!

'But this is my dream!! There's no reason for me to run away.' This dream has no signs of becoming a nightmare, so I could still change or remove anything I didn't like. Sinbad would never be able to hurt me in a dream unless I let him. 'I have been under a lot of stress recently though...'

It was worth some risk, but not a big risk. I took out my phone and used the zoom function of the camera to get a closer look at him without having to get close enough to risk him talking to me. That was something I didn't think I could handle yet. I also didn't know how long I could handle being around him so I sneakily made my way to the exit like I originally planned. As I got close, the gold eye in my phone screen made contact with me, and Sinbad smirked. 'ABORT!' I ran the rest of the way out.

That was more than enough Sinbad for me, thanx. I was no longer used to experiencing any form of attraction, and it had become a bit of a trigger honestly. Liking someone could always be used against me. My ex fiance made sure I'd learn that lesson....

This was a good dream so far, so I would not dwell on such things!!! There was a whole rest of a dream con to explore. I could go to more venders for impossible finds, or a panel, or watch cosplayers or stalk Sinbad Watching cosplayers, it is!

--- I find that the dealers room is one of the best places for spotting cosplayers, so guess where I went back to?

Cosplay is always really cool regardless of skill level or accuracy. It shows passion and love for a story. And some can be very creative in taking characters into different styles. In this dream there was a crossover cosplay of someone dressed as Inuyasha, but done in the style of Hollow!Ichigo from bleach. They even had on white body paint, and contacts that made their corneas black. Given how full demon mode Inuyasha was, the idea of a hollow version was scary, and rad as hell. His claw attack would be devastating- And he was destroying the venders with the exact attack I was just thinking about! The cosplayer was no longer a cosplayer! This is the part of lucid dreaming that isn't always the greatest. I thought too hard about something and it became a real problem.

I yelled at my mistake, "Stop that right now!!"

To which the once cosplayer yelled back, "This is a dream! I do what I want!" And what he wanted was murder.

The audacity! "This is my dream! Step off!"

He attacked me! "You can't tell me what to do!"

I dodged it, and I was done playing. "Yeah, no." If diplomacy wasn't going to work then there was no reason to keep him in my dream. "If you're going to be violent, you can go. This whole part of the con can go." Sometimes it's easier to get rid of the whole area than just one person since the area can hold onto the emotions and make the same type of thing keep happening. If I don't nip it in the bud it could become a nightmare or night terror, and God knows I've had more than my fair share of those.

The entire room got cleared into a white void. There was a floor and walls where doors into the room were, but everything else was gone. My emotions returned to normal too. This empty room was still attached to the rest of the dream world, so convention goers started walking in and getting confused about the missing dealers' room. Creating a new place for venders would only risk things going violent again. I made comfy chairs and cushions for people to rest on while I figured out what to do with the cleared space.

--- My safest bet was to change the genre so I could have a different type of environment. It had been a while since I had a fun adventure dream. To keep it from going potentially violent again I made it like a play ground or obstacle course instead of an actual place with real danger. I grew up during the PS2 era of games so beaches and platforming like in Kingdom Hearts, Jak&Daxter, and Ratchet and Clank are hugely nostalgic, and have become symbols of safety and fun for me. And so I made a beach with an obstacle course, platforming, and a fake broken ship. And of course, with a change of scenery comes a costume change. I went for something that was a mix of dance clothes and reenactment clothes from when I was in a reenactment pirate band -there was fake broken pirate ship here after all. (I decided it was a pirate ship because that seemed more fun.)

There was a cuddle puddle of three people in one of the chairs I made. I left the manga I bought with them, telling them, "Guard this manga with your life!" before heading out to the obstacle course I had made.

As I gave them a two fingered salute, I noticed that a familiar purple haired King was standing behind them. Everything inside me knew it was the same Sinbad from earlier and, that like the Inuyasha cosplayer becoming real, this Sinbad was real. Those metal vessels weren't only for show. What's more was I was not emotionally ready for coping with feeling attraction and fear at the same time again.

So I jumped down onto the sandy platforms below.

I made dream versions of my some of my friends appear. Hopefully, they would be enough of a distraction to make the Sinbad vanish. I ended up summoning art friends from highschool and college though, so they refused to explore with me. Instead, they actively reminded me who had shown up. "If you don't get running, he's gonna catch up."

Sinbad jumped down onto the starting platform and I bolted down the obstacle course. It was clear that my subconscious wanted me to face this; even if I changed the dream Sinbad would appear again. I had two options: face Sinbad and my fear of my own feelings of attraction, or turn the dream off into nothingness. Ahead of me, the platforms were leading to the ruined pirate ship; the next part would be inside it. And like a video game, the water around us meant death.

Sinbad calling behind me, gave me my answer. I jumped into the water.

--- The dream above the surface couldn't reach me here. It was quiet and calm. I could drift there forever if I wanted to -or at least until I woke up. As the feeling of safety washed over me, I started feeling bored. I had made a whole puzzle plaformer and I didn't even get to go through it! I had been in the nothing for a while; maybe Sinbad was gone.

There was no way I'd be that lucky. If nothing else, I could come up far enough away to have a chance to brace myself before he reaches me. I swam to the edge of an area further down the course. When I breached the surface of the water, I tried to will myself out faster than I could climb up. Two hands reached down to help pull me onto land. 'Who was I trying to fool...?' Of course, Sinbad would appear as soon as I returned.

He smiled down at me as I was finally standing on land again. "There you go."

"I could have gotten out on my own." Gosh, even to my own ears I sounded like a tsundere. This was the best I could do with my trust issues, huh? Dreams make emotional regulation harder too.

Sinbad's smile didn't waver. "Of course." In fact, he looked amused.

I grumbled, accepted my fate and sat down with my legs hanging over the edge. Looking at the water from here, it was obvious that I wouldn't have been able to reach high enough to pull myself out of the water on my own. If my subconscious was this determined to make this interaction happen then it was something I really needed to work through.

Sinbad walked over to where I sat down. "You're done running away?"

"I guess."

He sat down next to me, and crossed his legs and his arms. "So why were you avoiding me all this time?" He didn't look at me directly, and kept his smile.

I watched the water in front of us. "I'm scared of the things I like hurting me because I like them."

"Are you scared of me sitting here?"

"I'm not running right now, am I?" I wasn't scared of Sinbad. He was non-violent unless there were no other options, so he'd never have a reason to hurt me.

The King's voice was boisterous, "That's great news!"

I smiled at myself. "I guess I am doing a bit better." That gave me back some confidence. My smile broadened, and I made of show of shrugging as I continued, "I do still have plenty of reasons to be scared that you're close. You're also a greedy, egotistical, over powered asshole who has killed a lot of people -not to mention manga spoilers." The man was a walking death machine when he wanted to be, especially towards the ends of both mangas in the series.

"-Ah," was all he said in response. Sinbad was always the type to refrain from commenting when he couldn't deny the truth.

Now that I was thinking about the situation instead of panicking I was realizing some things. "I'm pretty curious on why you're talking to me." Flirting with con goers would probably be more in character.

He finally looked at me. "Why don't you tell me since you know me so well?" His eyes sparkled with interest and curiosity.

'Smarmy piece of- how dare he be this pretty! Fine!' My thoughts got stuck on his face for a moment since I was finally looking at him too. I thought about his question. Sinbad was power hungry by the time he became a king. And he had a growing god complex. And he actively sought out the strongest people in the world like the Aladdin, David, and Arba.

'Oh...' I had basically just erased and remade part of the world in front of him. That was why he hadn't followed after me when I first saw him; I wasn't anything special yet. 'My subconscious couldn't make him want to talk to me for nice reasons?'

I sighed. "I might like you but," that was obvious and I wouldn't deny it, "I'm not going to help you do whatever you want. I just didn't want violence in this dream." Now that I knew what was going on, I needed to set my boundaries.

Sinbad hummed, and looked out at the water. "I understand." After a moment he added, "We both prefer peace. It's a start."

That made me laugh. "You really don't quit, do you?"

Sinbad continued the good mood with flirting. "I got to make a pretty girl laugh so it's been a good day."

I gifted him another chuckle for the sentiment behind his words. I'm gender fluid, so not always a girl/woman, but I didn't think he'd understand that even if I explained. This wasn't the time to be pedantic. I was more interested in enjoying the improved mood.

We continued to talk in that light hearted manor about a handful of things. It was a bit of necessary self reflection involving my fears. It was okay for me to feel attraction, even if I wasn't ready for any of the steps that come afterwards. Maybe Sinbad was perfect for me in that way. In the whole series he never falls in love or gets married, and in that moment what I needed to feel safe was knowing that flirting was all it would ever be. I could enjoy feelings of attraction without the fear of being betrayed later because Sinbad would never promise himself to anyone.

[imjustabeanie]

hello! can I request a matchup for genshin if you don't mind :D I don't mind getting either gender

she/they

capricorn

intp

greyromantic

appearance: 160cm. I have really short black hair and black eyes (I'm south east asian for reference :D). I dress in masc clothing and a good way to describe it is dark academia bcs I'm always wearing formal clothing no matter the weather and it's always either earth tones or black TT People also describe my face as empty because I stare into nothing a lot ;;

personality: I am a really quiet person around people I'm not close to, but really talkative to those that I am friends with. I have a habit of blurting out facts that could either make no sense to the thing we're talking about or something that reminded me of it (e.g. I went to the beach and started talking about how there's two type of waves and how to prevent erosions and all ;;). My humour is anything honestly because I'm easily entertained by even the blandest of things. I'm described as a leader whenever there's group projects because I like being the one in charge all the time, but I try to include everyone in as well since I have a tendency to want to do everything myself TT I find studying really fun too tbh, it's smth I do whenever I feel down to distract me easily, education is always a thing I strive in :] I'm also interested in law bcs I'm heading to uni soon! I'm planning to be a professor as well, I love teaching. People who don't know me often finds me scary, bcs of my quietness and my reputation at school, but I'm completely the opposite, I always try to appear more friendly than I let on :'D in addition, I like birds and sharks :D

hobbies: I like drawing (both digitally and traditionally), reading (YA romance), gaming (mostly chill going games like minecraft, sdv and sims), writing (I write both original stories and fanfics), listening to music (?) (mostly anything all at once, I mostly like musicals, jazz, kpop and also have a few rock and punk songs in the mix as well as classical) and watching anime (my faves are assassination classroom and magical girl animes)

relationships: my love language is quality time and I've never been in relationships, but I did have one crush ;; I'm the type to always do things for someone no matter what; some things I've done for this person and also my best friend includes making playlists, drawing for their birthdays, writing letters (maybe dabble in poetry sometimes), making paper rings and even reading or watching their favourite series just to discuss it with them. My deal breaker other than the usual spiel of being a generally bad person is if they don't take me seriously, I'm one to joke around a lot, but that doesn't give free reigns for them to make fun of me or cross my boundaries by dissing on my interests. I also want someone who won't be afraid to just be honest with me and communicate what they feel because it's hard for me to just figure out their emotions by myself ;;

that's all from me, I hope that all this info is enough TT I don't mind getting any characters so go ahead with anyone :]

Your genshin match is Eula!

On the outside, you two butt heads often but in reality it's a healthy rivalry. She doesn't judge you by your appearance or expressions and actually lets out little smiles and laughs at your jokes. You get her and she gets you.

She likes listening to your random fun facts and comments on them often by adding some new informations. She understands your individualism cuz she's the same but ironically you two make a fantastic duo. Eula likes and encourages your ambitions and interest in educations. She gives you good pointers and actually tries to help you out if she feels her family name can open you more doors. She may be rough and rash but she means well.

Your love is mostly expressed at home. She likes spending time with you. Eula is well versed in the arts and litterature. She'd give you access to her home library and even show you very private collections. With you, Eula will learn about new music types that frankly seem like something she'd enjoy.

Eula shows her love through actions and sometimes gifts. She brings you your favorite things. She does her best to take care of your problems. Her love is subtle but strong. You two may not be the most expressive couple but it changes behind closed doors.

[timpac-capstone]

Week 9

I showed my wall to my capstone advisor, Jeff, and while he was happy that I now have a story and with the progress I made since the last time we spoke he is a bit worried that I am putting all my eggs into one basket. I can see where he is coming from since I STILL have not done any digital animation and it's becoming more and more of a stressor on me. He suggested I watch Rejected by Don Hertzfeldt since this is a compilation of multiple simple animations, Jeff suggested that rather than starting where my storyboard begins I should first animate the embarrassing moments themselves and that way if I'm not happy with the narrative later down the line I still have these and can make a plan around it.

I just can't do it man, I can't get into digital art. It feels so uncomfortable every time I try to draw in Krita, Fire Alpaca, or Photoshop, and every time I try to actually sit down and try to learn it I get so frustrated when the line work still comes out so goofy no matter how many times I try a new brush, setting, or simply redoing it. I used one of the bigger tablets from the Fablab this time which was a lot more comfortable to use than the small one I have but I don't know, if I had the option to make this traditionally I would be seriously considering it right now.

Lately, I've been thinking back to the topic of growing up without a dad so I looked at some videos on YouTube and a lot of them, like this one from Joe Rogan, are about people who had their dad leave them instead of passing away. Obviously, there is a difference between how I feel about my dad and how these people feel about their dad, Joe and Erik hold more anger and animosity towards their dads because they betrayed their trust while I held a lot of anger towards myself because I felt like I wasn't making anything out of my life or because I didn't understand the concept of death at age 7. However, one thing that did resonate with me was how they described their loneliness growing up with a single parent. I think by age 9 or 10 my mom would start training me on how to take care of myself at home alone. I don't hold any animosity towards my mom for this because it's like Erik said, my mom was working hard on her own trying to make sure that I had everything I needed and then some but that meant we had to cut some costs such as a babysitter. I believe this is where my love for cartoons stems from, when I would be home alone I would constantly have the TV on Cartoon Network even when I wasn't in the room and that is because I would get extremely anxious when the house would be dead silent. The worst punishment my mom could give me as a kid would be no TV for a week, not because I would be bored for that week but because I would be so anxious that I wouldn't be able to function. Eventually I got over it as I got older, the sound of silence and being alone most of the day is the norm.

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So I was scrolling through Instagram the day before this event happened and I saw this ad called Manga in New York by Ginza Sony Park Project. It was an event at Studio 525 that brought 6 different Japanese artists, not necessarily manga artists, together so that they could create and display their manga in unique ways using Sony's technology. When I presented my wall to the guest artists their main critique was that I hadn't considered how I was going to present my animation during the exhibition. At first, I didn't really know what that meant because James Ring, an alumni last year who did an animation, just set up a TV and put the storyboards and sketches next to the TV which is what I was going to do. But after going to Manga in New York I can see what they meant, each manga here was displayed so differently from each other and because of that added to their individual experiences. The first manga, Interlude by Miku Masuda had the talk bubbles animated like animated manga on YouTube except each page had its own display screen so people could walk along the story rather than standing in place watching a slideshow on one screen. A Pilgrims Guide to Videogame by Takakurakazuki was the exact opposite, it only had two displays for two people who flipped through the pages with a joystick but the area in which it was placed in also had the comic printed on paper and hung along the wall with large pieces of art to go with the exhibit. Ueda and Sasami by Hikaru Ichijo also had its story printed out and displayed along the wall but behind the reader would be a giant Ueda with an animated Hamster inside her stomach. Dream Pill by Millennium Parade was the one I found the most impressive, the floor had a projection of water on it and if I stepped in the right spot the floor would rumble and the projection would make a splash, as if I was actually walking on water as I read this manga. A Guide by Masanobu Hiraoka, who is an Animator/Director, made a manga that had huge prints on each page and only certain panels beautifully animated on a huge TV display that really brought the vastness the manga was trying to portray in its story. Finally, Walker by Katsuya Terada had massive displays of his manga accompanied by background sounds like bird noises and rain sounds that you can faintly hear as you walk through his work. I also got the chance to see him draw live, unfortunately I only stuck around halfway through his live drawing cause I had other plans that day but this was a very insightful trip.

REFLECTION:

I don't know how I'm going to be an animator if I can't digitally draw the simplest of things. I'm not trying to give up just yet but Jeff might be right where maybe I should look into doing a series of shorts rather than just one singular narrative. Up until this point, I haven't gone on a museum trip specifically for my capstone, mainly because everybody else in the class seems to be busy so I would have to go by myself and I don't think I'll find anything useful in the museum regarding what I want to do for my project but I was happily proven wrong. When I left the museum an idea that I had for my capstone would be to play my animation on a CRT TV with two bags placed next to each other, one labeled embarrassing memory and the other happy memory. Audience members would then write down an embarrassing memory or a happy memory or both and place it in one of the respective bags and by the end of it, I wanted to see which bag got more filled up. But I will worry about how this will be displayed at a later date.

[maggie-parks]

Research Journal 3: Identity & Place

Artist 1: Paul Noble

Form: Graphite drawing on paper

Content: "Nobson", an imagined place: detailed symbolic city illustration influenced by architecture

Process: Similar to a Bosch painting, this type of drawing takes meticulous planning to include as many details as possible with as many separate parts in the composition for a viewing experience that takes much longer than a quick glance to see the whole picture. This requires skill in 2-point perspective drawing.

I chose this work because I am interested in the idea of adding fine details to a map that represents my identity, and I like Noble's style of drawing.

Artist 2: Ned Vizzini & Abigail Smith

Form: Book cover/jacket artwork

Content: Abigail Smith illustrates Ned Vizzini's concept of a "brain map" in his book It's Kind of a Funny Story. The main character in the book, Craig, drew maps of imaginary cities when he was a child. While being admitted into a mental hospital for 5 days, he takes an art class and revisits his childhood idea, and decides to draw these maps in silhouettes to describe them as "brain maps".

Process: The process on this one looks pretty straightforward design-wise as far as placing simple shapes into the composition, but it could be approached through different mediums like drawing, painting, collage, or digital.

I was thinking about this map for the original idea I had to illustrate my own "brain map", but wanted to take it a step further by adding in some serious detail and adding meaning with metaphor, which is where I would pull inspiration from Paul Noble.

Artist 3: Ed Fairburn

Form: portrait drawn in ink on a map (Marquette, MI)

Content & Process: Artist statement- “I manipulate paper maps to construct other forms, usually portraiture. I call this process topopointillism; a direct combination of topography and pointillism. Using traditional materials such as ink, paint, and pencil, I make gradual changes to the contours, roads, and other patterns found in cartography. These changes allow me to tease out the human form, resulting in a comfortable coexistence of figure and landscape. I aim to preserve the functionality of each map by feeding the composition instead of fighting it – I often spend hours studying the terrain before I begin any physical processes. I’m interested in the degree of subtlety behind each synchronization, and [how] a completed map behaves more like a portrait when viewed from further away – it’s almost paradoxical that a portrait should lose detail when examined closely."

Moving away from imaginary maps to real ones, Fairburn's portraits are stunning, I love his use of cross-hatching, and I love how drawing on a map from a specific place adds a level of meaning and context to the identity of the person in the piece. If I did something like this I would focus on someone else's identity instead of mine, as I don't feel like there's a strong connection to a particular place that shapes my identity.

Artist 4: Joseph Cornell

Form: shadowbox construction 

Content: Assembling multimedia shadowboxes, Cornell combined found objects, painted surfaces, and collages. He was a major collector of everyday ephemera, and his materials ranged from marbles and toys to maps and seashells.

Process: These shadow boxes consist of found objects but also carefully crafted paper figures as well. This art form emphasizes a layered look.

I love shadowboxes, and I like how Cornell showcased his collected items. There's a potential here to use found objects/personal items that represent my identity.

Artist 5: Gillian Lambert

Form: graphite drawing on paper 

Content & Process: Artist statement- “I try to find the beauty in what is traditionally unattractive, grotesque, awkward, or bizarre, I work primarily with self-portraits, but try to make them less personal by removing body parts and disguising others. I think there is a lot that can be learned from fragmenting and objectifying the human figure and face, and a lot that can be learned from witnessing the final product.”

Figure drawing is a very obvious/literal way to represent a sense of self & identity, I'm hoping to maybe draw a full-body self-portrait that leans into Lambert's style. I like how she emphasizes characteristics that can be described as unattractive or grotesque, which is what I would want to focus on if I were to make a figure drawing of myself.

[leywalker]

FIST JAM OPS III POSTMORTEM

I am happy to report that my submission got first place in the STYLE category of the jam! There were lots of really amazing submissions, so please be sure to give the other works a look. Some of the stuff in there is crazy!!

In this post I hope to detail how I designed my submission, what stuff got cut (no pun intended), and what stuff will hopefully see the light of day in the future.

My original plan for the jam was to make a kit of printable props:

A Zippo lighter

A matchbook

A box of cigarettes

A pistol

It became clear rather quickly that I really didn't have the time to make all of these in a month, especially with the other game development duties that I needed to manage at the time. It's easy to prototype out these props, but it is much harder to:

Design a printout that can be used to reliably reproduce a robust final prop

Design clear written and diagrammatic instructions of the assembly steps for each prop

Optimize page layouts to reduce waste

Scan, clean up, and prepare promotional materials for each prop

Fill the pages with interesting and unique flavor

I definitely didn't do myself any favors when I decided I wanted to do the whole thing traditionally end-to-end using ink on paper (I used a Hi-Tec-C). What you see on the final sheet was me just going straight through the whole final draft in ink with no pencil sketches. I did draft up the "greeting" text on a computer before I wrote it, but otherwise I did everything as I went all in one go.

In general, I have grown kind of disillusioned with drawing digitally, partially because my job is done using a computer and I want to get away from it sometimes, and partially because drawing digitally just doesn't spark joy the same way traditional drawing does, at least for me. I really want some of the workflow improvements and creative options that digital art provides though, so I suspect eventually I will need to come up with some kind of hybrid pipeline. That will probably be a future blog entry.

Back on the subject of the jam, I whittled down what I was going to produce to just the lighter -- the pistol was way too complex of a project to tackle at the time, and the matchbook and cigarettes didn't seem essential to making the lighter fun to use. The user could easily improvise a cigarette to use with their lighter by rolling up a sticky note or the like. Plus, I decided that the tactility of flicking open the lighter was part of the appeal of my submission, and I haven't figured out how I could bring that tactility to a box of cigarettes in the same way. Finally, while I did think of a great design for a matchbook, tearing off the matches, while fun, kind of seemed like a waste of paper. I will almost certainly revisit these props in the future though.

The lighter itself took about 8 distinct, fully assembled iterations to get right. In the photo above, you can see the very first mockup I ever made on the left and the final version on the right.

The lighter itself is only two pieces and the assembly process is relatively simple -- the part that I needed to iterate on so much was (perhaps unsurprisingly) the hinge. Finding a way to hinge two-dimensional objects using only folds and tape wasn't that hard, but finding a way to make it robust and consistent was a huge pain. If you make the hinge too loose, then the top part of the lighter would wiggle around too much. If you made the hinge too tight, then it was either too precise to cut or too stiff to flick open.

At first it might not seem like a big deal to make the hinge loose, but if it's too loose, then the top half of the lighter would slide out of place and cause the hinge to get stuck open or closed. It would also cause the lighter to have a generally sloppy silhouette, which annoyed me.

In the image above, you can see how the cutout between the flame and the lid of the lighter changed across the iterations. In the end, it needed to be as uniform as possible to prevent snags.

You can also see in the above image how the flame guard -- the protrusion from the bottom part of the lighter that the flame pops up out of -- had to change over time. Unfortunately it couldn't be scaled accurately to a real Zippo; It needed to be short so that more of the flame is visible and it needed to extend back into the lid when the lighter is flicked open so that the lid wouldn't get caught on it when you flick it closed.

I had a lot of fun working on this project and I have been encouraged by the positive response it has received among the FIST community. This is my first published TTRPG supplement and it won't be the last -- I have multiple projects planned in a similar vein that I hope to release over the course of the year. As of now, here are some of my ideas:

An expanded "smoking kit" with a lighter, matchbook, and box of cigarettes. Maybe a box of cigars too.

A "comms kit" featuring a cassette and tape deck, a pair of walkie talkies (with "talk" buttons that you can push down!), and a vintage cellphone (probably something inspired by the DynaTAC8000X)

A "wonder nines" pack with some of the coolest looking FIST-era pistols (namely the M9 Beretta, the P226, the CZ-75, and the P88)

A "classic pistols" pack with even more iconic FIST-era pistols (like the Glock, M1911, Deagle, and maybe a revolver if I can figure out how to make it)

I want each pistols pack to have 4 guns each so that every member of an average-sized FIST party can have one at the table.

If you have any questions or suggestions, you can reach me via the FIST Discord (I'm @Parkagirl#4918), email (leywalker@hey.com), or the Tumblr ask feature -- that's anonymous too, so don't be shy.

Until next time.

My FIST JAM OPS III entry is live, and just under the wire. Stay tuned for a postmortem blog entry soon!

[iheartgod175]

So, thanks to @blazing-shadows , I’m in a huge Ricochet Rabbit mood now, and I want to get started on a few new things that’ll appear in Redux!

I would love to commission someone for a cover for the story in the future. Like, I know that I can draw it myself, but I would love to have some digital art of it (well, actually, my dream is for someone to draw fan art based on my fics! Which has happened to me once, and it was such an amazing feeling.).

So, this idea has been running through my head since I was tweaking a few things on Ricochet’s profile on the BT Wiki, and it’s been a remaster of one of my favorite arcs of Blazin’ Trails: the Protector arc. It was at the time the darkest thing I ever wrote, as it dealt with racism, grief and action/adventure, of course. And while I still love the arc itself, I figured it’d be good to do an updated version showing the improvements I made as a writer, kinda like what happened with the Zula Patrol: Dreamscape Crusade Remastered. And I had a few ideas that I wanted to introduce in this, as well as a few buildup chapters to Redux’s edition of the Protector arc.

In the original BT, Ricochet and Droop’s friendship is considered an oddity due to their species hating each other—not to mention humans having a dislike/hatred towards coyotes. In Redux, there is the added factor that there are certain attitudes/behaviors that rabbits and coyotes—particularly wealthy or renowned ones—have towards each other. In the notes for both Ricochet and Droop’s profiles, I noted that the dynamics between coyotes and rabbits are often manipulative or predatory, but other than it being referenced a few times, I never explored it. In Redux, that’s actually going to be more of a focal point, as seen below (taken from the wiki):

Traditionally, coyotes only stuck close to rabbits if they planned on eating them; sometimes, the positions could be reversed, with a rabbit keeping a coyote as their personal “pet” (to coyotes, this is the lowest form of treatment and is considered slavery). As this was a common occurrence in Hoop ‘n Holler, rumors and accusations of either party using the other ran rampant. Ricochet was aware of this practice, and worked to put an end to it (Redux’s build-up to the Protector arc, titled “Unequal Yokes”, focuses on this exact issue, and in the remastered Protector--Part 1, he becomes physically ill at the thought of doing that to Droop-a-Long), but he ignored the rumors, knowing that his friendship with the coyote was genuine and not manipulative. He was unaware that Droop-a-Long was getting the brunt of the slander, however, which is why what Dave and Chuck did to Droop-a-Long both angered and horrified him.

I’m thinking of adding another villain alongside Dave and Chuck, who I felt were one-dimensional and weren’t super convincing. Not sure if this person will be a man or a woman yet, but I do know that they’re gonna be pretty nasty, and will make what Ricochet and Droop-a-Long went through in the original pretty tame.

I don’t wanna reveal everything…but I DO know that I’ll be putting up a snippet of the remaster on my writing blog maybe next week.

That’ll probably be after I work on a little project for Vulaan Kulaas, though. But that’s news for another post 😏

[leomitchellart]

So… about this latest Inktober controversy….

Time to begrudgingly chuck in my two penneth… (Remeber you can always press “J” to skip this post altogether)

As most of you may or may not know, Alphonso Dunn released a Youtube video wherein he publicly accused Jake Parker, and creator of the Inktober challenge, of plagiarising his book. Both of these men are public figures, artists specialising in pen & ink. In the video Dunn looks at the preview pages and flip through footage of Parker’s “Inktober All Year Round” and says they draw many similarities in the illustrations, language and layout that he used in his own book, “Pen & Ink Drawing”. Parker’s book was set to this month. Hense why Dunn only used footage and not a physical copy.

Since the video’s release, the art community has been very spilt down the middle. The book’s publisher has halted the launch of Parker’s book until the matter can be investigated. Even DeviantArt cancelled their own Inktober event thing (I’ll admit I don’t keep up with these things DA keeps doing). Parker has since released a statement in the matter. Now it’s up to the courts to decide what’s happening next. The video itself is an hour long, but it’s crucial to see it yourself. 

People are, understandably, outraged after seeing it. This seems like a shitty thing to rip-off Dunn - not to mention stupid. Since Dunn is the more popular pen & ink artist with more social media followers and name recognition. Many have called to boycott inktober and condemn Parker. I’ll admit, I was right alongside them at first, at least for feeling outraged. The similarities are there. But if YMS’s Kimba video has taught me anything, it’s that, even if an accusation of plagiarism may be obvious at a cursory glance, sometimes it’s important to take a more critical eye and do more research to learn that things aren’t as cut and dry as they first seem. If there’s a lesson I can take away from the internet as a whole, it’s that no one thinks about the consequences of mob mentality.

The most common defence of Parker is that because they’re both books about pen and ink drawing, then they’re inevitably going to be similar. I’ll admit that, when you pick-up so many art books, a lot of them will cover the same basic grounds of materials, tutorials, strokes, techniques etc. The parts about rendering textures on spheres and cubes isnt new. Look up “texture study” and you’ll see so many examples of artists rendering these kinds of things digitally. I’ve also noticed a common theme of people more formally educated in art pointing out how none of these are original. Everything down to the steps and illustrations are things they’ve learned from years ago. Since I'm a pen & ink artist, inspired by my love of comics, I have quite a few books about inking: Dunn’s included. I own both his books and still highly recommend them. I didn't even preorder Parker’s book. Ironically because I didn't think it could offer anything new that my other books hadn’t already.

While Ethan Becker took the time to cross-examine Dunn and Parker’s books with several others, there weren’t many of the ones I actually owned. So I looked to my shelves to see what I could find. Books like:

“The Art of Comic Book Inking” by Gary Martin & Steve Rude

“How Comics Work” by Dave Gibbons & Tim Pilcher

“The DC Comics guide to Inking Comics” by Klaus Janson

“Making Comics” by Scott McCloud

“Stan Lee’s How to Draw Comics”

I’m sure there’s plenty more examples out there. I was planning to go through all of these and take pictures. But ultimately that’s not the core point of these post. Plus it would’ve taken WAY too long and this post itself, is long enough.

Of course, none of the them are 100% close to Dunn’s in the way they’re displayed. Not as close as Parker’s could be considered. That being said, I know Dunn is trying to claim that he invented these techniques. The nucleus of the issue is how similar they are in terms of order and how these pages are displayed. Some I can chock-up to standard practice, while others seem more coincidental.

If there’s one thing I’m adamant about, it’s that I think that Dunn should’ve messaged Parker first before making the accusation public. Some try to dispute that this would've made it easier for Dunn to be “silenced”, whatever that means; but that sounds a bit conspiratorial to me. Ideally, you confront him about it in private, if he makes any threats or blows you off, get your lawyer on the phone and then make the video. Not only is it the more civil thing to do - but it’s the smarter thing to do. This is a serious legal matter, not just internet drama. While I’m sure Dunn had no intention of tearing Parker down or getting a mob onto him, that’s unfortunately what’s happened. A backlash both from the general artisan community and several companies. Wherein it was left to Parker himself to make this an official legal matter. If Parker’s found not guilty, then this could easily leave the gate open for him to sue Dunn for damages, loss of revenue, defamation of character or whatever else, should he see fit. As could the publishers, given how this affected their sales. Companies responded to the accusation of the video alone, before an investigation could be launched. Sure, it wouldn't be “acting the bigger man” but he’d be well within his right to do it. Dunn showed that Jake has mentioned him before, shown admiration for his career and referenced him in other posts. If it comes to light in court, that Dunn is even cited as an inspiration or source in the book itself, then it’s case closed. 

Then there’s the other possibility that Parker might not have done this on his own, but that he has a team behind the book. If that’s the case, the most I can accuse Parker of is being a hack. I worry Dunn has kneecapped himself for just how badly he’s handled this situation. Made worse by him not having an actual physical copy to assess and just had footage of preview pages to go on. So far, the circumstances don’t seem on his favour. 

I don’t think ill of Dunn. I do think he believes he’s been wronged and no malice in his intentions. I just think he’s made some critical errors on how to handled this. As for Parker himself, I couldn't give a donkey’s doo-dah about him. I’m sure you could accuse me of playing devil’s advocate earlier, but to me, he was the guy who released the annual prompt list. If it really does turn out that he’s a plagiarist and had malicious intent, then fuck ‘im. I never regarded him as an inspiration of mine or paid much attention to him outside of that. It was the community that made Inktober what it is. I’ve never met Parker. Maybe he’s a cool guy? Maybe he’s a bellend? I don’t know.

Granted this isn't the first time Parker has proved himself to be a controversial figure: - Last year people were upset about him trademarking (not copywriting, as many have erroneously claimed) the word “Inktober” and some artists were stopped from selling their related work or zines. Parker would issue a statement: claiming the takedowns were a mistake of “overzealous lawyers” and it’s just a matter of the logo being trademarked. People can sell their Inktober works and even mention they are Inktober-related. Just not use the official logo. On the one hand, from a business standpoint, I get it. It’s the bare minimum you need to do to protect your IP, especially when you have a store. BUT, like most people, I don’t like how, what’s intended as a community challenge, has slowly become more of a brand associated with one man. Hardly a surprise it left a bad taste in so many people’s mouths. But, since it doesn't actually effect anyone’s ability to take part in the challenge, outside of personal principle, I went ahead with it the previous year. 

 - The year before, when asked if one can do Inktober digitally, Parker said the following:

I know some are still bitter about that, but speaking as someone who inks traditionally and digitally, this came across as needless whinging and blowing things out of proportion. Claiming that Jake had derided digital artists and said they were invalid etc etc. Take it from me, challenging yourself to try out different methods to ink traditionally can greatly improve the work you do digitally. It’s like how learning traditional fundamentals of art can still be applied to digital. Plus he never said “No.” he just gave valid reasons about how it makes it a different experience. That said, if you’re someone who can’t afford any kind of inking equipment or pens and only have a selected application to draw on - then none of this applies to you. Just the aforementioned few who took it upon themselves to get angry over nothing. Recently I’ve heard from subscribers of his newsletter that he’s now embraced the idea of people doing inktober digitally, to the point of selling digital brushes for inktober. I’m sure some will call this “backsliding” or “money grubbing” because people aren’t allowed to change their minds or update their statements.

For weeks I’ve been torn on what to do, not being able to solidify one stance over another. One minute I thought #JusticeForAlphonsoDunn then I wonder “Wait maybe I should look again?” to “But wait, those are way too similar!” Having splinters in my arse from sitting on the fence for so long. The longer this went on, however, I began to realise that I can’t take one stance over another. This case is far too muddy and complicated. I don’t have enough sufficient knowledge or evidence. Nor do any of you. We literally only have Dunn’s video to go on. While it’s a good start, it’s not enough to be taken 100% as gospel when it’s the only thing to hand. 

As previously mentioned, a lot of artists have decided to not take part in Inktober at all, or follow different prompt lists. That’s completely fine. A lot of them are based around a specific theme: halloween, kinky stuff, bears, transformers, OCs, Disney or whatever. That has massive appeal. I just can’d do it myself. I prefer the focus on random words, rather than all centred on a single subject; allowing me to be creative with my ideas and execution. I actually did try to make a list of my own random words. Problem is, I worried that because I was choosing my own, I might be subconsciously bias towards certain prompts and not truly challenging myself. Even narrowing down my options was taking too long. In the end…. I’ve decided to just do the official prompts again this year.

For me, that’s what it ultimately came down to. TIME. It’s the middle of September. I can’t afford to wait for the court case to be settled. No other prominent artists I respect have released their own prompt lists. I know there’s been some shitty people who are condemning this choice. Attacking others, accusing them of supporting plagiarism, looking to block anyone who does the official prompts. Even trying to make this a racial issue. Just…. no. 

If someone doesn’t want to take part in Inktober, that’s fine. If someone wants to do the official prompts, that’s fine. If someone wants to do their own prompts, that’s fine.

Don’t go around aggressively making snap judgements or accusing people of taking a side. Do whatever makes you feel comfortable. This has been a shit year, let people enjoy something.

If you look at this situation and it makes you feel angry, and you don’t feel comfortable in taking part in a challenge because of it’s creator. I get that, I literally get that. It’s why I haven't done Mermay. And please don’t mention Pinktober, I’m aware of it, but given his insta video on the subject and the things he said, I quickly came to the conclusion that I can’t take this person seriously. I’m sure this might make me seem hypocritical, but how this differs, if only for me, is the sheer amount Inktober means to me. It’s more than a simple challenge. Inktober's the one thing I’ve been most excited about all year. As it was ruined for me in 2019, when I lost my home and I didn't get to complete every prompt. (Long story, I’m okay now). As we all know, 2020, has been an AWFUL year. We’ve got to take whatever joy we can. As I’ve looked longer at the official prompts, I found ideas I’m really excited for. 

Once I started to really dedicate myself to it, it became a massive event. I hype myself up as I prepare for the busy month. Buy in supplies, clean the house and workspace, cook and freeze meals in bulk to save time, printing off a sheet that allows me to jot down ideas as I plan ahead.  Then once it’s done, after so much work, it makes the reward all the sweeter: Ordering a takeaway, celebrating a great halloween night and still rocking those vibes throughout November. Feeling proud of myself for doing it and seeing myself improve my technique, discipline and earning a few lie-ins to make up for the sleep I lost working. I’m like a kid waiting for Christmas. That said, don’t think that there’s something wrong with you when you understandably can’t dedicate that amount time for a simple art challenge. If anything that’s plenty of reason to why you’re smarter than me. You have a life and don’t push yourself too much.

Now, I need to crack on with the preparations. If you want to boycott Jake Parker, just not buying any of his products should be enough. Doing the inktober challenge doesn't bring attention to him, as I doubt most people even know him as the creator, nor does it even line his pockets. I just hate how cancel culture can do such serious damage like this and then try and put pressure on others to act accordingly without even doing any research themselves. 

As long as you’re not harassing anybody. Just do what YOU want to do. That’s fine. 

[onigiriico]

Osora Interview translation (pt.2)

(printed in AnimaniA 4/2018, p.58 - 61 / interview originally given in March 2018 at the Manga-Comic-Con in Leipzig, Germany)

( pt.1 )

The Internet offers Let’s Players, but also all kinds of artists an opportunity for very direct communication with their fans. However, this can also have its downsides when it comes to potentially negative feedback. How do you deal with this issue?

—Sometimes you just stumble across negative feedback that you didn’t want to see, and that can chip away at your motivation and creativity. I try to prevent that by not really looking at reactions in the first place, and when I do happen to see negative feedback, I try to forget about it again as soon as possible. Of course, when I start a new series, I’m curious about the readers’ reactions and go looking for feedback, but if eight out of ten comments are very positive and two are negative, I still tend to get stuck thinking about those two negative comments. There even was a time when that negative feedback made me feel too depressed to draw for a couple of days. But the more often this happens, the more you learn to deal with this criticism. I can stomach it pretty well by now, and I think it’s important to not let negative feedback get to you.

Did your experience regarding interactions with readers change much from Boku to Senpai no Tekken Kousai to The Ones WIthin?

—Digital publications receive a lot more feedback than series that are only released in print - be it via email or via Twitter. Twitter is the main source of comments. With Boku to Senpai no Tekken Kousai, there was much less of a response, and the feedback that we did get was usually in the form of letters. Since readers had to buy the magazine first and then go out of their way to send a letter, that was a lot more complicated. (T/N: i.e. it takes more time to write/send a whole letter than to just send a tweet)

How do you handle responding to messages from your readers? For example, do you set specific times for yourself to reply?

—Since I get the most reader interaction on Twitter, I try to answer questions and comments there when I find the time for it. I always do that myself because I want to respond to my fans in my own words. That doesn’t feel like extra work to me, but rather like a pleasant change of pace. Aside from my personal account, there’s also the official account for The Ones Within, which is mostly for promotional use. My editor retweets my tweets there and forwards any questions that get asked there to me.

Could you describe your usual daily routine when working on The Ones Within?

—I’m a night owl, so I usually get up rather late at around 10 am. After that, I basically work in two rounds. The first lasts the entire day and ends in the evening, around dinner time. Then I take a short break, and the second round starts at around 9 pm and ends at roughly 2 am. If I’m close to a deadline, I sometimes just continue drawing until I pass out. (lol) I never take much time to eat at that point, either.

What advantages are there to drawing digitally in comparison to drawing traditionally?

—Oh, there’s a lot - especially how easy it is to make corrections and adjustments. Your work space is neater and other people can’t stare as easily at what you’re drawing. There’s no need to erase sketches or apply screentones by hand (T/N: see here how screentones are applied traditionally, it’s definitely faster digitally lol), so there’s not as many work steps either and you can finish your work even on your own [without assistants]. And since it’s all data anyway, it’s easy to save as well.

Do you have any advice for artists who are just starting to work digitally?

—Practice makes perfect! I used to have a private page online where I more or less kept a drawing diary, all about original characters. I still kind of do the same thing on Twitter nowadays. It’s important to keep at it and actually draw on a daily basis, that way you’ll get used to it. There’s also live streams from artists on Pixiv and Twitter - it’s helpful to watch those and adapt parts of their progress for your own work.

You’ve shown us a picture of one of your notebooks that you use to jot down your ideas - where do you usually come up with these? (*picture under the cut at the bottom of the post)

—There’s two main places where I tend to draw spontaneously. For one, on the train - usually after meetings with my editor. I can best sort out my thoughts right after those meetings and save some first ideas. Secondly, in bed, right before going to sleep. Ideas flow really easily when you’re sleepy and letting your thoughts wander. Also, I’d feel like I’m wasting my time if I did nothing and just waited to fall asleep, so instead I imagine as many scenarios as possible and jot down the best ones. When I come up with something I especially like, I might also get up again and draw it digitally right away. (lol) I don’t take my notebooks with me everywhere I go, though.

Both Boku to Senpai no Tekken Kousai and The Ones Within combine dark, mysterious elements with more comedic ones. How do you find a balance between these two aspects, and what do you like so much about combining these opposites?

—I like both comedy and serious plots, so I wanted to draw both - in the end, I combined the two without really thinking much about it. I usually just let this come to me naturally while I’m drawing too, although I do keep the timing in mind. For example, it wouldn’t be appropriate to make a joke in the middle of a sad or serious scene, and vice versa. So, I take care not to destroy the atmosphere that I’m trying to convey [in each given scene].

Personally, which character from The Ones Within is your favorite?

—I can’t really “rank” my characters because I love them all! Going by who’s the easiest to draw, it would be Anya. He’s a pretty straight-forward type, so he’s easy to understand. He’s also the only one who looks angry a lot of the time and has eye bags… and his accessories, like the helmet, his iron bar or the chewing gum - they make him stand out and thus easy to draw.

Do you already have an ending planned for The Ones Within or do you still have a few options to choose from?

—The ending is already planned out!

Do you maybe already have a new project in the works that you would like to tell us about?

—For now, I’m just really happy that The Ones Within is getting an anime adaptation and I can finally talk about it, now that it’s getting officially announced this May! I can’t wait to see my characters animated on the screen!

A final word to your fans?

—Thank you so much for reading my manga! There are so many Japanese manga series out there, and I’m really happy that you chose to read mine out of all of them. The Ones Within is getting an anime adaptation, and of course the manga is still ongoing as well, so I hope you will stick around and enjoy it until the end. Thank you!

Osora-sensei, thank you very much for the interview!

I tried to decipher these but the picture was too small to read much sadly agdjsdvhs

The bigger page seems to be some Kudou bros goodness? They seem to be talking about Shinya having Kenya's piercings (and maybe about Anya getting piercings as well, considering his very resolute "I don't want to." lol) and they're also mentioning ramen at some point from what I can decipher

And the bottom right looks like some kind of character relationship chart / worldbuilding notes,,,

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #411

“everybody’s got loaded stories, and i know for a fact everybody sees a bullseye on my back”

Have you ever been to jail? No. Opinion on snow? I absolutely love it! Not big on the slush it leaves behind, though. It gets ugly. What are you best at drawing? Meerkats. Are you scared of going over bridges? Nah. If you had endless energy and stamina, how would you spend your days? Plenty of exercise, lots of exploration with my camera, doing chores much more regularly... stuff like that. What mental or physical space do you go when you want to recharge or relax? I go to my room and watch YouTube. Did you have/use a comfort object as a child (do you continue to have one)? I actually don't remember. Now as an adult, if I go somewhere, my purse is actually like my comfort item in that I like to sit and sort of hug it to feel more secure. When was the last time you said something you regret? What did you say? I'm unsure. What do you tend to get carried away with? New hobbies/interests. It will be like all I care about for a long while, ha ha. Do you believe we have souls; do you believe in a life after death? Yes to both. Do you still talk to the person you last made out with? No. Have you ever seen your best friend cry? Ugh, yes, and it's the absolute worst. What kind of vitamins did you take as a kid? We had those Flintstones ones for a while, but for most of my childhood, we had gummy vitamins. Have you ever gone to court? Well, yes, but not for like your ordinary court hearing. While hospitalized on one occasion, a lawyer visited to speak to the patients informing us that we could argue against our discharge dates if we believed we were going to be committed for too long, which I thought I was, so I signed up to bring my case in front of a judge. So yeah, I've been to court, but not for ordinary reasons. Are you friends with your neighbors? "Friends," no. The people to our left like just moved out, and I don't even know if we've ever been outside at the same time as the family on our right. Favorite color? I like baby pink. How long has it been since you’ve seen The Lion King? I saw the CGI remake when it came out, if that counts? I don't know about the original. When did you last hold hands with someone? Sometime when I was at my sister's house, my niece grabbed my hand to drag me somewhere, ha ha. Have you ever had a crush on your sibling's friend? No. Have you ever gone to a beach? Multiple times. How good is your eyesight? It is very, VERY bad. I need new glasses severely. What’s the best wedding you’ve been to? My former dance teacher's. Have you ever had a negative encounter with the police? What happened? No. What’s your favourite thing to cook/bake? Do you eat it often? I don't do either. How do you flush the toilet in public? I generally use my elbow. I don't like standing on one leg, so I don't really use my foot like I'd prefer. Favorite horror movie? Silent Hill is dearest to me overall just because of what it is, but as a horror film, I think the original Blair Witch Project is best. Do you have your wisdom teeth? X-rays have only ever shown two are present, but I have enough space for those. What would you name your pet snake if you had one? It would depend on their appearance. The snake I have currently is named Venus because her coloration is similar to the planet. Do you like peanuts? Only when covered in chocolate. Where do you typically shop for bras and underwear? Do you tend to keep it simple, or have a variety of different items? Have you ever gotten a professional bra fitting? I don't get new undergarments (or clothes in general) frequently, but historically, my bras are bought online and underwear just from Wal-Mart. I don't really get the second question? I mean I don't have a style when it comes to those types of clothes, if that's what you mean. I've never had an actual bra-fitting, but I absolutely need to but keep putting it off. It seems like NO bra fits me properly all-around, and it's ridiculously annoying. What (if any) types of xrays/scans/other diagnostic tests have you had done? Was anything found? Idk man, a lot. I've had xrays on my wrist (found a fracture), teeth, legs... maybe more? I've also had an ultrasound on my liver for reasons I don't recall. I either had an MRI or CT scan (I can't remember which) when I got a concussion, and uhhhh... I can't think of anything else. Were you breast or bottle fed as a child? If you plan to have children, which do you think you’ll choose? Do you think one is really better than the other? I was nursed, and if I hypothetically had children, I'd definitely try to do the same. It was so incredible to me that I've never forgotten this: when I was at the hospital while my sister had her first baby, there was a chart on the wall of how many more nutrients were in breast milk versus formula milk, and the list was GARGANTUAN. Like, unbelievable. Now, do I think it's BETTER? That's a complicated question for which, in short, my answer is no. More nutritious, well, given what I just said, obviously. But breastfeeding just doesn't work for all mothers for a plethora of reasons, like the time demand, they can be self-conscious, it's painful... and all those things are okay. A mother should do what works best for her. Neither one is "wrong" or makes someone less of a mother because they feed their child less traditionally. Do you find that you have become more selective in terms of friendships as you’ve gotten older? Did the friendships you thought would last over time end up that way? Absolutely. There are just some kinds of people I absolutely do not tolerate anymore. And no, not most. We just drifted apart with time, or given most of my closest friendships are/were online, they just fell off the face of the earth. What are you doing right now? This and re-watching John Wolfe play Bloodborne. Bloodborne is such a comfort series to me... somehow, ha ha. Yet another game I've never played but desperately want to. Where are you? In my bedroom, as always. When you get yelled at, do you yell back or let it go? Depending on who it is, I might yell back, but most likely cry, ha ha. I hate being yelled at, like a lot. Is the person you last texted single? That would be my mom, so yeah. I've hoped she'd find a partner forever... She, probably more than anyone I know, deserves love from the *right* guy. I worry a lot how lonely she may become whenever I move out. Are you easily scared by horror movies? Not at all. Are you friends with any of your ex boyfriend/girlfriends? Girt and Sara, yes. Are you lonely? Be honest. Very. What has made you happy today? It's too early for this. What has made you sad today? Nothing, really. Last thing eaten? I had leftover pancakes from yesterday. Are you wearing anything that’s not yours? No. Do you like to wear makeup? I mean it makes me feel prettier, sure, but the actual time investment doesn't feel worth it for me personally. Especially when you're not even that good with applying it. Have you ever attempted to write a story or novel? Many times when I was younger. Would you rather have perfect hair or perfect skin? Perfect skin. I hate my skin, it has so many blemishes. What’s your middle name? Marie. How big is your bed? Queen. Do you drink? Only a bit for special occasions, really. I'll have a daiquiri on your average day every once and a blue moon. Would you fall apart if that last person you kissed walked out of your life? That's an understatement. Do you prefer pasta, salad, or coleslaw? Pasta. I hate coleslaw. Do you find smoking unattractive? Yes. Where’s the last place you went besides your house? The TMS office. Do you eat breakfast daily? Yes. Who were you with the last time you went to the movie theater? My dad. Do you like your cell phone? No, but it gets the job done. I just wish I had a phone with a good camera. Has anyone ever sang to you? Yes. So, what if you married the last person you kissed? That's the dream, but I acknowledge and accept it just might not work out like that. Do you usually answer your texts? Almost always. Have you ever changed clothes in a vehicle? Yes. Who has seen you cry the most? My mom, for sure. Have you ever just laid down outside and stared at the stars? Yeah, Jason and I did that one night on the trampoline. Have your friends ever randomly stopped by your house? In the past, yes. Think to the last person you kissed; have you ever kissed them on the ground? No. Do you have a condom in your room? No, got no use for one. Do your siblings ever pay for stuff for you? Yes. What brand is your digital camera? Canon. Do you own expensive perfume/cologne? No; I really don't get the point. When was the last time you went tanning? Ew, never. I find NO appeal in just lying in the boiling sun. Do you like the smell of fresh cut grass? No, I hate it. Do you get embarrassed easily? Like you would not fucking believe. It's one of the things I hate most about myself, because I'm embarrassed about everything I like and what makes me me. Has anyone ever thrown you a surprise party? No. Do you always wear your seatbelt? Absolutely. You couldn't pay me not to. Do you sing in the shower? No. Have you ever been called a slut/whore/something along those lines? Only playfully among friends. Have you ever stood up for someone you hardly/didn't even know? Yes. Have you ever fallen in love with a really good friend of yours? Yes. Do you own a blacklight? No. Do you like fruit better than vegetables? Definitely. Have your friends met the last person you kissed? Of my current friends, only Girt has. If you’re straight, have you ever thought about kissing the same sex? If you’re gay, have you ever thought about kissing the opposite sex? I'm bisexual, soooo. What does your laugh sound like? Do you have a loud laugh or a quiet laugh? Bro my laugh is so fucking loud and obnoxious. Is there a reality TV show you would consider taking part in? No.

[mcrmadness]

I know I am constantly talking about this but I won’t stop before I get answers, which means I’m probably gonna talk about this forever: arts and especially being an artist on social media platforms. And how it sucks.

I don’t understand what I should do to feel seen at this point? If I draw something fandom related, mainly the people within that fandom will react to the art but not others, and still that is very little amount of people. If I draw something completely original, NO ONE reacts to that and I don’t understand why. And it’s not just me but so many others too.

I still cannot understand why comics and cartoony styles are so much less appreciated and liked than photorealism. It’s not actually any easier really. Just last night I spent a couple of hours on my sofa drawing panels for 3 upcoming comics, that was just 3 A4 papers but it still took me a couple of hours to do. Because I draw traditionally and I draw everything, including the lines, myself. I’m not getting any help from computers even if I could. I’m getting better and better at that and finding things that work for me the more I do this but still, drawing comics is not as easy as it might look like. Before I maybe just grabbed a pen and started drawing but that never actually led me to anywhere because I had no plot. So I have tons of old comics here that I started but never ever finished. Then I figured I have to start writing plots first and that way I could also finish something finally. 

^This is what it takes to prepare and do a base for a comic. There’s three pages with the panels’ edges sketched. I use rulers to measure how big areas I want there to be around the panels and then measure and count (which I’m really bad at) how long and tall each panel will be. Before I struggled a lot with getting the lines to be at the same distance from both ends but lately I’ve found myself a way to do that, and it’s relatively quick to do now too.

^Here I have written down the digits from the ruler to know where to draw the little dots that I know to follow with the ruler when I do the lines of the panels. Normally I do just one comic at a time but this time I was feeling like doing all 3 upcoming comics’ lines at one go cos that’s always the most annoying part and after that I don’t need to worry about that anymore (until the next comic idea happens) and I can just focus on the fun part: drawing the stuff inside those panels.

Nowadays I do a whole lot of planning before I get to working, too. Usually just the planning takes about 4-5 pages from my bigger sketchbook and I will write down alternative stuff as I go if I can’t decide over something or am not sure if it’s going to work. Sometimes I write the same dialog a few times because something isn’t working or I can’t fit them into the amount of panels I need, or because there’s not enough activity in the panels and need to discard some parts of the dialog. I usually see my comics in the form of video in my head that I then have to convert into still images, from there I then start to build the pages and try to make all them to match.

I do storyboards in both stick figures, sometimes more than once, as well as in quick sketches. I will plan carefully how many panels I need so that I know how many papers I need and which way I can fit all the panels in the paper(s). That often means either adding or dropping panels to avoid having too much empty space on a page - something I didn’t do before, I just drew the panels somewhere and never really stopped to think about the aesthetics of the comic itself.

^This is an example of my latest comic and how do I do the page planning. I couldn’t fit the events into 3 panels. Originally it was going to be like a comic strip but it was too long for that so I ended up doing a full page (A4) with 4 panels instead. I found this is a working method for me: to draw the paper and see how the “panels” would look like on that. I drew these along with the stick figures and I will often write numbers into the panels to know which part of the dialog/event happens in which panel.

When the actual drawing process starts, I still actively use my sketchbooks (I have two) to practice something I’m not sure how to draw and I will also use reference photos for that. I will also try out things if I only have a shady image in my head and need to see how it really looks like so I might e.g. draw a similar posture a few different ways to see which one of those matches the one in my imagination the best. I will also test colors, layering, blending, shading and all that jazz as well.

^And this is what some of those “studies” look like, these are to the previous comic as well. I usually am not entirely sure what I want until I see it on the paper as sometimes the images in my head are not as vivid and bright as I would want them to be and something might look good there but terrible and wrong on the paper instead. Here I struggled with the coloring because as you can see, I know how to do the proper “night shading” in black and white but it was very tricky to do in color!

So that’s just a quick look at how I do my comics and it really is not that I just grab a fineliners (anymore) and draw and that’s it. There’s pages and pages of careful planning and testing in my sketchbooks, there’s lots of measuring and losing my mind during the measuring-the-lines-for-the-panels part... I sketch the stuff to the panels often two times with pencils, first with just human shaped figures to see the overall pictures and then turning them into characters and adding all the details. After that I move onto the finelining, erase pencil marks and start coloring and doing shadows. When all that is done, I will do the finelining one more time so that the lines are actually black and not faded under the colored pencils.

In the end I do this all basically for myself but I also want to draw “to other people”. No one’s paying me anything so my only payment is to see or hear other people reacting to it. The biggest reward ever that I can get is to hear “that made me laugh!” because that’s why I draw comics. I want to make people laugh. And it isn’t working if no one looks at them, and when no one tells me why no one looks at them. Or at least people don’t let me know they have looked at it, they don’t let me know what they think of them so I am just left with the assumption that people don’t like my art at all and that it’s not worth commenting.

It’s incredibly dishearthening. It feels the same as when a child does something and goes to show them to their parent and the parent is just “yeah whatever”. Or when you are a teen come up with and show or tell it to your friends and everyone is like “I don’t care”. You might have the passion there but slowly it starts to die because you have the need for sharing but everyone is only caring about themselves and not other people anymore. It’s really sad actually.

[skidar]

Disney announces a ‘live action’ (hyper-realistic CGI animation) remake of Bambi

I’m sure most of the world is tired of the Disney remakes and sequels that have been plaguing the box offices as of recent years. With all the stories of the world that have yet to be told, Disney is opting to stay in the illusionary ‘safe lane’ and continue the hash out the same products it already knows will sell instead of trying to cobble together an original feature. It’s hard to believe that the animation company that backs amazing original tv show ideas like Gravity Falls, The Owl House and Amphibia cannot fathom how to make an original animated movie. Is Disney actually scared of risk? It shouldn’t be! Disney is literally too big. A massive media monopoly that could literally make flop after flop in the box office over and over in experimentation and not fail. So many indie studios do NOT have that luxury and yet still take crazy risks to tell us new stories in new ways. Disney used to be the animation pioneers but recently the only thing Disney seems to create are re-hashes of its classics that fall all too short. Disney is focusing on the visual realism in its films while seemingly ignoring the heart and soul that made the originals so successful. The most recent and best example was The Lion King remake. While the films boasts near-flawlessly realistic animals, their stoic expressions and restricted movement made them unappealing. The movie copied dialogue from the original word-for-word and nearly shot for shot but the focus on the realism cut the character’s charm completely out. The ‘I Just Can’t Wait To Be King’ number lost all its stylistic qualities that made the song bright and colorful and the character’s lip-syncing to the songs was emotionless and stale. The characters also no long moved with expressive freedom. Are they happy? Sad? Overjoyed? We wouldn’t know. The Lion King remake was devastatingly disappointing. A realistic skin stretched over the bones of a far better film while letting no charm or heart escape the cold, hyper realistic faces.

Surely Disney would realize the mistake and stop. Right? Surely they could dig around their submissions box and try to make something new with the skills they obviously have without resulting to re-hashing it’s already successful classics. Right? 

Wrong.

Disney now has Bambi on its chopping block of remakes and plans to do to it what it’s done to The Lion King. Virtually gut it.

Bambi cannot be remade successfully as a hyper realistic film today. You could tell the story, yes, based off the original book, Bambi: A Life in The Woods by Felix Salton, but it would not be the visual masterpiece of the original. Let me explain:

Bambi was the 5th animated feature by Walt Disney but it was MEANT to be one of the first. Walt wanted to make Bambi from the beginning but he wanted to make it ‘right.’ He wanted to stray away from the ‘toony’ simplified animals of Snow White and Pinocchio and instead focus on realism, anatomy and expression. He brought live animals into the studios and worked with animal artists to develop a healthy balance of realistic anatomy and exaggerated features. Ie: Bambi’s large forehead and eyes symbolized that of a toddler as a young deer. 

Bambi also pioneered new ways of technology, the early pan-shot of the forest in the beginning of the movie was made by painting trees on long panes of glass and then stacking the glass vertically and sliding the panes around to show depth. By sliding the camera on a track from left to right, the viewer was transported through a ‘3D’ forest that moved and shifted with them. Bambi also brought about the study of the art of water physics for the ‘Little April Shower’ scene. By filming and photographing drops of milk, the animators learned how to draw the intricate patterns of a splashing drop of water on a leaf or in a puddle. 

Speaking of animators, Bambi employed at least four of Walt Disney’s ‘Nine Old Men’ some of the most well-known character animators in history: Milt Kahl, Frank Johnson, Ollie Thomas and Marc Davis.  The iconic movements of Bambi and the other animals would not have been possible with them, but the biggest artistic influencer of Bambi was a young Chinese-American man name Tyrus Wong. Tyrus Wong had been an inbetweener animator on Pinocchio but expressed interest in Bambi by privately submitting some sketches to Walt. He was hired and became the lead production illustrator of the film. Tyrus Wong’s beautiful watercolor backgrounds were soft and simple, setting a film steeped in nostalgia, innocence and beauty of the natural world. Without Tyrus Wong, the film would have been completely different. 

Bambi was also the first Walt Disney film to recognize a woman in its screen credits. Traditionally, women often worked in the Disney Ink and Paint department coloring cels. Retta Scott was a storyboard artist that worked mostly on scenes with Bambi and his mother, but became well known for her savage hunting dogs sketches that caught the eye of Walt Disney during production. Many men were shocked at the ferocity of her dogs because ‘she was a women and shouldn’t have been able to draw something so vicious,’ but she became the lead animator for the hunting dogs that chased Faline during Man’s hunt. She was tutored by another member of the Nine Old Men, Eric Larson. Retta Scott’s continued yet under-appreciated success opened doors for many women in the animation industry.

Bambi was a film of massive risks and little payoff. It challenged style, it pushed animators to their limits, it experimented in technology, color and technique. It opened doors for marginalized people that usually had doors slammed in their face. It received backlash for its violence and the anguish of loss and its questionable suitability for children. Bambi broke boundaries… but wasn’t much a success until it’s future re-releases. 

Bringing us back to the present. Disney announces a Bambi remake similar to the failed ‘Lion King.’ There will be no luscious backgrounds of Tyrus Wong. There will be no jaunty gaited fawns crafted by the masterful Nine Old Men. There will be no ferocious hounds carved by the hand of Retta Scott to make a path for women. There will be a story of a deer in the woods. A ‘real deer’ in ‘real woods.’ It will be hollow and lifeless. It will be eye-candy at best, but it will not be better than the original. The original is a true masterpiece. It is not something that needs to be redone or retold. Bambi was a risk, a risk that didn’t pay off in the beginning but today it is a marvel. A true testament of art and love of the craft and it cannot be replaced. Disney should not remake Bambi, they should learn from it, they should learn that they are big enough to take risks and they can. They should learn to give marginalized creators a chance to shine because they have something amazing to share. They need to let go, move on, and embrace the fear of the untold story. I hope that in the years to come, the age of remakes and sequels will stop and we can look forward to a new era of wonderful stories that get to be told for the first time in animation.

--

Bambi is my favorite movie in the world. I have seen it well into the hundreds if not quad digits. I watch it when I’m happy, I watch it when I’m devastated. I watch it when I’m sick and I watch it when I wake up from a nightmare and can’t fall back asleep. Bambi is what made me want to become an artist and I have a lot of personal feelings about the movie as a work of art. I’m not looking forward to the remake, I can only hope and hope and hope that Disney learned from the Lion King and won’t make the same mistakes again. Until then, we just have to wait...

[shannonmora]

Back at it again with another diary post! I had to force myself to stop typing last night lol my brain is always poppin off.

Today I want to talk about the three short stories I’m working on that I will be writing for Camp NaNoWriMo next month. My current goal is 30K words since scripting a comic uses way less words than a novel. I hope this will force me to expand every idea as much as possible. I have a bad habit of getting stuck at a part and just writing down something vague. Even as I’m drafting Ghost Story there are parts I haven’t fleshed out. Again, it’s a bit of a procrastination tactic of mine to go back and try to fill in those gaps but for now I’ll let them be. Since it’s the first pass of the first draft find it important to just shit out as much as I can handle. Even if it’s a flimsy finish, at least I have the story figured out for the first part.

Okay, on to the first story. I’ve actually drawn the characters in a recent illustration. I’m still not 100% sure what to call it, but for now I call it “To Say ‘I Love You.’” It features a catboy and doggirl, a completely visual metaphor lol, kinda like how Loveless gives virgins cat ears. Instead of virginity it’s more of a personality signifier. I tried to draw this comic last year and I even got kinda far (I think the early pages are really good and I hope to still use them). I didn’t like how I was presenting the story after a while though, so I am trying to iron it out. 

I placed a lot of my feelings of love and relationships on to the Catboy. I once saw the question “Is it easier to love or be loved?” and I was caught of guard. I had only ever seen people talk about how self love is so hard for them, that they can hate themselves and love so much unconditionally. I didn’t even know how it could be possible to be the reverse, to take other people’s affections so easily but have trouble loving back. But now I know I fit into that category all to well. And it sounds cruel. But ultimately it’s just my personality. Finding someone you can confide in completely about your feelings can be very difficult. People don’t always expect someone being hesitant to love you back. I hope this story works without getting too long or boring, haha. It’s hard to show character’s personalities and relationship in just a few pages.

The next story is one slightly based off an ink drawing I did in 2019 of a cool satyr boy finding a black kitten in the rain. I love fantasy settings but I’m not very good at worldbuilding, haha. So I’m hoping setting short stories in this little universe will help me develop it. I’m a little hesitant to talk more about it because I don’t want to give away the theme and story, but it’s a story I hope will touch people! I think the romance part is rather straight forward, but it ties into a deeper idea of finding where you belong. I’ve yet to think of a good name for it, knowing me I’ll rip it from a song lyric.

The last story has roots in a much older project that I decided to scrape: Dreamscape. The original was supposed to be a fantasy epic of a girl who creates a fantasy world in order to escape her life. I didn’t really develop it very far and it’s just been at the back of my head for a long time. I figured I have too many fantasy epics I want to do so I took the basic idea and spun it into a shorter story. I love the idea of fantasy as escapism but also as a reflection of our problems. I’m rushing getting this story out since I have just had it sitting in the back of my head for about a year. Even as I type this I can feel the ideas coming!

I don’t when I’ll be able to actually DRAW these stories. I much prefer drawing on paper when it comes to inking, though I know my drafting skills aren’t the best. I really want to make the most of what I know and to use both digital and traditional techniques. My plan would be to make the drafts digitally then print them and ink traditionally. I also want to create 3d environments to help me with backgrounds, something that is a HUGE pain for me. 

April begins tomorrow, which means social media will be nothing but “friendly reminder to not post triggering content uwu” and literally nothing fun. I have work tomorrow so I’ll do my best to have my 1k out before work. I also REALLY need to finish outlining Dreamscape, seeing as it’s not even half done yet. Oh god...

[luupetitek]

I did the thing! Lately a lot of artists post their 10 years of art progress meme, to celebrate that we're starting a new decade. I liked the idea, so I made my own \(*´▽`*)/ 10 years! Who could have thought! My art journey is of course longer, but those are probably my most intense art years x3

More about my art journey under the cut!

2006/2007 was the moment I discovered manga and anime and after joining the fandom, I started writing fanfics and slowly drawing more often. I was inspired by all the stories I could watch and read and by all those cool characters. I also get to know more people who also liked to draw. My first love was InuYasha, and right after was Death Note, which you can see even here ;)  I joined my first art community, deviantART, in 2008. Thinking about making my own manga, but I've never drew any page, staying on the first stage of planning everything.

In 2010 I was still drawing. Drawing even more. All the time! Usually on my lessons :v As you can see, I drew mostly traditional, usually fast pencil sketches, or more fancy, inked and color pencil ones :v But that was the year I got my first graphic tablet! It was terrible, but I was happy I could finally draw digitally... with Paint x'DDD oh my good, yes. My first graphic program was window's PAINT. Still it was fun! But, as you can imagine, my works weren't too good quality (you can see them in the scraps, lol), and i didn't have many tools to work with. So I stayed with my fancy Faber-Castell Polychromos color pencils 😎 I was no longer writing fanfics. Nonetheless, I didnt stop writing at all, I started chat rpgs with my friend! Beginning with Death Note characters.

2011 was the year I started thinking about my art carrier even more seriously. Taking some private and class art lessons. Not for too long, but I was introduced to other art styles, mostly realism. Still practising digital art and my own art style too. I also started doing commissions this year!

2012 I changed my high school for a school with an art class :D I also started taking some private lessons from a skilled artist, who could teach me not only traditional, but also digital art and liked manga too. I think that's the year I made my biggest and probably mostly visible art progress. I was drawing ALL THE TIME. I was no longer using Paint, but Paint ToolSAI and then Photoshop. I got a Wacom Bamboo tablet (which I still have and use up to this days). But what's even more important: I was not only drawing, but also observing. I was looking at photos, at people around me. Noticing how their bodies move, how do they look like, how their body parts and their clothes look like. Drawing from references and from the world around me, sitting in a subway and drawing people sitting next to me. I was learning the anatomy, shapes, gestures, shading. I LOOOOOVED sketching and making full pencil pictures! And still, even though I don't draw traditionally anymore, sketching is my most favourite part form the whole drawing process cx Oh! And that's the year I started to play on a rpg forum with a ttly original story and when Drill was made! ♥ My first true original character, that I'm proud of and that I still love~

2013 was busy with my preparations to get to the art university! I still drew a lot, mostly the rpg characters and some practice sketches, but now also big format pencil and paint pictures for my portfolio. I felt in love with aquarelles 😍 and was practising them together with pencil sketches and digital art. I also did my first, short animations : > And did a project with the whole movie clip for the Disney's song "I'll make a man out of you"! I had a lot of fun AND I GOT ACCEPTED INTO MY DREAM COLLAGE!!! ＼(≧▽≦)／ Like, seriously, it was my goal since my middle school, when I first saw their ad in a subway, lol

2014 More art! More digital! More aquarelles! More OCs! Generally the only thing I was drawing that time was rpg characters and uni projects xD Started experimenting more, connecting traditional art with digital art

2015 Same, just drawing those OC's in many ways and having fun~ RPing a lot and... OH! Is that? Yes it IS! It's RAVENIA! It's the year when Vasdorl was born ٩(♡ε♡)۶And my love for drow ofc!! I was introduced to DnD and fantasy and there was no going back from that path. I joined the drow community on tumblr and discord to meet more people with the same interests.

2016 IT'S RAVENIA!!!!! And the real start of the drow era! That's also the year when "Vicous Vasdorl" comic started! And when I began working on my BIG "Escaping the Underdark" game project, as my final uni project ♥ I came back to doing commissions and developed my comic "simple style"

2017 More drow! More Ravenia! More Vasdorl! And of course MORE OF MY GAME, that was taking most of my time as I already was too late with it. It was such a big project for just a one person and I had to take a one more semester to work on it. Drawing all days and all nights. Generally I was just waking up, working and going to sleep and that was my life back then. That was also the moment I learned how to do good digital sketches, as I was drawing A LOT. Especially while working on my animations. (Drawing them traditionally just to remake them digitally was too much time-consuming. So I completely stopped doing it. I was abandoning my pencil, and replacing it fully with tablet pen). AND I DID IT!!! I graduated with the highest grade possible and I finished my game! \(^ヮ^)/ I started doing plushies and chibis and went more into doing commissions.

What about those last 2018 and 2019 years? I guess you know them well. I had more problems so I stopped doing my comic and focused on doing commissions. Doing commissions and from time to time drawing our dear Ravenia characters but I didn't stop in my journey here. Working on comms was a perfect way to experiment more and go out of my comfort zone! Drawing many different things, many different characters and of course backgrounds! Which I always hated doing and now I don't have anything against. Experimenting with light and perspective. Mastering my skills and my anatomy knowledge. Making art trades and gifts. Having fun with you on streams x> Just trying to push myself a little bit more foreword and learn something new with every picture~

Woha, that's a really long description xD' But for the TLDR people: It was a long journey! But I'm very proud of it! Starting from manga and anime, with traditional works and doing mostly fanarts. And slowly going to digital fantasy, not using any traditional techniques anymore, to draw my and my friend's OCs. I spent most of my life on making art, 12 years on deviantArt, 5 years on being here and sharing it with you and 10 years on learning as much as I can. Still learning and trying to improve even more!

Thank you for being with me through that time ( ˘⌣˘)♡(˘⌣˘ ) And hopefully we will be able to continue it through the next 10 years! Let's see what the future holds ;) ____________________________________ You can find me on: (@Luupetitek) Deviantart | ArtStation | Mixer | Ko-Fi donations