#i did the thing where people redraw cat photos

[leisi-lilacdreams]

lil artist

[galesgremlingrotto]

THIS

I've had to duct tape the binding of my sketchbook back together because it's falling apart and yet only half full.

A few pages are warped because I painted with watercolors on them

Even though my sketchbook is not meant for paint.

I've doodled on the page edges. Some pages are full of hand written notes versus art. Some have half of a shitty little sketch that I abandoned and never did anything else with that page. There are smudges all over the front pages and the pages with darker doodles because the graphite moves around. You can tell exactly where I'm at in that book because the pages I've drawn on have darker edges from my hands smudging graphite and oils on them while the other ones are clean.

Sketchbooks are MESSY, and for SKETCHES.

Sketches Shouldn't Be Perfect. They're not meant to be masterpieces.

I'll bet you also there's something to be said about the age of media and for every one of those "perfect beautiful full and colorful" sketchbook spreads there's at LEAST 10 pages that aren't half as pretty.

Also people use sticky notes all the time in their sketchbooks and people are like "omg it's so aesthetic"

THEY'RE TO FIX MISTAKES

It's like

One of the most famous sketchbook techniques to go over a mistake with a sticky note and redraw it so you don't ruin the page with erasing, or if you're using a medium like pen or marker where you can't erase.

Gestures vaguely at editing and video creation being skills and artistic mediums of their own.

All of this ALSO applies to digital art.

Sure, you have a lot more tools to fix mistakes or edit things with digital

But it is OKAY to have sketches you'll never finish

To draw half of something and realize you don't like it and abandon it

Hell I have several canvases labeled various kinds of "doodles" where I didn't draw anything serious.

I make memes all the time. It's one of my favorite things to do. I'll draw tiny short comics about my life experiences in my sketchbook or on my ipad or computer.

All of this is to say

MAKE BAD ART!!!

MAKE ART THAT LOOKS LIKE SHIT!

Make art for the sake of making art.

A cat you doodled on the edge of your homework is art, and you should absolutely doodle that kind of thing even if it's not as perfect as all the people doodling eyes or anime all over their notes.

I will continue to say this until the end of time, because it's important to me, and I think people will always need to hear it, especially in the current political climate with AI and poor job conditions ruining art for so many people.

MAKE ART TO MAKE ART! FOR THE SAKE OF MAKING ART! BECAUSE IT BRINGS YOU JOY AND IT'S FUN!

You don't have to make art for others. You don't have to make good art. Your art doesn't have to be perfect and pretty. All art is good art because you made it! You made something! A person! With a brain and a will to create!

You had an idea, and you used the tools available to you. A pencil and a piece of paper, or a mouse and mspaint. Long as you put down every stroke of whatever tool you used, and didn't ask some photo masher generator to do it for you, you made something. Maybe your tool is a camera, or a sewing needle. Maybe an instrument or a crochet hook. You're making something. Who cares if it's bad. Who cares if you made a mistake? You made something. Learning is human. Mistakes are human. Desire and will are human, and all these together make artists.

Please. For the sake of all the artists before you, and all the artists after. For your friends who hear your words and see your creations. For the random folks on the internet that you don't know but are still touched by the things you've made.

Keep creating. Even if you make the same thing a thousand times. It's yours, and that's incredibly important.

i don't like to yuck people's yum but i have to say that my least favorite thing to come from the current state of Artists on the Internet is the idea of a sketchbook as something nice and pretty and shareable. like i love me a notebook full of gorgeous art don't get me wrong but that is NOT what a sketchbook is. a sketchbook is my friend who i carry around everywhere like a purse chihuahua. it is the physical manifestation of my notes app. it is the container into which i wring my brain out. it is my therapist. and most of all it is filled with absolutely terrible sketches that should never see the light of day.

[kryptsune]

Kit’s OC Time {Part 2}

🌼So I got this wonderful ask from @chocolatetwix and I got super excited. There is a lot here so I just decided to make a huge post about it. That and I can save it and work on it too so that’s a bonus. You can’t really do that with asks. This will be in a couple different parts so that it’s not too overwhelming!

Let’s continue! 

Costume/ CC: Back in my DA days I used to draw a lot of animals and I had a fursona as well. Now I am not sure if I am going to keep her or not but I do actually still like her design. I might just tweak it a tad.

I have an incredible piece of artwork from Nukerooster of her and I just need to share. Go check them out as well (>>>LINK HERE<<<) 

Akuma: Another fluffy boy but I have this OC named Akuma, original... I know. He will most likely make an appearance in my Hell world once I re work him a bit. Basically he was a demon that caused a lot of Chaos and havoc but messed with the wrong village. Mid transformation he got a blessed sword rammed through his chest keeping him that way until the sword is released. It also perpetually bleeds, never heals, and drains his power. Poor demon baby boy. Also I realize that he is old... but like... I still love his design if that is even possible. He used to be red in color which I will post and then I redrew him a few years ago to see how he would look more current. Now he is teal ish. 

Nuke also did this incredible one of Akuma. 

Because of my major I sometimes randomly come up with cute RPG character designs and I really wanted to do one of little monster animals. I created this little guy during one of my classes. 

Spip: He is a little vampire ghost bunny. The cross shaped vile around his neck is filled with his HP restore (Blood) If you have a lot the vial will be full but if you don’t have enough it will deplete over time. Poor little Spip just wants to be friends with people but because of what he is they run away. He is kind of my homage to Bunicula if anyone remembers that book. I have ideas for his little buddies too like a Frankenstein cat and so forth. Just a cute little idea.

Lastly we have the Infernum (name will probably change I am kind of thinking about calling it Twisted Otherworlds or just Otherworlds) cast which is even larger than the Hell side and I don’t even want to think about that right now X’D It is a little overwhelming. What I do have however are some of the designs I made for them, costume wise. This was back during my fashion degree projects. Think realms with twisted fairytale characters that happen to used to be real people from different periods in time. This is the point I really started to dig into the horror genre and it kind of shows though looking back I think I always kind of have been... 

The story is basically a fairytale romp and during the day light hours it’s perfectly fine all zanny and fun but at night is a whole other story. You see the souls that live in these Realms used to be living breathing people. The only thing is that if you end up here though you lose all memory of that life. The Madness which is like a magical curse infects these souls and turns them into their own personal fears or horrors. It’s all back story based and intense so I won’t go into it. There are different monsters and characters and even though it’s an older idea I do think it still has a lot of potential. The realms of the Muses so to speak. Their day and night are switched as well so no matter where you are in the world you dream in the daylight and it’s night there soooo your usually going to get a pretty lucid horrifying nightmare but if you sleep during the night time you will have good dreams. Just don’t fall asleep during the day light hours X’D 

Anywhoo! Here are some of my favorites and again these are really old so their designs will be tweaked for the long run. I also apologize for the quality the actual PSD files are not on my laptop so I have to settle with the project photos I took a long time ago. In order you have the Rae the Black Rabbit, Lucian the Hatter, Ace the Cheshire Cat, Crow (probably change the spelling) the Scarecrow, The Woodsman, and one of Pan’s Lost Boys. I also included the top hats I made for them because I still think they are pretty neat!

There are also some REALLY old designs for the Twisted Otherworld characters. They had more of an anime flair to them. That said there are a couple characters that I want to share since they are actually important despite the artwork being older than Methuselah. 

Maximillian March/ Mad March: Crazy March Hare? I think so. He is a puppet master of sorts in the story and I have to redraw him but he has these deep swirly eyes and sharp teeth. (huh... looks like that design choice happened a long time ago... WELP)

Tweedles: One of my friends was able to pick this out immediately but yea... these are the Tweedles. Their nightmarish 1910′s gas mask Orwellian horror cyborg versions anyway. I have a full image of Dee somewhere that I need to find... (edit) AH there he is... btw I was like 15 when I did this design so I gotta question what the heck was going through my brain.. unless it was that Doctor Who episode with the children that just freaked me out... yeah.. that was probably it. Are those real organs and muscles you ask... yes... yes they are.

[kitkat-the-artist]

Happy 10th anniversary for Homestuck!

What better way to celebrate than actually participating this year with a redesign of my very first troll OC that I never posted. To be fair, if you look or follow my main blog, my profile pic probably the only existing reference photo that I haven’t destroyed or lost.

I’m gonna also celebrate today with a bit of a story that involved the convention I went to recently underneath the cut, so here we go.

March 17th, 2019. I walked into a small panel room that was being run by four mods, each of them in a Homestuck cosplay. Karkat, Vriska, Jade, and Roxy. I was early to the room, but there was at least 10 people there already, more coming in with every second. By the time the panel started, when I looked back, the room was practically filled. Since the panel wasn’t meant to be much, I guess the con staff gave them a room they figured would fit a decent amount, but looking back at how many people were squeezing into the room really showed how many people still liked Homestuck. When the panel started, the mods encouraged us to come up and tell our stories and experiences with Homestuck. The stories I heard was interesting to see how it changed each of them (My favorite one being from a Sollux cosplayer who said their experience with it was from years ago when they played a game with five friends and had to move to another room when theirs got too crowded. They each kept a hand on a friends’ head to keep themselves from getting lose. Only until they got to the vendors did the Sollux notice somebody glaring and when they turned around, at least 23 more Homestuck cosplayers had joined in). When I went to take my turn, I told them where it all started.

I started reading Homestuck in the summer of 2012 after an online friend from an art website that no longer exists recommended it to me. At this point in my life, I had little to no friends in real life. The only people I befriended were the kids that schools praised for being so smart. The ones who ended up in Honors classes, so I had nobody to hang out with during classes or lunch. Over time, I lost contact with them. The only other people I somewhat befriended were people I talked about anime with. Though my time with them was strange and this was at the point in my life where I was wondering if people were being sincere about wanting to be my friend or looking for excuses to make fun of me for processing things slowly.

Third day of freshman year. I was in my first period English class and I was making my way to my desk when I stopped and noticed a girl drawing on her schedule. She was one of the few people who inspired me to draw again because I was in awe at her skills. All over her schedule, she had drawn Adventure Time, Hetalia, all sorts of anime characters, and the one I recognized almost immediately. Homestuck. I got a little closer and pointed to her schedule, asking if that was Aradia. She said yes and after we talked, we started to hang out. We would sit together on the same side of the room in classes we shared together, write notes to each back and forth about Homestuck or the places she had been, stuff we liked to do.

Over time, she and I met other people. That group we befriended so quickly grew and became our little friend group. The people who I had strange friendships with in middle school slowly joined in and we actually got to know each other. At one point, my friend told me about a convention in the area and it was there I learned about cosplay. I dug into what conventions and cosplays were all about and found out there were so many people who were into Homestuck like me. I put together my first cosplay, Aranea Serket, and I met so many great people, some who I stayed friends with even after those many years. My favorite event that year was Promstuck, but every year I went to it after that, I never got to stay long enough or I missed it on the final year until it was no more. (Unfortunately, I don’t have photos from that year, but I did find the old dress that I ruined with the giant Scorpio sign)

Back in school, I met someone among the group in March who would change my life forever. See, at this point, I had a crush on Karkat in the webcomics (to which when I explained this detail to the panel, they all smiled and pointed to the Karkat mod) and I had a Signless necklace that my family bought back when WhatPumpkin was still a store. After he noticed my necklace, he told me “You know, that’s my zodiac sign, right?”

From then on, I hung out with this guy. We used to sit in lunch, holding hands and jokingly call each other dumb pets names involving cats, his being Karkitty. Six years, we stayed together. And after six years of sticking together, we got engaged.

I did end my conclusion of the story of Homestuck with asking the panel if it was alright with them for me to share a redraw of my first troll OC, her ancestor, and dancestor when they were introduced. One person started with “Yes! Show the trolls!” and it became a chant from there. After showing it, I ended my story with saying that while I joke around about Homestuck being a part of my life, I have to thank it at the same time because without it, I wouldn’t have met the people I knew today, wouldn’t be in a happy relationship, wouldn’t be doing cosplay, and wouldn’t be doing art.

After we all told our stories, we ended up finishing the panel off with 6 to 7 year old videos that we all had seen at least once in our lives (Lullaby For The Gods, Mambostuck, Quest Of The Highbloods, You Can’t Fight The Homestuck) and we said our goodbyes. Whether we’d see each other again after that remained to be seen, but it made me happy to know Homestuck still meant something to all of us after these many years.

I apologize for this being so long, but it brought a lot of memories to me after revisiting the story. For that, I’m extremely glad Homestuck existed. It made my life so much better and I don’t know where I’d be, had I not read it or if it never existed. Maybe something else would’ve pulled me and the people I know together, but as far as I’m concerned, Homesuck is what pulled a majority of my interests and friends together and I don’t think anything else would’ve brought as much joy as Homestuck did.

For that, I say thank you, Andrew Hussie, for creating a webcomic that brought me and everything I knew together. Thank you to everyone who contributed to Homestuck whether in working on the comic itself or just being a part of the fandom to make artwork and everything else.

Thank you.

[vulturesthedirtiestkind]

hi hi hello its your srs im so sorry for disappearing the end of semester is always super busy for me 😔 i will get better i promise

ah so you're the Tech Dude (gender neutral) of the film industry! it's such a huge responsibility to manage all that during performances, especially live ones! do you feel like a wizard when lights begin flashing at the wave of your hand? :D you said you like directing and writing, do you get to do that or do you still have to like, climb the ranks of the industry? and what kind of movies do you want to direct?

ooohh that boy is CHUNKY. such a serious guy. very businesslike fellow. he looks like a Grant to me. and you call him baby 😭 adorable omg. i would like you to give him one thousand kisses on his cute little forehead on my behalf

ugh it would be cool if it wasn't so politicized. which is logical, because it's politics after all, but sometimes the amount of sheer propaganda really grates on my nerves. i can now impress relatives with my scattered knowledge during family gatherings tho 😂 and it helped me realise that i don't want anything to do with politics whatsoever in my life so that's something i guess. i would like to translate books for a living, or become an editor, or video games writer, something similar to that.

well i havent been doing art very long so im still on the "redrawing photos" stage to get the hang of anatomy and lighting. i can't send any pictures or links while im on anon, but when the secret santas are revealed i can give you a link to my art blog, if you'd like :)

ah i love a lot of music from all the decades starting from the 60s, but my fave will always be the 80s glam metal i think. it's just so outrageously self-indulgent. but the emo and alternative music of 00s and 10s is a close second because of its concentration on emotions and inner life. also because ive never left my angst emo teen phase im a huge fan of hard rock and metal with female vocals too. my taste is firmly located in rock and metal genres but within those it's all over the place really 😅 and what about you?

p.s. if you ever feel an urge to attach photos of your cat to your replies, do not hesitate to do so <3

you are ABSOLUTELY okay, i've also been swinging wildly between everything. i hope that the end of the semester has been kind to you!!

i am!! and YES I DO,, i have Ultimate Power (well. to an extent...) and when i did the spotlight operating it was very amusing to watch people realize there were people up there, and then that they suddenly couldn't see those people because we got the light board turned on d:^)

because i'm still a student (and still learning how things go), i can do some work with it now (which i'm SUPER happy about)!! admittedly, i don't have a ton of experience yet... but that's what this is all for d:) ideally, once i can do the just-work part, i'll be able to go right into it... but there is a decent amount of having to climb up, depending on how things end up going for you!! which is okay with me, too, as long as the work is pleasant. and unfortunately,,, i'm still not quite positive what movies i'm most interested in working on, though i'd love to do something spies, or horror movies, and i also have some hopes for a few documentaries if i can get them to let me do it!!

YOU'RE SO RIGHT!!!!! he has a little business-like grant face. little working man, working hard at the bread factory (so i can steal all his bread) AND being a bedside doctor-nurse (there was one time where i was very sick and fell asleep in the floor and he jumped over to lead me back to the bed <3) he has been given SO MANY LITTLE FOREHEAD KISSES and he appreciates them all. he gives you many many purrs and also a little cheek lick in return d:)

ohhh god yeah that makes sense (and i’m so sorry you have to deal with all the propaganda stuff,,, it’s Super Very Not Good) BUT!! that’s still SUPER cool (you’re the kind of person to have for trivia nights!!) and it’s good that it’s helped you figure out a little bit about what you’re interested in!! anD ALL OF THAT SOUNDS SO COOL??? i think it could be possible to do a little of all, if you wanted to!! (also--once you can come off anon, don’t let me recruit you to my silly little project, too. ...do you happen to know any german?) 

that’s very fair!! any work is still work, though, and i’m very proud of you!! i’d really like that d:’) 

and YESSSS it’s about the same here--sometimes, having fun IS best!! you really are just A Legend™ and i’m honored to know you ALREADY, 

i will!!! i’ll be attaching as many as possible. here, have the creation of catam d:) 

[bennflynt]

Hi Char! I want to start drawing people but I'm not sure where to start. I was wondering if you could share your experience and give some advice?

oh man, I’m honored you came to me, I’m still in need of practice but I can share some tips of what I’m currently doing and some of the advice people gave meFor me; learning how to draw people was a lot of studying references and photos, but also learning how to draw the way that I enjoyed most. 

I’ll put it under a readmore so I don’t fill people’s dashes with lots of photos ;;w;;

I kind of avoided using references until recently, and I think that’s what held me back =w=);; Even if you desire a cartoony/stylistic art style, it’s still important to study references and anatomy off of real photos/models!!!STOCK PHOTOS ARE SO USEFUL honestly, like there’s so many just random stock photos out there with endless poses and they’re so useful when I can’t figure out a pose. For some pictures I use like 5 different stock photos to build one pose. Need to figure out how the hands look, how they would stand, etc etc. Sometimes I even take photos of myself for pose reference.

Studying off of real photos helped me improve my anatomy, your style doesn’t need to be realistic! And they aren’t straight copies either. It’s just my way of seeing “Oh, this is how the legs would look at this angle” or something along those lines. 

Eventually, you’ll start to understand anatomy better in general, and you can whip up decent looking poses/people without a photo in front of you. It’s cool to just sometimes redraw a bunch of real photos in your own style. Like I did for the Yama/Kairi ones. (this is also true for how faces/hair works. I know I talked about poses mostly, but this can also help with that)

As for building a person, skeletons and a shit ton of sketching (my sketches layer up so much it becomes confusing adklsajdkla)AND SHAPES!!! Start with simple shapes and just slowly make them more human like is my strategy

my sketches are pretty messy, I never get it right the first time so theres a lot of just lines piling up

and when it comes to peoples faces, I don’t really have as much of a clear explanation, but its also just pretty simple shapes

I’ve been drawing for a long time, and my style of drawing people has been influenced by so many different people so its hard to just straight up explain,

but for starting; look at pictures of real people, turn them into something more simple (basic shapes, avoid drawing all the details and curves.), and change features into the way you want!!!

Like drawing bigger hands? Draw people with bigger hands!! Like cat mouths? Draw cat mouths!!!!

Studying people has helped me improve, but figuring out how to draw people the way I want was something I did on my own, and it took a while.

I’m sorry there wasn’t really too much to go off of here, people don’t usually come to me for art advice so I wasn’t sure what to say =v=);;

If theres anything in specific you want to know I can answer! But my general advice is to just practice and study, but also search a way to draw that you enjoy!!!!

Understand how things look, then bend them into anything you want. Find art in media that inspires you as well!!! That’s the advice I got, I hope it helps ;;;w;;;