#i got the pose from Pinterest btw :3

[acrazybirb]

WIP(?)

I got another perspective practice drawing peeps! (I'm also testing out a new eye art style)

Featuring King Orange :D

[viatrix-glow]

nutmegs

[beemynumberone]

Thoughts about Coach Washijo’s granddaughter and the boys vball team in Shiratorizawa.

Coach Washijo’s granddaughter is really smart (the only one of her cousins who got into shiratorizawa through grades mind you) 

But she doesn’t play a sport and prefers doing art

She’s in the art club

And she needs to complete a project for the school’s open house exhibition

She chose to do something on dynamic objects in everyday life

And of course, she needs a muse. Which she casually brings up in a conversation with her grandpa one day

The coach suggests that she use the vball team as a subject - they’re always bouncing around somehow, it’ll be a perfect way for her to explore movement and all that

And she’s like: why not, it’ll save her from having to work long hours in the hot sun too

The coach introduces her to the team

And thus begins her regular sit-ins during volleyball practice

And the guys start becoming super self-conscious

They’re worried they might not look “cool” enough

So for the first couple of sessions, all she sees is a bunch of guys mewling in her face, esp Goshiki - that guy looks super tensed up and slightly constipated

And their performance worsens too

So one day before the coach arrives, she plainly states to the team: “Don’t worry about looking lame or anything. I’ll paint what I see, and judging from the fact that you are already on the volleyball team, I’m sure you aren’t that lame.” 

And surprisingly, that really boosts the guys’ confidence 

The guys become truly focused in their game and she watches on in awe at the dedication and passion their have in honing their craft

And funnily, she has an eye for capturing fine details at first glance 

So when the team does their drills, she can pinpoint what exactly they are doing wrongly and specifically what they can improve in (?) 

If someone seems to be using less core strength than usual, not putting enough strength in their fingers, etc etc

It works to help the team, yknow 

Also, it gives the team major whiplash to see her be so casual with their usually grouchy coach 

Like once, she got the coach to pose so she could “make a sketch” for him

And she’d got the coach to make the sassiest poses everr (without any argument, btw)

”Yes, one hand on your hip, stick your hip out like this and lean your weight on this foot. Smile!”

The coach keeps the sketch btw 

It’s really cute 

She let the guys see the finished project before submitting it

She’d decided to bind all the paintings she’d made of the guys into a book, to be displayed on a stand at the exhibition

The guys swoon over it 

And they (mainly Ushijima) get really interested in art and painting and stuff because of her 

Tendou loves that she’d drawn him cute but kept his feral-ness

Ushijima doesn’t look that stone faced hallelujah 

Goshiki looks determined, anyone viewing the painting can definitely feel the raw passion and eagerness radiating from him

Shirabu doesn’t look sulky (for once)  

And secretly, she’d been painting a separate team portrait for the guys to keep

Which they treasure very much and hang up in the volleyball club room 

Still there till now with their slogan 

Irresistible force 

Pictures are from Pinterest!

^The first panel is how I think Coach Washijo would view the sketch of his sassy pose (feat Ushijima, cause I didn’t have the heart to cut the 2nd panel out)

^And this is Ushijima as a mushroom

(Can you tell who my favourite Haikyuu character is yet? :3)

[itsyagurlchip]

Another ROTTMNT request!!

Platonic, funny hc about the 4 brothers reacting to younger sister reader who has a gloomy/angsty personality who acts like a tragic heroin but in reality everything in her life is completely okay.

She's just a bit dramatic like leo and dee xD

☀︎⋆.ೃ࿔*:･OUr Our YEA~☀︎⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

alt title; reader loves a style but does little research on it and uses pinterest as a ref

ᯓᡣ𐭩 warnings: cussing(!) cringe(!) stereotyped emos (!) crack(!)

ᯓᡣ𐭩 ngl- i feel reader w/ this one 😭😭 Thank you so much for requesting <33 btw, this is not to make fun of actual emos, you guy's aesthetic is beautiful <3 instead, this is actually written from a 2 day experience by your's truly! There is absolutely no plot in this, so if you can't follow at all I don't blame you.

ᯓᡣ𐭩 "Oh god she's blasting SleepToken again-"

kanabo; a japanese weapon similar to a spiked bat, used for offense.

"YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW ME!" You screamed as you slammed the door closed.

Raph stood there, stunned and confused.

"I don't get it...all Raph told her to do was to wash the dishes?" He sighed and walked away. Deeply, he was too tired for this shit and the headache he has was forming faster the more he thought about it. He needed a nap.

Meanwhile Leo and Donnie were snickering in the far corner, watching the whole ordeal go down.

"broooooo"

"That cannot be real-" Leo said, holding his gut trying not to shit on himself at the atrocity you just committed.

"Of- ha- of course it itz! I caught it on camera!" Donnie waved the evidence in the air.

The two burst into obnoxious laughter, echoing throughout the sewers.

So yea..you're a bit cringe. But who's stopping you?

You truly believed that this wasn't a phase.

And future you is looking down at you in tears.

YOU WERE ONLY ELEVEN- !

The group was fighting a tiger villian. Silly cat, he had guns. Tch, that was nothing for someone like you.

"I blast you into the abyss as dark as my soul" You said, raising your kanabo, swinging the weapon in a circular motion, aiming for your target.

"What the f-" And he got blasted. You hated how your weapon was pink...

It all started with the "pick me girl" trend.

You hated those people (despite them not even existing half the time).

So, you wanted to be different 😈

And thus, the color black was an immediate yes

Mikey, not really caring about the sudden change in his sibling's style, used you for his art inspiration! Even if you begged and begged for him to draw you with hair.

(he already sketched it, but won't tell you. he's not gonna let it go that far into your head💀)

"Turn- now pose, ohhhh! Lookin great Pink! Wooo, you got it girl!"

"The only thing I deserve to have is a dirt pit. To put myself in, not your praise."

"Oh- oh."

Looking through pinterest you found your first outfit inspo and fell in love.

While not actually having any problems, mentally or physically (from what you know), you felt like you fit into this category so well!

Your scales were black, check

You love eyeliner, check

Your siblings force you to do things that you didn't want to (chores) , check

You were all set.

All it took was a few hundred dollars from Donnie's bank and you were ready to show the world-

WHO YOU TRULY WERE 😈

"YOU'RE ALL AGAINST ME!"

"we are literally just asking you to go on this mission-"

"TO KILL ME OF COURSE! YOU NEVER CARED ABOUT ME"

"okay"

They just let you sort your feelings out, poor baby.

No one actually knew when it really started

But suddenly you started to ask April for her makeup and nail polish for the first time.

And April, bless her, did so each and every time.

"Of course honeybun!"

Worst part was, you never gave it back.

"Hey, have you boys seen my makeup bag? I can't find it no where."

The boys sighed, already sick of the shenanigans, and pointed towards your room where every light was off.

Walking inside, April came in to see a singular lamp shining, with you underneath it writing inside of a black notebook.

"Hey Pink! Watcha doin sweetheart?" April nervously said, "It's pretty dark in here-"

"Writing down the names of my enemies. They need to suffer the pain I go through everyday, not only the physical- but the mental."

April wasn't really sure what you were going on about, but she spotted her makeup bag and dipped.

-

Donnie walked into your room, music blasting at goddam 3 in the morning.

"ARe yoU inSane!?!?" Donnie yelled as Ely Ottto raged over his voice.

"THIS IS THE REAL ME DONNIE! DEAL WITH ME!!!" You flipped him off, head banging as you jump up and down on the mattress. The plushies that were sitting on the bed even had black marker scribbled all over them.

This was too much damn noise! And quite frankly, very much overstimulating for this time of night for anyone to experience.

"Oh hoh hoh- no I AM NOT MISSY! YOU WILL TURN THIS MUSIC DOWN THIS INSTANT!"

"YOUR NOT MY DAD BOZO!" Like a child (*cough cough*) you blew a raspberry at him and turned the music up louder.

Donnie was twitching in anger as he disabled your speaker with a tap of a few buttons.

"I HATE YOU" You yelled, stomping towards him and pushing him out. Slamming the door, you screamed into your pillow (as if that would muffle the sound.)

Dear supreme pizza in the sky-

Oddly enough your behavior would also vary between people.

For example, you wouldn't take shit from Donnie, even if he was trying to help you, you would even go as far to make fun of him for no reason.

You would talk about your woes and suffering with April and Mikey, even when they didn't understand it half the time because it was ever on subject???

You simply just ignored Raph when he told you to do something.

And Leo, pray for his soul, would play along. Or even worse, bully you *kindly*

Leo was walking you to the park, walking with a crip like those bloxburg characters when you don't take a bath. His head was facing the concrete, set in a mock scowl, mimicking your own.

You rolled your eyes and walked faster, flipping the wig you bought.

-

Good thing it lasted for another two days, or everyone (not including Leo) would've blown their tops.

Man- had to get the rest of that brainrot out. phew~

heres part 2 btw

૮₍˶• .•⑅₎ა tags: @kittykittyanon @radicallxser @oleander-nin @towomatos @thealphagirl

૮₍˶• .•⑅₎ა @ziipzeepzop-eez @wheezdostuff @spongejuice @cyb3r-st4r @nuncscioquidsitamor-14

@voidthegod

if you would like to be added, check my blog. if you would like to be added, check my blog. SEE? I SAID IT TWICE!!

[toomanylinks]

Twilight

This is Twilight (He/Him) !

I just wanted to draw him with this cool pose I found on Pinterest :) In this drawing he got the face he will have in my AU (especially his hair, which I draw much shorter than the original), but I gave him his in-game clothes, cuz I didn’t want to bother design him fully yet.

I’m trying to draw from references quicker, because I feel like I’m so slow at drawing anything. This drawing took me a bit over 3 hours (those damn boots were so hard to draw fr)

Anyway, I’m proud of this drawing :)

I actually draw him that way, but while writing the text above, I realised that his hair was the wrong way... D’x

So I just flipped the drawing, but still, that makes me sad :(

And btw Twilight is ambidextrous so the sword isn’t a problem

[favoure]

Hello Favour :) I wanted to ask if you had any tips for poses and expressions? I found your art from the aggie (is that how its spelled?) event and Im OBSESSED! Your arts phenomenal, and your poses are so expressive! :D

Have a great day and thank you <3

HI HUNTER !!! sooo glad u enjoy my art i am honored . . . . for the aggie sketch i . i honestly just picked up this reference pic from pinterest xD literally spent an hour before the aggie planning that sketch out, searching for other pieces that had a sorta soft and sweet vibe and leaving those open alongside the ref so i can "Absorb it into my brain"

for tips regarding poses and expressions... IM JUST REALLY PICKY WHEN PICKING OUT REFERENCES TBH 😭😭 Like i wont stop searching until it fits the mental image i have and until it has the feelings im trying to convey in the piece . i also frequently use statues as inspiration too ig . went ham with explaining my thought process in the tags btw i got shyyy ^_^

[yourfavouritelaundry]

Ok so!! This is more of an art related thing rather than OC related but I will ask some OC related questions later (if you won't mind ofc!) But !! I have been struggling with art a lot lately and I think asking my favourite artist for advice may help-

So!!

How did you get better with posing?

How did you understand perspective and anatomy distortion in order to add perspective?

How do you stop the anatomy from looking wonky?

Do you use guidelines?

You are really good at shading and rendering!! How did you learn those? Do you have any tips?

I'm really sorry about the massive question, I hope it's not annoying or anything.

Yeah that’s okay!! I’m always down to talk about arts and ocs(huehuehue-) so here’s wall of texts.

1. ppl usually advised to make lots of practices and i agree, but i also think it’s important to just make time to just. stare at arts and literally do nothing else. I usually do it on bus rides and before bed. Just stare at arts of my favorite characters and figured it out

I don’t draw a lot on hiatuses but I do browsed fandoms’s log on pixivs (-there’s lot of dubious drawing there so i don’t recommend if you don’t know how to block tags-) or twitter and find myself staring at a drawing for a long time, and when i came back from my hiatuses my understanding just got a teeny bit better since ive done nothing but stare at arts. This advice prob won’t work on everyone but at least i’m putting it out here

2. Also always looked up references whenever the pose looks wonky, always! Don’t be lazy!! google, justsketchme, or just taking a photo of yourself and traced! Tracing are actually a valid way to learn if you do it right btw (-there’s teaching abt this on youtube-), once you traced yourself enough, you’ll start getting it right firsthand! (because it’s too tiring to pose again when you’d understood how it works right?)

3. Anatomy distortion is it’s own thing ig. personally i’d say to just fuck it and draw. It’s important to be realistic but if the exaggeration was cooler than just pick the cool one i don’t think people care to check. Do what pleased ur eyes!! it’s distorted for a reason but maybe this is a bad advice oops-

4. I don’t have advices for colouring and rendering, i blackouted and colour appear before me. Filmgrab are cool tho, and pinterest. I actually have a folder in google drive where i saved all the screenshot of whatever cool thing or drawing inspired me and i open this folder when i’m desperated. It helped

(you don’t need to use the same system i did here but having a private insp album with stolen arts helped, it’s fine as long as you don’t share them tbh)

Woe, learning be upon ye

[the-acid-pear]

Today's dream was mental.

I was in this ysrd and there were a lot of onions on the table and and there were masculine role models there it was a party and turns out my friend my irl was getting married to her mom but her appearance was that of Shun from Saint Seiya and there was a Hyoga too who was like, in a clip from the show? "I love you too, shun" while smiling smugly. And on the tv there was bald Vegeta (the no forehead one too, you'd see the buzz tho) nd he was in saint Seiya in the city and Vegeta was calling out for someone angry as he is but more worried then there's an explosion and red trees like those in the Minecraft end come out from the ground and back into it and a figure of an electric tower fades in an out and my dad gets emotional and I'm like holy shit I need to watch this show.

My friend also had a mini shun as a child. And her mother wasn't anyone just a generic middle aged woman. I wasn't happy about this AT ALL btw.

We then had to leave the place to go to the wedding which, like... It either was in my grandma's house or we were leaving from there 🤔 not sure. But I left and we were many in a bus and we were discussing we needed a cake and I remember saying dijiste torta y me acordé que tenía un asiento acá because apparently in this dream sitting in a single bus seat (like, not in the pairs, in the solo ones) is innuendo or something for being a hard full horny lesbian. Before that I was leaning onto the divider talking to two friends from highschool I believe? My irl was in their class too so it makes sense, these were mean boys tho.

Eventually the bus stopped and I got off with 4 random women two middle aged to teens daughter of one of them, the women short, one skinny one fatter, the daughters tall and lanky, everyone on the darker skin tone side.

I immediately regretted my decision and I was like Y'ALL GOING TO THE WEDDING?! 😟 And they were like yeah, of course! and we headed to take another bus and I had no sube because I don't have one and I told the woman, the skinny one, if she'd pay for me but she was like I don't have money sorry and then the bus driver grabbed HIS one and payed it for me like a legend... But then I realized i was missing my backpack.

And this was the second time I misplaced it because on the first bus I couldn't locate it for a while since there were 3 in total and one was camouflaged like mine but mine was heavier and contained... Something ? Else?? On the back. But I saw one of the lanky girls who was blonde had one so I was like ah maybe the girl has it...! But no, it was hers, so I had to leave the bus in a rush because I needed mine.

So I did and I started wandering trying to go over my steps. City was colorful and pretty and it wasn't argentina it was somewhere else. Although I saw places like la casa rosada and the same but white too. On a trash container to the side there was a concrete block and on top (block was the height of the container) 3 little figured of this wild cat like creature with a heart. They were in different poses and he was in 2 legs and looked kinda fucked kinda off but those tiny toys used to look like that. Fur was also dramatically shaded with strong darker tips against his lighter fur and such. Face was a bit human but his kitty mouse was big. Details aside, I picked one. For good luck.

I kept wandering and I walked past a very skinny brunette woman with Pinterest cool clothes, no one was here except for her, well, no one but two men that came afterwards in jeans and with tans and blonde spiky hairs who did some gesture in my direction before deciding to follow me like an rpg party. They kept trying to flirt with me and I talked with them but I was so stressed out and uncomfortable bc i was also in pain and worried and upset about my friend that I couldn't be even shy.

With them we ran into a different wedding kind of like fair which I'm sure I saw a horse at somewhere. There was also a library and an old man who war urging us w his looks to gtfo

And we kept wandering only once I tried to ask the boys what they did for a living but they didn't answer and I found a backpack, but it wasn't mine. But it had some weird sticker than said I ❤️ AI but didn't really see the bottom so I'd have said DYING or ART or PORN, either way they made me laugh. They were light blue in a desaturated tone like they'd been abandoned there. (We were forgotten by the rapture and we didn't even notice....... /J)

BUUUT as we went around further in this japanese looking apartment we ran into a bed and WOULDN'T YOU KNOW my BACKPACK WAS THERE WOOOOO ‼️‼️‼️ but now I had to get there somehow. I left at 2 pm or so and it was 6 pm now. I was so worried and scared no one would pick me up or perhaps the wedding was over and I couldn't stop them or...

I remember drawing or visualizing a drawing on the sand of a sad bear saying... Something. But I wanted to add ON COKE at the end too fsr referencing the cocaine bear?? And I didn't know who to call and I was getting anxious and...

Suddenly I was watching moonlight jewel make twilight sparkle. And I tried to go back to the dream but couldn't. It was twilight sparkle time.

So yeah one of the fucking wildest ones.

[giuliadrawsstuff]

Hi Giulia! I hope you're doing okay! I just wanna say that you have a very solid art style--I can definitely distinguish it whenever it appears on my dashboard. Do you have artists or references that influence your very own art? I guess I just wanna ask, what's your artistic process? Thanks and take care!

Hi RK! Aww thanks you're so kind 💜💜 it really means a lot 💜

Mmm I think my greatest influence was Disney, the cartoons obviously but also some Italian comics, in particular W.I.T.C.H. (five highschool girls that obtain superpowers and can communicate with the four elements) and Topolino (various stories of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck and all their friends) and I used to copy every possible drawing available hahha All the various issues are drawn by different artists, so I got to see a lot of variety of styles and pick the ones I preferred or better even pick the bits of each I liked and make them mine. Topolino in particular has multiple stories in a single issue and comes out weekly, so I had lots and lots of material to look at. I had my subscription until 2 years ago honestly hahah but I stopped for lack of shelves in my room 😂

And then during university so like 4/5 years ago I bought some video tutorials by Disney artist Aaron Blaise (he's the director of Brother Bear but he worked on Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King and other movies) and those really were a booster because I got to study anatomy and character design and drawing lots of animals. I still buy his stuff whenever he adds something interesting, he's an excellent teacher. And I get to watch them all the times I want so I can review weak spots or more difficult points.

As for the drawing process, well first I try and find a pose, I collect everything available that inspires me from stars Instagram posts or tweets, to drawings of other artists (obviously if the pose I finally make is identical to the original I add the reference to the post) to movie GIFs on Tumblr or official art. Oh and Pinterest too, that’s a goldmine, but I always end up finding new stuff that distracts me and not what I was originally looking for haha

Then I sketch on paper or on Photoshop depending on the mood and time, lately I can't even watch a movie in peace because my hands itch because I need to draw. So in this case I use paper.

Like these new ones look what a mess they are and very unfinished. It mostly to just jot down the idea so I don't forget it.

And since I always make a mess of it, Photoshop is a blessing. I allows me to change stuff how many times I want, for ex if the head is too big I can select it and make it smaller, it allows me to flip the drawing which is one of the most useful things ever because watching your drawing mirrored makes all the horrors pop up, I've lost count of how many wrong eyes or super long arms I had to correct. Plus I can work on different layers so I usually have one layer for the head (even 2 or 3 like for Hange because they have bangs and ponytail that are tough and glasses) then one torso, two for the arms and so on. I only merge all layers into one lineart when I'm sure it's good to go.

And then I add flat colours and logos and stuff if needed (like the wings of freedom patches or blood).

Like this is flat colours (I know you know Bojack from your Diane profile pic, which I've always loved from the first moment I saw it btw 💜 I love that show). This one stays like this because Bojack has a very simple line and pretty much no shadows unless needed. But otherwise I always add them.

But before making the shadows I tend to decide a background if needed or if I hadn't already one in mind. And the shadows colour tends to pair with the BG, but the general one is brownish (I use the same colour I use for Levi's bags under his eyes 😂 but set it to multiply so it gets darker but you can still see what's beneath).

Like this below.

I don't do many backgrounds by hand, i made one for my Secret Santa but usually I use photos or pictures (AOT is perfect for example because being a cartoon it fits with my style, with real photos I have to be more careful because it might collide instead of becoming part of the drawing) unless there's an object in real interaction with the characters.

For example this one below. The tree on which they sit was already in the frame (that's actually what gave me the idea of putting them on the branches) I tried using it like that but there was too much difference so I drew the tree myself. The rest is the real shot but blurred. Helps focusing on the characters.

Puff I think I'm done hahha sorry it came out longer that expected 😂😂 I hope the drawings make it less boring hahhaha

Anyway thanks for asking 💜💜 and if you have suggestions be sure to drop them by 💜

[butterfly-winx]

Hi, This isnt about the butterfly au but i was wondering do you use any apps to draw your art on and if so which ones due you use? also do you have any tips?

Hey there! No worries I'm happy to talk about art in general as well!

I use Procreate (I think currently V5) on a first gen iPadPro to do most of the art and photosh*p cs2 for any edits, or compiling files when my layers overflow. (I'm not gonna lie, that is the major bummer with Procreate, but the app is well priced and I got no complaints about it otherwise.)

As far as art tips, go I wanted to acknowledge that these are tips I would and also do give myself, so it I am not an expert in any of these, but they are cool things to strive for.

1. Find the workflow for what makes sense for you. Not everyone has to do 2 sketches a lineart, flats and render in that order in every single piece. Experiment around, find what works for you, which parts of the process you enjoy, most importantly. I do very clean sketches on top of loose pose puppets and hate lineart. So I usually don't do that, but I get away with it bc I like doing the detailed sketch phase and "line sculpting" so I just go straight to colouring most often. Maybe you don't either, but for you a lineless style would work better. This is also how you can build style very easily!

2. Experiment with programs and find the one that supports your workflow best. I started off with a pen-tablet and PS/Corel painter and that didn't work for me for the longest time - I guess I never had the necessary hand-eye coordination for laptop and pen-tablet setups. Drawing ON the screen however, whoo boy my improvement skyrocketed. So I would urge everyone to look at what they struggle with while making art bc it might not be you, it might be the setup you use. Sure I could have spent a million hours fine tuning my lines to be straight, but I cold have also switched to a program that supports stroke stabilisation, you know? Also look into available shortcuts and pre-sets: the better you know your program the faster you are, the less likely you are to burn yourself out on a piece.

3. Build skills, but let your interests dictate what skills to focus on. Sure practice is key and you need to draw a thing a 1000 times to understand it, but I'm saying you are only going to draw something that many times if you like it. When I was into series that featured many male characters I beefed up on male anatomy; when I was crazy about a live action show I practiced copying the features of real actors; now I am neck deep in fashion refs and drawing different types of fabric. Find your passion and let it drive you! It does make sense to identify shortcomings and get comfortable with art basics like shape, light and colour, but if you don't find a way to apply it it a way that sparks joy, you risk your hobby turning into a chore (so this advice is mainly for hobbyist), so try not to do that and instead focus on eating your "veggies" and "dessert" as well if you can. Do sketches all day if you want, but you will need to face drawing the other eye or that hand on the hip if you want to see eventual improvement.

4. Collect inspiration with a goal in mind. It's fair and well to have endless lists of inspiring art and photography saved in your likes, pinterest or wherever, but it is good to sit down sometimes and examine why you saved a pic. (This is not for direct references btw). Ask yourself what you like about the individual piece and whether what you like about is something that just appeals to you as a beholder or whether that is something you would like to reproduce in your own art? It's actually a huge difference. I am drawn to stylised shapes and bold colours in art, but I like to paint like that? No. On the other hand I like looking at guache paintings and really taking apart how they were painted, bc that is the rendering style i like to push for in my art. It's a good idea to go cross-media in your inspiration: from traditional art to photography to industrial object design, you can find a lot of things to learn from outside your native art medium. If you found something you really like, you can do a master study of it (absolutely fair to share with public domain, classical pieces, if you copy a contemporary artist, do it for the sake of study and don't post it).

5. Don't compare yourself to others. Yes, I know this is the hardest. If you find yourself unhappy with the reception of your art online, it impacting your joy in creating art in the first place, it might be worth taking a step back. That's what I did. I was doing winx doodles for almost a year for myself only before I made this blog, (and this is far from being my first art blog on the internet btw). This may not be the right decision for everyone, but I wanted to say something other than "just don't give up", bc when you are in that spot it feels like utter bulsh*t. Social media has us comparing our skills and success to a million other people every day, and as harsh as it sounds, it's just not worth breaking yourself up over it. There is also no need to monetise every hobby you have and become the absolute best in it, especially when you are young.

So, to sum it up:

[acrazybirb]

(I've been in an artsy mood lately 🦜)

I was going for a phoenix cosplay (Her name is Ember)

She gives me, "apocalypse survivor" vibes (Her name is Marigold)

Partners in crime :3 ( The Chosen One and The Dark Lord :D )

Edit: I just realized how small TDL looks- 😭 (Uh let's pretend TCO is on a stool to look tall or something 🦜)

I might draw more later

[wayneooverton]

How to win friends and influence people on Instagram

Oh man, Instagram. That old thing. That photo app we love to hate. I wonder how sorry I would feel for myself if I knew the exact amount of times I opened Instagram and hit refresh per day. Shivers.

If I had to hanker a guess, I’d say around 20,000. You know, just to err on the side of caution.

Like most things in life, I go through phases on Instagram, of being so in love with it I have to be on for 24/7 and then other times where I consider deleting it. “Man, my latest sunset mountain photo only got 2,500 likes, what’s wrong with me? This is shit. I’m shit. Everyone hates me. I give up.”

Somehow, often my self-worth is tied to how successful I am on Instagram, or even worse, how successful OTHER people are. What. The. Fuck. How did it come to this?

My goodness, what is the world coming to when you feel like you are no longer validated because only 2,500 people you’ve never met before liked a picture you took. Then you upload a shot that gets 4,000 likes, and hot damn you’re back in business.

It’s a vicious cycle guys.

I’m the first to admit, I’ve been a dedicated slave to the Instagram for years. I mean, we go way back. Like iPhone 3 way back. Almost 5 years we’ve been together.

You see me and Instagram, we’ve had a tough relationship. You know, love hate. Hot and then cold, yes and then no. Or something like that. It’s the same with McDonald’s. You don’t people to know you actually like it, but then you end up drunkenly taking a taxi through the drive-through at 4 am. Nobody wants to admit that actually, on the inside, they really want those chicken nuggets. Badly.

*Crickets*

Wow, I’ve come a loooooong way since my first Instagram post!

  But I digress. Over the years I have really loved Instagram – I still do, deep down. I learned to become a better photographer through the app, to try and become more of a visual storyteller. At the end of the day I’ve met so many incredible people through Instagram, shared so many unique moments and built my own community of followers of thousands of people, and that makes me smile. That’s what it’s for right?

Through Instagram I’ve become a keen photographer, and through it I’ve learned to challenge myself creatively.

But I’m also part of that small percentage of people who also use Instagram for business. I was New Zealand’s first professional Instagrammer, and I’ve built Instagram into my overall business strategy. In addition to my blog, it’s a large part of my work.

And when I see other people directly effecting my work, I get pissed. Guys, I’M SO PISSED

So here we go, the rant you all have been waiting for. It’s been a while, I’ve been letting you down, let me make it up to you. Are you ready?

There are two ways to be successful on Instagram; one is doing it the honest way – building up your brand, sharing high quality shots, being really active and engaged in the community, being creative and original in what you’re doing, and above all, actually be passionate about the photos and stories you’re sharing. You know, actually adhering to Instagram’s T’s and C’s, being ethical and honest, and authentic and genuine. What’s that word everyone forgets? Ah yes, having integrity.

Hell, I even co-launched my own conference called the Travel Bootcamp teaching people how to build a career in this industry.

The Do’s and Don’ts of Instagram

And then there is option B. Cheating and manipulating your way to the top, which has somehow become the popular choice these days amongst the youths and Instagram newbies. Why work hard when you can pay to get it done instead?

Cheating is rampant on Instagram these days. Rampant I say! It’s everywhere. I ignored it for the longest time, wanting to believe the best in people, many of whom are colleagues and friends of mine. But it’s getting so ridiculous now I can’t keep quiet.

So many people are exceptionally lazy. They want the success that comes with having a huge Instagram following but don’t want to put in the hours of hard work yourself. Don’t worry, I’ll make it easy . So check it out, how to fake being authentic 101. A step by step guide. Here are my best tips for cheating and manipulating your way to the top on Instagram. Good luck!

1. Go out and buy some followers

For less than $70, you can get 10,000 Instagram followers! That’s enough to start elbowing your way into this industry. But seriously, buying followers for your Instagram is so 2014. I mean come on, at least try to be more creative than that. There are far sneakier and better ways to get more followers fast than just straight up buying them. Jeez.

2. Get automatic likes on your photos

SO over the years most of us have really felt the drop on Instagram engagement, right? The number of likes and comments you get on your photos often matter more than the follower number. I’ve never worked harder on Instagram than I have been, and I follow all of their rules and suggestions to a tee for five years, and I’ve been suffering from it while watching other people cheat their way to the top without a second thought.

My engagement for my follower count actually isn’t that great, and no matter how hard I try, I can barely keep it steady let alone grow it with the way the algorithms are working. And as soon as I experiment with my shots, it plummets. And my numbers are so skewed because my followers keep growing, mostly from my blog I reckon. I’ve never been more proud of my feed and my photos than I am now, and I’m so bummed that so few of my followers or new people even see it. And I’m not alone.

But don’t worry, there are ways around it. Did you know that you can pay for a monthly service that dumps fake likes on your photos when you upload them? How great is that? You don’t have to do anything and if you get enough of them quickly, you might even show up on the Explore Page! And would you believe me if I told you dozens if not hundreds of people who might even be one of your favorite Instagrammers are doing that too! What’s a little casual fraud in between Instagram posts, right? It’s not like it inflates the entire platform and makes people who aren’t cheating look bad or anything. It’s also faking your own influence.

3. Originality is dead, guys

As much as Instagram touts the idea of being creative photographers and storytellers, does it actually back it up on the platform? Is creativity really rewarded these days on Instagram? Instagram’s own Instagram feed is all about creative projects, unusual themes and cool people doing cool stuff. But is that the content that is actually rewarded on the platform?

NOPE.

What is rewarded is people copying each other over and over and over again. The same pose, the same locations, the same outfits, even the same filters. How many people have become huge landscape travel Instagrammers because they’ve traveled to Iceland and the Faroe Islands, posed in front of cabins and woodpiles and laid on the VSCO moody PNW filters a little too hard. Cough cough, I can think of tons. I mean, Socality Barbie was popular for a reason.

I mean fads are fads, and trends are trends for a reason; and they are highly effective. Beautiful places are popular for a reason, but what about those spots that people have strategically shot over and over and shared repeatedly just to build an image. You know, wearing a fedora hat and a blanket.

But I’ve worked with people over the years, some of whom are huge btw, who blatantly admit that they look out for trendy places, then go there knowing that their photos will be the best. People who don’t consider going to places that might be under the radar, but actually look for locations to shoot in those spots from people who’ve been there before just so they can take a version that will be more popular. Or peruse Pinterest and rip off other people’s ideas as their own. Jesus Christ, does it get any lazier than that?

So come visit me in Wanaka! You might not have heard, but we have this Insta-famous tree in the lake AND a ridge view called Mt. Roy, both of which have been ruined by trendy Instagrammers! You post photos from here and you’re guaranteed double engagement!

4. Be hot and show your butt off

I’m mostly talking about girls here, just so we are clear. Statistically thinking, you have a 75% chance of growing your Instagram account by 50% if you post photos of yourself in underwear or bikinis with an emphasis on your bum. It jumps up another 10% if you have a thigh gap.* Too bad my thigh gap is limited by my nugget consumption.

2. You may not post violent, nude, partially nude, discriminatory, unlawful, infringing, hateful, pornographic or sexually suggestive photos or other content via the Service. Instagram’s Terms of Use

Um, good one!

*Disclosure, I just made that up.

5. Date someone bigger than you

Need to grow a following really quick? Start dating someone who’s Insta-famous, and be prepared to hang on for the ride! Even better if they are a good photographer. Instagram husbands anyone? And nothing grows a following quite like being a hot power couple on Instagram. Actually, if I’m being totally fair here, I am not quite sure there is anything wrong with this, I’m probably just being petty.

After all nothing is more annoying that oversharing oversexualized happy couples on Instagram, right? God I’m so bitter.

6. Steal other people’s ideas

I learned my lesson a few years ago. I have always been a candid person, and I talk about what I’m working on or goals I have openly. Til I got burned again and again by Instagrammers ripping off my work.

I learned the hard way not to talk about projects I’m in the middle of working on (at the risk of having them outpitched from under me – happened to me more than a few times), to shots I was planning to take, to my favorite locations to local spots to trips I was working on. I hate it, but it’s happened too many times that I’ve mentioned it to someone only to have that person try and pull the rug out from under me.

Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I’m the kind of person that if you tell me something you’re working on, I’ll either try to help you get there or be supportive of it. It wouldn’t even occur to me to steal someone’s idea. As a creative, I find that behavior HORRENDOUS.

There is a big difference between being inspired by someone and ripping off other people’s work, and it’s something that happens all the time on Instagram, shamelessly.

7. Don’t hate the player, hate the game

There are so many games you can play on Instagram that are far from the Candy Crush variety. One of the biggest ways people game Instagram is following and unfollowing people. Back in the day, people used to do this manually. Follow a bunch of people per day, then unfollow the ones who didn’t follow you back or just unfollow again anyways. What trickery!

Then it got sophisticated and there are apps that you can use that will automatically follow and unfollow for you. Bear in mind it violates Instagram’s terms to authorize apps like that, and it’s pretty fun to go stalk people on SocialBlade to see who’s cheating this way. You just enter in the name of any Instagrammer on a desktop, then click on their IG page and then click detailed stats and have fun!

This is a highly effective way to grow your account because it brings real people in the meantime over to your page. The downside of course, besides being highly unethical, means you aren’t in control of your account anymore and god knows who you’re following. “Oh sorry, I didn’t mean to follow that nazi account, oops!”

8. Not who you seem to be

There are a few people, who shall remain nameless, mostly because I’m scared, who were the ultimate Instagram sneaks.

Like, having a feature account, which is to say a big account on Instagram that just reshares other people’s photos. Sometimes crediting the owners, most of the time just straight up ripping it off. Building a huge following only posting the best of the best, which isn’t even yours, then one day deleting all the photos and reposting your own as a personal account on Instagram.

Yes, people have done it, and some very, very successfully, though of course never admitting it.

I have two words for those people – dodgy motherf*ckers!

9. You don’t even have to be on the app

Did you know that you don’t even need to be on Instagram yourself? You can authorize apps that go and like and comment on stuff for you. I mean, I’m sure you’ve all seen it. Random comments on your photos that don’t make sense. I’ve called out bloggers who comment on all my photos but don’t actually follow me. Or better yet, friends of mine of leave comments on porn or other dirty pages. I’m sure you didn’t mean “wow what a great shot” of a teenager in a thong.

No one likes a spammer!

There are so many Instagrammers who are now super famous who got their start doing this one or two years ago. Because it brings real people over to your page, you get real growth and engagement, never mind that you didn’t even do it yourself and it’s super dodgy and straight up violates several of Instagram’s terms. Why you would do this is beyond me, let alone take the risk of losing your account.

10. Don’t be a dick! 

It’s up to you whether or not you want to be a douche. I have to believe that at the end of the day, this kind of behavior will fail. It’s not a long-term solution to this kind of work, and I think that if you build a career on deceit and lies, it will blow up in your face.

Who said that breaking into this industry and being famous on Instagram would be easy? You have to work your ass off at it, often for years before seeing any kind of real success. I have been in this industry for seven years, that’s right seven years of work! It never stops!

Real influence and real success takes real work. 

I’m mad because this terrible behavior is straight fucking up the industry on a big scale. It’s not a little problem, it’s rampant, and nothing is being done about it. It skews the numbers and screws over people who have worked and been ethical.

And here’s a shameless little self-promo: sick of seeing this kind of behavior combined with seeing a real lack of hard, credible advice to help break into the travel industry, my business partners Lauren Bath, Georgia Rickard and I co-launched our own conference, the Travel Bootcamp last year. An intensive one day, no BS workshop, we give you all the tools and facts no one talks about that will help you get paid to travel like us. Between us we’ve traveled to over 100 countries, worked for over a decade in the industry and make six figure salaries from it.

Our next Bootcamp is in a couple of weeks in Melbourne on April 29th if you want to come – we have a few tickets left.

Get your tickets to the Travel Bootcamp Melbourne here!

Have you heard of this stuff before? Can you believe it? What kind of terrible behavior have you seen on Instagram? Spill!

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