#i have made some changes to my sona's design since making her current ref so it was in need of an update

[nattikay]

Na'vi Stripes Tutorial!

Tagging @eywaschild891, in case you were still interested in this! (note: this tutorial is about the digital process of adding the stripes, not actually designing the patterns)

I'm using MediBang Paint Pro, but this technique should work in any program that supports layers.

So you've drawn your Na'vi and now you want to add some stripes! First we'll have to start with a base color. Underneath your lineart layer, add two new layers: one as the main base color layer (for coloring hair, eyes, clothes, etc), and on top of that, a separate layer for the skin. Putting the skin on a separate layer is important because that way you'll be able to do the stripes as a clipping mask.

Your layer box should look something like this (you can ignore the gray background and extra folder, they're not important for this tutorial):

Now we can start on the base stripe layer. Create a new layer and set it as a clipping mask on your skin layer. This makes it so that you can't "color outside the lines", so to speak, while drawing the stripes. Then take a hard-edged brush and start drawing the patterns you want. I like to use MediBang's "mapping pen", which has a subtly textured edge, but the regular default Pen tool will work perfectly fine as well.

If you'd like, you can stop here and call this done: solid stripes are perfectly acceptable in a cartoonified stylization. However, if you look closely at Na'vi stripes on canon characters, you'll note that they're not completely solid: they have a subtle fading effect, where they're darker along the edges and a bit lighter in the middle, and in some places they fade out into the body. Sometimes it almost looks watercolor-ish.

(I'm sure there are better examples out there than these but I'm not up to digging for them rn 😅)

So, let's continue! To fade our stripes, create another clipping mask layer above the main stripe layer. Use a brush with pressure-based opacity such as MediBang's "pencil" to loosely fill the insides of the stripes with the base skin color.

Once you have filled in all the stripes, use the gaussian blur filter to smooth out the fade. The filter doesn't need to be super strong—in fact, if you make it too strong you will loose the detail and the stripes will look solid again. With MediBang's version of the tool, I had it set to 7 (out of a max of 64) for this image, though of course the way it works may be different in other programs; mess around with different settings until you get something you like.

(sadly I do not have a screenshot of the blurred version because apparently the way my cintiq takes screenshots is dumb; it only captured the "gaussian blur" popup window instead of the whole screen. oh well. :P)

Now that we have the fade within the stripes, let's also make them fade into the rest of the body. The areas you'll want to do this with are the torso, inner arms, and inner/back of legs.

Create another clipping mask. Using the same pressure-opacity brush and base skin color as before, loosely block in where you want the stripes to fade into the body.

Once you've finished, gaussian blur the layer just like before. This one can be a little stronger than the inside-stripe one. For this image I had it set to 14.

Sometimes, the areas you block out will overlap with areas that shouldn't be faded—for example, here the fading from the back of the character's thigh is overlapping with her tail. To fix this, just erase it to remove the fade from where it shouldn't be (this is why we do this step on separate layers). Make sure you do this erasing after you've applied the gaussian blur.

Depending on the pose of your character, there may be places where one faded area overlaps with another. For example, in this drawing, the blocking for the arm fading overlaps with the blocking for the torso fading. Here it is with the torso fading turned off so you can see the overlap:

This makes it difficult to do both the arm and the torso on the same layer, because I won't be able to remove where the arm fading overlaps the torso fading without also removing the actual torso fading.

Luckily, there's a simple fix: just do the arm fading on a separate layer. Do this as many times with as many layers as you need to for your particular pose. Sometimes you'll only need one or two, like here; other times you'll need several.

BUT, fading the stripes is the last step! Regardless of how many layers you end up needing, once you're done, you're done! Now you have a Na'vi with nice natural-looking striping 😸

At this point you can go ahead and merge all the clipping masks into the main skin layer and even merge the skin layer with the other-base-colors layer if you're ready!

Hopefully that wasn't too hard to follow; feel free to ask if anything is confusing or unclear. Happy drawing! 😸

[anzuhan]

HOW DID U COME UP WITH SUCH AN EPIC CHARACTER DESIGN FOR YOURSELF?!? LIEK!! YOU'RE THE PRETTIEST

probably comes with experience of designing characters for a. while now and ever since ive started drawing digitally and maybe even a bit before that, but for sona's i tend to just make them as related to me as possible which is EXACTLY WHY they change so much. I like a lot of types of j fashion (mainly yamikawaii, but anything from gyaru, to lolitas, decora, dark girly and others, and i do tend to dress in all as much as i can irl but for a vtuber model youd need just ONE DESIGN AND ITS HARD TO FIT ALL EUAGGH) + several design tropes i want to try and keep for myself from time to time are alice in wonderland, nurse, vampire (its the romanian pride) and well i cant just have ALL but they juggle in between each other quite often

for how i make designs WELL its hard to exactly say how i got to one, my current one's based on the one i had right before this (angel) but gothic instead (?) and make it a catgirl vampire (you can definitely tell theyre similar enough)

and angel's design is soooort of inspired by ALyCE's from dohna dohna (saying sort of cause theres also a design made by my friend @ pyokirio for her that also had alyce as a set ref when we talked ab it) (alyce's ref + angel's old ref with arts from pyo as well below) ((dont look into dd if you justh heard ab it in this post, its also a r18 game))

i also dont really have refs or anything for many sonas of mine, some i just go off and design the clothes myself, maybe theyre inspired by things i own irl, or some fit i saw once somewhere and totally misremember, but that makes it more unique guess ! i can make a whole post ab sonas i had thru the years that i put more life into if you really wanna see more designs from me given i dont exactly use ocs though i have over 200 of em 😭 but also thank you for the kind words !!

[projectshadovv]

Can you tell us more about your fursona?

im gonna assume you mean Blank, my albino white shepherd!

Blank’s original name was Raven. i wanted a “dark” name to contrast her light appearance, like Shadow, or Shade, or Coal, or Smokey, but i went with Raven, i dont know why but i did!

i chose a white german shepherd because i was currently obsessed with Bolt, the disney movie!! its still one of my all time fav movies. 

I made her super plain white, turquoise eyes taken from the anime character Toshiro Hitsuguaya from Bleach (i always thought his eyes were the most BEAUTIFUL shade of blue EVER...)

i was also really into bandanas and camo patterns, specifically gray camo, thus ending up with THIS:

she wasn’t my main fursona then, i had a different character, but she was one of the many i had. i didnt draw her much, cause i liked complicated, fun designs, and she wasnt all that fun to draw. i mostly drew her in vent art cause it was the easiest, and she was more of a serious character (dont let that smile fool you)

When i finally up’d her to my main sona, i added a SHIT load of gear to her. this was during the era of making fun of wolf a boos and sparkledogs. they were major cringe, and i took great pride in NOT having such a colorful, blinding character. but she was STILL boring to draw, so what did i do?

GEARED HER UP BABEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i LOVE wearing hats, ofc i gave her one, including a spiked collar, and her gray bandana. wristbands, a ...bandage? i liked to wear as if i had some sort of wound, gave her an ipod arm band (including headphones), a sticker (it mightve actually been meant to be a TATTOO?) with my favorite number (11), and on her right shoulder an LOL face sticker, earrings, a chained wristband along her leg wristbands cause i played LOZ twilight princess and i liked the chain on Wofl Links leg, AND............A CHAIN...HARNESS?? oh also changed her eyes to red. cause red eyes were badass.

i almost NEVER drew her harness tho. FUCK CHAINS...

i changed my fursona again tho, to a lil fennec fox named Zenka. i made Raven more of a High school persona kinda of character, and also for vent again. i updated her designs but kept a lot of stuff on her still, i was really attached to a buncha her stuff. got rid of the chains and wrist bands and the stickers. combined her collar and bandana, made a camo printed collar, gave her a KITTY HAT i loved these types of hats back then!!! i collected the hell out of them! i gave her a pink nose, green eyes, and black faded tip tail (i played okami recently ghfdk). oh and i actually learned a bit of anatomy, so she looks more like an actual shepherd dog.

(got a tablet recently. did i mention the ones before were drawn with a mouse? its all tablet drawings from here on out)

i drew these only a few years ago for funsies, but this is a side by side comparison

i started to FINALLY become attached to Raven, but i wasnt feeling her green eyes, and i was starting to love pink. minus the black tipped tail, which i forgot (or maybe i didnt cause this was when i got the albino idea), here is when i officially started the process to permanently changing her design to what it is today. i also noticed i had a nick on my left ear, so its been an official staple of all my fursonas designs ever since.

made her a new anthro form that i ended up NEVER drawing after i made this cause i had no idea how to design clothes. disclaimer, ive NEVER smoked but i thought it was Cool(tm) back then, so id draw my sonas smoking. at least smoking rainbows didnt sound or look so deadly. OH and teh declawed design idea comes from when i started working in the job industry and bc of it i have bouts of joint and muscle pain every now and then, possibly arthritis, who can a afford a doctor and official diagnoses these days. and the effect of declawing animals shares the same symptoms, so i use it as a little hidden tid bit.

fast forward a bit, new ref 2015

i finally came out being a lesbian and its just been good designs since then. LOOK AT HER LIL FLUFF HEAD

new ref in 2017, finally new official name!! took getting some used to. i had a childhood friend who was considered a bad influence/bad seed child, but i enjoyed her company, and loved the name she picked for herself Blank.

besides liking the name, its “””””””symbolic”””””””” as seen in the second pic, a ref sheet i tried making earlier this year

(also ditched the ink stained tail design idea, nvr used it. now its just a silver tipped tail)

and HERE WE ARE NOW!!!!

THE COMEBACK OF THE GRAY CAMO............ anyways thank for hearing me out!!! ilove this girl so much

[blublendrawsold-blog]

If you watch me on twitter, you'll know that this is one of the two sona's i was killing myself over to draw. THIS SONA went through like 19 design phases. I am beyond happy to finally finish this damn ref only to remember I have 2 more characters to go. :')))))))

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Name: Rhea Len-Bati (Ree-ah Len-bah-tee)

Race: Mirialan

Born 47 BBY- 28 yrs old by Episode 3 Height: 5'6" (1.68m) (here's to hoping i grow 3 inches taller by the time im 28 lmao) Pronouns: She/ Her Specialty:   -Cloaking: with enough concentration, she can trick other's into not being able to see her physically and thus turning invisible. -Sense: She's incredible at sensing the emotions of others amongst hyper sensitivity to other things. Battle Style: Mostly defense. Longer lightsaber. Holds it forward. Large swings. Many maneuvers and spins. Stronger to Force than to combat. Personality: tame, level headed, responsible, respectful, obsessive, determined, weak to flattery (I havent watched the Clone Wars or Rebels yet, so some things might change whenever i get more info.) BG: Rhea was born on the planet of Mirial. Her mother passed away some time after her birth and her father, who couldn't raise her by himself, gave her away to an orphanage of sorts. Rhea was much too young to remember them but later accepted her life peacfully in her new home. She was 4 years old when she met a Togruta Jedi Master who was visiting Mirial for a short period of time on a job. Upon meeting the Jedi, who seemed to have spotted hidden talent in the child, Rhea's curiosity about the Force and how it worked made them grow close to the point that they were inseparable at the time. A few weeks in of the Jedi's visit, she had found herself being told by the Mirialan headmasters that she was to be transported with said Jedi to another planet to begin her training. That Jedi Master was Zinto Ailé.

Unbeknownst to Rhea, through Zinto's strong ability to sense complex energies and fluctuations in the Force, she had felt the threat of a waging war between Mirial and some other party. Zinto's fear of losing Rhea and her potential, struck the Master enough to have her ask permission to bring the soon-to-be student from her home world to Coruscant.

Zinto returned to the Capital and requested the Council for two things; having the young child study in the Temple, and to one day be the Master to fulfill Rhea's Jedi training into knighthood. They agreed for the first but insisted that for the second, Zinto would have to wait. At the time, the Master had been teaching her 13 year old Padawan, Lu, so she was left with no choice but to have Rhea study for many years on Coruscant until her current Padawan became a knight. Somewhere between those years, Rhea had heard that Mirial had gone to War, but with it, the news that Zinto had gone to fight alongside them.   At the age of 13, she became the Padawan of Master Ailé. There were many problems that surfaced from having Rhea's Master be non-Mirialan and go against the tradition. However, Zinto had spoken to Master Yoda and he saw that under her teachings, Rhea would become well learned. Through all their training and time spent together, Zinto fails to touch on the subject of 'the Mirialan War' and Rhea's knowledge of it all is still very vague.

Once she was 23, she became a full Jedi Knight. Many of her missions were partnered up with, who she considered practically her sibling, Lu. She only carried out so many objectives for the Jedi Council until 2 years later, the Clone Wars began where Rhea immediately joined military forces as a Jedi General. General Kenobi had offered to train her on his own missions until she was prepared to command the clones herself. She and Obi-Wan had known each other since she had first come to the Temple as a child. They spent time together as good friends until they would have to go their separate ways, him becoming a Master and training Anakin, and her becoming a Padawan. Rhea spent months grasping as much experience as she could before she was confident enough to be called General Rhea. Much of her time was spent on the battlefield more than anything. During those years, she failed to keep in contact with neither Lu or Zinto. She plans to see them, once the war is over and in hopes that they understand. Her clones change from time to time, but her main clone soldier and friend is Commander Kollin.

---------------- Some facts: -Rhea and Lu are both derivative of my last names. (Both a piece of my mom's last name, which I tend to use a lot, and the straight up pronunciation of real last name) -Rhea has almost no sense of personal space and sometimes touches peoples faces or hair out of the blue. She finds no awkwardness in touch. -She likes braiding people's hair as a sign of intamacy. (Platonic or romantic) The longer you keep the braid together, the better she believes the relationship is. -I'm making her a hugger because??? I love hugs so?? -She hates office politics. The war she understands, but she'd rather be shot in battle than listen to a debate in the Galactic Senate Chamber. (even if it does look cool) -She's more passive aggressive than direct. -Her biggest struggles is fear, anger, and control. ------------------- This sona is a parallel to another sona by the name of Varia (vaRHEA GET IT????) Zinto's originally from my Fantasy AU Kollin's originally from Mass Effect but he's still my baby SORRY THIS IS SO DANG LONG

I've had this sona and the supporting characters in my pocket for MONTHS now and its taken me forever because drawing fullbodies and writing coherent backgrounds are the bane of my existence. The good thing to come out of this tho is that I've drawn a shit ton of sketches and images about these characters that I get to bombard everyone once all the info's out yay! Spoiler alert i make Rhea and Obi Wan smooch. Im not sure how, but we'll get there. -Thanks for looking and reading!