#i hope one day i'm able to make commissions for people with traditional art

[oklotea]

I wish I never made eye contact with you.

RAAGHHHHHHH LET'S SEE THIS THING REACH 13 NOTES!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOHOOOOO THANK YOU FOR ALL OF YOU WHO ARE HERE I HOPE Y'ALL ARE HAVING A GOOD EVENING!!!!!!

TROLLS NOIRE AU BY THE AMAZING @artroc-ity !!!!! READ COLD CASE OF MY HEART TODAY!!!!!!!!!

[writingquestionsanswered]

I don't know if this question will make sense or if it's too vague, but here goes: how do I get my OCs to feel more like blorbos? With my favorite characters from books/movies/etc, I go feral about them, I want to put them in jars and poke them with sticks and see what makes them tick. But with my original writing, I'll have ideas for stories but despite following all the traditional advice for fleshing out character motivation, flaws, etc, I keep finding myself horribly bored with my own characters. This might be too vague to answer because what makes a blorbo for one person won't necessarily be the same thing that makes another person go feral, but I was wondering if you happened to have any thoughts on what keeps my OCs feeling so un-blorbo-ish? Thanks!

"Blorbo-izing" an Original Character

Quick question to start with: have you ever cast your characters with real actors or models, or commissioned an artist to create character art of your character? I feel like it's a fairly common thing for writers to do these days, but I'm still always surprised by the number of writers who don't do this.

I have a post about casting here (Guide: Casting Your Characters) but here I'll just say that, for me, casting or getting character art made is an essential part of "blorbo-izing" my characters. I spend lots of time creating and fleshing out my characters before I ever cast them or have character art made, but they almost never feel completely real to me until I have a visual representation of the character that exists outside of my own head.

Outside of that, I thing it's a really good idea to do some character development exercises that go beyond the scope of your story. Some of my favorites include:

Character Interview - imagine that you’ve pulled your character out of a story into the room and now have the opportunity to interview them. What questions would you ask them? What do you want to know about them that you don’t already know? What do you think the reader would want to know? What might be pertinent to the story that you haven’t thought about yet?

TV Crew follow around - Imagine you’ve dropped an invisible TV crew into your story’s world to follow your character around through an average day (even if it's anachronistic). Follow them from the moment they wake up until the moment they go to bed that night. What are they like when they wake up? What is their morning routine? What do they eat for breakfast? How do they get ready? What do they do throughout the day? Who do they interact with? What else do they eat and drink? What do they do for fun or relaxation? How to they make money or meet their basic needs? What is their bedtime routine like?

Letters or Journal Entries - Look at your character's back story, off-screen events, etc. and find something for your character to write about in a journal entry or a letter to another character. What would they say about this event? How does it make them feel? What do they think about it?

Use Your Character in a Writing Prompt - Look at some writing prompts and do one using your character as the main character. You can keep it within your story's world or plop them into a whole different world. Whatever works for you and your story. This is about getting to know this character in a different context than the events of your story provides.

Create a Character Mood Board/Aesthetic - Mood boards go a long way in mentally fleshing out a character for me. Being able to have a visual representation of their style, their vibe, things that are important to them, etc. really turns them into real people in my mind.

Create a Playlist for Your Character - I think playlists can also be a really great way to mentally flesh out a character in your mind. Sometimes, just having a particular song or a playlist of songs that makes you think of them gives them some dimension they wouldn't otherwise have.

I hope that helps!

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I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

♦ Questions that violate my ask policies will be deleted! ♦ Please see my master list of top posts before asking ♦ Learn more about WQA here

[dreadfutures]

Inquisitor Ixchel Lavellan | art by @whoisnotmyname

I commissioned Mumford for a portrait and item collection for my Inquisitor and I highly recommend you do the same! I'm so happy with how my wall of muscle Champion turned out, and her items are rendered better than I could have imagined! Seeing them all laid out on her Champion's Standard makes them feel so real!

Item descriptions under the cut.

Champion's Standard. Behind everything is Ixchel's Standard, which Vivienne designed to reflect her Dalish identity and her presence as the Inquisitor. It features a modified version of the Dirthamen vallaslin, and the Inquisition eye/sword.

Chromatic Greatsword (modified). In my fic, Ixchel discovers a stash of ancient weapons from Andruil's own armory. Among them was a chromatic greatsword, which she modified with schematics from the Sulevin Blade to honor the Dalish warriors who came before her. She can deactivate the glowing blade when not in use.

Longsword. Someday she will lose her arm and no longer be able to wield the heavy greatswords that made her career. Instead, she adapts to one-handed use of more mundane blades. She knows she will lose her arm, so she carries this with her and practices with it in preparation for that day.

Dalish Banner Crown. This was something she's had since day 1 of my Inquisition playthroughs and has become synonymous with her leading troops into battle. She carries the banner with her against their foes, and brings it with her to audiences with human monarchs to make it impossible for them to forget she is a member of a race they tried to subjugate and exterminate.

Hart's Decorated Bridle. The people of Halamshiral's alienage, a mix of elves and impoverished humans, presented a special white hart to her when she arrived for the ball at the Winter Palace. He was given to her with ribbons and paintings on him to symbolize her Dalish roots, but in the traditions of Orlesian alienages. He is a proud and fancy beast and his bridle matches him.

Dorian's Talking Crystal. It no longer works--it's from her first life, in a world and timeline that no longer exist, but she keeps it anyway as a reminder. Even until the day she died, Dorian tried to hold on to her, his dearest friend.

Health Potions. Every good hero needs them!

Flemeth's Gifted (Mask). In my fic, Briala received an Orlesian courtesan's mask from a mysterious witch with directions to give it to Ixchel. The mask helped Ixchel blend in with the human crowd in Wycome on her infiltration mission. Only if one looks very, very closely can you see the subtle carvings of Mythal's own vallaslin, marking Ixchel as Dalish--and, perhaps, marking Flemeth's designs upon her future.

Spilled Deathroot Potion. Ixchel began her story with this potion--but she will not meet that end again.

Ardent Blossoms (Marigold Crown). In my fic, marigolds are an ancient symbol of Champions' dedication to their causes and their lords. Ghilan'nain wore them in honor of Andruil when she was but her honored priestess. The cempasúchil symbolize a bond to, and beyond, death. Cole found these, the Ardent Blossom, and Ixchel has named herself Champion of the People--not Champion of a lord, or a cause, but Champion of all those who need someone to fight for them. They have become a symbol everywhere of fighting for equal rights, and others wear them in their hair to show that they're willing to take the fight to the end.

Gingko Earrings. Ginkgo symbolize hope, and hope for peace, in my continuity. They've become a symbol she wears often in my art.

Halla Horn Comb. Ixchel was actually adopted by the Dalish Clan Lavellan, after growing up as a feral child in the wilderness. One of the dearest memories she has of the Clan is of the First, Terinelan, teaching her how to braid her hair. She has kept the halla horn comb ever since.

Hair Ribbon. Same as the above. In Dalish tradition, she made this ribbon and embroidered it herself.

Puzzle Ring. Given to her in the future of my fic by Solas. It's a puzzle for her ingenuity, but it's also a promise of dedication and return.

Raven Feather. Symbolizing Dirthamen, and her role as "Kin-Finder," a great title given to her upon receiving her vallaslin and acknowledging that she has uncovered, and returned, so many elven secrets lost to history due to the hardships they faced since the fall of Elvhenan.

[veryfandomobsessed]

Finally, a blog introduction!

About Me!

Hi! You can call me DJ or VFO! I am a minor, older than 4 of course so please stay aware of that. The only Socials I have are just a Tumblr and a Discord. But if I ever do get more I will add it here! I love all types of animation, mostly cartoons and stuff but I will probably have a main focus on a show but that doesn't mean I don't still love the others. Something that I will also do is draw my persona, usually in response to an ask but it represents basically my reaction to things, and yes sometimes I will be lazy and not draw the glasses and sometimes I will so interpret it how you wanna. I am definitely a big music freak so if you wanna suggest anything I'm all ears! I am Latina but I do not know Spanish despite me taking it for 5+ years but currently I've been learning Japanese. I also love plenty of stuff in the ocean and anything that's ancient lookin. I'm pretty laid back but somehow also hyper and I could yap about a character or something specific for hours, but I can hold back. I can't really think of anything else to say about myself so..

About the blog!

I started this blog about 2 years ago and it has been quite the journey from where I started to where I am now, with posting nothing to actually starting to serve up the art that I brew up. This is quite a multi-fandom Art Blog that might focus more on one thing more than others so just a heads up. Enjoy your time here and request stuff when my requests are open! If my ask box says requests closed, it doesn't mean you can't ask me questions. Spam liking is fine, don't worry if your doing to much, it's silly to see!!! Maybe sometime in the future I might make another blog for whatever, specific art, an ask blog, anything along those lines, there will also be occasional reblogs from some of my folk, not folk, and chains.This account is SFW!!

My Art!

Noticeably I put "VFO" on all my pieces of art that I post, if any of it gets reposted or taken without credit please let me know! I work hard on some of the art I do. Adding to the requests things I am busy and don't always have the time or energy to draw them, so if I have time and energy to I will do them! I also might do commissions sooner or later when I figure out a good way to do it. I do both traditional and digital, I mainly use my finger on my phone to draw but I'm trying to do stuff more on a tablet and such! Everyday I'm doing more to improve my art and try to learn as much as I can. My art style ranges a lot but I do try and keep it consistent. sometimes it can look like an entirely different person drew it but whether I draw something cutesy one day and something intense the next day I swear it's still me,I'm just trying to find what style or thingy I'm more used to. Only occasionally there will be blood and stuff included in my art but I will always but a TW to make sure people have a heads up. I also typically use more lighter colors for my drawings but sometimes I will change it so the lines are harsher (ex: black instead of the usual brown I use). You are free to ask me for tips and tricks or questions you have about my art because I love helping and giving some creative ideas!

Thats it!

I hope you have a wonderful Day or Night wherever you may be! Or mid day! Or evening! Military time hour your at!!!

Extra info below:

Discord

To be able to contact my discord, you would have to be somebody who I've interacted with before and I know you're safe to chat with. you can send me your tag in asks WITHOUT being anonymous or in the Tumblr chat so it is clear and confirmed. it is completely my choice if I decide to add you or not.

If there is more info I can think about, I will add it in my next edit, this was made 7/31/24.

Recent Edit: none

[mochibuni]

There's two major things I want to talk about this month, my annual art resolutions for 2024 and my work goals for this year.

Art resolutions!

I don't feel like I really kept to any of my resolutions last year because it was a such a trash fire I was trying to just survive. That said, I did still try to push myself in areas I'm less skilled and comfortable in because ultimately I want to be a better artist-- I just also indulged myself a lot.

Truthfully I intend to keep indulging myself, at least for the beginning of the year. I'm still dealing with frozen shoulder, in both of my shoulders now, and I've been told to prepare for that to take up to a year or even longer to resolve itself. Mentally I'm also struggling, however I'm going to make some changes I'll explain in a minute that I hope will help a lot. So I'm going to keep drawing whatever I feel like drawing, and if that includes challenging myself, I'll do it. If it's just more people heads on horses, then that's what it's going to be.

So my resolution is to enjoy the process as much as possible, which means...

I've discussing my work goals and attitude towards them on my Patreon. Again all blog posts are free to read. I know I keep doing the HURHUR read more on Patreooonnn bit with all my posts and I hope you all forgive me for that and understand why, but I think with the nature of this particular post, I will be offering the rest of it under a cut here. So you don't have to go to Patreon to read the rest of it, just find it below.

Work Goals!

I feel like I failed all the goals I set for myself. I don't think my goals were unreasonable, but I think I'm being inflexible and unforgiving with myself. I thought viewing drawing as my job was the best way to give me purpose and structure since I can no longer work the traditional jobs I had, but one of the main reasons I burned out and lead to some of my disabilities is because I always threw myself into my work. Even when my work was poor according to my standards, it was still too much, because I felt that was my worth.

I haven't been able to transition out of that mindset, so no mater how much I tell myself it's okay to not meet my goals or to make smaller ones or just count the progress I do have-- I think focusing at all growth and progress is actually hurting me more than I had realized. Maybe one day I can think about freelancing and streaming as a job, and this isn't to say I won't continue to be professional about it in my commissions and conduct, but for now I need to go back to viewing art as a hobby where my primary concern is sharing joy with others.

I'm still going to take commissions, I'm still going to stream, I'm still going to sell my work, I'm still going to be prompt and communicative with clients, I'm just going to not stream if I feel poor and tell myself to not feel guilty about it. If I need to not draw for whatever reason, to just not draw, because I don't need to make content for the sake of growth and goals and whatever. Basically I'm going to try my best this year to focus on my health and what I need to do to get better. It's taken me three years since I've become seriously ill to decide it's okay to focus on me and not have overwhelming guilt and shame for it, so I'm going to take that energy and use it as best I can in 2024.

I'm not sure what that means for the future of my Patreon. I'll never choose to stop drawing, so I can't image not keeping up with the 2 to 4 content posts a month as planned. If anything I hope focusing on my health will encourage me to draw more, bring back more polls and feedback posts for you all. So I think things, for now, will largely remain unchanged, and let's just hope in the future I can do more.

What are your creative goals for 2024? Something specific or more general? Let's make some joy together this year!

[inestheunicorn]

Your art style is absolutely incredible. One of the most beautiful styles I've discovered in this day and age (no kidding!) 😅

I have two questions for you:

1. Are we able to make public commissions? If so, I was thinking a drawing of Kiki from Kiki Delivery Service in your art style - if not, perhaps I can request if at some point in commissions 🌱

2. Do you know any other artists with a somewhat similar art style to yours? 💡

Also, I love how your art has developed over the years! 🎨🖌️ Keep at it, as long as it brings you joy. I know one thing for certain it brings many people joy in their hearts. You are making many people happy alone by just sharing your work! 🫂💗

I almost missed your message! So sorry for taking so long to reply!

1 - I'm not sure what you mean by public commissions, but my commissions are open most of the time ♥ at the moment I'm still finishing my current commissions, so I'm only saving new requests into the waiting list, but you can check all the info here: https://inestheunicorn.bigcartel.com/commissions

2 - If you're looking for more artists with a cosy/wholesome/cottagecore vibe, here are some of my faves:

*in bold are those currently active on tumblr*

Jemlington - cute cats + people who live in a English-style Village

Cheyenne Barton - cute + colourful cartoony art

GhostPuff - cosy gouache illustrations

Kiki Nordstrom - cosy and wholesome art

Veronica Prolier - the cutest art that wakes your inner child

Nicole Josephine - super cute and cosy art

CarrieDraw - girls with classy clothes

Ash Elizabeth - the cutest cottagecore handmade accessories

Depflore - frogs and magical creatures in traditional illustrations

Ohkayyay - gouache illustrations and doodles

Taryn Knight - simply perfect art with Autumn/Winter vibes

Loon Pflug - warm botanical art

Bird - for all the birb lovers out there

That was a big list, but I hope it helps anyone looking for cool artists to follow! ♥