#i like this style it's messy and it's fun to do in character illustrations

[keepitdreamin]

I don't think I ever posted these but this campaign just had a big battle tonight (we won but it looked pretty dicey for a minute) and made me think about them again. After our first game, I decided that my character Coinin, a harengon paladin, keeps like a nature journal where he does watercolor illustrations of his adventures, so then I actually made it (mainly so I could do little character portraits of everybody)

[oaksandbirch]

Divine champion of Sune - The Tiefling Temptation from my dnd campaign ✨

[monteruu]

posting this way after everyone else but it was fun to do :)

[image id: mini digital illustrations of various characters from homestuck in a grid format with 9 squares.

square 1: closeup of john egbert and jade harley both smiling. jade is excitedly hugging john and squishing the sides of their faces together. text above them saying "fav betas!!!".

square 2: roxy lalonde smiling widely while posing with one hand tucked under her face and her other arm raised high like she's waving. her pink scarf is trailing behind her. text next to her says "fav alpha" with a winking emoticon.

square 3: kanaya maryam holding the matriorb with both of her hands off to the side and she has a nonplussed expression. text next to her says "Favorite Beta Troll".

square 4: close up of terezi pyrope smiling deviously and messy hair that covers parts of her face. text beside her says "don't really look like her but i vibe with her hardcore lol".

square 5: portrait of artist drawn in the hero mode style. they have long curly hair held back by a green bandana with matching green glasses. his shirt has a green apple. text next to them says "das me" with an arrow pointing towards them.

square 6: john egbert is floating in his god tier outfit as his hood flows around him. he has a small smile and his hands interlocked over his chest in a relaxed pose. text underneath him says "love this one a whole lot <3".

square 7: john egbert and dave strider drawn in a variation of their sprite style. john is looking over at dave while smiling with his arms behind his back and one foot kicking up. dave has his hands in his pockets and is sweating. text above them says "fav ship johndave no contest".

square 8: kanaya maryam and jade harley next to each other with jade leaning one arm onto kanaya's shoulder and both of them smiling at each other. kanaya is wearing her green dress outfit with a gray turtleneck underneath and a pink waist sash. jade is wearing her winter outfit with a red puffy jacket and electric blue dress and black leggings. she is wearing her lunchbox headphones as well. text above them says "fav outfits" with a smiling emoticon.

square 9: alpha rose with purple yarn wrapped around her fists and posed for battle. text beside her says "Fav guardian Alpha Rose". end image id]

(original layout under the cut)

[glavilio]

One of my favorite fun historical through lines is that the original co-illustrator for Dick and Jane who also co-created the branding for Elmers Glue is also very likely the indirect but influential progenitor of a great majority of furry art and culture. and he doesn't even have a wikipedia page. The story is as follows:

A team of designers create Elsie the cow as the mascot of the Borden dairy company, later giving her a husband named Elmer in branding. Elsie was extraordinarily popular and was portrayed in tons of print advertising and even licensed media. The most well-remembered and beloved of these advertisements were done by a popularly unknown and uncredited illustrator named Keith Ward together with a great deal of other commercial illustrations

(Ward's early work in commercial illustration: children's books and advertising)

The scale of ward's contribution to Elsie and Elmer is somewhat murky, particularly since most credits go to the contributors with greater status at Borden. Personally, I see it as largely a collaboration between Ward and several unknown others under art director David William Reid.

(Ward's work vs Reid's work)

Elsie eventually fell out of popular consciousness after rebranding, but Elmer lives on as the mascot of Elmer's glue, originally a subsidiary of Borden as glue could be produced as a byproduct of industrial dairy. Modern Elmer's glue is synthetic, but retains the iconic mascot and design.

(Elmer's evolution from a more Ward-like design its current iteration)

Ward would later go on to illustrate for an American adaptation of Reynard the Fox by Harry J. Owens, again, miraculously uncredited on the cover. His name appears once, on the title page, and the lavish biography on the back of my copy fails to even mention the illustrations.

(Ward's work for the Scandalous Adventures of Reynard the Fox)

These works are particularly notable as much later, Ken Anderson of Disney was working on conceptualizing a Disney adaptation of Reynard, which is a very interesting and messy story for another time. In short, he and his team drew many inspirations from many many places, but with Ward being relatively more known and respected in the industry and having worked on a Reynard book in a similar style to what Disney wanted, his work was one of the most influential on the development of the film. The Reynard part was eventually scrapped (those who are familiar with the story and character will not be surprised), but a lot of the designs and even layouts were reused for Robin Hood. If you've ever wondered why they made him a fox, that's why.

(Bill Peet's and Ken Anderson's Reynards bear a striking resemblance to Ward's)

There's a lot more to the inspiration than just the designs, many plot points and layouts from Reynard, and their depictions by Ward, remain in Robin Hood (they unfortunately do not fit in this post). Its likely that finding such a clear starting point for their film in Ward's book had a hand in salvaging the Disney Reynard project and leading to the complete, although troubled, completion and release of Robin Hood.

And the rest is furstory! While there are certainly many other Disney animal features that have made their mark on the fandom, Robin Hood's influence is particularly notable for being the most popular of the most anthropomorphic animal-focused animations in contrast to the commercial underdogs of the Great Mouse Detective and many of Don Bluth's films, and more conventionally presented talking animals like those of the Aristocats and the Jungle Book. Isn't that interesting!

[aoki553]

GRGRGRGRG FINALLY AN OPPORTUNITY TO INFODUMP ABT HIM!!! tysm @makifishcake and prepare for a long ramble abt best boy ever (to me) and why saijun is real... let's start with an introduction to a canon crossover character only The Loser (me) cares about! this is gonna get messy in writing near the end cuz its like 3 am for me rn.

Kouno Jun is one of the two protagonists of Asou-sensei's older work, Our Hero Studies and is one of Haganeno Ken's students at Holy Lance Academy (a private school that either exists the same town as Saiki or some neighboring one)

The only translated OHS chapters so far show us who Jun and Haganeno are as characters. Kouno Jun's a generic tsukkomi high school student with normal teenage boy interests and crushes... he's baby and a total boyfail.

Jun likes video games (Kaisou Monogatari, an in-universe franchise), ramen, melon soda and Yayumi - the class rep. Pretty normal dude that's just being constantly bothered by his classmates and the teacher he hates...

...and then there's Haganeno Ken - THE delusional cosplayer hero wannabe teacher with huge interest in roleplaying and RPG video games, who immediately takes a liking to Jun, mainly for his name (his name means shield, while Haganeno's mean sword. you see where i'm going?)

most of the ohs panels will be machine translated cuz i have no strength or motivation to continue my actual translation work ngnhnh one day maybe... 😔

He may look like a generic high school shonen manga protagonist, but it's actually really charming to me how adorable he can be despite the boring presentation lolol HIS CRUSH ON YAYUMI IS SO CUTE UGHNHNH

And yeah of course he shows up in Saiki bc WHY WOULDNT HE???

Asou-sensei put him there twice. In the Christmas chapter where he's walking with a girl (MOST LIKELY YAYUMI), sees Kusuo sitting alone and being like "haha that's so sad to be lonely on christmas lmao"... EXCEPT ITS HILARIOUS CUZ HE DOES THE SAME THING IN HIS OWN MANGA'S CHRISTMAS CHAPTER.

and in the Hero Studies crossover chapter, right at the end as an unused character. (wouldn't make sense to have two tsukkomis there tbh so i get it lolol)

Same thing happens in the anime except Jun in the Christmas episode wasn't animated like he's an actual pre-existing character, except just a background character so he looks different but has the same jacket with his initials so its definitely him.

so here's all his screentime:

his terrible sense of style was referenced by Takeru at one point as well. yes, Jun dresses terrible and he has outfits much worse than this. hes a loser and i love him

okay but what's with the saijun thing? orz

basically its a silly ship me and my lovely sweetest gf (@lu-kario ) came up with and it kinda stuck around. "omg haha what if the two protagonists from different manga dated" but yeah it became an actual thing with thought out scenarios between us.

Me saying it'd be like satousai but Kusuo finds someone "normal" with actual personality would be not giving this ship enough justice. I can't tell much rn cuz I forget 90% of the stuff i make up unless i write it down BUT all i'll say is that

I like to imagine Jun and Kusuo having a calm and nice relationship, lots of quality time spent playing video games or going out to get some ramen together. Kusuo gets to have someone more usual by his side and Jun isn't likely to be bothered by Ken when Kusuo is around (:3).

and yeah, they do get another scene together in volume zero! how lovely! the christmas episode is also one of the reasons i find the ship cool but even despite the sillies having canon scenes and illustrations together i like it simply for fun.

canon crossover ships are cool and epic

my final words: go read ohs its fully in japanese online and 5 chapters are in english so far.

seriously go read it the fandom doesn't exist its really lonely.

and if you care abt our hero studies u can motivate me in the ask box, gimme a kick on the butt so i go and translate this work again after like a year or more of hiatus

[sciderman]

How did you find your art style??

oh, buddy – it's something that happens so, so accidentally... i don't really think about it, it just shifts and changes and i do what i think looks cool, and i focus my energy on the bits i enjoy the most or the bits that i want to get really good at - for me, i'm obsessed with facial expressions and getting good performances out of the characters i draw, so that's where i focus all my effort - i do a lot of people-watching - which helps with capturing personalities, but also really helps in loosening your lines because it's a time-sensitive practice - you have to get your lines down as quickly as possible before your subject runs away...

doing a LOT of quick drawings is the quickest way to get a nice loose line, and i kind of love my lines these days. my lines used to be so rough and messy - which had a lot to do with my equipment - i was working on a tiny, screenless graphics tab

nowadays all my illustrations are done on an iPad - and so i get much more control over my line (sexy) (very good)

the raddest cooliest thing about running this blog for nigh on a decade is that i've kind of got a record of how my art style evolved over the years!

i think one of the most fun things i've noticed is how much it changed over the hiatus - i think my art was very influenced by contemporary marvel comics before the hiatus, it was the bulk of what i read, so my art was so very cinematic.

during the hiatus i took a massive step away from marvel - i was still reading comics, but fell head over heels with the scrooge mcduck comics. i don't think there's any art in the world that's more sweet and appealing to me than those ducks - the simple, bouncy lines and easily readable expressions - it's oh. it's so nice.

i think it fed a lot into my art post-hiatus - that, and having worked in animation a LOT since then, my art's kind of got a more cartoony approach - with Character Consistency! (something that used to be my mortal enemy, pre-animation career.)

working in animation, you start considering things like character silhouettes and appeal, and ways to make characters distinct and their designs sort of be reflective of their personalities - all really fun things that i've been playing with.

i do want to foray back into more cinematic art again - maybe find a way to marry the two - but for now, i think the cartoony art really suits the more slice-of-life stories i'm telling with wade and peter at the moment. and i love their silly, silly faces.

[bettertwin1]

I wanna attempt at drawing, but I have literally no clue how to start, so do you have any tips?

OUGH, we're not the right person to ask we just do stuff and hope it looks okay enough to post...

Personally though, the way we started was by watching tutorial videos (you guys would have better tutorials now, so this works out in your favor!!) and we kept trying over and over again until we got the product we wanted (This was traditional though)!! We also traced, alot, i mean the desperate press of the paper against the computer screen type tracing (again, you guessed it! Traditional practice!)

For digital, we just did whatever and kept hoping it would come out looking okay, we mostly learned from watching others and studying their artstyles and trying to replicate it so I have no advice for that either...unless that counts as advice...

We never really did the recommended things like studying (text book studies about poses and light and expressions and stuff) but you definitely should! Don't be like us cause honestly not knowing those things are a genuine struggle and makes art a lil harder than it needs to be. Also go crazy with your style! Don't stick to one thing, branch out, get silly, draw anime, draw cartoon, draw realism, draw whatever! Do illustrations, poses, character designs, perspective arts...

It helps a lot in the long run!!

And don't get upset with yourself if you aren't 'great' at it immediately, don't give up just keep trying! Don't compare yourself to others either! It's hard not to but instead try studying them, figure out what you could do better by looking at others!

Art is meant to be fun and silly! It doesn't need to be perfect, art is the most imperfect perfect form of media meaning it doesn't matter how simple or how complicated or messy or 'terrible' or glamorous the art is, in the end, it's all art, and someone out there is going to absolutely love it! Even when you don't sometimes! :>

They will see two cakes!

I hope this helps! Goodluck ♡!!

~☆

[17mujipens]

the dragon prince season 5 live thoughts:

the way Rayla constantly has the weight of the world and her parents and her personal relationship and then the world again on her shoulders is insane

Terry is bf goals, he really saw his girl having a meltdown and was like here are some nice textures. autism wins again

Callum really was like ‘my girl can commit any crime she wants :)’

that little bug elf person is so scary for no reason

loooove the dragon designs. like every time we see a dragon i’m fascinated

im so glad that in-universe people understand that Ezran is just a kid. like its heartbreaking but i’m glad it is discussed

side note but Corvus and Soren are def fucking and Corvus is not proud of it

i love how everyone is experiencing trauma and Rayla and Callum are in some second chance romance fluffy story

THEYRE SO CUTEEEE

VIREN mindscape

that scene between King Harrow and Viren genuinely has me hyperventilating

oh Harrow is that bird for sure for sure

oh to have a partner as dedicated to your success as Terry….

baby Soren is such a sweetie!!!!! im gonna cry

oh even more beautiful dragons

i totally forgot that Aarovos whispered something to the previous queen and now that intrigue is back

i feel like i gotta stop saying something every time Terry does/says something incredibly sweet because we’ll be here for so long

they keep reiterating how important family is to Viren and i mean it’s not a necessarily new characteristic but it’s more intense now. like the way morality doesn’t exist when it concerns them. before it was all for power and now its all for them and it doesn’t matter that Soren is on the ‘enemy’ side so it has me thinking that something is going to happen to one of his children that will. result in either Viren’s self sacrifice or his betrayal of Aarovos

Amaya and Janai are so so real

OMG baby Claudia!

Callum and Rayla’s frustration over being forbidden from going to Lux Area is hilarious, especially how Callum gave a freaking illustration shdjjdbdb

Aunt Amaya is a real one

oh i just knooow Karim’s storyline is going to be so so messy

also this made me think. like what the fuck do you even do after you get banished. like where do you go

Claudia and Viren sinking and saving each other is mirrored is just muah delicious

Soren running away terrified Viren but Claudia turning out just like him is scaring him even more

Claudia is my wet cat pathetic but also op character

some eye of sauron shit in Lux Aurea

the nerd elf is so cute and way too innocent for all this bullshit

Aunt Amaya is a real one pt. 2

omg. didn’t i say Karim’s story is going to be insane

i feel like Amaya’s monologue about love is going to be so heartbreaking in a few episodes

i’m usually a throwback montage hater but this one is so cute and sweet and it really highlights just how much they’ve grown and how far these two have come

Stella is a little kleptomaniac. sweetie.

Karim is constantly misunderstanding things because of his own biases. like how he thought the Janai wouldn’t fight because he came to the conclusion that the throne doesn’t matter to her because she didn’t lead like he wanted her to. and now he thinks that what Sol Regem needs is sight when what he actually needs is hope

the ‘i would do anything for you’ is sounding scary in the context of we just heard that that’s what started Viren’s descend into darkness

the library fight sequence is great, always fun to see their different fighting styles and how the cooperate

but it also gave me so much anxiety because Amaya is exactly the character that’s important and beloved enough that the writers might decide to make her infected so we all suffer

Dragon Queen to the rescue!!! oh how powerful dragons are…

why are u always leaving Bait behind :( he’s just a baby :(

NO I SPOKE TOO SOON!!! AMAYAAA

AND CORVUS TOO??????? agony and pain in Xadia

oh and i totally forgot about the Queen herself!!!!

oh Viren’s brain is doing a full reset

EZRAN YOU SWEETHEART <33333

i’m obsessed with Tina already. her design and her grumpy old woman attitude

oh Terry and Claudia you will always be famous to me

Akiyu and Lujanne would be besties

‘ when your mind is telling you to speak, instead you must listen’ LMAO

i know this Bloodhuntress is evil, they even say this out loud but… she’s kinda hot, yeah?

im really hoping that they find some way to cure the dragon queen. we don’t need to preteen kings

that boat set up is terrifying. and way too similar to Charon to be comfortable

bright hope cove…or scumport

this made me realise how much i just need at least a short story or something on Rayla years alone

this is such a fun setting. i have a soft spot for these types of towns in stories

i NEED the reaction pic someone already should have made of Ezran and Bait after Finnegran announced the ship’s price

omg pirate return!!

Claudia my girl who is worse <3

baby glow toads are 80% eye and 20% body lol

oh another return appearance!! i hope Nyx’ll bring some interpersonal drama

yeah, and she’s already pushing Callum’s buttons lol

damn, Soren is strong as hell, swimming in armour

oof i think she shouldn’t trust Miyana, wasn’t she Karim’s lover?

now that i see the Bloodhuntress in daylight, i have to say im not a fan of her colour scheme BUT powers are so cool visually, this whole fight sequence is amazing

Callum is just so powerful… i feel like we forget it sometimes but he is the first human mage to use any primal magic and the scale of the spells he’s using here is just insane

ITS A FUCKING HERMIT CRAB?????

oh god seeing Anaya in pain and despair is somehow worse than anyone else. and seeing her grief turn into anger muah chefs kiss

why is this y-7 show giving me anxiety. i literally started watching this to relax and think about interesting fantasy concepts what’s all this!!

oh shit this intro has Callum in it. shits about to hit the fan

i feel like that sea shanty has to have some deeper meaning. i hope it’s not that they’re going to drown our heroes

WHY IS THERE TORTURE IN HERE!!!!

don’t get me wrong i’m a tragedy enjoyer, i should know that by now but holy shit i just wasn’t emotionally prepared for all this

Soren, himbo of all time

Finnergrin is a great character to contrast our heroes actually and push them over

HES FREEZING HER BLOOD

oh Callum :( i love those moments where his anger boils over but i also love how they show how that scares him

Finnegrin is putting Rayla in mortal danger…i HOPE Callum goes feral

oh yeah this is some serious levelling up!!! Go Callum!!!

Soren, sweetheart :( he really saw this wood man get treated like trash, recognised it and at great personal cost helped him free himself :) using his daddy issues for the greater good

oh wow that greater good is apparently killing! slay

i feel like i gotta say something about Callum using dark magic to free himself but god that’s just plain heavy

oh Zubeia is still grieving and she’s just going on for her kid :(((

it’s day 30, damon what a way to up the already high stakes

Ezran was so sure that the prison being underwater would stump them but they figured it out so quick

my one thing is, this is open sea, if they’re even approximately at the same place, shouldn’t they have seen each other?

Aaravos really says every single sentence like it’s some dirty talk. like bro is saying something about borrowing consciousness or whatever with the same voice u usually hear say some shit like ‘oh you like that?’

finally Claudia and Callum and Ezran meeting! the way she truly believes that the ends justify the means and that all that dark magic hasn’t had its affect on her… wow

OUR CHILD? this whole monologue has me in hysterics

also because like…if he didn’t say anything, and was just like ‘kill this homunculus and your life will be restored’ Viren probably would have done it

i fear that ultimately, Viren will be too little too late for Claudia. because while he turned into who he is while an adult, Claudia was raised to be like this. so if he tries to change her, it’d be a betrayal to her

yeah, see Claudia is even more extreme than her father. because she has nothing else besides him, there is not status or prestige, or brother, or anyone else. it’s just her and him

fucking hell, i KNEW Miyana wasn’t to be trusted!

i think Karim will have a devastating win in s6, but it’ll be short lived, because like i said before he lacks critical thinking

what the hell is this mushroom mage and how soon can he help us retake Lux Aurea

what the fuck did he mean by ‘swallow’

Claudia is literally destroying herself in her quest. like we know that dark magic is detrimental to not only your physical but also your mental health, like we saw with Viren, and Claudia’s hair, but now literally her leg is gone. how far will she go?

side note: i think that because Viren reset, that’s why all his mentality and soul came back and that’s why his morals are so much stronger than we ever saw them?

OH THATS JUST A CRAZY INSANE CRUEL PLACE TO FINISH THE SEASON WOW

[bergeronprocess]

10/18/24

I’m thinking a bit more about the themes behind one of this season’s magical girl anime shows, The Stories of Girls Who Couldn’t Become Magicians aka Mahonare.

There is a whole lot to like about this show. It has a really pretty color palette and visual style that feels a bit like a storybook illustrated with watercolor paintings. It’s a magic school show, but without the baggage of that one transphobic lady who wrote that one series of books. It has animals that look cute and make funny noises. The character designs are fun. The opening theme is a bop that gives me 90s anime song vibes and features Puffy - yes, from Hi Hi Puffy Amiyumi!

I think it’s also trying to say something interesting about the value of handcrafting in a technological world. At this magic school, the only students allowed to actually practice magic are these elite students who all seem to have very pointy hair and who all wear extremely dramatic capes, kind of like the students who have earned many Stellas in Spy x Family. They use these notebooks to do magic spells and it seems like the notebooks are computers or something to that effect - the subtitles even refer to an “app” at one point in episode 3.

Our plucky protagonist Kurumi doesn’t get into this elite spellcaster class, even though she was visited by a magician as a child and given one of their notebooks. Instead, she’s in the standard program and everyone around her is telling her she cannot possibly do magic. Only those elite kids can become legally-regulated state licensed magicians, after all. 

Except her quirky teacher Minami Suzuki doesn’t subscribe to this principle. She believes that anyone can do magic by simply mastering the shapes that create the magic and drawing them themselves. (Yeah, she’s basically teaching them geometry. My husband walked into the room at that point and literally said “Oh, that’s magic math” aloud. He caught on to it right away!) She gave all her students magic pens that transform into very Sailor Moon-style scepters for drawing the magic shapes. She can also do a sort of finishing move that combines the 4 elements of magic to calm down weird calamities that keep happening at the school.  

Kurumi has even tried to do some magic already, though not much came of it, but she’s so overjoyed when she does so much as remember the moment. To me, that feels very much like the sense of accomplishment garnered from doing something by hand - whether it’s sewing a messy uneven blanket stitch, taking the first stab at a cross stitch project, trying to bake something complex, attempting to paint a picture, plucking on a guitar, you name it. There is a certain sense of joy that comes from this by-hand approach that you just don’t get through the more technological approaches. Even if it’s not perfect, it’s still a good thing.

In this era of automation and AI, I think that’s a very interesting and good message to send, and I’m very intrigued by this show and I look forward to watching it every week.

[ozwuv]

I would like to draw more but I find myself overthinking it and then losing motivation. So, I was wondering if you ever had a similar issue and if so what do you do to stay motivated and not overthink?

Really good question actually!

What nipped the overthinking for me was just completely dropping the planning stage of drawing. I don't put much thought into composition, colors, etc. I don't have any solid ideas of how I want things to look before I begin. Obligatory disclaimer that this is from my perspective as a hobbyist and therefore not practical for an aspiring professional, & this is gonna sound like BS but hear me out lol

Most of the time the only things I have in mind are 1. What character(s) I want to draw and 2. A vague idea of the atmosphere I want the finished product to convey. And "finished" can mean a lot of things -- a messy sketch can be finished, a fully rendered piece I spent an entire day could be finished. A common pitfall people fall into is having an impractically rigid idea of what a "finished" drawing is and subsequently what they want their art to look like, all the bells and whistles etc, when realistically your art is never going to look exactly how it did in your head. But is that really such a bad thing?

I guess the overarching concept is to just fall in love with the process and enjoy the journey rather than the destination. This obviously sounds easier than it is in reality, but imo people focus way too hard on what they're producing rather than how and why they're producing it. Other people loving what you draw and praising it is wonderful, but if you don't enjoy the process, what was the point? Drawing (and I would venture to say most other forms of art in general) becomes a chore with that mindset applied.

A lack of planning may very well mean you wind up drawing a lot of stuff that doesn't seem interesting, maybe haphazard, difficult to parse, etc, but this is all your perception. It's cliché, but there is always going to someone out there that adores something you think looks like a dumpster fire, and that applies to the things you draw too. Over time, just doing whatever you want and enjoying the process has this trickle effect that will improve your output. In the same vein, constantly overthinking will also inevitably trickles into your output. You can often tell when someone enjoyed the process of something they drew vs when it was just a slog for them to get through (at least relative to their other works).

I would venture to say that you could spend your entire life studying and could be the most technically knowledgeable person about illustration ever in the world, but if you don't genuinely love the process, your work will never be as good as it could be if you did.

If you finish something and think it looks like shit that's always a bummer, but if you had fun with it, I think that was time worth spending. I've said this before, but most of the time I only truly dislike something I've drawn when I spent any part of the process frustrated with how it was going. It's counterintuitive, but I really think that placing so much emphasis in how you want the finished product to look is what ultimately is going to make it look like shit to you.

All that being said, once you do get past that initial overthinking phase, you can start to get more specific with planning and whatnot. The key is to just stop holding onto the idea of what you want and allowing things to develop as you go. Your art will naturally improve this way since you're actually enjoying it. To me, that's what people mean when they say they can tell something was made with love.

Side note: Let go of the need to be consistent/have a developed style. Just let yourself be inconsistent. You don't need strict consistency unless you're like an animator who needs to keep characters on-model or something. Experimenting is not only way more fun, but leads to improvement and discovering new things to implement into your process/style at large.

Tl;dr just get a lil silly w it :3c

[vryfmi]

Talk Shop Tuesday! You asked me a really really good question about my art style, so I'd like to bounce it back to you! Are there any specific influences on your art style and/or process that you can pinpoint? How do you feel you incorporate new information and techniques to your existing style?

And, of course, what do you like best about your art style?

yes, i really like this question! i like getting insights into one's artistic journey and what started it. so, speaking of mine, i was asking the same question and failing miserably at answering it. it just happened? and i went with it?

as for influences i don't think it was any particular media, tho i have been getting quite a few comments that my artstyle (especially in traditional) reminds people of illustrations from various books. and the thing is yes, i can see that, i love illustrations that are done in ink, i did take a lot of inspiration from artists with similar styles and used their art as references when i liked something about it or the way they draw a certain thing. so i guess that's where it all originated and came together.

there's one influence of which im not 100% certainly about but i really really liked How To Train Your Dragon books as a kid and i always loved illustrations in it and how messy and unflattering yet compelling they looked. when i default to drawing characters in a very simplified manner i think there is a slight similarity or, at very least, similar vibe that could be noticed

[id from alt text: a page from How To Train Your Dragon book with very messy pencil drawings of main characters: Hiccup with Toothless on his shoulders, Fishlegs (hiccup's best friend) with Horrorcow and Camicazi./end id]

tho i specifically remember the turning point in drawing eyes, when i decided to stuck with only upper eyelid and the iris after noticing how many other professional artists simplify eyes in their quick sketches or figure drawings, where eyes are not a focal point but they still communicate emotions just as well and look coherent with the rest of a drawing. i just really like how it looked so i adopted it, plus drawing just two dots is fun.

i wouldn't say i learn a bunch of techniques, im still intimidated by actual hatching and learning process for that, im definitely not a jack of all trades when it comes to mediums and art tools. that said, the easiest (for me) way of incorporating something new is by drawing something one time but as detailed as possible and then finding ways to stylise or simplify it in the future. mostly i use it for character designs but it works with a lot of other things too.

and to round it up, i'd say the thing that i like about my artstyle the most is that it has a good balance between being realistic and stylised. it's versatile and gives me a certain freedom to be as detailed or not with what i draw but also doesn't limits me to drawing just one thing (my hyperfixation does). also i think it became somewhat consistent and recognisable in the past few years so that's also a nice thing to have

[sward-iak]

Intro Post!

Hello! Some of you may know me from somewhere else, and to that (unless you're a super close friend of years now) I say nay! You do not!

I am a in my 20s concept art/writer hobbyist. I work a full 40 hours with week, sometimes with overtime (so if I'm MIA, that's why!). When I'm not at work though I thoroughly enjoy reading, writing, drawing, playing video games, and hanging out with my family/friends!

Writeblr/Main: @sqeedledob

Request Info

I've been getting some DMs about my requests so hopefully this will clear things up! Commissions are always more of a priority than requests, and people who Donate to my Ko-Fi are my second priority. Requests will be completed at my leisure.

Primary Requests: CLOSED

Primary requests are in my typical style and can range from concept art to simple illustrations. These requests are actually colored and finished to varying stages just depending on how I'm feeling. I try not to spend more than a week on a request but if I'm really vibing with it, I'll probably finish it

Examples of what you can expect for a primary request

Sketch/Ask Box Requests: OPEN

Sketch requests take me a max of 20 minutes and I usually use them as a means of warming up. So if you'd rather quick art of an OC or character instead of something that could take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months, this is the way to go! These are only accepted through the Ask Box and MUST include a reference!

Examples of what you can expect for a Sketch/Ask Box

Below the cut are rules/expectations for requests, thank you guys for reading!

Also because a few people had asked for this, I am going to link my Ko-fi. There's no pressure to tip, I do all of this for fun, but if you want to I won't stop u! xD [Click here for da Ko-Fi]

PRIMARY REQUEST RULES

This is a request, not a commission. I will take the requester's input in mind when drawing, but I will not do revisions

Any fandom, cross over, and oc is welcome. I will do my best to characterize/draw them even if I'm not into the fandom myself, and you might just introduce me to my new favorite show/book!

NSFW requests are allowed, however keep in mind:

- I WILL NOT draw beastiality/Zoophilia - I WILL NOT draw Loli/Lolita or anything related to CP - I WILL NOT draw Furry NSFW. I have nothing against furries, furry NSFW just personally makes me uncomfortable and I do not like looking at it much less drawing it (this includes Ponies) - I WILL NOT draw anything for a franchise that is directed toward younger audiences, ie: anything rated PG or TV Y7 (PG-13 is Acceptable, DEPENDING ON THE FRANCHISE. ie: Marvel) - I WILL NOT draw Non/Dub Con, or anything that would cause someone to use the Dead Dove tag - I WILL NOT draw irl people in NSFW situations, ie Youtubers, Streamers, etc. Fictional Characters only IF A REQUEST SHOULD MAKE ME UNCOMORTABLE I fully reserve the right to Deny it, even if it is not on this list

If you do make an NSFW request, I will make a SFW version to post and send you the NSFW privately. I try to limit how much NSFW I share on this account

I can draw anything from landscapes to robots, humans to creatures. (Just cause I won't draw NSFW of furries or Ponies doesn't mean I won't do SFW art of them!) I fully enjoy testing the bounds of my artistic abilities and I invite people to help me challenge them!

Humans, robots, furries, dragons, anything. Put anything in here.

And to reiterate: Primary requests can take a while, especially since my queue is pretty long right now! I will make another post when my Queue opens up a bit!

In progress (Commissions): Tank (Color Picking) Simon (Line Art Clean Up) Wolfie (Sketch) Surplus (Sketch) Beth (Sketch) In Queue, not started (in order): @frlituj @jessica199616 @we-dont-talk-about-potato-nonono @lovablenatsume @princeasimdiya12 @airfriedfruitcake @hallwriteblr

Sketch/Ask Box Requests

This is a quick request to help me warm up and will usually take max 20 minutes. So it'll be fast/messy!

Any fandom, cross over, and oc is welcome. I will do my best to characterize/draw them even if I'm not into the fandom myself, and you might just introduce me to my new favorite show/book!

NSFW requests are not allowed for this one, just so I can keep it simple and quick without having to put too much thought into it

Humans, robots, furries, dragons, anything. Put anything in here.

[artsy-hobbitses]

Nightly music share while I work on commission drafts (Folks with slots will get invoices as soon as I have sketches at the ready!), and while I consider FMA: Brotherhood and Tiger & Bunny to be my all-time favorite series (Honourable mentions: Blackjack 21 and Young Blackjack, Samurai 7, Sakura Wars, Ranma 1/2, Ouran High School Host Club), Gensomaden Saiyuki was actually what got me wanting to write more/dig into more serious topics as a teenager.

Don't get me wrong/see this as a TOTAL endorsement of everything it was, because this anime was UNHINGED, and ABSOLUTELY NSFW in a MYRIAD OF WAYS which was, perhaps, not suitable for 15-year old me (Sure it FEELS AND LOOKS like a funny roadtrip with four bickering dumbasses until the COPIOUS CHILD ABUSE being handed out to nearly every character like tic tacs and at least two situations of incest come up) and not always in the best way, with an animation style that is serviceable at best and completely off model in some situations (Which is A SHAME because I had the artist's art books and her marker illustration work is painstakingly gorgeous/detailed), but one of the scenes which kind of burned itself in memory for me is the one attached to this song, which takes place when Cho Hakkai (The fellow being used in the thumbnail) has confirmation that his wife is dead after searching for her, and he's requested Sanzo (a very recaltricant monk tasked with getting his mass-murdering ass back in line) to pray for her over the ruins where she died.

And Sanzo, who religion-adversed at this point except when he's weaponising it for demon-killing agrees, but says something along the lines of "Fine. But this mantra isn't for the dead--it's for the living", at which point, over this music, you're treated to an absolute gut-punch of all four characters's cliff notes backstories that led them here, and how EACH AND EVERY SINGLE ONE is marred by tragedy my 15-year old brain was not equipped to deal with.

But it really cements that the anime's central theme is focused on living. Living through pain, through trauma, living for yourself as you are, living even when the world tries to tell you you're better off dead, living for tomorrow and the hope that things will be better, and if they aren't, then you fight tooth and claw to make it better for everyone who comes after you.

Saiyuki is... unique given that it's very selfish thematically that way when compared with standard anime. There is no fight for country, no trying to fix a corrupt system, no lofty ideals---they're messy, dysfunctional mercs on a mission, the good deeds are just Along The Way. These people, these heroes are fun and lively, generally altruistic even if they come in like wreckingballs and are very clearly attached to each other through the bickering (they've been A Team even in a past life, and they've found each other in this life against all odds), but are also jaded, very hedonistic, petty, flawed as hell, perverts, bastards and killers (mainly of demons, but still!).

And they make ZERO excuse or apologies for it---they'll get kicked out of monastries for being heathens, out of heaven for defending their 'blasphemous' choices and their friends and by god they'll do it again, and they'll fight god (this show has peak Fight God energy and they do it at LEAST TWICE), fate and everyone else telling them they don't deserve to or cannot love as fiercely or live as themselves they way they are.

Because theirs is song is for the living, not the dead; You, flaws and tragedy and sins and despair and all---fight and love and live in a way that's true to you, because you deserve to and because it's the biggest goddamn Fuck You to the uncaring Powers That Be.

(Also on a semi-related note to seal this deal, please enjoy their absolute banger opening themes)

[ghul-wein]

My finished piece for the @cartoonsaloonmythzine!

[do not ask me why I have not posted this yet,, I don’t have an answer]

I’ve always been a huge fan of the Cartoon Saloon stories & art style, they really helped spark/encourage a sorta kinda fixation into Irish folk myths & culture; very very fun watches that are all call for big emotions in their own way. Of the films so far Wolfwalkers, The Secret of Kells, & The Breadwinner are my favorites (though this zine was for their sort of trilogy films) and I am very excited to see what comes of their future projects!!

Ye yea :’-3

[Image Description:

An digital illustration of the main characters from Wolfwalkers and The Secret of Kells. Brendan and Robyn are siting together to the right of the page. Robyn is a young girl with blue eyes and blonde hair in a long, messy braid going over her shoulder. She has a flower in her hair and is smiling at a book in Brendan’s lap as he talks. Brendan is a young boy with red crop cut hair, green eyes and freckled skin. He is smiling excitedly and pointing to the book in his lap as he explains or discusses details of it to/with Robyn. In the midground we see Aisling, a little girl with pale white skin and white hair wearing a grey wolves pelt chasing Pangur Ban - a white cat who seems more than displeased with being the subject of a game of chase. Aisling is chasing after the cat with claws and teeth bared, smiling wide. Just behind her, as if also apart of this game of chase, we see Mébh hanging upside down from a tree. Mébh is a little girl with thick red hair full of foliage, a simple olive green dress and large, golden hoop earrings. Her cheeks are tattooed and her teeth are pointed, almost like fangs. The whole scene is set in bright and silhouetted forest. Glowing twin wolves and sun like stone frame the piece.]

[monstroustea]

a friend was talking about style influences earlier and it reminded me of this old meme and i wanted to do one!!!!! i'll talk more about each one under the read more, but if you want to do one, here's the link: https://www.deviantart.com/foxorian/art/Influence-Map-Template-174550753

Sailor Moon (particularly the 90s anime) - this is a big one! i remember drawing sailor moon in elementary school and playing pretend/LARPing sailor moon on the playground... the good old 90s anime style with the exaggerated expressions! cute girls! friendship! this general kind of soft, roundness to the style of the 90s anime? it has everything

Honey and Clover - this manga/anime means the world to me. i love the style, the way the mangaka draws emotions, but also the protagonist's story of finding himself? resonant. the manga especially is precious to me bc of the art tho, it has a sketchy quality that i love

Hey Arnold! - another childhood favorite... this one doesn't reflect on my actual style so much, but it's a big influence on the stories and characters i like and create. if i could make everyone watch only one cartoon, it would be hey arnold

this is a triple threat... Persona 5, sketchbooks, @meruz - if you look at more than one page of this blog, you can probably guess i like p5(r)!! a lot!! i love all the characters, even if you mostly see me drawing the protag and akechi bc i'm a shipper at heart lol... i'm always inspired by sketchbooks of other artists! especially proper sketchbooks, where they're messy and worked in and aren't curated to be "good looking" for people to look at. that said, this is a page meruz posted from one of their sketchbooks (go buy them) and i adore meruz's work! i got into their work a while back and their lineart really drew me in, the lineweight and use of spot blacks is delicious. i need to work more on those in my own art and meruz's work always makes me want to do just that

Dolls - and here we take a little detour from the obvious? i sadly don't own this doll :( she's a rune naito fashion doll and i want one so badly. i collect dolls, especially fashion dolls!! i love their designs!! i usually just leave them in their stock outfits bc those are part of the charm to me. i wanna draw my dolls more, but for now they're just a big influence on design and outfits for characters

Amanda Lafrenais - i've been following amanda for so many years i can't keep count anymore!! her style blends "western" and "anime" so well to me and also she just draws lots of pretty women?? also we love queens who draw different body types

Roleplaying (pixelated image from wiki-how) - i've been roleplaying, mostly just with my bestie erin, since i was like 14? i draw stuff inspired by our roleplays soooo much, whether it's from a scene or just "what if"s we threw around. erin is a brilliant writer, has great ideas, and she's basically the GM even tho it's collaborative writing-based rping lmao... im just like "erin come up with a plot and we can shoot ideas back and forth" lol

Drawfee - no idea anymore how i came across drawfee but it's a really fun and funny channel and i'll do some of their challenges on my own sometimes!! (my favorite is the 30s character from memory challenge, i'll have erin give me characters and time me) also they have a ttrpg-style series called Drawtectives that has great characters!!! also every time julia draws a scene im like "ah i want that to be me..."

The Golden Age of Illustration - i'm such a junkie for cartoons and anime and comics and such, i don't really know the classics OOPS... but in the past year or two i've gotten really into what's apparently known as the "golden age of illustration"!! roughly the 1880's to 1920s, there's a lot of fairy/folk tale art from this era and i'm obsessed with all of it. standout mentions that i love to look at the work of are kay nielsen and edmund dulac

honorable mentions are just... every manga i've ever loved. every artist i've ever obsessed over the art of. and HONORABLE honorable mention to drawingwiffwaffles who sadly hasn't updated in a few months... she got me back into traditional media tho and is a general delight to watch work

[my-art-struggles]

What i WANT to do is learn to render. I have a lot of styles i want to go for but a style i keep defaulting to. But i dont like it at all.

I feel like im best at illustrating - messy but defined.

Which is hard (for me) to make into a clean picture bc i cant duplicate the necessary values and stuff in my work otherwise

So maybe a middle ground isnt necessarily learning to "render" in a way i normally see, but learn to do some form of "messy" painting. Ive seen a few i like but i havent made it yet.

I love making active scenes - i feel like doing active scenes come more naturally to me. Its fun, its fluid, its something that speaks more to my character than something static.

I think my first step needs to be learning fundamentals bc my biggest issue is anatomy. Especially large-scale anatomy

A fault is that i try to put in too much detail. I make very detailed characters where i try hard to incorporate every little detail bc to me its important but i knownits a large portion of my frustration. I need to learn to "sacrifice" some of those details in a scene of any sorts. I need to learn to be okay to draw characters in poses where some details arent visible or i wont be able to get past that

Oddly enough i also need to learn how to draw "static" images instead of movement ones.

Instead of focusing on changing my style, i can harness what i do love and hone that instead.