#i prefer drawing blobs sometimes

[imtrashraccoon]

The return of the king!

First time I tried drawing my OC Minty. Axe my precious boi! I miss writing for him so much!

[nyuufruit]

What would you say are your upper and lower limits in terms of comforts around drawing characters of certain sizes? What's the largest you'll go? What's the smallest? What would be your most comfy size to draw?

if you mean size in terms of how much to soften them up, at a base I'm obviously pretty comfortable drawing thin characters but I prefer to draw at least somewhat soft shapes.

For how large I'd go, well, it makes me feel nice to add a bit extra and I can certainly get a little carried away sometimes hehe, my favorite is a kind of size where a character seems almost soft as can be before they'd start to really be encumbered. But, on the right day, limits of mobility aren't enough for how much I love to see a character get to simply soften up and enjoy themself 🍰

Though, I definitely do sortof lose interest when size gets to the point of losing definition of the character, without bending the shapes so drastically that everything loses its weight. A blob that nearly fills out a room can kind of be fun for playing with the weighty shapes alone, but it is where I'm losing interest. It's not as cute and comfy as a size more easily hugged and cuddled. 💜

[grendel-menz]

did you ever use like. skeletons to draw people? or have you always just gone Straight Into The Flesh? (as in like. stick figure frames vs shapes vs just. drawing a person - the couple of videos of yours I have seen just go straight into the person which is bonkers To Me you are soooooooo soso cool

Hi!! This is so sweet and also thank u for asking!

I personally prefer not to, they just don't work for my brain honestly, even as a kid I would get really frustrated with how to draw books and their skeletons and specific shapes. Sometimes I'll do an under drawing if the angle is complicated, but I'm not really using exact blocks or cylinders - just getting a feel for where I think things should be/line up. For a lot of my comics especially I'll just make blobs of where I want things to be and let my later self figure it out lol.

I'll include a straight to drawing vs a little under drawing video, and a sketch -> final for a recent work.

I learned to work this way because honestly I am just lazy, I don't want to draw the same thing multiple times so I cut straight to the end in most cases unless it's commissioned/contract work. There's a better chance of my personal art, if you look for it, to have wonky anatomy or repeating motifs, especially when it comes to elbows/hands.

[aidoneusnotfound]

General info (asteria)

she is the goddess of stars and nighttime divination (such as by dreams and by stars)

she is a titaness and the mother of Hekate (goddess of witchcraft)

how i began working with her: she appeared to me in a dream. the dream featured a piece of my life that i needed help with (not mentioning what it was for privacy). I looked her up to confirm she was a real being, then made sure she really wanted to work with me by asking my pendulum

experiences with her: in my experience she is very motherly. she is very forgiving of mistakes. she prefers communication through dreams, candles, and sometimes tarot. she teaches lessons through dreams, and putting you in learning situations. every time ive ever seen her (in my minds eye) she always had blueish green hair, light blue robes and a silver crown, but when i asked her to help me draw how she looks, i got a blob of stars, eyes and random lines.

[more to come!]

What shes taught me: Its ok to feel things, even if the feeling is a little scary. Its ok to stand up for yourself. Dont let fear hold you back from growing. you have control over yourself, and if something makes you unhappy its ok to cut it out. Dont let others take advantage of you.

[hrishcha]

Brushes maybe?

I’d love to figure out how you render that way ur stuff is so good! Any advice you could give maybe? The texturing is STUNNING

Hi! Thank you :] To be fair, I'm not sure where to start as I have multiple ways to draw things, but I'll try. (Also I might show more if you choose an example if you had any specific brushes in mind)

For most recent art my favourite brushes that were used in rain world fanart have some color jitter. It's a feature that can be enabled in clip studio, but I'm sure that other programs have similar setting.

When I'm less confident in general execution of the idea or have many details to pay attention to and want to take things slowly i like to use oval marker brush. It doesn't have any texture and has somewhat soft edges so i can work from very loose blob of sketch. Its flat shape that doesn't turn with the movement allows me to "chisel" out the shapes and volume in the drawing. That's why many prefer using flat brushes instead of round.

Sometimes I straight up sketch with thin brush for lineart and clean excess lines so it looks like lineart instead of drawing one over the sketch layer from scratch. This hoverer requires a lot of practice and generally clean confident strokes so I resort to it rarely and use it for more stylised cartoonish things. Tip: you can also duplicate lineart and blur the layer and lower its opacity so the whole thing will look more interesting and less sharp.

And then there's this thing :) not sure what to add here other than that they're pretty.

As for the advice hmmmm… Probably I'd say that many brushes show their potential if you adjust your style to each, like you'd usually do with traditional medium. While keeping one favourite consistent style may be comforting, and I respect that as drawing should be what brings you joy, sometimes experimenting might be useful for you. I do have limited amount of styles for some of my favourite brushes and don't go as crazy as I could, but sometimes it feels more satisfying to let the brush guide your process with its shapes and textures instead of breaking it into your already existing pattern. At least that's what I've been enjoying recently :) Keeping up with developing multiple styles might distract you from learning other aspects, so to choose what's better is always up to you. I wish I'd had more in-depth advices on how to render in general but figuring it out was a complex and long process for me as well

[legendcrab]

You have such cool fursonas :333333

Do ya have any others? :<c

And/or, plz share what volcanic/lava border collie and ltoloxa doggie entail :3 (at your leisure, pup just likes to invite peoples to talk about things they like)

- Ryan

thank you!! ive tried to respond to this ask like twice now and tumblr keeps deleting it so lets hope it works lol. This ended up rlly long so I put a read more!

Ive got two characters I would consider “sonas”, and a third i designed not too long ago I’m considering keeping! what i like about the furry community is designing, and when I first properly joined i was absolutely cracking out different designs at a wild pace. I draw sometimes, but I’m not particularly good at it and i prefer to put the time into actually picking the colors and patterns as opposed to stressing over trying to get a sketch and lineart to look okay, so I usually use bases and get commissions!

Halite, the pink axolotl-dog, is my first fursona and I think of him as my baby :3 While I don’t really do characterization or backstory, I think of his personality as being more bubbly and childish. My current icon (Halite sitting in a little floaty) is a P2U base by Applepup Illustrations, as are the two icon-style pieces in the ask. Anyways, I mostly think of him as an axolotl-dog, but since I mostly use bases at the moment, a lot of random pics I have of him are pure canine. When I commission, I usually ask the artists to draw him as the full axie pup! The fullbody is a commision from a friends ex, and I still really love the piece. I think of Halie more them a character than a sona, as I don’t really see him as a representation of myself, but I adore him. I sometimes think of Halite as more animal than anthro, but not always, and while I usually default to he/him pronouns, I really couldn’t care one way or the other in how he’s gendered. Especially since he’s pink, I can imagine if i ever make a suit for him, people would think hes a girl, which is perfectly fine by me!

Igneous, my lava themed collie, is the second design I did that I adopted as my own. I tend to think of him as more of a true “sona”, and a more accurate representation of myself. His personality would lean a lot more towards myself as a person, as opposed to having any seperste characterization. While Halite had probably only gone theough one or two major redesigns and I’m pretty happy with how his design has settled, Igneous has gone through probably six or seven. The fullbody with glasses and piercings is a P2U base I got off of etsy from Subdae Studios literally last night lol! The icon-style one was a few months ago, and While I’m pretty happy with rhe design of his face, I’ve still been adjusting the exact color shades and been MAJORLY adjusting how his fur pattern looks. Honestly, I’m almost at the point where I’m thinking of his fur as shifting in the same way that lava lamps do, with the rolling blobs of color. I’m CONSTANTLY changing his body patterns every time I draw him, and honestly the more I look at it, I already want to adjust how the fullbody I did last night looks! I think of Igneous as being fully anthro at all times, and exclusively using he/him, as I’m really attached to him and think of him as a day to day representation of myself.

I’m wanting to get into fursuit making (I have off and on, I tried making a headbase and have made a couple pairs of paws, I just don’t stick with it), and Igneous will probably be who I make first.

Finally, the most recent design I kept for myself (designed probably two months ago), is this little red-brown-white cat I think I’m naming Feldspar. I use mostly they/them pronouns for them, and think of them as A Little Guy. I designed them for a purpose, I specifically wanted a feline instead of a canine and I wanted more of an “edgy” design, with the darks and reds and bleeding eye motif to fit more of my day to day style, which tends to lean kind of Edgy. I designed a fullbody, but they’re DEFINITELY about to get their first redesign lol, probably with the same base that I did with Igneous last night! If I think of Halite as more of a character and my favorite, and Igneous as more of a proper representation of myself, I’d say Feldspar is somewhere inbetween. They’re significantly less of a representation of myself, but I did make them with the mindset of keeping this character, while the other two I designed and decided I loved. I’d put them on the same level as Halite, being a bit of a baby as opposed to a sona, and more of a silly character! I also wanted a character I can put next to Halite in art, and since Igneous felt so much Like Me it felt odd to place him with Halite, who I kind of think of as being in a different universe. I’ve been using they/them for Feld, and that wasn’t the inital plan, but I think it’ll stick. Same as Halite, I’m not terribly picky on pronouns for them, and I’d say both Feld and Halite can use any pronouns!

I’ve kind of got a pokemon mentality, in the Gotta Catch Em All way. I’ve got my axolotl dog, a normal dog, and a cat. I realllyyyy want a bat sona, but every design I’ve come up with I haven’t really enjoyed for myself. I also really want a yeen and a manokit, and maybe a dutchie! I’m less into dutchies, and I’ve had the same issue with bats, that every design I’ve come up with I don’t wnjoy for myself.

I also don’t name or gender my designs until I decide to keep them, which is why I have a theme going on. Halite is the name of the mineral that is just rock salt, Igneous is a name for all types of minerals formed by magma/volcanic activity, and Feldspar is just a different mineral which can sometimes have those browns and reds. I might change that name, but I’m not sure. The mineral I was thinking of while designing them was these dark red brown pumice rocks I saw growing up in my backyard, but the name Pumice just doesn’t sound nice to me O_o

I also have one more character, a regular dog/wolf type called Sodalite. I don’t have any art of him, but thats because I actually own a head! I bought it second hand off of Ebay, and I really love him. I don’t really think of him as a sona or a character like I do the other three, more of just as a fursuit. While I’d love to have a fullsuit eventually of all three of the others, I don’t really intend on ever getting a fullsuit of Soda. I may or may not keep him long term, and I’ve only had him for like eight months. I really love the design and head, but I just don’t connect to him as well as I do my main sonas. We’ll see what happens once (if) I start making partials for my other guys!

[two-cell-appless]

Hi Apple! ☕, 🎼, and 🌗 for the ask game? :)

Hey Wiz!

☕️: sort of? Usually I do a couple stick figures of the pose I want to try and draw if I already have an idea, but I do doodle quite a lot before I strike an idea, if that counts, or sometimes I doodle something else on a different layer to keep the ball rolling

This is the best visual explanation I have

🎼: A little hard to describe, but Halloween songs. Not ones strictly about halloween, just ones that feel spooky? The Blob or Spooky Scary Skeletons is a good example I think

🌗: Daytime is better, mainly because there’s more time in the day since I need to sleep at night, though I prefer drawing when it’s dark out

Thanks for the ask! ^^

[error-dream-was-found]

ooooh okay, for the fic writer thing! 1, 4, 14, 16, 33, 40 and uhhh 56? bonus of 39 (if you want)

Thank you for asking <3

1. "Do you prefer writing one-shots or multi-chaptered fics?"

I prefer multichaptered fics ... my last attempt to write one-shot turned into 160 000 words long fic (still updating btw)

4. "Where do you find inspiration for new ideas?"

Everywhere ... seriously, it´s a mix of shower thoughts, 3 Am ideas and random things I thought of while reading another fics. For example the 'enderchest torture' idea hit me while I was reading some fic where to get Dream out of Pandora they hide him in an enderchest and my brain just went "wait for how long was he there? What was it like for him? Would it even be possible?" And I moved from there. That one is one of my less developed ideas but it´s a good example of my thought process ig. Or fics like 'monsters don´t deserve hugs but you aren´t a monster' came from that single sentence. I thought about it while reading some fic where Dream went "I´m a monster I don´t deserve nice things and it spiraled from there.

14. "how do you write emotional scenes? Do you ever feel what the characters feel? Do you draw from personal experiences?"

It depends on my mood ig? If that makes sense. Sometimes I really get into it and even make myself cry. But sometimes I'll ruin these characters lives with zero care. I certainly draw from personal experience as much as I can. Although I don't really have much personal experience with the stuff I'm writing about so *shrugs*

16. "How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Share one of them?"

*counts on fingers* ehm ... well if I count in the half-baked ideas and all that ... I think I could have roughly 15-20? (I wanna talk about them T-T)

You already know about the superhero one (although I have new trauma for blob!), so I'll say a bit about a different idea one of my dremon fics perhaps? I don't have a name yet but the mail story line pretty much goes like this: Dream is a demon - cruel creature feeding off humans emotions, mostly happiness. Demons in common are manipulative, heartless and selfish beings that prey on humans.

The rest of the characters are mostly demon hunters (not sure on all members yet but Sapnap, George, Sam and Quackity are certainly there).

The plot basically begins when the hunters catch Dream. He's not very strong and thus not considered a serious threat. Instead of killing him immediately they decide to experiment on him (to learn more about demons), the problem is - Dream is the sweetest person ever. He's nothing like the other demons they've met and well it's kinda hard to dissect someone alive while they rant about the adorable cat that lives in the backstreet behind the convenience store ... (sry for ranting)

33. "Do you want to be published some day?"

Yes but unfortunately I'm not too good with creating original stories and my writing style isn't really good so .... maybe one day ... (until then the closest I'll get is printing my own stories ... that is also a way to practice book binding lol)

40. "If someone were to make fanart of your work, what fic or scene would you hope to see?"

Honestly? I have no idea. There're just so many scenes I love and I'd absolutely love to see drawn. But if anyone ever were to make a fanart of my fic I'd be over the roof about it, I wouldn't care what scene it is I'd just be so damn happy that they liked the story enough to go through the trouble of creating the art. And any scene they'd pick would be perfect because then I'd know which scene they liked the most.

56. "What's something about your writing that you pride yourself on?"

... I'll be honest I don't think my writing is anything special, there are a few scenes I'm happy with but overall .... *shrugs*

But if there's something I'm really proud of it's probably the fact that I was able to write a story that many people enjoyed. When I started writing 2 years ago I never thought I'll have this many people not only reading my story but also liking it. Sure, it's not that much but it's a lot more than I ever expected! It blows my mind because I know that there are much better fic out there, yet people still decided to read something I wrote. It´s really crazy

39. "Share a snippet from a WIP"

daamn this is getting too long ... Imma sharing a snipped anyway! But what snipped .... I'm feeling like doing an villain arc today so I´m gonna post something from a story I haven't published yet and probably won´t be able to publish for at least few months:

Note: this story is still sitting in my drafts so the grammar check wasn't done yet, therefore there are extra grammar errors which I apologize for

He tripped over something. The tiny sharp rocks covering the forest floor dug painfully into his palms as he tried to slow down his fall and the pain shooting from his scraped knees pushed a new tears into his eyes. He just wanted to stay there on the floor and cry but hte monsters were getting closer. He can´t let them get him, he can´t! Desperately trying to wipe the tears out of his eyes, Dream stood up, only taking a second to glance back at the thing he tripped over. It looked like a fence … looking forward again, the blonde saw a tall dilapidated building. 

It was looming over him in the dead of night like something right out of a scary story his mom would tell him on these good nights when instead of yelling at him she'd put him to bed and if he was lucky she´d tell him a story. He wanted to ran away from the half collapsed building but as scary as it was the monsters were scarier. That building would provide him at least some cover and he needed that desperately. He won´t be able to run all night and the air was already heavily filled with the smell of rain. It was just a question of time till the storm begins. Encouraged by the hisses and groans from behind Dream ran inside. 

It took his eyes a moment to adjust to darkness that was even more prominent now. Once he did he realized he was in what seems to be an abandoned Prime church. He looked around nervously. The place gave him chills. It was clear that no one worshiped Prime here for years, maybe even decades and the place now had a sinister atmosphere to it. As everything holy did when it was forgotten for too long. The cracked, faded paintings of Prime´s angels looked down on him, it felt as if they were watching him, following his every mood. The wooden floors cracked under his weight and from the altar a soft clinging of chains could be heard as the incense swung in the light breeze. 

But the worst of all was the terrible feeling that he's not alone. That there´s something watching him. Someone. No, no he was just being dumb, this place is clearly abandoned. Maybe it's just an animal that settled here. Or these dumb angles. Yeah it must be the angles. It's dark and he's tired, he's just imagining their eyes moving to follow him. 

The first drops of rain hit the ground and a wind whistles through the abandoned church. Goosebumps raised to the surface and Dream shivered. It's just cold, it's just cold, it's just cold. The rain got heavier in just a few minutes. A lightning flashed through the sky and a thunder shook the whole building, just as a voice from somewhere in the shadows spoke up.

“Won't you look at that … a human. What a treat”

The question of who's there froze on Dream’s tongue as another lighting illuminated the inside of the church and the body less shadow floating in front of him. It had a distinct shape of human but none of its features could be seen other than two glowing eyes. It dived for him.

Dream screamed.

- story name: Sweet Little Nightmares (I'm more than willing to talk about this story :)

Sakra nechala som sa uniesť. Dúfám, že som ťa neunudila k smrti a gratulujem ak si sa dostala až sem ;)

[trinketstreasuretrove]

Roblocks 👍

I like making alien avatars with covered-up eyes don't I? The Blue Guy is my actual Roblox avatar and the pink one is an avatar I tried to make but couldn't find accessories that I liked so I just decided to draw it.

Refs under the cut :P

Nthanda (any/all prns but it/its preferred)

Slime slug-y alien thang. Loves stars and stores things in its big ass tail (usually cool rocks) It's all slime babey!! even the bones! When they get sleepy it turns into a big blob of slime and the "bones" form a protective barrier around the core (the heart-looking thing in the middle of the chest)

(he/him)

My avatar! My son! His whole deal is that he goes around from planet to planet just sort of trying to have fun. He found Nthanda along the way and now they sort of travel together sometimes, but usually, Nthanda stays on its home planet. The blue guy can change size and changes to whatever size seems to be the most fitting on whichever planet he finds.

Blue Guys ref is kinda old (I made it 2 years ago) so some of the details (hair, shirt) are a bit outdated but w/e. Also if you see me in game, feel free to say hi! I might be awkward but y'know

[whumpitisthen]

Spoooooooooon of lemooooooooooon

Anyways good morning tell me a little fact abt all your ocs. If you have a little fact for all your ocs. The ocs you have a little fact abt

—🐈‍⬛

I do not know what spoon of lemon means but hello spoon of lemon to you too kind stranger!!!!!

Hehehehe an oc ask of course i have little facts about my ocs i have so many

Cutting it off bc long

Grim loves bows. He ties his hair in a bow with a pretty ribbon. He ties a loose flowing bow at the end of his scythe. He ties bows around Mori's antlers, their wrists, ankles, neck, fingers sometimes (Mori is very careful with them, and they would secretly think its kind of cute whenever they find a random bow while cleaning, if they weren't so afraid of him). When he's bored and has to sit around and wait he finds the nearest tieable fabric — curtains, blankets, a table cloth, someone's hair — and ties it into a neat little bow. He just thinks they're neat :)

His Majesty, being a shapeshifter and also a god, is agender. He uses he/him pronouns because he tends to prefer masculine forms and because hes too old to give enough of a shit to change pronouns now when he's been referred to as he for thousands of years and it never really held much deeper meaning to him anyway, but he also just doesn't really look at gender the same way other people do. He's a bit of a special case. Diversity win! Satan is agender :)

The Doctor in nearly every sense except literal, is a black cat. In the way where black cats just look like vaguely cat shaped black blobs with glowing yellow eyes, it is a vaguely demon shaped black blob with glowing yellow eyes. It moves like a cat, fluid and slender and silent (when it wants to be; it does have massive clawed feet that knock on the floor when it isn't careful). It has the same intense stare as cats. It's pupils dilate like a cat's. Exception is when it's pissed. That's when it goes minecraft enderman mode and unlatches its jaw and becomes terrifying. It does have a mouth yes, it just looks like it doesn't. It is a massive black hole filled with several rows of far too sharp teeth. I will have to let the Doctor enjoyers down: it is an awful kisser. No lips, only teeth. It may be hot, but it simply would sooner bite the lower half of you face clean off before managing a kiss.

Miss Thu'lin became the Queen of Dragons when the last dragon queen was assassinated under mysterious circumstances. She always resented her older sister, because in her eyes at the time, the only reason her sister was the one in charge was because she was born sooner. Miss Thu'lin thought herself stronger, more capable, even prettier, and felt it was unfair that just because she is barely a hundred years younger, she would never be queen. Hatred and temptation got her where she is today. Grim is sure to never allow the cold pit of fiery regret in her to die out. (I may explore this more in the future, so that's all im gonna say for now. Grim and Miss Thu'lin are... Not friends.)

Auden loves drawing. He loves asking many questions. He loves learning. He had a little journal he always kept with himself. He misses it a lot. He reaches for it sometimes, and then remembers that he doesn't have it anymore. He sometimes just imagines he is filling it up with drawings and notes, but it's not nearly as satisfying. It calmed him, and now that he needs calming more than ever, he struggles a lot without it.

Mori has never really had a friend before Auden. They don't really know how friendship works, or if that is even what they feel towards him. They feel somewhat of a similar feeling to what they felt for cattle, when they were considered part of a pig pen for a while. They relate to cattle a little too much, and Auden is kind of like cattle but he can talk and understand them, and isn't an animal. They are so happy to have someone to talk to.

[maypop-the-dragon]

Self-Portrait, 2024-02-02

↓ Explanation and WIPs under the cut! ↓

The way I see myself has gone through various phases throughout the years, and lately I've been feeling some of those old ways of being resurface. I had the idea to create a "self-portrait" that includes several of my various "iterations" all posing together. I'll describe each thing in (roughly) chronological order.

The yellow blobs in the sky are hallucinations I used to have in the dark as a small child. I think they're related to my visual snow. I can still "summon" them sometimes if I have them on my mind. They're yellow, roughly square blobs with oblong black ovals for "eyes," resembling the flip-blocks from Super Mario World. They would sort of vibrate while seemingly moving toward me.

The background is meant to be a Minecraft snowy tundra. I am a long-time Minecraft player, and I have fond memories of snowy tundra biomes specifically for some reason. I am particularly nostalgic for the sound of breaking ice and the way the roses contrasted with the snow. I used to use the seed blank to build on MCPE, I once saw a "portal to mars" tutorial and tried to replicate it and that was on a snowy world, and I think I tried the 1.5 update on a snowy world. I feel attached to that one world for some reason. I remember there was a ravine with lapis. The silliest thing? I cared about the lapis even though I was playing in Creative Mode.

The cartoonish sleeping child is me as a child. Back in elementary school, I would draw comics a lot, and I was often a character in them. My art style at the time was influenced by Diary of a Wimpy Kid and later Big Nate. I only had access to lined paper, but I made the best of it by using the lines to measure out panels. They were each 4 lines tall, but I later changed it to 5 lines. Speaking of the comics I used to make, the new Mr. What-The is still in development.

The big green guy is an anthropomorphic "mullet dinsoaur." This long-haired long-neck boi was originally not anthro. I drew it and mullet dinosaurs kind of became my "thing" for a while, though I only managed to draw two! (I hadn't yet learned the efficient drawing techniques I know now) That character is still my profile picture on YouTube and some other platforms. At some point I would sometimes semi-involuntarily visualize myself as an anthropomorphic version if it. (This was before I decided to just actually be a furry.) Interestingly, I just remembered that I did the visualizing thing with Ord from Dragon Tales once when I cried as a small child.

The blue-gray Furret is based on a quick edit I once made of the official Furret artwork using the iOS Photos app. I also used a similar blue-gray Furret as an icon for my secret YouTube channel. When Furret Walk was popular, I had an intense Furret obsession phase. I would doodle Furret all the time, which also helped me get better at drawing fast and loose, and I still have my Furret plush. This obsession was so intense that I sometimes wished I could become a Furret and just be a wholesome creature. (Now that I think of it, I suppose I still prefer to be a wholesome creature.) I was even happy because of the specific appearance of the wrinkles on my cheeks when I smiled very wide. This phase was also when I discovered my desire to cuddle when I was doodling Furrets and drew two of them hugging and cried a lot about it.

The red, hovering, serpent-like creature is a self-insert character from an earlier concept of my website. It lives in space and its body is filled with a jelly substance that it can manipulate psychically to move its body. The scruff on its neck is an excess store of said substance, which is pushed out to extend limbs such as arms. It is actually a modified version of a similar creature I made up specifically to be easy and interesting to animate for music videos. That original creature was white and had no eyes or canonical home. Aside from that, it was the same.

The other... creature... is my current fursona. That's me, May. Me now. My character design draws inspiration from many sources that all call back to various aspects of myself and my past. You can see that it's aesthetically more feminine or androgynous than the mullet iteration, which is because I have since explored what gender expression I am most happy with a lot more. That applies to much of the design really. It’s much more intentionally constructed to represent who I want to be. I am a cute silly dragon now, rawr!!

After writing all that, I'm starting to think my personality really is just several mental illnesses in a trenchcoat.

WIPs

I heard of posting WIPs to prove you’re not an AI and I think that’s a neat idea so here you go... (The weenor is specifically planned because I don't usually draw characters with external genitalia. You can't even see the bulge in the final drawing, though. What a waste.)

[fluffbeast7]

Concept ideas for my sona: Fluff! (i just have to write things out dont mind me, sorry for any writing mistakes)

this doesnt look as good because i just wanted to get the idea out of my head, plus, its the very first concept of fluff's portals, i'm already having a few ideas on how to make this look better

i will ramble a lot now, long post warning!

fluff existence is veeryy,,,, weird. their origins explain why they can shapeshift. i dont have the best words on what fluff does- i would say ''reality shifter'' but that's a thing that actually exists and, idk how i feel about it.

fluff is a creature who was born/created within the ''wall'' that separates every reality, so they actually do not belong anywhere- they are just a blob of the universe that accidentally grew sentient, meaning they do not have parents, meaning they can take up any physical form they wish (as long they know what it looks like! before their favorite form was created, they observed many animals, slowly building up their figure. when fluff was younger, they looked different due to their taste changing over time!)

when you are a creature from the ''wall'' (yes that's how im calling it), you learn that there are many little secrets and stuff to understand to how it all works- the ability to shapeshift and to visit other realities came in natural for them, but learning to revisit places and what fluff should and shouldn't do were things they had to learn on their own

plus! there ar not many, but fluff isn't the only creature who was born withing the wall, they are friends with other people who all have their own opinions on this whole thing- fluff apparently is one of the younger ones to appear. each creature have different goals and views about visiting other realities, also different morals and philosophical thinkin' and stuff!

list of the other creatures they met (they are all based on things around my life :) )

fluff: i'm not going to explain much about how fluff looks like, but just their views and goals. fluff decided very early on that they want to get to know as many different realities and study as many different creatures (so they can shapeshift into them), they have many different sketch books they draw on addressing the people they met. fluff is dangerously open about being a shapeshifter and is not aware that, saying stuff like '' Oh there are many different versions of you but slightly different! :D'' usually sends people into an existential crisis

differently from their friends, fluff adores shapeshifting, but also tries not to think too hard about their existense, they just want to live, and feel normal.

froggy god: a frog, that's it! froggy is non-verbal, but it's said they like to bring luck to other people. frog does not shapeshift (they can, hey just won't). they are mostly seen hanging out with other frogs or along with our next creature on the wall- moth.

moth: a giant, GIANT, moth. they also do not speak! but it seems they are the oldest creature from the wall, at least that's what everyone thinks. Moth rarely visit other realities, but when they do- they don't bother to shapeshift, they just fly around in the sky. it's a breathtaking sight!

Tigrinho: Fluff's best friend (almost sibling), born at the same time as fluff! you can call him just tiger, in portuguese, it means ''little tiger''. Tigrinho is a mix of different breeds of ''big cats''. Tiger is very, VERY kind, too kind for their own good. Tiger prefers to spend more time on the reality he and fluff first visited, and he works to build his own life there- but takes on adventures with fluff sometimes. he struggles to shapeshift, so he doesn't do it as much.

Dusk: dusk is very interesting, he constantly changes forms but not because he likes it, but because he cant decide exactly what he want's to look like. but it's always a variation of a dark colored creature, sometimes brown, and always, ALWAYS with black eyes with red pupils, and sharp teeth. Dusk is grumpy, not as nice as the others. he thinks fluff decisions are risky and irresponsable, but never bothers them too much about it, he just doesn't approve any of it

he has a deep voice and is constantly growling, he's usually very serious, he travels and tries his best to understand this whole ''wall'' thing. Dusk didn't use to have a name, but fluff named him without him wanting to anyways (He ended up liking his name..). He likes being scary for fun, sort of like being a villain, even if there's not really a reason for him to be evil. Fluff plays along, just to make him happy

explaining things on this doodle:

fluff once found a reality that was completely empty.. they claimed it as their room, bringing stuff (cough, stealing cough) to make it comfy, also, they bring things from their fav realities, making a little collection! (a rule about the wall: for some reason fluff is allowed to take only 1 item inside the wall for each reality, if they take more than one item, it disappears)

fluff chose to be able to digest food, they dont need to, but they like food so- yep

fluff found out during an accident that, no other living thing can go in the wall, (only the ones who were born within it) to say it simply- they die, and i say any that has some sort of intelligence- meaning sometimes not even robots make it through! fluff doesnt understand completely how it works, but the way they found out was- hm, very sad

[calypsosemptypockets]

Things are getting bad again- 8/2/21

i find myself romanticizing my depressive episodes from time to time.

little things, like thinking back on those moments almost fondly, like a mother recalling her child in his rowdier days. “he was such a handful”, she’d say, shaking her head, but there’s a smile on her face as she says it.

bigger things, like lying in bed and thinking, “i wish i could settle here and never leave. i wish it was winter again and i wanted to die.”

it always seems to be winter for me. a shame, as it’s such a beautiful season that brings out such sorrowful longing.

longing for what, i’m not quite sure. death, maybe- or perhaps some semblance of peace.

a hibernation of sorts- tucking myself away and checking out of existence for awhile.

there’s something soothing in wanting to die. something comforting in the fact that one day i could wake up and be 11 again, back where it all started, hands shaking and skin too tight with constricting lungs to match.

one of my fondest memories is a cold day in fall- winter fast approaching- in which i had skipped school, the thought of being acknowledged practically sickening.

i had been cold, not just because of the outside temperature, but a sort of cold that settled deep into my bones, bones that at the time, i wasn’t even sure belonged to me. bones inside of shaking hands and curling around too tight lungs.

i had gotten out of bed late- after deciding i wasn’t alive enough to brave school, i had gone back to sleep for some hours- and the fact that i had even made it out of bed was something of a miracle for me.

i had taken to the shower immediately, the day was cold and there was no sun. i remember that distinctly, the dreary cloudy day a perfect caricature of how foggy and clouded my brain felt.

i’d turned the water as hot as it could go, maybe if i was lucky, i could thaw out my slowly beating heart, draw myself out of a bout of disassociation, the first i can ever recall having.

i’d sat in the shower, knees tucked into my chest and chin resting dutifully atop them, head bowed in a mourning ceremony for myself.

i’d stepped out of the shower icy cold, freezing from the inside out, hair dripping and teeth chattering miserably. i still wasn’t even sure if i was real.

nothing felt real at that time, no actions to my consequences, no feelings besides apathy and exhaustion.

i looked at my shaking hands and saw right through them. not my hands, i decided passively, and then they weren’t. they were simply hands that i used, limbs that i had borrowed.

i stepped out of the shower only to start up a bath. scorching hot of course, the air was cold and nothing else existed in that moment.

the fog over the windows and mirror were welcome, the distorted blob that was reflected was much preferred over being met with the grim reality of my declining state.

i remember texting my older sister while thawing out in the bathtub, something along the lines of, “do you ever feel like you aren’t real?”

i don’t remember her response, but i think it had something to do with my grandma’s bipolar disorder.

how funny, i’d thought to myself, skin red and brain broken, that my grandmother and i might have something in common. i wonder if my mother will hate me more when she finds out.

i don’t remember getting out of the tub, i know nothing of water swirling down the drain, but if i had to wager a guess i had simply put on the same pajamas i had been wearing and went back to bed.

what a miserable time in my life. what a blessed, glorious time in my life.

sometimes i allow myself to slip back into the comfortable embrace of depression, i think him to be a friend these days. at least he’ll never leave me, i think to myself achingly, at least i’ll always have him.

he is familiar to me, embodied in cracked and bleeding lips, dehydration, oversleeping and dreamy thoughts of death.

i put on the playlist of music i was obsessed with when i wanted to die, reminiscing as if they were my glory days, and i wasn’t a scared freshman watching blood bead up in lines down my arms.

it’s comforting to curl up into my bed, my nest of blankets and pillows, knowing that things are getting bad again.

depression curls around me and hooks his chin over my shoulder, sticking his nose into my neck.

“i’ve got you,” he murmurs, and i sleep well knowing that when i wake up the world will be muted and gray, and i will be 11 again.

winter has always been a beautiful season.

[mechanicalriddle]

Limited Frame

Limit the edges of your canvas. don't try to do a backdrop in the middle of a huge canvas or you will not know what to focus on. Draw a box. You only care about composing the scene within that box.

2. Block it out

Do not make the mistake of attempting to draw a component of the background in detail without paying attention to the complete composition. You don't even know exactly what you are going to draw in all the places. Draw in a square, shape, blob ect. in the approximate size and shape where you want Some Thing for the composition; you can worry about what it is or what it looks like on subsequent passes.

Know approximately how your char/chars are gonna be posed, but it really is necessary to block out the backdrop first and then place them in it rather than trying to cobble something together around them that doesn't make sense physically or compositionally.

3. Reference

I like to keep open an example of the type of backdrop i want that is in like roughly the same angle and has roughly the same component focuses as what im doing. ex. i google like... "futuristic mcdonalds playplace" or whatever. Keep in mind AI art won't help you for shit, use searchterms to filter it out or just go on artstation or w/e. I genuinely prefer to use concept art because for instance if i google "teen bedroom" i'm going to get a lot of staged instagram worthy results, rather than what a teen's bedroom actually looks like.

DO NOT COPY the background. use it as a rough guide and inspiration if you get lost or aren't sure what all needs to be in your scene.

4. Perspective

how much you actually worry about perspective is up to you but remember: the goal is to make something that looks good, not something that's perfect. Also remember your fore mid and background but a lot of this ties back into composition.

5. Clutter

Clutter makes a scene feel real. Spend some time with it to make your scene feel more lived in (doesn't have to be actual literal clutter, just little fiddly details. the human eye is good at recognizing when you've put actual effort into stuff, so sadly sometimes you just simply have to take the time to make it right.)

now get outta here. in 2024 we are drawing our characters in locations

in 2024 we are drawing our characters in locations

[corpsoir]

hello! so I don’t really know how to word this in a non word vomit kind of way so my apologies ahead of time! One of my further questions about art especially digital art is finding a nice in between style of realism & “cartoony.” I personally struggle with the realism kind of art somethin about drawing real people is extremely difficult for me, I don’t want to draw them like fully real like but I do think my art could improve if I figured it out. Do you have any tips or recommendations to help with finding this? My other question is a bit more into coloring, i think I’m getting a little better at it but I’m still a tad confused on things like shading how to do lighting all that extra stuff people add when it’s not just flat color. Hopefully I make sense? I’ve been watching videos on digital painting & it’s helping but sometimes the ones I watch kinda go over my head & I was wondering you had any other tips/tricks or could dumb it down for me. Please & thank you sm again I really appreciate your help 💘

yeah sure i have lots of tips and thoughts im sure other people might find useful or fun to read as well!

i just wanna preface this by saying this is how just i do things and by no means am i saying im doing it "right" or that there even is a right way to do art. have fun! art is just a by-product of being human, nobody can do art more correctly or better than anyone else, its just art, its like breathing!

the best tip i can give to anyone looking to improve their art, especially when it comes to drawing people and light and shade, is taking a real life figure drawing class!

i know it can be expensive depending on where you live etc but if you ever get the opportunity, DO IT! its seriously so valuable especially if you have a teacher who is good at explaining 1) how to think when youre drawing and 2) can point you in the right direction and give you tips personally according to your abilities

when it comes to balancing realism and a more stylised cartoony style the best thing here is also to learn how the real human body works and looks. and again a figure drawing class can help here but so does looking at pictures, looking at your own body and how it moves and how light plays on your skin etc! i think in order to stylise something its always helpful to have that background knowledge of how something looks like in real life, that way you can sort of abstract the thing youre drawing and simplify it with simple shapes. i think one of my favourite examples for this that a lot of people struggle with is hands. people tend to want to draw every single finger in detail, and sometimes that can look a little bit stiff. heres a bunch of hands ive scribbled lately, notice how theyre all just. idk. shapes? especially the little negative spaces that trick you into seeing a finger when in reality its just a blob with a hole through it.

you read them as hands but theyre really just. blobs mostly.

there are tons of books on anatomy for artists as well and those might help! i dont have any tips there though, most of my knowledge on the human form is from figure drawing and looking at my own body and stuff :))

and COLOURS! so i always work with a limited palette for my art. instead of going in and picking new colours all the time and ending up with an inconsistent muddy mess like i used to, i have made a nice palette with colours i enjoy and that go together well.

lots of reds and browns and purples here, but thats just my personal preference for how i work with colours lol

and im gonna be really annoying with this but when it comes to shading things "right" this is something you gotta practice practice and practice, by looking at real world examples and trying to replicate it on paper (or digitally i guess). i still have a lot to learn, i struggle with light and shade still too and its fine, its a learning process!

but anyways this is how i usually do the light in my art, and i think this piece is the best example because its a very bright light source and stuff

excuse my handwriting lol my thinking when it comes to light is just. im trying to think about what im drawing as a 3d object, so in my head i try to visualise for example how the light will fall on their weird hair shapes and their skin and clothes.

oh and also i just found a compilation of a bunch of videos by an artist who is really good at explaining a lot of stuff i do too! its REALLY long but she's got so many good tips on how to think about art and its really helped me a lot since i stumbled upon them. shes also really great at explaining colour theory in a way that made it so much easier for me!

hope this helps at least a little bit lol im not a good teacher sorry!!

[kiisaes]

How do you draw anatomy so well? Please tell me your secret🙏🏾

If you actually respond/pay attention to this---

Thank You!

thank u for thinking my anatomy is good! ;o;

my "secret": i've been drawing bodies since like 2nd grade, and more "seriously" since 7th grade. i've done a multitude of live drawing studies (drawing nude figures in various poses) which helps way more than you could imagine. i'm an art nut so eventually i improved through sheer work; my body saw how much i was drawing, aka repeatedly bashing my head in a wall, and was like "ok FINE u can get better at art i guess" LOL

anyway, i never know how to answer this question properly because different artists have different approaches to anatomy. the way i draw a body might not make any sense for anyone else, and vice versa.

i've seen youtube videos that are like "DON'T do this! DO this!" and because there's so many of them, they constantly contradict each other. it gets so damn overwhelming because there's no way you can follow all advice provided to you, much of which are from stuck-up artists who think their way is the only right way. there is no only right way to draw!!! please remember that!!!

that being said, here are my tips that might help you, because they happen to help me:

1—

separate the body into shapes! when sketching, i tend to draw my limbs with blob-like "cylinders"/ovals and joints with circles, like so:

these look like messy mannequin limbs, but they get the general vibe down for me. not to mention, they apply weight to body parts by implying muscle/fat. i used to draw with lines and circles, but this subconsciously made me draw arms and legs a lot skinnier and "bone thin" than i preferred. even though these are just sketchy base doodles, it makes it easier for you to build more detail on top of them!

2—

if you want personality in your pose, a great way to allude to that is by using a line of motion! for me, these usually manifest with the spine:

...but they can also apply to the rest of the body by extending past the pelvis. it's up to you! but a general spine/line of motion, even if just a scribble, can imply a different emotion and pose quite simply. i like to draw the torso and line then add arms and legs, sometimes based entirely on vibe LOL

3—

and honestly the BEST piece of anatomy advice i can give you... is to KEEP DRAWING!!! study figures over and over again, go to live figure drawing sessions (or use an online site, there's a handful of free ones), draw a pose you made yourself in the mirror, study the anatomy pros from art books or tutorials, watch shows or animations or hell, comics — actually PLEASE read comics, often times you'll find a cool pose just there for you to analyze and draw — you get the idea! even though i told you these tips, they won't actually mean anything unless you put in the work.

i know "just draw" is a very basic piece of advice that's kind of a duh point, but it sincerely works. i took a figure drawing class my 3rd semester of art school and it helped me leaps and bounds — all it did was have us draw figures over and over! you can get advice from a thousand different artists, but ultimately what matters is what works for YOU. and you won't know what works for you if you don't draw! i know it can get discouraging if you keep drawing and drawing and you're not getting the results you want, but art is a gradual process. i still continuously struggle with art but i'm really glad i improved leaps and bounds in the past couple years, bottom line, i feel more comfortable with drawing bodies, and it's all thanks to my hard work! (or perhaps my relentless fear of failure, which forces me to keep drawing so i don't fall behind lol)

i hope these helped even a little bit!!!!! just remember: anatomy takes a LONG time to figure out and perfect, and any kind of progress is valuable progress! there also isn't one correct way to draw bodies; just use what works for YOU to achieve what YOU want :)