#i really liked the anatomy practice sketches lol

[lucalicatteart]

A character reference sheet sort of thing for the main character of the Poll Adventures, drawn more in my usual style (taking a picture of messy pencil sketches then coloring it digitally lol) rather than the cutesy ms paint style of the daily poll images .. there he is.. the adventure boy..

[cup-o-stars]

How to draw like you no borax

Good question!

I'd warn against following my process (at least if you want to learn), but I'll be honest and show you, lol. (Heads up: this is just how I do FAN art. When having fun, I generally care less about the fundamentals.)

1. I slap down super rough sketches, jotting lines/expressions like bullet points of my idea. Pretty much stick figures with just enough detail to remember who's who later. Not shown here, I also move, resize, and add details to express the intended composition if I'm planning something larger. You may notice a lot of curved lines / haphazard circles.

2. I refine the sketch by drawing it with more intention and build structure with slightly blockier shapes. If I'm really struggling with a pose, this is also where I'll find references or look at myself for bits and pieces to fill in the gaps. (When practicing, I would highly recommend using a reference from the start so all your limbs are an appropriate length and you don't need to say things like "that's passable" right before posting. If you're a perfectionist you'll leave that thought with the rough sketch.)

3. I'll decide around here whether or not to leave the sketch as is or commit to lineart (not likely). I guess I'd say I "shape the lines" here by going over some to add thickness/weight, and by adding basic sort-of-shading to break things up a little. Then I'll just fill in space if the page looks empty. (Usually this is where I incorporate the borax, but I hear baking soda works nicely if you're worried.)

4. Onto coloring. I don't feel confident enough to pretend I know what I'm doing here, lol. I just choose my base colors, imagine the general direction of the light source, then add minor gradients to the light and dark layers so they don't look flat. Then I just add some BS highlights and outline them. I've only recently found the motivation to properly practice coloring and just go with the flow tbh.

You may notice that Nami's forearm is too long, her hand looks like a pancake and Chopper has no joints! My kind sibling explained to me once that my anatomy is poor, but cohesive enough that nothing stands out too bad, lol. That's why it is important to use references!! And if you're me, practice all parts of anatomy at the same time with full bodies so that even when you're at a loss, your hands aren't that much better than your feet.

All in all, to draw like me, just have a very hedonistic approach to art, ha. Draw what you want, avoid getting burnt out on any single piece (sometimes that happens when you try to perfect drawings one at a time), and follow my personal motto:

Make fun, not masterpieces.

Idk how helpful this was, but there you have it!

[catiuskaa]

charcoal, paint, post-its and tape.

SUMMARY: seeing your boyfriend’s messy art studio, you couldn’t help but want to try and surprise him with a painting of the most gorgeous piece of art you knew: him.

REQUESTED! here by my pookie wookie @4ln-stay8, and honey, this was a beautiful idea! i love writing about art and hyunjin and hyunjin and art (and hyunjin) lol, hope you like! <3

CW: hurt/comfort, mentions of anxiety, reader is really hard on herself as a perfectionist (which sadly i can relate), crying and cursing, lots of fluffy comfort in the end!

WC: 1.6k

[☆🌷🖼️🌷☆]

You hate it.

Your hand feels cramped, your head hurts and you’re close to breaking the paper if you keep on erasing the same lines over and over again.

But it’s hideous.

It’s a sad excuse of an attempt in art and you hate it.

You were tempted to kick the sketchbook away, but knowing that it belonged to your boyfriend, to hyunjin, who could actually do art, made you refrain from doing so, opting to just harshly shove it away from your lap.

It wasn’t fair. You’d seen tutorials. You had practiced beforehand. You went as far as to use his anatomy books to study it, wanting to be able to do justice to his ethereal, beautiful self by at least getting proportions right.

But no. Art wasn’t accepting your preposterous attempt to join into it.

Hyunjin entered your shared apartment as he hummed a random melody, happy to come back a bit earlier than usual, his head drifting off to how he could surprise you and what kind of activity the both of you could do with the newly-founded time.

But he froze after he kicked his shoes off at the entrance.

“Angel?” He called, and you cursed, but barely had any time to put anything back into place as he followed the sound of your gentle sobs.

“Hyun…” you started.

“My love.” He crouched down next to you, looking at you as if you held the stars and the moon just for him. “Want to tell me what’s wrong? Mhh?” He hummed shortly, his hands traveling to your face and stroking it sweetly.

You stared at him, your heart troubled, so the only coherent response you could come up was throwing yourself to his arms.

The long-haired artist hugged you tightly in response, a part of him appreciating having the type of trust that allowed you to break before him and let him watch you reasemble with a little helping hand.

You sniffed, then shook your head sideways.

“Are we doing the nod and shake?” He smiled in efforts of making you join him, which you did shortly, and he allowed himself to take that as a win. “We can do that, pretty. Nod if you want to.” He snickered.

But you shook your head, staring down at the forgotten sketchbook.

“I-it’s just th-a-at I… I w-wanted… wanted to surprise you… b-because I-I wa-s trying to paint…”

Hyunjin’s face shined upon your confesion.

“My pretty girl was painting?” He chimed back with a gleeful joy. “But you’re not having fun. What happened?”

You just shrugged, sinking your head in your hands. “It’s horrible.”

“Can I see it?”

Watching you nod, it was only then when Hyunjin separated himself from you just enough to grab the sketch, then sprung back to your side.

A silence only broken by your unsteady breathing clouded the house as he viewed the canvas.

“Do you want my opinion, my advice, or my shoulder to keep crying?” He offered soothingly, and you rolled your eyes at his last mention. “What? My shoulders are very comfortable. I don’t even charge if you leave tears on my shirt, you know.” Hyunjin teased with a smile that you were quick to match. Another win for him.

“I just… I don’t know…” you sighed, melting against him. “It’s… ugh.”

He stared at your piece in silence, which you didn’t, only zoned out, playing with your hands as the silence crept up your spine.

What if he hated it too?

“It’s just like how you do with your post-its.”

He interrupted your spiral of thoughts, and you blinked at him, so Hyunjin repeated himself with a gentle smile. You then sniffed, a small chuckle fighting to get out in the midst of frustated tears. “What are you on about?”

“You have your cute organizing board filled with post it notes, don’t you, lovely?”

You nodded, but scoffed, still submerged in the depth of the painting —or rather lack thereof. “What’s that got to do with anyth-“

You trailed off when his hands, still a bit colder from the weather outside, cradled your face, forcing you to look at him, a beautiful sight you didn’t notice you were evading.

“Listen to me for a second. Please?” He pleaded, eyes soft, and giggled sweetly when you pouted, a petty way of letting him know you were listening. You blushed when he kissed you.

“So. Your post it notes.” Hyunjin smiled. “You stick them on the board, but often, they slip down, right?” He asked, to which you nodded. “And when that happens, I noticed your little trick, brains.” He booped your nose, and you couldn’t help but smile coyly. “Tell me, beauty. What do you do when they don’t stick?”

“I… I put a small piece of tape on the back.” “And it works like magic,” he grinned, beaming in a kind of proudness you had never seen on anyone, not when it came from others aside from themselves. And it mended your frustrated heart to see him like this, his now warmer hands stroking your cheeks.

He took one of your hands, and with a strained groan, reached to his pencil cade, grabbed a piece of charcoal and stained your hand with it, kissing your palm sweetly

“These are now the hands of an artist. And artists, just like you and me, can be quite like those little post it notes of yours. We bend right after taking us out of the package.” He chuckled, and you followed along, letting the sound of his voice lift your spirit. “It won’t matter how, there can always be a crease, or the glue won’t stick right, or the color is too blinding, maybe too dull, perhaps the paper got stained with paint or ink.” He stared at you, deeply so, allowing you to see through him, allowing you to understand.

This wasn’t about post it notes. Not anymore.

He continued. “But, just as your post its, sometimes…” he smiled. “Sometimes all we need is a bit of tape to stick in place.”

He kissed your tears away one by one, allowing your breathing to even out, matching and following his as you relaxed against him.

“Let me help you stick back on the board.” He looked at your lips in a flash, then bashfully went back to your eyes. “Let me be your tape.”

He hugged you tightly, and he showed you the sketch.

“To me it looks fine, beauty.” He started. “It’s a really nice attempt. Would I redo some things? Probably, if I wanted to be really perfectionist, because it doesn’t look bad at all. Or maybe I’d let the color do its magic.” He shrugged nonchalantly. “The thing about drawing is that we cannot let it control us, hoping to achieve perfection. That can’t be achieved, my love.” Hyunjin laughed. “Even what we see sometimes doesn’t look right in real life. There are references and references, and if a drawing’s sketch isn’t quite what we’re looking, sometimes we may need another one.”

You stared at him softly, comforted in his honest commentary.

“I can help you. You know were to find me.” He smiled sweetly.

“I…” you sniffed, staring at your charcoal-stained hand.

“I just want a coffee right now.”

You both giggled as you stood back up, and he engulfed you in a bear hug, picking you up and carrying you to the kitchen, determined to make you the best coffe in the whole year.

It wasn’t until the next morning that you found him puting your first sketch next to his. Only this time, instead of his usual messy tape lines, yours han bits of tape glued to the back.

Little by little, charcoal and paint helped post-its and tape, but even with the smallest things, it could certainly be the other way around.

And Hyunjin loved it any kind of way— Hyunjin loved you, post-its, charcoal stains and all.

[☆🌷🖼️🌷☆]

catiuskaa, may 2024 ©

~kats, who will now go to bed with my own cup of hot milk (not coffee lol, and sadly not made by hyunjin either)

[aveloka-draws]

When drawing your comic panels, sketches, and so on for humanoid characters, how do you handle anatomy?

I’d guess that it’s a pretty instinctual thing for you by this point after seeing all your (awesome, amazing, WOW I strive to draw as good as you do one day) art. I can’t manage to draw anything past a simple headshot lol, and even then I still struggle a good bit. I feel like I’ve gotten a lot better than I used to be though, and that’s definitely a good feeling.

Any helpful tips? It’s fine if you don’t have any though—I was just curious.

Whether you are a begginer or more advanced at drawing references are always helpful, not necessarily meaning to copy them but rather to study them so you can figure out how the body works and you can pose it however you want more easily! I'm still not that good but with enough practice they can look pretty decent.

I feel you about drawing headshots only, i used to do that a lot too. You could try to thumbnail (basically make a little sketch) your idea so you see the whole picture rather than just focusing all your attention in a portrait.

Iiiii hope this makes sense and hopefully helps? There're really good video tutorials on youtube that go WAY more into detail to tackle anatomy that have helped me a lot, Proko, Mark Brunet, Ethan Becker's channels are some that come to mind!

[elenthyaolyenths]

I couldn't decide on where to begin, so thank you all by advance for your help! Please reblog so everyone can see it! The winner of this poll will become one of my top priorities during November.

↓LONG POST under the cut! I describe each WIP with pictures and I explain what I would like to do.↓

Tell me in comments/reblogs what you would like to see for these WIPs!

Num. 1: "Please", inspired by David Tennant Richard II Kiss

"Please" is the first part of a diptych. Published as a simple WIP in December 2023, it became for no apparent reason (lol) one of my most famous posts on Tumblr. I have always wanted to full-colour it, but I was feeling so much pressure about this one that I didn't dare to try. And then Time has passed...

I have changed a lot of things in my art practice. Different brushes, different lines, and so when I'll work again on "Please", I already know that I'll have to redo all the lineart - that's ok, it's one of my favorite tasks. I will improve Aziraphale's expression and draw more details on his Archangel suit. Crowley with his dark waistcoat (ngk) and his gorgeous black wings will probably stay the same, even if I'll redo all his lineart so they'll complete each other perfectly. And, of course, full-colour... Teehee.

Num. 2: "...Again." (inspired by David Tennant Richard II Kiss)

"...Again" is the second part of my "Richard II Kiss" diptych. So much potential in Aziraphale's wings, as he literaly lauches himself into Crowley's arms! And how I love the way Crowley embraces him like nothing else matters. I'll have to do all the lineart for this one, and I'm so glad about it, because I guess I have changed and improved my lineart skills these last months, and "Again" is the perfect challenge for proving it to myself.

Num. 3 "Bliss", one of my favourite Red Art Sketches! But...

Achieved on the 29 of January, 2024, "Bliss" is a Daily Challenge sketch, so time completion = less than 2 hours. I love the emotion and the movement in this one, but I have always wanted to come back to it and take my time, in order to draw a cleaner and more detailed version, probably in full-colour. The potential of Crowley's wings is phenomenal (I'm so much more skilled now about drawing wings), and his expression is wonderful. Maybe I'll change a little bit the lineart so we could see Aziraphale's embrace on Crowley - tenderness and passion all the way, always.

Num. 4 "Falling Starmaker" - "If Only I could have been there for you"

"Aziraphale saw the Starmaker's Fall, but didn't (couldn't) intervene. 6 thousand years later, he still regrets. He should have been there for him."

I dearly love this headcanon about Aziraphale, and I like to imagine that he would still dream about saving the Starmaker from his Fall. Not because he prefers Crowley as an angel (Damn, NO), but because he learnt to know Crowley throught the ages. And since he saw how much Crowley has suffered, after 6000 years, Aziraphale would do anything for relieving Crowley of thepast and the pain.

The lineart here is quite ok but needs to be redone so it would be more appropriate for a full-colour rendering. I really want to work on highlights and rendering effects for this one, so the movement of the Fall would be preserved. And I'll work on details like burnt feathers, Crowley's hair and Aziraphale's saddened eye.

Num. 5: "Eden" or "Take me back to Eden"

Since my first reading of "Anatomy 1.0.1", a Rating E fanfiction written by Fyre, I have a thing for them already together in the Garden of Eden. So of course, a kiss on the wall (again), but with their wings apparent this time!!!

I gave up this one in April after trying to full-colour it (that was... hideous.) Now that I have a better idea of how to handle full-colour, I need to come back to it. This one will be a peaceful, innocent fluffy scene. With Crowley's proud wings casting a soft shadow on them, probably, and his gorgeous hair flowing like fire and gold over Aziraphale. A lazy and tender moment in the Garden of Eden, when everything seemed simpler...

Ooooouf you did it! You know everything! So, which one you prefer? What would you want to see in it when it's achieved? Reblog/comment and tell me everything, I'm curious!!!

Thanks to you all, love you!!!

Linktree - Tumblr Masterpost

♥ Tag-List below (tell me if you want to be in or out)♥

@goodomensafterdark ;

@floscrap-blog ; @demonsandpieohmy ; @amagnificentobsession ; @captainblou

@ineffable-hyperfixation ; @itsscottiesstark ; @moralsofanalleycatsposts

@fearandhatred ; @eybefioro ; @crowleys-bentley-and-plants ; @ashfae ; @crowleys-hips;

@paperclipninja ; @silverdphantom ; @neverlet ; @naturallyteal

@mad-aims ; @daisydimple20092 ; @seraphhiim ; @rebeccakatmauri

[minas-linkverse]

i remember you mentioning before that you don't really do sketches- just get straight to the lineart. the sketching/lineart process takes way more time than everything else, for me, and i was wondering if you have any tips for doing it your way?

Here's a visual example of what the asker means ^

The answer to how I do this might not be what you want to hear: A lot of practice. I've put a frick ton of time into learning to draw fast, because it is a skill like any other with art.

I can share some quick tips on how I practised and my thinking process though, if people still are curious and may wanna give it a shot!

One of the main ways I practiced this was by using permanent pens and markers while doodling in school. I always disliked how pencil smudged so that came kinda naturally to me, but it was a huge help anyway!

When you work directly onto a pristine white canvas with no guideline you're forced to really think about where you put each line, and get over the fear of mistakes. By doing this you can grow a natural understanding of where the next thing you're going to draw should be.

(Sorry if the picture is not a good explanation, I've never been much a teacher. (Also for full disclosure I did use ctrl+z when drawing this example.)) Here I tried to picture how by having the face shape lined, I can use knowledge of anatomy and what looks good to place the eye of the character in. Then with the eye in I can "Unlock" more feature locations!

It also helps being familiar with the character... I've drawn the cast of this comic so many times that these boys just show up when I ask lol.

This approach has a lot of issues, like it can be very hard to keep a character design consistent. Another is that if u get too bogged down on doing the same thing that works you're going to start making some really stale looking art-- It's so important to not just draw what works but to go for ugly perspectives and weird experiments.

Still, I hope this can help someone! It's not a method that works for everyone, but it's a fun one to explore :)

[megistusdiary]

this idea literally just popped into my head after seeing some art on twitter but hear me out pls ok

reader grinding themselves down on alhaitham’s abs. that man is RIPPED -🔮

ALHAITHAM IS SO FINE. i need him so bad you don't even know. his drip marketing looks so mf good like 😇😇🙏

also i love love love this concept ty for putting it in my box, 🔮 anon ♡♡♡

warnings: dom!alhaitham and sub!gn anatomy/pronouns reader

ab grinding lol, degradation, no gendered terms used but you grind against him

alhaitham sat beside you, focused intently on his book, squinting at the pages in the low light. the lamp beside him was close to going out, flame flickering when a soft breeze blew into the room.

you were instead taking some time to rest, weary from your long week and desperate for some time to be with your lover.

though he wasn't the most physically affectionate, he knew exactly what you needed and would always deliver.

"you seem unfocused." alhaitham commented, not bothering to look up from his book.

ah, he caught you staring at him, cheeks warm as you returned to busying yourself with sketching in your notebook idly. "sorry, i didn't mean to stare. i just zoned out i guess."

"you've been staring at me like that all week." he paused to close his book will a short thud, placing it on the table next to him and turning to fully face you. "if you want something, just spit it out. i can't read your mind." alhaitham let a little smirk fall onto his face, leaning back against the chair. "yet, that is."

"well.." you trailed off, chewing on your inner cheek. your brain had been plagued with many...tempting dreams this week, each one waking you with an ache between your thighs that you had to take care of before leaving.

there was one specific scenario that seemed to be on repeat in your brain, and you couldn't help but ponder if alhaitham would be agreeable to experimentation.

"well?" he asked as you cleared your throat.

"it's kind of an odd ask. i don't want you to think i'm weird."

"despite what kaveh has filled your head with, i'm not the prude he believes me to be." he simply answered as you sighed.

"okay, well, you know- woah!" you gasped as alhaitham reached to drag you over onto his lap, settling your chest against his as your noses practically touched.

"do i have to coax it out of you, or can you spare me and use your words?"

your mouth felt dry, lips parting as alhaitham gripped your waist, letting you rest your thighs around his torso. it just so happened the way he sat you allowed you to grind yourself against his abdomen, feeling the definition through the layers of clothing as you bit your lip.

"you-" alhaitham cut himself off, watching your hips roll against him as the corner of his lips quirked up into an uncharacteristic grin. "you're really that desperate? rubbing yourself against me like some kind of animal?"

"i'm sorry, i just- this dream, i had a dream about you. and you told me to do this, and it felt so good, then-"

alhaitham silenced you by pressing your lips to his, moving his tongue into your mouth and allowing the kiss to grow sloppy. "the citizens of sumeru are finally allowed to have dreams and you spend them on grinding against my abdomen?" alhaitham arched an eyebrow as you hid your face into the crook of his neck, hot with shame.

"why do you need to imagine some shoddy version of me when you have me here?" he asked, using his own strength to roll your hips against him at his own pace.

"can i, can i please take them off?" you whined into his ear, breath hot against his skin as he nodded.

"lift your hips." he instructed you as you begrudgingly sat up to remove your pants. you went to settle back over him before he stopped you. "those too." he hooked a finger into the waist band of your undergarments, snapping it against you as you shivered, slowly peeling the fabric off.

your eyes widened as he lifted his shirt, revealing the blemish-fres expanse of skin to you, gesturing for you to come closer to him.

you hovered over his lap, feeling him collect slick from you and rub it over your sex, hearing you whimper and try to press your thighs closer.

"come on and get to it already." alhaitham snapped as you moved forward, pressing yourself against his abs and shivering at the contact. you squeezed his shoulders, finding a pleasurable rhythm to grind yourself against him with. you bit your lip as you focused on your hip movements, though some noises spilled out as you trembled against his form.

at some point, he grew bored of your pace, instead grabbing your waist and grinding you down harder and faster at the same time, feeling the slick spreading over his skin and watching you toss your head back, eyes fluttering shut.

"oh- that feels good-" you mumbled, thighs beginning to shake as he moved you in little circles letting you feel every dip and bump of his abs until you finally came, white liquid coating his skin and shirt as you fell against him.

you seemed boneless, enjoying the warm bliss of alhaitham's chest until you felt the tent in his pants prodding up against you.

"don't act like you're suddenly exhausted. let's recreate all those little dreams of yours, hm?"

[works-of-heart]

hiiiiii ❤️ I love your art but i wanted to ask if you use AI or not? It’s getting harder to find who the real artists are and who keeps faking it I’d love to see how you start your drawing process and wips!

Hello Anon and thank you for the ask!

I understand the concern of not knowing whether any piece uses AI, but I assure you, none of my art work uses any form of AI. I use Clip Studio Paint to do all of my artwork and everything is sketched, inked, and colored by hand. I have shared many of my WIPs with a few friends of mine, but I'll share them with everyone now, as to put any suspicions to rest! =D

These are wip and sketches, so please don't mind the messy process I have lol! At some point I was thinking of streaming my process, so people can watch me work, if they are at all interested. I'm still working on setting it all up.

Below are my WIP for some of my popular Elucien art!

The Elucien kiss, this was just putting down some shading before I worked on the lighting and coloring over the sketch.

My 'anime' style lucien. I had just put down flats and brief shading on his skin. I used the CSP background of a sunset here, adjusting it later and adding some glow.

My Lucien in Illyrian leathers! I was trying out different brushes and mood painting. A lot of this was attempting some monochromatic base painting before adding colors on top.

The sketch and painting of my Elucien garden. I had the HARDEST time trying to get Elain's head to gently touch Lucien's!

I painted the colors down, and started to get into the flow of the tone I wanted, and bigger shapes of Elain's hair. Like AI, hands are the BANE of my existence! I need a lot more study and anatomy practice. Perhaps I can post some of that here too! (I'm just always embarassed of the messy looks and weirdness of the process)

The base colors for my Elucien mother's day painting! This one turned out so pretty, I LOVED How Elain's hair came out in the end, I was pretty shocked! The sky looked sunny too!

Lucien and his wet shirt! This was the first time I've ever tried to paint a wet shirt effect before. I had no idea what I was doing, and had to try and find many different references.

These are the sketches I had done for Lucien and Elain's Final Fantasy pictures I made. Again, I need more anatomy practice, but doing these were so much fun! I listened to Final Fantasy music too to really get me in the mood. ^-^

And this is Elain of that series, in her flat colors!

There ya have it Anon! Here are just some of the WIPs I could find from my painting/drawing process. A lot of it is messy, chaotic, and just ugly looking at the start, but as they say "trust the process!" I certainly hope this helps ease any thoughts or suspicions. I understand its hard to find good work out there that is done with legitimacy, but all my work has hours of blood sweat and tears in them. =D

[lemon-wedges]

Hello!!! I love your art and your style. I'd love to hear your inspirations behind how you draw and, in addition, hear a bit about your painting process (I love the impressionistic look your paintings have)

ahh!!! thank you so much ;u;

Ill tried my best to break down my thought process behind my drawing, so i hope this all makes sense aahaha

undercut cause it came out real long

SO Karl Gnass is an instructor that i took an anatomy class with. and who broke down anatomy in a way that really helped me grasp space. like space a figure occupies. and from that i think my characters feel a bit more...grounded? im not sure what the right word would be but tangible is something people sometimes say about my art.

And i do think when youre able to make a figure look like its really wrapping its hands around something it makes character interactions a lot more intimate.

heres a few under sketches i do when i start a drawing (i am trying REALLY hard not to use my nsfw ones tho those are pretty perfect when it comes to showing u anatomy RIP)

after i got the poses done ill turn down the opacity and rough sketch out details on top of these. and once THATS done i move onto lineart. and the most important aspect of this step is NOT TO TRACE YOUR UNDER DRAWING!!!! thats what sucks the life out of your work!!!!

instead you use your undersketch as a guide. ilI actually redraw the simple anatomy underneath very lightly, erase where they over lap and then add line weight variety + darken up the details.

examples of this are gonna look a little messy but. Left is the original pose i drew out with rough details. right is the drawing i do on top of it. you'll see theyre not one to one and theres some lines i didnt fully erase out when redoing the anatomy. i find my clean up has a lot more energy when i do this.

the thing about my style is that you'll notice i never actually do actual clean smooth lineart. and thats because i HATE DOING THAT SHIT. like i did learn how to do it and consistently forced myself to do it for over a year. and while i do think i learned a lot about line weight and drawing clearer. i realized? its just not for me. I like a textured brush and i like being able to see those small lines i didnt get to fully erase out because i think they look cool lol and thats ok!! do what you want forever man!!! its your art!!!

Also before i move onto painting ill show you this neat little trick. you know those more "loose" drawings of mine that feel more gestural? the begining process is exactly the same. the difference is i use a chunkier pen and try to see how much i can simplify details + just feel out the energy of lines

NOW PAINTING.

man. where to even start.

the thing about painting is that its an entire different set of skills that need to each be honed on their own and will slowly build up together. ill break it down like this.

VALUE, COLOR, and TECHNIQUE

I've said this on another ask before but you'll notice ill do a lot of black and white sketches. and i do that to practice choosing how to group values.

like this example. how light is laios' wolf coat compared to his skin? or kabrus skin color compard to laios coat. when do you want to really push the contrast of light and dark and when do you let values be closer to each other when you DONT want attention

the next step from this is adding a light source.

and when you're working in black and white its a lot easier to pay more attention where you want your light/how its gonna look like hitting youre characters and how far youre gonna push your shadows.

and you know if you get good at this you can play with limited color palletes

this is literally just be picking out blues and hitting the bottom with the gradient tool to light it up

NOW COLOR

is a lot harder and also very subjective. I do a ton of impressionist studies where i just color pick the fuck out of a piece to see what colors masters used + knowing the history of paint and what colors were available during that time period. +knowing what colors = what mood + knowing what colors to use when you want to be more realistic vs when you want to lean into more stylized+ what colors YOU specially incline towards + AHHHHHHHHHHHHH

its a lot and im actually still learning myself

But when i do a painting i collect a LOT of refrences of the kind of mood i want my own painting to feeling like. I've show the first example in another ask before but heres one from my latest labru too

WHen i actually start a painting tho they look like this. The top drawings are just flat colors with a simple outline of where i want the light to be hitting. like in my value studies im just trying to get the idea down, seeing what values need to be darker vs what is lighter. and how the light source covers the character.

figuring this out in the begining makes the rest of the painting so much easier because youve essentially made all the big compostion decisions NOW. from here you can start playing with colors.

my second stage, youll see with drawings at the bottom, is when i start using my texture brush to lay in extra shadows and just play with variety.

and then? i start rendering

that would be TECHNIQUE

And well....thats also something thats gonna be very subjective.

With my own style im not interested in rendering everything to perfection. Im trying to figure out how to texture hair/skin/clothes in ways that make them feel like the materials they are while also showing the energy of my brushstrokes.

I dont zoom in while i paint btw. everything i do is zoomed out so i can see the entire drawing. it helps me not tight up my strokes while also letting me build up all areas of the painting equally. the only time i zoom in is when im lining out the eyes/mouth of a character. and yeah. it drives me insane doing this because ITS SOOOOO Tempting to obsess over paint 1 area forever then zoom out and see that nothing matches lol

The other thing about my style of painting. Is that im not gonna use the exact same formula for every piece. like this isnt cell shading. you can have an idea of how to texture skin/clothes/hair and sometimes it looks great and beautiful in one painting and then it looks like shit in another. ive overhauled a lot of paintings multiple times because what i thought would work doesnt and ive had to force myself to explore and play with my brushstrokes. and you know? i wouldnt have it any other way. it means none of my paintings are gonna look alike! and i think thats pretty cool :D

ill leave you with this in the end. a painting im in the middle of doing and debating to overhaul cause im just not feeling the strokes. who knows what ill look like in the end

anyways i hope this helped a little? even if you look at all this and go. IM NEVER GONNA DRAW LIKE THIS BOZO ahahah

BUT I WISH YOU LUCK ON YOUR OWN ARTS :DDDD

[uva124]

BRAVO DESIGN!

Soooooo we already have our favorite villain mascot!!!!

(If this is the first time you see this post, this is a redesign or design in this case for the Wish Au "Kingdom of wishes", written by @annymation and illustrated by @emillyverse and me :D, if you want to see other redesigns you can look at my pinned post!)

Now let's see the procedure of this design (although I don't have much to say lol):

In the Wish concept art they mentioned that they wanted to implement a cat as the villains' pet, but they decided to eliminate it for some reason that is still difficult for me to understand, however when Anny was writing the KOW story she found this other concept art of Amaya:

YES. IT'S NOT A CAT IT'S A LYNX, A BEAUTIFUL PET WORTHY OF ROYALITY THAT PERFECTLY COMPLEMENTS THE ELEGANCE OF MAGNIFICO AND AMAYA (Especially for Amaya since, you know, the queen looks like a Greek goddess- is my favoritism very noticeable?)

Anyway, as in all the redesigns that I do, first I like to practice a little the structure that I will use when drawing in traditional

(Yeah they are a little deformed, even my friends and me in class laughed at some of the sketches…..and one even made a sticker LMAO)

Going off topic, animals can be REALLY difficult to draw, it's like learning human anatomy again ^^;

Respect to the desing, the truth is I didn't know what to add to Bravo, at first I thought about just giving him a necklace with gems or something like that, but then Anny told me that Bravo is more like that pet that you give him a gift or clothes and at the same time second they destroy it, so with a small and comfortable rose on the chest it would be fine (how does it hold on to its fur? ✨Disney magic✨)

Also to give more personality to the design I thought: "What if I added a little hair sticking out like his father? that would be funny lmao"

And this is how the design turned out! Iberian lynxes are beautiful animals and it was fun to draw them

And that's how the design turned out! Iberian lynxes are beautiful animals and it was fun to draw them, that's all for now, until next time✨✨!!

[whiteraven90]

hello, I hope you're having a good day <33 I saw your recent post on my dash and I was STUNNED at the animated scene! It's insane to me I get to see your characters animated. Feeling blessed to be alive to see it, I am not exaggerating. You know, one of these times where you wake up and things are a little bumpy in your life but there's one thing that shines brightly you didn't know it could give you so much excitement? Yeah, that kind of thing ((:

I took my time for the past hour to reminisce over your blog again. It is one of the places I really love scrolling through and reading your writing. I had a question, if you don't mind me. The way you have improved is truly admirable. I know this might not be an easy ask to say "hey, how did you learn how to paint", so I'll ask this instead: I don't know how long you've been working full-time in art, but when do you make time for studies / drawing for fun? If it's not too much to respond to, how do *you* study? I remembered your posts with your redlines and wanted to ask how do you go about those, or if you switch your routines based on your needs (sketches vs speed painting backgrounds etc). The notes there were very interesting, seeing the mental exercise.

Pretty sure you have a fKTON of stuff on your plate, so please don't feel obligated to respond quickly or even at all. Thank you in advance for taking the time to read my message and for all the time you take to respond in general. Love reading your responses <3

Take care, ok? <3

I'm glad the animation made you feel better! I'll put the answer under the Keep Reading thingy.

I'm not entirely sure... I think I don't study as much as I should/could. I mostly learn as I go. Standalone studies are helpful, I'm just drawn to doing things that are more fun/satisfying to me or things that actively progress my creative goals. Imperfect illustrations for my stories, and incomplete research for worldbuilding! Many people learn faster than I, and those people do a lot more studies than I, but I have no info on whether they have more fun than I. Dopamine is rocket fuel, so it's important. :)

I'm always on the lookout for reference pictures, but I study almost only when I have a practical goal in mind, I guess. Studying is part of my job too, I think? As an indie concept artist I'm supposed to build a hoard of references and pull several new/sensible things out of them, and I think part of this process is understanding the material, and revisiting even what I already know. Illustration is similar. If I'm commissioned to draw an anthro alligator, it's time to study gators. It's not separate from work.

I mean, straightforward version: I wake up at 03:30, make coffee, and start working for myself until the paying work starts, lol. Brain is fresh before noon, and tired late in the evening just like everyone else's. It also helps that the city more or less shuts up at 4am.

The studies with the redlines... I do them when I fancy drawing characters or creatures but feel out of shape. I can get discouraged, feel like I forgot how to draw. I sketch if I plan to sketch, and paint if I plan to paint or want to study colors Drawing live models helps. Studying videos of people and things in motion. Hopping down rabbit holes about how/why things work (e.g. flintlock, Davy lamp, mansard roof). Drawing from refs. Hoarding refs. Trying different mediums (e.g. charcoal, 3D, etching). Small screenshot of one of my ref boards for the animation; I'd say I studied it a lot. How clothes move, what are good clothes, how do good clothes move, lion/tiger + human + eagle anatomy (from specific angles during specific motions if/when possible), how to dive roll, proper sprinting form, how to survive falling from a great height, spearfighting, pole vaulting, poledancing, lighting, colors, environment, kicked-up sand in motion, spear types, emu/cassowary/griffon vulture feet, etc. I didn't draw studies, unless you count the animation itself (I would).

[barbatusart]

how do you make your art so expressive and fluid-looking? do you have a technique or is it just how you've trained your hand? I try to get my figures more fluid but they always look so stiff! even practicing figure drawings...maybe because you draw so fast that helps? idk man...any advice? thank you!

thank you first off for such a compliment!!! fluidity & shape are the things i prize most in visual art to the point where ive given up gunning for "correctness" in favor of chasing the preservation of motion lol. gonna put my response and my Full Visual Art Journey to where i am now under the cut as it's an image-heavy one and a bit long winded (shocking for me to be long winded i know LOL)

so i absolutely used to have the exact same problem many years ago of my stuff being too stiff, ie my sketch would be loose and fun but my inks would be nervous & tight & not as fun to look at as the sketch

this is a super old thing from 2011 when i was still on my anatomy journey (you can tell cus the sternum and nose are, uh, interesting LOL) but you can kinda see what i mean - the sketch underneath is fun & has movement as sketches do, but these little fineliner inks are so visually Nervous. the issue for me at the time was that i was subconsciously exactly that: nervous of messing the picture up, and that fear of making a mistake telegraphed loud & clear to my inks. using fineliner tools 100% did not help me either, as microns & the like have little to no "give" to them; you put the pen to paper and you get what you get, and you have to sit there & meticulously build the line up to get any kind of lineweight.

i was ultra dissatisfied with my output so i made 2 changes a few years after this: i stopped doing pencil sketches and started just doing straight inks, and i swapped to a brushpen

these are from 2012 or so & some of the first things i did in straight brushpen inks with no pencil, and theyre a total mess but they are LOOSE AND FUN! i had 100% no idea what i was doing with the brushpen and had no control over it because i was so used to the thin lines pencil & microns gave me, so everything i made was sloppy & out of control as i was struggling to keep control of the tool, but honestly it was absolutely freeing for me. now i had the looseness of the sketch right there at the forefront. the issue was though, how could i get enough control of the brushpen to make something that wasnt so messy? even if i had freedom, if i got too wacky with it, itd just turn into a black ink mess. i was completely done with pencils at this point and didn't want to go back & risk losing this looseness & freedom, and then i realized like - what if i just do my straight ink sketch like this & then figure out a way to go back in & "carve" into it to clean it?

enter the next tool in the arsenal, the white gel pen. this was my first experiment with it & it was legitimately a complete game changer, because now i could slop on my inks as much as i wanted & go right back in with the gel pen & literally carve out the black lines to as crisp as i pleased while still preserving the motion & energy of the ink sketch. i noticed even with tons of layers of gel too there was no way to fully get rid of the ghost outline of my corrections, so at this stage i leaned into that quality even harder & changed from white paper to exclusively brown

at this point i wanted to showcase loud & clear to myself exactly what i was cleaning up, i LOVED how this looked. i even went a step further & got some really translucent red ink for a second brush pen (had to fill the cartridges with the red ink manually in the sink lol) so i could do an even sloppier red sketch underneath, half precise slop on black ink on top of it, clean it up with the gel, go back in with the black, forever and ever and ever

and like this was an absolute physical mess of material but it was beyond fun. id completely given up on anything being clean or correct, because i could always clean it & correct it & have a blast showcasing the journey of start to finish as preserved in the materials. i basically gave myself permission to like, be imperfect, treat inks like clay, & draw with complete abandon like a kid again

eventually utrecht stopped making the kind of brown paper i loved (these brown paper books were HEAVY DUTY & could take so much punishment, when i was done with a book id legit flip it over & start drawing on the backs of the pages) & then all the available material physically couldnt handle the amount of medium i was putting on my pages, like legit the paper itself was just ripping & dissolving lmao. so at this stage i got an ipad (i could never wrap my head around a tablet & not looking at my hand and the tool touching the artwork) & pivoted from trad to digital in like uhhhh 2018ish & just did the exact same techniques of slopping inks down, carving with the eraser, going back in with the inks, carving more with the eraser, and so on. and now since it was digital & i never had to worry about my paper literally melting underneath my brushes LOL i could just go forever on one thing

early attempts while learning the new medium in my fury road era

tail end of the SAD SACK roughs in like 2019ish (SAD SACK really was what got me locked in with my digital technique & how i wanted to attack it)

tail end of the SORTIE roughs from like 2021, at this stage i think my style got so fuckin crazy because i wasnt worried about my pages getting destroyed anymore so im like Violent with the ipad lmao, that & it got Really fast bcus since i wasnt bothering with correct anymore & had no medium-being-destroyed barrier i could just gunshot-speed get these down

and then most recently DE RERUM NATURA from like january of this year which i think showcases what im currently doing pretty accurately

this got long whoops lol POINT IS: i dont worry about being correct (because i can fix it later), i dont worry about being neat (because i can clean it later), and i skip the sketch stage entirely by slop-inking & eraser-carving interchangeably, which lets me fix and clean all i want while preserving the energy & action of the first marks. plus, going straight inks all the time i think trained my hand & eye to A. put down the marks i want correctly in the General Space of where i want them, and B. do it faster & faster lol

after all this my advice to you is this: swap to a new tool! try a brush, try paint, try a medium you have no control over but something that forces you to improvise and remember whats so fun in the first place about making a mess on your canvas of choice. remember that any mark you make, you can tweak, fix, carve, shove around, whatever. i think a lot of people get stuck in the rules they have set for themselves with art (i know i did!) and we tend to forget that there are no rules. try & remember that feeling of being little & just going wild on paper without any care whatsoever about being Right. go for it, because you can always tweak it - even inks arent permanent 🤓

[merryspark]

Sneak-peak Time!

The Crosshairs-Scene based on an animation I watched recently (you can find my reference at: 5:00!!

The amazing animation showreel of the students of AnimSchool (they are crazy talanted, I bet they gonna have fantastic job offers from well known animation studios! <33) - my poor ass was never able to use 3D animation programmes... TuT

So the guy in the video reminds me so much about Crosshairs, and in the very past @velvetblackjack shared so many amazing infos about how Optimus Prime recruited Crosshairs into his team, it seemed perfect to sketch up my version How It Could Have Happened! :D :D Big cheers for you Sis from the distance! I hope you're doing well, HANG ON, SOON IT'S X-MAS! So.... IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT(!) LIKE CHRISTMAS:

I just got the mood, and this is an old idea of mine. It was about time to draw it. ;)

Of course, still with incorrect anatomy, but I guess U got used to it. XD

Drift practice sketch - I have not drawn the blue samurai since ages, so when i saw some awesome eye-reference i wanted to try, drew his face around the eye, lol. I tried to drop some shadows aswell. It was really just a crappy little fast sketch. :)

Work still in progress:

- 2 versions of Barricade;

- BeeFormers sticker sheet - I planned it as a X-MAS gift for my followers, but I had some issues/rework for the Printing Press, sou until you have to wait, make sure you PM me in advance to sign up for a sheet of supercute stickers!! (with address of course :>)

More importantly i must ask for everyone's patience, because meanwhile i'm trying to find a new job without success so far....

I don't wish to disappoint my Ask Box applicants, because they have to wait extremely long, but this year was a mess for me since the summer began. Iamworkingreallyhardtocatchupwitheverything.

I LOVE YOU ALL SWEET BISCUITS, and one thing you can bet: i will be ALWAYS HERENFOR YOU!!

None of my personal problems can be that big, to not to be able to make you smile ANYTIME! <33333

Thank you for followingvme, for liking my art, and reblogging my crappy little drawings all the time. uwu YOU ARE WONDERFUL and AMAZING PEOPLE!!!! <33

Hugs!!! :D :D

[chibishortdeath]

Free will strikes again, these were some really fun doodles :3. I think Simon is allowed to be a little visual kei sometimes. Idk I just know he’d vibe with it. Explanations under a cut—

And also a couple unfinished doodles that were just intended to be rough pose/anatomy practice sketches, but ended up accidentally more detailed than intended 💀💀💀. It’s nothing graphic, but ⚠️slight artistic nudity warning⚠️ anyway in case d(>_< ).

Hehehe, this is based off of a photo from Malice Mizer live, it’s Simon in place of Mana and Fuma in place of Gackt. Very fun pose to draw!!! Especially cause it’s a pose with a whip and also cause idk why but I find poses with one or both arms up pretty easy to draw. And yeah yay, Fuma inclusion yippie :3!

I don’t have any other explanation for why this exists other than dresses are cool. So I made him one :D. The coord has a half caplet that connects to a shoulder paldron on the other shoulder by chain with a little cross. Under that there’s a blouse and skirt combo with patterns similar to his SQ armor and some rose thorn patterns around the ends of the sleeves and collar. Over that is a corset and under is a cage crinoline made to look like crosses peaking around the edge. Shoes carry outfit motifs like the roses on the bow tie and headdress and the lace throughout. Also, an eyepatch with cross on it because yeah, cute :3. I’d probably wear this if I had uh any skill in sewing at all (TwT ).

A not chibi version of the above outfit! Except probably without the crinoline with how the skirt fabric is sitting lol. Tbh I think Simon would probably be fine with this for a little bit and then get uncomfortable about having so many layers on. I don’t think he’d like tights at all 💀💀💀💀💀💀💀. Hmmm I’ll have to draw a version of it that’d be more comfortable for him hmm maybe tomorrow.

Another Simon holding Dracula’s heart artwork. Shout out to how this guy just carries this thing around for so long lol.

Simon facing off against his worst enemy: stairs! This one was practice drawing characters in backgrounds, since I’m so rusty at actually drawing those two things together (ToT ). I can draw a separate background fine, but the second I have to put someone in it I just completely forget what I’m doing XD.

This one is also a practice! He’s running up to the altar in Drac’s basement. The lighting was fun for this one, but I forgot to draw the whip in his hand 💀.

This one was an attempt at drawing a skeleton and keeping the same proportions in a drawing of someone (Simon) who is uh not a skeleton. Fun fact! It took me like 5 tries to get the skeleton to not just look like Papyrus Undertale cause holy heck do the skeletons from that game take a hold of some part of your art style and never let go 💀💀💀💀

CASTLEVANIA JUDGEMENT HAS HATS??? AS LIKE AN UNLOCKABLE?????????? So obviously I had to draw Simon (x2) with the bow options. Pink probs looks really nice with his hair tbh. And the striped bow was black and white so it fits with the Judgement design’s outfit. If I ever actually play this game again (I suck so bad at it), I’ll be trying to get these for the very important reason of Simon cute. :3

—

Ok now these two. The first one was a different attempt at that Mana pose, but a bigger scale and a bit less exaggerated. I ended up having to do a ton of edits to it cause I kept making things too big or too small lol. And the second one is just a couple dynamic posing practices. They’re also excuses to draw more arm up poses cause they’re fun X3. He was just supposed to have like a generic placeholder rectangle er um uh there, but some of the sketchy lines ended up looking like what’s supposed to be in that spot, so I just didn’t wanna risk these being on main tags out in the open 💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀. Though, tbh, I’ve seen more explicit things on the tags so eh, better safe than sorry tho (- w - )

[gl1tt3r-gutz-and-r0b0tz-sl]

How did you learn to draw? Like ur art style and shading+anatomy all that stuff

I've been drawing since I was a toddler, but what really made me hone in my style was actually a connect the dot manga book from an Ollie's when I was in forth grade. And My Little Pony also helped me when using circles to base out my poses. BUT, my dad also got me into transformers and robotech at a very young age. So I've always loved robots and the way they work. I try to study them more.

Most of my life was traditional art, painting, drawing, and pen sketching. I didn't have any tablet until I was in 6th grade. I'm in 11th now.

I learned how to adapt and configure my style, adopting other styles.

But, I was also, and still am, a spiteful bitch that LOVES to prove people wrong. And because one of my ex-friends wanted to become an artist, so I became a better artist lmao. It isn't just those things, but I think it's funny when I tell lol.

I did watch some tutorials, too, but I studied the colors around me, seeing the value harmonies and the contrasts. It took a long time, and I'm still learning now!

Study Pinterest art, use bases, and remember; PRACTICE MAKES PROGRESS. NOT PERFECTION.

[foolsocracy]

i wanna know how you learned how to render, it's so yum 😞💔

thank you!!! I'm glad u like it. I can try my best to explain my process but its very much a 'feel it with my heart' experience. This is gonna be long and incomprehensible but I'm gonna try:

If we're talking about the (above) garth & baby arthur jr pic or the bloody pete pic, I'd say i started to actually render like that in maybe high school art class (they were much worse then ofc because i have years more practice now)? Obviously my process now is different than it was back then, but before I actually started physically painting canvases with acrylics I usually just did line art and color without the blending-painting pizzazz.

Thats actually where I get my weird random interspersed colors in my coloring as well. Acrylics dry super fast and a high school art class is like 45 minutes so I'd have to totally mix a new pallet the next day. Not that I couldn't color match, but its annoying and having variations with colors or just mixing something up to fill in gaps looks neat if you get it right. If it looks bad just paint over it, but its worth it to try.

My process with these is almost exactly like my non painterly rendered ones, just with steps after. Also, you can get away with a lot when not fully rendering, but when i do render PHOTO REFERENCE is to die for. Specifically for the lighting. I can't emphasize this enough. By the time i'm done with a drawing my search history should be like "knees. Knees sitting. Knee anatomy. Harsh light photography. Curly hair. baby. J. C. Leyendecker new year baby" + 8 pictures of u doing whatever pose you're trying to do.

Anyway, the process for me is usually: vague sketch > carve out the lines/neater sketch > flat colors > basic shading/rendering > color adjusting sketch lines (usually from black to dark red) > collapse everything into one layer & get to WORK

I know the 1 layer thing is scary, but thats life. Its easiest to adjust things that way (for me). No need to worry about layers and blending modes cause its all right there. I usually duplicate the layer the drawing is in before I start on something crazy just to reassure myself that if I fuck it up I can go back. So a lot of the time my layers in procreate are progressively more rendered stages of the piece lol.

Now that Im here trying to explain this im blanking on how to actually express it. Lets see. I can run through some general stuff:

For both of those artworks (baby & pete) they're 100% made with HB pencil on procreate (a default brush! I've never downloaded any new brushes cause im lazy). I actually made a brush explanation for someone a few months ago I can put that right here:

hopefully those are readable. sometimes tumblr flops lmk if my writing is illegible

the eraser tool is your BEST FRIEND!!!! The way I get my lines and shapes and whatnot is by making big ass strokes and then erasing until whatever I'm looking for reveals itself. Here's a video of that process from the aquababy pic. Ignore the jerky pauses lol. also there's the reference photo!:

rendering itself is really hard to describe. Basically just throw color at it until it works out. (just tried to add a video but tumblr says only 1 video allowed

I hope this is helpful somehow! Just threw a ton of stuff at you. If you want anything more or the actual video or smth just let me know!