#i think after the last digital painting i wanted a silly little sketch

[averlym]

pitch day

[ssneksnekk]

InkMare Wet Dreams

(Masturbation, Wet Dreams, Multiple Orgasms)

Nightmare really couldn't remember a certain time when Ink had started showing up at his castle. Whether he say it was a few months ago or just last week. He was good with time, seeing as how he still knew exactly how old he was after many years, but Ink's visits always confused him.

 You see, the hyperactive, chaotic skeleton usually only truly appeared when he wanted too. Sometimes Nightmare thought he’d see his layered, small figure passing in the halls or he thought he was the one who would’ve spooked one of his men with a silly prank from time to time. Or, hell, sometimes he’d sit in his throne room and have a rather deep conservation with the squid on a matter of something rather mature compared to Ink’s actual vocabulary.

 Nightmare had a theory that Ink was just pretending to be a stupid lunatic. Though the inkblot didn’t have a large vocabulary like he did, he still could speak rather properly if he wanted to. Literally about anything. Once Ink had explained his thoughts about something as vague as playing the flute or painting. Sometimes he’d talk about how much he hated watercolors or markers because of how light and dark they were.

 And other times, Ink would talk about his day and repeat the same thing over and over only a few minutes after already saying it. Nightmare guessed Ink’s memory was the only true thing about him, really. Though, through these little conversations they had from time to time, he’d started to catch tiny feeling for this Squid. Feelings he’d call… different in a sense.

 He’d find himself laughing at his jokes or getting very concentrated on whenever Ink played the flute. He’d pretend to read while he’d watch Ink paint or sketch from the corner of his eye.

 Though, only recently when he’d found himself subconsciously touching himself to the mere thought of it being the squid, he knew he had a bit of a problem. Nightmare had shot awake that night, fingers inside himself, his body ready and summoned. And by the feel of how abnormally wet he was, he had a feeling he’d came more than once.

 “Damnit...” Nightmare slowly let his four fingers leave his soaked cunt. Ink, what had you done to him? Looking over to his digital clock, he could see it was only two in the morning. Great... he’d went to bed at ten like usual. So that was... four hours of masturbation. Should he be proud of that new record? Of course not.

 He couldn’t help it. Well, his body couldn’t help it. His body yearned for him. Nightmare yearned for him. Nightmare let a soft whimper escape his throat, his thoughts starting to wander.

Ink’s skillful hands traveled over Nightmare’s sides, being sure to caress and squeeze whenever he wanted to. His tongue letting warm travel over Nightmare’s nipples and breasts, down his chest to his clitoris.

 Nightmare gasped at the feeling of Ink’s tongue entering him, his tight walls squeezing around that skillful, ecto- appendage. He felt tears prick at his eyes when he felt Ink’s four fingers slip inside of his soaking core one by one, making sure to stretch him farther and farther each time.

 “Ink!” Nightmare moaned aloud, not caring for who heard him. He was on cloud 9 as Ink didn’t hold back to make him cum. Now it was time for the main event.

 Letting his thick, long cock rub against Nightmare, he carelessly thrusted rather hard inside of him. Nightmare’s slick walls easily working as a lubricant. As Nightmare’s body rocked against the bed for every thrust the squid had made, he let out a sweet noise with it.

 Ink leaned in close, saying these simple yet amazing words to him: “You are mine.”

 Nightmare came easily with a loud cry. His back arched and his toes curled... body trembling and his form shaking… his body completely becoming limp. Nightmare panted softly. “Ink… stars, Ink..” Opening his eyes, he couldn’t help but feel a bit embarrassed, disgusted and maybe a tiny bit annoyed that nobody was there with him.

 Letting out a loud groan in anger, he rolled onto his stomach. He pitied himself. What would his men think of him? Masturbating to the sheer thought of their sworn enemy? What would Dream think of him? Getting off to his bestfriend’s mental image. Stars, what would Ink think of him? He couldn’t feel. He had no soul. And the thought of Ink carelessly fucking him into the mattress was already making his ecto spark right back up again.

 This would be a long night.

@Carelesscreativity 

(I was inspired by you! :))

[custardcove]

Here’s a fifteen-questions meme I stole from my splat-blog! 

I’m not tagging fifteen people, but if you’re a mutual of mine that wants to take part, consider yourself tagged. 

1. Are you named after anyone? 

Pansy: A flower, if that counts! It’s a family tradition for the firstborn.

Ivan: Not exactly. I share a name with some video game character Alice liked the sound of.

Queenie: Sadly not. While I appreciate that my name stands out, sharing a name with one of my ancestors would’ve been a mark of pride.  

Taylor: Mmmnope. I like ‘Taylor’ enough because it starts with a T like Tomiichi, but I wasn’t named after anybody—though you know, as a point of interest, it was meant to rhyme with my brother’s name!

Neo: I was named after my grandmother.

-

2. When was the last time you cried? 

Pansy: Aw, man… I try to stay positive around Prim, but I do cry about silly stuff sometimes. Maybe a week ago? Sometimes the past just catches up to you.

Ivan: Longer than I can remember.

Queenie: What an invasive question! I don’t think that’s any of your business. I do not cry frequently.

Taylor: Now why’d you want to know a thing like that? I think I’ll keep it to myself!

Neo: Mind your own business.

-

3. Do you have kids?

Pansy: Have you met Primrose? That’s my daughter. She’s really sweet, but she’s also quite shy, so please keep that in mind.

Ivan: This is a difficult question to answer. I’d say no. I don’t think granting someone’s wish makes me a father.

Queenie: Not yet. I intend to.

Taylor: Woah, no! Do I look responsible enough to be a dad? Ahah…

Neo: No. I would rather not.

-

4. Do you use sarcasm a lot? 

Pansy: I try not to, er, I’m not so great at it. And it’s kinda mean.

Ivan: I get reprimanded for being sarcastic. It happens regularly.

Queenie: What do you think?

Taylor: There’s always room for some well-placed sarcasm!

Neo: Any time I make a joke.

-

5. What’s the first thing you notice about people? 

Pansy: I try to get a good read on folks—so, I guess their whole profile? That’s before I start looking at their individual features. If something sticks out to me from there, I’ll focus on that—but not in a mean way! Like, seeing someone’s smile, or if they’re carrying something, or their size, or claws. That’s what I mean.

Ivan: Their aura. It’s not difficult for me to discern a person’s moral alignment, and that’s important for my role.

Queenie: Their posture, how they walk, how they talk. It’s important for a first impression and can often be an indication of status. Or, perhaps more importantly, an indication of their intent…

Taylor: Their mood! I don’t want to step on the toes of anyone that’s angry, and happier people are more likely to give you the time of day, you know? Improving someone’s low mood is great too, but I have to gauge my limits.

Neo: I’m not known for noticing people. How social they are, I suppose.

-

6. What’s your eye colour? 

Pansy: Psychic pink! They do that thing where they get more vivid when I use my powers—just the psychic ones, though. And I don’t use those too much ‘cause I risk a headache… still, I like my eyes.

Ivan: Brown, orange.

Queenie: Smoky Quartz.

Taylor: Brown. You know, like coffee? If I were a coffee, I think I’d be a Caffe Latte. … But, yeah they’re darker than that.

Neo: …I don’t mind my eyes being green as much as my hair.

-

7. Scary movie or happy ending? 

Pansy: Don’t mind either one, but I’d prefer a happy ending, even in a scary movie. That said, there are scary movies I just won’t watch, so I guess happy endings win out.

Ivan: I don’t waste much time watching films unless I’m asked to, but I prefer a happy ending. A good story is the most important, though.

Queenie: Happy endings are far too sappy and saccharine, but I can’t say I receive much thrill from horror either. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy watching them … my favourite part of a movie is criticizing it.

Taylor: Happy endings, please! I can’t understand why anyone would want to scare themselves – unless it’s silly fun, but that’s different. Y’know, not that I scare easy or anything…

Neo: Scary movies tend to be more interesting, but… I don’t have anything against happy endings. Horror isn’t my genre, either, unless it’s psychological.

-

8. Any special talents? 

Pansy: I have a bit of a green thumb!

Ivan: That all depends on your perspective.

Queenie: I’m an excellent piano player.

Taylor: People tell me I’ve got a lot of charisma, and I consider that a talent!

Neo: I suppose converting myself into digital matter could be considered a talent.

-

9. Where were you born? 

Pansy: A town not so different from Erryton, actually! It’s not far.

Ivan: Great question.

Queenie: Enigma Island, not far from Thorn’s Peak.

Taylor: Would you believe me if I told you I couldn’t remember? Aha. I know we moved when I was really young.

Neo: Doesn’t matter.

-

10. What are your hobbies? 

Pansy: Well, like I mentioned, I quite like doing plant stuff. I used to sketch ‘em and make notes about ‘em too, but I stick more to the practical side these days. I also like to bake! Mainly pies, cakes and cookies.

Ivan: I play the flute and cithara. Next question.

Queenie: I have a wide array of hobbies. I enjoy painting, reading, and  playing the piano—as I have already mentioned. While I’m not … particularly adept at sewing, I practice cross-stitch on occasion. I also like to write poetry, and take a bit of interest in botany…

Taylor: Most of my hobbies have some aspect of music tied to them—I like playing the guitar, mixing tracks, and just listening to albums. But I also like playing videogames and taking apart machinery for fun. I can even help people fix things! Er, sometimes.

Neo: I read comics and watch movies, like most people. You wouldn’t be interested.

-

11. Do you have any pets?

Pansy: Not anymore, but I’ve had two cats – Mr Ravioli in my childhood home, and then Kiki later on. I’ve considered getting another, but I think I should wait until Primmy is a little older…

Ivan: No.

Queenie: Estelle! She’s a darling little kitty-cat and I love her so. <3

Taylor: One dog, a shibe—my father bred his, and I got a puppy. Tadashi!

Neo: My brother makes robots, and we have one of those roving floor cleaners. I would consider that a pet. We call him V.I.N.CENT.

-

12. What sports do you/have you played?

Pansy: I’m not really big on sports – I like magic fights? But I don’t do that a lot now.

Ivan: I may have taken part in some sport or another, but if I did, I did not commit it to memory.

Queenie: I like to swim, though I have not played any sports as such. I have also been horse riding—oh, and I’ve played badminton once or twice.

Taylor: Alice likes table tennis, and we play together sometimes. Apart from that, um… I’ve been asked to play football and baseball before?

Neo: I like to run. Parkour is fun too.

-

13. How tall are you? 

Pansy: Five foot seven, and I’m the shortest in my family…

Ivan: Depends.

Queenie: A reasonable five feet and ten inches without heels.

Taylor: Ahaha … let’s just skip this one, shall we? You don’t need to know that.

Neo: Taller than you.

-

14. Dream job? 

Pansy: I’ve pretty much got my dream job, all things considered! I guess I’d like it if I could get paid to do plant study, but I never really had the grades to do that as a job.

Ivan: I’m working on my rank.

Queenie: I have entertained the possibility of having a career before. Hotel management seems like an interesting prospect … or a jeweller, perhaps? Oho, I don’t know if I could be trusted to sell anything. Either way, I’m comfortable enough managing my home and finances.

Taylor: I’ve always wanted to be a big-name tv presenter—hell, even a small-name gameshow host! I’ve not given up on my dream yet, but being a radio show host is close enough. I can use it as a stepping stone. Yeah, a music quiz show would be great…

Neo: I don’t know. Even when it comes to things I like doing, I’m not sure I’d want to make a job out of it. Coding is just convenient.

-

15. Favourite subject in school? 

Pansy: Science! I also liked geography, ‘cause I was pretty decent at it.

Ivan: I have never attended school.

Queenie: I’ve both been to school and had private tutors, but my favourite subjects were history and literature. They rely on eachother, so were easy to write papers on.

Taylor: Apart from the obvious ‘music’, it was mathematics—and yes, I’m serious! I also liked science and IT.

Neo: From what I remember of school, I liked science and computing classes. The rest of what I learned was from online courses.

 That’s… that’s it? It just ends? Alright then.

[caroline18mars]

A Man On Fire - Chapter 10

“Can I have my hand back?” what was the deal with this tug of war with her hand? Sweet, he finally let go “ow-kay..now, I've been listening to some of your music and I've been looking over the plans, so I made you a storyboard, nothing too fancy though, keep in mind it was done on a plane but I think you'll get the general idea” she pushed the rough sketches in his hand. “I would make a cube or a rectangle of lightpanels and I would plant the stage in the center of the venue, after all there's a lot of interaction with your fans right? That way everyone feels really close to you and there's a lot more potential for interaction” she was standing there with her back turned to them, gesturing at where the stage should be. “In other words, you can create your own little Universe, right here on this stage and let people be part of it”, 

Jared stared completely dumbfounded at the storyboard “Shayla, send these over to the technicians right now, tell them to digitalize this and then have them call me�� he pushed the papers in her hands “I want a clear visual by the time I get there, get a car ready, have Harper's things brought over, we're leaving in half an hour, you stay here and get Shannon on a flight to Frankfurt”. What? What was going on? Going to Frankfurt now? Jetlag, hello? “Sean, you're coming with us” he briefly said as he legged it back to his dressingroom, followed by Shayla who had to almost run to keep up with him. “You're taking Sean? I'm coming too” she hissed at him, slamming the door of the dressingroom behind her, “No! No, you're not! For your information, this is still a professional environment, not some playground where you're more focused on fucking Sean than anything else! There needs to be some professional distance, Shayla, in a week or so, he'll be hanging from the ceiling, that job is a dangerous one and I'm not gonna let him break his neck because you're constantly distracting him! Besides, you're needed here to finally do your job and keep things going! And I'll be damned if I'll continue to stand here and get lip from you every single day!”. Sean noticed how Harper was biting her lip, “I don't know what you're fretting about but we've got two hours to kill in the car on our way to Frankfurt” his arm slipped around her shoulder. “I'm not fretting, he just..seems pretty harsh, can't you hear him yelling at Shayla? Poor thing”. Ugh that irritating giggle of his “don't worry about her, she can handle him, it's you I'm more worried about”, whoooaa wait a minute, what? “Huh?”, Sean took a deep breath and weighed his words “just don't get caught up in his web, alright? I know what he's like with women and it ain't pretty”. Amazing, just what women needed, a guy with a big brother/father complex, well, welcome to the 21st century where women took care of their own and didn't let any man stand in the way of whatever it was they needed or wanted, besides she wasn't interested in any guy, no, not true, if she was honest with herself, there was only one name stuck to one man that kept haunting her, try and keep up Sean!

From: BJLCubbins

To: HCDeRobiano

Subject: Re: re: friends again?

Coco,

You're not in the States anymore? Would it be too forward to ask where you are then? I know you're thinking that it's none of my business and maybe you're right, but I just want to know how you're doing, if you're safe? I know, I know, who died and made me your keeper? But hey, I care, alright?! I know you have your heart set on making me squirm and practically beg but I just need to say that I miss our conversations, I think we can both do with a friend right now,..

Who do you call 'a friend'? From what you wrote previously I could tell you grew up in hostile surroundings with your Dad and all..does that anger inspire your work (seeing that huge painting you're working on, I take that as a yes, or is that a one-off where all that pent-up frustration came spewing out?), what else inspires you?

P.S. Also in one your e-mails you mentioned being cut off financially? Can I help? I'd still like to buy that piece

ttys?

Joe

Mind your own business, why don't you, Joe? And what the hell was 'ttys', it sounded like some serious illness to be honest, sure yeah, she could sit here and act all smug, but the truth was that she was a tech-retard, plain and simple, the look on that guy's face, ugh what was his name again?come on, floppy hair guy..uhm uhm uhm, tip of your tongue..J-Jared, yes! The look on his face when he got her storyboard, 'digitalize this and digitalize that' bleghhh, not exactly Mister El Sympatico. Sean's flapping hand startled her as he sat down next to her, “bye, I'll call you” he yelled at his lover in the slamming door, instinctively she raised her hand at Shayla standing on the pavement, I'm waving..not that I know you, but ok yeah I'll wave at you because it's the right thing to do, the polite thing for you is to wave back and at least act like you mean it. As the car sped out towards the late afternoon traffic, she dug her phone inside her pocket, not now, an insane jetlag was not the best headspace for replies, no, forcefields up and phasers set to stun, at least for now...oh hello fatigue, what do we have here? A friendly arm to snuggle into? Excellent, best news all day! Sean's arm instinctively pulled her against him, letting his exhausted friend nestle against him. Checking the rearview mirror, Jared noticed Harper all snuggled up against Sean and envied their closeness, when was the last time he had done something so intimate and yet non-sexual as that? He could get sex every hour of every day, but this kind of friendship between a man and a woman, talking, sharing things, laughing, no tension, simple, true, and for him almost impossible to find. “Is she ok?” he caught Sean's eye in the mirror, “yeah, completely jetlagged, I'm just glad she's here..” Sean softly answered so not to wake her up. Sean, Sean, sweet yet not so bright Sean, who had yet a lot to learn still about a scorned woman's fury that would leave his ears ringing and his heart ripped to shreds, just keep it away from my tour, he leaned back in his seat and kept his hand tightly wrapped around his phone, come on Coco, I'm waiting.

Harper was still rubbing the sleep from her eyes when the lightpanels were hoisted on chains up into the sky, “just make it a rectangle, like a box..yes, perfect..hang on” she quickly climbed the ropeladder. She was like a cute, little monkey climbing the ladder and swinging her way high up to the ceiling to show all these guys how things were done, his heart literally skipped a beat when she made all the light panels become a tight light box, blasting colourful and mysterious visuals across the screens. “Told you she was amazing” Sean came standing next to him, “amazing and then some, fucking hell” Jared rubbed the goosebumps on his arms when one of the new songs flowed from the speakers. She looked down to see floppy hair guy jump on the stage underneath her, filming it all, that was a good sign right? Funny though, how she had done so many installations and everytime the reaction was 'well, yeah, I guess they're just lights, but is it art?' or 'what the hell am I supposed to feel?' but once music and some cool rock band was added to the equation, then hey presto, definitely Art, with a capital A. “And?” she jumped down, startling him as she landed right next to him on stage, and bit her lip as she looked up at her own creation above their heads, pretty neat, Harper, pretty neat!. “Dinner? Drinks after? To celebrate?” what? Celebrate? Floppy hair guy looked so happy, whoooo! “sure” she answered, jetlag forgotten all about for a couple of minutes. But it hit her twice as hard in the car when she was touching up her make up and briefly looked out of the window, heavy rain crashing down over Frankfurt, the buzz of her 5 minutes of success wearing off..

From: HCDeRobiano

To: BJLCubbins

Subject: Where is Coco?

Joe,

I promised myself I wouldn't give you the light of day, leave things the way you decided to leave them in New York, but here I am reporting for duty, guess this compulsive loner needs a talk, a talk about the most cynical thing on this planet, love, L.O.V.E! because I miss love in my life, yes I do, there I said it, I put it out there, and if you think that makes me the biggest joke on the face of this Earth, then so be it! I'm only human and I can't keep my feelings in check all the frikkin' time.

I dunno, I guess it's just my friend (let's call him 'Jack' for privacy reasons, because I don't know if I can still call him that if he would ever find out I'm writing this silly stuff down) who got me thinking, I see him with his girlfriend and he's excited and loud and ridiculous around her, but then when we are alone and spend time, he turns into this warm, calm and protective animal I can be 'me' with, you know? It's like he's acting around her, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, he's never himself around her or any other girl I've seen him with romantically. Have all my relationships gone belly-up, because those guys felt they couldn't be themselves around me? Did I ever really knew them? I think not! Men just want to do unconventional things with conventional girls, to me that is a recipe for disaster. So that's 2 of your questions answered: yes I'm safe with my friend Jack! My whereabouts are none of your business

I'm just gonna ignore the financial help part in your e-mail, I'm trying very hard not to be insulted, I think I'll just let it slide this once, just don't ever mention it to me again! Oh and don't mention the 'Dad' painting either, ok?

What else inspires me? Well, at the moment not so much, I just accepted a work thing in a city that is cold and boring, but I'm dreaming of better days, better times, a better me, in the meantime I promised myself I'm going to check out some museums tomorrow, maybe that'll help (or not because other artists make me wanna throw all my work out of the window).

What makes you dream? If you dream at all? Or maybe you dream of your lovely wife and 2,4 kids, wouldn't surprise me if you had them, you know? Oh and another thing, what the hell is 'ttys'?

Bye

Coco

[semi-sketchy]

This is for both of you! I am SO NEW to digital artwork and I have no idea what I’m doing. I’m using FireAlpca and I was wondering if you could give me some tips and how to make my art better! Thank yo7~

Forgive me for taking so long to get to this, just asks like this take a lot of time to put answers together for.

Seeing as you’re using FireAlpaca, this’ll be somewhat easier. So, I’m going to assume you’ve got a drawing tablet and have it set up in a way you like. If you’re using a mouse, then godspeed.

I also went into a lot more than I thought I would with many pictures, so I’m going to put this below a read more.

First, let’s go over a few basics.

Canvas size. I’ve seen it and done it myself, so let me tell you, you want a large canvas. That’s the resolution I use, I like to have something that’s 16:9, but the aspect ratio is up to you. Extra large canvases can also cause FireAlpaca to lag, so keep that in mind before you do a 10,000x10,000 canvas. Find something that’s at least over 1,500x1,000 that your computer can handle. It’s a lot easier to shrink something down than to blow it up and you can always crop out extra space at the end. If you noticed you drew the sketch small, I recommend blowing it up some before lining so you have more room for details and so if you upgrade your monitor in the next few years, your old artwork won’t look pixelated.

Correction/stabilization. You’ve probably heard many people talk about this already and are using it, so I’ll keep it brief. It uses some digital tech to make your pen movements seem more fluid and flow better. Find the number that feels right to you and adjust it as need be. As you can see I keep mine pretty high, so here’s a quick example of the same drawing with different stabilization settings.

…I somehow got progressively worse each time. Well, the important thing is you can see the smoothness of the lines and how they flow better, so that’s what matters. Now onto the next topic.

The brush tab. FireAlpaca is widely used and that means it has a huge community that makes custom brushes. Some people find this confusing, so I’ll try my best to walk you through installing custom brushes.

First, you want the actual brush. I recommend looking through DragonLoreStudios’ brush packs as most of the ones I use are from them. Some cost points, but there are a few free packs. (Pack 6 has a water texture which I freaking love.) You’ll need to keep those files, so I recommend making a folder on your computer where you keep all the custom brush textures.

It’ll be in a zipped folder, so you’ll need to extract it. Just right click and select “extract all” to a folder that is NOT the zipped folder (done this a few times). Now the hard part.

Click that icon, “Add Brush (Bitmap)” and select the image from your computer.

It’ll pull this up. This is the tricky part. Some brushes come with what the presets should be to make it look like it does in the preview, however not all do. You can do some tweaking if you change your mind about something or it didn’t work like you wanted it to by double-clicking on the brush in the brush tab. However, since this one is from DragonLoreStudios, there’s a preset panel I can match this to.

And that’s the end result. They update that panel once in awhile and it is time consuming to put in a bunch of brushes, but they carry over from version to version, so no need to worry about losing your custom brushes when you update.

Lastly, if you’re like me and want to organize your brushes, I introduce to you folders. I had some people ask me about this on my last stream, so it’s as simple as layers and folders. Just click the folder icon, name it, drag ‘n’ drop. Nice and easy way to keep your brushes organized.

So far, haven’t said a whole lot you didn’t know, huh? Alright, let me get into some stuff that I jumped for joy when I found out.

FireAlpaca doesn’t have a multi-select….or does it?

Yup! I didn’t find this out for a long time. If you hold shift with the wand, you can select as many areas as you want. It seems like a silly thing to get excited over and you may have already known about it, but I figured I’d point it out since my friends and I took forever to learn about it.

The blur sucks. We all know. No matter what computer you have, when you turn it up over 120 it gets so laggy you can’t hardly use it. But, those big canvases, you can’t use a dinky little 100 size blur on it. Welcome to filters.

I’ll admit, I don’t quite know what everything on that list does. HOWEVER, I do know what gaussian blur does and with the select tool, it’s amazing.

Let’s say you drew this awesome background, but you want those dots blurred however you don’t wanna sit here for 10 minutes with the manual blur tool.

It’s amazing, really. Only want one side blurred? Just use the select tool and blur that side. I wish I knew about this a year ago whenever my airbrush shading wasn’t smooth enough.

Now, the hue is also something that has saved my shading life more than once. It works just like you’d expect. Don’t like that background color? Think it needs more pop?

Simple. The other two options that I know on the filter tab are also great! Sand and cloud. Depending on how big your canvas is, it might take the computer a second to put it out, but it’s a texture that’s randomized every time you do it and here’s what they look like with black and white.

Not very interesting, huh? Well, put a color below them and turn that layer to overlay…

Wow! It adds some texture! I personally like to turn those down to about 15% opacity so it doesn’t overpower the image, but it’s nice for adding texture to your plain, otherwise straightforward, backgrounds.

So, time we take that knowledge and move to the miracle that is clipping.

Clipping is your go-to tool for shading and colored lines. I can’t believe how often I have to tell my friends “no, don’t grab the paint bucket use clipping” because clipping looks better. Always. Alright, for an example I’m gonna grab a newer piece that I already finished since I still have the project file.

Notice the clipping? I actually used more, but had to merge some layers because a clipping layer can’t clip onto another clipping layer. I’m gonna go backwards a little here and show you how helpful clipping can be.

This is without clipping. Not very nice looking, is it? I shaded with black as a base color, the lineart sticks out like a sore thumb and it lost its soft look. I actually use black a lot to shade, but only as a base color (unless I’m shading a really deep color, then black is basically my only option). After I got all the shading, I made a new layer and turned on clipping.

Now with this layer, I’m free to put color into the shading. If I did this with say a paint bucket, I would end up with spots that didn’t quite reach because of the antialising or it would expand if I turned on that on and I’d have to go over it again to clean it up. With clipping, I get clean lines and am free to change the color with ease.

The ears are a gradient, which means it’s time for some clipping ex machina mixed with the hue tab.

I made a copy of the top half of the color layer that covers the part I’m shading.

Now we got it pasted in with clipping on the ears. It matches up perfectly, of course, but there’s no shading. Time for the hue tab!

Look at that. Was able to keep the shading even with the gradient while adding a bit of hue shift to the purplish side. THAT is the power of clipping. Of course, use clipping for the lineart mixed with a bit of airbrush for the ear gradient (since the color layer ain’t on the lineart, have to color that by hand) and remembering to darken the lineart around the shaded areas, and we get this.

Sounds complicated, but it’s really simple and the result doesn’t look half bad. I’ve used clipping + hue on so many drawings and it’s saved my life.

Now, another little nifty trick is that white boarder. You don’t have to trace all the way around your piece, that would take forever. Let’s go back to our little grumpy Tara piece.

I added some color to help the boarder stick out. Now, first we wanna make a layer above the background layers, just below the color layer, and turn off the background.

Should be looking like this.

Next, we’re gonna use the wand to select outside and under the select tab, click “inverse”.

Now, it’s time to expand! It’s the button right under inverse, you can see it in the last image. How big or small you want it all depends on you and the canvas size, so play around until you’re happy with it. For this example, I’m using 7 because this is a pretty tiny canvas.

Next, we want the fill tool. Honestly this thing is so much more useful than people give it credit for.

Get the whole area and boom! That’s it. Deselect, turn your background back on and take a look!

Beautiful. The reason you don’t want to use the paint bucket is it wouldn’t get every spot. If you drew a tuft of fur or a little corner, it wouldn’t reach. This way makes it so every inch is covered. However, with fur and all, there’s a bit of a draw back and something you’ll have to fix manually.

Look how it squared those spots out, yikes. You’ll have to take your pen and round them as I did in that earlier piece with Miles.

I think this’ll be the last thing I cover and I myself am not very good at this, but I want to show you comics in FireAlpaca.

Step one: do NOT USE THE SNAP FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, PLEASE. THERE’S A BETTER WAY.

For real though, don’t do that. Make a new canvas (I wouldn’t use the comic tab, I just find it screws with all the knowledge I have and all it does is make a new canvas anyways).

Great. Next step.

We’re going to go to the layer tab and click “add panel material”.

That’ll bring this little box up. Whatever you pick is up to you and remember the undo button does exist, so choose whatever you want and click “OK”.

We got it started! That’s the easiest part done. It’ll automatically set you to the “panel divide” tool so you can get working. Drag that tool across and it’ll cut lines and if you hold shift, you can do diagonal lines.

Here’s a quick example. If you adjust the kerning and leading, you know, this stuff:

You can change how close it’ll cut the panels.

However, for some odd reason, you can’t do completely diagonal. Like if you take a square and cut from one corner to the other, it won’t work. I don’t know why, maybe they’ll change it in an update, but that’s how it is right now.It also takes a little getting used to, so mess around with it.

The great thing about doing this instead of using the snap (besides it looking better) is nothing will go above it. Even if it’s the bottom layer, you can’t go over it or erase it. However, sometimes you want a little panel overlay and this doesn’t give you many options, does it? Maybe you’d like to transform it, but you can’t because it’s a comic layer. You wanna convert it.

Under the layer tab, just click “rasterize material” and it’ll turn it into a normal layer you can use your select tool and transform stuff on. Now if only they had a way to create text boxes my life would be complete…

Oh, one last thing I wanna mention: ALWAYS save your project file. When you finish a piece, don’t just save it as a PNG and be done, save it as a MDP (FireAlpaca file) too. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve drawn something, uploaded it then realized I forgot one minor detail I wanna fix. Without the project file that contains all my layers, I’d be so screwed. Just keep the file around for maybe a week or two, at least until you know you won’t go back and edit it any time soon. Also be careful you don’t save a file as a PNG to show it to a friend, make progress, then just aimlessly click “save” because it’ll be in the format you last saved it as. I’ve had a friend do that several times and it’s terrible when that happens.

Okay this went from some help to a sales pitch. Still, when I found out about this stuff I thought it was a godsend. I might’ve just rambled on about stuff you already knew about, but I tried to cover some more obscure things you won’t find in basic YouTube tutorials. Anyways, hope this was of use to you!

-Sassy

[olmopress]

Man-ia-vich

week 9: Vincent Miller, “Key Elements of Digital Media” / Lev Manovich, “The Language of New Media”, Prologue: Vertov’s Dataset, Introduction - Mapping New Media: The Method, Ch. 1: What Is New Media?

We’ve had a week’s pause and it looks like cinema is going to play a big role in this second half of the course, so well, yeah, I decided it was a good idea to bless you with a still of one of the greatest shots in film history. Ten points to anybody who makes the rights guess on the name of the film.

OFF TO THE READINGS

Our first reading wasn’t thaaat relevant. I mean, yeah, it provided you with a sort of bird’s eye view of the status of research on this topic (i.e. digital media) but nothing too transcendental. You read about Mark Poster and his silly idyllic idea of the ‘internet model’ that generates active critical subjects and promotes a postmodern unstable identity, about Lister et al. who focus on (back then) supermega catchy phrases like hypertext, interactivity, scotomization, dispersion and bla bla bla bla bla.

BORING AF

(though I have to say Poster has a point in talking about the blurring of the distinction between producer and consumer on the internet. We, the people of the future, all are prosumers. Sadly).

The saucy stuff in Miller is all about Manovich, of course. But you know, we had to read him first hand, so maybe I better switch to the guy straight away, right?

You OK with that Miller?

Thanks a lot, Kaz.

So. Lev Manovich. Let me first spend a few words in general about the guy. I sense Imma love this man’s scriptures. I’ll tell you why:

1:

He’s RUSSIAN.

Which means badass intellectualistic and sophisticated and at times almost obscure, but you gotta love him because he has inheritend the gifts of FORMALISM.

2:

He defines himself as a DIGITAL MATERIALIST. And we all know who he is hinting at, don’t we?

It’s daddy! Yay!

3:

He’s a full-fledged philosopher who isn’t scared at all to theorize per bene and also make use of:



Yeah that is an anime representation of the young Karl Marx. Course he’s handsome as fuck.

BUT TO THE TEXT

Actually, there isn’t so much to discuss about. The Prologue is quite fascinating, but it is essentially a collection of stills from Dziga Vertov’s Man With a Movie Camera coupled with out-of-context quotes from the book. As I said, it is fascinating, stimulating, and frankly quite artistic, but it is hard to actually make something out of it if you aren’t already familiar with Manovich’s theory.

SO HERE’S ANOTHER OUT OF CONTEXT SET OF QUOTES

INTERTWINED WITH RANDOM SHOTS FROM FILMS

“A flower was offered to me, Such a flower as May never bore; But I said 'I've a pretty rose tree,' And I passed the sweet flower o'er.”

“I am not a man who approves of definitions. Labels belong on luggage as far as I’m concerned; they don’t mean anything in art.”

“the computer fulfills the promise of cinema as a visual Esperanto.”

“The demand for perfection is always a sign of a misunderstanding of the ends of art.”

“all you negative muthafuckas should look at me as inspiration. im 23 fucking years old and built a fucking monster and im not ever gonna fucking land. stop being scary and neagtive and start believing in yourself and stop living for all these other fucking idiots.”

“The cameraman, whom Benjamin compares to a surgeon, “penetrates deeply into its [reality’s] web”; his camera zooms in order to “pry an object from its shell.” Due to its new mobility, glorified in such films as Man With a Movie Camera, the camera can be anywhere, and with its superhuman vision it can obtain a close-up of any object…”

“I don't know where i'm going from here, but I promise it won't be boring”

Ten points to anybody who can detect the two Manovich quotes. Come on kids it is way too easy.

Of course the Introduction is a little bit more dense with stuff. But it is still and introduction: it essentially presents us the architecture and the basic assumptions of the book. Manovich tells us he uses film history and theory to look at digital media, he introduces the deductive concept of “digital materialism,” he mentions briefly his “Principles of New Media” – which are, by the way, numerical representation, modularity, automation, variability, and cultural transcoding – and then he specifies a little about some of his terminology.

LET’S REVIEW THIS QUICKLY

language: my man Manovich says he was scared to solicit associations with the structuralist motherfuckers theorists (my man Man, y u hate semiotics?), but then using “aesthetics” or “poetics” would have been even worse so he got stuck with language.

I can see why you wouldn’t use  a e s t h e t i c s, Man.

object: he prefers it over product, artwork, interactive media, or other stuff. Doing so he wants to activate connotations that span from software lingo to 1920 Russian avant-garde and laboratory experimentation. I mean, quite an ambitious project.


BUT WE LIKE HIM THIS WAY

The only thing I am doubtful about is why not using “product” if you’re theory is infused with Marxism.

You should know better, Man.

representation: OK this is hella complicated but I’ll try. So far as Manovich says that new media objects are cultural objects (and thus participate in the construction of reality just like any other cultural artifact) I’m fine. But then he lists six different ways of connotating the word representation, and I don’t know about you, but I got kind lost there. These oppositions are:

Representation-simulation Representation-control Representation-action Representation-communication No taxation without representation Visual illusionism-simulation Representation-information

BOH

I guess I’m gonna have to read through the book.

The last few pages of the reading are very nice and come from the first chapter. Manovich bestows on us the knowledge of the fact that he’s writing approaching new media NOT in terms of consumption – as any other idiotic person who is not him in the world used to do – but primarily in terms of production.

CONGRATULATIONS! YOUR MARXISM LEVEL HAS JUST REACHED 100

So yeah, this is the big thing. Together with his historical disamina, in which he basically says that cinema and the computer aren’t that different after all. After all, they have a history in common, after all. After all.

I’ll spare you names and date. Learn from my wonderfully detailed and perfect sketch:

So computer, Manovich tells us, is fundametally a visual media. It is a machine that processes media through mathematics.

EXCITING

BUT ALSO ENOUGH FOR TODAY

SO

CULTURE

I like the fact that Manovich seems to be taking all these new approaches and be a sort of ventata d’aria fresca in the theoretical discourse. This makes me think of this song. Listen to it.

As for our painting… there is a surprise. So essentially I am so excited about this centrality of cinema in Manovich that i am giving you MORE CINEMA. So take a look at this excerpt from Luis Bunuel’s Un chien andalou, because I think it may have to do a lot with what we are talking about here.

さようなら!

Image Sources: PopMatters, vermelho.org, TeePublic, PBS, Jet d’Encre, Slant Magazine, Film School Rejects, Medium, Variety, The New Lens International, Imgur