#i use like 3 different kinds of shading depending on mood

[ambyandony]

i frequently wonder if i have like. an identifiable style. like does my style have distinctive traits and would someone who enjoys my art be able to tell its mine or am i too inconsistent? do i change style too much? do i use too many different formats? idk

[saeyoungchoismaid]

hi love! big fan of your blog <3 if it wouldn't be too much trouble, could I request hc's for a gender neutral MC who calls the obey me boys (minus luke ofc) by terms of endearment as a nickname, like calling mammon honey! love you, have a great day!

Hi anon! I'm assuming you're asking for their reactions to being called smth like that and what they'd prefer to be called? Idk but that's what I did lol. Hope you enjoy!

Genre: fluff

Warnings: none

Lucifer:

I think the first time you use a term of endearment for him, he's just kinda like 🧍 LMAO

like it just catches him so off guard bc he's not used to it

if you call him smth serious like "darling" or "sweetie," he will blush but try to hide it

if it's smth dumb like "my honey bunches of oats," he's going to give you the most unimpressed look imaginable

definitely prefers to call you and to be called the more 'mature' terms such as darling, honey, my love, sweetheart, my beloved, and so on

Mammon:

blushes 47103784 different shades and can't stop stuttering the first time you call him one

pretends to not like them but is actually obsessed

he will legit think you're mad at him if you use his name instead of a pet name 😭✋😂

likes calling you the cheesy, dorky stuff like sweetie (pie), cutie (pie), my honey bunches of oats, sugar, sunshine, buttercup, sweet pea, and so on

he likes when you call him babe/baby, honey, sweetie, handsome, sweet thang, good lookin, and probs smth ridiculous like stud muffin 💀

Levi:

dies on the spot. rip Levi

nah but he fr gets SO embarrassed

honestly probably takes him a while to call you anything other than your name and "normie" 😭✋

when he finally gets with the program, he'd probably start out with calling you basic stuff like babe/baby and beautiful, and then might start warming up to more playful ones like queen/king or even smth oddly specific like Pudding Pop which ofc has a funny story behind it

he likes it when you call him babe/baby. And while these next ones are so corny and cheesy that it makes him want to die, he secretly loves them. Honey bun, sweetie (pie), love bug, and mayhaps even a baby boy?

Satan:

I can't decide if he'd be blushing red from embarrassment or would just be such a cocky bastard about it 😭✋

idk maybe if he was unsure about your feelings then he'd be flustered, but if he knew how you felt, he'd just be smirking as his sharp tongue went unchecked

honestly, probably uses similar terms that Luci uses, but I think he'd also use terms that are from books, poetry, and so on. Stuff like rosebud, jewel, my beloved, apple of my eye, light of my life, beau, dove, cara mia ("my beloved" in Italian), and so on. He'd also love to call you kitten/kitty cat/etc

he'd probably, again, like similar ones that Luci prefers. I think he'd also like things like Romeo, my other half, soulmate, my one and only, and other stuff like that. He even grows to like "old man" despite the fact that he pretends to hate it 💀

Asmo:

sigh. where to even start with this man

he's been calling you pet names since day one 😭💀

it ranges from cutie to sexy, baby to mi amor, sweet cheeks to darling, little dove to doll. it's a new one every time he addresses you I stg. It honestly just depends on what kind of mood he's/you're in, where you are, who you're with, etc.

he likes when you call him the same things, but especially likes anything that refers to his looks such as handsome, dream boat, papi, hot stuff, sexy, casanova, and so on. He also likes things like prince charming and my knight in shining armor

Beel:

my time has come

probably blushes when you call him one but then gets super happy and is just cheesin for the rest of the day

loves loves loves when you both use food ones 😭😂 sweetie pie, honey (bun), jellybean, cupcake, dumpling, buttercup, sugarplum, puddin, sugar, the list goes on 😭✋😂

I think he would also like the really sweet and cute ones too though like honey bunny, love bug, my love, darling, and so on

Belphie:

can dish it out but can't eat what he's cookin LMAO

easily calls you pet names but always gets so embarrassed when you return it. (He's probably the type to get angry when you call him something sweet or cute LMAO like his embarrassment turns into anger to cope with it anogifehdfah)

he loves calling you my moon/stars/sun(shine). I think he'd also use ones like angel, babe/baby, sweetie/sweetheart, and so on

he'd like when you call him sleepyhead, teddy bear, babe/baby, and snuggle bug. Super cheesy ones like snookums or smth like that will never fail to make him grin and chuckle

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[tamelee]

Hi Tamelee!

I was wondering if you could give me some tips/advice about color theory (in art/illustration specifically)?

Anyway, hope you’re doing alright! ( how’s life post uni if that’s not too intrusive?)

With luv <3

Hi @bruitdevague !!

No problem! ^^ I mean, with AI and all, things have changed a lot since my previous plans fell away. It's a bit stressful to say the least... But I don't want to stop drawing, and I really want to dive deep into storytelling (I also can't wait to share my SNS stories with all of you 💕) so, we'll see!

And yeah, sure!

Color theory is a massive subject though, is there anything in particular you want to know more about? For me personally, I think the best thing you can do is to simplify your learning process. I've ignored color theory for a long time because I found it complicated and overwhelming and always just thought I'd wing it. The main reason being that color is relative: it changes depending on the impact different interactions have with the subject: material, color temperature, transmissions, reflections, etc. And my brain can't really handle "well, it depends" when it comes to learning new things. But the result is obvious; I think some of you may be able to see at which point I finally started to learn it a bit on my own journey. ><

Of course, you’re completely free to use whichever colors you want and experiment to develop your own style regardless of theory, but understanding how colors interact is helpful, and in some cases, crucial. Some things are just more visually appealing together and more effective to suit the mood you're going for. (Look for complementary color theory, here's a helpful tool.)

I think, above anything else, the best thing you could do is start learning how to cell-shade until it becomes easier. (It's the art/shading you see in anime, webtoons, and comics.) This also helps you with forms and shapes.

Open a document, add a screenshot, and take your color picker to study the color wheel and take notes on saturation, hue changes, and light. 

I've done this many times until things just started to 'click' in a way. But take your time, it can take a while. For some this also might be overwhelming, in which case I recommend doing this while studying the theory together.

When it becomes easier and you want to take it a step further, then look at the famous ball that explains other lighting:

And honestly, also take your time with this.

Take any term, learn what it means and implement it one by one until it starts to make sense.

One thing I'd certainly learn first, or which one has been the most helpful for me is learning about color temperature. Since color is relative, shadows/highlights can become cooler or warmer (it's the shift in hues), which is a much more efficient way to look at it than determining whether something is just darker or not. When I started, I learned greyscale values at first, and although it helped me a lot regarding readability, it never taught me any of this, setting me back for a while. If you want to learn more about the theory itself, I'd recommend: "Color and Light" by James Gurney, and follow along while reading with a document to experiment. Or watch YouTube tutorials for free, but definitely scribble along while you do so! I think, even if you watch YouTube tutorials, it's important to have some kind of goal, or steps you want to take, otherwise you'll drown in all the information. So, this is what I'd recommend:

Cell shading (like in anime, webtoons or comics)

Learn about color temperature and experiment with casual scribbling.

Study the relevant terms which you see in the circle (sometimes they have slightly different names though. "occlusion shadow" can also be referred to as "ambient occlusion")

Implement them one by one into your art/illustrations if you want. Maybe just add highlights at first, then maybe consider focusing on the terminator if you're interested.

Practice a lot and whenever you find something you like, use the color picker to see what happens to the colors. You don't have to copy it, but you can copy the changes within your color wheel and see what happens!

Like I said, it's an incredibly large subject, but I hope this can at least give you some direction ^^💕

[p1x1x]

how i color/render!!!!! (general + metal)

hi i had an actual piece i was going to do this with but decided to just actually draw a process for this!!! before i say anything else though i'm not a professional so this isn't a "how to" it's "how i" thing sdlfkjsdlfkj,, also i draw in paint tool sai, for coloring i just use a flat blocky brush for everything

ok Here We Go. ramble

general things

When it comes to my style of shading, it's almost more of color "texture" rather than sensible shading? I'd say 80% of my shadows are placed believably with respect to a "general" light source but I fudge it a little because sometimes I think it'll look cooler. Oh and I live on the left side of the box. Let's me have the option to place really saturated colors as accents if I ever want to.

Normally in any work I choose the base colors based on what mood I want for it, but for easier explanation this is the pattern I found I do for nearly every color.

Each color tends to get around 3 - 5 shades total. The lightest shade tends to be a smidge more saturated than the base color, but then every shade color after that starts getting less saturated. Kind of based in reality, as shadow is the absence of light, and light is color, so shadows tend to be "grayer" (of course this rule can be broken : 0 and even while that's true light reflects so some color from environment is added back in the shadow asldkfjaskdf I do this if there's an actual background,,). I still darken the color though, so instead of it being linear straight down or just to the left it's a bit curved like a backwards C in the color box thing.

I also hue shift the shades because I think it makes it look more interesting than just messing around with saturation alone. Almost always I shift the hue to the left (towards red or pink), because I like that. I don't actually know the reason for this eye just think it looks good. Even with cool shadows they still end up in reddish hues (but with how desaturated my colors are it's pretty much gray so,,)

As for order of shades - I don't choose these shades beforehand either, I usually just start with a shade close to 2 and after placing those shades down I either go add a lighter shade (1) or continue with darker shades (3, 4) before going back to add 1... it's kind of all over the place and the placement of doritos is hard to explain too so! Example!

I forgot to take a picture of the flat fill, but yeah this is pretty much how they appear. Basically, I start placing biggest shadows first before gradually populating it with 5 billion doritos and lines. As for patterns:

Some of the common patterns I find in my own drawings. Lots of overlapping colors and whatnot, the triangles/ines also tend to hug either the lines or the edges of other triangles. Depending on the material, the patterns might be different. Think this one is a good example of bunch of stuff:

The feathers of the wings have tons of overlapping triangles that bleed into each other, but they still follow each other's edges. That big rock in the picture doesn't have much triangles - it's got more blocky rectangles and lines instead. The grass itself are just fat lines really. The bushes in the background have a mix of odd shapes somewhat overlapping each other... I feel kind of awkward pointing all of these out from my own work so um yeah!! There aren't really any hardset rules it's just whatever in the end!!!!

the main request for this whole thing was how I rendered metal .so Moving On lsdkfjsldkfj

how metal

step by step process, a bunch of separate images lskdjfdsf this is a closer look at how I render a specific material. Rare instance of lighting being added in the first place haha,, and I actually did most shades in order kinda so it's not super confusing

There's no particular background or mood for this metal arm here, but I find doing a flat fill really important either way. If I decide to finish and post that commentary of my own drawing thing it'll be more obvious how it affects the drawing there but essentially placing a flat fill first helps establish the mood of the piece while also being really helpful in making sure the colors you choose all work together.

(this is a thing some painters do as well I think? helps all the colors blend nicer together and depending on the color of the fill you can have some nice warm or cool undertones. instead of blending for me it helps with handpicking colors - especially when there's multiple different colors and not just an arm but enough rambling ,sdflsdkjf)

aaaanyways what I wanted for this was warm-ish lights and cool shadows so the fill is a slightly orange gray. When it comes to metal I establish a rather harsh shadow at the beginning - this is because I treat the base and shadow as two separate colors, if that makes any sense. It probably will with pictures,

These steps are grouped together because it just follows the general shading and patterns I described earlier. The lightest shade is a bit more saturated and red (and really subtle,,), yadda yadda the next are less saturated, darker, but still redder - the 3rd shade getting close to pink. At this point the 3rd shade has an almost blue tint (to my eye at least) and it's because of how colors look relative to each other.

When a warm color is placed next to a gray, that gray will appear cooler relative to it. A cooler color next to a gray will make the gray appear warmer. So in this case, because the base is a bit more saturated and orange (warm) than the 3rd shade, the shade appears as a really faint blue relative to the base! Or maybe I'm just crazy I don't know,,, irl wouldn't notice a difference : ( they think I'm weird for moving the color picker by 1 pixel to the right... orz

Now the shadow gets its own 2 darker shades... still following the same rules. Notice there's a bit of a harsh line that goes down the middle of the forearm parts. That's where most of the lighting will be placed against, because metal tends to have a dark shadow right next to the light,, uh not a professional here I'm pretty sure it's the core shadow (darkest shadow of an object, usually next to light).

Here's a picture I stole from the internet where you can see on side of either light there's a noticable darker section before it's mostly back to midtones

Fun part of metal! Adding the light!!!!!

For me this is a pretty good stopping point because the lighting really sells the metal look. Since I had a cool purple shadow the lights are a warm yellow. I still stylize the light a bit so there's just a few doritos and lines but other than that I'd consider it done... there's some extra stuff you can do though

These are quick things that help place it in an environment or mood. Say, this arm's out in a forest or something so there's green bushes and whatnot... Usually metal will reflect those colors in the environment so adding them really helps in making it fit in with the background.

Quick way to make it glow too is to create a new layer set to overlay and go over the light with a color of your choice and blurring it so. it Shinier!!! I used both of these before too : 0

bit blurry but there are green/yellow doritos reflected from the grass/bushes/leaves and some reddish ones from the tree trunks! and there's a tiny bit of glow on the light! yeah this piece had a lot alsdkjfa

that's basically it. i’ve only rendered metal 4 times total so here is where i say again not really a tutorial but loll maybe this made sense and helped someone laksdjflaksjdflkjsdf

if you scrolled to the end for a tldr; here's one irl did! it’s very concise and 100% accurate

[liaromancewriter]

Stating the Obvious

Premise: Cassie struggles with the twins, and Ethan shows off his skills.

Book: Open Heart (post series) Pairing: Ethan Ramsey x F!MC (Cassie Valentine) Rating/Category: Teen. Fluff. Words: 1,470

A/N: Submission for @choicesjanuarychallenge Day 30, "Sleep". I'm also using @choicesflashfics week 15, prompt 3, which will be in bold.

Cassie Valentine had spent years studying, learning and training to become the best in her field. She wasn’t quite there yet, but it wasn’t for lack of trying.

It was just a matter of time. Patience. No one became an expert overnight. Not Naveen. Not Ethan. Not her. She wasn’t going to be an anomaly in that legacy.

Still, it was frustrating, she thought with a huff. She felt like a rookie all over again, and it was not fun.

Ethan didn’t have any issues telling the twins apart, while she, who had carried them inside her for almost nine months, constantly mixed them up. What kind of mother was she?

Well, no more. Today, she was going to apply a method that had worked well during her residency and her diagnostic fellowship. And it was foolproof.

She was going to study the heck out of the girls and wouldn’t stop until she cracked the code.

The Twin Code, she snickered, repeating the phrase she and Max used about their bond.

Cassie pulled up the armchair in the nursery and lowered the crib’s railing for an uninterrupted view of the girls. The girls were awake and in a good mood. They were also engrossed in each other, which meant she could watch them without interruption.

They cooed to each other, hands patting heads, feet kicking up in the air. Their giggles and laughter sounded more like kittens mewling. But it was a happy sound, and Cassie almost forgot her mission.

The clouds outside parted then, and sunshine broke through, brightening the room. The twins’ eyes widened as they watched tiny particles swirl in the light above their heads — like pixie dust — and tried to capture them in their fists.

Did Sophie reach first or Eloise? Was one more adventurous than the other?

The girls looked identical but were, in fact, fraternal. She and Ethan had received the DNA test results a few days ago to confirm. Nucleotides and molecular structures were invisible to the human eye and of no help whatsoever in this situation.

The girls had her green eyes, and the arch of their brow was also more Valentine than Ramsey. Their hair, though, would likely darken over time. It was somewhere between blonde and brown, changing shades depending on the light.

Alan told her that Ethan’s hair had been light brown as a baby before changing to dark brown as he grew older. So, Cassie fully expected their daughters to be brunettes.

Brown-haired, green-eyed girls, she thought.

Did Eloise’s hair curl at the edges more than Sophie’s? And was one more blonde than brunette? In this light, they were indistinguishable.

Hmm. This might have been easier if she’d thought to put medical ID bracelets on them first. She couldn’t run a successful experiment without determining Subject A from Subject B. Too late for that now.

She leaned forward and rested her chin on stacked hands at the crib's edge, putting her at eye level with the girls. The movement startled them, and they stopped their play to twist their tiny heads and stare back at her.

Cassie closed her left eye, hoping a single-focused vision would help her tell the difference. A couple of minutes later, she closed her right eye instead. She flipped-flopped between both eyes, but nothing changed.

Still the same, she thought, opening both eyes. She leaned back and drummed her fingers on the armchair.

“Want to help your mom out?” she asked, quirking one brow. “Why don’t I say your name, and you raise your hand, so I know which one is which?”

Their rosebud lips rounded into an O shape. She thought she saw the twins give each other a side-eyed look of disbelief, but it might just be her imagination.

“Okay. Will the real Sophie Clara Ramsey please stand up?”

Cassie laughed when nothing happened. “I guess you’re too young to get the reference. And can’t stand up yet either, so obviously, that won’t work.”

“What are you doing?” Ethan’s voice boomed from the entrance behind her.

At the sound of his voice, the girls became animated and started cooing loudly, their tiny arms flailing to catch his attention.

“Just playing poker with the girls,” Cassie replied and threw him a laughing look over her shoulder. “What do you think I’m doing?”

Ethan rolled his eyes at her amused exasperation. Unfolding his arms, he straightened away from the doorway and walked over to stand behind the armchair.

He placed one hand on her shoulder, and Cassie reached up to entwine their fingers, savoring the warmth of his skin.

“Are those Edenbrook medical ID bracelets?”

Cassie followed his gaze to the items on the side table and grimaced. She had intended to place them on the girls before she began her experiment but forgot.

“I had Bryce pick them up for me. You know. Souvenir.”

“But these are blank,” he said, puzzled as he picked one up. “The ones the girls wore are in the safe upstairs.”

“So, that’s where they went,” Cassie mumbled under her breath.

“What was that?”

“Nothing,” she said breezily.

“I think it’s about time we stop avoiding the obvious,” Ethan said in a deliberately patient tone as he moved to stand in front of her.

“I’m quite sure I don’t know what you mean,” she said with a dismissive sniff, studiously avoiding his gaze as she smoothened the already smooth crib sheet.

“You can’t tell them apart, can you?” Ethan asked, amused.

Cassie glimpsed a grin on his lips, and her brows snapped together as she tried to stare him down. His amusement was contagious, and she chuckled, shaking her head.

She shot off the armchair and started pacing. “It’s so frustrating, babe! I should know, but they look exactly the same. How do you do it?”

Cassie stopped mid-pace to throw him a questioning look.

“If you must know,” Ethan said, turning away to raise the crib’s railing and lock it in place. “I had a hard time at first, too.”

The girls were no longer paying attention to their parents anyway. They were facing each other, eyes getting drowsy as nap time approached.

“But then I applied my superior diagnostic skills,” he smirked, hooking his arm around her waist when she joined him.

“Explain,” Cassie poked his stomach with her finger when he paused.

“It’s not in their looks, but in their personalities,” he said. “Eloise is usually the first to initiate, and Sophie follows along. Sophie likes to tuck her head when falling asleep while Eloise throws out one leg from under the covers.”

“But how do you know which is which?” Cassie insisted. “For all we know, it’s Sophie leading, not Eloise.”

“I suppose we don’t,” Ethan admitted in a reasonable tone. “Perhaps we should let the girls figure out which is which when they’re older.”

He laughed when Cassie swatted his shoulder. “Not funny, Ethan. I need to solve this mystery! You know how I get.”

“Fine, Dr. Valentine. I’ll share my diagnostic wisdom with you one more time,” he said magnanimously, folding her in his arms.

“Eloise favors her left hand while Sophie is right-handed. Sophie has three tiny freckles on her left hipbone, barely visible, but Eloise has none,” Ethan said, his blue eyes softening with each word.

“And unlike her sister, Eloise has dimples in her cheeks when she laughs. They still wore ID bracelets when I discovered the freckles, so it was just a matter of keeping track afterward. ”

Cassie stared unseeing at his shirt, a considering look in her eyes as she processed his diagnosis.

Now that she thought back, she had noticed the dimples and freckles. And the hand preference, too. During Tummy Time, Eloise often reached with her left hand first.

“Looks like you still had something left to teach me, Dr. Ramsey,” Cassie said eventually, grazing her lips along his jaw.

Ethan just smiled and took her hand in his.

They watched their girls yawn and struggle against sleep. But soon, their eyes started to drift close, and they snuggled close. Sophie did indeed tuck her head on her sister’s shoulder while Eloise threw her leg out, bending it slightly at the knee.

Cassie adjusted the blanket around the twins while Ethan lowered the window shade, and shadows filled the room. She switched on the mobile above the crib, and a soothing melody filled the air.

She followed Ethan out of the nursery and closed the door halfway.

“Got time to discuss more diagnostic principles?” Cassie said, gazing up at him coquettishly.

He pretended to check his wristwatch and then tugged at her. “You know I always have time for you, Rookie.”

When his lips brushed hers, Cassie deepened the kiss and proceeded to show him that, in this matter, she was no rookie.

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All Fics & Edits: @a-crepusculo @annfg8 @bex-la-get @bluebelle08 @cariantha @choicesaddict5 @coffeeheartaddict2 @crazy-loca-blog @doriopenheart @genevievemd @headoverheelsforramsey @lucy-268 @jamespotterthefirst @jerzwriter @mysticalgalaxysstuff @openheartforeverinmyheart @peonierose @takemyopenheart @potionsprefect @queencarb @quixoticdreamer16 @rookiemartin @tessa-liam @trappedinfanfiction @vi-writes-stuff @zahrachoices

Submissions: @choicesficwriterscreations @openheartfanfics

Ethan & Cassie only: @custaroonie @lady-calypso @hopelessromantic1352 @mrs-ramsey

[rocaillefox]

tagged by @aaitwo ! 9 people id like to know better tag meme

last song: autotheist by baby bugs (this is early in the week so im working through spotify discover weekly lol) but if we're going by not randomly selected, its either of everlong by the crane wives or everyday is the best day of my life by rio romero.

fave colours: this is so difficult. red green orange purple but not necessarily in that order and probably not the most common shades of those lol. also if black and white count those are included and blue is also cool but brown is also good and- it depends on the context of other colors around said color and my mood; i am a fickle and sometimes picky creature

currently reading: ruzhui/matrilocal marriage by please don't laugh! but very slowly rip. also this is only if i dont count the fifteen books i have checked out for working on an essay. also fanfic, monsters and girls by idolomantises, reborn as a demonic tree by xkarnation, sss-class that i raised, devil venerable also wants to know by cyan wings, and ive been trying to read a thousand years of solitude but the time has not been working out 😭

sweet/savory/spicy: really depends on what im in the mood for lol but cant go wrong with savory! but it has to actually be savory and not bland. sweet is good but i prefer a different kind of sweet than straight sugar recently. spicy can be really good though but its not my favorite if im Hungry hungry. etc

relationship status: single lol

current obsession: currently inbetween which means orv bc it has built a nest in my heart and moved in like a songbird. burrow's end from dimension 20 is very interesting atm though 👀 also ocs of course, esp the memory cycle atm

last thing googled: the opening time of a local market (we got bamboo shoot & pork steamed buns! and savory mochi). before that was flowers for art reference or it was whether ohko moves in pokemon were able to change accuracy (they can but only with the ability no guard! otherwise things like accuracy boosts or items do not affect aaccuracy)

currently working on: a historical essay about the use of religion in portrayals of china in us media compared between mao zedong's presidency and deng xiaoping's. also other classwork, revitalizing my interest in drawing art, and planning for the future lol. classes have been so much but this upcoming lull between classes i do have a streaming schedule too !!! hehehe

tagging: first off if u wanna do it and say i tagged u feel free and if i tagged u and u dont wanna do it u dont have to obvi. that out of the way, @irradiatedsnakes @inqroot @roarinsaurus @ayekha @malabadspice @friendshapedplant @qujianglin @clownhag @spacestorms

(list of questions alone for easy ref under readmore!)

feel free to skip via preference this is an invitation not an expectation lol

1. last song:

2. fave colours:

3. currently reading:

4. sweet/savory/spicy:

5. relationship status:

6. current obsession:

7. last thing googled:

8. currently working on:

[tomiyeee]

how long does it take you to draw and colour? since you post everyday which is great for me :D any tips for colouring cause Im still tryna figure all that out

hmm welllll, i don't exactly time how long it takes to draw but my partner said that sometimes i'll be working on a piece when they go to sleep and i'll still be working on it when they wake up 7 hours later so...my guess is anywhere from 3-8 hours each depending on complexity? at least for the art that i normally post, most of which is relatively simple.

not entirely sure what kind of tips you were looking for, but i'll just throw out some of my thought processes and stuff i try to keep in mind whenever i color. i'm gonna try and keep these relatively to the point so i won't go into much detail on art terms n whatnot, BUT i am also pretty terrible at explaining things so if you need clarification on anything, feel free to ask!

(sorry it's so longggg, i got carried away. i am...very wordy when it comes to art lol)

i like to block in the colors during the sketching stage before i do the lineart, especially for pieces where i know i want to do something funky with the color palette. you can see this in a lot of my process shots. doing colors in the planning stage just gives me a lot more freedom to focus purely on the colors and shading and how they work with the composition, without having to worry about the minute details like making sure the colors are inside the lines.

in order to save time while coloring, i'll usually just select the negative space (after making sure all the lineart is closed) > expand selection by 1 pixel (to make sure the edges are hidden within the liineart) > invert selection > fill bucket, then use clipping layers above that to color individual areas.

layer modes are your friend! i use multiply, overlay, and glow dodge (this one may be specific to mangastudio?) in almost every one of my drawings, but it's definitely worth playing around with all of the modes just to familiarize yourself with them if you haven't already.

color is honestly SO subjective. i'm never a fan of color picking (from source material or my own refs or whatever) bc while it may have its uses when it comes to consistency, imo it's much more fun to make them up as i go. you get a lot more variety from piece to piece while also familiarizing yourself with the character's palette that way. usually i'll start by deciding on the overall mood/palette (cool/warm, de-saturated, neon, pastel, etc), filling in the background color, then picking the characters' colors based on that. like with this venti pic, i started with a purple background and based my colors around that purple so they all fit the specific look i was going for. i could maybe get a similar effect by starting with the normal colors and using filters, shading, layer modes, etc to get the funky colors, but it will be much harder/more work and doesn't get as drastic of an effect imo.

on that note, don't be afraid to use shades/colors that may seem odd! you'd be surprised how many times i've used gray in place of blue, orange, purple..basically any color. in the above example, you can see just how different the colors ended up being from the original. after i decide on my palette + bg color, i'll just throw down the color i think will work and then (bc that first guess is usually wrong and meant only as a ballpark estimate) see if it needs to be warmer or cooler/darker or lighter/more or less saturated/etc and adjust accordingly. it's like mixing paint or tuning an instrument! it takes a little bit of practice, but after a while you start to get the hang of what colors will look like in which color palettes. white is usually the easiest to start with bc it will always just be tinted whatever color your palette is (like how the "white" in the above example is just a light purple).

this and the next point are more about shading but i include it as part of the coloring process: the easiest way i've learned to do shading is to darken the entire image/character/part you want to shade (usually with a solid color multiply layer) then add in the lighting either by erasing parts of the multiply layer or by using a separate layer set to overlay or glow dodge (or a similar lightening layer mode). it works a lot better than drawing the shadows imo because it kind of mimics how light works in real life; things are dark by default until you let light in and it hits what it can while leaving the rest still dark.

if you want to blend shadows, i usually still use the above method, but just blur certain areas of it and when i'm deciding which parts to blur (bc i don't just do so indiscriminately) i'll mentally sort all of the shadows into 2 categories:

shadows created by light being blocked by an object: like putting your hand in front of a flashlight. these shadows will retain their sharp edge, but can transition into the 2nd category if they are far enough from the obstruction, like how your hand's shadow will become blurrier the further you move it from the flashlight. the more distance between a light source and the surface it's projecting onto, the more chances for the light to scatter = softer edges

shadows created by light "rolling" off the surface: like the shadows on a ball or rounded surface. these will get blurred and i usually like to put a little bit of color along the blurred edge (a different and usually brighter/more saturated color than the rest of the shadows) just to add some life to the shadows.

here's an annotated version of this mikey pic with just the shadows so it's a lot easier to see :) sorry im bad at annotating..

aaaand this post has probably gotten way longer than you were hoping for so i'll cut it off here 😭 hope this has been at least somewhat useful, and good luck with your art!

[autumnalwalker]

Character Interview, Round 3

Another week of self-indulgently adding to my own character interview reblog chain. Eris's turn this time around.

Consider this a further open tag for anyone else who wants to do this.

1. Are you named after anyone?

That's kind of a funny story, actually. My real name is after my matrilineal great-grandmother whom I've never met. But none of the kids in school could pronounce it right and if any of the teachers could it was a long time before I had one that bothered to try. The fact that the way it tended to get mispronounced even after attempts to shorten it just so happened to be the same name as a Greek goddess was a happy accident. I actually went through a few different names once I left home - all keeping the same initial - but "Eris" was the one I always came back to and eventually settled on. It just fits, you know? These days the only people that know my real name are my folks, the government, and Lacuna. And probably Sully, the creepy bastard. I actually felt kinda bad telling Lacuna to just call me "E" after all the work she put into finally getting my name right. Hearing it made me think of home more than I like, and I wasn't expecting that.

2. When was the last time you cried?

A little while back when I was telling Lacuna about the closest I've ever come to dying.

3. Do you have any kids?

Nah. Maybe one day though, if I ever meet the right person and stop doing shit that's likely to get me killed young.

4. Do you use sarcasm?

That's kind of a weird question. It's just a part of language like anything else; a tool with its time and place. It's like asking someone if they use a knife when eating, no not all the time, or even most of the time but some dishes work better with one. I'd be skeptical of anyone who thinks they don't. Now, "Do I use sarcasm frequently enough that it's a defining part of my speech patterns?" No. Not unless I'm exceptionally ticked off or stressed out.

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

Depends on the context. If I'm on a hunt or in a sketchy area, threat assessment before anything else. Other than that, it's a combination of things. General mood, how well they seem to fit in, any hints of magic, a physical trait or two that sticks out to remember them by. That sort of thing. I try to keep any eye out for anyone that looks lost or out of place. I figure if there's something I can do to help then it's only right that I do. That's how I met Lacuna.

6. What's your eye color?

Brown. Imagine the most average shade possible and you're probably right on the money.

7. Scary movies or happy endings?

Definitely happy endings. The cheesier and sappier the better.

8. Any special talents?

I like to think I've got a good head for picking up languages. Growing up with three different ones at home probably helped. Every now and then I'll get someone asking me why I don't just get a translation charm, but anything other than the crazy expensive ones just aren't the same as really knowing the language. And besides, I like the challenge of learning for real.

9. Where were you born?

Mississippi, and God only knows why my folks ever moved to that backwater little hick town. Must have been the nature, because it definitely wasn't the people. Then again, I might be biased.

10. What are your hobbies?

Well, the monster hunting thing actually was my main hobby, but I guess since signing up with Road it's my actual job now too. That's cool, but I'll need to find something else to fill my free time. Maybe I'll get to actually read something for once instead of multitasking with audiobooks and science podcasts. That said, I'm still planning to continue doing volunteer work with NALSA once a month. That's the werewolf sanctuary. They like having people with thumbs on hand when the full moon rolls around.

11. Have you any pets?

I had a dog growing up that I've got a lot of fond memories of. Nothing since I moved out on my own though. Never could stand the thought of some critter being left alone and going hungry if one day I slip up and don't come home.

12. What sports do you play/have played?

A bit when I was a kid. I... ... Hey. You said this is some kind of meta pataphysics nonsense so nothing I say here's going to get back to our world, right? ... Yeah, so even all the way back in elementary and middle school I was freakishly tall and strong for a kid my age, years before I ever encountered anything supernatural that would make autogenesis kick in. Naturally, trying to get into sports was the obvious thing to do. Assorted P.E. and gym class activities that cropped up, softball for a couple years, soccer for a summer, whatever I could get neighborhood kids to play in the street or someone's yard. Whatever the game was, I was good at it. I had fun. Everyone always wanted me on their team. Then in seventh grade I threw a ball too hard and accidentally broke some girl's nose and her parents raised a fuss trying to get me kicked off the team. That was the first time someone ever accused me of being on steroids. Seriously, who says that about a thirteen year old? No one took it seriously of course and officially everyone agreed it was just an accident, but it opened the floodgates for other rumors. That I was secretly a guy. That I was on other drugs. That I was lying about my age and had been held back in school multiple times. That I was violent. I took it in silence knowing I hadn't done anything wrong for about a year until one day I had enough and hit someone on purpose for the first time. Needless to say, no more sports or extra-curriculars for me after that. No more rumors where I could hear them either. In the wake of that disaster I spent high school going back and forth between doubling down on being as much of a girly stereotype as I could and throwing myself into getting as close to perfect grades as I possible. Anything to shake off the old reputation and find some kind of acceptance. All it got me was getting asked out to prom and then stood up as a prank. Probably the best thing to ever happen to me really. That night I figured out that - one - I know who I am and I don't give a damn what anyone else thinks of me, and - two - getting in near-death situations and beating the shit out of things that hurt people feels good. ... I haven't even told Lacuna all that. Feels nice to get it off my chest. ... So... sports. Not really my thing but since I've got free time for new hobbies now, maybe I'll give them another shot.

13. How tall are you?

Six foot one. Pretty sure it's half the reason I get mistaken for a guy from time to time. It's worth that tradeoff though.

14. Favorite subject in school?

Some combination of math and science. I was briefly a physics major before I dropped out of college. To be clear, the dropout wasn't an academic performance thing. I just came home covered in blood one too many times so my parents cut me off. After that I had to pick two out of working a job, going to school, and monster hunting. At the end of the day I had to eat, and beating up things that go bump in the night won out over studying.

15. Dream job?

I still find myself fantasizing from time to time what it'd be like if I'd stayed in school. I always imagined myself going into some big, complicated, field with a lot of math. Astrophysics maybe. Or something more theoretical.

15 Questions: Character interview edition

Thank you for the tag, @words-after-midnight. I do enjoy writing in-character responses to questions.

Passing the tag to @cljordan-imperium, @theprissythumbelina, @blind-the-winds, @oh-no-another-idea, @dogmomwrites, and an open tag for anyone else who wishes to join in the fun.

Since this week's upcoming Empty Names chapter is from Ashan Glassheart's POV, I'll queue him up for this. I'm tempted to go do the rest of the Empty Names cast at some point in the future as well, like I did last time.

1. Are you named after anyone?

My grandfather, although I have not used that name in more than half my life. I still think of it a name of mine, but it is also a memento of a time I cannot go back to. Meanwhile, "Glassheart" is an homage to my teacher's epithet of "Glassgaze." As is traditional.

2. When was the last time you cried?

When I visited the tombstone my parents put up for me.

3. Do you have any kids?

No, and I would prefer to avoid the possibility. I may consider adoption one day though, particularly if I ever decide to take an apprentice.

4. Do you use sarcasm?

Only sparingly.

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

Their overall demeanor. Tone, body language, and etcetera. Useful elements for planning impending interaction.

6. What's your eye color?

Light brown. Someone once called them "amber," but that was an ill-conceived attempt at winning me over with poetry on his part coupled with odd lighting.

7. Scary movies or happy endings?

There is more than enough fear out and about in the world. And besides, I have not seen a movie since I was a child. Perhaps I should amend that.

8. Any special talents?

Other than being a wizard? I suppose I am a passable dancer. My teacher insisted it was good exercise for staying light on one's feet.

9. Where were you born?

Earth, the local anchor world iteration of it specifically, despite having left young. My early childhood memories are of a rural small town. Pray forgive me not being more specific, but my family still lives there and even if they think I died years ago I would prefer to respect their privacy.

10. What are your hobbies?

Finding relatively secluded natural areas to meditate in is the first thing that comes to mind for such a question, particularly since spending hours in a library pouring over tomes on arcane theory and practice is largely considered part of my profession rather than a hobby, no matter how much I enjoy it.

11. Have you any pets?

No, nor is my preferred practice of magic one that typically incorporates familiars.

12. What sports do you play/have played?

The closest I have ever come to playing sports is the time my teacher signed the two of us up as contestants in a gladiatorial tournament of sorts. She said it would be a good learning experience and practical test of my skills. She was correct, as usual, even if I was eliminated halfway through. Meanwhile she made it to the final bout and I have long suspected that she only lost that because she was holding back for the sake of not upsetting my image of her.

13. How tall are you?

Five feet, six inches. Roughly the same as my teacher. Given how much of a role model she was for me, I suspect the Autogenesis Principle may be as responsible for this a genetics. "What is the Autogenesis Principle?" It is the tendency for the bodies of those exposed to the supernatural - particularly those from anchor worlds who had previously been unaware of its existence - to physically warp and change over time to align with their self-image. That is the simplified version at the least. In practice there can be any number of factors complicating this creation of the self, so that one person might be barely affected while another can undergo exaggerations that border on the monstrous.

14. Favorite subject in school?

I was still in elementary school when I... left home with the woman who would become my teacher, but the memories of reading classes are the ones that I recall most vividly. To her credit though, she did make a point of tutoring me in other subjects I was missing out on more formal education for alongside my magical training.

15. Dream job?

Being a wizard and helping those in need. As I am already doing.

[alicenpai]

Hi Alice! I love your work. I notice you have these lovely reds and blues in all of your pieces kind of outlining shading or lighting areas. They really make your work pop! I was wondering if this was a specific technique and if so, could you let me know what it's called or how/when it's used? Thanks and wishing you an incredible new year!

hello!!

I wrote a portion of this for someone else who asked (privately) a month back - tutorial under the cut!!!

OK so when I was discovering artists on the internet for the first time - I found the artist rei (twitter/pixiv) and her work had such a strong influence on me. She draws influences from anime, renaissance, baroque, etc art movements. What's really mesmerizing is the way she uses colour to portray mood and light, and how colours just seamlessly mix into one another, as if the canvas is still wet or that it looks printed on a sort of holographic material. You can see this colour technique a lot among Chinese speaking artists on weibo. 

To really make your light values stand out, you can add what Andrew Loomis calls "brilliance" to the edge of your lighting. That's just what Loomis coined it as - I believe it's related to subsurface scattering. You know like when you put your hand against a strong light and you can see the light filter through your fingertips, showing a warm colour? That's subsurface scattering. According to wikipedia it also appears through marble, wax, leaves, milk. I’m not an expert so you can look into this more on your own!

I think you'd have to read the actual page Andrew Loomis explained it in, since in the tweet it's presented without context. I haven't read it. If you're doing more photo/semi-realistic art you'd have to study the technique a lot more hahaha.

It can also happen in "dappled light" - like when you look at the cast shadow of a tree's leaves on the ground. The shadow has a warm light edge.

Since I'm personally not making realistic art, we can exaggerate it a bit, and the placement of the light edge doesn't have to be realistic. I even do it for shadows because why the hell not. It’s art. art is painful as it is. make it fun whenever u can

let’s just upload this image again so we don’t have to keep scrolling up and down. The colour edge depends on the base colour of the object - if the object is predominantly warm, I may add a cool edge (e.g. the blond hair in the top left - Mint Adenade from Tales of Phantasia). If the object is cool, a warm edge will stand out (e.g. the ruffles in the left middle - Alyss from Pandora Hearts). But really - play around with it! The dark robes and the tights on the right have a cool edge around the shadows, but the lapel on the robe has a red edge to illustrate it’s a different material/object. 

You can do this in a few ways - A. draw it in manually to be selective. This is probably the best way to go about it. B. Or if you want to save time, you can: 1. select the light/shadow layer (Layer > Selection from layer > Layer selection in CSP, or right click your canvas in PS and hit “Load selection” etc etc). 2. Make a new layer. You can choose to expand the selection by a few pixels or not, it’s a personal preference. (Select > Expand selection in CSP.  Select > Modify > Expand or Contract in PS). 3. Colour it your light edge colour. 4. Adjust the opacity if needed. I usually just go around opacity 50% in Normal, I don’t use layer modes, but you can use them if you want.

And that’s that! I find that this technique works well for my personal style because I prefer using more desaturated colours, and it helps bring contrast to the image. The colour edge is cool since I don’t really have to rely on colour adjustments when the artwork is complete nowadays - since the desaturated colours are part of the appeal, but there’s enough contrast with the light edge to give it appeal. depends on your personal workflow though. I don’t think I did this colour light edge a lot in my work until recently. but my 2019 jjba buttons and 2019 ib buttons seem to have some of it too :0

This is a bit different but you can find the colour edge contrast idea a lot in older art. I recommend looking through 1700s-1900s ish art history movements. Florian Aupetit has some free art history resource packs! These are more stylized examples, but you can find it subtly in a lot of other artists’ work. Especially for portraiture like with John Singer Sargent and religious paintings like Alphonse Mucha’s (his painted, non-flat art), or light-focused movements like impressionism. (In case the text isn’t visible: Dean Cornwell on left & middle, Claude Monet on top right, Mead Schaeffer on bottom right)

I’m not the creator of this technique so use it to your heart’s content. Hope this was enjoyable and hopefully a bit educational!

[babooshkart]

Hi! I am obsessed w your art. I really like seeing these sketches that you have been posting from prompts recently - I find it interesting to see a bit of your initial sketch underneath (also they're amazing, I love all drawings of the two of them hugging). If you're comfortable doing so, could you talk a bit about your process? I've recently begun dipping my toes into digital art and would love any tips. I'm so amazed with you that it only took an hour to do the sketch w them kissing after work

Hi bud!! So hyped you’re getting into digital art—it’s such a fun medium, and there are loads of resources online for learning! I’m flattered that you came to me 🥺😳🥰 The doodles are a good way to practice, and I’ve definitely gotten faster and more accurate with more practice!!

Alright so we are gonna use this recent painting as an example! I do my paintings on Procreate (with an iPad and Apple Pencil) and find it really intuitive and easy to use! I also am a staunch supporter of using references, and a really good place to find them is Unsplash, because the images are free to use (although I do confess to practically living on tumblr and Pinterest, so you’ll probably run across my refs from time to time lol).

I start with a loose sketch using a chalk brush that my buddy imported for me (not a Procreate brush, sorry), then usually lower the opacity on that layer to add another more detailed sketch on top of that. In image 1, you’ll see Draco’s body starts out as just block shapes, and then gets a more defined sketch on top of that (in the same chalk brush, just much smaller). Then I go in with linework (image 2), using the Procreate Dry Ink brush (that I’ve modified to be a bit more streamlined).

I personally do my linework on a different layer for each thing, because I will go in and change the color of the linework to ~match~ whatever the object is. I find that it gives the whole painting a more cohesive look, but that might just be me! It usually means that I use about 35-40 layers for each painting, and frequently have to merge layers before I can keep painting 😂😂😂 I run out of space!!

Flat color comes next, which is best seen on the left side of image 3. Once that’s all blocked out, I’ll go in with shading (a clipping mask set to “multiply” is literally a gift from the Art Gods) and little details (meaning plants and knick knacks. I love knick knacks) Alpha lock and clipping masks are going to be your best friends, I swear to god.

The last step is usually fucking around with overlays and lighting. For this, all I can recommend is really just playing around with colors and opacity. I typically paint these??? Vague shapes??? And then Gaussian Blur them until it’s a soft overlay for the whole canvas, and then will set it to Multiply/Soft Light/Luminosity depending on the mood I’m in!! And then to add light beams and sometimes dust motes on an “Add” layer with like 30% opacity

Voilà my layers. These have already been combined a whole bunch of times (Draco’s body used to be 15 separate layers), but it helps to see kind of what is going on! The very last thing I do to a painting is to add a noise layer on top of everything, which adds a mild grainyness to the work! You only need like 4% noise for it to be a soft accent ❤️

Also, I do post timelapse videos for all of my paintings on Instagram! If you wanna mosy on over and check that out 💕 I hope this is in any way helpful!!

[pascalpanic]

Caffeine Rush: Chapter One / Americano

Javier Peña x f!Reader

Summary: Working a dull December morning shift, you meet a seemingly disgraced DEA agent by the name of Javier Peña.

Warnings: Language, talk of death and canon-typical Narcos violence

W/C: 2.3k

A/N: YOU GUYS i am so excited to share this story with you all!! i fuckin love Javi and coffee so this features my two favorite things! big thanks as always to my beta readers for helping me out- especially with chapter 2 (which i was stuck on for 3 weeks lol). I hope you guys enjoy! this story has some twists I don’t think y’all are gonna see coming ;) I’m planning to update this fic once a week! I just wanted to get chapter one out there :)

previous chapter || next chapter || masterlist

Americano: espresso and hot water; has a similar taste to a brewed coffee, but still darker and more caffeinated thanks to the espresso. 

Work is blissfully slow on weekdays, allowing you to putz along at your own speed. Today, however, is boring as hell. You’d had approximately seven customers since the morning rush, meaning about seven drinks to make. There weren’t even tables to clean, no customers having sat in the cozy coffeeshop. You and your coworker had joked around, swept and mopped, and cleaned the espresso machines twice each. 

At this point, with nothing else to do, you sipped your third peppermint mocha while perched atop two stacked milk crates, leafing through your worn copy of The Great Gatsby. It was a common occurrence when evening rolled around, but rarely so early in the day. Since you were the one on barista duty, Mandy kept watch for customers and allowed you to relax with your book. It was routine for the two of you. She mindlessly fusses with the product wall and the coffee grinder, cleaning everything for the third time.

The door opens and you pop up from your makeshift chair excitedly. The weather is blustery and cold, with heavy snowflakes starting to fall outside the large windows, and the man who enters is pulling his jacket tight around himself. He looks up and you quickly dodge behind the espresso machines before you can make eye contact. It’s instinctual, and you’re unsure why until your brain reminds you of the man’s face. He’s handsome, even though you got maybe a second’s look at him. Dark brown hair and a neatly trimmed mustache, eyes an even darker shade to complement his tanned skin. 

You bite your lip and grab a large ceramic mug, bringing it to the espresso machine. No one would be crazy enough to order a cold drink in this weather. Mandy takes his order and a few seconds later, his receipt pops up through the printer at your end of the shop:

Ticket 114 - 12/3/93

Name: Javier

LG-Redeye

!memo: darkroast

Javier. The name suits the man, you think to yourself and smile as you begin prepping the espresso for his drink. As you walk to Mandy’s station to fill the mug with drip coffee, she smiles and nudges your side. “Isn’t he cute?” She murmurs. You look at the printed ticket then at the coffee warmers: there’s no dark roast. 

“Very,” you giggle a little and fill the mug with light instead. He’s seated in the corner. “I call dibs,” you tease, and Mandy shakes his head. She’s married, but she knows your type, and it’s exactly the man sitting there, staring at a newspaper.

“Yeah, okay,” she shakes her head but smiles at you. “No wedding ring either. I think you should bring his drink to him instead of calling out the order.”

Staring down at the filling mug, you shake your head. “We’ll see,” you chuckle softly and return down to your end of the bar, pouring the two shots of espresso. “Javier?” You call in your barista voice, and the man lifts his head and walks to the bar.

“That’s me,” he says, a small begrudging smile on his face.

“Hi,” you chuckle and hold up the mug. “We’re out of dark roast right now, so I had to use light. Could I put some flavoring or cream or sugar in there for you?” You offer. “Otherwise, I can most definitely make you something else. An americano maybe?”

He pauses for a second. “Yeah, an americano would be great,” he nods. “What kind of flavors… are there?” he asks. 

“Oh, we have a ton,” you say enthusiastically, grabbing the syrup rack and pulling it your way. “Any of these. Hazelnut, vanilla, raspberry,” you smile, rattling off the flavors, “otherwise we also have caramel and any flavor of chocolate.”

Javier raises an eyebrow as he looks at the small display. “Never been somewhere with so many options. Could I do dark chocolate and cream?” He asks, and you nod.

“Of course,” you tell him, dumping the previous mug and grabbing another. “I’ll have that right up for you. You can head back to where you were sitting,” you inform him.

He shakes his head. “I can wait here. Save us both a trip.”

You nod. “Sure,” you say with a smile, prepping more espresso. “The redeye and americano are pretty different in caffeine though, the americano is going to have more since there’s more espresso.”

“I just need as much caffeine as I can get. Tough day ahead,” he nods. 

“I’ve been told bartenders and baristas are wonderful ears to listen,” you offer, a sweet smile on your face.

His guard has fallen like a wrecking ball through a house of cards at the way you smile. “Well, I’m with the DEA.” It feels strange, openly admitting that around here. Colombians weren’t exactly welcoming to American agents, but it felt like citizens around here saw them as some kind of superhero. 

Your eyes light. “Shouldn’t it be a fantastic day for you then?” you ask. “I mean, it’s all over the news. Escobar. Do you know the guys in the photo?” You ask with excitement in your voice.

He nods. Escobar was killed yesterday, and it’s all over the news, including the paper back at his table. “Yeah. The blonde guy in the red shirt is actually my work partner. It’s a tough day because I didn’t get to be there when it happened. I’ve been down in Colombia for years now, and they catch Escobar two days after I leave.”

The smile on your face turns to a frown. “That’s… awful,” you nod, eyes full of sadness for him. “I’m so sorry. At least it must be nice to be home?” you ask, tilting your head slightly and pouring the espresso shots into the mug.

He shakes his head. “D.C. isn’t home. I’m from Texas,” he admits, and the way he speaks finally registers as a slightly slowed speech pattern from the area. “I’m happy for Steve though. The blonde one, my partner. He deserves it. We’ve been down there for… Jesus,” he sighs and looks at the ceiling as he counts the years, “well, a while now. Couple of years. I fucked up, bad. Honestly, I think I’m up here to get fired.” 

You frown slightly as you pump the chocolate into the hot espresso and water, swirling it around with a spoon. “You worked on Escobar for years?” you ask, and Javier nods. “Well, then I personally doubt you’d be getting fired. You guys just caught him, everyone must be in a good mood. I guess it depends on how bad you fucked up,” you shrug as you tap the spoon into the sink and bend down to grab the cream.

“I… do you know who Los Pepes are?” he asks. You shake your head as you stand, pouring some cream into the steaming drink. “Well, they’re a radical group who did some crazy shit to try to weaken Escobar, and I got involved with them. I have a meeting today with the review board.”

You finally make eye contact with him, wincing for him. “Yeah, that doesn’t sound great,” you admit with a chuckle, putting the cream back in the little refrigerator beneath you. 

“It’s not.”

“It’s not necessarily why you got called up here,” you shrug and grab a saucer, putting the mug on top of it and on the bar for him to take.

“Well, I don’t know, I suppose,” he agrees and takes the drink from you.

You shrug. “Best of luck, Javier,” you tell him with a genuine smile of encouragement.

He nods, looking at your name tag attached to your apron. He murmurs your name before looking back up at your face and into your eyes. “Thank you.” He takes his drink and returns to his table, and you sigh and return to your makeshift chair in the corner. 

Mandy pulls up two crates next to you, sitting down across from you with gleaming eyes. “Did it go well? You two talked for a while,” she asks, raising her eyebrows and encouraging you to tell her more.

“A little, but just… how I would with anyone, I guess,” you shrug as you sip your mocha for a moment, drinking the last of the warm coffee. “Not like I got his number or anything.”

“He’s sitting down to drink his coffee. Go offer him a refill when he’s done.”

“That would require me to stare at him, Mandy, and I think he’d notice that,” you shake your head as you stand to make yourself a new drink. 

She stands with you, pushing the crates out of the way. “I’ll keep an eye on him for you. I’ll signal to you when he’s done or getting low on coffee, and you can bring him a refill. How does that sound?” she asks you.

You nod with a sigh. “Since you’re apparently not going to let this go, fine. I will.” 

Mandy claps her hands together excitedly. “Yay!” She sings. “Oh, will you make me a drink while you’re at it? I’ll have a-”

“Skim hazelnut latte with no foam and light whip,” you recite before she can finish her order.

“You’re a babe,” she sings and heads over to clean the tables that haven’t even been touched since she wiped them an hour ago. 

You make her drink and set it aside, then work on your own, fourth coffee. The peppermint and the coffee swirl together deliciously in the air, fitting the weather and the time of year. It’s December, and the snow outside and the warm feeling from the man across the coffee shop contrast in your heart. You sneak glances at him a couple of times, biting your lip to hold back a smile as you admire the handsome face peeking above the newspaper he reads. 

About ten minutes later, you look up from cleaning the machines to see Mandy tucked behind a wall where he can’t see her. She’s frantically waving at you, pointing towards Javier once she catches your attention. Go, she mouths excitedly, beaming at you. 

You wipe your hands on your apron and walk to where she stands. “Fine, I will, but you’re making the drinks if anyone else comes in.”

“Oh no, how will I handle it?” She asks in a deadpan, eyeing the shop that’s empty except for the two of you and Javier. “Go,” she says, giving you a light shove and giggling.

You shake your head but walk over, placing a hand lightly on the table. “Coffee’s looking low. Could I get you a refill?” you offer.

Javier looks up at you, and you feel like turning to jelly as you look into his big brown eyes, filled with confusion but also admiration. He furrows his brow, creating small creases between his eyebrows. “Uh… sure. How much is it?” he asks, reaching for his wallet and setting down the newspaper.

You put a hand on his arm, giving a gentle smile. “You need it. It’s on the shop,” you tell him.

“No, seriously, what, like $5?” he asks, but you put a hand over his. 

“No, Javier,” you chuckle lightly. “Don’t worry about it. Another americano with chocolate and cream?” you ask.

“Uh… make me whatever you like best. And bring one for yourself too.” He says, well, really asks, nodding to the empty chair across from him. “It’s not too busy to talk, is it?”

You swallow hard before you break into a grin. “No, not at all. Uh… do you like peppermint?” you ask. 

“Peppermint is good,” he says, giving you a small smile.

“Perfect,” you smile softly at him, picking up his empty mug and saucer. “We have a peppermint mocha, it’s seasonal. It’s my favorite, I’ll be right back with them,” you say, giggling softly and biting your lip as you turn and walk back to the bar. 

You’re hidden behind the espresso machines as you finally grin and giggle, and Mandy rushes to your side. “Oh my God,” she laughs happily. “He’s so hot. What were you guys talking about?”

“He asked me to sit with him,” you giggle excitedly, preparing four espresso shots. 

She nearly squeals with excitement, grabbing your arm closest to her. You scoop some chocolate chips and pour milk into a pitcher, putting it under the steam wand. “Holy shit. What has he told you so far? What’s his story?”

“Well, he said he’s a DEA agent. He’s on leave from work right now, but the guy in the red shirt in that picture of Escobar after they killed him? That’s his partner,” you tell her, letting the excitement speed your words up. “He’s been in Colombia for a couple of years working on it. Isn’t that cool?” You laugh. 

“So cool,” she nods in agreement. “And he’s so fucking cute. Girl, you need to get your ass back there before I steal him myself.”

You laugh as you pour the shots and then the steamed milk into the mugs. “I’m trying, but you holding onto one of my arms is holding me back, love,” you tease her and she breaks away. You top both mugs with a perfectly peaked whipped cream layer, then sprinkle candy cane pieces and chocolate chips on top. “Wish me luck,” you practically sing as you walk back with a mug for each of you.

Javier’s holding back a grin himself as you make the drinks. He can see your head bobbing along behind the bar, the other woman chatting with you. He’s more transfixed than you than he should allow himself to be, but all fears fade as he sees you approaching with a grin and two large, whipped cream-topped drinks.

You set the drink down in front of him and he smiles at you. “Wow. This…” he looks down at it and smiles a little. “Well, it looks sweet.”

“I have a sweet tooth,” you admit with a soft laugh and sit down, taking a sip and sighing softly. “It tastes like winter. I love it.” He nods and takes a sip too. It’s sweet, but not as bad as he expected. “I added extra espresso to yours,” you tell him, a shy smile on your face. 

“A woman after my own heart,” he chuckles and sets it down, licking the foam off of his mustache. 

You smile a little wider at that and hold back a laugh. “Did you want to talk about the meeting?” you ask him, tilting your head, your expression softening.

Javier’s already falling, and he curses himself as he looks at you. Not a thought except him. He’s already thinking of a sly way to get your number. “No, not really. I just spilled basically my entire life story to you.”

“Then you’ve had a very short and boring life. That was hardly anything. I’ve had customers come in and cry over divorces or lost family members; the whole job situation was mild,” you chuckle and admit, tracing the rim of the mug with your fingertips and staring down at the steaming drink.

“Really? You seem like a therapist and a barista in one,” he teases lightly.

“Well, I did just graduate with a Masters in psychology,” you shrug. “I just graduated with it from Georgetown. That’s why I’m here,” you tell him and look up. “Working here part-time while I decide what I want to do.”

“No shit. I did my undergrad in psych and sociology,” Javier says with a small smile, making your smile grow too. “Texas A&M though. Nothing as prestigious as Georgetown.”

“A&M isn’t anything to sneeze at,” you chuckle as you look over at him. His eyes are deep-set, deeper than they probably normally are. They’re bloodshot and hold bags beneath them. After a breath, you bite your lip and look him in the eye. “You look tired. I don’t know you normally, I understand. Maybe you shouldn’t finish this,” you tell him with a concerned smile, scooting his mug towards you. “Too much caffeine.”

“No, I need it, please,” he says, tugging it back and sipping at it again. “Just… until after this meeting. Then I’ll know what my future holds, then I can rest.”

“What time is it at?”

“5:00.”

There’s a beat of silence. “I don’t have any plans tonight,” you say gently, looking at him with a question in your eyes. “Would you like to get dinner? Talk things out, once you know what your future holds?” You offer, a soft smile and hopeful eyes. “I already know enough about you. This could be practice therapy for me,” you tease softly.

Javier thinks for a second, though he knows what the answer will be. At least pretends to think, surprised that you could hear all he had said about Los Pepes and working in Colombia and that you still offered. “I’d like that,” he nods, his voice soft when he looks at you. “I don’t know the area well. You’ll have to tell me where.”

“Do you have a car up here?” You ask him, and he shakes his head. “I can pick you up,” you offer. “Where are you staying?”

He grabs a napkin and pats his pockets for a pen. You hand him the paint pen tucked on your apron and he quickly thanks you before writing down the address to the hotel. You take the napkin and the pen and grab another napkin. “And this…” you say and write down your phone number, sliding it to him, “is where you’ll call me when you’re ready for me to come get you. Okay?” You ask.

Your voice is so soothing, Javier thinks. More than sleep or reassurance or even a hit of Escobar’s private stash or really anything could be to him right now, it’s a comfort. You must be a miracle, he thinks, some kind of blessing for something he isn’t quite sure of, but he must have done something right in the eyes of the Almighty to be here, right now, talking with you. “You know, I was raised Catholic,” he tells you and leans in a little. “I don’t know that I am anymore. But still… I think you might be an angel in disguise.”

Biting your lip, you giggle and look down. “I don’t know about that,” you chuckle as you look up at him again. “Just… right place, right time, maybe. I’ll see you tonight, okay?” you ask him, placing your hand over his and standing.

Javier nods as he looks up at you. “How should I dress?” he asks and tilts his head. His eyes are so expressive, you notice and smile a bit. They betray exactly what he’s thinking.

“Um… what you’re wearing now would be fine. A button down and jeans would work,” you tell him with a nod, patting his hand and picking up your mug. “I’ll see you then. Good luck,” you tell him with a sweet smile and retreat to the back. Javier can’t say anything in return, just sips his peppermint mocha.

Three minutes later, you return with a muffin. “Eat this. You can’t have all that caffeine and no food.”

“Thanks,” he chuckles and looks down at it. You’re gone when he looks back up, and he breaks off a piece. What a weird day. It’s only about to get weirder.

-

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[cassthepilot]

Yo! It’s been a while, how have you been??

I was just wondering if you had any art tips and tricks? I’m looking to improve my digital art so I figured I’d ask (no pressure to answer of course)

aaa @edgynoise!! so good to hear from you again! I hope you've been doing well <3

and oh wow, of course! I'm not sure what kind of advice to offer but I'm happy to throw some things out here that might be helpful.

that said; here's some stuff that's personally worked for me

- spend a little time loosening up

this one helps me out a lot. if i go straight into a drawing from the start it's going to turn out stiff as hell for me every time so to combat this I usually spend about 5-10 doodling before getting into the actual meat of any kind of meaningful drawing. really helps wake up the hand meat muscles.

- get your thoughts down first and then tighten them up

i don't know if this would be applicable for everybody but generally I feel it's important to get whole of something down (no matter how busted it looks) before going in to correct certain things or agonize over anatomy. for me, the energy of a piece is it's foundation and that life is what everything else gets built around & up from. I find it much better to draw it messy & broken in the beginning rather than squeek through the whole thing erasing, redrawing & erasing on the same piece.. I feel a piece can just lose too much of it's energy that way. once i have the bare sketch worked out, I just set the sketch to a low opacity & redraw the lines for real-real on another layer over it.

- listen to music!

not always for everyone but i find picking music that matches the mood of what i'm working on generally helps me channel the vibe of something. for the mining piece above i listened to a lot of the old coal mining songs this was inspired by. i feel like it really helped me hit what i was going for.

- feel it out

so this may just be a me thing but when i do pieces i generally try to bring a lot of feeling and acting into them with me. if the character is concerned, i make myself feel that emotion while drawing them. If their face is sad or upset or fearful I make those same facial expressions myself in order to channel it into them. and if there's body language involved i'll sometimes even go the extra mile & act things out with my hands, depending. i don't know what it is about this but i find that it can really bring a lot of life to a piece. also just being aware of those facial muscles and how they feel in certain situations can make emphasizing & drawing them easier in general.

- try to vary your lineweight

this one really depends on what style you're going for but I find that, for myself, varying the line weight really helps add a lot of life to things. my lines in tend to run a little thicker overall but the general rule of thumb is broader / thicker lines where there's gravity, weight or in places where you want to emphasize the energy of something. (ex. bottoms of feet, arms, thighs, clothing, jawlines etc.) and then lighter/thinner lines for more detailed / finer areas like say the eyes, facial features, details in fingers etc.

not the best example but hopefully it more or less gets across what I'm stabbing at haha

as for digital / art program tips I'm not sure what I can offer that may be helpful but here's what I got!

- keep everything on different layers. this is a big one. 100% will keep you from wanting to rip all your hair out & setting it on fire. i'm not sure how familiar you are with layers yet but generally I set them up so that the lineart is on the top layer, the flat colors are on the bottom layer & the shading on the character is inbetween.

- when shading, try to avoid using straight black

unless there's a solid reason to shade with black (like say doing a strictly pen & ink piece) I generally try to avoid it. if you need dark colors for shading I find it's always way better to shade with a really deep red/purple or blue instead. even just that hint of color will make the overall colors in a piece far less dull & muddy.

- take advantage of the hue/saturation feature to adjust colors

this one's a huge time saver for me. basically if I have my characters shaded & i'm not really digging the colors or think they're popping off right I will select the layer or color & then use the hue/saturation function to adjust the areas i don't like accordingly until i hit on something that looks more harmonious. This is especially helpful if you're trying to find the right colors you want for something but just aren't sure what's going to look good. it's also super useful on things like your shading layer or if you're working with warm or cool light sources.

- deepen shadows / brighten up light sources

When a piece is near finished for me one of the small after effects I like to add is a light airbrushing in both the lightest & darkest areas. This helps add more contrast and if it's placed over top the linework layer it can sometime help to create ambient mood, depending on what you're going for of course. Anyway, for me this usually means creating a new shadow layer, deepening them up with a hit of darker airbrushing and then setting that layer to multiply & adjusting the opacity according to what looks good. For the light sources it's pretty much the same deal except the layer will be set to 'overlay' or' vivid light' whichever usually looks right to me.

- tie it together with local color

so this is a favorite trick of mine that i enjoy using from time to time & one i find can really help with pulling the colors in a piece together to make it look nice.

basically if a piece is finished & I just want to make it look more cohesive & tied together i will start by filling an entire layer with a local color (for example if the piece is warm i will make a layer of just straight orange), then i will move that layer to the top of all other layers where it can be king and then proceed to set the entire thing to overlay & lower the opacity to something between 8-25%. how much you lower the opacity depends on what you feel looks good of course but overall i find it can be a useful trick for quickly warming up or cooling down the tones in a piece. Overall it’s just handy for making an illustration look a bit more cohesive color-wise.

this examples a little on the extreme side but hopefully it can kind've show what i mean in the way of unifying the colors.

- study life

so this sort've falls under generic art advice but you can never go wrong studying from life. And I don't just recommend this in a 'it will get you good at drawing the human body' kind of way. What it will do is get you good at drawing people. Just observing the mannerisms people have, the way they gesture when they feel things, the way certain body types carry their weight, the body language that accompanies both stronger & lesser emotions, how people posture themselves to reflect (or reveal!) what's going on inside. When you really sit down & take the time to study & observe people you'll find that there's so much to take away from it. Everything from the way a person carries themselves to how they move their body can say so much about a person (whether they intend it to or not) and I've found that if you want to pull something really convincing out of a character then body language is where it's at. It's equally as important as facial expressions honestly & a good tip (if you're just looking to get better at body language only) is to draw the face last & force yourself to communicate emotions with the hands, body & posture instead.

- andrew loomis

so fun story back when i was studying art in college - one day my media teacher walked in & straight up told the class that if any of us had to drop out tomorrow we could basically just study creative illustration by andrew loomis & it would be the damn near equivalent of what we were all paying to be taught. To this day I've never forgotten that. And to this day it absolutely holds up. Really can't recommend this guy enough if you're looking to understand the fundamentals of illustration! And what luck! all of his books are free! :)

Fun With a Pencil (Beginner) https://www.alexhays.com/loomis/Andrew%20Loomis%20-%20Fun%20WIth%20a%20Pencil.pdf

Figure Drawing for All It's Worth (Intermediate) https://illustrationage.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/andrew-loomis-figure-drawing-for-all-its-worth.pdf

Creative Illustration (Intermediate-Advanced) https://illustrationage.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/andrew-loomis-creative-illustration.pdf

Drawing the Head & Hands (Intermediate) https://www.alexhays.com/loomis/Andrew%20Loomis%20-%20Drawing%20the%20Head%20and%20Hands.pdf

study other artists!

one of my favorite things to do! if you like what someone makes - study them. I do this near constantly with a lot of different people for a lot of different things. Everything from the way one artist colors, to the way one artists handles lighting, to the way another artist draws hands - if there's something i see that I like in a persons art or their style - I study it. Even if it's outside of my current comfort range (or skill level) I find there's always something to gain by either attempting to emulate it myself or just breaking it down & figuring out what makes it look the way that it does. One thing I find that's really helpful is breaking apart .psd files whenever an artist will offer them. just looking at the way other people handle their layers or add effects to things can really help broaden my perspective & way of doing things.

That said; if it would be helpful you're more than welcome to check out my own .psd file here if you feel it would help you out any!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/yigbm7b9b8eyb0g/run%20with%20us%20-%20full.psd?dl=0

At the moment it's one of the more put together ones I have so hopefully it can offer a better visual insight to some of the things I do. Again, if it's something that you think would help.

Anyway, I guess that's about it. Also wow this was a lot longer than I thought it would be so my bad if I got way too rambly or anything haha. Super excited for your future art endeavors here & think it's really awesome that you're exploring more! I'm so happy & excited for you <3 Feel free to hit me up if there's anything else I can help you out with.

[ot3]

your last post made me think about how I loooove how you use color in your art, it's so vibrant and full of life and movement and expression! I was wondering if you had any advice on how to do color studies? perhaps doing drawings with limited palettes? or anything similar?

First things first, thank you, I really do appreciate comments like these! this post now also has a follow up for finish limited palette pieces

I'm obviously very fond of limited palette art and color studies/color thumbnailing are great ways to get that done. When people think limited palette there's often the association of unrealistic and fantastical color palettes, but learning to limit your color use absolutely applies to semirealism and just builds stronger color theory in general. I was planning to talk about limited palettes in more realistic color use in this post, but this already ended up way too long. If that's something people want to hear about I can talk about it later.

Color theory basics crash-course! I'm sure almost anyone who has colored anything is familiar with this, so I'll be SUPER brief, but I want everyone to be on the same page for this. Color has three qualities you need to take into account: Hue, saturation, and brightness. Hue is what we think of as the 'color'. Saturation is the vibrancy of this color; how bold or dull it is. Brightness is how light or dark the color is. Here's this all labeled on a color picker I stole from google.

As a rule of thumb, things that look good in color should look good in grayscale. Having a strong range of values (brightness) makes for a strong image. Keep this in mind when you're picking colors – knowing what areas need to be light and what areas need to be dark before you start coloring will make your life easier. I'm going to teach you when and how to break this rule later, but for now let's just talk about picking a palette. I've found five to seven different colors to be a really nice sweet spot for working with limited palettes.

There are three main types of color palettes ill work with and ill provide examples each of them. I expect you to all politely refrain commenting on the amount of homestuck fanart that's here.

Monochromatic, where the piece is all within one color family with slight variations in hue, and larger variations in brightness and saturation

Accent, which is essentially the same as a monochromatic type with the addition of a strong, contrasting secondary color in one or two variants. Normally the accent color is lighter and serves as a highlight. This is not any kind of a hard rule, but is instead just what I like.

Split. There are two (or more) main colors at play, each with a couple of different shades.

Cool. Now lets see how we'd go about making one of these palettes.

 I'm grabbing an inconsequential sketch i've already got and we're gonna slap some color on it. Let's start monochromatic – I've gone and just tossed six pretty random shades of green on it, picking what goes where based on what I want to be light and what I want to be darker. 

Keep in mind, by monochromatic, I don't mean just picking one color and making it lighter or darker! Adjust your hue within the same color family – some of these are very blue, definitely more blue than green, and some are much warmer and yellower. Play around. In this stage I like to have every color on a distinct layer, so I can just recolor the entire layer at once as I tweak the palette.

 On the right, I have each color lined up in order of lightest to darkest just so I can get a sense of what I'm working with. Lets go ahead and call this one thumbnail. Now I'm gonna group the layers, duplicate them, and flatten the copy. I'll shrink it down and shove it off to the side so I can compare it to the other ones I make later.

Okay, I did a few more almost completely arbitrary monochromatic palettes. Here they are compared with their grayscale counterparts. 

All of them have the same number of colors, and lights stay lights, darks stay dark, midtones stay mid consistent between all of them, but the range of values is different between them all. The difference in light or dark between each tone is different and it gives a different mood that you can see even in black and white. None of them is more 'correct' than any other, and it's all about establishing the tone and atmosphere you want. Experimentation is key.

Now lets try making this a complimentary palette. With a strong accent color, your accent should be placed at areas of importance. People are naturally drawn to contrast and when using an accent color in a piece it'll make that area stick out, so make sure you're placing your colors with intent. For this I went back to that first set of greens I had because it was my favorite. Since this palette is over all very dark, I am going to make my accent the lightest color, because that'll stand out more. In a lighter palette, try making your accent the darkest color. Once again I must stress these are not hard rules – there are very few hard rules in art at all – but these are very useful tips for getting emphasis in the right place. This is just an example piece so I'm not being huuugely thoughtful with how I'm placing the color. 

Here's the same image but with the lightest green just swapped out for a far more vibrant accent of yellow. Looks pretty terrible. I don't want all of the papers and blinds to seem so prominent. So let's scrap this and try a different approach. We're gonna instead add our accent as a sixth color to our palette.

By adding another color, I've added another level of detail. Figuring out how to manage detail isn't just dependent on how many colors you have, but this is already going to be ridiculously long so I'll spare you that spiel. This is another one of those things I'll talk about more later if people want to hear my #thots. Using the new yellow accent, I emphasized the eyes, the mug, and added some interior detailing to the objects on the table. I also decided to place yellow in some of the windows of the outside buildings, to add a bit more interest in that area, and to justify giving yellow back lighting to our little goblin lad here, which makes him stand out nicely.

A split palette makes things a whole lot more complicated. Now that you're gonna be working with two different base colors you don't just only have to worry about which one is lighter or darker, you have to worry about how the hues look next to each other. Lets work with an orange on top of our original green here. I picked two of the greens and replaced the darker one with a darker orange, and the lighter one with a lighter orange. Now our palette is six colors split 50/50 between orange+yellow, and green. 

But now something interesting is happening. Let's take a look. If you're particularly keen eyed, you might have noticed that there's a third set of colors here, using a greyish brown in place of the oranges. What's up with that?

Well, what's up with that is, they are orange. The palette on the far right is what happens if, instead of choosing my own oranges, I simply hue-shifted the bluegreens until they were technically orange in hue. 

The oranges I chose just based on how they looked without actually checking the value and saturation of actually changed the value hierarchy of the whole piece. The table, instead of being in between the objects stacked upon it in terms of brightness, is lighter than either. This isnt bad at all – there's absolutely nothing wrong here. It's just important to be aware of things like this! This is why I said a split palette is the most complicated of the three I'm talking about here – in many occasions, the hue hierarchy can top the value hierarchy. Keep that in mind for slightly later.

I think split palettes work really well for comics, and I like to make my comics with split palettes. Whereas with a single illustration, you can just putz around with your color thumbnails until you get something good, for a comic you're locked into your palette once you've done the first page. Unless you're some sort of insanely meticulous person, in which case I envy you, you probably don't have every single page of your comic blocked out with respective values and can't apply your palette to the whole thing at once to test it. This means you'll need a palette that's pretty versatile. Having a split palette where one of the hue sets is lighter than the other overall allows you to decide whether you're going to create an overall light panel with dark accents, or vice versa. I'm gonna compare two palettes I'm using for comics to make this point. 

Here's a sampling of the comic pages in full color, at 0% saturation, and adjusted for grayscale respectively. You'll notice a slight difference between the desaturated colors and the grayscale colors – grayscale seems to hold truer to the full color version, doesn't it?

Now, here are the palettes themselves, and some grids showing the relationship between every pair of colors. When you don't know exactly what you're going to be using any given palette for, the relationship between any two colors becomes more important than ever. The bottom palette is split three ways, red yellow and blue each with a light and a dark, and then a completely neutral dark gray color. I'm using it for a long ongoing ace attorney comic I'm drawing. The top one has 4 shades of blue that go from darker and cooler to lighter and warmer, then 3 shades of orange that get yellower as they get lighter. Underneath is just the values – you'll notice that the top palette has a larger value range, with its lightest color being lighter than that of the bottom palette, and it's mid tones spaced further apart. 

What you'll also notice about the bottom palette is that instead of the reds being lighter than the blues and darker than the yellows, the value alternates dark red dark yellow light red light yellow. Take a look at the color grids. You'll notice that for the most part, every color in the palette on the right looks good with every other color. That's not nearly as true for the palette on the left. The light blue has a weird vibration where it meets either of the reds, and a few of the pairings just aren't particularly pleasant. Honestly, from any objective ideas of color theory, this palette kind of sucks shit. Lets make some adjustments to it.

I've changed the dark yellow and light red hues so now the light red is slightly darker than the dark yellow. That's the palette that's on top now. Looks better, doesn't it? But so now the question becomes why am I using a palette that looks awkward, disharmonious, and visually strained when I know exactly how to fix it? The simple answer is because I wanted a color palette that's awkward. I wanted that visual strain. I have trouble working on comics and general, especially anything as long as this one, and I wanted a color palette that already meant things would come out looking a little bit wonky, so I wouldn't be as concerned with nitpicking all the details and making everything pretty. I think the sort of visual upset also fits the tone I'm keeping with a lot of the comic.

Remember earlier when I said I'd talk about breaking the rule of stuff looking good in gray scale and in color? That's now. Take a look at this image. 

Which of the three colors is darker: the red, blue, or yellow? The stupid truth of it is that there's not really a proper way to tell. All three are technically the same 'brightness' but our brain tells us that the blue is the darkest, and the yellow is the lightest. Why do our brains do this? Let’s make em gray now.

On the bottom you can see what the colors look like when they are set to 0% saturation; as you'd expect it's a homogeneous gray blob. So then what the fuck is going on with the grayscale one? The grayscale one is closer to the way our brains interpret the colors, but we know this to be an improper rendering of their respective values. Which is the correct version, then – the grayscale or the desaturation? Luckily, we're using a computer, so we can have photoshop tell us the exact balance of hue, saturation, and brightness of any given pixel. Let's take a look now.

Wait, huh? We can plainly see that all three of the colors are at 49% brightness. But neither the desaturated value or any of the 3 grayscale values have a brightness of 49%. So what does a brightness of 49% look like?

Okay. Sure. Why not.

All of what I've just shown you regarding grayscale is to emphasize the point that your best judgment for which colors look good is a far better measuring stick for a good color palette than any technicalities. Even if the value is the same, the hue can differ enough that you can still get a beautiful finished drawing. Color and our perception of it is so, so vastly technically complex. You can not allow yourself to be bogged down by this. Simply practice, and color will become intuitive to you over time. I have a lot more I could say on the subject of picking and using your colors, but this is already insanely long. Feel free to ask any follow up questions, I hope this was of literally any use!

[bowandcurtsey]

Uhm....so I'm not sure if this is weird or of this is random but... what's your favorite color and if you have a reason then why is it your favorite color?

(I just wanted to participate in the ask thing so- 😖)

HI bby!!! Not weird at all please!! Why are you so qt hehe, here, me gibs you a kith ( ˘ ³˘)♥

Hmmm this is a pretty good question because my favourite colour changes pretty often haha!! I guess the constant would be shades of pink. But if i'm not wrong pink is a shade of red? HAHA!

It also depends on my mood etc, some days I really really love blue and yellow.

I like pastel and light shades overall and in general I just love colours!!

When it comes to fashion though, I'm not THAT loud so I always settle for black / white. HAHA!

I do love white a little more for accessories but Black for bags / clothes. (because black makes me look slim)

Just a little fun fact, I used to have colourful hair for about 3 years. All kinds of colours and multicoloured even, and would change the colours every 3-4 months or so.. but about a year ago, I decided I got a little tired and just dyed it FULL BLACK. and i still kinda dig it now.

I can only say... I am a contradicting person and can not stick to one favourite colour. Just like my love for different anime characters. (HOW CAN YOU ONLY LOVE ONE RIGHT?)

[its-ya-boi-autumn]

Alright look-

My little Cells At Work phase is likely going to be short-lived and I'm probably only going to manage to get 2 or 3 works out before it ends but I'll still add it to the Masterlist, though I'm not so sure of making its own section rather than just putting like "Other Animes" or like "Phases", I don't know just yet, but I'll figure it out.

Requests for this anime are also accepted for whenever, even after the phase passes I'll still write for this one~ Though I'm not so sure about smut because, well, they're cells, and they're asexual. I just find it strange and out of pocket since they're not necessarily 'human' (I have nothing against like mythical creatures or folk lore/legends and sexual content, I just think cells are different, it'll depend on my mood I suppose)

In the meantime have some neutrophil 1146 content because I was gonna write some killer t stuff but decided it would be best to start with someone easier (plus 1146 is the reason for this whole thing in the first place)

Word Count: 1455

Warnings/Contents: RBC!+GN!reader

This was the day you dreaded. The thought of carrying carbon dioxide through the heart to gather oxygen had been crossing your mind for ages, your superior warning you of the difficulties you may encounter. Though your concern wasn't getting lost or any sort of infection. It was simply other cells. You'd think being a red blood cell, you'd get used to all of the other cells around you. That wasn't quite the case however, still feeling anxious around large groups of cells you'd never met, which of course was often. This left you in a state of constant alertness, ready to move or take cover at given moment.

You continued staring at the map in front of you, wasting time. Though you couldn't wait much longer. Sighing, you folded your map up and scrunched it into your pocket along with your notes. You rolled your cart forward towards the inferior vena cava, trying to use some grounding to calm yourself. Your superior warned you of the crowdedness of the area beforehand so you'd be somewhat prepared.

Before entering though you figured getting some sort of energy would probably be best. You hadn't even been through the first trek and you were already exhausted by just the thought of having to transfer through just the first wave. There was a little vending machine nearby, you could probably get some glucose before the trip no problem.

Standing in front of the menu presented in bright lighting you browsed your options for a minute before just choosing the cheapest option. The pink and purple swirls caught your eye. You gave the vending machine its exchange before the glucose fell into the slot. As you bent down to pick it up however, someone bumped into your behind.

Upon the contact you immediately stumbled over, falling onto your hip with a pang of an ache shooting through your side.

"Ouch! Hey watch where you're-" you looked up at the perpetrator only to be met with a plane of white. His skin, his hair, even his combat gear, was all stark white.

"-going..." you trailed off, taken aback at the sight of him. He was unfamiliar, you'd never seen him before nor anyone like him. The grey shadows of his hair shaded the light blush on his cheeks.

"Oh, my bad." he said, reaching a gloved hand out to you. You took it, allowing him to haul you up and back onto your feet. You caught a glimpse of his hat. White Blood Cell 1146. You blinked a few times, the embarrassment and anxiety setting in.

"Yeah... It's alright though, I probably should of made sure no one was behind me before just bending down." you averted your gaze, eyes back onto the glucose still sitting patiently in the slot. I checked behind you again before reaching down to grab it.

"No, really, I should of been paying more attention." he refuted your response, tipping his hat to you a little likely to hide the pink on his face. A part of you felt kind of bad for nearly yelling at him, though he was right. It was totally his fault. You sighed, unwrapping the glucose and taking a few bites. The cold rang through your teeth though it was refreshing, replenishing your energy a lot more than you initially expected.

"Look, I told you, it's fine. Just be careful is all. I've got a delivery to make now so if you don't mind I'm pretty sure you're in my way. Please excuse me." you hadn't meant to come off so rude, though you really needed to get going. You were sure it didn't matter anyway, you likely wouldn't see him again. Pushing past him you carted your carbon dioxide out to the inferior vena cava. You could feel his eyes on you, though you didn't bother turning to meet them.

~

A little later on, after exchanging your carbon dioxide for that of oxygen, you made your way back around the heart to deliver it, finally done for a little while and able to catch a break. Your own heart was racing, your fingertips and toes throbbing with the adrenaline of being around so many other cells at once. You caught sight of the platelets heaving and ho-ing around the corner. You smiled, deciding to see what was going on.

"This vessel is currently under construction! Sorry about the inconvenience!" the little girl waving her flag announced to the other nearby cells, alerting them of their work.

"Hello little platelet! What's going on?" you asked, kneeling down to meet her eyes. She stopped waving her flag and gave you a smile.

"There was a minor abrasion a little bit ago, we're fixing it up though, so it should be good as new in no time!" she spoke excitedly, emphasizing her enthusiasm with a little hop and a toothy grin. You found this adorable, standing back to full height." Hopefully everything runs smoothly, see ya~" you gave her a wave, which she returned. You couldn't help yourself when it came to platelets. They were just so cute and they always worked so hard. You knew you did your part as well, though sometimes it didn't feel as good as theirs.

You heard a sound, a sort of rumbling from somewhere to your left. Your brows knit together, confusion scattering your previous thoughts. You turned your attention to the ground, the rubble bouncing around the tiles. You took a few steps back as you felt the ground shift below you. The sound made its way over to where you stood, directly in front of you. Other cells around you had begun to notice as well, their attention all on where you stood. Stunned, you continued to step backwards, not wanting to face whatever it was. Your eyes widened as the ground started to give, feeling the lurch downward.

Just as the floor cracked right under your feet and you sucked in a breath to scream out for help, you felt a force collide with your left side, shoving you to the right just in time for the ground to sink into a wide opening. The mouth of the hole gaped at you, scrambling to get up. You didn't even think to say thank you to whoever had saved your life, slightly feeling bad for not checking to see who it was. Though you didn't much care since they likely wouldn't of listened to you. Almost immediately, entities you'd never seen before started floating into the area. They're eyes scanned over their new surroundings, landing directly onto you.

"Ah, what have we here? A little red blood cell all cooped up in the arms of their savior?" the entity chuckled, it's voice possessing a feminine twinge to it. Its figure was covered in yellowish grape-like coating except for its hands, arms, and face. It had mentioned a savior. You turned your head up to notice the same white blood cell from earlier, glaring up at the germ.

"Oh- white blood cell-" he dropped you before you could finish, your head colliding with the tiles on the ground. You would have complained though you noticed him beelining directly for the entity, immediately slashing through it's body. Your eyes grew wide in shock, watching it's blood splatter across the other cells and the tiles in front of you. The white blood cell turned to face you, walking over to you as if he hadn't just murdered whatever that thing was.

"Hello again, are you alright?" he asked, his hand outstretched to you. You tsked, swatting his hand away and getting back up onto your own feet, brushing the dust off of your pants. Your hands set firm on your hips, brows knitted up at him.

"I'm fine, thank you." your harsh words threw him off guard. The white blood cells' cheeks flushed in embarrassment. You were being brash again, and in front of a large group of others after he had just saved you. Your expression softened and you sighed.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to come off rude sir." you rubbed the back of your neck, soothing the annoying ache of guilt. He drooped his head, avoiding eye contact.

"It's alright, I didn't really expect you to thank me. I did push you over twice today." he mentioned the event from earlier, cheeks blushing harder.

"Hey, it's alright. You were just doing your job. No hard feelings." you admitted, offering him a hand as some sort of awkward reassurance. He took it, his hands larger than yours and covering the majority of your palm. A smile crossed his face in appreciation of the gesture.

"Glad you don't have any negative feelings towards me then."

[yunohawkeye]

New Year HCs (SFW + NSFW)

Here’s my 600 follower special~

This isn’t betaread yet because the people that normally betaread for me are busy celebrating New Year the irony lol I’ll update it as soon as it’s betaread :3

General:

Diavolo caught wind of another human holiday and was more than eager to celebrate it

So of course he arranged it that the feast was held at the brothers' mansion, much to Lucifers disdain

When it was time, everyone came together, including Solomon, Simeon and Luke

In the beginning Diavolo held a speech, thinking it was a custom to do so… He's trying, okay? 

As everyone was free to do their own stuff, Lucifer's work began. He kept everyone in check and making sure no one gets eaten or dies another way

To his disdain Mammon and Satan had other ideas. They're doing their best to make Lucifer's life hell. While Satan did it more intentionally, Mammon did it by just being his usual self. 

Levi was forced to sit with them. His original plan was to stay in his room, watch anime and meet with his guild in Endless Fantasy. 

Asmodeus spends most of his time teasing Luke, calling him a dog again, but is also a big fan of the champagne. It was a gift from Diavolo which he brought with him, that is also one of the most famous and expensive brand in the whole devil Dom, and who would be suited better of such luxuries than him? 

To no surprise, Beel spends the time almost diminishing the whole feast on his own, tasting as many specialties from the demon-, celestial- and human realm that were laying in front of him. 

He also spends a lot of his time talking to Belphegor, catching up on anything that happened while they were being kept apart. He even offers his twin a bite once and then. 

Diavolo is delighted by the whole display before him and spends his time talking with Lucifer, when he isn't busy scolding anyone. But he also picks up conversations with others, you being one of his more favored talking partners.

Lucifer:

SFW

He won't be able to enjoy the fireworks without worrying about anything that could go wrong when he leaves his brothers alone, especially Mammon.

But if you clasp your hand around his  and smile up at him he starts to relax and let go of his worries for a moment. That way you'll get a smile from him and see his soft expression for once. 

To be able to keep it that way you'll have to lead him to a secluded balcony, then you'll be able to also feel him relax around you, as he embraces you from behind. Depending on your height he'll lay his head either on top of yours or onto one of your shoulders. 

You'll stay like that for a long time, even after the firework is over, just basking in each other's presence. 

He'll leave a kiss on your head as a cue to head inside after he felt your hands grow cold against his, "Let's get you heated up again." 

Just one look after you turned around made you realize that his offer wasn't completely innocent. 

NSFW

He’ll spoil you rotten that night. Just tell him anything that you think of and he’ll give it to you without question.

There’s no doubt he’ll go down on you for hours if you wish it of him, with a simple explanation, “The New Year holiday isn’t something we celebrate here. But you do, so I want to make it feel as special of a day as it’s special to you.”

He actually won’t let you do much, just because he wants to be the one to give pleasure to you all night long while expecting nothing in return. But he’ll still obey every order you give him.

Mammon:

SFW

His eyes lit up the moment you've told him there'd be fireworks and and he was excited for it the whole time during dinner, making him more insufferable than normal. 

But as soon as it started he went quiet, completely focused on the display before him. 

After some time you'll feel his hand searching for yours. When you turn around you can see his crimson colored cheeks as he's trying to look look away while letting out a fake-cough. 

The shade of his cheeks deepens when you giggle and squeeze his hand in return. 

After the firework ended he won't let go of your hand, although denying it, "You're the one holding on! I'm not the one at fault here!" 

NSFW

He’ll try to initiate things but gets all blushy and starts to stutter, “I-I-... I mean, the great Mammon invites you to-to share his bed… tonight… if you want to...” He gets really shy at the end and his voice cracks through the whole thing.

In the end you’ll have to be the one to take charge because, as much as he tries to, he just can’t take the risk of doing something you don’t like. So he rather leaves that up to you.

But he’ll try everything you ask of him. So you can top him and have your way or have him on top and guide him through it, showing him exactly what you want from him.

Leviathan:

SFW

When you ask him to watch the firework with you he’ll actually agree, although with a lot of bickering. He writes his guild that something came up and he can’t join them.

While you watch the lights dance across the sky, he’ll try to lay his hand on top of yours while you’re distracted. Levi’s very shy about it and doesn’t actually see a lot of the fireworks around him, his whole focus consumed by your hand and his own that’s still hovering above yours while he keeps debating with himself if he should actually do it.

While he thinks he’s being sneaky, you noticed it from the beginning, giggling to yourself and taking his hand on yours, smiling at his baffled face, “Seems like your sneak-level isn’t high enough yet.”

He blushes hard, looking away but giving your hand a little squeeze, the warmth spreading through him intensifying further as you lean your head against his shoulder, causing him to tense beneath you.

But you’re trying your best to soothe him, letting your other hand trace patterns over his chest.

It didn’t really help with the blush on his face and his body was still a little stiff, but he couldn’t deny the feeling of happiness consuming him all over.

NSFW

Like Mammon, he tries to initiate things by a technique he saw a lot of men use in his dating-sims, called kabe-don. As the men in the game seemed to have a high success-rate he wants to try it out, too.

Turns out he starts to blush immediately after looking into your eyes and starts to babble nonsense, causing a giggle to escape your mouth.

You decided to put him out of his misery by cuppink his cheeks with your hands and kissing him. But you don’t let it stop there as you push him onto his bed, making him look up at you with a mix of confusion, anticipation and passion lingering in his eyes.

You crawl on top of him and start to tease him, making him squirm beneath you. You don’t end your ministrations until the end of the night, coaxing many different kinds of sounds out of him and in the end you’ll both be spent as you fall asleep in each others’ arms.

Satan:

SFW

He’ll be standing outside with you, gaze fixated on the fireworks while his hands rest in his pockets, giving you the perfect opportunity to sneak your arm through his and intertwine your fingers with his. He’ll look down at you, surprise visible on his face, before it was replaced by a warm smile.

Without a word he’ll draw you close, wrap his arms around you and make sure you’re shielded from the wind and able to take in all of the lights above you.

After the fireworks end he’ll kiss the top of your head and ask, “Do you want to go inside or are you still up for a little stroll?”

Even though the cold was already getting to you and you would give anything for a warm fireplace and a hot cup of tea in your hands, you agree.

The smile you’re greeted with is worth all the suffering as he answers, “Thank you. I’ll make sure you’ll be kept warm thoroughly when we get back.”

NSFW

Staying true to his promise, he started to warm up a pot of hot water, but also made sure to keep you company until it’s ready.

And with keeping company I mean busying himself with his head buried between your legs, praising you for being so strong to fight against the cold just for him. So he already started to give you your reward by warming you up.

He made you come as often as possible until the tea was finished before coming back with two hot, steamy cups and a blanket for the two of you.

You cuddle together, sipping tea while having a conversation.

But as soon as the tea was finished and your body heated up again, he almost tackled you, starting to make slow and sensual love to you on the couch, coaxing as many moans out of you as he can.

Later in the night you change locations, as his bed was a better fit for your activities. There he leaves the decision up to you. You can decide of you want to it slow or rough until the end.

Asmodeus:

SFW

He’s just a little tipsy from the champagner but it doesn’t change much of his usual demeanor.

You’re both sitting on a bench while he’s nestling himself onto you with his head on your lap. He even allowed you to play with his hair a little, basically a love confession and marriage proposal in one in Asmodeus’ world, and all of that just because it’s you that does it.

Both of you watch the firework, but he couldn’t just look without some commentary, “I mean, it does look beautiful. But not as beautiful as me, don’t you agree?”

You always just smile down at him, either nodding or answering with a “M-mh”

Normally he would expect some more enthusiasm from you, but as he saw your face lighting up as soon as the sky started to light up he thought that he could hold himself back for you… for a little while at least.

NSFW

When it comes to intimacy, there isn’t a wrong time for Asmodeus. He’ll drop hints that he’s in the mood but will wait for you to initiate things because he doesn’t want to rush you into something you’re not ready for, even though every fiber of his being is aching for you to touch him.

But the moment you as much as hinted that you’d be in the mood he’s ecstatic!

He’ll hug you tight and start kissing you until you have no air left to breathe, lift you up and lay you down on the bed, wasting no time to undress you both.

Because he knows this is a holiday for you, he makes it his task to spoil you rotten, although he won’t stop you of you want to give something back.

The night probably ends with some mutual masturbation after both of you are already overly sensitive from reaching your high often that night. You’re both looking into each others’ eyes while breathing heavily, letting moans slip here and there.

Beelzebub:

SFW

You would think he wouldn’t care much for fireworks and would rather spend his time eating. Well, on a normal basis, yes. But not when it comes to you. As soon as you walked out to see the fireworks he laid down the tableware and joined you outside. He still brought a plate full of food with him to munch on, but that doesn’t diminish the feeling of joy you felt when you saw him joining you.

But what really makes you smile the most is as he stays even after he emptied his plate a while ago and offered you to lean against him. Of course you accepted the offer without any resistance.

He’s so warm, you almost forgot the icy wind playing with your haid as his massive body engulfed your form almost completely, shielding you from the cold.

After some time his stomach started to grumble, making it sound like an earthquake as you lied against it with your head. But all he did was tighten his embrace and say, “Don’t worry. I’ll stay. I can get some food later.” 

NSFW

It happens after Beelzebub didn’t go back after your firework-watching to get some food and instead joined you in your room.

First you didn’t know what would happen or the reason for his decision to stay, but you would find out soon.

Beel looks at you with a blush on his cheek, standing there like a lost lamb as he stuttered out, “I-I… Would you… like to… you know?... Be my meal?” The second he says that he averts his gaze, too ashamed to look you in the eyes but you have other plans.

Without a word coming over your lips you smile at him, walk over and take his hands in yours before leaning in, almost kissing him, and answering, “I’d be honored.”

He spent most of the night with his mouth on your womanhood, in many different positions. Doing whatever you want, how often you want, in any way you want.

Belphegor:

SFW

You have to convince him to go outside with you and watch the fireworks, as he was planning on sleeping through everything.

After some persuading he reluctantly agrees to join you on a balcony, but not before making sure there are some pillows and a blanket for the both of you. You don’t expect him to stand through the whole thing, do you?

You two end up with both of you snuggling into the blanket, him leaning on your shoulder, complaining about the noise but secretly loving the lighted up sky, buzzing in many different colors.

After it was over he sighs, before letting out a, “It wasn’t as bad as I anticipated.”

NSFW

As soon as you’re in your room again he lays down on your bed, making himself comfortable before looking at you with mischief in his eyes, “Why don’t you join me? We could have all kinds of fun.”

After some debating with yourself you join him and his fingers make quick work of slipping inside your trousers and underwear, running through your folds. Although his ministrations are slow, combined with his intense stare they feel as intense as if he’d be ravishing you with all his might.

You spend the night mostly laying on your sides, pleasuring each other slowly and sensually, making sure the other gains at least as much pleasure than yourself.

Sometimes you change position, but it always ends up like it started until both of you are too exhausted to continue and fall asleep in each others’ arms.