#i was trying to do the thing lots of gouache artists do

[cccotard]

silly little sara

[johnwickb1tsch]

bittersweet + ch 45

a yandere!John Wick x fem!reader sunshine/grump coffee shop AU... all chapters

WARNINGS FOR THIS FIC: NSFW, SEXUAL CONTENT, VIOLENCE, YANDERE SH!T. Plz take care. I luv u all. 😘

45. halcyon daze

With Christmas on the horizon you take a break from your Persephone-inspired series to work on a present for John. There’s not a thing in the world you could buy him that he couldn’t buy for himself; but you have two hands, some talent and creativity: things that can’t yet be bought on Amazon. You’d noticed that he’s been working on an old set of Russian Fairytales. 

It still never fails to destroy your heart, that John favors mending the binding of children’s stories, as though he can recapture and sew back together some aspect of his own broken youth. 

Some of the illustrations in this edition are faded, one is even half destroyed, the paper torn. The writing is in cyrillic, you haven’t learned to read it yet, but with some [you hope] casually peppered questions, you manage to glean enough information to look up what they’re supposed to be. You make some replacements for him, and in the case of the Knight of Night in the story of Vasilisa the Beautiful, the warrior in black might bear more than a passing resemblance to your own dark assassin.  

When he opens this gift the wonder in his eyes is priceless to you. “I didn’t make you anything,” he apologizes guiltily, and while you are sitting amidst the piles of your freshly bestowed loot, which you still can’t help but feel guilty about. He bought you a stylish new motorcycle jacket, a fresh set of artist series gouache tubes and paper, an antique gold art nouveau lavalier necklace in the form of a flowing narcissus flower with glowing enameled accents and a dangling pearl –you are filled with so much love you fear your heart might burst.

You crawl across the floor, into his lap. He barely has time to set the drawings aside before your mouth is on his, and you are toppling him back almost into the Christmas tree with your ardor. By the time you are finished with him, you’re pretty sure he knows how happy he makes you, but just in case you tell him for good measure. “I love you more than I know how to say.” 

***

As winter drags on you look to John’s in-house gym to get exercise, even though you despise running on the treadmill. You feel like a hamster, jogging your ass off to nowhere. You try to keep up with your yoga practice, though you rarely get to finish a session. Somehow, John always manages to time walking in on you when you have your ass in the air. “Have mercy, I’m only a man,” he teases you, like this is an excuse for toppling you over and pinning you down with his body and his mouth on yours. 

It’s hard to get too mad about it, considering. 

You suppose you do still get a stretch and a workout, not to mention a belly laugh, in the end. 

Continuing your training stays interesting, although he wasn’t lying before when he said he wouldn’t be able to keep his hands off of you. More often than not when you spar, you end up fucking on the floor. He’s never more beautiful than when his dark eyes glitter with anticipation of the hunt; you’ve learned a lot, but you know you stand zero chance against him. 

Maybe it’s not fair, when he loses patience and uses his experience and his size to put you down on the ground, sweeping your legs or twisting your arm behind you while he pulls down your leggings, baring your ass to the room. But he finds you soaking wet every time he claims his prize, guiding himself inside you, your growls quickly turning to moans for the way he fills you up and takes you down. “I fucking love it when you fight me,” he admits breathlessly, thrusting until you both cum loudly, your face pressed into the rubber floor.

It’s a game you love to lose.   

***

Winter starts to thaw, and you have cabin fever, ready to go outside. John is engrossed in a binding project: you finished your illustrations, and now he seems just as engaged in his side of the collaboration as you were yours. You find him smiling at a rendition of Dog as Cerberus with three heads when you pop into his workshop. “Want to go for a hike?”

He looks around at the mess he’s made on his worktable. “I’m not at a good stopping point,” he admits, and you understand that perfectly well. “You can go, just don’t be gone too long, alright?”

He could have pushed you over with a feather, you are so surprised to receive this clearance for a solo trek. 

You kiss him on the cheek in thanks. “I’ll be back soon,” you promise, still hardly able to believe your luck. 

“Y/n?” he calls as you’re at the door. “Take Dog?”

“I’m going too far for him.” Long walks hurt his paws.

“Then take your pistol.” You nod before disappearing up the stairs. Once upon a time, the thought of going around casually armed would have seemed like pure insanity to you. Now it’s simply a fact of life. You don’t have an official license for concealed carry, but after your intensive training at the Continental you feel perfectly confident that you won’t shoot anyone–unless you mean to. You live in John’s world now: survive first, worry about getting caught later…and pay off the appropriate officials if you have to.

That’s just the thug life, you suppose. 

The air outside is crisp and fresh, leaves and pine needles perfuming the woods in a way that intoxicates you more than any man-made scent. You take off down the trail at a brisk pace, feeling like you have wings on your feet. Knowing you could walk for miles and miles in this mood, you set a timer on your phone so you don’t forget yourself. Scaring John after he’s given you this confidence will not bode well for the future. Once upon a time such a leash would have chafed, but now you understand so much better what his fears are rooted in. You’ve peered into the darkness behind the curtain; there’s no going back. 

It’s the middle of the day in the middle of the week and you haven’t seen a soul, and on such a fine day as this, it is easy to forget that there’s a bustling, seething world of human strife out there. Or so you imagine, as you are sitting on the outcrop of your favorite overlook, your feet dangling out over oblivion. Yet, when you think you hear voices coming up the trail a sudden instinct kicks in to hide, to avoid being seen. Without really even thinking about it you tip yourself off the ledge, grabbing a branch of an ancient tree growing out of the rocks to break your fall, and dropping down to conceal yourself flat upon a narrow ledge.

“Dude, where’d she go?” you hear from above, your heart pounding in your chest, the blocky hardness of your little Beretta pressing into the small of your back as you lean against the stone face of the cliff a reassuring comfort. You realize then that John is not the only one with a residual paranoia from your misadventures. As you listen to the obviously harmless hikers above, you feel utterly ridiculous, and you wait for them to go so that you can make your way back in peace. 

Maybe it’s good to be alert, but at what point does one just have to get on with one’s life? If you live like a paranoid little rat scurrying around out of sight, then Dante has won in a different way. You think about this a lot, as you make your way home up the mountain. 

***

Perhaps it’s fitting, that with the renewal of spring all around you, John finishes the binding of your book. He calls you into the basement to inspect his workmanship, standing behind you as you behold the finished tome. The cover is embossed black leather with gold leaf. There is no title, just a design of an upturned skull grown through with blooming narcissus flowers. Slowly, you flip through the pages, enchanted with how he transformed your loose paintings into something so refined. 

“I love it,” you tell him, caressing a page bearing his likeness, the God of Death embracing his consort (that may bear a passing resemblance to you) in a Klimt-esque kiss. He nuzzles into your neck, kissing behind your ear. “But you didn’t sign it,” you complain, noting the lack of his usual This Book was Bound by John Wick plate. 

“I thought…we could do it together, as a wedding present?” he offers. You realize he means signing it with your joined name, and maybe it’s silly, but the thought makes your belly erupt into butterflies. You haven’t really talked about the wedding much. Though you wear the ring happily, he hasn’t really mentioned it at all, giving you space or otherwise occupied, you’re not entirely sure. 

“I would love that,” you agree, tilting your head for a kiss. His fingers dig into your hips as it deepens, a low moan called up from his throat. 

“Have you thought about what you might like?” he asks, kissing your neck again, his hands slipping under your shirt. 

“I don’t want anything fancy,” you admit breathlessly. “All I want is you.” You find the thought of bringing your dysfunctional family together in celebration only inspires anxiety. You have no lasting affiliations with any church–you do not feel the need to seek any god’s blessing of your union. You find you are just ready for it to be so. 

You feel him pause behind you, letting out a shuddering sigh. You wonder if he’s thinking about the journey you’ve taken, to get where you are today, together. You certainly are, looking at your book, and the allegory it tells of your tumultuous courtship. It wasn’t easy, and you can’t say anything so trite as you knew it would turn out–but you realize you did have the naivety to hope. For once…maybe your forgiving nature has finally paid off for you. You feel like you’ve been living in a halcyon daze, you are so happy. You hope it never changes, even if deep down you know it will. 

Change is the only certainty we’re ever afforded.

“Surely you want something nicer than a trip to the courthouse,” he pries, certain there’s something you’re not telling him. You do still feel embarrassed sometimes, about spending his money on things, even though he gives you free reign with unparallelled generosity. 

“I really don't want a big ceremony,” you assure him. “But…would you like it, if Winston married us?”

John huffs behind you, and you hear the smile in his voice. “I'm not sure that's something he does.”

You giggle at the thought, and you can tell John at least likes the idea of his father figure–one of his few remaining friends, being there. And, you like Winston too. “I bet he’d do it for you, John.”

“Hmm. We’ll think on that.”

It’s not a no.

“You know what I do want?” you pose, turning a page of your new book.This illustration is a rather explicit one, Death kneeling at her feet with his face buried in her pussy, her back bowed in sweet agony, the dark waters of the river Styx glittering behind them. He offered her the most exquisite pleasures, but withheld release unless she agreed to be his forever. Though deep in her heart she knew she loved him immeasurably, still she refused.

Neither John nor you are immune to the effect of perusing this pornographic work together; his long fingers dip into the waistband of your jeans, his fingertips just nearly caressing your mound.   

“Anything,” he tells you, nibbling at your ear. It takes you a moment to remember what you were talking about, your clit throbbing in answer to his seeking fingers and his other hand up your shirt. As a result your answer comes in breathy bursts. 

“I want…to go on an adventure with you. A long honeymoon,” you tell him, writhing against him as his hand finds your breast, toying with the taut peak of your nipple. You know he likes to travel as much as you do. Wouldn’t it be novel to go somewhere and not even need to assassinate someone in the interim?

You feel him chuckle behind you, more than hear it. “I might have guessed. Where do you want to go?” He asks you this while his fingers tease your curls, so close to touching you where you need him most. You are past shame, when your voice cracks. 

“Where can we go?” You assume most of Europe is off the table these days. 

“Hmm. You still have a yen for South America?” 

You nod, and he laughs again, though he catches your mouth in a tooth-counting kiss before you can answer–ie defend yourself from the usual allegations. At last his middle finger dips into your wet slit, and the sound of relief that escapes you is barely human.  

“Young lady…” he growls, nipping at your ear. “This is quite a dirty little book you’ve drawn. Do you know how many times I had to come find you while I was working on this?” You moan as he swipes up your juices, finally circling your clit as his other hand dips into your bra. You feel his erection straining against the curve of your bottom; you press yourself back against him, wanting what’s yours. Your answer is part laughter, part moan–for the umpteenth time, you feel like life is perfect with this man. 

“Probably as often as I had to come find you while drawing it,” you answer cheekily, arching back to hold his neck, opening yourself completely to him. Your knees threaten to buckle as he touches you, but soon you find yourself bent over his table, his corded forearms braced like columns on either side of you as he fucks you silly amidst the smell of old books, leather, and binding glue.  

It really doesn’t get any better than this.

***

When warmer weather comes you start to take out the bikes again. After a few outings you feel sufficiently refreshed, and more than ready to take your test. You make your appointment for next week, and you feel like a teenager again, full of nervous energy for the impending exam. John finds this amusing. “You can ride, sweetheart. And if you fail, you can just take it again.” 

But the perfectionist academic in you wants to ace it on the first go. When you express the desire to go for a practice ride while John is working on a new project he nods, not even looking up from his worktable. “Be careful.” 

“Take your pistol. I know,” you tease. This has become a broken record between you two–remembering a time when he wouldn’t have dreamed of letting you out of his sight, you do not mind. He narrows his eyes at you playfully, before letting you off with that slight smile that still squeezes your heart in your chest. 

You gear up in your kevlar jeans, boots and jacket, gloves and helmet. Concealed carry is ridiculously easy, with such bulk about you. You feel a bit like a commando, every time you put on the jacket with its armored panels. You fire up the Kawasaki and potter down the driveway. You like this bike, it’s been great to learn on, but John has been teasing you about an upgrade if you’re a good girl. 

Considering you feel where he’s been inside you every time you sit down, you’re pretty sure you’re meeting the requirements. You think about this with a smile as you hit a straightaway, and let the machine open up beneath you. 

It really is the closest you can get to flying on the ground. 

Exhilarated, maybe even feeling a little cocky, you make your loop of the mountain roads and then decide to make a quick stop down in town. You’ve worn out your three favorite paint brushes, the chisel tip, the angle shader, and the tiny 3/0 you favor for small details. Mr. Morton will get you squared away. 

You park in the lot behind the art store, and carry your helmet inside. You don’t dally long, even though the smell of oil paint and linseed oil inside the little store is a marvelous thing. You chat with Mr. Morton, pet the shop cat, and tuck your score into your inside pocket before walking back out to the parking lot. 

It’s totally cliché, but the rest goes by in a blur. 

A black SUV rolls up beside you, screeching on its brakes, a man jumping out of the backseat making a B line for you. Too late, you realize your rookie mistake. Your jacket is zipped up to your chin–you can’t draw your pistol under your arm in time. But you have your helmet in your hand, and without hesitation, you introduce it to his face as hard as you can. 

“At least offer a girl some candy first, asshole!”

The driver spills out next, cursing and trying to grab you, dodging your second swing with the helmet. You side-step him, but he manages to snag your jacket. Rather than pull against his hold you let him drag you to him, meeting his groin dead-on with your knee. As he crumples you hit him in the face with your armored elbow, and run for your bike while shoving your helmet onto your head. 

Maybe you should have run back to the shop, to the thoroughfare, to the safety of witnesses. But all you can think in that moment is that John might need you. You have a terrible feeling that something bad could be happening at home, and so you start your bike and tear off faster and more recklessly than you ever have before. The handlebars wobble in your haste but you manage to get a hold of the machine, concentrating on working the clutch and the gears to pick up speed as fast as you can. If you look back, you know you’ll crash. You run a stop sign, veering around a car by the skin of your teeth, leaving the sound of screeching wheels and honking horns behind you.  

Out of town, you drop a gear and take off like a rocket up the mountain, passing cars where you definitely shouldn’t. I’m coming, John. Maybe it’s ridiculous. How much help could you possibly be to John Wick? But you won’t rest until you set eyes on him again. 

Maybe you shouldn’t be surprised, when the G Wagon roars up next to you again. In your peripheral you see the passenger in the window, his extended arm, the blocky black shape of a gun. They veer at you, trying to run you off the road. You brake the bike, letting them whip past you, nearly going off the pavement themselves in the confusion. You decide to turn off onto a sideroad, a winding death-trap of a paved goat trail that you know like the back of your hand, though you’ve never ridden it before, only drove. You hope you’ll lose them in the snarl of tight curves. It will take longer to get home, but if worse comes to worse maybe you can abandon the bike and lose them in the trees. 

Home turf advantage, you tell yourself, not entirely convinced. These guys mean business–and you’re fairly sure the driver’s accent was Italian. 

You don’t really hear it past the roar of your engine and your heartbeat in your ears, when they come up behind you. You do hear the shot, and you flinch, ducking low to make yourself a smaller target. But he wasn’t aiming for you. 

He was aiming for your tire, and when it blows the bike goes wild–and you really get to experience flying.

It’s almost exhilarating, sailing through the air, until you hit the pavement hard, skidding across the unforgiving asphalt, rolling to take some of the momentum. You lay there on the tarmac, alive, but completely stunned. You tell yourself to get up–but your body doesn’t listen. You see the shadow of a man over you. It’s Helmet Man–his face is a mask of blood; it looks like you broke his nose, and he’s pissed about it.

He kicks you in the side before shoving a needle through your jeans, into the meat of your butt. On the verge of puking in your helmet, the world swims, then goes black.

------------

*author's note: Full credit to @discoscoob for suggesting that Winston should officiate, I love it, you're brilliant! 😘 And the yoga scene is totally @treedaddymcpuffpuff 's fault. I love our unhinged conversations boo 🤣 The Brain Rot would not be so strong or so FUN without you!❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ :)))))))))))))))))

**maybe i should also add that certain eXplicit panels in the BRZRKR Bloodlines comic inspired a great deal of this dumpster fire 🥵🤣🤣, y'all should definitely check it out, the artwork is great!

--------------- 

all chapters

[goron-king-darunia]

Eggtober 6th 2023

"Splat" or "Fun with Colors": Raw Egg.

(Clip Studio Paint, Gouache Brush, Pencil brush for details and highlights. 12 colors, I think? 1 Hour.) I actually really liked the rough version I made, so you're gonna get that one at the end as well, for anyone who also likes the rough one better than the smooth one.

But first... I finally discovered a feature of CSP, so now I am unstoppable and I will NEVER AGAIN have to ask myself "How the fuck did I do that?"

Because now I have EVIDENCE. Now curious friends, followers, and my forgetful ass, can watch the full process of how I made a thing. Including what references I used so it's clear how much is iterative and how much I am drawing directly from the visual reference. Today I had to do a lot from imagination because I couldn't find an exaggerated splashy egg, but sometimes I really am just making a study and trying to do a one-to-one recreation of a reference. So now y'all get to know all my filthy little secrets. I was intending to grab footage starting with Eggtober 1, 2023 but OBS needs a version of an NVIDIA driver that will absolutely wreck my computer with BSODs because I own a junker apparently. But it turns out CSP (or at least V2, IDK if it was in V1) has a way to capture a speedpaint natively when you create the file.

Now I am unstoppable, powerful. No more taking a break from art when life gets busy and coming back to pieces I drew 10 years ago and wondering "How the hell did I manage that?" I can just check. It's over for all of you. Once I practice anatomy again and start being able to draw shapes and volumes perfectly from imagination, I will become all-powerful. I will ascend. Hell, maybe someone might even pay me if I learn to draw anything that isn't an egg or a meme. XD Radical self-confidence, baby. I can art now, and I have evidence. My horizons are infinite!

And now, hopefully, any baby artists that are just starting out can get an idea of how I do it from this and future pieces so I can pull you all up with me in a bid of apotheosis. For the EGGsthetic! (Aesthetic.)

I wonder which version of this egg @lady-quen's breadbugs will snap up?

And I wonder which one @quezify will like best? My money's on the sketchy one.

I can't tell which I like better honestly. The smooth one us much more "My aesthetic" because it matches how I render eggs but... The rough pencil-y gouache lines you get with light pressure really remind me of how the classic modern quezify eggs look, and I of course only started doing eggs because of the first Eggtober so, like. On the one hand, smooth and painterly look that goes with all but one of my previous eggs (Eggtober 1, 2023 was a study from memory of quezify's style, after all). But on the other hand... dramatic color changes! Textrure, shine! Colors that aren't in the actual references! EXPRESSIVENESS. Two different moods on the same egg art and I really dig both of them honestly.

[hearteyespierce]

Hello, I'm from Gaza

My name is Farah

Can you please help me to study at the university

Me and my family have lost our home, our car, and our dream to study

I hope just to help me to start my education

I was in my first year at university in Gaza but after the war, I lost everything my dream and my education 💔

Hope you really can help with anything

Thank you in advance

https://gofund.me/7417ca2b

https://gofund.me/0974b65e

Hi y'all! Check out Farah's GoFundMe here - she is from Gaza and has dreams to go to university to become a pharmacist! She has lost everything, including the university she planned to study at, which has been bombed by the IOF. She and her family have made it to Egypt, but she is trying to start over and is raising money to be able to begin her education. Her €8,000 goal is to pay for her first year's tuition!

As of the time I post this, she is €7,840 away from her goal - I am an artist and if you DM me proof of a donation of any amount to Farah's campaign, I will do a sfw pencil sketch of one character/subject of your choice (but happy to discuss more for larger donations, read on and send me your receipt, we'll chat!)! I've never done commissions before whether for profit or donations so bear with me, I'm figuring it out as I go!

Let's help Farah get a new start on her dreams and on her way to university!

If you can't donate, you can still help by please please please reblogging! I don't have very many followers, so I don't have a lot of reach.

I linked my art tag previously, but here it is again, and here are a few examples of my pencil work:

if you are interested in donating more for colors/more characters/etc, you can see more of my non sketch work in my tag (i work in various mediums like colored pencils, markers, watercolors, gouache, oil pastels, digital, etc).

vague pricing structure + more information below the cut!

'prices':

Going to set a vague 'pricing' structure (in euros since that's the currency the GoFundMe is in) - these are based on roughly how time consuming each medium is for me, but like I said previously, if you can't donate quite enough for a specific thing, reach out to me. I know a lot of us on tumblr (my recently unemployed self included) don't have a ton of money and the top priority is reaching Farah's goal!

For all of the below, you will receive a digital scan of the original work (if traditional medium) or a high res file from procreate (if digital).

Pencil sketch of one subject, bust up: Any donation amount

Pencil sketch of two or more subjects and/or full body sketch: ~€15, +€5/each additional character past two)

One subject + colored pencils or markers: ~€20

Two subjects + colored pencils or markers: ~€25

Watercolor and/or gouache painting: ~€35 for one character, +€10/additional character

Digital: ~€40+ for one character, +€10/additional character (re: '+', level of detail can vary on these, reach out and we'll chat!)

Oil pastel painting: ~€50 for one character, +€15/additional character

If you are requesting a traditional medium and would like to receive the original work in the mail, let me know ahead of time and we can discuss 'price' for this.

To reiterate: all 'prices' are for donations to Farah's GoFundMe Campaign! I will not be collecting any profit from this.

wills/won'ts + fandoms / etc:

what do I like to draw?

I love drawing people, portraits especially, but I also enjoy drawing animals. characters from fandoms, portraits of family/friends/pets/etc are all a-okay! I'm a multishipper so very few ships are a problem for me - what I will draw is pretty flexible aside from what is listed in the following 'what will I not draw?' section. For the purpose of this fundraiser, all art will be safe for work.

what will I not draw?

While I'm happy to draw real people, be they yourself/friends/family/a celebrity you like/etc, I won't do ship art of real people (art of a couple in your real life is fine, but ship art of celebrities, for example, is something I am not comfortable with). I also will not draw age gap relationships wherein the younger character is a minor. No gore/graphic violence - though canon typical bloodiness (MASH characters in the OR for example), is fine. I will not be drawing nsfw art of any ship for this fundraiser.

The above is what I can think of right now, though I reserve the right to turn down a concept should something come up that I didn't think of right now. Should that be the case, I will work with you to determine a different subject/concept.

fandoms?

Lastly, if you're curious about my fandoms, I've included a non-comprehensive list here, but as long as reference images are available for characters/people/pets I am not familiar with and they do not cross the limits listed above, I am okay with drawing for fandoms I am not familiar with/people in your life.

MASH (TV - current hyperfixation)

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (BBCA)

Star Trek (TOS, TNG, DS9, & Lower Decks)

The X-Files

Good Omens

Our Flag Means Death

Buffy the Vampire Slayer / Angel: The Series

The Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit

Twin Peaks

Dimension 20/Dropout in general

Les Miserables

Merlin (BBC)

Firefly

The Adventure Zone: Balance & Amnesty, not caught up otherwise

Princess Tutu

The Prisoner (1967)

There's definitely more that I'm forgetting, I've been rattling around fandom spaces for 20 years now, but like I said, it's a non-comprehensive list!

If you've read this far, thank you again! Please reblog to help Farah's fundraiser reach more people, and send me your receipt if you donate!

[shelandsorcery]

for a while, my traditional art passions were all very intercompatible: watercolor, gouache, pen & ink, pencil crayons, graphite pencils, they all play really nice with each other not only on the same sheet of paper, but also in very similar workspace setups.

then I did that thing where I got into a few different new media, and it turns out that if you are doing oil pastels in a workspace, or at least if I am, because I'm quite messy, I really don't also want to have any of my water media brushes or substrates nearby in case they get greasy. which is to say nothing of the amount of space needed if I'm going to try and do any sculpting.

which is to say, I used to feel very comfortable making the most of my single work surface, and now, I really feel a lot more restricted! if I want to sculpt, I cannot also do painting on the same day, and the same with oil pastels.

It's not at all the end of the world, but I just really didn't realize this was going to be like this! and it's a bit of an adjustment. I usually like to chip away at things over a few days, and especially if I have a big piece on the go, usually really helps to break it up with a couple of small studies or other work. I'm going to have to get pretty creative to make that happen across these different categories nowadays.

if you're a mixed media artist with a similar set of challenges, I'd really love to know, how do you wrangle stuff?

[blakbonnet]

Artist of the Week!

So last weekend, I announced that I'd like to feature an artist every weekend for both new fandom joinees who might not have seen some of this art and older fans who like the nostalgia. This week's artist is Ash @aha-my-villainous-thoughts 💖 who also, wonderful that they are, agreed to answer a few questions for me!

Which App Do You Use To Draw When I’m at my big set up I use Clip Studio Paint, I love it so much. It’s very straight forward to dip straight in, has all of the bells and whistles you need from an elite drawing program, and the community elements where you can see assets and brushes is a lot of fun - although I still to this day have no idea how to earn coins to buy assets?! I use a XPPen Artist 15.6 Pro Graphics Tablet to draw into the program, although my best tip with graphics tablets is to get a screen protector, mine got covered in marks before I noticed. Recently I also got an iPad 10.9 to use as a digital sketchbook I can carry around, and while I am enjoying Procreate, I think CSP is a better art program overall.

Fave Brushes? On iPad I stick to the technical pen, studio pen and the soft airbrush, along with the textures and the light pen. I don’t think Procreate has great ‘painting’ brushes, whereas on CSP I would marry the Gouache brushes, I love how they blend and texture as you work.

Your favourite piece you’ve drawn? I’m a super self indulgent artist, I try to draw the kind of stuff I like to look at, so it’s a lot of colour, a lot of fabric and details. My fave piece for detail is the one I did for the OFMD RBB last year - Crescente Devotione, there’s a blushing sentient stool in it! For colour I’m in love with this sleepy time Ed in a lil negligee and a Holly Golightly eyemask, he's my lock screen because I'm trash.

Who harder to draw: Ed or Stede? Oh for sure Stede. I love Rhys Darby, but the man has like no lips. I stand by this meltdown.

One essential tip for beginner artists? Comparison is the thief of joy, don’t measure yourself against others - particularly when you’re finding your groove. Be self indulgent af. Also get a screen protector for whatever digital screen you draw on, and BACK. THINGS. UP. Whether in an online account, or on an external harddrive - or both?! BACK THAT SHIT UP.

Why OFMD? I’ve been in a few fandoms in the past, always as a pretty passive enjoyer, little fanart here or there, little fanfic sprinkled around, but there’s just something about the way this fandom feels? It feels like a group of friends who’ve got their own lives and their goals, but they still exist in each other's orbit, it’s like this feeling of returning home to somewhere you’re always welcome. There’s so many good moments in the show for both comedy and some gut wrenching pathos. Sign up for the hot guy in leather and get got by this beautiful delicate little love story. It’s something about queer joy of thriving, not just surviving. Something about finding love and romance no matter your age or what’s past before. Something about found family, and unlikely friendships, and community and silliness. I was already a goner when Taika put on the wig, but then when he teared up in a blanket fort while trying not to die? Excuse me sir, I did not need feelings that powerful. It was literally waking me up at night thinking about his last shot weeping in the nook - like are you kidding me?! I’m supposed to finish watching and be normal after that??

[bazeartstuff]

A Cruel God Reigns Stuff

Hello.. this functions as a repaint of sorts. I read Hagio Moto's A Cruel God Reigns more than 4 years ago and it always stuck with me as some of the most harrowing and depressing manga I had ever read... I recently reread it and discovered even more to appreciate about its torturously evil narrative. So much so that I frantically wrote about arguably the most grueling thing to read about... Ian and Jeremy's relationship.. I find that there is unfortunately not much discourse about this manga online, so if you'd like to hear some random person's opinion, then it's attached under the cut.

About the painting itself.. I'm not really too happy with it (what artist is satisfied with their own painting, really..) but I think Jeremy came out very well, which was all I really wanted tbh. I added in Ian and that as a means to try painting him, but I only intended the painting to be a more literal repaint of the older one. I'm happy to say that I've finally figured out how to paint pale people, lmao. And I'm happy that Jeremy looks so corpse-like. I'm happy with his face.

I also used a Gouache brush set I didn't really understand how to use here and I found myself to be very happy with my experiments with it. I will use it more whenever I paint.

Anyway, if you can believe it, more rambles under the cut (the manga discussion).

TW//discussions of SA

Ian and Jeremy's relationship is definitely weird, and not just because of the incestuous undertones but also because of the dynamics at play by the end; I think it's relevant that Jeremy a) seems to love (in the romantic sense, considering how Ian's lips are described as warm to him, as opposed to the cold lips of most) and be affected by Ian and b) also seems to consider sex as punishment. From the beginning of their sexual relationship, Jeremys only rationale for continuing is the belief that he needs to be punished for being a murderer, and Ian is the only one who can do this. And the punishment is sex. Moreover, Jeremy's perspective of love is obviously influenced by the "love" he experienced by Greg; a love that is violence. Because of this, Jeremy is afraid to love others because of his natural aversion to violence. From Jeremy's perspective, he seems to continue the relationship with Ian initially because of this desire for punishment and his underlying desire for Ian. However, upon the closure he seems to receive from visiting Sandra's grave and the discussion on the nature of love he has with Ian, he becomes more open to the idea of being in love with Ian. However, I can't shake off that by nature of their relationship being occasional rather than consistent, there still remains that element of habitual punishment to Jeremy.

This is Jeremy's perspective on the relationship, which I feel is more complex and what makes the relationship itself so difficult to understand. This is obviously in part because Jeremy himself is difficult to understand as a consequence of everything he went through. However, his beliefs about love being vindictive and that sex is punishment are I believe quintessential.

Going to Ian, I think it's a lot easier of a story. Between the two of them, Ian is absolutely reprehensible. As peaceful as the ending seems to depict the two, it's undeniable that Ian is sinister in the way he abuses Jeremy. I can't say that the ending is happy. However, I dont disbelieve that that might be intended; I think the greatness of this manga comes from its portrayals of broken people as imperfect. Healing is not linear, and it is not sensical. Jeremy has assuredly healed, he has gotten better, but this doesn't erase the deep scar that will remain on his perspective on life and his prospective relationships with others. Once again I digress to Jeremy, who genuinely is a very fascinating character. I was supposed to talk about Ian, so I'll say it; he's controlling and takes after Greg in that regard. As rational and reasonable as Ian is, as seemingly open to criticism as he pretends to be, as understanding as he posits to be, ultimately Ian wants things to go his way and he's very much subject to his own impulses. His way is having control over Jeremy and his impulses are his desires for Jeremy (whether it stems from guilt or responsibility, it ultimately becomes irrelevant once Ian's heart is set on Jeremy). This is most emblematic in the final trip he goes on with Jeremy, where he makes an advance despite promising he wouldn't. As a means to justify himself, he believes Jeremy being aroused was essentially a go ahead for him. All he wants is Jeremy to be his own, and he doesn't truly care what Jeremy says in a moment of passion. In this regard, it's undeniable that Ian is an abuser. The countless times that he betrays and hurts Jeremy are stomach churning to read. But what's worse is, despite all this reprehensibility, Ian is not as plainly evil as Greg. It's not power that motivates him or a desire to control. I believe he genuinely loves Jeremy, but his love does not entail respecting Jeremy's agency.  I also think that Ians initial obligation to Jeremy was the idea that he wanted to fix him, which likely stemmed from his denial that anything had happened at all (if he fixes him, then all can be well, and he won't have to come to terms with the broken Jeremy). The entire time where they're "stranded" and basically having sex like rabbits was likely Ian's attempt to force Jeremy to have a regular perspective on sex and love again. But of course, Ian, being the controlling person he is, does it only to satisfy the belief that he's helping rather than truly trying to help Jeremy (because seriously, how is forcing yourself onto a victim of SA helping them?) I really hate Ian, but it's more because he's unfortunately not wholly evil. I realize that I initially implied that Ian was more simple than Jeremy, but upon further consideration, he's probably even more hard to understand than Jeremy because his seemingly good intentions lead to abhorrently abusive outcomes.

This manga has so much going for it in terms of subject matter and discussions, and the two key characters are evidently extremely complex to the extent that having read the manga two times I still find myself pondering. The postulating on love from the perspective of someone whose only known a perverted version of it is fantastic and harrowing. Ian also acts as the perfect example to Jeremy of how violent love seems, considering how often Ian's thoughts and actions turn to violence around Jeremy (and I consider Ian forcing himself onto Jeremy violence too, of course). There's also a whole can of worms with Ian and Jeremy's relationships with their respective mothers, which seems to just be a consistent throughline with Moto's work.

Also, a small consistent detail I enjoyed was how quickly Jeremy is able to lie and cover up the abuse he faced with benign situations. And how this eventually clashes with Ian, who finds it weird that Jeremy lies and takes responsibility when it's his fault (I recall the one time Ian hit Jeremy and Jeremy quickly explained it as an injury from PE, to which Ian immediately denies and says it was him who did It). However, by the end, I think Ian somewhat participates In that instinctual lying (but maybe I misremember). There's a lot to appreciate about the writing. 

If you read this far, and also have opinions, do share! I really liked hearing my friend's first impression upon reading this pretty out-there manga, so...

[foldingfittedsheets]

rando looking for art advice if that's okay :p

I've always wanted to be able to draw cool things for myself, in the same way some of my friends can(they're REALLY good). and I know in order to do that I just gotta draw a lot, practice makes perfect, I'm gonna suck for a while but drawing more means I'll improve. yeah, yeah, I know all that.

but I'm finding it hard to get it started, to get motivated enough to draw. cuz sometimes I'll be like "I wanna draw", and then I draw and it sucks and I'm like "I don't wanna draw :("

do you have any tips for a beginner? not technical art tips, just like how do I get started or get motivated to start. are there tutorials you can recommend(I'm good at following instructions)? or things I can draw that are easy if you're starting out? or just whatever advice.

thanks :p

So, as far as motivation I think I might just be a lil freak, but I draw because I actively like to draw. Even when I wasn't very good, I felt compelled to put pen to paper just for the act of creation so my first piece of advice (besides practice) is just: Make art because you want to and try to divorce whether it's good or not from your enjoyment in that act.

My second piece of advice is that the first year of art school is three critical tools that are really boring but really helpful. The first one is perspective. If you can nail perspective, just dumb lines leading back in space, it does so much heavy lifting for you.

The second tool is sight measuring. Have you ever seen artists doing that stupid thing with their pencil or paintbrush while closing one eye? It's literally so helpful. If you are drawing say a tree, and you drop an imaginary vertical line from a branch you can figure our if your drawing of that tree is awry. When you get good at sight measuring it becomes second nature to do those checks, even in digital art, but it's easy to forget. When I'm doing my little 20 minute speed paints I'm constantly sight measuring to keep stuff in proportion.

The last piece is that practicing drawing from life will improve your drawing so much faster than anything else. Doodling your favorite pokemon or anime character over and over won't be as helpful as boring ass still lifes. Seeing how light reacts, observing the objects form, and practicing sight measuring will all help you improve as an artist.

As tax, I'm going to share a couple examples of schoolwork. This was my first class in perspective. This is how much I improved in a three month period, my first middle and last assignment.

These are from my form class, no lines allowed we needed to use value to describe the form. We did charcoal and gouache so here's me trying to show my progression in that class.

These are just freshman work, from my very first semester. Honestly I have a whole folder of all my assignments so I can scroll through and actively see myself improving, and I highly recommend that too, because it's wildly motivational to see how far you've come!

[fablepaint]

Hello! I wanted to ask what brands you like to buy traditional art supplies from. I've been buying Winsor & Newton products along with some Faber Castell stuff and I wanna see what you use and recommend.

Thank you and have a great day! :)

I mix and match depending on needs. People will swear by one brand, and an equal amount of people think it's mid at best.

For example: Windsor and Newton never behaves nicely for me. I live in a primarily hot, dry climate and so working wet consistently is a non-starter. If I'm doing plein air, the paints WILL dry out. And I've found M Graham to be the best quality paint I can purchase in a tube that won't crack when dry, and rewets good as new. It owes this quality to its honey binder. I also love me Beam Paints, an indigenous paint company in Canada that, like M Graham, uses honey binder. It's pricey but one set goes a LONNG way.

I tend to seek out brands beyond Windsor and Newton too because WnN is so common, I just want to see what else there is. And I've been rewarded for that search.

Faber and Castell served me well for an initial set of ink liners (similar to micron), but I'm more in favor of Japanese brands nowadays. Their scripting techniques mean a wide array of accessible drawing tools with the kind of flex and bounce far superior quality to felt tip pens in Western media. They last too. I have 10+ yr old Pentel Pocket Brushes that I continue to use.

I've been having fun watching a lot of Youtube videos by artists describing their preferred materials. Do note: for actual shopping suggestions take them from the ones who draw or paint like you want to. I've seen people recommend Himi gouache all over Youtube, but most gouache painters would give you a litany of reasons why it's not a good investment beyond "fun to play with". Thing is, Himi sends gouache sets all over art-Youtube and whenver you get free stuff, you're gonna want to say nice things in return. Keep that in mind.

But it's still the same advice: get what you need based on your needs. Don't get super expensive stuff if you're just trying out, but don't get stuff that's such subpar quality that you want to chuck the media at the wall in frustration (You want to make that wannabe Jackson Pollock on purpose at least). There's plenty of cheaper and mid-tier media that's perfectly find for long term use.

But an all-around solid recommendation is Canson paper. Canson is imo way better than Strathmore and at about the same price point and just as common. It can take a beating. Get a Canson sketchbook. Any of them are good. I love Canson.

[maddie-w-draws]

Hello!! I'm an artist who's trying to start using gouche, but I'm having a tough time with it- It's always very watery and thin, not opaque, when I add a little water? I'm not sure if I'm just doing it wrong etc. but I also realized I'm using a kit that's pretty inexpensive (Marie I think is the name) and I wanted to ask what gouche brand you use, and maybe any tips on how to use gouche XD your work is awesome so keep it up!!

Hi! I think the opacity will vary with what brand you use. With gouache I always heard it was important to have a good quality white because you use it a lot for mixing, so if you don’t want to buy all new paints you could just start out with a nice quality white and see if that helps with the opacity. But if all your paints just aren’t opaque enough for you maybe try a different brand and see if that works better.

Currently I use Holbein acrylic gouache, i haven’t had any problems with the opacity with it, the colors are nice and vibrant but its also more pricey. The acrylic gouache can’t be reactivated with water, Holbein also makes normal gouache, but i haven’t tried it.

As for random tips, just this last painting I tried using a wet palette for mixing paint and it was nice and kept the paint from drying out so quick. Here is a helpful video explaining how to set up a wet palette. Keep in mind this is mostly helpful for acrylic gouache which cannot be reactivated with water, and this may also make it more difficult to control the consistency of the paints so watch out for that.

One thing I also like with gouache is drawing on top of it with colored pencils, it is so satisfying, idk. Other than that, paint lots and have fun! Best of luck on your artistic journey!

[harenodrawsthings]

I thought I'd finish my gouache painting and put it up before leaving town, but I still have a few more finishing details to do first. For now, here's some from the sketchbook. Still trying to get out of my massive artists block and a bunch of other things, but hoping I can get back to drawing lots again.

[norththelemon]

Thought I should do a little Meet The Artist page and drop some helpful links and answer some lil Q's.

My name is Caroline but most people online call me North! My pronouns are she/they. I'm a gemini, a cat person, and I'm emotionally married to Joel Miller. I'm 24, I recently graduated from art school and now I'm kinda just fucking around and finding out. Mostly at the expense of Pedro Pascal.

I DO have a lil store it's Here. I have an Etsy too but not everything is there yet. If you're outside the US and shipping for something is too high for you, please send me a message! I have a couple work-arounds we can use.

I also have Kofi if you just wanna send a lil support. And I'm wayyy more active on instagram.

Sometimes I do commissions! They're called Comfort Portraits and they're usually in my gouache style, but I'm open to trying it with my digital style too. If that's something you're interested in, reach out! Id love to get into making art for your fics.....lmk!

Otherwise... its super good to meet you!! I'm still figuring out the Tumblr thing. But I'm friendly and chronically online and bumpin around on here a lot and looking at gifs of Pedro.

[rottingraisins]

ur colors r so good and so vivid and beautiful all your art really stands out to me, it’s so bright and vibrant and brimming with character. howd u get so good w color?

thank you! and hm good question. I think like anything its ultimately just practice but thinking on it there's a few things that helped 4 me that I don't see mentioned a lot:

the single most important thing that made my art improve almost immediately once I realized it is that you can legitimately do fucking whatever. I think a lot of younger artists that look at like social media art tutorials a lot get it in their heads that there's a single perfect "system" that art functions in, like using a particular brush for lineart, a particular color and overlay filter to shade and highlight, a particular way to draw noses or hair or hands and while I think this certainly works for some people and even kinda happens automatically as you get better at art bc you create shortcuts for yourself you shouldn't really try to force it! I think the mark of a good artist is being able to vary these things, sometimes even within the same piece, and this goes doubly for color bc when you know how to use it well it can shift the mood of a painting a lot! Unless you're going for realism you can always say fuck it; red skin, purple shadows, green highlights. Whatever gets across the feeling you're going for y'know!

learning some basic color theory is obviously super important. I'm not gonna break it down here bc there's like hundreds of youtube videos on it but smth I recommend looking into is the distinction between local and non-local color! It'll help you start looking at art with more of an analytical eye so you can figure out what exactly artists you like are doing so you can try to imitate it in your own work. I personally learned a lot of what I know abt color from post-impressionist painters like Les Nabis, Toulouse-Lautrec, etc but you could just as well look at more contemporary art or even other people on social media

smth that helped me a lot is learning how to mix my own paint! I really think you only really need a handful of base colors (red, blue, yellow, green, pink, sienna, black and white) and should mix everything else from there. Those huge gouache or watercolor paint sets look very pretty but ultimately are mostly just a lot more expensive than they need to be, and mixing the paint yourself helps you figure out a lot about what base colors actually make up a certain hue. This knowledge even carries over into digital art bc the color wheel you have in most art programs is based off of traditional paint mixing so by familiarizing yourself with that you're simultaneously getting better at colorpicking! I used to be a digital-only artist and I saw a huge improvement in my digital art once I started working traditionally

I hope these helped somewhat! I should reiterate I'm not really classically trained in art at all and these are just what helped me figure stuff out! I've found a lot of it is just trying at it until you find something that works for you but maybe this'll speed it along :]

[equ1noxwashere]

“Art is the expression of the experience of being alive” -me

welcome!!!

my special interest is art and i will try my hand at any form of art i can!! come along for the journey!!

i am genderfluid and use any pronouns!!

i use a lot of eye imagery in most of my art, and my favorite medium is gouache and acrylic paint markers!

right now i am trying to do one thing of art every day!

you may find religious themes in my art because i grew up christian and am now pagan! most of my practice revolves around the greek gods.

with this account i hope to find more artist friends and grow my reach and bridge the gap between the art world and the rest of the world!

i also have an etsy shop!! please check it out if you can!

[lll0k1onearth]

Welcome into my Workshop!💫

Hi everyone, you can call me Loki and i am a young self-taught illustrator who is trying to enroll in the Fine Arts Academy next year!

I graduated from Audiovisival&Multimedial High School, with specialization in illustration.

At the moment i am working on my portfolio, which must be half traditional and half digital, and i want to share my journey here on Tumblr (since it’s the only social network left who’s artists-friendly), to boost my motivation and self-estimee.

My dream is to become a concept artist or either a concept designer in the animation industry, but right now my artstyle is more ink-centreted due to the Course i want to attend next year requires a lot of work with inking, but specially om digital pieces i tend to experiment more with colors.

I am also a fanartist and a fantasy illustrator, i’m currently working on a fantasy universe of my own to have more opportunities to work on different types of concepts (and to do fanarts lol)

So this is my menu post, i’ll update it when i post, here all my portfolio pieces can be found

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📲Digital Illustrations📲

Emissary at the Forge - November 2024

Il Giardino - January 2024

Snakes - January 2024

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✏️Traditional Illustrations✏️

Labirinto della mente - October 2024

Saggezza - October 2024

Costellazione - October 2024

Dualità - November 2024

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⚜️Others⚜️

“Look what you have done to yourself” - November 2024

Gouache Study 1, Mastermind - December 2024

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🌎Au and ocs things🌎

Manaēdhrǒr (concept 1)

Lakāntār (concept 1)

Felādhrǒr (concept 1)

[nightfallsystem-moved]

how do uoy color and render ur art so good ....

i use these brushes:

blending brushes: block blender (2067622) and painterly blender (default blender)

painting brushes: 미끌이팬 (2067508) and thin gouache brush (default brush)

i use clip studio paint ^_^

i watch a few saito naoki tutorial videos ^_^ (link to his channel) and i like to look at real things for inspiration, for example, i often observe shadows in real life and look at animals and things to see how lighting interacts with things, i am luckily able to see things and replicate them pretty okay.

i get a lot of inspiration from artists i like (so if u want, ur always free to study my art :3 ) and i like to note the things i like from them and try to get those into my art

like most people, i like to saturate my shadows more. also more recently, i like to add more red around the eyes and nose ^_^

if its any help, here is where i post my speedpaints, if you can get anything from them!

also i like to add dust and particles around my paintings to add some more stuff to see, and also blur in some parts.

aaand i think i might make a new hair rendering tutorial soon!

sorry if this was rhetorical i like talking about my art dghshxvsdf

edit OH ALSO i have ungodly amounts of time on my hands to draw more and hence improve more