#i'm not really good with fire alpaca yet

[firecooking]

(bruhstation) hey neil! thank you very much for supporting fortezza bigg city so far :] I really appreciate the thought you've put into analyzing bits of my silly little AU, and I've also gained a huge appreciation for your own works as well. it's so clear you've put a lot of thought and research into your AU and it really blew my mind because everything is so meticulously thought out!!! and I'm looking forward to more!!! here's a quick sketch of your gal zaffre! once again thanks :3 (also you're inspiring me to make my own z-stacks oc! haha)

OHHH MY GOD LOOK AT HER MY BABY GIRL MY SWEET CHEESE SHE LOOKS AMAZING AHHH YOUR ART IS SO GOOD I LOVE YOUR FORM AND VOLUME AND HOW YOU DO YOUR LINE WEIGHT WITH THE OPACITY AND LINE DYNAMICS your handle on anatomy and rendering is really interesting to me, reading you work in Fire Alpaca with a mouse is mind boggling to me, i remember when I was doing the same years and years ago and the skill you show is really fascinating and i am jealous, the way your art is put together is scratching my brain. i have been doing art studies of it and trying to dissect it, it'd have such a interesting feel for animation, you have a wonderful style for breaking down into a limited animation style with a emphasis on dynamics with animation in a 8s, 6s, and 4s with 2s detailing and a hard tweening style [<- just professional animator things lol] The way you render shadow and lighting is also ough. This Zaffre is genuinely so wonderful, new desk top background moments. I love her gesture and expression here, it really captures her as a character! Also the way you draw hands, augh, just augh I wish.

You, my friend, are a fabulous illustrator!

And oh my god your AU is scratching my brain in ways I didn't think possible! I know so little yet there is so much there. When I genuinely say that it is affecting me as much as if not more that @askthefamous8 that is the highest compliment I can muster [that AU has been one of my special interests since 2015,]. I am legit making a post it note wall over FBC just like ATF8 had when I was in middle/high school

You have the most loyal human AU fan on your team now, I genuinely smile thinking about Fortezza Bigg City all day long, my friends and partner are getting annoyed to death from me ranting. sorry dear if you are reading this: I know you hate tugs

Also thank you! I really love doing in depth research, its the autism at work. I am a proud vehicle autistic. I've said it before but working on a ship for a summer just to know the mechanics of how actual sailing works is probably the most unhinged thing I can say I've done for accuracy sake. Loved my Captain and fellow crew, very sad I got sick and had to leave. Honestly would love to be a sailor if my heath wasn't bungled up and I wasn't like $200k of debt in animation college.

My humanoid vehicle AU's are partially based on my sadly never going to be picked up pitch bible for a science fiction based historical vehicle show [my fatal flaw is niche interests] And it literally makes my day to sit down and work on the most expansive and historically researched BS on earth, my AU is both a lovely love letter to TUGS as the show it is and a Love Letter to what TUGS wanted to be! At the end of the day TUGS wanted to be it's days Steven Universe or MASH [something I am gonna elaborate in another format later] but unfortunately it just didn't have the right ingredients. Its the Same as the TUGS musical I'm working on, it's a love letter to what TUGS both is and was supposed to be along with being a love letter to the characters themselves

Also:

Join the Z-Stacks OC League, we have cool hats and crime

[thejayness]

What mobile apps can help you make graphic art in a short amount of time? ( I'm still trying to get better at my fox art.) 🦊

Hi!!

To be honest, what app you use doesn’t really impact art improvement or skill, it all comes with practice and also in general studying what you are trying to draw, with either references or tutorials.

But that isn’t really fulfilling the question, so I will just do down the list of recommendations I have for making digital art!!

Sketchbook is a great app to start off on, it’s free and gives you a good set of tools and brushes to use for your art.

From there, if you feel digital art is working for your art process I recommend going to procreate, it unfortunately isn’t free, and costed me about 3€ (of course this price isn’t accurate to all currencies), the price may have also gone up over time, I bought it a while ago when procreate wasn’t as huge yet, so apologies if I’m misinforming about the price. It gives you a huge variable of brushes and new possibilities for your art, it also includes resources for animating, which work well in my experience.

If procreate is working out just fine and you feel like you want to also try some new programs or apps, you can branch out to some apps like Clip Studio Paint, Ibis Paint or even Fire alpaca (and ofc many more). And then in the future if you want to take digital art really seriously, you could get new devices to draw on, like a fancy art tablet.

Ultimately I feel that good art can be made on ANY platform or devise, finding what works out for you is your journey and your choice to make, however what I recommend the most is that you go for the cheaper options before the expensive ones.

Anyways, hope this helps!! Have a good day/evening!!

[addisonacres]

That's a wrap.

2023 is on its death bed and I'm both happy and sad about that. Personally, this year has sucked on so many levels and for so many of my loved ones. But four months ago I published my first title under Addison Acres and so my foray into the world of M/M publishing began.

It has not been easy. It was a hell of a learning curve, and I still feel out of my depth some days. It's hard bloody work. I work full-time and I also study part-time so it's not like I can sit and write all day (as much as I wish I could). I needed to take the leap though because if I kept on saying 'I just don't have the time' then it was never going to happen.

I've published 2 shorts and a novella on Smashwords and I think I've done okay with them. To date I've sold 768 copies. Yes, some of them have been freebies (Draft2Digital counts those in total books sold) but hey, I'm pretty happy with those numbers. Have I made millions of dollars? Pfft, no. Have I made thousands? Yeah, nah. But I've made a about $700USD so far.

Yeah, I don't have a problem talking about stuff like this. I know a lot of people are very hush hush about money but one thing I've discovered coming into this gig is that there's very little data to measure against. Who knows if this means I've been successful? I fucking don't! But maybe another indie author will see this and go 'Hey, that's similar to what I managed' or 'I made more than that so I'm doing really well!'. So yeah, I'm happy to throw out my figures if it'll help someone else. I'm not raking in the cash, and I haven't had my first title become a crazy best-seller and I'm suddenly playing with the big kids. I'm still very much a baby in this industry, finding my way.

Ultimately, yes I got into this publishing gig to make a few extra bucks. The cost of living has sky-rocketed and my job does not pay well. I adore it though so I needed to do something to supplement what I make. This isn't going to pay off my mortgage but it's paid for a new water pump for our rainwater tank and a delivery of hay for the alpacas. I've also re-invested some of my royalties into my writing. I've purchased the Atticus software and I got a bundle of photos from Depositphotos to use for book covers.

There's still a lot I need to do. I have yet to set up a newsletter, which is much to my detriment. I feel like I need to have a NL magnet first (which is the term used for a free story readers get when they sign up for your newsletter). I feel like no one will sign up for nothing so I've not set one up yet, but I have no idea what to write for the magnet...

I've been doing a lot of promo work on FB with joining release parties and giveaways but it's hard work. The marketing side of things takes up a lot of time, which yeah, I don't have a lot of. I did set up an Instagram account but I've hardly used it as it's very, very full on and I haven't really had the spoons. I know I need to invest more time in that, and I will try in the New Year but we'll see how full the cutlery drawer is first.

I also made the choice to do Tumblr instead of Tik Tok. Probably a very stupid choice since BookTok is huge and people get a lot of exposure on there. Why didn't I? Well, firstly, I'm really not very good at making videos and editing them. It's so very time consuming. Secondly, I like Tumblr. Is it a dumpster fire? Yes. Am I a bin chicken masquerading as a human? You betcha. So, yeah, I feel comfortable here. But I know I need to invest in more time here also.

Anyway, next year is a new year. I am currently working on a project that I've told no one about because I feel if I do, I will jinx myself and my motivation will fuck off to the moon. So, there is something in the works for publishing maybe in February. I'll be looking for beta readers once I've gotten it finished so if you're interested, hit me up.

I've also created a new logo because I haven't really done that and I figured I really should. I've made 4 variations to use for different situations and I really like it. It's pretty.

Anyway, I've rambled enough. Just wanted to do a little wrap up for the year and to prove that I'm not dead lol

Enjoy the final days of 2023 and I shall catch you all on the flip side.

[queerfables]

911 season 5 part 1 liveblog

5x01

Okay, dramatic opening image!!

Love it

What's this walking dead shit

Omg emus??

Oh jeeze what else is loose here

A fucking GIRAFFE ok I'm obsessed

This is a GREAT fucking opening

LMFAO I appear to have accidentally downloaded the Spanish dub

Ok an hour later that mix up is not as funny as it was but we are back baby

Take two

Btw I don't think I've mentioned it yet but I love the show's score

Little baaaaaaaby

What the hell is wrong with the human brain that at the moments when you need it to be functioning the most, like when you have a new kid for example, there's a solid chance it just breaks

It's Mad About Depression hours I guess

The fact that Eddie is so stubbornly insisting that meeting his girlfriend's family isn't a big deal

Idk I guess Eddie's love interests so far just haven't grabbed me. His type is bland willowy ladies and I would like to see some sparks.

911 is being flooded with calls?

Oh shit this is bad

This really does not seem like a glitch to me

Haha oh it's kind of fun to see Taylor and Buck getting a little spicy. I've been thinking about how this show doesn't really do much sexiness and it's not like it needs it but I also sometimes think it doesn't have to be quite as sanitised as it is.

(I may or may not have been thinking this in the context of, it would be fun to see some hot and heavy Buck/Eddie makeouts. They're both very attractive people, sue me)

(But Taylor is also very attractive and I'm down with Buck/Taylor make-outs)

Ok the fact that she was seducing Buck to get access to his phone just makes it hotter. Hi Taylor just a heads up if things with Buck don't work out I am available.

(Also will someone write me Buck/Eddie/Taylor because for real I would be into that)

Yeah ransomware makes way more sense

What the fuck how does the rapist have a giggly female fanclub?? That does not seem plausible to me.

T____T Christopher is so cute trying on suits

Oh no Eddie did not like Ana being referred to as Christopher's mum

That looks like a panic attack to me

"I don't panic" shut up and take the damn pamphlet Eddie. I hate to break it to you but you are still a human being.

Oh Athena, honey

Harry taking care of his mum is so soft

I'm sorry but as a former legal transcriptionist, self-reps are never this calm and collected. they are constantly being pulled up by the judge on things they're not allowed to say and getting off track (it's a little bit funny). It's pretty implausible, under the circumstances, that he would be allowed to represent himself in the first place - and that is for his own protection.

Oh the idiot defendant decided to make a break for it in the chaos while maintaining his innocence? That sounds more like the self reps I'm familiar with

Crying with laughter over how a digital attack is somehow making an analogue clock go haywire

Oh Buck gets bitchy when Eddie hides things from him

On top of everything else, now there's a blackout?

This is officially beyond my ability to suspend disbelief.

Still, I am having a good time. I love when shows go big and get stupid with it.

No!! Not Athena's detective friend!!

5x02

Jesus Christ Bobby that was very heroic but you know that if you die Athena will KILL you right?

Oh fuck Athena's friend didn't die I'm so relieved

I really thought he was gone

Fire Marshall Buck, my delight!

Man Eddie is never gonna beat the gay allegations if he keeps having panic attacks every time someone thinks things are more serious with Ana than they are

(I'm being a little flippant of course I know there are other reasons for that to feel Fraught)

(I just can't help but think about how much of his relationship with Shannon felt like someone checking the boxes he's supposed to check. To me, at least.)

Ok but when do the animals come back

Oh my god Eddie is so FOND listening to Buck talk about the animals at the zoo and why they should be panicking

Buck on "animal control" is hilarious

LOL at Hen and Bobby being menaced by alpacas

"Clever girl" HEE

T_T oh I know this is deliberate weepy feelgood bait but the neighbourhood coming together to help the little boy on the ventilator still gets me

Aw Buck is so worried about Eddie's hypothetical heart attack

"Suddenly it became a ready-made family and I don't know if I'm ready for that"

LOL Eddie is going to "stick it out" with Ana because she is, and I quote, "the first woman I've wanted to spend this much time with since Shannon." My guy you spent most of your marriage to Shannon in Afghanistan.

Eddie taking a nap to avoid a big life conversation feels very relatable lol

I'm glad Chimney is talking to Hen about Maddie having post-partum. He needs support too.

Oh jeeze that's so scary, falling asleep with the baby in the bath. I fell asleep holding the baby once, just for a split second while sitting up in bed, and dropped him onto the floor. I don't think I have ever felt worse. But he was fine and Maddie's baby is also fine.

D: the attacker is at Athena's house. Oh that feels horrible. Even just knowing he'd been there. I would have to move.

Harry oh no!!!

This horrible worm of a person with Harry in his car boot. I will fight him.

Jesus Christ ANOTHER cliffhanger? But I really have to sleep this is terrible

Stay tuned I guess T_T

[norbezjones]

I did the art meme! It was actually quite interesting, digging up pieces from my past for this retrospective, and it made me reflect quite a bit. So here's a full reflection of my art journey as depicted in this timeline:

2015: I was dedicating myself more to my art, and made a comic with a friend for a contest that year. I had always been passionate about comics, and had made comics in the past, but with this one, I really stretched my creative muscles. I was trying to learn more techniques with inking & lining. I did traditional art, as I had tried digital art, and considered myself very bad at it. I had been drawing consistently from a young age, and loved the craft.

2016: more traditional art, more comics. Still very passionate about art. The art depicted was for a little exercise I made that became the story idea "Complex Chords" (which is ironic, because I said in the caption of the original piece that, "I won’t be continuing this story." TOTAL LIE LMAO).

2017: the art depicted is the cover art I made for the public release of my game The Mouse, which is an interactive project about a college student named Evelyn Grey who is being abused by their roommate. I drew a lot of Evelyn Grey and her friend, Miss Dexter, that year.

2018: I can't remember much about this year, to be honest. The art depicted is the yearly self-portrait I did from 2015 to 2018ish if I recall correctly.

2019: I tried doing more digital art, using the Fire Alpaca creation tool. I didn't consider myself very good at it, and that discouraged me. The art depicted is a crossover piece between Good Omens and a friend's game, which I gave to that friend as fanart. The most important thing to know is this: I basically gave up on art completely this year or 2020, because I became convinced I wasn't good enough at it, as I had been told by people in my life I wasn't good enough at drawing. So I basically stopped, aside from doodles for myself in my notebook.

2020: I barely drew this year, aside from the coronavirus zine for charity, which the art depicted is from.

2021: I searched far and wide, but I couldn't find any saved pieces from this year. I assume this is because I still wasn't drawing at that time, so there wasn't much to save.

2022: This is where things take a shift. Due to my pseudo-dementia (which was not yet diagnosed), I needed an outlet to express my feelings, and began drawing again. I was very scared to return to drawing, because I was convinced I was so bad at it, but to my pleasant surprise, doing so was a rediscovery of a lost love. I had forgotten how passionate I was about drawing, and I eagerly continued where I had left off, drawing A TON that year. I especially loved returning to inking & lining with pen. The art above is from an animatic I made of my friend's actual play show, Heart Town Hunters. Go watch it, it's really good!

2023: I decided to try digital art again with the program Ibis Paint X, because I was in pseudo-dementia recovery, and only had a phone in my possession. Ibis Paint X is a mobile & PC application, and it's pretty versatile as well. I soon found a great meeting point between my traditional art, and my desire to thrive in the digital art space: I could line the art traditionally, and color it digitally. This meant I used my copic markers less, but it really helped develop my skills in an aspect of art I hadn't yet practiced much. I also participated in ArtFight for the first time ever that year! The art depicted is from my NSFW alt, of my 4 horsemen characters and their handler.

2024: this year, I've only developed my digital art skills more, though I'm no good at shading--that still alludes me (if you have any advice/tips for that, please share them!). I drew all of the art for my upcoming game Romance The Backrooms, and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I'm making a lot of progress, and I'm happy. Here's to more art in the future!

[mikaharuka]

(More!) Slash Ships To Get To Know Me!

Bleep (@bleepbloopbotz) got me yet again... so here I am, yet again! You can find the post I made for the first round over here!

I listed MM-Bellisle [Carlisle/Beau] and Edward/Mike (Twilight, Life and Death - the two slash ships I'm writing right now), Steter and Sterek (Teen Wolf), Ferdibert (FE3H), Hannigram (NBC Hannibal), Bingyuan (Scum Villain), and Narumitsu and Klapollo (Ace Attorney).

**Rules**: Name at least five (no upper limit) slash (M/M) ships you love. Each from a different fandom.

I picked different fandoms, and included pictures where I could (source is canon except for the last ship), along with a little blurb.

I'm tagging @udaberriwrites and @alpaca-clouds, because I know they have many other ships to list. Also, @tsunderewatermelon and @danceswithdarkspawn because I'm curious to hear from those two femslash-centric writers (no pressure, of course, and yes, you can do less than five). I'll leave it at an open tag for anyone else interested!

.

1 - Chrom/M!Robin (MM-Chrobin, Fire Emblem Awakening) I have to leave a blurb - it's atrocious how the MF-Chrobin ship got a romantic route with shallow, terrible dialog while MM-Chrobin was denied the romantic route but literally had the romantic dialog >.>

2 - Victor/Yuuri (Victuuri, Yuri on Ice) This one's a classic, really. It's probably the most mainstream/popular OTP I hold right now, I think? I still remember when this happened~

3 - Mycroft/Lestrade (Mystrade, Sherlock) While these two didn't interact on-screen, they obviously interacted because of Sherlock. I headcanon them commiserating over Sherlock at first, then figuring out later on that they actually like each other. I do like Johnlock as well, but Mystrade is definitely my OTP here~

[...also, I have no pictures here, sorry ^_^]

4 - Koujaku/Aoba (DRAMAtical Murder) This is definitely one of my lesser known pairs. And... I like both the good ending (left) and the bad ending (right) versions of them. The good-ending is really cute and wholesome and the bad-ending is tragic and violent in this grotesque, yet beautiful and poetic way~

5 - Akashi/Furihata (Akafuri, Kuroko no Basuke) This pair 100% hit me out of the blue. I remember this AO3 author I liked who wrote for another ship (don't remember which one >.>), and I decided to check their other works out... and ended up here. I was so confused by them at first, but I went with it and ended up loving it!

Source Links - Left (Amino), Right (Clearismymaster on Quotev)

[thethaumaturgeworld]

Here’s a speedpaint of my character, Israel Annesley! I was gonna do one for Jude as well but that didn’t exactly work out. Hope you enjoy this!

The song is called ‘Victory’ from Two Steps From Hell.

[prisonhannibal]

hello! how are you feeling tonight? what program do you use for digital art? i just got a tablet! I'll have Photoshop art least through the semester (i have a photo editing class), but wanna know what other programs are good for drawing/painting/illustration. so I'm really curious to know how you do things and if u have any tips, comments, advice etc

hi!!! i’m feeling good, just woke up so i’m a bit tired but good. nice that you got a tablet I’m excited for you, I remember how fun it was when I first started out with digital art like the way you can use colors in digital art compared to drawing on paper?? and being able to use layers!!!! mind blowing tbh and there’s so much to learn so I feel like the learning curve is really fast with digital art usually. my number one advice for digital art is to remember that it’s a very different medium to traditional art so you’re gonna have to take time to get used to it and develop new and very different techniques, so please don’t get frustrated and give up, you definitely get used to it. starting with digital art was a lot of fun, but there was a phase before I got to the fun part where I was super frustrated and felt like I sucked at everything because I hadn’t figured it out yet, you just gotta keep pushing through until it clicks! like even if you can’t do big projects yet just do some sketches every few days so you get used to the movement and how it feels to draw digitally.

I use painttool SAI and it’s definitely the best one for me (i’ve used gimp, fire alpaca, photoshop and illustrator + procreate on my ipad), I like everything about it and especially the brush settings. I use photoshop for editing and text on drawings etc but the blending on the brushes is really different in a way I don’t like and I think it runs a bit slower which is super annoying lol. I definitely recommend trying SAI if you haven’t, it costs money but it’s pretty cheap and it’s a one time payment.

i’ve made two posts on how I draw, here is one about color planning sketches and a general one about my process when I’m drawing

[conmimi]

I'm sorry this is a really dumb question but are pen stabilizer and pen pressure the same or not? I know photoshop has a pen pressure thing if you manually enable it. I've used fire alpaca and PS since I don't have a PC right now and I think Sai is only for PC, but I'd like to get into a more painterly style eventually, though for now cell-shading is fine so from what you've said Clip Studio Paint seems pretty good for that. When you say blobbier lines do you mean it's more rounded?

There’s no such thing as a dumb question when you’re seeking knowledge.

So, in Paint Tool Sai, there’s a setting call “stabilizer” in the top toolbar. (The equivalent in Sketchbook is “predictive stroke” and I think in Manga Studio 4, it kinda does it automatically, so whenever I refer to Sai, by extension I’m referring to Clip Studio too.)

So let’s draw some linesssss:

See how the lines without the stabilizer seem kind of wobbly? The stabilizer is a great help for those who are starting out with a tablet or when making slower strokes.

Starting from the same sketch, I took the same amount of time to do lineart in both Photoshop and Sai, with my stabilizer set at 15 and brush size at 4:

Now, eventually I could get Photoshop’s lineart to look as neat as Sai’s, but that would take a longgg time. With my doodles from the last post, I think the ones in Photoshop and Sketchbook took me around twice as long as the ones in Sai and Clip Studio. I am aware of a plugin, Lazy Nezumi, that’s a stabilizer for Photoshop, but I have not tried it yet.

When I say blobbier lines, I’m referring to this:

The lines in Photoshop tend not to taper even when applying the same light pressure on the tablet as in Sai. (Now, this could be due to my tablet settings so results may differ for you.) 

I take the basic pen brush and make the opacity and size reliant on pen pressure when I paint. Here are my somewhat equivalent brush settings in Photoshop and Sai:

And here’s a quick color of the sketches, taking around the same amount of time in each program:

The Photoshop sketch ends up with rougher edges and will require more time to render out and clean up than the Sai sketch. Once again, it can be done, but the time saved with a stabilizer is noticeable when painting can take hours.

I hope that clears things up and good luck on your artistic endeavors!╰(*´︶`*)╯

[cinalilli]

hey i'm trying to Get Involved With Digital Art but bc i'm just starting out idk if investing in like $40+ programs etc to do stuff with. is there anything you would recommend for someone who is a Verified Beginner? tysm

(sorry i got to this so late! i just got back to my pc)

ok ok ok so there are a few options!

you can either get an already free program, such as gimp or mischief or firealpaca or kryta (i’ve heard about the last two but i haven’t actually tried them out much. i can swear by gimp though--i used it for years and it’s really really good!) 

OR you can find a free download of a program (or wait for Manga Studio/Clip Studio Paint to go on sale; sometimes it can get down to as low as 10$ if you’re watching the sales).

I’d also recommend a tablet, and I’d really just ask around and find one that’s cost-effective at first and then once you get a feel for digital art, find one that suits your needs more. I’ve got an 8″ x 5″ Turcom, and that was 40$. Other Huion tablets are pretty cheap too.

lastly, i’d definately suggest going on tumblr or deviantart and digging up all the tutorials you can in relation to working your program and figuring out how it works! one of the reasons why i like gimp is because it’s a relatively intuitive program, if a little ugly looking. it does the job, and teaches you more-or-less how digital programs work, so you know what to look for in other ones before you make a real investment.

Some resources:

Free Programs:

Gimp - Honestly identical to Photoshop (my current program, not sure where to find it for free just yet. there’s often a link that gets passed around if you’re paying attention but the one I had was out of date)

Mischief - an infinite canvas that I played around with for a bit. Fun for sketching! you can also upgrade to a full version for 25$

Fire Alpaca - I’ve never used this myself, but I know it’s a very popular program for everything you really need.

Krita - I also don’t use this, but I have another friend who uses it. the full version is like 10$ tho so go nuts i guess

Less Free Programs:

Sai (free, but maybe unsafe; i haven’t tested it) - you really want to make sure it’s in english but I’m pretty sure it is? there’s a lot of download links and although it’s by far one of the most commonly used programs it’s shady af so i haven’t used it either

Manga Studio/Clip Studio Paint - right now it’s 50$ but there’s also always sales

Tablets:

Turcom Huion 8″ x 5″ Tablet - i’d also check amazon

Tutorials:

@soyouthinkyoucantdraw​ is a blog i run with a bunch of tutorials on it. shameless self-promo, i know lol

@thundercluck-blog​ has a really good Tutorial Tuesday thing going on, and while it’s not strictly digital art, it’s always good knowledge!

most every art tut collection blog will have something, raid them! make your own, or tag them all really well you’ll want em

hope this helps!

[consulting-cannibal]

okay so i'm sorry for asking what it basically a pretty selfish question but: i am looking into digital art software/hardware, and i was wondering if you ever feel restrained by the capabilities of photoshop, or if you think it is a really good software to use, and if you wish you were using a different tablet/software instead (if so what would that be)? basically, what is your professional opinion?

i LOVE photoshop. i’ve utilized it for multiple purposes, and it’s one of the programs that hasn’t let me down. i went up a ladder before getting to it, using free programs like, uh..i think it was called “Brush” that i found, then GIMP, fire alpaca, paint tool SAI, etc–but so far PS has beaten them all for me.

THAT BEING SAID, i do use windows as my OS, and windows supports a third-party plugin that i heavily use. that’s Lazy Nezumi Pro, and it’s what rendered SAI inferior for me. photoshop all day, every day. i do know a lot of people mix PS with Illustrator though, which i’ve not had the chance to do yet.

in regards to hardware, i really wish i was using a cintiq or some other graphics tablet with a screen display. after doing a lot of traditional recently, i really do like my organic, full-arm brush movements. it’d handle my humongous high res pieces a lot better, too. but it’s definitely not something i would say is necessary for someone starting out.

Anonymous said:

Thanks so much for the advice!! I’m going to try that as soon as I get a chance!!

you are super welcome! i try to help where i can!! ♥♥♥

Anonymous said:

could we meet up at chicon

only if you wear that gray face and sunglasses i love you in so much  

(i’ll be vending, so i’ll be table-bound all weekend! feel free to stop by and say hey, maybe chat a little!)

[paintingdragonfeathers]

What apps do you use to create your art? I'm a redbubble artist too and i struggle to barely even make enough to buy a meal from mcdonalds. It's frustrating, and I want to get better at it. Do you have any tips and tricks?

Hey there fellow art maker!

For digital apps, I mainly use Corel Painter 11 and a Wacom Tablet on a desktop. It’s been my go-to work horse for close to a decade now. I honestly learned to do what I do with it via years of just poking buttons, practice, and looking up tips/tricks online. I’m starting to shift to using Fire Alpaca on my Surface Pro as well--it’s a free program, and it has about the same functionality as Corel Painter 11, which was cutting edge back when it was first released. So far I’ve been really impressed with Fire Alpaca.

As for Redbubble, I’ve honestly haven’t made that much off it myself. All I can really advise is to keep putting yourself out there--promote your art on various social media or in person at cons/shows--and it may take time for eyes to land on your work. Despite this being the age of instant virality via the internet and memes, don’t be discouraged if you don’t get instant results; it often takes a slow yet steady pace to gain some traction. It’s taken me a few years to even get to this point, and I’m a small fish compared to alot of artist friends.

Good Luck with your art! :D