#i'm still so used to the art style I was using for my pokemon comics

[ann-chovi]

TWO. TWO CHARACTER REFS FOR MY ROOK ORIGIN COMIC DONE. AH AH AH.

[elbdot]

I'm so sorry for spam liking all your things but I just came across your Webtoon and I am absolutely IN LOVE!!!! You're art style is amazing and I binge read it twice already.

I think I love it so much because your story is very similar to mine. X was the very first Pokemon game I ever played all the way through. I had Ruby as a kid, but could never make it past Mauville and didn't really understand what to do (my parents didn't let us play video games). So Kalos has a special place in my heart. But the game I played after X was Alpha Sapphire, so I was back in Hoenn and had a much better understanding of what to do. I've logged sooo many hours into Alpha Sapphire it's not even funny. But Sun was the game I played after that. Your comic really fits in with the storyline and the world and the characters are so realistic. I just had to say thank you for creating such and amazing story.

AJFDKJGDFJKGFD THANK YOU!!! I see we are both fellow Alpha Sapphire appreciaters 😌 I don't think I played any other game as much, I think by the time the online service went down I had over 700 hours on that game 😂 While Pokemon Sun & Moon still is my fav when it comes to region, story and characters, I wish it had just as many post-game features as Alpha Sapphire PLUS the mini games we'd later get in ULTRA Sun and Moon. THEN it would have been a PERFECT pokemon game in my eyes 🥰

[inkprovised]

I thought it would be a good moment for me to post this.^^

Every time I struggle with my art and hate everything... I go back.

Something I recommend doing if you're about to burn everything!

I took some time to search for some OLD art of mine... there is nothing left that shows the absolute beginning. But I can explain a little how it went: (aka recreate some stuff)

You think your art sucks??

This is how my first art looked like. imagnie everything even more off XDD

God knows what was wrong with my kindergarten- brain, but I shit you not. I needed a very long time to get rid of the T-pose! 🫠 wth

no neck, no eyebrows... ya know- the good stuff!

I remember I've drawn all the Sailor Warriors on the street with chalk multiple times, and I remember there must be a photograph of them. Should I ever find it... Maybe I'll post it 🤣🤣🤣

The (probably) oldest drawing I could find.... behold:

Jeeezuz fuck.

'What on earth is anatomy??' Remember everyone starts from zero.🤣

The Pokemon phenomenon. It was my life when I was younger, and I am shocked I did not draw very much of it. 😶 (but I had the plan of redrawing all 151 Pkmn!!! I did about 10 in the end) lol

Who does not have a special book to learn how to draw.🥲

I think this was my first one... well. Burn it! Not sure it helped much on this end to be honest ^^;

I had a lot other books after that XD

Sometimes you just need a guide.

Seeing my old art reminds me how far I've come and it's the proof I'm getting better!

Look at the anatomy! The folding of cloth! Perfection! lol Do I see Detective Conan, Lord of the Rings, Legend of Zelda and Dragonball influence?? XDD

Seeing all of this, I am so happy I never quit.

Redrawing. Observation skills were non-existent

Draw what you see!!! You'll learn shit if you don`t 'recreate'. What do you think where your brain gets all the information it needs?

Both Zoro pictures are from the same year. Don't know about you but sometimes my skills jump like crazy!! There are 10-15yo pics that look better than all what I can do today. Thats weird!

Gawd I hate it now lol But I loved it the time I made this.

I grew up loving to draw. I did not do it to show it to someone in the first place. Since I had no speacial goal I got better very slowly, but that's fine. I never pushed my skills actively forward- so there's nothing to complain about.

"Layer? What's a Layer?!" vs "Oh. Layer."^^ WTF

The digital journey began with ms paint (left) I scanned the lines and used a mouse.

Paint net (right) still no graphic tablet but the program had line- and curve thingys I could draw with and of course.... Layer XD

I don't know exactly- but between this pictures might be 2 or 3 years. This is from my non shipping time. These days this is totally shipping content and you are not allowed to think otherwise XD Platonic love (bromance) seems not to be a thing online anymore. And I miss it.

I lived for the aesthetics!!! Still do XD

Realistic stuff helped me. Everytime I tryed to draw irl people in manga/comic style - you had NO chance to recognise them XDD That got better haha

Redrawings. A great way to see how much better you 've become.^^

A little tip:

Write the date onto your artpiece. (onto the backside if you draw on paper) You'll be thankfull in a couple of years^^

Don't give up Peoples!!

And one other thing: If you desperately try to find your style: How you draw right now IS your style. And you (can) have different styles. It changes all the time! It's not an end point of your drawing journey- because there is none. Keep evolving. Find ways to draw you like. Even then, move on^^

Hope you feel better^^ I hate it when people show you their "first arts" and it's some advanced stuff :(

[metalmewtwo-kxb]

Pokemon story/art/ask-blog for Benta the Mewtwo

Set in an apocalyptic future where most humans have disappeared and only pokemon remain. And the world is not as it had once been.

Benta, a pokemon who has existed for a long time now, has wandered the crumbling cities and empty roads looking for others who might share his ideals of rebuilding what is left of the world. Perhaps even track down the humans, if there are any left. However, the pokemon all seem to be at odds, more focused on hoarding land and food for survival. Many more are feral and vicious.

As others may find out, he is no ordinary mewtwo, and he might very well be the only one of his kind in a world full of ghosts. But is he the only wanderer? Or are there others?

And is it possible to save this future?

⚠️ Under Construction ⚠️

⚠️ Comic Pages 9-12 In Progress ⚠️

⛔️ NO NSFW ⛔️

General Itinerary (in no particular order) :

🧩 rp reply (if/when I have any)

- Thinking I'm gonna limit myself to one a day with these (or as often as I can manage) since I'm a very tired goose with limited internal motivation lol. I love role-playing! It just takes some thinking and energy. If I ever have more than one thread at a time, I'll make a weekly schedule 📅

✏️🖍 asks and/or art responses

- the art side of these can take anywhere from a day to a few days, depending on what I do exactly style/complexity-wise. Obviously can't do art replies all the time, but sometimes I could get inspired to do something other than text replies! 💕

🎨 comic art

- For the main story! The style for this is different and more uniform than what I'll be using for asks, so it definitely takes longer. I don't typically post until I'm done with a illustration/page set, so it can take a long heckin time. If one part one is 8 pages, I'd say it would clock in at two or three months before it's posted (as long as I'm not sick or somethn). I'm okay with posting peridoic snippet updates from my favorite panels though!

Temp. Edit: I've lowered the number of pages in each part to 4 since I need an easier goal to reach at a time. There's still 24 total! I just need simpler intervals. :T 🖼

Beyond this I have work and need me time, but always thank you, and I appreciate the interest! Benta is one of my comfort OCs so I'm treating this blog about the same. I want it to be a fun and cozy space while I build the apocalypse story lol.

#️⃣ tags

This is a list of tags to search on my blog for my art and writing (which will update as they come up):

- ;mun - my general babble, updates, and so on

- ;poké art - all posts involving pokemon sketches and drawings

- ;pokedex - posts pertaining to the story's pokemon and their lore. These pokemon are usually "new" species, not those that are already well known. However, sometimes special pokemon characters will make an appearance

- ;rp - written replies to roleplays. Kind of recommended since some lore will likely only appear in these, and they can be a fun read for those that like to do so (the rp partner's name will also be included in the post's tags) 👍

- ;response - ask responses! Chances are they contain art and scribbles. And maybe not, depends on how I feel

- Benta - self-explanatory, posts containing content of my mewtwo OC Benta (this does/should include roleplay threads and asks, so it's more generalized and not very concise)

- ;UntilTheEnd - the comic and main story for Benta and other characters that we'll meet along the way! (Set in an alternate universe, so don't expect very much anime/game continuity lol)

- ;drabbles and chapters - more written content that can either have something to do with an established AU or with context of the main story. Typically smaller snippets, but potentially a longer chapter set. I'm a faster writer than a drawer, but I enjoy both- so this is just another means of keeping up fun content 🫶

💬 About the mun:

Age: 29

Pronouns: she/her/they/them

Occupation: A menace to modern society :V *cough* artist/writer/author *cough*

Hobby: Literally just bothering my sister and siblings like a sneaky little gremlin.

Pokémun-sona: Zoromun. Info post -> here

More is tba!

Thank you for the visit, and have a wonderful day!

(main -> @ draconic-hydra )

[genericpuff]

a shapeshifting time traveler and his apprentice who works as a minimum wage barista get pissed because their perfect speedrun keeps getting ruined by two teenagers with a kill count

they're about to run attempt 9999 and the barista is terrified that his boss is about to end up in some Y2K situation

the time traveler is very old and really does not care for the pop culture references from his apprentice whose strongest skill is creating latte art

they don't even get the bragging rights of being the main characters but still have to do the job of the main characters because the actual main characters are too involved in their love/hate relationship to be any good at saving the world

this is time gate.

---------

OKAY BUT HONESTLY I've been kind of stressing over making this post not because I didn't want to follow through on that poll I hosted, but also just because like... it's original work! And it's original work that I've been doing for over a decade in relative obscurity. So it's a little nerve-wracking to be like "Hey guys! Go read this comic that I started drawing nearly a decade ago! It really shows!" especially when I'm doing it from an alt account (i.e. this one) that people know me for being relatively confident on. It's like being that "one kid" in show & tell with their Pokemon cards all over again 🤣 I kept trying to come up with some kind of post that would "justify" me posting about it all, but nothing felt "good enough" so I finally went back to this draft about Springlock and decided to use that as the icebreaker. It's now or never.

Time Gate is a dark fantasy series I've been working on since about 2007/2008ish. It's existed on the Internet in multiple forms, starting as a Zelda fanfic online in 2009 and then dropping all the Zelda stuff and turning into an original comic series in 2014. Since then its first installment, Reaper, finished in 2021, two hours before the 'untimely' death of Betty White that totally wasn't the fault of my main character who can predict people's deaths. Reaper's completed narration of the beginning of [loop: 9998] clocks in at over 2,000 pages.

Now I'm working on Time Gate: [AFTERBIRTH] which is a direct continuation of Reaper and is drawn in the more vertical webtoon style. Yes, the choice of title is intentional, funnily enough the episode featuring my main character bursting out of a tub of her own blood and bodily fluids only got removed by Webtoons for having "too much boob curve". So I covered it up with more blood and that got Webtoons' seal of approval. Webtoons is... weird.

This series is a love letter to all those "weird kids" who grew up wondering why they got dopamine rushes off of arguments and fights or getting in over their heads trying to grow up too fast. It's a love letter to the people who love hyper-analyzing convoluted and way-too-long narratives with overpowered characters who could only exist within the limitless bounds of the imagination.

But most of all, it's a love letter to the part of me that still adores dumb over-the-top weeb shit.

That being said, this piece of work is not intended to provide comfort, but rather, catharsis. Don't read it looking for any kind of guidance on life or interpersonal relationships. Its story and its characters are only concerned with what comes after - when the lights have gone out and the hourglass has run empty.

This series contains blood/gore and fantasy violence, and depicts adult topics such as post-traumatic stress disorder through a fictional lens. It is not intended for anyone under the age of 18+.

I have a dedicated Time Gate blog, so you might see some reblogs here every now and then as I start to use it more (though I'm currently resting through a hiatus, LORE | REKINDLED came around at the perfect time for me to have something new to work on).

As you may have guessed, with Reaper originally launching in 2014 (when I was literally 18) the comic has... not aged gracefully, at least in my opinion, and could use some reworking, at least the first few volumes (I'm still pretty happy with the stuff that came out around the 2019-2021 mark after I took a nearly 2 year hiatus).

Of course, I can't stop y'all from looking it up and reading it (the original version will still be canon even if it's aged so help yourself) but just know there's a dedicated redraw and rewrite on the way <3

And if it's not your cup of tea, that's fine! It's a completely different story with different goals from Rekindled. The main characters aren't saints and they're in a relationship I definitely wouldn't recommend anyone be in LMAO

That being said, don't be surprised if you hear the subtle heartbeat of Time Gate underneath the floorboards of Rekindled~

[mewtwoandme]

You've probably answered this before, but how come you don't upload to deviantart at the same time as tumblr? deviantart is so much easier to use. Easier to keep up with peoples work, and easier to go back and re-read peoples older stuff. Tumblr is jumbled up amongst text posts, and (to my knowledge anyway) there's no search function for images, instead one must manually scroll back in hopes of stumbling across the desired work. Usually I don't even see your uploads on tumblr directly, I usually see it via being shared by other creators who follow you (Such as TC) as I do. You and TC are very much the only reason I even still use tumblr, because I wanna see your newly released work as early as possible. Do keep it up tho regardless of where you upload, I really enjoy the story and I love your art-style of the DP-pokeverse. Have a good one!

DA is like a secondary site that I don't really care about, and I only have it because I know not many people are on Tumblr and in the past I got so many asks about posting on other platforms, so I got fed up and just started using DA. Sure, for some it's easier to view artwork there, but uploading art there isn't the easiest either. With Tumblr, I can put all the comic pages in one post, add all the tags and BOOM I'm done. With DA, If I'm posting a comic, I have to post all those pages and tags individually and if I have a comic thats like 9 to 10 pages like the last one, it takes a while. That's the main reason I post to Tumblr first. The second reason is because I just simply forget to post to DA sometimes, so things end up being there a few days later after I post something to Tumblr. My short-term memory interferes with that, but I'm just so used to uploading on Tumblr.

Also, if you aren't seeing my stuff come up here, then you might not have notifications turned on?? If you go to my profile and tap on this icon in the top corner

It'll give you an option to get notifications from me so you'll be notified and kept up to date every time I post something new. I'm able to always keep up with TC-96, Pokemon-Ash-Aus, and many others I follow when they post something. So if you don't have notifs turned on, that might be why you only see my posts when others reblog them.

As for searching up posts/art, if you type a certain tag in the search bar on my page, like #mewtwo #babytwo etc. you can view artwork that way. Also my art links are pinned at the top of my profile page.

[artsy-hobbitses]

I like to lurk at your blog because initially, I liked your art style during your pokemon and end- run phase. But now, because I'm a big fan of your storyline and world building skills. I'm totally shy and don't have a lot I f friends but what I've read and seen so far reminds me a lot of some of the old comics, manga and anime I used to enjoy because it's so unique and different. It also inspires me to try creative ideas even though I'm still shy about the spicy scenes during the more 🔞 romance parts. Even so I do look to you as a positive reference for ideas. So in short you're awesome!

Bless you, you’ve been here since the very beginning and I’m very happy you’ve stuck around to enjoy my work!

Artists inspiring artists is where it’s at! I remember my art and writing from my End Run days and WHOOF we’ve come quite a bit since then!

[darth-caillic]

I'm back! (from outer space)

I know for the last month, I went against my own rule of saving posts as drafts until the end of the month. Sorry about that!

But I would say this break from writing was pretty successful! I'm still feeling anxious about certain stories, but I'm not panicking/going down a spiral like I was at the beginning of the year.

I'll give a quick TLDR for some stuff I've been thinking about and will expand on those under the cut:

New Face Claim for Tessa Brown + other story changes

Discontinuing Black Sheep?

Rewriting Apprentices of the Abyss

Final edits of Daughter of Mandalore + looking for a beta reader

Pokemon Webcomic / Ask Blog Idea

How to celebrate the competition of Heads Will Roll

New Face Claim for Tessa Brown: I've been on the hunt for a new face for Tessa for a little bit. I thought about picking Heather Langenkamp, but right now, I'm leaning more towards Ella Purnell.

I also need to find a new face claim for Tessa's mother if anyone has suggestions.

Discontinuing Black Sheep: This is something I have been sitting on for a while. I talked about before how Black Sheep is a story I'm dreading cuz I just don't like Gilmore Girls. The main things stopping me from outright discontinuing are guilt and love for Riana as a character.

Black Sheep is one of my more popular fics and I feel like I'm being mean to my audience by discontinuing the story.

Right now, I'm thinking I might just move Riana to a different fandom. If anyone has recommendations for shows/movies that take place around the 2000s that you think Riana might fit into, I am all ears!

Rewriting Apprentices of the Abyss: I'm thinking before I start posting Force of Nature: Attack of the Clones, I should go back to the previous book and rewrite it to be much more detailed.

I wanna expand on Eglantine, the 'daki family, and clear up some of the dialogue/story beats cuz it feels forced in the current version.

Beta Reader for Daughter of Mandalore: DoM is a Star Wars fanfic that takes place during Attack of the Clones. It is a sequel and follows the story of a woman trained in the ways of the Sith named Melinoe Lanami.

It is 8 chapters long and is 22386 words long.

If you're interested in beta reading and have any questions, DM me, and we can hopefully work something out.

Pokemon Web Comic Idea: I just really fell in love with this idea of a mockumentary-style Pokemon documentary about three former league champions.

I've been looking into how to do a webcomic, and a lot of the advice is to jump right in, so I'm gonna try and make it my pet art project for the year.

Completion of Heads Will Roll and how to celebrate: In the past, I used to hold giveaways when completing. I dunno, if there's interest I might do one sometime this month, but I'm not too concerned about tbh

The New Taglist: Let me know if you want to be removed/added: @bisexualterror @thehedgehogat221b @margoshansons @waterloou @aceyanaheim @jedi-valjean @asirensrage @arrthurpendragon @foxesandmagic @bi-ologistofthehills @sterling-writes @bluejay-in-write

[sillymillyarts]

A little text about misturi:

An art teacher for her great taste for the arts. One day she was very happy when she saw Nezukoyu with a brush in her mouth. That was how she laughed that day.

After draw Enid, I wanna add Wednesday too. Cuz opposites attract. I guess... Or cuz Wednesday's stunning style. Whatever! I am suck at draw (!) humans like anime characters but nevermind.

I'm in love with Diluc. He is so... I don't know I find him sympathetic. Even in drawing he looks so angry for Diluc -and odd- I feel good about draw him. I will do it again... Cuz it seems me a bit - obviously more than a bit- suck.

Eveee! Just so adorable. His voice too. I watched pokemon with one of my friends some months ago and I still remember his voice... I drawed suck again. I'm not satisfied with this post.

I don't know how to use 'indeed' at all but I guess like that. I hope so. Yeah and it is first time Felix compliment to Ted. If we it counts as a compliment.

Ted is face is so cute. I like his face in every picture or drawing. I lie Felix's snobby face too but this time i drawed Felix's face suck. 🥲

I used to love that game so much. I saw someone shared a post about Undertale and I was be like "oh yeah! There was a game like that!" So I draw them.

Flowey looks like he is ready to attack. And Frisk's face reminds me "yes he bites." I read it in a comic while ago and that face remind me this comic.

Ugh before I used to belive frisk is a girl and draw her with eyelashes but long eyelashes -yes in real life boys has even longer eyelashes but nevermind- i felt so stupid about that.

Yeah. Sorry for talking -writing- so long. I can't draw so much or so carefully that's why some of them is suck. I don't have so time cuz I have school and I am in Netherlands for education now I should learn the language.

Thank u for reading and looking! See ya! 💞

[iraprince]

If you'd never seriously practiced art, how would you go about learning the basics? What would you prioritize?

i think the first, most important thing to consider when getting into art actually has nothing to do with the technical stuff/foundations/etc (that stuff is all still important, and i'll get to it in a second). instead i think the most valuable thing to think about first is: why are you interested in learning? what kind of stuff inspires you? what kind of stuff are you hoping to make, what kind of stuff would be exciting and fun to make?

when people get into art really early, like the "i've been drawing as long as i can hold a pencil" types, those questions are already kind of instinctively answered. something like pokemon or clamp manga or certain movies/tv shows or comics you found at the library or things you saw in a museum lit you up and you started chasing that stuff, trying to create those feelings by yourself, and eventually later i think almost every one of us then has to dig those memories up after survival under capitalism beats that inspiration nearly to death and buries it under a million metric tons of absolute bullshit. i think one of the benefits of starting an art journey later is rather than the usual Got It, Lost It, Gotta Find It Again cycle, you have a chance to think about this stuff very consciously + deliberately, and start with those thoughts abt hopes + inspiration very clearly in hand, and i think that can make it a lot easier to decide what to prioritize -- bc the answer to "what would you prioritize" is i think a lot of that varies immensely based on every individual artist and what they want to do.

once you know what inspires and excites you, fucking devour it. find as much as you can. watch and read and study. once you've watched and read and studied a bunch of [X thing that inspires you], go google stuff like "media like [X thing] reddit" or whatever to find more stuff that's similar to it. whenever an image grabs you, ask yourself why. study it. trace it, copy it (copying and tracing are acceptable, valuable study tools! they just have to stay in your private practice stash, it's only a problem when u post traced studies and try to claim ownership of it. tracing from personally taken photos/3D models for backgrounds etc is also a great tool that professionals use all the time, but that's a dif subject so i'm not gonna clutter this answer up talking abt it). look at the art you like really really really fucking hard and ask yourself what you like about it, specifically. the more you do this, the more you'll start building an internal visual library of details and traits you really enjoy, and that library is an invaluable thing to draw from. it is always worth it to keep working on that library. (and, as an aside, whenever you hit a wall with drawing, where you don't know what to do next or you just feel like you're not improving or it's stopped being fun and you hate everything you draw? going back and working on the library again is a great thing to do.)

start sorting your inspiration into two different categories. do you actually want to draw this way, or do you just like looking at it? (my own personal example of this: i love LOOKING at very cluttered, gritty, hyper-detailed urban landscapes, like the ones in dorohedoro or tekkonkinkreet -- but i do not have ANY fun drawing things like that at all. i find it boring and unpleasant, no matter how cool and satisfying the end result would be. realizing there's a difference felt like a big breakthrough to me and clarified that not all art you admire is necessarily art you want to emulate.) find what it is about stuff u like looking at but not drawing that you can still try to find enjoyment in. (in my example, what i was actually drawn to about that style was the environmental worldbuilding it creates -- i can still do that in my art style in different ways!)

NOW, after all that, i'll talk a little about the technical exercises and foundations i think are helpful for starting out. i think everything i said before this is ten million times more important. there are artists out there who probably never do any of the foundational stuff and they're still making completely sick, out of this world shit, bc they know what they want to do and they're authentically following their voice. BUT, this just happens to be stuff that helps me make the stuff i want to, which is really the point of honing the technical aspect of drawing at all: technical improvement (i.e. being "good at drawing") is, for me, a way to help me communicate my ideas. trying to improve technical skill should always be in service of your ideas and your desires for your art, because your ideas are the point. getting stuff out of your brain and into an image that communicates what you want to communicate is the point. whether or not you're "good at drawing" is an accessory to that and should never be considered a major obstacle or a reason to quit.

- gestural figure drawing: i use this site, especially the class mode. there is a LOT to say about figure drawing and gesture drawing and it would prob be faster and easier for u to google it and do some reading on ur own than for me to try to type a bunch of stuff out myself, but i'll say that for me the main benefits of figure drawing are building speed, building confidence (in both anatomy knowledge + in your hand movements), learning to quickly identify what the most important/interesting parts of a pose are, and filling that visual library i was talking about before with info on how bodies move and connect, how to stylize + simplify body parts and poses, etc.

- semi related, using reference. here's an ask where i talk a little bit about how i find and use reference. using reference can feel boring, or it can be a little more demoralizing than trying to draw without it (because the image is Right There and you can see all the ways your attempt falls short... sometimes that bums me out lmfao), but the cool thing abt ref is the more you use it, the more you start feeling confident about riffing with it and just using it as a jumping off point instead of trying to stay very loyal to the original, so it gets easier and easier with time. please try using reference! it can make things more fun in the long run, i promise.

- getting to know your materials: for digital work, this means learning keyboard shortcuts (and setting new keyboard shortcuts for actions/tools you use frequently), playing with all your brushes, etc. the more comfortable you get, the more easily you can work and the more time you can spend actually figuring out how you like to draw (instead of grappling with software that makes you feel kind of pissed off and overwhelmed). for traditional work, that means playing around in ways that might feel kind of boring, but will serve u in the long run. fill pages of sketchbooks with random marks to discover the range of specific tools. draw a circle again and again and again without lifting your pencil from the paper, trying to keep it on the same line as much as possible. make gradiant scales where you shade a long rectangle from dark to light as smoothly as you can. stuff like that! gain confidence in your hand and learn what it feels like to make certain marks -- i wish i could explain more what i mean by that, but i think you'll start understanding as you feel it.

- studies: again, there's so much out there on studies (master studies, photo studies, etc) and a trip around google is probably the fastest way to get into it; but basically, this is a structured way of doing the "interrogate everything you like and find out WHY" thing i talked about before. a study can really be anything; the point is you're picking a thing apart and trying to find out why it works, bc then you can apply that to your own stuff. here are some examples of composition studies i've done, as an example of something slightly different: 1, 2

- thinking of art as problem solving: okay, so this isn't a technical skill, but imo it's still a foundational one. this is also heavily influenced by my background in illustration (rather than fine art, etc) so grain of salt based on what specifically you want to do, but i think it still applies. as i mentioned before, art is (almost always) communication. you're trying to make sure the images you're making communicate your ideas and that your audience is more or less picking up what you're putting down. this is where people start confusing "struggles with technical skills" as being the same thing as "bad at drawing" when that's really not true. it will really, really help -- both with actually getting drawings done and with keeping morale up -- to approach a frustrating or challenging drawing not with the attitude of "i just can't draw this, i'm not good enough," but instead with the attitude of "okay. i can't solve this problem with my current skills. what's another way i can draw this that will still get my point across, but is within my ability right now?" when you can approach making art not as "it just plops out onto the page and it's either going to be Good or Bad and there's not much i can do about it," but as "i have something i'm trying to get done here, and maybe i'll have to try it a few different ways before something works," i think it opens up a lot more opportunities to succeed at what you're doing. It's more fun that way and i think it helps create understanding of how to replicate stuff that you're happy with and avoid experiences w art that frustrate you and wear you down.

those are, in my opinion, the basics! this is so fucking long! oh my god! sorry for being so longwinded and thank u for reading, i hope this stuff is helpful!

[elbdot]

Yo! I got a little question regarding your webcomic. I have this Pokemon AU, "Just A Dream" that takes place In both Paldea and Alola, but it also has a HUGE focus on Guzma. The plot is way different, so is my art style, and a majority of the characters i'd be using. But I fear some peeps might think I'm copying you. Would you be fine with me posting it on Webtoons? felt like I had to ask since you basically own Guzma at this point...

Omg I feel honored that people think I have ownership of Guzma afgjgjkdfgjkdfggjkfd I know that my version is...almost its own OC at this point, but again, it's just my take on an official Pokemon character owned by Nintendo and OF COURSE you are free to make your own webcomic including him :D I'd actually love to take a look at your comic once you've uploaded it on Webtoons, if you don't mind!

Also since your story's gonna be so different I really don't think people are gonna call you a copy-cat. I've got my story focused on Alola, you're gonna include Paldea and again, I don't own Guzma, I couldn't even claim ownership of my own version of him unless I'd change his name and appearance a bit 😂 And I know that EVERYONE interprets him a little different, so your Guzma will be unique to your story for sure :D

And I honestly love the many different interpretations of Guzma out there, I know that at this point there is BARELY anyone left who still actively draws him, but @oceandiagonale for example has one of my favorite soft GuzmasTM and STILL draws a webcomic involving him, just like I do! (I honestly need to catch up on the comic, I missed a lot of updates OH MAN)

And if ANYONE should call you a copy-cat, you can DIRECTLY send them to ME and show them this reply LMAO

[ask-obt]

Lady Woo whose the favorite OBT design?

// the......... unseen milotic design LMAO

but that's mostly because I already love milotic!! it's my number one favorite pokemon, with cresselia following closely behind (whose design I also like, but don't wanna show until she appears in the comic. I think I posted it on twitter once, but good luck digging through that if you wanna find it)

out of characters who have actually shown up, my favorite is dielle! I struggled for a while finding a good look for her, before hitting (what I think is) gold. maybe I just like fluffy cats? hehe

I do also like rune and malachi's designs, but I actually can't take credit for them! you may remember a previous ask I mentioned I was playing design telephone with those two since they were my oldest characters- and trying to get out of my head to redesign them was a tough task. so, I enlisted the help of my partner Pika to help me redesign them!

She took Rune from this:

To this!

So you can thank her for Rune's cute pink heart motif, instead of looking like she rolled in dirt! She also gave her the trademark Vulpix curls back. I ended up slicking her hair back later because Rune has a lot of expressions with her eyebrows that got covered up by the hair, which made drawing her a pain.

And Malachi used to look less like a half-evolved Shinx and more like a very small Luxray:

Which Pika also fixed!

I love this rendition of him a lot more haha, he looks like such a lil nerd! He also got his tail back in this redesign, which I quite liked. It's hard to imagine both of them with their old designs now!

As far as designs go, I also like Requiem's! Their design actually has a little bit of a backstory, funny enough. See when I was a kid, my mom was friends with a face/body painter at the local art market, and I loved getting paintings of various things I liked. One such thing was [REDACTED], my absolute favorite pokemon for SOME REASON as a kid. I would bring a reference for her (in the form of one of those pokedex books found at book fairs) and I always loved her style and thought she was an amazing artist for being able to paint full characters in mere minutes. One day I forgot to bring a reference of [REDACTED] and she went by memory- it looked a bit bootleggy, but I was absolutely enamored with the design. So soon I started "forgetting" my reference... on purpose. I loved seeing how the design for [REDACTED] developed and became something new over time. I think she was always a bit embarrassed with the inaccuracies, but my favorite one was one that made [REDACTED] look like a completely different pokemon. Like some sort of big, flowy purple dragon kangaroo creature. I think I especially loved it because it looked like a combination of [REDACTED] and [REDACTED... 2!]. That was the last time she drew [REDACTED] for me, and she retired from face/body painting shortly after to pursue other artistic interests. A lot of Requiem's design is based off of what I remember from that painting! Though without kangaroo legs, haha. I'd love to share a picture of the painting, but I'm not sure if we ever took one. Maybe I'll bug my mom to see if we can find it.

I won't be sharing the artist's name here due to internet privacy reasons, but I do have some art she made for me once! I didn't have a bedroom for many years growing up, and my mom's solution to that was a (kinda crusty) camp trailer, which her friend painted the front of with a fun ocean view. This trailer has long since fallen into disrepair (it's almost completely rotted now), but the painting still remains.

and to give you an idea of how far flung her designs could be without reference, here's the seahorse toy I had that painting was based off of haha

anyway this huge ramble all to say... I love character designs, and varying from the norm!

[oceandiagonale]

Hey, so... I had a story idea that ended up being very similar to Generic--this is before I read his full story, by the way--but reading it only made me realize just how similar the two stories are, but I still really like how you handle the whole Generic as a hero thing, and despite how similar our stories seem to be I wanted to ask for permission to take some inspiration from it--of course I won't use him or your other characters in my story, not unless you'd like me to, but just... I felt weird because I'm thinking about posting the story but I don't want it to seem like a copy of your Generic story. Especially since it's PL:A-based and it's such a specific storyline for that game that at the same time leaves so much room for interpretation...

Your headcanons are like, super cool, and although I have my own I was wondering if I could borrow the whole "Arceus' Hero" thing, where if Legendaries choose a person to clean up their mess, instead of being the "chosen one" they take on the title of "Hero".

If you'd prefer I didn't, I'm totally fine with that-- my headcanons are a bit different from yours on how Pokemon behave, especially Legendary ones, and I'm hoping it makes a big enough difference (besides having three protagonists instead of one) but I just wanted to say I really admired you and your comics and your art style and your everything--

I'm not very experienced in drawing comics but your series about Gene is inspiring me to at least try, and even if it looks inconsistent at first, I'm sure I'll find a rhythm/style I'm comfortable with in terms of comic art. So, uh, thank you. That's all ;w;

oh yeah, of course!! I mean the third Pokemon anime movie was called “heroes” and a bunch of other people have probably also used that term for protagonists, right?

EDIT: I’m a fool I forgot to mention that they even call the ancient hero that term in-game!!! skdjfskjdhf 😂😂😂😂

but also my pla run is based pretty heavily in canon (I make sure to rewatch the main missions before I do them so I don’t mischaracterize anyone too badly ksfkjsdhf) so don’t worry!!

I’m pretty sure most comics about pla would end up feeling similar in premise since the story is so linear -- it’s really how the MC reacts to them that changes things, and if you have three protagonists I bet it’s going to be totally different in terms of character dynamics, reactions, how quickly they can get things done, etc etc so go for it!! 🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺

[dejasquietplace]

Hey so I started following you years ago and I found you through your nuzlocke which I really loved. Obviously I know times change and people move on to other projects which is totally fine, what I was wondering was if you didn't intend to start it back up again would you ever be up for giving us a synopsis of things that happened/concepts for characters who never got round to being introduced/etc?

i'm really happy people loved it while i was making it, even if i cringe out of my skin at seeing most of my old art LOL and i don't intend to continue it unfortunately, as i wound up too busy and with my mind on other things. and maybe at some point i'll do a full synopsis of what i had in mind! in the meantime though, i did very recently do a full lineup of all the party members redrawn in my current style!

including two members we didn't meet in-comic, oliver and lazuli! and i can tell you that the full nuzlocke had two deaths: tiv and kairos. i went into the elite four and beat the game with five members because i couldn't bear to replace kairos (the second death). funnily enough (and dramatically), they were both taken out by the SAME pokemon in two different battles: giovanni's kangaskhan. it was a whole thing in my plot outline

the comic was supposed to end with makoto, elli, gary, and belle going to the cave to confront mewtwo, who had a very personal grudge against makoto but was ultimately a sad and scared kid alone in the world, with makoto as their foil in a way

makoto and gary grow and mature a lot throughout the story, both ending at about ~17-18 and dating. isaac adopts two children, who were meant to be the protagonists of a sequel story (LOL, very optimistic of me to think i'd get so far). oliver and lazuli also begin tentatively dating after a lot of silly pining and move to sinnoh together, where oliver becomes part of volkner's team and laz becomes a famous fashion designer who outfits league challengers with protective gear. eve works with the league to dissolve any remaining factions of rocket and learns to live a little and relax; she and isaac are close and she's the godmother of his kids. elli retires completely from battling and becomes a teacher alongside belle, who stays with gary's champion team as they keep their title by fighting in the league.

i hope that satisfies anyone still curious :) and thank you for liking my old comic! i'm down to answer more questions about where it was going

[quartersety-of-a-holsety]

Hey, y'all remember this shit I did years ago? Well, I had the most random thought to pick it back up again so here I am, back on my bullshit! As a reminder, since it's been a while, keep in mind that these are fandoms I'm personally into and don't necessarily [or accurately] reflect their popularity

The fandom districts are as follows and in order:

Def Leppard

Yu-Gi-Oh!

Yandere Simulator

Fire Emblem

Voltron: Legendary Defender

Mortal Kombat

Forever Knight

Touhou Project

Megaman X

Dark Parables

Pokemon

Wild card [each character is from their own fandom]

I'll reblog the icon sets sometime later. Fun facts and change log from hell under the cut!

~CHANGE LOG~

DISTRICTS

District 2: Fullmetal Alchemist to Yu-Gi-Oh!

District 7: Ouran High School Host Club to Forever Knight

District 11: Yu-Gi-Oh!/Pokemon to Pokemon

CHARACTER SWAPS

District 3: Osana to Akane Nemesis to Hanako [name change only]

District 4: Narcian to Marianne Tsubaki to Constance

District 5: Acxa to Allura

District 9: X to Alia Zero to Marino

District 11: Bakura to Jessie Kaiba to James

District 12: Carmen to Tobias Hitch to Edward

ICON UPDATES

District 1: Sav, Joe

District 2: Bakura, Kaiba

District 3: Hanako [recropped]

District 4: Eltshan

District 8: Remilia

District 9: Axl, Iris

District 11: Serena

District 12: Tobias***

Fun facts 1, 2, 3, and 4 here! New fun facts below!

Fun Fact #1: This is the most edited roster change since the first one. Way more has changed here than any other roster update

Fun Fact #2: The original season code had not been used in so long that when I tried to load it up, it failed because it was auto deleted a good two years ago. I had to completely remake this roster, plus the custom events, from scratch

Fun Fact #3: Allura's icon is from an edit done by a Tumblr user named r-i-v-e-r. Unfortunately, it seems the artist is no longer on the site

Fun Fact #4: Okay, let me make this clear: I HATE the post-XY art style for Pokemon. Fucking hate it. That said, I saw images of Serena's new design and she's??? Actually??? Decent??? Like holy shit a design I don't hate. It wasn't that hard of a decision at that point to replace her icon with a more recent appearance

Fun Fact #5: YGO and Pokemon were lumped together for the longest time and now I was finally able to separate them and let them go full throttle. Bakura and Kaiba, with new icons and as promised in a previous fun fact, took Joey with them, but they have Marik instead of Yugi since he's been growing on me a lot more. They took the place of the FMA district. Meanwhile, Serena and Clemont now have, again as promised, Team Rocket joining them

Fun Fact #6: While debating on characters and fandoms to include, Nick, Nat, and Divia seemed to just be easy inclusions to replace the Ouran district. It was deciding on their fourth districtmate that was difficult. It ultimately came down to either LaCroix or Janette [sorry, but Schanke is Babey and I refuse to corrupt him like this]. LaCroix was picked due to the potential for some interesting scenarios

Fun Fact #7: In previous updates, I mentioned Sav's icon somehow becoming more saturated even though the image had not changed. I discovered while updating the icon sets earlier today that this was indeed a Tumblr issue like I had initially thought. Apparently something happens when posting it live, causing the image to saturate. I was able to fix this, but this required, well, not using Tumblr. The image is still saturated in the actual post its in, but the exact link used in the simulator settings is now being hosted on Discord

Fun Fact #8: Back in the very first run of the Multifandom Hunger Games, District 6 was the Animorphs and Tobias was a part of that district. For this brand new run, I decided to bring Tobias back. ***He's listed in the change log for icon updates as I decided not to reuse the original icon he had. His new icon is from a comic version of the series

Fun Fact #9: The character hasn't changed, but this short comic dropped some time ago, revealing Nemesis' true identity as Hanako Yamada. Her information for the season was updated accordingly

Fun Fact #10: I initially didn't plan on updating Joe, Hanako, or Remilia's icons, but ultimately did. Hanako's uses the exact same image, just recropped to look less awkward

Fun Fact #11: The Fire Emblem district was supposed to be a one-character-per-game situation, but let's be real, Three Houses has way too many interesting characters to ignore entirely, so I added two instead while also updating Eltshan's icon. Ferdinand was briefly considered before deciding on Constance. Marianne's has a Black Eagles background instead of Golden Deer because I just like the Black Eagles more

Fun Fact #12: Amnesia was considered for a return, but I decided not to go with this. Sailor Moon was also briefly considered for inclusion

Fun Fact #13: Before deciding on Tobias, I was originally going to have Florence [Alchemists of Loom] take Carmen's place. Other wild card characters considered for inclusion were Nanashi [1bitheart] and Fletcher Raleigh [The Summoner series]

Fun Fact #14: Since Mulberry has been revamping a lot of older character art she's done, including the student council, I decided this would be a good opportunity to update Shiromi's icon. At the same time, I decided to replace Osana with another student council member. Imagine the scary implications. Also yes, I am aware how divisive YanSim is, but I ain't here for bullshit. I'm here to vibe. This district stays put

Fun Fact #15: X and Zero were replaced because they needed a break. End of, just let them enjoy some peace

Fun Fact #16: As I am no longer into SNK, dropping Hitch was an easy decision, and even though I dropped FMA as a full district, I did want to keep Edward, so he got to stick around and take Hitch's place

[robinsnest2111]

It's been amazing seeing your art back on my dash! The fact that you do most of it traditionally too absolutely astounds me. What are your biggest influences?

Aww thank you, it's great to be back! :D

I've been drawing traditionally for most of my life now, ever since I could hold a pencil as a toddler, so there's A LOT of influences to choose from lol

I've always had a thing for trying to emulate the style of the cartoons I watch(ed). Kim Possible, Winx Club, Avatar, Cat Scratch, etc. And I picked up some things here and there.

The first real influence on my pencil drawings was definitely an artist back on dA called ph0bs. I instantly fell in love with their style and I saved all their tutorials on how they scan their art and enhance it all digitally! Their fur tutorial is still in the back of my mind to this day lol

As for working with coloured pencils, I recall a German artist on dA doing INCREDIBLE blending and shading on their pokemon art with only a few colours and detailed tutorials on their technique as well!

I've been using fineliners ever since I read one of these frequently joked about "How To Draw Manga" books lol (I was like, 12 years old and there were no other art resources like it around that time in my small town haha). I only refined my use of them and other ink pens in recent years tho. Super inspired by two former classmates. The first was working on her own original comic/stories every free minute she got and her line weight variation and shading with different sizes of liners was incredible! I picked up a lot from her <3 Then there was that sweet gal at college who was always trying out new ink pens and art supplies. She didn't end up liking one of the brush pens and kindly gifted it to me! That's how I got into using "broader" pens alongside the smaller fineliners!

There's so many other things I'm influenced by. Studio Ghibli movies with their iconic tears and floofy hair, how artist friends do/draw certain details, and so much more I can't recall right now lol