#it's just ''Trying To Figure Out What To Draw: New Sketchbook Edition''

[dragonbleps]

So my brother got me a sketchbook for last Christmas, and I just recently filled my last one.

Now I'm debating what should be the first drawing for this sketchbook.....

[enhanced-operatives-division]

Prism's concept art has been. Deeply on my mind. They had some killer ideas for her and ummm.....sobs in my hands. I love her?

[gh0st-t0wn3]

Lmk ss edits + headcanons, Part 4 (Jin & Yin, Ao Lie, Tripitaka, Bai He)

- He/Him, He/They

- Pansexual, Bisexual

- They both have chronic separation anxiety, its why they're never apart; Yin tends to go non-verbal and more withdrawn without Jin, and Jin gets really agressive and paranoid without Yin. 

-  Yin can't sleep if he has nerves, Jin can do nothing BUT sleep if he has nerves

- Jin always forgets something at home, Yin reminded him a hundred times before they left

- Yin doodles on the corner of their blueprint papers whenever they're making something new, Jin cuts them out later and glues them into a sketchbook so they don't get lost

- Jin's hips are constantly covered in bruises because he's always bumping into shit (has NO spacial awareness whatsoever)

- Yin listens to rock music, Jin doesn't have a specific genre

- Somehow are simultaneously the most innocent and dirty minded people, you'll never know what you're gonna get at any given moment

- Yin always finds a way to drown in inch deep water (really bad at swimming)

- ^^^Jin laughs at him

- After they found out Mei and MK didn't like eachother as anything more than friends, they tried to trap him in the calabash again but used Redson to try and seduce him instead, MK immediately knew it was them

- Jin was talking really fast cause he was panicking once and called the Demon accountant "Semon accountant" and has still not recovered

- Yin laughed his ass off when it happened and constantly reminds him of it

- Jin likes his pillow warm (he's insane)

- They both occasionally become self aware and wind up having a weird crisis trying to figure out whether their horns are a part of their skull or something else

- Both are cat people, they're terrified of dogs, being trapped in a room with one is one of their worst nightmares

- Neither of them has clean hair, it is a fucking rock you will not be able to comb that shit out

- Jin rants about new ideas, Yin writes/draws them down

- Yin will bite you if you get near him while he's eating, bro's feral

- Jin stubs his toe atleast three times a day and screams in agony every. Single. Time. Eventually Yin just stopped running to check on him, it's happened so many times that he can distinguish what Jin's scream sounds like specifically when he stubs his toe

- Yin spent several months slowly moving everything in their house slightly to the right everyday, Jin cried cause he thought he was going insane

- Jin smells like cinnamon, Yin smells like caramel (I'm delusional, they both reek)

- Jin's love language is words of affirmation, Yin's love language is quality time

- Yin is terrified of cockroaches, Jin keeps some as pets

- Jin tried to dox Mei during one of her streams, Mei showed up at their house instead, it was terrifying

- The Demon accountant has to use a pressure hose to wash them

- They were banned from the arcade but they kept showing up begging to be unbanned, the staff eventually started feeling bad and let them back in

- Yin always throws out his drawings if they don't turn out how he wanted them to, Jin fishes them out of the trash when Yin isn't looking and keeps them in a sketchbook under his bed

- He/Him

- ??? Bisexual, probably

- Favourite animal is a leaf slug, it just feels right

- Mei's number one supporter

- Ate a strawberry once and found a worm inside, never ate strawberries again

- Constantly bothered Zhu Bajie during their Journey to the west, he thought it was funny seeing him get upset

- "I swear to buddha, if you ask me 'why' one more time" " Why?"

- Wukong pulled a bug out of his hair once and he freaked out and made Tripitaka go through his hair for him

- Heaviest sleeper of the group, when he falls asleep he is OUT,

- Has horrible bed head and his hair takes forever to comb out

- Really bad at math

- Wakes Tripitaka up in the middle of the night to ask the dumbest questions

- Refuses to wear shoes, he's in his horse form for most of their Journey anyway so he doesn't see the point in having any at all

- Would absolutely down a container of melatonin gummies if he had the opportunity

- Had to comfort Wukong while he puked after chugging a gallon of salt water once

- Mei gets her ':3' face from him

- Trips over his hair as much as his sleeves, no matter how much of his hair he ties up somehow it always ends up in his face or under his foot and he's down

- Follow up on the last headcanon, he's tried to cut his hair before to stop this from happening, it did not work, his hair grew back really fast

- He's like a cat, if you tell him not to push something over, he'll push it over

- Favourite colour is actually rose gold, but green is a very close second

- DBK let him hold Redson after the Samadhi removal ritual was over and Ao Lie immediately dropped him (DBK caught him before he hit the ground, but Ao Lie was banned from holding him again)

- Can eat an entire buffet and not gain a single pound

- Smells like Mint

- Love language is physical touch

- Chews on his sleeves when he's bored

- Gets along surprisingly well with Nezha despite Nezha's and Ao Bing's history

- Really good at singing

- Since he's a water Demon, he gets overheated really easily in the sun so whenever they come across any kind of water (river, pond, puddle, etc) he'll just flop sideways and lay there for like 20 minutes to cool down

- Actually thought Mei was his sister for a minute until he realized it wasn't her when they first met

- He/Him

- AroAce

- Sometimes gets visons and dreams of his life as the Golden Cicada

- Tripitaka, Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujin can see what their descendants/reincarnations are up to

- He cried on Freenoodles wedding day... it was not of joy, Zhu Bajie also threw up several times

- Once joked about having to shave all of Wukongs fur off now that he's a Monk and Wukong cried

- Absolutely HATES when people enter a room before knocking

- Would probably be scared of popping candy if he ever heard them (bubblegum, pop rocks, etc)

- Hates when people fold the corner of a page as a bookmark

- Constantly corrects people's spelling; "it's 'you're' not 'your' "

- Can't stand the sound of people chewing with their mouths open

- Has naturally long lashes

- Weak ass ankles

- Tried to teach Wukong how to read and gave up in a few hours because he refused to pay attention

- Cries whenever someone brings up his and Zhu Bajie's pregnancy, it's what keeps him up at 3am (if you haven't read JTTW, I'm sorry that this is how you found out)

- Surprisingly has a really good singing voice

- Always writes in cursive and no one can read it

- Understands cicadas

- In JTTW (chapter 39, i think) Tripitaka encountered a demon who impersonated him so well that even with his golden vision Wukong couldn't tell them apart and mistakingly attacked the real one, Tripitaka still gets nightmares about Wukong almost killing him

- Favourite colour is yellow

- Smells like oranges

- Love language is words of affirmation

- Has little freckles

- Extremely texture picky

- Vegetarian

- Has almost lost his hat (???) multiple times due to being kidnapped so often, it's a miracle he hasn't lost it yet

- Loves watching the sunset

- VERY light sleeper

- Smiled at Redson once, who immediately burst into tears (He could see that Tripitaka was the golden cicada and got scared), Tripitaka freaked out and also started crying while trying to calm him down

- She/Her

- Ally

- Has stretch marks as a result of her bones and skin being stretched out while she was possessed by the Lady Bone Demon

- White streaks in her hair from the possession

- Even after being freed from the Lady Bone Demon, her skin was never quite right, always too pale or too cold, with little snowflake markings here and there just barely visible

- Always cold, she has to wear multiple layers of clothing to help deal with it, doesn't matter how hot it is outside, she's always wearing something warm

- Has eyebags because she gets recurring nightmares about the Lady Bone Demon and hardly gets any sleep anymore

- Has very faint freckles

- Definitely believes/believed in those "spells to turn you into a mermaid/fairy/vampire" YouTube videos

- Made potions as a kid (it's windex, food dye, and glitter mixed together)

- Probably collects rocks

- Mei and Macaque taught her how to scam other kids in roblox

- Used to believe that if you ate a seed it'd grow in your stomach and had a meltdown when she accidentally swallowed watermelon seeds

- "Guys, stop swearing!" Whenever someone says "Frick", "Heck", "Dang"

- Cut her own hair once when she was really little, it was a disaster

- Eats whatever anyone gives her

- LOVES kumara

- Always eats lucky charms for breakfast but she'll pick out all the actual cereal so she just has milk and marshmallows

- Her dad is Pigsy's boar rival from across the street

- Loves street food, especially tanghulu and cheese tea

- Chews on her sleeves

- Smells like vanilla

- Love language is quality time

- OBSESSED with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and watches it on repeat (she once compared MK to Donnie because they both fight with staffs)

- Has a charm bracelet with personalized charms she made for everyone she likes/loves

- Loves orbeez and has a heart shaped orbeez lamp that she uses as a night light (I had one as a kid, it was awesome and I miss it very much)

- Dyes the white streaks in her hair pink, but they fade pretty quick so they have to be re-dyed frequently

- Has a tooth gap

- Her favourite flowers are chrysanthemums

[crabsnpersimmons]

Hey Crabs! I have a small question! 🦀

How do you make the pictures of your traditional art look so good!?

They are always bright and easy to see! But when I take a photo of my drawings, they always have a blue or yellow tint to them. So how do you make it look the way you do?

(Also, I want to gobble up your art it is so yummy and pretty! Sun and Moon are so precious in your style!) ❤️

Thanks! And I hope you’re having a good day! :D

no prob! there's actually a couple things i do, so here's the tl;dr:

Lighting: i use daylight or light from a neutral white lightbulb

Editing: i use my phone's built-in gallery app to lightly edit the colours so they're clear and as colour-accurate as i can get (from my screens at least)

and i'll go into a little more detail with some examples under the cut

1. Lighting

a habit of mine that i got from my IG days (ugh...) is using daylight whenever possible. daylight just lights up the whole area more evenly and relatively neutrally. this is my set up:

glamourous

basically, i put the artwork near a source of natural light and prop up a reflector (in this case, a blank page from another sketchbook) that helps distribute the light more evenly across the page, so that even the side that is furthest from the light gets some light that bounces off from the reflector. i don't always have a reflector tho, like if i'm only taking a picture of a small drawing and not an entire page, there's no need.

now, if it's dark, then i rely on my desk lamp, which uses a neutral white lightbulb. regular lightbulbs come in different temperatures, from warm to neutral to cool—so that might explain why your photos are coming out with a yellow or blue tint. warm lights are common in houses because they're cozy, while blue lights are common in working areas because, like daylight, they keep us more awake. neutral white is in between the two.

here's an example of my Moon doodle that i did recently under different lights: warm (from my bedside lamp), neutral white (from my work desk), and daylight (i don't have any cooler lights in the house, so i couldn't quite get the blue tint 😅)

now technically, NONE of these are colour accurate. so i always follow up with some light photo editing

2. Editing

now, i have 2 personal rules when it comes to editing my photos:

1) try to make it as close to the original as possible; and 2) don't spend too long on it

these are just my personal rules because... one) i'm lazy and i don't want to spend too long fixing every thing in my drawings, and two) i feel it is dishonest for me to make dramatic changes to my traditional art and still call it traditional art. whenever i do make digital enhancements (like colouring it digitally) i will tag it so no one would mistake it as purely traditional art. that's just me tho! there are no rules when you're having fun with your art and mixed media art is a thing! so do whatever you find fun and enjoyable.

also, i will try to make it as colour-accurate as possible, but i also recognize that not everyone's screens are calibrated the same way. my phone is set to a "Natural" colour setting, but on my new laptop (which i haven't figured out how to calibrate yet) is vibrant as all heck (like oh my gosh, maybe i need to start tagging everything with bright colours now, because what if someone else's laptop is this insanely vibrant and saturated??) but either way, i try not to spend too long on it because i know i won't be able to accommodate every screen.

anyways, for what i actually DO... i kinda just play around with different settings. if i took the picture under daylight, then there's not too much i adjust, usually it's the warm colours that are desaturated, so i try to make the reds pop more without effecting the blues too much.

or for my doodles, sometimes the doodle on the other side of the page is slightly visible, i'll tweak the lights and shadows and contrast levels until the background is clear enough (as long as it doesn't disturb the doodle i'm taking a photo of)

now, if your photos are coming out too yellow or blue because of your lighting, you can adjust that by tweaking the Temperature setting. here's an example of that warm Moon doodle:

already looking a little better, right? so don't worry if your photos aren't coming out accurate, there are work arounds!

here's the before and after of the Moon doodle by the way:

despite having daylight, i still needed to adjust the colours. specifically i needed to brighten up the reds and yellows, and bring back the page's natural yellowness. i also tweaked the Definition setting to make less hazy (sometimes i like the haziness tho, so i'll leave it as is sometimes).

and one other reminder: it doesn't need to be perfect, it just needs to be. a big reason why i keep coming back to traditional art is the fact that i can't control everything. i can't undo lines. i can't move things around. and i can't take the perfect picture. but it doesn't need to be perfect. drawing and sharing my art is supposed to be fun! and i don't want to put any barriers around that, or else it becomes unnecessarily stressful.

all that is to say, try out these tips if you want to, but don't treat them as hard rules and don't focus on trying to achieve perfection. just go have fun!

[yeowninefive]

1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 20, 21, 29, 30 (So sorry for the question dump!)

1. Autodesk Sketchbook Express when I first got my tablet. Photoshop Elements and Paint Tool SAI I don’t use for regular drawing anymore; but they still get irregular use for other purposes (image edits and drawings for academic works; i.e. flowcharts for programming).

On a similar note, while I use Clip Studio Paint for practically all of my regular drawing nowadays, I did use that program years ago for a short animation; before going to try and learn Opentoonz. I would like to return to it at least once, for a colored animation; since I’m still trying to get over OpenToonz’ learning curve.

2. It’s not something I really think of much, but I guess I draw characters facing right more often that I do drawing them facing left.

3. This is a stretch / loose interpretation. But even though I haven’t drawn / posted any new ones as of late. I would say my videogame level maps / level design draw their roots from my earliest (traditional) drawings when I was younger, which were maps of highway / interstates. I sometimes still think about doing a true “throwback piece” to those days and draw a new highway map.

4. I would really like to get back to drawing more detailed environments like I used to do when I first started getting into digital art. But I have trouble getting started in any meaningful way; and the newer landscapes I do are still simpler compared to my earlier stuff. I imagine part of the problem is that my earlier, more detailed landscapes were traditional drawings on paper, so maybe I was more willing to spend more time filling in/adding blanks compared to digital? I’m still trying to work it out.

8. I have a bunch of art and videogame concepts / projects I have that are perpetual shelf occupants, stuff that I might go back and tinker with, others that go untouched for years. Some are lucky to get rescued and either finished or reworked to finally see the light of day. I imagine at some point I’m going to have to essentially “clean out the closet” and decide what stays or goes.

10. Tall boots! They’ve kinda always been a mainstay for me.

11. It varies between music and podcasts (which are typically movie reviews). Right now I think I’ve hit a regular track where if I’m trying to draw something new or develop a concept; I listen to music for inspiration (which varies a lot—videogame instrumentals, jazz, R&B, alternative, piano instrumentals, mashups, etc.). If I have a concrete art idea that I just need to develop into a finished product (i.e. doing construction, coloring, etc.).

12. I don’t think I have any, since I keep trying to vary my approach in constructing bodies. Each of them tend to be somewhat difficult for me, at least in terms of getting the proportions right. I suppose drawing arms and legs are what I have the easiest time with.

13. I don’t really have any that comes to mind. There’s probably some, I could certainly name particular genres or studios; but not individual creators.

16. I’m not sure, admittedly. I guess that I would probably be pretty good with fanart (and likely would be more popular than I currently and historically have been). It’s not so much I don’t like drawing fanart, than it is that it’s mainly not been my focus. It’s something that I’ve previously said that I’ve been hoping to rectify in recent years, hopefully this year.

20. Honestly, I don’t know what I (used to) draw that would be considered difficult. I guess drawing level design would probably be up there; at least in the sense of it probably being difficult to plan out, or figure out a way to try and make it engaging or interesting. Like I said earlier, my interest for drawing highways I imagine was a prelude to drawing maps/course design. My parents like to say that I should have become an architect.

21. Highly detailed aesthetics for character designs and environments, usually of a realistic style. Although I try to shuffle my aesthetics around regularly, I’d say I usually do hit a limit with my art where it’s either at least stylized and/or simple to some degree.

29. Not sure. I guess the closest thing I can say to answer this question is that there’s a bunch of things I like and/or outright love, but I don’t regularly create fanart of. (As I said previously, I normally don’t draw much fanart in general, and I’d like to try and change that this year.)

30. There have been some pieces I’ve done that I’m proud of, mainly because I put extra touches of flourish on and/or think are probably among my best (recent) works; but I can’t say they have gotten any notable attention (especially here on tumblr, which as of late gets less traction compared to Twitter and sometimes deviantArt). A recent piece I feel has been overlooked a bit is included below (original post to it here); but here are links to some other pieces from last year I feel were overlooked here on this site.

[mecharose]

steps i used to make this potion and chug it near-daily:

don't beat yourself up about not writing as much as you want/think you should

figure out the real reason, what's underlying your lack of motivation, and address that

set achievable goals, but always have a goal going

talk to writing friends about what you're working on

commission yourself with WIP art for free bonus motivation

elaboration under the cut bc long post lol

don't beat yourself up about it

literally this is the most important thing. this is a hobby and you are not failing at anything if you find it hard to motivate yourself to do it sometimes. we are all human and busy and stressed. that being said:

figure out what's actually stopping you from writing

usually "no motivation" has a very real reason behind it, and every possible reason has its own different solution.

wanting to write but not being able to could mean you're putting too much pressure on yourself to be perfect, or feeling out of practice. both of these have the same solution imo: get a "writing sketchbook" aka, a throwaway project that is something you can easily finish. e.g. short story, throwaway chapter of something, AU for your current project, etc. (I came up with the idea to try that bc i'm also an artist and sketching helps me loosen up before big pieces)

an additional solution for the latter is to break the rule of "no editing the first draft" in a very specific way: when I sit down to write a new chapter, i'll re-read the stuff that came before it and do line edits (wording, sentence structure) as I go. this gets me back to the groove of writing a wip without having to create new parts of it wholesale.

another one I run into often is just like. if I don't read a book for a while, I stop thinking in "writing mode" aka constructing scenes as written pieces of work rather than like. pictures i'm imagining in my head. so if you're having a hard time with the writing itself, I'd suggest reading a book that has a similar tone or vibe, or writing style you want your WIP to have!

set achievable goals

basically the "take it easy but take it" mentality. set a goal so you have something to work toward, but make it lower than what you think you can reasonably accomplish so you can still feel accomplished.

if you do this, anything you achieve *beyond* that goal will feel extra special and rewarding -- much better than setting a "reach goal" and then even big accomplishments toward it won't feel like "enough."

for me, this takes the form that I always have a 5,000 word goal each month. high enough that it gives me the kick in the pants to write whenever I have the time, low enough that it doesn't stress me out!

get a second opinion

if the problem is that you feel like your WIP is boring, it's the old wisdom that chances are high it's probably not, and you're too used to it.

sometimes the only real fix to that is rambling to someone about it ngl

the second opinion can also be you, needing a break from whatever your current project is, so you can come back to it later with fresh eyes.

also, having a person you can give your word count updates to, and talk about whatever you just wrote that you're excited about, keeps you both accountable *and* motivated via the outside hype. win-win :3

do WIP art

you're also an artist so I'm suggesting this one lol. I always get re-hyped to write when I draw my characters, like seeing them makes me Understand them more and want to tell their story. so maybe that would work for you too? :3

I hope this helped!! :D

hey uh does anyone have a recipe for Potion That Makes You Write

has anyone actually gone from not being able to write that often to a more consistent output and if so how did you do that

[thedarkmistress16]

please gush about your passions and pastimes!!! I would love to hear about them

ack- im happy you want to hear about them!

Passions:

obvs as y'all know recently and just in gen., i guess, writing- i love crafting worlds and stories where anything can happen and just creating scenes above all else, like getting lost in the details of everything. I love getting lost in my own world and making myself happy as most self-indulgent writers do (and showing off my legitimate skill in a proper form of writing after doing shitpost-y things for so long is pretty rejuvenating, XD). And upon going back to some of my older, posted works and wips, I still laugh at the dumb shit I thought was the best stuff ever and now find myself giving those ideas a refresher like my last writing update, because it's still a legitimately enjoyable read.

i love sketching for similar reasons, but more so to visualize a fuzzy, almost-there idea, usually about fashion. Like recently I re-drafted some outfits for a fic idea I had, in order to make the world and designs make sense in my head. And I redesigned an existing outfit, running with certain themes and embellishments in design. I'm so happy I can churn out simple sketches like that when i really put my mind to it and feel content with the finished product nowadays. I feel accomplished as a hobby artist now and it's all thanks to heavy online research, a few how-to books, and putting effort into one art class. It's the second hobby of mine that I want to be good at, almost as much as my writing. Speaking of, I sometimes draw what I write or dream about because it's that prominent in my head.

Wow i love music guys- ha, but you already knew that *lenny face*

Past times:

I really like playing the simpler games in life- not as much in the vein of it being less difficult or busy, but more so with fewer controls, interesting mechanics, and a captivating style that I can easily fuck around in or beat some levels for a few hours. Bring on the (spider) solitare (only 4 suit sucks ass why do i do this to myself), jewel quest (FUCK YOU CROWS), barbie's fashion show (SINGLE DREAM-), zoo tycoon (fuck guest happiness), and sonic adventure or x-men of course.

MMD vids are v neat, like I know a handful of choreos that are fun as past midnight exercises to get my blood pumping and i get to discover new songs and learn more about other languages at the same time! Also the aph as mmd crack vids are the best whether its them making 'i hate this' or 'yeah im hot shit' faces or being completely into it as they're forced to dance or simply copying a vine. Like, they give me brainrot and serotonin at the same time its so fun. I love seeing all the different outfits for mmd vids in general, too, on top of new covers i never would've known about.

I really love analyzing things in general, actually. It's how I learn most of the things I do and know now, even though it technically causes me to lose large chunks of time because all i'm doing is staring at the damn thing, XD. Sometimes (all the time) I'll look at a gif or vid of a character changing their facial expression as they do/say something and I'll be completely enthralled by it. Something similar happens when I stare at REALLY GOOD artwork. I think it's the technical part of my brain trying to figure out the individual elements which make up whatever that thing is, like what facial muscles are being used to convey that emotion or mix of them, what the character is feeling, how the lighting or shading of the environment or extra details in editing affects said expression, etc. And for art, I'm thinking of the lines, posture, composition, object placement, color palette, negative space, tone, and all that jazz you learn from studying art.

Scrapbooking is a fun pastime for me that's extended from celebratory cards to actual gifts to my personal sketchbooks. It's part of the "creating something out of nothing/seeing what you can create with some basic templates and decorations" kind of mindset. And it makes me happy because I get to be creative and my family members and friends (even my employer) love them as part of their gifts every time and come to expect it from me each holiday, so I'm constantly encouraged to do it in the best way. I've recently kinda gone overboard on using ribbons and charms for the spiral and stickers and washi tape for the actual book itself on my sketchbooks, but I find myself wanting to draw in it more because I did that, lol.

I love rewatching the things I love. I usually have the same commentary about it, but its nonetheless enjoyable. And I never know what new thing I'll discover about it next, even if i've seen it over 50 times and only have it on as background noise and don't actually watch it. And yes, I will easily let something play on repeat at least that many times in my lifespan as well (like, a full day of it, at least).

wow i love staring at characters im attracted to for hours on end can i get a HUYEA-

[mlwritingprompts]

submitted prompt: A different mask for a heroine.

Edited to fit the rules.

AU where Marinette broke the mirror in her room while trying to capture / get away from Tikki, and so rushes out after transforming without getting a chance to see her reflection.

The battle is terrifying and fast-paced, and she’s running so high on adrenalin it’s not until and hour after she gets back to her house that she’s finally calmed down enough to check the internet to see what people are saying, and sees for the first time exactly what “Ladybug” looked like.

The blood drains from her face.

She’d seen flashes of her arms and hands, red with black spots, but everything had been moving too quickly to take in any other details.

Now, looking at the hundreds of pictures and videos being uploaded by the second, she realizes with horror that she wasn’t so much wearing a suit as she was covered in red and black paint. It’s so form-fitting that she might as well be naked.

She hadn’t even had time to notice in the fight, she was too busy freaking out, but now she has more reason to freak out! She was out there swinging around practically naked! And people saw her! Everyone saw her! That “costume” didn’t leave anything to the imagination!

She’s hyperventilating before she knows it, panicking about what happened and panicking more and the thought of having to go out like that again. It’s like a nightmare where she went to school and forgot her clothes, but this time it’s real. It actually happened, and Tikki has to spend half an hour straight trying to calm her down.

The only reason Marinette doesn’t rip the earrings off and vow to never put them back on again is the crushing weight of the responsibility suddenly on her shoulders, and Tikki’s frantic, frantic assurances that the “suit” can be altered.

Tikki swears up and down that Marinette doesn’t have to ever look like that again if she doesn’t want to. It’s the most basic version of the protective suit the Miraculous can create, not meant to function on its own, but meant to be an undersuit for man-made armour or clothing for ceremonial or cultural reasons.

But it can and will change, Tikki just didn’t have time to explain how to do it because the situation with the Akuma was progressing so rapidly.

She apologizes over and over again, stressing that nothing like it will ever happen again, and wastes no time in explaining to Marinette how to change the suit. She has to tell Tikki what she wants--show her, preferably, so Tikki can get it as close as possible--then she and Tikki will confirm the choice, and then she has to instruct her to add the additions to the base suit with the specific phrase, “Tikki, donn this.”

The options aren’t limited to clothing, she can have any kind of weapon, or even multiple weapons she wants, and they aren’t constrained to the red with black spots that the undersuit had. Marinette’s imagination is the limit. If she wanted to, she didn’t even have to be human. She could give herself wings or claws or extra limbs. Anything Marinette can think of and describe to Tikki, she can have.

Marinette doesn’t waste any time. She grabs her latest sketchbook, and starts drawing. She goes all out in not only making an actual protective suit, but also makes sure that it hides as much of her body figure and face as possible. Going as far as having a magical mask that hides her face and also modifies her voice a little to be more neutral. And she gives it an actual dynamic design that makes her appear serious, not just endless, cutesy polka-dots.

Oh, she does have some spots, but they’re not cute. They’re the kind of spots poison dart frogs have. They’re the kind of spots poisonous animals wear as a warning for others to stay away. Ladybugs are poisonous, Tikki told her, and Marinette doesn’t want anyone to ever look at her the way they had to have while she was transformed the first time.

Tikki overwrites the understuit with Marinette’s new design, and Marinette transforms and de-transforms ten times in a row just to make sure it sticks, and to make sure it’s just as she imagined it.

When the Stoneheart Akuma begins to multiply and Marinette realizes her mistake, she goes out to fix things, now in her new, actual suit, to everyone’s confusion.

The new costume hides her identity completely, and is as far from the original version as it can possibly get. The armor conceals her figure, and her voice is different, and its easy for everyone--Chat Noir included--to assume straight away that she’s someone new. Chat Noir even asks her if she knows when Ladybug will be showing up--

And Marinette, without even a beat of hesitation, because she came prepared this time, she’s going to be prepared from now on, tells him, “She wasn’t prepared for the responsibility, so she gave her Miraculous instead. You can call me Simetra.”

To her confusion, Chat Noir reacts with anger. His ears flatten, his tail lashes violently behind him, and he demands, sharp teeth bared, “You took her Miraculous?!”

Marinette holds up her hands, confused. “No,” She said, “I didn’t steal her Miraculous. She gave it to me, because she didn’t want to be a hero.”

She was expecting him to calm down. She thought wrong.

“You have to give it back!” He snapped, clicking out his weapon and expanding it threateningly into a staff as he slid into a crouch, “You can’t just take someone’s Miraculous! Ladybug and I are meant to be a team! We’re meant to be partners! We’re meant to be together! Give her back her Miraculous, and give me back my lady!”

With a wordless yell, he charges at her, swinging his staff like it’s a baseball bat.

She blocks his attack with ease, spinning her flail to create a shield while she grabs her off-hand dagger, exclaiming, “What are you doing!?”

He doesn’t let off his assault, he just snarls and slams the staff into her shield again, shouting, slamming again with each statement, “We’re meant to be together! We’re going to get married! We’re going to run away together and live on a deserted island all by ourselves! We’re going to get a pet hampster, and name it--!”

“You just met her yesterday!” Marinette shouts, flabbergasted and quickly becoming enraged.

“I love her!” Chat Noir shouts back, “I’ve loved her since the moment I laid eyes on her! Give me back her Miraculous, and tell me where she is so I can return it to her! You weren’t chosen, she was! Ladybug and I are meant to be together! You’re could never replace her!”

Marinette has heard enough.

In one quick move, she slams her flail forward, forcing Chat Noir to stumble back. As he falls, she slashes out with her dagger, cutting his tail off at the base so that he won’t be able to maintain his balance.

He goes down hard, and for one split second, Marinette considers just leaving him there. She considers leaving, giving him a chance to cool down, a chance to be reasonable.

But only for a second.

He liked her when she was wearing nothing but the undersuit. He’s claming to be madly in love with her, when he only knew her for maybe a combined total of twenty minutes, when she was wearing nothing but the undersuit, practically naked. And now that she’s wearing actual armour, he doesn’t like her. And he’s claiming to be in lover with her. He’s claiming they’re meant to be together. He’s saying he wants to take her to a deserted island with no one else around.

She’s heard enough.

She knows what his Miraculous is, it’s the black ring on his hand.

Taking it from him is not difficult.

His identity being revealed as her new classmate, Adrien, is a little more difficult. But only for a second or two, then she gets over the shock. This is the boy that Chloe has been friends with her whole life. This is the boy who put gum on her and Alya’s seat to punish them for not bowing to Chloe’s every whim.

Why should she be surprised that he’s a sexist creep? Why should she be surprised that he’s an even bigger jerk than she originally thought?

She puts on the ring so she won’t lose it, snaps out her wings, and launches herself into the sky before she has to hear another word out of his mouth.

And she’s not just flying aimlessly, either.

She knows exactly where she’s going, exactly who she’s going to.

She wanted to give Alya her Miraculous.

Well, now she can do one better.

And she’ll make sure Alya knows everything she needs to know before she transforms.

=======================

Excuse my language but, I really need to ask; what the hell were the writers thinking when they made every female superhero wear a bland sexist costume!?

And personally, the awful female costumes are the fourth worst things in the show, the other three being the disgusting treatment of the female characters (especially Marinette), the awful plot, and pointless lessons.

Rules for the blog - send a prompt

[kmclaude]

Forgive me Father, I have no awful headcanons for you, only a general question on comic making. How do you do it, writing-wise/how do you decide what points go where, how do you plot it out (or do you have any resources on the writing aspect that you find useful?) Not to get too bogged down in details, but I attended a writer’s workshop and the author in residence suggested I transfer my wordy sci-fi WIP into graphic novel script, as it might work better. (I do draw, but I don’t know if I have it in me to draw a whole comic—characters in motion? Doing things? With backgrounds? How dare, why can’t everyone just stand around looking pretty)

I was interested but it quickly turned into a lot of internal screaming as I tried to figure out how to compress the hell out of it, since novels are free to do a lot more internal monologuing and such compared to a comic format (to say nothing of trying to write a script without seeing how the panels lay out—just for my own sake, I might have to do both concurrently.)

As an aside, to get a feel for graphic novels I was rereading 99RM and was reminded of how great it was—tightly plotted, intriguing, and anything to do with Ashmedai was just beautifully drawn. I need more Monsignor Tiefer and something something there are parallels between Jehan and Daniel in my head and I don’t know if they make sense but it works for me. (As an aside, I liked the emphasis on atonement being more than just the word sorry, but acknowledgment you did wrong and an attempt to remedy it—I don’t know why that spoke to me the way that it did.)

I thought Tumblr had a word count limit for asks but so far it has offered zero resistance, oh well. I don’t have much else to say but on the topic of 99RM, Adam getting under Monsignor’s skin is amazing, 10/10 (about the Pride picture earlier)

wow tumblr got rid of the markdown editor! or at least in asks which means the new editor probably has no markdown....god i hate this site! anyway...

Totally! So first, giant thank you for the compliments! Second, I have a few questions in turn for you before I dive into a sort of answer, since I can give some advice to your questions in general but it also sounds like you have a specific conundrum on your hands.

My questions to your specific situation are:

did the author give any reason for recommending a, in your words, "wordy" story be turned into a graphic novel?

is the story you're writing more, like you said, "internal monologuing"? action packed? where do the visuals come from?

do you WANT it to be a comic? furthermore, do you want it to be a comic you then must turn around and draw? or would you be interested in writing for comics as a comic writer to have your words turned into art?

With those questions in mind, let me jump into the questions you posed me!

Let me start with a confession...

I've said this before but let me say it again: Ninety-Nine Righteous Men was not originally a comic — it was a feature-length screenplay! And furthermore, it was written for a class so it got workshopped again and again to tighten the plot by a classroom of other nerds — so as kind as your compliments are, I'm giving credit where credit is due as that was not just a solo ship sailing on the sea. On top of that, it got adapted (by me) into a comic for my thesis, so my advisor also helped me make it translate or "read" well given I was director, actor, set designer, writer, editor, SFX guy, etc. all in one. And it was a huge help to have someone say "there is no way you can go blow by blow from script to comic: you need to make edits!" For instance, two scenes got compressed to simple dialogue overlaid on the splashpage of Ashmedai raping Caleb (with an insert panel of Adam and Daniel talking the next day.) What had been probably at least 5 pages became 1.

Additionally, I don't consider myself a strong plotter. That said, I found learning to write for film made the plotting process finally make some damn sense since the old plot diagram we all got taught in grammar school English never made sense as a reader and definitely made 0 sense as a writer — for me, for some reason, the breakdown of 25-50-25 (approx. 25 pages for act 1, 50 for act 2 split into 2 parts of 25 each, 25 pages for act 3) and the breaking down of the beats (the act turning points, the mid points, the low point) helped give me a structure that just "draw a mountain, rising action, climax is there, figure it out" never did. Maybe the plot diagram is visually too linear when stories have ebb and flow? I don't know. But it never clicked until screenwriting. So that's where I am coming from. YMMV.

I should also state that there's Official Ways To Write Comic Scripts to Be Drawn By An Artist (Especially If You Work For A Real Publisher As a Writer) and there's What Works For You/Your Team. I don't give a rat's ass about the former (and as an artist, I kind of hate panel by panel breakdowns like you see there) so I'm pretty much entirely writing on the latter here. I don't give a good god damn about official ways of doing anything: what works for you to get it done is what matters.

What Goes Where?

Like I said, 99RM was a screenplay so it follows, beat-wise, the 3-act screenplay structure (hell, it's probably more accurate to say it follows the act 1/act 2A/act 2B/act 3 structure.) So there was the story idea or concept that then got applied to those story beats associated with the structure, and from there came the Scene-by-scene Breakdown (or Expanded Scene Breakdown) which basically is an outline of beats broken down into individual scenes in short prose form so you get an overview of what happens, can see pacing, etc. In the resources at the end I put some links that give information on the whole story beat thing.

(As an aside: for all my short comics, I don't bother with all that, frankly. I usually have an image or a concept or a bit of writing — usually dialogue or monologue, sometimes a concrete scene — that I pick at and pick at in a little sketchbook, going back and forth between writing and thumbnail sketches of the page. Or I just go by the seat of my pants and bullshit my way through. Either or. Those in many ways are a bit more like poems, in my mind: they are images, they are snapshots, they are feelings that I'm capturing in a few panels. Think doing mental math rather than writing out geometric proofs, yanno?)

Personally, I tend to lean on dialogue as it comes easier for me (it's probably why I'm so drawn to screenwriting!) so for me, if I were to do another longform GN, I'd probably take my general "uhhhhhh I have an idea and some beats maybe so I guess this should happen this way?" outline and start breaking it down scene by scene (I tend to write down scenes or scene sketches in that "uhhhh?" outline anyway LOL) and then figure out basic dialogue and action beats — in short, I'd kind of do the work of writing a screenplay without necessarily going full screenplay format (though I did find the format gave me an idea of timing/pacing, as 1 page of formatted script is about equal to 1 minute of screentime, and gave me room to sketch thumbnails or make edits on the large margins!) If you're not a monologue/soliloque/dialogue/speech person and more an image and description person, you may lean more into visuals and scenes that cut to each other.

Either way this of course introduces the elephant in the panel: art! How do you choose what to draw?

The answer is, well, it depends! The freedom of comics is if you can imagine it, you can make it happen. You have the freedoms (and audio limitations) of a truly silent film with none of the physical limitations. Your words can move in real time with the images or they can be a narrative related to the scene or they could be nonsequitors entirely! The better question is how do you think? Do you need all the words and action written first before you break down the visuals? Do you need a panel by panel breakdown to be happy, or can you freewheel and translate from word and general outlines to thumbnails? What suits you? I really cannot answer this because I think when it comes to what goes where with regard to art, it's a bit of "how do you process visuals" and also a bit of "who's drawing this?" — effectively, who is the interpreter for the exact thing you are writing? Is it you or someone else? If it's you, would you benefit from a barebones script alongside thumbnailed paneling? Would you be served by a barebones script, then thumbnails, then a new script that includes panel and page breakdowns? What frees you up to do what you need to do to tell your story?

If I'm being honest, I don't necessarily worry about panels or what something will look like necessarily until I'm done writing. I may have an image that I clearly state needs to happen. I may even have a sequence of panels that I want to see and I do indeed sketch that out and make note of it in my script. But exactly how things will be laid out, paneled, situated? That could change up until I've sketched my final pencils in CSP (but I am writer and artist so admittedly I get that luxury.)

How do I compress from novel to comic?

Honest answer? You don't. Not really. You adapt from one to another. It's more a translation. Something that would take forever to write may take 1 page in a comic or may take a whole issue.

I'm going to pick on Victor Hugo. Victor Hugo spent a whole-ass book in Notre-Dame de Paris talking about a bird's eye view of Paris and other medieval architecture boring stuff, with I guess some foreshadowing with Montfaucon. Who cares. Not me. I like story. Anyway. When we translate that book to a movie any of the billion times someone's done that, we don't spend a billion years talking at length about medieval Paris. There's no great monologuing about the gibbet or whatever: you get to have some establishing shots, maybe a musical number, and then you move tf on. Because it's a movie, right? Your visuals are right there. We can see medieval Paris. We can see the cathedral. We can see the gibbet. We don't need a whole book: it's visually right there. Same with a comic: you may need many paragraphs to describe, say, a space station off of Sirius and one panel to show it.

On the flip side, you may take one line, maybe two, to say a character keyed in the special code to activate the holodeck; depending on the visual pacing, that could be a whole page of panels (are we trying to stretch time? slow it down? what are we emphasizing?) A character gives a sigh of relief — one line of text, yeah? That could be a frozen panel while a conversation continues on or that could be two (or more!) panels, similar to the direction [a beat] in screenwriting.

Sorry there's not a super easy answer there to the question of compression: it's a lot more of a tug, a push-pull, that depends on what you're conveying.

So Do I Have It In Me to Write & Draw a GN?

The only way you'll know is by doing. Scary, right? The thing is, you don't necessarily need to be an animation king or God's gift to background artists to draw a comic.

Hell, I hate backgrounds. I still remember sitting across from my friend who said "Claude you really need to draw an establishing exterior of the church at some point" and me being like "why do you hate me specifically" because drawing architecture? Again? I already drew the interior of the church altar ONCE, that should be enough, right? But I did draw an exterior of the church. Sorta. More like the top steeple. Enough to suggest what I needed to suggest to give the audience a better sense of place without me absolutely losing my gourd trying to render something out of my wheelhouse at the time.

And that's kinda the ticket, I think. Not everyone's a master draftsman. Not everyone has all the skills in every area. And regardless, from page one to page one hundred, your skills will improve. That's all part of it — and in the meantime, you should lean into your strengths and cheat where you can.

Do you need to lovingly render a background every single panel? Christ no! Does every little detail need to be drawn out? Sure if you want your hand to fall off. Cheat! Use Sketchup to build models! Use Blender to sculpt forms to paint over! Use CSP Assets for prebuilt models and brushes if you use CSP! Take photographs and manip them! Cheat! Do what you need to do to convey what you need to convey!

For instance, a tip/axiom/"rule" I've seen is one establishing shot per scene minimum and a corollary to that has been include a background once per page minimum as grounding (no we cannot all have eternal floating heads and characters in the void. Unless your comic is set in the void. In which case, you do you.) People ain't out here drawing hyper detailed backgrounds per each tiny panel. The people who DO do that are insane. Or stupid. Or both. Or have no deadline? Either way, someone's gonna have a repetitive stress injury... Save yourself the pain and the headache. Take shortcuts. Save your punches for the big K.O. moments.

Start small. Make an 8-page zine. Tell a beginning, a middle, an end in comic form. Bring a scene to life in a few pages. See what you're comfortable drawing and where you struggle. See where you can lean heavily into your comfort zones. Learn how to lean out of your comfort zone. Learn when it's worth it to do the latter.

Or start large. Technically my first finished comic (that wasn't "a dumb pencil thing I drew in elementary school" or "that 13 volume manga I outlined and only penciled, what, 7 pages of in sixth grade" or "random one page things I draw about my characters on throw up on the interwebz") was 99RM so what do I know. I'm just some guy on the internet.

(That's not self-deprecating, I literally am some guy on the internet talking about my path. A lot of this is gonna come down to you and what vibes with you.)

Resources on writing

Some of these are things that help me and some are things that I crowd-sourced from others. Some of these are going to be screenwriting based, some will be comic based.

Making Comics by Scott McCloud: I think everyone recommends this but I think it is a useful book if you're like "ahh!!! christ!! where do I start!!!???" It very much breaks down the elements of comics and the world they exist in and the principles involved, with the caveat that there are no rules! In fact, I need to re-read it.

Comic Book Design: I picked this up at B&N on a whim and in terms of just getting a bird's eye view of varied ways to tackle layout and paneling? It's such a great resource and reference! I personally recommend it as a way to really get a feel for what can be done.

the screenwriter's bible: this is a book that was used in my class. we also used another book that's escaping me but to be honest, I never read anything in school and that's why I'm so stupid. anyway, I'd say check it out if you want, especially if you start googling screenwriting stuff and it's like 20 billion pieces of advice that make 0 sense -- get the core advice from one place and then go from there.

Drawing Words & Writing Pictures: many people I know recommended this. I think I have it? It may be in storage. So frankly, I'd already read a bunch of books on comics before grabbing this that it kind of felt like a rehash. Which isn't shade on the authors — I personally was just a sort of "girl, I don't need comics 101!!!"

Invisible Ink: A Practical Guide to Building Stories that Resonate: this has been recommended so many times to me. I cannot personally speak on it but I can say I do trust those who rec'd it to me so I am passing it along

the story circle: this is pretty much the hero's journey. a useful way to think of journeys! a homie pretty much swears by it

a primer on beats: quick google search got me this that outlines storybeats

save the cat!: what the above refers to, this gives a more genre-specific breakdown. also wants to sell you on the software but you don't need that.

I hope this helps and please feel free to touch base with more info about your specific situation and hopefully I'll have more applicable answers.

[frost-the-ice-dragon]

Sketches from Hiatus Part 3

Just a quick sketch of Venge breaking the fourth wall (I based it off of that one vine)

I have tons of these weird little stick figure comics in my sketchbook (I can provide a transcript of what going on if needed, my handwriting can be pretty hard to read)

More SLG Garm! (He is from @ask-sensei-lord-garmadon) And don’t mind the kitten trying to eat my sketchbook in the corner

This was heavily inspired by a comic I saw once or twice. Unfortunately, I can’t find the artist or the comic, so I can’t credit them, which I feel really bad for. If I find them I’ll edit this and give them credit.

Garmadad and Garmason fluff (Order goes: Movie, Show, SLG, and then Show again)

This was part of another drawing challenge that Leaf and I created, this prompt was just Mystaké and Bentho hanging out

Perspective???practice with Emperor Garm! It’s not fantastic, but it’s pretty good for the second time I’ve ever drawn someone with their head tilted down.

Drew some quotes that are from Emperor’s New Groove that suited the tlnm

And that’s it for this post!

[little-cereal-draws]

Hi feel free to respond to this privately but Hi, i love your animated videos, especially the shadows ones! What program(s) do you use if you don’t mind me asking and do u have any tips? I would love to start doing animatics but idk how/where to start. Thanks in advance! ^^

Hello! I'm so glad that you enjoyed my videos! My software is not fancy at all and might be a bit of a letdown tbh lol

For drawing I used to use Paint tool sai (which i think is what a lot of ppl use) but it wasn't working right on my computer, it wouldn't let me save my images. I got it off of some Japanese website and it was $19 (USD). Now I use the app that came with my computer. I have a Windows computer. It's called Sketchbook (oOoOh, so fancy lol) and it is limited in terms of brushes and pen pressure but I like it. Very easy to figure out. I also have Krita which I think I had to pay for. I don't remember how much tho, I want to say $15 (USD)?? Maybe? It is much more complex and lets you do things like animate but I don't use it bc I'm too lazy to figure it out lol I know there's a lot of great tutorials online tho. I also know a lot of ppl use Procreate which is much better especially in terms of brushes but it's not compatible w my computer :( Procreate costs $10 (USD) I think.

As for editing, I use Shotcut. It's a free software that I downloaded from somewhere, I don't remember. It is definitely limited in terms of filters, camera angles, and what you can put in it but hey, it's free! The one thing I hate the most abt it is you can't pan. It drives me insane. But it has zoom, text, filters, etc. I used to use Filmora which is also free but is even more limited and I think it puts a watermark on your videos.

Now for tips!

Uhh, I guess the most obvious is practice. I started doing animatics four years ago and I can't watch any of my old ones now, they're so bad lol

Another thing is vary your shot type. If you have a couple ppl doing smth together, do close ups, medium shots, and wide shots. Try different camera angles. It's ok to do the same type of shot a couple times in a row but after a while it can get boring.

An extension of the last point, if a character does smth like knock a thing over or move it or whatever, show the object moving and then their reaction. Reaction shots are very important for character's emotions. Wide shots to establish a setting.

As an extension of that point, watch your favorite show/movie and watch how they film it, when they zoom in, how they frame the characters etc. I've spent so much time doing that lol (WWDITS might not be the best example bc it's a documentary but it should still work pretty well)

In terms of moving characters/making it smooth, layers are going to be ur best friend lol I end up with so many layers when I make a video. It's partially because I'm scared to delete layers in case I need them later but it's also helpful to see a character's last position. If they're on the left and need to move to the right, draw them on the left, copy the layer, and move the new layer a little bit using the original one as a reference point. Continue until they've made it. Same thing if they're moving their hand up or whatever. Use old layers as reference points to avoid jumpiness.

Because animating/drawing in general is hard and time consuming and I'm lazy I try to reuse shots/poses as much as I can. Again if you have a character going from left to right and then later in the video going right to left, save the left to right layers. You can just flip them to make it look like they're going right to left and now you don't have to draw it again! This can be tricky tho bc you don't want your video to get repetitive like I said before. So do it but do it sparingly lol

THUMBNAIL FIRST! This is very helpful. Just make a bunch of little boxes with stick figures mapping out what's going to happen in ur video. It doesn't have to look good at all, it's just so you don't forget what's going to happen/get lost. This is mine for the video of Laszlo and Nadja dancing:

I put notes on this one so I remember what the actions and camera angles are. Since I was copying an already choregraphed dance here, I did that in black and then put in more interesting camera angles in blue on a different layer so it wasn't two minutes of the same full body shot

And uh yeah I think that's it! Hopefully this is helpful!

[acaseforpencils]

Tom Gauld.

Bio: ​I make a weekly cartoon for The Guardian newspaper about books and a weekly science cartoon for New Scientist magazine. I work as an illustrator and have written a number of comic books and, most recently, a children’s book called The Little Wooden Robot and the Log Princess. I’ve drawn ten covers for The New Yorker and a number of illustrations, but never a cartoon: which is something that I hope to remedy sooner or later.

Read more about the cover here!

I think this Spring Music cover may be my favourite. I can't read music, so I worked with a fact-checker from The New Yorker called Fergus, who understood music, to make sure the notation was correct, and all related to spring. We had to use pre-1930 music, because even publishing these tiny excerpts from modern tunes would have cost too much.

Where I sit to draw when I get tired or bored of standing. and where I work on the computer.

Tools: L-R: Uniball Eye Micro Ballpen, Pentel Micro-correct Whiteout, Pilot G-tec-C4 (for thin lines), UniBall Air (for thicker lines), Bicmatic Pencil, Eraser, Ruler.

Tools of choice:​ My favourite drawing tool is a ballpen: the Uniball Eye micro, which gives a lovely smooth line and has very good ink. I love to draw in Maruman Art-Spiral Sketchbooks. For me, the sketchbook is the most important part of my process. It’s a great place to play around with ideas, and look at them in different ways, without feeling anything is fixed. I try to spend as much time as I can doodling and making notes in my sketchbook, because once I move onto drawing on paper or using the computer, things seem to be on a specific path to completion. Which is necessary in the end, but only once the exploring and playing has got to somewhere interesting.

A pretty typical sketchbook page.

I also use a couple of other ballpens (one a bit thicker and one very thin), and a Pentel Micro-Correct whiteout pen. I draw all my pencils and roughs with Bicmatic pencils, then trace them in ink using my big light box (shown in the photos). I then scan them into the computer and use photoshop to do the colouring.

Lightbox:I stand at this to do most of my drawings.

Tool I wish I could use better: I’m quite colorblind in the red-green area so colours have always been difficult for me. Photoshop is really useful because you can try all sorts of things, then just undo them if they don’t work, plus I can read the CMYK numbers to figure out what the colour is mathematically, even if I can’t tell visually. But it’s still a bit of a struggle. So I suppose the tool I’d like to be able to use better would be all the colour tools analogue and digital. It would be nice to add colour to my ink drawings with watercolour.

 I sit in this to think while doodling in my sketchbook.

Tool I wish existed: ​A paintbrush with an undo setting.

Tricks: A few years ago, really just out of interest, I made a font of my hand-lettering using a free online service. It turned out to be really useful for making rough versions of my comics and is much easier to edit than rewriting by hand. I don’t use it for finished art because it lacks a truly handmade feel, but it’s great for speedily working things out.

Misc: When I started making cartoons, I didn’t understand scanning or resolution at all, and saved all my art as atrociously low resolution files. If I ever want to reprint any of that stuff, I’ll have to find the drawings and rescan it all. Now I do the opposite: I save everything at super high resolution just in case I ever want to print it bigger.

Website, etc.

Website

Twitter

Instagram

[katzirra]

Some life updates and what Kat has been up to, under the cut~

Been working on getting myself to a good place amongst my friends, feeling comfortable again. I should be instigating more but I’m trying to stop being scared of people I literally love... lmao. I’m such an awkward friend to have in contact frequently tbh.

Been working on Patreon scanning, hunting some stuff to upgrade my scanner to an A3 size, but having to do some WILD research on that for image quality and values versus just pure document scanners. UGH.

I haven’t been drawing as much lately, but been doing a lot of editing on PS for all my sketchbook stuff which means I’ve been looking at like 200++ images every few days to piece them together, PHEW.

Trying to fix settings on Clip Studio, and get my email cleaned out, and just sort of house keeping for my mental health.

I’m also starting to really think about what I want from my art, what makes me happy, and figuring out what I want to do in terms of merchandise vs studying on art lately. I have a to do list of study focuses and things I think I’m going to start doing weekly to keep my anatomy fine tuned, and learn more. I have a lot I’m wanting to focus on for myself, as well as for getting my production back up.

I use to literally make 300-900 drawings a year, and I want to get back up to that threshold of LIKING the creative process. I want to finish some of my sketchbooks in LESS than the 4 years I average, by just MAKING MESSES and doing ROUGH and polished sketch studies.

So. I’m kind of in a weird place with my life and my art, but I’m trying to figure it out, yaknow? Trying to find joy amongst the stuff that makes me wanna die honestly. WOOF. It’s a lot but, I’m getting there.

I need to fucking get my hands to understand my new monitor though so I can finish my commissions.... I love my new monitor because my head and light sensitivity is LESSENED SO MUCH, but my tablet registering the size is uh... it’s taking a learning curve honestly to adjust unu....

[shadowturtlesstuff]

You are in love

cressworth modern au, based on you are in love-taylor swift for thomas’s birthday

i have dress from audrey rose’s perspective written but not fully edited yet so i’m still working on that as well as the asks but they should be done soon. enjoy!

I wake early, sliding out of bed so I do not disturb Thomas or our cat. I quickly put on one of Thomas's jumpers and made my way into the kitchen. He had mentioned a few months back that his birthday usually went uncelebrated by his family, and since I had met him a month after his birthday last year and that he'd made my own incredibly special, I have been planning to return the sentiment all month. 

I pour myself a coffee as Sir Isaac jumps onto the counter, purring at me for food. Dacina and Illeana will be arriving back in London soon, my own family should be waking up soon and preparing for tonight. A few of our friends will come too, as will our cat. I’m sure if I didn't bring Sir Isaac with us Thomas would make us go back home to pick up ‘our son’. Which means I have a few hours with Thomas all to myself before we spoil him rotten at the party. 

“Audrey Rose?” I hear Thomas call from our bedroom, tiredness lacing his words. We’d stayed up late watching films together, then Thomas had read to me, one of his romance novels, then we'd fallen asleep in each other's arms. I was blissfully content to stay there all day if I didn't have to ensure everything would be set up right for his party. 

Thomas still struggled opening up to people other than me, and he struggled to believe he was a good person worthy of any love. Some days were better, but I found him with a strange look on his face sometimes whilst he looked at me. It was normally when I was doing such a mundane task, or something ridiculous, but I'd always catch him with such a vulnerable face it made my heart melt. And made me kiss him to try and convince him how much I loved him.

“In here!” I shout back, pouring myself coffee and then dealing with Sir Isaac. I heard Thomas move, slowly making his way to the kitchen. I check the time on my phone, and the message from Dacina saying they are at the airport. He hasn't seen his sister in a few years, she's been travelling the world as a private investigator with her girlfriend, and I know how much he misses her. 

I turn to find Thomas on the stool, his messy hair and tired face making him appear so much younger than he is and also utterly adorable. His messy hair is my favourite look. I reach to press a kiss to his temple. Thomas isn't a morning person, he prefers keeping me locked in his arms until we have to get up so we aren't late for work. “Why are we up so early?” he complains, taking my hand in his. He narrows his eyes at me slightly. “You planned something didn't you?” he sighs at my smirk. I'm surprised he didn't figure out anything sooner.

“Of course I did. But before we do anything, what would you like for breakfast?”

“Wadsworth, do we need to be awake now or is it whatever you've planned occurring later tonight?”

“Tonight but-”

He stands and wraps his arms around my waist, burying his head in the crook of my neck. He whines for emphasis and I can't help laughing at his dramatic nature. We stand for a minute, him holding me and me stealing his warmth until he pulls back and attempts to drag me back to bed. 

“Do you not want your gifts?” This makes him stop slightly and face me. 

“You got me something?”

“Many things. Some for now, some for the event later.” 

His curiosity gets the better of him and he sits back down.  Sir Issac jumps onto his lap, purring. I have two gifts planned for now, and two for the party. Panic flows through me at the thought he won't like them, but it is too late to change them. I slid the box to him that was hidden in one of our kitchen counters. He smiles warmly at me, I can tell by the sad look in his eye he is wondering why I'm going through all the effort as he messes with the ribbon. 

“Open it then Thomas.” Slowly he pulls the ribbon. He refuses to meet my eyes, and he hesitates in opening it. “I love you Thomas. More than I can comprehend. When I look at you, or think about you, my fears ebb away, the ghosts that haunt me leave.”

He opens the lid, looks at the gifts. I got him a notebook and a sketchbook as well as a novel. I'd contemplated what would mean the most to Thomas, what he loved and what he needed. We both work for my uncle as morticians, so a notebook is always useful but I want him to use it for himself. And the sketchbook was something that screamed something Thomas would adore. It was black with little roses hidden on the cover. He ran his finger over them. I'd always loved watching Thomas draw, he was incredibly talented but he rarely drew anything for himself. 

The novel was his favourite book. I'd managed to get a special edition of it, and I’d written inside the cover pages. Whilst I preferred reading autonomy books or science books, Thomas preferred romance novels. We've formed this new habit of him reading them to me before bed, or him talking to me about the book over breakfast. He'd tried to get me to read this book on my own for ages, so I finally gave in. I cried when I finished it. I understood why Thomas loved it. He saw himself in the main character, this perceived monster without feeling, when all along he was seeking acceptance. So I knew that this would mean alot to him. To us. 

The silence clung to the air, but despite my heart racing fast I could feel Thomas's love radiating off him as he picked up the book. Opening it I held my breath as I watched him read what I wrote. As I watched a tear slide down his cheek. His eyes found mine once he finished and he smiled at me. “You are my best friend Wadswoth. I hope you never forget that fact.” His voice is no more than a whisper as he sets the book down, walks around the island and envelopes in a tight hug. As he held me I understood why people went crazy when in love. The feeling of having someone you loved loving you just as fiercely was intoxicating. It meant more than anything else. So I held him tightly even as sir Issac tried to break us up because we weren't giving him attention. 

Eventually Thomas let go of me to rub Sir Isaac's head. “You aren't going to make me cry like that tonight are you?” He half teases whilst beginning to make his own coffee. I take his place stroking our cat as I tell him he needn't worry about my other gifts. Most of them were sweet treats and a few other books.

“Very well.” was all he replied with. Silence washes over us as we go about our daily routine. We steal kisses as we make breakfast, working around each other perfectly in our small kitchen. The rest of the day passes much the same. I do some research on our latest case as well as keep in contact with those attending the party and setting it up. Thomas is somewhere else in the flat, most likely reading. 

When we have an hour before the party I pack away my things and find Thomas in the living room, his sketchbook in his lap. I peek over his shoulder and find that he has drawn me. Drawn me buried in my work, my hair in a messy bun and spilling over my face. His hoodie drowned me and my hand rested on my cup of coffee as I read something. Despite the chaos of my work I look peaceful. I gasp slightly at the details and he looks over his shoulder at me. 

“Wadsworth. I didn't know what to start with so I drew my favourite thing.” He smiles at me and gestures for me to come sit next to him. He turns a page and shows me smaller drawings, some of me, some of us both. They are all perfectly drawn. I take his hand in mine and place a small kiss before taking the book of him to look closely at them. 

There is one of me in a long pink summer dress, one we had taken the day we rescued Sir Issac. We’d been walking through the park, discussing our case when we heard him. He'd been lying with an injured leg, no collar or any way to find the owner. So we took him to the vet and later kept him. Then there was another one of me reading something, one of me cooking, reaching into the cupboards to find something with a bright smile on my face. There is one of us both lying in bed, me sticking my tongue out at the camera and him laughing at me. I didn't know when he took half these photos but I'd never felt happier as I looked up at him, his eyes hesitant at my reaction. I felt a tear run down my cheek and I looked back down at the drawings.

I hear Thomas tell me to look up and when I don't I feel his hand gently on my chin and lift me. I'm all too aware of how close we are, our shoulders brush against each other and all I feel is such love for this wonderful man. “I picked some of my favourite days, and some of the times that looked real. I love watching you do some tedious task, because you make it enjoyable somehow.”

“Which is your favorite?” my voice is barely above a whisper.

“This,” he says pointing to the one of us in bed. “You were drunk that night-”

“I was not!” 

“You were,” he laughs at the memory, “I tucked you into bed but you made me hold you, then decided we needed to do something. So I took some photos of us, you with the most absurd faces, but there's one where I'm looking at you and you can see something in me clicked. I'd realised I loved you so much that night and that I'd do anything to prove it to you.” 

He wiped the tear, caressing my cheek as he planted a kiss on my lips. 

“Will you teach me?” I ask because I'm utterly terrible at drawing, at most creative things. 

“Of course. I'm guessing you came to tell me we have to get ready?”

“Yeah.”

We dress, order a taxi and make our way to the party. Were greeted by my uncle who hands Thomas a set of scalpels, then my father who shakes his hand and laughs with him. It is still so bizarre at how friendly they were. My cousin wraps me in a tight hug and slowly the party develops. Dacian and Illeana get here slightly late but make up for it by telling us tales of our adventure. I leave Thomas to catch up with his sister and find Liza at the buffet, Sir Isaac poking her leg to try and get her to give him food. I roll my eyes at him. Thomas is a terrible role model. 

“Sorry about our little beast, he is so much like Thomas the pest.” I pick up our cat and stroke him behind the ears and he purrs loudly. Liza laughs at me. “How are you?” I ask. It's been months since we saw each other. Last I heard she was part of a magic group of sorts and her mother hated it. But she was happy so at some point I would bring Thomas to see one of her shows. 

“I'm good, me and Harry are, well. He's an ass but that's a story for another time. Will you and the birthday boy be dancing tonight? I'm sure Thomas would love being the center of attention like that.” He would, very much so. There were a few couples dancing, I looked towards the floor and found that Illeana and Dacina were there so I tried to find Thomas. He hasn't moved from our table but had his sketchbook out, staring intensely at it. 

“We might. And you must tell me about what has happened with Harry. Perhaps sometime this week we can go for tea?” 

Sir Isaac jumps from my arms, seemingly bored so Liza takes that opportunity to wrap me in another hug. 

“Yes, I love that.” She tells me before walking off to find aunt Amelia. So I pile a bunch of sweets onto my plate and make my way back to Thomas. 

“You are meant to socialise at parties Thomas.” I say as a way of greeting. I set the plate before him and he smiles brightly at all the sugary treats. 

“Right, yes, sorry I'll finish this later.” I go to steal a peek at what he's drawing but he closes it too fast and tells me it's a surprise. “Dance with me Wadsworth.” he stands holding his arm out. We make our way onto the dance floor and I spot Liza beaming at me, getting her phone out to record us probably. Her hopelessly romantic heart means she likes to capture moments between Thomas and I. Something she has in common with Thomas apparently. 

We start dancing slowly, his arms around my waist, making small circles as we spin. “Will you tell me what you were drawing or do I have to wait?”

“You obviously. You look devastatingly beautiful tonight. Your dress is perfect. I had to.” He says such matters of factly that it makes me laugh. I would very much like to draw Thomas, to be able to be half as talented as him. The dress I'm wearing is a midnight blue, matching his own suit. It rested over my shoulders, falling into a tight waist and flowing at the knees so when Thomas spun me it wrapped around me. 

“Happy birthday Thomas.” His smile in return is better than anything I've seen before, it is so genuine and full of love that I stop dancing for just a second so I can always remember it. The music turns to silence for me as we continue to spin, all I can think about it Thomas. I steal a kiss and we remain dancing in silence, words not needed to convey our feelings.

@city-of-fae @fangirling-again @padfoot-sirius-black @fandomtakeover@purplecreatorhorsewagon @throneoftsc @the-hoofflepooff @kittycat2187 @goatahoan @boredbookwormgirl @loveyatopluto @lovecakeandmore

[unironicduncanstan]

Gwanon x Trustin Spa Anon - 700 word oneshot (angst) (plot twist) (cliffhanger)

Pairing: Gwanon x Trustin Spa Anon

Rating: PG-13

Pov: First person (Gwanon)

Plot: gwanon gets a mysterious anon of her own, it sparks her interest but just when it seems all is well, a mysterious third party enters the scene. . .

~~~~~

the keyboard clacks beneath my fingertips as i update my sierra blog. im deep in my research for an overlapping slur that i could conveniently use against both fans of courtney and nicki minaj at the same time. as i find a particularly outdated one, in my intensity i accidentally knock my all lives matter mug off the table. it spills the blue paint i was drinking all over the floor.

“Oh no!” i say, capitalizing the first letter and ending with an exclamation point in real life.

i look down only for a moment to clean up my mess, and by the time i look back at my screen, i see that someone has answered my anon hate. this had better be good. i even made sure to use the word whore, which is #3 on my slur list

to my dismay it looks like they just posted some stupid meme of cody. i sigh. courtneys war crimes go unchecked yet again. i stroke the picture of gwen i have in my locket. it makes me feel better. maybe theres some new content for her in the tag. . .

i open up a tumblr search and scroll around a bit, passing what looks like hieroglyphs and a random picture of fondant, but i’m only ever searching for one thing. the chance to avenge her. i refresh. there at the top, a brand new post reads; ‘hey guys. gwen stinky’. i take a deep breath and try to keep going. i take another large swig of paint to calm my nerves down.

hey, whats this? i have a new ask! but i havent sent any more death wishes today. . .

the message takes me off guard. its short and concise. “draw trent justin spa art please.” i stare at it for a moment, trying to register what it could mean, when i suddenly receive another. 

“trustin Spa now. 😡” i wonder quietly to myself if they have the wrong person. before i can think of what to respond with, i see yet another ask. i refresh, assuming its them, but to my disappointment its another anon hate response. this time im met with a poorly edited meme of gwen confessing to war crimes. i had forgotten, id asked someone for a character tier list last sunday. i didnt think theyd catch on so fast. with every passing day, my notoriety grows, and the loyalty to my queen becomes harder to bear. . .

my mind goes back to my previous contact. i decide to go back into the tags and see if there’s anything to make sense of this. there i see it, hate blog after hate blog, anon after anon. i sit back in awe at the craftsmanship and dedication. the crackhead energy actually makes my heart skip a beat. my gwen locket clinks against my chest as i reread their absolutely spot on death threats, sprinkled in emojis.

what is this feeling. . . am i impressed or . . . something else. . . ? i shake my head, going back to my askbox and preparing to finally type a response. i try multiple times, but i cant figure out what to say. just when all hope seems lost, i realize what i have to do. i have to make my own move. i get into typing position.

“Do you think gwen deserves to die? Is she a monster? Is the name Courtney kind of whoreish?” i hit post. my heart races. i wait for a response as patiently as i can, on the edge of my seat until i Finally see my askbox light up.

“all i want is trustin spa”. i settle back into my chair, staring wistfully at the ceiling. finally, ive found someone who can accept the truth without a fight. their passion inspires me. i know in my soul what i have to do. . . i get out my sketchbook and start on a trustin spa piece, working with as much effort and swiftness as i can. ive never been more passionate about a project before. i cannot wait to show them, that is until i get another message. . .

this one is unfamiliar. in fact, it might throw a wrench in my entire plan to woo my anon, as it appears to be a callout. the only problem is, i didnt do the thing im being cancelled for this time! with confusion, my eyes scan it one more time. . .

“i used to really respect and admire you but i have no idea why you would make up a rumor about amegaotaku being a Zionist. it’s not true so leave her the fuck alone.“

[taumoeba]

"Of Course I Can Illustrate a Book Jacket" by John Rocco, from the 10th anniversary edition of The Lightning Thief, 2015

(text version for readability under the cut)

image 1: "Of Course I Can Illustrate a Book Jacket!"

The story behind my first book jacket assignment and how I came up with the image for The Lightning Thief

It was the spring of 2005 and, after spending the previous fourteen years working as an art director in an entertainment field, I was ready to pursue my dream of having a career in children's books. I knew only one person in the industry: Rob Weisbach, the publisher at Miramax Books. Rob said, "You know, we have this book that we need new cover art for, and I know you'd be just perfect for it." My response was, "Of course I can illustrate a book jacket!" (In retrospect, I'm not sure if I was trying to convince him, or myself.)

After I read The Lightning Thief, I met with the book's editor, Jennifer Besser. I went on and on to her about how much I loved the book, and as I tried to describe what I thought would make a good cover, I realized that I should have sketched out my idea. I pulled out my sketchbook, scratched out a very rough pencil drawing, and held it up. Her face took on a polite but puzzled look as she tried to decipher it. I spent about a minute doing another, more detailed drawing of my concept. Jennifer immediately lit up, smiled warmly, and said, "Yes, that is the way to go. Go with that."

[To the left is a photocopy of his sketch, which features the figure of a boy holding a pen. He is standing in water and the reflection of his pen in the water is a sword. There are tall skyscraper buildings in the background.]

With any cover art, what I try to do is create a promise. If the image intrigues you, you'll pick up the book, and I promise you'll like what's inside.

image 2: When I first read The Lightning Thief, this is what stood out for me: it's the story of a kid who is stuck in the middle of an argument between two adults, and he feels helpless and alone. That's what I wanted to show. Sure, those two adults were Zeus and Poseidon, and yes, the argument was over a seven zillion-watt lightning bolt, but those details would inform the imagery, not overwhelm it.

So I knew I was going to have Percy alone on the cover. I didn't want to actually show Zeus and Poseidon, so I thought the best way to represent them would be with a stormy sea (Poseidon) and a stormy sky (Zeus). I chose to put Percy in the water, as he is the son of Poseidon, staring at the New York City skyline-- in particular, the Empire State Building.

A lot of people ask me why I have Percy with his back to us on the cover. I did that for two reasons. First, when I'm reading a book and the main character's face is clearly visible on the cover, I can no longer make up my own ideas about that character. There is no room for my imagination. If I don't see his face, he could be anybody. He could even be me! I love books that make me feel like the hero of the story. Second, with Percy facing away from us, we, as readers, are on the adventure with him, following him into the book.

[To the right is a more detailed version of the sketch from image 1. On the top half of the drawing, there are strikes of lightning in the air and a storm cloud hovering over a city with many skyscrapers. The silhouette of the Empire State Building is in the middle of the city. The bottom half of the drawing is an ocean, in which a boy is standing with his back to the audience. He holds a sword in his right hand and faces the city skyline.]

Others might ask: why didn't you put any mythological imagery on the cover? Honestly, I felt it wasn't necessary. There are so many books already out there about Greek myths, and I didn't want it to be one of those "Here's a great adventure book and you're also going to learn something along the way!" That's kind of a turn-off for me. Also, the Greek mythology connection is inherent in the series title: Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

image 3: I had figured out that I wanted to show a young boy standing in a raging sea with a massive storm overhead, with the New York City skyline in the background, lit up by lightning. How was I going to make this faceless boy stand out with all of that going on? With color. I knew Percy's shirt was going to be orange, because that's the color of the Camp Half-Blood T-shirt. So, in order to make him "pop" from the background, I chose to use a complementary color everywhere else. On the color wheel, the opposite of the red-orange of Percy's shirt is blue-green. Percy would be the only warm thing on the cover; the rest would be very cool. When there is something warm in a painting, it always tends to "come forward," and the cooler colors tend to recede. As an illustrator I use this tool to give my paintings depth.

The Lightning Thief was only one of the many covers I have illustrated for Rick Riordan's books. I even reillustrated my own covers for Percy Jackson! My new art for the series, which creates a mural when the books are placed side-by-side, was unveiled in 2014. But the original Lightning Thief cover will always hold a special place in my heart, because not only was it for the first book in a phenomenal series, but it was also my first-ever cover art. I'm proud that it has become associated with a classic piece of children's literature.

Happy anniversary, Percy!

John Rocco