#love using refs im just too lazy to find the right one

[aerequets]

[hanymelon]

Hi! Your art is *chef's kiss* and the ways you draw Mammon solo or with your MC are super cute and I love the way you detail his blushes and expressions so much. I get excited everytime I see you post a new drawing 💕

I was wondering if you had any tips for a beginner artist on, like, anatomy or just starting off in general? I usually just write and stick to that for OM, but some ideas feel like they should be drawn. I get confused with where I should start practicing and usually just drop the idea altogether.

Sorry if that put you on the spot or anything, don't feel bad if you don't wanna answer. I also really just wanted to gush about your art and ty for drawing so much good stuff!

Hi! Awwh thank you so much! ;v; Im so happy you get like my art enough to say that <333 💕💕💕 I know what you mean about getting ideas that feel like they should be drawn. Sometimes i get ideas that i think would be better done in writing. If you wanna share what you've written, id love to give them a read :)) No pressure tho! Ah, i get excited when someone is starting to pick up drawing. It can be challenging but super rewarding. Before i give specific tips, firstly I'd say if you are just starting out, have fun with it and dont stress too much about the technicalities. If you get too caught up with how something doesn't look right or how your anatomy is wonky, you'll bog yourself down and end up not creating at all which is sad :( In the end, its really about getting your ideas down on paper and it shouldn’t be something too too stressful since youre doing it for fun anyway! I have to remind myself that no one is holding me at gunpoint and forcing me to create drawings with perfect anatomy or proportions, im still learning! And thats okay!

[More under the cut bc this got kinda long!]

With that out of the way, here are some tips you can hopefully use. Im not that great at anatomy either, but what helps me a lot is references. Its pretty typical advice, but it really helps me understand form and what the human body can and cant do. like can the arm twist that way? Idk, look up a reference. Although it is the best way, sometimes its really overwhelming to look at actual pictures of humans and trying to translate that to a cartoony anime-ish drawing so you can start out by referencing anime (or cartoons) instead. When i was starting out i used to do little studies on styles that i liked. That can help a lot with seeing how artists you like draw certain things. For example how they make the arms and legs not look stiff, the specific curves they use for the waist, the folds in the clothes, etc etc. (Goes without saying here, but just don't upload your studies or copied drawings on the internet and claim it as your own and you're all good) I’d insert pictures of my own studies but i dont have them with me where i am rn so i cant do that unfortunately sorry! So lets say you have this super specific pose in mind and you cant find a reference for it or youre just too lazy to sort through hundreds of pictures on google or pinterest to find that one perfect ref img. You can just pose and take a picture of yourself. i do this a lot and sometimes get my friends (who are also art students so that makes things easier haha) to help if i need it. If you really dont want to do that tho, something i also do a lot is to do the pose while drawing it. Feeling and seeing where my body naturally leans and where body parts are relative to each other in a certain pose really helps. for example if im drawing someone waving, how far away is the hand from the head, should the elbow be out or close to the body, how long should the forearm be etc etc. Yknow the thing where you make the same expression as the character you're drawing? The way you kinda feel the way its supposed to look? Yeah its like that but for poses fjsv i hope this makes sense. Personally im not a big believer of the "Draw everyday!! Even when you dont feel like it!!" advice. But If youre really enjoying what you do, youd wanna be doing it every day anyway. And the more you draw, the more comfortable itll become and the more things will kind of make sense when you notice patterns as you practice. I guess what im trynna say is make the practice fun and not feel like a bother so you'd wanna do it more and in turn improve more. Its a cycle haha.  Im not the most qualified to give advice but i hope this helped a bit? There are plenty of sources on the interwebs that are very useful and can probably help you a lot. I hope you keep drawing anon! Tldr; Draw what you want, use references, strike the pose and feel your body, make practice fun (whatever that might mean for you), the more you do it the better you’ll get

[leonmckennedy]

me: im gonna write out this scene from a future fic that i cant get out of my head. it’ll be quick, its fine

me, 1400 words later: fuck

contains: prompto | noctis + a smooch or two. it’s like, brotherhood esque

theres a ref here to this one fic which is like, the best fic ive ever read

by the time the credits start to roll, prompto has nearly forgotten they were even watching a movie. prompto had made some offhand comment, something about a chocobo that was present in an earlier scene, and that caused noctis to snort and say something snarly, and that sparked the sudden conversation they’re having now.

the movie itself is of no consequence; it’s a mediocre movie they’ve seen many, many times together that it was only really on due to how familiar it was — and there’s some voice in prompto, something equally anxious and excited, that’s amazed he’s such friends with the crown prince now that they have a comfort movie— so, really, the movie managing to run it’s course while they argue about the sizes of monsters isn’t special at all.

unlike prompto, who’s all wild gestures and noises, noctis is rather still when he talks. it’s probably because of his seemingly perpetual drowsiness, with the current late time undoubtedly feeding into it. where noctis was facing him before, making faces at prompto and laughing whenever he said something particularly outlandish, now he’s leaning heavily into prompto’s side, head falling to land on the blond’s shoulder.

for a moment, prompto can only think of how warm noctis is.

“...i don’t get you at all,” noct says, voice amused even though he sounds like he’s suppressing a yawn. “i mean, you’re usually wrong about stuff like this, but never this wrong.”

prompto manages a huff. “i’m offended. a behemoth sized chocobo wouldn’t be scary at all. in fact, the bigger the bird, the more to love.”

“okay yeah, but we were talking about fighting. and i can guarantee you wouldn’t want to fight a chocobo the size of a behemoth.”

“dude. a giant chocobo could crush me with their giant feet and i’d thank them, probably.”

noctis laughs, a low chuckle that prompto can feel rumble through his body. noct moves, probably intending to push him or something equally terrible, but doesn’t seem to have the energy for it. instead he ends up shifting, depositing more of his weight into prompto’s side instead. prompto feels… well, he isn’t sure how to feel about it yet, besides of it being nice.

“alright, so let me make sure i got this right: you’d rather face a behemoth-sized chocobo, than a chocobo-sized behemoth, because you’re certain you’ll manage train the giant chocobo to not kill you.”

“having a giant pet chocobo is my new dream.”

“you’re so dumb, prom.”

prompto starts to say something in response but noctis shifts again, reaching for one of the blankets that became disheveled in their argument, and prompto ends up just… watching. he notices belatedly that the credits have completely finished rolling and the screen is blank now, the screen defaulting to the movie’s menu. so it’s late, and it’s quiet — thus, a certain type of hush falls over them. it’s something warm and comforting, not unlike the blanket that noctis proceeds to bundle around the both of them. all ridiculous conversations aside, it’s been a great night. no class tomorrow, homework either finished or left for another day when it’s more urgent.

right now it’s just them, and while prompto sits there in a deep silence slightly uncharacteristic for him, he lets it wash over him. he’s probably never been this content in his life. if noctis would look at him now, he’d probably see the dopest smile of prompto’s face, and then prompto would have to be forced to joke off his friend’s teasing. as it is, however, noctis is looking away, eyes half open and staring blankly at a spot on the blanket. his face is obscured a bit by his hair — because his fringe is growing, because prompto can’t remember the last time noctis has gotten his hair cut at all — so prompto can’t see his expression. but his hands are gripping the blankets, and he’s still besides the rise and fall of his chest as he breathes.

unbidden, the thought that noctis is really cute passes through. prompto doesn’t ignore it, per se, but he tries his damndest to squash the urge to grab his camera and snap a shot.

they continue in comfortable silence for a bit. prompto is ready to ask noctis if he’s fallen asleep already when the prince speaks himself. “hey… prompto.”

“yah?”

noctis opens his mouth but then closes it again, exhaling through his nose. prompto can feel the action. can feel it, clearly, when noct turns his head to bury his face in prompto’s neck, breathes against his skin. prompto bites back a surprised gasp, swallows hard.

“noct…?”

“sorry,” noctis says, doesn't move. “you’re just…. warm. it’s nice.”

funny, it’s what prompto has been thinking this whole time. noctis is so warm and calm by his side, prompto thinks that they could fall asleep like this. together, bundled up, with each other. it makes prompto’s stomach flutter.

“you’re just trying to use me as a pillow, aren’t you?”

“maybe.” the word is nothing but a breath against prompto’s skin. prompto shivers slightly. “maybe not a pillow but….something.”

something?

“you’re just the snuggle monster tonight, then.”

noctis shakes his head slightly and looks up at him then, completely and fully. their faces are close, and noctis’ sleepy blues have a particular shine to them. prompto swallows again and noctis follows the bob of his throat, watches his jaw, trails back up to prompto’s lips. like a built in response prompto darts his tongue out to lick them and noctis watches that too, copies the action himself.

“prom.”

“yeah?”

“kiss me?”

it sounds like a suggestion, a question, and a command all at once. there’s a bit in his mind that, while chugging to process what’s happening, asks how this is possible. is this what their relationship is? was? a split second, spent watching the anticipation in noctis’ eyes, isn’t enough to find a suitable conclusion; or any, really, that wouldn't make him scream in embarrassment. however that voice inside that screams at him, that bit that’s half anxiety and half bad decision making, nags at the edge of his self-restraint and then he’s nodding, a slightly jerky movement.

noctis leans in, and prompto meets him halfway. it’s a pretty chaste kiss, probably lasts not even five seconds. noct’s lips are soft, and when they part noctis is looking at his, head tilted as if to consider them.

the nerves start to tug at prompto almost immediately and he laughs, pitch a little higher than he’d like. “h-how was that?”

noctis blinks. “good.” and then: “one more?”

prompto nods, a little too quickly, and leans in again. the second kiss last twice as long, still pretty chaste. prompto’s hands, slightly shaky, has found themselves on noctis’ arms, holding firmly. his lips move against noctis’ and he’s suddenly not thinking much at all. soft. warm.

noctis pulls away first with a strange sound, and prompto shakes, opens his mouth to start stumbling out an apology because wow, maybe he managed to mess something up, but noctis places a hand over his. shaking his head, noctis simply settles back against prompto’s shoulder, face slightly buried. they fall into silence again, just for a moment.

“was… was that good?”

noctis doesn’t answer immediately. he closes his eyes, breathes in, out. “it was.”

prompto feels heat in his head, shakes it slightly as if that could help clear his thoughts. everything feels so warm it’s almost smothering. “do you wanna do that again? i mean, i wouldn’t be mad if you did. wanna kiss, that is. again.”

noctis shakes his head against prompto’s neck and prompto feels his stomach begin to drop. it’s like a weight suddenly sliding down his chest with the sudden fear. he’s going to lose something, something soft and decidedly lazy that he didn't think was even an option until just now and he tries to quell the disappointment. noctis, as if sensing his distress, grabs his hand and holds it firmly. in a moment he’s lying fully on prompto, eyes closed, and his uncontrollable yawn soothes prompto’s nerves. or maybe it’s just from the way he rubs his thumb against prompto’s fingers, back and forth, soft.

“i just… wanna sleep, now…”

“oh. bedtime?”

noct yawns again, muffled against the blanket and his friend’s shoulder. “bedtime.”

though prompto is sure sleeping in a position like this will just cause him embarrassment and a terrible crick in the neck by morning, he let’s it happen. he doesn’t hazard getting up to find the television remote, or another blanket, or any other excuse he would try to think of any other day. noctis, asleep almost instantly after his declaration, is a solid weight against him, warm. comforting. and with the light of the television, blue and almost humming against the otherwise dark room, lures him to sleep.

[rosenmarille]

rosenmarille’s embroidery tutorial

hey anon you made my entire week and i love you

Let me preface this by saying that I’m in no way an expert and I’ve literally only been doing this for less than a month, so most of what I do is making it up as I go along. hopefully you find my tips helpful though!! <3

I wasnt sure which part you wanted to know about so i made a rundown of everything from start to end

1) List of things you’ll need:

Embroidery frame (I just went to the nearest crafts store and got them in two sizes. Theyre quite cheap and sometimes also come in plastic or different shapes)

Fabric (the less stretchy the better, though if youre planning to decorate clothing I think it really depends on how determined you are. what ive got here is some leftover polyester fabric from cosplay and other sewing projects. you can even sew different pieces together if one isnt big enough for the frame but in that case you need to iron the sewed piece flat or else it will be very difficult to keep straight and neat)

Embroidery yarn (see pic) (theres two types, and ive only used pearl yarn (top) so far but the other one allows for more precision since you can pick how many strands of yarn you need)

Needle (see pic) (properly pointy, not like the crappy one above. I mainly use that for crochet things because it actually bends and that’s NOT what you want here)

Scissors and a pencil

2) Sketch: Pick an image of what you want to do. I’ve found that at first, practicing with basic shapes and colours is a lot easier to get used to the whole thing, it helps give you a feel of how the yarn ends up looking stitched to the fabric. So far I almost only did screenshots, and I didn’t have to draw something up myself. In mobs case, I based it off a doodle I did in class and added a little colour to it 

3) Pick fabric and yarn: That’s mainly up to you, depends on what youre going for, but as a fair warning, very light fabric colours will show the stitches and leftover yarn from behind, so you need to tuck them behind the main body of your embroidery later on

4) Apply to fabric: 2 ways, both pretty much self explanatory, only heres where the stretchiness of the fabric comes into play. As you can see ive developed a fool proof technique, ive had tape stuck to the top of my laptop for weeks now, im not about to waste it? (use more than one tape, this is an old pic i took because the concept was hilarious in the moment) Pro tip: don’t draw your sketch on paper advertising dnd game sets because youre gonna have a hard time seeing the pattern through everything and youll curse yourself for doing that instead of paying attention in class  Pro tip 2: dark fabrics demand a white colour pencil, you literally wont be able to see anything else

5) Stitches: heres a LINK to the page I use to find all the different stitches I could possibly use. Practice makes perfect, i spent about two hours trying each of these out on an irrelevant piece of fabric to see how theyd work and how difficult they are, and still use that bit as ref to consider how a stitch would look on my current piece. Of these, ive only used about three in my finished broids, since theyre mostly for decorative things I think. Don’t let that stop you though, get creative and use the things im too lazy to incorporate!! (ill be using these terms for the rest of the tutorial, so if you dont know a word its probably in there)

6) Outlines/shading: Start by outlining your sketch with a few backstitches to get a feel for where everything needs to be. If theres shading then itd be useful to do those lines in the other colour already, or youre going to have to fix all that later and itll be a huge pain and make you want to stop altogether. It happens

Im not sure if that’s how its supposed to work but I fill in the shades first, it gives me a good sense of what direction the main colour stitches need to go to make it look dynamic.

7) Fill in mains: This is where all those handy dandy stitches from that library probably wont help you too much if you want to do something relatively simple. Ive only used normal satin stitches to fill in colour so far, though what the link doesn’t mention is that it wastes a shitton of yarn. Yarn is expensive, so what you can do is come up for point 3 not back next to 1 but instead next to 2. Warning: that does warp the way the yarn lies though, so use that one accordingly (for example: I do Not use it when doing small delicate places, or things that need to be detailed in general)

Mob was fairly simple as far as that went since i didnt add a lot of pattern, but ritsu is a little more complicated. Like i said earlier, adding shade before the main colour helps because now i know where the folds in his clothes are and how the fabric would bend to accommodate it.

8) Add details (like faces!):

Again, here I cant tell you exactly how you need to stitch to get everything looking good, just try to follow the way a face has its dynamics. Is it a long face, make lots of long vertical stitches, is it a round one, try to stick to the edges (but don’t spiral)

Facial features are a little more difficult because its hard to make a round nub or dots for pupils on something very small but its better to try 5 times and get it right the 6th instead of leaving the 1st try (i took ritsus entire face apart at least 3 times and t b q h i still think it doesnt look good but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

9) Background: Get real fancy on that shit, heres where you can try out those cool rose shaped stitches from up there in the link, go wild lol

10) Lastly: PATIENCE

I cant stress this enough, this WILL take a loooot of time, the first ritsu I did took me a literal week, while the second one took me roughly four hours in total (and that was a rather simple design). 

Accept the fact that it wont look as good as you imagined it. That may sound harsh but for me that’s been my main issue, imagining how a string would lie exactly and then looking on in disgust when that doesn’t work out. You’re not drawing, the medium doesn’t exactly translate, but that doesn’t have to be a bad thing! Try to figure out what methods work best for embroidery exclusively. 

Don’t be afraid to undo, be careful about it though. I use those big scissors and it’s a bad idea, don’t do that. Unpicking from the back to save the yarn also works but it gets difficult (and at some point impossible) once the strands start getting woven together on their own

And there you have it, a finished piece of embroidery!! 

You can now either hang it up in its frame and cut away the excess fabric at the sides or tie it around a piece of cardboard like so. it’s a little hard to get right at first but practice amiright

I hope i could be of help!! if you have any more questions feel free to come to my ask anytime!! ^^ <33