#lucky atelier art

[teka-chat]

Hachi the Bloomie

[teka-chat]

i used to do it because it was easier for me to draw

we're not born with all the drawing skill we'll ever have, there's things some of us just aren't able to draw ( yet ) ! i was used to drawing humans and anthros more than, say, cartoon characters, and they were hard for me ! so until the day i was comfortable drawing them, i settled on what i COULD do, to still enjoy the characters, but not feel like every drawing i did of them was a failure

but also, it's true that anthropomorphizing things and characters... is just fun ! it's like you said, a fun design exercise.

i personally love to turn random things into humanoid characters, like that one rat in the first trailer of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom !

it's harmless fun, to me

Can I ask an honest question?

Why do people create or see in humanized versions of non human characters?

Because a big reason why I end up liking some characters is that they got neat designs. Why would you turn them into normal humans? I mean, sometimes I even get into fandoms just because they got this silly-looking guy, lol.

Is it just some character design exercise thing or do some people like the human versions more?

[rosiesmuts]

Odd Atelier

BLACKPINK Jennie

Words: 4,000

Tags: 🍑

A/N: Happy Birthday Jennie

Probably the greatest birthday cake in existence. It's not the traditional kind in the very least. It's one that can't be shared among family and friends; can't be used for gifts or congratulations.

Outside of the walls of Jennie's bedroom is evidence of a party. Traces of her most loved ones that celebrated her 27 years on this Earth: balloons are floating around, streamers cover every room, empty pizza boxes and discarded plastic cups are everywhere. But now they're all gone—the only thing left is this magnificent birthday cake presented just for you.

Jennie Fucking Kim on all fours, her ass in the air, her winking starfish slathered in saliva. It's what she deserves—a fitting gift that honors the birthday girl perfectly. And you are the lucky gift giver. Slobbering over the woman that appears on billboards, magazine covers, red carpets and anywhere else hot women go. It's been thirty minutes of pure unadulterated feasting and Jennie's getting lightheaded because of it—her ass and pussy have been utterly adored by your lips and tongue.

So good. There's a fine art to eating ass—especially one that belongs to Jennie. Your face, chin, and entire jaw are a mess, so are the sheets under her knees. You can only imagine how thoroughly debased your upper lip must look right now.

It makes you throb. Having Jennie in this position. Her entire back is sweaty and arched like a cat. She keeps shaking because her legs feel like jello. You grip her right cheek with a tight palm, tug it a little before lapping at it once more. You reach her quivering ringed hole and lick the velvety skin with an aggressive flat tongue that makes Jennie mewl as your chin gets pushed against her cunt.

You can't help but plant another soft kiss over the rim, humming contentedly at how incredibly warm it feels. How inviting it is. And while it has been truly mind-blowing—to feast and devour the pussy and ass of a globally acclaimed woman… you've noticed a certain desire in the last five minutes.

Jennie Fucking Kim. World famous idol. Begging for everything while her face is smothered into a pillow. A pathetic, needy woman. Just for you.

Now she wants more than just your tongue. It's her birthday. She has presents waiting to be opened.

"Oh please..." Jennie whimpers. Her eyes are half-closed as if she was lost in a trance, only roused when your thumb slowly pokes the pucker. Your tongue on her cheeks, spreading saliva everywhere, getting her as wet as possible for what comes next.

You start to prod Jennie's puckered backdoor, teasingly sliding between her jiggling cheeks—earning you another moan. This would make one hell of a documentary if she was ever caught like this. Probably cause an outrage, too. Imagine the look on those thirsty fans of hers seeing their godly idol just... ruined. Debased. Mired in sex. It doesn't matter, of course, whether her fans would find her reprehensible for it. They don't matter now that she's on her hands and knees. Vulnerable in a way nobody should ever be vulnerable—not her. Especially not Jennie. But she is.

"Mmm..." There goes another sigh. A sigh of relief when a thumb presses against her crinkled rose. Slowly, lovingly, sinking into the deep confines of her forbidden place.

Her hips jump and you force her back down. You love her sounds; the soft sighs, and gasps. How can you not? Right now she's giving a little show, she loves the attention. Looking over her shoulder with an infectious grin on her face—an encouraging smirk, showing you that she's waiting on something a little more exciting. A lot more exciting. You raise your eyebrows in response. She purses her lips in answer.

Oh.

Of course.

"You ready birthday girl? Any ideas on what your present should be?" You lean back, pulling out a bottle of lube from her bedside table. Lathering the entirety of her asshole with it. She looks so damn gorgeous with her toned back in an upward arc and a sexy face contorted in an expression of pure want and lust.

"Surprise me..." Her response is a seductive purr.

The invitation is too hard to resist—especially since Jennie's arching back pushes her hips out and back, effectively shaking her ass side-to-side with a delighted chuckle.

"...OH!" The tip teases her entrance, making her entire body spasm before you're actually able to penetrate. Her backside is soaked, but there are some resistances as your shaft pushes, pushes, pushes… finally stopping only once the ridge of your head pops through.

Fuck, it's tight. Damn it all to hell and heaven, how is her ass always this tight?

There goes another delirious sigh. Hitched. Croaky. Slightly high-pitched. Another wonderful sound coming from a woman that sounds like an angel, looks like one, and sings like one. There are few things Jennie can't do; she's too talented. Too beautiful. An exquisite blend of form and function, pleasure and pain—both which she endures on a daily basis. All because she was made to be looked at by everyone, but never touched. To inspire all, but not to interact. Except tonight.

Tonight it's all about Jennie. The birthday girl always gets her wish.

Jennie clenches hard the further your cock invades. It feels absolutely electric—every last bit of it. The way her body stretches is nothing short of spectacular.

"Ah fuck! P-please. Slow..." She grits her teeth, digging her nails into her pillows, no doubt. She's trembling all over. It's hard for her to take, but she also knows that the pain will eventually make way for a sensational bliss. It always does. Her slim defined back is lightly coated in sweat.

"Slow enough?" You rub your fingers into her backside. A warm up of sorts before grabbing the cheeks with enough vigor to leave marks. Pulling and squeezing the soft flesh of her backside apart, lewdly examining where the two of you are conjoined, and with a sinister chuckle, give an experimental pump.

"FUCK!" She starts to shake uncontrollably and tries her best to remain steadfast, "Keep going..." It comes out as a pant. She's enjoying it, after all. Enjoys the little hurt it brings—gets off on the little sting you're able to provide.

Little by little, you push into Jennie's perfect heart-shaped butt. Into her ass that's incredibly hot and constricting—almost impossible to breathe whenever her body coils tightly around your hard-on.

"Yes!" She tosses her hair, biting into the sheets when your hips meet her ass with an audible slap.

You hold still for a moment. Rocking back and forth a little bit as the tight heat wraps you in pure silk. Almost overwhelming, considering just how tight she is. All you have to do is sit and savor the feeling while Jennie's chest drops onto the bed.

She's panting, heaving even, but she wiggles her hips in an attempt to get accustomed to your presence. Another meek sound of frustration is heard, causing you to release an amused breath as you stroke her back. When she looks over her shoulders—there's a wild gleam in her dark eyes. It's almost magical. "Fuck my ass like you hate me..."

And without further prompt, you pull out halfway before snapping your waist into her with all the force you can muster. That single action elicits a choked cry from her throat and then another and another.

You let it loose. Go all out. Use every ounce of strength and force until the two of you are shuddering and yelling, the obscene sounds of sweat and bodies mingle with moans and groans. It's so dirty; so filthy, yet Jennie absolutely loves it. In spite of everything she does for a living, her actual sexual appetite is simply unbridled.

Pulling her arms towards you, you gather both wrists within your right hand and pin them firmly against her lower back. Using it as leverage to ram yourself into her at an almost unnatural pace, watching in utter fascination at the way her back muscles shift and move, all to keep herself from tumbling face-first against the bed.

All the while, she's groaning. Slurring words incomprehensibly, asking for a little bit of pain—which you gladly deliver. Each slap is perfectly timed, enough to turn her flesh pink and vibrate from the impact, but not hard enough to do real harm. Just like that, Jennie is thrashing on top of her pillow, pushing back in an attempt to relieve the sting before grinding and rubbing against you. The little shit always craves more.

It's hard to imagine who's getting the better present here. For her, it could be the rough anal fuck she's been wanting for some time now. It's all she asked for all week—and for you, it was getting the chance to savagely pillage and conquer the ass of the hottest girl on Earth.

"F-fuck! I'm gonna-ah..."

Those words ring around your ears as they get muffled with her bedsheets.

"You're gonna what?" You pause to lean forward and growl into the shell of her ears. Tugging her arms and forcing her to arch her spine further until her back is kissing the skin of your stomach, causing her to hiss in satisfaction, "You're gonna cum like a filthy slut with her ass being reamed?"

"Yes!"

The thirty or so minutes of foreplay have certainly paid off. She started already wound up tight, and now her body is practically trembling, eager to let loose. It's impossible to prolong the pleasure for long; with a little more adjustment to the angle and speed, Jennie finally sings and wails—shaking and writhing her body on the verge of a world shattering climax.

Jennie Fucking Kim owns one beautiful little fuckhole and it squeezes every last bit of vitality from you, almost as if her ass was trying to strangle every last bit of life you had. Your entire frame trembles as her snug, grasping hotness envelops you in a hot prison and attempts to rip you off. For the duration of her climax, her hands scramble to grab anything and everything they can: her own hair, the sheets—the world, perhaps. There's a little bit of everything happening at that exact instant and you're almost too afraid to move from fear of losing such a heavenly sensation.

But of course, you move.

It's her birthday after all, she needs a few good spanks to feel fully appreciated. To let her ride out this intensity, her entire body jittering in pure elation. And you grant it to her. Delivering more spanks to her beautiful ass, reddening them further, adding to that warmth and almost euphoria-like state the superstar is experiencing.

Her pussy quakes and flutters. The feeling of cumming by butt alone is so much greater than it normally would've been. The tension was much more powerful, stronger in a way and almost addicting, despite the slight twinge in her cheeks and the noticeable bite of pain.

For a moment, everything is lost.

"So sensitive... C-can barely think straight..." Her head sways limply. You'd almost feel bad, if not for her pleased giggles and blissful sigh.

Jennie lies limply, spent beyond measure, all to satisfy her desires. You have to roll the idol on to her back as it seemed her strength has suddenly left her. All to ensure she doesn't completely collapse and possibly ruin this fun party for the both of you.

She's glistening in a thick sheen of sweat and her smile has never looked so brilliant and inviting.

"You're beautiful Jennie..."

"Funny that your greatest compliments come when you're fucking my ass." A sly giggle is shared. She raises a leg and holds it against her chest while the other one is casually parted open.

"What can I say? I'm a man of refined taste." You take the sight of her body in—of the woman splayed on her back like this; naked and satisfied, slick and supple skin glistening in a heavy sweat. The sticky fluids around her folds are starting to coat her ass as well and you can't help but smile to yourself in triumph. "Shame it's over already." You know exactly what to say. How to challenge her. And of course she's not gonna refuse. It's Jennie. Of course she has a few more tricks up her sleeves.

"Nope, this is just the beginning..." She smirks. The life returns to the doe-eyed beauty and the glint in her dark irises becomes nothing short of wicked. It's time for Jennie to stop being the submissive little bitch and take charge. To show that her famous curves are hers to own. Her beautiful body and devious mind is hers and only hers to use as she sees fit. You watch as she leans forward and puts both her palms on your chest—forcefully pushing you down to her bed and straddling you, grinding that beautiful ass over your stomach and making your unreleased cock twitch with need.

It's only 11pm and Jennie still has an hour left to celebrate her 27th birthday... and she intends on spending all that time savoring that delicious ache in her ass.

Happy birthday to her. Happy birthday to you.

"There's no time for a rest, right now I'm gonna ride you."

No complaints.

Absolutely none.

There isn't any way to decline Jennie. Not when it involves your cock and her ass.

After all, it's Jennie's night—the night she turns you into a quivering mess, the night when she puts you under her spell—and makes you fall harder than before. She turns up the heat—another degree hotter when she's at her sexiest, at her most mischievous and dominant.

Jennie winks. Her favorite, trademark move as her face glimmers under the twinkling lights. Her lips are slightly parted in that signature Jennie Kim pout and she's now putting her assets into a display of sorts; rolling her body slowly in an almost rhythmic motion. This dance, a teaser, and one that her fans would pay a premium to see, makes its way on stage: you.

Her toned lithe waist, the little things on her chest, and that godforsaken smile. So tight and perfect. Hot and inviting, and you just need to feel that intense grip around your shaft once more. There's no safe words here—not like Jennie will ever let you use them anyway. Her small frame begins to writhe to its own imaginary beat, shimming and shaking with purpose. The gentle rise and fall of her chest is hypnotic. A sway. Back and forth.

You want her. Badly. She holds your cock in her dainty palm and teases it over and over.

"This is for me and my birthday... Any objections?" Her smile becomes impossibly bigger. Playful and inebriating and there is only one answer that fits the occasion.

"No." Internally you're dying. She keeps pressing it against her starfish, but never quite giving in, only smearing the precum over the orifice.

She smiles in amusement, "Good." She leans forward, capturing your mouth with an affectionate peck on the lips. "Just a little longer. Wanna see how long you can wait."

And so the torture begins. The heat, the haze, and the melody of a sex-drunk woman.

A world-renowned dancer who shakes her hips as she rolls forward, running a finger against your pecs. She brings your hands up to do the same, telling you to caress every nook and curve of her. Make her feel that irresistible electricity that shoots straight down her spine when she's with you. To feel how soft her skin is and how malleable her beautiful little breasts are. She gasps with glee, giggling away in genuine amusement.

She rises from your grasp—her tantalizing curves a testament to her dedication, her passion. You swallow dryly as a drop of saliva drips off the corner of your lips. Such a lewd display has you seeing stars. Your jaw slacks and your eyes focus entirely on her figure—all its stunning contours, lines and edges.

"You really love my ass." A cute puff escapes her. A tinkling laughter before she fulfills out every one of your shared desires.

The snug fit is inevitable—after an incredible amount of teasing from your lovely playmate, she has finally chosen to go for it. Her back is arched upwards and she bites her lower lips when your rod enters her still raw hole—though there's a tiny bit of pain that never bothered her before.

"Shit..." Jennie holds your arm tightly for a moment. That is, before an unholy mixture of delight, satisfaction, and searing arousal overtakes her mind. This moment of weakness doesn't last for long and she immediately repurposes it. She bounces and grinds—each move has her inner walls massage your cock. You're in bliss. Everything that the star does is magical and you're so utterly infatuated. So hypnotized by the look of absolute indulgence. She's an elegant song, and a masterpiece to behold. The sweat pooling between her breasts only enhances her grace, a little bead trickles down her navel. She throws her head, luscious raven hair falls everywhere, and her eyes are squeezed shut, a guttural moan when she sits completely flush.

She rests for a second, catching her breath, still smiling all the while. Even at rest, she's mesmerizing. You notice how she holds your hands firm, fingers intertwined, she won't let you escape. You never wanted to.

The adorable whimpers of happiness are back as she looks up at the ceiling, rocking her hips lightly—teasing you, coaxing you for even more. With one smooth move she's rising and falling, faster, and faster still, going for a solid tempo that sees her hips pounding incessantly against yours.

"Fuck." a choked cry is pulled out of you, "this feels amazing."

"Oh yeah, you really like me fucking my own ass?" Her smug little comment is punctuated by a grunt and another hearty slap to her juicy cheeks. Jennie laughs in her unique sing-song way—breathy sighs and delicious whines. She bounces. And she bounces and bounces—both her beautiful tits, her raven-haired head, and that irresistible heart-shaped ass, too.

Jennie raises and falls on your length and her heavy breathing fills the air alongside her impassioned, sexy cries. She works so hard on top of you and pulls out all the stops: shaking her ass side-to-side, clamping down as she draws to the head of your dick, relaxing on the way down again. Jennie is a performer after all, and she can really put on a show.

She arches her spine back and traces a finger along her untouched flower. Teasing herself. That part of Jennie will be left alone, at least for right now, this is an anal adventure, and so her pleasure from that particular place will have to wait until later. The teasing is deliberate, playful, and a way of providing more stimulation to her greedy bum. It is enough to make her squeak in desperation. The urge to touch herself is overbearing, and only increased when you reach up and pinch the tiny nubs on her chest.

Her expression melts at the assault—completely uninhibited, free, and not afraid of getting messy. There's no one here to judge her. No one except the lucky, blessed spectator below and her own greedy one track mind focused on pleasure. On indulgence. Complete self-gratification.

The strain is showing. Her pace slows as her tired legs from exertion. And now you're the one showing her pity, running a palm over the damp hair sticking to her back, down to the subtle dimples above her ass. She sighs sweetly in response and then draws close, clutching onto your arms.

"Do something for me?" She asks cutely.

You smile in response, nodding your approval. Jennie relinquishes control, simply lays on your chest, awaiting for the moment your hips thrust in and out of her.

"Happy birthday," Your first kiss is to her cheek then your lips hover against her ear, "and to many more to come, Miss Jennie Kim."

Your next movement has her clamp a hand over her mouth in order to smother a lustful gasp. A roll of your hips followed by an upward pump. There is absolutely nothing that beats that first initial snap of the waist. Another after. You use one hand to steady her in her current prone position. The other one is at work, roughly pawing at her ass and smacking at the red cheeks, accenting each new powerful snap of your waist.

"Harder..." Jennie slurs with delirious elation.

You're not sure which one she's referring to, so you offer her both: pumping harder and faster as requested while striking her ass with enough force that the echoes reverberate across her bedroom.

"Fuu-ah... FUCK!"

For a moment, you're startled by her reaction. By how intensely her asshole grips, how hard she pants, how quickly she is cumming without warning. So much buildup and yet that's all it takes. Your chest tightens and you grit your teeth, fighting off the climax that threatens to shoot straight into her backdoor. But she's begging you, practically urging you, to fill that lewd forbidden place with everything that you got.

"You should feel lucky you know," Jennie moans between bounces. "If I let you cum inside, and believe me you'll be allowed to cum inside. You'll be the luckiest man in the world."

Fuck... No kidding. You already feel like the luckiest man alive at this very second.

But your legs are growing weaker, the knot forming at the base of your stomach tightens with each passing moment. The immense pleasure burning through you with each new throb. It's hard to stave off the inevitable release that is boiling just at the threshold.

You take a deep breath. Close your eyes and pray. It's the only way to stay sane—you have to remain in control for just a minute more.

"Go ahead. Be the luckiest man in the world."

Jennie offers permission. There is no denying her this time. And you'll do everything to ensure this birthday will be unforgettable—and you're ready to take that first step.

The idea of an impending explosion is intimidating, the reality even more so. Your body seems to go haywire—like a machine whose sole function is to thrust deep inside Jennie, causing her to spasm, her muscles to quake. Jennie moans. Louder and louder. Less controlled, less sensual. More animalistic and filled with need. Desperate sounds that don't stop spilling out of her the more you shove your hips into hers.

Over an hour of buildup all comes down to one single moment. An unceremonial release, both from Jennie and you. This climax, stronger than any, stronger than all the others. Your last ounce of strength goes to pin Jennie back against your lap, just as you unleash torrential floods of seed—soaking her, coating every part of her ass that is available and then some. At the same time, Jennie lets loose with an unrestrained series of whimpers and lets the warmth from deep inside her wash over. Let it run out between your tightly squeezed bodies.

A myriad of sensations hit the two of you like a tsunami: your entire frame erupts with sensation, shivers and shudders from the pleasure and euphoria. All around, your senses go out of focus, the room begins to spin, but not in that nauseous way—a heavenly sort of thing, and when Jennie purrs out your name in pure satisfaction, your pulse spikes. The hazy heady rush and feeling of ecstasy hits a crescendo, the pinnacle of satisfaction.

The breaths are still coming hard and fast. Hearts beating frantically. What started out slow is ending with a flourish.

She still has some time left to her special day but everyone involved in the intimate celebration is completely spent. Utterly exhausted, but content.

Jennie rolls off your body, uses whatever strength she has left to nuzzle against the crook of your neck, "Best birthday ever..." She presses an appreciative kiss against your sweaty, heated temple.

And that, to you, is a win—one that surpasses all the awards she has already achieved.

[tmntkiseki]

Diary of an Idiot Trying to Learn to Draw Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Part 1: Escaping the Comfort Zone)

Before we talk turtles and the early steps of my art journey with them, let's talk about me for a little bit.

Hello, most people know me by my online nickname, Star. I'm a perpetually tired gremlin in her late 20s from New England who still lives with her parents and two brothers. (I'm the middle child!) I love my two dogs to bits, I have a weird fascination with shipwrecks and maritime disasters, and I am a known art enjoyer to point of attempting to draw her own pictures. Sometimes it goes well, other times... ah, we'll get to that.

When I think about my history in terms of drawing, it all starts with anime. My first exposure anime was through a fairly obscure one called Sky Girls; I encountered it through Dance Dance Revolution: Super Nova 2 on the PS2, as the opening to the original OVA was one of the songs available in the game. I ended up watching most of the television series and I was quick to discover that, hey, there's an entire genre of animated television series that originate from Japan; subsequently, I ended up watching several anime that were popular during the late 2000s with Lucky Star, Haruhi Suzumiya, Clannad, and Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni all being shows that I watched during this period. It's difficult to say what entranced me so much about the art style quirks we so heavily associate with anime, but it's definitely had the biggest influences on my art; not just anime itself, but video games with anime art styles as well. If I had to name which pieces of Japanese media have affected me most in terms of art development, it would be Odin Sphere, KyoAni's works (especially Violet Evergarden), and Hidari (the character designer for three of the Atelier games and Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia.)

"Okay, but what about when you actually began to do your own art?" WELL, I can definitely say throughout elementary school I absolutely LOVED being in art class, but I didn't start seriously practicing until I was around 13; this was when my depression first reared its ugly head, but it was also about when I first got into fandom online. Now, the first fandom I actually made "content" for was Pokemon, but that wasn't drawing; that was fanfiction. The first fandom I actually drew for?

Call of Duty: Zombies. Yeah, I think we all have that one fandom we're embarrassed to mention that we were ever involved in. Regardless of the cringe factor, it was still important for me because that was when I first started interacting with other fanartists online and if I hadn't spent so much time drawing fanart of a bunch of WWII stereotypes while I was in high school, I wouldn't have laid the groundwork for what came afterwards.

In terms of overall skill, I'm definitely way better than I was back when I first started out, but there is still so much I have to learn; I do often look at other artists who are around my age or, hell, are even YOUNGER than me and think to myself "Why am I not that good?" and, ya know, art is an acquired skill that requires a lot of practice and due to my mental illness and lack of confidence/self-worth, there were periods where I would go for MONTHS without drawing anything, so the fact I'm not where I feel like I should be skill-wise is ultimately circumstantial (there are other personal shortcomings that have also been holding me back, but we'll get to those later). I have managed to learn to stop being so hard on myself and not be as perfectionistic, and I find myself drawing more and more for the fun of it and learning new techniques that'll result in better pieces rather than anything else. These are some of the Rune Factory 4 pieces I drew last year (all Arthur/Frey ship art, oops) and at this point I can look at them and think "Yeah, they're not perfect, but I also did a pretty good job."

All right, this is the part of the post where we finally get to talking about my experiences learning how to draw the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles--specifically, the 2003 versions. It's been about a month since I started studying the show's art and even if I'm not the best artist on the block, I still have a decent amount of experience under my belt that learning how to draw them shouldn't be too hard, right? Right? I mean how hard can it be to draw four humanoid turtles?

Oh boy, of all the fandoms I've drawn fanart for, TMNT 2003 probably has one of the steepest learning curves that I have EVER experienced.

All right, what are some of the advantages do I have going in? There is my existing experience drawing, but I'd argue the fact that my brain is so hardwired to draw anime is an advantage in some ways. When I first looked at the show's art style (more specifically that of seasons 1 - 5), I was thinking to myself "How the everliving FUCK am I supposed to draw this?!" However, when I actually sat down and studied the model sheets, I was delighted to discover that a lot of the basic fundamentals that I already learned drawing anime bodies can be applied to the turtles; one of the only major adjustments I had to make was exaggerating the muscles of the arms and legs. Not only that, but one of the less human aspects of the turtles IE the plastron is actually incredibly useful as a makeshift guideline for the torsos; it quite literally divides them into chest, abdomen, and pelvis areas and I absolutely love it!

Unfortunately, that's about where my happiness with drawing the turtles ends and where my actual struggles start.

("Nekomata Mikey" from January 7th, which is probably my best and favorite turtle attempt thus far)

So, I suffer from a little something called "not liking to leave my comfort zone." It's not something that I'm incapable of doing, but getting me to break out of a repetitive routine and try something new or challenging is insanely difficult--no idea if it's a result of my autism spectrum disorder or not, but it definitely explains why I've hesitated to experiment more with my art and try new things... which is important if you want to further develop your style and improve. Oooooooh boy.

Now, I'm not necessarily looking to accurately replicate TMNT 2003's style, but I am hoping to maintain certain aspects when I draw the turtles. Stuff that is definitely contradicting what I'm comfortable with when it comes to drawing; the thick lines you see in a lot of the official art, the fact this show really likes using sharp angles to define physical features, the dark color palette of the first five seasons, the fact those seasons break the rule of "don't shade with black" that I've been taught from the beginning--a lot of stuff that I'm just not used to. It's hard not to become frustrated because half the time you have no idea what you're doing and have no idea whether it's going to look good or not.

Beyond that, there is the matter of the less human aspects of the turtles that are giving me a run for my money. I can somewhat handle the chunky three fingered hands and large two toed feet, but when I get to the heads and shells, that's where I start tearing my hair out. Even with multiple reference screenshots from the show and sassatello's tutorial on the head structure handy, I still find myself fumbling and making heads that are too angular and chunky (especially in the cheek area) or heads that are too round to the point of almost looking babyish. The shells are another matter entirely; it's weird because they are basically a dome-shaped backpack, but something about those things keeps throwing me for the loop no matter what angle or pose I'm drawing a turtle from.

*LOUD SIGH*

For all the struggles and frustrations I have, I'm still very happy to be studying and practicing how to draw the turtles. It's been about a month since I started pouring over the model sheets, taking screencaps from individual episodes to examine and annotate, and just drawing, and I've already learned so much. Not only that, but this whole experience of trying to figure out how to draw the main characters from an (almost) 21 year old cartoon has pushed me to look up... A LOT of tutorials for art skills I've admittedly been neglecting. Basic shapes used in the structure of the body, color theory and shading, all that good stuff. It is also a fact that studying the art of TMNT 2003 is exactly what inspired me to start posting all the model sheets and concept arts I have saved on my laptop. When you have a ton of art resources at your disposal, why not share them? Someone else might need them as much as you do.

I'm hoping to make another post like this in a couple months or so just to see how much I've improved, where I'm still kicking and screaming, and what areas I ought to focus on. Until then, take care and have a good day!

[villain-in-love]

So basically... A Date With Death MC/Self-insert

Music:

Оно Выделяло Тепло by АИГЕЛ

Death Is A Teacher by Eden Iris

BRAT by Chris Marcell

...also Mixed Messages by Tom Cardy

Facts:

⬩ I have yet to come up with a separate name for her... So for now she's just Katarina.

⬩ Aspiring fashion designer of 25 years of age.

⬩ Currently works as an assistant in an atelier in the centre of the city.

⬩ Lives alone in a studio-type of apartments with her pet cat Seras.

⬩ She’s been getting into all kinds of disasters and life-threatening incidents throughout her life, miraculously surviving every time. Unfortunately, the people around her are usually not so lucky, so she had to witness many deaths.

⬩ At least a half of her family is dead by now, and she keeps her distance with the remaining relatives. Well, it's not that she was ever the type of person who would care about family, so she doesn't dwell on that.

⬩ She has two moods: an insufferable clown and an absolute bitch.

⬩ Most people consider Katarina to be intimidating and unapproachable, mostly because she’s not too fond of social interactions, along with having a sharp tongue and a domineering attitude. And since she doesn't really understand social rules, she comes across as mean and arrogant even when she doesn’t intend to.

⬩ Being conventionally attractive and dressing up in very classy, “formal” fashion doesn’t help her case.

⬩ However, if you get involved in an actual conversation with her, you’ll find that she can be very playful and humorous, she just supresses that side of her. And for a good reason, I must say, because she often goes overboard with her teasing, and her humour indeed can be rather mean.

⬩ Conversations with her also tend to easily slip into something that is either sexual or macabre (she might have some issues).

⬩ Katarina is a romantic at heart, but she never had a chance to date anyone, mostly because she has very specific tastes. But then a certain reaper came along, and it turned out that she's actually really flirty. Too flirty even.

⬩ By the start of the canon timeline she was going crazy from boredom and loneliness. Perhaps that’s why she decided to reply to a "Grim Reaper" weirdo who was spamming her with messages from an unknown app she doesn't even remember installing.

⬩ Anyways, since she was so pent-up, and Casper seemed like such an easy target… Yeah, she just went all out on him. Years of untold jokes and atrocious pick-up lines finally found their way out. She surely had a blast making fun of him.

⬩ It’s not like she completely refuses to believe in supernatural, you know. She’s an agnostic, all she needs is some substantial evidence. But instead of providing that evidence, Casper just kept making a fool of himself for the first few days.

⬩ He’s lucky that he’s so pretty and that Katarina has a thing for idiots with an attitude. This guy is exactly her type (and she’s going to make it his problem).

⬩ Unlike canon MC, Katarina wasn’t that surprised to find out that he’s an actual Grim Reaper. She just needed some time to process the implications (and maybe some vodka).

⬩ That is to say, after learning from Casper that the reason she was constantly getting into accidents was her inability to die, she went through the crisis of realising that she really is the reason that so many people that were close to her are now dead.

⬩ She’s also more chill than canon MC. Casper can actually talk to her seriously… Before she inevitably starts trolling him again because she can’t resist the temptation.

⬩ She graduated high school of art and design but didn’t get to the higher education because her parents died, and she was not ready to work and study at the same time. She managed to find a decent job anyways, but she still wants to get a degree in the future when she’s more stable.

⬩ She only has one friend who is just as bad as she is. Said friend lives in another city, but they talk on the phone constantly.

⬩ She adopted her cat about two years ago after stumbling upon her on the streets. Katarina is very protective of Seras and always tries to ensure her safety above everything else.

⬩ Unlike the way it looks in the game, her actual apartments are a mess, with paper, fabric and tools lying everywhere. Though honestly, this mess is nothing compared to how her working space in an atelier looks.

[iheartgod175]

Some MORE Thoughts…

—I’ve actually had the hankering to do some art again after like a month, haha ^^ Taking a month hiatus from creating to refill my creative well has done me some wonders, because now I feel a lot more inspired and ready to write and draw!

—An idea that I’ve had for the last couple of days was including Dragon Tales into SRBA. My childhood lives! I love how at this point, the remastered SRBA is kinda becoming the MCU, lol—after all, I kinda have it set that the Super Readers would meet WordGirl and the characters from Santiago of the Seas, so why the heck not XD That means I’m gonna have to go back and fix the timeline again to include this.

—And in case anybody was wondering what other shows would be featured in this AU, it’s currently Santiago of the Seas, WordGirl, Dragon Tales and (possibly) Arthur. The later I put in brackets because I’m not sure how it’d work yet ^^;

—I am still working on that KonoSuba/Star Fox story, but most of it is just brainstorming fifty million ideas. I do have some cool ideas for a potential sequel starring either Slippy or Beltino. Why? Well, I wanted to challenge myself writing a character that I eventually grew to appreciate—as I wrote in the original post, Fox and Falco would fit in with KonoSuba perfectly, but it’s too obvious a choice. Putting in a happy-go-lucky mechanic with no sense of flying in a world like KonoSuba’s would be hilarious—or a mild-mannered scientist like Beltino. All I know is that either one of them would end up in Kazuma’s party, and Slippy and Aqua would butt heads because of her hatred for toads, LOL.

—2024 is not being kind to Love Livers thus far. I still think the whole “Love Live disappears but Revue Starlight is eternal” meme compilation is hilarious, though. Power creep and insane rates will not stop this game, I swear. Oh, and speaking of Revue Starlight, it’s been loving me again?? I’ve had better luck getting the 5-stars recently than I have had getting the birthday cards the last few years?! Which is good news for me, because my Wind, Moon and Space teams SUCK and I needed some better cards in order to prep for both Star Arena matches and future Trophy Roads.

—Kinda hopped back onto my Multo/Zeeter mood again, so I’ve been working on Love Language in between working on that StarFox/KonoSuba idea. I’m trying out a new writing routine, and hopefully, I can finish the first chapter sometime this year!

—Speaking of them, I was rereading my notes for that Revue Starlight inspired AU and I need to write out a post yelling about that. I literally have like six to seven pages of notes!

—Started Atelier Resleriana and it’s kinda cute! I’ve heard of the Atelier series, but never got a chance to play any of the games. But I’m liking it so far.

—Racing to get to the next few chapters of HI3rd. I’m kinda stoked for Part 2!

—And since I also got hit with the mood for it a few days ago, I’m going to be doing some in-depth notes about the Cerulean Avenger story, namely regarding the characters and what all to expect. The reason for that? It relates to the art I’m going to drop after making this post! 😁

[timeprincessdreamtopiaismyhome]

A LITTLE BIT ABOUT TIME PRINCESS DREAMTOPIA...

This game has had a special place in my psyche for a while now. It's rated 4.6 stars on playstore, but honestly, I'd rate it a 5. The only drawback I'd say is the storage space this game takes, but honestly, it's worth it for the amazing graphics, tons of art, storylines, outfits, companions, mini games, events and more.

But what is it about? You play your character who has the ability to travel through different stories in order to save the story kingdom. You make friends, companions and you can romance characters from each story too. There are so many routes to choose from with compelling storyline. From Classics like Swan Lake to original stories like Twilight the Underground City.

You do need to be connected to the internet to play, but it is also free to play. You can most definitely play without money and get lots of cool stuff.

You get your room which is your home screen and also where your story starts. Its also decorated seasonally and you can sometimes see things in the window. There are tons of places to go and things to do. I'll be talking about each of these a bit more in depth in my next few posts. There's a lot.

Things available from your home screen:

•Minigames

•Kitty Bed

•Time Academy

•Recollections

•Playroom

•Change Room

•Dresser

•Lantern

•Story Kingdom

•Ilusio Island

•Mirage Forrest

•Story Desk

•Boutique

•Time Atelier

•Lucky Jerry

•Achievements

•Friends

•Mail

•Event Centre

•Parven's Shop

•Character Icon

•Bag

•Society

[canmom]

Comics Comints: Witch Hat Atelier

Welcome back to Comics Comints, the series where I comint on comics.

First up! Comics Comints now has a proper archive. Enjoy larger images, alt text, and tags for navigation.

Tonight, it’s time we did a manga! If you recall that post about paneling and time from a couple of weeks ago, you know it’s one I liked rather a lot...

Witch Hat Atelier (とんがり帽子のアトリエ Tongari Bōshi no Atorie)

(writing and art: Kamome Shirahama (白浜 鴎), trans. Rasmus-kun, #dropout and Project Vinland scanlation groups. I’m going to be using the name romanisations decided on by #dropout since they’re generally a lot better than the official ones lmao)

Ahh, Witch Hat Atelier. A truly wonderful comic, such that it’s tough to know where to begin.

Sometimes I compare it to getting my hands on a whole new Berserk, because Shirahama’s drawings have that same sense of being exquisite: gorgeously flowing cloth and hair and perfectly placed hatching, overwhelming confidence and attention to detail, an old-school romantic fantasy world you could really fall into. (Also I think she draws faces kinda like Miura does.)

Witch Hat Atelier begins with a girl called Coco living in a fantasy world in which the population is divided into humans and witches. Not unlike a certain Akko, she idealises magic. But she ends up performing magic by accident, unleashing a spell that turns her mother to stone. After this, the kindly Professor Quifrey, who definitely harbours no ulterior motive, breaks the taboo and lets her into the secret: anyone could do magic with the right tools (a pen and special ink), and the witches are maintaining an elaborate masquerade for the sake of containing terrible magical superweapons.

Or at least, the dominant Pointed Hat Witches are. Their enemies, a conspiracy known as the Brimhats, want to break these artificial shackles... and for reasons we don’t yet know, they see this novice witch Coco as their key.

Anyway, the thing that got me to read Witch Hat Atelier was this video...

...by manga youtuber Lines in Motion, which analyses Shirahama’s inventive panelling. It’s really nicely edited and a great primer on the principles of comic composition.

Anyway, per that video, Shirahama took inspiration from not just other manga, but old school European illustration like John Tenniel and Arthur Rackham - and good old Moebius of course. Unfortunately, this video doesn’t provide its sources, and I struggle to find some kind of interview where I can get the artist’s own words. Still, looking at her style, she’s not shy about gesturing to Art Nouveau, or the general tradition of European etching.

And when Shirahama uses colour - sadly only occasionally, though I can understand why! - she deploys beautiful watercolours that call to mind the same tradition (and perhaps certain recent manga like The Girl From The Other Side).

So, before we dive into talking about the comic itself, let me see what I can dig up about Kamome Shirahama herself and her inspirations. She studied art in Japan, at Tokyo University of the Arts, and starting publishing comics in the seinen magazine Fellows! in 2011; this led to a bizarre lucky break when her art was noticed at Comic-Con by someone at Marvel, which gave her a foothold into the Western comics industry, starting with this character Doctor Strange in 2015 (source):

Even seven years ago, you can see Shirahama could really fucking draw. This apparently continued with various other covers for DC and Marvel; meanwhile, having finished her two-year project Eniale & Dewiela (エニデヴィ, Enidevi) about an angel and devil brought together by a mutual enthusiasm for fashion, she embarked on Witch Hat Atelier in 2016 which continues to the present, with 64 issues available at the time of writing.

All this results in perhaps a perfectly optimised Art Build: both her parents are artists, she went to art school, she’s got a familiarity with both Japanese and Western illustration styles to fuel her. And that’s also perfect material for Witch Hat Atelier, which is about - among many other things - the struggles of learning art.

That word Atelier is interesting to me. In Japanese, it seems like アトリエ atorie is not an entirely uncommon word for an artist’s workshop even in the present. In English, its scope is generally much narrower: it refers to a particular tradition of art schools that began in the middle ages and lasted roughly until photography, whose primary function was to teach students how to draw in perspective using a variety of mechanical means like wire grids or sight-size techniques.

(a painting by Jefferson Chalfant of an atelier from the late 1800s - source Wikimedia Commons. I’m vaguely amused by the thought of this guy Chalfant showing up to the atelier and flexing on the students by painting not just the model but also all the other students, the room behind them, and thumbnails of all their paintings.)

Nowadays you’re most likely to hear the word ‘atelier’ in the context of the Atelier series of games, in which you play as a young witch and your atelier is essentially an alchemist’s workshop where you brew potions. I don’t have enough data to say how far the association between ateliers and magic goes - I’ve seen at least one more instance (Maria Umineko uses the word) - but in any case...

‘Magic systems’ in fantasy fiction are tricky things. Without some care, they can just be colour that carries very little thematic weight. Fortunately this is very much not true of Witch Hat Atelier. The basic premise of its system is that magic is created by drawing precise circles with certain symbolic elements whose size relationships combine to specify the magic effect. It’s explained in some detail, although there’s enough vague that Shirahama can have some real fun with the imagery.

The important part, though, is that while it’s not exactly the same as representative illustration, it’s close enough to it to be analogous. In Quifrey’s atelier, Coco meets a group of young students who each have their own styles of magic. Riché, for example, was treated cruelly by an arrogant teacher who insisted on orthodoxy, and now stubbornly insists on practicing only her own specific magical techniques; an important turning point sees her learn how to lean on other people without sacrificing her personal style. Coco has some skills she can lean on as a tailor’s daughter, but still has to drill fundamentals like learning to draw in a single smooth confident stroke.

It’s not quite as ‘trials of an artist’ as something like Blue Period (no spoilers, I’ve only read a bit of that), but it is a deeply compelling element of the mix...

However, magic is only somewhat like illustration. It’s also useful. And this leads to a fascinating subtheme around disability. One of the rules the Pointed Hat witches operate under is that they can’t use magic on the human body. So when a boy Coustas’s legs are injured by haywire magic, witches can give him an adorable deer legs wheelchair...

...but he faces many of the same obstacles as a real wheelchair user in a world not built for access. Coco and her friend Tartar try to figure out a method to help him without breaking the rules, eventually coming on the solution of creating a flying cloak as a new accessibility device, seemingly to everyone’s satisfaction... but then (spoilers) Coustas runs into a Brimhat who’s like “actually we have no compunctions doing a transhumanism on you” and give him legs back (if weirder), turning him against the MCs. But that same power is one we just recently saw used to forcibly transform people against their will. It’s an interesting mirror of the common ‘disability in sci-fi’ question; Coustas’s struggle is not merely that he is disabled, but that the world does not accomodate him and this completely strips him of independence, despite very little ill will from anyone.

And to her credit, Shirahama doesn’t seem to be trying to be going for a didactic angle on this (Coustas should or shoudn’t want...), but treats it as a worthwhile and interesting conflict, and I’m genuinely excited to see how it will resolve. Nor is Coustas the only user of a ‘sealchair’ - one of the main leaders of the witches uses one due to some kind of unspecified fatigue condition, even transforming it in battle, something which largely passes without comment since that’s not really the main focus of the character.

Anyway, despite their separate social system, the witches in Witch Hat Atelier have to make a living, which they do primarily by selling magic items to the non-magical population - subject to various safety regulations which are pretty strict and have a curious attitude towards deception in keeping with the Pointed Hat witches’ MO (don’t make a heatless flame or children might get the wrong idea!). So despite the wonder conveyed so effectively in Shirahama’s vistas of floating islands and twisting paths and underwater cities, it’s a magic that’s very grounded, shaped by the needs of a feudal society. She’s incredibly good at tying in these kinds of ~worldbuilding~ tidbit to the evolving character arcs, so the setting as a whole feels warm and lived-in but also shot through with genuine intractable tensions.

(I tend to show the more elaborate compositions with borders and splash panels, but even the more standard rectangular-panel pages have a real elegance to them)

One of these tensions is that between adults and children. There are many terrible teachers in the pages of Witch Hat Atelier - ones who berate their charges and shatter their self-confidence, or even in one chapter we witness a teacher who will not defend her student who is sexually assaulted by a nobleman and fights back (the only time the subject is brought up in the comic, and handled with care). Even for Quifrey, the picture of a benevolent instructor or good dad lmao, we have the lurking question of whether he intends to use Coco as an opportunity to pursue revenge against the Brimhats.

The children are surrounded by a world that doesn’t seem to work the way it should, rules that don’t seem to make sense but they have to follow, in a way that feels very genuine. And they have reason to fear: the standard punishment of the Pointed Hat witches is to wipe someone’s entire memories of magic and start them in a new life as a civilian. The fear of an extreme, draconian punishment leads the kids to end up keeping their own secrets.

But the adults are far from all bad. If, perhaps, the good relationships are a tragedy waiting to happen...

Then there are the witches and the secular authorities - monarchs of various kingdoms who are itching to get their hands on the secrets of magic. As the cast expands - and believe me it expands a lot - we start getting more and more points of view, and Shirahama is very deft at sketching a character’s motivation and vibe in just a few pages.

When it comes to comics about students at a school for magic, inevitably comparisons will be drawn to the elephant in the room, A Wizard of Earths- what’s that? - oh, yeah, that one.

So, yeah, according to Wikipedia, Shirahama took inspiration from both Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. Frankly I think she writes wrings around both of them, but then she’s writing a much more modern style of fantasy for an audience literate in the genre, with modern concerns, so perhaps it’s not a surprise I’d like it more than Tolkien. (Rowling is a thoroughly mean-spirited fascist who represents the worst of this country, and if I were to go through the comparison, it would just be a list of things that I think Shirahama does a whole lot better, so I won’t do that.)

What is a little interesting is seeing how, after Potter’s international proliferation, some of the imagery of the robe and wizard hat and school for magic starts to grow into a standard setting in Japanese fiction. Obviously Trigger’s Little Witch Academia is the big one - and I’m fond of it, but it shares little with it beyond the main character’s enchantment (ha) with the idea of magic. NieR Reincarnation is much less likely to ping on anyone’s radar, being a fairly obscure mobile gacha game, but it also took a magic school as the setting for some of its brief tragedies. No idea if that’s going to continue, or if it’s just a passing thing, but brain see pattern...

Anyway, it wouldn’t be Comics Comints without a detailed art breakdown, would it? There’s so much going on in Shirahama’s pages that it will be hard to capture everything, nor is this series really supposed to be comprehensive. Since I’ve talked a bunch about paneling already, let’s take a closer look at the characters...

Let’s start with kids, since most of the characters are kids. Here’s a handful of panels from chapter 42, page 13, trans. #Dropout (the work done primarily by Hypomanix and Botanyrobot in this issue). I think it’s a decently neutral example of a drawing of Coco.

There’s a lot that goes into a drawing of a face, to make it look delicate. But to my mind (c.f. the human head, a series I still intend to finish) the key elements are...

the profile of the face - this shape determines a lot

the size, shape, and style of the eyes

the balance of features

the way you draw hair

I said previously that Shirahama’s style reminded me of Kentaro Miura’s, but that’s mostly when she’s drawing kids. Shirahama’s designs are definitely within the broader ‘anime’ milieu, but there’s an old-school quality. Let’s break it down...

face profile - very rounded shapes. ubiquitous ‘cheek bump’ (pink), which helps the characters appear young.

as a standard ‘anime mannequin’ head, the overall aspect ratio is quite square, the neck is thin and relatively central, and the eyeline stays low.

eyes - this is where Shirahama puts most of the visual information (density of lines), with multiple rings of hatched shadows and highlights. In the picture above I’ve outlined the main shapes that go into drawing Coco’s eyes. Some of them can be identified as anatomical features, others highlights and shadows indicating form, some (the blue crescent shaped shadow for example) are perhaps just pure visual elements? Importantly, the outer outline of the eye is broken at the sides. All this complex shading gives a kind of shiny, watery feeling that suggests emotion bubbling under the surface even if the rest of the expression is very simple.

Coco’s eyes are very wide, representing her innocence. More adult characters tend to have narrower eyes, as we’ll see.

balance of the features

'Big eyes, small mouth’ as the name of the old roleplaying game goes. Note that Coco’s face is wider than it is tall. Just the end of the nose is drawn, but its placement suggests the 3D form of the face so it doesn’t appear flat overall. The suggest is there’s more nose but the bridge of the nose is so smooth that it doesn’t really get a line - if you’ve ever seen a plastic anime figurine you get the idea.

The emphasis is very much on the eyes.

hair

Hair is something that Shirahama really excels at, and honestly I want to absorb her secrets, so lets have a look at the way she does things. The way you can look at it is basically by dividing the hair into primary and secondary forms.

Coco here has very straight hair where the principle is particularly clear. First, you divide the hairstyle as a whole into large groups or blocks where the hair is flowing a particular way. For Coco, she has a part on her left (our right); her fringe forms one block of hair, which may go over or under the block of hair coming down from the top of her head depending on the picture.

Within each block, the hair is constructed out of smaller crescent-shaped elements which overlap each other (indicated by T-intersections between lines), and follow the overall flow. These merge towards the root of the hair block (the lines dividing them disappear)...

Then, additional lines can be drawn inside each block to add additional texture.

Judging by videos I’ve seen, Shirahama seems to be able to do these kinds of line straight away in ink, which is why they look so clean and confident.

For characters with darker hair, similar design principles apply, but instead of indicating the flow of the hair through outlines, Shirahama uses white lines within the form to indicate specular highlights. (Contrast Coustas’s eyes here to Coco’s incidentally: their emotional states are communicated by the different shading styles).

Now, let’s take a look at Quifrey and Orugio, two of the main adult characters in the comic...

Quifrey (right) has to carry a lot of the comic, and if you look at Shirahama’s design notes, he’s also one whose design evolved the most towards the fairly bishie one he got in the end. He has to be goofy, kindly, and sometimes sinister. He’s certainly not a villain, but he is willing to do some pretty shady shit - but he’s also good at presenting a generally sort of bemused affect, which is indicated by simplifying his design a lot.

The Gandalf/Dumbledore sort of archetype, but less magisterial - Quifrey is not an especially powerful witch. There’s a very overt indication of his divided nature in his glasses - there’s a plot reason why they’re different colours but the combination of dark lens and fringe hiding his eye screams “he’s hiding something”.

Quifrey’s friend Orugio (left) meanwhile is a more straightforward character, hard working, down to earth and straight-laced but out of a genuine sense of caring. Honestly, the fact he has facial hair is something that’s very rare in manga! One thing I notice just now while searching for suitably illustrative panels is that his face is often seen angled down, while Quifrey is more often seen from below.

The basic construction is similar to the kids’ heads, but a few differences to notice. As is the rule, adults’ eyes are proportionally a lot smaller than kids’ eyes. The construction of the face is slightly more angular, and they actually have noses.

Quifrey’s hair is a lot messier than Coco’s, but it’s essentially constructed out of the same overlapping crescents, which don’t especially respect gravity for Quifrey. Orugio’s hair is a solid dark mass, with a lot of loose strands around the edges, but you can still kind of see the locks of hair providing structure to the shape.

Shirahama’s lines are usually very even and thin, but she’ll often use a thicker line in a face closeup to emphasise the jawline, and in general a very subtly thicker line to outline forms than to hatch inside them. She uses screentones as you can see, but also extensively uses very neat hatching to create blocks of shadow or blend lines into larger shadow shapes. Her lines have an incredible amount of confidence and precision.

That’s faces, but what about the figure as a whole? One of Shirahama’s real gifts is her ability to draw flowing cloth with an incredible sense of motion. Here’s a classic Shirahama splash panel...

The contrast of organic shapes of cloth against the large circular element is something Shirahama loves doing - as is the use of negative space.

Breaking down the cloth: you have the solid lines representing the outer edge of folds, and then hatching within the body of the cloak to indicate shadows. In some places the hatching runs along the direction of the folds, in other cases perpendicular with it, all blending together. You can basically see how it breaks down into conical pipe folds that overlap each other, coming to a sinuous line at the bottom. Then this biiiig shape is contrasted against Quifrey’s thin neck, always upright, and the area of detail in his face. It’s just like. Really expert drawing by someone who knows the craft up and down.

There aren’t a lot of opportunities to see how Shirahama goes about designing one of these figures, but there are a couple of roughs she’s put out, so let me take a brief look at that to wrap up the drawing section.

this is a rejected draft for one of the first pages in the story. it looks like Shirahama roughs things out in quite a thick pencil, then uses a blue pencil(?) to refine, before inking. I suspect there may be more steps between, which she rubs out before inking...

These early designs seem to have been drawn into a thicker pen, with less care taken over the linework. What’s most interesting to me is how much Quifrey’s head shape changed as Shirahama’s concept of the character evolved.

Finally here’s a timelapse video of Shirahama inking a drawing of Coco.

You can see she starts with a pencil sketch that has the major shapes nailed down but not yet the line quality. She outlines all the main shapes, erases the pencils, then fills in the details at a slightly lower line weight. She’s got a ridiculously confident hand considering how much detail is going straight to ink in a way that makes my digital artist brain flinch.

The way Shirahama uses hatching reminds me a bit of Kimihiko Fujisaka, artist for Voice of Cards. I think I gotta practice more in ink lol, digital just doesn’t seem to give the same feel. Something about the mechanics of the way the pen flicks across the paper, maybe?

And that’s I think everything I have to say. Read this comic, it’s good! ...oh wait, there’s an anime coming! As yet, the studio and staff are to be determined. Shirahama’s style seems very difficult to capture in animation, so I’ll be curious to see how they handle it.

Next up: The Less Than Epic Adventures of TJ and Amal I think.

[clothyume]

Astraea's Atelier: Epilogue 3

Epilogue 3 

Summer 

Shu: Fufu. Create to your heart's content, Kiryu. Art is not something that can be forced upon you, but something fun. 

You only have one life, so you want to spend it doing nothing but having fun. 

Chiaki: Yup. That's true, but in order to survive, you have to work properly too. 

That’s time, Kiryu. I can hear some noise outside– The filming crew for the travel show we’re supposed to be appearing on has probably arrived. 

Kurou: That’s true. That’s a shame, it was just getting interesting. 

Leo: Wahaha☆ You don’t have to stop working! It's not the film crew, it's me! 

Kurou: Tsukinaga. Where the hell did you go? 

Leo: Eh? Are you angry, Kurou? Did I do something wrong? 

Kurou: No, I’m not. However, if you could just get used to locking doors, we could have avoided such a complicated situation– 

Leo: Lecture me later! Moreover, your strategy is to cover up the culprit’s work to provoke and lure them out, right? 

It seems to have been a great success! 

Chiaki: What are you saying? 

Leo: Wahaha! Is ‘What are you saying?’ All you can say? I’ll call you what-you-saying space man! 

No, the culprit really has been lured out! 

While I was staked out by the atelier, I saw someone wandering around. 

If we hurry, we can probably catch them. What’ll we do? They looked delicate, so it wouldn’t need four of us to attack! 

Shu: Hmph. How many times do I need to tell you, leave it to the police to arrest suspicious people. 

Anyway, eventually the culprit won’t be able to stand it and will step in, telling us not to tarnish their work any further. 

If you don’t have that kind of guts, if you don’t have the will to protect your work– 

Once again, I will reject such foolishness. 

Shame on you, mock artist. 

However, hopefully the culprit will step in soon. I want to spark artistic discussion, even through the night. 

This time I will examine this great body of work in a better light, and give it a fair evaluation. 

To welcome you into our heaven as an irreplaceable being who can create beautiful and valuable things. 

Leo: Hmm〜... But until we hear the story from the person themself, it’s all speculation. 

Shu seems to think the culprit is an artist. 

What should I do? What if my theory from last night is correct, and all the works lined up in the atelier were placed just to make Shu horny? 

No matter how you look at it, the face of the person wandering outside looked like a maiden in love. 

Shu: If that’s the case, I’ll call them a fool for creating works with such an ulterior motive, and have them arrested. 

I’m not good at fighting so I’ll leave it to Kiryu, who prides himself on his strength, and Morisawa, who is an ally of justice, to deal with it. 

Chiaki: Hmm, but we’ve got work. 

Kurou: That’s right. If you meddle with someone else's love story, you’ll get kicked into hell by a horse, so we freeloaders will quickly excuse ourselves. 

Shu: Wait. You know by now that I’m not good with such topics, so are you going to abandon me? 

You’re going to leave me alone? At least you’re still on the side of justice aren't you, Morisawa?  

Chiaki: I feel weak when you say that, but the reality is that this sort of thing is a job for the police…♪

Leo: Oh! The culprit has finally arrived! So, why are they here? I’m excited~! 

Shu: W-Wait! I have provided you with meals, lodging and other things, haven’t I? And you’ll just leave me like this!? 

Perhaps this is my retribution as an ungrateful person who once denied the culprit’s work!? 

Kurou: Haha. Now that’s unusual, Itsuki with a face this panicked. 

Chiaki: Ah, I hope we can see something just as interesting in the next country! The travel programme has only just begun! 

Shu: Wait, you two! Don’t give off such a happy-go-lucky atmosphere! The case hasn't exactly been resolved! 

Leo: ♪~♪~♪

Shu: Don’t hum an ending theme! Tsukinaga…! 

[vilandel]

Hi Vilandel!

What about these 🤦‍♀️🥘🎳 for Rosette for the OC ask game?

Hi Lola and thanks for asking Rosette 💘

🤦‍♀️ Something that continues to embarrass them to this day In Rosettes case, well... lucky for her, no one learned about it, but it is still a blush factor for her. She once burped loudly during a noble gathering, after eating too much of the cheese appetizers (in her defense, those were delicious). But no one realized that it was her, because... her talent to make herself invisible. And her burp managed to save Nebra from a rather insisting suitor that day. But it was still embarrassing.

🥘 Favourite food? CHOCOLATE!!! Anything with chocolate Rosette adores it. But grilled cheese sandwiches and spare ribs are also some of her favorites.

🎳 Do they have hobbies? If yes, what are they? Except gossip? Rosette loves also to read, detective novels especially even though any good story can be to her liking (and there's this book series she brought with her into the Silva Palace, called The Legend Of Vox Machina...). Embroider is also something she enjoys as something relaxing. Another thing, art made out of glass. No wonder, since she has glass magic. But Rosette likes to invest a bit of her money into glass ateliers and such, especially when they also make stained glass.

[tekatonic]

yippee !

I've rebranded finally ! Out with teka-and-her-spam-chat and in with tekatonic ! 🎉 So let's do an actual intro post !

Hi, I'm Teka ! I draw stuff sometimes ! I somehow became a Sonic fan and am currently working on an AU called #sonic emerald guardians AU. ( chronological order of posts : here )

Main ( Sonic-themed ) : @tekatonic Other fandoms : @tekablade-chronicles-3 Personal ( original art but mostly reblogs rn ) : @teka-chat

Here are all my art tags :

#teka art ( main/sonic ) #other teka art ( other fandoms ) (( lmk if you want me to tag my older non-sonic posts with this ? )) #lucky atelier art ( originals )

[teka-chat]

Redraw from a ye olde 2017 wip

[hesitationss]

feels so lucky that we've been getting so many good shojo & non male-power-fantasy seinen. idk abt calling it josei since that's only used for *some* mags and mostly a western category because everyone needs to categorize things by "for girls" and "for boys" for some reason... when even shojo is not nearly as tropey as shonen... i remember reading a translated interview from a blog on here, where a lot of the early shojo mangakas were talking abt how shojo isn't a category/demographic per se, but an authentic/genuine/earnest exploration of the wild landscape of a young woman's experiences... and that was such a beautiful definition to me 🤧 not even shonen is for young men as earnestly except for certain lgbtq+ manga since it's just "standard". there really is such a huge difference between how cartoonists describe their work and how the "markets" do... anyways we are so lucky, i feel like there's been a resurgence of ppl w interesting stories and unique art styles getting published in the mainstream. it's nice, i hope things like skip & loafer, WHA atelier, dungeon meshi, girl's last tour, our dreams at dusk, etc. can get ppl to expand their ideas of demographic and genre rather than see a magazine is under 'seinen' marketing demographic and be like "gotcha this was made for adult men", and be open to more types of storytelling.

[clavissionary-position]

I'm sorry, this time I told the AI to write "a smutty story about being f***** by Chevalier" and... 😭

The Night with Chevalier

I'm not sure how I ended up in the same room as Chevalier, but it happened. One minute I was sipping on a drink at the bar and the next thing I knew, he was standing behind me, his hand resting on my shoulder. His French accent was thick and his cologne smelled like a bouquet of flowers.

Chevalier was known for his charm and good looks, but I never imagined I would be the lucky one to experience it firsthand. We talked for a while, his hand never leaving my shoulder, and before I knew it, we were making our way up to his room.

(nsfw | minors dni)

As soon as we entered, Chevalier wasted no time. He pushed me up against the wall and kissed me deeply, his hands roaming all over my body. I couldn't believe this was actually happening. It was like a dream come true.

He picked me up and carried me to the bed, laying me down gently. He slowly undressed me, taking his time to explore every inch of my body with his hands and lips. I had never felt so desired before.

Chevalier was a master in the art of lovemaking. He knew exactly what to do to make my body respond in ways I never knew were possible. The pleasure he gave me was indescribable. I was completely lost in the moment, consumed by the passion and desire that flowed between us.

Hours later, we lay in bed, exhausted but completely satisfied. Chevalier held me close, his strong arms wrapped around me. I knew this was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I would never forget.

As the sun began to rise, Chevalier got out of bed and started to dress. He turned to me and smiled, his bright blue eyes sparkling in the morning light. "Thank you for a wonderful night," he said, before kissing me one last time and walking out the door.

I lay there for a moment, still in shock at what had just happened. But as I slowly got dressed and made my way back to my own room, I couldn't help but feel a sense of satisfaction and contentment. I had just been fucked by Chevalier, and it was everything I had ever wanted and more.

---

Atelier's note: goddamn that's actually a decent fic, other than the totally wrong characterization lol

[northwest-by-a-train]

2, 10, 19

2 Did you reread anything? What?

I think I just reread my all-time favorites this year. My copy of invisible cities before gifting it to a dear friend, Anouilh's Antigone, Kalpa Imperial, some Borges short stories, Kapuscinsky's The Emperor, and Daniel Pennac's Kamo series. And ofc I reread Manga and comics a good dozen times, and Jason's graphic novels

10 What was your favorite new release of the year?

Blutch's Lucky Luke! I'm always ten years or so behind new releases, but I always make time for Blutch. He has the kind of overtly masculine writing I dislike in nearly everyone else but him ? Somehow ? If you've read Gus I'd like to know what you thought about it. I've also loved the latest Witch Hat Atelier art

19 Did you use your library?

Oh que oui. Médiathèque des Champs Libres, Lucien Rose-Thabor, Bourg-Levesque, Triangle, Rennes-2 campus, Diderot Rezé, Jacques Demy, l@ Bibliothèque Croix-de-Vie, BNF et Bibliothèque de la Maison Internationale de Rennes. My beloveds. Pour ne citer qu'elles. As I'm writing this, I just got back from Les Champs Libres with a tote bag filled with Le Génie des Alpages 7 through 15, a book of Mahmoud Darwish's poetry, and an artbook of Sergio Toppi. That should last me une ou deux théières.

[atotaltaitaitale]

.

MANO HABILIS un projet JR x le19M.

A few weeks ago I got to be part of JR’s Mano Habilis project which is Part 2 of his installation at Opera Garnier (part I here).

We were invited to le 19M to take part of the project in collaboration with Atelier Montex.

We took a print of our hand then we got about 20 minutes to embellish it with pearls, feathers and threads under the supervision of embroiderers from Atelier Montex. Once done, the embroidered handprint was photographed in order to be part of the Opera Garnier display by JR and then another photograph of ourselves with our art piece was taken.

It was a great experience and I got to the opportunity to visit le 19M complex.

Le 19M 19 like the arrondissement in which the building is located, at Porte d'Aubervilliers. 19 as a homage to Gabrielle Chanel's day of birth, and to one of the CHANEL’s lucky numbers, at the initiative of this great project that is le19M. M for Métiers d'arts M for Mode (fashion) M for Main (hand), in a tribute to the artisans and their savoir-faire.

le 19M is a tailor-made showcase for the 600 artisans and experts who work here on a daily basis from 11 Maisons d’Art.

Atelier Montex Atelier Montex is an embroidery house that offers its know-how to the biggest names in luxury ready-to-wear and haute couture, and is developing its activity towards decorative and ornamental projects. Founded in 1949, its unique artisanal techniques enable it to create virtuoso samples combining tradition and innovation. Atelier Montex's embroidery samples are highly modern, sophisticated and innovative. One of the hallmarks of Atelier Montex's DNA is that the irreplaceable gesture of the craftsman is not afraid to combine with cutting-edge technologies such as 3D printing or laser cutting, to enrich the possibilities and give life to the expression of an artistic vision.