#might draw fanart of them if i find motivation to draw again lol

[jayskai]

Btw i watched the mario movie today and. If i ever said that i was a Luigi fan, now i can say he's one of my favorite characters ever, that's it 🫶

[scribz-ag24]

Do you have a set process for coloring and rendering / adding texture to your art? If so, would it be alright for me to ask what goes into that process? I'd love to learn how an artist I admire goes about their work!

Omg I'm so flattered, I'll try my best to explain it!! ^^

Tho, okayyy, I apologize beforehand for how incoherent this might be, since I don't really have a set process at all and mostly I fake it 'til i make it haha. I'm the first to admit that I don't have a ver consistent method and that shows in how irregular in quality my art can look, even inside the general sketchy look.

(Btw sorry if some of the fanart i use for example doesn't make you comfortable but I've tried to find the best examples for each type of coloring haha)

I'll start with the brushes I rely on the most, tho I admit i made the mistake of downloading too many brushes and textures so I might use others on rare occassions xddd

These are basically the brushes I use the most. The "mezclador redondo" is just CSP's default paintbrush and I only tweaked it to find sth I liked and felt comfortable with for both lining and painting

As you can see here I only used one layer for lines and other three for each of the guys' colors. I colored it all with the default brush (tho unfortunately I lost the settings I used for this drawing in particular and haven't found them again rip). In drawings like this I just do a sketch, clean the lines (no lineart) and then paint it. After the base color I start laying out different hues to make the coloring more interesting.

This one was the same. One layer for coloring, manually adding lighter hues (see the more light and yellowish color on grovyle's left leg compared to the shadow) or darker tones. I try to add color to the shadows as well to make them feel less flat, and an airbrush in overlay tends to help with that (tho here I just used a brush).

Here you can see that I often paint over the lines on another layer to correct mistakes in the "lineart" lol. I also applied an airbrush (layer mode overlay) over celebi to make her more bright. I wanted to put this one to show that coloring doesn't have to be detailed to look nice enough. Here Celebi basically has no shadows at all but the tone of the drawing makes her look cute anyways imo ^^

In these two you can see adjustements over the full image again (yellow layer), but I also wanted to show that I don't have a set number of layers either, it depends on how many I feel like using. Again, sorry for the lack of consistency but im too lazy to have a proper method lmao

I will also use harder brushes and tone changes sometimes, instead of blending them with less dense brushes. I am also fond of adding hard lighting in some drawings. You can experiments with it on a top layer and delete it if it doesn't fit, so it's always worth a try.

Another thing I recommend is studying and copying artists you admire or like. Add things from their styles into yours, see how they work with proportions and try to use that in your own art. It has helped me a lot and, without looking to fully copy anyone's style, it does give you some ideas of how you wish your drawing would look, which motivates me (when it doesn't depress me lol)

Finally, the texturing isn't consistent either. I use one of CSP's/Downloaded texture packs, put a grainy texture on the canvas, set it to overlay and adjust the opacity until I'm satisfied. In these two images you can see I am not consistent in coloring even in the same comic lmao. But we are doing this for fun, so I think experimentation is always sth worth exploring ^^

And I think that's all I have to say. I don't control color theory at all, so I can't really explain how I choose colors. I look up some tutorials on youtube and pretend I understand lol. Ig the one thing I tend to do a lot is changing hues in a base color to make it look less flat, the same as with shadows.

Anyways I hope this was helpful or that it at least waas what you asked for haha. Thank you for the interest!! :DD

[seahdalune]

Seana’s 2020 art highlights (a thread)

(Note: this is a reupload of a thread i did on twitter a few years back. so these are really old.)

January: i didn’t draw anything complete that month.... closest thing i could find to finished is this art i made of my OC, Angelord. man. remember when i drew my OCs? [2023 note: it's..... funny you say that. you would try to start up an original comic for the entirety of next year.... not that it ever came to fruition.]

February: i finished Link’s Awakening that month. i drew Marin bc i thought she was cute. i wish i could get motivated to draw fanart of recent video games i finished more... this is probably the last proper traditional art i made this year... after this, it’s mostly digital.

March: look. i’m attempting anatomy... and i failed lol. i remember being like “how do you draw woman” after drawing this... i mean. i still wanna know how to draw woman, so i guess i haven’t changed lol. [2023 note: I STILL DONT KNOW HOW TO DRAW WOMEN]

April: wait NVM here’s another traditional piece i made this year. he was an adoptable i made... but nobody was interested in them so he’s with me for now. i’ll try and redesign them, either to sell them or to keep him. [2023 note: i never sold this guy.... i was lazy and nobody values points these days. probs for the best because scamming children with virtual coins is probably not a good idea lmao. at the same time, i wish there was an easy way to buy and sell designs+commissions without having to get a credit card or paypal or something.]

May: another month where i didn’t draw anything. buuut i did some plush sketches to reference so das dat. [2023 note: you'll probably be able to name most charas here, but who's the guy i drew the most? that's Matteo, he's a little pink vampire and i made him through Gatcha Life.]

June: ah. the month where i started digital art. this was fanart for my friend’s OC. i didn’t know a lot of features of digital art so it looks like shit LOL not the first digital art i made ever, but it might as well be. [2023 note: i actually received my tablet around 2018, but i never had time to draw on it because i had 1 hour of screentime every day. this restriction was finally lifted in 2020 (because online classes) and i finally had time to venture out into the world of digital art...]

July: i made a lot of stuff this month, but to shorten the list... i finished the plush of my OC, Matteo. i wanna make another plushie... maybe with Suitcase.

this was also the month i joined the OSC... oh hell. it’s been 6 months?? [2023 note: 2 YEARS BITCH. ITS GONNA BE YOUR 3RD ANNIVERSARY if i didn't get so tired and started to hate the community so much.]

August: ...ergh. lets get over with this month quickly... Object OCs this. Object OCs that.

occasional Algebians.

i do not like the art here... it really shows that i’ve improved. ok let’s get outta here. [2023 note: i fucking despise the person who asked me why "they were old" to my humanizations of the Dangos. this is why i refuse to join another public server ever again and might have contributed to the delay of my human drawing skills.]

September: lots of Taco II. i seriously liked her a lot. still do, but the love is a bit more spread out between characters.

oh. and i watched ONE that month. cool.

October: i finally found a style that i could weld. hooyah.

don’t ask why i drew my friend as a cat maid... i thought it was funny ok.

September: the month of gift art. nothing else to say, but i like the thin lines. yes, ‘thin’. ...god i need to think of better things to say. [i would then realize i said the wrong month, and unlike tumblr, i cannot edit tweets once published, so my only option was to delete the whole thing and start over. or just say this:] did i just say September... oh for fucks- no i am not fixing this i’m already tired of this just imagine i said November ok

December: best art of this year so far (doh) nothing to say. just... happy that i improved. can’t wait to improve even more.

[hey look! i was in the 2020 JnJ christmas video! thats me! me!!]

aaand, that’s all for this year! man, i thought i was done with improvement. i can’t believe i proved myself wrong. usually other people do that for me lol. lets see if i can disprove myself again in 2021.

[legacyofacat]

[10] Nimbus Try I: Arpeggio of Hurt Steel

Kongō's hands played lazily across the tiles of her piano, mimicking a melody she had heard somewhere.

There was admittedly not much to do here below the sea, it might even become boring given enough time, but right now it was nice.

She looked down at her shoulder when the head placed there jolted and tired eyes blinked open: "Good morning."

Zeitwächter made a sound that might as well could have come from a surprised cat – on the other hand, maybe it was Churchgrim, laying on her and looking exactly as half-dead.

The battleship gazed around blearily: "...Did I leave my drawing things here?"

When she had fallen asleep, sketchbook and all in hand, it had begun sliding at some point. Seeing this, Kongō had taken it from her hands and placed it on her other side before it could clatter to the ground – now she handed it over.

Accepting her things again, Zeitwächter opened the book to the last page she was working on and… did nothing.

Kongō looked on with a raised eyebrow, Churchgrim with a cocked head.

Zeitwächter, simultaneously, was having a little crisis: the thing she was working on was supposed to be fanart, if you could call it that, of Kongō – she was not going to draw Kongō with the original right there.

"Uhm… Kon-chama, how about a culinary expedition?"

Kongō's other eyebrow raised, Zeitwächter sweated bullets. --

Thanks to powers Zeitwächter would maybe pray to starting today, Kongō actually agreed and so they had headed to Italy because

Italian food is nice

Perfect reason for bothering the Second European Fleet.

Their second-in-command, battleship Betelgeuse, looked ready to tear Zeitwächter apart in a this-shit-again manner: "If you want a "culinary expedition" then I can recommend you perfectly fine restaurants."

"Hahaha, but Ojī-san-"

"Who are you calling an old man!?", she was ignored.

"Surely it would be more welcome by the locals if someone they knew went and visited them to do business?"

Betelgeuse actually lunged forwards and aimed a kick at her legs, which Zeitwächter avoided with an undignified squeak and hiding spot behind Kongō: "You just don't want to talk to people!"

"People are scary!"

"I will show you-"

"Sister."

Zeitwächter had to actively suppress a "no actual sisters call each other "sister" like that", because she got almost thrown into the ocean for that sentence once before.

None the wiser, Betelgeuse's sister Orion held her back with a hand on the elbow and tugged her backwards a few steps: "Don't force the child, let's get them food."

"Are you dumb?", she followed along nonetheless, complaining all the way.

Kongō watched their interaction with a smirk, completely ignoring how Zeitwächter and Churchgrim were cowering behind her.

Said Mental Model sighed: "That was close, lol", then she stood up as if nothing had ever happened and made a hand-heart towards Orion, "I love dad."

"Why is she your dad?"

"Because I'm a bitch."

Sure, whatever.

The actual explanation was most likely that Vanisher called everyone "kid" and "child" – which, looking at her age, was fair – and Orion's unfortunate habit of adopting strays.

She most likely just lost in the roulette of who gets which title.

"Kon-chama, do you have a favourite food~?"

"No."

"Then we'll find yours, everyone has a favourite food after all."

"What's yours?"

Zeitwächter had suddenly never eaten anything in her life ever.

That's what I thought.

About half an hour later, Orion and Betelgeuse returned with enough food for a whole fleet.

Kongō and Zeitwächter looked equally doubtful of what they were planning on.

"Don't stare", Betelgeuse dumped a good amount into Zeitwächter’s arms and a considerably smaller amount into Kongō’s, "Orion wants to feed the Science Department."

"They deserve it", and just when you could think that Zeitwächter jumped to their defence without any motives of her own, she continued, "besides, everything they don't eat can be eaten by us."

Orion truly looked at her like a dad while her sister rolled her eyes and began leading the way: "Move it, star child."

"I am", Orion said, falling in step with their two guests to finally, adequately, greet them, "Flagship Kongō, it's an honour to welcome you here."

"Thank you", Kongō smirked at the stroke of her ego.

"Hey, Dad, why don't I get a greeting?", Zeitwächter pouted.

"I would hug you if you liked that."

"It's not like you like hugging either…"

The other smiled at her: "Are you two travelling together?"

She beamed: "We are! Look at my dream come true!"

"Your dream come true?", Kongō repeated doubtfully.

Betelgeuse let out a "oh my God" under her breath.

Zeitwächter was about to launch into a full fawning tsunami when the grey haired battleship leading them loudly proclaimed: "We've arrived! Get your food!"

While Zeitwächter shot a dark glare, the members of the Science Department came trotting in, all of them Mental Models.

"Where's SW1?"

Vanitas, a destroyer with long, blue hair, bound out of the way in three braids, looked around once: "Still working on her project."

Betelgeuse rolled her eyes, snatched a container and vanished down the floor.

The blue-haired girl motioned for Kongō and Zeitwächter to sit down with them, pouring both a glass of soda.

They accepted and said their thanks, beginning to dig into their food while listening to the Science Department's chatter.

Eventually, Vanitas began addressing Kongō, pointing a fork at her food: "Is it good?"

Kongō needed a moment to swallow: "It is."

"Good", she nodded with a smile, then pointed at Zeitwächter, "Zeitwächter, sit with a straight back."

Said battleship, who was bowed over the table and just about to put the next portion of food into her mouth, made a confused face which then shifted into a glare: "Are you shitting me? Do you know how low this table is??"

She was two whole metres tall, ok? That was a lot compared to all of those tiny gnomes!

Vanitas kept looking, Zeitwächter kept staring back.

This went on for a while, before Churchgrim finally stole a tortelloni from the destroyer's plate, thus making her break the staring contest to turn after her food: "CHURCH! NO-! Ah, there it goes…"

Churchgrim looked really really happy with himself and licked his snout before returning to his place under the table, earning some extra pets.

Now in high spirits again, Zeitwächter ate a noodle, stuck her tongue out at Vanitas and asked Kongō: "So, Kon-chama, how is your first food experience?"

"It's not my first."

She had also already said that it was good.

"Oh?", the other blinked, "what was your first?"

Kongō thought back on a certain beach and a certain green bell pepper: "...Doesn't matter, it wasn't good."

"Why not?"

"Bitter", she grimaced; it was as if she had the taste on her tongue again.

"Many plants use bitter substances to deter predators", Vanitas informed, "I can imagine that those do not taste well."

"Well, I won't be one of them."

"But I will", Zeitwächter made an expression as if ready to face an entire army on her own.

"...Are you protecting me from a plant?"

"Ee", she agreed without a trace of hesitation.

Kongō rolled her eyes: "Eat your food."

The battleship did for a while, then remembered something: "Ah, Vanitas, what was SW2 doing here?"

"She was visiting her sister and Betelgeuse."

More like visiting Betelgeuse and coincidentally also meeting SW1.

It wasn’t like they had a bad relationship, it was more like they didn't have a personal one at all: they knew each other, respected each other and worked together, but that was it.

(Hell, Zeitwächter had had more of a relationship with the spider in her room before the dog had eaten it.)

"She returned back to Queenie, then?"

Vanitas nodded.

"I wonder what she was doing…", Zeitwächter said, thoughts apparently drifting off.

Even though her words could be seen as a repetition of her earlier ones, this time they seemed to hold deeper meaning.

Kongō noticed that, Orion noticed it as well, looked on for a while and then decided to open a different topic: "Do you miss the fleet?"

"No."

She wasn't sure if she should believe that �� Zeitwächter liked to be alone, Zeitwächter also liked to lie about her feelings because she couldn't be bothered.

"Are you lonely?", Belladonna, a light cruiser with an ever-frozen smile said.

(Saying "asked" felt wrong, as Belladonna's voice never got higher or deeper, soft tune never changing its personal kind of monotone.)

"I don't get lonely. I'm the Demon of the Fog, after all."

Since the ship now known as Zeitwächter was unknown to the Fleet of Fog and also didn't register as Fatum anymore, they had adopted the way the Fleet of Masks had been referring to her and only changed it to Akuma after units had actually encountered her and managed to get a read on her – as with many things that stuck around for a while, the title stuck.

Vanitas, who was researching why some ships apparently weren't capable of feeling certain emotions even though their emulator proved to be in working order, activated her Energy Life Rings and used them to jot something down. The lunch – I mean, the culinary expedition – ended up lasting about three hours and sapped all of Zeitwächter's social energy.

--

Start Last Next

Can also be found on:

DeviantArt Wattpad ff.net AO3

[zeondraws]

I must say I had alot of fun drawing this one a couple of days ago!

dunno if I print this out for diary

I often scroll through tumblr to look through the art tips tag and honestly it's so fun finding neat little art hacks and colour theory tips that I always want to try out when I can hop on my laptop!

Even if I might feel a bit like "ooh damn when will I become as good?" But I also want to try and channel my feelings into motivation, to continue to have fun and try out new things and develop through this.

This whole art path is so scary to me at times, because there is this? Responsibility I feel like, that I have when I post my bus art online, how would people react? Did I have fun drawing this? How will I continue my goals?

Since I want to try and shake up the whole bus community in some way, not like in a bad way but to perhaps make it feel more interesting. I feel like there is a lack of creativity or a lack of artists compared to the amount of bus manufacturers and bus companies you have who try and sell busses, make them interesting to people etc, but how do you reach people? For me it feels like it mostly just reaches people who are already interested in busses and the bus companies always feel sterile or very cooperate (I think I have already mentioned this in a previous post, I often repeat myself)

I am already seeming to have small success, I don't know how to call it or how to feel because this is a very new territory for me.

In my discord server some of my active members started drawing much more, which makes me feel very honored that they're inspired to do so because of me. Some even made bus animations or silly bus drawings or comics. Heck when setra announced their new bus we had some fun talking about it, and one of my members drew fanart of it which is amazing.

Like they're probably the first and only person who made fanart of this setra bus, okay there is official artworks (somewhere), but I'd like to point out that bus fanart is waaay more rare than your usual plane/train or idk fanart of animated shows.

I can't stress enough how busses don't get enough love, there is this universal thing of people unaware of them.

So it's obviously one of the reasons I started my tumblr and Instagram account, hopefully after my apprenticeship I will start my youtube stuff which seems way more scary. Because at the end of the day I am a nobody, who is dreaming of changing something. But of course I don't want to forget to have fun and enjoy what I do, there are so many silly bus stories I want to share.

Tho it feels somewhat scary to do the first step, because I didn't think that I'd be standing here doing this myself. But who else is gonna draw busses? I can't wait years until someone random appears to draw what I want to see. So I'll do it myself (still scary tho, getting outside your comfort zone LOL)

Because I feel like there is something that those bus manufacturers/companies are not acknowledging over the potential . And I am here to change that, however I can with my silly and messed up ideas. haha

I am currently taking a week break from discord so that I can collect myself again and focus on other things. And also to draw BUS

Bro I have sooooo many bus ideas on my trello the list will never get lower.

I shall end this post with a meme

I love Mushroom Bus very much

[dimonds456]

Do you have advice for young artists? (If not, it's fine)

Sure thing!

To any young artists that follow me or happen to see this post, be you an actual young human being or an older adult who's only just starting to draw, all are welcome.

This is going to consist of general advise like learning more art and using tools to actually giving some art tips I've seen in amateur artists (including Little Me).

Long post ahoy! But hopefully a helpful one!

General Advise

1. Everyone learns at a different rate. I cannot stress this enough. If you and your best friend start drawing at the same time, your friend will more than likely not learn at the same rate as you. You might go faster, or maybe they rocket past you. This says nothing about your skills or someone being "better" than the other. That is just how you learn, and is 100% valid.

2. Don't compare your art to others. Like I said before, we all learn differently. If you see a peer's art and wish you could draw like that, that's fine, but don't let those kinds of thoughts drive your entire motivation. You will get there with time and practice. There are plenty of people that I want to draw like, and I'm practicing to get there. Slowly but surely.

3. There's always more to learn. No one has "mastered" art. There's always a new thing to learn, a new medium, new techniques, ect. Even the best artist to ever live had more to learn.

4. Use your tools! Be you a traditional or digital artist, there is no such thing as "cheating" on your art. Tracing and other forms of plagiarism I'll get to in a sec. But if you want a straight line, use the line tool or grab a ruler. If you want a bright light and you're on digital, use the Add tool or Hard Light. Watch a YouTube tutorial or get objects to trace around. The idea you're "cheating" by doing that is dumb. Don't listen to them.

5. Plagiarism stuff. Tracing is not plagiarism. If you do it for practice, that is perfectly fine! If you post it, make sure you credit the original piece (and it's not a bad idea to ask the original artist before you post it). It's when you don't credit the original artist that it becomes stealing and not okay. Make sure you leave enough tells that anyone could find the original art you traced if you post. If you don't post, then you're fine. You may still want to ask the original artist first, but again, just be careful about it. - On that, not all artists will agree with me, which is why I say to ask first. Some will be cool with it, others won't be.

Art Tips

1. Warm-up sketches are your friend. I know you got that idea in your head and the pose and lighting is super cool. Sketch that down so you don't forget it! But, don't make that sketch your final drawing. Draw circles, loops, straight lines, facial expressions, whatever works for you to get your brain and hand warmed up first. Otherwise, lines may be shaky, poses may be stiff, and expressions may be less expressive than they would be otherwise. You don't need a lot, just a few. Then you can start working on that masterpiece you saw in your head!

2. REST. PLEASE. I struggle with this one. If you love drawing, then you do it all the time. But here's the thing; your hands are a tool. Getting to be good at drawing is the same as an athlete training their body to run or swim. This means you NEED to take care of your WHOLE ARM, not just your hand/wrist. Rest it. Massage it. Warm it up first. You could cause permanent nerve damage if you're not careful. This goes for musicians, too! Please take care of yourself! If your hand starts hurting, rest it.

3. Find a subject. I don't see many people recommend this, but I've found it helps a lot. Find something you like and draw it over and over. If you're neurodivergent, this shouldn't be a problem- draw whatever you're currently hyperfixated on, lol. This means, yes, DRAW FANART. The design is already done! Now you just mold it to your will! Do screenshot redraws! Draw your fav hanging out with another fav! Use that muse to practice poses and expressions! Trust me, it helps!

4. Fame isn't everything. Follower count means nothing. It comes down to luck on the internet on whether or not people find your art, and on Tumblr, it has to be "good enough" to get reblogged. So if no one is finding your art, don't be discouraged! Again, don't compare yourself to other people. Draw for yourself. If people like what you do, they'll start trickling in.

5. Artstyle???? Okay, this one is weird. Having an artstyle is not something that you can decide to have, nor something that just comes naturally, but it also is both of those things? Basically, the more you draw something and then start doing so from memory, the more aspects of them will start changing over time. The way you draw hair will be influenced by other hair styles you've seen in the past that you liked (i.e. anime, cartoons, realistic, ect.). Same with eyes, hands, body shapes, and more. You can purposefully add in elements you like, and eventually a version of that will just become how you draw now, but even then, you will naturally add your own "spin" on it.

Take me for example. I am currently hyperfixated on Steven Universe, and have been since late 2019. I tried mimicking the show's art style, and it worked! I can draw pretty similarly to the show! Problem is, now it's taken over how I draw other things, too. Not completely, but elements of that style are still there, like eye shapes, hair, mouths especially, and noses. I can draw other things and outside of that style, but I have to actively decide to do so. SU is just part of my artstyle now.

6. Self-Improvement / Criticism. Okay, what's the difference between "Wow, this took forever and is a nice composition, but the lighting is a bit odd" and "Wow, this took way too long and the end result didn't pay off at all because that stupid light is overtaking everything"? That's right- attitude. When trying to improve, it's good to look for areas where you're struggling, but instead of hating those spots, try to focus on them. Look up lighting tutorials and tips on YouTube. Maybe lighting isn't the problem, maybe it's shading? Point is, always put a positive spin on it. Remember, there's always something more to learn.

7. Tracing / Redraws. Bringing this back up again, it is A-okay to do these things for practice. Tracing can really help teach you how anatomy works, how to do fun poses, or how to draw a character you really like. It's useful. But remember, if you post it, ask permission first and ALWAYS give credit. Same goes for screenshot redraws. If it's not yours, let people know what you were redrawing, and if it's a piece by another artist, show them! More than likely they'll love that you redrew their art, but ask before posting, and ABSOLUTELY give credit! If the artist wants you to link back to their original post, do that! Don't be afraid to do these things, just remember to be careful.

8. Drawing Fanart. I already said it here, but PLEASE go draw fanart. Drawing your favorite characters is already fun, and will make drawing even more fun overall, but it also teaches you so much. If you're looking to gain followers, drawing fanart for a show that has a big fandom is a good way to do it. Remember to tag your art so people can find it, and so people can block it if they don't like that character/fandom. Tag the fandom and the characters specifically. Trust me, this helps a lot! And again, it's just fun. I got started drawing FNaF fanart, and I loved it. It got me into video editing, music videos, and eventually writing stories and comics. Depending on what you do, drawing fanart could tell you anything you want to know. These are pre-established characters so you don't have to start from scratch. It makes everything so much easier.

9. Someone's being a meanie-head / criticism. If you get hate for your art, it's going to hurt, especially at first. Unfortunately, this is a downside of drawing fanart, since you're more likely to draw in those kinds of people. But don't listen to them. If they just want to ruin your day, spite them by drawing even more. Block them.

However, that said, criticism is NOT hate. If someone is criticizing you, you can choose what to do with that. If you're not in a good space to get that criticism, ignore it. That's valid. If you are, listen to what they're saying. If your line art is shaky or your lighting is weird and they tell you that, ask them how you can get better. Chances are they want to see you become a better artist. But again, it's up to you. You do NOT have to listen to these people if you don't want, but I've found they can be extremely helpful.

10. Okay, cool. How do I practice? Excellent question. I'm still figuring that one out. But something I've been trying recently is a little game I came up with. Find a playlist of songs you're familiar with and put it on shuffle. For every song that comes on, draw what that song reminds you of. But, you have until the song ends. This is good for warm-ups and for getting better at quickly slapping out ideas. You can put a spin on it and draw specific characters or prompts, too! Have fun with it! Other practices include* fanart, figure drawing, lines of action, quick draws, tracing, silhouette work, and far more.

And that's all I have for now! If you have questions or want to talk about some of these tips, send an ask my way. Inbox is always open! Have a good one, and happy drawing!

*Each of these tips gets explained below. - Fanart: I already talked about that one in-depth - Figure Drawing: You have a model and try drawing the pose they're in - Line of Action: Imaginary line running down the spine. Use it to create dynamic poses. Here's a really quick vid that explains it. - Quick Draw: Not sure if there's another name, but it is what it sounds like: draw something you see very quickly. Get it as accurate as possible with however much time you have. - Tracing: Can help with poses and anatomy, always credit - Silhouettes: Draw the outline of a character and see if you can't tell who it is. Or, draw two ovals together and make an eye/eye brow expression from them together.

[harseik]

Aw lawrd he's so beautiful. "Wow, Hark. What happened to all your sensible reasoning for changing Ridge around in your last submission?" ಠ_ಠ *Scrrrreeeeaaaaaammmmmm* Is there a term for a disease where you are SO CERTAIN about something and then become immediately uncertain in less than a couple days? It's chronic. I can't find a cure. I don't know where to start on explaining why. Let's see... moving Madison to Soles and Ridge to Breastplate had greatness going for it. I got back my lady acrobat and my SoCal heartthrob. However, I made these changes without thinking about the Six as a whole, let alone the ones adjacent to them in the "circle". Tanner and Ridge had a relationship installed alongside the very notion that they could get each other at a brotherly level, as unstable and stormy as it often is. Tanner and Madison on the other hand, would never throw down in any universe because Tanner, bless his uptight heart, is far too traditional to ever raise his voice at a woman, let alone be aggressive toward her. Psh, and she wouldn't want to feud either because she reads people's temperaments extremely well and knows he wouldn't reciprocate, so why try? The two are both equally good at reading the room. They would naturally not want to be in the same orbit as one another due to their sheer amount of differences. Although Madison's saucy ways vs the team's square did make for a hilarious contrast, I wasn't able to foresee a relationship where they could really ram heads, get on each other's nerves, and learn valuable lessons from each other without giving up on the opposite party. I sorta didn't like what Madison was turning into. She was morphing into an unflappably macho Catwoman biker chick real fast. Egh. I simply cannot take the "wayfaring maverick" out of Ridge without him becoming unrecognizable and deleting why I'm fond of his devil-may-care smile in the first place. The daffy, dramatic Hollywood Ridge is awesome, yes, but what the Soles of Peace position offers to this character is a globe-trotting backstory, a war vet status, a road warrior persona, a state of mouthy rebellion, a frontier spirit, and for heaven's sake, his Rockabilly sideburns make more sense too. All of that is much more him, and no one else, really. There are two different types of personalities: assertive and turbulent. The way I had it before, all of the females were very assertive (not to mention intelligent) while all of the males were neurotic/turbulent and stuck in the middle of the bell curve. It was also turning out that JD and Madison were adopting too many traits from one another because they were both well-traveled outsiders who had a relationship with "community". Everybody felt same-y. I wanted balance again, so I had to undo the gender swaps, lol. The various pieces of armor have a major effect on who is wielding what. Why? Because every piece is affiliated with a different city district. Culture, economic level, motivations, desires, fears - all of these things will change depending on the character+armor combo. As someone who always has her horizons open and likes to explore every nook and cranny of an idea, WELCOME TO MY FLIP-FLOPPING NIGHTMARE OF A PROJECT. ((This is why I'm not allowed to have fanart. I change things every three seconds.)) What's weird is that temporarily imagining Ridge in the Breastplate position has allowed me to spot new possibilities and get really galaxy-brained on Madison's potential in the role, which I hope to speak more about when I release her new design~ That said, the previous issue with the Breastplate's chesticle problem is still, indeed, a problem for this prude. *Points to self.* What I might do is simply move her scar (that I'd like to give screen time to without flashing the audience) up the sternum more. I'm sure there's a solution. I just gotta do some more drawing. Watch as I throw all of this out the window in a few days. :'D Start taking bets!

[break-slash]

Puzzleship JP & KR Fancomic Recommendation List

UPDATE (19-12-2020): Added two more artists and two more titles on the Japanese lists!

I don’t consider myself as someone very tidy and organized, but I just like making lists of the things I love, somehow. Hence this post. I haven’t been in the fandom for long but I thought I’d share some of my favorites primarily from two sites: pixiv and postype. Most of the postype ones are behind paywall, and I will mark them differently.

Some of my favorites come from the same artists, so I’ll also link their pixiv profile on top of my favorite work of them.

(I actually bookmarked a lot and picking them isn’t an easy task, so I will update this step by step. If you see only a link of an artist, that’s the reason, but I can guarantee you will love their works! Feel free to recommend me yours through reblogs or DM as well!)

Japanese

Artist: CYHGM

She is a Chinese and is more active on Weibo (she posted tons of puzzleship there, but my Mandarin is beyond rusty so I could only cry in despair lmao), but she has two fancomics that I absolutely adore of. Those two mentioned fancomics are:

The Past and The Future. You can check my translation for this one here. It tells about Atem who gets transported to 3000 years later before his coronation, and that’s where he met post-canon!Yugi. Just... everything about this comic is so wonderful. I teared up at the last page, not gonna lie ;_;

The Pharaoh and The Fairy: An Ancient Egypt-slash-fantasy AU featuring the S0/TOEI casts. The fairy Yugi was saved by Atem, and it’s an obligatory for fairies to grant their savior’s wishes. However, Atem doesn’t exactly have something he wants of, and this confuses Yugi on how he should repay him back. Pure undiluted sugar, and fairy!Yugi is just so cute.

Artist: Fushitas

Arguably one of the most popular Puzzleship fanartists in the JP fandom (look at their number of followers on Twitter, man), but maybe it’s also due to the fact they were in AoT fandom too. They’re mostly active on Twitter, and if you also watch Zexal, they draw tons of Yuma-centric pairings too. They have released lots of books, and their prices on the reseller sites are... well, let’s just say, unbelievable. Just to show how famous they are. 

From everlasting to everlasting: Set after DSOD. A mysterious figure appears in front of Atem, claiming to be his queen. Everyone in the after life somehow acknowledges this person, which makes him even more confused because he’s the only one unaware of this. On the living realm, Yugi who is on the way to his home got hit by a truck (isekai much??) and when he woke up, he suddenly plays the role of Atem’s queen. I’ve always adored Fushitas’ drawing, and this is no exception. The story is pretty simple, but is still good! The ending of this comic is everything I’ve always wanted from the canon lol. 

The King’s Guest: Ancient Egypt AU. The councils are starting to get worried because Atem shows no interest in marrying someone, so Shimon opens up a ��chance” sort of for civilians to become “someone for the Pharaoh to talk with”. The civilian Yugi takes this chance right off the bat, and stuff happens? This one is just so sweet and the misunderstanding later in the story kinda cracks me up. I really love the way they build the two’s chemistry in here.

Artist: usi 

They only draw two puzzleship fancomics, but both are so good and explores the themes I’ve loved from the pairing.

The Lotus’ Devil: Set post-canon with a flashback. It tells about Yugi’s regret in the past where he wanted to show Atem a small pool supposed to be full of lotus flower only to arrive seeing them not blooming. Fast forward to the post-canon, he found out that there’s actually a monster residing on that pool. I really, really loved the ending scene of this one.

Who’s The Detestable, Fortunate Guy Here: I think this is set sometime in the canon story, although the exact timing is unclear. It’s a short comic of Yugi asking Atem to pretend to be his date and go on a “dating practice”. A very pleasant hurt-and-comfort kind of story, and who doesn’t love a story of them dating anyways? :”D

Artist: Houzuki Anzu

She doesn’t draw much YGO, but she has some Arc-V and 5D’s fanarts too if you watch the series! 

Hourglass: Sets after the Memory World arc. Yugi keeps hearing a strange sound inside his mind, and he finds out there’s a huge hourglass standing there, guarded by the will of Millenium Puzzle. Apparently, the hourglass is linked to Atem’s remaining time in the living realm? Anyways, the ending of this comic might look like a cliffhanger, but I personally think it isn’t. I love the theme this comic picks to explore and the way it is presented.

Present: Same setting with Hourglass, but this one focuses more on Atem sorting out his feelings about the Ceremonial Duel and what he has learned from Yugi in general. It’s a very nice extra detail that the canon slightly lacks of, and I just love... bittersweet stuff in general haha.

Artist: Chiriko

Are you the type who wants puzzleship to be full of happiness and fluff and nothing else? Well, she has a number of comics to fill that need! I actually love all of her works, but if I have to pick, these two are my favorite:

...Don’t Ever Leave Me Again: A short story about Yugi having a nightmare of where he was stuck in the fire accident at Otogi’s store. Well... this isn’t a fluff sort of, but it’s... a happy ending still? /shot

[Untitled]: A dialogue-less comic, but this is the sort of post-canon what-if that I really, really like. Atem stroking Yugi’s face while sleeping is just... so soft man....

Artist: Komori Nea

Their art style was one of those that’s very noticeable and has a certain charm on it. They are pretty active on Twitter, and even draws puzzle comics once in a while that haven’t been uploaded to pixiv (which is why I recommend you to check their twitter gallery too haha)

The Soul Stays Awake: Post!DSOD. Atem comes back from afterlife in hoping that Yugi would be as happy as he is, but months after, Atem’s existence still hasn’t been registered on Yugi’s life just yet. Another post!DSOD take that I like which involves the fear of another farewell and uncertainty, but this is a good hurt-and-comfort. I swear, it’ll hurt you just... for a while. :”)

The Attack’s Aim: Set during the canon series. A short comic mostly portraying Yugi’s hidden strength but also the tenacity of duelist that is not only targeted toward the opponent, but also to Atem, without the person actually noticing it. The last page of this one is so... soft and gentle I had to put it into this list.

Artist: caf

Often draw with S0/TOEI style, characters and characterization in mind. Their coloring in illustrations is so soft, plus artists who specialize in S0/TOEI style can’t be found so easily. Their comic style is not a manga-like one and they write the dialogues with handwriting, but if you can read hiragana and write and understand how kanji works (so you can write it on translation machine), their comics are easy to understand!

magenta: S0/TOEI AU where Yugi and Atem are two separate person. A short comic of Yugi lying under the rain as Atem searches for his whereabouts. I really love the way they portray the rain and the atmosphere surrounding the scene. Or maybe I’m just biased with rains in general, ahahaha.

Yuugi and Mao’s Stay Home: Same AU as above. Our two boys has to face the same shit we do IRL in this comic, which is quarantine. Atem offers to cook something for Yugi since he can’t eat outside. You love seeing Yugi eating stuff? This is a perfect comic for y’all. 

Artist: Kkyut

Artist: Kayu(i)

Others:

Gemini: As Atem comes back to the living world, Yugi faces the dilemma of having being separated by “his other self” physically and mentally. A short comic, but the lines the artist used are so... beautiful. Like, the way they describe Yugi’s loneliness?? Just hits the park so much. 

Until The Hourglass Runs Out: Set after the Memory World Arc. As their farewell day goes closer, Yugi decides to give Atem a full control of his body at school so he could spend his time with Jounouchi and the gang more. However, things don’t go as smooth as Yugi had expected. If you like that little teeny weeny pain before the Ceremonial Duel, this comic perfectly suits the taste. 

see you sometime: Post-canon. Mahaad offers Atem a chance to meet Yugi in the living realm one more time, but with several conditions. Firstly, he could only stay for a day at maximum. Secondly, Yugi won’t be able to remember who he spent his time with after Atem hangs out with him. Thirdly, Yugi will not be able to “recognize” this Atem; he will only be registered in Yugi’s mind as a new classmate. A bittersweet comic in whole, but seeing the two having fun like a normal teenager would just makes me grin.

After The Rain: A dialogue-less comic, so everyone would be able to read this right away. A short comic of the two, but still very cute and wholesome!

The Tropics of Horus: Post!DSOD, Atem has to chase Kisara who lingers around Kaiba’s soul and he needs Yugi’s help to bring Kisara back to afterlife, but he has his own ulterior motive. This manga is so dialogue-heavy and might be hard to dissect especially if you don’t understand JP grammar and context, but the time spent trying to understand the meaning behind every words will be worth it. That much I guarantee. Just... everything about this comic, and how Atem’s “ulterior motive” connects to our boys’ adventure in canon series are so well planned. You can also purchase the R18 version in a form of the book here (toranoana)

Christmas Day: S0/TOEI puzzleship hint (dark puzzle???). There’s something in store for Yugi in Christmas, but this one might surprise Yugi a lot. It’s not that the prompt of “Atem gets separated from Yugi temporarily” is uncommon, but it is still a sweet one and makes you smile throughout the pages. 

Korean

All titles mentioned here are not free unless mentioned otherwise. Also I don’t understand Korean except being able to read Yugi and Atem’s name, so my story interpretation might be wrong. If you understand Korean, I’d really love for you input! ;_; 

You can check out on how to buy comics from postype here

Yugi’s 2020 Birthday Anthology: Rain and After End

This is an anthology consisting of four titles, but they share the same (or similar) setting where Atem is reincarnated, but he doesn’t remember his past (or has not yet, depending on how the story portrays it). Some are age-gap (adult!Yugi and high school student!Atem), so you might want to consider that if it’s not your cup of tea.

To Like Someone is to...: Age-gap setting. Mostly tells about how Yugi deals with his feeling as the reincarnated Atem in front of him turns out to have a feeling on him. I like how the story’s conclusion is that Yugi will sort it out slowly while also teasing Atem how he’s “too early” to date Yugi w.

In A Circle: A story about how the two met through an online chess game. Iirc Yugi works in a game company and Atem is sort of a famous e-sports player in this setting. There’s a lot of dialogue in this one and the app sometimes can’t process them very well, but I liked what I can understand from it! not very convincing is it haha i’m sorry i shouldn’t have done this

Familiarity: Age-gap setting, where Yugi becomes Atem’s caretaker. The comic mostly focuses on how Atem notices how kind (or too kind) Yugi is sometimes, but there are times where he feels distant. The plot where Atem gets into a fight with the other kid in his school because the kid mocks Yugi, and how Yugi just... accepts it even when Atem doesn’t want to say his reason of punching the kid is just.... god... I love this kind of age-gap setting like this I guess ;_;

Touchdown: Age-gap setting, but Atem is older in here (university student). The two goes to Atem’s university festival and they think about their own feeling when they got separated. On their way to drop Atem off, he confesses to Yugi, but Yugi is still unsure on his overlapping feeling between the reincarnated Atem and the Atem he knows. Make sure you play Motohiro Hata’s Rain and Aimer’s After Rain during the car scene to make the “rain” mood works even better :”)

Others:

Try For Point: A continuation of Touchdown, where Atem (like, the one from the past) visits Yugi in his dream and helps Yugi in sorting out is his feeling toward his reincarnated self. Atem’s advice is so sweet and there’s one certain line from this comic that I remember very deeply - there’s a part where he says, “If you don’t pull out the card, you won’t know what card it is, right?” to help Yugi clearing out his hesitancy ;w; at this point, I curse myself for not being able to understand Korean

[inkdemonapologist]

So I'm terrified of reading CoC. All of the art makes me so emotional, but I still force myself to read it because it's so good. Then I start try to make something as amazing as that and just end up crying???

Do you have any art tips or any words of advice? How do you find the motivation to do all of it? How do you not throw that motivation away because you just don't want to do it? Also how the heck do you make artist friends? I've been trying to make some so I can draw with someone, but I can't find anyone.

Oh my gosh!! THANK U…. I JUST HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS ABT THE CTHULHU BOYS MYSELF…..

Okay lemme see if I can answer these questions in a non-rambling way!!

How do u not throw away motivation when you don’t want to do things? I think if you don’t want to do things, like you ACTUALLY don’t want to do them, and it’s something you’re supposedly doing for enjoyment, it is good and fine to just not do them!! Like, I only draw because I want to. If you don’t want to do something, and you stop and don’t do it until you want to do it again, that is not actually a failure. Obviously there’s exceptions and nuance to this -- sometimes you have to do art for work if you’re a professional artist, and sometimes folks will know from experience that doing art even when you don’t feel like it will ultimately give you joy and satisfaction so you do your best to get over that hurdle, but forcing yourself to do art when it isn’t enjoyable or fulfilling is actually how you get burnout. I also think that Doing Other Things And Cultivating Other Skills And Hobbies Besides Drawing is an almost essential thing for artists to do and highly recommend it. When you’re doing things in your free time, do the things you WANT to do!

How do you find motivation? The joke answer to this question is “hyperfixation lol” but I think the actual answer here is self-indulgence. BE SELF-INDULGENT!!! If you’re looking at a cool story or a cool piece of art and thinking “I want to make a thing that is as cool and impactful as my favourite thing” then like… what is there for your brain to even work with there? That’s so vague, and the pressure becomes so huge that it feels impossible. Whereas if you’re like “I LOVE MY OCs AND I NEED TO SHOW OTHER PEOPLE HOW MUCH OF A HIMBO MY ONE OC IS” or “I JUST HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS ABOUT SAMMY LAWRENCE SMOOCHING JACK AFTER RECOVERING FROM TRAUMA AND I NEED TO CONVEY WHY IM SO EMOTIONAL ABOUT THIS” then like, THATS something you can get powered up about!!! People shy away from being self-indulgent because they think they’re supposed to be appealing to other people, or trying to figure out what other people think is cool, but the truth is that when you are really, REALLY absolutely into the thing you’re making? IT SHOWS, that love pours out of it and when you find the other people who wanted that content that you made just for you, they will get SO EXCITED. Draw the ideas that make you go HELL YEAH HELL YEAH HELL YEAH. The Call of Cthulhu game is MASSIVE self-indulgence for all of us and that’s why we’re so excited about it!! Every once in a while I think to myself “what would be a Cool Picture of Sammy Lawrence that other people in the fandom would like that might get a bunch of notes” and sometimes I even have ideas, but I never ever get around to drawing them because there are so many other things I would RATHER be drawing that are just very exciting to me personally. 

How do you make artist friends? As far as I know there’s not One Weird Trick to making friends of any particular sort, but my experience is -- (a) do things that you like, (b) join groups / communities / forums / follow on social media / discord servers for people who do the things that you like, (c) interact with those people in ways that are fun, (d) if you happen to both enjoy interacting and reciprocate with each other then you can interact more and invite each other to new and different interactions and lead towards some level of friendship! A lot of the art friends I have now are folks from a community for a browser game we all played -- I drew a bunch of fanart and liked their fanart and enjoyed yelling headcanons about the characters with them, and we ended up enjoying each other enough to want to do other things together, too. Friendship isn’t a thing where you like, find people you like and then try to figure out how to make them like you back, or an exchange where if you listen to someone talk about X then they’re required by friend rules to listen to you talk about Y. Instead, friendship is about running into people who are a good fit for you in circumstances where you click with them and have things in common, or things you can both share. So the part you can be proactive about is meeting people! And knowing that if people don’t become friends with you or a community isn’t fun for you, you can just wander off and try to meet other people. Sometimes this takes a bunch of tries, so I wish you the best in the art friend gacha!!

Anyway, that’s the best I got!! HOPEFULLY SOMEWHERE IN HERE IS SOMETHING THAT IS KIND OF LIKE AN ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION, ANON!! I wish u the best!!!!!

[kazliin]

I'm sure you've answered similar questions so sorry ahead of time if you have answered these questions before.I re-read Until My Feet Bleed and My Heart Aches for like the sixth time. I tend to go back and re-read some of my all time favorite FFs throughout the years and I was once again blown away by your writing so I have some questions! 1. Do you find that it's better to write everyday or just when motivation hits? 2. How many edits/revisions do you usually do? To be cont....

LOL I'm back- continuing with question 2, how do you know when you've edited a chapter or even an entire story enough? 3. How do you know when you've written too much? Everyone knows the rule of 'show not tell' but where is the line between using too much of that flower language and just getting to the point? 4. Have you worked on an original story or have you been published already?! I would love to read an OG work. :)

Last few questions haha- I wish there wasn't a word limit on these things...5. Any tips for how to not compare yourself to other writers? I have this problem in both writing and art. I do a piece and then look or read something that someone else produced and then table flip my desk because their work is significantly better and then I'm that 'this is fine' meme. 6. Have you found that writing FF has helped you? Thank you for taking the time to read these. ^_^

 ----

No worries, I love getting questions about my writing! I’ll answer them all in order so it’s easier to read.

1)      Do you find that it's better to write everyday or just when motivation hits?

For me, if I’m in the middle of a multi-chapter fic or series, I find it better to write regularly. Motivation is a fickle thing, so I found having a set writing schedule helped me put out chapters regularly. I didn’t write ever day, but I had set days/times every week that I would devote to writing. I can be pretty lazy at times so if I hadn’t forced myself to sit down and write, I never would have finished anything!

When it comes to oneshots though, I definitely only wrote when inspiration struck. Because they are much shorter and easier to write, it was much more fun for me to frantically write one in a burst of inspiration than to try and force one out when I wasn’t feeling inspired. But those strokes of inspiration aren’t a regular thing for me so I can’t rely on them for longer fics. So, for me, I write differently depending on what kind of fic I’m writing (not a very helpful answer I know!)

 2)      How many edits/revisions do you usually do? How do you know when you've edited a chapter or even an entire story enough?

I am a horrible little writing gremlin who edits something once and then tosses it out into the world for all my readers to suffer my many writing mistakes. Is it the best way to do things? Absolutely not. But I find the more I edit the more I hate things and delete huge chunks of writing and I’m never fully satisfied. So I limit how much time I spend reworking a chapter or I’d never post it. I should definitely edit my writing more but fanfiction is a hobby, not a job. I’m not going to spend hours agonizing over a fic that I was supposed to enjoy creating for the sake of editing it to perfection. So I’d say, once you get sick of reading your own writing while editing, it’s probably a sign to stop and just put the story out into the world because fic is meant to be fun, not stressful!

 3)      How do you know when you've written too much? Everyone knows the rule of 'show not tell' but where is the line between using too much of that flower language and just getting to the point?

This is a really tricky one because it depends on what kind of fic you’re writing and your own personal preference. I like writing a lot of introspection and have a bad habit of

making my chapters far too long. Some people like reading that kind of writing but some people absolutely hate it. The majority of the negative comments on my fics are about how there is too much introspection, my chapters should be more concise, and I need to learn how to edit down my work. Which is all fair critique but hey, it’s fanfic. I like to write like that and so I’m going to keep writing like that. And people who like short, punchy fics that get straight to the point are going to keep writing they way they like too. There’s no right or wrong way to write fic, just the way you like it.

When it comes to writing your own fic, whatever is best for you is usually whatever you find most natural to write. If you naturally write shorter chapters there’s no need to make yourself bored and unhappy by trying to drag them out with lots of flowery language. But if you naturally just let your words flow free and write lots of flowery descriptions, there’s no need to frustrate yourself trying to edit it down too much. I’m a firm believer in fanfic being fun. So write in the way that you enjoy. If people don’t like it, they can go read another fic. Different people have different tastes, so you have to write for yourself first and everyone else second. A fantastic chapter could be 1,000 words or it could be 30,000, as long as it’s written from the heart.

 4)      Have you worked on an original story or have you been published already?! I would love to read an OG work. :)

I unfortunately have not! I may one day but I don’t currently have any plans to

 5)      Any tips for how to not compare yourself to other writers? I have this problem in both writing and art. I do a piece and then look or read something that someone else produced and then table flip my desk because their work is significantly better and then I'm that 'this is fine' meme.

The best way I’ve ever seen someone address this situation is in this comic.

 In fandom, it’s really hard not to compare yourself to other people, especially with so many talented people producing content! But there are a few vital things to remember, the first of which being the two cakes philosophy in the comic I linked. Sure maybe someone produced something that you think is better but I guarantee the audience isn’t thinking “oh this thing isn’t as good as that thing.” They’re thinking “hell yes, more things!!” All content is good content because it’s content that keeps fandom alive.

 Also, we are all terrible judges of our own work. I guarantee if you asked the author/artist of your very favourite fanwork about their own work they’d be able to point out 100 tiny flaws you’d never seen. So when you’re looking at your own work, remember that you’re probably being overly critical of yourself and your intended audience are unlikely to notice even a fraction of the problems you see in the things you create.

 And finally, don’t be too harsh on yourself because the more you do something, the more you improve! Some writers/artists in fandom also do writing/art professionally. And even if they don’t, some have been producing fanfiction/fanart for many years, so they’ve had huge amounts of practice. So you’re doing yourself a disservice by comparing yourself to someone who might have been drawing/writing for years more than you. I guarantee if you read the first fics I wrote when I was 12/13 (thankfully purged from the internet now because god were they terrible) you would think they were a flaming pile of trash because they were. And I used to look at other writers and think I’d never get as good as them because they just seemed to write amazing things so naturally. But it takes years and years of practice and gradually you get better and better. So if you find yourself comparing yourself to someone else and getting disheartened, try to remember there was probably a time they were doing the exact same thing! And if they kept going then so can you!

 6)      Have you found that writing FF has helped you?

It definitely has! I started writing the Rivals series when I was at a very low point in my life and it was a very cathartic experience for me. And it was also such a great feeling to know people were liking and reading my work! It helped me through some tough times and even though I haven’t written in a while, I still sometimes get comments on my old fics that absolutely brighten my day! I love fanfic, both reading and writing it, and it’s been a very important part of my life for a long time

[mcrmadness]

Rambling about my (dä fan)art...

I was writing another post and this kinda got out of hand and turned into me talking about my art overall. I’m gonna put this under the cut because I don’t know if people are interested in my art nor especially in my thought about it and my “art history” basically, but if you are, then I hope you enjoy.

And yes, this is gonna be about my die ärzte fanart mainly!

So let’s start with the HELL coverart drawing because that’s what I was talking about originally:

I’m extremely happy with how the drawing turned out in the end and I like that feeling of success when I’m happy with something I have created. That is not always self-evident with myself. More than often I have plain hated my drawings or have felt like there should be something done differently, or something that I could always improve at and do better. So this feeling where I’m actually content and happy with what I have created is something new and different. I have a dopamine rush every time I look at that drawing. I like the drawing. I think it looks nice. And I’m extremely happy about this fact and I am not afraid of admitting it. Perfectionism is a curse and a gift. It can sometimes make your life a living hell when something that is perfectly good still feels like it’s not enough. When everyone else sees that what you have done is actually good or even great but your brain just keeps repeating how it’s shit and everyone else is just delusional and that they don’t see what you see. And this is like the polar opposite of that feeling. It wasn’t other people who were delusional, it was you and youself all along. You were the one seeing the image in your head and the drawing not matching that image. Other people saw only what you had created and couldn’t compare it to anything. And that doesn’t mean it was never good.

So whenever I do these comics and comic style drawings nowadays, I just feel so happy. I feel that I am no longer failing them, I feel like I can draw the image I see in my head. I finally feel like I can draw, I have some skills, I’m not a professional and maybe not as good as everyone else but I’m good at what I’m doing. This is my thing and I’m good at it and it’s enough. And I love it when I feel like I’m improving. For years I felt like I was stuck, like my skills would have been glitching somehow, I didn’t get better no matter how much I drew. But I guess I tried too much and was too harsh on myself because I believed that a drawing is good only when no reference photos have been used. And I sucked at drawing without them. I still do! I was staring at the Hell coverart the whole time I was drawing! I wouldn’t have been able to do this if I didn’t! And this feels particularly good also because this is the first time I have tried something different with these comics. I have never tried to draw a photo or existing picture with this style. I have only drawn my comics and those I have created all by myself. The clothes come from what I have seen in videos and photos but the plots are created by me alone, with a idea coming from somewhere actual usually, as inspirations do.

For comics I do look at reference photos of people sitting or standing, or I look at the mirror, or even take photos of my own hand to be able to draw something. And that’s lots of fun and also challenging because I’m mixing there my old habit of portrait drawing with my less serious comic book style but I really really do like the combination. It also makes me feel that I am memorizing what I draw and the next time when I need to draw that same posture, I no longer need the reference photos because they’re no in my brain. And in my muscle memory. My hand remembers how to do the lines now.

Here you can see one of the sketches I did in 2018 - I had this image in my head and I wanted to draw it and I just... drew it in my sketchbook. Didn’t use pencil. But now I’ve noticed I like doing these on proper paper instead of the sketchbook AND it’s so much more fun to first draw the sketch with the pencil and then draw on it with the fineliners. That I have always done with the comics (apart from one) because they take more time than these quick sketches. But here you can see Farin’s legs on the first image - I think I might have looked at reference photos for that but then it was so much easier to do the to the comic I made in 2019.

I have now also figured out that a big part of my style is not to draw just simple straight lines. I like making those sketch-like lines even with the marker. They look more rough but that’s something I like seeing with my art. That’s what I was missing when I was staring at the lines I had drawn before and hated every detail of them. They were too clean and neat.

^These two I have also drawn on my sketchbook in 2018 and I don’t really know why. I guess I was still a bit stupid and didn’t really realize I’m drawing again. But anyway, they both were inspired by my own fanfiction I have written a long time ago. It’s one of my favorite self-written fanfics and it had these two scenes I just saw in my head and felt like I could try drawing them. Maybe that’s why they are in my sketchbook, I wasn’t sure if they were going to turn out even good... The marker around the second one obviously was shit and the paper wasn’t good for it, and I never finished with it so it looks a bit weird. Do I need to say that I really enjoy drawing very small, repetative details, like those tiles? It’s so soothing, almost like a therapy.

I think that quitting antidepressants in 2013 has done so much good for my creativity. If you compare my work from 2011 to 2019, the difference is huge - all are just parts from my comics:

Can you guess see the difference? But have to admit I am jealous for myself for how I have drawn Farin’s hair to the 2011 one and maybe have forgotten to color Farin’s arm but... I actually had so long pause from drwing (~8 years) that I forgot how I did that and had to use THAT as a reference when I was trying to draw late 80s Farin’s at some point last or this year :D

Anyway, my style with the shadows is a little different when I use colored pencils than when I use markers. This is from my latest comic from this year, where I experimented with Promarkers the way I had never done before and I really like how it came to be:

I have owned this set of Promarkers (black + 5 greys) for years and have never really used them, apart from the black which I usually used for the thick lines anyway. And wanted to see if I could find some use for the greys too! (Yes that’s Bela back there - this comic was an alternative ending for Für Immer music video :D)

And I wanna end this post with a face progress comparison for all three. During this I also noticed that before I used to draw their side profiles and it was really difficult to find images where I’d have drawn from from the front. And nowadays I have mainly drawn them from the front and it’s hard to find side profiles! Interesting! Here’s one of Farin and Bela from a drawing I made this year:

Also the hand that was so much fun to draw but I also took photos of my own hand in that posture in order to even draw that - that was fun! :D

But here are the last three images - using the HELL one as the last for each, of course:

Bela has always been the easiest to draw. And the first one of these three is actually from my first ever Bela&Farin comic! I didn’t color their skin back then. With the next ones I already did color their skins too but I used darker colors to do the shadows. Nowadays I do the shadows with fineliners. Or it depends - that 2019 one doesn’t have that lol.

Damn it was so difficult to find something where I’d have draw Farin from the front :D And I see the HELL one literally is my second (or third) time drawing Farin with his grin. Or if you count all those numerous extra mouths I drew because I failed the first one, then I have drawn his grin at least 15 times by now. I probably can draw his teeth with no reference photos from now on.

I haven’t drawn Rod too many times. I can actually count about... 5 times? And then there’s only 2 times when I’ve drawn his side profile but he’s at the background. I don’t know if I’ve ever really succeeded at that, I usually try to draw his head a more round and his eyes smaller than for Bela and Farin and I was actually bit worried for the HELL one and was wondering if I’m going to ruin the whole thing. But in fact, that was actually easiest of them to draw. And STILL I’m surprised by how alike he looks in that last one. In fact, I think his dacial features are perfect for a carricature drawing so you don’t need to do more than a few lines for the mouth and it looks like his mouth. The middle one was for a drawing I made for a friend and with this I actually looked at photos so that I could draw some of his hairstyles from the 90s and I liked this one the best and it was also quite easy to draw too.

Do I even have to say that I’m not extremely motivated what comes to drawing? I feel like my creative has become what it has never been before. I still don’t really know what to draw but I just feel that whatever it is I’ll start next, it will be good. And if it doesn’t... who cares? I had so much fun with those extra mouths  of Farin which was maybe visible from the video I filmed, and that is what makes drawing worth it. Before I took the drawing process so seriously and a mistake felt like the end of the world but now I laugh at them and make fun of them and don’t take them too seriously. And I always have ways to fix these, or I can redraw. Just like I did with Farin’s mouth (or a half of his face actually) for this newest drawing. The most important thing is that I’m having fun and enjoying what I do, that way usually the outcome will also be a success.

I have now at least 2 dä comics on my to-do list (I don’t remember if there’s a third one too) + one pencil drawing that is halfway there. It will take one more night/day for it to get it finished. I also have probably 5 ideas for self-comics etc. in my sketchbook and I try to find some time to work on those. Or actually I have a plenty of time. Adhd, time blindness and executive dysfunction just make it feel as if I didn’t :D Can’t wait to get working on my next drawing projects, tho!

(I wish I knew how to make art for a living even but that’s a topic that will need its own post which I’m probably do in a near future if I don’t forget :D)

[unproduciblesmackdown]

The opposite of your last post for the ask meme! Like 1, 5, 9..

thank you lol sorry it took me a minute to get to posting these answers......i also skipped a couple that got asked previously via answering all primes lol

1: What inspires you?

hm well just basic stuff like “being in a good mood” lol or “being hyped up by friends” or “having reason to be particularly excited about something” which is all like, factors that Contribute Energy......learning about stuff / trying something and discovering like oh i’m Into this thing, or that for whatever reason something turns out to be more within reach / doable than i might’ve thought, like, hey i wanna get on this maybe.......~creatively~ it’s great to like, see other ppl’s art, and while i’ve sure been Inspired by professional artists, overall i’m more like, influenced and motivated by seeing the styles / specific works of Online Randos like me.......i also Draw to create [self-indulgent (usually fairly) niche fanart which is also probably gay and is all the time of characters i like] so like, the Stuff I Wanna Make Fanart Of (which has Whatever characters i specifically would like to draw lol) is sure directly Inspiring in that way. i’d say i never had that experience of like, ppl being kids and seeing some [distributed work in a certain art medium] like oh i want to make my own [distributed work in a certain art medium] as in like, i wanna publish a book, i wanna make movies, etc, but i guess i Did b/c i was like elementary school age in the early-to-mid 00s and experienced some instances of online fanart like :o :o wow damn ppl can do that?? just be a rando drawing fanart and sharing it w/ other people online???? and today i am living that dream, so good for me lol. and also i’d like to shoutout marge simpson anime, which is a particular piece of Online Art (technically fanart even lol) which was like, unusually Motivating as a single work of art lol, i made a notes app fanart like immediately and then a way more “painterly” piece of fanart that was v directly inspired by it lol.......and i was sure Drawing It Up last last winter when bmc 3.0 was impending / happening, b/c i got into like Just in the dec before, so that was Fresh, and then bam the Content is happening concurrently and as soon as we even just learned that jeremy has glasses i immediately spent like honestly 25 consecutive hours making fanart for that exact Inspiration. we didn’t even know abt the hello kitty shoes yet!!! and naturally im not out here for stats or clout but it is Inspiring when ppl enjoy the stuff i make and let me know one way or another. [tag comments that express enthusiasm in any way.....Appreciated]

9: Do you trust people easily, or do people have to earn your trust?

i have to say i am wary! that’s in part just like, a default anxiety defensive mode lol. but it takes me a hot minute (aka weeks....or months.....) to realize when someone like, would like to be friends or something, so while i can be Friendly and Outgoing w/ people like, immediately, i’m not picking up relationships left and right that are close enough that i’d particularly talk about “trust” or whatever. i’m not necessarily Distrustful either lol, it’s more just like, again re: the constant wariness thing. it is not unlike a cat lmao i vibe with them lol i Get that [approach]....and there’s been times i’ve been like “hmm i sure do Not vibe with this person ever and am not comfortable around them / interacting with them to any extent beyond occasional casual interactions that i don’t super enjoy. that’s me being overly anxious and failing to be personable i guess!!” and then that person Does give that reason down the line like oh, actually, that eternal uneasiness was warranted :/ damb

21: How does someone become friends with you?

yknow i was like “didn’t i Also answer this one previously” but it turned out the question i was thinking of, which i Had answered, was “how does someone become important to you” lmao.....same diff

tbh it’s kind of an arduous process lmao like. first of all i am Bad about initiating shit, and a lot of times will like, be wary of Directly Interacting with people for a while b/c i am also Bad At not being too passive / unwilling to assert anything so like, if someone’s regularly interacting with me but i’m not into it / Eventually Realize i’m not into it, it’s that thing again where my main strat is [v gradually sidle away] lol and just find it difficult to extricate myself from interactions / relationships and so that plays into me really feeling like i have to have some real confidence that i’d get on with / vibe with someone Before i start significantly interacting with / getting involved with them which....is also difficult natch lol like. can���t rly get a great feel for what someone’s like w/o talking to them.......but then if i Distance myself at all at any point will that be taken as rejection or whatever.......and then anyways say i Am talking to someone, then it’s like, also i’m just not fantastic at casual conversation always and that stage where you don’t know someone too well and talking is mostly a Polite Ritual and it’s like oh god don’t mess up, respond Normally lmaoo......i am nervous. and i also have a tendency to just naturally try to make an interaction go smoothly than immediately prioritize / feel comfortable busting out My Personality lmao.....so then even if ppl are responding well enough it’s like ah jeez i know we’re all performing always but have i shown them What I’m Actually Like to any significant degree, am i just masking it up / mirroring the crap out of how they talk?? and also it then takes me quite a while to put together “if someone keeps talking to you / choosing to interact with you for like, weeks, it probably means they want to / are interested in doing so” lol.........and then i’ll take ages more of trying to consciously Be More Myself without *also* feeling like this is too much of an act lol, and gradually picking up like oh they’re still not like, annoyed or disinterested or something..............what i am trying to say is it sure takes a minute lol

also when i Am attempting sometimes to like [initiate interaction] with people my version of being Active is still not all that active lmao i will be like [occasional Like] or [even more occasional reply] or [tag comments or no comments coz it’s twitter and im rt-ing stuff] and it’s like oh wow if we’re not having more regular interaction i suppose i’ve failed or something?? does this mean anything further lol, did i do anything.....but welp gotta have that perspective that Not Necessarily lol and i’m not the only person in the world who might not make friends or even friendly acquaintances easily / at the drop of a hat and u can’t necessarily read way into shit that hasn’t Actually been communicated to you.......naturally though it is easier to have some ~perspective~ and Serenity about all this sort of thing when you do already have some Friends lmao........been feeling (and consciously nudging myself towards feeling) More Chill about say like, friendly acquaintances i have who aren’t raring to interact with me on the reg.......ppl i’ll go months or half a year or more between having a convo with and then we’ll be like trading dm’s for a couple days and then it’s back to not really talking, and that Is What It Is, not necessarily a tragedy, and really it feels “rude” to acknowledge to myself like oh i’m not sure that me and whomever even Vibe well enough that *i’d* be raring to talk all the time either, but hey, it’s also true, i don’t have to be Validated by ppl who know me having me in their friend circles in any significant way......i be out here on the peripheral / outer orbits and i can appreciate that for what it is, even if, again, easier to be more Cool with that when i’m not Only in ppl’s periphery...........i appreciate the pal i have who like, 99% of how we Communicate is occasionally sending each other pics of our cats, not very intimate but also back when i was offline for months on end they eventually went out of their way to find someone to get in touch with to verify i hadn’t like died or anything lol........i appreciate the Gestures of Caring that ppl have and do extend, even if we do not actually talk regularly. 

and like also i’m bad at like. idk the main way i talk is again, At Some Length and often about real specific shit lol so im like woop aware that many ppl are not into that, or they might be down for having an exchange like that for a day and then they’re done.........not at all like wholly Against more lol Conversational conversations but i gotta say that’s more of a struggle lmao..........so let’s say befriending me takes some Patience. i kinda operate on [cat] rules. jellicle

25: How do you stop yourself from going back to toxic people?

i absolutely am Refraining from launching off on a ted talk of a tangent that is also me being the [the guy about to throw down a card on the pile on the table and that card pile is like “any conversation” and the guy is labeled “me” and the One Card about to be played is labeled “it’s capitalism” or smthing like that and also it’s all in spanish].jpg.......

anyways idk just try to keep things in perspective, right......i generally am pretty Passive about gradually sidling away from relationships that are bad and so by the time i Have exited them it’s pretty overdue lmao and i get to be quite confident that it was The Right Thing........and just when looking back on stuff it’s like, well if you remember the Good or “Not That Bad(tm)” parts maybe consciously think about the whole of it And specifically the Bad parts / the reasons for peacing out.......also the other day i was mulling over some standard [conflicted / complicated feelings about having cut certain ppl out entirely] and it also occurred to me that a lot of the [conflicted] feeling part came from sympathy for them, whereas from the perspective of Entirely My Own Feelings On The Matter minus that “how do/would they feel about it” consideration, the thought of never interacting w/ these ppl is like. fine with me lol........stuff like this is always Complicated and Individual and there’s certainly no like, one-stop simple Guide To Navigating All This Kind Of Thing, Cmon It’s Easy........another consideration i saw the other day via a graphic on twitter, which is probably most relevant re: say, controlling / abusive Partners, was how like, to think about how someone is acting if they’re saying you should Take Them Back b/c they’ve Changed their behavior, but to pay attention to if they’re trying to guilt you into it / justifying or downplaying their previous behavior / shifting blame and otherwise manifesting the inherently harmful and controlling patterns that are supposed to be gone now........anyways yeah complicated stuff and also just p.s. (and what would’ve been the jumping off point for the It’s-Capitalism tangential essay lol) ppl shouldn’t be blamed if they do choose to let someone back in their life like oh now they’re responsible for bringing their mistreatment upon themself.....no better than blaming someone for, say, having a harmful / controlling romantic partner in the first place like oh well they should’ve known better than to have gotten involved with this person..........ppl are in control of their own abusive behavior and shouldn’t be considered Forces Of Nature no matter how intransigent they are

33: Do you have someone you know you can always rely on?

tbt question 9 lol there’s defo some people that i do trust! love it....

45: Do you consider yourself creative?

another #tbt to question 1 lol.......i mean Yes i am creative in ways but like, who Isn’t, really.......think sometimes “creativity” means “do you like, do Art things” which, yes i do, but then within that there’s art that’s deemed more ~creative~ or w/e......not to mention that i don’t think something has to be definitively labeled an Art to be creative. like, for example, Science and Art aren’t opposites / the antithesis of each other, and anytime defines ~science~ as like, people just memorizing and outputting Facts and Numbers and considers this a distinction from Being An Artist.....wild and i Will fight you lmao. i tell you i can v much remember times i have had to completely disengage to keep from losing my cool at people arguing about “why i respect science but could only be an artist :’|” or “why Art is actually harder than Science and also we’re the underdogs b/c society values science so much more :’|” like.....mf...........anyways scientific pursuits may certainly have a different Methodology (see: scientific method) than art but lbr it still requires creativity and science and art are friends you fucking fools................and then also just zooming in on the Art-Making business here, i also like, have never had any interest in coming up with Original stories / characters and the like, and i don’t enjoy trying and it just really is not my thing, and it’s Funny or something when people wanna say that creative fanworks have value b/c they let ppl cut their teeth for what really matters, inevitably making their own original content(tm)......that isn’t inevitable for me lol and certainly is nothing i aim to do ever, and when there’s the suggestion that if you’re Good enough at ur medium you gotta manifest some of that original the character do not steal shit.........anyways i’m not pressed to claim i am an Artist(tm) or Creative(tm) lol like i guess technically i am both but i have no professional aspirations and my brain does not Do [generate original content] so it’s all like, i’m just out here.........s/o to this time i was trying to do my fuckin thing drawing on a tablet in a cafe and some random annoying guy is trying to talk and i happen to mention like “lol i don’t exactly call myself an artist really” and Guy goes “OH REALLY??? WHAT’S WRONG WITH ARTISTS? WHAT’S YOUR ISSUE WITH ART” like please cool it lmao but god p sure it was a guy who was just. very Around and very annoying in general

49: Do you feel like you’re a good person?

yeah i think i’m alright but really what is the use in like considering there 2 be achievable Good or Bad Person Statuses for everyone........let’s say it’s an ongoing, active state to be in the process of consciously choosing to be Good and working towards Better. especially considering that We Live In A Society which tries to teach everyone and continuously imbues our existence with Bad Messages about how to perceive and engage with other people, and being A Good Person is a lifelong effort and it’s unhelpful to feel that if you’re already Good or well-intentioned enough you can just dust off your hands and be like “well my work here is done” and be unprepared to examine your beliefs/actions or deal with the might-as-well-assume-it’s-an-inevitability that even if u have some noble-ass beliefs you’ll fail to live up to them at some point/s.......so like yeah lol again i feel like i am a pretty good person but can always be better and ought to be aware of / willing to work on that at any point

[nightinngales]

If it's not weird to ask, do you have any advice for staying motivated while writing? And just how to write better in general? With the first question, your fics inspired me to start writing again, and while ive got a chapter finished Im having a hard time staying motivated to write it despite still being really into my ideas i had for the fic

for me a lot of it comes with personal investment, and also i admit outside motivation is a big part of it for me as well. however, there’s a couple tricks i have that may help you out. forgive the long answer lol

personal investment: unfortunately no one can really help you with that. it’s going to be a lot easier to write something that you’re personally invested in seeing through to the end. on my end, i have multiple avenues when writing isn’t working. if i’m going through a block, i might decide to draw some seres fanart just for kicks, or i’ll play a bit of the game to get into eres’ head a bit more. i usually end up finding that after drawing or playing a while, i end up wanting to write anyways. 

consider making a basic outline. what are the concepts you’re most excited about writing? where in the story do they take place? when i first started writing vigilance, my outline was essentially just the working titles of the separate acts i had planned. it doesn’t have to be a complex outline - mine was initially just, for example: “act 4 - bruiant mansion”. 

you don’t have to write in order. one of the things i would get stuck on initially was feeling like i had to write every chapter in order, when i was in the concept phase. but when i started writing i knew there were things i wanted to write and hadn’t gotten to yet - so instead i created an “Excerpts” file. These were just excerpts from plot points or story beats i had inspiration to write immediately, but in different parts of the story - i had little excerpts from acts 1-6 and even parts of the ending all written up before i had started writing the full thing. it gave me a “hook” to get started with, and that i could expand upon. 

don’t bog yourself down with adhering 100% to a plan. sometimes plans don’t work out. if you’d seen some of the initial writing i did for vigilance - there are entire scenes or plot lines that never made it into the final fic that’s on ao3. not because those scenes were bad, but because as i reached the points i had already written, i found i wanted to change them, or that they didn’t quite line up anymore. 

complex concepts? make notes, connect the dots. act 5 is where vigilance became a lot more complex very quickly. there were a whole host of concepts i needed to introduce and connect in a cohesive manner, though i generally write from the seat of my pants, so to speak, i needed a way to make sure i was on track. i use scrivener  to do my outlining in - usually just with scenes and a general explanation of what i want to cover in them. i also write primarily in scrivener and then transfer to word/ao3 after. 

validation/support from friends. honestly this is a big part of it for me - getting comments on my fic, whether from friends who read it, or strangers on ao3, is a huge part of my motivation. seeing that other people are enjoying what i’m writing makes me want to write more. i would only say to be careful that not ALL of your motivation comes from outside - because you may not get a huge response at first depending on the fandom. also, be careful not to judge your success on what other authors get - there’s no end to how many factors contribute to the traction you’ll get on ao3. don’t be too hard on yourself if it takes a while for your fic to pick up steam, or if it doesn’t line up with the biggest fics in your fandom. 

as far as improving your writing goes - the only way you improve writing is by writing more. write a LOT. i’m not going to tell you you should be studying authors and trying to emulate their style - i think some people do that, and there’s nothing wrong with it, but i think there’s also something to be said for developing your own voice when writing. it also depends on what vibe you’re going for - is your writing aiming to be more high brow and flowery, or are you looking to write something more accessible where a more YA-style would fit better? etc. 

also, consider writing off the top of your head. don’t spend 30 minutes trying to craft one perfect sentence - you’ll only burn yourself out that way. write, and let it come to you naturally - you can always go back and edit what you’ve written later to make it flow better. the point is to get something down while you’ve got the juice for it. i typically write every chapter in 1-2 long writing sessions and then go back and edit wording or formatting later when i reread it. 

most importantly, take breaks. do you know how long i’ve been working on vigilance? it’s only been a few months since i started posting to ao3, but Vigilance has been in the works for well over a year prior to me posting the first act on ao3. i didn’t work on it constantly. i would have bursts of motivation where i would crank out chapter after chapter - for example, i believe i finished acts 4&5 within the span of a month. but other times i may take weeks worth of “time off” where i am actually pretty uninspired - it’s very easy to burn out if you don’t take breaks, especially if what you plan to write is going to take a long time to finish. work at your own pace and don’t beat yourself up if you’re not writing on the daily. 

some screenshots below the cut for scrivener/fanart i draw for motivation (note: has spoilers for act 5, if you haven’t read that yet): 

[houkagokappa]

Sarazanmai episode 8 first (second?) impressions

No early raws this week either. It messes with my workflow. I used to write these based on what I could pick up on from the raws while I was waiting for the subs to come out, but now I watched the stream first and the subbed episode second (several hours later) and it’s not the same experience anymore. Only the first comment is a very genuine first impression I almost posted on itself.

Aaaaah they’ve met before!!! We got it right with the childhood connections, Tooi’s past playing soccer, the micanga and everything!!

This opening scene with Kazuki and Tooi’s talk remind me so much of Penguindrum. Young characters making all these grand statements and living unnecessary tough lives.  

Tooi is a precious boy. I love him so so so much! His brother’s also a good guy :) Yes, these are statements I’ll stand behind even once we’ve gotten to the end. 

I find it interesting that Chikai came up to Enta. What was his motive for that? Is he a weirdo who talks to strangers?

I love that we finally see more of Reo’s and Mabu’s personalities even though I hate them ;_; Well I don’t hate them, I actually find them interesting it’s just that I cry for the loss of cute easy going manga Reo and Mabu.

Lol I thought for sure that the taste of those ningyou-yaki’s would be special somehow, either that they would taste the same as the ones Mabu used to bake or that they would be awful somehow. Well since they ended up being only half-baked I kinda got that right?

I love how Enta decides to help the creepy guy he just met run away from the police. (Okay to be fair he recognized him as Tooi’s brother, but still!).

At first I thought Enta started to feel for Tooi when Chikai mentioned getting away from the city, but instead he offers his help. That’s more like everyone's expectations!

I can’t believe how thick Kazuki is. How does he not get Enta’s perspective?? It’s clear as day for Tooi. 

The text that rolls when Sara’s talking about Chikai mentions Reo and Mabu! Apparently Sara wasn’t aware of their doings and she doesn’t find them to be bad guys. I’m willing to believe her. They have their reasons, although they’re becoming more villainous by the episode.

Little Tooi, you don’t need to give up on soccer! Poor Enta as well. Not only is Tooi stealing Kazuki away from him, he was there from the start. It’s like Enta doesn’t have the slightest chance anymore.

I love that Reo and Mabu went on a date to the amusement park and that Reo keeps eating the half-baked ningyou-yaki. That should make Mabu happy!

I can’t believe Chikai kicks Enta towards their attacker. Nice foreshadowing for what’s to come. I was so tense when he kept swinging that knife/sword around, but in the end no one got hurt by it.

ReoMabu are such a fun duo. For the first half of Sarazanmai you always knew what would happen when they showed up, but now that we’re getting into their story as well they’re unpredictable and that’s something I love. I also need to stop screaming each time they appear and each time Reo takes out that gun.

The fact that Enta saw them the pushes the story forward nicely. I’ve been waiting for their encounter and wondering what it would be like. 

Some actual cops show up and it seems like Reo and Mabu are out there doing their own thing entirely lol.

Sara says that she’s been watching ReoMabu over a couple of days. Seems like she doesn’t remember them raising her (or alternatively that never happened to her in this timeline). Keppi on the other hand recognizes them. 

I can’t tell if Keppi being freezed is a funny accident or calculated move on Sara’s part. Last episode made them seem like an wacky couple, but that could be just for show and I don’t think these characters are that stupid. This is really bad news for the boys. Now they can’t be turned into kappa, can’t fight any zombies and can’t receive any more Plates of Hope.

I feel so bad for Tooi. All this time spend with Kazuki and no real indication of their past together from either side... Then he decides on a crappy future for himself :/ I appreciate that Enta feels some sympathy for him, even though he’s feeling jealous of him. 

Kazuki turned into a mystery for me again, just when I thought I had him figured out. Does he seriously not realize what sort of situation he’s in? It also seems like he’s fallen for Tooi, and that Tooi might reciprocate? 

Enta shows us that he’s ultimately a good guy when he rushes to Kazuki to warn him about Tooi leaving and how they need to stop him. 

Kazuki continues to be even  more of an asshole to Enta. He's only able to focus on a single thing at a time and that thing consumes his entire being. Right now that’s Tooi.

Reo and Mabu’s appearance shocked me. I might’ve screamed again. I already talked about this elsewhere, but as soon as Reo took out his gun I could tell how the scene would play out. Now I’m gonna point out all the fun things in this scene. First of all, the other day I saw fanart of Enta with red blood dripping down on a black background. I thought that was pretty extreme, but there are always people drawing guro art so I didn’t think that much of it. Now I realize it was in reference to this! I also enjoy Reo’s expression and voice when he starts taunting Kazuki. I like the way he and Mabu are so casual about what just happened. Let me point out that the reason I’m able to talk about this scene so lightheartedly is because I don’t believe Enta actually died/dies for good. If he does, yikes for me. That wouldn’t be the first time I downplay a deat just because I don’t believe it occured and it sucks later on.

When I first watched the stream I got teary eyed and heavy hearted, but now I’m focusing on all the other aspects of the scene. That said the scene hurst and I can’t wait to see what Kazuki will do next. I feel like his focus will shift on Enta now, he’ll want to do anything to heal him, to get him back. He’s also alone. Tooi left and Keppi’s frozen. What will he do?

The after credits scene is so painful. Why oh why didn’t Tooi answer his phone? It’s also a bit weird how we get a few seconds of all the emergency personal being called to the scene of the crime, but we don’t see Kazuki or Enta. It’s so quick and abrupt. A last stab at your heart if you will :’)

[thechekhov]

how would you recommend an artist make themselves better known on tumblr and in general? ive been drawing and painting almost my whole life but its hard to get people to notice me, any advice? thank you, you're my fave artist

Thank you so much! That makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside…

As for your questions… hmm… it’s for sure a good one. 

I’m going to get a bit… strategical on that one. Hope you don’t mind this approach. 

Tumblr and real life are definitely alike in a lot of aspects, while in others they’re polar opposites. For the sake of keeping things neatly shelved, I’m going to focus on tumblr in this post.

＊*☆HOW TO GET ART NOTICED ON TUMBLR☆*＊

by chekhov

1. We have to understand how the tumblr sharing system works. 

I know this sounds a bit too obvious. I mean, we all know HOW. It’s by reblogging! 

I know that there’s a BIG opinion on tumblr that we should share and reblog art as much as possible to help artists get noticed. And that’s TRUE. It’s absolutely correct.

One thing I don’t agree with on that front is the guilt-tripping factor of it all. Like somehow people are responsible for the downfall of less popular artists because they didn’t reblog stuff enough. People are really quick to point at their followers and say “I GOT 100 OF Y’ALL HERE AND ONLY 3 ARE REBLOGGING ANYTHING”. 

I get it. It’s frustrating!

But the fact of the matter is, you can’t force people to reblog stuff. 

Instead, I recommend we harvest the power of the sharing we already have. We have to be smart about this. What I’m going to go into is a bit less concrete. We have to think about the PEOPLE who are doing the reblogging. 

Artists aren’t the ONLY ones with motivations for getting their stuff seen. And because they create media they are, for lack of a better word… a vendor! The buck STARTS with them, but it doesn’t stop with them. 

They have to also think about what the people are going to do with their product once it’s reblogged. Once someone buys from the vendor, they don’t just keep it forever. They distribute it to the others. And sometimes, those others distribute it again. We have to think about the bigger picture, and think about how FAR your art has the potential to go!

So, to get started we need to know… WHO are the ones buying from the vendor… and why?

What kind of rebloggers ARE there? 

I’m going to give my own opinion here, and feel free to disagree. But the 3 biggest rebloggers most important to the artist are these:

1. The Pleaser

Sounds sexy, right? In fact, the pleaser comes in many different forms. But essentially their goal is the same - they reblog stuff like aesthetic posts, and other pleasing things. They themselves tend to like a lot of stuff and reblog mostly beautiful photos, nice designs, and lots of fanart of whatever they’re into at the time. Comics and story-like posts are good here (although if they’re too long, people tend to lose interest.)

How to get reblogged by a Pleaser?

Appeal to their fandom, their interest, and make something that moves them. Pleasers are most active around the time when the new episode of their favorite show comes out, or when their favorite holiday comes around. Drawing fanart during its peak popularity will usually catch a Pleasers’ attention, as will drawing aesthetic Halloween posts around, well, Halloween. 

2. The Teaser

The Teaser is the class clown and the shitposter, and they reblog memes and jokes voraciously. In the Teaser’s audience are other teasers - and they also tend to be very generous rebloggers. The fact of the matter is - memes sell reblogs faster than any aesthetic art will. We’re social creatures and getting a laugh out of our followers is worth a LOT of fake internet points.

How do I get reblogged by the Teaser?

Memes. I mean, you knew this was coming, right? During the height of some new tumblr joke, people usually welcome any unusual spin, or any funny variation of an old joke. 

My meme redraws have consistently been popular and have ‘boomed’ very quickly. For example, this redraw of sapphire from Steven Universe doing ‘the scroll of truth’ jumped to 5k almost within a day. 

Many people peek at my page ‘for the lols’ but end up staying for the art, or because there’s another thing I post they’re interested in. Either way, memes are a gateway drug… to your blog. 

3. The Librarian

The Librarian is a bit more rare, but they’re still important, because they tend to reblog a lot. They’re a bit unusual in the sense that they do this for themselves, instead of for an audience. The blog of the librarian is mostly just a replacement for bookmarking interesting stuff. These people tend to reblog tutorials, reference posts, and things they want to read later on. 

How to get reblogged by a Librarian?

Make things that people want to keep around. Charts, references, tutorials. Chances are, the librarian will snag it up eventually. 

Of course, these 3 aren’t the ONLY type of tumblr blogger. In fact, many of them are a mix of these 3. But the main point is…

2. What do most of these (and other) people on tumblr have in common?

Just like you, many people (although not all) want to get their stuff SEEN. You might be creating the original product, but they choose whether or not to distribute it to their audience. 

Everyone is playing the same game, no matter which part of the chain they’re on.

You, as an artist, have the biggest responsibility to think about this long-term. Not only 1 reblog down the line. 

For example, let’s return to one of my meme-posts that I did about wrist pain (carpal tunnel). When I made this, I had a vague idea of who would consume it. Obviously… other artists. But the reason that this got so popular? Is not only because fellow artists follow me. It’s because the artists that follow me also have followers who are also, conveniently, artists. That’s why despite the fact that many people reblogged the post directly from me - even MORE of them reblogged it from @sergle​ (shoutout to sergle! u rock) who is also a popular artist and also has an audience who were prone to want to reblog the post.

See that orange dot? That’s me. See that bigger blue dot? That’s sergle. 

In a way, this is a game of chance. Will something you reblog be seen by someone with a large enough audience to keep it going? The thing is, we don’t know until it happens. And oftentime, the only way to achieve this is to keep trying. Stubbornly. 

But you can’t just headbutt the wall in the same place and hope it eventually crumbles. You have to look for a door. 

3. So what’s the door? 

Take a look at your art. Is it consumable BEYOND the surface level of your followers? 

Sometimes people get discouraged because their fanart is way more popular than their original art. Although I share their frustration, there’s a good reason for this, and your followers aren’t to blame.  

The thing is, fanart is consumable at deep reblog levels. If you post fanart, there’s a good chance that even 3-4 reblogs down the line, there’s going to be a person who sees it and thinks ‘hey, I know Steven Universe. My followers know Steven Universe. I’ll reblog this!’ Fandoms are efficient because they already have a lot of context for the consumption of the art. They have a story (humans love stories), they’re invested in it, they’re interested in it, and there’s a good chance that sharing more stuff about it will get them more interaction with their mutuals, even if they’re not consciously thinking about all this as they reblog. 

Unfortunately, that’s just not true for your original art. Many of us have beautiful, wonderful stories - but they’re not available to a wide audience. They’re not easily consumed, they’re not easily accessed (in comparison to being on netflix, for example). If you post a picture of your OC - maybe your immediate pool of followers who know that OC will reblog it. But their own followers who aren’t directly following you will not have any connection, emotional or otherwise, to that character. They simply don’t have a reason to care, and they don’t have any means to. Even if they visit your blog - will it be easy to find similar content? Have you got your links available on desktop AND mobile? Is it easy to find the beginning of your story? Is it free of mistakes and easy to read? 

Large companies that make shows or comics funnel tons of money into making their media consumable. There’s a LOT of effort that goes into advertising, too. You, as an independent artist, simply don’t have that kind of manpower. That’s not your fault - but it’s also not your followers’ fault. Why are they supposed to reblog things that their own followers will never understand and connect with? 

4. Back to square one: how do I get noticed? 

I’m gonna keep this short and sweet because I feel like I already took up a lot of your time. After everything I’ve said, hopefully this will make sense:

Make content that has a connection to your audience somehow. Make it relatable to their life. Make it relatable to what’s currently going on. Make it worth their while to look at it. 

Make content that’s easy to understand. Super detailed drawings, with nothing to focus on are difficult to digest. Simpler, sharper drawings that someone can understand within 3 seconds of looking at it are the most digestible of all. This isn’t a museum.

If you’re creating content that goes with a story, MAKE THE STORY. I know it’s tempting to create just a whole bunch of character sketch sheets and leave it at that, but you can’t complain about not getting an audience when your audience doesn’t have anything to consume in the first place. 

Make the story AVAILABLE. Organize your tags. Make sure those tags are easily accessible. People will never like 100% of your art, so many it easy for them to find what they WILL like. 

Don’t be afraid of fanart. Fanart gets you connected with people who like stories and content similar to yours. 

Don’t be afraid to follow and reblog people that you want to connect with. Don’t be afraid to make them stuff and @ them. 

Post your stuff to a LOT of places! Your audience is somewhere out there - probably not only on tumblr. You have to spread yourself thin sometimes, but make sure the account can all lead back to your main hub. 

And last but not least…

Critically re-evaluate your art at least once a year. (I’m personally working on this.) Just because you’ve been drawing for years, and just because your art might be incredible doesn’t mean it’s appealing to people. Sounds weird, right? But think about it - there’s TONS of people who are not that amazing at anatomy, or coloring… but they still have a huge audience, and people connect with their art. A lot of times, it’s because their art is straightforward and easy to read/understand. 

Ask a friend to critique your art. Ask them if they understand your work, or if it’s difficult to make out. Ask them what your work inspires in them. Ask them what they DO like about your work - and exaggerate that!

There’s a LOT that goes into art… no matter it’s a whole industry! Doing it all on your own is HARD and it’s a bit unthinkable how much artists have to do to compete with industries. But it’s not impossible, and it’s definitely worth it. :)

Hope I didn’t bore any of y’all who made it down this far. 

Thanks!

[revelingrexan]

Flug thoughts before the ep

[inconsistent time stamps for links and stuff at bottom of post]

For fun, I want to share some ideas I’ve had centering around Dr. Flug before tonight’s episode airs. (Probably nothing of this will be touched on in the ep, but eh.) I want to learn more about what Dr. Flug’s deal is. He’s a terrifying villain but doesn’t seem to want to be at Black Hat Organization.

My main guess is Dr. Flug crashed into Black Hat Organization HQ — whether by Dr. Flug’s fault or by Black Hat’s intervention, who knows — and Black Hat threatened Dr. Flug to stay and pay off the expenses. But, instead of letting Dr. Flug leave after making the money for repairs, Black Hat is instead keeping him indefinitely, constantly threatening him with death. The “deadlines,” or most of them, all over Dr. Flug’s calendars might be written literally, although this may never be solidly confirmed and will have to just stay head canon.

However, Black Hat gives Dr. Flug access to many resources and probably indirectly offers protection, too, just by reputation, so Dr. Flug might be making the best of his situation.

How I came to this conclusion:

The airplane in the roof of Black Hat Organization and Dr. Flug saying he came to the organization “by plane”

In one episode, there’s a still image of Dr. Flug hastily throwing a bunch of books into a carnivorous plant to get rid of them. One of the books is labeled something like “The Complete Guide to Hijacking Planes.” (I unfortunately can’t find it now — I thought it was in the Q&A ep for some reason — and I’ve already spent much longer on this post than I intended, haha. I’ll edit and link if I find it.)

Dr. Flug’s changing motivational animal posters (“Hang in there,” “Hope is lost,” “Hope is restored”) plus the yellow “Don’t try to run -BH” sign in both the “worst nightmares” machine short and around the end of A Guide for an Evil Conquest

Obviously Dr. Flug doesn’t want to be working for Black Hat. Or, at least it’s hard for him to be there.

Dr. Flug’s diploma

He graduated as a mad scientist from an institution run by Black Hat. So, we know he went out of his way to basically be a certified villain. (I’m interested in what Black Hat teaching villainy in an organized fashion, such as an actual school, means for the dynamic of this show’s underworld. But I doubt that will ever be touched upon, haha. I’m probably thinking too sociologically for a Cartoon Network show, but jeeeeez I’d like to see some sociology student or someone write a fic with this thought at least in the background.)

Another side note, I wonder if we’ll ever find out who the other person who signed the diploma is. You can vaguely see “Dr. Flug” under Dr. Flug’s circular signature, but I can’t decipher the other one. (“President Dr. Black Hatter”? Hahahaha no the first name has too few symbols where's the double strikethrough when you need it)

Dr. Flug’s delight in the more evil aspects of his job

He seemed too smug and happy threatening the Delightful Kids from Down the Lane, and he got really into threatening the Kids Next Door. And we can’t forget his often-fanarted threat to Mojo Jojo, even if it doesn’t seem like the injection had the desired effect.

I genuinely wonder if 5.0.5.’s name is intended as a low-key S.O.S. cry for help since one of my friends pointed out that adding periods between the numbers changes the name to nonsense. It doesn’t stand for the number 505 anymore.

I really don’t know what to make of the 1921 photo, hahahaha, (Other than it being a reference to The Shining) and to what extent it works into the series’s lore. If it’s supposed to mean Demencia, Dr. Flug, and 5.0.5. have been with Black Hat for that long, then my idea falls apart because the plane in the roof of BHO isn’t of a design from that era. (But, then again, it wouldn’t be the first time a cartoon mismatches era designs for the sake of visual clarity or other reasons.) It really could be just a for-fun reference, but a lot of the “flashed for only one or a few frame” images seem to be important. Basically, I just don’t know, although it's so specific it seems most likely to just be a shout-out reference.

This was all just stuff I mentally put together and decided to finally write up in an organized manner. It will be fun to see what gets confirmed or disproven as I watch or read more theory stuff and more of the show is aired. I know I haven't caught everything from the show. (Like there's stuff about ones and zeroes from flag signals in the Boxmore episode, possibly a binary message, but I haven't looked into it. And Demencia's hidden message from Elmore doesn't seem directly relevant to this post, so I haven't discussed it here.)

Calendar with "DEADLINE"s at 0:27 above 5.0.5.'s drawing of him and everyone. There's also a still image of Dr. Flug in one episode panicking with his calendar in the background, also covered in deadlines.

"Don't try to run" sign at 9:15

Dr. Flug's diploma is in more than one episode, but I found it first in The Lost Cases of Elmore while making this post, first clearly visible at 1:56

Dr. Flug threatening the Delightful Children from Down the Lane at 10:05 and then the Kids Next Door at 11:35 Bonus, Black Hat's newspaper talking about the Kids Next Door going missing at 8:35 of the Q&A. WHAT DID YOU DO, DR. FLUG

Mojo Jojo trapped and getting threatened at 10:29, and someone asking about the effects of the injection at 4:36

The 1921 picture shows up around 0:58 during the static, after Black Hat pushes the Hat Bot back down and before the Cartoon Network logo shows up. It's only there for one frame or so.

The stuff with the ones and zeroes flags I've been too lazy to delve into is mentioned starting at 9:26 of this English fan video by Cartoon Universe

And one last thing lol: Dr. Flug is a mass kidnapper and I will not forget. (6:29 and confirmation that everyone is still inside at 10:48)