#needed landscape ref

[friendlykelpie]

Views of Asgard

[51-queer-frogs]

I have so so so many art ideas and you better belive that once exams are over in a few weeks i will be not stopping

[thethingything]

so one of the goal suggestions when we were coming up with new year's resolutions was to pick different things to focus on practicing drawing each month to try and improve at things we struggle with and kind of branch out and learn styles and techniques we haven't really tried before.

that didn't end up being one of the goals we picked, but I just realised that between doing the Big Drawing and doing various doodles and stuff we have actually learnt to draw a bunch of new stuff and we've been playing around with different styles and experimenting with different ways of drawing certain stuff, and I feel like to an extent we have actually done what we wanted to with that goal.

there's been stuff that we've drawn where we've had absolutely no idea how to draw that thing and then we've ended up actually managing to make it look way better than expected and I'm also realising we've posted barely any art so far this year because we had art block and then started mostly drawing stuff that we didn't plan on posting but I feel like we will end up drawing other stuff and posting it soon maybe

[a-substantial-trash-pile]

sometimes i just need to sit down and digi paint a landscape from a cool photo. the ref pic is from scorpy’s old insta story.

yes the scorb version is necessary

[yoga-onion]

"In a crazy world, you can live more happily without having any ‘hope’."

- Hiro Sachiya (b. 1936 – d. April 7, 2022) was a Japanese buddhist scholar and a popular contemporary writer of Buddhism.

"The big lie of “making the world a better place”

The world has never been a ‘good place' for its inhabitants. Regardless of the era, the world is always a‘bad place'.

'The three realms are not at ease, they are still like a house on fire', says the Lotus Sutra. The three realms (Ref) are the worlds of greed, colour and colourlessness in which human beings reincarnate through repeated births and deaths. You could think of it as the world we live in.

The Lotus Sutra says that there is no security in this world, that it is full of anxiety, like a house engulfed in flames and burning. What is required now is to learn from this Lotus Sutra and recognise that the world is a house on fire. Politicians are trying to plant the wrong perception in the minds of the people with their nonsense. Thus we must not fall for such tricks to deceive people and must first face up to the fact that the world is always a house on fire.

That is to clarify, therefore to give up.

And you have to take a hard look at the state of the burning house in our time. People who work and have a decent income are all in debt hell. That is the state of a house on fire today.

“Let's admit that the world is on fire. If we live in an age of debt, which is on fire, then don't we need to make more efforts to extinguish the flames?” There are probably people who think this way. However, Buddhism strictly warns against the short-sighted idea that if a fire is raging, it is natural to put it out.

“Get out of the burning house immediately.”

In other words, Buddhism teaches that one should not stay in a house on fire to extinguish it. It teaches that you should leave the fire immediately. 

To think "let's make the world a better place" or "let's get rid of debt hell" is, on the contrary, to be attached to this rotten world. The modern way of reading this phrase is, “Don't do that, just leave the world as it is.”

Banks are surviving comfortably, while individuals are exhausted with debt. Look at this current situation. If you stay in the fire forever, the harder you try, the worse the situation gets.

When I say 'don't work hard, don't work hard', some people argue that they bought the flat for their family and cannot afford not to work hard to pay back the loan. The conversation ends there when I say, "Then why don't you just not buy a flat?"

If you remember the basics of living within your income, you don't have to work hard and you won't be taken in by the burning house called the world. The landscape of our times is that everyone has forgotten these basics and as a result is groaning.

“狂った世界では「希望」など持たない方が楽しく生きられる。”

― ひろさちや (1936年 7月27日 - 2022年 4月7日) は、日本の仏教思想家。多数の一般向けの解説書を執筆。

「世の中をよくする」という大ウソ

世の中が、そこに住む人たちにとって「良いもの」であったためしは無い。時代を問わず、世の中というのはいつも「悪いもの」なのだ。

「三界は安きことなし、なお火宅のごとし」と法華経の中には書かれている。三界（参照）というのは、人間が生死を繰り返しながら輪廻する三つの世界（欲界、色界、無色界）のことだが、まぁ、わたしたちが生きている世界と考えればいいだろう。

その世界には安心などなく、炎に包まれ燃え盛る家のように不安に満ちている、と法華経はいうわけである。

いま求められているのは、この法華経に学び、世の中が火宅だという認識を持つことだ。政治家は能天気な御託を並べ、間違った認識を植えつけようとしているが、そんな手練手管に乗ることなく、いつの時代も世の中は火宅だということを、まず正視しなければならない。

それは明らめることだ。

[註: 仏教の世界では「諦める」を「明らめる」と書く。つまり、あきらめるとは断念するということではなく、事実をはっきり見ることであり、現実を直視し、それをありのままに受け入れるという意味にほかならない。]

そして、この時代の火宅のありようをしっかり見極めることだ。きちんと働いて収入のある人がこぞって借金地獄にいる。それが現代の火宅である。

「世の中が火宅であることは認めましょう。いまが借金時代という火宅の時代ならば、その業火を消すべく努力を重ねる必要があるのでは？」そう考える人はいるだろう。しかし、火が燃え盛っているなら消火活動をするのが当然だ、という短絡思考��、仏教が厳に戒めるところである。

速やかに火宅を出よ。

すなわち仏教では、火宅にとどまって消火活動などするな。すぐさま火宅から出てしまえ、と教えているわけだ。

「世の中をよくしよう」「借金地獄を無くそう」などと考えることは、逆にこのロクでもない世の中に執着することになる。「そんなことはせず、世の中なんてものはうっちゃっておけばいい」というのが、この文言の現代流の読み取り方なのだ。

銀行はぬくぬくと生き残り、個人は借金でヘトヘトになっている。この現状を見てください。いつまでも火宅の中にいたら、頑張れば頑張るほど、状況はますます悪くなるばかりなのだ。頑張って収入が上がったとしても、もっと高い買い物をローンでしたら、高い金利を払うことになる。

わたしが「頑張るな、頑張るな」と言うと、自分は家族のためにマンションを買ったから、ローンを返すためには頑張らないわけにはいかない、と反論する人がいる。「だったら、マンションなんて買わなければいいじゃないの」というと、会話はそこで終わる。

収入の範囲で生活する、という基本を忘れずにいたら、頑張る必要などないし、火宅に取り込まれることもない。誰もがその基本を忘れた結果、あえいでいるというのが、この時代の風景なのだろう。

[scrufflesksunnide]

Something I've been working on for awhile and finally I can tell you what this au is ABOUT.

Welcome to...

SURVIVOR AND MONK: ECHOS OF TIME!

an AU that tries to follow the canon of rain world in it's own unique way, creating new landscapes, added backgrounds that weren't there in rain world, new characters, and overall headcanons galore!

The AU is heavily inspired by things like Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time and Omori! Character refs and information below!

The premise of the au is about Survivor and Monk being contacted by a familiar white iterator from the void, who sends them on a mission to fix this world before things get messy with the landscapes they stand on shifting from times ahead and before, the memories they gained being wiped from them completely, and everything being set back to the very beginning. Their goal is to close time rifts causing this calamity, with the help of the Echos trapped inside these rifts, not only will they gain power to help the world but also gain memory the player never got to see... Will they be doomed to repeat this loop again due to their own problems? Or will they stop it all in time, before they have to repeat it all over again? They are all stuck here for their flaws, much like the echoes before them... maybe it is possible to break the cycle for once...? Meet the Main Cast!:

"Seth" aka The Survivor

Age: 20 Likes: Collecting pearls, Manny, Happy thoughts, Nature, History Dislikes: Having to give up pearls, Lizards, Bad thoughts, Thunder Storms (how ironic), and forgetting about the good times...

"Trying to find peace and happiness in a world that hurt them, their curiosity leads them into a new adventure. However, they aren't alone this time. With their sibling by their side, nothing will take this duo down!"

"Still full of curiosity, they are a sucker for nature much like their sibling. They are deeply curious about nature and wants to explore the world for what it has to offer. Their thoughts cannot be trusted however, despite it being full of curiosity, it is also full of doubt and bad faith after bring them down and keeping them rather depressed. They are numbed by the cruelty of this world, often not showing their emotions due to feeling static. It makes it hard to understand what's going on with them when they don't show a lot that's going on inside. However, they try their best to see a brighter future. They are quiet for the most part, but isn't scared to take action when necessary." Relationship Chart:

"Manny" aka The Monk

Age: 18 Likes: Gardening, Seth, Lizards, Batflies, Donating! Dislikes: Fire, Violence, Blood, seeing Seth sad, being alone. "Full of sunshine and and optimism. No matter of their naive nature, they set out to save this world with their kindness and their sibling by their side. Flourishing their way through this world with kindness has it's ups and downs however, we'll just have to see how they take it." "Peppy and happy, they try their best to make others joyful as well... to the best of their abilities anyway. They can be naive and foolish, they aren't super smart but they try their hardest... though sometimes they push themselves a little too hard. Due to the incident with Seth, they HATE being separated from him and suffers from separation anxiety. Their separation anxiety makes it hard for the duo to split up when it is needed, creating a struggle for the poor fella." Relationship Chart:

"Harvey"/"Harv" aka The Hunter

Age: 19 Likes: Doing risky shit, Red Lizard meat (sorry Manny), combat, their friends... helping out others in need... oh and uh, jokes Dislikes: staying in one place, being fluffy in the morning (yes they do fluff up fun fact!), being on a time limit, scav tolls, failing the mission. "After living through the scary odds, much to the world's pity, they live weaker than what they once were... but luckily they gained a strange but much needed friend." "Energetic and risk-taking, they make great effort to be danger to the enemies who dare try and disturb the peace. They led their ego and pride get the best of them at times and get carried away with playing the role of "hero" as that's the only thing they feel they have left to their name... "hero". They will willingly take a spear if it meant people made it out alive, they will rush head first into danger to shield those they care for... but in turn get extremely hurt in the progress. They can be impatient and does not want to be stuck in one place for more than 10 minutes, they have a soul that NEEDS heroic action and NOW!" Relationship Chart:

enot (dats me!!) the inventor (hehe see what we did there?) here's my [icture!

im 20 even though some people don't believe that fo[r sum reason (also I am very tired so my typig mayyyyyy be a bit wacky but ill fix it latr... probs) anyway uhhh I liek making cool gadgets, being the prettiest thing you'll ever see, my friendsss, eg, and kissing my babe (sethy!!) (and they is MINE, I will KILL YOU IF YOU DARE TOUCH THEM... just kidding!! there's enough of them (and me!) to go around!) and I like long walks on the shore! what I DONT like. I HAAAAAATE when people do not cooparate with each other and don't stick to the plan! like I swear everytime I'm playing skywars I get so pissed because I get teamed up with kids who dont even know how the game works OR they are SO egostical that they try doing stupid stuff and dont LISTEN to the guy who has actually PLAYED the game and KNOWS what their DOING!!! only reason why I lose so damn much is because of these bad teams holding me back, thats why I do solos most of the time and I do SO GREAT with those and- whats that? OH CRAP SORRY UH UH, I also don't like spiders and dark places, I've had a big fear of it back then and I've gotten over it... I think. anyway! im just gonna copy and paste this and be on my way, see ya later! "I'm stubborn sure but I have a great plan!... at least plans that are silly to others but DO work. I guess my biggest downside is I take too much pride in myself and i'm a bit too loud haha but im working on it!! Im very caring and loving and im cringe but im free!! I maybe a bit unstable... physically I mean PHYSICALLY IM FINE MENTELLY... I think. I do have a feeeeew memory issues (but im pretty sure everyone else does since, yknow, the current situation, hopefully I gain my memories back soon with those echoes!) anyyyway, hope you have fun reading everyone else's bios, see ya soon readers!! -love enot" Relationship Chart:

"Grant" aka The Gourmand

Age: 25 Likes: Mold Slime (Loves it so much that 80% of their body is made OF it!... wait that's probably really unhealthy- uhhh-), taking care of slugpups, crafting handy tools, hugging, and art Dislikes: People hurting their tribe, not eating for a period of time, seeing others sad, letting their craving/urges win. "One of the slugcat tribe's greatest warriors and excellent crafter, only thing holding them back from their truest peak is their huge appetite." "Carefree and always willing to protect those they love most. They be a bit slow but they are a lovable guy all around! They often get hungry due to them consuming a lot of mold slime, needing more food to feed their belly and having a shift in mind if they don't get food right away, they often eat other people's food without realizing it. This becomes a problem when people need to save food, it's a huge struggle for them to control these new found urges and often gets disappointed in themselves for letting those urges win. Despite this, they make up for it by trying to be a good role model and inspiration for people. They aren't the actual leader of the slugcats, however, they do take role as leader when the current leader is dead (unlikely but can happen) or they need to split up for expeditions. Relationship Chart:

"Asher"/"Ashley" The Artificer

Age: 20 Likes: Taking care of slugpups and baby scavs, when people do their job, quiet, listening to music, combat, scav boxing matches that take place every Wednesday night (they like watching them instead of being in them cuz they don't trust themselves with fighting people as they get, rough, really rough.) Dislikes: Loud noises, Seeing slugpups get hurt, leeches, water fuck water FUCK WATER FUCK WATER-, having breathing problems, smoke, being reminded of their mistakes, having to get violent. "A strict but fair ruler to the scavengers, swore to make sure scavs don't dare try and step out of line with slugcats ever again. Despite their rage and violent past, they have calmed down and learned that taking on this role (the role the old ruler barely did right) would be a good change in the slugcat race." "Ash often gets a bit annoyed when people step out of line, but luckily they don't expect people to be perfect, they will NOT give slack to people that step out of line on purpose. They are more mature and parent like when it comes to ruling over the scavs, at first they saw them as freaks, but they grew on them after awhile and treated every single scav as if they were their own, even if they don't show it, they appreciate their hard work. They can be demanding but they would never ask anyone to do something dangerous unless they knew they could handle it. They can be pessimistic, most of the time feeling down due to thoughts, that doesn't make them less of a fighter however. They are a combat warrior when it comes to fighting, just because they got rid of their violent ways to the scavs... doesn't mean they got rid of it for the other creatures like vultures, lizards, and centipedes. Relationship Chart:

"Ruffles"/"WD (Water Dancer)" aka The Rivulet

Age: 18 Likes: Collecting pearls with Seth, Swimming, relaxing and chilling with LTTM, other fishes, pretty lights. Dislikes: Huge waves, being Pressured, being on a deadline, being made fun of, getting startled by people, rain, and the rot. "Being on the run for awhile, they were sent out by chasing wind to deliver a data pearl to any surviving iterators out there. Their anxiety is the key to their speed as they rush towards their destination out of fear alone." "Ruffles gets startled pretty easily, though their reaction is oddly... delayed. They often have trouble controlling their vocal volume when they are not relaxed, often getting shaky and anxious when put on the spot or is the center of attention... but when they are relaxed and calm, they really open up to be a fun loving slugcat! They feel they need to get things done quickly due to the events that happened with trying to GET to shoreline, that and they think people might get disappointed in them if they don't do it quick enough. This results in them getting more anxious and things could easily fall apart if people don't catch up. They can be clumsy but makes up for it by having fast reflexes, they almost drop your birthday cake? Fear not as they will do their DAMNEST to have that birthday cake be perfectly fine! They see LTTM as their best friend, often feeling relaxed and comfortable around her, LTTM is the only time where Ruffles feels safe... other than their friends of course." Relationship Chart:

"Sii07" aka The Spearmaster

Age: 19 Likes: Challenging themselves, having a goal and completing it, drawing/painting, SRS... and warm places. Dislikes: Failing a goal, not having a purpose, being bored, people getting in their way, and vultures. "A message slug created by Seven Red Suns that fulfilled their purpose... but found themselves in an unsatisfying life after their loss. They find new albeit, risky and hurtful adventures to challenge themselves so they can feel they have purpose... or at least try to think they do."

"Sii has a knack for putting themselves in dangerous expeditions, resulting in them getting hurt often... but they feel completely numb to it all. They set too ambitious goals with only satisfaction as their reward. It takes a lot to get them to stop trying to do dangerous expeditions but when they do stop even if for a bit, they can be a chill and almost inspiring! They are a pretty good critic too when it comes to art and combat, even though they can be harsh whenever it's negative, they want people to improve upon their skills... It seems pointless to them to try and teach people things... for now at least. They are highly determined, always preserving no matter what, this can be a good... and bad thing. They can get bored pretty easily so they like to doodle or draw full on pieces of art for however long they feel like it, it's much rarer nowadays... but when you get to see it, it's beautiful." Relationship Chart:

"Sage" aka The Saint

Age: 21 Likes: Uhh... Guiding people to the right path...? They didn't really... fill this out. Dislikes: They don't like meat... that's pretty much all I could gather. "Created by-" what?... would you rather that be private? You sure there are people already kno- Okay, okay. We can skip that part. "They set up to help people in need, and be of a sort of guide for Seth and Manny on their quest to fix this big problem... again." "A pacifistic being whom aims to help others in need of guidance. Although their perfectionist nature holds them back from being happy with their results often times. They do their best to support Seth and Manny in their adventure, testing their new found powers and helping them be better people. They have a tendency to not let people in their personal life... but sometimes, just sometimes, people can gain their trust. They are highly mysterious and it's hard to tell if they mean well or not... but they haven't hurt anyone so far and they seem to want to help people with their calm and on form approach." Relationship Chart:

More info coming soon!! This post will be updated now and then so do check back here every now and then! Comics will be in the making soon as well so keep look out for that!

[oidheadh-con-culainn]

hello and welcome to the niche corner

hello i'm néide and this is my blog, which mostly consists of me being grumpy about niche things. i have multiple degrees in medieval irish literature and while sometimes i use these to be vaguely educational, more often i use them to write incredibly specific fic about characters nobody else cares about, and this fic can be found on ao3 (for logged-in users)

so this is a guide to my incredibly specific fanfiction, which i feel also gives a reasonably good introduction to the kind of thing i'm likely to be yelling about on this blog

i am reliably informed that you don't actually need to know anything about the source material to have fun with these fics (or suffer from the angst), but also they can be more fun if you do. some have bibliographies/refs/explanations so i also know a few people have used them as a way to get started with medieval Irish lit which will never not be extremely funny to me

current WIP: chasing someone else's dream (16k, WIP): a cú chulainn/láeg reincarnation fic. they have been reincarnated, not for the first time. they've also been cursed, and thus, unlike in every life before this one, they've never met. ngl this fic contains some of the best prose i ever wrote, please read it

group chats of the ulster cycle, or, the in loco parentis series

a modern AU of the ulster cycle. sort of a college AU, turned into a ballet AU halfway through. consists of:

in loco parentis (135k, complete): my magnum opus. cú chulainn and láeg are university flatmates; group chats featuring all your favourite ulster cycle characters and also some you probably never gave a shit about; cú chulainn as a tiny trans ballet dancer and ferdia as his pas de deux partner; baking; everybody hating on conchobar; nobody dies; way more feelings about both ballet and shostakovich than anybody was expecting, including me; and much more. comes with explanatory notes / bibliography because i'm just Like That

getting the dee (9k, in progress/abandoned): a prequel to ILP, sort of a longes mac nuislenn fic except nobody dies and there are more sex toys. naoise/deirdre with guest appearances from conall. one day i'll go back to this but also i'm a coward

valentáin's day (4k oneshot, complete): a prequel to ILP, featuring láeg and cormac in the pub on valentine's day making fun of all their friends in relationships. they make out, fortunately their friendship survives the experience.

and when you move, i move (2.5k oneshot, complete): a sequel to ILP. just a horny lil cú chulainn/ferdia oneshot set a few months after ILP wraps up.

miscellaneous ulster cycle oneshots

i will be honest, most of these are sad fics of oidheadh con culainn ("the death of cú chulainn") because i just love writing angst, but there's a couple of others in there

a moment's silence (3k): smutty cú/láeg fic set during táin bó cúailnge, inspired by this picture. the most explicit fic i've written

to walk this world alone (6k): extremely niche fic featuring láeg after cú chulainn's death. some otherworldly happenings. sad but not as sad as it was originally going to be.

counterweight (3k): cú chulainn/láeg during oidheadh con culainn, anticipating cú chulainn's death. this one's pretty sad too.

dindsenchas (3.5k): missing scenes between cú chulainn and láeg during táin bó cúailnge. narrated by the landscape of ulster and addressed in second person to cú chulainn himself because the best sex scenes are the ones narrated by a tree.

in one dwelling place (2k): láeg/cú chulainn/emer. vaguely smutty, vaguely fluffy.

we'll say goodbye, today (2k): cú chulainn and láeg during oidheadh con culainn, anticipating cú chulainn's death. big sad hours.

glorious as the sunrise (3k): this is just angst. cú chulainn/láeg during oidheadh con culainn again. not particularly shippy but they love each other very much.

a marriage of inconvenience (3k): modern AU. cú chulainn wants to marry emer but unfortunately never bothered to get divorced after he married láeg for househunting purposes. a very silly fic.

of grief and glory (1.7k): cú chulainn deals with the aftermath of táin bó cúailnge, especially fer diad's death. more sad times lol.

flight risk (2.3k): teenage cú chulainn and láeg steal a spaceship. they get caught. fun scifi AU.

other medieval lit fics (non ulster cycle)

patron saint of toasties (2.5k): finn cycle fic. oisín took time out of uni to travel and now all his friends have graduated and he's lonely enough to text the christian union's "text a toastie" hotline. which is how he meets patrick. very silly modern AU gen fic mostly taking the piss out of st patrick

two birds of a feather (2.8k): yonec (marie de france) | togail bruidne da derga crossover fic. bird dad support group. conaire and yonec hang out and bond over their dads having maybe been birds. stupidest thing i ever wrote and i adore it.

quiver and shake (1.8k): fourth branch of the mabinogi fic. gwydion and gilfaethwy's special brotherly bonding time. canon typical content warnings apply.

other

absent thee from felicity (11k, WIP): hamlet | romeo & juliet crossover modern AU in which horatio and benvolio attempt to deal with the aftermath of their respective tragedies. sad at first, will gradually get sillier. haven't updated in a couple of years but that doesn't mean it's permanently abandoned, i'm just busy

a guild doctor and an abolitionist walk into a bar (5.5k, complete): mortimer sark/daragh vernant (the butterfly assassin by finn longman). in which they become friends while coparenting their fucked up assassin child and pretending they're not doing that. blatant pro-mortimer propaganda tbh and i'm not sorry

if you've never read any of my fics before and are wondering where to start, i firmly believe the reincarnation fic (current WIP) is a good one because it has a solid mix of angst, shenanigans, and weird fuckery, so you can experience the tonal whiplash of the rest of my fics all in one place! but it is a WIP and i make zero promises about upload schedule, it happens when it happens, so not so good if you're impatient haha. plenty of others to get you started though

[persimminwrites]

ive said this before but cant stress enough how important it is to already have references picked out and even pulled up before you sit down to do art. while there are definitely times when its fun to sit down, find or see a random picture that inspires you, and then go create something from there, i think its best practice on a day to day to have a goal and a plan! now thats not to say that your art practice needs to be super structured and rigid. art can be so fun and gratifying when there is no end goal and you "find" what you want to create along the way. but when i don't do this (this = picking refs, doing some planning prior) i often find myself using the time ive allotted for art endlessly scrolling and picking out references that interest me. this typically ends with me having a varied assortment of references pulled up that may or may not have anything to do with what i wanted to draw or practice that day and by the end of that ive exhausted myself mentally going through a bunch of pictures on the internet and getting side tracked by tumblr, youtube, other social media, etc.

so! if you experience something similar, i recommend:

keeping a running list of things you want to create in a note somewhere

this is an excellent thing to do imo because if you ever find yourself wanting to create art but when you finally sit down you're unsure of what you actually want to make, having a list of ideas is so so helpful. the list can be very specific concepts/pieces you want to make, or it can be as broad as 'do more anatomy studies with interesting perspectives'. the entire goal of this bullet (and the rest of the list lol) is to cut down on decisions you have to make during your art practice time!

making conscious decisions or goals for what you want to create or practice the next time you sit down to make art

similar to the first bullet, the goal of this is to set intentions for the next time you sit down to create art. it can be as simple as an hour before you have time to make art you think to yourself 'i'd like to practice portrait sketches this afternoon' or 'i want to do 30 min landscape studies tomorrow'. i cannot stress enough that when you make decisions for yourself ahead of time, you will have a lot more energy to create when you next sit down to make art.

take some time BEFORE sitting down to create art to pick out references, decide color palettes, decide scope of practice (sketch? gesture drawing? fully rendered piece?)

so you've already decided what you're going to create and your goal for the next time you sit down to create art. if you have time, curate a specific set of references that you want to use prior to actually sitting down to create. and i don't mean decide that you will look through the board on your pinterest where you have all of your anatomy pose references. i mean - specifically pick out a handful of references you want to use or select from the next time you sit down to make art. you want to do anatomy studies? pick a handful of poses that you want to study beforehand. you have a specific piece in mind of your character from X media? have reference images of that character pulled up, have pose references that you want to use if you aren't just doing a portrait. doing a fully rendered portrait study? have your portrait reference pulled up and select a color palette if you can. fabric and clothes studies? pick a few you want to look at. you want to practice drawing noses? have! references! pulled! up! beforehand!

references are your friend! they really are! but sometimes they can be a hinderance to our art practice if we don't approach them with intention. i know that personally i get overwhelmed with all of the things i want to do studies of, things i want to draw, ideas i have, rendering styles i want to practice. i see other people's art online and feel inspired to create something similar. i see someone's cool outfit and want to draw my oc in it. the world is filled with so much inspiration and that's so wonderful but it can be so overwhelming. do yourself and your art practice a favor and try to approach things with intention. make decisions beforehand so that your art practice time isn't swallowed by getting sidetracked on the internet or getting overwhelmed by things you could be doing.

bottom line -> life is busy. there's a lot of information that you are inundated with every second of every day. if you can take some time prior to figure out the WHAT of your art, when you have time to make art you will have more energy to focus on HOW you will make the art

[goldenstorm0]

Finished piece, or at least as finished as I feel like making it. I used a ref, under the cut with the usual ramblings

I'm pretty happy with this one. Mostly wanted to practice drawing landscapes/rocks, and I think I did a relatively good job. Still need to practice it more, the texture is difficult to get right with my usual style, but I still feel like this is an improvement

I couldn't figure out the sky though, and I feel like it falls apart the further back you go. I couldn't think of a good way to fill that space without everything becoming way to muddy, or at least muddier than it currently is. Maybe if I wasn't limiting the ink I'm using, I could figure it out, but I didn't want to use any more colors than the green and purple I have here

Only have a little bit of the purple left, gonna draw something smaller this time and clean out the pen properly afterwards

ref:

[jinjofitzo]

Londy’s Commisions!

It’s the summertime, nd so I need that income!!! If you’ve ever wanted to support me or get me to draw somthing you wanted, here you are!

Generally, i can only do humans. I’m not that good at backgrounds, I can do basic shapes but I can’t do landscapes unless provided a ref. Absolutely no nsfw, I’m a minor! it’s illigal!

I take 50% of the bill upfront then the other half once I finish. I still attend school, I’m doing summer school, so the wait time is about 3 days to a week. I’ll send updates on projects if you prefer. I can only do sketches and (not too detailed) water color traditionally, everything else is digital. Traditional watercolor may take the longest to get back to you.

Examples of past commissions:

Thank you for reading, I hope you can support me!!!

[p---l---c]

HOLIDAY SALE IS STILL GOING STRONG!

Things I Do:

Custom Character Art!

From fully rendered pieces with dynamic lighting,

To cell shaded pieces,

To basic flat-color drawings, great for refs!

I even do backgrounds, and offer:

Custom Landscape Pieces,

for when there's more background than character, or the setting is more important than the focal character. shoutouts to hollow knight for having great backgrounds to use as examples of skill

and, for the first time ever and ONLY at this price for the remainder of the month:

Custom Animations.

Starting at just $40, you can get like twenty drawings showed to you really really quickly!! ONLY 40.

AFTER THE FIRST OF JANUARY, THESE PRICES WILL GO UP, AND THEY WILL NEVER BE THIS LOW AGAIN.

so if you know someone who needs art of their oc, their fursona, a concept for their fantasy kingdom landscape, or a gif of their favorite character winking, you can come to me and I'll have it done in record time!!!!

[iztea]

Maybe you have some drawing tips for beginners?

Your style is incredibly beautiful and it just inspires this thing inside me to grab my iPad and start drawing but unfortunately I have no idea where to even begin

Or maybe you have some recs where to look to learn how to draw stuff?

But I understand completely that it’s your thing and artists should never feel pressured to share all their techniques and secrets, you worked hard on it!

I just really really love your art to the point where I just look at it for 30 minutes straight with this big feeling in my chest

<3

ah it was never about being secretive, i'm pretty open about my drawing process since gatekeeping knowledge is a big pet peeve of mine. It was more like,, laziness because writing a cohesive and helpful drawing tutorial is pretty difficult and i wouldn't even know where to start; i'm afraid i'll get maybe too technical and what have you.

As for tips for beginners, i've shared plenty on my couriouscat so you can scroll through the answers there, i also have some drawing timelapses on my twitter account as well (albeit you'll have to scroll a little)

I'm very flattered you feel that way about my art, it really means a lot to me and i'm glad to have inspired you to draw as well that's awesome and i wish you best of luck!

I actually don't know how different drawing on an iPad is compared to a graphic tablet+desktop, so I am actually pretty clueless in that regard. I think Procreate is the most used digital art app for iPad so you can start by getting it and familiarizing yourself with the UI. I think this step is often overlooked. The brushes and the chosen program can make or break the drawing experience. If you simply find yourself not enjoying Procreate, experiment with other apps or maybe try switching to a graphic tablet, maybe that feels better and is more suited to your tastes.

To be completely honest, one "bad" piece of advice that i should probably keep to myself is to draw something you actually enjoy: fanart, Pretty Girl Portrait(tm), your cat, landscapes etc even if it's above your skill level (becoming obsessed/ fixated on some character from a piece of media also works wonders i'm just gonna throw that out there). The main point is to actually care about your chosen subject in order to get inspired and to have that inner desire of "doing them justice" aka drawing them well. The traditional art learning route probably involves studying the fundamentals, shading spheres and cones and simple 3D forms blablbablah which. Yeah ! sure that's probably better advice but i'm telling you what will make you want to keep going and not get discouraged after a few failed attempts.

As for the drawing subject, I highly recommend having photo references to guide you.. you always need refs it's a recurring thing. My fastest artworks are the ones where I have the right references. the less references the more difficult it is to draw something

As a beginner it is also a good practice to draw OVER your photo reference to get the proportions right ( i'm not talking about literally tracing the contour of a face or limb ( just an example ), but moreso identifying the Main shape which makes up that body part and observe how long is it in respect to the other components, how does it connect to the other parts etc - big difference. Tracing won't help you in the long run).

Another thing you can do is to study your favourite artists and see how They tackle whatever it is that you like in their work. how do they simplify facial features? what about anatomy? color/ light etc and kinda reverse engineer your way through their process. ( but i highly recommend to just keep these practice sketches to yourself, and to not share them on social media- unless you get the artist's permission)

This is how i got into drawing and what i did back then, again, for more technical hands-on information i did answer similar CCs before so with a little bit of stalking you'll find them in no time

I wanna finish this with some resources that helped me:

>youtube guys - sinix, ahmed aldoori, marco bucci, and also just speedpaints in general i highly recommend watching those

>for simplified anatomy i found @/ taco1704 's ref sheets to be very helpful but ........... I'm pretty dry here i just look up refs on Pinterest tbvh

speaking of, here's my pinterest i have a bunch of art related boards board cool stuff overall maybe they can help guide you towards some direction or inspire you in some way idk

ok i kinda suck in the resource department listeN. im starving too just.................. watch youtube speedpaints ok

SORRY IT'S SO LONGGGBGGG i hope it was at least a bit helpful? this was all over the place... I'll try to come up with a tutorial as well but i really gotta be careful with how i go about it. I'll leave you with this for the time being. Again, thank you a lot for the kind words, I really am very grateful and touched esp by that last part about staring with the big feeling stuff eeeeeeeeeeeeee really wow T T that's so lovely and a big compliment thanks ty ly

[angrybatart]

Another WIP shot, but I've been sitting and struggling with this for a while.

I wanted to add a decorative pattern or landscape thing to Geno's cape. But when I tried looking up refs I needed, nothing came up. I wanted to do the mountains from the older Mario games that had eyes on them. Tried looking up Super Mario World SNES backgrounds. Nothing that I was looking for came up. Like ARE YOU TELLING ME I IMAGINED THE FUCKING MOUNTAINS/HILLS HAVING EYES??? (PLEASE tell me I didn't imagine it...) I know there are clouds with eyes, but you can't tell me that the mountains or hills had eyes in some levels.

Still stocking with blue, and white, as a color scheme for the cape and hat.

[landrysg]

I agree there is a new oligarchy of rich people who manipulate our political landscape, and I, for one, am glad that our president finally sees the danger of MacKenzie Scott and George Soros, billionaire political donors propping up untold numbers of causes. He’s never criticized MacKenzie Scott (formerly Bezos), but I’m sure he was thinking of her, the woman who has thrown $19 billion at activist nonprofits to sway American politics. I’m sure when he just recently gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to George Soros, he was thinking 'this is the dangerous oligarch I will speak of soon.'

No, I’m being silly. Obviously he means the other side’s dangerous oligarchs! When a billionaire oligarch is throwing money at your own team, they’re just a concerned citizen doing what they can with what they have. ...

I love that Biden’s final address to the nation, his farewell, was about the need for Facebook fact-checkers. It was a presidency built around calling the refs, making us feel bad for any criticism (Hunter is a baby boy), and then if that didn’t work, just banning whatever the staff didn’t like that week.

And I want to feel nostalgic for the good times with Joe, his life of service. But the end of the relationship was so toxic. ...

[apostlewithapomegranate]

danish's commission info

opening comms cause 1. i'm struggling to find stable employment considering all i have is a shitty diploma & multiple disabilities 2. the electricity bill recently rose from 500 riyals to 3000+ riyals last month, it's becoming literally unliveable around here 3. my household of 10+ members are already trying our best to cut costs with food, necessities & meds etc. please reblog & share! i'm trying to save ~300$/1000 riyals for daily needs/food this month.

[more details under cut]

depending on the amount of rendering it involves, my rates range from $28 to $68. simple pieces, similar to the above two examples, start at $28 & increase with crispier rendering, heavier details, complex backgrounds or additional characters etc. with the two examples below being in the $68 range.

will do:

complex designs/outfits

historical, religious or cultural motifs (refs would be appreciated but i'm willing to do my own research)

nsfw of original + fictional characters who are 21+, at my own discretion, and you have to be 21+ as well

won't do:

anthro/stylized animals

weird fetish stuff

celebs & most fanart

notes:

turnaround time can be between a week to a month depending on the complexity.

50% payment upfront when you receive a sketch and are happy with it and the rest before i send you the finished work.

you'll recieve a 3000x3000px (3000x4500px for portrait and 4500x3000px for landscape) png with 300 dpi.

only accept payment thro p4yp4l or k0-fi.

[esconpanache]

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