#on which i also digitally added the tip of its left ear and etc.

[wrenwhite]

i've been drawing nothing but neopets for 2 months sorry 😬

they're really fun to draw…. idk what to say…

i didn't color this cuz i wanted to be able to draw on the other side of the paper when i was done lol (i'm tired of colored pencils for now and want to go back to markers).

[mystery-star]

How to draw a fantasy or alien creature

Here’s an easy way to draw some special creatures and that’ll still look good even if you got zero drawing talent.

To illustrate the guide a little, I’ll be adding notes, thoughts and process pictures of an example I did. (I apologize for the suboptimal quality of my camera in advance)

You'll need:

 a piece of paper

 pencil

eraser

 optional: coloured pencils (or water colors, felt pens etc)

 a computer / iPad etc. (a mobile phone works too but it gets small)

Or if you don’t have a computer or so or the pictures you want (See step 3) are already printed. However, I do recommend to use digital pics because they hold many advantages.

printed pictures of the components

 a window or light source

 -

Step 1:

The Basic design of your animal

Think about the basic body-form: Shall it be long, round, tall etc. ? Or use looks of other animals as reference. Decide what perspective you will draw it from. (from the side or the front? Or maybe from above?)

Try to come up with a few features about its habitat: Is it hot or cold, dry or wet, or in mountains? Maybe it lives in the air or underwater. This’ll help you with the colors or the skin texture later on or even has influences on the body-form.

Even humanoid aliens are possible with that guide, just use a human as the main reference, then change parts to make them look different. (Though I never tried that before yet)

My animal

It shall be a predator-species called Orinthio that lives in a tropical area. It’s a rather bulky animal and I’ll draw it from the side. Although in my case I mostly want to draw the creatures because I inculded them in a story, so the habitat and maybe a rough description was already given. (Not for the Ornthio though, I invented that for the tutorial, which was a mistake because I did not prepare everything as carefully as I usually do when introducing a new animal.)

-

Step 2

Divide it into sections

Split your animal into different body parts such as: head, legs or arms, main-body, extras (wings, tail, horns, hairs etc.). Of course you won’t need all the parts for each animal but these are just ideas. Also think of details such as: eyes, ears, hairs, fur, spikes, feet, hands, fingers, claws, tip of tail, teeth etc.)

Then collect ideas for what the parts you defined could look like. Search an object or existing animal as reference.

But in all your creativity, pay some attention to physical "rules" (Like tiny, thin bird legs for an elephant shaped animal? Or a thickly furred, black panther for a desert? Better not)

The parts for my Orinthio will be:

head -> shall look like a rhino’s

horn -> will look like a croissant

main body -> shall be the one of a horse

legs -> like a crab

tail -> shall be a baseball bat

tail tip -> is a spade (from the cards)

 -

Step 3

Find the pictures

Now you’ll need to search pictures of your objects of reference. Try to pay attention to perspective, chose such that make ‘sense’ with the rest of your drawing. Don’t just take the first picture you see coming up in Google images. Do some research and also try other animals or objects that look similar. Often you’ll find an even better solution

Of course these pictures don’t need to be the definite ones, maybe you’ll want to change the head after you drew the main body. And you don’t need to find images for all details. Like you can just draw the eye or teeth by hand if you want… But it can’t hurt to search for some reference.

My tip is to leave the Browser tabs (one tab per picture / body part) open and copy the images into a Word file (or PowerPoint or another design programme if you have one). Because if you got them in a file, you can easily move, crop, flip, transform, scale or spin them.

Attention here to copyright. If you just draw the animal for yourself or to show it to friends it doesn’t matter what you take. As soon as you want to share it on the internet or even make money with it, you should read more about it to be on the safe side… 

My pictures

I’ve cropped, transformed and put them into an order that they kinda already form the animal in a way, as you can see. Doesn’t look to bad, eh?

-

Step 4

Trace the contours

That works best by attaching the piece of paper to the screen (eg. with a post-it tape or “normal” tape that you put onto your clothes first that it doesn’t stick to the screen forever. Or adjust your laptop / monitor that the screen is flat on the table and facing up (but don’t break it!).

Then start tracing the contours. (Or if you’re good at copying, do that if you want) It doesn’t need to be perfect, especially at places where it it’ll connect to other body parts. It doesn’t matter with which body part you start, but I prefer starting with the main body because it’s mostly the center.

Once you’re happy with the part, take care of the next one. You might need to edit the picture a little bit that it fits better. You don’t always need to remove the paper from the screen, unless you want to have a look at it. Also make sure the “connection” to the other part is smooth, feel free to retrace a few lines if you have to. (Like remove the paper from the screen altogether)

Now just draw all the parts until you’re done.

Tips: if it’s hard to see the contours of the picture you chose, increase the screen’s brightness or the pictures contrasts, whatever fits best in the situation. And Protip: hide the pics that you’re not working with at the moment to not get distracted by them (Yes, you can do that in MS Word or PowerPoint! Here’s how to do it )

 Tracing the main body of my animal

Connecting the head to it (as you might can see I had to move / scale the pic a little before I could draw)

For the legs i just flipped, scaled and moved the crab’s legs. Thankfully I chose a pic with more than one example.

-

Step 5

Edit your animal

Remove the paper from the screen and have a look at it. You’ll find places where you need to correct some lines to make it look smoother, or maybe you need to change a few proportions a little (Eg making legs a bit thicker)

In this step you should also add the other details you didn’t bother getting pictures for. Sometimes I notice that suddenly something doesn’t look good anymore, so I need to change a whole arm or so.

 My first look at my Orinthio after I removed the paper from the screen. There’s a lot that I want to correct. E.g. the nape pf his neck, the tail and erease some lines. (Note: I’ve just learnt that solid and hard objects don’t make good tails... you’ll also find out your own ‘rules’ after drawing a couple of those)

And here the edited version. Looks smoother, doesn’t it?

-

Step 6

Unleash your fantasy

This step is optional but highly recommended. Give your animal some finishing touches.

Like trace the outer line with a pen. Add more details or give it a skin structure (fur, scales etc). Add colours! (Tip for that: use layers, like start with the brightest colour, then draw over it with a darker shade and so on. You can also add shadows like this. In the end, it often helps to ‘blend’ the colours by adding another layer with the brightest colour. Or watch some tutorials about drawing)

You can also give it a background or draw objects of size reference next to it (eg a small human to show the dimensions. Or a huge apple if your animal is tiny)

Or you can name the species (or the individual) and write it down as well.

And done! Here’s your fantastic beast. Feel free to send me pics or tag me in posts if you chose to share an example

The first layer of color. Of course, it could arleady be left like that.

But if you have a little more patience it’ll look more realistic. I chose not to draw a background because I wanted the focus to be on the animal :) But there are no limits to your creativity

[cherrifaerie]

i was wondering if you have any tips for digital painting? i rlly love how your lineless looks and i wanted to try a cute style like that

waaa first of all thank you for your patience bc i know ive taken forever to answer this as i always do with tutorials…oops…..and also thank you im glad you think my style is cute!!!! im gonna do my best to help you out with lineless so here we go! LONG POST UNDER THE CUT!

to start i mainly use these two brushes (yes…just two…) from kyle webster’s gouache pack which is only available to adobe cloud subscribers now, but im sure a quick google search for gouache brushes for (insert program you use) can find some that will work just fine. these two look pretty similar but the difference is the one on the right is a bit softer and more easily opaque so i use it for light shadows, blush, etc. i think textured brushes like gouache paint and dry media ones make lineless look extra cool but thats just me!

OK ON TO THE TUTORIAL i know you just asked for tips but i was doodling a girl for a warm up and i thought id just take you through how i colored her. started w a sketch + set that layer to 23% opacity and laid down flat colors below it

after i set my base colors i turn off the sketch and start workin on shading! im startin with the hair here bc i think it can be harder to paint and work with in general for lots of ppl

i used three colors here for the hair:

- the lightest color is the base. pretty simple 

- using the middle color, took gouache blair brush and made light strokes downward following the flow of the hair from the root to the tip. make sure you think about where the hair begins on the head and follow the direction it goes from there when shading/making lines/making highlights!! 

i kept it simple for tutorial’s sake, but play around with how dark you want the shades to be and how much shading you want! (also these aren’t shades per se since they arent shadows being cast, just a darker color to give the hair a little variation in texture and color and to create a kind of shine effect but idk what else to call em! i guess theyre highlights! i just know it looks nice!)  

- took a slightly darker color and added some lines here and there to break things up and further show the direction the hair is moving in

for a little more visual on the direction thing see this handy graphic i made:

i didn’t write DONT and DO bc my way is not like…the ultimate Chosen way…if you wanna go for a style with the shading i did on the left then totally do it but personally i think it reads better this way so ya!! theres no right or wrong way to make your own art but there are ways that can make things a bit more interesting and clear if you choose to use them!

and yeah i basically use the same methods to paint skin and fabric and even backgrounds. it’s really just as simple as keeping things flowing in a natural direction and picking colors that u think look nice to paint with!

FINISHED PIC:

i dont wanna make this tut super long and ramble forever so here’s the last things i did to finish up!

- turned the sketch back on momentarily to draw in the eye, mouth, & eyebrow (no painting or shading involved there usually)

- used gouache a go go brush (or a softer/less opaque brush of your choice) to add a bit of blush to the cheek. i usually add blush with a light circular motion bc it gives them a nice rounded look. i use light pressure because a) more pressure means darker color and i want the blush to be subtle and b) more pressure also means less texture and more solid color, and i prefer having the scratchy look with the base skin color showing thru.

- used more pressure and a darker, more orange color to create a sharp shadow on the skin + define the neck & inner ear shape with lines

- added desaturated aqua blue over the top of the hair to create a shadow effect and add another color to the palette

- added the same blue color very lightly on the neck & blended it with the orangey shade (in other words, lightly brushed over it with the orange) to make the shadow more interesting. layering in multiple colors can always help make lineless things look more detailed even if its just a tiny bit!

i hope this doesnt seem like a ton of steps added on at the end bc it took me like way longer to write this (because i ramble) than it did for me to draw it! i love working with lineless because of how easy it can be to slap on some varying colors and defining lines to make something look a lot cooler and more detailed. as long as you keep your shades and stuff on separate layers its easy to try out things and see what you like best so i encourage you to do so! best of luck!

[awkwardlyamusing-blog]

Dog Gone Problems: How can we train our dog to go out the dog door and potty on his own? | Momaha.com

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Dog Gone Problems: How can we train our dog to go out the dog door and potty on his own? | Momaha.com

Dog Gone Problems is a weekly advice column by David Codr, a dog behaviorist in Omaha. David answers dog behavior questions sent in by our readers. You can reach him at dogbehaviorquestions@gmail.com.

I just got a 5-month-old double doodle. He goes in and out the doggy door, which opens to a deck, by himself. I trained him in two days. He will go down the stairs into the yard to use the potty just fine. How can I train him to go out to potty all by himself? I’ve only had him three days, so hoping it will just take some time. I would love some tips to speed the process along.

Congrats on your new dog. Sounds like a smart one, which should make solving this problem pretty easy.

First off, you need to come up with a fun word that means to go outside. Dogs are the only animal on the planet who can read a human’s facial expressions, so coming up with a word that makes people smile and laugh can provide your dog with added motivation.

Next, have a family member or friend outside with a plethora of wonderfully stinky high-value treats your dog loves. I often use chicken liver.

With your dog and you inside near the dog door, have the person outside call your puppy by name. When your pup goes through the dog door, they should find this person right outside the dog door. When the pup is completely through the dog door, have them give him a treat and then say the command word after the treat goes into hi mouth.

Call your dog back inside, pet him under his chin and say sit. Have the person outside call the dog again, but this time move one step farther away from the door. Keep repeating this process for 10 treats, then have the humans swap places. When you go outside, stand where the other person was standing when they finished. Practice the routine for another 10 treats.

The next time your practice, the person should be at the same distance from the door as they were when they stopped last time. Maybe a few feet closer. Practice for another five to 10 treats.

At some point, when the dog is running through the door with glee, try saying the command word when the dog is inside with you and someone is outside waiting. If the dog goes through the door on his own, have the person on the other side give five treats in a row, saying the command word after each one. We call this a jackpot, and its a great way to reward a big accomplishment like responding to the command word.

Once you can say the command word and have the dog go out, you need to start providing the dog with things to discover and motivate him to stay outside and explore. You can leave a small trail of treats from where the person was standing to the grass the first time. The next time, leave another trail, but add a small pile of shredded cheese at the end of the trail (which should be in the grass).

The cheese promotes sniffing the ground, which is healthy and may lead to other exploring. The goal here is to provide motivation to go outside and progressively increase the length of the stay.

Practice this a few times, but keep moving the shredded cheese farther into the lawn — maybe one foot farther each practice. While you are doing this, use less treats for the trail, spacing the treats farther apart. At some point, you will stop with the trail and just leave some shredded cheese on the lawn for your dog to find.

You can also leave new toys outside, as well as chewy items like bully sticks, cows ears, etc. The idea is to leave good stuff outside for your dog to find, which gives him more incentive to go out and explore. With enough positive exposures, your dog will go out often looking for them and this should lead to going potty on his own as well.

Good luck and remember — everything you do trains your dog. Only sometimes you mean it.

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Despite being a senior cat at 10 years old, Baby is full of energy and mischief. Here, she dangles from a bannister in her house in Gretna.

Karen Windle, copy editor

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Julie Anderson, news reporter

At left is Clyde. He’s a dog. He’s 2 ½. He’s deaf. At right is Pieces. He’s a cat. He’s 13. He can hear. They would like very much for you to pick them!

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If you’re an avid reader of the World-Herald, maybe you’ve heard of Cooper. Features reporter Chris Peters has written about raising Cooper. Here he is on the custom pallet bed his mom built for him.

Chris Peters, features reporter

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Rich Mills, copy editor

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Gracie the border collie and Beau the red heeler like long walks and frequent car rides, especially to drive-thrus that give treats. 

Deb Shanahan, metro desk editor, and Kent Sievers, photographer

Isabel doesn’t enjoy her humans (especially the little ones) a lot, but sometimes likes a good chin scratch. Mostly she enjoys being left alone to sit on top of the piano and watch the birds outside.

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We say Juni found us after my wife was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer. This little Havaton brings our family joy, love and snuggles every day.​

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Lolo was adopted seven years ago in Louisiana. She’s a mutt, and we think she’s part nutria, otherwise known as a swamp rat.

Hunter Paniagua, digital sports coordinator

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Roseann Moring, political reporter

Eighteen-year-old cat

Loves tuna, SBH and

A fireside nap

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Alia Conley, news reporter

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Steven Elonich, online editor

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Dave Elsesser, features editor, and RyAnne Elsesser

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Graham Archer, digital editor

Hi, my name is Zeus, I an eight-year-old American Eskimo looking to get back in the game. They say I am fixed, but I think my only problem is you aren’t in my life. I love long walks and treats. I want someone to chase squirrels with.  Won’t you paw right?

Chris Machian, photographer

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