#one day i'll do a fully rendered piece but that day is not today

[feligayzed]

"Sebastian didn’t say anything, but before long he was softly humming along to the tune of a song p.AI.nter didn’t recognize. Both looked down at his nails as they were all carefully covered in a thin coat of black paint.

They stayed like that for a long while, even after p.AI.nter was done with the nails. The paint needed to dry, after all."

~~~

Fanart for this lovely fic my good friend Barry ( @autocat5876 ) wrote :) it really is such an amazing read i highly recommend

[sleepytoycollection]

One Way to Repair a Broken Doll Arm

Today I'll be walking you through how I repaired this Ever After High Lizzie Hearts doll's broken arm. While I wouldn't call this a fool-proof method, and I'm not sure that this repair would hold up to being played with, if you've got a beloved doll you want to repair, this should be just fine for a doll that's mostly going to be displayed.

The best part is, this will retain the articulation of the arm and/or knee (this method will technically also work for knee joints, though knees are harder than arms to work with). So let's jump in.

Tools required: Craft Knife, Jewelry pliers, Wire (gauge depends on size of joint), Super Glue, Hot Glue, Patience.

Let's start with our patient.

I thrifted this Lizzie doll a few days ago, along with a Venus McFlytrap, as shown in the above image. As soon as I saw the taped up arm, I knew the joint was broken, but hey, she was like 80c USD. I can apply some elbow grease for that cheap. Plus it gives me an excuse to finally make this tutorial.

They went a little overkill with that much tape, but whatever works?

I cut the tape off carefully with a craft knife. I didn't take a pic of that, but I think you can image what a broken doll arm looks like. Unless you have aphantasia I guess, but that's getting off topic.

First thing I did was use the craft knife to slice along the seam lines, then pried the upper arm open (slowly. seriously go slow.) with a pair of jewelry pliers. It will leave marks on the plastic, but I can buff those out later.

Why am I doing this if the arm's already broken? I want to remove what's left of the peg that's in there. You could also drill it out if you have a dremel, but I wanted to avoid this tutorial needing power tools.

So here's the arm, pried open, with the peg removed.

To close it back up, I used a tiny bit of acetone to melt the plastic at the seams, then held it together until it hardened enough to stay in place. Leave it for a few hours to make sure it's all fully cured, then you can sand the area smooth.

And here's the arm with the broken peg.

So what now? We need to remove the peg piece that's attached to the elbow. I couldn't get a photo of that since it's a delicate process and I only have 2 hands, but here's an artist rendering that would give you the idea.

Take a craft knife, and SLOWLY. CAREFULLY. cut into the ring that surrounds the elbow joint. YOU DO NOT WANT TO GO TOO DEEP, TOO QUICKLY. YOU DO NOT WANT TO ACCIDENTALLY CUT THROUGH THE ELBOW POST. Just go nice and slow. Just chip a little out at a time until you get to the center.

Use pliers as well to pull out the rest of the bits, though you might have to cut a good bit out before you can pull the rest out.

As for my doll, the operation went successfully.

This is what the elbow looks like with the joint peg removed.

Now we've gotten past the hard part, we'll cut off a few inches of wire and string that though the elbow joint. Once through, we'll twist it until it's reasonably tight to the joint. If that makes sense.

It should look like this. Give it a test fit and cut the wire shorter as needed so there's no gap in the joint.

My test fit. Yep, I recycled this for the top photo as well. The blue is just painter's tape.

If you find you can't get it tight enough, and it feels too loose, I'd add a drop a super glue in there. Just keep moving the joint as the glue dries, and it'll add some friction so your arm will hold a pose.

Speaking of glue, I also add a dab of hot glue to the top of our new peg. The coating will add thickness that will help it stay in the upper arm. Tape works too, but hot glue holds up better.

Here's our newly repaired arm back on the doll. Aside from a slight glimmer of silver, the repair is not very obvious I think.

Lizzie can now enjoy having two functional arms again. Whoo-hoo.

While not 100% a beginner repair, it's not particularly difficult either. Just takes some patience and a reasonably steady hand.

Before I go though, some disclaimers/notes: Some wires can rust overtime, so keep an eye on your doll to make sure the wire isn't degrading and discoloring them.

Also, if you do a repair like this, then sell the doll, do let the buyer know. I feel like I shouldn't have to say that, but don't be one of those sellers okay?

This same method can be used for knees, but thighs tend to be made of a harder plastic, and it can be more difficult to pry them open to take the old, broken peg out with out major damage to the upper leg.

Good luck with your repairs! Love y'all. c:

[deckeralexis]

Tumblr Update #8

What's been happening?

Hi everyone! Almost done with all drawing prompts soon, just need to render out the last one. I'm so excited to collectively see everything posted, everyones sketches, final illustrations, and all timelapses together! I'd say this is the first time in so long that I was able to consistently fully draw and render illustrations back to back without getting an artblock. It does feel good to be able to do that again, and I partially believe that generating multiple different AI artworks to get my references and base for the 2nd and 3rd prompt helped me get inspired to continue creating these illustration back to back. With my Instagram, I've been trying to get it to be consistent in posts and the thumbnails, so I usually have to wait till I receive all files and documentations from each respective artist so I can post! So for example, I have the post pattern of myself first, Qilumi, then True_wing168, and if volunteer artist Qilumi hasn't completed or sent me their files yet, I have to wait till they send me the files until I can post True_wing168's post. So with that pattern, it does give a weird posting time but my volunteers have done extremely well to still give me their posts on time :).

I forgot to upload the character design/small reference sheet for the 3 characters I drew, so that has now been uploaded to my Google Drive folders for the past days. I've also updated it with other files needed, and have been trying to rename all corresponding files to its content. A bit of reorganizing has been happening!

Small update on the newest volunteer artist joining us! He finished his first piece and is getting started on the 2nd! I'm extremely grateful he wanted to join and is taking the time and effort to complete this journey with me. To me, every artist has their opinions on art and AI. I wanted to get as many volunteers as I could for that opinions, however, many were too busy or just didnt want to volunteer. So to get a last minute artist isn't my intentions, but I'd love all the opinions and thoughts that I can get. I'll be sure to upload and publish his illustrations, findings, and reflections after he has given me all files! In terms of how I will post it on Instagram, I will try to keep it in order still, so my plan is to post his works after the current artists and I have finished the last drawing prompt and timelapses!

Hiccups:

Besides mentioning the last minute artist volunteer, I've been off putting taking a photo of me working as I don't have a complete work space good enough to snap a photo in, nor do I have any tripods or anything to help. However, I think I finally found a solution to it and will do it today! I will then complete my senior bio as well :). Overall, not any hiccups the past days and I'm looking forward to finishing my journey strong in reflections ^^.

[its-fnaf-time-bitches]

AAA IM SO GLAD YOU ASKED

ok, ok, so my family has had really, really bad inattentive adhd for generations, so we've kinda all developed hacks that we share throughout the years.

1. Adhd meds, now this is terrible advice at first because either it doesn't work for you or the process of going on adhd meds takes years, and that's ok. What I did in high school in the meantime that got me from failing high school to going to uni early is caffeine. Caffeine is basically a very very low version of the stimulants in adhd meds, your gonna need alot, because the instant stuff is gonna make you sleepy (which when my sleep schedule is wack I'll drink instant coffee before bed) so your gonna wanna find something with at least two expresso shots in it or energy drinks, if you drink energy drinks do yourself a favour and get sugar free ones. Drink it in the morning, and it'll act as a very low-end bootleg adhd med.

2. Your brain can not conceptualise abstract stuff. You say the fuzzies kick in whenever you open a document? That's probably because it feels like to your brain that you're asking a huge task. Instead, you need to break it down. Now breaking it down doesn't make sense in the neurotypical sense but the point here isn't to give you a to do list, it's to show your brain where the finish line is and where the goal points in between are. Ever feel like you're doing no progress, and then you look back at how much work you've done and realise. Wow, it's a lot? It's that, basically, keep track of how much you're doing using goalpoints and a finish line. And you really do need a proper finish line. Having it vague like "write a story" won't work. It needs to be specific like "write 2000 words." And even then you can have goal points like "write 100 words and take a break, repeat till i get to 2000 words. "

3. Take breaks often, and don't be ashamed of them. Put on a timer when you're doing work and when you're doing your breaks. And no scrolling on tiktok doesn't count as a break. Do something actually restful and fun. Dopamine is what your brain is lacking in, so dopamine is the goal. And there's no shame in how long your work or breaks are, I put on a timer for 10 minutes to work and then 30 as a break, and guess what? I got 10 minutes more work done today than I did yesterday. If you're just not feeling it, you need to stop early and take a break, and after each workload, you need to be honest and ask yourself, "Is this enough for today?" Because you need to be kind to yourself, and even if all you did was write 10 words, guess what? That's 10 words more than yesterday!

4. Start with small goals. Before I got into uni, and before I managed to fix my terrible school life, I started with one goal. "Everyday I'm going to draw something, it doesnt have to be finished and it doesn't have to be perfect, and the next day could be me just continuing what I drew yesterday, even if it was just a doodle im going to draw something everyday" because I had fallen down the trap of influencers being like "have a fully rendered piece you upload everyday to instagram!" And I felt so ashamed when I burnt myself out and could only keep it up for a few days. When I set the small goal and wasn't mad at myself when I didn't meet it, I eventually achieved it and slowly added in more and more. And don't be afraid to revisit the small goal if life is nuts, sometimes your exhausted and need to go back to basics.

Above all else, be kind to yourself. Our brains work on dopamine, and if the experience isn't enjoyable, you're not going to do it. I wish you luck!! You're not alone, and remember, you're not broken. You're not lazy.

Does anyone here have any advice on how to create when you have ADHD? I desperately want to get back into making music and writing again but every time I pick up an instrument or open a document I get The Brain Fuzzies™️ and I just physically can’t do anything no matter how much I really, really want to. Even just sitting at the piano or the computer takes Herculean effort and I don’t know how to work on it.

[x-heartofthecards-x]

@numberoneduelist

“Good idea. Special edition is a great way to add to sales. Tournaments would be fantastic - it’s definitely got the potential for professional play.” Lofty goals for a game not even out of its infancy, sure, but if anyone can make it happen, they can. “I like the ambition.”

There it is again. Why is it that one word out of Mutou’s mouth can mess with his head like this? And it’s not even intentional. The executive just… enjoys the way that man says his name. It’s inexplicable. He clears his throat.

“Thank you.” Measured breath. “There were excellent building blocks to work with.”

Seto turns the computer back towards himself, saves the current work, and then begins to tell the program how to render the player pieces. Of course, their standard monsters are going to be the starting point. He’s already got the models for Dark Magician and Blue Eyes White Dragon saved to his computer. He’s worked with them quite a bit - and there’s no need to tweak them while they’re just placeholders.

As it begins to work, he pulls his tie from his neck, drapes it over the arm of the couch. He’d been right - too uncomfortable. In this moment, he isn’t sure how he manages to wear it for hours on end most other days.

“There will be time later to get into the intricate details like color signifiers and graphical representation of resources, but we’ll probably get most of the basic stuff out of the way today.”

He’s having a hard time controlling the desire to give in to that teeny tiny part of his brain. He is a man of action, after all. Even when he’s unsure, he is compelled to move in some way - toward the problem and a resolution, or away; to avoid it.

Regardless, he finds himself wanting to spend more time together outside of their current business arrangement. A less formal setting might take some of the pressure off.

“Yugi. Would you… Are you… free tomorrow?”

As Seto shifts the computer back towards him, Yugi cannot help but smile at the small returned compliment. Really, it was a huge relief that Stop thought his ideas were good. So far, collaborating together had been incredibly smooth, their brainwaves definitely seeming to operate on the same frequency. At least, as far as the project goes.

The only issue with Seto settling in to begin rendering the model was that Yugi had nothing to keep himself occupied as he worked. No matter how hard he tried to focus on the computer screen to watch the man work, he did not really understand what the CEO was actually doing, so as the minutes ticked by, he would find himself glancing back up to him, particularly when Seto fully loosened his tie.

It was incredibly distracting and not helpful in his new goal of not objectifying the one friend he had left.

He glanced back to the computer, smiling softly at the little Blue Eyes and Dark Magician as they appeared over the markers, that small detail alone helped pull the map together. Thanks to Seto, his vague idea for a game was becoming a reality right before his eyes. And what was more, it looked like it was going to be absolutely badass. At the mention of the additional work to be done, the shorter man looked up to the other with his smile widening as he said, "There is plenty of time to tweak what we have, but this is super rad so far! It looks so good. I could never have made this on my own. You are amazing, dude."

With the segway into Seto's next comment having been the work they would still need to do for the detailing of the game, Yugi fully missed the implications of the question and replied, "I mean, I do have to work at the shop tomorrow. But I am free in the morning for a while before the shop opens. And when it closes, of course. But, I mean, honestly, I doubt anyone would even notice if I closed up a bit early… though, I guess that is still probably way later than you'd want to meet up. Ah— just nevermind the shop. What time do you want to get together? I'll make the time for you."

[game-dev-duo]

Return to work and character design!

Hihi! Tokki here, we took time off the game but we're back to working on it! Lots of things stole my time but now I'm back, working on character design. Here's Aurelia. 🥀✨ I actually also took some hiatus' in my absence from working on the game to study art as I felt very strongly about my desire to improve, I'm now a lot more confident! I no longer get the feeling like I could possibly, accidentally, have some misses and hopefully I'd have some hits. I felt almost as though a bad piece of art was inevitable and that if I strike gold with an excellent design, that it'd be fluke that I wouldn't be able to pull off a second time. Now I feel that my art skill level has reached the threshold where it's always of a good standard, I no longer live with the looming threat of an 'inevitable' day where I fail miserably and create something of bad quality. I decided that it was foolish of me to try and perfect every design sheet and work on each one until fully-rendered completion, as that's ovewhelming to think about and stiffles my freedom and creativity. It's better to use a base female model and then draw on top of that model with whatever idea I have, and in a messier, sketchy way where I can easily experiment. So I drew a female base model and drew on top of that in a loose manner, it felt really fun and exciting to work on. I'm excited to move on to the next designs, especially as in my hiatus I still thought about the game frequently, coming up with ideas. I'll be bringing all of the designs into a 'fully-sketched and coloured' state like you can see in the picture I added, and do that with each design until they're all finished. After they're all completed I'll go and develop each one into an official, fully-rendered illustration on a proper character design sheet. ( Much better than my original 'plan' of taking it from a sketch to a fully-rendered character design sheet one at a time. Which honestly paralyzed me to think about, it's far too much all at once and it doesn't allow me to freely play with designs in an expressive way. ) Anyway, it's nice to be back working on Evernight and I'm super excited to be bringing these characters to life, I think this will be a really meaningful game and these characters will be the soul at the heart of it all. I really wanna rehaul what I've done so far in terms of IU design. I feel it needs to choose a concept and stick to it strongly and that I could do a better job of that now, especially with fresh eyes. It also needs an official colour palette that can be recreated across the board and not stray from. Consistency is key. Also, I was taking a look at the BOTW artbook and the Undertale artbook today, it was really inspiring and made me feel better about my sometimes messier sketches. Thanks for reading! Have a lovely week. ~ Sincerely, Tokki.