#painterly takes so long but i do love it lol

[yeagrave]

let them kiss !!

[kozachenko]

(Click the image for better quality)

Yipeeee that Keiki and Mayumi fanart I posted the WIP of is finally done woooo- This piece was a very experimental one that I'm kind of OK on. Maybe because I've just gone insane looking at it for so long and I'm my own worst critic lol.

Artist's Notes;

So I've once again been playing around with my rendering style, mainly because I have been wanting to improve my lighting for a while now and as I was just scrolling through Tumblr, I saw some of the official art for that one webcomic-turned-animated-TV-Show Lackadaisy and was immediately inspired. I also have seen a technique a few times in the past where the lineart and shading are merged together, so I've been meaning to try that for a little while.

I did some experimentation on this one sketch of Keiki I posted in my sketch dump and I really liked the results of it, so I carried those over to this piece.

I ended up scaling up Keiki and Mayumi from the original WIP because I felt like they were both getting lost in the composition, and I'm glad for that because I think it works a lot better. I'm not a fan of how Mayumi's sword turned out at all, but it's not really meant to be the focus of the piece so eh. Overall, I think I could do better with my colours, probably because with Keiki and Mayumi's colours, I did them flat in greyscale and then used a brush on the overlay blend mode to colour all of them over, after which I changed the base layer for their colours from white to yellow and then lowered the opacity so it all went together better. I also decided to use gradient maps for a lot of the background elements, mainly to experiment with getting in my values first to make them pop out more. I ended up finding a really nice sky gradient on Clip Studio Paint that I really liked, and that kinda helped to establish the colour scheme of the background a lot. I think the whole "start in greyscale then colour" thing really works better with painterly styles rather than more illustrative ones, and while it is good at making sure your values are more readable, I honestly don't think I have the skill level to pull that off yet. Honestly, I think I've been looking at this drawing too long or maybe I added too much to it, but I wish I could've made the colours less monochromatic, but I'll just save that for the next piece I do.

I do love how the flame (...well it's more of a weird space rift than anything in this piece) and the lighting turned out, those were fun to do. I was initially struggling with the flame and how Mayumi is positioned in front of it before realizing "Oh wait! This is a weird abstraction of a weird creature! I don't have to follow the laws of anatomy!" and just dislocated it's flamey bottom jaw from the main body. I also changed the colours of it since I was really not liking how incredibly bright it was when it had lighter colours. Again, the gradient maps served the more painterly style of the flames well.

I also love how Mayumi turned out. I could do her sleeves better but that's more of just me needing to study how those types of sleeves fold in that position more. I'm also very happy with the posing, the technique I used for that was taking photos of myself in the positions I wanted, blocking in the silhouette and then modifying that by adjusting it to my lines of action that I drew on top of the original photos, and then sketching over the silhouettes and drawing in the shapes of the hands overtop of the photo if I needed to get the fine details right. As for what I do to take the pictures myself, I use a tall chair I have, prop up my phone with a phone stand, put on a ten second timer and scramble to get in position. Yes, I did have to use a bunch of thin markers I had to try and get the hand positioning on Keiki's pose right, yes I do have a fake sword that I used to get the positioning of Mayumi's arms and hand right, the sword was for an old Halloween costume from several years ago. I really like how both Keiki and Mayumi turned out in this drawing, I'll have to play around with these designs for them more in future drawings.

Also, if you wanna know why I draw buildings like that, when I watched Fantasia 2000 as a kid (One of the Disney movies where they make really beautiful animations to classical music) the way they drew the buildings in the first few sections Rhapsody in Blue segment (the jazz one with the cities) changed my brain chemistry and now whenever I need to draw buildings really quickly, I refer back to that. Since the buildings aren't really the main subject, I didn't put much thought into them.

As you can tell I am very tired of this piece, mainly because I made things harder for myself by overcomplicating the process compared to what I usually do, mainly with the whole "starting in grayscale then adding colour." I'd honestly just prefer having a black layer set to colour that I can just toggle on and off when I need to see the values, but it was good to experiment. And that was mainly the point of this whole drawing, to experiment. I'm definitely going to have to play around with this new style I'm going for, mainly because I liked how it turned out a lot in the augmented Keiki sketch, and also because I want to find ways of making it suit my style more. I also really want to keep experimenting with my lighting like this, it's very fun. Last but not least I am never starting in greyscale again because dear god I do not like the workflow it forced me into. I don't have a problem with the method itself it's mainly just a skill issue lol.

If you wanna read my headcanons for these two, I put them in my WIP post, so you can read them there if you want to. The more I look at this the more I prefer the simplicity of my WIP. I might go back to this and just take away the fancy colours and effects to see what it looks like without all of that stuff and reblog this post with that drawing, but for now, I don't think I can look at this drawing again for a while.

[freakattack]

What do you think of Ko Takeuchi as an illustrator anyway? Do you blame him for WarioWare getting normalpilled?

LOL well either way I can't be too mad at him considering that he is the one responsible for the original lightning-in-a-bottle designs in the first place (IIRC he's been the sole credited character designer since Mega Microgrames). Truly we'll never know if the Normalbobification of warioware was a personal stylistic choice on Takeuchi's part or a push from more marketing-minded suits behind the scenes, and we will likely never know because of people like me who are fucking insane about it. I will beat a dead horse and say that his same-face syndrome for women specifically is really bad. But, to his credit, and despite the depressing new art direction of the series, his more painterly character art from Get It Together is nothing short of gorgeous:

(Yes i chose the only long orbulon in the batch DON'T look at me.)

So, overall, I don't think he's a BAD artist. The fact that I like a lot of his work actually makes the overhaul even more painful; he COULD make everyone look weird and greasy again, it would be so easy for him to make everyone look weird and greasy again. This one isn't solely an art style thing, so I'm kind of derailing here, but how did we go from this:

To this:

It just ain't right!!

But, on the other side of the coin, as much as I have qualms with the new art style and some of the changes in characterization of a lot of our guys (not just Orbulon, I think Crygor and Jimmy got hit too), I do really really love that more focus has been put on their characterization at all. Hell, Warioware Move It is basically a cartoon episode disguised as a game. That's fun as hell! From the fully-voiced Gold to the saga of Get It Together, it feels like they are really making the most of the awesome cast of weirdos at their disposal - and they always have, but now instead of all the fun stuff being relegated to websites and manuals, it's taking center stage. Something I love about warioware is just how much love the crew seems to have for these characters, and it's nice that that's still evident no matter what they look like.

[jabesa0]

Hii im the same anon who asked for the jewellery rendering tutorial. Sorry i keep asking for tuts but how do you render clothes,, it's currently my biggest struggle along with actually drawing the folds 😭😭

Hey there anon!! Don’t apologize!!! I actually really do enjoy answering questions, whether it’s drawing tips or my opinions and such on mammon!! It’s fun to talk to y’all when I can!

Anyways yeah I think I can explain my thought process when it comes to clothing and such!!

(Putting it under the cut cause it may be a bit long lolol)

So when I draw clothes, my main focus is to understand and be able to get across the texture/material of the clothes I’m making!! I find that when you can get across what material it is, other people will be able to fill in the blanks of what the clothes are supposed to be!!

For example, here’s my pool table mammon where he’s wearing a gold metallic puffy jacket:

For reference, I looked for a picture that had similar material and overall shape to what I was drawing.

But rather than trying to copy the shading and folds line for line (which wouldn’t have worked either way since the angle, pose, lighting is different and would change a lot of things!), I look at which places the material looks the brightest and darkest, as well as where the clothing puffs and where it sticks to skin to be able to accurately get across the kinda clothes I wanna put my subject (usually mammon for me 🫶🥰) in!!

A few other examples would be these two mammons:

In these two pictures, mammon wears clothing that have a very distinctive texture to them, leather and knit! Even though I don’t draw every line or fold perfectly, I try to get across that it’s a knit sweater or that it’s a tight leather material by either drawing the wool stitching/pattern or having the shininess of the leather come through the dark material!

Even though it’s messy, you get what I’m trying to convey when you understand that it’s wool or leather or whatever material I’m trying to convey at the time!

Once you understand material, I think it becomes easier to understand folds!

Take this mammon for instance:

Because I understand denim fabric and because I looked at the jeans I wanna reference prior, I know that those folds/lines tend to be where the legs connect/around the crotch area, so I know to put those there! If it were a longer pair of jeans, I would put those folds around the knee areas, since there’s where denim tends to bunch up!

I think it’s very helpful to spend some time looking at fashion images online and when you’ve picked your clothing, to really look and see where clothes *tend* to fold into itself when it’s made of a certain thing! That way, when you draw something puffy, you know what spots is puffs at and where it sticks to, or if you’re drawing something that clings, you can see what spots cling to the skin and was spots have a looser fit!

I tend to spend a lot of time going on Pinterest lookin at fashion pictures and clothing and saving the ones I wanna draw mammon in, so I’ve built up my understanding of how material works! I still have plenty to learn, but I’ve built up my observation skills to a point where I can trust myself to get down a certain material once I’ve found a good reference!

Hopefully y’all found this helpful!! The way I draw is very much messy and only really drawing what I think is important and letting myself and others “fill in the blanks” when it comes to finer, finer details! My thought process is to draw enough to get the point across, even if it ends up looking more painterly and less clean than it should LOL but I’ve come to enjoy the way I draw :P!!

Anyways thank you so much for the question, I actually really love talking about my drawing process! I don’t tend to do it often, so when I do explain things, I think I also end up learning things myself when I look at my own art and explain it to all of you guys!!

[hannahssimblr]

Chapter Eight

“Will you have a Bailey’s dear?”

“Oh yeah, thank you, that’d be lovely.”

Claire’s mother Cassandra, who could genuinely be her older sister, strokes her hand down my cheek to my chin and makes an affectionate clucking sound in the same way that her daughter does. They’re alike in so many ways that it’s almost frightening, clones of one another, the understated beauty, the way they’re always touching you, the plump, pouty mouth. Cassandra is the most glamorous woman in Tullamore and everybody knows it. She’s soft cashmere and velvet, the colour champagne and the smell of vanilla, and tonight she’s dressed in beige and white, patient stiletto heels clicking across the tile in her enormous kitchen to get a carved crystal glass for my liqueur. 

“She won’t be long, love.” She calls out to me as I perch on a settee by their roaring fire in the next room, its mantle adorned with eucalyptus leaves and a dozen white pillar candles. 

“Oh it’s fine.” I say. “I’m alright with waiting, your house is so cosy.”

“Oh, thank you.” She replies, delighted, and hands me the glass, half a strawberry floating amongst the ice cubes. “We’re doing a white and gold theme this year for Christmas, since we had our walls painted in Elephant’s Breath last summer I thought we could keep it neutral.”

“It’s beautiful, you’ve done an amazing job.”

“Oh darling, you’re so nice.” She moves around the room looking for something, all long legs like a gazelle, and then peeps under the coffee table to grab a magazine. “I’m going to go into Barry in the other room, he’s watching a film if you’d like to join us.”

“Oh, no I’m fine here.” I say, and she leaves me by the fire where I curl my legs up underneath me and watch the flames dancing in the dim lamp light, sipping from my glass while the logs crackle and I feel like a kid on Christmas in some 90’s movie like Miracle on 34th Street or Home Alone. It’s the day after Christmas so all of the presents have been opened, but Cassandra leaves fake ones under the tree. I think they’re just empty cardboard boxes but they’re wrapped in gold foil paper and tied up beautifully with silk ribbons with the kind of patience and care that I know I will never have for something so arbitrary as a Christmas present, never mind a fake one. I fantasise, the way I often do when I’m by myself in Claire’s house, that I grew up here and had this wonderful, perfect childhood where I got everything I ever wished for and life was always beautiful. 

My phone goes off and I’m distracted from my daydreams as I take it out of my pocket to see a notification on my Instagram. I tap to open the app and read it, and it’s just Marnie commenting on one of my recent drawings. 

Ugh, so talented. 

I hit the home button and the app instantly takes me to a picture Shane uploaded earlier in the day that I haven’t seen yet. I do a double take when I see it. It’s him and Jen. I stare at it for ages, taking it all in, the way that they have their heads smushed together in the frame, both of them grinning. The caption is: The state of us lol. 

It is disquieting to see it for some reason, and as I look down at my phone in my hand I remember my encounter with Jen in that cocktail bar back in November and how she’d mentioned some get together with all the old gang. Here is photographic evidence that it happened, and Shane went, even though he never told me that he did. I stare at the photo some more, Jen has commented underneath it, something about how bad they both look, and then I notice something else in the background of the photo. 

It’s a hand on a table, the rest of the person off screen but I know instinctively who it belongs to by its long painterly fingers, my insides start feeling like something is bouncing around in my guts and before I can stop myself I have already tapped on Jen’s profile. It’s like my body is invaded by something, and it just takes over from my brain and starts performing automated movements, scrolling, tapping, scrolling, tapping. I go to her followers list and start trawling through hundreds of names, nothing familiar, nobody I know, until…

I stop. There it is. NotJTurner. The little icon next to it is the back of his head, a black puffer coat on him, looking out over a winter sky streaked with clouds, and I want to snort with derision. He really is so pretentious, it pisses me off. I tap on the icon anyway. 

There are no photographs of him on the profile. The whole thing is this immaculately curated mood board, every picture taken with what must be some expensive DSLR camera, edited perfectly to fit the theme and capture city life. A man walks his dog while drinking from a takeaway coffee cup in the snow. Two girls climb out of a taxi on a wet night, the lights of the city smeared and reflected on the slick tarmacadam. A symmetrical shot of a skyline, a building with a hundred windows and then a vast expanse of clear cyan sky in the negative space it creates. The more I look the angrier I get and I don’t know why. All of these carefully selected pictures of this perfect Berlin life, everything so aesthetically pleasing, all of it so goddamned good. I hate that he’s good. He’s supposed to be terrible, he’s supposed to be as awful as the feelings he ran away and left me with.

But I can’t look away. Dotted here and there among the street photography are pictures from exhibitions, some sculpture work he’s presumably doing at college and then like me, he’s photographed his sketchbooks, and they’re breathtaking. Deep, dark and moody, faces emerging from blackness on the page. The way he’s captured expression and movement would put stars in Ida’s eyes, and I linger on one page that just hands, some draped over the edge of a bathtub with wrists exposed, dirt beneath the nails, skin taut over the veins, knuckles rough and scabbed and yet they look like they’re ready to start moving off the page. He never showed me his work that summer, I never knew, he never told me it was like this, and I feel more humiliated than ever that I let him see my stupid, childish work that night after the graveyard. And I think of the way he looked at me and said these are really good. I huff out of my nostrils. What a liar. 

I start scrolling faster through the images, blood rushing through me and throb in my face and I know that if anyone asked me I’d have no way of explaining this reaction and this flood of strange feelings that have crashed over me, how the meagre act of looking at someone’s instagram profile could make me feel with such intensity. 

I stop dead with confusion when I see something else among the other posts. Is that… me? Am I looking at my own face? 

I become still and look, and keep looking. Is it really? I stare at the screen and wonder if I’m just making things up out of self-obsession, but it’s undeniable that the face in front of me is my own. Or rather, the faces. Somewhere in the depths of his profile, way down near the bottom is a photograph of a collection of drawings. There are five heads all arranged on a page, each one with a different expression, confusion, scepticism, surprise, contentment, and another that I become transfixed on because I don’t recognise it right away. The girl on the page has bare shoulders, long, unkempt hair that’s coming across her forehead in loose strands over her low straight brows. Her eyes are bright and engaged, and sparkling, as you might even say if you were feeling generous. Her head is tilted forward and the corner of her mouth quirked upwards to create this cheeky, mischievous expression that I never knew I had. When have I ever made that face? 

He’s made me look so free and so easy and so beautiful that I’m sure he’s taken creative liberties. I don’t ever really look like that. These versions of me are from somebody’s imagination, like they’re a character who’s wearing a mask of my face and has enhanced all of the best parts and ignored the way that my shoulders are always hunched and there’s a line etched between my eyebrows. When did he draw these? Why did he draw these? I read the caption. 

Old work. 

That’s all. Of course he doesn’t say anything about who the girl in the drawings is, or what compelled him to draw her, but why would he? There’s a big piece of me that wishes that he’d shown me these before, emailed them to me, anything. How old are they? Are they from that summer on the beach, or sometime afterwards? My mind drifts back to my bedroom in Tullamore where there is a sketchbook hidden away in a big plastic box beneath my bed that contains my own clumsy attempts at drawing him. I remember doing them in the middle of some emotional episode and feeling like I was in some way creating a bridge between our distance, relishing each little zing of pleasure I felt as I remembered another little detail about his beautiful face that I could put to paper. But you couldn’t waterboard those drawings out of me now, never mind convince me to put them up on the internet. 

When I hear Claire coming down the stairs I hastily put my phone back into my pocket. “Hello gorgeous.” She says as she sweeps into the room. “Are you ready to hit the road?”

“Yes!” I say, and I grab my half full glass of Baileys from the coffee table so I can gulp it down in one go. It doesn’t even make me wince. “Let’s get moving.”

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[poniesart]

hiii!! your artstyle is SO COOL to me- as in sometimes i'll just stare at some of your pieces because theyre all so great. i was wondering if you were comfortable sharing your process when it comes to art?? i'd love to see how you do things!

Hi!! I'm sorry this took so long to answer, I hope you still find it useful. It means a ton to me that you enjoy my art so much! <3 It's easy to feel discouraged by the Invisible Hand of Internet Engagement, so I really appreciate your ask.

General thoughts (NOT rules, just things I consider or do a lot):

Things that appear one solid color irl can be broken down into multiple colors through artistic interpretation. I see a lot of beginner artists paint trees as solid green, when there's a lot of yellows, blues, and browns in there! A FANTASTIC example of this is jadenvargen, whose color use is masterful and I can only aspire to emulate one day.

Base colors are not saturated; saturation is reserved for pops of color and details

Shadows are purples, blues, and greens

Reference is your best friend!!!

So the nitty gritty for those who want to see: with digital art there's two main avenues I take. The first one is lineart, and the second is painterly. All IDs are in alt text.

My process for lineart pieces:

I always start off with a sketch; for this example I'm using one of my pieces from @/mylittlefusions (that isn't actually posted yet but will be later today) - a Grogar and Trixie MLP G4 fusion. I like to fiddle with brush selections until I get the effect I want, and then go slow on the lineart to make sure it's how I want it, so this can be time consuming!

I've been trying for distinct shapes; I hate when my art gets muddled, I feel like the end piece is less impactful when I don't put in the right amount of contrast and distinctive silhouettes. Just something I've been thinking about and trying to improve.

Then I add base colors, going for slightly desaturated colors. I like to use saturated/bright tones to contrast or draw attention to something. I put the base-base colors down in one layer and then add details as a mask layer:

Then comes shading!! I'm a big fan of a multiply layer set to cool tones like blue, so I usually start there. If I think it needs to be different I can change it later. In this instance, I filled the whole canvas in the shading color as a mask over the base colors, and then erased where needed. Now that the shading is done, I often go back and color the lineart :)

Last but not least is my favorite part, painting on top! The extent to which I do this depends on what I think is needed, but I usually at least paint on top of the multiply shading to add some nuance, i.e. the greener bits on the background limbs. Here I added bright magic outlines to pop from the more desaturated character.

My more painterly style is a different story though! I use the same thoughts about color and shading, but I usually forgo multiply layers entirely and just do colors by eye. I still do a sketch, usually. Here is an example using my Lae'zel / Shadowheart piece.

The sketch is a disaster zone lol - but I painted below it using base tones, again desaturated. Once I feel I don't need the sketch anymore, I keep painting, making a new layer when I feel like being cautious about a change I'm making.

After I feel that I've got base colors down, it's time to get more contrast in using darker and/or more saturated colors! Then, like with my lineart process, I paint more details on top of everything else - reflections, jewelry, body hair, etc. I try to communicate shadow and distance with purples and blues, but I'm still working on it.

Another example real quick, where i did my typical lineart process base work and then painted on top of the shadow layer and the entire piece as a whole:

Thanks for reading if you stuck around, and thank you for the ask, friend! ^^

[achillean-knight]

Nearing the end of Mettamay! Recap and thoughts :D (This is just for fun lol)

I think this is the part where I drop off of drawing for Mettamay AAAA But hey, I did really good though! (imo ofc!) The number of days I did and how much I drew MTT himself was insane 👀👀👀

In total I accomplished days: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 12, 14, 15, 16, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27! So in total, 21 days! Holy shit LMFAO VERY proud at my commitment yo, I kinda wanna do this again next year if it's on! >:D (just remind me bc I WILL forget probably)

I've mostly dropped off by now, just bc I can't think of what to draw, and my motivation has moved to updating oc's for Art Fight BAHA But the fact I made it so far--- bonkers, bro, absolutely bonkers. This was INCREDIBLY fun and got me through pretty bad burnout, so yah! It was honestly very relaxing to just draw Mettaton for 21 days JHSDGHSD

Also, shout out to Mettamay for getting me to experiment with art aswell! Notably, I've become more comfortable not fully rendering with a painterly style, rather, just using a single pen brush in my software and doing pretty decent cell shading(?), which is epic as bc painting takes... SOOOO long JHDF

And honestly, imo to end off Mettamay for MYSELF Imma rank my favourite pieces I've done for this month, just to look back on and just for funsies KEKEKE

VV - UNDER THE CUT! BC THIS POST IS LONG AS HELL - VV

TO RECAP FOR MYSELF, My favourite pieces were these:

FIRST:

Mostly bc I am so SO happy with the rendering and colours JKSDHGFSD

SECOND:

First siting of me doing decent rendering in the whole of this challenge 🫵 This one was specifically a blast. The pose- not too great, but for me who is pretty shit at poses, I'm VERYYYYY happy with it >:D Very epic to see I also accomplished kinda comic-like background graphics, dunno how I did it JKHJGHSFGSDJ

THIRD:

i'm kinda insane about my AU MTT. Salty I forgot the weird cape banner wing things but I love this piece nonetheless ;;w;;! I'm so happy with the design, and getting the chance to draw it for Mettamay was a blast.

LASTLY/SPECIAL MENTION The amount of ghost MTT's I drew have to get their own spotlight. I had so so much fun drawing his ghost form, and honestly? NEW COMFORT CHARACTER UNLOCKED KJSHJHFDG

Who knew a hot pink ghost of my design would become a comfort PFFT Very happy at his design development since the first one LMAO Bro got edgier hair JHGGFJS thanks to my AU ghost MTT also having edgy af hair KJHJHSDJKDDHSDSJ

BUT YEAH Overall, Metta May was a BLAST And now that I experimented with drawing Mettaton, I think I'm comfortable drawing more of him now >:3 Just--- when motivation hits me LOL

[silvermarmoset]

curious what you disliked about good omens? i will not take offense regardless of what you say lol so no need to be tactful. i enjoyed the show but i don't care if other people didn't. but i would like to hear your thoughts.

sure! i do want to say before i start though that i don't want to offend anybody in the fandom—because I love the fandom, just not the show. The art and fics and analysis good omens fans make are next level. and it's the difference between the works surrounding the show and the actual show that kind of sums up my issues.

i have one issue that is kinda three issues—a three pronged problem—which can kinda be summed up like this:

budget (lack of or misuse)

production design (related to budget)

writing (impacting production design)

first off, budget. there was clearly some money put into good omens. but it was either not enough or it was badly used: the costume design is often limping along on cheap, showy pieces, while there is CGI (so much CGI! so much bad CGI) all over the place. And I don't mean to be on a grumpy anti-CGI bender—but sometimes it isn't necessary, especially if you put the time and money into good practical effects or clever staging, and often I felt there was CGI added to good omens not to enhance the story but just to razzle-dazzle. to show us things. (we will get back to the Showing of Things.)

meanwhile, the costume design limps along—and I think that limping is kinda seen throughout the production, in ways I don't have the terminology to describe. Costume design is my thing, so I notice when that's struggling—the designer clearly didn't have the time or money to really hit more than the most obvious notes; or perhaps they were told not to hit more subtle notes—but in lots of shots, I just kept thinking, is it me or is this cheap? in the lighting, the shots, the design choices? some parts look fresh out of a Lifetime movie—just chintz, flashy, empty lighting, special effects amping up everything to the nth level, all the time. Which loops into my third and final prong.

Neil Gaiman cannot seem to write for TV without leaning directly into a loud, over-the-top style that buries his actors. Scenes move fast. We are constantly cutting from one thing to the next, sometimes looping off into directions that feel entirely pointless, the goal apparently being not to tell us a focused subtle story but to show us THINGS: krakens and duck aliens and tibetan tunnels, never mind the story, the nunnery has blown up and here we are having a shoot out in the middle east! (the first time we spend any time with any non-white people in good omens they are all killing each other.) in particular, the fast food in des moines bit stands out to me as an exercise in Why Is This Here?: why do we need an entire belabored sequence on the evils of plastic food? is there a big message here beyond Fast Food Bad? or did you just think the plastic joke was funny and so it takes up a big chunk of the episode?

many of the sequences are so busy blowing you over with effects and things! happening! that there is never time to actually make a sensitive, cohesive point. sometimes, we're not even shown things—we are told things, long monologues given by God, just to have Gaiman's writing showcased more obviously than it already is. God's endless monologues are hysterical in written form. I can picture them in written form. But spoken aloud by Frances McDormand, in a format they were clearly not meant for, they are merely endless.

the issues in the writing loop back into the production design too, which is also in the Gaiman wheelhouse because of his role as a producer. I like certain things I spotted—the wings on Aziraphale's armor, the demonic nun design—but often the emphasis is on obvious bang instead of painterly layers, like every department was trying to convey This Is Magical without having the time to actually make the magic.

On an unrelated note, but still within the writing, Gaiman falls hard for sexist tropes while clearly trying not to. Anathema Device is a Strong Female Character, in that she takes no nonsense from anyone until she has immediate, wild sex with a nerdy, fumbling computer boy character who she shows no previous attraction towards in the ten minutes she knows him. (It was foretold by her ancestor, I know, but I don't care; it’s a gross pivot for this character that’s set up as a smart, inward-looking person. she takes more time to consider hooking her bike on the back of crowley's car, for pete's sake.) Pepper is the same way—her personality got lost in a chance to make a Strong Female Character. Even Madame Tracy feels one-dimensional to me, waiting to have a point until Aziraphale takes her over. It is hard for me to look at the plotlines of Adam and Newton Pulsifer, the way their desires are lined up with domination and complete power and both given outlet, and wonder if they're a little wish fulfillment for nerdy white boys who never felt seen.

What makes these failings hurt so bad is not just the flash and wow factor constantly being prioritized over the heart—it's that the heart is clearly already there, in Michael Sheen and David Tennant's performances. Whenever good omens gets out of its own way and stops trying to wow you, it's marvelous: Sheen so uptight trying to maintain a sense of order he hasn't really thought through, Tennant playing ten different levels as a rock 'n' roll romanticist who loves the world—and maybe loved heaven, too, once. Their acting is joyous, gorgeous, their relationship working through all the depth the rest of the production is missing. But even those performances aren't trusted to stand on their own, with special effects and gags and other stories always being added in, cluttering up the frame. (I will not forgive them for modulating David Tennant's voice mid-monologue in the book shop. He doesn't need a digital nonsense to dip into hell. Let your actors act.)

At its core it seems like Gaiman just cannot trust his works to transition from books laden with his voice to full series that have actors and designers and other voices crafting the story. If the witty narrator and flashy effects and pretentious monologues could take a back seat, and good omens could slow down enough to look at Aziraphale and Crowley the way the fandom does—gentle and focused and layered—i would adore this show. but instead, I just get the sense that Gaiman loves writing elaborate stage directions that ask for the moon—when we don't need the moon, because two great actors are giving us heaven and hell right here.

Will I be watching good omens series 2? yeah, probably, it is The Year of Tennant after all. if I'm lucky, maybe the flashiness of series 1 has dialed back a bit to let them breathe. and if it hasn't, well—I always have fanfic :)

[marronbunnie]

hiii (⁠*⁠´⁠ω⁠｀⁠*⁠) 10, 11 and 20 for the ask thingie?

HIIII!!!! TYTYYY

10. Favorite piece of clothing to draw

ELEGANT BLOUSES OR DRESSES!!!!! WITH FRILLS AND RUFFLES AND LACE i love it all it takes me so much restraint not to put every character i draw in them ... where's the meme that's like the kid from up receiving a badge and it's like "the highest honour i can bestow upon my favourite character" that but it's the pretty blouse

11. Do you listen to anything while drawing? If so, what?

really long streams ... 5-10+ hours long i dont like having to think about what i'm gonna watch and music distracts me too much while drawing so i just pick a big ol stream to chip away at over the next few days sfdfhrgh

20. Something everyone else finds hard to draw but you enjoy

it's hard to pick something specific... but i think having a messy painterly type style def makes certain things more loose and fun because you don't have to go through the process of "sketch > lineart > base colours > details" it's kind of just "block out the shape then detail" and it's done LOL

[peppertaemint]

I enjoy your breakdown of what's going on with SM but we differ in opinion where the music is concerned... well the stuff I've heard. I have not listened to the girl groups at SM much but I love the music everyone else has put out, even 2 baddies. I like like when groups experiment, some songs are going to not vibe with some people and some songs are but one of my favorite things about NCT and the sub units are you never what to expect. 2 Baddies is just one of those mindless fun songs to me, but for me NCT 127 are so versatile that they can make anything work. You got SuperHuman, Highway To Heaven, Favorite, 2 Baddies... they can mold into any concept imo Also I love Ay Yo and WayV's last album, the winter palace songs, etc etc... I think a change wouldn't be an awful thing but idk this seems really shitty. I know business can be cutthroat but these people are working there because of what this man Lee Sooman did to start that company and truthfully start of kpop and I just think he deserves more respect than this. This feels dirty and harsh. Another worry is SuperM. Capital seem to work closely with Lee Sooman considering how tied Mr Lee was to that project... do you think Capital will want to cut ties with a company that staged a coup? This is stressing me out lol Oh no and what if this makes some artists want to leave in solidarity with Lee Sooman??? Is that being really paranoid? Do you think Taemin would stay because I know he's close to Lee Sooman.

Also what do you think about the hoopla about Baekhyun's health and people blaming SM? They think because he was sick for 3 weeks and now eating once a day and working out a lot, that SM is to blame for not stepping in.

Always good to have a difference of opinion 😊. I think the SMCU Winter songs were outstanding tbh. I even liked the surreal painterly concept of the photos. But again, I really don't know who is behind what. Like what of Kwangya? Is that LSM or Chris Lee?

And I agree that on the surface of things, it feels like a really brutal fuck you to a man responsible for a lot of great music and careers. SM made a hell of a lot of mistakes, but they've become so artist-centric, it does seem a shame to throw the baby out with the bath water, so to speak.

Regarding SuperM and their future - Capitol Records wouldn't cut ties unless their contract was up and they no longer were interested. I don't know what the profit sharing model is with Capitol or what Capitol has agreed to do marketing/resource wise (anything?), but honestly there's not anything to worry about here. SuperM's comeback has already been announced and is likely being planned as we write on this infernal website, lol. Artists and groups are not likely to up and walk over this. I would find it very surprising. Getting out of their contracts would be too costly, and we don't even know how they feel about SM 3.0 etc. So, no need to be paranoid!

Re Baekhyun's health... I just am sooo sick of the victimization. If Baek wants to do that, he's gonna do it. Fasting is not bad for your health. As long as his meal is not actual junk food he'll be fine. And I assume he's drinking water and taking supplements. Like, fasting is actually good for your health. Why don't we let Baekhyun, an adult, decide what's best for him?

To me, all that victimisation stuff comes down to infantilizing grown men and also this pervasive, misguided savior complex. I'm sorry but men in Korea do not need to be saved from the evil mistreatment of... choosing their own diet and exercise plan? He's not 14. He's a seasoned idol. Marge from Utah isn't gonna change Korean beauty standards and deeply ingrained cultural values by crying on Twitter that SM are evil. What she will do is cause more racist journalism in the West decrying that kpop's evil dark side must be tamed. Sigh.

[wetthamm]

January 5, 2023

I haven’t actually posted anything for awhile. Honestly I treat this app like Pinterest where I just repost and scroll through pretty poems and paintings.

I wanted to write about my art goals this year! These are not organized (they are for me lol)

- be more ambitious: in terms of the scale I work with, the content/ subject, just think of a way to add a complexity that complements the viewing experience— as well as my concept.

- be content: I don’t have to be satisfied. Not every artwork I make will satisfy me or be “good”.

- build a body of work or a collection: I want to expand my portfolio and show a bit of specialization.

- show work on social media: I should post my work on multiple platforms. But I hate being perceived. But also it’s not that serious.

- think of selling some work: I could make prints or make Linocut prints. Sell mugs too from ceramics class.

- be passionate: look ahead (uh-oh) and just absorb as much as I can. Look for things that inspire me.

- make more art friends: I feel mentally ill slobbering all over my keyboard trying to write every thought down. I can just have a discussion with a friend THAT UNDERSTANDS.

- compile and organize references and resources. Look into art magazines, art history, etc.

- make lots of stuff: honestly it’s a win if I make something (at the end of the day) because I gained experience… right? Be ambitious like that

- painting: I want to paint on linen and use more oil paints. Given my school and given the space I have to work with, I don’t think this will happen.

Also with painting… be more thoughtful about what I’m making. Spontaneity doesn’t really work for me. I need a vision, a purpose, and meaning. This would mean doing more design work and research about the art I’m making.

I’m interested in making art about the Dreamscape, about longing and yearning. About life, biological systems, the micro-cosmos, love, queerness, magic, the figure, transcendental painting group, Impressionism, environmental art practices, imperceptible worlds, philosophy, femininity, softness, yeah that’s it’s for now. Im thinking of ways how to engage in the contemporary art world. Metamodernism. What is that, like internet memes or something?

Also… I want to learn about criticism and art theory. I’ll read essays and try to understand it. I could become that pretentious art nerd… also it would be good to have some knowledge in my field of study. I’m also interested in installation as well!

Ceramics: I want to get good at wheelthrowing and make vessels. Sculptural vessels! Also want to learn more about glazing and what kind of stuff I can do with that. Im interested in how I can utilize the glaze like paint. In ceramics I primarily want to mix the functional and the decorative, to create an object where there is some level of interactivity.

Drawing: I am taking a drawing class this semester so hmm… I’m mainly interested in lines… I love linework. Swirly, organic forms that are dreamy. There is a surrealism assignment so I’m pretty excited. In drawing I want to focus on bringing some kind of painterly, interesting mark making elements to it— Like build my work around that. In drawing I just want to show off and make cool stuff. Just excited for drawing class tbh.

General art goals:

- paint during summer. Oh my god it is a time to be productive and I really hope I paint. I AM A PAINTER AFTER ALL?

- be financially stable :)

I hope for another good year in art. This year will be especially special because it’s my first year fully starting it (without any doubts (questionable))

[cextra]

Do you have any tips / know of any tutorials of how to draw in your kinda style? I love the painterly look!

Yeah I'll share with you what I know, idk how to teach exactly how I paint but I'll share with you my process, I think it's similar to how most people draw.

So I spent like a long time drawing in grayscale and copying online images, you can check out my Deviantart to see that lol My DeviantArt

I practiced for a long time just drawing in grayscale and when I decided I was comfortable enough copying with grayscale I moved on to learning about forms in 3d space like at the beginning of this year, and I really only watched Istebrak on YouTube and all her form videos on how light bounces on form to figure out how to draw blocks and things from imagination. When I paint I'm still drawing in grayscale but instead of using gray I will use a color and increase its intensity depending on a few factors.

Watch the entire Marco Bucci series.

So when I'm painting color im still piggy backing off what I know from drawing in grayscale. I'm not sure if this helps but I'll add a few more videos I usually rewatch over and over. If you don't get it the first time it's okay it took me months to figure out what these peeps were talking about it's good to rewatch rewatch and take notes and pause and Google when you get confused.

Here's some extra vids regarding color.

There's a ton of other vids on YouTube which are great but I can't share them all heres there's a ton if you need any more info or have any questions let me know I can fwd you any other resources that can help!

[gb-patch]

Ask Answers (February 22nd, 2021)

Hello! Here’s another collection of anon ask answers all put together in one big post.

This might be strange considering how upbeat yall are about the fandoms for your games in general, but is there any particular trope or ship you WOULDN'T want us writing/drawing/etc. in relation to your stuff? (IE, any canon you don't want us 'overwriting' or something like that?)

Of course we would want the fan content people make to not be racist, sexist, homophobic, bigoted, harmful, etc. But in terms of generally doing non-canon pairings or adding in headcanons or stuff, we really don’t mind that. People are welcome to have fun and explore their own ideas.

for the 1.2 Android update was it meant to download as a  separate app? I really want to keep my previous save files but they don't show up (also thank u for the updates I'm really excited to get back into the game!!)

We had to change the name of the file and unfortunately for some phones that meant it’s treated as a brand new game. I’m sorry your saves didn’t transfer over to the new version. You can try to look up your specific phone and see if there’s a way to access save files for games on your device and then transfer those saves over to the new build manually. It may or may not be possible.

I'm having some trouble figuring out how to get the update from Itichio without losing my save files? Is it the same game or a folder I can put in the properties? Sorry if this question is not worded well or if this isn't the avenue you'd want to take technical questions on

Are you using Android? If so, the above answer may apply to you. If you’re on PC or Mac, the save files will automatically still be included.

Hey. I really loved playing our life. It was a fun experience and I never thought I would like it this much. I do have a question, I am currently replaying the game and I am choosing choices I never chose at first. In step 2 during the road trip arc, I decided to ask Cove about what he liked to see on people. One of his response was anklets and black eyes. My MC have just happens to have black eyes. Do Cove say black eyes cuz my mc have it or it was just a coincidently programmed into the game?

He uses your eye color intentionally! If you changed your eye color he’d change what he said.

Will step 4 have 10 moments like steps 1-3? 

Step 4 is only an epilogue. It plays like the openings/endings of the earlier Steps where it’s a bunch of scenes all in a row, there aren’t any individual Moments.

hi! who was/were the artist(s) for our life? 

&

who is the artist for Our Life: Beginning and Always?

Main Sprite and CG Artist: Addrossi

Main Background Artist: Vui Huynh

Main Interface Artist: Winter Slice

Other artists who helped out can be seen in the credits of the game.

In the new ol, there are two main love interests... Would it be possible to pair them together or is that weird? 

You can’t stay single and pair them together. If we are going to add all the extra content to have a route where the two LIs get together, it’d be a full poly route where them and the MC were all dating. And that’s not a for sure option yet because it’d add a lot of extra complications. But either way, in OL the relationships all gotta be about the MC, haha.

In OL2, there will be extra LIs in form of DLCs? Like Dexter and Baxter. 

Maybe! We’ll see how it goes.

Since Cove will have 2 diff body types in s4, will the storyline and dialogs reflect this? Or all of it will be the same? Btw love the game and sorry for bad english. Hope this doesn't sound rude 😅 

Some descriptions and pieces of dialog will change, but it won’t impact the story really. And you don’t need to apologize! It’s all good.

Will you ever release the transparent sprites of the Our Life characters? 

Probably not, I’m afraid. They’ve got a lot of pieces and it’d just be kind of hard to deal with, aha.

Something I was curious about, what was your inspiration for making a game with so much customization?

Initially, the idea was just about having a romance where you actually grew up with the LI. But it was pretty stressful to try deciding how fast the relationship would progress with it taking place over such a long period of time and with no real storyline carrying it. People might not wanna play a game where the characters don’t get along as kids, but other people might not bother with a game where kids immediately liked each other. So the obvious answer came, just let the player pick themselves how it goes. From there we simply continued to add more flexibly with the MC due to the same thought process of wanting to make sure people were onboard with how their life was going.

What made you decide to change the artstyle for ol 2 so much? I of course respect all your decisions and will buy the shit out of everything related to ol 2, but i love the original style and i m honestly not a fan of the styles shown on patreon, despite me liking the painterly style in general. (I don t mind the style being changed, just that the examples shown so far all feel like there s something wrong with them.) 

We’ve always used different art styles for each of our projects. They all have distinct looks from each other. It’s just nice to do something new. I’m glad you really like how the first game looks, though. And those samples were only general concepts, rather than the exact options being decided between. We wanted to see reactions to different options. The art style we’re going with won’t be exactly like those, though I personally like all of them. I think players are gonna enjoy the style Our Life: Now & Forever when it’s revealed.

Hey! Is it ok to ask what gender ourlife2 protagonist will be and if we'll be given the same opportunity to customize an MC? Totally understand if you're keeping this under wraps for now if u don't wanna say! 

OL2 will have the same type of MC customization as OL1, but even more refined! So their gender will be up to you.

Hi! I happened upon Our Life on Steam by pure chance. It is such a great game, I am super excited about the DLC, and I just want you all to know that you are awesome! :D I have a question, and I'm sorry if it's been asked before. Do you have plans of making more games similar to Our Life, with customizable player character? The customizable player character was probably the one thing I personally have been desperate for in romance VNs. So glad there finally is one and would love to see more.

Thank you! And yep, we do have plans for more games like Our Life, most notably is another game in the franchise- Our Life: Now & Forever. We’ll also likely have other, non-OL, games with customizable MCs, though we may still have some games with set MCs in the future as well.

On the patreon dlc just curious but is it possible to play it without actually sleeping together/getting the nsfw content? I just want to spend more time with Cove 

Yeah, you can still choose not to go that far. Though the event is shorter if you pass on the 18+ stuff.

At the beginning of Step 2, did Cove end up accidentally falling asleep in your bed? Or did he fall asleep on the floor? 

He fell asleep sitting on the floor with his body/head leaning against the side of the bed.

This may seem like a weird question, but what exactly is the difference between "direct" and "relaxed" on the comfort scale?

Direct is blunter and more teasing, relaxed is lighthearted and goes with the flow.

can the MC have tattoos in step 3? 

Not in Step 3, but you can in Step 4.

how would Cove react if he visited somewhere like North Carolina in winter where it can get in the 20s(F) at night sometimes? 

He would be shocked and unprepared for what serious coldness is really like, haha. The poor beach baby would wanna go home.

Hello! I just joined the PATREON!! It’s amazing! I love your games! I have a question, approximately how much after will the nsfw be out? After or before the dlc 3 and step four? Sorry my English isn’t the best!❤️❤️❤️ 

Thanks so much! The NSFW DLC will be out after the Step 3 DLC but before Step 4. And you don’t need to apologize for that ^^.

This might be obvious but, will step 4 have dlcs? Also, where will the nsfw dlc happen? Won't bother me at all if it s in in our or his house but i do think it d be moderately funny 

Step 4 will have the Cove Wedding DLC and the Derek and Baxter romance DLCs each add a lot of new content to Step 4, though they’re also partially set in Step 2 and Step 3 respectively. The NSFW DLC happens in Cove’s room.

I keep wondering what would've happened if Mr. Holden met Lizzie first instead of the MC. I can't see that turning out well somehow lol. 

It wouldn’t have made a difference. He met the MC’s parents first and they told him about their two kids. He wanted the MC specifically to be Cove’s friend because the two were the same age.

Even though we have a way to go I'm really excited for OL 2! I was curious though, is the next main character going to be adopted again? I thought it was really clever to make the first main character adopted so when players are customizing,  they can make them look how ever they like without worrying about pesky genetics. Just wondering! 

The OL2 MC is not adopted. We wanted to go for a new dynamic. Instead their parents are their biological single mother who is partially customizable and an off-screen sperm donor father. So the mom will look generally like the MC and any other traits not from her can be assumed to come from whoever the father was.

—– —– —–

Thank you so much for all the asks ^^

FAQ   If you prefer to just see the main posts without all the asks/reblogs, feel free to follow our side account instead: GB Patch Updates Blog

[malcolmreeds]

I absolutely love your art and how you color, I was wondering if you could give some pointers of your coloring process? It looks so clean and sharp and I have such a hard time with making it look too muddy on digital paintings

wahh anon thats so sweet of you to say thank you so much!! 🥰

going to focus on how i colour skin for this ask! also please note im specifically talking about colouring light skin here, the process for colouring dark skin would differ slightly (i.e. more highlights as darker skin reflects more light). colouring clothing is a bit more intuitive for me, i tend to just scribble about a bit on multiply/screen layers and see what works! (also as a note the drawing programme i use is the original paint tool sai)

ive slightly branched out into a more painterly style this year but the process is still more or less the same! i shade on multiply layers - there ends up being at least 3. highlights are done on sceen layers and again there tends to be 2-3. lets use this drawing i did lately as an example:

for me it just tends to be a case of figuring out where your lighting is coming from then build up some shadow layers! i tend to use a light purple or orange for shading. the last multiply layer i tend to use something like a dark purple / red and sparingly put it in areas where the light isnt hitting (i.e. eye sockets, nose shadows, inner ears, under chin). my multiply layers are all at different %s, the darker i want the shadows the highter the %. lets take a look at highlights:

im someone who loves looking at references! if you get stuck on where the highlights should go, looking at photos should definitely help. the main places i tend to put highlights are nose, chin, and cheekbones as they stick out and tend to get light bouncing off them, and forehead bc its a big ol' vast space of nothing where light tends to hit. again like with the shadows i build up the highlights and they tend to look lightest in the areas i just mentioned.

finally ill go in with the finishing touches which arent the same for every piece so i wont go too detailed here - i went in for a rim light around the outside of the face for this one as i think it tends to make the features pop especially against the darker shadows, and i also threw in a blue overlay layer at 25% over the top of this one for that melancholy lighting feel:

BASICALLY what this all boils down to is - i love to put every single tiny little thing on a new layer. i love using layers! i think using layers in your art might help making things looks less muddy, as the shading is all separate and you can mess around using different colour shades before you get something that feels right! if im drawing a fullbody with a background i tend to hit sais maximum layer count and have to start merging things!

also want to reiterate this is just how i do things and isnt the be all and end all. if you decide to do something completely different thats great - im always feeling at awe of people who do everything on one or two layers! ive built this drawing style up over many years and it comes very naturally to me now. i treat hair and clothes in a kinda similar way - i.e. building up multiple shadow and highlight layers.

sorry for how long this got, ive never been asked this before and got very excited LOL! thanks for the ask 🥰

[peroxidepoems]

“What’s on your mind pet” !!!!! That made me smile lol I almost forgot what I came here to ask

I absolutely love your drawings and am in complete awe at how much you can get Spike’s likeness! I can’t draw (like, at all) but I am fascinated by it. So, I was wondering where you even begin when you draw? And how long would you usually spend on your art? Do you start with a little sketch and plan it out, how does it work for you? 💖

I’m glad you like my lil’ ask text. Felt it appropriate and might lend a smile to someone.  Anyway, I’m glad you asked this! I enjoy diving deeper into the process of drawing, and it makes me happy when others take interest in it. I’ve drawn something to help show the steps visually since I felt pure text can only go so far. I’m going to add a “read more” now because this is a little on the long side. 

The first thing I do is contemplate an idea. What I’d like for the character to be expressing, facial or pose-wise. I like it when my drawing can tell a story. Even if it is a simple one, at that. Once I have an idea in my head I compile a reference sheet. Especially for fictional characters portrayed by real-life people. It would look something like this. Although, in most cases, there are more expressions and head angles.  (including alternate clothes and, for Spike, game face)

There is nothing wrong with gathering reference images. Professionals use this technique all the time. It has been proven that the results will be better when you have references to study from. For example, try to draw a dog from memory then try again with a reference. Basically, your mind can only hold so much detail and can start to warp in your head. No matter how often you’ve seen a dog.  Once I have all those pulled up, I start the sketch process. It isn’t anything too pretty and often the finished version may differ as I continue. During the rough sketch part, I tend to scribble more than one thought down and go with the one that speaks more to me. Typically I will start with mere shapes then add details on top so that is why you can see circles, grids, and box shapes beneath character details like face, hair, and clothes.  

Now that I’ve chosen which one I want to focus on, I start to line it. This part can differ, especially if I plan to have a background, but without one I tend to make the outline thicker. All the details on the inside will have a thinner line width. Then I will select a layer beneath it and start to color by laying all the flats down. During that stage, however, I will start to add small gradient tones. I will also color everything on different layers: skin, eyes, shirt, jacket, items, and hair. It makes shading easier.

Depending on how detailed I want the piece will justify how much shading and lighting it’ll need. Typically there are only two. This is also the point where I decide which direction the lighting will come from. As one can see in the example below. I add the darkest shading on smaller sections, very subtle notes. While the overall shading is lighter and throughout the piece. Third example is both together. 

Nearing the end, I will select the entire image and add an overlay color. This will blend the tone of the piece together nicely. In most cases, I use reds or blues. Seeing as this character is often seen at night I picked blue. It offers a colder atmosphere while red can offer a warmer tone. This is also the part where I add the main highlight. Again I pick the color that compliments the character. So instead of a gold hue, associated with warmer tones, I will go with something closer to purple. I lower the layer opacity to roughly 10% for overlay and 20% for the highlights. Here are both versions. 

I’ll add some final touches like the font on the tombstone, a crack, some small detailed lighting, etc. I might even add one final, small blur shading that will sit over everything (but below the overlay and highlight) just to really imply where the light source is. 

For this image, in particular, I felt something was missing. The hand needed something in it, and at first, I thought a cigarette would work. Then I sat back to stare at the image from a distance — which I often do during the whole process. I took in what type of story I am portraying here, and though Spike with a cig matches his personality, I decided to add a rose. Thing is, I had the entire image done when I decided this. As you can see throughout the entire process above there was never a rose sketched in. This is what I meant by a piece can differ as I go along. For now, this explains the process enough and it is already too long, so I will have the finished drawing posted separately — rose included.  

In the end, it really depends on the details — if it’ll be just a sketch or full rendered illustrations, on how long these can take me to finish. For example, I can sketch something up in under an hour. It is the lining and shading that seems to take the most time, for me. And, if the artwork is done in a painterly style, then it’ll take even longer (eight to twelve hours). For this drawing, it roughly took me three hours.  I hope this answered everything nicely and thank you again for asking! 💙   

[homosociallyyours]

@velvet-impala tagged me to answer this long set of questions, and bc I love this sort of thing I’m DOING IT! I’ll tag folks here just in case you don’t want to read thru this whole dang thing. But I wanna say: if you want to do this, PLEASE DO IT and tag me so I can see-- I *love* reading responses to stuff like this. But @la-paritalienne @disgruntledkittenface @and-id-marry-larry @calmrry @crinkle-eyed-boo @lightwoodsmagic -- y’all are tagged :) 

1. Do you prefer writing with a black pen or blue pen? black, but what matters most is how smoothly it writes.

2. Would you prefer to live in the country or city? walkable neighborhood in a city. 3. If you could learn a new skill what would it be? would love to learn how to hack into billionaire bank accounts without getting caught so i could redistribute their wealth to a variety of mutual aid funds. :)  4. Do you drink your tea/coffee with sugar? no, just milk! unless it’s really shitty/bitter coffee, and then i will take it with a couple sugars or sweetened creamer. 

5. What was your favourite book as a child? probably the Anne of Green Gables books  6. Do you prefer baths or showers? showers! i wanna love a bath, but i get bored too fast and i never feel comfortable (where do i put my head? my feet? what do i do when my belly isn’t covered by the water and it gets cold?) so they’re meh. 

7. If you could be a mythical creature, which one would it be? dryad! i wanna be a tree spirit!

8. Paper or electronic books? paper, i guess. but i do love reading fic electronically, so..

9. What is your favourite item of clothing? used to be my work hoodie. but now i would say this blue striped button down i have OR this one black dress i have with 3/4 sleeves that’s really soft and comfy. 

10. Do you like your name or would you like to change it? i always meant to start going by Dottie when I got older, but it hasn’t happened yet so it probably won’t by now? but i would never change my name generally speaking. 

more after the cut! 

  11. Who is a mentor to you? i had a co-worker who was really a mentor for me since i got into being a cheesemonger in 2008. he’s been in the industry for a long time and basically recruited me to the job i have/had here. but when i got sick he basically dropped me/hasn’t spoken to me in a long time. let me tell you: it fucking sucks. bc a mentor is a cross between a friend and a colleague and a relative; we jokingly called him my lesbian uncle. and so losing him from my life so completely over something like this is deeply shitty. 

12. Would you like to be famous and if so, what for?  not now, but before i was sick i would’ve said yes. BUT only bc i think i would be a great Saturday Night Live host (not a cast member! just a one time host with a monologue/skits). So whatever level of fame i needed to get that..

13. Are you a restless sleeper? I have really bad insomnia that means i take at least an hour to fall asleep most nights. Once I’m out, I usually sleep ok, but i do have intense dreams/nightmares that wake me up sometimes. 

14. Do you consider yourself a romantic person? yeah :/

15. Which element best represents you? earth: the wet dirt and leaves in a forest after rain in particular

16. Who do you want to be closer to? emotionally i’m pretty good i think. physically i wish i could be closer to friends and family in NYC, Seattle area, TN/Atlanta, and Germany

17. Do you miss someone at the moment? the people referenced above. also missing my Grandmomma a lot lately and my mom. 

18. Tell us about an early childhood memory. art lessons with my grandmomma. her set of pastels that were all worn down and the heavy paper (black) that she pulled out to work on. she drew a quick portrait of a man, showing me how to create depth in skin tones with blue and green against the softer flesh tones. she didn’t blend it out, the marks all painterly and strong-- her style. i was 10, maybe? 12? so not *early* but it feels like forever ago. 

19. What is the strangest thing you have eaten? i have no idea? i’ve eaten a lot of weirdish cheeses. i’ve had geoduck? 

20. What are you most thankful for? the amazing friends i’ve gathered into my life along the way, my dad, and my baby dog. 

21. Do you like spicy food? yes, within reason (i don’t get stuff that’s spicy just for the heck of it, like ghost pepper chips or whatever? but when spice is integrated in with other flavors i love it)

22. Have you ever met someone famous? i used to make up stories about meeting famous people that were based on partial truths. i’ve hung out with or met a lot of gay famous people. but the biggest person who comes to mind is Sandra Bernhard. I sold her cheese.  23. Do you do you keep a diary or journal? i have over the years. now i sometimes write things down in a paper journal, but mostly go to a really old blogging site where i basically put all my big feelings down in a public but sorta private spot.  

24. Do you prefer to use a pen or a pencil? depends on my mood.

25. What is your star sign? taurus sun and moon, gemini rising

26. Do you like your cereal soggy or crunchy? in between...not HARD crunchy, but not soft soggy. 

27. What would you want your legacy to be? would like people to remember that i loved them well and made them feel good/happy when i was around them. and hopefully that it made them feel like being good to others too. 

28. Do you like reading, what was the last book you read? i do, but i’m mostly reading fic these days. i think the thing i read last was Pink Like the Paradise Found, which was FANTASTIC!

29. How do you show someone you love them? i tell them, shower them with physical affection, and do little things for them. also try to remember small details about what they enjoy and then do stuff to make them feel good when they’re down

30. Do you like ice in your drinks? yes, but not too much

31. What are you afraid of? sometimes being along but only when it’s very dark out and i’m in the sads. honestly-- this is some deep internalized ableism but here it is --i’m very afraid of never getting better and not being able to take care of myself or anyone else. 

32. What is your favourite scent? jasmine flowers, pu-er tea, the specific scents of people i love

33. Do you address older people by their name or surname? however they’re introduced i guess. maybe because i’m an older person lol

34. If money was not a factor, how would you live your life? i would live in the apartment i had alone (with a guest room). i would hire someone from my community to come help me out sometimes. i would get a weekly grocery delivery from the good quality place. i would have a dog walker. and i would fly home to see my family more than once a year and fly my family out for a visit sometimes. so like. probably the way a lot of ppl live? idk. 

35. Do you prefer swimming in pools or the ocean? ocean

36. What would you do if you found £50 on the ground? get dinner at the thai restaurant down the street a couple times. 

37. Have you ever seen a shooting star? yes, lots! 

38. What is the one thing you would want to teach your children? i’m not having kids BUT for the kids in my life, i try to teach them/model the importance of consent and respect for their own bodies as well as other people’s. and i know it said one thing, but alongside that is that i respect and love them for who they are, and that’s something they get to decide. 

39. If you had to have a tattoo, what would it be and where would you get it? i want a lot of tattoos, but if i could get one tomorrow it would be a cheese themed tattoo with a variety of cheese knives (parm tools, dutch style knife) and a small cheese assortment. or a portrait of my dog

40. What can you hear now? this kinda dumb netflix show that i decided to binge today even tho it’s only kinda meh and my dog snoring just a little. 

41. Where do you feel the safest? when i’m surrounded by friends. 

42. What is the one thing you want to overcome/conquer? my stupid money issues prolly

43. Of you could travel back to any era, what would it be? wanna go back to 1977 and live in the girl direction AU i wrote last year, lol.

44. What is your most used emoji? laugh crying emoji or sobbing maybe

45. Describe yourself using one word. colorful

46. What do you regret the most? not sure if this is a thing but i regret not realizing when i got bitten by a tick/got lyme disease the first time, bc maybe i could’ve just taken antibiotics and killed it, and then maybe i wouldn’t be sick? 

47. Last movie you saw? watched the new charlie’s angels the other night

48. Last tv show you watched? this dumb show is called sweet magnolias, and it’s. honestly not terrible! it’s just not my style of show. OH WAIT i take it back, they left it on a really shitty cliffhanger without warning, and that is the one way to make me drop your show/fic HARD unless i like. genuinely love you. so byeeee dumb show, hope you get cancelled

49. Invent a word and it’s meaning. saungry: sadness brought on by being hungry, like hangry except oops you’re crying now! example: “fuck i knew i should’ve eaten before calling my best friend, now i miss them and i’m too saungry to figure out what to eat! Guess I’ll have tears for dinner” (almost called it sungry, but the internet thinks that might just mean ‘so hungry’)

did you make it to the end? WOW! devotion. thank you.