#people coming to me for advice is both flattering and terrifying im so sorry if this is a nothingburger

[mechagender]

do you have tips on drawing robots/mecha?

augh I really do wish i could have like a really good and thought out tutorial but honestly I don't even know how I learned WAUUHH ummm I think if I had any tips that I personally had to share which isnt a lot 1. try focusing on bolder geometric shapes!! it REALLY helps to sell the mechanical look. organic things tend to have a lot of soft irregular shapes, so deviating from that helps makes things look inorganic. also, try and picture things as a 3d model in your mind if you can! (if you can't, that's alright! people's imaginations work differently, some people can picture things, some people can't. that's just what I personally do)

2. exaggerate your parts and proportions to your hearts content!! robots and mecha are an excuse to really go crazy with things!! while something like drawing humans would typically have sort of a 'set' anatomy and proportions (varying on art style of course) mecha isn't really bound by any set of 'rules' especially if you don't care about being realistic!! (which i dont HEHE) 3. study and try and learn from some of the details of other mecha art. watch/play/consume media that focuses on mecha/robots like gundam or things like transformers, etc. other things that are good to study is real machinery, dolls, and real organic anatomy in general. i'd probably recommend searching some terms like "how to draw mecha/robots" on here and seeing what other tips more experienced artists have 4. PRACTICE!!!!!!! this should be like the tip ever for anything at all. im only able to draw like i am now because i spent a good few years drawing almost nothing but transformers which sort of forced me to learn. don't stop trying even when things look 'wrong' because fucking up is how you get better at Not fucking up

here's a snippet of like some of the first mecha art i can find in my files from back in 2021, you can tell i wasnt really confident in my shapes at all at the time, but keeping at it gave me the ability to improve (obviously none of these are concrete rules pls dont take them as such!!! i also HEAVILY encourage finding lessons elsewhere because beyond generic primary/middle school art classes i have never taken any sort of art education ever and I have no idea what im talking about. i'm entirely self taught, and i've also rarely done serious studies on my own. bad, i know WAUUUGH.)

[royalrastafariannaynays]

Dirk and John go on a date and Dirk tries to convince John that puppets are cool. Probably other stuff happens? (P.S. I love your work).

oh my god YES also thank you T_T and thank you for sending the request/ask!!! im sorry it was so late augh

———————————————

URBAN DEC(a)Y

It’s a cold night. Stupidly cold, for November, if you asked John. There’s no need, though. 

He’s already told you eight times. 

This dating thing is new. It’s strange and uncomfortable and it puts a giddy little pit in the bottom of your stomach that does flips and sings and it’s just annoying. You’re twenty-eight, for fuck’s sake. Aren’t people your age supposed to be getting jaded to the thrills of romance, putting down and thinking about what it would be like to finally say yes to that dude you could totally see yourself spending the rest of your life with in a boring and safely domestic way? 

Roxy said no, but you think she might just be apprehensive about nearing thirty. 

Dave said yes, but that’s probably just because you’re choosing to be giddy and happy with his best friend, and that puts him in a weird spot. 

They both said these things while they were offering (reluctant, on Dave’s part) advice on how to dress and act for your (second) date with John Egbert. Who ended up buying you tickets to go to a puppet show. 

Which you feel simultaneously troubled and flattered by. 

One: how did he know about this niche and very secret interest of yours. 

And two: he bought you tickets to an exhibition of your very niche and secret interest, because he wanted to make you happy. 

“I still can’t believe you’re wearing Roxy’s old lipstick, and it looks good on you.”

The words come as a puff of breath against your ear as you stand in the line to be seated at the downtown music hall where the show is being cased. The puff of breath is warm in the chilly nighttime air, and it makes you shiver. 

John laughs out loud, obnoxiously close to you and horribly smug. 

You shove him away, but neglect to remove your fingers from his. 

“Oh can it, Egbert,” you tell him, and feel your face heat. 

It’s that.

That quiet, hot feeling in your belly. That little spark of electricity that makes you want to get closer to him until you can’t stop. That little voice that’s keening at you to step closer, let yourself be looser, let yourself be more vulnerable to this haughty piece of bucktoothed shit.

The feeling entranced you. Maybe a couple of weeks ago, John dared you to come on the first date. Dave made a face at him from where he was laying across Karkat’s lap, and told him not to jerk his brother around. And before John could take it back, you shot your hand forward and shook his. Deal. The next night, you were going on a date. It was a cold night then, too. And John made you giggly, made you uncharacteristically excited. 

And it turns out you couldn’t get enough. 

Almost directly after closing your door, you could still feel his lips on yours, and you texted him to ask for a second date. 

It was a massively huge impulse move. And probably a mistake. 

John had the magnetism of a tornado, sucking people up into its whirl and tossing them around until it flung them back out. You saw it happen with Vriska, with Roxy. With several other men, and women. 

And you find yourself absolutely incapable of risking self-destruction. 

So now, you look into his jet blue eyes, and you wrestle your face into as straight a look as possible, and you raise your eyebrows. 

“Are you worried you might confuse me for my cousin?”

John splutters, and his face fills with red. Him dating both you and Roxy, albeit at different times, has been tossed around, discussed, and laughed about in your friend group for the entire past two weeks since the first date. 

He’s got a type, it seems. 

“At least I don’t like puppets!” he tries to protest, and you attempt to stretch your eyebrows even further, while winding your fingers tighter into his. 

“I acknowledge my weird shit, John,” you tell him. 

And he blushes so hard, and splutters again, and then like a can of Pillsbury Flaky Layers he busts out with a few guffaws that grab the attention of the people standing in front of you. 

“Yeah, okay,” he says. His hand leaves yours, then, and finds the middle of your back. Your fingers hang there, twitching, as your body adjusts to this new sensation. 

The usher comes back and leads you to your seats, near the middle, where the sound will be best, but you’re not too far away to see. A fancy puppet show. Only John. 

“Why do you like puppets, anyway?” he asks. And you’re still trying to figure out whether the somersaults in your chest are good or bad. You decide on good. 

“They’re creepy and kind of cool,” you mumble, shrugging. John matches your pace, sliding just a little closer to fit his hand on the dip of your waist, instead. Hrrk. “I made them as a hobby when I was a kid.”

John laughs. Oh boy. There’s the butterflies again. His laughing at something you said makes you happy, though. Being able to make this guy laugh is your new favorite thing. 

Holy shit.

He’s not a tornado.

He’s a hurricane. 

“Puppets are never cool,” he says to you. “No matter how cute you were as a kid. And I’ve seen baby pictures.” 

….Dave. 

“I���ll admit to that,” you reply, and shrug. 

John holds his hand out for you to go down the row first. You’re being wooed. John is wooing you. So that’s what the corsage pin was about. The corsage you’ve got in place over the breast of your jacket. 

John takes your hand again. 

“Yes, I’m seducing you,” he says. 

“Was I talking out loud?” you ask. 

“Yeah,” he replies. 

Huh. 

It’s terrifying being out of control. It’s scary not knowing what will happen next. But for the first time in your life, that rush… feels not as frightening as usual. Instead of apprehension, you have excitement. The kind of excitement that only comes with a new breakthrough in one of your projects. 

“Well, if you’re seducing me, puppets wasn’t a bad place to start,” you tell him, and force the corners of your mouth up into a rare grin. 

And John laughs so loud he gets shushed by the surrounding audience members. 

That night, he leaves your door again, smiling. Maybe with more than a little black lipstick on his mouth.