#procreate why are your colors always so muted

[kovalitics]

Went a liiiiiittle off script here

The culmination of this pose being stuck in my head all day and seeing @3lectricinsomnia ‘s DTIYS everywhere. Enjoy :)

[critterbitter]

HELLO HI ID LIKE TO ASK WHAT PROGRAM AND BRUSHES YOU USE CUZ IM LITTERALY EXPLODING EVERYTIME I SEE YOUR ART

actually actually... *pulls out whole stack of paper*...I have. a FEW,, a good few,, questions to ask. they are not many I swear 😇

OK SO FIRST OF ALL HOW DO YOU DRAW SO FAST???? everyday I log onto Tumblr I always see something new from you and I get very very happy. But then I start to question my own existence because not even I CAN SPEED RUN ART LIKE THAT. AND SO SPECTACULARLY TOO

Last question! how do you color and make it look so well?? just. How. I need to know. This is a CRY FOR HE-

anyway thank you for being one of my favorite artists that always feed my brain rot, pls keep making amazing art because like a little yamper I will follow behind and stay updated.

(Stands there)

Response and thoughts under cut!

First question! What art program I use!

Mostly procreate, along with a handful of brushes! (Specifically the Jing Set and some custom stuff, which is really just a circle brush with the shape changed to a square.)

Second question! How do i draw so much!

Okay so. I am. Ahhah. Unemployed,,,,? No, I do freelance illustration, but hmm. A studio job would be nice.

i graduated college last year and I’m very used to eight hour art shifts. The body sort of remembers to keep working, even though I no longer have storyboards or visdev homework to do.

Also. The hyperfixation is a deep vast tunnel I STILL have not seen the end of the light to, good golly. (I have dreams now about the kids committing shenanigan crimes. I wake up in cold sweat and write them down in a journal. It’s like being the mouthpiece to an angry god.)

So the overall gist is: I was trained to be a storyboard artist with a visdev background, and I’m using that higher education to draw funny muppets because my brain’s funny.

I also DO have a queue, and I’ve been treating this as a sort of inktober project. I am definitely going to slow down soon though! Maybe. Hopefully. Ah… (sheepishly drops my kofi here)

Third question! How do i color!

I. I, uh. I dont know man the coloring demons have a grip on my soul and i just go along for the ride. But also, if it helps, i prefer to limit my pallets to only a few colors at a time. Lighting is king, so if you can figure out if you want to focus on either on your lights or shadows, you’ll have a much easier time composing. That, and symbolic colors— idk, something hits different about art drenched in gold with a tiny hint of a man staring into the blinding horizon, or a green leafy environment with a single dot of artificial red. I also like using blue and purple for shadows, and I’m a big fan of muting colors with only one or two that pop— one of the reasons why I was so attracted to submas in the first place is because from a design aesthetic, they’re both super funny muppet men AND really cool train guys that have a limited pallet and thematic apparel.

Overall response! THANK YOU SO MUCH. This goes out to a BUNCH of people who sent me inbox queries— sorry for not responding, it’s a tad overwhelming because some of them are story questions even I don’t really know will go yet, and others are words of praise and I’m selfish and like scrolling through the inbox to look at them when I feel down. I am more of an artist who sits in the corner and sprouts like a potato rather then a branching vine who socializes, but I really do see people’s responses and they make me go :)))))

Okay ramble over. Thanks for coming to the soapbox, and good luck on creating!

[shroompocalyps]

my brother in christ how do you render

in all seriousness tho if ur ok w it, i would appreciate tips or anything like that cause i feel like im rendering wrong lol

ok this might be lengthy but heres everything i do;

so first of all I use my sketches as the lineart mostly because I will cover it up when I fully redner, I always clean it up and make sure the proportions are correct

after putting down the base colors i put on a multiply layer on top of them this one will be for shading (all these steps will still be under the sketch/lineart) so first of all establish where your light will be coming from and put down your shadows (on hair, skin, add blushing and stuff, clothes shading)

and then I add another multiply layer and put down a solid color, depending on how cool or warm you want your drawing to look in the end

so for a warm effect I mostly use: maroon, brown, sepia or like a very muted shade of orange (if you make the color too vibrant it might give you really saturated results) for cool effects I’d use: dark blue, lilac, pink (or if u want to experiment with any color, why not?)

and then make sure to lower the opacity of the solid multiply color layer so the base colors can still be recognizable

on top of the solid multiply layer add an overlay layer. This layer will be for light. This part might he tricky, if you do not choose the right color it might clash with everything you have so far. You must make sure where your light is coming from. If you want to see more of how lighting works, I suggest looking up 3 point lighting set up. (its mostly for film purposes but it will help you recognize how light works from observing these videos)

For the warm lighting again; I choose either a pastel yellow, or pastel orange. White makes the colors you laid out before lose value.

Cool lighting: If you want it to look natural: also yellow, sometimes a pastel orange. If you want the drawing to have a more sci-fi finishing look you should pick neon colors like pink, green, turquoise

and finally, you will put one last (or however many) layer/s on top of the lineart layer. For this step I usually use brushes that have a pencil/crayon texture just because I like how it looks. (In procreate I use the 6B pencil, its on procreate by default)

for this step, you should try to cover the flaws of your sketch by picking colors that you already have on the drawing.

For example when I want something to pop out more than the rest I will pick (with eyedrop tool) the brightest color I can see on the drawing and create lines that look natural, like if I draw clothes, I put small lines that make them look fuzzy sometimes, Or make strands of hair pop up from the rest to make it look more natural or casual.

this is a speedpaint process

if theres anything else lmk ʕ·ᴥ·ʔ

[inkuisitivskins]

Creator 2k17 Tag

I thought now would be a good time to do this since I’ve gotten 2 tags for it and I’m about to hopefully get back into the swing of drawing (for myself) and writing my fics! 

This year, despite the shit that happened, was by far the best creative year for me in my whole life. Since I had to withdraw from my college classes 2 months after enrolling in October of last year, while I’ve gotten back on my feet health-wise this year, it’s given me more time than ever to work on my art and writing. I think I can say that I’ve improved the most with both of those things this year than any other year in my life just due to the fact that I haven’t been in school and I’ve just been working. This year, I was able to continue The Northern Theatre, which I had started December 22, 2014... and holy shit I completely missed it but it just passed its third birthday ;A; omg

It was on hiatus, only having posted 2 chapters in 2015 and 2016, until I came back to tumblr this past February, where it picked back up again. Nearly a year later, it has one final chapter that I will be starting in the next few days. Thank you to @the-flame-and-hawks-eye and @tsaritsa for tagging me, I appreciate it <3

rules: it’s time to love yourselves! choose your 5 favourite works you’ve created this year (fics, art, edits, etc!) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you’ve brought into the world in 2k17. tag as many writers/artists/etc as you want (fan or original!) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works <3

The Northern Theatre [LivMiles longfic] - I feel like I’ve already talked about this one enough, but this fucking fic is my child. I started it because I had always loved the ship and the whole Briggs arc, but while most conflicts in FMAB are solved by the end, we never see what happens with Briggs and Drachma. Drachma was pitifully defeated in order to carve the crest of blood, and I always thought like.. so was that the end of it? It couldn’t be, right?

Long story short, this was initially based off of roleplays I had with my irl best friend plus a few things from back when I was an Olivier mun on here a few years ago. It’s by far been my longest project to date, and even back when I was young, writing original fiction, I never finished a single idea-- so this will be the longest and the first. If you decide to look at one thing on this list, I’d ask that it be this one, because this is the work I put my blood, sweat, and tears into, and in one chapter, it’ll be complete. It’s just been my biggest love and my biggest heartbreak to work on at the same time, but there’s always been a few people who have stuck with and supported me and my dumb headcanons and dumb ocs all the way through and I love you guys so much :’)

The Northern Theatre Cover [art] - This fucker took like 3 weeks to do because I wanted it to be in a different style than I usually draw, like more painted. There’s still a lot I’d love to fix but overall I still really love it, and I like how several of my friends are able to identify everyone who’s on it :’) I toyed with the colors of the sky for longer than I should because I really wanted it to reflect the tone of the fic, especially during the Drachman Infiltration, which is about when I was working on this cover. I took a lot of inspiration from The Hobbit movies, since half the time, their journey seems like it is all for naught, and while they foresee death and failure, they know they have to continue on. I eventually settled on the muted blue-gray, and I think it fits really well. I may do like extra covers in the future but I don’t think I’ll ever fully redo this one since I really still love it deep down

LivMiles Week Day 5 --- Free AU / Mermaid AU [art] - This was the first thing I fully finished on my new iPad, so it was kind of a big deal for me I guess?? I still really like the idea a lot and I pretty much like how it turned out... I may write a drabble about this someday since I think the idea is cute, idk haha

Princess Cafe Olivier [art] - Idk I just like this one a whole lot. I tried a new lineart and shading style and while I can’t seem to get a hold of the lineart and I haven’t found an easy way to do some of the shading in Procreate, I still try to adopt the shading style in my current works I think it’s working pretty well.

Missing [LivMiles fic] - i like babies and this was happy fluff 

can i do a runner up... is that ok... i dont usually take time to appreciate and reflect back on my stuff so i hope its okay if i just mention I am a Nation [art] as well;;; not many people like it which is why i didnt put it in that list but i still love it a whole lot and it allowed me a lot of painting and shading practice, plus i never draw gross shit so i felt like i did a pretty good job

I tag @stellar-parallax , @illidria , @proverbialhatstand , and @d31taf0rc3 .. everyone else i want to tag, i know for sure has been tagged/has done this already so xD