#see I do purple overlays

[pixlokita]

No wonder you don’t color in all your comic pages if you can’t tell the difference between pink and purple

[dawns-beauty]

.

[suswous]

The question is: do I bruise easily? Do I bruise often, do to how I behave (being clumsy, being more adventurous, or having a hazardous floor), or is it just that I have a tendency to notice my bruises all at once, particularly when I wear long pants (and frequent flannel)?

[apollos-boyfriend]

Hey I've been observing from afar through your reaction blogging, I haven't been in mcyt as much since the dsmp ended but I still care about a lot of the people in the mcyt circle and I'm interested in what goes on - care to give a rundown of what happened at this twitch rivals thing everyone keeps talking about? (no pressure only if you want to) Aside from the fact I'm sure it was terribly run like most twitch rival events are, but it sounds like there was more to it than that

okay so. i am going to be missing quite a few details because i missed a day myself + my streamer could not care less, so i heavily encourage others to add on stuff i missed

this was a multi-day competition, running for 5 days with prize rewards from 1k to 100k. it started with i think 150 players, with select numbers of people getting eliminated each round. day 1-2 are fairly normal, at least for twitch rivals. of all the games that got played through the whole event, i'd say like 1 was actually good, and maybe 2 were decent, at best. most are bad, poorly-executed, poorly thought out, or just boring in terms of both player enjoy-ability and content creation.

DAY 3 EDIT:

now, sapnap's been sapnap for this entire event already. obnoxious, a bad sport, but most notably, playing DMCA'd songs. the event ran on proximity chat, so while he was unmuted, everyone around him would also be subject to said songs, which could mute vods at worst and terminate accounts at best. most people are fed up with him at this point. while everyone's trying to come up with solutions for the glitch, sapnap spams the discord with useless shit. couriway calls him out in the discord, calling him annoying and obnoxious, then later calling him a cunt in twitch chat. sapnap uses couriway and feinberg's name in his stream title for clickbait and talks shit about them + their friends (hbg/house builder gang). he also makes some weird comment asking if couri is homophobic because sap was talking about having skeppy's dick in his mouth?? or something?? i'm unsure exactly how day 3's issue of the glitch resolved.

day 4 is also your average experience with your usual range of average to horribly painful games. sapnap continues to be a bitch and not take responsibility for his stans attacking anyone in sight, but what else is new

day 5 is. bad. the game set for deciding the final competitors can be cheesed (if you let someone else do all the work, you can punch them in the last second and steal their win) and eliminates like 20 people at once. on top of that, a glitch happens that leaves the server on standby for at least 30 minutes while admins decide what to do. firebreathman sends a picture of a bare naked ass in the discord. someone else sends a photo of their debit card. streamers entertain themselves in various ways, including growing a cactus (fulham), playing osu (purpled), collecting other people's streams for their overlay (fruitberries), playing slime rancher (badboyhalo), and building real-life furniture (couriway). tubbo (who was already eliminated at this point) starts jumping between streams and asking in chat for the tea. the game is eventually replayed, deciding the final 4 players, but it's just as broken and at that point, no one wants to be there anymore. it's revealed through multiple streamers (purpled, i believe also feinberg) that twitch rivals games are not tested before being ran. the only testing done was a stress test to see if the server could handle all original 150-some players. this explains why the games are so bad and poorly organized (some games take over an hour, others barely 30 minutes).

the final four are sapnap, shadoune, sneegsnag, and i think feinberg. it's the most anticlimatic game of connect 4 you can imagine. sneeg eliminates sapnap, and shadoune eliminates fein. notably, fein's game glitches during a throw, which despite being obviously a glitch, the coordinators brush off as being "part of the game". fein and multiple other streamers spend time analyzing every pov frame by frame and all agree that yeah, that was a glitch. shadoune and sneeg are left for the finals. they come to an agreement that this is stupid and a horrible event. tired of this bullshit, they purposefully stall the games and run a podcast for approximately 2 hours, forcing the coordinators to bend to their commands hunger games-style. essentially since the first glitch of the day people were begging twitch to just split the money, something that wouldn't be easy according to tubbo, because everything is pre-signed and delegated before the event. sneeg and shadoune give no fucks, and force the coordinators to split the money anyway, winning the day through the power of friendship. i cannot stress enough how no one wanted to fucking be there by the end of all this.

[spiritsong]

After seeing @felassan's post about there being two different versions of Neve and Taash's cards, I needed to sate my curiosity and went digging to see if I could different versions of the other companions as well.

Lo and behold, there are! I found them for every companion except for Emmrich. There's no way to say with absolute certainty which is the old version and which is the new; hopefully we can get some confirmation on this.

For the time being, I went ahead and marked the differences for those who have trouble spotting this sort of thing. Hopefully it's not too overwhelming for the ones that are very marked up, but I wanted to include some of the more mundane changes as well.

Neve — The biggest changes are the crossed leg (making her prosthetic more visible) as well as the metal rivet detailing on her outfit (see: the collar, the shoulder pads, the sleeves, the skirt portion). Some of what I'm calling the more "mundane" technical changes include the lighting and shadows on her staff, her nose, and her chest.

Taash — The most notable difference here is the coins (I didn't circle all the individual coins but you get the point) and the dragon in the background. In one version, the eye is more distinct, and a bottom row of teeth have been added to the dragon's jaw. There have also been changes made in the shading of her face. Her body shape (namely, the torso and her arms) have also been changed, as well as the general shape of the "spikes" on her hips and her shoulders.

Harding — Just a couple changes here. Her eye is more white/ghostly looking in one version, and the shading on her face and neck have changed.

Lucanis — LOTS of differences. They're pretty inconsequential, by which I mean there hasn't been any added/removed/changed symbolism in his card. The shading on his nose has changed, as well as the shading on his collar, hand, forearm, armpit (didn't circle this one oops), hips, and hip dagger. The purple "wisps" have changed in shape here and there. One of the orbs in the upper left have moved, and there is another orb above that one which has been removed/added.

Davrin — Just a few changes with Davrin, though they are big ones. His face/head has been changed, and the vallaslin has been redrawn. The scar on his eyebrow has also moved slightly.

Bellara — Bellara's head has shifted and her neck elongated/shortened. There are stars in the background and around her arm in one version.

As for Emmrich, I mentioned I could only find one version. I did compare the image we currently have with what I believe is the earliest Emmrich art that was shared with us (a cropped version of his card) by overlaying the two on Photoshop and didn't see any differences.

And that's it! You might have also noticed that some of the versions on the right hand side have a white line at the top of the image. Make of that what you will.

(People viewing this post on PC will have an easier time quickly clicking back and forth between the images to spot the difference. If you're on the mobile app and care enough to do so, you might have an easier time saving the images and flipping through them in your photo album. At least I know it's easier if you have an iPhone, I don't know about other models.)

[staridust]

Sunny Day Jack ★ Stari’s Versions

—

★ DO NOT USE/REPOST WITHOUT MY PERMISSION. NO MINORS.

—

Apologies for the tumblr inactivity, space crew! I’m much more active over on Twitter!

Here’s a simple lineup of Jack designs that I’ll be personally using for myself! I love when artists take a character and add their own personal twists on them, so I’ve done the same to my favorite technicolor clown.

I’ve also seen a few people be interested in two other designs that I’ve done, so I’ve added them to the lineup as well for others to use or to see their full outfits!

—

Here’s a explanation of each design element if you all are interested in that:

Sunnyverse Jack(Left):

Sunnyverse!Jack is my personal interpretation, artistic recolor, and story with him. He is basically a spin-off of the Sunny Time Town AU by JambeeBot.

I wanted his jacket to reflect looking up at a vibrant summer sky, with clouds, rainbow pockets, swirls, and stickers to add to the childlike wonder. His different color suspenders replaces the stripes on his shirt, which is now a sun on the collar!

I’ve personally always liked the idea of Jack’s hair cascading into purple tips, it’s been referenced in many other drawings of mine. Considering Papa Rise also has purple-ish hair, I think it fits!

This design went through a couple sketch phases and some reworks with the most recent showcase being the birthday drawing of Artemis, where this design can be seen in now outdated-concept!

Alternate Outfit (Middle):

Over a year ago, I made a drawing about Jack and bowties, spreading my bowtie propaganda…. And I still am HAHA. Listen, Jack with a bowtie is so cute, So I’m bringing that design back as well as a full ref!

I’d like to say that this is his work or side outfit, but this is not the teacher AU. I did not create that AU, so don’t refer to this design as the teacher AU!

Even though I don’t consider Jack as a rodeo clown, I gave him clown cowboy boots to reference [Redacted] and his southern residence somewhere.

Rainbow Factory Jack(Right):

RainbowFactory!Jack or RF!Jack is an AU I made last year as well, and finally got around to giving you all a full standing ref for him!

He got more attention than I thought, I know a couple of you like delusional men. I get it.

For his hair, aside from the primary highlights, I also changed the coloring to be a bit more muddled and darker on the teal spectrum, as I like to do that when I draw Jack in a not so-friendly manner. His hair is also more spiked, compared to the others who have more of a fluffy round curl.

His coat is very simple, red and yellow stripes down to a cloud border, and the inside of the coat shows a giant sun on the underside. He also has different color rainbow splotches in different places on him!

His eyes can vary in size or be consistent, and the colors of them can change or spiral too! Usually though, the right eye is lighter than the other. His colors are more saturated and darker than the other designs.

Cotton Candy Cupid Jack:

Finally, the last design I have in the lineup is Cupid!Jack!

This is the first custom design I’ve made of Jack. Shared in this post, this was meant to be the Valentine’s Day design I had for him! Though this drawings is extremely old and outdated now for both my MC and art, I decided to carry it on to a proper Cupid AU design for everyone!

He was originally labeled as Cotton Candy Jack in a wip post that keeps getting shared around from time to time, but I’m unsure if I should keep that name for this lover boy now! There was a community cotton candy Jack trend a month or two ago, so maybe I should change the name? What do you all think?

Design wise he parallels the classic Incubus Jack, which I believe was originally a Halloween costume. His design shares similarities on purpose, being the extended body paint gradient and the sheer fabric overlay on the pants.

Almost like an angel/devil duo, Cupid Jack is more pastel, softer/brighter primary hues, has fluffy wings! My goal was to have them be similar enough side by side, but also different enough to tell that they are different themes/holidays.

He has a motif of hearts, ribbons, and sun swirls. His hair gradient is also the most vibrant one, going from cyan to a vibrant pink at the tips.

He has sandals because I thought it fit the whole Cupid vibe, but drawing his dogs out every-time might actually be the end of me.

—

While I will use these personal redesigns, I want to make it clearly stated and obvious that Jack is not my original character, nor are these redesigns an attempt to change his character or completely detach him from his media. There are simply my fun artistic portrayals of him, as I admire his original design, media, and game as well.

The Rainbow Factory and Cupid AUs are technically my AUs. Ship art, written stories, headcanons, etc. of RF or Cupid Jack are completely okay to create! I just ask that you tag me so that I can see what you all do with him!

However, I ask that if Sunnyverse Jack is used, please ask for permission before using his custom design, as it is my own design of him that I use personally.

…and also, I wanna see more MV Jacks! Artists! Show me how you would draw him in your trademark! I love creative expression!

[u3pxx]

How do you choose the colors in your art? Your color palettes always look so cohesive and so pleasing to look at!

ah, this is gonna be pretty long so i'll talk about it under keep reading :^]

now i am no expert!!! i am just a guy!!!! i'll just be talking about how i do it! ok!

PART 1: COLORS??? HELP.

i really like going with warm stuff on my art so it's kind of a given that most colors i use end up wounding up on this side of the color wheel

so, let's say i'm coloring trucy, a character who wears blue, i end up choosing warmer looking blues, sometimes i end up choosing purple or gray if the other colors i chose makes it look like blue, yannow, color theory and stuff. like this for example!

now the first one is noticeably blue, but the second one is like a lavender and third one is like, really not blue! it's like a desaturated rose color or something, however, paired with the right colors...

they're all "blue", aren't they?

PART 2: CHOOSE WEIRD COLORS

by weird colors, i mean colors that aren't like what the thing looks like irl. like, a leaf is green right? but, it doesn't have to be when you color it!

like when i color things gold sometimes, i use a light and desaturated red-orange for it or how like with the color blue, i don't even use blue at all!

now just because i use warmer tones a lot doesn't mean i don't use the colors from the other side of the color wheel, it depends really, if the color scheme i'm going for is monochromatic or if i really wanted to make something pop

but of course, you can't just color willy-nilly, you gotta take into account

PART 3: CONTEXT AND MOOD

where and when is your drawing set? what's the mood? are we having fun here or are there Horrors?

see how it changes the mood? the things we're supposed to be feeling when we look at the drawing? yeahg. ill use warmer colors when i want the drawing to look happy dreamy etc but ill break out the blues and greens when we're in sinister town pftt

also, just wanted to share again how other colors can change what another color looks like:

PART 4: GRADIENT MAPS AND OVERLAY LAYERS

now as for making colors more cohesive... seriously, just slap that thing on top of your piece and it helps the colors get together even more! like of course i choose my own colors but gradient maps + overlay layers are kind of like adding that one final thing.

i'll use this one as an example, left one is no gradients maps/overlays and the right one is with them. i just really prefer some good ol' ourple tones in my art so there are a couple of things i add on top to really bring out the warmth in here, like so:

PART 5: ANYTHING ELSE?

uhhh don't be afraid to use tools in your program to correct the colors you don't like ala color balance tone curve contrast brightness etc etc.

hell, you can even color pick from like irl pictures and adjust accordingly to what colors you want.

i also do have like colors that i consistently use when shading things after countless trial and error; like how i'll use purple to shade red, blue to shade with green etc etc

ig that's all, hope this helps!

[judithan-fr]

Tutorial: How I Render Accents

PART 2: COLORS

I usually do not recommend 'pixel hunting' aka going over your work with a fine tooth comb and picking out stray pixels to erase. However, for setting up a proper base layer for accents it is imperative to do so.

To explain my method of color blocking: I select everything outside of the lines, invert that selection, then fill in. This does a more accurate job than going into each and every section and filling them all in individually, and is also significantly faster. Only downside is small sections like above where you can see bits of the green (which I use bright green against a dark grey background to contrast the base color, lines, and background) poking out, as well as the inner section where it filled in a spot I did not want filled in. Getting all of this right in this stage will make your life easier as you go. (It's also the method I use to color block all my work, even beyond accents)

Now this where my style of rendering color may come off intimidating and, tbh it might be. I do gradients first and then I color over them with "normal" blend layers. I typically don't use multiply layers unless I'm shading something that has a lot of textures. If this scares you, it's okay I'll keep walking you through it. Here, my gradient goes from a pastel but deep periwinkle, to a soft more cyan blue, then to a lighter pastel green. Skipping steps and going from the periwinkle to green will give it a different look. There's also hints of a pinkish tone as an accent color.

So as I said, these additional layers are done with regular "normal" blend mode layers. I've placed one in between the butterfly line art and the line art for the rest of the flowers, and then an additional layer under everything else. This allows me to create a glow effect specifically around the butterflies, and then specifically under the flowers. Going back and forth with the proper amount of opacity (by using the airbrush transparently) helps to make it glow but not be Too Loud. Also checking it against a dark background can help to check for spots where it spills past the borders, as well as really gauge how Bright it is. I've also color matched the butterflies with the flower pits and the bulbs. This adds extra cohesion and makes them all look uniform but different enough with the gradients.

The stages of how I render gems/dew drops. Take the base color, make it a bit darker and less saturated (as well as changing the hue a bit depending on what the default color is. For yellows I go more orange/red, for blues I go more purple or even pink. It depends), add a small drop light at the bottom thats a fairly saturated version of the base color, and then a stark white/ near white highlight. That's it. Don't over complicate it, it will not matter when it gets shrunk down. Note that I do not use multiply/overlay/screen layers for these types of things as it adds too much bulk to the files and doing it manually helps to strengthen your color theory skills.

For shading and rendering, again, I create a "normal" layer and simply. Draw over what exists. Color picking and hand blending allow me to create the exact shades and effects that I want that multiply/screen/overlay layers may not be able to achieve. (which isn't to say I dont use them! i just don't use them for the main meat and potato part of my coloring) All of what is shown here is also achieved with the CSP asset SOIPEN (which can be found for free in the asset store)

another example. The one on the right is showing how the layer looks without the gradient base layer under it. All of this is rendered by hand. I also specifically put a highlight color around where the butterfly is sitting to give a better illusion that it is properly sitting on the flowers rather than just in front of them.

Next is changing the color of the lines, if needed. A method i'll use is I color just the sections I want (on a separate clipping layer) then lock that layer's alpha setting to them add in a gradient. It's a small and subtle effect that adds more depth without doing a lot of effort. (work smarter not harder)

Now we get to the Polish Layers!

first image is how it looks as a base. second image is with an overlay layer applied. I've used some dark purples and mid tone desaturated greens to push the values a bit further (especially evident on the top left wing) Third image is with a screen layer applied, highlighting the inner most part of the flowers and adding some additional bounce light.

An important thing to note about making accents vs making full coverage skins: OPACITY AND LAYER TYPES MATTER OVER TRANSPARENT SPOTS. What I mean by this is that if you use a soft, light grey to shade with a multiply layer, don't clip it to anything, and have it go outside the lines - that will no longer appear as a 'shadow' when it comes to the final result. Instead you will have a section of soft light grey that is simply laid on top of whatever the image under it is. The same applies for overlay/screen/add layers and so on. If i use a very dark color on a screen layer (to give a soft highlight) and airbrush it over a bunch of stuff and don't clip it, it will end up with this horrible dark splotch over everything that isn't opaque. To this end, mastering normal layers is imperative to having well rendered and convincing accents.

Another thing of note: when it comes to sparkles/small details, note how 'large' the sparkles behind the butterflies are. They seem a bit chunky, yeah?

this is what they look like at proper size. If anything, I could have gone larger on the small metal beads connecting the dew drop jewels to the lace.

Another trick I also like to do is this:

a slight hint of transparency! It's just enough to let the dragon's lines underneath show through but not enough to be super noticable. I like to do this a lot when it comes to sparkly and magical effects.

Next is the worst part of all: destroying all that beautiful hard work with the shadow and line art layers! (sobbing)

This stage always agonizes me. This is my first pass of the shadow/line layers and let's hope it's dark enough.

But yeah that's a start to finish look at how I create my accents. Unfortunately a lot it devolves into needing to know, yknow, line weight and silhouette importance, color theory and the ways that drawing applications actually apply color to a png vs how its rendered in app. All of these things impact the finesse of the accent, and are things you do have to learn gradually over time, but hopefully this has given yall some additional insight and perhaps some helpful tips.

And this should also explain why I get so mad when people go 'hey can I get this accent in another color' no! no you literally can't!

[gallusrostromegalus]

Ehehe, I see that Josuke Araki has made his way into your script :P

Are there any other JoJo's floating around in Soul Society and beyond?

So I like to populate the background characters of my fic with characters from another series as just a fun reference, but I feel like some people are reading into it a little to much. It's like- well, there's a watsonian perspective on it and a doylist one and a sort of meta-watsonian one.

From the watsonian/in-narrative perspective? You know that line from that Stucky fic everyone loves about "we deserve a soft epilogue?" I like to imagine AUs for main characters where they still live in an animeverse, but are free from the burden of being The Main Character. Usuke Urameshi lives in Karakura town, but he was never The Spirit Detective. He's just some former punk with mild psychic abilities who runs the ramen shop Ichigo goes to sometimes. Josuke is just some guy that has enough power to be a shinigami, but he's just like, rank and file. You see him in crowd shots. They're alternate universe versions of their full powered, main character selves and probably happier than those versions.

From a doylist perspective, it's a fun game of reference tag to play with the reader. A sort of where's Waldo of random characters from related series. Sort of like putting Samuel L Jackson in a bit part in your movie and giving him a purple prop to fiddle with. He's not playing Mace Windu, but for sharp-eyed nerds, he is making a star wars reference. Sometimes it's just for fun, sometimes is a way to lay on some really subtle thematic context. Like overlaying a 8% opacity layer of yellow on a digital piece to give the impression of late afternoon. Nothing explicit. Nothing relevant to the plot. Just a bit of seasoning.

From a meta-watsonian perspective, a lot of how I write fic was influenced by the old Kids WB bumps where the voice actors would play their characters *as though they were actors hanging out on the warner studios lot* Batman was still Batman, but he was also a guy playing Batman on TV. Yugi moto still had the cosmic powers of the millennium puzzle but also complained about how much time he had to spend in hair and makeup. So when you see a character from another series in my fic, they're an alternate universe version of themselves that is Not Relevant To The Plot, and on another level they're like an actor famous on another show, coming in to do a bit part on their friend's show for funsies.

...but mostly I do it so I don't have to make up names for OCs I'm only using for four seconds.

To actually answer your question: Yuzu is a HUGE fan of this educational YouTube channel run by Marine Biologist Jotaro Kujo. He's the only guy who gives echinoderms their due. She shows Ukitake and Unohana and they like him a lot too. Unohana writes to him to put him in touch with Hanataro and the two put together a major survey of venomous marine life with potential medical applications. Ukitake just likes fish :).

[thewisecheerio]

Elden Ring Map Overlay

Someone made a really helpful overlay of Elden Ring's base game map with its DLC map. https://www.reddit.com/r/Eldenring/comments/1dmm27d/so_i_overlaid_the_dlcs_map_with_the_base_games/

A few things stuck out to me:

The Church District, and especially Ymir's chapel, would have been a wonderful gazing ground for the Erdtree, as the Erdtree sits just north of it.

The heart of the Erdtree is right over Shaman Village, which makes me wonder if that's why the Erdtree is located where it is. It also makes me wonder if that's why the Shadow Realm is left with only a minor Erdtree in its place—a pale imitation of what was there before.

The back of the Shadow Keep abuts the furthest reaches of the capital, including the Erdtree Sanctuary and Marika's bedchamber. Her room is filled with scrolls and tablets that look very similar to those of the Keep, lending credence to the theory circulating about her having taken them from the Keep originally before it was sealed away. At the time, it probably wasn't much of a walk from the Storehouse's library to her chambers.

Messmer's chamber was built over what would be the Colosseum in Leyndell. The Duelist Helm tells us, "The snake is viewed as a traitor to the Erdtree, and the audience delighted in seeing these bronze effigies beaten and battered." Because of this helm, people had already been guessing that Messmer is why snakes are so reviled in gladiatorial imagery.

The timing doesn't fit his crusade, though—which likely has to post-date Godfrey's exile and the creation of the Tarnished, since he knows the word "Tarnished". Meanwhile, the Colosseums were around in Godfrey's time as Lord. So if the visual placement of his chamber and the colosseum (and the Duelist Helm) is purposeful, it makes me wonder what happened earlier in regards to him that would cause that connection. Maybe it's just a coincidence of map placement, but it's certainly suspicious. Was Marika playing a long con, slowly turning the culture against snakes, knowing what she would eventually do to seal her serpentine son away?

Stone Coffin Fissure's entrance, where St. Trina is imprisoned, extends between Gatefront Ruins and an evergaol in Limgrave. This makes me wonder if that's intentional, given that Stone Coffin Fissure does become Trina's jail. The gaols even glow with a sleep-purple hue, keeping their occupants in stasis and cut off from the reviving powers of the Erdtree.

The bull headed stone coffins are even more mysterious. When the Lands of Shadow are divorced from the Lands Between, they look as if they have come from across the Cerulean Sea. But when the lands are merged, that sea becomes a lake.

Does that mean this burial ritual is post-Crusade? That's a bit hard to square with the idea that the Ancestral Follower religion seems quite old, being connected to the Eternal Cities. And that religion's iconography involving bulls does make it the best contender for where these coffins come from.

So does that imply these were originally burials-at-lake instead of burials-at-sea, maybe rising onto the Cerulean Coast during the division of the Lands? Perhaps the lake they were buried in simply became a coastline as the water that would have otherwise covered them rushed out into what became an endless sea, exposing the lake bottom's treasures.

The Abyssal Woods is at a very deep elevation. So is the Forsaken Chapel where the Three Fingers dwells. The latter is still quite a walk from the Abyssal Woods, but it does make me wonder if the two used to be connected by further subterranean tunnels extending beyond what still exists in the capital's sewers. And I wonder if that's how Midra reached the Three Fingers.

[antoniosvivaldi]

Oh I’m sorry I have GOT to ask! How did you do the text animation in the first gif of 718688291365502976/pscentral-event-15-favourite-ships-kanej?? It’s just. It’s so beautiful

Hi anon! I've used After Effects to create the text animation in the first panel of this post. I'll show you the basic idea of how I've created the animated text effect here :D

What you need:

A cutout font (the font that I've used is Trouble Child Outblack by @justlikethistrain)

Adobe Photoshop with Video Timeline feature

Adobe After Effects

Supplementary files: gif prep action pack / golden outline layer style / assorted textures

Difficulty: advanced; knowledge in gifmaking with the video timeline interface assumed

Note: This tutorial assumes that you're working with all of the composite gifs in a Photoshop composition file and using the video timeline interface

Other useful tutorials to refer to: Text overlay effect / After Effects text animation / clipping mask vs layer mask

Tutorial under the cut. Like / reblog if you find this useful!

1) Photoshop: Preparing your gif panel

Setting up your PSD composition panel: Create a blank PSD file and set it to Tumblr dimensions (540px x 540px in this particular gifset)

Enable Video Timeline and drag all of the component gifs from your folder to the PSD composition file. Resize / move these gifs around until you're happy with the placements.

Trim the timeline work area so it's the same length as the shortest component gif you've added to the PSD composition file. You can also add some textures & additional adjustment onto this panel.

2) Photoshop: Exporting your base gif

I highly recommend exporting the base gif right now, to ensure a smoother experience scrubbing through the video timeline when adding finishing touches later on in the workflow.

My preferred method is to render the composition as a video clip from File > Export > Render video.

To get the optimal export quality, I use the following settings:

3) Photoshop: Preparing your text layer

Make a new Photoshop composition file of Tumblr dimensions

Drag in the video clip that you've just rendered (the base gif) to this composition file

Add a new text layer in your PSD composition file and set the colour to white then tweak this layer until you're happy with the text placement.

For performance optimisations on After Effects, I duplicate the PSD composition file and delete all other layers. This PSD file contains only the text layer that will be animated.

4) Photoshop: Adding overlays & decorations on the text layer

This step allows you to preview the text effect without the animations (i.e. allows you to tweak the texturings & colourings)

Duplicate the text layer. Set the bottom layer's (highlighted in red) blend mode to Exclusion and apply the gold outline layer style to the top layer (highlighted in green). Make sure the Inner Shadow is disabled!

The panel now looks like this

I want to have the liberty to use different colours & textures on the bottom text layer with animation, so the next thing I do is to right click on the bottom text layer and select "Group from Layers"

To change the colour of the filled text layer to purple:

Collapse the Group that you've just created

On top of the collapsed Group a purple Colour Fill layer,

Set the Fill layer's blend mode to "Colour"

Right click on the Fill layer and select "Create Clipping Mask"

Now the colour of the filled text layer is purple

After adding more textures & decorations on the text layer (with photo negative effects) I get the following:

5) Photoshop: Adding overlays & decorations on the text layer

To avoid performance issues on After Effects, I make a new PSD file of the same dimension. With both the PSD files open, I select the text layer (highlighted in red) while holding Shift, I drag this to the blank PSD file (see the green arrow)

Holding Shift ensures that the layer's placement is preserved when it's copied to a separate PSD file.

In the new PSD file, I set the text layer's blend mode to "Normal"

6) After Effects: Animating your text layer

Make a new project on After Effects and drag in the text layer PSD file. Import this file as a Composition

Also drag in the base gif video clip to the AE project.

While we won't be exporting anything with the base gif visible, having this file in the project file is useful if you want to have a better picture of how the animation will look in tandem with the gif.

Double click on the composition. Hide the colour fill and background layers. Then right click on the text layer, go to Create > Convert to Editable Text

To be able to preview the animation with the base gif, drag the video clip to the composition file and below the text layer. The visibility of the layer can be toggled on / off anytime in the After Effects workflow

Now we prepare the text layer to be animated. Because the final animated effects is 3D & has motion blur, right click on the text layer and select "3D layer" (highlighted in green) and Switches > Motion Blur (highlighted in red)

Go to Animation Presets > Text to browse through some presets that you could use to animate the text layer. For this gifset, I've used a preset within the 3D Text folder called "3D Random Spike Tumble in".

While selecting your text layer, press U to view the keyframes and you can adjust the position of these keyframes until you're happy.

For more finishing touches, press U again to tweak more options in this preset. In this case, I do to Animato 1 > Range Selector and changed the Colour Fill to #fff (the default colour is light yellow)

Then do you File > Export > Add to Render Queue

Click on the Output Module and use the following settings to render the text layer as a video file with transparency

Then after specifying the folder in which you'll export the video to, click "Render" to render the video file containing your animated text layer.

7) Photoshop: Adding the animated text & finishing touches

On Photoshop, drag the rendered clip containing animated text, to the PSD composition file with the static text layers.

Duplicate the animated text video layer

Drag one of the layers inside Group 1 and set the blend mode to "Exclusion" (Highlighted in green)

Move the other layer to the top and apply the gold outline layer style with Inner Shadow disabled (highlighted in red)

Hide both text layers (highlighted in yellow)

By scrubbing through the timeline, I've noticed that the animation didn't look clean enough, so I'll add some finishing touches

By selecting the upper text layer containing layer styles, go to the timeline and add opacity keyframes going from opacity 0% to 100% a few frames apart

Once you're happy with the finishing touches, flatten / render your PSD composition file, change the frame delay to 0.05s and export your gif and voila!

I hope this helps 💖

[samwise1548]

Continuation of this nonsense crossover

-----

[ID: A screenshot of tags by user @pakekajeka that say "NEED [in all caps] anabelle cane and harumi to interact". Below it is a comic inspired by that tag.

A white skinned hand pulls at purple fabric, saying "Excuse me," Harumi (from Lego Ninjago) looks up pleading with big teary eyes, to the purple clothed person out of frame, "Would you please help a poor little orphan seek apocalyptic revenge?" The frame is overlay with a pink filter and sparkles.

The shot zooms out and we see Harumi standing next to a confused Annabelle Cane (from The Magnus Archives). Annabelle turns to Harumi and smiles, "Oh, I like you." The last word is in bold for emphasis.

A bonus drawing below the comic shows Annabelle holding a large spider in her palms and says excitedly, "How do you feel about being filled up with spiders?" Harumi flinches and let's out a little "eek!" at thw arachnid. \End ID]

[the-fiction-witch]

Sleepy

Media - The Queens Gambit Character - Benny Watts Couple - Benny X Reader Reader - Y/n (Roommate) Rating - 18 + Smut - kissing / snuggling / lap sitting / half asleep / semi non con / neck kissing / love bites / bjs / orgasms / licking / Word Count - 3397

Y/n heard the door and slowly crawled out of bed still in her black pj shorts and purple off-the-shoulder top covered in stars, her curls in two long braids, she trudged out rubbing her eyes and noticing Benny putting groceries away. So she goes overlaying her head against his back, wrapping her arms around him and cooing softly, "Ummm it's a ben-ji-min" she milked the name

Benny chuckled softly as he set down the last of the groceries on the countertop. He could feel her arms wrapping around his waist, as she laid her head against his back. He smiled, a hint of playful, teasing in his voice “Oh god, I really hate that nickname” Benny said jokingly, but he was secretly fond of it. As he enjoyed any attention and affection from her. Especially in the form of physical touch. He gently turned around to face her, wrapping one arm around her waist. ”but it was cute.”

"my Benjamin," she muttered,

Benny chuckled softly again, as he wrapped both of his arms around her waist. Now he was holding her in front of him. As he looked down at her, "You only say that to tease me" he said with a slightly playful tone. He gently pulled her slightly closer, until she was almost flush against him ”But yeah, I am yours, aren't I?”

"my Benjamin," she muttered nuzzling into his chest, "I give him all my kisses,"

Benny chuckled once again, enjoying the feeling of her nuzzling against his chest like that. He then smiled slightly, feeling her breath against his chest as she muttered the nickname again “All of your kisses, huh?” he teased, raising an eyebrow slightly as he gently pulled her even closer. He was enjoying this level of closeness and affection from her. Even if she was only doing it to tease him.

"all the kisses," she muttered pressing kisses to his chest,

Benny’s smile widened as he felt her press kisses to his chest. He gently tightened his arms around her waist, keeping her close to him. “Oh yeah?” Benny questioned, in a slightly playful tone. He gently ran one of his hands soothingly through her hair, while his other hand gently ran up along her waist, under her shirt, to gently rest against her bare skin.

"snuggles" she whines

Benny smiled softly again at her whine, seeing her wanting more affection from him. “You want snuggles?” he questioned, in a gently mocking, but teasing tone. He then chuckled gently. “Alright then, come here,” he said, as he pulled her even closer to him, wrapping his arms fully around her. He then leaned down a bit and rested his chin on the top of her head.

"bed snuggle"

Benny chuckled gently once more, hearing her request for a bed snuggle. He was more than happy to give her what she wanted “Alright, let’s go lay down then” he said, gently tugging her along with him to the bedroom. Once in his bedroom, he moved and sat on the edge of the bed, gently pulling her onto his lap, so she was sat sideways on his lap. He then laid down, pulling her to lie down with him.

she laid herself on her knees on either side of his hips, his stomach and chest pressed together her arms around him as she already began to slightly snore

Benny smiled softly at how quickly she had laid down on top of him, and how quickly she had instantly started to snuggle up against him. He gently wrapped his arms around her back, as he held her close against him. One arm rested around her shoulders, while the other gently rested on the small of her back. He chuckled softly as he heard her slight snoring, the sound actually was quite cute. He then pulled a blanket over both of them. before resting his chin on the top of her head.

"I wuv Benjamin"

Benny chuckled faintly, gently rubbing his hand up her back as she muttered those words. She was very cute and clingy when she was half asleep like this, and he found it very endearing. “Yeah? You love me?” he questioned, in a gentle mock-teasing tone

"mhm"

He smiled softly again, hearing her confirmation of love for him. "And I love you too" Benny said, gently, in a quiet and slightly affectionate tone. As he gently pulled her a bit closer to him, as they were laying together. He then gently ran his hand through her hair, while his other hand gently rubbed up and down the small of her back.

she smiled and gave him more little kisses "can we do the thingy?"

Benny chuckled gently once again, as she started to give him little kisses again. He then raised an eyebrow a bit when she asked about “the thingy” “What thingy?” he asked, curiously, in a slightly teasing tone. Even though he might have had an idea on what she was talking about

"the nice thingy"

Benny chuckled again. He had a feeling he knew what this “nice thingy” was that she was talking about. So he decided to play along. “The nice thingy huh?” he asked once more, in a playful and slightly mocking tone. “And what would this ‘nice thingy’ be exactly?”

"a big party, where we look all pretty and dancing and cakes and wine and I get to wear a big beautiful dress"

Benny chuckled softly, still gently rubbing his hand up and down her back. “Sounds like you’re talking about a wedding, darling” he teased, in a gently mocking tone.

"mhm weddings..."

Benny chuckled, as he smiled slightly. Seeing her so clingy and cute like this. He then paused for a moment, and thought about those words. He then spoke in a slightly teasing, but also serious tone. “You want to get married, huh?”

"mhm my benny. We go make soup and then get weddinged”

Benny chuckled once more, amused by her cute, sleepy babble. “You want to make soup, and get married?” he questioned, in an amused, but also slightly affectionate tone. he then paused, and glanced down at her, thinking about the topic of marriage for a brief moment, before speaking up again. “So…. You do want to get married then?” he asked, in a slightly more serious and somewhat genuine tone.

"mhm" she nodded "I wanna marry the Benjamin"

Benny smiled slightly. Even if she was just making cute, sleepy babble right now, the fact she was saying she wanted to marry him still gave him a warm feeling in his chest. “You want to marry me, huh?” he asked, in a slightly playful, but also somewhat affectionate, tone.

"mhm, marry then you keep me safe and give all the kisses"

Benny chuckled faintly. Even though she was sleepy and slightly incoherent right now, the little things she was saying were still quite cute and endearing. “Keep you safe, and give me all of my kisses, huh?” he repeated back to her, in a teasing, but also somewhat affectionate tone.

she nodded peppering kisses to his neck nibbling and even biting on the tender skin

Benny stifled a soft moan at the feeling of her kisses, and the way she was nibbling and even biting on his neck. The feelings of her lips and teeth against his sensitive skin. “H-hey, careful there” he chuckled faintly, in a teasing, but also somewhat warning tone .

"My Benny" she cooed picking a spot and giving her roommate a love bite

Benny suppressed another moan as she gave him a love bite on his neck. The area where she was now sucking the skin was sensitive and he was feeling the effects it was having on him. Her actions were starting to cause a reaction in him. “L-love bite huh?” he asked, in a somewhat teasing, but also somewhat strained, tone.

she only continued deepening the bite and squirming her hips on top of him starting to rub against the forming bulge in his jeans

Benny bit his lip to hold back another moan. He was very sensitive there, and her sucking, and the way she was squirming her hips and rubbing against him was causing his jeans to grow a bit tighter now. He gritted his teeth, trying to hold back any more embarrassing moans or noises. “M-maybe we should slow down a bit, darling” he warned, slightly breathlessly.

"ummm my Benjamin" she cooed kissing down his throat and chest

Benny tried to suppress the soft moan that escaped his throat when she kissed down his throat and chest. Her soft, and gentle kisses were causing his skin to tingle and shiver at the touch. The feeling of her soft lips against his sensitive skin was making it increasingly hard for him to hold back any more embarrassing noises or reactions

“D-darling - “ he spoke, gently. Trying to keep his voice leveled, and not too shaky.

she whined when her kisses met his belt

Benny could feel himself shiver slightly as her kisses reached his belt. Her whine was slightly adorable to him, but it was not helping his current situation. The sight of her, in his lap, with her face near his belt, was causing his pants to get even tighter. He tried to maintain control and keep himself calm, but it was getting increasingly difficult. He was now struggling to keep his breathing steady and his voice from shaking.

she whines batting his belt buckle with her nose "Come out" she pouted

Benny let out a slight gasp as she started batting at his belt buckle with her nose. Her whiny pouting was still somehow both adorable and frustrating, in equal measure. He was struggling to keep his breathing and voice steady now, and he was having a difficult time trying to keep his body from reacting to her actions. He gritted his teeth, trying to keep control, as he spoke in a slightly strained and breathless tone “D-darling, you’re making it difficult for me to – “

"come out" she begged licking the skin of his stomach above his belt

Benny moaned softly as he felt her licking his skin above belt. Her tongue against his bare skin was sending a shiver down his spine, and he was finding it increasingly more difficult to control his body’s reaction to her touch. He was breathing heavily now, and he was struggling to keep his voice from shaking, “D-Darling… Y/n…”

she pouted and undid the belt herself and tugged his jeans until they hit his ankles and she began kissing and nibbling all over his tight boxers

Benny couldn’t hold back another moan when he felt her tugging at his jeans and taking them off. His boxer briefs were now the only thing separating his skin from her kisses and nibbles, and her actions were driving him crazy. He was now struggling to keep his breathing steady and he could feel himself starting to harden beneath her mouth. “M-my darling – “ he breathed out, in a gasp-filled tone. “-careful now”

"my Benjamin" she cooed licking the obvious stiffness through the cotton boxers

Benny groaned softly as he felt her licking him through his cotton boxers. The feeling of her tongue against him through the thin fabric was making him shiver and strain harder against the boxer briefs. He couldn’t keep his body from reacting to her touch, and he was now letting out small panting gasps. His heart was beating faster now, and his breath was coming out ragged “M-my darling - “ he gasped out, “- y-you’re going to drive me insane”

"ummm my Benjamin, all mine, I wanna eat him all up" she grumbles sleepily as she begins to suck in little spots through his boxers

Benny groaned softly again, feeling her sucking through his boxers, and her sleepy grumbles about wanting to “eat him all up”. Her words were making him squirm, and he was now having to bite his lip to keep from moaning too loudly. “D-darling - “ he panted, “- y-you’re going to make me lose my control if you keep this up - “

"Please come out Benjamin" she begged

Benny grunted softly as he heard her begging for him to “come out”. Her words, and the desperate pleading way she said it, was only making him strain harder against the fabric of his boxers. “D-darling, I - “ he panted, “- I’m going to lose control if you keep begging like that”

"pretty please, come out" she begged between kisses

Benny grunted again, feeling her kisses and hearing her desperate begging. He was nearing his breaking point now, and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could hold himself back from giving in to her. he panted, “- a-and if I come out you know what’s going to happen next”

"please" she whined tugging on the waistband

Benny groaned again, as he felt her tugging on the waistband. Her pleading and begging for him to give in and let her have what she wanted was driving him crazy, and he was at his breaking point. He could barely hold himself back now, and he was losing his last bit of self-control “D-darling - “ he panted, “- a-are you sure you want me to come out - “

"please benny" she whined

Benny could hear the pleading tone in her voice, and it was driving him insane. He was fighting to hold back, but her begging was making it impossible for him to resist any longer. With a last bit of effort, he finally gave in “Y-yes, darling, I’ll come out” he panted, in a barely controlled tone.

she giggled and batted her nose against his hard on as she waited

Benny bit his lip as her nose against his stiffness, feeling the soft contact and her giggling and smiling against him. It was taking all of his self-control to hold back from thrusting his hips forward in response to her touch. “You’re going to be the death of me, darling” he gasped out, in a ragged breathless tone as he tugged down his boxers, “There… happy darling?”

she giggled "ooooohh pretty benny, so big and excited" she giggled starting to pepper kisses on his shaft

Benny groaned softly again as he felt her tugging his boxers off, and

Benny groaned Feeling her soft lips press against his now freed-up erection was driving him crazy and he could feel himself growing even harder. He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth, trying to keep himself from losing control entirely “D-darling - “ he panted, “- if you ke-keep doing that I won’t be able to - “

she ignored him and continued peppering kisses and nibbles

Benny grunted softly as she continued her kisses and nibbles. Her actions were making it increasingly difficult for him to hold back. He was now breathing heavily and he could feel himself growing even harder under her lips. A low moan escaped his throat as his body strained against her touch “D-darling, y-you’re going to make me - “

"my benny" she begged as she began licking

Benny let out a strangled groan as he felt her tongue against him. Her licking was driving him even closer to the edge and he could feel himself nearing complete loss of control. He was gripping the bedsheets tightly, trying to find something to anchor himself to, as he panted breathlessly “D-darling, p-please - “ he gasped, “- I can’t hold back much longer - “

she giggled licking him with an innocent smile "my Benjamin, he tastes like sugar"

Benny grit his teeth as he felt her licking him like a lollipop and heard her commenting on his taste. “D-darling - “ he panted, He could feel the tension building up inside him, he was nearing his limit now. He could barely hold on any longer

she giggled moving closer and finally took it, starting to suck like a pacifier

Benny closed his eyes tight and threw his head back, letting out another. Benny let out another strangled moan and clenched his fists tighter, biting his lip to hold back another moan. Her action of taking him into her mouth and sucking was overwhelming him. He was struggling to hold onto the last thread of control he had. “D-daring - “ he gasped, “- if you d-don’t stop - “

she only continued moving his hand to her hair

Benny complied with her gesture to put his hand in her hair and he grabbed a handful of her hair, running his hand through it. It was taking all of his self-control not to thrust his hips forward into her mouth. “D-darling - “ he gasped, “- you’re going to - “ he grunted softly, struggling to speak through gritted teeth. Benny tried to warn her that he was nearing his limit, but he couldn’t form coherent words. His breathing was ragged and he was struggling to hold back the feeling of release building up inside him. “D-darling - you - “ he panted again, “- I’m close - “

she looked up at him innocently as he spoke and she smiled only getting harder and more intense doing everything she could to make him

Benny could feel himself nearing the point of no return. He locked eyes with her as she looked up at him innocently, and he could swear she had a glint of mischief in her eyes. He was panting heavily, desperately struggling to hold onto whatever control he had left. “D-darling - y-you have to stop - “ he gasped out, “- I can’t hold it anymore - “ He was gripping onto her hair tightly, his knuckles white from the tension. His body was straining and shaking, desperately trying to hold on, but he was losing the battle “D-darling - I - “ he panted again, “- I’m going to - “ He was barely able to form the words before he felt the tension inside him reach its breaking point. With one last gasp, he let go and gave in to his body’s release. He closed his eyes and let out a low groan as he felt his release wash over him. He held onto her hair tighter, his body shaking slightly, as he rode out the waves of his release. He was panting heavily, trying to catch his breath, and reeling from his orgasm. He looked at her with a mixture of gratitude and mild annoyance. “D-darling - “ he gasped out again, “- I warned you - “

she giggled and slowly slowed down letting him ride out the satisfaction as long as possible even taking him a little into overshock and overstimulation before finally pulled back and giggled resting her head on his thigh "Benny tastes like marshmallows"

Benny let out a shuddering gasp at her overstimulation. He was still riding the waves of his release and the feeling of her head resting on his thigh sent another shiver through him. “Y-you’re unbelievable, you know that?” he said, in a slightly breathless tone. He ran his hand through her hair, gently.

she giggled and nodded licking to clean up anything that remained

Benny groaned softly as he felt her licking to clean him up. He was still oversensitive from his release and her action sent a shiver through him. He ran his hand through her hair, gently caressing her head. “You’re going to be the death of me one day, darling” he said, with a mixture of affection and annoyance.

she got to her feet and jumped on him wrapping her arms around his shoulders and her legs around his waist forcing him down on the bed "ummmm my Benjamin,"

Benny was caught off guard by her sudden jump and he fell backwards onto the bed with her on top of him. He grunted softly as he hit the bed and he wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her tight against him. “Yes, darling?” he asked, in a slightly amused tone.

she nuzzled into his chest and almost immediately fell back asleep

Benny couldn’t help but smile as she nuzzled into his chest and fell back asleep. He held her close to him, gently rubbing her back. He chuckled softly, shaking his head in amusement. “Insatiable and sleepy” he whispered with fondness. He continued holding her close to him, watching her sleep in his arms. He was content just holding her and feeling her breathe against his chest. He couldn’t help but feel a warm sense of affection as he looked down at her sleeping form. She was like a fierce little wildcat most of the time, but when she slept, she was soft and clingy. “You sleep darling, maybe in the morning… you might remember we did this this time.” 

Commissions here

[licollisa]

Im so so so so sorry for the dm but I gotta do, how did you do the lighting for these two??

https://twitter.com/Licollis_a/status/1657703869068234754 https://twitter.com/Licollis_a/status/1657631596198125569

(dm wouldnt send on twitter so I'll send it here!)

Be not afraid, for I will reveal my secrets in rendering step by step.

1. After I'm finished with lineart, I added the base color. It's faint, but putting in gradient will make it pop.

2. In order for the whole thing to look harmonious with each other, on top of the base color I added a multiply and overlay layer. The color I use for multiply is usually desaturated, kinda pastel-y. The overlay one is more saturated (see alternative colors below).

3. The result should be kind of dark. Which is what I'm after, because what you're seeing is already shadowed. So instead of adding the shadow to the base color, I'm adding the light.

On top of the multiply layer, I added an overlay layer. I keep in mind where the light source is coming from (see the blue arrows). The color of the overlay can be whatever -- it depends on the vibe you're trying to make (e.g if they're in waterfall, I'd use light cyan).

Also, see that normal layer clipped onto my overlay? It's how I added my "fringe" (aka subsurface scattering). I often use pink. Just line it on the edges of the light.

4. Now I added a multiply layer again, just to give the piece more depth and details (like the skin)

5. Now I'm adding what's called reflective light (google to see examples irl). Basically, I covered the darkest parts of the drawing with something lighter. For this one I just added pastel purple in the normal layer, but there are other layer types to lighten it up!

6. Now, I colored the lineart through clipping. I usually just matched the surrounding colors by adding a darker one (e.g dark red for skin).

Optional: I like to make 2 copies of the lineart, make one red and another cyan, and respectively slide it to left and to right. Sometimes it doesn't even look good tho....

7. Highlights time! To do this I disable the background so it's transparent, click right and choose 'merge visible to new layer'. Which flattens the visible image onto a new layer. Now I can add in these white lights by clipping on top of it!

(It's a lil tricky to do this right with a brush, so I used the lasso fill tool.)

To top it off, I add some sparkes. My simp art is done <33

Edit: I forgot!! By the end of it all you can add a texture by setting said texture into overlay with low opacity (on top of the finished art). In CSP you can add a perlin noise, one of these:

You can use other kinds of textures for ur artwork, like watercolor etc.

[prismdrive]

As promised, a render tutorial!! (Featuring Donnie as our model, because of course)

Reminding the process can vary from piece to piece and it's usually really messy, but this is just the general workflow.

Let's start with the sketch: it's an absolute mess, but it's just to get the idea down. There isn't any real science or pressure in it tbh, but i'd recommend looking for references either for poses or inspo (palettes, styles, aesthetics etc.) REMEMBER TO FLIP THE SKETCH BEFORE JUMPING TO LINEART! If you use liquify or transform afterwards it can look blurry and weird.

Once you got that done, it's lineart time: I tend to keep my linearts raw and crisp, meaning i don't usually erase lines that stick out. Note that i use a medium/big sized brush + high pressure sensibility, making the lines very variable

Add a base: A solid color will do, it's just so we don't go out of line!

Colorful tint: On a clipping layer on top of the base we'll put some colors (1-3) that match the theme/environment, this will give the actual colors some variation and depth

Painting down: The color picker will be your best friend in this process. In the same layer with a soft blending brush you'll gently add your character's colors, trying to avoid using small brushes. If you need to fix something grab the color in that specific area with the color picker, since most probably it's a different color than the one in the ref. Make a mess, basically

Shadow makes a big difference: On a different layer you'll block down the shading, the color will vary on your environment/style but i'd recommend not using pure black or just purple on all drawings. Put layer in multiply and lower opacity to liking.

If there's shadow there's light: Same as shadow, the color will vary depending on enviroment/style. I went the easy way and picked a light yellow in a lower opacity.

Bounce light: Basically the same thing, just this time it isn't a single color. You'll pick the nearest color for bounce light on a lower opacity.

My favorite part, texture: I love this because i can experiment with different brushes! I put all the color layers together into a single one, but that's optional. I'd just say go nuts, see what seems right. Usually i don't add much texture to skin, but did for Donnie's goggles, plastron and bandages! (+ changed the lineart to an off-black color)

Finishing touches: I'll go with some warm/light color with an airbrush and highlight some important parts like the face and chest, overlay and lower opacity.

I'll also add random noise, overlay and a really low opacity.

Now, since i use Krita and it doesn't have the color aberration option i do it manually, but if your program does have it then go ahead and use it on the lineart!

The way i do it is cloning the lineart three times and paint them in red, blue and green, moving them just a little to different sides, overlay and lower opacity

In the end i suffer my way through the background and crop the drawing! And done!

Hope anything of this is at least a tiny bit coherent xD like i said, my process is a mess and i just do what feels right

[mochiiniko]

follow up to this ask! this time im just gonna be talking about my coloring process (i also want to let you all know that im not an expert in color theory since im still learning, im quite literally just going random bullshit go on the blending modes 💀 lots of explanation under the cut)

the three blending modes i mainly use are exclusion, hard light, and overlay. from the guide above you could see how the blending modes work on their own, and how they look like combined altogether. the cool thing about blending mode layers is that it really is all about experimentation and finding the best combination for a piece (also to any fellow inabakumori enjoyers GRAHH lagtrain pose jumpscare)

i went through a bunch of blending mode phases before i ended up with those main three, though it's funny how ive been using the same overlay color for about 4 years now (multiply used to be one of them, and i still use it from time to time, just not as much). im gonna be honest the whole reason why i know about blending modes being helpful was because one time i accidentally had the fill bucket on and had a certified eureka moment 😭

the best way i could explain these three modes is:

exclusion - honestly i still dont understand how it works either 💀 when i use a really saturated blue color and lower the opacity, it gives a cooler feeling to the palette. feels like a mix of multiply and overlay with how it adjusts the colors without making it darker

hard light - gives more saturation and color

overlay - gives off a glowy effect, especially if the lineart isnt completely solid (this is why it isnt clipped on the folder as shown in the example below, keeping it above the layers gets that glowy effect)

i still use the same colors for exclusion and overlay (while i do alter them with hue saturation brightness from time to time, i just use the same blue and brown for most of my works) though hard light is what i use to make drawings lean towards a temperature

i tend to use warm colors a lot because i think theyre neat and also im biased sorry <3. as a warm palette example, i drew yinu and used this orange color on hard light and lowered the opacity

cold colors have a similar process, it's just the matter of adjusting the hard light layer. i wouldnt really say it's completely cold since i still add warm colors because im still biased </3. as a cold palette example, i drew sayu and used this purple-pink (??) color with the same settings

when it comes to drawings that have characters with contrasting palettes, it does take a bit of trial and error but i most of the time i mix both warm and cold methods like the example above. this also helps for art with several characters in general, since the blending modes help make the colors go well together despite the variety

theres also instances where i dont always use the warm + cold combo, since sometimes drawings lean towards a specific temperature instead (like environments with set lighting/shading, so usually i follow that even with characters with different palettes)

tldr; there are lots of palette combos you could make, not necessarily with just the three blending modes i mention. random bullshit go genuinely helps with experimenting with colors!!