#so I'm just gonna upload this anyways since I haven't posted any art in a minute

[griffincloud]

My part of a collab for Part 8b in the Sandstorm and Dustpelt MAP Rumor Has It

[izzydizzy13]

ok real talk for a second

how are we avoiding AI gang?

Like, I see a lot of people quitting Instagram bc of their policy to feed art to the Meta AI, and I agree that it is not Cash Money of them to do that... but I am also not entirely sure how it changes anything, because doesn't literally *every* website populate Google? If so, doesn't Google's AI take that anyway, as well as any image AI that uses Google as a database? so most of them, from what I can tell...

Am I fundamentally misunderstanding how this works? I ask because most of the art I have seen here recently hasn't been glazed as far as I can tell visually, and while Tumblr isn't feeding images straight to AI the same way Instagram is, I am still worried for y'all. I kind of hope I AM just confused, because it would be fantastic to have places where I could upload unglazed works in their pure, unswirly form. I just thought I could Glaze my future works and upload them wherever I would usually upload, including Instagram because, well, their AI isn't any better at reading it than Dal-E as far as I'm aware. It is gonna be quite annoying though, because it takes upwards of an hour to glaze something to the Default strength, and I like uploading silly little doodles that only took like 5 minutes in and of themselves lol, so I'll have to be more picky about what I post...

Anyways, I am gonna start using Glaze on my art at the minimum, I tested it with an older work and it's not very noticeable. I'll drop the glazed piece here for anyone who has been curious about how it would affect their art visually and been too scared to try using it

the grass looks bad because of me, that's my fault for not knowing how to draw grass. The Glaze is that swirly triangular pattern that is most noticeable in the exact middle of the image, on the shorts and leg. It is virtually invisible on the face, which is the part I care most about anyway. So, while yes it would be an annoying affect if it were something really aggressively well-rendered, I've got very few issues with it for my more cartoony art style. It's the default amount of glaze, so not the highest tier of protection possible but enough.

I didn't really care about AI theft when it was still in its infancy, I still don't think it's the end of the world or anything like that, people enjoy art for the personal connection it has with its artist, and I like to think AI will never fully replicate that... not to mention that all of these AIs are in for a legal nightmare once someone sues for copyright infringement ... but, with how high quality the images are becoming and how thoroughly integrated it is into many of our browsers and websites, I still don't wish to help it any further if at all possible.

For anyone who wants to utilize this anti-AI Glaze, here's the link to downloads for Glaze

There is a browser version as well, though it requires an invite (automatically granted to anyone who doesn't use AI via email) I haven't tried that one yet, my computer is thankfully able to run the desktop version so I've had no need to get an invite.

If this is the first you're hearing about Glaze, I should also mention that there is a thing called Nightshade on this very same website. It does a very similar thing to Glaze, except for that it also gives AI models incorrect information when fed to it that, through a bunch of technical stuff that I don't understand, actually makes the AI worse than it was before. I've decided to just use the regular Glaze since, personally, my goal isn't to screw over the devs who made the AI, even if it's something I disagree with. I just don't want my work utilized, so I will Glaze it and move on. I can't really blame anyone who uses Nightshade though, just explaining why I don't.

I was also wondering if any of y'all have a contingency plan in the case of AI developing to the point where Glaze doesn't work anymore... like are we just gonna have to delete everything from the last however long we've been glazing or what? yike

[silvertherogue715]

Hey. It's been a hot minute since i've posted any art. I really just post for myself, but i felt especially proud of the progress ive made over the course of (many) months designing the Sunstar of my BrainrotAU. Feel free to disregard! I'm just gonna ramble. Art will be included in the 'keep reading' section though.

I didn't want to deal with uploading the actual art files, and just used snippet to capture pieces of my art instead. The pictures could be irregularly large or small as a result--I don't have a good way to control then when using snippet. Sorry! Some old art of Sunstar.exe (not in order):

So, as you can see above, a lot of blue. It's kind of overpowering, honestly, and it took me a while to figure out I needed to start making changes to his color palette.

This was his first half body reference sheet. A ton of blue. Also my only REF of him with his back showing. I haven't updated his back design yet, but the final product will be much different.

Eventually, I decided to make his shoulder-braiser things orange instead of blue, as well as the sun-like gem on his helmet. I also started working out any built-in flaws I wanted to force his character to work around--like his hands being constantly on fire, or extremely hot. This just means he has to be extremely careful touching anything or anyone. It's not something he can just "turn off". Also, I think this was my first attempt at a proper full body design for him. It's fine for a second first attempt, and I was happy with it for a few months, but eventually I started thinking it shared the bulky OG robot master traits, rather than the 'netnavi' look I was wanting.

I started tinkering with his colors again, but only made minor changes. It was hard to pinpoint exactly what was 'off' to me without a proper full body to experiment on, but I very rarely have the willpower to make one. Some of these expression snippets were more helpful for me to use to at least get a read on exactly how expressive he can be in the AU, if he wanted to. Another big thing this helped me realize was how limited his expressions felt with the current colors (like his eyelashes), especially with how dark his face was. It made his nose/mouth harder to see. I end up making it a lighter shade in future doodles. Oh, and I wanted to start integrating pieces of Duo.exe's design into him as well--like the flat nose.

Woe, Sunterra doodle be upon ye. I need to finish this some day, but a big thing this helped me identify were: 1.) I desperately need to work on poses. 2.) I needed to figure out how to give Sunstar a "soft" look. In the expressions practice above, this was one of his faces i really struggled to get down. Still working on that. 3.) Another reminder he was too clunky to match a normal Navi design. Terra looks much more 'navi'-like. I needed to do a whole ass reboot for Sunstar from top-down. Anyway! The most recent stuff will be below. A few (bad) attempts:

And then I basically went "screw it" and went goblin mode at a full body attempt. Here's what I finally ended up with :")

For now I've decided to stick with a (mostly) cool/silver base with some warm orange and yellows mixed in in (hopefully) unobtrusive ways. Maybe this will change in the future, but for now I'm happy with his design :)

The orange on the bottom of his cape is meant to be a fire-y design, but I'm too tired to refine it (or anything else) further. Hopefully I'll have more art to update. eventually.

If you made it this far, thanks for sticking around, lol.

[nickywhoisi]

wow i'm starting to hate the heart for likes...I guess i was unfortunately correct about the likes being equivalent to my wants being ignored, and that not being okay anymore as an artist, and as a human being in general, sharing my thoughts? Just. Maybe Tumblr should make an update where only the reblog function exists, and could...be the like heart? Just mashing them together maybe? If that would help?

I don't know man. I guess it just hurts to see something i poured my heart and soul out on and established my boundaries with just got the same treatment as what I originally complained about. This fucking stings is what I'm saying. Fuck the people on here using this like twitter or facebook. It makes me all the more grateful to see when somebody has reblogged. I wish that happened more often.

So anyway, I had meant to provide some links to some new places I'm going to post my work on. I tried to find a simple photo uploader, but shit wasn't going right there. My god everything is going to shit here.

But here's the good news! I have some places in mind; one is on Gaia online, which still exists! Wow no wai guyz, but yah wai. I'm Foxishpeep, and another one of mine is NicolleneCosplay. I encourage you guys to make an account if you like, and get access to things like my profile and journal, and make comments on threads I make in the future, because despite what things happened there, you don't necessarily have to keep up with monthly collectibles, and it's one of the most iconic avatar designers on the internet. Buying items with real money is just like any other gacha; optional. And I'd actually say gaia has gotten fairer about getting gold and fancier items now. It's way easier than in the past! I like that. I'm gonna post my art and writing, and just generally play around with avi customizing, as I always have. It's actually a fun way to render original characters!

Another spot I have is on Pixiv, NickoWicko, which is exclusively for art posts. That might be good for comics too, so I'mma try it out. I've already posted some concept ideas for my Fate/ fanwork, Fate/WildPinnacle! I have SO MANY SCRIPTS FOR THIS ALREADY. But for anything I want to create visually for it will go here. As for writing...

I have overheard of a project called Neocities, and I haven't decided what mine will be named, but it will basically be my tumblr here, but even more personalized and just better all around. This is where I guess everything will go. Just wanna see if I can spread myself around. I'm especially excited, because while I basically know next to nothing about coding, I have always wanted to make my own website since all the way back in the late 90's. THIS IS AN OLD DREAM THAT HAS A CHANCE TO COME TRUE AGAIN, HOW CAN'T I GET HYPE ABOUT THAT. I'VE GOT THE POWA

The other two places I have in mind is Fanfic.net or AO3, exclusively for writing. I have actually been making more written work than art lately...because I have never found the free time or a safe space to wind down and have a focused atmosphere to create like this. I can still type, but my fucking god I miss being able to have a quiet draw session... It especially hurts because I want to post pictures with my fanfics and original works! Uuuurghgrhgg

REBLOGS > LIKES, THANK YOU!

[jengarie]

#showyourprocess !

From planning to posting, share your process for making creative content!

To continue supporting content makers, this tag game is meant to show the entire process of making creative content: this can be for any creation.

RULES — When your work is tagged, show the process of its creation from planning to posting, then tag up to 5 people with a specific link to one of their creative works you’d like to see the process of. Use the tag #showyourprocess so we can find yours!

Thank you, @rinielle for tagging me! She chose the piece above (original post), and oh boy this one was a whole ass rollercoaster ride! Unfortunately, I hadn't turned on the timelapse feature for this but I'll try to go through each part of the process as best as I can!

The photos I'm gonna upload are gonna be a mix of screenshots and literal photos of my screen, because I'm taking some of them from my updates to friends, since a lot of the steps got lost in my painting process.

But before that, let me tag some other amazing creators!

@dragonji: this gif art!

@candicewright: this yibo painting!

@wendashanren: this gifset!

@mylastbraincql: this gif!

I haven't been able to keep track of who's been tagged so apologies if you've already done this! Also, no pressure to do it at all if you would rather not! <3

Planning

Sometimes, I get an idea first and find reference photos to go with that idea. But for this one, I sought out a reference photo first, and built an idea on top of it!

After that, I roughly sketch out the base pose. Usually, this looks very messy, but it doesn't really matter as long as I understand which part goes where!

The idea for the background didn't really come until the creation process because I don't think I really planned this to be a full piece.

Creation

Sketching

Honestly, from this point on, it's more of trial and error.

So, I redid the the initial base pose—made it cleaner and a little bit more detailed. See: the added definition in their arm muscles, the rearrangement of Wei Wuxian's legs, and Lan Wangji's hand on Wei Wuxian's back. If you look at the second photo, I also changed the pose a bit midway—I tend to edit as I go sometimes when I change my mind. (For this, I thought, given the Lan arm strength, it would be better to make Lan Wangji look more at ease carrying Wei Wuxian. This gets covered by the robes anyway though, so it didn't matter much in the end.)

I also started adding details to the base! I usually start with the face and then the hair! I usually go for the clothes next, but I dreaded the robes in this piece so I guess that's why I ended up with a basic idea of what I wanted for the background instead LOL I also figured out how I want the final crop to look like, so I blocked out all the other areas with an extra layer!

Okay, onto the part that killed me like ten times: the robes. There are a lot of interactions between their robes here given their pose, and not to mention they also have layers upon layers on each of them! So, to maintain my sanity and to keep track of which part is which, I color coded them into the most colorful sketch I've ever made.

Another reason why I filled in each layer of robe with a solid block of color, is so that all the lines underneath gets covered. Without all of the colors, the actual outline actually looks like the one on the right. What a nightmare!

I also ignored the crop again for this part, because it's always better to draw past your borders, in case you decide to rotate or tilt or whatever your piece later on. I didn't do the feet anymore though, because that I was sure wouldn't show in the final piece anymore.

After that, I did the sketch one more time and then started adding the base colors. (I didn't have a screenshot of just the base colors, and the final CSP file is a nightmare so I copy pasted the layers into a new canvas to show you guys :') )

By the way, I drew their robes flowing this way, because I wanted it to frame the lower arch of the moon behind them for the composition. It was a little frustrating that I couldn't get Lan Wangji's robes a little higher because of Wei Wuxian's legs but I later filled in the empty space with his forehead ribbon anyway, so it all worked out in the end!

Painting

Because apparently, I was a masochist back then, I merged the base colors all into one layer and started adding shadows to the robes. (These days, I add shadows first and then, merge. It's much easier this way.)

And then, I started painting! Again, I did the face first and then the hair, before finally the robes. This was my first time painting side profiles and honestly it was quite a pain to figure out LOL but !!! I think I did a good job and I'm proud of how it turned out. I again used reference photos for this one but I can't link any because they were just several random Pinterest photos that I didn't save.

Another thing to note is that I use the mesh transform tool a lot, especially on faces. That's largely why Lan Wangji's face looks so different in the latter two!

And then I went with the robes. Somewhere along the way, I realized I didn't like how I planned to do Lan Wangji's sleeves and the flowy part of Wei Wuxian's robes and I... decided, with much dread, to do them over. So I sketched on top of the painted layers and redid the robes, again.

It was at this point that I decided to take a break from this piece because it was honestly very draining! I think it took about three weeks before I decided to open the file again and continue it.

When I did, I just finished painting the rest of the robes and their hands. The blue details on Lan Wangji's outer robes were painted on a separate layer that I put on Multiply. I probably did more adjustments to the face and hair and stuff, because my painting process is honestly a mess :')

Final Adjustments

I added some correction layers on certain areas to fix some of the colors. See: Lan Wangji's sleeve becoming much brighter and paler; Wei Wuxian's legs having less contrast. And then I merged all of the layers (excluding the background) and added a bit of blur. See: Wei Wuxian's ponytail; the entire lower part; the flowing forehead ribbon. My reasoning for this is so that most of the detail (and therefore the flow of the eye) goes to their faces and expressions!

And then, I put a blue Overlay layer on low opacity to make Wangxian blend better with the background, added a bit of shadow on the inside and the lower sections and added the glowing details for the added flair. I initially wanted sparkles and/or stars but they didn't turn out as well as this did. I also upped the contrast by a little for the entire piece!

Aaaand, that's it! In truth, I did a bit more color adjustments to the whole piece, but I was a dummy who forgot to turn them back on before posting so ... oh well.

Posting

Before posting, I upload it either on my spare private Twitter account or on a drafted Tumblr post so I can check the colors on my phone. This is because the colors on different devices can look very different, and I would at the very least want all my pieces to look nice on both of my devices!

And then, once I deem it satisfactory, I just try to think of a caption and post! Some artists wait for a certain time where most of their followers are active, but I didn't have a lot of MDZS followers at this point so it didn't really matter to me.

It still doesn't really; I haven't actually been able to figure out when my MDZS followers are awake even now.

[superkixx]

Hi. Sorry to bother you with this. I know it's been a while since you posted about Speaking Out. But I'm worried, because even though some have been dealt with, Velveteen Dream, Jordan Devlin, Trent Seven, Joe Coffey, Travis Banks, Wolfgang, Justin Roberts, and Darby Allin, and probably many others are still running around free. And it's making me feel uncomfortable to watch wrestling, because I have to see them. Promotions promised to take this serious and they haven't.

No worries 💕 I left off with the intention of doing an eighth update but there was just nothing new to report. News wise, everything kinda got overshadowed by the WWE Covid situation.

I’m not an avid viewer of American wrestling but I’ve gotta say, I was really shocked to see Justin Roberts still ring announcing for AEW last week... I think in Darby’s situation, nothing will happen. From a business perspective, with his incident being a domestic ordeal, I just think they’ll see it as “well he’s good for business and he’s not a threat to the fans”. That tends to be how domestic abuse incidents go down in wrestling, unfortunately.

WWE has a lot on their plate right now what with every one of their staff having Covid-19 but I hope they don’t think they can get away with not addressing these wrestlers. I remember 3 weeks ago there was a report that WWE was looking to clean up their roster but we’re yet to really see any of that. I personally think that (if they’ve got any sense) NXT UK will go under in the coming weeks/months. The ratings weren’t outstanding anyway and their roster is full of sex offenders so if they’ve got any sense they’ll chop it.

It’s completely understandable that you’re uncomfortable watching these promotions. Wrestling is something that is meant purely for joy and entertainment and if you’re not getting that from what you’re currently watching then you don’t have to force yourself through it. I still think it would be disappointing to let certain promotions/wrestlers ruin something you used to enjoy, especially when there is so many alternatives to those bigger two (remember, bigger isn’t always better).

Just off the top of my head, here are some alternatives you might wanna try:

IMPACT Wrestling - (They seemed to handle the #SpeakingOut allegations pretty quickly and dropped any wrestlers involved. I’m not sure where you’re from, anon, but I know it airs on TV in both the US and the UK so this is a pretty accessible one.)

NJPW - (My personal favourite, they do have Will Ospreay but there’s so many other great wrestlers there, it’s pretty easy to just brush him aside and enjoy the others. It’s a lot more physical and martial arts influenced than the big American promotions so don’t be shocked if someone gets injured.)

STARD✪M - (Another one of my favourites, it’s an all women’s joshi promotion so again, it’s quite a bit more physical and harder hitting than the American promotions.)

GCW - (These are an independent promotion, the types of matches and shows vary quite a bit, they don’t have one particular style so I find it’s quite a good one when you’re looking for something new.)

PWG - (Another indie promotion. They tend to get a lot of top wrestlers from all over the world eg. Bandido, Jeff Cobb, Jake Atlas, Shingo Takagi and so on. Especially for their Battle Of Los Angeles tournament.)

NOAH - (I’ve personally not seen a lot of NOAH but they seem to be doing pretty well for themselves again.)

DDT - (Where a lot of Japanese promotions opt for the mma/strong style, DDT is a lot more light-hearted and silly.)

CMLL - (Is literally the longest living wrestling promotion ever. They’re a lucha libre company but they have ties with NJPW and ROH as well.)

Now, I know you’re not gonna want to just dive right into a new paid subscription at random so here’s some places you can watch these shows for free:

All Wrestling - (I recommend only using this site if you have adblocker and an anti virus installed just because of the third-party advertising. You can find NJPW, PWG, NOAH, IMPACT and more all on here for free.)

Bilibili - (This is a Chinese video sharing site but you can just search any show in the search bar eg. DDT or GCW and chances are you’ll find entire shows uploaded there for free. This is a really good site for when you just wanna try something new and fall into a little wrestling rabbit hole.)

Joshi City - (They have loads and loads of joshi wrestling matches uploaded through private DailyMotion links and if you’re not sure where to start, they have their personal recommended matches highlighted to make your decision a little easier.)

Rutube/RealHero - (This is a Russian video sharing site and user RealHero has tons of Japanese wrestling matches up for people to watch. I also find that Rutube in general has quite a lot of wrestling content.)

FiteTV - (Fite for the majority is paid content but they do have a fair bit of free content on there too.)

These are just a few that I could think of in the moment. I hope this was helpful, feel free to message me anytime if you have anymore questions ❤️