#sometimes i forgot that it can be so fun to draw digitally

[amiethyztt]

[LEEBURR MODERN AU]

Oh ewww its the gayssss

[pebblume]

I never realized how liberating writing fanfiction would be. I hadn’t written creatively in years. It’s been so long that I kind of forgot what it felt like. The childlike rush of pouring your heart out onto a blank page, not caring about the results as long as you were having fun. I’ve tried writing fanfic a couple of times, for different fandoms across the years, but never finished anything I was really happy with, nothing that I felt comfortable sharing with the world. But something just clicked for me this past week. I realized how much fun it was to stretch out my writing muscles, to get inside the heads of my favorite characters. I realized that it didn’t have to be perfect to be worthy of being shared and loved by others. I realized that I had so many stories inside myself - more than I thought possible. 

But perhaps what I’m most in awe of is fanfic readers. The people who read my work and leave kudos and bookmarks and comments - one word comments, sweet comments, silly comments, paragraph-long comments. I love them all. I used to be afraid of leaving comments on AO3, afraid I wouldn’t have enough words, wouldn’t have the right words, to depict how I felt. But when I felt firsthand how much those comments meant to me I started leaving more and more of them, spreading a digital paper trail of love to all my favorite authors. More and more often I recognize the profile names and images in my comment section and think, Hey, I know you! Now I’m not just a guest on AO3, or a passive reader. I belong here. 

I won’t lie and say I don’t miss drawing a bit, my previous creative outlet. There are plenty of drawings inside me too, itching to be realized. I really just don’t have the time for two time extensive hobbies, not when I need to balance school and practicing and little things like sleeping and eating and relaxing. I miss it, but not as much as I thought I would. There’s a level of investment to sharing a story online that feels…special. When I post my art, I get engagement, and it feels nice, but ultimately, most people are only spending about ten seconds looking at the work I spent eight hours on, if that. When someone reads my fics, we’ve now spent time together. You’ve lived inside my head for a bit, made it your home. It’s about feeling seen, I think. Writing makes me feel understood in a way visual art sometimes doesn’t. It makes me feel vulnerable in the same way performing music does, but less exposed too. It’s interesting to me. 

The only downside, if you can call it that, is now that the writing bug has infected me, I’m finding it harder and harder to stop. I’ll have an idea and then suddenly five hours have flown by because I’m on a creative streak and I just want to write one more idea down, which turns into two, and so on and so forth. I dread stopping, because what if I forget something? What if I get into a writing block later? Suddenly I have people who want to read the things I write and I want to provide it, I really do, but I also have responsibilities. I say, as I write this, ignoring my audition tomorrow afternoon. 

I still have a bit of embarrassment attached to fandom works. When I tell acquaintances that I like to draw or write, I rarely tell them I mean fanart and fanfiction. As if loving something that deeply, that sincerely, is inherently shameful in this age of irony and soulless remakes. Especially when my interests usually consist of media marketed towards children, nevermind the fact that it has more emotional maturity than most ‘adult’ works. But I’m trying to get better about it. A lot of my closest friends know about my hobbies, and some I’ve even let see my work. It’s terrifying but also giddying, seeing them like an art post or comment on a fic. After all, to reap the rewards of being loved, one must submit themselves to the mortifying ordeal of being known, or something like that. 

I realized today that I’ve written over 30,000 words in the past two weeks about about two characters who don’t belong to me, but whom I’ve made my own.

And I’ve never felt happier

[arabriddler]

Or how I fudge and find out my way through making digital paintings.

art program used here : Procreate ( but the method can be applied to other programs )

original painting time ≈ 3 hrs

*note : English isn’t my native language in case something is confusing or wrong. Don’t hesitate to ask for more details regarding anything

**more important note : take breaks, drink water, don’t push your hands too hard.

Base

I start off by sketching where the bodies and objects are. Nothing too detailed. I’m just arranging stuff around and figuring out sizes. You shouldn’t spend too much time in drawing this and they shouldn’t be detailed so you can easily move the elements around without exhausting yourself beforehand ( also to avoid getting bored when you’re just starting.

composition is a little complex to figure out but for this one I made the characters around the middle point to create some sort of guide for the observer’s eye movement.

2. Initial sketch (optional)

I usually make one sketch for a drawing unless it has little details or elements I’m not used to drawing. For this one it was figuring out the clothes and the details on them. Again, don’t pressure yourself to make this look perfect or right. You’re just figuring out where things are.

As you can see, the sketch is pretty rough, not all the details on the hands are drawn. The eyeliner are still there and the chair is just a shape. Lots of lines are overlapping and.. you basically get the idea.

3. Second (final) sketch.

I wouldn’t call this a lineart. Linearts are more careful, less rough, cleaner. I like using sketches more than linearts because I like the rough sketchy texture they provide, and also it’s less restricting boring for me personally . Although we keep in mind this is the drawing we’ll color. So we’re more careful about it. I draw the details and clean the sketch.

also don’t be like me, I forgot to draw the cane here and was upset about it :(( didn’t notice till days later. But also sometimes I do change things here. This one wasn’t on purpose though.

it’s important here to avoid chicken scratch by using less strokes. For example. Instead of drawing a curve with say a hundred strokes, draw it with one and then clean up anything wrong. You make have to redo one stroke a hundred times to get it right, but it’s cleaner and softer. ( it helps with drawing hair )

Nothing is wrong in art but it depends what kinds of effect you want. You can use both methods to give different vibes, draw different things. But it’s important to know how to do them. oh and, it is one stroke but it’s fast. If you linger on it the line will come out woobly and shakey. If you do it fast it’ll come out clean.

4. Blocking.

You go back over the drawing here to fill in black spaces. Maybe if someone has black hair or for shading, you can also add texture on things like walls and etc*. I like leaving some white spaces when doing this because black is very reflective irl, so it gives some shine to it. It honestly depends on what the black element is, something’s are shiny some things are not. But it’s pretty fun

**when it comes to texture this is an example from another drawing

5. Grey scale coloring.

I have already a plate on hand of colors from white to black to use in my drawings. You can use three or more. This is the one I use

Circles to indicate that if you have white, grey, and black, that’s enough. why grey scale? The thing about grey scale coloring is that it helps figuring out contrast. You don’t want all your drawing to be of similar tone, when you have contrast, it helps make elements pop and differentiate things.

"Joseph Nelson." Roboflow Blog, May 15, 2020. https://blog.roboflow.com/when-to-use-contrast-as-a-preprocessing-step/

I’m honestly still figuring out how greyscale works but, looking at real life pictures is one way you can know how to do it. See how light is distributed where whites and blacks are used. One key element is to figure out where light comes from, and shading according to that . The light source isn’t very strong with this drawing so it was more of a simplified shading. If something is over the other, shade underneath. That’s the simplest way to figure out shading

before coloring, I did change the sketch to a more grey color and set the layer to multiply. What multiply does is that it darkens the color underneath it with a hue of the color in the multiply layer. I know, confusing, so here is a picture.

Sorry, got a little detailed there. back to our drawing.

As I said, the light source wasn’t very complex here to give more of a photo shoot vibe, but I can show another drawing with a more natural strong light

Places directly getting the light get very light colors like white, the ones opposite use very dark grey or even black.

of course the coloring here isn’t very realistic, I have, after all, colored the character, kristen, in lighter colors than everything else. This is because I wanted to create a sense of contrast to make her pop out against the background. So don’t limit yourself, play around.

6. gradient map

gradient maps replace the grey scale colors into other colors on a specific range, you can use a gradient map offered by the program or one you make yourself. How to chose them? Depending on the vibe you want to translate. I have synesthesia so I sort of follow my gut when it comes to this, but you can also look at movies and pictures and see what colors they use and what feelings they give. Or just go warm colors give warm feelings and cold colors give cold feelings. Or just whatever you like. Just have fun with it

See? It looks pretty fun. Heck you can even stop here even. Note that I merged the sketch layer and the grey scale one into one layer so it can change the color of the sketch layer too. Also sometimes id use the blur tool to blend some things but I didn’t use that here.

another thing to note is that if you leave things empty in the greyscale drawing they won’t change color in the gradient map, that’s why I use white in the empty spaces. Or sometimes I don’t if I’m unsure if I want to keep something white/black or not.

7. Coloring.

here, I add another layer and set it to multiply and basically color it in over the drawing. I have the colors for the characters on hand to use, and they change according to the gradient map.

note that it will look weird and wrong at first but just keep going, trust the process. The colors will fit in together.

Also notice the difference between the colors in the drawing and the colors on the color palette. Cool no?

And this is how the whole thing looks. You can also add details in here. Like the drawings on the vets and Ed’s bow tie. Makeup, blush, lipstick, nail paint… etc etc.

8. Details

I add another normal setting layer here and basically go back over the drawing to add details, fix mistakes, draw over things to make them pop off or look more hard than soft.

I mostly like going over the hair and facial features in this step, and also adding highlights and shine.

I also felt that the background was a little too empty, but I didn’t want something too detailed so it wouldn’t take the attention from the characters. so I added a pattern.

9. Finale touches. (Optional) sometimes the drawing is done here, sometimes it’s not.

I’d maybe add overlay and/or add layers and to highlight light sources, or add a multiply layer to emphasize shadows like in this example.

for this drawing I didn’t do that as I was satisfied with the lights and shadow, but it still felt too… rigid.

so I added a textile texture as a multiply layer so it would look more…Touchable?

And…that’s it!

If you like this, you can check out the original drawing’s post ( or support me on ko-fi? ) 👀👀👀

[separatedleoau]

hi hi hi!!!! I've got a few questions here mostly abt One <333

1. Does One know how to swim?? I saw you make a mini comic of One and Trainee (Tentative Devotee Leo) and from the implications, I don't think he swam up for air lol

2. How bad is Draxum's training? Like- were they simple or was it a "one wrong move will probably cost him his life"

3. What would One do if there was a crying baby? (personally, I think he'd baseball it like he did with mystic tot donnie or stand there awkwardly😭)

4. Lastly, I'm pretty sure I remember you saying that One has killed before! If so, how much is his kill count???

Thank you in advance!! once again, love your au :DD

and welcome back from your vacation! how was it??

Hiiii!!!!

1) he does! There's context to that comic that I never posted but it came form a random discord conversation of if the leos knew sliders sometimes nap underwater (holding their breath) or something like that, it was a long time ago. And me saying that One would misunderstand what they said and act on impose and try to breathe underwater, like the idiot he is <3

Then @s0fti3w1tch did a little doodle of Trainee floating on a pool and I just added One being an idiot to it. I never posted it bc the og drawing is Buwan's, and I forgot to ask if they could post it so I can add mine to it, and they are taking a brake and I don't wanna bother her rn so.... yeah

The point is: he does know how to swim. Also sometimes he takes long baths and ends up napping underwater, so it makes that crossover comic make him look more like a dumbass because HE KNOWS he has to hold his breath.

2) One's training with Draxum has been getting more and more complicated as he grows up. Draxum is not gonna let him have it easy but is not like he wants to kill him either, he is very harsh and is not afraid of hurting him if One doesn't react on time.

Also because they train at least once a week to test him, Draxum is very much aware of One's limits, so while he would push him to be better and grow stronger, he wouldn't make him do anything that goes too far away from his skills

3) He wouldn't really mind it. It's not his problem.

4) he doesn't have a kill count, he doesn't keep track and I don't really have a number for it. Is not like he goes on killing sprees just for fun, but he wouldn't hesitate if someone got on his way on a mission.

By the start of the comic he is 14 and he got his first kill at 9. I don't think the count has gotten past the two digits but who knows 🤷🏽‍♀️ maybe it has

And thanks for the love!!!

Vacation was great! I still get to chill for a few more days

[braemjeorn]

a long ourank oc presentation because braem is just a writer at heart and soul.

this is honi.

honi is from my fanfic here. would be glad if you read it. would be so happy if you like it. haven't updated it in a while so below are some spoilers for us all(?)

i know. i can't draw the same face. though #Shook is my favourite.

she has longer hair in earlier designs. but then i gave her short hair and thought, oh she looks cooler. like she could be a really cool mom. that's all you need honestly. like why make your ship lovers when you can get kingdom management done with the spiCE that is legal union!

'scuse me. kept the long hair for her younger-tween looks, anyway - wasn't mentioned why in the fic but let's just say that making it to the underworld was life changing. one way or another. she got a scar on her left cheekbone after her twenties (so yeas, i forgot the middle one im sorry).

here's our man because why not. we crave loose hair desha in this house.

im so bad at drawing crowns.

i was keen on the idea of someone to balance desha's personality out, instead of the complete opposites-attract. coz this here is a brash and unapologetic man who mercilessly cackles and taunts bojji and domas at the first meeting. half the fun will be when someone doesn't really flinch at that. tempers him down a bit or countering and riling him up to make firecrackers is what I want to see.

pink ram-lion babies coz why not

honi was nearly engaged before - somewhat more experienced in the field? but things happened and romantic pursuits were shelved before they met. honi acknowledged that he was a man early on in their meeting, but after making up and a few more formal encounters assured her that he was worth being friends with. worth the days-long flight just for a few weeks of teasing, good mead and mushroom pies.

after the winter breakfast but she's still confused.

figuring out she has feelings was a breakdown on a catastrophic level.

but eh, iss all good.

cuties.

not officially engaged but at least the lightning discharge was minimum.

that's all, i guess. some wish-wash, fluffy, alternate-or-future universe musings.

(but then in the manga the ominous naration was like, desha never returned and the underworld fell into ruin *cue queen elinor toppling chess pieces* (overthinking desha's pre-canon shonen arc and how his power is what made him rank 2nd as well as keep order in the multirace, monstrous underworld). in case reclaiming the throne won't work the option is mountain-nymph!honi or passing-farmer-girl!honi. pick.)

(but also the idea that if the canon queen is the persephone counterpart and was on the overworld for her six months deal when the whole season 1 happened is also great. which makes it hilarious if they met during part 2 coz she'd be like 'what tf happened to you?' and heartbreaking if he doesn't remember her. would be fantastic if she's any sort of queen like hiling and stubbornly gets shit done - might have a crisis that she cant find despa or ouken around, or launch some curses to the judge. but I don't know abt canon-queen. only the writer knows what might happen. as long as it isn't some poor excuse of a girl-failure of a villainess miranjo is, I'll be satisfied.)

sometimes i worry if my art will be considered ai work due to my poor anatomy but i swear it's really just a poor concept of anatomy😭 i have so MUCH to improve on digital painting. lighting, shadowing, composition, their size difference—they say the captain is 265 and desha's around the same height in the artbook. honi's like 180 and she's still so tiny! next to him despite being taller than average.

bonus, somewhat suggestive comic below.

double bonus: i think they both agree that domas is a joke and keeping 2000 km distance with miranjo is a must

[kutpot]

Hello! Firstly, your art style is so adorable and warm. It's such a delight every time you post (especially Foggy, be still my heart). Thank you for the time and effort you put into creating them!

Secondly, I've been inspired by your art among others and decided to ask artists their tips for starting digital art. I have zero experience with art as a whole. I'm armed with a tablet and pen but have no idea how to teach myself to actually draw. I welcome any advice you may have, but don't feel pressured to answer! I hope it isn't rude to ask artists for advice, but if it is, please let me know!

Hi! It makes me so happy to know that there are people who like what I do! I'm so grateful that my drawings inspire you.

Especially Foggy. I have no idea when I'll stop drawing him. I love what I do and I believe that's the magic.

I'm honored that you asked me for artistic advice, I really am. But I'm sure that countless qualified artists can help you learn drawing techniques that will be extremely useful.

So feel free to ignore everything I'm going to say here.

I took art classes when I was younger; I studied techniques and I studied art history, etc. I forgot most of the technical part and will possibly never use it in an illustration. But those little pieces of advice, that human and simple part I never forgot, and that's what I'm going to tell you about.

First of all, have fun 💚

If you are making a happy and colorful drawing, imagine yourself there. Or if you are drawing something sad, feel the pain of what you are doing. Be it a sad character or even a dark and lifeless scene.

Be there. Your drawing is an extension of you. Your drawing is your friend.

Smile with them, Be afraid with them. You are there; this helps you visualize facial expressions and gestures.

Be generous 💚

Draw people you love. Gift people with your drawings. This helps you improve your art skills and besides, you will feel great making someone happy.

Don't be embarrassed if your drawing doesn't turn out as good as you'd like. Sometimes the simplest drawings are the ones that people like the most.

Draw every day💚

Even if just a few minutes a day. Make it your goal to learn how to draw hands, eyes, trees, etc... things you might find difficult to recreate. And every now and then redraw old drawings, so you can see where you've made progress or need to improve.

You can find lots of drawing tips and poses on Pinterest

Don't be afraid to try new things 💚

There are lots of tutorials on YouTube for beginner artists, check them out.

Procreate it's a great drawing program. There are many tutorials on YouTube teaching how to use it too. But always use your imagination. Be yourself, put your personality in your drawings. Don't be afraid to use colors that don't match each other. And again, have fun.

I wish you good luck and hope to see a lot of your art out there. (Especially Foggys, lots and lots of Foggys)

[rusquared]

a conversation with my body [TW: self harm]

could you cut that out? hm? could you cut that out, please,

i can't have you healing that fast. ah, right, this? i mean,

the pain signals were pretty fast and you did a fair job of

bandaging it up- that wasn't for you to close it this quickly, though.

i suppose it wasn't. and you, hands, could you stop shaking? i've barely

had a coffee and i can't even use a pipette. right, right, but you managed.

i would've managed faster! possibly. you don't seem to mind

the legs though. the legs can shake all they want, it doesn't affect

my drawing skills. favoritism. how can i have favoritism between my own limbs?

you certainly seem to favor one arm over the other.

… i AM right-handed, after all. simply comes down to ease of access. you could

give the left hand a break, though. i try to. you don't. i manage, sometimes. it's

been a while since you last managed. i find it hard to care lately. and besides,

you keep closing it up so fast i can't help the next one.

ow, shifting the blame?

it's still blaming me, though. aren't you me? aren't we?

or, well, something forced to bear me. quite the motherly choice of phrase

you got there. shut up. why are you so efficient at this one thing? it's not

like i take my vitamins. get on that, maybe. answer the question.

there's no answer to give.

what, that it's just how it is? no,

that this is all we know.

you were brought here to exist, and we were brought here to help you do so.

nice mind-body separation there- be quiet for a minute.

all we know is how to keep you alive, and we've got a, what, 80-year contract

on that? give or take.

wish you had a better assignment, huh? not particularly.

the origami is fun. if you'd let me make the sunflower it would be better. give

it a shot this week, maybe it'll be your lucky turn. is the brain in a separate

room? i need a word with it.

of course you do. hey, could you also stop staying up that late? could you

stop making me sleep in? could you stop making us make you sleep in?

could you take the coffee in peace? just barely meeting the FDA

maximum, huh? better than the caffeine pills, i suppose. i concede.

you should stop that scrolling, though. or put on those stupid glasses of yours-

no, wait, you need a new prescription by now. yeah, yeah.

…it's not half bad, i suppose. we liked the poetry from last week. you can

perceive literature? enough with the snark.

we liked the view from the tower, too. and the canals.

the hand-holding wasn't bad, either, say the hands. the butterflies were though.

hah, maybe.

it's nice to make the roses, over and over. the fingers have gotten awfully used to it.

you forgot the other instructions though. they're so similar! of course we'd mix it up.

do you like the digital art now? it's new, but you like being able to erase it, don't you?

yeah. it's nice to fix the mistakes. over, and over.

say,

can we really not go back? nope. did you check? yep, just asked the Boss.

are you sure? pretty certain, like, i think even the telomeres would agree-

no more biology, please. you're literally talking to it.

and what makes you think we'll be the same? what? say we did go back,

you and Brain all knowledgeable and shit. what then?

i'd fix it all. and if we didn't? what do you mean? who's to say

we won't heal the next one - and there will be a next one, as long as you

have learned its possibility. who's to say we won't kill that one

cell, won't save that one ear- that could happen right now, too!

of course it could.

so now what? do i just sit here? do i just accept you? not much of a choice

there, bud. you don't really have to accept us, though. you've already done

that. i haven't. you apologize to us, occasionally. rarely, if ever.

i hate you. you don't. i hate me. bingo. you're not me? we are your

vessel, just getting you to the next minute. there's not much to find there.

ha! that's what you said last month, and then the

snow arrived, and then the sun rose,

and then your friend smiled at you again.

[mokeonn]

hey so your notes on the internet safety post made me realize that we watched the exact same internet safety video as kids. and i found it! its a mcgruff the crime dog animation called faux paw the techno cat, and its on youtube

Yeah!!! Faux Paw! I remembered all the cat stuff so clearly with the cursor helper and the horrible cgi that I completely forgot that it was a Mcgruff the crime dog animation.

I looked into it, and it turns out that some reposts of the animation online cut out the McGruff part, so I probably watched a version without it and just forgot about it.

(Version from 14 years ago with the Mcgruff into:

And version from 3 years ago with the Mcgruff opening cut out, reposted by the channel behind Faux Paw: )

Also, it turns out that Faux Paw has multiple shorts made as recent as 3 years ago... but the animation quality has gone down a LOT.

And just quality in general.

Here's, for example, a really bad short, also uploaded 14 years ago, with completely different animation, tone, and just general... everything.

Also, it's kinda racist. It takes place in China, and it handles it about as well as you think it will.

https://youtu.be/hGfjyDALM2Q

I think a detail that stuck out in this is probably the fact that whoever animates or draws this keeps giving Faux Paw 6 fingers. Like. When she points to say something, you can see a pointer, 4 folded fingers, and a thumb. This is jarring in normal contexts, but I think it's even weirder when a character was previously shown with 4 fingers (which is just the 4 digits on a cat's paw and no dewclaw)

Turns out! This is on purpose! Sometime between the original short and now, they decided to make Faux Paw a polydactyl cat! Which is kinda interesting, and I was gonna list it as an animation mistake above before I went on the official website to read about her.

Another fun fact! I googled Faux Paw to see if there was a former collaboration with McGruff and if there was more information on the production of the series. The first result I got was Faux Paw trippy/drug/high shirts that were likely a stolen design.

Which like, if it wasn't for my dislike of general "trippy" art and the fact that it's likely a stolen design being sold by a random quick cash t-shirt business, I would consider it. (The website itself is super iffy and relies on a lot of "buy now before it's gone!!" Tactics. It does have a lot of artists that work for the site and is not just a t-shirt printing machine like some sites... but the specific artist behind this trippy Faux Paw shirt has a lot of designs I've seen before. Since there's no dates on the designs, I can't confirm if this artist team is simply the mastermind behind every Spencer's shirt, if they're just taking designs, or some third thing. But that's a whole separate rabbithole.)

I also saw a listing involving her that was 2,000 dollars and was from a company called "Robotronics". I thought with a name and price tag like that, it was going to be a little Faux Paw robot or animatronic...

It was not.

You can see the extra fingers in the suit costume. Apparently, this is a website dedicated to making costumes, robots, and (for lack of a better term) merch about safety for children.

In the end, I couldn't find much information on the development of Faux Paw, her relation to Mcgruff the Crime dog, or the weird fall from grace (well. Whatever grace the original short had). If you simply google Faux Paw, you're gonna end up with a LOT of pdfs from teachers. But it seems like some form of internet safety is still being taught by some teachers. Yippee!

Basically: I did remember the name Faux Paw, but if you didn't mention McGruff the crime dog, I probably wouldn't have gone down this rabbithole. And I thank you for that.

[eldritch-nightmare]

Hiya :D! My name’s Sotheby! I wanna request a matchup if you have time! Uhm, I’m a female, age 19, and i’m 5’2 in height. I have long black hair that I usually put into two pigtails! Uhh, my MBTI type is INTP-T and my enneagram is 4w5

When it comes to interests, I’m into a bunch of games and tv shows, but I also draw a lot! Sometimes I do digital art, but I can’t draw on paper for shit :(. I like taking occasional walks on random days, just to be able to get out of the house and do something. One of those “something”’s being socializing! I’m an ambivert, so to me, socialization is a bit of an off/on thing. But on the days I feel like talking to people, I love meeting new people! Preferably someone with a lot of the same interests as me! The one thing I love the most though, is music! I like listening to Lumi Athena, Cade Clair, Luci4, D3r, and surprisingly, Doja Cat. Hyperpop, pop, and breakcore music are my favs(i.e. Various Types of Ads, Smoke it off, On the floor). I also really like physical touch, though! Which is actually my love language; physical touch.

Extra that I forgot to include: I talk a lot, but I’ll definitely be quiet if asked! Sometimes i’ll just ramble on about whatever I’m talking about nonstop, but once it gets to be to much for someone, i’m fine with sitting in silence!

Thanks a bunch :D

I'M NOT SURE IF YOU'RE INTERESTED IN WOMEN OR NOT BUT

your matchup is... nina the killer!

i think nina would be able to match your energy really well! she's definitely a bit more on the extroverted end of things, but she does have her days where she would rather have limited to no contact with people unless she's really comfortable with someone. that someone being you! she could never grow tired of your company. honestly, she's actually worried that you'll grow tired of her sooner or later.

and you two share similar interests!

she plays video games, typically games like mass effect and bg3. she likes getting attached to characters and really enjoys being able to romance her faves as well. honestly, you'll probably catch her at five in the morning bawling her eyes out after seeing garrus and shepard say their final goodbyes in me3.

she also draws too, and she's pretty damn good at it. she draws mostly on paper since that's what she's best at, but she's pretty decent with a tablet as well. you may even catch her drawing with her finger on her phone, because she's also good at that. she doesn't take drawing too seriously though, most of it consists of doodles and random things that come to mind. she just has so many abandoned wips.

as for music, you two are definitely similar in that aspect as well. nina adores hyperpop and breakcore. she also dabbles a bit in alt/indie and rock. she's a major fan of poppy! big fan of nightcore as well. nightcore songs are her jam and she has an entire playlist on youtube dedicated to all of her favorites. and she'll totally make you a playlist! two, actually. a sappy love playlist for expressing her feelings, and a playlist full of songs she thinks you would enjoy.

she can listen to you talk all day, no joke. she also has a habit of rambling, so you two could somehow hold a conversation with each other about two vastly different topics. there is rarely a time when she'll ask you to be quiet, though she does enjoy the quiet moments she spends with you as well.

will 100% ask to do your hair and makeup if you're comfortable with that type of stuff. might even take you out shopping for cute outfits as well if that's your jam. shopping is a fun pass time for her, and she'd love to include you in it.

and she'll always remind you that she cares about you, and she says the sweetest things to you because she finds that she can best express her feelings through her own words, and the words in songs.

[captainfightingflower]

So i rolled my ankle REALLY badly while out for my run at around 6:20 (bad to the point where renting crutches is being considered), so i just decided to say f making polished sketches, and just decided to have fun drawing whatever Jackbox Games Characters i wanted without care for stuff like anatomy or superb accuracy for once.

Also, fun fact: i forgot to put in my signature traditionally (since i only ever tend to do that after coloring) so the grand majority of these sketches has my signature digitally imposed with Photopea.

Also also, just figured out how people put images side by side in these posts...man i learn something new everyday on this site!

So here’s some descriptions of what each sketch entails in case it’s not clear:

Sketch 1 & 2: A little two-panel gag comic based on the fact that Rue’s facial features can just float whenever she pleases (featuring Bubz...mostly so i could make an excuse to draw the desk).

Sketch 3: Several of the animal hosts put into a single bunch with the text “la créturas” since i really like that set of words specifically! This features Mayonnaise being there, Professor Nanners T-posing like those shitposts where there’s always some 3D fellow t-posing over the horizons, Knack the frog pogging at the Geneva convention & the Tournament Dragon liking his own nostrils.

Sketch 4: The Wheel of Enormous Proportions dumping the water from M. Bubbles’ jug onto it’s face while their headless body stands by.

Sketch 5: Rue unknowingly talking to the Phoney Wheel of Enormous Proportions for 5 hours based on that one meme of a guy talking to a brick wall.

Sketch 6: Octoputtz saying “It’s as shrimple as that!” because A. it’s a meme, and B. he would 100% say something like that.

Sketch 7: Captain Chuck offering you some funny, partially inspired by Morshu, while gripping the supposed haha man a bit too hard.

Sketch 8: The thumbprints from Clone Booth take out the Dodecahedron from DODE, inspired by that one stock image of a guy stealing a wheel from a person’s wheelchair while they are still on it, as well as partially inspired by another sketch i made referencing the Yankee with no brim meme.

Sketch 9 & 10: A slightly modified redraw a draw the squad comic “Sometimes i wonder how i taste” featuring Gavin & Meegan

Sketch 11: A hi-res sketch of Meegan originally created for the previous prompt.

Sketch 12: Mick/Jackhead in their Jackbox Party Club attire, inspired by Sonic Archie Comic panel edit “Alone on a Friday night? God, you’re pathetic” that was originally going to have text accompanying it.

Sketch 13: Human from Zeeple Dome waving their flags aggressively, inspired by that one clip of a lady doing the same thing (i cannot explain this better i am sorry).

Sketch 14: Cookie Masterson eating his Dunkin’ order when you tell him to fuck off in Movies.

Sketch 15: An alien from Push the Button.

Sketch 16: An attempted realistic bust of the design for the green human on the Zeeple Dome menu select’s box art.

Sketch 17: The green & red humans from the Zeeple Dome box art, with the red one nearly avoiding an alien tentacle.

Honestly, very freeing thing for me to do, i’m surprised i don’t sketch my heart out like this more often! (but i could do without the pain in my leg, honesty)

[proadhog]

Struggling with Art: Proadhog's POV

I'm not good with titles

I've been struggling with changing from traditional art to digital for a long time. First I tried with a screenless tablet, which was a terrible experience. Look, I'm a gamer, I have a good eye-hand coordination but dear god it was so bad.

Then I got one with a screen but it still wasn't really working for me. I just couldn't do what I imagined and I got demotivated. Sometimes I tried but failed again so I put it away, pouting. Watched countless videos, tips and tricks, tried some of them but still the results were far from expected.

Then I came across 2 yt channels, which I really recommend:

Jeremy from Light Ponderings and Sam from SamDoesArt

Jeremy awakened my interest in lighting and offered useful and fun excercises where I could start without pressure. (I've figured that my problem is expecting perfection every time I try something, but that is another story). Sam is hilarious with good advices, fun to watch.

So I started with a simple excercise: draw and egg. BUT. it wasn't really about to get the shape right, but to find the colors and the lights without cheating with the eyedropper tool. It is harder than you think! Well, it was for me at least. But it was fun! I was motivated again! And I did some more studies!

Yeah, the colors are muted, the edges aren't so crisp, but I did something and I enjoyed. And it looked far better than my previous tries.

Life got busy and I stopped. I still collected images for later use, but every time I scrolled through them I felt they are all too complex and challanging. I had to figure out something. "Draw what you love" is an advice I heard a lot, but e.g. drawing characters is a big big no for me (at least for now).

Then I came across Blade Runner 2049, for about the 100th time, but this time I looked at it differently. I loved it already (one of my fav, that's why the 100th time), but this time I saw the mastery behind lighting and cinematography, and I thought... that's what I want to draw.

It really gave the push I needed:

- I can rewatch again for screencaps

- I can/try to draw the screencaps

- I can listen to the soundtrack while doing it

I already have a lot of images to draw but I only rewatched 20 minutes maybe? Anyway, I wanted to start with really easy things, so I don't get overwhelmed, but...

...way harder than expected. I suffered for an hour or so, I even cheated with the color of the tree (eyedropper) and I was still soooo far that I left it. BUT, this time, I had so much more to work with, the failure didn't hurt my soul that much.

Then these came:

Now I see many problems with them, but I was quite happy when I finished each one. I started using hard edged brushes got a bit braver, but forgot to use sketches and it shows 😀 but the aesthetics are quite similar so it's a win for me!

Anyway, my post is about encouraging other begginers to keep working, even though it is hard sometimes and you feel you've failed with a piece. It is all about learning and having fun. Draw/paint what you really like, challange yourself but take baby steps, set achievable goals.

I don't have any technical advice other than check the yt channels above. And do sketches before you get lost in a piece :D

I wish your next piece of art to be fun and an improvement to your prevoius works! ❤️

[cooingcrow]

Update!

In a way better mood than the last time I posted. I’m experimenting with a few new techniques to manage myself and my adhd. It’s working for the most part but it’s requiring me to also balance other parts of myself I’ve let take the wheel in my life. So anyways, what have I been up to since the last post?  Drawing. Mostly drawing. I have a harpy oc I’ve been trying to piece out for myself and while it was originally supposed to just be a fun avatar or sorts for me, it’s helping me world build a much larger story I’ve been dying to tell. I forgot about the thrill that comes from getting your hands dirty and experimenting with designs. Example, there are quite a few ways to draw a harpy and there are a number of them that I just want to see in the world itself, so it becomes a question of how do you work the different designs in?

Suddenly you’re coming up with different subspecies, where the branching points matter in the world building, how they fit in with what you’ve already come up with and by sheer accident, figuring out some more hard rules for the magic system you’ve been trying to put in place. I didn’t get all that when I commissioned the original design, so I’m appreciating my new outlook on how hands on I’ve become to the design. 

It’s still going to be some time before I can start writing though. The world that I’m building is thankfully a shared world between some of the SFW and the NSFW projects I wanted to tackle, but these are also such big stories that I wanted to ease into them with smaller works first. I haven’t quite figured out how I’m doing that yet, but maybe that will also become more clear when I draw some more.

I have a good system going for me right now. On the weekdays at work I draw on sticky notes doing little exercises I’ve found in an artbook I like. Sometimes I do freestyle stuff as well. When the weekend hits, I have a dedicated amount of time to draw more intensely without interruption or I’ll do some research on some techniques and after a lunch break I’ll swing back and put what I’ve learned into practice. Either way, I’m having fun with it and that’s all that matters. I recently purchased some new pens and some markers to add a bit more to my sketches. Hopefully I’ll be ready for digital down the line.

[monty-glasses-roxy]

So... I forgot about the October challange thing that I normally try and do if I remember... I'm gonna save the fnaf prompts I've seen floating around and then whatever else I see like 'Cringetober' and whatnot. Mayb I'll go find the Wumptober prompts too those are normally good for angst... but yeah I'll maybe build up to doing my own month challenge just on a different month!

I normally mix and match the prompts from like... at least six different lists anyway so it makes no difference really. If anyone knows anymore good prompt lists, shoot 'em my way and I'll collect them for the month of my choice! I also generally mix up what I do as well so sometimes it's writing, sometimes it's drawing, sometimes it's a full ass digital art piece... so yeah if anyone has any thingtober prompt lists handy they can throw my way please do!! Makes it more fun!!

On another note, Nanowrimo is coming up and I'm wondering what I should do for it. I've made an attempt most years I've known about it and I've gotten closer to the goal every time. The time I got the closest was when I'd done prep for it all through October and really build up to it so perhaps I can do that this year too? Might as well

Dunno what I'd do though. The two obvious options are that rewriting Mimic and Storyteller in the same amount of words, then make up the word count with finishing up some other stuff I have lying around, or building up to dive into either my Ruin Aftermath AU or straight into this new Ruin based Meteors. Could do a poll for opinions on it I suppose... hmmm... Could always do both so I can switch between them as I feel?

What would you guys prefer I did though? Flex on Andrea with the smaller task of doing her job better than her, or go straight for the Ruin/Meteors AU?

[charles-breaks-beakers]

i realized people make introduction posts so here we go i wanna summon the other chaotic neurodivergent trans gremlin bois who like the same shit as me i know you're out there and i will find you.

SO.

my name is Charlie and my artist personas name is Chalk so that can be used as a nickname for me. my pronouns are he/they and i'm a 20 year old artist from Sweden studying animation. I'm a transmasc and feel like the label boyflux describes my gender the best. i'm an adhd autistic who obsesses over the most obscure things and then tries to find people on tumblr who also obsess over them to feel better about it.

(still waiting for an autism diagnosis :') but my like 10 autistic friends and my allistic ones all agree i am and that's all i have to come with rn. to quote my dear friends: "you're literally the definition of autism")

here's some stuff i like or find interesting:

☆ character art, design and development🤖

☆ drawing both traditionally and digitally🖍

☆ my oc's❤️

☆ sketchbook drawing and decoration📒

☆ animation and animatics🎞

☆ crows and similar birds in the corvid family🖤

☆ my favorite aesthetics: own aesthetics i don't know how to name📻, sciencecore🧪, scenecore⚡️, y2k💎, gremlincore🌲, fairygrunge/similar aesthetics🕸, cryptidcore🔦, crowcore🖤

☆ exploring in the forest🌲

☆ Lemon Demon☎️

☆ Oingo Boingo☠️

☆ Pseudo Echo🌆

☆ Minecraft⛏️

☆ 80s, 90s and 2000s stuff📼

☆ my favorite types of characters are fun villains who know they are villains and that they are the shit/pos, mad scientists because chemistry and machines and robots and stuff are cool and we love the unhingedness, and odd/chaotic but chill characters who i just really vibe with😎

☆ Undertale and Deltarune (fav characters: Sans, Papyrus, Spamton, Mettaton, Lancer, Susie)❤️

☆ Arcane (Fav characters: Victor, Jinx, Silco)🔫

☆ Frankenstein and it's fandom🔩

☆ Youtubers/streamers i like: Jschlatt, Ted Nivison, Slimesicle, Strange Eons, Internet Historian, Nilered, Milomumbles, Jackscepticeye, Markiplier, Daz Games, Philza and wow there is probably so many more i forgot.🐏

☆ maybe getting into the Re Animator fandom cuz i love Herbert and the Danbert ship🧪

☆ monster energy (i collect the cans but don't drink it that much since it doesn't go well with my anxiety sometimes)⚡️

☆ old technology (old computers, computer games, old internet, cassette tapes, vhs, cd's and more)📻

☆ game development (dunno how to make games myself but wanna learn)🎮

☆ chemistry is interesting and cool, i wanna learn it but i struggle with math and remembering all the words and little facts about things. :( ⚗️

wow this got really long and i dunno what more to write. :P

[autthesnot]

Hey, in your bobs burgers drawing (which is really good BTW) you draw on brown background. I've seen a lot of other artists do this too and I am just wondering why that is?

Thank you in advance if you answer this (no sweat if you don't!) and have a good timezone.

There are a few reasons for this actually!! Thank you for sending an ask, I love to geek out about art stuff like this.

For digital specifically, it reduces eyestrain, drawing high contrasting lines against a bright white background starts to hurt after a while. It doesn’t have to specifically be brown, but picking something a lil darker than white helps and not super saturated helps. I usually tend toward browns and like blue-grays (just depends on the vibe lol). I sometimes go a step further and will use something lighter than black against something darker than white (like for example, I enjoy an army green against beige). This is partially for like, feeling out colors and having fun, but it’s also just easier to look at over the course of several hours.

This is more of a traditional art stand point (but that’s where my education lies lol) Once you get to coloring or rendering, it kinda helps you identify the values (lightness/darkness) of the colors you’re going to use. If you already know what general color the BG will be it’s nice to work off of that, I usually go in Not Knowing That lol. If you have a more painterly style (which the Bob drawing isn’t the best example of) it also really unifies your color choices if you integrate or mix your background colors with your subject’s colors. When working traditionally I will physically mix a bit of my background paint colors with my more “star of the show” colors, and with digital you can do this by lowering the opacity (making something more see-through) or blending/including it throughout your drawing.

I straight up forgot to post the finished piece but here are some examples to illustrate the point some:

So you can kinda see how on pure white the shadows seem overly dramatic and things are comparatively dark. And with pure black, everyone seems weirdly glowy and they’re all very bright. And then on the neon green (for an extreme example) it really makes the color balance weird. Most of my art is very saturated in general, so this example isn’t very extreme, but a super bright background can really wash out a vibrant drawing and make it seem more bland, in addition to like making complimenting colors seem really extreme and similar colors more drab (like Linda’s red shirt seeming Extra Red against green, and everyone looking more orangey, but also Louise’s dress looking more murky)

For comparison against the brown, the colors are more grounded, you get the best of both worlds of seeing what is Actually dark and light. It isn’t a saturated color (but not fully gray) so the skin tones are less orange by comparison. In my real final piece I just ripped a background from the show and lowered the opacity over this brown to kinda draw attention away from it and keep the focus on the characters. (I’ll post it in a sec oops)

If anyone else has questions about why artists do certain things please feel free to send an ask, I am happy to explain anything I know!!

[zehecatl]

2024 media thread part FEBRUARY

1st February: Cult of the Lamb

decided to replay COTL, since i haven't played it since i 100% it at launch, and tbh, my feelings on it haven't really changed? as a game it's rather mid, and the main appeal is, hands down, everything surrounding the game aspect. the art, the lore, the setting. it is SO fucking appealing, and interesting, and there is SO MUCH you can do with it, as a fandom. but as a game, COTL is... lacking

the combat is mid. the cult management portion is shallow, if interesting, and there is SO MUCH here that could be fantastic, but just. falls short of it. like, do not get me wrong- i've now officially clocked 75 hours into this fucker, so it's not bad, but it just cannot compete with its contemporaries. its main draw truly is the fandom

also i did 100% it again, which i'm only saying because i feel like it needs repeating. do you know. how fucking ANNOYING. IT WAS TO GET THAT LAST LORE PIECE... CRIME

14th February: TMNT (2007)

rewatched TMNT with the fiance for the like, i think fourth time? and i know people generally don't care about this one, but MAN. it is my favourite iteration, and i will die on that fucking hill

the CGI isn't that good, but i think the Turtles look fantastic, and the fact that it sometimes looks like a PS2 game is like, part of the charm, at least for me

also, i think the story is WAY underappreciated. like, there is some GOOD fucking bones here, with the parallel between the Turtles and Yoatl, and ngl, i DO love the whole. immortal wants to die bit. like that's tasty shut the fuck UP

also, yes. the Raph vs Leo scene is ICONIC. it fucking goes HARD, and i love it so much. Raph's whole deal in this movie is engrained in my head, like that is my sad self-destructive BOY!!

anyway, i just love this movie a lot, and all TMNT fans should watch it. for me <3

14th February: Hazbin Hotel

honestly, Hazbin Hotel is just a fun show. there's stuff to criticize, absolutely, but at the end of the day, it's just such a fun little season to watch. the characters are interesting, the plot is good enough to keep you engaged, and the songs are like- such fucking bangers. like, what the hell. did anyone see that coming??

i do wish the season had more episodes, more time to flesh out the six months the season takes place over, but it's. what it is. the animation can be kind of stilted at times, likely due to puppets use, and the colours is- well it's a choice. but idk, i had a good time with it. it's still in my head, weeks later (because i forgot to write this LOL) and i think that's, if nothing else, a mark of something interesting

i'm very much looking forward to season 2

15th February: The Amazing Digital Circus

so i've seen TADC before, but i wanted to show the fiance, so rewatch, and oh my god. i forgot how good this pilot is???

like the humour! the animation! the CHARACTERS!! everything about this pilot is a fucking hit, like it perfectly nails what it's going for, and i am so looking forward to the full season, like it is going to burrow into my brain

16th February: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

i might still wish they had picked a different animation style, but MAN. Mutant Mayhem was just such a good movie. it perfectly executed what it set out to do, and it's definitely a very... teenage mutant ninja turtles iteration. and that's good! that's what they set out to do! and i think they nailed it

i feel like i had a lot more to say after watching it, but looking back.. it's just a really good movie? and yeah, the animation style is not my thing, but it's well done, it suits the movie, you get used to it- etc etc. so really what can i say, except i liked it a lot, and i'm looking forward to the spin-off series?