#still trying to figure out facial structure

[draconicaceart]

lilienne! for disco sapphic week day 1: favorite female character

she has a sword! how could i not love her

[toytulini]

if you draw enough monster ocs, when you go back to drawing a human character, it feels like "sameface syndrome" everytime, by virtue of their face being. human.

[knuppitalism-with-ue]

Something that has both fascinated me and frustrated me to no end as of late are the lacrimal crests of allosauroids and other such theropods. No living theropods, to my knowledge, possess such structures. The closest analog I could find were Geese. I'm being driven up a wall trying to figure out what they would have been covered with in life. How would they have been incorporated into the face of the theropod? What display structures could they support? Air sacs, keratin, or caruncles? How pneumatized were they? Were they even for display? Most paleoartists just reconstruct them as odd stones sitting on top of the animals head, or say they were just for shading the eyes, but that can't be it, right? It feels like something is missing.

As a Paleoartist, is there anything you can say on this? Because I don't know nearly enough.

Oh boi, this is a tricky one.

Cranial ornaments come in all kinds of shapes, sizes and surface textures. For Allosaurus it seems likely that they simply had keratin sheets on top of the lacrinal crests, at least that's what the rough surface and striations suggest. However it also seems like air sacs were reaching up from the antorbital fenestra

This is how I would reconstruct that part of Allosaurus in the moment.

There could have been more though, you can see in this photo of the skull of Big Al II that this animal had large opening behind the lacrinal crests, so there could have been other structures involved.

Maybe even better to look at is this 3d scan of Arkhane, from Brussels.

This could have been related to theroregulation, more display structures or simply further weight reduction.

There is quite a bit of wiggle room when it comes to the interpretation of dinosaur facial features and there is way too much already published and at the same time too little to put it all into a single blog post.

Also not all dinosaurus follow this patters, the cranial crests of oviraptorosaurs show no good indication for keratin crests for example. So it's better to say good bye to cassowary interpretations of these animals and instead cover them in skin and/or inflatable sacs, because these hollow chambers appear to be extensions of the sinuses. (my version of Corythoraptor on the right, Citipati from Wikipedia on the left.)

And then again in other theropods like Abelisaurs we see very rugose skull tops but without the striations you see on the lacrinals of Allosaurus, potentially indicating large scales. Here my, slightly over the top, interpretation of Skorpiovenator. And even then: within abelisaurus you have stuff like Carnotaurus which shows clear signs of keratin sheets on its horns.

This all has been complicated in recent years with new methods in bone histology, because as it turns out the internal structure of a bone can tell us stuff about it's outside, that's how we for example found out that Amargosaurus neck spines were no horns and probably conected with soft tissue, or that the osteoderms of notosuchians were covered by skin like in leatherback turtles.

Going back to Allosaurus and other allosauroids. Keratin sheets, scales, air sacs, all these were probably present in these animals, but their exact distribution is still a question of debate.

Here a paper from a few years back that maps para-nasal sinuses in extent and extinct archosaurus which gives you a little idea how complex their internal anatomy could get

https://anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1002/ar.20794

[soularsss]

Drawing Likeness: with Tem!

okaay since a few people actually showed interest in me sharing a bit of what I've been doing to figure out how to really capture likeness, specifically Temuera Morrison, I figured id do my best to write it out

I am also going to entice you with some of my recent clone art! (oooh some of it is unreleaaasedd)

I am putting the whole thing under the cut because I have a feeling its going to be long:

Read more!!!

a couple disclaimers before we start

-This is not some definite post about how everyone should be drawing clones, nor is it in any way claiming that this is the right way. This is just my musings as I stare at a mans face for way too long and try to replicate it

-I am inexperienced. As kind as you all are to me, drawing real people is relatively new to me, capturing a persons identity through their features is difficult for anybody, and I am no different. I have watched many a video on likeness and had my share of classes, but If im being honest, i rarely put it into practice successfully. So there'll probably be errors in this post or things i will come back to in a few months and wish I had said/done differently

ANYWAYs you guys get my vibe im just here to ramble and today we are rambling about mr copy paste. I am doing this for Law, my clone boy, because I plan on delving further into oc fanart and I want to put effort into representing him correctly!

SO LETS BEGIN

Before even deciding what specific pose of a person I want to draw, I tend to grab a bunch of references and compile them like so

(all of these can be found on my pinterest)

Why so many? Well, we are about to delve into facial features, so when we are dealing with photos we have to take into account that there are an abundance of circumstances that will influence how a persons face will appear, some of these include:

focal length: All of these are taken on different devices, and focal length can play a big part in distorting faces

age will play a part, your face changes a bunch throughout your life!

lighting, while not as major, can muddy the waters and make it difficult to interpret facial planes and features

SO, to make sure we get a proper grasp of what's really going on, I like to make sure we have lots of options to compare and contrast with.

Next up! What I like to do is block out the main facial features with colour on different layers, the features I block out usually are the general face shape, eyebrows, eyes, nose and lips. But what you are looking for is the defining features of a person, so that could include other things! Maybe a scar, or some particularly prominent cheekbones.

I dont have any rhyme or reason when it comes to picking my colours, all that matters is you can see all the shapes clearly.

Now I may be biased, because Ive been staring at these for 4 hours, but notice how it still looks like Tem? :D

Anyways, now we can break these parts down, and you'll see what I mean about compare and contrast:

We'll start with isolating the facial shape, putting all these next to eachother you'll notice they arent exactly the same (partly because of my shoddy work) But the distinguishing features run through each shape! Namely the very soft rectangular shape I sketched out in the bottom right there. Along with his soft, wide jaw structure.

I did the same for the rest of his features!

You'll notice I highlight the prominent shapes and ratios,

When drawing anything, it is important to start from the very base shapes and build up.

When drawing something you want to look like someone, those shapes relative to other shapes is what makes it look like them.

I didnt use the same technique with his eyes and lips, but I wrote out some helpful info for them! More importantly for his eyes.

When drawing eyes, I find the most important part is where exactly I draw the creases, (along with the overall shape of the eye itself) it is important to understand where those will present themselves with hooded eyes.

NOW, with an understanding of his facial features in place, lets take a detour to colours:

before I start, a couple things to note:

-Temuera morrison versus the clone troopers in the animated shows:

While I love the animated shows they don't exactly stay close to their source material. Im going to link here to an excellent post discussing whitewashing specifically in relation to the clones.

Temuera is Māori, of Te Arawa (Ngāti Whakaue) and Tainui (Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Rarua) whakapapa, and also has Scottish and Irish ancestry.

The Māori people are the indigenous Polynesian people of mainland New Zealand (Aotearoa). Māori originated with settlers from East Polynesia. Māori people often vary in skin tone, Skin colour doesn't determine ethnicity. There's often a correlation but it's not a requirement.

But that is a tangent! What we are aiming for is to stay true to Temuera.

Bringing back my reference photos from before, Ive colour picked a buncha values and theyre all over the place. Why doesnt this work?

Similarly to earlier, you have to take into account the photos themselves. Many things like lighting, colour grading (when it comes to filmography) and makeup, can alter how a skin colour presents in photo.

You can attempt to get true to life by swatching from certain places on the face. Here I've tried to pick some photos with good lighting, and I've also tried to avoid overly lit/shaded areas.

Tem has a very warm, tan skin tone, Instead of colour picking I tend to try and replicate it myself, but I do often bring in references to make sure Im staying true to the source!

a brief intermission to talk about colour theory, something I myself struggle with alot. Often, when putting in flat colours without a background, I will forget to make sure the colours i intend to use will work with the skin tone i have picked! (something that is apparent in older works of mine, not just in relation to clones, but in general, the colours I end up with stray largely from their original sources and it is something I am doing my best to keep in mind and improve in! Although I don't think i am nearly experienced enough in the topic to say I have succeeded yet lol.)

anyways back to Tem :))

Now we can put all of that into practice! Things to keep in mind when drawing out a piece next to a reference like this:

the distance between the eyebrows? how far down his face does his nose go? Basically just, in relation to eachother, where do all those shapes we found earlier, sit?

The screenshot above is from before I did it myself, but instead of directly tracing from the reference, a handy trick I use it to complete your sketch first, and then overlay a traced version to see where your inconsistencies are! Alternatively, you could move your sketch over the image, but I didnt do it that way so!! uh!! im sure it works exactly the same!!!!

When it comes to a final illustration, or any sketch that isnt a direct study, of course you can push and pull and stylise! You'll see below that I'm not exactly 1:1 to my reference photo either.

The important thing with stylisation, or at least my own personal understanding of stylisation is that you need to thoroughly understand the thing you are stylizing! "You need to know the rules to break them" and all that. While shapes, lines and rendering can change, when it comes to drawing someone, and making it look like them, you have to make sure to keep their core features true to source. Caricature can capture a persons vibe whilst drastically exaggerating features, but it will only look like them if you KEEP THOSE FEATURES!!!! SHAPES!!! AHHH!!

But that is just my perspective on the discussion of style versus realism, please dont take is as Law, I dont know what Im on about half the time!!

anyways, after fixing your sketch, add local colours!

I rexified him because why tf not! But this is where you can go crazy with that clone personalization!

And then here is a very very barely rendered version (if you guys want me to explain how i RENDER that would need to be a completely different post, and I havent had anyone ask about it yet so who knows! maybe one day) But I digress, hopefully you learnt something new through my ramblings! It has certainly helped me organize my thoughts and I have also found some areas I would like to focus more on in the future to improve my own art!

TLDR: In order to understand an object, be it a face or a building or literally anything, you have to break it down to its simplest forms, understanding LARGER shapes will help you immensely in the long run

If you guys like this sorta content do let me know! I'd be down to do similar things for armor/anything really, I am very anti gatekeep so really anything at all you want to know! Send me an ask :))

also if you see a spelling mistake.. i don’t know how that got there

[hansoeii]

Hello! Hope you're having a great day/night! I absolutely adore your art, you are one of my favourite artists. I love the way you shade and do backrounds. Also everytime I get into a new show I immediately see your art for it??

I was wondering if you had any advice on drawing more realistically (backrounds, anatomy etc) but still keeping a style?

Hey hey!

Thank you so much!

I have a pretty good understanding of facial structures, because before I got into drawing more semi-realisticly, I heavily focused on realistic portraits. Here are some example, these are from around 2019!

(yes, I was really into danmei and kpop back then, haha)

I just always loved drawing/painting faces and it was all I did. But at some point I realized that I wanted to do more than that because just portraits felt super restricting. So it took me around 2-3 years to somewhat find my style. Thought it would be fun to show a little timeline! Advice will follow afterwards :)

2020

I began working on my OCs in 2020 and since I didn't have an exact reference to work off of, I struggled a lot. My art from this year is super wonky.

2021

Still wonky, but the Lokius obsession was the jumpstart into finding my style! My work from this year is all over the place haha, I was experimenting a lot.

2022

This first ofmd piece is pretty much the first drawing where you can see where my style is gonna go, which I think is pretty cool! This is the year I made the biggest progress cos I was drawing SO much. These two pieces are only six months apart. The one on the right was the first time I gave drawing a background a proper go, too! It was a good year.

2023

And this is where I am now! I'm still constantly learning and improving, but I'd say I have a style you can recognize now!

Now here comes some actual advice, haha:

What I highly recommend you to do is to study your favorite artists as much as you can! I have like 5 A4 sketchbooks all from 2020 that I filled with sooooo many studies, where basically all I did was look at artists I like and copy how they draw stuff, to try and figure out how to stylize certain things. Some of my favorite artists are Ami Thompson, Velinxi and TB Choi. But I also liked to just scroll through pinterest and study all the art I came across that I liked! For example, if I saw a really great drawing of a pair of pants I would copy it many times in my sketchbook and try to learn how they stylized the folds. Doing this for a prolongued period of time will naturally improve your own work! It'll be difficult at first, but you gotta push through, it's gonna be worth it!

I also highly recommend studying unique faces to try and avoid the same-face syndrome. Find some cool looking people and try to draw them as simple as you can! Maybe even draw a little timeline where you first draw them as cartoon-y as you can, and keep going until you end up with a more detailed, realistic drawing. Maybe in the middle of it you find a step that feels the most fun to you, so you can try to build on that! It's a great way to figure out what kind of style might be the best for you.

Here are some cool faces I found on pinterest!

I have a pinterest board with many more!

One REALLY important part of learning how to draw all kinds of things is to understand forms and shapes and how to manipulate them. I have so many pages in my sketchbook filled with just shapes that I drew from all kinds of angles without any references.

This is a great video on it:

6 Ways to Draw Anything by Proko

Learning how to do this is so crucial! Young artists often think they first have to learn all kinds of detailed anatomy before doing anything else, but all that's gonna do is make you tired and hate drawing. Shapes are where it's at! Once you understand how shapes work and which ones to use for certain parts of bodies or objects, drawing is gonna get so much easier! Once you understand them, you can get into details such as muscles and bones!

And honestly the most important point is to just absolutely love what you're doing! I wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't for the fact that I get extreme hyperfixations on certain media that turn me into some kind of beast where I can suddenly draw 10 detailed illustrations a week, haha. Just be passionate about what you do, find something you REALLY love and go crazy!

I really hope this was somewhat helpful! My inbox is always open if there's any more questions :)

[starsonablackboard]

managed to finish another decent ish piece so here's narinder's inutial design!! as always probably will change later

we're living by furry laws in this house so "head fur" aka hair is an option and im using it. period. another unpopular(??) choice is giving narinder a fur pattern, and don't get me wrong i love the pure black void nari, but as an artist i enjoy making up details to draw, so i indulged myself here. (but if i ever were to draw comics with him i would simplify it or just make him all-black, because repeating this every frame is a misery. fun for a one-off ref sheet tho)

not a lot of lore stuff for the guy since the idea of the au is still fresh and im figuring it all out, but there're design inspirations under the cut if you're interested!!

sooo lets go

i wanted narinder to have that dramatic sharp featured og cartoon villain look, so i took inspiration from oriental longhairs for the facial structure and from maine coons for fluffy dramatics. also i just love using maine coons as cat references. look at those things. marvellous.

from the very start (pretty much) my brain was consistently giving me images of narinder with hair, specifically dark long-ish straight-ish, so i tried to walk this mental image backwards to find the origins of it, and i think scar and ozai are my best bets. in my first sketches narinder had shoulder length hair with slight waves, but in the end i opted for long and straight. not really a reason to, just was vibing better to me

clothes are pretty standard narinder robes i think. i find it funny that fandom unanimously gave him basically a priest outfit, and i like it too, so i kept it. that red stripe gave me a little bit of a headache though, couldn't get it to look okay and not weird or tacky. i think i managed. i had to contain my urge to design him an intricate outfit with different textiles and embroidery and shit, but i try to keep it at least somewhat tied to logic and the au, and let's say that no-one was willing to do something this elaborate for narinder for quite some time

and some lore crumbs

• narinder is declawed (after his defeat that is).

see the narinder's claw relic and the whole do no evil motive. the most evil narinder directly did was the injures he inflicted on his siblings, and he did it by, quoting shamura, "such sharp claws". so yeah, that tracks. funfact i considered taking only one of his claws, from the left ring finger, because the relic is "narinder's claw" singular, but "callamar's ear" relic is also one ear and not two, so it didn't feel kike a good enough basis to take only one claw yk. so sorry big cat, all your claws are now gone

• lamb did kill narinder after defeating him. there's nothing on the pic that's tied to that fact, just thought it would be interesting to know

[beatcroc]

a year!!! as of today i have now been drawing these funny little pizza freaks, to the exclusion of almost everything else, for!!! an entire year!!! i wanted to do a nice group shot/lineup of everybody to compare to when i first started trying to draw them because oh boy were they bad. i never even posted most of them anywhere because they were so bad. but im posting them here, now, to see how everything's changed/evolved.

this is probably the hardest time i've ever had trying to figure out how to work with a style, but we got there eventually; i'm pretty happy with the handle i've got on everybody now...dont let ur memes be dreams. lots of unimportant journaling and idle thoughts abt it below.

older pics

the first one is the VERY first time i drew them, before i thought i was going to actually have any interest in drawing them [lmao]; it was just the one isolated image, for my friendserver, to illustrate the funney message, so there was no attempt to make it Good or actually understand anything going on w/ the designs or style.

second is the original run of practices sketches to start trying to figure them out for real; done after i started having ideas for the comics and such and realized oh god maybe i am actually gonna draw fanart for this. [again, lol, and lmao.]

third one is the first pt art thing i posted on here. there were a couple weeks of sprite studies between this one and the previous image. the one on the top right wasn't part of that post i just threw it on as space filler; i'd intended to shift to doing Sprite Redraws But Stylized to explore tings more, but that was the only one i did. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

individual characters

peppino: by far the hardest dear god. bro what ARE your shapes how DOES your face work. jesus christ. everything i have trouble with this style for, peppino has it in excess. i draw in polygons! i need consistency! and that is the last thing this kind of style is concerned with. they are made of squarshy clay and i do not understand how to mold them. i was really hoping trying to learn this game's style would GIVE me that kind of flexibility for fun exaggerated facial expression but i don't think much came of it in the end 😔. anyway on the bright side all this means once i got peppino figured out a little bit everybody else clicked way easier.

fake peppino: honestly i never did anything with him on purpose except for how his eyes work + the perma-smile thing. i figured ok hes supposed to look weird and off model so whatever happens with him happens. and it did. and it kept happening. it is still, in fact, happening.

noise/ette: somehow, for every bit that peppino was the least natural thing i've ever tried, these two worked pretty much right off the bat. i still don't understand it, seeing as pretty much all the things at play for peppino are also at work for them. i think the new sketches are actually a little worse than older ones but not enough that i care.

gustavo: really funny bc i drew him on model twice and just went 'okay, cool nice, easy, um. he doesn't have any fucking legs?' fortunately he was the only one i had a strong idea for how to stylize him [square] and it worked exactly as i was hoping so wahoo.

brick: is an animal and therefore 5000x easier and more natural for me to draw/stylize than anything else in the cast. that is Just a rat bro. i can draw a rat.

gerome: i think the funniest one here. the most drastic and least necessary change imo. i was gonna have him be really small at first, like smaller than the noises, but then i just... didn't. he's just peppino-sized now. also i gave him like. actual human facial structure, which is funny bc in most cases i'd do anything to avoid, but it works well for his being A Rock to give him some angles and definition like that+ to differentiate his vibe from the rest of the cast who are all very squishy. also since he is essentially Just A Head it's good to emphasize that too ig.

john: i only drew john a couple times but he gets to be here because i like him. and because most of the stuff i applied to gerome was readily applicable to john, though i did try to keep him a little more uncanny because he is a Huge And Lanky Freak. i hate that he is barefoot btw but idk how to make his color balance look right with shoes.

pizzahead: i did not want to put him on here honestly but i Have drawn him a handful of times and more importantly i didn't know what i was gonna do with john's pose if i didn't have him there to be glared at. the only thing that's different with him is giving him wider-bottomed pants, which i got from when i tried to draw these guys in clone high style [i never posted that one either][i will eventually]

snick: he gets to be here because 1. he's like 6 lines 2. i like him and 3. ive scribbled him a few times offhand and it went pretty well

misc

there are some guys missing because those are guys i didn't draw enough [or at all] to have gotten comfortable with them. sorry

i would have Liked to shade these but for the time being i have accepted that my grasp of light/shadow has decayed to the point im not going to be happy with anything i try there, so For Now i am working on my presentation with flats i guess. gerome has a shadow only because he's shaded like that ingame and looks naked without it

anyway if you are still reading [hi?] i get to shamelessly plug now. i'm over the hill of my pizza run now, and while i still have plenty of things i want to make here, most of the bigger more in-depth ones have passed. pizza tower was the first thing in THREE YEARS to get me out of my oc groove to doing fanart, and once i am done with my ideas here i will be going right back to it. if you like my art or how i write characters/interactions you should check out my oc/webcomic blog @jamverse . i can't promise people who like pizza stuff will be terribly into my designs, but i can guarantee i treat my guys with the exact same sort of tone i handle the pt guys with. and hell, i've mentioned it a few times before, but like 70% of my characterization for fake pep is just copied off one of my characters, so if u are going to miss him... he will still be there in spirit >;p

and if you dont care about any of that and are still reading thank you anyway. actually making these comics + seeing how shockingly well-received they've been has done a lot for my confidence, and for seeing that my kind of stuff IS something people enjoy :')

[eventideluminary-games]

It is finally spring again. The grass is growing, birds are singing, and it's the perfect idyllic day to have your sister's coronation! You hoped everything would go well. It did not. In under 10 minutes, you went from being your sister's heir to your sister's killer. Or so your kingdom suspects, considering they're now on a manhunt for you. You have to figure out who really murdered your sister and fast, but be careful. You're not quite sure who you can trust these days...

ON HIATUS

Under the Eyes of Themis is a current WIP and new interactive CYOA novel, with a focus being on the characters, their interactions with each other, and their storylines. It's inspired by many JRPGs/RPGs. It's being written in ChoiceScript

Note: Because this is still a WIP, some names of characters or places may change! But feel free to send asks or anything!

Genre: Mystery, Romance

Rating: 18+ (sexual content, language, extensive talks about death, a semi(?) graphic death scene (i'm not good with rating graphic gore sorry), etc)

Tracked Tags: #under the eyes of themis, #eyes of themis, #uteot

Demo (1/19/24, ver 2.1.0) || Romance Options || Side Characters || FAQ || Tag Navigation || Pintrest

In Under the Eyes of Themis, you are taken to the fantasy medieval-esque world of Runnet. Here, you play as the youngest child of the Diamant family of the Grasslands kingdom. Your older sister, Adalia, just happened to be born 10 minutes before you, which makes her the heir to the throne. Not that you seem to mind anyways.

The year is 1344 and the winter has recently melted away into spring, the favorite season for those in the Grasslands kingdom. The former queen, your mother, has passed away about a month ago. As your mother's heir and the oldest, your twin sister, Adalia, is coronated as queen, summoning emissaries and people from all places to recognize her as Queen of the Grasslands.

At the end of the coronation week, Adalia is poisoned and killed during the last feast. As you try to grapple with the loss of your twin, you are suddenly accused of poisoning your sister, a maid having found the vial hidden among your clothing.

You are chased out of your kingdom and manage to get help from the other lands in the area. You and your group travel across 8 lands to clear your name and figure out who framed you and killed your sister before you're arrested for a crime you didn't commit!

Play as a male, female, or non-binary Royal

Customize the way your Royal looks in the story. Will they keep their natural look or decide to change it while on the run?

Your Royal has a semi-set personality in the beginning, but you choose how being on the run affects them

Explore the world of Runnet and the 8 lands situated on the continent

Choose to romance 5 different companions: a fun and flirty Prince, the not-so-ladylike-Lady with a penchant for picking fights, the brightest Scholar of the land, a shy Farmer's daughter, or the loudest Assassin you've ever seen (or heard)

Chase leads, find clues, and talk to locals to figure out who poisoned your sister and who's framing you

The Accused Royal - You! (player determined)

You are 24 years old. You are the youngest child in the Diamant family. You are a prince/princess/princep. You have an older twin sister. You can choose to be male, female or nonbinary. You can choose your first name but your middle name is set.

If you play as a male, the middle name is set to: Florian

If you play as a female, the middle name is set to: Floriana

If you play as non-binary, the middle name is set to: Flor

Appearance: player determined. It's said you resemble your mother most, in terms of facial structure. Female and Non-binary Royals have the option to be identical twins with Adalia.

The Queen for a Week - Adalia Elcina Diamant (she/her)

Queen Adalia is better know to you as your twin sister. She is kind and nice, if not a little bossy. She would've made a wonderful queen... It's a shame she drank all that poison.

Appearance: player determined. Has the option to be identical twins with a female or non-binary Royal.

The Crown Prince of the Woodlands Kingdom - Alceste Claudius Emeraude (he/him)

Alceste is a 24 year old man. He is the crown prince and heir to the Woodlands kingdom. Alceste is flirty and fun-loving. He likes to tease the Royal and especially, Larisilla. He is the oldest of 4 children and consistently entertains the group trying to break the tension. He seems to have a problem with taking things seriously, but behind his playful attitude and flirtatious charm, you can see something darker swirling around in his eyes. Wonder what that's all about...

Appearance: Alceste is about average in height (5'8) and has smooth, blemish-free olive skin. He is average in terms of his body, not quite muscular but not lean either. He has a bit of a chubby stomach and still retains some of his baby fat. His hair is dark brown and looks fluffy. His eyes are dark green, similar to the woods that surround his home.

The Future-Lady of the Dustlands' Council - Larisilla Cornaline (she/her)

Larisilla is a 23 year old woman. She is the daughter of the first Head of the Dustlands' Council. Larisilla is not what is expected of a lady, finding more joy in picking fights and training with her swords than learning about politics. She is uncharacteristically serious and always wears a permanent frown. She has the tendency to rub people the wrong way, being blunt and, often, rude. Still, Larisilla will always stick up for you, so it's good she's on your side... Right?

Appearance: Larisilla is a tall woman, standing at around 5'10. She is muscular and has tanned skin dotted with beauty marks. Her frame is elegant in nature. Her eyes are a dusty red, reminiscent of the mesas of her homeland. Her wavy brown hair is short, cut into a shoulder-length bob. She typically ties her side-fringe back with a cord of leather.

The Head Scholar of the Palmlands' Scholar's Hall - Dionys Topaze (he/him)

Dionys is a 26 year old man. He is the leader of the famous Scholar's Hall, located in the Palmlands. As expected, he is polite and intelligent. Dionys is kind and eloquent. He tends to be quiet while other are speaking, but will gladly entertain you on the various areas of his study. He is said to be the Brightest Scholar of the Palmlands, a title which he doesn't really like. Dionys has the tendency to accidentally speak down to people, but he doesn't mean it. You're lucky Dionys' current area of research is law...

Appearance: Dionys is a very handsome man. He is tall at around 6'3 and lean, not as visually muscular as the others. He has smooth dark skin and long braided black hair that falls to his waist. The braids are decorated with golden clips and charm. His eyes are gold as well, reflecting the dunes present in his homeland. He has a pair of gold rimmed glasses he sometimes wears for reading.

The Farmer's Daughter of the Fieldlands - Somnia Disthene (she/her)

Somnia is a 25 year old woman. She is a humble farmer's daughter from the aptly named Fieldlands. She is a bit shy and quiet, but don't get it mixed up; she isn't scared or afraid. Somnia is a bit intimidated from all the important political people in the group, but she is insistent upon being helpful. She has a wealth of practical knowledge, notably that of a seasoned healer. You're grateful she's eager to help you, so you ignore her questionable slip ups. After all, who else would have the knowledge of making poison...

Appearance: Somnia stands at about average height (5'4). She is heavy-set/fat with the muscles and strength of a woman who has been working fields since she could walk. She has light skin smattered with freckles and long loosely curled blonde hair falling to her mid-back. Her eyes are light blue with bits of grey speckled in them, similar to the rivers that run through her homeland.

The Assassin of the Floelands - Enyo Perle (he/him) or (she/her)

Enyo is gender-selectable. They are 22 years old. They are a spy from the northern Floelands. They are loud and full of energy, quite different than what you would expect from a supposed assassin. They are eager to please and a bit naive, unaware of most things happening in favor of playing with their knifes. Enyo is open about their job as an assassin. Despite the group being a bit wary around them, Enyo does the best to fit in. But is it enough? After all, an assassin's still an assassin...

Appearance: Enyo is about average in height (5'7), if they are male, and short (5'3), if they are female. They have a slender form with no visible muscle definition. They have clear pale skin. Their hair is black and straight falling to their mid-back. M!Enyo keeps his hair tied into a ponytail while F!Enyo braids hers. Their eyes are a light grey, almost white in color, mirroring the snow abundant in their homeland.

[fuel-me-coffee]

Drawing Screwllum

((Screwllum x GN Reader, Fluff, not really proof-read lmao-))

Author's note: this is based on all the people who believe that Screwllum overheats when flustered + me projecting being an artist

----------------------------------------------------------

Screwllum observed your movements as you dragged a pencil across the notebook's page.

The mechanical aristocrat has been sitting perfectly still for exactly 15 minutes as of now. Approximately 20 minutes ago you have excitedly asked him if he could model for a drawing for you, and seeing your eagerness, he was more than happy to oblige your request.

With you being completely absorbed into your drawing process and with him trying to avoid any unnecessary movement, a silence fell between you (with Screwllum mentally noting that it was, in fact, the comfortable kind).

He was sitting on a chair in front of you, putting a few feet of distance between you. From said distance he could glance the top of your head as you scribbled away and your knuckles tighly gripping at the book to hold it in place. Just as he was tracing the outline of your fingers with his gaze, your face suddenly emerged above the canvas, making your eyes meet.

You squinted your eyes as you tilted your head from side to side, trying to figure out Screwllum's facial structure. Your intense eyes going over every intricate curve and crevice of the aristocrat's metallic face made him feel like he's being inspected under a microscope, not unlike those he'd often pass in researcher labs of the station. The longer your eyes stayed transfixed on him, the more he could feel his system begin to heat up, cooling fans quietly beginning to whirr as he tried to keep his composure. Suddenly, the silence started becoming way less comfortable for the genius. He found it quite fortunate in this moment that he did not share the human ability to blush.

Adjusting his monocle, he chose to finally address you: "My dear, the intensity of your gaze with which you grace me one could compare with fires started by Nanook themselves. Query: how is your drawing coming along?"

You let out a few hums as you put down the final strokes, holding the sketchbook back and admiring your work: "all done!!"

"May I see?"

You nod, placing the pencil in the pocket of your shirt and strutting excitedly towards your model-boyfriend. You turn the the drawing to face him, your eyes gleaming along with your smile as you await his feedback: "what do you think?~"

Screwllum takes his time admiring your work, taking in every pencil line, noting everything from the way you drew curves to the way you depicted the falling of light.

He takes your hand, gently pressing his jaw against the back of it in a tender kiss: "Affirmative: I can sense the care you put into this work and it showcases a positively high technical skill, as well as clearly demonstrates the artist's passion for the craft. Although I believe you may be flattering me a bit in your depiction of me."

"Nonsense! If anything the drawing is incomparable to the original!"

"How so?"

"Well, to begin with, it could not possibly beat the beauty of the real deal."

Oh. Maybe he needs to get his fans ran through maintenance. Or maybe that's what they mean by butterflies in your stomach-

[cutielando]

comfort | r.c.

synopsis: in which you're the only one who can comfort Rafe

my masterlist

Loving someone who continuously hurt you throughout your entire life was peculiar. Rafe knew that better than any other person.

Ward Cameron had done nothing but belittle his son his entire life, making him feel unwanted and unloved when all he should have done was love the broken boy.

And yet, despite even your ability to understand it, Rafe still loved him. Afterall, Ward was his father and nothing he could do could change that.

When his father died, Rafe didn't know how to feel, initially. 

Should he be sad? Should he be angry? Does he have to mourn? Can he mourn, seeing as his father had many every waking second of his life unbearable? 

Rafe didn't know what to do, and you didn't know what to do either.

Ever since the moment he died, the atmosphere at Tannyhill had been very strange. You tried your best to be there for your boyfriend, being his shoulder to cry on if he needed or just simply being there to help him and help him forget.

Whatever he needed, you were more than ready and happy to provide.

But if he didn't know how he felt himself, how were you supposed to know what he needed?

That was the million dollar question.

No matter how many times you tried to approach the subject, Rafe seemed more distant than ever.

"Baby? Don't you want to take a break? You've been working for hours on end" you tried to coax Rafe one night as he sat at his father's desk, dozens of papers scattered around on the big table.

He had been working constantly, trying to organize and structure his father's, now his own, company. 

"I'll come to bed in a couple of minutes" he mumbled, taking your hand and pressing a kiss to it without even looking at you.

You sighed and turned his head to the side so he could look at you.

Inspecting his facial features, the bags under his eyes had become a permanent thing ever since Ward's passing, the boy not being able to get more than a handful of hours of sleep at night.

"Baby, you're overworking yourself. I'm really worried about you, my love. Are you sure you're doing okay? You're sure you don't want to talk?" you were running a hand through his hair and with another one you were tracing meaningless shapes on the side of his face, observing as Rafe's eyes fluttered close and he leaned into your touch.

"I'm sure. I promise, I'll come to bed soon" he said and kissed you quickly before getting back to work.

You sighed but nodded, pecking his head once more before finally turning around and leaving the office.

He hadn't come to bed that night until 2 hours later, sinking into the soft bed and attaching himself to your body, holding you close to him.

Unknown to you, that was the only comfort he could feel in the dead of the night when he couldn't sleep, the feeling of your body pressed against his, telling him that you were there and you weren't going anywhere.

The same routine continued for another couple of days, then turning into weeks until the anniversary of 6 weeks from Ward's death came around.

You had gone shopping with Wheezie in Chapel Hill for the day, trying to get the young's girl mind off of everything she had been through in the last couple of weeks.

Upon returning home, you weren't surprised to see Rafe's truck parked in front of the huge mansion, seemingly in the same spot it had been when you had left that morning.

However, as soon as you entered through the front door and saw the mess leading from the kitchen to the living room, your heart instantly dropped to your stomach.

Quickly figuring out what could have happened, you told Wheezie to go to her room and not get out until you would go and get her.

As soon as she was out of sight, you slowly made your way to the living room, carefully avoiding the broken glass that decorated the floor.

"Rafe? Baby?" you called out.

"In here" Rafe grumbled from the couch in the living room, his head in his hands.

The moment you laid eyes on your boyfriend, your heart broke into a million pieces.

He was holding his head with his hands, tugging at his hair with tears streaming down his cheeks. In front of him, on the coffee table, sat a picture of him and his father, one of the few they had taken over the years while the older man had still been alive.

"Oh, baby" you exclaimed as you hurried to sit next to him and pull him in your arms, hugging him tightly and closely to your chest.

He immediately buried his head in your chest, sobs wrecking his fragile body. You started whispering sweet nothings in his ear, pressing kisses on every inch of his face that you could reach. 

Hearing your boyfriend's broken sobs triggered your own tears, your heart breaking even more for the poor boy.

"I miss him" he croaked out between sobs, his voice hoarse and raspy from all the crying.

"I know you do, baby. I know" you said, running your fingers through his hair and kissing his forehead multiple times.

After a couple of more minutes, he slowly started to calm down, his sobs now turned into sniffles until they stopped completely. But he didn't pull away, now needing more than ever to feel you there with him.

"Does that make me a terrible person?" his voice was no louder than a whisper, making it a little difficult for you to hear him.

"God, no, Rafe. He was your father, missing him is freaking normal no matter what anyone else says" 

"I know that, but everybody keeps saying he got what he deserved. I know he was a terrible man, especially in the last few months before he died, but he was still my dad and I should be allowed to miss him without people judging me for it" he explained, slightly letting go of the iron grip he had on you.

You took his face in your hands, wiping the last tears that had fallen from his eyes.

"No matter what anyone says, he was your father and you miss him. There is nothing with that and you shouldn't feel guilty. You're allowed to feel, Rafe. Please don't shut me out and let me help you get through this. You don't have to do it alone, I'm not going anywhere" 

He slowly nodded and pulled you in for a hug, repositioning the two of you so you were straddling his lap and clinging to him like a koala bear.

"I love you so fucking much, you know that?" he whispered in your ear, his breath hot on your neck.

"I love you too" you whispered back, kissing the nape of his neck before tightening your hold on him.

You stayed like that for a long time, just savoring being together and overcoming this obstacle together.

Because, at the end of the way, you only found comfort in one another.

comments and re-blogs help us grow!

much appreciated!!

REQUEST HERE

[blueskittlesart]

What advice would you give beginner artists?

it's fine to want to do more stylized art, but nothing will help you improve quickly like studying from life. even if you want to draw very stylized figures, life drawing is still going to help you understand how the human body works and then you can build your stylization off of that understanding. I also recommend studying specifically things you're looking to improve--if you feel like your poses aren't dynamic, ask your model to do some quick (1-2 min) dynamic poses and work on getting the gesture down. if you're looking for anatomy, ask for longer, more static poses and really study the contours of the body. this also applies for portraiture and character art--my expressions and facial structure improved like CRAZY when i started doing portrait studies from life! (note: i know live model sessions aren't accessible for everyone. i'm a huge advocate for nude models, if you can find a studio nearby that's affordable to you that offers sessions, that's the best you're gonna get. however, there are sites that will give you photos of nude models to draw from, too, or you can even just ask friends or family to pose for you when they aren't busy, that's what i did before i started getting model sessions from my school!)

materials are not everything but sometimes a good material can make a difference. it's important to know what's worth it and what isn't for your skill level. invest in some decent-quality supplies or a good art program, but understand that you're still going to need to work to understand your materials and use them to their fullest potential. (if you're a digital artist buy csp. trust me on this. get it on sale. it will change your life. also do not fucking use photoshop)

tracing is ok. listen to me. TRACING. IS. OK. tracing is how you learn. don't trace other people's art and pass it off as your own, obviously, but there is literally no problem with tracing real-life reference photos. I routinely trace references for backgrounds and the like. there is no reason for you to kill yourself trying to make complex perspective and shit up from your head when you can very easily just overlay a photo and get what you need.

in that same vein, USE REFERENCE PHOTOS. find pics online or take pics of yourself and USE THEM to see how your poses work. it makes it SO SO SO much easier. the understanding that you need to create a pose out of nowhere will come with time but you're not going to get that skill unless you have a foundation of understanding how the real human body works, and the easiest way to get that understanding is by copying photos of real people.

last but not least, there's generally a sort of 'rulebook' that new artists are expected to go by, especially online, when it comes to digital art. when i was first learning, it was all about lineart and cell shading, two things that I didn't really like. Nowadays it seems to be all about rendering. the single most important thing i can tell you is if it sucks you don't have to do it. if you hate lineart just color your sketches. if you hate shading don't shade, or find a different way to shade that you enjoy more. if rendering is annoying or difficult for you DON'T BOTHER!! art is supposed to be fun. if part of your process is annoying or upsetting to you, cut it the fuck out. don't torture yourself just to do art the "right" way. i guarantee your art will look better when you're having fun making it anyway!

[t0mashek]

Mini character guide for my fellow McSpirk fanartists!

I feel like I finally have a satisfying level of muscle memory down for how I draw each of our guys in a recognizable way! My portrayals of Kirk, Spock and Bones aren't usually drawn with a reference, and they definitely don't look all that realistic, but I figure at least one of you out there might like to have a peak into what I do to try and make them recognizable!

Before I show the specific lines I always like to use, I would like to shoutout all the artists out there with same face syndrome. I had very bad same face syndrome before I started drawing Star Trek fanart, the variety of characters in Star Trek REALLY helped me draw better characterizations of people! BUT, if same face syndrome is something you currently struggle with do NOT let it deter you from posting your beautiful art!

Even when drawn with the same basic face structure like I did here, it's still very easy to tell who's who, just with the use of colors, hairstyles and facial lines!

Now, for anyone who is wanting to pinpoint what I try to keep consistent in my drawings of the boys, I highlighted the lines I find most important in my drawings of each of them. I try to keep my style slightly cartoony, so I like to exaggerate!

The roundness of Jim's face is what I always try to make the most pronounced in all of my art of him. The contrast to the harsher angles of the faces of Spock and McCoy is one of my favorite things to include in my art. He has a button nose in combination with those apple cheeks, they're my favorite thing about Jim to overexaggerate!

McCoy on the other hand? Give him his TRIANGLES. I try to go for a much more square face when drawing Bones, but for the lines and features within his face we love our good old friend the triangle. That man's eyebrows are pointy, and I love to give him his mouth lines. I like to balance out the sharper lines I draw on his face with the round lines of his hair.

Spock has the bangs, ears and eyebrows that play a great advantage to us, no other bro serves like Spock. While I love the pointy sideburns on all of the boys, Spocks sideburns help me play into the length of his face. He's got a straighter face and straighter nose compared to his human boyfriends. And while he and Bones both have those handsome mouth lines, you can differentiate the shape of the crease to fit their faces! When I'm drawing McCoy's mouth lines, there's more of an angle, I draw Spock's lines straighter, similar to his face and nose.

I hope this might help some of my fanartist brethren out there! Or at the very least give you a little peak into my art process! If anyone finds this helpful and uses it to draw some art, I'd love to see it! The variety of styles and character potrayals I see in all of the Star Trek fanart I browse on here never fails to warm my heart. These goofy little guys never fail to stand out from one another, no matter how they're drawn, and that is just so special to me.

Live long and draw fanart, little gay people in my computer!!! 💛🩵💙🖖

[shjiyemis]

Making a character inspired off Joseph Merrick for a book I'm doing for my art finals so I'm practicing.

It's a lot easier to translate their facial features and adding different emotions to them than I thought it'd be bc Ive never drawn facial structures that aren't considered the norm so I'm quite happy.

The story that the character I'm trying to design is about people who were within a circus freak show.

I'm making a few books calling out the abuses of the circus and their exploitation of minority groups.

---

Tw. Mentioned racism for Charlie bc of his stage name.

Isabelle is inspired off a painting of a bearded woman (whom was in the circus) and breast feeding her baby with her husband in the background. (A woman with PCOS)

Angus is generally inspired off the many real life stories of people with hypertrichosis and having to go into performance to make a living.

Charlie is specifically based off the real story of George and Willie Muse.

The last one (Im still figuring out her name) is generally inspired off the experience of dwarfism and the infantalization of people with it, especially women. Using Jyoti Amge as a main inspiration for her experiences.

---

Some more character designs I did for the other books I'm making for my finals.

[fandom-go-round]

could you do any daycare attendant sun/moon x reader? <3

Warnings: Implied Canon Typical Violence, Implied Child Kidnapping, Mild Unhealthy Attachments (Normal of Fazbear)

            You were really hoping that things weren’t too bad this time. Getting a call in the middle of the day for Sun usually spelled bad news. There were no children screaming at least, so you might have gotten lucky. Or not.

            “H-h-hello friend!” Sun called from the middle of the playscape, long fingers wiggling in your direction. He wasn’t facing you so you could only see half his torse but the way his fingers jerked had you worried.

            “Something’s wrong with the lights.” The day shift security guard, Tom (you think?), gives you a panicked look, not able to look away from Sun completely. He had been the one to call for a mechanic and you had been practically shoved out the door. Tom was right; half of the daycare’s lights were off and on, cutting the playscape almost directly in half.

            “What happened?” You asked, half to calm Tom down and half to figure out what was going on. You walked over to where Sun was, seeing the playmats and half-finished crafts. The lights must have changed during an activity and someone came to get the kids.

            “The Sun was running around playing tag when the lights went out.” Tom was better than some of the other guards at least; he struggled with the whole ‘Sun as a person’ but ‘the Sun’ was better than ‘the robot’. At least Sun agreed with you. “After that he got stuck? Something happened and he can’t get out.”

            You frowned, scanning over the play structure once more. True to Tom, the light was splitting one of the comfy cubes right in half and Sun’s arm was poking out of the hole on the light side. If he got stuck halfway, that was always painful. You winced in sympathy, turning to Tom.

            “Thanks for the info, you’re good to go on break. This is going to take a minute, I’m sure.” Tom nodded at your words, glancing back as Sun spoke up.

            “Oh we’re A ok up here! Yup yup, no help needed!” You shared a look with the security guard, Tom going over to the entrance.

            “Give me a call when you’re finished in here.” Tom called and you gave a thumbs up, not caring that he didn’t see it. Sun continued to protest, voice getting louder the closer you got.

            “I just need to check and make sure your good buddy, nothing too intense.” You did your best to sooth him, walking over to the mesh ladder on the light side of the square. Sun gave a high-pitched whine, telling you that he was no A ok.

            “B-b-b-but it’s dark up here friend! Not good for people, nope nope nope.” Sun’s voice had an edge that normally wasn’t there and you paused, looking up at him. You could actually see his faceplate now and he turned wide eyes towards you. Nothing in his facial expression changed and you gave a determined nod, sliding your toolbox onto your elbow.

            “Are you worried about Moon?” Sun fell silent at your question and you could only hum, climbing the ‘ladder’. It wiggled more than you thought and less than your feared; you would be able to get up there but it would be a pain.

            You and Sun were friends, as much as you could be. You were one of the only techs to treat the animatronics more like people, even if it got you weird looks. Sun liked you because you were willing to come to the Daycare for maintenance instead of the tunnels. There was something else there too, some sort of spark but you didn’t look too hard. It was difficult to tell what Sun was thinking on a good day, let alone a stressed day.

            Sun never responded to your question so you figured the answer was yes. You peeked your head up slowly, trying to appear as non-threatening as possible. Sun’s upper torso was stretched out, hands reaching for the edge of the cube. His lower half was still covered in darkness.

            You could see the gentle glow of stars and moons on navy fabric, one leg curled under the thigh but the other stretched out almost painfully. Now that you were closer you could hear gears grinding, the sound matching with what you were sure was pain.

            “You’re really in a pickle Sun.” Your voice was soothing and his rays drooped around his helm.

            “Y-yes we really are stuck.” His eyes darted towards his extended leg and you, very clearly nervous. You had only met Moon a handful of times and while it was tense, nothing bad ever happened. You knew the rumors of course and you did your best to avoid him but he wasn’t actively hostile.

            You pulled yourself over the edge, sitting back on your knees. It was only with this new angle that you were able to see his foot pinned inside of a tunnel. Sun saw you looking and tried to move his foot, metal grinding louder and leg straining.

            “Hey hey hey! Don’t hurt yourself!” Sun immediately stopped at your scolding, pouting with his rays.  “Let me get back there and I can unhook you.”

            “Oh no no! What if you get stuck? Or the lights change! No can do!” Sun moved faster than you expected, blocking the way to his legs and waving his arms frantically. You leaned back, giving him a concerned look.

            “You would have unhooked yourself already if you could. It hurts to stay half transformed right? Let me help.” Sun’s face froze in front of yours, optics flickering over your face. He was silent for a long moment, making you wonder if he was processing things. Finally, he let out a whine and moved back, careful to not go any deeper into the darkness.

            “Oh fine fine, I can’t watch! Please be careful Sunshine.” You got a little warm at his nickname but ignored it, watching as he covered his face with his hands and started to rock. Well, as much as he could. His lower half was still frozen in place, refusing to budge while his upper half wiggled.

            You wondered if Moon was in control of their lower half, grabbing your tools and moving deeper into the cube. The floor was plush and sank easier under your weight, the puzzles and games on the walls distracting you for only a moment. You crossed into the unlit side of the cube and Sun’s legs tensed, like an animal sensing someone close. Sun let out another whine but didn’t try to stop you.

            It was hard to get a good angle with Sun still trapped in the tunnel but you were able to get close enough without touching. You winced when you saw the extent of the damage; one of the screws in his foot was jammed into a plastic pipe piece, the screw bent and wedging so he couldn’t pull it out without stripping everything.

            “One of your screws is stuck, I’m going to remove it and then get you a new one, ok?” You waited for a response but didn’t get one so you figured it was ok to keep moving. There wasn’t a good angle anywhere so you did the best you could.

            Leaning over Sun’s legs you twisted so you faced the top of the tunnel. Fortunately, the screw head was visible and you began to twist. It took elbow grease to get it moving and your back was already starting to protest the awkward pose. You huffed, half talking to Sun and yourself so that you stayed focused.

            “I have no idea how you bent this Sun, it’s a new one even for you. Hopefully this isn’t going to disconnect anything in your foot, I’m going to have to replace this screw once I get it out of here.” You continued to chat, the screw halfway loose now. You put the screwdriver down, using your fingers for the last half. Sun’s leg shuddered as you brushed against his ankle, the screw finally popping out.

            “Got it!” Your happy cheer was followed by a yelp as Sun’s foot shot past your face, almost slamming into your nose. You heard as he pulled his legs closer and you turned j0ust in time to see him scramble out of the cube.

            You sighed, shaking your head with a smile. Sun was a nervous one but he wasn’t a bad guy. Little weird but you would be too if you had to spend every day in the same building. You crawled back to the entrance of the cube, stretching out your back and making sure you hadn’t pulled anything. Sun’s face popped into the ladder opening, smile wide and static on his face.

            “Thank you, friend! We feel much much MUCH better now!” You smiled at his words, walking over to him.

            “I’m glad that I could-“ The words died in your mouth as Sun leaned forward and placed his mouth on your forehead, a loud ‘mwah!’ coming from his vocalizer. Your face grew warm and something passed over his optics as he looked you over, neither of you saying anything. There was that tension again, something that got the butterflies going in your stomach. Sun flickered off one of his optics in a wink and pulled away, doing a flip and landing back on the floor. You watched him go, brain still trying to restart before you remembered.

            “Sun wait! I need to get you a new screw!” Sun’s only response was laughter and you sighed; now it was time for hide and seek.

[bluegekk0]

how long does it usually take you to draw each character?

My work time is very inconsistent so that can vary, but generally it depends on how often I draw each character.

FPK and Grimm take the shortest time to do, I draw them all the time so I'm used to their proportions (even if I can be a tad inconsistent here), shapes and expressions. Lewk, Asta and Milo are also quite easy to draw, they're mostly just fluffballs with their dads' traits.

Hornet and Holly is where it takes longer. Hornet isn't that bad, though I definitely don't draw her as often so my hand isn't as used to her. Holly is time consuming to draw because of their strange proportions, big head and more complicated horn shape. And their cloak, I still struggle with it. Trying to imagine how it folds in different poses makes my brain overheat.

Zote also takes a longer time. I don't draw him very often, and his facial structure is very different to the others. He has a mostly flat face, which makes drawing him from different angles a bit of a pain. It's definitely easier for me to do that with characters that have pronounced snouts (which is why both Grimm and FPK have those, plus it helps them look even softer). And his horns take some time figuring out, especially from various angles.

It definitely shows which characters I'm absolutely obsessed with, Grimm and FPK usually end up looking the best from the whole cast. I truly wonder why that is.

[iztea]

They still feel off specially the eyes i could feel them about to manifest their own life and run off

Even my linework is ... Idk what's wrong and it's the problem maybe I'm staring too much but I don't think so

Sorry for bothering alot but i loved your last advice ty

i think the main problem with the first picture has to do with the proportions and anatomy of the lower body area aka the neck and shoulders. i'd make the shoulders wider and add some sort of form to the neck so that it looks believable instead of a flat rectangle shape ( maybe make it slimmer a bit too? although that might be just a stylistic choice so you do you). That's the first thing i'd fix because otherwise the head looks too big in comparison to the rest of the body, and it can throw you off

I actually think you did a great job with the eyes, they have a lot of life and that comes from the fact that they are the most rendered part of your piece, which is not a bad thing. The thing is, while it is true that the eyes are the main focal point of a face and portrait in general, that doesn't mean you can neglect the other parts, so i think it is also a consistency issue or not figuring out exactly what sort of style or rendering you want to go with that holds you back (which is totally fine and normal ofc). So let's pick a semi-realistic stylized rendering style for this since this is the vibe i'm getting from this piece.

If that's the style we're going for, then the face should have a bit more form. You have to remember that our facial features ( eyes, nose, lips) are connected with each other via the planes of the face, right? So, for a semirealistic style, revisit your reference and try to idenitify what those planes are and how they connect to those features, and most importantly, where the shadows hit, and just accentuate them more, because at the moment they look like 3rd forms plastered over a 2d surface which is not right, our skin has form as well. Color-wise, don't be afraid to go darker with the shadows, they really make your drawings pop. Without looking at a reference, i'd def add some shadow under the lips, a bit where the lips connect to the nose, under the neck, and in the lower body area.

I'm really trying to avoid the most basic answer which is " practice anatomy !!1! " because everyone can say that however, at the end of the day, this is the main thing the face lacks. And tbvh you don't have to actually know anatomy, you just gotta know some proportions things that make the face look believable enough. I feel like the features are mostly just drawn from the reference without an understanding of the structure behind it. Something tells me that in the reference picture, the person had their head tilted a bit upwards, but here it's kinda flat and the features are just painted without following the motion. Try to draw over your reference picture the vertical and horizontal lines and make up the head shape behind it to figure out the way it is tilting and facing, because the lips, eyes nose, etc will follow that same sort of flow, they're not stationary. I'd also make the eyes a bit smaller, or maybe make the skull bigger bc i think they are touching the outer edge too much now, and also narrow the distance between the nose and lips just a bit. Kinda hard to explain without actually doing it myself. But really, try to play with that, and try getting comfy with drawing 3d forms i know it's easier said than done but..... there really isn't any shortcut unfortunately As for the lineart drawing, yes it's actually pretty solid, i like that duplicate blur thing you did, i'm familiar with that technique and it def has its perks so that's great. Im not an expert on lineart, however here i think there are too many " unnecessary" lines that could easily be omitted (purple). Less is more and all that~ The hair strands at the end feel too stiff and identical (green). If you notice, they all just end in this " V" shape and they rarely overlap thus making the image look flat. Try to break this pattern by introducing more spontaneity aka random hairflies, making the strands overlap, adding more shape variety etc

Make sure that the lines connect properly whenever they meet, and also although you already did it and i think that's great, you can make some lines even thicker, go even further and add even more lineweight. As a general thing, usually, the exterior or contour lines are thicker and whatever it is inside is thinner so experiment with that, you can start from the nose- thicker lines for the nostrils thinner for that nose tip i forgot what it's called and also add thin lines that just hint at the form. Lineart is hardd so i don't blame you, but if you're gonna keep the lineart in, try "shading" with black blocks so to speak, make sure the lineart layer can stand on its own, and pay more attention to the lower part area (neck and shoulders) even if it is less exciting to ink