#testing out art programs with my new laptop!

[starswirly]

Ink -> Comyet

Ink aka my favorite drawing test subject :]

[self-indulgent-paw-patrol]

Yes, the picture is actually small, not sorry about that, I wasn't even going to really finish the sketch tbh buuuuuuut something stronger than me made me at least half-ass it out - something also known as "gotta try my new laptop"

No, really, this is the very first picture I worked on as soon as I installed my Wacom and got my art programs, to test them out if everything was working fine XD

@zumaandrockypupsfanatic will be the one who's gonna like to finally see this "accidental nose boop" art finished too XD

[greenhorn-art]

World Champions | Artwork for World Champions by TheDefenestrator by TheDefenestrator, art by Blurb_brain

Fandom: The King's Avatar | 全��高手

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Category: Gen

Words: 71 944

At the end of season 4 of the Glory Pro Alliance, the government finally receives the information it has been waiting for: The other players have caught up. Or, In which Glory has been a government recruitment ploy for remote-piloted mecha operators all along.

About the Book

FONTS: Mundo Serif, Azonix [dafont], Segoe UI Symbol

IMAGES: Illustration by Blurb_brain [AO3]; cover image by NASA ID: 440611 [Rawpixel]; Planet Earth background ID: 6331593 [Rawpixel]; Circuit lines background ID: 3117935 [Rawpixel]; endpapers' image by Eric Eastman [Unsplash]; Swoksaar, Desert Dust, Lord Grim, Vaccaria, and Cloud Piercer [The King's Avatar Wikia]

MATERIALS: regular printer paper (8.5"x11", 96 bright, 20lb), 80pt bookboard, Iris Bookcloth (colour: Black Pearl), Neenah cardstock (8.5"x11", bright white, 65lb), waxed linen thread (white, 30/3 size), embroidery floss (shades 3750, 350, 3845, 370), leather cording (1.9mm diameter), Reeves’ acrylic paint (Mars Black, Phthalo Blue, Titanum White), Americana acrylic paint (glow in the dark), ph neutral pva glue (Books by Hand)

PROGRAMS USED: Typeset in Affinity Publisher, cover/title page/endpapers designed in Affinity Designer/Photo, QR codes generated with LibreOffice Writer, PDF arranged for printing with Bookbinder-JS

BINDING STYLE: quarto, case bound (slightly rounded, with oxford hollow, forgot to use tapes)

.

Fenes' "Glory's tech isn't handwaved" AU. This was great! Funny and creative, and I'm both amazed and full of admiration for Fenes' ability to juggle so many characters.

I was feeling excited and ambitious with this one. Tried some new fun things (double core endbands, painted edges) and used some new equipment (a lying press).

The Text

TITLE/HEADINGS FONT: Azonix says 'SciFi' to me, it's a bold, non-serif, sleek font.

BODY FONT: Mundo Serif, it's a decent serif body font I haven't used before. Felt like it worked with Azonix.

SCENE BREAKS: a special character in Segoe UI Symbol of a black & white icon of Earth, the globe showing Asia.

TYPESETTING: Finished typesetting the fic, left document open on my laptop, laptop's battery failed, file now crashes immediately upon reopening, issue persists with copied versions of file (；￣Д￣) . Thankfully I had a backup file for the typeset with the barebones of the text, so I didn't have to restart from scratch...

Title Page

My thinking: it takes place in space, the world's at stake, and it's the dawn of a new horizon for Earth. Glory and the titular champions are represented by Swoksaar, Desert Dust, Lord Grim, Vaccaria, and Cloud Piercer – the captains of what I'd call the 'big 5' teams. A circuitry board background element hints at the tech/mecha nature of the story's competition. It may not match Blurb's art, but I hope I was able to convey some of what the story is about.

The circuitry image is used as decoration throughout the book. I only used the avatars of the top five teams' captains because too many silhouettes would lessen their impact and readability. (Removing the backgrounds was tedious, but worth it.)

Here's what it should have looked like. The test prints for this and the BB art were fine, but I think my inkjet started running out of ink just when I printed the final copies and I didn't reprint them. (Too impatient, really wanted to finish up and read the book)

The Cover

World Champions is another Big Bang fic, and once again I based some of my design choices off of the accompanying artwork. The dominant colours of Blurb_brain's illustration are red and blue-green.

COVER PAPER: For the decorative cover material I used NASA's ASTER image of Poyang Lake. NASA has some really interesting photography some of which remind me of marbled paper, thought it could be interesting. I chose this image of Poyang Lake because 1) it's in China, 2) the colours were similar to Blurb's awesome illustration (fate strikes again, dropping matching images and artwork into my lap!), and 3) NASA is tangentially relevant to the fic, which takes place in space.

BOOKCLOTH: Verona bookcloth in the shade Black Pearl, a lovely dark navy blue colour. Thought it suited the cover paper and title page. (Bought it for this fic specifically, but the colour goes well with almost all of my decorative papers so it should see a lot of use in the future!)

Endpapers

The final decision that held this project at a standstill for two months. In the end I drew inspiration from the matchups against the final opponent in the story. The image I used is a little chaotic and a little too unrelated to identify why I picked it without an explanation, but this book is for me and I know why, so there. (Note that I played around with the colours and cropped the photo.)

Endpaper inspiration: the maps for the matches against the Infilhites

"a long bridge through an enormous tube-like hall, where light seem to come from every side through stained glass windows. It was visually confusing, limited lateral motion" "a warehouse, crates stacked on and beside metal racks that went all the way to the ceiling." "a house of mirrors, fully enclosed to be sure the Infhillte couldn’t fly out of it." "like a volcano, rivers of lava moving sluggishly down a slope, occasional vents of overheated air nearby." "a series of overlapping bridges between halls and stairways, level after level layered over an open abyss."

Trimming & Painting the Edges

Going all out, a 2-for1 deal: the opportunity to use my lying press for the first time and learn a new technique!

TRIMMING: Used a paring chisel and lying press.

CHISEL: The 1.25" wide paring chisel I used was form a modern manufacturer. (Vintage paring chisels are very thin, enough so that you can bend/flex the blade. But don't do that.) It's long and wide blade made it easier to register against the surface of the press for consistent cuts. Looks like this one below from Lee Valley.

LYING PRESS: My dad's project. Solid black walnut, hand carved screws and internal threads — he even made the tools to make the threads too! The jaws of the press are each 3 7/8" wide. It's big and heavy (though much smaller than full-sized professional ones omg), but there's enough of a flat surface to register the chisel against. A thicc boi, much like this one below from Bookbinding Supplies.

PAINTED EDGES: The idea was to have dark navy edges, speckled with white stars. I used acrylic from a tube to paint the edges — tutorials recommended it over liquid bottled acrylic, and I had an old set hanging around. Had to water it down because otherwise the paint just flaked off.

My test of trimming and painting went well. Then the trimmed book itself came out slightly crooked, the paint required significantly more watering-down than before, and the white paint did not want to be both opaque and speckle-able. Unfortunate, but still book-shaped! And now I have an idea of what to do differently next time.

Also, did not like the glow-in-the-dark paint. Looked too translucent in the light when compared to the white acrylic, and needed a thicker coat to be visible in the dark. (The thickness combined with the translucence and base colour kinda reminded me of boogers... Ended up scrapping most of it off, so there's not much left to glow.)

Endbands

Still in the mood to have fun and go all-out, I attempted double-core endbands for the first time.

TUTORIAL: YouTube @ BookbindersChronicle: Bookbinding 101 Sewing Headbands Session 2. Also watched @ DAS Bookbinding's Double-Core Endband // Adventures in Bookbinding, but I personally found Chronicle's closeup video easier to follow.

I used embroidery floss from a 100pk of assorted colours off Amazon, wrapped around a core of 1.9mm leather cording from Michaels. I drew from Blurb_brain's art for the general colours, choosing a dark base, with red, blue-green, and gold. The specific shades were picked to go with the cover.

[crabsnpersimmons]

Hello there!

I'd like to know your advice on drawing tablets?

As in, what do you use for your digital art? Is there any you suggest?

I'm planning on getting one, but there are so many options, and I'd like to know your opinion and preference.

Thank you ^^

hi anon! thanks for the question!

i draw with a samsung galaxy tab s7!

BUT if this is your first time drawing digitally, then it's a good idea to test out if you like it with cheaper options first (so you don't drop a whole lot of money on a hobby/medium of art you don't enjoy)

some suggestions:

if you have a smart phone, try drawing with your finger using free to use drawing apps like ibispaint X or HiPaint (i recommend HiPaint cuz the UI is a lot simpler and less overwhelming, but both have a good selection of tools. i wanna say ibispaint has better text tools tho and there's A LOT more tutorials and resources online) drawing digitally with your finger is different from drawing digitally with a pen AND drawing traditionally, but this is a good way to familiarize yourself with digital art tools. a very simple entry point if you already have a smart phone.

if you don't want to draw with your finger (understandable, i personally couldn't stand it) you can try simple drawing tablets, which are the tablets that you plug into your computer/laptop, come with a pen, but they don't have a screen you draw directly on. they're actually a lot more affordable nowadays (i saw some for under $50 CAD, which is WILD), so that’s a good starting option if you want to draw with a pen. with a pen, you have more control with line weights than you do with your finger, but it takes practice to get used to. it also takes some getting use to drawing on a tablet and looking at your monitor, but this is where i started haha. i still have my old bamboo wacom create drawing tablet. but nowadays, other brands like xp-pen and huion are very comparable to wacom, so definitely consider getting a cheaper one to try out first. of course, if you go with a drawing tablet, you'll need an art program on your computer. i've used photoshop and clip studio paint and they're very good, but probably overwhelming for people who are new to digital art (they are loaded with tools and you have to really familiarize yourself with the menus and everything). there are probably simpler options available... but i'm not as familiar with them. oh wait, i think there are some drawing tablets that can also connect with your smart phone too nowadays. man, that's so cool. that's probably a better option instead of purchasing photoshop or clip studio paint right off the bat.

if you REALLY want a screen display experience, try a cheaper general tablet. iPads are a popular option if you're comfortable with the Apple ecosystem (i'm not 😅) but they can be pricey PLUS you have to buy the Apple pen separately. for Android, I'm pretty sure even the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 is a solid choice and it comes with a pen unlike an iPad. the SPen is built with Wacom tech, so you know it's quality. and while iPad has Procreate, HiPaint is available for Android and it's basically a Procreate clone (i explain more about HiPaint here) otherwise, ibisPaint X is also good and infinite painter is probably the most sophisticated free to use drawing app i've encountered (sophisticated as in it does a pretty good job at imitating traditional media in their brushes. it's cool, but the free version is very limited).

also if you like watching videos, Brad Colbow and Teoh on Tech on YouTube are great resources. they specifically review tech from an artist's perspective.

why i suggest testing it out is because if you're used to drawing traditionally, then switching to digital is a different experience. some artists can't get used to drawing digitally, and that's fine. that's why it's a good idea to test it out with a cheaper option first to see if you like it and to give yourself time to familiarize yourself with drawing apps/programs. i actually kinda hated drawing digitally at first. i didn't have the same level of control that i was used to with drawing traditionally. and overtime i made a lot of bad habits with my digital art that i had to unlearn by switching back to traditional art for a couple years (some bad habits like: relying on the Undo button to make "perfect" lines; trying to draw really fast because the pen glides over the screen unlike a pencil has friction against paper) so... give it a try and just let yourself have fun. don't worry about making anything perfect, just have fun!

[arcadekitten]

With the new year on the horizon and 10 completed games under my belt, I thought it might be fun to go through some projects that didn't make the cut and I ended up shelving for one reason or another! (It's only like, 2 of 'em but still)

The first is a game about Theodore and Zapara. While Tricks N Treats was my first finished + published RPGmaker game, I originally started testing things out with RPGM shortly after Cemetery Mary's release. The following game was meant to take place in the CM universe.

It was my first time using RPGMaker & it shows. It was also being made in VXAce, hence why proportions are so different from all my current projects. VXace uses 32x32 tiles whereas MV + above use 48x48. Trying to work within these limitations was a bit tricky for me

The (gif) footage you see above is all that exists of the game now(I didn't even screen record LOL). Back when my old laptop kicked it the files for this game went with it and I never cared to back them up. I don't consider it a hard loss though as by that point I had already moved on to bigger more polished projects and I didn't see myself returning to it any time soon(or at all).

The plot of the game was that Theo woke up in the night to hear Zapara leaving their apartment. When he goes to look for and finds her, she seems to want to avoid going back to the apartment for reasons she won't share. By the end of the game she confesses that she had a really realistic nightmare and she's scared if she goes back it will come true. Theo reassures her that he would never let her nightmare happen in reality, and so the two go back together. In the morning, we see Crowven texting them. They're making plans to go out to a club, when Crowven asks if his cousin can come along--tying it into CM.

I think if I made this game, it would've been cute, and maybe I'll even do something with the premise for a larger game, but I don't see myself trying to start this as a solo project again.

The next game that was shelved from when I was learning Unity & Adventure Creator. Patrons had seen previews it! I started this game as a tool to help me learn the programs, and it got shelved when I felt it was no longer teaching me but instead adding weight to my back.

Unlike the previous game, this is a game I COULD see myself starting again--probably using the same method I'm using for WISHMAKER in RPGM. This game is called "Dreary Elaine", and it's a bit interesting!

(ignore the reference PNG of Elaine here HAHA) This game, like WISHMAKER, is a point-and-click adventure game, where you play as the titular Elaine as she delivers party invitations to her neighbors.

The thing that makes Dreary Elaine interesting is that it is actually an offshoot of my other work! Mary Anta is a character that exists in the fictional world of Noisrev. Dreary Elaine is Mary's favorite childhood book series. A fictional world within a fictional world!

As I said above, this is a game that has the potential to come back one day--I'm just not currently sure when. But exploring the Elaine-verse is something that always appeals to me and who knows! Maybe I'll represent it more in my work going forward.

I think that's all for now? I hope it was fun to read through and I'm excited to have more (finished) games and art for you soon! ❤️

[wowwowokay2]

Writers Retreat

It has all the amenities that that you could want in a writers retreat. It was located in a beautiful rural location, but wasn't too far from the city. Mackenzie Quick needed to get out of her tiny apartment, she had had serious writers block for the past five months, and finally a spot had opened up at this writers retreat.

Amplus Resort was basically an all inclusive resort, with all services provided as part of the fee. And, if Mackenzie stayed for longer than three months, her fee would decrease. Not that she intended to stay longer than three months. She just needed to get past this block, she might only stay a couple of weeks.

The car pulls up to the entrance and her bags are collected. She is led into the lobby and approaches the front desk. A young man with light hair and round face greets her. He hands her brochure filled with all the included amenities, schedules for various programs and a map. Mackenzie notes the bowl of candies at the desk and thanks him, heading to the elevator. It opens and she notes the large size of it, it appeared to be an industrial size. She goes up to her room on the second floor, and is amazed by her room. A king size bed, a huge desk, and multiple chairs for reclining.

She hops onto the bed and opens the brochure. All meals included with breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert being served 24 hours a day, including all you can eat buffet, (I probably won't need that), swimming pool, spa including massage services, three theatre rooms, (interesting), an option for free unlimited room service, free clothing provided if her existing clothes became damaged in any way, (useful, but I don't see myself needing that), a wide variety of art and cooking classes, meditation, yoga, hypnosis for relaxation, (I might try that) and a large flower and vegetable garden, as well as an orchard.

A knock on her door and a resort employee rolls in a cart covered in food and drink. It's complimentary, she'd told. She snacks on some trail mix and swishes back some water.

That evening she heads down to the dining hall. She is taken aback by the sheer scale of the buffet. A man in a tight shirt accenting his soft form bumps into her. He apologizes, you new here? Yes, she says, I just arrived today. They take good care of you here, he says, I am almost finished my novel, more than 500 pages. Mackenzie congratulates him. Don't skip out on the buffet, he adds, it's usually better than the plated meals, and he walks off.

Taking his advice, Mackenzie scans the massive buffet. She chooses a few items, and sits to eat. It's so much better than the sandwiches and ramen she had been living off of at home. She returns for seconds, deciding to indulge a little. After finishing she sees a dessert cart being rolled in. A key lime tart is placed in front of her, she starts to protest, but the waiter has already moved on. She takes a small bite and simply can't resist, eating the whole tart. Heavily bloated and sleepy, she heads back to her room.

When she enters, she finds the cart with food and drink on it has been refreshed. She falls onto her bed goes to sleep. She awakens in the middle of the night, two o'clock in the morning. Her stomach growls angrily. Mackenzie lays there for a moment, trying to remember last night. Suddenly, a spark of inspiration hits her, and she leaps up and pulls out her laptop. Sitting at the desk, she begins testing different write ups. Her stomach growls again, and she looks to the snack cart. There is an entire package of two-bite brownies, she grabs one, and takes a bite. She takes another and head back to her desk, typing more. Soon both the brownies are gone, but her mouth craves something to coat her mouth as she writes. She grabs the whole tub of brownies and places on her desk, (obviously I won't eat them all).

Over the next two and half hours Mackenzie types and chews, types and chews. Her stomach begins to feel tighter and tighter, but she's on a hot streak writing. She reaches for another brownie, only to rattle the empty plastic tub. She looks and sees that she managed to eat all the brownies, and at that point she truly feels how full she is. Her computer is covered in crumbs and grease prints. She saves her writing and heads back to bed, falling into a deep slumber.

The next day she doesn't wake up until almost eleven in the morning. She has a quick shower and exits her room. Across the hall a slightly soft woman is also exiting her room. They greet each other, the woman, Zara Townsend, is writing a cookbook, and she sometimes hosts the cooking classes here. She invites Mackenzie, despite her insistence that she is no cook. I can teach anyone to appreciate cooking, Zara tells her. The two of them head down to the dining hall and to eat together. Zara suggests Mackenzie try this breakfast burrito, also this doughnut, those hashbrowns are real good, too.

Once seated Mackenzie starts to work on her far-too-large breakfast. I'll maybe take some back to my room, she says, brain food for writing. She returns to her room with two donuts and some sausages, only to find her snack cart topped off yet again. And now a microwave and mini fridge have been added to her room. I sure ain't going to go hungry here, she muses.

~~~~

As the days pass and Mackenzie continues to hash out her book, she explores the grounds of Amplus Resort more. She notes that there are tables with food in every room, even in the hallways. Some include fruit from the resort's orchard, others are bowls of chocolates, candies and chips. She samples them as she strolls past. She is surprised at how much writing she has managed to get done being so stuffed full of rich, delicious food all the time. Maybe I just needed to treat myself a bit so I could get back into the swing of things, she ponders.

However, that same evening her mind simply stops working. She sits stiffly at her computer, mind blank, for hours. Her stomach roars several times and she tries to ignore it, trying to will herself to get out a few sentences, but she cannot. She glances at the clock, almost eight in the evening, and she hadn't eaten since lunch. Frustrated, she slams her laptop shut and thumps her way to the dining hall.

Most nights she would try to go for a balanced meal, but with her mood sour, she wanted some form of comfort. She found all her favourites, and overfilled her plate. As she put her plate down, a few french fries tumbled off the edge onto the table, and she quickly picked them up and dipped them into gravy and began to eat. Fries, fish sticks, pizza, cream corn, chicken wings, there wasn't a spot of green on that plate. She ate with a fury, a frustration at herself. I was doing so good at writing, she thought as she ripped into her fourth chicken wing, how did I loose all momentum? Her stomach was beginning to scream but she wasn't done yet. The food was starting to help calm her, she was slowing down, breathing more steadily. Not thinking, she waved over the dessert cart and asked for two large slices of cake to be delivered to her room. As she finished she saw the gravy container still rather full on her plate. She picked it up and drank from it, licking the edges. She belched, it echoing across the dining hall. Mackenzie reddened, suddenly coming to, and glanced nervously around. No one was looking at her, but she still rushed out of the dining hall. Just as she was leaving, she heard another writer belch.

Returning to her room she found the two huge slices of cake she ordered. She moaned and instead reclined in one of the chairs. She shimmied out of her pants and lifted up her shirt. She looked pregnant with her swollen gut, tight and taut from the very bottom to the top by her sternum. Mackenzie dozed off and napped for a couple of hours, before waking just before midnight. The slices of cake were still there. She wanted to be disgusted with herself, but instead her mouth watered and panties got wet. She got up and brought the plate over, reclining back in the chair. She slowly savoured the cake, frosting melting in her mouth. After she was done, she went off bed.

~~~~

For the next week Mackenzie didn't write at all. She tried to, sitting at her desk, typing a few, poorly thought out sentences. She stayed in her sweatpants and a baggy t-shirt, trying to chew the thoughts out her her with chips, apples, and buffet food. One day for lunch Zara sat with her again in the dining hall. Zara recommended the hypnosis to relax. You are trying too hard to force yourself to write, she said, you need to just do something that comes naturally to you, it helped me. Mackenzie nodded as she dipped her second pita into tzatziki. I guess I could try it, she said.

That evening Mackenzie made her way to the hypnotist. She was slightly nervous. The hypnotist welcomed her warmly to her office, and asked her what her goals and intentions were. She explained and they started. The hypnotist asked Mackenzie what made her stressed, trying to make sure she wrote something good, and she asked her what made her feel relaxed, and the first thing she said was food. What kind of food? Just about anything, but carbs were the best. Care to be more specific? Buttery bread, desserts, cookies, brownies, anything made with potatoes.

The hypnotist asked her to release all tension in her body, and Mackenzie did. The hypnotist asked Mackenzie to feel her body with her hands and thank it for taking care of her. Mackenzie rubbed her hands over her body, lingering on her stomach and hips for a moment, feeling some extra flesh there. But it didn't worry her. The session ended and Mackenzie felt simply serene. She thanked the hypnotist and exited the office. In the hallway there was a bowl of candy coated chocolates. Mackenzie grabbed a handful and put it in her mouth. As she chewed and crunched, she picked up the bowl and went back to her room with it.

~~~~

Mackenzie sheepishly asked for a larger pair of pants from the resort staff, it seems mine have shrunk, she said. Both she and the staff knew she was lying, her pants hadn't shrunk at all, her waistline had just grown. Nonetheless, Mackenzie was provided with pants, free of charge, as well as shirts. She was still struggling with her writers block a week after seeing the hypnotist, but she was trying to be more gentle about it. She would sit outside in the garden, sipping some pop, listening to the birds. She went to the small theatres, and washed down popcorn and nachos with iced tea as she watched the wide selection of films there.

She observed the cooking class that Zara hosted, and helped Zara in finishing off the leftovers. You are a good cook, Mackenzie told Zara as she polished off the butter chicken from that day's class. You are good at eating, Zara replied, rubbing her hand on Mackenzie's stomach, pressed tight against her too small shirt. Mackenzie flushed and mumbled a thanks, while also saying something about heading to the swimming pool. She hadn't been yet in the almost three weeks she had been at Amplus Resort.

Back in her room, Mackenzie changed into her bikini and the toll of eating so richly became undeniably clear to her. She had the clear beginnings of a round muffin top, her belly button seemed deeper, her thighs and ass were widening. Her breasts were on the edge of being too large for her top, wobbling along with the rest of her body. She looked straight down, she couldn't see her knees anymore. She shouldn't be shocked, but she underestimated the softness that had accumulated on her body. Her heart was racing as she rubbed and pinched at her body fat. She pinched her hips with her fingers, and first one, then two, three, her whole hand digging deeply into her plush.

A knock on her door startled her, and she hurried to open it. It was Zara, wrapped in a shawl. Zara's eyes dipped down when Mackenzie opened the door, taking in her bare waist. I think I'm getting a little fat, Mackenzie said casually. Zara chuckled, you're not fat at all, your stomach just sticks out a bit.

The two of them head down to the pool and wade lazily in the water for a while before drying off and heading for dinner. Zara lends Mackenzie a stylish shawl so they don't have to change and go straight to the dining hall. Mackenzie fills her plate with goodness and begins to devour it. She was just swimming, needs to get back those calories. Occasionally, Zara offers Mackenzie a taste of her food. She delivers it to her mouth with her fork or spoon. Try this soup, try this beef, want a breadstick? And Mackenzie accepts, giving reviews to all her tastings. She has just finished off her plate when an idea for writing pops into her head. She quickly gets to her feet, asks Zara to order her some dessert to her room and she rushes to the elevator.

Jogging to the elevator, she feels her heavy stomach slosh and bound, and she has to slow down and support it with one hand. If she wasn't wearing bikini bottoms, she probably would have stopped eating earlier. And I just ordered dessert?

Back in her room, Mackenzie takes off the shawl and places it on a chair. She grabs her laptop and reclines on her bed, placing in on her lap. Her stomach is creeping up onto the the bottom of her laptop, holding it in place. She gets to writing immediately, typing away. A while later a soft knock sounds at her door. She finishes off her sentence and carefully gets up, almost waddling to the door. Zara is there with a platter of assorted cookies, easily two dozen, and Mackenzie can smell them. Freshly baked, Zara says, still warm.

Mackenzie lets Zara inside, grabbing a salted caramel cookie and instantly chewing on it. She thanks Zara, points her to her shawl and returns to her bed to write. She reclines a bit more, bending her knees slightly. Zara asks if she can stay and watch Mackenzie write, Mackenzie puzzles at this, but sees that Zara is also offering her another cookie. She finishes the salted caramel one and takes the double chocolate chip one from Zara. Oh, she knows what she's doing, Mackenzie thinks to herself. She agrees and Zara sits in one of the chairs nearest to the bed, proffering cookies every time Mackenzie finishes one. Her keyboard is again greased and crumbed, but she is on a roll writing. She accepts every cookie offered to her, pausing to belch, and keeps typing.

Finally she asks Zara for a tissue and wipes off her keyboard and hands, saving her writing for the night. She cradles her distended stomach. A few weeks ago when she ate too much, it was merely rock hard, now there was a bit more than a hint of pudge overlaying it. Zara says goodnight for the evening and leave. On the desk, twelve more cookies remain. Mackenzie makes a mental note for breakfast.

~~~~

Mackenzie ate more frequently with Zara, and invited her over when she got inspired and in a writing mood to provide her with encouragement, (partially) and snacks, (mostly). Her waistline continued to widen, but she didn't mind. She enjoyed feeling herself, she never spent time before just laying there, caressing her body, being enamored by it. Now she did everyday. She wrote sitting in her bed more often now than at her desk. It was becoming difficult though, her tummy covering the touchpad would sometimes click it, so she had to lock it.

She was eating way more than she was writing at this retreat, but it still felt like a huge accomplishment.

Eventually, after a total of three months at the resort, she finished her novel and sent it off to her editors. To celebrate, she had a meal with Zara and few other writers in the dining hall. As they laughed and feasted, Mackenzie felt the weight of her stomach pooling on her upper thighs. She let out a hearty laugh and felt her whole body bounce. She wasn't sure how many tacos she had eaten at this point but it didn't matter to her. She was asked what she was going to do now that she had finished her novel. Mackenzie cautioned them that her editors could still ask her to change things, and that she had just paid to stay another whole month, since after staying three months at Amplus, the price to stay goes down.

A few days later Mackenzie received word from her editor, her book only needed minor tweaks, but that wasn't the big news. The publishing company wanted to make it into a series, probably a trilogy, but maybe longer. Mackenzie was thrilled, and goes to tell Zara. Zara congratulates her, but she says she needs to leave the resort soon. Her father's wife, her step mother was sick, so she was going to support them both. Mackenzie hugged her, thanking her for being such a good friend. They promise to keep in touch. In touch? Mackenzie laughs, jiggling her belly a bit, this touch too? Zara lightens up a bit, smiling.

A few days later, Zara leaves, but not before having a massive lunch with Mackenzie. Mackenzie is starting her sixth quesadilla when Zara finishes her second. She's stuffed, she says. Mackenzie chews and raises her eyebrows. Zara chuckles again, the happy sound echoing through the dining hall.

The two say their goodbyes, and Mackenzie heads back to her room. Her snack cart has been freshly topped off with pretzels, cookies, grapes, and pop. She takes a double chocolate cookie, despite her fullness, and takes a bite in honour of her friend. She caresses her butterball of a stomach and begins to think of a sequel to her novel.

I wonder how long it will take to write here, she ponders, I wonder how much bigger I'll get trying to write.

[diy-fire-water-pups]

(( It's 2am. We worked on a test to remove my laptop's HD and switch it for a small-storage SSD from a friend's fried laptop. It worked. But the capacity is VERY small. I'll need to buy a new SSD and a SD card too, both for installing/running programs I need (and games, ofc, I wanna get back at livestreaming on Twitch at some point) and for files storage.

I don't want to sound like a beggar or whatever, far from that, but my odd job as an English and Informatics/Computing teacher has quite a low pay, so it would take me months saving small amounts until I can buy these things... On the other side, whoever can buy an art commission from me will help immensely to reach this goal faster! If you can't buy, maybe share around when I post announcing commissions on my other blogs ( @self-indulgent-paw-patrol and @larytello ), maybe your reblog will have these posts reach someone who would be interested, so you'll be helping too!

I'm going to sleep now, I'm exhausted. Today is Independence Day here in Brasil so I won't go teach my Saturday class as usual. Nah man, I'm gonna SLEEP. And then when I wake up I'll prepare some basic programs I need to work and get to it immediately.

On a last quick note, there are still a bunch asks from the last two weeks or so that the pups still didn't get to answer them, either because I don't know how to go about them or because I still was too busy and/or feeling awful to work on the replies at all. If you sent something and it wasn't answered yet, it'll be answered at some point, you don't need to send again, I got like two or three questions being sent again because the pups didn't answer the first time yet. Don't worry, we'll get there. Eventually. There were a couple I just filtered off and deleted, gotta admit that too XD But still, yeah.

See you guys later 💜 Lary out for some rest. ))

[blondeaxolotl]

Do you think Clip Studio is worth the payments? ( asking for a friend/j ) And do the pros outway the cons or is it the other way around? Also, do you use custom brushes? And one last question.. Do you just draw on your laptop? Like, do you use a mouse, touchscreen or maybe a drawing tablet?

I've never seen anybody ask these questions and I'm curious, you don't have to answer though! Have a bagel 🥯🤲 and if you don't like bagels... 🥪🤲 Have a sammich.. and.. if you don't like either uhmm- Have a whole damn cake 🎂🤲 happy birthday [/silly], or hell, take all three! Have a wonderful day ❤️ [/gen]

Do you think Clip Studio is worth the payments?: When it comes to payments, I think it's always better to get it when it's on sale (which do come every now and then), it is a onetime payment and it's better to get it when the price is as low as it can be For pros and cons, the biggest pro of the program is you can get new brushes, blenders, erasers, tools, etc (anything that will help you with drawing easier) from the programs own little assets store (and majority of the brushes are free to download). And it's also easy to import brushes you get from other places (ex: you buy a brush from Kofi made by another artist). Meaning you have options in CSP's own brush store, and also other places on the internet, you aren't stuck with just using the default brushes you're given when you start the program That's the biggest pro to me, besides that you have everything else that comes with your average art program,

I will also mention that clipstudio also has it's own 3D modeler program, like you can import 3D figures and use them as your reference if you can't find one on pinterest. Though I've haven't used it myself so I do not know how easy it is or what the features are, so I can't comment much.

I think the last biggest pro is that if you program crashes (not often, but the chances are never low unfortunately), clip studio will restore your drawing for you and your drawing won't be sent to the shadow realm meaning you don't lose progress. I compare it to dropping your phone and you slowly pick it up out of fear that theres a crack in it only to find out oh there's not one it's fine.

Now for the cons, the biggest is the definitely the price, which is why I recommend getting it while it's on sale while it's at it's lowest. The program is insanely pricey. I also recommend the PRO ver instead of the EX ver. The PRO ver is cheaper and it's main focus is illustrations which is all you need if you're only planning on drawing. The EX ver is both for drawing and animation, while you can still animate on the PRO ver, it limits you insanely, like you can only make 25 second long animations and refuses to let you do more unless you pay for the EX ver. Now I have the EX ver and I'm learning animation, I will say Clip Studio's animation set up and layout is very confusing and tedious to beginners (I had to watch a good amount of tutorials to understand the features and everything), I believe some people compared it to animating on Photoshop, so if you haven't animated on Photoshop before, good luck. I'd say just use another animation program for animating (Flipaclip, ibispaint etc), the only reason why I'm sticking to animating to ClipStudio is because I'm stubborn and don't like switching programs. Clip Studio also has a free trial feature (which I believe lasts for 3 months), now this is good yes, but the problem is that the program refuses you to save your drawings with the free trial. I don't know if this was changed or not since it's been a while when I used the free trial, but if you want to get a hang of the program and test it out, there is a free trial, just be aware that it won't let you save your progress at all which is bull.

Those are my pros and cons, I have a lot more pros than cons but I tried to sum it up as best as I could. It's really your choice to decide if the program is worth it or not (again there is a free trial, and if you do plan on buying it, get it while it's on sale) The assets store with all the downloadable brushes is my biggest pro, but I'm aware other programs like IbisPaint also have that. I think that's all I have to say now for ClipStudio, i've yapped alot gulps.

---- do you use custom brushes?:

A good handful of the brushes I use are brushes I bought from other artists:

These brushes from PharanBrush on Kofi , I'm someone who likes to experiment with alot of brushes, so I often download/buy from other artists (I also have no self control). The EnpitsuP set comes with 100 brushes, alot I know, but your options are endless. The Krupuk set comes with 160 brushes, and alot of them are similar to like copic markers but for digital art. And the last one is BōrupenP sets, these are free and mimic school supplies, if you miss the feeling of drawing on your school books with pens, this one is also neat (plus it's free) Another brushpack I have is Cole's Pencil Pack , it comes with 19 brushes, of all kinds of taste and texture. I use this set alot, especially the "Cream Sketch 2" pencil as it's fun for lineart or sketching.

(Can you tell I like supporting artists) next set I have is Brush Box Vol.1 Markers by Olguioo this set mimics the feel of traditional art and even has a brush that makes your canvas look like paper!! It's very neat

Now of course I do have brushes that are free from the assets store, like these, which you can easily find by searching up their content ID codes:

Ofc there's more, but these are just some I use which I find neat!

---- Do you just draw on your laptop? Like, do you use a mouse, touchscreen or maybe a drawing tablet?:

I use a laptop and a drawing tablet! I specifically use the VEIKK Studio VK1200 pen display, my brother bought me it as a birthday gift this year, but before I had that one, I used the beginners One by Wacom tablet for like 4 years or more, I still use it sometimes, but only when i'm on vacation somewhere I can't bring my main one

OKAY I think that's about everything!!! Very long post so apologies if there are any typos or misspells or repeats! And thank you for the food, in return I will share the food with you because sharing is caring (ALSO if anyone elses wants to add something like other pros or cons about ClipStudio, or other brushes or anything like that, please feel free to leave it in the replies!!!)

[codeandcanvas]

Today, I decided to get a few things together, and tested out working with my tablet* by picking up a copy of Grünberger’s “Analog Algorithm” we have lying around in Mannheim and, well, working with it (you can see the work in progress on my Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/p/C8KhRwxCn0J/

After a few issues with storing and naming the files I worked with (and I am still pretty sure that I didn’t get the permutations right), I posted the screenshots to my Instagram account, while remembering that this was not the first time I worked with this particular book.

Switching back to my laptop, I looked for the files from last time, and especially from when they they were.

Boy, was I surprised to see their date: 22nd of June, 2022. Two years ago, bachelor’s thesis between those files and now, if I may. I am consistent in my summer endeavours.

And I had this smile on my face. How awesome is that? You just continue from where you left off. No deletion, no destruction, just a continuation of your own process, at your own pace.

As part of my explorative investigations into design as program(me), I’m also investing time into Karl Gerstner’s “Designing Programmes”, as well as an aside and, for later, Christian Büning’s “Zirkeltraining für die Augen”, a book which will hopefully allow me to improve my visual design acuity at first glance, which I value as very important for an art director.

Link list of the books mentioned:

Get “Analog Algorithm” from slanted, Lars Müller Publishing, or from Amazon Read more about Analog Algorithm on its dedicated website, https://analog-algorithm.com/

Get the “Designing Programmes” 1967 edition from archive.org, Amazon, and from Lars Müller Publishing There is also a new reprint of this book, which you can find here, https://haraldgeisler.com/books/ in English, German, and French, bien sûr!

Get “Zirkeltraining für die Augen” from Werkstoff Verlag, or from Amazon.

Link list of the people mentioned

Christoph Grünberger’s Linktree

Karl Gerstner’s estate Website

Christian Büning’s studio Website

*Adobe Illustrator is sluggish on my tablet, while making me angry with how file storage works for these poor ports of the excellent desktop app

[plushie-lovey]

My datemate just got a new laptop, and his very first drawing tablet. This is one of the pics he drew while testing out some art programs

[sinsays]

Big Announcement

Now that I’m starting to get my stuff, I figure now would be a good time to finally let everyone know what’s going on.

Remember that customer survey I did a while back? Well this relates to that.

So for a while now I’ve been working with Vocational Rehabilitation to potentially get the support I need to take the next steps in my career (basically starting my own business officially). To do this, I needed to go through a program one of their branches had. I needed to explain my business plan, talk about what experience I had, the challenges I face, strengths, and what were my start-up costs.

The biggest obstacle I was facing was that I did not have a computer that could handle the kind of things I wanted to do. I wanted to be able to: Do 3D modelling, be able to offer 3D model commissions, do more advanced animations, offer animation commissions, livestream art and gaming, spend more time making videos for my youtube (without having to spend way too long rendering the videos with how slow my laptop is), make Vtuber models, offer Vtuber model commissions, create video games, and so on.

I went through the process with Voc Rehab. I had to do a lot of meetings and fill out a lot of paperwork. I worked really hard to prove that with Voc Rehab’s help I would have everything I’d need to succeed with my business. 

With everything said and done, all the paperwork sent in, all I had to do then was just wait to see if I’d be approved. Well, I was approved. They would help me get the equipment I needed to take the next steps with my business. All the start-up costs were approved, they’d help me with that.

So then I had a specialist in ergonomics come over to look at my set up and figure out what I’d need to be able to do my job comfortably and have the right equipment to succeed as well. The person that came by was very tech savvy so he knew what I was talking about when it came to streaming, gaming, and digital art. Once he figured out what I’d need, he then made a report to recommend equipment to Voc Rehab- which was all approved by my counselor there.

When I had initially asked for equipment in my start-up costs, I was modest. I didn’t ask for anything crazy, just what I knew I needed and could work with to succeed.

Ergonomics went beyond that to absolutely make sure I had every single thing I needed to succeed in this career. He looked at the gaming pc I picked out and went “This would be the minimum needed for streaming, let’s get you better specs.” so they’re picking out a pc that is better than what I picked out. He looked at what I had for drawing digital art and decided I needed a screen drawing tablet. Then of course there was all the usual ergonomic gear such as a custom chair, desk, keyboard, mouse, etc. They really wanted to make sure I had everything I needed and I’ve never felt so seen and understood before when it comes to recognizing my physical limitations and my career.

So, with all the gear approved, I then had to wait for them to get everything and once they have it all- they’ll come over and set everything up for me. I have been given a couple things so far that Voc Rehab was in charge of, so I currently have a new phone. Potentially next week I’ll be getting everything else.

Once I have everything, I’ll be taking some time to test and figure everything out. But then, I’m going to be able to do sooo much. I’ve been held back for so long, and now I’ll have everything to hit the ground running. I’ll have a lot of work to do ahead of me, but I’m so excited for it.

TL;DR- For the past, idk, couple years? I’ve been going through a process with Vocational Rehabilitation to be approved in getting support for all the start-up costs to officially start my business. I have been approved. I’ll be getting a full on Content Creator/Gaming/Livestreaming set up. Expect to see big things from me in the near future.

[crowfonder]

New Art setup! I finally saved enough for a new laptop and I hooked up my art tablet to it, i'm using an art program im unfamiliar with so were still testing things out lol

[kinosansart]

My personal views on art software as a hobby artist

So lol the next art post is text based.

But considering this is my art account and art related I figured that this post should go on this art blog.

But aware these are my own views and other artist views may vary.

Ok I swear I'll try to upload some art on this blog soon!

So what I look for in a art program (free or paid) when I draw stuff

For colored illustrations

Be able to draw straight into the program or process lineart from tranditional media well

To be able to fill color with the bucket tool on different layers with ease

To be easily blend/render coloring

For manga/comic panels

Make panels easily

Apply tone easily

Have a lot of free use/references/assets (ie backgrounds) to be able to be used

Have a good text insert tool

General

Be able to transfer illustrations back and forth easily (ie from ipad to laptop)

Have a good basis of tools, ie brushes, line tool.

Bonus points if they have a good intergrated soical media platform.

So I was going to go through some art software (free and paid) that I currently use for my illustrations, go through some postives and negatives.

Before that..

Software I am not mentioning

Photoshop (because I think it's too difficult to render plus I mostly use it to alter image sizes)

Gimp (never used)

Krita (Never used)

Sketchbook (hardly used)

Many other programs I don't mention

Medibang Paint (Mobile + Desktop, Free + paid)

I feel like this program does'nt really get a lot of attention. It's free and always requires so many "updates" but it's a program I use a lot currently. Mostly on ipad I use this program.

Positives

Really easy to draw on and simple to color on

Bucket tool is the best in this program works on every layer

The text tool IS AMAZING to use (I use it currently for my fancomics)

My artwork looks really bright and colorful when I finish coloring on this app

Negatives

The uploading on to their soical media platfrom is bad

Cloud upload is a little slow/glitchy

Text tool needs online/internet to work

The desktop version is not as good as ipad version

Not good for drawing manga/comics

When online, ads are really annoying

Color blending/rendering is not really good apart from using the watercolor brush

Even though there's so many things I don't like about this software. I USE THIS PROGRAM A LOT. I think it's been 3-5 years snice I've used this program up to this day. Still very under-rated this program is.

IbisPaint X (mostly mobile but there is desktop, free + paid)

The "alternative" to procreate for android users. I don't see many users talk about this program neither.

Positives

AMAZING for manga/comic drawing. It's my current default program to draw my fancomics right now

Screentone layer is amazing

Really good bucket tool, works on different layers

Good resources/assets for manga/comic creation

Negatives

A pain to transfer files back and fourth, snice this program is mobile exculsive (unless you pay for desktop)

It's not really good to do colored illustrations on (no good blending tools, no dual colors can be used)

Text tool is not good.

A new program I came across and I honestly was SO IMPRESSED with the manga tools that I bought the ad free version. I honestly recommend this program for manga/comic creation over clip studio paint.

Procreate (paid and on ipad only)

Speaking about Procreate I have it! I also don't use it as much as Medibang + Ibispaint lol. I honestly think procreate is over-rated.

Positives

Animation is the most simple and easy to use (I did my own test animations on them)

Good customisation with brushes

Good blending tool

I like the timelaspe function

Amazing color palette creation

Negative

THE AUTOFILL/BUCKET SUCKS BAD (the main reason I hate drawing on this app, every drawing I do I have to color in manually like a 5 year old and it takes me ages to finish a drawing on this app)

For some reason every drawing I do on this app my colors are dull and washed out compared to medibang

Transfering files back and forth is a pain as well

I mostly don't use procreate because for me the bucket tool NEVER works on my lineart (even setting reference on the layer) which results on me keeping the drawing simple because I have to manually color every section myself. I don't understand why it's so popular. I rather use medibang than procreate for my drawings.

In my view apart from it's animation features it's not really worth the price. Considering I bought it and hardly use it.

Paper by WeTransfer (Free + paid, on ipad only)

I BARELY see any artists use this app, I think I might be the only person who uses this app lol. It's got good/bad features and I still use this app for rough ideas/doodles

Positives

AMAZING organisation of art (can make unlimited journals with pages to add to them)

Can hold unlimited art pieces, don't have to name files.

Good color mixing/color picking

Takes little space on your device so I hold all of my doodles in here

Negatives

Barely/never updates

Outdated/limited tools

BAD AT MAKING FINISHED COLOR PIECES OR EVEN COMICS

NO LAYERS

Color palette is REALLY BAD

washed out/dull look when doodles are finished

So because I DRAW A LOT, I use this app to draw rough doodles/ideas. I mostly use it as a art reference for my OC designs or dumb doodles like the one above. But yeah I understand why it's not popular, no layers is like art mode HARD. But I enjoy drawing on it.

Clip studio paint (mobile and desktop ,paid + limited free?)

I recently got this program because I heard so much about it from soical media. So..I acutally think this program is over-rated lol!

Positives

AMAZING for colour illustrations, bucket tool is great, color picker good, great blender/render

MASSIVE online/asset resources the most I've seen so far

My finished drawings look bright and colorful and just as good as medibang

Negatives

You have to pay monthly for ipad version/ newer version (which I don't have)

I don't think this program is good for manga/comic drawing (restricted screentone layer, limited material layer, bad text tool)

I am disapointed with the manga creator, I think it's BAD! I can't FIGURE how to add panel or even draw on a manga page, I had an headache trying to figure out the way screentone works. I personally think Ibispaint is WAY more simple and better program to create manga than CSP.

But I understand why it's good and worth paying for. The blending tools are amazing as well as resources/assets. I have yet to test the animation feature.

Programs I don't use much/anymore

Paint Tool Sai (paid, desktop only)

A program that existed before procreate or clip studio got popular

Positives

Working Bucket tool

Good blending tools

Amazing color palette creation

Negatives

limited assets/resources

only good for colored illustrations

I honestly did use paint tool sai for a number of years before moving on to medibang. I think this program is good, but it felt outdated as I moved on to other art software.

Overall

I just wanted to say this is my own view and so please don't get angry lol. I mean every artist is different and have their own program they like to use. This is from my own view.

I am not saying to use medibang more and use procreate less. It's just in my view sometimes I don't see why certain programs are more popular than others.

Don't take this as advice on what art program to use either. I don't know just use the one you like.

[lizhly]

If you haven't figured it out already, what's your specific issue? I might be able to help (I had similar problems when I first started using csp, I was so confused for ages lmao 😭)

thank you for asking!!! i was having issues importing workspaces and features. i think i've got it ironed out (drag and drop into the program), though i would like to know how to import without needing to drag and drop...

now, i need to go for a test run of my new settings yet and see which shortcuts i'm missing. i would have said i didn't use any shortcuts three months ago, but then my absolute first run of it had me just sort of floundering because nothing was where i was used to and it turned out that i used some buttons on my pen and a touch function on my tablet that i just don't have anymore.

i got hit with a new laptop, new update of art program, and new tablet all at once, so... learning curve.

[acrosstimeandspace]

just because i wasn’t able to draw pride art for pride art doesn’t mean i won’t draw some pride art! :3c

[bamsara]

Half IT here, how long have you had Arson? and I would make sure the fans are actually working and not just making funny sounds that sound like they're working- maybe keep an eye on the battery inside in case it starts to expand or anything (or replace if its really old)

And my ps4 overheats, but i just have wooden blocks under its four corners to keep heat from trapping under it. Maybe a similar set up could help?

This is he:

I've had him for a few years now, about 4+ ish I think?

Lets walk over to the power settings real quick-whoops, accidently unplugged Arson from the wall /j

It says 2 minutes Arson can't survive but maybe 30 seconds max. Do not suggest replaceing the battery, please, I have tried everything in my power to get one.

Dell has discontinued my laptop's battery and would rather me trade it in for 1/8th of the price I paid for it to get a new laptop, and the only other alteranate part I could find has been out of stock for 11 months. I'm mad about it and made like 50 posts about how technology isn't meant to last anymore and big companies bank on it but alas.

anyway

The fans work fine, they're not making any noise and they respond just fine when I change the settings, and automatically if I run something intensive, and I've cleaned them so there's no dust.

Take a look at temp core:

Everything looks good now. I was going to run skyrim or something intensive like what I use daily, like art programs or stream labs, or even calmly writer, but I don't want to deal with a hotter keyboard at the moment lkdhgslkdgs. Twitch stream chat sometimes gets to view the tempcore live and watch the numbers, and it's pretty funny.

I usually get a notifciation if it gets too hot and will shut off to protect the system, so I shut it down or use ice/fridge trick and it works.

Also I know it's a joke but Arson really DOES work as a pretty good heater in winter months. The back of the laptop is basically a big vent that pumps out hot air.

Sometimes he crashes randomlybut thats,,fine. Dell's hardware tests dont bring up anything I don't already know and I have a SDD and extra internal harddrive thats a Terabytes worth so it's not storage

(I have money put back for a new laptop when this shell yeets, since it's slowly deterioating, so it'll be fine when it does as long as my art and stuff is backed up)