#thank you arcane for changing my art style i guess

[shaottzang]

Oublie-moi, le pire, c'est toi et moi..

[tizeline]

Your art is so cool!! Can you share you digital art process sometime?

Ask and ye shall receive:

(Also thank you!!😭)

Aight so I have A Few digital art processes due to me being inconsistent and not being able to commit to one thing (I prefer calling it ✨having a creative and curious mind✨ but eh) so my processes are subject to change, but here are my more recent methods of drawing digitally.

First of all, my art software of choice in the last couple of years has been Procreate, with some of my most commonly used brushes being these:

Spectra is my brush of choice when it comes to sketching, I really like the texture and it has a nice feel when it comes to both size and opacity based on pressure.

Next up is lineart, what brushes I use in this stage goes hand in hand with what type of colouring process I'll use. When it comes to drawings with more flat shading (such as cellshading) I'll usually use Narinder Pencil. Again, nice texture, and I like it for situations where I want thinner lines with less variety in line-thickness.

When I use a colouring and shading process that's more complex/fully rendered of whatever tf you call it, I tend to use the Niko Rull or Eaglehawk (first drawing is the Niko Rull, second is Eaglehawk)

They are also the brushes I use for the actual rendering process of this particular colouring style (yeah guess we're going into to colouring stage now)

I have no idea how to describe my actual process on how I render my drawings lmao sorry I guess?? I kinda just improvise and hope it ends up looking decent haha. As you might be able to guess though, I am HEAVILY inspired by Arcane's art style (that show Awakened something in my istg) so uhhhhh go watch other people's tutorials on how to emulate the Arcane art style or smthn I dunno.

I will say though, the rendering process and the final look of the piece ends up being slightly different depending on which brush I use.

Niko Rull is rectangular as a base shape, and it doesn't really shade that easily on it's own. Because of that it takes a while to make the shading look good (trust the process!!) but I really like the end result (textureeeeee)

Eaglehawk is easier to blend and shade with (as in it takes a shorter amount of time) which leads to the end result being more smooth

Back to the drawings that use mainly flat shading! Here I will often use Eaglehawk to add that sweet sweet texture I keep going on about, basically I will just colour the areas that are either darker and/or more saturated (for example the cheeks, nose and ears in the latter case) with what is usually a warmer tone on a layer set to multiply, then I adjust the opacity to my liking.

Then I'll just cellshade using the Medium Hard Airbrush. I like using a cooler tone like blue often (like I did here in this example) but that changes a lot depending on what I think'll fit the art piece. Draw that on a layer set to multiply and again adjust the opacity to whatever looks good.

In the final stages of the drawing process I'll just add a bunch of filters until it looks good lmao. I am Bad At Colour Theory™, even though I KNOW the theory part of it, I have such a hard time actually using it practically. Basically, making the colour palette look good is HARD so I'll just CHEAT by using layers that's filled with a colour (whatever fits) and set it to like multiply or overlay or something like that and lower the opacity a bunch and BOOM people will think I know what I'm doing. One of my favorite is covering the entire drawing with a layer filled with a light blue colour, set that layer to Difference and lower the opacity to like 5%. The effect is subtle, but I like it.

Also, MORE TEXTURE!! Static texture!! Well, in procreate it's called "Noise" but it basically adds this static like texture to your selected layer. Use it on a layer that's filled with gray, set it to overlay lower the opacity a bunch and it gives this really nice grainy feel to your art. The colour filters I tend to use on all my coloured drawings, but the noise texture I mostly use the art with flat shading.

So yeah, sketching - lineart - colour flats - shading/rendering - add a bunch of filters - finished art piece, nothing really unusual there.

And lastly, some extra things I do:

In the lineart stage, I'll colour the sketch like red or something to differentiate between the sketch and lineart more easily.

I'll also lower the opacity of the sketch layer to help avoid accidentally drawing the lines on the same layer as the sketch (iykyk)

When filling in the flats, I'll first use a deep, saturated red or blue, and when I'm done filling in a section then I'll change the colour in that area to what it's actually supposed to be. This makes it easier to notice if there's a spot you missed to fill in because it'll contrast more!

I tend to prefer lineart that isn't pure black in my illustrations. With thinner lines I'll colour them a dark brown, blue, green etc, while with thicker lines I'll do the same but also lower the opacity slightly so that the colour underneath effects the lines colour as well.

You know how some people draw everything on like 1-3 layers? Yeah I'm the opposite, ONE MILLION LAYERS BABEYYYY you can never have too many!! (actually you can there's a limit but eh)

Sometimes, when I need to come up with a pose, I'll try posing in different ways myself to get ideas. I wont take any reference pics of myself tho because yikes

That's all I can think of for now! There's quite a lot to go into when it comes to art processes and I'm not great at explaining things, so if anyone has any questions just ask! :,)

[jusadode-blog]

Juicy, love ya to death but what the heck is this Arcane (????) Thing you've been going off about for a bit now?????

If it were not for the fact I read tags, I would have been confused yet honored by the name Juicy. Hope you’re ready for the long-post of a lifetime mate.

Okay, so “The Arcana” is a free to play visual novel-like game which is pushing out new updates every blue moon for phones with a lot of romance, mystery, danger, and all that fun stuff. This description is gonna focus mostly on the romance since the story is full of spoilers from the get go. There are currently three main possible romances including:

Julian [my beloved~] (male), Asra (who is Nonbinary [I just found that out from the wiki] and uses he/him pronouns), and Nadia (female).

Muriel [my cave husband] (male) has just been added for a chapter, and will likely get plenty of updates soon, and there is another two characters (including another girl) who appear like they will be romancable in due time.

A mechanic I adore is that you can pick your pronouns as he/him, she/her, or they/them as well, and change them and your name at any point in the game without issue.

On the website I used, it says it’s rated 12+ however I would estimate it more appropriate for ages 16+ due to the nature of the usual sexual tones and scenarios.

The story is a LOT to take in, and I’m still wrapping my head around it all.In the first so many chapters: There’s a magical kingdom. Count’s dead, been dead a while and it’s my boyfriend’s fault? Countess wants to kill him, I personally didn’t want to and am making choices against such. Heartbreak and shenanigans ensue (and by shenanigans I mean things I cannot explain without spoiling other things, which would spoil other things, which would…). So far I’m pretty sure I’ve been guessing in the right direction although I’ve been making almost every wrong decision possible this latest chapter I did [whoops].

Which, by the way, YOUR CHOICES MATTER. Characters can die later in the game if you choose too many wrong, as well as may be less likely to befriend you or more likely. There are also two endings in the works, however it seems like it’s pretty easy to change the course of the ending you’re on the path towards as you can just go back in a chapter and change your choices. However, the games mechanics are still a bit hidden behind the curtain as it’s always updating, and some choices repercussions from the first few chapters hasn’t even played out their purpose yet.

MAJOR WARNING! Some choices have time limits! I made a questionable decision in the beginning because I wasn’t expecting it.

The art is so gorgeous, the story is VERY intricate and has so many questions arising each and every tap of a page, and the characters are so delightful I feel a sting in my chest in how some of my choices may affect some others. However, I will comment that I went in almost completely blind and so I had no fucking clue what was going on for a good 5 chapters but just now understood a major plot thing and now I’m dying while waiting for my keys to recharge.

Recharge? Well, here’s the more boring and stressful (but understandable) details:

For each chapter, you must spend a “key” to read it (or reread it). These keys recharge every SEVEN hours, and cannot hold more than three at a time.

There are coins you can earn for free in game through a daily free spin and the “heart hunter” minigame, which are then to unlock bonus content and “buy books” which allows all choices in the book to be unlocked and unlimited rereadings, and you can also buy the coins and keys if you want, but ultimately you neither need them to complete the entire basic story, nor get most of the content. However, it can be quite frustrating as some of the choices are so insanely painful to click the opposition of as the alternative seems rude or even ooc for yourself to click despite not having any repercussions.

You can easily save up coins though with a bit of patience, even though I dropped some of my day 1 freebie coins on a dumb but very much appreciated scenario, I already have saved up about 200/500 coins for a book, so I imagine F2P only players might suffer a bit at first but can still enjoy it entirely. According to their tumblr page @thearcanagame , they are attempting a new method to allow users to get free coins through watching ads willingly, so it may become even easier for F2P only players to enjoy more content [however, if you’ve got the cash and enjoy the game you should support it! the devs are pouring their blood, sweat, and tears into this game man!]

Also, you can replay the prologue at any point! The choices affect later choices still (so be careful going back on your awnsers, as you may miss how such affected things and character development based on such), but that’s always an option.

Now for me to just swoon:

Julian is the biggest fucking edgy dork and I just relate to him so much and have fallen so fucking hard for him man, he’s so stupid yet so sweet? Like this idiot is out here isolating himself with all that “I DON’T WANT YOU TO GET HURT!” nonsense all dramatically and (someone) and I are just ready to beat his ass and take him down from his drama for five minutes to let him know he’s loved and needs to chill. He’s so energetic and fun, and just brings a sort of energy into the room when he arrives and shifts everything onto it’s side where things don’t really need to make sense anymore, as long as it’s dramatic, as long as it’s grandiose, it’s all good.

[But he’s also an idiot so don’t let him get himself fucking killed doing that]. Like, when I first saw the art and stuff of him I poked fun at him myself, but now I would honestly commit treason for this man. I really wanna look into the Asra’s route eventually as well, however his character seems far less relatable to me and somehow even more moody? That might be because I keep picking the wrong fucking choices though.

A final note, I’m trying to prevent this game from becoming my SpIn because there are SO MANY SPOILERS OUT THERE, but it’s obviously already taken over my life and I can’t stop thinking about it and how much I want to continue and all my questions, HOLY SHIT ALL MY QUESTIONS, and also I really don’t know who to trust or even if I shouldn’t trust anyone, as well as just I don’t want anyone to die ;.;

Honestly if you like dating style games, or love mystery games and can handle a nice romance on the side, I highly recommend this game. I’ll give it a 8/10, with the two points marked off mainly because I couldn’t fucking click “Kiss me you fool” on a thing where I fucking 100% would have said that in real life because I HAVE NO MONEY YET.

Thanks for dropping in, hope this answers your questions!

[infinite-xerath]

Regional Magic

So I’ve thought the magic in Runeterra quite a bit lately, and last night I had a bit of a revelation: what if the nature of the arcane itself actually changes from place to place? It might explain some of the differences and slight inconsistencies with how spells seem to work in different areas of the world. Below are my observations about how magic seems to work in different regions of Valoran.))

Shurima: We’ll start with perhaps the most obvious one. Shuriman magic, due to the region being based off of Egypt (and perhaps a few other surrounding nations) appears the most ‘supernatural’ in nature. Now, obviously, magic itself is somewhat supernatural, but Shuriman magic seems to be especially so. Thus-far, Shurima seems to contain the highest number of ‘curses’ we’ve seen in the lore so far; Xerath cursed the queen so she couldn’t have another healthy child, Nasus can curse people to age or “WHITHER!” as he calls it, and Cassiopeia was transformed due to a curse put upon her by the snake statue. There’s also Amumu, who was resurrected through a curse that seems to be different from typical necromancy.

Furthermore, Xerath is revealed to be able to call forth great storms by ‘calling forth spirits in the depths of the desert,’ and Azir is able to resurrect things by manipulating sand. The magic of Shurima certainly seems to take a lot of inspiration from the Egyptian aesthetic it was based on.

Ionia: Now let’s look at an example of magic that is perhaps the most contrary to the others. Ionian magic seems to be rather spiritual in nature; the most obvious example of this is Karma, who quite literally wields the power of her spirit, an ability she apparently gained through ‘enlightenment.’ Of course, there are other examples, such as Shen, who wields magic in the form of his spirit blade used to combat demons, and Zed, who summons shadows born of an unknown power he stole from his master. Yasuo can manipulate the wind, but he does so in a matter quite obviously different to how Janna does it, using his sword to stir up the air around him. Irelia controls blades through sheer will, and characters like Yi can heal themselves or move at immense speeds through sheer concentration.

Ultimately, Ionians seem to harness magic through their martial arts, developing fighting styles based around their power, and using it more to compliment their skills in other areas rather than focus heavily on magecraft (Syndra being the obvious big, floating exception.)

Noxus: This one’s a little trickier, since Noxian magic doesn’t seem to have an obvious theme at first when looking at its mage characters (Swain, LeBlanc, Vladimir, etc.) However, it can certainly be said Noxians are known to use magic that would be rather deadly on the battlefield, such as necromancy to raise up defeated soldiers, blood magic to sap their enemies’ vitality, or rune magic to strengthen their weapons (see Riven.) LeBlanc’s illusion magic could make it easy to disorient the enemy and confuse them, and Swain... Well, he’s getting a rework soon, so I’ll leave him alone for now.

As a whole, Noxian magecraft appears to have evolved primarily to be useful in combat and warfare, and they’re willing to harness whatever dark or immoral powers they deem fit for the sake of victory. After-all, the Black Rose is apparently harboring tons of artifacts from the Shadow Isles, thanks to Elise.

Demacia: Needless to say, Demacia doesn’t have much in the way of magecraft, since they’re a nation founded on the idea of fearing magic. They use things like petricite to dampen magical powers, or Demacian steel to ward of the undead. The only real examples of characters with a somewhat arcane nature in Demacia are Lux (the only real mage we know of in the nation), Poppy (her hammer is enchanted), and Galio (he’s made of petricite, but can come to life when he absorbs magic for some reason.) It’s tough to really narrow down a theme, but there are two possibilities to discuss:

First is the obvious idea of elemental magic, which is, of course, primarily made obvious by Lux and her affinity for wielding light magic. Of course, there’s her skin which has her wielding several elements as well, but seeing as how that’s not entirely canon, we can’t really rely on it too much. The other possibility is that, just as Noxian magic has evolved to be aggressive and brutal on the battlefield (as expected from a nation of conquerors), Demacian magic might be centered more around protection and defense. After-all, Poppy’s hammer can only be wielded by a true hero who stands up for justice (supposedly), and Galio’s job is literally protecting people from enemy mages. This would fit well with the theme of Demacia seeing themselves as the Vanguard of Valoran, after-all.

Freljord: Now this one is probably the hardest to get a firm grasp on. The only true ‘mage’ character from the Freljord is Lissandra, who wields the power of her corrupted True Ice. Indeed, perhaps one could argue that True Ice is simply the over-all basis for magic in the Freljord, since plenty of people seem to enchant their weapons with the stuff. However, if one looks closer, one can see an almost shamanistic style of magic-wielding from the northerners, even if it’s scattered somewhat loosely. Sejuani and Olaf both received prophecies from seers, which could be false, but we know that seers are at least a thing in Valoran thanks to Malzahar’s lore. There’s also Gregor, whose spirit is bound to the Howling Abyss, surrounded by large stone tablets with markings on them.

Last but not least is Udyr, who can call upon the power an ancient spirits; a skill that he, in-part, learned to harness on a trip to Ionia. One could also bring up the Primordials (Ornn, Volibear and Anivia), however they seem to be more along the lines of ‘embodiments of natural forces’ rather than full-on magic users.

Bandle: Alright, there’s a lot about Yordles that still hasn’t been revealed to us just yet, so I’ll refrain from touching on this one too much. All I’ll say is that their magic is blatantly styled after faeries, with their glamours (which may or may not be partially science-based?), and of course Lulu’s whimsical, nonsensical spells. I’ll wait until Riot gets to revamping Bandle’s lore properly before saying anymore.

Targon: And finally, let’s examine the last major location on Runeterra with a heavily magical presence: Mount Targon. Needless to say, though the ordinary mountain dwellers don’t seem to have much in the way of magical skill, the beings that reside at Targon’s peak (and beyond), wield magic that is very-much celestial in nature. They can harness the power of the sun (Solari), moon (Lunari), the stars (Taric and the Protector), and... Uh... War, I guess? IDK Pantheon’s the odd one out, not having an obvious space theme, but he has a star dragon at his beck and call, so... That sorta counts, right? Anyways, yeah, Targon seems to harness the power of the cosmos itself when channeling magic.

So yes, it seems that magic and how it’s wielded by mages actually evolves differently depending on different regions and environments, much like how humans do. Each area of Valoran seems to have its own unique set of rules for how spells can operate, which might explain why you don’t see Noxians conjuring up storms, despite how powerful such an ability could be (you’d think somewhat else would have figured it out after Xerath), or Freljordians incorporating a touch of magic into their fighting styles like the Ionians do, despite both seeming somewhat spiritual in nature.