#the only thing i lost was the clip studio file

[blondeaxolotl]

You guys are getting these small unfinished close ups of a flojami drawing I was working on before my laptop bluescreen'ed and killed the clip studio file so unfortunately it's never getting finished 💔💔💔💔💔

[sanchoyo]

left my tablet to charge overnight so I could draw stuff for art fight this afternoon when I get done with work, and it was still dead when I got up?? I think its a charger problem, ive had this one since I got the tablet so. might be time to replace it. the good news is that it uses a c charger and thats the same one my switch uses so im just using that one to charge it. and its working! verrry very slowly for some reason :')

[nymphrasis]

I do look forward to finishing my art queue! After a month with working on a new art program, Clip Studio PRO, I feel comfortable working with this program and hope to do intro art on my @ask-the-abomination blog nwn. Oh! And two other things, which is emotes for @ask-the-edge-of-evolution and a more refined headshots for @ask-the-tale-of-kingdoms ( Which was why neither had been updated yet. Because I want to better with their art nwn. That and, from March to May 11th, my computer was having issues where it could no longer turn on. April I brought it to get fixed in the computer shop and was waiting for a month to finally get my computer back >-<". I lost Paint Tool SAI files. So, because I dont have the journal for the free download anymore and, since its been 8 years with using only SAI, I've felt that I should try a new art program nwn. Hence CSP! ). So any art you see uploaded here after May 11th, are art pieces I made on Clip Studio PRO <3.

[bartholomewillustrated]

Hey! I just realized I completely forgot to update you on what I'm working on!

now me not posting for long periods is pretty normal but this time it's a bit different because I'm actually working on a Big Project instead of just... Staring Blankly At An Empty Clip Studio Document.

Which is what I'm usually doing.

I've talked about it on my main blog a bit but basically: after finding them tucked away in a folder a few weeks ago and just Having Some Feelings about them, I'm re-writing and re-illustrating the first 15-odd pages of the webcomic I tried to start when I was 13.

Now called Dragon's Daughter (because I no longer have the original title, or the original script, because lost the original digital files of the pages somewhere in the last decade and a half) It is/was a Fantasy Epic about a young princess on a quest that will, with all hope, keep her world from falling to Pieces.

When I'm done the thumbnails like you see above I'll carve out some time to do some fun sketches/illustrations of Laz and Karl, or other OC things who knows what fancy I'll be stricken by. But in the mean time this is where I'm at! Sorry for only talking about it on Main sdfghsds

[hollowsart]

My reviews of free art apps I'm testing on my phone:

NOTE: These are based on my preferences and opinions. I don't use a lot of apps and tend to stick to just 1. Please do not use this as a basis for whether or not you yourself should get the apps, it is best if you test them out yourself as they may be beneficial or even different for you and your set up.

Medibang Paint: 8/10 (not uninstalling, keeping for the files)

it was a 10/10 but then they updated and now it's not as great. lost another point when it started bugging out. Otherwise the app is extremely good. zooming, the image is still crisp, the strokes may be pixels, but I don't mind it. the UI is very clean and clear. you can see and understand the icons for each button and tool, easy access to everything you need + you are able to customize the brush settings and get some fun and unique textures out of it. it's super user and beginner friendly without the need for a "tutorial" to hold your hand in figuring out what things do and what they are.

I would gladly accept suggestions for free drawing apps similar to Medibang. or any cheap app that may cost money, because if Medibang refuses to behave, I may need to make a decision that I really would rather not make.

Ibis Paint X: 1/10

confusing UI. doesn't matter the DPI, you zoom in and every brush stroke is extremely blurry for some reason and that really messes with my eyes. extremely tedious to figure out, you would need to spend an extensive amount of time trying to find everything to understand the app. this app is like the opposite of Medibang. Even with the tutorial holding your hand to figure out what is what and where, it is still extremely confusing and unclear.

Autodesk Sketchbook: 2/10 (used to use you on kindle)

nothing like how it was on my kindle. on an older phone of mine it lagged so bad and had a different type of overall UI setup going for it, but I was able to at least draw something on that one despite the ungodly lag. this one? just as bad and unclear as Ibis Paint X, except the tools and settings are not scattered on the screen. you have to click an unclear button to find the brushes to change them and then another unclear button to customize them. the quality of the strokes are just about the same as Ibis Paint X in that they are extremely blurry.

Infinite Painter: 3/10

the UI is still sparse. a tutorial is shown telling you what is what and overall less tools visible than the previous 2 apps, this is unfortunate. However, the brushes are not blurry, but are pixelated like Medibang. a slight odd latency when making a stroke, not something I'm fond of, personally, but the selection of brushes aren't too bad, I suppose. Not for me tho. got distracted playing with the brushes and textures, but I don't think I'll be drawing anything. I would say if you're not put off by things here, you could probably get used to this and enjoy it. definitely better than the others listed besides Medibang.

the brush collage:

Clip Studio Paint: 1/10

first time trying this one out. took the longest to install. it takes a weirdly long time to start up?? definitely not a great first impression here. too clicky and sticky with the rotation, tedious to navigate to do anything. wow this app is not great. it looks horrible with the UI, too. clean screens are not good. it's off-putting. also it is by default recording me draw??? the heck? seems to be only 1 brush option, little to no actual customization of the brush. no clue where the layers were if there were any at all. overall?

Sketchbook Lite: 0/10

immediate ads. forces you into an ad that says 'start free trial then pay $14.99 a month uwu' instant hate. stroke quality is blurred, UI is WAY too empty. I like the dark mode, but YIKES. you exit out of the app for a sec and then back in and you are smacked in the face with the same invasive ads as you started out with. you are NOT getting my money that I do not even have to begin with. instant uninstall.

[halfbit]

hey! this is chance & here’s this week’s prompt. what websites or resources do you use while you write or develop a character/story? what do you think of them and would you recommend them?

hiya chance! thanks for the ask! also i went way too detailedwith this one again, sorry adsajfhdks.

i included links to every resource i listed that is either free or freemium, aside from one's that are on most people's computers by default.

i've tried out a lot of different stuff over the years — i don't have wi-fi so i have strong preference for offline programs and tools! so the majority of these are kept on your computer.

my main tool right now is obsidian — prior to that i used quoll writer, joplin, and plain old notepad (yeah...) though, and i haven't finished transferring and reformatting everything yet ^^. i only reopen quoll now though to look at my old notes. i highly recommend obsidian, it's so much fun once you figure it out and highly responsive. quoll is useful too but i had some issues with it, including the occasional lost content, random crash, and just general slowness.

i use obsidian for keeping all of my brainstorming together, backing up my discord rambles, outlining plots, and organizing my worldbuilding and character profiles. i also sometimes write short stories or little one-off scenes in it.

a sample of my obsidian setup for serpent's quest + a different obsidian setup i have for another project that is. a bit too cheesy and embarrassing to share.

i do dabble in conlanging for serpent's quest! originally i kept all my words in a notepad file, but i ended up downloading polyglot to help keep things organized and make it easy to generate new vocabulary offline! i keep formatted notes on my conlangs in libre office (which is also what i use to write my longer stuff). i also use polyglot to generate names and organize their meanings/origins when i'm stuck!

my polyglot system for names specificially!

on occasion i use twine, but usually for specific things like family trees, timelines, or connecting my universe together. however i recently figured out how to do this with obsidian too so i'm probably gonna move that part over to obsidian as well (obsidian is great yall)

a section of one of my family trees done in twine

some adjacent resources i use include:

clip studio + concepts + physical sketchbook for art & visual brainstorming. i also designed the conlang script in clip studio. i find concepts is really useful for getting rough visual ideas out quickly, although it runs a bit slow on my computer. it's a lot less polished than clip studio, but that kind of takes the pressure off and makes it easier to just experiment. it's like using ms paint but with slightly better tools.

some rough ideas i drafted using concepts!

sometimes i also use it for "hand-written" digital notes, which is super helpful for brainstorming ideas

-

allusion + pureref for visual references. you could definitely use these to store moodboards too if you wanted to have some inspiration on screen while you write or brainstorm, although i haven't done that myself though. also might be good for reference images of the setting, so you know what the place looks like. pureref lets you keep things on the screen, whereas allusion allows you to create custom tags and folders for your reference images, making it easy to find them and plop them into pureref when you need them.

this is my allusion set up! i mostly got it because i had way too many references for pureref to keep up with, i still need to go through and tag everything properly, but if you're just gonna use it for keeping moodboards or character sheets organized i think it can be super useful (and offline!)

websites i use when developing things or generating inspiration include tvtropes, wikipedia, findmypast (for old newspapers) and ofc youtube and tumblr.

when i'm developing a story or character, i like to go through tv tropes and see the different archetypes and how different works have subverted or played them straight. i almost always walk away with an idea i want to explore or flip on its head.

wikipedia is great to use as a starting point. i usually try to go through the sources and see if i can find more in depth stuff that way, or use the names it mentions to see if i can get more. i also use it to check if my names make sense if i'm pulling them from a real culture. i tend not to worry as much about the meaning being accurate, i'm more concerned with whether it makes sense for a 40 year old to be named dillian. so i usually double check the wikipedia page for a name and look at the notable people with that name, what country they're from, and what years they were born in.

i found findmypast while i was doing research for adigore, but i can see it being immensely useful (and very entertaining) for general research. it has an immense amount of newspapers you can read and search by keywords. you can't access all of them, but you can access enough that it doesn't really matter.

with youtube i love it for more casual idea acquisition! i'll sometimes listen to videos about worldbuilding or writing in the background during work. i definitely prefer it as a well of ideas or worldbuilding zone rather than a "writing advice" corner, all of these things are hugely influenced by one's own opinions, but i think you can still walk away with some cool stuff regardless (or a better idea of what doesn't work for you!)

here's a few specific channels i've been enjoying lately.

the grungeon master - explores and questions fantasy tropes and ideas, usually done in the context of d&d, but i've found the discussions to be highly transferrable to general fantasy as well

kaz rowe - modern and medieval history, culture and historical misconceptions, a gold mine if you're doing any type of writing at all regarding the victorian period as well, and also just entertaining in general. often explores media (especially queer) in a historical and cultural context too!

localscriptman - from the perspective of a screenwriter, i've found the writing advice to be very helpful especially if you sometimes need more bluntly delivered ideas. this won't be for everyone but i feel like if it is for you it'll just work.

and for tumblr well, it's all of yall! sharing cool stuff, and stumbling upon cool blogs and the recommendations they give. a treasure trove of resources and knowledge! thank you.

god why did this get so long. why did i spend so much time on this. i could have just done a bulletpoint list. i am so good at answering simple questions. aaaaaa haha </3

[pathos-p]

"Weirdly Specific Artist Ask Game" but i got tagged in it so i am gonna answer all of them 'cause theyre fun

questions by @/i-like-eyes

thanks for the tag @king-chook!! ^^

1. Art programs you have but don't use

i thiiink i have a license for clip studio paint that came with my old wacom tablet but i never rly used it. also used to have krita installed for the longest time but just always felt off to me idk why. don't currently have it installed anymore tho

2. Is it easier to draw someone facing left or right (or forward even)

to their right is a bit easier i think. not smth i consciously notice, mostly i'm just thinking abt when im doodling on the margins of stuff they usually are looking to the left of the page

3. What ideas come from when you were little

uhhh idk tbh, i dont think much of my art draws from that

4. Fav character/subject that's a bitch to draw

cityscapes !!! i love cities they r so pretty and cool looking but goddamn theyre so hard to draw

5. Estimate of how much of your art you post online vs. the art you keep for yourself

80-20? i post everything that i finish. basically the only stuff that doesnt get posted is sketches i give up on

6. Anything that might inspire you subconsciously (i.e. this horse wasn't supposed to look like the Last Unicorn but I see it)

hmmmm not that i can think of rn...

7. A medium of art you don't work in but appreciate

watercolour !! i've tried it a few times and Struggled but i love seeing ppl's work in it

8. What's an old project idea that you've lost interest in

so many animatics ..................... also many comic ideas ..................... i get so many ideas that i just never start on or start and only do a little before losing the hyperfocus/fixation and just Cannot continue them. it sucks

9. What are your file name conventions

usually the character name, maybe a bit of description of what theyre doing... idk not much of a convention to it

10. Favorite piece of clothing to draw

hmm i like jackets :)

11. Do you listen to anything while drawing? If so, what

yes, usually music. sometimes random youtube videos like stream highlights or video essays.

12. Easiest part of body to draw

uhhh hair? maybe idk. hard question bc it varied a lot depending on what kinda style and just. sometimes smth is hard in a particular drawing then easy later idk

13. A creator who you admire but whose work isn't your thing

i cant think of anything i will edit it in if i think of anyone

14. Any favorite motifs

in my drawings i dont feel like i use any much. mostly i pull motifs from whatever im doing fanart of lol. in music, i like religious motifs (but not like. ones abt christ or bible stories, rather heaven, hell, god/divinity, angels)

15. *Where* do you draw (don't drop your ip address this just means do you doodle at a park or smth)

at home pretty much exclusively. in bed lol

16. Something you are good at but don't really have fun doing

idk i feel like the stuff im better at is the stuff i like bc i practice it more for fun lol

17. Do you eat/drink when drawing? if so, what

not usually

18. An estimate of how much art supplies you've broken

surprisingly little. mostly bc i do more digital art lol

19. Favorite inanimate objects to draw (food, nature, etc.)

weapons and nature. especially ice for nature

20. Something everyone else finds hard to draw but you enjoy

i cant think of anything ill add it if i do

21. Art styles nothing like your own but you like anyways

i love rougher styles, like ones with a lot of visible brushstrokes and bold lines and shit. so cool. idk how to make it look good lol i dont have the confidence in my lines for it

22. What physical exercises do you do before drawing, if any

none... probably i should change that

23. Do you use different layer modes

yeah, often i use a multiple layer for shading then a variety to colour adjust at the end

24. Do your references include stock images

sometimes

25. Something your art has been compared to that you were NOT inspired by

cant think of any

26. What's a piece that got a wildly different interpretation from what you intended

there was this poem i wrote about capitalism and how shit it is and someone thought it was abt interpersonal relationships/smth along the lines of a breakup. i rly didnt mind it tho i thought it was cool bc the emotion was not far off, the sense of betrayal and abandonment. just a very very different subject

27. Do you warm up before getting to the good stuff? If so, what is it you draw to warm up with

no lol

28. Any art events you have participated in the past (like zines)

i ran a zine (digital only) for the dimension 20 zine jam! and also made art+writing for others in that :D also was part of a polygon yt fanzine a while back

29. Media you love, but doesn't inspire you artistically

spider-man (not the MCU, mostly tasm and a few of the comics)

30. What piece of yours do you think is underrated

IS IT BAD TO SAY A PIECE THAT GOT QUITE A BIT OF POSITIVE ATTENTION ?? maybe

i rly like the cj comic i did i am genuinely so goddamn happy with the result so . even tho it did very well by the standards for the fandom its for and my current follower base it is underrated

alternatively this one https://www.tumblr.com/pathos-p/704380503765221377/tridential-sovereignty?source=share bc it didnt get all that much attention on any social media site but i think its cool !!

(mostly only using recent ones bc i dont wanna dig back further esp onto my old twt acct, too much work lol)

[emeritiii]

Heck do all the asks

I had two more cups of coffee while working on these and my nervous system is undergoing a transformation

1. Art programs you have but don't use

I bought Clip Studio Paint on sale but still haven't dragged myself over the learning curve. I also have FireAlpaca downloaded and only use that for cropping images.

2. Is it easier to draw someone facing left or right (or forward even)

I find forward the easiest! Left and right are about the same for me, but I also do a lot of canvas-flipping, and about half the time the angle I start drawing is not the angle I end up with.

3. What ideas come from when you were little

Project-wise? I still kick around character designs from when I was a kid. In general, I think the brightest constant is that I do pretty much exclusively character art and not scenery, still life, or real-world living subjects because all my ideas are related to fiction.

4. Fav character/subject that's a bitch to draw

I love monsters and extremely complex character designs, but they're hell on my stamina.

5. Estimate of how much of your art you post online vs. the art you keep for yourself

Right now, I post maybe ten percent of my art? Most of it is just for me or for one other person.

6. Anything that might inspire you subconsciously (i.e. this horse wasn't supposed to look like the Last Unicorn but I see it)

I guarantee there are still remnants of anime influence in my art, since anime and manga were what really cemented my identity as an "artist" (insofar as I can cal myself one, which is probably up for debate). One bit of evidence that comes to mind is my love of like... knockoff chibis? I don't think I can call them chibis, but funky lil guys.

7. A medium of art you don't work in but appreciate

*Watercolor.* My sister works mainly with watercolor and it's something I have never been able to grasp.

8. What's an old project idea that you've lost interest in

At some point I wanted to make a collection of group pictures with the main characters from all of my comfort stories.

9. What are your file name conventions

You need to see the thumbnail if you're going to have any idea what the file contains. I drew a three-part series of doodles and the filenames are "BEE," "too," and "tree." I'm also fond of variations on "HELP" and "ohno."

10. Favorite piece of clothing to draw

Tailcoats or long, flowy dresses

11. Do you listen to anything while drawing? If so, what

Whatever I'm feeling! Music, a podcast, an audiobook, a YouTube video that doesn't require me to look at it, a stream if I'm on a call with ~Geoffrey~ while she's playing a game. I'm not picky but my autistic ass (affectionate) needs the sensory input to focus

12. Easiest part of body to draw

Lukewarm take, I know, but eyes. Or eyebrows if I'm allowed to be a smartass

13. A creator who you admire but whose work isn't your thing

I don't know anything about this person so it's purely from an artistic standpoint, but I respect how wildly recognizable the JJBA art style is (the actual art, the expressions and poses, the character designs, all the things)

14. Any favorite motifs

e y e s and also bones and time-related symbols

15. *Where* do you draw (don't drop your ip address this just means do you doodle at a park or smth)

Almost entirely at home at my desk, but sometimes I doodle during downtime at work

16. Something you are good at but don't really have fun doing

*U h* I don't think I'm good at a wide enough variety of things to have an answer to this

17. Do you eat/drink when drawing? if so, what

I need to have a drink nearby at all times or I will Die. Flavored water, soda, and coffee are the big three, but I also like sweet tea and assorted fruit juices. I don't love eating while drawing for sensory/cleanliness reasons, but sometimes I'll have something crunchy

18. An estimate of how much art supplies you've broken

Not too many! I do tend to mangle colored pencils because I'm too rough when sharpening them, but I don't use a lot of materials that are easy to break and I'm neurotically careful with my tablet because I can't replace it. The closest I've come to breaking that was keeping the cord in a drawer my kitten learned how to open

19. Favorite inanimate objects to draw (food, nature, etc.)

Anything That Glows

20. Something everyone else finds hard to draw but you enjoy

Armor, mechanical parts, and bones. I'm not saying I don't find them difficult, mind you, but I love it

21. Art styles nothing like your own but you like anyways

Slowly grasps Cinder's sleeve. Also Fern's. Also ~Geoffrey's~. If I have to choose someone I don't know personally, crow-caller

22. What physical exercises do you do before drawing, if any

This is a thing I definitely *should* do :)

23. Do you use different layer modes

YEAH I abuse Multiply and Screen

24. Do your references include stock images

Oh naturally. AdorkaStock is my go-to

25. Something your art has been compared to that you were NOT inspired by

Nothing that I can think of? I think that's mostly because the art communities I used to participate in heavily discouraged comparison, so I haven't heard any variant of "Your art reminds me of ____" in at least five years.

26. What's a piece that got a wildly different interpretation from what you intended

I don't have anything specific on hand, but I had a friend in middle school who jumped to sexualizing everything I drew, if that counts. There's not a lot to interpret in my art, though. It's. How do I put "shallow" nicely?

27. Do you warm up before getting to the good stuff? If so, what is it you draw to warm up with

This is another thing I should really do!

28. Any art events you have participated in the past (like zines)

I used to do Art Fight.

29. Media you love, but doesn't inspire you artistically

Most live-action media! I also don't generally feel artistic inspiration from podcasts—the exception would be TTRPG podcasts, but even those don't tend to do it for me unless the characters have canon designs.

30. What piece of yours do you think is underrated

I don't have it anymore, but there was a drawing I did a few months ago of two characters of mine. It came out to about twenty hours of work (which is a lot for me) and no one really seemed to like it, but I attribute that in part to the fact that I drew a lot of it in a stream, which kind of desensitizes people.

[sophieakatz]

Thursday Thoughts: Goncharov

Goncharov is a film released in 1973, produced by Martin Scorsese and directed by Matteo JWHJ 0715. It is known as “the greatest mafia movie ever made.”

It also does not exist. However, the fandom for this nonexistent movie is very real, and in less than a week – arguably in merely a day – it has taken Tumblr by storm. By now, the rest of the internet seems to be abuzz about where Goncharov came from (a pair of boots that inspired a movie poster), but that interests me less than what Goncharov is.

Goncharov – or the excitement around and act of engaging in Goncharov – is an example of spontaneous communal internet storytelling the likes of which I haven’t seen since Squiddles.

What’s Squiddles, you ask? Well, in the webcomic Homestuck, one of the characters has a bunch of adorable technicolor squid plushies called Squiddles. Squiddles are the characters of her favorite childhood TV show. The Squiddles TV show theme song plays at least once in a video clip, and there’s even a full album of Squiddles-related songs on the Homestuck Bandcamp.

Someone decided that it would be funny to pretend that Squiddles was a real show. It was everyone’s beloved childhood favorite, but sadly, the studio burned down, and all of the recordings were lost in the fire, so now nobody can see it ever again. The brief video clip as seen in Homestuck is all that’s left. People would make posts about their favorite Squiddles characters and describe the plot of their favorite episodes.

This internet forgery didn’t last very long or spread very far, though I remember seeing Squiddles content before I was fully aware of Homestuck. Squiddles is arguably a harmless prank, at worst causing some confusion. What strikes me as interesting in hindsight about Squiddles is that it was a kind of exploration of nostalgia – of long-lost favorites.

Have you ever tried to describe something from your childhood to someone who has never heard of it before? A book, a song, a game, a toy… a TV show? Sometimes, even though you remember loving the thing, you can’t remember enough about it to fully describe it, and so you can’t prove that it existed, leaving you standing there awkwardly while the other person looks at you like you’re making it up. But you know you’re not making it up. At least, you’re pretty sure you didn’t make it up. Why would you do that?

This was my experience with the TV series Noddy. For years I had images in my head from this show, but I couldn’t remember what it was called, or the names of any of the characters. At one point, I thought I had imagined it. And then I stumbled across a YouTube video that proved my childhood memory correct. But from the point of view of someone who never watched Noddy, does it really matter if I made it up? From the outside, all they see is my vague sort of half-remembered happiness. Practically speaking, I engage with Noddy in the same way that anyone engages with Squiddles – with vague descriptions and only a brief video clip as proof, expressing a mixture of happiness at the memory and sadness at the loss.

Goncharov is a lot more complicated than Squiddles. So far, I’ve seen Goncharov fanart, gifsets, quotes, a page of the script, shipping wars (gay and bisexual shipping wars, no less), music from the score (with sound files!), fanfiction, analysis of the clock symbolism, analysis of the film’s reception in Russia, and critique of other fans’ takes on the film (as America-centric, biphobic, etc.). Again, all of this popped up in a matter of days – and it’s all about a film that does not actually exist. My favorite bit so far was when Lynda Carter posted pictures of herself at the movie’s premiere. (Yes, Wonder Woman is one of us.)

Despite the film’s non-existence, it is nigh-impossible for me to see a difference between the Tumblr fandom culture around Goncharov and any other piece of media that I haven’t watched. At this point, I feel like I know as much about Goncharov as I know about Supernatural. I certainly know more about the plot of Goncharov than I do about the plot of Warrior Nun, despite posts about both stories appearing with similar frequency on my dash – and, again, Goncharov does not exist. People on Tumblr are making up the plot as we speak, through their “responses” to it.

But this is more than just making up the plot of a movie together. Goncharov, like Squiddles, is a form of internet role play. Real-world fanpeople are playing the part of Goncharov fans. This isn’t a role that requires a drastic stretch of the imagination. Tumblr people are already fans who analyze the media they love. This is fandom analysis of a nonexistent source text, but everyone who participates is bringing to the table what they would normally bring to the table. Art. Music. Edited gifs. Emotional connection. Music and fanfiction. Obsession with symbolism, or with shipping, or with “reading too much” into ostensibly straight characters’ sexuality, or with correcting other people for being too America-centric.

It is arguably easier to engage with Goncharov than it is with a “real” story. If I wanted to write a blog post about Supernatural, I would have to devote hours of my life to the show first. No one needs to devote any time to digesting Goncharov before jumping in, before coming as we are with the opinion that we know we would have. There’s no time commitment, and best of all – or at least most fascinating of all – there are no stakes. It is impossible to have an incorrect opinion about Goncharov. Your opinion about Goncharov or your interpretation of Goncharov is as equally valid as the take of the person telling you that you are wrong about Goncharov. There is literally nothing to worry about. It doesn’t matter at all. You can just talk, get excited, and create things together. If you get mad, it’s because you enjoy getting mad, not because there’s actually anything to get mad about or anything to be hurt about. It’s just plain fun in a way that fandom often is not fun, in an internet universe prone to dogpiles and death threats.

Ultimately, Goncharov is an exploration of fandom culture, in the same way that Squiddles was an exploration of nostalgia. We’re getting to play-act participating in fandom at its most fun and harmless. And, practically speaking, we get the same rush out of this participation, out of the joy of transformative creation, as we would in a “real” fandom. It’s just as fun to write a Goncharov fanfic as it is to write fanfic about anything else.

It’s impossible to tell from the moment just how long Goncharov will last. Things tend to cool down just as quickly as they flare up on Tumblr. I wonder if Squiddles and Goncharov are signs of things to come. As people increasingly crave connection through interactive experiences and LARP becomes more popular, will there be more “fake fandoms”? If I wanted to make this blog post even longer, I could talk about the fictional fan engagement that has sprung up around certain podcasts and webseries, in which the fans roleplay themselves in a world where the content of the story is real (I’m thinking mainly of The Lizzie Bennett Diaries and the more recent Sporadic Phantoms). But for now, I think it’s time I paused my analysis and went back to simply enjoying watching it all unfold.

[astrologista]

It's interesting because I was just reading this article about the making of Rapsittie Street Kids: Believe in Santa, largely believed to be the worst animated holiday special of all time.

The story goes that the producer had a dream of creating an animated film, but he and his studio did not have the funds needed to hire really skilled 2D animators or animate in 2D, or even to outsource the development to Asia which was the style at the time.

2D animation costs a lot because it's hard fucking work, it takes a long time to get right and thousands and thousands of drawings by a skilled team of many, many people. That's not even counting tweening and coloring and special effects and post and editing and all the drawings that have to be thrown away or get cut. The result can be absolutely incredible and awe-inspiring to look at, but it's not cheap and the artists more than deserve fair pay considering the years you have to put in to get really, really good at it.

Well, this guy decided that in order to have his dream realized, he would have to find a way to slash costs. This was at a time when CGI for animation was still fairly new but not bleeding-edge. Ultimately he set his sights upon a software called 3D Choreographer, which was kind of the 3D equivalent of PowerPoint. I'm talking clip-art tier. This tool had no business being used for animation of any kind, much less for an animated feature.

To make a long story short the limited featureset crippled the production of this special. Apparently the program had no way to import models into it so they paid the developers of the software to create models of the characters and send those files back over. Too bad nobody told the developers of 3D Choreographer how to 3D animate human beings. This is why all of the characters look nightmare-tier. I mean this MIGHT be okay for like, a school project, a demo, something like that. But for an animated Christmas special set to air on the WB featuring the voice talents of not just Mark fucking Hamill, not just Jodi Benson i.e. Ariel the Little Mermaid, but Nancy Cartwright i.e. Bart fucking Simpson???? Bro.

Apparently the producer was very well connected and treated the voice talent right which enabled him to net these star players while just not giving a shit about the animation quality. Which is arguably the most important thing in an animated feature next to, I don't know, the story? Which is pure shit as well.

Anyway they were given a timeline of 4 months to animate a 40 minute special. 4 months. In the 3D equivalent of PowerPoint. With no storyboards. None.

It didn't turn out so good.

The article goes into way more detail about how this came to be but let me tell you, it is fascinating. And it's sad that good 2D animation is no longer valued in the industry as it should be, because it's starting to become a lost art. What I learned from this story is that producers will take any excuse to cut costs. The mistake that these producers made was not understanding the technology, the time estimate, or what they were looking to create. They failed on basically every level, starting with communication with the animators and artists about what they would need to get the project done.

(The only good thing you can say for them is that they did, apparently, compensate the animators fairly. But man, would any of them really want to put this shit on their resume afterward?)

[tsunreleased]

Demos

DM To Submit Or Request A Song

[last updated 10/26/24]

A star* next to any song indicates that the song was recently lost when one of my drives got taken down. You can still request the song, it just might be harder to get it to you and I may have to email you the file instead of messaging a link like normal.

Taylor Swift (Debut)

Tim McGraw (Piano Demo) ACOUSTIC*

Tim McGraw (Guitar Demo) ACOUSTIC*

Tim McGraw (Byron Gallimore Demo) STUDIO

Picture To Burn (original demo) STUDIO

Picture To Burn 2006 original ("homophobic version") STUDIO

Picture To Burn (Alternate production with extended outro) STUDIO

Picture To Burn ("war cry demo") ACOUSTIC*

Teardrops On My Guitar (Demo) STUDIO

A Place In This World (Demo) STUDIO

Cold As You (Demo) STUDIO

The Outside (Demo) STUDIO*

Tied Together with a Smile (Demo) ACOUSTIC

Oh My My My (Mary's Song Demo) STUDIO*

Our Song (Demo) STUDIO

I'm Only Me When I'm With You (Demo) STUDIO*

Invisible (Demo) STUDIO*

Perfectly Good Heart (Demo) STUDIO*

Fearless/Fearless Era

Fearless (Demo) ACOUSTIC

White Horse (Piano Demo) STUDIO

Come In With The Rain (Demo) STUDIO

Superstar (Demo) ACOUSTIC*

Superstar (Demo) STUDIO*

The Other Side Of The Door (Demo) STUDIO

You All Over Me (2008 Demo) STUDIO*

We Were Happy (2008 Demo) STUDIO*

We Were Happy (Piano Demo) ACOUSTIC

That's When (2008 Demo) ACOUSTIC

One Thing (Bye Bye Baby 2008 Demo) STUDIO

Crazier (Demo) STUDIO

Speak Now

Sparks Fly (original lyrics) LIVE

Red

Red (Demo) STUDIO

Better Man (2012 Demo) STUDIO

Forever Winter (2012 Demo) STUDIO

Run (2012 Demo) (SMALL CLIP) ACOUSTIC

1989/Reputation Era

Shake It Off (Unofficial Demo) STUDIO

This Is What You Came For (Demo) STUDIO

Lover

All Of The Girls (Demo) STUDIO

The Tortured Poets Department

My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys (First Draft Phone Memo) ACOUSTIC

Who's Afraid Of Little Old Me? (First Draft Phone Memo) ACOUSTIC

Old Habits Die Screaming (The Black Dog First Draft Phone Memo) ACOUSTIC

Cassandra (First Draft Phone Memo) ACOUSTIC

[cy-cyborg]

Hey, i could use some help from any clip studio paint on ipad users. I'm running into massive issues with CSP taking up immense amounts of space. Like absolutely ridiculous amounts (30-40gb) and nothing is working to keep it down.

I've turned off timelapses on all the files on the ipad, cleared out the cache, cleared out recovery data/autosaves, getting rid of my custom brushes, I even moved all csp files off the ipad. The only thing that worked was completely uninstalling and reinstalling the app, but I lost my workspace setup (not a big deal but it took a while to set it up how i liked), and all the mystery data (the 30gb) very quickly came back.

I tried asking on the csp reddit community, but got no help so I'm praying someone here knows something. It's making the ipad virtually unusable because it's taking up ALL the free space. I'm not sure what to do.

Does anyone have any ideas what's going on or how to stop it from happening again?

[dearheartwitcher]

all of the questions for the art ask meme! :)

ouhh!! under the cut for u! <33

1. Art programs you have but don't use

loll i bought clip studio on sale but i havent drawn anything in it because i cant find a good dupe of my sai brush

2. Is it easier to draw someone facing left or right (or forward even)

hmm i guess left!

3. What ideas come from when you were little

lol every time i draw self insert im just feeding my inner 12 year old

4. Fav character/subject that's a bitch to draw

rosiers moth form.......... i love him sooo much but i need to try redesigning that form... also im trying SO hard to learn how to draw bloodhound but they have so many fucking Pieces to their design😭

5. Estimate of how much of your art you post online vs. the art you keep for yourself

i would say i post a good majority of the art i make!! ive gotten worse at it in recent years, mostly because i keep wanting to save things to post at "peak hours" or whatever but i always forget lmfao. i dont usually keep things to myself intentionally

6. Anything that might inspire you subconsciously (i.e. this horse wasn't supposed to look like the Last Unicorn but I see it)

art that my friends make always inspires me the more i see from them! mostly in little ways that only i really notice lol

7. A medium of art you don't work in but appreciate

traditional painting is sooo nice... i especially love gouache... i like when traditional painters dont blend their work and use a ton of different colors as well. also people who draw traditionally and put stickers all over their work, i think that's phenomenal

8. What's an old project idea that you've lost interest in

oh god so many lol. one that comes to mind is i was going to make a little animatic with a tiktok sound of my dnd party but uh. one character died and the other two belong to people im no longer friends with due to two separate falling outs 😬

9. What are your file name conventions

i usually name them based on whats happening in the drawing! or just the character's name, if ive only drawn them once. i also have all my art sorted into folders by subject matter (commissions, dnd, ocs, etc) and by date

10. Favorite piece of clothing to draw

hmmm.... probably long sleeve tshirts/sweaters.... regular jeans can be fun too

11. Do you listen to anything while drawing? If so, what

ohh lots of things. i have a drawing playlist on youtube thats got a couple hundred videos on it, i also have a ton of spotify playlists. i either listen to something that fits the vibe of what im drawing, or something that will motivate me to stay in the zone lol

12. Easiest part of body to draw

boobs. sorry eyes <3

13. A creator who you admire but whose work isn't your thing

i cant think of one!!

14. Any favorite motifs

eyes and hearts maybe 🤔

15. *Where* do you draw (don't drop your ip address this just means do you doodle at a park or smth)

usually just in my room! one of the best parts of having a laptop tbh is that i can just draw digitally in my room instead of using the computer in the living room

16. Something you are good at but don't really have fun doing

hmm. thats hard to say! maybe designing characters? i like to think that im pretty alright at making diverse characters, and i do enjoy it when they’re finished, but it takes soooo much of my brain power to do it lol. i love having little guys that i made but its so hard to make little guys!

17. Do you eat/drink when drawing? if so, what

not really tbh KJSHDF i tend to uh forget to eat or drink for long periods when im in The Zone.....dont be like me. have some orange slices

18. An estimate of how much art supplies you've broken

NONE haha digital 4life. i dont use screen tablets so my tablets last foreeeeever.

19. Favorite inanimate objects to draw (food, nature, etc.)

fried eggs :)

20. Something everyone else finds hard to draw but you enjoy

hmmm i cant think of anything. i Can shade black, which my bf struggles with, but its not something i need to do often lol

21. Art styles nothing like your own but you like anyways

i love hyper-stylized art and lineless super colorful art!! theres probably more, thats just off the top of my head

22. What physical exercises do you do before drawing, if any

none 😬 i rawdog it... i do some wrist stretches afterward most times tho

23. Do you use different layer modes

a little bit! mostly overlay + multiply on low opacity. i put them over a finished drawing to make the colors more cohesive!

24. Do your references include stock images

sometimes!

25. Something your art has been compared to that you were NOT inspired by

steven universe omg. like MAYBE back in 2015 or something it contributed to the way i use shapes a little bit but??? like i love the show, ive made fanart n shit! it just didnt contribute to my art style and i used to get that comparison A Lot

26. What's a piece that got a wildly different interpretation from what you intended

i cant think of one! i dont really do conceptual stuff so theres not usually a ton of room for misinterpretation

27. Do you warm up before getting to the good stuff? If so, what is it you draw to warm up with

sometimes i do! my go-to doodles are fried eggs and little cartoony heads, but a warm up for me can even be a fully lined drawing lol

28. Any art events you have participated in the past (like zines)

i participate in art fight every year!! ive been playing since 2018 :)

29. Media you love, but doesn't inspire you artistically

i think all media i love inspires me artistically!! even if it doesnt contribute to my art or anything, anything i love i spend a lot of time thinking about

30. What piece of yours do you think is underrated

um most of them imo AKLJSDHFSJ but thats the price of doing mostly oc art lol... people simply will not see your stuff

[iztopher]

hi. at this point it may be evident what i'm about to say. but for that ask meme: ALL OF THE QUESTIONS

JHFDASK YESSSS okay here we go!!!

1. Art programs you have but don't use: Clip Studio Paint!! I pretty much ONLY use it for the grid and text feature, otherwise I don't like the workflow haha

2. Is it easier to draw someone facing left or right (or forward even): Drawing in profile is the same to me from either direction, but for 3/4 view, I naturally gravitate towards / find it easier to draw people facing left

3. What ideas come from when you were little: Since I've been into Aveyond for so long, and that's what I mostly draw, I have a lot of ideas that pretty much originated as "I wanted to draw this as a kid and didn't have the skill to"!

4. Fav character/subject that's a bitch to draw: Te'ijal and also Galahad. it's the hair.

5. Estimate of how much of your art you post online vs. the art you keep for yourself: Finished art I'd say I share a good 90% of it! Once we get into sketches... hoo boy, maybe 40%?

6. Anything that might inspire you subconsciously (i.e. this horse wasn't supposed to look like the Last Unicorn but I see it): Whatever this is, it's either too specific to the piece or too subconscious for me to think of it

7. A medium of art you don't work in but appreciate: traditional illustration, painting, watercolor...

8. What's an old project idea that you've lost interest in: A heads up that my answer to this is sad but I'm trying to talk about this type of stuff relatively openly, so: spring 2021, I watched Willy's Wonderland for the first time w/ Ishti + Moonie; we kept talking about a Galahad & Mel AU for it. I had two pictures for it planned, and I drew one of them, and... the timing worked out where Moonie never got to see it, and I've lost the motivation to do the second one. But I like the first one and I'm glad I drew it and I take some comfort/peace in the fact that I was working on something I was excited to share with her at the time.

9. What are your file name conventions: I have a folder for all my art, a subfolder for every year, and then a subfolder for every month, which means there isn't that much overlap! so unless I have a funny title idea my file name conventions are generally pretty straightforward: "mella1.sai", "teijalahad.sai", "teijalstudy.sai" etc etc

10. Favorite piece of clothing to draw: Does armor count? If not, gambesons.

11. Do you listen to anything while drawing? If so, what: Yes!!! Pretty much always music, occasionally video essays. Usually I'll pick a song and play it on loop, or if I'm in the mood for more variety I'll pick a playlist or an artist and listen through that. I also really like drawing while on call with people.

12. Easiest part of body to draw: I'm so sorry for my answer. Boobs.

13. A creator who you admire but whose work isn't your thing: I'm not sure I have an answer for this one, actually - there's a lot of artists I like the work of who I wouldn't want to emulate, but that feels different to me?

14. Any favorite motifs: Not really, in theory I really love flowers but I almost never draw them

15. *Where* do you draw (don't drop your ip address this just means do you doodle at a park or smth): I used to draw pretty much everywhere, but post chronic pain it's my desk only because using a tablet hurts wayyy less than a sketchbook!

16. Something you are good at but don't really have fun doing: Landscapes / natural areas from photographs lol

17. Do you eat/drink when drawing? if so, what: Water ALL the time, coffee if it lines up properly

18. An estimate of how much art supplies you've broken: Very few!! Probably less than 10. I mostly draw digitally

19. Favorite inanimate objects to draw (food, nature, etc.): ARMOR AND WEAPONS

20. Something everyone else finds hard to draw but you enjoy: Hands and armor!

21. Art styles nothing like your own but you like anyways: Honestly the art styles unlike mine that I like tend to be ones... I wish I had... I'm really drawn to realistic, somber, softer stuff

22. What physical exercises do you do before drawing, if any: Tendon gliding exercises! Tbh I should start doing more, it might help

23. Do you use different layer modes: VERY rarely, mostly not

24. Do your references include stock images: Yessss

25. Something your art has been compared to that you were NOT inspired by: I KNOW this has happened but I'm totally blanking on it

26. What's a piece that got a wildly different interpretation from what you intended: I'm not sure if this counts but pretty much any time I get a "cute!" response on a te'ijalahad picture I'm like oh no please do not say that,

27. Do you warm up before getting to the good stuff? If so, what is it you draw to warm up with: I tend to warm up by drawing a headshot of the character I'm going to be drawing, but lately I've been trying to shift to warm ups that are more focused on like, the action of drawing and loosening up

28. Any art events you have participated in the past (like zines): I participated in a zine that ended up not happening, and I've done several fandom exchanges!! Mostly the Aveyond Winter Exchange, but also the Oneshot Podcast Network exchange on AO3 (yeah it was AO3 but I did art for it)

29. Media you love, but doesn't inspire you artistically: Infinity Train!!! absolutely adore it, the art style doesn't really inspire me at all & because I got into it in the thick of my hand pain I never got used to drawing it

30. What piece of yours do you think is underrated: None! I mostly draw Aveyond so pretty much all of my art is in the 1-10 response zone so it all feels pretty consistent gdjkgklsdf

[mhazaru]

This is a little review on Clip Studio Paint for the iPad. I switched over to using it a few weeks ago from Procreate (I’ve never used CSP before that) and just wanted to share some thoughts about it for anyone else who might be trying out different iPad drawing apps (the above clip is a small WIP for a character from a comic I’m working on).

Anyways, I’ve been using Procreate for the last few years and it really is a fantastic program, but there are a few things that have always bugged me about it: no clipping for groups, file info is lost if moved off canvas, brushes are great but have some ‘waxiness’ to them that never felt right for me, Procreate files don’t transfer to Photoshop well in some aspects, the native file type can be a bit weird, etc. The one thing that really bothered me, though, was that I was reliant on the iOS file/cloud system and its eccentrics rather than being able to just natively work from my own Dropbox.

CSP more or less solved all of that, though. It isn’t nearly as intuitive as Procreate in terms of mobile design, but it has all that good stuff you get used to on a full desktop painting application (and I can save my stuff in PSDs natively on Dropbox!). And really, it only took a few days to get used to its interface, so it wasn’t that big of a deal. What I really love about it, however, was that the brush ecosystem is so much better than Procreate’s. I had spent a decent chunk of change trying all kinds of brushes in Procreate, but within a few minutes of using CSP I imported a great pencil brush (for free) and it’s been better than anything I’ve used in Procreate so far (above video is using it). The brush engine just feels better as a whole to me as well; much more natural and enjoyable (this is the pencil brush I’m using if you’re interested).

There are a couple of small issues, mostly having to do with the stability of the app itself: sometimes it doesn’t access Dropbox properly, and I’ve had it close down a few times by itself (it does restore the file you were working on, but it can be annoying). It’s mainly little weird things like that, but they are few and far between and don’t generally hamper the overall experience. The lack of a sophisticated gesture system like in Procreate is probably the biggest drawback, but like before, I got used to it after a few days. Procreate’s recording system is also far superior (even if exporting the videos can be a pain sometimes). The one thing I really wish CSP had, though, was a good Liquify tool, but they do at least have a Mesh Transform tool that can get you by for most things (I mainly use it to quickly adjust sketches).

Procreate does have one thing really going for it though: the cost. You pay a one time fee for Procreate (I think it was $10 a few years ago) but using CSP for the iPad is a monthly fee (I think it was $3 or $5 depending on how many devices you use it on, I just did an annual fee). It’s still pretty cheap, especially against Adobe’s pricing schemes, but for some people it might not be feasible. They do offer a few months of a free trial though, and the desktop versions are a one-time fee if you go that route. I suppose that’s one more advantage for mobile CSP as well, as you can use it on mobile Android/Windows devices too (versus just iOS for Procreate).

Regardless of all that though, I’m having a great time with it! Procreate in the future might address some of the issues I listed, mainly with respects to the fact that they purposely disallow some features in order to keep the limited RAM of an iPad into consideration. But, being able to work directly out of my own cloud storage, plus the incredible brush library (and engine) for CSP has me hooked on it for the time being.

I also, for the hell of it, tried out the new Photoshop app for the iPad. It was uninstalled pretty quickly!

[agkavm2000]

A bit of a rough shake up.

A bit of a belated update, since by the time this post goes up, it would have been around 2 days since this event happened.

But for those unaware, especially the ones who aren't following me on Twitter or are on my Discord server, my main PC has unfortunately stopped working. Everytime I've tried to turn it on, the OS would simply not boot at all due to an issue related to the hard disk. I'm planning to have it fixed sometime around spring but there's a huge chance that all of the stuff I had on that PC will be wiped out. There's also a chance the PC could have finally bitten the dust, meaning that no matter what it's done to fix the problem, the PC has reached it's limit; which is not surprising since I've been using it for nearly 8 years.

BUT FEAR NOT! because I was able to actually back up the files I had in it, which means that the only things that I've lost were simply the softwares I use to make my stuff; the vegas projects, the videos, the clip studio files, the drawings, the thumbnails and everything else, I still have full on access to them through the magic of external hard drives and online backups, especially since I have my laptop to be able to open it.

It also means that I'll be moving operations to my laptop for the time being, while production on newer stuff will slow down a bit more since I'm more limited with it, it's aleast better than having no way to express myself.

I'll be updating you all in any developments that happen from here on, but I hope I'm able to work from mainly a desktop once again sometime in the future