#them in interesting(ish) poses to draw

[zoopzopp]

Bakugou deku fusion

Day 22 of drawing bakugo daily till @is-bakugou-alive-yet says yes

send me some characters to make a fusion of

[catgirlkirigiri]

One carefully posed screenshot + one with IDs. Feel free to also use these guys as refs lol. The item pit is from scavs I deleted for being nearly identical to scavs I already had (or in the elites' case, I just really wanted fun colored elites so I deleted them til I got fun colors)

[meanbossart]

Ask compilation: Mommy issues, Hair Stew, spicy blood, and some vague art advice from a guy with no formal art education.

Been a minute since I did one of these!

Thank you all for your messages and for your patience, as always I'm incredibly sorry that I can't reply to all of you!

DU drow saved Arabella in act 1 and obviously helped her out in act 2. He's surprisingly soft on (most*) kids and always has been, even as a Bhaalist (though he did consider them all Murders In The Making back then).

Arabella is no different. He thought her efforts to stop the druid's ritual were comically charming and appreciated how much Arabella seemed to successfully look after herself. They got along really well while she was around, though she probably spent more time with the more "approachable" party members at DU drow's own insistence.

And he is just biased towards less domesticated animals! Dogs are fine but DU drow appreciates cat's knack for self-sufficiency more. Also, they are pretty and elegant creatures - both things he enjoys in animals as well as people.

As for favorite cat, Malta. Easily.

First of all, interesting question!

It's a mixture of both. I draw conclusions from stuff I observed (Astarion's ass grabbing and confidence during sex, The Dark Urge's entire characterization, the obvious oral fixated vampire connection, Orin's barefootness) and more minute stuff that's already based of off personal headcanons I have - but of course, its all pretty limited to things I can personally stomach. I'm not necessarily into the same things they are, but I can get them, if that makes sense.

And thank you so much!

How dare you. He's clearly a Foetus man.

I'm really glad you like her!!! I honestly love that scenario even more than I thought I would and have a lot of plans to draw more of it.

And potentially! I honestly hadn't thought about that, but I think female elves do tend to be a little shorter than the males, so she might shrink down to 5'8, 5'9 or something. Kind of a negligible difference because I would still like for her to be a pretty tall woman.

The epilogue party isn't really a "canon" event to his story, since it wasn't out when i finished the game and - and while very satisfying from a gameplay POV, I don't find it narratively interesting.

BUT his epilogue party would look pretty full save for Halsin, Karlach and Lae'zel. We'd have a God Gale, a Selunite-ish Shadowheart and a Blade of Frontiers Wyll - as well as Spawn Astarion, obviously. I Haven't given it much thought, admittedly! And there isn't much reason to do so since A Novel Experience serves as the Actual epilogue to me.

He puts the blame for Yenna's death wholly on Orin. It's one of those things he avoids reflecting on entirely and Yenna's name will probably never leave his mouth again. Considering he allowed her into camp and personally failed to convince Orin to spare her life at the temple, I think it's a guilt too difficult to circumvent, were he to entertain it.

Because he has a father figure already, which left room to fantasize about an idealized maternal one. It's also his bias towards femme people.

Hello!

Unfortunately I can't give you an easy answer for this one. I have drawn a lot and for a long time, and I've always enjoyed dynamic poses and put a whole lot of effort into capturing motion in a way I'm satisfied with - and often I STILL feel as if certain aspects of my art are stiff!

I think working on being a little "looser" with one's art and playing with lineart weight helps tremendously. Understand things like foreground/background division can also help to give your art dimension, and inevitably that movement you are looking for. Unfortunately, I'm self taught and not very educated on the matter myself 😅 I can do it, but explaining or teaching it is something else entirely.

It dips in his stew 😔

The usual pet names! Darling, Lover, Sweetheart, he's been known to let a "baby boy" slip out. DU drow is more known for the literal name-calling.

.... And neither of them is a "daddy" person, for sure.

He has no idea and he thinks that's pretty damn funny. He likes how his dick looks, and he is kind of glad that he gets to enjoy it without having any memory of how it got to be that way - he's definitely assuming Bizarre Sex Accident, though.

He will eat whatever is available without complaint if he has to for survival, but he does enjoy a nicely prepared dish! From rustic home-cooking to the gourmet dining. He's most definitely fond of onions - as well as meat, fat, and heavy seasoning. I don't know what that means for the way his blood tastes, maybe it makes it specially hearty... Which Astarion might like, based on his Spicy Food comment in act 1.

Either way Astarion does not feed on him after the campaign is over, so that's not something they have to worry about!

He's.... Okay with Minsc. He definitely doesn't take him too seriously but they've had fleeting moments of meat-head-like understanding between the two of them, not that DU drow would ever admit to it. He kind of sees him as Jaheira's beefy pet.

He is profoundly suspicious of Boo.

This ask was a little buried in my inbox, so I hope you have been able to secure work since then! Patreon subscription completely aside.

That's a tough question because there is definitely a degree of luck involved. I'd say find your niche - be that a genre, character, or fandom - and then find the niche within that niche you feel comfortable in and where you can meet people of similar interests, and who might be interested in your art. Don't go in making selling pitches, obviously, actually try to make friends and lift each other up.

At that point, if you're both persistent (-in your craft, NOT in chasing after validation!) you will be able to sell a few commissions or get a few bites on patreon or a similar platform! After that, its a matter of letting your work speak for itself.

This is very simplified of course, and a summary of a process that usually takes many many years to develop unless, once again, you get very lucky. But I do think persistence and passion tends to reward folks who stick with it!

I know some artists use advertisement and reel trends on instagram to get more eyes on their work as well, and I've seen a few get a lot of success from it, but unfortunately I don't know anything about that side of things.

[canisalbus]

you've probably been asked this before but how did you get so good at human anatomy????? like obviously you're amazing with dogs, but i just loveee the way you draw your anthro characters and how you're able to make them so lifelike and human(ish)!! so i was just wondering, what resources did you use to get good at this?

This is going to be such an useless response, but I don't know if there's any specific tricks to learning anatomy, or at least I don't feel qualified to try to dissect and explain them. It's just decades worth of practice and trial and error :'>

I've done a few courses of life drawing and I'd argue that it's surprisingly effective in calibrating your eye to understand poses, proportions, perspective and the line of action. It gives your figures that certain organic liveliness and fluidity. Other than that, I'm always lowkey observing how people move and bend and gesture, and trying to internalize it well enough so I can replicate that on paper. Archiving stuff in the visual library for later use.

And thank you! I'm flattered you think my anthros look believably lifelike! Anatomy is a longtime interest of mine, it's something I'm particularly motivated to figure out. Even though my ability to capture bodies is still very far from where I want to be, I feel like I'm going in the right direction.

[pompompurin1028]

The Painter and the Sitter

Summary: Dazai once again agreed to be a sitter for a new painting of yours

Pairing: Dazai x Painter! Reader

Genre: Scenario, Hurt/Comfort-ish

Warnings: None

A/N: Inspired by an idea I had suddenly one night earlier this month. In between me getting this idea and me writing it, I had been reading some Virginia Woolf so I was kind of inspired. Also a reference to Dorian Gray is in this fic too because why not. This is entirely self-indulgent, wrote this on a whim because I felt like it, didn't really read it over to see if there are any errors :D

My Masterlist

Although sitting and posing for hours was a bit of a bore, Dazai never said no to your requests to paint him. He knows you enjoy having him as your sitter, whether you would admit it out loud or not for you had painted him more times than you can count.

He interested you, he can tell that much at least. Every time you paint his portrait, you seem to be trying to capture something… Something intangible perhaps, maybe even abstract. But Dazai knew it was not quite so simple. To someone more oblivious, it may seem as if you are trying to capture a certain idea, a theme to go with his portrait. But Dazai knew better. He knew you were trying to figure him out, to capture him on paper, to paint a portrait of him as closely as you could muster.

This knowledge should scare him, knowing that someone is trying to dig deep into his depths, his secrets, and potentially see the darkness that lies beneath his smiling mask. But at the same time, part of him enjoyed it.

It was perhaps not quite the idea of being known that enchanted him. No… if he had been focusing on that aspect, he was much more fearful about being with you. No, he was much more intrigued by your portrayal of him, he wanted to see the colours you chose, the style you selected and listen to you as you explained your thought process behind the artwork. Though you would never admit you were trying to study him, he knew, and perhaps you knew that he knew as well. And yet, you still attempted to continue your search and so, Dazai allowed it.

Your study of him did not come without a price of course. It is said that it is not the sitter who is revealed by the painter; it is rather the painter who, on the coloured canvas, reveals himself. So, to Dazai at least, the exchange is mutual--he allows you to attempt to dig into his depths, spending hours with you weekly, conversing with you, while you do the same, and reveal your thoughts on the world, your ideologies, your attitudes on life on the canvas you paint.

But Dazai knew it likely wasn't a fair exchange on your part and maybe one day, in the near future you will notice it too as you continue your search. He knew you were trying to paint a portrait of who he is… inside. But he knew the true answer. What you will eventually find, beneath all the layers you slowly draw apart is but an absence, a hollowness that most of the time Dazai feels can never be filled.

This was much unfair to your sincere self whose paintings were a site of vulnerability. He knows it well; you never did display your work publically, in fact Dazai hardly really knew what happened to the paintings after you finished painting them. But, despite whatever it meant to you, you still showed them to him, explained your thought processes to him, perhaps as a sign of gratitude for being your sitter, or maybe for something more. All he knew was, there was no suitable name for your relationship. Artist and muse perhaps? But no, he knew you saw him much more beyond a mere means for inspiration. Friends then? No, that was much too intimate and besides, Dazai did not simply call a person a friend easily. And to be lovers is beyond the question. But one thing was certain, there was a level of intimacy and vulnerability between the two of you, one with has yet no name. Maybe it is better to leave it nameless. This bond will not last long, at least that's what Dazai had thought. But he was much too selfish to let go of what little connection you have built. Though he knows he is only torturing himself since he knows you'll leave him eventually, once you've found the answers you're looking for, once you have found the true nature of the man you were so allured by.

As Dazai's focus was reined back to being the sitter for your portrait when you called his name. The newest portrait was finished, and as per usual, you chatted with excitement and great passion.

“This time I used a much different colour pallet than I usually do. You always request to be painted with dark colours but I thought some oranges and yellows suited you. I think it suits you much more-” You spoke eagerly, seeming very proud of your newest creation. Dazai doesn't think he's seen you this excited over one of your pieces so early on after finishing it and he couldn't stop the smile from creeping up to his face at the sight.

“Hmm, maybe you're right. I do look quite handsome in this colour pallet.” He replied smugly, staring at the painting. But if he were to be honest, he wasn't quite sure what to think of your artistic decision on this portrait. He wasn't sure how to feel seeing himself painted in such a light. It felt… unfamiliar, defamiliarizing even.

As he stares at the painting, Dazai wonders if he had misunderstood your intentions for painting him all along. Though he prides himself with being able to read others like a book, and to be able to assume what moves them most of the time, he is much like other humans--he can never access the interiority of other human beings, at best, he can infer and deduct. And the thought that he might have been mistaken for so long alarmed him.

But he took a deep breath. He knows you didn't have bad intentions, you never once showed any signs of malice. And he knew, despite everything, at least to some degree, he could trust you. But he didn't expect you of all people to throw him off guard. But with only the exteriority of people available to oneself to judge and guess, how much can we truly learn about other people? Perhaps such limitations are the manner of our seeing, and such are the conditions of our love.

Although walls and barriers still separated the two of you, for you had yet to fully understand him, and him you, Dazai felt your relationship had become if not a little bit more intimate. Perhaps within every conversation you two had, there were parts where you talked past each other, but you were still trying… trying to communicate, trying to connect. And maybe, for now, all of this is enough.

[bots-and-cons]

I saw that your requests are open, can I ask How would decepticons react when they capture a human that was an artist. Precisely painter with brushes, canvases and everything.

A/N: I’ve got some previous HCs related to something like this which can be found here and here. As usual I didn’t do all the cons, just the ones I had ideas for when I started writing this

•You’ve brought a lot of your art stuff to the Nemesis, since you spend so much time there and surprisingly, it’s a pretty calm place most days

•Or at least the empty habsuite where you’ve set up is

•When Knockout found out you were a painter, he immediately offered to pose for you

•If he’s not in his alt-mode he’s a bit bad at staying still though, so he doesn’t make for the best model

•Also he can never seem to settle on a pose, and when he does, it’s something very dramatic

•And god forbid you get any paint on him, he will screech in terror, because his paint job is now ruined

•You just wipe the paint off with a rag and tell him it doesn’t dry instantly and that his paint job is fine

•Knockout is like “I definitely knew that” when he in fact did not

•He also wants you to teach him how to draw and paint

•So you go to the web and buy the biggest canvas you can find, Soundwaves makes sure it’s paid for, but you’re still not really sure how he pays for all these things when you ask him to buy you something

•He’s probably stolen a dozen people’s credit card information or something, you’re not really bothered by it though

•Anyway, Soundwave is a big fan of your paintings, and he thinks they’re quite interesting, especially the more abstract ones

•He likes to interpret things in his own way and the abstract ones give him a chance to do that

•Megatron wasn’t really a fan of you dragging all your art stuff into the Nemesis, and he definitely made that known, but he stopped complaining eventually and sometimes even comes to check on you when you paint

•Starscream is also an enthusiastic model, though he wasn’t at first

•It took some convincing, but he will model for you now, and in a very Starscream fashion, he’s talking the whole time and you have to tell him to stop moving constantly because he talks with his whole body

•You got an idea one day and asked Soundwave to buy you some metal paints

•He had an inkling on why you might have wanted them, but he didn’t say anything

•Breakdown ended up being your first victim, because he’s probably the one who cares the least about how he looks

•So he agreed that you could pain his driver’s side door, however you wanted

•You made a really cool decepticon-ish insignia design on it, and he actually really liked it

•You couldn’t convince anyone else to let you try it out on them, but oh well, at least you got to test that whole thing out

•Shockwave isn’t really interested in art, surprise surprise, but some of your paintings do catch his optic, even if only for a moment

[nattikay]

Na'vi Stripes Tutorial!

Tagging @eywaschild891, in case you were still interested in this! (note: this tutorial is about the digital process of adding the stripes, not actually designing the patterns)

I'm using MediBang Paint Pro, but this technique should work in any program that supports layers.

So you've drawn your Na'vi and now you want to add some stripes! First we'll have to start with a base color. Underneath your lineart layer, add two new layers: one as the main base color layer (for coloring hair, eyes, clothes, etc), and on top of that, a separate layer for the skin. Putting the skin on a separate layer is important because that way you'll be able to do the stripes as a clipping mask.

Your layer box should look something like this (you can ignore the gray background and extra folder, they're not important for this tutorial):

Now we can start on the base stripe layer. Create a new layer and set it as a clipping mask on your skin layer. This makes it so that you can't "color outside the lines", so to speak, while drawing the stripes. Then take a hard-edged brush and start drawing the patterns you want. I like to use MediBang's "mapping pen", which has a subtly textured edge, but the regular default Pen tool will work perfectly fine as well.

If you'd like, you can stop here and call this done: solid stripes are perfectly acceptable in a cartoonified stylization. However, if you look closely at Na'vi stripes on canon characters, you'll note that they're not completely solid: they have a subtle fading effect, where they're darker along the edges and a bit lighter in the middle, and in some places they fade out into the body. Sometimes it almost looks watercolor-ish.

(I'm sure there are better examples out there than these but I'm not up to digging for them rn 😅)

So, let's continue! To fade our stripes, create another clipping mask layer above the main stripe layer. Use a brush with pressure-based opacity such as MediBang's "pencil" to loosely fill the insides of the stripes with the base skin color.

Once you have filled in all the stripes, use the gaussian blur filter to smooth out the fade. The filter doesn't need to be super strong—in fact, if you make it too strong you will loose the detail and the stripes will look solid again. With MediBang's version of the tool, I had it set to 7 (out of a max of 64) for this image, though of course the way it works may be different in other programs; mess around with different settings until you get something you like.

(sadly I do not have a screenshot of the blurred version because apparently the way my cintiq takes screenshots is dumb; it only captured the "gaussian blur" popup window instead of the whole screen. oh well. :P)

Now that we have the fade within the stripes, let's also make them fade into the rest of the body. The areas you'll want to do this with are the torso, inner arms, and inner/back of legs.

Create another clipping mask. Using the same pressure-opacity brush and base skin color as before, loosely block in where you want the stripes to fade into the body.

Once you've finished, gaussian blur the layer just like before. This one can be a little stronger than the inside-stripe one. For this image I had it set to 14.

Sometimes, the areas you block out will overlap with areas that shouldn't be faded—for example, here the fading from the back of the character's thigh is overlapping with her tail. To fix this, just erase it to remove the fade from where it shouldn't be (this is why we do this step on separate layers). Make sure you do this erasing after you've applied the gaussian blur.

Depending on the pose of your character, there may be places where one faded area overlaps with another. For example, in this drawing, the blocking for the arm fading overlaps with the blocking for the torso fading. Here it is with the torso fading turned off so you can see the overlap:

This makes it difficult to do both the arm and the torso on the same layer, because I won't be able to remove where the arm fading overlaps the torso fading without also removing the actual torso fading.

Luckily, there's a simple fix: just do the arm fading on a separate layer. Do this as many times with as many layers as you need to for your particular pose. Sometimes you'll only need one or two, like here; other times you'll need several.

BUT, fading the stripes is the last step! Regardless of how many layers you end up needing, once you're done, you're done! Now you have a Na'vi with nice natural-looking striping 😸

At this point you can go ahead and merge all the clipping masks into the main skin layer and even merge the skin layer with the other-base-colors layer if you're ready!

Hopefully that wasn't too hard to follow; feel free to ask if anything is confusing or unclear. Happy drawing! 😸

[meoproject]

Hello, I'm offering some valetine day-ish commissions; if ordered over this weekend, I will be able to complete them for the 14th!

> NOTE < The body type, expression and outfit are placeholders/base sketch -- they can be adjusted to your liking! This includes character types: Green pose CAN be a human character, and blue pose can be anthro, etc.

All example characters are women, but I can draw male characters as well, as well as nb/gnc/agender/etc. characters. Basically, what I'm saying, any gender/sex is fine. Characters that match the base sketch are preferred (weight and and muscles can be added, so if your character is chubby or toned, rather than slender, that is not a problem!), but if your character has proportions that are very different from the ones shown on the base sketch, extra fee might be requested.

By default these are meant to be lingerie type pin ups, but if you want a different kind of outfit, you can request it. Complex outfits might cost extra.

Price: - Flat color: 40 usd >>> Flat color is, well, flat color with no shading. There will be some highlights or texturing for added depth.

- Simple shading shading: 50 usd >>> Simple shading includes flat colors and shading done on 1 layer + 1 highlight layer

- Complex shading: 65 usd >>> Softer or more complex shadows, rendered on multiple shading and highlight layers.

Complex character details might increase the price! Ask if unsure. Simple "graphic" background is included. Just a color splash/texture/gradient/sketch to add mood. IF you want to get a more complex background, ask, and we might be able to discuss it. For your money you get both a web-sized version for sharing and posting [longest side ~1280 px] and a full work file for personal viewing.

As with all my cheap YCHs, you will NOT receive WIPs, just the finished artwork. If you are looking for something similar to this, but want to see WIPs, check out my general commissions, which are open as well! I will, of course, fix mistakes I've made that are not the result of insufficient or inaccurate references.

Characters with extremely stylized proportions (such as any hyper character, shortstack etc.) and taurs/nagas or characters with extra arms/legs/heads aren't accepted! All poses can be flipped to change handedness or showcase asymmetrical features better.

POSES: 1 - Blue pose. Any gender, any species. Wings ok! 2 - Red pose. Any gender, any species. Wings ok! If your character doesn't have a specific necklace, you can let me design one, or just give me a reference for a specific one you want included. 3 - Green pose. Any gender, any species. No wings. The teddy bear can be customized to a small degree -- for example, triangular ears can be given to imply a cat character, or it can be given small horns to imply a dragon etc, or it can be colored to match a stylized version of a specific characters's color scheme.

Payment up front, no holds, no payment plans, this is not an auction so choose whichever option you want.

General ToS applies! My general commission info (includes links to queue and ToS) is here: https://meoproject.tumblr.com/commission PLEASE NOTE that these might take anything from 1-2 months to complete, though currently I am aiming to complete them in two to three weeks. If you need a specific deadline, contact me, and we can discuss.

If interested, e-mail me sirmeo[at]gmail.com ! Please include the following information: - Your username (you won't be credited otherwise!) - Your paypal address for invoicing - Your character name - What level of finish you're looking for (flats, simple shaded, complex shaded) - Your character reference (1-3 best pictures; avoid giving huge galleries of subtly conflicting references) - Desired pose number and color - Other info, such as expression/mood, references for outfits or props...

[iztea]

How do you get the ideas for your backgrounds?

mmm ideas.... sometimes i draw the background directly from a photo reference (the happy case) so there's not a lot for me to change and i can have a rather peaceful painting process

othertimes, the BG is tied to the subject/concept/scene I'm thinking of, so it only makes sense that i have that as the background

for example, for this fem skk art, i knew i wanted to have chuu kneeling in a crater after destroying a city so drawing that background was just a logical follow-up because i already had the entire idea in mind

Here, I wanted to have Akiangel sit on a building, watching over the city. The ominous sign with "the day of salvation" and crow came later after I found this picture on Pinterest, so they helped further develop the concept, but the main idea was there and so on

The third background option happens when my painting doesn't depict a certain irl scene or landscape, nor do i have any particular references i can use. In that situation, I first and foremost think about the general composition, the shapes, how they flow with each other, how I can tie them to my main theme and what sort of symbolism or little easter eggs i can throw in there just to keep it fresh and interesting for the viewer ( aka the person reading this aha ;;) :-* )

For this piece, i started with a big circle for the background, and then I started breaking it up in pleasing, cloud-like shapes and swirls that constantly keep your eye moving around the picture (i mean hopefully lol). The composition was inspired by a) Dazai's Mayoi card ofc, that trad Eastern illustration style with the circle and then branches of trees, and also .. kazuha's splash art ok i admit it bshsj

for this one, the roses came much, much later. Again, I added that sort of golden arcade to better frame the focal point or the main subject of the scene which was ofc her face and/or outfit. Then, since it still felt rather empty, awkward, and directionless, I tried finding a pleasing, spiral line that would compliment the already existing shapes and that would, again, move your eye all around the composition. I figured since her outfit already had those small roses stuffed in her belt, those curvy lines could become some bloody, spikey roses and boom! here are the theme and elements for you: blacks-roses-blood-deadly-sharp-gold etc. I then had her crush some of those roses in her right (ik it's the left hand shut up) hand to balance out the busier left side

and a last example, sometimes I draw multiple character poses in one piece and they sort of become my background. Yet I still have some blank spaces left so i gotta figure out a way to fill them out. Here, since the pose where he's all curled up was inspired by the TDIPUD light novel, i drew him as a "corpse" in a pool of blood, and contrasted it with some nice flowery-ish patterns and swirls that sort of come from within that bloody mess ( someone also mentioned it looks like a womb which I found very interesting as well ). The cats also helped fill out the space. On the left side, i added that swirly black sun that drips into three squares that gradually fill up with straight blackness and raindrops falling below inspired by the "a conviction that the sun will never rise again" line. I don't think I should go into detail with the symbolism cause it's pretty obvious and not that deep so i won't but yeah, and that's my BG all filled up!

I do this with most of my BGs, it's mostly just abstract shapes; I'm very fixated on making the overall composition look okay and for the piece to send a message ( most of the time ), so i don't think of backgrounds as a separate entity, they are part of an already existing idea, generally speaking.

This kinda turned into a composition discussion midway......... sorry about that....... To be completely honest with you, I have plenty of BG ideas, they kinda just spawn in my brain so i'm not exactly lacking in that department. Having to draw them and finding refs is the hard part for me

[noridoorman]

It's artist appreciation time cause I feel like it

I wanna start of with my bestie @hex-touchstarved even though they're not in the murder drones fandom:

Really beautiful and interesting art with the monotone colors (black n white) and has so much personality, I wanna see more u b!ch

Okay now into the murder drones artists :]

@projectanomaly - such a cute, simple and recoginzable art style and WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DRAW WITH YOUR FINGER ON YOUR PHONE?! Such creative ideas and designs too and I especially love the ELS drawings bc they straight up look like somebody took a screenshot of an actual animated series (AND I'M A SUCKER FOR THAT)

@ayloverlove - SO much story writing potentional with her art. Her art has so much personality in it and always looks like you can imagine a story with them. Makes top notch angst and crack drawings too and always has such fun (or angsty) ideas that she draws and it looks sooo good with her detailed art-style.

@vaneplane I'M A SUCKER FOR THE GLOW, their art always look so delicious idk why. Their shading style is so recognizablell, all the glow, the pretty colors, THE EXPRESSIONS ON THE CHARACTERS ARE SO FUN TOO.

@lumineary-arts Top notch character expressions. Her art style is so simple yet has also so much personality, especially with how she draws the way the characters pose and facial expressions. ALSO, SO CLEAN LINEART WTH???

@astronic-fr I usually never laugh at funni art except when it's astronic. How can somebody be so funny and talented at the same time?? And when he draws angsty stuff it hits SO HARD, like how can you do both and be so good at it?! The art style fits so well with the things he draws, it's so good, goofy when it needs to be and heartwrenching beautiful too

@triocat Such an unique and recognizable art style like I have never seen somebody draw like they do and it looks so good. And don't get me started on their animations like holy hell, how can somebody be so good at animating, I'd deadass watch an entire series animated by them.

@just-a-lil-otter Doesn't draw as much MD I think BUT STILL, such a cute and simple art style that always makes me happy to see. It's that type of art style that just works so well with digital and traditional art styles, idk how to elaborate lmao

@buoyanttoaster let's motivate my boyfriend to draw more CAUSE HE'S GENIUNLY REALLY GOOD AND I FR WANNA SEE HIM DRAW MORE

@lilywily143 such cute and creative ideas and comics, I'm a sucker for them. I fr think her art style would work so well as digital art too but getting stuff for that is hella expensive (sometimes)

@lilblucat idk how to describe her art, it's soo good like?? I love just watching it, I don't wanna repeat all the other points I've said ahhh but I'm really running out of things to say. I REALLY REALLY REALLY love her shading, especially the soft shading she does on some art pieces and the doodles are so cute too rahhhhh

@evanostic so cute art, I could scroll thru their profile for ages to see them :') also I'm a sucker for the blue/purple-ish tint in some of their art and the way they draw expressions and poses are so cute, so expressive and just a joy to look at

Tell me if I've missed some artists

[impyssadobsessions]

Your Halfa!Dash AU is really interesting. Can we please see his ghost form? Or like, get a description of it. Also, does Sam and Tucker ever find out the truth? Would love to see their reaction and what they decide to do(can totally see them helping out). Lastly, what does the town call ghost-form Dash? Do they call him Invisbill? Phantom? Or does he go by something else entirely?

Actually I have more Posts on Halfa!Dash AU~ One with the ghost form. I'll post all the links to everything that has Halfa Dash that I've done. Sam and Tucker find out later, though at first they're hurt that Danny spending more time with Dash. Then they think Dash is blackmailing Danny, especially when they hear from Jazz about them "dating". Jazz didn't know they didn't know and they kind of pieced it together what little she slipped. They definitely do help out.. though threaten Dash that they'll be the one he has to worry about ripping him apart if anything happens to Danny. Despite Danny having explained the situation. I haven't thought of a name much. BullRush maybe? But it might be more of an attack he names. It won't be phantom. Though can see Danny suggest it or mutters what he would have named himself LOL Because I can see Dash having different sets of powers and a different core than Danny. Very reliant on his strength and speed. Not so much on his aim. Good thing Danny learns how to shoot the ghost blaster. Though he has some trial and error too. He just can't help but help. (He will be spicy about it though) And since Dash NEEDS Danny he has to work on his temper. Danny does push his limits with it sometimes because he knows he has the upper hand. He does get karma for it because it does go too far at one point. Oooo what if that karma is Spectre and Dash is so depressed.. Jazz even points out Danny is being too spiteful. So Danny has to comfort Dash so he can save his sister and the school. Dash like y'know what.. I'd probably done worse. "You have." "....I thought this was about making me feel better, Fenton." "It is, but I'm not going to lie. You're better than you use to be. Funny enough, I think its pretty common for death defying experiences to change someone's life.. or after life... or something like that. Jazz is better at explaining it-" "JAZZ!!!" (remembers she's in danger)

[prismatoxic]

talking about my art journey as of late, or more specifically how relying on 3d models actually worked out in my favor

so back in 2023, i started relying on 3d models for poses and proportions. i hated how my art looked and i was frustrated with trying to put something together, taking forever on it, and having it just turn out like ass in the end. the 3d models removed a ton of guesswork from the process and helped me focus on the things i was good at while gently training skills i was less capable of. i'd already been using 3d models sporadically before then, but it was around when i started drawing nate and ken together that i switched to using them all the time.

it's hard to find comparisons around the right timeframe... but here's a nate drawing (with a friend's oc) i did just before i made the switch, when art was so frustrating for me that i wasn't fully lining or rendering anymore, and then the first nateken i ever did, which was when i started using the models in earnest.

it gave me my confidence back. i drew nateken CONSTANTLY, and they overtook my present fandom interest (mgs) before too long.

i did lose some things, though... fluidity, namely. and i've spent a lot of time trying to make my art feel dynamic, make it flow even with the models underneath, but even when other people can't tell, i can. it's been bothering me for a long time. my art is better now, yes, but cursory attempts to not use 3d models were all the more devastating for it. i was scared. i'd grown too reliant.

i tried a handful of times to sketch simple things without models and every time i hated it so bad that i didn't finish it. the past year, time and time again, i've found the prospect of drawing freehand far too daunting to attempt.

some jokey sketches of animal characters came out recently-ish that read fine, and that was good, but... i knew the humans and humanoids i draw all the time were still beyond me.

this anniversary drawing for me and devot back in the summer made me think... maybe... just maybe... i might actually have some skill in conveying what i want in simple shapes while freehanding. not what i'd like to do in full, but i love these little doodles. it was a start. (the main part was in fact based on models.)

more recently, this joke comic i did based on something max said gave me a similar feeling. like yeah it's a sketchy mess, but it does the job. it's silly. you know what you're looking at.

a few weeks ago, i had a silly malix idea that i didn't want to bust out the models for. so i made a loose freehand sketch. and... it seemed okay. so i refined it. and honestly? i really like how it came out.

it has that fluid charm i always wanted my doodles to have. i started to wonder... has this year+ of using the models actually helped me improve my sense of anatomy and proportions? did i actually get something out of this?

the answer might be yes. here's all the things i freehanded recently:

aside from the lineless one, these were all just quick silly things, and ultimately i still intend to use the 3d models for "serious" work or things i just want to make sure have a certain refined quality to them.

idk, i'm just... excited? happy? i thought my skill to just sketch something and refine it all by myself had surely atrophied. i thought my reliance on 3d models had ruined my art potential. turns out it's just been training wheels and i'm actually doing kind of okay taking them off sometimes.

i'll keep making silly simple things this way for a while. the lineless damien one was me having a bad night and needing a major distraction, and it served its purpose alright. i'm just happy i was able to actually finish it. i don't even hate it!

i guess this is me saying, yeah, it's fine to use tools and shortcuts. i know the fear of "cheating" but here i am, having done this for ages, and i'm doing better for it. i will say i think a lot of my ability to learn has been my willingness to compensate for what the 3d models can't do (like joints and muscles) and tweak things once those layers are hidden, but i've still been relying heavily on these shortcuts. it's just nice to realize it wasn't all a waste, in a skill sense.

[2036sator]

hiiii :3 what r ur opinions on the characters in the cgvl and lha? Character wise, design wise, etc... (including freedom guy 🤭) I'm just really curious :3

[[ AA dude i’m gonna go so in depth w/ this !!!! this is personally from what I recently discovered from these characters so , i am kinda new to LHA and CGVL ,, not freedom guy tho lolol ]]

[[ Let’s start with LHA ^_^ ]]

> FREEDOM GUY - design wise … absolutely cool i can’t really explain how much i enjoy doodling him no matter what design he has , always loved the old design !! Red scarf is iconic to him and made him stand out even if its a bit plain… but other than the old design, new design kitt recently has made im ssooooooo inlove with how he became so …. HE LOOKS SASSY AT ONE POINT LOOOKING AT HIM FOR HOURS . his old design with his iconic hands on his hips pose already made me think he was all shiny sassy star that everyone praises of lllolololol 7_7 character wise by personality is great overall , he’s a code yet he is so , humane that being the therapist plus saviour is tiring even for a code sobbbb ilove gushing about freedom guy if u can’t tell

> FROST - design wise ? Love it . I would say that I love drawing Frost as well as much as I love to draw Freedom Guy :3 Character wise … very kewl…. I need to see more of frost stuff ………

> TANGERINE - DESIGN WISE AAHHHH OHMYGOD I have something for orange sticks idk why but she looks so cool i never actually noticed she even had like scars until i went thru deep into the LHA bloggers just to noticed she has like two or three scars like WHAT !!! Character wise , If she went to my school I would wanna be her friend tbh she seems fun to be around ^_^

> CION - Design wise is just… chefs kiss , I love drawing her marble head and drawing her in my design where she has like kind of maybe water ish? Or fire ish blob around it just bc I can’t see her with hair so instead I just made blobs that made to look like she has hair el o el ,,,overallll!! Super cool I love cloaks … Character wise is yes , just yes . Ilove the looks can be deceived like how Cion and Tangerine is the same just different fonts

> LUCKY - hhhahah lucky block…. I made Lucky’s head more not circular bc srsly I would totally believe lucky if xe told me xe was birthed from a lucky block. So it’s more geometrical? Character wise ilove xem ilove hackers and I don’t know much of Lucky ,,,still xe’s super cool either way

== WOOOOO CGVL IS NEXT ==

> SCRIBBLES - from what ive seen im surprised this is actually and technically the leader of cgvl and its just , a little scribble stick ( in a positive way not insulting ) , probably my favourite... ( i cant decide with scribs and rose ) ,,, character wise!!! ive seen a little bit of scribbles story and im cheering so hard scribs is so cool and with the programmer lore and everything going on is super interesting and all overall really cool character , easy to doodle when im bored in school

> VIX - oh jeez . can we get vix neutered . / LIGHTHEARTED JOKE ... Unique creature , i love the head design even though it sometimes confuses me when i try to doodle the back of vix :9 ., character wise .. freaky .... you a freak girl!!! also!!! I LOVE cannibal characters when they're all actually attached to a person then they soemtimes can't get over the thought of eating them ( filling them with guilt ) i love when cannibals feel bad for what they are ( technically its a parasite for vix's case but still!!! )

>ROSE - ohhhhhhhhh i almost tripped when i saw rose , pink characters save me ... shes so pretty by the design wise category .. made me jealous of her gender smhhhh.... character wise , mischievous thief and i would let her steal my whole house if she wanted to

> GEO - i wanna squeeze geo but i cant :( character wise by what ive seen from like interactions(?) and lore , its really interesting and really cool ( reminds me of another interest i have but who cares ) still i understand how frost would baby geo

> ENTI & BUG ( NO IMAGE NOOOOOO MY LIMIT NOOOOOO ) - big guys so cool they would absolutely obliterate me . i dont know them much but i wanna know more about them .... i need itt...

[bluegekk0]

Okay back for some more art related questions.

How did you make fpk so pink without actually making him pink? I feel like every time I try to draw a pale character with an undertone of color, it looks like that color even though on the color wheel I added like 3% of the color.

How long does it take you to do your art? For an example how long did the fpk reference sheet take you compared to The Cycle art piece with Grimm?

How do you eyeball man? Your art is literally the reference pictures I use to try and draw dark eyes but every time I try to draw them, it looks like Kawaii eyes. Like the eyes in this emoji:🥺. How do you do it?

it all comes down to a very simple thing - it's about highlights that trick your mind into seeing a different color. i'll mainly talk about pink here cause that applies to fpk and i have examples, but i'm sure you could apply this to other colors

here he is with the pink highlights, without them, and what he would look like if he was actually pink. see the difference? he's still predominantly light gray, but the pink details make you see it as more pink-tinted than he actually is

it's not a 1:1 match since he's leucistic as opposed to fully albino, but i was heavily inspired by pictures like these:

if you notice, they're not pink, all of them are white, but the pink areas around the mouths or in the shadows make them appear pink-ish

his pre-hibernation look is a lot closer to these pictures, since his soul glow made him more white than light gray (he also has very subtle iridescence)

the lineart also plays a big role in making a white/gray character appear to have a certain color

here's fpk as you see him on the ref with gray lines + pink highlights, with the highlights removed, and with pink lines (the shadow behind the horns was adjusted as well to match the lines)

both 1 and 3 appear to look light pink. the third one especially affects how the body looks, so depending how subtle you want the effect you may choose between the two options. or mix them, whatever you like. and as you can see, the colors on the last two are identical, but the one on the right looks more pink

(and if i'm being honest, i may actually snatch those pink lines for future drawings, cause i really like how that looks hahah)

---

2. it's very difficult to say, i get distract easily so i never keep a proper count. but the unshaded drawings don't take very long, unless there's a pose or any other details that gives me trouble, and i focus all my attention on it, i'd finish the lineart and color phases in probably around 30 minutes? the sketch always influences the length of the process the most, so there's no single way to determine it

and in the case of references, it naturally adds up. the last updates aren't exactly the most reliable way to deduce that since a lot of them were just updates to existing drawings. but if i were to start from scratch, had clear poses in mind and didn't get distracted, i could probably get it done in like two hours

as for the more detailed drawings, they take a lot longer. again, i can't really say how long, the cycle drawing took me a few sittings, but if i had to guess it was probably a few hours in total? maybe around 5? just guessing

---

3. depends which style i go for. in the unshaded style i keep the eyes simple. one flat color and two lighter colors for the reflections. the more subtle ones play a big part, they make the eye look more 3d and wet. and that also carries over to the painted, shaded style, which includes additional lighting and some details. i particularly like the little star shaped reflections, i think they're adorable but they're subtle enough where they're not distracting

another big part of how i paint his big black pupils is their reflective nature. in a brown room, they'll look more brown than black and so on. it's very exaggerated, normally such eyes wouldn't change color to such a drastic extent, but i think it makes the drawings look more interesting

i can't really offer any specific tips other than that, since i kinda make it up as i go. but using photo references is always helpful, especially for different eye colors

[thesweetnessofspring]

hiiii,

i just wanted to say that i recently-ish finished the first book from the chaos walking series, and it completely blew me away!!! it was SO gripping!! the amount of times I almost felt too stressed to read on is a little embarrassing honestly 🙉

but beyond it being incredibly fast-paced it is soooo thematically rich and emotionally harrowing at times (u were right I did cry - rip Manchee 😔). also, idk why but todd really gave me finnick vibes... (more on that when I figure out a way to explain myself, but i'm leaning heavily on the exploration on what it means to be a "Man" that is very prevalent in this book...)

anyway... i'm going on holiday for a few weeks and I've already got the second book locked and loaded!!! thanks for the recommendation 🫶, i'd love to hear some of your thoughts on the books :))))

First I want to apologize for how long it's taken me to get to this. 😭But yay I'm so glad you enjoyed the first book!!!! It's one of those edge-of-your seat reads that also says a lot and draws really interesting and layered characters and the next two in the series only get deeper with characterizations as you get to know the other characters (which you might already know as you might have read the other two by now).

I wouldn't have really connected Todd to Finnick before! I'm interested to hear your thoughts on it.

Part of the reason I delayed answering this is because I wanted to read the 2nd and 3rd books again before giving my thoughts, only my copies of those are buried in my parents' garage and they're renovating so things are a mess but I wanted to respond sooner than I'll get around to digging them out and rereading. It's been on my mind especially with the week we've had. Spoilers and long rambling below

So of TKONLG, what really stood out to me this past read was initiation into being a man by Mayor Prentiss, what Todd discovers. That they take a 13-year-old boy and make him kill a man trying to escape their hellhole of a town, or else pick someone they simply don't like, and make everyone else watch. How Ben and Cillian had to be so careful with their Noise to try and save Todd and set him loose with only a dog and a knife (and perhaps getting Manchee when Todd was 12 wasn't so accidental).

I've especially thought about it this week with the election. That boys are told to be a "man" by putting their pride in front of the lives of others, to the point they were the ones doing the killing. Psychologically, that's an intense ritual bonding them into a cult and letting it change them, especially as trying to leave puts them in the position to be the one who gets killed. And that's not to include the way they'd murdered all of the women in town before that. Prentisstown created scapegoat after scapegoat.

I think most of the boys must have been told that it was they kill or be killed to get them to comply. A few like Davy were probably happy to prove themselves a "man". Todd fought the most, and it was only Viola being threatened that gave him enough anger that he could have killed Aaron. Aaron, whom he never liked and didn't have family or anyone that would ask for justice for his death and wanted to be the sacrifice. Todd still fought it, even though in the end, Aaron had to be killed.

Would killing Aaron have made Todd a man? Did Todd become a "man" when he killed the Spackle before? Did Viola spare him, or are they both "guilty"? Is there an exception for the kind of ruthlessness in which Todd was pursued to complete this mission? I like that these are questions Ness poses instead of telling us. And the plot only gets juicier from here!

[littledragondork]

BLASTING THE GUYS WITH CAT LAZER AGAIN

yeah I redrew cat AU Brynjolf, Karliah and Mercer because I hated the older designs (Link to the older ones here if you want to compare them)

Bryn first because he was the more fun one to draw

Big fluffy lad, I imagine he's one of those cats that is damn near the size of a medium dog, like 15lbs+/6.8kg+ or something, small-ish compared to someone like The werewolf twins or Ulfric but easily the biggest in his faction by a landslide. Maine coon and Norwegian forest cat were the main reference, just a big guy.

Karliah next!!

Karliah was fun to draw the shapes for but I hated her colors for the longest time, I made her a sepia(?) point because I simply love colorpoints and it makes sense with her having royal blood and all that. The doodle of her face down asleep is my favorite, girl needs to rest. Oriental short hair was the main reference but I decied after finishing her art that I wanted to give them little manes but I didn't feel like adding one to her so I just say she shaves it.

Mercer Frey is last because his pose and design was actual pain

Bastard man himself, I kept him being a colorpoint but I liked him being a Lynx point a lot more than just solid so I did that as well as give him a more interesting pose as a whole. I gave him spots instead of stripes because I liked it more visually and wanted to mix things up. Also, I had no fucking clue before doing this that his eyes were blue, I figured they'd be hazel or something tbh. Anyway, the bastard man.