#this was a really fun posing and perspective piece too

[phoenixtherobot]

Hermittober Day 7: Fall!

I like to imagine Joel tripped a little when he got shot so he could fit the theme of all of the Bread Boys Falling

[deepseacityunderground]

ive said this before but so much of what Retvrn Freaks glorify in early modern european art are just components inherent to the mediums being used at the time as opposed to like. an example of heightened skill that has been supposedly Lost in these degenerate times.... oil paint just looks like that. its very tonal and rich and even an artist with mediocre rendering skills will have their rendering skills improved by painting in oil. old oil paintings took years to complete not because the artists doing them were very skilled but because oil takes months to dry and they built up subtle washes over dried paint. tracing was also commonly utilized during that time period, and artists also often had small armies of apprentices who would do the hard work for them with no credit. these huge highly tonal oil paintings become significantly less impressive when you actually learn about their context.

[choochooboss]

Submas Sketchdump Vol. 4 July 2022 Part 2!!

I knew that particular month beat my all time record for productivity multifold but I had forgotten SO MANY PIECES from the original collection!! I think I finally got them all?? More stuff under the cut!!

BREAKMAS!! WIP of the first piece I posted of them, here's the link to the final version! I tried coloring this first but the black & white had ultimately more impact so I went with that!

TRAINS!! I like this base color version too! Link to the final version!

The top sketch is a direct reference to Cluedo! A spinoff game, "Missingo", starring certain familiar characters trying to figure out what happened to Ingo/trying to prove their innocence in the case! Also WIP sketches for these two Breakmas comic pages!

As you may know I adore butlermas! For the classy and stylish look which appeals to me in general, and coincidentally I had played PLA & got hit by submas train only one week before butler Ingo's banner rolled out! The pure bliss of finally meeting both twins in a game I felt was incomparable!! This moment in the Curious Tea Party event was really entertaining to me! We got to see submas get serious and stand up against this selfish collector thief! Two towering train twinks with commanding voices looming over the unfortunate guy was enough to make him change his mind ahah! They truly are the protectors

1-hour submas challenge prompt "Descend"! This is the actual one hour result before I continued rendering this!

Mmmmm not my first attempt at drawing them hug and definitely not my best OR last. I want to make that moment something very special when I finally go all out on it!!

Comic cover vibing~

The scrapped last page for this silly comic! Sorry the dialogue is all over the place on the first piece, might be hard to read! I wasn't happy with how I presented Elesa, I wasn't familiar enough with her character back then so I thought of her carrying a toy taser to threat her friend even as a joke was too much and I couldn't come up with anything else for it. This held me back from posting the other three pages for another 5 months! In the last panel

I prefer to not mess up the twins too much but my brain is still very curious and conjures some peculiar stuff like this sometimes.. I think I may have broken his arms there looking at the anatomy, ooops! I hope you don't mind the photo quality or the two weird guys in the corner, they escaped containment!

Idea of warden Ingo, being projected to modern era by his Alakazam, walking through crowd on a train platform & Emmet standing inside a passing train. Their eyes meet for just a few seconds...

Pokemas Ingo practise!

Another WIP of a piece I posted! I started this piece like this but then later I decided to flip the whole thing.

YET another WIP of something I already posted! No idea why I went and mixed up his suits but I like this sketch! They rarely end up looking this clean haha

Sketch version of the self-defense practise piece! I love getting creative with action stuff! I barely ever think of how difficult they are to draw, I just get so excited and fixated on visualising the scenes in my mind I just keep at it, pull out refs and pose in front of mirrors until it looks good to me! I want to draw more action scenes but besides being challenging to draw my brain comes up with more silly and cute ideas than cool ones unfortunately ahah

One more WIP, here's the link to the final results!! I really like how genuine their expressions look here even if the faces are a little off. I recall spending a long time figuring out this perspective. I thought it would be fun to you to see how all these pieces started and... looking at the sketch above and the stuff before that, you can compare some range of my style!

RANDOM SUBMAS MISSILES GO

OHHH looks like some nasty passengers got the best of them!! If I recall correctly there was no fight because they managed to paralyse the two before they could act. Fully awake yet completely helpless... how convenient unfortunate. Thank you so much for checking these out!! Not every sketch is that exciting but I'm always happy to hear your thoughts on these!

Previous posts: Sketch dump Vol. 1: April-June 2022 Sketch dump Vol. 2: July 2022 Sketch dump Vol. 3: August 2022

[kuni-kuun]

please please please I'm clinging on to you by the toes how do you draw your perspectives so deliciously (ty for posting kunizai art too sm btw you're doing our wretched Lord asagiri sensei's work)

U guys flatter me sm but im afraid i do not know how i draw either .. its funny enough to ME that people are saying im good at perspective because i litterally have never been good at it before 😭 ill try to explain as best i can though from my own experience !

My first advice is probably to not worry about anatomy too much; im 100% sure my anatomy is hella off in all my drawings. But in perspective art, u can still somehow make it work with foreshortening!

Especially for parts like arms, i usually just simplify it in 3 parts, the shoulder area, the forearm and the hand - foreshortening can be helped a lot by the folds of the clothes, so you can kind of still create a border to differentiate the parts of the body. And feel free to simplify the anatomy etc. And also embrace more "cartoonish" shapes- i draw a lot of weirdly curved legs but it works for a more dynamic-looking piece (i think)

Next would be to think of the art piece in terms of shapes. And also to not be afraid of using curved lines instead of straight ones

Using curved lines for areas that are too close or too far seem to work best for me in creating a sort of fish-eye lense that makes the background look warped, but dynamic!

Next, my favorite shape in terms of composition would be triangles. Especially for perspective top-down poses, it really gives you a general shape that the body could take based on that view

For compositions, i like it because i think it works well for balance, it has a very strong shape and works for visualizing foreground, middle ground, and background (the largest part (base) is closest to the viewer, the farther it goes the smaller the object gets). It prpbably helps if you have those point perspective ruler stuff that comes with some art apps. Also i use ibis and i sometimes use the transform tool to stretch or reshape a part until it flows better in the composition.

In terms of color, i usually work darker to lighter, from foreground to background. Darker objects nearer to the front and lighter objects at the back work a lot better for depth since the ones closer are more in focus and detailed while the lighter the object gets the more it seems to "fade" away.

Anyways i am certainly no professional and to be honest, most of this is me getting an idea or picture in my head that i go through trial and error to execute so i still advise you all to search up guides or references (i look for a lot of ideas on pinterest) and have fun ! If you still have questions, i will do my best to reply

[xxplastic-cubexx]

Hey! Alway me🫣🤭.

I need to ask cause you draw so well.

I really like the poses and bodies you do, so I was wondering: Do you have any tips for learning how to draw bodies, hands, faces, etc. well?

Hello again!! Thank you so much for enjoyin my work !!!!

I didn't think I'd type up much in response to this, but. Oops!!!!!! So I have all of my notes below the cut :]

With regards to drawing anatomy and the sort, the shortest way I can say it is to study exactly what you're looking to draw: it's easy to generally say 'just study' or 'study everything' when it comes to art, but if you don't know exactly what you want to improve on, you're not going to make as much progress as you may want. You'll need a starting point, and identifying things like bodies/muscles, faces, hands and the like of what you want to focus on drawing is a great start!

For starters, I for sure recommend looking into muscle anatomy charts and models- something like these:

Color blocked diagrams like this can help identify the shapes of muscles, and generally once you understand the shapes of them and how they fit together, drawing anatomy as a whole starts to come easier: once you've made sense of the muscles of the body, you better understand where they belong and how they'll move, and therefore you can plan/visualize them better.

You know how sometimes people have to disassemble an engine and then reassemble it to better understand it? Think of it that way: you deconstruct your subject, study it, and- with a better understanding of it- put it back together!

Moreover, once you know the rules of anatomy, you can start to bend it when working with perspectives. make sure to look at plenty of photo references to understand this!

Perspective's a different subject I'm gonna pivot to really quick: it seems scary at first, but you just need time to study and play around with it, like with anything you're studying.

Generally speaking, the closer something is to the camera, the bigger it'll be. When we try to draw these extreme perspectives in mind- I, at least- get worried about it looking inaccurate or 'wrong'. But it's good to embrace that exaggeration at times! It helps add emphasis to your piece (especially if there's movement or action!), and it's why we learn these rules of anatomy and perspective: to harness them and break them when necessary. If you feel as though something looks off though, don't be afraid to look for reference images.

I don't use them much nowadays, but 'art dolls' can help you out with posing and perspectives at the start! You don't need a physical doll either: my personal favorite site was justsketch.me. It's totally free, and you can add multiple figures to a 'set' if you need to. Play around with it for a bit: it's pretty fun just posing the dolls!

Back to muscles though...

Obviously, you don't have to map out muscles like this every time. Just doing this a couple times once in a while as an exercise helps you get associated with the shapes of the muscles, especially when applying it to poses you're looking to draw.

*Quick note: the forearm's bone- the ulna- twists when bent as shown in this reference, hence the 'twisting' shape of the lime greens!

As for hands, I hope this quick little chart can help! again, a big help- for me- is understanding the shapes and how they all connect, and how parts of the hand move and work. Like I said before, looking at references will help a lot.

With hands and poses alike, I honestly recommend tracing your pose/reference of interest first, if you have one. Doing this lets you get a 'feel' of how to draw what you'd like, plus it allows you to become more familiar with the details of what you're drawing. After you get a grasp for that, free-handing poses will come easier. If you're able- whether that's taking pictures or looking at a mirror- yourself can be a good reference for your drawings too! You'll know exactly what you're looking for, and you don't have to worry about hunting for The Perfect Reference.

As for faces, part of that is based on style- BUT I hope how my approach to drawing faces can help!

If I May Provide A Quick Demo on how I go about learning to draw new characters: I do a fair amount of studying whenever drawing real people (as I do with my movie!x-men art), so I hope looking at my process can help you see my thinking in action.

Michael Fassbender probably has one of my favorite faces to draw since it's so distinct in shapes and therefore pretty easy to understand and draw, so I'm gonna borrow him for this:

I always have a set of reference images of the person/character I'm drawing off to the side. For this demo, I'm just going to use these few

When I first start to get to know a person's face, I start off with generic shapes. Almost like I have to carve the rest of their features out of this 2D marble slab, I guess is a way I can put it. While drawing Michael/Erik, I always think of how 'square' or boxy his face is as a starting point. Thereafter, I look closer at the details of his face and gradually start 'grinding' the 'marble' to be more specific to his face shape.

In this case, although I can 'summarize' his face with a square, I also acknowledge it's not perfectly square and that he has a rounded jawline, chin, and forehead. Still: I ask myself why I think his face is so 'square', and a part of it's because of how pronounced his features are: they give him a sharper look.

That 'sharper' look is displayed best at his cheeks/cheekbones, so I highlight it, as I feel it's a distinguishing feature of his face I want to capture.

So I have his general shapes down- but I also know Michael has very distinguished expressions as well! So I go look at my sources and no this wasn't an excuse to rewatch First Class I sweaarrr <-lying to see how his face moves depending on what he's expressing or even how he talks. When I understand how his face moves, then I can start to draw expressions I feel are more 'natural' or 'accurate'. The rest of his face just falls into place after that.

Once I have my notes, then I just do some rough sketches and I put what I learnt into practice. And then uh... yeah! That's how I do that.

Evidently, this way of study doesn't work if you're drawing a character with no real-life model. Moreover, some styles are a lot more simple than what I have going on here, and some subjects may be better suited for a different art style all together: it ultimately depends on what you find the most fun and what you think feels right to you!

I'm not sure I have any other tips off the top of my head, but if you have any please feel free to ask! Drawing takes time to get the hang of and to figure out what you like, so I hope you have fun on your artistic journey!

Happy drawing!

[shewreckz]

Hey your art is pretty whimsical and radical my gender non specific broseph, per chance would thou be able to enlighten us on how you draw such bodacious fine art? Like how you draw bodies and fave and what have thee. (Fr tho your art really cool and I'd like to see how you make it)

okay i have whipped up a quick little visual of my thought process while drawing!! it might not be the best cause im not the greatest at teaching but if anyones curious ^_^

first lets start with how i draw bodies

a lot of people like to do the "skeleton" method which is where you draw lines and circles to plan out where the limbs should be. honestly i really dislike doing that because i like to always have volume and shape in mind when drawing bodies, but if it works for you thats great.

instead i separate the body into different pieces, kinda like an articulated doll. i think it helps visualize all the moving parts in a 3d space and makes posing and perspective a lot easier. i can also always add the detailed anatomy on top of this basic model like you see on the left. its always important to work from simple -> complex. drawing a pose while being too worried on anatomy will really hinder your drawing process.

to improve doing this it really just takes practice and observation. i could be here all day talking about proportions, and how many heads high a person is, and each specific muscle group, but i reccomend you go and watch videos and study professional artists on your own. as someone who has been drawing and studying these things for so long, i barely think about how many heads high a person is when im drawing a body. its kind of like learning how to play and instrument or driving a car. it becomes second nature eventually, but you have to apply those skills and work through that period of time where youre still trying to program it into your brain.

after you get a hang of the basics you can take this basic model and draw all types of body shapes with it. i say its always important to play around with making your body types diverse. its not only fun to do but helps make all the characters you draw unique and recognizable. (dont be like vivziepop).

dynamic posing can be the hardest thing to master for a lot of people. the best way to learn how to pose is to not think about it too much and just doing it. for example in my figure drawing class we had to sketch out gesture drawings from a picture in 15 seconds. excercises like that help a ton in making you feel more comfortable when drawing from a reference. you should definitely reference a LOT when it comes to poses, it helps build this visual database so that eventually you can get to the point where you can just draw accurate and dynamic poses from memory. after getting to this point eventually you kind of start thinking of your canvas as this tangible 3d space and considering your characters in 3d space helps make the poses feel a lot more realistic and interesting.

ok now a quick little tour into how i draw different faces yaaaayy!!!1!1!1

main thing with my art is that i LOVEEE drawing dynamic face shapes i think its so important to avoid drawing the same slim faces over and over. shape language plays a big role into this. like for example the face on the middle is more square, the one on the left is more oval and the one on the right is more circle. shape language helps communicate so much about your character without even saying a word about them and just helps differentiate people from a glance.

facial features also play a huge role into making your faces different. these are all drawn from the same exact face shape but look like entirely different characters by adding variety in the features. different noses, eye shapes, lips, etc. can make such a huge difference

i think before any of that its important to learn the anatomy of the face though. again im not gonna go into how many eyes wide a face it or how far the nose is from the mouth but like its always important to learn the fundamentals before stylizing stuff. again the face is a 3d space and if you dont consider your face a 3d plane the features will kind of just look like theyre floating on your characters face like soup...theres a lot of great resources and tutorials online take advantage of those!!! and reference from artists you like too it helps a ton.

and then you mix that all together and Boom you have cool and interesting faces. you will best that same face syndrome in no time if you take my advice Trust...

anyways yeah thats the soda design philosophy hit that like button if you liked it or douse me with tomatoes and kick me off the stage if you think i give bad advice ill leave the decision up to you

[bluevaractyl]

It’s “appreciate yourself” hours! Pick five pieces of writing/art that you’ve done that you love and talk about them! ❤️❤️❤️

Hi Skye!! I don't have enough art or writing to do five, so I'll do some of each.

Burning Skies: My first (and so far only) multichapter fic, in which I am very mean to Sky, the boys go dungeon crawling, and hugs are had. It has a lot in common with your Elastic Heart, I think. I took advantage of the setting and played with the Chain's items and monsters. Bouncing between perspectives was so much fun, and having people comment as I posted each chapter was incredibly rewarding. Zola drew some amazing art for it.

Courage comes in many forms: This is the silliest thing I have ever written. AoL Link learns the Cucco spell, with a bonus bit of LU at the end. Very short and good for a giggle. Zola also did art for this one.

Deterioration: For the ultimate whiplash, here is the angstiest, whumpiest thing I have ever written. I really don't know why it's on this list, but I only have six published fics to choose from, so here it is. I'm gonna preface it by saying that it's the result of me going, "Aren't you glad healthcare workers are so caring?" and my dumb angsty brain going, "Yeah, what if they weren't?" and running with it. Also me thinking too hard about how [spoiler] came to be. Hyrule becomes an unwilling test subject and has a terrible week. Someone get this boy a snack and hugs STAT.

Yes you've seen this before, but it's probably my best work. The Yiga from Dad Squad come for Sky Link and are unprepared to face the fury of a protective loftwing. I am still really proud of the pose and colors on the loftwing, and I still giggle at the Yiga. Link is blissfully unaware😌

And finally, the art I drew inspired by your Fluffvember snippet. You've seen this one too haha. Seeing it always makes me think of that fic and brings that same feeling of calm I felt that first time reading it. It's nice to know that I can draw fluff even though I apparently can't write it😅

I've drawn many things since these two, but none I've been so happy with. I guess you're my muse :3

[galadrieljones]

What Happened to Beth's Sweater? (TD)

I decided to write this post in response to a recent post I saw in the Team Delusional tag by @rose-andthe-thorn. You can read it here. The post wonders whether any more research has been done on the subject of the flash, and so, even as this is quite an OG discussion for TD, I want to go over the basics of the flash, as I see it, plus some new trajectories on the topic, and a great deal of symbolism, which have been explored semi-recently.

Context: Though it's been quite a long time, a lot of ppl have essentially used the flash to try and understand what happened to Beth after Grady. It seems to show her running for her life amidst a flurry of walkers, wearing her yellow polo, with a great deal of blood on her right arm. It looks as if she might have something wrapped around her arm, as the blood seems to stop abruptly, in a straight line, just above the elbow, and below the sleeve. Whatever this is, it seems drenched with blood, but it's really hard to tell what's going on. Lots and lots of ppl have written about this way before I came along, and so I'll leave some links that the end of this post for some foundational perspectives on the issue. Ultimately, we think the flash is just a snippet of what might have happened to Beth, at some point, during the Missing 17 Days, or the time period between "Coda" and "What Happened and What's Going on," which we never see.

Where is Beth's sweater?: One really important aspect of the flash that has been discussed in detail recently is the fact that, in the flash, Beth is without her sweater. I've written recently about Beth's sweater, and its relationship to Wizard of Oz symbolism surrounding her characterization. You can find that here.

Re: the flash. There's been some semi-recent discussion of Beth's "sweaterless" disposition, ie: the fact that Beth also doesn't have her sweater on in Rick's hallucination in 9.4.

This is weird, as it suggests that Rick must somehow know that Beth was wearing a short-sleeved yellow polo under the sweater that he saw her get shot in. Beth's sweater is a contentious piece in "Coda." She is not wearing it in the hospital room when we see her tuck the scissors into her cast before the confrontation; however, she is wearing it during the confrontation.

This tension shows up again, via a popularly circulated picture of what is *apparently* some behind-the-scenes footage from "Coda." In some of these pictures, Beth is wearing her sweater, while in some, she's not. These pictures are odd, as many have noted that Beth doesn't have an entry wound prosthetic on her forehead, along with some other potent observations. But what I want to focus on here, is the fact that, without her sweater, in this very nicely posed hug with Lauren Cohan, we can see exactly what is hidden BENEATH Beth's sweater when she gets shot, something that we can't *really* see that well in the episode: a cross.

Why hide this? But then show it later? Well, probably because, at the time, they didn't want it to be too obvious that Beth was a Christ figure. That's something they would have wanted us to figure out over time, and out of order. What fun is a puzzle if you get the pieces all at once, and pre-organized for your convenience?

Re: the yellow polo. It's almost as if they would like us to remember *exactly* what Beth was wearing beneath her sweater, and to use it as a way of spotting or defining her character immediately. Remember, that while lots of us have watched and rewatched these episodes like a dozen times or more, and we've come to associate it as a defining feature of Beth, back in 2014, it would have been MONTHS since the GA would have seen Beth in her yellow polo, and before "Coda," in season 5, she is seen exclusively in hospital scrubs. "Coda" was aired on November 30, 2014. The last time the audience would have seen Beth in her yellow polo all by itself, without the sweater, would have been on March 2nd, 2014, in "Still."

Assuming that, while writing and filming "What Comes After," Scott Gimple didn't just "forget" what Beth was wearing the last time we saw her in "Coda" (highly unlikely lol), her missing sweater in Rick's hallucination suggests one of two possibilities:

1. The last time Rick saw Beth, it was without her sweater. This would be odd, considering the fact that she was wearing her sweater during the shooting in "Coda." This seems to suggest that Team Family took it off of her at some point, which is possible. Perhaps it was too bloodied up, so they took it off before they set off to bury her? This, of course, doesn't explain the appearance of blood all over Beth's arm in Rick's hallucination, just the absence of the sweater. So here's another possibility:

2. The other possibility is that Daryl told Rick what Beth was wearing under her sweater. Why would he do this? Most TDers believe that after Grady, the group was ambushed by a large horde of walkers while moving to bury Beth at a white church. They had to stash Beth's body, likely in the backseat or trunk of a car, in order to escape, with plans to go back later to get her. When they went back, she was gone. The group would have then assumed she'd turned and stumbled away and conducted a thorough search of the area. If they found her sweater, at any point during the search, then Daryl would tell the group what Beth was wearing under the sweater so they could more easily spot her: a yellow, short-sleeved polo. Hence, Rick's knowledge.

Beth's sweater being lost or *missing*, as a theory and in Rick's hallucination, is consistent with what we see in the flash: Beth, without her sweater, on the run. In fact, the very notion of Beth taking off her sweater to reveal the yellow polo underneath is foreshadowed directly in "Still," when Daryl covers her in blood spatter after beating a walker to death with a golf club. Beth, having just put on a new white cardigan, takes it off quickly when he does this, as if she is embarrassed. It's almost like they want us, very clearly, to remember her this way, ie: the way she's dressed at the moonshine shack during this very intense and emotional scene with Daryl.

It also seems as if they want us to understand that Beth, as she likes to dress in light colors, is sensitive to being covered in blood. One can imagine that her sweater was probably covered in quite a lot of blood after she was shot in the head. I'll come back to this, ie: what might have happened to Beth after Grady.

But for now, back to "What Comes After." Just like in the flash, Beth is shown in Rick's hallucination with blood all over her right arm.

Coincidence? Lol. Many ppl have pointed out that this is greatly bizarre. Even though Beth was shot in the head, there's no blood shown in her hair, or on her shirt in Rick's hallucination, just a bunch all over her right arm, which is also absent her cast. We obviously have no explanation for why there would be blood splattered on her upper arm like that, or why her cast is missing. Is it possible a walker bit her cast off? And that they found it, as well as the sweater? I don't know! It's headcanon from here.

There IS an explanation, however, for why there's no blood on her shirt in Rick's memory. She was wearing her sweater when she got shot, which would have absorbed most of it. But then why isn't she wearing the sweater in the memory? This is the magic question. I doubt it was to spare the audience the appearance of blood and guts. We've seen much, much worse over the years.

In any case, despite the fact that we have no idea why there would be blood all over Beth's arm, or what actually happened to Beth's sweater (or her cast), we now have two different visual examples which suggest that, at some point after being shot, Beth hurt her right arm and had to remove her sweater.

Theories for what happened: I have speculated that when TF found Beth's sweater, either one sleeve was missing or terribly bloodied, which would explain the picture Rick's subconscious conjured, with blood all over Beth's right arm, as well as the bloody appearance of Beth's right arm in the flash. Along with @twdmusicboxmystery and @wdway, we've come up with all sorts of scenarios which could result in this, ie: the sleeve was snagged on something in the car during her escape (or removal) and had to be cut off. Or it was cut off to staunch the bleeding on her arm. She may have been shot, cut, or bitten. We believe Beth may have some immunity to Wildfire, based on the cure theory, which holds that Edwards was conducting cure research at Grady, using radiation therapy to help patients survive the virus and to develop antibodies (similar to what happens to Alicia in Fear, who is bitten on the wrist and survives the fever).

Christ symbolism: I've also drawn a possible connection between Beth's sweater and the mythical Shroud of Turin, which is mythologized as the shroud that Christ was buried in, in his resurrection tomb. In the Gospel of John, we learn that it was Mary Magdalene who first discovered that the tomb was empty, and that Christ wasn't there, though there were linens left behind:

20 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” 3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10 Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.

There are a couple versions of the language used, in different Biblical accounts, but each holds that the door to the tomb was essentially open, ie: the "stone was rolled away" or "the stone had been removed." Christ was gone, but linens remained.

After her discovery, Mary Magdalene "stood outside the tomb crying" (John 20:11). This imagery, as well as the chaos which seemed to have ensued after the discovery of Christ's empty tomb, feels consistent with what we *feel* happened, and what we see only in flashes in the opening sequence of "What Happened and What's Going On."

We can see Daryl running here, toward the car, but he's not holding Beth. What happened to her? Where did she go?

The following shot, in particularly, of Maggie crying outside the open car door, also greatly conjures popular imagery of Christ's empty tomb, and Mary Magdalene crying outside the open door, with the "stone rolled away."

You can see how, despite the fact that it's all circumstantial, we have managed to piece together a rough puzzle of what might have happened that day: Beth's body was preserved in a tomb (the trunk or backseat of a car). When Mary Magdalene (Daryl and/or Maggie) went to check on Jesus's (Beth's) body on the third day, Jesus (Beth) was gone, and only the shroud (Beth's sweater) remained.

It's also widely speculated that Beth might, at some point, have visited Terminus while tracking Daryl and found his poncho, a garment which has specific ties to Daryl and Maggie.

This is obviously pure speculation, but it would be a quaint parallel to Daryl finding her sweater during his search. Something else to consider from season 4 is that Mary from Terminus wore her own sweater which featured a prominent chevron pattern.

Beth's sweater also has a very prominent chevron pattern, as well as a herringbone stitch, which is chevron-shaped.

There is also a reminder of "Mary" in the opening sequence of "Coda," in which Father Gabriel finds a Bible near the spot where Bob's leg was amputated by the Termites. The Bible belongs to a "Mary B."

Also, if you look closely at the watercolor landscape of the house featured in the beginning of WHAWGO, you can see that the first name of the painter seems to be "Mary Frances." This is quite a few Marys for it to be "coincidence." Three to be exact. Remember that at the crucifixion of Christ in the Bible, there were three Marys.

Several years ago, @wdway drew a connection between the chevron pattern and the imagery of the Holy Grail, which is heavily featured in the Dan Brown novel The DaVinci Code. *Not* coincidentally, Scott Gimple used to write for the TV spin-off to the franchise called "DaVinci's Demons" and has claimed inspiration from the books in the past. We have paid close attention too to The DaVinci Code as it takes place largely in Paris, with many great revelations taking place in the Louvre, what we know to be an upcoming setting for Daryl Dixon season 2. @frangipanilove has also done an excellent series on Daryl as a Mary Magdalene figure, with symbolic ties to The DaVinci Code. Everyone should read it!!

Back to the sweater and the Missing 17 Days: A lot of ppl also believe that it may have been Morgan who found Beth, alive, and brought her back to Grady. Though we have no real evidence for this at all, the speculation comes from the fact that Morgan shows up in the coda to "Coda," that he seems to have been tracking Rick and his people, and he seemingly knows something we don't, re: his wise yet inexplicable laughter, while praying at the altar at the end, which seems to come as the result of an epiphany (Christ has risen again?)

Morgan (or, of course, whoever found Beth) may have removed her sweater if she was burning a fever, or again, if the sleeve was caught on something, and he was in a hurry to get her out of there. The sweater may have also been removed to staunch the bleeding from a head wound.

Tyreese being bitten on the arm and having his arm amputated in WHAWGO could also be commentary on what happened to Beth and/or her sweater. In Tyreese's hallucination, however, note that Beth IS wearing her sweater. My guess is that this is because Tyreese didn't search for Beth, and so he didn't have that information, about her short-sleeved polo. He most likely stayed behind to look after Judith and Carol, who was still badly injured from being hit by a car. It's also entirely possible that Gimple hadn't devised the exact details yet of the Missing 17 Days, though I find that hard to believe.

We might also return to the episode 5.15 "Try," in which Daryl and Aaron find a blond walker, tied to a tree, naked.

When Daryl approaches the walker to look at her face, he seems greatly distressed. The fact that the walker is naked, or missing all of her clothes, while it's most definitely commentary on Daryl's greatest fears, could also be commentary on Beth's missing sweater. If she was missing her sweater, what else could have happened? Daryl's subconscious in those weeks following Grady is a scary place to try and explore.

I also want to quickly comment on the imagery of Beth and Lizzy/Mica from Tyreese's hallucination in WHAWGO. Beth is at the helm of the hallucination, holding her guitar, or an instrument of joy. At her feet are Lizzy and Mica.

It's interesting to me that the three of them are grouped together in this vision. Though it's a bit of a stretch, it reminds me of further imagery from the Gospel of John, in which we get the story of Mary Magdalene's discovery of Christ's empty tomb. After Mary realized that Christ's body was gone, she started to cry, and she saw "two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot." The imagery of Beth and the girls, as well as Bob, "driving" Tyreese home to heaven, has always reminded me of angelic intervention.

All of this discussion, of course, hinges with the flash, which was one of TD's first and more important major bits of evidence that Beth survived the gunshot. With the revelation that Beth is missing her sweater in both the flash AND Rick's hallucination, we have new indication that Beth may have lost her sweater at some point after she was shot, a question that, despite all the speculation in the world, we still don't have an answer for. And yet, Gimple asks it. Why??

Obviously these are all just theories, or "highly informed speculation," as I like to call it lol. But it's a pretty fun bunch of theories to entertain!! To learn whether there is a shred of truth to ANY of this, of course, we'll just have to wait and see. 💫

***For more reading on the flash, check out this extremely helpful tag at @bethgreeneishopeunseen's blog and this video from @twdmusicboxmystery

[animehouse-moe]

A Sign Of Affection Episode 4: What Kind of Voice

Boy oh boy there is a lot to talk about with this episode. Incredible production, incredible boards, incredible plot and character developments- it's got it all. So much so that it's hard to really put it all into words, but I'll do my best.

First off, let me talk storyboards. Yuta Murano has been insane with this series, boarding every episode so far- and he's been killing it, hell, even carrying it on his back (since he's the series director as well).

Anyways, point being that Murano has been incredibly intelligent in regards to boarding with this episode. How, you might ask? Spacing. The whole episode really hammers home the idea of space, both around characters but also between them. Murano leans heavily into the wider layouts like you can see above, but similarly uses first person perspective to create a strong awareness of the space between characters to help provide more feeling to Yuki and Itsuomi's relationship.

One super easy example is Kyouya and Itsuomi's late-night interaction. The combined use of first person perspective between the pair, as well as the wider shots between to show the empty space around them, really highlights their nature as friends incredibly well. He also really likes using doors and whatnot to frame the characters, and I love it.

Hell, I'll take it a step further too. See how Itsuomi is able to see Kyouya's face, but Kyouya can't see Itsuomi's? That's intentional, and shows how open Kyouya is vs how closed Itsuomi is. Very very great work.

And then there's this example with Shin and Emma. It's really subtle, but we never get a first person shot from Shin within. Even with Emma's singular first person shot he's slightly off center. The whole interaction is framed as Shin being there for a reason other than what Emma feels he's there for. His body language and demeanor, the way he reacts to Emma's words, there's considerable distance between the pair, and that gets illustrated very easily with the table in front of them.

Of course, my favorite pieces of this are with Yuki and Itsuomi. No barriers, no space between the pair, all of their shots really sell the idea of the empty space that exists around them as a pair.

I also just love that Murano has Itsuomi's personality down so well. He always strikes the exact same pose when focusing on talking with Yuki

Speaking of him, I love how catty he got with Oushi earlier on in the episode. Really fun addition to his very playful but reserved personality.

But lets rewind and dig a little deeper into that whole sequence.

Oushi, once again, really shows off his true colors a little too blatantly when talking with Yuki. The easiest comparison to make is the fact that Oushi is hitting Yuki's head while Itsuomi only ever pats it. Combined with the sign language for "cute", you really get a grasp on the challenges that face Oushi. Does he not pat her head because he knows what it means in sign language? It's hard to say, but paired with how he plays with her hair I think it's pretty easy to say that he does have some awareness of those things, and it probably comes from Itsuomi.

Anyways, moving forward again. While questionable behavior that does highlight Itsuomi's more... challenging side, I might say, the interaction between him and Oushi is really really great.

Firstly, because Oushi tries to use his familiarity with Yuki and sign language to put down the people around her so that he can take the top spot, but also because Itsuomi claps back and completely destroys him.

Of course, when it rains, it pours, so there's plenty of other character interactions in this episode.

Really, it's something that I'm incredibly critical about with my slice of life and romance series. The world itself is very wide, and people have more than a few friends. Being able to express that while preserving the core intent of the series can be challenging, but it makes a massive difference in overall quality and breadth.

And A Sign of Affection aces that aspect. Kyouya and Rin, whatever Emma's got going on with Itsuomi, then of course Oushi as well. There's a solid cast of characters that exist to surround Itsuomi and Yuki, and even more that exist in the periphery. It makes it feel so much more alive, and creates far more interesting dynamics that can ebb and flow based on which characters appear and where.

Though obviously, the main focus is Yuki and Itsuomi here, so that's where the majority of the effort goes, and it's entirely worth it. Just even simple things like Oushi only being seen in a crowd today vs Itsuomi being isolated when with her.

You might say that's just how the visuals shake out, but obviously a Costco isn't ever going to be that quiet so the idea is that because of Yuki, the focus is on Itsuomi so we don't really see much of any background characters.

Add on top the incredible sound design, and in this episode voice acting, and it's just a flawless experience. We as viewers experience the world in a surprisingly different fashion to Yuki, and the episode highlights that with things like the tone of Itsuomi's voice.

Incredibly simple and small details pepper this episode and the story at large, but they end up insanely important to comparing and contrasting the viewer's experience against Yuki's, challenging us to think and view things through her (very cute) eyes.

Anyways, let's put the icing on the cake here with animation and other work.

We know that this production is hand-obsessed due to the sign language, but that quality extends to other aspects. Being a very reserved and casual series there's not a lot of room for impressive animation, but the episode still finds way to show off with cuts like Shin cutting hair here.

Similarly, 2D vehicles? It's really a whole other flex. The requirements for keeping such a detailed object on model, all while in motion is really really incredible. And there's a surprising amount of those cuts in the episode.

Overall, A Sign of Affection continues to hit home run after home run with each episode, and delivers an experience that is only possible because of the medium. Creative to the max, it does everything in its power to elevate the source and create and entirely unforgettable experience. Saturdays really have been great this Winter season.

[gen4grl]

a couple wips and pieces done over the course of this year that will never be completed but felt cute enough to post … yes i draw a lot of leaf she just never makes it outta procreate to tumblr 😭 here are my reasons for leaving them in wip hell:

1. this was half of the piece, other half had hilbert and cheren looking at the girls. hilbert looked really good but i couldn’t get the perspective of cheren to work. was meant to show the reunion of hilda and cheren after the bw -> bw2 timeskip!

2 & 6. kantrio alola trip!! orginally drew blues body for anatomy practice and because of that the pose came out looking too stiff? the 2nd half of the piece had red in it but literally couldn’t get his face to work no matter how hard i tried lol. 6 was just for fun the concept of instagram in the pokemon world makes me giggle. LOVE how i rendered leaf so RIP

3. just a fun leaf drawing!!! just hated the piece next to it! still love how leaf looks there tho! outfit was based off avril lavignes ‘he wasn’t’ mv and dialogue from blues route 22 battle in frlg!

4. my adult design of clem, my fan daughter of red! originally was going to make into a nicer piece but i accidentally merged all the sketch layers together and that demotivated me LOL this happens way too often but still want to redraw clems design bc i really love the pose & outfit!!!

5. based off a part of my very long kanto au! looks fine? just didn’t love the blue piece next to it and always get kinda shy to share my blue x leaf work.

[girldragongizzard]

Epilogue 4: Mating Season 0.2a

As Spring has developed into a full blown season, Meghan has become downright silly. And it's been fun to watch.

She's been wanting to have boudoir photo shoot done with her as the subject for a while now, nearly since her dracomorphosis. And when she found out that Rhoda took almost all the photos in her apartment, she's brought it up with more frequency. And, why not? It could be healing for her. She spent so much of her life trapped in that human body that was ruled by testosterone, anatomy she didn't vibe with, and all the baggage of the social expectations of being a man, when that's definitely not what she was. A girl should get to feel hot and sexy in a safe way at least once in her life.

And now that Meghan's hormones are so obviously putting her in a certain mood, it was agreed by everyone that soon would be the best time for that photo shoot.

And as Meghan stretches and rolls into a new pose, rumbling like a subwoofer, Rhoda looks down at her phone and smirks.

As much as she misses her old Canon AE-1 35mm film camera and the smell of the darkroom, a good photographer can make any camera sing. And she doesn't hate what her phone can do. It's certainly faster, and a better fit for where these photos are going. It's not, by any means, a good camera. But she knows its limits, and how to take advantage of them. And being able to see your photo right after taking it saves so much work and storage space.

She can delete what she doesn't like immediately, and ends up with a high percentage of good shots.

On the screen is the last photo taken, a closeup of Meg gaping, eyes closed, left foreclaw laid on her snout like a bashful cartoon character reacting to attention. The contours, scales, and spines of the rest of her body create a landscape behind her head, fading into the blur beyond the focal range, engendering a sense of atmosphere perspective. And Rhoda flicks it between the different filters to get an idea of what she might like better. But she saves it untouched for now.

With this pose she wants to start another series of shots that include more of the setting.

See, Meghan doesn't really have a boudoir. She has Rhoda's kitchen. And they did have to talk about this. Maybe six months ago they could have done this photoshoot there, which could have been funny. But Meghan's now too big for that. Rhoda can't fit in the kitchen to take any photos when Meghan is sprawled out in there trying to look all fetching and ready for a dragon. It just doesn't work.

The roof of the building is her other bedroom, and the city as a backdrop would be so fitting, but there's no furniture there. No props. And getting something up there and arranged is just a bit more work than anyone wants to exert for this. Especially since if was left up there it would be exposed to the weather, so they'd have to take it all back down again.

There's a local independent theater troupe that offered to lend them their stage and set pieces, but Meghan wanted something that she associated with herself. And while she's been an avid audience member of their productions, taking advantage of the free community tickets, she doesn't act there, so it didn't seem to fit for her.

And it was right when they were in the middle of talks with Bri and Miriam of the coffee shop, to see if they could use it for a set, when Meghan was hit with that itch on the back of her neck, and Rhoda saw the first signs that another draconic molt was coming on. Certain scales here and there looked dull as the outer layer of skin over them started to lift away.

"Meghan," she'd said, quietly. "Molting is a bit like stripping, you know. And your scales look particularly gorgeous right afterward. Why don't we go and do the photoshoot in the alley right now? It's definitely one of your more private places, even if it's not yours."

And so, that's where they were, with the molting kit and everything.

Instead of eating her skin right away as it was peeled off, Meghan agreed to let it sit about here and there as part of the backdrop. It didn't come off all in one piece, or even significant sheets, like a snake skin. But the pieces were large enough to provide interest in the background, and to turn the ground around her into sort of a bed of flakes.

And the greatest fortune was that this shed had started in the mid afternoon and had progressed through sunset, so there'd been a variety of light to work with.

When the twilight of the alley had obliterated any shadows, Rhoda got to work on helping Meghan finish up the shed, cleaning the last irritating bits of dead skin away.

And now, in the darkness of the night, the streetlights were casing a new kind of glow and set of shadows throughout the alley. And Meghan has become downright prancy.

The fact that she's on her back, struggling to remain still enough for photography, stretching her muscles as slowly as possible and taking some direction on what to move to catch the light just so, is clearly a testament to her willpower. And probably short lived.

Rhoda kneels down to get a quick shot over Meghan's shiny belly scales, a bit of her gleaming knee and her twisting tail, and taps her finger on the dumpster in the background, so that Meghan is hazy and twinkly in front of the comic page grunge of the nighttime alley, bricks of the building wall stretching up through the frame. And then a second photo focused on Meghan.

She steps back a few paces to get all of Meghan in the shot, then, with the flaky ghostly white remains of her old skin around her, adorning the stains of the alley pavement, next to months old gum splotches and a cigarette butt smashed flat by Meghan's gyrations earlier.

"My dearest girl," Rhoda says then. "You are nigh well climbing the walls. Why don't you go ahead and do that for real? Over there, near the corner of the building! We'll get you silhouetted against the street light. And then from the outside with the alley behind you."

By the time she's done talking, Meghan has already scrambled to her feet and bounced over to the corner of her apartment building and is quickly clawing her way up.

“Ok, stop right there, like that!” Rhoda calls. “And let me get over there to get a good angle.”

As she makes her way, she realizes two things. One, a really fantastic angle would be from directly below, with Meghan looking back over her own haunches. And two, Meghan’s claws are capable of sinking a full inch into rock and brick. She’s damaging the building by climbing it.

—

Back in November, someone in Chili made a dating app for dragons and named it exactly the same thing I would have named it. Mating Season.

It's still in alpha, but there's been some updates, and it's not too terrible.

It actually allows humans and other species of people to use it, too. You just have to agree that by setting up an account on it that you are agreeing to be courted by a dragon. There are some filters for region, and a territory map with a dispute resolution chat.

It needs a lot of work. But it was clearly started by someone who recognizes therians. The inclusion of other species isn't just about anticipating other mass metamorphoses. Though, it does seem hopeful for that, too, even though nobody I talk to thinks it's likely. Not without some massive cooperative Artistry. The dracomorphosis is a dragon only thing, but people are working on it. On the app and other transformations.

I'm very nervous about using a dating app. Especially when it's more of a mating app. It's just a kind of scene I know shit about.

But, fuck, I have never been this horny and excited for this long before. The whole season feels like fucking Christmas, and everyone is a present I cannot wait to unwrap.

It's amazing to me that I've been able to keep my flirting with Rhoda to the minimal half dancing I've managed.

But, I know her and where she's at emotionally, and I don’t want to push the idea of adding her DNA to my first child. Her offering to take hopefully sexy photos of me for my Mating Season account is plenty wonderful and meaningful.

But. I can't stop thinking about how excited I'd be to help her have another child. And also trying to figure out how we could even make it work.

In theory, if we can get an egg from her inserted up into my reproductive organs, my body will take care of the rest. It can dismantle the gamete of anything and pull useful DNA from it, according to every relevant Artist who's scanned me or another dragon. It's just what we dragons can do. It's maybe why we exist, originally.

Humans gave us more meaning than that over the past few million years, though. Which might be why we all have trouble seeing them as a separate species a lot of the time.

Anyway, I think if I write too much more about this, I'll make myself a target of prudes and purists. If I haven't already.

And, you know what, screw them.

I'm actually hoping to get myself several draconic mates, but I'll settle for one. And what the Hell is wrong with me?

I have never understood physical attraction. The way that most of humanity has gone on about getting wet or cumming in their pants at the sight of someone hot, and having lists of celebrities they get to fuck even if married to someone already, has just always baffled me.

Like, having a life partner or three? Yes, please! Finding out what sex is about? Sure. Lots of naked cuddling and sleeping together? Absolutely! And I've certainly had some physical preferences for those things that I never actually got to test.

I've literally dated no one. And if you'd ever asked me what I'd like in a partner, it'd have been a list of personality traits. Completely. And most of those traits would match Rhoda and Chapman.

Most importantly, I've never daydreamt about having sex with someone else before. No one in particular.

Oh, I've had my sexy time daydreams, but they were, uh, well… I might be about to fulfill most of them now, if I'm lucky, I guess.

Because, like, right now, if Anurak, Joel, or Astraia came dancing on my block, I'd do any one of them. Astraia particularly, but I'm not feeling ultra picky.

I have my family. Right now, I'm looking for how to fill my egg with strength. And while I have a strong emotional preference for fellow girls, my sex drive is utterly indiscriminate.

OK, another thing.

Apparently, not all of us dragons yearn to lay an egg this year. It's maybe one in twenty-five of us, while the others seem content to sit it out or contribute DNA to someone else's egg.

This played out in the Southern Hemisphere last year, and us Northies are now experiencing the same thing.

The result in realizing this is that since I feel the yearn to get broody, I feel an urgency about it, too. I am going to lay an egg, my body tells me, with another parent or not. And it better damn well hatch! Because it might be 25 years before I feel the need again. Maybe.

So, this is what I'm thinking about while clinging to the wall of my building, claws slowly sinking further and further into it, muscles vibrating.

It seems daunting. Chapman did the math for our local population, and depending on how fast whelps mature and whether or not they stick around, we could be seeing upwards of 133 dragons present in Independence County by the time I feel the urge to have a second egg (assuming it takes that long for me). That seems like a lot? We feel really packed in at around 50 or so. Of course, there's some room to expand out in the rural areas and the wilderness, if anybody is willing to move. And our children may wander out that way. Though, we also know that some dragon therians are doing that already, hoping to undergo dracomorphosis, and often succeeding.

Nobody really knows how many dragons the Earth can sustain. It's not so much a problem of food supply, no more so than for humans, where that's a problem mostly caused by capitalist hoarding for price gouging and profit. It's more our territorial nature.

You'd think our instincts would adapt to our population density. But, then, maybe they have, and that's why I'm the only dragon in the Southside that's gearing up to bear an egg.

Anyway, based on what's happened elsewhere in the world, I think I can expect my egg to come out sometime in June, and to hatch sometime in late August. Which, in olden times, would be just in time for harvest. So, human support of their local dragons could include a variety of food, including slaughter of elderly livestock.

But, then, whelps, or infant dragons, are not terribly dependent on their parent. Within a month, they can typically hunt on their own, but they'll also learn to depend on anybody offering them food. And none of the new generation are particularly old yet, but we know that most of them have learned to understand a number of words. Some can already imitate sounds and some language, even. It really, really varies, of course, but there are so many other trends we can see, too.

For instance, I know that if I mate with mostly humans, my child can come out looking almost entirely human. It should be possible with two humans even, making me sort of a surrogate mother. It depends on what my body wants to do. And while there are a handful of dragon parents who've reported that they could consciously decide what their baby was like, most didn't or couldn't. And scientists and dragons alike are still doing the numbers to try to figure out what the natural influences might be. The speculation, or hope, is that it's somehow based on what the local ecosystem needs. That would be cool.

But, the few dragons who've had mostly human babies had to help their children hatch, and they were the equivalent of preemies. They got enough draconic DNA and whatever metaphysical inheritance we have to offer that they're doing fine and growing fast, but it's a concern.

There are two humans I'd accept for mates, and one of them is only nominally human, and I think we'd need medical assistance in making it work between us. But, as I said, I'm looking at mating with at least one other dragon.

My profile on Mating Season 0.2a so far reads:My name is Meghan Estragon Draconis (she/her) I live in downtown Fairport WashingtonYou know who I am. And if you don't, you can look me up.I will be laying an egg this year. If you want in, bring a steak, a seagull, or sushi, and be polite and respectful. I'll return all favors that I like. Please RSVP.(I'll be uploading photos soon. You know, to brag and entice you.)

Ah, Rhoda's waving that she's done. Next step is to go up to her apartment for tea and to review the pics.

—

So, this is what I look like!

I mean, I've seen myself in enough mirrors and windows now, and by just turning my head and looking down at my body, that I've got a pretty solid idea of how I appear and how my body is built.

But there's something about seeing a photograph that your own very skilled partner has taken. Never mind nearly 200 of them.

I think I've described how my body looks and works in terms of comparisons to other animals before. I don't think those comparisons are completely off, particularly in how my snout, jaw, and brow really do look like some photos of caimans I've seen. But when you do things like add in the larger cranium, dragon eyes, and the goat horns it really changes how it all looks.

And I've got this little hole at the front of my mouth where my tongue comes out, like a lot of snakes and lizards have, and I think it's the most adorable thing. I think if another dragon had that, I might not be able to resist their advances even if they were an asshole.

Well, I can draw a line at people like Säure pretty easily, still.

But anyway.

Rhoda got this one photo of me bounding down the alleyway, looking over my shoulder at her, wings partially spread, tail whipping in a little corkscrew. I can even see the toe beans of my right hind foot. My scales are sparkling in the streetlight, my back spines casting stark pointy shadows across them.

I see myself.

I remember doing that.

I can put my mind back in that moment, and feel where my limbs were and what I was thinking.

I remember hoping she'd chase me through the streets of the city, but knowing she couldn't really do that.

And I wonder.

When other people look at photos of themselves, especially cisgender humans, is this what they experience?

I think I love myself.

I think I love being myself.

I think I love being alive now.

And I think that, for the very first time in my life, I won't feel ashamed to bring another being into this world.

If there's a chance they'll feel like this, it will be worth it.

[hinamie]

hi hina! in terms of your art, what would say is your strength(s) and what is your weakness?

!!!! omg ily mariam you're always so good at asking rly thoughtful questions that make me take a step back n Ponder,, tbh im not sure if this is just a Me thing or if every artist experiences this but i feel like my main strengths/weaknesses in my art are just reflective of the strengths/weaknesses i have in all areas of my life .., i am not going to unpack that too much tho smile :)

strength(s)

a bitch is Persistent !!! when I decide to learn how to do something i put in 200% to learning it and learning it Well . ths how i got good at drawing a lot of the things im told i'm "good" at --i did it with hands i did it with torso anatomy i did it with clothing ,, i did it with yuuji's gd hair,, the list goes on !! also i think this is maybe related to why i love making character reference sheets ? granted they take forever and i hate it while i'm in it but at the end of the day i am a proud character sheet Advocate. if u ever want to really hammer something into ur brain .. character sheets.... angles......just sayin ! shit works.......

character design listen i dont want to sing my own praises too much but character design rly is one of my favourite kinds of art to do and i think . im maybe a bit good at it.,, idk,... :3 fr though I put so much time and effort in2 the research and ref compiling and it takes Hours on pinterest and 543254 open tabs but finally getting to put the pieces all together to make something cohesive makes all the pain worth it . whether it's for an oc or an existing character i love designing outfits or alternate forms that Tell u something abt the character i love translating personality into clothing choices and silhouettes and colours and hiding little defining Traits and !!! idk i just have so much fun :'> it reminds me why i love art

weakness(es)

kind of the dark side of persistence, a bitch is Stubborn and Resistant to Change (not just an Artist Flaw(tm) but also a recurring Character Flaw i need to work on gsfdhjfsgd) . I find i don't know how to easily break habits or push myself outside of what's Worked for me in the past, even if i know that other, better ways exist ,,. like I joke abt working harder not smarter and complaining about it but that's not even a joke that's just what I do because I'm too afraid of being Bad at something or trying something and having it not work so I just stick to what I know :( smh if comfort zones r meant to b left why r they comfortable.......

perspective/rooms/dynamic poses,, look ik im microdosing on these rn but a lot of it is still so HARD ,, improvement jail.... :( unique poses r starting to come easier with reference but rooms i hate u . how do u make objects look like they are in a scene and not on it . how to give objects Weight ????? i dont get it...

[zephyrine-gale]

heyy i love ur art! i was wondering if u ever get the feeling of wanting to draw ur fav but don’t know what pose or scenario to draw them in? 😭 then when you actually draw them it looks so stiff and bland 🥲 if you do, do you mind sharing what you do in this situation? 🙏

hi!! this happens quite a lot so I understand adjkfkgjh although for me, it's that I have an idea but the execution is lacking

one that I can think of are some kaveh pieces I've never finished :'D I came back to it every few days at the time, but in the end its been left to collect dust in my files

this one in particular, pose was an issue for me (and that I didn't think I could finish it the way I saw it in my head) in that case, - looking up references - sketch more loosely (sketch 2 vs 3-5) - change the angle/perspective - push your art to be more dynamic - don't be scared to scrap a sketch! (or turn off that layer and make a new one entirely) sometimes starting over results in a better concept but just know that you can always come back to it!! sometimes an idea just doesn't work the first time, but it'll be like a trial run for the next piece(s) you do :>

I really wanted to draw tomokazu but it didn't work out, so it's been scrapped ever since. the above was my 3rd(??) redraw at the time but it's helped me figure out how to draw the next few pieces and take not of what worked and what didn't, even if they're of different characters :> for this one in particular, some of the issues I had was: - head angles looked off/stiff - facial expressions looked awkward - couldn't figure out how to position the arms and legs at that point, it wasn't a fun piece anymore, even though I wanted to draw tmkz, since I felt like I had to force myself to figure something out so I didn't! It's forever in my wip folder ajdfjgh and I don't mind that, because maybe that one concept didn't work, but something else will in the future, and it might be completely different from the first idea you had in mind :> improvements don't happen in a day, and some concepts can marinate and get better with time, so don't be too hard on yourself! if you're able to recognize that your work needs improvement, or that it feels like a challenging task, your motivation to figure out how to remedy that is already one step forward to making your art better!

[cupcakestreets]

Fren wants more ask game emojis??? Okay.

☕️ and 🎼 plus 📚

Yeah, dynamism is a bitch, so I don't blame you at all for getting nervous about it. Of course, the biggest change you can make is foreshortening and perspective, but that takes finding a source that can teach you in a way you understand, a lot of studying, and then trial and error. Which is worth doing, we (I'm saying this to myself too) really should study that. And it's a nightmare because first, you gotta find a source that explains the material in a way that makes sense to you, then you have to find a way to make the studying more fun and worst of all, you have to actually commit and do it. With foreshortening and dynamic posing in particular, the study can take a long while to complete because it does demand an understanding of anatomy, breaking the body down into simple volumes, applying perspective to each piece then knowing how to shade each volume correctly. So, depending on where you are with all those components, you may have to backtrack further.

So, what little changes can be made to increase dynamism in the interim? A pretty easy one is Rim Lighting, pure white is common, and so is really dropping the color values paired with a vibrant colored rim light (red, cyan, magenta are popular). Pushing the shading a bit more will help accentuate bent limbs, rotated torso's, overlapping body parts without having to go ham on foreshortening. Exaggeration of shapes like how Sonic uses big ass hands and big ass feet. Or the Big Pant Big Jackt meme and its variants from Twitter/X. You can try making frames and having feet, limbs, weapons or the top of the character's head extending past the border (typically the more, the better because if it's too little, it reads as a mistake than a choice). Line weight variation is pretty easy (thicker lines towards the shadows, thinner towards light source). Or extending certain lines past the outline and into the shape to create a more 3D look. While the whole trend of "fixing" other artist's art is controversial, one good thing I've learned from watching a few vids is the idea of using the Liquify tool on a finished piece to exaggerate the line of action on something a bit too static.

I hope you don't mind the ramble. If you're interested, I can send you a link to some vids or my playlist of tutorials I've saved.

Spice.

☕ Do you do warmup sketches before drawing? (Bonus: do you have any to share?)

No I do not do warm up sketches i just get straight into it usually. So no bonus sketches but he's a doodle page of my robot oc L-11AC

🎼 Your favorite music to draw to right now?

Future Funk music! It keeps me awake and i can groove~

📚 How many layers do you typically use?

Max i use is 50 layers, but i think i use 20-30 layers daily

Also thank you for comments too! These are literally all the things i think about. Still i do try to teach myself new stuff when i can

[residentdormouse]

Can I ask you to ramble about your current hyperfixation?

I am always up for some rambling! Thank you for the ask!!

Unfortunately for my non-fandom followers, my hyperfixation has not changed for the past two and a half years. (All mutuals now groaning, ‘Shut up about the Stand, Mouse.’) I still cannot explain my extended fix; usually I'm a year tops. Hook onto a character, appease the yearning rats, move on. Not this time…

This may have to do with the fact that the Fandom is smaller. Other fixations, I could casually scroll Tumblr for fan art, find stories to scratch the itch on AO3, and passively ride the wave until something pulled me in another direction. Couldn't do that here. There were like 11 stories for ‘the Stand’ that even tagged Glen Bateman as a character. Some of them were prior to the version of Glen that took up residence in my brain (2020 miniseries), and none of them had him as a primary focus. What's a girl to do, right? Write also turned out to be the answer. So this was the first time I was writing and posting fanfic to AO3. About 290k words later, and almost a year of digging into their characters, here I am, stuck on the same damn guys. The rats are still yearning, and I have no further way to appease them. (Although, I'm sure they will thank you for indulging them now.)

But yeah, still 100% hooked on Stephen King's ‘the Stand’, and specifically the newest 2020 miniseries version. I blame Kinnear's version of Glen. He's a great character in the other versions, but the stars aligned with his take. Witty. Intelligent, but with a cheek and lightheartedness. Logical, yet open to the new world of the unknown. Questioning, but true to himself and loyal to those around him. Speaking his mind, and saying what he believes, regardless of the danger it poses. (And this is not even touching the vaping, which is a fantastic touch, and definitely a way to my heart as well.) Plus, I've always loved Kinnear as an actor, just never saw him in a role where I connected to his character like this. I truly was doomed from the start.

And that's pretty much how it went too. The first damn scene he’s in, and I'm instantly hit with the ‘holy fuck, I love this character’ K.O. punch. Cause that's what I really need for a hyperfix to stick, love for a character.

Then the end of that same episode. This look…

I could go on for days about this look. A ‘Man of Science’ facing the reality of the previously unbelievable. His world view shaken, and now left to piece the puzzle back together. Tear down what he ‘knew’, and start looking at things from a new perspective. This single moment where the world changed for him. It's just… 🤌

I love this fictional man. He has hijacked my brain, and honestly, not really seeing a problem. He can stay as long as he wants. I'll give him some paints, and he can chill up there making fun commentary about life. Maybe give some helpful insight.

But yeah, the Stand still top hyperfixation for me. I have a love of the story as a whole too, don't get me wrong. Read the book, have the ‘94 series, picked up the comics… And other characters have worked their way into my heart too (Lloyd Henreid, I'm talking about you), but Glen was, and still is, the reason I'm here so long after.

Was that rambling enough? Too much? I have no gauge. But I will always elaborate if asked. Do not be afraid to ask, this is why I'm here!!

[kindlyanni]

hi, i hope you're well today.

i watched your sketchbook tour video on yt (from like 2 days ago) and so, i wanted to try to ask for advice, if you want to give it ofcourse, no pressure to.

you see, i love sketces so much, there's just some special beuty about them. i really enjoy seeing artists' sketches, including yours, ofcourse. i love seeing them on tumblr & yt.

also, even though i'm 26, i'm a COMPLETE begginner at drawing. i'm struggeling with the basic boxes-in-correct-perspective things, drawing faceless heads and motionless torsos, and.. yea, that's it. i know practice is the only way to advance in drawing, but i can't bring myself to. i see artists like you filling your sketchbooks with characters you're passionate about and honestly that's all i've ever wanted to be able to do, but i literally don't have the ability to do so.

just to be clear, i'm not asking you how to motivate myself to draw. the thing is, even though people are telling me that maybe it's not meant to be and i should give up, some insane part of me refuses to let this dream go. my question to you, as someone who somehow got there, is: do you think it's doomed? do you think that me struggeling so much with the drawing itself AND the motivation, means i won't be able to do it? do you think if i'm not having fun with it now, than i'll never get to a point where it will?

it might sound dumb, but it's a thing i'm nervous about. and after seeing your sketchbook, filled with so much characters and stories that i could see are so dear to your heart and so fun for you to draw, i'd love to hear (read) youe 2 scents about it, if you're willing to share. again, no pressure to.

thanks in advance, though.

Hi there Anon!

I'mma be frank and honest here: "maybe it's not meant to be and you should give up" is the absolutely stupidest thing someone can say to you. What the hell?? Dear Anon, if you feel even the tiniest bit of "I want to draw" then you should draw. You don't have to be good at drawing to draw, that's what's great about it. Anyone can find something to draw with and something to draw on. And just draw. If the act of drawing scratches some itch for you, then that's all you need. It doesn't mean it has to be fun all the time, though. Sometimes I can't get part of the drawing right, or even the whole drawing! Sometimes I hate what I finished drawing. Sometimes I want to draw but nothing comes out. But the itch is still there, it doesn't go away completely. You say it's your dream, then you should follow it. Everyone starts somewhere, and it's never too late too start. It's never too late. When you're dead it's too late.

If you don't feel the itch for drawing anymore, then you know it's time to move on to other things. And that's okay too, and it's not giving up. And don't let anyone else tell you that you should give up, if it is your passion.

In case you have sketchbook anxiety, don't think a sketchbook has to be one big art piece with each page something instagram worthy. I know it's become a thing where artists share their sketchbooks on social media and it's so Aesthetic™ that it's giving anxiety and pressure for everyone to have a sketchbook that pretty, but it really doesn't have to. You don't have to show it to anyone. Or you don't have to even have a sketchbook. Draw on random paper and put them in a folder. I did that for ages. The ones I use now aren't really sketchbooks either, but sketch pads with spirals. And those work the best for me. I have a few books but I haven't finished any of them.

If stiff figures is your issue, I suggest figure/life drawing as practice. Drawing tutorials about boxes and circles and proportions can only get you so far. Gather images of people in different poses. Dancing is really good for this. Sports too. And the less clothes the better. Draw what you see. Do it in 1 minute, 2 minutes, 5... Focus less on getting details right and more on the flow, the movement of the body. Tracing the image is lower effort and not as beneficial, but it still helps get the idea of how things are shaped and connected etc. And remember you don't have to show these practice drawings to anyone.

I know thanks to social media there's this pressure to show everything you make. But you really don't have to, if it makes you nervous. When I started drawing, we didn't have tumblr, twitter, ig or facebook. I drew a shit ton! I bought so many drawing pads, and no one has seen most of what's in there. I drew for myself. I had a webcomic idea and I drew so much of the characters and what would happen with them in the comic. I've drawn So. Much. And just recently I'm at a point where I can show my entire sketchbook to the entire internet. I wouldn't have done that maybe like 6-8 years ago. And I still skip some pages I don't want to show, for one reason or another. And that's fine.

Gosh, this became a longer reply than I intended. I hope it helps! Find that thing that makes you want to draw. For me it was the story I wanted to make and the characters for it (I started the webcomic but never finished it lmao). For you it can be your OCs, or some other characters, it can be a pet or a band you really like, it can be Nicholas Cage, or flowers, or anything! Find the itch and scratch it real good.

Let me share a drawing of mine from 20 years ago (I was 16):