#this was mostly expression and anatomy practice

[dixenjackal]

Grim looks like one of those flat faced cats tbh

[spotaus]

Positives of my friend knowing I'm still obsessing over utmv: She supports! Sometimes sends fun tiktoks! Cute art!

Negatives of my friend knowing I still like utmv: Occasional questionable art of these skeletons shirtless Jumpscare

[sysig]

What if baby VUX (Patreon)

[vetyr]

hi, i ireally love your work and i don't know if you've answered this before but, what kinds of studies do you do or how did you learn color theory? i wanna get better at rendering and anatomy but im having trouble TT TT

Hi! Long answer alert. Once a chatterbox, always a chatterbox.

When I started actively learning how to draw about 10 1/2 years ago, I exclusively did graphite studies in sketchbooks. Here's a few examples—I mostly stuck to doing line drawings to drill basic shapes/contours and proportions into my brain. The more rendered sketches helped me practice edge control & basic values, and they were REALLY good for learning the actual 3D structure behind what I was drawing.

I'd use reference images that I grabbed from fitness forums, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, and some NSFW places, but you could find adequate ref material from figure drawing sites like Line of Action. LoA has refs for people (you can filter by clothed/unclothed, age, & gender), animals, expressions, hands/feet, and a few other useful things as well. Love them.

Learning how to render digitally was a similar story; it helped a lot that I had a pretty strong foundation for value/anatomy going in. I basically didn't touch color at all for ~2 years (except for a few attempts at bad digital or acrylic paint studies), which may not have been the best idea. I learned color from a lot of trial and error, honestly, and I'm pretty sure this process involved a lot of imitation—there were a number of digital/traditional painters whose styles I really wanted to emulate (notably their edge control, color choices, value distributions, and shape design), so I kiiind of did a mixture of that + my own experimentation.

For example, I really found Benjamin Björklund's style appealing, especially his softened/lost edges & vibrant pops of saturated color, so here's a study I did from some photograph that I'm *pretty* sure was painted with him in mind.

Learning how to detail was definitely a slow process, and like all the aforementioned things (anatomy/color/edge control/values/etc.) I'm still figuring it out. Focusing on edge control first (that is, deciding on where to place hard/soft edges for emphasizing/de-emphasizing certain areas of the image) is super useful, because you can honestly fool a viewer into thinking there's more detail in a piece than there actually is if you're very economical about where you place your hard edges.

The most important part, to me, is probably just doing this stuff over and over again. You're likely not going to see improvement in a few weeks or even a few months, so don't fret about not getting the exact results you want and just keep studying + making art. I like to think about learning art as a process where you *need* to fail and make crappy art/studies—there's literally no way around it—so you might as well fail right now. See, by making bad art you're actually moving forward—isn't that a fun prospect!!

It's useful to have a folder with art you admire, especially if you can dissect the pieces and understand why you like them so much. You can study those aspects (like, you can redraw or repaint that person's work) and break down whether this is art that you just like to look at, or if it's the kind of art that you want to *make.* There's a LOT of art out there that I love looking at, probably tens of thousands of styles/mediums, but there's a very narrow range that I want to make myself.

I've mentioned it in some ask reply in the past, but I really do think looking at other artist's work is such a cheat code for improving your own skills—the other artist does the work to filter reality/ideas for you, and this sort of allows you to contact the subject matter more directly. I can think of so many examples where an artist I admired exaggerated, like, the way sunlight rested on a face and created that orange fringe around its edge, or the greys/dull blues in a wheat field, or the bright indigo in a cast shadow, or the red along the outside of a person's eye, and it just clicked for me that this was a very available & observable aspect of reality, which had up until that point gone completely unnoticed! If you're really perceptive about the art you look at, it's shocking how much it can teach you about how to see the world (in this particular case I mean this literally, in that the art I looked at fully changed the way I visually processed the world, but of course it has had a strong effect on my worldviews/relationships/beliefs).

Thanks so much for sending in a question (& for reading, if you got this far)! I read every single ask I receive, including the kind words & compliments, which I genuinely always appreciate. Best of luck with learning, my friend :)

[noodles-and-tea]

Have you thought about doing a body tutorial or something similar like how you do anatomy or expressions? Not to pressure u to or anything of course, I just find your art very inspiring and its quite honestly like the perfect mix of realistic and cartoony to me :)

Firstly, thank you for the kind words!!

Secondly, I will see if I can compile some tips for stuff | do but I must put the disclaimer here that I mostly have no idea what l'm doing :)))

Something that I learnt way back when I first started studying art for myself is using a line of motion, which I think adds a lot of movement and life to characters - especially if you're drawing them on their own

(You can see I add one here)

As for my "anatomy" (I use quotations because I will go through phases of studying anatomy vigorously and then a period immediately after where I do not care) | tend to use a lot of blocking and also the movement lines to shape my art and then go back and add detail and fix anything that's wrong

The head, chest and hips are what I tend to focus on mostly for initial blocking, then adding limbs and all the extra parts

So that's pretty much my process for drawing people and bodies, I could probably post some speed paints or whatever if you're interested to showcase it a bit more practically. But my other advice is to study other art styles and shapes and anatomy and people! Basic but hey, it works.

As for expressions I can potentially make another post for that too but be warned that I am bluffing through those way worse than this so we will see

I hope that helps!!!

[ronkoza]

hi there!! im a huge fan of your art 💗 your lineart is always so pretty and the art of couples especially is so expressive! im a beginner to digital art and was wondering if youd be willing to share what brushes, or what kind of brushes you use and how you achieve such great anatomy and movement in your pieces? thanks for sharing your wonderful work on here 🫶

Hi! It's heartwarming to hear such kind and nice words from you, dear Anon!

Mostly i'm using nikko rull brush in Procreate, for sketching, line art and color.

And I've used to draw and sketch a lot in traditional ways, with sketchbook, pencils and fineliners. Studying real people, like in the bus, cafes or park, there is no better way to learn anatomy and poses. Practice and work is always the answer, the more you sketch or draw the more you're learning, your lines are much more confident and steady, you're starting to remember certain shapes and directions and it's taking you less time to catch proper proportions and movement.

So yeah, practice, practice and even more practice.

Wish you a lot of determination and passion, dear Anon!

[namedr]

What are your art inspirations?

Disclaimer: A LOT of RAMBLING

Honestly hard to answer, nowadays I don't really look at a lot of art anymore but mostly just movies.

Biggest inspiration over the years (from 2020 to 2022) would have to be Kan Liu. His painting style with mostly just the round brush and hard edges really spoke to me, especially when it came to lineart I was a massive fucking copycat lmao.

Around 2022 I also began falling in love with Sungmoo Heo. The perspectives and overall style just fucks so hard.

The most obvious inspo would have to be Seonhyeok Jeon though, who I still rip off blatantly.

In general I began taking art seriously around 2020, when I found Kan Liu, because I began training to compete in bodybuilding, which I did the next year. I began getting super interested in how the body and muscles work so I just drew those a fuck ton, and those anatomy studies ended up really helping my art skills in general.

Anyway! For animation... Hiroto Nagata and Q Kawa are big inspos.

This shit is so fucking RAW and HOLY SHIT when I look at how the perspective gets just in your face I always just think "what am I even doing man I have to PRACTICE". It's like watching a Zyzz or Ronny Coleman clip before doing a lift at the gym but for art, shit's motivational.

This cut in Ghost In the Shell as well is WOW, I think what speaks a lot to me is when an animation doesn't conform to what's standard in the medium and tries to push boundaries/be unique. Be it in this case through insane details, in the case of Mushoku Tensei through bg animation mixed with extreme foreshortening or just a crazy perspective and punchy movements in the Madoka clip.

Overall it's hard to say what else my inspirations are though. When it comes to manga and comics I can think of Batman Year One, The Climber by Shin-ichi Sakamoto, Ultra Heaven by Keichi Koike, Solo Leveling (big inspo in 2021) and Homunculus.

Also, even though everyone assumes it, I haven't played Cyberpunk 2077 or am that big a fan of the Blame! manga, I guess I just have a fairly similar artistic vision to both of those.

For animated fiction it'd be Spiderverse recently, Millennium Actress, Silent Voice and a million other anime I've forgotten the name of. Naoko Yamada's directing for Silent Voice or other anime like Hibike Euphonium and the Liz movie has always been amazing to me because she is able to express characters personalities through their body language, like they way they walk or stand, in a way I have never seen done before. Extremely recognizable and iconic style imo. A long time ago I used to be really into watching anime, but I don't care much for it anymore.

Other inspo would be this guy on twitter, his stuff is insanely cool https://twitter.com/be_myvu/status/1725069515107533178?s=46

It's like that Ralph Waldo Emerson quote - “I cannot remember the books I've read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me.” I think throughout the years I've been so obsessed with all kinds of artists that I've taken in inspiration from everywhere. I cannot recall them all anymore, but they have made me the artist I am today.

Currently, like I said, I would consider movies to be my biggest inspiration because I find it interesting how cinematographers are able to stylize real life, which I'm trying to get closer to. If I could direct a movie, I would probably stop making art right then and there, but I'm not really working towards that goal anyway lmao. One day, being able to make a short film in animation would be something I would like to do though.

I'm not deep enough into the movie scene to get the street cred of being called an expert but I love them a lot. Fallen Angels made me fall in love with fisheye back then for example. Fight Club and The Batman have a grit to them visually that I find inspiring, and movies like Persona and Heat also come to mind when I think of movies I just love. I could look up my letterboxd for a more thorough answer but I feel I've already been writing way too long.

For video games, I guess you can imagine that I would say Signalis lmao. Besides that I can think of Subahibi (vn), Muramasa (vn), and Va-11 Hall-a for inspirations

Lastly, I guess huge inspirations are also a fuck ton of music. I mostly listen to either metal or hard techno, but I think I'll refrain from any more yapping.

I feel that this isn't really a great answer to the question, but it's the one I consider the most correct, because it's never as simple as just mentioning one artist. With a lot of these you wouldn't see a visual resemblence to my art, but in all of these I recognize a feeling that I also find in my own art.

Thank you for the question!

[lockedbehindtheambereye]

Pavlov, the mad scientist.

Trivia:

- Curse is inlaid into their eyes, rather than their hands. Direct eye contact triggers the curse.

- Kuras Route

- AMAB and agender, doesn't understand the point of gender expression and doesn't care about other's opinions on their identity. Doesn't care about being labelled as male or female and doesn't bother correcting people. Kuras and Mhin seemed easily able to tell that they were genderless.

- He and she can be used for them, but they do prefer they/them or any other gender neutral pronouns, including it/its and neopronouns.

- Is adept in all forms of science such as Biology, Human Anatomy, Chemistry/Alchemy, Physics, Pyschology, Medicine, Astronomy, etc.

- Is also adept in maths up to AP Calc.

- Enjoys reading and writing, but not very often.

- High masking autistic

- Has a pet Axanthic Ball Python named Zirconium

- Finds Kuras' presence offputting but very intriguing.

- Can use magic, but only for practical reasons.

- Not spiritual in any sense and prefers logic over idealism. Understands that spiritual entities and magic exists, but prefers to use science to explain everything.

- Perfected the ability to create their glasses out of magic so that if they get lost or destroyed, they can just create a new pair outta thin air lmao.

- Doesn't talk much, but when they do, it's usually to prove you wrong.

- Shows emotion despite what you may think. They aren't very expressive by any means, but they have their ways.

- They have pinpoint accuracy and are really good with long-range weapons. Has a magical energy longbow that is heavily inspired by Gowther's Herritt treasure from Seven Deadly Sins

- Loves stargazing

- Love language is parallel play

- Germaphobe

- Butterfly symbolism

- Dry humor and puns to the max

- Voice Claim is Clint Bickham

Backstory:

Their childhood was quiet. They didn't have many friends and mostly stuck to their mother's side. She was autistic as well and seemed to be the only one who understood Pavlov. Their mother educated them for most of their life, until she was taken away. Pavlov was only 12. She was taken away by people that Pavlov cannot remember, but they know that they will hunt for their heads. On that same day, a Senobium mage came to Pavlov, calling herself Lunaviere (luna-vee-air), or simply just Lady Luna. She said she would take the place of their mother. Pavlov reacted badly at first, but eventually masked it all and gave cold indifference to Lady Luna.

It wasn't until years later, at 17, that Pavlov had gotten over their indifference to Lady Luna, mostly because she taught him well. Pav found their love for a lot of things through Lady Luna, and she taught them how to use magic and study the stars. Pav found comfort in stargazing with her.

When Pavlov was 19, they discovered a letter on Lady Luna's desk. It was a letter from the Senobium.

...You need to submit your research on the subject, Lunaviere. The curse that child holds is no joke. Find a way to extract that curse and send us the results...

Lady Luna was using Pavlov for research. They huffed out a pained laugh and put the letter and put it back where they found it. From then on, Lady Luna became more pressing and pushy. Pavlov is sure she knew that they had read the letter.

It was when she had strapped them down while they were sleeping that they had realized they should've acted sooner. They should've run when they had the chance.

(tw: eye related goreish description)

Luna had poked and prodded at his eyes, stabbing them, probing them from the inside, only to find that their eyes regrew and so did their vision. Pavlov's screams died on deaf ears as no one would come to save them from the torture that woman did to them.

Using magic and common sense was how they escaped, they stole whatever money they could from Luna and ran. Not only would they come back to kill that woman, but they would also find whoever took their mother and set them up for torture. And they'll do it by any means necessary.

More art and stat sheets below!!!

my sweet bb :), some of their stat sheets need to be updated too 💔

[bluginkgo]

Day 8: Bonk 2.0!

Quite proud of this one too ^_^ But there we go, some practice before I start NUzi comic Sleep.

Comparison of art style between recent to NUzi comic, Scavenging under cut.

Anatomy wise, I still suck. But I was mostly focusing on the design of N's and Uzi's hair, expressions, N's clothes, N's headlights, and shading practice.

There's another issue that I found with Scavenging though. The 4 panels per page has its quality eaten by Tumblr, and makes it harder for me to outline. So I'll be testing Sleep to have 3 panels per page. Hopefully that'll help out in the outlining department ^_^

[syaolaurant]

Hello hello, I love your work and was wondering if you'd be open to making a little breakdown of your art style?

It's really interesting to me and I love taking bits of different artists art style elements and incorporating them into my doodles to get better

Totally okay if you don't want to! 💜💜💜

Take care and have an amazing life 🤗💜☺️

Hello!! Thanks for asking 🤗 I'm not making a little breakdown of my art style I already WROTE A WHOLE ESSAY ABOUT IT!!

Sorry I exaggerated it a bit🥲🥲...

I was very happy to receive this ask, but at the same time I felt worried. Honestly, I didn’t know how to give you a relevant answer because  I don’t even think I have a consistent art style 🥲. Except for my usual chibi style which I feel most comfortable with, I feel my style constantly changes. So after going back to review my old paintings, I think my style is a combination of children's book illustrations and Japanese anime style. Many times I have received comments about my paintings looking like they are from children's books, and I agree haha, maybe because I mostly draw small characters in big settings and I usually use bright colors. 

My favorite artists:

My drawing style is mostly influenced by my all time favorite artists Heikala and Koyamori, I stumbled across their Insta accounts during my 1st year in college (that was 10 years ago) and from then my drawing style gradually took shape. I also admire Paulina Cassidy, mostly because I like her whimsical nature sprites theme. Recently I’ve been investing in Stephanie Law’s artwork, her coloring technique is so god-like that I hope one day I can reach that level…

Ideas and Inspirations:

Japanese anime/manga culture has had a great impact on my childhood. It was a dream come true for me to be able to pursue my college study in Japan. I think this journey greatly affected my current style. I draw lots of things from small doodles to funny comics. I'd describe my drawings as “silly and cute” since I love to make people laugh and I also live for the fluffs (Sometimes I drew angst too but it still turned out cute haha..). Aside from that,  I prefer making “storytelling” illustrations with colorful backgrounds. My favorite things to draw are tiny characters in big scenery, I like to create peaceful static moments that when looking at them help warm my heart and calm my mind. 

When making game fanarts, I usually take screenshots as references for background and imagine how the character will act in that setting. I just do what I feel comfortable and use my own judgment for composition … which… sometimes results in weird perspectives (and you know what I’ve just discovered the rule of third recently 😅…). 

Characters:

When it comes to drawing characters, I honestly don't know how to explain my style. I think chibi is my most recognizable style, apart from that I usually draw characters in semi-chibi (is it the right way to call it??) or simple anime style. I don’t usually draw characters with dynamic poses or movements ( that’s why I still suck at anatomy and expression 😩😩). I think I’m shifting from anime to a more cartoon style since I kinda have same face problem and  I’m trying to practice face shapes.

I think my character drawing style is most influenced by Akihiko Yoshida (who is behind many FF/Nier/ bravely default concepts), as I always draw my characters with chubby round faces and dreamy eyes. I made an example of how I usually draw my characters below.

Technique: 

Watercolor technique is quite complex so I’ll explain how I always do my paintings in another sharing post. I’ve posted part 1 of my sharing here. Generally, I love using bright, saturated tones and black ink brush pen or color brush to paint line work. 

. I hope I could answer your question. I’m definitely no expert, all the things about art I've learn was self-taught but I'm happy to help anyway I can. 💕💕

And you 🫵🫵 yes you dear sweet anon! I wish you a happy life too!!!! 💕💕

[six-legged-sea-leopard]

Hi hello love your art, how the heck are your feline faces so expressive? I have trouble making varied expressions and yours always make so much sense.

thank you! expressions are a personal favorite subject of mine, especially on nonhuman characters. the key is balancing the inhuman anatomy and body language of your character with body language that reads clearly for human viewers! here are a few expressions on Azure, my (mostly) lion cub oc. he has large eyes and a short snout, which makes him an easy practice model for expressions as his face reads close to human.

the firgures on the left represent high-energy expressions, while the figures on the right represent low-energy expressions. notice the left figures have more scrunch lines, and the face draws inward and bunches at the middle. the right figures have few scrunch lines, and the face tends to pull downward rather than to the center. that's the main difference between intense faces and relaxed faces, but lets look at each one individually.

include the ears and fur in your expressions! these are key pieces of cat communication and can help enhance the emotion.

all of these snout and brow tricks are present in these images as well! i mix and match different key features of the face to create more nuanced expressions. the biggest advice i could give you is to sketch a LOT. sketch the same character with different expressions! sketch different characters with the same expression! understanding these tricks, your character's physical model and anatomy, and how those two concepts interact with each other is what allows you to stretch and squish their features as needed. :3

[artsofmetamoor]

Hey! I want you to know never doubt it, your art is FAN-TASTIC 👀 and it deserves all the praise it can get! 💖✨️❤️

How do you come up with your designs for the characters? Diego in particular; how did you come up with the design or the color scheme and the like! Seems a complicated process of thought!

Thank you so much for your incredibly kind words, it means a lot!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Oh gosh, there's a bit to unpack here, but I'll try not to drag it! Diego is an interesting choice, not many people ask me about him, you are very attentive stranger! It's kind of funny because when I first created him he had a simple antagonistic role, mainly because I didn’t have much experience with character design or storytelling at the time. Both him and my skills are still growing.

When designing a character, I start by exploring their personality, background, and role in the story. So now I aimed to capture Diego's inner qualities and flaws, as well as how his environment and relationships influence him. From his pose, to the way he carries himself, his expressions, the silhouette of his body e.t.c. all of that must hint to the viewer who is is as a person.

For instance Diego has mostly the role of an archer in the rebellion, so he should have well-developed upper arms and shoulders. However, given his stealthy and cunning nature, I imagined him to be toned and athletic rather than overly muscular despite being a warrior. Additionally, Diego has a subtle 'posh' vibe to him even when he's being erratic, which I try to show through small details like elegant movements or the gestures of his hands.

After deciding his body structure I move over to all the other details that add to his character. For example I also wanted his clothes to balance his personality with his role in a rebellion, so they are a bit more elegant for a rebel, reflecting his slightly vain nature, but I also tried to portray them as practical. Everything he wears has a purpose, whether it’s for mobility, stealth, or durability in battle. The elegance in his attire is subtle, maybe in the cut of his tunic or the way his boots are laced, but it’s there, showing that he’s someone who cares about how he presents himself. Now that I think about it Diego is pretty much like an elf ranger 😆

As far as his colors go, one of the first things I knew I wanted for Diego was red hair. Even though it’s a bit cliché, I felt it symbolized the fiery aggression he carries inside. As his character developed, the red hair came to represent not just aggression, but also his passion, determination, and his intense need to prove himself (feelings he often keeps hidden). The color also reflects how he loves fiercely, sometimes to the point of self-destruction. I focused on keeping his hair red and built the color scheme around it because having that one fixed detail made the rest of the design process easier for me.

After that I used complementary and softer colors such as greens and earthly browns to highlight his outfit, eyes e.t.c.

It can definitely seem daunting to create something from scratch, I always try to go back to basics so things don't turn into a rumble in my head. For example, when I'm choosing color schemes for either characters or environments I tend to just look back at color theory, and I know that might seem dull, but it’s incredibly important and useful for understanding how colors interact and complement each other (just like it is important to understand anatomy for drawing figures).

I won’t dive into the technical details since there are plenty of online tutorials, but one reference I highly recommend is James Gurney’s book Color and Light. It’s been a game-changer for me and it's a tool I frequently return to when I feel stuck in my coloring process:

Palette generators are also useful resources:

https://color.adobe.com/create/color-wheel

Even stuff like character creator and dress-up games can be surprisingly effective for inspiration and kick starting a base for character designs and color schemes if you are feeling stuck. Some of our most beloved original characters started from this, combined with the techniques I mentioned above. For example, Dilla was initially created by @katerinaaqu using one of these games (left). I then drew her and fleshed out her body structure and tailored her appearance to better fit her personality and physical descriptions, as we both envisioned her (right) :

With this I also must point out that the development of Diego and the entirety of Chronicles of Metamoor was a team effort. My friend @katerinaaqu, an awesome writer who collaborates with me on this project, played a big role in shaping these characters. Her detailed descriptions, stories, and insights were very important to bring them all to life ❤️

I think this is all for now. I apologize if this explanation was a bit general, but if you (or anyone else) have more questions about Diego’s design or any of our other characters, or even just any general question feel free to ask! Your support and interest in my art and our story mean a lot to me, thank you so much! ❤️🌹

[penheadie]

does anybody else get uncomfortable with drawing nipples on animals? it cant just be me- i wish we could just get rid of the nipples altogether

just a general question because i dont really intend on making stuff with my audience in mind, since i have drawn gore/blood art before and the stuff im making is mostly for me and i want to just be free to do my own thing. and if you happen to be a random kid stumbling across that then i apologize. but how sensitive you are guys towards tater tots being shown on feral animals? im not talking about where in humans im expressing full on nudity (with all do respect i cannot handle that shit and ive only ever drawn it for anatomy practice and its going in my portfolio) im thinking about dividing things in to simple groups like i can allow to show gore/blood but just not nudity and if i have to its just going to be people wearing their undergarments or heavily censored if thats okay with everyone.,

[donttouchhadesbaklava]

HI I LOVE YOUR ART SO SO MUCH OMG!!💗it really looks like the Hercules artstyle but just better tbh 💪🐺

I’ve been trying to practice how to draw in Disney Hercules artstyle for a while now but it’s not really working so I was wondering if you had any tips, especially when it comes to fem characters 😭??

THANK YOU SO MUCH 💓 am happy that you think it's looks like the art style. It's fantastic that you're drawing too!

Now I am no professional artist but here's how I approach drawing: I start with a cup of tea, earbuds in with my playlist on, reference images, and colour plattles.

I mostly watch the movie and TV show looking at the characters and try to mimic what I see if that makes sense. This includes character sheets, concept art, etc. I used to watch how they animated the movie, which I believe you can find on YouTube. They go into more detail about anatomy and how the characters flow.

When it comes to female characters, I've noticed they're typically curvy and smooth. Meg's character sheets are a good example. They are my go-to when I need some inspiration for my female characters. Pinterest is my holy grail for these 🩷

Don't be afraid to mess around with poses and expressions when sketching. Look at how to guides for colouring and shading. I love nothing more than just colouring over a rough sketch with colours and textures. It's so satisfying! (That's what I did with my more recent post)

Most importantly, never to stress yourself. What you draw may not always turn out as you imagine, but that's the fun of it. Honestly, there's no better feeling than looking back on old works even just from a few weeks ago and seeing improvements

Again, thank you for the kind words, and I hope to see some of your art on here soon 🥰

[ekmsoldier]

I just discovered your work, and have done nothing but devour it since then.

You have an inspired technique and an amazing aesthetic. Your use of color, light, and shadow are remarkable; your command of anatomy and figure drawing is truly excellent. You choose incredibly difficult perspectives and make them look effortless. Your characters all are very unique, individuated, and filled with emotion and expression even when their faces and bodies are mostly covered.

I'm eager to see what you create next, because this is some of the best art I've seen for a very long time.

This means a lot to me.

I used to practice drawing alone, so I was always worried about whether my drawings would look good in other people's eyes. Whenever I hear compliments like this, it makes me feel like my hard work is rewarded. I'm so happy! 🥰

Thank you so much. 정말 감사합니다! ❣️

[erazonpo3]

I'm a little late to the #webcomicday party but I still thought it'd be fun to break down my process a little bit using the latest Way Out chapter as an example!

So I have a rough outline for the whole comic but I don't go into too much detail planning each story arc until I'm about to get stuck into it. The rough outline is for jotting down ideas as they come along, acting as a skeleton for what will eventually happen, while the more detailed arc outlines are for plotting and pacing the story beats.

Planning each chapter out like this means that each one feels like its own mini-story, and more importantly, stays on track and achieves something to further the story or character progression. You'll notice that the chapter notes are still pretty barebones, which leaves me room to fine tune the smaller beats within the script.

Then, it's scripting time! I'll only have a script for the chapter I'm working on and a script for the next chapter, so as I'm currently working on Chapter 66 I have a script for chapter 66 & 67 but not 68. This is ideal for me in keeping the story flexible, allowing me to take a chapter in a bit of a different direction without feeling tied to a whole arc's worth of scripts that I'll need to rework otherwise.

Around 20 panels is the sweet spot for a chapter of Way Out; there are some with fewer and some with more, but shooting for that number makes me think about whether a scene ought to be extended or cut down in order to meet that goal. If I only plan out 18 panels then I can probably squeeze something extra in, while if I plan out 23 panels, I have a look and see if there isn't anything that can't be condensed.

The scripts themselves are pretty sparse, mostly just dialogue with basic action notes that I highlight as I finish. I'm usually pretty good with visualising things in my mind so the notes are more of a reminder to self about angles & expressions more than anything- if this were a collaborative project I'd probably put more effort into making it descriptive, but it's not.

I've never been one for thumbnailing, which is bad comic practice, I know. But once I have my script I just want to get stuck straight into drawing and don't like slowing down to jot down what is already pretty vivid in my head when I can just. draw the thing.

(a large part of why I started my first webcomic in the vertical format is because you don't need to consider variety in panelling and page flow, which is something thumbnails are very important for).

And so the sketching begins! My sketches are rarely pretty with little focus on anatomy and shape and more focus on blocking and size. I use Procreate to draw the panels and its resizing tool has a tendency to obliterate the quality, which I can sharpen in small amounts but it saves a lot of pain if I plan it all out in the ugly stage.

In some ways I often prefer the sketches to the clean lineart, but that's mostly the stylistic scratchy-ness of it that I have to do away with in favour of clean lines. I'm not always super proud of the art in the end but not every panel needs to be a masterpiece and it's all practice. I think a quantity over quality approach is kind of necessary if you want to make a comic and not lose your mind.

I sharpen up and clean any spots up as I go, but once they're all done I glue all the panels together on my desktop so that I can adjust the spacing between them, then I cut them back up again into smaller slices for posting! And that's the whole chapter process!

I also have a quick (and by quick I mean 4 minute) rough timelapse of chapter 65's coloured panel I can post, if anyone would be interested in seeing that, but it'll probably need to be its own post bc it'll crash this one.