#this...was longer than i intended. i gotta shorten things to not overwhelm you...

[recitedemise]

A curious piece. Truly. In this yawning gallery filled with flowers and romance, it was this, this terror, that had caught his eye. Gale studies it now, reading what he believes to be someone's wailing. There's both texture and motion, a gathering of shadows with a mustering of grey, and with the heart so panicked, it yowls of desperation. The water's like a poison; it makes for grave. "Oh, I've ruminated upon at least a dozen ideas," he breathes, cocky in such a way that's delightfully drole, "but, yes, I would say you've the heart of it." How witty. "Say what you will, but those are my thoughts exactly."

Hilarious. He looks to her. Another curious piece, this one. He shouldn't size her up, but then, he's whittling his hours in some marbled hall. And when traipsing in the city of romantic Rome, one would do well to do as the Romans! And humans, last he checked, are far better reads. Of course, humans, too, he'd confess, are fragile in ways beyond glittery frescos. They're much more secretive, not made to be ogled like oils on board, and he's being too contrite. He's a little too moody. It's fine to think her fresh, and its fine to say she charms. She's wordlessly interesting, and her shoes are neat, and he's the right to think anything that isn't somewhat deeper--like how her eyes, like his, gleam just too dark.

As it were, he'd hate to stand there as her own sputtering study. Gale shifts knowing his scar peeks over the collar of his shirt. He eyes the heart again, feeling the phantom prick of glass...plus the failing of his heart. Mystra's words haunt him. "Charming. I believe myself more a pragmatist. In my experience, the heart's a habit of being impossibly stubborn. Survival, I've concluded. Even when sat in despair, one errant whisper would offer it hope. I wager it's no other way to carry itself. Rather, in the cradle of surrender, it holds its ground." (Yes. She still wants, doesn't she? She yet longs to be seen.) Gale sips his coffee, gaze grazing the tremble to her brushstrokes... Pensive, romantic, his expression flutters. "Hope's incurable. Men can't help but to dream. Why else would poetry and such lovely art exist?" / @volchtsa, continued from here.

[hjeojeo]

Hi, I hope that your day is going well! I don't know if this is something your okay with answering but I'm curious as to how you approach anatomy and how you create defining characteristics when drawing characters, like Texas and orchid?

i was like waiting to find time to draw some demonstrations or something, but I realized I’m gonna like

forget to reply to this if I wait to have the brain space to organize all that ahaskjdf

so here comes a text wall!!

so for the anatomy, i think like most anything when it comes to A LOT OF INFORMATION i go with macro to micro. big to small. so some exercises i still do is draw people silhouettes, but small! but practicing with like general like bathroom symbol people/stickman to like realistic silhouettes but simplified i think it helps like make a box in my head to hold the information of ANATOMY

and then when im just drawing i like to think in larger chunks like if you think about how 3D-modeling/sculpting goes where there’s like big blocks to represent the torso and pelvis low poly to high poly

anatomy’s just really hard cause it’s like different proportions, how each element moves and then sits when you adjust.

but trying to find a mental like organization to place all that information usually helps me! and ofc patience with myself cause it takes a long time for that information to really settle down

and for the creating defining characteristcs.

i think it’s about relativity. like just like colors where

a color isn’t just inherently VIBRANT, it’s more about the colors surrounding that specific color. if the surrouding colors are more muted and the specific color is less muted, then it will look vibrant.

so same way

gotta start off with what feels like

a generic base for you. what’s your go-to  person you’ll draw that you think is an average look

and then you from there and make decisions on like

maybe 2x the size for the waist

or maybe 50% longer for the nose.

and then i guess last thing to realize that

bc it’s all about relativity. a character might only look very distinct when they stand next to another character who has contrasting features.

for example i have no idea if anyone but me knows this but i draw texas with a longer chin than i’d draw another character. (oh my god that reminds me to shorten up exusiai’s chin a bit, cause i did not intend for them to have a longer chin LOL)

OH that also reminds me

EXAGGERATION if you want to get across a point without there needing to be someone else to contrast for comparison.

like how everyone looks at my texas drawings and knows that she got thick eyebrows

cause i exaggerate the thickness.

and i think exaggeration is also relative to a style’s range. like going beyond the range a bit, just to get across a point.

but depending on the style, even a slight adjustment wil be BIG IN YOUR FACE DIFFERENCE. while other styles even a big adjustment might not be noticable cause the entire style is already pretty exaggerated

.__.

im so sorry if this is like overwhelming amount of info or really disjointed information

i just wanna assure anyone reading this that

it feels overwhelming but

if you dont stress about retaining it immediately and just

keep going and observing and being patient with yourself

you’ll eventually like start to notice and grasp the nuances of what you’re portraying.

i feel like it’s difficult cause like i know that for me

i had to go through a long process of learning to stop hating my art enough so that i can just

calmly look at what im doing, and instead of being dsitracted by how much i didnt like it, to start taking it little by little of like

oh what do i want to change.. and why.

and how do i make that change.!