#trying to get into drawing more portraits in a style that I enjoy and makes me happy

[nikki-rook]

Ncuti Gatwa as the 15th Doctor

[fantasy-anatomy-analyst]

How do you (personally) balance designs looking cool and practical/realistic? I feel like I get stuck on my spec bio that I lose the fun in designing. Or I can't find anything neat from the animals I use for inspiration to add and don't know where to look for other ideas.

you gotta add life and whimsy. sounds kinda weird and maybe doesn't make sense, but it's true. you can spend all sorts of time making a perfected realistic looking design and if there's no life and whimsy in it, it feels flat. you can practice this by drawing very fast gestural poses, putting your character/creature designs in Situations and drawing how they'd react, and just practicing expressive faces.

Make a whole character out of your creation. doesn't have to be a character you give a name to and keep around forever as a new story protagonist or dnd character or whatever. you just have to breathe some individuality and life into it for a bit.

I'll try to illustrate what I mean.

(image description: two sketch pages of an orc and an elf. on the first page, they are drawn beneath reference images of a wild boar head and a macaque. here, the orc and elf have more realistic facial proportions and match their reference animals better, but they look a little dull. on the second page, the orc and elf have been redrawn. at the top of the page are sketches of each of them laughing. the orc's mouth is wide open, making their snout wrinkle a lot as they lift it in their laugh. the elf's mouth is only a little open, with the lips pushed forward in an O shape, and they are squinting happily. below this are full body sketches of the orc and elf, fully dressed in casual outfits, crouching to snarl at each other. the orc is baring their tusks but keeping their mouth closed, while the elf has their mouth wide open, putting their long canine teeth on display and also holding their tail straight up. end description.)

body language and facial expression are so important! you gotta be loose with it to learn how to create more dynamic and lively designs. and for characters, it's also important to explore things like culture and personality so you can individualize them.

I don't know exactly what your art style looks like or what it means for you to be hitting roadblocks in the design process as you try to find that balance between looking both cool and realistic. My art style is semi-realism, and I do think stylization plays a key role in crating interesting designs. the closer you get to photorealism, the more difficult it is to create dynamic designs, in my experience. it's not impossible! but getting to that skill level in realism is harder than i think some people assume it is.

I have seen a lot of photorealism art that was clearly done by skilled artists who know all the technical things about making art, but couldn't bring out the life in their subjects. it's easy to get stuck on the technical skills, to fuss over making the shadows of a portrait match the photo reference, to get so skilled at texture that you forget about gestural posing. maybe getting so invested in realistic and practical design you neglect the whimsy. fantasy is inherently whimsical! I know this blog is all about making fantasy anatomy more believable, which often means curtailing the whimsy if it gets out of hand. but the whimsy is essential! it just needs to be cultivated and pruned occasionally if it's getting in the way of your goals. and on the other hand, so does the realism! perfect realism can't really exist in fantasy, or it would already be reality, you know what I mean? if the realism is a roadblock to designs you truly enjoy, prune it back. cut the realism down to size and make room for some whimsy. that's the balance.

[uchihaharlot]

I didn't mean to break their hearts, I was just curious, srry!😭😭 (but Itachi's one was kinda funny-)

But anyway, now I'm wondering about how they would react if they found out that you can draw really cool and beautiful.

(I'm an artist, so😎)

Nonny 🥹🥹

That put me in an really good mood; lol. That was way too fun to write; maybe I can one day write a super angsty break up (but I love them too much!!!).

I love all artists 😭😭😭 Painters, writers — digital or paper. Anything that expresses the inner workings of someone’s mind and the fact that they can manifest it to reality is so so so beautiful. I hope I’ve secretly seen your art, I’d probably simp over it. Always simp over art. 😂😂🥹🥹

N/SFW; very cute Uchiha men adoring your artwork! 🥹🥹🥹 (ooc Madara??); Simpy Obito; …Scandalous Shisui; abnormally observant Itachi 😂 suggestive themes rolled out the further I got. For some reason, I just had to. (P.s. I should not be allowed to write when tired??? Half of this was done while my eyes rolled shut in bed).

Madara:

It’s not everyday that Madara is blown like a leaf in the wind. When you mentioned being a patron of the arts, he thought maybe the art of battle?? Didn’t expect your weapon to be a paint brush with some acrylic paint. Thought it was some weird jutsu infused shit.

And then you just had to go above and beyond and do a portrait of him for his birthday!!!!! It’s hung on the living room center wall so that it’s the first thing anyone sees! Honestly, this man is a brute, but your art envokes his softer side! A side that he hasn’t been in touch with for…well, a long time.

Makes sure that everyone and I mean, everyone, is aware of your talent! Still, he tries to find the side hussle in it, soliciting customers for you and all. 😭😭 Will trash talk the chalk art children make on the sidewalk, which ‘…that’s not nice, they’re children..’ you say. He shrugs, nobody is as good as you.

Obito:

Finds out and tries to ‘secretly’ commission you lmao. Makes it totally obvious too, his handwriting is shit and eveeeerrryyyyone knows who Tobi really is…. Plus how can you even begin without discussing what he wants done!! Duh, Obito! Unfortunately for him, you are more interested in drawing matters of the flesh. He’ll only show his chest, nothing more.

‘That’s fine.’ You shrug, and get to work. Obito, however, does not have the resolve to sit still! It’s frustrating to no end, but alas, after what seems an eternity— its done. Sort of. Still much to add, but the basics are there and you’ll work better when he’s not asking how does it look every twenty minutes.

Eventually you do finish this beautiful piece of him, and Obito cries. You made his scars tolerable and beautiful with your mind’s creativity, he feels less self conscious about them, only a little.

Shisui:

Is the least normal about it when he discovered your sketchbook — more like snatched and played keep away. Had to fight him for it, literally. Will ask you to paint/draw him naked…many times lol and you respectfully say no... Not that he likes people to see him naked (ok maybe a little?) but he secretly hopes it might happen one day. It would be a private thing for the two of you, cause he wants that ass.

And when you do cave to his whim, just to satiate him. He’s nervous lmao. Had this oh so macho man idea of rocking a hard on but Shisui simply maintains his usual semi. It’s nice though, you make sure it’s extremely detailed..as he asked for.

But, ‘(y/n)… this is chibbi!!!’ Lol, jokes on Shisui!! He didn’t say how to draw his pp.

Itachi:

Is the most normal about it. Though he still will praise you every time you finish a piece and show him, he is still massively impressed. How does your wrist not get tired? …maybe this is why your hand jobs are so good. 😈 Just watching you try a new technique (pointillism, which is my favorite style) makes his wrist hurt. Enjoys when you ask him for ideas! He has lots of them! Mostly…obscure and derelict landscapes though.

Would not be opposed to having his portrait done, but it’s really not his style. He is disciplined enough to sit still but doesn’t see the value in it. Not until the final product is revealed, does he truly understand how important this piece was. You’ve captured his personality in a new light.

[sombra-conlangs]

I just had a thought I want to share: I don't think the conlang community is great at helping beginners to get into conlanging, and while the art form is kind of esoteric and requires lots of knowledge I also think there's probably better approaches for tackling the huge task of learning how to create an entire language.

I can't figure out a way to say it concisely, I'll just spew out all my thoughts on this so hopefully others can see where I'm coming from and share their thoughts, I'm curious to hear what y'all have to say.

First let's look at something that I've noticed is pretty common in other artistic hobbies and communities:

When people decide to learn a new skill there can be a lot of excitement that builds up initially, they may have never touched an instrument in their life but they have this burning desire to jump right into writing and recording an awesome guitar solo, just like the ones they hear in their favorite songs, or they may not have any drawing and writing experience at all but the first thing they wanna do is start working on an entire webcomic series drawn in a highly detailed art style because they came up with an idea for a story that would be amazing. Whatever the skill is, it happens often that someone sees a work of art that is so inspiring that they want to make something just like it themselves.

Of course, when people try a new art form for the first time the results don't tend to be very good, when you've never done a thing before it's unrealistic to expect yourself to be able to replicate the stuff that people with a few years of experience and practice can make.

And that can be a pretty frustrating experience because if someone tries their hardest to create that dream project of theirs with no experience it'll inevitably end up taking a huge amount of effort (due to the person not knowing how to do things in a more efficient way) and then it won't even be as good as they envisioned anyway, and some can walk away from these experiences with the impression that music is simply too hard or they're just not made to be artists or writers or game designers or whatever the craft is.

I think this is why when you take a class on the subject or you hear advice online people often try to get you to lower the scope of your first projects, they emphasize the importance of practicing your fundamentals first, because you may be super excited to jump right into painting hyper-realistic portraits, but if you don't build any familiarity with your tools and you don't train those basic skills you're never going to be able to turn the awesome idea in your head into a reality, and your expectations are going to be too high for you to enjoy the process because you just won't be able to meet those expectations.

Starting with a scope that is far too big ends up just being a frustrating experience that doesn't actually teach you a whole lot, you gotta work on a bunch of smaller, simpler stuff first before you move on to making more advanced things. In other words, you gotta build up to the higher levels, you don't start at level 100, you start at level 1 and then you slowly go up from there.

You may see where I'm going with this: we don't tend to do that in the conlang community.

People who become interested in making languages may be familiar with the concept of conlangs from hearing about Klingon, High Valyrian, Sindarin or similar works, and so they get excited to jump right into making a naturalistic artlang as their first conlang, or they may not even know what the term "naturalistic artlang" even means but they try to make a detailed, fully speakable language for a fictional setting, which is kind of the same thing, or at least it's in the same spirit.

I think tons of conlangers start that way (myself included), it's super common, but I had the realization earlier that starting with a naturalistic artlang is actually kind of crazy, that's a project with a huge scope, it requires you to have so much knowledge beforehand that I'd argue it's the equivalent of trying to play a Paganini piece live in front of an audience on your first time playing the violin ever, of course it's gonna be seen as an impossibly difficult or complex hobby, you're jumping into level 100 right off the bat, no wonder lots of conlangers end up hating their first conlang.

I legit had a moment earlier today when I was thinking "conlanging is not that hard, you just gotta learn the basics of IPA, then learn about syllable structure and phonotactics, then become acquainted with the different mechanisms of how sounds can change over time, then learn what a romanization is and how to make one based on your phonology, then learn how words get grammaticalized.. then learn about all the different types of writing systems... then... huh wait a minute..."

I had this realization that the amount of knowledge you're expected to learn on your first conlang project is kind of ridiculous, it's easy to lose track of how advanced the stuff you're doing is when you've grown so used to it, it's like that xkcd comic.

Yeah this one. Like, the diachronic method of conlanging might not seem that complicated if you're using it for the 47th time, but for a newcomer there are a ton of things they need to learn first in order to even start using the diachronic method.

And even if you don't evolve your conlang from a proto-language there's still a ton of details and moving parts in a naturalistic language: the syntax, the morphology, the phonology, the different levels of formality and social aspects, writing systems, etc.

I feel like trying to capture all of the different nuances of a natural language on your first attempt at a conlang is just too big of a scope in the same way that making your first videogame an open-world RPG with multiple endings tends to result in people quitting game development because they get overwhelmed with the amount of new information that they need to learn and so they lose all their motivation.

All of this came to my mind because I was having a conversation with someone who doesn't have a background in linguistics and I was trying to help them figure out how to make their first conlang, and as the conversation went on I realized that even the posts aimed at beginners I write on my wordpress site are actually way too detailed and complex, like, my post that teaches you to read IPA- let me stop right there, the fact that I have a single post where I expect people to be able to learn IPA just so that they can start conlanging says it all.

And ok, you may be thinking that's just a me issue, but honestly I started to re-watch various youtube videos on how to conlang aimed at beginners and I feel like if I had zero knowledge of linguistics I'd struggle to follow along with the majority of them, in each video there's usually multiple new concepts being introduced at a very rapid pace and a number of things that you're already assumed to be familiar with.

No shade at people like biblaridion and artifexian, I personally find their content helpful, my point is that most learning resources for beginner conlangers (including the stuff I make on my website) do this thing where they infodump a ton of technical information and introduce a lot of new jargon fairly quickly and while that can work for some people I'm starting to think that that's not the best way to go about things.

This may seem kind of random, but I remember this very old video by extra credits where they explained how a good tutorial in a videogame doesn't front-load all of the information you'll ever need, they segment it into smaller chunks so you only learn the few bits of information that are immediately relevant, you get to immediately apply that knowledge, familiarize yourself with the concept at your own pace, and then once you've had some time to play with it you are introduced to a new small bit of information. I know learning an artistic skill is not identical to learning how to play a game, but I find that I learn better this way in general, the knowledge just sticks more, I think that introducing concepts in more bite-size, applicable chunks would probably go a long way to make this hobby more accessible to more people.

Maybe we should be recommending newcomers to practice with naming langs, minimal conlangs, personal conlangs, relexes, ciphers, codes, or idk something else to let people become acquainted with the dozens of concepts that show up in languages in a way that doesn't immediately become overwhelming.

Like, maybe this is a hot take, but I feel like in order to make your first conlang you probably shouldn't even worry about what a place or manner of articulation is, you probably don't need to evolve it or add any irregularity or allophones or any of the stuff we're so used to including as conlangers, you can slowly learn those later.

Think about it, in order to learn how to draw realism you practice the most basic fundamentals first; drawing circles and cubes in perspective over and over again, trying to break down complex images into simple abstract shapes, etc. I think we could do the same in conlanging and teach the necessary skills with projects of a smaller scope.

I just remembered about quothalinguist's choose your own adventure type book for teaching beginner conlangers and I think that's awesome, I haven't read it but I definitely will, we should probably get more introductory material like that, stuff that's more manageable and doesn't require a huge time investment in order to teach you a lot, I think that's a really good approach.

And for that matter I've been curious about the conlang year thing, maybe that'd also be a more manageable way to introduce someone to conlanging.

Just spitballing a few ideas here but imagine teaching about basic morphology by encouraging people to make a sketchlang where they only use sounds present in their native language. Without needing them to know any IPA or anything about phonology you can get them started on experimenting with certain things, like putting words together, compounding, affixing, etc. Remember that the results don't have to be naturalistic, that's not the point, the point is to avoid the situation where people need to learn a thousand concepts before they can even set pen to paper, they get to start experimenting and playing with different concepts in a more manageable way.

Maybe as a way to slowly introduce people to the idea of phonological evolution someone could make a small set of proto-words using a very basic inventory like /p t k m n s j w a i u/ and then you give people a set of pre-designed sound changes to pick from, and they can mix and match which changes to apply and in what order, so this could be an exercise to get acquainted with the way that sound changes work and the way the order in which they happen matters.

Y'all can let me know if I'm not making any sense or if my ideas sound weird or bad, the main point that I want to make is that the way we approach teaching beginner conlangers seems to require a lot of front-loading of information, which is not great.

I honestly forgot how long it took me to learn everything that I currently know about conlanging, I only stuck with it because I had actually consumed a lot of pop-linguistics content before getting into conlanging, so I already had a lot of the knowledge you're expected to learn as a beginner, meaning that the infodumps weren't as much of a brickwall for me as they can be for other people.

I feel like with the way things currently are there's probably a subset of people who have tried to get into conlanging at some point but then gave up and left with the impression that it's simply too complicated and nerdy for them when that may not be the case, I don't think making a naturalistic conlang is that much harder than learning how to draw realistic portraits of people; sure it's hard and time-consuming but it's definitely doable if you practice all the fundamentals first.

In the art community there's people who try to keep their sketchbooks all pristine and perfect looking, but that's not actually super helpful for learning, sketchbooks are meant to be where you practice and get to experiment, it's ok if it's messy or ugly or disorganized, it's not meant to be where your masterpieces come from, it's generally understood within the art community that in order to make drawings that are very well made you have to go through a loooot of crappy, low quality drawings first.

I think that essentially what I'm saying is that there should be a way to encourage beginner conlangers to do the same, make the equivalent of little sketches and practice basic doodles instead of jumping into a highly detailed complex naturalistic artlang right off the bat, that could demystify the wonderful art that is language creation for newcomers.

[sunnibits]

slowly getting back into drawing that old man (not that I ever really stopped, but still)

unnecessarily lengthy art thoughts under the cut

started with that more realistic portrait in the corner but then I tried doing this new exercise where I just drew him as fast as I could without really thinking, trying to just be really quick and confident with my strokes, and I actually really love how those couple doodles turned out!! they have this really fun stylized quality that I enjoy a lot, like as someone who tends towards a more realistic style?? I feel like I don’t really allow myself to experiment with more cartoony/dynamic styles but this was a really effective way of forcing myself to make it happen naturally. anyways, I highly recommend trying it if you’re like me and maybe have a hard time stylizing faces, or if you just wanna do a fun exercise! just don’t overthink it and see what shapes you naturally chose to exaggerate :)

sorry for rambling sghshsh I just had a lot of fun with these doodles and izzy has always been so fun to stylize for me :) he just naturally has this sort of silly cartoonish quality to him, it’s so easy to exaggerate all his shapes <3

[petite-madame]

I look at your art and i cannot even comprehend how you do it. Do you use procreate? what brushes do you use? I’m deeply in love with your work

Hi anon

Thank you so much for your message and for taking the time to contact me. 💗 Sorry about the late reply, I was quite busy in the past two weeks. 😳

Ok! So, to answer your question, I very rarely use Procreate. I used it a bit when I installed it on my iPad one-two years ago: it was exciting and new but I must admit that now, I work mainly on Photoshop. Don't get me wrong, Procreate is an amazing app, you can create tons of effects but I'm much more confortable with Photoshop. However, this artwork and this one were created using mainly Procreate.

More recently (= about 10 days ago 🤓), I bought an app called Rebelle 6 that emulates oil painting and watercolors. I used it on this Sherlock portrait but also on this one on Twitter. If you see this kind of textures in my art from now on, it's thanks to this app.

These were the exceptions, though. As far as the rest is concerned, I use Photoshop CS6 with an Xp-pen tablet. I tried all kind of brushes but the ones I always come back to give my artworks an "old painting" effect are the Mar-ka brushes and the Deharme brushes. (look at this artist's DA page, you have several sets of brushes available). However, sometimes, I change the settings: I add more texture, change the spacing, the brush dynamic, etc…(everything can be found in the PS brush settings). You have to see what works best for you.

On some artworks, I also add a paper texture a bit like the one below, at a low opacity (layer: soft light). Make sure it's a bit grainy and don't hesitate to adjust it using the "brightness/contrast" or "levels" tools.

However, the opacity and the paper vary according to the artwork. What can work for one artwork is not going to work for another one because of the lighting, the exposure, the effects you want to give. You'll have to try different textures and opacities to reach the effect you want.

The rest is…my style. 🤓 I did a post HERE about how I draw realistic portraits and HERE about a step by step (it was several years ago though so I don't talk about textures, just how I block colors and how I draw realistically).

I hope I managed to answer your question. Thank you for enjoying my work so much and see you at the end of the week with a Stede Bonnet portrait (and then, I'll go on a break to rest a bit ^^)

[whirlwindstars]

Le Monde’s “Les Misérables” comic book review

General information

The two volumes are part of “Les Grands Classiques de la Littérature en Bande Dessineé” (The Greatest Classics of Literature in Comic Book format) by French newspaper “Le Monde”.

Adaptation by Daniel Bardet.

Drawings by Bernard Capo.

'Plus points'

The adaptation

The adaptation is very good!

Considering the entire comic book is 92 pages long, the plot points are there and are well detailed. Some lines are even word-to-word inserts from the book, such as the beginning.

The sceneries

The backgrounds are extremely faithful to the novel! There are scenes where you can see they paid attention to Hugo’s long descriptions of streets and rooms.

The panels are full of minute things to look out for if you are a book fan.

The characters

I enjoyed the way they kept some traits, both physical and psychological, of the main characters, such as Jean Valjean’s hatred for Marius or Bossuet’s appearance!

I can’t say all aesthetic choices are to be considered a success, though…

More on it later.

The covers

Paolo Martinello created two beautiful comic book covers, choosing to depict pivotal scenes from the volumes.

This point too has a downside, as you’ll soon discover.

The bonus pages

Some pages were added in both volumes with insights on Victor Hugo, his works (including more information on “Les Misérables”). They put some extracts from the Brick, too!

'Minus points'

It’s in French

Being a product for a French newspaper, it's obviously written in French. 

So, if you are not well versed in the language, it will become rather tricky if not impossible to get everything.

I could only find an Italian version of this comic, I can’t find other translations.

The style of the drawings

Of course, this point is subjective, but I’m not a big fan of the style used for the panels. It’s a bit old-school, in my opinion.

It wouldn’t be that big a problem, if it weren’t for a small detail…

The cover is clickbait

Don’t judge a book by its cover!

As I said before, the covers were made by a different artist, and the difference is striking!

And there’s more: other variants of the same volumes have different covers! Even in those cases, they were not made in the main artist’s style.

(I’m not entirely sure, but it seems to be the case in the Italian version as well).

This creates a problem, as you can’t always make sure the style is the same, especially in comic books that are sold with a newspaper.

Do I recommend it?

If you have a good level of French (or Italian) and you like the artstyle, I say you should give it a try.

It’s an abridged version, but still a good adaptation.

Bonus Info (SPOILERS!!)

The barricade is, as always, significantly cut

With only 92 pages, it was bound to happen.

I was surprised to find a character like Mabeuf included in the story, with more than a couple panels showing his death and the aftermath.

But, aside from that moment, the other scenes at the barricade are more or less what you see in the musical version.

Speaking of characters at the barricade…

Some members of ‘Les Amis de l’ABC’ have been cut, thus not appearing at the barricade.

The most notable one being Jean Prouvaire.

Moreover, the aesthetic choices for Les Amis & Marius are also… Well, a choice.

They all look way older than their age! 

I mean, people used to look older in the past, but a quick search through portraits of that time period in the Louvre website helps with getting a better idea on how a man in their 20s used to look.

And, as much as I love 19th Century sideburns, the way they’re drawn here…

Let me just show you.

THIS IS ENJOLRAS:

(You know, the guy who is supposed to look younger than his age. And quite androgynous. And resemble a Greek statue. That guy.)

You get what I mean.

And so we arrive at the end of this review. I can say I quite enjoyed preparing it, and I hope you enjoyed it as well!

[iztea]

Maybe you have some drawing tips for beginners?

Your style is incredibly beautiful and it just inspires this thing inside me to grab my iPad and start drawing but unfortunately I have no idea where to even begin

Or maybe you have some recs where to look to learn how to draw stuff?

But I understand completely that it’s your thing and artists should never feel pressured to share all their techniques and secrets, you worked hard on it!

I just really really love your art to the point where I just look at it for 30 minutes straight with this big feeling in my chest

<3

ah it was never about being secretive, i'm pretty open about my drawing process since gatekeeping knowledge is a big pet peeve of mine. It was more like,, laziness because writing a cohesive and helpful drawing tutorial is pretty difficult and i wouldn't even know where to start; i'm afraid i'll get maybe too technical and what have you.

As for tips for beginners, i've shared plenty on my couriouscat so you can scroll through the answers there, i also have some drawing timelapses on my twitter account as well (albeit you'll have to scroll a little)

I'm very flattered you feel that way about my art, it really means a lot to me and i'm glad to have inspired you to draw as well that's awesome and i wish you best of luck!

I actually don't know how different drawing on an iPad is compared to a graphic tablet+desktop, so I am actually pretty clueless in that regard. I think Procreate is the most used digital art app for iPad so you can start by getting it and familiarizing yourself with the UI. I think this step is often overlooked. The brushes and the chosen program can make or break the drawing experience. If you simply find yourself not enjoying Procreate, experiment with other apps or maybe try switching to a graphic tablet, maybe that feels better and is more suited to your tastes.

To be completely honest, one "bad" piece of advice that i should probably keep to myself is to draw something you actually enjoy: fanart, Pretty Girl Portrait(tm), your cat, landscapes etc even if it's above your skill level (becoming obsessed/ fixated on some character from a piece of media also works wonders i'm just gonna throw that out there). The main point is to actually care about your chosen subject in order to get inspired and to have that inner desire of "doing them justice" aka drawing them well. The traditional art learning route probably involves studying the fundamentals, shading spheres and cones and simple 3D forms blablbablah which. Yeah ! sure that's probably better advice but i'm telling you what will make you want to keep going and not get discouraged after a few failed attempts.

As for the drawing subject, I highly recommend having photo references to guide you.. you always need refs it's a recurring thing. My fastest artworks are the ones where I have the right references. the less references the more difficult it is to draw something

As a beginner it is also a good practice to draw OVER your photo reference to get the proportions right ( i'm not talking about literally tracing the contour of a face or limb ( just an example ), but moreso identifying the Main shape which makes up that body part and observe how long is it in respect to the other components, how does it connect to the other parts etc - big difference. Tracing won't help you in the long run).

Another thing you can do is to study your favourite artists and see how They tackle whatever it is that you like in their work. how do they simplify facial features? what about anatomy? color/ light etc and kinda reverse engineer your way through their process. ( but i highly recommend to just keep these practice sketches to yourself, and to not share them on social media- unless you get the artist's permission)

This is how i got into drawing and what i did back then, again, for more technical hands-on information i did answer similar CCs before so with a little bit of stalking you'll find them in no time

I wanna finish this with some resources that helped me:

>youtube guys - sinix, ahmed aldoori, marco bucci, and also just speedpaints in general i highly recommend watching those

>for simplified anatomy i found @/ taco1704 's ref sheets to be very helpful but ........... I'm pretty dry here i just look up refs on Pinterest tbvh

speaking of, here's my pinterest i have a bunch of art related boards board cool stuff overall maybe they can help guide you towards some direction or inspire you in some way idk

ok i kinda suck in the resource department listeN. im starving too just.................. watch youtube speedpaints ok

SORRY IT'S SO LONGGGBGGG i hope it was at least a bit helpful? this was all over the place... I'll try to come up with a tutorial as well but i really gotta be careful with how i go about it. I'll leave you with this for the time being. Again, thank you a lot for the kind words, I really am very grateful and touched esp by that last part about staring with the big feeling stuff eeeeeeeeeeeeee really wow T T that's so lovely and a big compliment thanks ty ly

[urlocalnonbinarybastardwrites]

I love your head canons and stuff, could I please get an outsiders ship?

I’m in choir and I like being a star but it also makes me panic enough that I��m literally trembling. Anyway, I love drawing portraits and cooking. Though I’m not the most experienced, I can copy pretty much any sauce at home, that’s my hidden talent. I’m a go getter and am trying to make something of my life because I have to do it myself (lolz I’m not getting financial help). But I tend to neglect cleaning and organizing stuff. I have style, but I typically don’t bother and just wear sweatshirts, jeans, or my various jackets. My hair is brown, curly, and frizzy, and I’m super pale right now but can tan. My eyes are a blue green. Also I love baseball and fishing. I’m not super emotional and I’m not always empathetic, so I can have harsh honesty but people come to me for advice and trust me

Why thank you and yes you may

Your Outsiders ship: Steve Randle

Explanation: starting off with your looks, I think that Steve would be very attracted to you. I think he would notice a little things that no one else does like how your eyes can shift from blue green, depending on the lighting and sometimes they look more blue and sometimes they look more green. He notices and pays attention to the fact that while you love singing, and while you love attention, it can sometimes make you so nervous to the point where you visibly shake, and he would do his best to calm despite himself not being good at comforting, or expressing his emotions. I think that he would love playing with your frizzy hair and of course he would wipe the car grease off his hands first. He has a similar fashion of just throwing on whatever is clean and I think that he would totally understand the neglection of organizing your environment as he’s definitely one of those guys that doesn’t get why you should make your bed if you’re just going to sleep in it again( I agree) I think he would love playing baseball and going fishing with you and I actually have a head canon that he played baseball a lot with Soda when they were younger, so he’s actually really good at it.  personality wise I think you guys would be very complementary towards each other as you guys are both pretty similar in the aspect of you’re not always great at showing your emotions. He has a hard time showing how much he cares for pony and often comes across as having a stick up his ass and always getting on ponies’s case when the truth is, he really just deeply cares about soda pop and darrys kid brother, and yet he’s always the first one that soda pop turns to for advice. I think you guys would be very cute and I could see multiple activities. You guys would enjoy doing together dates. 💚💚💚

[tauforged]

Gahhh i love how you draw, do you have any tips for drawing people?

WAH IM FLATTERED ANON!!!!!

i’m not the greatest at art advice because a lot of my artistic process has been me just kinda winging it until something sticks in a way i like, the main reason i’ve gravitated towards a more painterly style rather than hard lineart is that i enjoy the process of refining details out of vague shapes….. the thing that’s helped me the most has been seeking out references. trace over screenshots to get a feel for a characters face shape, use stock photos to block out poses, atuff like that… and don’t be afraid to let ur art be messy. something i feel gives pretty good insight to how i approach art is when i compare a rough sketch/colorblocking to the finished product (like so!)

color swatching too is something i’ve found pretty invaluable when it comes to portrait style painting like i’ve been doing recently, building up a palette to work with can be super helpful, especially when you’re trying to simplify or stylize those features

working out an even middle tone and a few darker accent/outline colors can even make unshaded/blocked out art like this feel a lot more rounded out than black lineart over flats most of the time…

i have no idea if any of this makes sense LMAO i have a really hard time putting anything relating to my artistic process into words … my number one tip will always be to collect references and do lots of studies and warmups until you feel confident freehanding a character w/o double checking 👍 i tend to obsessively draw one guy over and over for days at a time anyway due to my mental illness so that’s worked out for me anyway LMAO. hope this helps mwah mwah

[livebloggingmydescentintomadness]

Recently I broke up with someone who was a mean drunk. In one of our last fights, when he was blacked out, he called all my paintings bullshit and damaged one of them. I think I can fix it but every time I look at it I think of him, and I'm questioning whether I have any talent. What if everyone is just being nice and they all think my art is bullshit?

i'm so sorry, sweetheart, that was an incredibly vindictive and hurtful thing for him to do and it's totally understandable that it caused you a lot of pain. i'm really proud of you for breaking up with him.

i think there's a lot of things i could say here about trusting your friends and not letting this one asshole ruin everything for you, but i think you're probably smart enough to expect me to say that, so i'm going to try saying something else.

first of all, since the awful thought is in your head, let's entertain the idea for a second - let's say your art IS bullshit and other people don't actually like it.

do YOU like your art? does your art make YOU happy?

you're not a renaissance artist drawing to please your patron, you're not painting portraits for a royal family - you're making YOUR art for YOU. do you enjoy making your art? do feel pride when you complete a piece and see the finished work in your hands? does it make you happy to share it with other people and to dream about the next thing you want to work on? does it feel fulfilling and satisfying to look at your work and know that you MADE that?

if all that's true, then it wouldn't actually matter if your art was "bullshit", because humans don't just make art for other people to admire. the creative process itself is valuable and worth doing, no matter how "ugly" the result.

then there's the fact that "good art" is wildly subjective. let me tell you a secret: i don't really like van gogh's work. i mean, starry night is cool, but every other painting of his i've seen, i just don't really get the hype. i think a lot of them are kind of ugly. i sure as FUCK don't get rothko. practically every day i see a drawing on tumblr with like 10k notes and, to be frank, i think it's hideous. then i see a gorgeous drawing with 200 notes and i'm like, why doesn't this have 10k notes?? i can't watch the spiderverse movies because, even though it's technically genius, the jerky art style really bothers me.

even if 10k people hated your art, 10k more would love it. and even if your closest friend didn't like it, that could simply be because it doesn't match their personal taste.

and lastly... ask yourself if you actually WANT a mean, vindictive drunk to like your art. i mean, i'm pretty proud of my writing, but i'm also pretty proud of who would hate my writing. i don't want miserable assholes to enjoy my craft. a person who hurts other people doesn't like what i do? good. fucking choke on it.

i know, i do, that validation means so much to creators. i know that getting comments and kudos on my fic is a thrill, and makes me more excited to write. i haven't gotten any hate, thank goodness, but i'm sure it'd be really upsetting if i did. and yet, i know that i have to write for me, and that outside validation, while nice, can't be the pillar that props up your creative process. it's too unstable, too easily knocked out from under you.

fuck that guy. your art is yours, and it will only improve the more you do it. create for spite, create for grief, create for love, create for hope. create because you are an artist, and no one gets to take that away from you.

[evelhak]

🫧🖌️Free art requests🎨✨

So, I’ve never done this before! Probably because I didn’t feel confident drawing fan art until recent years. But I’m planning to apply to an art school next year, and taking requests from other people will undoubtedly challenge me to draw things I wouldn’t think of on my own and learn new things, improve my weaknesses and better my chances of getting in. I currently do some work as an illustrator, a few book covers and posters a year, and I wish to be an actual professional one day. Soon. So, in case you were wondering, this is completely self-serving. (Not that I don’t enjoy giving things to fandom, obviously I do!)

Please, read the instructions below. I go into quite a lot of detail about what kind of styles and mediums you can request, but you can also always leave that stuff up to me, if you want and just focus on the characters and scenarios you wish to see.

🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹

What to do

Send me an ask or a message, describing what you would like me to make, in as much or as little detail as you wish. Please don't send anon requests, from now on I won't be answering them.

Be patient. This is still a hobby.

Be realistic. There’s no limit to how many requests one person can make, and you can make another request even if I’m still working on one from you, but don’t flood my inbox. :)

✨Please, reblog this post. ✨

Reminder: the requests are free but that doesn't mean my art is free to use in any way you like. Do not repost or post in other platforms without permission. Reblogging and linking to my work is naturally encouraged. Feel free to use for personal purposes such at printing out my art for a friend's birthday card or your journal if you want.

🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹

Fandoms

My main fandom is KnB, so I’m likely to prioritize requests for this fandom.

Other fandoms I have drawn fan art for in the past include SPOP, Kaleido Star, Princess Tutu, W.i.t.c.h. (off the top of my head) and other fandoms that I’m actively engaged with or always return to include H2O, LotR, Sherlock Holmes (mostly the original and BBC), BBC Merlin, Gilmore Girls and BTVS, so it shouldn’t take me too long to get comfortable drawing for these fandoms.

Other than that, I’m open to anything you can find on my anime and manga list or Goodreads that I at least somewhat enjoyed. They’re not 100% comprehensive, and obviously don’t include all media types I engage with, so you can always just try your luck too and ask if I know your fave!

I will not draw characters I’m unfamiliar with, (OCs are an exception) or have practically no memory off, because I need to know who I’m drawing as much as I need to know what they look like. I also won’t draw something that I personally dislike too much, or don’t want to support for other reasons.

🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹

OCs

You can request art of your OCs as well. Please, note that I will also only draw OCs from fandoms I know. I’m willing to draw based on a description as well as pictures. You can request I draw the exact character design based on your own work, or you can request me to design it myself based on description or references you would like me to use. HOWEVER OCs are limited to portraits (list in the next section) unlike fan art requests, because I want to know the characters I'm drawing in more complex situations.

(OC for @vespersposts)

🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹

Types of art you can request

🧝portraits🧛

(One or more characters in a certain mood, clothing, background etc. For OCs this is the type of request I will do.)

🫂scenarios💃

(One or more characters in a certain situation or action.)

🗨️SHORT comics💭

(Ideas that can realistically be expressed in up to 3 pages.)

🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹

Style

I lean towards cartoon style in drawing characters, and impressionism in colouring and background. You can absolutely challenge me to go out of my comfort zone, but my preferences will likely show.

If your request involves anime, manga or other types of cartoons, I will always stay close to the original character design, but other than that you can request different kinds of styles when it comes to colouring, background, other details and the overall feel of the picture.

I’m not currently interested in attempting to draw hyper realistically, so keep that in mind if your request involves characters portrayed by actors, or your OCs. You can request anime/manga style or my own blend of styles that I use in my original art, or something else you have in mind.

🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹

Mediums you can request

digital art

(Digital art can of course mimic pretty much any traditional medium but I'm not so far in learning digital art that I would be comfortable taking more specific requests for what digital medium I use, it will pretty much always be very mixed.)

watercolour

acrylic

pencil

markers

inktense pencils

mixed

If you have something in mind not listed here, you can always see if I might be interested in trying it out.

🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹

Some rules for the content of the requests

I won’t draw romantic/sexual content of ships that contradict my headcanon. I’ll attempt to make a more comprehensive list that I’ll link here, until then you can use my drabble request rules as reference, do some math (if you know that I ship KagaKuro exclusively, then I won't draw other ships for the characters in question), or try your luck.

I won’t draw sexualizing content of minors (which is under 18 in my country and apparently generally considered to be that online)

I do not think nudity is or should be inherently sexualizing, so mild/partial nudity of any character is fine, HOWEVER requests that seem like an attempt to sexualize a minor anyway will automatically be denied. (Like a request that focuses on the nudity as opposed to it just being a natural part of the scenario.)

I won’t draw full/graphic nudes of any character no matter their age, because I’m just not interested in knowing any character that intimately

Age appropriate/realistic romantic/sexual situations for characters who are minors are fine, the key is that it should not be sexualizing from the viewpoint of the viewer: the character is not objectified. Teenagers have feelings and urges, and it’s hypocritical to not be able to portray that in a way that is true to the character in question.

(For example, depicting a sixteen-year-old character drooling over the sight of their crush in a towel is not sexualizing/pornographic, it’s a completely realistic depiction of being a teenager and censoring that kind of stuff does more harm than good. However, depicting the crush in a towel in a way that exaggerates perceived "sexiness" for the viewer is sexualizing, and that I won't do.)

I won’t draw clear nsfw content of characters of any age, because I’m not very interested in the first place, and I don’t want to get flagged, however borderline cases might be okay, depending on the level of detail.

When making the request, just ask yourself this: Is this a realistic situation where this particular character at this particular age would willingly get into? If not, then I won’t draw it, and I might or might not have a stricter view than you. I will always draw these types of requests in ways that leaves more up to the imagination than it shows anyway, no matter who it depicts.

No non-con and dub-con.

I won’t draw death, gore or graphic violence, minor injuries etc. are fine.

I won't draw cross-overs between characters from different fandoms, but characters from one story depicted in the context of a different story are cool.

Obviously, there might be other reasons not listed here that your request could get denied, in which case I’ll let you know.

🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹

Subjects I love, in case you're interested

🧞fairy tales

character interaction, slice of life, fluff👩‍❤️‍👩

🌬️metaphors, mystery, riddles

mermaids, angels, elves, fairies🧚

🗡️medieval fantasy, magic, swords

vibrant emotion, situational comedy, suspense 🎭

🍃nature, domesticity, dreams

🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹

As the main subject I'm not interested in

(but it's fine to include moderately)

🐭animals

buildings, vehicles, cities🏙️

food🍲

🖱️electronics

🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹

You can check the pinned post on my blog for more references if you'd like!

I know that was a lot, so thank you if you read it all. 😊

🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹

✨I hope to see you in my inbox.✨

Eve

🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹

[scorpiongrassfield]

Conspiracy Board Time 

Start | Prev

Concrete enters the room and roams around, eventually settling near Pat’s feet as they enjoy their second cup of coffee for the day. 

Once Pat is satisfied that you and Theo have eaten enough, they set their cup down on the side table and say, “Okay, now we can get to work.” 

Theo stands to collect everyone’s trash and takes it into the kitchen for disposal. 

“What will we be doing, exactly?” he asks when he returns. 

“We’re gonna make a murder board,” Pat says, gesturing to the cork board. 

“Oh… has someone been killed?” Theo asks, not matching Pat’s enthusiasm. 

You can see realization dawn on Pat’s face. If you had to guess you’d think they were reassessing whether or not it’s appropriate to call it a murder board while talking to an actual murder victim. 

“Uh. No. I guess no one else has been killed as far as we know,” they say eventually. 

“Ah. Okay then,” Theo says. 

“Anyway!” Pat sing-songs in a manner that implies they want to move on without addressing anything that just happened, “We brought the board, pins, yarn, and a bunch of stuff to pin up. We were hoping you could help us piece everything together.” 

Theo hesitates. “I’m not sure how much help I’ll be, but I’ll try my best,” he says after a few beats. 

“That’s the spirit,” Pat says cheerfully. 

They move to start getting the materials out of the bag and onto the coffee table. Concrete steals their seat in the meantime. 

You help by spreading out some of the drawings and cards out so they’re easier to look through. 

“What mystery are we solving, again?” Theo asks as he stoops a bit to read the cards. 

“The sun is missing,” you say. 

“We’ve seen it a few times, it isn’t completely missing,” Pat corrects. 

“That’s… not reassuring,” Theo says, brow furrowed. 

“Plus our mystery is really like 8 stacked in trench coats like gnomes on a dinner date,” Pat says. 

Theo looks more confused than ever. 

“Our overall question for our mystery board is ‘What’s Going On’,” Pat says, pausing to pin a card with each of those three words up on the board. 

“That's not very specific,” you chime in. 

“It’s not! But it covers all our bases for now. We can get more specific if we have any more questions after we answer this one,” Pat explains. 

“First let’s get our dramatis personae up,” Pat says. 

You find the drawings you made last night and tear them from the sketchbook. 

Pat pins up a portrait they drew once you’ve gotten yours on the board. 

Ametrine stares out from the page, sadder than you’ve ever seen her. Pat’s drawing style favors bold lines and heavy shadows. 

“She’s not wearing sunglasses,” you note. 

“No? She doesn’t really wear them,” Pat says, sounding perplexed. 

“She’s always wearing them when I see her,” you counter. 

“Huh…” Pat takes a card and writes something down on it. 

“There’s no picture of you?” Theo asks, looking your way. 

You drew Theo, Pat, and the shadow, and Pat drew Ametrine… Theo is right. There isn’t one for you. 

“Uh… No. Guess we forgot.” 

“May I?” Theo asks, gesturing for the sketchbook. 

“Sure,” you say, offering it to him. 

He thanks you and settles back down into a chair to start drawing. He looks up every now and again, scanning your features before returning to the task. 

You aren’t sure how you feel about having your portrait drawn like this, but you did just agree to it, so you won’t back out now. 

“Now we connect everyone with yarn. Pink is for a connection to me, obviously. Black for you Sylv, we’ll put your portrait here when Theo’s done. T-Ametrine gets yellow…” 

“Why do you do that?” you ask. “Do What?” 

“You trip over Ametrine’s name often enough to be noticeable,” Theo chimes in. 

Pat huffs a laugh. “Can’t get anything past you two, can I?” 

They don’t elaborate. 

“Well?” you prompt. 

“I’m thinking. It’s not like it’s a big secret or her dead name or anything. It’s just. We used to be… close… Me and Ametrine. I used to call her Trina. Now we aren’t close. The habit remains. You two don’t know her by that name, so I’m trying to just call her by the one. That’s all,” they say. 

“How close were you?” you prod. 

“That’s none of your business,” Pat says. 

You give them a look. 

“Close enough that we were planning to run away together at some point. We didn’t though. She wasn’t… no, she couldn’t give up on what she thought was right, and I have a different idea of what’s right, so we went separate ways,” they say. 

“Thank you,” you say. 

Pat mutters something under their breath, but you don’t catch it. You’ll let them be grumpy as long as they give you the information you want. 

“Who is she, though? How is she relevant to,” Theo gestures to the board with his pencil, “That?” 

“Not you too,” Pat complains. 

“We can’t make a conspiracy board if we don’t have any information,” you point out. 

“It’s true,” Theo agrees. 

“Oh this whole trip was a bad idea,” Pat whines, but you can tell they’re playing it up for laughs. 

“No dodging the question,” Theo says without looking up from the portrait. 

Pat laughs. “Absolutely relentless…” they shake their head. “Ametrine is an exorcist and psychic. She’s… Not fond of ghosts and will do just about anything to get rid of them, including murder,” Pat explains. 

“Oh, I see. I should perhaps steer clear of her then,” Theo says. 

“Yeah. She’s got it out for Sylv here,” Pat says, connecting Ametrine’s portrait to your space with black and yellow yarn.

“And we thought she was after him because of this guy.” They connect the shadow to you. 

“How are you two connected?” 

“Actually, I think the shadow might be more connected to Pat than me,” you say. 

“What makes you say that?” Pat asks head cocked to the side. 

“Last time I talked to it, it mentioned that you were the one that asked it to protect me, but that you’d forgotten you’d done so,”  you explain. 

“And you’re just telling me this now?” 

You shrug. You can’t tell them everything about that conversation anyway, and it never really came up. 

Pat gives you a look, but says. “Okay, well. We’re gonna put a pin in that for now.” 

They write down “The shadow allegedly knows Pat” on a piece of paper and pin it on the board. 

“The shadow is currently playing guardian for you, though its true motives are unknown,” Pat says firmly. 

Well, you can argue about that later. 

“How am I connected to all of this?” Theo asks. 

“We were hired to investigate your... situation,” Pat says. 

“Why?” 

“It’s complicated,” Pat says, trying to sidestep the question. 

“Oh. Okay,” Theo accepts. 

Pat is clearly trying not to remind Theo that his own parents covered up his death. 

“So our only connection to you that we know of is that we’re psychics and you’re a ghost,” you say. 

Except… 

“But you’re also connected to the shadow somehow,” you add. 

Theo’s face scrunches in confusion. “How?” 

“Are you sure you want to tell him?” Pat asks, their face expressing disapproval. 

Theo has a right to know that he might have been possessed. But on the other hand it might scare him and there’s nothing he can do to avoid future possessions. 

Will you tell him?

Next

[hisui-cotton]

Hello Hello! Today I’d like to talk about my experience in going to digital art as my primary workflow over the past 5 or 6 years and what I’ve kinda wanted to do for my art in the past and now in the future. Overall I wanted to share my thoughts on the two primary programs I use, how I critique myself and what I’ve learned about art on a personal level.

To preface, as this is a newer format, you expect a level of self-reflection in this that may seem odd! This is both a report to my own brain cave (in lore it's Ithod my "home planet") and a personal exploration of aspects of my life that have taken my interest. This is one of my big steps into finding what I enjoy creating as a VTuber. So please look forward to it as the future has more of this type of blogging but on a variety of topics I find interest in in addition to my Art posts!

Alright let’s start from the…beginning? One of the first times I got a genuine chance to use digital art was in 2013 on a Acer laptop and a tablet I can’t remember the brand of. I didn’t learn too much, I kind of just went for it. It’s hard to explain that I was not really looking at digital art as something I needed to relearn compared to traditional art, not to mention that I was still not improving my art in a….genuine way? I think I was just trying things out to explore how it works. The main problem was that I just didn’t know what I wanted to be using it for at the time. Like yes I wanted to draw but what did I want to be using digital art for that I could use traditional art to do? Overall I didn’t do a whole lot with that tablet other than play around with it but that was a good entry nonetheless.

Sometime after that in 2016/2018-ish I began to draw on my phone and I got a Windows Surface Pro. These were the two steps that really gave me perspective on some of the stuff I can do in digital Art compared to traditional, especially since I had also by that point learned way more about concepts in art and planning my work. This is really where I leaned into taking stuff I learned concept wise and played around with the ability of digital programs like layers, clipping, and being able too revert to old phases of the process without having to totally restart. I played around a lot with making sure I was atleast TRYING to get fullbody work in my compositions as I noticeably struggled with getting body gestures down. Everything felt stiff and I couldn’t figure out how to get rid of that while getting line art in. A lot of that went on to mean that I just did a lot of sketching, studies and generally drew things I felt I had a vague idea for. I typically didn’t go beyond the testing/planning either there because that wasn’t what I was really aiming to do. If I wasn’t thinking of an image beyond it’s initial idea then I had no need to try things beyond that. This wasn’t like a bad time for my art though. In the one year of drawing on a Surface Pro I went from basic fanart doodles to a fairly well developed digital style. I hadn’t even really looked back at the progress of that first year of drawing on the surface pro till now. In the year before I had been drawing fairy consistently on my phone but it was doing basic little portraits and stuff like that. If I had to say I learned one specific thing in the time I used the surface pro (which was for about 3 years) it’s likely that the screen/tablet type you use has a greater effect on how you draw that you may realize.

The ability to draw in my phone was great for at work during lunches or for jotting down sketch ideas which I could use/develop later if I wanted to. I very much loved this convivence because I didn’t want to risk taking my Surface Pro to work or something like that and then it breaking or getting stolen. So the phone usage was very nice especially in our modern era where a good mini-stylus or just the right free app is enough. Specifically I worked in Pixiv Sketch, and still do when I draw on my phone. It’s got a great basic variety of brushes and then a layer function with a decent amount of layer limits.

The Surface Pro’s ability to make the process feel smooth and clean even at various pen pressures was really interesting to realize after switching to an XP-Pen Tablet. It was also really nice to have something to just pull up a full drawing program but also be able to lay in my bed lmao. It may not have done much for my quality but it made me feel like drawing wasn’t something that I had to be up and ready to do if I just wanted to doodle. It also ran really well with decent memory space. This bring me to Paint Tool Sai, the program that I’ve been using for most of my digital art.

I bought Paint Tool Sai back on my Acer laptop. It was $75 at the time which was a lot for me but now looking back…I’ve had like a lifetime art program that can be used at a professional level. I remember recently watching one of the BTS of Genshin Impact and seeing Paint Tool Sai open in on one of their PCs was really refreshing lmao. It was the same hat meme. It was great. But also the fact that it’s made by one guy in Japan, who has been developing the 2.0 for the past few years is crazy because it’s honestly such a great program. I got the 2.0 upgrade for free as well which was even nicer in regards to the fact I only paid for it once also 10 years ago.

Because of it’s program nature with various brush folders and texture folders, it’d similar to Clip Studio in it’s customization for brush textures and settings. You can create your own textures, brushes and such and import them into the program. I find it’s overall feeling when drawing is really smooth even in a lot it’s brush settings. It’s got great reaction time and feels a lot like traditional art for that reason. Even with a really high Stabilization it’s reaction and accuracy to the line is really nice. The digital coloring on the other hand doesn’t really feel as good. I like to use the marker tool because I personally enjoy the look of washed colors so it isn’t too bad for me but when I need flat colors or blended rendering I tend to personally struggle with getting it done at a decent speed. But all the conveniences of the placement for in-program functions like new-layer, merge layer, copy/paste and blank layer are in the same place which I prefer over Clip Studio’s spread out options. It’s possible I can move them around more but the built in thought of the placement for a lot of things in Paint Tool Sai is a nice start for someone looking to just get started within digital art and needs a program with just enough stuff beyond the essentials to let you do really good quality work.

Now I’ve upgraded to a full PC, which I got in 2020. I use an Omen as I expected that if I wanted to use other art programs or draw on even bigger canvases that I should need a more robust system than what I used on the Surface Pro, but I didn’t need anything too crazy that would require a custom system. I also took this as a time to get a slightly larger tablet. Currently I use a XP-Pen tablet which is noticeably different to use than a surface pro. Since a surface Pro is also a laptop/tablet it had a smoother screen, untextured and such, where as the XP-Pen has a slight Matte to it. The XP-Pen also has a layered screen, where theres a slight slight space between where your pen is and the actual place it’s drawing at.

My use of Sai has gone down in the last month however as I finally began using Clip Studio. I admit that theres still something about the feel of the program I don’t like in comparison to Sai but it’s a better overall experience for making higher quality, more complete work at this time. Partially because I still haven’t figured out my art process. Clip Studio has made the convenience of coloring much more accessible to me on a variety of levels. It let’s me feel like I’m not overly perfectionist on my sketch process or lineart in comparison to just laying down a few colors because I don’t have confidence with them. Now even without confidence in my color choices or usage I at least feel like I’ve been able to fake it. In sai it was very dependent on you knowing what colors you wanted to use and what tool you’d use to lay them down. So far it doesn’t feel that way in Clip Studio. I can choose a basic brush and paint bucket and get color laid down in about 20 minutes if I wanted or take more time with a slightly varied brush and get that washed style I like while also being able to properly fill the spaces of the work.

Overall in my art process itself it’s been a lot faster as well than in Sai, perhaps because I’m still taking it slower with the express reason of really learning to use it for efficiency. My progression through the years has sort of allowed me to take that previous knowledge I’d gained and use it in what I do next which is generally what one does when making a change to their professional processes. A lot of doing things new successfully depends on how much you can make it work with what you already know.

Finally let’s talk about my art process itself, what my sort of mentality is behind it. A lot of what I do is based on “Oh I really want to see something like this!” or “That would be a fun/cool image” if I’m drawing for myself. I start with a thumbnail sketch, enlarge that and then do another more detailed sketch on top of that. Typically I haven’t done lineart in the past because it adds a lot of time to the process and I never feel like it looks good compared to sketch. Now that I have clip studio though and the coloring process can go a lot faster with better lineart, I’ve been trying to do a bit cleaner sketches or full lineart. Coloring usually is flat colors first, washed shading next and then multiple layer styles on top of that of highlights and shading. I usually do washed shading as a sort of “sketch” for the shades. Usually a rough colored drawing takes about 2 hours? Sometimes a bit more depending on how much I clean up the lines, sometimes less if I just slap on the colors and lines.

The things that I feel I need to work on the most are usually in regards to colors and composition. I tend to focus up my character compositions to fill the whole page either by intentionally drawing them large or by enlarging the sketches to fill the page size. But if it’s a composition that isn’t character focused or has some more environmental aspects then I tend to struggle. My color choices also are hard to do because I don’t usually consider them in my sketching phase. Since I usually go into pieces with an idea of what person, character or outfits I’m drawing then colors tend not to be something I think too much about. This is something I notice a lot in environmental drawings though because the colors get so clashed when actual lighting and such needs to be planned out against a certain layout. Which sucks because I absolutely LOVE vibrant coloring and such but I don’t know how to make that work with environment stuff yet.

A lot of what I want to draw, in both style and “substance”, is character driven. I like action that shows a lot of atmosphere or feels very in character. When a still image can feel like it captures the feeling of a moment or feels like it was made with a real idea in mind that means a lot to me, so that’s what I try to go in with when I’m drawing. For characters and such that can be a variety of things from just lounging around or hanging out to getting dressed-up or a variety of actions. It’s really fun to see so much more in the things that I like and to be able to share those things through art is wonderful.

To send you off I want to say that…I like being an artist. It’s so nice to know and learn a skill like art since it can be a sort of perspective into a person’s views. People’s ability to connect over concepts and such is so cool and I feel like even today when we have fine art, fanart and everything in-between that it really sets up the fun of creativity and community. Right now there’s an ongoing official art series of Miku and Pokemon drawn by various artists. Some people have begun taking that concept and drawing it themselves, putting their own spins on it in their version of the pokemon style and outfits. It’s so cool that looking through it all I can barely tell which ones are official and which are fan made. Like it’s a clear cut conversation where everyone can give it a shot with their own ideas and can still be talking about the same thing. I think that’s lovely.

For my art in the future, I want to be able to design and draw a buncha stuff. I really like stationary and want to make some stuff in the future for it. These report logs are one place I’ll be playing around with that to test it a bit so I’m excited to continue these. I also want to better my Background drawing because I really love the idea of being able to put characters in a location, somewhere I can imagine them being. I’ve gotten better at character interactions but I want to think about how much further that can go if I add an environment. For the future of my style…I don’t know! I like to have a very dreamy or washed style but also bold colors and expressive lines. But I’ll definitely be thinking about it even more in the future as I start developing a finished my process (getting fully rendered colors, lineart, etc.).

[okay-sky]

Hehehe hey!! For the artists asks how about 5, 19 and 27? :)

winnow!! ty for picking some questions!! 🥰

5. i think i post about 95% of my art online? like if i like a drawing enough to go past the very initial sketch phase, then usually i finish it, and i am so desperate for validation 24/7 that it always ends up online lol. the only stuff i keep for myself really is like low-effort pencil sketches (rare) or art that i get frustrated with bc i cant make it come out how i want it to :( and warmups? mostly bc those are super unpolished and i dont usually get any interaction from them, so its more painful to post them than to keep them private lol

19. i am not really a fan of drawing inanimate objects tbh ;w; i struggle with straight lines and perspective a lot so people and animals are my favorite to draw! but i do enjoy drawing clothes a lot, especially shoes!

27. i am a 100% self-taught artist and had no idea warming up was even a thing until my 20s, so i usually don't warm up. sometimes if i start drawing and everything is coming out wrong, or i get out of the vibe and am struggling to visualize perspective or proportions or something, i will do a "warmup" to try and loosen up and get back into the Zone. my favorite things to do for those are super loose, messy portraits or figure drawings where i just let my eyes unfocus and let my hand sort of do its own thing, not caring too much about being clean or having a goal or staying on my own style. my most recent example of what i mean is these portraits that i drew when i couldnt get my brain to cooperate with my erised piece (not the frame, just the people):

[riftwalker-limbro]

Hee hoo ask time

7, 9 and 11 for Kelth, and 8 and 15 for Sufford! Sorry if that's too many, you gave me tools to ask for OC lore without having to be smart and i am enjoying this power immensely. Anyway if it's too many just pick what you wanna answer most :D

>:D i am having so many excited-jitters about this whole thing. tingly. i hadn't actually thought about the questions in relation to my own guys very much which. shouldn't surprise me as much but. hee

OKAY OKAY TO WORK rubs hands

Kelth, 7: What is your favourite thing about this character? well one of the first things about them is that i wanted them to have something to do with programming. because i'm a programmer and i needed more self-insert OCs in my arsenal. SPECIFICALLY i was imagining what it'd be like for someone ingame to try organize their void relic shit without a google sheet. and that kind of. DRASTICALLY snowballed. into kind of this whole blog. there are a lot of smaller things but this one is the one that makes me smile the quickest & most joyfully (angst potential is a close second but that's a more evil grin)

Kelth, 9: Do they keep in contact with old classmates/friends/other Tenno? What is their connection? well shit uh. i haven't thought about this before so this is shiny new lore (and part of why i love ask games). they don't keep in contact, they don't reach out by themselves, because social contact requirements wise they're fulfilling all their needs with Ordis & the warframes already, and they weren't fantastic friends with the other kids to start with. nothing like bullying, just... they weren't exactly included by the others in stuff. they fit in enough to not be bullied, but not enough to be included. but if they're contacted by someone they used to know (and, if we're going with they both remember The Old Days) they'll be polite & nice & maybe even genuinely enjoy it for a bit. but their social battery would drain fast

Kelth, 11: Are they comfortable jumping out of their Warframe and showing their own bodies to others? Why (not)? HAHA NO. Noooo Kelth very much prefers to HIDE. Kelth does NOT like the vendors that deny their frame access. Does NOT appreciate them. Kelth isn't tall, and they get tired fast, and if they gotta get out of their frame it's already a place where the frame can't go either so they don't have backup of any kind with them except Ordis in their earpiece. Outside of a frame, they're pretty much only comfortable on the Orbiter. Or, if they're alone with just the frame(s) they brought, out in the open, sometimes. The sun & wind & soft ground can feel nice, though Ordis gets on their ass about sunscreen & insect lotion if they stay too long.

Sufford, 8: Do they have any hobbies? Sufford spends a decent chunk of his non-mission time training or meditating, though for fun, (please hold, new lore being generated) he likes drawing. Sometimes, he'll design cool-looking blades, and once or twice he's convinced Ordis to build whatever he made up in the Foundry. Otherwise, it's a lot of landscape & creature drawings. I think he also likes to collect cool small rocks if he can

Sufford, 15: Do they have anything that still ties them back to their days as human? His whole fighting style, to be honest. He's always been a guard, though now he only has one small charge. but now i'm thinking if he perhaps has an Object. i reckon the orokin let him keep his sword if only so they wouldn't have to requisition him a new one. or maybe a portrait of his old family. maybe he had a little sister who he lost track of completely during the old war...