#tutorial help

[mariaashby64]

Does anyone know any good tutorials on how to colour characters with dark skin?

Like, just a few shades lighter than black, kind of dark.

My preferred style is very comic-esque black linework with cell shading - so it's very easy for details to get lost. It's also hard for me to translate things like undertones, from real life references into flat colouring.

Also anything on colouring lips (any skintone honestly). Since they're part of a character's face and thus stick out very obviously when you do them wrong.

[simgigglegirl]

Hello, I’d like to make 2 of my twin sims identical; can I just use SimPE to copy ones face onto the other? From what I could find online this also copies the clothes of the shared faces original owner; hopefully thats it for whats copied and I’m not risking outright making another version of the first sim haha

How to edit a sim face only on SimPE

So there is a way to edit only the sim face and create the identical twins that you want anon, no clothes and DNA, aside from the face, will be changed (I did a quick test on the face DNA, keep reading to find out what I found).

So you'll need either the Chris Hatch SimPE version that has the tool you need (Be warned that there is a version where it has sexual fictional characters images in it. They're clothed but still stating it as a warning just in case) or add Theo's tool in your SimPE plugin folder (I have a guide on how to install it here)

So after you got the tool needed and opened up SimPE we're gonna need to first get the sim that will import their face to the other sim. So go -> tools -> neighbourhood and then Sim Surgery (Alt Sim Surgery if you are using Theo's plugin tool).

In this tutorial example, I'm gonna make the pleasant girl twins look identical. Using Lilith as the one to give Angela her face template.

So after I found Lilith Pleasant in the sim pool I select her and then click the use button on the Patient Sim tab. I then click the export button to get her character data, which we need to pass on Lilith's face template. It will automatically send you to save her file on your saved sims folder. Save it there for now. Remember to delete it later once you're done with all the steps in this tutorial.

After saving Lilith's character data file we can now start with the face replacement step.

Open up the sim surgery again and this time we're gonna select Angela. After finding her, press the use button on the patient sim tab and this time click the "face only". Now click the load... button, that's next to Archetype sim, and use the Lilith file we just saved inside the saved sim folder. You should see the name of the file under External File.

After making sure you're using the correct sim file, patient sim and clicked face only, you can now click surgery on the bottom right. Congrats, you have just made your identical twins! Let's check in-game that all is correct.

After entering the lot of the sims you edited, sometime their face won't have changed to the new one you gave. No worries, we can fix that by just entering the change appearance either by sending them to a mirror or using simblender.

Forgot to mention I used a hood that I tested my GC sims on...oops. She doesn't look like Lilith's default game face but Angela still looks correctly like she should by now having Lilith's GC face.

And if you noticed. The face only tab also does as it says and ONLY changes the face while keeping the DNA the sim had before. So if the twins you want to look identical have different DNA, the DNA will at least be kept.

So I have been using this feature for a while with no issues but I wasn't sure if their facial DNA was also changed. So much to Angela's displeasure I'll be using her to test if she will have a chance to give her babies her new face or if her default base game will instead be used.

And as shown below, after I aged her up, and had her have two babies. One is her clone (done just in case none of her facial DNA passed to her test kids) and the other is with Dustin (since I needed a male doner). Both versions have successfully gained her new face as Angela's DNA 😃... man clone baby just proves that Angela's face feature was the one that strongly passed on, not sure if it was just pure luck here. Would advise you to test this more anon.

[vintacha]

for all the artists out there, here are my favorite resources i use to learn!

Files

The Complete Famous Artist Course

Art Books and Resources

Art, Anatomy, and Color Books

PDF Files of Art Books

Internet Archive

YouTube

My YouTube Playlist of Tutorials

How to Draw Facial Features

Drawing and Art Advice

Drawing Lessons

Art Fundamentals

Anatomy of the Human Body

2D Animation

Perspective Drawing

Websites

Pinterest Board for Poses

Another Pinterest Board for Poses

Pinterest Boards for References

Reference Angle

Figurosity

Sketch Daily

Line of Action

Human Anatomy

Animal Photo References

Humanae - Angélica Dass

Fine Art - Jimmy Nelson

Character Design References

CDR's Twitter Account

iamagco's Twitter Account

taco1704's Twitter Account

takuya_kakikata's Twitter Account

EtheringtonBro's Twitter Account

Drawabox

Color Wheel

Color Palette Cinema

Free Images and Pictures

Free Stock Photos

FILMGRAB

Screen Musings

William Nguyen Light Reference Tool

SketchFab - 3D Skeleton Model

Animation References - sakugabooru

Animation References - Bodies in Motion

[deoidesign]

A general cane guide for writers and artists (from a cane user, writer, and artist!)

Disclaimer: Though I have been using a cane for 6 years, I am not a doctor, nor am I by any means an expert. This guide is true to my experience, but there are as many ways to use a cane as there are cane users!

This guide will not include: White canes for blindness, crutches, walkers, or wheelchairs as I have no personal experience with these.

This is meant to be a general guide to get you started and avoid some common mishaps/misconceptions in your writing, but you absolutely should continue to do your own research outside of this guide!

This is NOT a medical resource!!! And never tell a real person you think they're using a cane wrong!

The biggest recurring problem I've seen is using the cane on the wrong side. The cane goes on the opposite side of the pain! If your character has even-sided pain or needs it for balance/weakness, then use the cane in the non-dominant hand to keep the dominant hand free. Some cane users also switch sides to give their arm a rest!

A cane takes about 20% of your weight off the opposite leg. It should fit within your natural gait and become something of an extension of your body. If you need more weight off than 20%, then crutches, a walker, or a wheelchair is needed.

Putting more pressure on the cane, using it on the wrong side, or having it at the wrong height can make it less effective, and can cause long term damage to your body from improper pressure and posture. (Hugh Laurie genuinely hurt his body from years of using a cane wrong on House!)

(some people elect to use a cane wrong for their personal situation despite this, everyone is different!)

(an animated GIF of a cane matching the natural walking gait. It turns red when pressure is placed on it.)

When going up and down stairs, there is an ideal standard: You want to use the handrail and the cane at the same time, or prioritize the handrail if it's only on one side. When going up stairs you lead with your good leg and follow with the cane and hurt leg together. When going down stairs you lead with the cane and the bad leg and follow with the good leg!

Realistically though, many people don't move out of the way for cane users to access the railing, many stairs don't have railings, and many are wet, rusty, or generally not ideal to grip.

In these cases, if you have a friend nearby, holding on to them is a good idea. Or, take it one step at a time carefully if you're alone.

Now we come to a very common mistake I see... Using fashion canes for medical use!

(These are 4 broad shapes, but there is INCREDIBLE variation in cane handles. Research heavily what will be best for your character's specific needs!)

The handle is the contact point for all the weight you're putting on your cane, and that pressure is being put onto your hand, wrist, and shoulder. So the shape is very important for long term use!

Knob handles (and very decorative handles) are not used for medical use for this reason. It adds extra stress to the body and can damage your hand to put constant pressure onto these painful shapes.

The weight of a cane is also incredibly important, as a heavier cane will cause wear on your body much faster. When you're using it all day, it gets heavy fast! If your character struggles with weakness, then they won't want a heavy cane if they can help it!

This is also part of why sword canes aren't usually very viable for medical use (along with them usually being knob handles) is that swords are extra weight!

However, a small knife or perhaps a retractable blade hidden within the base might be viable even for weak characters.

Bases have a lot of variability as well, and the modern standard is generally adjustable bases. Adjustable canes are very handy if your character regularly changes shoe height, for instance (gotta keep the height at your hip!)

Canes help on most terrain with their standard base and structure. But for some terrain, you might want a different base, or to forego the cane entirely! This article covers it pretty well.

Many cane users decorate their canes! Stickers are incredibly common, and painting canes is relatively common as well! You'll also see people replacing the standard wrist strap with a personalized one, or even adding a small charm to the ring the strap connects to. (nothing too large, or it gets annoying as the cane is swinging around everywhere)

(my canes, for reference)

If your character uses a cane full time, then they might also have multiple canes that look different aesthetically to match their outfits!

When it comes to practical things outside of the cane, you reasonably only have one hand available while it's being used. Many people will hook their cane onto their arm or let it dangle on the strap (if they have one) while using their cane arm, but it's often significantly less convenient than 2 hands. But, if you need 2 hands, then it's either setting the cane down or letting it hang!

For this reason, optimizing one handed use is ideal! Keeping bags/items on the side of your free hand helps keep your items accessible.

When sitting, the cane either leans against a wall or table, goes under the chair, or hooks onto the back of the chair. (It often falls when hanging off of a chair, in my experience)

When getting up, the user will either use their cane to help them balance/support as they stand, or get up and then grab their cane. This depends on what it's being used for (balance vs pain when walking, for instance!)

That's everything I can think of for now. Thank you for reading my long-but-absolutely-not-comprehensive list of things to keep in mind when writing or drawing a cane user!

Happy disability pride month! Go forth and make more characters use canes!!!

[anonbeadraws]

I made a Room Building tutorial! Lemme know if it helps! 🧡

Tip me here| Commission info here!

[art-res]

They also have an animal one that I linked a whole back on the same site !

[tutorialdrawix]

RESOURCES FOR POSES

Line of Action

JustSketch.Me

PoseManiacs

Human-Anatomy-For-Artist.com

MagicPoser

MIXAMO

Pose Archives

Bodies in Motion

Posemy.art

ReferenceAngle

CroquisCafe

[nagararts]

Here's some notes on some of the upper body muscles so you, artist, don't need to look them up

They are not medically accurate, just enough for artists to know the necessary muscles and how they work together

I 100% recommend doing the last exercise I did to be able to actually place the muscles

Here are my notes on the lower body muscles

[annadiplosis]

Drew these instructions for this one-page zine and I figured I'd post them on their own just in case anyone finds them useful :)

[aramblingjay]

THE THREE HUNTERS ↳ The Fellowship of the Ring (in/sp)

[simgigglegirl]

Hi! Hope I can explain myself right, my English can be quite bad lol. I have a question regarding your aspiration calculator. So I am supposed to pick the traits with the highest number, but does the calculator randomize the results if I end up with multiple highest number? Or do I have to choose autonomously 5 of them?

Hello anon,

I wouldn't say your English is bad, I understood your wording just fine :) And before I answer your questions I just wanna say sorry for the layout of my trait calculator, I needed to take some screenshots to better explain the questions and noticed how it wasn't user-friendly. One day I'll improve it for you and anyone else using it. Anyway to the questions.

So I am supposed to pick the traits with the highest number

Yep. I've given each trait almost three conditions that it checks before the calculator decides if a point will be added to it or not. After the checks are done you will see some traits highlighted in yellow and some in lighter yellow, grey or blue. The following colours mean:

Yellow = These are the traits that match really well with your sim. Light Yellow = 2nd best match, if you didn't gain 5 or more yellows traits you can use these to fill up the remaining trait slots you have left. Grey = Not the best match with your sim's personality. If you want, you can give your sim these traits if they grew up poorly. Blue = Not a good match at all. I tend to just ignore them.

Here's an example of what I mean, by using Brandi Broke as my test subject:

So after entering Brandi Broke's Personality, Hobby, Zodiac and Interest in the " Aspiration" Tab, the "Traits" tab will have finished its calculation automatically and you'll see what are the sim's highest number.

In the case of Brandi Broke, she gained 4 most compatible traits for herself: Daredevil, Friendly, Irresistible & Rebellious since those are her highest number traits (yellow). If you want to give her the default 5 traits, then you go for her 2nd highest to fill the remaining slot. In this case, it's the number 2 traits (light yellow).

does the calculator randomize the results if I end up with multiple highest number?

Nope, after the calculator counted up the points it will use the colour condition I gave it to highlight the highest number only in yellow. So even if your sim does not pass, at least, one trait's 3 conditions, it will still turn yellow for the highest number it could find.

If you are still confused, look out for the number 3 or 2 points traits. They will be your sim's best match traits.

do I have to choose autonomously 5 of them?

Yes. For now, I'm not yet skilled with Google Sheets to make it pick for you the 5 traits.

However, I made this google sheet while thinking that the person using it will want to pick up to 5 traits for their sims themselves. But it's up to you if you want to play your game in that method. If you want to follow the ts3 method of adding traits by age, I included a note for anyone that wishes to be reminded of the amount. Just hover your mouse on the area shown below.

[5ummit]

New Mature Content Warning Overlay (And How to Get Rid of It)

More fun community label "features"! Unlike the new mandatory label for #NSFW, this one is a bigger deal to me because it affects my entire blog and it can't be avoided by just using a different tag.

Apparently on custom blog layouts, if you happen to post or reblog even a SINGLE post that's been flagged with the mature content community label, a full-page warning overlay will appear blurring out your entire blog that must be manually clicked through every single time the page is refreshed. At first I thought this was just a bug due to my older layout but I've come to realize it's not. It's a feature (as confirmed by this recent changes post) that affects all custom themes. The formatting will vary based on your own theme but here's what it looks like on my blog:

I don't know about you but I find this is stupid and annoying. If it could be dismissed once and never seen again that might be one thing, but that's not the case. The vast majority of my blog is not "mature" enough to warrant such an aggressive and invasive warning. I also think pop-ups are obnoxious in general and I'll be damned if tumblr's going to force me to have one on MY blog.

After some desperate googling for a known workaround and being unable to find even a single mention of it, I decided to take on the challenge myself. I'm not a theme coder, so apologies if there's a better way to do this, but luckily it only took me like 10 minutes to figure out a simple fix, which I'm now sharing with anyone else who may want it:

.community-label-cover__wrapper {display: none}

Just copypaste that somewhere in your CSS and goodbye pop-up!

If you're not sure how to access your theme code, check out this help article. You can also add the code via the Advanced Options menu, which is actually even better (if you can get it to work, it depends on how your theme was coded), because it will then automatically be reapplied to a lot of themes without having to remember to manually add it every time if you change your theme in the future.

Obviously this will only remove it from your own blog for anyone who may visit it. If you never want to see this warning again on other people's blogs you can also add this custom filter to your ad block:

tumblr.com##.community-label-cover__wrapper

Unfortunately I do not have an easy tutorial on hand for this one as the method will depend on your specific ad block app or extension.

Some additional notes:

After adding the theme code and saving the changes, give it a minute to update as it sometimes takes a little while for the page to refresh.

The warning overlay only seems to appear if a "mature" post is on the FIRST page of your blog, which is still annoying and makes the whole thing even more pointless and stupid because what if someone visits any other page of your blog, and oh no, happens to see "mature" content they weren't warned about?!

The warning also appears on direct links to "mature" posts.

This hack has NOTHING to do with entire blogs that have been flagged as NSFW. It only works for non-flagged blogs with custom themes that happen to have individual "mature" posts.

[kupahdraws]

a little informational guide on trying to find skintones from 3d refs :)

i know that finding skintones from 3d characters is tricky and can result in accidental whitewashing and this isnt to make fun of those ppl! this is simply to inform and help other artists out :)

[theamateurartistblog]

Highly suggest using it.^^

Follow me for more 🌿

[kugisakiss]

pulled this out of my wips to celebrate me finally reading the last chapter

original↓

[drawingden]

I've found this nifty reference website for artists called www.dimensions.com that has a database of exact measurements for various objects, plants, and animals

They have a premium version with 3D models that I haven't tried yet, but it's definitely very informative if you're trying to get the anatomy and proportions for different species of animals right!