#very crappy sketches

[clini-calia]

one's a simp the other is revolted by human touch.

[mimocrocodilelol]

Hrrrr mimimimi…. Hrrrr mimimimi….

[jewelthenerd]

Absolutely NOBODY asked for this but Papaya trio sketches because for some reason out of ALL the characters in Ninjago my brain could’ve picked to latch on to, it chose the three who have never canonically met

I’m sorry but I love them dearly

I also apologize for not allowing any character that I draw to NOT have at least one inhuman trait, as you can see Morro got the worst of it here

[itsstilltru]

Taking a break from murder and gore 🚬🐷

[chezforshire]

[little-chaos-arts]

When the world goes to shit and even your escapism needs escapism.....

Drew this little sketch of Yuji like a month ago (when I wasn't caught up on the manga yet) and also made a digital version with more color.

[itsahotminuteinbetween]

one of many arguments...

[alaskacoolkid1]

Weird olimar design with vocaloid inspo

[lyrien-arts]

4/19/2024 Sketches at the park! Graphite on paper

[vetyr]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[cosmicporos]

What Arcane characters would gift you for Christmas!

Jinx, Vi, Ekko, Viktor, Jayce

(Semi crack Drabble… sorry for going super long with Viktor’s and Jayce’s HCs. I LOVE THEM SO MUCH)

(Jayce is Hispanic in my hc :3)

ENJOY AND HAVE FUN LOVE YALL<3

Not proofread

JINX

Hear me out… the first thing she would plan to gift you are decorated safety googles.

As a matter of fact everything she gifts you is handmade!

She knows you love to spend time with her when she’s in her workshop and the extra spare of googles she had were pretty crappy…

“Ugh, these old things? Pfft, they look like they’ve been through a freakin’ explosion… oh wait, they probably have! We gotta get you a new pair soon toots!”

They’d be totally decked out! Lots of character as she calls it.

“Okay toots check it out! Maximum protection but most importantly! They got style!”

The googles themselves would be in her classic style, very colorful paint, cute little heart scribbles all around! And of course lots of glitter….

“"I mean, you've got to stay safe while causing mayhem, right? And hey, if we're blowing stuff up together, you'll definitely need these. Plus, I made them perfectly for you. No one else will have goggles like these... trust me!"

I totally see her adding little handmade jewelry from her gears and spare parts, would totally make you a belt or choker out of spare bullets.

Vi

She would totally panic on what to get you for Christmas. Like what if you suddenly hate the thing you’ve loved since the very beginning she’s known you???

Would end up both buying and making you something!

She’s make you something small but meaningful

“Okay Okay fine! You can open mine now. Just don’t laugh too hard Cupcake…”

You’d open the poorly wrapped gift to uncover a bright pink scarf she knitted you! The stitching is a mess.. there a hole’s through the project (no doubt a missed stitch) but in all honesty it so cute you feel like your heart might explode.

"Yeah, I know I'm not, uh, the best at this kind of thing," she mutters, scratching the back of her neck, "but I figured you could use something to keep warm... and, you know, 'cause it's winter. And... you're important to me."

Guys please tell her she did an amazing job PLEASE.

She would also totally buy you a pair of combat boots! Totally saved up for months in advance.

She loves the idea of being able to match and have a bit of her style on you!

Ekko

Just like Jinx (sobs) he’d also make something for you!

The first thing he’d give you would be a little sketch book full of drawings of you from random moments throughout your relationship he remembers oh so clearly.

"I've been working on it for a while... It's... it's just a bunch of drawings. I mean, not just anything. Stuff that made me think of you. Stuff we've done, or things I hope we do. I don't know, it just felt like the best way to show how I feel about... well, us."

Okay he would also totally make you matching jewelry (matching clock hand necklaces?)

You’d force him to take the hour hand since it’s shorter (heheheh little man)

Once you explain your reasoning as to why he should take the smaller one he sighs disappointedly…

"Okay, okay, I get it," he finally says, a little less playful now, his voice softening. "I guess if you want me to wear it, I can..."

Then, a grin creeps back onto his face as he adds, "But don't think I'm letting you off the hook with the minute hand. You're wearing that one for sure." He places the hour hand necklace around his neck, the smaller pendant resting there, and looks up at you with that mischievous gleam in his eye.

He pauses, holding up his necklace, "I'm still the one with the bigger job. You'll just have to keep up." A proud smug smirk now rests on his face.

Viktor

FUCK WHERE DO I BEGIN I LOVE THIS MAN

o k a y. He would just like Vi panic… not because he doesn’t know what to get you but because he totally is going Christmas shopping late… very very late.

As much as I would love to say he’d make some little invention to make your day easier and give it to you for Christmas I don’t see it happening.

Not because he wouldn’t do it but because he already does it all the time! A little example, you’re late for work often? A little robot that hits you with a plastic squishy hammer every morning at 7 am waking you up when he can’t!

He’d definitely want to make Christmas special, I see him buying you something and then doing something special for you too!

Christmas morning would be greeted with warm hugs and kisses along with an even warmer bowl of potato soup!

He wanted to make sure he perfected his mother’s Bramboračka recipe. It was a once a year meal him and his mother shared every Christmas day.

He’s not a good cook by any means… but this is the one dish he can make and oh boy can he make it.

"Don't expect perfection," he says with a small, self-conscious smile, as you catch him sneaking a taste of the soup. Viktor looks up, his gaze softening. "I hope you like it," he says, and despite his usual perfectionism, there's a quiet pride in his voice. You take a sip, and the rich flavors of mushrooms, potatoes, and herbs immediately comfort you, just like his mother's love must've comforted him all those years ago.

OKAY for the making gift he planned I see him commissioning something due to the fact a lot of his inventions lack aesthetics.

Specifically I see him commissioning a music box that functions as a a jewelry box as well! He would have loved to make it himself but he was worried he wouldn’t have gotten the look right.

"Do you like it?" he asks, his voice softer than usual, as if he's worried about the reception. "I had it made... I thought... it might remind you of us."

The detail was breathtaking-floral patterns etched into the surface, with tiny gears and delicate metalwork accenting the edges. The craftsmanship was stunning, and you couldn't help but run your fingers over the smooth finish.

you lifted the lid, and a gentle, lilting melody began to play. It was slow and sweet, a tune that felt timeless, and as you stared at the tiny figurines inside, your breath caught.

His fingers fidgeted with the edge of his cane, his gaze flicking between you and the music box. "I commissioned it," he admitted, his voice quieter now. "I had the craftsman use a sketch I made. It's how I see us... in my mind. How I feel when I hold you." He paused, his expression softening. "I thought... I thought you deserved something that would remind you of that. Of... how much you mean to me."

Jayce

Oh hon… Jayce would spoil you rotten.

I’m talking presents are overflowing underneath the tree.

You thought you lost your favorite piece of clothing? WRONG! He commissioned for more to be made in different colors and textures for you.

All the fragrances in the world he knew you would enjoy.

Cozy adorable pajamas we would give you Christmas morning so you could cuddle up drinking hot chocolate.

Spends Christmas Eve spoiling you and cuddling and being so tooth rottenly sweet.

It’s Christmas Eve, the scene was almost overwhelming. The living room looked like a perfectly curated holiday catalog-twinkling lights, a roaring fireplace, and, of course, an absurd number of gifts. Jayce sat cross-legged beside the tree, an excited grin lighting up his face as he handed you the first box. He had merely grinned, sheepish yet unrepentant. "What can I say? I got carried away?.”

"Open this one first," he urged, nearly vibrating with excitement. Inside was a bottle of an exquisite fragrance, the glass etched with delicate, swirling designs. It smelled divine-rich, warm, and entirely you.

"I figured you'd like that," he said eyes carefully watching everyone expression you make. You swear if he had a tail it would be swishing uncontrollably right now.

Christmas Day would be you spending Christmas day at his mother’s house!

(Listen I’m hc them as hispanic because for one HIS MOMS NAME HIS XIMENA… and two because why not :3 )

You have a great relationship with his Mother, she absolutely adores you and sees you as her daughter.

There’s lots of yummy food she’s prepared… perhaps too much for just 3 people?

Nonetheless, a pot of pozole, tamales de puerco and de dulce! And of course she made jayce’s favorite choco flan!

God she urges to to eat until you nearly pop! You have to undo your belt by the end of the night…

"Come, sit!" his mom insisted, pulling out a chair for you. "Jayce told me you've never had my tamales. That's a crime! Here, start with this." She placed one on your plate, her eyes twinkling.

Jayce sat beside you, his grin widening as you took your first bite. "Good, right?" he asked, nudging you playfully.

You could only nod, savoring the perfectly seasoned masa and tender filling.

Later in the evening, when everyone was too full to move, Jayce leaned over and slipped his hand into yours. His eyes were soft, his voice low as he said, "I'm glad you're here. This—" he gestured to the lively scene around you, "—feels perfect with you."

[1alchemistart]

YOUR ART STYLE MADE ME FALL EVEN MORE IN LOVE WITH DAMIANYA AND MADE ME WANT TO LEARN HOW TO DRAW?? HOW DO YOU SKETCH BC SOMETIMES I MAKE AN OUTLINE AND IT'S JUST SO BAD

AWW THANK YOU i wish you the bestest of luck!!!! there's a lotta good resources out there :D

iiii would not use myself as a good example of how to sketch to be quite honest bc sometimes my first sketches look like this

but most of the time they look like this

having ugly sketches is a very big part of anyone's art journey tho! gotta warm up before drawing smth cool and that always involves meh sketches

and imo having a crappy little gestural drawing as a base helps a lot JKSDFKSD esp if youre unsure of the details. get the gesture and overall silhouette down first!!! you can worry about other stuff later

look at this silly little man. ya gotta start somewhere w every drawing JKSFK

I'M RATHER MEH AT EXPLAINING AND DONT HAVE GOOD HELPFUL RESOURCES ON HAND THO SO, GRAIN OF SALT ! ! !

i started drawing somewhere around 2013 while staring at mark crilley and art a la carte tutorials on youtube so it's been a while since i checked resources for beginners but channels like proko, sinix design and ergojosh have a lot of stuff to my knowledge so, might be worth giving those a look!! WISH YA THE BESTEST OF LUCK

[imaginable-horror]

Couldn't go to sleep because my cat was stretched out over my shins and obviously that means I couldn't move, so I started drawing Jonny in that one dttm pic where it looks like he's wearing Raph's wings instead

I literally never do digital art and am not very practised at it so all you're getting is this basic little sketch. I am drawing with my finger on my crappy little Oppo phone which is set to self destruct at any moment so honestly you've got to respect it. Maybe I'll get around to colouring it at some point, who knows. I do want to get better at art and unfortunately actually finishing things is kind of required for that.

[yall-its-soclover]

Now that Chord got adopted by the Ketsukane, can we have Clover getting adopted too? on a more serious note how does things go after that, especially if later when Clover comes around does Chujin start his legacy.

It was definitely a littttle shocking for Clover to walk into Oasis Valley, only to see one of the missing humans in the middle of town. Chord is ecstatic to see another human, and immediately begins introducing himself and Kanako to them. Kanako is also VERY excited to see another human.

Chord would probably start arguing with Martlet, calling her plan to take Clover to Asgore "dumb," since Asgore would kill Clover, and insisting they stay with him in Oasis Valley. Martlet would be against that, wanting Clover to go home, and Kanako would run to grab Ceroba to deescalate the situation.

Ceroba would offer Clover a place to stay while they figure out what to do, and Chujin would come home from work to see an extra human in his house.

He'd be hesitant, but willing to let Clover stay, since in this universe, he and Chord talked it out and he was able to see from their perspective, instead of having to come to his own conclusions about why Chord killed so many monsters. And since Clover hasnt gained any EXP, he'd be more trusting of them.

Hed have no interest in taking Clovers soul, as he hasnt even considered the possibility of turning regular monsters into boss monsters.

Ceroba would introduce Clover to Starlo, and he'd be thrilled to see another human, especially one whos dressed like a cowboy. Its worth noting that Chord and Starlo are very close, and Chord likes dressing up in cowboy wear. But hes definitely closer with his parents.

Clover and Starlo, however, are like two peas in a pod. Theyd grow close incredibly quickly, and Clover would end up making the decision to live with the Ketsukanes.

More info + sketches under the cut

Clover would quickly begin to see Ceroba, Chujin, and Starlo as parents, and Chord and Kanako as siblings. This is definitely one of the best outcomes Clover could've gotten, as they still become deputy of the Wild East (without any fighting, since Chujin and Chord would reign Starlo in), and get to live happily with their new parents and siblings.

First time Clover called Chujin "dad"

Starlo reacted more or less the same

Ceroba hasnt appeared yet in this au, so here she is! She loves Chord and Clover as much as she loves Kanako.

Chord and Clover both grew up with crappy moms, so Cerobas kindness shocks them. They pretend they're embarrassed, but Ceroba can see right through them.

And if people are interested, ill make a post about Floweys reaction to all of this!

[monstermonger]

Hi, I’ve been trying to practice my inking skills and love how you’ve captured the scenery and characters with such lovely shading.

Have you ever posted any of your pencil sketches that you do before inking? I struggle so hard going from pencil to pen with my drawings.

First of all, I apologize how long this took to answer :"D It took particularly long because my inking process involves me sketching->inking->erasing in increments... And I kept forgetting to take photos before I erased :"""")

Anyway I finally remembered for a piece I'm working on atm!!

Sketch (bad quality photo sorry):

It's quite rough. I like to focus exclusively on fundamental big shapes and getting the perspective figured out in the sketch.

My inking process involves me taking one of these "shapes" at a time and texturing/shading to my heart's content.

[I was using Caspar David Friedrich's: Wanderer above a Sea of Clouds as reference btw. Using references can help a lot with both fundamental shapes + the texturing]

But yeah, to elaborate on what I said earlier and what might help you for if you feel overwhelmed- this is a complicated piece, with a detailed foreground and background. So to prevent myself from being too overwhelmed, I:

made a "detailed" sketch of the foreground + very lightly made shapes for the background (you can barely see it in my crappy photo lol).

I inked the foreground and erased it.

I moved on to make the "detailed" sketch of the background.

Lastly, inked the background.

So yeah, it's a lot of breaking things down.

I've had a lot of practice with inks and art in general, so i can do a lot of inking with less clean sketch. But it all depends on your comfort. Hope that helps a bit C:

[tbob-enthusiast]

"Safe..."

In honor of the release of TBOB, I've made a silly AU and I want to share it! Rather lengthy explanation ahead:

I call this baby "Absolem Ford": in which the twin switcheroo in the end of Weirdmageddon never happens, and Ford accepts Bill into his mind... as well as his body and soul. That was a trick, causing them to permanently fuse into a single being. Ford believed that if they fused, they would become mortal, and therefore humanity would stand a chance at defeating Bill — and, per the terms of their deal, his family would remain safe regardless of the outcome.

In the end, they became something incredibly abnormal: an amalgamation of limbs, thoughts, morals, experiences, and the feelings attached to them. They feel Bill's madness, his desire to conquer Everything, clashing directly against Ford's morals and hero complex. It is, by definition, a mind built by conflict. Needless to say, they're really not the most stable fella out there, hahahee. They have no more legs, but have twelve arms and all of them have six fingers except a single pair, which has four fingers on each hand! They have three eyes and are smiling 99% of the time.

They DO feel an incredible amount of care towards Ford's family (plus, their deal did say they had to be kept safe and sound from all sorts of harm...), so, they turned them all into golden statues and kept them in the very top of their pyramid, as it's the safest place they know. The remains of the Shack and the tapestries made out of the rest of the Zodiac are kept inside as well!

Ironically, this also served well to make them understand each other better. Absolem understands now, what Bill was thinking when he put Ford through hell, and they understand what Ford felt like while he was going through that. Absolem understood the difference between love (warm, comforting, like looking up and seeing the stars for the very first time, all the time) and fear (thorny and painful, like finding out who you really were). And they loved it (and they hated it).

Stanford lied when he said he knew how to break out of Gravity Falls. So, Absolem stays inside, and as self-proclaimed King of All Weirdness, they allowed all creatures to run free inside their town, including their Henchmaniacs (who really don't like their new boss all that much anymore*) and the average townsfolk.

Absolem is often found either crawling rapidly around town and freaking everybody out (as they may or may not eat/stomp/tear creatures apart along their way), or they're holed up in their pyramid, thinking about what they have become, holding their family close. It's comforting to have them there.

(*Absolem has succumbed to the scientific curiosity of "what exactly are these creatures made of?", and has vivisected each and every one of the Henchmaniacs. In their defense: which dignified scientist wouldn't be curious to see the inner workings of, say, Teeth?)

Absolem and the rest of the Nightmare creatures remain quarantined inside Gravity Falls, just waiting to be found again...

Anyway, here's an unfinished, crappy sketch I got of them! Malachite-looking creature HAHEHE. They can open their body up and swallow you whole!