xissx - Tumblr blog

[xissx]

Amazing.

[xissx]

Calming masterpost:

crisis/urgent support lines and sites

hotlines/crisis lines for depression, domestic abuse, alcohol and drug abuse, teens, pregnancy, lgbt and more

mental support community - a forum where you can post that you are in a crisis right now and need peer support as soon as possible

imalive crisis chat - online one-on-one chat for if you’re in at risk of hurting yourself etc

self harm alternatives

si urges alternatives

relaxation/anxiety relief

do nothing for two minutes

interactive silk art

guided relaxation

watch a dream

100,000 stars

thisissand - create sandscapes on your screen with your mouse

calming gif

the quiet place project

the quiet place - find some quiet

the thoughts room - a super calm page to unburden yourself from bad thoughts

the comfort spot - a place for anonymous venting with out anybody judging you for who you are

the dawn room - my personal favourite, especially good for when you feel alone

know that it will be okay - when a moment is too hard for you - come here.

music and sounds

my anxiety relief playlist - on 8tracks

my positivity/recovery playlist - on 8tracks

‘stay strong’ playlists - on 8tracks

coffee shop sounds

rain sounds

calmsound - nature sounds

rainycafe

comfort food

one minute cookie in a mug

brownie in a mug

several cookie recipes

25 hot chocolate recipes

loads and loads of snacks - 533 quick and easy recipes for a range of snacks on studentrecipe

lots of different in-a-mug recipes

chocolate pudding in a mug - my personal fave (lil tip: add mini marshmallows for extra gooey yumminess)

advice and tips

how to be okay with yourself

25 resolutions

life hacks

more life hacks

a hella ton more life hacks - so many life hacks dude soon ur gonna never have a day-to-day stress again

school masterpost - school sucks so bad but hopefully this can help ease the stress

how to love yourself

how to bypass restricted wifi omg

alleviate menstrual cramps

boost your confidence

love yourself!

self help after anxiety

stop biting your nails

stop procrastinating

stop skipping breakfast

videos and movies

cure to sadness (video)

the movie blog - a blog dedicated to movie masterposts you will never be without a movie to watch again

cute roulette - THE BEST PLACE ON THE INTERNET ITS LITERALLY JUST A HUGE ROULETTE OF VIDEOS OF CUTE ANIMALS WHAT MORE COULD YOU WANT FROM LIFE

random acts of kindness caught on film

disney movies

movies for angsty teens

distractions etc

rice questions - answer simple questions and donate free rice to people in poverty!!

click to give - just click a button to donate (it costs nothing) food to animals shelters, people in poverty and homeless veterans; mammograms to fight breast cancer; therapy for people on the autism spectrum; alzheimer’s and diabetes research; a book to a child; protect wildlife habitat

break something - good for anger

loads of cute games

how to make a blanket nest

learn something new - a masterpost of hobbies

exercise like a superhero

nice words

things to do when your sad

slap a bald guy with an eel - this is ridiculously entertaining

watch a dog lick your screen - it loops, so you could literally watch for hours if you want

calmingmanatee

daily puppy

how to make a comfort box

download free books

extras

emergency compliment!

lots of compliments - they even include ur name aw

huge list of bloggers who have put themselves forward as willing to listen/chat without judgement

getting anon hate?

:) tag - all the posts that i’ve tagged for making me happy

7cupsoftea - free, anonymous, confidential talks with trained listeners

get a hug

Calming songs, playlists and instrumentals:

Sing Me to Sleep

The Boulevard of Broken Dreams

Boost your Mood (peppier and happy songs)

The Driving Mixtape

Study

Summer Nights

It’s Going to be Fine

Calm & Collected

Once Upon a December - Piano (song)

Clair de Lune (song)

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (song)

Calming/distracting Websites

The Quiet Place

Rainymood.com

Calm.com

Soundrown.com - calming sounds to mix and match

A website to distract yourself

A recovery masterpost

A post of interesting things

Ungruntle yourself

Press a magic button and fix everything

Play cute games

Almost every movie your little heart desires (i suggest you use with adblocker)

How to love yourself

A website that compliments you

Crafts and activities, easy and fun DYI projects

Glitter calm jars

A list of things to do to curb anxiety

Make a blanket nest

Silky summer legs

Lots of food recipes; mostly desserts  

For bad days masterpost

Make some microwave snacks

Five minute fudge

Make a phone case

A bunch of hobbies!

Self care list!

Pretty gold-dipped feathers (for decorating or anything)

What to do when:

You’ve been triggered

You’re having an anxiety attack

You’re having a panic attack

Your face is red and puffy after crying

You just had a fight

You hate yourself

You want to avoid being stressed

You want to get over your ex

Meditation and breathing

Guided Meditations

Do Nothing for 2 Minutes

Calm Down

Meditation Tips

90 second relaxation exercise

Simple things

Pretty Tree

When You Feel You Have Lost Everything

See Some BLOOD

Press a Button to Make Everything OK

Calming Manatee

Calming Gif

Make Something!

Jump into a Sofa Fort!

Make a Comfort Box

Glitter Jar Or This One

Other Nice Things

A Page To Help You Recover!!!

Coping Skills & Distractions

The Quiet Place. Shhhhh

For When You’re Upset

The Nicest Place on the Internet

Player 2

10 Most Relaxing Online Games

Talk To Someone That Will Listen

Not Having a Good Day?

How-to Love Yourself

Ground Yourself X X  X

Mood Chart

Do Nothing For Two Minutes

Rainymood

The Comfort Spot

Weave Silk

Seed Plant Breeder

This Is Sand

C.A.L.M

Calming/Relaxing Music:

Soft Piano: x, x, x, x, x

The Sound of Waves: x

The Sound of a Storm + Waves: x

[xissx]

SO YOU WANNA DRAW CATS AND DOGS BUT THOSE PESKY SNOOTS GET IN THE WAY

Here’s a hopefully helpful tutorial on how to draw them from memory but it also helps to understand and break down how to see their structure when you use reference!

Remember, it’s always best to learn the anatomy of an animal first before trying to stylize it. This way you know the rules and can choose which ones to break!

Please do not repost this tutorial or any images from it. Permission will not be granted. You may post a link to this post instead to help spread it from the original source.

[xissx]

Flats, gradients, airbrush, paint, refine, atmospheric perspective, paint, 

[xissx]

Just a quick tip to artists

If you’re an artist who likes to work really close, (like me), do yourself a favor and put up two views. You can do this by clicking View–> New on your toolbar.

There’s nothing worse than finally zooming out and realizing what you were doing was very wrong. This saved me a lot of grief tbh. I’m sure everyone knows this already but ._.;; I arrived quite late to that party.

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Sorry this has like.. nothing to do with color palettes, but I found this 3D program really neat :0! If you are Very Bad at UV mapping like i am but wanna make cute low poly things, this looks pretty easy to use! I believe the creator is giving out free keys on their forums.

Crocotile Site (also, the name is a pun! even more ideal tbh!)

[xissx]

Hello, friends!

Meg here, and welcome back to another round of TUTOR TUESDAY! This weeks topic was recommended by Kisarii, thank you! Today we look at anatomy and some tricks that may make it easier to understand. This is a pretty vast topic so this is just Part One of The Human Body ( aka Gosh Darn Bodies are Da Best and Hands are the Worst ‘n’ We Gon’ Find Out Why)

Have any recommendations for tutorials? Send them on over to either this blog or my personal blog here! Keep practicing, have fun, and I’ll see you next Tuesday!

[xissx]

WATCH: Ingenious Hack for Sketching with Two Point Perspective Using an Elastic String [video]

[xissx]

How to Organise your Commissions

I thought I’d upload this here too!! full version

[xissx]

Some Ways to Avoid An Art Depression

Ok folks, Maybe this will help one or two of you, who are too much into a depression.

It sounds silly for some, but respect that I write this for people who have some trouble. When you find grammar mistakes, then sorry, as a german it is not easy writing so much english text. 1. Don’t compare your art with the best out there. - A problem every artist has is that he compares himself in his development phase with artists who have their style or are big in the buisness. You cannot critisize yourself not being Picasso in the first day, guys. Do a fair and reasonable comparison. Accept that you are on a special niveau in your development and compare yourself with people on your niveau. That means you have to search and work your way trough art and how your art is compared. And there are hundred differences in the art world, so try to focus on the style you work in. 2. Self-critic is ok, but don’t make it into a selfdestructive one.

- Keeping yourself on the ground with self-critic is a noble thing. You avoid becoming arrogant and to stagnate in your art. But watch out that it does not become an obsession to hate your stuff. Allow yourself to be proud of a work. It is not bad to be a bit proud of something, also when it is could be made better. Nothing is 100% perfect and you can always make it better. But you can make it better, when you use your ‘experience’ in the next pic. 3. A drawing is just a drawing. You will produce a lot more. Accept that not every piece is a winner.

- No artist on earth did the perfect piece with his first pic ever. All followed a long development phase till they got to a point where they were really satisfied. So stop doing just ONE piece in a month and stop critizising it till you are depressed. Do 100 drawings in a month and there will be at least ONE pic you will like. Be proud of this one. Maybe in the next months you will do more good ones. 4. Ignore fame/popularity/money. The goal of art is not that. - Sure you need to get money to survive and some ‘fame’ is the key to that. But not one of the three things will make your art better or will make yourself happy about your art. And here we come to the next point: 5. Stop looking at other artist’s succsess in the media world. - They had ‘luck’ getting it or worked hard to get there. Will you be happy if you know it happened randomly or will you be proud when you worked yourself to succsess? And succsess does not mean being rich. It means making your ‘hobby’ or 'love’ to a job. 6. Don’t use the Internet as an indicator how good your work is. - Internet is pretty much a wrong place to get proud or depressed about your art. Deviantart is no place to see how well you can make it in the world. And it will never tell you when you will enjoy doing your art. When fame and money IS your goal in life, then go with the mainstream. You will get quick to your money. 7. Sticking with your own style means that it will be hard getting it out there. Accept that. - Mainstream is not bad at all. But it is too easy adapting mainstream styles and getting into a job. So when you stand behind your own style, you must also face the truth, that it will be a harder way. You chose it, so deal with it. The world is unfair, so dont cry. 8. Hating other artists will not solve any probs. - You found an artist who got what you always wanted? Is it his fault that you are still in your development phase? I guess no. The ones in the industry faced the same probs like you have/had. Some had it easier and some harder. But both are not guilty for your unlucky position. Hating them, making their art down or anything else, will not bring you out of your misery. You will just fall deeper into your depression pit. Work yourself out. It will may not get you to succsess, but working on it is better than dioing nothing and crying. You can still cry when you did a respectable amount of work in your portfolio. 9. Doing art for others is nice and also good, but remember that art is there to satisfy you in the first place. - I stick with the idea that when you love/like your work people will automatically love it too. When you do a work that makes you happy, then you have succsess. Working direct to a special target group will be the wrong way. You would lie to yourself. You are your own target group. 10. Accept that you cannot satisfy everyone with your style. - A photograph will never entertain a cartoonist at the same point like a cartoonist can entertain his group. But try to make your photo as good as possible and be liberal to other styles and try to find the quality of it. Making fun of other styles is  a sign of insecurity or arrogance most the time. 11. Dont be a sell-out. Don’t lose your self-respect. - Your insercurity or greed to fame/money took over when you switch to a style that gets quick attention or when you draw pornographic themes. When you really care for art then you will get into an art depression really quick, when you realized what you have done. 12. Wating for the perfect drawing has never created the perfect drawing. - I met too many guys sitting on their couch and wishing one drawing in 2 months will bring them out of their hole and bring them to fame and popularity. All I say is… hope longer. You will get depressed afterwards when you realize that this 'work ethic’ will bring you nowhere. You don’t get any attention with few pics and you will never become slightly better, when you improve your skills every 2 months one time. You have to work more on getting out of your rust, then developing your stuff. 13. Accept that what’s important to you is not automatically important for the next. - As an artist with the focus on lineart is my main attention in the linework of every picture I do/see. I don’t ignore perspective, layout, composition and colors at all. But they don’t impress me at first sight. But at the end when I discuss the quality of a picture with someone else, is his main goal the colors and he ignores the flaws in the linework, which I take more serious… What I wanna say is, don’t take your taste too serious and as the only thing that matters. You cannot control the taste of everyone. There is no reason to get depressed because someone has a different focus or taste. 14. You will not change anything in the art world. Accept that. - A main prob, nearly every artist has is that he thinks his art will change the scene or the industry or anything. In reality you will not do anything. And if, then only for a short time. Sure there are some who have a bigger affect than others, but don’t take it as your main goal. It does not happen by plan. At the end you just confuse popularity with a 'real change’. It is not the same, dudes. 15. Critic is just critic. - I am not talking of internet trolls or bullies. I mean normal professional critic. When you ask for one, expect honest ones and don’t cry, when it does not fit to your wishful thinking. But also don’t take it too unserious or arrogant. Accept or try to find the truth behind the critic, instead of working 100% against it. Sure some critic does not understand what you try to archieve and critic hurts, but the challenge behind it makes you stronger. Asking your best friends and family will result in unhonest and nearly only positive comments, which have no core you can use to develop in your art. 16. Having no job in the industry does not mean your art sucks. - Explains itself. 17. There is always someone better than you. - Times come and times go. Artists come and go. Some start earlier, some late. You are not your whole life on the same niveau and one day you will vanish with your art. Sounds too buddhistic? Well it is. There is always someone better than you, no matter what you try. Accept it as a challenge you can use to develop. Are you pussies who escape a 'fight’? 18. At the end it is shit nobody should care about… - Art is not the most important thing on earth. Family, friends and your own health are way more important than being the best artists in the world. Wrote this journal for my deviantart followers over a year ago. Hope this journal was helpful for some of you and sounded not too shallow or silly written. I know some of you disagree with some points, but I don’t want endless arguments about holes in my logic or points. See ya. greetz Dirk

[xissx]

I’ve been asked a lot about tips for aspiring animators, so here are some ! Enjoy, I hope it will help some of you.

Oh, and for the ones wondering who I am, I’m a french 2D animator. I studied animation at Gobelins like 10 years ago and ever since I’ve been mostly working as a 2D animator for feature films, commercials, shorts and shows.

[xissx]

Some Ways to Avoid An Art Depression

Ok folks, Maybe this will help one or two of you, who are too much into a depression.

It sounds silly for some, but respect that I write this for people who have some trouble. When you find grammar mistakes, then sorry, as a german it is not easy writing so much english text. 1. Don’t compare your art with the best out there. - A problem every artist has is that he compares himself in his development phase with artists who have their style or are big in the buisness. You cannot critisize yourself not being Picasso in the first day, guys. Do a fair and reasonable comparison. Accept that you are on a special niveau in your development and compare yourself with people on your niveau. That means you have to search and work your way trough art and how your art is compared. And there are hundred differences in the art world, so try to focus on the style you work in. 2. Self-critic is ok, but don’t make it into a selfdestructive one.

- Keeping yourself on the ground with self-critic is a noble thing. You avoid becoming arrogant and to stagnate in your art. But watch out that it does not become an obsession to hate your stuff. Allow yourself to be proud of a work. It is not bad to be a bit proud of something, also when it is could be made better. Nothing is 100% perfect and you can always make it better. But you can make it better, when you use your ‘experience’ in the next pic. 3. A drawing is just a drawing. You will produce a lot more. Accept that not every piece is a winner.

- No artist on earth did the perfect piece with his first pic ever. All followed a long development phase till they got to a point where they were really satisfied. So stop doing just ONE piece in a month and stop critizising it till you are depressed. Do 100 drawings in a month and there will be at least ONE pic you will like. Be proud of this one. Maybe in the next months you will do more good ones. 4. Ignore fame/popularity/money. The goal of art is not that. - Sure you need to get money to survive and some ‘fame’ is the key to that. But not one of the three things will make your art better or will make yourself happy about your art. And here we come to the next point: 5. Stop looking at other artist’s succsess in the media world. - They had ‘luck’ getting it or worked hard to get there. Will you be happy if you know it happened randomly or will you be proud when you worked yourself to succsess? And succsess does not mean being rich. It means making your ‘hobby’ or 'love’ to a job. 6. Don’t use the Internet as an indicator how good your work is. - Internet is pretty much a wrong place to get proud or depressed about your art. Deviantart is no place to see how well you can make it in the world. And it will never tell you when you will enjoy doing your art. When fame and money IS your goal in life, then go with the mainstream. You will get quick to your money. 7. Sticking with your own style means that it will be hard getting it out there. Accept that. - Mainstream is not bad at all. But it is too easy adapting mainstream styles and getting into a job. So when you stand behind your own style, you must also face the truth, that it will be a harder way. You chose it, so deal with it. The world is unfair, so dont cry. 8. Hating other artists will not solve any probs. - You found an artist who got what you always wanted? Is it his fault that you are still in your development phase? I guess no. The ones in the industry faced the same probs like you have/had. Some had it easier and some harder. But both are not guilty for your unlucky position. Hating them, making their art down or anything else, will not bring you out of your misery. You will just fall deeper into your depression pit. Work yourself out. It will may not get you to succsess, but working on it is better than dioing nothing and crying. You can still cry when you did a respectable amount of work in your portfolio. 9. Doing art for others is nice and also good, but remember that art is there to satisfy you in the first place. - I stick with the idea that when you love/like your work people will automatically love it too. When you do a work that makes you happy, then you have succsess. Working direct to a special target group will be the wrong way. You would lie to yourself. You are your own target group. 10. Accept that you cannot satisfy everyone with your style. - A photograph will never entertain a cartoonist at the same point like a cartoonist can entertain his group. But try to make your photo as good as possible and be liberal to other styles and try to find the quality of it. Making fun of other styles is  a sign of insecurity or arrogance most the time. 11. Dont be a sell-out. Don’t lose your self-respect. - Your insercurity or greed to fame/money took over when you switch to a style that gets quick attention or when you draw pornographic themes. When you really care for art then you will get into an art depression really quick, when you realized what you have done. 12. Wating for the perfect drawing has never created the perfect drawing. - I met too many guys sitting on their couch and wishing one drawing in 2 months will bring them out of their hole and bring them to fame and popularity. All I say is… hope longer. You will get depressed afterwards when you realize that this 'work ethic’ will bring you nowhere. You don’t get any attention with few pics and you will never become slightly better, when you improve your skills every 2 months one time. You have to work more on getting out of your rust, then developing your stuff. 13. Accept that what’s important to you is not automatically important for the next. - As an artist with the focus on lineart is my main attention in the linework of every picture I do/see. I don’t ignore perspective, layout, composition and colors at all. But they don’t impress me at first sight. But at the end when I discuss the quality of a picture with someone else, is his main goal the colors and he ignores the flaws in the linework, which I take more serious… What I wanna say is, don’t take your taste too serious and as the only thing that matters. You cannot control the taste of everyone. There is no reason to get depressed because someone has a different focus or taste. 14. You will not change anything in the art world. Accept that. - A main prob, nearly every artist has is that he thinks his art will change the scene or the industry or anything. In reality you will not do anything. And if, then only for a short time. Sure there are some who have a bigger affect than others, but don’t take it as your main goal. It does not happen by plan. At the end you just confuse popularity with a 'real change’. It is not the same, dudes. 15. Critic is just critic. - I am not talking of internet trolls or bullies. I mean normal professional critic. When you ask for one, expect honest ones and don’t cry, when it does not fit to your wishful thinking. But also don’t take it too unserious or arrogant. Accept or try to find the truth behind the critic, instead of working 100% against it. Sure some critic does not understand what you try to archieve and critic hurts, but the challenge behind it makes you stronger. Asking your best friends and family will result in unhonest and nearly only positive comments, which have no core you can use to develop in your art. 16. Having no job in the industry does not mean your art sucks. - Explains itself. 17. There is always someone better than you. - Times come and times go. Artists come and go. Some start earlier, some late. You are not your whole life on the same niveau and one day you will vanish with your art. Sounds too buddhistic? Well it is. There is always someone better than you, no matter what you try. Accept it as a challenge you can use to develop. Are you pussies who escape a 'fight’? 18. At the end it is shit nobody should care about… - Art is not the most important thing on earth. Family, friends and your own health are way more important than being the best artists in the world. Wrote this journal for my deviantart followers over a year ago. Hope this journal was helpful for some of you and sounded not too shallow or silly written. I know some of you disagree with some points, but I don’t want endless arguments about holes in my logic or points. See ya. greetz Dirk

[xissx]

A long ass beginner level tutorial for all of you comic folks who want to start using sketchup for your backgrounds but don’t know how to get started.

http://www.genkigirl.com/finesometimesrain/?p=771

[xissx]

Different Advantages come with each technique.

If you separate the grey from colours, you can toggle either one separately. If you wanted to change the shape of the watercolour, you only need to affect the grey layer and then edit the colour later. The different values of colour are already chosen for you by the different greys beneath, so there’s no guess work involved. One disadvantage is that the colours won’t always come out the way you expect unless you toggle the layer properties.

Advantages that come with colouring all on one layer is that the colours may come out brighter because you’ll be picking them yourselves. You can achieve the same effect with one layer and without having to toggle any layer properties. The disadvantages include needing to pick colours by eye to get the different values, and that may be more time consuming than if you were to only select greys. Changing colours will require separate layers in order to preserve the values that has already been established.

I hope this has been helpful and informative to you! Happy arting, Keep making the world beautiful :D!

[xissx]

BOBA-LIFE requested a tutorial on how I draw my frills and ruffles. I hope this gives you a general idea! > dA version

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How long does it take to become "good" at drawing? I'm not looking to draw realistic art, more cartoon stuff. I can draw alright right now by looking at references but I feel like I'm stealing other people's art by doing that.

There is no universal answer. Everyone improves at their own pace. And what exactly is “good” anyway?

There’s nothing wrong with using references; if you’re being honest with them and crediting them, it’s not stealing. It’s how you learn.

If you want to become less dependant on references though, you need to study how real anatomy works. Even if you’re not intending to do realism, understanding real anatomy will help you with learning how to convincingly pose and shade your figures, cartoon or otherwise.

… it can take years, so get on it.

[xissx]

Here’s a tutorial for adding screen tones or other materials to your art in MediBang Paint.

Free stuff

http://medibangpaint.com/en/