#OR LINE WORKS… SKETCHY? CLEAN? NO LINE ART? i wanna try it all | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

dominodamsel · 5 years

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Hi! I just found you through @revolutionaryduelist and I just wanna say 1, I LOVE your art, and 2, could I ask a lil’ about your art? What program(s) do you use? What brush do you use for your AMAZING lineart and how do you choose lineart colors?? What dark magic do you use to shade??? I find your use of color phenomenal! Have an amazing day! :-D

thanks for this nice ask! i use paint tool sai, specifically the anglicized version that you can find online.

lets draw bernie fire emblem and go through my process.

first off, my brushes.

this is the brush i use for sketching, coloring, and cleaning. sometimes for highlights in the eyes or the rough first patch of shading, i also use ink pen, just the default settings.

this is my blending brush. if you give it a texture, blending stuff wont look as boring as it otherwise might.

now, let’s draw bernadetta.

(1) first of all, the rough sketch. i start out with just shapes and then just keep going, all on one layer.

(2) then, i clean that sketch up a little - not too much, you dont need it to look perfect. i dont like drawing lineart at all, so this is what i work with - the sketch, a bit cleaned up, put on multiply. i change the color of the sketch according to what im drawing. for example, if i draw a character like inigo, whos got brown skin and hair, ill end up with yellow, orange or red lineart. if i draw a character during the night, ill use blue lineart. if its dusk, maybe a strong purple. you can change this later, as well.

next, below, i fill in the colors, usually about a layer for each color i use. i usually start out with the hair and end with skin, but it doesnt really matter. try to use colors that vary in saturation and brightness - if everything is very saturated, things end up looking blinding, but if everything is desaturated, it might be boring to look at. this isnt a hard rule, of course, but for this kind of normal illustration with neutral lighting conditions, its good to keep in mind.

now, onto shading. here i used the ink pen for a moment. take your base color, in this case bernies purple hair. the highlight is less saturated, and moves up the color wheel, more toward a reddish tone. the shadow is more saturated, and moves down, toward a blue-ish purple. you can also make the highlight more saturated than the base and the shadow less saturated than the base, but i think its best to decide on one or the other. moving along the color wheel rather than just decreasing or increasing brightness will also help making the picture more vivid.

for hair and gauntlets, i just put on the shadow and highlight and blend it out with the blend tool. for skin and fabric, i use a different method.

first, add blush. blush should be far more saturated than the skin color. i added a touch of deep red in the middle as well for depth. this should be blended.

the shadows on the skin, however, i fill in with ink pen. some parts of this need hard lines, like the outside of the ear shadow, the lower side of the nose shadow, etc. you dont just want an airbrushed look, but a defined line. for this, i use a shade that is slightly more saturated than the base color, but not as saturated as the blush.

then, i add a lowlight color to make the shadow feel more dynamic and interesting. you can go many ways with this - if you check the coat in the next few images, youll see that i used a less saturated color to counteract the very orange shadow. in the case of her skin, i used a more saturated color that is very pink to mimic her hair. i cant really explain this step well, because most of the time, i get to that shade through experimenting.

blend some of the lowlight, but make sure not to ruin the harder lines of the shadow. i did it on the same layer as the base color because im lazy, but you could easily make a clipped layer, add the shadow, and then preserve opacity to make sure everything stays clean. for my purpes it doesnt really matter though since ill be going over the whole thing during cleaning again.

in the circled areas, i took the blush color and gently airbrushed some on for depth and warmth.

heres the rest of the shading. as i said, i used a less saturated reddish tone for the lowlight in the cape. for the bow and cape, i opted out of highlight, because i imagine them as made out of a sort of thick, unreflective fabric.

now, all thats left to do is clean! i make a new layer atop everything, zoom in a bit, and go over it all with my brush and the eyedrop tool. a lot of my WIPs look like this, with a part of it very crisp and clean and most of it still sketchy and vague lol. colordrop from everywhere, and create something nice!

in the end, this is the finished picture! i turn the blend on my brush up and down depending on what im doing and what i need. the cleaning process takes the longest by far.

anyways, i hope this was helpful. if you have other questions, feel free to ask ‘em.

#art tips #is the tag i used for a similar ask before i think #anyways today i drew bernie just for this lol #t1mmytim #long post

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nate-santos · 4 years

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Am I Alive? || Nate & Remmy

Nate didn’t often let people into his life. The few friends he had were the result of long and tiresome interactions as they slowly infiltrated his careful barriers. His own assistant had never been to his house and never knew where he was from. But something about Remmy felt...familiar. They’d both been through hell, though Nate would never pretend to know what war was like. They seemed like kindred spirits, and Nate wondered if he might actually have found someone who could compliment his neuroticism. Plus he knew better than most how hard it was to acclimate after a traumatic event and he wanted to help any way he could. So he donned his puffiest coat – offering more cushion should something happen. He also made sure to grab his sturdiest umbrella, one that he’d reinforced should any fish come flying down at him. The medical examiner had said four people had died so far, and Nate was not gonna be the fifth. After carefully making his way to Coffee Plus, he set up his little area and ordered a latte, waiting patiently with his hands cupped around his mug for his potential employee to arrive.

The offer for another job was extremely enticing, but Remmy would have to make sure it didn’t pay too much, because they could lose their disability if it did. And then, no more writing off Moose’s food, no more HSA, and no more cheap meds. But Nate seemed like a really nice guy, and he seemed to know how Remmy felt. How hard it was to reintegrate into society after witnessing something that inherently changes you. Inside and out. This time, they made public transport didn’t make them late but catching the bus early. Coffee Plus was the station they’d met Deirdre outside of, and if they didn’t get thrown in front of a car again, then it would already be a better meeting. They’d even tried their best to clean themself up this time. Combed their hair, put on their best jeans-- the only pair with no holes or rips-- and their nice jacket. When they arrived, they had to pause a moment outside, give themself that little pep talk that usually given in front of a bathroom mirror. But Remmy’s room didn’t have a bathroom mirror, despite the landlord saying they were going to replace it two weeks ago. The little bell chimed as Remmy pulled the door open and they glanced around. There, in the corner. Right wher eNate had said he would be. He looked almost as nervous as Remmy felt, bundled up in a puffy coat, tucked into a corner, cupping his coffee. They waved as they approached tentatively. “Nate?” they asked. “It’s um-- Remmy. Hi.”

A large grin spread across Nate’s face as Remmy appeared. Thank god they actually showed up. He shifted in his seat and motioned for them to sit. Nervously, his hands fumbled with the pages of one of his old sketchbooks, one that before this morning he hadn’t looked at in years. It made him want to start drawing again, drawing things that weren’t buildings at the very least. He’d have to thank Remmy for reminding him how much he’d loved doing it. “Hey! Nice to meet you!” He held out his hand, careful not to bump into anything. “I’m so glad you came! You want something to drink?” Nate caught his usual barista’s attention and waved her over. “I personally like the lattes, but everything’s really good!”

Remmy noticed the way Nate stayed tucked into himself and close to the table, but didn’t think it was anything they needed to point out or think about. They took his hand, giving it a firm shake. His hand was large and warm and it reminded Remmy of Dario’s hand. They smiled back. “Nice to meet you, too! Finally.” They slid into the booth across from Nate, glancing around. The coffee shop was small, but had that busy, local atmosphere. It was different from any place they’d been in Bangor. “Oh, um, sure! I’ll just have a um...Americano? Thanks!” Looked back over to Nate once the lady took their order. They had their sketchbook tucked under one arm and their eyes fell onto the one Nate had on the table. “Thanks for um-- agreeing to meet me. And-and offering me a job. And...all that other stuff.”

Nate grinned and took a long sip of his coffee. “Really, it’s nothing. I uh, you seem like good people!” He chuckled nervously, trying not to think about how cold their hand was. He drummed his fingers on the top of his sketchbook and fell silent for a moment. It had been years since he’d shown his drawings to anyone when it wasn’t work related, but this...sort of was. “The job is mostly menial, nothing too exciting, but I could definitely use the assistance.” He shrugged, thinking about the kid currently interning for him. Bobby was next to useless, especially when it came to moving samples around the office. “But whether you take the job or not, I’m happy to have met you!” He began to slide his sketchbook over, his knee bouncing at a hypersonic rate. “Plus I never get to trade art with anyone! Not trade trade, but like...look over pieces...share, that sort of thing.”

“You seem like good people, too,” Remmy said back. This was nice. This felt nice. And normal. Pleasant, almost. They eyed his sketchbook, before setting theirs on the table as well, still holding tightly onto it. They’d never actually shown anyone else their stuff. Except some of the other officers at the camp. “Oh, um-- I’m not sure mine are gonna be really good enough to like...compare to yours, I’m sure. But I’m glad I get to see yours! I’ve never exactly….shared this kinda stuff before. Wasn’t exactly um-- encouraged in the troops.” Stop bringing the mood down, Rem. They shook their head. “But, I mean-- I’m good with menial things! And physical labor. Also good at running errands! Whatever you need! If um-- you decide you like me.”

Nate laughed, wringing his hands anxiously in his lap. “Oh, definitely no comparing here! That’s the worst thing artists can do, really. Everyone’s styles and strengths are so different, like…” He reached out and opened his book to a rather choppy looking portrait. “Soft lines, not my thing. But straight edges, flowing concrete, somehow that I can do.” A hand reached up into his hair and began to twirl. “I’m sorry you weren’t uh...encouraged. Art’s….soothing. Even if what you draw isn’t.” Nate had specifically not brought the book he’d kept right when he first found himself in White Crest. All the images in there were charcoal drawings of pure angst, sadness and desperation. These sketches weren’t great, but they at least weren’t morosely depressing. “Well I already think I like you!” Nate grinned, hoping he wasn’t coming on too strong. He hadn’t realized how desperately he’d needed something as normal as coffee and a job interview, even as lax as this was.

“Really?” Remmy asked. They leaned in a little more when Nate opened his book, gazing in with wide eyes. “Wow, that’s so good! You’re really good.” Hands tightening on their own book. “Oh, it-it’s okay. I don’t think I coulda done anything with it, anyway. I guess it just helps...occupy my mind. I don’t mean like..busy work, or whatever, but yeah-- soothing. Like you said, it’s...soothing…” They remembered how the group therapist had encouraged writing or drawing as an outlet. Remmy had taken quite to it. They liked drawing what they saw, copying down detail in an almost hyperfocus manner. “Well, I think I like you, too! You’re really nice and open and...not weird. If that makes sense? Not that weird is bad! I’ve just met a few...really weird people, too.”

Nate nodded, sucking down more of the hot bean juice. “Like I said, anyone can be an artist. Doesn’t matter if you do anything with it. Just so long as it makes you feel good.” He shrugged, his eyes falling to his lap and his cheeks flushing. Nate never could take a compliment. “I cannot promise that weird won’t end up popping up,” he laughed nervously. What was he supposed to say? I’m normal now but wait till I die in some freak accident and come back trying to eat your brains? “But I’m glad I’m not the weirdest person you’ve met here. I mean, I hope.”

“Hey, a little bit of weird isn’t bad. Don’t they say like, normal is boring or whatever?” Remmy grinned. “You’re not, definitely not. I think the woman I met who tried to push me into a car is the weirdest I’ve met so far.” They shrugged it off. Deirdre was a mystery they didn’t really wanna think about right now. The waitress came back with their order and they took it gratefully, taking a long sip. “Um…” they pushed their notebook over towards Nate, a little tentative, a little shy. “I-if you wanna look.” Though they would never admit it, as they weren’t sure of their own talent, their eye for detail gave them the ability to draw from life fairly well. Thin pencil lines, sketchy figures, and some doodles of animals riddled the sketchbook, an unorganized mess, unlike every other aspect of their life. Some drawings layered on top of others, like stacks of photos. They sipped their coffee again.

Nate smiled, a touch of sadness in his eyes. “I respectfully disagree with those people. I’d take normal over weird any day.” Nate’s life was already filled with too much weirdness. “Wait- like she was shoving you into a car or...throwing you in front of one?” Nate’s brow furrowed and he felt oddly protective over this person he just met. “Of course I wanna see!” He reached out, delicately turning the pages of the sketchbook. It was practically exploding with creativity. Lines and shades he’d seen but never really seen, it was so unlike his personal style and so refreshing. You could see real heart. “These are amazing, Remmington. Remmy? Which do you prefer?” He glanced up for only a moment before being sucked back into the book.

“Kinda...both? I’m not really sure. She said she wanted to test something and almost threw me into a taxi. It was fine, obviously, but I got kinda mad at her after that,” Remmy said, as if getting thrown in front of a car was a normal thing. In all honesty, it just didn’t strike them as odd. After all, they’d stuck their hands into a live case of TNT before. Was getting hit by a car really that much different? They felt their chest tingle as Nate delicately flipped through the notebook, suddenly so nervous they couldn’t even drink their coffee, just hold the cup tightly. “What? Really? Y-you think so?” Swallowed. “Oh, um-- either! Either is fine! I don’t mind.” They rolled their bottom lip between their teeth nervously. “I just...like drawing what I see. Nothing special…”

Nate’s mouth dropped open and he had to actively think about closing it so as not to be overly rude. “She- on purpose?? Yeah! I’d be mad too!” Nate nearly had a heart attack just thinking about the ordeal. But he looked back down to the drawings to distract himself. They were really good. Not professional, but that didn’t mean anything to Nate. He actually felt most professional artists were stuck up and rarely creative. “Yeah, Remmy, these are awesome!” He beamed up at them. “I like what you see.” It had been so long since Nate had really stopped to look around, flipping through Remmy’s sketches was like being unafraid to wander through town. It felt free. “You should keep this up. Seriously. Even if it’s just for you.”

Remmy couldn’t help but give a shy smile. “Th-thanks. I, um-- I will. I haven’t had much time lately between all the...stuff, but...I think I’ll try and make time.” They smiled over at Nate, finally relaxed enough again to sip their coffee. “So, um-- do you like, design the buildings and stuff? Or just do more like...blueprints stuff? I’m not-- sorry. I don’t mean to sound like...rude, but I’m not really sure what architects do, like a hundred percent? I’m totally willing to learn though!”

Nate cocked his head to the side. “Like all the getting shoved towards taxis?” He frowned, hoping Remmy wasn’t befriending people that would willingly shove them into oncoming traffic. It wasn’t entirely unheard of in White Crest, especially in the seedier areas. Yet another reason to never leave his house. “Oh, yeah! It really depends on the project, and most of what I get to do around here is restoring some of the town’s older buildings, making sure they’re up to code while maintaining the historical integrity of the design.” He smiled softly, taking another sip of coffee. “But every once in a while someone wants to build an entirely new house or business, then I get to flex my creative chops.” He sighed dramatically. “Those fun projects don’t tend to come around as often, though, so sometimes I just teach a class at the college.”

“Yeah,” Remmy sighed, “like that.” They still hadn’t parsed out Deirdre’s actual intention with doing that. Was it to see if Remmy would move? If they would let her? If they would get scare and run away? It still baffled them, but she hadn’t been eager to talk after that, so the answer would likely never come. So Remmy would concentrate on the here and now. “Wow, that’s so cool! I had no idea that’s what architects actually did...do you go to the houses and like actually help build stuff? Or do you just do more of the like...drawing and planning stuff?” They couldn’t help but be excited by all this. They’d always loved learning new things, even if public schooling had made them feel inadequate. “And you get to teach at the University?? That’s SO cool!”

Nate frowned, already feeling the twinge of protectiveness over this person he’d literally just met. Remmy had already been through so much, they needed a soft place to land, not a place where people literally threw them into oncoming traffic. But he would drop it- for now. Not like he was in any position to go hunting down this person, and to do what, exactly? Yell at them? Punch them? Neither of those things were in Nate’s wheelhouse. “I don’t do too much building, but I do get to visit the sites sometimes to help oversee everything! A lot of what I do is actually project management and organizing the construction crews, but I’ve gotten to know most of the crews around here pretty well, so they send me progress photos and stuff. It’s really cool to see an idea you have come to life right before your eyes.” Nate paused, smiling sheepishly to himself. “It’s really not that cool, most people find it kinda boring. But I love it.”

“Oh, I think that sounds amazing!” Remmy blurted, without thinking much. They reigned themself back in sheepishly. “Sorry. I just-- I don’t think it sounds boring at all! I think that sounds amazing. Getting to do something that actually changes the world around you...even if it’s just a building. And seeing it in progress? That’s just…” they trailed off a bit. “That’s incredible.” They took another long sip of the coffee, realizing it didn’t much taste like anything. It didn’t fill any sort of need inside of them. Not like it used to. “It sounds kinda lame but...when I was younger, I think I always wanted to do something that could, like, change things for the better. I guess that’s why I thought going into the military might...you know. Be like that.”

Nate’s eyes lit up. He so rarely spoke to anyone, let alone about his work, it was refreshing to be able to gush about it to someone who thought it was as interesting as he did. Well, maybe not as much, but at least Remmy was feigning interest! “I’m glad you think it’s interesting! I could definitely tell you more about it, and I mean, if you come help out, you’d get to see a lot of it first hand, too.” Nate knew exactly what they meant. It was the reason so many of his high school peers had enlisted, not knowing what else to do but needing and wanting to do something. He smiled softly, feeling his body loosen a bit from the tense ball it had been in. “I’m Sorry. If it wasn’t, I mean. Like that. Doing something for the better. Or that’s presumptuous- was it?” And he tensed right back up again as he stuck his foot in his mouth.

“Oh, yes! That would be great!” Remmy said excitedly. They had no idea someone would think they were just pretending, because Remmy didn’t have it in them to lie or pretend. “I’d love to learn all that stuff! Even if I’m no good at it, I think it’d be cool to know!” They sipped the coffee again, their legs twitching excitedly. Remmy had never been this excited before. Was this was it meant to find something they loved? “Oh, um-- I think it was, a little. I don’t um-- it’s hard to explain. I think there’s better ways to change things, but...it felt like my only option. I wasn’t the smartest or funniest or strongest. So...that was pretty much it.” They shrugged. “But, I mean-- as far as job offers go, I um-- think I’d be happy to come work for you. I-if you’re still looking.”

Nate sometimes felt like he was looking in a mirror when he talked to Remmy. They’d only known each other a short while, but he felt like he understood them in a way he hadn’t felt in a long time. Sure, some of that might be how excited they were about architecture, but it was something more than that, too. Nate remembered what it felt like to be so lost, heck he was still unbearably lost. But when he did what he loved, it wasn’t quite so unbearable. It was part of the reason he hadn’t tried to just end things. Seeing Remmy light up like this, it ignited something in Nate too. “I would be more than happy to have you join the team, Remmy.” He grinned, holding out his hand more confidently than before. “Welcome to the family.”

Remmy couldn’t remember the last time they’d been this excited. They couldn’t remember the last time they’d felt this hopeful. Sure, it was just an assistant job, helping out around Nate’s firm, but it was more than anything they could’ve hoped for in coming to White Crest. Being a security guard was easy and it paid the bills, but it wasn’t exactly the most riveting job. After being in the field for so long, Remmy had found life wasn’t exciting anymore. Remmy took Nate’s hand eagerly. “Thanks, Nate. Really, thank you so much.”

@whatsin-yourhead

#remmy1

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i-guess-i-make-edits · 5 years

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A sprite editing tutorial? You bet!

Tumblr decided to update midway through this so I have to rewrite this all. Rip all my witty jokes.

Aaaaanyways! You guys want to learn how to make sprites...? You want to learn from someone who isn't even that good? Alright. This is gonna be LONG.

Step 1: So here's the most painfully obvious and easiest step, pick the sprite. (Well, it's the easiest, unless you're like me and spend a good 5 minutes picking the perfect sprite). Here, we're using Togs, for my Swordsman Togami edit!

And then, you lower the opacity. This is important, if you're doing any kind of edit that changes something in the appearence that isn't the color! It'll be so much easier to be able to work. I'd reccomend 50% at first, and lower it for later rennovations.

Step 2: Sketchy! Sketch sketch. This is where you spend forever finding out what you're gonna do to the sprite, and sketch it over the sprite. If you're changing the eyes, I'd reccomend sketching it too! Even if it's a small edit, like making the eyelashes longer. Also, don't worry too much about making it super clean! As long as you're able to line it cleanly later, make it as messy as you want!

Step 3: Linework! Aka, the most hellish part of this, in my own opinion! It's a pain in the ass to get the linework done, especially since danganronpa has a lot of folds in it's style, and folds. suck.

If you wanna try and do the sprite's body freehanded, without the original sprite underneath, I'd highly reccomend doing this vv

It makes it a lot easier to be able to sketch it freehand. Without it... you're essentially sketching without a sketch. Of course, it does require you to sketch what the body below the clothes would look. And of course, if you're keeping the sprite visible (still at lower opacity) underneath, than this is unecessary.

Step 4: begin coloring. This one is a sort of a relaxing point after the linework, and yet it's still painful. Colorpicking is probably the easiest way to get accurate colors for hair and skin, if you want that.

Once you complete coloring, I'd reccomend some overlays! It helps replicate the look of a sprite a little more, and it makes the sprite look a little more appealing (at least in my opinion). Plus, I usually use the eyes from the original sprite in the coloring. It's the only thing I keep from the original sprite anymore.

Step 5: this is where more suffering begins. But first, we do something extremely simple! Set your light source: though it is simple, it is important! It'll make shading way easier. Usually I'll draw a little sun, with the rays pointing in the direction of the source.

And then you shade! Sadly, I couldn't get any process pieces, but then again, it would clutter this up even more, and it's lont enough as is. Anyways! Basically, you just need to follow the lightsource. Remember that anything blocking the source will also make a shadow! Obvious art tips are obvious.

I'd also like to point out that normally, shading on the face is done with an airbrush-like tool, with the only parts that are done with a normal pen tool are with shadows created by a normal pen tool, as well as any other shading.

Step 6: Realize you forgot some details and cry! This is where you can add on any extra details you forgot (I had forgotten his sword when I first made the sprite).

You also add the texture! A good texture was made by @/photoshopronpa ! Make sure to play with overlays and possibly turn the saturation all the way down when you're adding the texture, to get it back to the original color of the sprite (since the texture will make it brighter and warmer in color).

This is where I ran out of room for images, buut! This is also the end of the tutorial! Once you add the texture, you're done, other than little bits of cleaning.

And don't feel bad if you don't think it turned out perfect on your first or second try! Remember that all editors started somewhere, and not everyone is extremely good on their first few tries!

Love y'all, mwah.

#sprite edit tutorial #danganronpa sprite edit #this took way too long to write #but i do hope you enjoy!#and i hope it helps!

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nachtkern · 7 years

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hey hey!! i love your art so much ive been on an art block myself recently and am trying to get over it by looking at my fav artists for inspiration and youre on like the top of the list so thank you for that!!! also if you dont mind me asking, what art program do you use? also i love your line art so much its so Crisp i wanna eat it dfkjghdhfk?? do you have any tips on how you do your line art and/or shading? sorry for all the questions you dont gotta answer but yeah!!!

hi chiara!!!!!!!!!!!

i use paint tool sai for most digital art, and then ms paint for pixel art.there are more powerful programs to use, but they are both good programs to make things in if you have a decent grasp of their functions.

these are my main three brushes, feel free to steal em:

the first one is for sketching and painting mostly, but i also use it to create shading with soft edges and sometimes lineart (its perfect for cleaned up sketches by erasing and readding sketch lines until clean)

the second one is a round hard brush, giving it a crisp cartoony look, while being easy to use because i dont need to worry about varying line thickness or making the edges look clean, but bc it doesnt really change size, using a thinner brush size for details is good. i also use it for blocking in colors

the last one is actually a really good sketch brush, but it’s also great for making linearts with a really sharp look to them.

assorted tips:

make quick, confident strokes, as opposed to sketchy or slow lines. i have my stabilizer set to like, 5 (as opposed to the really high values) mostly because i don’t have the patience for the lag, but if you draw your lines with quick confident strokes you dont need the stabilizer and you can achieve sharper, more fluid lines and curves

dont be shy to set your brush to erasing - you can use it to make sharp edges and crisp corners. if you have to draw straight lines, you can always draw them in one quick stroke on a seperate layer, then erase the parts that are in the way of other lines, then merge your layers! that’s much easier than trying to make straight lines that dont bump and mess up the rest of your lineart

think about how you use line size/thickness, color, and shading to deal with visual clutter in your lineart. if you have a lot of lineart details in say, a textured scarf a character wears, but little detail in a persons face, the scarf is gonna distract from the face. so you can make the lineart lighter or thinner in the clutter area to deal with that, for example

make your own brushes, or learn how to edit the ones you find! being able to make your brushes do the things you want them to do is a really useful skill to have. so look at what settings other ppl use for their brushes, and tinker with them to see what everything does

shading: i usually just put a layer as a clipping group on my colors layer, then use either a soft or hard brush to draw shadows everywhere (i block in large areas of shadow first, then erase and add the finer details, to avoid pillow shading), and then set that layer to multiply and then recolor it to actually match the colors of the rest of the piece + airbrush the shadow layer with a few different colors to make it pretty and stuff. i mostly do it this way bc i dont have patience and its quick

i hope that helps! try a bunch of stuff and see if any of it works for you

#spectralcommunism #replies

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blackthornass · 7 years

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Do you have any art tips?

Uhhhhhh Funk im not The Greatest Artist ™ but I’ll try to bestow some Wisdom on you. Keep in mind Art is Subjective and I’m no expert and all that so take everything with a grain of salt but that being said I’ll try to give u Tips and Tricks

-listen so if you have a boring class at school just draw in it. School is great because you have 1. Access to paper at all times 2. Incredibly boring lectures. If you have a study hall that’s the Drawing JACKPOT. Basically what I’m saying is practice all the time when you have energy but like that’s such boring art advice. It’s important but “practice! uwu” is like what people with Natural Art Talent say when they didn’t have to figure everything out from the ground up so it’s kind of aggravating

-There’s gonna be people better than you. Chances are you have a friend who’s better than you because this is Tumblr we all draw. Try Not To Compare Yourself ™ which idk how to do but it’s bad don’t do it

-unless you find a terrible person with worse art than you in which case FUCK DUDE COMPARE YOURSELF TO THEM! THEYRE HORRIBLE AND THEY CANT DRAW FOR SHIT LOOK WHOS LAUGHING NOW!

-“work until your idols become your rivals” is absolute bullshit because your idols are working at it at the same time you are. You fool. You imbecile. I feel like this works better for writing when your idols can become irrelevant or straight up die between you being an aspiring author 8 year old and a tired 30 year old who just wrote The Great American Novel ™ or just kind of. Leave the fandom if you’re writing fanfic. Anyway

-ok that’s all the preachy shit, time for Real Art Advice ™. Keep in mind I do digital cartoony shit with Strong Lineart and cel shading for the most part and I pretty much only draw people so my knowledge is limited to that. if you wanna be a professional artist maybe do other things and Expand your Abilities ™

-Ok first off if you’re using Gimp or Photoshop please love yourself and download Firealpaca or illegally torrent Paint Tool Sai or something. I swear by Firealpaca it cured my depression but like. Photoshop is Trash for drawing. Get Firealpaca it has Line Correction ™

-Keep Line Correction ™ at like. A 5 when you’re sketching and at a 19 (the maximum) when you’re lining, coloring, shading, highlighting, doing literally anything that isn’t sketching

-Sketching digitally can be hard if you’re used to sketching on paper and I find it easier to do a sketch on paper, take a picture of it on my phone or scan it, and line/color it digitally. You do you and figure out what works best

-speaking of which I refused to use sketchbooks until I was Worthy ™ of not drawing on notebook paper and uhhhhhh that’s dumb just get a sketchbook they cost a little more than a notebook at Target it’s not super expensive. Although if you’re not financially in the position to buy a sketchbook anyway, just hoard notebooks from school that you didn’t use much. Bam, that’s your new sketchbook

-the Head Circle Cross Thing and the Spheres For Shoulder, Elbow, and Wrist Thing are good and important and will save you

-hands are hard so use references but bullshit your way through it. eventually they’ll look good (I haven’t gotten there yet)

-HAVE FUN WITH NOSES OH MY GOD. Noses are super fun and cool because there’s, like, infinite variety with them, they can be as long or short, thin or thick, rounded or pointy as you want, you can make them be, like, triangles or circles or more squareish or diamond-shaped, the base of the nose can be about as high or as low on the face as you want, you can make the nostrils prominent or not really there at all, they can add another Layer to a character’s design, oh my goodness noses are so fun. They’re like, severely underrated and oh my god I could gush about how fucking fun noses are

-same with facial expressions. Where you put the pupils and how big they are, how much of the eye is covered by eyelids, the way the eyebrows are, the mouth, tons of other shit. There’s loads of variety and so much you can do and honestly having fun with the facial expression is The Best Part. There’s tons of Face Art Chart Memes floating around, you know the ones, save it to your phone/computer and practice those on your own time it’s fun

-if you don’t know how to do something, avoiding it won’t help you. Just kind of draw around with it in your sketchbook or in a “I’m not posting this” file until you feel confident enough to do it in your Real Projects ™.

-Ok for lining did you know..… it isn’t illegal to erase parts of the lineart to clean it up.… just be careful and draw it back in to the best of your abilities if you erase too far and use a smaller eraser brush/lining brush for this… I know it’s tedious nobody likes lining it’s okay you can do this put on some good music

-use mcfucking references

-eyedrop character’s official colors but adjust said colors based on the color of your background to make them look less funky is my general rule for clothing, I usually pick the hair/skin by myself or from something I’ve already drawn though

-for flats, make sure your lineart is all closed off and there aren’t any “holes” cuz that’ll mess up your coloring

-so how I do flats is I use the magic wand tool to select whatever I want to color, expand selection 3 pixels (in firealpaca you can set it to do this automatically), pick the color I need, turn up the brush to as big as possible, and color it in. It saves the time you’d spend with cleaning up where the color gets outside the lines

-you can do the flats on one layer, but I personally like to do every Object on a different layer so when I do shading, I know what goes on top of what

-if a color is darker than the lineart it looks ugly so pick your line color with caution (or just use black! Unlike shading black lineart tends to go with pretty much everything)

-SHADE YOUR GODDAMN ART. Like, what makes people go “wow holy shit that’s good!” is the shading + highlights, don’t be lazy ya fuck.

-I’d take a break before shading to Refresh Your Eyes ™ but also I constantly forget this is a good idea

-don’t shade with black oh my god. Unless you’re doing Strong Punchy Dramatic Stuff or monochrome black and white stuff, don’t shade with black, and if you’re doing that it’ll probably be drawn into the lineart. Don’t shade with black please we can tell you’re doing it and it looks bad

-highlighting with white isn’t too bad though, especially with the eyes, but it might look too strong in some places

-As a general rule, shading is darker and more saturated, highlighting is lighter and less saturated. Whether it gets warmer or cooler depends a lot on what color or thing you’re shading or what you want the feel of the picture to be and I’m not 100% sure how to do it myself so uh. Trust your gut and change the color if it looks wrong I guess.

-where exactly the shadows or highlights fall depends on lots of things, just kind of. Look at how things work irl maybe? This is the kind of thing that you just have to practice, and it’ll look like shit until suddenly it doesn’t sorry I’m not sure what to say

-One Medium Sized White Dot on a layer above the lineart where the pupil borders the Iris (or the whites of the eyes if you’re like me and you make the pupil and Iris one thing) works for a glint in the eye that makes a person look less dead and more cute. How big you’re gonna make it depends on how adorable you want the person to be

-SMOOTH BORDERS FOR THE SHADING ARE REALLY IMPORTANT IF YOURE DOING CEL SHADING which is why firealpaca is my best friend thanks line smoothing. If you’re doing like. Soft shading or painterly shit or other kinds of shading it’s less Super Important but like. Still be sort of neat. Unless being really messy and sketchy is what you’re going for but even then you still need to be sort of careful

-for simple backgrounds, it’s like. Easy to make it interesting. Add polka dots to the background or a big old square or a gradient or a cloud filter or something the possibilities are endless. Another option is to straight up make it transparent and write a secret message in white on the side. But uhh never do a blank white background at the very least fill it with a solid color

-ok style is kind of hard because I never had to struggle to find my style? I just “drew in my handwriting” so to speak and then if along the way I realized something looked shitty I just changed how I drew it slightly? I guess a thing you could do if you’re in tune enough is look at the styles of things you do like and things you don’t and figure out why you do and don’t like it. “I like how *2010s cartoon* does Eyes!” great take that general concept. “I hate how this shitty yaoi has enormous hands!” great then don’t do that. It’s all Personal Preference my dude style is Your Own Thing

-notes aren’t everything but fuck do they feel nice. Self reblogs are fine but don’t overdo it, I’d say reblog it Twice to account for time zones and tag it as self reblog so as to not be a dick

This got long whoops. That’s all I can think of but I hope this helps it’s All I Know

#long post -#hey look an ask #anonymous

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shellsweet · 7 years

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Hi there Shellsweet! Can you please make a quick tutorial about that nice 4 different color effect that you using? I don't wanna forget it and would be good if I would have some picture about the method so I could save it and could try it out ^^

Absolutely! Forgive me if this might be hard to follow! I’ve never done tutorials, so if you have any questions to clear up anything, don’t be afraid to ask!I use Easy Paint Tool SAI, so if you use a different program some of these tools are probably there! And if you know which ones I’m talking about, this should work for those programs as well!Okay, so this is something I’ve seen multiple artists do to color their digital drawings, and after messing around with it myself, I tend to use it a lot as a quick way to add more depth of color into a sketch or even on my finished pieces.

Get a sketch going, and it’s entirely up to you whether you want your drawing to be loose and sketchy or clean. (You don’t even have to make it a sketch, you can use clean line art for this as well! There’s honestly no right way in doing this.)

—–After that, you’re going to want to add your basic colors, whatever your character’s normal colors are, go for that and don’t worry about the shading just yet.(Quick tip: You can fill the basic colors really fast by selecting the area outside of the drawing, and then click on the invert selection button (The little pocket purse icon). That will select the entire drawing in one click. This only works if your lines are clean for the tool to work more precisely.)

—–Then, you copy the basic colors into another layer, make sure the opacity lock is selected on this layer, (So you don’t have to worry about going outside of the desired space) and then you add your own custom gradient of colors. Use whatever you’d like! This is a great way to learn which colors work best with each other so don’t be afraid to try some weird ones out!

(To start you off, think of the sky! There are lots are lots of incredible colors to work with on that.)

Then lower the opacity!

Then all you have to do is make sure that layer is above the layer with the basic colors, and lower the opacity to let the basic colors bleed through the gradient that you created.——Sometimes I’ll add one more layer just to top top it off, and choose a very light color (in this case blue and yellow) and select the drawing once more and color over the top of the drawing and select ‘addition’ to make the colors bright and blend that in a bit so that it’s not overly too bright for the drawing. I even lower the opacity on that layer if it’s needed.

(This is after lowering the opacity on the layer with the additional high lights, or blended out to make it less bright.)—–But there ya go! You can leave it like this if you want, but to make it feel more finished, I’ll sometimes add a layer for additional shading, and use dark blues, reds and purples. (It all depends on whether the gradient you choose has warm or cool colors. Here’s an example below to show you what I mean!)

So there! Now you guys know the basics of my coloring that goes into most of my drawings! You’re more than welcome to try it out for yourself! Have fun!

#felhesznelenev #text nonesense #long post #coloring tutorial

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quillreflections · 4 years

Text

Title: Electric Angel

Chapter: 1

Series: Vocaloid

Pairing: males/reader

Disclaimer: yes I know the title is similar to my other story

"You've been working yourself too hard, sir."

The man turns to his assistant, who's leaning against the doorway, arms crossed, eyes concerned. The engineer places his delicate tools down and smiles, although it's tinged with exhaustion.

"I'm just excited. It's," he motions to the machine lying prone on the operating table, "it's so close to being done. If I keep going, I can finish within the next few days."

He picks up his tools again. It's very reminiscent of open-heart surgery; his movements are precise and methodical, and it's clear whatever he's doing is important.

His assistant just sighs, used to his boss's near-obssession with their work. Knowing nothing can pull the other man away, he just steps into the lab to help.

☆☆☆

The radio alarm kicks in at the worst moment.

You'd forgotten to turn the volume down before bed; that new pop star's debut song came screeching out of the speakers and directly through your skull. Your eyes shoot open as you start scrambling to shut it off- finally, silence. What time had you even set the damn thing for, anyways-? You pick up your phone to check if you'd missed anything over the past few hours.

『You've been chosen!』

You narrow your eyes at the email notification; it's from an address you don't recognize, and you don't recall signing up for anything. Spam is spam- in the trash it goes.

As you delete the message, your eyes naturally wander to the glowing clock on the corner of your screen- damn, it's so late. A quick glance out the window reassures you- the sun has gone down, and you'll be late for your shift if you take too long.

You scramble to get ready, hunting down a clean uniform shirt and trying to scrape mud off a pair of shoes. As you hustle past the stove, you hesitate; do you eat before you leave, or do you buy something when you get there?

You yank the fridge open; as empty as it was when you took your nap. There's half-empty bottles of soda and a jug of milk, plus the leftovers you've been trying to make last- it's such a pain, because your wallet is almost as empty.

You'll get something when you arrive.

The glowing clock on your microwave catch your eye- damn, you need to hurry. You stumble back to your room to finish getting ready. It's been getting cold lately, so you reach for your phone to check the weather app- didn't you. . . delete that email?

『You've been chosen!』

It flashes on your screen again. Maybe you'd only thought you deleted it- you'd just woken up, after all. You swipe the notification to your trash, for real this time.

Gasoline for your car isn't cheap right now; instead of wasting it, you shrug on your only coat and zip it up as high as it'll go, wrapping a scarf around your neck and burying your face in it. Lacking gloves, you shove your hands deep into your pockets as the door slams shut behind you.

The night air instantly delves its way into your lungs, feeling tangy on your tongue and sharp against your throat, washing away the vestiges of your sleepy haze.

It's a brisk walk to your job; a corner convenience store several blocks away from your cheap rental home. The maze of streets and cracked sidewalks were dark until you made another turn, and then thr store's artificial glow pierces the winter night. The door chimes as it slides open, the sound tinny and faint; still, your coworker Rina looks up from her phone, smiling brightly at you.

"Hiya, [Name]!" She chirps.

"You're awfully chipper, Rina." You giggle at her as you step behind the counter. The small staff break room is off to the side. Rina chatters away as you peel off your winter gear- something about her pet frog?- and you check your phone as you slip it from your coat pocket.

『You've been chosen!』

A confused frown settles on your face. Your brows furrow. Rina notices, pausing in her "discussion," craning her neck to read over your shoulder. "Something wrong, [Name]?"

You hold your phone up more so she can properly read the screen. "I've deleted this email twice today? But it's still. . ." As your voice trails off, you go to swipe the message back into the trash, again. Rina stops you.

"Well, is it the exact same one, or do they just keep resending it? Maybe it's a glitch with their automated system?"

Huh, you hadn't thought of that. You squint to look at the tiny time stamp. ". . . it says it's from a few minutes ago, so I guess you're right." You finally open the email- a lot of automated ones have unsubscribe buttons buried somewhere near the bottom. You can't help but read the email as you search.

"Crypton Future Industries?"

Rina presses closer at that. "I think I've heard that somewhere before- what does it say?"

Dear [Name],

You have been selected to take part in the alpha testing of Crypton's latest state-of-the-art technology. Please respond to set up a meeting at your earliest convenience.

Thank you for your compliance.

Crypton Future Industries

You snort at the message- sounds like a total scam. Rina, however, lets out a squeal; she grabs your arm and shakes you lightly. "[Name], that's incredible!"

You pull away from her. "It's literally so sketchy, Rina. It sounds like I'll pull up and get murdered." Still, you can't help being a bit curious- what kind of technology, exactly?

Rina pulls her own phone back out, tapping rapidly, clicking onto some brightly-colored webpage. The teal coloring nearly blinds you when she holds the screen up to your face.

"I knew the name was familiar! Crypton does all sorts of things; they've got a fashion division, and they make instruments, and-"

"To the chase, Rina?"

"-okay so they're mostly known for their tech! You seen those latest smartwatches? That's them!" She grinned.

You hum thoughtfully as Rina continues rambling. What could you have done to even catch the attention of a company like that?

"-say yes, [Name]!"

You blink at her. "I dunno, it's kinda. . ."

"I'll go with you, if it makes you feel better." She tucks her phone away. "Always safer to travel in pairs, yeah? And I super wanna see what it's all about too."

You shrug, but turn to the schedule on the wall anyways, looking for your next day off.

☆☆☆

Crypton Future Industries is sterile.

You'd actually unknowingly passed the building countless times on your trips downtown; it was one of the more intimidating skyscrapers, seemingly walled with nothing but reflective windows that dazzled in the light of the sun.

Now, you and Rina sat alone in the stark, quiet lobby, waiting for whatever is next. Rina tapped away at her phone happily and hummed tunelessly. The receptionist kept warily glancing at you over the barriers of her desk. Too nervous to waste your phone battery, you just anxiously examine the minimalist waiting room.

The door next to the front desk abruptly slides open; you practically rocket to your feet, just ready to get this over with. Rina squeals a bit in her excitement as she stands up too, squeezing your wrist to reassure you.

A dark-haired man in a lab coat steps into the lobby. He's taller than you ny several inches, older by quite a few years. The traffic whizzing by outside the clear doors reflects in the lenses of his glasses, so you feel his eyes searching you instead of seeing them.

"Miss [Name], I presume?" he asks hesitantly. You nod slowly. At that, he smiles in relief, turning to examine Rina as well. "Ladies, my name is Tomomi Nakahara, and I am the leading scientist of the EAV* project you've been invited for today. Now if you'll please follow me. . ."

He whirled on his heel. You and Rina followed him through the door.

The halls beyond the door were vastly different from the waiting room; floor to ceiling was stark white, the fluorescent lights were harsh, and you could feel the vibrations of far-off machinery in your chest.

". . . I can way understand your hesitation now, [Name]." Rina's whispers are almost drowned out by the echo of Nakahara's shoes on the linoleum. You can only nod at her.

Nakahara leads you through the blinding maze with ease as if he'd lived here his entire life. Down hall after hall, elevator after elevator. Finally, on some floor unnervingly deep underground, he halts in front of another intimidating door at the end of a hallway- the only door on this level. By now, you and Rina are holding hands out of anxiety- moral support, in case he does try to murder you now.

Confident that you haven't fled in terror yet, Nakahara swipes his employee ID card through a wall-mounted scanner; after a series of whirrs and beeps, the door whooshes open, and your group steps inside.

The first thing you notice is the cold. The second thing, the large glass tubes lining the room. Each houses what looks to be a human body; they range in apparent age and gender, but they all have their eyes closed, suspended among thick wires and cords. Your grip on Rina's hand tightens; at your side, she's stiff as a board.

The scientist speaks for the first time since the lobby. "We here at Crypton Future Industries are, as our name implies, always thinking about what lies ahead." His hands are clasped behind his back, his pristine lab coat swishing behind him as he walks, unperturbed, down the aisle.

"We strive to develop technology that will keep society moving forward. For this reason, we have deemed the development of androids worth our time and resources." Nakahara pauses in front of a specific tube, absently tapping at the glass. The male machine inside doesn't respond. Something akin to excitement begins bubbling up in your chest, displacing the fear that used to be there. Nakahara continues his sales pitch.

"Androids would be very beneficial to our society, but throughout our internal testing processes, we've come to realize that all of our fine-tuning cannot properly mimic one thing- humanity itself. And that's where you come in." Nakahara looks back at you, his dark eyes appearing to see right through you. "We cannot release something that looks but does not act human; it would be rejected automatically, and our efforts would be for naught. So you, [Full Name], have been selected to host and teach one of our test units the facets of humanity."

Rina gasps, and that sound snaps you from your trance. You blink. "Wh- what, why me?! And what does something like this even entail- I can't take care of a robot!"

"We can discuss details once you've had a chance to interact with the droid. I understand it's spontaneous, and something very shocking; please refrain from making a snap decision. If you refuse, we will respect that and move on." The scientist watched you closely. Rina's nails dug into the back of your hand. You nodded.

Nakahara smiles at your confirmation, tapping away at the tube's keypad; eventually the entire device lights up and slides open. The suspended body- android- whirrs quietly for a moment, and then bright blue eyes shoot open and lock with yours. It takes your breath away.

"Miss [Name], meet your charge. Len Kagamine."

*EAV is pronounced "eve;" you can probably guess what it stands for lmao

#electric angel #vocaloid

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