my tablet is currently halfway across the country for repairs (my brother's the most tech-savvy in my family and asking him to take a look at it was cheaper than taking it to a shop) so i haven't been able to draw lately. i've made a bunch of traditional sketches in the meantime, but none of them are presentable enough to post here, so i decided to take a trip down memory lane and fill out one of foxorian's influence maps!

below the cut are the names of the artists featured here, as well as a little bit of director's commentary on how they've influenced me :]

yugo limbo (website, tumblr, twitter) - some time last year, i realized something profoundly unnerving: i actually... don't like the art in smile for me's original release all that much? that's not to say it's bad, just that there isn't a whole lot about it outside of maybe its architecture that stands out to me. which is REALLY WEIRD, considering i wrote a whole retrospective about how much this game means to me. art-wise, however, it was only after smile for me's release that yugo limbo's art evolved in a way that really resonated with me; i love how textured everything is, i love the way they simplify clothing folds and the way that skin wrinkles around the joints, i love their love for puppets; all of those things ended up worming their way into my art style and tastes one way or another, and i couldn't be happier!! it didn't feel right to leave smile for me out of the equation entirely, though, so i chose a piece that was both related to that game and that i felt reflected a lot of what i love about yugo's more recent art.

echobsilly (twitter, tumblr) - oh god, speaking of yugo limbo - god. i fucking love echo's art so much i have no idea how to even do it justice in writing. like many people i first found him through his smile for me/limbolane fanart and animations - and those are some of his best work, don't get me wrong, but i really wanted to include one of his original designs to make a point that he's just fuckin great at art in general. character design, facial expressions, body language, composition, LIGHTING... he makes it all just. so so so gorgeous. i always liked "painterly" art styles for lack of a better word, but i think his art is what first pushed me to embrace that more in my digital art. i also like how he talks about dr. habit like he's his dead wife. i'm very proud to call him a friend these days :]

japhers (tumblr, twitter, instagram) - i first found japhers' art in high school and he very quickly became a HUUUUUGE influence on my taste in character and costume design. one of the big reasons i never fully bought into the idea that men's fashion is inherently harder to design is bc so much of his art is already dedicated to exploring fashion Without the restrictions of a gender binary in place which is to say that he's really good at drawing buff dudes in frilly outfits. i also think he gave me more confidence to draw more intricate costumes without having to worry about super dainty and clean lineart, bc a lot of his art looks like it's kinda been carved/rendered out of sketches, and it is Gorgeous.

moe suppe (website, tumblr, cohost) - another artist i found in high school, albeit originally from a long-gone instagram account. his art is what kickstarted my desire to have some Roughness in my art, some Texture. it may not have stuck to my lineart, but it Definitely stuck to my rendering. it helped that i was going through a pretty big angel/demon phase at the time, which meant i was pretty immediately drawn in by his delightfully weird worldbuilding. i should probably read fear not now that it's an actual serial...

val wise (website, itch.io, twitter, instagram) - a more recent influence, but a pretty significant one nonetheless. i featured the cover of délicatesse here because it was the first thing from him that i had ever read, but in general his grasp on the human body really blows me away given how deceptively simple his style looks at first glance, especially his faces. the way fat and hair sits on her bodies, and how much it varies from character to character... it's beautiful without being So glamorous that it feels untouchable. his costume design is also great. i recommend his comics for low fantasy/ursula k. le guin fans who are Dying to see more fat characters in leading roles. i also just found out that i am of two hearts is free on itch.io, so i'll be treating myself to that over spring break.

partycoffin (tumblr, twitter) - if you have known me for any amount of time at all then this should not come as a surprise to you. i actually wasn't going to include partycoffin in this map at first, because while welcome home has inspired me in Many creative pursuits, i didn't think visual art was one of them? i definitely picked up some of clown's love for dramatic lighting and thinner lines with just a smidge of well-placed hatching subconsciously, though.

ryoko kui - probably the most recent artist featured here? anyways i have a confession to make: i have yet to read dungeon meshi. i just know that when i saw a post compiling a bunch of ryoko kui's sketches from her daydream hour series, i was so overwhelmed with this feeling of, like… "oh, yeah, these capture almost everything i love about women as flesh and blood people. when i draw women this is the kind of beauty that i want people to see in them." of course, ryoko kui is a great character designer in general, but something about her women specifically really speak to me. the earthier color palettes and rendering also do a lot to endear her art to me.

shuzo oshimi - specifically his art in blood on the tracks. something that really stood out to me in that series was whenever the shadows would get really intense, and you'd get these big blocks of black with just the faintest bit of hatching to soften out some of their edges. it was always very effective in creating this sense of claustrophobia. i really want to keep incorporating that in my more intense pieces!

person918x (tumblr, instagram) - i don't work with 3d art often and i don't see myself doing so any time soon, but the composition of person918x's pieces is something i take a lot of inspiration of. i also love his sequential art, as someone who does a lot of dream journaling it's sick to see the exact Vibe of a dream be put to (digital) canvas. i also firmly believe that he's one of the only people out there who knows what he's doing when it comes to using generative AI in art.

oops i made this list too long so now i have to put the last two artists in a new block.

10. meatgiri (twitter, instagram) - definitely the artist i've known about the longest out of this selection. i think i've been following her since…. oh god. since i was in middle school. way before she was meatgiri, even. i think her influence probably shows up the least in my art, but there are definitely some characteristics that stuck with me for a very long time (the lil block of black accompanied by one or two lines for shading on the neck, the looser lineart making it really easy to incorporate soft curves and sharp edges, the Eyes, etc etc.) i chose this drawing of her oc juniper bc i thought it was both reflective of her current art And a good embodiment of a lot of things i wanted to emulate from her art as a young'un.

11. dragan bibin (website, instagram) - specifically his 'deimos' series. much like with person918x, it's his compositions that really stand out to me the most, and you probably know by now that i'm a sucker for high contrast. i find it interesting though that he uses high contrast to obscure more than he does to highlight... helps a lot with giving the deimos paintings that air of Quiet Unease. another thing i want to incorporate in my horror-adjacent art! manmade environments gone wrong!

Lothan (New OC)

I'm hating this consideration... about the awful character I specifically named after a character I hate... that he has amazing fashion sense... and be face modeled after Dean O'Gorman's Fili.

Mongoose adventurer plates bc I worked hard to make them so you all now have to look!!!

important news for today: if you wanna have Just my art on your dash and Not me talking and reblogging other stuff, i now have a my-art-only sideblog just for your decluttering needs! @sparkytopia

Practicing with a doodle for a set of drawings I'll be doing these upcoming months! This is one of my WIP oc's, and the style is inspired by kuya @japhers 's own artstyle!

Im gonna be taking inspo from my favorite artists (with permission) and learning abt how to improve my art as not just a fan of them and their works, but also as a fellow artist! :D

This was super fun because, if you look through my previous art, my style isnt usually like this, and it was heckin fun to challenge myself with an artstyle with less lineart

Hi kuya japhers if u see this!! Youve been such an inspiration to me for over 5 years now (i think at least), and its an honor for me to be able to learn from your works! Hope you have an amazing 2023!!

I love reading abt peoples ocs like YES pls infodump abt them 🥺

💘 tired of reading the 𝖘𝖆𝖒𝖊 𝖔𝖑𝖉 𝖙𝖍𝖎𝖓𝖌? 🪽

Within these bounded pages of love are countless promises, written in the stars. Whether doomed or destined, find them all inside our saccharine bookstore. 📖

💘 we're moving! 🪽

Lunar Menagerie is ceasing activities on DeviantArt and will now conduct all sales on Toyhouse.

This decision is made in light of DeviantArt's pro-Israel stance. We feel a clear responsibility to, standing in solidarity with all Palestinians, to boycott the platform. Starting with Cupid's Bindings, we will no longer be hosting our adoptable events on DeviantArt and will be carrying out all future operations on Toyhouse.

Invite codes are required to create Toyhouse accounts, which all prospective buyers will need to have in order to engage in Lunar Menagerie events.

Starting today, we will be readily giving Toyhouse invite codes away. Please get them prior to the event by replying to this post.

💘 participating artists 🪽

With love, from us:

@koloquials, @heartmush, @_aomaoe, @caebeans, @basilicca, @japhers, @lana0933, @nejinrou, @tearfang, @sachidraws, @star_amet, @cureyunny, @ninjyace, @lenlipui, @poursuu, @princehoneytea, @mu___jin, @toorurii, @yanm0ri, @yinyuszi, @starriewing

Crowley deserved to be in the Glorious Masquerade event 🤧🐦‍⬛🐦‍⬛🐦‍⬛ The outfit was inspired by a lot of different things: Malleus’s costume, plague doctors, nuns (lmao), forget-me-not flowers, and the ceremonial robes. He already has a mask…but I think it would be funny if he wore a second mask on top that looked like a plague doctors 😭 I plan to design more event costumes for him in the future!

I’d like to make a nice painting of the second image too, but I’m not feeling very well today -v- I must have caught something…how ironic that I get sick when designing a plague doctor inspired outfit 😷

I talk more about the concept designs under the cut \(//∇//)\

Crowley’s design was initially like, a copy paste of Malleus’s outfit. I’m actually working on a fic where Crowley went to Noble Bell College instead of Malleus, which is why I started with this idea! But it didn’t feel right, because I wanted Crowley’s design to be unique. I picked out the design elements I liked the most, like the dark colors, feathers, and a draping cape. Although somehow I feel like Crowley’s costume turned out more like a mash up of TWST’s Halloween/New Year outfits…but oh well (´∀｀*) The ideas I have for those events costumes will look very different to make up for it haha

With this and Crowley’s bird mask, I immediately thought of basing his look off a plague doctors, thus the long skirt, buttons, and hat. But I REALLY REALLY love puffy sleeves, especially ones with sheer fabric -v-

Shout out to Japhers (whose both on Twitter and tumblr), because their incredible costume designs helped me out a lot with Crowley’s design 👉👈 I feel like any time I was trouble with an outfit design, I just have to examine their costume design haha for inspiration haha, it’s so amazing! please check them out, their character designs are the most gorgeous things I’ve ever seen

Anyway, I got really torn from here. As you can probably see from the sketches, I had all the elements of his costume, but it was how they would fit together is what gave me some problems. The plague doctor cape covering his arms suited him, but I wanted the puffy sleeves ｡ﾟ(ﾟ´ω`ﾟ)ﾟ｡ As a compromise, he has puffy sleeves and sheer fabric on his chest underneath the coat because I’m a down-bad simp for Crowley 🧎 He’s also wearing thigh high boots under there because I say so

I wasn’t able to paint it well (I’m not experienced with painting), but he has these…swords on his heels? Yes, they’re a real thing. It’s incredibly gaudy and I love it, Crowley would absolutely wear little golden swords on his heels. The corset is very, VERY loosely rib cage inspired but since the corset is at his waist, it doesn’t really work -v- oh well, I just wanted some pretty chains. His costume comes with a lot of forget-me-not motifs because symbolism lmao (Levan haunts me 24/7) and because of their pretty blue color (*^o^*)

If you read this far, thank you for listening to my rambles 🧎 I’m so excited to work on more event designs for Crowley because I’m really sad the staff members don’t get designs like these! I also want to make card illustrations with these costumes, but I need to take a little break 😷 a break from art, that is lmao. As long as I’m still kicking I shall be on the Crowley posting grind 💪

Artists that inspire me: Style challenge!

The goal of this challenge was to try and replicate the styles of the selected artists as best I could. I gave them all my best attempt, a few could be better, but I am still happy with the results even if one or two may not look exact.

I can't recommend these artists enough! Seeing their works is always a treat, each one is so unique! The use of colors, textures, and lines, both smooth and messy and any in between is really fun! Absolutely check them out!

Decided to do this with my sinister six cuz they're living rent free at the moment. Left to right, top to bottom: Adrian, Maxine, Wilhelmina, Quentin, Alexandra, and Montana.

top row: @beidak-art | @deadwooddross | @it-kills-i

bottom row: @7greentears | @kiwi | @japhers

Bonus/WIP/sketches n junk:

Hi! If you have time do you mind recommending me some artists to follow here? A lot of the ones I used to follow up and left a few years back :c I love your works though and thought you might know of some other awesome artists!

Oh! Yes, of course, I know lots of good artists who use tumblr ^^ @kaizuart @zetallis @marachistudios @holoraindrops @japhers @linvaniin @namonaki-arts @smudgeandfrank Please check them out and I hope your dash will be filled with lots of cool arts <3

Making this Queer, Filipino made erotic monster lover comic Kickstarter is sometimes getting jump scared by how amazing our artists are

By @japhers 👁️👁️🔥

Follow the hashtag #PMLAAD as we near our launch date (while trying our best not to stress out our artists)

Here are sketches of a nightgown I planned to make once!

One day I saw the art this oc by @japhers wearing this voluminous shadow and I was entranced, so I started concocting my devious sketches to plan my own. It would have a organza transparent bust, but how it would hold the sheer weight of the dress i don't know. Lots of ruffles and black embroidery on black light fabric, playing a lot on texture. And a veil, of course.

im sorry if this is a weird question but a while back you said your colouring is inspired by a certain artist you studied a lot, i cant remember who and i cant find it but do you remember?

Not weird at all!! I've cited a few artists that have had a big influence to my style. I studied a lot of J.C Leyendecker and Tamara De Lempicka

But also a lot of @wattse , @atissi, and @japhers art! All wonderful painting and shading styles ^^

I'm a big fan of colour-block shading with high contrast highlights! But also the colour shift that happens in the umbers of the shadow sometimes! So cool ^^ all these artists have something major that influenced my shading style in one way or another.

I posted my periodic mongoose compilation as usual and ppl were like “you’re back omg” I NEVER LEFT QUIT TELLING EVERYONE I DIED