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#thinking if I should redraw the first one I've ever made because
dashing-through-ecto · 7 months
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The difference one and a half years can make
My first comic
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My latest comic
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It's been absolutely staggering to see the differences even though these panels have the same vibes.
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xanderindisguis · 4 months
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just started animating after procrastinating starting it for years and im already going insane, any tips?
Four things I feel is important to note
Analyze other animations, note things you like and why, slow it down and take in the frames
Go easy on yourself, permit mistakes, make it messy, if there's something you could've done better that you realize after you made the animation then use that knowledge for the future
Take care of yourself!!! Eating, staying hydrated, getting good sleep, all that is super important outside of animating and super important when animating
And. PLAN your animations, each scenario you want, write down how you want the characters to move, I don't normally do this (DON'T FOLLOW MY EXAMPLE 🙏) but it's super helpful when I do
For the animating part itself, I'm not sure how to word it, things I found help me when animating is
- Lower FPS (I usually go with 9-11)
- Playing with duplicated frames, a common thing I do is duplicate frames to avoid redrawing them so much
- Not caring if the outline is blurry, distorted, or messy because I used the lasso tool to correct something. As long as it looks smooth, you know what you're looking at, and it gets the job done
- What I call "fade ins/outs". For example, you have two keyframes (move hand from A to B), you redraw the first one but slightly different (Hand moves like 2 pixels or smth), you redraw it again (hand moves 7 pixels), middle frame (between A and B), and do the exact same process but backwards
BUT a things I want people to know because I see it a lot and it makes me itch in a bad way
- When lip syncing, unless the anatomy of the character is different, or you have a style that fits it, THE JAW ALWAYS GOES DOWN. Your focus should be on opening it downwards
- CONSISTENCY, while your sketches may be lazy, please keep them consistent to the original frame. Don't stray TOO far from the keyframe, like something's too big, or the size keeps changing, or even in cases of lip syncing where the way it moves is different each time (Up down up down up down left up, yk??). THIS ONLY EVER WORKS if the situation calls for it!!!
((I've done tgis before witg lip syncing....))
- PLEASE. Note how to use smear frames. In small movements, it's not necessary, someone raising their arm doesn't need a giant smear to do. Use them when there's exaggerated, quick motions, and make sure there's still form to it so it's not just a blob
(Completely off topic, but there was a trend on tiktok with a filter where they'd make a hand shift into another thing like 🤚 to ✌️, and it bothered me so much because EVRRYYY time there was a smear frame BUT IT WASN'T NECESSARY and sometimes even ruined it)
- Don't be afraid to skip middle frames, like when someone's shaking an item in their hand, as long as the two keyframes are there and a few extra frames after the action, it should be alright, or when someone's laughing
I think that's about all I can say
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perfectlovevn · 2 months
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(i'm so sorry, i'm not sure if you accept reviews or not so feel free to ignore this)
Helloo!! I'm brazilian and i'm still learning english so forgive me for any grammar mistakes. I've gotten all endings (i guess- please let me know if i missed anything!) so here's my review of Perfect Love! ♥
I loved this game sooo much! I never played an visual novel with a mean main character and it was just amazing. The trope of ''us'' being the actual villains is very interesting and it made the game super unique! It's also pretty obvious the amount of effort and hard work that's in the game, I was impressed by the quality of it all.
The music and sound effects are pretty good, I loved it all! The artstyle is very pleasing to look at and the black/white/grey contrast with Milo's blue/red eyes are such a nice touch too. I also loved the amount of easter eggs (you couldn't imagine the face I made when I named myself 'Ren') and secret endings/scenes.
Fortunately, when I first played, I knew nothing about the game nor about Milo (which I believe made the experience better since everything turned out to be surprising) and the endings were really good. Through the gameplay, I've encontered one grammar mistake (which I forgot to screenshot it, sorry) and one sprite glitch but nothing that made me annoyed.
After finishing the 8 main endings, I decided it was time to look a little bit on the official Tumblr's page of the VN and that's when I decided to test out all of the easter eggs and that's when I discovered the secret scenes.
So, to summary it all: absolutely 10/10! I can't remember the last time I had so much fun playing a game and being so invested in unlocking all of it's content! I was flabbergasted when I lost all of my endings heh
Please let me know if I missed anything- I'd be more than happy to clear the game entirely.
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Hello there! I love reviews. On my other blog I always write recommendations/reviews for other vns, so I'm always open to seeing what people like and dislike about the game. I hope you don't mind that I'm just gonna mash these two asks into one ask.
Thank you! I also think that a lot of vns don't always focus on being the bad guy in the story and those that do I usually enjoy quite a lot! I'm glad you like the quality of it, it was a lot of fighting renpy and it's UI because I have a one sided rivalry with the base renpy UI. I tried to make it look good though I think I maybe should have attempted to redraw some of the sprites for Milo (for like the third time).
For the art style itself, I actually did it in black and white because it was originally for the 2023 yanjam and I wanted to make a style that wouldn't be extremely tiring for me, and I really like lineart so I made everything in black and white (and also because I'm lazy, I say as I animate half of my assets). The red and blue really make it pop at the end since it's one of the few time color is used in the game. I love when people put easter eggs in their game and I know of a lot of yandere vns so I wanted to put in a ton! I'll probably put in even more in the update when I get all of the extra stories done because putting easter eggs like that is very fun.
Having no knowledge of a game is always a good way to be surprised about the premise and I think it definitely was something good in your case too! For the grammer/ sprite errors if you do ever play or remember what they were, please let me know. I'll try to fix it in the next update if possible.
It's always so nice seeing that people like my game though! I tried my hardest to make it a worthwhile experience and considering it's (technically) my first game, it really makes me happy to see that people really like it! Hopefully it doesn't have too much of the first game amatureness that tends to come (nothing wrong with it, but I hopefully have showcased I kind of know what I'm doing, I say, sweating profusely) .
Yup! That is all of the scenes in the game so far. At least that you can access. If you look inside of the code, I actually have two scenes that I put in there. One of them is pretty much a test scene featuring the character from the next game I'm making, and the other is a special scene where you go to Milo's apartment. You can't access those in the main game, but you can play them if you edit the code a bit.
Basically (for those who don't know), all you have to do is put "jump" and then the name of the label afterwards (so for instance if the label is "rabbit" you would put "jump rabbit") after label start in the code. The two scenes that are not accessable in the game are the last two scenes in the script.rpy file just to make it easier for you. (I put a note that says like "#I'm very dedicated to my craft I say as I disect Milo and then beat him with a stick" because I'm sorry Milo, you deserve better)
But yes, thank you for taking your time and writing your long review! I love it so much.
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dgdraws · 4 months
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My art year in review!
I learned so much this year and made a ton of cool stuff! These are my favorites from each month, but it was so hard to choose. A lot of stuff didn't even get posted--I'll be sure to at least post the ones that made it to this list!
It's amazing to see how much I've changed and learned over this year, and to see the things that are emerging as part of "my style."
Here's to another year of delight, creation, connection and fun!
Some monthly reflections beneath the cut, but here's the highlights:
I participated in 3 art challenges, Artfight, OC-tober and Huevember.
I made fanart for the first time!
I created a piece I conceived of before I started drawing
Made some big breakthroughs in techniques and skills in April, July and November
January: My first branch into full character design, Rodd is the culmination of training on Hero Forge renders to make dnd portraits! I was doing this cool thing with neon rim lighting, I should bring that back!
February: I saw a piece on here with this amazing glowing effect, so I color picked it and experimented to figure out what relationship between the colors was making it do that! The answer was saturation. This rose is meant to be glowing from within, and I think I did a good job for my knowledge level at the time! As Chuck Tingle would tell us, it's beautiful because only I could have made it in that moment on the timeline.
March: I spent a million years on every detail of this one, it has at least 5 clipping overlay/saturation layers for lighting, multiple line work groups and I want to rework that background but! I never felt more accomplished than I did when I finished this one. I learned a lot, especially about things I could skip or simplify. And the symbolism really pops off ngl
April: I read Gideon the Ninth for the first time this month and I immediately needed to draw Jeannemary Chatur, Cavalier of the Fourth House, the worst teen to do it. She's the first fanart I ever made and posted! I also discovered a new pen tool with this one, which CHANGED THE GAME.
May: This one is an idea I had written down before I ever picked up the tablet and stylus. I thought I might commission someone to make it, the image of it came to me so clearly during our VTM session I just had to make it real somehow. Well I did it! This is one I will come back to redraw in like 5 years bc I love the concept so much. Also rife with symbolism and inside nods to the Low Kings.
June: I made a bunch of ref sheets in the run-up to Artfight in July. Caleb hadn't even been in my plans to upload, but I had time and inspiration! I will be uploading this and a few more of him <3
July: This is one of my faves from Artfight! This character is Blueberry, by way of OrchidEatsBread on artfight. I have still never played... rainworld? But I love me a slug cat. In July I drew a TON of people, it really drilled anatomy basics into me and how to get clothes looking like actual clothes a bit more. Also solidified some things I would consider "my style" at the moment, like no irises, and my approach to noses and mouths and fingers!
August: Another fanart for the Locked Tomb series, I never posted this!!! Will be rectifying that soon.
September: I got really into javascript and css this month, and I made this to be a landing page image on my neocities website XD I'll get back around to that eventually...
October: At the last minute, I discovered OC-tober and the prompts from @/bweirdart, a worthy follow up to the rush of Artfight two months previous. I developed so much stuff for the Low Kings, including this drawing/character, Amayah/Girl-Z, who has been a figment of my pintrest board for 2+ years.
Huevember: Chasing that OC-tober high, I found Huevember! I did not expect to actually do every day, but it proved to be an amazing exercise! I learned so, so much about color, discovered amazing new brushes and techniques and found I really enjoy working in those one day capsules! I loved a lot of the stuff that came out of this month, including my highest note post ever!!!, but this one is still my phone background and I'm maybe developing an OC world around it. We'll see what happens in 2024.
December: I got hit HARD with the writing bug this month, so this was my only choice for this month but I WOULDA CHOSEN IT ANYWAY. I unlocked something here that I'm really excited to visit again, in fact I'm working on a companion piece rn! This is also fanart btw, prepare for me to get even weirder about this guy in the coming months.
If you've read this far, thank you so much! I have so much fun writing these little reflections and making my posts on here.
xoxo, wren
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armybratz123 · 1 year
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Lucy Caddel (my twst Yuu)
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Lucy Caddel ( pronounced cad-dell) is my OC I made as Yuu. She may be magicless, but never underestimate her. Lucy has spent her whole life dealing with a bad hand the universe had given her, so life at NRC is no different, unlike her life in her home world, this one actually gets better (much to Lucy’s confusion and slight fear).
Prefers to wear her very long hair in a braid. Easiest and quickest style for her to accomplish, plus it helps her to manipulate in other styles when needed. Such as the braided bun for gym. But aside from the braid, Lucy is not good at doing her own hair. It's either in a braid, or down, if you want something more intricate, your going to have to do it for her.
She is very short and is aware and self-conscious over it, wears three inch heels to try and giver a boost. Has worn heels so much for so long, that they are natural for her at this point. Everyone can’t help but think that Lucy has to have some form of magic, the way she moves in her heels are not natural, nor should it be possible. Vol is actually impressed with Lucy’s skill in heels (now if only he can get her to fix her hair and freely showcase her eyes). Physical Education is the only class she doesn't wear heels, Vargas forced her to wear tennis shoes.
Even though Lucy and Grim have a rocky start, first few days they struggle to try and live together in cohesion. But once the two find common ground, and live through multiple trials and overblots together, the two are nearly inseparable.
As shown in the picture above, Lucy fears the broom and flight lessons in Physical Education with Coach Vargas, but after some (note, alot) of struggle, Vargas assigned her third year to help. After a week or so, Lucy quickly becomes the best flier Night Raven College has ever seen. Which will be show cased a lot in the Savanclaw arc with the Spelldrive tournament.
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Ignore the Fairy Gala dress. It’s okay, but I plan on redrawing it in the future. Heartslabyul uniform is during the unbirthday tea party. I noticed that Grim’s bow changed to match the dorm’s uniform, so I did the same for Lucy.
As I stated above, I am going to redraw the Fairy Gala dress, I have a couple of ideas, but we'll see where that goes. I've been thinking of drawing her a masquerade outfit in celebration of the new masquerade arc (although it hasn't come out in English yet), draw a set of casual clothes and maybe a pajama set, and finally, but not least, a ramshackle uniform.
Although, I drew Lucy a Heartslabyul uniform because it's in the story, but if you want to see her in other uniforms as well, go ahead and request for it! I'd be happy to draw it if you want, along with Yuu with other characters (be warned requests like that will take much longer to complete). I'm also opened to questions about Lucy if you have any.
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jsabspinkhorsepro123 · 11 months
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Survivor's Guilt Extras
Here's a few extra beginning pictures and comments about different photos from the newest JSAB's backstory!
Pls read before looking at this-
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This was the first minor outline of Aero
I changed up his hair more, as when coloring in it seemed off, and got rid of the feet as I just had an annoying time with them.
Also this is the first side view I've done since my last drawing of Jade, I am extremely proud of how much I seemed to have improved since then, as I think it looks pretty decently done.
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Here's Aero without any sun shading, or leaves covering him.
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This is the locket halves without them being covered, I had many ideas on how they would work.
It was mainly between two halves that combine to form a picture, or the one above.
I figured the pictures would be a bit annoying to try and do twice, or more, so I just went traditional.
~~
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Here's their first outline of "Thrasher" and 2 of his gang members, I was really proud of the one on the left-
Don't know why I had so much trouble with the basic outline of the 3rd, but I made many changes after this photo
Their masks also were a hard thing to deal with in the outline part, cause I hadn't ever drawn a mask on a person (Well at least in a front facing position)
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Here's the photo without any shade from the trees, I honestly am in love with the drawing
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Here's the younger hero's basic outlines. I started and finished Marigold and Jade literally today (Or well, yesterday now I suppose-). I haven't drawn Jade, Marigold and Cyan in ages, also hadn't drawn many very young characters. Because of that I was so happy with how the three turned out, I loved drawing them. I really should redraw the adult forms sometime soon, as I have done a lot to make their outfits more unique!
And that is all! Next up will be Annihil's Backstory, which will most likely be shorter than these past 3, since it's only focusing on him.
After that... well, you'll just have to wait and see ;)
Hope you all enjoyed~
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jesseevelann · 1 year
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Have you ever tried scanning your paper drawings onto digital form?
I used to before I finally got an Ipad and could comfortably draw digitally, now I don't as much. Traditional is always going to be more comfortable I think, but when I do get into digital it takes a while to go back becasue they're so different to me.
The last time I turned traditional into digital was with this piece of vampire Sakura (or rather my version of the Pop Up Shop event, and what I think her vampire look should have been)
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The colouring and shading is much more advanced and better than what I can do traditionally, but I struggle with lining and colouring with pencils - it feels a lot more time consuming.
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While the digital piece has more colouring and refinement, the traditional art seems to speak to me more, but I coloured it to match the other one I made, and to make the metal elements shine properly.
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I did the same sort of thing for this one. The blood covers her mouth more and the eyes look more menacing, but the traditional looks more clean. I do like the shading of the fur a lot though.
Another example of using this technique is the redraw I did for one of my first pieces of digital art. I drew the pose first on paper, fixed elements of it slightly and used that digitally.
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I'm not confident with side profiles, like at all, or foreshortening, so I drew it in my more comfortable medium.
This example is where I drew the base of my idea on a piece of paper and drew over it. A lot of changes were made and it looks much better than the traditional sketch, but the sketch wasn't made to be good - just to get a feel for the pose.
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My digital art can be more exciting because I do have alternatives for like, lighting. I did just smoke and and just the neon lights and played around with it a lot for this piece.
With my Ipad now I can draw without a traditional sketch, providing I have an idea in my head. But I do have a few good drawings from when I used my phone only, because it's all I could comfortably draw on.
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These two are some of my favourites: I loved the pose for the Sakura one and I'm really happy that I managed to pull it off, and Hikari is just so so sweet and cute she became a favourite easily. These drawings didn't have a traditional base and were solely digital pieces.
If I have difficulty with a pose, or I do decide to make something digital, it would be done with the process of using a photo of my art and tracing over it most likely, but I'm not sure if it'll happen like that. I've been steering away from digital art so I can work on my traditional skills more.
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dollofdeath · 1 year
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art summaries for this year >w<
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template by @/Taxkha
(I / II / III is a comm i haven't posted anywhere / IV / V / VI / VII/ VIII / IX / X / XI / XII)
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template by @/sabattons
more stuff under the read more, because there's quite a few stuff i actually liked this year!
january
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this was a comm for kiz, but i think it came out pretty bomb. any hypsters who are into projmoon/projmoon fans into hypmic pspspsps --
actually i think this was my first ever piece this year, so it's interesting to see how much i've improved in over the past couple of months!
also i did some comms between feb and may to help raise some money for my relatives in the philippines, but i don't think i should post the ones i really like since the project isn't complete yet. but i think they came out bomb too, trust me -- (the volo art in my art summary is one of these comms lol)
april
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i just wanted to post these two together since they're a set LOL thank u arb for giving me flowers that aren't roses to associate with hifugen....
also here are the unblurred versions of this set lol
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may
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this is just one of my fave hifugen headcanons KJFSDJKJKF
gentaro about hifumi: 🙄😒😑 gentaro about hifumi, when hifumi's fangirls are around: *draping himself over hifumi* excuse me ladies, do you have any business with My man?
KJFSJKDFSJKJH
august
i think i went rly hard in august. august was really a turning point for me this year too i think, so maybe my art reflected that haha, but anyhow. i really love these
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everyone and their mom has done a religious jakurai art, but i wanted to do one too... the detail i rly like is the blood on his hands. because i like to headcanon that jakurai has vitiligo on his hands. i like how i incorporated that hc in this without making it too busy lol
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THIS ONE. HELL YEAH. this is a redraw of an older art i made for thanatos' anniversary, and i thought the first one was cool but i was like "i think i have the skills to make this even better now" and I DID!!! idk, i'm glad i could capture the horror vibes more poignantly
september
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this one is?? i don't think i made her a full reference sheet, i realized lol but i started streaming for friends because i have a bunch of game recs and no attention span to play them WKJGJKD so i decided streaming them so i could be held accountable for them would be the best way to do it LMFAO
anyways this is my pngtuber. they have no name, but she's a shopkeeper of a mysterious antique store. originally that doll on the bookshelf was gonna my pngtuber and i came up with a bunch of lore for her, but then i realized i had another oc design i really dig and was also simpler, so i revamped that for streaming FJKSDJKF but i would like to put that doll to use somehow or another. anyways if u can pinpoint all the references on the shopkeeper and their bookshelf and even her store's very existence, i love u --
catch me on twitch on sundays and mondays for mhyk and ace attorney respectively --
october
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as much as possible, i try to do a vanistar anniversary art because noël is my baby boy... i'm so happy with how this year's came out!! ofc there's areas that could use work, but i like the colors and lighting c:
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I'VE BEEN MEANING TO DO AN IBERIA AU FOR JAKUDO FOR SO LONG... probably as long as the koibito AU for hifugen, but i just haven't been able to put it into words... i'm glad i could at least do a bit of this year, and i hope one day i can manage the whole concept!! also this idea's been in my head for so long that arb managed to reveal demon designs for both jakurai and doppo, sparing me the effort of designing them myself FSJKJKKJH
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this one is also a set, so i wanted to post them together hehe again this is based off a horror rpg concept me and gianna came up together back in high school that will probably never see the light of day lol this probably doesn't surprise anyone who knows us, but these characters are based on us FKJSKJH
wah... i think my artist wrapped really covers what i have to say! quantity-wise, i'm not too happy with how much i made... it can't really be helped considering how busy and tiresome it's been this year, and i really wish i could say i can do more next year, but it's likely i'll be posting less and less in the future TwT but as much as possible, i'd still like to share my work! i think this might be my time to start focusing on original stuff, but i still wanna do fandom related stuff because there's still a lot of ideas and concepts i wanna see realized!! also i just love my fandom blorbos a lot lol, so i'll find ways to do things for them >w<
quality-wise though, i think i'm pretty pleased! last year i got csp, so i was still figuring it out, but now i think i got a better hang of it! and that means my art looks more confident i think haha. of course, there's still a lot of room for improvement, but it's nice that i can look at my stuff and go "yeah i like this!" i'm excited to see where my artistic journey goes from here!!
but yeah, maybe it wasn't a plentiful year for me re: art, but i made some pretty nice stuff despite that! thank you all for the support, and here's to next year!!
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mrdovetoutou · 11 months
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OKAY GUYS I'M GOING TO START WRITING MY BOOK FOR THE "hanahakidisease book" I HOPE YOU GUYS WILL BE PREPARED THERE'S GOING TO BE SO MANY CHAPTERS THAT I'M GOING TO BE AGAIN WITH IT I HOPE YOU GET YOUR TISSUE BOX AND EVERYTHING CUZ I'M NOT MAKING THIS A HAPPY STORY I WANT LOTS OF CRYING TEARS SOBBING HEARTBREAK AND ANGER WITH IT
Okay so I plan to make sure I have four characters inside the book that there could be lots of miscommunications between it there's going to be an lgbtq love story with this there's two girls and two boys so there's going to be lots of things that I'm going to try to add with the book so I'm going to try to get as much emotions inside this book with getting into character of how all the characters would act towards certain things this is the actual book that I've been wanting to write for so long but I've never had the time or actually the physical emotions to ever do it so soon enough I'll get the first chapter in when I figure out to be better with grammar and everything else
I've been trying to get some things corrected because I also want to try to draw the characters I have already planned how they would look but that was a long time ago so I have to redraw them once I finish redrawing them I'll post them for what the characters look like and try to make a cover book of it
This book will be well this book will be something that will be important to me and would complete everything else that's been in a Heidi pole for my heart so I hope you guys can take the time to appreciate this book even if you don't I'm fine with that I just want to express myself with this book that I've been hiding for so long and never had the time to finish
Also if you have any recommendations for our next book that I should probably write please do leave a comment down below I like to get into my emotions a lot I like to make sad stories I never once made a happy one before but I could try so the chapter would probably be ready in probably two weeks because I also have to think of everything even if I have to show you small little sneak peeks that be enough I think but don't worry I won't leave you guys out of the curiosity!
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silima · 2 years
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Do you have any tips for small artists?
i have no idea what level of technical skill u have so these are some pretty general tips but here u go! these are also mostly focused on fanart lol cuz that's what i like to make.
number 1 rule of art is that people like art that is interesting!!! it's gotta make them feel something or they will ignore it!! i used to draw so much art that was just like, a character standing there doing nothing. and i would try very hard to have nice lineart and pretty shading and all that good stuff but in the end a character standing there doing nothing is boring. if you have really good technical skills, then some people will still be like "wow pretty art!!" or "so photorealistic! how cool!" but generally speaking it's gonna take soooooo long to actually reach that level of technical skill if every drawing u make looks like this 🧍. if you wanna improve fast, you're much better off experimenting with all sorts of types of art.
so, what do people find interesting? lots of things!
ship art is an easy way to make an "interesting" drawing, b/c people like ships and b/c you've got a character interaction happening there. even if they're just leaning on each other or holding hands or something, there's personality in that. even when i was really shitty at art i always noticed that my ship art got more notes than art of just 1 character.
in general, character interactions always make things more interesting. u certainly don't have to only draw romantic ships--draw some characters who are friends hanging out and having fun, or draw characters who are family hugging each other, or something. or draw people fighting!!! if you're not yet used to drawing characters interacting, it can be a bit of a pain at first, but it opens up so many fun possibilities (and reference photos can always help you!! google images is honestly the best of all resources for that lmao although more specific stuff like adorkastock is great too).
even without character interactions, u can make drawings that try to evoke an emotion of some sort. dark and angsty? lonely? happy and cute? this is one of my favorite drawings ever and i think it's super, super visually interesting and tells a story without the need for more than one character or any sort of words/dialogue, just from the pose and the background and the whole vibe of it. it feels so peaceful and lovely. of course, it makes a difference that this artist clearly has a lot of technical skill, but if this same artist drew a picture of aang looking like 🧍 on a boring white background i would definitely not love this art nearly as much lol.
screenshot redraws are also pretty popular!! personally i would strongly advise that if ur gonna redraw a screenshot, you should be adding something interesting to your version. if you colorpick the exact same colors from the drawing and try to copy the style as closely as possible, it's a little boring, right? why would i want to see the exact same picture twice? one artist who does screenshot redraws really well is viorie (who i think has removed/deactivated a lot of her stuff, thus the repost, sorry):
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like this is very clearly an artist that had something of her own to bring to the screenshot she was redrawing!! that's what makes it cool, appealing art, even though it's "just" a redraw.
and of course my absolute favorite thing to make drawings "interesting" is to make comics. comics are the best!! u get to draw a whole story!!! lots of types of comics that you can make, too. a lot of the comics that i've made lately are my own writing and tend to be more serious, but if you're looking for something easy, fun, and simple, try drawing incorrect quotes or make art/comics that are based off of other people's posts, fics, or ideas that you thought were really cool (w/ appropriate credit obviously).
on that note, drawing fanart for other people is especially effective for putting yourself out there because it's often hard to get your foot in the door on social media when you literally have 0 followers and no one is seeing your stuff. you draw something for a popular fic writer or a humor blog, they're happy because they've gotten fanart and they reblog your art, you're happy because now all their followers are seeing ur stuff. lol this sounds so transactional but it's really a lot more fun than it sounds. make art for other ppl! make some friends! join discord servers, join group chats, comment nice things on other peoples' work, & check out fandom events, like big bangs or ship weeks or whatever. it's good stuff.
also, use different social media. it might seem like what tends to be popular in one corner of the internet is gonna be pretty well-received everywhere else but that's not always the case lol. tumblr, for example, usually puts a lot of emphasis on consuming content "from a fandom" rather than consuming content "from an artist"--it's hard to build an individual brand, people just want More Insert Popular Fandom Content and don't really care who it comes from so long as it fits a certain type of art; in my case, atla is a way more popular show than lok, so my atla art gets significantly more attention than my lok art does, despite the fact that i don't make that much of it. on the other hand, on instagram, people really like my lok/red lotus art because that's sort of my "brand" and my atla art tends to get less attention. (this works out for me because i like lok way better and i also have way more followers on instagram than i do here.)
& ofc when you talk about becoming a "popular" artist... i mean, i'm not gonna be the person who tells u "oh you should ONLY be doing this for yourself!! if you're doing it for attention you're doing it all wrong!" because obviously i love attention and i love making art that people like. i would not draw nearly as much if i didn't have fun sharing it! but if you let yourself get too sucked into the idea of making "popular" art, you're gonna feel super drained and fucked up and you eventually will burn out hard (ahaha.............). there's a balance to strike between "i'm making this art because it's fun" and "i'm making this art because i know people will like it." on tumblr, my atla art is way more popular than my lok art, but i don't care abt atla nearly as much as i care abt lok, so i'm never gonna like, make an in-depth comic about the atla main cast the way i have for the red lotus, the lok main cast, and kyoshi. what a waste of time! even when you're looking for advice about how to become a "big" artist, ultimately, you've gotta make the art that's fun for you, and with luck you'll eventually find an audience that also enjoys that type of art.
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madelion · 3 years
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hey, i'm an artist (or so i'm pretending to be) and i absolutely ADORE your art style and the way you draw so beautifully. What are some tips or what is some advice you could give me on anatomy, use of color or digital drawing generally? I've posted my art like once but I was so nervous of what people might think of it I made something super different to my actual style, so if you scroll on my page don't find it because i hate it lmao
Anyway, I would really like to hear what's some advice you have to give!
Hi!!! First of all, thank you so much for your sweet comment it means so much to hear that 🥺
So my bIGGEST TIPS I can possibly give (this is gonna be long I apologize in advance):
1. always always always use references.
I cannot stress this tip enough.
Whether it‘s for a certain pose you want to draw: you can go on Pinterest/google to find poses, clothing ideas, hairstyles, lighting, scenery. use references for EVERYTHING. no matter what people say it is not cheating. Sometimes we luck out and we magically draw the poses straight from our brain, but honestly that’s rare.
And it doesnt all have to be from real life. You can take inspiration from other artist whose styles you look up to/admire. For me that’s viria94(Instagram), aleikats, alexiakhodanian(twitter), spidertams(instagram) and many others! Obviously you don’t want to copy your inspirations, but you can learn so much from just observing their artwork :) Your inspirations will most likely change dramatically overtime because your art style will grow as you continue to improve. These inspirations are going to be a mashup of things you like about each individual style. And eventually, you’ll learn how to incorporate some of those elements into your own art which in turn: helps you find your own voice/style with your artwork.
but also, don’t forget to not copy them exactly lol. It’s one thing to “copy” an art style as a way to personally practice in your own time (which is totally okay to do!) But there is definitely a fine line between practicing/outright copying and claiming it as your own work. I hope that made sense???
2. Redraws
this is something I only just started doing, but it has helped my artwork improve immensely. I redraw scenes from shows and movies that I love (which I will get to this tip in a second). And then because the scene is already set for you, it helps you not only practice anatomy (especially if you’re referencing real people), but also lighting, setting up compositions, and in general practicing this over time will help you refine your art style!
3. Draw from life
Not everyone has a realistic art style, nor do they need to have one. However, it is important to understand the ”rules” before you can break them. And what I mean by that is that by practicing realistic anatomy, you get to understand proportions/how the body works in relation to itself. Because even though everyone is shaped differently from each other, there is still an overall similarity we all have with one another. And honestly all you have to do will go into my next point:
4. watch tutorials
Cannot even tell you how many tutorials I have watched over the years. I will forever be on YouTube trying to learn how to do something. this honestly goes with the references section because it just helps so so so much. Having someone show you exactly what to do is so beneficial because they’ll move you through the exact motions you need to do to get to the end result. I remember when I first started really getting into art, I loved drawing realistic eyes and lips. so I watched tutorials of that all the time and now it’s pretty much second nature to me.
since you asked about the use of color, anatomy, and digital drawing… this is gonna be golden for helping you okay. I might have taken a color theory class a couple quarters ago at school… but trust me I’m still winging the whole color thing. howEVER, tutorials will be your best friend when it comes to these things I pROMISE.
5. TAKE BREAKS
please for the love of all things do not push yourself to be creative when your mind refuses to do so. some of our best work/ideas appear when we’re bored or doing something else entirely.
taking a break means go do something else you enjoy. For me that’s: playing my favorite video game, watching my favorite show/movie, reading a book, talking to my friends or family, baking, writing. just do something else!
the moment you try to force yourself to finish a drawing when you’re really not in the mindset to do so (unless this thing you’re drawing is for school… that’s an entirely different thing trust me lol), you’re just going to lead yourself into an art block. So many artists pressure themselves to draw everyday because yeah it can lead to improvement, but back in my anne with an e days when I felt pressured to put out fan art consistently for the show, it led me to what was probably my longest art block EVER. and it sucks because I ender up losing the inspiration to draw for a show that I loved a lot. So always remember to pace yourself and take care of yourself before anything else <3
6. Draw what you love
so often we feel pressured to draw what others want us to draw. But that shouldn’t matter. yes, it’s good to be aware of the people that may look at your art/follow your art account, but that should never dictate the work that you create.
for some people they love drawing original characters and creating stories, others might only love drawing animals, some people have certain themes in their artwork, and others, like me, purely like drawing fan art.
when you draw something you love, your artwork will always turn out better because that means you’re having fun making it.
and for me personally, I cannot whip out original characters for the life of me unless it’s for a grade LOL. So when it comes to drawing, that’s why I stick to fan art.
NOW I KNOW THIS WAS SUPER SUPER LONG but I really hoped this helped in some sense!!!
But thank you so much for asking, I’m always more than happy to give out some advice/tips :) I’m looking forward to seeing more art from you!
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thewolfmanslayer · 3 years
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Honestly the amount of people who say artists and writers should do stuff for free, or try to rip them off on comissions still royally piss me off.
I think the worst part of it is the entitlement, I dont want to make this too much about generations but a lot of commissioners are millenial/Gen z's who grew up on the "steal and pirate everything" mentality, take everything that you can because no one else is going to hand it to you. which I can get behind, when you are screwing over MULTI BILLION DOLLAR COMPANIES. NOT THE STRUGGLING ARTISTS AND WRITERS who are trying to keep food on the table as desperately as you probably are!
It's simple, you wouldn't walk into a restaurant, order food and tell the server "sorry I don't have any money, but I've got like a few thousand followers on social media, I can get your name out there, get the restaurant some exposure" NO! They don't need "exposure" they need you to pay the damn bill!
On top of that, most of these artists and writers ALREADY HAVE FOLLOWINGS. They already have thousands of people following them, waiting for the chance to get a commission, who are willing to pay for said commission, they don't need "exposure" when they're already out there! He'll even the artists and writers with a few hundred don't need it, they'll get more followers as time goes by, their skill alone will see to it.
And what is with people trying to get free art and writing? It's not going to work! You can't harass someone until they cave, trust me, you'll be long since blocked before you even have the opportunity. I don't do comissions, online anyways, but my own friends and family, people who actually know me STILL PAY ME whenever they ask for me to do art for them because they KNOW it takes TIME AND EFFORT.
How many times do we need to have this discussion???? Like when is it going to finally click that people who need to pay their bills just as much as you do AREN'T going to do this shit for free!?
Here's the thing about art and writing, that you've heard a billion times but still aren't getting; IT. TAKES. TIME. AND. EFFORT. TO. GET. DONE. the art isn't going to magically appear and the writing isn't going to suddenly write itself, if either were so convenient YOU WOULDNT BE ASKING AN ARTIST OR WRITER IN THE FIRST PLACE!
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Look at that, you see that? The first picture I did back in 2012-13, the picture beside it? I did that TWO YEARS AGO. I didn't suddenly know exactly what to do, or had anything close to a god given talent for drawing (I'm not that talented). The first picture WAS THE ABSOLUTE BEST I COULD DO AT THE TIME THAT I MADE IT. In the time between these two drawings I admittedly took a break from art, but then I got back into it four years ago. EVEN STILL that was four YEARS of starting over from the basics, relearning everything, learning new things, wanting to actually improve my art.
Which, guess what, DID NOT HAPPEN OVER NIGHT. It was HOURS UPON HOURS of my limited free time as an adult drawing over and over and over and over again, every single goddamn day to get to the point that I was able to make that redraw look as good as it does in comparison. He'll, my art now puts them both to shame! Because I spent the time improving my quality!!
Now look at these artists doing comissions, they've probably put EVEN MORE of their time to get that good! They've put in LITERAL YEARS of sweat, blood, tears, frustrations and dedicated hardwork. Some did the same as me, self teaching and lots of practice, others probably had to go to school, which definitely wasn't cheap. But all of us put in that time and effort TO REACH THESE POINTS. Of being better artists, developing our styles, getting faster at drawing.
And maybe you think that this is super easy, right? That I or every other artist can just fire some art off and boom its good and done in like an hour?
FUCK. NO.
Even now it takes me several hours a day OVER MANY DAYS to make something exceptionally good! It doesn't matter how good an artist is, it still. Takes. Time.
Maybe the issue is that you don't understand how much actually goes into art, let me break it down for you, the steps that most people follow to finish ONE drawing.
-Rough draft: general character outline, get a feel for what I want to draw.
-Rough sketch: I start doing a bit of pencil to start filling in details like mouth, nose, eyes, hair, clothes. Ect.
-Penciling: I go over the rough sketch and clean everything up, maybe do some editing, this is when you can start making out all the details.
-Ink: I trace over the finished pencil with a pen tool and actually have the line art, everything looks clean, presentable, it actually looks like a character now. I'll spend time editing this and possibly redoing the inking many times over to get to a point where I like it.
-Flat color: I decide on which colors to use for skin tone, clothes accessories. Ect.
-Shading/highlights: I figure out where my light source is and how strong it is, I then apply the correct amount of lighting and shadows to the color to give it depth, I also have determine the texture of skin, clothes and accessories to make everything look real and natural.
-Blending: I smooth out the shading and highlights so that it looks more natural and isn't too hard (noticeable difference between color) so that it looks as natural as possible.
-Finish: I go over last minute details, finish any editing or corrections that need to be done. Once it's good I call it a day.
Each process is longer in length then the previous, with the exception of the final editing (as long as everything looks good) and even the rough draft can take some time. Over all this is SEVERAL HOURS of work for a SINGLE DRAWING.
So is it sinking in yet? How much is put into doing even a single character drawing? God forbid if its done with background. This isn't a "scratch a pen around and be done with it in ten minutes" kinda deal, no, this is SEVERAL HOURS OF SOMEONES LIFE BEING PUT INTO THIS
And if you still have the AUDACITY to try and wrangle free art from an artist then there's no helping you, you're just a selfish piece of shit, no question and I want nothing to do with you.
Someone might say "But I got free art/writing from.-" look I don't give a shit if someone did something for you THAT ONE TIME, these other artists and writers? Totally seperate and different people. You're one freebie experience does not, and should not apply to other artists and writers.
"But what if I really want this commission but don't have the money right now?" Well, that's tough shit. Save up and properly commission them when you can, it's not their problem.
"But what if I'm in a really bad financial situation and really want it?" That sucks, and I'm sorry, but again, not their problem. Chances are this is their only source of income and they need to make money so that they don't end up in a similar situation.
"They have a gift! They should share it!" What kind of cheap ass- LOOK, just because someone is talented or really good at something does not automatically obligate them to do anything for total strangers in anyway shape or form. These are living, breathing people, the same as you. They need to eat, they need to pay rent/mortgages, they need to pay vet bills, send their kids to college, do their taxes and everything else that YOU YOURSELF need to do. Asking anyone to spend their time doing something for free, when that something is how THEY ARE SURVIVING is beyond asinine. Not only that, this obviously isn't a hobby to them, it is very clearly THEIR JOB. Would you want to do a job where you didn't get paid at all? Doing a shit ton of work for absolutely nothing? No? Didn't think so.
"It shouldn't be about the money!" Well unfortunately, as with almost every other job, it is. We live in a world where we desperately need to make money in order to survive. That's the painful fact of the matter. If money never had to be an issue ever again then this would be a very different story. But it's not, plain and simple as can be.
Look, these people are just like you, artists and writers who are just trying to get by in a shitty ass world, using the one thing they have that let's them have an income. Leave them be, don't try and trick them, guilt them, or cuss them out when you don't get your way. Either properly comission or leave them the hell alone, plain and simple.
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