cipher-sketches
cipher-sketches
i draw. in theory, at least.
23 posts
20 something ���� he/they 🩵 @letsgostealahellsite’s art blog
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cipher-sketches · 9 days ago
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btw if you're bored as an artist you should try learning to draw fat and skin folds, it genuinely is really fun once you get into it.
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cipher-sketches · 19 days ago
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how to make those water ripple animations I keep making:
I use gimp, and in order to keep this from being unreasonably long, I'm not going to be handholding you on where to find each of these render thingies - if you can figure out how to download gimp in the first place, you'll figure it out. Also my gimp is in 50% finnish, so I can't guarantee that the things and tools I'll be talking about are actually called what I'm calling them in english.
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First, we render a spiral. The colours of the spiral are irrelevant, and will be gone in the next step. Because the next thing we go is to go to filters -> artistic -> waterpixels, and set the superpixels colour from "average" to "random". Also depending on your image size (I use 1600x1600 images), you might want to scale the "superpixel size" up to fairly large. This is looking funky already.
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Now, the colour selection is all over the place - and the way I do colour palettes is by starting with All The Colours and then removing one. For this one, let's choose red. Take the paint bucket tool, set it on "fill whole selection" and "color erase". Then paint the whole picture, and you no longer have red.
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Adding another layer underneath the main one, I figured I'd just do it in cyan, but that looked kind of boring, so I ended up making it a gradient instead. Then merge those layers.
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And now, the next part is where the fun starts happening. Go to the filters, and choose "animation", and from there, "waves". I like to go with 40 and 40 on the sliders, and set the amount of frames to 30.
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And now we are cooking with fireworks! This is the part where you can start fucking around with the colours and other settings as you please, but in order to keep this simple, I'm not going to try any particularly frivolous fuckery. This is the part where we can do the sub-pattern. To keep it simple, I'm making it a tile floor again. So open a new image, the same size as the first one, go to filters -> render -> checkerboard. Again, you can use whatever colours you like, but it's best to make even the lighter part of the pattern be on the darker side.
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Then, you put a ripple effect on it. It should be in the animation filters, just below "waves". The bigger your pattern is, the stronger you can make the effect, but the important part is to make sure that the amount of frames on it is EXACTLY THE SAME as the wave animation you did before.
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Whee! Wiggly!
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Then you go to the files, choose "open as layers", and then open the wave image on top of this one. And for the next part, copy the last frame of the wave animation and set it from "normal" to "multiply", "linear burn", or whatever thing you think is best to make them darker, and merge it down. Then you repeat the same process with every single one of the 30 wave layers. Yes, every single one.
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And then I like to go back to "waterpixels", but this time keep the superpixels colour as "average". Make a copy of all the wave frames, and do "waterpixels" filter on one of the two. Then change it from normal to "darken only", and merge it with the other matching frame. Then we repeat the same process with every single one of the 30 wave layers. Yes, every single one. The process should look like the one below:
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Then open wave frame 30 and the floor tile frame 30, put the paint bucket to "color erase", on black, and fill the whole wave frame. This is the part where I fucked up, having made the lighter colour of the tiles way too light. I specifically should not have done that. Time to go through every single one of the floor tile frames one by one to make them darker. Yes, all 30 of them.
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Then I went back to the original wave image, did the same waterpixels -trick as earlier but this time merging them down as "lighten only" instead of "darken only". Added a new layer, putting black-to-transparent gradients on two opposite corners, set the layer from "normal" to "erase", and copied and merged the erase layer to every single one of the layers, making all of them transparent at the corners. All 30 of them, one by one.
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Opened the wave animation onto the floor tile file as layers, set them all from "normal" to "screen", and merged each layer to their respective layer, one by one. Yes, all 30.
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And so, respectively, the last three steps look like this:
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I wasn't happy with how the whole thing looked like before figuring out the screen layer thing, and this kind of unexpected surprises save my work every single time, which is why I got hooked on these wave animations in the first place. Then I take the 3D perspective tool, and tilt every single frame to 70 on the X axis without touching either of the other two. And then repeating that on every single frame - yes, all 30, one by one.
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And then you crop the extra corners off, and there you have it:
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The fun part is that no matter what I was planning to do, I never know what it's going to turn out becoming. They're all different, depending on what kind of fuckery and settings I try on them, and this one wanted to be Ghibli water.
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cipher-sketches · 25 days ago
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Kokabiel painting process
www.patreon.com/angelarium
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cipher-sketches · 25 days ago
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What it Takes to Forget If memories were ink If these pages could think Then I would burn it all Then I would rather fall
-Part of my Wings of Pages series
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cipher-sketches · 4 months ago
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“Empress Sato” prompt for Enterprise Appreication April 2025. I love her…
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cipher-sketches · 5 months ago
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Quick sketch bc I like his shape
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I should play this someday
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cipher-sketches · 5 months ago
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OH MY GOD I THOUGHT I WAS CRAZY
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Just to make a point, every time I finished a panel of this I would export it as a PNG on the perceptual setting and use it as a color reference for the next panel
IT'S BAD
PLEASE CHECK YOUR COLOR SETTINGS
EDIT: If you're still having problems, it might help to switch from "Save/Save as" to "Export (as a) Single Layer". Just. Make SURE the box labeled "Expression Color" is set to RGB. I've been messing with this all day, and it looks like this combination of settings will allow exported PNGs to maintain their colors perfectly. To you. So far both Discord and Toyhouse still only display desaturated images and I cannot for the life of me figure out why
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cipher-sketches · 5 months ago
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Heheh he’s gonna get Trapped
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“Pineapple” prompt for Ent Application April 2025, this came to me in a vision after someone in the Shuttlepod One Discord server said “Malcolm bait”
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cipher-sketches · 5 months ago
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Can't afford art school?
After seeing post like this 👇
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And this gem 👇
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As well as countless of others from the AI generator community. Just talking about how "inaccessible art" is, I decided why not show how wrong these guys are while also helping anyone who actually wants to learn.
Here is the first one ART TEACHERS! There are plenty online and in places like youtube.
📺Here is my list:
Proko (Free, mostly teaches anatomy and how to draw people. But does have art talks and teaches the basics.)
Marc Brunet (Free but he does have other classes for a cheap price. Use to work for Blizzard and teaches you everything)
Aaron Rutten (free, tips about art, talks about art programs and the best products for digital art)
BoroCG (free, teaches a verity of art mediums from 3D modeling to digital painting. As well as some tips that can be used across styles)
Jesse J. Jones (free, talks about animating)
Jesus Conde (free, teaches digital painting and has classes in Spanish)
Mohammed Agbadi (free, he gives some advice in some videos and talks about art)
Ross Draws (free, he does have other classes for a good price. Mostly teaching character designs and simple backgrounds.)
SamDoesArts (free, gives good advice and critiques)
Drawfee Show (free, they do give some good advice and great inspiration)
The Art of Aaron Blaise ( useful tips for digital art and animation. Was an animator for Disney. Mostly nature art)
Bobby Chiu ( useful tips and interviews with artist who are in the industry or making a living as artist)
Sinix Design (has some tips on drawing people)
Winged canvas (art school for free on a verity of mediums)
Bob Ross (just a good time, learn how to paint, as well as how too relax when doing art. "there are no mistakes only happy accidents", this channel also provides tips from another artist)
Scott Christian Sava (Inspiration and provides tips and advice)
Pikat (art advice and critiques)
Drawbox (a suggested cheap online art school, made of a community of artist)
Skillshare (A cheap learning site that has art classes ranging from traditional to digital. As well as Animation and tutorials on art programs. All under one price, in the USA it's around $34 a month)
Human anatomy for artist (not a video or teacher but the site is full of awesome refs to practice and get better at anatomy)
Second part BOOKS, I have collected some books that have helped me and might help others.
📚Here is my list:
The "how to draw manga" series produced by Graphic-sha. These are for manga artist but they give great advice and information.
"Creating characters with personality" by Tom Bancroft. A great book that can help not just people who draw cartoons but also realistic ones. As it helps you with facial ques and how to make a character interesting.
"Albinus on anatomy" by Robert Beverly Hale and Terence Coyle. Great book to help someone learn basic anatomy.
"Artistic Anatomy" by Dr. Paul Richer and Robert Beverly Hale. A good book if you want to go further in-depth with anatomy.
"Directing the story" by Francis Glebas. A good book if you want to Story board or make comics.
"Animal Anatomy for Artists" by Eliot Goldfinger. A good book for if you want to draw animals or creatures.
"Constructive Anatomy: with almost 500 illustrations" by George B. Bridgman. A great book to help you block out shadows in your figures and see them in a more 3 diamantine way.
"Dynamic Anatomy: Revised and expand" by Burne Hogarth. A book that shows how to block out shapes and easily understand what you are looking out. When it comes to human subjects.
"An Atlas of animal anatomy for artist" by W. Ellenberger and H. Dittrich and H. Baum. This is another good one for people who want to draw animals or creatures.
Etherington Brothers, they make books and have a free blog with art tips.
📝As for Supplies, I recommend starting out cheap, buying Pencils and art paper at dollar tree or 5 below. If you want to go fancy Michaels is always a good place for traditional supplies. They also get in some good sales and discounts. For digital art, I recommend not starting with a screen art drawing tablet as they are usually more expensive.
For the Best art Tablet I recommend either Xp-pen, Bamboo or Huion. Some can range from about 40$ to the thousands.
💻As for art programs here is a list of Free to pay.
Clip Studio paint ( you can choose to pay once or sub and get updates. Galaxy, Windows, macOS, iPad, iPhone, Android, or Chromebook device. )
Procreate ( pay once for $9.99 usd, IPAD & IPHONE ONLY)
Blender (for 3D modules/sculpting, animation and more. Free)
PaintTool SAI (pay but has a 31 day free trail)
Krita (Free)
mypaint (free)
FireAlpaca (free)
Aseprite ($19.99 usd but has a free trail, for pixel art Windows & macOS)
Drawpile (free and for if you want to draw with others)
IbisPaint (free, phone app ONLY)
Medibang (free, IPAD, Android and PC)
NOTE: Some of these can work on almost any computer like Clip and Sai but others will require a bit stronger computer like Blender. Please check their sites for if your computer is compatible.
So do with this information as you will but as you can tell there are ways to learn how to become an artist, without breaking the bank. The only thing that might be stopping YOU from using any of these things, is YOU.
I have made time to learn to draw and many artist have too. Either in-between working two jobs or taking care of your family and a job or regular school and chores. YOU just have to take the time or use some time management, it really doesn't take long to practice for like an hour or less. YOU also don't have to do it every day, just once or three times a week is fine.
Hope this was helpful and have a great day.
"also apologies for any spelling or grammar errors, I have Dyslexia and it makes my brain go XP when it comes to speech or writing"
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cipher-sketches · 6 months ago
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y'all want everything on the woman to be fat except the woman.
the number of art pieces I see where a wide woman has a stick thin neck or a thin woman has a disproportionately round stomach or the fucking twitter hips phenomenon of "this is my character Fat Fuck" and its a thin woman with mile wide hips and thighs is annoying.
learn some fucking anatomy or im taking away your "I fuck with fat bitches card" until you know what a fat woman actually fucking looks like.
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cipher-sketches · 7 months ago
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Overshoots and Mini Anticipations lecture from my Complete Introduction to 2D animation package.
https://gumroad.com/l/Introto2DComplete or you can buy each chapters, or my other tutorials: https://gumroad.com/stringbing
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cipher-sketches · 7 months ago
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hot artists don't gatekeep
I've been resource gathering for YEARS so now I am going to share my dragons hoard
Floorplanner. Design and furnish a house for you to use for having a consistent background in your comic or anything! Free, you need an account, easy to use, and you can save multiple houses.
Comparing Heights. Input the heights of characters to see what the different is between them. Great for keeping consistency. Free.
Magma. Draw online with friends in real time. Great for practice or hanging out. Free, paid plan available, account preferred.
Smithsonian Open Access. Loads of free images. Free.
SketchDaily. Lots of pose references, massive library, is set on a timer so you can practice quick figure drawing. Free.
SculptGL. A sculpting tool which I am yet to master, but you should be able to make whatever 3d object you like with it. free.
Pexels. Free stock images. And the search engine is actually pretty good at pulling up what you want.
Figurosity. Great pose references, diverse body types, lots of "how to draw" videos directly on the site, the models are 3d and you can rotate the angle, but you can't make custom poses or edit body proportions. Free, account option, paid plans available.
Line of Action. More drawing references, this one also has a focus on expressions, hands/feet, animals, landscapes. Free.
Animal Photo. You pose a 3d skull model and select an animal species, and they give you a bunch of photo references for that animal at that angle. Super handy. Free.
Height Weight Chart. You ever see an OC listed as having a certain weight but then they look Wildly different than the number suggests? Well here's a site to avoid that! It shows real people at different weights and heights to give you a better idea of what these abstract numbers all look like. Free to use.
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cipher-sketches · 7 months ago
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Started playing Limbus Company last night and I had this exact mental image come to me when I got to the toxic gas portion of the Canto I dungeon
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No one will find this funny but me, but I am my own target audience so I can live with that
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cipher-sketches · 8 months ago
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in one of the servers I'm in, we've been discussing looking back at your old art, and a couple people mentioned that getting compliments on their old art makes them feel like their artistic growth isn't as evident to other people as it is to them, or like they havent improved as much as they thought for people to still be complimenting their old work
but it's really not like that! Your personal perception of your art is inherently going to be very different to the audience. This is how i explained it in there & i thought i'd share it here as well:
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A compliment on your old art doesn't undermine the growth in your new art, it's just admiring the qualities of your work that were already there!
Our art can change direction, our grasp of the fundamentals can get stronger, and this means our personal standards will always go up and the choices we would make creating a piece change, so when you as the creator look back on your old art, you're hit with a lot of "oof, I'd do x and y and z differently now".
But your audience doesn't have any of those hangups, to them youve drawn some good art, and when they look at your current art, you're making even stronger art, and both of them are worth admiring.
not that any of this makes it any less psychic damage inducing to look at your own old art LOL but putting yourself in the shoes of the audience and looking at it for what it is rather than how well it reaches your current standards can still help a little with that
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cipher-sketches · 9 months ago
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🌸🌻Saffi through the Seasons🍂❄️
Adding them to my shop very soon!
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cipher-sketches · 9 months ago
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take it.
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cipher-sketches · 9 months ago
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One of my long time patrons requested a space painting tutorial with a focus on how to make the stars shine and the colors vibrant. So I recorded a speed paint I made under 10 minutes of how to paint the Milky Way. I hope it helps!
You can find free downloads of the brushes I used right here YuumeiArt.com/space-tutorial It contains a brush set for Photoshop and another set for Clip Studio (converted by Arcane Halo)
Music is Tree Soul by Kentdow
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