#I'm trying to learn how to sketch faster...
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4/7.08.2024 • Sketching cats with pen (pilot G-1 0.5) 😺
#I'm trying to learn how to sketch faster...#used my own photos for reference#art#cat#cats#sketch#cat sketch#pen sketch#sketchbook#animal art#ugly sketches#x-x
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I got sidetracked :(
started drawing because I needed to feel alive :)
#Yes these are all parts of a thing that's not quite an animation but it is a little bit#I'm trying to learn how to sketch faster#And be less perfectionistic#So now this is happening#antonia dreykov#mcu taskmaster#marvel taskmaster#Thunderbolts*#Drawing#Art
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I've been trying to draw and feeling overwhelmed with all my ideas, and I had this thought I thought I might share. now that I've graduated and work full-time, I find myself missing drawing a lot. of course it has been my primary hobby and my most developed skill, but previously, even in university, I had more time to draw. now a lot of my time goes into necessary tasks like exercise, household chores, socialising, and resting, so while previously I might have spent my evenings staying up late and drawing, now I fall asleep before I can even start lol
though I have always liked drawing, I'm just now realising how important it is to me, which explains why I've been so frustrated with it. in the past few years, in my busy adult schedule, I've resorted to tools that make the process faster (relying heavily on references, sometimes tracing difficult parts like hands, skipping backgrounds, not even attempting challenging poses or perspectives) and while I've learned a lot, I have now reached a point where I feel both afraid to try drawing without a full reference and bored of not being able to implement my own ideas. because my end goal is to just draw something and get something drawn for the sake of it, I've lost the enjoyment of the process, and I've become too focused on the result being good. what I realised is that the bit I enjoy about drawing is the challenge, trying to get that one difficult bit right. and storytelling!
so I've decided to make more time to sit down, get back to the basics, and challenge myself! I'll even try to draw traditionally more, and somebody requested legolas and gimli, so here's a hand-drawn rough sketch of them:
#nor's rambles#A RAMBLE INDEED. and why yes i own a cheap low-quality scanner#you can see here with elf ears that i first draw a normal human ear and then just elongate it LMAO#this is not to say i'll stop using references. again. hands are difficult. but i'll try to utilise them more creatively!#i'm also convinced my job not being in my field and generally unsuitable for me is one reason why i'm so exhausted#so if/when i get a better job i hope i'll be able to Heal
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I know you generally work fast but I'm curious on how long on average it takes for you to get out a page of ThUG? I haven't had the opportunity to read it yet (it looks SO good) but I'm making the assumption a page is the size of an average print comic style versus webtoon scroll episode length format. Also curious on what short cuts you might take to get them out faster/more efficiently. I'm currently planning a comic in a similar format and am trying to plan my process ahead.
Thank you!
I don't do whole pages in one go (I do all the thumbnails then all the lineart then all the colour) so it's hard to tell exactly how long but maybe around 3-6h per page? Which makes a chapter (25-30 ish pages) take around 150 ish hours. I definitely prefer this to the webtoon format for a number of reasons, one of which being the satisfaction you get seeing a bunch of panels come together versus having to scroll through them separately.
In terms of speed, my entire process is pretty optimised for it, both in comics and outside. I stick to an A5 format and downsize it further (I tend to work with pages at 1000px width and 300dpi) to keep myself from overworking details. If an eye closeup feels tiring to get right or loses proportion, my resolution is too high

I also use textured brushes and leave the lineart more like a clean sketch, which allows me to not only skip straight from thumbnails to it but also to skip work on backgrounds, objects and figures at a certain distance

The main point of comic work is to convey emotions, movement, etc, not to draw everything accurate all the time, and that's probably the biggest lesson I've learned over the past years. You want your art to evolve in a way that means even without a lot of shading/linework/detail the scene gets properly conveyed, imo
Aside from that, I skip work on SFX and just. Write the sounds down or sketch motion lines as basic as they get. That's a stylistic choice but it works for me. And I have a workspace + automated actions + keyboard shortcuts that are all sort of optimised to make me move as little as possible between tasks and screens etc
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now playing... "show and tell"
pairing | basketball varsity!chenle x artist!reader
synopsis | draw a pretty boy and perhaps he'll come to you.
genre | just literal 3 am fluff thoughts, bball player chenle slight brainrot, no specific prns are used (lmk if there's anything i've missed!)
wc | 0.9k
notes | so... i'm back and it's been a long while 😄 kinda forgot about tumblr for a sec but i hope you guys still remember me TT i was pretty much in a slump + acads were crazy, however!!! i am back!!! somewhat!!! likes and feedback are always appreciated (also new post layout yayy)
m.list
the air inside the school’s gymnasium has always felt humid as it clings to your skin like a damp blanket. the place has the distinct scent of sweat — entire buckets of it actually — while the occasional skid of sneakers on the rubber floor sends involuntary shivers down your spine. it’s hardly a place one would choose for peace of mind, yet here you are, perched on the bleachers, busily drawing on your sketchpad all because of a boy.
honestly, you wouldn’t be willingly subjecting yourself to this either if he wasn’t so… pretty. he sported vibrant orange hair that matched him well, the tips sticking together from the sweat on his forehead. his cheeks were flushed from from the heat, but that didn’t bother him one bit as he energetically ran around the court. but it's his smile that captivates you the most, its brightness rivaling that of the sun, his eyes forming playful whiskers as they crinkle into crescents — a sight you've translated onto the pages of your sketchbook more times than you’d like to admit.
how were you supposed to turn down drawing someone like him as an art student? one that’s in an art slump no less.
curse all pretty men, you tell yourself as your pencil scritches over the surface of your sketchbook.
you weren’t even acquainted to him one bit. in fact, you’ve only learned of his name around a week ago? it was zhong chenle if your memory serves you right.
your friend had told you he was the famous ace of your school’s basketball team, mostly for being able to make shots from such large distances. she was shocked you weren’t even aware of the boy when he was usually the talk of the entire student body, especially during the time championship season rolls around.
hell, you don’t even care much for the sport, but he’s making you second guess that too with the way he moves so effortlessly — like he was made to play this sport. perhaps you could understand the infatuation many others harbor for him… just a tiny bit.
you continue your sketch nonetheless, stuck erasing and re-drawing a certain line that doesn’t want to bend in your favor. it seems to have taken all of your focus, as you don’t even register the sound of footsteps approaching you. a tap is placed on your shoulder, and you turn around to find the exact boy you’ve been drawing for the entirety of his varsity practice.
“is that supposed to be me?” his words are laced with intrigue, accompanied by a gentler smile than you're accustomed to, yet just as captivating in its own right — wait. why is he even here talking to you? peeking at your drawings no less?
“nope. it’s not.” you lie through your teeth without an ounce of hesitation, flipping to the cover of your sketchbook faster than he utter out another word.
“please, who else even has orange hair here?”
“who said the person i was drawing was even real? for all you know, he could be an anime character.” you counter, trying to deflect his curiosity.
“yeah, totally explains why you’ve been hanging out here more lately.” he retorts, raising his finger in mock admonishment, his playful smirk betraying his teasing tone. “don’t think i haven’t noticed you, cause i have.”
“what are you? some security guard keeping records of the people who come to the gym?” you muse, meeting his gaze with a hint of amusement.
he leans in a bit closer, voice lowering conspiratorially. “well, maybe I've been keeping an eye out for someone who appreciates my... what should i call it? anime character potential?”
your heart skips a beat at his proximity, but you maintain your playful demeanor. "oh, is that what you're calling it now? i just needed a little inspiration and the confines of the art room weren’t doing it for me.” technically what you said is true, he doesn’t need to know that he’s actually the main reason your artist block has subsided.
his grin widens, a playful sparkle in his eyes. “inspiration, huh? well, i can guarantee you'll be entertained with me around.”
“you don’t need to keep me entertained, i do that already on my own.”
“oh yeah? by watching me?”
“you just want to fuel your ego, don’t you.”
“maybe a little.” his eyes smile, voice taking on a teasing lilt, "what else have you been sketching lately? any other anime characters i should know about?"
you laugh, a nervous pitter patter dancing in your chest at the prospect of sharing more of your work with him. these were your prized possessions after all. "oh, you know, just the usual. random doodles here and there."
he only beams at your response, leaning back slightly as if to better admire your reaction. "well, i’d love to see more of your usual sometime. maybe you could show me what else you've got hidden in that sketchbook of yours."
the invitation catches you off guard, and for a moment, you're at a loss for words. "uh, sure. yeah, maybe sometime," you stammer, mentally kicking yourself for not sounding more confident in front of him.
but before the conversation can continue, a shrill whistle cuts through the air, signaling the end of chenle’s supposed water break. he glances towards the court, a regretful expression flickering across his face. "looks like i’ve got to go," he says, pushing himself off the bleachers and standing up. "but hey, don't forget about our little art show-and-tell date, okay?”
hold on, did he just call it a date? "hey, wait a moment-" you try calling after him, yet he's already disappeared onto the court. that wasn’t anywhere close to a proper invitation, but your heart flutters at the thought nonetheless.
fine, you conclude to yourself — if it’s a date he wants, then you suppose you could spare some more time for him.
#nct fluff#nct dream fluff#chenle fluff#zhong chenle fluff#nct imagines#nct dream imagines#nct drabbles#nct dream drabbles
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I love your artstyle!! Do you have any tips for drawing?
thank you so much! i'm really happy you like it!!💗 as for tips, what i would say would change drastically depending on what kind you're looking for, but some very general ones:
draw what you love and want to see most, regardless of whether anyone else wants to see it. if you don't enjoy what you're drawing it'll never come out as good or genuine as something your whole heart and soul is in. i mean you'd think this would be a no-brainer but sometimes i've had to sit back and ask myself 'if no one was ever going to see this except me, would i actually spend time drawing this?' and i was surprised by the answer
that said, it is also completely valid if your motivation for drawing is to draw for other people! there have been plenty of times where i was too artblocked to draw my own ideas but was still able to draw commissions or gifts and enjoyed it simply because making other people happy with my art makes me happy.
don't get too caught up in having a consistent art style. in my experience this 1000% hinders you
having your sense of anatomy degrade over time without you noticing because you keep drawing the same types of characters is a very real thing! if this is a concern to you be sure to draw a variety
follow a billion artists that you like the art of and you will have endless inspiration injected directly into your brain every time you open social media
my favourite practical tip for those who draw at a desk: keep a small mirror next to you at all times. absolute game changer for quickly referencing hands
if you're drawing digitally, make the canvas huge! in my experience this lets you draw messier/faster and you can't tell at all when you zoom out. if you tend to get stuck spending unnecessary amounts of time micromanaging pixels (me💀) keep it zoomed out while drawing
related to the above point, messy drawings can have far more expressiveness in them than neat and polished drawings. nowadays i never do lineart and go straight from 'barebones stickman pose' to 'varying-levels-of-coherent sketch' and use that as my lineart. sweet freedom from the sketch-looks-better-than-the-lineart phenomenon
if your goal is to improve, then you really do have to scrutinize your art, figure out what you're not satisfied with, and commit the time to focusing on it. 'practice makes perfect' kinda rubs me the wrong way because of how much i've seen it interpreted as 'just draw everyday and you'll magically improve' but genuinely it won't get you very far if you don't actively think hard about what you're trying to improve and take the steps to do it. is this a hot take idk. also hand in hand with this, not every artist is trying to improve and you shouldn't feel bad for this! maybe you just wanna make a little headshot doodle of your fave blorbo and that's your only drawing goal ever. awesome. maybe you know your art has flaws but it's passable enough to convey what you want and you're perfectly satisfied with that. (this is the stage i'm usually at). also awesome!
don't hesitate to draw something because you think it's out of your skill level. the worst that can happen if you draw it is that it comes out terribly but you learned something and can always redraw it better in the future. the worst that WILL happen if you don't draw it is that you'll never draw it. and then it will sit in the back of your brain haunting you for years. it's not like i'm speaking from experience or anything aha
look up 'hand stretches for artists' and do them if you draw a lot unless you wish to summon the wrath of the carpal tunnel demons
of course, these may not necessarily work for you, and most importantly(!) these are coming from the perspective of someone who is primarily a hobbyist. some of this won't be practical for people who need to build an audience, maintain a consistent style for work, etc. these are just things that have personally helped me over many years of drawing :)
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Hello Tofu! One thing I admired about your work is your perception to colour, and how you divide things with backgrounds without the need for lineart. Do you have any tips regarding capturing that kind of style in pixel work? Do you have any general tips as well for more fluid characters in drawing and animation? :]
hi there, thank you very much!!
i'm not fully sure i understand what you're asking but i will try to answer. feel free to send another ask if i missed something
for me it's about value (brightness when in black&white). and in the beginning i think of my sketch in big areas of value, dark and light respectively, with big big contrast around things i think are important (statue)
the rest of it i keep kind of low contrast, as long as those key areas are standing out i'm happy. it can help to put your art in black and white. i always flip my work constantly too so i can get a fresh view of what's going on
this one is a more soft version but the idea is the same, the trees stand out a lot but the grass fades. you can see 5 separate layers (foreground, main battle area, middle, back, and sky) and i wanted the grass to fade between layers.
what i do is i colour pick some grass, make my brush 50% opacity and draw over the background, then colour pick that again and use that as a middle/blend colour
i do that for almost everything, if i need things to be more smooth then i add more colours.
as for animations hmmm... ‼
i'm really not the most confident animator but for me going faster than the 100ms frame duration (which is default on aseprite) helped me a lot i think. something like 70ms or even 50ms feels so smooth but of course it is faster // more work
i also want to recommend this guys youtube channel, every time i had to animate something i went to a video of his and studied and learned from it
i hope that helps...! im not super good at articulating this stuff cos im not a thinker im a pheromone based organism so lmk
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Hi, firstly I just wanted to say that I love your art, especially with the way you use dynamism and angles in character sketches. It's really beautiful and I always look forward to seeing more black and white pieces from you.
I just wanted to ask, as a beginner artist whose been drawing on and off from 2017 onwards and hasn't seen much improvement, are there any resources or books you would recommend for someone still trying to grasp form and shape? Especially in creating 3d forms with line? I'd love to be able to draw characters in a similar way that you do but my cubes and cones never seem to come out correctly and humanoid shapes are even tougher. Thanks again for sharing your art.
Hello! Thank you very much for the compliments. Up until somewhat recently the B&W pieces were my favorite things to draw, so I get you. I did fall in love with coloring eventually though.
Alright, there are lots of things that can be done. I have had some classical training, and done human figure studies live, but honestly not nearly as much as I probably should have. You definitely should still do figure study as much as possible, especially in person. I'm just prefacing to say it may not get you to draw the way I draw I suppose, as its only part of what I've done to improve my drawing ability.
There are a few good resources to start with, notably the Loomis method, which a lot of artists use as a base. That's how you should use it too, ideally. It's not about copying his work exactly, it's about understanding just how the human body is proportioned, and adapting it from there. It doesn't have to define your thinking, it's just a good guideline. It's possible to structure a body quite differently than Loomis (and there are many many books for that), but the truth, which is, the proportions of the human body, is still there in all mindsets. Once you understand that, you can understand the reason for each approach, and even forego them to express something more unique, abstract and visceral.
The biggest thing you should do though, is always be observing the world around you, both online and offline. Figure studies are nice but they remove one of the most important things, and that is context. I find that people who will use those large libraries from people who pose professionally with bows and swords and the like will often draw technically impressive images, but they still feel like a fake pose. It doesn't feel like the person is holding onto the weapon like their life depended on it, or like they have a relationship with the object, that they pose and move in a certain way that reflects their personality. Live study with strangers helps rectify this somewhat.
Online you should also be following lots and lots of different artists! Don't limit yourself, pay attention to how they construct their drawings, how they go about things. It's important you follow a lot of people, see how they evolve. They are not only a point in time, they are also learning and evolving just like you. It's especially good if you can have artists friends to draw and share stuff with. I have a deep-seated belief that we draw art for others, to express ourselves to them, so they need to see it.
It may sound weird for me to say if you want to draw like me try to draw unlike me, but I'm just saying what I've done. I follow a lot of people and draw from a lot of places. Ultimately the main appeal of my forms is their dynamism and volume as you've said, but it's good to be versatile so you can always explore new avenues!
Now, you've done all these things, you are practicing them constantly. Now is the most important part. Keep drawing!!! Just keep drawing no matter what, no matter how bad you think it looks. You have to believe you have something to say, to express, no matter what. You say you haven't improved, but I don't believe you! Maybe you are faster, maybe your technique is better, maybe you have better habits, maybe you are a little more patient. There are a million ways to improve which don't even appear in the image. You have to keep drawing, NO MATTER WHAT!!! You have to believe you were born to do this and you will do it well, don't worry about what others think.
I can only draw such dynamic forms because I have kept drawing and masticating and elaborating this idea that is called my style. When you are drawing you are developing your own little language, and only when you are fluent you can start writing good books with it. Being fluent will take many years, you must accept that. If you take breaks, take breaks so you can keep drawing later. Take care of your health so you can keep drawing. You will only get to see your drawings become beautiful if you live long. To live a long and healthy life is to keep drawing.
That is my ultimate advice really, let that frustration build up, but keep drawing anyway. You will force yourself to find solutions to release that frustration as you do so, and improve. Maybe it's simple, but it's the only thing that is true no matter what. Don't worry about AI or whatever, none of that matters. Just keep drawing!
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The Mechanist's Quest: Chapter 1
A/N - Hi! Sorry for the general delay of all my writings. I'm doing my PhD proposal at the moment and that clearly takes priority lol. I have been having that TF2 brainrot and have a million ideas for fics. Since you all mentioned that y'all prefer larger fics to be reduced to small chapters, this one will be! If y'all end up hating the chapter set up, I'll go back to how I was writing fics.
This is a TF2 fic centered around Pyro being tasked by Engie to learn more about certain team members. Please enjoy!
Word Count: 1,498
Pyro was on a mission; something difficult, albeit important. Granted, they had been assigned this mission as it was the Engineer who was really on a mission but was too busy in his workshop to complete this mission, thus Pyro was sent to complete it. Despite the convoluted complex confusion this caused in their brain, Pyro was still going to do whatever it took to get the job done.
The mission: find a way to subdue the three support team members.
Pyro did not need to subdue their own team members, of course not, that would be mean. However, they needed to get a good idea of different things that could affect them and cause them to do a poor job on the field. As the BLU Team were almost exact clones of everyone on the RED Team, shadowing the three men to find out how to make them tick couldn't be that difficult, at least not in Pyro’s mind.
For the last few weeks, the BLU Team had been kicking the absolute shit out of the RED Team, with most of their victories being the direct cause of one of the support members doing some crafty thinking and making power plays in the last few minutes of each round. Overall team morale was poor, with most of them dreading going out into the field each day just to think they might win, then be decimated at the very end. Not one to take losing well, Engie told the team he was going to develop a machine to change things up, assuring victory. However, he needed data, and he was not very good at this sort of data collection.
This is where Pyro came in. Pyro enjoyed spending time with people, with the team. They enjoyed learning about others, and unlike Engie in this situation, they were able to be subtle about it. That and with Pyro on the job, Engie was able to spend more time in his workshop sketching out various blueprints and fixing his current menagerie of sentries.
A few evenings after Engie gave Pyro their task, Pyro was walking back to their room for the night. The sun had set long ago and most of the other mercs were already in bed or at least hidden away in their rooms. Having spent a majority of the day with Spy, which meant they spent a majority of the day in the smoking room where the two of them lounged around and read all day, Pyro was exhausted.
It had been an abbreviated day in the field, with the RED Team’s defeat striking faster than normal; feeling almost as if the group had given up and accepted failure before they even arrived at the Badlands. Once the team returned to base, all nine of the men scattered, not looking at nor acknowledging any of the others. Except for Pyro.
Too mentally tired, Spy did not turn around and snap at Pyro when they heard them begin to follow him down the hall. At least, Spy had thought, Pyro wouldn’t try to be talkative. As he opened the door, Spy held it longer than normally, allowing the shorter pyrotechnics expert to walk under his arm and enter the room. Unceremoniously, Spy sat down in his chair with a huff, from both the mental toll of the losses and the physical toll they had on his body. Losses typically meant Spy had suffered; hard.
As he withdrew his pack of cigarettes, his grey eyes followed Pyro’s movements as they gazed up at the small library.
Mann Co. had supplied a fair number of books that catered to each mercs general interests and along with a couple books brought by some of the mercs, the team had gathered a small library, which grew every time Heavy or Soldier went out into town.
Gloved hand finally pausing on a particular novel, Pyro’s index finger pushed the book back into their grip. With almost a supernatural sense, Pyro spun around and quickly lit Spy’s cigarette before the man could withdraw the lighter from his pocket. Despite being startled by the action, Spy simply nodded and mouthed his appreciation as Pyro plopped down into the chair next to him.
While he wasn’t aware of Pyro’s mission, Spy was pleasantly surprised by Pyro’s companionship for the hours they spent reading. The plush chair beside Spy scarcely was occupied, and even more rare was the person sitting in it keeping quiet and actually reading. Sure, Heavy or Demo would occasionally make an appearance to read in the silence of the room, but more often than not, it was Scout or Medic that sat there, trying to push whatever narrative they had past Spy and earn his undivided attention. As such, a quiet evening beside Pyro was a gift.
Due to the general sense of peace, and a certain person’s gasmask, Spy did not notice nor visibly acknowledge Pyro’s occasionally staring. In their head, they had a list of extensive notes to write down later about Spy, though most of them had absolutely nothing to do with the mission. Apart from the chain smoking and the Ian Fleming novel in hand, Spy had given Pyro nothing to work with; so, once he rose from his chair with the notion of going back to his room, Pyro felt as if they may have just wasted hours with little data for Engie to work with.
Luck would favor our dear Pyro as while they were walking toward the exit of the support wing, a loud crash and yelp of exclamation emanated from behind the last door before the exit. Interest piqued, Pyro walked toward the Med Bay, figuring the doctor was still in there.
While each merc was given their own rooms, a few stayed unoccupied most of the year. Medic, Sniper, and Engie rarely used their own personal rooms; Sniper staying out in his campervan unless the outside temperature dropped below freezing, while Engie and Medic typically fell asleep while working on projects and paperwork. Pyro had walked into the workshop many times to see the engineer slumped over on his desk. Apart from the first few times they had caught him asleep, Pyro had gotten into the habit of gently picking the man up and placing him on the cot in the corner of the workshop that Soldier and Demo had been insistent on him having.
Door cracked open just a smidge, Pyro was able to peer into the room in search of the commotion. The room was dark, sans a single light in the corner, which was a bit unusual for Medic. Whenever Pyro would come in for an examine, the room was so bright it was headache inducing even through their goggles; so, the darkness was appreciated.
“Du musst aufhören!” the words were frantic, in a higher pitch than Pyro would normally hear Medic use when speaking his native tongue. “Heavy, dammit! Get off me! Nein!”
Silhouetted by the dim light, two figures sat atop the examination bed, intertwined as one. The smaller figure lay flat, limbs flailing with uncoordinated urgency. The larger figure sat atop the smaller, straddling them by the hips.
“Doktor needs his sleep,” the other person teased, voice gruffer yet tonally light. Pyro would recognize Heavy’s voice anywhere, even without Medic shouting his name earlier.
“No, I don’t,” Medic practically spat out as Heavy interjected the doctor’s words with his fingers. “Nein. Verdammt!”
While choking out his last words, Medic began to laugh, arching his back with his arms outstretched, weakly pushing at Heavy’s arms. Never able to form the words in any other language apart from his native tongue while being playfully attacked in this manner, Medic squeaked out a few threats in German, to which all fell upon deaf ears.
In the recent months, Heavy had been finding Medic falling asleep in the middle of an experiment more than once. Just like Engie, the doctor kept finding himself busy with all sorts of work. While most of the team had absolutely no idea what he was doing, or if it was even important as he kept saying it was, they mostly left him alone to do his work. Heavy, however, knew that he needed rest and that falling asleep while standing up and covered in shark intestines was not restful. After what felt like forever, Heavy finally found a method to get Medic to go to bed.
Pyro’s eyes lit up as they watched the scene play out in front of them, a giddy smile spread across their face underneath the mask. As they watched Heavy’s fingers glide across Medic’s belly, the cacophony of Medic’s hysterical laughter filled the room and their ears. Not only was this one of the cutest things Pyro had ever seen, but this gave them a brilliant idea. As the light bulb appeared above Pyro’s head, they scampered out of the room to head to bed.
Pyro had some planning to do.
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not a character ask, but more so, how do you create such satisfying to look at pieces? do you have any tips? the cats look so fluid as if theyre one single shape if that makes sense, i love it so much!! i hope to see more content of these kitties theyre sooo gorg! 😻
Thanks sm!! Honestly I don't know how well I can explain it since I learned it over a very long period of time, often by just looking at what I admired in other people's art styles and mimicking it in my sketches. I've always loved highly cartoony styles, especially ones from the late 90's and that's where a lot of my style inspiration comes from One thing I know is that while you want consistency with the shapes and lines, going *too* far with choosing just sharp & straight edges or circular/soft shapes can end up kind of bland. A lot of more modern animation styles I'm not a fan of because everything is rounded out. But something being fully straight & sharp can just as easily be boring. Art styles look best imo when sharp edges and spikes are combined together with smooth curves, and this is probably most easy to see in something like fur and hair. When I draw a fur spike, I usually draw one side of it curvy and soft, end it in a sharp spike, and continue the other side of it much more straight. This kind of variety and contrast can be interesting to the eye, and it applies to the whole design tbh, not just fur.
This doesn't mean one side of the design should be soft and other side sharp - but having soft and sharp lines next to each other consistently thorough the design is very appealing imo.
You should also sometimes push your shapes and lines past what feels "sensible" in your mind, even if just to train your hand and mind to not stay too rigid. At least once in a while you should draw something way more exaggerated than it "should" be to break out of your own rigidness, even if your real pieces are more subdued.
I think you can also train your eye over a period of time to spot when a shape or line looks satisfying or doesn't. if it's your own art, you can erase/undo it and try again until it looks better. My art is fairly quick but maybe not as quick as it seems since I might erase/undo lines many many times in order to get it *just* right if a line didn't look satisfying enough to me the first time. That too gets faster with time.
Hopefully this makes sense and works for you and that I'm not just talking out of my ass here, I am fully self-learned especially when it comes to my art style so I could be wrong about some things :'D
edit: Oh and also - it's a great skill to learn to "imply" shapes and anatomy in your art without needing to actually draw everything about them in detail. I put very little actual detail in my cat arts because it looks a lot smoother and softer to just let the shapes and poses that they do have imply how the cat would look in a 3D space without drawing it out!
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One simple question... How long does it took you to make your beautiful Arts✨ (+ maybe some time in sketches too?)
Ooooo that's a difficult one for me to judge, I am very much someone who will draw for an hour, take a 5 hour break, and then work for 10 minutes before deciding to come back to it the next day. It's a whole process and it's hard for me to time myself lmao.
I want to say if I worked start to finish with no breaks, it would take me around 1 - 3 hours to complete something but it obviously depends on what it is! I can easily do a headshot sketch to finish in about an hour, full bodies tend to take around 2-3 hours but they can be more depending on the complexity!
Again it's hard to gauge the amount of time I spend on each piece because I take a lot of breaks in between and spread things out too. I've been able to get a lot faster with my art which I'm very happy with, I used to spend hours just on a single sketch, so I'm glad I'm past that!
Sketches that I do for asks usual only take me about 20-30 minutes, again depends how complicated they are, I try not to spend too long doing them so I can get more asks done!
I also usually work across mediums so again, hard to tell, I like to sketch traditionally where possible and sometimes line as well, so that usually splits things up and makes it complicated.
Since I'm here, I'll share a few traditional sketches just to show what I mean, I usually reline pieces because I'm not the best at traditional work! Some of these I've never bothered to finish or line so, exclusive look at my drawinggsss




wait I have more





Also fun fact, a lot of my pixel stuff is just me playing around with my traditional pieces! I learned how to do it a while ago and I've loved doing it ever since, it's very easy to do and looks great! Obviously I like to touch up things and edit a few things here and there but it's still fun to do!

Anyway thanks for asking! It's taken me years to get to where I am now and I'm happy that it no longer takes me like 6 hours just to complete something, means i can do even more art hehehe >:)
#mangos mystery ask box#mango art#I sketch a lot at work and sometimes the old ladies want to see. The humiliationnnnn
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hiii rix. actually i am curious about like how you go about coming up with/referencing dynamic poses (especially for full body) -- you are so good at getting across a lot of action & character in static images & i'm curious if there's anything you do to maintain that energy and what the thought process is to express things abt a character visually. if that makes sense
YEAH THAT MAKES SENSE- I don't use references much so most poses come from just playing around with sketches but it's encouraged to have expressive poses while still referencing real photos/figures To make things more dynamic a good thing to keep in mind is the shape of the line of action. I personally learned that you push for "S and C shapes" and avoid "I and W shapes", which basically boils down to avoiding lines of action that have no movement or that have more than 2 directional changes
Personally I don't find much wrong with an "I" pose but using them does mean it'll feel less dynamic, finding places to add slight curves that follow S/Cs adds more weight and movement is still important in more subtle poses. But W poses fucking suck, they get way too complicated and make it so the eye can't follow as easily Oh also more importantly it's good to get across the actual personality and energy of the character in the pose. If the pose reads as dynamic and expressive but isn't something the character would do then what's even the point- A good bit of characterization to spice up the poses adds a lot to the overall drawing. Some examples could be making the character stumble a bit in their movement or give a character sharper lines of action to show theyre stiffer/more focused or give a lazier character lines of action that are more flowy/pulled down. All of this can be played around with to make a character stand out more and give audience's a faster read on their mood or personality
If you wanna practice this I'd personally try short paced figure drawing, where you draw a pose and only have like 15 seconds to finish it before moving on to the next one- But rather than drawing the figure accurately try and draw the pose pushed to an extreme. This trains your brain to see the line of action and simplify the form as much as possible, plus it helps you get faster at drawing
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hello, I hope you're having a good day <33 I saw your recent post on my dash and I was STUNNED at the animated scene! It's insane to me I get to see your characters animated. Feeling blessed to be alive to see it, I am not exaggerating. You know, one of these times where you wake up and things are a little bumpy in your life but there's one thing that shines brightly you didn't know it could give you so much excitement? Yeah, that kind of thing ((:
I took my time for the past hour to reminisce over your blog again. It is one of the places I really love scrolling through and reading your writing. I had a question, if you don't mind me. The way you have improved is truly admirable. I know this might not be an easy ask to say "hey, how did you learn how to paint", so I'll ask this instead: I don't know how long you've been working full-time in art, but when do you make time for studies / drawing for fun? If it's not too much to respond to, how do *you* study? I remembered your posts with your redlines and wanted to ask how do you go about those, or if you switch your routines based on your needs (sketches vs speed painting backgrounds etc). The notes there were very interesting, seeing the mental exercise.
Pretty sure you have a fKTON of stuff on your plate, so please don't feel obligated to respond quickly or even at all. Thank you in advance for taking the time to read my message and for all the time you take to respond in general. Love reading your responses <3
Take care, ok? <3
I'm glad the animation made you feel better! I'll put the answer under the Keep Reading thingy.
I'm not entirely sure... I think I don't study as much as I should/could. I mostly learn as I go. Standalone studies are helpful, I'm just drawn to doing things that are more fun/satisfying to me or things that actively progress my creative goals. Imperfect illustrations for my stories, and incomplete research for worldbuilding! Many people learn faster than I, and those people do a lot more studies than I, but I have no info on whether they have more fun than I. Dopamine is rocket fuel, so it's important. :)
I'm always on the lookout for reference pictures, but I study almost only when I have a practical goal in mind, I guess. Studying is part of my job too, I think? As an indie concept artist I'm supposed to build a hoard of references and pull several new/sensible things out of them, and I think part of this process is understanding the material, and revisiting even what I already know. Illustration is similar. If I'm commissioned to draw an anthro alligator, it's time to study gators. It's not separate from work.
I mean, straightforward version: I wake up at 03:30, make coffee, and start working for myself until the paying work starts, lol. Brain is fresh before noon, and tired late in the evening just like everyone else's. It also helps that the city more or less shuts up at 4am.
The studies with the redlines... I do them when I fancy drawing characters or creatures but feel out of shape. I can get discouraged, feel like I forgot how to draw. I sketch if I plan to sketch, and paint if I plan to paint or want to study colors Drawing live models helps. Studying videos of people and things in motion. Hopping down rabbit holes about how/why things work (e.g. flintlock, Davy lamp, mansard roof). Drawing from refs. Hoarding refs. Trying different mediums (e.g. charcoal, 3D, etching). Small screenshot of one of my ref boards for the animation; I'd say I studied it a lot. How clothes move, what are good clothes, how do good clothes move, lion/tiger + human + eagle anatomy (from specific angles during specific motions if/when possible), how to dive roll, proper sprinting form, how to survive falling from a great height, spearfighting, pole vaulting, poledancing, lighting, colors, environment, kicked-up sand in motion, spear types, emu/cassowary/griffon vulture feet, etc. I didn't draw studies, unless you count the animation itself (I would).

#whiteraventxt#studying#hope it doesnt read like i enjoy sniffing my own farts#Griffin's knees probably got blown when he fell btw
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"I hope this is gonna be a sketchy thingie and I'm gonna finish it fast"
yes Linych, SURELY YOU ARE GOING TO KEEP IT AS A SKETCH
lmao this happens all the time, but I really wanted to draw a background because I NEED TO LEARN, because if I'm gonna need to make a background for a more important thing for me, and I'm going to suffer so much if I haven't learned how to draw them beforehand (actually holy fuck, I wanna draw some locations so much, also for practice (I'm looking at icarian cup))
but I also need to learn to draw things faster, yeah
anyways, THOSE SKETCHES ARE BASED ON ACTUAL EVENTS
specifically how me and Rinja were playing sunless sea through a call for the second time (I STILL HAVEN'T DIED EVEN ONCE)
the main thing is based on a part where I zailed to Uttershroom and we literally had this exact dialogue, because we are both like "what even is a sense of direction" (very fun that both of our sonas are captains yeah?) and Rinja has a small compass irl!! they've literally checked it (autism moment when you learned that east is salt (scary), west is London, south is the dawn machine and north is FUCKED UP and snowy)
I hope that someday I will make a funny compilation with subtitles
OH AND YES, for the first thing I did some investigation on what fonts are used in ss, by the way these are AvrileSerif Regular and AvrileSerif Medium (but we still want to get into the game files)
other things are also from the call, specifically how we learned that the iron republic has cheaper fuel and Rinja got a terrible plan immediately (who would doubt, not for money, but for the consequences)((and also to experience the text from the cladery heir)), and how I was telling them that there are not so many shops, and it would be good to remember those to not get into trouble
and all of that is pretty much canon, because those are our sonas and Kys couldn't have not told them, because yay helping a friend (he's also reminding them to wear the hat (that reduces troubled water), he's trying)
them
#THE NEXT POSTS WILL BE SUDDENLY WITH GOUACHE THINGS#sunless sea#fallen london#fallen london oc#sunless sea oc#the star-brooch captain#HOORAY I MADE HIM A TAG#my sona#failbetter games#fl ocs#artists on tumblr#my art#my oc art
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Where do you get the inspo for your art? And how did you learn to draw so well, I couldn't draw Sonic chars for my life-
1. I'm not sure I understand your first question for lack of context, but I will do my best to answer anyway.
A. Where do you get the inspo for your art (style)?
The first Sonic artist who took my attention was Evan Stanley. After that, Tyson Hesse. In general, I'm appealed to styles with messier inks---but not too messy, just kind of rough and sketchy. I have found that I don't like super clean, neat, detailed work. I like a little bit of hatching, a bit of spot black, just enough detail. I don't like using the built-in rulers, I prefer freehanding stuff. I use a real-life ruler for serious perspective, but only for the sketch. I find using things like rulers and the like can look strange in the final product. It looks inconsistent.
B. Where do you get the inspo for your art (ideas)?
I'm a daydreamer. My thoughts are always running. I try to write them down when I'm able and have a mind to do so, that way I can find something to draw. It's good to have some paper or an app on your phone to write them in.
2. I honestly don't know. Like, sometimes it feels like you're in a rut in which you are struggling a lot and your stuff looks terrible, and sometimes you suddenly draw something really good? Like you're getting better but it feels like it came out of nowhere? If I had to pinpoint a few things:
A) Studies say that someone who has spent 10,000 hours practicing a skill (~2 hours/day for 10 years) has reached expert/pro mode. I've been drawing for at least 13 years now. My muscles and, like, motor skills are developed. Because that's what happens when you spend a lot of time drawing.
B) People learn through copying. I have found that my proficiency leveled much faster when finding an artist or artists whose work I really like and copying them. This is what PewDiePie did and why he was able to improve so quickly. I did the same when I attempted the same challenge in regards to learning to draw humanoid characters.
If you would like to do the same and try to improve in a relatively short period of time:
- Get a sketchbook. Sketchbooks are good because you don't feel pressured to make it look good or finished. At least for me, I can't speak for anyone else.
- Set a ten-minute timer every day to work on your study. You might miss some days. That's okay. Do your best.
- I personally approached the challenge by focusing on a different part of the body for three weeks each. I got on Pinterest to find drawing tutorials and references and copied them
And again, find artists whose style/work you're fond of and looks good to you.
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Hey broski, how do you draw so fast?? You make extremely technically impressive works like, every two days. I have multi-month-old sketches! How do you do it?
Anyhoodle, toodaloo and please have a truly wonderful day/evening! ^ ^
Ah, well you see my friend-
I am. Going insane.
No but for real I'm just extremely lucky to have the skillset that allows me to spit out art pretty quick! Part of it is definitely fueled by the hyperfixation; when something gets ahold of my brain and I have ideas for it I just kinda have to make them. I can't do anything else until I get them down on paper or digital canvas. So, some of my artworks do take 6+ hours to throw together, I just happen to have done it all in one sitting like a maniac.
The other part of it is that! Art is fun to me! I don't stress out about every single detail being good, which makes it a lot easier to make stuff kind of quickly. I've also been doing this a long long time, so I've learned a lot of things that make the process faster for me (example; rather than coloring inside my lineart by hand, I fill in any gaps and then use the 'magic wand' tool to select the outside of the lineart- the negative space, that I don't want colored- and then invert it and use a huge brush to color the whole thing in in one go. Then I just set that layer to 'alpha lock' so it's literally impossible to color outside the lines. Saves a lot of time! I still have to be careful keeping colors inside the lines that are inside of that area, but it's less to keep track of)
It would take me a whole lot of paragraphs to explain my whole process, and there are probably things I do that I don't even think about that make things faster without me realizing. But, really, the main thing I think is just that I've been drawing for so long, and I also happen to just be lucky.
Another way I speed up my process, I think, is just that I'm familiar enough with certain concepts (like, for example, how a jacket sleeve folds) that I can draw those things with fair confidence without needing to do a sketch underneath, or I've come up with a simplified way to draw them that doesn't take as long as sketching out all the technical stuff. Just because I've drawn them so many times before.
So, I guess what I'm trying to say is that the time it takes is less between individual pieces, for me, and more all of the years and years of practice that you don't see that got me to the point where I'm able to draw that fast.
Also, you think my art is technically impressive???
That's a huge complement, thank you! I'm trying really hard not to imposter syndrome myself over here, but I definitely still see my art as being very rudimentary. I was really slow to get good at art (like, years and years of just garbage), and sometimes I still feel like I'm stuck at that level of 'fine, but not great'- especially because I'm able to work so fast; it kind of feels like, well, if I'm able to make it that quick then it can't really be good. BUt!!! That is not true!!! And it's bad to say that about myself because then other artists who are like me will feel bad and they shouldn't!! Everyone works at a different pace and it's not an indicator of skill or quality, it's just another stat on your skilltree
Anyway. Thank you very much! I hope this post was?? Helpful?? Or at least entertaining! I hope you also have a wonderful day/evening!
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