#I'm very not practiced with drawing robots

[rotbit]

I forgot that I... do art, for a few months. Only to look at the date and remember I wanted to do something for my favorite gay trans robot during pride and,,, well. I'm not too late! (technically)

So sad pride month is over, I'm going to miss gay people :(

Fun fact about the production of this post.

THIS is what my screen looked like for 100% of this drawing. I might be... just a tad homosexual for it.

[song-of-the-frozen-pines]

AI 'artists' will never understand WHY we draw. How can you put it into words? How are you supposed pin a needle on the emotion of pen to paper? Of working out the scenes and feelings that once lived only in your head, now spilling out on paper from nothing as the only evidence those ideas ever existed?

How are you supposed to look upon at something which you've never caressed with your hands, your heart and your soul and say: "Yes, this is me."

They don't realize the reason their 'art' lacks emotion because they don't realize that art supposed to have emotion, that's what makes it art.

Your art doesn't have to be Picasso. Personally, I feel absolutely nothing when I look at Picasso's art.

But what did that art mean to Picasso?

The silly little doodles you draw on the backs of receipts when you're in a good mood, the edgy vent art that got you through those rough patches in middle school, that painfully constructed masterpiece you lovingly slaved over for weeks, drenched in feeling of your heart filled with joy because you finally, finally finished it and holy shit, I'm a real artist now! (you always were, but you finally noticed)

All that is art because it mattered to you when you made it. This goes for digital too, the point is the emotion involved, not just process. AI will never grasp onto emotion the same way.

These people may claim to have planted a new forest because they know how to graft stolen limbs, but never taught themselves to sow the seeds of their own creativity. And without a healthy rootstock to feed off of, their best ideas will never bear fruit.

As gen-AI becomes more normalized (Chappell Roan encouraging it, grifters on the rise, young artists using it), I wanna express how I will never turn to it because it fundamentally bores me to my core. There is no reason for me to want to use gen-AI because I will never want to give up my autonomy in creating art. I never want to become reliant on an inhuman object for expression, least of all if that object is created and controlled by tech companies. I draw not because I want a drawing but because I love the process of drawing. So even in a future where everyone’s accepted it, I’m never gonna sway on this.

[unknownersirius]

My husbandos change frequently.

It's like I have a husbando of the month.

Currently it's Cooler.

I would apologize but I don't think I'm very sorry.

[daiourage]

My Take on the TFO Dual Rulers/Two Primes AU (pt.2)

Part 1 here!

Hi. Been practicing watercolor for another post I've been teasing since a few days back, and I don't recall watercolor being this fun???

Anyway, here is more stuff for the AU that I'm definitely not the first person to make, but this is all my take on it.

Warning: Nothing plot worthy happens on this post. It's just designs lmao. Also Soundwave and Bee are besties (not a ship)

(I'm pretty proud of how the colors turned out, but I love how my printer photocopied the wrinkles too??? Also my signature looks like one blob because I used a calligraphy pen wrong LMAOOO)

More deets and other angles of the paper below!!↓↓↓

Cute boys jumpscare!!

Hello!!!! I'm really proud of how Soundwave turned out!! His gorgeousness is based on like,,, everyone else's maskless Soundwave out there, but his big 'ol eyes are based on @dailymothanon's Soundwave specifically (original post here!! Also sorry if you didn't want me to tag you 🙏)

I know he's cool and not very emotive, but I'd like it if he had the most conventionally attractive smile (I wonder what the beauty standards for Cybertronians are);;; I'd like to imagine that him and Bee share work a lot, and he removes his helmet to tease Bee--just like a parent playing "Peekaboo" with their kid. (Maybe I should've made Soundwave look a little older;;;)

I also wanna elaborate on Senator Shockwave as a concept for a hot moment again:

1. Just as written on paper, I couldn't figure out if I wanted to bring back the Senator's design from the original series, or if I was just going to change Shockwave's design a little bit. I wanted to originally draw Shockwave as more humanoid, but I realized that it would take away his uniqueness in shape, so I decided against it. 1-2. I plan to alter everyone else's designs, too! I'm just not too sure how to do it since I'm still not used to drawing robots;;; 2. I also found it funny how he's going back to being a Senator, as in G1IDW, he became a Decepticon after he was a Senator--this is the other way around and it's kinda interesting. Maybe he'll be friends with Optimus again;

Look at how crinkly it is!!! I'm laughing!!! I'm still sad you can't see the sparkles of the gold pen I used, but the calligraphy pen looks great so I'm happy (I plan to use it in a later drawing)

[saikira999]

DAD-

ЬЕЕЕЕЕЕЕЕ I'm in a very depressed mood right now for personal reasons, so I've given up drawing. I'll resume this later, but for now, here the best iron man in the world :))))

I don't want to make him just an ordinary human. It seems to me that he will rather be a mixture of a human and a robot - cyborg and about half of his body will be replaced with mechanical parts. For example, his mustache and beard are very firm and practically merge with the helmet, and his clothes are not removable and are considered part of his frame.

[oddine]

do you have any rsk headcannons ? :3

If rsk is ruikasa then YES. YES YES.

Rui faints every so often, Tsukasa catches him and knows not to worry because he helped Saki when she was younger with this!!!!!!

Tsukasa puts sticky face masks on Rui and Rui DIES from the texture (self projecting)

Tsukasa once stubbed his toe on robonene and Rui implemented an entire anti-toe-stubbing cushion system on her

RUI HAS A CAT AND DIDN'T KNOW TSUKASA WAS ALLERGIC TO CATS UNTIL HE CAME OVER FOR THE FIRST TIME AND DIED

They watch Hamilton every Sunday night. Religiously.

Rui once tried sewing something for Tsukasa's birthday, but poked himself too much and gave it to Tsukasa with an entire medical cabinet on his hands

Leo need once caught them kissing on the railing of Tsukasa's room.

RUI PAINTS HIS NAILS EVERY 2 SECONDS. Tsukasa is not an exception (they have matching blue thumbs)

Rui made a tiny little Tsukasa robot that would play a recording of his laugh, and he plays it everytime he misses him

TSUKASA TENMA CAN LIFT RUI KAMISHIRO ON HIS SHOULDERS WITHOUT DIFFICULTY.

Rui once had a dream about soda candy and woke up biting Tsukasa (which later turned into an ACCIDENTAL hickey that they had to explain)

Before they were dating, they accidentally kissed once by walking into each other when they weren't watching their steps. EMUNENE HAD TO FORCE THEM TO STOP BEING SO AWKWARD.

Tsukasa ALWAYS dusts when he's at Rui's house because Rui is sensitive to it, but he never cleans

BIPOLAR TSUKASA. AUTISTIC RUI.

(^ projecting 🤤)

(Trans Rui headcanon) Rui has HORRIBLE period cramps because I'm giving them to him. Tsukasa is forced to go to the store and get him soda candy

They're both relatively good at drawing!!!!!

EUROPEAN TSUKASA. THAT IS A LOUD BLONDE MAN. (80% of poland)

(^ projecting WHO CAN TELL)

Rui's bones are very very weak,, he passed out directly after konton boogie

Getting into semi sensitive ones,,, nothing graphic (I HOPE) (it's just me self projecting ARE WE SURPRISED)

Rui used to be in ballet classes, but he stopped in middle school because he lost the energy

(TW??? I'M SELF PROJECTING AGAIN I'M SORRYYYY) Rui has a million scars on his fingers from projects, and some on his forearms that he also tells Tsukasa are from projects. He doesn't want Tsukasa to worry...

Tsukasa forgets to eat a lot,,, NOT ON PURPOSE, OBVIOUSLY. Rui always brings a couple extra snacks in his bag for practice in case Tsukasa forgets again!!!!!

Rui will shut down once in awhile because of memories from middle school, Tsukasa always kisses away his tears and GGHSGHHHGHFHFHF 😭😭😭❤️❤️

Tsukasa always gets a little TOO scared when Rui faints and stays out for more than 20 seconds, he thinks it's just a reflex from when he and Saki were younger :(

Rui always goes over to Tsukasa's house if he's having a manic episode!!! Whether that be just to listen to him talk and run out of breath, or just feeding him soup while he writes down ideas for a script ❤️❤️ (I'm not romanticizing it guys I'M LITERALLY PROJECTING PLEASE DON'T TAKE THIS THE WRONG WAY)

Rui cried the first time Tsukasa said "I love you", like genuine full on SOBBING. This man was trembling and Tsukasa was like "ARE YOU OKAY????? DID I SAY SOMETHING WRONG I'M SORRY?????????"

Follow for more bangers

[kittyandco-archive]

something i've been thinking about for the last few... forever.

shout out to the people who identify so strongly with, and/or find the most comfort in, the worst character(s) of any media that you're into. some of us find connection and similarities with the most terrible figures that canon has to offer. often, you're expected to identify most strongly with the good guy, or aspire to be like them (and not to say you don't, because i do sometimes). but that often doesn't happen for me, and i see more of myself in the evil impacting them.

not because i think i'm a bad person, and not because i aspire to be a flamboyant supervillain, but i often understand their feelings, their mindset, i understand how they got there, because i often went through a lot of the same things they did, even if only emotionally. it often goes beyond sheer appreciation for me (though i often find them more interesting from a narrative sense). and if i were in their world, i might become like them if things were even slightly different. if i didn't try to unlearn the fact that destruction is the only way to get what you want. catharsis is a powerful motivator.

i think it's important to embrace the "they're just like me" perspective when it comes to characters who aren't always "morally sound," and i do unequivocally include the "unsympathetic" ones. we're always going to find fictional characters we admire so long as art keeps being made, and sometimes admiration moves into "i identify with this character because of our background/personality/etc.", and sometimes these characters are the ones you're supposed to hate and root against... intentionally or not, many antagonists are very relatable (though often in unspoken ways).

none of this is to say that your taste in favorite characters means anything about you as a person, because it doesn't. how you treat others says all it needs to say about you as a person. i've seen this first-hand: people being surprised that i am friendly and compassionate (i try my best!) simply because i have a deep love for fictional guys who commit atrocities. yes, my worldly experiences, and the way i view them, as well as my fantastic taste draws me to fictional bad guys, but at the end of the day, i strive to be the best i can be every day. i aim to exude the kindness that i didn't always get when i practically begged for it. on the other hand, you could like the most sugary sweet, do-good fictional characters ever created (and good for you! no shame here!) and still be a nightmare to those around you.

i don't like the idea that you CANNOT like these characters, or identify with them, without condoning some sort of evil or being a bad person. they are people (or robots, or monsters, or whatever they are) who did bad things, whatever their reasons -- here's no inherence about it, and i think that belief has helped me in trying to understand them. i try to practice this with everyone i encounter. and along the way, i actually find that we aren't so different

[toricoriot]

How do you draw transformers/robots? I’m still learning but I’m struggling quite a bit.

Love your art!! ♡

Thank you for liking my art:)

I practiced drawing by reproducing anime, toys and comics. I think you'll eventually find a style you like. Keep it up!

...Honestly, my art is not a good example. I'm very lazy. I usually skip the difficult parts of drawing.

I don't know if this will be useful, time lapse videos↓

[theogm-art]

Im going around asking my favorite mech artists "how to get better at drawing mechs", so now i'm coming to you! What is your approach to drawing mechs, what was your path into learning how to draw em? And how could someone get better at drawing mechs? Thank you for your time and attention

Hello ! ^^

For me, I started drawing mechs 4 years ago. I was just starting to draw again after my big depression era (like 4-5 years without drawing anything after artschool) =w= I kinda had to start from scratch. So, to help me, I started drawabox.com .

I did the first lesson, pulling lines and drawing straight, which helped me a lot gaining confidence in my hand. I ended up drawing 250 boxes . It took me something like a month and a half, doing 10 boxes in day, not everyday, but most of the week.

This was important, especially with mechas, because it teaches you to draw in 3d, to give volume to your shape, and because most mechanical stuff is pretty much boxes piled on top of each others, it's pretty geometric.

At that point, I was already dusting myself of the rust in my drawing muscles, but what really finished it is doing the March of Robots 2020.

I did like 25 mechs in almost as many days, until I started getting comms. And since then, I haven't stopped. ^^

(also a year later, I got a dm from Tom/Abaddon and got hired to do mechs for LancerRPG x)

Of course, between all that, I did sketches, studies. I tried doing 100 hands but didn't finish it. etc

But for mecha, specifically, I think one of the first things you have to understand is that it is a language of symbols, that is different from organic forms. This obvious difference between mechs and humans, one could say, is that humans are soft volumes and mechs are hard surfaces. But , not only is that not necessary the case (you can draw a mech soft and circular), but it is more about filling in with symbols, shortcuts that bring to mind the idea of the mechanical.

I am not an engineer. Most artists that do mechas and robots and vehicles and hard surface are not engineer and/or do not have that knowledge. (some do but my point is it's not required). Which means that, as an artist you have to fake it by learning those symbols, that bring the IDEA of a mechanical form. This is about using the brain of the spectator/viewer, their knowledge of what mecha looks like, so that you can meet halfway.

You learn those forms by studying. There is no shortcut here. You have to practice, not only your hand, but also your eye, in looking at your favorite piece of mecha media, and replicate them until you can pull them from your brain without reference. (always use refs tho, you don't have use 100% of your brain all the time.)

I am a very DETAIL-oriented artist. It's one of the thing people compliment me on and/or hire me for. It's far from being the only approach in mecha (plenty of great artists doing great concept arts of mecha with few details) . The more details, the clearer you'll have to be, and the more time you'll have to spend on the art. Especially lineart for me. BUT details help a lot convey those symbols and forms and shapes that immediately call MECHA in the brain of the viewer.

Another thing about mecha, is that since it is NOT organic, there is 1) lots of repetition of shapes and symbols, which you are 100% allowed to copy-paste (i do that all the time) , that makes you gain a lot of time.

and 2) SYMMETRY (it's not always the case, you can have an asymmetric design which can be far more interesting) because it's a robot or a mecha or whatever, designed therefore by human hand in-context. Symmetry makes it harder for me, personally, drawing a 3/4 angles or in perspective etc, symmetry is tough. Symmetry of shapes from one shoulder to another, symmetry of details etc. That's probably one of the harder part when you work in 2D. Cause you have to understand perspective and foreshortening and all that.

But yeah, because it's inorganic, hard surface requires a better understanding of perspective, because straight lines are easier to read therefore the viewer will have an easier time at clocking wonky mistakes.

I could go on, about design and function, and aesthetic. but i'll stop there. This is basically how i started plus some other stuff. The rest you'll pick up along the way.

Thank you for asking ! =w=b

[bellesdomain]

(different Anon) Ooh, now I'm intrigued. Would you mind doing a full Bochum Krupp breakdown? (thank you so much for all the work you do for this fandom!!!)

Let's look at the rest of Krupp, not just his bendy straws elbows! Krupp is a bit of an exception to a lot of the rules of costume design - for instance, no elbow pads, no codpiece.

Krupp is Electra's security - the Armaments truck. His original design clearly draws on a Chauffeur- here we have a character from Downton Abbey, set in 1913, and you can see all the elements in the original design - the exaggerates double breasted jacket that's triangular up on his shoulders, the gloves with leather gauntlets, the bagginess of the trousers, knee-high boots. It's a practical look in many ways because in 1913 the chauffeur was also the mobile mechanic, almost certainly going to be crawling around under the engine, needs to not split his pants!

The Broadway re-working of his design is, to be honest, my least favourite of the Broadway costume designs. I just feel he lost so much of that human angle, he's so mechanical but not particularly "trainy". He reads much more as a war robot! And the fact he narrows down to spandex at his waist makes him feel disproportionate to me - compared to the London costume which was absolutely a jacket. Initially the components didn't have names, they were just "Electra's Entourage". So his identity as Krupp came along after the costume design... the Krupp company was a major arms manufacturer during both world wars if I remember correctly, coincidentally in the Bochum region! But "Krupp the Armaments Truck" existed for years before the show looked at a production in the Ruhr valley.

Anyway, Krupp's base layer - we can see that his red concertina arms are part of his spandex base. My guess would be that it is a unitard - plain black legs under his shorts, kneepads and slinkies - I don't have any photos but logically he's got to have something, plain black, between those pieces or else his underwear would show through! (Performers in Starlight all wear a basic cotton unitard under the costume to help keep things clean and tidy)

Krupp's shorts are one of the most distinctive parts of his look! The design indicates fall-front fastening - historical method of closing men's breeches with a central flap covering buttons underneath - much the same as the way the chauffer's jacket works actually! But that historical suggestion didn't really make it to the end product - we have a continuous red line rather than the edges of a flap. That red line is still fastening though! The two legs of silver leather are not sewn together - there is spandex between them to allow the performer *SOME* movement at least! But that red band holds the front panels together while allowing some movement. The shorts have braces/suspenders over his shoulders, holding it all in place. Casual Krupp with the Hoppers here happens to show us where he has spandex, and where he has the silver leatherette. The back of Krupp's shorts quite clearly shows the non-stretch shiny panels with the stretchy material between.

Krupp's belt (it's Purse's belt on display above), and hat, represent coils of wire. Krupp's belt is very similar to Purse's, only with vertical bars as well. I assume these are all foam, covered in fabric, laboriously sewn and glued together. His kneepads are connected to his shorts with the rings and fabric tabs, which will keep everything from moving around too much. His slinkies are just plain black, often hard to make out in photos against his metallic shiny parts.

Krupp's shoulders. wheew. This box is HUGE, heavy, unwieldy, restrictive... his cylindrical upper arms are connected to the shoulder box. It fastens at the back - the "DANGER" panel is a flap that covers the fastenings. The shoulders really limit the performer's movement - he can't really reach above his head with that much bulk in the way! He has a red collar built in to the shoulders, rather than being part of the fabric elements of the costume. The front and back panels connect to the belt with the tab and snap fastenings, holding him all together while allowing plenty of waist movement, at least.

While he doesn't have elbow pads as such, he has some chonky gloves - the silver cylindrical band that appears to connect to the red elbows is actually part of the gauntlets of his gloves. These are three parts - black leather hands, black gauntlet with large wheels, then the silver tube.

Finally, Krupp's hat/headwear! His wire coil reel hat sits on top of a black cowl, with a silver fabric part connected to the hat. We see the hat on its own without the fabric element, but to be worn it's connected to a skull cap and chin strap (see the Electra pic above!). The black cowl covers his head, neck and shoulders, making sure no human skin is at risk of connecting to the costume. His hat has a visor/grill, the remaining vestiges of the chauffeur's hat, but kept small and light enough to not inhibit the stage lighting. And of course... the shades...

Krupp is one of my favourite characters, but with the biggest gap between my preference for the Bochum vs London versions! One big difference was that in London, Krupp was cast as an understudy for the Rockies, he tended to be a big, muscular black guy, very believably a bodyguard and somebody you didn't want to mess with. In Bochum Krupp was cast to be an Electra understudy and general cover to almost every other character - a strong dancer able to work well as any character, meaning Krupp had less of a distinctive type. And London's Krupp was much more of a human than the War Robot look. Still awesome both ways!

[starheavenly]

If I may ask, how do you draw transformers and what’s the step process in your way of designing them as you do for your Zenith au? It’s hard finding good tutorials or guides to drawing these suckers and my attempts, especially the face, are BUGGING me

Honestly like everything else it's just a learning process! This might be advice that sucks but honestly learning 3D art has helped me draw transformers a lot! Once you start visualizing everything in a 3D space you're able to draw cubes (honestly half what transformer designs are) really easy.

Doing studies and getting references is also super important. I recommend getting a character from the comics and making a reference sheet of them. See how they're put together, small details about the shapes (this is when you can pick and choose what design elements to keep) Here's my personal study of Deadlock:

Even in my own study you can see my knowledge of 3D shapes helps a lot. Once you do it for one character you'll notice a lot of characters have very similar design features. Once you learn to draw Tailgate's face you can draw Rewind's, Cerebros, Blast Off, etc. A LOT of the faces and bodies are similar. And of course... Practice. I have easily drawn over 100 robots in the last 4 months. If you're drawing and studying everyday you will improve.

But funny enough the Zenith designs all started because I wanted designs that were easier to draw since they're very simplified and rounded shapes, a lot like TFA. They're for when I'm feeling lazy and just wanna draw some simple fun designs! How I design them? Ehhh I just look at every gen and pick and choose what I like and what I can add. Idk really know how to explain my design process, music and scribbling I guess.

Idk if this helps at all but good luck!!

[warmhorizonss]

May I humbly ask for bee carrying bulkheads sparklings? He’d be so cute all big

Look, anon, I've not had time to draw much Bulkbee at all because of college but I've got something. Lemme just dust off the cobwebs off of this, anon.

The fic I wrote these plotlines for is still brewing in development hell because of how similar I think it is to Kintsugi. I haven't written much besides a few one shots. I do think this fic would make for a good contrast against Kintsugi though. I feel like it reflects Bumblebee in a different manner than Kintsugi would. I'm not too sure what to call this AU either. I think Biomorphism would be a nice title because it's art related like Kintsugi and it means life form.

So, onto the juicy bits:

After a ill-advised hook up after they defeat Megatron, Bumblebee finds out that he's pregnant with Bulkhead's child. He loses his shit and he has a panic attack over telling Bulkhead. He goes to Prowl for help, and the ninjabot is the one who sets him straight. Bumblebee tells Bulkhead, who is nervous. He's pretty insecure, after all. Bumblebee reassures him that he'll be a great sire because of how kind and caring - yet stern and patient he is.

Everything seems to be okay at first. Living in Detroit, Bumblebee joins a support group for pregnant people. The group is surprisingly accepting of him as a pregnant male-presenting robot alien. He also makes some online friends who are also having their kids around the time of his due date. He has a blog where he documents his thoughts and feelings.

Yet, Bumblebee and Bulkhead seem to keep dancing on the edge of being in a committed relationship and just being friends.

While getting together and shacking up seems so obvious to most everyone, Bumblebee and Bulkhead just don't know what to make of their relationship. While Bumblebee and Bulkhead are intimate with each other on a deep emotional level, Bumblebee doesn't want to hold back Bulkhead from achieving his goals. He knows he's been a bad friend in the past. The tension between them builds on and on as Bumblebee's carrying cycle progresses onward until it all comes tumbling down.

Everything comes to a head when Bulkhead reveals that he turned down a job offer with the City of Iacon to stay on Earth with Bumblebee and their child. Bumblebee feels like he's tying Bulkhead down, and the guilt overwhelms him. He decides to tell Bulkhead that he wants a break from everything until he can figure out everything with the sparkling.

(that's all I've got)

Anyway, PLOT BUNNIES!

Sari throws a baby shower for Bumblebee and Bulkhead. Team Magnus attends and Sentinel Prime takes a moment with Jazz to talk about how much times have changed.

Only a few weeks away from the arrival of their sparkling, Bumblebee and Bulkhead have a nice picnic date together awyay from the world.

Towards the end of his carrying cycle, Bumblebee begins nesting. He becomes sort of a neat freak. He ends up over-exerting himself cleaning. Prowl and Bulkhead help him relax and clean the base before the sparkling arrives.

Bulkhead paints a very pregnant Bumblebee's stomach as practice. Their growing sparkling kicks around as Bulkhead works, interupting Bulkhead's workflow. Bumblebee is very amused.

Bumblebee, suffering from the effects of carrier coding, begins to have crying episodes. Bulkhead has to comfort him and help him cheer up.

[skyacya]

Hello! I got into transformers recently and I've been scrolling through Tumblr for awhile to find TF related content. I happen to come across your blog and dare I say your illustrations are stunning!🧡 The color choices and the line work is absolutely amazing.

You can say I'm a little motivated to draw some robots now—but as someone who only drew humans in the past and someone who just joined the fandom. I've come to the realization that drawing robots is much harder than it looks🤲..

If it's not too much to ask, would you mind sharing some tips or experiences on how you started drawing them? Thank you🦐

Man, you have no idea how much seeing this made my day (〃´∀｀)! But sure!

The general idea I use is to break down characters into their most basic shapes, fx Transformers Prime and Animated has super strong shape language especially compared to G1 where everyone are squares

Before drawing a new character, I like to practice my muscle memory by isolating these basic shapes on top of a reference image. To get that proper giant alien robot feel it's especially helpful to practice big, squareish shapes (though depends on the character, some have more fluid shapes similar to humans).

With the overall shapes you can draw your desired pose much easier because you don't need to think about details yet.

When you have the pose down, you can continue on with the details. These are also just shapes broken down into smaller shapes. You just continue to break everything into shapes until you have achieved the level of detail that you want. Everything is shapes

When adding details, it's a good idea to have a bunch of references ready. I usually just go through an episode/chapter with the character I want and take a shit ton of screenshots

⊹⊹⊹⊹Some general tips I have are:⊹⊹⊹⊹

Find inspiration from different artists you like and see how they break down the characters (and try doing the shape practicing to get used to the feeling of drawing bigger shapes)

This is a strange addon tip but hear me out, a lot of R18 tf artists are insanely talented, like to an unlawful degree. Welcome to the rust sea of sin, I would add recommendations but I am a coward

Varying lineweight is especially useful to separate bigger shapes from details, otherwise it can quickly look busy and messy (look at Alex Milnes art before coloring, there it is very visible)

Alex Milne also uses full black in certain less visible/high contrast areas to create focus on the more important details. It helps to create a more balanced drawing. Also helps to hide areas you aren't confident about such as joints lol

Don't be afraid to exaggerate the lines, robots have a tendency to look stiff

Do not fear the shapes, the shapes mean no harm.

And lastly, thank you for your kind ask! There are many ways to begin drawing robots and I hope this may help in your journey down the rabbithole of giant sexy gay alien robots (ʃƪ˶˘ ﻬ ˘˶)♥♥

[descendant-of-truth]

Rise of Lyric has by far some of the most consistently expressive character animation of any 3D Sonic game ever, and frankly I think Frontiers should be embarrassed that it isn't at minimum on the same level as it, if not better.

Because here's the thing: RoL still looks awkward at times. Mouth shapes can feel a little weird, the eyebrows don't always seem to know what they're supposed to be doing, little things that give off the impression that it wasn't quite as polished as it wanted to be. But it's still LEAGUES above Frontiers, even with the progress it's made over other mainline games.

And look, I really can't claim to know how the models they're using work because I don't have the ability to mess around with them myself, but at this point I'm starting to wonder if they're just... not particularly stretchy by nature?? Because I can't imagine any other reason for them to be so stiff even when the animators are doing their best.

To prove my point, let's compare a very similar expression and pose of Sonic's from Frontiers and RoL respectively.

In both of these scenes, Sonic is expressing determination to fight in order to save his friends. In Frontiers, this is from the Final Horizon update, right after Amy, Tails, and Knuckles sacrificed their corporeal forms in order to bring Sonic back from corruption. Sonic is currently feeling the weight of that sacrifice full-force, lamenting that they gave up their chance at freedom for him, and uses that pain to push himself forward to really save them this time.

In Rise of Lyric, Sonic is staring down a robot army led by Metal Sonic as the door in front of them closes. He's already ushered Amy, Tails, and Knuckles behind him into a suspicious temple of sorts, but he's prepared to fight in case it doesn't close fast enough. He was told twice not to open the door in the first place, but he was concerned for his friends, and decided to prioritize protecting them over their own desires to keep fighting.

With such similar framing, it's hard not to see how Frontiers' expressions fall short. Both Sonics have their eyes narrowed, the bridge of their eyebrows scrunched down to separate them into two distinct shapes, and they're holding their fists up. But in Frontiers, it's not very clear what emotions he's feeling just by looking at him. Sure, he looks kinda determined if you squint, but at a glance, he looks almost more neutral than anything.

And it just gets worse the more you think about it because by all accounts, he should be having a MORE intense expression than the one in Rise of Lyric! I mean come on, the guy practically died five minutes ago and is gearing himself up for another round of Titan fights. He should be looking exhausted and utterly spent but like he's still gonna keep going somehow.

It got to the point where, halfway through writing this, I decided that it wasn't enough to just talk about what his expression should have looked like, and that I was going to put my money where my mouth was and redraw it myself.

I scrunched his eyes and brows down closer to how they are in the Boom screenshot for the determined look, made him look upwards with his irises instead of staring blankly ahead, and pulled up his lower eyelids to add an edge of desperation to him.

I kept his mouth in the same position, but tried to make it look a little more... angry? by curling it up on one side and showcasing his top teeth more. Finally, I changed the position of his body and arms a bit, to make it look like his whole body was tensing up along with his face.

These are all Extremely Doable in 3D animation - the only part I'm uncertain of is the mouth, since I tend to draw mouths with a very 2D mindset. But on principle, it should not be hard to shape his eyes to match his emotions. That is the absolute bare minimum of what you want your character models to be capable of in a professional setting.

And it's driving me nuts that Frontiers, savior of the Sonic games' credibility among the masses, is still being outclassed by what's considered the "second 06" of the franchise. What is happening over there that this keeps being a problem

[wearepaladin]

Greetings oh Paladin from a humble witch dropping by. Figured I'd ask for funsies seeing as I quite like your views of Joshua Graham.

How, in your honest opinion, would Joshua react to a Psyker who practiced Witchcraft? I'm talking classic Psyker too, with elemental abilities and shit. Think Cassandra/the Sorceress from The Scorpion King if she had elemental telepathic powers too. Most recent post on my blog has a moodboard showcasing how I view the general aesthetics and personality/inspirations for my OC, if it helps some.

Not the kind of question I usually answer, as this is a particular character driven question, not precisely a paladin related one. But since you asked politely, I shall indulge you. Firstly, psykers are canon to the Fallout setting and have been around since the very first game. That said, those in particular were the result of the Master's experiments with the Forced Evolutionary Virus, after the Master themself discovered their own degree of of psychic powers after the rapid mutation and absorbing of individuals as they went from a singular being to the frightening being we eventually encounter. Thus, psykers are *rare* because they don't appear to occur naturally, and are more common to be a result of experimentation or mutation due to FEV or radiation in the weird science driven universe of Fallout. It's also a setting that has UFO aliens with little green men and lovecraftian horrors, so alternate sources of alteration from humans to have such abilities is conceivable. Josh Sawyer himself suggests here that while he has no issue with it being in the setting, he thinks it works best if it largely remains mysterious and unexplained. https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Psyker#cite_note-4 That said, Joshua Graham comes from a more grounded aspect of the Fallout universe, his character and background derived from real world religious and cultural concepts, be it Mormonism, Christianity as a whole, tribal values, the consequences of colonialism, homogenization of culture, and empire as a whole. In a world where super mutants, robots, and undying ghouls dot the landscape, the most unusual and noteworthy event that pushes the bounds of what is natural in Joshua's story is his own continued survival after the events of the original battle for hoover dam, where for his failure he was burned alive and thrown into the Black Canyon of the Colorado river, and not only survived the process, but is arguably proven to be one of the most durable people in the setting as he is still cognizant, eloquent even, mobile, and capable of being a warrior and chieftain of astounding ability afterwards. He ascribes his survival, as he does to anything truly good in this world, to God's love and grace. So, what happens when this largely grounded aspect of the Fallout Universe encounters a person whose existence is derived from its more science fiction charged aspects? Honestly, not much. In terms of the psyker abilities, another byproduct of the wasteland and part of the Creator's plan in some way he probably will never understand. Them practicing witchcraft is honestly the most likely to draw him into a discussion. This is after all post nuke world where he has dealt with and likely participated in the cultural practices of many tribes that would likely be described as witchcraft. Given that the most proselytizing Joshua does to a Courier is at worst just discussing his own experiences if inquired, I doubt Graham would feel offended at person being a self proclaimed witch, but he would be tempted to ask questions and compare notes on their views on faith.

[lyssalayz]

COMMISSION DUMP!🐋

Hihi!! Sorry for not posting hehe, here's a quick dump of all the comms i've done so far!! Won't post the others as per the client's request ^_^.

Again, thanks so much for the support everyone! Will post more content soon 🥹🫶

Okay, LESGO!!

read more to see emmm 👇👇!!

(NOTE: none of these are in order )

BUST COMMISSIONS

(there's alot)

1.

commissioned by @/mellykisser on insta! She's such a pretty character! Had alot of fun drawing her hand hehe

2.

This is more of a robux commission (my first and probably last) from @/ItzTweebz on tiktok & Twitch! They're planning to be a streamer, so go check them out 🥹🫶

3.

JIROU TIME!!! PRETTY DUDE ALERT!!! Commissioned by theeee @stellyfins 🎊 !! I already reblogged this on my profile hueheu 🥲 but he was a blast to draw + his opossum (so cute)

4.

I've reblogged this on my page too hehe, but this was Commissioned by @no-guns-at-the-dinner-table !! Such a pretty character 🥹🫶

5.

Fursona commissioned by @/ iloveeesharks on discord! It's been a while since i've drawn furries, but so glad they liked it 🥲🫶 i especially loved rendering the icecream ontop of their head hehe

6.

Commisioned by @imaglitchy ! This was more of a headshot than bust but i'll just include this here haha. A very cool character! I love this whole scary vibe she's got goin 💪💪

HALF BODY COMMISSIONS

1.

commed by @/ browniied on discord ! They're one of the first ever ppl to commission me , and im very grateful they chose me to draw such a cute character 🥹🫶

2.

Commissioned by @keenvictory , these two are so stinkin cute. You have no idea how fun it was to draw them 🥹🫶 This was a good practice for me on robotic parts too! My gosh, their designs are amazing! so i'm glad I took this comm 🫶🫶

That's all for now! I'll post more soon, probably more commission content 😭

Thanks for reading! Have a nice day ahead 🫶🫶