#drawing exercize

[deebrisbyfish]

This strip was inspired by a PREVIOUS piece I had done, drawing up a bunch of heads all showing different expressions. It was a fun visual exercise, but I really wanted to work the idea into an actual narrative. Heidi noticing me making the weird faces provided me with the inspiration to work it all together and have fun with it. :)

[vibinginthebg]

✨Some doodles of the siblings to try to see how to draw them ✨

(I am super late to the party hello)

[alice-ness]

mandy :)

[litebulbs-art]

Artifact of Kin

[brbgensokyo]

the nefarious winter sorcerer has robbed me of my ability to draw

[theokusgallery]

So you guys know how I've basically only been drawing twinks for the last two years

[valtsv]

i have to say i think that web weaving is honestly such a great posting format. drawing parallels between art and critical analysis from a range of different sources and media in order to create your own collage of personal interpretation that is itself an artistic and analytical piece, and then sharing that art with other people. there's something so beautiful about that. unironically if i taught a literature class i would encourage it as a fun extracurricular exercize to develop analytical skills.

[hinge]

Hinge presents an anthology of love stories almost never told. Read more on https://no-ordinary-love.co

[bigmsaxon]

Do cyborgs still need exercize? Is there cyber aerobics?

Practically speaking probably not but aerobics gear is just too fun to draw.

[phinjeet]

yuri phinjeet is this anything

* itz EVERYTHING cupid . r theze dezignz anything

* (NOT Genderbendz tm i HATE genderbendz (az a tranz person) this iz tranzfem hc town now dont piss me offfffff/nmay)

* (little notez under the cut)

* baljeet -> anjali

* phineas -> penelope (or penny/pen)

* (ive been fascinated w penelope az girl phinz name ever since that 1 tweet abt how the pnf revival iz gonna b woke n theyre gonna b tranzgender n named penelope and fern okay . iconic tweet)

* it alwayz bugged me a bit that while phinz outfit haz orange , pale yellow AND blue , jeetz outfit iz all just bluez , so he doeznt hav that much Variety w colorz , but in som alt outfitz he doez wear green so woe . green upon ye . slightly more varied color palette 4 anjali , also her lil overall dress iz inspired by 1 i own irl :) skirt go spinny

* penny doeznt look that different (i already draw her w longer hair half the time anyway lololol) but she iz wearing shortz instead of the skirt i uzually draw phin in , cuz i thought thatd b a funny silly detail , also darker colorz on her shirt (red instead of orange , orange instead of yellow) , and fingerless glovez bc erm theyre cool (shez kind of serving butch realness a little bit)

* considered giving anjali glassez but it looked a bit 2 Different , i wanted them 2 still look like phinjeet while also having more of a twist than just Eyelashes And Longer Hair the way most genderbendz ive seen in my day r (HASHTAG NUMBER 1 HATER OF GENDERBENDZ) and um IDK IT WAZ A FUN LIL DEZIGN EXERCIZE . I HOPE U LIEK THEM🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶

[persephone-is-here-omg]

Far be from me, a simple Venezuelan swallowed whole by the US propaganda machine, to draw parallels between what's going on in Venezuela and OTHER hystoric periods... But drawing marks on your neighbors' house to single them out to authorities, so that they can be taken away for the crime of **checks notes** exercizing their constitutional right to vote for whoever they fucking want and protesting does bring to mind some rather interesting hystorical periods. Again, far be from me!

[queenofzan]

hey I saw on your blog that you’re a professional seamstress. Do you have any recs on where to start for an absolute beginner? I really want to learn to make my own clothes. Thank you!!

Absolutely!

So where I started, and where a lot of people start, is altering your own clothes. This has the advantage of being cheap, since you have the clothes already, but the disadvantage of...most modern clothes are actually pretty tricky materials to work with! We wear a lot of stretchy clothes and synthetic materials/blends that are a little weird. It's definitely a place you can start, especially if you have lots of clothes that you aren't super in love with or have sized out of. A lot of the projects on Annika Victoria's Beginner's playlist are this kind of sewing! There are also some cool t-shirt alterations you can do with just cutting and tying that can get you comfortable working with fabric (and cutting stuff up) that get you wearing something you made very quickly.

How we started in the costume shops I've worked in was with little samplers. With hand sewing, we showed the kinds of stitches we used most often in repairs (running stitch, cross-stitch or catch-stitch, back stitch, different ways of tying off thread, sewing on a snap). This takes a long time when you're starting out, because getting used to handling the needle and thread and fabric at one time without things getting tangled or stabbing yourself is a lot to learn all at once! Based on her YouTube channel and reviews of the book, I think Bernadette Banner's Make, Sew, and Mend would be a good resource for this kind of thing. For starting out with machine sewing, I highly recommend taking the time to do some exercizes to get used to steering! My mom started me out sewing through a piece of paper without thread in the machine (which, in hindsight, might not have been the best for the needle...but machine needles need frequent replacing anyway, so it's fine.) Searching "sewing maze" got me mostly relevant results, lol. I like the way this page takes you through the steps really slowly. When you're feeling pretty good about keeping your stitching on the line, copy a maze or draw some lines onto fabric and try it there! Then try some curves, which are harder to get the hang of but very, very important to be able to control for clothes specifically.

In terms of fabric that's not going to be a butthead to work with, natural fibers are your friend. Cotton is probably the most accessible, and quilting cottons would be great for this kind of practice. Go to a fabric store if you can, and just sort of feel the quilting cottons, and other fabrics (if they have them). Especially for practice or beginner projects, you'll have a much easier time with a stable, sort of crisp fabric. The main problem is that they don't usually make very good looking clothes, but for really beginner projects that are as much about practicing your skills as they are about making something finished (pillowcases, pot holders, fabric baskets, simple pouches, little drawstring bags) quilting cotton is really easy to work with and very available. There are almost certainly books at your library that are aimed at beginners, or at being a reference! Pattern companies used to put out sewing manuals that would go over all the skills their patterns assumed you would need, which included all the basic hand-sewing skills as well as things you need with patterns. The one I have, and is widely regarded as the best, is the Vogue Sewing Book. I picked mine up in a secondhand shop for about ten dollars, and my local library has a couple different editions. (In general, the library does a pretty good job of stocking books that are actually helpful, so you don't have to figure out quite as much on your own.)

I do find it really useful to have reference books, for those times when a pattern or video is like "Then you just have to edge-stitch it" and then don't explain what that means. I've been sewing professionally for 14 years, and I still routinely pull down one of my books to find out what someone is talking about, or to refresh my memory if it's been a long time. (...At work I will often use my phone to look it up, but that DOES require you to know, approximately, what you're looking for, and if they're making sense. Especially in the world of generative AI making up nonsense, a solid reference book is helpful.)

Even if you're a visual learner and want to follow along with videos (which is REALLY helpful with some of the tricky stuff where it seems like we go from "thread and fabric" to "some sort of sorcery" to "and it's that simple!") a sewing book is useful because it will give you the terms to search for! Sewing is a pain in the ass because there are almost always multiple names for things (a slip stitch and a ladder stitch and a tunnel stitch are all the same thing) and, at least in English, a lot of our sewing terms come from French, so sometimes you'll be completely lost trying to spell a thing or understand what it means. So I do recommend doing at least one hand-sewing sampler and a few sewing mazes and practice seams before you start sewing A Real Thing, and you could certainly keep doing that to improve, but you would not be blamed for finding that boring and wanting to get into The Good Stuff! Like I said before, I would recommend trying some projects that aren't clothes and can be made out of quilting cotton without them looking or feeling yucky. A pillowcase is just about the most basic first project there is: straight seams and a hem. If you get a cute fabric, you can even have it out on the couch or the bed and be able to show it off, which is SUCH a wonderful confidence builder. Reusable fabric bags can be just as easy, and are practical.

One of the shops I worked in would have students make pajama pants or a stuffed animal out of fleece. Fleece is stretchy, so it requires some different techniques and a little adjusting, but it is also very readily available, won't fray (unlike the quilting cotton), and is suuuuper forgiving when you mess up and have to pull stitches out. It's also one of the only other fabrics you are likely to be able to find in all sorts of colors and patterns without tracking down a specialty shop, since people use it for blankets and kids' stuff.

I think the most important thing to know is that: you will mess up. And it's almost never the end of the world! If you've just sewn something inside out, or the fabric wandered under the machine, or you caught a bit of fabric you shouldn't have, you can almost always stop, pick out the thread, maybe smooth out the fabric, and try again. The only really permanent mistakes are usually cutting, and there's often ways to fix those as well! Like I said, I've been sewing professional for 14 years, and on the last project I did, I probably spent as much time picking out stitches and redoing it as I did actually sewing the darn thing, because between me being tired and the fabric being uncooperative, it was just a struggle. But I don't think my customer could even tell, because once the thread is out and you've done it right, it looks the same as if you did it perfectly on your first try.

The other most important thing to know is that most of sewing clothes is actually pressing and ironing, especially if you're sewing by machine. You will be tempted to skip the step of pressing your seams, because what difference could it make? I promise it makes a difference, and it's really hard to tell when you're starting out if the fabric you're working with will actually behave without pressing. If your instructions say to press that thing, you better press that thing. It will look SO much better when it's done.

Okay I know this post is long already but my other advice on garment sewing specifically is: machine sewing is faster, so you might be tempted to do it by machine whenever possible, but the truth is, a lot of things will look better if you do it by hand. I usually put in zippers by hand, and lots of hemming will have a cleaner, more invisible finish by hand. In couture sewing and tailoring, a lot of hand sewing is done, especially for the finishing, because it simply looks nicer and you have better control. Put on a tv show or a podcast or something, work in short bursts if you need to, but really, for good-looking results and control over finicky fabric, hand sewing is your friend!

Okay, I hope my long lecture was helpful! Good luck!

[hinge]

Hinge presents an anthology of love stories almost never told. Read more on https://no-ordinary-love.co

[hepilsketches]

continuation of my book 2 jeeko cursedverse

no one asked for, but my life is suffering so the world has to suffer too

basically, I got so sad over sideburnless Jee from my own stupid art getting rejected so I made ponytailess Zuko forgive him. that's why this sketch exists

(Disclaimer: I have nothing against Jee's sideburns. They literally is half of the things which keep the caracter recognizable at all, lol. But that's exactly why drawing Jee without them is a curious exercise.)

careful, mild sexual content and double cursedness ahead

"Will you get over it already?! I stole a whole f*cking ostrich pony for you! What else can I possibly do, Jee?!" "First of all, sir, it's not an ostrich pony but an ostrich horse." "Jee." "Secondly, even if it were a pony, its tail wouldn't be attached to you, sir, which kinda ruins the whole point." "Jee..." "And lastly, even if I just were interested in any thing with a ponytail attached to it, I'd prefer to limit myself to a) humans who b) would be capable to give me informed enthusiastic consent, thank you very much." "What do you mea...... URGH! Nevermind!" ... "You know what, Jee? I think it's time for me to try and find my own path in this world."

yep, you just read the cursedverse's premise for Zuko Alone, lol.

---

Okay, guys. Frankly? I have no smart/deep/beautiful stories to tell through my art, and most likely the day I finally get over my raging book 1 Zuko frustration will be the day I lose 90% of my drawing motivation. That's the sad truth I have to deal with.

This doesn't mean I can't take an advantage of this dubious fuel to exercize my art skill and have some trashy fun with it in the process, though 8)

[damnfandomproblems]

6171:

"It becomes an issue when a canonically masc/femme character gets changed completely for shipping purposes. It's like reading an OC/canon ship."

No, it doesn't become an "issue". It becomes annoying to some people, yeah, or even many people. But an issue? No. It's super annoying to see people strip down characters and sand off all the recognizable aspects of them to the point they read like OCs, but it's still a valid exercize, even if we hate it, even if it's tacky, even if it's cringy, even if it's "oh god, they're projecting or missing the point so badly".

Fanworks are transformative by nature, and I'm not about to draw arbitrary lines dictating what kinds of transformative decisions are inherently bad or problematic. I'd sooner look at the person behind the work. If they're not a raging bigot (which is most people in fandom, unlike what a lot of too-online antis and other people will claim)? Good to go.

Posting as a response to a previous problem.

[spotaus]

Took some time last night to doodle out all these Headshots of my ocs! (They're for stupid meme-images that I'll post later on lmao--)

It was a great exercize and refamiliarized me to their vibes. I miss drawing these silly guys 👀

[annymation]

Hi Anny!! Got a writing prompt for ya!

So I’ve been seeing your little snippets of the KOW! Swapped AU between Star!Asha and Human!Aster, and they’re all soo cute X33

But now I’m wondering, what would the “At All Costs” scene look like? Or whatever song you swapped for AAC.

Would it be Aster who goes somewhere else private to practice his music? Would it be Asha who’s encouraged by their friends to confess to Aster? How does Aster react? How does Asha handle confessing?

Imagine the 7 (or 6 in this scenario) teens in the background being like: “JUST KISS THAT BOY ALREADY-!!”

Like I said in my original post about the AUs here:

Asha would sing "You Chose Me" from the musical "Breathe" as I think it fits her bubbly and happy personality very well. Now as for how a scene of them would play out, let's see...

After a lot of encouragement from the seven teens, Asha finally makes her way through the woods, following the sound of Aster's music. She finds him standing near a river, with his mandolin strapped on his shoulder, as he practices the magic she has given him.

(As I write this I realize that whole scene in KOW when Asha and Aster are hiding and Asha draws clones of themselves would have to change... Cause drawing is relatively silent, but playing music ain't lol so I guess Human!Aster's approach would be different, in this moment that is about him showing his growth... Maybe something more about him not being afraid to be loud and clear...)

Aster is trying to sing and hit a high note as loud as he can, by doing so he creates sound waves that make the water of the river tremble, but it's not enough, it wouldn't be strong enough to, let's say, knock someone out of balance for example, he gotta try harder.

Aster was so focused on his high note he didn't notice the light coming from behind him, till he feels a finger tap on his shoulder. He stops playing and turns around quickly

"AH- Oh hey Asha" the human didn't quite notice how nervous Asha seemed, like she was anxious to tell him something "Did Simon finish his dinner? We're good to go?"

"Umm yeah, everyone's ready, but- well... I wanted to ask you something first..." Asha can practically feel the 7 teens staring at them behind some bushes, waiting to see her confess... But instead Asha blurted out "Whatcha doing?" she asked awkwardly

"Just trying something different. I wondered if I could cause a sound wave strong and loud enough to be more destructive ya know... But no matter what I feel like my voice is like, stuck in my throat, ya know? Like it should be louder, but I'm holding back, even though I want to let it all out..." He explained with a pondering gaze on the mandolin

"... It takes time to find your voice, but I think the power you already have inside is more than enough to defeat them" The star smiled warmly as she spoke from her heart

"Let's hope. But yeah, what I can do is already pretty great, like, check this out" Aster plays a fast paced melody, and suddenly, the strings of his mandolin start to burn and he creates a fireball "I can make fire! That oughta be useful, right?" They try holding the fireball... It is- "HOT!" He exclaims as he throws the spell in the river "... Ya know, on second thought, maybe I'm not ready to go to the castle yet, maybe we should leave the plan for tomorrow or-"

"I know we'll win." Asha reassures him "You got a lot more power than you think, and that goes way beyond my magic"

Aster smiles and feels his cheeks getting warmer "Heheh thanks. I guess I'm just nervous cause'... Well, everything HAS to go according to plan"

"And what if it doesn't?" Asha tilts her head with a knowing smile

"Then Queen Amable kills us, I guess, or throws us in the dungeon to be her hubby's little lab rats" He shrugs, finding the outcome quite obvious

"... I don't know if things will go according to plan, but..." Asha holds both his hands, looking at him in the eyes with a radiant and optimistic smile that could make any shred of doubt fade away "As long as you follow your heart, you'll find a way... That's what made you wish upon me in the first place, right?" Asha giggled

Aster looks at her fondly, she's like the embodiment of hope...

"OH MY GOD- JUST KISS THE B-" Hal yelled from the bushes, to which Asha used her magic to make a wall of trees in front of the 7 hidden teens to hide them

"What was tha-"

"NOTHING!" Asha blurted out nervously

"Maybe the others are calling us, we should go" Aster begins to walk towards the trail that leads to their camp. But then, he feels her warm hand holding his wrist

"A-Aster wait!" Her voice shakes as she holds him, he looks back at her confused, so she tries her best to explain "I just... I think I discovered something new about how I feel about you... Well your friends did, but that's not the point" She mumbled the last part to herself "And I have so much I wanna tell you, but I don't know how to even start..." Then, Asha glances at Aster's mandolin for a moment, and that gives her idea "... Maybe I could try speaking your language... Can you give me a tune?" She asks with a soft smile

Aster is not quite sure where this is going, he raises an eyebrow at the request but complies "Uuuh sure ok" He starts to play a simple melody

And we get the song "You Chose Me"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

I SPENT THE WHOLE AFTERNOON WRITING THIS LMAO @flicklikesstuff YOU BETTER APPRECIATE IT- just kidding, I had fun, but man, everytime these two are cute together I just covered my face blushing and giggling, kicking my feet, theyre so precious I cant hhidhefheljehbgfhhe

[hinge]

Hinge presents an anthology of love stories almost never told. Read more on https://no-ordinary-love.co

[noa-nightingale]

BACKFLIPS AND KICKS DOWN THE DOOR. HELLO. I've brought art of the oars and I'm gonna GSOQBSOSBAOABSJSB

I'm gonna introduce these in batches because they can be categorized and that's fun anyways first up THEM!! Just them, nothing less nothing more. The Sword is calling the Oar "anata" because it's a Japanese endearing term used to refer to spouses :}}

Next up I experimented with making them humanoid rather than going full humanization. The Oar's outfit is based on Edo-period Fishermen and the Sword's outfit is based loosely on Edo-period swordsmen (not samurai 'cause i. i'm not strong enough for that kind of detail) (ft. Policarpa's Spool because. I love her. Not much else.)

And finally, we got them as human! Mainly as a fun exercize for me. I'm not sure what the Oar's name would be as a human (I'm trying so hard to not just name him "Oru"), but I'm definitely naming Human!Sword "Ken" 'cause not only does it look like a normal name, Ken is the romaji for the Japanese word for "sword"! Ehe. I'm so smart. Also, the bottom drawings on the 4th photo are them in a mordern setting! Aka what they would look like after the Professoe yeeted them into the present (not finalized designs though)

I'd talk more about my personal headcanons for them, but I'll only do so if you allow me. I don't wanna overwhelm you with too much 😭🙏🏽 Thank you for letting me share my art though!! :]]

A note from my friend Elliot who has never watched Puppet History but has listened to my ramblings about it and about these two 'cause OAHDOWBDOWNWOSNQK

Arghgfhgr that art style is so cute, and I love the humanoid oars! They are so... don't know how to describe it but I LOVE that they are not completely oars but also not completely human. That is amazing.

Thank you so much for sending this to me, I could look at it forever!!! :D <3