#time to learn how to make it work with my current rendering style

[zeroannat-archive]

Ever get that feeling you're stuck? Spinning inside your little wheel, only to find you're right back where you started.

[tamayula-hl]

I've received several DMs that say things like:

"That artist in the fandom quit because you copied her art style."

"You’re the one who killed her motivation."

"I can’t believe more people aren’t calling you out."

"You should go back to your original style."

In response to these messages, I’d like to take a moment to carefully explain the history of my art style and how it has evolved over time.

The first image has already been shared on my side blog—it's a sex-themed gag comic I drew around 2013. (It was originally posted on DeviantArt, timestamped Jun 20, 2013.)

The second is a one-page sexual comedy I drew in 2020. It was also uploaded to my Pixiv account (under a different username) on October 2, 2020. I prefer not to publicly share that account, but if you’d like to confirm the timestamp, feel free to DM me.

As you can see, I’ve been drawing this type of work—“silly NSFW comics in a Japanese manga style,” using “pastel, soft colour palettes” and “short, one-page formats”—long before I ever joined the Hogwarts Legacy fandom.

In other words, drawing “sexual content in a comedic tone,” using “a cute art style to depict sweet but dumb couples,” and creating “self-contained comics with clear setups and punchlines” has always been a core part of my creative identity.

However, when I first got into Hogwarts Legacy—a story set in Victorian-era Britain—I wanted to try drawing in a style that better matched the mood of the world: something more subdued and atmospheric. At the same time, I saw another artist already succeeding in the fandom with a soft pastel, manga-inspired style similar to mine. I felt afraid of being compared to them, and anxious about my own lack of skill being exposed. Because of that, I distanced myself from my original style for a while and tried my hand at more realistic rendering and serious, moody art (up until around December 2024).

But earlier this year, that artist released a sexual comedy comic that received a huge positive reaction on Twitter. The execution was so polished that I was genuinely stunned—and deeply drawn to it.

The way it teased sexual content, balanced comedy and cuteness, and managed to stay tasteful despite the theme... it was all incredibly refined. And honestly, I couldn’t help but admire that success. I found myself thinking, “I want to create something that people love just as much.”

So I reached out to the artist via DM and asked, “Would it be okay if I tried making a comic like the one you just posted?” They kindly gave me permission, and I publicly tweeted about it at the time—with a reply from them confirming it.

Since then, starting in late January, I’ve returned to the style that suits me best: lighthearted, pastel-coloured NSFW comics. It’s something I’ve drawn many times in past fandoms—it brings me joy, feels natural, and puts far less strain on me creatively.

I hope people can understand that while I was definitely inspired by that artist, the core of my current work is still rooted in my own long-standing preferences and artistic journey.

That said, I won’t deny that I was heavily inspired by certain stylistic techniques found in her work—such as pencil-like line art, colour-coded speech bubbles, handwritten-style fonts, and her delicate balance of sexuality and cuteness.

I’ve learned a lot from her art, and I truly respect her as an artist. While I’ve never intentionally copied her stories or compositions, I do recognise that her refined techniques have influenced me.

I also feel guilt over the possibility that returning to my original style may have unintentionally hurt her feelings. Even though she explicitly gave me permission to draw “silly NSFW comics like hers,” I now wonder if she might have had more complicated feelings beneath the surface. I wish I had been more sensitive to that.

If my lack of maturity ended up casting a shadow over her creative spirit, I deeply and sincerely apologise.

However, it is extremely painful and upsetting to be publicly labelled as “someone who copied her entire style and drove her to quit.”

I see my current work as a result of evolving my old style by integrating what I’ve learned from others. Still, I acknowledge my tendency to be easily influenced by others’ art and my past failure to show enough consideration for her feelings. That’s why moving forward, I will do my best to avoid looking at the fandom timeline altogether—to prevent myself from unintentionally absorbing or echoing the styles of others.

Additionally, if she ever directly contacts me and says, “Please don’t use certain elements in this fandom—like coloured speech bubbles, handwritten fonts, or pencil-textured lines,” I would accept that request with sincerity and stop using those elements.

A quick note about my future creative plans: The “bad boy × good girl” dynamic in my Sebastian × Sakurako stories—and certain Studio Ghibli-inspired motifs I love as a Japanese artist—are not derived from her work. They reflect my own long-standing interests.

(In fact, the concept of Sakurako—a studious, straight-laced original character—was born shortly after the release of Hogwarts Legacy, well before I ever discovered her work. In November of last year, I sent her a DM to explain that, by pure coincidence, my Sebastian × Sakurako dynamic happened to resemble the “bad boy × good girl” trope her pairing also explored. I didn’t directly ask for permission, but she generously responded by saying I shouldn’t worry and that I should feel free to draw what I like.)

So I want to clarify that what I create is not imitation, but a genuine expression of what I love and want to draw.

From here on out, I hope to keep facing my style with honesty, and to continue creating with greater care and thoughtfulness.

Thank you so much for reading this far.

[xuune]

Hii first of all, I FUCKIN LOVE YOUR ART! ITS GORGEOUS AND IM SURE EVERYONE CAN UNDERSTAND YOU REALLY GIVE YOUR SOUL INTO THAT🤧 Your color palette looks so good, What do you pay attention to when painting? (Like when do you think its better to use multiply or something like that and etc.)

first off, I'M HAPPY YOU CAN TELL THAT I PUT MY SOUL INTO MY ART!!! im genuinely in love with drawing and am always finding ways to make creating art enjoyable and impress myself with what i can achieve and learn :D

second, thanks for asking your question!! i dont mind answering it, but my response is quite long. here's my thinking process:

(you specified layer modes like multiply, so im gonna gear my answer towards that a bit) 1. REFERENCE SEARCHING IS KING. color is actually extremely hard for me, so i search around for artworks with palettes i'd like to use and study how an artist uses it. some situations i have a clear idea of what i want, but usually the images in my head are extremely vague, so i borrow palettes from various other artworks that fit the vibe of what i want. an example is this one. my main palette reference were from these artworks. im looking at this artist's use of high saturates and how drawings are overlayed on top of each other. while looking at references, im asking myself how is this artist using warm/cools, where are these warm/cools placed, if their illustration used any form of texturing (like halftones, hatching), how do they use their palette to render form/shape/gradient, when/where do they saturate/desaturate their colors. those questions inform my decisions when using colors too.

2. USING LAYER MODES WHEN NECESSARY. i used to be reliant on multiply for everything, which atp i dont do since i can definitely push colors more first before using layer modes. only when i feel like my current colors are lacking do i start tinkering with tone curves and/or brightness/contrast/hue/saturation/luminosity settings. and if that doesn't work, then i start using layer modes. using layer modes do help with achieving certain effects, color corrections, or when i want to fuck around and find out. i think having a better understanding of what these modes can do makes you more decisive on how you can properly utilize them and to achieve a particular look (like using multiply for a cel shaded style). here's an example:

this leads into my next point:

3. BALANCING OUT VALUES. big thing that makes an illustration hard to read is if values blend together which affects the hues and contrast. i check for what elements need to be distinguished from one another and if it can be read clearly. using layer modes can either help with this or not help at all. it's very dependent on the type of layer mode. here's this example where i applied pin light:

back to #2, there are various instances where i'm using layer modes for quick color corrections and/or to help with readability:

other times, i start off having my entire subject in gray and to figure out main shadow/lights (similar to the multiply cel shaded process i linked ealier). im thinking about what this should look like if i only used 2 value tones:

when in doubt though, i check my artwork in grayscale to ensure values aren't overly blended into each other, especially if i didnt start with grayscale like this one:

painting for me takes into consideration a lot of different aspects. im thinking about how colors should interact, where/when to give contrast, checking/balancing out values, etc, but im also making it a time to study off of how other artists use their colors through the references i collected.

hope this answered your question! lmk if there's more :]

[deadite-central]

Applauding myself for somehow fitting my thoughts on this arc in just three posts. This was a feat

Pudding to me is one of the most overhated characters in the series. She’s a sixteen year old girl who has been conditioned to believe by her own mother that she’s disgusting and ugly, and since she’s not physically strong the only way she can see herself being useful is by being the cunning one. When Sanji calls her eye beautiful, the same eye that she was ridiculed for her entire life, she breaks down, and she falls for Sanji as he’s the first person outside of her siblings that sees her as something other than a monster once he sees her eye. She’s not an evil bitch like a lot of people are convinced she is, she’s a traumatised child

In other news about the wedding, I adore Luffy’s plan of using Brûlée’s power and doing the funniest thing he could: creating a situation in which a hundred feral Luffys jump out of Big Mom’s cake. Absolutely hilarious and wonderful everyone go home. Things seriously don’t go Linlin’s way cause soon enough Jinbei straight up leaves her crew. And holy hell I love this scene so much. He’s so badass! Standing in front of a terrifying emperor and not even flinching? Not being scared at all? Jinbei is one of the most loyal Straw Hats and here you can see it on full display

Big Mom’s backstory in itself is insane, and while most people will be jaw dropped at the plot point that Linlin accidentally ate her friends without even realising it, to me the Mother Carmel reveal is what always gets me. ‘Orphan seller’ displayed in the box is so jarring, and the fact it’s the navy looking for these kids should tell you all you need to know about how much they actually care for the justice they wear on their backs so proudly

While Luffy vs Katakuri is great in the anime, as Whole Cake is where I’d say the current style of One Piece finally found it’s bearings, it’s absolutely ingenious in the manga. Oda goes so hard on the panelling, and the pacing of the fight is absolutely wonderful, with the reader learning more about Luffy’s abilities, Katakuri as a person and the dynamic between the two as the battle goes along, and it never once feels as if Oda is drawing something out or adding unneeded stuff. Everything here serves a purpose, and I adore this fight, even if it isn’t my favorite in the series

Also on the topic of Luffy vs Katakuri I highly recommend this video as it goes over WHY the panelling of the fight works, it’s really good I just gotta recommend it

Something I really like about Whole Cake is how it brings back the themes of Sanji’s character explored in Baratie, and puts them on full display. Big Mom may be a tyrannical emperor that’s chasing the main characters to kill them, but for Sanji, she’s still hungry, and she still deserves to eat food. It’s the biggest reason Luffy wanted him on the crew: his kindness towards everyone, something his father saw as a weakness, but that One Piece shows you again and again, is an important trait to have

And well, the cake Sanji, Pudding and Chiffon make us absolutely wonderful. I really want to bring attention to the absolute masterclass of a panel this last one here is, from the passage of time when you’re holding your breath between the six panels before it, to the absolutely amazing rendering of Big Mom’s face, I adore it so much. Maybe it’s a silly thing to gush over and give a whole section to; but damn me if I didn’t mention it

Besides the musical number being sung in the background, Whole Cake Island ends with Jinbei now officially a Straw Hat, but having to leave for the last time to save the crew. Again, his loyalty is unmatched, one that has been built up since the Summit War Saga, and every single time it’s on display, I love his character more and more. I genuinely don’t get people who believe he shouldn’t be a Straw Hat, he deserves to be part of the crew more than anyone else you could have wanted here

[nalonzooo]

Hi you’re very kind in always answering people with their art questions i appreciate you so much!! I wanted to ask if u have any books/videos that helped you on your art journey? Love your art so much ur an inspiration 😘😘

hi!! this is so nice of you to say and you’re very welcome 🥰 - books and videos under the cut!

videos

what helped me a lot when i started with art is to watch time lapses or draw-with-me sessions so i can kind of copy how artists draw or paint. however it’s "Level Up your Portrait Drawings" by Chris Hong (ETA: sorry the link doesn't seem to be working, so i've included the title of the class) that was like a turning point in how i drew faces. it’s available via membership on skillshare but i think you can sign up for a month free. i can’t recommend it enough! the quality of my portraits changed after this especially with regards to anchor points—i learned how to tweak my art with this video and i do feel it carried over and improved the way i drew very visibly <3

another video i feel created a huge improvement in my drawing is this class by Lexin Yuan (qrbits). this is a lot more rigorous and thorough than the previous one and also included feedback from the artist (!!) and it’s available via subscription to Class101 but lexin has since made a free version on their youtube which i HIGHLY recommend as well (actually i would recommend their entire channel) - from here i learned how to make characters stand and pose properly, i learned to draw from dance videos, i learned about boxes and anatomy in a very approachable way.

another artist i’m subscribed to and whom i enjoy watching draw is likelihoodart. i love looking at their art bc i feel like they have the perfect blend of semi-realism and stylization - plus their OCs are amazing (the general art rule for teeth is don’t fill them out, but i’ve never seen anyone draw teeth a good as them! i mean look at this work in particular). i picked up some rendering styles and tips from watching their draw-with-me videos.

i’m also currently subscribed to Loish’s patreon where she has very useful and in-depth tutorials and guides. she explains it so well and i also see a lot of the artists in their patreon community sharing their improvements and it's SO cool and encouraging. she has accessible tutorials here you can check out :)

books

comic books/graphic novels - i think i mentioned before but when i first started drawing (again, after living artless as a corporate cog), i was in my marvel (mcu//stucky) phase and one of my fav comics back then was matt fraction’s hawkeye. i liked david aja’s style and i would copy entire panels from the comic in ink into my sketchbook. so i would recommend copying whatever art style comic or manga or graphic novel you like into your sketchbook as personal practice (not for public sharing). re-draw your favorite panels! copying directly from the source also helps you figure out how the artist might have drawn their works.

figure drawing by michael hampton - if i were to recommend just one figure drawing/anatomy book to you, it would be this one - this is also a direct recommendation by lexin yuan and i found this book to be easy to follow and the concepts are understandable. i am at heart more of a gesture drawing artist so his emphasis on line of action and dynamism is something i really appreciated.

ART BOOKS! in particular: spider-verse 1 and 2 art books - everyone knows these and for good reason; ami thompson's character expression sheets alone are worth the price. seeing concept art is always very special--you get to read how a team of creatives come up with ideas and you can learn how to incorporate them into your own art. these two are currently my favorite art books, but i also like the art of tangled (glen keane's sketches are in the inside of the covers and that alone made me want to weep they're so beautiful). and sometimes i go into the japanese section of my local bookstore and see what art books they have - i got this one last year which i really enjoyed, and i got a copy of ryoko kui's doodle book for dungeon meshi and i just love it SO much. their character designs are varied and top-notch and it's just so FUN to go through (if you're interested in this, they'll be releasing an english version soon!)

i also draw a lot of inspiration from artists who make and sell zines of their own art or sketches or sketchbooks - some of them even offer it for free! it seems to be a lost art nowadays because people think zines have to be like big collaborative productions, but it can just be a pdf of your sketches. i literally have a page from one of my fav artist's digital zines printed and taped in front of my desk for constant inspiration, and it's just a sketch of theirs. there's nothing quite like seeing an artist's work in zine format <3

my gawd sorry that was so long BUT i hope these are helpful to you in any way!! <3

[tekesima]

this is the 5th and unfortunately last page of this mini comic. This was intended to be a quick project but ended up stretching to almost if not a year of work due to my commitments to irl stuff. I loved working on this and I'm once again thankful to @blood-injections for letting me make these few pages based off their post here.

you can find the previous pages here: 1, 2&3, 4

more explanation and background beneath the cut

I underestimated the amount of work that would go into making these, especially with all the pages being fully rendered. Initially there were supposed to be 6 pages but I ended up having to stretch it to 7 pages. But now I've decided to end it here on the 5th page due to a number of reasons. The first being that I just unfortunately do not have the time for this kind of commitment anymore with me in college now. I also have just moved on from mcr content and have been more interested in other bands and other media. Another reason is that I do not have a lot of time in general to even do digital drawings anymore and finally I feel like my art style right now that I'm currently happy with is a departure from the style that i started this comic with, and it just doesn't fit it very well.

I felt pretty bad having to take so long on working on these pages and only coming out with one, maybe two pages after 3 months, since i've only been able to work on these during my semester breaks.

Thank you to people who've been following and reading along, and again, thank you so so much to @/blood-injections for giving me permission to make their post into this short comic, even if I never ended up finishing it.

This part will just be some final thoughts. I learned a lot while making the pages; panel shapes and placement and how to make it appealing, how to space out and arrange speech bubbles to make the dialog more digestible and easy to read, how to sort of draw out the sound effects which I'm still trying to get the hang of in terms of fonts. The hardest thing I found about making all of these is consistency, not just in terms of schedule but in terms the process of making the comic itself, particularly the designs of the characters. I hadn't created a character reference sheet at all for this since I anticipated it to be short and quick (it was not lol), and so there were quite a few times where I found myself accidentally forgetting to draw some details of the character's designs but since I had already posted them, all I could do was just add the designs I missed in the next pages. I hope that didn't bug you all too much :'3

That's pretty much all I have to say, thank you for the people that stuck around this long but I apologize for not being able to continue the comic due to personal commitments and having moved on to other interests. I hope you all have a good one :]

[m1ckeyb3rry]

HOW I WOULD’VE WRITTEN YUKIMIYA AND KUNIGAMI

i made a silly post last night about something i would’ve done differently in the neo egoist league and it inspired me to finally make a proper post explaining how i, personally, would’ve written yukimiya and kunigami specifically, given that the both of them are currently suffering from benched-character-syndrome (that’s not a real thing, i just made it up, but i’m sure you all can figure out what it means)

disclaimer before i start: this is MY OPINION and just one way that things could be done differently — i’m not saying that this way is better or worse (on the whole i actually have been enjoying kaneshiro’s decisions so this is definitely not hate), it’s just a different perspective!! i will be cutting many characters in the course of this explanation, including some fan-favorites ones, but don’t take that personally, because for the most part, it doesn’t mean i hate them 😩 in fact i typically like most of them, this is just from a writing perspective ☝🏻

disclaimer two: i am not a professional writer or mangaka or anything — i’m literally typing this while eating a rice bowl at my kitchen counter!! so don’t expect peak fiction and DO expect plenty of typos…i also don’t know how the manga is going to go and this could be rendered completely obsolete (writing this as of chapter 276) in like an arc or so 😓 please don’t come in my notes and call me stupid or say i have zero reading comprehension or whatever other insult you feel inspired to come up with (i know some of y’all like to tussle 😰), put that energy into making your own post or ignoring me or whatever brings you peace and joy 🥰

OKAY now that that’s over with we can finally get started!! LMAO sorry for the lengthy disclaimers i’m scared of some people in fandom tbh because some of the notes i’ve seen on my mutuals’ posts/some of the fandoms i’ve been in in the past…anyways…

@sharkissm here’s the post i promised you!!

YUKIMIYA KENYU

poor yuki…he went from number 5 in blue lock to a literal random in bastard münchen?? okay maybe not quite RANDOM but he’s approaching that status 😓 it feels as though the character he was set up to become in the third selection and u20 arcs is not the same as the character he became in the NEL arc both in terms of worldview and play-style!! so to begin with, i’d make some heavy adjustments to his backstory in order to explain away some of those discrepancies in a more consistent manner

as we know, yuki had a pretty good childhood, all things considered — much more in line with the isagis of the world than, say, bachira, and not to mention kaiser. well, the first thing i’m going to do is take that away from him completely!! instead of having an idyllic childhood where he’s incredibly perfect, i want him to be from a “bad” area of japan. of course, both in real life and in blue lock, japan does not have any crazily horrible terrible areas, but all countries have their sketchier parts, and i want yukimiya to be born in one of those. he lives his childhood as an absolute MENACE and is the kid that adults hate to see coming. his parents work a lot, so as much as they love him and try to raise him as best as they can, they’re not there to correct him 100% of the time, so he kinda just runs roughshod and does whatever the hell he wants. in his light novel, it’s mentioned that he learns to play soccer with this old man and his dog, and i’m actually not going to take that aspect away from him completely because it’s cute, but i will change the context a bit; instead of it being a chance encounter, the old man actually seeks yukimiya out and asks to teach him soccer. maybe his son went down a similar path that yukimiya has begun down and while he can no longer save his son, he at least wants to help yuki out and channel his energy into something more productive, hence soccer!!

after learning soccer from the old man and his dog, yukimiya begins to play it on the streets with some of the other local kids (who are just glad he’s not being a bully anymore and are happy to play along) which is the beginning of the development of his street-style dribbling (in reference to that majestic ass panel of him in the u20 game that was like hardly ever referenced again) as well as his dominance as the one-on-one king. he’s basically undefeatable, and this leads to something of a superiority complex in that he is firmly convinced that he is the protagonist, he is the one that the universe favors, and he absolutely cannot and will not lose and nothing bad can ever happen to him. he continues to be an asshole in general and is still the kind of guy that your parents would tell you to stay the hell away from, however!!

things change when his eyesight starts deteriorating. he goes to the doctor, and that’s when it’s revealed that he has this eye disease (is it even named in canon?? idk i’m just going to call it eye disease) and he might eventually go blind. that night when he leaves the doctor, it’s pretty much in despair, because soccer is the only thing that makes him happy given how miserable his surroundings are (again, there’s obviously many countries and places that have it way worse, but for young yukimiya who is comparing it to the rest of japan, it’s not that great) and he feels like he’ll now be stuck in the same cycle that his parents are caught in. on the way home, he sees one of those religious billboards that’s all like “god will always forgive you” and since he’s at one of the lowest points of his life thus far, he decides that he’s going to become religious because this blindness/disease must be a punishment from god for the things he’s done.

soon after, he’s walking home from school or something random (this is meant to be an extreme coincidence given the situation) and is scouted to be a model. this reaffirms his conviction that his conduct thus far is wrong and that if he ever wants to escape and live the good life that he dreams of, he has to abide by god’s rules and follow his ways. he gets into modeling and makes enough money that he and his family can move to a better part of the country, where he begins to play soccer for his new high school and is quickly recognized for his skill/talent. through this process, he learns how to be incredibly polite, kind, and altruistic, because he’s already been “punished” once and doesn’t want to face it again…he also wants to prove that he is better now and deserves this new life of his as much as if he had born to it + he doesn’t ever want to go back to where he used to be!!

what this backstory change accomplishes: it explains the street soccer panel in a more satisfying way, and it also gives a reason for why yuki is so kind in the 3rd selection/u-20 match and then suddenly becomes incredibly selfish in the NEL — instead of it just being explained away as ego, it shows how blue lock manages to draw out the worst aspects of one’s personality via competition, because yukimiya, who has worked so hard to be good and kind, reverts to his childhood personality almost instantly under isagi’s pressure!! it also explains why yuki’s so quick to just go back to being chill, as he probably feels guilty that he let himself slip like that and doubles down on being a “good person”

now as for the actual games this is where i think i will make the most people mad BUT i would’ve gotten rid of kurona and had yukimiya replace him!! to be honest as much as i do like kurona, he was very very randomly dropped in (i literally thought i had missed the manga panel introducing him because his actual first speaking appearance was so out of the blue) and there were already established characters that could’ve taken that role (ex. yukimiya). i would’ve sent kurona (and honestly probably kiyora) over to barcha because they likely would’ve gotten along well with bachira and otoya plus their passing skills could’ve made barcha a stronger team!! this also serves to isolate isagi more and gives him literally no one but hiori on his side — in this scenario, i want yukimiya to be SO altruistic (as per the backstory change) that he will pass to anyone, just as long as that’s what’s best for the team (the “greater good”). if yukimiya stays the 1v1 emperor, this also adds another dynamic to the kaisagi rivalry as well as possibly adding a ness vs hiori dynamic because that would mean that more often than not, yukimiya would have the ball, and he’s the one who they will rely on to break through the defense before passing to one of the other midfielders (ness, hiori) or going straight to one of the strikers (kaiser, isagi) (yes i know there’s only one striker on a team but YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN). this version of yukimiya could also have a very interesting dynamic with kaiser as both of them come from somewhat similar backgrounds (obviously kaiser is worse but there are similarities) however kaiser forsakes everyone in order to view himself as a god, or god’s chosen one, whereas yukimiya once believed himself to be that but has now forsaken that aspect of his ego in order to place his beliefs in others and in a higher being. this means kaiser could also be a method of awakening yukimiya (giving him interactions with more of the team than just isagi) where his selfishness makes yukimiya realize that if he wants to survive and continue dominating on the field as the 1v1 emperor, he also has to be a little more selfish (a leader instead of just a follower), allowing him to settle into a blend of his new personality and his childhood one, where he’s still kind and agreeable but also a little bossy and much more assertive/willing to score his own goals even if it’s not necessarily for the greater good 100% of the time

what this new role accomplishes: it allows yukimiya to have much MUCH more play time as he deserves given the hype built up for him during the third selection (he was ranked higher than NAGI, which yes it was in the second selection but second selection nagi was a beast so that says something about yuki for sure [as well as karasu and otoya but we’re not talking about them atm]), it gives us a smaller cast to work with on bm (because at the moment there are just too many blue lockers getting random backstories and doing one thing in a game before ghosting and honestly if all of their individual contributions were consolidated into one character, in this case yukimiya, it would make that one character much stronger as well as taking away the plotsagi accusations as now isagi isn’t the only one consistently doing things in games) and allows us to get much more attached/involved with the stakes of the games, and it gives kaiser dynamics with the rest of bastard münchen instead of just isagi, which fleshes him out a bit more as well

KUNIGAMI RENSUKE

i’m sure this is what most of you are reading for (although i hope you went through the yukimiya part and enjoyed it as well!!) and trust i have come to deliver because i have many thoughts about kunigami…my biggest gripe is that his return from the wildcard was so built up and then the narrative treated it as so utterly unimportant (why do literally none of the characters gaf??? like there were a couple of panels touching on it but nowhere near the significance it shoudl’ve been given) that the readers themselves have zero stakes in it!! like if isagi, who considered kunigami a fairly good friend as far as blue lock goes, barely questions why his friend is so different now, then why should we as readers care either?? now, if/when the wildcard reveals are done, they will MOST LIKELY not have the same impact that they could’ve if kunigami as a character was treated differently in the narrative (again, maybe this will change and there will be something that makes the punch of it still hit just as hard, but as of the moment i’m writing this post, i don’t feel that that will happen)

there’s two routes that i could see kunigami taking, and both of them involve kicking out some fan favorite characters (again) but in the first case it’s only temporary!! i’ll go through the first one and then the second one and cover my ears as the bm fans yell at me for axing kaiser and ness

that’s right, route one involves getting rid of kaiser and (most likely) ness entirely!! i am actually of the firm belief that the ng11s (specifically kaiser and lorenzo) were introduced too early. people legitimately think lorenzo is a bad player just because ubers lost vs bm even though kaiser himself had difficulties when lorenzo was covering him…in my opinion the ng11s should’ve been kept as a mysterious entity whose only representative we see is sae itoshi (for narrative reasons) until the u-20 world cup, where ng11s randomly show up in some of the matches to raise the stakes and allow individual blue lockers to confront their demons/weakness and develop further (for example, in a game against, say, the italian u-20 team, maybe shidou learns how to break through a defensive set up with lorenzo at the center?? and that particular match is the ‘shidou match’ random example because idek if shidou’s built like that but you get the gist). i honestly don’t even mind kaiser being there as much because at least he’s doing stuff and still feels like he’s on another level but lorenzo shouldn’t have been shown until later — anything he does, aiku could’ve accomplished and that also would’ve built the rivalry between him and barou that was hinted at in barou’s ln…but anyways my thoughts on aiku can be a separate post because i have digressed!! back to kunigami

in this version, i want him to be isagi’s main rival instead of kaiser, who’s not here at all. make his new ego so obsessed with scoring goals that he cannot fathom anyone else doing it. whatever wildcard did fucked him up so badly that he is absolutely TERRIFIED of returning, so even if it makes the team lose, even if it makes him an asshole, he will do anything to score and prove himself as “useful” to the team so that, even in the worst-case scenario, he’s the one being chosen instead of anyone else (the way reo was chosen over him). this also creates a much deeper rivalry than just “who gets to be the star of the team” as it’s rooted in kunigami’s insecurity and fear of wtvr the fuck was going on in wildcard. this also builds wildcard up as something much more terrifying than it has been so far in canon, because when you think about it it MUST have been horrible and that’s gone somewhat unacknowledged except for brief hints and glimpses, and it also adds a legal/moral/ethical dilemma — because obviously wildcard WORKS, kunigami is the proof of it (as isagi’s main rival, he’s scoring all of the goals that kaiser did, so he’s obviously eating it up), but is it sustainable?? is it something that they can do en masse?? because there’s no question that it’s destroyed kunigami completely, so is it even worth it?? or is it one of those things that you think is worth it when you start (the way kunigami must’ve) but afterwards you regret entirely??

however, given the importance that kaiser has to the NEL (he’s kind of the face of it to be honest), as well as how many fans he has, i can totally understand leaving him in, so i have another option, which i also really like. in this route, i want to use kunigami to replace ness — which doesn’t make sense at first i know but hear me out!! ness hasn’t contributed enough to the plot (besides his dynamic w kaiser ig) for me to feel bad about kicking him out honestly and that’s one less character on the main cast that we have to care about, allowing for more depth to the characters that DO exist. in this scenario, kaiser’s in a loki-esque situation, where all he needs to get that coveted re al offer is someone with the crazy strength to push through players like lorenzo (we’ve seen kaiser struggling with defense before, and as barou says in second selection, kunigami has the build to hold the ball up at the top of the field)…enter kunigami, who’s very obviously a prime candidate for this, and kaiser POUNCES!! he thinks he’s going to have to convince kuni to take his side instead of isagi’s, but surprisingly, kunigami very readily agrees to it. this is because in this route, kunigami resents the blue lockers, including isagi, because while he was effectively being tortured, they were being lauded with praise and shown on live tv as celebrities and whatnot. they never suffered in the way he did, and although he does believe that wildcard was necessary for him to evolve (not a healthy mindset but the one drilled into him), he still wishes the rest had endured what he did, because it scarred him so much that he almost cannot handle knowing that he went through it alone while the others were enjoying themselves (comparatively)?? so he teams up with kaiser and is actively working against his old friends (for maximum effect add in reminders/callbacks to the team z days to give extra angst to the “betrayal”)…it would also be very fun to juxtapose kunigami’s and kaiser’s backstories here, as kunigami had a good life that was ruined by soccer, whereas kaiser had a shitty life that was saved by soccer, and this could definitely come through in their particular brands of desperation while playing!!

now, there’s plenty of theories floating around that ness will assist isagi in scoring the final point against pxg (now that IGAGURI is in for some reason idk if that’s still a likely outcome but i can def see it happening) however my counter-point is don’t have kunigami assist isagi with the two-gun volley…give that to yukimiya (given he’s a character like i outlined previously) or even hiori, and instead have kunigami pay isagi back for the half of the steak (therefore acknowledging their past and old friendship for the first time since his return) by passing him the ball instead of kaiser, the way everyone expected/was covering for. this allows isagi to still score the final goal against pxg while giving it more of an emotional meaning than just “oh isagi has to win because he’s the main character”

alternatively, if pxg is meant to win, then i would leave the two-gun volley as it is, but i would just make it so that the setup is still kunigami choosing isagi over kaiser and acknowledging their old friendship, and i would make a bigger deal out of the pass since the build up is different!! i also wouldn’t have noa tell kunigami to manmark shidou the entire time…instead i would make kunigami obsessed with shidou in the BEGINNING of the game, but i would have kaiser/isagi/noel noa yell at him for this obsession and remind him that the objective is winning, not revenge, so he’s still active in the game instead of just being stuck on babysitting shidou duty (this role could be given to yukimiya actually, again given that he’s written as i stated previously, as he’s the 1v1 emperor so he has enough of the physicality to accomplish that and keep the ball away from shidou if it gets near him, and he’s already done enough in the previous games that it’s alright for him to take a bit more of a backseat especially after two-gun volley)

as a footnote, EITHER route you like, there’s one thing that was absolutely a missed opportunity which i’d like to focus on, and that’s kunigami’s dynamic with noel noa. it’s not a secret that kunigami’s supposed to be a copy of noel noa, but what does noa think of this?? i need their dynamic to be weird and fucked up…like he’s noa’s protege, as he’s meant to be a copy of the man, but noa is simultaneously absolutely disgusted by ego, becuase what do you mean his old rival who faded into obscurity has suddenly returned with this child whose body and life and future he completely ruined, whose mental state is absolutely destroyed, just so that he could finally “beat” noa?? just so that he could make a copy of the man that he could never actually be himself?? and this disgust with ego transfers to noa also almost shunning kuni and avoiding him when possibly/treating him way more strictly than he does the others…which only makes kunigami try to work ten times as hard to prove himself…but this only freaks noa out more and it’s just a vicious cycle LSKDFJHSLK

ANYWAYS so this was a crazy long post but it’s really not meant to be taken all too seriously!! like i said these are just musings about how two characters that i personally like could’ve been used differently 🤩 if you read all of this then you���re a goat fr and feel free to talk to me about blue lock/anything else at any time!!

what was that youtube ass outro

[laventadorn]

This is half about danmei, which isn't the main or even tertiary purpose of this blog, BUT also half about writing in general, so here I stick it.

I've been reading danmei since 2020 but I've really struggled to write anything for it. If i measure success by just getting something going, the fic I'm currently working on is the most "successful" venture I've had. It took me ages to even crank out the opening scenes. Despite longing to write in the New Hyperfixation for a long time, I just couldn't grok it.

Initially I thought it was unfamiliarity with the background of the culture the media was based in. With HP, for example, there is a whole lot of English culture that's easily accessible to me, and I studied British literature in school for years. Obviously this isn't the same thing as being English, but it gave me enough of a background to fake it that once when i applied to a graduate program in England, they thought I was actually English.

But with china, there is so much I don't understand and can't access in the same way, so I thought perhaps that was the problem.

But now I'm thinking it's more about the literary approach.

The tradition I learned to write in is one of realism. I often cite Jane Austen as my favorite author; she was a writer of realism: people, situations, and style are all as close to reality as possible. She was actually one of the most hard-line realist writers of the time, even meticulously accurate in minutiae such as how long it took to travel between cities, or when you could reasonably expect to receive a letter. The way she renders character is also heavily based in the psychology of real people, especially in the latter half of her career. And I love the psychology of character. Nothing interests me more as a reader or a writer. It's what I use as a foundation for writing: how to render people and their emotional responses within a tradition of realism, so that they feel (as much as possible, given that i also love fantasy) like genuine human beings.

But this is not, in my experience of it, what Chinese BL is about.

Now, the first of my caveats is that plenty of western media isn't, either (though fandom tends to be obsessed with it to the point of mania, where a character's psychology is microscopically detailed, in particular their responses to trauma). But western media often maintains a veneer of it -- my favorite marvel movie is Captain America: the Winter Soldier, which features Steve feeling purposeless and empty in a world he no longer fits in. (And then his internal conflict is symbolically made external with the reappearance of his dearest friend, whose mind has been wiped to forget him.) That whole movie revolves around Steve's psychology. And that's a big budget blockbuster movie chock full of punchy, blow-uppy action scenes. It still finds time to make a character feel depressed and lost.

(They then did absolutely nothing interesting with it, but you know. They had a single moment.)

To a certain extent, if western media is character based, it has to explore the characters' mental state, and tries to do so in a way that enlightens both the audience and the character, opening up their dark parts and forcing them to change. We probably have Joseph Campbell to thank for a lot of this; his Hero's Journey was modeled heavily on the works of Carl Jung, the psychologist. In fact, Carl Jung was hugely influential in English-speaking literary criticism of the 1970's. (I say "English speaking" because that's the only field I'm familiar with.) To give you the biggest example I know of, Ursula K. le Guin's phenomenal Earthsea trilogy is steeped in Jungian psychology, no book more so than the opening novel, A Wizard of Earthsea. The climax of that novel blew my mind, by the way.

My second caveat is this: it's not that the patterns of Chinese BL don't have character work, or that they aren't concerned with the character's interiority. With my fixation on character, if those things were entirely absent, I wouldn't be reading these books. It's more that the media tradition of hyper-focus on the characters' mental state, the delicate unfolding of their psychology, is not what drives the media. The characters do suffer, and they have feelings and desires, but they are often preternaturally strong-willed and able to withstand horrific trauma while still maintaining their sense of self.

(Two characters really come to mind. One is Chang Geng from Sha Po Lang, whose "mother" repeatedly puts him through such intense physical and psychological abuse in his childhood that you wonder how anyone could possibly stay sane. But he's also been injected with a magical poison that will drive him insane, and gives him bloody nightmares every night, and requires him to drink blood -- you get the idea. The other is Gu Mang from Yuwu: Remnants of Filth, who goes through things that are just mind-bogglingly Yiiiikes. Each of them feels the pain, but realism isn't where we're trying to arrive at, because it would be impossible for a real person to hold it together under the things they endured. But neither of them is supposed to be like a real person. Chang Geng, Gu Mang, is supposed to be more.)

Nothing is always. To use the novel I'm writing for as an obvious example toward some measure of realism, Xie Lian spends Book 4 being deeply traumatized; it's part of his character journey and essential to the plot. But his character psychology is still not based in realism. It wasn't designed to be. MXTX herself said in her afterword for TGCF that neither Hua Cheng nor Xie Lian were remotely like real people, because they weren't supposed to be. They were supposed to be larger than life, more than mere existence.

So when I am puttering around with my Psychology of the Individual writing tool, I get a bit wrong-footed because the entire way that I approach writing does not seamlessly settle into this brave new frontier. How can I realistically explore the emotions and mind of people who are not written to be like real people at all? That's what's truly been stumping me.

[lynxfrost13]

Alrighty, your turn!

What're your inspirations for you art-style? Your artstyle is unique and it's kinda hard to put my finger on it, I can see pronounced muscle-structure and bigger painting strokes I think? How'd you get there?

HI JAY SORRY THIS HAS BEEN ROTTING IN MY MAILBOX FOR. A MONTH OOPS but I've been thinking about this question a lot and have just been trying to organize my thoughts proper!

I have many inspirations but a LOT of my artstyle has its roots/early inspirations in the works of some of my favorite warcraft artists (I've mentioned warcraft enough in the past I think to just note it's general influence on me lmao, it took hold of me as a wee thing). Looking back on you mentioning my tendency towards showing a lot of muscle structure, I think a lot of me is still subconsciously influenced by Ludo Lullabi, I used to read the warcraft graphic novels featuring his style ALL the time, I think this comic page might show that a bit:

Also something I should note but tbh I didn't really develop my style into what it is now until VERY recently (starting summer 2024 is when I can really point to me using newer brushes and playing around more, before that it was still my style but very different methinks. I used to have much thinner lineart, I'll toss up some old work for ya to compare to my more current stuffs)

BUT moving on another huge inspiration for me is Laurel Austin ! She worked with warcraft for a long time as well, hence me encountering her work via some really awesome cinematics and hearthstone cards as well. I really love the harshness of her figures if that makes sense? Like how she renders her figures and they're very defined but not the most polished? I know for a fact I take inspiration from her work! I especially adore the way she highlights eyes!

Another big influence for me is Carlyn Lim ! She's a creature and concept artist and I both really try to take inspo from her rougher conceptual pieces as well as I really admire her ability to create some really kickass creature concepts. She does a really excellent job with creatures and more body horrorish aspects of monsters as well.

Now some other artists who I don't follow/actively take from as closely but who I also look to are Anthony Chong Jones , again for his rougher brush strokes and such!!

Taran Fiddler as well!! He has a really cool rendering style that I hope to emulate more of one day with that just blended enough-but still not blended look.

Dariia Kasimova also has some really gorgeous rendering, I feel like I keep repeating what I like + want to take from these artists so I won't keep saying it after this but AUGH those brush strokes... also something I haven't mentioned as much but it strikes me more with Kasimova's work is their color use! It's always so eye catching!

Another artist who I also want to imitate more not just in style but in attitude is Scott Christian Sava, I watch his shorts on youtube pretty often and he's such a wholesome person, his attitude towards learning and towards being kind to others is something I hope I can strive to have myself! I also really love how he uses gouache to get more of those blocky/wide strokes.

Another (much older) artist that's an inspiration to me is Joaquin Sorolla! I discovered his art when I visited Barcelona last year and I absolutely fell in love with how he was able to capture light its just AUGH so good...

In general I really love concept art and art that has broader strokes that makes pieces look more unfinished and I've been making an active effort to imitate those styles more, I won't add every single artist that I admire and take inspo from since I feel like I've already got a lot on here lmao, but I'll also link my art inspo board on pinterest, it has a lot more stuff like this and I highly recommend all of the artists saved on there too!!

And I guess to your question as to how I got to where I'm at right now? Honestly I mostly just lost The Fear. Fun fact about me but I do NOT like trying new things and it's mostly because I'm afraid at being bad at them (which no shit past me. If you try something for the first time it's not gonna be good!!!). I personally felt like it was holding me back from getting better at art and I really wanted to branch out. I think it was a combo of both driving myself crazy about my inaction as well as already being in a spot of trying a lot of new things anyways (I got into signalis! I had a lot of stuff going on irl too, like being out of the US! I switched art programs from IbispaintX to Procreate! Generally just a lot of new experiences for my pea brain to be in a good enviroment soup but anyway enough) and I started playing around more with new subjects. The big thing though was being able to access more brushes, I think that's when I REALLY started fuckin around and having a blast. I still have to smack myself over the head a lot when it comes to the fear but yeah it really did affect the change in my style! As well as all these incredible artists + more that I've yapped a lil bit about! Apologies again for this taking so long and it's very messy but! I hope I've at least answered ur question somewhat!

[bhpop]

I apologize for the long time I've taken to post, I've currently been working on going past my limits in digital art like rendering.

I've previously mainly just been either sketching or simplifying my art and filling it with color with not much detail so I've been putting more effort in attempting to render my art which has taken a while due to my previous lack of effort in it. But I'm still determined and I have a lot to learn, so far I do see some improvement but I might just be a bit biased.

I've mainly been trying this with fem Scene-Yuu, their design was more fun to work with since I've been working on slight changes or overall redesigns for some of my characters. I want them to have more of a Twst appearance (mainly with their versions of the school uniform) but still having obvious differences since they each aren't from that world.

⁠⸝⁠⸝⁠⸝⸝⁠⸝⁠⸝⁠⸝⁠⸝⁠⸝⸝⁠⸝⁠⸝⁠⸝⁠⸝⁠⸝⸝⁠⸝⁠⸝⁠⸝⁠⸝⁠⸝⸝⁠⸝⁠⸝⁠⸝⁠⸝⁠⸝⸝⁠⸝⁠⸝⁠⸝⁠⸝⁠⸝⸝⁠⸝⁠⸝⁠⸝⁠⸝⁠⸝⸝⁠⸝⁠⸝⁠⸝⁠⸝⁠⸝⸝⁠⸝⁠⸝⁠⸝⁠⸝

Scene-Yuu:

There isn't really much of a difference in their redesigns besides slight longer but choppy hair and duller colors. I had said I'm not good with bright and neon colors although they look fun to use, so it's something I will be working on to be more flexible with, but for now I'll mainly continue to use dull and darker colors due to it being a personal preference.

Also this is just an example of the rendered art I've been working on, so I will be trying to put more effort into all my art like I did for this one but it might just take more time since this one took 2 hours and 25 minutes to make, but I do hope you'll like it !

_________________________________________

"Perfect"-Yuu:

They're a character I've already been planning on redesigning a while back but I've just never really came to an agreement with my self on what they'd really look like since their design was really rushed.

I've overall decided to fully base them off porcelain rolls but to also keep them simple yet not to average since I want to still have a creepy aesthetic with them. I mainly focus on keeping some of my characters eyes a main part in their design since to me eyes are something rly important to how some would portray a character. Though "Perfect"-Yuu is still going through concept sketches but I've come to a slight conclusion on what they may look like.

(Male Scene-Yuu still looks the same btw, his design is one I'm more proud of !)

Their design is simple and more feminine along with slightly conservative and more "professional" if it makes sense to y'all with what I'm trying to invision, but idk I might go against myself and make them over styled but I'ma try and make them look simple but with small details.

Bonus: I'm also working on sketches of both Yuu's versions of Grim since as I previously said each Yuu has their own version of Grim that still acts the same as he does in game and in the mangas but just with slight changes and differences in his appearances that aren't to major and just let him almost match with his Yuu !

[valentine-cafe]

Hello. How are you? I hope I'm not bothering you. Which tablet and program do you use for drawing? Do you have any advice on drawing?

﹙ 🍒. ﹚ ─── Hello dear!!! Here's what Eden and I use for art!

Eden has a samsung tablets and uses Hipaint ( I don't know which tablet version it is specifically - )

I use an Ipad pro and operate on Procreate and Hipaint! My most frequently used brushes are from this lovely artist Nurin ( SUPPORT HER SHE IS SO TALENTED LAWD. )

As for some advice?

Well, brace yourself bbg, imma bout to get ya some.

References:

Never forget to use references. It is so important. Don't listen to all of those artists out there telling you it's cheating and to wing it and learn that way ( reality of it all is you won't learn much because you don't sit down and study the way things work. )

Concept art / general art:

If you are doing concept art, and you have a finish deadline, don't sit and worry on imperfections during the sketch or the midway process. Go with your intuiton and what feels right and then, you can focus on the details and rendering stuff to look the way you want it to when you're getting to the end

STUDYING OTHER ART STYLES !!!

This one has become such a controversial topic over the years and I don't know for what fucking reason, how are we supposed to improve and learn if we can't be inspired by other art styles? Look, in each and every style we come across that we enjoy, utilise some of the things you see! put it all together and make it your own style. It's so important.

Look at professional artists and hear their advice:

One thing I ( howl ) learnt as a self-taught artist, is that you're gonna have to get out of your shell of learning all by yourself and get advice and help from other professional artists, whether it's someone you know in your daily life or it is video lessons you sit down and watch, free or not.

I highly recommend looking at artists like: TB choi, Sinix, Samdoesart, Coleshairlesscat, Nirami, and there are probably many more ( I am forgetful baby ).

Allow yourself to take in the advice given and you will see improvements q u i c k.

keep sketchin:

This is also such an annoying thing to hear as an artist. New or not. Especially if you've struggled with sketching in the past or now. It is vital to sketch. Whether that becomes a full illustration or not, that's okay. What is important is that you keep your hands busy and acquaint them with the memory of the flow you are most comfortable with artstyle considered.

Don't. Force. Yourself:

Now with the topic up above, if you feel as though you aren't drawing enough and you need to draw more and you have to and- woah. man. calm down. That becomes very stressing, doesn't it?

You have to allow yourself to take breaks in art, and stop fearing whether or not you will lose all the knowledge you know. Because the truth is, if you force yourself to do art that doesn't come with natural inspiration, you propably still won't be satisfied with it ( if you end up being and it helps you, great, proud of you! )

there are times in the work of a fulltime artist where this will be necessary to force yourself a little, but don't do it to the extent that you burn out.

You give yourself a little nudge and say: lets go. Rather than push yourself into waters you currently can't swim in.

Stop telling yourself you have art blockage:

I learnt this one from Cole !!! The more you start telling yourself you can't draw because "something is in the way" the more you create a placebo effect of you actually not being able to draw. You will always be able to draw! You will always be able to make art. Whether you think it's good or not. It's still art that you have made, and it's still beautiful. Stop telling yourself you have a block for inspiration and will to do art, because you don't. You can and will always be able to create art.

Some advice from Eden and I:

don't stress yourself with the process of art, it is something you are supposed to enjoy. Yes. When you feel the frustration creep up ( because all artists do in their life at one point ) walk away from it.

Take a breather. a 15 minute or more breather, for your eyes to adjust to how everything looks on your canvas. And then you can decide whether you like it or not. But don't get disappointed, or mad at yourself for not doing so, instead, be inspired, try to be inspired by this and then say: "okay, then we try again." And the more you keep going, the further you'll come and at the end, you'll be satisfied.

Also important!!! Don't be ashamed of not having as many illustrations as big pieces done as sketches guys ( fluttering eyelashes ) you should see my folders and the average folder of bigger artists as well KEKW

I truly hoped that this helped darlin'!

Have a good one, and to all of you, always remember to support your fellow artists!!

[hinamie]

hi hina i have some art related questions! 1) is it easy to go back to an old art style on account of already having drawn in it or do you actively have to train yourself to go back? for example, i notice that your lmhs art style is softer and your current one is sharper (that's the extent of my technical art terms knowledge gomen) 2) which of your own art styles/eras is/are your favorite(s)? 3) do you prefer more stylized or more realistic art styles? 4) are you easily influenced (consciously or unconsciously) by other art styles? i know when i read something i really love, i start to mimic that style in my own writing. 4) do you have any favorite classical paintings? i know the fallen angel is one.

hi mariam!!! sorry it’s taken me so long to this so late fjhdskgdjf i won’t lie some of these questions Stumped me but i will try my best to answer !

it depends? I think a lot of my art style shifts come naturally as the result of growing and improving my skills, so “going back” to an older style might be hard to do without falling back on bad habits that I might have grown out of, or simply things that i no longer think look good. i don’t think i would have to train myself necessarily because the muscle memory is still there, but i might have to stop myself from wanting to Improve aspects of the style in ways that might fundamentally alter what made the style recognizable in the first place. in terms of the lmhs art style, or the soft/sketchy look i was using at the time, that specifically would be pretty easy to go back to I think, since it’s basically a slightly cleaned version of how my art looks early in the process :> i would just have to take a clean sketch + add colours w minimal shading, skipping the lineart and intense render 

it feels like a copout to say but i love where i am now :’> from what i’ve seen it’s almost like. a gag among artists of arcane being a catalyst fr drastic art improvement but it IS . everything about the art and animation in that show inspires me so much and it’s been great taking what I like from it and trying to mimic and adapt it into something that suits how I like to work. even though it’s frustrating that I take longer to finish a piece, I really am so happy i’m back to painting i’m so proud of my current render and anatomy and use of colour. i think i’ve finally found a good balance of textures as well and overall i’ve just been having so much fun pushing myself into new brushes and finding new ways to use old ones :D

i think i’m somewhere in the middle but leaning more into realism, especially when it comes to the way I colour. obviously there are aspects that I stylize to suit my needs but especially in terms of Other Anime Art i’m aware that I fall more on the realism side of things lol

yes omg i’m so easily influenced and that constant influx of new inspiration and learning how to adapt to it is one of the things i love most about drawing and making art!!! i kind of mention this notion in my lil gush about arcane but i LOVE looking at other artists' works or at things that inspire me and picking it apart in my brain to see what/how i can use it! i got into art by “copying” and even as i’ve grown into being comfortable enough to make my own stuff, I think that there is always value in learning from what you love and figuring out how to make what you love about it your own. maybe it’s not that deep bc i draw anime fanart but art fr me is an amalgamation of every piece of media ive loved and of everything i’ve ever found beauty in

i do love the fallen angel painting but tbh i don’t think classical art occupies a very big place in my brain fhjdskgfj my knowledge is sadly lacking :< i like claude monet and roberto ferri’s work a lot but overall i think modern art and media means a lot more to me in terms of where I draw my inspiration from

[renardtrickster]

One addition to the ai discussion (Asking so we don’t go into extra long post time): a friend of mine compares ai art in its current state to early views on photography. Photography and illustrations eventually learned to commingle but initially there was outcry/push around the idea of cameras replacing landscape and portrait artists but photography is no replacement for traditional art and trying to make it such just doesn’t work. Currently we’re in the “this is going to replace all artists forever” phase with ai art. A sort of “how you use the tool matters more than the tool itself” situation.

I think I can agree with that. It's less the AI itself and more so the "Cult of AI". Putting aside the quality of image generation output, the real conversation tends to turn to "executives will use this as a replacement and enshittify their media and fire their creative team" or "I think you're depriving yourself of the personal development that forging an artistic skill brings".

But at the same time, the cult has a god, and I wonder if it's not too unreasonable to suggest that the cult didn't form for no reason. Photography is of practical benefit because we can now instantly capture a subject in an objective fashion, and it never overtook illustration because photos can only "automate" a particular style of animation, that being "ultra-realistic", and is not capable of doing abstract or stylized depictions. Photos can never be Beatrix Potter or Yoshitaka Amano. But all the same, AI has done Ghibli.

A very theme park version of Ghibli, lacking a lot of their finer touch, but a version of Ghibli nonetheless. And the Cult of AI tries to sell AI as a replacement for art, but is the AI not also doing that? What is the logical endpoint of refining your image generator to be less prone to error, to be more specific, to be capable of adopting specific styles, if not to surpass the need for alternatives?

Further, while the implementation is the harm, there's no way to limit the worst harm of that outside of gentleman's agreements. Please don't fire your creative staff and switch over to AI animation or I'll vote with my dollar, please turn your personal art blog into AI or I'll unfollow you, please don't try to blatantly bootleg this commercial artist or I'll be mad, please don't please don't please don't. Not helping matters that the only solutions are "stuff the cat back inside the bag", which is impossible, or "copyright cuck supreme Disney owns the concept of princesses now", which is. Not Great. Or the joke I've made that the only real solution is, frankly, unlivable amounts of harassment towards AI artists. Which is also Not Great. Probably.

I ended up spitballing and spiraling out a bit, but it is a tricky subject. Doubly so when the two predominant positions are "it's devil technology" and "I am glad that small artists are being rendered jobless because they're petite bourgeois/they're degenerate intellectual eaters and art should be beauty and nothing more".

[if-maggots-knew-god]

IMKG- META POST

What is ‘if maggots knew god’ ?

What does it want to achieve?

Why is it taking so long?

(What is) if maggots knew god (IMKG) is a hobby-writing/illustration project of mine, i your ‘humble’ author and artist Hunter, decided to write and illustrate a graphic novel style horror/psychological comic. Because of I want to (:

The story premise can be found on the accounts pinned post so I’d refer to that in terms of explaining the idea.

The story serves as my personal little pet project not just to tell a story but also to learn about the process and in a sense “playtest” different ideas, a lot of the story ideas in IMKG are inspired by my own literal dreams (and nightmares tbh). I’m hoping to make all of this somewhat coherent into one story but to be completely honest I’m really just messing around with all this because it’s fun (:

(What does it want?) The story, focuses heavily on the concept of immortality, many characters within the story face a unique kind of immortality tied to the characters arc. In tangent with this one of the central themes of the story is also death, and the ‘ending’ of a story. What makes a good ending? What makes a bad one? How long should a story go on? Which are all questions a storyteller faces when writing.

“The story MUST end” to put it concisely, an objective fact. This also applies to living beings hence the theme of immortality, when is it appropriate for someone to die? What happens if they refuse?

The story is structured around the stages of grief, with an “act” of the story dedicated to each stage, the prologue (which is already finished and available!! Find on pinned in the chapter index if you haven’t read it already!) acting as the event that sparks this grief, although this might not be fully clear with the information currently available (will be elaborated on as the story continues though, as any prologue does)

Long story short, IMKG is a story that questions why things must end, how and the resulting grief from things ending. All wrapped up in a (hopefully) nicely illustrated horror setting.

(Why is it taking so long) I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to single handedly write and illustrate a 5 act story with several chapters for each act while ALSO figuring out the process in a practical sense.

It’s hard though!! And like, I’m also a full time student plus life and all that. Don’t get me wrong it’s tons of fun but there’s a reason they have multiple people for this professionally! Woof!

The process includes, a beta script, a final script, storyboarding the labels, rendering (sketch, lineart, colour, shading and lettering!!!) in the future, it’s possible that I might include friends in the process, currently my roommate helps me beta-read the script and has also helped a bit with the design process of things!

This blog has been around for about a year now! (Woo!! Yippie!!!) which I’ve spent figuring out major plot points, character designs for the main characters and TONS of world building,

a lot of which I’ve been sharing for the people who have been around since the beginning (and who I cannot thank enough for being around, seriously guys it might not be much but the handful of y’all are a key component in the making of this, the encouragement on posts keeps me working and motivated!! And not to name favorites but especially thanks to Elias-the-Corvid and sop-soap)

Conclusion

This has all been a decently sized rant, mostly for posterity’s sake, looking back at where we’ve been and where it’s all going from here as I’m finally getting into actually making the whole thing! And also a little bit to hopefully entice new people to be interested (:

There’s a lot more to this that I can’t wait to share

[blakeinobi]

Over the past week I've been spending some time in Blender. A while back I created a model of this character and you all voted that her name should be Zina. Back then she had a realistic render, but I decided to lean into the cel shaded style. I learned how to create light sources that can cast different colors for a cel shaded render. This opens up the possibility to create more interesting scenes.

Retopology has become a fun little game for me. Every time I finish a model I notice an area I can improve. I'll probably make another version of this model at some point, but for now the topology does what it needs to do.

Making a game for this character is still on my mind, but I currently don't have the capacity to dive into it. On top of work, I have 2 projects that'll keep me busy until the summer. For now, I'll continue to make outfits and design creatures in my spare time.

[kittykosmos]

Shit, this disappoints me. I’m rather new to tumblr so I haven’t seen much of their earlier work. To be honest, I haven’t delved that deep into what styles of ”art” AI is current the best at spitting out either - I try to just avoid it.

I always thought their rendering was exceptional whenever it popped up on my screen, but it didn’t strike me as being obvious AI, at least not compared to other stuff I’ve seen, where people have obviously just taken an existing picture and have AI slap an oil painting/watercolour/whatever effect on it. Sure, the vibrancy of colours and near luminescence felt almost overly polished, but hey, some people are just fantastic at those things, and AI learns from actual people’s similar work too, right?

But now when I went to check, there are things that seem to be obviously AI generated in several pictures, mainly visible in the backgrounds. One weird Christmas tree, for example.

So I guess I’m he dumb one. It makes me sad because there are a couple of pictures I really like, which are not as over-the-top flashy as some of the others, and now I really question all of it.

@killer-laurent

I understand where you're coming from. It’s tough to navigate this situation if you're not familiar with how generative ai art currently looks. But trust me, it’s evolved far beyond basic filters that mimic oil paintings. Ai can now mimic a wide range of styles, often convincingly. That’s exactly why it's so important to listen to artists or those who can spot ai traits at a glance. Of course, it's also crucial to be wary of bad faith accusations, people wrongly accusing legitimate artists of using ai. That absolutely happens. However, the concerns surrounding Killer-Laurent aren't isolated incidents. I'll provide screenshots of the Christmas tree art you mentioned (and a link ) for full context:

As you pointed out, there are some oddities in the tree: objects blend together, melt into one another, or lack structure. This kind of "mistakes", especially along the tree's edges, is typical of ai struggling with complex designs. You see similar artifacts when ai tries to generate characters with intricate clothes/details. Ai ( at the moment ) just doesn’t handle that level of complexity well.

EDIT/UPDATE : It seems very likely that this tree was not ai generated but ran through an oil painting filter on photoshop. I will leave what I wrote intact for transparency but I will add a link here of a newer ask where this was brought up and clarified.

I should also state, before I get further into this part of my response: no, the issue isn’t simply that Killer-Laurent renders well. There are many highly skilled artists out there, and yes, AI does learn from real, talented creators. The real red flag is this: before he adopted his current super polished style, Killer-Laurent had a completely different way of drawing. There was no gradual evolution into this refined look. It just appeared. Suddenly, and without any signs of progression. Here are some examples of his earlier work:

These pieces look to have more hand drawn elements. For instance, Armand has a distinctive curl to his mouth that’s consistently depicted in his art from September and December 2023. Did he trace photographs at any point during these? Or use ai? It's very possible. At this point in time of his art, ai usage may be restricted to backgrounds ( the Christmas tree art was posted during this time period and the trees in the center image look suspicious)

[EDIT/NOTE: Those trees were also likely flittered through photoshop. Again, I am leaving my original statements for transparency but asking you to refer to the previous update for context).

I suspect, poses may be traced for some characters in much of his art during this period. There is a clear struggle with anatomy & fluidity in his art that have uncommon poses. Additionally, some character poses are suspect since he has shown earlier that year (June) to still be tracing photos of models. But that's a separate ( yet connected) issue. Ultimately, I feel these pieces have minimal AI ( if they have any at all.) But also, please note how he renders between these images. Very minimal, very subdued. And not very polished. To be clear: there is absolutely nothing wrong with being at this level in your artistic journey. I'm pointing this out to highlight what his art looks like when it seems he actually had a hand in creating it. And then, just days after that last set of earlier artworks, he posted this:

The first and last images depict huge leaps in both rendering and facial anatomy. Yet, the center piece is more consistent with his older work. This suggests a strange pattern: sudden improvement, a regression, then rapid progress again. Then by the time February arrives, he adopted three entirely new art styles:

Again, major improvements, all within just a few days. Then, four days after the third image, he posted this commission:

The female character’s face is more in line with his earlier style. I’m not sure if ai was used here, but I suspect he was forced to draw her face manually. That familiar curl of the lips, seen on previous art of Armand, appears here again, and it feels distinctly his style. However, the male character below (apologies, I forgot to screenshot the tags before the piece was deleted from his blog) looks different. The face structure is closer to the style found in his more AI suspect works, and it's clearly in a different style altogether. And then just three days later, he drew this:

Then, adopted several new art styles over the rest of the month:

Even his older artwork (below), where it does seem like he had a hand in creating it (maybe just coloring or touching things up), still raises eyebrows. Take this piece of Armand (the first image) as example. Besides the hair looking suspicious, looping into itself unnaturally, it also shares stylistic similarities with a specific style of ai art ( the three i included beside it) like there was an attempt to mimic the rendering style:

Honestly, when people say, "It's obvious he uses ai" all of this is why. The timeline, the abrupt jumps in skill, the lack of consistent style evolution. In the very first images I included here, the ones between September and December, the stylistic jump was more subtle within those 2 months vs the art he has posted later down the line which has abrupt improvements within days of each other. Ai is harder to detect these days. It's starting to look natural and people are tracing/painting over it to avoid detection. But I think there is a very real disconnect that happens when artists start relying on ai. They forget how long it used to take them to produce art organically. Posting schedules, how much workload they take without consequence, and random spikes in progress become very clear tells that their art is suspicious if not entirely disingenuous.