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I absolutely love this fashion style as a drawing aesthetic! The minimalism gives an entirely new approach to demonstrating a mood.

Fashion illustrator, René Gruau (1909-2004).

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hrng how do you draw robots

I’ve never really had to explain my process so be warned of that. Lets start with an easy design:

The key to drawing any robot is staggering, random seams, overlapping, and joints.

Repetition is the best teacher!

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WHY IS DRAWING HANDS SO FUCKING HARD

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Details from Ad Reinhardt’s HOW TO LOOK series on art. 1947.

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If anyone is looking for robots and drawing ideas, this could be for you! I know I’ll be trying to keep up.

October is almost here, and you know what that means!

I know a bunch of artists, including me, were looking forwards to Inktober in order to create some art and get out of the quarantine energy drain. So obviously, it’s upsetting to hear about Jake Parker’s plagiarism of Alphonso Dunn.

Instead of not doing anything for the month of October, I would like to suggest TFtober!

What is TFtober?

TFtober is a 2020 Inktober alternative geared specifically towards the Transformers community! Just like Inktober, it will include a 31 day prompt list. These prompts are meant to be TF themed, but aren’t specific enough that artists won’t have breathing room.

ANY TF continuity/fandom is welcome to participate! TFtober is meant to be inclusive and fun for everyone!

TF ocs are encouraged, and there is an Inktober alternative specifically for TF ocs called TF OCtober! Check it out if it interests you!

Posts using the prompt list should include the tag #tftober2020 or #TFtober2020 so people in the community can easily find each other’s art and support other artists.

The ‘rules’ are not strict. You can do as many or as little prompts as you want, do them out of order, and take as much creative liberty as you want!

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions! Reblog so artists in the TF community see this! 

Prompt list below the cut

Keep reading

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WHAT! Time to try something new!

So I had an epiphany-

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Hey! Ive been wanting to create my own webcomic sometime and I wanted tips from you guys on how to create these things. Like panel placement for example, how to you place them in an order that you know will make readers read it in order? Id really like some tips. Thank you!

The theory that goes into making comics is pretty complicated and takes a long time to explain, but here’s a basic overview! The best and simplest thing you can do is ask a friend to read your drafts, and see if they understand it.

I hope this was helpful!

🐶 PJ

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Food for thought!

“There are no simple causes and isolated effects; all things cause and determine each other. Everything that occurs, no matter how minute and local, is the outcome of all that has occurred before and is the ground for all that will occur thereafter. Reality is like a system of interacting waves. Rather than discrete things and independent events, there are but ripples upon ripples upon waves upon waves in this universe, propagating and interpenetrating in a seamless sea.”

— Ervin László, The Creative Cosmos

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Now this may sound like a stretch, but hear me out: when you are creating an OC, you can make them however you want, just give the big things a reason for being there. Making a robot that is a cold-blooded killer who thinks murder is fun? Fine, whatever, just understand that nobody is going to want to interact with that. It’s not just because “it’s cringe” or “they’re too edgy/emo,” no no no! The real reason is that nobody can connect with them.

Why are they killers? Is it a compulsion? If so, what could cause it that an audience could feel compelled to want to interact or observe it? I see this problem all too often in roleplays and when confronted, the argument is always “you just don’t understand them!” That’s correct! I don’t understand them, nobody does because they’ve given me nothing to work with besides being an unlikeable red flag. This can easily be fixed by giving a compelling reasoning, something that can be sympathized.

For example, I have this mary sue (we’ll call him Mags) who can fly, uses magic, can shoot beams of molten metal from his hands and shoots guns and describing any further is just going to lose your attention because it sounds just... so dumb, so OP. But then, i hit you with

The Tragic Backstory

See, Mags is a character over 15 years in the making. That entire time has been filled to the brim with supernatural dilemmas and enemies that demand he become stronger, smarter, more diverse in his roles. He has a family: relations with the wife are tenuous and his children are robotic, ascended to heaven, born of a tumor, or adopted, and everyone is in charge of the empire. Stressful stuff. He is illiterate, reading on a first-grade level and writes spells using songs or crude pictures.

But you see what’s going on there? Those edgy, OP characteristics were the product of something that happened in their past, in the background, and it is with issues that can be either relatable or sympathetic. Constant feeling of oppression can lead to some wonky personality, sure, but is there room for change? What if someone interacted just right and the OP character realizes a change?

That kind of growth is catching, it makes the audience want to know what will become as a result of those interactions, combined with stresses or current events it can lead to unexpected conclusions with satisfying outcomes! Don’t be afraid of digging for that reasoning, that backstory that may be risky to the faint of heart.

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When you are given nothing, your ghosts are made of paper.

We grew up poor. Not living slums, but I was a military brat and dad was a Staff Sargaent. Mom used to be Buck Sgt, but my birth forced her out of service. Unfair, but it was a different time. We made do with what we had and gifts tended to be things everyone could enjoy. Sure, there were splurges from bonuses or necessities of the 90’s, but when we wanted to make fun we had to make it by hand.

I grew up learning how to make costumes and props, tools and improvs, art and writing. As an adult, I have a huge appreciation of the work and talent that people put in to cosplays, to look the part of their heroes and characters. I fear that this will turn into a rant about how you don’t have to work as hard or that costume designs have become much more demanding in attention to detail because I don’t believe that at all! While there are certainly better-available resources and premade outfits, it is no small thing to take what you have and bring it to the same level of appreciation.

It’s Halloween. My friends are dressed as ghost pirates, stormtroopers, pokemon trainers. I, myself, was Pikachu. It was fabric on cardboard and the hardest part was the tail. The ghosts of the neighborhood lawns were fabric, blow-up, elaborate scarecrows, full-sized coffins, plastic skeletons. We had the three pumpkins we could carry off a farm, a bowl of candy, and ghosts cut out from paper with eyes and mouth drawn in charcoal.

Of all things kept through time, those ghosts return every year, sometimes we never take them down. They remind us of where we came from, climbing out of the hole of poverty over the passing decades, to not forget the plight others may be suffering and to offer help when we can. They are inherently worthless, but the sentimental value of them is absolute.

I offer this story to you because if you are reading this, then you have an idea, you have a story, a character, a costume, an inkling of imagination that you would share with the world! It may not be big, it may be amateur, it may be stupid, controversial, none of that matters because above all it is yours and by simply bringing it to life makes it as rich as the most expensive film/cosplay/story/project that ever saw the light of day.

Happy New Years, sorry I’ve posted so infrequently. It’s been a busy year.

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You’ve been drawing or describing this kick-ass thing from your mind. It’s a spaceship, it’s a superhero, it’s a star or planetoid, or it’s bad guy, a demon, an angry tree, whatever! How do you know what to name them?

Well, you could make something up, something that sounds foreign like “Jaxdyl” or “Hugraph,” but it sounds kind of silly. Not to say it doesn’t work out, just look at the Klingon language. “I prefer KAPLACH, it is best eaten while it is still alive!” This approach could work if you ground it in an alphabetical/ symbolic formula (symbolic ie chinese/japanese symbols). Your readers may have trouble following.

You could keep it simple. Janeway, Ford, Ross, Betsy, recognizable names with a unique image attached to them. This could work if you are going for an attitude or je ne sais quoi, a characterization of someone. When you say Bond, I think of the character Bond plays, the spy theme, the gadgets, the allure, what is associated commonly with the name.

But I’ve got these big space ships for good and bad guys, how can I tell them apart by names alone? Well, ship names can have three parts: Owner abbreviations (if needed), size class (frigate, cruiser, juggernaut), and specific name. The importance of these parts is in reverse order and how much of an impact that ship lays on the audience.

Personally, I have found biblical demon and angel names to have a clear impact on understanding what that ship is capable of and how to react properly. The Aquitaine is in a remote nebula, and from beyond the veil appears a mighty juggernaut, designated Sathanas. Immediately, I know where to follow, who to root for, and have a sense of foreboding. Build on this!

Or, you could take the easy way out and use actual names, project your character’s profile with a real-life association. Nothing wrong with that, if their name is Hannah, and the character is based off or is Hannah, then so be it. Just make sure they are cool with it.

Or or, take the stupid route and just put conjunctions on, like “Unobtainium,” “contrivium” or “whatever-ly.”

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So, there are two groups of people. One is a group of powerful monsters who are hellbent on destroying everything and everyone they meet. They are incredibly organized, but do not speak. The other uses their own magic/brew/pill to fight back. This comes at a cost, however, because those who take this begin to see everyone as one of the monsters; they need direction to know which ones are hostile.

In comes the main character: a handler who is specifically trained to defend themselves from groups of these monsters while leading one or many of these counter-warriors.

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It is always tough to get started on a story. I, myself, often have this trouble of not knowing quite where to start. I know the story, i have a plot, but nowhere seems to be the best place to begin. Time to use a cinema 101 trick: start with a non-sequiter, a side story right at its end which can establish the main character, their motivations, and eases the audience into the story. Then, its a segway into the main plot and congrarulations, you’ve just begun your story.

You can start out a story with exposition, just a nice big info dump describing the world, the setting, who is there and what they are doing, but it leaves nothing to the imagination. Even the most beautiful and detailed thing will ultimately be cast from the mind of the audience because its been given to them. Do you remember what you ate at the last restaurant? What about the meal you made for lunch? Obviously, there are exceptions, but nine times out of ten an audience needs someone or something to connect to, to think about, not just be told what to think.

Take Indiana Jones for example. The golden idol, getting chased by tribesmen, the random side characters and the giant rolling ball trap had nothing to do with the ark of the covenant or wading through Nazi’s and deserts to get it. Yet, throughout the sequence, we catch that Indy is quick on his feet, is no stranger to danger, and it establishes what kind of movie the audience is about to see.

The gunslinger from the Dark Tower was given a handful of descriptors: thin, tall, dark and ugly with bombadier blue eyes. He starts out in a dirt field and they talk about him going to the dark tower. It is told very plainly and few details are given about how that will go down. We start the story, we get an objective, and then it lasts for several books. There is no telling where the story will go.

What about a non-sequiter intro scene can be done to give a character their charm, establish who they are to be expected throughout the story?

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Advice on quick perspectives and attention to details of the moment from a trustworthy professional. Hell, I could use it.

Animation and drawing tips from storyboard artist, Sherm Cohen.

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A unique twist on an old classic: tell a ghost story through the voice of someone who was not scared.

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So, there I was gettin’ a snack at the machine when this girl came runnin’ down the hall screamin’ with her head spinnin’. An’ I didn’t know what to do so I just kinda watched and ate my Thnickas bar. Then it was just kind of over, she stood there for a bit and disappeared. Four outta ten.

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“What do you mean, he walked through walls!”

“Uh huh.”

“How can you not take this seriousl- he said he would steal your immortal soul!”

“Oh, big deal.”

“Well, it IS a big deal...”

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So it was my birthday a few days ago, and my family got me a prompts diary! It gives a prompt and enough room for a paragraph. I’m stoked to start it tomorrow, but I’m wondering if I should post them here? I’ve been out of ideas for a while, a lingering headache has followed me for weeks. In exchange for taking an easier path, I can include the paragraph i write. Thoughts?

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Concept: a video game set in a mist-shrouded small town next to a poorly maintained highway in the middle of a deep, dark forest, abandoned mine just down the road, the whole nine yards, with a robust creature creator that lets you develop your own bespoke cryptid… and that’s it. It’s basically a cryptid walking simulator – there are no specific goals. You can terrorise the townsfolk a bit if you want, but mostly you just lurk. There’s a social mode where you can set up a server and invite a bunch of your friends to your town to be cryptids and lurk together.