dan-is-tumbling

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a quick drawing

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WOW, I'm alive. Anyways W2H2 part 1 dropped a little while ago and I had to do a quick doodle of little sock man (ignore the scuffed hand) and I made him look better at his job than he is.

I think I was in my first year of high school(?) or something when I watched welcome to hell. Can't wait for part 2.

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Draw'in a magical lady 💜💫

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I'm definitely not painting boxers I've been eyeing up

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Trying to figure out gouache to varying degrees of success. It's something I do every few years and so far to no avail. Not pictured is a figure I painted that I just wasn't super happy with. I think the sketch on that one was a little messed up, which just kind of messed with the whole thing. At least I didn't find the whole experience as totally frustrating as I sometimes have with gouache.

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Painted some cats this afternoon...

The first is based on the "that's not very cash money of you cat." The second is based on a photo of Sarah Handerson Comics cat and finally the last cat... idk some random screenshots on my phone?

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Glaze is out!

Tired of having your artwork used for AI training but find watermarks dismaying and ineffective?

Well check this out! Software that makes your Art look messed up to training AIs and unusable in a data set but nearly unchanged to human eyes.

I just learned about this. It's in Beta. Please read all the information before using.

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Did some figure studies last night, this one was my favorite.

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Practiced painting some lilypads.

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I experimented with this thing I saw where someone drew from an increasingly sharper image from a blurry one to get the lighting right. Granted, they were using charcoal, and I was just sketching, but it was an interesting process. I may have to give it another go. Obviously, I painted the sketch after.

I'm getting a better feel for this sketchbook, and imo for the price, it's just alright, lol. I'll probably buy a different one if I get a new watercolour sketchbook.

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No because theres already a case of an actual artist being accused of doing AI art because their art is "familiar to the AI art style."

Theres already people who have gotten the AI to learn correct hand anatomy (albeit a bit wonky, but it's 5 fingers on two hands now.).

Literally what the fuck. This is the scariest shit. People now are teasing it to "hold objects" and "do complicated hand gestures" . My partner you and I both know in months time they will. This fucking sucks. It feels like theres no hope to stop this shit anymore aside from clients and art customers to FUCKING STOP AND LOOK CLOSER AT THE ART.

Like, please if you are commissioning from an artist, ask for like a psd. Or a .clip file. You cant even ask for a "sketch" because theres already programs able to simulate art progress, sketch to render. What the everloving tit shit.

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Continuing to do some stuff in this sketchbook. One thing I've noticed is how the paint doesn't lift off super well. I don't usually fully lift the paint off of the page but I like to soften the lines most of the time. Not a deal breaker but something to note about the paper, probably something to do with the sizing?

On the bright side the glasses look okay despite them being one of my great enemies in art.

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Ooooorange. Just trying out a watercolour sketchbook that I was so graciously gifted for Christmas. Pretty nice thus far.

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Not super accu-rat but I did enjoy painting the little fella!

My coworker knitted my rat a sweater

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I was gonna add this in the tags but frankly it's just too lengthy to justify. Plus I am passionate about this sort of thing.

I love painting. I've loved it for like 7 years at this point. I have pretty high end watercolours right now, like you could buy a cheap set of paints for the price of one tube of this paint. However, I started off with a shitty set of chalky watercolour from micheals, a (singular) waterbrush and a sketchbook with sketching paper inside, not even mixed media. While this is absolutely not what I'd reccomend to beginners since it could give them a bad impression of watercolour, I loved it!

The higher end watercolours I have now? I have acquired over multiple years, slowly upgrading, getting them as presents and buying a tube or two at a time. I think most people could easily get into watercolour for under 30 bucks if not under 20 (CAD) and have a fantastic little set! The idea that people need the "best" supplies is ridiculous to me. Not to mention when I hear about people feeling too intimidated to even create creative works because they're afraid of using up whatever expensive item they bought!!!

Hobbies need to be accessible. I believe that it’s becoming more and more important for people to have physical hobbies that create real things and develop real skills–giving people a sense of accomplishment and overcoming feelings of helplessness. But so often, it seems like even beginner-level instruction is aimed at making the entry barrier as high as possible.

I was reading this book where this guy argues that people should develop areas of “micromastery” when getting into a hobby. Find one small, achievable, but still impressive task to master, so you have a cool skill to show off (and the sense of accomplishment) without having to master an entire huge area of knowledge. Instead of learning to cook, learn to create a really good omelet. Instead of learning an entire new language, learn to count to ten. And then you have a knowledge base to help you if you want to explore further. Seems very common sense. Very accessible. Learning is for everyone, not just people who want to devote tons of time to a new hobby. But even that guy, in his instructions, keeps telling people to buy the most expensive equipment to have the best possible results. There’s even a point where he says “the more expensive, the better”!

That infuriates me. I am enraged. The guy who’s trying to make learning accessible to the masses is now saying this is the realm only of the rich! It’s telling people to buy into the marketing ploy that more expensive is automatically better! It’s absurd. It’s insane. There probably is equipment that improves the outcome of the final product, but it’s not necessarily the most expensive stuff, and you certainly don’t need the expensive stuff when you’re just starting out!

Yet, tutorials and craft books keep pushing this message. If you want to start drawing, you need an expensive sketch book and seven different pencils and different weights of pen, and the right eraser. If you want to bake, you have to have the best flours and the appropriate sourdough technique. If you want to knit, you better have the expensive yarn. That’s garbage, and it makes things more difficult than they need to be.

When you’re just starting out, you’re learning if you even like the activity. Do I like spending time drawing? Do I even like the process of knitting or woodworking or building model airplanes? It’s pointless to spend tons of money on good yarn only to find that you hate the process of knitting. Pointless to get the good pencils when the process of drawing makes you want to crawl out of your skin.

If you want to try something, just try it! As simply and cheaply as possible. Want to draw? Get a free pencil and a bit of notebook paper. Want to knit? Get a pair of knitting needles from the thrift store and some dollar store yarn. As you get deeper into the hobby, you’ll probably want to upgrade your supplies–but now that you know more about the process, you know what problems can be solved by better supplies.

I was always intimidated by bookbinding–the tutorials always talked about having the right glue and the right book press–until a guy in the comments said, “I use Elmer’s Glue and my laptop.” I could manage that! That was accessible! I got some glue and some big textbooks and made a book! Not perfect, but it wouldn’t have been perfect even if I had the fancy supplies–I was just starting out! And then I figured out that a paper cutter and some kind of tool to smooth the endpapers would be useful. So I got that–as cheaply as possible. I have made books and I have enjoyed it without a huge investment in time and money. And more tutorials need to take that approach. I refuse to believe that we have to give tons of money to the crafting industry. I refuse to believe that we have to be consumers in order to become creators.

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Did a little experiment with my neocolour 2 crayons and gouache. Pretty interesting. Not sure if I'll keep using then since I'm not great with gouache.