dovembre

[dovembre]

I know I say that I'm kinda nuts for doing the amount of visual research I do, but at the same time: Specificity is SO much more compelling and real feeling, and imo not getting references often makes things look more amateur.

Eg. drawing a sofa- my mental image of a sofa is something like this:

Like. Its a sofa. It works. But it's not very convincing, the pillows are kinda wrong at the back, and it's not really giving any information about the owner. Even if you want a basic sofa... What kind of basic.

comfy and cheap?

kinda rigid?

inherited? ------

who does this comfy cheap ikea sofa belong to anyway?

guy living alone?

teenage girl?

Grandma?

Anyway I'll get off my soapbox but specificity is sexy and fun and it can do your storytelling for you!

[dovembre]

bell mare - david crawford

[dovembre]

Call me whatever names you wish, but I think this is a much better (and healthier) attitude than “anyone under 18 should never be allowed to see any sexual imagery ever”

(For reference: this was at the Tom of Finland exhibition, containing actual, queer, kinky af pornography. There were definitely some young people there, perhaps in their late teens. There was even a parent with their baby who was probably too young to understand anything at all. And guess what, all those people are probably going to be fine.)

[ID: a sign saying “Please note: there is no age limit, but the exhibition is not recommended for children due to the explicit sexual imagery it contains. Parental or guardian discretion is advised.”]

[dovembre]

Karin Hosono - arakawa､みえる

[dovembre]

[dovembre]

[dovembre]

okay I've looked through and studied all of your art from this year and I'm still perplexed - *how* do you have such yummy texture in your art? It's something I really love to see in art but I've yet to figure out how to even start trying to incorporate it myself, it seems much less straightforward than studying color, art , composition, etc.

I put together this little video with some examples of how I most commonly add texture to drawings.

Nearly every single thing I draw has at least 1-2 textured images overlaid. sometimes up to 4 or 5 images. I’ve accumulated a large album of images that I throw in to add flavor. There are endless different kinds of texture but I gravitate towards stuff that is gritty, paper or canvas-like, grainy, or stuff that has interesting color/hue variation.

Here is a post on how I typically apply images to a drawing to add texture. That image is still my go-to. This is usually accompanied by a paper or canvas texture on overlay mode. You can watch me do this in example #2 of the video.

Another thing is brushes. I like to use chunky paintbrush-like digital brushes, pencils, chalk, anything rough. I recently showed a few brushes I use in this post, but if you feel like digging, I’ve answer questions about brushes I use in previous posts.

I dont do patreon anymore, but the page is still up, so you can find some brushes, texture images, and process stuff I shared over there (all for free). This is another quick process video I had posted: https://www.patreon.com/posts/95669021?utm_campaign=postshare_creator

You can make or capture these kinds of images yourself and there are many resources online that provide free high quality textures, such as:

True Grit

TextureLabs

Photoshop Supply

Just to name a few.

Layer modes are your friend! I recommended just going wild messing with settings and trying out brushes. Hope this helps. Have fun!

[dovembre]

wip

[dovembre]

Today round ass puppy revealed to me, exhausted, at the end of my rope, that her training wasn't working not because she didn't understand, she did, she did, but instead because treats, chicken, turkey and pork apparently weren't enough motivation. She began obeying every word with startling accuracy as soon as she was offered something else. Doing backflips and stunts with pyrotechnics as prompted for the promise of a pea. A pea. She's a dog. A pea. A pea. A pea. I have to carry peas around now. On my person. Personal peas. 🫛 peas

[dovembre]

it disturbs me that a significant number of people think that the issue with sexual violence, gendered violence, and misogyny is sexual desire rather than dehumanization, so they are relentlessly suspicious of others' (and their own) desires while simultaneously never at all interrogating others' (and their own) dehumanizing beliefs about other people, both within and outside of sexual contexts

[dovembre]

[dovembre]

Amazing how you can just go on twitter and be like 'i saw a trans woman in public today' and everyone will be like tell us what happened' and you can be like 'well I was in public and there was a woman who I think was trans' and they'll be like and how did that make you feel 'it made me so so uncomfortable' and people will be like did this woman engage with you in any way 'yes she smiled at me and said good morning' and everyone will be like oh noes!! A traumatic experience! You were so so brave about the trans woman! And then major newspapers will publish stories like 'breaking news: trans woman in public making people uncomfortable'. And then if anyone is like 'this is fucking ridiculous' they get called a pedophile.

[dovembre]

you have to stay alive. you're going to be such a beautiful middle aged freak. young freaks will see you in the street and know that things can be okay.

[dovembre]

A friend has once again brought it to my attention that it is unusual to have an intact chronological memory of life prior to age 12 and you know what’s weird to ME is that the rest of yall forgot how to sing the clean-up song

[dovembre]

In my experience as a third culture kid who travels a lot the best indicator that you as a non-x is appreciating x culture is if the locals actively invite you to participate in it with them

Yes, you are allowed to buy those handmade Inuit winter clothes if an Inuk is literally selling them to you. They would not be offering you a price point if they didnt want you to buy and wear them. And you might discover that theyre the best winter clothes youve ever worn because of COURSE they would be if theyve kept this culture warm in harsh winters for thousands of years.

Yes, you are allowed to join those Cambodians in that local holiday theyre celebrating during your visit if they literally invited you to it. They would not have invited you if they didnt want you to participate. And in the process you might learn a lot about a culture you never wouldve interacted with and you can all have a laugh together about your clumsy but genuine attempts at getting your footwork right in one of their traditional dances.

Yes, you are also allowed to ask if you can participate in something from the local culture you are visiting. Sometimes you will get "sorry, thats a closed practice" but in my experience most of the time you'll get "of course, let me show you how to do this!" And in my experience people tend to appreciate when others make an active effort in sharing their culture and wont stone you to death if youre clumsy about it while youre learning. I guarantee that the local children doing all of this for the first time too make the same mistakes you do and they can tell if youre being disrespectful or genuine.

So much "cultural appropriation" discourse really starts to sound like "you cant participate or visit any other cultures if youre from a Colonial Culture and have to stay in your little box and never relate to other people"

[dovembre]

they're calling it the healthiest way anyone's ever engaged with art

[dovembre]