#I wanted to do something a bit more stylized than my usual style

[goombat]

Small wip thing I’ve done while incredibly sick

[phantoms-lair]

45 for the crossover roulette.

MarvelxDC

~

"You okay?"

Peter looked up at the kid wearing a domino mask.

"Okay, kind of dumb question, but can you move? I don't think you want to be there if Klarion's next portal summons a monster."

"Who's Klarion?" Peter asked, confused.

"That," said the boy who on closer inspections was wearing...a really weird outfit and cape with a stylized R on the chest. He was pointing to what looked to be a floating kid in a school uniform with pale, almost blue skin and hair styled into horns. 'Klarion' was laughing as space and time seemed to rend around him.

"Okay, and what does Klarion want?" Peter asked, almost afraid to know.

"Chaos." Cape Boy said grimly. "No other goals. That's why we got you through a portal too, even though you're a hero."

"How do you know I'm a hero?" Not that it didn't feel good to be called that, but Cape Kid (Better, that one had alliteration) seemed to be putting a lot of faith in someone who fell through a random portal.

"You can see through the portals right before something falls out." Cape Kid point to one that now showed a stormy seas. "So we saw you saving that lady before you fell through. Awesome flip by the way. Can you teach me it? My older brother is an acrobat and I'd love to be able to show him up."

"Sorry," Peter apologized. "It's kind of something I can only do because of my mutati-" His Spider sense screamed and on instinct he grabbed Cape Kid and pulled him out of the way of a massive tentacle that slammed out of the sea-scape.

"ROBIN!" a voice called out.

"I'm okay B," Caped Kid, er Robin called out (guess that was what the R was for). "Portal Friend pulled me out of the way."

A man dressed in all in black landed next to them. For all the eared cowl and cape should have looked silly, this man carried it as intimidating. "Thank you. Your name?"

"Spiderman". It was impossible to see through the cowl, but Peter got the sense of an unimpressed eyebrow raised.

"It's no worse that Batman," Robin chided.

"It's not about the name. It's about the fact that he's trying to carry himself as an adult when he's clearly around your age."

What. The. F-.

"What are you talking about?" Peter tried to bluff. Sure he wasn't the tallest. But with the added muscle he looked more like a short adult than a teenager, right?

"You're in High School. Not even a senior." Batman said with absolute certainty.

Maybe he was psychic or something? Peter deflated.

"You're a teenager trying to carry yourself as an adult and you were fighting alone." It sounded like that that bit was what was upsetting him.

"Well, no one else knows I'm a teenager." Peter said nervously. "Most teenagers can't pick up cars." Not could most adults, but that was besides the point. "So any other heroes in NYC think I'm an adult too."

"Hn,"

"B says they're idiots," Robin translated cheerfully.

"Robin," Batman's tone held warning.

"Am I wrong?" Robin asked cheekily

"We need to focus on the matter at hand."

"That means I'm right," Robin stage whispered.

Peter couldn't help himself, he grinned. "So how can I help?"

"If you can keep Klarion distracted, I should be able to help Zatana get into place to stop the portals."

Peter grinned. "Oh don't worry, I can be very distracting."

~

"That was hilarious," Robin was almost bent in two laughing.

"Thank you, thank you." Peter mock bowed. "Man, Nightwing is going to be sorry he missed this. Oh Man, when you shot that web right in his face, gluing his mouth shut when he was gloating? That was great. Or when your asked what they were feeling him at the Victorian orphanage to turn his skin blue, and implied he just came out because he had the munchies-"

"Have you eaten?" Batman asked, ignoring Robin.

"Sorry?" the question took Peter off guard.

"Your suit was already scuffed when you arrived, so you'd either already been in a fight or at the end of a long patrol. You kept up a lot of high-energy movement and a powers like yours usually come with an increase in caloric needs. Have you eaten?" Batman repeated.

Peter's stomach answered for him with a low rumble.

"Hn."

"Batburger," Robin asked hopefully.

"No."

"...It's because of the fries, isn't it."

"You need to eat healthier."

"It's totally because of the fries." Robin nodded to himself.

"The fries?" Peter asked, confused.

"So this guy go the idea to open up a fast food burger place themed after Gotham's local vigilantes. The food pretty good for what it is, but recently they added a new option to the menu, seasoned fried with a spicy kick. But they called it Jokerizing the fries, and B is upset because he thinks it's trivializing what the Joker's victims go through."

Peter had no idea who the Joker was, but was guessing a villain. "...So would you say B's a little salty about the fries?"

Batman just looked to the smog filled sky, as if asking why all vigilantes acrobats had the same sense of humor.

"Finger's Deli."

"Yeah sure, their sandwiches are good." Robin shrugged. "What's your usual order?"

Oh, he was talking to him. "A cuban with pickles, squished real flat."

"Squished?' Robin asked. wrinkling his nose.

"It makes it crunchier." Peter defended.

"Stay here," Batman ordered, then fired his grapple gun and flew away. Hmm, maybe that was a feature he could add to his web slingers. "So do we know how I'm getting home?" Peter asked tentatively.

"No worries." Robin assured. "Zatana said everything Klarion pulled through will pop back into it's own reality in the next few hours. Yourself included."

"Cool, cool." So that was his big worry down. "Is Batman, like, your Dad or something?"

"He is." Robin confirmed "Not supposed to admit it, but it's kinda obvious. Like everyone assumes it anyways?"

"I can't imagine fighting crime with my un- a relative."

"Problems with your Dad?" Robin guessed.

"Not...really? He died when I was little. I don't even really remember him or Mom." Peter confessed.

Robin winced. "Sorry, I forget how often vigilantes are orphans."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah, a lot of us. Including me and my brother and B."

"Um?"

"Adopted." Oh, that made sense. "Yeah, B keeps adopting kids who remind him of himself and then wonders why we're such drama queens who will go out in costumes to fight crime, including sneaking out if he tries to ban us." Robin laughed. "I can't complain though. Stealing his tires was the best decision I even made."

Peter made a choking noise "What?"

Robin shrugged. "I was young, homeless, and knew I could get top dollar for them. Like enough to keep me fed during winter. He catches me, I hit him with a tire iron because I'm sure I'm either going to juvie or he's going to steal my bones or something, and he just...asks me if I want to eat something. Took me to Batburger."

"Before the fries?"

"Before the fries?" Robin laughed, but it was a melancholy joy. "B's the best thing that ever happened to me. He gave me food and home, and never asked anything in return except for me to live my best life. I decided I wanted to be Robin because...I know what it's like to be that hopeless. And I want to give hope to everyone the way B gave it to me."

"There was a time when I was really afraid we were going to be homeless," Peter admitted. "And I know that's no where as bad as actually being, but..." Where was he going with this? He didn't like thinking of his early days. His disastrous wrestling career that ended in Uncle Ben's Death, trying to go to the Fantastic Four for a job and them telling him he couldn't get paid for being a hero.

Robin snorted. "I was there too, before the actually homeless thing happened. Don't feel like you haven't suffered enough to be at the trauma party because the absolute worst didn't happen. I'm guessing this is better since you have-" he gestured to Spiderman's costume, "-that setup." Pater laughed. "Dude, this outfit is completely scavenged. I sewed it out of old wrestler outfits. Made these," He pulled back his gloves, "out of scavenged metal and my uncles tools. The web fluid...okay I may have 'borrowed' some of what I needed from the high school chemistry department, but I've got a living culture now that just needs upkeep."

"That stuff's alive?" Robin's eyebrows shot up. "Sort of? It's a protean chain, crystalline in shape, but compressed. Once released it decompresses and expands exponentially before drying. Upside it also breaks down on it's own and is environmentally safe." Peter shrugged. "We are doing better though. My Guardian applied for some programs and I got a job. We're doing pretty okay now." Uncle Ben's life insurance had also helped. But there was no way he was counting that. He'd rather be homeless with his Uncle alive.

"I'm glad they applied for those programs. There al a lot of people who are either too proud, or think it's something that will be used against them." Robin said. And there was that melancholy twinge in his tone again. Had his parents refused those same programs before he was orphaned?

"I'm back." Batman interrupted in the same tone he had all night. He had a large plastic bag with him. Had he ordered in costume or changed out and changed back? Was this something he and Robin did often?

He sat down with them, pulled out the sandwich on top and then set it aside. He then pulled out another sandwich and a little side dish cup and handed them to Robin.

"Steamed vegetables?" Robin complained.

"I told you. You need to eat healthier." Batman said simply before handing the remaining bag contents to Peter. Three cubans -squished flat, a fruit cup, mac and cheese, and his own steamed vegetables.

"This is too much," Peter protested.

"It's not, I assure you." Batman paused. "Unless you meant it was too much to eat in one sitting, in which case it hopefully can travel with you when you go back."

"If I have to eat the veggies you do to," said Robin, tearing into his muffuletta.

"You don't even know me..." Peter said, "Why are you being so nice?"

Batman put his pastrami on rye down. He seemed to be cycling through several things to say.

"What does your support look like at home?"

"Like, my legal guardian?" Peter asked, confused.

"Does he know about your alternate identity?"

"She doesn't. She can't. She would blame herself for not figuring it our earlier, and the last thing I want to do is hurt her again. Besides, she's not exactly a fan of Spiderman."

"Friends?"

"Even worse. I had to send my best friend's Dad to jail. He will kill me, maybe literally, if he finds out I'm Spiderman."

"Work friends?" Robin asked, knowing Peter also held a job.

Peter snorted at that. "Don't have any. And even if I did it wouldn't be safe. My boss is the main printer of the articles about how Spiderman's a menace and needs to be hunted down."

Batman was frowning. "Other heroes?"

"Not really close to any. I've done some impromptu team-ups, but I think most of them find me kinda of annoying." Peter admitted.

Batman pinched his nose. "Because they assume you're an adult and picked up on your tones and mannerisms being more like a teenagers and rather than challenge the assumption of your age, decided you were an adult who was immature." he took a deep breath. "Spiderman this kind of life...it isn't one the works if you're by yourself. I was doing this for years before Robin joined me, but back then I had someone behind the scenes, even if he did nothing more than welcome me home at the end of each night. People need support, and that includes you. Whether it's your guardian, a friend of a fellow vigilante, as a human you need someone to lean on. Everyone does."

"And no offense, but it sounds like your civilian life is kind of a toxic echo chamber about your vigilante identity." Robin added. "That can not be good for your psyche."

"It's fine." Peter insisted, stuffing one of the sandwiches in his mouth. Neither Batman or Robin looked like they believed him.

"And maybe they're not wrong. Maybe I am bad at being a hero." Peter said, oddly defensively for someone deriding himself.

"I don't think that's true at all." Batman said gently. "I've barely known you an hour, Spiderman. And in that time you saved an elderly lady from your world, saved Robin, and helped fend off an avatar of Chaos."

"It was a good day." Peter muttered, busying himself with his sandwich.

"I think it's more you're a good person." Batman said kindly.

"Maybe, but that doesn't mean I'm not a screw up."

Batman's smile turned to a frown. "Who told you that?"

Technically lots of people. "Nobody had to."

"I don't believe that." Batman said with full confidence. Which was heartwarming until-

"Was it your Guardian?"

"Aunt May would never!" Peter spat out. "She's kind and so supportive. She's always been there even thought it's my fault-" Peter broke off.

"What's your fault?"

"It's my fault my Uncle's dead." Peter's voice cracked. Robin started to rise to his feet, but Batman stalled him with a raised hand.

"What happened?" Batman asked in his calm and even voice.

"I saw a guy getting robbed and I did nothing. I let it happen. All because the guy who was being robbed was a crook who'd cheated me out of money I'd earned. I thought it was karma. But that thief broke into our house when I wasn't home and he shot him!" Peter felt strangely exposed. He curled in on himself.

"You've never told anyone about this, have you?" Batman said, a statement more than an ask.

Peter shook his head.

Slowly Batman moved to put his hand on his shoulder. "I could tell. Because it seems you've never had anyone tell you it wasn't your fault."

Peter's head shot up. Adrenaline crashed through his body and he wasn't even sure why. "I let the guy go."

"You made a mistake in judgement. But given you had already been cheated by the man being robbed, you also had no way of knowing that first robbery wasn't personal."

"I still should have done something! With great power comes great responsibility." Peter insisted.

"Perhaps. But no amount of responsibility can equate to being omniscient. There was no way you could have foreseen what would happen."

"But....but..."

"Spiderman, when I was just a child myself, there was a movie I wanted to go see. I convinced my parents to take me." Robin moved in, shoulder to shoulder with Batman, reassuring him. "The movie was wonderful, everything I'd hoped. And then on the way home we were mugged. Neither of my parents made it."

Peter's breath caught in his throat.

"I blamed myself for wanting to see the movie and it took a lot of time and a very stubborn old man to help me understand it wasn't my fault. And I'm guessing the only reason no one's told you that is no one know you're blaming yourself. You're not responsible for your Uncle's death any more than I was responsible for my parents. You are a child. You deserve a support system. You deserve people you can open up with all the way. You deserve to not be constantly punishing yourself for giving the wrong person a second chance."

"I know I'm not persuasive enough to make you believe with one talk. And once Klarion's portal reverses I'll not have a chance to talk to you again. So please find someone in your world you can trust. If not your Aunt, another hero. If they're worth the title, they'll help."

"Maybe, I-" Peter cut off as his spider-sense gave a low tingle. "Uhhh, I think something's happening." "You're going back." Batman grabbed the rest of Peter's food and shoved it into his arms. "Tale the food and please talk to someone. You're doing so well and you deserve to have help and support." "I-" Anything Peter was going to say was cut off as Peter suddenly found himself sitting alone on a roof in NYC, the daylight suddenly glaring to eyes that had adjusted to the darkness of Gotham. He was back home. Batman and Robin were gone. He sat down on the roof and almost on auto pilot pulled out one of the sandwiches he was still holding. The paper was oddly deformed, he noticed as he unwrapped it. Almost like it had been-

Batman had squished his sandwiches after buying them. Because the deli hadn't and he'd wanted Peter to have the sandwich he wanted. It was such an Uncle Ben thing to do.

Maybe Batman was that world's Uncle Ben. Maybe Robin was that world's version of him. It was nice to think of that. That somewhere in the multiverse there was a world where he and Ben were in this together. Batman had said there was someone waited for him at home. That world's Aunt May?

He'd said he needed help, that he was allowed to ask for help. And Uncle Ben had never been wrong before.

~

Captain America let out a breath as the last of the Doombots fell. This had been a big one. An all hands on deck, fate-of-NYC. And God above it felt like this was becoming a monthly event. He was looking forward to heading home and taking a good long shower when Spiderman landed next to him.

"Hey Cap, can talk to you? For just a minute?"

As much as he wanted that shower, it was rare to see the cocky and wisecracking Webhead sound insecure. "Certainly. Shall I assume this requires more privacy that an open street?"

"Yeah, that would be good." Spiderman nodded enthusiastically. "We could go to a roof-no you don't have webslingers. That's rude."

Now Cap was getting concerned. Spiderman was acting...very not himself. He lead Spiderman away from the battle to a series of alleys he knew very well. If this was an imposter, he wasn't letting him pick the secondary location and made sure he had an advantage in terrain. Spiderman couldn't get full momentum of his swings here, but he himself could ricochet his shield into a near barrier. "Well?"

"Sorry," Spiderman said after a moment. "I'm trying really hard not to talk myself out of this for a third time."

The third time? Interesting.

He took a deep breath. "My name is Peter. I'm 16 years old. I'm barely keeping my head above water and I need help."

[arcanegifs]

On Gifmaking:

So season 2's coming soon, and I wanna reflect on making gifs ever since I came back to Tumblr. I can't believe it's been 2 years of making gifs for this show!!!!! Look at how large my folder is lmao

And those are JUST gifs lol

Anyways, over time, my style has changed, especially how I color edit Arcane gifs. I kind of strayed away from a stylized filter color into just something that looks a lot more "natural" and works with the original scene.

Initially, I thought I'd save time, but I ended up not using my old arcane preset PSDs and resulted to coloring almost every scene manually. So in the end, it takes even longer to make them HAHAHA. It takes around an hour and a half for me to make a 10 gif set, basically. It also helps that I have a photography background, so coloring/editing is a lot simpler for me.

Here's a lil before and after of a dark scene (hiiiii viiiiiii <3)

Arcane is a REALLY dark show, but it goes for most of TV shows. Many of them are darker and harder to bring up the lights to make stuff look nice as gifs. Some people don't like to color their gifs, and that's okay. I personally just like color edited gifs more.

I've started learning how to upscale scenes myself, so that I have a better resolution and leeway to make things look "HD" more.

If you're wondering why my stuff look so "crisp", it's a combination of the scene's lighting, my sharpening settings on Photoshop and knowing how to upscale everything into 4k resolution. Of course, doing this needs an extremely beefy pc, which I am very lucky to own one.

Here's another before and after of a nicely lit scene. These are much, MUCH easier to do than all the darkly lit scenes because of shadows and lighting (caitlyn kiramman truly the rizzler <3)

I've been very lucky to be able to essentially take a nice, long break for like a month doing nothing after being so damn busy for the last year and a half, so it's nice that I was able to make a ton of gifs and be chronically online for a short while LMAO.

It's been so fun! But it's time to go back to reality lmao. I closed reqs for a bit because I was just so swamped with them the last few days, and I wanted to gif scenes that I like this time. I've done like 2 weeks worth of gifs. And you will see Vi a lot bc she's on my mind a lot heehee 🥰what can I say, she's such a babe <3

Here's a lil sneak peek, just look at herrrrrrr 🥰🥰🥰 and yeah, 4k upscaled resolution really helps making these tight crops, it's why i never went back to 1080p lol. It's how I’m able to make zoomed in gifs look decent (like the kirammountains gifset lol)

Thank you so much for all the support, likes, reblogs, and the nice tags you guys give. Yes, I can see and read all of them (both the nice and nasty ones lmao). If you have nothing good to say about the characters or my editing style, or anything related to the edit, please I beg you, just write a separate text post about it <3 If you have nothing nice to say, don't say it in my edits.

Lastly, thank you to the people who share my stuff outside the site and credit the blog and link them back here. I see you and appreciate you <3 You guys don't know how much I appreciate shoutouts and link backs, because people stealing my gifs is something that I've dealt with after making them for like a decade.

Tumblr is sadly not what it used to be in the 2013-2015 era. There’s definitely less activity as time goes by, so I appreciate all the people who credit and link back to this sideblog. Unfortunately, there’s more people who just repost them and it gets wayyy much more traction in other soc med sites. Yeah, ofc I get a lil jealous, but eh what can you do 😞 can’t really stop em.

I also don’t like putting watermarks because it personally looks tacky to me, but I understand why other people do it.

Anyways, if you reached at the end of this lil rambling of mine, thank you! I sadly might be busy during November because that's usually busy season, but I'll try to make time for making gifs of Season 2! Thank you and enjoy your stay on this lil sideblog :)

[crimsonhydrangeavn]

Hey there! I'm here to simp for Garret, as usual, but I have another reason to gush today—I absolutely adore your drawing style! Whether it's the colors, the character designs, or the scenes, I just love it all. One of my favorite things, though, has to be the characters' facial expressions—they are all just beautiful!

Marcelo's surprised face? Perfect. Rita's blushing cheeks? Adorable. Camilla's entire design? Has a special place in my heart. And don't even get me started on Teagan's smile—it's so cute, it's almost unfair. But, of course, my ultimate favorite is Garret. I can't handle it when he furrows his eyebrows, whether he's pissed off or has that smug look like he's just hit the jackpot. It's all just so perfect!

Anyway, I do have a question for you—do you have any tips for creating character designs? I feel like the way your characters look perfectly matches the vibe they give off, and I'm starting to work on my own visual novel, but I'm having a hard time nailing down the character designs and I felt I could find good advice from you.

Additionally, I apologize in advance for all the fangirling and for my poor English. I hope nothing I said came across as rude or inconvenient, truly 🙏.

Thanks so much, and I hope you have a fantastic day! ❤🌻

Thank you so much for your incredibly sweet ask! Please, please, please NEVER apologize for gushing about characters for fangirling over them! It always brings a massive smile to my face and I really appreciate hearing how much you enjoy them! <3 I'm incredibly flattered that you reached out to me for advice on character creation and I'll do my best to share my process with you! Granted there are a million different ways to do things so these are just a few things that I've found that helps me in the creation process.

I'll give you a little background about me and my character/story creation journey so you can get a better understanding of my background in writing/character development.

You see I've been a huge fan of text roleplay for the majority of my life. I actually started roleplaying on gaiaonline when I was 12 and I've been doing it ever since. ( Almost 20 years at this point! damn am I old lol) As a result I've had a lot of practice creating and interacting with different kinds of characters in different settings. I've also been playing DnD on and off since high school. That being said, I've had time to refine my craft and create characters that I personally really enjoy and align with to some degree. ( And hopefully you do too!)

That being said, I'll list a few tips and tricks I've picked up over the years below!

Anatomy is key! Yes, my characters are stylized, however I spent a long time studying anatomy and getting a solid sense of proportions, ratios, and musculature. Am I perfect? Absolutely not, but I'm at the point that I can usually notice if there's a glaring error/ something looks really off.

Make sure to put all of the characters in a line up once they're designed! Are their heads the same size? What about their hands and feet? Some slight variations are natural, but if one character's head is noticeably larger than the others, then I'd take the time to adjust. The same could be said for colors. Is one character SUPER saturated while the others are more muted? Unless they're supposed to stand out, consider reworking the colors to make them feel a bit more cohesive.

A basic understanding of color theory is always a bonus in my book! I'd also consider making a general color palette for your game. That way it'll help you make sure everything looks and feels as though it's in the same world.

When I first create a character, I try to think of a general concept of what I want them to be. What's their general vibe? What do they look like? What's their personality like? Ect. Once I have a general vibe down, I try and do a bit of visual research on tiktok, pinterest, tumblr, google, ect. For example, I might have a general idea of what a typical frat bro or sorority girl looks like, but until I actually do the research and look into the kinds of things they wear, how they speak, and their general lifestyle, and real life examples of these kinds of people they'll feel like a flat caricatures of what they actually are.

Then, once I have the general vibe nailed down I start doodling them and playing around with different hairstyles, outfits, body types, ect. I actually have a few different different versions of all of the characters for Crimson Hydrangea! I rarely end up going with my first sketch/ concept when it comes to most of my characters. I also like exploring with different skin tones, colors, and textures/designs.

It takes a lot of thought and trail and error, but once I finally create a character that I'm visually happy with, I really start delving into their personality, backstories, and general psyche. What are their likes, dislikes, positive traits, and flaws? What are their motivations, fears, and traumas? How self aware are they? Then I start asking myself slightly more introspective questions to help me relate to the characters a bit more. What about this character resonates with me? How can I make this character feel more real? What are some traits that we share? For example, Garret inherited my unhealthy perfectionism, Marcelo inherited my love of food and desire to make sure those around me are happy and comfortable, Camilla inherited my sarcastic sense of humor, Rita inherited my unyielding sense of responsibility and unhealthy work-a-holic tendencies, and Teagan inherited my deep rooted insecurities. Granted most of these characters take it to a completely new level than I do in my real life, but at least on a basic level I can relate to them and understand their motivations. That being said, I don't think all of your characters need to inherit a specific trait of yours, it's just something I recently realized I tend to do on a subconscious level to help me write them with a bit more depth.

Let your characters develop a life of their own within your story. It's okay if they end up changing from your initial concept. People in real life are complex and don't always fit into a specific mold no matter how hard they try. They grow and change over time, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worst. Do what feels right for the story you're trying to tell. For example, Garret was originally supposed to be more calculated and methodical. Marcelo was originally supposed to be a lot more laid back and go with the flow. However when I actually started writing them in specific scenarios I realized that they're far more complex than a simplified list of traits. Flaws and weaknesses make them feel so much more real than a "perfect" gary/mary stu.

When it comes to facial expressions, I usually have a small mirror on my desk to observe and reference specific expressions I'm trying to convey. In addition to using the mirror as a reference point, I also tend to make whatever face I'm drawing as I'm drawing it. It's a little silly, but I find it really helpful feeling my facial muscles recreate the same expression. It helps me figure out what the brows, eyes, and mouth are doing at the same time. It's gotten to the point of doing it subconsciously whenever I work/animate/draw. (Fortunately I usually work from home so no one has to see my weird expressions lol)

I think the final and most important tip you should take to heart is to create characters you genuinely enjoy. It'll also help you stay motivated to keep writing them and developing the story, especially early on in the creation process.

Hopefully you found my rambling helpful! It ended up being a bit more of a brain dump than I originally intended haha. That being said, I'd love to see what kind of characters and game you end up creating in the future! <3

[drill-teeth-art]

Question, how do you draw body hair? All my attempts look dumb- and your like, the only person im brave enough to ask-

First things first! A piece of advice because it's something I struggled to unlearn and still try and cut out of the way I talk. It's helpful to not self deprecate out loud as it is both counterproductive to your own learning and sense of self and it can be a pretty awkward way to interact with others, especially folks you're still very new to. You're still learning. And it's okay that your art isn't where you imagine yet. That's the great thing about art. That you get to learn both what you want for your own work and how to achieve that! Points of frustration tend to emerge when you actually know More about art than your ability to draw can actually replicate, but the good news about those frustration periods is they're usually right before big improvements especially if you can channel the frustration into motivation for practicing and learning! Basically! Don't beat yourself up it's actually good to be challenged by your own craft. You'll get there.

Anyway! Body hair time! The best thing you can do for learning to draw...anything from life really is reference and practice. But! Here are some tips from how I draw it in my work to help you get started.

There's plenty of different patterns body hair grows in. Different people will have more body hair in some areas than others, more or less body hair overall, and different textures to their body hair. I know most of the men in my family tend to have their chest hair especially grow straight and lie pretty flat but I've known plenty of folks who's chest hair grows in pretty curly too. So references will be your best buddy in capturing a wider range of different types of body hair!

But here's a couple basic things I keep in mind for placement generally.

Most folks chest hair grows from the center outwards pretty much. <- | -> like that. Armpit hair especially tends to get pretty thick. And hair on the forearms and calves is extremely common for most people in general.

As for how I stylize it, I actually do relatively few strokes for it. Enough to imply hairy though it varies on how hairy I want the figure to look. And I tend not to overlap my strokes because it tends to read a bit more clear in a cartoony style if I don't. For pit hair I tend to darken the whole hairy area since it's thicker and add texture to the edge of that shape to show it's a bunch of hair. Straight strokes for straighter body hair. Wavier or curly strokes for more wavy or curly body hair.

I can't stress enough that references are important and absolute look into if other artists have shared their body hair drawing tutorials! Especially artists with differing backgrounds than me! The wider range of reference and advice is helpful!

Hope this helps!

[strangegutz]

Apologies if you've answered an ask like this before, but I've noticed that your drawing style and your dollmaking are very different, with your dolls being more stylized. Would you say that developing an art style for your dolls was easier/harder/different than finding a drawing style, and is there a reason you gravitate towards a 3D art style so different from your 2D one? I ask because I've always drawn in a semi-realistic style but want to make dolls, and I was wondering what it's like to make the jump. Personally, I feel like I struggle to unlearn/make myself get over the rules of proportions and anatomy in order to make more stylized stuff. Sorry for rambling a bit!

I'm wracking my brain trying to figure out a good way to answer the first part of your question, about developing the separate art styles- I might get back to you on that if I can think of anything later (particularly difficult bc theyre both styles ive had for a Long Time that have just evolved over time so it's hard to pinpoint feelings on the development)

As for why they're so different, it's mostly because most dolls you see are pretty realistic, to a degree. I think it's more fun, visually striking, and just all around easier on my brain to make them styled out of a bunch of cobbled together shapes- it tickles something in my brain, and it feels like I'm making something fresh. That being said, it's also my skill level, I couldn't make a 3D version of my usual 2D art style if I tried- drawing noses at all angles is hard enough, sculpting them? I'd explode.

Also with them having bendy wire for bodies, it feels more fitting to be extra stylized, rather than something realistic with rubberhose arms

I'll also add that I can/have drawn 2D work in my 3D style, but haven't in a while- it's easier to jump around to different styles on paper than it is with full on sculptures, haha

I do want to make dolls of a couple of my cowboy characters, it'll be interesting to compare the two styles side by side!

[petricorah]

Thanks for the ask, @strrwbrrryjam ! i'm flattered that you think I do a good job of that, because I'm still learning! (and I also struggle heavily with proportions. I have to resize my heads and arms so, so much...)

I'm afraid I don't have any secrets. I think the answer is to just practice, over and over again. But specifically, this is what I try to focus on as I'm learning:

references

quick practices - 30 second to 5 minute studies that help with getting a full scope of the shape and energy of the body, not meant to be perfect

studies - deep dives into certain anatomical structures (videos linked below)

Below the cut is how I use references go from this to this:

References:

Use a bunch of references! Pictures you take, stock images, from shows--practice real people. Even if your style is heavily stylized, it all starts from an understanding of anatomy.

How I Use a Reference When I Struggle With Proportions:

The first step I take while looking at a reference is to just draw a very loose sketch with a line of action that goes then entire length of the piece, and I try to section it out. I find if I don't think about the body as a whole, and just start drawing a head, the head will be way bigger than the rest of the image. So my first step is just really boxy and basic, just to get all appendages on paper. My first pass could look like this:

Okay, not bad. But the right arm is going way too far down--the forearm is really long. The head is too big for the style I want, and the left arm is at a 90 degree angle, unlike the picture. But, I have the general scope of everything on the page, so it's easier to adjust and look at the full picture!

Then, I try to focus on landmarks. I look at where certain body parts fall in the reference. For instance, Blackbeard's right elbow doesn't reach his belt, so his elbow shouldn't be near his waist. I can tell that his left arm is closer to being straight than at a right angle, and I can see that his head isn't as big on his shoulders as I have. I can also look at the negative space and see that the gaps between his right arm need to be smaller. So my next pass might look like this:

(I don't usually draw on the reference image, and I just "draw" the lines in my mind, but the for sake of things...)

Now it's looking a bit closer!

The next is the harder part. It's making things shapes, and is closer to the lineart stage. I try to follow curves, separate the chest from the torso, get the angle of the shoulders and head, etc. I have some video links at the end that explain this step much more in def.

You may notice that the head angle is a bit different than the image, and the shoulders are a bit lower. Sometimes, following a reference image completely either doesn't fit your style or, in some cases, the more accurate drawing following a reference can actually look "wrong" (anatomically) when drawn. Figure out what works best for you, and for the message you're trying to get across in the piece!

[sliiiight flashing in timelapse]

And here is the final timelapse, with a little refining and polishing of the anatomy. Not everything is completely accurate to the reference image, but I've created a believable image in the likeness.

I hope this helped! This was a quick and dirty post of something I'm still learning. Here are some youtube tutorial artists, resources, and books that I use to learn!

Youtube:

-ModerndayJames has lots of videos on creating shapes and understanding anatomy, and placing people in perspective. He has a lot of free videos, and then some cheap ones on gumroad that go more into it.

-Proko has lots of videos on anatomy!

Practice Resources:

-Pose Maniacs - figures in different poses. You can move the camera around to see different angles.

-QuickPoses has images for figure drawing and quick gesture drawing! You can even have different timers.

Books:

Morpho Series. There used to be the one on "Fat and Skin Folds" that was a free PDF download that was on tumblr for a while, but I don't believe the books are that expensive.

Taco's Books, published by Lezhin. This is heavily anime styled, but talks a lot about anatomy, and is a great resource!

[teabeexo]

Heyyy tea ･:*+.\(( °ω° ))/.:+

what do the wardrobes of your MCs look like? (Their styles, favorite clothing piece or outfit, that type of stuff!)

Hello Ice!!!!!! <3333

I’m SOOO glad you asked! Ive given quite a bit of thought to this topic for each of my sillies..

WINONA

Winona’s style is what I would describe as casual alternative and mostly grunge. She likes monotone colors, especially black or grey. That, paired with dark splashes of color. Her big thing is band shirts — big, oversized shirts that display her musical interests loud and clear. She wears that with baggy jeans that typically sit lower on her hips. She’s much taller than average, so most pairs of pants seem to do that regardless. Despite the heat of Sunset Bird, she very rarely wears shorts. If she does wear shorts, they’re usually uniquely patterned or especially comfortable. Her shoes are thick-soled and comfortable, her makeup usually consisting of sharp eyeliner, various sultry eyeshadows, a desaturated lip, and whatever else enforces her style.

INSPO PICTURES BELOW!

LUELLA

Luella’s style is a bit harder to fully label, even though I have a pretty good understanding of it. It’s a bit of a mix between alternative and boho, with select aspects of each. Her main thing is patterns. She really likes patterns and abstract designs. They don’t necessarily have to be vibrant, but she just enjoys lots of color for her to play around with and stylize. She wears both jeans and shorts, but usually goes for jeans. Tank tops (including cropped ones) and tees are most common for her. She likes sweaters too, but doesn’t typically wear them because of the climate. Usually, she’ll wear a distinctly-pattern article of clothing with black or brown, and wear her leather lace up boots with it. Her makeup might include some short eyeliner wings, colorful eyeshadow, and a lip shade depending on the mood she’s in. INSPO PICTURES BELOW

Vérène

Vérène’s style definitely underwent the most extensive changes, but ultimately her style isn’t that complex. Typically, she can be found wearing loose leggings (yoga pants?? I don’t know) and a pullover. As you might guess, that gets kind of toasty pretty quickly. Yet she seems to have a strange resistance to the heat! In rare occasions, she’ll wear baby doll tees instead. Most days though, she sticks to her comfort attire. If she wears skirts or shorts, she always wears tights with it. Her clothes are typically more muted in color, but it depends. When she wears cropped shirts, she likes to put on waist chains. Her makeup is usually more discreet, with typically more earthy and softer colors. Nice lashes are a must, though.

INSPO PICTURES BELOW

Mina

Her look is probably the most solidified by this point. She goes for the dark academia theme, wearing mostly large grandpa sweaters and cardigans with baggy cargo pants or scrappy jeans. Finding her in anything other than that is pretty rare. She chooses preppy Mary Janes or simple worn converse. She ALWAYS has her favorite crossbody bag with her, which she plans to keep around until it literally falls apart at the seams. She wears a lot of hair accessories, such as hair clips and barrettes. Her makeup looks vary. Sometimes she falls on the colorful side, other times she wants something more subtle. It just depends on the day. Sometimes she puts those little chains of beads on her glasses for some more accessorizing.

INSPO PICTURES BELOW

Maël

Last but not least, Maël! The boy! His style is more preppy in comparison to Mina’s, but still somewhat similar. He goes for a more put-together look. Nice turtlenecks with sleek necklaces, fleece pullovers, stiff-legged pants, and the like. Scarves aren’t unusual, though he typically goes without them. He doesn’t like feel weighed down by his fashion or clothes. His shoes are also a bit more classy. The best way I can describe them is loafers, haha.

INSPO PICTURES BELOW

Thank you for the ask!!! As always, feel free to send in more 💋💋

[onionpainter]

I have a question about your prep for oil painting, or more like when ur practicing. Do you use a specially treated paper to practice with oils (studies, quick thumbnail sketches, etc) before using canvas or do you just sketch ideas, layout on canvas and then under paint? I enjoy the medium a lot but I actually want to sketch and do studies in oil (without much drawing involved) but don’t want to waste canvas. Also hate painting gesso over stuff repeatedly. Is paper something you have tried? Any advise would be appreciated o wise onion painter

Ok, so as for my personal habits, I tend to do "Practices" digitally [I have a tablet and SAI] or sometimes on paper like so: [garlic is pencil on paper, rest are digital]. I do draw thumbnails but they are usually in marker or pencil in my sketchbook, and are little more than like, very stylized symbols representing subjects or different compositional patterns. Most of my painting planning and composition happens via digital photo collages.

The rest of my very long answer is under the readmore

I'll do colour studies occasionally if I'm feeling particularly anxious about a picture, OR if it has a colour range that I am yet unfamiliar with. I have done a couple colour studies for my current big picture with the cattle, one I did on location so I could have an example of the colours present in the landscape to my eye, and another of a seascape because this cattle picture will be my first significant effort to include the blue colour range into my vocabulary, and also to spend some hours painting clouds to get a feel for them. [for context, when I began with my current method of painting I began only painting white objects against back fabric with a value range from chromatic black to titanium white and then added in new colour ranges one by one once I was fluent in all of the preceding colour ranges] When it comes to your practice [and I mean "Practice" as in everything you paint overall] I think you might find canvas panels very helpful, as they take up very little space BUT they are still rigid and therefore don't need to be taped to a board or anything. They also come in a really wide variety of sizes and are very affordable. If you enjoy using canvas paper then you should continue what you are doing, but try different kinds of surfaces. Some people prefer to do oil paintings on sheets of copper. There will be a material that suits your style and your personality, you just have to find out what it is. I like belgian linen, but others may prefer gesso'd particle board.

You have several points going on in your question, so I will address them individually:

Not wanting to "Waste Canvas" Canvas is not a precious commodity. It is a raw material which can be used in the process of painting, therefore, its value lies in the work hours and expertise of the craftsperson who uses it. One of the most common uses of canvas is in art training. So you are not "wasting canvas" by using it for the purpose of learning the skills necessary for painting: that is a perfectly acceptable use for canvas, and all other materials. I'm not "wasting" a pair of hiking boots by walking at the bottom of a mountain, I'm using them, and if I don't use the boots at the bottom of the mountain I will never get to use them at the top.

Putting Gesso over oil paintings Don't do this. Gesso is a water based paint so it dries much faster than the oil beneath it. If you want to paint over a painting you can either paint over it with a neutral oil colour, OR, just do the new painting over it without the middle stage. Some things to watch out for if you reuse canvas this way: Ridge lines [bits of textured paint from the previous painting sticking up through your new painting might take away from it], oil layers [remember the fat over lean rule when choosing a canvas to paint over. if you have high concentrations of oil, aka fat, on the canvas already, it might be better to choose a different canvas], dryness [try to only paint over pictures that have had a good amount of time to dry.] Basically all of these warnings are to prevent cracking and other conservator problems with your paintings. A good painting can happen to your canvas at any time and it would be a shame to paint something you really like and have it crack later from poor application.

"Without much drawing involved" Painting is "mass drawing" [shapes not lines] with colour, so you can't really avoid drawing if you want to paint. This doesn't mean you have to use pencil or other dry mediums if you don't want to though, painting a value study [mass drawing] with oil is a very popular technique which many employ. I'd recommend that you look into "imprimatura" and "grisaille", two methods of value painting used for oil.

In conclusion, I don't want to get all "just be yourself" in here, but i'd recommend you research the different techniques and materials available to you and pick the one that has the fewest barriers to your work flow, feels the best to work with, and creates the final product that you want to create. If you were me I would tell you to work on belgian linen stretched canvases and occasional cotton canvas panels, but you may prefer something different so that advice may not be helpful. Keep at it!

[asheronangel]

i need

to share

this dream i had.

i want to make it an au but i want to finish the drawing i'm already working on since i'm still figuring out sonic art-style

so ahem:

shadow and sonic.

but from a different dimension? just the two of them.

and they're both in an art-style different than the typical one. stylized.

shadow is greys, no black. he has like. muted rainbow trailing after his quills and maybe as accents? idk grey with muted rainbow

sonic is like. rainbow dash. a lighter blue with darker blue uhh accents and more-saturated rainbow following his quills + the darker blue but i think less rainbow than shadow. (and for some reason in the dream i remember being disappointed that "they didn't make sonic greyscale like in the concept" so??)

and they've just been living together for their whole lives. so brothers i declare them

anyway they live in this like. colourful varied jungle kinda. and i remember them racing on a mountain/cliff/rock thing.

and they fought these robots, and sonic kicked one into this uhhhh like giant gear looking thing sticking out of the ground? but when he did the lower half of it opened like a door and the momentum pushed him into the portal. (because the gear-thing was like a wall and he didn't just kick it he jumped and slammed it into the gear with his foot)

and shadow watches, somehow knows somewhat about what happened even though they never saw this thing before (he definitely doesn't know everything though) and then he uhh jumps onto the part of it that hadn't opened above the portal, but he stood there for a bit like gravity was being weird and i think the thing actually kind of pulled him to it?? and then he jumped into it

and sonic appeared to some sort of school? in front of it. and i can't find anything exactly what im looking for but:

perspective-wise it's more like the first and third. that angle, looking up, but you can see the whole building. and the school's kinda square? colour-wise it's like dark browns and desaturated colours. i kept on thinking "dark academia" but results for those buildings are all kinda castle-like?

and yeah it was at night

and he notices his appearance has changed, and he looks more like regular modern sonic in that sort of art style. and i believe he says something like "i can't believe i'm being compressed into this!"

anyway he joins the school i believe but i don't actually know what he does there. he does get an outfit though like ik he gets a dark brown jacket

shadow does something idk he's transported somewhere different in the same world. i think the person he ends up hanging out with is Very Confused in What He Is and doesn't like him very much at first.

he also looks different and more like regular shadow

and eventually he finds sonic at that school and he joins it and gets and outfit (along with the person he met) and idk what they do there

oh my god it's mlp equestrian girls what

that was the end of the dream i believe however upon thinking about it more later i got some stuff:

when sonic and shadow were Little they were raised by like. a mongoose i think? whose name started with "T"? and he's the only other person they knew in their world. but one day he left (which he usually does to get stuff) but he didn't come back

they waited for him for a While

but shadow realizes he'll never come back and tells sonic this, sonic says he would never abandon them, and shadow says something along the lines of "it doesn't matter whether he wanted to leave or got lost or what, he's still gone either way and we need to take care of ourselves."

and so they do? and shadow's like a big brother to sonic here.

i was also wondering "wait canon shadow's the ultimate life form science experiment he doesn't age though how does child shadow exist here" and my brain proceeded to conjure this:

sonic grew regularly like a regular kid and started getting taller than shadow. then shadow's body decided it's time to hit his growth spurt. but it was an unnatural way that it was uhh designed to do because for some reason my brain's decided artificial life forms in that dimension or by his creator don't really grow (physically) naturally

which is to say he grew Way Too Fast in a visibly unnatural way (haven't figured out that part yet) and it resulted in terrible growing pains. i also imagine he still has pains from his unnatural biology but thankfully it's not as bad and it's something sonic got used to comforting him through :D

and when sonic got his growth spurt shadow watched him Closely to make sure he'd be okay but sonic's growing was natural and longer than his. so he might've had some growing pains but not as bad as shadow

also for some reason i decided that instead of having rocket shoes. shadow's rockets are just In his feet like a cyborg. idk why i've done this. i pictured the friends they made their new friends concerned by this discovery as it does not look comfortable

i have no idea who made shadow or why in this au. lots of mystery in their dimension which i want to keep a secret from them but i need to actually know something to make it a secret

if you read all of this and don't immediately think i'm weird thank you 👍

(and if you have any ideas to add i'd love to hear them yknow yknow)

[synnthamonsugar]

in the spirit of saturnalia: I ask for a coffee shop au fic with savathun

Can I get an art grant to develop this into a full series? Do you want ME to write/draw something outside my usual body of work? Inquire here!

A small crowd gathered near the rear of the cafe, chattering raucously around candlelit tables, framed by floodlights trained on the small stage at the back. Another open mic night at the Gaslight Cafe.

"Good turnout tonight," Lavinia Garcia Umr Tawil commented to the owner and senior barista, Savathûn. The middle-aged woman had long braids tied into a bun at the crown of her head, and a loud floral print shirt peeking from beneath a mint-green apron emblazoned with the logo of the shop. A stylized moth framed by an old-fashioned lantern.

"We'll see how long it lasts," she replied with a note of exasperated humor.

Lavinia tilted her head. Leaned across the coffee-bar so she didn't have to shout above the ambient noise. "Is the lineup that . . . bad?" 

"My nieces are the opening act," Savathûn commented, gesturing at the stage. Two identical women, perhaps a bit younger than Lavinia, dressed in what she could only describe as avant-garde victorian-goth-chic, long red gowns and pyramidal fascinators atop their heads, fiddled with an electric guitar and drum set respectively. The longer Lavinia looked, the more she could make out a familial resemblance to Savathûn, though there was something sharper in their features. 

Ada, in her role as M.C., took to the front of the stage. "Please give a warm welcome to our first performance, the Death Singers."

"Oh — that's, uh, promising? Your family has such accomplished musicians."

"They are talented girls but their style is —'' the first drumbeats started, shortly accompanied by a crunchy, guttural lick from the guitar, "—experimental." The lead leaned in close and belted out a shrieky vocal, loud enough to peak the mic. Both Savathûn and Lavinia reflexively flinched at the sound.  "Highly so."

The ensuing piece of music could be generously characterized as "harsh" and "atonal", less politely as "unlistenable" and "headache-inducing". Ir Halak and Ir Anûk traded off vocals throughout the set, and Lavinia found them perfectly matched not only in appearance but also intolerability. 

When they finally reached the end of their performance, a hesitant, obligatory round of applause fizzled from the crowd — excluding the next performer, who arose to his feet clapping and cheering. The girls waved and smiled at him as they gathered their gear and exited stage. 

The attrition rate among the audience was impressively low, but Lavinia wondered if Toland would change that. The pallid older man was a regular guest, spending hours sitting at different tables, sometimes tapping away at his typewriter but mostly getting into Diogenian debates with other customers. Savathûn permitted him to stay because his coffee habit provided her a reliable source of income. They often wondered what he actually did and could find no other explanation than this. Context clues pointed at a well-to-do wife who supported his unemployment, but not the Cafe. 

"Our next guest needs no introduction. Give it up for Toland, The Shattered, who will share a piece of his poetry—?" Ada enunciated the word as more as a question than statement, "— with us."

Lavinia was just glad he wasn't singing tonight. His timbre was almost as jarring as the twins'. 

"HUSH THE MOON. HUSH THE NIGHT. HUSH THE DARKNESS . . . HUSH, THE LIGHT . . ." If nothing else, she was impressed by the way he seemed to be able to speak in small-caps. He paced about the stage like a caged dog, delivering a performance that might've been pretentious if it wasn't utterly sincere. Some watched in transfixed or baffled silence, while others got up to refill their drinks at the bar. 

As more applause rippled through the crowd, and others gathered their things to leave, Ada approached the mic. "I didn't think anyone could find a rhyme for 'ouroboros', but you have a way with words. 

"Our next presenter is a sleight-of-hand magician—"

"That's 'illusionist', ma'am," the man waiting at stage-right drawled. He was decked out in a sequined suit of teal and green with a prominent snake motif, cowboy hat in hand.

" — Illusionist from the Tower Annex. Let's all welcome Eli—"

He shook his head.

"Wu Ming?"

"It's Germaine now. Legal reasons."

"Ah — well, let's all welcome Germaine, and his thrilling coin gambit—"

"Okay I'm out," Lavinia finally folded, gathering up her purse and books in one hand, and coffee in the other. "G'night Sav."

"Truly, you live up to your title," Savathûn replied, poking at her 'Lucky' nickname. "Goodnight Lavinia."

[desiredcaramellatte]

Hello! can you do a polyamorous relationship headcanons with pitaya cookie & ananas cookie?

MY DRAGON BABIES YES

I want to be in an Ananas and Pitaya sandwich 😌

Poly Ananas and Pitaya x reader

~| Ananas and Pitaya probably hated each other at first. Actually, they still hate each other, just in a loving way now, thanks to you actually having them spend time together.

~| Ananas and Pitaya fight with each other. A lot. It’s pretty crazy how much they disagree, and there will be a lot of arguments about the simplest of things. You’re either going to have to be a mediator or microwave some popcorn, either one works. Most of the times the fights are verbal, but if they’re really pissed it’ll get physical. Don’t try and stop them, you’ll get yourself hurt in the process with no effect. Best to just let theme expend their energy, not like they can actually hurt or kill each other.

~| Lotus does not see how you deal with these two 24/7, they would probably be absolutely done with those to, if they were in your shoes. You can tell Lotus stories of them fighting if you want, and Lotus will sometimes repay these stories by coming over when you call them and forcing Pitaya and Ananas to sleep via mandolin.

~| Both of these dragons get jealous easily (Ananas a bit more than Pitaya, but still). If one of them sees you handing out affection than the other will be extremely salty and demand attention as well. Pitaya is more of a whiner, they’ll follow you around for hours harassing you until you finally give them what they want. Ananas straight up demands it- they won’t let you move anywhere or do anything else until you sate their need for affection.

~| Brush, braid, and style their hairs a lot, both of them absolutely love it. Pitaya probably needs it the most, their hair is very messy and unkept. Ananas is good at keeping up with theirs, though, and it’s usually very soft and silky. A lot of times you’ll form a small circle with them and everyone will stylize each other’s hair. If you’re bald then they’ll just polish your beautiful head.

~| Cuddling with these two often ends up as one big pile. They mostly lay on each other, so they don’t absolutely crush you with their weight, but they’ll rest tails, heads, and hands on top of you. These cuddles are very warm as well, especially where ever you’re touching Pitaya. If a blanket was put on one of these snuggle piles, it would be akin to an oven.

~| You’re going to want to keep a spray bottle handy, especially for Pitaya. Ananas isn’t as bad about scratching furniture as Pitaya is, and often times it’ll just be an accidental drag of their claw while they’re stretching or something. Pitaya will straight up have a boxing match with the table though.

~| Ananas will occasionally just hang from the banister or anything they can find on the roof that can support their weight. If you’re ever in trouble with Pitaya and you see Ananas hanging, ask them to hide you in their wings. They will do it 100% every time, they’ll ever cover for you if Pitaya asks them where you are.

~| Welp, you don’t have to worry about anybody bothering you that you don’t want or anyone trying to fight you even if you’re with ONE dragon, but you’re with two (who are both complete bitches who hold grudges, so even better), so you can be extra sure no one will mess with you- and if they do, these two dragons will rip everything (and everyone) to shreds.

[would-holden-caulfield-like-nge]

The Bully Artstyle

Am I the only one who really appreciates the official Bully artstyle?

Though, calling it one style is technically wrong, since the images are made out of one front image and the comic background, both of which are made by different artists.

If you are wondering, the guy who did the main illustrations is Anthony Macbain.

If you look around his website, you will not only see his Bully art, but also that he also did some work for the GTA series.

The person who did the background illustrations is Stephen Bliss, who... also did art for GTA, believe it or not. I guess Rockstar only has that many artists that focus on semi-realism.

Obviously, since GTA is like, the most famous thing ever, his website does not focus on Bully that much. But if you scroll all the way in the Rockstar Games portion of his website, you will find the art that was used for the backgrounds! And it seems like he designed the logo too!

Now that we know who did it, I'll try to to a bit of art analysis.

Similar to the GTA style, the style of Bully is somewhat realistic. Kind of stiff looking, to be honest. But the background illustrations kind of make up for that.

The lines are mostly the same unchanging width (except for some smaller lines for details). They do not taper much. The lines are also colored - their color is more dulled out than the colors they are containing.

The colors are also kind of dull in general (though this may only be because of my monitor.) Probably because the art is going for that realistic look. Of course, we could also look at it a bit more artistically and say that the colors are dull to fit the miserable atmosphere of Bullworth. You might also notice that there are no real whites - the shirts are either tinted yellow, or whatever color is around it. I think this is pretty neat. White fabric often tends to reflect the colors around it in real life.

The lineart is just a bit too chunky to convey true realism, so it is stylized in a cool kinda blocky way. The shadows are also quite blocky in general. They often tend to be interesting shapes by themselves. Look at those eyebags and the shadow under the mouth!

Besides the hard shadows, the art also uses some airbrush-like effects. Look at how it conveys the shininess of Pinky's belt and the softer shadow on her thigh. It is also used in Gary's hair to show the soft color transition.

The opposite of shadows, the hair highlights, are these cool zigzag shapes. I like it when artists make the hair highlight a bold shape like that. Speaking of the hair highlights, notice how they often have a similar color to the background. Like, look at this - these ones are actually a pretty bold purple, probably to mimic the way real hair can, just like fabric, reflect the color of its environment.

Now, let's look at the blush. A lot of the characters in these illustrations have this strong blush on their cheeks and nose. This is probably used to make them look a bit more alive. I wanted to say every character, but then I looked at the art again and found out that was just not true.

Look at these two, for example. Edna sort of has the blush, but it is single colored and blocky, making her look kinda sick, rather than more alive. The boy next to her also doesn't have the blush, probably because the brighter pink wouldn't work as well on darker skin.

Mr Burton here also does not have the blush, because... I don't know, to be honest. Random stylistic choice, I guess.

Overall, I cannot quite name why I like the style of the main illustrations so much. It's just not the kind of thing that would usually appeal to me. I guess it's something about the realism combined with the cartoon stylisation and the slight blockiness of it all.

I have much less to say about the background illustrations. Don't get me wrong, I love them. It's just that they are only black and white, so we really cannot dissect the stylistic choices here. But also...

God, I just love the style of these. Just look at them. The caricature-ish style done with some bold inks is so cool. These have so much character, shame we never got a real comic in this style. And since they are black and white, they are as contrasting as a picture can be. Which means they are perfect for the backgrounds. And since the style is so exaggerated, it looks good even when the pictures are pretty small.

I wonder, were these done digitally, or with real ink? Both are possible, I think.

And that's about it for this post. If you have any other observations about these styles, I would love to read it. I just really like these illustrations!

[crevanille]

Thoughts on Koi Kaze, Part 1

So, I just finished reading Koi Kaze vol. 1 (Ch. 1 - 7) and.... yeah, it's just as good as I remember, if not better honestly.

Now, just like I wrote in my last post. Koi Kaze tells the story of a budding romance between siblings Koshiro and Nanoka and can be summed up in three words: Honest, awkward, and uncomfortable.

But all in a good way, at least to me.

Be it East or West, incest, much less consanguinamory, isn't a subject that, for various reasons, that's easy to talk about, much less frame your whole narrative around.

Now, to be fair, I do think Japan does a lot better with the subject than here in the US and the West more generally which tents to cast it as unequivocally bad, usually by means of abuse and that's it....

That's what made Koi Kaze stand out though.

Even if/when incest is treated less negatively Japan, it's almost never done so in a genuinely 'honest' light like it is here. Something that's reflected in its art style that is... well, kind of plain. Stylized for sure, but nothing that really comes across as overly flashy or exaggerated. The two lead characters, even accounting for Nanoka's cute design... are really quite plain and a bit generic compared to other examples in the medium.

This isn't really a criticism though, but rather a point of strength for the story that tells its audience in no uncertain terms that the story you're getting, fiction or not, is as real as it's going to get while still being a manga.

The plot of the story and the question it's trying to answer can be summed up best with this one line:

'What does it really mean to really like someone from the bottom of your heart?'

...With the second, unspoken question being:

'What happens if the person I really like happens to be my brother/sister?'

Like I said... the story is honest, awkward, and uncomfortable, especially in volume 1, which is told mostly from Koshior's point of view as he repeatedly tries, and fails, to both try and treat Nanoka as a sister despite never having grown up with her since their family divorced when he was in middle school and at the same time suppress his growing sexual attraction to her because he 'can't see her as a sister. Remember, he's already a full grown adult and has never even grown up with her since she was a toddler.... That's not going to be easy no matter how you slice it, incest or not.

Complicating matters, at least for him, is Koshiro himself. Both his naturally awkward personality that makes it hard for him to be honest and come off as cold or distant, and the circumstances that occurred between the siblings when they met without knowing they were, in fact siblings.

Long story short, Koshiro's girlfriend of 2 years dumped him due to him being 'too cold', leading to a not so great moment of depression and wondering if he could've done something different, him running into his then unknown younger sister, and then being egged on by his coworkers to just go out with her since, for all his awkwardness, he sucks at being stoic... leading to the pair out on a date at an amusement park and Koshiro, in a moment of weakness, getting comforted by Nanoka.

Under any other circumstance, not small age gap notwithstanding, this story would be pretty standard and cute for your average reader... but then comes the unceremonious, almost glossed over even, reveal that they are siblings.

I actually like how much the reveal gets glossed over. It really highlights just how socially ingrained expectations are about 'how we should act around each other' given our respective roles. something that gets tacked a lot more generally in manga but takes a much more personally dramatic tone when the roles in question are family and all the expectations that come with it.

For Nanoka, this isn't really an issue since she 'wants' the 'big brother/little sister' dynamic... mostly out of the idealized view she has of said relationships and because she's a pretty innocent teenager who's never really fallen in love before now. To be clear, she doesn't have any real clue how to deal with this either but definitely has an easier time of it... at least until she falls in love with Koshiro herself later.

No, most of the drama is all on Koshior's part as he struggles to make sense of what he's feeling vs how he's supposed to feel.

The problem is that he just can't see Nanoka as his sister, especially not after how they met and how he opened up to her.... to say nothing of his near instant attraction to her the moment he saw her. So, to be suddenly told, 'hey, that's your sister and you're going to be living together, so don't see her as a woman pleast, love society'... is not something our poor guy can do.

No, struggles and agonizes with this dilemma even as his feelings for her grow with each passing day, with several months passing by throughout the first volume alone. And let me tell you, watching him try to suppress how he feels or tell everyone around him that Nanoka is just his siter and nothing more... kind of painful to watch, but hard not to relate to either, in that awkward idiot guy kinda way.

Well, I probably feel that way because Koshiro is, for better or worse, someone I can relate to on a personal level...

Anyway, the volume ends right around Nanoka's 16th birthday and when the failure to suppress his feelings leads Koshiro to do some pretty stupid things and 'relieve' himself to try and cope.

Needless to say, he feels more than a little shame about masturbating to his sister.... Cue more misunderstanding fueled due to her Koshior forgetting Nanoka's birthday and Nanoka thinking he was mad at her for seeing him in the bathroom because she forgot to knock....

The end of the volume 'does' see Koshiro patch things up with her, at least as far as the birthday bit goes, but as for his own issues about her?

...Not hardly. Not even close.... He, and audience, are just left wondering why he couldn't just talk to her more honestly even though the answer is also sort of obvious.... at least for the more 'conventionally minded' readers out there.

Frankly, reading this made me think a lot about my own past and I really couldn't help but feel for how stupid Koshiro was being... It made me both angry at him, but wanna root for him. I dunno.

Anyway, those were my thoughts on Koi Kaze vol 1.

[lookingforcactus]

Yu Yu Hakusho liveblog: ep 3

the RAPACIOUS ORB????

It’s not called that in the anime is it??? That’s terrible, no, that’s so terrible

D- in Artifact Naming, thanks

Okay you know what I was never clear on this in the anime either: Kurama and Yusuke both “gave up half their lives” but there never seem to be any consequences to this? Even though it sounds like it should have consequences? Like usually when someone phrases it like that, they mean in terms of “How old you get to be.”

I always just mentally handwaved it as “Well they clearly meant life energy, I guess”

Still I’ve always been unsatisfied with the fact that they didn’t clarify that

The Conjuring Blade. Hmm that’s not great either. Like I know they’re limited by the need to roughly match lip movements in the dub, but still

“The blade grants the user their desired ability” was actually a very clever rewrite, though

Koenma is also significantly less pigeonholed as comedic relief here, while still getting to give him some of that lightness and Way Less Worried Than the Heroes Would Like Him to Be thing, and it’s working pretty well for me actually

Impressed with this take on adapting him tbh

He’s so not serious in the anime, but like in the show you WANT him to come off as a lot more mature since he is. you know. not being played by a literal baby

Wait a minute Koenma’s lines must ALL done by ADR in the original. Right?? Because otherwise how clearly would the actor even be able to talk with that thing in his mouth the whole time?

Esp since it and his lips move very little

Okay Hiei’s silhouette does look pretty good from the side, though

Esp if you unfocus your eyes lol

There’s just too much white on his outfit for me, it’s too much

Like for the others, the show really directly adopted their Main Look

Whereas Hiei looks halfway between his main look (cloak and scarf) and one of this Dark Tournament looks (when he takes off the cloak; mostly tank tops iirc)

The bandaging on his head is both too wide and nowhere clearly enough bandaging. At first I thought he was just wearing a bafflingly uneven headband.

Or, at least, they should have committed more clearly to EITHER bandaging OR a headband, not tried to merge them

Wait it IS just a bafflingly thick and uneven headband. Why. It looks like he hand-tore something out of white leather, almost???

Like presumably it’s just cloth but it’s SO stiff

Okay they are doing a really good job of adopting the superspeed fighting. Much better than the “only speedsters can melee fight other speedsters successfully” or like “The Flash (TV)-style” fighting that I’m used to seeing

Because obviously it can be hard to film “superspeed opponent vs. non-superspeed opponent” effectively, but they did a pretty good job I think

They’re really doing a good job of stylizing it

See this is why American live action adaptations of anime always fail horribly even for super popular series imho

Until One Piece, actually, I think

Because US studios have no idea how to effectively visually stylize a huge number of anime tropes and mainstays and archetypes

Saw a quote where one of the directors(?) on the project was saying that he’s really glad it was a Japanese adaptation because they know how to translate it into live action and stylize it effectively, and THEY’RE RIGHT

Seriously some of the shots in these fights, esp Yusuke vs. Goki, look like they could literally be straight out of the anime. Like I can see in my head EXACTLY how it would be drawn and shot and animated. Love it. Love the love for anime as a style/art form here

WAIT DARK TOURNAMENT ISLAND REALLY DOES HAVE THAT SHAPE I’m really impressed with them for Committing to that and pulling that off at all, actually

Yukina sparkly eyeshadow. But she can’t possibly have regular access to makeup in her situation. Yukina is by default a bit sparkly, it’s an ice maiden thing? Canon accepted

Omg for a second when he turned I thought his scar was a TEAR and I was SO BAFFLED

Immediately hit the 10 sec rewind and discovered the truth

Thank god okay that makes more fucking sense

It’s just a Very shiny scar. Hypertrophic

Oh shit they did the Toguro size enlargement actually like canon. Okay I’m no longer wildly unimpressed with their Toguro adaptation

I could not have imagined they’d do the muscle bulging that literally. It really speaks to how far visual effects for body alteration have come in the past decade or so

They’re mostly being pretty successful with using angles to make this work surprisingly well

God everything about the rich bad guys at the dark tournament was always so confusing to me. I could never tell them apart except for Sakyo. Everything about this version of the plotline is so much clearer. Thank you highly distinct visual styles!

Anyway using Tarukane’s introduction to Sakyo’s Whole Thing/the Dark Tournament to explain it to the viewers was a good move done p effectively. Also Tarukane’s suit is so extra and I love it

Hmm the shrinking effect on Elder Toguro is. Less effective. I think they overcommitted. Should’ve leaned more into the skinniness than the shortness, imho

All the effects on Elder Toguro in front of the helicopter are just. Oof. Absolute garbage. They Did Not stick the landing on this one, folks.

Seriously they should’ve let him be taller and just made the actor do some kind of unsettling posture that makes his head come up less far all the time or whatever

Listen I have friends who are under 5 feet. None of them look even a little bit like that. That’s just not what humans look like at that size.

Also why is his hair straight. He and Sakyo need to switch hair textures

Okay up-close effets on him get better as soon as he’s twisting to actually kill someone. Why don’t they just have him look like that the whole time?

Karasu and Bui look great though

GENKAI GENKAI GENKAI GENKAI

Genkai looks okay but she doesn’t sound like a lifelong chainsmoker and that makes me sad, on a personal level

Also kinda sad that she looks like she’s like 50, not 70. And she’s not mean enough!! Tragic

Okay the walnuts thing is better. More properly mean. Good.

Okay her jumping on Yusuke’s chest while he’s down is also good. Excellent. I snorted, perfectly in character. She should sstill sound like she spent her youth gargling rocks tho

Yusuke, on the other hand, looks FANTASTIC as they’re arguing. They nailed it with his posture, his hair, his sullen complaining, amazing

HE’S GETTING THE SPIRIT WAVE ORB IN EPISODE THREE???? Come on, this is COMPLETELY unearned, I get that they’re trying to somehow do seasons 1 AND 2 in just five episodes but they literally should not have included this

Genkai still isn’t mean enough. Just watched a clip of the anime to clear my palette and she literally tells him, “Shut up, you condescending jackass.” This Genkai seems like she would never and I have a huge problem with that!!

Spirit wave orb is just handled so badly. I’m mentally rewriting it as an entirely different type of power boost. This is easy to do, because passing it over in the drama is super easy and immediate and with no consequences, meanwhile in the anime it’s like a 3 episode arc to transfer it where both Yusuke and iirc Genkai are in danger of like. Fucking dying!!! Anime Yusuke: Literal days of pain and writhing in a cave. Live Action Yusuke: Standing there. It takes 2 seconds.

I do really like the shots of Genkai inside right after Yusuke leaves. Gorgeous shots and lighting, and I like that we at least get to see a photo of Young Genkai!

At least Toguro showing up to go after her literally the same night makes getting the orb out of there (out of her) feel more justified, ig

Okay actually I’m liking the Genkai & Toguro scene a lot. I buy that actor as Genkai a Lot more in this scene too

“Well, you haven’t changed, have you? You still care about fighting…and nothing else at all.” Great line and great delivery. Tbh does a more convincing job of laying out while Younger Toguro is doing All This than the did

They better fucking not kill Genkai though. I mean, I can’t imagine why they would, since Toguro also goes after her in the anime/manga and she makes it. But it bears repeating that they’re absolutely not allowed to!

I really like that we keep seeing Keiko actually working at her family’s shop. Gives her a lot more dimensionality and sense of having her own life/stuff going on than she sometimes has in the anime

ELDER TOGURO IS FRAMING HIEI actually that’s a really smart way to do it, I was WONDERING how they were about to justify the kidnapping since Hiei isn’t trying to take over the world anymore

Also, super cool job with the effects on the reveal tbh

Hiei and Kuwabara animosity on first sight: done perfectly, I laughed out loud (literally)

“Hiei’s with us.” “No I’m not.” “’Course you’re not, jackass!” asdl;kjfas love it

They’re really lucky Kurama was there tbh. I also love that Hiei totally could’ve stopped the fight to clarify what the hell was going on after “Who the hell is Keiko?” but he had zero interest in doing so. “This guy doesn’t believe me? Why argue when I could fight.”

“Who the hell is Keiko?” Keiko!Winter Soldier AU now

[bookwyrminspiration]

The graphic novel’s cover looks like a lot of kids catered things these days- the bigger eyes, vibrant colors, etc. It makes sense, though. After all this is a series meant for kids as young as 10. That said, I do kind of wish they hadn’t had asked the artist to change her style or anything- her original style is beautiful and would’ve worked just as perfectly (if not better), but I feel like this has been done already with artists who work with the series professionally.

Madebyinkjar on Instagram was tasked with doing a few Foxfire portraits a while back and things seemed so stiff and just.. off compared to what she typically does. The hair especially appears to be quite a bit different and more along the lines of those mobile games targeted towards little kids to play while their parents grocery shop or something. As for the colors, she seems to be comfortable using vibrant tones, but the shading style and pallet she’s chosen for them feel… strange. It’s almost like she wanted to (or was told to) make the pallet as eye catching as possible.

Meanwhile, artists like Artofmachira and Jason Chan, who are tasked with making less characters- and are likely given a much larger time frame- look to not only give more care to the work (because, again, they probably actually have the time to do so), but also stick to their personal art style. Additionally, the colors they choose aren’t as intense as the ones Madebyinkjar have used. Don’t get me wrong, they’re still vibrant and eye catching however, everything fits together nicer. Jason Chan and Artofmachira also look to be known more as digital painters with the way they blend, shade, and highlight.

The weird thing, to me, is that Itsbrych’s style, in both pallet choice and coloring style, seem like it should fit into the same category as Jason Chan and Artofmachira’s art. Chianello’s art looks like she could paint it. The blending isn’t as seamless as the other two, but it’s still softer than what I’d personally call a cartoonish way of shading. It makes it feel like, if what Shannon and/or co. wanted to do was use a more child-like style, they should’ve commissioned Madebyinkjar once again instead of asking this artist to change their style or possibly not giving enough time for her usual style.

To sum it up: I am confused on why they chose Gabriella Chianello (though not at all upset, she’s amazing) if they style they were looking for was more cartoonish.

I am so sorry if this made no sense I just word vomited at you <3

I've done just a smidge more digging, and I think maybe they chose her because she has a cartoonish style, it's just not her only style. What she posts on her IG and Tumblr are her personal artworks, not her professional work.

I found this portfolio of artwork by her, which is way more stylized and cartoonish than the paintings she posts, and more similar (though not exact) to what we see on the cover. That's likely more like what the people who hired her would've looked at and based their decision off of, as well as her actual graphic novel work. The Nightmare Before Christmas graphic novel is much more stylized and similar to the keeper cover than her personal artwork, so I wonder if when she said the artwork was a different style than her usual, she meant what she usually posts? But while different from her painterly personal style, it's still similar/in the realm of what she does professionally.

I don't think Madebyinkyjar would've have been a great choice for the novel though--not because her art is bad, I just am not aware of any qualifications for this kind of thing. Being a "freelance character concept artist" (taken from her twitter) is a big difference from illustrating entire graphic novels, something Chianello has done before.

This is very light digging and speculation, but my guess is that they hired her based on her prior graphic novel work, not her personal art style posted on her social media. And since those are different, it seems like an odd choice to us without that knowledge. None of us have (that I'm aware of) seen her actual graphic novel work in depth, and a really involved painterly style (more like what we have seen from her on her socials) isn't asrealistic for a graphic novel. That's my guess for the discrepancy we're noticing.

That being said, I am a little disappointed that it's so...mainstream? Like you said, it's catered towards kids, and I'm well aware i'm beyond the intended audience, but it feels a little mundane. And I think kids who are the intended audience deserve a variety of art styles and medias! They already see that Bratz doll style elsewhere, and I think it'd be better to break away from that rather than lean into it. However, leaning into it is marketable and therefore profitable, and that matters more than creativity and expression in today's world. So I can understand why they did it, but I think it could be better.

Does it truly impact my life? No. But I can enjoy and be excited about the graphic novel while also observing that it seems to be another consequence of popular culture--none of which is the fault of the artist or any single individual, just something I'm noticing.

Maybe I'm way off, but it makes it feel a little cookie cutter-esque, and I think it and the people reading it (of all ages, whether in the demographic or not) deserve more than that, but it's a problem that goes way beyond keeper.

Anyway, you're making sense Ozzy, dw. Hopefully I am too :)