#I'm experimenting with drawing poses without looking at references

[thatonecrazysidekick]

Man, I'm just cranking out scribbles of gay monkeys today, huh...

[eliza-forget]

Do you have any advice or tips with drawing? Any will help me I hope you have a good day

I think it would help to analyze references in the beginning, to build up a visual library

I was taught at university to first see the general masses, the silhouette. This method is called “general to particular”. And due to this stage, it is much easier for you to perceive the image, the composition as a whole, rather than running straight away to draw eyes, hands or other details

Starting with a silhouette also helps to create character designs in the future ✍️

Then you can already outline the construction, the middle forms. Again without small details, but you can leave a hint of them with the help of auxiliary lines.

I don't really work with tone so much at this stage, I just showed you how you can even use it to outline light shading (also common masses)

It also helps to do chopped, rough construction with a couple lines. I would generally advise practicing confidence in hand movements and understanding of general shapes. How clean your sketches are will help you navigate more easily in the future. And general shapes affect mostly how you can stylize body parts, how you understand their construction based on simple geometric shapes. It's a mistake to think that working with a reference is a one-to-one repetition of the original image. Artists use some kind of distortion of proportions, changing details or a little pose based on experience to make a character or work more dynamic

And then you can go into detail 💅

--------

I mean, already as in my experience I say that repeating or re-learning the base, which is lines, shapes, improves your drawing skill.

Because the faster you get through sketches, the faster you can move on to other stages of drawing, and still make fewer fundamental mistakes

And if you want to study anatomy, plastic anatomy would be the way to go for artists. I worked up my anatomy by looking at books and tutorials from the authors belowotome ↓

The authors of this book post tutorials using 3D models on Pinterest and ArtStation

I realized for myself that I am not a classical artist, that learning from the works and books of old academic masters is boring and not interesting to me. My approach is to analyze not only nature, but also 3d models. Analysis of 3d models helps with understanding of shapes in space, light shading and “what are occlusions” for game rendering ↓

Like this :D. But this is already relatively my old work and now I can do better, but I'm lazy

I hope my tips were helpful 🗣️

[meanbossart]

Oh boy, VaM is kind of a trial and error experience LOL I couldn't really show you how to use the interface and stuff without a whole video or something, but it's not THAT difficult to get a hang of if you just give yourself a day or two to play around, not to mention the number of tutorials you find out there. Luckily, if you only want to use it as a reference software that makes the process far easier (to this day I have no idea how to animate on that thing, since that's not what I use it for)

As for how I use it, it's pretty self explanatory - if there's a complicated pose I want to draw but I'm either having trouble with it, or just want to double-check angles/anatomy, I will use it as a resource! I use for most of my "proper" pieces (y'know, the nicer looking ones) and every once in a while for my silly comics if I'm having trouble with a pose.

Lets use this drawing for example (the character on top of DU drow belongs to @namespara )

I don't draw a lot of mud-wrestling (shocking, I know) but I had an idea of the kind of pose I wanted them to be in. So the very first thing I did was make a rough sketch of what I was envisioning:

I often do a rough sketch first, even If I know I'm going to be pulling the program up because A) It's less tedious than adjusting the models over and over again until I pick a pose and B) because sometimes I'll decide I don't need the reference, after all, and so that's 30 minutes I'll have spared myself of playing around on the software.

Now, this is a pretty complicated pose! It's in a weird angle and the bodies are making contact in ways I'm not used to depicting, so I did choose to whip out VaM for this one. I went into the program and after some messing around, I flopped my little dolls together like this:

Now something really cool about VaM is that you can completely customize your models, and if you have the patience, I would definitely encourage you to do so! Obviously, you don't have to make picture perfect replicas of every single character you have, but as you can see here I have made a DU drow "decoy" to help me better understand some of his features when I draw him: he has a strong brow, a short nose, a square jawline - these are all going to look a very specific way from certain angles, and I might not always be sure of how to draw it right! So it's useful to have models that bear SOME semblance to the character so you can better understand how different viewpoints will affect their bone structure and mass.

Also thank fucking god for the elf-ear slider. Figuring out how to draw those shits from certain angles was a huge pain in the ass when I started drawing DnD races.

So, with the reference in hand, I go over the sketch again:

Now you may notice that I don't stick to the reference 100%. There's three reasons for this:

posing on VaM is tedious as hell. You can get something incredibly natural looking and picture-perfect to reference from if you wish, but it's going to take you hours to do. So, for the most part I just slap guys together until the results are "close enough" and use that.

In my opinion, you should always aim to ENHANCE your reference material, not replicate it exactly!

While VaM is a PRETTY DANG GOOD source of anatomical reference, it isn't perfect, I often supplement it with further reference from real life resources or make tweaks based on my own knowledge where I catch it falling short (and, antithetical to what I just said, I sometimes fuck the anatomy up further on purpose if I think it looks better that way LOL it's all jazz baby).

Then lines, color, yada yada. I don't have a tutorial on that and I don't think I could make one, because my process is chaotic as hell, but I do at times use Virt-a-mate as loose reference for lighting too when coloring - waaaaayyyy less so however, because that process is even more tedious and I feel like I often get better results by just winging it. It is a feature of the program though, and I'm sure it would be helpful for someone who has a difficult time visualizing lights and shadows. I only started using this program a few months ago, so I happened to already have a pretty good understanding of that kind of thing and just don't personally feel like I get much out of that particular mechanic.

Here's a few other examples of pieces that I made reference for (WARNING: Suggestive)

Now, for the question many of you may want to ask:

"Can I trace this junk?"

And to that, I say: Buddy, you can do whatever the hell you want with the reference material you created.

However,

If your goal is to learn and improve your art, and to recreate realistic proportions and anatomy from memory, tracing won't help you.

Developing your own style, your muscle memory, and personal technique will all be hindered by choosing to trace instead of drawing from observation, so I would encourage against it. Hell - even when tracing is employed as a technique, it's usually by high-skill realism & concept artists who are looking to either cut some corners, save time, or just double-check their own proportions in order to improve further - if you try tracing as a beginner, you will most definitely find the result to still look stiff and "off".

So trust me, there is so much more to be gained from drawing from observation. Make note of tangents, compare proportions, use all the elements of the picture to dictate where and how things should go - it will be a far more rewarding experience.

Hopefully this has been helpful! VaM is a really cheap program (you get it on the guys' patreon for I think 8 dollars, just google it!) and it's definitely been worth my money as an artist since I found it. Learning to use it can be a little intimidating at first glance, but as I said above you only really need a day plus one or two tutorials to get a hang of the interface.

A fair warning though, IT IS A SOFTWARE MADE FOR VIRTUAL SEX/ADULT ANIMATION So when looking it up expect to see a some spicy content.

[dictatortirah]

How are you so effective with your shape language? The poses and expressions are always so clear it's really cool

Shape language is more about the personality of your character through their design. I think you're referring to how I do my line of action!

You can make more dynamic poses with any design by using line of action, but the simpler the design a character has, the easier it is to implement it. Especially if the character has a distinct shape to move and manipulate (i sound like a huge nerd) , but thats why I made the entire cast to have simple shapes and try to avoid clutter, so that I can avoid tangents too!

The way I draw expressions is by forcing like almost every wrinkle on the face. So I designed my characters to have much spacious faces without much clutter so I can experiment with faces more. My rule for this is basically just: Dont be scared to make it look just a little bit ugly. Its okay to make faces ugly. If you know what youre doing, you can take advantage of it and it adds a lot more charm to your expression! More authentic or something. This stuff can take a lot of practice but I promise once you experiment and get out of your comfort zone a lot , you'll get it. I'm still trying to improbe too!

I love drawing Nero and Mallet the most because he is literally shaped to be the best in line of action, while Mallet is made to be the most expressive. I'm not very good at actually explaining how I do it but these pictures I found in Pinterest gave the good gist of it!

[bs0da]

So, lemme present to you

BBIEAL BASE COLLAB CHAIN THINGY!!!

I’m a huge Tally Hall fan, so I was thinking it’d be fun to make something BB related off this Rob Cantor pic :D Now here’s my thought!

I dare everyone to draw your own version of Baldi in one of these poses (as I did below)

The ultimate goal is to get a full picture >:D

Things to know!

Anyone who has their own version of Baldi, or is just a Baldi enjoyer can join in!!

Please choose one pose (preferably), draw your Baldi in and reblog this post with your entry to make a chain - feel free to start multiple chains though, the goal is to have at least one full!

I prefer you to try to draw the pose on your own, however feel free to use my poorly traced bases below as a guide, if necessary! Just don’t directly trace them, thanks <3

Use the transparent Ben pic for the first entry (the one without bases!)

Feel free to experiment with the poses, just keep them somehow similar to the original

This is only for fun - there’s nothing to lose or gain… beside a cool picture with multiple Baldis I guess haha

If there’s a full pic already and you still want your Baldi to be there, you can draw him in outside the base C:

And most importantly... have a blast!!

Here are the PNGs, and the original photo for reference 👉👉

This is my first time doing something like this, so I'm curious what comes out of it haha I'll be looking forward for your creations!!

[arczism]

I have a question for you. I saw this post on my feed https://www.tumblr.com/arczism/767406042232602624?source=share (very nice by the way, I love the detail. I don’t have the ability to describe my full awe right now so *insert extremely poetic prose about your awesome artwork) I was wondering how you managed to make the characters feel like they have weight. In the image, it genuinely looks like Zoro is pressing into/onto Sanji, and Sanji is pressed into the bed. I don’t know how else to describe it. They feel… real. Like if I actually tried holding the image it would feel like tiny people were inside. Do you have any tips on drawing how people fit together without making them seem like plastic Barbie dolls placed on top of each other? (In way less metaphorical terms, how do you draw a human like their made of meat, blood, bones, etc?)

Hey! Sorry it took me so long to reply. I'm not the best at explaining, but I’ll give it a shot. Just so you know, I’m not a professional artist, I’m self-taught too, so I don’t really feel like I’m in a position to give advice, but I can try to explain my process. Just keep in mind that it works for me, and I could be totally wrong!

Drawing bodies interacting with each other is hella tough, but it’s just like any other skill. At the end of the day, we only get better at art by practicing and observing. That’s how I see it.

I use a lot of references when I draw. Like, A LOT. Expression references, pose references, anatomy references, color schemes, lighting references. I usually go all-in when creating a piece, making a little collage with inspirations and references before even starting. Then I just build on it over time (which is why it takes me so long to start comms </3).

Another super helpful thing for me was studying, breaking down pictures, and tracing. Painting over pictures helps with learning and understanding how bodies work and interact.

You gotta be careful, though—sometimes it can make your art look stiff, so try to add some movement where you can. Hair is always a good place to add a bit of flow! Also, look for clean, simplified shapes.

So yeah, no secret to it, I just use tons of references (because I’m still learning too) and practice a lot </3 From my experience, that "plastic Barbie" look usually comes from not feeling comfortable with certain angles or perspectives, but that definitely improves with practice, too, so no worries!

[inkedinserendipity]

okay. well! that was the first two episodes of the murderbot show! going to walk through what i liked and didn't like below. going pretty heavy on the stuff i didn't like, so if you haven't seen it yet/overall enjoyed it, please do not read! i don't want to spoil anyone's experience. and it seems like the fandom overall is really enjoying the show, which is awesome! (please support martha wells!)

things i loved:

the rise and fall of sanctuary moon! god that was so freaking funny. and the way murderbot pulled lines directly from the show to interact with humans, that was absolutely perfect.

ratthi painting the outside of the habitat! it was such a charming little detail.

the helmet is so freaking cool y'all it looks so good

things i liked:

the comedy was well-done! see aforementioned painting-of-the-habitat.

murderbot's running narration was appropriately exasperated. that's my secunit!

minor detail, but arada referring to murderbot as he and gurathin countering with it. mind, arada thinks she's being kind and gurathin is depersonalizing murderbot, but arada's viewpoint is still an interesting stand-in for the presaux's crew's perspective on murderbot at this point: human-ish, not a robot. a lovely bit of characterization that will be satisfying to see again when the crew changes their minds around exit strategy!

the rise and fall of sanctuary moon is so campy and so bad and i'm so happy with how they did it. the shooting is awful. the acting is awful. it was everything i wanted. (also: sulu!)

(captain did you have sex with that vulcan robot)

things i did not like. oh boy. i'm splitting this into two categories: 1. things i didn't like because they don't track well with the books, and 2. things i didn't like evaluating the show on its own merit.

(2 is basically just gurathin.)

1. things i didn't like because they don't track well with the books:

murderbot got nerfed. like, hard. it didn't bother me until my friend moby pointed out that a scene in episode 2 implies that gurathin controls secunit's access to hubsystem, and that's just...mind-bogglingly wrong. murderbot is hacking everything, all the time. it has to, in order to keep itself safe and not get found out about its governor module!

arada and bharadwaj ignore murderbot's advice. the crew sends mensah and bharadwaj off in the hopper without their secunit. even at the beginning, murderbot's sold (literally) as a discounted unit, and is first introduced to the crew in a strange, undignified pose that immediately nerfs its credibility.

which is frustrating, because one of the major draws of murderbot as a character is that it is competent and it's not even paying attention. it's blasé, it's funny, and it gets shit done. without that, you have...what? a clown?

speaking of which, this murderbot did not feel like book!murderbot at all. there was some comic narration! but not nearly to the level of the book. the pessimistic, tongue-in-cheek narration style that made the books so funny is almost wholly lost in the show's voicetrack and tone, and for me, that's a huge blow.

all systems red the book was about murderbot. episodes one and two of murderbot the show are about gurathin.

mensah's defining characteristic trait is fear. when she's shown on her own, she's having a panic attack. she continues to have panic attacks. she makes stupid decisions and goes off on her own. she does not overrule gurathin's "veto" on bringing murderbot with her. where is the intrepid galaxy explorer that murderbot admired? where is the version of mensah that earned the tag like blorbo from my shows!???

yes, it admired her! even before the start of book one, she was the crew member it admired! and in this show, it doesn't seem to think about her at all, and disappointingly, i get it. this isn't like our mensah at all.

speaking of which, this also nerfs character development following exit strategy. this is behavior we would expect from exit strategy mensah. so when we get to that point, mensah's terror will have no impact on the show's audience, because that's what she's been introduced as: a terrified, pretty voiceless leader who's overshadowed by her skeptics on the crew.

2 things i didn't like based on the show's own merit:

this one's just gurathin, basically. the rest of point 1 ^^ is my disappointment in what the show "could have been" manifesting in words. this one is a real genuine problem with the character choice made with gurathin.

reading about gurathin's rudeness in the book pissed me off; reading about his nigh-sadism in the show made me physically uncomfortable. for someone who just "wants to protect his friends" - for someone who has lived on preservation for six fucking years, and has presumably come to see bots as people - he seems pretty fucking happy to order secunit to do things it doesn't want to do.

he sees murderbot's discomfort and orders it, a command that it cannot refuse, to lean into it. on an emotional level, what gurathin did is the same as the client who burned murderbot's hand in the opening scene. the difference is, murderbot cannot turn down its pain receptors on this one.

this is not the gurathin who provoked murderbot's anger onto himself in order to determine that it wouldn't harm the crew. this was a power play, an act of intimidation, and a revolting willingness to exercise power over another person.

and worse, it worked. murderbot, at the end of eye contact, did not read to me as unimpressed: it read to me as scared.

i despise those sorts of power imbalances in media. i see them in real life; i have lived them; i have no interest in consuming them in media. the show is attempting to paint gurathin as sympathetic. with that one scene, they have lost me entirely. his actions were abhorrent, and were it not for my preexisting love for the source material, my disgust with his character would've been enough for me to drop the show then and there.

[destination-hotel-krat]

CPR - CMY(K)

because I'm a color nerd and a friend challenged me to draw something experimenting with color and I wanted to draw my three blorbos together. timelapse under the cut (look ma im using tumblr like the pros!!)

I'm not sure if I succeeded with what I had in mind but I am happy with the pose alone tbh. I can't for the life of me draw people interacting so drawing a three way hug with no reference is victory enough lol

I've been trying to change my style from something less anime-y to something more cartoon-y, but it's a process. Idk how I'll manage to do that without sacrificing all the fun I have drawing P's hair LMAO

[tutanchanup]

@elin-moon had inspired me that it's okay to also share unfinished art. Thank you for that! 👍

So I thought that maybe I can finally post that painting that my profile pic comes from (nah Im kidding it was a selfie all along, this is how I look like, I am Dracula incarnate who discovered Tumblr 😝), since I'm not sure if I'll manage to finish it in this century.

It's an unfinished piece. Actually the first one I've ever done on a digital tablet, so it's been an experiment from the start.

I tried to copy the style of Anthony Van Dyck's "Portrait of a Man in Armour with Red Scarf", merge it with a stock photo of a man in armour in different pose, and on top of it all attemp to paint Vlad's face how I imagined it.

It was quite a challenge, especially given that I had no reference for the face, and the lighting and colour saturation in Baroque paintings is very special, so that was a wild ride, trying to figure out how would this strange light work on a imaginary face! I'm still not sure if I'm satisfied with it or not 😅

Then later I got stuck on how to merge the two pictures of men in armour together, since I liked the lighting in Van Dyck's painting but wanted to use the pose for the arms from the other photo. I found out that maybe I'll have to just make up some parts of the armour and its lighting, and that's when I realised I don't really know how to paint armour and the way the light scatters there without any reference whatsoever, so I postponed the piece until I learn how to do that...

So in the meantime I have been training painting armour, and maybe one day, when I'll understand the physics of how the light scatters there, I'll be able to draw it without reference, just from memory, realistically... And when that day comes, I might return to this piece.

But don't worry, thanks to that I have done some realistic paintings of Vlad in armour which you can await later 😉 (I just love painting this man, so he's became my lab rat when it comes to learning new things to paint 😄) sorry Măria Ta 😅

Also the colour in the Baroque portraits is just crazy... The men regularly look like they're wearing lipstick, the colours are so bright 😅. But it was fun trying to do some other style than my usual one 😄. I'm not sure how well I did, but it was fun anyway 😆

Also this piece was almost lost, since the tablet broke down and I was left with only the image I had saved somewhere, but with no layers. Since it already went though such hardship, I decided to be merciful and maybe let it see the light of the world, even unfinished, because what good will it ever do lying in the depths of my drawer... 😄

Why did I try to paint Vlad, who lived in the 15th century, in the style from the 17th century? I dunno 😆 I just like drawing him, and I liked that Van Dyck's painting 😅.

Anyway, if you like it, enjoy, if you don't, then... don't enjoy? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Here's the Anthony Van Dyck's painting:

"Portrait of a Man in Armour with Red Scarf"

[ultrakill-confessions]

V1 illness how to cure?/all of this is srs.

Once I was thirsty and my mind went "I need fuel" LIKE HUH? AND THIS HAPPENED A COUPLE OF TIMES how did it get this bad that my brain thinks im v1 ultrakill

A lot of times I forgot that I'm not v1 irl and get jumpscared by seeing my reflection

I'm so obsessed with that THING I carry a little printed cut out of it everywhere I go And

when no one is around

I take it out and place it on random places and take pictures of it... And talk with it..

When my illness started I bought the lustfully beautiful v1 bodypillow..........and everyday since, I wait for it to arrive, I count the days with no v1 the hours that it's still not here with me.. Me v1 and little printed out cut out of v1 in my hand with my v1 sketch book with my bad v1 drawings inside of my v1 sketchbook my v1 while I am v1 sketchbook but no. No V1

LEGIT started to say prayers before bed that it will ship and lay next to me while I continue to read all the fanficion that exists about v1, or fanfiction that v1 is in, EVERY FANFICTION. some have been an experience...to say the least, v1 wouldn't approve or think that "it's emotion funny". when it will be in MY own bed I'll tuck it in (it's been 28 days 15 hours and 17 minutes since I ordered it) and when I leave to provide us.. To go to the dreadful place called SCHOOL I'll give it coins and leave with a tear in my eye..

While my days continues it will come into my mind

I'll think about it waiting for me in my bed in that pose...rose in its mouth face eye... Knowing it is the only creature I can call a friend?...

Knowing if I'll meet my demise (aka get my exam finals back)

It will feed on me and delete my search history (and hopefully won't look at it, or leak it on here)

As well for the bodypillow I wrote a review on the ultrakill stickers (they have a v1 Vone) and how newblood prevented me to get a v1 sticker for my v1 notebook (only v1 allowed) there will be no future with my v1 bodypillow without no v1 sticker. I described vile disgusting sinful things that I would do to it when it arrives in that review... I am filled with regrets. I'm sorry v1 ultrakill

And when the V1 plushies restock. AND WHEN THE V1 PLUSHIES COME BACK. When they do heh I don't care about the shipment being more expensive then V1 this is v1. Your own personal hugble killing machine.

Bonus

When I played 4-2 secret I started crying

Everytime I read a "yayy" in my v1 filled head I read it in its voice it's a v1 reference. (The giananni steams have this sample of v1 saying yayy if you don't know what I'm referencing)

I always think of cosplaying v1 but the thing is every ultrakill fan in my country is somehow straight and racist. So there will no point if I can't share my billon v1 headcanons and my v1 personality graph (I have a graph exploring v1, v1 is a spectrum of personalities LIKE I CAN'T PICK ONE I LIKE I LIKE ALL OF THEM I can see most of them fitting for v1 in a way I will not share the graph because this is already too long of a v1 rant

I NEEDED more v1 content I was desperate for more content of v1 I bought Robux (I DIDN'T EVEN PLAY ROBLOX BEFORE THIS) to cosplay it in games and put it in silly scenarios v1 met Wheatley portal real (I have a private discord server that I send all the v1 roblox screenshots it's called v1)

I'm not mentally ill right? And no way ANY one is reading this

-

[naturecalls111]

i love your drawings so much<333 your art is so perfect like the anatomy looks so beautiful!!!! how did you learn to draw that anatomically correct? like do you use a lot of references or do you just know how to draw bodies atp? bc im struggling with anatomy lmaoo

Wahhhhh!!! 🥹 Thank you so much!!! I'm holding this praise very close to my heart right now!!!! I've spent a lot of time over the years doing studies and having images of muscle group diagrams open while drawing, so I'm super happy to hear it paid off!

So I don't really use references anymore when I start drawing and composing the pose, but I absolutely still reference diagrams of muscle groups when I find myself hesitating with the way certain parts of the body may appear. Something like this, for example:

Something that gives me an exaggerated idea of what that part of the body looks like so I can soften it to my liking. My main goal when using reference isn't to do a 1:1 replica, but rather understand What I'm Drawing while I'm drawing it. At this point of my art journey, I'd prefer having more practise in manipulating these muscles than just practising drawing what I can see.

(Worth mentioning I absolutely still practise observational drawing, and it undoubtedly aids this aspect of my drawing, too. I used to use fanart specifically to practise it, but this year I've taken to separating my fanart from my study art because I find that it allows me to be less miserable when it doesn't come out good LOL now I just do oil painting which helps me focus more on general shapes and values)

Using these types of categorised diagrams has also helped me simplify that initial structure of the body when I'm sketching. Having general markers of what muscle goes where definitely helps me set the position of the body in the long run.

I very, very highly encourage the use of references always, but especially when still learning to get more confident with anatomy!!!! Me not using references for poses is very much at the cost of having anatomy that could be even More accurate LOL I merely know where to place the lines to make things look Passably believable. Buuuttt that's also just the process of improving. Imagination is a muscle that has to be trained too. What's been helping me find a happy middle nowadays is drawing with references that cover small parts instead of using the reference for the whole illustration. FOR EXAMPLE!!!

I had drawn this much of the catlaila I recently posted without a reference before I was like.. Huh. I can't really figure out what I want to with the arms, but I also don't know what is Physically Possible to do with the arms here, so I'll experiment with my 3D poser (WHICH BTW I LOVE AND USED TO USE RELIGIOUSLY FOR EVEEERYTHING SO!! GO DOWNLOAD LOL it's called MagicPoser) and I had adjusted the models up to this point before being like, ok yeah this is enough for me to go off of as something that is physically feasible. So the posing of the rest of the models is whatever because I just needed to know what Laila's arms would look like. This was the final linework:

Like, it's still not a 1:1 with the reference, but it's just enough that it seems feasible !! My personal opinion is that sometimes reference doesn't capture the Shapes that I want it to, even if it's more realistic, so it's ok to break rules and just go with your flow lol... It's shocking how many times I've thought references of real human bodies look unrealistic and ridiculous HAHA Hence focusing more on learning the muscle groups/shapes so that I can adjust to my liking without sacrificing the integrity of the anatomy...

Also, not necessarily on anatomy, but I use plenty of references when I need to see things like how tight shirts stretch over breasts, or how cloth sits at a certain angle, or, honestly, hands. I almost always draw hands by looking at my own. I cannot stress enough: I use plenty of references. I am not a magician and I don't have perfect memory, even after four/five years of studied drawing x)))

Anyway. I've yapped so much. I try to be detailed in my explanation of anatomy because god knows how much I struggled with it!!! I STILL do. If you ever catch the link to it, I often stream these drawings and you'll see how many times I duplicate these layers so I can erase whole sections and try again, or how often I'll attempt the position of a leg over and over before I feel its right. The final product is so quick to digest but the process is frustratingly finicky, I promise, LMAO.

I hope this wasn't too convoluted and long, and I wish you the super best on your anatomy journey! If you ever need help and catch me at the right time, I'm totally open to giving any work a second opinion ! :3c

[cottonflurry]

I was wondering how do you figure out what face shapes to give characters?? Also how do you make sure you fit their eyes and mouth into the different face shapes without it looking weird sorry if that doesn’t make sense /lh

If I'm honest, this is a matter of stylization. It took me years to find what looks good. The most I can give you is some advice:

Study anatomy. You will find it harder to twist the rules without first learning about them. I recommend Line of Action as it has a lot of IRL pose+expression references.

Experiment with shape language. A lot of my style comes from me visualizing what "shapes" other characters are and molding them like clay until they look right. My mental note is usually that circles are often friendly, squares are often stable, and triangles tend to have sharp edges. If this doesn't make sense, Im sorry jsahfgasf...

Look into how your favorite artists draw faces. If you see something you like, try it! See if it works with your style. Maybe make an inspiration board!

Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Art takes time, effort, and a lot of patience. We've all been there; you've got this. Keep drawing.

[sister-hawk]

HEY LOOK AT WHAT I MADE!!! I whittled this elephant out of a block of basswood, and then painted it by hand, as a gift for my lovely girlfriend, @potsiefaerie 😘♥️💖🩵 When we were still getting to know each other, she mentioned that she collects white elephant figures with her mother (after they found one at a white elephant sale), and I was like, "Wait, I've done a bit of whittling before. Surely I could make one, right???" And then it became my mission all through the spring, summer, and fall. And after a bit of a mad dash to the end, I was finally able to give it to her the first time we met in person 🥰

While it was in no way easy, crafting this elephant was an absolute joy, and it really (re)awakened in me a love for the art of whittling. I had only done some very basic whittling before, close to a decade and a half ago. So with very little experience, none of which was recent, I really impressed myself with how well this thing turned out. And while I'm no stranger to painting, I've never done detail like this before. That is just natural talent babey. I have definitely found my calling in this craft.

It's roughly 2 and 3/4 inches tall, and probably around 4 and 1/2 inches long. I have absolutely no idea how many hours it took start-to-finish. But it was a lot lol.

Process:

The first step was to find reference images of elephants online, from various angles. I used those to create basic drawings of an elephant mid-stride from 5 different angles (left, right, top, front, and back). I printed and cut those out of paper to create a simple stencil to trace the shape onto the block of wood (that's what you see in the first image.

The second step was to actually cut the rough shape of it out of the wood with a coping saw. Then I divided the bottom (where the legs are) in half, and used the drawing as a guide for removing the halves of the legs that weren't needed (since it is not symmetrical in its stance.) That gave me an extremely rough and blocky elephant shape.

Next came the whittling, and that was by far the majority of the work. Months were spent slowly shaving away little bits of wood, occasionally glancing at my reference images, until finally the final shape was achieved. Then it was sanded down so as to smooth out the facets created by the carving process, and to refine the shape a little more.

I also must mention that I did drop it at one point on a cement porch and snap one of the legs off at the knee. But! A bit of wood glue and a rubber band fixed that fairly easily.

Then came the painting process. First I used a glaze to help seal the wood. Wood is a very absorbent material. I knew that, in order to ensure that this piece would last as long as possible, it needed to be sealed so that the wood did not absorb moisture from the air, which could eventually lead to cracking as it expanded and shrank. But paint itself also poses some risk in this way, and the wood really wants to soak it up. So the glaze ensured that that wouldn't happen.

Then I put down three coats of white paint (with another touch-up coat), and then sealed that with another coat of the glaze. This was to protect the white underneath when I started painting with the blue, so that if I messed it up, I would have the chance to remove the blue without totally stripping the white.

Next was the detail work with the blue paint. The designs were first drawn on using a 4h graphite in a mechanical pencil (4h is pretty hard, so it wouldn't leave much behind. That made it easier to erase mistakes and cover with the paint). I did reference a couple mandalas that I found online for the ones on the forehead and back, but all of it was painted by hand with an extremely tiny brush and an enormous amount of patience. It requires very steady hands.

And the final step was two part. First, another coat of glaze to protect the blue paint so that it would not get smeared (not after I did all that hard work!!!). And finally, four coats of varnish to completely seal everything off. My hope is this thing will still be sitting on someone's shelf at least a few generations from now, so I did everything I could to protect it as much as possible.

Materials and tools:

3x3x6in block of basswood, from some website idk lol.

Coping saw from Lowe's.

Whittling tools from Beaver Craft.

120, 220, and 400 grit sandpaper from Lowe's.

Glaze, paints, and varnish from Jo Sonja's.

[blueskittlesart]

Question abt drawing: been trying to attempt learning how to draw forever but I always have trouble getting over the obstacle of having to learn/study things like anatomy and shading, which then causes me to stop drawing and have a harder time picking it back up. I know it's important for improving your art and yourself as an artist but I can't help but see it as tedious and overwhelming, especially the anatomy since it's more on the science side of things and science is not my thing lol. Do you have any advice on how to get over it or work thru it?

i think there's a couple facets to this question. firstly i'd recommend you consider what exactly your end goal is in learning how to draw: do you specifically want to be able to produce anatomically accurate figures and true-to-life shading, or do you just want to be able to make something for fun that looks good to you? one of the most helpful things I ever learned at art school was that accuracy doesn't matter if it looks good. 99% of my art isn't strictly anatomically accurate, and part of that is stylization, but even when i'm doing realistic figure drawings i like to lengthen limbs and exaggerate curves in order to make my drawings look better. So if your only real goal with art is to make something that looks good and enjoy the process, my first piece of advice would be to stop worrying so much about stuff like perfect accuracy! if you use references and keep pushing yourself, the skill and understanding you're looking for will come naturally with time. before I was ever classically trained, I got pretty far just by drawing my favorite characters in different poses and situations over and over again, and that experience laid the groundwork for when classical training did become available to me. Just because you're not necessarily doing serious figure studies doesn't mean you're not getting valuable practice--what it means is that you're having FUN while you're practicing, and having fun with your art is the most important thing!!!

Secondly, you mentioned anatomy being on the science side of things, which suggests to me that you may be looking in the wrong places when trying to do more serious anatomical study. if you look up 'anatomy' or anything similar on a web search engine, you're likely going to get a lot of very complex scientific illustrations. and while those aren't necessarily devoid of artistic value (I took a class all about scientific anatomy for artists last semester and it was GREAT) for a beginner who's just trying to learn how to make a body look like a body, they're not what you're looking for. what is going to be much more helpful for you are sites like line of action or quickposes. these sites are basically repositories of figure drawing images, and you can set them to automatically switch to a new image after a certain interval of time. if you really, desperately want to improve your anatomy specifically, what I recommend is going to one of these sites, setting it to the shortest interval possible, and trying to copy the pose as closely as you can before time is up. this might sound crazy, since the shortest interval is usually somewhere between 30-60 seconds, which obviously isn't enough to get much down. but what this will do is force you to look at how these models' bodies are constructed and translate it onto the page quickly and without overthinking it. be warned, your first maybe hundred of these are going to look like shit. but if you do this enough, you're eventually going to gain an intrinsic sense for 1. how a body works and 2. the easiest way for you personally to construct a body when drawing it. even without knowing the scientific names and anatomical rules, you're going to get a FEEL for how things work, which is much more important and useful to you as a character artist.

Finally, i think the most important thing to remember is that no art is bad art, even if you're not satisfied with the end product. when you're first starting out as an artist, you're going to make things that don't look right and you're going to be frustrated with yourself because of it. i vividly remember crying over a sketchbook at maybe age 11 or 12 because I was so upset i couldn't put exactly what was in my head on the page. Skill comes with time and practice and that is a frustrating fact of life, but no time spent doing something you enjoy and are passionate about is wasted. It might look bad now but you are laying the groundwork for your future success, and someday you're probably going to look back on your past work and say "I can't believe I thought this looked bad back then. for my age and my skill level i was doing AMAZING." And as previously mentioned, it's a lot less discouraging when something looks bad if you had fun making it, so try to have FUN with your art. draw things you enjoy and are passionate about and don't worry if it looks bad. focus on the experience, the skill will come in time. you've got this!!

[emperor-forneus]

okay top ten beyburst characters and reasons why???? sorry if u already answered this but i love beyblades brooo

oh this is gonna be so tough because my faves change every hour but let's start off with the only constant on the list!

1. shu kurenai

i found out about burst through random fanarts of him, and he's the main reason i even gave it a chance. i have this weak spot for Very Troubled white haired + red eyed characters and he fits right into that category. like hell yeah hand that albino boy over. yes i need him to be angsty. yes i will also go through the 5423085 stages of grief every time something happens to him. it's a delight seeing him on screen for any reason (even when the animators accidentally massacre him in ways that shouldn't even be possible-) and i'm a firm believer he should've been allowed to throw hands at least once. too much has happened to that boy and he's too calm about it. drop your therapy routine king

2. fubuki sumie

the face of this blog, my banana son, the best boy ever. he gets bonus points because he's a Certified kurenai son, but even without that he's amazing. the way he approached shu even after the red eye/spriggan fiasco. the way he never gave up on saving aiga from the corrupted resonance. and ESPECIALLY the way he kept on going back to suoh, even if every conversation attempt ended up in suoh spitting poison at him. he refuses to believe that someone can't change for the better. he knows there's more than meets the eye and he'll always take the risk to prove it. banana son you're too good for this world

3. delta zakuro

i'm insane for seven deadly sins references in media and delta (alongside diabolos) sure is the sin of gluttony. i still don't fully understand what his deal was but i enjoyed everything from his pettiness, to his insatiable hunger, to his healing arc. his design is also absolutely comical and that makes him being an edgelord even better. he sends me back to simpler times of being cringe, free and drawing creepypastas on school notebooks

4. wakiya komurasaki

misunderstood DIVA. tsun ass loves his friends so much and it shows, no matter how hard he tries to hide it. he really risked his life for toko and nika in s1, then risked his life again to try and rescue shu in s2 (plus investing insane amounts of money into that whole operation), he paused a whole tournament for valt during s7. nobody else does it like him! it makes me sad they kinda watered him down to just a comic relief character in later seasons. he has depth, he's actually skilled at beyblade (throwback to him beating drum, aiga and ranjiro in a 1v3, like hello???) and the last thing he deserved was bell's pranks tbh FKSKFK

5. aiga akaba

MY CRASHOUT KING YOU WILL ALWAYS BE FAMOUS. i really didn't like him at first but thankfully i grew a braincell by the end of his season and now he's in my all-time favorites. i jokingly call him delulu like a lot but he's exactly who he thinks he is. you'd think that maybe each main character would get to be a world champion at some point. absolutely not, aiga is taking that title to the grave. i genuinely respect the dedication. i even found myself taking notes of things he said during quadstrike of all seasons. he was just casually dropping hard truths for no reason. cheers man, i'll drink to that-

6. hikaru asahi

such a pompous boy! as an eldest sibling i feel him deeply. even though he's just a year older than hyuga (ignoring the fact i genuinely thought they were twins before watching surge-), everything he experiences tends to stick Hard to him, especially in the manga. his battle with lain traumatized him so hard if it weren't for hyuga he would've abandoned beyblade and never looked back 😭 overall i love his dynamic with his brother, love how serious he is about the being a hero thing and the silly poses he does. he's living the 12 y.o. experience to its fullest!

7. bell daikokuten

i did Not expect to get as attached as i did to bell. but i did. and now we're here! dark prince they could never make me hate you honestly. i think i enjoyed his arc in the manga slightly more than the one in the anime. either way we get to see that he's not the villain neither him nor rashad try to paint him as. he loves making things, he always plays fair, he obviously enjoys having company/friends and lets pretty much anyone stay at his house. he's just silly and loves theatrics! and with the flashback scene we got from jiji during quaddrive it leads me to believe bell's previously isolated lifestyle might've had him in some sort of depression episode before the finished making belial. i will go INSANE.

(also shout-out to him for changing my outlook on failing something. "i didn't lose, i was just preparing for victory" is a mantra i genuinely believe in)

8. daina kurogami

honestly really similarly to delta, his levels of edge have captivated me. your bey is called DEATHSCYTHER?? it doesn't get cooler than this honestly. love a short king going for a threatening persona. other than that, i really enjoyed his character throughout the two (2) seasons they decided to make him appear in (a whole crime if you ask me, he deserved a comeback in surge or at LEAST quadstrike). i love how they showed through him that putting too much pressure on yourself can lead to you doing stupid things (such as him cheating during a match). that's very much real but as long as you own up to things and learn for the better everything will work out in the end. thank you daina

9. free de la hoya

i still don't understand how they managed to make a character so unapologetically neurodivergent. and that's not even a complaint i absolutely LOVE the way free is. literally everything about him. he's an icon, he's a legend and he is the moment 🧘 i keep thinking about how he kept bringing up the fact that hyuga fell asleep during the meditation session in surge. if you make free feel disrespected, even by accident, he's absolutely not letting that go and i support him in that endeavor

10. sisco karlisle

all i'm gonna say about him is that he's to me now what kyoya was to my 8 year old self back during the mfb era. both of them are like the cool upperclassmen you see at school and think "i want to be just like them frfr"

[featherwingfox]

Yay! It's the guy with a bunch of power and has no idea what to do with it! 🎉🥪🎊

Our powerful friend here is one of the goofiest characters in the OG series as well as stupidly strong! I tried to give him an outfit that looked as epic as his position in the world but a pose and expression that captures his personality. I have a very interesting arc for him, oh, it's one of my favorites for sure! Can't wait to get to that part!

His drawing was one of the best ones I've made in this sketchbook and of course it had to be one of my favorites, I love this color palette! The purple as the main focus and working with complimentary colors, they support each other really well. I love color theory if you couldn't tell, so if anyone has questions regarding that subject on art I would love to ramble about it! 😁 Anyway, I knew what colors I'd use, his Minecraft skin being the main reference, but I did use some freedom of design! I did not want him to look too complicated but also not too simple. Of course with colored pencils my creativity was limited, there are things I want him to have that you won't be able to see until the digital art, but this will suffice for now. I'm not going to give you spoilers on what you're missing out! I want it to be a grand reveal now!

I had a bit of trouble with his shirt. I couldn't figure out how I wanted the opening to look like so I found a good reference by reading a comic on Tapas, I believe it was Wicked No More, I recommend it as it is very sweet. Moving on from my side tracks, I am pretty good with drawing ruffles, that part was easy and helpful as I thought his shirt was a little plain. It decorated his shirt well, and now the sleeves! Those were looking plain too, so I experimented with space patterns and decided constellation like patterns were good. It was worrying to color around as I wanted them to be white but I managed without a mishap. I decorated the side of his pants with stars as well as his black boots having a giant one. The little... What are they? There are little rhombus things that tie the front of his majestic cape, they might be buttons??? This is bothering me! What are they?! I think you can clip them on the other side of the cape to keep it wrapped around his shoulders, but I'm unsure. Whatever, he can just lift it up if he wants to take it off! His head can fit through the opening! He has big fluffy hair but don't worry, it'll just, fwoosh, slip on through too. He has it tied in the back, if you can see it, but when he undoes it his hair will puff out, like an afro almost. Big fluffy hair seemed like a common interpretation the fans had so I kept it. While adding my own interpretation of it being tied down in a ponytail... Do I like giving strong beings long ponytails? Well of course! They look cool in it and Galaxy here does too! Speaking of cool, I loved coloring his hair and cape, probably my favorite parts of this drawing. I smudged spots of gel pen ink to make the blurred colors, I'm so proud of it! It looks awesome! Adding some dark blue and a bit of the pink I smudged the ink here and there, adding some more space like color. Guess what? His hands weren't a problem! Of course I always have to redraw hands to look right but I consider it troublesome when it takes more than ten times, or if I feel frustrated. So these were pretty good and they look great. His pose was made to look like he's being scolded by Sabre. I really like drawing his nervous expression. He may have impressive powers but he doesn't want to get on his friend's bad side! I loved the interactions everyone had with him, he's funny. AUGH! BUT I DID MESS UP HIS EYES!!! 😭I wanted them to be brighter! But the yellow in colored pencils, crayons and other traditional art materials always get tainted so easily! The eyes were okay in the final results, I've colored better, but I messed it up and accidentally made them darker because I wanted to use my gold gel pen, but I forgot to test it on my test color page and now they're darker than intended. Which isn't the worst, but I wanted them to be brighter... It's not that bad of a mistake at least, UNLIKE SOMEBODY! Glares at Nightmare

Back then how I never really colored my art so I did not have an idea of how to color in his skin until I looked at other fan art. I'd probably just draw him with a dark purple color, which did look nice, but I also liked the dark skin. So I blended the two colors brown and purple, not sure if you can tell, but I think I did alright. I enjoyed drawing this character a lot, he was fun to design! I will say, when it comes to beings as powerful as Galaxy, I think they'd be taller. Some are taller but still short enough to be about face to face, using Sabre as an example, while others might look over him. Like a certain somebody I won't mention yet, I haven't even finished his scribbly sketch.

But someone I did finish and can't wait to show you tomorrow is on the way! You'll love this next character and his angelic design! 🪽

Story: Steve Saga (Fan Rewrite)

Character: Galaxy Steve

Abilities: can fly, teleport, use lightning, create things... (It's difficult to explain everything he can do because he's very powerful and can do a lot of stuff, mostly related to the galaxy, time and space, and it's existence... I'm ending it here, thank you for reading! He's complicated.)

Personality: goofy, cheerful, hungry, friendly, clueless at times, troublesome, powerful to the point it's frightening, sometimes gullible, a loyal friend, easy to make him cry, simple-minded, and does things that make you wonder if his head is empty! But we love him all the same. 🥰