#all hand drawn on paper because i simply refuse digital art?

[hex-wittebane]

Peepaw

I was literally possessed and couldn't do anything until these three doodles were done. Hyacinth by @catboymoments showed up in my "For You", I had a vision, and this is what the vision was. Dadleb Wittebane has been blessed with yet another Grimwalker to give his love to (and he can twin with this one!! Without them being mean like some other Grimwalker *cough* hayden *cough*) Maybe one day Hayden Wittebane's story will get out of my drafts, but for now! You can all thank the fact that I was scrolling on "For You" for this pleasant meme/meeting/thing. Dialogue under the cut and in Image descriptions!

[Left Image top left corner states Hyacinth Park by catboymoments Caleb "Dadleb" Wittebane + Hayden Wittebane by @hex-wittebane] Hayden, about Hyacinth: Just like their Peepaw. Caleb, suddenly stops spinning Hyacinth and is angry: Call me "peepaw" again. I dare you. Hayden, off screen:

PEEPAW

Caleb sets Hyacinth down off screen and starts chasing Hayden: You might have given me these prosthetics, but I will kick your Grimwalker ass with them!!! [Middle image, side one] Hyacinth, about a bloody shovel: Is this yours? I found it in the closet. Hayden: Ah... Yeah. Used it to bury the dead animals I tried to gift to Belos as a kid. He grounded me for the blood trails. Hyacinth: Boo! Hayden: Tell me about it! Caleb isn't cool either. He was afraid I'd be Belos^2... Want to go grave robbing? Hyacinth: Sure do! [Middle image, side two] ✨GRIMWALKER COVEN✨ [Image on the right] Final move to the dragon dance from ATLA but with Hyacinth and Caleb. And yes, it was Caleb's idea.

[colleendoran]

How Do I Do Stuff

The question was phrased a little strangely, and I don't want to embarrass the person by posting exactly what was said, but I'll answer it and hope this clears everything up.

I do almost all of my drawing by hand. No, I don't trace in Photoshop. Not a judgment on those who do, but I come from a generation of artists who did not use Poser programs or other digital tools. We learned to draw using a technique called the Sight Size method. I know a lot of people assume everyone - including the old masters - traced everything using optical tools, but while it is true some people did, it is just as true that most didn't, and you can draw with great accuracy if you learned how to draw the old fashioned way.

Sight Size breaks everything down into its barest components of geometric shapes and you build from there. Once you learn it, you never forget, and it applies to everything you will ever draw.

I learned it using a set of Famous Artist Course books my mom had since she was a kid, and they are still the gold standard. They're often on ebay. If I were you, I'd buy them.

I actually find using figure reference really annoying because I like exaggerations and modifications from reality in my final work.

This page from Neil Gaiman's Chivalry was drawn and painted without figure reference of any kind.

I don't know why people assume I trace all the time. If you were to try to use photographs to replicate these figures, you would find they are slightly off. There is no tracing here.

This is not to say I never use reference. This page, for example, was referenced from a photo of my mother. Isn't she pretty.

But this page of Sir Galaad was drawn and painted without reference.

He's pretty, too.

If he were real, I'm sure a lot of people would be very happy about it. But he's not. And had I reference, the art would have gone a lot faster. I had a time trying to nail this face that is very alive in my head but doesn't really exist.

Back in the ancient days, all cartoonists had to learn to draw and paint extemporaneously because reference was limited and digital tools didn't exist. While some high end artists had photography studios and professional models with costume and sets on hand, small fry like me were limited to what was in the house or available at my small local library, which was no bigger than a few rooms of my current house.

Artists kept extensive "morgue files" or "swipe files" which were collected from magazine clippings and photographs so we would have as much of what we might need on hand for quick reference. These ephemera collections could get unwieldy. I have thousands of photographs I've simply never sorted. I finally dumped most of my files this past year.

Have I ever traced anything? Of course, especially if I have to re-use a shot or setting over and over. Making extra work for myself is just silly. It's my job to make pictures, not to perform magical feats, like copying one shot after another over and over without making a mistake.

However, for almost 15 years of my career, I refused to copy or trace anything, and did not even own a lightbox. On the one hand, that forced me to learn to carefully examine what I saw. On the other hand, it was a stupid hill on which many deadlines died.

Only after I realized many professional artists had lightboxes and overhead projectors did I finally break down and get one.

The one thing I use my lightbox for more than anything is for tracing my thumbnail sketches to the final drawing paper. Instead of trying to capture the liveliness of the original sketch by copying what I see - only bigger - I blow the thumbnail up to the size I want the final art to be, then I trace over the thumbnail using a lightbox onto the final drawing paper.

Here's a look at thumbnails from the graphic novel Neil Gaiman's Snow, Glass, Apples.

I enlarged these on my computer to fit onto 11"x14" paper, and traced the thumbs before finishing the art which was drawn in pen and ink and colored in Photoshop.

While I obviously made some changes, the essence of the thumbs is there in the final work. Tracing my thumbs retains some of the looseness of the original sketches, which is often lost otherwise.

So, there is a valid purpose to tracing at times, though in my opinion, too much tracing can weaken drawing ability, substitute for developing skills, and make the work kind of stiff.

If you want to, I'm not your judge. But it's weird to me that people think I must be faking my skills in some way.

Ironically, the word cartoon comes from the Italian word cartone, which is a large heavy sheet of paper - also, the origin of the word carton.

Preparatory sketches were made on this paper which was then transferred to the final work surface via either tracing or by stamping little holes in the paper through which dust was sprinkled, recreating the contours of the drawing for the artist to follow.

So the origin of the word cartoon comes from a process often used...for tracing.

[vikkisheepy]

Shoutout to Traditional Artists

So, as I’m sure most all of you lovely people have noticed, traditional or hand drawn art is going rather extinct on all platforms. It’s sad and upsetting that hard work done by hand and paper alone isn’t nearly as highly regarded as art that comes from a computer. This isn’t a journal about trashing digital art, but rather one where I would like to celebrate other traditional artists like myself. While digital art surely is wonderful in it's own right, it just can't quite come to the same level as... Oh where do I even START? I want to take a moment to praise all of the other traditional artists out there who either don’t have the means to create digital art, or simply refuse to give in to the digital art world of today. Not a lot of people take time to congratulate traditional artists and their remarkable accomplishments that they create with paper and drawing utensils, so I’d like to take a moment to do just that. You, traditional artist, have been sharpening your eye for detail and tactile skills with pens and pencils like the artists of old. You don’t have a fancy software that can undo whole lines, duplicate and invert eyes, or color your artwork with the simple tap of a wacom pen. You’ve had to painstakingly draw every rough draft and second draft— just to erase it all after you’ve carefully fleshed and inked your piece— and that’s not even beginning to scratch the surface of painting, using colored pencils, inking with copic markers… I just wanted to take a moment to reach out to all the other traditional artists out there who feel like their art isn’t good enough, or isn’t flashy enough, or isn’t worth anything because it wasn’t made using SAI, GIMP, or Photoshop. Your art is awesome no matter how you made it, or what platform you made it on.

[hex-wittebane]

hex_n_cal_memes:

Caleb "Fuck witches, get snails" Wittebane

Untitled Dad!Caleb Wittebane AU

[hex-wittebane]

BADGIRLCOVEN:

She thinks she's a comedian @ hex-memes

[hex-wittebane]

hex_memes:

bro asked his gf for the unforeseen consequences.

[hex-wittebane]

hex_memes:

T̸̢͇̘̬̖̖̭̄̆̾́̄̀̔͜͠h̷͈̃̌̓̉͝͝e̴͙̳̥̣͎͐͂̀̆̽͆r̷̨̗̞̄̂͌͒è̷͚̝̖̯̜͎͆̃͋̆̉͌̓ ̸̨̨͚͖͖̬͚͉̖̒̄͋͊͛̔͋͊̄͜I̵̧̼͈͂ş̵͙̺̯͉͉̱̣͇̫̉̂̿̾͆̔͗ ̷͍̇͌͌̓̓̈́͘̚͝N̷̢̰͖̤̜̩̿̎̽͗̚͘͝ŏ̵̳̙̜̳̲͌͌̃̑͝ͅ ̶̣͙̩͙̙͌̐̾̊͘ͅE̶̡̨̛̻̞͒͂͂̔̕͝ș̷̗͇̣̮̗͔̎̔̈́̅́̓͑͊́c̵̜̥̟̟͔̓͋́͘à̶̮̈́̒̇̈́͌̅̀p̴̡͍͈̹̬͇̻̥͈̿̊̍̓̚̕͠ē̸̤͔͉̪ @ RULERZREACHF4N

#humanrealmshenanigans

[hex-wittebane]

Character Bio: Hayden "Hex" Wittebane

(Below the cut; will be updated as things progress/change)

Age:

14 (Season 2 + 3)

17 (October of Epilogue, 18 by December of Epilogue)

Occupation:

Coven Scout (Formerly)

Coven Captain (Formerly x2)

Golden Guard (Formerly)

Full-time Hexside student

(Epilogue) Full-time university student

(Epilogue) Part-time intern with Jerbo under Alador Blight

Hexside education:

All tracks

(Epilogue) University Education:

Abomination

Healing

Potions

Plant

Oracle

Appearance:

Presented at the beginning of her story in Coven Captain armor with straightened, black hair.

First seen without a concealment stone but utilizing glyphs in order to alter her appearance (later receives a concealment stone (pictured).

Naturally strawberry blonde (pictured).

Mentioned, in story, that she previously dyed her hair yellow blonde.

Has freckles, but often has them concealed.

Has scars from Belos, but often has them concealed.

Has three lobe piercings on each ear (later gets cartilage, including an industrial and daith).

Often wearing purples, black, greys, and Caleb-coat blue.

Wittebane hair noodle! Clawthorne sized hair (Yes, she stores things like Eda because of Eda).

Nicknames:

Little Raven (Belos)

Minion [of darkness] (King)

Haydie (King)

Hads (Blight Twins)

Hex (Eda, later everyone)

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (when seen with Palisman)

Species:

Grimwalker (of a witch-human hybrid)

Family affiliations MAIN:

Philip Wittebane/Belos (Uncle/creator)

Caleb Wittebane (Template's father; brother is grimwalker of)

Evelyn Clawthorne (Template's mother)

Unnamed brother (Son of Caleb and Evelyn)

Unnamed template (Daughter of Caleb and Evelyn)

Darius Deamonne (Paternal figure)

Hunter Deamonne

Dell Clawthorne (Adoptive grandfather)

Gwyn Clawthorne (Adoptove grandmother)

Lilith Clawthorne (Adoptive aunt)

Edalyn Clawthorne (Caretaker; adoptive mother, "Ma")

Raine Whispers (Adoptive parental figure, "Mama Raine")

King Clawthorne (Adoptive brother)

Camila Noceda (Maternal figure)

Luz Noceda

Vee Noceda

Jekyll (Palisman; Raven)

Family affiliations DADLEB AU changes:

Caleb Wittebane (Father)

Dell Clawthorne (Adoptive grandfather; Adopted Caleb as his son)

Gwyn Clawthorne (Adoptive grandmother)

Lilith Clawthorne (Adoptive aunt)

Edalyn Clawthorne (Adoptive aunt)

King Clawthorne (Adoptive cousin)

Jekyll (Palisman; Raven)

Friends:

Edric Blight

Emira Blight

Amity Blight

Willow Park

Gus Porter

Matt Tholomule

Jerbo

Unnamed Healing track student

Viney

Skara