#also practicing drawing more diverse body figures

[oniondraws]

Jonah marshall because yall dont know how much i FUCKING LOVE(/PLATONIC) THIS GUY

arti would know lmao

[midwinterhunt]

hot artists don't gatekeep

I've been resource gathering for YEARS so now I am going to share my dragons hoard

Floorplanner. Design and furnish a house for you to use for having a consistent background in your comic or anything! Free, you need an account, easy to use, and you can save multiple houses.

Comparing Heights. Input the heights of characters to see what the different is between them. Great for keeping consistency. Free.

Magma. Draw online with friends in real time. Great for practice or hanging out. Free, paid plan available, account preferred.

Smithsonian Open Access. Loads of free images. Free.

SketchDaily. Lots of pose references, massive library, is set on a timer so you can practice quick figure drawing. Free.

SculptGL. A sculpting tool which I am yet to master, but you should be able to make whatever 3d object you like with it. free.

Pexels. Free stock images. And the search engine is actually pretty good at pulling up what you want.

Figurosity. Great pose references, diverse body types, lots of "how to draw" videos directly on the site, the models are 3d and you can rotate the angle, but you can't make custom poses or edit body proportions. Free, account option, paid plans available.

Line of Action. More drawing references, this one also has a focus on expressions, hands/feet, animals, landscapes. Free.

Animal Photo. You pose a 3d skull model and select an animal species, and they give you a bunch of photo references for that animal at that angle. Super handy. Free.

Height Weight Chart. You ever see an OC listed as having a certain weight but then they look Wildly different than the number suggests? Well here's a site to avoid that! It shows real people at different weights and heights to give you a better idea of what these abstract numbers all look like. Free to use.

[lethesbeastie]

Hi, I saw your post about practicing drawing fat people and I was wondering if you could compile like a list of resources or references?

It can be difficult to find resources for drawing the wide variety of forms fat bodies can occupy, so I've done my best to bring together some resources I've been able to prove have some degree of diversity in the references they offer!

My primary resource recommendation for drawing fat people is Morpho Anatomy For Artists: Fat And Skin Folds! It does a wonderful job breaking down where fat accumulates on the body, how it interacts with the familiar landmarks of human anatomy, and what sort of shapes it tends to form under the influence of gravity. It's a phenomenal reference and my top recommendation for anyone seeking to improve at drawing fat people!

When it comes to finding decent photo references for fat people, the pickings are frustratingly slim. Most sites that specialize in pose references either don't have fat models or have all their images behind paywalls. Of the resources I looked through, the best sources for pose references were Adorkastock and Line of Action.

@adorkastock actively seeks to provide an incredible profile of pose references with diverse body types, and as an added bonus you can access a lot of their images for free on their site/Tumblr or join their patreon for early access to images! Line of action is a site aimed towards practicing figure drawing, providing images and a timed function to challenge artists to sketch within a set time limit. I took the time to go through roughly 300+ images and was pleased to find that during my session around two-to-three out of every ten photos were fat models. The only caveats to this was the fact that most of the images were of the same individual, limiting the applications for studying the variants of fat bodies. Still, it's an amazing tool that has a free mode and allows you to filter the types of references you want based on age and level of nudity.

Beyond sites that specialize in art reference photography, there's also the ever popular Pinterest, which is the site where I typically seek references for my personal studies. Due to the nature of Pinterest's extensive collection, there's a vast variety of references for different fat body types that includes a lot more "everyday" people. The primary issue with Pinterest however is the rampant reposting and lack of proper credits for images, which can make things dicey depending on how you wish to use the references you find. For personal studies this isn't really an issue, but for any sort of professional or paid work is something to be aware of just for the sake of accountability.

* For those who are 18+, porn photography of real people also offers an incredible wealth of visual resources for fat bodies and how they interact with gravity/movement/etc. The variety of positions and angles offer many opportunities to study human anatomy, and it's a pretty well-known fact that drawing NSFW art can be an important learning experience for those struggling with drawing anatomy. In the end, it depends on your personal level of comfort with viewing/drawing explicit images, but it's not something you should completely overlook.

Last but not least, look at the work of artists you admire who draw fat people! While I typically recommend sticking to photo references for learning anatomy, studying artist's portrayals of fat people is also incredibly helpful for learning different tactics for simplifying and/or stylizing fat bodies to better fit ones own style. There are also plenty of artists who've crafted tutorials detailing their approach to drawing fat folks, so I highly recommend you check them out as well! I hope the resources I've linked here can help you in your studies, and feel free to drop another ask if you have any more questions! I'm planning on posting a tutorial on how I do studies for fat people soon, so that will be an additional resource for you once I've got it posted!

[velnna]

I remember you saying you liked drawing athletes for anatomy refs. Where you also a practitioner? And what other sports do you like/have you partaken in, and have they affected the way you draw bodies and movement somehow?

Yeah I've done sports all my life haha. My main sports were acrobatic gymnastics, athletics (medium-long distance and trail) and martial arts (krav maga and muay thai, though I did do a year of karate and have family very close linked to judo), but I've tried a shitton of others

I definitely think observing *and* practicing certain types of sports helped me a lot with my art and sense of volume/anatomy. Gymnastics in particular are all about understanding what muscles flex when, how balance and weight are distributed in your body and how joints bend and rotate relative to each other, etc. By observing you can learn a lot, but there's things you also sort of only get by trying it out

Now of course I'm not recommending do gymnastics to learn how to draw but it definitely did help me. If you're curious about this sort of approach (drawing athletes VS simple figure drawing), a thing that can help is to look at videos instead of static images! I'm very biased towards acrobatic gymnastics but will recommend it anyways because one thing that made me fixate on it was that, compared to olympic artistic gymnastics, routines have a lot more flavour and diversity to them, more complex static poses, etc. Some groups had a chemistry that kept me watching regardless of the actual technical bits heh.

Here look at how neat it is

[shewreckz]

Hey your art is pretty whimsical and radical my gender non specific broseph, per chance would thou be able to enlighten us on how you draw such bodacious fine art? Like how you draw bodies and fave and what have thee. (Fr tho your art really cool and I'd like to see how you make it)

okay i have whipped up a quick little visual of my thought process while drawing!! it might not be the best cause im not the greatest at teaching but if anyones curious ^_^

first lets start with how i draw bodies

a lot of people like to do the "skeleton" method which is where you draw lines and circles to plan out where the limbs should be. honestly i really dislike doing that because i like to always have volume and shape in mind when drawing bodies, but if it works for you thats great.

instead i separate the body into different pieces, kinda like an articulated doll. i think it helps visualize all the moving parts in a 3d space and makes posing and perspective a lot easier. i can also always add the detailed anatomy on top of this basic model like you see on the left. its always important to work from simple -> complex. drawing a pose while being too worried on anatomy will really hinder your drawing process.

to improve doing this it really just takes practice and observation. i could be here all day talking about proportions, and how many heads high a person is, and each specific muscle group, but i reccomend you go and watch videos and study professional artists on your own. as someone who has been drawing and studying these things for so long, i barely think about how many heads high a person is when im drawing a body. its kind of like learning how to play and instrument or driving a car. it becomes second nature eventually, but you have to apply those skills and work through that period of time where youre still trying to program it into your brain.

after you get a hang of the basics you can take this basic model and draw all types of body shapes with it. i say its always important to play around with making your body types diverse. its not only fun to do but helps make all the characters you draw unique and recognizable. (dont be like vivziepop).

dynamic posing can be the hardest thing to master for a lot of people. the best way to learn how to pose is to not think about it too much and just doing it. for example in my figure drawing class we had to sketch out gesture drawings from a picture in 15 seconds. excercises like that help a ton in making you feel more comfortable when drawing from a reference. you should definitely reference a LOT when it comes to poses, it helps build this visual database so that eventually you can get to the point where you can just draw accurate and dynamic poses from memory. after getting to this point eventually you kind of start thinking of your canvas as this tangible 3d space and considering your characters in 3d space helps make the poses feel a lot more realistic and interesting.

ok now a quick little tour into how i draw different faces yaaaayy!!!1!1!1

main thing with my art is that i LOVEEE drawing dynamic face shapes i think its so important to avoid drawing the same slim faces over and over. shape language plays a big role into this. like for example the face on the middle is more square, the one on the left is more oval and the one on the right is more circle. shape language helps communicate so much about your character without even saying a word about them and just helps differentiate people from a glance.

facial features also play a huge role into making your faces different. these are all drawn from the same exact face shape but look like entirely different characters by adding variety in the features. different noses, eye shapes, lips, etc. can make such a huge difference

i think before any of that its important to learn the anatomy of the face though. again im not gonna go into how many eyes wide a face it or how far the nose is from the mouth but like its always important to learn the fundamentals before stylizing stuff. again the face is a 3d space and if you dont consider your face a 3d plane the features will kind of just look like theyre floating on your characters face like soup...theres a lot of great resources and tutorials online take advantage of those!!! and reference from artists you like too it helps a ton.

and then you mix that all together and Boom you have cool and interesting faces. you will best that same face syndrome in no time if you take my advice Trust...

anyways yeah thats the soda design philosophy hit that like button if you liked it or douse me with tomatoes and kick me off the stage if you think i give bad advice ill leave the decision up to you

[ask-the-ryans]

I'm not an expert on character design and this "layout" is something I use amidst all my inconsistency, but here are some things I try to keep in mind. Apologies if this throws you off since I got pretty selective interests, but I still hope this answers your questions!

First I figure out who my characters are, and in this wildly specific case, they're boxers. Everyone knows boxers are muscular, but they have a special kind of muscle.

One thing you might notice is that boxers' bodies are pretty diverse, even in the same weightclass (take Andy García and Luis Ortiz together, for example), but the things that tie them together are their solid cores -another word to say that their abdomens are strong and shaped like squares- and that their pecs or legs aren't usually very muscular given the kind of sport they're in. Exceptions can happen, but it's generally for stocky/short athletes like Tyson who hold tremendous amounts of power.

Now compare one to a wrestler or a bodybuilder.

What do we see here? For one, wrestlers got very thick legs and great amounts of their strength go to their upper bodies, so it's easy to see them more as meaty triangles. Then we got the bodybuilders, whose muscles are well-defined, but not very "useful". I'm not saying that they're not strong, but these guys practically dehydrate themselves to show off, so I'd recommend not modelling athletes after them.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. I personally like to take in consideration all the little nuances of the human body, so I go over this small process of research. That's just me who'd rather have a more grounded approach, but I encourage you to take creative liberties if reality is stopping you from drawing the next Baki. :)

(Side note, please check out Howard's Schatz's athlete photography. It can give you a beautiful array of examples.)

Once I figured out what kind of body I want my character to have, I do exploration sketches. It's very fun to hop straight into making an illustration, but I've found said sketches to be very useful because they make me feel familiar with whom I'm dealing with. You might also get a funny face that sticks with your design the rest of it's life (happened to me with Aran's "unibrow" and Joe's droopy face even though they already got a canon design), but beyond that, it's a way to give everyone you draw an identity.

Expressions are another thing. This is more an intuitive act in my part, but you might see that in real life, despite people sharing happiness/ sadness/anger/etc, our expressions are not going to be the same. How do you think an energetic lunatic might laugh vs a mild-mannered scaredy guy?

Exactly.

When all of that is done, for consistency's sake, I tend to have a ref sheet right next to me when I draw (this involves pulling out pinterest, old art, comics, etc. whatever I got at hand). I've done turnarounds before, but I'm honestly a bit lazy when it comes to that-- so to Joe and Don anon, don't escape from your responsabilities like some people.

⚆ _ ⚆

I think it boils down to treat each character as an individual, taking in consideration things like their profession, nationality, age, etc. You don't gotta have a super expansive biography, but what has generally worked for me is going for a gut feeling of what feels natural and what doesn't, and said feeling has developed over time the more I meet people in real life and study other artists.

(And thank you for the kind words, anon!)

[bambamramfan]

This is obviously a critical response. Also Scott has posted his follow-up post "Highlights from the Comments" here, which I'm also responding to.

Now, even if you aren't conservative I think there is real value in saying "a major cultural change, focused on some sectors, recently happened. WHY did it happen. What were the turning points and structural factors." And I don't think "because we suddenly became better people" is a good answer to that. So exploring the cause and effect from civil rights law to the social justice shift is not, a priori, a bad idea.

Hanania's very partisan and activist slant on the question I disagree with, but it doesn't mean he makes no good empirical points. If you only read the people you agree with, well, they tend not to circulate inconvenient facts to your side and then you get blind-sided. And despite his reputation, I really do like RH's writing on China. And I'm on the record that running large parts of employment regulation through a very tiny errata of the Civil Rights Act, leads to absurd and bad outcomes and bad law.

But I'm pretty disappointed at his book (as summed up here) and Scott's moderate reaction to it. I'm glad Scott pointed out "these administrative changes in the 1970's are unlikely to be responsible for a cultural shift that hit max velocity in 2014." Because Scott gives a lot of credit to the dystopia it paints of government and corporate hiring programs forced to circumnavigate huge vagaries by implementing contradictory and Orwellian hiring standards. The second comments post does this even more so. And I feel that even when these anecdotes are factually correct, they are leaving out extremely important context. To wit:

Bureaucratic hiring processes are already this Orwellian process of doublespeak that pay attention to a lot of factors besides who would be the best at the job. All the procedures people describe were already in place, just for other types of qualifications. Random example: Harvard prides itself on always have a student from every state in it's undergraduate body. Some of our states represent about 0.2% of the population. To guarantee that say Wyoming or Idaho always have someone on campus, you basically have to target geographically - and not by merit. Or a hedge fund that wants to impress investors by hiring graduates from the right schools, even if they've found ambitious state school students are better bang for the buck. It was never the case that employers cared purely for merit and then race came into play, even if it is the case that race is now one of several factors they have to juggle for.

Here's the bigger issue. The book and review really emphasizes how terrible it is to be caught in the bind that the US government wants organizations to be racially equitable, but it doesn't just give a list of rules to follow. It says "you figure it out. So long as you don't cause a problem that's fine. But if someone thinks you're racist, they can sue, and we'll have to prove it out in court." This creates an environment where the rules are unclear, and the best you can do is follow the best practices that similar organizations do, and say you were trying your best. And so if some organizations for idiosyncratic reasons take diversity more seriously, everyone else is forced to follow suit. For certain types of people this causes scrupulosity spirals. I agree that sucks. But this is by design! Not just in civil rights, but in the entire US administrative state, it was decided long ago. See, you can have a legal environment where regulations are enforced either through: a) An agency draws up all the rules for companies to follow, and has the workforce to go inspect every company to make sure they are complying. This is what we do with cars or restaurants, and most of Europe does with a lot more areas than we do. b) The government says "don't fuck this up. You're on your own" and you are left alone until someone thinks you've fucked it up enough that they sue you. Trials are a TERRIBLE way to work this out, but it's supposed to motivate you to be extra careful. This is much more random but much less costly tax wise, so it is the system the US has decided to go with for many of its laws.

So I agree "government by lawsuit" is a terrible curse upon America (and why we have so many more lawyers per capitate than other Western nations.) It leads to all the moral problems this book and review highlights. But it's not limited to the realm of race relations and it's by design so that we don't have to pay more bureaucrats. I doubt Hanania would want us to move to the European model which has less scrupulosity issues.

[vampstel]

Out of your favorite designs you’ve redrawn or has drawn who do you enjoyed working on the most?

As a character designer myself, I can’t help but love all my ocs equally, and learning from you actually helps me expand upon my stories. You’ve helped me so much writing a story for Victoria (She’s a princess vampire who is generations after Dracula (Temporary name because some details are being worked on) in my universe I don’t think this made sense but hopefully it does?) and I actually took some inspiration from your video in order to fully develop her.

I also love it when you diversity your work. It makes me really happy seeing all sorts of characters with real life details? If that made any sense. I like learning from you and I wanna try to understand more about details. Mainly because I suck at drawing details and idk how you do most of your stuff by hand. (I usually try to find brushes on IbisPaint on Pinterest for my work)

What kind of advice do you have for any upcoming artists who’s struggling with character designing?

Do you start with the character and then work on the story or is it the other way around?

This is going to be a VERY long response so it’s all gonna be under the cut…

I don’t really have a favorite design honestly... It’s hard to pick favorites when your characters have different aesthetics to them. It feels unfair to me to compare them because of that LOL so I try my best to avoid that.

That being said though, I can definitely say I had so much fun redesigning Elliot and making her her own person rather than a character who’s meant to represent me. She doesn’t have a full body render yet but… I think she’s neat :3

She’s just got all the things I love in one design and since she’s so personal to me, I guess you could technically say she’s my current favorite design out of all my OCs so far. Minus Rei, of course…

But yeah I can definitely relate to loving all your characters equally!! Victoria sounds cool and I’m glad my content helps you out ^_^

As for the last few questions… Details are really hard to draw especially if your art style is more on the cartoony side. There’s nothing wrong with using brushes or patterns online to help out the process but if you want to practice without them, it’s good to try out how to simplify details!!

Not everything has to be crazy complicated. So long as you get the general idea or silhouette of something in your art, it translates pretty well in the end results. Lots of artists simplify things to make it easier for the eye and it’s a hard skill to master but as you get used to it, you’ll become way better at it. Try and be fluid with your line work. That’ll help a ton!!

For advice on character design: I’d say the most important part to designing a character is making them feel alive by having meaning to their physical appearance and attire. A lot of beginner artists tend to forget that which results in a boring or un-relatable character.

We all have some sort of history with our appearances and it’s good to try and figure that out with your OCs. I usually do that during the design process but it’s fine if you do it after or before it. Before it is more ideal in a professional setting though!!

Go insane with designs. Mix and match aesthetics if you want and use LOTS of references and inspiration. That’s the second most important part. It’s why I have tons of pins saved on Pinterest and tons of reels saved on Instagram. But remember to always ask yourself questions like:

Would this character dress like this? What do they think about their clothes? Do they dress traditional, medieval, or modern?

Would they like this sort of thing? What sorts of fabrics and textures do they prefer to feel on their skin? Are they comfortable with revealing attire or do they prefer something more formal?

What sort of history does their clothes have? Was it a gift from someone, did they buy it from a thrift store or did they make it themself?

Do their accessories have sentimentality or are they completely irrelevant and something they use just for aesthetics?

Is there a way to incorporate things from their backstory or their current story to their appearance? Like scars/marks on their body? Maybe even accessories from a loved one or no?

Can you explain why they have specific physical features? Why are they skinny? Or muscular? Do they work out and eat healthy or do they barely take care of themselves?

It’s a lot to consider but when you can answer these questions, your character becomes much more lively and unique.

I personally tend to start the design of the character first but as I go through the drawing process, that’s when I flesh things out like their story and such. I don’t recommend this process to beginners since it’s SUPER messy but do what makes you feel comfortable! Hope this was helpful and thank you once again for the sweet compliments <33

[beastabyss666]

i wonder why viv is bad at character design like that

didn’t she major in animation?? didn’t she learn any sort of basics that you can still look up online?

she has potential but she ends up sticking with the same familiar designs and ends up with characters all looking the same

literally characters like lucifer and alastar and stolas all scream “TUMBLR SEXYMAN” in bright neon lights…nothing wrong with wanting to have sexy characters but giving characters similar designs is just lazy imo

That's a good point, anon. I think Viv's main problem is that she can't get out of her "comfort zone"(which is pretty bad for an artist). It's when you don't want to draw something more varied. The thing is, Vivzie likes slim characters, so she draws everyone with slim figure. She likes long eyelashes, chokers, suits, bow ties, so many her characters have these details. Also, I remember Vivzie say that she finds muscular bodies disgusting (it was on some stream). Well....Yeah. She doesn't have much practice with drawing diverse body types or diverse faces, simply because she doesn't want to. This problem is clearly seen in her comic "Zoophobia"(I will talk about this comic later btw). Just look at this picture:

These werewolves have the same face, body type, hair, even the same shorts, lol. I think, to improve yourself as an artist, you just need to force yourself to draw more diverse things and shapes, otherwise your work will look dry and shallow, and your audience will get bored sooner or later.

[ghostlysleuth]

I follow you on twitter & all I gotta say is, I love the diversity in your drawings so much, I hate when people make girls all stereotypes & your art makes me feel so comfortable it’s like a warm feeling not to mention your nsfw art. It doesn’t just show the list it shows the love & affection each character has for eachother it shows how intimate & hot the moment can be but also sweet? I’m not sure I love your art too much it really makes my day to see it, but any tips on anatomy?♥️

thank you so much!! i totally get what you mean by a list, that really is what diversity can feel like sometimes. my weight and figure have fluctuated so much over the years and i've gotten enough shit from family about eating habits and how chubby i've gotten, to the point of dysmorphia, and turning to art (and not to mention seeing the vast majority of fat butch rep) to remedy it has done wonders for my body image, and i'm really glad people like how i do things.

in terms of tips, as someone who went to school for this sorta thing, i'm gonna try to make this as accessible as possible aka free resources.

timed figure drawing!

legit, you gotta draw naked people posed in intricate ways. there's literally no avoiding it, you have to draw from life and not from tutorials. obv, i'm not saying go out and attend a life drawing course -- that's expensive shit -- so here's a few options:

i use a site called quickposes, since most figure drawing galleries require subscriptions.

you can set a timer for how long you want on each pose/reference. i recommend challenging yourself with shorter times as it helps you to get rid of any hang-ups about getting the anatomy exactly right. the drawing's got to get done by the end of the timer, don't focus on the details. just draw, be done with it, move on to the next drawing.

there's also a youtube channel that we'd use in class when a model couldn't show called new masters academy and they have a bunch of timed daily drawing exercises.

as a general rule, don't lean on the amount of time you have. what you're wanting to do is get a FULL PICTURE on your paper as soon as possible, regardless of a long or short time. get the full figure onto the paper then use the rest of the time to fuss over details, shading, editing, etc.

do studies!

kinda similar to the last one but in the more time-consuming sense.

use pinterest. it has a lot of uses for a lot of things but i use it quite a bit for both anatomy refs and costume design inspiration. this is legit what my home page looks like now because of it.

here's a board i made on anatomy, pulling from different body types; obviously i get a little gay wid it, but there's a verrrryyyy clear lack of certain body types in a lot of body refs like muscular women, fat women, just overall people who higher fat content than the lean, almost 0% fat of the figures seen in most tutorials and galleries:

this is where pinterest really shines because you can find literally everything on it.

in particular, there's an account called character design references, that is basically a stockpile of references for artists. i wouldn't normally recommend artist tutorials when it comes to wanting to learn anatomy because it can get a little echo-chambery (side-eyes the male vs. female tutorials that float around on twitter all the time) but there are actually some boards that have genuine studies on the human form, even from a medical point of view.

LITERALLY JUST DRAW A LOT.

I CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH IT'S GONNA TAKE A LOT OF TIME AND PRACTICE TO GET TO A CERTAIN LEVEL OF SATISFACTION.

like that's it, full stop, draw often. if you're feeling rusty, go back to basics. if you're art blocked, go back to basics. if you're bored, go back to basics.

[sunbearsophia]

it's been so long since I uploaded art to my Tumblr, and since I've made so many pieces for Twitter, figured I would bring them over here, too! Works out better, since I have more space on Tumblr to ramble!

Anyways, I've doodled Eduardo in his later dad years at least twice, maybe even three times on my Twitter, but Laurel, I only ever drew once in her later mum years. So, I decided to draw her yet again to better figure out her design, and since I want to diversify how I draw body types anyways, my mind instantly went to "MOM BOD-"

Anyways, couple of notes of basically my thought process with the whole mum design! ^^

Definitely imagining she's probably in her mid-forties here, with her oldest Emmy probably in college by then and their youngest, Leo, being in middle school.

I definitely think since Laurel carried two kids, she's definitely got more of a pear-shape than she did in her youth, plus a bit of a stomach roll. It probably worried Laurel when she was younger when exercise and dieting didn't change that, but these days, Laurel's gotten past that, with time and self-love, plus an adoring husband who never ceases in telling her how beautiful she is, healing that insecurity and making her proud of her figure. <3

Has plenty of stretch marks, not to mention a leftover C-section scar from when she had Leo. She loves each and every one of them, they remind her of her kids, and she feels like she earned every single one of them.

Age has done nothing to slow Laurel down in terms of energy, however. She doesn't burn out or give up easily, always having time to spend with her husband, kiddos and friends, and still an actress for theatre and film alike. She knows to slow down and appreciate the important things, but she's still got energy to burn and passion to share!

She's perfectly happy with letting her hair grey, not feeling inclined to redye it or changing its color. She loves how it looks, as do the people around her. She does cut her hair, however, preferring the feeling of less hair to deal with, and likes the pixie cut. She just doesn't really need or want long hair for herself! (However, she LOVES Eduardo's middle-aged long hair, it's so pretty and relaxing to brush, especially since he barely brushes it himself lol.)

BODY. MODS. GALORE. I headcanon Laurel absolutely had a ton of piercings in her youth, something that age didn't stop one bit. She also still has matching MLP tattoos with Eduardo, and definitely has more that aren't pictured here. (Might try and design more at a later date!)

Has a million freckles, on her face, neck, arms and torso, and she loves every one of them. Might be a little jealous when she realizes Matt has more than she does, fuckin' MATT lmaooo.

Really loved drawing this piece! I feel like it's great and important to show more realism in body types and diversity in my art, so this was awesome to practice with! Plus, I'm just unbelievably proud of how she turned out! Laurel is such a huge fav of mine, and I definitely plan to make more art of her later years in my hc!

And yeah, def might try drawing Eduardo like this next, since I could use some practice with dad bods, too! Maybe Anna would also be a good choice to continue the mom trend, as well! But yeah, this was a celebration of older, female body types, and it makes me really proud of the final result and just getting to work on it! <3

[violnces]

〈 madelyn cline  ›  cis woman  ›  she/her  ›  21 〉  ———   a grand welcome to the vieux carré, MELINDA HALLIWELL. with a city as diverse as this, there’s a new threat on almost every corner. being a WHITELIGHTER-WITCH might provide some protection but their biggest strength may come from being loyal to THE RESISTANCE. many see them as a POET which is why I'LL BE SOMEONE ELSE'S GOD // GODHOOD IS JUST LIKE GIRLHOOD // A BEGGING TO BE BELIEVED seems to fit them perfectly. whispers say they’re from the FUTURE. can it all be believed? just keep an eye on them and see if their true colors shine through. 

basics.

full name: melinda phoebe halliwell

nickname/s: mel, melly, any other variations she usually answers too

age: twenty one

birthday: october 3rd

gender & pronouns: cis woman & she/her

sexuality: bisexual

relationship status: single

species: whitelighter-witch

personality.

positive traits: compassionate, realistic, witty, focused, loyal

negative traits: short tempered, vindictive, secretive, destructive

hobbies: shopping for art supplies, practicing witchcraft, meditating, avid gardener, reading, sketching/drawing

personal style: mel is usually seen skipping around town in floral clothes - skirts, dresses, shirts - her wardrobe is full of color, crop tops & mini jackets paired with the brightest shoes she can find. on a more elegant occasion mel can always be found with glitter in her hair, on her clothes and face, paired with the highest heels. she is as much a girls girl as she looks tbh.

scars/tattoos: tba

aesthetic.

the ever-growing feeling of needing to scream ; and yet nothing comes out - your throat is a graveyard for all the words you want to say // flowers can bloom in even the most dire conditions ; and so will you even if all hope is lost // the sound of bare feet slapping against the pavement as childish laughs echo around the neighborhood ; you were a kid once too - even if you don't remember it // being kind in a world where cruelty is seen as power hasn't always fared well ; but knowing the world needs a little more kindness anyway // your softness for monsters and the kindness you seek in a world full of villains & killers is not a weakness ; but shield yourself behind it, nurture your sharp wit and hit them when they least expect it.

biography.

you were born not screaming, but instead looking at the world with the most curious eyes ; until the coldness settled in your bones and what came next was a piercing scream ; melinda phoebe halliwell, your parents called you. mel for short. the coldness that made a home in the depths of your soul never really left.

the youngest of three, it became clear to everyone that you were the baby - figuratively and literally ; a charming smile and a twinkle of your eyes and the world was soon at your fingertips. what no one accounted for was how young the magic fused with your soul ; how out of control you had with it. what an easy life, loving parents, two big brothers who would do anything for you. or so you were led to believe.

suddenly your life had flipped upside down ; in the wake of all destruction and madness. were you blessed? or were you cursed? sometimes you still can't figure it out. whitelighter powers were never meant for you and yet they were bestowed upon you. it's your destiny. FUCK DESTINY. fuck anyone that wasn't your family.

two things you seem to know to be true: 1. you would do anything for your family. 2. especially when it came to wyatt. but eventually the excuses ran dry. the sighs drew out longer, until eventually, even you couldn't defend his actions. he is your brother, yes. but he's also become the figure in your nightmares.

barely twenty one and the feeling of loss has become numbingly comfortable. grief is the blanket pulled over your scarred and worn body, swallowing tears to keep you hydrated. the adults talk over your ideas, most of the time you're in the corner listening to stupid ideas, thrown around by people barely older than you. 2036 - 2012 - you don't fucking care. all you care about is how do we save my brother? for the first time in your life ; you wish your mum was here to tell you what to do. but no. she was dead too , and sometimes , you think your soul died with her.

but through all the shit, through all the madness - your kindness shines through like a beacon of hope for those around you. as easily as you could have turned into a monster with all the trauma thrown at you ; you know people need hope and a little bit of love now more than ever. so you stay, you smile and wish everyone a happy day, even if it grates your insides. even if you don't believe a fucking word you're saying.

[c-kiddo]

You’re very very right about the lack of diversity in character design, esp thinking about it in regards to CR3. Like Laudna is clearly meant to be a lot more willowy and uncanny looking than she’s shown in the character art. & the many many issues w/ Ashton’s design aside [I just,,Don’t like his design much. There was potential buts it’s just. Eh., it’s weak], it makes like zero sense for him to look the way he does being a barbarian!! Not that he has to be huge & all by any means, but he does not read barbarian aside from his big ol hammer :p

(trigger warning for talking about weight and body size/type in regards to character designs. also disclaimer that this is just talking about designs for fun, its /lh and just my musings)

i honestly quite like laudna's design overall, i think its hard to tell though, how thin she is, since she's very covered up. i actually really love her face and how her teeth dont quite fit in her mouth, which is something common with very underweight people, and i like her big dark eyes. ... i find her hard to draw quite right tho. and i think (no offense /g) in the fandom is really where people smooth her out, take away any wrinkle, and just make her kind of pretty and soft... like, no, i want her skin to be translucent. show me the veins in her eyelids!!!!

yea. . ashton's design is rly not my favourite. i redesigned him, which, i no longer rly like that drawing, mostly because of how i drew their hair. recently i've been trying to figure out how to draw the crystals even tho the idea makes my skin crawl a little lol. the main problem i have with their design is the colours - their clothes are similar values, a dark grey and a Bright red, and it just clashes with the purple and specific green of their skin .. in this last drawing of ashton i posted i think it's sorta better while still keeping the same colours, so theres that - also i think darker colours fits his character more, down in the shadowy alleys and bars of jrusar. also yea, not a fan of how totally shredded and sinewy he is, he needs to hydrate lol

my least favourite of the cr3 designs is between them and imogen though..i redesigned imogen recently and that was so much fun. i just think , her canon design doesn't suit her at all.. it's just a bit nothing-y, like a generic tomb-raiding (yikes) video game protagonist. and i think a hat suits her super well, since as well as mind-reading she has migraines and prefers to go unseen, so, she shades herself from the sun and staring with the hat.. also i just covered her up more so she wouldn't get sunburnt kajndks, its all light materials.. im just worried about her skin. also thought something a little more,, idk androgynous (??) practical (??) might be cool. like, she's got her waist-coast and her hat and bandana round her neck.. so turned her from sexy tomb-raider halloween costume to a cowboy, like her backstory is clearly inspired by :-] !! idk thats a ramble, i should catch up on cr3 i love imogen v much she has so much autism swag and she's so cool 2 me

[emily-e-draws]

I'm trying to be good at drawing people and I was wondering if you have and tips??

the simple (+annoying) answer every artist is going to give you: practice! just do it a LOT - fill up your mental library and with enough time, it'll come naturally. drawing from life helps a lot (you can do this anywhere people are but if you're in school, during class is a convenient time lmao), and here are a few online resources I like:

• Line of Action - tons of reference images for practice, with handy settings for switches images automatically at intervals from 30 seconds to 10 mins. plus you can choose more specific categories like hands/feet, faces, children etc

• earthsworld - candid photos of americans at county fairs. really fun for drawing more interesting and diverse faces

• AdorkaStock - an great library of poses that can be really helpful if you want something specific! they've got them in handy categories - multiple people, with weapons, on furniture etc (+more on their deviantart maybe but that also might be less easy to navigate)

• Proko on youtube - lots of solid art advice in general, as well as for figure drawing specifically

other miscellaneous tips:

• stylized art is more fun BUT when you take the time to build a solid knowledge of anatomy, you'll be able to stylize and exaggerate a lot more effectively! (this is why art teachers don't like anime lmao)

• practice a variety of things! quick gesture drawings to get a sense of motion, more technical sketches to understand anatomy and the shapes of the body, and longer drawings to practice rendering, lighting, etc

• lastly: take everything here with a grain of salt, cause the most important thing is to enjoy the process and find what works best for you :-) godspeed!!

[whatchild]

Ok so this old Pikmin OC right? Old art, hadn't really gotten a grasp on my tools yet, blah blah blah, excuses excuses. I figured what about her design left me unsatisfied and what about it was cute as beans, and gave her a rehaul. And some friends.

Introducing the crew of the RMS GUILDMASTER, a team of three space pirates and a horse that travel the galaxy in search of power. Power through force, power through technology, power through artifacts and creatures beyond the scope of their understanding...

Mina Rybakai (Center, She/Her in reference to, uses We/Our when speaking), of planet Rybakai. Her surname is the same as her planet, yes. Only because she's next in line to own the whole thing. Rybakaian royalty is required to perform military service in the name of the planet before ascending, so on a technicality the "Pirates" are legally "Privateers". They hate that, don't call them privateers. The GUILDMASTER belongs to her, or rather her royal family, making her the captain. In practice however, she treats all of the crew as equals as well as generally doesn't quite understand how to lead. She's cheerful and rebellious by nature but has a calculative streak in her a mile wide. Often deliberately, she tricks anyone who dares cross her or the crew into believing she's not a threat with a sweet act, pretending she's just some ditz with a big fork before going in for the kill. Her weapon of choice is tridents, and as a fish-girl she's far more gifted at swimming, floating, underwater combat, and anything to do with bodies of water large or small than your regular old elven spacepeoples. She also has a not-at-all hidden adoration for trashy teen pop punk music and taught herself how to play the bass, surprisingly well for someone without separated fingers. Her preferred Pikmin types are Ice, Winged, and Blue.

Rachel Aragno (Right, She/Her), of planet Kumoshigoto. The daughter of the owner of the Kankor Conglomerate, the most powerful business conglomerate across several planets within the intergalactic commission. She is not next in line for the company as her father intends on marrying her off. She manages to find an out every time with a little hacking, either by draining them financially or by ruining their reputations. Her talents lie in espionage and deception, as well as a general affinity for business and technology. Software only. Try to put her in front of a fried computer and she just might combust herself. She's the most physically capable of the crew, able to carry over her body weight per pair of arms. She's also got a secret pair of arms hidden in her hair. They fold up into her braid when she's in her suit to save on space. Her swordsmanship is unparalleled and relentless, though she lacks experience in fighting anything that isn't another sapient being in a controlled duel. She's more of a captain than the actual captain despite being the newest addition, managing their plans, "earnings", schedule, inventory, everything. If anyone else touches any of her jobs, she'll redo it anyway, since they probably did it wrong. She's serious and cold to anyone that isn't the crew, only showing a softer side to them... And the Pikmin, when absolutely nobody else is watching. She's the type of person to take card and board games way too seriously, competition is one of the few ways to reliably break her composure. Her favorite types of Pikmin are Rock and Red.

Byrd (Left, He/Him), who refuses to reveal his home planet to anyone. Mina happened to pick him up somewhere and has been sworn to secrecy on where that is, too. He's a sharpshooter surrounded by mystery, hiding his eyes, his intentions, and where exactly his horse came from. Or if it's even a horse. He calls it a horse, but nobody's really sure... His energy pistol can draw from proximity, and he's found that the emissions of Pikmin are the ultimate in renewable diverse power. Depending on what Pikmin he's commanding, the type of energy he can fire changes. Red Pikmin offer a beam that's great at attacking enemies, but poor at hitting switches or damaging his surroundings. Yellow Pikmin energy releases in a slow-moving orb that can activate traps or buttons. Blue Pikmin energy releases in a fast wave that can erode away walls, push at light objects, and even part bodies of water if he's got enough of it. He's intuitive and great at puzzles and problem solving, though he also bears a general distrust of anyone that isn't the horse. He's a fair bit on the lazy side as well, just as ready to opt to take a nap and let someone else handle a situation as he is to wrangle it himself. He can't draw any energy his pistol can use, so he likes to just stick easy with the three primary colors.

The "Horse" (Behind Byrd, It/Its or whatever is funniest at the time), nobody knows where it came from. Not even Byrd. He just found it in a traveling xenocircus and stole it. Not even on the same planet Mina found the two of them on. It takes well to any rider but it's favorite is Byrd by a long shot. It isn't bothered by rough terrain or unruly weather in the slightest, it'll march onward regardless. It doesn't seem to get tired either, but it always dons a sort of sleepy expression. It eats primarily vegetation, but it can stomach anything. Alien plants, poisonous plants, plants that might actually be animals... Except the Pikmin. It vehemently avoids eating the Pikmin, going as far as to even avoid explicitly safe food that's been in prolonged contact with them. Maybe it knows something everyone else doesn't... Or maybe you shouldn't base a conspiracy off of a creature that hunts down and eats Skitter Leaves for fun. Any creature, for that matter. The horse does, otherwise, behave like a horse. It neighs, whinnies, snorts and stomps. It's also fond of taking long walks on picturesque beaches and trying to wear Byrd's hat.

The RMS GUILDMASTER is equipped to handle everyone's needs and wants. A complex waterway accompanies and connects every room, a necessity for Mina if she wants to do anything outside of her suit. Like eating. Sleeping. Living. There's also a high-end computer management program installed that Rachel takes the utmost care of, updating it, maintaining every file and ensuring its firewall is up-to-date down to the second. There is an autopilot, but Byrd takes the metaphorical wheel more often than not thanks to the crew's sheer spontaneity and his ability to perform a vertical hairpin turn. Useful for outrunning enemy ships when the weapons and shield system isn't cutting it.

What ties the crew together in their conquest is ultimately a sense of selfishness. Mina could stop at all at any time and take up the mantle of Queen of Rybakai, but she doesn't want to. She wants to keep living a life of adventure. Rachel could go back to Kumoshigoto and eventually commandeer Kankor, but she doesn't want to. She wants to be more than just what she was born into. Byrd could give up the ghost and tell the crew who he really is and where he's from, but he doesn't want to. He wants to keep being nobody and escaping expectations. The horse... Really does know something they don't.

[skele-girl999]

I was just writing a ROTTMNT fanfic based around Future!Rise Mikey and I went off on a tangent immediately explaining how I think Mystics, Magic and Ninpo work. Thing is, it doesn't work with the scene at all, and I can't think of any planned scene I could appropriately put it in. At least not one within the near future.

My solution? Copy paste the whole thing onto Tumblr and see what other people think of it, while I keep a copy stashed away for future reference. You never know, I may get a cool idea to add on from someone else.

Head Cannon/Lore Drop below:

"Mystics, magic and Ninpo were all different, despite how similar they may look from an outside perspective. They had different activation requirements, different tools, and they also just felt different to use. But they also behaved very differently as well.

You could do just about anything with magic, your only limitations were the strength of your conduit and how much power you could extract from the world around you. Though it did require some skill and practice to use, and was in fact the most difficult to learn. Mikey couldn’t do magic, as its complexity made it a bit of a dying artform.

The people of Witch Town were the only ones who had any mastery of magic, and they were among the first to be taken out during the Krang invasion's first attack after they got the Technodrome.

Mystics are a little easier, if more directionless and physically taxing, not to mention limited. They depended deeply on someone’s personal energy reserves, and it was influenced by your emotions. Someone with low or no mystic energy would not be able to use mystics, since they would have no power to give. And for the people who do have power, they would be restricted by only a few abilities based on their personality and nothing else.

Draxum described Michelangelo as a warm, lighthearted person with a vast imagination, who could quickly turn dangerous and highly destructive when provoked or desperate. This is why he could use fire, gravity manipulation, and make solid light projections, but couldn't create ice, or control plants, or some other ability like that.

It helped that he had such a large well of energy to draw from. The largest amount of mystic energy Draxum had ever seen in a single person, in fact.

Ninpo, unlike the other two, was a lot less understood. It was one of those abilities that only a select few could have gained and only unlocked under very specific circumstances, like Chi, dreamwalking, prophecy, or true enlightenment.

But, after having their own Ninpo studied and the few remaining records of the power examined, Donnie and Draxum managed to pull together a working theory on it.

Basically, Ninpo is the ability to use one’s deep emotional connections, specifically family, to harness major facets of their personality and project them into some kind of power. The take of this give tended to vary, most likely based on the strength of the user and the aforementioned family bonds, but it seemed to be focused on the body.

It messed with cellular growth, the consumption of vitamins and minerals, and the production of hormones. All of this often led to an increased ageing and health problems. Though Draxum and Donnie were hesitant to solidly confirm any specific symptoms, considering the apocalypse was a breeding ground for premature ageing due to stress and health problems caused by horrible living conditions anyway.

Ninpo also seemed to be hereditary, which was something that they couldn't really figure out an answer for with their circumstances. Not only did they have a limited sample size, but all of them being from the same family meant no diversity, and them being mutants also messed with the research.

The two scientists of the family were very bitter about this, but did still try to work with what they had."

And that's about it! Now go, my fellow turtle fans, give me your opinions and theories. I wish to see how I could improve what I've written (and maybe rant about the fic this was written for).