#and transferred it to a smaller canvas

[ceiluens]

Grumpy dog

[skunkes]

how exactly do you get a printer to print something in the exact size you want it to 😭

[literaturemeetsreality]

Rafayel turning to mush while you plant kiss after kiss on his face. You’re straddling his lap while he leans back against the couch. The contents of your makeup bag are spilled out next to you. A smaller pile dedicated just to the task at hand.

Testing lipsticks, you said. Have to find our perfect shade.

Our. He loves that you said that, wanting to include him in something mundane as swatching your makeup, wanting to make sure the color looks good both on your lips and the marks you’ll leave on his skin, showing everyone that he belongs to you as much as you do him. A variety of colors paint his face, neck, and chest with varying degrees of intensity since you were testing the fade and longevity as well. Rafayel loved how thorough you were being.

“Hmm?” He looked up at you in adoration, responding to you with a hum at your soft call of his name.

He tried to return your kisses with his own but you’d pull away and giggle at his pout. You need to hold still, my love. And, well, how could he not absolutely melt at that. He’s boneless, completely content with just softly running his hands up and down your sides, switching to playing with the hem of your shirt or squeezing your waist every so often.

“What about this one?” You asked again, lifting his face up to inspect your work. His eyes were unfocused, lost in the feeling of your lips on his skin, but they were able to zone in on your mouth anyway. The slightly faded color on your lips no doubt matching the marks you’d just left under his chin.

“You’re beautiful.” His thumb came up to rub the slight smudge on your bottom lip, the color transferring to his skin. “I like this one.”

“That’s what you said about all of them.” Heat pooled in your stomach while you watched him lick the makeup from his thumb. His eyes were still glazed over, and you couldn’t tell if he wanted to elicit that reaction from you on purpose.

“Can’t help it, you’re a vision. Colors were made to complement you.” He dragged you higher up his lap and tried to pull you down to meet his mouth, whining again when you pulled away.

“Please,” Rafayel begged, his hands resuming their position on your sides, this time sliding under your shirt. It was the combination of his cool hands and the heat in his eyes that made you shiver.

You leaned over and grabbed your phone. You took a few pictures of your canvas before flipping the screen to show him.

“You look so pretty.” His breath hitched. “If we’re talking art, then I can’t decide what color looks best. You make them all look good.”

You giggled. “I might have to start all over and try them all again.”

He groaned and dropped his head to rest on the back of the couch. You ran your fingers through his hair and over his shoulders, careful not to smudge any of the marks littered across his skin. “Fine, fiiine,” he said. “We’ll just have to wear them all out. We obviously will look amazing, no matter the shade. As long as we match, there will be no doubts.”

You grin while he threads his fingers through your hair. “But I am going to explode if I don’t kiss you right now.”

He pulled you in- no resistance this time- and dragged his mouth across yours. “It’s your turn now.” You hummed as he deepened the kiss, barely noticing him pluck your phone from your hand, more distracted by the way he pulled your bottom lip between his teeth. “I’m using this as reference. You’re going to get every kiss mark you placed on me tenfold.”

And as a true artist, he filled his canvas.

This was def done before but I can’t remember which characters. If someone has a whole fic, please link it bc I have a NEED for this trope

[achrams]

𝐑𝐪-𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐞.

𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: On your nightly walk you run into a stranger, who befriending seems a lot more beneficial that previously thought.

𝐂𝐰: Vampires, blood, biting and obviously some good dry humping.

Being a huge fan of all things mythical had always been a part of your life. The idea of living in a world full of creatures that were better and stronger, probably more attractive too, though that just might be your humble opinion, it all filled you with excitement. That fascination had transferred over to your later stages in life, given how often you had hoped to catch one of those creatures of the night. Any would do, you just wanted proof that you were right. That this world had more to offer than plain grey days mashed into one dull blob.

Though despite your biggest efforts nothing seemed to work, nothing  at all. You’ve practically tried everything you know! If you look past the fact that all the information you held had come from reddit of all places, but that's beside the point. What mattered is you didn’t give up. Not an ounce of determination was left unused. Every single day the routine progressed until you didn’t even realise it had become a part of your life.

---

The days had turned to months and those into years. The hope was not lost but it was faltering ever so gradually, the countless tries had formed smaller and smaller acts. If before you went out of your way to really create contraptions or play chemist in your kitchen, then now you murmured a few sentences from a ‘spellbook’ before bed. It wasn’t much but it was something, because you still had some hope. Even if it was little and fragile.

On a fortunate evening, you had decided to take a stroll around the park that surrounded your lousy flat. A sanctuary between the tall rubbled buildings. You didn’t know what urge had pulled you into the crisp nightly air but you decided not to worry your head over it, no need to start overthinking. ‘My body just needs some fresh air..’ That's good enough of a reason for you.

Taking the first step outside was nice and relaxing after having to escape the rotten to the core hallways and clunky elevators of your building. It was a nice reminder that even in a place like this, there was a chance at some peace. A deep breath in, you closed your eyes for a moment. Savouring the gentle breeze and fresh air that rejuvenated your tired body.

The stars looked back at you when you opened your eyes despite liking the use of your other senses. “This is nice… every night should glow like this..” The words had left your lips without any further thought. Seems your heart let the love you held for the night out without seeking permission from your brain. It was a pretty sight were it not covered by clouds or light pollution most of the time.

A crack was heard and you snapped your head behind you. Eyes squinted from the darkness but also to show the concern that threatened to paint the canvas of your face. ‘There's no one here. Calm down.’ You thought to yourself as you took small steps backwards, keeping your eyes in the direction of the suspicious sound. ‘Just in case.’ That’s what you told yourself as the silence you once found peaceful now turned into something more of a lingering tension.

“Ookay, one step at a time..we are good..we are okay. I am totally not being creeped out-!” Your inner thoughts had turned to a monologue, between yourself and this ‘totally not there’ being in a bush, somewhere in the middle of your descending steps. Another step backwards and a plethora of emotions filled your core. Fear, surprise and then relief on top. All because a cat decided to jump out of the bush you had your eyes locked onto.

“Oh thank god..” The words breathed out into the chilly night as you rested your hand on your heart for a moment. You knew for certain that you weren’t insane now, it had just been a cat! Nothing to worry about. Stretching yourself up straight from this odd half hunched position, you turned around to actually go on this walk of yours, instead of fighting with cats that probably wouldn’t even bat an eye in your direction.

As soon as you turned around you got a face full of something hard. “Ow!” Rubbing your hand against your forehead from the impact. A few groans left you before you managed to apologise to whoever you had turned into.

“Sorry about that, I wasn't looking where I was going.” You spoke as you finally opened your eyes to be met with a guy. Not just any guy, a guy whom you have never seen before in your building or anywhere near this outhouse of an area. It was surprising to say the least. Meeting up with a complete stranger in the middle of the night. Totally not suspicious.

“Ah, it's alright. You seemed distracted enough, I should have said something.” You shrugged back at the apology being granted to you. A little sheepishly, letting go of your head to try and get a better look at this mystery man in this low lighting. ‘An accent. Interesting.’

“Are you new here? I don't think I've seen you before.” The words were friendly enough despite the eerie way everything had been playing out thus far.

A moment of silence filled the air, sadly the awkward kind. ‘Nevermind..probably not the best idea to try and make friends at midnight-’ Your inner debate about continuing this conversation was interrupted. “Julien. Nice to meet you.”

Taking his held out hand, you shake it as a sign of respect while Julien continues speaking. “I’m visiting family here. Never seen this area before..quite uncanny of a place.” You couldn’t help but chuckle at the description. It fits this place a little too well.

“Yeahh, this is what happens when you work just to get by.” A shrug left you as you sigh, stepping by him as you bury your hands into your jacket. “Hope you find this place at least somewhat pleasing.”

One or two steps past Julien and the guy had seemed to scramble from his spot to walk next to you, awfully happy as he kept looking around and sniffing the air a little. To make the walk a little less awkward you coughed and asked, “Sooo, special day?” to which Julien looked at you confused.

“I mean, you said you were here for family and you look happy…?” A noise of understanding left Julien as he nodded and vibrantly began explaining how some family lived nearby and they were planning to get a whole party set up for a feast of sorts. ‘Foreigner things probably.’ You weren’t one to judge so you nodded and listened.

---

The walk went relatively well, it was honestly quite odd how well the two of you got along and so fast too. Almost like this was fate, if you believed in such a thing. Soon enough you considered Julien a friend, going on midnight walks one too many times to count while he was in the area, but it’s not like you minded. It was nice, Julien was nice.

He had a nice smile that always seemed to shine with every joke you did and his hair, oh his hair, the way it moved when he nodded along when you spoke. Last but not least of all his eyes, they seemed to speak more than Julien himself. So playful and warm with the way he looked at you, making you feel less alone in this city you had to call home. 

Though there always seemed to be a hidden glint in his eyes. When you spoke, seemingly distracted with making the stories more interesting with dramatic hand movements, Julien looked at you. No, he didn’t look, he admired. Took in every detail of your being from top to bottom. You noticed it. Julien wasn’t as slick with his hungry glances and licks of his lips than he thought. You felt his eyes on you more than you’d seen him look at the pathway you two were walking on.

One night, however. you had a lot of fun and out of the blue turned to him after having gained the courage to ask, “Do you want to come over?” Julien looked back at you for a good moment before smiling back at you with one of the biggest smiles you had ever seen. “I thought you’d never ask!” That was all you needed to hear to know that Julien wasn’t some stranger who’d leave you behind after his time here.

No clue where the need and courage came from, especially after registering in your mind that Julien seemed to be eating you up with his eyes every time you two were together. Perhaps you had the urge to hopefully prolong this friendship. It was nice to have a friend when all you knew were creepy elders that probably saw things that weren’t there.

---

With a smile you opened your front door and stepped in, holding the door open with a simple, “Come on in, make yourself at home.” The slight anticipation and worry on Julien’s face faded and he walked in. Muttering a small ‘thank you’ as he walked past you and now that you saw him in actual light, he looked even more ethereal than before.

Guiding him in you showed hospitality by offering drinks, foods, snacks, anything to welcome him but his eyes seemed to be glued onto the odd contraptions around your house. Refusing everything you offered with a smile. Your house gave off a rather interesting and floral vibe, but it seemed out of place for this dry block of a city. Embarrassment flushed your face as you stood before Julien, preventing him from eyeing everything so attentively, then looking down at him so he wouldn’t be inclined to stand up from the couch to take a closer look.

“Uhm, those are nothing, don't mind them!” You chuckled awkwardly, yet he seemed to tilt his head to the side to keep taking glances before Julien mumbled through a hearty laugh. “Are you trying to lure something into your home?” His face held an odd smile, like he knew something. You seemed to be too caught up in your embarrassment to notice that Julien seemed proud.

You averted your gaze to save yourself from the embarrassment of having to explain that from a young age you’ve been into mythicals and have been trying to catch one. With a sigh you sat down next to Julien on your couch and started speaking. Hoping to get this out the way so it wouldn't be brought up again. “You know those childhood stories of werewolves and vampires?” One look in Julien’s way and he was already nodding his head along with a small knowing smile. “So, basically I am convinced they’re actually real…and I might have been trying to see one. By…trying to catch one..”

The sigh you let out was deafening and so was the silence that followed, lingering and looming over the room. A chuckle brought your gaze back up to meet with Julien’s, effectively having broken your insecurity filled thoughts. “No luck then?” You had to laugh along at the absurdity of this confession. “No luck.” You let out an airy chuckle while shaking your head. “ Honestly I’m starting to doubt they were real in the first place.”

Julien seems to hum for a moment, his eyes lingering on you for a bit too long. Turning to properly face him, you give a slight brow raise and Julien smiles. “What if I tell you they are real?” His smirk widens and he seems more and more proud. Smug about something you can’t wrap your head around.

Instead of your confusion subsiding it actually increases. A lot. “You don’t have to lie to me to make childhood me happy.” Dismissing what you had heard. You didn’t need pity for something you had decided to not believe in as of 3 minutes ago.

“I’m not lying.” Julien pushes on and moves closer to you on the couch, trying to see when you would catch on. “They are real.” The scoff that left your lips couldn’t be helped. Looking away with a grumble, you had missed the frown that have made it’s way onto Julien’s face.

“Trust me..” Julien whispers oddly close to you now. You hadn’t even noticed the moment he had leaned over to practically kiss all the way up your neck. With a shiver you turn your head to try and look at Julien. Confused why he’s so adamant on having you believe this fantasy.

Within seconds you feel his lips on your neck, pushing you to lie down on the couch while he straddles you. “You see, I am one of these creatures.” Julien continues, his thighs holding you down on the couch while his hot breath fans your skin. “And my god do you smell divine. You probably taste godly too..”

No time was left for you to voice your scepticism and confusion about how you had ended up in this position. Pinned under Julien.  Because as soon as you wanted to say something, to ease the doubt behind your eyes, Julien had pressed his sharp fangs against your skin. Piercing through it with a satisfying rip only you could hear. ‘They are real. What the fuck!?’ That was your initial reaction before it began morphing.

‘Fuuck..’ your second thought was accompanied a sharp breath in, very well, so well in fact that it gave off the idea you had liked it. Which you, surprise surprise, did like. You had never expected to meet a guy, have him be a vampire, become friends, invite him over and then have him feast on you. Pressing your eyes shut as you came to terms with the tingly and slightly burning sensations that came along with being a blood bag for a vampire. 

To Julien’s surprise you didn’t push him off at all, just lying below him. Taking this. All pinned for him. He could hear your heavy breaths and the way your hands had moved to hold his shoulders. Hands tightening around his shoulders when it had become slightly painful, drawing out a low breath of pure delight. A groan if you will.

With slight hesitancy Julien pulled his teeth out from your skin, lapping the treasured bite clean to both save precious blood and to ensure you didn’t stain anything. Then he looked down at your flushed face with a twinge of amusement. His eyes travelled down to where he was straddling you. Your eyes still pressed shut as you’re more concerned with calming your erratic breathing even though you could feel Julien’s eyes travel down your heaving body.

Julien licked his fangs clean and shifted in his place, drawing out another groan from you. “Someone seems to have liked being fed on.” His words smug as he looks down at you, letting his fingers leave feather-like touches against your neck. The bite he had left there. It sent a thrilling sensation through his body. Seeing how you withered and shivered below him. A perfect guy to snack on.

“You’re mighty hard against me.” The words are more teasing than the last, purposefully grinding his hips against your hard on to prove a point. With a whimper you finally opened your eyes, staring at him with mild embarrassment. “Shut up-”

Your bratty protest was easily silenced by a meticulously constructed grind against you. “Shit- mmh..okay fine it..sort of felt good when you did that.” A fang bearing smile made its way onto Julien’s face. He ran his hand up your torso to play with his bite mark again. “That's rather cute. Getting all hard for me from a bite.” 

Julien leaned down to look into your eyes, holding onto your chin to keep you looking at him. The blush and slightly pouty look on you tugged at Julien’s heartstrings. “How bout this..” he proposed, his words sly and clearly in his favour. “You let me drink some more and as a reward I'll help you out with your problem.”

It didn’t take more than a second of consideration from you, because as soon as the words ahad left Julien's mouth you were already nodding. Begging with your actions to keep this going. You didn’t know why, but it felt so good. So good to have Julien feed off you. Not only did you have proof that these creatures were real. You had one right here on top of you. Only an idiot would let such a perfect opportunity go to waste. Aand you happened to be a self proclaimed genius.

A lick up the other side of your neck earned a shiver alongside a small groan. You could feel how Julien smiled against your skin. It was clear that he was enjoying this a lot more than he let on. You were certainly going to put that information to good use. Feeling how his fangs grazed along the delicate skin of a human, you let your hands sneak their way to Julien’s sides while he was distracted.

With a smirk you held him down against you and bucked your hips up. The sudden action made Julien’s fangs enter your system with a small yelp from him. Having Julien connected to you, sucking out your delicious blood, gave you a perfect recipe for satisfaction. 

Keeping him down atop you, you grind your hips up against him. Feeling the way both friction from your movements and the pressure from your jeans add to your straining dick, it was enough to draw out some breaths and shudders here and there. Though the star of the show was Julien and his fangs that were lodged right into you.

Julien in return had pressed his head against you harder, trying to get as much blood from you as he could. Hands holding your shoulders while he sucked on your neck. As a bonus it seems like your grinding had started to affect him and with small pants against your neck Julien began grinding his hips down against your dick. A perfect melody of pleasure and pain. It was wonderful.

Feeling how both of your straining hard ons pressed against one another. The friction from thrusts into nothing and pressure from trying to stimulate your erections made both of you needy. Feeling how your dick twitched in the limiting confines of your pants urged you to keep going. To satisfy yourself like promised by Julien.

Your already breathy and whiny mouth let out a louder whine from the loss of fangs in your neck. Julien was becoming sloppy, too pleasured out of his mind to continue feeding on you. Truth be told he didn’t need to anymore but you just tasted heavenly to him, so an extra snack later on wouldn’t hurt, yeah?

The sight of your neck stained red with iron, flushed face and parted lips added to Julien’s need for release. He pressed himself down harder and faster, desperately grinding against you with renowned determination. You followed along with just as eager moves against Julien as he moved against you. Hands gripping onto Julien’s hips as you murmur, “Pleasepleaseplease- Mmh!”

Feeling the pit in your stomach tighten, grow warm with every mutual thrust against one another. Pants and frantic bucks driving home the pleasure that threatened to consume. Julien moved down to finally lick your dripping neck clean, the sensation of his wet tongue adding to the immense pleasure of a nearing orgasm.

To your surprise however, it seemed that the licked up blood didn’t make it to Julien’s system, but instead was consumed by you. His lips pressing against yours as he forced you to taste yourself. The metallic liquid coating both of your mouths. It was a sudden chance and one that gave the final push.

With a groan into the kiss and a relatively more forceful thrust against Julien, you came with a shudder, feeling how Julien had done the exact same. Shuddering and panting against each other. Body convulsing against the couch as you come down from your high. Julien sat up straight, letting go of the kiss in a sensual way with his lips begging to stay connected to yours. To have your taste a little longer.

Julien breathed heavily on top of you, enjoying the sight of a satisfied human and being a satisfied vampire himself. Both of you letting out heavy whines and pants as blotches of sticky and wet residue slowly seep through both of your pants. It was a little pathetic. At least both of you came, right?

“You taste godly, and I bet you would feel even more exquisite.” Julien panted the words out as he watched you shudder when he touched your softening dick. “Unfortunately, I'm more than full for now.” 

Feeling how your chin was made to face Julien, you forced your eyes open and he smiled back at you. That same damned sweet smile. “I'll be back for a taste soon enough, make sure you rejuvenate yourself.” A quick cheeky kiss was pressed against your lips before Julien got off you. Swiftly moving to the closest exit, which happened to be a window, and leaving through that.

Your unfocused eyes only caught a glimpse of his figure turning to shadows as he disappeared into the night after murmuring something of a ‘Good vampire summoner’.

You were too hazed out of your mind to properly make sense of everything. Panting and overwhelmed, still coming down from your climax. ‘How the fuck did I get myself into this mess?’ You murmur to yourself as you finally let the activities of your day and now vampire filled night take over. Closing your eyes to get some rest and then maybe…hopefully think about this with a clear head tomorrow.

‘...shit.’ You couldn’t fall asleep at all. All you could think about was how it felt to have Julien sink his teeth into you and lap up your blood. Yeah…you better go and take care of your needy erection before you accidently manage to summon an incubus.

[meruz]

i hope this hasn't been asked before. what size do you make your canvas? and do you crop it to fit other socials (like Instagram for example)? i hear that 300 dpi is standard. i never know if it's good to make my canvas big or not.

hi i think this ask is like at least 4 months old but i was scanning my sketchbooks from last year and i abruptly remembered i had gotten this ask because i had made a little chart in my sketchbook trying to figure out how to answer it

anyways theres pros and cons. and the size of your canvas is really going to depend on personal needs + preference. how good ur computer is, how complicated ur art style, how comfortable drawing feels, how much disk space you have to spare, what youre gonna end up using the art for in the end...300dpi is standard for PRINTING specifically, if you only plan to ever post things online then 72dpi works great and will save you space (fun fact a lot of professional animation files i deal with are 72dpi. and those eventually go on your tv screen). but personally i make everything i draw 300dpi because i am always printing stuff for cons, zines, etc and its nice to have the option even if i dont end up printing.

when I was a teen I used to draw on a rly shitty laptop and i made everything 800x800px 300dpi because big canvases would cause a lot of lag and also the resolution on this laptop was pretty small so 800px was a lot of the screen already. now i have a slightly better laptop with a bigger resolution and i sketch on giant 10000px-40000px canvases with the hard round brush and no shape dynamics or transfer whatsoever to minimize lag. when it comes to making a final illustration when i know ill be using a bunch of layer effects/blending modes/colors/mixing brushes etc etc ill generally crop the canvas down to the 6000px range. most illustrations i try to make sure are comfortably printable on tabloid size paper so thats pretty much anything hovering around or above 3000x5000px w 300dpi (so 11x17in). HOPE THIS HELPS?

EDIT: OH ALSO re: socials. i always ALWAYS size down my art to post on the internet. i think its crazy when other artists dont. because why would i ever let the internet have my hi-res file for free. also in general i think it looks better if you do the resizing yourself because if you don't then many social media sites will compress your file for you! a lot of people will post a hi-res file to twitter and then go "Wow twitter killed the quality of this img!!!" UH YEAH because they have an automatic image compressor. because they need to save space too lol and they dont want your image to take 248263895 years to load. same with instagram and to a lesser extent tumblr. when i post anything on social media i resize it down to 1200px-1600px on the longest side... its a little arbitrary but im kind of basing it on the smallest resolution of widely available screens. mostly because i think it looks stupid when u open up an image file fullsize and u have to scroll to see the whole thing... also iirc instagram only takes images up to 1080px before it resizes them? granted if you upload something smaller than that itll also resize it up which will look worse so I think bumping the numbers just over 1080px is pretty safe.

I should really be bringing the dpi down to 72 too when i post online but often im too lazy to do that. but it will technically help ur image load faster and stuff. and make it less likely for people to yoink it off the web and print it themselves.

[robo-milky]

hiii milkyyyy! u’ve been popping out so many manga pages and i’m just so amazed?? i’ve been wanting to get back to manga drawing so can i ask for some tips? like what’s your process and how do you decide the screen tones/sfx/effects/speechbubbles to use? the latter is something i’m struggling with 😭

tyyy 💕

Hi Yudi, thanks for dropping by!

General note: One thing I’ve learned about trying to go for a more manga-esque style is that there’s really no particular way to do it, and EVERY artist does it differently. Everything I do here is a blend of my own style and things from JP artists I admire! However, the most important thing is that panels aren’t meant to be masterpieces but to convey information and get the dialogue going.

This process will be CSP oriented. I’ve made a mini screen tone tutorial (and how to turn on Layer Property) but I did not talk about my own settings ^^ You’re free to do any resolution you want, though I stick to drawing on a B4 template for fun (and imagine that one day my stuff can get published /j). I hope this helps, as I’m still trying to figure my own style and set limits on the details too.

[Process]

Script + Thumbnail

I used to wing stuff for one-pagers, but now I’ve found that scripting and thumbnailing has made my process so much faster. (Omg it’s almost like people make drafts for a reason- @ me cause I hate planning)

There’s no standards of a comic script, and each publisher has their own format. My usual scripts don’t separate pages, since I leave that to the thumbnailing once I do dialogue placement. If trying to imagine panels without seeing them overwhelming, at least get the dialogue down.

The B4 thumbnail template I use is pretty darn big, so it also doubles as the sketching stage. Once the thumbnails are done, I transfer them (screenshot) to a comic file on CSP. Once the set up is done, I do speech bubbles + dialogue first, insert the frames, then get to the line art. Since I don’t think anyone is actually gonna print their works, you’re free to trim your canvas however you want to post online 🫡

Speech Bubbles

Any speech bubble can work and will eventually blend in as the viewer is reading, but I have a vendetta against super flat/digital-looking ones. I made a custom brush for a textured speech bubble pen with line width by adjusting its taper and changing the brush shape. Published manga are a different story, but I like the more organic polygonal bubble shapes from indie artists-

For different shapes and situation… Squares - Narration, Flash/Urchin - Character thoughts/internal monologue, Hexagon - Phone call/text (not a concrete rule but a common pattern)

You can also add emanata (sparkles/symbols) on the bubbles for flairs as you see fit.

Screen tone (Please read the linked mini-tutorial above)

I split my tones into two folders. One specifically for black, and greys.

I first fill in all black areas, the duplicate them. The top layer will be the shadows (remains pure black), and the bottom layer is set to [Opacity 75%] and turned into a screen tone layer with a [frequency of 45-50] (It must always be at a lower frequency than the greys). To add texture, I use a grainy brush to erase bits of pure black on a mask. To show light on the screen tone layer, I use gradient erase on a mask.

For the greys, I split them into three tones (dark grey, medium grey, light grey) all in the same folder so they don’t overlap and it’s easier to fix. I use a [frequency of 75] or any number higher than the screen tone in the black layer. Overall, tones can be as simple and complex as you want, but it’s best to save more detailed tones for important panels. (Planning to change this as I’ve realized how big the B4 canvas actually is, and the frequency doesn’t need to be so high- The size of screen tone is a preference. This example was done on a smaller canvas, so higher frequencies still look less pixelated/small.)

Emanata/SFX

Special effects is whatever the situation calls for! It can to make a blank canvas feel more dynamic, to evoke certain emotions, hint/foreshadow. It’s best used sparingly on important panels you think would be the most important… but how do you get those effects?

THE CLIP STUDIO ASSETS STORE- Or draw/download your own depending on the program (You have no idea- ever since I downloaded too, I can’t unsee them in other works of artists I like 😭) Not used in the example but these are my essentials- You can also find a lot of gems if you straight up search “manga” and see the most popular assets.

Another good place to find comic fonts in general is blambot.com (?). They have quite a bit of free, personal use fonts if you ever need flavour text when italics or bold isn’t enough. (Current font used is Anime Ace 3 Regular BB).

Happy creating and feel free to ask if anything was unclear ^^

[noya-arts]

Calling all horse, dog and other critter blogs! As I'm looking to gain more experience and acquire more examples of my acrylic paintings, I want to involve people whose animals have been bringing me joy for last few years. To do this, I'm offering 5 paintings for £20 each in UK, and £30 internationally* (and while I welcome any and all tips, I am not expecting them) The style I'm aiming for, is semi-realism, with bold and bright colours, that compliment your animal, yet keeping the result from looking "just like a photo" (we have photos for that) These are extremely discounted prices, that are supposed to cover price of canvas, paint, and shipping, so I am unlikely to offer the paintings again, at this cost. I am experienced in working from various references, be that multiple images or low quality pictures; to create a painting that will be a joy to look at, and reflect a character of your companion. Examples below are 9x12 inches (23x30cm) and I'm willing to go for slightly bigger or smaller paintings if needed for clarity, but this is the size that works extremely well for me.

These are stretched canvas with rigid backing, and come without a frame, with sides painted in complimentary colour so you can display it with, or without a frame.

The painting can be purchased for yourself, or as gifts for other people, as long as you can guarantee the necessary reference pictures will be provided, and that person receiving it will not be charged extra for the painting. Purchasing additional slots can be discussed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ideally, payments can be made through Etsy, bank transfer or ko-fi. I am not accepting paypal at this moment in time, but if this is the only option, or if you have option I have not outlined, please get in touch. * If shipping to your country is more costly than I am prepared to cover, you will be offered to pay the price that covers the shipping, but in most of the countries this should be enough. Any customs fees that might occur will be responsibility of the buyer.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you'd like to take part in this opportunity, reply "CLAIM" to the post, and drop me a quick message with what you're looking for.

[sarasa-cat]

@sepdet / @auronlu (tagged you on both bc not sure which is your main account or how tumblr even works anymore 😅)

Annie Stegg Gerard has a patreon in which she goes into deep detail on her materials and process. Links to annie's socials, including her patreon are near the bottom of this page: https://www.gallerygerard.com/about

Figured it might interest you.

The one thing to keep in mind is that she works out the vast majority of not composition and details in a grisaille underlayer that is usually on top of a detailed drawing applied to her painting surface. Thus her painting techniques are an extension of classical drawing skills rather than, say, direct painting** where you start off by getting your big shapes and their overarching values+hues before returning into them to add more detail.

Obviously, there are pros and cons to this method. The pro (from my point of view, but ymmv) is that the vast majority of painting is fully worked out at the drawing stage, well before a single tube of raw umber (or equivalent) has been opened. From there on in, it is just a matter of developing that drawing to first establish the value range and the highlighted details, and THEN to create layers of atmosphere via glazes that you directly paint into with a 00 brush, rinse wash repeat, until you feel satisfied.

The cons are, as you know, glazes dry slowly in oils (although smart choices of pigments make it go slightly faster). But the other "con" is that unlike direct painting, there is far less opportunity to correct your underlying forms as you go. For many art students trained in recent decades, that can be a big problem because her style requires a high level of classical drawing skills which requires a specific form of education given that she actually DRAWS with paint and then glazes over it, and does this repeatedly.

That said:

1. If you are interested in glazing but less in drawing with oil paint, you can still learn a lot about glazing on her patreon. She is very thorough regarding why she selects certain pigments, etc.

-or-

2. If you are interested in applying lessons from classical styles of drawing, you can start off by working out your drawing digitally and/or on paper, and continuously correct it until it is *just* what you want. Then transfer your drawing to your painting surface while correcting and improving it. Then slowly improve it more during your first layer of grisaille -- just use raw umber and nothing else (no solvent, no added medium), and get those tiny little rubber shapers plus q-tips and a rag as your erasing tools (in a pinch, I used to use a kneeded gum eraser). You'll have a 2-3 hours of open time with straight-from-the-tube raw umber applied thinly which is ample time to refine your drawing further while creating a simplistic value structure. If you need to spend a lot of time perfecting your underdrawing during this phase, just work piecemeal, as tiny as needed, rather than attack a 2x3 foot surface* in one go! It is alllll about craftsmanship rather than artistry, tbh. Anyhow, one you finish that, you'll have the bones of the painting, and from there on in it is all a matter of establishing values, glaze down, while glaze is still wet use it as a "couch" to paint in detail and bring values back up; rinse, wash, repeat.

(* annie works pretty small btw; I think 2x3 feet would be LARGE for her)

(**that said, she does occasionally do direct painting, which is typical way oil painting has been taught for the past few generations, and it is interesting to see how she approaches direct painting because she has been heavily influenced by the style she normally works in).

It should go without saying but doing a style similar to annie's usually requires working on harder surface rather than canvas, especially if working small. Wood, copper, or dibond. You need that surface VERY well gessoed and you need to sand each layer of gesso very very smooth. Especially if this is a smaller painting (or a massive painting with lots of microscopic detail). In a hurry, I can prep a surface in a day (with a hair dryer on low). But my pref is to take 4 days. Gesso. Come back tomorrow and sand smooth, add new coat of gesso. Etc. 4 layers.

This technique is impossible on those pre-stretched canvases sold at art stores. If you really love canvas, you need to stretch your own using the finest weave of oil-primed linen and stretch it so damn tight it plays like a drum. Otherwise the surface is too bumpy (e.g., cotton) and too wobbly. Frankly, too much of a PITA for me. It takes a lot of hand-strength and can be a two person job depending on the size). Also, it can be too bulky as I used to work medium large (closing in on life sized figure in environment). I just went with cradled wood panels or, when very large, dibond aluminum panels which are used by sign makers (far more finicky as it rejects the first layer of oil even after 4-5 coats of gesso).

[mikelogan]

Hello, I want to ask you a stupid question? I want to know if I can ask tutorial on how to make multiple gifs in one? Here example: periodedits/tumblr/com/post/673464243167920128/15k-celebration-make-us-choose

hi there! that's not a stupid question at all (and even if it were, i'd still be happy to help) 💙 below the cut, i'll walk you through how to make something like you linked, with multiple shots in one gif:

We're putting two (or more) shots or scenes together in sequence into one gif, so that's how we'll start. I'm assuming a basic understanding on how to make gifs (if not, check the beginner tutorials tag on @gifmakerresource, the resource blog I run), so we begin by making each gif separately.

When putting multiple gifs together like this, it's important to be mindful of the number of frames you'll end up with. I tend to think it looks best if each scene is the same amount of frames, probably somewhere between 25-40 per gif, though it depends on the dimensions you're using as well. Don't sweat if they're not identical, but the closer they are, the better it'll look -- as opposed to one gif only being 10 frames and the other being 40.

So, create each gif separately. You may choose to sharpen and then color (which I believe is the more popular way, but you can always do it vice versa as well. You also might want to color once both gifs are together, but when I do something like this, I prefer to have everything completely finished before I put them both together. Here are my two sharpened and colored gifs:

Each gif needs to be the same dimensions as well. These are 540px x 500 px.

Assuming your gifs are complete, I find it easiest to convert them both to a smart object. To do this, highlight all the layers in your layers panel (shown below) and right click on one of them and select "convert to smart object." For this to work, you do already need to be using timeline animation, not frame animation. You can learn more about that in the beginner tutorials I linked above.

Once both gifs are smart objects, they'll be comprised of only one layer each, thus making them easier to work with and transfer. Now we want to bring gif #2 onto gif #1's canvas. As long as you're working with smart objects, it's as simple as copy (ctrl+c) and pasting (ctrl+p). Copy gif #2, click on gif #1's tab and then paste. This should also properly align the layers. If it doesn't for some reason, you can either use the move tool (v) or the transform tool (ctrl+t) and click and drag until they're aligned properly. This is what you should see now:

Gif #2 is currently on top of gif #1 in both the timeline and layers panel. If we were to save this gif, they're not going to play sequentially, but rather at the same time and only the top layer will be visible. To make one play after the other, we're going to drag gif #2 AFTER gif #1 in the timeline like so:

We're just clicking and dragging on that top layer and bringing it down to the same line as gif #1 and after it. What I'm doing at the end gets a little cut off, so this is what I'm showing in order to make the timeline smaller so we can see the whole gif. I don't like having to scroll to see it all, but this is just personal preference.

Dragging that slider to the left makes the timeline smaller and dragging it to the right makes it larger, which is great when you're working with detailed stuff like keyframes.

And that's literally all there is to it! You can now save your gif! Here are my save settings that I use for literally every single gif I make:

The size limit for uploading a gif to tumblr is 10mb, so at a total of 80 frames (40 each), my gif is too large. In this case, I'm okay with deleting some layers from each, but a tool I use a lot if I don't want to lose frames is ezgif's optimizer. when i tell you this website is a literal lifesaver! you select your gif, wait for it to upload, and then i always choose the first option, lossy gif. You may have to play around with the compression level to get the desired size and quality, though. At compression level 100, my gif is only 5.8mb, but it's pretty noisy. I don't always mind noise (in fact, I add it to my gifs fairly often), but in this case, we have a lot of wiggle room. I played around a bit and found that at compression level 35, my gif still looks nice and comes in at 9.4mb. Right-click and save your gif from here and then upload it to tumblr just like normal!

First gif is using ezgif compression and second is the original gif, just with frames deleted. I ended up having to take off 14 frames in total, 7 from each gif, to come in at 9.5mb. You can decide which method you think looks better!

In this case, I like the 2nd one better as it's less noisy, but it all comes down to personal preference! From here, you can learn cool stuff like transition effects!

I hope this was helpful, but if you have any additional questions, feel free to ask!

[tolbachik-art]

Towing An Abandoned Car Fundraiser

Hi!

Long story short, there’s been a car in our driveway that’s been abandoned for about five years now. We transferred the title to someone, but they moved hundreds of miles away without it, so we need to tow it to their family’s place instead since that’s closer. It’ll be about $200-$400.

I’m chronically ill and can’t work, and can only really do art as a way to make any cash.

I was going to have a better, flashier commissions post, but I’ll just give the price breakdown here. Any little bit helps, so thanks in advanced!

PRICES

$5 - 800x800

$12.5 - 1200x1200

$17.5 - 2000x2000

$30 - 3500x3500

ADDONS

$0 - basic painting, minimal complexity, no painting past terminator, one body

$10 - extra attention to detail, painting past terminator, plus unshaded png

$0/$5/$10 - extra per celestial body, depends on level of complexity, limit depending on canvas size

$0-$15 - rings, dependent on orbital plane and no. of segments

$0/$5/$10 - cloud layer, dependent on complexity

$15 - flat fee for addition of a landscape

$2 - convert to mission patch

$0-$15 - background, dependent on complexity (black > starfield > sf + galaxy > sf + galaxy + nebula/accurate stars)

$5 - commercial rights

TERMS

I will take 15% of the full order up front, and will immediately put that towards a donation fund of my choosing. The rest will be taken after I finish your piece. Proof of donation will be sent privately, or posted publicly depending on your preference. It will be added to a donation counter, either way.

I cannot rush pieces. I am chronically ill, and cannot make promises on when I will be done, but I try to work as quickly as my body and mind allow.

A minimum of an hour and a half will be spent on pieces smaller than 1200x1200, with the attention to detail option.

If wanting a piece larger than 3500x3500, please DM me and we can discuss details.

I can be reached here or on discord, just at “tolbachik” without the quotes.

EXAMPLES

[dribs-and-drabbles]

Be My Favourite ep 9

This was another fantastic ep, and the only thing preventing me from saying it topped last week’s again is that there was NO MAX! 😮

BUT there was so much more character development.

First, Pearmai, because I wrote last week that I was curious about her backstory, especially her relationship with her mother. And we got to know this week already.

We got confirmation that Pear holds things in, hides them, and masks her true thoughts and feelings. She’s carried the hurt of her mother’s abandonment for so long, whilst her mother doesn’t see the harm she’s done and her father expects her to be ok with it all.

And now I understand why Pear desires marriage and a ‘future’ with someone so much – she wants to build the life for her own children that she never got herself. She wants to have the relationship her parents didn’t have, and wants to have the mother/daughter relationship she never got. (This is something I identify with so if the show doesn’t explicitly tell us this, I can’t help but to read it this way because it’s all too familiar for me).

I loved the way that her mother’s obliviousness to the way Pear feels is reflected in their clothes and art – with them both in black and white, opposites devoid of colour and life, whilst her artwork is FULL of colour, so much so that’s it’s pushing out from the canvas. It’s no surprise Pear feels the way she does in the face of her mother’s freedom and creativity and life – a life chosen at the expense of being a mother to her own daughter. Maybe Pear needs to either find reconciliation with her or to close the door to her in order to have happiness in the future?

I thought Pear’s reaction to Kawi, after learning from Not and then Pisaeng that he and Pisaeng were together, was a little disproportionate – she and Kawi weren’t dating, they were just friends. She may have been developing affection for him (or latching onto the next guy who showed her affection) and thought that he liked her and that they were on their way to dating, BUT they still weren’t together for this to be like Kawi went behind her back or cheated on her.

My interpretation is that this reaction could be a front to her real (maybe subconscious) feelings – disappointment that her future prospects at having the family she wants has disappeared again. I think that unless she can learn and grow from this and her relationship with her mother, she will just latch on to the next person who shows interest in her. I admit, I was afraid that she would do this with Not – we had seen in ep 7 that she eventually did do this in another timeline – but I’m so glad she walked away from him, deciding that if her future isn’t Pisaeng, or Kawi, it definitely wouldn’t be Not. Not in this timeline. And I think this does indicate that something has changed for Pear now. Maybe wanting to talk to Pisaeng about him and Kawi and therefore confiding in him about her mother as well has helped her shift her motivations behind her choices.

Some other smaller thoughts before I get onto Kawi:

At first, I was worried the show was transferring the drinking problem to Pisaeng…but I don’t think it is, because it seems that this occasion was him trying to protect Kawi. I don’t really like all this peer pressure to drink alcohol…but I’m also aware that it could be a cultural politeness thing, but it needs doing away with.

I ADORED the “Kawi, Kawi, Kawi” moment – has anyone gif'd the parallel to “Lao Wen, Lao Wen, Lao Wen” yet?! Paging @forcebook

Also, Pisaeng has a brown phone case?! Kawi’s colour! How have I not noticed this before?! @respectthepetty did you already know? If not, PSA: more colour-coded phone cases!

I’m not sure I like Kawi holding back or pushing Pisaeng’s affections away. He declared he liked Pisaeng and couldn’t bear to be wthout him but it feels like he’s not showing enough affection to reflect that. (It’s bordering on the blushing maiden trope which I detest). Maybe this is Krist’s own discomfort…? Or just that he’s been directed like that (because the directing so far has been brilliant), which is disappointing because I’d hoped the story wouldn’t do this to these characters. It’s good, at least, that Kawi tells us that he’s simping over Pisaeng and how attractive he is but I wish they would show us in Kawi’s body language and reactions to Pisaeng’s advances. Smh.

Right on to Kawi. And what a lot to unpack.

Speaking of the morning in bed scene and Kawi questioning if him and Pisaeng being together is “the right thing” – I’m glad it’s not about them being a gay couple (which the show emphasises a few times during the ep) but it’s not really any better that it’s in relation to theirs and everyone else’s future.

Kawi is still thinking about ‘fixing’ one moment in time, and for multiple people, rather than living in the moment and listening to his present desires (emphasis on both ‘his present desires’ and ‘his present desires’). At the end he worries about how many mistakes he will make in life (mistakes that affect others negatively) but he still needs to learn that he has no control over how other people are affected by his choices for himself. And that he can’t let that dictate the choices he does make, he has to let other people live their lives and he has to live his own. (@dimplesandfierceeyes wrote a great post related to this).

And as much as I’m shook about Kwan liking Not (as we all are), their situation perfectly highlights why Kawi needs to focus on himself and not others. Because as much as Kwan and Pearmai (and Not to some extent but we don’t care about him, right?) are hurting and unhappy now it’s SO GOOD that all of this has happened for these characters.

First we have Kwan. As much as this is hurting Kwan, she is being set free now instead of in 12 years' time. She is being saved from 12 years of hurt and pain and unrequited love. (Oh Kwan, beautiful Kwan. You’ll meet someone better. I PROMISE!) (Check out this fantastic reblog thread about Kwan by @lurkingshan, @jjsanguine and @twig-tea)

Then Pearmai. She’s hurting from her parents’ situation, and from the revelation about Kawi and Pisaeng, but she chooses to not just turn to Not. She turns him down and sets herself on a completely different path. She now has the time and opportunity to find love in another place (hopefully a happier one) and still get the family she wants.

(And Not, if I have to… This is good for Not too, because he gets to declare now [to himself as well as Kwan] that he likes Pearmai more than Kwan [and maybe other people he’s sleeping with], he’s being honest with himself and others [is that a bit of growth I see there? *she squints*]. And it’s fucking fantastic that Pearmai turns him down [not only because she deserves better] but because he can move on and maybe use this experience to change [the jury’s out on that for a while. As an aside, this ep made me retract slightly the thinking there might be a possibility that Not is also gay/bi and will also have his own realisation arc…but the show’s not over yet!]). Anyway, THIS IS GOOD. This is good for all of them.

Kawi thinks they’re all unhappy and it’s because of him, but he’s not able to see the full picture. There’s so much nuance in what they do want and what will make them happy that he can’t even begin to know or understand how his actions play a part in that. And the reality of it is, there are so many positives resulting from his actions as well. We already saw this in ep 8, where Max tells him he’s made a huge difference in his life. I love that Pisaeng gives Kawi hope and optimism for the future but I don’t think hope is enough, Kawi also needs to trust that the results of his actions are not always bad – it might take time but there are positives.

Last thing (because I know this is long!), I want to talk about this: “I will feel more comfortable if we are more equal”. I understand Kawi’s motivations here, he doesn’t want their relationship to be influenced too much by differences that could negatively affect them and their regard for each other – and financial disparity can be a sticking point for a lot of people - but accepting and leaning into the ways they aren’t equal is also healthy for a relationship. Each side can’t always bring the exact same things into a relationship. Balance can be found in other ways. I'm interested to know if this ‘theme’ comes back or gets built on in future eps.

And speaking of…it looks like next week’s will be fluffy and domestic where they settle into their couple dynamic. I can’t wait!

(also tagging @grapejuicegay @waitmyturtles @rocketturtle4 @ginnymoonbeam @chickenstrangers @wen-kexing-apologist @bengiyo @plantsarepeopletoo and @williamrikers in case you're interested! And sorry if I missed anyone.)

[pensmenagerie]

So uh we dug this thing up in our yard a couple of days ago, oddly the garbage workers refused to take it.

Was wondering if you had any insight into what it is.

That, my friend, is what we call a Druid's Heart. They form from the roots of plants, normally trees, that grow in close proximity; usually taking about three centuries to really start coming together. If the host plants it's from aren't dead after it's fully formed, it'll start to beat like a normal heart, and transfer water and other nutrients more quickly than the normal methods. After that, the movement rates of the connecting hosts seem to increase dramatically. Think of those plant timelapse videos but without the need for the timelapse.

Once a Druid Heart starts beating, the awareness of the host plants also increases, to the point of some calling these plants sapient. They can react to stimuli with remarkable speeds, being able to move their limbs as fast as one can move their arm, some even using their smaller branches like fingers with impressive dexterity, comparable to Humans and other primates. How the plants are able to intake stimuli at this speed without a brain is currently unknown, but they have been recorded reacting to light, sound, and temperature.

The extent of their 'sapience' has been debated, the only true thing holding any research back are the lack of specimens for study. Trees are the best subjects for study given their longevity, however given that old growth is needed, the variability of conditions for hearts to form, human intervention, and the protected status of many areas where Druid Hearts would ideally form, finding specimens is rare, to say the least.

Studies have shown that the plants affected by Druid Hearts have about the same logical reasoning skills as small children, and although they cannot speak directly, we have been able to communicate with one specimen made up of Redwoods via paintings. They would grasp paintbrushes that were supplied by researchers in their branches, and drew answers to prompted questions. Somehow they understand English, and while being unable to write back, they were able to comprehend all questions asked. Given the location of the specimen used to be within close proximity a hiking trail, now abandoned, it was hypothesized that they learnt it over time through hearing conversations of hikers. This specimen, made up of five individual trees, were all prompted the same questions and, while each painting was different, the overall themes present in each one gave the impression of either a shared consciousness or hivemind for each tree. Below are the questions prompted and description of each response.

'What are you?' Painting 1-A shows five lines in a circular formation, with the impression of depth, so that the one in the center of the landscape is depicted the closest. Each line at the bottom then suddenly juts toward the center point between the five lines. Painting 1-B shows five lines radiating from a center circle, leading researchers to believe it's an aerial view. Painting 1-C shows four lines, very close to frame. This is believed to be from the perspective of the individual tree instead of the group as a whole. Painting 1-D shows five lines, but instead of being the focus they're off to the right, and then smaller figures are shown on the left side. This is believed to be a depiction of humans, either the past hikers or the current researchers. Painting 1-E shows five lines, much like Painting One, but this time they're right up at the front of the canvas. They dominate the field of view, and only taper off about halfway up. There are smaller lines at the bottom, again believed to be humans.

'How old are you?' Painting 2-A is a mess of rings, believed to be eluding to ring dating. Overlap stops us from getting a definitive number. Painting 2-B shows five lines, much like Painting 1-A, however around it are much, much taller and thicker lines. It's believed to be a drawing of the group during its 'youth' as they are the tallest trees in the immediate area at the time of writing. Painting 2-C shows five vertical lines among a landscape of horizontal ones. It's suspected that these represent the other, older trees of the area, now fallen. Painting 2-D shows horizontal lines with some substance overtop them, outstretching into the upper part of the canvas. Painting 2-E shows little vertical lines near the horizontal ones, ignoring the five taller vertical ones. Small studs at the bottom of the canvas are also present.

'Do you have a name?' -All prompts blank, suggesting that they either did not have one, or are unwilling to give that information.

'What are some of your favorite things?' Painting 4-A shows a big circle above five lines. This is believed to represent the sun Painting 4-B shows a thick, curved line going through the forefront of the canvas, with five vertical lines appearing to be in the background. It's believed to depict a nearby river. Painting 4-C shows five lines with an array of smaller lines around it. This could be interpreted as the neighboring forest. Painting 4-D shows five lines but with tiny splotches on and around them. At this time, it's conceded that they are meant to represent birds. Painting 4-E shows five lines with nothing around it. We're unsure as to what this means. Theories range from it liking itself to solitude.

'Would you like to answer more questions for us sometime?' (Note: as to not overload the specimen with questions, it was decided to end with an open prompt to garner it's feelings toward us and our being there. This felt appropriate for the time, but the answers given must be taken into consideration for the next barrage of questions.) Painting 5-A shows five vertical lines with smaller vertical lines around it. Painting 5-B Is ten vertical lines with five topped with a horizontal line, a smaller vertical line, and square. It's believed to be depicting the research team on our scaffolding and canvases. Painting 5-C is a mess of lines. However given the vigor of the act it's believed to be enthusiasm towards the aspect of painting again. Painting 5-D shows five lines with smaller lines farther away. Given the sluggish way in which it was drawn this was interpreted as sadness at the aspect of the research team leaving them. The canvas for painting 5-E was destroyed when prompted. The specimen smeared the canvas in paint, then stabbed it repeatedly with the brush and varying limbs. All following interaction with this individual has been halted for the safety of research crew.

[tothepointofinsanity]

Hello ! I am a big fan of your art and was wondering if you could give me some tricks.

How did you come up with your current style ? Was it something you searched to developp or did it come naturaly ? If it's the first option, what made you stylize it like this ? Do you have any idea what I could do to stylize my own art ?

I am a somewhat semi-realistic artist (still learning a lot though) and was searching to also developp a more cartoony style like yours alongside it, so I would appreciate some help to understand what to do.

No need to answer this if you don't want to, for any reasons though ! Just wanted to ask you if you are willing to help me, even just a little bit :)

Thank you !

Hello. ^^ Thank you for the detailed ask and taking your time out to write it 🙇‍♂️.

I developed my current art style through a combination of both exploration (“naturally”) and it being something I searched to develop. In my head, I always wanted to adopt a sharper, blockier art style with bright colours. I was inspired by a lot of different styles, but most importantly I was pursuing an aesthetic I liked.

[1] Trying to introduce new elements in your art takes time, but it was mostly me staring/spending a lot of time looking at people’s art works that I enjoyed. The more you look at the things you like, the clearer the image you have of it is in your mind, so it would be easier to replicate it. The idea is to study what elements you like exactly in a style and then slowly try to transfer them into your own works. Your current style will eventually merge with it to form something that is unique. 🤔

If you are having trouble keeping the image that you want to recreate in your mental space, you can always put your canvas side by side to the thing you want to replicate, if that makes sense. Observing things you like and then devoting time to it was what helped me a lot, but patience tends to get you far in general.

[2] Stylising your own art requires a lot of trial and error. In addition to observing other people’s works, you need to have somewhat of an idea of how things can look like in your own works. If you like something with bright colours, the bright colours you choose for your own work may feel inappropriate or out of place simply because they haven’t been adjusted to your liking yet. A lot about art style is really adjusting things to your own tastes while keeping the courage to experiment. Since you have a semi-realistic style and want a more cartoony one, the idea is to squash/reduce elements of realism and increase the use of shapes that stand out.

^ For example, you can see from this style that the characters have larger, round and doll-like heads, and the colours used to fill them aren’t at all that realistic or “balanced”, more so abstract and played around with (observe how Homura’s leggings are a mixture of blue that bleed to red). If Homura was drawn “realistically”, she would instead have normal colours and her usual palette scheme that don’t seem to jump everywhere. The characters’ anatomy are also simplified, smaller and easier to shape.

The style I have is mainly reducing details on the character and exaggerating their appearance with shapes or certain features. You can choose to make their eyes look more dramatic and detailed, for example, compared to the rest of their bodies. In fact, one way of making things look detailed in a cartoon style is by grouping large shapes together for them to resemble something. You could draw rectangles for fingers and that would still be understood as long as they’re arranged in a way that gives off that impression, not necessarily being a 1:1 real life replica of it.

[3] Overall, experimenting with colours and shapes are important to the style, but it’s not something you have to simply focus on. You can make something look cartoon even just by making the composition look dramatic, which isn’t limited to colours nor shape, but more on your sense of “space” in a drawing.

In summary: you have to first know what you’re inspired by, and then work towards it at your own pace. Attempt to replicate those elements in things you like by observing them and then transferring them onto your own works. Playing with shapes and colours, exaggerating or minimising proportions and anatomy can give you different results, although it may not seem satisfactory at first. The most important thing to developing your style, ultimately, is still giving yourself time and spending time with the things you like o(^-^)o. You can’t exactly rush out a style, so please enjoy the process of drawing!!

I hope this was helpful, if even a little bit, since I’m not good at explaining things, and I’m not a professional 😭🙏🙏. Thank you for the ask!!

[kajtekmakesthings]

After 2 months of on-and-off work, I have sewn my very first pair of pants!

They are canvas work pants -- specifically the Jutland Pants pattern from Thread Theory.

I knew I'd need to do a bunch of fitting to get the size right, and decided to make a wearable muslin out of cheap canvas. I mostly succeeded at not being a perfectionist about these, but still ended up going a little nuts with the finishing details because I can't help myself.

I printed the PDF pattern at home, taped it all together, and then transferred it to gridded freezer paper to give me a final pattern that was more durable and easier to handle.

I started with their standard size 32, and did a full seat adjustment right off the bat because I could already tell the rear crotch seam was too short for my butt. My actual measurement there was pretty much identical to the size 36 pattern, so I printed that off and used it as a rough guide for making the adjustment before I transferred everything to the freezer paper.

I was really impressed with the instructions from Thread Theory, which are easy to follow and come with an additional sew-along blog that explains everything in a slightly different way. I've never made pants before (or really a garment anywhere near this complex), and it all came together smoothly.

I had some really cute scrap quilting fabric picked out for the pocket flap details, and decided to use it as an inspiration for the decorative stitching on the back right pocket. After some noodling around with different shapes from the print, I came up with a stylized crane I really liked.

Once I'd gotten the initial shape built (everything except the cargo pockets, waistband, and bottom hem), it was time for the first fitting!

Not a bad start. The seat adjustment turned out pretty much perfectly! There just wasn't enough ease in the thighs for freedom of movement (the fabric has zero stretch, and any work pants of mine need to allow for squatting, kneeling, and climbing). Also some tension across the hips was creating a weird... crotch situation.

I spent what felt like an eternity unpicking the outside and inside seams, and then pinning and re-pinning and basting extra fabric into the gaps until I got a shape that worked.

I ended up drafting a couple of long, narrow panels to insert into the side seams. They start about an inch below the waistband and end around the knee, which means I had to get them installed and finished before adding the cargo pockets on top.

This is where I decided to do felled, bound seams. The original pattern calls for flat felled seams, which I love the look of and enjoyed learning how to make. Unfortunately, canvas is bulky and doesn't like to take a crisp fold, and also frays like crazy. It just wasn't working.

I switched to binding each seam with bias tape, and then stitching it down flat so it had the same tidy, smooth, finish as a flat felled seam. I love how this turned out and will definitely be doing it again for future projects with fabrics that tend to fray.

The blue bias tape in the photo is one I had lying around the house and decided to use up for this project. Unfortunately, the panel inserts nearly doubled the number of long seams and I didn't have enough bias tape for them. So I learned how to make my own bias tape out of the gray pocket fabric and the yellow accent fabric. It's not terrible with the help of a bias tape maker, and I love having the ability to make binding that perfectly matches my project.

To adjust the inside seams, I sewed in a long gusset that runs from knee to knee. While the side panels were a pain in the ass and I've adjusted my pattern to eliminate them from future iterations, I think I want to keep the gusset. It's doing a great job of taking strain off the crotch seams when I move, and I'm also finding two smaller, bound, seams on the inner thigh much more comfortable than a single, chunky, serged one like I usually get with jeans.

Here's where I got to with the final fit (adding the waistband, pockets, and hem also changes the silhouette a little). I'm really happy with where I ended up. The pants are fitted enough through the waist and hips that they stay up comfortably without a belt, and make my butt look great. The looser fit through the thighs gives me a full, comfortable, range of motion, and the overall look is much closer to classic men's workwear than the slightly-shrink-wrapped stretch jeans that I've grown accustomed to.

Overall, I'm really happy with this pattern. Aside from adding the gusset, there's only a few changes I'll be making to the original design. I replaced the velcro fasteners for the cargo pockets with snaps (I honestly just hate velcro on clothing). I'll also want to add interfacing to the waistband lining in the future. The soft cotton I used is really comfortable, but adding a little stiffness should make it easier to work with while sewing the wastband and give me a cleaner finished look.

I learned so much about tailoring over the course of this project, and picked up a ton of new techniques. I feel like I not only have a great pattern that I know fits me well and that I can re-use whenever I want, but I also understand a lot more about how pants come together and how to get them to fit and move the way I want. It's super exciting!

[carolynschwab]

ART-322 Midterm

For my digital project, I used OneNote, an app I use for note taking. I started by choosing colors I had in person so I could try to get the most accurate color recreation in the physical drawing. I love drawing swirls because of how detailed and chaotic it can look at the same time. I wanted to add in some thick lines to give the piece more depth. When digitally creating, I appreciated how easy it was to create specific colors. However I definitely felt most in control when using my hands. I think this is because I’m left handed. I’ve always had an issue controlling the screen (even when I take my online notes) because my left hand drifts across and moves something. Drawing something in a sketchbook allows me to control how smooth I want my lines. It also allows me to create dots better. I did however like when drawing digitally how I could zoom in and out of the frame to get more detail in. I also felt it was hard to transfer the proportions over to the rectangular canvas when my digital drawing was smaller and more square. Overall for both pieces I chose bright colors to create a lively feel to the piece. I want viewers to look at my drawings and feel positive emotions.

[santanarohana]

A heart that bleeds ink (bleeds lives)

(I don't know English, so anything sounding strange is Google Translate's fault) I want to get worse. I saw a post, at some point, of a collage made with a painting and the faces of Danny, Dani, Dan and even Vlad, saying something about Clockwork having commissioned a painting and such, and that causing confusion, giving the impression of a Targaryen type case going on there. If anyone recognizes it, let me know, I want to read it again. Either way, it got the hamster wheel in my head spinning. Raise your hand if you've watched Barbie Rapunzel. Anyone who watched it, or has even a vague knowledge of it, probably knows about the magic brush she used to paint landscapes that acted as portals to different places. Well, I say that the Infinite Realms have ectopaint, which absorbs the emotion the painter is feeling and translates it into a painting. Because you are translating impressions and feelings rather than an exact memory, there is some artistic freedom in interpreting the paint itself and how you decide to express that on canvas. Which can lead to some unusual and confusing scenes, case in point, Dora introduces Danny to her art studio and encourages him to paint as an outlet and also as a way of dealing with his traumas and unprocessed feelings. So he gives it a chance. He pours his feelings about Vlad, Dan, Ellie, the failed clones, even his newfound promotion to royalty, into the paint, and then watches as the brush transfers that mess to the canvas. This results in a picture that puts him on the verge of hysterical laughter, or a complete emotional breakdown.

There's Danny, in the dead center of the frame, or he assumes it's Danny, sitting on something he can't see because of the fullness of her skirts. Yes, skirts, because he is wearing what appears to be a dress, white, voluminous, with lots of ruffles and lace. A waist too small to not be cinched into a corset, ruffles at the neckline giving the illusion of a bust, and shoulders exposed due to dropped sleeves. Numerous necklaces adorned the expanse of her slender neck, effectively covering her Adam's apple with pearls and a teardrop-shaped diamond, almost as large as her thumb, hanging down to rest in the space between her collarbones. His hair is much longer and twisted into a hairstyle so elaborate that his scalp aches in sympathy, a diamond-studded crown sitting on top. Danny looks otherworldly, unreal, in the frame. Also uncomfortable and confined, green eyes suspicious, desperate, as they looked to one side of the painting, to where Vlad was depicted, his red eyes very satisfied, expression like a cat that ate the canary, full of pride, arrogance and a sense of very familiar possession. Between Danny and Vlad stands a child, a boy, maybe ten years old, red eyes familiar and venomous as they look at Vlad and his matching red eyes, it's Dan. One of Vlad's hands rests on one of his bony shoulders, too small for his weight. that seems to rest there, and Danny's free hand grabs his opposite sleeve, closest to him, fingers gripping in a white, desperate grip, wanting and failing to completely remove him from Vlad's grasp. On the opposite side of Danny, where there is no Vlad or Dan, is a little girl, with his eyes and hair, who can only be Ellie. So small, how old is she there? Her hair is twisted into a much simpler version of Danny's hairstyle, half tied into a crown of braids adorned with diamond-headed hairpins, half falling loosely down her back, her small body tucked into a lacy white dress. Between Danny and Tiny-Ellie, half hidden by their skirts so that only one of their eyes is visible, is what looks like a much smaller version of Danny, the same coloring, the same familiar face, and a tightness in her stomach. identifies him as his smaller clone, if he looked like a child slightly younger than Tiny-Ellie. A little in front of Tiny-Ellie, looking a little older than her, was another boy, with the same green eyes as Danny, but black hair, and a skin tone closer to Vlad's blue than his olive green. Danny, that had to be his muscular clone. At Danny's feet was a baby, old enough to sit up on its own, maybe even crawl, but hardly walk. His hair was white, his eyes were red, and his skin was as clear as milk. He looked albino, like those rabbits with white fur and red eyes, and Danny knew exactly who he was supposed to represent. The clone with the sheet.

There was a bundle of cloth in the crook of Danny's arm, with a tiny face peering out, a newborn baby, small enough to be quite possibly premature, strands of white hair peeking out from under the cap pulled over its tiny head, green eyes squinted. The Prime clone, Daniel. There was someone positioned behind Danny, hands resting on his bare shoulders, not possessively, but protectively. He looked like how Danny looked when he was Phantom, and at the same time he didn't. There was a distinct sense of otherness, of foreignness, that let Danny know it wasn't him, despite the shared resemblance. It wasn't just the breadth of his shoulders, the superior height or the abundance of muscles, while Danny was still a stick in both ways. Nor were his eyes, one familiar green, the other purple. A familiar stranger, and as Danny tried to figure out who it could be, he felt, hands resting on his hazmat-covered shoulders, familiar and foreign, and looking back he found the same figure depicted in the painting. A shared look, of understanding and recognition, and Danny knew who it was. A representation of the Ghost Zone, who he had been inadvertently linked to since a portal to another dimension opened upon him.