#but i basically just draw like i would on paper its fun

[kdyism]

being asian and good at drawing somehow always ends up with, oh so can you put henna too? sorry no but why is that the conclusion?

[semothekat]

head in hands heand in hands

[hothammies]

the party leader, mike wheeler - apoc au character details + poll under the cut!

---

mike's role in the party:

a scouter - essentially plans runs, checks areas first to ensure safety, and directs the runners during supply runs

assigns basic survival chores at the beginning of each day (laundry, boiling water, patrol, hunting, etc.)

is the "face" of the party -> always the one to negotiate with people of other groups

even though the party likes to give him shit for being kind of rude and bossy about how he talks to them in "leader" mode - they always hang onto his every word! they love and respect him deeply

kind of like a tired dad whenever he's not fighting with someone else -> basically watches over everyone to make sure they're okay

would never hesitate to do something deplorable to protect the party: family first

skills + hobbies:

considered the designated driver (along with max): nancy taught him when he was younger. he was scared about being useless due to his inability to shoot and aim guns so nancy helped him find something useful. max teaches him how to drive manual so that he can drive her muscle car (its how they get over their distaste for each other)

writes an entry in a journal that he stole every day! he lets will doodle in the margins of the paper :)

loves to read whatever's around - particularly interested in history, sci-fi, and old journals from people before the apocalypse (reads them with dustin and el -> they are nosy as hell and live for the drama)

great at using machetes and hatchets -> do NOT let this boy shoot a gun. he will accidentally hurt you and himself

good at fixing up guns and navigating - lucas (guns) and dustin (navigating) taught him :D

quirks / fun facts:

he likes to switch around the pins on his jacket a lot! the party find pins around to give to him (range from terrible to wearable)

since he's the only boy that likes to tie up his hair, max and el like to doll up and play around with his hair during their downtime

is very annoying and particular when it comes to doing survival chores (out of love) -> makes sure that the chores are divided equally among all of them and that no one gets the same chores twice in a row

--- other notes: mike was the first character i had in mind when thinking about this au (no surprise there) and the drawing of him sitting cross legged with a machete in his hand was the first ever "official" drawing i made for this :D i tried to make apoc mike similar to canon mike in terms of his temperament, his hero complex, his self-sacrificial tendencies, his inability to appropriately process his romantic feelings, his natural leadership and his personality. about mike's inability to use guns -> looking at mike's character dnd sheet, his dexterity is low and s1 mike wheeler cannot aim for shit either (see his rock throw). the reason he's most comfortable with machetes (and hatchets) is because of their versatility as both weapons and tools! just wanted to share because i think mike needed a nerf and him not being able to shoot guns is both in character and funny as hell to me i've had mike and will's char sheets done for a while and i really love the way they look :) i'm excited to post will's next! i'm working on the character sheets in batches of two, so which duo are yall most interested to see next? i'll work on them based on the poll results and post them next week at the earliest :) i'll prob also try out some concept designs for the demogorgon-like zombies sometime soon as well!

[s0lar-ch3ri]

what if i wanted to make another insane promo post?

yeah, ik, its promo time again. BUT this time around i do wanna add in the post both my cousin and niece

one thing i did get wrong, heartz is my niece, starz is my cousin! this will basically be going over what each of these 2 do (...and im also adding in a bonus competitor/promoed person, well actually 2 because I GOT A CHANNEL YIPPEE)

each channel will be seperated up so yeah lets go!

first channel:

Starzzz.andgalaxy (my actual cousin, lol) is a great yter who absolutely deserves to be celebrating more then just 170 subs! since shes actually here with me, i can let her say a lil something on the matter:

"hello! I would love to reach 200 subscribers at least, I think my hard work should not be for nothing!" <- her typing

shes very very fun (and also with this i hope all the god damn hate comments shut lol) and does very cool things such as:

Roblox videos

(comment is from me lol, we'll get there soon) For right now these are just rating videos of her avatar, but I find them very fun (plus since I play roblox if needed I can help with filming lol)! Not much to say on it cause it's not a common kind of post, so onto the next form, which is:

2. Art

As you can see, she does very cool art, this one in particular is a tutorial on how to draw bodies. Is it the best? No, but the fact she's trying makes it great! (this is also where I've seen a couple hate comments come up, so yeah, I'm trying to be mature enough to not commit violence for her upon them) She does admit this video isn't her best work, but she does A LOT of very very cool drawings! Go check them out and her channel of course! There is one thing she also posts about which I love most of all...

3. Paper Dragons!!

(the first image is her first dragon, second is her most recent i think) I don't get how these things are "paper furries", but I do know THEY ARE SICK AS FUCK. I got to see one in person and they're very cool, all with different stories! I honestly wanna ask for one but right now, I'm gonna stick with watching them.

Channel link can be found here:

(this section was finished on january first of 2024, so at the point of this being posted she wont be over here, but i had her here so yeah :D i love my cousin)

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Second channel:

Heartzzz.❤️ is my niece, and she does similar content, but still does good content! A couple of videos of Starz and Heartz are them promoting each other, so yeah. While she is on vacation and can't be here to give her reasons to subscribe to you, I certainly can!

Memes

One thing I forgot to mention my cousin doing (well, actually my cousin's section is just kinda old because it's from when she last came over, but she's back to help me again, yay!) is making memes like this. Sometimes they do involve a paper dragon, but I think they're pretty funny and/or relatable (also dragons very cool)!

2. Edits (and Undertale related things)

I'm putting these 2 in the same category just because of the example image above. While my cousin has recently started doing edits, Heartz is the only 1 of the 2 to make anything Undertale related. While the Undertale stuff comes once every blue moon it seems, that doesn't make it any less enjoyable.

I actually found in her description a run down on what she does post, so here:

Link to her channel can be found right here:

(okay ik this section was really short, again, she posts similar things to my cousin, and i didnt wanna repeat, so yeah, if you want more reason, here's what the cousin herself says: "[Heartz] is really nice, she's a good artist, and she's creative"; time i finished this section was 1/15/2024 lol)

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third channel:

Boli and gang (or as their original user is + the profile picture says, Boli the bear) is the channel belonging to 2 kids I babysit! They're pretty new to making content, but they have a promising start already! Currently, their content consists of...

Animations

One of them has really been getting into animation, posting things like ball loops and such on their account. They're very interesting to watch personally!

2. Cool places

I'm not sure if this is going to be a common theme, but there is around 3-4 videos of places like this one. I have to admit, this has to be the prettiest of them all.

3. Art (+FNAF/Five Nights at Freddy's Content)

This is another one grouped together, but because this is the first drawing related one I've seen. They're very big FNAF fans, of course leading to things like this. Is it the best? No, but they tried very hard of course, and maybe you could leave some tips for them to improve with!

(they also post memes and funny videos, but I'd rather not do repetition; FINISHED THIS ALSO ON THE 15TH LETS GOOOOOOO)

Link to their channel can be found here:

Oh, one final reason, their profile picture is super cool! Can you guess who made it? This actually provides me with the perfect transition into...

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fourth/final channel:

ITS ME!!! FINALLY I CAN STOP DOING PROPER ASS TYPING

yeah, i have a youtube now, and there's like nothing on it minus a couple videos. all of them are made back in like 2021-2022? cant really remember, but i posted them for younger me's sake. i have like a couple more to get through, but afterwards im probs gonna do a bigger variety of content! art videos, jrwi edits, animations, rambles, essays, you name it! (might even stream again on twitch if that seems what the people like lol)

you may want actual reasons to subscribe, but i currently dont have any. i can only make promises of better future content, but right now i can admit theyre shit. i dont post often, its only oc related rn, all very vague, nothing that interests most people on my blog (cause i know a lot of you are here for jrwi content, huh?). this channel, the choice to subscribe is fully up to you, im not gonna sell myself to it, im simply just saying its real.

Link to the channel is found here:

if you at all took the time to read through my part, i appreciate it, but please do actually check out the other 3. after all, you can always find me here, but you cant find the others anywhere else!

(FINISHED THE REST OF THE POST ON 1/15/24 LETS GOOOOOOOOO)

[fagboyfriend]

i rlly like ur composition, i wanna know about your process :D

thank uuu !! yeah so like. composing a scene for me generally begins with a vague idea that i want to get down as quickly as possible- and for me that usually starts with finding a setting. I knew that i wanted to draw a) a group of roomates gossiping in a crowded kitchen and i wanted there to be b) one figure in the extreme foreground and c) lots of plants. i do use some tools to figure out perspective, mainly the csp perspective ruler. Usually i start by finding a picture i like similar to the vibe im going for- but instead of referencing anything else- im purely interested in perspective. sorry to anyone who is shocked i dont generate all of my perspective purely by myself- i can draw in perspective fairly well but i struggle to make straight lines and this is easier to make grids with than the line tool lol ^_^ i try to use it kinda more like spellcheck on typos than like something to fully rely on. this is the video i learned this trick from:

i saw the left photo and realllly loved how the cabinets alligned with the wall- so i used my ruler tool to draw out my inital plotted points from the image- basically the linear movements i was most interested in and then i turned off the image layer and worked with those lines and the ruler tool to move on. eventually i had this:

which was enough for me to put my characters in for the inital round. if you notice- i made a looot of further adjustments as i go on. this sketch is not a final layout, its so my characters have somewhere to be! i cannot draw someone standing on a floor if theres no floor, nor leaning on a table that doesnt exist. i can’t draw my characters without a background, but i also cant finish my background without accounting for how my characters can comfortably exist in it!!

this was the like.. very basic start. i knew the positions of two characters- but i needed to change a lot not only to fit them better but to allow for the other two figures i had planned.

okay.. a little better. i widened the kitchen, closed the fridge door.. added a chair and fit in all the figures.. but this is waaay too dramatic. only two figures are actually interacting- and they are at wildly different energy levels!

this is where things started to make a little more sense characterwiss, so i was ready to refine backgrounds and figures and unite the two.

inital base sketch. much better layout.

okay- this is where im getting my footing but things seem.. really really off. You can see me working on my framing here- theres some good linear movement from left to right here- but not vertically. It’s hard to notice the figure in the far back, so i need to redirect the viewers eye to move upwards as well!

this is where i decided to zoom out, add an interesting vertical element to the left of the image and make it clearer whats happening in the foreground. i had to account for some stuff by adjusting the cropping, but i paid attention to that as well.

annnd- thats what a clean sketch looks for me! i have all the elements of my scene accounted for, and things are clean enough to read.

the next step for me would be transfer! essentially- I print the image of my sketch out, resizing and taping pages together so my sketch matches the size of the paper i want to paint on, and then i use a lightboard to transfer my sketch with pencil onto my paper. Then i refine the sketch a few times on paper before stretching my watercolor paper (essentially just prepping for painting) and inking with a brush and colored ink before going in with watercolor, gouache and ink, then usually finishing with marker, colored pencil, pastel and ink. it’s a lengthy process but a lot of fun lol. but sketches for me can be like.. 15 layers of different roughs until im happy with just the sketch. there were more images but im on mobile and theres a 10 image limit 😭😭 im a bit masochistic but i believe that if i dont have a good sketch i dont have a good painting!!

[nibeul]

i really love your bad batch redesigns and i am super disappointed in the show for whitewashing and also the voice acting of the clones, but i'm confused because you seem to hate the show? the show is problematic but it must have given you some inspiration or happiness in order to begin drawing the characters, right? 😅

only asking because i enjoy (some parts of) the show while realizing that it could have been so much better, but it seems like you just don't like any parts of it so i was curious about that. also, i will for sure check out your rewrite!

I do hate the show lol, I find that it has pretty much no redeeming qualities and I think the writing room—if there even was one—was probably the equivalent of an improv comedy club going "yes, and" to every suggestion someone made. the original reason I made the redesigns and started the rewrite back before the show even came out (so basically when the bad batch episodes of tow s7 dropped) was because I was pissed with the whitewashing and had come to the conclusion that nothing good could come out of a show that had its narrative built off its racism ("these white guys are genetically superior to regular clones btw").

I think it would be wrong to say that it "inspired" me, except maybe if you want to say it motivated me to remake it because I simply believed I could do it better. Not in a self-jerking off way either, as I truly think even a 12 year old with nothing more than a box of markers and a stack of printer paper could write something more interesting. I do genuinely enjoy the characters as I have written/drawn them and I'm having fun with the story that I'm making from it, but the inception of my version came from frustration and a wanting to fist fight Dave Filoni in a parking lot, and the characters that I've drawn/written exist separately in my head from the versions in canon. Also, I appreciate that people like my designs 🤙🏽

[uchihaharlot]

I didn't mean to break their hearts, I was just curious, srry!😭😭 (but Itachi's one was kinda funny-)

But anyway, now I'm wondering about how they would react if they found out that you can draw really cool and beautiful.

(I'm an artist, so😎)

Nonny 🥹🥹

That put me in an really good mood; lol. That was way too fun to write; maybe I can one day write a super angsty break up (but I love them too much!!!).

I love all artists 😭😭😭 Painters, writers — digital or paper. Anything that expresses the inner workings of someone’s mind and the fact that they can manifest it to reality is so so so beautiful. I hope I’ve secretly seen your art, I’d probably simp over it. Always simp over art. 😂😂🥹🥹

N/SFW; very cute Uchiha men adoring your artwork! 🥹🥹🥹 (ooc Madara??); Simpy Obito; …Scandalous Shisui; abnormally observant Itachi 😂 suggestive themes rolled out the further I got. For some reason, I just had to. (P.s. I should not be allowed to write when tired??? Half of this was done while my eyes rolled shut in bed).

Madara:

It’s not everyday that Madara is blown like a leaf in the wind. When you mentioned being a patron of the arts, he thought maybe the art of battle?? Didn’t expect your weapon to be a paint brush with some acrylic paint. Thought it was some weird jutsu infused shit.

And then you just had to go above and beyond and do a portrait of him for his birthday!!!!! It’s hung on the living room center wall so that it’s the first thing anyone sees! Honestly, this man is a brute, but your art envokes his softer side! A side that he hasn’t been in touch with for…well, a long time.

Makes sure that everyone and I mean, everyone, is aware of your talent! Still, he tries to find the side hussle in it, soliciting customers for you and all. 😭😭 Will trash talk the chalk art children make on the sidewalk, which ‘…that’s not nice, they’re children..’ you say. He shrugs, nobody is as good as you.

Obito:

Finds out and tries to ‘secretly’ commission you lmao. Makes it totally obvious too, his handwriting is shit and eveeeerrryyyyone knows who Tobi really is…. Plus how can you even begin without discussing what he wants done!! Duh, Obito! Unfortunately for him, you are more interested in drawing matters of the flesh. He’ll only show his chest, nothing more.

‘That’s fine.’ You shrug, and get to work. Obito, however, does not have the resolve to sit still! It’s frustrating to no end, but alas, after what seems an eternity— its done. Sort of. Still much to add, but the basics are there and you’ll work better when he’s not asking how does it look every twenty minutes.

Eventually you do finish this beautiful piece of him, and Obito cries. You made his scars tolerable and beautiful with your mind’s creativity, he feels less self conscious about them, only a little.

Shisui:

Is the least normal about it when he discovered your sketchbook — more like snatched and played keep away. Had to fight him for it, literally. Will ask you to paint/draw him naked…many times lol and you respectfully say no... Not that he likes people to see him naked (ok maybe a little?) but he secretly hopes it might happen one day. It would be a private thing for the two of you, cause he wants that ass.

And when you do cave to his whim, just to satiate him. He’s nervous lmao. Had this oh so macho man idea of rocking a hard on but Shisui simply maintains his usual semi. It’s nice though, you make sure it’s extremely detailed..as he asked for.

But, ‘(y/n)… this is chibbi!!!’ Lol, jokes on Shisui!! He didn’t say how to draw his pp.

Itachi:

Is the most normal about it. Though he still will praise you every time you finish a piece and show him, he is still massively impressed. How does your wrist not get tired? …maybe this is why your hand jobs are so good. 😈 Just watching you try a new technique (pointillism, which is my favorite style) makes his wrist hurt. Enjoys when you ask him for ideas! He has lots of them! Mostly…obscure and derelict landscapes though.

Would not be opposed to having his portrait done, but it’s really not his style. He is disciplined enough to sit still but doesn’t see the value in it. Not until the final product is revealed, does he truly understand how important this piece was. You’ve captured his personality in a new light.

[scribespirare]

Love the way you write flowerfang! Request: Miguel actually meeting Miles' parents! people always avoid it (for valid reasons) but I would love to see that confrontation. Maybe with 18+ year old Miles? So it's more of 'oh no age gap' rather than just 'oh no it's illegal'

Been getting lots of requests for Miguel to meet Miles' parents so I'm filling two at once here!

Also yallre so sweet ily 🥺 the sketchbook idea is one of my absolute favs b/c its just so sweet and fun.

The inevitable happens about a month before Miles turns 19.

“Tu casa es muy bonita,” Miguel says when he shakes the hand of Miles’ mom.

His mom turns that quick, sharp look of hers on Miles, part surprise part exasperation, before turning back to Miguel. “Miles no mencione que hablas español,” she says in that way that’s simultaneously a compliment to Miguel and an accusation to Miles. “Please, come in.”

When Miles was 15 he’d gotten this new sketchbook, right after all the fighting about the multi-verse had died down. He hadn’t bought it with anything in particular in mind, and he hadn’t even known what he wanted to draw the first time he’d cracked it open.

An hour later he’d been staring down at Miguel’s sharp features and was honestly a little confused about it.

The second and third times he’d drawn Miguel  had been even more confusing, and he’d shoved the book into the back of a drawer and tried to forget about it, limiting himself to practicing his graffiti letters on the margins of his notes.

The sketchbook saw light again when Miles and Miguel had gotten together right after Miles had turned 16. Miguel isn’t the only thing or person Miles draws in it, but he’s on basically every single page. Maybe it’s a little weird but hey it ain’t hurting anyone and Miguel is pretty okay? Not like, conventionally so. But the way he moves, the way he carries himself, the sharp, long lines of him in his suit…those things deserve to be committed to paper. That’s all Miles is saying.

Anyways, nobody was ever supposed to actually see this sketchbook. Miles still kept it in the back of a drawer most of the time, and had a primary book that he used more often too. But he’d taken it with him to the dorm and it was still in his bag when he’d visited last week and it had fallen out and open and…

Well, Miles is grateful the more explicit art hadn’t been on display, but Miguel is sill here for dinner. Miles wants to melt through the floor, or perhaps set off another collider just to get out of it. He’d talked to Miguel first of course, and they have their story straight about where they met (Miguel is a graduate student at Miles’ college), when (at the start of the year), and how long they’ve been together (five months).  They definitely didn’t get together when Miles was underage, no ma’am or sir, and Miguel totally isn’t a superhero from another dimension nope.

“Miles does have a tendency to leave things out,” Miguel agrees amiably as he comes inside. “Thanks for having me.” Out of his suit he’s not quite so a striking a figure, but he fills out his button-down and jeans well and practically towers over Rio. Even more surprising is when Miles’ dad, Jefferson, steps up to shake Miguel’s hand as well, and Miles has the realization that  Miguel towers over him too. Miles is the same height as his father now, even if he’ll never have Jefferson’s wider build, but in his mind that’s still his dad. Larger than life and stronger than anything. He doesn’t look fragile next to Miguel exactly but it’s a near thing.

Miles feels an elbow in his side and glances down at his mother, finding it difficult to shift his attention from where Miguel and his dad are exchanging awkward pleasantries. Sizing each other up, Miles thinks. His mother is also watching them but she glances up at Miles from the corner of her eye, smirks, says, “Eres como tu mama.”

She’s already heading for the kitchen by the time Miles catches her implication; that she chose a man three times her size, and now her son is following in her footsteps. He feels himself heat in embarrassment, and when he glances at Miguel he knows the man’s superior hearing picked the comment up too. Jerk.

“Vamos, boys!” Rio calls, successfully breaking Jefferson and Miguel apart. Miles isn’t even sure what they’d been talking about at this point and raises an eyebrow at his boyfriend in silent question. Miguel just shrugs as he falls in just behind Miles’ shoulder, following him into the dining room.

“Te pareces a ella, también,” Miguel murmurs, nearly making Miles trip.

Everyone please stop comparing me to my mother he thinks desperately because there’s no time for him to reprimand Miguel or his mother out loud. At least not without embarrassing himself further.

Rio hands them each a plate as they pass her on their way to the table. And because she will forever be Miles mother through and through, the first thing she says when she sits down is, “So, Miguel, ¿cuántos años tiene?”

Miles nearly does a spit take and his first bite hasn’t even reached his mouth yet.

If Miguel is put off by the question he doesn’t look it. Well, he looks mildly constipated but that’s kind of just his resting bitch face. “I’m thirty-six,” he replies evenly.

“Thirty-six!?” Jefferson repeats, aghast, and looks between Miguel and Miles. “No wonder Miles hasn’t said anything about you. Christ, you’re twice his age.”

Miles cringes, dropping his fork entirely. “Dad, please.”

“You father has a point,” Rio reprimands, but still turns and tells Jefferson, “Relax, baby. I’m sure Miguel is lovely.” Her gaze is sharp and warning when she tacks on, “But we’ll see.”

The table descends into awkward silence. Miles notices that Miguel isn’t eating, just pushing his food around on his plate. He clears his throat after a while and Miles wants to groan. This can’t be good.

“If it helps,” Miguel says haltingly, “I didn’t pursue him.  He’s…persistent.”

His parents give slow, reluctant agreement with this statement and Miles rolls his eyes. He wants to remind Miguel that he’s been more than enthusiastic since they got together, but then decides this is probably not an appropriate place nor audience. Instead Miles just awkwardly tries to get a conversation moving. One that doesn’t involve the elephant in the room, but still draws Miguel out of his shell a little so his parents see exactly how amazing he is.

Unfortunately, Miguel’s resting bitch face really doesn’t give up. Miles knows it’s because he’s nervous as hell, but his parents don’t.

By the time the plates are being cleared, the air is a lot less awkward. at least His parents seem reluctantly impressed by the fact that Miguel’s a geneticist and listen when he explains a few of the tamer experiments Miles knows he has going on. He makes it sound like they’re happening in an lab on campus and not in another universe, and also like he’s a PhD student. As far as cover stories go it’s pretty good.

“So how did you two meet?” Rio asks as she’s stacking everyone’s plates and passing them to Jefferson to take to the kitchen.

Immediately Miles perks up, because they practiced this. “He’s part of the mentor program for the undergrads! He got assigned to a friend of mine.”

At the exact same moment Miles says “Genke,” Miguel says, “Gwen.”

They both pause, Miles swiveling to stare wide-eyed at his boyfriend. “Uh,” he says. When he glances back at Rio her eyes are narrowed suspiciously. Thank fuck Jefferson is already in the kitchen and didn’t hear that. Mom senses are even better than cop senses but at least now it’s two on one instead of an even playing field.

“Gwen!” Miles corrects, smiling like nothing at all is wrong. “I meant to say Gwen! Man, it’s so hard having two friends with Gs names. Gotta give em nicknames or something,” he finishes lamely with a small, awkward laugh.

Rio’s suspicious look hasn’t eased. “No me digas,” she says, in that way that clearly means uh-huh, yeah, sure. Usually Miles hears that right before he’s grounded. But seeing as there’s company and also he’s eighteen, she just shakes her head. “I’m going to help your father clean up in the kitchen. There’s dessert though, so no te escapes, claro?”

“Si, mami,” Miles says obediently. “We’re not going anywhere.”

He sits very, very still until she’s finally out of the room. Then he drops his head head to the table with a long, dramatic groan. A moment later he feels Miguel’s big hand on his nape, squeezing gently in that way that makes Miles boneless.

“It’s not so bad,” his boyfriend murmurs. “I like them. They obviously care for you, and I’d be suspicious too if my kid brought home someone like me.”

Miles rocks his head to the side and glares up at Miguel. “You’re fucking amazing, and I want them to love you like I do.” He pauses, considers the words that just left his mouth, then adds, “Well, not exactly like I do, but still.”

The corner of Miguel’s mouth tilts up in a small smile, and it’s the most relaxed he’s looked all night. Miles desperately wants his parents to see this softer, caring side of Miguel.  “They’re certainly closer to my age than you are.”

Miles sits up so quickly it dislodges Miguel’s hand from his nape, and he narrows his eyes playfully. “Hey! My parents are off limits, old man.”

Miguel just smirks, the asshole, and then Rio and Jefferson are back so Miles can’t even say anything else without thoroughly embarrassing every single person at the table. He almost considers doing anyways it just to spite Miguel.

[doodlebethel]

Hello! I love your Loth cat designs! And wanted to make my own since Disney hasn’t renewed its loth/Tooka cat products and are sold out (Plus I like your designs waaaay better). My biggest issue is figuring out how to made the head of your cute Loth cats 😅 I’m not on and unable to get onto Instagram could you post the story on how you designed it on here or give me some tips on how to make one? -thank you so much :)

Also, I’m designing the pattern of this one after a cheetah, I also love how you did the striped tail so I’m going to do that with black and white longer fur at the end. (I’ll need to trim it some though.) but any tips you could give would be much appreciated! 😄

Hi there! Thank you for reaching out, I will post roughly how I made the heads. However it's all the same techniques of making an art doll. There are great youtube tutorials out there which I watched to learn how to make my loth cats.

Long Post! Also heads up, they look really creepy until you put fur on them!

I used a styrofoam base for the head to keep it really light, loth cats have huge heads so it's important to keep the head light on the doll so it doesn't fall on it's face right away. Craft stores usually sell half spheres that I carved down to more of an oval shape to start.

I bought resin eyes on etsy and glued them on with hot glue. There are so many color options so have fun with them! I then used foam clay to add more shape to the face and make the eyes more natural looking. You can also probably use paper mache or another light air drying clay. But again keep the weight in mind.

I never worry about adding too many details as it will all be covered by faux fur, but having those shapes helps it look more realistic.

Next you enter what I call the creepy monkey phase. I usually paint the face a natural skin tone or the color of the fur so you can't see any gray.

I then attach the head to the body fur using glue. Next I cover the face in masking tape and draw the fur patterns I want onto it. This is a common fursuit head making technique. I recommend looking that up for more details on how to do that, but the photo below shows the steps I did.

*Note! Pay attention to the fur direction, on my tape pattern you can see the arrows showing which way the fur lays, use real animals as reference.

I then glued it on the face using fabric glue or hot glue. The more you cover at this point the less you have to flock later.

Once you have most of the face covered, you can cover any little gaps using a flocking technique. Basically laying down a layer of glue and then taking very short hairs of faux fur and pressing it into the glue. Again there are some great youtube tutorials on how to do it if you google "flocking art doll".

Below is my first loth cat showing how weird it looks. Trust the process! It will look silly and kinda bad right until the end.

Trim up any extra hairs that get in the way of the face, and next comes my favorite part, making them look like loth cats and not nightmare creatures!

I use sharpie fabric markers for the blacks and go around the eyes and mouth. This give them instant personality. You can also use some paints to add extra markings and color.

For the tail. I don't have any photos of the tail specifically, but here is the pieces of the pattern for the blue cat. The tail is basically just a rounded tube!

Good luck with your build! I would love to see the final project!

[bogleech]

People really don’t seem to understand what I mean about AI art generation already rendering a lot of artists “obsolete.” Every time I talk about it people say “don’t worry, it can’t replace all the work that goes into animating a character or sculpting a usable cg model or building a costume!” and that’s all true, but those jobs begin with just a concept on paper, and the entire industry of conceiving that concept was basically just murdered in its sleep. For instance I asked Midjourney to combine an Owl with a Barnacle and got this:

I genuinely envy this as a creature design. It’s exactly something I’d have been glad to have come up with and use in my main setting as a monster. It’s also something I’d be highly impressed by as a concept if I saw it walking around in a horror movie or a video game. To top it all off, it looks like a legit surrealist horror painting you might see used as the cover of a story compilation, or just a one-off illustration in a sci fi magazine. All of those things would have previously meant that someone was paid to think of the idea and produce the image.

Someone else in the same chat around the same time asked the bot to make “an eerie space entity” and got this:

If I saw this on deviantart years ago I’d have thought “holy shit, that is terrifying and gorgeous and totally original, somebody HIRE this artist!!!” ....even now there are no visual cues that actually tell me this was AI generated. I’ve already seen people with similar painting styles and aesthetics all my life. I also asked it to combine various pokemon together, and it had NO idea what pokemon species I actually meant, yet it still came up with some things that you could base some pretty fun little video game characters on:

Again I see people saying “this can’t replace the animating and sculpting and other hard work that goes into realizing a concept!” and that’s true, but for many artists, “realizing the concept” is basically the only skill they ever honed and has been their entire career. A lot of people didn’t learn to animate or sculpt or build, nor do they even actually want to, because simply making up neat ideas that no one’s seen before, drawing them, and maybe passing those drawings on to those other skillsets is what they like to do and what they’re proud of doing. I know because that’s me, I just like thinking of creatures and illustrating them, and that’s all I really wanted to do as a “job” in the art world. People will still seek real artists when those real artists have a certain personal flair that really stands out, especially if they just personally value human creativity as a principle, but *JOBS* in just “character design” or “background design” don’t typically care. Movie productions just have a bunch of artists draw a bunch of stuff for the producers to look through until they like something, and then they pay a different set of artists to put that idea into the product. The latter half of this process will be fine, but no studio is going to see a need to spend money on the first creative step once they all catch on to this.

[heyy-dont-mind-me]

How to study art? and the various subjects and fields of it?

☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・

So, you wanna know how to study art and the other fields under the umbrella (art history, portraits, landscaping heck even architecture). Well this post has a general idea on what you can do-! just a note, I'm no art student, but i do take note on art in itself, how to shade, color theory, other tips from illustrators and such and this is basically what i do. Step 0: get a notebook or pad papers no seriously, i know you are either a notebook hoarder or have little to no notebooks so just get something to store your notes Step 1: Look into art tutorials that you are interested in Yeah, its an easy step, you can look into different shadings, and listen attentively, at least this time its not some subject in class but something you're interested in and want to learn. When listening into the video, take certain notes, heck even do example doodles to help practice while learning It's also best that you create a list of things you want to learn (this can apply to other things like history, geography, science and so on) on the art ex. How to draw an (animal) How to draw a landscape and the list can do on But also just for another note, you don't only need Youtube tutorials, if you can try to draw by eye to hand then you can! Sometimes I, when trying to draw accurate animal anatomy (namely deers) i would look up pictures on how they lay down, sit down, what their legs look when folded and etc. you can try it yourself, looking into animal proportions or random buildings in your place and try to draw them for fun! Step 2: 20% knowledge creates 80% work you might not believe in it, but then again that's how art works, you may not know how to draw a body perfectly or hair in a certain way, or not know how to shade clothes, but taking notes or learning how to do it then doing it yourself is how it goes. you probably did this with your favorite/famous artists on the internet whether it was tracing or copying it. Come on, i know you did it. And when it comes from learning, comes practice to which practice makes perfect I mean that's how you can draw anime girls, animals, trees, birds and whatever. Well i hope this post gave you some insight and something for you to learn! Just remember to be kind on yourself and don't be so harsh when you aren't able to capture what you had in your head perfectly, we all go through that stage, hut eventually we end up with something that we are proud of. always remember, Rome wasn't built in a day.

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⠀⠀⠀ ⋮⠀⠀⠀ ⋮⠀⠀⠀☆⠀⠀⠀              ⋮

⠀⠀⠀ ☆⠀⠀⠀ ⋮⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀ ⋮⠀⠀⠀⠀☆

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[little-tunny]

My new year's resolution this year was to draw every day. I've never been very technically good at drawing so i feel like I'm starting from 0. I really admire the energy and expression in your art! Do you do anything to warm up? What's your process like when you have a technical skill you want to get better at? How do you choose the animals to represent people in your comics?

Great resolution!! Drawing is the best. :^) Set small goals for yourself and reward yourself when you complete them. AVOID BURNOUT AT ALL COSTS! I never draw more than 5 hours in a day. 30 minutes of practice, at least 5 times a week, would be an attainable goal. When you complete it, buy yourself a fun treat! If it's not fun, you won't want to do it, and you'll burn out. Draw things that make you happy! I love animals, so I really only draw animals. I stopped feeling guilty about being self indulgent years ago. Some of my favorite artists are just strange little dudes who only draw cats, and we all love them for it. I don't do many warmups, usually I just have an idea in my head and start chipping away at it. But if I'm left with a pen and paper I'll absentmindedly doodle all over it every time. I've never been to art school, but always wanted to take a figure drawing class! Some day I will. You can take figure drawing classes on youtube, but drawing from life will give you a better sense of something's form. Sites like sketchfab have all kinds of 3d models you can turn around and draw from any angle. Copy some works from artists you admire (its alright as long as you're just doing it to study and not posting them as your own!) Think about what part of their work draws you in. Mix and match elements from different styles you like. Steal someone's eyes and yoink someone else's hands. Make a Frankenstein of all your inspirations. Draw your pets sleeping! Draw a weird chair in your house! Redraw a funny meme you like! Draw weird objects you bought from the thrift store! Turn them into cartoon characters. Break real things down into their most basic shapes/elements and rebuild them. Small things build up to big things. I would prefer to have finished works than perfect works. You will learn more by doing more, rather than trying to perfect a single drawing for hours and hours. Get it done and move on to the next thing. I just get a sense of people's aura for their tunny assigned fursona, and mix that with an animal I think would be fun to draw. Sometimes I just think "this old man seems like a fish" and then i google around for the silliest species I can that fits the vibes the best. I don't think of myself as very technically skilled, but I do love drawing, and so I hope this helps you love drawing too!

[damn-it-a-hogwarts-legacy-blog]

Wow I just read your recent story and it's so good! 🤩

If it's okay, can I also request something? 😗👉👈 if your requests are now closed, just disregard this.

But basically, I just wanted to know your take on Ominis and MC's first ever fight. Maybe while they're still Hogwarts students or as a married couple, and why they fought in the first place. Maybe jealously? Or Ominis' family trying to arrange his marriage? Idk, it's your call! 🥰 thank you so much!

Thank you so much, I'm so glad you enjoyed it! I had a lot of fun writing it. I had such a great weekend filled with answering really fun asks and fic requests, I’m really happy you decided to send this. :)

OOH THE DRAMA~ I’ve thought about this quite a bit. For Isabel and Ominis in particular, they had their tiffs in school when they were both dumb teenagers, but never anything truly major. Their first true fight was shortly after they were married. I’m glad I finally got an ask that pushed me to stop putting this off.

I’m still hesitant to use Isabel’s name in stories, I know it can be understandably off-putting to read someone else’s MC name in a ship-based story like this, so I’m continuing the tradition of using “MC.” :)

In the Name of Love

AO3 Link

MC learns about a deal Ominis struck to keep the Gaunts from finding them again

Ominis x fem!MC

SFW

MC and Ominis have an argument, that's it that's the post lol. Mention of Crucio being used and its effects.

Word count: 2,131

⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖⋆

MC and Ominis had spent the past few days in a haze of perfect happiness in their new home. Each morning, they awoke next to one another and wondered if it was a dream. Sleepy, affectionate touches turned to blissful lovemaking, and the pair would eventually leave their cozy nest for a late breakfast before spending the rest of the day at each other’s side. When evening came, they would find themselves back in bed, curled up in the safety and comfort of each other’s arms.

The real world was gradually creeping back into their lives, however, and they knew they could not spend every day thinking only of each other forever; the world would not stop for two newlywed lovers mere days into their marriage.

It had been a warm, sunny June day when the two had finished a particularly late breakfast. A sleek owl darted in through an open window and, with a perfunctory flap, dropped a letter on the coffee table where the pair were happily chatting over post-breakfast tea in the drawing room. The owl perched on the edge of the table and looked expectantly between the envelope, MC and Ominis. Confused, MC tried to shoo it off, but it snapped at her and looked down again at the letter.

“It seems the sender didn’t want you to ignore their letter,” Ominis commented nonchalantly. “It must be quite important if their owl wants to confirm you’ve read it.”

“Surly little beast.” MC glared at the owl as she leaned forward to take the letter, and the owl ruffled its feathers as it glared back. MC turned the envelope over and stopped.

“It’s a Ministry of Magic seal... What could they possibly want from us?” MC muttered while opening the envelope and pulling out two pieces of paper. Beside her, Ominis froze.

“Dear Ominis and MC,” she began aloud, “per our verbal agreement on the sixth of June, 1895, your protection has begun immediately. Henceforth, please expect owls at any time of day or night, as your responsibilities are of the utmost importance and urgency. We understand, per our conversation, that you will be conducting your own business during daylight hours. While we make every effort to accommodate, we cannot guarantee a total lack of conflicts. Any failure to respond appropriately to official Ministry requests will result in immediate termination of your protection. Attached, please find details on your first assignment. For every assignment, Ministry officers will be awaiting you at the prescribed location and time to assist in answering questions and providing further instruction. We look forward to a mutually beneficial working relationship. Kindly destroy this letter upon receipt. Regards, Ministry of Magic, Department of Magical Law Enforcement.”

MC barely noticed the owl make an inconvenienced screech before it flapped out the open window. She frowned in confusion. “Protection? And why was this supposed agreement the day before our wedding? Unless…”

MC turned to look at Ominis with a deeply worried expression. He had somehow turned even paler than normal. “Ominis… what happened that night?”

“Do you not remember?” Ominis replied faintly.

“It was awful… I remember the both of us being kidnapped by your family,” MC replied, her voice growing quiet. Reflexively, she moved closer to Ominis’ comforting presence as she struggled to recall the flashes of still images her mind had not blocked from that night. “I remember your mother threatening me, and then… that must have been when you said she cursed me. I don’t remember anything more... Ominis, what happened?” She asked again, more desperate.

Ominis hung his head and turned away. His icy blue eyes were even more distant than usual. His next words were almost stammered as he nervously recounted that night. “I thought you knew... Your screams—Merlin, I have never heard a worse sound in my life. I knew the pain you were feeling, and I could not bear to stand by and let it happen a second time. I did the only thing I could think to do: I took you and ran. I made it to the Ministry—floo powder, I believe; some details are difficult for even me to remember... I talked to the first auror I found and told her what had happened. She agreed to help until she learned who was hunting us. She suddenly grew quiet and refused to help. She even dared to say there was no substantive proof you were the victim of an unforgivable curse. Eventually I found myself in the office of a higher-up of sorts—Merlin, I never even got his name. He had heard of you and the fact you saved Hogwarts with your ancient magic abilities and was interested. I hated that he thought only of your ancient magic. I convinced him to protect us from my family, but he demanded we return the favor and help the Ministry with whatever tasks the aurors are too overwhelmed to address.”

MC stared into space, a small frown on her face as she processed the torrent of words from her husband. Finally, she looked up at him.

"I... why? And why did you not ask me about this?" she asked, the pain and confusion abundant in her voice.

Ominis took a deep, shaky breath. "My family may not be wealthy anymore, but they are still well-connected—a few of them are likely somewhere in the Ministry. If word got out that the Ministry was actively meddling in Gaunt family affairs, well, I can only imagine how that confrontation would go…" Ominis searched for her hand resting on the couch next to him and held it in both of his hands. "And anyway, you were completely unresponsive. I tried to ask you how you were feeling, but you didn't say anything. The medics at the Ministry told me you were pale as a ghost.”

Ominis paused and drew another uneven breath, apparently collecting himself. “You were in shock, darling. Anyone would be after a Cruciatus curse. But I apologize. I should have reminded you what happened there at the Ministry office.”

MC's voice slowly rose. "You used my ancient magic as a bargaining chip? How are you any better than that Ministry officer? And now we owe the Ministry a large debt—and it sounds as if it was not the most legitimate agreement, either. Whether you had told me the day after or next week, the fact of the matter is that I was not part of a decision that has dramatically changed both our lives.”

MC shifted, and Ominis felt an infinitesimal attempt to slip her hand from his grasp. His heart faltered for half a moment.

"It was the only thing I could think of. I don't want you to ever have to go through something like that in the future. I cannot bear the thought of ever hearing you under that curse again." Ominis’ voice quieted, but it had little effect.

MC huffed and stood up, leaving Ominis’ hands empty on the couch. "Could it not have waited until I could at least give my consent? I have to face the consequences of your decision too, you know. We could have come up with a solution together—we could have discussed it as a couple."

"Then what do you propose we do to keep my family away from you—from us both? And what about our future children?" Ominis glared, hurt. "What could just the two of us do against the entire House of Gaunt, who are now enraged that an outsider would dare marry their defiant son?"

"That very ancient magic you gambled has gotten us out of countless situations," MC snapped.

"You don't understand their power, MC," Ominis protested sharply. "We have fought poachers, backwoods dark wizards and a small, disorganized goblin army in the safety of Hogwarts Valley. The power of my family, however undeserved, has been honed as long as Hogwarts has existed. I couldn't risk another minute of them following us and finding you. I had to make a decision for us both. Between more criminals and my family, the Ministry's offer seemed the lesser of two evils.”

MC gave a sharp, exasperated sigh and paced the room. "I can fend for myself, Ominis. We don't know how they would have fared against my abilities."

"And I hope we never find out," Ominis nearly shouted. "Have you forgotten that you were kidnapped by Rookwood shortly after starting school? What about your close brush with death fending off Ranrok? Professor Fig died protecting you.”

Just as quickly as Ominis felt his temper flare, it cooled again and his voice grew gentler. “MC, you are incredibly powerful, and I am constantly in awe of your abilities, but you do not understand the Gaunts' ability to hurt and kill. The fact that my mother alone caught you off guard does not bode well."

Ominis knew the silence that followed was anything but good. He slowly opened his mouth, but MC spoke before he could ask about what she was thinking.

"This is the same quarrel we had countless times in school—it mattered not if I went out puffskein-catching or saved Hogwarts; you argued I was getting into too much trouble and guarded me like a mother hen. Why do you insist on being overprotective and making these decisions for me?"

"Because I love you," Ominis blurted, his voice defeated. His brows knit together and tears welled in his eyes. MC stopped and stared at him.

“I love you so dearly,” Ominis continued, “and I won't stand by and let you endanger your very life for people like my family. I could never live with myself if I risked your safety by allowing them near you again."

With a sigh, Ominis stood and gently picked up his wand. He walked to the door and stopped before turning back towards MC, who remained inscrutably still and silent. "You are the strongest person I have ever met. You are fearless and protective, and I have always admired your bravery. That is precisely why I feel the need to defend you in return. I cannot simply let you die or be hurt needlessly if I can help it—and certainly not by my own family. I don't know what I would do if I lost your laughter or your loving embrace. Waking up to a half-empty bed every morning would break me. I need you.”

The soft, mournful smile that spread across Ominis’ face reminded MC of the same smile he often wore in school when they first met. “I’m sorry I made such an overwhelming decision without you, and I understand why you are upset about it. I’m sorry I did not tell you sooner. I won’t tell you how to feel. I only ask that you hear me when I tell you why I did it: I cannot risk losing the love of my life."

Ominis had nearly crossed the threshold when MC called out to him.

"Ominis, wait," she said gently. "Come here."

Ominis turned and hesitantly moved towards her. She took his free hand in hers and sat down, guiding him to sit beside her.

"Thank you," she murmured with a sigh. "I am still not pleased about this situation, but I am grateful to know that this is the reason why we are in it. And... I am very thankful you care so much for me. I shouldn't take your love for granted. For that, I am sorry."

"I care for you more than I could ever describe," Ominis replied, voice breaking as he tried to smile. "My family is not worth any risk to your life. I do mean it when I say I need you; I need your happiness. Even if you were to reject me and run off with someone else, I could at least take solace in knowing you were happy. But if you were to die, I would have nothing."

Ominis sniffled quietly and stroked MC's hands with his thumb. She looked between their hands and his downward-cast face and withdrew her hands. When Ominis' face turned upwards in question, she drew him into a tight embrace.

"Thank you," she whispered. Ominis slowly wrapped his arms around her in return and sighed deeply before tenderly kissing the side of her head.

"I'm your husband. You willingly chose me, but you don't deserve what my family did to you that night. I'll always protect you to my dying breath. I love you."

"I love you too.” MC’s voice wavered when Ominis gently squeezed her, and he smiled when he felt her try to clandestinely wipe away a tear.

“We will make this work. I believe someone close to me once said that whatever lies ahead, we must face it together."

"I couldn't agree more," Ominis smiled.

[holllandtrash]

driver scenarios…. Lando dating another streamer. over competitive. everyone’s fave couple. PROPOSAL ON STREAM.

Not me seeing this and thinking oh man I forgot to answer oyour text LMAO love u will text u back after I write this

I’m NOT a gamer so if any of this is wrong I’m sorry

You usually play call of duty or like racing games or really high competitive ones but you go over to his place fully expecting to play another game and you’re like “you’re going down norris” and his stream is already on so all of his viewers sees you size him up and he’s like yeah yeah whatever and before you settle into your gaming setting up (That’s across the room from his) you pop into his camera and say a few things to the viewers and they all see the way Lando has his hand on you and how cute and touchy you are and you’ve been dating for a while now and when a comment comes up saying “Lando when are u gonna propose” you read it out loud and you’re like “yeah Lando when are you gonna propose” and he’s like “I’ll propose when you win a game fair and square” because he always says you cheat (you never cheat, landos just a sore loser tbh)

and you’re like ya whatever and you go set up your stream and Lando is like okay we’re playing a different game and you’re like excuse me ??? And he’s like no it’ll be fun and it’s that Pictionary type game where you have to guess what drawing

And so he starts off with a piece of paper with lines on it and draws a coffin and then what looks to be a crowd of stick people and you’re like ??? What is this ?? a funeral??? And Lando yells at you from across the room “THE PAPER, it’s the paper they read” and it takes you a hot minute but you’re like OH ITS A WILL THEYRE READING A WILL

And then the next drawing Lando draws a heart and you guess “heart” and he’s like I’m not done just fucking wait and you’re like I wanted to play modern warfare not this charades shit and he’s like can you please just guess what I’m drawing

And in it the heart writes “me + _ _ _” and you’re like aww you?? Is the answer ‘you’ and he’s like ok good job you got that one and people in the chat are putting it together but you’re not

and then in the next round he draws a Christmas tree and you’re like “oh christmas”and Lando leans back in his chair to look at you and is like “yeah but the first word” and you’re like “…Chris..?” And he’s like why would it be chris and you’re like “Your said first word!! The first word in chrisymas is Chris” and he’s like “that’s a name not a word” and you’re like “what the hell is the word then” and he’s like “when you wish someone a jolly Christmas happy Christmas whatever, what do you say??” And he’s like GIVING you the answer basically but you’re still staring at the picture for so long until Lando is like “Jesus Christ MERRY!! MERRY CHRISTMAS” and you’re like oh my bad and he’s like “you lost that round” and you just shrug and laugh it off

and then Lando is like okay last round and he draws a heart again and you’re like “you” and hes like “no you already guessed that” and you’re like okay what then and he essentially draws the same thing, the heart but this time it says ‘_ _ + you’ inside it and you’re like “me??”

and he’s like “yeah good job”

And you’re so unimpressed because that was it?? That was the game? Four rounds of four random ass words and while you’re muttering something about how childish Lando is you’re reading the chats and it’s all coming in just message after message sayinf “PUT THE WORDS TOGETHER” but it’s not clicking for you so you finally look over at Lando and he’s gotten off his chair at this point and he’s on one knee and he’s got a ring on display and all his viewers are freaking out and Lando is like “put the words together” and you just start tearing up and you cover your mouth with your hands as it finally clicks and you, still competitive you’re like,

“Wait so did I win the game” and he’s all red in the face he’s like “I don’t know, I think I won” and it’s just such a cute stupid moment and all of your fans are their to witness it and obviously you say YES

And no one is surprised when you both suddenly end the streams to uhhh go celebrate lmao

[pants-magic-pants]

✧⊹JARETH BALLROOM COAT⊹✧

[This post is part of a series about constructing Jareth's entire masquerade ball costume. Visit the master post here.]

The Nightmare of the Lace [Part 2 of 2]

In part two, we will explore the decoration of the lace pieces that would be sewn/stitched on top of the velvet of Jareth's ballroom coat. This moment in costume construction was all about peering deeply into exhibit photos, pondering, designing, and stitching beads for countless hours. It took at least a month or two to finish, but it was definitely all worth it. Read more below!

Creating a design -------------------------

Trying to map out what I was seeing in photos was a bit of a challenge. There's a lot going on. What's under there? Is there a point to adding the beads if you can barely see them? And the answer is: yes. Because in photos, their splendor is not captured. In person, they're beautiful, so if you were thinking of forgoing this step for your own costume, or any costume with what you may call "discreet" beading, I ask you to reconsider. They really add a magical dimension to your work.

ANYHOO, I put photos into a program, and tried to draw what was there, and it didn't seem to be anything more complex than random loops and fishhooks, which got a little more deliberate further down, where it was no longer covered by hot glue. Towards those buttons, they start to interact with and frame them.

Photo (c) Yosa Addiss

I’m sure you could come up with all sorts of cool designs that work, and you could get more complex, but me, I basically just made, uhhh… florally fishhooks. Hahaha But I did give them some… hm… some joints, so to speak? They’re a bit branchy. 

The designs were drawn on my original pattern pieces for the lace. I pinned the lace to these, then unpinned where I was working on, so I could work on it, lie it flat, and see which direction I was supposed to be going. An embroidery hoop might've been more ideal, but it wouldn't really work in this situation because I couldn't trace my design on the lace. Maybe thin paper could have gone into something like this, without tearing? But I didn't have one anyway so I just did it the way I did it.

There was less loyalty to my design when it came to the shoulder piece because it was so massive, and a lot of it would be so heavily under beads and jewels, there was no point in making it too specific – there just needed to be something the eye could catch sight of between small windows. 

At a certain point, the designs stop, and I had it marked off where I knew you would not be able to see them anywhere.

Selecting a bead -----------------------

The most obvious choice for something like this would be a kind of seed bead, which come in different sizes. What I chose was a size 11/0, which are only about 2mm wide. Proportions (how big everything looks within its context) matter as much as "objective accuracy", so even if the original had slightly larger beads for this, which I think it did, I also was making a very tiny coat, and definitely doing other math to decide on what size other decorations should be, so for me 11/0 made sense. If the coat itself were bigger, more firmly in the adult size range, a seed bead size of 10/0 or even 8/0 might've worked better.

In the original, there's also something a bit course about them. They may be oblong, like tiny pebbles. You can find seed beads like this, but by the time I realized that, it was too late. I did think mine seemed so very clean and consistent, but *raises hands*

Also, it seems as if they're all black, but I wanted to have a bit of fun, so mine were a mixture of 75% black and 25% dark iridescent. Photos make them seem silvery, but in person they appear faintly blue/green.

Stitching the beads ---------------------------

If you are new to stitching (as I was) and would like to do some for your project, any project, I would suggest learning the back stitching technique, as shown here. It was easy to get the hang of, and you can do curves, not just straight lines. I did anywhere from 1 to 4 beads in a row, caught a single thread of the lace, pulled the needle back towards what I had already stitched, and then stuck it through the last bead again before adding more. At extreme curves, only 1 or 2 could be done at a time, but in places where it was a more continuous trajectory with only a slight curve, I could get away with 4. At 5 beads, things looked a little too straight.

Here are a couple pictures on the journey:

It took a f*&^ng long time to complete this. For things like this, you go into it knowing you'll be chipping away -- you'll spend hours working on something, step back and look at it, and go "oh.. okay... that little part is done. woo---hoo..."

Long-term tedious projects can scare people away, and I understand that, as someone who feels overwhelmed by her thoughts and what she wants to do, often. It was easier to get this part done by pairing it with something else that I could enjoy and that would engage my mind while my hands were busy. So, for a little while, it was my hobby to stitch while listening to Better Call Saul, which I'd seen before, but I'm also a huge Breaking Bad universe fan so revisiting it again and again is a pleasure. I'm sure you could pair your projects with all kinds of stuff: shows, movies, audiobooks, podcasts, youtube channels. I love a good story, but I also love to learn, even just passive learning, having people discussing something interesting in the background while I do whatever it is I'm doing. It becomes a joint hobby (some kind of engaging content + your project) which you can look forward to and appreciate as a ritual.

Moving on, here’s some of the finished pieces before they were added to velvet:

Some trimming was done afterwards, to make the lace's edges look less blocky, especially around the shoulders.

That concludes the seed bead business. But, if you look in front, despite that the lighting is not our friend, you may see that there are extra designs comprised of larger, more raised beads/cabochons. I edited this photo and upped the contrast:

Photo (c) Aria Couture

It’s not clear. My take on it was that they were black, shiny cabochons, so that is what I used. Really basic cheap ones. They seem to be placed in synchrony with the seed beads. Some are in wavy streaks. Other, large ones are stand-alone, but never too close to the buttons. I added these with hot glue before the assembly process.

Voila!

Attaching to the coat -----------------------------

This part was the true hell of the process, as mentioned in the first post about the lace. The plan originally was just to (very carefully, and with buffer fabric between the sewing machine foot and edge of the bead design) combine velvet and lace pieces, at the seam allowances that had been created for them.

However, there was slight distortion and shrinkage of the pieces because of all the bead stitching, and I did not know ahead of time what to do to avoid any issues this may cause. In retrospect, the lace pieces shouldn't have been exact replicas of the velvet pattern pieces... they should have been a teeny, tiny bit larger in all directions, with generous seam allowances. Because I had no foresight about this, it was difficult to attach the lace to the velvet without falling short, or tugging on the velvet in random places where warping had occurred.

Combine that with the impossibility of keeping these two fabrics still, and you have the reason for these posts' names: the nightmare of the lace. It would not stay still, and there was not enough of it.

My solution for this project was to expand some of the lace pieces by sewing more lace onto the edges (dear god it was so silly), and place a non-slippery fabric in between velvet and lace, baste it, sew it, and then cut away the middle fabric, so that it wouldn't go past the seam allowance, effectively hiding it once it was sewn into the garment. *heavy sighing*

Once all the hell of getting these pieces attached to the velvet was past, what I ended up with when it came time for assembly was a standalone collar and two standalone cuffs (velvet + lace). There was the lace shoulder piece by itself, which went in first (since the shoulder seam is one of the first places you start when assembling a coat), and there were the two lapels, which were stitched to the top of the inner facing velvet. 

You see how much that seam allowance struggled?! -->

Those pieces were large and strange-looking, and connecting each part of them in the right order just so was key to the whole coat looking good. Because of the slipperiness of the material, I needed to work downward, so first the top of the inner facing pieces were married with the collar and outer fabric. Then I had to baste-stitch the seam with the zipper inside, turning it back right-side out each stitch to check that there were no hiccups and that the zipper was discreet. The right angle between the front and the tails was another tricky spot, because clipping the lace diagonally was the only way to get it folded into that seam. 

AND THEN, ULTIMATELY, I gave up on sewing the lace into the seam! Folded it around and stitched it inside because it was tugging and slipping and all its usual fuckery.

The last thing that needed to be done to the lace was to stitch it down anywhere else where it would need to lie flat. The lapel lace folded inward in a curve parallel to the lining. The back drips needed three easy stitches. The lace is free-falling past the armpits, but around the waist area it was also tucked back and stitched there. 

It seems as if Jareth’s own coat has windows cut out of the lace in front, near the buttons, but for me, I was so sure that it would have disrupted the delicate balance and caused drooping in random places, that I just forwent it. 

And there you have it! This feels like it was too long, but maybe it’s not because it is really so important to talk about this part. There are a million ways to screw it up, that I myself didn’t always escape from. As always, I hope that was, erm, helpful.

-J 

[gin-juice-tonic]

Number one advice is always that practice with references is your friend. But it also depends on what you use and how you use em.

For one thing- if you’re trying to draw people with more motion, it might help to try and practice referencing someone that’s also in motion. What I like to do is take a screenshot of tv shows/movies I’m watching when someone happens to strike a pose that I think would be fun to draw. And when I’m feeling bored (or if I can use them for something) I’ll go back and draw characters in those poses.  (I’ve mentioned before that I do this with columbo, and hes gonna be my examples lol).

Like, to me this picture feels like we’ve really caught this Stan in the middle of a conversation- because its based on a guy in the middle of an actual conversation.

There’s nothing wrong with practicing using things from pose websites or stock images for reference of course, but if you think your art looks too stiff it might be just because you’ve been looking at stuff that IS stiff. When you take from videos it is still deliberate posing but its going to have momentum and emotions behind it that will carry into your drawing. (Also, if you’re going to use YOU as a reference, take a video of yourself acting out a scene instead of just taking up one pose- then you’ll still have that motion)

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Now another thing is when you’ve got your reference, how are you drawing it? If you are slowly and meticulously copying the pose they’re in, that can also make things end up stiff. I like to sketch out the basics of what the pose looks like as fast as I can. Don’t erase anything, just go till youre done. And dont spend more than a few minutes on it.

This is the kinda thing I usually end up spitting out when I’m using a reference. Then I go over it again and make it all purty (...sometimes).

You can set a stopwatch for yourself  and practice with different pictures to help you learn to draw things out faster. I think I used to set mine for 2 minutes? (And dont cheat! When that stopwatch ends you either restart and try again or move on to a different picture.) Remember you’re just doing the sketch at first, not the actual finished drawing.

I think the method is called “gesture drawing” but I’m not 100% on that. But it’s worth looking into. You’ll be able to find people who can explain it better than I do, and give you more resources too.

And another thing you can do as a warm up or to get yourself used to loosening up is something called “blind contour drawing”. That’s where you draw using a reference, but don’t look at the paper/screen that you’re drawing on. The picture WILL obviously turn out ‘bad’ in the sense that it will look all mixed up, but it will help get you into a fun mind space.

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And lastly to take things in a different direction, one more thing you can do is play with poses from cartoons. Even if your style isnt cartoony- people who make cartoons are masters at making their drawings feel fluid! (Usually through fun exaggeration that you wont get from real people!)

So those are a few things that may or may not be helpful! And when youve got enough practice in you can translate this into your regular way of drawing.

Tldr practice by swiping frames from tv/movies, drawing them really fast and ugly, and then prettying them up after. And see if that helps you.

and also look into gesture drawing so someone smarter than me can tell you what to do!