#but idk how to draw people in non-flat perspective

[antiv3nom]

having immense ideas beyond my skill level this fine evening

[fanartfunart]

My art progression as showcased through dragons as I avoid doing schoolwork:

2014: I had recently received a digital tablet. Promptly made drawings of long-haired people from behind because I hated drawing humans, and also loved backgrounds and animals more. I do everything on one layer because I’m a child who just transferred over from paper. Probably didn’t even know what a layer was. I exclusively drew dragons (and most everything) in profile. 8/10: I actually had awesome style as a teenager and these are definitely dragons. Storytelling also on point. Everything is a little stiff though.

(cont. under cut)

2014 (part 2): A gigantic leap as I figure out how the heck to color digitally in a way that’s not purely airbrushing everything in. Bright colors show up. I still draw humans flat and as minor details. Animals are still my best friends. Everything becomes absurdly long and angular for far too long starting from here. 5/10: Awkward and lanky. And my mountains got worse, lost all sense of texture and style. There’s no emotion.

2015: Everything is fuzzy. I am obsessed with trying to capture texture but I’m also a teenager and do not know how to capture texture. I also discovered the beauty of making OCs that have weird weird colors and designs. Background creatures remain to be weird sketchy things because I still don’t use base sketches for backgrounds. 3/10: proportions got weird again and the wings are a gigantic downgrade from 2014 me.

2015 (part 2): I continue to be a teenager obsessed with texture and playing with weird settings in digital art. I learn what layers are and why they’re helpful. I exclusively use this knowledge for separating background from foreground.  1/10: He has no legs and no personality and I didn’t know what I was doing. The initial paper drawing was better.

2016: This is for a biology project where we made up our own creatures.... I personally am not sure if I count this as a dragon. I get into My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, and everything becomes cute and fluffy, what can I say. I also learned I’m allowed to not use the default canvas and change it. IDK I start drawing After the Fall‘s early concept art and superhero ocs. There’s a distinct lack of normal dragons. 5/10: It feels more like Modern Me and the personality has returned, but also it’s also unsure if this counts as a dragon or a weird bat creature.

2017: I am still obsessed with my superhero ocs, but I’ve given some of them a dragon friend. I also draw almost exclusively in character-only style and the once prominent backgrounds dwindle to nothingness. dragons gain actual scale texture and I still do everything on only 2 layers. My humans are prominent but long, unusual beanpoles. 10/10: I still love this dragon baby and this is an excellent showcase of personal artistic growth. Look at his innocent little face. He’s got personality and is 100% a dragon.

2018: I begin to use layers more thoughtfully, and even tried making a “lighting” layer. I decide this is a bad idea. This marks the start of the Ombre Wings which remains present in the Daydream AU. People remain lanky and perspective is also wonky. This also marks the end of an era, as I abandon all my superheros due to my co-creator/partner dumping me. 5/10: The lighting got worse from every version before. Also all definition in my backgrounds disappeared... why.

2018 (part 2): I get a tumblr and get into Sanders Sides. I make the Daydream au. Virgil is the first non-furry dragon I make with ears??? I abandon trying to draw scale textures for working on perspective and lighting. Shading gets a little flatter again, but I’m also more mindful of actual lighting sources, so it’s forgivable. Dragons return to being Very Big in comparison to people. 8/10: Good memories. The start of an era. Most consistently I’d drawn dragons in a while at this point in time.

2019: Cartoon big eyes become the Standard.  Things have started to become very flowy and soft. I draw a lot of babies which translates to everyone becoming a bit stockier in adult versions too. (This is good because everyone stopped being weirdly long). I add sprinkles of scale-shading back in. Looking back, claws begin to be more paw-like than actual claws in comparison to 2017′s lizard-y claws. 9/10: Designs are on Point and expressions are getting real nice. I’ve finally figured out how to lock and shade layers. Also Babies.

2020: I’ve got AtF going again, and I branch back into making non-scaled dragons. Texture is a Thing, and I make a lot of digital brushes for textures I use a lot. I start using my new coloring technique more regularly. 9/10: about the same since 2019 dragons-wise, but the process has gotten smother and faster. The point off is both an attempt at pretending to be humble while also being aware that my art will change no matter what, and I will think that is better so that potential is There (except for 2017. That’s perfection. The most adorable dragon I’ve ever drawn.)

2021: Despite the fact I’ve gotten really into DnD and despite Dragons being in the name, I have not drawn barely any DnD dragons. There are no colored dragon drawings in the first 2 months of 2021 and this is a flaw. -10/10: no dragons.

[sherry-l]

Why YGO Vrains is such an immeasurable disappointment: a list

First of all, I need to make it abundantly clear that Im a big fan of Vrains – I love Yusaku, Ryoken, Ai, Kusanagi... you see them very often on my dash. I fantasize about the ideal version of Vrains that’s written well, the Vrains that’s fully exploited its potentials, every night in my sleep. I wrote this list PRECISELY because I love Vrains. That’s why I got so frustrated with its cardinal writing issues (and production issues). It physically pains me to hear people calling Vrains the worst and most boring series of YGO – but the fact that I couldn’t argue against that because it’s true pains me more.

And now, an incomprehensive list of the faults of Yugioh Vrains.  

1.      What the fuck is wrong with the character designs (beside that of Yusaku and Ryoken???) Everyone looks aesthetically displeasing – characters in real life look incredibly boring they could easily drown in a crowd of background characters, but their avatars are OSTENTATIOUS. Seems like the character designer had no clue what “less is more” means – blue angel, soulburner, and Bohemann for example, look like they were immersed in a bucket of glue and then dumped into another bucket filled with random accessories.

(from a fan artist’s perspective…Im especially salty about takeru, akira, Kusanagi, and the Knights of Hanois’ designs…like, their designs don’t inspire me to draw. Their personalities might be interesting, but their looks lack the vibrant, enthusiastic energy that the 5Ds, Zexal, and Arc-V characters possess)

(imagine how many fanfics and fanarts of Kusanagi x Yusaku there would be had Kusanagi looked HALF as hot as Ryoken)

And don’t even get me started on the colour palette – whoever decided on the colours just cant make up their goddamn mind! Colour saturation is way off the charts, the range of colour is too wide the audience simply dont know where to focus.

2.      Forgotten plotlines. Yusaku’s link sense? Hanoi’s spy in SOL? The Queen and the rest of the chess pieces? Yusaku’s forgotten memories? The rest of the victims of the Lost Incident? Just to name a few. 

3.      Character relationships are weak to minimal to none. Bonds and friendships – the vital element in all previous YGO series – is practically non-existent in Vrains. Where’s the camaraderie between our main casts (Yusaku, Aoi, Soulburner, Ema, Onizuka, etc…)? They don’t feel like a team fighting the evil together. They’re completely separate individuals who don’t give a single fuck if one of their…acquaintance…dies in a battle. We don’t have heartwarming moments of friendship blossoming and consolidating. It’s honestly such a let down.

4.      Interesting and debatable topics thrown away. The conflict between artificial intelligence and humans could spark so many in-depth discussions, but then the writer just decided its all Lightening’s fault. No morally gray situations, no ambiguity between the line of good and evil. It’s just all Lightening and his petty jealousy… yeah.

Oh and if Ai lives on the world will blow up. Why? Do we have a concrete reason to back that statement? eh...

5.      Overall quality of the animation. I don’t know if its because the animation staff was short on time or low on budget, but for a megacorporation (konami cough cough) that makes billions every year, they certainly are capable of investing more in this anime series. I can count the number of episodes in which the characters don’t look wacky with a single hand.

6.      Character development, wasted potentials. Ryoken is the only character who received decent treatment. The rest of the Vrains cast are all disappointments. Original concepts are cool and promising – Yusaku, a victim of child abuse with PTSD, embarking on a journey to overcome his reclusiveness and learn to open up to people around him? HELL YEAH. Aoi, a teenage idol with depression developing into a more mature and responsible heroine who saves Link Vrains? IM ALL FOR IT.  Soulburner’s character arc is fine overall but personally I don’t feel like it’s expanded enough. Also, there’s the mistreatment of side characters like Onizuka, Ema, Akira, the list goes on. I got so furious just looking at these characters and remembering that they’re all wasted and sidelined.

7.      Incoherent/ random plotlines. IDK all episodes in season 1 (Hanoi’s arc) felt pretty consistent, focusing on a linear theme – Yusaku’s revenge on the Knights of Hanoi. But after that it felt like the writers gave up writing outlines and just wrote whatever he pleased/ considered more convenient for the sake of…a plot…that he had no idea which direction it was headed for. This is reflected in the amount of forgotten plotlines we listed previously.

8.      Weak villains. Kinda related to point 4. Bohemann, Lightening, Windy, and Haru are all one-dimensional, flat, predictable villains with the cliché goal of “destroying humanity cuz humans are dumb and Ais are superior”. Not likeable, not fun to watch, not morally gray (something I expect from well-written antagonists), they are just there to serve as symbol of evil for the protags to defeat.

Honourable mentions - what I personally want to see in Vrains, really. Very biased.

-        The familial interaction between Yusaku and Kusanagi? Brotherhood, perhaps? Without any mention of Yusaku’s parents, Kusanagi is the closest Yusaku has to a brother figure. I crave for some wholesome brotherly moments between these two.

-        More slice of life episodes please.

-        The friendship between Yusaku and Takeru. Please. Please. PLEASE. From the second opening we can see the animation staff CLEARLY intended for there to be a strong bond between Yusaku and Takeru – Takeru probably was written to serve as a Jounouchi/ Johan/ Crow sort of character. Yusaku and Takeru could bond over their trauma and overcome their PTSD together. AND IT WAS SO HEAVILY HINTED AT IN THE 2ND OP!!! fam what the fuck happened to that friendship, Im so robbed.

-        Yusaku and Ryoken’s duel or tag duel. These two haven’t duelled AT ALL since the first season ended. Isn’t Ryoken Yusaku’s official rival? Isn’t it Yugioh tradition for the protag and the rival to duel like, a trillion times? AND ISNT IT ALSO A YUGIOH TRADITION FOR THE PROTAG AND THE RIVAL TO TAG DUEL?????? The fact that Yusaku and Ryoken never had a tag duel haunts me every night in my worst nightmares afjw4ot9wgrk

-        Topologina Nabee

Thanks for coming to my ted talk, this marks the end of my rant on YGO VRAINS DISAPPOINTMENTS. Again, I harboured no malicious intent when I compiled the list – its more like a vent of frustration than actual criticism. I would pay billions to see a Vrains reboot or, if there exists an alternate universe where none of the writing/production issues above are present in Vrains, I would do a Kaiba and build a dimension travelling machine and immigrate there.

TLDR: wasted potentials. wAsTED PoTEntialS. WASTED POTENTIALS!!!!!!

[stargazerspringles]

I finally finished this up!! May 22nd huh? Ouch I took a long while ^^’ I took awhile to finish this due to me trying to figure out the art I should be making, and how that will affect everyone! I want to make art that people will smile at! Not be bored and see it as repetitive, I’ve come to the conclusion that I should make art I’m happy to make. Canon or non-canon! So if anyone was waiting for this to be finished I’m really sorry! -I was testing out shading! Making it more smooth instead of using the water color brush which  has a rougher look to the over all shading!! I can say this looks alright? I think I should have done just a few more layers but no matter what I did it just looked too messy so I kept it like this ^^ -Fun Fact! The lens was actually used from the sketch! I tend to finalize the lens when I draw Cory in my sketches because flat colors never look right on it?? Idk, but that saved me a bit of time! Minus having to adjust it to the actual line art ^^’ -But Yee! Again I was testing out perspective here (and a comic like look, that’s why there’s borders)! I think I did well! It’s just the antlers look too flat still! I’ve tried many times to fix this but I gave up in the end and just used the sketch as a guide ;^; -Hm I think that’s about it! Have a great rest of your day!! Or night? Time zones are funky XD

[canmom]

I caught up with Infinity Train s03...

animation is very solid for American cartoons - still within the expected bounds of TV animation, but there’s a lot of very solid full-figure character acting in there. I feel like sometimes it feels a bit too precise and technical, like the perspective-drawing is pretty much perfect but there’s often not a lot of the liveliness and impact you get with looser animation styles or more expensive film animation. that seems to be a fairly common problem with recent American shows. that said, there’s some nice cuts of parkour stuff, and the train car concepts continue to be pretty cool and inventive.

the arc of the season was more than a little predictable, and played out broadly as I expected. the ending fell a bit flat for me - like the whole arc was about Grace going through this character development of like, learning to care about people but also not try to please total assholes, but in the climactic confrontation, a monster intervenes out of nowhere and saves her from, say, having to use violence against the co-leader of the fascist cult she created.

it’s like, it did all this work to set this up - Simon choosing again and again to lean into the fascist superiority complex thing and treat Grace’s character development as a personal betrayal - but it pulled its punch at the last minute. I realise this show is already pushing the bounds of what’s permissible but that kinda sucked. I’m not saying that it should have ended with Grace punting Simon off the train, but the ending they had was kind of a non-sequitur.

it also kinda sucks that the fascist cult is the only group questioning the systems of the magic kidnap adventure therapy train! like while it’s pretty clear that ‘number down for pro-social behaviour, number up for refusing to confront your personal issues’, who gets to decide that? Amelia’s reappearance was neat though, it’s nice to see long term story development in the anthology format. presumably Hazel will be the next protagonist.

but then, well, there’s the aspect of ‘this is the first time the show does a Black lead character’ - idk what the writing team looked like, but I’m gonna guess pretty white. Grace is a well-observed character and her inner conflicts come across well, which sounds like a low bar but have you seen the state of American animation? however, especially in contrast to Black-directed projects like The Boondocks we watched a couple of weeks ago on Animation Night, it feels like they deliberately steered clear of any explicit connection to Black culture and instead established her parents as rich, distant aristocratic snobs in what’s apparently a conveniently racism-free world.

this is most apparent in a flashback scene where Grace is arrested for shoplifting, and her parents start lecturing the cops about how she surely wouldn’t need to steal, are they questioning how they raised her... without even the slightest nod to the function of the cops being to enforce a racial terror regime and how even a rich Black family would have considerably less ability to play the “oh, you can’t arrest our daughter, we’re rich and respectable” card

I suspect that they wanted to avoid stereotypes, and this is surely better than a likely-terribly handled attempt to Deal With Racism, but well... this is still just crude trope-inversion, and a strange choice to ignore the real-world background when the whole theme of this season is like, dehumanisation and fascism. no single character can carry the weight of Representation, and if it gets to continue (apparently that’s dicey, they’ve laid off most of the staff), the show really needs to not have its Black characters be limited to just Grace, Tulip’s friend who never appeared after the opening episode, and a handful of nameless background characters.

[hol-eage]

hi holly! i was going to message you but then I got too shy, do you have any tips for someone who wants to start painting? i know you're an artist and thought you might be able to help, I really have no idea how to start, I'm just a clueless newborn fawn :( if not thank you anyway for reading this!

hello lil fawn! im sorry that u got 2 shy! i would love to talk to u if u ever want to, oh pupper i have so much to say and its all fuckin shit but maybe it could be helpful! im not a teacher idk remember this is all my perspective and u should do what u feel u should do!firstly i think you need to look at making art in two separate ways that should inform one another and sometimes work together, but while youre first figuring out how u draw/paint i would suggest working more with the 'honest kind' though i know a thousand tutors who say the opposite!!!! the honest kind~~~the im sitting with some paper and idk fuckin know what media, i just found this chewed up crayon on the floor and im going to run it across the paper,the i feel like drawing a dog and im just going to draw it like fuck proportion just draw it and have fun fun fun draw so many dogs that you start laughing because this one has the longest snout and you're imaging he would make a knughling noise, but this one! has the roundest belly with the smallest legs and would plod around wowthe i am hurting or so happy or so obsessed with this one thing and i am just going to put it on the paperthe technical kind~~~~i dont know what resources you have access to but life drawing is invaluable, if u arent on a course that offers it then i'd highly suggest looking for sessions in your community that u can go to! im gonna assume ur alone in this and not on a course, i'd say research proportion, medias, other artists and how they work, i really dont know what to say for this but try to learn how to really look? and how to accurately draw an object or figure or whateverum go to public places and try to just draw people, practice practice practice im not really the right person to ask idk idkthe thing is~~~i know alot of people who have, and i did for years, not separate the two, sometimes not even engage in the 'honest kind' which is so sad because then everything is empty!!! its so fuckin flat!!! like i used to work on hyper real drawings and they were pretty but they were nothing? they werent excited, they wouldnt get anyone excited except for people to be in awe which is useless??? and im all for pretty, like if u want to design things like patterns for use that is no lesser than fine art (i mean im a designer so?) u just have to love ur craft or learn to love it and it might take forever but pal go go go! honestly you need to learn your process, its kinda very personal and very fun to work on,say mine is~~~for my bowl ladies (my really crumby art blog is @hgjosephine u can find examples there) : process lead, where i spend days and days in the ceramics room and teach myself how to throw pots but then learn how the clay moves and how it can be manipulated into non-traditional shapes, then from making shape i look for patterns across my work, analyse it and see how the shape feels feminine and that when i hold the they feel like wobbly stomachs, then also see how it reminds me of all of the many traditional paintings depicting women dancing naked in a circle, so figure out how to show this with illustration bla bla bla in other process lead projects i have sat for a week just fuckin drawing, using paint, mixing paints, seeing how they layer! how they can be translucent! what colours work! and my project will go on from thereOR often its research lead, where i spend weeks over sketchbooks filling them with thoughts, conversations with myself, article clippings, artist works that make me go wow!fuckin!what! and from there i get a thousand ideas and experiment with them and then just search out the good, the things that excite you and make you run home to tell everyone how EXCITED you are TIPS~~gouache is the king of layering and translucency and clean work? its my favourite paintone good paint brush is ur main man, if u can afford to then a £10+ brush (art is expensive, however it doesnt have to be this is just helpful, but tbh u could use a kitchen spoon to paint with and make the best thing ever!) also tiger sells some real cheap soft brushes dont leave ur brushes in the water 4 too long (lol @me) also dont let paint dry on ur brushes (particularly arylic the most evil dried paint) good paper is worth it!!!! when ur painting with water based paint u need a high gsm paper, i dont really paint with acrylic much but i think thats chill on most paper oil is an arsehole (v beautiful tho) and wants all sorts of paper prepping bc otherwise it will make the paper go weird and oily like chip shop paper however oil pastels r my fave pals!!!! and indian ink!!!!!! ink ink ink ink (play with water and ink, like putting water on the paper and then painting on ink in the wet its FUN) idk i just started talkin and didnt stop but good luck, have fun!!!!