#i don't have the skills yet to actuall colour and draw a background

[thekittendraws]

There is way too little Sampard fanart on this site

[bosskie]

Electrical Colours

Man, I was just looking at that Abe's Oddysee's good ending and those cool colours the lightning strike made Molluck have, so I kinda wanted to draw him like this again... This ain't a redraw though even it looks like one of my older pieces.

There's also a sketch I made for this to my sketchbook. I don't have a light pad but it helped me to do a cleaner sketch to the actual paper. But frankly, that older piece has bothered me because of the flaws I see... So, I kinda have still wanted to redraw it but more because I really enjoyed playing around the colours there! I just rarely use vivid/strong colours...

I haven't touched my watercolour palettes for 5 years... I just got plenty of watercolour paper, mostly unused pads, so I felt like I gotta do something about it. I'm not sure if I'm pleased with the colours or not. I would have liked to mess more with the colours but well... The tape I used wasn't good enough to stay in place, so this got 'wonky' but not too much. It's just whenever I use watercolours, the paper gets wavy... The tape does help but eh, it's quite usual that I damage the paper anyway... Welp, need to practice my watercolour skills.

I wasn't sure about the background but just painted the environment from the cutscene. But yeah, I must say that I'm not sure if I enjoyed painting this or not... That tape just pissed me off and my usual self-hatred hit me while working on this... But I still decided to finish this, even it required many hours to make but also patience since yeah, you gotta layer stuff and be careful with watercolours. I still see some flaws here and there but just got tired of painting the whole thing...

I just started to feel so awful about myself, yet again... Felt like I'm just some odd freak, should just end what I'm doing but well, also myself... Currently, I basically have no other life than Molluck since I'm free and alone... I also just keep feeling like a failure, keep telling myself how I wasted one year of my life when I was too depressed to do anything, I didn't even really draw during that year... I just felt so hard that I'll be nothing, I have no future, I won't ever get to the university... Everything was so black... I didn't believe in myself, at all... I still feel like I got no future, barely have any hope on myself... There somewhere I kinda wish to tear that painting I did but also like all the other drawings too... I'm still having hard time with tolerating my own creations, even I do love to create stuff... I more like just wish to create stuff and then just send them into the void and never see them again... This is basically the main reason why I tend to disable reblogs... I just cannot really stand seeing my own stuff...

I have just felt like that I should just end my whole Molluck thing... But there somewhere I see Molluck looking at me with sad eyes and telling me how he knows that I don't really wish to do it since I love him so much... It also feels insulting to him that I'm calling myself a freak because of the way I love him... I don't wish to hurt my dear Gluk, even I do have drawn him getting hurt but it's just what actually happened to him and I cannot deny that him getting the hit looks 'cool'... My life would be so empty without Molluck... Welp, he at least keeps me creating stuff since I just moment ago got yet another drawing idea that I feel like starting later today. Not sure if I make a proper drawing about it and what media I should even use but just something to my sketchbook at least. I just feel like I barely drew a thing if I didn't have Molluck... Dunno if my stuff is even worth making but well, I'm glad to waste my time on some fictional creature I keep dreaming of every single day...

I'm still trying to see my stuff in a better light but it's difficult... I didn't have much will to post this one but still did it. I just tend to feel like my stuff looks soulless, uninspiring, crappy, just not worth seeing... I'm still trying to keep posting my crap stuff, even it's difficult for me to believe in that anyone really enjoys seeing my stuff... It's just that my mind just keeps telling me that everyone just secretly hates me and just pretends to like me for whatever reason... I don't even know why I feel like this but it's just making my self-hatred worse, keeping me feeling like I'm just ruining everything, that everything would be better if I was gone or better, never even existed... I'm still trying to keep living, even if my only reason to live was to keep filling the world with Molluck crap love... I'm planning to try out sculpting a Molluck bust next week; gotta buy some art supplies first though, like a banding wheel. Been just joking about filling my home with Molluck sculptures... But yeah, a huge Molluck bust would be just nice, though it would be like 'real-life-sized' at that point! Yeah, I can say that I do have had ideas for big Molluck crafts... I could be able to do a big plush too but I got no resources for such...

Yeah, let's say that this stuff is basically for what I live... I don't really care if some people think that I'm a freak/weirdo/whatever, this is just who I am, and I can be no one else but me; it's just that me calling myself a freak is my problem... I also got some 'digital craft' ideas too, meaning programming and 3D stuff. Yeah, so many medias to work with... It would be just cool to do a VR/AR Molluck thing too! Yes, I am crazy about Molluck but it's not really harming anyone and it keeps me alive and creating stuff, so it's fine. I actually started to feel better after writing this stuff since well, there is so much cool Molluck stuff to do, even if I have difficulties with tolerating my stuff... I just love to create Molluck stuff, okay.

I don't wanna sound like I hated people liking my stuff, no. It's only a big surprise to me if someone really likes my stuff and I do appreciate all the positive things my stuff gets! I just wish that I could also see what you see when looking at my stuff... My problem is just that I tend to see only my flaws and therefore find my stuff as crappy... But I'm trying my best to learn to love myself and stop feeling like I'm just a failure that shouldn't exist... It's only me who has said those brutal things to myself...

I feel sorry for all this vent... It's just that I'm really fighting for my own life with my mind. So many times, I have just felt like ending this all... But here I am, even if my whole existence was a total waste after all... Yes, this is how I talk to myself during my worst moments... I hope that your self-talk ain't so awful!

[realcatalina]

opinions on this portrait of mary rose tudor? it just popped up on my pinterest feed and i'm intrigued about its validity.

link: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/878272364816871434/

It's actually drawing by Holbein of Mary I. The other Mary Tudor.

It's in Royal Collection Trust(and on their webpage it looks trooly peach...idk why) and it is very real.

Question is, are any of Holbein's sketches correctly identified? ...Well, the big labels come from centuries later. However they are based upon 16th century labels.

During 16th century a courtier who met these people personally...(I believe it was somebody of name Cheyne...but i am not certain. Don't quote me on this.) had labelled some of Holbein's sketches in his own hand. He didn't have access to all of them.

But he marked them in pencil and thus unfortunately most of them rubbed off over the centuries, though in few it is still visible!

For example Lady Rich(in that part of background I didn't colour):

(Holbein also left some some writings within his sketches on occasion, and marks to know what colours to use later...)

Hence we consider these labels to be truthful...Of course we cannot rule out that somebody played with them...but we hope it is not the case.

However, Mary's sketch...is recognizably her.

It matches other portraits...it's just that part of her nose and one of her brows has rubbed off-why you can't tell immediately...and even the highlighted parts(possibly done in ink) are now quite hard to spot properly.

This is engraving(that's why it's flipped) by Wenceslaus Hollar, probably based upon finished painting:

(By the way he totally downplayed size of pearls on her necklace).

But gives us a clue as to the possible shape of pendant...I think it is this one:

Or very similiar one. By the way at some point it seems somebody labelled it as Catherine Howard:

But the fabric of gable hood twists almost exactly as in the sketch...and rest is good match to either Holbein's drawing or Hollar's engraving.

This is same drawing after I highlighted the more visible lines:

However, I am not 100% certain i got the tip of upper veil(at top of head) correct, I am having trouble determining exact shape of pearls on left of the neck(upper strand).

And mainly the shape of the golden pendant in middle. Either Holbein moved it and it partially shows...or it had some edge and lines are now blurred.

...But despite all this. It's still so good, a skilled artist could recreate the portrait. You'd just need to use those engraving to look at the pattern of frontlets...and look at other portraits of Mary to look at shape of her nose and other brow...

You could do it. ...If you chose to do it without hands.

Entire lower part of drawing is very rubbed off...But I have spend considerable amount of time trying to figure out what was there...looking at it under different filters and such...

But it never ended up looking good.

My digital attempt after I gave up on hands:

(back when I didn't yet realise I should highlight the lines first.)

By the way...neither Hollar nor that other engraving overexagerate the breasts...in the drawing you can definitely recognize the shape if you focus on it in closeup. But back then it wasn't considered provocative or indecent.

Royal Collection Trust thinks the drawing was done after Mary returned to her father's favour in 1537.

Well, Holbein was in England firstly in 1526/27(Mary would be 10-11 years old, hence way too young for this). And then from 1532 onward to his death in 1543. It's unlikely that Mary would be painted during Anne Boleyn's reign in 1533-1536.

However I heard recently Catherine of Aragon had some jewelry designed by Holbein in 1532. If she had authority over such things at that time...Mary could equally be painted at the time. And she'd be 16.

Hence Mary's drawing should be either from 1532 or 1537-1543.

In theory you should be able to tell from these parts of gable hood, if it is closer to 1533 or closer to 1537:

(Smaller in 1537, bigger and sticking to side more in 1533). Here, i am not confident enough to say either way.Coudl be that part rubbed off...but idk.

Enough information?

[ekkurea]

hii I hope it is okay to ask this but I would like to know more about how you use ai for digital art. I've read your previous posts about it and tbh colouring and rendering is smth I've always struggled with, I don't have the best eye for colours and as much as I practise I can never get the lighting/shadows to look good. would you mind sharing your process of using ai as a tool to improve your art? such as which apps/sites to use? what you specifically use it for and what other things it can help with artists? and any tips you have for using ai in art? thank you!

Hello! Of course, I would be happy to answer your question.

Actually, I don't have anything particularly new or interesting to tell you, sorry. Firstly, I want to say that I completely understand you. Colour has always been a big problem for me, because even knowing all the theory, I spent a lot of time creating a colour palette.

If you put aside all the "traditional" training and the search for comfortable work with colour (which is still ongoing) and talk specifically about ai, then a video from Ross Draw on this topic immediately comes to mind. That is, as one of the options for using ai art as a raw material for creating a drawing. In fact, apart from this video, I've watched a maximum of one or two other videos on the use of AI art, so my knowledge is limited to my little experience.

I use AI in a picture-to-picture format, not text-to-picture. I work with a specific request from customers and many references. First, I create a full-fledged colour illustration, draw all the details, light and shadows, and then upload it to the AI editor. I have a few common ones downloaded that you can find in the App Store, such as unidream and faceplay. There is a fee for using them, but I wouldn't really recommend spending money on it. Maybe free trials will be enough for you. Personally, I expected something better. Besides, I know that some sites and companies already offer artificial intelligence that is not based on stolen art. This solves the problem with copyright. After processing my drawing, I look at how I can improve my illustration. I pay attention to everything: colours, lighting, work with folds on clothes, etc. I try to analyse everything. During this practice, I really see how my skills have improved, and I think my progress would have been longer without it. In addition, I try to draw everything myself with the characters, they are the main thing for me, but I spend less time on the background and rely more on AI.

How else can it help artists? I have a lot of ideas, but I haven't researched and practiced any of them yet. For example, a social media strategy, creating quality ideas on socially important topics to be reproduced in illustrations... There are many things, but of course, it is just a tool in our hands. It can help us become better and do better things.

I hope I can gain more experience in the future to be of more use to you. Have a nice day and all the best.

[dashawfrostart]

This Week In "Time & Again" #2: Gettin' Technical Here! 😁

Now, since all the vector prep is done, it's finally time for me to start actually drawing every single frame for Chapter 5!.. Just like that! 👇😁

Oddly, as I started drawing the frames for Chapter 5, I feel extra hyper but also very relaxed and blissful at the same time. Maybe it's nostalgia, for as far as I remember, in winter days I liked to enjoy drawing at home, in the warmth, watching the snow outside. Seems like the work on the artworks is going exceptionally well - much better than when I worked on Chapter 4. I'm excited to go forward with my crazy undertaking; but on the side, I have a lot of non-"Time & Again" ideas, and I revisit my old writings, hoping to find extra spark for the other universes and timelines I have in mind, and all of that powers me up. I feel very active and positive. Aaaah, dis is the season, innit?.. Here, on this side of the globe, winter is halfway on. In the end of the last week it snowed in neatly and almost evenly, and the birds on our balcony look all fluffed up and fidgety, waddling from one little foot to another to keep themselves warm while trying to unbury the birdy omnomnommies from under the not-so-giant-yet heaps of snow. The snow has melted a bit by now; I watch them through the balcony window, sipping on my Earl Grey tea every morning and throughout the day, and it makes me feel at peace, and yet a little sad at the same time. For if I had knitting skills, I would've supplied all those cute little sparrows and the peanut-hungry blue jay family with some nice sets of hand-made sweaters, hats, scarves, and socks. But alas, I can only do that in the form of artworks for now. But I digress. Back to my graphic novel now.

For those who don't know how I usually work on "Time & Again" - and I presume, that's what I'll keep doing for the rest of my comic-type projects, that is, if there's ever gonna be any more - I do everything consecutively, starting from the lineart (including the backgrounds, especially if the frame requires very specific placement of the character on the background, or they interact with it in any way), then I do the flat colouring, and then I go for the shading. And by that, I mean that I do all the lineart for all the pages first, then, once that is done, I switch to colouring of all the pages, and then, once that is done as well, I finally get to do the shading on all the pages. Told you, there's definitely a certain system in the way I work on my stories. This is also a reason why I never ever post updates page by page: because there's simply nothing to post, since they're all incomplete. Deal with it 😎 It seems that this manner of work suits me best. I'm not certain why, but I've never been keen on sharing the works that are half-done or something - although lately I'm going through a certain metamorphosis in this respect. Moreover, it is important to me to keep the same steady, precise, and classy art style throughout the chapter. Consistency is what I highly value in my creations. People, who also draw, have probably noticed that, at times, their art style might wiggle and be, let's say, all over the place - and sometimes this just happens on its own. I can't really explain this. This must be some sort of hidden mysterious consciousness of our pen/pencil that simply does things on its own 🤪. Sometimes our mood contributes to how the art style changes in tiny little details - at times to better, at times to worse comparing to what we strive to achieve. Through executing everything consecutively and finishing up the "chunks" of different types of work one after another, my goal is to avoid unnecessary and unwanted art style inconsistencies that might occur otherwise.

But enough of this lengthy preamble! Let's finally get technical, just as the post title announced it! I see you're getting bored... (no, wait, what do you mean it's just my neighbours snoring?.. I don't know what you're talking about)

This time, since I decided on making a regular page-by-page PDF version of the chapter as well as its scrollable webcomic doppelgänger, I needed to figure out how exactly to simplify my work in order to avoid accidental complications (here, almost a quote from a character's line from the current chapter, lol!). Of course there's no way I want to do the same amount of work twice just because I didn't anticipate the outcome correctly. Not to brag about it, but I must admit, as far as I remember myself - I've always been good at this. There's always a place for being extra technical when it comes down to the artworks. It's not as simple as it might seem to you. Deciding on the technical aspects of creating artworks is kind of a puzzle, in a sense. It's almost mathematical 😁

So, as you can see on the screenshot just a little above, that's a layout of a comic page (in the regular format for now). To make everything work out in a simple way in the end, I decided to create layer groups for every each separate frame (red markings) that will include everything I need for the frame: the lineart, the colouring, and the background. That will help me to just copy-paste a certain frame on the new canvas optimized for the webcomic format - and that is all! All done in a few clicks. Automation 100% 😁 (having Minecraft flashbacks now for some reason...)

All the text-related material (speech bubbles, the text lines themselves, and all the possible written sound effects such as "Swoosh!", etc.; the green markings on the screenshot) is currently included into one group above everything else. I've been importing these layers straight from Inkscape in PNG. But I started to think now that I need to separate those elements in the end, too, for further convenience and simplicity of arrangement on the webcomic format canvas. But that will be work for another day in the future.

In terms of memory usage, I'm not certain yet how it will go for me, for sometimes Krita would randomly crash on me without anything in the error log, and every additional layer adds to the memory usage even if it's near empty - finally, considering fairly large size of the artworks pixelwise, it all adds up pretty quickly. But I'm not exactly running Krita on a potato either (mmm, potaties 🥔🤤), so I think I should be fine.

Previously, perhaps counterintuitively - but again, it worked just fine for me back in the day - I used to create a giant layer with all the lineart for the current page, and then the flat colours for the entire page were stored on a separate "flats" layer, and all the shading for the entirety of the page was stored on its own separate "shading" layer, too. The same went for the backgrounds: depending on the pictures overlapping or not, I would've drawn all the backgrounds on a single layer called "BGs".

This approach would've not worked this time though.

In the lineart work, I'm currently finishing up page 9 already. ALREADY! 🥳🥳🥳 Which indeed sounds pretty awesome, because it just goes ahead steadily. That is, however, keeping in mind that there are frames that I just left out and skipped for now, for they require extra consideration. You see... Chapter 5 is going to have a peculiar scene - something that I've never ever tried drawing before just yet, and it's gonna be pretty long. It's fairly stretched out across a few pages and it's almost represented in a slower-than-real-life pace (surprise, surprise, isn't it what I usually do anyway tho?..). As I work on it, I wonder if it's going to be too boring for the readers. But I think the time will tell, for, once everything is done properly and in colour, it's gonna be much more of an eye-candy than it is now. I sometimes have difficulties approximating the end result in my head. But often it just turns out a little nicer than expected, which is a bonus. Because screw perfectionism; that's in the past for me 🤣 (true story! did NOT enjoy it! got out with minimal losses!)

... Since this post seems to be stretching out in time and space as well, just as the certain scenes I'm working on, I think it might be time to wrap it up for today.

Happy Halloween everybody! And I foresee significantly more sketches and screenshots in the upcoming posts! Take care! See ya sometime next week! 👋

P.S. And, of course, for a nice holiday treat, I made a Halloween artwork, again. And this time it's not that simple (and for a spoiler: this year it's not gonna have Cacodemons as pumpkins, nope): it also serves as the first teaser for Chapter 5 and the second half of "Time & Again"! So don't miss out on it 😉 You won't though, because it will soon appear in my blog!

[bloededhoine]

world building cause twn doesn't part 8: nonhumans

this is easily the geekiest part of the series. and it's a Very geeky series. because sapkowski's worldbuilding is waaay more extensive than i have the time, ability, or desire to convey, i'm sticking with races both sentient and important

colour code cause i fucking love colour codes - already happened/introduced, probably s2, important background info, stuff that might be in the prequel, extras

series masterpost

dopplers

dopplers, also known as vexlings, shifters, mimics, doubles, imitators, or pavrats, are a nonhuman race that can take on the appearance of nearly anyone they encounter

before mass migrations of humans, dopplers primarily inhabited the forests and plateaus around the city of novigrad, where they would transform into wolves and pack animals to hunt

their abilities are pretty impressive, dopplers can not only mimic appearance but also voice, personality, skills, behaviours, and knowledge. dopplers can even turn parts of their bodies into pieces of clothing or other objects

however, there are some limitations

dopplers can't transform into someone/thing with dramatically more mass than they have, are burned by silver, and can't drop anything they created (if they did it would kind of turn into a fleshy goop)

we've already met a doppler in twn, this sexy sexy man

BUT

it is important to note that this doppler is a huge deviation from sapkowski's lore. dopplers are pretty much always exceptionally kind and gentle. a lot of times they use their abilities to appear threatening (big teeth, sharp claws etc) because they really don't want to hurt anyone.

when dopplers aren't mimicking another form, they aren't exactly pretty. they're bald, short, have beady yellow eyes, and kinda look like they're made from soft clay

here's the hexer doppler

the most notable doppler is dudu biberveldt, who i mentioned as the halfling dainty biberveldt's fake cousin. dudu's actual name is tellico lunngrevink letorte, but dainty decided to help dudu live in novigrad by adopting him as his fake cousin.

dragons

dragons are fucking awesome. you know it, i know it, and zerrikanians know it. witcher dragons are especially awesome

they are the only being, other than cats, that can naturally harness and absorb the force of chaos

there are multiple subtypes, but most dragons fall into one of four: black dragons, green dragons, red dragons, and white dragons.

black dragons are the largest, and primarily live in swamps and wetlands where they bathe in mud. they have extremely hard scales and don't breathe fire, but an acid that causes burns similar to those from mustard gas.

green dragons (right there) are the most prominent yet smallest species of dragon, mainly living in forested areas and breathe highly flammable chlorine gas.

red dragons mainly live in hills and mountain caves and can breathe fire hot enough to melt metal

white dragons are one of the rarest species and live in the far north, and can breathe frost

however, if you watched the witcher netflix as i assume you did, you may remember golden dragons. these dragons are so rare and exceptional that they are not usually included with other species. they breathe steam and fire and can shapeshift into any living being

all dragons communicate through telepathy, although golden dragons can speak when they are in the form of a species that can speak

humans are pretty divided on the topic of dragons, with zerrikanians worshiping them and nordlings hating them.

because they are incredibly intelligent and emotional, witchers (generally) refuse to hunt them

borkh three jackdaws, also known as villentrenmerth, is the only golden dragon we know. there he is right there.

ASSASSINS OF KINGS SPOILERS NEXT TWO BULLET POINTS

the other dragon from twn was a green dragon named myrgtabrakke, borkh's mate. their daughter is named saesenthessis, also known as saskia the dragonslayer (an alias she took to explain her extensive knowledge of dragons) and the virgin of aedirn

because saskia is part golden dragon, she can shapeshift, although is much more limited than her father. she can basically only be a human looking woman with blonde hair or a huge dragon.

cut because this part is getting REALLY long

godlings

ah godlings. i love them so much. they're adorable and precious. they usually look somewhat like a human child, but with blue skin and large amber or green eyes. they don't wear much clothes, their focus is in accessories like jewelry, flowers, or tattoos

that's johnny, a holding in wild hunt.

godlings are incredibly rare, and are easily confused with young goblins. they primarily live in swamps near drowners, but aren't afraid of them.

they're quite mischievous but kind hearted, many have happy go lucky personalities and love just having fun. i adore godlings. i've said it once and i'll say it again.

higher vampires

definitely the most important group on this list, higher vampires are incredibly powerful and intelligent. they can shapeshift within certain limits, generally either looking like a human or a large terrifying bat. they also have some telepathic abilities - they can basically make you fall asleep and forget stuff

scary wooo

higher vampires do not need to drink blood to survive. some don't drink blood at all. when they do, it's like a human drinking alcohol. on full moons, groups of higher vampires go out partying and get white girl wasted

although all higher vampires have the same basic abilities, each individual has one skill they are exceptional in.

most find humans harmless but annoying, like mosquitos. they don't really like interacting with humans, which works out pretty well as higher vampires can blend in very well, even a witcher's medallion can't detect one

higher vampires also have three distinct cultures, the tdet in the far east, the ammurun across the great sea, and the gharasham in the northern realms

they are really really hard (or impossible, depending on canon) to kill. based on the books, you basically need to disintegrate them. based on the games, only higher vampires can kill other higher vampires, but humans can get close

we only meet one in the books, emiel regis rohellec terzieff-godefroy. he goes by regis for short. regis was an "alcoholic" in his youth, and has since abstained from blood or any other substance. he's incredibly old, by the end of twn season 1 he'd be 425 years old. as for regis' "special ability", he's just kind. he's an incredibly gentle and loving person. that's it. i love him.

merpeople

probably one you're already familiar with! merpeople are intelligent humanoids that inhabit the great sea. mermaids are notably gorgeous, having green hair and tails, and their scales are prized alchemy ingredients

sapkowski's mermaids can breathe above water, but the sun burns their skin so they don't stay at the surface for very long.

merpeople are incredibly powerful, they can summon krakens and the sea-dragon like race of vodyanoy respect their authority

they use their own language that's quite similar to hen llinge, but more lyrical sounding.

nymphs

nymphs are a humanoid race primarily based around nature. they have 5 subspecies, dryads (including hamadryads), leimoniad, naiad, nereid, and oread.

dryads, called eerie wives by humans and aen woedbeanna by elves, are the most prevalent, primarily living in the brokilon forest. some have human skin with olive undertones, but others are green. they usually have dark brown or green hair which is usually worn in dreadlocks (breaking my promise of not being overtly and annoyingly political in this series yet again - the dryads, especially in the netflix adaptation, are classic magical n*gress stereotypes. but more on that later.)

this is a lore-accurate one that i LOVE

dryads have incredibly strong connections with nature and magic, although it is really rare for a dryad to be a source. dryads are able to draw energy from trees, but rarely do because they don't want to hurt the trees. support dryads and take the bus.

all dryads are women. all of them. they make babies by basically luring men into the forest and doing the adult hokey pokey. also why dryads aren't really a fan of witchers, who don't make the baby butter (i am so sorry)

however, dryads can also turn a girl of another race into one of their own through the use of magic. the water of brokilon has some mutating quality that makes young girls forget their human past and physically turn into dryads, although it is less effective as the girls are older. the dryads tried to do this to ciri, but given that she's a source, nothing happened. generally, this process is done to girls who wander into brokilon, but some dryads will abduct peasants from outside the forest if they need more dryads.

here's twn dryads... yikes

this is where i think the whole racism thing becomes a bit too obvious. "uncivilized" women who live in the forest and have dreadlocks and abduct young girls from "civilized" areas?? in twn they leaned even further into this, having one of the two black women they cast be a dryad and replacing the usual bows and arrows with spears, a less sophisticated weapon. again, this series is about the lore, not the political implications of it, but it is important to keep in mind

dryads are excellent at archery, shooting anyone who comes within 80 metres of the forest. through their connection with nature, they have highly advanced medicine and use glowing fungi as a source of light.

hamadryads are a specific type of dryad that is incredibly connected with her tree. because of this connection they have exceptionally strong magical and healing capabilities, but will also go insane and die if their tree dies.

like merpeople, dryads use a more melodic dialect of hen llinge

leimoniads are a type of nymph that lived exclusively in meadows, but are practically extinct due to wars with humans

naiads, also called rusalki, are nymphs that live in lakes and rivers, although a few live with the dryads in brokilon. naiads are very similar to dryads, although they tend to have very light skin with very dark hair, webbed hands, and can dry out on land

naiads rarely speak common, live in small groups, and have highly developed telepathic abilities

nereids are nymphs that inhabit the great sea, often living closely with merpeople. they usually have blueish skin with either blue or white hair and have some telepathic abilities, though not to the extent of naiads.

oreads are nymphs of the mountains, which, like leimoniads, are nearly extinct due to human conquests.

succubi/incubi

succubi (female) and incubi (male) are creatures which look like incredibly attractive humans but with horns and goat legs. they seduce humans, first in dreams and then physically, using their prey's energy to sustain themselves, often to the point of the human's exhaustion or death

our man eskel has a soft spot for them...

sylvans

sylvans, another race we already met, are exceptionally rare. like, practically extinct. they live mainly in the woodlands of the northern realms and have goat-like faces with yellow eyes, horns, cloven hooves, and tails

my man torque is quite possibly one of the last sylvans on the continent

they are distantly related to elves, and the two races tend to coexist quite well

generally quite mischievous and merry, highly enjoying pranks and parties. they can use simple spells and are mainly herbivores

sylvans live around 100 years and are highly sought after by dryads for their... ahem... reproductive capabilities

unicorns

yep, we got unicorns! i fucking love unicorns and still kinda think they're real. camels are real and those lumpy fuckers are way weirder than a horse with a spike on its head.

anyways

unicorns are highly advanced beings, they can travel between worlds and use telepathy. they don't really like the "less advanced" races, mostly staying around to observe them. they have distinct societies led by a council of elders and tend to avoid evil

these unicorns are badasses

unicorns strongly despise the use of the force but encourage the power of destiny. in the context of pavetta's betrothal feast, a unicorn would not be happy with pavetta's little source hurricane thing, but would encourage geralt to follow the law of surprise

in of the witcher, unicorns are very important because of their world-hopping capabilities. the aen elle, unfortunately, realized this and began enslaving unicorns to help them plunder other worlds. this turned into a massive conflict between the unicorns and elves.

[theunconcernedembalmer]

*holds up nerf gun* mun how r u so talented gib secrets

The tl dr of all this is really just because I like to draw a lot XD I love to draw, so I wanted to get better at it, and I just kept going at it. I think that’s a pretty good summary of me being a self taught artist. 

More details under the cut because as usual I can’t shut up enough XD also posting this cos I haven’t had the energy to get to replies yet oops

1. Find a thing you really like and draw it for the next uhhhhh 3 years or so of your life. Rinse and repeat. (I hopped from OCs to Undertale and now to IDV over the span of like. idk a decade or so, so whatever that catches your fancy, really. You have to enjoy it, first and foremost XD)

2. Study basic theory, like very basic (as much as you’re willing to learn, or as much as it helps make your stuff look better). Anatomy, composition, colours, maybe even a bit of perspective, depends on what you want to focus on (eg. if you want to draw characters, focus on anatomy. Items and background? Composition and perspective will help greatly).

This is a step that I know most of us hate, because we're lazy like that, but after a while you can only get so far without knowing basic anatomy and the like. There are tons of tutorials floating around, especially on tumblr, so dig up those that you want to learn and spend some time on them. Look at the different tutorials on the same topic and have a look at the different ways of approaching them. Pick the one you like the most/ works the best, stick with it and have fun XD

Also I feel like this step helps whenever you’re feeling incredibly frustrated with your own art. It happens a lot, it happens to me, and usually what fixes that is really figuring out what can be improved. Feeling unsatisfied with your art means you’re ready to improve, but most of the time you don’t know how to, so doing a bit of studying might help, especially in areas you know you need help in.

Again, you don't have to do all of them, just the ones you're interested in/ currently struggling with. I’m just a little hobby artist, I prefer to do things at my own pace, and more importantly I have to like what I do.

I only had the chance to go to a couple of formal classes in university, but I knew that if I had taken these classes any earlier, I would have hated them, and I don't think I would have learnt as much as I have. That's mostly because I used to be lazy and didn't see the need for formal art theory, but now I know I should have a little bit if I want my art to be looking better, so now I’m interested in all the boring stuff. Especially since this is more out of interest than anything, I don't want to do anything to kill it.

3. Study other ppl's art, especially from artists you adore. This is the next best alternative to studying actual theory since it's less technical, but it's more experimental (cos what works for others doesn’t always work for you). Personally I learnt a lot from doing this on my own. Figure out what you like about you favourite artist's art (is it the way they draw a particular part of the body? Backgrounds? Colours, lineart?), and copy it. Like really just try to imitate it to the best of your ability, you will learn what works and what doesn't work for you when you slowly try it out. Steal it, it’s yours now. As long as you don't trace it and post it as your own, you should be fine. 

I should also mention that whenever you see art that you really like, it's easy to feel jealous and inferior. But I think instead of that, you should take the opportunity to learn from them to do something about your own skills. It's okay to feel like that, because everyone does at one point, but it's really whether you want to do anything about it that can help you, or at least that's what I believe XD

Eg. I found an artist that drew hands very very well, so I took some time to copy the way they drew hands for a bit and started incorporating that into my drawing (specifically the way they tend to angle fingers). Another example is that I saw an artist adding insane eyebags to their characters and I decided I wanted that too. So here we are with my signature eyebagsop XD

I haven't found the time to do a painting study yet, so my colours and paintings aren't as nice as I'd like them to be XD

4. Use references when you're unsure. Drawing is difficult, and no one will know if you've cheated to make things easy for yourself (unless it's a trace, which at that point it can hardly count as reference), so just go ahead and use it. I go to the mirror to check angles and positions sometimes, and I use my own hands as references a lot more than you think. (my tip for using hands as a reference: knowing where the thumb is helps a lot)

5. Fuck around and find out. There’s no one fixed rule for drawing, so if you so happen to make your own and you like it and it works, just go for it man. I have some techniques come about very accidentally, like that one time I found out one particular brand of ink wasn’t waterproof, so I ended up using it as watercolour instead. Others times it’s just finding the best way to do things in your style, like how I prevent myself from drawing on the wrong layer by bringing the opacity of my sketch layer down real low, so it’s obvious when I’m drawing on the wrong layer.

Fucking around also means trying new things when your art feels a bit boring XD change up some brushes (for me I gradually started to use thinner brushes for my art XD), try out some tools on your program, switch art styles. Or maybe try something else entirely, like making gifs/ animations, or even comics (winks). If you manage to find something you like, great! If not, at least you’ve tried it, and you know what you don’t like, which is actually just as important as knowing what you like to do uwu

6. Keep going. The art you're seeing now is the result of uhhhhhhhh more than a decades worth of drawing. Every single drawing is valuable exp that helps you level up. The shitty doodles during boring classes, the badly drawn other eye, even the hands hidden behind backs. I promise all these will help, even if it doesn't feel like it, so keep drawing. 

If you prefer to burn your old works because of how bad they are, I’m not gonna stop you because I totally understand the second hand embarrassment, but personally I’d like to keep them as a record of the progress you’ve made. It’s a very nice feeling seeing how far you’ve come.

There was a period of time I stopped drawing for like a year because I had close to 0 inspiration, but I don't regret that at all. Because I'm here now, enjoying myself as much as I used to, and I think it's worth it. So if there's a period you just can't draw, don't stress yourself too much over it, I’m sure you will eventually find the strength and passion to draw again sometime in the future.

And that’s all for now XD if you have any art questions on anything specific, I’ll try my best to help with it XD