#i simply do not because its the only thing i have to draw digitally

[thedrotter]

today my computer has felt in a pranksty mood ! it felt funny and goofy and decided to not let me save anything and when i tried to open my file it said it was corrupted or didnt exist...☺️☺️ hours... of work...☺️☺️ and just a few days ago it deleted multiple hours of work on another file ! ☺️☺️

dear computer🩷 i will put you in the microwave throw you at a wall and crush you

[colleendoran]

How Do I Do Stuff

The question was phrased a little strangely, and I don't want to embarrass the person by posting exactly what was said, but I'll answer it and hope this clears everything up.

I do almost all of my drawing by hand. No, I don't trace in Photoshop. Not a judgment on those who do, but I come from a generation of artists who did not use Poser programs or other digital tools. We learned to draw using a technique called the Sight Size method. I know a lot of people assume everyone - including the old masters - traced everything using optical tools, but while it is true some people did, it is just as true that most didn't, and you can draw with great accuracy if you learned how to draw the old fashioned way.

Sight Size breaks everything down into its barest components of geometric shapes and you build from there. Once you learn it, you never forget, and it applies to everything you will ever draw.

I learned it using a set of Famous Artist Course books my mom had since she was a kid, and they are still the gold standard. They're often on ebay. If I were you, I'd buy them.

I actually find using figure reference really annoying because I like exaggerations and modifications from reality in my final work.

This page from Neil Gaiman's Chivalry was drawn and painted without figure reference of any kind.

I don't know why people assume I trace all the time. If you were to try to use photographs to replicate these figures, you would find they are slightly off. There is no tracing here.

This is not to say I never use reference. This page, for example, was referenced from a photo of my mother. Isn't she pretty.

But this page of Sir Galaad was drawn and painted without reference.

He's pretty, too.

If he were real, I'm sure a lot of people would be very happy about it. But he's not. And had I reference, the art would have gone a lot faster. I had a time trying to nail this face that is very alive in my head but doesn't really exist.

Back in the ancient days, all cartoonists had to learn to draw and paint extemporaneously because reference was limited and digital tools didn't exist. While some high end artists had photography studios and professional models with costume and sets on hand, small fry like me were limited to what was in the house or available at my small local library, which was no bigger than a few rooms of my current house.

Artists kept extensive "morgue files" or "swipe files" which were collected from magazine clippings and photographs so we would have as much of what we might need on hand for quick reference. These ephemera collections could get unwieldy. I have thousands of photographs I've simply never sorted. I finally dumped most of my files this past year.

Have I ever traced anything? Of course, especially if I have to re-use a shot or setting over and over. Making extra work for myself is just silly. It's my job to make pictures, not to perform magical feats, like copying one shot after another over and over without making a mistake.

However, for almost 15 years of my career, I refused to copy or trace anything, and did not even own a lightbox. On the one hand, that forced me to learn to carefully examine what I saw. On the other hand, it was a stupid hill on which many deadlines died.

Only after I realized many professional artists had lightboxes and overhead projectors did I finally break down and get one.

The one thing I use my lightbox for more than anything is for tracing my thumbnail sketches to the final drawing paper. Instead of trying to capture the liveliness of the original sketch by copying what I see - only bigger - I blow the thumbnail up to the size I want the final art to be, then I trace over the thumbnail using a lightbox onto the final drawing paper.

Here's a look at thumbnails from the graphic novel Neil Gaiman's Snow, Glass, Apples.

I enlarged these on my computer to fit onto 11"x14" paper, and traced the thumbs before finishing the art which was drawn in pen and ink and colored in Photoshop.

While I obviously made some changes, the essence of the thumbs is there in the final work. Tracing my thumbs retains some of the looseness of the original sketches, which is often lost otherwise.

So, there is a valid purpose to tracing at times, though in my opinion, too much tracing can weaken drawing ability, substitute for developing skills, and make the work kind of stiff.

If you want to, I'm not your judge. But it's weird to me that people think I must be faking my skills in some way.

Ironically, the word cartoon comes from the Italian word cartone, which is a large heavy sheet of paper - also, the origin of the word carton.

Preparatory sketches were made on this paper which was then transferred to the final work surface via either tracing or by stamping little holes in the paper through which dust was sprinkled, recreating the contours of the drawing for the artist to follow.

So the origin of the word cartoon comes from a process often used...for tracing.

[n0tamused]

"Amoris"

A/N: I miss my husband y'all. Made this as an oc x canon thing but I took out any names or descriptions so it can be read as x reader. We all deserve soft Nanami

Content: blind reader, female reader, post Shibuya - Nanami lives, they're enjoying their time in Malaysia now, soft Nanami

Word count: 978

Warnings: Scars? Besides that, nothing.

Long arms of midnight blue embrace the once azure skies, taking them into their slumbering hold. A soft light emanates from the young moon hanging overhead, drawing and calming the breathing waves that swallow up the beaches lick by lick.

The sight is one of its kind, and one the two dreamed off for years beforehand. They could only dream about how refreshing the salty air would be, and how the sound of the sea would lull them to sleep every night, how the summer rains will water the plants hanging from their windows and how lovely it would be to hold hands through all of it. 

Nanami’s calloused hands draw the long curtains over the window after catching one final glimpse of the view outside, humming along with the tune that plays on the phone radio. When he turned to face the bed he saw her sitting comfortably against the headrest, a young little tabby kitten taking much interest, and taste, in her fingers as it let out playful yowls and meows, nibbling at her digits. His beloved giggled, her eyes pointed downward but staring at nothing, the small little scars that sprawled around her eyes had faded, but they were still there, and proof of what hardships she faced. Long lashes flutter shut as she gives up on trying to get the kitten off of her hand, simply letting one fingertip stay lodged between its small pointy teeth, feeling how he tried to chew and bite. “Kenntoo” she called into the air, hearing him move about, his humming following him along. He always seemed to make it a point to do his activities a bit louder than he needed to, simply to let his presence be known to her so she knew he was still there. 

“Yes, my dear?”

“It’s time to go to sleep, I hardly got hold of you the entire day today” says (Y/N), breathing in deeply and letting her sigh fall heavy from her lips, as if to make a point. The kitten in her hands lets out a meow that sounded more like a squeal instead, making him turn his head to the two on the bed. “See? Even he agrees, he’s calling you over- Na Na Miiiii” she teases, barely hiding a smile from her lips as she feels the kitten's body, turning it around to face away and lifting it up into the air. Her smile widens as she feels Kento’s big hands take the kitten from her, inevitably touching her own hands. “You both seem so needy today, I can’t have been absent for that long, right?” The bed dips beneath his weight as he takes a seat beside her stretched legs, and the kitten is promptly placed into his lap for a short while. Big strokes over the little furry head and body leaving the kitten purring loudly. She nudges his hip with her foot when she finds it, asking for more attention to be cast to her.

“We had a perfect chance to sleep in this morning, yet you got up so early. And for what?” she points her words at him, curling her knees to her chest before scooting closer to where she felt him, one hand stretching out and landing on his bicep first. Then the hand crawled up to his shoulder, holding herself there. “Besides the kitten surprise, what else do you have going on?” she asked with a soft sigh, squeezing his shoulder as if that would squeeze and answer out of him. He chuckles, letting the kitten jump to the floor before he turns his body towards her, taking her hands in his. “What could I have going on? I can’t keep anything from you, even the cat was hardly any surprise”  “Only because he was meowing from his box” “Pfft”

“But no, seriously. You’ve been working a lot.. and I miss you, Ken” Her voice had mellowed out, and with his guidance she made his lap her seat, her hands climbing up his chest before cupping his cheeks. The feeling has her smiling bigger, her heart catching up in her throat. One hand can feel the scarred skin from the burns he had sustained, and the other is met with smoother skin, both equally warm to the touch, both his cheeks lead up to the brows she mapped out with her fingertips before moving to his temples. He falls silent, holding his words on the tip of his tongue as he lets her touch his face.

Her fingers go to his hairline, carding through the golden locks before dropping to his earlobe, and with a fingertip on each side she traces the high cheekbone up to the base of his nose, and then a single finger goes to his lips, and he swears he can feel his heart leave him completely. It escapes his chest and runs to her embrace. Finally, he moves, taking hold of her wrist to keep it still while he kisses her fingertip, and gently he turns her hand over to show her palm so he could place kisses onto it. “I missed you too, so much” Kento replied, taking the other hand to and making her cup his cheeks again while he turned his head and kissed this hand and then the other, maneuvering them how he saw fit, showing love to each hand that held him so delicately, much delicately than he believed he deserved. 

Nanami pulls her closer in his lap, and before he could initiate it, he already felt her  soft lips find a corner of his own. Both of them burst into a quick chuckle that gets muffled by a proper kiss, now landing on his lips and it quells their feelings of yearning. 

“Mm, let’s get to bed now, hm? And I can tell you what I was up to today, alright?”

I didn't write in a while, so I hope this is alright <3

Ⓒ n0tamused. Do not repost, translate, edit, and/or copy any of my works. Likes, comments, and reblogs are appreciated.

[marunalu]

The leaks are real but something just feels off about the chapter itself. While we’ve seen in a previous flashback(forgot which one), that Overhaul was very likely to be one of the orphan children prior to joining the Yakuza, it’s just the overall flow of the chapter just makes it seem unsatisfying and resulting in plot holes. Like AFO considered training teenagers to be his double but it seems rather forced to ask Kotaro to have another child and Hana doesn’t seem to reached double digits. Or copying the Overhaul Quirk and making decay out of it would mean that Afo and Garaki could’ve fixed the former’s issues unless Touya destroyed it by accident. And then there’s the situation where technically, only Bakugo won while every other student didn’t achieve their goals(Shoto, Ochaco and Izuku) and that chapter 420 is going to match a certain someone’s birthday.

It actually would make sense though to have the side characters beat AFO but having the other fights not mentioned yet be done off screen is still unsatisfying.

We know that in real life, Hori has health issues due to working with Shonen Jump and having the Dragon Ball creator die last month is very likely to make things more somber. I’m not going to be surprised if he had someone else draw some pages(unless the change in artstyle somehow is a plot point).

Isn’t MHA Izuku’s retelling of the events to someone? Overhaul or Eri are likely to be the Macguffins to give Izuku his arms back given what we’ve seen with Eri earlier so we’re going to have some chapters of celebration of the “win” and a small epilogue.

At least we have fan fiction since it’s very likely that people will ignore the ending.

Yeah this chapter feels soooo off! And dont let me start talking about all the plot holes and how a single chapter managed to destroy over the years built up plotpoints. Like you said WHY would afo and garaki not use the overhaul copy on afo to heal him ESPICIALLY because afo told garaki once "then hurry up and fix me doctor" after garaki mentioned that they havent found a fitting regeneration quirk yet and you are telling me THEY WOULDNT USE THE OVERHAUL COPY TO ARCHIVE THAT??? It was made clear afo wanted to get back to full health but he doesnt use the quirk that could fix him in ONE MINUTE??? Or an other plot hole: afo somehow (dont show just tell) managed to convince the shimuras to have an other child because he considered hana to old to get manipulated DESPITE that he owns orphanages full of children older then or around hanas age even TEENAGE touya and chisaki he considered as fitting vessels if tomura shouldnt work out but HANA was to old??? This is literally retconning what was already confirmed as facts!

And about bakugou: well he is horis golden child so OF COURSE only he is allowed to win since his character is all about winning. And unlike izuku, ochako and shoto he had ZERO emotional connection to afo. No deep. No feelings. Just to give bakugoubitch a win by giving the bad guy the final killing blow, immediately praised for doing so as if afo wasnt already half dead and severly weakend by dotzens of other heroes before who did so much more but BAKUGOU gets the praise (to be fair he did say it was a group effort but he still was the one who was praised first as if he did it all alone)! The ironic thing is bakugou did exactly what he always does: winning by killing. How ironic. Just a few chapters before we got afos backstory which revealed he was a victim of society too but I guess simply killing these kind of people changes everything to the better. Their society will not change. There will just show up an other afo or tomura at one point. Bakugou was allowed to beat and kill the main villain he had no relationship with but izuku, ochako and shoto are not allowed to safe their villain counterparts they actually have a relationship with. I mean its very possible that toga is alive because she is nowhere to be found, but touya even if he survives made clear he will never forgive his family and most likely ending terrible disabled (except if deux ex machine eri will be used here as well) and izuku who FINALLY was able to reach tomura has to watch how he gets destroyed by afo. The leaks say afo completly destroyed tomuras mind so that means he is pretty much dead and only his body remains which is now in afos full control. No final confrontation between afo and yoichi. Nope yoichi is just gone and afo doesnt even look that pissed off about it.

There are fights completly left out. We dont really see any of the other students fight, we just get told they won. We dont see the confrontation between aizawa, mic and kurogiri and just need to accept they eventually reached him and if anything we will only get a small flashback of the events. Its so disappointing and lame. It feels like as if hori just wants to end the manga as fast as possible so he uses his beloved "tell dont show" way of writing.

About horis health issues. I get that. As a huge bleach fan I was so dissapointed how rushed the last arc of bleach was but I was able to understand why. Kubo had health issues too and was forced by shonen jump to end the manga in 10 chapters. No one was more pissed off about that but kubo and if he had been healthy bleach would have lasted at least for an other year. But with hori it feels different. It feels like as if he really just wants to end the whole thing because he lost his interest. The last few arcs have been not really well written. I dont know if akira toriyamas sudden death plays a role in this disaster of a chapter. I get that it was a shock for the manga world. I get that mangakas loved the guy. But maybe instead of rushing the plot and retconning already built plot points hori should just have taken a long break to get himself together if it really affected him that much AND to get rest. Toriyama still lives through his work and will inspire many new mangakas for the comming 50 years or more.

By the way Im not worried about izukus arms at all. Its obvious eri will get used as the deux ex machine to restore them. If its not her then overhaul but Im pretty positiv she will heal izuku. The thing is even if izuku gets finally his confrontation with afo its clear he will win and afo will die.... again. Wow, how creativ. The only thing I hope is that if dfo is canon then izuku will somehow reach afo to get at least a little bit of emotion in that fight and will convince him to let tomura go if there is still a chance to safe him. Im still to 100% sure dfo is canon by the way but I dont think it will have an statisfying outcome and will be rushed as hell.

All in all this was a very dissapointing outcome. I know the manga is not over yet so hori could still surprise us, but I dont have much hope left for a good and well written ending of the story. I really need to stop praising hori when he writes a REALLY good chapter like the one before, because everytime I do that the very next chapter is a pile of shit!

Sorry, if I sound so aggressive and harsh by the way, but this chapter really pissed me off. The ONLY thing I liked about it is the fact that its to 100% confirmed that afo can change his appearance which is a huge win for dfo. Also sorry for the rant and for possible gramatic errors but I wrote this whole thing in a hurry and most likely left a few dotzen things out that pissed me off. 😅

[the-s1lly-corner]

could I um.. request the whole alphabet with gangle.. take your time :))

The fluff alphabet w/ Gangle (Full!)

so sorry it took me so long to get to this! i got back to my computer just now and decided to whip up a masterlist/begin one before working on requests again! i must admit gangle is a hard character for me to write, so if some letters seem lackluster, sound repetitive, or whatever, i apologize in advance </3

ABSTRACT- if you ever abstract gangle will be absolutely beside herself, overcome with grief. i dont think she would abstract, though. she keeps to her room, her comedy mask long forgotten. broken or not, she cant bring herself to put it on. she feels bad, why didnt you reach out to her? did you feel like you were a burden? did you think she wouldnt be enough to save you? thoughts like that eat her alive

BONDING- you two draw together, sometimes even making comics with each other! i saw a few posts where gangle loves to draw, and draws in an early 2000-2010s anime art style and i absolutely love that. you guys just do that, when you have the free time

CUDDLING- neither little nor big spoon, gangle is simply. ribbon. its like cuddling ribbon, there isnt much to be said in that regard. kinda cold but thats because ribbon doesnt really carry heat. wraps her body around you

DATES- drawing dates! similar to the bonding segment, but you guys make it a point to draw things for each other. you even get to bust out some paints. yipee! ends up in you two drawing each other. so many painted hearts

EMOTION- gangle is definitely the more emotional one between the two of you, especially if shes wearing her tragedy mask. not much to be said, gangle is a cry baby and i dont mean that in a bad way

FAMILY- should the two of you ever escape the digital world and find each other, you two would definitely get married! as for children, i honestly dont see gangle as the type to have kids, but thats just a me thing

GIFT- really nailing the art stuff deep, gangle draws things for you all the time. but i can also see them being into origami! they make you paper hearts and little critters, bows and crowns, things like that! gangle loves receiving gifts as well, unsure of what she would like, though

IN HOUSE ADVENTURE- the only reason she wouldnt spend all of her time with you on an adventure is if she gets paired up with someone in a group (ex. her sticking with kinger after jax put them together), since i feel she would be too scared to speak up about it, even if shes starting to gain more of a voice thanks to your influence

JEALOUSY- gangle doesnt really. get jealous. at least not in the "traditional" way, to be more accurate, she gets sad. i mean, she knows shes a crybaby, she knows shes frail, but she wouldnt want to make you feel bad that she feels bad. please give her a lot of reassurance :(

KISS- lets play my favorite game! admins favorite hc for characters with no normal mouth/lips! she gently doinks her mask against your face; careful not to hurt you and to not accidentally knock off her mask! loves giving you cheek kisses, loves receiving forehead kisses

LOVE LANGUAGE- gangle feels loves when you reassure her that you love her just as she is, as well as when you spend time with her. gangle shows her love by making you gifts and fawning over you

MENDED- should you ever come back from being abstracted some how, all those thoughts that plagued her mind are now voiced. she cant help it, she feels so bad for dumping her grief onto you the second you're retrieved from the cellar. but she cant stop herself. poor girl is going to wrapped around you, literally..

NO- please dont be mean or rude to her she will feel very bad, even if you're just teasing her or joking. she already has to put up with everyone else (well, mostly jax)

ODDITY- when the comedy mask is on, she can light up a room, well, kinda. we dont get to see her with her comedy mask but i think shes loads more cheerful with it on, and perhaps even a smidge more confident in herself, when the mask is broken she can take a quick nose dive. its not so much thats it weird, more so that its a bit jarring at how big the change is

PDA- very shy about PDA, but i think ultimately if you want to hold her hand she wont object!

QUIET TIME- one word, drawing. but also i can see the two of you just being able to lie in bed with each other in comfortable silence

ROSES- PAPER ROSES PAPER ROSES! i may have a soft spot because i myself used to make origami flowers, but i think she would give you a bouquet of paper flowers. she would be over the moon if you gave her some, she looks like a dandelion enjoyer (like the yellow ones, but i think she would also like the white fuzzy ones)

SHH- loads of secrets, a lot of them tying into the jealousy segment. gangle probably also doesnt speak up about when someone is mean to her, opting to stay quiet in order to not cause issues or drama. please help her break that habit

TUNES- it might be because ive been listening to jack on loop, but this is the first one that comes to mind:

UPSET- when she gets upset she just wants to be comforted and held; when you're upset shes ready to do everything it takes to help you, just say the word and she'll do it... the image of gangle confronting someone for your sake has just flashed through my mind, though i think that may be the one thing she wont do... would love to see it though

VALENTINE- paper hearts. you two decide to go to the digital carnival together and experience some of the themed attractions... namely, the ferris wheel.... should i bring up everyones favorite ferris wheel trope...

WANT- she wants someone who wont think shes some. weirdo. and who thinks shes worthwhile

XOXO- little love notes, similar to my idea for ragatha! though gangle is more... eh, about it, since she fears you might be turned off by it

YEARN- id say in the middle, since she can respect your space and whatever it is you need to do, and she has to admit herself there are times where she wants to hang out with someone else or be alone; and thats perfectly okay!

ZZZ- likes wrapping her entire body around you, head to your chest. she doesnt really move when she sleeps, too entangled around you to do that. probably snores very softly

[unityrain24]

❅Jotun Loki Design❅

my submissions for @jotun-design-party, though i don't know if it's too late (deadline was december 17th, and it it still dec 17 for me {by less than an hour} but idk if it is for it). If i missed the deadline, i'm sorry.

I had been looking forward to this for several months (and even started a separate jotun loki design months ago in preparation/excitement), but i just haven't been able to do much as of late. Which is sad. And while i had been planning to enter the contest for months, as it drew nearer i realized i probably wouldn't be able to. Which was very sad, because this is one of the only things i've actually looked forward to in forever :(.

As such, though, i really didn't want this oppurtunity to go to waste, like so many others i've had to, and especially in light of magpiemurder going to leave its account soon, i just decided i'd have to push though and do it. I spent pretty much all of today just drawing drawing drawing. Traditional sketched, and then "quickly" added colour digitally (it took several hours as well).

also. all the designs are supposed to be symmetrical (save design 四 and the nails in designs 三&四), so if you see any mistakes... sshhh

More on designs:

一: average battle outfit made from thick, rubbery frost beast leather

二: ceremonial battle armour, used in head shaving ceremony and first battle of a war. Made from thick and (some) thin leather, as well as some mercury metal rings, beads, and bone

三: average every-day wear (inside the city). made of fur, cloth woven from fur, thin leather mercury and bone.

四: average every-day wear (inside city). Likely for around-city wear, not relaxing indoors, due to the uncomfortableness of the beads. Made of fur fabric, fur, thin leather, beads, some bone.

五: average everyday wear (inside city). By far my favourite. For the loincloth, i tried making it look like celtic knots that start right at the top, then sort of get looser and "fade-out" at the end. Thin leather, fur fabric, bone, beads, possibly mercury metal rings.

六: everyday travel wear (outside of city). Not made for warmth, but for protection agains the elements (sharp stone, cutting blizzards, etc). Thick leather, mercury rings. Since loki is royalty, the under layer on theirs is made of black fish scale (the rarest) (also it's supposed to be slightly iridescent but i couldn't do that). For less lavish options, under layers could be made of simply thinner leather, fabric, or a nothing. The nothing option has the jotun wearing it craft an under layer out of ice, and allows for more skin avaliable to make ice for other uses. Also notice how lokis gloves leave the palm bear; this is to allow for the ability to still make ice.

also wanted to say pretty much any of these outfits could be worn with cloaks (save design 一) but i didn't draw them

also: i wanted to do another outfit, a traditional wedding attire. I imagine the jotnar wouldn't actually wear clothes for a wedding, but rather make their own covering out of their own ice. Being their own design, it shows their partner "who they are", and the transparency of the ice represents vulnerability and transparency (in communication; honesty).

jotun headcanons

[cbedfordart]

Hey! I’ve been following you for a while and I really love your art, it’s absolutely stunning and I love the way you paint and capture anatomy. I know this is a bit of a broad question but I was wondering if you had any tips on getting better at painting digitally and studying anatomy, maybe more specifically blending, colour picking, and structuring anatomy in a way that looks somewhat realistic?

Thanks and I'm glad you enjoy my work long enough to be following me for this long! I definitely love drawing a naked body that's for sure haha. In terms of tips for getting better there's a few things I can mention but it's going to fall broadly in the general answer of "study", because this is the most sure fire way to be able to understand what it is you're trying to emulate in your art. There are different ways to study, and they teach something slightly different. For example, doing studies from life (live drawing classes) help me understand movement in a way studying from a photograph cant, simply because you're seeing the same model in different poses in real time, you can see how the fat and muscle moves around as they shift to different positions. So they're not technically moving the whole time, but you're still seeing some movement there, and understanding what sticks to what while it rotates and bends. Studying from photographs can help give you time to do some real deep dives and investigate where different bones/muscles sit while someone is in a particular position. There's also the opportunity for understanding how shadows may be formed by the body as typically photographers are more conscious of how the subject may be lit than what may be available in a live drawing class. Beware though, as more things are photoshopped than you realise, not all photos represent reality. Especially glam and fashion photos. It doesn't mean its bad to want to have these effects on your work but just be conscious they might not always be anatomy accurate if that's what you're striving for. I sometimes make a conscious decision to go against what is anatomically correct for a certain effect myself. A book I have been recommending for years for anatomy is Dr. Paul RIcher's "Artistic Anatomy". It's great for understanding muscle structure intimately - it's designed specifically for artists, but with the idea of trying to stylise the diagrams as little as possible for the sake of understanding the human form. There's a lot of great info and detail in here, but beware, there is not a lot of variety in body structure (at least not in the edition I have which is missing female anatomy I think already so I'm not sure what else I don't have in here). So you'll be able to understand function a lot from here but you wont be able to learn a lot about fatter body types sadly.

Colour picking is probably the most difficult for me to explain easily, as I have spent a long time winging it, then studying it, then being really experimental with it. I could write a lot a lot about this but to spare making this post any longer I'll refer to another fun book just for getting started on some frequent and common terms called "Color and Light" by James Gurney.

I also love that he uses like, dinosaurs for everything in here lol. It's a great starting point that can give you some go to ideas that you can then experiment from there. It's not very authoritarian (or at least that's what I feel), and doesn't push anything forward as a hard and fast rule, just showing what affects some colour combinations might instil in someone.

As a whole, I've gotten better at painting digitally by studying traditional painting techniques. They theories are basically transferrable one to one with some few exceptions. I tend to blend my colours by simply using a soft round brush in Photoshop with a low opacity. Much the same way I would with a real canvas, with a large round brush and diluted colour. I hope this answers your questions in some way. I tried to be not too specific only because this answer would be at least another 30k words lol because this is something i think a lot about! I love technique! If I ever stream again, feel free to pop in and ask more questions where I might be able to show some stuff in real time! Not sure when that will happen though!

Also the way i do stuff isn't a "correct" way either. I like painting from imagination so this is how I make that work. Some people like to only work with references for every piece, and that is a completely legit way to create stunning art as well. Good luck!

[ayjaydraws]

I have a lot of thoughts about the PROCREATE DREAMS announcement

No, ok, I gotta talk about this now because no one else in my specific tumblr bubble is and I’m actually really so so excited for this because this is an actual absolute game changer for the indie animation scene and beginner animators. So I’m gonna do what I never did before on this blog and write an actual real blog entry here.

At the 8th of September, the people behind the IOS drawing and Illustration app Procreate announced a completely new app focusing on motion design and animation. The announcement trailer and the event of the announcement can be found here:

Fellow artist that use Procreate know about the incredible advancement this app made in the illustration and design field by its insanely powerful tools yet Apple-typical simplicity. One thing this app has down to a tee is it’s intuitiveness. Even complete beginner digital artists will find their way around the app quite easily after only a few hours with it. Of course it doesn’t make you a pro artist over night but it gives you fast-to-learn tools to help you on your artistic journey without any hidden fees, account signups or AI systems needed.

Procreate Dreams follows the same approach, giving simple intuitive tools to everyone, not just industry veterans. The app has been announced to launch on the App Store on 22th of November and only cost 20$ in a one-time purchase. This may seem like a usual tech announcement but I want to clarify what this company has just done by creating this app.

If Procreate Dreams turns out to follow its predecessors footsteps in terms of simplicity, richness in features and intuitiveness (and from the looks of it, it will) and continue their user-friendly pricing model, this app will single-handedly change the indie animation scene completely.

Giving tools to everyone to a fair price for them to explore their creativity is not industry standard anymore. Procreate is currently one of the only players on the market that offers such an advanced experience for basically the price of a thrift shop T-Shirt. Everytime I tell someone new to digital art about Procreate and the one-time payment at such a low price too, they will simply not believe me. They expect hidden fees, a subscription model. It’s unthinkable to them that a professional art app would be offered to the consumer in such a way.

So please keep in mind that this is not the norm. This app will inspire a whole new generation of animators and artist and that for the low price of 20$. Even the professional animation industry will be shifted by this. This is a big deal just as the arrival of Procreate was a big deal.

A test and overview of the new and advanced features of Procreate Dreams can be found here:

[annwhiskers]

6th Birthday

Today is the day I made my main two boys, Rune and Hyde, exactly 6 years ago, in 2018. These are the only two I keep up with with that, since they’re my longest lasting ocs and I like to use it to keep up with my progress every year. So I thought I’d share the drawings I made for them on their birthday every year, including the first drawings I ever made of them and share a bit of their history. And give a brief history of my art journey along with that.

These are their very first sketches, before I figured out their personality, backstory, or even that they’d be a couple. Some key elements are already there, like Rune’s earring (which I’d actually forgotten about for a while until I looked at this sketch again), and Hyde’s scar on his lip (although, not very visible.)

I made this not long after. They were originally part of a cast of characters which was supposed to be more of a found-family thing. I thought they were going to be side characters and that Selene would be the main character. But as the story developed, I grew to love them more and wanted to focus on them. Half this cast is gone now, and the ghost girl is no longer a ghost, simply a human (that’s Raven). This world no longer has mermaids, that’s become entirely its own thing. The purple mermaid stuck around for a while as a human, as more of a regular friend to Hyde in the village, but in the end, I also got rid of her. The only one I kinda miss is the zombie boy, he was cute. But he didn’t serve much of a purpose, other than his existence hinting at Selene’s experiments. I guess he’s been replaced by a rat now, poor boy.

This was their first birthday, when I started getting more comfortable with digital art. I was quite wishy-washy about Rune and Hyde’s dynamic for a while, which one of them would be wearing the pants, sort of. That’s probably why Hyde is so small here. Now, neither are more dominant in the relationship than the other.

I didn’t do much for their second birthday. I didn’t draw much at all that year. Especially not them, because 2020 is the year where I lost interest in them for a while and started developing both Team of Thieves and Merfolk. (More on that another time.)

In 2021, my interest in them still hadn’t come back all the way, but I did still care about them. They look a bit awkward, because I was developing a lot in my style and hadn’t drawn them in this new style before. I did a lot with markers at this time, so I made a marker drawing.

2022 is when my interest in them finally came back. I started reworking the book that I’d already written before, an early version of Please, Go Home, and I started making illustrations for it. At the end of the year, I scrapped all of it and began completely rewriting it into what it is today. This was around the point where about 90% of my art became digital. I still like traditional and I want to do it more often, but digital is just so convenient.

This illustration was originally supposed to be animated for a school project (which is why Hyde’s hands are hidden in his sleeves, much easier to animate), but that ended up falling through. So I made it into a more detailed illustration. A lot of the art I made around this time was school work, so I had to shove my characters in wherever I could.

And here we are today, 2024. They’ve been a consistent presence in my art all this time, and now they have their own book out there, and their sequel is currently being written. These two have been with me for six years and I don’t see them ever leaving.

These long illustrations are made for bookmarks, which I may or may not actually get printed. Which is why they’re so long. Perfect for a phone background, though :)

[pantherloid]

Please yap, I want to hear about the non-bio thing about Len

Okay!!! Im not gonna articulate it well so it's gonna be all over the place.

Ive said (too many times) that my hcs of len (and any other vocasynth) is theyre either physical robots or they exist in your 'puter.

At first I almost said "non-human" to mean like its a character thats not born and so doesnt live a human life like go through developmental stages, have parents that theyre born from, have a childhood especially, ET CETERA right, but non-human makes it sound like its furries or monsters so that doesnt make any sense.

Non-biological feels accurate bc there is no BIRTH and no developmental stages, no lived experiences/past experiences, and basically, i want the character to exist in a void!! No ties, no meaningful connections.

A little bit off tangent... I've had my old fursona (oldest oc) in my head for the longest time and theyre supposed to be one of these characters that Do Not Exist like theyre not a "person" who goes through life and experiences, theyre an entity that... exists in...SOME way, and I was never able to convey that idea UNTIL like last year, after experimenting for a long time with len hcs where hes a digital being, it kinda clicked. This non-existing character type that I've been wanting to convey can be well translated as a digital being or like a computer program. I think i want to say this character type is entirely intangible, like computer programs, so they "dont exist"...but you wouldn't say a computer program is "not real" right, like um WHERE AM I GOING.

Anyways HAVE YOU EVER seen that tumblr post (i think) about hatsune miku, gorillaz, and the muppets being not real but also... real... bc they exist in the real world and we talk about them *Vsauce music* or SOMETHING like that...

Where am i going now ah. The kagami-ne mirror images thing is so good because to me there is no way this makes sense if i think of them as flesh and blood people like DA HELL you mean theyre mirror images, the concept simply does not work. Like look i assume people who hc rin and len as twins hc them as 'people' because---

((context i made a tweet a while ago, i said : "I lean more on the mirror images interpretation than twins like siblings." "In my hc theyre not people so theyre not ""siblings"" bc you'd have to be born for that?? Theyre probably more like clones but also not BIOLOGICALLY bc theyre either robots/digital beings like i always say." ---

because twins suggest biology. Like they were fetuses in a womb together, man where am i going again.

The mirror images thing is really cool when theyre thought of as just ENTITIES. Just person-like beings that are just copy pasted like no further or deeper explanations. Theyre simply not real!!!!

- - -

After yapping I realized it all comes down full circle to my escapist ass not wanting anything connected to the real world. Like the way i draw len or my human ocs, theyre only supposed to resemble humans, they should not look "real" as in look like they could be someone who you could spot when you leave your house or something.

[slovo-kvnnt]

✦HEADCANONS by

Tf2 Freakshow.✦

<×(and small drawings of my Heancanons)×>

⚠️warning⚠️.

These ARE HEADCANONS, that is, they are not really canons of the characters and it is used for PERSONAL USE. nothing here is confirmed by the creators of different Freaks. but hey thanks for watching ;).

✦Panis cupcakes may not know how to read, write or even count well, but he is an excellent piano player.

(by the way I made these drawings of the different versions of painis cupcakes, includes my Heancanon).

✦Intelligent Heavy and Vagineer are the only ones with the sense of humor of...

MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES.

✦Both Cakehole and Pi$$ are fans of Naruto. And in fact, Cakehole is the vice-president of the Otaku Club and Handsome Rogue is the president-at-large.

✦Ass Pancakes is wondering if he's really straight.

that is why both Gentlemanspy, as Spyper and even his best friend, SoupCock Porkpie often call him "bisexual Dumbass".

✦Pi$$ cakehole unlike the others, he needs glasses to see from a distance or read more comfortably. But once Cakehole grabbed his glasses and half and part of the glass broke, so he had to fix it himself, and since that day nobody touches him.

and curiously, he is in a relationship with Cbs but let's say that his relationship is something... unusual

(and they both smoke marijuana, while Cakejole prefers cocaine)

a strange mix between obsession and hate... yes hehe...

✦Polite Spy when he has a specific feeling or emotion his eyes change color depending on what emotion it is.

✦Cps smokes in the church bathroom, yes literally everyone calls him a ...

H Y P O C R I T E

EVEN ERZENGEL, Karmasolly and Dream demo (rarely, but does).

✦Allright, we all know that erzengel and cps hate each other and it's for the same reason that cbs would HAVE to BE in hell. but let's say that he only defended him from his fate and that's it, arguments, fights, dissolution, etc., but even so Brutal and Pure are friends.

✦Karma Soldier and Lord Degroot used to be best friends until one day everything changed forever ...

✦Each Freak has his sexual orientation or how that Freak identifies.

for example, Soldine IDENTIFIES AS AN ORANGE CAR- okno( but they tend to make those kinds of jokes with Ghost, MSG, Orangeman, Cyborgneer and Medizard).

(I was thinking about digitizing but due to personal problems and mere laziness, I couldn't do it, and now I realized that I didn't color the pants from CBS XDDDDDD)

✦The Spyper Red, or simply Red. And his personality is the opposite, he is someone malevolent and a professional psychopath.

✦Medizard x Cakehole pi$$ is good

✦Demo Samedi and Samedi Spy are Haitian

✦Ghost doesn't like to be called "GHOSTY" (Major and Soldine never misses an opportunity to call it that).

✦Madic has a collection of pigeons in his laboratory and one of the birds he has is a raven named Lewis, after Major Lewis.

✦Cyborspy has CyborSoldier as a sex slave. not to specify their shady situations... but for now no one knows... FOR NOW.

CyborPyro has the appearance of a woman, because once everything was destroyed. The only thing they were able to recover was his head and some small parts of it.

Cybormedic cleverly spruced up its appearance and gave it some personality and the FemCyborPyro was born. her appearance is because it would be easier to distract her enemies using her female "Methods".

Fem/CyborPyro can be identified as both "SHE" and "HE" but can also be referred to as "they" or "It"

✦Cyborscout and Drunk Monk (actually this is Canon XD) are a couple. And they're planning a wedding, they just can't decide who the best man will be.

precisely MSG and cyborneer fight over that.

✦everything you saw here is an "AU" Alternate Universe (Slovo's AU).

a world where innocent respawners and mercenaries leave the servers empty and discolored.

The pacifist Freaks are more dangerous than the feared High Ranker, but their psycho mode or "killer instinct" is disabled, of course unless you want to unleash TRUE CHAOS.

Let's assume that the real danger would be the peaceful Freaks like Cps, I.H and Politespy ESPECIALLY.

So HECU, from time to time interrogate Freaks of this type and examine their way of thinking, socializing, defending themselves, and seeing the Tf2Freaks-Wolrd in their angle view ...

"So, those idiots over there *points to all the freaks, including Soldine and the entire HECU staff* are they one step from the far future?...."

yes... but not at the same time. My AU is in the 20's post 2001. Psycho Freaks lost interest in killing due to server inactivity and are getting more and more modernized, until reaching a "current" state.

HECU Staff Documentary Narrator: Everyone is in a neutral or peaceful state for now, but they miss the good old days...

[thedeafprophet]

#1 and #7 for the art asks? (from @neathyingenue btw ;D)

1.When did you start creating art?

I would argue that everyone, always, and forever is making art in their own invidual unique ways. while we may have certain perspectives on various art forms, i think to create is simply part of being human.

....if u wanna know when i started drawing i would say maybe around 13/14 was when i frist started sketching? I was never one of those kids who's been 'drawing since they could hold a pencil' or whatever. I never really had any natural inflication towards drawing - as a younger kid i spent more of my creative time building structures out of popsicle sticks and whatever else i got my hands on.

When i was in my preteens/early teens, i mostly started trying to draw because my friends at the time were all doing it and i felt left out 😅😅 it was a bit of an uphill climb starting from a place with less experience and no natural talent for it.

I sorta clawed my way up from there, trying and failing since then. The real skill of an artist isn't drawing in my mind; its continuing to work at it even when you feel like it sucks.

I only really have my digital art saved back to when i was 18, but i started doing it a bit before then. And it was only in the last few years that I really feel like ive gotten a handle on how I draw, where i've ever felt solidly good about things i create, even if i still struggle with self esteem. Its funny what having a muse, so to speak, in your own characters will do for your art.

hmm. this. turned into a ramble. apologies lmao

All that is too say: For awhile and with determination to not back down from it.

7. Who are some artists that have inspired you?

So when I was 13 I was like, really really into Skyrim. Like. A lot lmao. (And one of the first things i really tried learning how to draw was my skyrim character. )

Anyway, the point of this is that my biggest art influence when i was a kid was Kayla Marquez/thewickwheat on tumblr, who used to do a lot of skyrim oc art, and was very inspirational for me learning how to draw. I feel you can probably still see remenants of that past in the way i draw now. I still seriously recommend checking her stuff out, her character design and linework is phenomoinal to me to this day.

I would say one of my current inspirations, of which im sure is no surprise, is J.C Leyendecker. Specifically in the way he draws clothing. While we obviously have quite different styles, i found our form when it comes to cloothing folds to feel somewhat similar, so i find using his stuff to be very inspirational when it comes to how i approach clothes now, especially suits and shirts.

Beyond that its like... so many artists. Honestly i'd need a whole seperate ramble of a poss just for that alone, and i've already rambled. I have hundreds of photos done by various artists i like saved and sorted across different artstyles on my computer to look at and Be Inspired By. I would say now adays i take a lot of inspiration from Edwardian and Victorian era paintings in general, as im drawing the topics of those contents quite a lot.

Ask Game From Here!

[j0hnj4ej3n]

𓆩♡𓆪 holding hands with nct dream 𓆩♡𓆪

(picture credits to owners)

Word count: 1.2k 

Warnings: one curse word :)

Notes: just some fluffy, hand holding content for the dreamies, hope you all enjoy this new ‘series’ of short nct dream scenarios/ reactions/ headcanons! Feel free to send in requests as well~

𔘓 Mark

You’re walking beside Mark along the street with a cup of coffee in one hand, shoulder bumping into his. The two of you have a habit of walking close to each other like this since you got to know each other. His fingers lightly brush the back of your hand, and your heart flutters. It happens again as you feel his fingers reach towards yours almost clumsily, as if in search of your hand. The next time, Mark confidently slides his digits in between your own, interlocking your fingers together as if it was the most natural thing he has ever done. You look down at your hands as you feel yourself blush and Mark gives your hand a tiny squeeze. You look up at him and he’s already looking at you, adorning a cute little grin. You can’t help but smile back as you squeeze his hand gently in return. 

𔘓 Renjun 

He first held your hand when it started raining while the two of you were walking back home from studying together at the library. Neither of you had an umbrella and you had no other choice but to run to the nearest shelter. You’re still staring at him all flustered when he slides his hand into yours and pulls you along. He holds your hand firmly, as if afraid you would slip and fall if he didn’t hold on to you close enough. “Be careful, we’re almost there”. He looks back at you constantly to make sure you were okay as he whizzes the two of you through the people on the street and towards the convenient store. While all you could do was clutch your bag close to your chest, trying to stop your heart from racing. You couldn’t tell if your heart was beating out of your chest because of all the running, or the boy in front of you who looked like a dream. 

𔘓 Jeno 

You’re hanging out at his place, having a Marvel movie marathon. You don’t know which one you two are on now. At this point, you can’t concentrate. The movie playing on the screen bursts with action but nothing could take your attention away from what Jeno was doing. You look straight ahead as if your heart wasn’t doing somersaults in your chest. Jeno’s hand has found its way to your open palm that was perched closest to him. Since then, he has been drawing incomprehensible shapes on your palm and playing with your fingers. At times, he stops and simply holds your hand, his thumb tenderly stroking your hand. You love it, even though you’re not too sure if it’s good for your heart. His other hand continues to dig into the bowl of popcorn on his lap while his eyes are glued to the screen, wide in concentration. Even then, his hand never leaves yours, always moving and giving gentle touches.

𔘓 Haechan 

You are so sure your heart is not ready for this, but there is no turning back now. They have already strapped you down and you are trapped. Where the fuck can you go but up? Only to be thrown down at 100km/h. “Haechan, I can’t do this…” you tell your friend sitting next to you, just as trapped and almost just as scared. He laughs and what he does next was definitely something your heart was not ready for. He pulls your hand that was holding so tightly onto the handle off, already cold from fear and interlocks your fingers together with his. “Ahh is the baby scared? It’s okay, we’ll scream our asses off together”. The Gyro Drop stops with a shaky halt once it reaches the top and you instinctively grip onto Haechan’s hand and close your eyes. He teases you, telling you that you’re missing out on the sight from so high up. “Come on, don’t be a baby, open your eyes!” He shouts and you finally do, only for the ride to drop as you do and all you can do is scream your lungs out, with Haechan’s hand still in yours. 

𔘓 Jaemin

You have never seen such a beautiful man in your life, if eyes could kill, you would be dead. And Jaemin would be found guilty. These dinner and dance events your mum always dragged you to was something you dread attending. But tonight, you can’t keep your eyes off Jaemin no matter how hard you try. The same could be said for Jaemin, so when you caught him staring for the third time that night, he came walking towards you from his table instead of looking away. You try to remain calm as he comes over to you. He briefly greeted everyone at your table, even bending down to give your mum a side hug. He comes to stand beside you, holding out his hand and asks for a dance. You looked to your mum, who gave you an approving nod before you placed your shaky hand gently into his. He gave you a brief smile as he leaned down, placing a gentle kiss to the back of your hand. And you knew from that moment on that your heart belonged to him. 

𔘓 Chenle

Chenle is going on and on about how pretty this park is and how peaceful it feels to bask in nature so early in the morning. But all you could think about was why he wasn’t holding your hand? You’ve been together for a while now, and it’s not like he was uncomfortable with affection with you. So why doesn’t he hold your hand when you’re walking together? He pauses when you don’t respond like your usual enthusiastic self and asks if you feel alright. You shake your head and tell him you felt fine, dismissing his concerns. He continues to talk and you took the opportunity to just grab onto his index finger. He stops and looks down at your hands, then up at you. He chuckles and adjusts your hands so that you’re holding hands properly. “Did you just want to hold my hand? Was that what you were thinking so hard about? Cute”. He teased you with a ruffle of your hair and pulled you closer to him by your hand, walking along the river and getting excited over the ducks swimming alongside you two. 

𔘓 Jisung

When you first knew Jisung, he was too shy to even introduce himself. But now that you’re both older, Jisung was not that same shy boy anymore. He asked you out one day after school and undoubtedly, you said yes. He picked you up from your house and on the way to the bus stop, a casual silence took over. You were both nervous since it was a date and no longer a hang out session, it wasn’t awkward however, and you saw that as a good thing. Jisung raised his hand to rub the back of his neck, something he did when he had a question but didn’t know how to approach it. “Spill,” you said once you noticed. He chuckled and then puffed out one side of his cheek before he asked, shyly, if he could hold your hand. And you wanted to laugh at him because he was being so cute but instead you confidently took your hand in his and you two continued your way to the bus stop, arms swinging between you two as you skipped a step or two out of pure joy.

[thepinklink]

It got too long and heartfelt in the reblog, so I decided it deserved its own post XD

BOOM. MY OLD ART FROM LIKE 2018/19???

This is my bestie's Harry Potter OC that I drew for her! I actually had some similar drawings of both our OCs, but they're not in my possession right now XD and maybe they'll never be! But it's cool to see how very far I'll e come since then.here's some of my more recent art, just so you can see them side by side XD

For me, personally, seeing them side by side makes me giddy. They're so different, it's hard to link them together, hard to look at them and think the same person drew them. But I did. And as someone who grew up with another fabulous artist (@/rustic-space-fiddle), | was always impatient, always discouraged to look at my own art and see everything it was missing. I wanted to draw like Rusty, but I was so very unskilled. I was very eager to reach the day when I could match her skill, when I could look at my art and see in it everything that I saw in hers.

And today, I can honestly, confidently, gratefully say that I have arrived.

Obviously, if you go check out Rusty’s art, you’ll see I am by no means as good as her. But I learned awhile ago that I’ll never be, no one will—not only am I biased that she’s the best artist in the world (because she is), but Rusty draws the way only Rusty can, and the way only she will. Others may draw similarly, others may copy her, but art is like a fingerprint. Each style and piece is unique to the person who drew it. Therefore, it’s unfair for me to compare myself to Rusty when I could never possess her fingerprint in the first place. But that doesn’t change the fact that I used to compare myself to her so harshly—and the fact that to a younger me, I have achieved exactly what I wanted.

2018 was not the year I started drawing. Was it perhaps the year of my first exploration into the digital realm? Yes, but before then, I was drawing horses. I love horses, and I loved them so much they were all I ever drew. My walls were adorned with dozens of drawings of horses. I’ve since fallen out of the habit of drawing horses so regularly, but all those drawings are what started me drawing. I learned to hold a pencil and put it to paper drawing horses, and then from there, I just started drawing everything else. I only recently started drawing in seriousness, in the grand scheme of things. A year or two ago. And then I was drawing people most of the time, and the occasional dog or cat. And there were many bumps along the way—my discouragement at my own ability, as well as my inability to draw digitally, as I was quickly coming to love. The iPad I used at the time simply didn’t support Procreate after awhile, so I was using my sister’s iPad.

There are also the artists which inspired me. Obviously, rustic-space-fiddle was—and still is—my number one support and inspiration, she was my goal. But then I got instagram and I saw people’s different styles, and while I don’t know where exactly the inspiration from them comes from, it’s certainly there, perhaps in the courage with which I now draw. The second biggest inspiration in my life has been, without a doubt, Jojo. Her art style, which I adore, is something I have tried to imbue in mine—I’ve been told before that it can be seen, but I’m unsure of that. Still, even if I do not draw in her style, I think I draw in her energy. In the way that I draw Legend, that style, that goal, that love for him and her art, I think it’s there every time I draw Legend, and even in the other things that I draw too. She may never know, but she is perhaps the only other artist in the world I have ever really hoped to be like.

Anyways. I guess what I am simply trying to say is I’m happy. I’m proud. I’m content with my art, in a way I once hoped I would achieve, and while I know I have many things to learn, I approach them without that lost hopelessness I used to feel, but with passion, curiosity, and the determination to grow better.

If you’ve read this far, thank you. You didn’t really have any reason to read this—even if we have talked, even if we are mutuals, I’m still a stranger whose ramblings about her art hold almost no weight at all. But you did anyways, because you were curious, because you cared, because it was interesting, moving, inspiring. Whatever it was, thank you :)

I’ve come a very long way. And I’ll go a very long way more. I hope you’ll be here to see it all!

[princessmacedon]

Today, the dining hall passes Maria a slice of cake with her meal. It’s a simple cheesecake, drizzled in sauce made from Albinean berries and topped with Noa Fruit. A slip of paper is pinned underneath it, a short note written in a familiar hand.

It’s been a long while since I’ve baked something, so just smile and nod even if you hate it, yeah? (The ink blots a little here, as though the writer hesitated before continuing.) It’s my favorite. I might not forgive you if you don’t like it.

Happy birthday, Maria. (A crude drawing of two stick figures seems to have been mostly scribbled out, though a hint of red and purple still peeks through. Instead it’s signed, simply, with a Y.)

Despite the fickle temperament of spring, on this day, in this place, the sun shines contently overhead with nary a huff nor a puff nor a single tear shed all throughout the morn. It is a merry, if ordinary day, just like a hundred other merry, ordinary days before it -- and, Maria hopes, like a hundred, hundred merry, ordinary days to come.

Of course, there is no denying that it holds a touch more glitter for her. How could it not? Every extra greeting sets her eyes aglow; every well-timed letter feels warm held against her chest; and affection makes sure to find her, even in the subtlest of forms -- invariably precious.

Such is the slice of cake she finds with her supper, sat there as if it has always belonged -- and Maria would rather like to say that it has! Many times as she eats, her fingertips drum over the accompanying card. Each time the rhythm stops, her digits still, until her pinkies and ring fingers wiggle (only a little bit!) with the anticipation of one trying very, very hard to save the best for last. Then finally-- finally!-- she pinches the card triumphantly in her grasp--

--and just as soon leans back, eyes blown wide, the heels of one boot scraping disbelievingly across the floor.

"Wow...!" A blink; a wiggle. Her heel clicks against her ankle, and her ankle against her heel-- "Really?" Elbows pull flush to her ribs, and the distance melts away. Instead she holds it mere inches from her face, as if half-convinced it might melt away as snowflakes do.

But it remains, as she has come to learn it does, and there is nothing that can diminish the full-hearted grin that spreads across her face in the next. Well... nothing save the bite of cheesecake she pops into her mouth. How silly she must look, chewing through a lopsided grin, a hand held to her mouth and still a giggle slips its corners!

Noa fruit, she takes note, or at least she thinks it is. And that sauce -- a bit like that tea blend she likes. Is it Albinean berries? Or... no. Yes? They're delicious, really and truly, but she thinks perhaps Yuri left her favorite ingredients on the paper. Maria swallows, and then she laughs-- laughs because she is happy, laughs because she has come to have so many precious things; laughs because the cake is--

"--yummy!" She announces, to no one in particular. And it is; it's the best cake she's ever had.

[genericpuff]

I appreciate your art style! It’s very confident with strong shapes and great body language. Who are your inspirations and do you have any advice for drawing efficiency because I always get hung up on the small things and it keeps me held back

Aw thanks so much! Regarding my inspirations, I grew up on a lot of manga, animation, and video games, so many of my inspirations are Japanese artists in the gaming and manga industry. Included but not limited to: Takeshi Obata (the artist behind Death Note, Bakuman, Hikaru No Go, Ral Grad, etc.), Tetsuya Nomura (FF VII, FF X, Kingdom Hearts, The World Ends With You, etc.), and Akihiko Yoshida (FF III, Bravely Default, Nier: Automata, etc.)

But honestly? I kinda tend to just grab whatever I can learn from whoever's art I feel like studying. There are a lot of webcomic artists and modern digital artists who I've learned so much from over the years just by observing their art and identifying what they do that almost feels unique to them. Like, the creator of Two Guys and Guy? I always like how he draws elbows. Or the creator of Alfie, I love how he stylizes eyebrows and body proportions of all shapes and sizes! And of course when it comes to those aforementioned inspirational artists, Tetsuya Nomura's line quality is top notch, and I learned a lot about how to color from Obata.

I really rambled there, but inspiration comes from so many places! <3

In regards to the second part of your question, honestly, that confidence just comes from a lot of practice and drawing the same things over and over and over and over and over-

Anyways, I've been drawing webcomics for a number of years now, so along the way I've sorta had to learn tricks and shortcuts to make the process a bit more efficient and less headache-inducing. I think after all that, the core things I can recommend are:

Learn how to draw from the shoulder and elbow vs. the wrist. This will allow you new motions that can accommodate long, confident lines and shape structures. Tiny strokes are great for detailing, but long swooping lines are the best for getting in gesture, form, and line clarity! Plus it's just healthier for your body all around, helps engage your shoulder muscles and reduces the potential risk for carpal tunnel ;)

Keep your toolset simple! I know it's easy to sort of want to just collect and own every single brush out there (especially if you're a digital artist) but honestly, the best way to be efficient is to simplify your kit and process its strongest tools. You can accomplish so much with just a good ole' fashioned round brush, soft airbrush, and blur/blend/smudge tool of your choice - all the fancy ones are simply there to make your life easier after you've learned how to draw the fancy stuff those brushes are trying to replace, IMO (ex. I know how to draw things like leaves and bark with the round brush... so having brushes to do it for me is way handier nowadays! But it's only because I know how to draw them normally that I can ensure I'm using those tools properly, if I'm explaining that clearly ?)

Always be open to trying new industry tools, there is no such thing as 'cheating' (barring blatant theft lol). I don't think a lot of people realize just how many artists across every art industry use tools and techniques designed to make the process more efficient, like 3D models, photobashing, gradient mapping, color balancing, tone curving, etc. to help speed up the creation process and turn an okay drawing into a great one. Of course, none of these tools can substitute for actual skill, you still gotta learn how to use these tools properly in addition to learning your foundations, but those super efficient artists definitely aren't working from the same process that everyone else is, it's different for everybody and it's all about finding what tools work best for you! And the only way to do that is to try 'em :)

Remember that the core of creating and presenting art is expressing an idea to your audience. There's no pre-requisite to how 'detailed' that idea needs to be to be understood, because 1.) your audience may interpret it entirely different from how you intended anyways and 2.) your audience is way better at 'filling in' the details than we give them credit for! One such artist that I can recommend you look at is WLOP, their paintings are well known for being gorgeously rendered and almost 'hyper-realistic' but when you actually zoom in on their paintings, you'll find many of the 'details' are very basic, often times just splatters of a round brush. Here's an example:

From that first glance, it looks like an incredibly detailed hyper-realistic painting, but zoom in a little and you'll see all the messy brush strokes and where they used brushes that are all incredibly simple (I could recreate the same look of the owl with just the transparent watercolor brush in CSP!) Regardless of the details not being rendered out as much as we'd assume, we still assume that what were looking at is completely rendered down to the last pixel, because our brains are doing all the work to fill in those details. WLOP focuses on shape, color, and form first before worrying about nitty gritty details, and their art doesn't suffer at all even when they don't bother with detailing at all. Pretty neat, huh?

THAT WAS A LOT LOL But I hope that helps ? I try not to keep it at "just practice" because often times that gets misconstrued as just "draw a lot" when if you don't know what you're lacking or what piece you might be missing in the puzzle, then of course it's gonna feel like you're just bashing your head against a wall! It's like teaching someone how to skate or ride a bike or drive a car, practicing will definitely do more than not practicing, but there are additional things you can learn and apply to make that learning process work for you rather than against you.

That's all for now! Best of luck in your journey! Remember that the key is to just take it at your own pace, be comfortable with making mistakes (it's the only way to learn!), and have fun! Being able to make art efficiently is great and all, but having fun and enjoying yourself is definitely the most important thing! <3