#i was gonna do lineart but it looked better without it so

[franeridan]

was watching a process video of an artist i really like trying a style he doesn't usually go for and he's usually got this very flowy, free style but for this one he was doing lineart and he was obviously struggling with it and said something like he really doesn't know how people can comfortably work with solid lineart and that genuinely shocked me into stopping the video and looking at nothing for a little while ngl

[the-hydroxian-artblog]

How did you learn to do your line weight so perfectly? Is there some secret to this?

I sketched using a highly pressure-sensitive brush for a long time and got better and more confident with using it.

Gonna use commissions I've done as an example. I started off basically doing sketches with my own inky lineart brush. Then, by taking a high volume of commissions, I used them as practice to fine-tune my muscle memory, but without high expectations so that I wouldn't try too hard. Note that I also didn't think hard on how I wanted the drawings to look; I only leaned towards line weights that "just kinda felt right", and it snowballs from there as I get better.

1+ year ago, 8+ months ago, 2 months ago

You can see how rough I started out with at the beginning, trying to freehand stuff and ending up with kinda wonky forms. After doing a few dozen, I became more confident with just doing simple lines. After a decent amount of time, I gained enough confidence to implement very deliberate line weights to my strokes.

So to break it down:

Sketch with a rough, highly sensitive inky brush for so long that you're basically just doing lineart. Sketch freely with a relaxed grip and without exerting excess pressure. Your only commitment is to make it readable and clear after cleanup.

Do not practice with intent of making the lineart perfect. Rather, sketch with intent of just making the weights feel clear and readable. My goal was to become more efficient at sketching, not making good lineart. This includes using longer strokes for certain contours instead of little scratches.

I use an undersketch/rough draft layer set to 20% opacity to block out the anatomy and posing, and then do a cleaner sketch on top of that. It is crucial however that you do not think of the clean draft as "lineart". Always keep your brain in sketch mode; Accept a certain level of mess. Your process will optimize into something cleaner with time.

Most recent commissions I've done as of writing this

I also have a basic <20 minute daily practice regimen for studies you can find here. Consistent practice and patience with using simple yet versatile tools will get you where you need to go.

[scratch-house]

i'm just a shot away from you.

sketch here and here.

hihi! long time no see! i'm gonna infodump about this piece down here.

so when i first started drawing, i focused really heavily on lineart. i was super into finding my "style" in terms of how i would stylize faces and bodies. my coloring style was kind of an afterthought and wasn't really in the place i wanted it to be, so this is me kind of experimenting and trying to go wild in that department.

i think the reason for my years long art block was perfectionism. specifically for digital art, i was very focused on making things pristine and clean looking. i mean that may or may not be obvious from my more recent pre hiatus art, i don't remember, but 😭 mentally that was the issue. i used to always like my sketches more than my lines, and at a certain point i was like, i may as well just have the lines be really sketchy and irregular and chunky or edgy in parts because i seem to be drawn to that, and clearly this precision thing isn't working out. i'd definitely attempted that at other points, but i hadn't really committed and was never really confident about it before now. i think ultimately i just had to reach enough of a 'fuck it' point before i could do it. it's a similar philosophy with the coloring and shading. i'm just letting all the textures and irregularities come through without worrying too much

the idea for the piece changed a LOT. like i started sketching and attempting to color this well before my art block, and i've only just finished it. initially, the doctor and the master were wearing their normal clothes and were holding daggers to one another while locked in an embrace, so the idea was like, the closer they get, the deadlier it is. for some reason i just couldn't get that to work? at some point i gave the doctor navy wings, so there was almost an angel of death thing going on (think the master asking her to kill him), but eventually i went for this! there's still kind of the erotic element with the master straddling the doctor and her Thrusting up, but now they are fencing, and the weapons are a little more front and center instead of hidden, as they were initially. i don't know how obvious it is, but what's happening is the master seemingly has the doctor pinned, both physically and with his rapier, but as she thrusts up, she actually moves his face closer to her blade. his hand on her elbow looks like it's part of the pin, but actually he's trying to stop himself from getting cut more. this thing of the master looking like he's winning, but the doctor actually holding the deadlier (though not necessarily better) position was very important to me, i don't know why. it was a feature of all of the sketches, although in the dagger sketches, there was an element of the doctor's blade being more hidden than the master's, ie in the embrace, the master (facing her) has an arm wrapped around the back of her neck with a blade at her throat, and she wraps her arms around him with a blade pointed directly at his back. you are going to have to figure out the symbolic intricacies of that yourself because i was just doing what felt right sjdjsdk

almost forgot: it's not just the positioning that sorta favors the doctor, it's also the fact that she is slightly more armored than the master. i don't know if you would call that armor, but let's go with that. her mask is pulled slightly more over her face than the master's, she wears her gloves and shoes while the master wears neither, and her rapier has a little cover that goes over her hand, while the master's just fans out. obviously they both have minor injuries, but the doctor also has some Ambiguous blood at her mouth. is it his? is it hers? i don't know. but she has blood in her mouth vibes when it comes to her interactions with the master so there u go

there's also an element of like, fencing is not supposed to get this crazy, so something has gotten severely out of hand here. but mostly i thought it looked cool.

if i could change anything about this, i would make it so that the doc's blade is pointing directly at the master's chin instead of having just grazed his lower face, with the master trying to lift his head away from the blade as he slides down, just so that the threat felt a little more.. i don't know, imminent? so that the strain is more pronounced? they're simultaneously being pulled toward one another (by gravity) and desperately trying to push away. i might've also fucked around with the text a little more because i'm realizing now that it could very easily be misread shjshdjs. but mostly i'm just glad that it's done and it looks cool. it's been YEARS and i finally feel like i'm back on my art feet. but don't hold me to that

[bennydunbar]

complaints and feedbacks about the game

so far i find that most people are just, okay with how the game is going. they don't exactly provide any feedbacks nor do they criticise Black Shepherd Games for railing almost every deadline they give themselves.

but people need to understand that the game is in demo, and this is one of the most crucial times for it to receive feedbacks; to inform that the writing is off, or how a mechanic in the game is being weird. so dont be afraid to give your feedbacks, we do it because we want the game to be better and we care about the golfball ‼️

i. a save file

this is like, one of the things everyone's been asking for. but i still think it's kinda stupid that it's already day 4 and we still dont have a save file.

ii. the sprites.

im well aware that fuboo wants her game to have a lot of sprites — but just changing his expressions without making changes like tilting his head even a little is not it. it looks like he has joint problems. also! some of the sprites have colours leaking out of their lineart so that's something

iii. the game updates

fuboo tends to just inform of their progress on patreon half-heartedly. well, at least when i was still paying. it's frustrating! i want to know more details about the game. not just:

mind you they were already pretty late on finishing up day 4 around this time too. do a monthly update of the game with details or something, show us that progress is being made and be strict with your deadlines.

v. deadlines deadlines deadlines

please please please adhere to your own deadlines. this ensures that the game progress is flowing smoothly. if day 1 - day 4 have taken this long, how long should we expect for the game to be finished, really?

vi. the writing

i dont even need to touch on how out of character YB has been after day 3. some people like it, some people dont. a problem i have with it is the fact that they basically forgot how they wrote about him on tumblr :/ like, why waste so much potential and material? the first red flag was how he reacted when you name him after yourself back in day 1. so it made me wonder...

who's really writing this game?

vii. invest in proofreaders

i dont know if they already have one but last i checked 'pigeons' was still spelled as 'pidgeons' back in day 1.

viii. mechanics

an important part of a demo is to show the mechanics of how a game works. this means your main ones shouldn't have a problem by now that you're knee deep into progress. have an audio toggle, have a log for the progress your players have made, give more features to the settings. the mechanics of a game is the backbone of it, if you fuck it up early then it's gonna be a while for you to fix it

i think thats all ive got for now, do inform me if there's changes that theyve made which im not aware of. other than that we should remember that the game is supposed to interconnect with the blog, and thats where the source material should've been from (and stick with it)

[julymarte]

  since my only real contribution to this fandom has been thedifferences analysis i did with my friends i think it’s time to separate it from the AU post and make it into a real masterpost, this is gonna be pretty long so be ready for it Disclaimer: models and art are fluctuating so i’m going to highlight only the recurrent stuff and the related evidence for the candy theory, so i’m not claiming this to be the indiscutible canon so take this evidence as you polease, just know it’s there but going forward....it’s time to begin with a few copy and paste from the previous posts with a few corrections along the way What is the candy theory? the Candy theory generates by the names of their alchemy lesson candies, according   to it, they highlight their strenghts/charm points so  Tail Fin Candy for floyd meaning legs and height and   Dorsal Fin Candy  for  jade focusing more on his torso/back i’ve seen many people comapring sprites to prove this theory on twitter so it’s time to show some examples, i tried to recreate them as best as i could (consider as i said art tend to be a lil less reliable than spites as it heavily depends on the lineart artist who’s assigned to the job)

this repeats in pretty much all the  versions aside the mermaid sprites that are copy/pasted  BUT on that someone call in the octavinelle trailer  to support the theory

some also link that to floyd possibly being a late bloomer as we clearly see baby floyd  was indeed shorter than baby jade in middle school even without the  aid of guiding lines

both the tweels are of course still growing, since despite being GIANTS  they are afterall still 17 but we heard a detail from  floyd unique from what we know about jade, In floyd’s starsending episode translated by Ekala  he states that

to adjust the mold of custom made shoes  he has probably gotten considerably taller within the year

According to some this means that floyd’s uniforms aren’t short on purpose  but are simply his first year ones and hedidn’t change them...but in that case jade wouldn’t have grown much  in height... according to these theories then floyd “just started” getting his growth spurt  while jade is pretty much settling his height and frame, but considering his apetite i wouldn’t be surprised to see himweighting more than floyd if we wver get an official weight for the boys(as we do know trey weights less than rook etc) but we are swimming too much in headcanon waters let’s proceed with the analysis in the previous posts these were the differences that emerged some of them are based on artwork so i’d take them with a lil caution especially on the topic of the hands that proved to be especially unreliable (floyd even got them changed in one of his sprites cause they looked too soft , sometimes jade has softer hands too) shoulders seem to be fluctuating as well

starting with some artwork analysis  in the  magic archives we get a view of the eels from the back, and  floyd  was the only one with sketch underline, this was the result considering jade and  azul wearing clothes properly (and even pretty tight in jade’s case as we saw before)

further update to support the  theory  comes  from the Union Birthday  model atlases starting with the   difference in rendering  of  their  vests that  being the  same  shape have  some pretty distinct  rendering on the  contrary of  the usual ( mermaid  copy/paste-very similar  halloween) as in jade  we  even find   back the  return of  the  button crying  for  help

another element is   the  belt as  all the models  come  with a   separate  belt  but  i  decided to merge  it with their  hips  to  give better context as there’s  no  variation in the  legs  and  as usual floyd’s  are  slightly  thicker but  something we  never  analized   surfaces here , and  i  think there’s  not even need to explain this

some relate this to their  first bday art too even if their  model don’t show significant difference

also in mer-form when having the  same  position  you can see another visible  difference  between jade  and  floyd  

in the masterchef ones we see pretty much we see a similar thing to the birthday boy vests even if shoulders and waist are pretty much the same they still keep a small but consistent difference

before jumping  to the “it’s just the clothes” bandwagon i remind you that once again jade wears skin tight clothing and floyd loose/oversized stuff

this pic actually leads us to the latest difference found aka the forearms always  from the masterchef models

i hope to update this masterpost next month with their proper leg difference with floyd’s basketball club wear coming out to compare with jade’s vargas camp leggies so yes apparently  jade’s the  titty twin and floyd the ass one, and you may wonder wasn’t jade the ass one? i am afraid to break it to you but his beansday backside is  fake af and all thanks to the  harness

in conclusion these are the predominant differences it’s also left to dind the  difference that rwas mentioned to riddle about the fact that  ears  are also different  but  the art is inconsistent on that matter and  we  didn’t come to a proper   solution and it might be  something only  perceived  by  the  characters

[welldrawnfish]

Howdy! I was wondering if you had any tips for how to improve my drawings? I love your art style (and just your art in general), and I was wondering how you make the lines like that, it’s hard to explain but your lines are messy(?), you don’t seem to worry about getting every line to be absolutely perfect, I have trouble with that on my art and I know imperfections in the art give it flavor and character, but when I’m drawing it’s hard to ignore and just keep drawing, especially on digital art. Sorry for rambling but yeah, if you have any tips on how to make my art look better or how to not stress as much about making perfect lines I would love to know! Thank you so much for reading this and have a nice day (or night)! ((P.S. I love your art, some of your stuff has genuinely helped me identify more about myself and it’s helped me through a bit of a rough time irl, I’m gonna stop now before this ends up being an essay lmfao, but seriously tysm!))

Hello Candle! I dont worry about things being perfect no, it slows me down and it adds nothing to the art. My main goal when drawing is to capture feeling and energy first. Then I worry about how readable and clean the lineart is second. A messier style benefits me on that. Since then i can get extra messy if i want the energy to feel chaotic, or really really clean and precise if i need it.

So my advice to you is to work out your poses and expressions, ask yourself if it captures the mood you want. One thing I always try to do is make sure you can understand the mood of the comic without a single word of dialogue.

[yosajaeofficial]

JUNE UPDATE

WASSUP BROS AND HOES, IT’S ME, YOSA FRICKING JAE. BACK AT IT AGAIN WITH ANOTHER UPDATE ABOUT THE JMC 🔥🔥🔥‼️‼️‼️

Last time, I remember saying it’ll be different and things will spice up, and I am indeed gonna provide more stuff piled into these updates because the debut comic is taking so long. I wanna make sure you all get full when consuming these updates instead of being like “oh, nothing happened lol”. I have a good chunk of shit to talk about that’s outside of the comic itself, but it’s like behind the scene stuff about it :3

With that out of the way, let’s finally get started!

The Comic

(W.I.P OF THE OFFICAL DEBUT COMIC)

The comic is slowly making progress, the first thing that’s changing is me showing progress of the comic itself and giving ya’ll w.i.ps in order for me to give you guys content to look over, and because I just want ya’ll to see it yk? The honest truth is that it’s moving slow because of burnout. It was huge and made me wanna give up on the comic and leave the fandom, I was struggling for a good while but my best friend told me it was best to take a break and recharge instead of pushing further. They told me to do something else so I can regain my motivation and passion for the project, and she was right, because I’ve been having fun hanging out, watching her play Stardew Valley, and letting loose without the pressure for the debut comic to come out. I have to prioritize my health and well-being before anything else, and I know the comic will be done!

Also for you all to know, the team I had disbanded, and right now I don’t have a full official one to help with the debut. I have amazing friends that have helped look over the script, one did some sketch compositions, one helped fix up grammar in the script. They helped me greatly and I’m so grateful for them and their loving support even through all of the rough patches. For the most part, I’ve been doing everything on my own, and it can get stressful easily because of how much I’ve had to change my plans and shuffle around when the team disbanded. I’ve been the one doing the scripting, sketches, lineart, color, management, and just everything. Even if I try to act like things are fine behind the scenes, I definitely got more anxious and depressed after events occurred, so this break (not hiatus) has helped me recharge after going through a bit for this comic. To end this section on a good note, I’m feeling so much better and I’m recharging absolutely greatly, I even renewed my love for Donnie after a friend drew him 🦐 Sooooo…The JMC is still in good hands.

Bonus Content: The Villain

YosaJae, what is this? This is the section that’s hella new, the place where I show you guys some cool concept art, ideas, and plots that show the origins of the JMC or even scrapped/cut content. Today we’re gonna talk about the villain of Arc 1. Fun fact, two were created at the same time but one of them was finalized to be the primary villain for Arc 1!

(First ever concept art of Archie Gomez)

Here he is! The cat himself, ✨Archie✨ I needed some variety and needed an anthropomorphic character since Rise has lots of their mutants and yokai. Archie was a character that was a lot more serious and hella threatening but he was toned down after more arcs were created. For some reason, I included freckles because I originally thought, “Ginger people…..” then included the freckles to make him more recognizable. Let’s just say that they weren’t as rememberable as I thought because I forgot them after a while-

Fun fact, Archie was originally gonna be a native Spanish speaker but not be able to speak English. The actual conflict was gonna be about the turtles and Archie fighting due to language miscommunication, but it was later scrapped because of the issue with translating each of his sentences and being truly accurate with his dialogue. He also at first was a one off character that would never return, but he was popular that he became the reoccurring bad for Arc 1.

(Archie Gomez Evolution 2022-2024)

Archie had went through a good bit of design changes over the years and I changed him to be more easier to draw by giving him a more unique silhouette by drawing his head as a pentagon instead of a circle. The transition was at first a circle to triangle, but then the shape was too complicated to recreate so I had to go with a pentagon (as an accident at first too). That changed him A LOT but I was hella happy with the way he turned out because he started to look more unique and iconic. Pretty cool, eh~?

Aaaand that’s it! Thank you all for stopping by and coming in to read this update! I hope it was fun to go through and very refreshing. I wanna make my updates more like this instead of what was said above. Especially because this is taking so long, I wanna be able to go over behind the scenes with you all since ya’ll at least deserve that; I can’t keep being mysterious about the comic since it is taking years for it to be made, but it’s trial and error so I gotta do this in order for it to be worth the progress. I’m strong, I can do this! Hopefully your day/night is amazing, and take care until next time 😋🫶💜

[quibbs126]

Alright, I decided to make my designs for the All Ancients Disappear au that I’ve talked about before

I’m not sure I fully explained it before (I probably did) but basically the setup here is that when the Ancient Heroes fought Dark Enchantress Cookie, instead of just Pure Vanilla, all of the Ancients vanished and became trapped in the void, until Gingerbrave and his friends showed up that is. And like Pure Vanilla, they all lose their memories

I tried to name them all after roles, and you can see the names there. Winged Cookie however is a name that @ifreakinglovedragons suggested because I was asking for help with it, and I’ll be honest, I can’t come up with anything better

With their designs, for Pure Vanilla and Hollyberry, I just straight up took their designs from preexisting designs of theirs, and with Dark Cacao I took some inspiration from both Dark Choco’s new design and Dark Cacao’s younger one. For Golden Cheese and White Lily though, I kind of had to try and make something up. I ended up sort of basing their designs on Black Raisin and Seaweed Cookie, two cookies with nothing to do with the cookies, but I thought their designs looked good. Originally I was gonna say Golden Cheese was the weakest design, but I changed it up during the lineart phase and honestly I quite like it now. To be honest, now it’s Dark Cacao’s design I feel is the weakest. I tried to keep their outfits all fabric based, since they aren’t supposed to have anything that defines them. Originally I was gonna give Sage a lily pad for her shawl, but it broke that rule, so I changed it

Now let’s see, these characters on their own

Healer Cookie is basically the same as he is in canon, since the au doesn’t really affect him

Huntress Cookie finds going on adventures to be quite fun, but she can’t shake the feeling there’s someone she’s missing, but she doesn’t know who. She tries to keep it in the back of her head, but it’s always there (this person is Royal Berry)

Warrior Cookie feels that sense of off-ness far more strongly, and has this overwhelming feeling there’s something that he’s supposed to be doing, something he’s supposed to protect, but he doesn’t know what. But he fears that it’s something he’s too late to do, and he’s failed (what he’s thinking about is the Dark Cacao Kingdom, and likely Dark Choco, who I’ll talk about in another post sometime). Also I might make him mute? I have a headcanon that Dark Cacao used to not talk, and perhaps this comes back here. He does eventually talk, but it’s not till he regains his memory

Sage Cookie also feels a sense of wrongness like Warrior Cookie, but she doesn’t feel this drive to do something, only a sense of dread. She wishes to know what this is, but at the same time is afraid (Dark Enchantress Cookie)

Also, I haven’t quite figured why White Lily is here, because Dark Enchantress is still around as well, or at least that’s how I originally envisioned it. I just don’t know what the canon explanation for White Lily being there is. Though, I am currently toying with the idea of White Lily and Dark Enchantress somehow merging together into what we’re calling Sage Cookie. I mean, most of her actual body is currently covered, including her other eye, who’s not to say that under that hair she has a red and black eye with perhaps some purple bits to her dough? And under that hood, a small pair of horns? I dunno, I’m considering it, but not sure if I’ll do it. It kind of leaves the story without an antagonist

As for Winged Cookie…I don’t know, because I don’t have any canon Golden Cheese material to work with. All I do know is she doesn’t fly (her wings are under her cloak), but like Warrior Cookie, she will eventually

Now, as for what these five are doing, I have two ideas and I’m not sure which one I like more. Yes they’re all wandering Earthbread trying to figure out who they are (or doing other stuff), but it’s how they do it that I’m debating

Option 1 is that they all come back, but not near each other, and each of them wander to the corners of Earthbread. I’d say this is the option where they’d be less inclined to search about their past, as they may not suspect much is up

Option 2 is that they all appear in relatively the same location, and meeting each other they all decide to travel together because “hmm, so all five of us just so happened to all appear here in the same place at the same time, and none of us have our memories. There’s no way that’s a coincidence, how about we all stick together to find out what’s going on?” And so because of that, this is the one where they’re a bit more active in figuring out the truth, because it’s a very strange circumstance. Assuming Episodes 9-10 still happen with Healer Cookie, then they all wind up in the Raisin Village and help out around the village

I actually ended up making option 2 because I thought it would be funny how these five were all super close friends who traveled the world together, and even now when they all have amnesia, they’re still doing that, unaware this is what they used to do. They probably have discussions at night about who they used to be and how they might know each other. They sometimes wonder if perhaps they were all enemies, unaware of the truth. That thought to me was just funny

But yeah, not sure which version to do

But yeah, I think that’s everything about this au, specifically for these characters, that I have. However I do have more, so perhaps I’ll be able to actually go and post more of it sometime. Hope you like it!

[wuntrum]

You have any advice on getting better/more confident with digital line art? I’m planning to make a comic that’s gonna be just black and white line work and really love how you do it and it doesn’t ever look flat or without character. When I try it always looks very flat and wonky

its genuinely taken me a LOOOONG long time to feel confident about my digital line art!! there were several years where i always preferred the way my lines look on paper (and, tbh, there are times where i still do). personally, when i started embracing a looser style generally, that's when my confidence improved with the digital line art---before i felt like i was so wrapped up in trying to make my lines "perfect", that they just wound up looking stiff or not very interesting. so approaching line art more like a second sketching phase, where things can be a bit looser and energetic (but still a bit neater than the first pass) helped me :) using a line art brush that already has a bit of texture/other wonkiness to it also helps me, though i find myself never satisfied with any line art brush i use for very long LOL

you could also take your original sketch layer and erase out of it to create lineart, i've had success with that in the past. i've also just done the lineart traditionally and scanned it in to finish digitally, so there's a lot of options!

[11vein]

I gotta say that I rlly rlly love your art!!! The atmosphere and everything is just fantastic!!!

If you don't mind, do you perhaps have any tips or tutorials for coloring or shading? :DD

/also love your ocs and how u design them too! they're very unique <3

thank you!! i have a few different ways i like to color/shade... im gonna be honest and say that the way in end-world normopathy is not how i usually do things idk why i did it like that... i already wanna crush the art in that pv lMAOOO ummm.... tips.....okay heres like a few tips/how i do things sometimes i just kinda have an obsession with cool lighting as of late!! working with gradients and figuring out lighting is a real treat. big recommend.

most of my art as of late especially when drawing something fast is just. do gradients for some shading and extra detail then add lighting ontop.......... (then a bunch of other color editing and noise filters and stuff to make it sexy) but obviously that doesnt work for every scenario!! mostly for really fast stuff that does the job just fine

ummm another tip of something i looove to do is coloring your lineart but mainly only where theres edges of lighting. . so like this

it really makes all the difference imo thats all i can really think of without making new art at this time to explain things WAIT NO HERES MORE. multiple-colored gradients make things look sooo cool. if you use gradients try to make them multiple colors it makes it looks so sexy i promise

and then finally. my last tip CHROMATIC ABERRATION AND NOISE MAKES ANYTHING LOOK BETTER in my opinion . i am probably sick in the head and insane but HEAR ME OUT

thank you

[lydia-morphmen]

(💛🐌 ♡ 🅿️📹) - New bow/ribbon 🎀✨️

Just a sketch drawing of Slow Seline 💛🐌 loving the new bow Player/Y/N 🅿️📹 had picked out :D

> Note: I was gonna do the lineart but thought it looked better without it, so I colored in the sketch with an air brush tool.

Also, this takes place in a separate part of an AU (i failed to post about) where 🅿️📹 and 💛🐌 are together. 🤍

Published date: October 8th, 2023

[rainyraisin]

Evil artstyle challenge!!

People said the main traits of my art are sketchy lines, simple/non-detailed eyes, desaturated colours and angular shapes/lines so I tried my best to draw without any of those!!! Detailed eyes are pretty fun ngl, might try drawing them more often! And I found a way to do lineart that isn’t the worstttt so when I do a certain project I’m not gonna talk about yet (hehe) I can do lineart for it yippee!!! I’m still gonna keep doing sketchy lineart for the most part though because I prefer how it looks and I just have more fun doing it‼️‼️‼️😎😎😎💥💥💥

Also I made a black lineart version because technically that fits the challenge better but I think the brown lineart is cuter hehe

[sincerely-sofie]

The finishing of this fanfic has left me with some pretty mixed emotions. On the one hand, I dont want it to end. It's such an incredible piece of work and even though I finally committed to reading it a few weeks ago, it already feels like such a significant part of my life. On the other hand, I'm a little glad that it's over. FAR from the sense it was bad (I'll steal your liver if thats how you interpret it) but moreso in the sense that it was like a good crying session. It's something that a lot of us (or I assume a lot of us) typically want to avoid even though we know its good for us, and satisfying after the fact. It's like catharsis in a way. Endings aren't always a great feeling in the moment, but it's something that we can look back on with a fondness.

I'm so glad I found this work. I'm being completely serious when I say that this fanfic, and the other content you make, has changed my life for the better. Its helped me reconnect with that love I have for creativity after nearly a decade of not making anything even though I wanted to. It's helped pulled me out of a few ruts of depression. It's helped me realize that I'm not actually emotionally stunted (per my own conclusions) and be more willing to cry instead of burying those feelings. In the past I would just, kill these kinda thoughts before they got far because of how much I wanted to avoid crying. Much less actually writing them down, or express them to someone else. But now, I've been crying the whole time I write this, and for the first time in, I think ever, I'm okay with that. I know we don't actually know each other, but you've genuinely helped me become a better person with the things you make. Thank you so much for everything you've done Sofie. hey look! I got your name right!

But enough about me. I feel like it's getting indulgent at this point. (I've gotten dehydrated with how much ive cried writing this and from what I can tell, you cry a lot more than I do. So go drink some water first, and then) I wanna hear your thoughts. What are your thoughts and feelings about your work being finished? Do you have plans to take a break from creative endevors for a while, or are you gonna keep going? Are you going to be expanding more on this and other au's, different fanworks or move into something completely your own? Whatever the case may be, I'm excited to see what more you are going to come up with!

From the bottom of my heart, and on behalf of everyone else, Thank you for everything.

It's so surreal to have posted that final chapter. I finished the first draft almost 100 days ago exactly, and I spent a number of days after completing it kind of adrift. I'd go to my computer every morning like I had during the month prior and sit down, ready to write, only to remember that I was actually supposed to be taking a break before I made the final edits.  It didn't click in my head that I had actually done it… until a couple weeks later when it hit me like a truck that I had an entire completed manuscript sitting in my Google Docs. I think I was making myself lunch at that moment, and I had to bolt to lie down on the floor and put my legs up against the wall because I was ready to pass out at the realization. 

This feels pretty similar. For me, The Present is a Gift— the main fanfic, at least— was finished in mid-January. But the process of uploading it and agonizing over what people thought of every passing update wouldn't be formally done until about 3 months later. It still hasn't clicked in my head that I won't be posting a new update once Tuesday rolls around. 

On the subject of taking a break— I've actually been taking a break, at least partway! I've barely written anything after I finished TPiaG's first draft, and I haven't drawn much “serious” art, for lack of a better word, since I started my blog. I've still been making things, yes, but scattered oneshots and sketchy pieces without solid lineart are not my typical fare. I'm usually a lot more “exact” with what I make— words fail me here— I hope I'm not being too vague! I might take a brief break as I finish up the winter semester, but that would be less a break from creating and more of an “OH MY WORD I NEED TO FOCUS ON NOTHING BUT PASSING THESE COURSES” kinda thing. 

TPiaG (along with its derivative AUs) is still very much a living project to me— there's a lot more stories the characters have in them, even if I struggle to envision a full-on sequel. I'm absolutely going to answer the asks relating to it that I've received over the months along with any I continue to receive, and if I get any ideas for comics or oneshots here and there, I'll make them. As for what's officially next up on the Sincerely Sofie menu, I'm planning to make a visual novel that's a lot more meaty than the last one I made. I'm not sure if it will be original or based on TPiaG— but a visual novel is the medium I'm planning on! 

I'm so overwhelmed by your kindness. I truly don't have any words. This project started off as something private to help distract me from a depressive episode and to process trauma, and it's become so much more. I'm so glad it was able to help you. Catharsis was the keyword for TPiaG— I wanted it to uproot difficult emotions and help people start to heal from them, but I never dreamed it would really help anyone but myself. So to hear it was able to provide you with that is unbelievably meaningful to me. 

I gave myself the goal somewhat recently to let myself cry whenever the urge strikes me. I used to go months without crying, and whenever I did shed tears, it was alone in my room while muffling the few sounds I accidentally let slip. I'm a natural crybaby, but I had schooled myself into thinking for a number of reasons that it was bad to cry— that it was selfish, or attention-seeking, or weak— so I've been trying to reclaim my teary-eyed identity. It's been difficult, but it's so freeing to let myself feel things fully. All of this is to say: let the tears fall. I've helped more people by crying than my stoicism ever did. 

Thanks again. I can't properly word my gratitude, but know that it's overwhelming :,>

[nightingale-bloom]

looking back on the old designs of a lot of my characters and dear lord wtf was wrong with me. why did i spend two hours erasing little bits of lineart on helis and luna's gloves and nails to make the edges sharper? did i think i could hold myself to that every time? no fucking way, my ass can't even shade on concepts without tearing my hair out. there's like so much ranting below the cut, beware.

also wanna hit ethel v1 with a flamethrower, just look at him. this is why v2 will be my baseline when i need to make an ethel design.

idgaf that i was twelve (younger than ethel, who is eternally 14 bc he's fictional) when i made this design, this is still such a creepy thing to do to a minor, real or not. i'd be okay with this if it were just the paper doll i used as a base for new outfits, but nah, he was legit just running around like that. observe, v2, still bad bc of context but way better. looks more like nightclothes, character still includes the tip jar since i made it shortly after writing that scene. worlds above imo.

considering making him a lot more chilled out than his original characterization just based on the way i drew him here. also having him bundle up, hell is cold asf. and the silver ring is part of a matching set, his little sister's got one too. the band's a lot thinner on hers bc i just thought it'd look better. also, the currency of demons was actually legitimately called doubloons for a while there. do as you wish with this knowledge, though i'm def gonna daydream about pirate outfits for all my demon characters for the next four days.

[that-gay-gal]

Ta-Da! Part 2 is done, and only after like… 10 hours

Prev -> Part 2 -> Part 3

It’s worth it for my emo little children

Is this cringe? Yes. Do I care? I mean yeah I do, but imma pretend I don’t cuz I’m having fun.

The coloring and lineart is gonna be SO inconsistent you have no idea

Idk how long this dumbass comic I’d gonna take, but however long I just hope y’all have fun

Also, wtf am I gonna name this AU 💀 like actually I have no idea what to call this - this is harder than naming an OC without a baby name website I swear-

Donnie is the easiest to draw since he's shaped like an asthma inhaler, but Mikey is now the hardest for me (I've gotten better at drawing Raph) so sorry that he looks a little janky

But yeah, hope you guys enjoy

(Lets just hope my motivation doesn’t fizzle out and I give up)

Also, there's no plot for a while (even the plot is barely there tbh) so this is more slice-of-life emo stuff. (I'm improvising all this shit off the top of my head its wild)

if you saw this already no u didn't (I posted it from drafts originally due to some link issues but I think that messed up something cuz it got a lot fewer likes- maybe Tumblr is having a stroke idk)

[deidremercer]

Oh yeah I might as well post this here for the 2 people who follow me and aren't already in discords with me,

I'm doing this:

In an attempt to improve my art, I started out just doing it for the sake of drawing something almost every day but now I think I'm gonna save these for whenever I feel I've made an improvement. Each day I am doing a different OC and I'm trying to lean towards having each character in an outfit I wouldn't normally draw them in

#1 was done with Orpheus Valor from Paragons

He was pretty fun to draw because I don't do masc characters very often. Also doing him for the underwear post was good because my GM, Gracie, and I had previously joked about him having scars where top surgery scars would be and just fully not being trans (there are other trans characters in Paragons I feel like we get to do a little bit of queerbaiting) so he was mauled by a bear.

#2 was done with Rabbit Leporidae from Thyrasylo.

Rabbit is normally dressed in either a suit or a frilly dress despite the fact that her name stems from the fact that her original design was wearing a bunny suit. Her shirt is a gag stolen from Thrilling Intent, I think it's funny for the most powerful spellcaster in my world to be wearing a spelling bee shirt. This was also cool because I got to draw her tattoos. Neither of her previous tokens really showed them off much so I thought I could use this opportunity to draw them. They don't have any real significance as of right now but I might ascribe some to them later.

#3 is with Ivy Blackleaf from Thyrasylo

Ivy is very fun to draw, this prompt made me finally design a logo for her Mom's cafe. I think I made it a little too close to the Olive Garden logo. Otherwise this was a fairly straightforward one, I did get to practice expression a little bit.

#4 with Roxanne De'Rulo from Crescent King

Messy hair Roxie is really fun to draw. I forced myself to make this a full body to try and practice feet, I don't think they look all that great. Her hand is a little bit fucked up but I am glad that I drew it at all, practice is important. Otherwise the only thing of note with this one is that I lost the original TRIPWIRE band logo and Redbubble doesnt let you redownload your uploaded designs which kinda blows.

#5 with Jayden Valekrave from Paranoia and Evi Halloran from Macrocosmos

The first one with a backdrop. This one was also voted on by a whole 37 people who took time out of their day to vote on my silly little Google form. Evi is in the background because she was the runner up and I probably wouldn't draw her anywhere else. I also think I didn't do justice to all the people who voted for Jayden. I super didn't have a reference pulled up and I am not skilled enough to draw from my imagination yet. Jayden's halberd, Dawnbreaker, having sunglasses on is the best part of this image. She is so silly. I also started drawing the eyes without having lineart on them here. Idk how I like it, we'll have to see.

#6 with Vernidaius Yxerei from Decent Into Avernus

Compression kinda fucked this one up a bit, but the name of the game with this one was experimenting with brushes. I kinda tried to get some of the texture that I really love out of Jackson FrameDodge of The3rdWheel's work. Unfortunately I dont really know how to shade properly so it's kinda all over the place, and harder to see on the skin, oops. This one had a pose reference initially but the legs ended up being too difficult for me to do so I just sorta covered one of them. I also super forgot to draw Vermi's scales here. The line-less eyes are still something I'm on the fence about. I think this background is a good bit better than the previous one, the only part of the previous one that I really ended up liking is the clouds.

And that's everything I've done so far, tune in soon for the next one if you care.