#i will also sometimes merge the red layer with the grey layer so the red is also on multiply

[majachee]

how draw..

HO HO HO? AN EXCUSE TO SHOW MY ART PROCESS?

Behold! How I draw!!

I start off with a very light, messy outline like so (rough recreation cuz i lost the og, has more detail than this)

This helps my brain out with posing and rough proportions without getting too overwhelmed.

And then I go over it on a different layer and essentially clean it all up!

I fix anatomy, i add clothes, i basically mess around with it until it looks Just Right.

Now, sometimes I just go ahead and color in the sketch because I don't feel like doing lineart, sometimes I plan out a rough color palette for bigger pieces (ex: zine pieces and gift art usually)

The clean sketching process is also when I use references the most, I look up character and clothing references, I look up posing refs, this is also when I do start looking up color palette ideas for character designs and bigger pieces.

But for lineart, I tend to drift towards textured brushes like the soft mapping pen (bleed) and soft school pen (bleed) in Ibispaint, and the marker brush in FireAlpaca with some adjustments!

I don't like going too far off the finished sketch, but I will absolutely make adjustments if necessary!

I do draw in the little white shinies of the eyes on the lineart layer, I just think they look cute!

I also use the pen to shade tiny areas like the neck/chin area, wrinkles, small gaps like the mouth and sleeves, etc. etc.

And then I lay down the colors!

I shade the eyes on their own layer, and the blush is also added in as part of the base colors. I use a lot of clipping masks during the part - selecting inside the lineart and essentially creating a base layer for the color layers. I use the selection tools, the lasso tool, or I just color along the inside of the lines to make an outline and then use the paint bucket tool to fill it all in!

This is also when I add in clothing patterns and such.

And now! Basic shading!

I use desaturated, grey-ish colors for shading. I pull all the color layers into one folder and/or merge them and I use a clipping mask on the folder for shading. For this drawing I used a desatudated light blue, but I also use other colors like red, pink, peach, purple, and green for some pieces. Really depends on what tone the piece is and what colors would look good.

I have my shading layers set to multiply and I mess with the opacity a bit, but usually it's 50-85% opacity for the main shading layer.

And then I go over that shading layer with a darker color!

Pretty much adding flavor to the shading by adding extra dark bits where the shadows might be darker. I also like to occassionally outline the shading cuz it's fun.

I didn't do this with this drawing, as it was a reference sheet, but I add a soft "glow" to my drawings after this stage. Basically, I take a really pale color (usually yellow or pink) and draw ovals where the body is being hit by the light source more, blurr it, and then set the layer to "soft light" and lower the opacity until it's barely noticable - just a soft, glowy fuzz that makes my eyes happy.

I also color in the lineart at this stage, usually going in with darker colors to make it a bit softer than the harsh black, sometimes I add a blurry glowy red or pink to the lineart around the face like I did in this pieces:

But like... depends on the vibe.

If the piece calls for it, i'll add a background, though if its a bigger project w/ actual scenery the background wouldve already been lined, colored, and shaded alongside the characters or before the characters were shaded

Year old example but yeah, my scenery techniques involve a lot of obsessing over perspective and texture and getting feedback from servers I'm in lmao

I can absolutely draw rocks and small plants, I'm just in too much pain to do so 🧍‍♂️

But yeah! That's a rough explanation of my drawing process, hope u enjoy Cyokie my bestie 💗💗💗💗

[cherokeegal1975]

The Grey, WIP: 7/7/23

Well, I wish I had realized yesterday that by painting the base coats of the wings and then just fading out the references over the top of them, I could have saved myself some time and trouble. Now all I have to do is erase around the white wing and it'll be mostly done...save for some highlights I might want to put in.

This was a single image, then a doubled one because my graphics program has a tendency to merge all layers prematurely once in a while. A glitch that I'm not at happy about. I was just able to remove the bulk of the reference picture today. Look so much better without it there.

I was going to do a half gold and half silver halo, but with all that black and white, there's need for more splashes of color. So, the halo will be solid gold and have red jewels set into it. The flames will also add some color as well as the lady's skin. A nice brown. Her hair will be black.

References for the bits I need to see are still there, just invisible at the moment. Except for the frame design. I'm doing my best to eliminate anything I copied from online as fast as possible. Except for the wings of course. I need those.

I will lighten the hue of the cloak; I usually start dark and work lighter then darker again in spots as I go along. I even have brushes that will do fabric textures. I think I might try that. In spite of the need for more color, I still insist that the cloak be grey. Maybe I can add some patterning or something. I'll think about it.

Anyway, I never meant this drawing to look like a playing card. In fact, the main elements of the drawing just showed up randomly in my head when I wasn't really thinking of anything particular. But I liked what I saw, so I'm drawing it.

Yes, I know I'm cheating a lot. This is because sometimes I have trouble translating what's in my mind onto canvas. I can draw the human figure but haven't had a lot of practice at it. Nor do I have a lot of practice drawing clothing. It was just easier to find what I needed online to help me out this time. I don't know who all the artists are who put out all these free resources for me to use. Though angelic figures are common, I can say with confidence that this idea is uniquely mine. Just for the fun of it I did a general search image for a moment and found lots of angels, but nothing exactly like mine. So, there's that.

I can and to draw freehand. I'd do it more often than I have been lately if I had more time. My time off is sporadic at best/worst. Given the choice, I'd spend more time doing everything in my head. Taking a few hours a day just to draw. I can do a solid three hour session of drawing before my brain gets tired and I have to take a break. I rarely get that time lately.

Ugh. This is devolving into a bitch session. I won't do that here. Anyway, when this is completed, people who are into games like Dungeons and Dragons or similar games may use this character as part of your game. Just ask me first because I want to know about it. Give me credit for the design. No, you may not sell it. I need the profits far worse than you do.

I came to think of The Grey as a kind of judge for contests and legal issues...and maybe other things. She knows there's more than one facet to every story, there isn't just pure evil and pure good. There's always those shades of grey. And she's an excellent and fair judge. A living personification of justice and a powerful force for the good side. My mind had to work on this for a while as I drew her "card." Because originally, she had no story, no meaning. I'm still inviting people to have an open interpretation of her character however.

I can also see this as a big poster over someone's bed simply because it looks cool. It would be a nice decoration, especially if it turns out as nice as I want it to.

I'd appreciate it if no one used my idea until it was completed. I might make some changes along the way that I won't know about until I get there. Not that I think anyone will really. Every offer of free resources I put out gets ignored. I don't know why.

I will also post this on Redbubble when it's done and send a link. I can't seem to completely let my optimism go even though I'm aware that no one wants to buy my artwork. I don't know why.

[codgod-moved]

Hi! I was wondering if you would be open to doing a tutorial on how to draw a character in makeup?

i mean i’d love to give you some kind of in-depth step by step or whatever but the only character i usually draw in makeup is tango and that’s just.. smudge some dark grey on a multiply layer around his eyes, and put some red above that on a seperate normal layer (also smudged around) then merge those with the skin layer and colour the rest of the thing. because i do skin first and have all my colours on one layer for the most part. like idk what you want from me here i just kinda wing it

[gods-little-meow-meow]

in honor of fireflies being removed here is my probably incoherent list of everything that should be added to minecraft  Mossy logs ( someone has already said this i can't remember who but credit to that person) 

- fallen tree logs that slowly gain moss as time goes on kinda like copper 

- will eventually grow mushrooms when peak moss™ is acquired

- players can shear logs to get a mossy carpet 

- only works for naturally spawning fallen trees so its kinda rare

 LEAVES!

-falling leaves work a lot like snow 

-like with snow, over time leaves will gather in layers and from leaf piles, this will take a while tho

-leaves will be particles and thus will be togglable

-leaf piles will also spawn naturally 

leaf mob 

-hids in leaf piles 

-neutral mob, will only attack if leaf pile is disturbed 

- will attack any mob that disturbs pile

-looks kinda like the glare but leaves

-when killed it turns into a normal leaf pile 

Tree mushrooms! 

- grow on the side of trees

- can be stacked on the same block 

- will be placed randomly on the block like flowers 

- will spawn naturally (only in dark conditions) 

- can’t be bonemealed to make more (works similar to vines) BUT 

- if one is placed then grown with bonemeal it will turn into a side block thing and can be used to walk on 

- used to breed mushroom deer 

Mushroom deer

- like a mooshroom but a deer 

- has antlers similar to the warden 

- has brown mushrooms growing on it but if struck by lightning they will turn red

- will randomly drop antlers that can be used as decoration or used in potions 

- will run away from player if damaged 

- have similar behavior to foxes

Flower cottages 

- naturally spawning flower cottages 

- similar to witch huts 

- spawn in flower forests 

- have beehives and flowers spawn outside them 

- not very useful but look pretty! 

Hanging vines 

- hang from the bottom of blocks like glowberry vines 

- but a lot smaller and darker green (more vine like colour) 

- can be stacked on blocks

- will sometimes spawn connected to others in a weird hanging arch thing (can’t be placed normally cause idk how that would work) 

- change colour depending on biome! 

- found mainly in swamps and jungles 

Graveyards: 

- randomly spawn in most biomes 

- contain gravestones as well as the larger graves 

- bit of cool loot but thats kinda it 

- mobs spawn more frequently there 

- graves sorta merge with the landscape, so you could have one on a hill 

- some graves have wither roses on them 

- idk it would be very cool for lore reasons 

Chisel: 

- used to engrave writing into stone 

- works with stone blocks and stone bricks 

- similar to how signs work but its just engraved in the stone 

- breaking block will reset text 

other smaller things: 

- make grass move ever so slightly in the wind! 

- reeds for ponds and stuff 

- add koi fish it would be cool! 

- song birds, acting similar to parrots but come in browns and greys 

- give cacti flowers! 

- add the fireflies back in mojang please we want the fireflies 

[ivytea]

hey! i really really love your art, especially how you shade things. i was wondering; do you post speedpaints or process pictures? i'd love to see your way of doing things :D

hello! thank you, I’m really happy you enjoy my works! ah, i’m not educated on techniques, so it will help to search up tutorials for proper shade/colour theory too, but here is a loose description of my own shading and process. I use paint tool sai.

(I’m explaining this piece because it’s the only one I haven’t completely merged layers for)i. lineart: I usually pencil these on paper rather than digitally. Sometimes I use a lightbox to trace over an initial sketch for cleaner lines. I like to fill in solid blacks here, and brush in a diluted ink wash (using “speedball super black”) to fill in the majority of shading. This is ok because I’m bad at managing my colour range when colouring digitally, so having a grayscale helps focus the sketch later on.

ii. after scanning and making the sketch layer transparent, I add colour clipping groups to the image so the shading isn’t plain greyscale (here, the hair is a little redder, and the other lines are teal), play around with hue to see what works best with the image palette. 

iii. i like to add colours in single layer, but generally, keep track of light and dark colour distribution and try not to use too many similar colours in one piece (I have a lot of trouble with this). It helps to blend colours - i.e. for a dark yellow, pick the yellow you’d like, and then blend whatever colour is being used for shaded linework in surrounding area. pick the intermediate colour (area within red square) for the yellow you’re working with. this helps moderate the palette to image lighting atmosphere! Also, for shadows, using a darker, more saturated colour of similar hue makes the image more vibrant than simply mixing black/grey in.**I personally use less saturated colours so when I add the overlay layer, the colours don’t suddenly transform into eyestrain hazards, but it depends on the effect you want to achieve.

iv. I also like to use an overlay layer (set to ~40%) after the colours are done, below you can see the image with overlay, as well as what the overlay looks like when the setting is on ‘normal’, without the colour layer on. This adds some warmth to the palette. It is good to revisit lineart clipping group and adjust the colours so they are more consistent with the image palette if changes have been made.

v. after this I usually flatten the image as a png. it’s usually adjusting brightness/contrast and cleaning up lines, and minor adjustments that are easier to make when on a single layer. 

It’s not a comprehensive guide, and digital layer process varies a lot by piece, but generally this is how my shading is done. Please let me know if something needs clarification!  

[nyarados]

You asked for drabble prompts; country hick Keith and city boy Lance? In the fashion of those good ol’ lonely housewife romance novels? Idek it’s like 6am and I’m hungry -A

I’ve found a home in your eyes

pairing: klanceword count: 447genre: fluff

[okay so idk what those “good ol’ lonely housewife romance novels” are like but I do know romance so here you go!!!! also this lowkey feels like a continuation of this so uhh…..I mean reading both is unnecessary but y’know since I’m linking you anyway]

There’s a lake behind the house that Keith grew up in.

It’s dotted with reds and oranges in the fall, leavesturning brown as they soak and merge with the water. It’s frozen over in thewinter, a foggy surface of blue-grey and white swirls. It’s thundering andturbulent in the spring, rarely calm during the rainy season.

Keith loves all the phases of the lake – they’re allbeautiful and recall the sublime in their own ways – but the one he findshimself missing the most when he’s gone is how it appears during the summer.

The lake is a breathtaking view during that time of year.The water will be calm, gently pushing and pulling against the shore. Its shimmeringsurface will rise and fall in gentle swells, glittering under the sometimestoo-bright sun. The sky overhead, a bright bright blue, will be reflected inlayers of cool ultramarine, the depths of the water swallowing up the cloudlesssky.

It’s been three years since he’s gone back to that house, tothat lake. He wonders if it has changed, he wonders if it’s any different. Thenostalgia that sits in his chest is heavy, but the home he once lived in is onehe can’t bring himself to go back to. Perhaps he can return one day, perhaps inthe future, but certainly not now.

He is so lost in his thoughts that he doesn’t hear the screendoor when it opens behind him. Nonetheless, he doesn’t startle when a warm chestpresses against his back. Arms tucked under a soft blue blanket wrap themselvesaround his front and he lets himself be pulled into a cocooned embrace. A chinsettles itself on his shoulder.

“What are you thinking about?”

Keith doesn’t move but allows his eyes to flick over towardsthe other’s head. Wisps of brown hair are just long enough to enter his fieldof vision, shifting slightly in the night breeze. He quirks a smile.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” he says teasingly.

The chin on his shoulder shifts and more of that brown hairenters his peripheral.

“Aw don’t be like that.”

Keith just smiles, silently eyeing the stars overhead andletting a few seconds pass before he fully turns his head to look Lance in theface. Their eyes lock like the crashing of waves against a rocky shore. Keithis lost for a second, the familiar deep blue drawing him in, the hues notunlike the lake back at home.

Except that this is his home too, here in the city, here inLance’s arms. They lean towards each other until their lips meet.

And Keith can feel himself drowning.

[annesofieravnsbaekgeertsen]

Midcrit;

FINDING EMPATHY  ///// THE SEARCH FOR EMPHATY /// RECALLING EMPATHY // EMPATHY

Introduction

As I found myself in the middle of Germany on our study trip to Bad Meinberg I saw a little city desperately wanting change. I saw old people sweep up leafs falling to the ground, even though it was an endless task; almost as waiting for the tree to die, as they where waiting for something to happen. I saw hope in their eyes when we taped up the buildings and suggested new plans for the city. We became superheroes in a waiting city. I saw a lady giving a sunflower to the bookstore; spreading happiness for the owner and to me. I got cheap ice cream and holy water that made me imagine Bad Meinberg in the future. Mostly because I was triggered by the feeling of empathy that was streaming through the people I met and by the experience of sleeping as a refugee. I literally wrote this to my boyfriend back home; Im now laying in my fieldbed which are normally used in refugeecamps, in surroundings build to it as well. Luckily i dont have the mindset of one, because i am very priviliged to be so gifted in my life. Sometime its a limit towards to dare to go out of the comfort, and it needs courage. Now its not a big deal, but i really imagine to be here, as someone who just left everything they know and are in the complete unknown searching for a better life. How unfair it is that i have so much and the one laying in this bed before me, so little. Oh i want to balance the whole world, so deeply!

I was triggered by the Externsteine that was the center of the world. (as our guide said when we where there) I was triggered by all these different layers, and it made me imagine Bad Meinberg as the hope in the future. A future I have digged into understand by researching big-thinkers, science-fiction, our technology, Liam Young, Jean Baudrillard, Bruno Latour, and the sustainable future. What we all see differently, and how this city can become a start to another world as I imagine.

Scenario

The reality has merged into our minds and our minds has merged into a digital manifestation of our thoughts. We are no longer prisoners of the physical world but creators of our imagination. We all have a digital layer to our surroundings incorporated in our eyes and skin; you turn the sun up and down as you want it, when you want; the time is your decision; you make everything red as your are in a war with your digital friends or enemies. You go from Antarctica to the Jungle in less than a second. You make your voice deeper and yourself taller or smaller as it fits to the purpose of the game you live in.

The city is Everywhere; there is no city anymore, no country, no center, no periphery but there is just a continues city of technologies stretched across the planet, a continuous story that you create in your own digital cloud. I am going to talk about a dark side of the technology; the instinct of empathy sacrificed in the evolution of mixed realities. A physical reality as a scaffold to the digital reality. I am going to present a new map of experiences that search to find the empathy in the humans again. The empathy that is deep inside every beating heart, but in the light of technologies got lost to the individualization of their own worlds. The exact world described above, a world with no need for each other; because the world is yours and you can do whatever you want with it.

I want to question and exemplify what the future of mixed realities has lost. I am focusing on empathy because I believe empathy is the key human instinct for survival and for a sustainable future. I believe that because if the fundament to every decision is based upon a feeling of encountering as much as possible as goodhearted as possible. It is in the small scale - when you smile to someone on the street or give a compliment to a stranger - the motivation that is given further because you give and look out of yourself. And it is in the big scale - if you can feel the hunger of a dying african child that it will make you use and think your life differently. Most I believe that an awareness and discussion of what empathy is, will start a dialogue between us and the others, between me and you. And further more a discussion of how the architect and the education plays a role within this future technology.

And as you wander around in your world of pixels and resolution you cross upon Bad Meinberg. The city looks how you want it to; its a scaffold for your digital reality. What we see without is a grey abandoned city with people wandering around without seeing anyone else but themselves. You have decided to try this Empathy, because you are curious as you have already discovered the whole world, eating all the food from the different cultures that doesn’t exist anymore, talked with animals, jumped from mountains, flying over the naked ocean that you made purple. You have occupied the stories that you want to and you are still searching for more.

Here there is no choice, once you are in you have to go through. This is a programmed story.

There is 5 spots.

You start, where you want, there is no beginning, but there is an end.

* 1

You are everywhere; there is nowhere to look where you see anything but yourself. Reflected infinitely in mirrors that moves around you. You realize you are stocked with yourself. You try to escape but discover that you are in an endless maze of yourself. You close your eyes to escape and when you open them again you discover yourself as someone else. Suddenly all the reflections of yourself turned into a reflection of all the people you have ever encountered. They move with you. You keep walking, and as you try to touch each mirror you suddenly feel them. You are them. You are overwhelmed and confused. The moment you find yourself comfortable and accepting that you are all, the maze fades away and you are back in Bad Meinberg continuing Empathy.

*  2

You see nothing. Everything is black. As if you have closed your eyes. Slowly you hear someone talking in a distance. You try to move towards it and asks where you are but you realize it makes no difference. She is just talking and not reacting to you. You start to stop up and just listening. Now you realize that she is sad. Her voice is low and cracking as if there was tears falling out of her eyes. Why is she sad you ask yourself. And you ask her but she doesn’t respond. She keeps talking about nothing. You want to connect with her, you want her to answer you, you want clarification, but you get nothing back. Just the sound of her sadness in your black world. Then you hear someone else talking. It’s a mans voice talking about his loss of a girlfriend. Then you hear a woman talking about her need for food. Then you hear a child screaming because something hurts. Then you hear all of them at once and you are powerless, you can do nothing but listen. Just listen, listen.        And when you let yourself only be in the situation and let go of yourself then you suddenly see them all. This are the reflections you may encounter

in several spaces of Empathy in Bad Meinberg. As the stories gets visual you understand a deeper layer to their appearance. Now you understand why he doesn’t smile and you understand why she always says she’s fine even though she has tears in her eyes.

* 3

You encounter a big table with all your favorite food or desires. You start eating and look around through all the different colors and beauty of nature as the room get divided in two and a dystopian context shows in front of you. There you are; bones covered by a thin layer of skin. You have not eaten. You look sad. You start to look at the food you are just eating, feeling suddenly sick. As you don’t understand your reality you go closer to the other version of the reality and suddenly you step into that world. You feel the pain of hunger as you look at your self eating in paradise. You feel the struggle of survival, that every beat could be your last, while you know that you just sat in a world with plenty supplies. You go back to the table with the food. Here you feel better physically, but you are imprinted by the feeling of hunger, the feeling of having nothing while you can see a world that has everything. It is you; you are in one of these worlds.

*4

I have chosen these 5 because in my research of empathy, i found the importance of first realizing yourself as someone else - and the understanding directly that you are just one little piece of this.

The other was an importance towards listening and understanding a world without seeing but inly looking.

The third is to force contrast in its most direct way to understand the extreme conditions. Because the more perspectives you get, the more you can relate to.

The fourth is to understand a life sitation, that is not yours. You are suddenly something else - like acting but then with physical stimulations - you are the story. It becomes yours. In the story it occurs that you have to teach someone something. It is because in the proces of learning from yourself, you hav etc put yourself into someone else mind in order to make sure they understand.  

The fifth is where you realize that looking is not an action. The look is pain, the look is creating death. You are forced to act.

The end

You have now passed the 5 levels. The world in front of you changes, like pixels overlapping, flittering as multiply stars shining and you now have found your Empathy again. You see the people differently, you see yourself differently, the world suddenly has more colors and you realize that you can color it. Not only YOUR world but all the others, because you are here with all the others who passed the levels, and you go out and tell all the people that they should do Empathy. And as you all have the same ground basis of Empathy, a new world starts.

Comments to myself:

Graphics is definitely not there.

The story is also not there

Should I go another direction?

Main interest: the imaginary world we all occupy somehow. How it is going to be merge into our reality - or it IS our reality as Jean Baudrillard says. (simulation, hyperreality)

We are formed with whatever and the technology with challenge us as Architects; how do we suddenly design when there is no gravity anymore, when there is no limits? That is what I am exploring.

[kdoyeons]

the first thing i did was look up renders or .png pictures of doyeon. i usually go to http://www.deviantart.com/ and search up ‘kim doyeon png’ or ‘kim doyeon render’ or something along those lines… sometimes i even search ioi render/png and fish through for the ones of doyeon. deviantart is a really good place because most people post image packs which means that there is more than one image that are often from the same event/photoshoot/etc., so you don’t have to go searching for the matching renders. if you don’t find any renders you like, i can also teach you how to make your own if you don’t already know how!

we’ll be starting with this picture:

after i find the renders i like, i open photoshop and create a new image with a white background. the one i’m using is 1080x1080, and honestly that’s a little big, but that’s just so i know the picture won’t be of low quality if i make it too small.

after that, i decide on the color scheme, and i’d recommend that it goes along with whatever your current header and dp scheme is so everything matches up nicely! you can easily find a color that goes with your scheme by either opening up your icon or header in photoshop and using the eyedropper tool to select a color from the picture. i usually go for an area in the background just to make sure it matches well.

after selecting the background color, i go back to the 1080x1080 picture we created earlier and fill the whole image with the new background color by using the paintbrush tool at a large setting. so you should now have something like this.

now, with the new background, we can start working on the graphics.

start by making a new layer and make sure it’s selected so you’re not working on the background layer. (you’ll know its the selected layer when it’s highlighted in blue in the layers panel)

after you have made the new layer, select the rectangular marquee tool which looks like this:

after it has been selected, hold it down until a little menu pops up.

and select the elliptical marquee tool. after that is selected, go back to your image and hold down the shift key while making a selection. this ensures that the circle you make will be perfect. after making that selection, you should have something like this.

just to ensure that the circle is in the middle of the picture, turn on your rulers which can be found under the ‘view’ tab > show > grid

after you’re sure the circle is in the middle, feel free to turn the grid off so you can see your work properly.

4. select the paintbrush tool and fill the whole circle with white and then turn the opacity down. mine is set at 37% but its honestly whatever you feel like looks good.

5. open up the render you’d like to use and make any adjustments to it. the original render actually includes yoojung in it, so i had to erase her before pasting it into the project. (sorry daeng lmao)

once you’ve finished editing your render, use the rectangle marquee tool to select the whole picture before copying it, then pasting it into the project.

and now you should have something like this

6.  after this, i just moved doyeon’s picture to the side, so the curve of her body aligns with the curve of the circle.

and then i rearranged the layers so now layer 1 is on top of layer 2

and with layer 2 selected, i used the eraser tool to erase the part of her arms that are behind the circle so it looks like she’s leaning on it.

then rearranged the layers so layer 2 is on top again.

7. after this, i googled some pngs to use as decoration around the circle. for this picture, i googled ‘vintage roses png’  

you’ll know the image is a png if it has a grey and white checkered background behind it.

so after i find the png i want, i paste it on to the project and play around with it. i ended resizing it to a larger size, up putting it in the left lower corner of the circle, and titled it so it matches the curve of the circle. an easy way to do all of this at once is to hit control+t and you can resize the image and tilt it at the same time. and you should now have something like this!

8. after that, i selected the text button (which can also be accessed by simply hitting ‘t’ on your keyboard), typed doyeon’s name in white with the font salsabilla (if you dont know how to download fonts, i can teach you that as well!) and then centered it in the project.

you can change how far apart the next line of words is after you hit enter by clicking on the little character icon that looks like this

for me, it’s located right next to the layers and color swatch bar.

after selecting that, a little menu should pop up where you can adjust things such as letter spacing and line spacing.

you can play around with these options until it looks right to you.

9. after i got the the letter spacing and line height i wanted and made sure the text was centered, i added a red stroke to the image so it would stand out more against the background.

this can be done by double clicking the text layer so this menu pops up

select stroke from the menu on the left *make sure it’s checked or it won’t show up!* and then play around with the settings until its to what you like.

after that, you should have this

at this point, you should merge all layers, by going to layer > flatten image (it’s located at the very bottom so you might have to scroll before you see it)

at this point, you can be done, but i actually added a psd over this, and if you don’t know how to use or find psds i can walk you through that as well!

finished product (without psd):

with psd:

[stevenvenn]

Steven's Nifty 50 of 2017 - #20 - #11

Here are my favourite albums 20 - 11 (of 50). You can listen to my favourite cuts from each of the albums on Spotify and watch them on YouTube (links below). You can also read my thoughts on the albums below the links broken into 5 posts counting down by 10s. Enjoy and feel free to comment.

Spotify playlist:

https://open.spotify.com/user/stevenvenn/playlist/7qSpcgdwXuoLtIStRQeRto?si=eeytJfj2QsiGQs0-423TaQ

YouTube playlist:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqUMf7mP_mnMOmDl94VCPIJPFliPf62a5

NOTES

11. Day Wave – The Days We Had (Harvest Records)

The bright and buoyant pop/shoegaze of Oakland’s Jackson Phillips finally arrives in the form of a full-length debut in Days We Had. His eps hinted at how catchy and smooth Phillips’ compositions could be that and his full-length expresses a more confident richness in production and mood. At times there are reverb-y vocals and melodic synths that wouldn’t be out of place on an M83 record. Like that French artist there’s a definite nostalgia on Phillips’ part for the 80s movies of John Hughes it would seem (especially on tracks like “Ordinary”). You could easily see Day Wave’s tracks on this debut being the bright musical glue between scenes of teenage struggle and angst.

12. Real Estate – In Mind (Domino Recordings)

Album number 4 from New Jersey’s Real Estate shows the band really solidifying their smooth jangly pop sound and trying to regroup following the departure of Matt Mondinalle. Martin Courtney aptly demonstrates how his breezy, calm vocal style lends an easiness and laid-back quality to Real Estate’s melodic guitar pop. There’s a strengthening and depth this time round to the sunniness that they’ve managed to capitalize on their previous albums both in their layers of sonic brilliance and harmonized vocals.

13. Alvvays – Antisocialites (Polyvinyl Records)

Molly Rankin and her band are back with a great sophomore album that shows a growth in the depth of skill and performance. There’s some really great indie pop here that shows a darker, more melancholic view of the world from Rankin. The dream pop sounds are more varied and deep than on their self-titled debut giving the album a richness that demonstrates a band maturing. Here they are more cohesive as a musical unit. Rankin’s lyrics seem more self-assured and confident as well (as much as a late 20 something can be in a world that is fraught with indecision, relationship changes, and becoming an adult).

14. Big Thief – Capacity (Saddle Creek)

Capacity is a beautiful release of a follow-up to their debut Masterpiece. When I say "their" I really mean Adrianne Lenker who is the ringleader of the sad and beautiful work of Big Thief. Here we have reverby guitar freakouts (a la Neil Young) that morph into sensitive folk and feelings of road trips (if only being journeys in the mind, of recollections). At the centre of any Big Thief is the sad, wise-beyond her years voice of Lenker that’s “seen some stuff.” There are some really interesting arrangements this time around. There’s also a subtlety to their sadness that just creeps in over time and after repeated listens. After awhile you are grooving along with Lenker’s mysterious and solemn world like you’ve always known it.

15. Beach Fossils – Somersault (Bayonet Records)

Somersault demonstrates a band that have finally reached a sound that is sunny, melodic, seemingly effortless and jangly. The brightness and consolidated sounds has seemed to emerged from their previous Clash of Truth. Songs like “Tangerine” show that the band have really become comfortable with a distinctive breezy but complex sound which bring to mind bands like Sea and Cake and The High Llamas. “May 1st” and “Sugar” have that simple, dreamy, and infectious jangle that feels so comforting as I write this looking out at a grey snowy day, reminding me of sunnier days and warmer temperatures. Vocally, in their harmonies, Beach Fossils have never been better.

16. Horsebeach – Beauty & Sadness (Alone Together)

Manchester’s Horsebeach have managed to make a lovely shoegazey masterpiece here that just feels like a lazy Sunday. You stick on the warm sweater, settle down with a tea and just daydream for hours. The shimmery guitars carry us along on waves of reminiscences and contemplation in a way that just feels comfortable and necessary as we think about our next steps. The title comes from a Japanese book that Ryan Kennedy read voraciously following a nasty breakup. The Japanese seem to understand this concept of the beauty within sadness.

17. Japanese Breakfast – Soft Sounds From Another Planet (Dead Oceans)

Michelle Zauner is back with a sophomore album that shows more musical maturity. This isn’t the bedroom pop of Psychopomp but a bigger production that layers a lot of soft rock and experimental guitar textures (and even songs that use autotune to great effect in the synthpop of “Machinist” that strikes at some 80s Roxy Music vibes as well). There has been a huge leap stylistically with Zauner experimenting with diverse and complex textures especially electronically that she hadn’t really worked with before. The sound is big thanks to producer Craig Hendrix but Zauner still retains that intimate charm that have always made her recordings so special and memorable.

18. Angel Olsen – Phases (Jagjaguwar)

Following up quickly on the momentum of her excellent My Woman, here Phases collects some rarities, b-sides, demo tracks and other work that Angel Olsen has finally made available to fans. Some of these songs are raw, intimate, and psychedelic, while others a full-blown arrangements that at their centre showcase Olsen’s solemn, timeless voice. I often refer to her as the “female Roy Orbison” because of her retro style sound but primarily because of the sadness that she captures vocally the same way Orbison did. So in spirit if not exactly in execution, there’s a certain kinship there to me. There are some real gems in this collection that demonstrate why Olsen can be just as effective and incredible (sometimes more) when her sound isn’t as big. In fact the intimacy of simply her voice and acoustic guitar have a lot of presence that can fill a room.

19. Phoebe Bridgers – Stranger in the Alps (Dead Oceans)

The debut from L.A.’s Phoebe Bridgers feels like an album that was made by an incredible singer-songwriter in the middle of their career, but this is her first one right out the gate. The sad and beautiful voice of Bridgers brings to mind other emotional indie rockers like Elliott Smith and Mark Kozelek (who she covers on “You Missed My Heart” and seems to channel on the very Red House Painters-y “Scott Street”). Her musical and songwriting talent have arrived here fully formed which belies her young 23 years. She can be incredibly strong on songs like “Emotional Motion Sickness” that conveys a bit of a Fleetwood Mac-y vibe or incredibly intimate and humble on songs like “Funeral.” Probably one of the few albums I’ve played a million times this year and still discover little production touches and lyrical tidbits that delight. A great storytelling talent that will only get better over time (and she’s already pretty incredible).

20. The Clientele – Music For the Age of Miracles (Merge Records)

Alasdair MacLean and band are back with their poetic, tender, and very English tunes that bring to mind the beauty of Al Stewart and other British folk popsters. There’s something of an English garden to these songs that in less skillful hands would seem foppish, but in MacLean’s there’s a graceful hushed intimacy and mood. Time apart has made it possible for The Clientele to do a sort of musical reset and they are once again creating splendid arrangements that seem fresh and bright. Still at the core are the relaxed and at times melancholic confessionals of MacLean that paint a picture of place as much as a document of thoughts and emotions.