#i’m studying illustration at uni !

[formulapai]

THE MUSES BY YOUR SIDE PT1

a Lance Stroll social media AU

scenario: the “history of literature”’s student taking over instagram slowly attracts a driver, curious about beautiful words and dazzling writings. OR how to fall in love through poems and handwritten letters.

warning:

pai’s words: i studied history of literature while in uni (this is not the name it has where I live but from what I’ve read, it’s part of what I studied) and absolutely fell in love with poems analysis. also, i have an unhealthy obsession with myths so yeah.

romanticalliope made a new post!

liked by user1, user2 and others.

romanticalliope: 🖋️🪞🐈🎨

1. Putting words on words, explaining the explanation.

2. Went to the market, fell in love with mirrors and what they reflected. The sky, the clouds, my eyes, the seller’s kind smile, life passing by.

3. Gaia is learning about her Name and what it implies, carefully reading as she takes in the beauty of her own myth.

4. “Le Villi” Bartolomeo Giuliano.

user1: gaia seems to be enjoying her book ! can we know what it is ?

romanticalliope: Of course darling, it’s Pride and Prejudice ! She surely took a liking to it, as I did after reading it the first time. 🤍

user2: those mirrors are to DIE for, i need them plz

romanticalliope: They are, aren’t they ? I sadly didn’t take one home..

user3: Will we have another poem analysis soon ? I love them so much, it helps me a lot with understanding literature !

romanticalliope: I’m very grateful for your comment, helping all of you understand poetry is my main goal and I’m glad it’s working. An analysis will be out tomorrow ! 🤍

user4: Hey, random question but do you have a playlist ? I feel like you have divine music tastes 🥹🥹🥹

romanticalliope: Well, that’s a high praise, thank you my sweet. I don’t have a public playlist for now but will surely make one if people are interested :) 🤍

user1: YES PLEASE

user5: we are SO interested 🥳🥳

♥️liked by romanticalliope

romanticalliope just posted a new story!

seen by user5, user6 and others

user7: I WAS WAITING FOR IT OMG

user8: Thank you for this analysis!! 🥹🫶

romanticalliope made a new post!

liked by user9, user10 and others

romanticalliope: 🫐🕸️🐈📰

1. One of the Water Lily’s paintings from Claude Monet, in Paris. Undoubtedly one of my favorite paintings, it’s truly magnificent.

2. Matching Spider-Man Lego keychains with my friend. I’ll forever be enamored with my friends.

3. Gaia is disturbing my reading time as the sun is hugging us. Karma is the cat purring on my lap because it loves me, I guess.

4. The market in the morning, the scent of newspapers and mimosas surrounding us.

user2: the Spider-Man keychains omg 🥹🥹

user9: estie bestie would love them lol

user2: oh bestie while I 100% agree, I doubt Cassie knows about estie bestie..

romanticalliope: Ahah, I do know about Esteban :) and I bet he’d adore them too 🤍

user11: CASSIE SWIFTIE ???

romanticalliope: Confirmed 🥰

user5: I feel like you really like Impressionism, is it your favorite style ?? Also I LOVE this painting, still didn’t have the chance to see it IRL :(

romanticalliope: Impressionism is my favorite indeed ! I hope you’ll be able to see it soon, it’s truly something 🤍

romanticalliope made a new post!

liked by estebanocon, user 9 and others

romanticalliope: 🖋️🍂🔑🐝

1. A new tattoo, an illustration for Annabel Lee, Edgar Allan Poe. While I don’t particularly like this writer, this poem has changed the trajectory of my life and I felt it was only fair to have it engraved in me, forever.

2. Walking back from university and feeling leaves crunching beneath my weight, the smell of wet asphalt taking over my senses.

3. My friends and I going to the Lego store and standing in front of the keychains for a good few minutes, admiring the tiny persons.

4. A picture with Esteban, from 2016, baby face and all. For those not believing I actually knew who he was 😬😉

estebanocon: Nooon les deux enfants qu’on était ! On doit faire d’autre photos plus récentes 🤣 (nooo the two children we were ! we need to take more recent pictures)

romanticalliope: Invite moi dans le garage Alpine et on prend autant de photos que tu veux 😭 (invite me inside the Alpine garage and we’ll take as much pics as you want)

estebanocon: Bien compris 🫡 (understood)

user12: THE TATTOO OH GOD ITS SO PRETTY

user13: ESTIE 😭😭😭 A BABY

user14: I didn’t expect to see f1 related posts on this account 😬 not complaining tho !

user2: me neither !

user9: the tattoo is breathtaking, cheers to the artist !!

[notafckingsidekick]

Sketch for my Uni final project Illustration! I picked the scene from the final chapter of Vicious!! I’m wrapping up the project soon so will be posting the rest of my character studies and things here soon :)

If you’re interested in my other work it’s over at @thechatster

[hammah-head-shark]

I have planned out the kubokai uni fic and have written about half of chapter 1! (I’m planning on this fic being roughly 10 chapters, maybe 11 depending on how long the chapters are)

So now I’m just trying to figure out the specifics (e.g. which courses each character would be taking!)

So far I’ve figured out:

Kaidou - illustration (I headcanon that he’d wanna be a manga artist!)

Kuboyasu - engineering (I think he’d wanna build his own motorbikes, and maybe even become a design tech teacher)

Toritsuka - psychology (obviously, but also because it’s a popular course for women, so-)

Aiura - psychology too <3 (it just felt fitting for her hehe)

Hairo - sport and exercise studies (he would def wanna be a personal trainer or a PE teacher)

Mera - business (girlboss who also needs money)

Saiko - business too (bc his father owns a bunch of companies)

I still need to work out which courses Saiki, Teruhashi, Nendou and Yumehara would be taking! So if you have any suggestions I would love to hear them! :) <3 tysm!

[hannahtempler]

Hi! I hope youre doing well :]

Im not sure if this is weird or what, but just wanted to say that Cosmoknights means the world to me, and that I'm slightly outraged not enough people are talking about it!! Im studying Comic & Concept Art at uni and your work is such an inspiration.. (i even wrote an essay on the first volume for a work brief about our favourite comic). It's exactly the story I needed when i was younger and struggling a lot, with queerness, loneliness, and found family, and the kind of thing I aspire to write and illustrate in the future!

So yeah. I just really wanted to say thank you <3

Thank YOU so much… messages like this always make my day. I definitely wrote this for my teenage self, so i’m glad i’m not alone in that :^) Good luck with your future projects I hope I get to see them out there some day too!

[yourdyingwish]

i just started my first year of university (i’m majoring in animation & illustration), and everything is so weird and new and i kind of wanna go back to highschool 😭 do you have any advice for freshman year of uni? on one hand it’s awesome being in an environment full of people who are just like you and share the same interests as you, but it’s also a really different dynamic than highschool, and i still haven’t made any friends and i feel really awkward lol. any tips for how to survive college life and not be completely socially inept?

So here's my advice and it may be different than what other people would say–anyone with tips is welcome to chime in in the notes. I also think it's worth mentioning that I did two years of community college & lived at home before departing for university full time. HOWEVER. I think this advice is still relevant. The advice is this: absolutely nothing your fellow freshman can offer you is going to be as interesting or valuable as what your college classes or what's happening on campus/in the community can offer you. That probably sounds harsh but it's true. I know a lot of people focus on social life stuff in college, but I think a lot of that is truly just a distraction. I know very few people who, looking back, regret really focusing in on their studies. I know plenty of people who got very involved in chasing various friend groups and regret doing so because it came at the expense of taking full advantage of being a college student.

Now, I'm not saying you should socially isolate yourself. More that it's actually very natural to feel a little awkward and isolated your first year of college. It's a transitional period and there is a lot you could focus on. The solution to that for me was to simply spend as much time doing stuff as I could, and friends followed. I showed up to extra lectures. I went to events in the community–poetry readings, concerts; I joined the outdoors club. I took way more than my minimum courseload, and spent time getting to know my professors–many of whom pointed me in the right direction of groups or things happening in the community that I wouldn't have noticed otherwise. I got sort of obsessed with learning and honing my craft, reading as much as I could, exploring libraries and museums. And I think it paid off! Like I said, I eventually made some friends simply because they showed up to the same things as me. One thing I wish I'd done a better job of is keeping touch with my friends from high school during that time. I think they can be friends for life if you maintain those relationships. College friends are great, to be clear! But you are definitely not socially inept for not making close friends yet. Focus on being in groups, making lots of acquaintances, and on your studies. I think the relationships that are fated to be close friendships will develop into that over time. Just my personal take!

[archandshri]

Creative Intentions for 2024 from Shri - 02/Feb/2024

Hi Archie! Yesss returning to the humble sketchbook is always such a joy! Especially when working through an artistic or personal problem.

I totally agree with the anatomy thing you mentioned, it’s so boring (and unrealistic) to learn something in one sitting, so implementing it slowly when you can, is great! 

I actually don’t work on anatomy unless I find I’m struggling with a specific bit in my final work e.g. I'm drawing someone and their hips don't look right, I’ll go and do some quick studies on it to solve that problem. I'm not sure if this is the right way to do it but it's how I do it and it works for me.

Definitely a bit existential for the first post but it's always good to keep a critical mind about your practice, always checking in with it. Because if you know why you do things, you can do it with more intention than before. In both your creative practice as a whole and your whole person-nes. Knowing why you do things is so important.

Quick update on my endeavours

I’ve got a few projects on the go at the moment, 

A short 8-page comic for a publishers

T-shirt for a friend’s t-shirt design

Plymouth Comic and Zine Fair which is around the corner (which I still need to prep for *sweats profusely*)

Continuing on my comic Again.

I’ve just finished a project for my sibling's friends making ten emoticon reactions for their YouTube channel (it’s a League of Legends channel). I’ve put a few below of my favourites. :)

What I did well in this project was - The nose, God I love drawing noses so much! The hands a looking pretty good too.

What I can do better for next time - Do a few more studies on the person I’m drawing and really look at how I can translate their unique features into my simplified style; diversifying my characters and drawing.

Anyway to the actual post, I thought my first actual post could be about the intention I want to set for my artistic practice this coming year. With a small overview of last year in terms of my creative practice

Overview last year

Last year was basically my first year out of uni (out of education completely *gasp*) which was a huge adjustment and it took me a long time to pick myself up from the post-uni sad boi hours.

Once I got back on my creative feet I jumped straight into my projects intending to fill the gap in my portfolio and update it, as well as making dummy books/pitches.

I managed to complete one dummy book, made one self-published picture book and go to Thought Bubble!!! With a few single illustrations, testing single image storytelling.

I had a gap between July and November, where I was working on two big projects, which is great but it would be a lot better to stagger work a bit more effectively, making sure I have only one big project while working on smaller ones to keep work flowing smoother.

This year I’d like to:

Complete the first volume of Again comic

Death is relative pitch set-up and ready for pitching

Complete my cover project (finish the last two covers)

Be a bit more confident in graphic design

Start the habit of sketching in life more

Learn a bit more about how to use a Carma

Doing small ‘final’ illustrations for socials and experimentation.

Be a bit more confident in graphic design

I want to be a bit more confident in graphic design within my illustration. This has been on my to-do list for years! So this year I’ll actually give it a go this year!

Start the habit of sketching in life more

I would like to do more life drawing in my day-to-day life. This is to record the smaller moments in my day-to-day life both for inspiration/ideas and practice/learning. So I'll start keeping a sketchbook in my pocket more often so when I commute to and from my day job or go about my day I can visually record more of these small moments.

Learn a bit more about how to use a Camera

I want to set myself this year is be a bit more confident around a camera. This had less to do with illustration but more my overall practice. But for so many years I've been hopeless with cameras all my life. So I finally want to be able to practically use a camera for both product photos and adding to my overall creative practice

Doing small ‘final’ illustrations for socials and experimentation.

This last one is something I’ve only briefly thought about, and it's come mostly from the fact that working in publishing you work on such long turnarounds, so to keep things fresh and creative I thought it might be fun to do some really small 'final' illustration more often. in the past, it's these sorts of things that are the original inspiration for my books and other projects. :)

And finally, I mention this in my recent endeavours but I’d love to continue improving in capturing subtle fetchers in my characters, as for a long time I had a terrible case of same-face syndrome. I’m a bit better nowadays but I still want to develop things like face shapes, eye shapes and placements because using only different skin tones in characters is not really diversifying anything.

Lats notes is the one thing I have in the last year fallen head-over-hills for is NOSES! God, I love drawing all the different kinds of noses, At the moment my favs are the Roman Nose, the straight-down nose and the Hooked Nose.

Anyway, that's it for me for this week, hope you all have a lovely week and a good dinner!

[definitelyy-not-a-vampire]

ASK GAME SPAMERO AYO! (ahem)

Let's see #s 1, 7, 8, 13, 15, 18, 25, and 30 :)

(yet another artist friend who is gonna have to deal with SOO MANY QUESTIONS haha, sorry not sorry, I AM ENDLESSLY CURIOUS AND MUST KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT MY ARTIST FRIENDS AND THEIR PROCESS AND SUCH! 🎊🎊🎊

PLS DON'T APOLOGISE, ASKS MAKE ME V HAPPY INDEEDY! 🥰☺️

This is much more… ex-art student orientated than character design/TSC/CS/ML orientated, I'm sorry! But it was quite nice to reflect on my uni degree and the body of work that I produced during that period of my life!

To make up for it, however, here are a couple of doods :D — a rather surly-looking Jack (wip; you can just about see Lucy in there too) and an adult!Fiera! (I need to update her design, this is just a prototype!)

Art programs you have but don’t use. Adobe Illustrator! I learnt to use it at uni (I studied Illustration and Design) but am much more disposed to Photoshop and Procreate.

A medium of art you don't work in but appreciate. Like a physical medium? Hmm… I’m going to say pastels. There are very few mediums I don’t work in (when I’m actually producing art, that is, lmao). I love oils, acrylics, charcoals. Pretty much everything. But pastels… I’ve never really taken the time to get to know them. Maybe I should!

What's an old project idea that you've lost interest in? During my final year of uni I wrote and illustrated my own children’s book. I am, to this day, quite proud of it and hope to one day finalise the illos. …Maybe. Possibly. I wouldn’t therefore say that I’ve “lost interest” in it, necessarily, but it’s certainly fallen to the wayside (it has after all been four years). 

A creator who you admire but whose work isn’t your thing. This is very tricky bc I’m hard pressed to think of any creators whose work isn’t “my thing”. If it’s artsy then I’m gonna enjoy it, no matter what! With that in mind (and if it’s okay?) I may have to amend this to, “a creator who you admire but whose work you could never emulate”, and that creator is Georgia Lowe (@georgialowpapercuts on insta). She makes the most sublime paper cut outs — stunningly intricate, extraordinarily delicate! I adore them! I’m not sure I could ever have the patience to make something that time-consuming.

*Where* do you draw (don't drop your ip address this just means do you doodle at a park or smth). In my flat. Typically while sitting (pretzel-like) on my sofa. I’m very boring! Although I have been known to take a sketchbook to the V&A or the Tate Britain, every once in awhile. Or on a walk around Hyde. It’s not a common occurrence, though. I don’t like to draw in public spaces lest someone ask to see what I’m working on! I’m extraordinarily shy about my work. 

An estimate of how many art supplies you’ve broken. Countless, lmao. I am a clumsy bean and shit happens. The most frustrating was when I tore a newly bought canvas. A very big canvas at that. Oh and when I dropped a bag full of chalks and charcoals — makes them so much harder to use! I also snapped a paintbrush once, because I didn’t realise how badly I was bending it while pouring over an exam piece. 

Something your art has been compared to that you were NOT inspired by. One of my editorial pieces was once likened to Escher's work, which — while enormously flattering — had not been my intention!

What piece of yours do you think is underrated. Looking back, there are several pieces I submitted as part of my overall body of coursework which I deeply disliked at the time (having been staring at them for months) but am now fairly fond of! One charcoal image of a horse, in particular, springeth to mind.

[superlinguo]

Linguistics Jobs: Interview with an Artist

This month’s Linguistics Jobs interview is with Lucy Maddox, an artist based in  Melbourne, Australia. You may recognize Lucy’s work from Lingthusiasm, a podcast enthusiastic about linguistics. In this interview, Lucy shares how her training and a linguist influences her work as an artist (often in unexpected ways). You can find Lucy on Instagram at @lucymaddoxart or on her website. 

What did you study at university?  I did a Bachelor of Linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania (graduated in 2008), then did a Master of Applied Linguistics at the University of Melbourne in 2014. A few years later, I went back to school, but this time to a TAFE, Australia's version of technical or vocational school, to study visual arts. I felt like the workload was much higher for my visual arts program than for my undergrad or graduate studies! What is your job?  I'm an artist, which generally means I do about 5 different jobs. To pay the bills I write visual arts curriculum for TAFE institutes in Victoria, and I also teach painting and drawing at the Victorian Artists Society. I'm an exhibiting artist so I spend time creating work for exhibitions and applying for art prizes. I also create art and illustrations on commission, such as the work I do with Lauren Gawne and Gretchen McCulloch for the Lingthusiasm range of merch! How does your linguistics training help you in your job? It's been really exciting to see how two totally different worlds - linguistics and art - actually feed into one another. In terms of my own practice, my paintings are often related to gesture, body language and hands. More generally, art is influenced by linguistic studies in terms of understanding it as a series of symbols and communication devices. Who knew semiotics could be so artsy? I've also really enjoyed getting to create work that marries my two areas of study. In addition to the work with Lingthusiasm, I've also been working with Dr. Gawne on a series of hundreds of updated gesture illustrations to accompany her work at La Trobe University. It's shocking how old-fashioned, gendered, Euro-centric and downright ugly current gesture illustrations are. (For instance, see François Caradec's 2005 "Dictionary of Gestures.")

What was the transition from university to work like for you? I graduated in 2008 which was probably the worst time to look for a job. My first job out of college was working for a medical journal reading and editing manuscripts. It was a nice first place to work but it wasn't a topic I was passionate about. I ended up moving to Seoul to teach English for a year, then moved to Australia. I taught English as a Second Language for about 10 years before moving into art. Happily, this meant that I got to use my linguistics skills in my everyday life, writing the International Phonetic Alphabet on the board and even drawing my own anatomical mouth diagrams to illustrate the differences between sounds like /r/ and /l/ to struggling students. However, eventually I realised what I really enjoyed about the job was the teaching and connecting with students, rather than English itself, and I returned to my first love: art. 

Do you have any advice you wish someone had given to you about linguistics/careers/university?

I was away from uni for about 5 years between my bachelor's and master's degrees, and it took another 5 years to go back to art school. I really think that taking time away from school to actually work in the field is so crucial, and it helps you understand exactly what you want to do (or don't want to do!). Plus, the lack of structure outside of school is a real sink-or-swim moment. Related interviews:

Interview with a Performing Artiste and Freelance Editor

Interview with an Exhibition Content Manager

Interview with a Museum Curator

Interview with a Freelance Writer!

Recent interviews:

Interview with a Research Scientist

Interview with a Language Engineer

Interview with a Natural Language Annotation Lead

Interview with an EMLS/Linguistics instructor & mother of four

Resources:

The full Linguist Jobs Interview List 

The Linguist Jobs tag for the most recent interviews

The Linguistics Jobs slide deck (overview, resources and activities)

The Linguistics Jobs Interview series is edited by Martha Tsutsui Billins. Martha is a linguist whose research focuses on the Ryukyuan language Amami Oshima, specifically honourifics and politeness strategies in the context of language endangerment. Martha runs Field Notes, a podcast about linguistic fieldwork.

[hypherr]

Hi, I am contacting you because I saw you mentioned somewhere that you have adhd, and I was wondering how did you still reached such incredible level. I have adhd too, and drawing has always been my passion also. But despite a whole life of practice, and doodling almost all the time, I always had a very hard time to understand anatomy and other technics, and because of adhd, I can’t focus neither motivate myself consistently to learn technics. I am also very inconsistent to draw proper illustrations, and also struggle to get things finished. Because of this, I have the feeling that I will never improve, and I gave up my life dream to become an illustrator. So, I was wondering how did you reached such incredible level despite of adhd difficulties, and if you had some helpful tips. Best regards.

Hey dude! Yeah, I can totally give you some tips that worked for me up until I got medicated :D I know a LOT of folks have to deal with ADHD, so I’m more than happy to try and give you some advice. 

I will preface that I tend to hyperfixate on things like drawing, so I put 200% effort into learning about it and I enjoy trying new methods of painting/drawing/whatever else. It’s still moreso reliant on the individual artist, but the below list is what I do and have done that kept me going:

Make studying into something that is interesting. By that I mean you don’t have to simply draw/study a pose for life drawing, you can make it interesting by drawing a character in that pose/doing that action so that it becomes something you’re more invested in instead of something you’re doing to just get better. I usually draw my OCs in the poses that I’m studying from pinterest or whatever, and it makes the process a lot more fun -

Do what YOU want, not what others say you should do. Not every style or process is for everyone. Stick with what interests you and it’ll make your ADHD brain happier. Getting trapped into the idea of “Oh, I should be good at line art” or “Oh, I should be really good at drawing in X style” when you’re not really interested in either of those things will bore you to no end. Personally, I settled with the fact that I don’t have patience for line art, I loathe using opaque brushes, and I despise having a million layers on my paintings. SO, I don’t do a line art pass; I just clean up my sketch layer which becomes my line art, I don’t use opaque brushes, and I keep my layers really limited. My way of drawing and painting is kinda unorthodox and I always have to explain it to clients when I send WIPs (I’m srs the way I work confuses ppl, especially non-artists lol), but the end result is always what they hired me for, so there are no complaints. Plus, I am MUCH comfier drawing and painting in my own “unique” way, and they’re cool with that. **NOTE: I still recommend checking out tutorials and such, but don’t feel like the artist who created the tutorial is god and that you must follow their teachings to a T. Ex. I love the artist kawanocy, and I have some Patreon stuff from him. His art process is too slow and clinical for me personally, but I still take bits and pieces from his teachings to incorporate them into my own workflow/my own art hacks. -

Only study when you want to. Naturally this doesn’t apply to you being in school for art (sometimes u gotta cry and just study away for an assignment), but if you’re not in the mood for drawing/studying, just don’t do it. It’s fine to take some time off!! I’ve had periods of months w/o drawing, especially during summer when I was in Uni. Sometimes you need to wait for inspiration to find u again -

Study from artists you admire and it won’t feel like studying.  FIRSTLY do not steal from artists you admire, just study their work. It is fine to trace AS LONG AS YOU DO NOT POST IT AND/OR CLAIM IT AS YOUR OWN WORK. DO NOT DO THAT. I REPEAT, DO NOT CLAIM TRACED WORK AS YOUR OWN WORK. IT IS NOT YOUR OWN WORK. IF YOU POST TRACED WORK, YOU ARE STEALING ARTWORK AND BEING DISGRACEFUL AND DISRESPECTFUL TO THE ARTIST. Tracing is fine for STUDYING ONLY because your hand follows the path of the original artist’s hand and you get a literal feel for how they work and where their pen goes. I don’t rlly do this anymore, but I used to, esp when I wanted to do some low-brainpower studying.  The main point of #4 tho is to not be shy abt taking bits of ppl’s style and using it for yourself. Ex: I really really REALLY admire the art of  @/xafeelgood on instagram. I am particularly in love with the way they draw bodies and faces. @/chenbearpig on insta has an amazing style too, and I love love LOVE the way he paints. @/kawanocy has a very beautiful rendering style, and his lighting is v dramatic and impactful.  Obvi there are more ppl I admire than just those 3, but those were a lot of my inspirations with art when I was in uni, and they helped shape my style and made me excited to keep pursuing art and trying their styles/painting methods. You have to find artists who make you excited to keep going, and just study their art a bit, or watch a speedpaint to see how they make such glorious art. It is really fun and I always enjoy trying to breakdown how they do their art stuffs so that I can try and do smth similar!! -

Don’t give a fuck about how fast other people draw, how good other people are compared to you, or your follower count. The most helpful thing I told myself this year that has sent my career and drawing/painting ability into the next level is, “I don’t care.” So what if other people are better than me? So what if I’m not the greatest artist ever? I’m still good. I’m still getting paid. I’m loving art again. I’m still trying hard. I’m just not getting that worked up abt art anymore. It’s HARD to not give a fuck, I know that, but it’s only art. It’s really not that serious. It’s not life or death. You’re just here to have a good time and work towards getting better at illustration/drawing/whatever, yeah? It’s so cheesy, but we all have our own paths to take to get to where we want to go. I have died inside realizing that people who are like 16 are 100x better than me already. I used to feel like shit and like my progress didn’t mean anything compared to how amazing other people are, but now? I just don’t care. I’m doing my own thing and I’m vibing and enjoying my drawing time, and that is all I can hope for!!

That is all I can think of right now u3u I guess a final note to leave off on is that all of these tips probably won’t 100% work for you, and that’s totally cool. Again, it’s highly dependent on the individual, but I still hope some of these thoughts and suggestions can help you find ways to make drawing fun and interesting for you. 

I hope you keep drawing and illustrating, my dude u7u that is the best way to keep getting better

[cr0wsink]

do you have any advice for finding an artsyle? Drawing faces? Drawing in general?

i’m so sorry for missing this ask, it never pops up when people ask me things!

i’m not qualified to talk abt art in any sort of way but i’m studying illustration at uni and i’m definitely still learning a lot abt my art.

in terms of drawing faces, i just look at a bunch of people i like looking at and drawing them over and over, but finding definable qualities abt a person ur drawing is very helpful (paul dano has that little silly smile for example)

i’m fortunate enough to have anatomy/live drawing classes available for me, which i think has helped my art so so much. it’s hard as hell and it makes ur brain hurt but it pays off. there’s really good websites that i like using as a warm up (shoutout to line of action)

take my words as a pinch of salt, mostly i’d just say have fun with what u draw and experiment!! draw weird stuff, use weird colours in ur pieces, put ur characters in silly stories. do what u wanna do n don’t compare urself to people :-)

[achilleslyre]

🅱️lease tell us more about jobie paulinho and carlito im very interested 🥺🥺🥺

EEEEHEHEE :3333 okie okieee… u don’t know the can of worms u just opened……. this is gonna be long ajshsjsh i’m gonna put everything under the cut

an overarching simple intro into what’s going on in my ocs world (so that some things i say about paulinho carlito and jobie make sense) is that it’s about this group of young adults that go to a specialized university together— jobie doesn’t actually attend the university, but she does live relatively near and she did go to high school with the rest of the main/side characters (plus she doesn’t lose any importance by not being there ☝️☝️ the whole crew would have been screwed without her ajhsjshsjs). i’d go into detail about the uni and high school but hehe maybe i will another timee :pp so this isn’t such a hugee info dump. to simplify though so you can get a rough idea, kids from around the world are given the option to take a “test” of sorts in order to see if they’ll be accepted into the high school. IF they are accepted into the high school then once they graduate they are hand selected by the uni funder to attend his university (i plan on changing his name ajhsjsjjs so for now i’m just calling him the funder). so that’s your quick background information hehee

paulinho and carlito are twin brothers! they’re around 23-24 when the story takes place :pp (they age throughout so when they’re introduced they’re 23 but the story goes thru their birthdays). they’re afro indigenous and they live in brazil. their dad is black and was born and raised in brazil, and their mom is also afro indigenous— she’s taíno and was born in cuba, but moved to brazil at a young age. paulinho is cishet (srry 😔😔) and carlito is gay + trans. they also have 4 other siblings apart from each other— their older sister (24-25) clara, their adopted younger sibling (15-16) salome, their youngest sister (10-11) márcia, and their younger brother (5-6) murilo.

paulinho is studying chemistry (i *think* specifically biochem but i have to do some more research into that to make sure… i was not into science so i don’t know enough about the specifics… but off my basic knowledge of it i’m p sure he’s going for a biochem major). he’s not in a relationship by choice, he’s not aspec but he kinda just would rather to get through school first before finding someone he actually cares enough for to be in a relationship. so he doesn’t get into anything serious while at uni. the story ends within roughly a yearish from introduction, but i kinda know how they all live thru the rest of their lives anywayss and tbh.. i don’t particularly see him getting into a long term relationship. he definitely doesn’t get married but i feel like most of his partners are just flings or last a handful of months. i see him living with his parents for quite a while tbh— i think he moves out in his 30s but moves back in with them once they’re really old and need some help with keeping up the house n daily activities :’) paulinho is a very family-oriented guy, he loves his parents and loves his siblings. they’re the most important thing to him c: the whole story kinda kickstarts as a way to protect his sister clara, if that situation never happened the whole story would have just been pablo and mawiyah ajsjhssj. but uhh yea, paulinho has aspd (given to him, not born with), when he’s not in school he works two jobs at a grocery store and a restaurant, he’s heavily into boxing— both watching and practicing— and likes to do matches with his dad!

carlito is studying graphic design and fine arts/illustration. he’s autistic and gets into a relationship with another autist throughout the storyy :p “spoilers” ig lol. his main special interest is apples lol— the different types and history and how each type came to be ect ect. he’s also suuuuper into musicals as well— i don’t listen to many but based off vibes i think west side story and newsies would be a fave of his. altho this may change if i ever decide to listen to them hehe. he has a part time job on a boat as a fisherman with some other guys, he doesn’t dislike nor love it but he definitely prefers it over anything retail. he rlly likes video games and movies in general, and he spends a lot if time with his mom c: they are very very close. she’s who he typically likes to watch stuff with, and he enjoys learning recipes from her and just following her around/helping her with daily activities. he definitely moves out once he’s done w uni, he looves his fam as well but it’s a very busy household so it’s v overstimulating for him.

annnnnd best for last is some jobieee info :3c she’s 23-24 as well and she’s bi+cis (she has a gf charlie who goes to uni w the others. they met in high school). she’s inuk (specifically inuinnait) and lives in a house with her mother, grandmother and her best friend barrys family! her father passed away young and her brother has been missing for several years, so that’s why it’s just her mom/grandma. as i mentioned she doesn’t attend the uni with paulinho+others, she doesn’t end up going to uni at all. she did attend high school with them and had been focusing on history before she decided not to attend uni. she was in a really bad car crash in high school and has a permanent limp bc of it (so when you see me making jokes about jobies driving that’s why T.T), she works as a carpenter (altho this mayyy be subject to change— it’s the idea i’ve had for her the longest tho). she’s also very much into crotchet (and knitting but she crotchets more) and she sells some of her work :p she like’s to bead with her mom but she doesn’t sell her stuff, she normally makes for herself or gifts them to those she cares about (her mom sells though!). she’s super community based and she also goes fishing and hunting with barry a lot (and his older sister sometimes) to be able to get stuff for her fam and some of the other families around her—specially for the elders. she’s a very busy person but she rlly enjoys anime and she watches stuff with her best friend elio (she’s a two best friend kinda gal) whenever she cannn :DD oh and between her fam and barry they have 5 dogs 😳😳

i’ll stop there cause otherwise i could go on about jobie forever and ever T.T i mean the others too but jobie is my fave so i think about her the most hehe. srry this is kinda vague/random and not story based— i just really do hope to someday publish a graphic novel about them so i don’t want to give away much of the story 😳😳 uhhhh this was so long but if you enjoyed reading about them n stuff i’m gonna be self indulgent and link my oc moodboards and spotify playlist. don’t feel like u have to look/listen tho lol i’ll never know ajshjshs

my moodboards are right here, it’ll take you to the whole board but there’s specific sections for each of them (so if u want to look at it u can pick out the ones you wanna see hehe)

and here’s paulinhos playlist, here’s carlitos, and here’s jobies. the songs added all remind me of them plus each song is from a genre/artist they like :D carlitos is the least finished of these three but i’ll get around to adding more stuff to his in the future lol.

[sonlikesleep]

small note about my thoughts on AI

with how sophisticated it has become, i’m convinced that we will see more instances of it’s use in the industry, and i’ve heard of some already. right now it’s used as a tool by actual artists and gets then revised and finished after, but i will not be surprised when smaller companies would start to use raw generations in card games and gachas and such. because it’s just cheaper, and there are many places were “quantity > quality” equation us considered to be a motto. some people would also start to choose AI over commissioning an artist, but i cannot even try to predict how that would affect the inrernet art market.

but there’s a different aspect to it, and I feel it’s a far greater threat to artistic community as a whole and in the long run. that aspect being the loss of technique .

this whole post may have been inspired by the fact, that i’ve recently studied art history at uni and saw how many techniques there are that are forgotten. no one can achieve that anymore, not after a new generation of development of those techniques, and still we would just be mimicking a thing from the past with a new thing, that developed in different circumstances and conditions. and why even try anyway, right? no one would commission an artist to spend a ludicrous amount of time and resources on an intricate metalcut, when you can get two of the same thing for the same money and half the time from a digital artist!! wow! (order now call 666-666)

of course i’m not against digital art in any way, all that mess above is just to illustrate that market does influence which techniques are used and which stay in the past, and thats okay, because nothing is stationary and everything evolves. and i’m fine with that.

but the perspective that we will see a dependency and reliance on AI tools saddens me. because if they are taken away - what’s left? because they would replace not only creativity, but also the knowledge of composition, colour theory, replace the process of search and development of the piece and in my opinion those are things we shouldn’t forget as a community. another piece of my opinion - in art result shouldn’t matter more then the process, and the process must be part of the result. and reliance on AI changes the process drastically, and now result is what matters, and the means are all.

i may be pessimistic, but there is a silver lining in all of this - i want to believe in the shift in collective understanding of what art is and that it would lead to placing the human aspect of art above all. pretty rendered pictures are nothing if there isn’t a human behind them, no matter how skilful they may look. an absolutely random headshot of a girl with sun and flowers staring in the distance? generic you would think. right up until you learn that this is an OC the artist is really passionate about, they love and care for what they create. that’s the human aspect. and it is essential. and maybe with the further development of AI it will come out into the spotlight more. at least i can hope.

[hyunjinspark]

Hii I Hope ur well 💛 questionnn! Only if ur comfortable with answering ofc! so ur involved in art for school I see, and art is a passion of mine I want to pursue. Im seeing a lot of people saying don’t do it regarding work purposes and that colleges and universities for art aren’t worth it, and people can make it without it. Although,, I don’t know people personally who have some relation to art. But being conscious about money just puts me in a dilemma- So I just wanna ask ur thoughts I suppose?

I hope ur week goes well 💛 and I’m excited for you and your opportunity to Paris, it’s very inspiring too

hi ! im more involved in the design part, so that can vary from pure art/illustration if thats what you’re interested in pursuing. personally, for me uni is very worth it since i work on a lot of projects for my portfolio, meet other people in the field, and also have experience building skills! its not the same for everyone, a lot of people may not prefer going to college or uni for it, but i was v interested in getting a masters in that.

i think if you find a good enough uni for it in your county, it can be worth a shot! i love learning and thats why i choose to continue studying, but im sure you can make do without it, depending on the kind of job you’re interested in!

as for the money, its v expensive but i applied for a lot of different scholarships and im working on a campus job as well. college scholarships are super helpful ! so if you have a good portfolio in art, you dont need to worry you can perhaps even get a full ride, or 30/50% of your fee paid off. and you can also apply for state aid/financial aid from other organisations, so if youre really passionate about uni i suggest you look into those options! i hope that was even slightly helpful just my opinion 😭

[retrieve-the-kraken]

Oversharing on the dash

I got tagged by @gwiazdziarka (thank you!), so I’m going to overshare:

ONE: Are you named after anyone?

Not really. My parents just liked the name that they came up with. They did have it as a backup, though, because they thought I was going to be a boy, and then I would have been named after someone in the family. 

TWO: When was the last time you cried?

Last night... Just reading a story...

THREE: Do you have kids?

Does my dog count?

FOUR: Do you use sarcasm a lot?

Apparently I do.

FIVE: What sports have you played/do you play?

I did swimming and tennis when I was in school, then archery while studying uni, and most recently boxing and aikido (for self-defense). But archery was my favorite, wish I could pick it up again. I need to retake swimming because I want to learn to scuba dive.

SIX: What's the first thing you notice about people?

I don’t really know, but probably anything that makes them unique, whether it’s the way they look, their attitude, something they’re wearing, or just a general vibe.

SEVEN: What's your eye colour?

Green

EIGHT: Scary movies or happy endings?

Happy endings. Although I’m trying to tolerate scary movies little by little.

NINE: Any special talents?

Is procrastination a talent? If not... singing.

TEN: Where were you born?

In the same city I currently live.

ELEVEN: What are your hobbies?

Reading, painting, drawing, writing, illustration, art and science, taking pictures of my dog...

TWELVE: Do you have any pets?

Yes, my child, Rebecca. 

THIRTEEN: How tall are you?

158 cm

FOURTEEN: Favourite subject in school?

Literature

FIFTEEN: Dream job

In the order of preference: bookshop owner, local witch, museum curator.

---

I’m tagging @voldiebeth if you haven’t answered these yet and you feel like it.

[chrisdoeslife]

Do you have any advice for reading textbooks in a way that will actually get the info to stick?? I’m looking at going back to uni and that’s one of the things I always struggled with

I always take detailed, organized notes when I read for learning that will be tested on later. Rarely full paragraphs, lots of bullet points and sub points and arrows that help my brain understand how things relate to other things. Writing things out is what makes the concepts and key terms stick in my brain. And then to study, I just use my notes instead of overwhelming myself with trying to read the whole text again. That’s something I noticed in undergrad - people who did poorly on exams usually didn’t take the time to write down key information and had a tough time when they tried to actually study for the test. We all learn differently, but that’s how it works best for me when it’s simple reading/learning and then being tested on that memorized information.

There’s a lot more reading for my graduate classes, but it’s a different type of reading. You figure out whether the professor is giving you multiple pieces written about the same topic from different perspectives or if all the pieces are different and meant to come together to illustrate a few main points. When I read for graduate classes, I still take notes on key concepts, but I skim the actual text. Get the general point and figure out how it applies to the concept you’re focused on. Especially if you’re in a qualitative type of class with a lot of writing assignments, what you read is meant to inform what you write. So you just weave the general ideas you read about into your own ideas or reflections.

[alena-reblobs]

Writing out some thoughts about my upcoming master project or art in general helps, so I’m babbling a bit under the cut! It’s really more an outlet of some thoughts before the upcoming first feedback session for my final uni project...

Since reading Trigun all I want to do really for my Master thesis project is create somethin with an postapoyalyptic wasteland setting. Or so. I need to come up with 2 ideas until tomorror, or at least have some sketches to show... Though I get it’s important not too fall into stereotypes too easily and try to find a unique style, being constantly told Manga or everything that’s being too cliché comic is not something they are very happy about at my place of study, is still something that’s keeping me down in a way? Kinda? It’s making me actually a bit angry and sad, seeing some pretty neat animated short movies in anime style and knowing if I wanted to try a concept like this the first resonse would probably be pretty sceptical. Though I guess it depends more so on the teacher, I don’t want to throw a bad light on my school in general. Maybe I’m being a bit too pessimistic about that, you know, without really having tried it. The thing is, I just want to create neat designs and art for a project that I like, but I don’t neccessarily want to come up with my own ideas. That’s why I draw so much fanart, I love to indulge in others’ ideas and characters that are interesting, but I don’t have some kind of educatonal purpose or agenda I want to tell myself, because there are enough guys out there who do that pretty well. I just hope I’m strong willed enough to stay to my ideas, and not be talked into a direction that I don’t want to pursue professionally - at least not mainly. I like illustration and book illustration a lot, don’t get me wrong, but I love drawing characters, emotions and scenes just so much more. Even animation which I started a bit more than 2 years ago is to me so much more fascinating, because you know, you can make these characters move! And bring them to life! Phew. I’ll need to prepare a pdf for tomorrow, so I should get back to working out 2 ideas, and put them into some kind of understandable shape. If you really read so far, I’m raising my cup of hot chocolate in respect