#if there's any specific drawing where you'd like to know what pens i used please feel free to ask!!

[wewerebornsextuplets]

if its okay with you, would you share the brushes you use?

sure thing!! i should note that i mess with the settings of the brushes i use pretty frequently and im always jumping between them, so you might need to tweak the pressure + anti-aliasing of some of these to get the results youre looking for @__@ most recently ive been using this set of free brushes by @/fearoffun, especially the flatbrush and LAUV pens! but theyre all very good :-) aside from that, some other favorites of mine are this G-Pen, as well as this brush set. they're the main two pens i use for my large drawings [i.e the jyushimura pic and the fake manga cover]

also, i don't think i've used it in anything i've posted here, but i really like the intoxicate pencil set as well!

somewhat related, i know in some of my older drawings i use a pen that changes color; this is actually just one of the default csp pens with an extra option turned on! if you click on this little box that i circled, you should be able to adjust the settings to get the same color jitter effect you'll see used there :-) though since the brush itself is just a default one [albeit one ive absolutely Demolished the pressure settings of] i figure it'd be a bit silly to share that😅

[emp-blast]

please. please tell me your secret of being so good at drawing on paper 🙏

uhm! not quite sure how to answer this since i don't know what exactly it is that you like about my traditional art but I'll just take you through my process ig??

so basically the secret is that i try not to care too much about how something comes out.

that's it, that's literally it.

but if you want specifics then here it is:

i use a multimedia sketchbook (Bee Creative brand) and .8 microns. for my pencil i literally use this:

or this:

so just regular pencils you'd use for school. if you want fancy pencils then i would recommend Tombow MONO pencils,,, it's like drawing with liquid gold,,,

but i usualy don't use those since i end up going over a drawing with pen so yeah

as for the actual process i just start drawing. lately I've been using my sketchbook more for fun as opposed to actually practicing my art skills like i promised myself i would 💀

for sketching, it's just your standard sketching process. not much to say about that tbh

for lining and pen stuff, i usually make straight lines. i like to do this thing where i make two parallel lines in quick succession. idk, it's just a habit that I've done and it seems to add more weight in certain areas. I also like to connect short lines together to form a curve, as opposed to just drawing the curve itself.

if you look VERY closely you'll see that there aren't really any circles. just curves that are made up of lines:

^ like yeah the lines themselves are a bit curvy, but not by much.

also another secret is to have confident strokes. i do this by, again, making quick, straight lines. i also apply a bit of pressure but that's only because it gives me better control (i would not recommend this since your hand starts to hurt after a while)

i then erase the sketch that is underneath and, if i feel like it, color in the drawing with pencil.

most of the time i just do cell shading, but sometimes i will try to add more complex shading to a drawing, like this:

^i mean, it's not all too different from my other stuff, but it is rendered a bit more.

also if i make a mistake i don't worry about it because after all it is just a sketchbook. it's supposed to be just for your eyes and enjoyment. so let loose and have fun with it!!

[guruan]

I really want to get into art and draw—how did you start, and how did you get to where you are today? I’m stuck, have no idea where to begin. I almost bought Procreate for my ipad, but realized I would have been way in over my head (I’ve never done anything at all with any art programs ._.)

Ah! How wonderful that you want to learn how to draw!

I started to draw when I was very young, but don't let that stop you! Starting now just means that you probably can have more discipline and learn faster than just drawing as a kid that can't really tell what's wrong with their drawings (that was me).

Naturally, I started drawing on traditional, in notebooks, with pencils and pens, but I can't really say if it's better to start learning one way or another...

What I can recommend to you, is to start drawing things that you love or you'd love to learn to draw. Favorite characters? Nature? Buildings? Animals? Then start searching for tutorials that can help you to learn based on that.

For example, if you like certain characters and you're interested in drawing them, you can search for tutorials on how to draw a human body (or a bust), if it's cartoon/comic/anime what you want, or if it's realism, maybe you even can find a tutorial about that specific character.

To be honest, I don't watch a lot of tutorials, that really isn't for me I guess, after all these years and I haven't learned to sit down and watch a video to learn...

But you do what's best for you! If you're like me and don't like watching video tutorials, then you can check tips in the internet, steps by steps, other's artists process... You learn to see the details and shapes in things! and pick them up

Now, I warn you, learning it that way will probably be slower 😅😅

What I always insist with my friends (specially those that draw cartoon/comic/anime things) is to draw something original, not just copying an image. (That well, that is fine to start somewhere, you can learn basic shapes and understand a style, but if you keep doing it, you won't learn to do it yourself, and you won't have a style yourself, you'll just be good at copying images).

Don't feel pressured about making it perfect the first times, it might take you months, or even more to feel that something is decent enough for you. The trick is not to give up! A lot of the people that I know that stopped drawing didn't do it because it was hard, but because they're weren't learning 'fast' enough.

(This was me when I was like... 12 years old, I think?)

(And I think I was 16-17 years old when I drew this)

(And here's a sketch from 1 or 2 months ago, didn't mean for it to be a redraw, but it kinda looks like one, right? haha)

Art is a long long journey, one that you probably won't see the end of it, since you can always learn something new (I'm still learning and improving myself)

Maybe you'll notice more improvement in some areas than others (like, for the style I use in the last two images, doesn't seem like a lot changed, but the coloring! and also the time it took me to finish it, learning to draw something faster is also an improvement!, besides, what you can't see in that specific comparison is that I learned how to draw another style that I couldn't dream of achieving when I was 16 years old)

So, draw what you love! And is ok if what you love changes eventually

Just keep creating! (And please do not fall for that beginner tip about drawing everyday! Is not about exhausting yourself, is about learning something new when you try to draw something! Is also ok to find a comfort thing to keep drawing, you can also have breaks and just create to create, don't feel bad if is not always something new❤)

Wish you a beautiful journey creating art! ❤

[empressxmachina]

Inquiries on WIPs, lore, and what to do with both

Hi!

I hope y'all are well! I didn't expect to make a journal today, but here I am! I do hope I get some answers because I do have some thoughts and questions.

word wall under the cut

First off, I've done a lot of proofreading and re-outlining lately.

How I keep coming up with ideas, I don't know. Why I can never sit down and write prose except for when I'm meant to be doing something else is even more unknown. But at least I'm thinking, I guess. I like what I'm pondering.  I have done some intensive writing, though.

I made a manip that's been done and in the queue for months, and I liked it so much that I've made a whole novella (novel?) idea for it. If I do it right, then I hope to get about twelve (12) parts from it - they're all now planned - of which I've completed seven. I'm closer to eight (8) than not, so that's good, right?

Since the pic is done and so is its relative part in the story, should I just release it/them, or should I wait until it's all done?

I've even made a Wattpad/book cover for it; that's how much I like what I'm doing.

Regarding Welcome Home, Sasha, specifically, it's been plotted for months, too. But I'm having some issues with writing an expository soliloquy, aka the explanation of what the fuck happened to Earth.

The actual information is cut-and-dry, but I don't know how to best frame it. I find Ki to be an analytical person - sensible for a scientist, I suppose - but with a flourish. Putting his brotherly, almost fatherly love of Sasha on top complicates things further since he wouldn't want to break his heart... and the answer will definitely bruise at the very least.

Luckily though, how he'll react and everything after that is as straightforward as an apocalypse can be. Will I ever write it, though?

I technically have three (3) or four (4) continuations to long fics, but I don't know why I'm not releasing them. I want to, yet I don't? Is this my mediocre perfectionism in action? Is this normal?

Syntrophy has changed in my head, like, four times, regarding the relationship between the two MCs. Their separate stories have maintained but not how they connect to each other.

I wish I was kidding. There's so much I've deleted.

I've been adding excerpts to my manips and making visuals to go with stories. Read more about that in the next section.

Secondly, I've been conceptualizing visuals like mad!

Ideas just keep coming, and they don't stop coming.

The queue is probably at peak fullness, which is cool. I was hoping I wouldn't have to widen time between posting stuff because as much as popularity doesn't affect whether I make something, I wouldn't want y'all to just forget about me. You know?

I know some people don't even have a schedule or set up expectations, so I might just say "Fuck it," and leave submission dates to RNG. It hasn't been a problem, but I don't want pressure from time restraints to become a problem. We'll see.

Like the unnamed, new fic way above, some of my ready works are images from tales not-yet-released. I've done that before numerous times, but one in particular literally happens in what would be the literal next part to post, and I'm not done with writing it, yet, at least to where I'd like it to be.

Should I post the pic anyway, despite context being right behind a corner? I kind of want to, but I've already been putting it off so much...

I just really need to get motivated and focus using Pomodoro or something. Maybe I'd knock everything out if I did.

My most recent completion from literally this morning might just be my favorite in all my years of manip-making.

Meanwhile, the one finished right before it might be the worst thing I've ever made, and its excerpt just makes it worse. I enjoyed it thoroughly, though, which makes me question myself as I'm seeing patterns...

I want to draw/paint again. I've done stuff for IRL projects but not size content.

I need inspiration to just sit down and pen for hours or days.

Would y'all mind me doing sketches again? That'd be quicker.

Lastly, the real reason why I chose to make a journal:

I'm really considering putting expanded, not-yet-seen lore for my stories on my blog site (on WordPress), and I feel like I've pondered this before.

As repeatedly mentioned, I have too many ideas but not even drive to collect them all into something worthwhile. But I'd like to get them out there somehow so others can indulge in my babies as much as I do. Some creators have blogs just for certain stories and their characters, settings, etc. that I adore, and I want to feel that in a way, too. However, most people don't have ten (10) or more stories at once that they equally love. Fuck, I need to edit my blog with more pages for more things I've conjured but isn't there, yet.

I feel that by doing so on my site,

People who do want to know how a plot of a tale will go, because I write as quickly as molasses runs yet have an outline for everything, can know.

It'll be organized as I see fit but my own control (unless WordPress does something drastic).

In addition, the data wouldn't be directly attached to the works on other sites like here, either, in case ideas change or people are averse to spoilers and want to stay away.

Reading all this over, couldn't I put the same data/lore in DA journals, Tumblr posts, etc., too, adding tags or titles to mark what's what? Couldn't I also put the works themselves that are here or even the damn music list on my site, too? Should I?

Am I overthinking this? I think I'm overthinking this.

That's it, I think.

Does any of this make sense? Please let me know your thoughts on anything but mostly the blog stuff if you can.

(I've also put this on DA if you'd prefer to respond there.)

Stay safe, and Happy Equinox! I'm glad I'll see flowers blooming again soon.

~J