#more fun to play with especially in the more. animal anthro form?

[benthicbyte]

thylacine cosmo + a bunch of small drawings and sketches that i didn't feel deserved their own post

[livewireprojects]

I was contemplating editing this down to just the Sonadow bit but decided give up & do the entire idea.

This is my first time using Procreate on my ipad mini, can’t do the pressure/tilt stuff like on my wacom due to not having an ipen/ipencil(I have an ipen but I fucked up not keeping it charged for a few years so it’s busted) but I think this came out pretty nicely. Going to be interesting using Procreate some more in the future. I’m not sure how well the text looks but good enough.

This is a shitpost making fun of some of the shit I’ve done while hyperfixating on ships especially Sonadow kicking down my door & dragging me into it recently again. I used my self insert fursona(anthro form) cause if I use any other self insert(ok the other options are a guy with a mask & a quad fursona) they wouldn’t have many expressions(mask is either over face or covering upper half of face, quad furry doesn’t express much).

I’m not sure what led to making this for these three ships(well besides Sonadow) but I guess I just thought it’d be funny to call myself out for my hyperfixations. The Sheith one isn’t as crazy as the Kawoshin & Sonadow ones but I’ve done weird stuff before, admittedly I think I had some AUs for the Sheith one but I don’t think about them that much. I also want to mention that all three ships have fankids made for them(one for Sonadow is an actual character I turned into a fankid) & each have a few.(Sheith have 5, Kawoshin has 5, Sonadow have 2 but it can go up to 4 if I add in someone that turns it from an otp to otp3, 4 of the kids in the Sheith & Kawoshin were originally multiples before getting split up into different ages with the middle 2 being twins still)

I probably could have added in the times I added characters to games cause Shiro & Keith are in my Miitopia Switch save. I also kinda want to add Shadow & Sonic to Tomodachi Life when I get around to playing again. If anyone wonders about the NPC mod thing I learned about modding Animal Crossing New Leaf & want to stick the two in my game as custom NPCs.

Admittedly I could have added more but I had trouble working on the text for some reason.(Like resizing & dealing with space for it)

[transformers-fan-continuities]

Spotlight: Ties That Bind

This one’s a doozy folks! If you missed the last spotlight you can go read it here, but strap in for The Ties That Bind, an absolutely brilliant take on humanformers. It’s hosted here at @tiesthatbind-tf​ created by @artsy-hobbitses​!

Q) Give us a run down of your cont! What's it about, what's it called, what's it like?

Ties That Bind is a humanformers-based original continuity which is part Science Fiction and part Alternate History where the invasion of Quintessons and introduction of their technology to Earth in 1920 sets the world and humankind on a completely different trajectory. The active narrative spans a period from 1920 to 2070, covering the First and Second Quintesson Wars, the interplanetary Antillan War (leading to the creation of Unicron on Mars) and the Great War which involves the Autobots, Decepticons and Functionist stalwarts, and how it affects the characters.

The cast is pretty sprawling and the narrative is mostly centred around human drama with bits of humor interspaced and a dash of horror (mostly centred around how the previous government often chose to utilize the technology left behind from the Quintesson Wars to create new systems of oppression, which affected many of the characters, in the name of worldwide rebuilding efforts).

Q) What characters take the lead here? Any personal favorites?

I will admit to this continuity being very much heavy on the relationship between Old Bastards  Optimus Prime and Megatron, which is given considerable weight as they were best friends who had known each other since childhood and were deeply intrinsic to each other’s growths as individuals, which makes it all the worse when guilt and betrayal enter the party. Despite being captains in two corners of this battle, there’s a part of them that just cannot let go of their pasts together and they need to reconcile with how this will affect their agenda (Megatron) and how they lead their team (Optimus) who don’t necessarily share their history.

Other characters with significant development include:

Starscream, a Cold Construct in a toxic working relationship with Megatron with whom he is hiding a dark secret, who struggles to balance the underhanded viciousness he believes he needs to gain power and his innate desire from his Senate days to make the world a better place. 

Windblade, a Camien native who fights her government’s apathy concerning the situation on Earth which they see as unsalvageable compared to their more Utopian society. 

Prowl, a Cold Construct raised from childhood to be a cop in a police state, who finds out that he was brainwashed several times  to ensure his obedience and efficacy as a government asset and is now working to reclaim some semblance of the humanity he was never allowed to feel and figure out how much of him is who he really is and how much is programming.

Hound, a sheltered Beastman who joined the fight to ensure that Beastmen the world over would have the same rights he did in his homeland of Shetland Isle, but is forcefully stripped of his humanity and faced with his animal side during the war and has to relearn what personhood means amid his trauma.

Q) Is there a bigger point to this, like a theme or some catharsis? Or is it just fluffy fun?

God with the amount of time I spent sleepless trying to figure out how the logistics of this or the semantics of that were supposed to work in universe, I cannot for the life of me say it’s fluffy fun, but I can’t exactly say it hasn’t been pretty engaging either!

There’s elements of war being messy for everyone involved where there doesn’t seem to be a clear line between friend and foe at times, but I think for most part it prescribes to  Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s belief that people are inherently good, but are corrupted by the evils of society. Despite its dark themes (Including but not limited to child abuse, torture, illegal experimenation  and brainwashing), love and friendships do prevail, kindness does beget kindness, found families are made, even the smallest actions matter, and things do get better because there are people on both sides who genuinely want to, and strive to make it better.

With Cold Constructs and Beastmen, it also delves heavily into what it means to be human; to have agency and personhood.

There’s also a strong undercurrent of taking responsibility for one’s actions, even if they were made with the best of intentions (Avoidance of this is what eats up Starscream and Megatron from the inside, and what Starscream eventually embraces).

Q) How long have you been working on it?

There’s two answers to this!

I’ve had a Humanformers-related universe going all the way back to 2007 around the time the first Bayformers came out---basically I had a choice between learning to draw cars or draw people (I was an anthro artist back then) and I immediately chose people.

The 2007 draft however had no worldbuilding or connective storylines and was mostly a fun little venture into character design and practice which were actually instrumental to me experimenting and learning how to draw humans properly.

I left the fandom for about a decade and when I came back to it in late 2020 around September via the War for Cybertron series on Netflix, I immediately got hooked on the 2005 IDW comics I missed out on and wanted to get around to updating my old designs as well find a way to translate several of the concepts I wanted to explore in a human sense, so the 2020 update became its own full-fledged original continuity with detailed worldbuilding and history.

You can see the artistic evolution of several characters from their original incarnation below!

Q) It’s incredible to see your artistic improvement too! Give us a behind-the-scenes look! Show us a secret ;))

Say hello to my workspace! I’ve been working exclusively on the Ipad Pro since late 2016, which is fantastic because I can basically whip up concepts and sketches on the go anywhere. Nowhere is too out of bounds to work on TTB!

Also, do enjoy this sneak peek at true!form Rung, whose synthezoid human body took years to perfect.

Q) YESSSSS alright I must admit this is one of my favorite Rungs, and certainly my fave within TTB. Amazing. Phew, anyway. Where did you draw inspiration from? What canons, what other fiction, what parts of real life?

TTB was initially conceived as a faithful retelling of the IDW 2005 narrative before it was transformed into its own continuity and as such, it borrows heavily from concepts and mirrored plot lines introduced in that run! I chose to have the series inspired off it specifically for the amount of history and worldbuilding it introduced to the franchise.

Anime like Gunslinger Girl and Beastars inspired the depictions of Cold Constructs, especially the more harrowing aspects of their upbringing as government assets instead of children, and Beastmen (Beastformers) in TTB.

I haven’t depicted the world itself in my art all too much, but the architecture from Tiger and Bunny, which has sort of a futuristic Art Deco feel to it, is what you’d usually see in major cities. There is an in-universe reason for that---with a Point Of Divergence set in 1920 followed by 25 years (an entire generation) of progress basically being kicked to the curb due to the Quintesson wars, mankind was basically in a time-locked bubble until the end of the wars, and by then their heroes were 1920s-style rebellion leaders, which lead to 1920s fashion (especially among the Manual Working Class---Megatron, Jazz and Optimus all rock 1920s fashion at some point of their lives) and architecture being celebrated and retained as sort of a reminder of how things were before The Invasion. This anime’s background design is also where I adopted the tiered system TTB’s major metropolises are often built on (with each tier being designated to a different working class) from.

The main artistic style itself is a love letter to 90s cartoons, in particular Gargoyles’ deep and drama-driven character narratives and designs as well as The Centurions’ take on body armor logistics.

I also take inspiration, especially armor-wise, from the characters’ given heritage and background. As an example, Hotrod who is depicted as Irish has the flames on his armor done up with Celtic knots. Welsh aristocrat Mirage’s armor bears olden knight-style filigree and has his Autobot logo designed as a coat of arms. Indonesian Soundwave’s armor and Decepticon logo takes cues from Batik and Wayang Kulit while their mask is based off the Barong.

Q) They are absolutely gorgeous! Show off something you're really proud of, a particular favorite part of your cont.

The worldbuilding in general! Most Humanformers I’ve seen tend to treat it like a fun exercise which it is and is definitely valid, but I found myself wanting a full-fledged world to lose myself in and I sought to try and make that world myself by drafting a detailed history and timeline of events which would affect ongoing narratives, having indepth worldbuilding to include almost all societal aspects of the universe and  expanding on the concept of Beastmen and Cold Constructs existing in a human setting.

I’m not so secretly proud of the research and diversity included to make the cast look like the multicultural, globally-based team that they were meant to be instead of being locked to a single region! My original draft from 2007 was, to put it simply, quite culturally monolithic and I wanted to improve on that aspect with TTB.

I’m also proud that I’ve kept to it this far! I’m a notoriously flaky person jumping from one idea/fandom to another and to have kept at this continuity for the better part of ten months is honestly a personal feat.

Art-wise, this scene depicting a young Megatron working alongside Terminus and Impactor (cameo by @weapon-up-wallflower​‘s OC Missit!)  is definitely one of my favorites since it helps build up the world they live in and plays to familial bonds and comfort found in one another despite their less than ideal circumstances.

Q) Everything has come together so beautifully, you absolutely should be proud. What other fan canons do you love and why? Would you like to see them interviewed?

I am dying to hear more from @iscaredspider​’s Sparkpulse continuity! Her designs are MIND-BLOWINGLY GORGEOUS and I want to hear more about what inspired her to work on it!

Also YOU. Yes YOU BLURRITO. LET ME HEAR MORE ABOUT SNAP.

Q) [wails and squirms away in the mortifying ordeal of being known but in a very flattered way] I WILL SOMEDAY I PROMISE aflghsdjg thank you QwQ

Well that was fantastic, Oni, thank you muchly! A magnificent continuity with so much to look forward to! Coming up next is another personal fave of mine, the first inspiration for SNAP, so stick around...

[ekakinomi-forgrownups]

"Better luck next time, fellas!" ~Mr. Peanut to 2nd and 3rd contenders Geniusman (Tottemo! Luckyman) and Mettaton EX (Undertale) as he proudly shows off his "Loving" Cup that he won for being the official Winner Of My Heart this year

Hi, everyone! How are you today? I bet you're pretty tired of being mostly cooped up inside. But don't worry--I have something right here that might catch your interest.

As some of you may know, March is National Peanut Month. Now, that's not exactly something worth celebrating for peanut allergists...but, on the other paw, March is also National Nutrition Month, National Kidney Month, Optimism Month, Spiritual Wellness Month, National Women's History Month, Irish-American Heritage Month, and International Listening Awareness Month, among even more things. March is also, of course, the first month of Spring. So there's much more to celebrate in March than just peanuts.

However, in this blog post, I'm going to celebrate peanuts. I could go on and on about peanut butter, my favorite food ever, the average jar of which is made with hundreds of peanuts. But, I'm just going to focus one one peanut this time--one of the most famous peanuts of all time--the one and only Mr. Peanut, mascot for the Planters brand of nuts and snacks. Why? Because he's my biggest cartoon crush.

.......say waaaaaaa~~~t?

But isn't he dead?

youre just posting your april fools joke too early

Nope. It's all true!

All the recent hub-bub about Mr. Peanut, including the infamous commercial where he literally dies, reminded me of this earlier commercial I saw on T.V. back in 2018 (the first video featured in this post), which utilized the same sleek design he was animated in during his passing. After finding it on YouTube, I found other videos of him, and this social media browsing eventually brought me to his Twitter account, where I browsed all of his posts from 2018/19. I immediately fell for his optimistic attitude, his sweet personality and especially his support for his friends and followers...and the rest is history. He has the looks, he has the heart--and now he's helping me to grow up.

But why him?? How could an overdressed anthro peanut top, let alone compete with, these practical princes of men? How would crushing over a cartoon help me grow up in any way? And last (and strangest) of all, why am I suddenly going "nuts" over the now-defunct version of a character who just 2 months ago died and came back as a baby?

I will answer all those questions in approximately...right now!

Being autistic, I have a more child-like mind-set than others my age--one facet of this is the ability to immerse myself in imaginary worlds and connect with characters. Thinking of characters, "talking" to them and even trying to act like them has gotten me through many a tough time. As I take inspiration from their personalities and actions, I find more fun and creative ways to spice up my every-day life, stay calm when things get stormy, cheer me up when I feel down, or pep me up when I get sluggish and demotivated. I use different characters to help me with different aspects of life. The two types that always helped me the most were characters with pure hearts, and characters I had crushes on.

Recently, though, I had been looking for a character that would help me take on one of my toughest challenges--accepting the fact that the world is equally as cruel as it is kind, while staying a calm and collected person, and then handling it all just by myself--to put it in two words: growing up. I won't go into detail (in this post, at least), but life had been extremely cruel to me last year. I had a lot of trouble accepting it, and I was losing my self-control. But considering that I'm going on 23 now, I knew that I had to get it together, or else I would stay a crying ball of nerves, trapped on a bed, forever. Being one of the less restrictive aspects of having the heart of a child, I knew that modeling myself after a good-natured fictional character would be a perfect start--but I needed one exceptionally powerful character to pull this off. I needed a crush with a pure heart.

Then it suddenly and silently occured to me, as I continued to take in his various pictures, videos, GIF's and Tweets, that Mr. Peanut was it.

His sleek and curvy body, his elegant limbs, refined features and gentlemanly disposition--not to mention the fact that he's wearing white gloves and has one eye always covered--immediately calls to mind my best cartoon crushes: Geniusman from the anime "Tottemo! Luckyman" and Mettaton EX from the game "Undertale" (who are both looking salty alongside Mr. Peanut on the winner's podium in the top picture). But what really got me was what he didn't have that the other crushes did, he made up for with his unique personality, that my other crushes, in turn, didn't have:

You see, Mr. Peanut rests comfortably on two fine lines that few characters have even been able to stand on. The fine line between "handsome and stylish" and "conceited and mean", and the fine line between "peppy mascot" and "mature and modest gentle-man". All except for a "brief" 10-year stint where they tried to "re-invent" him (Yes, I'm talking about the one who spent the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade dabbing), he's always been a gentle, friendly, quiet character whose main goal in life (besides selling nuts) is to help people and make them happy, "shelling out" plenty of pep while also remaining proper and well-composed.

He never got angry for more than a second or two, and handled (almost) any problem he faced in the smartest, most dignified and most fun way possible. And of course, he's very sweet and always thinks of those he cares about first. He also, despite being a mascot for snacks, loves to play sports and stay fit and healthy--and he encourages others to do the same. And finally, despite being a mascot in general, he always had this quiet, unassuming air to him. He made all his necessary appearances and entertained his customers, yet he always acted very natural about it and never hammed it up or acted super wild and goofy--a thing that most other cartoon mascots fail to do.

So he's not just eye-candy--he's also a perfect role model. That covers the "first of all". Not only does he give me the incentive to be a dignified lady who always does the right thing first, but he gives me that euphoric, limerance-enduced energy I need to really want to act upon it. All my aspirations to be more courteous, be more proper and elegant, be more brave, lead a healthy and active life-style and be a good mascot for Ekaki No Mi are finally coming to fruition. That covers the "second of all".

Yes, this all sounds very silly. But In a "nut-shell", he's the reason I'm finally growing up, so in a way, this is all anything but silly. I would be a hot mess without him...which is exactly why I'm speaking of him in present-tense (using "is" instead of "was"), and pretending he never became Baby Nut or even died in the first place. Here's where I cover the "third of all".

For those who don't already know about his apparent death and resurrection: for their big pre-Super Bowl LIV commercial (the second video featured), Planters took a very unusual, very controversial approach: Their preview commercial depicted Mr. Peanut sacrificing himself to save his friends by letting go of a branch on a cliff that was too heavy to hold him and actors Matt Walsh and Wesley Snipes. The actual Super Bowl commercial (the third video featured) depicted his funeral, which the Kool-Aid Man, among others, attended. A magic tear from the Kool-Aid Man caused a peanut plant to grow out of the ground and sprout a "Baby Nut"--the official reincarnation of Mr. Peanut. Here are the two commercials, in order:

But what people often don't realize is that Mr. Peanut is a cartoon--a form of art--and art, except in very specific cases, is meant to be interpreted by the viewer. If the story isn't satisfactory, people can ignore some parts and pretend that others play out differently, until it fits what they believe in. And the characters and their actions can hold secret meanings that only the viewer sees. In fact, the same character can don different personalities and clothes, and exist in different universes, doing different things--all at the same time. (Think of all the different versions of Mickey Mouse that exist at the same time, even today.)

So is the case with Mr. Peanut. As long as his original likeness still exists--anywhere in this world--he's still alive and well. And even if the actual Planters corporation says he's Baby Nut now, he's still the same old Mr. Peanut in another part of the Internet, in another part of the world, or in any alternate universe. Many, actually. In one of them, he could be "Miss Peanut". In another, he could be a radical "Teen Nut". And in another still, he could actually be the evil capitalist peanut everybody says he is--you know, the one who struts around in his aristocrat clothing while roasting his fellow "pea-ple" and selling them to humans as food in order to get richer...

...which I like to think is not true, because the real peanuts he sells for your eating pleasure could never have flexy bright-yellow shells or humanoid features, could never breathe, cry, blush, say "Whoa!" when startled, wear clothes, be cuddled by a person with a peanut allergy without triggering it, and couldn't even survive on their own for more than 4 months, let alone 104 years. When they grow, it doesn't happen in the blink of an eye--peanut plants take about 3 or 4 weeks to mature (on days that strictly aren't frosty, no less), and the peanuts themselves grow under the ground--totally different from how Baby Nut came into being.

In short, the peanuts we eat aren't cartoons, like Mr. Peanut is. And since he is, I can interpret him any way I want, just as any other person can. So he doesn't have to be a cannibalistic capitalist. He can be the dapper yellow fellow who sells and eats yummy, natural and nutritious morsels that happen to look a bit like him--think of how humans eat little crackers and gummies that look like other people--and, most importantly, is not dead and never will be, because people still love him and believe in him, and belief and imagination transcend death, at least when it comes to fictional characters.

(I especially have the right to believe he's dead because it's one thing to kill off a character in a series for story reasons--it's another thing to kill a revered and internationally-known brand mascot just to create a social media buzz and generate profits. Now that's capitalism!)

But at the same time, I can't help but admit that it was at least a unique social media experiment, and despite the nasty secret intent behind it all, it was very interesting to finally get to see how Mr. Peanut would die, how he got born (and reborn), and what he looks like as a baby. And honestly, with his big round eyes, squidgy body and dainty features, I actually think Baby Nut is pretty cute--certainly too cute for me to want to break out a mortar and pestle and make peanut butter out of him--but he's just not Mr. Peanut. Mr. Peanut was such a unique character that it takes some very special minds to make a character that even comes close to a replacement--sadly, Baby Nut just doesn't make the cut.

Thanks to the power of love and imagination, though, he's still his good old self in my heart. Besides, he may just grow up and come back some day. So in conclusion, he still is, not was, and always will be, the best role model and "husbando" I could ever ask for. He's got the looks. He's got the love. He's cute. He's graceful. He's dapper. He's daring. He's silly. He's sexy. He's serene. He's cheerful, and he always brightens my day. He's everything I could ever want, and more.

Some day I plan to release an art collection featuring the lovable legume sometime in the near future. I would have each picture creatively high-light a different aspect of his personality, taking inspiration from charming vintage art-work that would fit the theme of the picture as well as actual Planters merchandise, and I would utilize various retro art styles and techniques from different time periods to give each picture a distinctive "old-fashioned" vibe.

The collection will be available on all my art web-pages, including my possible future Patreon (if I can get enough subscribers!), and I'm hoping I can also get it shown off in a gallery somewhere (if there are enough Mr. Peanut fans here in Athens to want to see it.)

One of my favorite commercials featuring him ever, back when he was (canonically) alive and well.

The commercial where he literally dies.

The commercial where he comes back to life as a little baby peanut.

And that concludes my post. The credits for the videos go to Planters and KraftHeinz, and the cover photo for this post goes to my imaginary friend, Mini Minoux. Do you love Mr. Peanut, too? And if you do, what do you love about him? And what about Baby Nut? Is he “yea” or “nay”? I'd be happy to hear your thoughts in the comments--though please, keep it reasonable and don't be too harsh. We're in the company of a gentleman. ;.3

[spiffyworks]

Artist’s Software Surfing P1 - Sketching

SSSo recently, after finishing (an admittedly long-overdue) a piece, I decided to download a trial of the new Corel Painter 2019. I hadn’t used Painter since my old DeviantArt days (circa 2005) and wanted to see how it felt with more digital art-veteran hands. Loaded it up, started sketching my default doodle-muse and wow, that “Real 2B” pencil feels great. I loved it so much, and wondered why. 

That’s the story that is spawning this weird personal series of Software Surfing. I wanted to write little notes to future-me on how it felt using my favorite sketching tools in each program I have, and after the sixth one I thought it might be a good idea to check out inking, colouring, painting, etc. and writing those down as well.

So I’m writing this series for myself, but making it available in case anyone else can benefit as well. Thanks for sticking with the intro, let’s get into it.

Artist’s Software Surfing P1 - Sketching Artist’s Software Surfing P2 - Inking Artist’s Software Surfing P3 - Colouring Artist’s Software Surfing P4 - Painting

There are many ways to sketch, but this is specifically the classic “pencil” or “drawing” form using the tools with the program’s default settings.

As an introduction, this is my doodle-muse, Cloey. She was my first original character, and though I don’t usually share my anthro art on here (I know that’s not everyone’s thing) I do have a separate blog for that stuff that you can find here if you’re so inclined. If you’re familiar with Artgerm (and you should be), she’s basically my Pepper.

Corel Painter’s “Real 2B”:

The one that started it all. The pencil just GLIDES, and I’ve always loved when you can tilt a pencil tool and it will shade just like tilting a real-life pencil. The only thing I want from a program now is to be able to bind touch to blenders so I can use my finger to smudge-blend the scribbling. (I tried drawing that fist so many times /fume)

Likes: Tilt functionality, line width variance, stroke speed, eraser Dislikes: Rebinding Rotate Canvas tool was a pain. I like Shift+Space, and that key combo is reflected in the shortcut panel, but it just continued to pan. Never worked for me, and rotating or flipping the page quickly is crucial for my sketching process. Also sometimes if I quickly resize the eraser and mash it down to use, it won’t detect any input.

Photoshop, Kyle Webster’s “2B” & “Animator Pencil”: 

**Disclaimer** Firstly, I’ve used Photoshop for over 15 years now, and it’s a great digital art tool, but for drawing and painting I find it’s sorely lacking. It’s slow, expensive, and unintuitive. That being said, there are some things this program does exclusive to others so I’m still clinging to it (desperately) and while I would definitely recommend something else for budding digital artists, I have to supplement my misgivings by purchasing additional plugins and tools, such as the famed Kyle T Webster’s Ultimate Megapack for Photoshop (

which is now complementary with Photoshop CC, damnit

). Unless otherwise noted, all the brushes I use in Photoshop will be from that pack. **End Disclaimer**

Following off the heels of Corel, I remembered messing around with another “2B” (which btw is my personal favorite traditional pencil to sketch with) in Kyle Webster’s Drawing Box in Photoshop. It felt a bit similar, but with no tilt functionality and it really lacked the chunky-thickness (a scientific term) I enjoyed with Painter’s pencil. I switched to my favorite (and the favorite of MANY digital artists btw) his “Animator’s Pencil”. So chunky, but the ability to shade lightly... It’s really a fun brush to use for sketching digitally. Still one of my absolute favorites.

Animator Pencil Likes: Line width variance, texture fills in and scales perfectly Dislikes: It’s a photoshop exclusive, a program that for some reason you can’t bind shortcuts to whatever you please, takes forever to load, and WAY too often suffers input lag while drawing. Also no tilt shading, :’( aw

Paintstorm’s “Textured Pencil” & “Pencil Tilt”

As a bit of an aside, I love Paintstorm, Paintstorm is what got me back into digital drawing and painting after doing 3D and game design for 7 years. I bought it for the very low price of entry (2 licenses for $30) and was impressed by its ability to customize literally anything in the program. You can create your own tool/brush boxes, bind any shortcut to any key combination, and every single brush tool adjustment comes with the most customization control of any program I’ve come across since Photoshop set the bar way back in the day. Out of the box a lot of the basic brushes have that old OpenCanvas or PaintTool Sai feel, but more recently they’ve added some very textured default brushes you can play around with. It’s also hands-down the FASTEST program I’ve ever worked in. I highly recommend giving it a try, it’s great for learning and experimentation. I grew a lot working in Paintstorm.

The Textured Pencil is a fun sketching brush, you can get as think or thick as you’d want and it keeps a clean outline. The Pencil Tilt really blew my mind the first time I used it. YOU CAN SHADE! It was the first time I had ever seen a program do that. The tilt has a great texture, fantastic control, and gets just as dark as you’d need. I’d recommend using them both, the Textured Pencil for a cleaner sketch, and the Pencil Tilt for something more expressive or loose.

Krita’s Ink-Tilt & “Sketch”:

I’ll be honest, I have almost no experience in Krita despite having downloaded and given it a try back in 2014. It was a hell of a time to figure out how to rebind my usual shortcuts (flip horz, rotate canvas). I couldn’t even rebind colour grab/eyedropper. Yikes. I opened up the “Sketching” brush box and there were only two options, made worse as one was a sketch pen... That lacked the flexibility of ballpoint. 

First I grabbed the pencil dubbed “Sketch” and was bewildered why the size of the circle was so large compared to the mark it made. Very confusing. Feeling intimidated, I abandoned it immediately to try out the “ink_tilt” (which by the way there’s no tilt functionality??) and hated it. I reluctantly went back to the pencil and just started trying to make marks. Wow. It’s weird, but surprisingly fun. You have to be willing to relinquish a LOT of control, but the shapes the brush makes while moving and tilting during a stroke can yield some really interesting and suggestive shapes. I would say great for early concepting or making something really loose and expressive. Fun to play with, but not really practical.

Clip Studio Paint’s Real Pencil & Rough Pencil

I’ve been wholly immersed in CSP since I purchased the program back in late 2016. It goes on sale often, so you can pick up a nice fully featured program for ~$35. I’d had my eye on it for a while and still really want to get into self-publishing comics, so I picked it up, bought a couple of brush packs for it (it’s pretty lacking in default painting tools) and I’ve been illustrating in it ever since. The brush creation isn’t as fun as Paintstorm, but brushes are quite customizable. I usually like to use the “Rough Pencil” if I want just a little texture and line variance, or the “Darker Pencil” for something cleaner. Trying to be different, I just jotted out a couple heads in ones I don’t normally use, the Real Pencil and Design Pencil. The Real Pencil has a lot of texture, but for some reason in CSP the textures don’t seem to scale with the brush, so I tend to avoid using it in most cases. I hate the design pencil, I just could never get dark enough. I guess that’s probably the point, though.

Well, that definitely wraps this digest up. I feel refreshed after trying out a lot of new digital sketching brushes. I was really reminded of how much I enjoyed drawing in Paintstorm. I hope someone other than me found this useful or otherwise inspiring! Sometimes, especially if you’re stuck in some art blockage, it’s a good idea to try something new, and for me digitally that’s hopping programs and trying new brushes.

I’m thinking about doing inks, colours, and painting at some point. Let me know if anyone’s interested in those! I’m planning on doing some for myself eventually, but I might expedite a post if anyone is interested. o/ Take it easy,  y’all.

Artist’s Software Surfing P1 - Sketching Artist’s Software Surfing P2 - Inking Artist’s Software Surfing P3 - Colouring Artist’s Software Surfing P4 - Painting

[silvurgalaxies]

1-50 ples

Alright due to the length of this, I’m putting it under the cut. I seriously don’t wanna clog people’s dashes! So yeah! Thank you for asking! It was fun to fill out! XD 

Pfft that’s a lot of questions but uhh yeah I’ll do my best for ya! 

1. Your first OC ever? 

My first oc ever was named Hank, he was my sonic fan character I made three years ago. Originally, he was half demon, half dragon. Before I changed him to a half demon half hedgehog. I used him a lot and he’s still going through redesigns now. I still love him, but there’s a lot that needs to be fixed, especially the design and backstory. 

2. Do you have a personal favourite among your OC’s?

Well, that’s like asking to pick between two children. So I love them all equally. There’s certain ones I like using more than others, but as a whole? All of them.

3. Have you ever adopted a character or gotten a character from someone else? 

Yes. A year back I went on an adopting spree. Anchor, Cadmus, Angel, Skyler…all adopted children. But I love them as my own. I don’t adopt characters anymore. Except that one bat Saga designed for me a little while ago which I love. I try to develop them on my own, the design is a stepping stone. Each character has grown since I adopted them. 

4. A character you rarely talk about? 

Andrew is rarely mentioned, as well as Cadmus and Skyler. There’s a lot of characters I have yet to share. Nova as well. Cupid and Cole aren’t mentioned either, I am writing a story with them, but I have yet to post it. 

5. If you could make only one of your OCs popular/known, who would it be? 

Probably Sloth, the human Sloth. I mean, he’s a lazy guy who doesn’t really care about anything, but I feel right now he’s the most developed out of all of the others. 

6. Two OCs of yours that look alike despite not being related? 

Kody and Cupid. Both of them look really similar but they’ve never met ever. Techno and Sloth I’m not including because they were both originally made for AU’s but their human versions are completely different looking. 

7. Are your OCs part of any story or stories? 

Yep. Many of them are running story ideas I’m still working out the kinks for. I want all the characters to be as developed as possible before I move forward. They all live in one universe. And this universe is focused on angels, demons, sins, virtues, and the children of these angels and demons. 

8. Do you RP as any of your OCs? If you do, introduce one of your RP OCs here! 

I’ve used a lot of them! Hank and Kody were the most common until Techno and Sloth replaced them later on. But I use most of them! 

9. Would you ever be willing to give any of your OCs to someone else? 

I would never give them away. They are my children. But if something happened to me, and I wasn’t around to keep them, I only trust two people with them, and that’s Jazz and Saga. 

10. Introduce an OC with a complicated design? 

The most complicated design goes to Techno I hope you’re proud of yourself. Second place goes to anthro Sloth. 

11. Is there any OC of yours you could describe as a “sunshine”? 

Kody. No doubt about it that kid’s always a happy child. 

12. Name an OC that isn’t yours but who you like a lot 

Okay, like there’s a lot. I really, reALLY like Gear. Like, him and Snazz are my favorites. The human versions too. I love their dynamic and they’re both really interesting. I really love Scratch too, he’s great, him and his flames and secret stuffed animal collection, his sister Krystalia too. I’ve always loved the both of them. I also really like Firewall too. Besides that, I just love Cheezedonut’s dutchie, Sunday, he’s adorable. 

I love a lot of people’s characters, especially cause I know they love them too and put a lot of work and love into creating them, which is something I love to see. 

13. Do you have any troublemaker OCs? 

Hank never fails to annoy an entire room. He gets himself into bad situations cause he has a sass problem. He doesn’t know how to shut up. Cadmus is bad too, him and Skyler are bounty hunters, hunting both people and objects for pay. Cupid gets into trouble too, he thinks because he’s a god he can get away with pulling stupid stunts. Angst is the worst, he stirs up trouble wherever he goes. Sloth and his siblings, man those children are all sinners, it’s only natural for all the seven deadly sins to be troublemakers. 

14. Introduce an OC with a tragic backstory 

Hmm. A lot of them do sadly. The universe I put them in is kind of an unhappy place. I think human Sloth or Techno wins for this. 

15. Do you like to talk about your OCs with other people? 

In real life, I typically do not. I have a friend who does and that’s all she talks about sometimes. I tend to keep it low, not a lot of people know about my characters. On the internet or Skype I could go on for days. But I don’t want to annoy anyone with my talk of them. 

16. Which one of your OCs would be the best at biology (school subject)? 

Andrew. Guy’s an alchemist, ehh sorta. He’s the most intelligent out of everyone. He’d do the best in school. I’d say Cole, but Cole doodles all over his notebooks and doesn’t do homework as often. 

17. Any OC OTPs? 

I mean…Nate x Genesis, Techno x Gear, Sloth x Snazzy, Andrew x Angelica, and Cole x Cupid are what I got going right now. Possible Cadmus x Skyler but I don’t know if that’s gonna be a thing. 

18. Any OC crackships? 

Sloth x Techno, by far. It’s the funniest in human form cause they freaking hate each other a lot. Andrew x Hank, the both also hate each other.

19. Introduce an OC that means a lot to you (and explain why) 

Hank is the first character I ever made, and I can never let him go. He meant a lot to me while in middle school, and he’s still here, hanging out. I will never get rid of him. 

20. Do any of your OCs sing? If they sing, care to share more details (headcanon voice, what kind of songs they like etc)? 

Nate can play the guitar, and he writes his own music. When Angst was still sane he could play the bass and sing. Kody plays a mean kazoo him and Sloth have a band they’re going places, they are both masterful kazoo players. 

21. Your most artistic OC 

Cole. Stop drawing in your notebooks. He wins. He’s the most artistic. Techno is as well actually, his form of art is building or tinkering. He doesn’t share it that much cause he can be a little embarrassed of his creations. 

22. Is there any OC of yours people tend to mischaracterize? If yes, how? 

I mean not really right now from what I’ve noticed? Idk. 

23. Introduce OC that has changed from your first idea concerning what the character would be like? 

Techno went from a meme, to a meme with a backstory, to a fandom monitor, to his own AU, to a legitimate human, to a human with a demon parshally possessing him, to a demon hunter. Oh yeah I forgot to mention Techno is a demon hunter as a human, he’s mainly doing it for revenge. It flipped when he got stuck with Sloth. 

24. If you could meet one OC of yours, who would it be and why? 

I feel like Sloth would be the most reasonable. I would love to meet Kody! He’s adorable! But I would want to meet them all. 

25. The OC that resembles you the most (same hobby, height, shared like/dislike for something etc?) 

Ehh personality wise? Nova was designed to be a mascot. I never showed him. Techno is pretty close. We’re both awkward potatoes. 

26. Have you ever had to change your OC’s design or something else about them against your will? 

Techno’s change was a choice for me, cause of a Tumblr!Sans already made. But I’m glad I changed him. It was never against my will. Look at him now! He’s gotten farther than I ever thought he would. 

27. Any OCs that were inspired by a certain song? 

Hank was inspired by the song, “What I’ve Done” by Linkin Park. The rest were just random as heck. 

28. Your most dangerous OC? 

Sloth is the most dangerous, when he actually does something, it’s extremely powerful. 

29. Which one of your OCs would go investigate an abandoned house at night without telling anyone they’re going? 

Hank would do it. You go Hank. And then Kody would follow him. 

30. Which one of your OCs would most likely have a secret stuffed animal collection? 

….Cadmus would. 

31. Pick one OC of yours and explain what their tumblr blog would be like (what they reblog, layout, anything really) 

Sloth runs an asethetic blog where he posts pictures of peanut butter with filters and then he reblogs pictures of feathers. He doesn’t let anyone know this blog exists. Techno’s blog is just all over the place but really organized. He’d reblog pictures of machinery, lots of gear pictures too. 

32. Which one of your OCs would be the most suitable horror game protagonist and why? 

Oh jeez. I’d say Cole for this one. He’s the most ‘normal’ out of everyone. 

33. Your shyest OC? 

Kody or Cole. Probably Cole. If Kody is with Hank he’s really calm and friendly to new people. 

34. Do you have any twin characters? 

Andrew has a twin sister named Victoria. But they don’t see each other very much.

35. Any sibling characters? 

Hank and Angst are half brothers. Andrew and Victoria are twins. Human!Sloth has six “siblings”, and he’s the middle child. Human!Techno has a younger sister. Maple has four siblings, each one representing a season. 

36. Do you have OC pairs where the other part belongs to someone else (siblings, lovers, friends etc)? 

Oh hell yeah! We got Nate and Genesis (belongs to @krystalia-productions), Techno and Gear, and Snazzy and Sloth! (Snazzy and Gear belong to @alternativesaga) and now we got Sin and Flowriel (belongs to @marshiemonarch) 

Pairing characters is so fun!! I love it!! 

37. Introduce an OC who is not quite human 

Literally all of them except for Cole and Nate. I’m planning on converting Nate to a human pretty soon, cause right now he’s a sonic oc still ahah. 

38. Which one of your OCs would be the best dancer? 

Nate is really good at dancing. Anything related to music he’s pretty good at ahah. 

39. Introduce any character you want 

Name: Cupid 

Age: ageless

Gender: Male

Basic Description: He was a god who just awakened one day, his job is to ensure that people do fall in love, without him to do his job, no one would fall in love with each other. But what happens if his arrow misses and hits the wrong person? He’s also a smart alec he thinks he can get away with anything. He loves screwing with people’s love lives. 

40. Any fond memories linked to your characters? Feel free to share! 

All of them have their own memories, to be honest seeing them just makes me happy. Each one has a story about how I created or came up with them, and thinking about that too is cool. 

41. Has anyone drawn fanart of your OCs? If yes, maybe show a picture or two here (remember sources & permissions!) 

OMG YES AND I SCREAM WITH JOY WHENEVER THEY DO. I DONT EVEN KNOW WHAT TO SAY WHEN I GET THEM I JUST GET REALLY HAPPY AND EVERYONE IS JUST REALLY TALENTED IN TERMS OF ART AND I JUST HHHH.

42. Which one of your OCs would be the most interested in Greek gods? 

Greek gods? In that case, Cupid. I mean…he technically is one. Or Cole, he likes Greek gods a lot. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

43. Do you have any certain type when you create your OCs? Do you tend to favour some certain traits or looks? It’s time to confess 

Most of them are male boy teenagers with a very similar haircut and always wear sweatshirts. Okay no I’m sorry. But most of them aRE MALE. ARGH. 

44. Something you like about your OCs in general 

EVERYTHING. I legitimately love them all and everything about them. They aren’t perfect which is something I love about them! 

45. A character you no longer use? 

Shade the Wolf, Nightmarestar, and a fricking ton of warriors OCs (like Leafstone omfg and Fastfoot holy frick xD)) 

46. Has anyone ever told you that you treat your OCs badly? 

No. Not yet. Maybe for backstories but no, no one has ever said that. 

47. Has anyone ever (friendly) claimed any of your OCs as their child? 

If it counts, @krystalia-productions has claimed Sloth. Okay no I’m joking Sloth literally lives with you. 

48. OC who is a perfect cinnamon roll, too good for this world, too pure 

Kody. The purest. 

49. Which one of your OCs would most likely enjoy memes 

Techno dabbed so hard once the universe was created. True story. 

50. Give me the good ol’ OC talk here. Talk about anything you want

They’re all trash bags but I love them all. Yep. I dunno what else to put here.