#more textures more colours more models it's great!

[vriendenboekjes]

genuinely so excited for my fall/winter wardrobe. bought some jeans recently so now i'll have much more choice when dressing ^-^ last year the selection of trousers was severely lacking and now it's much easier to make nice outfits :))

[starleska]

Can we have your Wally headcanons please!!

of course!! 🥰💖 now, we're at such an early stage with Welcome Home that these headcanons may prove to be wildly silly or OOC, but that's okay!! i hope they make you smile regardless 💖 feel free to run with these headcanons all you like!!

Wally Darling headcanons (with a touch of x Reader 😉)

⭐ Wally has a highly reduced sensitivity to pain. that relaxed, soothing voice isn't the only reason why Wally is so calm and collected - the fella wouldn't notice if you stabbed a fork through his hand! as a puppet in a soft, rainbow-filled world, this quirk rarely causes Wally problems. however, he has been known to stay out in the sun for far too long and not notice he's become terribly sunburned, or to inquisitively examine a fun new bug and be totally ignorant of stings, bites, or allergic reactions. luckily, Wally has a wonderful set of pals by his side who are always quick to help him out when he's in trouble! 💖 ⭐ Wally has a large soft toy collection. there's not a single character amongst the Welcome Home gang who is neurotypical, and Wally is no exception! our favourite puppet artist has an assortment of cuddly friends tucked away in different nooks inside his Home: stuffed animals, plush painting utensils, and of course, his special interest: apples! Wally's a sensory-seeking guy who enjoys tapping and rubbing particular textures, and each of his soft friends caters to his favourite fabrics and sounds. many of these toys are gifts from his wonderful neighbourhood pals, and he's generous enough to let his friends cuddle any of his plushies - especially when they're not having a great day. feeling down? Wally will come to the rescue, ready with a plethora of silly jokes and an armful of squashy friends! 🧸 ⭐ Wally's favourite artistic subject is You. we all know that Wally is the resident artist of the neighbourhood, even amongst all of his craft-inclined pals. he's drawn, painted, sculpted, modelled and created every kind of item you could think of: flowers, animals, fruit, furniture, imaginary friends and more. yet the first time Wally meets you, he is immediately fascinated with your distinctive look: your style, your face, your eyes. he apologies for staring, and tells you that with your permission, he would love to paint you - you are simply made for the canvas. although at first you're flustered by the process (Wally's eyes are so dark and intense), you soon find yourself relaxing under his gaze, becoming comfortable with him and his gentle wisecracks. nothing compares to the sheer delight you felt when he gifted you his final portrait: a beautiful, flattering, colour-drenched rendition of you. you return home that night with your heart all a-flutter, thinking: if Wally painted you so prettily, how must he feel towards you? 😳 hope this is what you were looking for, anon!! these are really fun to do - feel free to send in asks, headcanons or ideas, i'd love to write some more for Wally 🥰💖

[taffywabbit]

During a Twitch stream in Sept 2022, I started a personal project to redraw every item sprite from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time in my own style. After a bit of a break, I picked it back up again for two more streams in Feb 2023, and finally finished the last few missing items and icons on my own time in March.

This was a lot more work than I'd initially anticipated; between drawing, colouring, and rendering, it amounted to about 20-30 total hours of labour. It was a really fun undertaking though - I have fond memories of closely studying the old 3D renders in the original N64 game's instruction manual as a kid, and it was a super interesting challenge to compare those with the in-game sprites and models (as well as their counterparts in the 2011 remake) and decide how to blend/adapt those varying designs while adding my own stylistic touches. It was also just really great practice, and there are techniques I learned while working on this project that I was able to almost immediately apply in my professional work! So one way or another, definitely a worthwhile use of my time, and I'd love to try something similar again in the future.

(It'll take a bit before it's ready, but I've also been working in my spare time to implement these into a partial texture pack for the game itself!)

[shwoo]

I took these screenshots of the Bugsnax journalist's models in Blender for the new non-Fandom-affiliated Bugsnax wiki, which is going great so far! There's a ton of groundwork being laid, and I hope it continues to take off.

Anyway, I thought I'd post the pictures here, too. The top two are the model used to cast the player's shadow, and the bottom two are the model that's rendered in the game. Since it's in first person, they only really need limbs and an upper torso.

The grey texture on the bottom two images exists in the game files, but it's not a selectable player colour. The shadow model doesn't have a texture associated with it, so that's just Blender's default colour.

And here's a post from last year with more pictures of the shadow model in more poses. Also actual colour! I forgot how complicated it was to put them together. Hopefully I put the arms in the right place.

[blakbonnet]

ARTIST OF THE WEEK @midearthlingart ✨

This week's AOTW is Laz aka midearthling, and any AOTW event intending to bring classic ofmd art back into circulation would be incomplete without them <3 She agreed to answer a few questions for me and shared some great tips for beginners:

- Which do you use to draw (app/digital or traditional)?

I think everything posted here is digital, done mainly on Procreate, although I have started using Art Studio Pro more recently and I really like it (also an iPad app but available on other machines afaik!). I do like to doodle and do studies in my sketchbook though, I think it's good to keep me sharp and for a change of pace! And sometimes ideas come easier that way. But any completed pieces tend to be digital.

- Fave brushes/pencils/mediums (links/screenshots?)

On procreate I'm partial to using jingsketch basic’s flat brush, it’s so versatile for sketching and painting! Other brushes in my regular rotation are the default chalk and 6b brushes from procreate. I also have a soft ‘photoshop’ brush that I use to flat in colours, and a round brush I downloaded that I often use for sketching too; unfortunately I can’t remember where I got either of those ones but I’m pretty sure they were free! Sometimes I use random texture brushes, and the default watercolours in procreate.

- Your favourite piece you've drawn?

I go through phases of really loving some pieces and then hating them again (I often dislike my own art!) One of the best things I ever drew is a very nsfw comic so I unfortunately can’t share it on tumblr lmao. But in its stead, I think this and this have a special place in my heart.

- Who's harder to draw: Ed or Stede?

Honestly it just depends on the day! Both can be difficult to capture for different reasons; oddly I think for me I don’t have Ed’s face pinned down as much as I do with Stede’s. I’ve drawn them so much at this point I can bang them out without reference most of the time, but every now and again I’ll have a difficult angle and need to reference again! Stede’s nose is my absolute favourite to draw though.

- One essential tip for beginner artists?

Keep going! References and 3D models are your friend! It’s okay to make studies of other people’s works in order to learn (just don’t share and try to pass it off as your own!) Tracing photos to learn is also fine too, these are all just tools to help you hone your skill.

- Why OFMD? 🥹

It did something to my brain! I remember watching it back in March 2022 when there were only 6 episodes out at the time, I binged in one go and then the very next day watched all of them again. It just felt so cosy! I watched initially when I heard about it because I already loved Rhys and Taika’s works so needless to say it was hook, line and sinker from me from the start—I did not stand a chance! When it turned out to be a queer, middle-aged love story I knew it would be special to me forever.

[splatoongamefiles]

one of the things that was so tiring about doing this blog is that i needed to manually do all the materials because the blender dae importer is ass and dae itself isnt too great either.

If i wanted to see a model in blender rather than just in switch toolbox, i'd have to import it, then individually, on every material, on every object, add all the images, set everything to non-colour (you guys are setting your normal/roughness/metalness textures to "non-colour" right?) and plug everything in. it took ages with anything more than like 5 materials on it.

buttt i made a python script and it just quickly imported about 40 models and the material setup was flawless for i'd say 90% of them. I'm working on that 10%, and maaaaybe turn it into a blender plugin so stay tuned

[violet-moonstone]

Heathers Part 4: Rogue Heather and Conclusion

Part 3

This is my favourite option, which is why I saved it for last. This route focuses on skills Heather could much more believably pick up on her own—in fact, these are skills we already see her exhibiting in RoB. This version of Heather is very much like Arya Stark—minus the combat training—specifically, Arya when she’s in Braavos. She’s good at hiding, sneaking around, pickpocketing, etc. She would rely on changing her behaviour and appearance to fit the situation and slowly build her arsenal of disguises as she improves her skill and has more resources at her disposal. One day, she might appear as a raggedy street urchin; the next, a bawdy barmaid; then, a haughty noblewoman or cunning hunter.

Her primary use of this skill would be survival—blending into the background or standing out without people knowing her true identity—but this would also be strategic. She could get information either from being a fly on the wall no one considers being cautious around, or by being charismatic and charming people into trusting her. In more extreme situations, she could slip poison into the drink of a bar patron, set fire to the room of someone who thinks she’s their servant, or (in a version of RTTE with a more mature rating) stab someone once they’re in her bed. (I’ve written a fic about this)

I think this option makes the most sense, because it requires no retconning of her backstory and includes the most believable skillset for someone without any training. I also think that with a heavy focus on stealth, it wouldn’t make sense for her to have a large, armoured dragon with reflective scales (once again, sorry Windshear). Instead she could have a small dragon that could help her with fetching things, being on watch for danger, and shooting fire at close range. I’m thinking a Terrible Terror or something similar. Although a small dragon with similar traits to a Changewing would be really cool, like a winged chameleon of sorts—but maybe instead of becoming invisible, it just mimics different colours and textures.

In terms of costumes for Rogue Heather, it can really be anything. She’d probably need a base outfit for when she’s not in disguise, in which case, I’d go for something like the redesigns all the dragon riders except Hiccup got, which was basically putting them in the same clothes as in RoB/DoB but with different colours. I think the outfit Heather’s wearing in RoB is pretty good for a rogue type character already—just use a slightly different colour scheme that’s still faded, and keep the hood from her current design. Her disguises could be much more dramatic and could include wigs and makeup as well.

I have a headcanon that she has a favourite disguise though. Due to all the danger and insecurity she’s faced, she’s become ruthlessly ambitious—not just for revenge, but for wealth and power. She never wants to have to worry about being unsafe or scrounging around to survive. I think her favourite roles to play are rich and powerful women. In these roles, she gets to wear something beautiful—I’m thinking a deep green gown that brings out her eyes. It could also be a reference to serpents and envy, which goes hand in hand with her use of poison and her desire for the finer things in life.

I love this version of Heather. I’m currently in the early stages of writing a very long fic (that will probably just include regular Heather because the story already has a lot of OCs and moving parts), however, if I get enough inspiration, I might write some one-shots here and there about her.

Some ideas for her more fancy/aspirational disguises:

From left to right: Labyrinth (2012), BBC’s Merlin (I always thought Katie McGrath would be a great grown-up Heather)

(Some more historical Norse looks)

And a more everyday look:

(From Voriagh)...tell me this model isn't LITERALLY HEATHER. I think it's the murder in her eyes.

(Arya in Game of Thrones, tunics from Dark Knight Armoury)

Conclusion...After a Note About Combat and Women in Fantasy

Before I finish, I want to briefly touch upon another issue I have with Heather’s character. You may have noticed that the latter two options I gave have a much stronger emphasis on her intelligence and/or social skills than her physical prowess – I did this intentionally because I find that RTTE lacks characters who are not combat focused (Even Johann turned out to be a skilled knife-thrower. I miss when he was just a friendly and knowledgable—though talkative—merchant). While I appreciate that the female characters in the show are shown to be capable fighters, they don’t all need to be. I think fantasy and sci-fi writers tend to forget that making women into combatants is not the only way to make them strong, empowered, or interesting. There are so many ways that characters, regardless of gender, can have agency and be integral to a plot; these ways don’t have to include putting a heavy weapon in their hands. I’ve briefly discussed this in another post, but I think the dynamic between Viggo and Ryker would be much more interesting if Viggo were not physically strong and had to depend on Ryker’s strength just as much as Ryker depended on Viggo’s wits. And while Hiccup’s sword fighting abilities are commendable, let’s not forget that his first great achievement would never have been possible without curiosity, intelligence and empathy—the three things required to befriend Toothless—not physical strength. I love Race to the Edge, and I understand the combat-heavy focus (because “Vikings”) but I do wish there was just a bit more variety when it comes to the way characters navigate dangerous situations.

Alright, so there you have it: My 3 Heathers. I’m very tempted to draw all three of them, to get a clearer image of what their designs would look like. Which one do you prefer the most? The revenge-fuelled warrior, the unhinged alchemist, or the ambitious assassin? Let me know, and thanks for reading!

[galedekarios]

Am I right in thinking you use an older Gale model for your gifs etc? There's something a bit different from the current ingame version but I can't put my finger on it. Maybe it's his eyes or jawline? I dunno he just looks like an older model! Or it could be the lighting lol

good eye, anon! yes, i'm using gale's face model + eyes colour from ea, but with his current face texture and hair. the mod was created by the immensely capable @padme4000 and is available on nexus.

i, personally, like it more than the one larian changed it to in one of the later patches in early access. i don't know how many people have followed the game and the character changes since the beginning of early access, but larian did change gale's face/eyes/hair after two/three years into early access and i could never grow used to the new one.

it just didn't look like gale to me if that makes sense. someone close enough, the changes not so great, but always just... a bit off. like an imposter.

the left one is ea gale, the right his current design as it is in the vanilla game now. i hope you can see better what i mean.

his ea headmorph that i'm using has softer features: the jaw isn't as square, but more rounded, the nose shape is slightly different, the lip shape, too.

ea gale used to have a lot more moles and scars as well, including a very painful looking one on his neck, but that was sadly toned down and sometimes entirely removed with the new skin texture. (which looks good btw, i just wish they'd kept those things!)

overall, ea gale feels to me like a less "perfected" gale and i liked how perfectly imperfect he was then.

a lot of people complained in ea about gale's looks: too plain, too ugly, too boring, too just-some-guy, and i felt the changes to him came from there and that never sat quite right with me.

having said that, i want to clarify that i'm not trying to argue which version is "better". i'm just expressing how i felt about it then and how feel about it now. these are just my own personal feelings on the matter.

[messydiabolical]

@dandenbo asked me for the art asks: 🎠What is a typical 'workflow' for a piece from idea to finished? It turns out to be a long answer so here's its own post, under the cut to save your dash! How I go from screenshot to painting: (This is not intended to be a 'this is how you do it!' kind of guide. I absolutely don't do an optimal route, this is just how I go about painting and what works for me! I've done a workflow for a screenshot to painting as I do a few different things but this is one I could explain somewhat coherently. My comics tend to be created pretty chaotically lol)

1) I take an ungodly amount of screenshots while playing. Also pester friends for their screenshots or stalk the group discord for interesting shots.

2) Go through all those screenshots cursing why I took so many, looking for those great moments that I want to paint. I’m particularly looking for nice poses/captivating moments, dynamic lighting or interesting expressions, and they don’t need to have all 3 as we can fix some of that in the next step. Here’s the screenshot I chose for my Keahi x Thane piece:

It was a cute, soft moment between them and I liked the highlight at the edge of their profiles. 3) Refine the screenshot. I don’t use anything fancy for this. I game on windows PC, so I open up the screenshot with windows photo editor. I crop the image, play around with saturation, exposure, contrast, just basic editing until it looks tastier. For this piece I wanted it to be hyper colourful and vibrant, leaning towards warmer tones.

4) Decide what I will change, then gather references for those changes. In this case I was fortunate that not a lot needed changing. I knew I wanted to move Thane’s eye position to looking at Keahi rather than the way he is slightly off focus, do a more realistic ear with earrings for Keahi, make Thane a little more smiley and lower his eyelid and give Keahi nicer eyelashes. I keep a whole bunch of art guides and tutorials on my PC so I grabbed the necessary ones and sent them to my ipad ready to have on hand for the sketch stage. I have Thane’s character model in XNApose, so I can check things like his eyelid specifically in that (this is actually for a different project but shows you what I mean)

If I was going to change up the lighting/shading I would also gather references for that. For example sometimes i’ll take screenshots of lighting schemes I love from films/tv shows (think the strong teal and orange scheme in Mad Max or the neons of Blade Runner). Or for precise shadows, I can again use XNApose. I also have a little 3d printed Thane head I can shine a torch at and take photos of to get shadow ideas. For humans there’s lots of reference to be found with online searches, I find pinterest more useful than google for this. For specific expressions or body parts, i’ll just take photos of myself (hand poses, smiling from the right angle etc.) My camera roll is an interesting place. I have drawn drell frills on my neck and on my chest before to see how the lines would fold at certain angles. 5) Setting up a canvas I work in procreate. For a piece like this I try to go pretty big, say 5000 x 4000 pixels, then i’ll crop down later as needed. 300 DPI. As I work, I’ll make duplicates and continue on the copy each fresh session. When i’m finished I make a backup save of the PNG and .procreate files on an SSD. I immediately turn the background colour down to a more muted colour to not burn my retinas. If i’m using a textured background like an oil board i’ll insert it, and any overlays like canvas effects. Set up my layers from the start basically for easy toggling throughout. I try to be good and label things to make life easier, it doesn’t always happen though. I don't wear a digital glove or use paper effect screens but I do have a bottle of screen cleaner and a microfibre cloth handy at all times. 6) Sketch. I’m still very much learning to draw. I tried for a long time to do the classic ‘ball for a head, draw the planes/lines etc. It was a constant struggle and never clicked for me, the ball especially always made things much worse, turning a circle into a 3d image in my head just does not happen. I find it better to just start drawing and work things out as I go (I use procreates reference window to see my screenshot). So I’ll have my sketch in one canvas, and i’ll also have a second canvas with the photo ref on it at the same size, and if I feel like something is really wonky and off i’ll test my lines over the photo to see what’s gone wrong, then go back to the sketch and correct the areas that revealed. Sometimes I’ll use the grid feature if i’m getting stuck.  Here's a few of the sketch stages:

Here I tried out the lines on the photo and noticed that Thane’s frills were a little too far to the left, and Keahi’s eyebrow needed to arch down towards the nose.In the next pass I correct these:

Also, and I know i’m gonna get side eye from some people for this but I really could not care less to be honest. On some pieces i’ll just trace the screenshot. Sometime I just want to get to painting, am not in the mood or mindspace for a learning experience, and this is a hobby. It’s my screenshot, no one is getting ripped off. My latest Javik piece was done this way 🤷‍♂️ 6) Painting. I’ll start by blocking in the background and the portrait flats, usually on separate layers. I try to have an idea of the background colour from the start as this can effect the whole piece overall, but sometimes you just gotta change it as you go so having it on a different layer makes this much easier.

The painting itself I’ll lay down wider areas of colours, then start going in and refining bit by bit, I tend to work on one area at a time, and sometimes I’ll get pretty well rendered on a small area before moving on, other times work on a wider area. It really depends on my mood and what i’m vibing with that day. Like you can see here I’ve done some general messy colouring all over Keahi, but done a lot of refinement on the eyeball:

7) Finshing the piece, uploading and testing: When I’m sick of rendering the painting and don’t think I can add anything more to it without gnawing my own wrist off, it is time to finish up! I make sure I toggle all the layers I want on, add a top signature layer (lol I lie I forget this all the damn time). Then i’ll upload the piece to my google drive and open it up on my big 4k monitor on my PC, and on my phone, and see how it looks (my ipad is a 9.7inch air). I find that once off my ipad, it often looks a little less saturated and contrasting as it does in procreate. So I might go back and change the levels if it’s too big a difference until it looks decent across devices (it’ll never look perfect on them all though, just gotta find that happy medium).

8) Posting online I really don’t have any strict steps for this. I know some people go for optimal posting times, and will make multiple copies of their pieces in different sizes to fit better on different sites (damn you instagram and your need for everything to be square). I… do not do any of this lol. I post when I’m done whatever time or day that is. I do tend to reblog/retweet etc before I go to bed, as I live in the UK and that will at least be getting into evening time in US. I reblog my own stuff a fair bit.

[bosskie]

Cigar Demo

Yeah, I have kept doing Blender stuff, and today (yesterday) I modelled a cigar, for Molluck! I had an idea of how I wished it to look like and function, and I'm glad that I managed to create pretty much a cigar I wanted to. I tried to do smoke simulation stuff but well, it didn't look great and my PC ain't probably even powerful enough... Gotta figure out another way to create it, though I'm also planning to get a (more) powerful PC for creating stuff.

Here's a closer look at the cigar:

I wanted to make this look as much as I could like the cigar in Soulstorm. It's not perfect but looks surprisingly good still. I need to fix this a bit though since getting the texture to look seamless ain't easy... But I also wish to make that tip look better. I just wanted to already show this since man, I just feel like I might have gotten some new excitement for doing stuff since this 3D stuff just feels so 'cool'! Oh, and I'm glad that I have finally some Molluck animations I can show...

The glow I did is different than in Soulstorm cutscenes:

I'm not sure of how it's created here but that basic glow his cigar has might be a painted texture but also have barely noticeable glow thing. His cigar doesn't glow often like this but I wanted to create a noticeable glow in my animation. The way I did the glow was my own idea.

Oh, and man, I can't help it but I must say it, once again, that Molluck looks so cute in those screenshots! But well, this screenshot I took is to describe what a nightmare that sculpt's topology is...

These are the wireframes of the objects... I just added some colours via editing, from the rendered piece. That sculpt's wireframe is really that thick... This ain't the right way to sculpt. I do not even know how many polygons it has, Blender won't show it. But yeah, felt like showing this to explain why my sculpt is terrible from technical aspect...

I'm not sure what I do next but something that takes me closer to the thing I wanna create: proper 3D Molluck stuff, like professional looking stuff. It would be just so fun to create my own Molluck animations that relate to his life 'n' stuff, like what I wish OWI did. Luckily, I can do his voice but also the Sligs, so it is possible; I only need to learn this 3D stuff.

I know that 'a more Glukkon like way to do/be' would be to create original content but I can't help that Molluck is just my passion... How much moolah I need to buy him, even a license or whatever? Or if I marry him, is he mine then... Or if I just did a deal with OWI, if I ever end up doing some Molluck stuff I could sell. In one livestream, they said that they are open for such deals. I have seen some people selling Oddworld stuff without an official permission, I assume, but I just do not wish to do such. Though, I still struggle with my mind, feeling like nothing I do is worth any money... Therefore I feel reluctant to open commissions, even I could do them, but it's so difficult when I feel like my stuff has no worth and doesn't look good enough, including myself... I don't even know how much I should/could ask for my works... Even 5 cents feels too much right now.

I'm sorry, my self-hatred is just severe... Today, I just again felt like I should leave Molluck alone, just quit... But another side of me still tells me that my heart doesn't want it; I see inside my head how Molluck doesn't wish me to leave him either, that he doesn't really wish that I was someone else... To describe this shit I deal with like every day, I can also say that sometimes, in my fantasy world, I ask Molluck to end me or imagine leaving him in silence for a meat saw... But my mind still makes Molluck to refuse or make me feel too bad for him if I did it since I can feel that he loves me. It's actually rare for me, to feel loved, even my family has always given me much love... I just lack of something, making me feel broken, but Molluck has been somehow able to start slowly 'repairing' this. Yeah, from all the possible characters, it was Molluck that made me find true love. I feel a connection I have wished to find for years. Thinking about what my situation would be right now if I had never found him makes me feel quite anxious honestly... He is just so important to me and has helped me in many ways. Like, it's often difficult for me to fall asleep, so it's not unsual if it takes 1-2 hour(s) in bed before I fall asleep... It's just difficult to relax but I can at least spend those sleepless moments with Molluck and he is able to make me calm down when I feel too stressed or depressed to sleep. Sometimes, I just feel like I won't survive, but I'm still trying. All this practicing I'm doing is also a part of this.

I think that I should end this post now... I should go to sleep (with Molluck) too...

[typosandtea]

@rad-roche NOIR TIME! Turning my assignment in very late.

Agent Phil Coulson may not be a dame, but he does have a lot or weirdly specific things in common with Nick Valentine!

Your tutorial post on pulp covers was wonderful! But this was so many kilometres out of my stylistic comfort zone that the entire time was like agh! what the hell am I doing?.?? (And why it’s taken over a week). I found a lovely cover for reference “The Deadly September” on the archive you have linked in the tutorial.

Below is things I had to adapt to achieve a similar effect in Procreate, the reference images I used and, the worlds’s most convoluted speed-paint. (Learning new things is messy!)

⚠️THE SPEED-PAINT FLASHES QUICKLY A LOT !! ⚠️

Also I’ve listed some of the weirdly specific similarities between Coulson and Nick! so SPOILERS for Agents of Shield seasons 1-6 (I haven’t gotten around to watching 7 yet, and agents of shield isn’t MCU canon anymore anyway) and Nick’s story / far harbour in Fallout 4! (Spoilers below the speed-paint)

Procreate edits:

Totally used the back button more than I should have. I think I changed brush at least 3 times and edited the texture layers way more before it got to a point I was even remotely happy with. The brush I ended up settling with was procreate’s “Tarraleah” in the ‘artistic’ category, unaltered.

Procreate does have screen layers so was able to use that as in the tutorial, I set my chosen grunge at 90% opacity after inversion.

The contrast / brightness layer was tricker since that’s not a feature in procreate (??????), after lots of messing around I found that filling a layer with black and setting it to “soft light” mode and 85% opacity brings the paper texture I used away from the overly white tones without messing with the colour too much.

Since procreate doesn’t support per layer colour dropper, I had all of the texture layers in a folder so it can be hidden with one click, though personally I tend to guess the colour I need on the wheel rather than use colour dropper, so hiding the texture wasn’t an issue for me so much.

The colour check layer was also a black filled layer but this was set to colour mode as in the tutorial.

⚠️THE SPEED-PAINT FLASHES BRIGHTLY AND QUICKLY ⚠️

VVVVVVV SPOILERS FOR AGENTS OF SHIELD 1-6 AND FALLOUT 4 VVVVVVV

NICK VALENTINE AND AGENT COULSON SIMILARITIES (in my opinion):

Good people at heart

Multiple life shattering, personality altering crisis each.

Experimented on against their will by a group with highly advanced technology resulting in their unethical resurrection. Institute for Nick and Fury’s project TAHITI / Guest Host for Coulson.

Consciousness placed into a Synth / Life Model Decoy after their death against their will (LMDs are marvel’s version of synths with all the ‘is it a person’ and ‘the infiltrators are ruining our organisation’ that come with that) both are in highly modified unique Synth/LMD hardware

Both have killed an enemy they have been hunting for years for nothing but revenge, Eddie Winter for Nick and Ward for Coulson. (Though nobody stays dead in agents of shield)

Part of the plot requires entering a simulation with other peoples memories. DiMA’s memories for Nick and the Framework for the shield crew.

A partner that they can’t see because one of them was murdered as collateral damage. Jenny for Nick, and Coulson is the dead one for Audrey (the cellist)

Betrayed at a great personal cost by the organisation they were upholding when the org. Is revealed to be corrupt/evil. Police being in on Winter’s scheme for Nick and shield being hydra for Coulson.

Key Mission requires strapping them into a memory machine and poking around their brains/memories. Nick with kellogg’s memories and Raina’s need of Coulson’s memories from after he died in New York (though Coulson’s is a lot more traumatic on account of him being human at the time and marvel’s memory machine being painful)

Intentional memory loss forced on them by a third party. Nick’s institute knowledge and Coulson’s unawareness of his resurrection by Fury.

So much trauma, they can’t catch a break.

[thebirdarts]

My 2023 Year in Art

Because of my sporadic drawing, I just picked 12 pieces of mine, spread out across this year, that i felt had an impact or shows an one on my overall artistic style, from the first time I've experimented with something, and when i solidified it.

i nerd out over my own drawing under the cut!

In chronological order, starting with my portrait of my first WOTR commander, Alaun.

Original Post!

Not only is this is representation of me getting into WOTR, its one of the first times i did smoother and softer shading, something i haven't really done since. Additional, i can easily see the line between the metals i rendered here and Cecio & Celia's more stylized metallic elements. I miss Alaun, he was ahead of his time as a good kc of mine. its a fairly big full piece, and one I'm still proud and fond of today!

Original Post!

Estinian! god i miss ffxiv... Here is the root of my bright idea to use pencil brushes for colored shading, to get a textured gradient, and i used it in the metallic golds. its also my biggest art post on this blog! it is a big & detailed piece, and seemed daunting at the time, but i just put in the time, and was rewarded for trying to make sense of the armor [i used my own dragoon as a model for how thing actually interacted & what was what] Im still stupidly proud of it. it was my second piece of FFXIV fanart, and the beginning of many more!

MURA! original post

Given this is about drawings that have impacted me, i think this one is an easy contender for the one that's done so the most. Drawing Mura reminded me how much i loved fashion & clothing, and drawing it! I've always has a tremendous amount of fun with her drawings, and it all started here!! Mura also was the first time i repeatedly used a colour pallet for a character, with her pinks and purples now ingrained into my mind!

Original Post

Out of all my drawings, Estinian and Mura are tied for how much ive drawn them, which Estinian has an advantage due to my large bank of FFXIV screenshots & my redraws thereof. This was great fun, not only for understanding the armor better, but having fun experimenting in colour pallets! something i can see has carried on into my non-literaly coloured Celia & Cecio drawings!

Mura<33 original post [has link to its original art]

My first head only drawing in a long time, and somewhere where i experimented with coloring, as well as the introduction of Muras netted and braided hairstyle! in fact, you can see the visible brush strokes as what would eventually be the stylized shading used in my more recent portraits! The shattered stained glass. looks cool as hell. and was my first time majorly experimenting with layer options, something that would become very common for me.

Mura again<3 original post

Look narrowing it down to three was hard, i drew her so much, she really re-inspired me to draw. Lighting<33 you can really see here the style i would use on Cecio, just using a pencil brush rather than a roller one. its a piece Im very proud of, and one day i will light everything as consistently as this

Miss Star-Sailer<33 original

Expanding the working with a limited color pallet from Mura, and once again rendering metals, this piece of my wol has a special place in my heart. just... her<33 She<33 her muted and dark colour pallet, her expression... i love this one<33

GEORGIE!!! original

my baby boy<33 Im finally drawing curls... and the brightly coloured iris & tiny white pupil may have become a thing of mine.

Celia<33 original

the limited colour pallet, the non literal colours, the sketch peeking through, the shading on both clothing and skin, the hair? this is like the payoff to all theses previous drawings. i used a different pencil brush, and goodbye 6b and hellooo procto pencil!!!!

Cecio<3 original

If the previous drawing was the payoff, this is one of the stages of refinement, taking the new stylized skin shading and applying it to a portrait where the face is the focus, and damn!! Cecio<3

original

A compositional outlier, this piece earned its place for me revising what has to be one of the most drawn compositions of mine - the eye. In many ways its the closing loop of a full circle, the brushstrokes exactly how i would shade with my pencil on paper, the lines and movements coming naturally to me, in an entirely different medium. the main difference is colour, while my pencil drawings were firmly grayscale and i resisted all attempts to get me to use colour, this is practically a sunset, using my knowledge of not just colour but layer filters to create bright and overly saturated variations. full circle, just add colour.

Original

And the final piece! a portrait of Cecio, showing off all i have developed, from the metallics, to the stylized shading, colour pallets, the use of filters for alternate versions, the hair, the face, the new brush!!! its not my last drawing of 2023, but its a fitting end.

- end note.

if you will permit me to get sappy, 2023 has been hell of a year, but damn if it hasn't been pointing upwards. in 2023 i came to understand i was disabled, and my whole life changed course. My art became not just a hobby or skill of mine, but will be my main source of income once i graduate. my existing friendships have strengthened, and so have my online ones, ive met so many new and awesome people. seeing everyone's tags, comments and reactions to my art has been amazing, and thank you all for that. i have seen so many amazing artists and writers who inspired me to better myself, and also to focus on what makes me unique.

2023 has been a hell of a year, but thanks in no small part to some of the most amazing people i've had the privilege of knowing, it been a damn good one.

its been tough, coming to realize your physically disabled and having to rewrite your life plan was hard. its been overall up, but there have been some spikes down. im aware, that every year i say i cant get happier, and then i do, i break though another barrier, reach another high.

im not saying that this year, because i know next year will be better, and the year after that, as i have the opportunity to steer my own life, it will improve in ways i cant even think of now.

Thank you, all.

[alisface]

Fsm for fun and christmas gayming

Soooooo a friend recently gave me some space marine sheets. I dont play sm so I cannot fathom why they did this. But I've had a pretty fun time painting them and basing them of of me and my friends!

So the one I made first was just as a test for the colour scheme but she is now the leader, I never do glowy weapons but i was surprised how good it came out

Next i added me! To get the hair right I walked up to the guy who owns the lgs, grabbed a fistful of my hair and asked him to colour match it. And he did a great job! I also put a nifty trans decal on her front because I like living like that and putting it into my hobbies. She was also a kitbash, the other three leader looking ones were ment to have cool extras.

Next was someone very close to me with blue hair pronouns (she/they) and a GUN in real life. So it was a very easy conversion and they get two guns

Finally the other person very close to me gets two swords. I think it looks pretty good!

I've also recently finished a fifth one and will use it here to show the process:

So here are the primary and ancillary colours I used

This green takes three coats because it comes out fairly wispy

Next is a dark green for the under armor peices. I find It works better than just black so the actual black parts can seem like a different more flexible texture

Next is black in all the joints and and the main trim

And finally for the main colours I used a gold leaf paint. This paint sucks and I hate it. It's very watery and takes alot of shaking to get it useable. It's the other white fr

So onto the other colours. Some are only used on single peices. This one is just on the gun casing

There are alot of metal bits all over, you cant see it to well but theres some on the helmet pipes.

Next is the bronze, with this the backpack is done

Then theres the browns for all the pouches and the seal. For the deal I also usual do a thin white on top to give it a more papery look.

This red is used exactly once and it's on the wax seal

I use a much lighter red on the chain sword and the base level of the sholder fire

Next is an orange and a yellow applied with very messy strokes to give it that 'flame' effect. Theres also the yellow on the eyes.

Then after some touch ups and re lining some areas (yall dont have to do this but I'm messy) shes ready to join her sisters

There also things like oil or highlighting I could do but I'm going to hold of on that for all models until I've figured out where I'm gonna set them

[vaingloury]

Disparate Thoughts on Dungeon Meshi

I'm an anime-only watcher, so no spoilers beyond what's currently aired (eps 1-3) + mild map spoilers for a random 3.5e D&D module (Sunless Citadel).

- I'm not the first nor will I be the last to harp on the English localised title but Delicious in Dungeon sucks. I do, however, think going with the "DnD" naming scheme was a nugget of a good idea (let's face it, "Dungeon Food" sucks too). Maybe "Diners in Dungeon"/"Dungeons & Diners" instead (as in those who dine, not a place where one dines). Or "Dungeon Dine" (like "dungeon dive"). Regardless, I'll just be calling it Dungeon Meshi going forward.

- I don't know if this is coloured by me going into this series with the knowledge that Ryoko Kui loves Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 or a wider ripple effect of eastern dungeon-fantasy conventions being shaped by there not being an official Japanese translation of D&D between Basic and 5e, but the world-building's vibe is old-school D&D as hell. It feels like it was written by someone who maybe never got the chance to play the tabletop game much but spent hours poring over the 1e Monster Manual in hopes of getting a campaign off the ground (and ended up penning a manga instead, game scheduling be damned). There's the disarming of traps, feeling for secret doors, and even the iconic red dragon as seen on the covers of the Basic Dungeon Master's Handbook and 1e Monster Manual being the dungeon boss. Design-wise, the dungeon's layout it reminds me a bit of the map from Ruins of Castle Greyhawk or The Sunless Citadel (pictured below, right).

- The main cast is very tropey at the moment. Quite literally all the Basic classes are covered; the generic white man Fighter (Lv 1, no multi-attack yet :P) as the party face, the halfling/thief, the elf/wizard, the missing cleric, the dwarf... This works for this point in the narrative but doesn't make me particularly attached to any of them. They need another overarching obstacle.

- I generally don't like Studio Trigger's output (not the Imaishi-involved stuff anyway; Gridman fucks) but I respect how bouncy their animation usually is. So, I was excited to watch something animated by Trigger but not (originally) written by them. Dungeon Meshi, however, looks static and resorts too often to Dutch angles to maintain visual interest. There's a bit of an art shift in episode 3 where this improves; more fun "off-model" moments, the movements get a little bouncier, more color harmony. Hopefully, this stays and isn't just a guest director fluke. Form the snippets I've seen on the manga, Kui suffers a bit from "draw background killed my grandma", thus her ability to make her simple character designs emote well has to carry the page. The anime does the opposite; super detailed backgrounds but flat shading/lack of texture on the characters creates a need for them to over-emote with a "screen-shake" effect in order to stand out from their surroundings, which I could see getting old fast. The main event, the food, looks better in the anime than in the manga due to colour and animation bringing it to life.

- I don't usually laugh at Japanese comedies because they're either too slapstick for my tastes or too pun heavy for my JP comprehension level. Dungeon Meshi gets a point for making me "lol" more than once.

- Finally, a good panty shot:

- I watched episode 3 dubbed. EN Marcille > JP Marcille (I say this as a stickler for subs). The rest of the dub cast is fine but I'm probably sticking with JP because JP Laios' ability to scream > EN Laios (EN is a great generic white man, though). I'm not familiar with most of the JP voice cast. I think Chilchuck is my fave in JP.

Both languages have little breathing room between lines of dialog and I was hoping the EN dub would play around with the fact that the character speaking isn't necessarily the one on screen (thus less lip-flap matching, especially for Senshi, who has few indicators that he's actually speaking even when he's onscreen) but alas. I'll do another one of these if I have more to say later in the season 🥂

[full-on-sam]

Mapping and worldbuilding

Soo lately I have been doing some intense worldbuilding for The Ship of Undead! I have mapped out and named two islands out of five and wanted to share some tips!

So first of all, as much as I am a paper for everything kind of person, there are some Internet resources that are SUPER great and helpful!

Inkarnate

It's honestly my favorite one! I made my maps with this. It has a pro version and a free one, but also the free one (which I used) is pretty decent actually!

It lets you model your country/universe, color it with different textures (water, desertic, icy, green as grass etc) and add dwellings, trees, mountains, hills and more!

You can then name all your elements with the text function and save your maps. You have the possibility to build max 10 maps at one time and for me that is already plenty

This is a sample of my Wassermund map

World Anvil

Another great resource is World Anvil. It is a bit harder to use, but on the plus side it allows you to create not only maps, but also characters, World manuals and more!

It is perfect for high fantasy, and actually suitable for both authors and D&D campaigns planner.

Milanote

This one is not as much for maps, as it is for worldbuilding, creating characters sheets and outlining.

It has many templates, it can accommodate authors, artists and more. You can use the board simply putting on notes, or you can use the resources the site itself provides. There are sheets to fill for characters, for character relationships, for worldbuilding, for moodboards, for outlining. It let's you add as many images as you want and you can create boards inside boards, so you can have all your stuff neatly distinct, but still all in one place!

It is actually very useful!

Honorable mention: the rice method.

If you are someone who likes better drawing maps on paper, the rice method is what I recommend! Basically you grab a handful of rice, and pur it on your notebook. You then trace the general sape left by the rice. Since every single grain is small, it lets you create nice map borders and edges, without having just a flat coast/border line, but an actual dynamic one!

Or you can always do as I like: do an online map, print it and then trace and colour it on your notebook.

Also please note: Inkarnate, World Anvil and Milanote, all require to sign up!

[daybreakrising]

@avaere: "What about that building over there -" Kaveh muses abruptly, a hand reaching over to Vautrin's shoulder, requesting his attention with a small squeeze. " It seems to be clothing store now, but from looking at the exterior it doesn't seem like it has always been one ? If there's someone who knows his history it's you, and it would be great to understand how shops are usually modeled in Fontaine, whereas..."

He goes on and on about it, all as his hand rests neatly on top of Vautrin's shoulder, eyes falling to his every now and then with a little smile. There are mentions of a job, of course, then details he was looking for in the various buildings he had been asking Vautrin to explain the history of, all tucked into longer ramblings that surely would come off as ancient tongue to most.

Seriously, how can a guy talk so much about a building?

Only when he nears the end of his musings does his hand fall down, grazing Vautrin's back with a light caress. Smile never quite falters as maroon eyes return to him; " ... maybe we should get something to eat after you've answered my initial question ! What kind of building used to be in the place of that clothing store ?" Hand, however, doesn't quite part from the other as it seems to have made itself a little comfortable against Vautrin's lower back.

"You always have the most interesting stories to share."

He has never known someone with as much enthusiasm for buildings as the man now launching into yet another rambling speech in which Vautrin only catches roughly sixty percent of the words, and understands only about forty percent. It doesn't matter to him that Kaveh may as well be speaking another language - he listens anyway, the gentlest of smiles curving upon his lips as he watches how animated the architect gets. Hands are waved in broad, sweeping gestures, details are singled out with the point of a finger, and he speaks with his entire soul.

It is a thing of beauty.

Until Kaveh, Vautrin had never really considered the architecture of Fontaine in any great detail. He appreciated the aesthetics of some of the more prominent buildings, yes, but he'd never paid much thought to anything beyond the facades. Now, however, he finds himself following the architect's pointing fingers, taking in the clever elements of construction, noticing all these small details that would otherwise have gone unremarked upon.

The question lingers in his mind as he waits for a pause in which to deliver his answer. How this man can talk for so long without seeming to even pause for breath is an incredible feat in itself. But, for a man like Vautrin, who speaks so little and so reservedly, he is more than happy to let Kaveh fill the silences with his vibrant and passionate ramblings.

The building in question, he remembers, used to be owned by a glassmith of incredible talent. He can still picture the beautiful displays of glassware in the windows - vibrantly coloured vases, decanters and bottles textured with intricate patterns, elegant wine glasses of varying shapes and sizes. His favourites, however, had been the collection of sculpted sea creatures that had always sat in the left window, arranged in a colourful ocean scene. He'd used the mora given to him for his birthday one year to buy his sister an adorable little seahorse that she had treasured until the end. He wonders, now, when the glassmith died - if his shop continued on after his death, what happened to all of those beautiful sculptures.

He's about to interject, sensing the approach of a lull in the ramblings of the other, to answer the question posed to him, when he feels the hand upon his shoulder shift, skim down his back - and all coherent thought stutters into a standstill inside his head.

There's an instant heat that prickles over his skin, as if that single, simple touch has set every nerve aflame. Breath is drawn sharply between his lips, hitching in his throat - such an intimate touch, and in public no less. There is something of a claim in the placement of Kaveh's hand, the way it lingers against him.

And he likes it.

Perhaps, if one looked close enough, there might be the faintest tint of colour in the former captain's face as he subtly leans into the man beside him. A hand lifts, reaches for the other's waist - then hesitates, and drops back to his side. Too soon.

Swirling blue and purple slowly shifts to meet maroon, the repeated question finally registering once more in his distracted mind. "Oh, um... yes..." Archons, pull yourself together, idiot. He attempts a subtle clearing of his throat, swallows down the breath still hitched there. "It, uh... it used to be owned by a glassmith. The kilns were located at the back there, where the roof extends out. And do you see the lamps affixed to the shop front? Those were made by the owner - unless they have been replaced since, but they look like the ones I remember."

Maybe he is riding the thrill of the hand at his back, or maybe he is simply getting bolder - but as Vautrin steps away (somewhat reluctantly) to guide Kaveh along to the nearest café to continue this discussion, as that hand is forced to fall away with the motion, gloved fingers catch the architect's and entwine.

Holdings hands in public. How far he's come. "How about I tell you more over lunch?"