#not sure if i'll have time this year to start drawing a comic etc

[navyinks]

I'm excited to say that after two years of little to no progress, Dandelion Children will finally be getting some pretty meaningful updates this year ^-^

Although most pre-existing characters will stay, their designs have all undergone significant changes and the plot will focus on Neppie's journey rather than Rahn's final days. New characters will also begin showing up in the next few months :) You can check out the Dandelion Children tag on my blog to see previous characters designs and story concepts.

My art goal for 2024 is to tell more stories, and I'm really excited to share with everyone what I've been working on for a while now :) I'm grateful for those who still remember Dandelion Children & hope it isn't too late to begin pushing the story out! xD

[yamujiburo]

Do you think you could info dump all that you know about Madame Boss and Mayomoto with drawings? I would love to know more about their dynamic and about young Giovanni with baby Jessie. Maybe Delia could ask Jessie about it in a comic? Would it be sad or nostalgic? Maybe both? Like a flashback or something would be cool! Anyway, love your art and everything that you do!! ❤️

I'm not sure I can get it out in just drawings (just because it's a lot) but I have quite a few I've already done if you wanna look through my tags~ I'll also explain a bit here with some of my old comics. Long post under the cut~

Canonically, Madame Boss is the founder of Team Rocket and Giovnanni's mother. Miyamoto was one of her elite agents and Jessie's mother. They're REALLY close as evidenced by how they talk to one another (ex. Madame Boss calling Miyamoto "Miyamoto chan", Miyamoto's informal way of speaking to Madame Boss despite her being her superior, their friendly banter, etc.). Madame Boss sends Miyamoto and two other Team Rocket members on a mission to find Mew, but she and the other members never return. Miyamoto's implied to still be alive, endlessly chasing Mew with Jessie as her north star and reason to keep going. Madame Boss passes away sometime between the radio drama and before the events of the first Pokémon Movie. You can listen to the whole drama here! Madame Boss and Miyamoto are primarily in the first part, but Miyamoto pops up at the end of each of the other parts at different periods of time.

This is more where my headcanons begin! Miyamoto, whose dub name I hc being (Calamity) Jane, joined Team Rocket mostly because of her not great circumstances. She works her way up the ladder quickly and impresses Madame Boss. They become close but at the time, Miyamoto was dating a charismatic performer/con man that MB, not so subtly, doesn't approve of. She was right to not approve as this man got Miyamoto pregnant but left her before he'd known.

Madame Boss, despite her penny pinching behavior (Team Rocket wasn't that big yet), does what she can to help out Miyamoto. They had to tread carefully though, they didn't want anyone thinking there was any sort of favoritism happening.

Jessie is born, and for a little while Miyamoto keeps her and raises her the best she can. On more short term missions she'd leave her with Madame Boss, who's not super fond of children, and would have her own son Giovanni watch her (or have another grunt in Team Rocket watch her). This wasn't sustainable, so Miyamoto quickly puts Jessie in foster care (the foster care part is canon). Miyamoto would still visit her daughter whenever she could.

Ultimately, Miyamoto was a very driven, one track minded woman. She would constantly go on missions and after discovering Mew, became obsessed. It was around this time Madame Boss was starting to catch feelings for Miyamoto. Miyamoto would play along but was not nearly as invested in their relationship is Madame Boss was. Not in a malicious or leading on sort of way, she just had a job she wanted to get done

When it was time for Miyamoto to go on the mission to actually find Mew, Madame Boss, while excited at the prospect of getting her hands on a legendary Pokémon and the money that came with that, began to worry in the days leading up to the mission and tried to get Miyamoto to stay. She offered to send a different team out. To her they were disposable, but Miyamoto wasn't. Miyamoto didn't take the offer, wanting the glory and money of finding Mew for herself (but also had a daughter she wanted to get back to and be able to provide for). She leaves and goes MIA

Madame Boss is brokenhearted and after several years of Miyamoto going missing, is not able to run Team Rocket, troubled by the immense amount of guilt and heartache, and Giovanni takes over. She remains in the organization, more so operating in the background. It was rare for agents to see her out and about. But years later she sees Jessie's joined Team Rocket as a trainee. She requests Viper and Giovanni keep an eye out for her. Viper doesn't know why but does as he's told. Giovanni understands, remembering Jessie as the little toddler he'd have to take care of many years ago as well as her mother Miyamoto, who he knew was very close to his mother.

Not too long after, Madame Boss passes away but Giovanni keeps his promise and continues to keep Jessie employed.

I don't think Jessie remembers much of her mom or anything from around this time. I don't think she even remembers her mom being in Team Rocket or Giovanni babysitting her. She just remembers her mother leaving and never coming back and holds some resentment, not knowing the context of why Miyamoto disappeared.

I've thought about doing a story where Miyamoto returns in my hanamusa au but I still gotta think it out more. It starts with Miyamoto stopping by Delia's restaurant and she and Delia talk, not knowing the little connection they have via Jessie.

[capn-twitchery]

do you have any tips for drawing expressions? it’s one thing that I always notice about your art, I love how expressive your characters are.

thank you so much!! it really means a ton bc expressions are one of the things i've focused & worked the hardest on over the years :D ♥

which ALSO MEANS--HA, YOU ACTIVATED MY SPECIAL INTEREST TRAP CARD i am now going to talk at you all for far too long about it >:) buckle up!

prefacing this by saying i Love animation, this makes me biased as hell with where i get my sources + how i study art. anyway!

i think my biggest #1 tip is don't be afraid to get goofy with it--characters don't have to look cool and stoic all the time, they can be silly! if an expression reads better, but looks a little off-model, do it anyway! make that guy look weird!

i draw little thumbnail expressions a Lot, whether for actual art or for just fun doodling. i don't have any recent ones to hand-- but here's some from a while ago. they help a ton to figure out what works quickly without worrying about actual facial features

they also help to see if i can push an expression further, it's easier to test out weird things on a tiny round doodle and then translate that into an actual drawing later on. pushing expressions To The Limits is a really good exercise in itself!

gonna put the rest under the cut bc it's getting long & i have a lot more to say

ok this in itself is a whole topic i can go on about for hours, but i'll try to keep it semi brief--i Love considering how different characters would show emotions! how one character would express sadness, how that would be different to another, how one character would smile vs. another, stuff like that!

related, giving characters individual expression quirks. twitch's :3 mouth & lazy lidded eyes if you could see them anyway & Very Smug Eyebrows, while grace has heavy low eyebrows & sad puppy eyes & usually looks at least 10% unsure at all times. it makes every single twitch smile look slightly not genuine and makes grace look. well. you know. the quirks are really fun to think of, and it makes drawing expressions feel a lot more fun when you personalise them!!

expressions can be easier to think of when you put characters in scenarios & consider how they'd react. it can also help to think of the character Moving/talking, instead of as a static image. mini comics or just adding dialogue to art helps a lot with this, i've only just started doing it and i'm having a blast!!

ok this one is weird and hard to explain and might only be applicable to me bc i can't see images in my brain-- but i'll throw it out there just in case! lots of artists make faces in the mirror to reference their own expressions, but it's never worked for me

i Do still act stuff out in my brain & make faces irl, but instead of doing it in the mirror, i just make the expression & consider how my face is moving in Words? ok for example This Comic, last panel for twitch--i'd run through the dialogue in my head and move around how i feel like they would, and list it off in Words--raised eyebrows, closed eyes, tilted head, etc etc. then i have a framework to base the expression on! and i don't need to stare into my own face in the mirror for reference. no mirror needed at all, actually. win/win. i do this for body language too

(yes this makes you look insane btw. sorry. if you do it too long best case scenario you get very dextrous eyebrows and worst case scenario you might start making cartoon character faces irl (or both) (i'm both))

not sure how much it helps specifically with expressions outside of animation, but it's a fun exercise--learning the limits of a character's face, animation calls it squash & stretch. drawing a face in the two most extreme states. so on character expression sheets you'll see weird faces like this⤵️ that's what that is

another exercise, i always have a ton of art saved that i like the expressions of. usually a lot of concept art for films. i'll do studies of them & redraw them, and/or take ocs and redraw them with those expressions! it's a great way to look at how other artists do stuff and yoink bits you like.

you'll hear this a lot if you look up Any art tips, but references & studies are great. i get a lot of inspo from disney concept art bc their artists are very talented people, but currently i hope disney studios' own hubris eats it alive. i want to see mickey mouse buried in a hole, the rat bastard. anyway some places i personally take inspiration from:

i look at a lot of animation concept art, some good sources are characterdesignreferences, livinglineslibrary, there's pdfs of animation art books all over the place too.

specific concept artists i like are jin kim & shiyoon kim !! they do Great expressions.

outside of film industry, tealin and tracy butler of lackadaisy cats are some inspirations! tracy butler has a great expressions tutorial here

if you find this stuff interesting & like reading, the illusion of life by ollie johnston & frank thomas is an incredible insight into the thought process behind stuff like this! there's a pdf here, unfortunately just a scanned copy but worth a read if you like this stuff!! specifically chapters 'character development', 'animating expressions & dialogue', and 'acting & emotions'

sorry that was an essay and a half but hopefully it was a little bit helpful!! i always love talking about this stuff so if you want anything clarified/just wanna talk about it more i am Always ready to go off >:3

[souriadraws]

Thanks for sending me the text. So, it's the last time I am talking about Dokidokistart / Lia Marin on here or anywhere. For my own health they’ve been out of my existence and memory for + 1 year now. She makes me ill and depressed, and I am not saying that lightly I've been hospitalized two times in 2022, because I unjustifiably thought I was a horrible/ fake person and my body didn't react well. I will say "their" for the different art accounts they have but apologies in advance if specific pronouns were needed :/

So:

This is the meanest, ugliest and filed with hate message so far - and of course I'll reply to it. And I am the obsessed one? SURE. I've been sick for a year after their emails and I won't let it slide. Art is not a competition nor should it be a 'fight' imo.

I admire a looot of artists, including theirs from the get go, and I still do - I am in a constant struggle to not let any interference or inspo (colors, shapes, style, composition etc!) drive the way I draw or imagine drawings, but like anyone out there, I do get automatically inspired by many artists I come across. I am not sorry for that, I feed myself with different artworks because I just love art and love to be inspired. I've said to them sorry if my art tends to lean toward their style since I've seen it, I've liked many comics/ anime artists and it's just not from theirs only (I mainly love Dan Mora and that’s been the main inspo from the beginning not theirs so, it’s funny really), it's a multitude of inspo I am proud of to build my style or artworks. All my drawings or sketches are my OWN, and I've been drawing F1 stuff since 2018 (and I didn't even know Lia at all back then?) What is this mascarade, if only I knew?? Will not waste my time with the lies - or the way they seem to take everything the wrong way somehow (and see evil in everything). When I am just trying to be the best version of myself as person and artist, and it comes with its struggles for sure, but know I am doing my best, always. For the art style inspo, isn't everything inspiration from our own empiric feelings to make our own stuff afterwards? The dokidokistart artstyle itself is inspired from Evangelion art and Yoshiyuki Sadamoto lines of work, and that's very cool, nothing wrong with that imo. So why can't I love artists and draw my very own stuff?? In the end, My style is unique and it’s me.

About the other arguments - I am not fake kind, this is just the real me, the education I am proud of and I am a work in progress, leave it or take it, it's ok but don't put ill attempts on my person, when there's none. For the stamps (I won't put our WhatsApp convo in there, I've shown you the stamps to try them and I've asked if it's ok to use it just on some letters (so its non commercial), with a 2 days delay bc yes I forget things; your reply was that it was ok for me to use it- why not come forward if it wasn't ok back then? The incomprehension is total when it comes to them and the way they're just not straight forward. I am not in everybody's head, I do not have ill intentions, if there's an issue, just let me know.

About the post and Lewis flag itself-- I've seen what misplaced jealousy can make you say or do but this is way too much. I've just made a flag because my dear father asked me to do one for the past 6 months, so I've made one with Big Cartel dropshipping option. This is my artwork, I drew it from scratch, what does it have to do with any of their work?? A Lewis pic I've like popped off and I've drawn it with a flag, nothing fancy , a very generic drawing - a simple Lewis portrait for a race flag - why make it wrong or big deal? Why ruin this moment, I didn't do anything harmful and this is MY DRAWING and composition. This is just sick. Didn't know they'd invented race flags or notebooks (cf all cool artists I follow do awesome products similar to them. I should be gatekeeping Keychains too because when I started doing them, Lia did some too, you think?) Well no. I let everyone strive and do their thing, as long as they’re happy and it's their drawings.

I will keep bettering myself as an artist, I will keep drawing on my terms and live my life surrounded by caring people who know that I am not just an @ you can punch whenever. Please Lia do the same and forget about me forever.

X

[ask-the-totally-real-peppino]

(I have been trying to write this post for a while, but it keeps coming out like a sob story, and it is really not that deep jkfdgkj

So I am just going to say it, bc you guys know I love to ramble for ages, and I need some opinions

1 year of this blog is tomorrow (or today depending on how long I take to write this kjldfg), and I really do appreciate you all being here - if you have been here since the beginning, or just followed recently - if you've sent an ask, liked, reblogged, shared with a friend, theorised, made fanart, or followed me to my art blog and watched me make (and continue to make) a billion clones, anything; thank you

I made this blog on a whim, only like a week after getting into Pizza Tower, and I had no idea it would turn into what it is now

Of course, in the beginning there were a lot of actual posts, like with backgrounds and multiple characters, and I'd post several times a day if I could - and while I was having fun, it was not ideal - I'd frequently post at 7am after spending all night working on a post then I'd pass out, I'd forgo eating or showering just to draw, and I had wrecked my wrist several times, and continue to push pass the pain just to post

It wasn't just hyperfixation, it was obsession - much easier to realise that in retrospect

I was also medicated at the time, I had been on antidepressants for 3 years, so around April (I think) I ran out of meds and was unable to get more due too third party issues/unable to get in contact with my doctor/etc (and unbeknownst to me at the time, the last two packs I had were expired) - so I am sure you can imagine the sort of affect suddenly going cold turkey on the med that make you not wanna die has on a person - I was not doing great to put it lightly

But I still wanted to continue - so many people had praised me on the frequency of posts, and how excited they were and all this validation - I couldn't let people down! (Also I was, and still am, a disabled shut-in loser with no friends, posting is like the only social interaction I had/have kdfgkgfd)

But I think I did - I intimidated myself out of drawing main posts with how much work they were, started the intermission even though I said I shouldn't, had no script or direction and that I was not 100% invested in to try to motivate myself back into main posts, and it was just easier to draw silly ooc posts than do the thing I really wanted to do instead

Of course, this is not any of you guys' fault - I have always had this issue of starting something, it getting way bigger than I can manage, crashing and then just unable to get going again - I have so many unfinished comics, half-done projects and abandoned askblogs it's not even funny - but it's also like, not the end of the world, if I don't finish things I start for fun - sure, I'll feel guilty as hell for a while, but life moves on

So that being said, I would still very much like to continue the story here - I have been working on some stuff in the background (I even updated Pep's reference in the last few days, with a ton of new stuff), but I still don't think it's gonna be soon - I am doing somewhat better than I was, and I actually have an appointment for with my doctor finally (I will probably have to do some reassessments since they can't just put me back on the meds, after not having them for almost a year, and then I'd have to probably get reaccustomed to side effects etc), so despite it all I am still here

I am not sure if I want to continue the intermission with Bean and Fiend at this time - I know a few folks enjoyed it (mostly bc Fiend kjsdfkj) - but as mentioned previously it was unplanned, unscripted, and I was quickly not feeling it, as I am sure some of you guys were too - the intention was for Fiend to give you guys another hint to the main story, but getting to that point was not fun - I might do a poll on this in a separate post

I also mentioned a while back that I would be cutting down the Big Post into smaller posts, and posting as and when parts were done - but once again, do not expect these soon - (although there is a very late Valentines post coming hopefully soon)

And I think that should hopefully be it for now - I know this is a huge post, and probably still a bit sob story-ish, but oh well - I also know that the hype for Pizza Tower had unfortunately died down significantly, but I'm still working on PT stuff on my art blog @smalltimidbean if you wanna see more silly things (and maybe some lore for here hehe)

It is also the first now, so happy birthday Pep

Okay, thank you, and see you later)

[temtamtom]

Any thoughts on Seborga?

Ohhh I love love love him. He's my little guy. My rotten soldier. My sweet cheese. My good-time boy.

I didn't care about him all that much until I visited the town of Seborga last year (I was in the area and wanted to drop by). I started thinking about him a lot more after that, and here we are now. I can't have modern Itabros or Itafam content without Sebby, it just wouldn't be the same 😔

This post might get a lil' lengthy as usual, so I'll put my headcanons and thoughts under "read more":

I feel like he's under-utilized in the brother/family dynamic, which is a shame. He's an interesting contrast to his brothers, who've been around for thousands of years and experienced so many hardships. He's very young and still a little naive to the reality of nationhood. His brothers kept him sheltered throughout his upbringing so he could have an easy, happy childhood. Lord knows it was messy for Romano and Feliciano. They didn't want that for Sebastiano.

Since Seborga is in the region of Liguria, I think he was given to Genova(/Liguria) first as a baby. Genova, who isn't very good at caring for others and knows it, immediately called up Feliciano. One thing led to another, and Seborga soon became part of their family. Sebby and Genova have a relationship but not as brothers. Maybe Sebby sees him more as a close family friend/"zio" type of person. Someone he can turn to for advice when he doesn't want his brothers to get involved in his problems.

The first few years of his life were very nerve-wracking. I have a headcanon that he aged scarily fast for a nation, on par with a human. They weren't sure if he would keep aging and eventually die off, and they didn't calm down until the late 70s/early 80s when his growing slowed to a halt. There was also a lot of debate about what sort of relationship they should have with Seborga. They were raising him from infancy, so were they his parents? Is one technically more of a "parent" than the other? What about just being brothers? Yeah, brothers sound better. Brothers but with more Nuance(TM).

Romano and Feli received an extensive education as children, so it felt obvious that Sebby should attend school as much as possible. Due to their living and working arrangements, Seborga went to school in Rome and consequently picked up a lot of Roman mannerisms. Something that didn't go unnoticed by Genova every time he saw the kid ("Look at what you've done to this Ligurian boy! He's Roman!")

Onto one of my favourite dynamics within the family- Romano and Sebby's dynamic. Grumpy boomer big brother and his baby brother who likes getting on his nerves at every opportunity but, goddamnit, that's his weird baby brother and he still loves him to pieces. I'm a big softie for some loving-big-bro-'mano content. That man will look out for his family I just know it. His doors are always open for Seborga and there will always be food on the table for him, no matter what. Even if Seborga likes to grind his gears.

Seborga grew up reading a lot of comics! He started with the more kid-friendly ones like Disney comics (Paperino, Topolino, etc.) and soon graduated to things like TEX (one of Romano's favourites) and Dylan Dog. As a child, he'd draw his own little comic strips and characters- a hobby that Feliciano actively encouraged.

One of his closest friends is Monaco. Seborga is very close to the French border, and while I was in the area, I got the chance to visit Monaco for a day. The drive was quite easy and relatively quick, so it's not hard to imagine that they would've struck up a friendship since they're quite close! One thing that I enjoy about this friendship is the Uptown Girl/Downtown Boy dynamic they'd have ❤️ I don't know, I just think they're lovely

I'll stop here, but. Yeah. I just think he's neat! A lovely fella

[purity-town]

No update today -- next chapter's cover has had a good chunk of progress made on it, but I'm too busy tomorrow to get it finished up to post at a reasonable time. (This works out well anyhow, as I'll be moving back down for college next week, so if the current page wasn't partially finished already I may have not had the time to complete an update.) In the meantime, finally getting around to posting ask responses (below the cut)!

I'm really glad to hear you're liking it! Life's been a little crazy lately, so updates have been more scattered than I'd like, but I'm still thoroughly enjoying making this comic, so I'm you're enjoying reading it!

Looking at the timestamps, the first page was released on December 12th, 2020. So we’re just past 2 and a half years now!

The actual “development” of the story technically goes a bit further back to the time around the 1.4 update release, as I was getting really into the game lore and wrote up some worldbuilding ideas. Then in late November of 2020 I started planning a fanfic based on that, did a short 2-page comic set in that AU for fun, and then ended up expanding that original fanfic into the current, longer comic!

I’m gonna tentatively say yes! At least, one per Andrew and the Clothier each. There wouldn’t really have been a reason to make more than one of Andrew. There technically could’ve been more made of the Clothier, but one was all that was really needed.

Fortunately this current set of backgrounds outside of the dungeon is relatively simple, as I reuse the base coloring for the columns and adjust the perspective/lighting as necessary (each column is actually two pieces -- one “flat” side and one “angled” side).

I have a pretty limited capacity for doing backgrounds, so I tend to use tricks like this to reuse them where I can, haha. The first few backgrounds for an area tend to be harder, as I need to make assets and figure out how I want lighting and so on to work, but from there it usually gets easier.

It's still dependent on the background's design, of course -- backgrounds that are painted (usually outdoors) are a much different experience to work with than areas with detailed lineart and textured surfaces, such as the tavern and Andrew's kitchen. I'm slowly getting used to the perspective tools in Clip Studio Paint, though, which is helping a lot with drawing indoor spaces!

In all honesty, I was mostly focused on making it immediately recognizable even in silhouette, and that it fit well on the page, rather than focusing on making it perfectly to scale or the likes, haha.

Design-wise I find the Wall of Flesh to be super interesting -- it visually ties the “first” boss of progression (EoC) in with the last boss (Moonlord). And it’s overall very jarring, in that it’s easy to accidentally summon and turns the Underworld into an inescapable auto scroller in a way none of the other bosses do. And of course the story/lore significance, etc. etc. etc.

So when the time comes, I hope I can do it justice!

Honestly, I’m not sure! I still haven’t totally decided how that whole sequence of events will go -- some parts of it are very clearly planned out, others not so much. In a general sense, I do think that Chris’ reaction could vary significantly with the circumstances -- how much of a shock it is, and if he understands the significance of it -- but generally wouldn’t be good, in a horrified/panicking sense. 

At the current point in the comic, Chris *does* have a general idea that something weird is up with Andrew, just based on what Heather/Malik/Becca were saying (including Heather’s mention of “burns”), plus Andrew leaving in a hurry that morning and brushing it off when asked about it. He doesn’t believe that Andrew is evil, of course, just that he’s dealing with some things, and Chris is appropriately concerned.

So- yeah, finding a doll of Andrew in the Underworld- honestly, there are a lot of ways for him to take it badly.

But hey, once he has the doll, Hardmode won’t be far away, and that’ll bring a whole new host of problems for him to focus on instead!

[daydreamerwonderkid]

What fandoms you currently hyperfixated on?

Your oldest fandom?

Your favorite animes?

Favorite games?

How long you've been drawing?

Your favorite character from any franchise you can think of rn?

Sorry for the introgation LMAO, i just want to know more 👀

Lol you're all good, I don't mind asks like this :3

What fandoms you're currently hyperfixated on?

-Currently I'm pretty stuck on Batman/DC (can you tell?), but I'm also really into Dungeon Meshi and Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint. My sister recently introduced me to The Greatest Real Estate Developer and we've both been having an absolute blast with it. Idk if it has that big of a fandom, but it definitely should pffftt

Your oldest fandom?

-I wanna say Marvel and Star Wars since the first movie I ever saw was A New Hope and my first comic books were Spider-man and X-men comics. I was really hardcore into the MCU at its height and I'm a diehard fan of the Clone Wars series.

-Funnily enough, I was getting a bit burnt out by both the Marvel and SW fandoms a while back and that's actually why I got back into Batman and DC XD

Your favorite animes?

-My #1 favorite anime/manga/story of all time has got to be Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood. I don't know what to say about it that hasn't already been said, but it really is that fucking good and Hiromu Arakawa is definitely a huge inspiration to me.

-Other than that, I gotta say Paranoia Agent, Mob Psycho 100, Love is War, Spy x Family, Trigun (haven't seen Stampede yet), Mononoke, Castlevania, and Mushishi. I'm sure there's more, but those were the ones I could think of off the top of my head.

Favorite games?

-There's so many games I play, so I'll try to narrow it down a bit. Tbh my longest favorite running series/franchise has got to be Legend of Zelda. The only game from the series I didn't enjoy was Spirit Tracks, but otherwise I've pretty much enjoyed every single entry.

-I also love the Ace Attorney series, Stardew Valley, Jedi: Fallen Order (I have Survivor, but haven't played it yet), Disco Elysium, the Yakuza series, Ib, etc.

How long you've been drawing?

-Genuinely don't remember when I started. I think I've always been drawing. Of course, I was taught traditional art mediums first. I did a lot of oil painting, watercolor and charcoal drawing. It wasn't until, I wanna say, my third year of college that I started learning about digital art. It's not a medium I'm a 100% comfortable with and I've only recently started feeling more confident with it when I realized I could download brushes that were similar to pencils/ink/charcoal/watercolor/copic markers/etc.

Your favorite character from any franchise you can think of rn?

-That's a little difficult since I have so fucking many XD

-Atm, I can say my brain has been super fixated on Marcille Donato (Dungeon Meshi) and Dick Grayson (Nightwing/Batman). Tbh my brain is constantly rotating my favorites, so it really depends on the day or the week who my new top blorbo(s) is gonna be

[umbra-borealis]

TLDR, Elements of Chaos, a massive Sonic AU I've had for years will be in production, meaning most my spare time will go towards that. C0mms might still be open but I'll be more picky because I want to make sure I can actually deliver quality without overworking myself. It's just me, one singular guy, working on this passion project and while I'm okay with that, keep in mind that things might move slowly. I don't have the mental capacity, free time or funding to work on it full time. I'm still excited though and I hope you guys are too.

And of course, here's that ko-fi link I mentioned.

Transcript:

Umbra's 2024 look-ahead

Hello everyone!

2023 was a rather slow year for me as an artist but eventful for me mentally. Because of this I wasn't able to do as much as I had planned and that, not going to lie, hurts. But I'm also ready to leave that in the past and perhaps just push the pause button on some things to return to later because certain things (like the tarot card project) still live rent free in my head. These big long term projects are most impacted by the small amount of folks interested in them besides myself and before you think I'm complaining, this is actually a bit of a blessing because this means I can put a pin in that and things like it to instead focus on something more important to me...

ELEMENTS OF CHAOS.

This is a Sonic AU, yup. Lets get that out of the way first. I'm far from the only one to have an AU and turn it into a full length fic or comic but the thing is, I'm doing neither. Sonic has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. It was a comfort during my most traumatizing years as a child when I had to navigate abuse on the daily, it was a reason for me to not commit sewer slide when I was at my lowest and I cannot begin to express the many ways it affected me as a writer and artist. Together with it's less well known sibling NiGHTS, the Sonic series is the reason I draw/write at all. But as we all know, the Sonic series isn't without it's flaws and just like so many others, I started re-writing bits and pieces I didn't like to form a new narrative.

This is a long haul passion project. The format has already been decided on and I plan to keep 'dev logs' for folks to keep up with if it interests them because I can't promise the release of it's first chapter any time soon. This project only has one person doing all the work and that person is me so if you're interested in supporting me I have a ko-fi link I'll attach to this post (and hopefully more options to come soon) They come with perks too so I don't feel like I'm just e begging, lmao.

Here's a little list of things I'm doing/have to do in order to start publishing.

Character references (Sonic is done already). This is because this story will also feature illustrations.

Website building. Yes, I plan to host a website on Neocities specially for Elements of Chaos.

Actual writing, doi. It's true that I have already worked on the first chapter and gotten positive feedback on what I have so far, but it's far from done!

Cover/page illustrations. This is a storybook type thing. I want to experiment and learn as an artist. This project will be my playground for that and hopefully you'll get to see that growth as the story progresses.

Development will happen in that order, so you can expect references before anything else.

For now, happy new year everyone! I'll share more fun stuff such as a synopsis, world building, stream news etc. in the near future. For now I'm going to enjoy what's left of the holidays before going straight back to work. I look forward to taking everyone along on this creative journey. Thank you!

[amesliu]

FAQ + Navigation

note: the FAQ is regularly updated, please double check whether or not your question has been answered here 🖤

🙅‍♀️unless otherwise stated i do not do art requests or commissions🙅‍♀️

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SOHAE 2: SAFETY PINS AND BROKEN HEARTS IS OUT Read SOHAE (popstar!Annabeth x pop-punk!Percy) @strungoutheart Send song/lyrics for SOHAE to @sohaesongrecs SOHAE Masterlist (playlists, lore, etc) art tutorials/discussions | sohae feedback | SOHAE E-BOOKS tiktok: amyliuvstheworld | instagram: amesvstheworld | twitter: amesliu | print shop | reblog blog/personal: @xx-ames-xx 18+ mutuals/friends ask about sauce account

Under the cut: General FAQ, SOHAE FAQ, and SOHAE Book FAQ

General FAQ

What programs do you use?

Procreate and photoshop

What brushes do you use?

Procreate: mainly 6b sketch and Tamar for full colour drawings, 6b sketch + andreaga's watercolour brushes for comic inks Photoshop: KYLE Ultimate Charcoal Pencil

Anything related to 5s*s or T*ylor Sw*ft

While I've been open about the fact that a lot of things started with the mashing of PJO and 5s*s/T*ylor, now that we are over 50 chapters deep into this story I like to think we are well past that point. If you read SOHAE and the only thing you get out of it is the 5s*s/Swiftifaction of PJO characters than I'm not sure you go the most out of it. (This includes asks that are just imagine if blackjack/annabeth did [thing ts/5s*s did]) While I appreciate T*ylor as an artist I care very little for her as a person so questions about her personal life outside of her songs and how they relate to SOHAE's plot do very little for me, and when something you don't care much about is in your face constantly it is hard to not be annoyed. A similar principle applies to 5s*s

Asking about webtoon (or if I would post to any other platform)

i loath webtoon. i'll chew my left leg off before i put sohae on webtoon. i despise it's infinite growth model. i hate formatting for vertical scroll. i don't like it's metrics games or it's microtransactions. i want to fight webtoon in a wendys parking lot. also i will not upload to other platforms, this is the format i've chosen and it's a choice i made after a lot of thought so yk ✋

⚠️ art use⚠️

for pfps/headers etc: credit when possible for reposts: easily visible and accessible credit must be included, asking first is preferred for edits: easily visible and accessible credit (tag me so I can see it) absolutely no commercial use

SOHAE Book FAQ

Will you ever sell physical copies again?

X

Have you considered copyright issues w/ the SOHAE book?

yes, see here

SOHAE

(please make sure to consult the masterlist as well)

If you have an ask that contains a song recommendation please submit @sohaesongrecs

wanna talk about a song already in the playlists? come to my inbox! song that aren't? send them to @sohaesongrecs (direct submission link)

What do the puzzle pieces mean?

puzzle piece discourse here

Are they the same ages?

Their relative ages to each other are the same. Percy and Annabeth are 22 at the beginning of the comic.

Can we write fics/make art of SOHAE?

Yes! and tag me/send it to me so I can see it <3

Is ________ canon to SOHAE?

if it’s not in the comic it’s not inherently canon. this includes my own posts that aren’t just explanations of things that are in/relevant to the events of SOHAE. Playlists are canon and fics are canon as indicated.

What is the time span/timeline of SOHAE?

There’s no precise timeline for SOHAE but around/over 2 years from start to finish

please note: the characters in SOHAE are based on my interpretation of the book descriptions. the initial art for SOHAE was started prior to casting announcements and when Walker was casted the decision was made to ignore the tv cast regardless of who was chosen due to the young age of the actors and the fact that SOHAE skews mature in content. its my personal belief that there can be multiple equally canon versions of the same character especially as adaptions come out and i do not tolerate anyone who dismisses the casting or describes book versions as the “true” version, these comments will be removed immediately and the people will be blocked from all blogs.

(canon will follow the cast more, art for fics will follow whichever version is described by the author, thank you for understanding 🫶)

[cosmic-navel-gazin]

"About the Blogger" Meme by @razielim

Haven't seen one of these in forever; I'm being the change I want to see. (You're encouraged to adapt/remove questions or add new ones to better suit yourself.)

Favorite Pseud: Cosmic is the new hotness but my indecisive ass has had a billion! Alas-poor-yorick! is an old one I'm still fond of because my child self really went and saw Hamlet and thought: "YES! THE SKULL OF THE DEAD JESTER! THAT'S WHO I WANNA BE!"

Time Zone: GMT

Star Sign(s): the one that's a COSMIC RAM! 🐏🌠✨

Favorite Holidays: every holiday is always tinged with just a tad of existential dread, a pang reminding me of the time that's already gone by, that I'm one day closer to death , I guess the ones during Spring and Summer, just because of the weather and that the days are longer

Last Meal: Soup and a piece of bread with olive oil (and olives)

Current Favorite Musician: my dear friend who plays the piano^^ (whom I hope never finds out about this blog and reads this or I'll never hear the end of it). Not sure if current, but I've listened to a lot of it regularly so, shout-out to Jordi Savall and his Hespèrion XXI group *gnaws on their many variations of the spanish Folías*

Last Music Listened To: Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Is In) · Kenny Rogers & The First Edition

Last Movie Watched: Saw X and The Lobster

Last TV Show Watched: The Bear

Last Book/Fic Finished: Can't remember what was the last book so I'm going with: One of only two in existence A Field In England fics on AO3 😳

Last Book/Fic Abandoned: Kafka's The Trial (not abandoned, I just wanted to finish the ones I had started first before continuing because I know this one's gonna hurt for sure)

Currently Reading: Solaris by Stanisław Lem

Books/Shows/Movies/etc. You Want to Get Around To: For Films I have some listed on this ask. For books I got some Strugatskys to get to, some Terry Pratchett, some Kafka, some Horus Heresy, my sister got me Foundation *looks at bookshelf and ignores the dozens of others that have been sitting there for years, waiting for me*

Last Thing Researched for Art/Writing/Hyperfixation: Wild boars! Boarzinhos if you will.

Last Eureka, Breakthrough, or Neat Fact/Concept Learned: Have learned nothing and remain a fool.

Favorite Online Fandom Memory: I don't think I've ever been in a Fandom™ per se. It's usually just, sitting in my dark lair and enjoying a thing with a handful of other people. But, if it counts since it's the closest to interacting with Fandom I've had: these past (4?) years on tumblr in general. From the months-long (sometimes years-long) discussions about this or that piece of media and the insightful observations traded, the juicy meta, the joy and privilege of people sending you unfinished pieces of their art and writing through DMs (the trust and intimacy of it all!!!), sending each other memes and posts we think the other might enjoy, the nice messages, etc... all of it really.

Favorite Old Fandom You Wish Would Drag You Back In/Have A Resurgence: Am baby and haven't really experienced this yet.

Favorite Thing You Enjoy That Never Had an Active or Big "Fandom" but You Wish It Did: I literally can't choose because almost everything I love is some flavour of weird-ass-obscure thing! But uhmmm, *flips through enormous tome of interests* : Here! Rule of Rose ! I was starving for psychological horror games after the Silent Hill series and this is the closest I've ever seen to them while also not being just a rip off/clone of SH, and telling its own beautifully tragic story (the combat is broken and there's other issues but everything else, maaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnn).

Tempting Project You're Trying to Rein In/Don't Have Time For: I will draw Rumata and Budach's Conversation™ from chapter 8 in full, in comic form, skill to pull it off and do it justice or not, EVEN IF IT KILLS ME!

Tempting Project You're 100% Going to Undertake: It involves sandcastles and the joys of creation... but it needs to *gasp!* actually be written and not just daydreamed about.

Tagging: AAAAAA I DUNNO ANYONE WHO WANTS TO!

[scottycomics]

Hello, I'm making a magazine for a university project. I have a few questions:

What inspired you to make comics?

How were you inspired to make “Nigh Heaven & Hell”?

Apart from "NH&H", "Hazy London" and "Freakshow", do you plan to do more new stories?

Are you thinking about translating your comics into other languages to attract more audiences?

Have you participated in projects that are inside and/or outside of Hiveworks?

How do you feel that your comics are well received by the public?

Ooh~ Sure thing!

My comic origins started when I first discovered the anime Inuyasha. I found out they had a comic of it at Barnes and nobles and I could only find Volume 12. I had NO idea about comics and manga back then. Soon after that, I started collecting manga and attempting to make my own comics as a kid! There's just something about having full creative freedom to do whatever you want with a blank page that's so exciting (at times overwhelming) but for the most part, its so fulfilling.

Nigh Heaven & Hell in particular is a comic I've attempted to draw sooo many times over the years. Since I was 12 I think haha? It's a combination of very specific things I love (Inuyasha, Silent Hill, And anything horror really). Each attempt has taught me SO much about what goes into making a good story. How to be more efficient with a comic page, how to keep the momentum going etc. And I think only until recently have I finally nailed the tone and pace on how to best approach it and my art is finally in a place where it matches what I had in my head!

I have other stories I've been chipping away at here and there but nothing too concrete at the moment. Once I finish Freakshow (it's on it's final chapters and I'm aiming to finish by 2025). I may take a step back and focus on more shorter stories for a bit. Maybe even use that open slot for pitching for print!

I've done occasional projects for Anthologies over the years (like Dirty Diamonds and Filthy Figments). And right now I'm currently illustrating two graphic novels for Harper Collins/Clarion! It's a fictional series about a kid witnessing famous true crime events throughout history and in particular I'm doing Lizzie Borden and the Great Train Robbery! I've really enjoyed the change of pace and it's kinda nice to just be in charge of drawing and that the folks behind the project have enough faith in me to just sorta leave me to my own devices.

Hmm, I'll be honest I try not to think too much about how my comics are received by the public. It's too stressful and for me bogs down the creative process. I've been actively trying to learn to over indulge in what makes me happy when it comes to comics and story beats. So all I can ask for is that folks are enjoying the ride at least!

Thanks for taking the time to send these questions my way!!! <3

[random-jot]

tagged by @yourlocalegotisticalqueerishere !! thanks for the tag ^_^

(starting anew just 'cause the other thread had gotten so long :P )

1. Are you named after anyone?

Not that I know of

2. When was the last time you cried?

I couldn't tell you for sure, but it was probably the last time I watched a sad bit in a movie or tv show haha.

3. Do you have kids?

At my age?!?!?!? (<- stealing prevs answer bc hard same haha)

4. Do you use sarcasm a lot?

Who, me?? Use sarcasm a lot? Noooo, never. Definitely not something I'd do 😜

5. What sports do you play/have played?

Oh god, None if I can help it

6. What’s the first thing you notice about people?

Usually their hair i guess

7. Scary movie or happy endings?

Come now, these aren't necessarily mutually exclusive!! I do love me a scary movie on occasion. But rather than preferring a happy or a sad ending, I like when the ending is thematically resonant and satisfying based on the story leading up to it.

8. Any special talents?

Well, I've memorised the pronunciation of the famously long Welsh town, Llanfair­pwllgwyngyll­gogery­chwyrn­drobwll­llan­tysilio­gogo­goch. So, uh... no 😂

9. Where were you born?

A hospital.

10. What are your hobbies?

Love listening to pop-punk, going to gigs, reading, writing, and drawing — more specifically writing/drawing my own original comics, and writing my own original song lyrics — playing D&D, watching all my favourite movies and shows

11. Do you have any pets?

Two kitties!! Slinky who is the big baby that we've had for quite a few years now, and Truffle, a tabby kitten we just got recently

12. How tall are you?

5'9" . That' right, I'm ✨ average height ✨

13. Fave subject in school?

Drama/Theatre Studies!! I'll always be a theatre kid at heart

14. Dream job?

Being the lead singer in a pop-punk band is something I probably fantasise about on the daily.

15. Eye colour?

Blue. That's right, I'm ✨ basic ✨ haha

Tagging: @i-am-ms-rebel-heart @thesoundofmadness @tessabennet @xserpx @blagueofchaos @binders-and-beanies @adadtoremember @midnightportals @joshydoesntknow AND anybody else who wants to, especially You!

As ever, no pressure, etc. etc. 🤘

[amazing-spiderling]

For the ask game: K N O P W X Y Z

K - What character has your favorite development arc/the best development arc?

I think people often overlook how much comic Spider-Gwen grows over the course of her series, but it's one of the reasons I love that run so much. Okay, she's still kind of schlubby and chronically late for things, but in the course of... three years? She does something that Peter Parker took decades to do (and keeps waffling) which is to reveal herself publicly and face the music for any crimes she committed as Spider-Woman (specifically the death of Peter Parker). I think a lot of superhero books are able to keep running on the same drama because they keep letting the hero *just barely* outrun the consequences of their actions, or if they do, they keep going back and forth on who knows their identity etc etc. If being a Spider-Person is about responsibility, I think Gwen really did the best job of stepping up to the plate.

N - Name three things you wish you saw more or in your main fandom (or a fandom of choice).

For Daredevil: Oh man, you don't even know (ok, actually, you specifically probably do know haha) how much I'd like to see more DD crossover with mutant characters, specifically Nightcrawler. I JUST THINK THEY COULD HAVE SOME GOOD CHARACTER BUILDING MOMENTS, and while Nightcrawler is like... a guy pretty much everyone likes, I think he's under utilized in fanfic. HE'S A GOOD DUDE. And boy howdy his recent comic events have made him a very... meaty character. I'm hoping his upcoming stint as Spider-Man gives people more ideas for stuff to do with him.

Maybe comic edits? Serious ones or funny ones. There are some very talented people out there doing neat things with all this classic art and I'm always in awe. I dabble, but struggle a lot with creating wholly new things as opposed to just cleaning up images. I love show edits, but the problem with pretty much any live action media fandom is that you end up seeing the same clips over and over because there's only so much to draw from.

This is a silly one, but people should do more mattfoggy animatics to dialogue from episodes of House. I don't know why the algorithm started pushing clips of that show to me but there have been so many times I was like "is this not just lifted from like... the Bendis run or something?" haha

O - Choose a song at random. Which ship or character does it remind you of?

I went to my 2022 recap and picked the 28th song. It's "I'll Still Have Me" by Cyn which I almost feel is a cheat for me because I'm pretty sure I've put this on prompt lists specifically. This song (about losing your loved one either via death or a relationship that naturally came to its end) is so sweet and sad, and it puts me in mind of Foggy from season 3 of Daredevil when he thinks Matt is dead and is still trying to process it and move on with his life.

P - Invent a random AU for any fandom (we always need more ideas).

Isekai where Foggy gets transported to a magical land where everyone is convinced he's doing to save the kingdom but it's very clear that it's all of his companions (the Defenders etc) who have amazing abilities and he's wondering how he got here and how long he can keep this up.

W - A trope which you are virtually certain to hate in any fandom.

HMM. Hate is a strong word... I just y'know, don't click on things or block the tag but... I usually pass on genderswap fics? Not really out of any strong feelings (I think art can be interesting because I like seeing how costumes are reinterpreted a lot of the time). I just... don't have the interest. One that is sometimes harder to avoid is when someone drops a full ass song into the middle of a fic (a few lines of lyrics are fine) and it doesn't have anything to do with the narrative, the author was just really feeling their girly bop feels that day. It takes me right out of the story and I pass over the lyrics 99.9% of the time.

X - A trope which you are almost certain to love in any fandom.

It's probably because I live in a place that's roughly as hot as the surface of the sun but I go WEAK IN THE KNEES for any story where character A has been in the cold for too long and character B has to help them get warm again. Can be an actual danger-of-hypothermia situation or a "you really thought a snowball fight was a good idea" situation, it's all good.

Y - What are your secondhand fandoms (i.e., fandoms you aren’t in personally but are tangentially familiar with because your friends/people on your dash are in them)?

I will send my memes friends for Hannibal, Stranger Things (which I watched and enjoyed, I'm just not in the fandom for it) and the occasional DC property. Things I know just enough about to go "oh that's a funny one".

Z - Just ramble about something fan-related, go go go! (Prompts optional but encouraged.)

This is silly, but I'm so happy so many buddies are jumping on the Spider-Gwen panel redraw! It's fun to see how people's styles vary and what techniques they use to get a desired effect. Kind of feels like I'm back in art class and twenty kids are drawing the same bowl of fruit, y'know?

[artistfingers]

Everything Everyone else hasn't asked yet ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

ᕕ( ᐕ )ᕗ

[Weirdly Specific Artist Ask Game]

3. What ideas come from when you were little

rather than saying any specific ideas came from when i was a kid, i think,... there are tropes that i still love and draw on and can credit to some of the things i read and watched as a kid. one big example is hidden identities - my most trope ever - all has a big basis on some of my earliest Media Memories, like detective conan, danny phantom, ouran high school host club, alex rider, and so on ahsdg

6. Anything that might inspire you subconsciously (i.e. this horse wasn't supposed to look like the Last Unicorn but I see it)

i do not know my own subconscious mind well enough to say 💀

8. What's an old project idea that you've lost interest in

i had a really big mob pscyho fic i wrote 30k on in 2019... don't know if i'll ever circle back to write the rest. there's been countless comic projects that i started and dropped over the years as well...

as for illustrations i have a number of half-started DP illustrations that may or may not ever be finished 🤷‍♂️

9. What are your file name conventions

either things languish in the land of Untitled Document, or they get ... passable attempts at descriptive names like "project title ch2 v1 inks"

10. Favorite piece of clothing to draw

i always like drawing shirts! clothing folds in general are a big area i'd love to sink some more practice into, tho

11. Do you listen to anything while drawing? If so, what

Oh Always. i rotate between music (shuffling my spotify likes or going start-to-end on an album), podcasts (dungeons & daddies or dimension 20 mostly), youtube (IE, gamegrumps, izzzyzzz) and/or reality shows my friends put on :>

12. Easiest part of body to draw

faces/heads? i feel like i put most of my practice there because i love to draw expressions. hands might be what i practice second most

13. A creator who you admire but whose work isn't your thing

another one i say, i dunno. if i follow artists on social media that i admire, i'd count their work as "my thing" even if it's outside the range of what i might create myself 🤔

15. *Where* do you draw (don't drop your ip address this just means do you doodle at a park or smth)

at my desk, on the couch, or in bed mostly! i've been trying to get myself out to draw at the park more

17. Do you eat/drink when drawing? if so, what

i have a really bad habit of eating 10,0000 LifeSaver mints while i draw if i am not being careful 💀

18. An estimate of how much art supplies you've broken

sooooooo many pencils. 20+? in highschool and most of uni i was really picky about using fancy HB, 2H and 4H pencils for all my sketchbook work but at a certain point i started preferring mechanical pencils

20. Something everyone else finds hard to draw but you enjoy

i don't know about Everyone, but comics/sequential art, maybe? pacing can be quite difficult but it's a challenge i really enjoy conveying on the page.

21. Art styles nothing like your own but you like anyways

anything creepy crawly horror EHehehehe also anything papercraft, multi-media-y.... or like, super solid pen-and-ink. fine lines, black and white, that sort of thing

22. What physical exercises do you do before drawing, if any

if i remember i try to stretch my wrists 💀

23. Do you use different layer modes

ye!! whatever's needed at the time. i'm fond of multiply layers with purple ink for shading.

24. Do your references include stock images

oh, yep, stock images are actually one of my favorite sources for references outside of pose-specific reference resources like line-of-action, adorkaStock, etc. but stock photos (specifically sites like Pexels) are great for locations, perspective, animals, inanimate objects, or if i don't know exactly what i'm looking for

26. What's a piece that got a wildly different interpretation from what you intended

i'm not sure this has happened to me to that degree? like there's definitely been minor differences in interpretations when it comes to my comics (dialogue doesn't always land or imply what i intended) but i don't think i've ever had something taken wildly differently

27. Do you warm up before getting to the good stuff? If so, what is it you draw to warm up with

i don't normally, but if i do, it's usually standard sketchbook randomness - heads, hands, shapes, squiggles, objects around the room. the cats...

28. Any art events you have participated in the past (like zines)

i've contributed to a number of zines and things over the years :>

Welcome to Hell - 2014 & 2015

Sakana - Catch of the Day 2017 (I don't think I ever posted the full piece online, actually...?)

one for Danny Phantom coming up in December 👀

i also wrote for the WtH big bang in 2018, beta'd for the Fullmetal Alchemist Big Bang in 2021, and this year illustrated for the Danny Phantom Invisobang!

there will probably be more in the future. Love Me A Project

29. Media you love, but doesn't inspire you artistically

maybe podcasts? i've definitely drawn for podcasts before (gorgug from d20, some TAZ stuff way back in the day...) but i'd say it's rare and that the lack of a visual component separates it from media that inspires me artistically, or at least, does so directly

[ardate]

4, 8, 9, 30 :]

4. Fav character/subject that's a bitch to draw

Honestly? Humans as a whole, still. I started art a long time ago, originally mostly focusing on animals and creatures, til I started drawing humans sometime in middle school - and I never stopped drawing them since! But yet, somehow, even though by now I probably have drawn more humans and human-adjacent characters than not with all those years, beasts are still much easier and come more naturally to me. Maybe those very early years wired my brain this way hbghb

8. What's an old project idea that you've lost interest in

Oh holy fukc so many of those uuuuuuuh,, right now the one that comes to mind is this old story I had made up in middle/highschool - something about a kind of death land, a sort of limbo, and the ghost lords that 'ran' it; and the main character having to go through it to bring his love back from the dead (orpheus and eurydice inspired). And though even then I wasn't particularly optimistic about my chances of going through with it, I really wanted to make a comic of it! Obviously, never happened. I should redraw those old OCs one of these days hgbghb

Have a sneak peek of what my art (and one of my ghost lords) looked like back then. Not the full pic cuz even just sharing this lil tidbit is hurting my ego

9. What are your file name conventions

I've been meaning to change it cuz it's no longer organized enough for my taste! My file themselves don't have any fancy names, they're usually just named after their subject (like 'demoman_sketch' or 'pernelle_portrait' or 'morribel_reference' etc). Of course, no accent in the file names since that renders them unstable and makes it easier for them to get corrupted, same (to a lesser extent) with spaces, so I always use an underscore instead.

So rather than by name, my organization goes by folders: • First off I have a folder per art program (one for Photoshop, After Effects, Corel Painter, Krita, etc), each of which have two folders, 'Unfinished' and 'Finished'. The latter usually only has the PNG renders, while the Unfinished folder houses the PSD (or other) files. Sometimes I'll have a 'Done' subfolder there for the files of pieces that i've finished, but most of the time they'll hang in there in the middle of WIP files forever • And in those Un/Finished folders, I have subfolders for the subject of the art piece (one folder per fandom (like TF2, Rayman, etc), a folder for commissions, one folder per original story, etc) so I can easily find what I'm looking for.

I plan on changing my naming conventions though, keep my folders but name my files with dates at the beginning (year/month/day), then theme (fandom/story/commission, etc), and then the piece's name.

30. What piece of yours do you think is underrated

I'm... Not sure? 🤔 To be honest I post my art to share it but I don't really have expectations regarding its reception from the public... I used to! Back when I was on deviantArt. And honestly it sucked, getting legitimately upset when an art piece didn't get enough digital attention, not enough internet points. But I've grown past it years ago, so I don't really have many feelings if a piece does badly anymore. I've had OC pics get like 2 likes and nothing else and I felt fine with it ghbgh

Don't get me wrong I still want them to do well, I still want people to reblog my art, and nothing brings me more joy than comments in the tags because that's a direct reaction to my art, which always feels very personal and legitimately touches me. But not having expectations means I don't really feel disappointed as much

The last time I've had the thought 'oh i expected this to do better' was for my HLVRAI zine piece, but that's about it!