#thats whats fun for me. which means that its super frustrating when i pose these questions looking for people to play in thd space with me-

[majorshatterandhare]

I’m thinking about how the Mechs use energy, because they do things and live and therefore they *must* use energy, that’s how physics (and biology) work.

I had the idea that they are always absolutely frigid to the touch because they suck in heat from the environment like an endothermic chemical reaction.

[daaziscoolbesties]

i yearn for one(1) thing only, and that is to have a nice, simplistic, cartoonish artstyle. an artstyle that doesnt rely on anatomy, but the "movement" of the drawing, if you get what i mean.

i dont want realistic proportions and traditional colors and basic poses and gradient shading, i want funky lil dudes in funky poses with funky styles littering my sketchbook :( but alas i havent figured out how to develop that kind of style yet, my brain wants anatomy to look nice but also i dont want to draw eyes. i dont want to take time out of my day to learn how to draw lips i want to draw a line that extends past the characters face. i dont want all my characters to have pointy chins with curved cheeks i want their heads to be round and friend-like or full of sharp edges depending on their personalities and styles. i want to give them all not-quite human ears, blob feet, simple faces, but at the same time i want enough detail to convey the story or emotion im trying to tell.

ive spent so much time recently agonizing over how to use 3d model websites, using real-life references and tracing over them for practice, color-picking from real images to try and do realism and failing miserably, but you know whats easier than that? funky little dudes. little dudes who do not care if their legs are too long or their hair is too bouncy. i dont want my characters to look human.

ive spent enough time on the artfight website to realize that most people who classify their characters as "human" have the most basic ass designs (no offense to people who like basic human designs its just not my thing) or its like dnd-medieval style outfits which i cant draw for the life of me (ive tried). again no offense to people who actively enjoy and draw characters like that. i just need my dudes to have that certain,,, off-ness to them. tails are cool. wings are swag (especially if they arent even like,, fully attached,, ), elf ears are so wonderful to me no matter how much theyre overused, horns are so much fun to draw, and colors!! i have no knowledge in the color theory department so this works great for me!! the only thing i really know is dont shade with black, other than that i just colorpick from references usually but i dont want to do that!! i want the colors to hurt people's eyes but in a satisfying way. like the character's design is so nice to look at that you dont mind your eyes hurting a bit. like how im enjoying writing this post even though its 2 am and the brightness on my computer wont go any lower.

and then another thing ive noticed from being on the artfight website is that a lot of people classify their characters that are anthro/have anthro features under humanoids/monsters. like i made a google form to find some people to attack and someone sent me in a character with some sort of animal (wolf? idk) arms and legs. like dude!! peak character design i love her. but me personally? i cant draw that shit, its so hard for me. i tried a while back and its just Not my thing. nothing against furries i just. cant. and i dont want to either.

and i got another submission that i accidentally deleted that was like full anthro/wolf-like like my comrade,,, i cannot draw animals what makes you think i can draw an animal who acts like a human lmao. i can do like. very basic tails, and also animal ears but i cant do the arms and legs and such i just dont know the anatomy, and i know i was talking about how i dont want to care about anatomy but i feel like for anthros you really do need to know at least basic animal anatomy so you know how the limbs look and shit and i dont have that knowledge and dont feel like gaining it.

and then there were some submissions that i absolutely adored. there was one that like, was vaguely human shaped but definitely was not a human. they had a dark-ish lavender colored skin and horns and tusks and like goat ears and a sorta fluffy tail with spikes on it and they had wings and such and they were such a pleasure to draw i love them. and they had a fairly simple outfit too, nothing too complicated. and then i also enjoy object head characters, theyre so neato to me. i got one of those and i really wish i had the motivation to work on it cause it looks so fun.

i want to make funky characters but id have nothing to do with them because the only book i ever tried writing (key word tried - never got past planning it out) had strictly human characters in it, and most of the books i read are humans/humans with powers in situations specific to them so id have no idea what lore to make with the dudes. assuming i have the motivation to make lore and backstory because honestly i just really enjoy character designing its super duper fun.

(side note a song about trucks doing the deed came on just now and its interrupted my flow, apologies).

i only have three actual characters right now. one is an original roleplay oc whos design is literally athletic shorts, an oversized long sleeved grey sweatshirt, long purple hair, and demon horns. the second one is my persona whos design some sorta medival knight outfit kinda thing? but not ugly it looks really cool (idk one of my friends designed it bc i won some contest from him but the drawing was on a super small scale so idrk the details,,,) with a plague doctor mask and crown, and shoulder length wavy brown hair, dyed bright pink at the end. and then my last one im not too comfortable using other places because theyre a character my friend is using in the story hes writing, and thats really the only place theyve been used. but theyre easily my favorite and im already writing a ton so ill talk about them too.

they're a sorta elf species thing from another planet, with pale green skin and pointed ears. they also have a tail, its like,, super thin, but with a feathery bit at the end. probably not the texture of a feather but i dont know how else to describe it. they have short, curly, almost-draco-malfoy-blonde hair that when it gets too long they can put in a man bun. their eyesight is kinda shitty so when they got to earth, they were exploring some supply closets around the airship. drop off area. thing. like airport but for rocketships and also fancier. yeah. they were exploring that area and found a nice big pair of round glasses with grey frames. and they also found a cowboy-style hat and a sharpie so they wrote their name on the underside of the brim of the hat and stole the hat and glasses (but left the sharpie in the supply closet).

yeah theyre my favorite, my absolute beloved, my child, so cool. i want more characters like them but with maybe a bit more snazzier designs. theyre super cool and all but they could have more pizzazz if they werent in a story where its too late to give them more pizzazz. i just want to be able to give my characters thigh-high boots with a bunch of buckles and fluffy hair with tons of accessories crammed in and abnormally large and long ears that can harbor many piercings and horns that can hold rings on them and special little details on their outfits like who knows what but i dont have any characters to do that too, so i have to make them from scratch, which is always hard especially when you have artblock.

and i also have like 17 characters i need to fully draw, line, and maybe color for artfight before august 1st. so i dont know. i have many things to do and plenty of time to do it but instead i spend my time halfway watching repetitive youtube videos that get boring or sleeping all damn day because i stay up too late doing things like this or i just do nothing at all and its tiring and frustrating but i also feel nothing about it like theres no consequence if i dont do it besides you know. not doing it, not gaining that experience, not making something i enjoy.

so i should do it but i dont for whatever reason, i think its called executive dysfunction but im not sure. this post started out very differently than it ended and i said somewhere up there that i was writing this at 2 am but now its almost 3. this is so many words why couldnt i have put this energy into something productive

[cousinmarcustalkswrestling]

A Cousin’s Review - NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 15 Night One

January 4, 2021-

Hiromu Takahashi vs El Phantasmo - Winner faces Taiji Ishimori for Junior Heavyweight Title on Night 2

Hiromu had a spectacular Best of the Super Juniors run that ended with the arguable match of the year against El Desperado. Then he challenged the winner of the Super J Cup to a match. That winner ended up being El Phantasmi, who is basically the junior heavyweight version of Jay White. That’s even more appropriate considering Phantasmo is also in Bullet Club.

 Phantasmo starts off going for straight heat by calling out Jushin Liger so he can put his Super J Cup jacket on him, but Hiromu dropkicks him into the rail then hits him with a big ol senton. Phantasmo flips out of a sunset bomb attempt then kills Hiromu with his own sunset flip powerbomb to the floor. This is my first exposure to El Phantasmo and I gotta say that he’s really creative. He does a cool ropewalk moonsault to the outside and drapes Hiromu across the ropes and gives him a back senton. Hiromu has good comebacks, so Phantasmo plans to cut it off by breaking Hiromu’s fingers. Then he shouts out Bullet Club leadership of the past by attempting Styles Clashes and the One Winged Angel. Hiromu falters a few times, but eventually catches Phantasmo with a snap rana and gets the win.

Hiromu is ELITE right now, like arguably best wrestler in the world. Phantasmo was great and this had great psychology. Great opener.

***3/4

Dangerous Tekkers (CHAMPS) vs Guerrillas of Destiny - Tag Team Titles

The Guerillas won World Tag League to set this up and they beat the Tekkers during the tournament. This was a good fun brawly match. The GOD controlled most of it and isolated Taichi. When Zack was in, he made it more interesting with his outrageous wrestling and counters. GOD set Zack up top for the super powerbomb, but Sabre locks in a Guillotine. Sabre screams at Taichi that this is the Tokyo Dome and instructs him to do a Tower of Doom. GOD eventually use the same iron….thing to crack Taichi with and they win the titles. Good, fun tag match, Would’ve been better with more Zack.

***1/4

Kenta (HOLDER) vs Satoshi Kojima - US Title Challenge Briefcase

Jon Moxley being in the states has basically made the Challenge briefcase the interim US title. Kenta helped the Guerillas screw FinJuice out of the World Tag League tournament, so Juice Robinson challenged Kenta for the briefcase, but then he suffered an orbital bone injury. Instead of Juice’s partner, David Finlay, challenging Kenta, the legendary Kojima was named the replacement. Weird, but whatever. No way in hell that Kojima beats Kenta, but it wasn’t worked like that anyway. Kojima looked solid and got in some signature offense like machine gun chops. Kenta never looks like he’s gonna lose, but its a solid intense match. Kojima DDTs Kenta on the apron at one point. He goes for his lariat, but Kenta kicks his arm away and run through his normal offense. Kenta tried to hit Kojima with the briefcase, but Kojima knocked it away with a lariat. That ain’t enough though because Kenta runs through him and ends it with GTS.

**3/4

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Great O’Khan

I kinda dreaded this match, but it’s not bad. O’Khan doesn’t have the breakout performance that would justify him being in this spot, but he’s also not as awful and boring as he was against Okada. He has a few interesting moments like when Tana goes to skin the cat, but he just chops Tana’s hands. He also grabs a nice kneebar out of nowhere. Tana sells like only he can and makes his great comeback, but ends up in the iron claw. Khan gets frustrated and grabs a chair, but Tana ends up with the chair. He actually considers using it, but he tosses it to the side and drills Khan with a Dragon Suplex then ends it with two High Fly Flows. Tana plugged him right into the Tana formula and Khan didn’t mess it up, so this is just solid.

**3/4

Kazuchika Okada vs Will Ospreay

I was actually anticipating this match, just because its Wrestle Kingdom and with Ospreay’s heel turn, I figure they would really let loose and go balls to the wall. Color me disappointed. Okada teases just wrestling Will, but eventually starts slugging him. Okada is on fire with a big tope, but Will dropkicks him to the floor and takes over. All through the G1, Will’s matches were hurt because he was still trying to his flippy junior stuff and it didn’t work with his new character. Here, he has basically eliminated all of his babyface offense, but he hasn’t replaced it with anything interesting. Plus this match is 30+ minutes which means we hit a big lull while Will controls.

Things kick up a notch and actually feel like the intense grudge match this should be. After a strikefest, Will gets crazy and suplexes Okada onto a table on the outside. He goes for the Oscutter on the apron, but Okada counters to a Tombstone on the apron, then Okada instantly pulls him in the ring for a rainmaker, but Will kicks out. Will escapes another rainmaker, but ends up in the money clip. He gets to the ropes and after a turnbuckle battle, Will hits a big ol Spanish Fly. Will hits the Oscutter, but it only gets two. Deep into the match, Okada is putting over the intensity of the feud by just slapping and kicking Will. Will ducks another Rainmaker and goes for a Super Oscutter, but gets dropkicked out of the sky. Will escapes the Money Clip again and steals Okada’s moves, hitting the Tombstone, the rainmaker pose, and then the Rainmaker to an astonishing reaction, but Okada kicks out. Ospreay goes to end it with Stormbreaker, but Okada spins out, hits a Michinoku Driver and then the true Rainmaker for the win.

Once they decided to kick it up a notch, this was really fun, but definitely too long and Ospreay still needs to improve as a heel. Good match, but disappointing. Their G1 29 match is still their gold star.

***1/4

Tetsuya Naito (CHAMP) vs Kota Ibushi - Heavyweight and Intercontinental Title

New Japan has caught a lot of flack for how they’ve handled this three way situation between Naito, Ibushi, and Jay White. I haven’t really known what to think, but as soon as this match started, I realized that it worked because I didn’t know who would win and that instantly increases the drama. I also have never seen a match between these two, but I heard they have a reputation for being a little rough (LOL).

 They start with just some solid wrestling until Ibushi ranas Naito to the outside. Ibushi wants the Golden Triangle moonsault, but Naito is able to leap onto the apron, avoid Ibushi’s kicks and give him a German suplex on the floor. Let the violence commence people. Naito goes right after Ibushi’s previously injured neck with neckbreakers on the floor and all types of savagery. Ibushi ends up on the apron and catches Naito charging with an insane snap rana that sends Naito flying off the apron. Thats a suuuuuuuper early candidate for spot of the year.

 Now, the momentum has swung to Ibushi’s favor and he tries a German suplex from the apron to the inside, but Naito escapes by targeting the neck and delivers a crazy super poisonrana. Naito drills Ibushi with a hard Destino, but it only gets two. His next Destino attempt is countered to a Bastard Driver. We get an awesome strikefest and Ibushi powers up into the Golden Powerbomb. I love how furiously Naito tried to punch his way out of that, but he still got drilled. Ibushi immediately transitions from the powerbomb to Kamigoye, but Naito kicks out. Naito avoids the Phoenix splash and gets another Destino, but only for two. Ibushi flips out of a suplex lands a hard kick and another Kamigoye, but Naito kicks out AGAIN!! Naito lands Valentia, but Ibushi spins out of another Destino attempt, lands a brutal V Trigger and immediately hits one final Kamigoye to end it and KOTA IBUSHI IS YOUR MOTHAFUCKING DOUBLE CHAMPION BAYBAY!!

Match was awesomely built, brutal with a crazy hot ending. Better than both of the Wrestle Kingdom main events from last year. Awesome main event and MY BOY IBUSHI DID IT BAY BAY!!

****1/2

OVERALL: My favorite kinda show, all killer no filler. Ok I’m overstating it, because it ain’t all killer, but nothing here was bad, it starts with a banger and ends with an even bangier banger. Okada/Ospreay disappointed me, but it was still good overall. Damn good show.

OVERALL RATING: 3.5 OUTTA 5

[haeroniel-doliet]

Hnghhh why does it require e f f o r t and p a t i e n c e and p r a c t i c e to get good at art????? I need to be good immediately and things i want to see appear at a snap of my fingers.......

Read more for what became an accidental full rant about why ive yet to post anything besides that one thing idkkkk

Aka im TRYING to be good and practice little by little but its BORING and difficult to not get immediate reward.... Also because for whatever reason i really dont wanna watch tutorials so im tryna be all self taught kinda and im OBVIOUSLY making a lot of mistakes like its part of the process but its FRUSTRATING

Basically im on my 6th??? Idk restart attempt at the same fennec portrait and its. Okay. Its at a point where im like nice as long as i suffer over the details here itll be decent ish. Probably.

But its not REWARDING.....

I know i want to do screencaps and character and face studies to get to the point of good art i wish i could be but .... I also just wanna draw like fun fic scenes and silly doodles of characters like some of the cool artists i follow do but i CANT because im not GOOD ENOUGH yet. ;(((((((

Yea i could post sketches or whatver i manage in a night but like who the fuck wants to follow that? Nah... I just idk. I DONT KNOW i dont know what my art goals are (i do, but DO I??)

My brain also obviously doesnt work very well visually which is GREAT so like, any original work its a lot like 'i'll know its right when i see it' but getting next to no other direction and you just gotta be like right. Okay uhhh my anatomy skills are stunted from when i was like 16?? Perspective?? Detail?? WHATS THE COLOR SCHEME

Never mind that i just... Dont understand the program or brushes that well idk why. Krita should be good and im too stressed to experiment different softwares.... BLEGH

i just. Part of me aches to go back to traditional for a bit but i just, dont have the means to make the scale of work i want ro produce with traditional materials yknow?? Maybe i should try just sketching scanning and then lining on computer again idk. At least for some of these face things.

Ok so my GOAL is to always have a very recognizable face. Like. I guess i cant hold myself to photorealism standards because hahahhah id die! But like, i want the face to be looked at and go ah yes! Its that guy! That actress! My friend! Me! Whoever! But like, recognizable. Because i know i CAN thats what i do! Thats all ive been good at !!!!

And like yeah i could hone that, yknow? Work on face studies and mini portraits of all my favourite actors and scenes and shit. Cool right?? Yeahh that could be sickaroni macaroni. People like faces they can recognize and good refined work. I can do that

But i want to be MORE

Id love love love to make like. Scenic paintings. Concept art level atmosphere and color and light and presence and as tory telling yknow?? Id like to substitute the literally colorless fog inside my head into vivid scenes. Id like to try and take the fics that in my head are set in ??? Space with some movement here and there and just idk emotions? Into fleshed out SCENES with backdrops and accurate anatomy and WEIGHT and like, everything incredible that i admire in true art.

But thats hard, yknow? I havent really ever done backgrounds and what i have have been so flat. I dont KNOW how to do that (here i would be willing to have a teacher i think but. Im tired. I cant even seek out a short term therapist for myself how am i gonna find the kind of teacher i want?? Because of course i want them to teach me how to achieve whata inside my dreams and not what they know how to do ykno)

Yeah so i want to try and paint screencaps in the meantime. See if i cant struggle my way to fit this putty of skill into a square box. Like i think i can paint. Digitally? Somewhat idk?? Maybe if i just. Keep trying itll work out?? Start with simpler ones and build up to complexity??

But also. If im juat trying to get myself to love art again, why am i trying to throw myself in the deep end of struggling with something im not good at?? Shouldnt i be just refining what i already know? Like. A character! Standing. Maybe in a cooler pose if going crazy. Refining basic anatomy. How does fabric work? How does hair work? Can i make expressions seem realistic?

Next step, could i make a picture of someone without direct reference?? Like. Could i draw maybe a wee dinluke holding eachother or whatever and like. Just. Do it?? Without doing a version of photoshopping two pics of the actors through art together. Idk.

Also NONE of this makes sense to anyone outside my head and im SORRY

Like i dont even have a resolution at the end here!!! Im just FRUSTRATED!!!

I wanna draw, i wanna have results and success and rewarding experiences. But i also want ro challenge myself and do super complex shit and like really push myself to learn impressive difficult shit and be proud of down the line.

Im so tired. I cant even feel ok drawing without having someone on call with me to alleviate the immense pressure of frustration and anxiety and stress and struggle!!

I just. Wanna enjoy it

Okay fine i need to find a show or smth to 'watch'

And tomorrow? I might whip out a sketchbook thats been last used 8 years ago and. Ignore everything in it hahhaha its bad

But no im gonna. Im gonna draw scenes. With minimal reference

I might make a face collage i definitely wanna for pascal and mar camel

But im gonna put PENCIL to PAPER and get to the roots of MY HAND CAN DRAW just give her a chance, and get your brain outta the game.

Ok so fuck me this rant has to end here or ill never stop

If you read this (i dont expect ANYONE to have) send me like a message or whatever lol imma need to ask if youre ok <3

[unproduciblesmackdown]

How do you even come up with your drawing ideas? Like, the poses and actions and stuff... I always try to find different poses for my characters but end up using often the same, so, yeah going back to the question, hOW dO YOU DO IT AAA also i'm super jealous of you?? Your style is amazing and your skills just aa omfg good job ily but i'm also jealous

hmmm first thank you!!! i am jealous of everyone too coz who isnt but im honored to be someone anyone thinks of as Good…and to get nice asks abt it is a real gift and i always appreciate it a lot…makes my week and all

uhh its kind of a good question how i come up w ideas….im actually heinously uncreative. but i AM gay & thats pretty much the theme in everything i ever make lol…i kind of just have ideas on a whim i guess, or thinking up certain scenarios that i also find i can picture as drawings, or just getting inspiration from any random little source & converting it into a drawing…hm. i just think of any sort of moment that would seem fun to depict & kinda reverse engineer it into how i might manage to put it into a drawing

pose-wise, i rarely ever have a drawing fully envisioned before i start making it, which probably just makes things more difficult for me…but like when i think of a certain general possible Pose, it tends to come to me in pieces…like i’ll start with some main idea about posture or a certain action or point of contact or something, but i’ll end up having to be like ok so uhhh, what are the legs doing?? or where is the other arm in all this, etc etc etc. often i’ll try to plan out how the Main Thing will look, and build the rest of the pose around what will simply look good with that &/or contribute to the balance/flow/silhouette of the body idk

i really do not have that much of an organized approach to anything i do at all rip

most of my inspiration for drawing bodies ever was to be able to show actions / interactions & to use the body to further express mood/emotion……you can only do so much thru drawing only from the shoulders up yanno? and it gets kinda fun to draw the more you get used to it

tbh i find it harder to draw like really basic poses like the Just Standing There feet together / arms at sides pose….so i’m part drawing things more dynamically as a convenience for myself, which is also always the motivation behind all my artistic choices pretty much. but it also kinda helps that nobody really ever stands that way, and if they are it sort of implies some kind of formality. posture and the way ppl carry themselves can express a lot….basically everything i draw is also about expressing emotions, so i really like how things can be shown via the body as well as the face. like hands and legs can be really expressive & overall posture and the way ppl move, which isnt always showable in a static image, but movement can always be implied / shown in one way or another…though i still tend to primarily focus on faces. like how i really enjoy subtler color palettes but always end up using really bright colors myself when im using color at all, rip, oh well

basically idk i find more expressive poses more fun to draw, and more yknow expressive…also i’m really picky about lines/curves having clear angles where they connect and shapes being fairly distinct, and i think thats also easier to have when bodies are moved/held more angularly….it makes the silhouette more fun too, not like thats hugely important, just again that i think all of this is more fun to draw than having a Just Standing There default pose. though those can be good too. there is a place for everything

ummmm it IS really frustrating trying to start doing something you don’t usually do & you’re like god whats the point doing something thats just misery all the time…i mean i dont consider myself that great at drawing bodies, i’m trying to be better at keeping things as 3d shapes in my head and being kinda sculptural abt drawing poses and stuff, and perspective always throws a wrench in things. but the silver lining is that when you’re starting out is generally guaranteed to be the worst of it & even though eternal dissatisfaction is the curse of drawing & everything else, things at least get easier & you can always look back on stuff and want to die because you were so much more shit at basic things back then sigh

i’m the worst to give advice about how to Practice Things, because i don’t. because i’m not trying to get good at art, i’m just trying to be better at whatever i wanna draw, which is always very limited…and i dont have the focus to ever do basic exercise stuff anyways…i cant even ever remember to use references 95% of the time. but it can help a lot, especially starting out….some artists will do like a whole page of really dynamic / dramatic / unusual poses and those are great to look at, and theres always photos of course…though idk that i’d worry too much about being strictly realistic, just kinda think of it as a starting point to build off of and make adjustments as you want them / use it more as guidelines. stylizing something sometimes looks more realistic than a picture honestly….real pix of bodies can just be ridiculous like wtf. aesthetically terrible, boo

idk if any of this seems relevant to anything you were really asking or if i all went off on a tangent there lma o …..i dont think im the best for advice!! but the good news is you probably already have a better approach than me. i just sneak practicing shit / trying new things into whatever gay thing i feel like making, and i guess i just happen to get better lol…every drawing makes you better even if the drawing sucks….thats one less bad drawing out of the way yknow

[brinytrolls]

Hey there! I need some help! I really want to be an animator in the future. I just rurned 18. But i havent improved on my drawings. Ive stopped drawing for 2 years. And just recently started getting back at it. And its hard to get back at it. i feel like i have creative block! I only draw faces! Do you have anything or resources or ANYTHING to help me??

i mean im not a pro but buckle in im gonna compile a list of tips to try and help you the best i can-this could get lengthy! 

this is so cliche i can hear u groaning already but-practice! practice every day if u can. even the smallest thing is good! draw as much as you can every day. 

the biggest thing thats helped me in the past couple of years: make an inspiration folder. save everything. anything that inspires you in any way. like the colours of one? the way another artist draws hands? eyes? save it. 

separate the folder into sub-folders. make a folder for tutorials you see around tumblr that look useful. a folder for interesting poses-mine has a lot of stock photos in it. if theres a particular type of art that inspires you a lot [mine is concept art + character designs] make a folder for that. 

this is long enough that it needs its own tip-but i have a folder called “interesting expressions” that has helped me a lot. ill have huge sai files full of screenshots from episodes of cartoons with expressions that are interesting to me-take an episode of a cartoon you like and screenshot it when something interesting comes up. save it. it might be useful one day. i do a lot of sketch sheets just drawing expressions in my own style. 

don’t subscribe to the weird internet attitude that refs are bad. theyre the best friend u will ever have. use them! if u rly cant find a ref for smth-try taking a photo. i take shitty webcam photos of my hands when i cant get a pose right 

take inspiration from other artists. this isn’t by any means telling you to steal an artists entire art style-but if you like the way a certain artist draws eyelids or how they ink fur or how they colour eyes or how they....put a weird amount of detail into their characters teeth?? try it! most art styles are just a mangled mishmash of inspiration from other art sources. 

it doesn’t matter if you have a “consistent art style” or not. i know it can be frustrating for things to look different every time, but tbh its ok!! drawing in different styles is super fun. try different styles! 

try different things in general. different colouring styles, brushes, anything. i went through a phase of shading everything in eyeburningly neon colours. it was fun! 

draw things you’re scared to draw. yes, even hands. don’t try and hide them in the drawing. you’ll feel so much more accomplished if you draw them.

draw new things! something im awfully rusty at is animals. i find the easiest way to learn new things is separating them into shapes. i trace over photos of the subject from different angles, then use the shapes as my construction for when i draw them without tracing. the shapes help if you want to exaggerate features later on. 

speaking of construction drawing! heres a tutorial that explains it better than i could: http://lackadaisy.foxprints.com/exhibit.php?exhibitid=356 it helps keep characters consistent. 

watch youtube videos-art tips & speedpaints i find to be v useful. watching videos about basics geared to animators will help a lot-gesture sketching is very useful topic to learn. 

heres a site for online figure drawing. they have a class mode which can help a lot! 

just fuckin indulge urself. do it. make characters solely based around things u enjoy drawing. draw that thing u like. draw what makes u happy.art is fun dont make it a chore-and if it feels like a chore to learn new things, try something new and then reward yourself with drawing something you enjoy. 

im sorry these are all kinda generic sounding but i hope they can help at least a bit?? i can be more specific if theres a particular topic you want tips for!! im by no means any kind of professional but if u want advice on smth specific like character design or anything just send me another ask! hope these help at least a bit

[thelamephotographers-blog]

Double S

Alright. 

This is my first rant. It's currently midnight where I live. You ready for this stupidness? I don't think you're ready for this lameness. I mean.. dumb.

This is the original. This is the person who made me decide, "hey.. lets make a frikkin blog to vent all my frustrations with complete strangers on".

I often find things eating at me. When I upset people, I just want to fix it. My fault, or not.. I just want to make things right.

I am a young photographer. I looked up to Double S for the longest time! She inspired me as an artist. While I was in high school, I heard of her for the first time.. and ugh! She was wonderful. She was everything I aspired to be in the fine art portraiture industry, and more..

Now. Lets skip five years forward.

I messaged double S.. ugh. I just wanted to be a local photographers friend! I wanted to collab so hard. I wanted tips.. I wanted knowledge.. I just wanted a new friend who had the same passion and style as me. I was new to the area as far as photography went.

In my head... it worked out great.

Now.. Double S had ignored me numerous time. Hey.. thats okay. I understand! This lady is practically a photography GOD to me at this time. She's just... ugh. Serious goals man.

One day, I see Double S post a status. She posts Pinterest images in the comments of said status.. Its an outdoor boudoir. These images were inspiring! They were beautiful, and I NEEEEEEDED to be apart of this! I comment, going outside of my tiny bubble knowing I could be rejected. I say, "I would LOVE to be apart of this!"

Fast forward a bit.. and Double S and I decided to collaborate on this shoot. We chose two models! We were styling it, talking to the models.. and she took the business side over. Thats fine! I got say in it!  I helped choose outfits, and models, AND props...That was fine by me. She can totally have the contact with our models. I was just excited to meet her! This woman who went viral. This one all my friends had their senior photos done by in high school. I assumed, great. We have the contracts signed with an understanding of everything! All is well. There was miscommunication since the beginning.

Long story short... the day comes. I opened up to this photographer, she opened up to me.. It seemed a little weird however, she didn't have many friends in the industry. I was amazed at all this drama she knew about! I fed into it. I am so guilty. I listened, and was surprised. I could not believe the words she was telling me about these other photographers! Now.. at this point, I got Leary. I fed into it. She ranted, I ranted.. I listened. Dumb, Dummy dummy dumb dumb!  (I won't go into detail, due to privacy reasons).  However, we talked back and forth like friends. Joking about situations, people.. you know. Friend things. She had mentioned how she ignored my messages, and then one day saw my page and said "wow. She's actually pretty good." (This was the first and only nice thing she said about me) She told me she left so many groups, because it upset her seeing these people and how they made her feel bad about her own work. Okay, I totally understand. I wanted to relate with her. We had a convo about a local photographer who steals clients from others  (thats a whole different story... lets call her Nacho) after she told me about a few photographers who copy her ideas and steal her ideas... and this photographer (nacho) , to the T copies me, (we are talking outfits, location, and the exact spot and pose I did!) and others. Double S had talked about certain things this photographer does to copy her too! Wow.. I am so glad she understands me. I just needed to vent a little. It hurt me, being in a small town.. these things made me original.. and they weren't original after these things happened. She understood me! Wow!

Day of the photoshoot comes. It goes great. I pose a model, she fixes it. She poses a model, I fix it. It went pretty good. She made fun of me during the shoot, but eh. I don't take things seriously! I even brought my blanket for warmth, and ended up using it during the shoot. I took it as fun teasing! It was a little negative, but hey.. that could just be her personality, right!? Thats fine. I can deal!

Now, short time goes by. I believe around 3 days. Her and I talked super often, laughing about things, making fun of silly things.. It was like we were super close. I talked to her, explaining "Wow, I cannot wait to learn more. Shooting with you has already taught me more on posing the woman body!" Ugh.. I talked her up. I just continuously told her how amazing she was! I am HUGE on raising others up!

So, I ask double S.. "Will you second shoot for me?" It goes fine. My new light set wouldn't  work, she had a speed light.. ugh, thank heavens! Saved my butt. I am so glad the second photographer I hired (yes, hired. Keep that in mind) had a backup source.

Couple days go by. We edit a couple boudoir images, and Double S messages me. She was freaking out! Her images were out of focus! Her darn lens. I felt so bad. She asks if she can edit one of mine or something to post along with a few other messages, and I just volunteered.. "Girl. I don't care! I can do six or three doesn't matter, I was gonna edit extras because I love them hahahaha Girl don't stress"

So, I do. I deliver them. Okay, awesome.

I edit our second model. I post them. Okay, whatever..

I get a message. This models husband didn't like the ones I posted of her! Crap. He was fine with the ones double S posted. So, our model asked if she could pay me since I couldn't use mine. I did not even know where to begin.. so I agreed. I said, Sure. Just pay half of what the session would cost if you want since I cannot use the images of you for my port like originally planned.

Well. that was the wrong answer. I let double S know about it all.. and she got livid.

Crap. I did something seriously wrong apparently. I told her, hey.. you can have the money! She offered, I just figured it was good business practice. Nope. She was angry. She wouldn't chill out. She wouldn't let it go. I tried so hard, begging her to let me know what I could do to make it right. I just let her be mad at me, continue to make petty remarks until I finally was over it. I. BEGGED. HER. I pleaded. I kissed her butt. I didn't realize I did something bad. I asked advice.. every CLOSE friend of mind (again didn't mention the situation or names), agreed I did what I should have.. Yet.. I was just worried about upsetting her. She told me, she doesn't understand why this model would pay me, not her.. blablabla..

Now.. she kept making remarks saying it was her shoot, she should be paid if anything.. she did it all. She posed. She styled. Her idea.. I was like, WHOA. Absolutely not. That.. that was NOT true, and I told her every single thing I came up with. Now. After being ripped into, I had enough.. She made me feel like crap. She ripped me a new one.. I mean. Harsh.

I messaged a local photographer. He was friends with tons of people in the area! My friend T told me about him, saying he is super nice if I want to collaborate with a chill person.

I message him. I had messaged him in the past about random things! Trying to make new friends in the area I had moved back to.

The message read as following.

"Hey! I have a question. I'm working hard on modeling the female body this new year, I was wondering if there is a resource you prefer? I was working with/learning with another photographer but long story short, it didn't workout or we could steal T and do some fun stuff LOL

He replied:

Oh no, sorry things didn't work out!

so are you talking about posing? Or modeling in general?"

Thats it. It was great! No drama, no names, no obvious conflicts.. Him and I talked on and off for a couple weeks...

and then I start seeing more statuses from double T.

So, I made a blog post.. because I fed into it. I felt like I needed to fight back, since I knew she was talking badly about me. Statuses, etc.

My post basically said I collabed with another photographer after seeing these amazing Pinterest images she found.

Whoops, bad thing to say..

That escalated. Maybe that was bad of me.. I don't know. It was petty, but I felt the need to defend myself.. which, does NOT make it okay.

She made a huge post.. I get on Facebook. Guess what face I see? The second model. She took her out behind my back, doing another boudoir shoot of her. She posted this photo, and ripped into me in the post. I mean.. wow. No names, but obviously about me. She talked badly on my style, bad about my posing, bad about everything.. ugh. It was awful. I was so sad. I blocked her after messaging her, because I was so upset! I couldn't believe she did that. She admitted to it being about me.

Then, she proceeded to tell me how I have no idea who I am messing with, nobody cares about me, and she knows I've been talking bad about her.. WHAT!!?!?!?!?!?!?!? NO WAY! I had not said a single word about her. She tells me nobody cares, and blablabla.

She acted completely innocent. Eventually, I just said one thing. "I don't understand why you have to be such a mean human." I was so done.. I couldn't believe how nasty her words were. Letting me know how irrelevant I was, and how nobody cares and nobody would ever copy me.

She calls me. We hash it out, that was the end of it... or so I thought. Turns out.. this other photographer was the one she said I talked bad about her too. She pretended she heard about it from other people, which I mean.. was obviously not true. It was rough. Turns out, those two were talking about me behind my back. She didn't go into much detail.

Well. I hadn't talked to her. She talked bad about me to this photographer, and hey.. it bothered me. Should it have? No. She bullied me, and scared me into thinking she could Ruin me.. all for what? What did I do? Exist?

We stop talking. The last thing I heard from her, was her asking if I lost a lens cap.

I see her at the store, avoiding eye contact.

I made the decision.. that hey. If she wants to talk bad about me, good on her.. but I won't give her a reason. If somebody believes her.. then they aren't worth convincing.

I get on Facebook yesterday. Turns out, she blocked me. I can only assume it was due to the encounter at the store, or because I posted a status looking for a second shooter when she used to be mine.

Truth is? It hurt me. I still cannot believe something so silly arose. I begged and begged. I didn't want her destroying my name.. I was so nice. I let her rip into me. I did. Multiple times, before finally standing up for myself..

Truth is? I am a people pleaser. I begged her. Literally, begged her. I begged her to let me know what I could do, or what I should have done. In the end.. those people will always find a reason to not like you. Count on that. I did things wrong, but you know what.. those people? Will always find a way and a reason to hate you.

I learned a lesson. You DO NOT need to please everybody. Sometimes, people will hurt you in order to heal themselves. Let them. Learn YOUR lesson, move on.

Is it dumb drama? Absolutely. Is it something that eats at me? Sure is. Is it silly? absolutely.