#this is actually my first time doing a finished product with no lineart!

[justmwahstruly]

i come bearing fanart!

Writer is so pretty and cool-looking, I love her…

and the wondrous Writer belongs to @sallystarletsimp ! Go check them out!

[milaza]

nine years of drawing with a digital art tablet baeby! i have some older traditional/non-tablet digital pieces as well but i dunno what year they’re from. i’ll make a more complete yearly progress chart next year.

overall, i’m pretty okay with things considering it’s just a hobby.

it’s still a bit frustrating to see that i peaked with pretty stuff in 2018, but as i said before i’ve improved a lot more in other ways and i don’t think i’d be happy with myself if i kept just drawing pretty faces with boring compositions.

before i compiled this, my feeling was that i thought i did really well in 2020. but that was just the year my posts did well on social media (did well for ME). looking back, there wasn’t really anything complete and unique that i liked a lot. and i thought i kinda flopped in 2021 ‘cause i didn’t post all that much, but i’m really happy with my output that year TBH. i want to draw more fun scenes and pictures with deep feelings!

the time i spend on a complete piece has decreased a lot because i’m more concerned with having an interesting atmosphere over making sure the rendering and anatomy is perfect. also, i’ve just gotten quicker at drawing overall. i always try to keep it under 10 hours nowadays unless it’s got lineart... that shit makes it take so much longer orz.

2022 kinda felt like a flop again, aw man. i kinda forgot that i spent a good part of the early year drawing a whole korekiyo dojinshi? i felt really down about it at the time since i was utterly unmotivated (it’s fucking korekiyo i don’t know how i cared enough about him to draw a whole comic about him), but now i’m like... woah... people actually enjoyed that? i sold out of all 28 copies i had printed, so now i’m considering reprinting it again. who knows...

anyway i got an ipad this year and started using procreate so i sketched a good bit more. i finished dai gyakuten saiban, got motivated by my chemical romance, and completed a bunch of stuff i was pretty proud of in a single week. unfortunately completing dai gyakuten saiban also made me fall in love with barok van zieks for some reason so i basically spent the second half of the year just drawing self-ship art and van zieks pr0n. it’s not even crap worth posting.

i feel like i didn’t complete or post that much (at least on my main account) because of that. but actually, i always forget i have more finished pieces for zines that i don’t post... idk if i should admit it but i use zines as a way to motivate myself to finish stuff honestly. i think without that i’d flop even more and not get me to draw anything... but i will stop doing that from now on because i don’t feel satisfied with my artistic output drawing for zines. bleh.

last year i was obsessed with making dojinshi and this year i got into merch stuff since i was tabling at a convention for the first time, but honestly...! it’s a pain in the ass!!! i don’t want to bother with maintaining an online store and i don’t want to create products for the sake of creating products so i’m only gonna make what i personally want from now on.

so i spent 75+ hours rendering a barok van zieks dakimakura.

I WANT TO THROW UP!!! IT’S SO SICKENING TO ME THAT THE PIECE I’VE SPENT THE MOST TIME ON EVER IS A FUCKING VAN ZIEKS DAKIMAKURA!!!! HE’S NOT EVEN IN MY TOP 5 ACE ATTORNEY CHARACTERS!!!!!!!!!! preorder link in my bio btw.

that was just 2 weeks ago basically, but i felt so fucking ill about it. luckily i finished off the year with a nice complete drawing so i’m happy and i love myself again ^_^

i want to focus on 3D art next year, draw more complete scenes, get around to my drawing idea backlog... get into some new fucking media because i am sick of that white man cursing me for the past six months. yep yep!

[moveslikeanape]

hey! it's been a few days again, since i still had a lot going on irl, but i'm the 🌟 anon--i thought i might as well come off anon since we've already been talking quite a bit through asks (which i didn't expect when i sent my first message haha, not that i'm complaining though). i hope you're doing well.

i agree heavily with what you said in your second paragraph. i don't know if you heard about this, but mark henn retired from disney last month, and he said on a podcast that he would've liked to stay until his 45th or 50th anniversary but ultimately his work just didn't feel meaningful anymore. and even though as i mentioned, i did enjoy encanto, i'm not really surprised. i think it says a lot about the quality of things lately that someone who worked for WDAS since 1980 and did so much important work for them would feel this way.

as for wish's songs, and specifically "at all costs", i read an interview with the songwriter the other day where she stated that she wanted that song to sound like a love song that could be played at a wedding, or a lullaby you could sing to your kids, so that when you see the movie and learn the actual context you're surprised by it. i suppose i can't say she didn't achieve her goal, but that's so far away from the purpose that songs in disney movies are supposed to serve! it just tells me that unlike phil collins or elton john, who wanted to write disney music, julia michaels just wanted to do her own thing and throw it into a disney movie whether it really worked or not.

some of the "art of" books are pretty detailed and have what i feel is a decent balance between production info and art, but others not so much... i've mostly enjoyed reading the ones i own for specifically disney movies, but the pixar art books i own tend to be very heavy on art and light on any other information. the hercules one is strange, though, because the author doesn't put much of his own writing into it, instead presenting the majority of the information by directly quoting the filmmakers, which makes it an awkward read. there are also comedic asides from the characters presented alongside lineart of them--for example, one page shows a reproduction of notes taken by one of the filmmakers, and below that is art of phil looking annoyed with text beside him that says "phil: yeesh, it's all greek to me! how am i supposed to read this chicken scratch?!". i've never seen anything like that in these kinds of books before. i did finish the art of animation book, though, and it was great! around 60 or so pages of it were dedicated entirely to the making of hercules and there were a lot of things in it that i didn't know.

to keep things on topic for your blog, i'd love to know your thoughts on the tarzan broadway show if you have any you'd like to share! i've always been a fan of broadway musicals but i don't know much about the tarzan one, other than that i remember hearing that terk was changed into a male character. which is interesting, because she was originally supposed to be a boy in the movie, wasn't she? also not the first time that's happened in a disney broadway musical, with the lion king again being an example here because of rafiki.

Hey, nice to meet you! I hope you don't mind that I followed you from my personal blog. And no worries, I completely understand life being busy… there never seems to be enough hours in the day. I'm doing well, thank you. Hope you are too!

I'd heard Mark Henn had retired, but I never heard what he said on the podcast! That's such a shame. It's hard enough watching this happen as a fan, I can't imagine being in his position.

Wow, that's completely insane about "at all costs". I'd probably be more confused than surprised, and even if I were surprised it wouldn't be a good one. And on top of that and the fact they're supposed to be written for the movie, they shouldn't be written with the intention that people would hear them before they see the movie… to me that seems like they truly did want them played on the radio, and have people want to see the movie to see what they songs about. I agree with you it seems like she just wanted to do her own thing, and also that she wants to deceive and trick her audience.

That's such a shame the Pixar books are like that. It definitely is nicer to have more info on the making of the movies. The Atlantis one is technically an "illustrated script", with a few notes here and there. Lots of great artwork, but I wish it went more in depth, especially about the Atlantean culture and language. I didn't know they did those comedic asides in the Hercules book! I've had it for years, but never actually gotten around to reading through it (really need to find some time to read through these books!) I'm glad you enjoyed the art of animation book though, and that you got to learn some new things about it!

As to the Tarzan Broadway show… I've been kicking myself for almost 20 years that I never saw it! I was in Albany on a trip during the Broadway run, but didn't have the time to make a quick side trip to see it, and been regretting it ever since. I also missed out on the production in Tuacahn, Utah last year (Josh Strickland reprised his role as Tarzan!) because I'd made a very big purchase around the time it was announced, and sadly couldn't afford to go. I did see a bootleg recording of it once, but it was so long ago I don't really remember it. Will have to rewatch it someday.

I know there were somethings that needed tweaking, but I'm not sure what could have saved it in North America. I know it's very popular in Germany (it's actually currently playing in Hamburg). Most of my experience with it is the album. I do love the new songs, especially Kerchak's "No Other Way" and Jane's "Waiting For This Moment". But my favourite has to be "Everything That I Am", when Tarzan learns about his human parents. If you only listen to one song from the broadway, I highly recommend it. The OCR has the one in the broadway sung by Josh Strickland, plus another version at the end of the album sung by Phil Collins.

One thing that's always bothered me is the song "For The First Time", a duet between Tarzan and Jane. It's basically Jane and Tarzan working through what they feel about each other and if it's reciprocated. There's nothing wrong with the song itself, I actually do love the song, it's just the subject and it's place in the musical. It comes after Strangers Like Me. In addition to the lyrics "Every gesture, every move that she makes…" etc from Tarzan, there's a new section in the song sung by Jane:

"I can't explain the way I feel Everything I wanted’s here And my heart is beating faster Every moment I’m with him I feel so complete I cannot deny what I’m feeling"

Which is sung to the same tune as "For The First Time". To me, that makes FTFT feel like going around in circles, it's basically an entire song to say what's just been said. I've always thought it would have been better to have a song where they both torn about what to do, a should I stay or should I go? song.

As for Terk, I've never read anything on why they decided to change her back into a guy. I remember thinking about Rafiki back when I first found out about Terk, they just can't keep their monkeys (apes) straight! I'll have to see if I can find out anything about that.

[elanorrandom]

Evaluation

In the last 6 weeks I’ve made sketches, and digital pieces, all relating to medieval fantasy, taking inspiration from big games in the industry which also follow the theme, such as World of warcraft, league of legends and dungeons and dragons.

The first hurdle of this project was trying to find a way to bring the element of randomisation into artwork, and it’s something I struggled with for the first week or two, instead just opting to do some initial sketches to try and draw some inspiration.

This was the first sketch of the project, a seated orc over a rock. I lost valuable time to trying to bring in randomisation, and by the time I came up with the idea  of a DnD character generator, it was too ambitious for the time I had left. 

   In the next project I need to be more aware of my skillset and not be too ambitious, I spent more time then I expected on my first piece of this project, and it’s essentially become the whole project, I’m still proud of it, but by no means was it what I’d set out to achieve. As mentioned, my original plan was to create a random character generator, meaning a randomisation of combinations to make up one character.

To do this, I made a skeleton, which I built a body off off.

Then I made a body, for which to base the armour around, so it was fitting proportions.

And then on a different layer, I was building an armour set, and the idea was I’d build multiple armour sets off of this body, in this same form. But I ran into the issue of not really knowing how to integrate this into unreal, to create this png generator. I started a new photoshop, wanting to create a more dynamic piece, and felt inspired. 

This was the inital sketch, colour coded to help guide me, red being the cape, harness, bandages, blue being the body and legs, yellow being the axe, all of it to give me perspective on all of the elements before the overlapped in lineart. This process took longer than expected, but I’m expecting it to go quicker for the next project.

The lineart that followed, a few changes from the sketch, such as the hair blowing with the cape instead of the opposite way, I made this following the sketch closely, having things overlapping helps to give me an idea of where everything actually is, and helps me when drawing perspectives where things are hidden from view. (for example, I drew where the other end of the axe would be despite it being behind the cape in the lineart.

I used the lasso tool to do the flats, to make it follow the lineart closely, but I also made different layers to make it possible to change elements to different colours, such as the armour, the trousers and leather, the cape, the skin, all of this was made flexible by using seperate layers to colour in this character. In the next project i’ll be sure to experiment more with alternatives.

Next, I got started with the background, originally starting with a navy blue background, the slanted white triangle in the bottom intended to be snow, but I late scrapped the idea of showing the ground, instead focusing on the cold night sky. I’m not comfortable with backgrounds, but I think this one took a lot quicker than it did in the last project, and I’m hoping to see improvements in the next one.

I adjusted the character’s head, raising the hairline to give him more of a forehead, starting to add glowy effects, and as you can see I’d since scrapped the snow. I think I did a good job with the lighting here, but it’s only highlights, I ran out of time to do lowlights.

Realizing I was running out of time, I finished the piece with a few dots of snow and while this piece was an improvement, it proved to me that my original goals for this project were far too ambitious for my current skillset, and I’ll be sure to bare that in mind for my next project.

In conclusion. This project was very productive, and a good return back to the course, showcasing my improvement from past projects, but there is still improvement needed concerning timing and planning.

(old project for comparison) For the new project, I’ll be on Holiday, so it’s important I manage my time for it better than I have with this one. I also need to work  on how I do initial research, as I tend to not document enough.

[tunafishprincess]

Hey hey Tuna! I want to start doing commissions soon but I have no idea how and where to start. I mean yeah I'll make a comission sheet and specify stuff I know those basics. But like how do I kinda know that people would actually comission me for stuff? How did you know when to start and like what was your whole process like? Don't mind me I'm just trying to ask about this to some artists I admire and who do commissions what their experiences were like so don't feel too pressured to answer this lol

1. A lot of it is building a base of clients. Most of my regulars are my friends and I regularly interact with them, so we are generally on the same wavelength of what they would like.

2. Don’t be impatient if you don’t suddenly get clients. When I first started I only had one or two people who commissioned me and the next time I had a commission it was several months later. I didn’t start doing commissions until people started asking me about them because they liked my art.

3. Pricing. I started at a much lower price originally because I was at a different art level than I am now. In order to keep clients I’ve also let my older ones keep their old prices, because I respect and appreciate their support.

4. Some people will reject your prices and not hire you and that’s okay. I’ve had more than one person try and haggle with me on my prices because they are “too expensive” and while I am more flexible than others I’m not willing to work for peanuts. I work a full time job outside of art so I’m taking my own free time to work on commissions, which I enjoy doing. I love bringing People’s visions to life. Essentially, it’s okay to be flexible on prices but don’t be a pushover.

5. Be open with clients. I send progress pictures to my clients. I keep them in the loop on how things are going. If I have an emergency and can’t finish an artwork sooner I let my client know. If a client cannot pay straight away I might put them on a waitlist so that they can reserve a spot with me at a later time.

6. My normal process is that I put out a commission sheet and allow people to dm me. Normally it’s on discord, Instagram or tumblr and occasionally Twitter. Client tells me what they want and I try and calculate how much that costs with my commission sheet. From there I send an invoice if they want it. Once paid I start on a sketch first and send it to them. Once past the sketch and lineart stage I restrict any major changes to the work unless it’s a mistake on my part. Once finished I send the product via email to the commissioner. Normally it takes a few days to a few weeks, depending on the complexity of the art and how much free-time I have.

I hope that answers your questions! ❤️

[fictionalsownme]

Hawks Dating Sim / Visual Novel - Developer Log # 3

+ PATREON INFO (+slight hiatus)

Hi everyone! So there's been some developments and progress on the game since the last update, so I'm going to sum everything up here and then give a rundown of the Patreon that will go live in the coming months! Below you will find information about:

the new coder that I've hired to help speed things up!

where we are now with development and what's up next

all information you need to know about the support Patreon and how to join early (if you're interested!)

and the unfortunate hiatus I need to take and when I’ll be back!

Please feel free to message me if you have any questions or anything of the sort, and let’s get into it!

First up, the new coder!

So while I know a very small about of renpy coding (thanks to youtube!), development was painfully slow, and I’m sure any code I wrote was fragile and not very good ^^”” I really want this game to end up in your guys’ hands one day, so I decided to hire a professional coder to help out! His name is Selenyhr and you can find him here on fiverr! Since hiring him, development has seriously taken off and I am so happy knowing that the code is as stable as it can be! Overall, he’s been super patient and helpful, and the end product wouldn’t be the same (or nearly as good!) without him. It’s thanks to him this game actually has a chance of being finished one day!

So while I know a very small about of renpy coding (thanks to youtube!), development was painfully slow, and I’m sure any code I wrote was fragile and not very good ^^”” I really want this game to end up in your guys’ hands one day, so I decided to hire a professional coder to help out! His name is Selenyhr and you can find him here on fiverr! Since hiring him, development has seriously taken off and I am so happy knowing that the code is as stable as it can be! Overall, he’s been super patient and helpful, and the end product wouldn’t be the same (or nearly as good!) without him. It’s thanks to him this game actually has a chance of being finished one day!

The actual Developer Log!

So like I said, most of the progress lately has been code + mechanic related, but I’m going to be putting in the elbow grease for everything story/art related soon! Let’s get into what we got so far!

What’s Done:

the player gender system + code

player name code

player skin tone customizer (!)

UI design planning + some implementation

some villain path planning

Hawks sprite sketches (working on double checking and final changes before starting line work)

What’s Next:

UI implementation

game path/start code

secretary + pro hero path planning

overall story planning - big bad, main conflict, etc (I’ve started this process already but all ideas are still young!)

Hawks sprite lineart

sprite sketches for other characters (spoilers! hehe)

Overall, progress has really picked up and I have a pretty clear idea where we’re headed!

The support Patreon!

So overall, things with the Patreon are still a bit up in the air, but it won’t be going live until I’m back from my hiatus (more on that later!) so I’ve got some time to sort it out! As the name suggests it’s mainly for those who want to support game development, but there are benefits for each tier. I.E. behind the scenes on development, weekly updates, early access once the game is ready for release, a private discord (if people are interested in one), etc!

I also want to be completely transparent that money from the Patreon wouldn’t always go directly towards the game. By being a patron, you’re supporting me in order to support the game! Ideally, the more support there is from the Patreon, the more time I can spend on the game. Please feel free to message me if you have any questions or concerns about this! Please don’t feel obligated to join if you can’t or don’t want to, but in case you do decide I want to make sure everyone knows where their money is going!

So like I mentioned earlier, the Patreon won’t go live for a few months still, but if anyone is interested in becoming a patron early, please feel free to message me directly! There will be no benefits until the Patreon is live, but I wanted to keep the offer open for those who are just interested in supporting the game. Otherwise, I’ll be posting again when the Patreon is ready to go public for anyone who wants to join!

The hiatus :(

So for anyone who doesn’t know (I think everyone 0.0) I’m moving!! I won’t go into too much detail here, but I move from the east coast to the west coast in mid-December! Things are already pretty crazy while we prepare, and it’ll be awhile before things settle once we’re over there. I was going to try to continue regular posting and game development throughout the move but I realized trying to do so wasn’t very nice to my mental health ^^”. You might still see me post every once in awhile when I have the time and feel up to it, but otherwise I’ll probably be back mid to late January, early February at the latest! (I might have to take another quick hiatus soon after but we’ll worry about that later haha) I’m already super excited to be back full swing when the time comes, and I want to thank everyone in advance who is patient while I’m gone! 💞

Other than that, that’s everything for now! Thank you so much to everyone for all the love on this blog lately, even when I go for awhile without posting anything! 🥰 I really, really love posting on this blog and interacting with everyone and developing the game and everything, so you’ll know I’ll be itching to end my hiatus as soon as I can!! If anyone would like to be tagged when the Patreon goes live you can let me know as well! I hope you’re all having a great day/night!

taglist: @inkybird

[oakskull]

fundy in a genshin style outfit

havnt been feeling well lately, just wanted to feel productive, to actually finish something. been trying to finish an art fir a while, managed to do this one :) this entire drawing process was no thoughts head empty , from design to lineart to coloring I've had absolutely no thoughts while making this. except! valberry on hat :) he is geo vision. also I forgot to draw the bow the first time I finished this like,, the whole thing.

here's the one without the weapon if your curious

link to my commission page:

[faerynova]

Hello! I love your art and writing ^^ I’m currently developing a story of mine and you inspired me to include illustrations in my fics! Do you have any art/writing tips?

Pls have a good day!! ^-^

i do! this got a bit long so it's under the cut. good luck with your story!!

1.) STOP CARING

This is the main advice I’ve been giving out for over a decade, and I stand by it. You will never match the perfect image you have in your head. It’s not a failing, it’s fact.

Scribble down hair instead of drawing perfect ringlets. Let the shadow be incorrect. Don’t be bothered about the lineart not perfectly connecting. Stop trying to redraw that other eye twenty times. Let it rest.

I’m most happy with my art when I stop trying to make it perfect and crisp. Nowadays I usually go directly from sketch to finished color because I hated how my lineart never measured up to my sketches. So I eliminated it! That means there are stray sketch lines among the colors, the lineart is choppy (if it exists at all), it’s not always colored perfectly inside the lines, and sometimes the proportions aren’t correct. But I don't care.

In writing, it means I write in short chunks and snappy sentences instead of long fantastical descriptions and smooth transitions from scene to scene. I love that kind of writing, but I wasn’t enjoying writing when I tried to do it like that. When I stop caring about the “image” in my head, I can speed through thousands of words in a DAY because I’m not worrying about it.

Don’t get so wound up in perfection. No one else can see the image you have in your head except you. No one else cares about the image in your head! No one is beating you up for it, and you shouldn’t beat yourself up for it either. Just let art happen.

2.) USE REFERENCES / STUDY

It’s not cheating I promise!! Use that stock photo, ask your friend to check your work, google “hand pointing” and “person sitting cross-legged” and “kitchen chair” as many times as you want or need.

Find a photo or drawing you like and recreate it. See how the light bounces in the photos, learn the curves of the lineart or paint strokes to better understand why it looks how it does. Use the color picker and experiment with pens and brushes and get messy and dissect it piece by piece-- proportions, composition, colors, everything.

In writing, I’m not sure if you can do the same thing, but imitating a writing style is still going to stretch your brain in ways you probably wouldn’t have thought of before.

(If you recreate art then don’t claim it as your own obviously, but it’s one of the best ways to learn!)

3.) NEVER HIGHER THAN BEAUTIFUL

Okay, stick with me on this one because it’s a metaphor. It’s actually a sentence I’ve borrowed from my choir director.

Every voice is different, and different people sound good in places other people wouldn’t. The full saying is: Never higher than beautiful, never lower than beautiful. Never louder than beautiful, never softer than beautiful.

An alto (low ranged) singer isn’t gonna sound good trying to stretch their voice up to high notes that they don’t have the range for.

Someone who can only sing high notes softly shouldn’t try to belt them out and make their voice crack just for the sake of volume.

Pushing yourself is good! Maybe that alto can learn to sing higher notes, maybe that soprano can learn to sing louder without cracking.

But that kind of stuff takes TRAINING and TIME. You cannot force it out, the product isn’t going to be beautiful.

This applies to all kinds of art!

Challenge yourself, learn more, stretch your limits, but NEVER SACRIFICE YOURSELF FOR BEAUTY AND PERFECTION.

If you’re stressed because you can’t imitate that one style you saw, if you’re breaking your wrist to churn out art, if you’re erasing sketch after sketch because you can’t make the drawing on the paper match the image in your head, if you force yourself to write longer chapters because you think they’re too short, if you keep trying to cut your paragraphs because you think they’re too obnoxiously flowy and flowery, you’re going to hurt yourself, whether it’s physically or mentally.

You’re good at certain things, and other people are good at other things. Don’t compare yourself to other people, and take your time learning the skills you don’t have without burning yourself out.

Which, of course, circles back around because it’s a reiteration of the first and most important rule:

Stop caring so much.

Wanting to be perfect is a hard habit to break. It’ll take time to unlearn, and that’s okay. Learning and unlearning both take time. But you will do so much better for yourself if you look at art as a vessel for creativity and fun rather than an obligation.

TL;DR: Art is work, but art shouldn’t be so much work that you hate it or yourself.

[crimsonyuu]

Hello friends it's another sunday I wanna share my art progress with you! At first tho I wanted to thank you guys for all the likes and shares, I would have never thought people would read my blog and seeing a positive reaction to my first blog is incredibly nice, thanks to everyone! This week wasn't as productive due to me finishing a game I started back in summer and getting a new fishtank! Firstly I wanna show you my fish, this foto was taken at the pet store. He has since moved into his 54l fishtank at home.

His name is Oki, inspired by the game I finished this week, which was Okami HD. Anyways enough for my life outside of art, here are my pieces for this week.

Week 2: (14.2.-20.2.2022)

My first piece was teased at the end of my last blog so I wanna start with this!

*My art trade with vfore on discord!*

Here is the fully completed piece, this took me multiple days but I'm super happy with this! It's my friend's Rito character baking an apple pie at night (why at night? I'm not sure I started painting in the night sky randomly). My focus this year will be on full, detailed illustrations that tell stories and I'm glad I already made a bunch of those. I also can see a little progress from me starting to make big illustrations to where we are now, which makes me really excited to see where I'll be at the end of the year.

My second piece this week

*My modsona valentine*

This piece technically wasn't created this week but it was posted this week and I wanna show it. This was made for valentinesday day, as we, the mods for the zelda creators server, wanted to make sonething nice for our community. Here you have my sona, a sugarpink Zora and the fun tagline "there are many fish at the domain... but you are my prince" eluting to the fact that I have a big fat crush on the Zora prince. (Shamelessly) I think it's a super cute piece and I like my sona as well. Really nice, really fun.

My third piece

*okami Amaterasu full body*

Oh my here we go, my Okami pieces. This week I played for hours untill I finally finished the game and had to imidiatly make fanart for the game. Here is a real quick full body piece of Ammy and Issun is here as well. I focussed on making the lineart the most prominent part, just like the game. I used my Sakura brush pen, even tho I have a proper japanese brush pen that I was not that comfident in using.

My forth piece

*more Ammy and Issun*

Hey look, the actual japanese brush pen. For this piece I actually tried using the proper pen and I really love the result! Looks super authentic to the game's art style and I wanna do more Okami art, using this brush pen. For now I wanted to draw the canine warriors, maybe queen Otohime, I'm not quite sure.

Lastly I remade my commission sheets

I'm not expecting getting any commissions here but I'm posting this up, just in case.

And this was all I made this week, as I said very little sadly but hey, I have another two weeks of break so I still have plenty of time to make cool stuff. See y'all next sunday!

[ssei64]

Coughs- so its my first time in tumblr and its actually rec by my friend 🧐 I hope everyone who sees this would likey my art! i do comms too,, sometimes ig so yuhh! Welcome me warmly i dare you.

1st pic- finished product uwu

2nd pic- P R O G R E S S

3rd-5th pic- sketching and line art

It took me 8-9 hours and my apps are Adobe Fresco for sketching+lineart then pro create for coloring!

[cappucosmic]

This might be a weird question, but I really like how rough your painting style is. When I do digital painting I always end up feeling the need to blend everything super smooth. Do you have any tips on just allowing yourself to make it messy? Also how do you pick colors? Do you pick from photo references or just mess around with the values yourself?

This isn't weird at all!

I actually have two paintbrushes I use to get the effect you're talking about. First, I have a hard brush with sharp edges and low enough blending that I can use it to slap colors onto the painting. I think I scoured the internet for a properly square brush that I could use in SAI, but I can't remember where I got it.

Then I use a softer brush that I use for blending and edging. Because it's not super soft, it leaves that painterly look, but at the same time that makes it really great to mold the painting to get everything right. It's a bit like sculpting.

Here's the settings, the one on the left being the first one I use and the one on the right being the 2nd.

I know I've don some progress stuff before, so to give you a good idea, usually with that first brush I do a very messy layout of what I want, and sort of use it as a lineart tool. It's mostly about setting down the general shapes and colors:

And then once I'm satisfied with the composition and the colors, I start blending. As I go on, I use that first brush to re-introduce colors that feel like they've blended too far away, and I also use it to create a starker outline if necessary. Here's some examples; you can see more of a form here but you can tell I've used that sharper brush in places to prevent everything from blending into each other:

And then I just keep going with that until I get my finished product. I also tend to mess around with multiply layers and stuff at that point too just to make sure it's sufficiently contrast-y for my tastes. At the end of all that, I ended up with this:

To be honest, the reason it appears messy is because like... I'm also impatient as hell and getting it that perfect and smooth would probably make me go nuts. It's a race between creating a good product and my temper.

As for colors, I think it's one of the things you tend to learn over time. If you do color picking from a reference you realize that things aren't nearly as simple as 'sky is blue, grass is green'. You have to really look at something and decide what colors you can see in it. And if you look at something and sort of think to yourself, 'you know, I feel like I can see some yellow in there,' and then slap down a more obvious swatch of yellow on your painting, it makes it pop in a way you can't get from photography alone. Part of a good painting is emphasizing colors.

I made a twitter tutorial more about colors a while back, here's a link:

https://twitter.com/cappucosmic/status/1381739463450185731

A very helpful tip is that gray is your best friend. A color wheel doesn't really show you this, but gray is actually the middle ground between colors.

[faerielandtrolls]

COMMISSION INFORMATION BELOW CUT:

[Options for HS Inspired Sprites, Trollcall Cards, and Talksprites Added]

Headshots: Sketch - $5 Lineart - $10 Flats - $15 Shaded - $20

Bust: Sketch - $10 Lineart - $15 Flats - $20 Shaded - $25 Halfbody: Sketch - $15 Lineart - $20 Flats - $25 Shaded - $30 Fullbody:  Sketch - $25 Lineart - $35 Flats - $40 Shaded - $60

⊱ Extra Characters + 1/2 Base Cost (Example: 2 Character Fullbody Flats $60) ⊱ Simple Background + 1/4 Base Cost (Example: Fullbody Flats w/Simple Background $50) (Simple Background = Stripes, Honeycombed, Polkadots, etc.) ⊱ Complex Background + 1/2 Base Cost (Example: Fullbody Flats w/ Complex Background $60) (Complex Background = Non-repeating background, something that needs to be hand drawn, an actual scene, etc.)

Walksprite Inspired: $15-20 Depending On Difficulty.

Example:

Trollcall Page: $30-40 Depending On Difficulty

Example:

Talksprite: $50 Base (Mix and Match)

Base will be sent with a PSD File with all of the separate elements. One pose, one outfit, and one hairstyle. A folder for expressions will include 3 Eyebrows (Worried, Angry, and Neutral) 3 Eye Shapes (Closed Eyes, Both Open, Winking) With Eyes facing forward, to the side and ‘frightened’, and 3 Mouth Shapes (Smile, Frown, and Neutral). A blush layer will be added on the body.

- Extra Expression Items (Extra Eyes that include chucklevoodoos or psionic changes, or changes to the irises for powers) (Extra mouth shapes) (Added layers like sweat or tears) (Extra Eyebrows) +$1 Each

- Adding Face Paint or Non Face Paint layers For Expressions +$5

- Extra Outfits / Hairstyles (May be adjusted for complexity) +$10 Each

- Extra Arm Pose +$15 Each

NOTE: Extensive Tattoos will add on to overall cost depending on the complexity, I hope you understand ♥

Example:

⎽⎼⎻⎺⎺⎻⎼⎽⎽⎼⎻⎺⎺⎻⎼⎽⎽⎼⎻⎺⎺⎻⎼⎽⎽⎼⎻⎺⎺⎻⎼⎽⎽⎼⎻⎺⎺⎻⎼⎽⎽⎼⎻⎺⎺⎻⎼⎽⎽⎼⎻⎺⎺⎻⎼⎽⎽⎼⎻⎺⎺⎻⎼⎽

TERMS OF SERVICE:

I accept payment through Paypal only at the moment. I prefer to talk commissions over discord (Send me a DM on Tumblr to add me if you are interested in a commission). 

Payment will be due in the time after I send the first rough sketch screenshot (watermarked) for approval and before the final product is delivered. 

Prices may be adjusted depending on the difficulty of the piece, please be understanding! I am happy to do more complicated pieces, but as they are harder to do, and will take more time, I may need to adjust my prices accordingly!

Finish product will be posted watermarked on my page, but the commissioner will get a non-watermarked version which they may of course post with credit anywhere they please. Lineart commissions will be posted with a gray background, filled in white on my page, but the commissioner will receive a .PSD file with the lineart separated from the background in case they wish to color it themselves. 

WILL NOT DRAW:

⊱ Excessive Gore / Guro / ETC. (Cuts, scrapes, bruises are okay, but nothing too graphic)

⊱ Excessively NSFW Work (I am okay with drawing suggestive poses, but nothing explicit, provided the commissioner is over 18)

[rema-rin]

How do you create such detailed pieces in such a short amount of time?? Like yo, your art is so fucking amazing and when I see how short of a time it takes even the most detailed of pieces to complete I'm just amazed. Whenever I even attempt to do a detailed piece I take days upon days to finish lmao. Love your art friend (づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ

Sorry for the delayed response! Thank you very much!! And I think there are multiple factors contributing to faster/slow art processes; One would be, to avoid having to redo work.Here's a quick video explaining the terms "destructive/non-destructive" https://www.ctrlpaint.com/videos/destructive-vs-non-destructive

I apply that logic to the process itself as well, I might start detailing a limb of a character, but later on, I might realize that I need to add a complex pattern on that limb that I already started shading. If I didn't plan for it, and had already merged the character layers to only 1 layer, then I'd potentially have to redo lots of work.

Though getting smart with your layer usage just takes trial and error I'd say,,

But same idea with rushing to certain stages of the process before having a clear picture of what the end-product /should/ look like. You can correct a bad proportion/perspective/anatomy much much faster in the sketch phase, than in the coloring/shading/detailing phase. Basically, you ensure a much smoother ride, if the skeleton of your building is all laid out on your blue-prints, than if you try to build it blindly. (decide on placement, color choices, light setting, composition, posing, area of focus - all in the first 20% of your art process - the other 80% is for rendering out / refining/clean up) ((it's rare for me to be 100% sure about any of the initial planning, but I at least try to be as satisfied with it as possible before moving on to the next stage)) I heard one artist describe that 80% of their concentrated decision-making is spent on the first 20% of the artwork- the rest is just on autopilot. This is getting rambly,, but you'll have to find what fits you best. It's also true that part of my speed comes from developing lots of muscle-memory basically. I'm familiar with a whole set of shapes, details, bits of knowledge that I can sketch out quickly to make the skeleton-blueprints of dogs, dragons, humans, trees, etc and thus being able to spend more time and energy on planning out more intricate stuff like perspective, composition, color combinations instead of investing all the initial effort into getting the anatomy of a dog leg looking right. (So this brings us back to the age-old advice of: studying the basics :'> but alas, just draw the things you enjoy a LOT, and you'll start to naturally get faster as well, that is what's called getting "mileage" in drawing) ALsO know when there's no need for details!!!! You can suggest the existence of texture/details by just adding it in sparse places, instead of covering the whole area with it!!! You can also plan out your image as if it's taken by a camera; underexposed: the lighted areas are the most detailed https://www.artstation.com/artwork/1V5R3 / overexposed: the shaded areas are the most detailed. https://www.artstation.com/artwork/8A6wq (this can be real subtle too, it doesn't even have to be extreme, but it'll help you balance your picture and workload as well,, gives to image room to breathe too!) ((((and dont spend hours doing fine and clean lineart if your image is gonna be really dark in the end (and you dont plan on making the lineart be bright,, ) too often have I spent way too much time doing thin and precise lineart, just for it to disappear in dark shading. A cleaned up sketch works just as fine too!)))) Lastly, I believe you'll speed up your process real quick, by focusing on improving your sketching speed. Being able to sketch out the ideas in your head faster, you'll be able to nail down your image faster, because you can go through different versions quicker and find the most fitting one quicker. You can train yourself by doing traditional sketching in pen instead of pencil (no eraser = more thoughtful lines, less errors) or by doing timed gesture drawing (You can find websites for doing figure drawing with a stopwatch, 3 min -> 2 min -> 1 min -> 30 sec is possible too) Hope this helped! I'm still figuring out how to properly do the detailing phase, because I actually think I tend to rush it too much? I'm fine with character-focused details, but my stamina runs out real quick when it comes to backgrounds.

[ask-the-digipals]

ASK THE DIGIPALS #1

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Hey there, we actually have almost the same art style! Although I guess that it was more apparent when I was a bit younger. As for my answer, I want to give it based on my experience as a beginner artist. I’ll start this off by retelling one my most frustrating experiences throughout my art journey.

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When I was just getting started with digital art, I really wanted to have a painterly art style—the ones you see famous artists and companies had. The problem was, it wasn’t an easy style to get used to for a beginner. Believe me, I’ve tried every trick in the book just to help me learn to eventually be comfortable with the painterly style I used to have—drawing my favorite characters, using my preferred palette, and even following a tutorial—and yet none of them helped me get used to it and made me improve.

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And so I got angry at myself. Frustrated that I couldn’t get the results I wanted. The more I thought about it, I realized that the art style I wanted was more of an aesthetic that I wanted to achieve, instead of a technique that should help me grow. I wasn’t doing it for growth anymore, I was doing it for attention and aesthetics.

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After that, I stopped what I was doing and questioned myself. What was I doing wrong? Why do I not feel satisfied every time I eventually finish a piece? Where do I go from here? The answers were easy to figure out, but actually obtaining them was the real challenge.

From what I see in your situation, the best course of action would be through viewing you work through an outsider or an audience’s perspective. If you don’t think that you are enjoying the process you currently have now, then it’s probably time to switch to something that you know will help you improve and also have fun as an artist. A good audience can see if the artist is in touch with their art style or not.

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Or, if you actually do enjoy your current process, you can take a moment to analyze it first before making a major art style change. I suggest breaking it down or categorizing it into parts. Which part of the process of your current art style do you like? Which part do you not like doing? Which part takes up too much time? Which part do you look forward to doing every time? These are some of the many questions you can ask yourself when you want to eventually evolve as an artist.

From that line of thought, take away the parts of the process that you don’t like, and then experiment with other styles you haven’t tried incorporating into your works yet. Here are some of the few artists I took inspiration from:

Loish's painting style (@loishh):

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Cass' lineart (@hiya_cass):

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I know from experience that comics and animations really do take a lot out of you, because not only are you drawing, you are also creating your own story, organizing dialogue, and planning the layout all by yourself! It’s a very tedious job, and as animator, it really is best to have a simple art style in order to work more productively. If you force yourself to have a complex process, you’ll just get burned out in the end.

There are a LOT of art styles out there that could help you evolve and do your work more efficiently. It’s just up to you if you want to make adjustments to your current style or completely switch to a new one. Remember, practice makes perfect. My best advice is that when you’re testing art styles, use your comfort/favorite characters as a reference to make yourself more motivated. I really do hope that my insight helps you. Here’s to making more art this year!

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[ihasnotomato]

Kass Update 20th June 2020

Hey guys! So I know it's been a while since Kass has had an update of any kind but that's because I have been working on a few things behind the scenes that I didn't want to go too far into until I was sure about some things. Now I'm gonna say it straight up, most of what is in this post could be considered 'bad news' but I assure you the things I have decided for Kass are for the greater good in the long run.

So anyway I got 3 things to discuss about Kass right now: The animation, the comic and the website, so I'm going to section this post up into 3 parts so you can read whatever part interests you most!

THE ANIMATION

So some of you might be aware that I put the comic on temporary hiatus so that I might work on pursuing my interest in developing my skills in animation, and it has gone really well so far! I had many small animations in mind, the first being a fun little simple vid of Tubba Blubba from Paper Mario which took about 2 weeks to complete and then I immediately started on my next animation which focused on Kass. Initially it was only to be a simple lip sync test to help me learn how to animate talking, however it very quickly became so much more than that. The animation, despite only being a few seconds long has become one of the biggest products I think I have ever made at this point. I have essentially decided to go all out on it, having every frame of Kass herself being an entire drawing, giving it smooth lineart, full colour, shading and lighting and even getting in another voice actress to give Clementine a line. It might not end up looking like much to the untrained eye but from an animation perspective I have gone way above necessary for what it is but gosh dang it I'm enjoying it. Essentially that has been my life for over the last month, where I have worked on it every day, 6 days a week with some days even reaching up to 15 hours on it. I am very proud of how it's coming along and I can't wait to show it to you! But...

This is where the first bit of 'bad news' comes in, while the animation still isn't even done I'm afraid to say I'm probably going to delay the release of it even when it's finished... The most frustrating part of it is I can't go into why I'm delaying it either as it pertains to personal matters. I'm sorry if that's too vague but it's all I can say for now I'm afraid, and believe me it burns me up inside to do so, maybe one day I can explain why but for now you're going to just have to take my word for it However I should mention it's possible I will indeed be able to release it when it's done, or it could be a few weeks from now or even a couple of months (my bet is on that one) what I'm saying is I doubt the wait will be too long, but I can't say for sure right now.

THE COMIC

So as I have been nearing the end of the animation I gotta say I have been positively itching to get back into working on the comic! But the other night I had a bit of a think as to how I am producing the comic right now and I realized that I don't think I like how I've gone about it so far.

Essentially, I currently release Kass one page at a time as it was a response to my other works in both how long it took me to producing anything for my past comic (Edited) and how long it took to produce videos on my YouTube channel. I wanted to just get content out on the regular and actually just jump into something without constantly working behind the scenes with little to show over several months/ years in the case of Edited. But I've come to realize that when it comes to books of any kind, it's gotta be really frustrating to only read one page every week or so. Seriously how can I expect anyone to get invested when they only get the story in the tiniest of chunks at a time. While on paper It sounds like a good way to keep audience engagement but I think in reality it's the opposite. I mean, Imagine if Bryan Lee O'Malley published Scott Pilgrim one page at a time every week, you'd get nothing out of it. Therefore I've decided that going forward, I will not publish each page as it is made but rather hold onto them all and publish them all at once, one chapter at a time (I'm doing a chapter at a time because if it was the whole book, you'd be waiting for years and years probably).

Publishing each page at a time worked wonders for the beginning because it really helped me just get something out there, but now I think we're past all that and it's time to be smarter about this. That being said, what to do with the rest of chapter 2? A part of me wants to finish up this chapter by going page by page but a much stronger part of me says it's far better to start holding onto them now, I don't fully know what to do about it so I'm opening up the question to you:

"How should I finish publishing chapter 2? One page at a time? Or all at once?"

THE WEBSITE

So I'm sure I've talked about the potential of a website for a few posts now, and it's been a bit weird. At first I had little success in finding an appropriate way of making the website that suited my needs but I may have found something that sort of works now. But admittedly when I found the site I was very busy on other things by that point and kind of threw it by the wayside for a while. So what's the deal now? Welllll, while I still don't know all the details on making it I do very much plan on pursuing it and releasing it at a proper point. You see the launch of the site is a big deal to me and I would want to celebrate it by actually giving you guys something to actually be on the site, namely say.... an animation or a new chapter....  you see where I'm going with this?

Essentially I want to hold off on the site until I have something to release it with, and look I know I could still make it at anytime and just have what I already have on there but I just feel it's the right move to wait on that too when I actually have something to show for it.

SUMMARY

So yeah, while I am still working on Kass and many things for Kass, unfortunately everything Is still a little ways off. It's entirely possible that some of these things might appear sooner than expected but I can't make any promises  Sorry if this post was a bit of a bummer but I like to tell you guys like it is and hopefully I'll have something to show you soon, maybe I'll try and pop out some individual art pieces of which I haven't done in quite a while due to these big projects.

Anyway, hope this didn't bum you out and hope you have a good day!

[toxicsquad]

There is no better way to get to know someone than through a good question tag. In this case we have decided to make an Indie game dev question tag with the responses of our four developers. We hope that it will reveal many unknowns, but if you are left with any questions, do not hesitate to use our ask.

What part of game development are you responsible for?

Athe: I write and write, I melt in my seat, I correct, I cry and then I program. It’s an endless cycle. Occasionally I laugh like crazy while I eat Pringles.

Sam: I draw and color without leaving the lines (almost always) the sprites, the illustrations and the ravings that usually occur to us past 3 in the morning.

Illy: English translations.

Sher: I draw BGs

What tools do you use (hardware / software)?

Athe: Recently my desktop PC has passed away, so I’ve had to rescue my old PC from the garage. I also have a laptop that saves my life more times than I would like to admit. As for the software, I need, above all, drive documents, video editing programs, image etc (I have an Adobe package) and of course Renpy and Atom.

Sam: My main friend and companion is my tablet, a wacom intuos S (pistachio color, so cute). As programs I mainly use the Paint Tool Sai, because there is nothing in this life like its stabilizer. And less frequently than I would like (for details, texture brushes, effects ...) I also use Clip Studio Paint, which I only know how to use at about 2% of its capacity ... If someday I have time I would love to stop and learn seriously what can be done with it.

Illy: During the school year I live in a residence, so I use an old laptop, and when I return home I use a desktop computer that never has memory space. I translate the chapters in the same Atom where the complete script is and I keep them in google drive files where I share them with our beta reader. I also use editing programs like photoshop when I have to translate comics or procreate for when my artistic skills are required.

Sher: ipad+procreate+some final tweak in photoshop, I don't need much more

What is your favorite part of the job?

Athe: Would it be wrong if I say that is when we released the episode? During the whole production time everything is very stressful, there are times when it’s really uphill, but when we release a new chapter it feels soooo good. It's like saying to yourself, yeah, dammit, I can do it. Look at everything you've climbed by yourself. You're doing it right.

Sam: In general, my favorite parts are when the first scenes start to be programmed, and I can see the sprites with the backgrounds, the texts, and how the illustrations look. Everything always looks so much better when viewed in-game… I also really like being able to check out the script as it is written. And from the artistic part that concerns me, when I see that my hands capture the idea that I had in my head ... Especially in character designs.

Illy: Having to find a way to translate very spanish expressions into English, research vocabulary that I have never had to use and commenting on some translations with our beta reader (which we adore) to make it understandable without losing the original meaning.

Sher: I like to do the lineart when the sketch is complete, if I no longer have to think about anything else and it's just going through it, I find it very fun and relaxing

What is the most difficult part for you?

Athe: Offf, yes, I admit it, sometimes writing is the WORST. Other times I love it, especially when I can expand on the descriptions or stop at a part that is intimate or that I find interesting (for example, Hasiel's conversation from 6.3, small spoiler: P). But, I HATE having to paste scenes, often the protagonist moves between scenes and you always have to add lines to those transitions that really do not interest anyone, but that otherwise the text would be confusing. Anyway... It is a very wide world, with a lot of history, I have to deal with what I need readers to know to understand the facts, although sometimes it gets a bit boring.

Sam: What part does not... Rather who e.e Zihel and Ariel are a thorn in my side. Especially Zihel. I know it has to do with the fact that it has never been my strength to draw boys, and much less if they are more masculine in appearance... That's why I also suffer a lot from drawing muscles. Another thing that brings me a headache is the perspective of the illustrations. Every time I try to get out of the typical shot or poses a little... It doesn't work out.

Illy: Doughy’s  stuttering ¬.¬

Sher: chairs, sofas, tables... anything with four legs is my enemy

Anything to help or encourage you while you are working?

Athe: I need music, no, seriously, I NEED IT. I’m unable to focus without it. If, on top of that, I can get what I hear to act as a sounding board for what I write, the text is a thousand times better... But the muse is a pretty bad person.

Sam: Having a show/movie in the background that entertains me. The longer the better, so I don't have to stop to think what I want to put on next.

Illy: Eating sunflower seeds to trick my brain and not be tempted to do something else that distracts me.

Sher: I try to see other artists to motivate and inspire me before I start drawing, what I find most difficult is that initial push and that is where I need the motivation, then I usually have something in the background but it is not necessary

Something that’s a pet peeve or discouraging?

Athe: Some narrative climax moments. Generally, they are not important plot moments (that is almost entirely decided), they are often small decisions to go from scene A to scene B, but I can spend a LOT of time deciding which is the fastest and best way to tie those two ends. I'm the worst.

Sam: Many times when starting, I can't get the poses to fit the way I want, for example.

Illy: Finding many parts in a row that I find especially difficult to solve and that make me believe that I have forgotten how to English properly. And looking at how many lines I still have left.

Sher: When I don't know how to fill in some area, if I see something very empty but I don't know how to solve it, I can spend days looking at the screen without being able to advance, even if I have other areas that I could do in the meantime

What is required on your table or work surface?

Athe: Notebooks, sticky notes, pens… I’m a person who writes everything down, especially the tasks, but I also order the story by color schemes. The stack of sticky notes have 9 different colors, each one represents a character and I play a lot with them for a lot of nonsense. Besides, even though I have been writing on the computer for many more years than I wrote by hand, I still have a preference for the analogical.

Sam: Coffee, sweets, chocolate, cereals... And cats.

Illy: My phone, the sunflower seeds, a Capital America: Civil War 1L water cup, sticky notes that remind me of tasks.

Sher: I have nothing really lol all my things are for decoration

Your most productive hours?

Athe: Owl. Totally nocturnal. Although I have several crises a month to force myself to work at other times that always end... Wrong.

Sam: Also at night for the most part, although I can no longer stay awake as long as I endured before having a job (the good old days...) However, in the middle of the afternoon, when the zoo that I have at home is still taking a nap, I also manage to go a long way.

Illy: From when I finish eating until 7 or 8 in the afternoon, when I don't have to cook, clean, run errands...

Sher: I take over for Illy apparently, from 7 or 8 is when I start to get into the mood until bedtime

Do working hours make you forget to eat or make you eat twice as much?

Athe: It depends, in the past I ate a lot, now if I have stress I don't eat anything. If I'm in a normal productive phase and I'm not on my nerves, I'm probably eating by inertia.

Sam: They make me eat more, but especially junk food e.e And they make me forget healthy meals, especially dinner at night.

Illy: It depends on my mood, but I usually eat twice as much.

Sher: I'm generally a VERY distracted person so I don't usually get to focus on a task to get to either of those two modes but I guess when I am sooooooo much on the task, I forget. But that happens like a couple of times a year and "forgetting" is "I delay an hour."

What part of your set up would you improve / change (in aesthetics or functionality) if you had no money limit?

Athe: I'm trying to match some of my peripherals with the rest. They are all a damn different color, apparently I'm cursed... Now seriously, I wish I had a better graphic card that would allow me to make video captures, some speakers and a quality printer.

Sam: Actually, I don't think I need anything more complex than what I already have… But if I had to improve something, I'm curious about the most professional tablets, the big ones with the included screen and all that stuff.

Illy: A new laptop that lets me open 4 chrome tabs, Atom and photoshop at the same time without dying.

Sher: A pc screen that will not change the colors I use on the iPad would be nice, really

Which character are you most like? And why?

Athe: Phew I think the easy answer would be to say Akane ... But, Akane is a better person. : P

Sam: This is very difficult... They are all very different, but still I do not think I look much like any of them. If I have to say something, I could identify with Maske's tendency to avoid problems, and his more homey and calm side. And well… Since Akane has been an OC of mine for many years, surely I have something of her too.

Illy: I think I partly have Maske's instinct to stay out of trouble, and on the other hand Joe's shallowness, although tbh I wish I really did look like any of our awesome babies.

Sher: surprised because (unpopular opinion around here) is one of those who I "least care" about really but I would say that Pin because he is a little dumb, happy and probably has a Satanic room and proud of it

Favorite CG/art.

Athe: AT THE MOMENT. Maske chapter 1. It couldn't be more predictable. I know.

Sam: I quite agree with Maske in chapter 1. But I would also put Pin in chapter 5 and Akane in chapter 6.2 on the top.

Illy: Kyeran in Coco's tank ?? Is he even real? Being basic is my brand.

Sher: surprised again and disappointed but I would say that of angel Hasiel because I like pretty dresses, pretty hairs and pretty wings

Favorite BG/scene.

Athe: The Red Light District amazes me. I already liked the life of that place, its history, but the way of expressing it... Uggg Sher took it to another level. The dirt on the street, the night, the constricted buildings...

Sam: I think I’ll say Raziel’s square, I like it a lot from the first day.

Illy: I don't know if I can choose just one T__T but I would say that the Red Light District and Valefar's pub are at the top.

Sher: for not repeating the red light district that I also like very much, I really like the areas of Coco's laboratory, including the “main” area although the perspective is horrible and makes the characters look tiny, but I like how it looks :(

Your favorite chapter to date?

Athe: Ufff... The first and second one I assure you no, hahaha. I will say that the third one, but also for things that are not necessarily from the chapter, but of the production. It was a good moment. I felt that everything was flowing with ease. We all assumed a clear role, they were times that made us feel comfortable and capable of assuming what came next, I think it was a qualitative leap also, both in texts and in art.

Sam: Oh. Well let's see... Chapter 5 is amazing for me, for everything that happens but also because there are many personalized interactions and choices. I can't say I have a definitive favorite, but it could come close… Also from the last ones I really like the 6.2.

Illy: Chapter 5 has so many details, so many things happen, it's hard not to be my favorite. But the last ones with the specific routes are so great that if I stay with the 5 it’s with the  pain of my heart to have to choose one.

Sher: I would say 5 also because in the end when a lot of things happen is when you remember the most

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No hay mejor forma de conocer a alguien que a través de un buen tag de preguntas. En este caso hemos decidido hacer un Indie game dev question tag con las respuestas de las cuatro desarrolladoras. Esperamos que os aclare muchas incógnitas, pero si os quedáis con alguna no dudéis en usar nuestro ask.

¿Qué parte del desarrollo del juego llevas a cabo?

Athe: Escribo, escribo, me derrito sobre mi asiento, corrijo, lloro y después programo. Es un ciclo sin fin. Ocasionalmente me río como una demente mientras como Pringles.

Sam: Dibujo y coloreo sin salirme de las líneas (casi siempre) los sprites, las ilustraciones y los desvaríos que suelen surgir a partir de las 3 de la mañana. 

Illy: Las traducciones a inglés.

Sher: Hago fonditos

¿Qué herramientas utilizas (hardware/software)?

Athe: Recientemente mi PC de sobremesa ha fallecido, así que he tenido que rescatar mi viejo PC del trastero, también tengo un portatil que me salva la vida más veces de las que me gustaría admitir. En cuanto al software, necesito, sobre todo, documentos de drive, programas de edición de video, imagen etc (tengo un paquete de Adobe) y por supuesto Renpy y Atom.

Sam: Mi principal amiga y compañera es mi tableta, una wacom intuos S (color pistacho, muy cuqui.) Como programas uso sobretodo el Paint Tool Sai, porque no hay nada en esta vida como su estabilizador. Y con menos frecuencia de lo que querría (para detalles, pinceles de texturas, efectos…) también utilizo el Clip Studio Paint, el cual sólo se usar como a un 2% de su capacidad… Si algún día tengo tiempo me encantaría pararme a aprender seriamente todo lo que se puede hacer con él. 

Illy: Durante el curso vivo en una residencia, así que uso un portatil del año que reinó carolo, y cuando vuelvo a mi casa un ordenador de sobremesa que nunca tiene espacio en la memoria. Los capítulos los traduzco en el mismo Atom en el que está el guión completo y los guardo en drive donde los comparto con nuestra beta reader. También uso programas de edición como photoshop cuando tengo que traducir viñetas o procreate para cuando mis habilidades artísticas son requeridas.

Sher: ipad+procreate+algún retoquito final en photoshop no necesito mucho más

¿Cuál es tu parte de favorita del trabajo?

Athe: ¿Estaría mal si digo que es cuando sacamos el episodio? Durante toda la producción todo es muy estresante, hay veces, que se hace realmente cuesta arriba, pero cuando liberamos un nuevo capítulo sienta taaaan bien. Es como decirte a ti misma, sí, joder, puedo hacerlo. Mira todo lo que has escalado tú solita. Lo estás haciendo bien.

Sam: En general, mis partes favoritas son cuando se empiezan a programar las primeras escenas, y puedo ver los sprites con los fondos, los textos, y cómo se ven las ilustraciones. Todo queda siempre mucho mejor cuando se ve dentro del juego… También me gusta mucho poder cotillear el guión conforme se va escribiendo. Y de la parte artística que me toca, cuando veo que mis manos plasman la idea que tenía en mi cabeza… Sobretodo en diseños de personajes. 

Illy: Tener que buscar la forma de traducir a inglés expresiones muy nuestras, investigar vocabulario que no he tenido que usar jamás y comentar algunas traducciones con nuestra beta reader (a la que adoramos) para conseguir que se entienda sin perder el significado original.

Sher: me gusta hacer el lineart cuando el sketch está completo, si ya no tengo que pensar nada más y es solo ir repasando me parece muy divertido y relajante

¿Cuál es la parte que más te cuesta?

Athe: Ufff, sí, lo admito, escribir a veces es lo PEOR. Otras me encanta, sobre todo, cuando puedo explayarme con las descripciones o detenerme en una parte íntima o que a mí me parece interesante (por ejemplo, la conversación de Hasiel del 6.3, pequeño spoiler :P). Pero, ODIO tener que empastar escenas, a menudo el protagonista se mueve de escenarios y hay que agregar siempre líneas a esas transiciones que realmente no interesan a nadie, pero que de lo contrario el texto quedaría mal montado. En fin… Es un mundo muy amplio, con mucha historia, tengo que lidiar con lo que necesito que los lectores sepan para entender los hechos, aunque a veces se haga un pelín peñazo.

Sam: Qué parte no… Quiénes, más bien e.e Zihel y Ariel son mi espinita. Especialmente Zihel. Sé que tiene que ver con el hecho de que nunca ha sido mi punto fuerte dibujar chicos, y menos si son de aspecto más masculino… Por eso también sufro mucho dibujando músculos. Otra cosa que me trae de cabeza es la perspectiva de las ilustraciones. Cada vez que intento salirme un poco del típico plano o poses… No sale bien. 

Illy: El tartamudeo de Doughy ¬.¬ 

Sher: sillas, sofás, mesas… cualquier cosa con cuatro patas son mis enemigos

¿Algo que te ayude o anime mientras estás trabajando?

Athe: Necesito música, no, en serio, LA NECESITO. Soy incapaz de concentrarme sin ella. Si ya consigo que lo que escucho haga de caja de resonancia de lo que escribo, el texto es mil veces mejor… Pero la musa es bastante mala gente.

Sam: Tener alguna serie/peli de fondo que me entretenga. Cuanto más larga mejor, así no me toca pararme a ver qué es lo que quiero poner después. 

Illy: Comer pipas para engañar a mi cerebro y no tener la tentación de ponerme a hacer otra cosa que me distraiga.

Sher: intento ver otros artistas para motivarme e inspirarme antes de empezar a dibujar, lo que más me cuesta es ese empujón inicial y es donde necesito la motivación, luego ya suelo tener algo de fondo pero no es necesario

¿Algo que te corte el rollo o te desmotive?

Athe: Los nudos narrativos. Generalmente, no son nudos gordos de la trama (eso está decidido casi en su totalidad), a menudo son decisiones pequeñas para pasar de la escena A a la escena B, pero puedo tirarme MUCHO tiempo decidiendo cuál es la forma más rápida y mejor planteada para atar esos dos cabos. Soy lo peor.

Sam: Muchas veces a la hora de empezar, no conseguir encajar las poses como quiero, por ejemplo. 

Illy: Encontrar muchas partes seguidas que me cueste especialmente resolver y que me hacen creer que no tengo ni idea de hablar inglés. Y mirar cuantas líneas me quedan todavía.

Sher: cuando no se como rellenar alguna zona, si veo algo muy vacío pero no se como solucionarlo puedo tirarme días mirando la pantalla sin ser capaz de avanzar, incluso aunque tenga otras zonas que pudiera ir haciendo mientras

¿Qué no puede faltar en tu mesa o superficie de trabajo?

Athe: Libretas, post-its, bol��grafos… Soy una persona que lo anota todo, sobre todo, las tareas, pero también ordeno la historia por esquemas de colores. La pila de post-its tienen 9 colores diferentes, cada uno representa un personaje y juego mucho con ellos para miles de idioteces. A parte, a pesar de que llevo muchos más años escribiendo a ordenador de los que escribí a mano, sigo teniendo querencia a lo físico.

Sam: Café, chucherías, chocolate, cereales… Y gatos. 

Illy: El móvil, las pipas, un vaso de 1L de agua de Capital America: Civil War, post-its que me recuerdan las tareas.

Sher: no tengo nada realmente lol todas mis cosas son de adorno 

¿Tus horas más productivas?

Athe: Búho. Nocturna totalmente. A pesar de que tengo varias crisis al mes para forzarme a trabajar a otras horas que acaban siempre… Mal.

Sam: También por la noche en su mayoría, aunque ya no aguanto trasnochando tanto como antes de trabajar (qué tiempos aquellos…) Aunque a media tarde cuando el zoo que tengo en casa aún está echando la siesta también consigo dar un buen empujón. 

Illy: Desde que acabo de comer hasta las 7 o las 8 de la tarde, cuando no tengo que cocinar, limpiar, hacer recados...

Sher: le tomo el testigo a Illy aparentemente, a partir de las 7 u 8 es cuando empiezo a entrar en el mood hasta que llega la hora de dormir

¿Las horas de trabajo hacen que te olvides de comer o te hacen comer el doble?

Athe: Depende, antes comía mucho, ahora, si tengo estrés no como nada. Si me encuentro en un rango productivo normal y no estoy de los nervios, probablemente, esté comiendo por inercia.

Sam: Me hacen comer más, pero sobretodo porquerías e.e Y hacen que me olvide de las comidas sanas, sobretodo de cenar por la noche. 

Illy: Depende de mi estado de ánimo, pero normalmente comer el doble.

Sher: en general soy una persona MUY distraída así que no suelo conseguir centrarme en una tarea para llegar a ninguno de esos dos modos pero supongo que cuando estoy muuuuuuy dentro de la tarea, me olvido. Pero eso pasa como un par de veces al año y “olvido” es “lo retraso una hora”.

¿Qué parte de tu set up mejorarías/cambiarías (en estética o funcionalidad) si no tuvieses límite de dinero?

Athe: Estoy tratando de que alguno de mis periféricos peguen con el resto. Todos son de un maldito color diferente, al parecer estoy maldita… Ahora en serio, desearía tener una mejor gráfica que me permitiese hacer videocapturas, unos altavoces y una impresora de calidad.

Sam: En realidad, no creo que necesitara nada más complejo de lo que ya tengo… Pero por mejorar, me llaman la atención las tabletas más profesionales, las grandes con la pantalla incluida y eso. 

Illy: Un portátil nuevo que me deje abrir 4 pestañas de chrome, el Atom y photoshop al mismo tiempo sin quedarse tieso.

Sher: Una pantalla de pc que no me cambiara los colores que uso en el ipad seria bonito la verdad 

¿A qué personaje te pareces más? ¿Y por qué?

Athe: Ufff Creo que la respuesta fácil sería decir Akane… Pero, Akane es mejor persona. :P

Sam: Esto es muy complicado… Son todos muy distintos, pero aún así no creo que me parezca mucho a ninguno. Por decir algo, me podría identificar con la tendencia a evitar problemas de Maske, y su lado más casero y tranquilo. Y bueno… Dado que Akane es OC mío de hace muchos años, seguramente tenga algo de ella también. 

Illy: Creo que en parte tengo el instinto de alejarme de las movidas de Maske, y por otro la superficialidad de Joe, aunque tbh ojalá parecerme realmente a nuestros bebés geniales.

Sher: sorprendida porque (unpopular opinión por aquí) es de los que “menos me importan” realmente pero diría que Pin porque es tontito, feliz y probablemente tenga una habitación satánica y orgulloso de ello

Tu CG/arte favorito.

Athe: DE MOMENTO. Maske capítulo 1. No podría ser más predecible. Lo sé.

Sam: Coincido bastante en la de Maske del capítulo 1. Pero también metería en el top la de Pin del capítulo 5 y la de Akane del capítulo 6.2. 

Illy: ¿¿Kyeran en el tanque de Coco?? ¿Es siquiera real? Ser básica es mi marca.

Sher: sorprendida de nuevo y decepcionada pero diría que la de Hasiel de ángel porque me gustan los vestidos bonitos, los pelos bonitos y las alas bonitas

Tu BG/escenario favorito.

Athe: Me flipa el Barrio Rojo. Me gusta la vida de ese sitio, su historia, pero la forma de plasmarlo… Uggg Sher lo llevó a otro nivel. La suciedad de la calle, la nocturnidad, los edificios constreñidos...

Sam: Creo que me quedo con el de la plaza de Raziel, me gusta mucho desde el primer día. 

Illy: No sé si puedo elegir solo uno T__T pero diría que el Barrio Rojo y el bar de Valefar están en el top.

Sher: por no repetir el barrio rojo que también me gusta mucho, me gustan mucho las zonas del laboratorio de Coco, incluida la zona “principal” aunque la perspectiva sea horrible y haga a los pj parecer diminutos, pero me gusto como quedo :( 

¿Tu capítulo favorito hasta las fecha?

Athe: Ufff… El uno y el dos os aseguro que no, jajaja. Diré que el tres, pero también por cosas que no son necesariamente del capítulo, sino de la producción. Fue un buen momento. Sentí que todo estaba fluyendo con facilidad. Todas asumimos un rol claro, unos tiempos que nos hacían sentir cómodas y capaces de asumir lo que venía después, creo que fue un salto cualitativo también, tanto en los textos, como en el arte.

Sam: Ay. Pues a ver… El capítulo 5 es una pasada para mi, por todo lo que pasa pero también porque hay muchas interacciones personalizadas y elecciones. No puedo decir que tenga un favorito definitivo, pero podría acercarse… También me gusta mucho de los últimos el 6.2. 

Illy: El capítulo 5 tiene tantos detalles, pasan tantas cosas, que es difícil que no sea mi favorito, pero los ultimos de rutas específicas son tan geniales que si me quedo con el 5 es con un poco de dolor de tener que elegir uno.

Sher: Diría el 5 también porque al final cuando pasan muchas cosas es cuando mas se te queda grabado

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