#this is more of a reference for myself at the end of the day

[thejessc0de]

Okay- I am going to try this again!

I tried to respond to an anonymous ask, but the post completely disappeared. If you asked me about posting speed paints or process videos about drawing realistic faces, this is my response!

First of all, thank you for the message! I don’t often post process videos or screen recordings because they are very time consuming, but I do have a few timelapses on my Instagram account (link in the carrd in my bio). Those timelapses are relatively old though.

My advice for drawing realistic faces is to always use reference photos. I have done TONS of photo studies over the years. Even now, I always start with a reference photo. As I get better, those are more frequently photos of myself, but I can’t share those. You can find plenty of photos online! I start by drawing the reference photo until I think the anatomy is correct, and then I start making changes to match my character – making the eyes bigger, making the eyes look a different direction, modifying the face shape and expression, changing the hair and clothes, etc. As you start to memorize the anatomy, you’ll start relying on references less.

Here is a more recent example:

My initial sketch definitely has some drawing issues, but I just wanted to get the proportions approximately correct. I ended up flipping the canvas because I thought it worked better with the watermark that way lol.

And here is the timelapse!

My preference these days is to do most of the drawing in black and white and then add color later (using the soft light, overlay, and sometimes color layer types). Then I add final details in color and make any modifications. I usually add color threshold and color balance filters because my first attempt at color is often rather bland.

Hopefully this was helpful!

[mythosidhesdollhouse]

Shibajuku Girls: The Return?

Soooooooooo I've been debating whether to post about this at all because I doubt anyone will find it very interesting, but doll gossip is thin on the ground these days and I'm not quite ready to go to bed yet, so eff it let's go--

Alright so, those of you who follow these things may remember back during this year's Toy Fair it was announced that for some inexplicable reason the Shibajuku Girls doll line was planning a comeback. For reference: These 13" dolls from the Australian toy company Hunter Products originally turned up on shelves in the US back in the mid-2010's, to a fairly lackluster reception. Between their unusually high price point ($30-$35, a good deal above the average for fashion dolls at the time) and the fact that they are a rather blatant knock-off of Pullips, no one seemed to be that into them. In a way with their hair play gimmick (a lot of charms and hair clips) meant to interest children in Japanese street fashion I suppose one could see them as a precursor of the Decora Girlz, albeit with far lazier and less successful execution. I did end up buying one--Yoko--for the big head collection, and she's...fine, if forgettable. I like having her in the mix for variety, but I could never quite work up the enthusiasm to get another. The demise of ToysRUs around the time of their release probably didn't help matters any, as it was one of the few places that stocked them. These dolls lingered on the shelves of my local Target seemingly forever, before quietly disappearing to absolutely no fanfare.

But to bring it back to Toy Fair 2024--

For reasons that NO ONE I've heard speak on the subject can quite understand, seemingly out of nowhere Hunter Toys showed up at Toy Fair this year with a display of older dolls from the first two waves of Shibajuku, plus a wall of these mock-ups for a projected third series of anime-inspired characters. If you look closely at the 'prototype photos' in the boxes--not actual dolls--they appear to literally just be restyled Pullips. A lot of people (myself included) speculated that they may have put the money into creating a new head sculpt that more closely replicated the doll this line was always made to emulate, and the lack of actual dolls in boxes was a sign that this Shibajuku 2.0 head had yet to go into production in time for the event.

Turns out--no. That's not what they did at all. So--

A few days ago through a series of random browsing encounters I stumbled across listings for two of the five proposed 'Shibajuku Anime' dolls on Walmart's website. They are showing up as out of stock, but if you put them on your wishlist you can add them to your cart from there (though not check out), which is a pretty sure indication that they're expected in stock online and in stores soon.

So...what to say about these. First of all they quite obviously have the same old Shibajuku face. The fashions have considerably less detail than the prototype photos, which in itself I'd be willing to forgive for reasons I'll get to in a minute, but the main thing that overwhelmingly stands out to me here is that Kiki, one of the two characters shown with a darker complexion in the mock-ups, has gone from having tan skin and white hair to pale skin and black hair. Which, yeah no fuck that. No way of knowing if this was the brand's decision or a specific request from Walmart, but whichever way you slice it, it sucks. Lack of diversity was a huge issue with the first iteration of this line, and after the promise of a course correct it looks like we're back to more of the same. I will definitely be bending a critical eye on them to see if the other dark-skinned character, Sakura, receives a similar whitewashing :/

Now, with that rant out of my system, is there anything good to say? Well, the price, for one. These are set to retail for $19.98, which is significantly below what they sold for originally. No doubt the lower quality fashions and lack of accessories have a lot to do with it, but on the whole I'd say it's a plus. Also...as much as as I would have loved to see the ensuing drama if they had had the audacity to churn out a more blatant Pullip clone, for continuity's sake if nothing else I'm glad they stuck with the old face. She's a weird little bird and despite it all she deserves her place in the wider family of Big Head dolls, however derivative that might be (I mean, if anything Pullip needs MORE clones, Blythe has such a start on her in that arena....).

And finally (FINALLY) to wrap things up--will I be buying one? Perhaps surprisingly--yes! I plan to order Akira when she becomes available to ship. I think she's decently cute--you all know my bias for green hair--and I have a purely academic curiosity to compare her to my 'classic' Shibajuku. Plus, despite all my dismissive snark, I would actually like to see this relaunch be successful. I'm always in favor of diversity in the doll market, and this particular type of doll has been sadly under-represented of late. There is plenty room on the shelves for more big head girlies! MGA is daily signing that real estate away at an increasingly rapid pace XD My hope is that they do well enough to warrant the release of the other three dolls from the proposed new line-up, and that maybe--MAYBE--if the Dolly Gods are kind we will see Sakura with her original dark skin tone, as intended.

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee ok that's enough sleep-procrastinating for one night, I'm done. If anyone else cares about this at all I'm sincerely curious to hear your thoughts.

[myhusbandsasemni]

Catalogue

Hello! So, I have two blogs, clickerflight and Myhusbandsasemni. Clickerflight is more of a whump blog, though I am quite proud of the stories I write for it. Because of this some of my stories belong more to one blog than the other for people who aren't as much of a fan of whump. Thus, here is a catalogue of stories I work on actively and which blog you can find these stories on if you are interested.

Myhusbandsasemni - Masterlist

Cursebreakers (WT)

Paperdemon stories Forsaken Fields A Construct in a Box Cursebound

Warlocks

Clickerflight - Masterlist

Clove

Crestlen

From Dust to Ashes

Kindled Scales

(Last updated 6/22/24)

[bilaudad]

wing stuff!

experimenting with a more cartoon style, idk what i'm doing loll

tagging: @goodomensafterdark <3

[sheepalmighty]

Some more of that Chai joins Vandelay for half a day AU. Or just a picture of a kinda OOC Kale chilling if you wanna gloss over those comics. I'm still not sure if the colours are too garish or not.

These were mostly done with the premise of treating Kale's office like the hideout. I also really like how mundane, or familiar, the interactions between Chai and Kale can be in the game so I wanted to draw some stuff exploring more like that. But also, there's the ulterior motive of shipping so I included an out of context scene because I can't bother drawing the rest of it (though it seems like a huge jump in their relationship as a result. I think they're so big headed that they get stuck in a feedback loop of stroking the other's ego if an excuse comes up to do so)

[yuri-for-businesswomen]

i need to consume something or my thoughts consume me

[rasazys-ramblings]

A normal song goes OOOOooooOOOOOOOOooooouh oooowooooooOOOOohwoh awhooooOOOOoh and I say it's ass but Vivid BAD SQUAD does the same thing and I go THIS ONE RIGHT HERE THIS IS MY FAVORITE SONG THIS IS THE SONG THE ONLY SONG THAT HAS EVER SUCCESSFULLY WOKE ME UP IN THE MORNINGS WITHOUT ME COMPLAINING AND TIRED AS FUCK THIS IS THE SONG THAT MAKES ME WAKE UP REFRESHED AND READY FOR THE DAY THIS IS THE SONG THAT MOTIVATES ME THIS IS IT RIGHT HERE

[indig0trolls]

i can finally go to sleeeeeeeep

[numiolaes]

i wonder how many people would stop bitching about the writing for this show if they could've binged it all and had at least one scene per episode where someone stated everything explicitly like that one scene w/ satan in futurama

[rose-lalondde]

pro tip: if you think you have adhd then don't start a master's program before you even get a diagnosis (also you need a stronger prescription, you have astigmatism, and reading glasses aren't gonna cut it)

[butch-springsteen]

hmmm.

[small-spark-of-light]

day 10 was to draw something with 1 pt perspective

[deviousdiesel]

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[princessmyriad]

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[dirt-str1der]

Yaoi has poisoned all of your fucking brains !!

[reaperseal-archive]

like if i’m completely honest w myself i don’t view myself as 100% woman or man or something in between i just wish i didn’t have tits and my gender is Bunnie and i don’t give a shit what pronouns anyone uses for me