#warm up doodles basically LOL

[powpowpunchout]

Recoil and Repelled 

[emmaspolaroid]

TPN sketch dump // Grace Field kiddos

[sysig]

Bun (Patreon)

[sntoot]

forcing myself to post the page of doodles before i can say just one more and end up with two full pages

i am willing to blame all of these on this fic again but the middle 3 r technically actually from specific pieces. the other stuff is just what had already been stewing in my brain that the fic reminded me of. (the wol is kindly being modeled by asleepinawell’s wol today. i forgot to put that on the last one when i drew him 😭)  im obsessed with the idea of there always being a space if one of the three is missing. been messing around with it for a while but this gave me an excuse to try and illustrate it. also to play around with how different things look when you copy paste most of the lines and only change a select few. always fascinates me how a single line can completely change an expression

[your-fave-is-bi]

k so my idea of aiming at clone ocs in artfight this year isnt working bc im a scared baby BUT

there's a lot of star wars ocs so im having a blast. also twileks are like real fun to draw i've found

[dreemurr-skelememer]

Hello :D

I have been following you for the last year or so (a few days after I got my Tumblr lmao) and I absolutely love your art!

I have been wanting to study your art style for a while but don't really know where to start,,,

Could you please show me a small portion of your art process, if it isn't too much trouble of course. Thank you and have a nice day!

hello. oh my god. this took forever to find. im sorry it took 2 WHOLE FUCKING MONTHS for me to respond to this but i wanted to put it off until i felt happy with my art process again, so here it is

my fall 2024 rendering tutorial! (this will be very very long)

FLATS AND WHATEVER YOU WANNA DO WITH LINES GIRL. then make sure to recolor the lineart to better match your base. trust me it helps, bold dark lines are Not your best friend when rendering. wait for that post-rendering

i start off with a doodle or a sketch, and then filling it in with flats and other details such as blush

FIGURE OUT YOUR LIGHT SOURCE. FIGURE IT OUT GIRL YOU CAN DO IT you can make it as simple as possible, make it as big as possible, dont even THINK about the details.........just make it really fucking big so you at least know where the shadows and the light goes THEN add smaller shading details LISTEN TO ME. LISTEN TO ME OKAY!!!!!!!!

my key point with this is for you to learn lighting fundamentals. it's SOOO ANNOYING but alas......they are all correct. it helps a lot.

one thing i also really want to point out is that i like creating a big shadow shape first before fixing up the little details (such as folds and whatever) because it helps me focus on the way the lighting actually works instead of tunnel vision-ing into making the shading make sense on the clothing.

contact shadows (i dont remember if thats what theyre called okay) theyre fucking ugly because im not actually thinking sorry 💔

okay so basically: contact shadows (if that's what they're called) are the spots in shading and lighting where light will NEVER hit.

shadows are still influenced by the colors and lights around it (it's why a blue shadow and a yellow shadow feel completely different, despite both being shadows) so it's not always COMPLETELY dark. BUT! there are small points in shadows where light never hits, and they're almost always super dark or pitch black.

it's hard to explain shadow and light so briefly for a tutorial, but you'll notice it when watching fundamental studies and when trying it out for yourself

YES i unclipped the multiply layer YES its ugly and terrifying but it makes coloring the multiply layer easier okay the colors merged w multiply so now it looks cool and has depth overlaying colors that actually make sense

so basically what i did was color the multiply layer that i used to shade the overall drawing

adding a band of red/orange/yellow around where the light hits, and blue where the shadows get big and wide, gives it a fake ambient occlusion effect in the way that a person would get if they stood under the sun with a clear blue sky

the colors don't have to make sense, especially because i never draw backgrounds, but coloring the shadows really help it give a sense of depth and extra subtle detail and effect that just helps make the painting look nicer

around the end, i also put in colors (in an overlay layer with a low opacity brush) that actually make sense in context of the drawing, which is the lit cigarette and the yellow eyelights mostly because none of the colors were making sense and i needed to actually make use of the lighting that DOES exist in the drawing lol

adding a muddy golden yellow pin light layer (opacity turned down to like 40-50%) to make the light colors less ugly lol

i SWEAR by the fucking pin light layer style. it's so useful and so so underrated.

i used an almost brown-ish gold color on stop of all the layers, and with the pin light layer, it helped make the bright (almost blue-ish) white colors more warm and more yellow. it just helps make things more warm (something i prefer)

i could probably show what it looks like without adjusting the layer opacity to truly show off what i mean (like in the coming section) but i sadly forgot to do that lol

make a layer on top of your drawing with this color in these ranges YES the drawing is fully merged NO don't be afraid, the base was fucking ugly anyway 💔 make this layer into an exclude/exclusion layer style TRUST turn down your exclusion layer opacity from a range of 10% to 40% literally until you're happy with the contrast and the way the color over the drawing. use your eyeballs. i know you can do it im so proud of you

this is pretty self-explanatory instruction-wise, so i'll go into why i do this instead

i really like art that seems like it has low contrast, with almost mid-gray shading and lines. i don't personally use dark and bold lines and shading, unless i find it necessary for the tone of the piece, so using this method helps lower the contrast of the art and make it look "pleasantly muddy" in the way that it's easier and softer on the eyes.

the inverted blue color also helps makes things warmer! the exclusion layer style is still a bit of a mystery to me but i really like the effect it gives, even if i don't completely get how it works lol

if you want an alternative method to this, and if you have access to it (because i primarily use sai and sai only), i absolutely encourage you to play around and experiment with gradient maps. there are so many out there you can make yourself or even get from others that just give the painting an extra amount of depth and color variation. they're SO fun.

personally, if sai2 gets a gradient map update, it's over for y'all it will literally be so over no one will be able to stop me

then i merged everything and actually adjusted the contrast back up because it was looking too muddy for me 💔 but the color adjustments are still there so all hope is not lost here's a comparison of the adjusted contrast in black and white (adjusted on the left) (newly merged layer without adjusting the contrast on the right)

as you can see, i actually turned the contrast back up (despite talking all about how i liked things with less contrast lol)

i wanted to demonstrate that doing adjustments should be done in moderation, and is why i adjust layer opacity often when making color effects you are free to play around with colors to help your style, but don't lose your initial idea and colors along the way. you still need to trust your own colors and intuition!

along with that, i just want to say that it's completely okay to change your mind mid-painting, and it's okay to make somewhat drastic changes. don't be afraid to change things you don't like or change your mind about certain aspects way later on that's basically the whole thing of this!!! don't be scared!!!

now im gonna hold your hand when i say this..........but you need to learn how to render by yourself. it seems like i can teach you but i literally can't, because rendering is different on every piece and depending on how clean your base is. i have to render A LOT because of how fucking ugly my sketches are LMAO to simplify it, think of it as obsessively cleaning up every detail you can see, but with a color picker and a clean, hard edged brush. if you have shit lineart, you don't have to redraw it cleanly over and over, just paint over it. that's basically what rendering is

THIS especially is where you need to be brave and stop being scared. like i said, i can't teach you how to render, and it's something you have to discover yourself because rendering is something that will always be personal to every single piece you make. the way you render on every piece is different. on one piece, you will barely need to render, and on another, rendering is more than half of your ENTIRE process.

don't be afraid to paint over your old art. rendering is a process that's both very perfectionist yet also very careless. find your balance and just go for it.

and then that's it……..u did it………..now yuo know how to paint and render. it's literally just layering shading and lighting knowledge until you think it makes sense and looks okay lol additional note: since i render in only one layer (you don't HAVE to do this, but it'll be harder for you…), i also made slight adjustments with the transform (and liquify, if you have it) tool to make things more proportionate. (i drew the head too big lol)

if you compare the finished piece to the final unrendered base, you can see that a LOT changed, including a bit of subtle proportion adjustment. particularly, the sleeves changed A LOT (because i really didn't like them) but it's also over all cleaner and more coherent, instead of having haphazard colors and shading just thrown about.

rendering is when you finally use all 100% of your brain to finalize and figure out where the shading should go, where to clean up your lines, where to ERASE or ADD BACK in lines, and make sure all your colors look coherent.

it's not as intimidating as it seems, i only use a hard edged brush with a little bit of color mixing and my color picker. it's like dragging and dropping colors to cover up mistakes, it's really quite fun when you get used to it i wish i could explain it clearer but it's hard to describe without visuals!

i hope this helped, and i hope all my yapping isn't annoying (art as a special interest beloved)

have fun studying and trying to render in my art style!

[itsnotmourn]

Not ship chart related but I think your art is so pretty!! Do you have any tips? Especially with coloring if it’s okay <] (/nf)

waah thank you very much! i'll try and explain but here’s my colouring-specific tips, or at least how i choose my colours !! <3

unless for stylistic reasons (e.g. greyscale drawing), i personally avoid pure black, greys and white for colouring. go and choose off-colours instead! for lineart, black is okay but i always go for an actual colour anyways heheh. for the background colour of your canvas, sometimes an actual colour (rather than white or grey) may help you pick your palette to be more harmonised!

following this, i also don't like using pure/neon for colours, unless it's for a certain aesthetic or artstyle (e.g. the character has a "toxic/radioactive" aesthetic; the character is a scenedog (or similiar); or highlights). see below for examples! they may be subtle but sometimes the subtly can make the difference you are looking for... if you're looking for a natural look. if you're aiming for the bright/old 2000's artstyle, then pure/neons may be your friend!

when i'm casually drawing characters (oc or not), i rarely colour-pick from the reference image. i find that when you're "forced to make the palette", it can come out more pleasing to your style/atmosphere of the drawing! it’s more personalised that way... like yea, that’s my favourite versions of those colours! i'm not saying that my colours are better though, only that "hey that's me! in those colours!!" you can have the reference image on the side or go by memory. here’s me doing this with pride flags:

nowadays, when drawing the spooky month characters—who have simple designs god bless—i can just imagine their reference and adjust the colours in my head lol example: if i know that Lila's colour palette is purple, and that her winter sweater is coloured lighter than her hair, then i can just go ahead and pick whatever shade i want following that rule!

(of course, always double check with the actual reference for physical design inaccuracies and skin tone if it applies. my advice above is just for general hair/clothing colours! …because yknow you don't want to accidentally whitewash a character's skin in the name of aesthetics lol. if you’re unsure and want to be on the careful side, please do colour pick the skin at least !!)

moving on... gradient maps and certain blending modes (like exclusion, luminosity and darken) can be a game changer too. for normal drawings (e.g. drawings with no environment), i use darken the most because it changes a few colours rather than the entire piece... (the percentages are opacity levels!)

oh and as a really basic shading tip without using blending modes: sometimes, you just gotta go for grey. shading a warmer colour? use grey to make a cool tone. shading a cool colour? use grey to make a warm tone. not all the time (because you don’t wanna make your shading seem muddy), just sometimes…

and that's that! there's always exceptions to rules and often times, your headshot doodle ends up as one big experimental mess (in a fun way, hopefully)!

this is how i choose my colours though most of the time, it is just me going “good enough”

i think we're pretty similar on how we like warm colours! i enjoy going the simple/lazy route and avoid blend modes but then again, shading is a whole different thing…

hope this helps in any way !! <:3 !!! <3

[delta-orionis]

I've been thinking about what the chamber of my iterator OC, Three Stars Above Clouds, looks like.

Here's a zoomed-in view of their puppet:

Extra thoughts under the cut:

TSAC's pearls are typically arranged in sorted categories. On the right, the large vertical group of pearls is mostly raw data files from their observatories. TSAC's large-scale sky surveys generate massive amounts of data that need to be reduced, categorized, and analyzed. This is how they spend the majority of their free time.

The pearls that orbit around them contain information actively in the process of data reduction and analysis. After TSAC cleans up and categorizes the data, they iterate on it using a series of different analysis techniques. Spectral analysis, light curves, etc. They're basically looking for changes in the sky from night to night.

After analysis is complete (it usually takes several cycles- the data are packed very densely into the pearls), the pearls are moved over to the group on the left. Once TSAC is satisfied with the results, the pearls will be moved into the Memory Conflux to be archived.

The pearls floating independently contain miscellaneous data. Things like log files, equipment manifests, and personal data they want to hold on to, such as images they find particularly intriguing.

Just like Moon and Pebbles, if Three Stars Above Clouds is disturbed, their pearls will drop to the floor of their chamber, such as in the second picture. TSAC tends to become very annoyed if someone interrupts them while they are working.

I imagine that if a hypothetical slugcat wandered into their chamber, TSAC wouldn't have very much to say to them. They'd probably try to simply force them to leave right away so they can get back to work. TSAC would only resort to giving a slugcat the Mark of Communication if they return to TSAC's chamber repeatedly, and TSAC became annoyed enough to try and verbally convince them that they need to leave.

They would also become very agitated if the slugcat plays around with their pearls, or worse- tries to leave with one (sort of like how post-collapse Moon reacts to the slugcat grabbing one of her neurons). I think TSAC would only resort to violence if the slugcat swallows a pearl and refuses to give it back. Otherwise they would simply grab the slugcat using telekinesis and punt them out of their chamber, lol.

I don't think it would be impossible for TSAC to befriend a slugcat, just somewhat difficult. Maybe they would warm up to the slugcat if brought enough pearls from outside their chamber. I envision TSAC having a big scavenger problem due to the large quantities of pearls found on their facility grounds- maybe the slugcat could return TSAC's stolen pearls found in a scavenger treasury.

That's all the thoughts I have for now. Thank you for reading, as a bonus here's a doodle based on a tag on my last TSAC post:

[keresnotceres]

MW2 CHARACTERS: School AU

[sfw] cw(s): none !!! As a girlie who has been reading fanfiction for god knows how long, it was inevitable that I came through with a High/Secondary School AU. As a reminder, I don’t know shit abt the British school system so we’re going with my experiences with the American public school system. enjoy dovies <3

Ghost is that one upperclassman in every single one of your co-grade classes that just sits there. He doesn’t say a damn word and you don’t even see him writing down any notes, but somehow, he has the best grades in the whole fucking school. Principal’s honor roll, scholarship recognization galore.

It takes so long for you to work up the courage to talk to him and ask him for help on an assignment and when he admits he doesn’t know they had an assignment to do, you’re a bit dumbfounded. You realize that he quite literally just sits there and vibes the entire time. He proceeds to turn back to the window and stare out of it.

Eventually he warms up to you, though. It takes, like, three months of pestering him until he actively begins conversations with you and you find yourself with a very stoic cheat sheet. He has kept all of his tests and is perfectly fine with just giving you them bc what are morals???

Gaz is the local “i know him but we aren’t friends” kid. Literally everybody knows his name, he’s on the school’s soccer (football, i guess) team and is relatively well known as a nice person, but he only has a few close friends. His grades are also insanely high, you don’t understand how he manages to ace every test while also spending most of his time practicing sports.

He’s the type of person to forget a pencil, however, and usually ends up leaning over to whoever is next to him and asking for one. He usually gives it back, unless it’s someone he doesn’t particularly like. When he tries to give it back to you and you just tell him to keep it, he likes you automatically.

He’s always inviting you to watch his games after the two of you get closer. He also sits with you during shared study halls or lunches regardless of if you or he has other friends in the lunch. Gaz is also the type of person to lean over and ask if you wanna share the copy of an assignment document or swap essays to proofread.

Soap is absolutely the really loud jock kid that people either really like or really hate, and there’s just no in-between (i’m so sorry Foap 😭). Despite this, he’s actually one of those really nice sport boys that will start punching if someone disrespects his friends. He’s also in an abundance of art classes.

In class you can see him scribbling down notes until he gets bored and starts just doodling in his notebook, tuning out the lecture. However, if your science teacher decides today is not a teaching day and puts on something like Bill Nye or The Magic School Bus, he is enraptured. Is also the person to quietly chant “Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill!” during the theme song. Used to hate the Amoeba Sisters until he binged their videos before his Biology final lol.

You start being friends with him on complete accident after you help him with a question on a pop quiz. He gave you puppy eyes! How could you refuse! He proceeds to talk to you the next day like the two of you are best friends and you are now stuck with him until graduation. But hey! You basically have a bodyguard now.

Price is an Honors English and AP Literature teacher through and through. He originally wanted to be a history teacher, but the English position was open and he took it with little complaint. He’s absolutely the teacher you can launch into tangents for the entire class and will take half a point off of your essays for misusing a comma.

If you're his favorite student, he tends to grade your FRQs and other assignments much harsher than he would others, but it ends with you having well rounded essay skills afterwards and acing your assignments later in the year. Will let you hang out in his room during your study halls and is always open to helping you on assignments if you ask.

Hangs thank you notes from students on his walls, has a wild collection of them and shows them off any time another teacher asks him about them. Has cried reading some from students he liked having in his classes.

Laswell is a Geometry, Pre-Calculus, and Calculus professor. Idc what u think she is absolutely a math teacher and would absolutely have a doctorate. People who don't like math probably go into her class also not liking her, but come out at the end of the year wanting to be in her class next year.

If you're one of her favorite students, she absolutely gives you little notes on your graded tests like 'good job :)' and always says she's proud of you if your grades improve during the year. She also lets you and your friends eat lunch in her room because she understands why you'd rather be in a math room than the cafeteria.

Has never been seen without a coffee during the first four periods of the day and a random beverage during the last three. She always has a drink with her and it's become a bit of a game between a few of her students. Sometimes she'll give someone who asks a drink as well. A student she particularly liked tried to pay her to bring them coffee; she gave them their money back and brought them a coffee.

Nikolai is a history teacher that also coaches the school golf team. And yes, golf team; that man radiates golf energy and I cannot be told otherwise. He doesn't understand the kids' obsession with things like Kahoot, but makes them because it keeps kids engaged with the class and mostly keeps grades up.

Being one of Nikolai's favorite students is hard if you don't golf, but if you are a favorite, he tends to give you extensions of assignments if you're struggling to find time/motivation. Also will give you candy under the table if you win a Kahoot, or if you visit him during a study hall he will also give you candy. He gives out Smarties (the American version) because he thinks the name is funny.

If you show interest in learning Russian and ask him how to roll your Rs or how to pronounce the Cyrillic letters, he will automatically like you more than the others. As long as he feels like you're earnestly learning it out of interest and not just to make him like you, that is. If you already know Russian he'll like you anyway. Sometimes it's nice to speak his native tongue.

[disruptivevoib]

hi !! really hoping we haven’t asked this before and forgotten. but how do you sketch bodies / poses :O? your composition is always really nice and in general the way you draw bodies is great fhdjd

Not been asked yet to my recollection!

Bodies are a bit of a... takes time thing! But usually I try to have a pose or idea in mind that I'll thumbnail down somewhere on the canvas. Same with composition. There are a lot of little doodles or pose ideas that I mix and match before kicking a piece into gear.

Though, that being said, sometimes I know exactly what I want to do from the get-go go and it just takes a couple of tries and re-sketching to get it right! Warm-ups are also a big recommendation.

If you can- find pose references online too! I don't do this as often as I should but pose references always help keep anatomy a little bit more in place or "natural" looking (as natural as it can be in my style! Stuff is still exaggerated and more cartoonish after all)

The best way I can describe my sketching phases is kind of like chiseling away at something. I start more with basic form and loose shapes then erase and re-draw over top of it (and select tool edit lol) until I find its the way I want it!

And I do the same thing with color and lineart too! I draw over my lineart and color layers after everything is done in order to reshade or reshape an area I dislike.

Not particularly a tutorial but just a general look on how I draw certain things!

Unfortunately, I don't think I have any thumbnails hanging around. Most of them have been on the Song Pieces and those files have had all their layers deleted and remade for the next song piece over and over and over lmao. But generally, those are small drawings in little boxes that help convey a composition you might want for a piece.

[solei-eclipse]

wait . would solauri have a better chance as working out more romantically in the modern au . ?

( i would say maybe since the age gap isn’t so big and auri isn’t a total sociopathic freak . . if you think so too, id love to hear any silly little headcanons lol . )

( no im not doing this because im stressed about round 1 and really don’t want cirrus or azure to die what are you talking about haha ahaha . . ( sobs quietly in nonexistent corner with face in hands ) )

SOCIOPATHIC FREAK 😭 go easy on her now

I think it would definitely work out better than in the ALNSTverse for the reasons you mentioned but also because solei wouldn't be as stressed and people don't have to fight for their goddamn lives anymore!!!

Some thoughts!!!

Solei's first ever interaction with Auri in the park would be about pokemon. I'm so sorry. They're a loser who loves animals and biology and life so naturally. Pokemon nerd. When little Auri was in the park little Solei came up to them and showed her their pokemon cards. When they walked her home they gave Auri one of their cards: a Seel! (Also I take back what I said about them being 2 or 3 during their first meeting. I realize I was barely able to form any cohesive thought at that age so. I imagine they'd be 4 or 5 instead like what you originally suggested!)

Solei would knock on Auri's door everyday and ask Cas or Nyx if she could come out and play. Since Solei knows where she lives from when they walked together that day.

I'd imagine there weren't many people in the neighbourhood yet by the time Solei moved in (since you suggested the idea that Solei was one of the first). Since there weren't any other kids their age to play with, they stuck to each other pretty fast.

From the point on it was like glue!! Once Solei was old enough to ride a bike they'd visit Auri's every morning to head to school together (sorry I keep mixing the ALNST highschool AU together with the modern au but like. They would go to school right? Correct me if I'm wrong)

I hc they have a lot of matching clothes (matching sweaters, socks, shirts, etc)

Auri was a good star student but Solei was just around average, maybe even dropping below that at certain points. Maybe Auri would tutor them sometimes? (Ivan moment lol)

Auri likes to mess with Solei's hair and put it in ties and clips and stuff (based on one of your very first solauri doodles)! She's pretty good at it, but sometimes she'll do Lei's hair up really weird and stupid if she's feeling cheeky. Solei always keeps that hairstyle for the rest of the day no matter how stupid it looks.

Solei likes to woodcarve things for Auri all the time. It's kind of shitty and blocky and unrecognizable at first though so I don't know if Auri would keep it lol

Physical touch!! Auri likes physical touch, Lei is warm and loves warmth so they're happy with it! If they lie on the floor and Auri drapes herself on them horizontally (they'd be making a plus sign shape basically) then Solei would use their hands to play drums on her back. You know like. patpatpatpatpatpatpat. complete with cymbal sound effect. Because they're a loser.

Auri dresses in nice clothes most of the time (I think, usually in rock's sketches she's wearing pretty dresses) and in contrast to that Solei's fashion sense is just. Pajamas. Not joking they'd literally show up to places in their pajamas. Easygoing but at what cost.

When they do decide to change into something more appropriate, it still carries the vibe of pajamas. They like loose and comfortable clothing, stuff like big sweaters with wide open collars and soft baggy pants. Even their school uniform carries this carefree vibe since they forego the blazer and just wear the white button-up (that isn't even completely buttoned. Imagine till's school uniform with the orange undershirt, that's basically Solei). I'd imagine Aurien would be more clean and put together? Though maybe Solei would encourage her to loosen up and do whatever makes her comfortable.

Solei is (suprisingly) popular? They have a lot of friends at school. Definitely the type to say "okay I'm going now bye guys!" and then spend another 10 minutes yapping with others. Very "mom can we go home now" vibes from Aurien during this time.

If Aurien was feeling upset about something, Solei would take her someplace quiet and encourage her to tell them about it. They'd always make sure to carry something nice in their pocket to suprise her afterward, like candy or another wood carving or a flower they found.

Auri does her homework on her room desk and when she turns around to look at her bed solei has materialized out of nowhere to sleep on it. you know. instead of doing homework

When they're older, Solei would work at a zoo/animal shelter and would text Auri pictures of animals that reminded them of her

They would probably also have each other as profile pictures

I do apologize for this fact, I know it's an excruciating and annoying character trope, but solei is in fact a dense bastard. I'm so sorry. they'd have no idea. stay strong auri

[fantasy-anatomy-analyst]

Do you have any advice on how to go about designing monsters and animals and the like? I like the idea of creating those kinds of things but I always blank on how to go about it, like I know little facts like Allen's Rule but I don't know how to find out about something like that intentionally or even think of it for my thing. (me when I have no idea how to explain that I have no idea how to research smth lol)

first I've heard of Allen's Rule, so that probably says a lot about the fact that I'm mostly self taught lol.

here's the wikipedia page about it for anyone else who didn't know.

to sum up, it is a rule stating that animals in cold climates tend to have shorter/thicker appendages while animals in hot climates tend to have longer/thinner ones. Arctic hare vs desert hare, as an example.

the first thing to do when you want to design anything is to do a lot of studies. just in general. look up images of any animal or insect and draw sketches studying how they're built. do it for people too! you'll always be better at making new designs if you have a basic understanding of how real things are shaped and how they function.

study from videos by sketching fast gesture poses as you watch the creatures in motion! I have also done this while attending sports and dance performances. studying bodies in motion by watching olympic athletes or videos of people trying and failing to do a sport. just study the heck out of everything you can! it's as simple as putting down some lines and shapes to show the main body forms. heavier detail studies are also useful! tracing images in order to study the details is not wrong. I do it all the time, as you can see in a lot of the advice posts I make! I frequently provide traced images of the creature references I've found in order to show my process of breaking down the simplified body shapes.

my actual sketch process often looks like this:

(image description: multiple layers of very loose scribbly sketches in different colors. visible notes on two layers of sketches read "aerial silks dance" and "flying birds". the clearest and topmost layer of sketch is a humanoid figure with wings, performing a dance.

as you might be able to see if you can even begin to parse the mess that is all my study sketching, the final pose sketch I made here for my bird dude Morianon doing a little dance does not even match the poses I sketched from reference videos! This is because gesture sketch studies like these are more based on vibes than accuracy! They're a good way to warm up and practice making really fast gestural doodles that just show the form and motion more than anything well proportioned. It also frees you of the pressure to draw anything perfect! this is messy on purpose! you gotta be messy, it's how learning works.

and then once you're more confident with speed studies, you can get more specific with detail studies. all of this is essential if you want to be able to design creatures. it's all about artistic confidence and developing the skills to notice details. and then you get better at applying those details.

I have two posts on how to study and use references! one over here focused on humans. and another one here about non humans.

this is getting longer than I expected lol. I have other posts on my to-do list that will also be helpful to you I think, and you can explore the links on my pinned post to find more advice on a lot of topics! I might have to make a post on the more general topic of "how do I even get started on designing a creature?" because it is kind of the whole premise of this blog, huh? I have a lot of advice for people who already have a solid idea and just need some advice to overcome a few obstacles along the way, but I don't think I've made a proper advice post for what to do when you don't even have a starting idea.

the tldr version of creature creation is this:

pick a niche (mountain people, flying predator, burrowing creature)

study real life creatures in similar niches

start throwing ideas at your page until something sticks and then take the things that stick and build on them until it feels good

refine your design

[chakotaybodypillow]

Posting a bit of an art dump of stuff I've made earlier this year

Sekaya (left) and Ixpo (right) are returning from the market while sekaya yaps about her favorite kpop band (more on that in a sec)

I want to give ixpo her own introduction post with an art piece I'm currently working on. But here's some basic info about Ixpo and sekayas dynamic.

After Chakotay left for the academy, Seska fell into a depressive state. The two of them were very close, and she considered him to be her best friend. It didn't help that after he left, he rarely contacted home.

This causes Sekaya issues when making friends. Her parents have a difficult time getting her to speak to anyone who isn't one of them, and this results in her traveling with and spending the majority of her time with them.

Through her travels with her mother, she visits Ixpo, an expert in weaving. Her mother and Ixpo often trade goods. Sekaya recognizes Ixpo as one of Chakotay's best childhood friends and begins to warm up to her.

Ixpo is incredibly patient and kind, and it takes no time before sekaya considers her a sister. She'll visit ixpo often just to talk about whatever is on her mind, and ixpo likes to listen.

Im trying to keep this brief lol. Here's a tiktok I made showing what their dynamic looks like in my head (my titktok is not.a.trekkie btw 👀 and I posted this with a shorter explanation there)

As for the K-pop stuff lol I really like the idea of sekaya being kind of the typical younger sister. She's like chakotay when it comes to being rebellious, but she's a lot sneakier with it. She somehow acquired a padd and uses it to listen to kpop and do all the other kpop stuff idk. I'm not a kpop fan myself so I'm not fully sure of the terms used 😅

Here's some doodles of her doing K-pop things lol. She hand-made the little "light" stick out of clay :)

Ok enough rambling! If anyone has questions about my chakotay headcanons, please ask!! I have a lot in mind but I'm usually too shy to share and sometimes just need some motivation 😁

[opabiniasarecool]

This was just a little story I've had in my head. Keep in mind: I have basically zero writing experience, sorry if it's noticeable :p. Other then that, enjoy :)

Vio sat by the open ledge, looking out to the rest of Hyrule under Death Moutain, letting the warm night time air help him think. It had been an interesting two (perhaps three? Vio was losing track) Pretending to betray the rest of the Colors and faking killing Green. All to get information from the enemy, who he was now developing a fondness for (maybe a little more then fondness, but Vio shoved that idea to the side for the time being.) Eventually he would have to kill Shadow. That was fact.

Vio was caught up in his tangled thoughts he hardly noticed Shadow had appeared behind. Vio yelped, turning around. Right. The reason Vio was out on the ledge in the first place. Shadow had somehow gotten drunk off of root beer (Vio really didn't know how, he speculated that dark world creatures had a different reaction to sugar the light world) Either way, Shadow didn't seem like the safest thing to be around sober, Vio had no intrest finding out what he was like drunk. Hence why he was outside.

Shadow took a seat on the ledge, next to Vio, swaying gently. It would've been a reality peaceful sight if Shadow wasn't making some sort of awful humming noise. It's pitches had no pattern, going from high to low randomly. It was also rather loud.

"Shadow? What are you doing?"

"Shhh, I'm singing" Shadow replied with a smile of sharp teeth, humming even louder.

Vio smiled warily, then continued back to his thoughts, but kept getting interrupted by Shadow's goddess awful "singing". This carried through for about an hour, Vio planning, and Shadow's hum interrupting Vios thoughts of plans.. Eventually Vio got up, heading to his sleeping area. Shadow followed him, the humming much quieter now. Vio glanced up at the stars, sending a silent prayer that the other three would be, at the very least, somewhat alright.

Three and a half years later

Four sat further back from the fire, smiling in the warm night. Wild had somehow gotten a hold of an ocarina (not Time's magical one, thank the three goddess.) and as now playing it purposely bad.

"Wild, I swear to Din, give me that thing" Twilight shouted over the off-key notes, trying to reach over and grab it from Wilds hands. Wild just ducked away and started playing it louder.

Four glanced over to the tree next to him. The shadow being cast by the fire light had it's ears covered. Four chuckled

"Not a fan of Wild's concert, are you?"

The silhouette shot him a shadows equivalent of a glare and shook its head.

"Hm, now you know how Vio felt when he had to put up with that little solo you gave him" Four responded, smirking.

Shadow simply mocked Four, pretending to talk with his hand.

Wild finally stopped once he could barely play a note from laughing to hard and Twilight had finally tackled him and was trying to yank the ocarina from his hands.

By that time, Shadow had stopped moving on his own, so Four assumed he went to wherever he'd go when he wasn't watching Four through his shadow on the ground.

Four took on final look at the scene and the stars up above, smiled, and began to set up his bed roll. Everyone was somewhat alright.

Rambling notes from me:

Like I said, this is pretty much my first experience at writing (aside from a creative writing class I took for a semester in 6th grade lol) So I probably messed some stuff up (I'm TERRIFIED of writing mischaraterization). If you have tips, I'm begging you, tell me them. Any who, I enjoyed writing this (I think) I saw a post where the idea of Shadow getting drunk off of root beer came from, and I thought it was silly, so I included it in my own story. Anyways, that's enough rambling. Here's some half baked doodles I made of it:

[crazy-lazy-elder-sims]

Hi so i talked alittle before about my 5+ year artblock and how im Slowly forcing my way out of it by drawing ocs..

if you have been following me for a while you would know i have a fake band in the sims called WeiRdoW and i decided to start drawing them in what i always wanted my style to look like growing up but never got around to it because people around me would complain to my mom about how creepy and scary it was ( the main theme of my art growing up was eyes and spirals and an underlying feeling of horror or danger but that freaked out people i guess) and she would snatch my art and tear up my silly doodles in to pieces so i was forced to draw "perfect" art for a while which led me to my art block but i managed to save some small peices here and there of my old stuff and im Gonna post them also since im Being brave right now ...

First here is Batsy and Androida

Batsy was the first thing i drew after 5 years of doing nothing and thats why he is alittle wonky and fish like as i was not sure what the fuck was i doing i might redraw him again lol

Androida is awsome and im So proud of how it turned out i did get carried away with her hair alittle but eh it was therapeutic lol also im still trying to remeber prespective and shit so thats slightly wonky too but im So proud of my self for making these and im excited for the rest of the band ❤️

Here is some of my old art that managed to survive ( some of these i only have pictures of cause its original was torn up but i had taken pictures before that happened)

Unfortunately all the art i made in my early- mid teens is gone all i have is stuff from 19 to early 20's

These here are the only surviving stuff from then im Really proud of those especially the first one ❤️

Here is some other stuff that i drew right before my art block i tried to make pretty art so i would get to keep my sketches but still tried to inject my style into it there are other ones than these that i dont like cause they are your typical instagram art lol

Tumblr only allows 10 images so i might reblog with more if im Still feeing brave about it i have some stuff where i attempted to use color and some stuff where i tried to draw in the art nouveau style and some more "Instagram/Pinterest art" ones that i hate alot but those are what convinced my mom to leave me the hell alone so yeah if anyone is interested in seeing those let me know

Also i might share my warm up sketches which are basically pages full of eyes lol

Anyway if you made it to here thank you so much for reading ❤️

[safyresky]

Scrimbly Jacqueline 16/52: what have you done this time, Jack.

ft @lmelodie's lil guy! because apparently this week's theme is OC FRIENDSHIP lol

I actually thought this was next week's doodle idea but then I checked my list on Monday and saw it was this week! SERENDIPITOUS INDEED!

lmels. Your lil guy. Your scrunkly. Was SO MUCH FUN to colour. EVEN WITH THE LIMITED PALETTE I HAVE! Trying to figure out how to make his jacket a lil grimey was fun! (I stared with PEELED EYES at SOO MANY KILLIANS while trying to do the beanie and the hair, I HOPE HE'S AT LE A S T RECOGNIZABLE!)

And yes I kNOW probably wine SHOULDN'T go into whatever warm chocolatey drink Jacqueline is having, but tbh, I was hella distracted by CR while colouring so it became wine instead of like, brandy or Bailey's or rum like I was ORIGINALLY intending. Although...I have seen rum similar to that reddish/amberish colour before so....maybe???

Anyway. Whatever's got them both feelin this kinda way is deffs directly Jack's fault. I'll leave that tidbit up to your imaginations 🤭🤭

Next week's scrimbly is a redraw! Then the week after is Into the Shadows spoilers! I've been working away at my second draft (which is notes tbh, really, really detailed notes) and I'm like 11 chapters in and so far, so good! It'll a bit of a CHALLENGE to write what with all the characters and the conflict of chaos versus order between the villains all while trying to make it a Charlie-centric story with a sorta uni au I guess, so basically the ride is going to be WILDIN >:)