#without having to erase or redraw stuff

[creaturefeaster]

I want to work more on this before I'm gone pet-sitting but I don't know how much more I'll accomplish today so.,.,. I will just share this neow...

[acekindaneat]

uh oh! bad decision, serizawa!

[indieyuugure]

(My response to @hyperchef ‘s reblog of this post)

Making an exaggerated expression that doesn’t look weird is mostly about figuring out what to exaggerate in order to convey the desired emotion. For instance, when a character is angry, exaggerate their brow line. When a character is happy, exaggerate their smile. When a character is sad, exaggerate their eyes. Examples:

By accentuating certain features, you can convey more intense emotions without it looking weird or off. Most emotions have a main focus point to which we subconsciously notice and use to figure out what someone else is feeling. Some more complex ones would be Disgust exaggerates the mouth, surprise accentuates the eyebrows, eyes and hair, sleepy exaggerates the mouth, eyes and eyebrows, and pain exaggerates everything all at once.

So for your eyes, problem, there are some tricks for drawing the tmnt eyes. Now I’m not sure exactly which style you’re talking about, but since you said you previously were working with realistic shapes, I’m guessing you’re having trouble with the Rise style.

Rise seems to have a “standard shape” for their eyes. It’s generally a rounded parallelogram. It’s composed of four convex lines that are sharpest at the eye’s tear ducts and point. The bottom is typically flat, though Leo and Donnie often have the top be completely flat and the bottom much more round, like a semi-circle.

As for the pupils, I honestly struggle a lot with this as well. I think the most important thing is to establish almost like certain standard sizes. So just keep scribbling a circle until you think it’s the appropriate size to be your standard middle size. From there you can make it bigger or smaller depending on the emotion.

so if the one on the far left is the standard, then the one in the middle is a sad smile and the one on the right is horrified shock.

You have to be careful though, I’ve found through my experience that it’s easy to become desensitized to this kind of thing. You draw a small pupil to show shock but after looking at it too long or drawing to many characters expressing that emotion, somehow it doesn’t look small enough anymore.

The same can happen in the other direction, you want a sweet expression but for some reason as soon as you’re happy with how big and round the pupil is, it’s already not enough. This is cause by you setting your eye to think that that is the standard size and now you think that the pinprick is the mid point, so “surprised” has to be smaller than that.

It’s actually really easy to undo this phenomenon, just erase the pupil, draw you pre-established standard, look at it for minute, then erase it and go back to what you were doing. This kind of thing is about relativity.

If you’re still having trouble with this stuff, you can message me with more questions that I can help you with and answer!

I hope you found this helpful. Expressions are tricky to nail. I usually draw and redraw the expressions in ROTP two or three times before I’m satisfied, and even then I’m constantly tweaking them. Don’t feel bad for not absolutely nailing it on the first try, just make sure you keep trying and tweaking your technique until you can make something you’re proud of!

Good questions! :]

[viminoo]

Hi! I was wondering how you draw people’s faces & bodies (specifically babe but thats just cuz I like him :3), I kinda struggle with the proportions of stuff relative to each other, and your art always looks so good! Both like, the style, but also getting them to look consistent. (Also it is in fact me who asked about copying your art again, hi :D) Love your stuff man 🫶

hi anon!!! my art is pretty stylized, and im not the best at explaining but ill briefly explain my process to u!!

this is a p long one so

okay! so!

here are the babes i quickly scribbled up

usually the very first thing i establish is the face shape! i usually do a very vague oval that extends from a circle (generally the eyes are around/ slightly above where the circle crosses the overall oval shape.) depending on who u wanna draw, the oval can be long or roughly square,,, treat it like a playdoh in which u can mold it

* generally i keep the eyes where the ears are, and realistically the tip of the ears is where the eyebrows end but i always break this rule LOLOLOL

THEN i try to figure out the key features of the face: the eyebrows, the nose shape, the eye shape and if there are any other visible feature like deep smile lines or moles

* i draw the mouth around where the bend of the jaw is, and eyebrows are around the same length of the eye (sometimes slightly longer and it ends bending w/ the eye shape). make space for the gap between the nose and the mouth, and the chin

try not to line out every detail cuz it'll look. off??? treat ur lines like shapes and shadows. the eyes are semi circles and the lines of the nose are shadows and stuff like that,, its really about simplifying what u see

style is also what u wanna emphasize. i emphasize their eyes and ears (?) to be bigger and to stick out more. i also shrink necks to emphasize their heads. i also make hair messier and in a sense,, bigger,, than they usually would be.

its all about playing with proportion until whatever looks right to u 🤑

i added a speedpaint below,,

ON TO THE BODY PART!

firstly when it comes to proportion i really recommend practicing figure sketching 🧘🧘 it was super helpful for me when i was still figuring out how to draw anatomy and stuff

i was also gifted this book called bridgman's life drawing WHICH IS SOOO helpful and interesting! not saying u have to buy it, cuz there's plenty free resources to help u like youtube tutorials

i took pics some of the pages

again its all about breaking the body down into bendable shapes and depending on ur style how long these shapes are

and then getting familiar with how it bends and where each part ends in comparison to the rest of the body.

i always start from the head, then the upper torso to get a grasp of how i want to draw a figure's body!

i tend to draw really long limbs, but to keep it looking anatomically accurate enough that it doesnt rlly look "off" i generally keep to these rules

>split the arm into two equal parts at the elbow

>split the legs at the knee, where the thigh + knee is equal with the foreleg (??? the yellow part in the image below) (but i break this rule alot LOLOLOL so. as long as it looks okay)

>the torso length generally varies but imagine it as 3 shapes strung on a string. the middle shape is the smallest and acts as the "knee" of the torso,,

once u get a sense of how the body works shape-wise, u can go silly with the poses (first with reference, then when ur confident enough try without, just to build confidence)

i connect the shapes that dont bend and where many lines connect with a strong line

its important to not treat every line or shape u lay down as the final line. ITS SO EASY TO FORGET THIS!!! u can always erase or redraw or repaint until u get the character right

and then draw everything over and over and over again

thats how u build consistency HAHA

OF COURSE every body is different so mold the shapes to whatever ud like.

++ the key to the confidence in ur figures and posing (dynamic or not) is all about control

and u can really only get that thru experience and practicing and experimenting 🤑🤑

im not a pro (yet) so this is all just from someone who draws too much for my own good.

hope this wasn't too confusing!!!! thank u for the ask anon!

[choco-worms]

Could you show your sketching process? Like what base skeletons you use for the characters to make it so dynamic? Maybe using cuddy x cameron or hilson :)

Of course!! This is going to be long winded so Ill put this under the cut hahah

Im gonna follow my process chronologically with a few of my works to explain my different approaches!

HILSON

So especially for poses including two people i often use an app on my phone called "Magic Poser". This helps me understand the perspective and scale of the characters a bit better since this is something I struggle with. So ill take the models and pose them how I want them. What this app REALLY helps me with light sources since that is customizable too^^

So then I enter a phase where I am studying the pose. For this drawing I did it traditionally. first thing i do is break down the figures volumetrically, which is a figure drawing method where you break down the figure into simple box like forms. This helps me gain an understanding of how the shapes are interacting with space.

After that, I draw over the forms adding things like hair and clothes and building the specific face/body shapes of the character.

I do also use the little "circles" to mark joints when im drawing fast!

After that I scan the pencil sketch I do into Krita, and follow my work to get some lineart!.

CAMCUDDY

This one was a similar process, but i ported the reference image straight into my drawing program.

After that i do a volumetric sketch over the reference to break it down.

And then i do a more creative pass where i make these boxy dolls look more like the characters im trying to draw!

from there i do a final line art pass, and then i sit back..... and stare at it..... because even though model references SEEM fool-proof there are often things that just dont look right! Its really important to remember to not use those kinds of references as gospel, it should be a convenience and assistance rather than a crutch. So ill often go in and change things, either outright erasing and redrawing or using the warp tool to move stuff around! These models are only so helpful if once ur done you look at the drawing and it just looks straight doo doo lol.

FREESTYLE

While I do use models alot for something i want to draw really fast, its important to not rely on them! That can make your art become super rigid if you don't push yourself.

For drawings I approach without, i kinda go buck wild! Here on this one you'll see i kind of blend my volumetric phase with my detailing phase:

With these looser drawings i focus on shape and gesture. Then ill just do a final cleaning up pass for the line art.

I have a really fast and dirty drawing style that doesnt always lend itself to "perfect anatomy", but im far more concerned with visual appeal rather than realism.

Alot of the confidence I have with anatomy comes from yearssssss of drawing casually, and my classical study in college!

RESOURCES

I do really recommend some level of classical study when it comes to drawing the figure! Here are some video's on it I have watched and studied during my time in college that I really recommend:

I hope this was helpful!! haha sorry i get really nerdy about drawing process :))) If you have any additional questions let me know!

[lorena12me]

Timbern AU Beauty and the Beast:

Before continuing I must say that the original idea of this cartoon belongs to @0rbis-art (Tumblr), Orbis.art (Facebook) and Orbis_Art (Twitter), I redraw it with a few modifications to adapt it to my Au, because his cartoon was super funny and it fitted curiously with my thoughts. But from then on, my au doesn't take anything else from his Beauty and the Beast Comic idea. (The original idea of Orbis-art had no dialogues)

__________

So, if you're still interested in reading the AU, here it is:

Like, Well, I thought Tim was some kind of Duke of the Drake family, everything was fine, his parents had died but he was taken in by the royal family (Wayne) and after a few years he had returned to his family lands to do his duty with his people, when a Fae who visits their castle proposes (demands) marriage him. Tim says no, and the fae claims unlike him, no one else will want him no matter what he is, a claim Tim rejects. So he's obviously is cursed.

The curse turns him into a dragon-type beast and erases the memories of all the people who loved him (family and friends), intended to force him to find a person who loves him without knowing who he is in order to break his curse before he reaches the age of 23 years old (he was 15 when he was cursed), if he doesn't make it, he will completely turn into a dragon and the evil fairy will make him his pet. Obviously people are afraid of him and some try to hurt him, so he hides in his mansion, losing hope.

Bernard enters who is a normal guy from a nearby village who is super obsessed with magical creatures and monsters and dedicates himself to studying them even though people believe they are lies (not many people have contact with magic), he investigates all the rumors about creatures that can even though it has never amounted to anything. One night a terrified traveler comes to the tavern where he works, claiming that he was attacked by a lizard-like beast in the ruined mansion in the mountains and Bernard HAS to investigate.

He packs a small suitcase with travel things and goes to the mansion, where after investigating for a while, he meets Tim, who tries to intimidate him into leaving (he just wants Bernard to not trying to hurt him) but Bernard is fascinated (it's the first time he finds something of truth) and does not go away. No matter what Tim does, he don't let go.

Tim is dressed in rags because his dragon features grow out of control and rip all his clothes off and his hair is long and ripped because a nobleman doesn't have a damn idea how to cut his own hair or repair clothes. He has started referring to people as "humans" because he has started to feel like a monster as time goes by and he loses even more hope of being helped.

The fairy (yes, it's Ra's) sometimes sends servants with food and stuff for Tim, but he always turns them down because accepting their gifts would be accepting their courtship, and Tim wants nothing to do with the idiot who cursed him, so he has been living on what he can find in the woods.

In exchange for allowing Bernard to stay in his castle, he promises to help Tim break the curse (Tim can't tell him how). And well, that's where the adventure of these two would begin.

[littletroggo]

first, it's already a great start! it looks so cute :3 i have a bunch of tips and tricks, and i broke them down into similar categories. bit of a warning, i'm self taught, so how good/helpful these will be is uncertain

set up

this is all the boring stuff before you actually draw. the main thing is make everything easy to access for you and streamline it, so you can focus more on drawing than fiddling with settings

pen pressure setting: procreate has a universal pressure sensitivity that i recommend playing with until you find what works for you. for example, if you find you struggle with getting darker strokes, move the line a bit to the top left. the default of a linear curve from bottom left to top right works just fine though. for reference, these are my pressure curves (the right one is from a different software)

i don't recommend copying mine from the left since it's to make drawing darker without much pressure since i have tendinitis

canvas size and resolution: honestly the "screen size" preset is pretty good for anything. you can also change the canvas size and resolution once you're in, so if you realize you need something bigger or smaller, it's an easy fix. my general rule of thumb is at least 2000px for the smallest dimension and at least 100 dpi. my default is 2480 x 3508px at 300dpi, and i downscale it to about half the size at 72 dpi for posting because the files are too big. if you notice your lines look a bit "jaggy" and it's not from the brush texture, that's pretty good indicator that your resolution/dpi is a bit too low

shortcuts and gestures: highly recommend putting anything you notice you use a lot as a gesture or in the quick menu which i think is tap and hold by default. this can be actions like flipping the canvas horizontally or switching to the eraser brush

brushes: anything goes! try out a bunch and settle on a couple that are your go to's. this also applies to brush settings. tweak settings to your liking! if you didn't already know, you can have preset sizes and opacities on the slider by tap the slider and then the plus icon. if you're lost, there are only three main brushes you'd need for anything: a hard round brush like monoline (caligraphy), a pressure opacity brush like round brush (painting), and a soft airbrush like soft brush (airbrushing). the main reasoning is that you can get the variation for hard and soft edges for anything.

technical tips

these are more for tricks specific to digital art than the "how to draw X" kind

liquify: need to make small adjustments like moving the nose, but you don't want to redraw it? liquify is your best friend! it's under the magic wand/adjustments setting. liquify also works on multiple layers

reference window: under the actions setting and canvas, you can toggle the reference window. by default it shows a small version of your canvas, but you can use it to put a picture to use as reference. very handy when drawing a character! (side note: you can also color pick from your reference by tapping and holding over the reference)

flipping the canvas horizontally: also under the canvas tab is the "flip horizontal" action. it does what it says on the tin. it's benefit is that flipping the entire piece sorta refreshes how you see it. the oddities jump out more since your eyes got used to seeing it in its normal orientation

layer effects and blend modes: by default, every new layer is a normal layer, but you can change it to one of the many different types. there are way better explanations and tutorials explaining what each does, so i'm just gonna go over the ones i use most: multiply: it'll make what's underneath darker using whatever color you use. it's best for applying shadows quickly add: it'll brighten what's underneath with the color you're using. i like using it for bright highlights or lighting, but it's often too strong to my taste, so i lower the layer opacity afterwards overlay: it's kinda like a tint for what's underneath. if you use a blue overlay layer, everything will have a bluish tint to it. i use it to quickly change the setting (sunset, night, etc) and to add the bluish hue to the bottom characters and a yellowish hue to their faces

post processing: these are the fancy effects done at the very end to add the extra cherry on top. all of these are under the adjustments tool. the first four let you change the colors after the fact. again, there are much better explanation than what i can provide, but my go to's are: noise at ~5-8% and for more finished pieces perspective blur and chromatic aberration at ~3-5%. none of these are necessary. i just find them fun to use

foundational tips

these are the general drawing tips not exclusive to digital art

references: references are great! whether it's for poses, outfits, settings, or the character themself, references make drawing much easier

construction: everything can be broken down into simpler shapes, and by building off of simpler shapes, it's easier to notice and adjust things compared to something like a fully drawn face. what guidelines you choose to use are entirely up to you. as long as they're helpful, that's what matters!

stop to think: sometimes, it can be really easy to get lost in drawing and go on autopilot. slowing down and trying to draw with intention often helps to combat drawing what you think you see vs what you actually see

resources

marc brunet has been my resource for learning pretty much everything

emiliodekureart has amazing tutorials on drawing figures in movement

marco bucci has amazing tutorials on painting and lighting

chommang has easy to follow tutorials on drawing various faces and poses

proko has phenomenal and in depth videos on fundamentals and anatomy

i hope this helps! this was very long, and i hope it wasn't overwhelming or anything

I love art. I love doodling. Sketching. This took me under 3 minutes to scratch out on my tablet…but getting past this point is so hard for me!

I use Procreate on my iPad … to my fantastic, artistic peoples…what are some tips and tricks (and maybe some YouTube videos) you use that can help a newer digital artist??

[esperanta-dragon]

How did you get into glasswork?

Prepare, this is gonna be long and there is no tl;dr.

This is one of the good things my father did for me, actually.

I always wanted to study art school, and I chose it but my older brother always wanted to destroy everything for me or claim what was mine, so instead of going to a business school as he should have (as he was all about money and making money but he only knew how to spend them and not make them back), he said he will study as a blacksmith in the same school. Even though he never wanted to do it or was never planning to continue after school. And until this day, he never thought of opening an atelier.

I was pretty mad and after years I still don't get it but I tried to prepare myself for admission. My father had a company for making whirlpools and he wanted me to be part of it so he just put into my head I should study industrial design. So he doesn't have to pay for designing stuff and I can do it for him.

That did not happen because the industrial design was full as apparently a lot of people wanted to do it. So I signed up for restoration to be a restorer of statues, architecture, etc. I no longer remember why, if it was my idea, or if it was put into my head by my father that it's a lucrative profession and would be cool to have a restorer in the family.

I was accepted into the school without any problems. My class had around 30 people. And you can imagine that sitting in a big classroom with around 30 people was a nightmare for me. Worse, we did not vibe and I was suffering. Because big classes can never be connected so they divided into a few smaller groups and me, as a geek weirdo, was never part of any.

Plus, my brother did a very good job of gossiping about me before I even started how horrible and stupid I am so he made sure that people will look down on me and it was even harder to find friends there.

What made matters worse, the atelier was in a remote city, so I had to wake up around 5 am (I am chronically tired and I haven't had a good night of sleep since I was 12) to get there by bus and it was a lot of walking. My brother was going into the same village where the atelier was, just a different building so I never had a break from him.

And then... my professor. She was an artist with a big reputation apparently because there was an interviewer once in the atelier and he was asking us too how is it to be her students. While I was writing this, I found out that she has her atelier in Prague and even an exhibition.

I did not like her. Because she did not like me. I knew I was the best one in our group. It was not my ego, it was just visible from drawings who is on a higher level. But she decided to motivate me by putting me down. Because she thought I will grit my teeth and say: "I will show her." Which did not happen. For me, it was bullying and it was not fair.

She would give A to the rest who were on the beginner's level and I got B or C for much better drawing because I should get better. Once I drew a very nice and detailed study of one of the busts we had there. She came to me, and said: "This line is 1 mm wrong, put the whole thing into a trash bin and start over again."

"Can't I just use an eraser and redraw it?"

"No, you will redraw the whole thing."

So 4 hours of my work for nothing. Meanwhile, she came to my classmates, telling them how talented and good they are for their much worse disproportional drawings.

She did not let us have music in the atelier and when I don't have music, I suffer a lot because time slows down, and suddenly 8 hours feels like 16 hours. Instead, we had to listen to a radio station where only classical music was playing or there were only interviews. Don't get me wrong I like classical music but I don't want to listen to it while doing art stuff because it's draining me of energy.

And... she was a heavy smoker. Not caring that we have a headache and it's hard to breathe in the atelier. She was flicking cigarettes everywhere, not using ash tray, so the cigarette ash was everywhere on the ground.

As you might imagine, I've had enough after 1 year. It felt like 4 years and I have no clue how I managed that long. Maybe because I did not want to disappoint my parents. But after 1 year of bullying from my professor, waking up at 5 am, disconnected classmates, having to suffer bullying from my brother as we were going in the same atelier... I couldn't do this anymore. Plus, I realized that we spend more time learning in school than being in the atelier and I really wanted to learn and use my skills.

So I told my parents I am quitting restoration. Of course, they did nothing about my brother, they never did, he was always the chosen one so I had to suffer his bullying at school, at home, and on a train when we were going home. I never had a break from him. But I could at least remove a few stressing factors if not my brother.

Fortunately, my father had another obsession. He loved architecture because apart from having a whirlpool factory at home, he knew how to build a house from scratch. And he loved Frank L. Wright. Wright was using stained glass a lot in his architecture, so my father said why I don't try this.

I agreed. My high school had glass blowing atelier, painting, glass engraving, glass grinding, etc. Everything with glass because Czech republic has a huge tradition of glasswork in general. And there was a huge glass factory in the same city.

And we had a stained glass atelier too. Because the professor who was teaching it was a stained glass master himself and lived in the same city, an old guy with 3 adult sons but none of them wanted to do stained glass. So he was going to our school, teaching kids so he could pass on the knowledge and skills. What more, the atelier was in the same building as the school and dormitory.

But I had to go to a different class with different classmates. It was better because it was only 8 of us. Even though 4 girls there were gossip girls and not very bright, which mostly results in them being mean and you never know if you can trust them. But it was better and I was just ignoring them.

The new class was set up for those who wanted to learn the skill and were not planning to go study university but still wanted to graduate and have a paper with a final exam. And set up their own atelier. We were looked down upon but I did not care, I knew I will learn a lot. Because it was 2 days vs. 5 days of practice per 2 weeks. And as you can see, when I graduated, I was ready to do stuff.

I had -1 year to learn the stained glass but I managed just fine. I've learned everything I needed to know and I've created a lot of big projects. Sadly, I had a bad phone with a bad camera and no good place where to take photos and I don't want to present myself with those.

And my new professor was much better than my previous one. He wanted us to learn everything, he was always in a good mood, joking around and he was making fun of everything and everyone. Including headmaster. School officials never knew he was making fun of them. And even if, he wouldn't care, he was making a lot of money from his profession and he would be teaching in the school even for free. He was there only to pass his knowledge, not to make money.

Sadly, I was bullied at home by my parents, by my brother both at home and in the school, my boyfriend was a gaslighter and mental abuser who moved into our house and my parents did not show any desire to help me get rid of him even though they were giving me hell for him and they allowed him to move with us, I had low self-esteem and my father ended up few times in mental hospital, so I was explosive and my behavior was not ok. Because I was very troubled and had nobody to talk to or who would support me because I had no safe space (WoW and writing became my only safe space). So I was sometimes explosive and mean to my professor too which I deeply regret now. But at least I understand now why I couldn't be different. Still, he did not give up on me and was very patient, he probably knew better than me that I am just troubled and lost.

Meanwhile, my old professor moved the atelier into the same building and on the same floor. When she met me, she showed her dislike that I left because I had a lot of potential. I told her: "So why were you putting me down and demotivating me all the time then?" She was pretty mad. But I don't regret I left. When I met my best friend years later, she studied restoration too. And I found out how hard it would be to even start or even find a master who would take me under their wings because most of the time they want to do things alone. And getting a paper or contract for restoration is much harder. No regrets I left restoration.

After 3 years I graduated from stained glass. I could not work straight away because we had barely money for food because my parents had a lot of debts so we barely finished high school.

But in 2019 I started my Etsy shop. Sadly, I had to run away from my apartment where I had my atelier (after agreeing with landlords) because suddenly landlords were not ok with the fact I am actually making money from that (as I got a big contract for Carnival Row Season 2 stained glass decorations and they randomly found out) so I had to stop for 2 years as I had shared flat and could not do it in 1 room with 3 cats around which wanted to be with me all the time even though they belonged to my flatmate.

So I could come back to it in 2021 when I moved into an appartment I have only for myself. And my cat ofc.

Yeah.

Kind of a journey.

[softpine]

how in depth do you edit your story posts? would you say reshade does a lot of it or do you go in and add details a lot? how long does it take? i’m doing a story myself and i want to keep telling it but the long editing process sets me back and can be de motivating sometimes and i’m just wondering if you have any tips on cutting it down or speeding the process up?

oh i totally know what you mean – editing is by far my LEAST favorite part of the process, so i do anything i can do to speed it up. i would say reshade does about 60% of the work, and then i run my own personal action in photoshop which does another 20% of the work (basically just resize, smart sharpen, denoise, and a very basic color grade to help boost skintones). the rest is just small details that vary from picture to picture. landscape pictures can take me less than 2 minutes to edit, whereas shots with multiple sims can take me upwards of 30 minutes because i'm a freak about using the liquify tool to smooth out sharp edges, redrawing stuff to get rid of clipping, fixing skin banding by hand, etc. the rest is just using various blurs (usually iris blur), and applying a final color grade / hue adjustments. LITERALLY the devil is in the details 😭

so now that i've complained for ages, here are my tips on speeding things up fjksjd

1. put all your reshade effects on a toggle, and take multiple screenshots with the effects on/off. ESPECIALLY if you have a wide variety of skintones. for example, finn is pale as fuck and bloom makes him look like.... well, a ghost:

so i take one pic WITH bloom:

one without:

and then i layer them in photoshop and use a soft eraser at a lower opacity (depends on the pic) to erase some of the bloom on his face. this means i never have to mess with my bloom settings in-game for every single picture i take. i do the same thing for dof or mxao if they’re giving me trouble. one pic on, one pic off, layer them, and erase.

2. create your own action and/or psd! there are tons of tutorials out there. whichever effects you find yourself using on a regular basis, combine them all in one to save you from doing boring shit over and over :’) i don’t find it super helpful to use other people’s actions, because everyone has a different style, but if you’re new to photoshop, it might be nice to download some actions just to try new things out!

3. this tip kinda sucks because i know most people on simblr don’t have a l*gal copy of photoshop (no shade, i p*rated for literally 10 years lmao and i only got the real copy bc it was free through my mom’s work) but the newest version of photoshop has sooo many cool effects. sky replacement (my beloved), neural filters (depth blur is SO good now, the edges are crisp as hell. you could probably get rid of dof in reshade altogether now), and camera raw filter (basically a one-stop-shop for every adjustment you may need, and has the ability to save presets in the same way you would use a psd). all of these save me so much time. i would be happy to do a more in-depth tutorial on this stuff if you’re interested, but like i said, i know most people don’t have access to these :(

EDIT: check the replies for a link that may help you out :)

4. simply edit less. sometimes i have to remind myself that no one will be zooming up into my sim’s hand to see if their ring has some clipping issues. you are your own worst enemy and of course you’ll notice every single flaw, but most other people won’t. if the only way you can realistically and feasibly tell your story is to edit less (or not edit at all) then so be it!! that’s okay!! do whatever you can do to lessen your stress 💖

[biolizardboils]

Crumpled Up Pages: Old Captain Underpants WIPs #1-4

The First Epic Movie turned 5 earlier this month, and I dug through some old folders to write this post about it. In the process, I found some fanfic ideas I’d written down, fleshed out a little, and then forgot about for years. So while hyperfixation still has its grip on me (and while there’s still some extra activity in the tag), I figured I’d finally set these dust bunnies free!

A few ground rules before this deep dive descends:

When I say “fleshed out a little,” I’m putting major emphasis on the “little.” Some of these docs contain detailed notes and snippets of dialogue, but others are just a title and a vague one-sentence summary. I’ll be transparent about what each one contains, and try to fill in the bigger gaps by memory.

If you were around for the CU Fandom Renaissance of 2017, some of the ideas here might sound familiar, ‘cus I refitted them into fanart and headcanon dumps that actually got posted. I’ll link to those where they’re relevant.

These were all written and abandoned months before a CU show was even announced, so there’s no Epic Tales content or characters in here. Sorry if you were expecting any!

I’m splitting this into two posts cus it was getting and taking too long. This first part will cover the 4 simplest, fluffiest WIPs; the second one will tackle the 6 sadder, more character-heavy ones. And with character-heavy stuff comes spoilers for the movie and books — especially the books. If you haven’t read all 12, you’re probably wondering why anyone would care about Captain Underpants spoilers. First off, your loss; second off, BEWARE!

And finally: if you write fanfiction and feel inspired to use any of these ideas? You have my permission to do so! Seriously, steal anything here and put your own spin on them! I don’t care much for credit, but if these old things help fuel someone else’s creativity, I’d love to know!

That’s enough prep, probably. Plug your nose!

WIP #1: Inspiration

It can come from even the worst of places. ...And people, in this case. [Book!Verse, pre-Book 1.]

This document contains a long script, but no context; I can remember the gist though, so I’ll insert that in-between dialogue. Basically it’s third grade, and George and Harold are in detention again. They cheat to fill up the blackboards like usual, but they’re too bummed out to start a comic afterwards. George sits around stewing in his frustration while Harold angry-scribbles Mr. Krupp yelling.

“...Why does he hate us so much, George?”

“I dunno. Maybe ‘cause he can’t handle our coolness? …Nice drawing, by the way.”

“Thanks. …It’s making me sad just lookin’ at it, though.”

“Yeah, me too. …I wonder what he’d look like if he smiled.”

“...?”

“...I mean, like, a real smile, not an I’ve-got-you-now smile.”

“Oh. Hmmm…”

Harold erases Krupp’s wide yelling mouth and draws a goofy smile in its place.

“Aw, man, now it’s just creepy.”

“Darn.”

The boys keep editing the drawing until it stops being creepy and starts being funny. George erases Krupp’s toupee, remembering the time they stole it and the teachers couldn’t take him seriously without it. Harold draws one of his office curtains around his neck, adding more color and kinetic energy. Soon they’re struggling not to laugh out loud, but they manage to calm down… until George gets an idea that takes the sketch from great to legendary.

“Waitwaitwaitwaitwait. Remember what my pop said about Superman yesterday?”

“That he looks like… DUDE. Duuuuuude.”

Harold redraws Krupp’s entire lower body so he’s only wearing underwear. Then with a flourish, he adds the finishing touch – two dots on his chest – and they both lose it. All their laughter finally prompts the real Krupp to check on them, and predictably, he rips up the drawing. It upsets the boys in the moment, but they’re still in much higher spirits than before, and brainstorm a new comic about their new creation as they skateboard home.

“You think we should make his origin issue first?”

“Naw, let’s get right to the action! His outfit’s already the perfect hook – finally, a superhero who actually does fly around in his underwear!”

“Yeah, and he could fight with Wedgie Power!”

God, rediscovering this gave me the most uncontrollable grin. From the date it was last opened, I think this fic was meant for September 1st, 2017 (Book 1’s 20th anniversary), and I gave up after missing it. For shame, 2017!me. For shame.

——————————————————————————————————

WIP #2: Untitled Boomer One-shot

Harold won’t admit it, but he’d slay a dragon for his little sister. [Book!Verse but only cus this scene was deleted and is thus dubiously canon]

This doc’s nothing but notes, so I’ll paraphrase the plot: Ms. Hutchins takes Heidi and Harold to Boomer the Purple Dragon: Live! Harold was gonna stay with the Beards but they cancelled last minute, and he’s grumpy about it the whole time. When the show ends, kids gather in front of the stage to meet Boomer; Ms. Hutchins suddenly gets an important call, and makes Harold walk Heidi up there. 

But the dragon’s mascot suit is big up close for a 6-year-old, and Heidi gets so scared she starts crying. She’s rooted to the spot and waves her arms in panic, but “Boomer” thinks she wants a hug and waddles closer and closer... until Harold kicks him in the groin. Their mom understandably grounds him for it, but Heidi is grateful and calls him her hero :)

This one was based on the classic “kid hits mascot in the weak spot” genre of AFV, but also on an early memory of mine! My sister and I loved Arthur as babies, so our mom took us to see this thing. The characters suddenly being real (and huge) was so upsetting that we scream-cried until she took us home early. (Speaking of Arthur, it’s a shame Heidi’s never really done anything in canon, I can see her having big DW energy.)

——————————————————————————————————

WIP #3: When Worlds Collide

It was less “love at first sight” and more “love at first squawk.” [Book!Verse, Book 7.]

A quick refresher: George told Harold to take Crackers back to dinosaur times, but he left her in the treehouse with Sulu instead. Later in the book, they’re shown snuggling in their sleep 🥺🥺 Anyway, this fic was about what they got up to in between! It’s actually the most complete of the lot, but only because it’s so short and simple.

It opens with Harold introducing them to each other, leaving out some treats for them (hamster food for Sulu, crackers for Crackers), then telling them to play nice until he comes back. They do not. Crackers pulls a Thunderclap the moment Harold leaves, Sulu karate-chops her throat until she spits him out, and they wreck half the treehouse in the ensuing chase.

Eventually they settle for standing in opposite corners and hissing at each other. Then Sulu… *squints* …records Crackers’ hisses with his bionic ears and plays them back so they can communicate? …Yeah, okay, why not. The outline ends after this sudden development; I’m guessing they talk things out and start to catch feels, before settling in to sleep. Anyway here’s the few sentences I actually wrote out:

Harold opened the door, Sulu got on the floor, and in walked the curious dinosaur.

[…] As predator and prey faced off, a little boy and his mother happened to be walking down Vine Street. “Mommy,” said the little boy, “I can hear a bionic hamster and a pterodactyl fighting in that treehouse!”

“Oh, please,” his mother scoffed. “How do you even know what that would sound like?”

The boy considered pointing out the CHOMPs, SQUEAKs, and SQUAAAWKs emanating from the tree in big blocky letters, but decided it wasn’t quite worth the trouble.

The doc ends with a reminder to not refer to Crackers with any pronouns until the two pets can understand each other. Also I was gonna title this after a Tony Orlando and Dawn song as foreshadowing, but I couldn’t choose one, so instead I went with this Spongebob song lol.

——————————————————————————————————

WIP #4: Untitled Tommy One-shot

The school’s been near bully-free ever since Treehouse Comix Inc. was formed. Tommy reflects on this from the safety of his locker. [Movie!Verse with a hint of Book 9. CW: discussion of bullying.]

A Kid I Never Named knocks on Tommy’s locker and offers to trade Pilkeymon. They have to be sneaky, because it’s the 90′s and they have to slip a Link Cable through the locker vents without being spotted.

As they trade, the other kid asks Tommy why he hides all the time. He explains that it’s a habit from when Kipper Krupp terrorized the halls. But Kipper left four years ago, and the legend of Wedgie Magee has kept other bullies at bay ever since; the other kid points this out and asks why he still hides. This led into “a somber discussion on adverse school experiences and the long-lasting coping mechanisms they cause” (exact words from the doc). Unfortunately 2017!me never wrote any dialogue, and I’m mad at her for that.

Trivia drop! I used the Pilkeymon joke a few times at @treehouseblogsinc, but it’s way older than that, and also not mine: Pilkey.com used to have a coloring game named Pilkeymon’s Paintbox. It even had art of Dav’s old spiky-haired avatar with Pikachu ears! There’s no trace of it on the Internet anymore, but I swear I’m not making this up.

I left a note here to add that Tommy has glow-in-the-dark stickers in his locker, which ended up in this headcanon dump. There’s also a list of last names I came up with for him but never chose between: Chambers, Lakatos (which I shared once here), and Lockenspiel. Right now I’m leaning towards the last one, it rolls nicely off the tongue.

——————————————————————————————————

That’s it for now! Not gonna lie, I’m still nervous about posting the other 6 WIPs. Most of them deal with Book 12, and all the tough subjects that that entails. But hey, I made this bed, and by God am I gonna lie in it. Thanks for reading so far!

[golden-bubblebee]

Well. I tried it again. And o boi, Pandoras box got opened again.

I used to write in notebooks all the time, but with the modernisation of my life that kinda got lost. But boi have I been enjoying it!!

I just finished a single chapter in my notebook, which, currently, already feels longer and better thought through than my previous chapters. (Don't know if it actually is longer, but considering I always feel like my chapters are too short, it feels nice)

Personally, I also love the visual image of notebooks filled and filled and filled with words. It gives passion, and tbh, a computer doesn't give the same vibe. But just. Ahh. It makes me go Ahh. This single chapter is 7 pages, and the joy of going through them! I get it now. I forgot. I remember. (Also the fact that this is a cheap notebook that I've used before for recipes means it is very beaten, which only adds to the 'this has been looked through a million times before' vibe, which, again, joy joy joy. )

So, some thinkies

Writing on paper has thus far made it easier to start (which is odd, because I typically can't really touch paper (sensory issues go yikes) so normally that is really difficult. So maybe my hands have been kind to me, or the RA obsession was big enough to override the sensory stuff.

I have been wanting to write so much more. It no longer feels like a chore. Is that some primal early on memory being awoken in me from when I used to write stories on memoblock pages and old school books? Is it my new temporary focus of enjoyment until I grow bored? Idk. But it got me craving writing a lot more than I have lately

It did allow me to puzzle a lot more with the structure of the chapters. It gives me more of an overview. Yet another thing that I knew but had forgotten/never really applied in writing. Constructing the general storyline and 'rules' of my worlds and stories always seemed sensible on paper, because of the overview and how nicely you can place it next to you when writing (typing). Why I never considered to use this construction in the actual writing? I dunno.

Again, something I could've known, but somehow didn't. A thing my art teacher would always say was 'if you go to correct a line, redraw it first, then erase it. How will you fix a mistake you can't see anymore? You need to base yourself off of something.' For writing, it seems, this works too! When a word was being funky, I always replaced it, until I found a good one, or deleted my sentence until it was somewhat nice. This is long and tedious and a good way of getting me stuck. But! Now, I don't know if you can see, in the beginning of the gif, there is a little pink square. That is my way of saying 'go forward a bit to the next pink square, a piece of sentence needs to be added, or I am reworking this bit further on...etc. giving me more like, freedom to move stuff around? Like I could just restart that piece, without having to forget what it was before.

Anyways that was really long, but I have really been enjoying this. Thank you for reminding me what this feels like<3 It is seriously appreciated. I don't know how, or why, I forgot the feeling of filled notebooks, puzzling words and the comfort of a pen in hand, being able to see my hurry, peace or tiredness reflected in my handwriting. But I did. I am genuinely grateful for making me remember.

Yk, I was going to ask this in the comments, but then I thought, why not a nifty little ask?

Do you actually write all your stories by hand? And how does it work? Cuz personally I am always put off by the fact I like, don't write fast enough to be able to keep up with the sentences forming in my head, yk. And do you then retype the chapter after you've handwritten it? Genuinely curious as to why/if/.. you prefer doing it this way

I'm glad you asked! And I'm glad you asked as an ask, because this would be a weee bit long to go in a tumblr comment 😅

I handwrite most of my fics, yeah! Tho it's more of a hybrid model instead of strictly handwriting, then typing. I bounce between handwriting and typing based on if I'm having writer's block or not. If I get stuck when typing up a chapter, I save what I have, close down my computer, and pick up a notebook and start writing from the last point I remember. Not being able to refer back to what I've written previously means I'm not stuck agonising over it, and allows me to write more freely than if I was constantly going back to earlier paragraphs. If I get stuck when handwriting, I boot up my computer again and transcribe everything. Y'know that bit of writing advice that's like "if you have writer's block, your problem is actually half a page back"? Yeah, that's why I transcribe! The process of rereading my earlier writing lets me identify what's not working and how to fix it.

TRR2 is actually the first fic where the majority of it has been handwritten beforehand, because Angel bought me a gorgeous notebook to write it in (and he got me a second to continue with!). A good portion of every chapter so far has been handwritten, and some chapters were entirely handwritten before I transcribed them :D

Further reasons I like handwriting include...

...no longer worrying so much about making it "perfect", and letting a first draft just be a first draft Sometimes in the middle of writing a scene I'll realise it works better in another character's POV, or in another setting, or any number of things. Instead of going back and changing it, I make a note saying what the change is and then keep writing as though I've already made the change. That way it doesn't break up the flow of writing and I can continue on a roll! Similarly, if a line is wonky or weird, but I can't immediately think of a better one, I just write down the wonky line and continue. Without the ability to erase what I just wrote, I don't get bogged down making every line perfect, and usually when I go to transcribe it later I have a better idea of what to write

...it helps me be more considerate of my words Wait, isn't this a direct contradiction of what I just said? Let's pretend it isn't I also write slower than I type, which I find is a bonus! My brain keeps working on the words and scene while I write, and they can often end up more refined than if I was typing everything because I had more time to turn the words over in my brain. There's also just something about handwriting things that helps my brain remember them more

...it's way more versatile I can't type on phones - it's actively very uncomfortable for me (small hands yaaay). Unfortunately, this means if I'm not at a computer, typing anything more than a couple of sentences is a no-go. Notebooks are easy to carry, don't require an external power source, and I can easily curl up with them to write in the car, in bed, or outside (bonus: it's MUCH easier to see a notebook in direct sunlight than it is to try and make out words on a screen). It also means I can write at work without worrying about keystrokes being logged, people seeing what's on my screen, forgetting a USB, or - disaster of disasters - computers crashing and erasing my data

...purely autistic/aesthetic reasons :D Writing is a huge physical stim for me. Typing can be too depending on the keyboard I'm using, but writing with a pen on paper is remarkably calming in a way that very little else is. Also, notebooks pretty ❤

thanks for dealing with all that (and also giving me an excuse to ramble on for way too long :D)!

[skunkes]

hi bear with my as i try to explain some weird art feeling

As im improving in art i keep struggling to figure out what's like...the niche i fill vs if my niche is just a comfort zone i should be forcing myself out of, ykwim?

Like. I could NEVER be a person that does rendered paintings because I like lines too much. + Its hard for me to imagine things in 3D (and the shading that comes with it). I dont have the drive or the desire to get good at that (and other things) and so I have to just accept that eveyone has their art roles they fill, because if everyone did the same art it would be boring.

Like I'll see someone's very loose sketchy, colors slapped on art and wish that could be me bc its so beautiful. But its Not Me + I gotta deal with it and hope that the stuff I Do Make is an equivalent for someone else. (Like when incredibly popular artists who make full blown illustrations like my shit for some weird reason)

What I've ALSO been thinking about, though, is sometimes I'll be looking through my inspiration folders. I'll look at a piece of art that's like, from one of my favorite artists (as an example, so that the following sentences don't sound like im being intentionally Evil). I'll be like this is gorgeous art. What I'd give to make gorgeous art. But then I really think about it and realize like,

Man.

If I drew like this, well. I would HATE if I drew like this.

I imagine drawing these pieces and find my own likes and dislikes while doing so. Like man this artist is so good they're my favorite but if I drew like this I would be worried about this looking too much like a generic anime art style. I'd be erasing and redrawing and overtweaking these huge sparkly eyes. I'd hate not being able to do more than draw these tiny anime noses. I can't imagine doing all this sameface (even if theyre beautiful samefaces!) Stuff like that (despite the art being very good and beloved by me and others.)

Its a weird feeling. Idk how to describe it + I've never seen anyone else talk about anything similar.

My only issue is that I also feel the same way about my own work, obviously, because how else could I make the connections without relating back to how I feel about my own stuff, so like, what do you even Do. How do I actually draw the way I want to draw. I know how I DONT want to draw (but also, the way i Don't want to draw looks Good :( it looks awesome!!!) How do i Fix it. How do I identify and pluck out the Good Stuff and use that.

I dunno!

[fisherrprince]

Hi yes hello I’m gonna ask before I chicken out: how do you get. Faster. At drawing? I draw and I’m always frustrated by how long it takes….I love seeing your style and how loose and lively it is! I imagine it just takes practice, I’m sure, but are there any particular exercises you would recommend or do?

Yes and no!!! I have a real answer to this! here is, legitimately, how I got faster at drawing without hating the drawings that came out that fast.

i had a class in high school I had to take at 6 in the morning that lasted 45 minutes. I got up at 5:30, flopped downstairs like a wet paper towel, and drove to school (WHICH WAS IN HINDSIGHT NOT A GOOD IDEA?). I didn’t have to pay… that much attention in that class, and they gave us a ton of handouts and a pen every morning, so to keep myself awake, I covered. Every single handout. in pen drawings. I have folders upon folders of papers and half sheets FILLED with doodles. They were lazy and so imperfect and just happened as I thought of ideas, squashed into 45 minutes, which was great in the long run because I straight up was only thinking half the time. And I did this for fooouurrr yeeears!!! Of JUST pages and pages of mistake-riddled, janky (but fun because I had funny ideas at 6 am) doodles.

half of the reason people draw slowly is because they don’t like making mistakes, or they don’t want to have a drawing they worked hard on that looks bad. But if you don’t spend time on it….. it’s fine that it looks bad! And it’s cool if it looks good. Try taking a small lined notebook and a pen (NO PENCILS. NO ERASING.) and just filling it. this is the garbage notebook, and you don’t have to show it to anyone. It’s already full of lines, it’ll make everything look weird, your job is NOT to make good drawings your job is to fill the notebook. With time, as you just draw and make stupid things and become more comfortable with the things you like to draw often, you’ll naturally get a little faster at drawing things that you think are kinda good! You can draw slow and thoughtfully when you’re doing studies, or illustrating. and if you draw something in the garbage notebook that you like, you can always redraw it better.

the other half is rly varied. It can come from not knowing the subject, not having drawn as much, the aforementioned don’t wanna make bad art, carefully plotting where your image is going to be, orrr like maybe not knowing where your line is going to go before you put it down! You kind of have to pin what that comes from yourself. When I got into college they really stressed gesture drawing — of course the 5 minute and 8 minute ones, but we always warmed up with like twenty 15- and 30-second ones. You GOTTA draw fast, so you kinda learn to prioritize longer, confident lines and which parts of the figure you really need to focus on instead of getting super caught up in One Fold. Gestures will also help with getting looser in that way ^

(when you gesture draw, try not to outline the figure or over-construct. what I mean by this is there’sa couple ways to go about understanding form and shape and such, when you practice, liiike drawing the general supersimplified shape before filling in where the head and torso and limbs are, drawing a flour sack as a torso and sticking arms and legs on it, drawing the line of action first, or drawing the torso/head, hands, feet, and then connecting them with arms and such. They will look kind of wonky, the legs will sometimes be uneven, but that’s supposed to happen)

so basically what it comes down to is practice, but the right kind of practice. Buy a garbage notebook, do gesture drawing in public so your subject moves before you’re ready, and make one billion bad art. And lastly this is all stuff that I learned that helped me, but you might find something else works for you better!

[goldrogerstits]

How to edit and color manga-caps

This is a tutorial on how I personally color and edit manga caps in photoshop. I’ve done my best to explain my editing and coloring process but English isn’t my native language so please excuse any grammatical errors! Anyway, let’s get started💛

Clean-up

First of all you need a clean manga cap to work with. Start by erasing the parts of the image that you don’t want to keep and redraw parts if necessary. In this case I erased the speech bubble and redrew parts of the sparkles surrounding Komurasaki. Try to stay consistent with the artists original style If you redraw parts of the image as it will be very noticeable if you’ve strayed too far from the original style. I recommend that you study the line width especially and try to emulate that! 

Then level the image as seen in this tutorial by @aldiwali​, by leveling the image you erase some of those grainy dots surrounding the line-art. I’ve also found that it helps darken the line art! When you are done with clean-up separate the line art from the background. I’ve already made an in-depth tutorial how to do that (and erase more of those grainy dots) so I’ll link that here: X. 

Once you’ve cleaned your manga cap and separated the line art from the background you can start putting down your base colors and flats!

Coloring process 

Start with a simple base color for the skin, I usually go for #9e7e7d as that will give the skin a nice warm tone once your done! Then make a copy of your base layer. Go to your copy of your base layer, right click and create clipping mask and color it with something more akin to an actual skin tone. Combine the clipping mask and the copy of your base layer, then lower the opacity to your liking, I usually go for around 85% opacity. 

This step is very unnecessary and you don’t need to actually do this (just a normal skin-tone as a base) but I do it out of habit. If you look at some of my older stuff it’s way more noticeable (see example down below). 

If you use this method please be aware of that it does tend to lighten colors so I don’t recommend that you use this method for when you’re using darker colors. 

BONUS TIP for when you’re coloring: Make a color palette! I try to keep track of what colors I use for different characters but it’s easy to get a bit lost so I actually made a little color palette as a reference for myself. That way I can easily keep track of what colors I like to use for a base and for shading. 

Anyways.... back to the actual tutorial! Time to color the rest of the image! Try to get some good reference pictures of the character/characters (preferably something that was colored by the actual artist) if you’re going for canon colors. I usually play around with hues for a bit before I’m happy with results! For example I gave Komurasakis red dress more of a purple/pink undertone to make it work better with her fan and the flowers in her hair. 

Try to divide your colors into different layers to make the shading process easier but don’t make to many separate layers as that can get a bit confusing! I try to divide my layer based on color and placement! 

If you’re not using a reference for what colors you’re going to use I recommend that you at least follow a color scheme. Try to find colors that work with each other but still contrast each other. A lot of people will be looking at your graphics trough their phone and a lot of details will be lost so by making your colors contrast each other you keep some of clarity! I’m not saying that you shouldn’t use colors that are very similar but you should keep the format which your graphics will be looked at in mind. 

Anyways now that we’ve colored everything we need to add color to the parts of the line-art that aren’t supposed be black, in this case we need to add color to the hair, lips, fan and dress. Go to your line-art layer, right click, make a clipping mask and then you can color the line-art. Your layers should look similar to this:

Make a base which you can work off later as seen below.

I usually color everything first and then I refine the outlines with the help of the eraser. Try to keep the width of the outline consistent with the rest of the line-art, otherwise it won’t be as seamless. (I did’t outline her hairline as it’s very “feathered” and I wanted to keep that feeling, but I usually outline the hairline too)

You don’t have to separate each color into its own clipping mask as that isn’t going to make any difference when you shade everything later. Now time to add the line-art to the hair! 

Line-art

I do recommend using some sort of drawing tablet to make your new line-art. It’s not that isn’t possible to do it without one but it’s a bit tedious to it with a mouse or touchpad.

If you use a drawing tablet use a brush that allows you to control the stroke weight of the brush. I usually go for one of the default brushes but I’m sure that there are a tons of fun brushes out there to play with!

Create another layer just above your manga-cap, this is where we’ll draw the new line-art! Try to follow the “flow” of the original line-art. In this case it’s fairly easy for me to see where line-art would fit naturally thanks to the way Oda choose to illustrate the “shine” on Komurasakis hair! 

Look at the area that I’ve encircled, it’s easy to imagine that that’s where Oda would have chosen to add the line-art if he hadn’t colored the hair black. If you can’t find any of these spots try to find a few references for how the original artist does the line-art when it’s in full color. For example I used the cover of volume 92 to get a feeling of how I wanted my line-art to look. 

Basically try to find what makes the original artists line-art distinct and copy that for your own line-art! 

After I’m done with my line-art I go back to the black base and fill in some of the empty spaces that were left by the artist for clarity. Like the gap between the line-art and the deep purple parts of the her fan. When your happy with your base and line-art you can start shading! 

Shading

(Before I start shading I generally color in all the stuff I left out like her eyes, makeup and the shine on her hair. I also decided to outline her eyebrows.)

Let’s start with shading the flats! Add a clipping mask to your layer and set the layer style to multiply. The amount of layers I use differ from color to color but I tend to stick between two our four layers of shading. When you’re shading use a color that is soft but with enough contrast to your base so it doesn’t blend into it. I generally use a color with a warmer tone to shade but the you can play around with colors and tones to add different effects. 

Create a clipping mask and set the layer style to overlay or soft light to highlight certain areas with a lighter color. I tend to play around a bit with the opacity before I’m happy the results. When you’re finished with shading the flats you can start shading the base! 

It’s basically the same thought process as before, just add a clipping mask your base layer and set to multiply! Your layers should look like this: 

And that’s it! We’ve shaded everything and we’re basically done! There’s just a few more minor things to do. 

Details / Coloring the line-art 

I like coloring the line-art as it gives the graphic some extra color. To add color to your line-art just do as we did before. Make a clipping mask and color the lines, simple as that! Try to use colors that are dark enough that the line-art isn’t lost. 

I did some finale clean-up, colored the sparkles surrounding Komurasaki, added som motion filters to that, fixed the background and that’s that! We’re done! That’s how I edit and color manga-caps! I hope this helps! I might have gotten lost on a few tangents so please feel free to ask questions if you need clarification on anything💛

[peach-the-owl]

Maybe one with Kima and Allura? The reader is an artist and one day they start to leave little notes with sketches for them in random places where they can find them and it's just them being a good friend trying to make them smile during the day.

Aww, I love Kima and Allura so much, their relationship is just so precious 🥰 I hope this turned out well

Also might’ve let myself get carried away with the idea, it’s a bit long 😅

Little Notes

Allura & Kima & Artist!Reader (Platonic)

You were making your way over to Allura's for a visit knowing she had been stressing out over Kima being missing from her mission in Kraghammer and hoping to calm some of those nerves. You walk up to the doors of her tower and give a knock, after a small wait the door opens to reveal the arcanist herself.

"(Y/n)! It’s been awhile, how are you?" She asks slightly surprised by your sudden appearance.

"Hello Allura, sorry about not informing you of my arrival." You sheepishly scratch at the back of your head in apology. "Do you mind if I come in? If not I can just-"

"No no, it’s alright." She stops you and steps out of the way for you to enter the tower. You welcome yourself in and go to sit in your usual spot whenever you’d visit. "I’m actually glad you decided to pop in, I’ve needed a distraction what with everything going on." Allura admits. At this point you pull out your sketchbook and pencil you always carry with you and start to add some fine line work to a piece you’d been working on for weeks now, never seeming to get it quite right.

"I know you’ve been stressing over this, which is exactly why I wanted to come over. So why don’t you tell me about what you’ve been up to recently." You suggest, not looking away from your drawing. You knew this wouldn’t bother Allura because for the years you've known each other, while it looked like you weren’t paying attention to the conversation you actually were, listening very carefully to every word being spoken to you. Allura went on to tell you about her work with the council and some of the worries she has for Kima, you adding in your own thoughts to the conversation every now and again. She then told you about her allies, the adventuring group known as Vox Machina that she asked to help find Kima, you knew about this group and what they did for the royal family but didn’t know them as personally as Allura did.

"I just hope nothing terrible has happened." Allura finally concludes after her long rant. You give an amused hum and sigh, taking proper notice that you’d wandered away from your project and had several random doodles covering the page. However instead of hindering you this placed a wonderful idea into your head.

"Relax Ally, if these people are as capable as you say then they’ll find Kima in no time. Just relax and breath, alright." You look up at her this time seeing her nod and take a few deep breaths. While she was distracted with that you carefully tear out some of the doodles, writing little messages of encouragement on the back of them and stand up. You sneakily slipping one of the notes between the cushion of the chair having it stick out just enough to be noticeable but not too obvious. "It’s been lovely, thank you for having me over but it’s getting late. I should really be making my way home."

"Allow me to walk you out." Allura offers which you happily accept, sneakily hiding the little drawings along the way in various places for Allura to hopefully find later. "I really appreciated the visit, helps to confide in a friend. You’re welcome back anytime." Allura gives you a quick hug that you return before the two of you part ways until next time.

It had been a while since your little visit and felt it only fair to check in and see how everything was going. When you arrive you’re relieved to see that Kima had returned in one piece, while Allura was occupied with thanking Vox Machina for their efforts you quietly shuffle over. You then watch as Kima and Allura share a small moment by staring at each other before they run into each other’s arms, you smile a little at this before deciding to quickly jump in.

"No it’s fine, just pretend I’m not here." You joke gaining everyone’s attention, you walk over to the two and without missing a beat Kima gives you a playful punch in the arm. "I swear to Bahamut Kima, you’re gonna break my arm one of these days." You slightly hiss from the pain.

"Nah if I meant to do that, it'd already be broken." Kima says slyly, you roll your eyes before properly hugging your friend, slipping a little note you’d made into her armour.

"Well now who’s this one?" The red Dragonborn asks. After some proper introductions with the group Allura invites everyone into her tower for tea, you hang back a second unsure if you should join them or just head home early.

"Don’t just stand there, the offer stands for you too." Allura gives a warm smile and ushers you inside.

"I know I just didn’t want to feel like I was overcrowding the place, plus I’m sure you’d like to catch up with Kima." You say meekly. You make your way up and automatically go to sit in your usual spot, pulling out your sketchbook as both a distraction and to continue on a commission for a client you’d received. Enjoying some tea and listening to the conversation between everyone else, Kima leans over your shoulder to look at your work.

"The hell is that supposed to be?" She asks quietly, staring at your drawing.

"Art." You reply cheekily. You catch her rolling her eyes at the corner of yours.

"I know what it is, but what is it?"

"The client asked for something abstract, so this is the result so far." You precede to erase and redraw a few of the lines you’d made until you felt satisfied.

"I don’t get it." You stifle a laugh, Kima didn’t really have an artistic eye but you appreciated that she at least tried to understand your craft whenever the two of you got to interact with each other.

"Shouldn’t you be involved in this conversation? Not to be rude or anything but it sounds important." You look up at Kima now to which she scratches at the back of her head, you can now see the blush on her cheeks.

"His questions were making me a little uncomfortable." She gestures over to the goliath, Grog. You give a reassuring pat her on the shoulder, sneaking another note into her armour before you realize something.

"Sorry to interrupt but what time is it?" After some fumbled reply’s Allura gives you her best estimation. "I have to go, I’ve got client to meet today and sooo much work to do. Thank you for the tea Allura, it was lovely to meet you all and thank you for safely bringing Kima back." You give a bit of a rushed goodbye as you gather up your things and hurry out of the tower, pausing briefly at the door to hide one more note for Allura to find later.

Time came and went, work piled up leaving you busy to no end, the only contact you had with your friends being the letters you’d write each other telling of what you’d been up to. However once the dragons came your world went crashing down, you had longed for a break away from all the work on your shoulders but not like this. Your home was in shambles, your hard work that took you months to complete destroyed in seconds, you considered yourself lucky to have made it out alive. Now you were but another refugee in Whitestone praying for a miracle while doodling in your sketchbook, the only thing that survived with you albeit slightly charred at the corners.

"Oh my gosh! You’re alive!" You hear a familiar voice call, looking over to see Kima run up to you. You give each other hug and once you let go Kima punches your arm.

"Every time I swear." You sigh with a small laugh, rubbing your arm.

"Gotta keep that arm strength up for your art stuff." Kima jokes, trying to lighten the mood a bit. "Anyways, do you know where Ally is?" You shake your head.

"I don’t, but I assume she’s alive, that woman’s a tough cookie." Kima nods in agreement.

"Would you like to help us?" Keyleth asks.

"Me? No I couldn’t, I’ve never really been the adventuring type, I much prefer swinging around a paintbrush over a sword." You politely decline the offer. "But I would like to advise one thing," you pat Kima's shoulder, once again slipping in a note you’d made into her armour in hopes of bringing encouragement. "Don’t do anything rash that could get you killed." Kima gives a quiet "yeah I know" and with that you watch the party continue on their way.

You did what you could with what little resources you had to build up and regain some normality to your life, starting a little side business of making motivational cards for anyone needing an extra pick me up. Folks seemed to really like it, each card having a personalized picture and message written on it, doing what you could to help keep hope alive in these trying times. When you met up with Kima and Allura again Allura was relived to see you were still alive and standing strong. They invited you over to the abode they were staying at together, which put a new idea into your head. Before you arrived for your visit with them you had made more of your little notes for them, this time making a few that you hoped would help spark the romance between the two you’ve seen since day one (secret wingman). When you arrived they gave you a quick tour of the place, leaving opportunities for you to slip the notes into various places around the house, making you wonder if this time they were doing it on purpose having finally caught on to your little gimmick. You all sat down and sipped away at some tea or coffee while talking about the actions going forward, as the evening came you bid your friends a goodnight and made your way back to your temporary living quarters…

More time flew by, the Chroma Conclave was since defeated and Emon was slowly rebuilding itself, a time of peace finally setting in and you had a lot of work ahead of you if you were ever going to be able to buildup your home from scratch. The only downside was you didn’t have the gold to pay for everything, your work as an artist didn’t always pay a lot but it was enough to keep you stable but having to pay to acquire materials for the house and art studio was another story entirely. Your then approached by two very familiar people.

"Allura! Kima! So good to see you both again. I’m sorry I haven’t been able to write or visit often lately, been quite busy trying to re-establish myself." You greet your friends and notice the large bag Kima's carrying.

"It’s alright we’ve been rather busy ourselves with everything going on. We actually wished to talk with you." Allura gives you a gentle smile.

"Well I’d normally like to welcome you into my home, but as you can see it’s… not much of a home yet." You half-joke gesturing to the still ruined state of your house, the broken paintings you once had all having been stripped away when the Cinder King still ruled.

"That was actually one of the things we wished to speak with you about, Kima if you would." She turns to Kima who in turn hulls the bag over her shoulder letting it clatter to the ground, and you can hear the jangling of coin inside. "I believe this should help accommodate everything you need for your home and work." You stare jaw dropped at the bag filled to the brim with gold.

"I-This is very generous of you. I simply can’t just take your money." You say out of shock at the large gold pile in front of you.

"Think of it as payment for all you’ve done for us." Allura smiles and gives you an expectant look.

"All I’ve done? I haven’t really done anything to help."

"Sure you have, back when Kima was missing finding those papers with the little drawings and messages really helped keep me calm and cheer me up through all the stress." Allura explains.

"Yeah, or the ones you managed to slip into my armour. Little distracting at first but invigorating when I was in a tough spot in battle." Kima jumps in. You just smile, all you were doing was trying to be nice and encouraging to your friends unknowing of the effects it apparently lead to.

"Still, not all is from us." Allura suddenly cuts into your thoughts, you look at her confused. "That was the second thing we wanted to talk with you about. Some of this is a sort of upfront payment for a few commissions from our friends, half now to help you and half later once you've completed their requests."

"There’s more!?" You were almost lightheaded from the information, but shake it off and refocus yourself. "I’d love to, please fill me in on all the details."

"First off Keyleth asked for a landscape piece of her home in Zephrah, Keyleth will easily help bring you to and from her home whenever you’re ready. Next Percy wanted a portrait made for castle Whitestone, he said he’d fill in the rest of the details upon your arrival. Finally," Allura gives a bit of a sigh, "there’s Taryon… he wants a, and I quote, 'self portrait made with nothing but the finest oil paints you can get your hands on for the Slayer's Cake.'"

"So basically the plan is to visit Whitestone once my home's rebuilt. That should be fine, one question though, who’s Taryon?"

"Trust me, you’ll know who he is when you meet him."

"Sounds like quite the character." You say with a hint of nervousness. "Well if that’s everything, I should get to work. Thank you again for everything." You go to collect the heavy bag of gold only to pause when you hear Kima speak up.

"Ally did you still wanna… you know ask about the thing?" She had leaned closer to Allura to ask but you still heard her.

"What thing?" You question to which Allura perks up a bit in realization.

"I almost completely forgotten. Right, there was one more, very special request." You look at the two in silence, Allura walks up to you and takes one of your hands in hers. "(Y/n), Kima and I have a very important and special request of you." You just nod and wait for her to continue. "We were wondering if you could make us something special for… for our wedding." You stare wide eyed in awe.

"You two are getting married? That’s amazing! About time too." You cheer.

"Not so loud please, we just want a simple and private wedding you know, a few eye witnesses for the event. You don’t have to make anything grand, if anything we’d like what you make to be similar to the notes you’ve always left us." You press your hands together and hold back the urge to just scream to the heavens in happiness for them. When you manage to calm yourself enough you look back that the couple and give them a large smile.

"I’d be honoured to make something for your wedding." You give them both a hug and reset your sights on your shambled home. "Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a house to get built."

"Hold on, I still have one more thing for you." Kima interrupts this time. Before you can ask you feel a punch impact your arm, you suck back the pain as you rub the spot she hit. "Alright now your free to start." She gives you a smug look.

"Every. Single. Time." You playfully glare back. You had a long road ahead of you and you were certain it’d only be a matter of time before the peace is disturbed again but for now you wanted to focus on the present. Like you said, you had a lot of work to do.

[rainyday-deer]

Hi so going through some of your tags and looking at your amazing edits and gifs, I was jw what app you used for it and maybe if you could give me some tips for editing?

Awh, thank you! That's v sweet!

When it comes to edits, I usually use PS CC 2018, and then whatever art program I'm using at the time (It used to be SAI, now it's Clip)

As for tips, uhhhh... I'm not the best at explaining things, but I'll do my best!

I'll use some of my favorites as examples because I think visuals help lmao

This one in particular is the product of me frankensteining a LOT of different parts. The characters are all from different scenes, so is the background, and even Rapunzel's mouth is from a different scene and wasn't originally part of the screencap her body was from. With edits, I try not to redraw a whole lot of pieces myself, esp if they're stylized a certain way (IE; Mouths, Eyes, accessories) and try to pull them from other screencaps I have. If I can find it in the show, i will use it, even if it's just as a base. They're almost always on their own layer.

The only thing I often draw on my own is Rapunzel's hair, and just the very ends, only when I'm giving her a hair cut, just because it's easier. This is usually also on its own layer, under the Punz cut out once I've erased her braid.

Sidenote: Changing things like eye and hair colors. It usually looks MUCH nicer and less... Obvious that you changed it if you sort of build the color up. Rapunzel's hair is changed to brown by using a hue layer first, and then a multiply layer at like 82% to get it as close to canon as I can without just slapping color over her hair and having to redraw things like details or texture or lighting that might already exist.

It's actually WAY simpler to cut out ALL of a character, and then change things on a separate layer from everything else, esp if I want to keep the background the same, or just don't want to disrupt it, OR need to have a group layer over it (like for changing hair colors/covering something up.)

It's ALSO way easier to just... slap the character or a different background, or find the same one without anyone in it (which is easier than you think, since characters move around, or when they leave an area, there's usually a frame or two of the BG on its own)

Of course, if that's not possible (like in the above), you can usually get away with clone stamping the bg underneath the cut out of the character to try and cover up any existing bits of what might still be there.

And also sometimes just shrinking it waaaay down makes it harder to see any bg inconsistencies-- Which is fine for things like icons, which is what this was originally for:

ALSO HANDY: Pay attention to the BGs lighting, and even if you're going to change it later, it's generally easier to change the lighting on EVERYTHING if the BG and Character already match:

The BG and both characters were already daylit, so it made matching them a lot easier. Not that it's IMPOSSIBLE, it's just WAY easier. (Compare Hector below, who was in darker lighting than the BG was initially. He took a lot longer to adjust just right.)

It also kind of helps to sort of study how characters are framed in the actual show? Pay attention to scaling, the horizon line, etc. Use things like blurring or scale to your advantage to give the impression of some sort of depth, so it just doesn't look like you slapped one character on top of another. Try to make eye contact! Try to see if you can make it look like something is happening! Play around, see what looks good!

ESPECIALLY play around and see what you can turn 100% into something else. The shadow demon was originally only Tromus' hands and arms. Goopy Punz there was once just a Normal Rapunzel cap. It's v handy to push and see what you can do.

I draw, so a lot of this stuff I'm already familiar with, and it helps a lot tbh, since I use what I know.

That said EVERYTHING and I mean EVERYTHING is 10x easier if you have a tablet. You have better control over the lasso tool, the brushes, color picking.

I've always kind of looked at it as like... Digital paper dolls. Everything is its own piece, and it's fun to try and see what you can get away with.