#“do the sketch on paper and trace over a photo”

[skycowboys]

Let’s Draw Wings

I’ve gotten the question/request of how I draw wings lots and lots so I’ve decided to make a dedicated post!

Now...I’m no master, but I have found a way that I like to draw wings that’s efficient for me. There three main points: 

References

Simplification

Texture Management

First of all - References

My favorite wing reference of all time is this post by Jenn on Twitter. I have both the images saved but I use the Wing Shapes one, below, alllllll the time. Like for real all the time!

I also keep pretty extensive collections of wing photo reference. When I’m having trouble, I’ll trace a few or do studies to get back into the swing of things. Here are links to my Pinterest boards:

Broadwing Reference (passive soaring and high-speed)

Longwing Reference (active soaring)

Shortwing Reference (elliptical and hovering)

Secondly - Simplification

When I sketch wings, I simplify Jenn’s diagram even further -

For me, the key to drawing wings is simplifying the wing down - from the structure to the feathers - the goal for me is to be able to draw them quickly and have the proper information conveyed. It needs to look like a wing in the base sketch. If it doesn’t, no amount of rendering and extra feathers will help. I like to break the wing into the three main moving parts. The orange is one part, then the purple contains two main chunks feathers that you can group together and move as their own parts. 

On top of that, I like to think of wings like a sheet of paper. They can bend and fold in on themselves, with the orange meaty bits anchoring everything together. 

Lastly - Texture

I like to call wings “texture monsters”. Feathers are hard to manage and can easily make wings look over-busy and muddy. Just like before, I break the wing into chunks so I can spend less time drawing the wing and it’s feathers:

Then you can put it all together and push things further -

So yeah this is how I throw wings together! The wings I draw aren’t super technical or detailed, but I what matters for me is that they look and feel like believable wings at a glance -

~ Larn

--

Discord | Patreon | Art Prints

#art ref #drawing #wings #pegasus #fantasy art #drawing tips #anatomy #wing ref #resources #long post

[colleendoran]

How Do I Do Stuff

The question was phrased a little strangely, and I don't want to embarrass the person by posting exactly what was said, but I'll answer it and hope this clears everything up.

I do almost all of my drawing by hand. No, I don't trace in Photoshop. Not a judgment on those who do, but I come from a generation of artists who did not use Poser programs or other digital tools. We learned to draw using a technique called the Sight Size method. I know a lot of people assume everyone - including the old masters - traced everything using optical tools, but while it is true some people did, it is just as true that most didn't, and you can draw with great accuracy if you learned how to draw the old fashioned way.

Sight Size breaks everything down into its barest components of geometric shapes and you build from there. Once you learn it, you never forget, and it applies to everything you will ever draw.

I learned it using a set of Famous Artist Course books my mom had since she was a kid, and they are still the gold standard. They're often on ebay. If I were you, I'd buy them.

I actually find using figure reference really annoying because I like exaggerations and modifications from reality in my final work.

This page from Neil Gaiman's Chivalry was drawn and painted without figure reference of any kind.

I don't know why people assume I trace all the time. If you were to try to use photographs to replicate these figures, you would find they are slightly off. There is no tracing here.

This is not to say I never use reference. This page, for example, was referenced from a photo of my mother. Isn't she pretty.

But this page of Sir Galaad was drawn and painted without reference.

He's pretty, too.

If he were real, I'm sure a lot of people would be very happy about it. But he's not. And had I reference, the art would have gone a lot faster. I had a time trying to nail this face that is very alive in my head but doesn't really exist.

Back in the ancient days, all cartoonists had to learn to draw and paint extemporaneously because reference was limited and digital tools didn't exist. While some high end artists had photography studios and professional models with costume and sets on hand, small fry like me were limited to what was in the house or available at my small local library, which was no bigger than a few rooms of my current house.

Artists kept extensive "morgue files" or "swipe files" which were collected from magazine clippings and photographs so we would have as much of what we might need on hand for quick reference. These ephemera collections could get unwieldy. I have thousands of photographs I've simply never sorted. I finally dumped most of my files this past year.

Have I ever traced anything? Of course, especially if I have to re-use a shot or setting over and over. Making extra work for myself is just silly. It's my job to make pictures, not to perform magical feats, like copying one shot after another over and over without making a mistake.

However, for almost 15 years of my career, I refused to copy or trace anything, and did not even own a lightbox. On the one hand, that forced me to learn to carefully examine what I saw. On the other hand, it was a stupid hill on which many deadlines died.

Only after I realized many professional artists had lightboxes and overhead projectors did I finally break down and get one.

The one thing I use my lightbox for more than anything is for tracing my thumbnail sketches to the final drawing paper. Instead of trying to capture the liveliness of the original sketch by copying what I see - only bigger - I blow the thumbnail up to the size I want the final art to be, then I trace over the thumbnail using a lightbox onto the final drawing paper.

Here's a look at thumbnails from the graphic novel Neil Gaiman's Snow, Glass, Apples.

I enlarged these on my computer to fit onto 11"x14" paper, and traced the thumbs before finishing the art which was drawn in pen and ink and colored in Photoshop.

While I obviously made some changes, the essence of the thumbs is there in the final work. Tracing my thumbs retains some of the looseness of the original sketches, which is often lost otherwise.

So, there is a valid purpose to tracing at times, though in my opinion, too much tracing can weaken drawing ability, substitute for developing skills, and make the work kind of stiff.

If you want to, I'm not your judge. But it's weird to me that people think I must be faking my skills in some way.

Ironically, the word cartoon comes from the Italian word cartone, which is a large heavy sheet of paper - also, the origin of the word carton.

Preparatory sketches were made on this paper which was then transferred to the final work surface via either tracing or by stamping little holes in the paper through which dust was sprinkled, recreating the contours of the drawing for the artist to follow.

So the origin of the word cartoon comes from a process often used...for tracing.

#snow glass apples #chivalry #neil gaiman #drawing

[ashersanity]

Oh, Kylar headcanons. Here I go.

First time I’m even writing about anyone else, but Whitney. Happens once in a blood moon. Kylar’s actually how I even discovered DOL in the first place. Saw art of them online, thought “wow, what a cute looking girl”, sought them out first in the game.

—Biggest whiplash I ever got. I mean, I knew they were a yandere, still crazy as fuck. Doesn’t make them any less cuter though, even if they probably shower once a month.

content warning! : knife play, mentions of blood, lots of blood, kylar being a freak in general

SFW :

Has that awkward little smile, the typa person to do the peace sign in a photo, teeth fully showing with their disheveled dark fringe obscuring their vision. I like to think that Kylar looks like that in their family painting, standing there all stiff with that awkward, shy grin of theirs, light flush on their cheeks. Makes me wanna pinch it, not gonna lie.

Makes silly little comics for you on a weekly basis just to hear you laugh, sketches up an idea in mind, colors the whole thing in their sketchbook before handing you the finished result at lunch in the cafeteria. Absolutely loves the sound of your laughter, giggles, snickering or snorting (no matter how you laugh). Just brings a proud grin to their face to see you happy and that they’re the one responsible for it, making your lips curl up into that smile of yours that they like to see.

Would treasure anything you give them, wether it be the scraps of paper that you left behind in class or even better, something handmade from you. Kylar is keeping it all, scarred hands tracing over the gift you gave them, making sure to place it high on their shelves to admire or near their desk to always be in reach. If it’s a sweater or some other clothing, they’re wearing it all the time, 24/7, needs you to tell them to take it off at one point.

Doesn’t take care of themselves at all, main reason why Kylar’s room is a complete and utter mess and they look like they haven’t showered in months while wearing the same old dark hoodie. It’s not their fault though, why spend time taking proper care of their body and mind when they could spend it watching you? Plus after the incident with their parents, it’s been hard cleaning around the house.. So, PC takes it upon themselves to give them the care that they deserve, cooks them meals, helps them pick up dirty laundry off the floor, makes sure the loner washes themselves on a daily basis, even takes a bath with them at times. I like to think they even have a rubber ducky in their bathtub that they got from PC, treasures it dearly with a smile on their face.

The loner may not take good care of themselves, but they definitely take extra good care of their knife. It’s like their prize really, for some innate reason, maybe gifted by their parents? Students avoiding them because of the look on the freak’s face, the way they lovingly stare at their weapon like it’s their beloved, obviously when they’re not busy staring at you. Rubs and sharpens it everyday, the silver sound soothing them. Would also give PC a knife of their own, if only the game mechanics allowed Kylar to do so.

Sucks at cleaning, really it’s kind of sad how bad this freak sucks at cleaning, can’t sweep up the manor for the life of them. Doesn’t help that Kylar is sort of clumsy, carrying a bunch of plates and dishes only to trip on some invisible atom and pathetically land right on their face, bringing the plates with them to break. Actually, just add this scene in the game. It’d be funny.

If you thought they were bad at housekeeping and dusting up corners.. Their cooking is much worst. Much, much worst. Fuck, you don’t want Kylar to ever be a stay-at-home spouse because they’d accidentally poison you with their cooking. Brings you the most burnt-looking thing, shit, you don’t even know if it’s meat or vegetables. Wears a smile on their face like they didn’t just fuck up the entire kitchen, PC forced to clean up right after.

Just listing all the things they’re bad at this point, sucks at singing too if it weren’t obvious with that pathetic tune of theirs that they sung to a poor kidnapped PC. You’re just forced to stand there as Kylar sings “happy birthday” to you on your birthday, voice cracking and off tune, second cake in hand that they bought from the store because the first homemade one got burnt. Doesn’t mean it isn’t cute though, their little squeaky voice and proud smile is hard to resist at the end of it all.

This is practically canon. Kylar has the weirdest sleeping postions possible, feet on the headboard, sprawled out sheets along with their extended arms that are just hanging from the bed. Goes to sleep one night in a normal way, y’know, on their back and they just wake up on their floor, in the middle of the kitchen. Only way the loner can sleep normally is if you’re with them, cuddling and holding onto you for dear life or so they say. (It’s just an excuse to be in the same bed as you and hug you)

Surprise, surprise, the little freak has bad posture. Who would’ve known, really? That’s what you get for drawing, hunching and being on your monitor all day. Makes them look smaller than they already are since they have the tendency to just hunch down and be invisible to the world because they don’t like to draw attention to themselves. Needs PC to constantly remind them to sit straight on their chair in class or at home unless they want scoliosis.

NSFW :

Into knifeplay, anything to do with their beloved knife that they get to use on you. Would not hurt you with it, well.. unless it involved marking you though, the town needs to know that you’re Kylar’s beloved spouse, right? Tracing along your skin with the silver, only to press it deep enough to leave a mark, proudly carves their name right into your flesh, adds a heart too at the end of it because they’re “romantic” like that. Eagerly laps up the blood with their tongue as a way to clean you up, but really they just wanna taste anything that comes out of your body. (fuck, they’re gross).

Shit, Kylar always gets jealous whenever they catch you touching yourself on their monitors. Even more so with toys. Why have the need to masturbate when they can just be there with you? You don’t need a dildo/pocket pussy! You have them! And only them. Just know that they’re matching their strokes and movements with yours through the screen, wishing they could be right there with you on the bed. Sneaking into your bedroom at night to lick and suck at the used toys, savouring the mess you left on the fleshy plastic and throwing it right out after because the loner will be your personal toy next time.

Pretty obvious by now that they have a scent kink. Anything to do with your smell wether it be the clothes you wear or your bedsheets and blankets, they’re sniffing it. Hard. It’s just so goddamn intoxicating for the little gremlin. They get light-headed from your scent alone, uses your stolen underwear to get themselves off, musky scent and fabric pressed against their nose, inhaling deeply with their eyes closed. Purposely finishes right on it just to meld your pheromones together because Kylar is a nasty freak.

They’re willing to dress up for you. You know what that means.. Unlike Whitney, the stubborn little shit, they’d slip on any outfit you’d ask for them, no matter how lewd. Want a little maid that’ll serve your every need? They’re doing it. Just don’t expect the house to be spotless because fuck, they suck at cleaning. A bunny outfit with the black ears, fishnets and everything? Kylar is willingly spreading their legs on the bed, giving you free view of their exposed skin because that’s what a good lover does for their spouse, huh? Definitely gushes every time you compliment how good they look in the fabric too, face turning red and thighs pressing together to hide their arousal.

Oh, did I not mention? They have the biggest praise kink in the world. Tell them they’re doing good during sex, they’re cumming on the spot, making a mess of themselves and blubbering all the while. Needs to be told they’re doing well, god, even better if it’s from you. Your validation is the only thing Kylar seeks for besides their parents which is.. kinda impossible now. Give them a pat on the head, ruffle their hair and call them a “good boy/girl”. That’s all you need to do, the loner will become putty in your hands.

Enthusiastically gives you head whenever you want, just say the word and Kylar is already on their knees, comfortably settled between your thighs. Their head game though.. well, not that it’s bad, it’s just that they’re a bit extreme about it (and a virgin). Makes the most obscene noises, slurping, messily leaves a trail of saliva, full tongue and everything. There’s no need to stuff their face right into your crotch, but they still do it like it’s their last meal.

If Whitney is an exhibitionist, then Kylar is a voyeur, despite wanting to be the only one to give you pleasure, they wouldn’t be against you putting on a little show for them. Namely that of pleasuring yourself right in front of them on their bed or even English class. Just know that the loner is doing the same, shakily holding their pencil with one hand, drawing into their sketchbook to ingrain the scene into their head while their free one is busy with something else beneath the desk..

Unrelated, but also related. Can we agree that just like M!Kylar has the fattest cock on earth, F!Kylar has the biggest fucking tits in the world? I’m talking enormous, cow-size milkers, GIGANTIC. F!Kylar with a flat chest or small tits is also cute, but LORD. IM TALKING LIKE @saint700’s DESIGN OF F!KYLAR, FATTEST TITS, BIGGER THAN WHITNEY’S. YEAH, BIGGER THAN HERS!! TYPA ONES YOU’D GROPE AND SUCK AT, SOFT FLESH IN YOUR HAND AND CUTE PINK, LITTLE NIPPLES THAT PERK UP. AAAAAAUUUUUGGGHHGHH!!!!

Anyway, that’s it. Ignore the last part. Didn’t mean it. (Yeah, I did.)

#dol #degrees of lewdity #kylar the loner #dol kylar #degrees of lewdity kylar #haha #they’re kinda cute #I won’t lie #except for the yandere part #asher writes

[collectors-tablet]

Did a screenshot redraw of that moment Belos knew he fucked up. With markers!

WIPs/links to higher quality under the cut 😌

So what I did to create this image was hold my paper up to my screen and trace over the screenshot's lineart, then worked out the rest of the details on paper. The straight lines on the top and bottom are where the original screenshot cuts off.

Once I decided the sketch was finished I put my blending card (special paper for the markers) over the sketch on a lightboard and traced over it with my pens.

If I made mistakes I would sometimes use my white paint pen to draw over them.

Then, on a piece of scrap paper, I would test out my markers to see what blending combinations looked good.

Tangent: I use alcohol markers, specifically COPICs, though I also have some Prismacolors too. Alcohol markers are built for blending and I recommend looking them up if you are interested. I use copics because they have a brush nib and while they're expensive, you can easily get refills and replacement parts so you'll never throw them away. You can buy 30 year old markers that are still good.

First I colored (most of) the characters (that took a lot of time, especially since I was cautious about how to color in things like the eye and would test on scrap paper first)

Then I tried making a background but I really didn't like it

So in digital art I cut out the characters from the background to see how to fix it and came up with the idea of darkening it significantly.

Digital experiment on the left, experiment onto paper on the right.

A lot of these WIPs look very different because of me taking pictures of the photo with a phone camera and doing different filters every time. I have a scanner but I've never liked how it comes out.

If you want to see a higher quality version of the final image, here's links to where I uploaded it on Deviantart and Newgrounds.

Also a Youtube upload of that video I made!

Note: There's an animation error in the original ToH clip I used where the Collector's clothes are miscolored, and the reason they're not here is because I fixed it.

#The Owl House #the collector #emperor belos #screenshot redraw #traditional art #quo's art #quo's colors #quo's traditional

[korgidorgi]

Alex Danvers x Tattooist!Reader

Word Count: 6,361

Warnings: homophobic slurs, tattoo needles

Summary: Alex keeps scheduling tattoo appointments with you ;3

I didn't mean for it to be this long but my fingers kept typing. Anyways, enjoy!

Also, @spoodermankid, i thought i'd tag you since you commented on my teaser post :3

Your phone dings, indicating a text. You check the notification on your Lock Screen. It’s a DM from your instagram. You swipe it open, looking at the message. They ask about your tattoo service. You shoot them a reply, including some information about your rates and types of art you do, and what you need from them in order for you to tattoo them. In return, they send some photos and description of the tattoo location and size. The two of you come to an agreement and decide a date for the appointment.

That day came slowly around the corner. The last few clients have been rather unpleasant. You sigh, leaning your head on your hand as you scribble some sketches down on a sheet for a client. You flip your pencil over and roughly erase a couple lines that don’t look right and return to scribbling madly. The door swinging open and a small chime alerts you to another client. You glance up at the door, watching as a tall woman walks in. Her eyes scan the room before landing on you. Her auburn hair is a touch messy and she nervously moves it out of the way. You raise your head up, your full attention on her. You look her up and down, taking in her dark outfit and short, auburn hair. Her tank top reveals her muscles as she tucks her jacket under her arm.

“Hey,” you greet, “welcome to the shop.”

“Hi, I’m here for an appointment for 3:30?” She asks.

You look down at your appointment notes. “Alex, right?”

The woman nods, fidgeting with her fingers.

“Okay, have you done this before?” You ask her.

“No,” she shakes her head. “First time.”

“Alright, “well, you’re in good hands today,” you offer her a smile. “Can I see some ID?”

Alex reaches for her wallet, pulling out her ID and handing it over to you. You accept it, running it through a scanner and printing a sheet for her to sign. You hand both back over to her for her to fill out.

“Do you have any allergies I should be aware of?” You ask. “Shellfish..?”

“Uh, no.” She answers.

“Okay, cool,” you respond.

You go over the size and location with her again, showing her some printouts of her design. She selects the one she likes best and you proceed to make the transfer stencil. You watch as her nervousness begins to slowly melt away as you talk to her.

“If you wouldn’t mind following me to my studio,” you get up and lead her down a hall of studios to the last one on the left.

“You can set your stuff down here.” You gesture to a corner near the door. “Just take a seat on the chair when you’re ready.”

Meanwhile you slide on your gloves and begin to set up your tattoo machine and open the ink caps you’ll be using. Alex takes a seat on the chair, settling into her spot.

“Can I see the area?” You ask. “I need to clean it and then I’m gonna apply the stencil.”

She turns her shoulder to you for you to apply the stencil. You wipe down the area and go to apply the blue stencil.

“Right here?” You hover over the area. “Or do you need it slightly somewhere else?”

“No, there’s fine,” she confirms.

You place the paper and smooth it over a few seconds before removing it, leaving a blue stencil behind on her skin.

“Go check the mirror and see if you like it there,” you smile at her and point to the mirror.

You watch her approach the mirror and look at the placement near her collarbone.

“I like that,” she confirms, her hands tracing the area around the stencil.

She turns back to you, pausing until you gesture for her to take a seat again.

You get ready and begin tattooing her. As soon as the needle first touches her skin, she winces slightly at the sensation. You pull away, looking up at her. She nods her head, taking a deep breath and letting it out. She gives you a nervous smile as you go ahead once more. This time, she’s prepared for it.

“So, uh,” she begins, “do you enjoy tattooing?”

“Yeah, there’s just something about watching peoples reactions to their imaginations coming true,” you answer. “It also keeps me in a creative mindset, a release I guess.”

She hums in response. “You ever get bad clients?”

“Yep,” you quip, nodding your head. “My past week has been full of them.”

“Jees,” she sighs.

“I’m gonna be honest, I was hoping you were a woman,” you continue. “I can’t handle another man right now.”

“I feel you,” she agrees.

As you continue with the small tattoo, the two of you make pleasant conversation. She tells you about her job as an FBI agent until you finish. You set your machine down and begin wiping down the area.

“Alright, that’s all done,” you announce, throwing out the ink cap. “I’m gonna apply some ointment and a second skin.”

She nods along to your procedure.

“Don’t leave it on for more than two days, after which you can begin to apply some ointment the next day.” You instruct. “Make sure to wash it twice a day, apply the ointment, and it should be healed within three weeks.”

You give her a satisfied smile as she goes to inspect it.

“Thank you!”

“Of course, any time, Alex,” you grin at her. “I also have some snacks if you wanna take one.”

You turn to pull out a drawer full of various candies. You watch her eyes widen at your stash before she roots through it to pick out a candy. Once she has her candy and has grabbed up her stuff, you guide her to the lobby and bid her farewell.

You slide down into the seat, resting your head in your hand, propped on the desk. You let out a small, satisfied sigh.

“Oh, I know that look,” you hear your coworker, Becca, state from across the lobby. Her arms are crossed over her chest and she’s leaning against the frame of the hallway.

“What look?” You sit up, crossing your arms in return.

“You saw a hot woman,” she smirks, “and now you’re fawning.”

Your hand flies over your heart. “Am not!”

“Mhmm…” she slowly nods, an eyebrow raised at you. “Whatever you say, Y/N.”

•••

A few weeks go by before you get an instagram DM by none other than Alex Danvers. You open the message, reading it and responding. She wants another tattoo, so she sends you her ideas and some pictures of what she wants. She asks for your input and what you would do if you were getting it. You advise her that its her tattoo and she determines what she wants on her body. Once again, you two agree on a date and time for the appointment.

“Can you turn this gay shit off?” He huffs at you.

“What vibe do you want, my guy?” You get up and head to your iPod, rolling your eyes.

“Something that’s not so faggy,” he retorts.

“Sorry, mate,” you interrupt, “we’re not using that kind of language in my studio.”

“What?” He snorts. “Gay? Shit? Fag?”

“Yeah, not in my studio,” you shake your head at him.

He just huffs in response, going quiet in his seat. You turn back to your iPod, finding a playlist you’ve put together just for people with his attitude. These people don’t listen to the lyrics, so you play it. You then slide your gloves on, sitting in your stool to tattoo him.

“Can you give me your arm?” You ask.

“You’re not touching me,” he quips.

“I can’t tattoo you if you won’t let me,” you respond.

“Fine,” he huffs yet again.

You begin tattooing him, beginning on the top of his forearm. He wanted a dragon slithering around. The banter from him continues, wasting your tattooing time. He keeps flinching away, telling you to stop, and interrupting your art by going to grab his water bottle with the arm your tattooing. With every word he speaks, he shortens your fuse bit by bit. You’re nearly done with the lineart, flipping his arm to the underside and tattooing the dragons tail. The moment you touch the underside of his arm, he pulls back violently.

“Ow!” He screams. “Bitch!”

“Sir, I’m telling you one last time,” you glare at him, “respect me and my space, or I’m not tattooing you.”

“You can’t deny my service,” he continues yelling, “I’m fucking paying you!”

“Okay, y’know what—” you put your machine down and taking off your gloves— “you can leave now.”

“You can’t kick me out!” He screeches.

“I’m your artist, this is my space, and you’re being an asshole.” You argue.

“You’re the asshole!” He continues. “You’re playing faggy music in a faggy shop in a faggy studio!”

“Get the fuck out.” You point towards the door of your studio.

“NO!”

You get up, leaving the studio yourself. He grabs his stuff and angrily follows you.

“Where do you think you’re going???” He storms out behind you.

“Away from you,” you answer. “Our session is done!”

“No it’s not,” he bellows, “get back here, bitch!”

You continue walking away from him, not paying him any mind.

“This is why I don’t let women tattoo me!” He screeches, throwing his hands up.

“Hey, if you want to take a while and come back later when you’re not a hater, I can finish your tattoo,” you offer. “But you’ve wasted time and I have a client coming in any minute now so you can take your attitude and get the fuck out.”

“Fuck you, bitch!” He storms towards you. “Fuck you and your fucking stupid ass faggy shop and your stupid fucking bitch coworkers and—“

“Since you want to be such a hater,” you whip back around to him, “I’m not a big dick manly alpha man, and you just got tattooed by a lesbian!”

He stands in his place, his jaw dropped in offense. He finds his composure and tries to speak again, however, you cut him off.

“So why don’t you walk yourself out of this faggy store.”

Between you and your coworker staring at him, he finally lets up, grumbling as he angrily shoves past your next client, kicks the door open, and leaves. You sigh, deflating and taking a seat in the desk chair. You look back up at the person he shoved past.

“Alex!” You greet, a tired smile taking over your features at her presence.

“Hey,” she returns, “sorry about all… that.”

You wave her off, “It happens more than you think. I’m used to it at this point.”

She hums, shaking her head. “Still, doesn’t mean it should happen at all.

“How long were you there?” You ask.

“Long enough,” she breathes. “Sorry, I also came a bit early.”

“Don’t apologize,” you shake your head at her, “its fine.”

You take Alex through the whole check in process, taking her ID and giving her papers to sign. Once done, you lead her back and get setup in your studio. You place the stencil and she confirms its placement and you get started with tattooing her.

“Do people like him happen often?” She asks.

“Not super often,” you shrug, “but enough to make you contemplate quitting.”

“You think about quitting?” She asks, surprise evident in her tone. “Not seriously,” you admit, “but sometimes people, like him, piss you off so much and make you feel like shit.”

“That’s not fair to you,” she states, her eyebrows narrowing.

“It is what it is,” you sigh.

The room is silent, other than the hum of the machine as you work on her body art.

“By the way,” she smirks, “I like being tattooed by a lesbian.”

You let out a small chuckle, shaking your head and glancing up at her.

“I’m glad.”

You continue with the tattoo, the two of you finding comfortable conversation in the meantime. Once you finish, you apply the ointment and second skin and go over the aftercare instructions with her. You both walk into the lobby together.

“Thank’s for being a good client,” you acknowledge her.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” She nudges your arm with hers. “You’re the best tattoo artist.”

You chuckle at her compliment. “I wouldn’t say that.”

“C’mon, give yourself some credit,” she encourages.

“I’m your only tattoo artist,” you tilt your head towards her, driving your point further.

“But,” she tuts at you, “you’re the best one.”

You shake your head, taking a seat on the desk.

“Hey, I’ve still got some time to kill,” Alex states, “if you don’t have anything going on, would you mind if I stuck around and chatted a bit?”

“Sure,” you accept, smiling at her.

You hop off the deck, going around to open a cabinet full of your personal snacks.

“Want any?” You offer to her.

She points to one and you grab it for her. You return to her, handing the snack over.

“C’mon, we can chat back in my studio,” you usher her back to your studio.

The two of you chat for a while before Alex has to go. She bids you farewell before disappearing out the door and down the street.

•••

Business is slow for the next month and a half, allowing you to relax a bit more and de-stress from ridiculous customers. Alex sends you pictures of her tattoo in the healing process, which you applaud her for taking good care of. You still spend a lot of time in the studio, taking walk-ins here and there. You sit at the lobby desk more than anyone else in the studio because of your slow business.

The door swings open, the chime alerting the store to someones presence. You look up, recognizing the auburn haired woman.

“Back again so soon?” You quip to Alex, resting your chin on your hands.

You smirk at her from your side of the desk and watch as another woman enters the shop.

“Yep, and I brought my sister this time,” she beams at you.

She hands you her and her sisters ID to you.

“We’re hoping to get matching tattoos!” The blonde announces, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

“Oh,” you hum, turning to the scanner, “you better not be getting each others names on you.”

“Oh god—“

“It’s a curse,” you playfully sigh at her. “I swear it. Any tattoo artist will too.”

Briefly, you turn to the computer and plunk in some commands for the forms needed. You then perch on the desk, waiting for the printer to work its magic. You look back at the two.

“Well, we’re not getting each others names,” Alex states, failing to hide a chuckle from you.

“Well, what were you two thinking?” You ask, grabbing a few freshly printed papers for them to sign. You extend the warm papers and their IDs back to them.

“We were thinking small,” Alex starts, glancing at her sister.

The blonde interrupts her, “I’d get the sun and Alex would get the earth!”

“We were thinking on our wrists,” Alex turns her hand over, motioning to the spot on the underside of her wrist.

“Alright,” you nod, “do you have designs picked out yet?”

“Yep!” The sister chirps.

“Alright, if you two could sign these for me,” you bring your knees up on top of the desk as you spin around.

You hand them the forms required for the tattoos. Alex pulls out her phone, searching it for something.

“I’ll send these to you,” she says, glancing up at you briefly.

Seconds later, your phone buzzes, letting you know you got her message. You open the message, resting on your hand on the desk and leaning back on it. The designs are very simple, just lineart. They’re cute. Like Alex, you think to yourself.

“They’re cute.” You smile, looking over the simple designs.

“Thanks, Kara picked them,” Alex replies.

You let the two of them finish up while you proceed to download the images and print them on the stencil paper.

“Alex talked me into it,” Kara adds.

You let out a small, humorous snort, grabbing the stencils from the printer.

“Of course she did,” you chuckle.

You fully swing around and drop off the desk next to Alex, stencils in hand.

“C’mon to the back,” you wave them with you, leading them to your small studio room.

The two of them follow you and watch you put on some gloves and begin to organize your tools. You sway your body to the soft beat of the song playing quietly through some speakers in the room.

“Who’s going first?” You ask, opening a box of inks and needles.

“Me!” Kara exclaims. “I’m gonna get squeamish if I don’t.” She laughs nervously.

“First time, right?” You inquire, spinning on your stool, stencil in hand.

“Yeah,” she admits.

“Alright. Well, this will not be bad.” You reassure her. “Have you been scratched by a cat before?”

“Uh, no.” She shyly admits.

“Well, if you’ve ever been scratched by something like brambles or something, it would feel like that.”

You grab your machine and the needle.

“Are you nervous about needles?” You ask.

“Only if they’re stabbing me.”

“Okay, well, the needle I’m using is a very fine needle. It’s going to stab your skin, but it’s nothing like being stabbed with a shot or a knife.” You hold the small needle up for her to see. "It’s just injecting the ink into your cells.”

“Okay..” she sits on the table.

“Which wrist?” You ask, pulling a rolling tray with you.

You open the small ink cup, placing it next to your machine. Kara lifts her right arm, turning it over for you to see. A green stone bracelet adorns her wrist.

“Do you wanna take the bracelet off for this?” You ask.

“No, I can just slide it out of the way.” She responds nervously.

“What kinda stones?” You ask. “Emerald? Some sort of sapphire?”

“Yeah, emerald,” she answers, playing with it.

You let her pull it out of the way as you wash the area and place the stencil in its spot. You take the paper away, leaving the blue ink on her skin. She confirms the location. You grab your tattoo gun and turn on the machine. The soft buzz fills the room as you gently lower the nose of it to her skin. She flinches at the contact but eventually eases at the sensation. You begin the tattoo, the needle gliding over her skin leaving the black ink exactly where you need it. You work slow enough to get the lines perfect, and quick enough as to not subject her to the sensation more than she needs to. Before long, you’re done. You wipe the leftover ink away from her skin and gently wash the fresh wound. Once you apply some ointment and a second skin, you scoot back.

“What do you think?” You tilt your head at her.

“I love it!” She confirms.

She promptly shows it to Alex, letting her look over your simple handiwork. She hums in content, a smile gracing her features.

“Alright,” you clap your hands, “aftercare.” Kara looks up at you.

“Since your sister has gotten some before, she can help you,” You say. “Don’t leave the second skin on for more than two days. It’s best to take it off around 24 hours after your tattoo. For the next 5-ish days, wash it gently with antibacterial soap and water twice a day. You can also use a soft ointment on it on day 2. Once it’s done flaking, you can add moisturizer to keep it hydrated and healthy. It should be fully healed within two to four weeks. I’ll send you both home with the stuff.”

“Okay, thank you!” Kara exclaims.

You stand, nodding your head at her. You turn to toss your gloves and grab new ones to reset your station. Upon finding your box of inks empty, you climb the desk to reach a high cabinet.

“Do you need any help?” Alex offers, stepping towards you.

“It’s fine,” you assure her, focusing on your task. “Go sit your pretty self down.”

You wince at what just came out of your mouth, opting to pretend it didn’t just happen. Kara shoots her sister a knowing glance behind your back.

You hear her move to sit in the chair and you let out a small breath you’d been unknowingly holding.

After grabbing a new box of ink caps, you return to the floor and set up your station.

Alex offers you her left wrist, bare of any bracelets. You clean the area and prep it for the tattoo. Removing the stencil paper from her skin, you discard it and turn your machine on.

Tracing the stencil, the ink from your machine stains her skin. The music on in the background makes the silence comfortable as you and your clients vibe. Soon enough you’ve finished her tattoo and are cleaning it up and applying the second skin.

“All done,” you announce, stepping back from your work.

You begin to put your stuff away and discard the needles and ink caps again. Meanwhile, Alex shows her earth to Kara. You lead them to the front desk and scoot yourself over the top of it once again.

“Thank you, Y/N.” Alex offers the money for the tattoos over the desk.

“Anytime, Alex,” you wink at her as you accept the cash from her.

You watch a soft pink dust her cheeks. You focus back on counting the money and counting the change to return to her.

“Thanks for coming in, Kara,” you bid farewell to her. “See you next time, Alex.”

“Bye, Y/N!” Kara waves.

“See you,” Alex follows.

•••

It’s been a couple months since you tattooed the sisters. Alex had sent you pictures of the fully healed tattoos of the two of their wrists next to each other. You’d responded, noting how clear and healthy the tattoos both look. You’re glad they both enjoy them.

Your appointments were completely booked for a good chunk of the month. While you wracked in quite a bit of money, creating multiple works to the same high standards was beginning to take a toll on you. The appointments finally let up a bit, allowing some breathing room. One guy was quite persistent even after being denied a tattoo by you. He began blowing up your phone until you blocked him. He even went as far as making multiple instagram accounts to message you. You finally got him to shut up last week.

Your phone buzzes in your pocket. You set your drink down and drag it out, dreading the message. Upon looking at the message display on your screen, your heart gives a little flutter. Alex’s instagram user displays on the alert. You immediately open it, reading her text.

Hey, it’s been a while. How have you been? Anyways, I’ve decided on another tattoo if you’d want to do it. Might need your help with the final look.

She’s attached a few images to the message. One of her own sketch and a few reference images full of flowers and snakes.

You begin typing but immediately stop and rid the keyboard when you see her typing animation display.

I was thinking hip and thigh area. Sorry my artist skills aren’t the best. Take ur time with your sketch! No rush!

You begin typing again, fingers flying over the keyboard.

Of course! I’d be happy to! I’ll come up with a few slightly different designs. I’ll send them when I finish and u can choose which one :)

Awesome! Thank you so much! :)

You smile at your phone, thinking for a moment before typing again.

*Also, I’d been a bit swamped with commissions but they seem to have let up a bit. There’s also this asshole who won’t leave me alone because I refused to do his tattoo—*

You pause your typing, thinking about what you’re about to send. You begin to delete some of it before changing your mind.

As to how I’ve been, I’d been swamped with commissions but it’s seemed to slow now. There’s also this guy who didn’t like being told No about a tattoo How about urself? How have u been?

The two of you text back and forth a bit about your lives since last seeing each other. She tells you about her FBI job and the coworkers getting on her nerves, and about how her sister loves to flaunt their tattoos to their friends. You tell her about the annoying guy who won’t leave you alone and tell her there have been a few changes to the shop.

•••

Three days pass and you’ve completed four versions of what Alex was asking for. You send her the final photos of them and she decides on them. The two of you also decide on a price and an appointment date and time within the week.

You sit on the front desk casually watching the new shop fish swimming around their tank. The small, striped tiger barbs chase each other around the tank, weaving around the driftwood and plants. The other tetras remain calm, schooling together and minding their business. A small school of cory catfish sift through the sand and plant stratum substrate.

The door opening steals your attention. You look over and see Alex entering the studio. You offer her a smile, which she returns.

“Hey, good to see you back,” you greet.

“It feels good to be back,” she returns.

She swiftly hands you her ID and you promptly scan it and print her paperwork for her to sign and hand both back over to her. She pockets her ID and expertly fills the form out, meanwhile you print the stencil. She hands her form back over to you. You put the form away and hop off the desk, beginning to lead her back.

“The fish tank is new,” she observes.

“May or may not have been my idea,” you cheekily shrug, grinning at the 50 gallon setup.

“Looks amazing,” she awes at the setup.

“Thank you,” you throw a smile over your shoulder at her. “I’ve been planning it for a while now, just needed the money.”

You get her settled in your studio and you look through your various playlists to set as background music. You select one of your indie playlists, allowing the music to softly play a song by beabadoobee. You begin to prep for her tattoo, sliding gloves on and opening packages of needles and inks.

“You got your own studio fish too?” She inquires, moving over to the 5 gallon tank that houses a new betta and shrimp duo.

“Yeah, I had some leftover cash from the big tank,” you state. “Decided I needed a friend in here.”

She coos at the little flamboyant fish as he swims near the surface, looking for food. You set the chair into a recline for Alex to lay down for her tattoo.

“Gotta lay down for this one, Flower Girl,” you pat the chair- now table- for her.

She bites back a grin, opting to chew on her bottom lip at your nickname for her.

“Also, lose the pants,” you instruct, your face immediately heating up.

“I- uh, I need to be able to access the, uh, area,” you stutter out.

She smirks at you, obliging to your instructions. You look away, allowing her some privacy.

“There’s uh,” you stutter, “there’s a blanket over there if you want.”

You point over at the burrito print throw blanket in a basket full of additional various blankets. You can hear her shuffle and you occupy yourself in throwing together your tattoo tray. You get the stencil ready.

“Look in this mirror and tell me where you want it,” you instruct her.

What ensues is a game of hot and cold as you find the perfect placement for the tattoo. Once the stencil is transferred to her skin, you let her get comfortable on the table while you prepare your tattoo machine. You pull your stool over beside her, dragging your tray with you. The familiar hum of the machine soon rings out in the room as you begin to trace the stencil on her hip and thigh.

A few minutes into the tattoo, Alex speaks. “So, what got you into bringing fish into the studio?”

“I just wanted to bring some life into the studio,” you respond, eyes not leaving the tattoo site. “Something non-disruptive.”

She hums in response before you continue.

“I’ve been in the fish keeping hobby since high school,” you explain. “And Becca doesn’t like snakes.”

“You almost brought in a snake?” She asks, surprise evident in her tone.

“The thought crossed my mind,” you chuckle, wiping extra ink off her skin.

“Do you have a snake at home?”

“Yeah, actually. She was the model for my snake tattoo actually,” you answer her, briefly showing off your forearm sleeve. “Brought her into the studio I went to for it.”

“You're cute,” she hums, a small smile gracing her features before she panics. "I- I mean, that's-- cute."

You chuckle out a “thanks,” to her.

“Anything else in your home?” She asks, hoping to distract you from her slip up.

“Yep! I got two dogs, a leopard gecko, and seven fish tanks,” you proudly state.

“Wow,” she breathes, “that’s a lot.”

You hum in response, a small smile gracing your lips.

“I wanted to bring a slice of home into the studio,” you admit.

“Do you have any clownfish?” She inquires. “Like Nemo?”

You let out a small laugh. “Actually yeah. Except she doesn’t have his stripes and her name is Coat.”

“You named your fish ‘Coat’?” She chuckles in amusement.

“Yeah,” you defend your fish, “she looks like she’s wearing a white coat and her face is sticking out the hood.”

Alex lets out a laugh at your defense. “What’s your snakes’ name,” she continues, “Wood Glue?”

“Close,” you laugh, having to lift the machine off her skin.

She turns her head to you, mouth agape in disbelief.

“Her name is just Glue,” you laugh, going back to the tattoo.

She raises her eyebrows in amusement and disbelief. She shakes her head, laughing at your choice of names for your pets.

“My leopard gecko is Bones,” you continue. “I also have some cory-cats at home: Panda, Duck, Leopard, Rat, and Toad.”

“You’re insane,” she shakes her head, a grin taking over her features. “How many fish do you have in all those tanks?”

“Pffttt! Too many,” you humorously state.

She raises an eyebrow at you incredulously, egging you on.

“Honestly, I don’t know, but it’s more than like, 40,” you state. “The guppies keep fucking.”

“Jesus—“

You hum, letting a chuckle escape your lips.

“What about you?” You inquire. “You got any pets?”

“Not yet,” she admits. “My job is too demanding for me to have the time right now.”

“If you could choose a pet right now, what would you choose to adopt?”

She hums in thought, tilting her head as she thinks. “I’d probably adopt a puppy,” she admits. “Not a huge breed, but not an ankle biter.”

You laugh at her answer, continuing with the lineart of the tattoo.

“What, do you have a problem with—“

“No, I just—“ you laugh, shaking your head, “pffttt, ankle biter.”

She laughs with you as you continue inking her skin.

The first half of the tattoo goes by relatively smoothly. You’re working on the shading of the upper half when Alex asks you to pause.

“You doing okay?” You ask, placing your machine on the tray.

“Yeah, I just need to take a short break,” she admits. “I need to stretch.”

You nod, backing your stool up and letting her stand. You take your gloves off, discarding them as you stand as well. You reach your hands above your head, interlocking your fingers to stretch out your body. You hear a couple places in your fingers and shoulders crack and pop.

“I’m gonna pop out to the Snack Shack in the lobby, do you want a yummy?” You offer.

“Sure,” she accepts your offer, wrapping the large burrito around herself.

You open your studio door and hop out to the snack station. Alex follows, wrapped up cozy behind you.

You open the cabinets that house the snacks and find your personal stash.

“Anything specific you want?” You pull out a couple bags of snacks to show Alex your options.

“I’ll take the cookies right there,” she points out the bag of chocolate chip mini cookies.

You grab them and toss them to her, nearly catching her off guard. You grab your own snack and turn around to usher her back to your studio.

The two of you take a seat, you on your counter next to your fish, and her on the tattoo table. The two of you snack in silence. You’re grooving to the beat of Fever Dream by mxmtoon, humming softly along.

Before long, the two of you finish your snack break.

“Let me know when you’re ready to go again, you state, tossing your wrapper in the trash bin in your studio.

Alex follows your role and tosses hers across the room, scoring it in the bin.

“Nice,” you congratulate her.

Alex begins to settle back on the table, exposing the tattoo site. You grab a new set of gloves and get ready again, settling down in your stool.

“I’m ready,” Alex states, shifting on the table one last time.

You get ready to tattoo, adjusting your own position to best tattoo the area.

“Has that guy texted you anymore since?” She inquires, breaking the silence between you two.

“Yep,” you huff. “He keeps making new accounts to bother me.”

“You know, you can put in a police report about it,” she suggests.

“I did,” you sigh. “They said since he’s not threatening me and he hasn’t shown back up, they can’t do anything about it.”

“God, that’s such bullshit,” Alex snorts. “That’s unfair to you!”

“It is what it is..” you sigh defeatedly.

“That’s not how it should be though,” she adds. “If he keeps bothering you, I’ll open a case against him for you.”

A small smile takes over your features and you glance at the agent. “Gosh, Alex—“

“Don’t tell me not to,” she insists, “I won’t listen to it.”

You let out a chuckle, gently shaking your head. A comfortable silence falls over the two of you again as you continue working on her tattoo. Various sapphic artists continue to play through your speaker softly.

“You know,” you begin, “you don’t have to keep paying me hundreds of dollars to be able to talk to me.”

You glance up at her and she meets your gaze. Confusion crosses her features as you continue.

“Just ask me out already.”

You continue focusing on her tattoo, waiting for her response. She opens her mouth to speak, not being able to find the words to respond to you.

“I- well,” she begins to stutter out words. “I mean, I’m free next Thursday if you are?”

You smile, lifting the needle off her skin and looking at her.

“Three o’clock?” You ask.

“I’ll pick you up,” she offers.

“Deal.”

The two of you smile to yourselves, stealing glances from each other as you continue tattooing.

Alex finds mother topic for the two of you to converse about while you finish up the last hour of tattooing. Once done, you clean the area and add the second skin.

“What do you think?” You ask, discarding your gloves as she inspects it in the mirror.

She runs her hand around the second skin, inspecting and admiring your work.

“I love it,” she states, turning to you.

You give her a grin, happy with your work and her content with the final product.

“I’m glad,” you smile at her. “Okay, go get dressed and meet me at the front desk.”

You turn and hop out of the room, gently closing the door behind you. You happily skip over to the desk, jumping up and sliding over the top into your spot behind it. A few moments later, Alex exits your studio and approaches you. She digs for her wallet, taking out the cash for your work and handing it over. You accept it and quickly hand back over her change.

“Thursday,” she nods at you, “three o’clock, I’ll pick you up.”

You nod, biting your lip. “Here. I’ll be here.”

“It’s a date then,” she agrees.

•••

Come Thursday, you’d just finished up your last client of the day about an hour before Alex was supposed to arrive. You’d planned a bit ahead this morning, opting to bring a change of clothes to work for you to change into for your date.

Glancing at the fish tanks, you notice how grubby they look. “To kill some time,” you sigh to yourself.

By the time you finish, you’ve got 15 minutes to get cleaned up and ready for Alex. Before long, you hear the engine of a motorcycle revving approaching the store. You throw on a jacket, completing your look and stepping outside to wait for Alex. You look down the streets and watch the person on the motorcycle pull up in front of you. Placing a foot down to hold the bike, they take off their helmet.

“Hop on,” Alex greets.

She pulls an extra helmet up into view, extending it towards you. You grin, approaching her on her bike and accepting the extended helmet. You swing your leg over the seat, settling in behind her and securing your helmet. She urges you to hold onto her. You wrap your arms around her torso, feeling the warmth radiating from her. You hold onto her firmly yet gentle as she revs the engine, gently taking off onto the road.

#x reader #fanfiction #alex danvers #alex danvers x reader #supergirl

[rampantram]

(traductor bc i'm Bad in English)

I love how you draw and until recently I realized that your drawings are almost all traditional (🤯) I wanted to ask, what kind of light/Filters do you use to take your photos and make them look so clear?

(And if by some chance I got confused and you do everything digital, it's a wow for my little brain)

No worries! Thank you for taking the time to submit your question~

I’ve done primarily digital art in the past (it always started with pencil on paper, but I later traced over it in Photoshop or CSP) but all of my Cult of the Lamb art has been traditional with some digital edits.

You asking about this got me thinking on how to put together a full run-down of how I do my art, but since I’m away from home (my scanner, computer, etc.) I’ll just give a short(ish) answer for now:

- Starting off, I try to keep my lines as clean as possible, and a kneadable eraser really helps with this since you can pinch the ends to a point to clean up in smaller areas and rub it over your sketch lines without completely erasing them or leaving behind marks or residue (I definitely recommend the Faber-Castell brand because they’re the most pliable ones I’ve used, last a long time so long as you keep them clean, and are widely available in arts & crafts stores as well as online)

- Obviously adjust these to your preferences, but when taking pictures of art on my phone (what I’ve been doing the last week or so) I reduce the Saturation to 0 to make it completely grayscale, up the Brightness (brightening the white of the paper), as well as raise the Black Point (darkening the pencil lines) ((also these are how those settings are named for iPhone, so it might vary between devices))

- When working with digital art software, the Levels tool is going to be the version of the Brightness & Black Point adjustments mentioned for mobile pictures; definitely have the Preview option applied, if available, so you can see the changes you’re making before accepting them (of course you can always Undo said change if you don’t like it).

Overall, though, the more work you put in when working on paper, the less adjustments and edits you’ll have to do later, so don’t skip on cleaning up lines, stray dots, graphite scratches, etc.

Anyway, I’m gonna’ leave things there, but I hope this helps for now! Happy drawing~! ✏️✨

#thank you for the ask! #asks #art advice

[staticsable]

Goddddd Your art looks so freaking amazing - especially both the wonderful body shapes and anatomy you draw as well as the coloring and rendering in display~ If you don't mind me asking, do you have any advice for someone trying to get better at drawing? Specifically in getting better at drawing characters (especially fat ones)

Aw gosh, thank you so much!

I'll try to be pretty thorough in how I answer here, since I think the idea of getting better at drawing fat characters requires some additional nuance beyond the usual advice for improving at art. This is by no means an objective list, but I hope these help!

Practice the fundamental anatomy underneath all that fat. Unfortunately, my first bit of advice is also going to come off as somewhat of a boring one, but don't just strive to learn how to draw fat characters. Learning fundamental anatomy will carry over into every other aspect of your art, especially some basic understanding of core skeletal and muscle structure. Remember that any weight the body accumulates is going to hang from that structure and pad out the existing musculature underneath, so keeping those things in mind can help all of the outside layers feel more correct. Doing this will help you avoid some common mistakes, such as characters getting taller as they look fat, limbs being too short, etc. Note: while books like Morpho: Fat and Skin Folds are helpful, I think the necessity of having them has been a bit overblown by tumblr. It will certainly help, but you can learn a lot of what that book has to offer just through practice and observation.

Learn from real life and from artists you admire. In my art journey, a lot of my early endeavors with learning fat furs came from trying to mimic artists I looked up to on FurAffinity. I do not advocate for posting traced art, as that is theft, but what I will suggest is trying to understand the shapes of what you're looking at. Break the limbs down into circles and tubes, map out kind of a boxy tube shape over where their rib cage is, etc. But don't just do this with art, make sure you're looking at real people too. There are a lot of really confident and cool fat people on this site that are great to reference from, but no matter where you get these references from, try to make sure you're avoiding stealing content from sex workers who put these images up on their onlyfans, fansly, clips4sale, curvage, etc. If you're drawing digitally, don't be afraid to put images directly onto your canvas and sketch out some simple shapes over them. If you're working traditionally, having printed images of the art or photos can be a big help, especially if you've got some tracing paper that you can lay over top. There's no "best" way to do it, just whatever works best with your tools and setup.

Be mindful of how gravity affects fat. This is going to sound a little abstract and maybe a bit of a no-brainer, but remember that fat is heavy! Like I said earlier, everything is going to be hanging off of that skeleton underneath, and the more fat there is, the more it's going to be pulled by gravity. A larger belly may hang partway down the thigh or even below the knees. Heavier thighs are going to hang over the kneecaps and probably spill out over the upper calves a bit. Breasts are going to want to droop more when they get bigger, and will have a tendency to fall to either side of the belly. Things like that! These are all tendencies that you'll probably pick up on while following the previous two bits of advice, but it's something that's good to think of!

Don't be afraid to give detail to "imperfections." This is one of personal importance to me. Don't forget things like stretch marks and cellulite! These are very common details that accompany body fat, and including them in your art can add an extra layer of realism. Frankly, it's also just good for representation, as a lot of art tends to erase these features on fat people, and folks deserve to see these details represented in a positive light. Again, it's just something you'll want to try to pick up on and learn as you're going through the rest of the steps here, but my advice early on is to just be gentle with your line work. Some folks certainly have darker stretch marks, but for most folks they're going to be a touch darker or lighter than their skin tone. I tend to abide by this rule for furry characters as well, even when dealing with fur colors.

Be patient with yourself and give yourself time for your art skills to develop. This is a good art tip in general, but don't fret if the early stages of learning feel slow. That's completely normal. I've given you some starting points or things to keep in mind, but a lot of the learning process is going to be more about what works for you. I took a few years worth of art courses in college, and ultimately they were too inconsistent from professor-to-professor and too varied in subject matter, approach, and medium to be of much help for my drawings. You'll learn a lot just by asking questions and being hungry for knowledge, sometimes in a more useful way than any one institution might be able to provide. Above all else, try to have fun, and don't beat yourself up if something doesn't come out looking quite the way you wanted it. Try to identify what went well and what could have gone better, and make notes for next time. Asking artists to red-line your work can also be a big help, though their willingness to do so may vary.

Hope this helps!

#asks #enogmaticscholar-luz #art advice #advice on drawing fat

[grottweiler]

First drawings of the year!

My process is almost certainly looser than that of the artists I follow. I start every piece with pencil on paper, but I don't plan ahead or organize the page, I just doodle all over until I stumble into a pose I like. I might number the sketches after the fact for archival purposes, "this one flowed into that one, then I picked up on the opposite side, then zipped to that corner," but I have dozens of seemingly random pages shoved into my sketchbook. I don't have a scanner, so I take a photo of the page and upload it into Clip Studio Paint, then I trace over it for ink and color. I do most of my corrections in the inking stage because what looks good as a pencil sketch doesn't always translate well on a compressed photo with the opacity turned down low. I'm sure I'm doing something "wrong," at least incredibly inefficiently, but I'm still relatively new to digital art and I figure there are a thousand ways to skin a cat. This method works for me right now, but I'm sure I'll change my setup as I improve over the coming year.

#grott #grott the gargoyle #grottweiler #karmer #karmerant #gargoyle #furry oc #furry art #furry #oc #cartoon #drawing #art #my art #2024 #first drawing #new years day

[sketchquill]

Hey, Sketchquill!! AriJay here!

I've got a question for you! I do apologize if this question has been asked already, but I couldn't find it in the wonderful, colorful sea of posts!

My question is: How do you make your comic strips for your art?

I want to get into the mini comic art scene, but I'm a little lost at what I should be doing...

Thank you so much in advance!

Hiya AriJay! Nope! Don’t worry this question hasn’t not been asked yet!

Bro I’m as lost as you too cause I am no professional by any means so my advice might not be helpful and might not be good either because I plan absolutely nothing in advance for my comic strips which is probably not a good idea 😅

This is the way I do my comic strips ⬇️

- I draw the rough sketches on paper first then take a photo of it

- Sketch/messily trace over the rough sketches in Medibang

- Open a separate canvas to trace over the sketch again for the lineart

- Open a different canvas and copy and paste the lineart in there

- Adjust the size of the canvas and put the lineart for the comic strips in order

- Start colouring and shading

I can’t do like proper comic strips I’m absolutely garbage when it comes to panelling i dunno how other artists do it so well

#ask

[seth-the-giggle-fish]

The next installment of my Walter Family Portraits is done!

We have the original inventor, creator of our beloved Singing Musical Automatons, Col. Peter A. Walter I. Based off of the original art from Sam Luke (@samhears) in the Steam Powered Giraffe comic and a photo of David Michael Bennet

Color pallet was partially chosen by popular vote here on tumblr using the poll function

Acrylic paint on a 8x10 inch stretched canvas

WIP photos under the cut as always

The canvas was originally a test of the new blues I had bought, and was going to be used for the Sky Shark painting, but I ended up going with a larger size for that so it's been sitting partially painted since then. On the far left side you can glimpse my skeleton helper Darla, and part of my work surface is the sketch for my Lily Airheart painting (still in progress)

The very initial sketch, transferred over using graphite tracing paper, the canvas wasn't completely square so I decided to try making it look like an oval frame over a photo instead of a square and trying to find a frame that looked good with it

Unfortunately the blue had to go, at least for the bits of the painting that wasn't background, so it was time to start laying down some base colors and solidifying my choice to go for half-comic half-realism

Didn't really know what I was doing and ended up using Yellow Ocher for one of my base colors, I changed my mind on this much later after sleeping on the decision for a few nights. The yellow just wasn't working right with the Burnt Sienna for this

My reference photo and some more base colors, nearly ready to move onto shadows and other tones

Lips??? How do people paint lips?

Starting to regret the yellow, but forging on hoping that it'll end up looking ok

Relising that the process isn't going to fix this and that the yellow needs to go, starting to paint over it with a combination of Unbleached Titanium and Burnt Sienna

Just before I realized that I forgot his coat buttons, and a few details left to finalize. The little gold frills weren't popping as nicely as I hoped so I painted them over in black before adding a gold wash over it to make it look like worn and old gold

#gigs art #reblogs encouraged #Steam Powered Giraffe #SPG #peter one #acrylic painting #Col. Peter A. Walter I #Walter Family Portraits #art blogging

[sunshine304]

Here is my latest fanbinding project! The photo shows my personal copies and the authors’ gift copies! Now that the books have arrived, I can finally post about them here! :D

I’ve bound two fics each for @ziusik and @/traceyfic as they’re two of my favourite fic authors (links to the fics in notes). I went a bit overboard with this as I'd first only wanted to do one book each buuuut some unforeseen circumstances arose and so now there are four fics! XD

The typesetting was done over several months, on and off again. The actual binding part (from folding the sheets to the last step of gluing on the labels) I did in my two weeks off work in September. Good thing I’ve got lots of very heavy and oversized books to use as makeshift presses. XD

I will make two posts, one for each author, because otherwise this post will be forever long! So this one is for ziusik/vesna’s fics! (Here is the post with traceyfic/brooklinegirl’s fics.)

The typesetting for "Lead me on through” was done very early on, like, in May or something. I struggled with the actual book design for it, though, and finally settled on this blue/purple watercolour design which I though fit the main setting of Cloud Recesses and the marraige of Lan and Jiang quite well. The blue crane paper is chiyogami and has a slight shimmer to it.

I used Schirting (no idea what it’s called in English; it’s a very thin cloth) to strengthen the crease of the endpapers where they connect to the case. Chiyogami is very good quality paper, but it is only about 70g whereas endpapers should at least have 100g, better 120g. The Schirting helps to prevent tearing at this area.

I’ve included several illustrations in this book, like that official MDZS artwork of Wei Wuxian. The last two photos show illustrations by @/y_arrows on twitter, who did amazing art for this fic and was so wonderful to let me include it in the book!

“Trebuchet” was the fic where I’d had an immediate idea for the design. It’s got a chess theme so I wanted the design to reflect this.

I was very lucky to find these perfect Japanese papers (chiyogami + katazome) that fit my “vision” perfectly! The cover paper has a shimmer to it which I simply adore!

I had to search around a bit for the perfect title picture. I’d wanted a chess figure sketch but I couldn’t find anything that was free to use or where I could find the artist at all. So I settled on a photo, which I think turned out very nicely!

@steppjes​ was also the greatest and let me use their art as the perfect ending for this book! ♥

I’ve used coloured thread again as it’s what I have and it works nicely. I always try to match something, either the linen or the ribbon.

The title labels were traced with acrylic pens. The little chess piece is metallic gold. I tried printing the label with the red colour, but it didn’t “pop” as much so I decided on rather having a bright label with some little faults through writing than using a duller coloured completely printed label.

Next post

#fanbinding #bookbinding #arts and crafts #the untamed #wangxian #my fanbinding #my posts

[angel-lost-in-space-blog]

Hi hi! Asking 4 a friend , do you still have the pattern for the Captain General Kitten stuffed toy ? They really wanna make their own stuffed toy of him & were too shy 2 ask 4 themselves , so I'm volunteering in their stead ! [ I hope you have a lovely day, your stuffies look very sweet and made with lotsa love :o) ]

Sorry for the long answer, I hope it helps!!

Unfortunately, I no longer have all the pieces of Captain General Kitten's pattern. I was able to find a handful of the decorative pattern pieces and have included a photo of them. I made a quick sketch of the pattern for the body and armor base (it's not to scale with one another) to give an idea of what the pattern looked like.

Most of my humanoid plushies have the same or almost the same body base. A front chest/stomach, 2 pieces that wrap around to form the sides and back, two legs/feet that get sewn onto the bottom of the front of the body, a butt piece that the front (with the legs already attached) and side/back pieces attach to (this allows them to sit), and two arms that are attached to the sides of the body via buttons, so the arms can be rotated. The back of the head is two pieces to help give the head a round shape. Normally, I have one flat piece for the face, since you normally don't want a seam down the middle of the face. However, since Kitten has a mask and helmet covering his face, I used two pieces for the front to further round out his head. You can also add a chin piece to the bottom of the head to round the bottom and give the appearance of a neck.

I was in the middle of making my own Kitten (the one on here was a commission), and I've included some photos of what he looks like under all the armor pieces.

The part that really makes Kitten look like himself is all the details on the armor. For most of the armor pieces, I used felt as the base and either glued the gold fabric to the front or sewed the felt to two layers of the gold fabric except for one side, turned it inside out then ladder stitched up the gold fabric so that the felt was inside and no longer visible. This makes the armor pieces stiff enough to hold their shape but still be soft to the touch. It also allowed me to layer the fabric, so the armor was three-dimensional. The lion and eagle details are several layers thick to achieve the desired effect. I didn't really use a pre-sketched-out pattern for all the armor but instead made them as I went. I made the body base and stuffed it first, then I laid tracing paper over the doll to sketch out the details (rivets, eagles, etc) at the correct size for the doll. I also cut out holes for places like his eye and glued black felt on the back (I've included photos to show how the front and back of the face mask look).

#ask #angel lost in space #sewing #captain general kitten

[illiath-the-fae]

Art Screed...

I love seeing stuff about learning to draw/paint/whatever from published artists, always makes me think "what-if?" about my own skills.

In my case, in the dim-dark early days of the pre-public-internet era, I took some university-level art courses. During one of them, I asked the professor about using a computer for some of the work (this was waaaaaayyyy back btw, think "Commodore Amiga, the powerhouse of animation!"). Her response was simple "none of the finalists for the end-of-year art judging have been on a computer, maybe it'll happen in the future, but not now". So I went back to my 8'x3' (yes, feet) canvas and continued working on my final piece.

Fast forward until around 2021, and I finally buy myself an inexpensive (for me... around $200USD) screen-based art tablet. I wish I had tried it far earlier as I had the money to buy even a really nice one since around 2005-2006, and it's really helped me rediscover my interest in art. In the early years there, I was too poor for art supplies. Even buying a sketchbook would have meant I could not afford to eat for a week, so I stopped doing art, even sketches, because doing so would waste paper I might need for something my other skills did that put food on my table, or keep the roof over my head. So I basically didn't do art at all for most of those 30 years, other than CAD, or fixing stuff that marketing sent over for websites, or fixing fricked up websites.

However, I have a grounding in colour theory. I learnt how to draw using charcoal and paper. I learnt how to sculpt. How to work with clay and fire in a kiln, work with glass and create stained glass using lead linings, and more. I had all those skills, and I just didn't do art, at all, because I was stuck in a mindset of "I need these tools to do art and they're expensive", but today, there are inexpensive screen tablets that let me do drawing, and even some limited (to me) painting.

This sort of ends with an interesting point. With modern electronics, it's possible to make drawing and painting accessible to far more people, however there much to be said about using whatever materials you can to just do art, for your own sake, that it's hard to put it into words. But don't define yourself, or your art, or others art, by the medium, art has throughout history been done with what's on hand, because the artist felt a need to create and used whatever they could to get it done.

I guess, if I wanted to put a TLDR on this... When created by a mind, there is only "True Art".

And yes, even if it's a traced image, or photo that's been modified by an algorithm at the direction of a person, or a banana taped to a wall, a play put on by four years olds, or music made with bottles and rocks in a parking lot, or the finest piano concerto in a large performance venue, it's all art.

#art is art #mindless drivel from an old fart

[jesseevelann]

Have you ever tried scanning your paper drawings onto digital form?

I used to before I finally got an Ipad and could comfortably draw digitally, now I don't as much. Traditional is always going to be more comfortable I think, but when I do get into digital it takes a while to go back becasue they're so different to me.

The last time I turned traditional into digital was with this piece of vampire Sakura (or rather my version of the Pop Up Shop event, and what I think her vampire look should have been)

The colouring and shading is much more advanced and better than what I can do traditionally, but I struggle with lining and colouring with pencils - it feels a lot more time consuming.

While the digital piece has more colouring and refinement, the traditional art seems to speak to me more, but I coloured it to match the other one I made, and to make the metal elements shine properly.

I did the same sort of thing for this one. The blood covers her mouth more and the eyes look more menacing, but the traditional looks more clean. I do like the shading of the fur a lot though.

Another example of using this technique is the redraw I did for one of my first pieces of digital art. I drew the pose first on paper, fixed elements of it slightly and used that digitally.

I'm not confident with side profiles, like at all, or foreshortening, so I drew it in my more comfortable medium.

This example is where I drew the base of my idea on a piece of paper and drew over it. A lot of changes were made and it looks much better than the traditional sketch, but the sketch wasn't made to be good - just to get a feel for the pose.

My digital art can be more exciting because I do have alternatives for like, lighting. I did just smoke and and just the neon lights and played around with it a lot for this piece.

With my Ipad now I can draw without a traditional sketch, providing I have an idea in my head. But I do have a few good drawings from when I used my phone only, because it's all I could comfortably draw on.

These two are some of my favourites: I loved the pose for the Sakura one and I'm really happy that I managed to pull it off, and Hikari is just so so sweet and cute she became a favourite easily. These drawings didn't have a traditional base and were solely digital pieces.

If I have difficulty with a pose, or I do decide to make something digital, it would be done with the process of using a photo of my art and tracing over it most likely, but I'm not sure if it'll happen like that. I've been steering away from digital art so I can work on my traditional skills more.

#jesse answers #you probably didn't want a deep analysis #but here you go #digital art #traditional art #sakura uchiha #uchiha sakura #sakura haruno #haruno sakura #obito uchiha #uchiha obito #hikari hyuuga #hyuuga hikari #hyūga hikari #hikari hyūga #naruto #naruto shippuden #boruto the next generation #naruto oc #tw blood

[william5388067]

Week 5 Studio Tutorial – Sketching

#1

This weeks exercise was about sketching and and creating new ideas for our perfume bottle designs for studio 1b, which have to represent a chosen emotion. Starting off I created an evenly spaced layout of 12 boxes at 65 X 32.5 as per the brief. These were to help with proportions and consistency when drawing the perfume bottle sketches. After drawing in pencil, I traced them over with a 0.5mm tipped pen for added visibility when a sheet of paper placed over it.

#2

After drawing inspiration from my mood board, I started to sketch some ideas.

#3

After finishing the forms off by tracing the pencil lines over with pen, I decided to experiment with Copic markers, soft pastels and Black and white pencils (For shading and highlighting) for the rendering. Annotations were added to clarify some of the design decisions.

#4

After completing the thumbnail sketches I create a 3d perspective box at a 1:1 scale to use as a template for more detailed product sketches.

#5

taking inspiration from some of the previous design sketches, I created these six pencil sketches.

#6

Using the previous drawing as a template for a another sheet of paper, I sketched and rendered these designs using pastels, black + white pencils and Copic markers. I noticed that when Copic markers and soft pastels are used together they can give contrasting textures as Copic markers are smooth and even but pastels give off a rough texture. the black and white pencils are also great for shading and highlights.

#7

While photo #6 was intended to be the final render for this weeks task I felt that I could do more experimentation on the pencil templates. I did find that Copic markers tend to smudge and carry graphite on the tip so I'll avoid going over pencil with the markers in the future.

[the-lord-of-the-things]

Lord, how did you start learning art? I love your style and idk why I've never told you that? I'm trying to start drawing again and it's coming along like pulling teeth, and advice, I think I need to go back to traditional. Also- I'm sending as an ask so I can praise your art in public lol.

LMAO ty ty The silly answer is just keep drawing a lot and don't stop till its good, and while there's honesty there I acknowledge its not helpful What really helps me improve on the other hand, I think I can give a more productive answer step 1 is to find something I'm really passionate about drawing a lot, historically for me it's been media like FFXIV and Fallout: New Vegas, but it could be anything really. Find a subject that tickles the brain in a good way so you've got inspiration to start working. and 2. is to study references. There is no cheating in art, this isn't a test. Even trace stuff if you want. So long as you're not taking credit for someone elses work, anything you do for practice is completely fair game. Its about training your eye to know what something is and is not supposed to look like. I strongly recommend starting with irl photo references especially for people to get a feel for things like proportions and how bodies work. A lot of my best work has been done from photo references for tricky poses, and afterwards I end up taking lessons from the experience to apply to un referenced work. Otherwise, don't sweat too much about developing a 'style', just draw what you think looks nice in that moment, a style will develop organically. As for traditional specific advice- colored pencils or pencil lead if you prefer mechanical pencils is your friend if you can get them for sketches you want to draw over. I also prefer to draw on printer paper instead of in a sketchbook because it helps me draw more bullshit I'm not attached to, which is one of the best ways to improve cause then you're not bogged down in tryna put something nice in a sketch book.

otherwise just. keep at it. even if it looks like shit, even if its hard, if you keep at it you can look back at it and go damn look how much I improved. drawing should be Fun first and foremost.