#ALWAYS LOOKING THE LINEWORK OF EVERYONE | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

robobarbie · 1 month

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Hello hellooooooo! We recently had a banner contest in the discord server, and I wanted to show y'all the awesome entries that didn't win. They're all really cool in their own ways, so I wanted to give them each a lil moment.

(by @/jestie)

Love the focus on xyx!! He reminds me almost of what I'd think teenage him would look like. Very chill, sporty, and out with friends on a beautiful spring day. The linework in this feels really soft as well -- especially on those hat details. AND THERE'S CAT!! CAT!!!

All other submissions under the cut!

(by @/hunddenseje)

I like the details in the flowers a lot for this one. The way people draw roses and how they choose those inner patterns is always neat. And the little plants and mushrooms on his shoulders are fun!! They go well with that striped shirt pattern!!!

(by @/stintsy)

The way this artist circled the boys with that pink rosy pattern will stick in my brain for a while. It's v pretty, and it's like they opened a bush and found us in there for some reason. "Hello! Happy Spring!" Thanks boys please close it back up!!! It's my cry hour in the bush!!!!

(by @/emmascient)

This person's artstyle is so unique and full of life. The little spots of light coming through the trees just adds to whole thing, too. And I really like seeing fanart of owl with textured hair!!! Also check out xyx's fucking biceps holy fucking sh-

(by @/.mewo.)

Just a bunch of bros on their lunch break bayBEEEEEEEEEE!!! I like the detail of toast's coat tied around their waist and the fucking anti-societyboy shirt quest is wearing LMFAO. Also cat is ADORABLE in this. God. More cat art. Always need more cat art!!

(by @/c1nnadoll)

Every time nightowl is drawn in a croptop, two months is added to my life. I just know it's true. God bless that cute ass flower crown and the perfect little peace sign. Man looks so stable and happy. I hope he had a nice day after this picture!!!

(by @/fluffydeer21)

Toast and Quest look so content and cute with their flowers. And there's another neat rose with a lil interior pattern! Held, of course, by this artist's fave LI. Xyx looks pretty good with gold jewelry, I cannot lie. I have no idea why I made them green in game. LMFAO

(by @/noneivly)

I like how this feels like a painting. Like those brush strokes and even the palette choice just look like something you'd see hung on a wall? It's really cool. Also the little detail of the chibi picnic boys in the background makes me giggle. Small!!!!! So fucking small!!!

(by @/kiki_221)

The energy in this is excellent. You can almost hear them laughing together at Toast's expense (deserved I'm sure). I'd like to imagine they're all relaxing at a park after a big lunch. I hope they got to discuss all the good things that happened to them this week.

(by @/01noxxie10)

Another excellent chillin in the grass pic! Purple actually looks really good on Quest. I don't think I've ever drawn him in that color before? So this image made me think about that a LOT. Also look at fuckin chill ass xyx. Calm beautiful motherfucker. Fuck you!!! Fuck you!!!

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There's two more images, but those are the discord banner winner and the one I chose for my twitter! If you want to see those excellent drawings, check out my twitter here or join the discord server here!

Thank you everyone for all the submissions! I treasure them deeply!!

#fanart #xyx #quest #nightowl #nakedtoaster

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circus-clangen · 19 hours

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Hi!! Fellow clan gen comic creator here, i check your blog regularly and you are so fast with updates! And nothing looks rushed or messy (well, messy in a bad way, i know your style is sketchy and sort of glitchy which is why i like it) how do you keep everything so updated all the time?? I struggle makeing one comic in just a week.

ArE yOu A wIzZaRd???

HAHA so FULL disclosure for everyone reading this: My upload schedule is about to change because I'm moving in a week and am going to be searching for a job 😭

BUT to answer your question: I have ALWAYS drawn fast. From when I started art some 8 years ago, I had no trouble whipping out 4-5 drawings every day, sometimes more. DOESN'T MEAN THEY WERE GOOD but I just hit the ground running when it came to art. AND because of that, I've built up more line confidence, and have been able to teach myself to draw cleaner even as I draw faster. In 2021 I even made 1+ finished drawings every single day 😭 (here's that if you wanna see it). Also last February I drew one OC 69 times in like 20 days.... TLDR: I've always been this way, and so I've just kind of adapted to it. PLUS it helps that cats are faster to draw than people (in my mind; people are my primary subject matter) Here are some tips, if you Do wanna draw a little faster: 1. Nail down an art style, in general, and for each individual character. It's WAY easier to draw quickly if you already known how each part of the drawing is going to look (i.e. You draw eyes This way and you draw bangs This way and you shade skin This way and you use These colors)(I personally have one color pallet I use in every drawing)

2. If you can't clearly picture a drawing in your head going into it, let it marinate for a little longer, and come into focus. If you know down to the linework how you want your piece to look, you don't have to hesitate as much going into it.

3. FORGO the sketch, even if its just for practice! Try to draw your character starting with the lineart, thats what I do for my asks especially

4. Take breaks! Don't always force yourself to make art. Some of my best improvement happens after I've quit art cold turkey for weeks or months at a time. You draw faster when you're inspired and have a fresh, clear picture in your head Hope this helps!

#circusclan #circusclan ask

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velvetcloxds · 11 months

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dilf!remus lupin reaction to chubby!reader getting a wrist tattoo which is kinda related to him?

TO THE MOON AND TO SATURN | R.L.

word count: 0.8k

warnings: age gap, chubby reader not specified, cheeseee

Remus had a hard day, those weren’t as rare as they used to be, exam season coming into full swing leaving the poor professor drained, in desperate need of sleep as he sat back on his sofa sipping at the last sip of his red wine staring tiredly at the tests scattered over the coffee table. You, however, were in a much different mood, excitedly pulling your sleeve over your wrist. You’d never been one to do something spontaneous, happy with following a set plan for every aspect of your life until you’d met Remus, the most unexpected thing you’d ever allowed yourself to indulge in was losing him. You’d heard the stories of him, the rumours of a wild teen taking Hogwarts by storm and managing to surprise everyone with his genius in the process, and though you’d never known that version of him, happily loving the more mature and wise version you’d gotten the honour of falling in love despite your best intentions not to, you’d have a soft spot for your Moony and you always wanted to show him that.

You weren’t surprised to hear the soft jazz that filled the little muggle apartment the two of you shared, the music had quickly become your own reminder of home when he had to stay at Hogwarts during the full terms. You were even less surprised to find him in the living room, barely made it out of his suit, tie hanging undone around his neck as he offered you the purest smile despite sleep tugging it down.

“Darling,” Remus breathed with the gentlest tone, enough to pull you right to him and you gave in quickly, kicking off your shoes in the process of walking to him, sighing in pure delight as you fell into his lap. Your hand moved to their own accord as you began brushing his hair out of his face, smiling fondly at the sight of him, so perfect despite the state of him and somehow all yours.

“You should be in bed,” you reprimanded, and he hummed, half in agreement, half in regret that he couldn’t go to bed yet even if he wanted to. It was silly, really, the way you’d dance this little dance every night, yet every time you looked at him and held him like this it felt new, a little blessing you received anew each day. “But I’m glad you aren’t,” you didn’t think he’d perk up so quickly at that, daring hands moving lower down your back as you shifted. “I did something.”

“I’m going to need more than that, trouble,” you smiled, biting back a giggle at his curious gaze trying desperately to see if he missed a new haircut or new clothes, you were always very excited to show him either of those, but you seemed too familiar by the looks of it. You allowed the giggle to escape, excitedly presenting him your wrist, the tattoo was fresh, painful still and you were sure in an hour you’d absolutely hate yourself for the spontaneity, but Remus was smiling through furrowed brows, he was excited because you were excited but the more that he looked at it the less he knew what to do with his face.

“It’s Saturn,” you explained, not explaining much in the process but still it was a start, his fingers were gentle as they took hold of you, thumb hovering over the design tracing it in the air and even though he didn’t touch you it still earned a shiver through your body. “I love you to the moon and to Saturn,” seemed simple enough but his thumb paused over the little paw prints that spread through the fine linework, he knew it was for him, he didn’t have to think too hard to note that, but he couldn’t believe it. “My moony,” you whispered, and he couldn’t kiss you fast enough, smiling against your lips when you whispered your little question, asking him if he liked it, the silliest question in the world.

“My star,” he teased, and his grip was strong as it cupped your warm cheeks, your smile was poisonous, killing him slowly as he tried to capture it into his memory. “It’s beautiful, you’re beautiful,” he was careless in stealing another kiss, not surprised when you leaned into it, into him, gentle hands traveling up his crinkled button-down shirt.

“I got it for you,” you mumbled and looked down to the little gesture, happy now with the looks of it, happy that he likes it.

“Yeah?” his tone was low, playful really despite how much he appreciated every bit of your sweet honour to him, you were shy, the biggest thing someone has ever done for him and you’re shy and he wanted to see how far he could push it. “Now why would you do that?”

“So that I can always have you with me.”

“Always, huh,” he flipped you over, smiling as your eyes daringly took in every bit of him. “I love you,” and he did, more than simple words could tell you but you knew, you felt it. “To Saturn,” he added and gently brought your hand up to look at the declaration of love painted into your skin for all eternity.

“To Saturn,” you breathed and he placed a featherlike kiss on the transparent band-aid covering the art of your love.

#discovered this in my drafts today and was so surprised because I can't even remember writing it let alone finishing and drafting it #remus lupin #remus lupin x reader #remus lupin x you #remus lupin x yn #remus lupin fluff #remus lupin one shot #remus lupin blurb #remus lupin imagine #remus lupin drabble #remus lupin fanfiction #remus lupin fanfic #remus lupin fic #monique's writing events #monique's event days #right where queue left me

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slumpsnail · 28 days

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Process Post

Hi everyone! Here's a process post on my previous Rolan painting study.

Time-lapse from Procreate above.

More details, inspo, references, and writing under the cut:

I haven't drawn or digitally painted in years but Baldur's Gate 3 got me drawing fanart, especially Rolan. I love his design and storyline so much. I draw him almost every day, whether as a warm-up sketch or full illustration - and I can see how much has changed from when I first started drawing him to how I draw him now. More importantly, it's crazy amazing to have found a community because of an NPC. Also, receiving all the love and support here has been crazy wonderful, I read all your reblog tags and they always make my day - thank you sm.

Inspo / ref image board on left, my clean up sketch on right. Linework and inking are fun for me but I struggle with color, rendering, and digital painting. I find that referencing artists and images helps immensely when I paint, so I often collect images and combine them into a board. J. C. Leyendecker is a big inspo for me, especially his color, mark-making, and poses. I also ref a ton of in-game screenshots, the one above is from @ / emerald_witch9 on twitter. I use the iPad side-by-side window feature so I can look at my image board and Procreate at the same time.

I like painting in this style, but it does take me awhile, so I'm not sure how long I'll continue to paint this way. However, I think it'll help me develop a quicker and more personal sense of render style.

Lastly, here's a detail shot of my paint study because freckles hah.

#my art #my process #my art changes a lot but that's fine #it'll prob keep changing #procreate

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maniculum · 3 months

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Bestiaryposting Results: Kengliwa

So, as it seems everyone made note of, this week's creature was exceptionally easy to guess. (To the point that a couple people did actually go ahead and name it, which I can't be that annoyed about because I don't think anyone missed this one.) I actually thought about not including it -- I cut a few that were particularly obvious like this one, but this entry was just so beautifully written that I didn't want to not post it. Maybe I should have done a separate post like with the dogs... live and learn, I suppose.

Anyway, previous entries and results can be found here: https://maniculum.tumblr.com/bestiaryposting. And the entry everybody is working from is at the link below:

Art below the cut in rough chronological order, as per usual.

@sweetlyfez (link to post here) decided to go a bit Beatrix Potter, and produced some frankly adorable shrew-like critters. (And her own alt-text, thank you.) They're dressed in these nice black coats and bowler hats so they can look like the "black column across the fields" described in the entry. I love everything about this. Also, if you want to see a version of this without the linework, check the link above.

@silverhart-makes-art (link to post here) decided to work off of the assertion that Kengliwas prefer wheat to barley because "barley is food for beasts". Naturally this means the Kengliwa must not itself be a beast, and Silverhart reflects that by medieval definition that excludes pretty much everything but birds and fish. So here we have a very small mouse-bird (the results of this one are all very cute, I have to say). And of course it's a flightless bird, because the entry describes them as walking. I'm really struck by the general composition of this one; the tiny bird clinging to the top of a wheat stalk is so well depicted. The colors are great too.

@cheapsweets (link to post here) followed the same "not a beast" logic as Silverhart, though they also name "serpent" and "worm" as potential non-beast categories. They also picked "bird", because the Kengliwa brings grain back to its nest, and birds have nests, so there you go. I appreciate that they've continued with that connection by having the interior of the Kengliwa burrow lined in a manner reminiscent of birds' nests. (And also that they provided alt-text, thank you.) Speaking of which, check it out, burrowing birds! With a cross-section of their burrow! Delightful. They further speculate that the symbolism attached to this one must be pretty weird given the mixed feelings the author seems to have, so I went and checked...

... there's actually not a lot of symbolism on this one. The highlights are that the divided grain supply represents the division between the Old and New Testaments, and barley represents heresy which is why it is scorned. (Pretty sure lots of people in the Middle Ages ate barley, but I suppose they preferred wheat.) The symbolism is all "things we learn from the good example of this industrious creature", and the entry quotes Proverbs 6:6 -- I'm not copying it here, because even though I'm pretty sure everyone knows what the animal is, the verse in question does name it, and we have a procedure here.

Anyway, as always, I recommend clicking on the link to CheapSweets's post to see their detailed explanation of their design decisions.

@theforceisstronginthegirl (link to post here) has drawn some ants in their agenda book. I have to admit, I'm not fully sure whether this was meant to be an entry, but you know, there's a picture (with alt-text and everything!) and it's tagged "kengliwa", so in it goes. Honestly I think the highlight here is that they described the creatures in the picture as "scribbles with jobs" which I think is a fun way to describe bugs generally. Very dynamically drawn scribbles too; they're quite expressive.

@pomrania (link to post here) has drawn a strange and adorable critter. It's giving... lizard-squirrel. Squizard. Particularly delighted by the fact that multiple people decided that such an industrious fellow should be wearing tiny clothing. I think the bag with one (1) grain of wheat in it is a nice touch. You just want to root for this little guy, you know? Also it's worth checking out Pomrania's linked post and associated progress post for some interesting steps in the design process for this one.

@coolest-capybara (link to post here) continues to deliver beautifully stylized art. They note that they considered rodents, but figured medieval authors would not be nearly this positive about rodents stealing grain, so instead they're lizards. Very good lizards, too! I love the patterning on them and the expressions on their faces. The one on the left scorning the barley is particularly delightful. Coolest-capybara also wonders what the original animal is classified under, if not "beast" -- to which I must say, oddly enough, this one is in with the beasts. I think. Right after this entry is the start of the "birds" section, and right before it is are some various mammals. So either this is the end of the beast section or it's, like, a palate-cleanser in between.

@strixcattus (link to post here) has also given their Kengliwa clothing, but for a very specific reason: as others have noted, the Kengliwa scorning barley because it's "food for beasts" implies that the Kengliwa are not beasts. Therefore, in Strixcattus's interpretation, they're people. Which is indeed the only non-"beast" category of animal that nobody else has mentioned, as far as I can figure. They're darling. Love the one on the right that appears to be chewing on a straw like your stereotypical farmer, except of course the straw is a single seed with like a bit of stalk attached. And I know I always say it, but you need to go read the linked post for this one. Maybe it's just because worldbuilding is my jam, but I'd happily read a lengthy TTRPG supplement about how Kengliwa society operates. They're like... medieval Borrowers who farm lichen and domesticate ants. I want to know everything about this.

Anyway, here's the Aberdeen Bestiary version:

That's right, they're scribbles with jobs!

Seriously, it turns out Theforceisstronginthegirl drew basically a dead ringer for the medieval version. Compare the two; the biggest differences are the medium and the fact that the Aberdeen Bestiary includes a nest.

But yes, they're ants. We all know they're ants.

Which should, as CheapSweets alluded to, be classed in with the worms! (Remember, that's a flexible term in the medieval era... especially since this is a Latin text, so it's vermis, like Modern English vermin.) There is a section labelled De vermibus, and these guys aren't in it! It could have really used them, too; I think the Ant entry by itself is the same length as the whole "worm" section.

Anyway. Hopefully next week's will be less obvious... okay, I just checked, it's barely less obvious. But I would put money on nobody guessing the one that posts on the 19th (though that's a pretty short entry, unfortunately).

#maniculum bestiaryposting #kengliwa

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izloveshorses · 8 months

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we're almost to the halfway mark, so i thought i'd share another progress update on this little (big) project!! (previous update)

i've almost finished drawing half of all the assets (according to my spreadsheet) and then we can start assembling them into a "book." the bulk of the assets are characters/costumes, but i've also completed several props and started working on some backgrounds as well. I need to decide how the book will be laid out before i make much more progress on those, though. i've been trying to hold off on finishing the principal cast because i think saving them for ~dessert~ will keep me motivated to power through the rest, but i'm so anxious to get to them because i want to play with them in photoshop and put them on their associated backgrounds like little paper dolls 🙈 so that's why ballet tuxedo!dmitry doesn't exist yet, and why i've yet to color the rest of anya's act ii wardrobe.

anyway. progress in my workflow is hardly ever linear, but you can kind of see how i approach the rendering process from these images, i hope. the drawing carries the weight of the image so that step always takes the longest, since getting the likeness, the proportions, the folds, and the expressions right is the most important. if any of that looks off no skillful painting or rendering can save it.

and then i always color skin first because everything else (clothes, hair) goes on top of skin. you can see the color palette i'm using is the same for almost all of them, though act ii requires a few more saturated hues than act i (bright blue, some reds, and green every once in a while). coloring the rest in doesn't usually take very long. once the flats are down i go in for a final pass, laying down those patterns and textures that always give me a hard time lol. and then i clean up and recolor the line work and mark it as done! since i'm working digital i use alpha lock and clipping masks for that.

director's cut commentary of each image included (under the cut bc this post is already so long):

anya's act ii lineup. her phtk outfit is the only one i've marked complete (the linework on the others is still black and need just a few more touchups). I've yet to lay in the flats for the maroon travel coat because i think the drawing needs more work. i might change a few things on big red, maybe her expression, but i haven't decided yet.

dmitry's act ii lineup (sans tuxedo). he just needs a final pass on the first two on the left, and then his finale look is finished, because it's the same from act i :)

vlad's act ii lineup. he's almost done, just needs a final pass on the finale and phtk outfits.

lily's act ii lineup. i'm going to redo the pattern on her neva club dress (linda cho i love u but god) but otherwise she's all finished.

the dowager's act ii lineup. she's done! :) maybe i'll find something to pick at later but rn i'm marking her done lol.

petersburg citizens from rumor! i think these guys are all done. there are more people i could include, but there isn't enough variation on the costumes to make it worth it imo.

neva club patrons. the only two marked complete are the two on the left, sergei the doorman/the male server and count leopold. i still need to find a good reference for the female server lol.

the press! just the men for now lol. i used the obc program as a reference for this one, so i'll get the two ladies in soon :)

the hussies! i've marked it complete, but. we'll see if there's more adjustments i can make.

there's still more i've completed that's not pictured, but i'll definitely share more soon. act i is nearly finished entirely, which is cool, and the only big ensemble sheet i've yet to make much progress on is everyone in phtk. i may end up just drawing one or two people from that and then copying them with different patterns because, honestly, the shape of the dresses and suits are all very similar. hopefully that won't be boring to look at lol.

if there's anything in particular you'd like to see/have any questions, or even suggestions, lmk!! and follow my 'anastasia illustrated guide' tag for more updates :)

#anastasia broadway #anastasia #fan art #my art #iz draws #anastasia illustrated guide #long post #wip

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penaltyboxboxbox · 9 months

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how do u paint lips on men. like the coloring. i'm trying to draw a man with like big-medium lips and i dont know what color to use or how to shape them,,

HELLO i lips are such a fun thing to paint especially imo, so im so excited to help w this....

I'll put the reference images here too just to aide in showing how i translate everything into artwork. First off, before you paint the lips, you have to draw them. I typically only will draw the most defined lines of the lips. Keeping the linework very simple helps the lips not look overworked, and specifically for men, i think it helps them look less like lipstick or something!

When I am doing my "simple" coloring, i typically will just pick a blush/pinky color, and draw the lip shape on a multiply layer, and adjust that opacity till it looks good. I'll usually add some simple shadows and shine as well! When painting, I go a little more in depth with my coloring, but i generally follow a very similar shading style, usually a darker top lip, lighter, pinker bottom lip (but everyone is different! so check your refs!) I have found that you shouldn't be afraid of color, lips, even on men, are typically quite bright! But stick to more pink tones than into red. I always like to do these sort of squarish shapes when i highlight lips, as it helps to suggest their texture without adding unnecessary detail. Also who doesn't love a nice shiny lip! Also dont forget the skin highlight across the top lip, when painting a face (especially if that person has facial hair) that highlight will provide a great sense of depth that often goes forgotten!

#ask #art tutorial

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moodymelanist · 1 year

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Good Things Come In Threes

Happy day one of @nestaarcheronweek, everyone!

Summary: Nesta, Elain, and Feyre get matching tattoos.

Word Count: 2,040

Read on AO3 here!

♕♕♕♕♕

Nesta

When Feyre had suggested that the three Archerons get matching tattoos a few months ago, Nesta had initially been a little hesitant. She’d never gotten into tattoos the way Feyre had, and even though times were changing, she’d always been a little wary about getting something that would be noticed at work.

Surprising no one, Elain had been the one to convince Nesta to do it. It wouldn’t look right if only me and Feyre got one, she’d said. We’ll pick something little so you can cover it up at work if you want.

Nesta had caved under the combined weight of Elain and Feyre’s puppy dog eyes, and from there, their group chat had been about nothing but tattoos. Which parlors to go to, which artists had the best linework, and of course, what design they were actually going to get.

Feyre had been the one to find a design they all liked. It was a simple, cute tattoo – the moon, the sun, and a star, with a different symbol filled in on each sister’s wrist. It was quickly decided that the moon would be for Nesta, the sun for Elain, and the star for Feyre. After that, they’d just had to make the appointment, which had of course fallen to Nesta as the oldest sister.

Her sisters had sent plenty of suggestions, but she was the one making the actual phone calls. They’d gathered in Nesta’s apartment that day for their usual Sunday meal, the three of them lounging in the living room scrolling through Google and Yelp reviews and the tattoo parlor’s website before Nesta decided to just call the place and get it over with.

“You Gen Z kids and being on the phone,” Nesta had said, rolling her eyes as she dialed the tattoo parlor they’d decided to make an appointment with. Feyre had really liked one of their artist’s work, and although it was going to be a small tattoo, Nesta wanted the best they could find. It was permanent, so they needed to trust who they were working with.

“You’re literally born in 1995,” Feyre had muttered under her breath. “You’re just as Gen Z as I am, thank you very much.”

“Big talk from the 2000s baby,” Elain had teased back, sticking her tongue out at Feyre. She’d laughed as Feyre grabbed the nearest pillow and tossed it half-heartedly at her head. “What? It’s true!”

Nesta had quickly confirmed their tattoo appointment and pricing before sending a mock-glare Feyre’s way. “First of all, I’m a millennial, thank you very much. Second of all, stop throwing my pillows everywhere!”

That had resulted in a pillow fight that lasted for nearly ten minutes until Nesta and Elain had teamed up on Feyre to take her down, Elain holding Feyre down while Nesta relentlessly went for Feyre’s soft spots.

Now, they were finally in said tattoo parlor, waiting for their names to be called. Once Feyre and Elain finished filling out their paperwork, Nesta primly gathered all their clipboards and returned them to the guy working the front desk. He just told her their artist should be out shortly, so she said thanks and made her way back to where her sisters were sitting.

“You excited?” Feyre asked once Nesta sat back down next to her. “Scared? Nervous?”

“A little nervous,” Nesta admitted truthfully. She held up her hand and pinched her thumb and index fingers together, leaving as little space as possible between them to show how much. “But only a little.”

“It should be quick, if it makes you feel any better,” Elain offered.

Of course Elain was going to try and make her feel better. Nesta gave her a small smile before replying, “I know. I’ve just never gotten one before.”

Nesta had done plenty of research about the tattoo process before she’d agreed to get one, falling down many a Reddit hole as she learned everything she could. They’d decided to get their tattoos on their left wrists, which hopefully wouldn’t be too painful, but everything she’d seen online about how bad it would hurt had been wildly unhelpful. Nesta had tried to console herself by reminding herself that at least the aftercare process didn’t seem too bad, but she hated going into things without knowing exactly how they would play out.

“You can hold my hand if it makes you feel any better,” Feyre told her, smiling as she reached out to squeeze Nesta’s hand. “I’m an excellent hand holder.”

“Okay,” Nesta agreed, squeezing her sister’s hand back. They’d decided Nesta should be the one to go first, partly because she was the oldest and they wanted to do everything in birth order, but also because she was the most likely to chicken out of doing it. “I might take you up on that.”

They didn’t have much time to make conversation after that, since their tattoo artist came to get them shortly afterward. Tarquin was so genuinely warm and friendly that Nesta was immediately comfortable with him, and she was glad they’d picked him once they’d gotten through all the placement and stenciling. He didn’t have a single problem with answering any of their questions, nor did he complain once about having to redo Nesta’s stencil until she was satisfied with the placement.

“It’s going on your body,” Tarquin said with a shrug after he’d placed the stencil for the last time. “You can ask me to move it as many times as you need to.”

“I think it looks good here,” Nesta said back once she examined the stencil with a critical eye. It was perfectly down the middle of her wrist like she’d wanted, and although Tarquin had explained the tattoo would of course shift as she moved her hand, she felt pretty good about how it looked with her wrist completely relaxed. “Okay. Let’s keep going.”

“Great,” Tarquin replied. He started bustling around his little station as he got everything ready, and Nesta turned to her sisters for some extra reassurance. Elain flashed her a big smile and a thumbs up while Feyre reached for her phone to take a picture before everything became permanent.

After a few minutes, Tarquin came back over and laid out all his tools. Nesta was pleased to see he was wearing gloves and everything looked properly sterilized – at least from what she could tell, anyway – and she took a few deep breaths as he tilted her arm exactly where he wanted it.

“Ready?” Tarquin eventually asked, looking up at Nesta for confirmation.

Nesta reached out her right hand for Feyre to hold, immediately reassured when Feyre didn’t hesitate to grab it and squeeze down. “I’m ready.”

“Okay. Let me know if you need a break,” Tarquin told her. He turned on the tattoo gun and Nesta squeezed Feyre’s hand hard, taking another deep breath before the needle touched her skin. “How’s that?”

“It’s… okay,” Nesta answered slowly. It hurt, of course, but it wasn’t as bad as she’d thought it would be. “It feels like cat scratches.”

“I’ve heard that one a lot for wrist tattoos,” Tarquin responded with a smile. He turned back to the tattoo and Elain picked up the slack in the conversation, ready to keep Nesta distracted for as long as necessary.

“Sooo,” Elain began. She moved her chair so she was a little closer to Nesta without getting in Tarquin’s way, pulling the fabric of her skirt closer to her body as she changed her position. “What are we doing for your birthday, Nesta? You never told us.”

“Uh…” Nesta replied, her mind going blank. The pain wasn’t overwhelming, but it was a little hard to think with a bunch of needles pressing into her skin. “We, um… I was thinking we could do brunch next weekend?”

“Next weekend?” Feyre asked curiously. “Do you have plans on your actual birthday that don’t include us or something?”

“I met a guy,” Nesta told them, looking away from the surprised looks on her sisters’ faces in favor of checking Tarquin’s progress. He’d finished tracing the outline of the moon and was now onto the sun, his linework just as impeccable as Feyre had said it would be as he traced the stencil. “Don’t be weird about it. Please.”

“No one’s being weird,” Feyre said, rolling her eyes. “It’s just – different.”

“What Feyre means to say,” Elain replied, shooting the evil eye at Feyre before turning back to Nesta, “is that we’re happy for you and we can’t wait to meet him. If it gets to that point.”

“Well if he’s taking her out for her birthday, it sounds like it might be at that point,” Feyre fired back.

“Is it?” Elain asked. “At that point?”

“Maybe,” Nesta answered. She really liked Cassian, with his gentle way of handling her even when he was trying to get a rise out of her, and part of her wanted to stay in their little honeymoon bubble instead of sharing him with everyone else. But a bigger part of her wanted her sisters to like him, so she decided telling them a little bit about him wouldn’t hurt anyone. “I met him at my kickboxing class a few months ago.”

“Months?” Feyre echoed, shocked. Nesta squeezed down on her hand in warning. “Woah. You must really like him.”

“I do,” Nesta agreed with a small smile.

Tarquin chose that moment to announce he was done with the tattoo, and they all looked down at Nesta’s wrist to appropriately ooh and ah. It was strange looking down at her wrist and seeing that small bit of ink on her pale skin, but Nesta decided she liked it a lot more than she’d thought she would.

From there, it didn’t take long to get done with Elain’s tattoo. Nesta swapped places with Feyre so she could hold Elain’s hand this time while Feyre scrolled through Cassian’s Instagram, shooting impressed looks Nesta’s way as she went further down the rabbit hole.

“He’s cute, Nesta,” Feyre said, approval lacing every word. “Does he have any brothers?”

“Actually,” Nesta said back, thinking back to all the things Cassian had told her about one of his brothers, “he does.”

“Say no more,” Feyre muttered under her breath. It didn’t take long for her to find Rhys’ Instagram account after some dedicated snooping, and she quickly switched over to her own phone so she could look through his life from her own account. “If this works out, I owe you one.”

“You’re welcome,” Nesta replied wryly. She turned her focus back to Elain and squeezed her smaller hand. “You doing okay, Lainey?”

“I’m okay,” Elain answered. Tarquin was filling in the sun on her wrist now, his motions steady and sure as he filled in the circle with black ink. “Trust me, watching you two has been more than entertaining enough.”

From there it was Feyre’s turn to sit in the chair, and Elain dutifully offered up her hand for Feyre to hold while Tarquin worked his magic. Feyre’s tattoo seemed to go by even faster than Elain’s, and in no time the three of them were done. They took a bunch of pictures to commemorate the moment before letting Tarquin run through his aftercare instructions, Nesta making sure to take notes so she could send them to her sisters before they went to the front to pay.

“I’m so glad we did this,” Feyre said excitedly as they left the parlor and headed toward Nesta’s car. “They look so good!”

“Me too,” Elain agreed. She slid into the passenger seat while Feyre took her place in the back, immediately rolling down the windows so they could enjoy the feel of the spring air on their skin. “Are you happy with it, Nesta?”

Nesta turned to look at her sisters with a smile. “Yeah. I am. Thanks for talking me into this.”

“Always,” Feyre replied, matching Nesta’s smile with a big one of her own. “Now let’s go get something to eat. I’m fucking starving.”

As Nesta made her way through her pizza and her sisters good-naturedly argued over whether pineapples belonged on it, she couldn’t help but think there was nowhere she’d rather be than here.

#acotar #acosf #NestaWeek2023 #nesta archeron #feyre archeron #elain archeron #archeron sisters #moodymelanistwrites

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annadiplosis · 10 months

Photo

I’VE HAD THIS BLOG FOR 10 YEARS

Here’s to many more years of fish, vampires, aliens and bird people! To everyone who follows me and/or has praised my art, in any way, at any point, thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

I’ll be ranting about art progress and style changes under the cut, but before that, just a reminder that I’m going through a complicated time in my life and if you want to support me and my art there’s a few ways to do so.

Now back to my goofy doodles.

Maybe because I've drawn ever since I can remember, I've never felt a ton of pressure to improve my art skills. It's always been something I knew was going to happen as long as I kept drawing, and that's what I've been doing. I try not to stress too much about staying consistent with my practice or achieving any self-imposed goals. I like to discover what I'm able to do, one drawing at a time.

I also believe progress is not linear, and not every single piece is better than the last. While my 2023 art shows a higher skill level than that of 2013, I think some of my older work looks perfect the way it is. I'm drawn to expressiveness, movement, and compelling characters, and that can be achieved at any level. I've gotten better at some technical aspects, of course; my linework is far more decisive than it was before, and my endless battle with color palettes gets easier every day. I'm also capable of unwillingly drawing the crappiest, most horrendous doodle you've ever seen, just as I was in 2013. Just as we all are. I'm not sure why I find that reassuring, but I do.

When I started this blog, what really worried me was developing a distinct style. I studied other artists and stole specific elements of their work, sometimes drawing and redrawing the exact same thing until I was satisfied with the result. At some point, and I can't exactly tell you when or why, I stopped caring about that. It's not that I thought I'd found My Perfect Style, because that doesn't exist. I guess I started focusing on other stuff, and that's when my actual style started coming together. I followed my instincts, tried to strike a balance between what came naturally to me and what I was envisioning every particular piece to look like, and it worked. Any alteration my style has gone through since then has been unplanned and intuitive, and I can't see myself approaching art in any other way. I'm excited to discover what kind of artist I'll be in ten more years.

Thanks for reading this far! Warm regards from me and every notebook I've used since opening this blog (#9 to #37 in my overall archive) ♡

#artists on tumblr #art summary #art progress #art #notebooks

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wifelinkmtg · 9 months

Text

Yeah alright let’s talk Tarkir

Getting this out of the way: I do not care about Alesha, so if you were coming here ready to hear anything about the first-ever transgender girl out of Magic*, sorry to disappoint.

Actually, yeah, I’m gonna talk about this for a little bit. I understand Alesha means a lot to some people, and I’m not saying they’re wrong to feel that way. I’m sure there are people who had to fight to make Alesha openly & canonically trans, and I’m not saying that this was meaningless, wasted effort. It’s nice to be able to point to someone and say, see, there’s a place for people like me here. I was excited about it at the time and I wasn’t even into Magic back then.

But like c’mon, y’all, she’s not really a character, right? She gets one story, the thrust of which is, “this character is trans, and that’s basically fine.” Alesha exists to be part of the banner image of the internal WotC LGBT employees’ monthly newsletter. She exists to be the discord avatar for every third trans girl into Magic. She exists so a massive corporation can point to her as evidence that they care in some nebulous way about trans people, and she costs slightly less than paying someone to, say, actually moderate the hate speech comments on their vids of Autumn Burchett’s pro tour games.

All of which is to say, they don’t actually care. You know this. Individual staff, writers, artists - sure, but they’re not the ones who make the final decisions. And you and I deserve better from our stories, and we’re never going to get that from fucking Hasbro, right?

So here’s my pitch: seek out actual queer stories, and I’m not talking about contemporary YA shit with a marketing budget. For readers of this specific blog I’d recommend looking up “Attack Helicopter” by Isabel Fall (you should still be able to find it online). Stories where the texture and structure of thought are queer and trans are revelatory. You don’t need to beg for crumbs from a megacorp’s table.

ANYWAY, COMMA,

welcome to Tarkir! There used to not be dragons here, but now there are. In either timeline, everyone is locked in a brutal, unending struggle of clan-against-clan, so thanks, Sarkhan? Yeah, no, I hear you, it’s definitely different now. Yeah, and better. Yeah, because of the...yeah, because there’s dragons now, right. No, you did great, buddy. You really, uh, made a difference.

JESUS, IS HE CRYING? GET ME OUT OF HERE PLEASE

Monastery Swiftspear (art by Steve Argyle)

I’ve come to think of the current era of MtG art (let’s arbitrarily say from Kaladesh block to the present) as the “Magali Villeneuve era”, and if I’m being totally honest, I kind of hate it. Everything is technically competent, clearly lit, and immaculately detailed. Everyone has amazing cheekbones. It is so, so boring. I’m not at all saying she’s a bad artist! Sometimes, as with Kaldheim, she is very nearly the only person in a set making good art. I’ve featured her work on here many, many times.

What I am saying is that her work always has this, like, objectivity to it that feels detached and even alienating, like we’re looking at these characters through a powerful telescope. There’s no stylization, and dare I say no style.

The reason I bring her up in a set in which I will not be reviewing her work (sorry, Narset fans), is that Steve Argyle makes for an interesting comparison. They are to my untrained eye very similar artists: the sharp linework, the combination of dynamics and detachment. The major difference is that Steve’s art is substantially hornier and substantially male-gazier.

And goddammit, at least that’s something.

I HAVE THIS OPINION BECAUSE I’M A BAD FEMINIST. AND I DESERVE TO BE PUNISHED ABOUT IT

Unyielding Krumar (art by Viktor Titov)

I’m not sure why Viktor made this orc look like a ripped lizard man. None of the other orcs in this block look like this. Maybe he thought “krumar” was a species of lizard folk, when in point of fact a krumar is, checks notes, an orphan of the Mardu raised by the Abzan who killed their parents in a twist of worldbuilding regrettably reminiscent of a strategy used in real-world genocides. Whoops!

Anyway, big arms. Lizard person. Sorry about your family.

WIZARDS STAY CLASSY I GUESS

Ire Shaman (art by Jack Wang)

Yeah, see, extremely not a lizard.

We’re not going to talk about armor practicality because that is very much beside the point, but we were all thinking it, and I want to acknowledge that before moving onto saying nice things about what all the leather bands are doing for her arms, and what this lamellar bustier is doing for her tits.

YEAH I KNOW WHAT LAMELLAR IS. PRETTY HOT, RIGHT

Den Protector (art by Viktor Titov)

I am not immune to mothers, nor women in furs, and I’m especially not immune to women with big two-handed weapons (in either sense, I suppose.) I really like the sense of motion in this picture, and the dynamic thrust of the landscape behind her, and... hm. Is her right-hand grip reversed from what it should be? Dammit, that’s going to bother me.

I LIKE MY WOMEN TO HAVE BETTER GRIP TECHNIQUE IS ALL I’M SAYING

Wandering Champion (art by Willian Murai)

I am trying really, really hard not to date myself by a reference to a shitty 20-year-old flash animation. Anyway! she has flexibility, power, and isn’t afraid of a little viscera now and again. All excellent qualities.

I AM HONESTLY EXERCISING IMMENSE SELF-RESTRAINT HERE

Sultai Flayer (art by Izzy)

Sorry, do you not want a forty-foot androgyne snake person to remove your skin with tender, agonizing slowness? Are you lost?

WHY DON’T YOU MARRY YOUR SKIN IF YOU’RE SO GODDAMN ATTACHED TO IT. PUSSY.

Highspire Mantis (art by Igor Kieryluk)

I did the mantis bit in my Battle for Zendikar post, but I thought I’d actually dig into what the appeal is here: raptorial forelimbs. The inescapable, serrated hold of something that could slice you open as easy as thinking, but hasn’t yet. The smoothness of chitin, hard without being inflexible. The many strange articulations. And then either you make out or it eats your head, and it is not up to you which.

WHEN WILL WIZARDS GIVE US THE MANTIS-FUCKER REPRESENTATION WE DESERVE. ROSEWATER’S SILENCE ON THIS ISSUE IS DEAFENING.

Alright, that’s Tarkir down! Who knows what’s next? Probably a very cranky explanation of what fiction is and why it’s okay to like fictional bad guys (it’s because they’re not real.) At first I thought that was going to be a more interesting topic, but the more I think about it the more it seems like it’s...really not. I can have fun with it, though! Thanks for reading, and I’ll see y’all next time.

---------

*the first-ever transgender girl out of Magic/had to settle on a name/and the top three contenders after weeks of debate/were Alesha/and Shensu/and the Kolaghan Bomber

#magic the gathering #tarkir

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stoshasaurus · 5 months

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i just ranted about this to some friends so i'm gonna rant about it here because everyone needs to hear this. EVERYONE.

DO NOT SELF-DEPRECATE!! CRITIQUE YOURSELF!!

as an artist and a writer i hear this ALL THE FUCKING TIME. someone will show me their work and go "this is so bad, i'm sorry, this looks awful."

i cannot begin to express in words how much that shit pisses me off. self-deprecation does not gain my sympathy. it gains my absolute unfathomable rage. it makes me red in the fucking face.

do you not like something that you did? okay. GIVE ME A REASON WHY!

don't like how you drew something? why? were the proportions off? don't like the linework? is the coloring too messy? the shading? the lighting? the background? what don't you like? why don't you like it?

don't like how you wrote something? why? is the tone strange? is the pacing off? bad grammar, spelling, punctuation? bad spacing? what don't you like? why don't you like it?

this self-critiquing literally applies to everything, even outside of artistic works. it applies to school essays, conversations, human character. if you don't like something, especially if that something is something that you have made or done, give me a fucking reason why. NOTHING IS BAD SIMPLY ON THE BASIS THAT IT IS YOURS. THAT IS NOT A VALID REASON. IT NEVER HAS BEEN, AND NEVER WILL BE.

you are allowed to hate your work. every creator has done something that they don't like, some more frequently than others. that's natural. that is allowed. what i hate is when people hate their work simply because it is their work. they completely lose their motivation to make because they hate everything that they make and cannot come up with a single genuine reason why.

give me a reason. "it just looks bad" is not good enough. end of story. i won't hear anything otherwise. self-deprecation does not gain my sympathy. it gains my fucking ire, is what it gains.

be confident in your work. self-analyzation is one of the best ways to improve your work. always self-analyze. you learn to do it unconsciously. if you can come up with at least one reason why you don't like something you've done, you can come up with a solution on how to avoid that problem the next time. you know better, you do better.

so do not self-deprecate. self-critique. have confidence. be assured; everything you do is good, even if it has elements to it that you do not like. creation in and of itself is a good thing, no matter how much you might hate it. simply doing is better than not doing anything at all. adopting this mindset will improve your confidence and ensure that you make more things and do better in the future.

hope this helps. go make some good shit.

#i talk #fucking listen to me talk because a lot of people need to hear this #i support you #angrily

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princemick-archive · 2 years

Note

i hope it's okay if i send you this but i'm pretty new to the f1 side of tumblr and don't really know the ins and outs yet and you're literally the first blog i came across and you seem really popular and talented so i thought i'd ask you for some blog recommendations? and maybe you'd know if there's any like fandom etiquette one should follow on f1 tumblr that's different from general tumblr etiquette because i know some fandoms have some extra unspoken rules and all that

Hi nonnie ofc it's okay!! so here's:

kyle, princemick's beginners guide to f1blr!

basic rules to f1blr:

please always tag any kind of crash, they happen, theyre scary please remember to tag them with 'crash tw'

don't cross tag keep the right drivers in the right tags, we dont wanna see max in the ferrari tag or charles in the merc tag etc

tag your hate with 'anti *insert driver*' (use first name not both first and last so it doesnt show up in the main tags) and don't go looking in those tags for ur fav just to defend them that's annoying ass hell

basic things to remember:

rpf is very likely to happen, if you dont enjoy it no worries to blacklist or not follow people who are active in it BUT rpf does happen a lot casually as jokes etc so dont take it to seriously

everyone has their favs and critize everyone, the block and unfollow button is right there, its still sport. curate your own experience.

NOW kyle's blog rec list below the cut!

go and support and show some love, they're all incredible creators and organized by fav driver/genre of content so please take some time to check them out!! (tried to explain what they mostly do but some just rb and post so ajksdb theyre still all amazing though)

a lot of these are also mixed in who they support, I put them in the catagory of people I identify them w most.

also tumblr is a dick so has a tag limit which means half of these are links so there are a bunch of people in here who didnt get a notif that they're in this post, so rip.

FIRST OFF follow my most beloveds @milflewis and @yeericcihaw theyre two of the most important people in my life who are on their own incredible creators, niamh is an incredible writer and fran a wonderful gif maker. both of them make tumblr so so much better for me and I love them dearly

general f1 blogs/people i think everyone should follow:

@race-week should be in everyone's following if they call themselves an f1 fan // @maranello THE ferrari blog (and incredible editor) // @brawn-gp incredible editor, ferrari main // @formulaoneisajoke lando main // @h-f-k amazing graphic designer // @alpinegasly insane f1 poster designer // @f1-stuff mosttly ferrari gifs that are incredibly and high quality // @yukierree irl friend and wonderful graphic designer // @husbono amazing writer and graphic designer // @hakkinens one of the source for classic f1 stuff also lew/seb/charles main // @greenliketheskyf1pics the classic f1 blog // @edoardo-mortara one of the non f1 motorsport blog // @josefnewgayden also one of the non f1 motorsport blogs // @oscar-piastri one of the best gifmakers/editors on this website

artists:

@souriadraws incredible artist // @alboncat amazingly stylistic and cute artist // @stoffelwdc incredible artist // @russilton incredible artist with a really distinct style // @absurdt funny and cute artist // @livetogether--diealone amazing charles main artist // @ruszhou incredible artist and george/yuki/guanyu main // @sebsxmp amazing linework // @mangocito incredibly cute artist // @cedobols the seb artist // @hyonibee one of the cutests styles

writers:

@stuckonspidey one of the mick writers in the fandom imo // @effervescentdragon insane (affectionate) and incredible writer // @schulott amazing schullot writer // @redpaint charles fan and writer

mick:

@acrosstobear 1/3 of the pilars of mickblr // @boomacher 2/3 of the pilars of mickblr // @mickstart the schumacher blog on this side of tumblr // @userhamilton funny, creative and gifmaker // @grussell63 funny and insane (affectionate) also big merc fan // @guanyu-ilott mick/callum main

charles:

@leqclerc incredible editor // @16whispers writer // @lukamodric wonerful editor // @mssr-monagato dramatic and a tifosi // @dobbiamo-capire tifosi and local italian translator // @monacoprince amazing editor // @ferrariprince16 major tifosi // @lileclair charles main // @lolaleclerc charles main // @finalgirlcharlesleclerc charles main // @c2stan one of the charles blogs // @balaclavacharles another one of the charles blogs

seb:

@lisandro-vettel very funny seb main // @teamgreenheart seb/lew main // @4xmulti21champion the ted kravits source // @005seb seb/alex main // @multi-2-1 seb main // @unhinged-vettel incredible designer // @youjustwaitsunshine funny ass seb main

lew:

@teamroscoes the lew blog // @lewki lew/yuki main // @xiaozhous guanyu/lew main // @danielssmile danny/lew/george main // @alexanderalbons seb/lew/alex main // @andreagrimes val/seb main also nando but won't admit it also incredible artist

other:

@spygate nando main, very funny // @beparwah96 yuki main, v creative // @formulaonedirection lando main, very funny // @pierrelli pierre main, cool ass editor // @its-always-silly-season funny ass hell // @dilfgrassi danny and lew main also fe fan // @tsuchansworld one of the yuki blog on this site // @gcsly the pierre giffer // @lesellieknope danny main // @estebanbicon este main // @raceweek the alex blog // @robinfrinjs one of the FE blogs // @estiebestieban este main

I think that's it!! go and support all these amazing blogs, this is bascially just my following list so it's how I've curated my tl and it's a wonderful place so highly reccomend.

#kyle.answers #anon #I hope I didnt like misorganize or misexplain smth #pls tell me if u want me to explain u differently #blog recs #formula 1 #f1

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rileyclaw · 2 years

Note

Lovely pumpkin patch fanart! (All of your art is awesome, actually.)

Any advice for someone who struggles with backgrounds? Cause, dang, that's a lot of pumpkins.

firstly thank you so much!!

And secondly-- I can offer a few tips and tricks I use in backgrounds to help? I luckily have some screenshots of the pumpkin piece in the basic stages I made it in- and ill kinda go over my thought process for it??

I always look for at least a few pics for reference, even if all I do is just nab colour from it or an idea for layout- and I lay out this super simple sketch. (If it was architecture or an interior, I might do a box model in Blender or Maya, depending on complexity! Cuz hard edges in perspective make me wanna cry fr)

Most of this layout was from my brain but I definitely needed help with all those pumpkins so I stared at a field of pumpkins and kinda mimicked how they all.. overlapped. Lots of circles that I'm pretty sure kept turning into ovals but I didn't care enough to fix because hey!! Im not going for perfect, Im going for what makes me go "yeah this looks SICK and it WORKS who cares about the small stuff"

For me this is all I need to get begun colouring - it's different when I'm doing flat colour with linework, since that needs more intricacy (for me at least!) - but I go in and block in my basic colours and values with usually only a lasso tool, paint buckets, and maybe a mixy-painty brush or two for adding more variation in colour. (sorry I was taking screenshots in Clip to send to friends FHSJD so they're all wonky)

Keep in mind your fore, middle, and backgrounds!! - and how those values will contrast with one another! I marked the far back with the yellow trees, the middle with a more saturated orange, and the foreground with the more 'darkened' pumpkins. That'll help you imply depth in a 2d image.

From that point on for me it was all refinement! My cake is there, now it needs the "frosting". I usually add in characters after laying out a scene because I find it easier perspective-wise but it's different for everyone! I go in and fix weird colours that don't work, add things like atmospheric perspective (when things farther away appear "lighter/less saturated" bc of the atmosphere between you and it) and tiny details until,, eventually this happens??

This is just the way I've found I normally go about backgrounds!! I was kinda self taught on environments so maybe my process is wacky but it's mine and it works most of the time!! at least, for what I want to make .

(and with all the pumpkins, if you look closely you notice I barely rendered most of them at all! I just gave them the contour of their sides-- tedious, sure, but I think it only took maybe 20 minutes and was easier than me going in and making each one perfectly rendered because haha! n o )

#this got away from me. I wouldve just gifed the images but Im currently on my phone FHSDJHJSD im like sitting in a cafe between classes #riley talks #long post #riley rambles about art #new tag for when i get art questions bc it baffles me people come to me for this #i love you all!!! but its a baffling experience to have people be like and i probably do but damn!!#i am a deer in the headlights

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soyouareandrewdobson · 7 months

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TIMBER! The artistic Growth thing...

I apologize for the recent silence almost immediately after I came back. Unfortunately the last weeks were affected by personal and work stuff that I think no one cares about here, so I was unable to write much.

That said, plans are in the making and I thought today I would at the very least bring out one comic that to me is not necessarily wrong in the message Dobson conveys, but does after all not apply much to him

The thing about this comic is, that Dobson is not necessarily entirely wrong. There are people who believe that artistic growth is more or less developing in a progressive line, kinda artificially. Which based on my own experience, is not really the case. At least I have seen artists, writers and such, who, if allowed to grow in a more “organic” manner, will eventually manage to create stuff and tell stories with a more unique flavor than they did before. The “key” however to do so is to also think at least partly outside the box and being “genuine” with what you want to create. Case in point for me: Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels.

While I did enjoy a lot of Pratchett’s early novels in the Discworld cycle, I will admit that it wasn’t really until “Mort” and “MacBest” that I think Pratchett started to move away from simply “spoofing” the common tropes in fantasy fiction while telling a story and that it was around that time, he really started to flesh the Discworld out in the manner that many people came to love, while also giving flavor to it with his unique sense of humor. And Moving Pictures in that regard was the true definitive turning point, as from there on we “left” the classical fantasy tropes in favor of a fantasy world more akin to a 19th century fantasy world, entering the industrial revolution and everything that it included. But Pratchett, in order to reach that point in his career as a writer, and in regard of his Discworld mythology, had to start somewhere with novels the like of “The Light Fantastic” and “Colours of Magic” and had to "progressively" improve at least to some degree before reaching the point he could organically breach out.

Which brings me to the following: Dobson claiming that there is no “linear progression” at times is kinda wrong. Particularly when you are familiar with long running manga series such as One Piece or certain webcomics. From a technical aspect, there is “progress” so to speak. Look at One Piece and how chapters are drawn e.g. back during the East Blue or Alabasta Cycle and compare the linework e.g. with how things escalate in the Wano arc. Oda obviously became more comfortable fleshing out panels even more than before.

Drum vs Wano...

Another example: Compare THIS early strip of a certain internet webcomic…

With how it looks nowadays

Yeah, I know sinfest is utter garbage made by a demagogue WAY WORSE than Dobson (honestly, fuck Ishida with a broken bottle), but technically speaking, he “evolved”.

Next, let me just say that I find the assumption of Dobson that “most” people think artistic growth is “only” an artificial linear process, kinda insulting. Mostly because I think that most of us are aware that it is rather a mixture of “organic” growth and linear progress, rather than one extreme or the other. But obviously, Dobson must claim this is the “truth” about most people, cause otherwise, his take isn’t “unique” anymore and he isn’t special. Special for making a whimsical, romanticized and “creative” statement about artistic growth being more like a tree. Free to grow and beautiful to look at. Something we must nurture and care for.

Yeah, about that, in regard of the last line that reads, and I quote: Everyone is different and everyone grows at different speed. Through loving care and constant nurturing, you’ll always improve.

I think we all know Dobson well enough, that what he really is saying is the following:

I am different than others and I grow at my own pace. Please, I will improve if you give me likes and pay for my stuff instead of giving me mean criticism I can not stand. Now let me just phrase it in a manner that sounds like I say something compassionate that can apply to every person, hiding my own insecurities and selfish wishes.

In that regard, let me show you the beauty of Dobson’s artistic growth as of present day.

Okay, snark put aside at least partly, I do agree that yes, people are different and as artists can grow at different speed. Often times other factors, such as personal life experiences, exposure to stuff outside their certain comfort zones or even just having the right tools to work with, can affect a lot the artistic growth of a person.

I even agree, that “loving care and nurturing” (or in other words, positive feedback and support, at times, even financially) can help. But where I draw the line is at “constant nurturing”, because that feels like to Dobson, the only way he or other artists can ever improve is only through praise and nothing more. No. No Dobson, you also need to at least tolerate at times “criticism” and negative feedback. And I don’t mean stuff like “kill yourself, faggot”, I mean when someone tells an artist for example that certain technical aspects of his work, such as linework, positions, storytelling etc. need genuinely to be worked on. Because guess what? Getting your mistakes pointed out, doesn’t necessarily need to be something negative. It can also be something positive, if it genuinely helps you learn from those mistakes and improve your work.

Not that Dobson ever learnt how to deal with “criticism” in a positive manner anyway, as evident by journal posts as followed...

And this piece of “artwork”

Comic with stabbed critics

Not to forget, the person who gives us this “advice” is the same person who did not really live by any of it himself. I mean, Dobson claims that artistic growth is doing best when allowed to grow organically, slowly and steady and that as time goes on, it will also branch out and diverge.

I will say this: Yes, there are content creators who tend to branch out at times also from their “familiar” tone and style, just for the sake of creating art. Gendy Tartakovsky comes to mind, having started off in very cartoonish stuff like Dexter’s Lab and Powerpuff Girls, only to then also give us Samurai Jack, Primal and Unicorn-Warriors Eternal. Not having really betrayed his roots (as evident e.g. also by his involvement with the Hotel Transylvania franchise), but branching out to different degree.

When did Andrew Dobson ever “branch out” or diverge? His original stories such as Formera and Alex the Pirate, which were derivative of humor and pacing issues related to comedic mangas of the late 80s and early 90s as well as newspaper comic strips, were utter failures he abandoned around the late 2000s/early 2010s.

Most of the stuff he ever created was random fanart, and if anything he actually got worse over time. Having perhaps once upon a time created some decent fanart…

And then later providing people more with stuff like that, where he doesn’t even get the original design of the characters right

Even a low effort comic such as SYAC had become lazier and lazier over the years. Mostly because instead of just telling a joke, you had most of the time just Dobbear over the course of four panels stand in a green void and blubber on how he thinks certain artists or fans sucked because of opinions they had.

The most he ever bothered to “branch out” was ironically when he worked for brentalfloss, as the guy forced Dobson essentially to draw more detailed backgrounds at times than he ever did for anything else.

And the deal with Brentalfloss ended by 2012 or even earlier.

The only other noteworthy creations he made in his last years online would be the Adventure Zone comic that no one asked for (essentially turning some podcast into a comic that had severe pacing issues. Something Adventure Zone fans pointed out) and Miraculous Ladybug comics he made, because that shitstain on the magical girl genre became his new favorite.

And the later were just an extension of the dumb, unfunny and meanspirited newspaper level humor he was already famous for when it came to Alex ze Pirate and early SYAC.

Not to forget, he couldn’t even draw the characters remotely close to the show’s style, something he even pointed out himself.

JESUS! She looks like a farting squirrel with mental disorders.

Dobson himself may have hated his younger self and what he drew…

But you just have to look e.g. at his “Inktober” contributions in later years to see, how much within the shortest amount of time he could regress artistically instead of grow.

To clarify: The Dr. Who pic was in his first year of doing inktober. The not on model Gary was on his second, and the Dipper one on his last year of participating in it. And he actively decided out of spite to no longer work with ink the second year forward, because the first time he did it, he felt insulted by people actually paying him positive attention again in years among other things.

Truth be told, Dobson had all the time in the world within the 15+ years he was an online presence. And even with people like me making fun of him and criticizing his work, he still could have done something to improve artistically for the better and grow into a beautiful tree.

Instead he shriveled up to some stinking flora with a lot of pricks and was stomped out by natural forces, leaving me and others behind to further salt the earth on which he grew.

Turning from this...

to this!

With his very last project known as Cabin Rest ending up pretty much like that:

#so you are a cartoonist #adobsonartwork #andrew dobson #artistic growth #comic #webcomic #hypocrisyofandrewdobson

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thedeafprophet · 3 months

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#1 and #7 for the art asks? (from @neathyingenue btw ;D)

1.When did you start creating art?

I would argue that everyone, always, and forever is making art in their own invidual unique ways. while we may have certain perspectives on various art forms, i think to create is simply part of being human.

....if u wanna know when i started drawing i would say maybe around 13/14 was when i frist started sketching? I was never one of those kids who's been 'drawing since they could hold a pencil' or whatever. I never really had any natural inflication towards drawing - as a younger kid i spent more of my creative time building structures out of popsicle sticks and whatever else i got my hands on.

When i was in my preteens/early teens, i mostly started trying to draw because my friends at the time were all doing it and i felt left out 😅😅 it was a bit of an uphill climb starting from a place with less experience and no natural talent for it.

I sorta clawed my way up from there, trying and failing since then. The real skill of an artist isn't drawing in my mind; its continuing to work at it even when you feel like it sucks.

I only really have my digital art saved back to when i was 18, but i started doing it a bit before then. And it was only in the last few years that I really feel like ive gotten a handle on how I draw, where i've ever felt solidly good about things i create, even if i still struggle with self esteem. Its funny what having a muse, so to speak, in your own characters will do for your art.

hmm. this. turned into a ramble. apologies lmao

All that is too say: For awhile and with determination to not back down from it.

7. Who are some artists that have inspired you?

So when I was 13 I was like, really really into Skyrim. Like. A lot lmao. (And one of the first things i really tried learning how to draw was my skyrim character. )

Anyway, the point of this is that my biggest art influence when i was a kid was Kayla Marquez/thewickwheat on tumblr, who used to do a lot of skyrim oc art, and was very inspirational for me learning how to draw. I feel you can probably still see remenants of that past in the way i draw now. I still seriously recommend checking her stuff out, her character design and linework is phenomoinal to me to this day.

I would say one of my current inspirations, of which im sure is no surprise, is J.C Leyendecker. Specifically in the way he draws clothing. While we obviously have quite different styles, i found our form when it comes to cloothing folds to feel somewhat similar, so i find using his stuff to be very inspirational when it comes to how i approach clothes now, especially suits and shirts.

Beyond that its like... so many artists. Honestly i'd need a whole seperate ramble of a poss just for that alone, and i've already rambled. I have hundreds of photos done by various artists i like saved and sorted across different artstyles on my computer to look at and Be Inspired By. I would say now adays i take a lot of inspiration from Edwardian and Victorian era paintings in general, as im drawing the topics of those contents quite a lot.

Ask Game From Here!

#ah i had a lot to say about these.... uh hope u dont mind the ramble lmao #and yes hello i know ur main blog name XD <3 i know everyones if they use a sideblog #i pay attention 👁️👁️#ask game

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