#I can make perspective and detailed drawings if I really try so I decided to do one today

[autistic-shaiapouf]

Screaming and crying

#i KNOW what I'm trying to do i just. augh nothing I'm putting on the page feels good ://// #decided to maybe not do a wild perspective on him but then it's like. i need to angle his head somehow #he needs an arm out to make the jupiter symbol... maybe something head-on? that's what I'm planning for komugi #like the idea i have for her has to be done with no perspective; just a straight forward angle #this guy on the othet hand. the amount of details on meruem makes me wanna scream there's just so many.... #you can see i never draw him fully articulated bc it drives me insane. a billion tiny pieces just like a real bug #hm yeah maybe I'll make him face forward and make slightly creepy eye contact and see if i can make that work #i REALLY wanna do these pieces and figures I'd knock out the most detailed one first but i literally cant find a starting point 😭 #hoatm rants

[netflix]

Spotlight: Adam Stockhausen

Production Designer, The Wonderful Story Henry Sugar

Oscar winning production designer Adam Stockhausen (not pictured above, that’s Benedict Cumberbatch), whose work you may know from Wes Anderson films like The Grand Budapest Hotel, Asteroid City, The French Dispatch, Isle of Dogs, and Moonrise Kingdom, as well as titles like Bridge of Spies, and West Side Story (2021), took the time to answer some questions.

Which details from or aspects of The Wonderful Story Henry Sugar did you focus the most on while adapting it to the screen? How did you meld Roald Dahl and Wes’s worlds?

The details on this one started with Dahl’s writing hut! We matched the details pretty carefully and exactly. As soon as we step outside of the hut though we start to move through the world of the story and the world of the stage at the same time. Wes had the idea of how he wanted to do this from the very beginning. My main challenge was trying to figure out how to pull it off—making the parts move and getting each to have the right detail.

What’s a small change you made on a project that ended up having an unexpectedly significant impact? 

Lots of times this happens—where what seems like a small thing at the time becomes a very significant turning point. I’m in Berlin now writing this and remembering being here scouting for East Berlin for Bridge of Spies. We were struggling to find a section of town that still felt old enough to show the early 60s, and decided to take a chance on a quick search in Poland. That quick search changed the whole production plan and ultimately gave us the look of our East Berlin.

How has technology changed the way you approach your work? 

Technology has definitely changed the way we plan the work. We used to model everything in cardboard or sometimes just plan in two dimensions with pencil and paper. We can now plan in 3-dimensional space using modeling programs and see what real lenses will do.  This allows for more accurate planning and makes scenery moves like the casino set in Henry Sugar possible.

Do you have any signature easter eggs you like to leave? Any small details that you are particularly fond of? 

I wouldn’t say there are easter eggs in this one. But there are loads of special details! I think my favorite might be the levitation boxes where we painted a perspective view of the background onto a prop box. The actor sitting on the box appears to be floating in a very special and theatrical way.

Did you talk about reflecting the iconic Quentin Blake illustrations in production design? How would you go about doing that? 

Not really. They are such incredible drawings and I’d say they’ve been inspiring me since I saw them as a child! But for this the starting point was really the machine Wes devised to move us through the story—and pairing that to specific references scene by scene.

There is such an intentionality to the aesthetics of a Wes world. Is there a set or frame that took you a long time to get perfectly right? 

All of them! It’s a very labor-intensive process getting these frames right. Occasionally one will click right away, but usually it’s a process of refining and refining. The jungle for instance went from sketches to models to samples and back again several times before the final look settled.

If you had to present one frame that showcases the best of your work, what would it be? 

Oh my. Maybe the jungle? I really enjoyed making the jungle!

With all the moving sets in the trailer for The Wonderful Story Henry Sugar, it feels reminiscent of a theatre production. Are there distinct differences in approach between film and theatre and how much do you blur the lines between them in your work? 

I think the lines are blurred completely! Or maybe they aren’t even there. I love that Henry Sugar is so incredibly theatrical in its storytelling.  It allows us to show the artifice of the sets all the time which somehow makes them even more satisfying when they finally do line up and create a complete picture. I think the casino set is a perfect example—the pauses where it all lines up for a second are even more enjoyable because we get to see it broken apart and sliding away.

Thanks, Adam!

#spotlight #entertainment spotlight #adam stockhausen #wes anderson #production design #filmblr #wes weaving #web weaving

[godbirdart]

Looking at your recent commissions, those backgrounds are soo pretty!! Do you have any tips for backgrounds? I always struggle with them :>

aAA many many thanks!!

backgrounds can absolutely be a struggle but they don't have to be! they just require a little more creative planning~!

whether it be a commission or a personal drawing, if I'm building an elaborate art piece i focus on establishing the background First.

the background is the stage for your character! planning the background first will make it easier to tailor the character's actions and how they interact with the environment around them.

planning the background first can be the difference between your character standing awkwardly front and center with the setting going on behind them, or actually participating in their environment.

if i'm super stumped for background ideas, i browse stock image sites to get inspiration. sometimes it helps to doodle on an image to generate some ideas - kinda like you're playing with JPEGs like dolls.

that said - while i'm pinpointing WHAT i want to draw, i keep the ideas loose. i don't want to focus on the itty-bitty details until i've got the overall aesthetic and layout in mind, as i might get inspired to add something in later!

THUMBNAILING

if you're planning a big piece it can be helpful to break it down into something bite-sized before you go all in and start lining or painting. these are "thumbnails" - fast little sketches that establish the scene in a way that doesn't consume a lot of time or effort. it's also great as a little perspective exercise as a treat.

here i decided i want to draw a character walking home in a back alley street. with these photo references in mind, i can plan a layout and how the character will act in the scene. is this a candid shot? are they posing cutely? are they looking down at us in a tense way? there are many ideas to be had!

after you've chosen the layout / vibe for your idea, you can scale up your thumbnail to your preferred canvas size and start fleshing out the details. be sure to keep referring to your reference images to get additional ideas, such as storefronts, items, props etc!

3D MODELS

If you're trying to create a unique environment that photo references simply cannot help you visualize, 3D models exist! This gives you that ability to rotate / scale things for better visualization. Clip Studio has a vast catalogue of 3D models to download For Free that you can fiddle around with. i know there are many 3D builder sites out there as well, though i've never made use of them so i'm afraid i cannot recommend any off the top of my head. hell, you can even use the Sims game to design a setting and go from there!

also if anyone is going to come into my house and say 3D models are cheating: they are not. using a 3D model to better grasp an angle or get a better idea for perspective is not cheating. using 3D models to help plan the environment in your art is not cheating. they are no different than brushes; these are tools made to HELP YOU. use them!

PERSPECTIVE

perspective and angles can make a HUGE difference in the art piece. there's nothing wrong with static long shots! if that's what you want to draw, do it!! there's no right and wrong here!

but if you're finding your work to be a little robotic and stiff, slap an angle in there. consider an overhead view. these same techniques are applied to photography and film! nothing wrong with wide shots, but every once in a while it can help to throw in a dutch angle.

if there is one note i'd like to leave off on, it's that your backgrounds do not have to be 100% accurate-to-life to be Good. unless realism is something you're really striving for in your style, don't feel compelled to nitpick every brick and leaf in your art. us artists can tend to over-prune our work until our art looks a little bare and soulless. flaws can give your work character, and that's often a lot more appealing than how accurate the scale ratio between background building A and building B are [again, unless you WANT to go for that realistic look then you can fuss over those details all you like].

i hope this helped a little! MY APOLOGIES FOR MAKING IT SO LONG AH

#art advice #art tutorials #godbirdart #long post

[brother-emperors]

how long do you typically spend drawing a comic page? I'm a perfectionist and I have a hard time keeping a reasonable working pace for comics

so I’m actually going to not answer this one (the answer is both less and more time than people think, and it depends) but instead I’m going to give you some advice on how to deal with perfectionism when it comes to making comics

the first thing is to see if you can kill your inner perfectionist, which basically means, can you get comfortable with imperfections? this is something that can be difficult to do, but it can also really take some weight off your shoulders if you can look at a line that’s a little squiggly instead of perfectly smooth and move on from it. there’s a whole page, a single wonky line, is like. fine, especially if you’re doing more than one page.

if not, that’s okay! we’re moving on to the 75%-80% rule, which is: figure out what giving 100% in art looks like for you, then find out what giving 70%-80% looks like. As a person, you can probably consistently give 80% to any given illustration, but doing 100% all the time is going to fuck you up in the long run. If you can get comfortable consistently giving a 80%, you can then decide when you want to crank it up for dramatic effect, or you can save going all in on something fun or a big project. if perfectionism is a hard habit to break, instead try it reframe it as giving a ‘perfect’ 80% instead of 100. it’s all about that overall visual consistency, baby!

comics can feel like doing seven or eight individual illustrations on a page (panels) and some people definitely tackle them this way, and that makes learning what you can consistently give without wanting to shove your hands into cement very important. If every panel is a solid 80%, the entire page looks Good (which means the entire page is working at 100% because you have visual consistency/coherency and that’s what matters)

ideally, you reach a point where you can gauge what a good 80% of what you can give looks like across an entire sequence. for me, Trikaranos is operating at 80% while Ex Voto is 70% (part of it is that Trikaranos is more demanding, while Ex Voto is more casual and vibes based, but for both I put a lot more work into formatting and lettering)

part of what can help with all of this is figuring out a good work pipeline that encourages finishing up a sequence to keep you from getting stuck agonizing on small details

a decent one is this

thumbnails > rough pencils > do tight pencils where you think you’ll need it (I do tight pencils on facial expressions, furniture if there are bodies on it, and perspective shots) > inks > colors > lettering

adjust it based on whatever your own needs are, etc.

what’s imperative to this is that you don’t do the pencils > inks > coloring stages in sequential order, but instead jump around so that you don’t burn your energy through it (in that there’s a drop in quality as you either get tired or start to rush). Jumping around lets you spread out your high energy points and it picks up the slack for when you want to just get it done, but also it forcibly keeps you from spending too much time on one specific thing. (which is why breaking it up into stages is important, instead something like finishing one whole page from pencils to colors and then doing the next one)

when I do single page comics, I usually alternate every other panel, when I do multi page comics, I’ll either alternate entire pages or I’ll do the first and last pages at the start, and then jump around the middle in whatever order I feel like.

whenever I find myself spending too much time on something, I will set a playlist that has either a 15 minute or half hour run time, and when I reach the last song, if I’m still fucking around focusing on one thing, I’ll make myself move in and return to it later. I do this the most with the inking stage so that I don’t over ink something (I find crosshatching relaxing, but it doesn’t often look good because I do too much in one place and it looks bad because it doesn’t work with the rest of the panels and then I have to start over), and then I can go back to a panel with fresh eyes later and decide whether or not more detail is necessary for the whole page to look good, or if it’s fine as is.

and ofc, the most important guideline of all: the Fuck It, We’re Done rule, which is at some point, you may look at a page and go ‘I don’t want to work on this any more, I’m tired, it’s not fun, I’ll be stuck here forever, etc’ and that’s when you put your pencil down, physically move back from the page, and figure out what the bare minimum amount of work you need to do in order for the whole page to be coherent is, do JUST THAT, and post it.

at the end of the day, it’s the whole page that’s important, not all the individual details, so try not to focus on too many small details early on, but instead go back and add them in closer to the end. You can clean up any line art mistakes that are bothering you here at this stage too.

finally, don’t zoom in too close on a digital canvas, especially if you’re doing pencils. there’s no reason for a reader to zoom in close like that unless you specifically want them too, spare your hands the agony of tiny details that won’t be seen when you upload it at viewer resolutions. I know artists who won’t go past 150% because those details won’t show up at print resolutions.

HEUGHGHHH this is so so long, but hopefully there is some helpful advice in there for you, anon

#ask tag #long post #art supply tag #like technically #it’s more like art advice but the same kind of deal #ymmv this is a very professional ‘I have deadlines to meet’ type of thing. because I had deadlines to meet lmao #this is also close to how the American industry pros go about doing it. so. spare yourself the student loan debt #and modify it away to suit your needs

[armoreddragon]

how did you first get into making this stuff? do you enjoy it?

There's a lot of possible answers here.

For a couple years after college, I worked at a laser engraving and cutting shop. Leather was a material we knew we could cut, but nobody ever asked for it, so I looked up some basic info and put together some masks as demo pieces. Then I got fired for unrelated reasons, but decided to keep going with the masks on my own. A decade later, I’m still going.

I've always enjoyed making things. The focused calm of working a craft, the challenge of finding the problems that need solving, followed by the satisfaction of holding in your hands something that hadn't exited before. It’s hard to beat that feeling. If you haven’t done it for a while, I highly recommend making a habit of it.

Sometime in college I realized that if I kept making things just for myself, I would eventually run out of both space in my closet and money in my bank account. So I took the best photos I could of what I had, and started posting it up on Etsy.

In high school ceramics class, I had an idea to try and make a flexible dragon skin out of little bits of clay, all glazed differently. I had no idea how to do this. A friend of mine was like "Yo it sounds like you want to look up how to make chainmail for that." She was right.

I work in architecture by day, and the decision to do that was unrelated but definitely related to my crafting obsession. Designing a kitchen, a café, a house, takes months or years of work, most of which is tedious details like picking tile patterns or looking up exactly what order to layer different sealant tapes to make sure the walls are watertight. Designing a crafting project gives me a creative outlet that is immediate. I can sit down for an afternoon and take an idea from a sketch on trace paper, to a final mask formed up out of leather. There's an excitement to that. A reminder that, yes, I can make cool stuff quickly, without needing to sink two years into a project.

For a while I worked to teach myself to draw. I managed to get pretty decent at sketching from life, with a moderate understanding of anatomy and perspective. I liked art, so I thought I wanted to make art. But I struggled with it. If I was drawing something from my imagination, no matter how well I managed to put the lines down on the paper, I would ultimately look at it and just be sad that it didn't exist in the real world. So eventually I gave up on the drawing part, and focused on the part I seemed to actually care about.

I can't envision a version of myself that doesn't make things. I think on some fundamental level, I measure my worth as a person based on what I put forth into the world. I don't know what else to do.

When you decide to turn a hobby into a business, it of course takes some of the delight away. It's no longer something you do when you want to relax and have some fun. It becomes an obligation, to make and ship orders on time, to pack up your stuff and bring it to craft fairs, to track your expenses and file your taxes, to stay on top of the constantly changing social media landscape. But it also lights a fire under your ass. You can't just keep making the same thing you made three years ago–you have to keep making new stuff, keep improving your techniques, keep reaching for new ideas that have never been made before. You lose some of the joy, but you gain a lot of satisfaction.

All through my childhood I filled my closet with little handicrafts kits, that I got as gifts or that caught my eye when following my dad to the art store. Calligraphy, wood carving, weaving looms, boondoggles, spirographs, knitting, crochet, fancy nautical knots, sculpey, and more that I can't remember. After all those different things, I’m so glad that I found a couple specific crafts that really grabbed me, that take enough work to develop expertise, that have expansive enough applications and possibilities, that I could devote a decade or more of my time to focusing on them.

I’d been interested in the furry fandom ever since little fantasy reading teenager me tried looking for stories where the dragons were the main characters, and I found people online who were doing just that. There’s a powerful do-it-yourself attitude that’s baked into the core of the fandom: The world isn’t giving us the art that we want, so we’re going to make it ourselves. I keep having ideas for things that I want, that don’t exist yet. If I want them to exist, I have to be the one to make them.

My dad was a photographer, and I spent many childhood afternoons with him in his darkroom in the basement, delightedly washing negatives, turning them gently over in their canisters of chemicals, sitting still in the dark as Dad unspooled the sensitive film, squinting in the red light as the projected images magically re-emerged on the clean white paper. What could be more amazing, more normal, more right, than having your own little space to work such magic for yourself.

In about 2008 or 9 I ordered my first batch of metal scales, with the idea of trying to make a dragon tail in time for Halloween. It took probably a couple weeks to figure out how to make it, and within a week I had thought of how to do it better and disassembled the entire thing. By the 3rd or 4th time I'd rebuilt it, I thought that it was probably good enough that I wouldn't feel embarrassed to post it online and see if someone might want to buy it.

Of course I love working on these things I make. But I don't think that's exactly why I make them.

#Thoughts #Real Life #creative writing #memoir

[skekdris]

The Visitor - Behind the Scenes

"The Visitor" is my first big story of mine that saw the light of day. In this post, I'll be explaining my thought process behind why and how I made it. In a future post, I'll be explaining my Arhulian species, and my character Niadris in more detail. But for now, I'll be on to explaining my creative process. Firstly, a few months ago I got back into tumblr after finding the blogs of @chocodile and @kwillow. Their characters, their art, their stories. They moved me, they inspired me! Drawing was never my strong point, (I had to enlist @aryeonos to graciously sketch my species reference for me <3) but descriptive writing is something I can do! So through that, it was the avenue I expressed my creation. That said; Ary being my editor and proof reader really helped me achieve a level of polish I don't think I could have accomplished on my own. <3 The Amaranthine characters are so rich and vibrant, I just wanted to write for them. Their personalities just seemed really fun to write for, as well as gave me a clear picture of how each character would behave in a story. A solid baseline for my weirdo badger-pede to contrast with. So I poured over Kwillow's and Chocodile's art pages for information about the characters and the setting. I wanted to respect the lore and setting as best I can; as well as the fact, the more information I had, the easier it would be to write.

Feelin' A Bit Drafty In Here

In a very early pre-draft version of the story (where I was still ideating over it), I thought I would try to tell the story from Niadris' perspective, but Aryeonos felt it would ruin a lot of the mystery and suspense surrounding Niadris, as well as deprive me of character interaction moments for the rest of the cast. So I redid the entire tone and course of the story to focus on the Rising dawn quartet, (sans snoozing bunny) with Niadris being the add - an apt decision since the cast literally considers them an intruder! In the new story format, I thought about Theo being so nerve wracked by Niadris that he would try to poison them, only for it not to work, and for Niadris to then reveal their life-sensing ability to Theo and tell him that they are not mad because always knew where he stood as a veiled threat. The story would have had a more adversarial tone; but then after doing some more lore spelunking, I learned that Theo prefers to handle confrontation openly and honestly as opposed to taking the scoundrel's way out.

So after learning that wasn't a very gentlemanly move, I decided to shift gears and redo the story (again) to what you see today. After that, I looked up the other characters for pertinent lore and information about them. I was already pretty familiar with Hyden, and Theo was the first character I discovered since I'm a diehard rat/skaven fan and always combing the internet for rat characters!

Then came to Alex and Ridge. After having my "cast" in hand, I figured out what to do with them. In the current iteration of the story, I wanted Niadris being self-conscious of their frightening appearance (they've certainly been screamed and shot at enough) and opt to meet the cast in a way that does not end in violence. Hence the Arhulian observing the cast for a long time and then making their carefully planned move. Likewise, first impressions are very important, and Niadris trying to approach the situation in a delicate manner (whether or not it worked) was one of my central goals in depicting them, and Arhulians as a whole. They are far from mindless brutes... Switching back to the the Amaran quartet, they are not my characters obviously - I'm just writing for them - so I tried to make educated guesses on how'd they react based on the information I had at hand. So keep in mind these are my personal head cannons of these characters!

Character Dynamics

Hyden - Due to the way the story was structured, he was not utilized very much. Which, is a shame on one hand, but on the other, it leaves my options open for how he would react in a future story. He could be just as lost as the rest of the cast, then shift to be deeply fascinated by the unnatural being that is Niadris. Treating them like magic buddyTM Ambroys 2.0. (Though he may find it much more difficult sink his roots into Niadris, as they are far sharper, and not blinded by idolism like Theo.) Or, alternatively, Hyden being a time displaced scholar could know something about Arhulians the present day cast does not, and is trouser-browningly terrified. But that is as much as I'll reveal for now. We'll see what way the coin falls. :) Theo - Theopolis North was the most fun to write for. Poor little Rat man pinballed through many different emotions across the story. Firstly, fear. Secondly, he's even more unnerved by the fact Niadris can go toe-to-toe in his smartassery which means it's intelligent. And that's extra dangerous in his eyes. I thought about writing Theo being even meaner and more hostile, but I decided Theo has a few reasons to keep himself reeled in. 1) Theo - though a poorly adjusted meanie - has enough sense to know that trying to stress-test this thing's patience would not go in his favor if the matter escalated. Especially with a thing that could throw him across a room or eat him alive. Unmetaphorically. Best to let a sleeping dragon lie so to speak. 2) I've noted that Theo appears to be a dire misanthrope, so a thought occurred to me that Niadris is just so alien they just end up in a loophole of sorts. And I decided that is a funny dynamic, and I'm going to roll with that. :) 2.5) Theo's aggression seems to be heavily rooted in his own insecurities. Niadris is somewhere between socially illiterate to too logically minded to care. So in a way, from theo's perspective; that's big wall that isn't there for him. 3) As much as it agonizes him to admit, the alternative is telling this thing to sod off, resulting in them just roaming about unaccounted for entirely. At least this way, he can keep an eye on them... 4) Granted, he does not want to admit it outright and 'encourage' them, Theo is personally intrigued by Niadris. Although he hasn't quite put it together it yet; Arhulians are intelligent, sentient, beings that definitively exist outside of "ascension". The implications would be defining to say the least. Theo's name would go down in the books for sure... And lastly, this being gives him a sense of deja vu he tries not to think too closely about. Henceforth, I laid down the roots of what may be the beginning of a very odd "friendship" as hinted at in the closing paragraphs of the story.

Alex - From the lore I got on her, she jumped out to me as the most rational and calm-minded of the group. She's a cool, collected soldier. Her perception is sharp (and unlike Theo, it's not calibrated in entirely the wrong direction via paranoia). Her nature as a sniper means it's natural for her to sit back, absorb information, and think about a decision before making it. Because of this, it felt natural that she'd fall into the role of "team mom" because she's the most level-headed and surprisingly enough, the most socially adjusted of the group. Especially since her competition is: 1) Hyden; a washed up noble that doesn't know what century he's living in - whose social resume is bossing around servants and bullshitting noble asses.

2) Theo; a misanthropic, paranoid, bulgy-eyed weirdo that's a reclusive shut in. 3) Ridge; Likely the best of the three. But if I remember the lore right, it's heavily implied that Ridge was in jail for some time, so I'd wager that has not done his social skills any favors. So with that in mind, Alex is the glue desperately trying to keep (the now) quintet from unraveling.

Ridge - Of the four characters here, Ridge has the least information available that I could find, so a lot of his character is implied from his surface level details, like him being big and brawny, that he had spent time in jail, and is at the very least in a non-hostile relationship with Alex. With all that said, I guesstimate he has the least amount of emotional baggage and personality extremes, so I felt that Ridge would be the best fit for a layman character. Niadris - Beyond what I already mention here, I'd rather keep their inner workings hidden, as they are both a mysterious, and a still developing (both in-universe and in a meta sense) character...

What's Next?

Without giving away too much, the logical path forward to the story is that Niadris is playing it safe as they have never been around multiple people for an extended period of time before. So they take on a passive role to learn and observe the... odd group dynamic the rising dawn quartet have. There will be a great deal of funny character moments and learning experiences for all involved! Over time, Niadris will start to make their own waves as they get accustomed to the group, and begin manifesting their own wants once they feel comfortable exerting their own social pressure. Likewise, everyone is wary of the big, scary Arhulian. But on the other hand, their value as an asset is undeniable! And they would be a pretty definitive tie-breaker should a schism arise... Various parties will likely be setting plans into motion to try and vie for Niadris's loyalty now that this wild card has scuttled their way into the group. With the groundwork of Niadris' and the Arhulians' introduction laid, I have to spend some time thinking about the path forward; as this is the point where things can really diverge, so I must decide what direction the story is going to head in. So alas, I don't really have an ETA in mind for the next chapter of this fan-story.

#theo #hyden #alex #ridge #niadris #arhulian #original species #furry #short story #creative writing #thought process #behind the scenes #verse: amaranthine #fan story

[crazysodomite]

its about art advice

i think my thesis is. when you see someone making a tutorial/advice

are they trying to dictate how you should draw/teach you that the way they do art is the Correct way or are they actually providing useful artistic observations that anyone can use in their art?

most 'art influencers' who create tutorials basically teach you how to mimic their style. which is not inherently bad. we stumble into problems when people say what is 'correct' and whats 'incorrect' in art. this is why statements like these are so commong in artist communities:

i hate doing lineart/its not fun to try to get a clean line and ctrl+z constantly

just dont do lineart/dont do clean lineart/use your sketch/paint/ ANYTHING

i hate doing backgrounds/i hate that i can't get things to look symmetrical

then just dont. you can do anything you want forever.

and so on and so forth.

a lot of art 'influencers' and even art teachers dont teach you how to enjoy your art in your own creative way they just teach you how to make a Specific type of art

this is why generally i have a problem with 'art critique'. it ALWAYS assumes everyone wants to do perfect realistic paintings with perfect proportions, perspective and anatomy. or art with perfect clean lineart and shading or whatever the fuck. and that decides whats 'good' and whats 'bad' and that understanding of art is just really narrow minded

i just feel like most people are taught to just do whatever the mainstream on social media is which is not inherently bad but there's no real understanding of the wide world that art can be. like imagine a clickbait youtube thumbnail with DON'T DO ABSTRACT ART LIKE THIS do it like THIS or whatever the fuck

and then we get into the topic of peoples opinion that

more effort = better

more detailed = better

but whatever i dont have the mental energy to write more. maybe after i cook my stew

[synthaphone]

long post talking about making neopets style art, but not in a way that's useful or coherent or proofread

idk why of all the things that i struggle to do, the thing i keep coming back to trying to pull off is 'imitate the neopets art style circa 2004-2007'. i'm really proud of the stuff i make in that style, but i've always got a nagging feeling about how there's like, very few applications for this very specific skill i'm building, and i could be spending this time improving at anatomy or perspective or anything else. i guess that's just the power of 'wanting to learn something really bad' combined with, critically, 'believing im really close to figuring it out'

there's something about the line weights on a lot of old pets that's really hard for me to capture, and i've gone through a bunch of different ideas of why that is- like, maybe its easier to do in flash, or its something about the way i have the pressure sensitivity set up on my pen, or maybe the official artists also carefully shaped and weighted their lines while scaling the drawing down every so often to make sure they 'feel right' on a small scale (lol), or maybe its that shit that artists who've been inking shit for a long time learn how to do intuitively that i'm just not at the level of yet.

i'm looking at this smug bastard like. how do they decide which lines should be thick vs thin. my instinct is to go thicker on the corners of points like the ear tips, but this artist went thinner, and i think weighted the lines heavier on the undersides of shapes where the shadows are? neo artists aren't immune to stuff that frustrates me when i'm making pet art either, almost every pet has some part of their lineart that makes a weird tangent with the damn Circle. the linework on the hands straight up isn't clear at all, but i can tell what the pose is from how the shoulders are positioned and the expression of the character, so i guess that doesn't really matter at the end of the day

im pasting the lines i'm working on next to existing pets with varying levels of detail, but it might be too early to tell if they have the right level of clarity. i'm also i'm back in photoshop because that's easier for me, but maybe i should have tried flash again- doing the art in vectors does give the finished image that hard to detect Crispness that i'm always chasing

in order, these were drawn in photoshop in 2019, photoshop in 2022, and Flash in 2024. i was going to be like 'oh god, the Vully DOES look sharper than the centibyte, it must be Flash' but honestly i got the halloween one to look pretty close?? maybe i scaled down my photoshop images differently in 2019............ i think i've also gotten better at mimicking the lineart style, so it could also be that, but that doesn't account for why the top one looks kind of blurry in comparison. am i crazy. is it visible to anyone else.

anyway ive gone off on a tangent. for some reason this is what i'm obsessed with doing so i'm just gonna keep on trucking until something else seizes my attention instead i guess

#i'm not trying to put down my own work here #i am proud of the neostyle art i've made #i'm talking about that feeling of like. #knowing that there's a few things i don't quite grasp and wanting to figure them out #i need a text post tag #neopets

[djsadbean]

how to improve drawing kinda fast:

ditch lineart for a bit (this way its easier to part with things that aren’t working)

use a REALLY thin brush

copy, copy, copy art you think is ✨art goals✨

don’t post that stuff tho :O

if you need to trace at first, thats fine lol but break away from that eventually!! you gotta train your eyes to draw what you see, spatial awareness is very important

copy hands, poses, expressions, anything you wanna get better at

don’t copy from refs that are way too simple to be used as a “master study”, like from the calarts shows etc.

copy from stuff thats kinda complex bc if you learn how to draw it in that complex way, you can always simplify it if you want ^^

im pretty sure this is how many of us have become obsessed with hip dips details LOL

if something looks off, flip ur canvas, mess with ur sketch, or even delete (or hide) parts of the sketch and try again. if you drew it once, u can draw it again. (erase or hold up the page to the light backwards if drawing on paper)

being cool with parting with your sketch if its not working will make you a better artist

youre allowed to frankenstein refs together lol (a hand from here, a mouth from there...)

if youre having trouble making your sketches look like theres actual shapes, try shading :D

literally the only reason i shade now is to show the shapes of objects in more of a painterly way (its not just for paintings btw, its just easier to describe it that way)

try new things that youre excited about like perspective, anatomy, blah blah

copy!!!! while youre copying it’s gonna be cool to see how much you remember when you try it on your own

scribble a doodle as often as you can, not like urgently, but like as something to look forward to (like how lots of ppl look forward to wordle everyday lol)

this list can apply to anyone but its fine if you wanna take some advice and leave some if it doesn’t work out. this list is mostly just to get you comfortable with sketching and learning, not performing.

I mention that “not performing” thing bc its easy to want to please social media platforms because that attention and validation can feel amazing! 

but its also addicting because many of us crave being in a community and talking to ppl who like the same things we do

there are many communities out there from artist youtubers, artist streamers, etc. and many of them have discords and stuff and it might be fun to join! and/or join fandom ones if u want ^^ 

that way you have something thats not bound by if ig decides to not show your post to your followers or something

there’s also lots of other platforms that aren’t social media based specifically for artist communities too!

with this said, please be safe! never give out private info and you’re always free to block/report ppl who make u uncomfortable or ask weird things. 

on the topic of being in communities... reblog art you like! comment the nice things youre thinking in the tags or in an actual comment! share art you like on your ig story!

firstly, this is great for making friends

secondly, the artist cant read ur mind so they don’t hear anything nice youre saying :(

comments can be so motivating!! hearing nice things from my mutuals about my art feels great bc of that authentic human connection we’ve all been missing for like 2 years now

if i see a mutual drawing something and i think “omg they did amazing with the expression!” i write it (ive also been told i leave comments as if im talking and its kinda funny to read sometimes xD)

its channeling “girls support girls” culture in a way lol we’re our best when we’re lifting each other up <3

luv ya, be safe!! and draw lots of things!! :D

add stuff that’s helped you improve kinda fast if u want too! if we put all our brain cells together we’ll be unstoppable heheh

#djsadbean rambles #art advice #drawing advice #reference #art #art support #art help

[vomitlover-art]

Art Summary 2023 aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Last new years i got really down because every artist I knew was doing year recaps. I decided to avoid that this year, I was gonna try to draw at least one thing every month. I was able to do it thank gosh gdkjfnghjf.

I wasn't able to do an excellent piece every month- sometimes just a sketch. Maybe that should be goal 2024? I'll try to make a really good piece every month.

Here is my favorite art of every month. Thank you for enjoying my art this year aaaaaaaaa thanku thanku aaaaaaaaa

January

Didn't start off strong really. Best thing I did this month was a sketchpage of Q. The campaign she's in started in January and has been going strong since =w=

February

I couldn't design between the two aack. The first was a lil sketch I did when I first started dating Cam. She said she wanted to watch me draw and I couldn't think of anything, so I just started putting together something mechanical aack. You can tell I kinda got tired after just drawing the head .-.

Second was when I was still super into Bocchi. Still am, just haven't drawn any fanart in a while gkfdjhnjgff.

March

"Recipes for Strawberry Jam" was my absolute favorite thing to work on all year I think. This specific page took so long but it all worth it. It was my first serious foray into making a comic, using color, and trying out weird perspectives and I think it worked out so well. I'm really hoping to do more soon =w=

April

This is around the time I switched my sketch paper to a more grey-color rather than a yellow-ish tone aack. I later switch it again to stark white. Road Queen~

May

I drew one (1) thing in May. May is always the worst part of the year aaaa. It starts to get hot again and because I live in the desert that means that life is suddenly unbearable and I have to Deal with all of that.

June

Ultravex! Everyone loves Ultravex =w=

One of the best xenobiology pieces I put together aack. I love designing animals that are fucked up and horrible.

July

Thricefold Judged.

August

Another sketch month. Summer sucks aa

September

Sketch this month, all in prep for Inktober \o/

October

It's hard to pick a fave for inktober, but it's probably the Lavender piece =w=

It was really calming and nice to take my time and work out individual details. I feel weird describing my own art gkjdnhfj I just. liked this one aaa

November

I made a lot of Maleghast necros this month. Was a little sad I didn't get more comms for Deadsouls Necros. It was my favorite one to make ghkfjdhnjgf

December

I was really happy to be able to make a necromancer for the Archivists homebrew house aack. I honestly didn't draw much in Decemeber except for. A lot of vent art I'd rather not share and nsfw art I don't wanna share aack. Almost fumbled it all at the end aaa

This was the first year I made like, any significant living off of commissions. I hope to continue growing next year. Thank you sincerely for following me. It's a little... nerve wracking, but I'm glad to have people aack. I'd like to keep working like this- making art on commissions and ko-fi supporters, and everything helps. It's always been my dream to scrape a living from my art, so, thank you. aaaaaaa

#thank you. #aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[capillaryspice]

Unpopular opinion rant incoming:

I did not enjoy Baldurs Gate 3

Before anything else I will admit I am biased, as strategy turn based games aren't something I'm usually into to begin with. I mostly ended up playing it because my partners and a friend are SUPER into the game and wanted to do a 4 player run. I do have 30 hours on a solo run I tried to get used to the game with, so I have a decent bit of experience with how it's supposed to run as a single player but I'm not judging companion stories or anything because I haven't completed them.

I do understand why people like BG3, and I don't wanna rain on anyone's parade for a very critically acclaimed game, but I do have some thoughts that I just need to get out of my head, so if you like the game and don't wanna hear me complain about it just scroll on ahead. If you do want to hear me complain, I'd love to hear if anyone else has had the same thoughts, because genuinely I've not really had anyone to talk to that hasn't been head-over-heels for it. (Actual thoughts under the cut)

-----------------

With that out of the way, for starters BG3 is a very impressive game. From a technical perspective, from a voice acting quality perspective, the sheer amount of tiny tiny details, etc... it is IMPRESSIVE. Too impressive, I'd almost have to say. Because, despite being impressed by it, I did not have FUN playing the game. For all its details it doesn't draw me in. For all the technical marvel, it's just too janky. It's all of the rules of DND and none of the immersion or fun

I would love to have had a functioning camera position that didn't give me whiplash whenever a new character in the combat of 20+ NPCs decides to do so much as shuffle to the left. It feels like pulling teeth when trying to select/interact with anything, god forbid a reaction happens while you're trying to attack and you just completely lose the action bc the interruption to movement pauses everything and screws u up. I'd love to be able to jump without going through two menu screens and a map to just hop over a gap(I'm never complaining about the Dark Souls jump being too complicated ever again). Also everything moves so slow, I would kill for a fucking Sprint button.

I would have liked anything approaching a streamlined combat system that didn't take a long ass time to set up a move that takes six seconds to play out, and then wait for ten minutes literally doing nothing while the rest of the NPCs in initiative whip the viewpoint around and get it stuck in walls and corpses so I can't even see what's happening while I can't do anything for the rest of the round

A lesser gripe, but just a bizarre choice to not do: Id like to hear the character voice I chose in character creation for cutscenes, instead of just background ambient lines. Like, if the last dragon age game (from 2014 mind you) can have a voiced main character with multiple voice options, this new game that has unique voice lines for every goddamn squirrel on the map and ALREADY PAID VOICE ACTORS TO VOICE THE MAIN CHARACTER TO BEGIN WITH can probably afford to do so. Hell, I'd like some background music that isn't just the tenth rendition of Down By The River in a different key. The bard music is all gorgeous, why couldn't they have reused some of those compositions as ambient music for different locations?

This is a MASSIVE game, and what they've put into it is definitely admirable, but like. Not in the ways that make a game breathable or immersive? The choices in where they've decided to dedicate the anal level of detail seems misguided from a just general player standpoint; There's some gorgeous settings in the game, but I was distracted every time by getting frustrated that I couldn't even get a more-than-vague look at any of the scenery I actually enjoyed because the camera is so limited in its angles. So I can't take a good look around what should be a beautiful temple that I'd love to see closer, but I can individually inspect every moldy apple and tax form on a random dinner table instead. It's a vast open world, but the character models have very clearly defined paths they have to stay within. The amount of unique NPCs is insane, but the mechanics themselves TREAT them as NPCs(i.e., resurrection rules), and they don't react to PCs unless ur doing Violence or Crimes (even og skyrim had NPCs have comments on if u weren't like wearing clothes, for instance). Every shelf and bag and nook and cranny are searchable, but that gets overwhelming very quickly as you have to choose between taking like an hour of real time to clear a cluttered area and possibly find something important but more likely just end up with a bajillion rotten carrots, or move on but have the anxiety of knowing you've possibly missed something vital. There's a million options you can take at any moment with any object or character, but there's rarely anything indicating what will be vital later for general world stuff. But then with the main plot (the Emperor, Raphael, the crèche) it felt very railroaded in the sense that TECHNICALLY you could try and choose between outcomes, but your choices don't actually matter because you die if you choose The Wrong Option (or end up in effectively death sentence combat) and will end up where they want you to go regardless.

BG3 isn't a game I want to spend time playing; it's not a world I can wander around and appreciate the beauty of and get lost in the soundtrack or the environments. The whole combat system is incredibly frustrating to manage, and just feels like Hurry Up And Wait. I'm not gonna knock the romance parts of the game, I've heard good things and haven't gotten far enough in any of em to have an educated opinion on, so really the only thing the game has to offer in spades OTHER than romance is replayability. Which normally I would say is a good thing, but for how long of a game it is and how non immersive the gameplay and world feel, it really just ends up being a game of fucking around and seeing how many things you can get an alternate dialogue for or create new stats around. Like, this is great for completionist folks who love collecting achievements and making the most busted crunchy math-based builds possible, but Baldurs Gate 3 to me just isn't a game I can sit down and have Fun(TM) relaxing and playing.

It's a game that I feel absolutely missed the forest for the trees.

So anyways, essay complete. I've only slept like 6 hours total in the last three days so a lot of this may or may not even make sense. But on so much sleep deprivation finishing this game and realizing I was just frustrated with it instead of actually feeling accomplished for having finished it, it was the final straw and I just needed to get the thoughts down somewhere

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk

#it's 6am I still haven't slept (thanks work and insomnia) and I may delete this tomorrow #I'm probably being unreasonable with my frustrations but they have frustrated me nonetheless #and it's my blog so no one can stop me from going on a silly little videogame rant #anyway thanks for listening yall

[as8bakwthesage]

Let me teach you something about learning how to draw poses

So I decided to try and draw a more dynamic and action pose. I tried to do it from my head but I couldn't really visualise it properly, so I took a photo of myself for reference.

my room is a mess, I know shhhhh

With this in mind, I tried to just look at the reference and draw, getting me my "oof" attempt.

Now, this looks sloppy. It's a decent first attempt, but the proportions are significantly more wonky and not very good. So then I decided to break down my original photo reference.

I traced over the original photo, and then moved the sketch to have a clearer image of what exactly I was drawing with the shapes. I focused solely on the shapes and where they went.

Which got me my "better" attempt.

Mind you, it's still a bit wonky and not perfect, but because I broke it down and tried again, I have a better idea of the perspective of the image with the shape language. I can now look at this and think "hm, the back foot looks like it's facing sideways when it should be facing more towards the camera. And that same leg should be curving downwards and not upwards."

Which got me this

This time I paid more attention to the details I missed, and got a much better result.

My point is, when you practise your art skills, and try to do more things outside of your comfort zone, practise smart, not hard. Use technology to help make it easier for you. There is no shame in tracing a photo reference to understand how the form works.

Fucks sakes, I frequently trace my own poses just to get shit done. It's not against the law to use what resources you have. And make sure you practice. Do several sketches, you'll improve more and more.

If this tutorial helped you at all, please reblog it, so others can see it!

#art #art tutorial #art tips #artwork #how to draw #drawing tutorial #my art #aso rambles

[bluegekk0]

Any tips on how to draw PK's head and horns? I've not been able to figure out a good, consistent way of doing it myself yet.

well, for starters, i significantly simplified their shape. if you compare fpk to canon pk, his design is much rounder, and his horns are considerably shorter. it's mostly a stylistic choice (though the roundness of the horns can be explained in the au), but it makes them much easier to draw + they help to give him a more streamlined look, which fits fpk's lizard aesthetic, although i think it would work with different interpretations as well

this is generally how i approach his headshape. very round and salamander like, with a subtle snout, especially visible from the side. of course, this can vary as i'm very inconsistent when i draw, but this is more or less what i try to go for

his head is very round from the top, and the neck meets the lower jaw at an angle, which allows him to lay his head flat on the ground and gives it a more elongated appearance than what you'd see in a more "human" like neck position

like i said, the horns are probably the biggest deviation from his canon appearance. if you've been following me for a while, you'll notice that i gradually made them shorter and rounder with time, and this is because, well, it's significantly less headache inducing to work with. plus i really like the spade like shape, i think it flows very nicely. when i draw the crown, i start with a dome like shape with lines that are angled towards a singular point, and then just add details + more pronounced tips. if you want a more canon-like look, you can always make them more "wavy" even if you decide to shorten them

different perspectives is something i still struggle with, but i think the design choices i went with make it a little easier. the dome-like shape for the crown becomes a kind of cylinder, and the longer and flatter head also helps with figuring out how he'd look from the bottom (once again, toothless from how to train your dragon comes to the rescue)

the thing that i still haven't figured out is the side horns. i make sure they're visible no matter the angle, but what would they actually look like? i'm afraid this is one of the things that will remain in the "cartoon logic" territory, but i've seen various different interpretations similar to these, so perhaps you'll figure something out. all i know is that, if there's a ridge or a line of spikes on his head, they end somewhere on the lower jaw (they don't go around his entire head). i guess the closest to what i do when i paint would be the smooth ridge, and if i had to choose one option, it would probably be this one. but in most of my art i simply just pretend it's not there haha

i hope this is somewhat helpful. i don't know how to do tutorials and i suck at explaining, but perhaps you'll find some inspiration in these. i tried to sketch out what a more "human like" appearance could look like, with a shorter and flatter face, but it just looks goofy no matter what. sorry haha

#ask stuff #ask art #gekko.art #art guide

[yorshie]

Hey so like did you happen to drop a tutorial for how you draw the turtles and I somehow missed it???? Cuz.... if not.... and you're willing........ please *gets down all fours* just the tip please drop some tips-

Hello Nonnie 👋! I uh.... I can't really do a video of how my process goes from start to finish (I don't know how to link it without my irl name popping up), but I can talk about the tools i use and how I problem solve. I’m afraid my tips aren’t especially good because I’m flying by the seat of my pants and how I learned was to just —> do the thing and watch others.

Ok. So, I'm sure by now you've skipped to the image below, and you've probably hurt either your eyes or your brain with the amount of shit there. I'm sorry. Yes, there is a butt. We all got em. (if for some reason you find yourself buttless, i am sorry.) But I'm not hiding the butt, because well. It's just a butt *shrug*

Alrighty Now I'll break down what that God Awful image above is. Starting in the Top Middle with Raph, that's me trying to draw with a perspective rectangle. To the right of that, we got arms and hands. Right below that, we got the basic shapes I use for a male torso (bigger) and a female torso (smaller) Below that, the infamous buttocks and hips. Basically a front and back shot of how that fits together. Then to the left of that we have the base sketch and final lines of my last Leo drawing. Right above that is a side view on how I'm trying to decide on how the shell works, and then little headshots of how I handle each turtle's face. Donnie is who I struggle most with, he has such a soft cute face but it's hidden under all his tech. In the middle you can see a sketch I did of Donnie in a hoodie, since I'm determined to put them all in clothes. Eventually.

[Dusts off glasses, squints, clicks projector button to move to next slide] Okedokie, I guess we start with anatomy, and understanding it. If you wanna draw anything, ya gotta know anatomy. Your "style" comes secondary to anatomy. If your anatomy is wack, no amount of dusting will fix it. And the more you draw/better you get at anatomy, the more "cheat" codes you unlock. So first thing you gotta do is draw ALOT and always be thinking about anatomy. It can be something as simple as looking at how people stand on the train, how they walk, big shapes and how they connect together. Or it can be detailed as what muscles connect and how they interact with each other to make the body move. You can also look at how other people handle anatomy, what they emphasize and what they put aside. I, for example, look at a lot of Frank Franzetta, Jeff Watts, and Patrick J. Jones. When in doubt however, break things down to the most simplest shapes and build from there.

Life long journey with anatomy aside, the thing I ended up focusing on when I draw the turtles is how I want them to appear. I deviate a lot from the way they are depicted in the films, and I think that's the most important part. Find a way to make them your own, in a way that's second nature to you, whether or not you take influence from others. For me, I wanted to soften them a little more, and get rid of that friggin flying saucer of a shell, even though I haven’t completely decided how I want to depict the carapace. There's a balance between making them recognizable and putting your own twist on it. You may not care about that though. I would just say find what works for you, and run with it.

You can also see that I am not neat At All. I like to feel around for lines and shapes a lot until I’m happy with how things look. I’ve been told my approach is very sculptural and “weighty”, and that works for me. I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t care how other people do things, I like how I do things. And I think that’s very important for all artists. I think of things as three dimensional, and for some reason one day bayverse just clicked.

If I had one piece of advice, it would be to start light and don’t get overly committed to your sketches. I use photoshop and I knock the opacity of my brush down a bit while working, but I start with basic shapes and lines. Limbs are sticks and circles on where I think the elbow/knee “might” be, but if when I’m working on muscles or toning I find I’m off a little, I move the “joint” to where it makes sense. A lot of times I draw the head too big, and I have to size it back down, or the arms to short for some reason, and I have to drag the hand down. Idk. Practice makes you better. It’s not always a step forward, but it’s always a step in the right direction as long as you’re thinking while you draw.

If this spawned more questions, feel free to ask them- I don’t mind answering at all, even if it’s expounding on something touched here. Might drop some more of my messy sketch work if there’s interest

#ask away! #art tutorial #raccoon rambles #TMNT bayverse #TMNT #my tmnt art

[blog-imtsupdates]

week 2

expanding on previous concepts and creating new mood baords for new concept (mouse POV) + dino refrences

story boarding these concepts + story baording 360 scene

had not story boarded before, great opertunity to also practice writing, perspective and enviroments

I used this video to understand story boarding better. I chose it because its someone with experience and its a movie i care about a lot, i think it builds suspense really well https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPrkxj2MyZI

the story boards werent very detailed in these videos because thier team already has a story and a setting they are going with so they know what the characters look like and where they are but they just need to know who does what when. We dont have that yet, i want it to be clear what the enviroment looks like, what the lighting should be like and what the general mood should be so while still applying story boarding methods i will add more detail.

I dont get to work with camera movement much as the player will be positioned in one spot but i can mess with perspective

mouse POV:

prey POV

+ concept art Prey POV & thalasophobia

With the last render i did with the wounded herbivore i felt like i really didnt do a good job of conveying the mood with that drawing. so i decided that to try and set a mood better it migth help if i dont work with color first to make it less confusing and cluttered for now. I remebered a group project from a while ago where one of the artists sketched the scene first in gray scale. a big inspiration of mine is RJ Palmer so i trurned to his artstation for some inspiration and looked for a couple of gray scale tutorials as i have never done this before. i do render my art sometimes but usually not with backgrounds and generally with colours immediately.

(the last render i have done. It works for what i was trying to do but its low on contrast, a bit bland and definitely not what I need for what i want to achieve now)

Grey scale paintings work great to show the lighting conditions. So to make sure the client and my team understood my concepts i set out to create grey scale paintings of posible scenes in the experiece.

i found these vidoes helpful when trying to undertand what i should be looking for (ussualy, depends per piece ofcouse ): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8rL_0Fl06U dont have it be to cluttered, have the values from the fore ground and background differ (breaking this rule for the thalasaphobia, just a little bit)

that video is great but i didnt want to start my process how she did, its too harsh for what i was going for, i migth aswell just make a rough sketch instead. So i looked for another method and found one more to my liking https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bN2BggfFTgk

he starts with a sketch and builds the mid tone first and then throws the shadow ont there and sculps forms out of those base shapes.

As mentioned, this is my first time painting like this. i started with the shark as water disperses light in a way that is a lit softer and i thought it would make for a good starting point to get a bit more confident. I felt it was lacking some movement so i added fish that could add a nice shimmer. I used refrences for anatomy and proportions for the animals from google images, readablitly, aireal perspective (values based on distance, thing sget lightter the further they are from the camera)

then i started on the carnotaurus and how it could look as it aproaches you with the look of a hungy lion. i was excited to try some harsher lighing and a background. i did the first sketch with hardely any refrences and realised he looked far too much like a T.rex when carnotaurus have far slimmer heads.

after finding a couple of skull refences i rebuilt the head and adjusted some more proportions. which was better but it was still lacking mood and atmosphere so i looked back at RJ Palmers work and looked at some grey scale painting tutorials from people that create art i find apealing and that have experience. You might also notice that im using high contrast lighting on the animal aswell as the other objects, breaking the readability rule a little bit. I did this because i was reminded of tigers and how they camouflage and i thought that would look really cool, i still made sure he stood out from the background ofcourse.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8rL_0Fl06U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bN2BggfFTgk

Though its not done it was great practice. I will finish it in my free time later as i have to move on and do other work and its sufficient as concept art that conveys the lighting and mood i was going for for now.

[firesign23]

Can you tell me about The Queen's Thief at middle? (at length might be too much for my currently achievable level of attention 😅)

WELL, good news, I did something very stupid yesterday and mid-length is probably the most I can type right now 😂

So, my caveats I always supply before starting my rec:

The first book in the series is middle grade fiction. It’s good middle grade fiction with a lot of the same skillful execution that makes me feral for the series, but there is a maturity jump from book one to book two, and I recommend you read at least a little into book two before deciding if the series is for you. AFTER book one.

GO IN BLIND. I cannot stress enough how good it is to go in blind. No art. No reviews. Just buckle in and see where you end up. The series is good even when you know what is coming--and that’s a whole point later on--but that first exquisite moment where all the threads pull together? Experience it, you’ll thank me

Now, to keep this short I shall bullet point. Or try to. Parts of this will require a lot of “Trust me, it’s worth it” because, well, see above re: spoilers.

The series is set in a historical pseudo-Mediterranean locale, which is honestly fantastic. Really sort of blends the worlds of Greek myths and Tolkien bucolic fantasy that was many fantasy fans gateway drugs, while also feel entirely distinct. I know fantasy has spread out its influence to cultures beyond western Europe nowadays, but the first Queen’s Thief book was published in 1996 so it was definitely early to adopt that. 

The actual fantasy element is handled in such a fun way? To say too much means spoilers, but it is a story about people first and foremost, and the fantasy elements just give the plot a push from time to time. 

And oh god, the people. THE PEOPLE. I love these characters. I named my cat after one of them. My youngest child has decided that Gen is his favourite character of all time and dressed up as him for a school event. But the characters in this series are just… they’re wonderful. They are complex, with their own motivations and histories and views. My kid went from hating to loving a character in the second book in a single chapter because we got to see who they were and how they came to be that person. There are disabled characters and queer characters, but never in a way that feels checkmarky. They are funny and harsh and kind and just… human, in a way that brings me so much joy.

And not only are the characters great alone, their relationships? Again, spoilers, but this series has so many good relationships. Romantic and platonic and antagonistic. Family of choice to the EXTREME. Unlikely friendships. There is a moment in a later book where two characters hold hands and I teared up. 

THE. WRITING. I could go on and on and fucking ON about the writing, whole post in itself. But it makes me feral. The books’ use of perspective are art, absolutely exquisite. Each book does something unique with the narrative point of view, and does it deliberately. The first person perspective is telling us a story, and tells us what he wants us to know. The historical record makes the characters the most human by letting us see behind the Great Events. It’s just one of my favourite examples of POV I’ve ever read.

The narrative never lies to us, but trusts the reader to draw connections. This is one of those “Makes more sense with spoilers” moments, but the writing is incredibly good at telling us everything we need to know exactly when we need to know it, and not before. And it results in this fantastic joy when it all pulls together--it’s not really plot twists, because we have been told (almost) everything, but you get an incredible payoff.

The books get better with every reread. I was recently working through the second book with my kid, who devoured The Thief two years ago (and probably a dozen times since) but wanted to be a bit older before tackling the rest of the series, and I was still catching details that I had missed or forgotten from previous reading. 

The contents of the stories are just… there’s war and grief and rage, politic machinations, trauma, betrayal. And the narrative doesn’t handwave those things, but it doesn’t wallow in delight in them either. It’s just a series that takes you by the hand and says “Bad things happen, and we will live with those things forever, but it doesn’t have to define you. What’s important is the connections we make with other people, who will catch you when you fall.” Reading the series leaves me with that same hopefulness that drew me to Discworld? I may not be explaining it well.

The actual writing style, on top of being masterful, is so much fun. It’s sparse, but in a way that makes every word feel important. It’s delightfully funny, heartbreaking, evocative. Just a joy to sink into. 

And I just realised this is definitely getting long, so I’ll stop for now. But I highly, highly, highly recommend the series. And hey, if this made anyone want to vote for The Queen’s Thief, the poll is here!

(Also, if you do read it and like the series, the author is on tumblr and is an interesting person to follow. Just don’t do it before reading, because occasional spoilers)

#Attolia #asks #the queens thief #megan whalen turner #the QT fandom is also awesome? #smart and insightful and there are so many good meta posts that say the above in much better ways #I think this is the series that has made me scream while reading the most because there are Moments in every single book