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the-cat-and-the-birdie · 2 months

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I don't know who needs to hear this, but you should make an OC.

You should make an OC. Specifically a Spider-Sona. Like now. Preferably yesterday. [A MEDIUM-LONG essay about OC's, fanfiction, and how to enrich and better your writing skills in literally every sector. Throughout this essay I reference my two characters Disco-Spider and Inca-Spider as examples of the way OCs can be used.]

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"But no one cares about OCs -"

OKKAYYYY??

IDK about ya'll but fandom is NOT my final destination no siree

I feel like a lot of the time we get so caught up in posting and notes we forget that for many artists and writers on this platform - fanfiction is not the true end goal.

Many of us write and draw fanart for years -

But the fact of the matter is if you want to be an author someday, if you want to be a graphic novelist, an animator, etc, etc - You're going to HAVE to make OCs.

If you want to study English in college or publish books - you're gonna have to write an OC at least once. If not hundreds of times.

If you want to study art - chances are at some point you're gonna have to fill a portfolio with original pieces, including some of OCs.

If you want to do something with your writing, if you want to get better - or make a career out of your art, you HAVE to make OCs at some point.

And this is especially true for fanfiction writers.

You can get very very very good at writing in your specific fandoms, you may have the emotions of the characters on point, and the ability to describe the scenery.

But if you don't know how to create and design a character - if you don't know how to worldbuild, or come up with scenarios without the help of characterai and ChatGPT - you won't be able to write a book.

If you're an artist and you don't know how to draw an original character from scratch, how to match colors, how to draw certain skin tones, certain hair, wheelchairs and mobility aids, how to design a character from looks, to clothing - it's going to be so hard to expand your art outside of fanart. You'll always be beholden to the notes and popularity of your particular fandom.

Do it - even if you've never written or never draw before. Even better.

That's why I CHAMPION Spider-sonas so much. They're basically OCs on easy mode.

Can't write backgrounds yet? Here's a bucket on canon events to pick from? Can't draw faces? Blank mask with eyes.

Hell, if you're really really new about it - just pick a character and make a slightly different variant. Make a Hobie of your own, make a Peter variant. Make a Mary Jane variant. Pick a something you like and turn that into a character.

Can't write? Just fill-in the 'My name is [blank], I was bitten by a [blank]' script that Miles does. Can't draw, just draw out a basic shape of a body and color-out the suit, no fancy pose needed. That still counts!!

Make a self-insert. Make yourself fit into the story, design your suit, write out how you fight crime, how you'd act at the Society, meeting Miguel or Miles.

That's still character design, that's still worldbuilding.

We always hear people say 'Make art for yourself' and yeah that sounds nice - but people also misinterpret it.

Make art for yourself doesn't just mean making art that you personally like.

Making art for yourself also means making art that develops your skills even if no one gives a fuck. It's about making art as practice without the intention of it being 'completed', making OCs that never get used, drawing locations you see or writing a random ass short story then shoving it into your Google Drive forever.

Making art for yourself means making art that invests in yourself.

It means making art that interests you, challenges you, or helps you develop.

And making OC's helps develop your fanfic writing skills.

In may fandoms we begin to fall into these routine 'tropes' between characters and their personalities. This is usually known as the 'fanon' characterization.

Because when you have a set amount of characters and people, there's also a set amount of interactions and relationships between those people.

Writing OCs and having those OCs interact with canon characters allows you to dig deeper into sides of the canon characters we'd never otherwise see.

That's why I wrote Disco-Spider Diane like I do. Often, we see Hobie characterized as the chaotic, rowdy, confident type - which is perfect characterization for him. But in almost all of his interactions - he's the wilder, bolder, extroverted one. I wanted to put him in a situation where for once, he was the calmer one. I wanted to explore more grounded and chill sides of Hobie, one where he's the one grounding the other, and thinking logically - because in canon, we're hinted at a side of Hobie who's way more methodical and slow-paced and willing to stop and wait it out and play it off. And I wanted to see that. I wanted to explore what he'd do if he was faced with someone just as chaotic, who put on a cheeky ironic act - just the same as him.

Because no other characters serve that purpose in canon.

If there are elements of a character or concept you think are interesting but outright ignored by canon and fanon, you can create an OC to explore those parts.

For Disco-Spider: I wanted to explore how someone like a militant Black Panther would handle being Spider-woman, when Spider-people are usually shown as pacifists - what that would look like or how it'd shape her morals based on era, etc. For Inca-Spider: I realized there were so many culture based Spider people like Pavitr and Spider-UK. But none for indigenous communities, and NONE from countries that only existed in other universes. So, I created an indigenous character from Tawanti - a country that's located where Peru would be for us.

You can give a canon character a sibling, to explore how they'd interact with family. Give them a partner that acts totally different than their canon partner, write how that'd change the way they show love.

OC's make your original writing better, AND your fanfiction writing too. They can help you understand canon characters on a deeper level.

And sure, nobody likes your OC. NOW.

But every single character you write about, is someones OC. Every character you write about was once treated that way. Once upon a time, Dean Winchester was just some rando character in the pilot script of a show that hadn't picked up yet. Probably no one gave a fuck until CW picked it up.

The writers had to not only make him and develop him - they had to BELIEVE in him enough to pitch him to a TV show channel to make people care.

That's always the first step. Believing your character's story is worthy enough of being told and presenting it as such.

ESPECIALLY if your OC represents a demographic you don't see represented. Cause yes if there isn't any black women in canon then I'll Thanos this shit and do it myself.

Make OCs.

Write them. Draw them. Even if it's bad. Who the hell cares. Big Mouth is on Netflix with multiple seasons, have you seen that show?? 'Ugly' art is not a crime.

Make piccrews, fill out OCforms or take quiz's as them. Write little blurbs of them hanging with canon characters then post it in the tag.

You don't need a huge Spidersona sheet or a long long fic explaining their backstory. They can just be there.

MAKE OCs.

Make them to explore more in your fanfiction, make them so future you can write that novel or draw or that comic or sell those prints or whatever it is you plan to do.

Make it so your fanfiction AND original writing can grow stronger. It isn't just about notes and content and follows.

Make an OC. Make a Spidersona. Literally you have nothing to lose but your chains.

"Nobody cares-"

Oh they'll care when you pop out with that 6-book publishing deal. They'll care when you're designing big characters for movies. Cause that's how it happens. Watch.

ANYWAYSSSS if you made it this far I hope this inspired you to at least play around with the idea of OCs and Spidersonas in general.

Here's Hobie.

BYE.

If you want to make a sona and are kinda lost on where to start, lemme know!! Because I think they're amazing starting places for those who have never written or drawn before. Or if you have a sona but want to develop them further.

I haven't seen a guide to spidersonas and i wonder if that's something some people might want/need.

Seriously if I can even get one person into writing or drawing I'll be over the goddamn moon.

MAKE OCS PLEASE.

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melloween-candie · 8 months

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She's Perfect

Judd Birch x Black, Goth Reader Headcanon

Requested // Request Rules

"I LOVE YOUR WRITINGS FOR JUDD OMG!! YOUR WORK *chefs kiss*!!! can I request judd with a black reader who's also a goth and the shit they'd do together! if not you can totally ignore this 🫶🏾"

Submitted by: @monibabsx3

A/n - I wasn't sure whether I should make this into a headcanon or one-shot, so I kind of made it a blend of both- Basically, I made one-shots out of categories based on what I think you guys would do~

[I try to write stories that don't evolve around skin color as much as possible so everyone can fully see themselves in it. So, if it's a little weird- my apologies 😅]

I myself am Asian, so I don't really know much about other cultures, but I do find them interesting, in general. I really hope I got most if not all of what you were trying to request! 🫱🏻‍🫲🏿🫰

Warning! cussing, racism, drugs, racial slur

Word Count: 1,376

⚠️NOT MY ART⚠️

Big Mouth Masterlist

Fandom Masterlists

/"Talking"//Thinking//Muttering-Whispering/

Graffiti

"You ready?" Judd asked you as he threw his duffle bag into the back seat of his car.

"Ready as ever!" You replied as you put your respiratory mask on.

You both got in the car. Judd was speeding as usual, and you picked out the beats as he drove. You guys listened to a variety of songs, mainly going back and forth between Rap, Metal, and R&B.

Of course, it wasn't a normal car ride without letting every car around you guys hear the songs you guys were listening to. So, obviously, you blasted the nuts out of Judd's car radio.

You guys got out of the car and went behind an ally from an abandoned building.

You guys spent hours perfecting your art as you listened to some beats in the background. You ended up drawing your pride. You wanted your art to speak for your culture.

Meanwhile...

Judd ended up drawing what he thinks humanity's real truth is.

"Ironic, I know, but it speaks the truth." He said as he puts away his stuff.

You smiled, elbowing him. "I love you..."

His eyebrows furrow, "Where did that come from?"

You fidget with your mask as you continue staring at his art. "You don't see color- just the truth."

He smirks, leaning in closely; he kisses your head- "That's not entirely true..." You two stare at each other's eyes for a hot moment until Judd looks at your art. "That's you to me." He spoke in a soft tone. You blushed instantly and looked at him with shock eyes as you lifted your mask higher so he wouldn't see the blush.

He laughs, then quickly cuts it off- "Don't tell anyone I said that." He said, sounding all serious as both walked back to the car.

Hairstyles

You were sitting in Judd's room, feeling completely bored. You've been sitting there for about an hour, practically doing nothing as he sharpened his knives.

"Juuuuddd... Can we do something else PLEASE!"

"With what money?"

"I don't know... we don't have to do anything money related today- just something!"

Judd stops sharpening his knives he looks at you for a moment then proceeds to stand up. He walks towards his bathroom leaving the door open for you to see what he was doing.

You peaked in and found him leaning close to his mirror as he shaved the side of his head. He looked like he was struggling with the farther back part of his head.

You looked at him surprised.

"What?" He spit.

"N-nothing. Just a little surprised... I just didn't think you did your hair- since it was really good..." You muttered the last part-

"What was that-?!"

"Nothing!" You giggled... You continued watching him struggle only to end up grabbing he knife.

"Hey!" He turns around.

"Relax! I got this~" you said in confidence. "You looked like you were struggling."

He grumbled. "I don't like it when other people do my hair- they always do it wrong."

"You and me both." You sassed. "Now turn around."

He grumbles and proceeds to turn. "If you fuck up my hair I will-"

"Shave me bald?" You interrupted. "Yeah, don't worry- I got this!"

~Time Skip!~

After hours of angry Judd wiggling and whining, his hair was finally complete.

"We would have been done hours ago if you just stopped wiggling!"

"I wouldn't need to if you'd stop pulling it on so hard! Besides, I. Don't. Wiggle." He said, standing up, towering over you. He had his arms crossed... He looked hot.

You had your arms crossed, too- a smirk started forming as he stood in front of you. He hadn't seen the full results yet... You simply grabbed his arms, turning him around so he could see himself in the mirror.

His reaction was priceless... Man was literally touching his face as if he couldn't believe that the man in the mirror was actually him- One thing's for sure: he looked like a badass.

(This is how I would have pictured him... just with blue tips for his bangs~ Personally, I think he would look hot as fuck 😏😂)

With the beads and his edges done... he never thought he'd live to see that day when he actually feels cool with braids on...

Your smile only grew as you watched your boyfriend check himself out in the mirror. You giggled, shoving him in the arm. "Feels good to look good, huh?" You smiled biting your lip. He smiled grabbing your hips pulling you close.

You wrapped your arms around his neck. "I guess I won't be going bald anytime soon~" you said, rubbing the tip of your nose against his. He smirks, not saying anything- he just smashes his lips towards yours.

Racism

"Calm down, dude it was just a joke~" One of Judds friends said.

You were currently sitting on top of a rock wall. The roof part that's supposed to be connected to it broke off years ago.

You were hanging out with Judd and his friends at an abandoned orphanage, smoking pot. You were all cracking jokes and having a fun time until someone said something a little too offensive.

It was one of 'Judd's' newer friends... Judd's friend Camden invited him. The dude's name was Deerk. Pronounced: Dee-erk. He was blond with dirty, long hair. He was wearing a loose tank top that looked like he hadn't washed it in weeks. He had a green bandana on... it looked like it was sucking in the grease from his hair due to how long it's been there- He had loose pants, so every time he walked, his underwear would show- And lastly, he had slippers on.

He looked like a certified hippy. He was also extremely pale and skinny, as in bridlebone skinny.

He was currently lighting up a joint. "Want some honey?" Judd scrunched up his nose instantly when he heard what his 'new friend' said. Instinctively grabbing ahold of your waist, he just sat there staring at the guy.

"No thanks," you said. "I don't smoke."

"Really... Well, that's surprising."

Clearly, the guy was high-

"W-what do you mean by that?" You didn't really want to believe in what you just heard.

You crossed your arms waiting for the guys reply.

He smiles. "W-well, it ain't no big deal-"

The group started to realize the tension...

"I-I just thought that you smoke that's all."

"Why? Is it cause I'm black? Do you assume all black people smoke? What?! You wouldn't offer a cig to a white girl unless she asked, right?"

"N-no, no! It's just most of my black friends-"

"Oh, were comparing now!"

'No! That's not what I meant!"

You stood up with your arms crossed, staring down at him. "Then what? What did you mean?"

The guy looked at you as if you were being unbelievable right now. He looked around at the other people with him. They all shooked their heads.

He shrugged his shoulders- "Come on, can't we all be ni**** about thi-"

He couldn't even finish his sentence because Judd's fist slammed into his face, causing him to fall back. As you left.

His nose was bleeding. "Oh- come on, man! Not cool-"

Then Judd walks towards where you walked off. Meanwhile, the entire group of friends got up, too. Shaking their heads as they threw their joints to the ground. Some calling the dude an idiot...

"Camden- you too?" Deerek said as he watched his new friend get up.

All Camden did was flick his dead joint at him. "It was a regrettable choice of mine to bring you here. Find your own way home, racist fucker." Then he walked towards where the rest of his friend group left.

When he caught up, he found you and Judd sitting on a rock close to the river. He saw you get up and walked away as Judd nodded.

He then walked towards Judd, grabbing his shoulder as he took a seat right next to him. "Hey, man."

Judd nods as he placed his cig back in his mouth.

"Sorry about that, is your girl, okay?"

Judd removed the cig and puffed out a cloud of smoke, nodding as he stared off into the distance.

A/n

I hope this is okay! I wanted to make it into a regular one-shot, but it was kind of hard for me to think of adding all these plots into one story whilst also keeping it a good length. So, I decided to put this into small little stories instead~! I might actually make a part 2 because I had a lot of ideas. With all the new experiences and what you guys would do together. This was kind of fun~ 💕

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pyjamaart · 2 months

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A looming presence... (A piece of fan art for Episode 11 of the Christmas Comeback Crisis)

Read more for an essay on all the memes and references ;)

So here it is. Finally. Only one month too late: This piece of CCC fan art I've worked on since the episode came out.

Sorry for the delay, but I just started at my new job this week and it's been a little stressful, so I didn't have much time to work on this. But now it's finally here!!! I gotta say, the hardest part by far was the background, lol. I didn't mean for it to escalate that much. At the end I was honestly running out of memes to draw.

I bet we can all agree that episode 11 of the Christmas Comeback Crisis was so worth the wait, right???? My god. Peak entertainment. I still can't believe I'm getting all this awesome lore and music for free, feels kinda criminal.

I'm so invested in this story, it's unreal. I can't wait to see how it will end. I can already tell it's gonna be pretty emotional. (And not to alarm anyone, but I have a slight feeling that the Voice is not gonna make it out of this story arc alive. I mean, after everything he's done, it's safe to say that he kinda deserves it. Of course I really don't want him to die, cause that would mean…….. Woodman would also have to die??? Otherwise the Voice will just keep coming back again and again because Woodman is keeping his memory alive…….. Oh man wait a moment….. I don't even want to think about that. Forget I said anything about this.)

Anyway, let's talk about this piece of art for a moment.

In the foreground, we have our brave protagonists. I really really like how Nozomi turned out, so I decided to make her my new icon from now on. Don't get me wrong, I love my old icon, but it's kinda zoomed out and you can't really make out any details when it's really small. So Nozomi it is. Meta Knights sword was shockingly difficult to draw, especially because I had to figure out how to draw it when he's holding it at an angle like that. Otherwise, drawing him was actually one of the easiest things about this whole thing. His design is really just two circles with some arms and armor. Figuring out how the circle tool in Gimp works has never felt this good. (Kinda crazy I can just draw him like this now, considering how obsessed with him I was when I was about 12-13 years old. Back then you had to download official renders of your favorite characters onto your computer, then print them out and hang them on your walls all around your room. Yeah I've always been like this.) Drawing Santa was really fun too, just his right hand was a little difficult. But that's just because I still can't draw hands in general. Maybe I should practice drawing hands more. (Naaaaaah I'm just kidding, I'll never do that.) Now that I'm looking at him again, he's also longingly staring at President Haltmann in the background. Doomed yaoi fr.

Speaking of the background, let's talk about that next. There's obviously the title-giving "looming presence" the Voice. I had his hands completely in the background at first, but I thought it looked cooler when they were hanging threateningly around Santa's shoulders. (You may ask yourself, 'man these hands look kinda alright for my usual hand drawing standards', and that is because I traced over pictures of my own hands. I love "cheating" at art.) I also gave him his stupid little bow tie and the colored buttons on his suit sleeves. Not only is that kinda my trademark for drawing him at this point, it's also supposed to show, that under all the threats and the evil villain persona, he's just kind of a loser. A real (male equivalent of a) girlfailure. That's why I made sure that half of the things shown in the background are there to make fun of him a little. I love the Voice dearly, but that's just what felt right.

And now let's get to the actual main course of this essay. I probably spent half the time working on this on the freaking background. I'm just gonna start in the top left corner and then go down each column and explain what each of these mean or what they reference. (Since there are some quite obscure ones in there.)

Let's start with the two ponies in the very top left. They're actually ponysonas of Nozomi Tojo (left) and Takane Shijou (right). Nozomi is an earth pony and has a tarot card as her cutie mark, specifically the ace of cups. Takane on the other hand is a unicorn and has some musical notes as her cutie mark, which you can't really see. I don't know enough about the Idolmaster to think of something more meaningful for her, sorry. ;)

Under that are Susie Haltmann and her father, President Haltmann. They were (after Woodman) the first characters I wanted to draw into the background. Susie has this black bar covering her face, since she was never really there to begin with. The whole story line with her father wanting to bring her back was actually so freaking sad. And when the Voice killed him in episode 11 and that image of Susie flashed on screen as the last thing he saw before he died….. Oof……… That's also why I drew that cursor looming next to her "window" about to click on the closing button. Haltmann himself is also the only character in the background to actually leave his little window, wanting to reach his daughter. He's also glaring at the Voice for causing him all of this grief and anger in the first place with his false promises.

Then there's…. ahem, "Hot robots in your area". With drawings of a random unnamed robot and Mettaton from Undertale. Which the Voice has apparently bookmarked. This is just a head canon, but I like to think he has a thing for robots, lol. ;)

Oh and on the left next to that on the very first column is Simpleflips' logo. Shoutouts to Simpleflips indeed.

Onto the next column. At the very top is Haruka Amami (also from the Idolmaster), who played a pretty huge role in the CCC, especially in the latest episode. That moment at the very end where she saved Grand Dad from certain death was just fantastic. Absolutely goated scene. She's kinda pressing her face against the window she's trapped in. I hope you can even see that from far away, haha.

Under that is one of the more obscure references. It's from a King for Another Day video, specifically one titled "The Hobart Hootenanny - SiIvaGunner: King for Another Day". It's a slideshow made of beautiful Hobart pictures. One that struck me personally the most was a little family picture of Hobart and the rapper Eminem, who was also a contestant in the KfAD tournament, looking lovingly over their son sitting in a cradle. Eminem is seen saying "Our son is beutiful". A truly touching photograph indeed. In that same slideshow is also another scene of Hobart together with the Voice, but we'll talk about that one later.

The next one is a reference to the CCC side story "I wanna thank me" and shows a pie chart with the election results that were discussed in that episode. Under the pie chart itself is a little box containing all the different parties and showing their respective percentages. On the left is a poster for the "Poké Poké Literature Party", showing Monika's head with the words "Just vote Monika" at the top of the poster. The words (and Misha.) are scribbled on the bottom, lest we forget that she's not running this party alone. This side story was first featured in the Christmas Comeback Crisis Watchalong in 2020, which was actually the first time I watched the CCC in its entirety. It all went downhill from there. ;)

Then there's the Voice's… thing? Object? Weird apparatus where no one really knows what it does or what its purpose is? Every time we see the Voice sitting in his office, this thing is sitting on his desk right next to him. There's been loads of jokes about its purpose. They've all been made before. I'm not going to repeat them. Only the Voice himself truly knows what this thing does. Probably. Could just be a decorative piece of art.

Then we have something veeeery self indulgent on the next column. It's Aquaman from Megaman 8 (With a not so subtle skull right next to him). You should all know by now that I'm the founding father of the Aquawood ship. And I also have the head canon that Woodman and the Voice are very divorced. Interpret into this whatever you want.

Next to Aquaman is the internets' favorite panel from the web comic Tails Gets Trolled. I fucking love that comic. If you haven't read it in its entirety, I highly recommend doing it. (Though be warned that it contains some pretty heavy topics, many many slurs and a plethora of gore.) Okay, maybe I don't recommend reading it. (Just read it with all of that in mind.)

Under that is a personal favorite joke of mine. It's supposed to be Spotify, with a playlist open that I created some time ago. I called it "Die Pizza Playlist" (Remember that die in German is just "the") which I always listen to when I'm baking my own pizza. Highlights include "Pizza" by Antilopen Gang, "Pizza Heroes" by Lemon Demon (You can actually see the album art for Spirit Phone on the left of the playlist.), "Pizza Pizza Pizza" from the Ratatouille musical and so on and so on. The first song in the playlist is obviously "We like pizza" by the Pizza kids, which is even playing in the image. On the side are two more music artists, at the bottom is the image for the Veggie Tales soundtrack, which also featured a song called "Pizza Angel". And over that is Mitski. I just feel like the Voice would listen to her music. Do not question me on this.

The audience laughs at the funny 7.

On the Voice's left shoulder sits a single green bean. It's flashing you a cheeky grin and a peace sign. While I didn't intend for this to happen, I accidentally referenced my own Woodman birthday gallery art from two years ago, where the bean also sits atop the Voice's shoulder. I know that next to "Yankin'", the bean is one of the most hated memes on SiIva, but I think he's just a silly little guy! :D

Let's head on over to the next column. Seems like the Voice has an incoming call from one of his guards, but he's ignoring it as he has more important things to do, like hovering intimidatingly over Santa Claus.

Next to that window on the right are the Voice's messages. I almost wrote "messanges". That would have been embarrassing, thank god I caught that in time. This is also (yet again) a little self indulgent, since the Voice apparently has the last message he sent Woodman pinned to the very top of his messenger app. His big triangular head is blocking most of it, but since I'm the artist, I can tell you exactly what it says: "Please call me back", which was sent on February 1st 2023, the day "The Disappearance of Woodman" was released. Yeah, I'm still very upset, how could you tell? :( Under that is a message to his trusty pizza guy asking for a pizza with extra cheese.

Next we have two of my favorite memes on the SiIvagunner channel (My absolute favorite being "Funny budots", since I never wrote that down anywhere.), one being Frisk Undertale becoming uncanny and the other one being the goat. I don't really know how to describe the goat, but apparently it was crafted by the same artist who made the stoned fox that's also very popular online?? I may just be stupid, but I didn't know about that until I looked up a reference for the goat. Since it often appears alongside Undertale and Deltarune, many have made the assumption that this is what Asriel would look like in real life. That's why Flowey is there next to it with an equal sign. Whoever drew up that calculation wasn't really sure of their work, which is why they drew a question mark right next to it. Between Frisk and the goat is a little Soul, also from Undertale/Deltarune.

Onto the next column, where I'm dropping very subtle hints that a specific character in this image might like pizza. Or might even be a little obsessed with it. On the left is a list with the contact details of three well known pizza chains, on the very top is Sonic the Hedgehog who just recently became a brand ambassador for Totino's and on the bottom right of this section is a flyer for some kind of pizza sale.

The next window contains my favorite joke of any rip on the entire SiIvaGunner Youtube Channel. "Peepoona 5. Let us shart the pants." Just typing this out is making me die of laughter yet again. (The rip in question is "Our Beginning - Persona 5".) But as you all know, I am very into toilet humor. That's why Aquaman is one of my favorite robot masters. And why I'm such a big fan of Youtube Poop. And why I watch Minion fart gun religiously. But enough of that, you get what I'm trying to say. I love funny poop jokes. That's why this is here.

Oh man. This next one is why I wanted to write this very detailed essay in the first place. A reference so obscure, even I can't find its origin anymore. And believe me, I tried. Thankfully, I took a screenshot of the original comment thread this was based on. A user called "The New Guy" commented on a SiIvaGunner rip, something along the lines about how much they enjoyed this specific rip. At the time, the comment had 920 likes, so I'm guessing it must have been a pretty popular video. (The comment should also be about 4 years old now?) Anyway, under that comment, someone asks them what their profile picture was from. They simply answered "wagon", since that was exactly what their profile picture showed. Someone on the SiIvaGunner team must have found this exchange so funny that they commented "wagon" as well. And that's the origin of this joke. If anyone knows which rip this is from pleeeeaaaase tell me. I need to know.

I don't think I need to explain who the next guy is. Just the love of my life. I specifically drew Woodman in his getup from the Nuclear Winter Festival, since that was the last time he appeared on the channel. He's looking kinda concerned in the general direction of the viewer, for obvious reasons. And right under him is his trademarked >:] emoji.

And last but certainly not least, the final column! Now I finally get to talk about this other scene from the Hobart Hootenanny. It shows Hobart and the Voice having a romantic stroll at a beautiful beach, while the sun is slowly setting in the background, making the water shimmer with its breathtaking colors. Okay, the last thing didn't really happen, since it's a shitty MS Paint drawing, but I like to imagine it did. Maybe I should draw a remake of this image one day. Now I'd like to quote the video in question: "A man and Hobart were walking together on the beach. He looked back and saw that in his times of sadness and need, there was only one set of footprints. He asked Hobart why he would leave him in his time of most need. Hobart simply turned to the man and said, VVVVVRRRRR SRRRRR RRRRGGGHHHH--" (Thank you SiIva Wiki for the transcription.) Now I don't think I need to explain why I drew Hobart in a bikini top and fishnets. The question answers itself.

The next image is actually quite easy to explain. It's mm5charge and smol Maki. In another universe, Chargeman and Maki might have been integral to the SiIvaGunner lore. This specific image is just stolen from my piece of fan art called "Megaman 5 Brainrot (featuring Acidman)", which I posted in 2022. I still head canon that Megaman and Love Live take place in the same universe. Just because I think it's funny. And because I want to see funny robot masters interact with the girlies from Love Live. How do I explain this? It's like…. balancing out the world? The robot masters are almost all male (with a few exceptions) and the characters shown in Love Live are all female. How would Thanos say? "Perfectly balanced, as all things should be." Don't question my cool head canons, okay?

After that we have a poster featuring the Jazz Cats! I really really love the little animations that showed their backstory when KfAD2 first came out. I don't know if it's okay for me to say this, but I also really really enjoy the song "But Not You" written (in universe) by Doge and Naxx. The text is veeeeeeery questionable, but man, does it sound good regardless… And shoutouts to wolfman1405 for the heavenly vocals.

On the right of that is a missing poster for Wade L.D.. Nothing much to explain here I guess.

Left of that is the Voices shopping list, which lists flour, oil, yeast… Wait a minute…. All of these are ingredients for pizza dough! Guys, I'm beginning to think that this guy might like pizza.

On the very bottom of this column is Mario 7 Grand Dad himself, who has his hostile gaze directed at the Voice. I would be pissed off too if someone kept me locked in a glass tube for 7 years.

The last little window just shows the Vineshroom with the words "fecal funny" written under it.

And with that, it is done. The entire background thoroughly explained. (I may have gone a little overboard this time.)

It's been a while since I posted new art, huh? In the meantime, a lot has happened. As I said before, I started a new job, got a tattoo of Woodman on my leg (best idea I've ever had btw) and I also started watching MLP, which explains the Love Live / Idolmaster ponysonas, lol.

And that's all I wanted to say. I hope that the next piece of art isn't that far off. Jenny out. (I think this might have been the longest essay I've ever written here. I'm so sorry. By which I mean, I'm not sorry at all. I'm not forcing anyone to read this.)

#welp im one month too late #but better late than never #i put my giant ass essay under the read more this time #open with caution its extremely fucking long because i got a little carried away #siivagunner #the voice inside your head #santa claus #nozomi tojo #smol nozomi #meta knight #president haltmann #susie haltmann #thats it im not tagging all of these guys #christmas comeback crisis #if you saw this posted to the wrong blog no you didnt #jumpscaring kirby fans with siivagunner art is my favorite hobby

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artaith-21 · 9 months

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Old, but gold?

Done in 2013. Good lord that’s 10 years ago now. Here’s the original blurb that accompanied it:

A deck of cards, a few drinks, and a really bad idea that was obviously 'Vinnie' in origin.

I thought it would be funny to have a strip poker situation where the only female playing is the only one fully dressed, while it's the men who have had their pants ( literally ) beat off of them.

I'm pretty happy with the anatomy in this- Throttle and Vinnie in particular turned out really well ( though they are mostly hidden by Charley, they are on their own seprate layers so they are complete figures ) and for some reason, Modo's pose caused me the most difficulty. And omigod, once again, ALL THE DAMN FEET. I hate drawing feet almost as much as Rob Liefeld, but I force myself to do it and I need the practice on them -_-

Also got some foreshortening in there, like on Throttle's hand and Modo's foot, and I needed practice in those areas too so I'm glad it's getting a little easier as I go.

I would have done more for the background but my laptop overheated and crashed FIVE TIMES while coloring this and by the end of the night I was feeling very much ready to be done due to my frustration ( and my iPhone crashed 4 times as well while. What the hell, was there a gremlin loose in my house somewhere?)

Also, thanks again to the every enduring Shamon Cornell who put up with me consistently texting him progress sketches of naked mouse-men for feedback XD ( anyone else want to sign up for that task? lol )

Anyway, enjoy the eye candy.

( also, I hope this doesn't appear too dark on other people's monitors. I need to calibrate my monitor among other things like tossing this laptop in the trash anyway ).

#biker mice #biker mice from mars #throttle #vinnie #modo #bmfm #Charley #Charlene Davidson #anthro #artaith-21 #90s nostalgia #90s cartoons #strip poker

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talksliketherain · 1 year

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Rowan Laslow - Hurt

Background- Rowan and Y/n have been best friends forever and they both have feelings for one another but are oblivious to it. Recently he's been going to Nightshade meetings more often, leaving y/n alone to fill her own time.

Not proof read!! Please do not post my work to any other sites or steal it!! If you have any requests dm me!

_______________

Third person Pov-

Y/n and Rowan sat in his dorm, finishing up their project for botany. Rowan hated botany. He had no special interest in plants or flowers or nature of any sort. But he knew y/n did. He looked up at her, observing her squinting her eyes in focus at the drawing she had been working on.

The two had practically grown up together. Before Rowan's mother died, she was best friends with Y/n's aunt, who y/n lived with. After his mother died he began spending a lot more time at the L/n household. His father wasn't too interested in what Rowan did, and kind of detested him because of how much he resembled his mom.

Nevertheless, Y/n and her aunt took Rowan in. He even had his own room at their house.

At about age 13, he began to realize he was deeply in love with her. Since he practically lived with her he got to see all sides of her. This included seeing her sob after her first heartbreak, laugh until she couldn't breathe, and get so mad to the point where she was quite literally red in the face.

He adored every side. He adored everything about her.

He snapped back into reality, hearing her call his name in that voice that drove him nuts.

"Rowan?" she asked, trying to get his attention.

He mentally screamed at the sound of her saying his name.

"Sorry what?"

"I asked what you think about the drawing."

"Oh. Sorry."

He turned his head to observe the picture. They were assigned a tiger lily. His mouth opened a little bit. The drawing was perfect.

"Wow. That's really good. You're gonna give Xavier a run for his money."

Y/n blushed at the compliment. She had been doing her best at trying to make the drawing look as good as possible. She didn't want rowan to think she was incapable.

Just recently she had caught feelings for the Laslow boy. She never really paid him much mind before until earlier in the year. She saw him get hurt during fencing and went with him to the nurse's office. Seeing him there with his hair perfectly parted to the side, glasses sitting perfectly on his nose, and sleeves rolled up a little made her want to die. She thought back to that moment at least twice a day.

She tried forgetting about the skip in her heart when she saw him at that moment, but couldn't push it out of her head. About two weeks ago, she realized she was madly in love with him and gave in to her feelings.

"Thanks, Row. Now I just have to color it in." She looked up at him, sucking in a breath realizing how close they were.

"I could do that part. I mean you pretty much just did the whole thing." he chuckled.

"Uhh. Okay yeah, go ahead."

"Great. I'll finish it before it's due next Monday."

Rowan suddenly realized how close he was to the girl. He didn't want to be weird, so he scooted back as subtly as possible when he put the drawing in his bag.

Y/n frowned at the movement. She had thought that just maybe he was that close on purpose. Guess he was too close for comfort.

Rowan had taken off his jacket and was just in his button-up and vest. Y/n watched his back muscles contract as he leaned down to put his stuff away. Fencing sure did pay off.

He sat up and caught the girl zoned out, staring at his back.

"...You okay?"

"Wha- uh yeah. I'm great. Fantastic actually", Y/n said, hoping it wasn't too noticeable that she was staring at him.

He nodded and picked his bag up, slinging it over his shoulder. Y/n knew what was coming. The two had this unspoken thing with each other where they gave a hug whenever the other left. Recently she had been dreading this. Every touch they shared sent an electric pulse through her body.

She sighed, looking up at him with a sad face.

"Do you have to go?"

Rowan looked down to hide the crimson blush that he could feel spread across his face. They used to hang out all the time, but ever since Rowan joined the Nightshades he had been spending less and less time with the girl. In his defense, he was working on building up the courage to ask the others if she could join. Until then, he had to keep it a secret from you. He didn't know why he was so nervous. They all loved you anyway.

"Yeahhh. Xavier needed me to tutor him for algebra."

"Ah. Okay. Well..bye."

She stood up and mentally prepared herself for what was to come.

When did he get so tall?

He pulled her in, wrapping his arms around her neck. She wrapped hers around his waist, face right in his chest. They stood there for a moment just holding each other.

They both inhaled. As y/n took in the smell of Rowan's light cologne mixed with fresh cold air, he took in the smell of her green apple shampoo and conditioner. Her hair products frequently changed, so he was always excited to see what she chose this time.

Even though they both grew extremely nervous about this hug every time it came, it was addicting. Neither of them could get enough. It was like an excuse just to touch each other based on a tradition from when they were kids. They both mentally cursed and thanked their past kid selves for it. It had grown to mean so much more.

"Sure you don't wanna stay? I'm gonna sneak out and go into Jericho for some coffee and snacks.."

Rowan tried to think of an excuse. He felt bad for ditching their usual hang-out together (again..), but this was the meeting he would ask if she could join. They would finally be able to join each other again.

"I can't. His test is coming up soon. No time to waste."

"Right. Okay. Bye Rowan."

"Bye Y/n"

_________________

Rowan closed the door behind him and immediately felt sick. He knew Y/n was upset with him, but it would all be worth it after tonight.

But he just kept thinking.

Maybe if you got the courage to ask sooner you wouldn't have to feel this way, and she wouldn't be upset.

No. What's done is done. No point in feeling bad about it now. It wasn't like waiting an extra day was gonna kill her.

__________________

Y/n pulled her jacket on and grabbed her wallet in a huff. She knew Rowan wasn't tutoring Xavier for algebra tonight. Xavier was in geometry with her, and their test was yesterday.

Knowing he lied to her angered Y/n. Why would he be ditching her like this? What if there was a girl?

She shook her head trying to shake off the thought of Rowan being in love with someone else. Whatever. Maybe a latte and some chips would get her mind off of this.

She snuck out of the school doors, shivering once she felt the breeze hit her. She knew she should have grabbed Rowan's hoodie he had given her instead but was too stubborn to wear something of his right now when he had pissed her off so badly.

She began heading through the woods, observing her surroundings. She had always felt one with nature. It was peaceful to her.

As her journey continued, she didn't make it too far in before she heard a low growl.

"Enid?" she asked wearily.

Enid was always messing around with her like this. Even though she hadn't wolfed out yet, she had still always had a knack for growling and scaring the girl.

She heard it again.

"Enid come on this isn't funny. Come out!" she demanded.

Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as a strange creature crawled out of the darkness.

Y/n immediately started sprinting back toward the school. She had almost reached the front lawn when she felt her legs give out from under her. She was pulled back by her leg and flipped over until she felt the violent stabbing pain of the creature clawing open the skin on her chest and legs. She screamed as loud as she could, hoping someone would find her and come help. Her adrenaline got the best of her, as she was frozen in shock and fear. She suddenly snapped back to reality when the monster had finished with her.

She felt the burning of the wounds and the wetness of the blood seeping through her clothes in the cold night air. She couldn't scream anymore, and the blood rushing out of her drained her energy. She reached down and slowly pulled out her phone, pressing Rowan's contact to call him. Even though she had been mad, she needed him right now, and he was the closest thing to family around here.

————————

Rowan looked down at his phone repeatedly buzzing in her pocket. His face lit up with joy seeing Y/n's contact. He had already asked and received the blessing for her to join the club he was buzzing with excitement. When he asked everyone look at him like he was stupid.

"Dude, why didn't you just ask before? We love having her around. I'm surprised she isn't already one of us." Xavier said.

He got a bunch of different "yeah" and "Duh of course" from the entire group. Easy enough then. He had just sat down and started drinking a mocktail Yoko had made. He was just about to text and ask if he could come to her dorm because he had good news when he got her call.

Rowan picked up the phone and held it to his ear.

"Hey, I was just about t-"

He stopped. He heard sobbing from the girl and immediately stood up, already on edge.

"Y/n what's wrong? Is everything alright?"

"I...need help. Now. Monster...attacked..me... "

"Ooooh My god. Okay. OKAY. IM COMING. Send me your location I'm on my way."

"O...K...." Y/n sobbed.

Rowan hung up and took his robe off. It was time to go. NOW. He didn't even bother explaining to the others. He rushed out and ran towards the location you had sent him.

He made his way toward the edge of the campus lawn, finding you passed out on the grass. Not considering the circumstances, you looked peaceful. Your long eyelashes over top your cheeks and the moonlight above you shone across your face.

But Rowan didn't have time to think about that. He had to act fast.

"Fuck fuck fuck" he quickly used his telekinetic powers to lift you into the air and had you floating behind him as he broke out into a jog to the nurse.

He got to the nurse and quickly explained what happened. The nurse told him to go get her clothes as she tore off the bloodied ones and cleaned the poor girl up.

Rowan rushed down to your dorm and flipped the light on. Yoko was your roommate, and she was still at the meeting so he didn't have to worry about disturbing anyone. He went through the items in your closet, knowing you would want something to be comfortable in. He grabbed a tank top and shorts, knowing you also might not want anything touching your stitched-up wounds.

He grabbed some of your things along the way, knowing you would be spending at least a couple of days in the infirmary. On the way out he spotted his hoodie laying across a chair. He grabbed that too.

Turning the light off and shutting the door, Rowan rushed back, waiting to see what your state was.

He entered the door and handed the nurse your stack of clothes through the curtain. He didn't want to look in and invade your privacy. He tried talking to the nurse through the curtains. He was very impatient.

"How is she? Is she going to be okay? What's going on?" he asked frantically.

"Well she lost a lot of blood, and she's going to need MANY stitches. As of right now, I'm not sure when or if she'll wake up. But ill let you know..." she responded.

He sucked in a breath and held it for a second. This was all his fault. If he asked sooner or left the meeting earlier, or just stayed with you, this would have never happened. He let a single tear roll down his cheek but quickly wiped it away.

For the next couple of hours, all he did was wait. The nurse finally came out.

"She'll make it. But she'll be out for a while. As I said, Miss L/n lost a lot of blood. She's numbed up for now but she'll be in pain for the next few days. If you want you can go check on her. She's cleaned up."

He let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank you so much. Do you mind if I stay with her until she wakes up?"

The nurse smiled at his request. The simple act reminded her that young love still existed. It was a breath of fresh air compared to the cuts and bruises from fights she was constantly healing.

"Go right ahead"

__________________________

Y/n woke up dizzy, but stable. She felt sharp pains and something burning all over her. She lifted the hem of her shirt, seeing bloodied stitches all across her abdomen. She pulled down the waistband of her shorts and saw the same thing on her thighs. Same thing on her arms.

At least I'm alive

She looked over to see Rowan sleeping in a chair next to her bedside. A nurse walked over and checked up on her while y/n stared. The nurse glanced up and looked over to see her looking at him so intently.

"Your boyfriend there stayed with you for the past 2 days. He barely leaves your side. Reminds me of how close my husband and I are."

Y/n didn't want to ruin the moment and tell her it wasn't her boyfriend so she just replied "Yeah we're really close."

The nurse walked away. Since she was awake now and Rowan was asleep, it was her turn to watch over him. She looked over all of him, from the freckles on his face to his cupid's bow. She loved every.single.part.

She was still laying down observing his face when he began to stir. His eyes fluttered open and he lifted off his glasses a little bit to rub his eyes before he fully opened them.

"Hey, you're awake! How do you feel?" he asked.

"Fine. Sore. Thank you for saving me."

"It's the least I could do. You're here because of me in the first place."

"Are you kidding? I understand you had things to do. I was going whether you were there or not. This isn't your fault."

"Listen there's something I need to tell you..."

Y/n raised her eyebrow and slightly nodded, telling him to keep going.

"I'm a part of a secret society here called the Nightshades. Recently we've been having more meetings which is why I've had to ditch our usual time together so much. Last night was especially important because...I asked them if you could join. They said yes. So now we can do our usual hangouts again...I mean. Only if you want."

Her eyes widened at the statement.

"Really? Wow. Yeah, I'd love to join. And to think I thought.." she said the last part a little quieter, realizing she ratted herself out.

"You thought what?"

"Well, I knew you weren't tutoring Xavier. He's in my class. I thought. Well, I thought you were ditching me for a girl."

Rowan laughed at the statement, making y/n slightly glare for laughing at her.

"ME?"

He continued laughing but then saw the serious look on her face. He knew it was time. This may ruin their friendship, but holding on to this anymore would make him explode.

"Y/n, the only girl I want in my life is you. I've been in love with you since we were kids. When I saw you laying there, lifeless on the ground, all I could think about was how I never got to tell you how much you meant to me."

Her eyes went as big as saucers. She never thought he would ever say anything to her like that. She sat forward and stared down at her hands, trying to figure out how to tell him she reciprocated feelings.

Rowan sat in silence, worrying he made her uncomfortable. He stood up from his chair.

"Listen I'm gonna go I don't want you to thin-"

Y/n quickly turned to him, gripping his wrist with one hand to pull him down, the other hand on the back of his neck to pull him in.

As their lips connected they both melted into the kiss. Y/n felt him smile a little, but quickly force it down so he could go back to kissing her. He lifted his hand to her face and rubbed his thumb back and forth across her cheek.

Y/n sat up a little bit to deepen the kiss, trying to push away the immense pain she was feeling on her stomach, but eventually gave in. She sharply inhaled and leaned back to the spot she was in before, breaking contact between the two.

Rowan sat back down in his seat with a dopey smile spread across his face.

Y/n looked at him with what was only recognizable as unconditional love in her eyes.

"Rowan. I'm in love with you too. Every part of you. I've known you for so long, and I can't imagine what my life would be like without you here."

Rowan took her hand in his, drawing little circles on it as they both stared at each other with love in their eyes. He leaned over and kissed her forehead, then whispered to her...

"I swear. I will never let anything hurt you ever again, my love."

——————————

AND THATS IT!! Thank you for reading and stay tuned for more updates!

#rowan laslow x reader #rowan laslow #rowan laslow x you #rowan laslow imagine #wednesday characters x reader #wednesday

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comicaurora · 2 years

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Hello Red! I'm happy to say you've inspired me to start drawing comics, but the biggest issue I've encountered is that it takes actually forever. I'm always really happy I did it when I'm done but it's hard to convince myself to start when I know a couple panels is gonna take me days. So I was wondering if you had any advice regarding streamlining the process for time efficiency or keeping up motivation for long projects, and, if you remember, how long a page took you when you first started vs how long it takes now?

Hoo boy. Yeah, I can help out with that. The very first page of the comic took me, if I'm recalling correctly, a full week. No other projects or pages, just this.

A lot of work went into details that are frankly impossible to see, though I am still glad I did it, both as a learning experience and because I felt like I owed it to Vash to do it some justice before I squished it in twelve pages.

Hell, if you look closely, you can even see the cavalcade of little visual errors I missed because I didn't have it in me to do a seventeenth cleanup pass after a week straight of drawing tiny houses. Getting faster meant I'd have more energy left to polish the pages and get them looking nicer.

The process of getting faster has been kind of a fits-and-starts situation. Drawing that many humanoid figures over and over again eventually means you just get better at the parts you're less sure of, so the process of lining the pages has gotten rather faster since I don't need to burn as much time getting the character poses and lines right. Currently, depending on page complexity, I can fairly consistently get 3-5 pages fully lined in one night. Backgrounds have also gotten faster, and I tend to do those in large batches, sometimes filling out entire chapters with location backgrounds and skyboxes because the scene location isn't going to change and that makes it easier to keep it consistent.

Initially my backgrounds were both more complicated and worse-looking, which is a bad combination.

I ended up deciding between chapters that painstakingly lining a bunch of background trees probably wasn't worth the effort, and worked on finding a shortcut that would work better. I ended up doing something a little more lineless, a shortcut I initially discovered because I didn't want to plug in my drawing tablet and was playing around with things I could do with just my trackpad.

It was simpler, faster, not too jarring, and it meant my clearly-lined foreground figures were more naturally visually separated from the distant background. Win-win-win.

For the style of coloring I do, I tend to shade before I add color, though this is a shortcut I didn't figure out until something like chapter 6. This process is also pretty fast, all things considered, though I've had a lot of practice doing this kind of cel shading which is why I can hammer out a lot of pages' worth of shading quite quickly.

I like working in batches of about one scene, often broken up into subgroups of 4-6 pages at a time, so I can't give a front-to-back turnaround for an individual page - but I also think this kind of assembly-line process has sped up the process overall and makes it more fun for me, because I can storyboard basically as far in advance as I want to, which in turn makes it easier for me to motivate myself to keep going, because I know there's all kinds of good stuff I'm looking forward to drawing down the line. There's some good shit I'm excited for in Chapter 21, and bursts of enthusiasm on the storyboard end of things often translate to enthusiasm on the page-finalizing end which makes it easier to slog through even the tedious bits.

As a bonus, working ahead means the story's got a better chance of making sense and having good pacing when it's read back as an archive. Another win-win.

Overall the greatest optimization tool I can recommend is just working on the project. There's no better way to identify the parts that feel unnecessarily slow and could be changed, or the parts of your art you're unsure of that need polish to get more speedy. If you're planning on publishing the comic anywhere, I recommend building up a buffer beforehand - something like the first chapter (or in my case, first three chapters) will give you a very good sense of what parts need more practice or improvement as you move forward. And it is genuinely easier to motivate yourself to continue if you have an audience giving you positive feedback and/or panicking at what you're doing to their darlings.

#asks #art stuff #writing stuff

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winchester-reload · 2 years

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I admire that you're never afraid to use darker colors with your art as well and the way that you manage to make it look cozy or build up an atmosphere, for example with dim lighting! (every time that I try to go a little bit darker when I draw it just turns out to look muddy or overly saturated, esp indoors) The way you integrate the shades of the background into your art with the exact right amount to make the characters stand out is beautiful and I look up to it so much. Your art is awesome<3

Thank you, my friend. Let's just say I go blindly and brazenly into every art project, and it doesn't always work, but sometimes it does!

The most important thing to keep in mind when doing darker pieces (all pieces honestly) is mindfulness of the values (lightness and darkness) of the colors you're using. As an easy shorthand, your art should be as legible in black and white as it is with colors.

Ex:

Though this piece is very dark, the values are balanced to keep the subjects from being washed out.

For fun, here's an example of an old, dark piece of mine where I didn't really accomplish this:

See how those legs and wings get really muddled? Really the whole thing has value issues. No good. If I redid this piece today, I would be more mindful to prevent that from happening. In fact, I have used this learning experience to help with backlit wing legibility!:

So, if ever you’re having trouble with a piece. Throw up a B/W filter and color pick the muddled area, then toy with the saturation and value of the color you’re using to see what might help fix the problem.

As far as muddying of colors goes, I found this great resource that breaks down color theory for you.

But also, keep in mind, you should stay toward the middle of your color wheel. Blackest black should be used sparingly, if at all. My pieces look dark because of the colors relative to one another, not because I use a lot of black.

It takes a bit of practice, trial and failure, but I have no doubt you’ll get it!

I hope that helps! Happy arting, my friend!

#asks #art asks #my art #destiel

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dymdrimluga · 9 months

Text

Art of Mage: The Ascension

Recently, a big event happened: I started playing MtA again, and I was forced to read. To be honest, I still find it difficult to read long and complex texts in English, but it's great practice. It's not the first time I've opened the rule book, but now I somehow paid special attention to the arts. And they are very cool there! This is the book I want to talk about. And this is an old book, after which, I think, a lot has changed in the world of illustration. But I'm just curious how it was. Was this book successful? What do you think about it?

Many people worked on this edition

At first, I wanted to find the specific author of each picture, but despite the existence of such a list, it turned out to be a difficult task. So today I will only comment on the art, not the artists. I am not a professional because my art has never been used for such books, but I want to share my impressions and thoughts.

There were a lot of such cards there and they are also quite cool, and the main thing is that they look in their place and really look like real tarot cards in design and vibe. Although this is not the art that interests me the most, I couldn't help but mention them here.

Really cool. It seems to be something from traditional materials, similar to watercolor, maybe with the addition of something else. If you look closely, you can see the remains of a pencil. Look at the head. Is everything drawn anatomically correct? No. But does it create the right mood? Yes!

Art by Mark Jackson if I'm not mistaken. Kinda reminds me of Sandman from the comics, don't you think? I wonder if this kind of black and white line art is still used in modern books? Must check.

This art... I was a little surprised to see it in the book. I worked in the game industry and was used to the fact that everything should be casually polished (thanks to gamejams for allowing me to deviate from this rule). Right here... a dynamic plot, but work with the clarity of the picture, color, volume, lighting... on some details it is simply not there. It seems that at some point it was not the main thing to be an illustrator. I wonder what was important? And what remains? Because I would really like to be involved in something like this book.

I would be happy to see how it is done. I have thoughts that maybe photos were used, but most were definitely drawn and I just want to know how

It has its own style. A lot of work on small details requires patience, not everyone can draw so many small details and not get lost in them. I love when people do not lose the courage to draw in a unique style

as in the previous picture, traditional materials seem to have been used here: pencils, felt-tip pens, maybe watercolors? What do you think of when you see this? I think "small artists". So many talented artists with small audiences on Twitter or Tumblr can do the same. Although not. Not "the same", because no one will do "the same" in creativity. At the same level - yes. The same - no. It's obvious that a lot of the artist's personality and experience has been put into this, and that makes this picture unique

oh i love it, it's not even a color drawing, but it looks so good on the page! But I don't really understand what bothers me about this girl's breasts, I wish I could see what it looks like from the front

We have already seen this author. Look at the hair. I.. really don't know what to say. Not exactly what I expected.

interesting art, interesting creature. Many would call it a sketch, but I think it is precisely here that more work on the details is not needed

I don't know the author, but I definitely recognize the style - I saw something like that in the changelings rulebook

Oh, I like it. It takes a special skill to draw like that, and I don't have it. Very dynamic. And the form shown is interesting

Soap. Nothing extra, nice details on the background, clear silhouette. Good.

I love this kind of comic book style. It is exactly as it should be in this style, I don't know what else to say, except that there is a good work with textures

how interestingly and harmoniously different styles are combined in this book

I like it, I would read something like comic book in that style, very nice to look at

I can't say about the plot, but the details, volume, and shadows are very well drawn. I wonder if it was done in pencil? I am fascinated by people who can draw with pencils and have a similar result

very calm great vibe

this is already something closer to the game art I know, not casual, but a step towards polishing, + looks like digital

one more step :) If you don't pay attention to the face, something like this can now be drawn in hidden objects games. Very nice drawing, by the way, I like the dynamics.

I think that will be enough, at least for today. I don't know who would be interested in such a review with personal opinions. But here's what fascinated me and made me think: so many artists with such different styles in one book. Unbelievable. It would be very interesting to be a part of something like that. Now I want to review new books from this point of view. I used to look at them as a reader, but now...

I wonder if there will be new books of this kind? What are the requirements? What is needed?

Only one trend worries me. Some time ago I had a conversation with the author of this book It was an interesting but a little sad conversation. The author says that, at best, he will receive not so much for this book. He says that he cannot pay the artists as well, because then he will have nothing left. It's a shame, but the only solution he found was to use the AI. I wanted to read the text of the book, because Umbra is a very interesting topic. I even had the opportunity to read it for free as a free copy provided by the author. I did not read it. One of the comments says that the art there is well-suited, although it was created by AI. I do not know. I don't want to see it even for free. I think it brings Banality into the world, destroys the dreams of small artists to be part of something great. I can understand a small author of a small book that won't make much money. It's just sad. I can only hope that the trend does not spread to the whole world. It will really be the time of Winter. And no more magic in this technocratic world.

#illustration #world of darkness #mage the ascension #mages #just opinion #jaka kurwa cepibula

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swan-orpheus · 1 year

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A fascinating read. I love Soller’s detailed thought process: https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/andors-kyle-soller-discusses-the-slippery-fate-awaiting-ambitious-obsessive-syril-karn/

The amount of thought that he put into this:

“[It] definitely falls in line with this intellectual belief that the corporate fascist environment and system is something that is the answer to control and regulate society. And Syril’s core values — beliefs of rule and order and law, and really good tailoring – the circumstances of his life and his dampening of his own emotional antenna and social antenna absolutely primes him to exist within that structure.“

Does that mixture make him the most dangerous person we’ve met so far?

Soller: I think it definitely makes for someone who’s not necessarily in control, and that is something that we’re exploring with Syril. He has this deep emotional life that he keeps bitten down beneath his surface. Everything is zipped up into this perfect hairstyle, perfect clothing, and yet there is this massive, frustrated turmoil underneath. And that means he’s constantly at battle within himself, and he can’t really see five feet beyond him about how his actions are influencing those around him.

I love how this show is turning familiar concepts on their head. And here is another great example. The clumsy, doomed to trip over nothing or run into a hallway and get shot villain stereotype. The comical bad guy.

Syril Karn may have the color and consistency of a wet noodle, but he isn’t incompetent, actually is good at what he does and whether you want to admit it or not, is rather perceptive. His major flaw isn’t incompetence or a lack of insight so much as not being the best judge of situations and their complexity. He has a laser focus, he’s obsessive, he notices things but does not always draw the proper conclusion or see the big picture. He’s obsessed with the “how”, but does not ask “Why? which makes him the perfect tool for a giant fascist super structure. He never realized that Verlo and Kravas were not worth vindicating, and were in all likelihood running a racket where they would abuse their authority to mug people under the guise of doing their job in order to fund their expensive revnog and brothel habit. He doesn’t even probe any further into their backgrounds or asses their characters. They are the victims and Cassian is the suspect. It seems that he has very little experience interacting with people on a more practical, human level so he sorts them into types based on his upbringing/indoctrination. He has intuition and intellect but lacks certain tools.

His confrontation/meeting with Dedra is off-putting and alarming but like it or not, he’s not wrong about her. We just get so distracted by how he internalizes everything and lives inside of his own head and is socially awkward that we forget to notice that he is actually potentially very dangerous.

Sure, Timm Karlo snitched on Cassian. But the only reason that the bulletin went out to Ferrix in the first place was because Syril went to the navigation room, saw a blip on a screen and had someone filter the evening for unmarked vehicles. Because he spotted the vehicle in question and traced it back to Ferrix is the reason that Timm was even given the opportunity at all. Syril knew what to look for and what channels to go through. And given Syril’s disposition, I do not doubt that in the absence of an anonymous tip, he would have gone down to the planet regardless and questioned folks. He was not about to let it go.

Syril slurping his cereal is amusing. His mother is toxic and overbearing, but Kathryn Hunter’s mannerisms are oftentimes funny. The way that she changes tack at the speed of light when she finds out that Syril has received a promotion feels humorous. But she’s done a real number on her son and only values him for his status even if she loves him. This show is great for illustrating how there are many faces and sides to people and to situations, that something funny can be pretty awful, that nasty people can crack jokes or appear somewhat silly, but it does not lessen their impact.

Syril’s halting speech, the doe-eyed look of warped admiration that he gives Dedra. From a certain angle, these examples are hilarious (as well as creepy). And yet they are not. This is not like certain other Star Wars products that I will not name where the antagonists truly are laugh out loud ridiculous, over the top caricatures of fascist rhetoric and goose stepping hijinks.

No, I do not honestly think that Syril is going to snap and murder his mother. I’m also not convinced that he’s a bomb waiting to go off. The writers are far too subtle for that. But he is definitely up to something and awkward or not he is calculating. We underestimate his potential threat at our peril. He’s raising alarms and generally annoying Dedra Meero in particular, but it isn’t as haphazard and foolish as it appears. I would also argue that Sgt. Mosk is responsible for a lot of what went kablooey on Ferrix. He was a bored fanatic, a zealot who smelled an opportunity to strike and who could be seen drinking on the job and had all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. (You don’t send in 12 men armed to the teeth and barge into town to track down a twitchy suspect.) Syril just happened to be along for the ride and didn’t do much except follow him into disaster. But now he has learned from his mistakes, found a better, far more cool, competent class of authoritarian nutjob, spotted her weakness even if she hasn’t yet realized it and is waiting for the moment when she inevitably contacts him, if say Bix escapes or she has no other leads, and demonstrates that she is as desperate to find Cassian as Syril suspects. Just because he wears his fervor like a badge and gushes his elation at Dedra when he runs across her again, does not mean that he is creepy but ineffectual. After all, why hasn’t she had him arrested yet?

I mean, he could very well slip on a banana peel in the next three eps and prove me wrong. But the point still stands, that unlike other shows this one is showing us again and again via Syril, Luthen, Lt. Gorn, Vel, Tay Kolma etc that you cannot judge a person by their appearance alone, that peoples’ allegiances and the scope of them are not always what they seem at first glance, that seriousness can hide behind levity, that all clothing is a costume, a disguise, and that everyone wears a series of masks hiding their true nature from the audience.

#star wars #andor #andor spoilers #andor meta #syril karn #kyle soller #dedra meero #antagonists #masks #clothing #costumes #tailoring as a metaphor #no but really #i live for costume anaylsis

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xuune · 1 year

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Hi! I've been following you for a while (don't really remember why or when) and I love your art! I just wanted to ask:

What's your favorite and least favorite part of animation?

oh cool! thanks for sticking around for so long :) honestly, if you've been following me for some time now it might've been either bc of my fanart, oc art, or both haha

thats a big question which prompts for a big answer so here's me rambling about it below B)

when asking fave/least fave things abt animation, its hard to answer without getting in depth on a variety of things LOL. animation, as a medium and field, is very nuanced with its own concentrations so its kind of a disservice to not recognize those areas esp when the skills u learn have a lot of overlap on how it improves other areas of study

i had practice in some 2D/3D ani, storyboarding, visdev, 3D modelling. here's my general experience with all of those:

fave: figuring out how movement is created, rough animation stage, analyzing and figuring out timing/spacing, esp love the fact that you are creating motion, not pretty illustrations to gawk at, seeing the entire ani come together at the end feels very rewarding

least: cleanup and colors lol, feels very time consuming. if im gonna spend time making lines clean, id rather do that with an illustration piece

3D (in maya)

fave: can rely on the program to do the heavy lifting while you do the keys and adjustments, doing 3d actually enhanced my understanding of how the body moves in motion and space and where drag, follow thru, overshoot could be applied in both 2d/3d

least: i dont get to draw :( majority of my experience in the adjustment process is looking at a mass nebula of graphs and figuring out where i fucked up or smoothing out areas and fixing it. prefer 2d since i can just redraw what looks wrong vs scavenging thru multiple graphs. also modelling the key poses can feel like it takes forever vs drawing it

storyboarding

fave: creating strong, key story beats, keeping drawings rough when possible, shorthanding drawings, researching reference for shot compositions + studying them

least: can be very hard figuring out how to fill in the gaps between certain beats, easy to become uninspired/uncertain abt a sequence drawn

visdev

fave: seeing the final piece come together, figuring out composition, blocking in values/shapes, character design, research phase/looking for references and creating moodboards

least: i hate doing backgrounds lol. complexity affects how much i'll end up dreading it. personally not a fan of working on pieces for very long. im also not a fan of constantly doing paintings/bgs as a job

3d modelling (in maya)

fave: painting the model and texturing it, uv mapping and arranging it

least: the modelling part. fuck up 1 part and you fuck up the rest, you'd have to restart from square 1 or be lucky enough that you had a previous save before the fuck up. a proper process matters a lot in saving yourself the pain and headache from fixing everything (i redid a model that i worked on for 3 wks 4 times bc of my fuck ups)

overall, as a field of study

fave: its fun getting surrounded by others who can talk the same language as you do. ive always wanted to be around people who can get as hyped up and excited over discussing and analyzing story and animation, since i didnt have that with some of my other friends or family members. i've also been able to build proficiency in variety of programs too, which is useful. working in a team project is fun if you've got the right kind of ppl and that makes the experience fun when you the project finished. i've worked on various short films for rough animation, and i always love seeing the final film/composited shot and going "i worked on that part!! look at how nice it turned out with the rest of it! whoever did the [cleans/colors/compositing] did so good!!" i think my biggest satisfaction in this field is understanding the why and how something works (i.e. why/how does this animation effectively sell its movement? what makes these boards convey strong story moments? what about this composition is so appealing? why does this story beat matter to the rest of it? why do i/what makes me care about these characters?) it can easily deter people, but this field's a huge time commitment and youre constantly evolving your own craft. it doesnt come easy to everyone, but when you start seeing your own mileage, it feels very rewarding and pays off

least: industry's hard to get into lol, its kinda like that no matter where you go and once youre graduated, the time you spend in limbo is primarily working on your portfolio and catering to studios you wanna get into. its also easy to get the impression that being a "somebody" and maintaining a reputation matters to just increase your chances and connections of getting a job. that shits hard to deal with when youre not the most extroverted person on the planet, and even if your classmates do know you, are you gonna be the one that they end up talking about constantly or regarded highly a lot? names spread within circles, and it can feel like a competition to just get yourself known. its very easy to beat yourself up over seeing other people's work too. we're desperate, we're starving, we want our work to be acknowledged and validated, we want a job that satisfies our creative needs.

this field is incredibly demanding and its more than just having fun and drawing pretty pictures when much of it is a collaborative effort for a project. the disciplines you learn will majority of the time, without a doubt, will be applied for a larger team. at the same time, what you learn has overlap into other areas too which is always fun when you have this moment of "holy shit, i get it now"

#hope that was interesting to read about lol #i have many opinions and im willing to share them :]#answered asks

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lulullia · 10 months

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Vladleen Photo | Lyphuriaa

Isn't Lulu so cute?? She probably had to beg for days to convince Vlad to make such a cheesy gesture…

God this one was especially hard, not really because of what I was drawing but because of how. It made me learn about a bazillion things not to repeat ever again.

All things considered though, it came out pretty good! I wanted to give up so many times and there were so many catastrophes I'm really surprised in how clean it looks.

I'm even more surprised that I was able to push through and bring it to the finish despite it all, it's something to celebrate ;-;

A lil' summary of what this piece taught me ⤵

I really need to study the rest of the human anatomy. The legs were difficult, the feet too. I only realize this now because I mostly draw torsos and simple poses. Also, first time I draw characters interacting – it was fun but it's really something I need to practice more!

If I plan on using the sketch as lineart, please for the love of God use an opaque brush. The amount of time I spent fixing the lineart because it was semi-transparent, I might as well have drawn 3 layers of proper lineart.

Keep an eye on the background color. Because of some transparency stuff, I didn't realize some parts of the drawing only looked right with the current bg color – so when I thought I was done and changed it, I stared in horror at the ugly artifacts all around the drawing. It was painful to fix.

Sometimes it's easier to just draw over the sketch, taking the lines I like, instead of cleaning it up. Because using the sketch layer – especially with an opacity brush – leaves around a ton of barely visible artifacts. I had to "select opaque" to see them and clear them out, and it was also painful.

Generally, going into a drawing without a plan for what style it's gonna be is a bad idea and results in a lot of problems down the line.

Better fix any problems I have with the drawing as early as possible, because I'll end up fixing it anyway, only if I'm too far in the process it'll cost me more time.

I need to stop drawing too detailed an anatomy if I know it's gonna get covered by clothes anyway… T-T

Phew, I'm still shocked that I managed to make a decent piece even after all these problems. Somehow I feel pretty good about it, I think the joy of seeing it finished made all my bad experience with it go away.

It's great, especially since I've been struggling a lot with self-doubt about my creative projects recently; this shows me that no matter how crappy something seems to be, if only I push through and finish it, all that bad energy turns into incredibly good feelings of accomplishment and pride.

Hope that's useful; now I really want to make a mini story game and see how it turns out…

#lulullia #artists on tumblr #art #lyphuriaa #vladleen #illustration #cel shaded #drawing #i feel good about it

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nightmarist · 10 months

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For the artist questions, 6, 21 and 30 if you dont mind

6. What’s your least favorite thing to draw?

Ironically what people tell me to draw.

It's my love-hate with commissions, where I can need the money but dread what people are going to pay me to draw. However, I do like requests, there's a semantic difference in my brain for a request bc usually requests are framed in ways that people want me to draw something they think would match my art or think I the artist would enjoy drawing vs commissions where people want something I just couldnt care less about but Have to do it.

Since I've gotten more established professionally IRL I get to be more choosy about what I take on as commission, so I might just endup doing a whole "I'll only do commissions if I actually like your idea" since I do want to be paid for my work and I do think people have really cool ideas I would love to pry out of their tangled brains and put to paper or canvas or whatever. But even then, If I do really love someone's idea, I mean. Fuck it. I'd love to do it. I love making things for people and giving them away. The fleeting aspects of art can be art too.

21. Do you like to challenge yourself?

Yes !!! I constantly do shitty little sketches and go to drawing tutorials, ask my art instructor and professor friends for tips, tricks, ideas etc. I do a lot of exercises and recently I've become much less afraid of creating backgrounds now that I have a better grasp how to make them. Similarly I'm trying to figure out painting more, which is both fun and challenging.

I don't want to do Just realism, I would love to experiment with other styles. Now that I have actual income, I can "waste" resources (paint, canvases, etc) practicing. Usually the issue is, if I make something, I can't buy back the things I used to make it, and therefore can't continue making. One of the big reasons I've been doing so much more art lately than the past decade.

30. What inspires you to not just make art, but to be a better artist?

How do you define it? Is it what's the most realistic? I can do realism. I have. Ive been doing it since I was a young teenager, I had galleries and awards and was paid hundreds to nearly a thousand dollars for pieces. My parents kept all the money. Now that I'm an adult, no one gives a shit that some thirty year old man can paint a realistic portrait of a celebrity. It only mattered when I was 13 and 14 using a program no one ever heard of (paint tool sai) or didnt think photoshop could be anything but a photo editor. Realism isnt fun, anyway, at least not anymore for me.

I do think that things like "the basics" - anatomy and realism, still life, color theory, perspective, all should be learned to learn how to make compelling art. But they dont have to be used in polished, aesthetically pleasing ways. Once you learn how and why "oh these colors clash and make people turn away from how jarring they are" you can use that. "These perspective lines are weird" can be just as compelling when you have the knowledge to fuck around with it.

I think the thing for me is, after having collaborated with so many other artists IRL and seeing their work, art is so much more than being "good" or "better" or "best" — it's expression. What you express, how you express it, those are each personal things.

Art isn't just painting. Or embroidery. Or convention. Its this lady in town who makes full body puppet costumes out of scrap blankets and broken ceramics. Is this old woman in the country side who makes masks out of paper and crayons. Its a local punk who learned to silk screen their own T shirts with weird shit.

I guess more or less being a "better" artist for me is coming to understand that there's no actual such thing. You can have your own personal goals, set them, and make them.

In addition, "every artwork is practice for the next"

It's a perpetual cultivated skill that, when you look back, there will always be something you could have done "better"

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the-lunar-library · 1 year

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How I Spent Years Figuring Out My Book's Cover

I don't have any experience in advertising, and my digital art skills are limited, and every article on self-publishing urges you not to do your own cover, and probably they are right. But I did my own cover, and I thought I'd share some of the process. The figuring out how it should look part, not the technical part.

For a long time, I just practiced playing around with images. These weren't finished products by any means.

This image from early 2019 was one of my favorites. It's supposed to represent my protagonist Yew, reflecting on her ruined village and, by extension, some of her choices. The set up is straightforward – tragic woman gradating into a creepy graveyard. I felt it looked very similar to other covers I'd seen, which is both a good and a bad thing. A cover should clue you in to the tone and genre, so having set symbols and moods is helpful. On the other hand, you don't want your book to look like a million other people's.

Silent-film-era actress Mary Astor is standing in for Yew. The painting is by Caspar David Friedrich. To the best of my knowledge, both images are in the public domain.

For a while, I played with collages. (Pretty much all the stock photos/art is from Pixabay, which I found to be extremely helpful.) I liked the way these gothic windows formed frames, and I wanted to include both protagonists, Eider and Yew. This never made it fully into a test cover, but I did a few versions of this image, both with just photos and also including original art.

(Please admire my stock photo Iron Stag with his candle-antlers. I worked hard affixing each little flame to each little tine.)

The background I used here (Image Source: Freestock.com) is unromantically called “Plastic Chunks” in my files.

I also really like the ceiling paintings of Jules-Edmond-Charles Lachaise, so I experimented using one as a frame.

Above is a Yew cover, and below is an Eider cover.

I can't remember where I picked the asset(s?) for this background, but I suspect it was also Freestock.

I eventually decided on having both heroines front and center, each paired with an antler from one of the two mysterious stags in the story. This focal point would be a hand-drawn piece of art with less obtrusive public domain stock stuff framing it. I wanted the picture to be intricate, feel fairy-taleish, and include different elements from the story – a snake, a diary, flowers, mirror shards, a pear, seeds, antlers, and a hand mirror.

My first sketch had the basic idea down, but it was very long and skinny and with the title as part of the drawing it felt too tattoo-y to me. Though, looking closely, I see I included Pete the mule's head (upside down, just under the word “magic”), and it's sad he didn't make the final cut.

So I made the image more of a circle and worked really hard until I was proud of it.

From there, I just had to decide on which assets to use and what colors to go for. I really liked the combination of dark desaturated reds and blues in this one, along with the very gothic doily frame. However, it also felt somewhat cluttered, maybe a better design for a poster than something that was going to have text on top of it.

There's also a lot I like about this one, the cold colors, the blending of ice and aged iron. (The original title for the novel was The Iron Claws.) But again, that border felt like it would be fighting with any text thrown over it.

I was also concerned whether the central image would look too small and muddled in thumbnail, so I did this very stripped down version. I wasn't a big fan of it, but it's interesting.

(By the way, you may have noticed that none of these share the actual dimensions of my real book cover. I hadn't even done the page layout yet at this point, and this was all very much in the testing stage.)

As it turned out, I was on the right track with the earlier gothic doily cover. Aside from the hand-drawn image, I ended up going with different assets, most notably a smaller frame, deeper colors, and additional borders along the sides. (This image also isn't in the proper scale.) I did this cover over and over again, making little adjustments until I was satisfied.

What do you think? Did I make the right call?

Here’s info on the book itself: THE PRICE AND PREY OF MAGIC

#fairy tale #indieauthor #writers on tumblr #writeblr #fantasy #book design #yew bosse #eider isarna #iron stag #the price and prey of magic #long post

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fuzzarchive · 1 year

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I have a hard time taking compliments and with my daily ms paint creatures I feel like this is especially the case.

I mean, just look at what I wrote on my post for the very first creature I made. The reason I started doing this in the first place was because I was not very confident in my character designing skills and I felt like I was too slow of an artist and was not making art nearly as frequently as I should be. The purpose of the daily creature was for it to be a mental exercise and a drawing exercise for me, to help me get better at improvisation and to make sure I got at least a little bit of drawing practice each day so I would hopefully be able to pump out art at a faster rate than I was.

These were the rules I had made for myself:

The daily creature must be made in ms paint, since it is pretty much the simplest art software there is and it doesn’t take very long to open, and I won’t get that daunting feeling of “oh i need to make this look perfect” like when I open Fire Alpaca or Krita so it will be easier to convince my idiot baby brain to keep doing this. Things made in ms paint don’t typically look good, so there is no reason to pressure myself into making it look good.

No days can be skipped, there must be a creature for every single day. Doesn’t matter what’s planned for the day or if it was a long day or a busy day, it must have a creature, no exceptions. It doesn’t have to be of my best quality, it can be a shitty creature, there just needs to be a creature.

If I forget to make yesterday’s creature, I still have to make a creature for yesterday. That means I need to make two creatures today.

I can’t make a backlog of creatures to post in the future, every creature I make cannot be drawn before that creature’s day.

The creature must be colored, but it does not have to be shaded.

I feel like doing this has actually helped me a lot, if anything it’s sure helped me come up with a lot of new ocs. The new ocs would make me think about how they would interact with my older ocs that I had before I started doing this, which would make me think about where I would place my new ocs in this world, which would in turn cause me to rethink the world I was building, and this is a way in which I believe this daily creature thing has helped me with my creative endeavors.

I knew that the daily creatures would help me get better at making actual serious art that people would like, but I did not expect people to start liking the daily creatures themselves this much. I don’t understand. I’m making all these in microsoft paint which is not capable of even a fraction of what I do in the other art programs I use, and there are other people who use microsoft paint who are capable of doing much more impressive things with its limited tool set than I am. There are other people who also make daily drawings, but their drawings that they make every single day have full backgrounds and shading. This is a creature that I shat out in five minutes while I was sleep deprived and was the last thing I did before finally going to bed at 2 am, yet somehow it has over 100 notes.

I really do appreciate all the compliments I get for my daily creatures, but I’m not really sure how to respond to it. I’m just surprised.

#original post

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beltransadie · 1 year

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A Chat Under the Haitang Tree

Happy New Year! I've been practicing on my samsung tab for the whole past week and I wanted to show the culmination of what I've made with this new years art. This is based off of chapter 58 from 2HA where ranwan spent the entire night chatting under the haitang tree for the new years. I'm still not as good on this tab compared to how I am with the Huion, but I think this is pretty satisfactory. The approach is more painterlike in comparison. I do not have the patience for lineart (I've tried) on this, so it's mostly draw loose then clear it up.

The Journey to This Illustration

What else have I done while practicing? Honestly, most of them are ranwan art. Animatic making had made me proficient in drawing Chu Wanning and Mo Ran gahahaha and they're both fun to draw anyway.

At first, I wasn't used to drawing on a samsung tablet, so most of what I've done are doodles. I also spent majority of my time traveling (like since I got home which was an 8 hour bus ride, I had to go travel again for Christmas and back again, and then the day after I had to accompany my mom for another outing).

Day 1 (12/22)

Here, I slept for 4 or so hours, and find myself having to leave at 5AM. I managed to catch a bus ride home (where, unfortunately, one of my friends weren't able to ride because they waited at the wrong stop), and overall the ride was pretty chill. I spent most of my time chatting with my cousin, sleeping, and drawing. Here's some of what I did during the time. Most of it are Chu Wanning because I feel really comfortable drawing him.

Day 2 (12/23)

I didn't have any place I have to travel to yet, so I went out of the house to draw at a cafe. I still didn't feel comfortable coloring so there's none yet >_<

Day 3 (12/24)

Most of Day 3 was spent outside too coz I had to travel again to visit my grandparents. It was also when I started Yuwu (it has been chill so far, and I'm leisurely enjoying it). I didn't draw anything on the tablet.

Day 4 (12/25)

Back to the drawing grind here. I figured it was about time I try out coloring and I did two! While I had to commute again early morning, the whole of my afternoon was spent chilling at home. The notable stuff I did on the tab is this cute animation of Wanning finding a tiny Mo Ran in his gift, and two colored pieces.

The one on the top right I think was a failed attempt. The colors didn't turn out as well as I wanted, and concluded that it was probably because of the background (which was pure white). I changed it to gray and colored like I usually did, and I think it turned out really well.

Day 5 (12/26)

I had to go out and travel again. Most of the stuff I did during this day were doodles.

Day 6, 7, and 8 (12/27-29)

Gonna compile coz I think most of what I did were at cafes and it all blurs together.

Here's where I actually start getting into coloring. The first thing I colored was the bottom left one. I really like how curly the lineart of Mo Ran's hair is, and the individual groups of hair on Wanning's ponytail flow together. Next is the middle left one, which was just me thinking about how ranwan had 8+ years together idk lol. I drew Mo Ran as a midget there, I didn't know he was actually almost the same height as Wanning by book 1 (179 vs 181) so that was uhh lol.

The sketches for the top left and the right image I did the same day, but the coloring for the right image I did last. Top left uses some rejected designs I had back when I was reading 2HA. I thought it'd be a fun creative exercise if I derive myself of official character designs, and create designs based on how I imagined them while reading the book. (That's something worth making a post about.) Specifically, the designs are post-story. That was also when I started rendering a bit.

It was at the right sketch when I thought I could try a rendering a bit more. Like clean up the lines a bit. Still the same process.

(This wasn't done on the Samsung tablet, but here's the height comparison). Mengmeng and 1.0 are a bit out of proportion i know lol.

Day 9 and 10

All of it leads up to the new years drawing at the top. It was tricky trying to render the two characters, because I had to tilt my pen a certain way so the lines made won't be too broad. I spent day 9 doing the sketch and the rough color, spending time on the background too and Day 10 on rendering the characters and polishing the background.

The app I use (Infinite painter) has a built-in playback function which is pretty neat because I always forget to record my drawing process. I ended up changing the background a couple times because I misread the actual scene lol. But yeah here's the process.

Overall, drawing on this tablet is more painterly compared to how I color on PC gahaha. So many brushes to choose from, and almost no keyboard input >_< it's a bit tedious coz I like having my brushes binded on keyboard, and here I have to move my hand around on screen and sometimes I end up pressing the shortcut for the undo button. But yeah, I think I can make more colored art outside now. Learning to get used on this is fun.

Happy new year, guys!!

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