#I need to get back to it my digital art always improves after a good round of trad sketches

[bevirspnsblmnt]

trad sketches I drew today and then cleaned up and enhanced in ps later

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 astarion #khael tav #disegna e bevi #otp: warding bond #I missed sketching with pencil and paper #I need to get back to it my digital art always improves after a good round of trad sketches #anyway! in order: #vampires lacking reflections keep worming its way into my mind in more way than one and I just have to get it out #I never gave khael nice camp clothes in the game bc they look so weird on him to me but I bet astarion would appreciate lol #the next two drawings are just me being feral about them #esp the last one

[pinkpigtailsprincess]

𝜗𝜚 ݁ ˖ Summer Glow up: creating new habits 🎀⭐️ *࿐ ࿔*:･ﾟ!

Hi Dolls!! Welcome Back 2 Dollies 2 Months of Summer Glow Up !! 🎀⭐️ Today im gonna talk all about implementing brand new habits in my life !!

> Hobbies !! 🎀

> Academics !! 📒

> Beauty Care !! 🧖‍♀️

> Scheduling !! ☀️

> Taking Baby Steps !! 🛼

❤︎ ໋𓈒 Hobbies!! 🎀

…: This Summer I Plan on Taking up Some brand New Hobbies to keep my self busy and learn about brand new things bc everyday is useful!! and so i can use my time more wisely some hobbies i have in mind are…

- Yoga

- Painting

- Creative Writing

- Learning Japanese + Spanish

- Reading

- Puzzles!

- Blogging

- Learning To Code

- Doll Collecting

- Book Collecting

- Sewing + Crocheting

- Digital Art

- Piano

and obvii im already a blogger but i still added it anyways i will watching videos on how to get into these hobbies and videos on learning Spanish and more Japanese, also fun fact i’ve actually been studying Japanese sine 2021 but i stopped bc it got to hard but im starting back up!! anyways, after i watch the videos im gonna set up a financial list bc i have the fund all of these but its okay bc i can easily get money!! 🎀

❤︎ ໋𓈒 Academics !! 🎀

More Goals of mine are to raise my grades in an academic space bc i do have decent grades but i wanna aim higher and have PERFECT Grades so in turn that means i must study more and have more discipline and not so irresponsible with my time!! and i also wanna study subjects outside of school bc its always good to learn something new!! now for learning tips so far i have..

- Flash Cards

- Practice Methods

- Teaching Someone Else

- Trying to explain it to a 5 yr old

- Study a Week Before

- watch ted talks on topics

- SLEEP

- write out notes

Now i Also Have a list of subjects i want to learn about!!

- drawing facial expressions + bodies

- Sewing Stiches + How to Hem and Crochet

- How 2 Draw Bodies + Poses

- Full Anatomy 4 Both Genders

- Japanese + Spanish + French + ASL

- Color Theory

- Learning Cursive + Improving Handwriting

- Expanding Vocabulary

- Religious Cults

- Case and Law

- Poison and Toxicology

- Astronomy

- Medical Surgical Instruments

- Matriarchal Societies

- Socialism Societies

Now i definitely won’t be able to do all of this all at once bc it would definitely we too stressful so im gonna choose as least 2-3 to start with and study them and just learn! 🎀🧁

❤︎ ໋𓈒 Beauty Care !! 🐬

📧: Now I already have my regular beauty care regime skin,hair,eyebrows,eyelashes etc. but im also more focused on getting weekly treatments & weekly beauty care habits like…

- Nails

- Hair

- Eyelashes

- Face Mask

- Hand + Foot Mask

And i wanna try and find people in my city that can do this especially for nails bc i would go to the nail salon but i feel like they won’t be able to do it exactly how i want it to be !!!

❤︎ ໋𓈒 Scheduling !! ⭐️

Now That im gonna be so busy i need to make sure i also stay organized with my time so it doesn’t lead to stress so ill have my regular school classes on my regular schedule then making dedicated hours to studying Things i wanna learn about + Language Learning!

My Workouts are always early morning before school in the evening hours before i got to bed so i won’t have to worry about that affecting my academics. With my Hobbies i feel like only some of them really need scheduling so ill also make time dedicated to those as well !!!!

Beauty Maintenance will probably always be on weekends for the stuff that weekly/bi weekly like face masks,manipedis,hair etc!!

and last but definitely not least!!

❤︎ ໋𓈒 Taking Baby Steps !! ⭐️

This whole process is still all new too me so i’ll definitely only be doing a little at a time and working my way up and i get more familiar with the change in my daily life and i won’t pressure my self to complete everything extremely quickly and just take my time with everything! bye bye dolls tysm 4 keeping up with me while doing this kisses 4 all of u!!! 🎀⭐️

#2sweet2eat🎀🧁 #self care #self love #self improvement #becoming her #girl blogger #becoming that girl #prissy girl #girl blogging #itgirl #it girl #glow up #clear skin #pretty princess things #pretty #dolly #beauty #studyblr #manifesting #that girl

[sadghoststudios]

STATE OF PLAY 12/23: a little news and updates roundup!

Howdy all! Squeaking in just before the new year, I thought now's as good a time as ever for a little roundup of anything you might have missed, and what we're currently working on! Aiming to do these quarterly from now on 🫡✨

If you wanna keep up with posts like this from us without relying on social media, you can also sub to our newsletter! Promise not to annoy you. Good emails only.

Recap and news under the cut!

2023 Roundup

DemiDato

We had two releases this year, but DemiDato was the big one! For those that don't know, this game spent a long 5+ years in and out of development hell, so it was a big relief to finally put everyone's hard work out into the world back in March.

We were also lucky enough to feature DD in the Queer Games & Queer Halloween bundles this year, so even if you haven't had a chance to grab the game outright, check your itch library - you might already own it!

As for the future of our monsters, a 1.1 update is still on the cards! The bulk of it is already complete - there's some script tidying and quality of life improvements already in the WIP build, as well as a fancy schmancy CG Gallery (which you can see a little preview of in the devlog I wrote). 

1.1 development has admittedly stalled a little, as I really want to implement some animated video transitions plus an animated intro and trailer into its final build, but it's been hard to find the time to teach myself a whole new skillset while also being in preproduction for our new title (more on that in a bit!). In my head for all the years of development, the game has always had a really cheesy reality show intro with horribl(y good) graphics, just like the real life shows that inspired it. So even if the feature didn't make it to 1.0, I still really want it to happen eventually. (Plus, when we do eventually rerelease on Steam, a trailer is very important for the store page! That means it counts as futureproofing, right...?)

If you want to hear some more about what the release was like, my dear friend Kaiju of Digital Diversity interviewed me right after the game came out! You can read the interview on Digital Diversity over here.

GrandNya

Our second game of the year was a short little nugget written for 2023's Josei Jam, and devved almost solo by timepatches (hi! that's me!)

It'd been a long time since I managed to get anything off the ground in a jam setting, and I still find it a little intimidating (it's really difficult for me to get new ideas & iterate on them fast enough to meet the start deadline and recruit others), so solo dev it was! My art is hardly intricate but it gets the story across, and I'm proud of the VN as a whole - whatever you think of 'wholesome games' as a movement, it's hard to deny that we all need a cosy space now and then, and that’s the kind of story I like to tell most. And it's not like GrandNya is all sunshine, either, which you'll know if you got to the end!

I also managed to apply to Hand-Eye Society's Super FESTival with GrandNya, and was somehow accepted, which I'm still pinching myself about! What a stellar lineup of games to share a page with.

Fest aside, it was a pretty quiet release all things considered, so don't worry if you missed it! Your grandmas are still there on our itch page anytime, to give you a lil’ pocket of safe queer story to live in whenever you need it.

Intoxicated

Now for something completely different!! Despite some prior medical commitments around the jam date (which then got moved, typical), I was VERY stoked to be able to hop on the team for Kristi HusbandoGoddess' Yuri Jam game, Intoxicated!

It was an absolute blast. Turtles were drawn in the group chat for reasons I can no longer remember. It singlehandedly made me decide that I want to do more jam work on others' teams, because I forgot how fun it can be working toward a common goal in a more relaxed environment! 

And the game turned out incredible. Check it out if you support women's wrongs! ♡

Plans for 2024

[Codename BAT 🦇] (the big otome/amare game)

Oh yeah. It's big.

I won't spill too much just yet, but just know that I've had this idea as a vague plot bunny in the back of my mind for years. Then, as my dear friend Charlie and I were on VC beta testing a late DemiDato build, it came up and they were so excited about the idea that I couldn't help but start seriously thinking about how to make it.

Well. That was in March. After I took a break and worked on GrandNya, I've been working ever since on building out the world (it's set in the same universe as the rest of our library, but deals a bit more with the actual ramifications of it all, so I had to set some things in stone I haven't before). More recently I've been building out the most coherent, easy-to-follow outline I can (not my strong point, and bless my beta readers for their support while I complain about it). 

Very soon I should be able to start writing! Terrifying! I can't wait. Once I'm a fair way into the script writing you'll get to hear about exactly what I'm cooking, and I think... you'll like where we're going.

[Other Redacted Thing]

Not my project so I won't spoil exactly what it is, but I get to do some UI work for an upcoming jam project and I am SO excited! I get to work with some very familiar faces again! You'll know what it is as soon as I'm allowed to tell you 👀

What I will say is that it shares a coincidental similarity with my long project...

That's it!! ✨

Thank you for reading all my waffle (being long winded is my special talent), and for sticking with us through the inevitable periods of radio silence! We're still just little fish in a very big pond, but every time someone plays something I made and feels some type of way, I remember what the point of all this is. 

It makes me very happy to be able to share stories with y'all. Here's to more in 2024!

♡ Madi Wander (@timepatches)

#indie game #visual novel #interactive fiction #sgsroundup #sgsnews #thanks to those who stuck with us thru this + past years! onward and upward for 2024 :)

[audio-luddite]

40 plus years of audio wisdom.

Is it egotistical to call my opinions wisdom? Hey this is MY tiny corner of reality so deal with it. I have heard a lot of high end audio equipment, some touted as state of the art. You know what tout means?

First golden rule there is better and good, but there is no BEST. As things ascend the hill of quality the paths lead to things you like. Perfect may not sound the way you want. You may like sugar in your coffee. (Ruins it for me)

Second golden rule is this is supposed to be fun. Do not get angry that people like different things or disagree with you. Appreciate different perspectives.

Every method of sound reproduction has distortion. Every method of measuring distortion has flaws or limitations.

Equipment reviewers are imperfect and human and are motivated by their situation. They almost always give positive comments, they have to. Read between the lines and make your own judgements.

When considering a purchase think critically.

Sometimes you may just want a taste of something different. That is perfectly fine.

Good equipment has a definite voice. Specific brands usually have specific voices that reflect the preferences of the designers. I conclude that this voice is a particular family of distortions that the device has. If there was no distortion it all would sound the same.

Both Tubes and Transistors can be used in high end gear. Neither is inherently better. They each have weaknesses. They are different.

Both pure analog and digital methods and media can be very good. One is NOT inherently better than the other. I have both pure analog and pure digital recordings of impeccable quality. I also have combination of those technologies that are excellent too.

It is great to have high quality recordings of good music. It is fine to have less than great recordings of great performances too. Music is performing art after all.

Psychology and preferences will drive purchases. Nobody is immune. Sales people need to sell. Snake oil products are common. A community of people that believe something reinforce that belief amongst themselves, even if it is false.

I have found that over four decades the absolute quality of audio systems has not improved that much. The golden ear experts described a lot of gear as perfect and realistic and many positive adjectives back 50 years ago. I have assembled systems with older equipment and it is pretty good. Preferences for particular things change.

Try to explore and have fun.

#audiophile #high end audio #audioblr #vinyl #tubes vs transistors #turntables #audio wisdom

[bigjimbopickens]

Hi! I wanna say I love your art first of all! I just read the message under your last post about Kevin’s art video and you said you’re mostly self taught - I’m curious about how you get into that? I’d love to learn to draw but have no idea where to start!

Sorry for getting back to this so late I am not as active on Tumblr. And yes, I am mostly self-taught because of my circumstances growing up. To those who don't know, I am SnowfallWarning/Big Jimbo and I am currently an animation student. I do 2D animation, concept art and character design and I graduate this year (hopefully). I am disabled both physically and mentally which is why I mostly do digital art. I have a coordination disorder (dyspraxia) and am blind in one eye but that doesn't stop me. For my entire childhood I was discouraged from drawing as I apparently wouldn't go anywhere with it or that I was terrible. Where I lived most of my life had no opportunities for someone like me so I had to leave to continue pursuing art. Because of the poor access, the only things I had was notebooks, school supplies and an old iPad mini to draw with growing up. I learned everything I currently know now from using those. I don't know what got me into drawing still, may have been Warrior Cats and dinosaurs. Like what Jose said in Kevin's video, art comes from the soul. It is human expression and we've always been doing it. Anyone can be an artist and we all start somewhere, trust me. Here's some stuff I usually tell people because I do get asked this often (I'm also not the best teacher): 1: Experiment. Find what works for you. Be messy with it, not every piece needs to be perfect. If you are a digital artist then also trying different programs can be helpful too. Maybe you're better at drawing landscapes, characters or abominations that defy God. 2: Use references if necessary. Not sure why for a while it was considered "cheating" to use references. Everyone in the industry uses references, I would know. If you also want, you can try tutorials but I found I learn more from references. 3: Take inspiration. I'm always adding things I see in other people's art to my own style if I like it. Though try not to copy them. 4: Tracing. I believe tracing is okay for learning purposes. It's how I learned to draw humans after doing exclusively furry art for years tbh. I tend to stick to real-life references for this, this is a great site for practice: https://line-of-action.com (if you're not okay with nudity then do remember to turn that off). "But where do I even start?" Grab a piece of paper and pencil (or open a blank canvas on a digital art program if you prefer that) and just start doodling whatever. If you have an idea then go for that as well. Every class I've had in college so far has started with drawing and rendering a bunch of shapes to see where everyone was at and to get a feel of our styles. So maybe try that too. Draw random shapes with different materials/brushes, colour them in and add details like shadows and highlights. I know it seems ridiculous but I do it every once in a while to experiment and try different methods. You probably won't improve overnight. Hell, it took me 7 years to get to where I currently am. A lot of people quit because they think they're not good enough when pretty much every artist is only proud of about 10% of their work. Definitely the case for me. Not every piece is going to be a masterpiece and the imperfections can be what makes it special, so please don't be so hard on yourself. Don't be discouraged because other artists may be better than you either, they've probably been doing it for longer. So please, if you are dedicated enough, keep trying. I'm sure you will get somewhere :) So basically, - Use whatever material you got and draw what comes to mind, even if it's terrible it is a great start. - Experiment with your style and/or materials. - Reference, take inspiration and trace for memory. - Don't give up but do take breaks to avoid burnout. - Try not to be intimidated by other artists, we also don't really know what we're doing tbh (and just as afraid of you as you are of us).

I hope that all made sense and was somewhat helpful :)

[art-tip-collection]

hi im so sorry for dumping this but im really at lost on what to do

rn i have so many ideas i want to draw and i have sketched them traditionally (on paper w/ charcoal pencil) usually i usually scan those sketches to finish it digitally, but then after that i just hit a slump and end up Not finishing it because everytime i look at what im working on i always think "it's not worth it" and "it looks so weird what the hell are you even doing" and so i just.. Not.

please do you maybe have any advice? im so sorry for bothering

You're not a bother anon! It sounds like you're focusing too much on what you want your art to be rather than taking it for what it is. I know it's hard to go through, because I'm currently hitting this grey area with my own art.

I have three bits of advice.

First, accept that this is where your skill level is at, and that's okay. It's okay to want more from your art, and I believe you will be able to improve it in the ways you want! But it will take time and effort, and it's okay to be where you're at, be proud of how far you've come! The fact that you're finding and identifying things you don't like in your art means you've gotten better at looking at art too!

Second, if you really don't think your art is worth it, remember why you're making it in the first place! What inspired you to start? What makes you want to improve? What has you continuing to make art despite everything? Remember what it is that has you pursuing art, and it will be worth it.

Third, if you haven't already: take a break. Take a rest, consume content you enjoy. Read your favorite books or watch your favorite shows. Eat food you like and let yourself rest. Do nothing, and take as long as you need. Sometimes you need to give yourself some time to figure out what you need or what you want. For me it took me a few months to get back to art. I'm not as fast as I used to be, but I'm happier.

Good luck anon, I know you'll make it through this.

Mod Green

#asks

[lucylyall]

Something I've really enjoyed about the last year is not needing to express myself.

Now, to be clear, I've created more stand-alone art pieces in the last ten months or so than I have in the past decade. I've worked with pencils, inks, markers, watercolours, digital painting, photography, all sorts – it's been amazing. But it's all been pretty much representational or educational – I've been drawing from life, recreating photos, making colour charts, things like that. There's been emotions in there, but I've not been trying to express my internal world beyond maybe 'I really like this plant, this show, these faces, this place', and it's been so … relaxing.

I love that art practice gives this opportunity, to just take a break from the Big Feelings. Working on comics always involved telling a story, and telling a story always involved saying something – having an opinion, making a statement, trying to express something about my world-view, even if it was very small. And I absolutely love doing that, but god it got exhausting sometimes. Trying to figure out what I wanted to say, whether I was saying it clearly, whether it was worth saying it at all, even whether it was actually downright wrong.

When I called this tumblr '4LS is taking a break' I think that's really what I've been taking a break from, though I didn't really understand that at the time. I just knew I was tired.

So this year, I've been able to make stuff like .... a painting of two onions and a potato. Maybe I'll look back in some years time and think 'I could do that so much better now' (actually, I kind of hope I will, because I'm actively trying to improve) - but I have full confidence that I will never look back at this and think 'What was I thinking saying that about onions?!' And people look at it, and they say 'That's a good painting of two onions and a potato', and I say 'Thank you', and that's … kind of the end of it. There are no opinions in there, and I've found it very restful.

I've been thinking about this now, mainly because I actually am trying to express myself again. And once again I'm up against thoughts of 'Is this right?' 'Should I be sharing this?' 'Is it saying what I want to say?'. The thing I'm making is very personal, and it's pretty ugly. In fact, it's ugly on purpose. I thought I was going to do a horror zine, and instead turning into a zine about my mental health. After ten months of trying really hard to make things that look good, I'm finally getting back into self-expression by vomiting up this ugly art baby that I'm not sure anyone else will like. And it's not relaxing like drawing onions … but I'm having fun, though. I'm remembering what I like about expressing my internal world on paper.

#art thoughts #zines #4ls misc

[yukipri]

Hi there, I'm so in love with your art is really stunning, I would like to know if you have any coloring tutorial or any tutorial/tips on color and lineart at all?

Thank you so much for liking my work!

Uh, so I don't really have the time to make full tutorials, but I post all of my WIPs on my Patreon so people can see some of my steps as I work!

As for general tips, "color and lineart" is very broad, so I can't really give you anything but incredibly broad responses. But to throw a few tips at you:

Color

Remember that color is oftentimes very subjective. There is no color that will look the same in every environment, and the human eye is very prone to interpreting things wildly (remember the striped dress...). Oftentimes, what's more important than the exact colors you choose are how they look proportional to other things in their environment. So if, say, someone is in a location with cold blue lighting, then their skin tone, which may naturally be tan, may look more purplish/gray, etc. Different surfaces will also reflect light differently; a dark fabric may not reflect light as much as, say, hard white armor or skin, and therefore the colors will also be different.

That's only if you're doing more environmental art of course, and idk what you're asking about specifically. It's entirely possible to do simplified art where there really isn't "lighting" per se. If you're ever stuck on how to make art look cohesive, try some pre-made color palettes! Sites like Coolors can be a great place for inspiration.

Also another general digital arts tip, but remember that digital art always looks different depending on the monitor. I always check how my art appears on my wacom mobile studio, where it tends to look more desaturated; my macbook pro (2014) where it tends to look more saturated; my iphone which is newer than my mac and looks even brighter. When I've seen my art on my mother's newer mac, it looks different there too. And if I were to print any of my art, that would look different too! (and also just, your eyes can see differently when you're tired. So my art looks different to me after an all nighter than after I get some sleep lmao) So just a thing to keep in mind!

Lineart

Have Patience. That's really the main thing. I used to be absolutely HORRIBLE at lineart, I couldn't really do it, and my sketches were "hairy" aff and looked terrible even when cleaned. If you scroll back far enough in my archive, you'll find them, lmao. Lineart takes a very, very long time to improve, years and years and years. I'm still working on it, will probably continue working on it the rest of my life. You won't get perfect lines overnight.

Generally, I find the tip to making sure lineart doesn't look flat is to think about line depth and variation. Not everything should be the same width. Lines that are where the shadow should be can be thicker. Ink in some shadows at the darkest corners even before colors. This advice, of course, works better if you have a more stylized lineart-based/comics based art style like I do, and should not be taken as general advice to be applied to every style. In fact, everything about lineart should take into consideration what you want the final art to look like. Will the lineart be stylistically prominent? Or hopefully look merged with the colors? Or is the lineart only a base for you to do your flats, which you'll eventually paint over?

In knowing you won't make perfect lineart overnight, it's okay to focus on improving parts. I did this by: 1) Slowly practicing doing cleaner sketches. The cleaner the sketch, the easier the lineart. Some people don't even need lineart bc their base sketch is clean enough. I am not there yet. 2) Practice doing "clean" lineart, but accept that it will take forever. If you practice enough, you will likely get faster. I used to spend 50~100 hours on lineart that I whittled down to ~10 hours, that I can now sometimes do in ~5 hours if I'm on a good roll. Took me around ten years, but eyyy progress??

Hope these tips helped! If you want advice on very specific things, I can try again, but this is the best I can say given your questions!

❀ ❀ Send YukiPri an Ask! ❀ ❀

#Anonymous #art tips #tips #YukiPri art #art tutorial #generally speaking more specific questions help me out more ;_; #bc I spent like an hour typing this but i have no idea if it's actually relevant to what you want to hear >.<;

[winchester-reload]

heyo

firstly, your art is AMAZING!!!! just *chef's kiss*

anyway, i wanted to ask how many years/ how much time you've put into your art, just to help convince myself and some friends that behind beautiful art is a lot of time and effort and people aren't just good at art naturally/by luck. talent is just a small factor and time is a big one.

you don't have to answer, of course.

thx for your time (and your art).

<3

Yes, anon, I'm happy to confirm your suspicions here: successful art has very little to do with inherent talent and much more to do with time, practice, and dedication to the craft. Like everything else, it's a skill you have to build. IMO the only 'talent' that comes into play with it is maybe an innate curiosity to explore whatever medium the artist ultimately becomes proficient at. For me, it was/is portraiture. I love emotion. I love exploring it and trying to convey it in a way that might help pass on a bit of soul, or understanding, or compassion--or whatever--to the viewer. It's me trying to have a conversation with someone while neither of us is talking. And although I've been drawing literally my whole life (with the exception of about 8-10 years after I graduated high school) I'm still OFTEN unsuccessful. Which just means I have years and years and years and years more work to put into this.

And that's the best part. I hope I never stop learning and improving. Like literally right now, I'm reevaluating my digital art approach for the thousandth time because it's just not working for me, and I need to figure out why. Which leads me to the note: you don't always need to like your art. You just have to make it. It's the only way to grow.

So you and your friends get back to it! You're all doing just fine, I can promise you that.

#asks #art asks #wonderful people

[mariska]

got my income for the month the other day and after 6+ months of not being able to make digital art the way i'm used to with my specific accessibility needs because of physical health symptoms with my hands, i was finally able to buy myself a new Paint Tool Sai license today, since a little while back i successfully installed an optional Windows 10 operating system on my Macbook (Sai doesn't run on Mac, at least not Version 1 which is what i need and have been using for over a decade) that i can switch back and forth between whenever and i am so so so so happy and relieved about it and so fucking excited to get to draw digital lines the way im used to drawing them after trying so many other similar programs and failing to find anything that worked exactly the same as Sai's basic built-in pen stabilizer 😭😭😭😭😭😭

i was able to quickly test out my (also ancient lol) art tablet with it and make sure everything works and it doesnt lag or anything like that and its perfect its exactly like i've always used it, i remembered which pen stabilization number setting i've been using for years and like.

dude. i know i sound dramatic right now LMAO but i CANNOT sketch or draw properly on traditional paper or sketchpads anywhere near what i can do in Sai because of all my tremors and shakiness and sudden muscle movements that make accidental lines and all that. and when i drew just one regular brush stroke in Sai and felt it move like im used to and got that super smooth sensation of 'pretty much just drawing like im holding a pencil/pen but with the shakiness of my lines improved'....almost cried a lil not gonna lie fjsgdgsgdhsgshf its been so many months and i've put so much mental energy into researching how to do that whole windows installation on my 2012 era macbook and somehow did that without completely messing it up and then having to wait until a month where i have enough extra money to buy the official version (Sai is so important 2 me and the most accessible digital art program i've ever used for my specific hand problems and i've used it for so long that i am only comfortable using the officially licensed version of it, yknow?) and also theres just something so nice about finally being able to use it again a few days before my birthday even though that timing wasn't on purpose...

AHHHHH im just so relieved. i feel like im free to just be able to make sketch pages and draw stuff whenever i have free time to and i have an idea in my head again and i havent felt that in so long and it was making my depression so much worse....and also because i've been doing my best to adapt to the similar but different settings in Clip Studio Paint, i have 2 really nice digital art programs with a lot of cool and useful features between the both of them now that i can use to like, mix and match with my art!! which is awesome!! i think Clip will mostly be used by me now for more graphic design type projects since Sai's always been my core art program, but i'd love to experiment with drawing/sketching/painting pieces in Sai and then plopping them into Clip and adding some extra fun effects or background elements or even just easier to repeat patterns with its' huge free-to-use resource library for like stamps and texture effects and more photoshop-y things like that.

ANYWAYS!! im just rambling to myself because im so happy and relieved to have My Art Program back so i thought i would share since its rare for me to feel as happy and excited and get some sense of normalcy back in any capacity these days, being immunocompromised and stuck in my house as long as i have been the past 3 years and counting. it has been a good amount of time since i've felt like i have A Victory To Celebrate and i hope that feeling lingers as long as it can 🥹✌️

[nightfoxproductions726]

It's been a while...

I know not that long ago I just up and posted I guess one could say a rant/expression of how I felt on a specific matter that I came across on Twitter. This is twice now I've done that. The other incident was someone treating disabled characters (and by extension real life people) like a checklist in stories and we aren't human apparently (as a queer disabled person who writes disabled, queer characters it lit a fire under my ass to showcase these characters and to explain why it's wrong to treat us like this. Because I'm sick of people treating us like we shouldn't exist.)

ANYWAY! Enough of that. It's almost 4 am where I live and probably should wait until I've gotten proper sleep to write this, but brain can't sleep apparently due to falling back with the time (now I know how my late beagle felt with this nonsense...)

There has been a lot of changes over the last several months. Some good and some not so good.

For The Good:

Earlier this year I got a drawing tablet, thanks to a suggestion from an artist friend/follower on Twitter. Because of this, I've been able to improve my art. This is something I've been wanting to do for a very long time, but didn't know exactly what to look for (or if there was anything compatible with my Chromebook - that I regret buying. Always do your research before up and buying something, kids.) Now, the art isn't like say anime quality level, but it looks a lot better than some of the hand drawn sketches from 2009/2010 and this has only been roughly 8 months of getting into digital art.

The other good news and something that was mentioned in my rant/expression post that I made. I discovered I'm nonbinary. Now, I know this isn't important to anyone, but it is important to me. Because this has been something that has bothered me for years (we're talking since 8 years old bothering me.) I never identified as female and I never identified as male. The only thing I knew was I was me while fighting a bunch of people who kept on wanting me to act/behave a certain way. Also, because of this, it has helped me feel more comfortable in my skin after years of feeling like a specter staring at a body.

The Not So Good:

I got COVID in June and the after effects have been hell on me. Mainly causing a childhood issue of not feeling hunger even worse.

Then on top of this, my lovely country has decided to take away my reproductive rights with Roe v Wade. This has caused me to go on some political rants and question things in this country. Because right now, I feel like no one gives a flying fuck. Especially, the politicians that have cried "they've [the Republicans] been planning this for years!" And what have you been doing this entire time if you knew?! (Also, to the 'we warned you about this' crowd - You're no better than the politicians. What have YOU been doing this entire time???)*

Twitter bought out by Elon Musk and throwing everything into chaos. I'm not looking at this account as a refuge, but because of Muskrat's behavior I have to look elsewhere to market and post things. This upheaval was not expected and I was hoping to stay on Twitter. Because in all honesty, despite my Twitter account's age, Twitter was the place that helped me improve my writing skills and my art. Also, on top of this that account and the people I met helped me find me. Which is something I'll be forever grateful for and no words can express how happy I am to finally be happy with myself.

*This rant is for another day as this post is running way longer than expected.

The short of it - I've been on a self exploration of sorts and while I've met several bumps along the way - things are slowly improving for the better on a personal end. Which is something that has been needed in a long time.

Some art examples:

#nightfoxproductions #art #digital art #artists on tumblr #discovery #doodle #writing #politics #nonbinary #lgbt #short comic

[aanihtewrites]

・🎨 ⸝⸝ ・Canvas

*sigh*

My eyes hover across the once empty canvas now filled with different colors giving it life. It isn't complete yet, I still have to go over the details and do some touch-ups here and there but, the painting looks so good already! I can't wait to see the reactions of everyone in the art department when they see this.

I felt an uncomfortable pressure build up in my lower back probably from the 3 hours I’ve been sitting on this wobbly wooden seat. The art room really needs some new furniture.

I decided to take a break, there’s still a week till the yearly art exhibition. I have enough time to work on the canvas.

A few droplets of murky paint water escaped the paint cup as I dropped my paintbrush in it, the acrylic paint palette sat right next to it. A happy hum left my mouth as I stood up and took off my apron while making my way to the common area in the middle of the art room.

I took a seat on the comfy love seat in one corner of the room and smack my lips. My eyes shifted to the table in the middle of the room for digital artists to sit at.

“Hey, Stacey! What are you working on?”, I called out, catching the attention of the blonde girl glued to her iPad screen.

“Working on an assignment. We have to study color and light theory and draw something based on what we learned.”, Stacey bubbly replied and held up her iPad for me to see. “I am drawing a tiger under the sunlight! How is it? Do you think it’s good enough?”

“Not bad, not bad. Can I see yours, George?”, I asked the brunette boy sitting right next to Stacy. He nodded as he held up his iPad. “I draw penguins.”

“Yep, penguins are always nice. Can’t wait to see the final work.”, I complimented him and watched as his face glowed up with happiness.

“You so kind. Thank you.”, George appreciated with the limited English vocabulary he knew. It isn’t easy for someone from French to catch on to a new language right after moving to the United States but, I always get surprised at his improvement with every conversation we have.

Both of them went back to work. I smile and relaxed in my seat, my eyes unmoving from the busy students.

“Stacy look so beautiful when she doing art. God, I like her so much.”

“George is so cute."

I heard in my head and chuckled under my breath before pulling my phone out from my jacket pocket. These two had the biggest crush on each other ever since they met. I don’t care if you call this “invading their privacy”, it’s fun hearing their thoughts.

Hearing people’s minds…what a blessing and a curse at the same time. I wonder what the gods were thinking when they gave me this mystical power. It’s pretty useful at times but sometimes I wish I never heard things I heard mistakenly for this power.

This power’s been with me for as long as I remember. I tried telling my parents about it of course but, they almost sent me to the mental asylum because apparently, I was going “crazy”. Those memories still haunt me, geez. I’ve been quiet about this ability ever since.

I wonder if anyone else can hear minds like me…

“The art room really needs some renovation.”, I heard an unfamiliar yet intoxicatingly addicting voice in my head followed by the sound of the creaky door swinging open. “Yeah, it can really use some better furniture and a new coat of paint.” My oh my, who is this fine man?

A perfectly sculpted face with big hazel eyes and beautiful brows, a nose so cute that I had to resist my urge to bop it, his hair looks so fluffy, that I wanna run my hands through them, and oh god, those lips…I wonder how they would look like on mine. Wait what am I thinking? Shit, Diana get yourself together you don’t even know him.

My head whipped up to the sound of a low giggle. It was the mysterious man. He put his poker face back on as we made eye contact. I frown, why couldn’t I read his mind anymore? I wanted to know what made him laugh…

“Are you Professor Diana?”, the boy asked, his husky deep voice making goosebumps rise all over my body. I nodded with a smile, trying to mask my nervousness.

“Yes! That’ll be me! Who are you may I ask?”, I asked as I stood up from the loveseat, my phone slipping back into my jacket pocket.

“Oh, I’m Aiden. I’ve been hired as an assistant art professor and the administration informed me that I’ll be working under you.”, he informed with a sweet smile on his face. I was screaming internally at this point. This is about to be added to my reasons for coming to the university. Who wouldn’t want to be here if you get to see this eye candy man every day?

“Nice to meet you, Aiden. It’s a pleasure to be working with you! I hope we’ll be close acquaintances in the near future!”, I extended my hand for a handshake. My heart is doing cartwheels in my ribcage. I wonder if all the sweat I am sweating right now is making me smelly. Is my makeup okay? I haven’t put much effort into it this morning. Ugh, I should have washed my hair yesterday.

I was pulled out of my thoughts when a veiny and humongous hand enveloped my embarrassingly small hands. Aiden firmly shook my hand before taking it back. He must be a master with his art. I can’t wait to see them.

“The feelings are mutual.”, Aiden replied. “So…who’s painting on that canvas.”

I looked in the direction he was pointing, realizing that he had his eyes on my unfinished painting from earlier. I knew I should have finished the painting at one seating. He must be thinking that I’m a work hoarder. What else are you going to mess up today, Diana?

“Uhh…yeah! I am the one working on it.”, I nervously replied as I took small steps towards the painting. “It’s for the annual art festival coming up next week. Sorry if it looks a little weird now, it’s unfinished. In case you’re wondering, I'm trying to depict child exploitation on social media.”

Aiden said nothing. He simply observed the painting closely, his hazelnut eyes carefully going over all the tiny details. Oh boy, I’m sure he isn’t impressed. He is probably judging the imperfections I haven’t covered up yet. Is that a blank spot? Why didn’t I notice that before?!

I wonder what he’s thinking…I thought and tried a little harder to get into his mind.

“Stay out of my head, I don’t like people invading my mind.”

“And stop thinking so low about yourself, I think you’re perfect just the way you are.”

I did not just hear that in my head. Did Aiden just communicate with me through his thoughts?!

“It’s called telepathy.”

No way! There’s someone else on this earth with the same ability as me?

“No shit Sherlock.”

“And that is how my dear children, I met your father.”

#_:'- i totally suck at writing cute stuff even though I love reading them t-t. hopefully one day I will get better? a friend told me that I would never be able to write a proper cute short story and she was kind of right. anyways, I am kind of proud of this one, it could get better if I actually put some effort behind it but I guess it's fine for now.

#writerscorner #writersociety #writers and poets #writerscommunity #writers on tumblr #tumblr writers #my writing #writers #telepathy #cute #short story #fiction #i suck at this help

[mochisarchive]

[1] Pursuing my dream course ♫₊˚.🎧 ✩｡♪

Okay…first blog! Yay! To start it all, I would like to introduce myself. Hello! I’m Mochi, I am a digital-animation student, book influencer, and art influencer. As you can see, I’m not really familiar with this set-up, but I figured out that why I don’t start making blog entries?

And my first choice of topic is pursuing my dream course, the digital animation. Okay, before we even start, a little background about this. Ever since I was a little child, I was heavily influenced by arts. Growing up, I always watch Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, and Cartoon Network. I remember watching T.V all day, and I was refusing to go to daycare because, I was too fascinated with animations.

I remembered it very clearly, that I would grab a paper and my stack of crayons and would draw the characters, and show it to my grandma. One particular memory that I wouldn’t forget was probably drawing on the walls and on my grandma’s porcelain cases. She scolded me and punished me by taking away my art collection. Since then, I would always ask my Aunts and my mom to buy me colorful stuff, and everyday I would practice drawing, till my hand gets sore. So as years goes by, I was getting good at art then college started.

Back in 2021, I went through a lot of pressure of choosing the right course program. Ever since my family (on mother’s side) knew I was good at drawing, they told me to take Architecture or Interior Design. And I choose Interior Design, because of these reasons:

As far as I remember, I was influence by my cousin, to play Sims. And it was amazing! I was really enjoying decorating and building homes, my cousin saw how good I am in that area and suggested I should take Interior Design. At first, I didn’t know what was that, and she explained it to me, till I got interested. Even then I would practice creating floor plans, doing perspective rooms, and other related to Interior Design

It’s an art course. I have many choices to be honest, My top three were Animations, Painting, and Fashion (and yes, they are really art majors). And my aunties told me that I might not be able to find a job with these courses (but their views changed when I introduced to them that I can easily make money with art commissions and my mom is really supportive and so does they).

I was pressured by them…so I gave in ://

So, I choose Interior Design, got into a prestigious university in the Philippines, everything went well till pressured got me so bad. I actually didn’t failed my course, I got 1.96 as my GPA (which is like equivalent to 90+ grades here in the Philippines) but I failed one subject and they told me that I can’t take Interior Design anymore, because it’s a board-related course. I won’t go to any details now, that’s another story lol.

Anyways, after talking to my mom, and she gave me a second chance to choose this time. So I took Animations, and a few months in with my new course, I improved a lot in drawing. Not just human body, but my conceptualization broadens (thanks to my first course, it helped me a lot tbh.) And I was actually enjoying it, and I got decent grades (98-100) and I think my lowest score was 91 (?), I don’t quite remember, but I think it’s in between 90 and 91.

A lot of people in my new university, especially the seniors and my professors applaud me for doing such a good job and catching up a lot. They also mentioned how gifted I am, because I only not draw for fun or out of hobby, they pointed out that I used various brushes and tools to create a story within just one work, and it amazes me because I never realize that.

What I have in my mind was “Oh no…this is not good” “Oh I should have done better” “This isn’t right” and I still do that despite the compliments they gave me. (I belittle myself for fun and for motivation…yep…I definitely need help)

Jokes aside, I do personally think I should practice more, to improve my skills in arts and must try to learn various techniques and art styles. I wanted to have that effect that can make an impactful expression to my audience, especially in animations and concept design. I wanted to create a story that no one has been able to see it before.

Anyways, that’s it for now! till next time

xoxo, mochi

(Note: image taken from Pinterest, poster lunaparada)

#bookish #blogger #coquette #art style #art study #animation #college life #coquette girl #girlcore #elle woods #pink aesthetic #pink coquette #pink core

[aerinis]

Doing my belated 2023 art review. Putting it below a read more because a lot of stuff happened this year and some of it is kind of heavy.

2023 was a pretty good year for me, both personally and artistically. I had a couple of annoying minor medical issues that I'm still dealing with, but I'd say I was able to maintain my goal of drawing at least one little doodle a day for most of the year. I will say though that the vast majority of what I drew this year - probably like 95% - was personal art. Hopefully someday I'll be satisfied enough with it to post it. I'd also like to spend 2024 focusing more on painting and practicing landscapes. I spent the first three months of the year working on a piece for a local art gallery competition, which actually ended up getting accepted and subsequently spent the rest of the year touring around the state in several different exhibitions. That introduced me to the wonderful world of trying to figure out how the hell digital prints and shipping work, but everything turned out fine in the end. It remains the largest piece I've ever made at 18"x24", and hopefully once I get it shipped back to me I'll be sending it off to my parents. I also found out that I HATE writing artist's statements, like fuck off you don't need to know my background, just interpret the piece however. I'd like to post here, but I want to make sure first that it hasn't been uploaded to the internet by any of the galleries since I'd like to keep my personal info off this blog lmao What's funny is that I feel like I've come so far as an artist ever since I submitted that piece, that every time I look at the B-grade prints I have lying around I'm like "oh my god this looks terrible, I can't believe this got accepted". I guess that's just what being an artist is like Following that, I took the next month off from art, which was a nice little break. I did a bunch of art parties in FFXIV, which are always great for improving, because as counter-intuitive as it seems the best way to get good at art is to be forced to draw a whole bunch of different things under strict time limits. I feel like I can definitely see my lineart improving as the months go on. I also started working more with color, my eternal nemesis, and I'm hoping next year I can really start to nail down a style. I did Art Fight for the first time ever in July and it ROCKED, definitely going to do it again this year and I'm still pretty proud of the drawings I did. I love an event where it's socially acceptable for me to draw people's OCs. I think I'll probably focus on doing more WoW OCs this year. Unfortunately July is the busiest month for me at work, where I'm waking up at 5AM for basically the entire month straight and working in 100+ degree weather, so we'll see if I can maintain the energy for it.

And now the heavy stuff. Some of you might know that I'm pretty involved in the secret finding community in WoW, and back during BFA when we spent 11.5 months trying to find Jenafur, I did paint-overs of a bunch of cat memes to try and keep spirits up during the hunt. Unfortunately, the Make-A-Wish kid who created the pet ended up passing away in April. You can read about her life here in this article that will make you want to guillotine a chemical executive, and this older interview from 2020 about the secret. But what really got to me was this one line from the PCGames interview:

And like, I don't want to be presumptuous but like. I think she was talking about my art. Every time I posted on she'd comment on it, and she even DMed me about them. This line fucking destroyed me. I'm not even going to exaggerate. For several days after we found out about her death I was a wreck. The thought that my silly little drawings actually had an impact on someone and made their life a little brighter just ruined me. The bill she was fighting for ended up passing, and I hope that someday the idea of 'forever chemicals' will cease to exist.

Downer ending but I'm kind of too bummed out to write more

#my art

[sideralumen]

Since 2024 is right around the corner I wanted to type out a list of things I wanna do next year since I wasn't able to do most of the things I wanted to do this year because of the accident. I also thought posting em here would help motivate me to actually do them, so here we go!

I wanna get back into traditional art. It used to be my primary way I did art but over the years I kinda went full digital without realizing it so I think it would be a fun challenge for me to get back into the swing of traditional art. I also think it could help me in areas of my art I struggle with such as making interesting color pallets/moods by eye instead of relying on filters and blending modes along with doing poses without refs (note references are very good and very useful tool I ain't knocking em but I feel like I've been relying on them TOO much this year cause of just art block issues)

I want to post art more. I haven't really posted much art to my socials this year cause I haven't really been proud of anything I made and the few things I did post to various social media's never did well so it discouraged me from posting even more, But nothing ever did good cause I didn't post regularly so it was just a really bad cycle of art block and insecurity for me. So I wanna start posting more consistently on all my main socials I like posting art to no matter how good I think the quality is, i wanna build confidence in my art no matter the medium and just build a name for myself online. I don't really care too much about how popular I get I just wanna connect with people who love art just as much as I do and inspire people with my art and stories!

I wanna write more. I actually really like the idea of making my own webcomic/graphic novel so I'll plan these huge projects and get really far into the process but when it's time to actually write the story I just immediately burn out, I wanna get better at writing in general so it doesn't feel like a chore to me. I was thinking of actually making fanfiction again as practice to start off since fanfic communities have always seemed very welcoming to beginner writers like myself so all I really need to do is shake off the shame of my middle school klance fanfic writing days and create something. Honestly the only reason this really got delayed wasn't because I didn't have the time but it was because it was too much strain on me physically, because of the accident it was harder for me to focus on words on a screen/page so not only did I stop writing completely I also stopped reading for the most part too cause it made me really light headed and sick but now that I'm not suffering from the effects of a skull fracture as intensely as I was at the first half of 2023 I feel confident enough to give writing a try again. Also my spelling sucks i wanna fix that.

I wanna get outside more. I actually wanted to get into skateboarding really bad this year but after the accident I basically had to relearn to walk completely so even now that I can be up and about for way longer then I've been able to I still don't feel like my ankle could support me enough to skateboard. BUT I think I would be able to handle roller skating so I wanna get myself some skates and start doing that in my free time, nothing really intense or anything just kinda skating around my neighborhood or at a park or a rink. I've been doing daily walks in the morning but I feel like something more exciting and engaging would really benefit my physical health.

And thats my list for the most part, there's other stuff I left out but I wanted to focus on how to improve myself when it comes to my hobbies and how the accident effected those things, I'm not out here getting too personal on the internet. Ik this won't get seen by anyone but I'm not taking my chances lol

#new years resolution #2024 #sideralumen

[clairethecutepup]

Weekly Update: 5/8/23 - 5/13/23

Creative Work:

I'll admit it: I just had to drop everything and make fan art of C2ndy2c1d's "Assassin AU" for the Ed Edd n' Eddy series... I'm sorry, when I saw the mother and the Kizuki of the spider family, in Demon Slayer, the puppeteering and cutting threads just reminded me of the alternate Sarah and Jimmy. So, I had to draw fan art of them replicating said slicing and puppeteering. I'm doing the "bases" traditionally, via pencil-sketching, and utilizing my lightboard and glue to overlay cut-out "pieces" for an easier outline completion overall. Trust me, better to draw over illuminated notecards than to sketch overlapping features on other parts...

To be honest, part of me is screaming at myself over not using the "faster" tablet of mine to make the bases instead; but then I scream back at that part how I hate doing sketching digitally, and I only ever wanna digitally draw when it comes to outlines and coloring. I know, I know, doing the sketches digitally allows for easier manipulation and all, but it just feels easier to whip up a pencil "base" and do the fancy-pants digital stuff after scanning it. Perhaps it's the fact that with DIGITAL sketching, I also had to basically draw everything TWICE: not just the basic shapes, but the hair/eyes/etc. as PART of the base, then tracing over it all for the final outline? I dunno, with simple, blank "bases" on traditional paper, I can easily just draw the fancy-pants digital lines only ONCE while outlining everything...

As for Getting Your Goat, the first chapter image is almost completed, too: it simply needs to be colored in and have the appropriate lettering added. That'll be my next priority, once I get that fan art image out of my head and onto paper/file.

I'm also still enjoying some "writing practices" on the side, particularly another EEnE themed one. Honestly, it may technically count as a "series" at this rate, given the consistent factors... The main characters of interest always seem to be Sarah, Jimmy and Claire (You, whenever the 2nd person POV isn't changed); each "entry" has some focus on characters learning an overall theme of being better to others/yourself; and some other things. But still, it's something meant to improve writing abilities for actual "mainline" stuff from me. Still, I'd recommend seeing if you simply enjoy it as a fan fiction fan, if not to critique it.

Personal Life:

So far, I think I'm seeing results from exercising during the weekdays, instead of saving it all for a back-to-back session on the weekend. Of course, that could also be the factory work helping shape those calories into muscles. Nothing like an after-work workout, with some fun cartoons to serve as your "timer" with their overall runtime. Don't forget the 2 minute "rests," though!

I've also heard word the factory plans to switch to a "9-4" schedule: 4 days of 9 hours, with the addition of only 4 hours on Friday. I'm hoping to use that to my advantage, somehow, when it comes to creative work and all. I can already plan ONE idea of how: no more overtime on the weekends~, so plenty of time to do stuff then.

Misc.:

I'm thinking of just getting rid of my traditional monitor and keeping my tablet as the unofficial "gaming/creating laptop," made courteous of my wireless keyboard. Seriously, you find some good stuff at thrift stores-- referring to the keyboard, though, no way you'd find something like the drawing tablet I have now there...

Also, it's amazing how, even as an adult, you'll still feel fear toward certain characters in animation... I don't think I'll fully get over my anxiety of Brak, the space cat pirate, and even Sarah and Jimmy can still be a bit intimidating. ... What? Sarah is undoubtedly stronger, no matter how ripped I'd get, and Jimmy can be a cunning fiend. I'm not ashamed to admit, I felt a bit anxious and terrified the night I went to the wiki for the unnofficial EEnE "sequel," titled "Peach Creek," and read he'd be a rather conniving individual. I dunno what it is, but I've a strong fear toward helplessness, and they can be a duo of outclassing brain and brawn. Those "Assassin AU" versions of themselves up the antae, now that Jimmy's supposed to be as physically capable, and the duo's main gimmicks are puppet strings and equally physically manipulative acupuncture. I know, I just deserved to have an inquisitive eyebrow raised at me, at times...

#personal updates #ed edd n eddy #childhood fears #digital art #traditional art #weekly update #fan art #comics #planning #work life #fan fictions #writing