#askherbgerb

[herbgerblin]

I would like to see…. Heart shaped glasses Lup…

Id: The first image is a digital drawing of Lup, an elven woman with tan skin, curly blonde hair, and a slight build. She is wearing a strapless red dress with gloved sleeves that end in pink puffs, which reveal her shoulders. She is also wearing pink, heart-shaped sunglasses. She smiles with her arms raised and fire emitting from her hands. The unlying caption on the image says, "You set my heart ablaze! Happy Valentine's day." The overlaying caption reads, "Where are my--my fifteen dollars." The second image is the same but without captions. End id.

#Ignore the fact that this ask is being answered hella late lmao #askherbgerb #my art #herbgerbart #lup #taz balance #the adventure zone

[herbgerblin]

voting in a blorbo poll makes me I feel like i’ve suddenly spawned into the battle of agincourt

#not always but sometimes #something something fight for kin and country #askherbgerb

[herbgerblin]

hi there! I got back into TAZ recently and am looking for more blogs to follow, but somehow I got submerged in Discourse real fast. Do you any blogs like yours that are friendly and discourse-free?

I think it depends on what you define as discourse, but here are a number of people that I know are still actively posting taz things:

@thisisnotacreativeusername

@anistarrose

@terezis

@fuckin-flip-wizard

@thirdchildart

@burnpyygmalion

@umbraastaff

@fioblah

@ceilingfan5

@taakosleftshoe

@duck-newton

@junotter

@taz-ids

@penbattles

@orykorioart

@mooselybased

@noodles-and-tea

@cinnamoncandyy

@lucretiaadventurezone

@mmmarty

@barry-j-blupjeans

@entguarde

#I know i missed a lot of people i will try to add on to this later but i am half awake right now #askherbgerb #anonymous

[herbgerblin]

You seem v qualified to ponder thoughts about the Raven Queen, so please consider - It's always made me FERAL that RQ in D&D canon is the goddess of death and all that, yeah, but ALSO has a fascination with memories, collecting memories, ect....and this is just NEVER MENTIONED in Balance, an arc which is HEAVILY BASED on the suppression of memories. What are your thoughts on how this second of her big values interplays with her influence in Balance?

Got this ask before WoTC decided to shoot themselves in the foot. But I don't want to leave it hanging because I've been thinking about it a lot. So I'm gonna talk about lore stuff and then apply it to Balance.

4e RQ was the ghost of an elven queen who became the consort of the previous death god, killed him, became the new god of Death, wiped out all traces of her past life, and later added the domains of Fate and Winter. 5e RQ was also an elven queen, but through a failed ritual she got torn apart dr. manhattan style, pieced herself back together from the forgotten memories of the Shadowfell, and while only semi-divine, is steadily growing in power and godhood.

Balance makes RQ a full-fledged goddess, while also limiting her domain to Death. But let's add Memory to that for funsies.

You would think RQ would hold a grudge against Lucretia for her deliberate suppression of memories. But! Lucretia is an abjuration wizard. She used that memory manipulation like a shield, fully believing she was protecting people from their pain. To that end, the memory wipes kept the light of creation from being reformed for over a decade, providing enough time for the Hunger to weaken and for her to perfect a shield spell big enough to contain it.

So I think that just as Istus allowed the Temporal Chalice to mess up her fate scarf, RQ allowed Lucretia to fudge everyone's memories, because she understood that it all would resolve eventually.

That said, I do think there's one being that RQ would not be pleased to have run amok in her universe: THE VOIDFISH.

A primordial being with powers to bestow and deny memory to all known creatures of the universe AND YET. We've been shown that voidfish don't do this with any real motive. To them, it's just a food source. It's as if a mindflayer phylum had branched off into a passive, playful subspecies, and we got a celestial jellyfish that radically affects mass perception and likes ducks.

Now listen to me. Look me in my eyes. Memory is what makes the mortal, immortal. To be forgotten is the final death. That is why we have ceremonies about remembering our predecessors. Just as RQ would rule over those souls, she would rule over those memories, forgotten or otherwise.

So... if the Raven Queen was the Goddess of memories... and the voidfish can store and dispell memories at any time... and RQ's domain includes the astral sea... what if all of the voidfish were actually native to the astral sea...

...and somehow got out?

#Also it makes double sense that RQ would invite Lup and Barry to serve her #'wow you held your very being together for over a decade through sheer force of will? Hired' #okay thoughts over that's all i got #askherbgerb #the raven queen #the adventure zone #taz balance #taz

[herbgerblin]

meme: 1 4 and 14!!!

4. Fav character/subject that's a bitch to draw

*grabs Kravitz like the “YOU” cat meme*

this beautiful motherfucker takes 4-5 rounds of sketches before I feel like I’ve gotten his face right. Drawing everyone else is like muscle memory at this point. You need a taako? I’ll churn out a taako in 5 seconds. You need a Kravitz? You better check the almanac and hope the stars are in position

14. Any favorite motifs

A lot of fire and ice/water (you know, cuz twins.) I like rebirth and renewal, cycles. I don’t know if this shows, but I love drawing the passage of time, seasonal shifts, the way things change and stay the same. I love when characters don’t realize how far they grown, until they look back and see the distance between then and now.

#ask meme #askherbgerb #art asks

[herbgerblin]

Curious as to your fandom.com oppositions. Haven’t heard criticisms of it before so I’m genuinely curious

My main personal gripe it that it is so horrendously ballooned with intrusive ads (especially on mobile) that just trying to read five seconds onto a page requires clicking away four to five of them. This can be mitigated slightly by having a logged in account or just installing adblock , but people shouldn’t have to sign up for an account or jump through hoops to be able to read an aggregation of freely given knowledge.

#the auto play videos are headache inducing >:0 #askherbgerb

[herbgerblin]

y'know in the 3 years since i first listened to balance it never clicked with me that the washing machine sized piece of machinery that crushed taako was not, in fact, a random washing machine. your tags on the suffering game gn hype post is what made me realize

hmm. suspicious that collectively we've all believed this for so long

transcript:

Griffin: One of these giant pieces of like a washing machine sized piece of industrial machinery falls from the ring on the ceiling and lands on you. (note: the words "sized piece of industrial machinery" have been static'ed out.)

Justin: You're gonna kill America's favourite wizard.

#lucretia you would've loved the mandela effect #askherbgerb

[herbgerblin]

u and kravitz jr. just appeared on my tik tok fyp unprompted and so obviously i ran here to immediately to tell u. i was so shocked. congratulations on your son doing numbers

Thank you :3!!! The power of HE is innumerable

ID: Photo of a tiny black kitten sitting on a floor surrounded by a bunch of cat toys. End ID

#kravposting #askherbgerb

[herbgerblin]

Take this! *hands you a flaming raging poisoning sword of doom* Destroy the Bots! You are the hope of our people!

I am going to need it D:

#*covered in blood and holding s sword* just another day on tunglr dot com #askherbgerb

[herbgerblin]

I love your kitten feel free to post all the pictures you want

Good! Because I have an abundance!

ID: two photos of a tiny black kitten in a towel-laden basket. The first is of the kitten getting brushed with and purple and white toothbrush, while stretching his legs. The second picture show the kitten staring at the toothbrush very intently.

Yesterday I had to upgrade his bedding from my clothes hamper to a storage bin, because he was getting too good at escaping. He’s a little befuddled by the fact that he can’t grip the plastic, but he knows that when he’s big enough to jump out, my days are numbered. I know as well.

But his actual favorite place to sleep is the hoodie of my jacket, so when I’m working at my desk I hold him up against my chest.

ID: third photo is of the kitten trying very hard to climb out of a large, plastic bin. Fourth image is of the kitten sleeping contently in the hood of a cream-colored jacket. End ID.

#and I get to feel him purr :3 #blades in the dark gang can attest that he is fond of sleeping in my hoodie #askherbgerb

[herbgerblin]

That new job sounds really cool! If you don't mind my asking, how do you end up in that line of work? Is it a case of needing an art history degree or similar?

I came at it sideways. I was job hunting since last October and extremely tired of working in marketing. In February, I was hoping to volunteer or intern at my local arts center. They were looking for people with experience in galleries and auction houses, and I didn't have that. So I started applying to those businesses, and the first auction house I applied to reached out super quickly. It's actually two businesses in one: auctions and film prop/furniture rentals.

If you're studying art history, consumer research, or library science, those skills will definitely make identifying the age/materials of items a lot easier. Having hands-on experience can also be a plus. I have a BA in advertising, which only scratched the surface of art history. But I'm a fast researcher and typer, and I've followed a few estate sales for years, so they took me on. I learned the catalog formatting quickly and showed them how to color manipulate really hard-to-read signatures in Photoshop.

Fortunately, the job provides access to a lot of art databases, previous auction sales, and my boss let me borrow books about materials that I was having difficulty describing. (I also bugged @marywhal a little. sorry allison, I promise you will be the first to know when we sell the uranium glass.) I have been aggressively bookmarking articles about manufacturers' marks on silverware and antique glass, cultural symbols, ceramic techniques, paleography, etc. And I've been checking out stacks of library books on antiques.

It took me a while to understand that this particular role isn't about appraisal, but market taste. An item's inherent value + market demand = sale price estimate. A ceramic vase by a particular artist may be in higher demand in one region than another, so you must account for that. Sometimes really good art isn't in demand. If we learn something cool about an item's history, that's fun and fine. But a sale is a sale. The catalog descriptions have a word limit, they have to be objective, and we have to use buzzwords for max searchability.

We move stuff around a lot in the warehouse and everything is sold online, so I don't have to wear professional clothes. YOU WILL probably research erotica (this past week I cataloged a lot of male nudes and my coworker (currently an art history major) had to catalog a vintage vibrator.) My boss reads multiple languages and will take over anything I can't translate. There's no pressure to understand everything, just as much as you can.

#all in all i wish i had found this job sooner. but I'm glad it came into my life right now :0 #i've also started writing for local press but that's it's own can of worms #which is why i haven't had much time to draw lately #askherbgerb

[herbgerblin]

Can we get some kittem pics?

The two grey babies are cashew milk and oat milk (they also have siblings with another foster named coconut and almond milk.) they are here to help me socialize Kravitz jr. and save christmas

#they’re not adoptable yet because they’re still underweight but they are the world’s sweetest babies #askherbgerb #herbgerb blerb #kravposting

[herbgerblin]

That poll you reblogged got me thinking. What would you, an artist who does commissions, consider a good character ref sheet? What do you need/consider when drawing someone's oc/dnd characters/character you don't know?

Shoutout to @ceilingfan5 for that poll because I was also very interested in the responses.

I answered a question about what info to include in the description of your character (s) here. But I can definitely expand a bit more! Disclaimer: Not every artist works the same way.

Example prompt to use for requests is under the cut!

If you have drawn your own ocs, but are afraid of using them as references, don't be! I never judge anyone's examples, and I've seen references from a wide range of skill sets. I'm not an art critic, I'm just here to interpret your work and translate it to my own style. You know your ocs best, so I try to pick up on the details that you clearly want to see.

If you can't find the exact right reference, say so before I start drawing. I keep a lot of stock images on hand and I scour the internet for references all the time. I can probably get closer to what you have in mind. Or I will just model the image myself (I have used myself as a model several times.)

Write objective descriptions. Descriptions written in flowery, poetic language can be hard to parse, especially when I need to read them multiple times to make sure I didn't miss anything. I recommend using bullet points if you require a lot of specific details.

If you have a preferred name and Paypal deadnames you, I will 100% only use your preferred name and I will ignore it on PayPal if it comes up. I don't know if there's a way to filter out customer names on PayPal. I only need the email address to send invoices. If you want to go the extra step of making an email just for commissions, that's fine with me.

I don't do a lot of dynamic scenes but if you ask, include what camera angle and POV you want the scene to be viewed from. Providing reference images of a different scene from that angle is also a huge help!

I repeat: If you have no previous examples of your ocs, I recommend using a Pinterest board or google drive folder with references. But keep them to like a 3-10 minimum (unless there are multiple characters, in which case include more than that.)

Example prompt below ->

Hi [artist]

I am requesting a [insert type of commission] for my character(s) [name(s).] I have attached reference pictures of their hairstyles, outfits, poses, and an example of the scene. I have included a description of the commission down below:

Character A is sitting at a small cafe table. They are wearing a button-up dress. A mug of steaming coffee is resting on the table near their hand. Character B is pulling out a chair opposite Character A. They are wearing a hoodie, jeans, and a silver necklace. They look a little damp and disheveled like they've just come in from the rain, and maybe blushing from embarrassment. A wet umbrella is leaning against the side of their chair. Character A is laughing good-naturedly. The background doesn't have to be detailed, but if you could make it feel like the lighting is warm and slightly dim, that would be great!

Please let me know if you would like any further details.

Thanks,

[Preferred Name]

#asks #askherbgerb #commission request prompt #art commission advice #art advice #commission tips #art commission tips

[herbgerblin]

10 and 28 for the artist ask game? :O

10. Favorite piece of clothing to draw

I don’t have a single fave, but I do love adding trimmings to clothes, be it ruffles, lace, or embroidery!

28. Any art events you have participated in the past (like zines)

:0 I’ve only done to taz graduation fan zine and the tma zine. I would love to join any steeplechase zines going on or even dimension 20

#ask meme #art asks #askherbgerb

[herbgerblin]

your art trademark is the hair. it looks substantial, not wispy

Anonymous asked: For the art trademark thing, def the hair. You can be doing a different painting style or whatever and I'll be confused then I'll see the hair and be like "oh it's them :)"

All of my years of wearing my hair in an afro have taught me the ways of the coil. That, and a lot of useful tutorials over the years. and also every manga artist on deviant art (back when deviantart was the place to be for artists) Here's another good curl one from twitter.

One thing I do to give hair weight in lineart is to add more lines to the ends of the strands than at the base of the hair because the emphasis will draw your eyes downward. I like to crosshatch face and body hair as a stylistic choice. I just think it adds texture :3.

ID: A lineart drawing of Taako and Kravitz. Taako is an elven man with long, curly hair pulled into a messy braid. Kravitz is a half-elven man with long locs and a beard. Kravitz's locs are pulled back into a half bun. His shirt is unbuttoned, revealing chest hair and a Y scar. End ID.

#ask meme #askherbgerb

[herbgerblin]

Boss anon again, hi, sorry, i just... It's been 2 weeks with this knowledge. I'm still reeling. I needed to share this with someone, Anyone, else that is outside of the situation...

on one hand, fam i just blog about wizards. on the other hand,

#I hope your boss gets better??????? #insane #askherbgerb