#my art has improved a lot this year so i'm a lot more confident in doing this!! | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

bara-izu · 3 months

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Do you have any advice on how to get over lack of skill? I want to do the Astarion Lestate trend but I don't think my skills are ready for it. I have references pictures of Astarion pulled up when I'm working, and even have the game launched so I can turn him if I need to (mostly for the attempts I did at his hair) but everytime I tweaked something or started over nothing looked right. I keep getting frustrated 😭

Hi anon- Sorry this took me a while to get to, i hope you and others can still find this useful! While the basic advise to get over 'lack of skill' is PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE! i hope this will help you knowig where to get started with that!

I'm going to put my teacher pants back on, this might be a bit long so buckle up- I'll go over a few areas:

Primitive Shapes

How to Use References

Delete your work (hear me out)

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Primitive Shapes:

This is your foundation. Everything starts with this, and while you may find it boring to think of your art in terms of cubes and spheres- i kid you not it will help elevate your work.

If/when you are stuggling to draw a complicated pose, or a specific perspective, refering back to the form in these basic shapes can really help to simplify your process and help you problem solve.

A chill/silly watch for a more in depth discussion on what i mean / how this can help - Give Pikat's 'Draw boxes (correctly) to improve your art' a watch. They also mention this in the video but @/Uncomfortable on youtube also has some great fundermental videos.

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How to use references.

Okay so references are great 10/10 very useful. But, unless you know WHAT to study from a reference, they can sometimes fall flat of their usefullness.

Anatomy studies are something a lot of us will be recommended as artists, but actually knowing what to pay attention to can boost your confidence in your work. Start with a goal, what do you want to get out of this sketch session? Do you want to get better at understanding the 3D form of a specific part of anatomy? Better at poses? Try to narrow down your learning each session to make it less overwhelming.

In this i'll focus on understanding the form so, lets start with a reference. Linking back to Primitives again, start off by braking down your anatomy into forms. Sketching over the top of your references is totally fine. But make sure you are doing so critically, otherwise it may look like a flat/unnatural trace and you're not really learning from it. Via the first sketch you can see where the primitive shapes fall on the body - think of it like a ball-jointed-doll, hips, knees, shoulders ect are ball socketed whereas arms, legs ect can be made up of tubes. (See the first image, when sketching your tubes, sketch your contour lines too- this can help determind how clothing / hair will fall over the body, and can help you understand the 3D Form.)

A BIG IMPORTANT SIDE NOTE - When using photo references, do be very aware that they may be distorted due to the height of the camera, or camera focal length - (you can see in my sketch i had to edit the torso and head because the reference was a little top heavy)

A few artists/books for some extra reading / reference : - Andrew Loomis (OG for body proportions, books are a little outdated but fundermentals are still useful), - Tenten云画画 (his stylised anatomy breakdowns are very interesting to me) - Anatomy Essentials (I've had this book for years, it covers lots of areas, is a bit complex though, i myself should reread it again 😅

Also, if you can't find a reference for a specific pose, don't be afraid to use 3D programs! Anatomy 360, DesignDoll, Clip Studio, Magic Poser - all nifty options~

SO taking when we've learnt from the primitive forms, you can now try applying that to the Lestrat Picture. (which, granted is a complicated pose, as it also has forshortening and an odd top down perspetive of the bottom character- so don't panic if you don't get it the first time!)

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Final points- Delete your art (hear me out)

What i mean by this is, sometimes reworking the same face over and over again can bog your down. It can make it very difficult to actually see whats wrong. So, get rid of it and start again. (hide the layer/use a different piece of paper, please don't actually bin it (yet))

Next, redraw it. Use what you've learned the first time, and redraw it from scratch. (in this case, that might be just specifically the head, or the hair, or the eyes ect - you don't have to bin the whole thing, but sometimes it can really help give you a new perspective)

Once you've done this, unhide your original, compare, this may help you understand what you were doing wrong the first time. Or if there are areas of one that you like- its an opportunity to combine them as you see fit! :)

On a side note for Astarion's Hair, the lovely @mistercrowbar actually posted a breakdown yesterday! (i use p much the same method so-)

I HOPE this was of some use- do feel free to ask any questions if you've got them! i'll try to answer in a more timely manner next time 😅

#art tutorial #or more like #art tips #long post

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adyophene · 1 month

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Hello ! I just have a little question, how do we start drawing ? I want go draw but idk how to start- any suggestion ? Or, if for starting it's better to do it with tutos, any tutorial to recommend ?

Have a great day !

Oooh, this is a tough question to answer! I suppose one the best pieces of advice I have is to figure out, before anything, what you are hoping to draw. What style, what tones, what media.

I have a feeling this might get long, so I will throw the rest under a readmore.

For me, when I started taking my art a little more seriously (I never went to art school or anything) I just focused on finding both tutorials on the fundamentals, and finding tutorials that focused on the aspects of art that interested me, which were animation and cartooning!

They go hand-in-hand, after all, and you'll find you end up honing in on the tutorials that coincide with your interests! IE- I ended up doing a lot of figure, and expression drawing because they would help me express emotion and movement better! I also spent so, so long just training my hand to be a bit more confident with drawing steady lines just because I loved the look of clean line-work!

So try to identify what your personal draw towards art is! By doing both something you like, as well as focusing the basics, I found that, at least in my personal experience, it put me in a positive feedback loop where I could keep seeing results in exactly the type of art I was interested in! And, once you start to feel confident, that is when you start adding in little bits of study from fields you might struggle with! A 90/10 split on what you're comfortable with and then what is new is usually a good way to go about it! Weirdly enough, though I don't watch him, I saw that the youtuber pewdiepie actually had a really good set of videos where he started from being a complete beginner and improving his art over 100 days. I believe its an absolutely great watch for a new artist, because he really does a great job in showing what a brand new journey into art can look like, and explains what he thinks each day. I think my favorite line was, 'after 24 days, I was finally having fun' because that can really sum up the new artist experience. It will absolutely be a slog at times, and can be really disheartening, but when you start to see progress, becomes so, SO fun.

Here is the link to the first vid, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMLEudGbxQk and his second https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJDtQTTAogk

ALSO- this was just the first video that came to mind because I watched it recently. I would recommend finding other videos about people learning to draw, or doing 30-100-365 day challenge videos. As for my personal favorite channels for art tutorials (though keep in mind, I haven't watched them in a few years ;-;, I need to study again);

There were a number of others that I wish I could link as well, but I am struggling to remember them. I hope any of that is helpful. My own art journey has been very long, and non linear, and I have to say, I'm not even satisfied with my own art! Its a endless mountain to climb, but it is so worth it to do! And lastly, I want to say thank you so much for sending this ask, you've made me dig back in to artists I used to study, and made me want to really focus back in on my own improvement!

#not art

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tunamayojazz · 2 months

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all of your inuokko art is so lovely it’s hard to pick just one!! i loved the ex-idol concept that was so perfect for inumaki, and the baseball and college aus are adorable too! we love mutual pining in this house 🥰

i just looked a the date in which this was sent and shrieked out loud 😭 i am so sorry and also happy new year!

thank you so much for your kind words ❤️ i'm so happy to hear you liked the ex-idol toge and baseball player yuta au hehe that was so much fun to do. now that you mention college aus (which i also LIVEEE for), would it not be cute if they used to crush on each other when they were college students!! music major toge was part of the dance club and spent a lot of time on campus for practice, same for yuta who had been a prodigy baseball player his whole life. from his club's practice spot, toge had a convenient view of watching yuta practice (as did many other students haha, man always had an audience). from observation and also through word of mouth, he knew that yuta was a very sweet person, friend and teammate. he took care of his team well and everyone looked up to him. toge was inspired by his drive and it motivated him to try his best too.

for yuta it was a much more private experience. while toge would sometimes just join the crowd watching yuta or sit somewhere alone on a day with less people, yuta was intensely shy. he came across his school's dance club profile on social media one fine day and that's when he first saw toge. 30 minutes of doom scrolling later on their page and it was over for him...let's just say toge was a really good dancer with lots of charm and personality in his style (and also has a little fanclub of his own!).

despite them mutually pining for one another from afar, they unfortunately only ever interacted once. they happened to both be on their way out of school, and it was the day before yuta and his team went off to the all japan university baseball championship. toge's got a good luck charm for him but is way too nervous to actually approach him. luckily for toge, yuta accidentally drops his student ID. and the little opportunist within toge comes alive and dives to grab it before yuta can even do it himself (he still cringes about this moment years later). yuta's brain is also doing an internal system crash but somehow doesn't combust when toge very calmly hands him his ID back with the charm underneath. he then walks off in what seems to be the fastest speed yuta has ever witnessed. after the moment is over, yuta uncovers the good luck charm tucked under his ID and then, he combusts.

it doesn't get better yet, they don't meet again for a long time. yuta and his team go on to win the championship, but when he returns to campus with all the glory and confidence in the world (to finally speak to toge), he can't find him anywhere. tldr: toge got scouted by a really good music label and got whisked away to trainee life at 19 in the period of time yuta was away for championships; it all happened very quickly bc toge was quite naive and dropped out of school for a shot at his dream career) (why do i feel like im writing a such a cliche romance plot !! haha)

we'll get to the bad parts immediately. toge knew trainee life would be hard, but he was willing to give it his all to debut. except things didn't really improve after debut. before he could even notice all the red flags, it all came crashing down at 23 when toge had been overworked to the point of damaging his vocal cords. he left the group shortly after, and eventually left the label all together. as for yuta, he was scouted to play for a foreign team and left japan. his career was a success overseas and he'd attained the status as japan's pride. all the things he'd dreamt of as a kid playing baseball with his dad had come true. but in true yuta nature, he was like, yknow what, i think i've done it all and i really miss my friends and family. so i'm gonna move my life back to japan! bye bye! (not gonna give him the successful athlete sustains career damaging injury plot no yuta closed the curtains with his own hands simply bc he missed his friends) i think at this point (age 25) he's only thought of toge from time to time as this sweet boy from his college days that was out of his league, he hasn't heard or seen him in forever either. that is until he returns to japan, gets like a million brand deals, collaboration offers and of course, invites to events and parties for the elites and celebs of japan.

a few weeks after he returned to tokyo, he's invited to a private party to celebrate team japan's success at the winter olympics, with his best friend rika as his plus one. he meets a lot of big name athletes there and quickly becomes friends with maki zenin, one of japan's best speed skaters, and yuji itadori, one of players of the national ice hockey team. (geez i wonder who maki's plus one is)

when he feels himself go past tipsy and approaching drunk, he excuses himself to the balcony for a breather. he's known to be extremely talkative after too much alcohol and he doesn't really feel like pissing off his new friends. when he steps out, he sees a single person smoking by themselves outside and cringes internally (he hates the smell!). but he finds that he won't be stepping back inside so soon, because somehow, he's met with the very beautiful face of inumaki toge.

yuta covers his mouth with his hands at the same time toge drops his cigarette.

#inuokko #ottoge #inumaki toge #okkotsu yuuta #inumaki #yuuta #i wasnt drunk while writing this but i certainly felt like i was #writing on tumblr always mean silly hours !#well if theres no angst la #i will draw what happens next one day i SWEARRRRRRRR #asks #ples excuse any typos and such i was just typing rly quickly and hehehe-ing like a crazy person #inuokko does that 2 me...

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rogueddie · 24 days

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with the hp/ jk thing. the defenders always go 'separate the art from the artist, only interact with fanon, only read fanfic, it's not hp, its a different era, but using her world and characters'

she has said any support for her work is supporting her and her ideals. even if they just interact with fanon its still promoting hp, and supporting her.

they bend over backwards to justify continuing to support the work of a raging bigot and holocaust denier.

and they bring up 'but its my special interest' it was a lot of peoples special interest for a long time. including mine for over 15 years. but then she started to get more vocal with her hatred, and i started noticing her bigotry in her work, and became more educated on it. i eased myself off of it, it's hard, but its possible.

im also trans in the uk. everytime i hear her name it sends a chill through me in fear of what is coming next. a lot of people, especially Americans, don't realize how much power and influence she has here. she is incredibly rich and she is a household name, almost everyone has heard of her

but it shows where their priorities stand. they're all about standing up for the little guy, for promoting the rights of marginalized people, until it's their entertainment on the line. they'd rather keep their comfort thing than do what they're otherwise preaching.

i hope you can stay as safe as possible, and i hope something changes for the better for people like us soon <3

All of this! You put it perfectly!

I've definitely been lenient with them, given my own hyperfixation on Stranger Things, which has its own issues, but she's been getting so extremely bad recently that I can't fucking stand it anymore.

When the popularity and monetary support of Harry Potter is something she uses as a defense, something that other transphobes use to levy her name as a battering ram, you have no excuse.

You can so easily keep all that shit offline! Read the books in the privacy of your home! Stop funding her transphobia! Stop willingly allowing her to weaponize your "special interest" to discriminate against a minority group that is being seriously threatened right now! TRANS PEOPLE ARE BEING MURDERED!

Sure, a lot of people have distance and "but I'm American" as a defense for their ignorance- but she's been quoted by a GOP senator while they blocked a vote on an LGBT bill, so no, they don't actually.

And, sure, a lot of people don't think she's actually transphobic- but being ignorant can only last so long before you look like a liar or an idiot. Especially when she's spending £70,000 on challanging "the definition of woman", which seems to me an obvious attempt to delegitimize GRCs (Gender Recognition Certificates).

Just in case there is someone coming across this who doesn't think JK Rowling is actually transphobic, I'd recommend this video that Matt Bernstein made with Contrapoints (which still misses a couple points, but Contrapoints also has a great video on jkr).

I hope you stay safe too. And I am confident that things will change and improve for us in the near future. We are the easy target right now, but it will not stay that way forever.

The transphobes are loud but they are not the popular opinion. We have a community and I know that there will always be people who have our backs while we fight for our safety and freedom. People will listen, and we will move forward.

Wishing you the best x

#ask #anti jkr

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jojo-schmo · 6 months

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My old Good Omens art from 2019-2020!! :O (In somewhat chronological order)

In the interest of sharing my art in one place, I thought I'd revisit this era of my art! I made much more traditional art at the time. But I like thinking about the evolution of my skills over the past few years.

Director's commentary below:

I believe the first four images are from 2019, when the first season of GO came out. Boy, did that show come out at a good time for me! I was in a deep art slump that had lasted for a few years at that point. Long story short, because of untreated depression and a chronic illness that brought me physical pain, I didn't get everything I wanted to get out of college classes and I was deeply self-conscious of my skill level. I knew I wanted to tell stories but I was frustrated that I seemingly couldn’t make my ideas come to life at all.

Being alive was very difficult for me at the time and I was fighting my own dark and negative thoughts that I directed towards myself constantly. I didn't see a psychiatrist until the Spring of 2020, and only then did things start getting better. If I had to describe it, it's like a storm in my head finally cleared. The weight on my shoulders lightened up a lot. I had enough mental clarity to gain more self-awareness and really work on myself. And that included my art. And it shows a little in the last few drawings.

(Side note, I am much, much better now. Medication and ongoing therapy has completely changed the quality of my life. I am very happy to be here!)

Anyway, I was making efforts to get better at drawing after college by taking Aaron Blaise's online art classes. (Side note, his class on drawing human anatomy helped me immensely!!) But it was just the beginning of a long art improvement journey!

But I see the stiffness and insecurity that was still present in my art from that time. Whenever I shared it on Twitter (which was my main social media at the time) I'd be lucky to hit ten notes. It didn't bother me all the time, but it did get discouraging as time went on. Until one day I decided to just deal with it. Whatever the reason was that nobody was seeing my art- whether it was due to the Twitter algorithm or if my art was just not appealing enough. I was going to keep drawing. If nobody clicked the like heart on my art, fine! I was going to keep throwing it into the void anyway and see what sticks. If it got ten likes or one I tried not to care as much.

My transition from drawing what I thought other people wanted to see, to drawing what made me happy, made a huge difference. Likes and reblogs do feel really good, but I'm happy to hear even what one person likes about my work. I try to keep that mindset with me as much as I can. And I'm not perfect at it. But it helps me a lot.

Of course that transition in my mindset was gradual. Took place over a few years. But I realized lately that I have a confidence in my art that I've never had before. And I'm really happy about that!!

All this to say, whether you've been drawing/writing for ten years, one year, or a few months, it's always nice to remember where you came from and far you've come.

Looking back, I wish I could tell my past self that her best was yet to come. And I still have a long way to go but I'm excited to see what I can make in the coming years!

If I had one preachy piece of advice to offer as a final note, remember that the ability to draw and write is an awesome skill to have. A skill that not every human being has. But a skill that can be developed and cultivated over time if nurtured. It's a beautiful thing to me, to be able to create something that didn't exist before. Something that only you can bring to life. And while it might not resonate with everyone who sees it, it might resonate with one person. And I love that. So when you can, create things that make you happy, the happiness might just be contagious to its viewers. <3

...I think I should draw some more Good Omens sometime soon. I miss those guys and they are dear to me :)

#tw mental health #good omens #jojo rambles #not to get too dramatic about myself on a post. I just wanted to share some thoughts aloud :)#and in the hopes that maybe someone will learn from my journey and not make the same mistakes I did

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who-do-i-know-this-man · 9 months

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Anti-propaganda for Tedd (their name is misspelled in the poll) Verres because I am ASTONISHED more people on this very transgender website have not heard of El Goonish Shive (the webcomic from which Tedd hails).

For simplicity's sake, since Tedd is gender-fluid and prefers different pronouns in different situations, I'm just going to use they/them.

Note: I am pulling all this lore from the top of my brain so it may not be completely accurate. Reader beware

okay FIRST of all. Tedd starts out as a pervert. El Goonish Shive was started by a highschooler in 2002, and the author, Dan Shive, has matured greatly since then. Tedd is also a highly capable scientist (despite being a junior in highschool), and with the help of some alien technology (long story short, Tedd's dad works for a secret government agency dealing with magic and has been in contact with alien lifeforms), they craft the Transformation Gun (TF gun for short). This gun, well, transforms people. There are multiple forms that people can be transformed into, all of which are based off of their original bodily form. The Female Variant 5 form (the form that transforms anyone into a quite attractive lady) is the one that gets the most use. Of course. El Goonish Shive has been described as "the most perverted squeaky-clean comic on the internet".

Thing is, Tedd has been bullied. A lot. They are very androgynous, even in their natural state, and they get mocked for it a lot. They're not very comfortable in their own skin, so they like to exert control over their environment by way of the TF gun. Eventually, as their friend circle widens and their support system grows, they mellow out considerably (though they were never terribly vindictive in the first place) and become more confident in who they are.

As of the most recent comic, Tedd is at dinner with their father the government agent, the alien woman who is his secretary, and their girlfriend (for lack of a better term) Grace, a shapeshifting alien-human-squirrel hybrid.

I highly highly HIGHLY recommend EGS, even if there's a solid chunk of early installment weirdness while Dan was growing into his own as an author/artist. The characters are all very well-developed and have strong personalities, the magic system is convoluted but fascinating, there's all sorts of weird beings and cool spells and secret identity forms that may or may not change your personality, and it's funny as heck. Also, there are a ton of queer characters of all kinds.

Two notes, though:

One: Dan Shive relates very strongly to being neurodivergent (something he discovers over time; read the end notes on each comic!), and as such, the comic is VERY thorough. Arcs may take a while to pan out, and there are plot points from over twenty years ago that are still popping up today!

Two: EGS is a weird comic. I think the perfect exemplar of EGS's weirdness is the following line (note that this panel is from 2003; the art has improved considerably since then):

Having read both, I would not hesitate to say that EGS is definitely less weird and less convoluted than is Homestuck. It's still weird and convoluted, though. But that's part of its charm, in my opinion.

I would happily add more information, but, in the words of the great Mr. Verres:

#asks #not blorbo poll #propaganda?#long post

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liauditore · 5 months

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2023 art review! thoughts and such below the cut

2023 has been a really wild year for me in terms of Life Stuff both good and bad and i think it.. definitely shows through my art.

I've had this thing for years where I always felt my art was.. kinda mid? Not Bad by any means (I'm not delusional about my own skill level. I think) but definitely not good enough to stand out or make an impact. And I think I became somewhat comfortable in that "good enough" state for awhile.

this year though I think at some point I kind of sat down with myself and said I was going to Get Good and I think it somewhat paid off? I spent a lot of the middle of the year revisiting colour since that was always something I was confident in and started tackling stuff that scare me like anatomy/perspective/basically anything technical nearing the end.

there's definitely still room to improve but in general ive noticed my character's faces being less wonky and my illustrations feeling more "focused" overall.

I must also mention that the mcyt brainrot became my entire personality sometime in March and being active in a fandom for the first time in forever has definitely played a part. I have met so many amazing ppl and I have kind of an issue with getting competitive, so being surrounded by really skilled artists all the time online might've done something to me mentally lmao (and thank you all for being friends with me i still don't feel like you are real people sometimes where did you come from)

SO UM YEAH here's to another year of getting better at doodling :D

past years:

#my art #2023 art summary #cw blood

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bettsfic · 11 months

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I feel like I need to write faster so that I can one day be published. Like, I need to have already written x amount of books to improve my craft. Now I can work on a big project that I can hopefully query later. But I’m still at the practice stages and it feels like I’m being too slow to get to my dream. And I truly hate calling my “practice” projects practice projects because it feels like they aren’t valid when I do. But it has been recommended to me to start off practicing before I do my more complex story ideas. I’m trying not to rush my writing but it feels like that’s the only way to reach my goal. I truly feel like the slowest writer: spending months on outlining and over a year on first drafts. How can I be a professional one day if this is my process?

i answered a similar question about feeling the pressure to write a lot in this post, where i offer my own publishing timeline.

the thing is, there's no such thing as practice projects. the concept of practice implies an eventual performance. a performance is temporal. it can only happen in the moment, like a sport or a concert. it can be recorded for posterity, but the actual reality of it happens in a present that can't be recreated.

poetry, prose, and art are all eternal things. when words are printed to paper, they become a tangible object. there is no single moment you're working toward. and because of that, there's no practice. there's only drafting and revision. that's all writing is and can ever be. no one gets better at writing. you can only get more patient with your process, and find more familiarity in the agony of the unknown.

getting a book published isn't the birth of your story; it's the death of it. it's its final resting place. the life of a story happens while you're writing it. everyone who reads it thereafter is only experiencing what is to you a memory.

so publishing is wildly overrated. just last year i won a grant with a story that hasn't been, and will probably never be, published. two weeks ago i got accepted into a prestigious residency with an excerpt of a story that wasn't (at the time of applying) published. i got accepted into a PhD program on a writing sample that was published, but the publication folded and now no one can access that story anymore. i signed an agent with a short story collection that got a lot of interest but nobody wanted to pick it up.

i just finished a novel i'm pretty confident will sell sometime in the next decade, but that's not what i set out to do with it. i set out to experiment with something, not thinking i'd ever publish it and so the stakes were very low. all i did was follow a small idea around and ask it questions like an annoying kid whose curiosity can never be satisfied. and around the 75k mark i thought: oh, this is the thing.

but the 6ish novels before that will never see the light of day. those weren't practice novels. they're novels that either have no place in the current market for whatever reason, or they're novels that aren't yet doing the work i want them to do, and i don't know how to tackle a revision. i've had to write 3 million words to get to the 30k or so words i've formally published. those 3 million words weren't practice projects. they were the real deal. but sometimes the resting place of a story is a locked drawer.

that can be sad. devastating. but you're allowed to be sad about work that doesn't reach your initial ambitions. there are no practice projects, but you can practice coping with all the complicated and uncomfortable emotions of the creative process. you can practice facing your fear of failure, which over time will get smaller and smaller as you continue to set goals and fail to reach them. eventually you'll succeed, but that success probably won't look like what you think it does.

honor your interests, your process, the next page, next sentence, next word. pursue what's right in front of you and forget the rest.

#writing advice #process

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airimomoid · 9 months

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to whoever sees this post. do you have a favourite april fools class? because i do and it is one HUNDRED percent solid heart. i love every character in here so much it is so perfect to me that they were all put together

shiho is not my favourite in leo/need (its actually honami) but i honestly really identify with her and it's so great to watch her develop and see the way she deeply cares for her friends (and her sister please stop saying she hates/dislikes shizuku i cant take it) despite her tough exterior

airi is my absolute favourite character for so many reasons. first of all- she is so cute! i love her design and her cards are all great. but even more so i adore her character as a whole. you can see that she really loves not only her fans - from the way she interacts with them on livestreams, and there's also her interactions with saki if you need another example -, but also her unitmates - the way she shares her experience with minori to help her improve, admires haruka and supports her, reminding her to take breaks, and dont even get me *started* on shizuku because there is so much to say about them that i would end up talking about them forever - and also her close friends, such as ena (she's also in solid heart by the way! love her!)

akito is so SO passionate about music and honestly i'm with him there. he likes people who are also passionate about their interests - i am also with him there! i just overall really enjoy how committed and hard working he is when it comes to music, the way he interacts with and cares for the rest of vbs, and also i think his dynamic with ena is great

nene is literally just like me for real for real. i love to reread the wxs stories in order to see how she gradually opens up to her unitmates and becomes more confident - around her peers, but also whilst performing on stage. the rest of wxs love and care about her and she, too, loves and cares about them! she dreams big, and continues to pursue her dreams even though she knows that one day she'll have to leave wxs because of them. because of this she also cherishes all the time she spends with them !! also in canary sings in a quagmire she has the courage and strength to ask for help from her idol herself and it's just so brilliant to see how far she's come from the beginning of the story when she could barely talk to the rest of wxs and had to hide behind nenerobo AND SHE'S ALSO JUST SO CUTE IN GENERAL AND I LOVE HER OK

i feel like ena and her character arc often don't get a lot of attention in this fandom compared to the rest of niigo but i honestly love how far she's come and how she's improving at art and gradually gaining more and more confidence in her creations - to the point where she also teaches others how to draw (rainbow canvas event story) . just her deciding to rejoin her old art class was such an impactful moment for me and i'm super interested to see how she'll develop from this point onward. furthermore! the way she supports the rest of niigo! i love it! when she took mafuyu to her house in someday this wish will transcend the morning sky! the ending of my footsteps your destination! it's just so beautiful and she is such a great character and i could talk about her and niigo in general for hours but for the sake of this post not being longer than an essay i will not

and KAITO ! i do not really have anything to say about him compared to the others but some time last year i made a list of my favourite commissioned songs from each unit and they all featured kaito (except niigo because niigo kaito didnt exist at the time) so theres that

to the like two or three people who will see this thank you so much for listening to my ramblings

also i feel kinda bad for not writing that much about shiho i completely underestimated the length of the rants i would go on about tye others 😭 read that day the sky was far away its great

#project sekai #pjsk #airi momoi #shiho hinomori #ena shinonome #akito shinonome #kaito vocaloid #nene kusanagi #i could write an essay about them and im not even joking

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balletomaneblog · 2 months

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People might roll their eyes for me saying this - but I truly am impressed by Khoreva’s improvements since her return to the stage. Like, can we take a second to appreciate just how much she has grown? Especially after touring in China and her most recent Don Quixote. I notice that she’s much more interactive with her partners, as well as more expressive in general. She seems much more confident on stage. I think she’s maturing into a wonderful artist who - while not quite there yet - will absolutely be deserving of principal status someday.

I recognize that not everyone has the same taste in dancers, and she is understandably not everyone’s favorite ballerina, but I do wish her detractors would give credit where it is due. While it is true that she has a lot of privilege, it is also true that she works very hard - and it shows. I wish people weren’t so quick to discredit her.

This also might be a controversial opinion, but I really don’t see what’s wrong with her social media presence. She seems like a young person who loves ballet and is sharing that with the world. She’s also contributed to the rising interest in ballet over recent years (almost as an ambassador for her art of sorts), and I see more people loving ballet as a good thing. Social media isn’t going anywhere, so we might as well get over ourselves and embrace it. Maybe my bias is showing, but I find her a lot more tolerable than some of the other influencer-type ballerinas.

Anyway, thanks for listening to my thoughts! I know my opinion is a popular one with her international fans, so maybe I’m beating a dead horse. Still felt compelled to share though. I appreciate that you always seem to take a kind and balanced approach, even when offering critiques.

So so sorry for the late reply! Thanks for sharing, I love chatting on here about this kind of thing.

I've spoken a bit about Khoreva before and I'm definitely not hiding that I'm a Khoreva fan so I'm totally in agreement with you.

I don't always love the "instagram ballerina" thing because there are some dancers on social media who seem to focus more on number of turns, hyperextensions, etc rather than artistry. However, Khoreva is definitely not one of them. I find a lot of her posts to be really interesting and insightful and I love her adagio combination videos. I especially like her youtube account because I'm grateful for any opportunity to watch more videos of Mariinsky performances.

I've also spoken some already about how much I've enjoyed seeing the growth of Khoreva's acting skills in the past couple of years and the new maturity in her after she returned from her injury. You're right, It's totally valid for Khoreva to just not be someone's favorite dancer (everyone has different taste), but I really feel like the excess criticism she gets is a David and Goliath kind of thing. She's just been given so many opportunities and advanced so fast that it's easier for some people to root for dancers like Khiteyeva (whom I also love) who spent years in the Corps de Ballet waiting for their shot.

I was so upset to hear that Khoreva is out on another injury so soon and I'm hoping that she recovers fully soon!

Thanks again for sharing!

P.S. Why on earth has Khoreva not performed Grand Pas Classique yet? This needs to happen!

#ballet #maria khoreva #mariinsky

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sakarrie-creates · 4 months

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It’s that time of year! Here’s my 2023 art summary! After two years of having to include non-colored pieces, I finally did enough ‘full’ pieces to fill my art summary template! I did have to get a bit creative with the months since I was able to draw a LOT more during the summer, but I’ll take it! Sorry it's a bit blurry. I'm not sure if that's just for the preview or not, but it was a smaller file than normal and since these reflections are 99% for my own interest, I decided it wasn't worth trying to change.

As usual, I got rambly so reflection questions are answered under the cut. The template I used is available here in case anyone else wants to make their own! My fic summary will be coming in a week or so, so stay tuned for the stats and round-up there. :)

What events did you participate in (with art)? Player Appreciation Week, Fandom Trumps Hate, Dear Fellow Traveler (Animatic), Weird People (Editing), SPN Comfortably Queer Zine (dropped), and lots of zine applications for page artist, merch artist, comic artist, and spot artist roles!

What was your biggest challenge this year? While time, like last year, was still a challenge, I think my biggest challenge was a mix of low motivation and an intense perfectionistic mindset. At the start of the year, I got super into TOH and was super hyped about all the zines with apps opening. I really REALLY wanted to get into them and figured I should apply for art too just cause it would increase my overall chances of getting in. After the finale, I did a screenshot redraw that ended up being absolutely fantastic for where my skill level is. I went deeper into rendering than ever before, and somehow it worked for me.

That probably was the start of my unreasonably high expectations, and I got it into my head that maybe if I could make a whole portfolio of artwork at that quality level, I actually stood a chance at getting into a zine as an artist. From then on, I was hardcore crash-coursing perspective, rendering techniques, and generally trying to improve without allowing room for mistakes. While I do think it helped me grow a lot, it burnt me out so I struggled to work on stuff past summary (when all the zine apps were) and even dropped from the SPN Comfortably Queer Zine cause my imposter syndrome was so strong. (Though that was also partially because it was a ‘sign-up and you’re in’ zine, so they never saw my art during the application process and had no way of knowing if I was good enough.

What was something you were surprised by? I’m pretty sure I discovered the perspective tool is CSP this year! CSP has so many tools I’m not aware of (despite watching tons of tutorials and guides), so it wasn’t super surprising but it was nice. I have to say, they’re a serious hassle to work with and require a higher understanding of vanishing points and such than I currently have, but I could see it being very useful for future scene art pieces.

Did you try anything new this year?

Yes! This year I kicked down the door to the merch world and have been collecting and designing throughout the year. Though the designs have mostly just been for zine app portfolio’s, everything has worked out really well for me and I hope to produce charms for my collection as I improve my skills. Where do you think you most improved? Definitely my confidence in rendering! And probably my rendering itself too. I did a ton more pieces with it this year and it’s definitely a favorite part of the art process for me. I think I’ll have a lot more fun with it this year too, since I’m trying to keep it lower pressure, so I can experiment more to find out what brushes and styles I like most. What are you most proud of? I think I’m most proud of how ambitious I was with my zine apps. Though I didn’t get into any for art and it burned me out a fair bit, I did a lot of hard work and made pieces I can be mostly happy with. As for specific pieces, I’m very proud of my animatic clip for the Dear Fellow Traveler MAP (which is what the Belos art from the summary is from). My portion was about 5 seconds with 24 fully colored and shaded frames. A few of those were moving frames too, so the end result is the closest thing to actual animation I’ve done. I also really like the rendering on the Huntlow Epilogue art and generally how the Steve&Matt hug turned out.

How’d this year compare to your 2023 goals? I honestly couldn’t remember what my goals were, but all things considered, I didn’t do too bad! Thankfully past-Sakarrie was wise and made it a bullet list so I can just check things off. Met: -Player Appreciation Week -Add to zine portfolio -Apply to at least one zine as an artist (fine if don’t get accepted) -Keep experimenting with backgrounds and shading -Pull out some old WIPs -Build more consistency of style

The checked off ones I definitely met, so good for me! This was a very zine-focused year, so I way exceeded those goals. The last two I did do, but they’re a bit subjective. Specifically, I think the ‘WIPs’ I was referring to were old sketches, but most of the old WIPs I revisited were already colored and I was either adding rendered or cleaning them up for zine usage. As for style, I’m REALLY bad at telling haha. That said, my characters seem reasonably similar when I draw them, so I’m going to tentatively count it. Kinda: -One fully colored piece per month

I’m gonna give myself a half check on this one. I didn’t have a fully colored piece every month, but I did have over 12 fully rendered pieces in the end, several of which had backgrounds. So while I didn’t meet the letter of the goal, I feel like I met the spirit of it.

Did Not Meet: -Finish Huntlow comic -30 minutes animatic digitalize rough draft -Maybe make some fanart of my favorite fics

These don’t shock me. They’re all personal projects and this was a very external-goal-driven year for me. The Huntlow comic is a big love of mine but it’s definitely ambitious for where my skill is. I’ve got the whole thing messy-sketched and most of it has been clean sketched, but the jump from that to lineart is gonna be hard, and I have no idea what I’d be doing with color since the panels don’t have a background. That said, I do feel like it’s some solid work and I adore the angst vibe of it, so maybe I’ll get it done one day. I could also see myself posting it as a messy lineart comic so that others could enjoy the concept being executed in case it never gets finished.

As for the 30 Minutes animatic, I still 100% intend to complete it eventually. I love the way it fits to the music and I’m so proud of the thumbnails. Even if it never becomes a full animatic, I want to digitize the frames and line it up with music so I can share the concept I see in my mind with others. My brain was somewhat overtaken suddenly by TOH this year, so now that that’s settled and I’m hoping to follow my muse more this year, maybe this will be something I can get excited about again.

The fanart for favorite fics is no surprise since it’s kinda the tack on. With low motivation and projects with deadlines that needed my focus, personal art like this was buried way below other priorities. It’s a nice though for sure though.

Alrighty then, now it’s time for 2024 goals!! Oh goodness, I really don’t know what to expect of myself. I definitely am going to try to allow for more personal projects with lower pressure, but I do still have some goals. Hopefully most can be accomplished without applying big pressure though.

2024 Goals:

-Number One Priority: Create for my and don’t put myself in a place to get crazy burnt out and still have requirements. If I meet this goal, then it’s okay if I don’t meet any of the others. (It would be sad.... But I would still count it as meeting overall goals.) -Participate in Summergen and PAW Week (Art or Fic) -Design Handplates charm as anniversary gift (November) -Design CS Charm -Have a fully usable Zine Portfolio (Currently need more merch samples and rendered pieces with backgrounds) -Apply to new TOH Zines or other loved fandom zines. If I end up getting into any, I can pull back, but since that doesn’t seem likely, I want to get into the habit of always being ready to apply with what I have. -Make an ongoing project list to pin to my tumblr. This applies mostly for fics, but that way people coming to my page can see what fandoms I’m actively creating for and what they can look forward to (as well as have an opening to ask questions if they’re interested). -Post more (at least 10 times throughout the year) and add my best pieces to instagram (8+ pieces by end of year). -Do ONE of the following: 1. 30 minutes digitized so it can be shared with music 2. Open Up Your Eyes fully thumbnail 3. Fanworks for other people’s fics 4. Participate in an extra bang or exchange with art 5. Design and manufacture a pin -Play with different brushes and rendering styles -Draw something from scratch every month, no matter how small -Not exactly art, but I want to have a finalized long-term merch display plan for all my items Overall, how’d the year go? I think I did well! I didn’t meet all my goals and I pushed myself too far, but I learned and improved a LOT this year. All things considered, I made pieces that last year me would be blown away by, so I think that’s an automatic win. I’m pretty uncertain on how this next year will go (even more so than last year, which is surprising since I was changing schools last year), but I’m hoping to enjoy what I do and create art semi-regularly. Here’s to 2024!

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earthtooz · 9 months

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hello! i love your works so much everything you write is perfect! i stopped writing more than a year ago but reading your works inspired me to write again 😊 it’s crazy how we are the same age but our level of writing is completely different, yours blew my mind 🤯🤯🤯 (in a good way!!!!!) i was wondering if you could give me some tips to improve my writing as i feel like i’m lacking in many departments (if you’re comfortable in doing so, ofc!) thank you! ❤️❤️❤️

this ask was send march 5th, and i'm happy to report that four months later, for the first time in a while, i think i'm finally at a point in my writing where i'm confident giving out tips that are not generic and stock standard. i do not know if anon is going to ever see this, but i hope you do, and i hope that you're still as inspired to write as you were when you sent this :) a lot can happen in four months!!

i'm just going to get straight into it. you'll find that the further you go, the more... catered the advice might be to you (it's long, and maybe a bit rambly, but i hope it’s useful in some sort of way 🥲)

# ONE - THE MOST BASICS:

the most DEVASTATING thing you can do for your writing is not have a purpose for each scene or snippet you write. give your scenes a point, don't let them be just images that you sit on the document to take up space! are you trying to prove that character x oc's relationship is growing? are you trying to show that it's breaking apart? are you trying to set up the character as someone who's beginning to fall in love and hates it? give everything a purpose. every word must be linked to your intention.

you know what they say about chekhov's gun, if you are going to mention some little thing, give it a purpose later! you mention reader likes sweaters? let character give them a sweater! this works in many-a-ways.

this all comes down to the planning, which i would give tips on, but i'm writing this part too late. i'm also trying to keep this first part brief because this is a very long post.

for english speakers, the second most devastating thing is to not know your grammar LOL (i cannot criticise those who speak another language as their first! kudos to you, keep doing what you're doing.)

# TWO - FIND YOUR STYLE: easier said than done, but it's an essential part of any art. writing takes time, and only time will evolve your skill and therefore, your style. if you do not like what you write off the bat and believe you are 'lacking' in some departments (no such thing, there is room to improve instead of being 'incapable' of doing something), then i always turn to some of my favourite authors, whether they are published or another fanfiction writer, turn to them and study them. DO NOT PLAGIARISE, just try and emulate what you see from their works and put them into your works, with your own sense of individual style.

i have my list of esteemed tumblr writings that i look up to, as well as writers that i adore. ocean vuong will always be one of my favourite writers, i listen to him frequently when i am stumped by my own writibg. he has this sort of creative aura that drips of his own idiosyncrasy that inspires me every time i try to listen to him, him just speaking calms and invigorates me so much.

so yeah, find your writer, and learn from them :)

# THREE - THE 'DEPARTMENTS': the departments that i have included are:

characterisation

dialogue

description and artistic expression (this one is long, bear with me.)

like i said earlier, there are indeed departments are writing that we all have room to improve in. i will talk about the few that i might find specific to fanfic writing because i am nothing like an actual author :,)

characterisation: a fickle little thing T^T the worst thing ever. to characterise properly means you know the character like it's your own, but in fanfiction that's just truly not possible :,) so i can try and give you my own tips on how i deal with characterisation.

listen to the english dub (or your first language) - DON'T CRUCIFY ME. PLEASE. BUT LET ME SPEAK. for my fellow fluent english speakers, listening to a dub in a language we do not understand can only go so far in the way we understand a character. when listening to english, we hear the intricate ways of their tone and personalities work, and what kind of dialogue best flows with them (toji fushiguro is excluded from this. never listen to that man's english dub.). when i was writing for bakugou- he's not the hardest character to understand, but with the help of the english dub, the dialogue that i wrote for him flowed a lot easier than if i had just tried to internalise his jp dub. he's gruff, and rude, and cocky, and his english va captures that in quite an adorable way! ofc you can never just ignore the original, the original is there to provide you the blueprint, but sometimes a little help explaining the blueprint goes a long way !!

characterisation can also be perfected through the subtle changes in dialogue that you see. a big part of character is how they talk, and even just the subtlest of changes can go far. let me start with the example "this is a really bad idea." if i were writing itoshi rin, then i would change the sentence fit to his speech and embody how he'd actually react to a 'bad idea'. he's curt, doesn't say more than necessary, and unashamed to be cold so he'd probably just say "this is stupid." before walking away LMAOO if i were writing someone like gojo, then the sentence also changes too. he doesn't mind talking and adding more to his point, so i would write something like: "you sure? this doesn't seem like the brightest idea." and if i'm really trying to sell a romantic relationship, i'd add a 'sweetheart' there or something.

dialogue: this is a personalised experience, so as is everything in writing. i have been complimented on my flow and dialogue a lot of the time but in truth, i am merely having a conversation with myself in my head. i try to become the character i am writing about and then i just chat with myself :3 it can be that simple. dialogue does not need to be something you over-complicate, i am my own, ethical character.ai.

description and artistic expression: look, i can't say much on this one except that you're all on your own. i am still trying to perfect my own skills in this department because this is perhaps one of my most vexing parts of writing. i truly am just not... as poetic and imaginative as i want my words to be, but i am trying and i am improving.

my biggest tip regarding description and artistry is: if the reader can imagine it, you don't need to write it. you don't need to fill in the gaps with actual scenes, if your characters are walking through the park as a filler for getting from destination A to B, then that park scene does not need to be as descriptive as A or B. a mere 'you took a shortcut through the park' will suffice. or even better, just go straight from A to B.

say my 'A' scene is starting at a cafe, and my 'B' scene is going to the mall, you could just go 'calling for the waitress to get the bill, you then find yourself in the mall within 15 minutes'. spend time on the gaps that require a bridge to cross, not the gaps that you can merely step over.

these kind of things appear in your planning and admittedly, i don't even plan ROFLLL but i have primary scenes that i have sketched out which i sometimes add to. like spider webs, when going from one thread to another, sometimes the journey is not all that important if it does nothing for your plot.

again, i find inspiration in a lot of the writers i look up to. a recurring motif is something i love adding, whether that be dialogue or a recurring item that symbolises something (like the hairband in between love and lies - a nagi fic). techniques like motifs or an extended metaphor add a lot of depth in your writing that you can't find otherwise. you can also omit going too over the board with reader's emotions too, or just the character's. if it's obvious that they are angry, sad, happy, you don't need to go too far in detail about said emotions.

another so crucial thing is to take note of the things you see in real life and apply it in fiction. the most mundane of things you are doing can have beauty in words.

are you at the beach? why don't you take a look around. tell me about the people that sit on towels, minding their own business. tell me about the way the sun sits high in the sky, unforgiving and burning before going into the main plot.

are you sitting on a bench, killing time? tell me about the breeze you feel, or perhaps the heat that overwhelms you. tell me about what you hear- bikes, children laughing, whilst you're waiting for your date to show up- all of these minute things, so long as you don't go overboard, will matter a lot to the imagination of the reader!

# FOUR: TAKE CARE OF AND LOVE WHAT YOU WRITE writing will always be hard :,) not a single draft goes by where i do not find inconsistencies and flaws, but i love them all the same. i love the drafts that i read over once and posted and i also love the drafts that i poured blood, sweat, and tears into. neither of them are more special to me because they were all born from a simple idea.

to look back on what you wrote and going 'i can do this better now' is beautiful, no? i love the end product for what i learnt on the way.

i know me giving this advice is kinda hypocritical because you'll find me going 'i hate this' in the tags, and you can choose to believe me or not, but i adore all of my stories the same. some of them i just hate that i couldn't give them the attention and love that they deserved, which shows through in the end quality. not that you guys seem to care, it's all in my head sometimes lMFAO.

# FIVE - KEEP THE POV CONSISTENT: now we are getting to the tips that i've been learning myself recently. how funny is it that i learnt this whilst reading from a writer that i so admire?

whilst reading a long fic, i noticed that the flow is satisfying because there was no swap of perspectives. the character was in the focus the whole time and the reader was the reactor, the catalyst being the character's actions and internal dialogue. on the other hand, the reader's thoughts and feelings being in the spotlight can also be significant.

i had always known that keeping the pov consistent would influence your writing, but i never knew how much.

which pov you might want to choose is all intuitive. writing is intuitive- every other tip that i have revealed is all intuitive and i'll cover more of this later. more importantly right now, which perspective you want to execute is all on you, and no one else. if you know your character, your storyline, and your skills, you will simply know how the story shall go. it is just as powerful to write it from reader's pov as it is the character's because it comes from your knowledge and authority as the writer!

# SIX - LEAVE THE COMFORT ZONE: this kind of returns to tip four. sometimes the only way to evolve is to do something we are bad at and that advice applies to writing too. writing is a path set by previous writers but it is not one that we have to follow all the time, why take a shortcut when the long way is prettier, and more rewarding? your journey of improvement is dependent on what you realise and give yourself opportunities to improve in.

for example, recently i have been trying to improve the depth of my descriptions and- don't laugh, but the way i've been doing so is as followed:

i input myself into the scenario, i empathise with the characters within the scene and i describe it. maybe it's emotional and the character can't look you in the eye because they don't have the heart to, not when their chest is filled with a smoke that is so unbearable that all they can focus on is not turning to ashes. maybe it's a happy scene and all you can look at is the character. maybe it's confronting, and the only thing you can think about is defending yourself against their clenched fists that will never actually hurt you, but you know damn well can break your walls in one swing. leave the comfort zone, write new au's and new dialogue pieces, write new metaphors and similes and use rhyme, listing, repetition- just try something new every time and let it be meaningful to the story.

# SEVEN - GIVE YOURSELF TIME. like the growth of your muscles or the mobility of your limbs, or the way your hands flow along the canvas or keyboard, writing is a skill that can only be improved with time. fanfic writing is intuitive and completely reliant on your own tastes.

i can sit here, speak for ages about writing, but the only way you can learn is to do. i have people who see what i do and praise me for being one of their favourite writers, and as honoured as i am every time, i am merely born from the six years i have put into this craft, as well as the hours i put into writing and planning what they see. if you could see the behind the scenes, you would go 'what the fuck am i looking at' LMFAOO.

when i write and then i reread and i know what it is missing, but i cannot speak about this like it is easy, like i have not spent the past few years of my life consistently writing for various characters and growing along the way. to be fair, you don't need to take six years to get good at writing, it can be a very smooth process! i don't think i was the brightest cookie at 12 ngl but i took my characters and rewrote them into different scenarios and here i am today, at 18 and (marginally) better.

as long as the urge is there, worship it, take the step and write. then post, if that is a step you want to partake in. simple as that :)

that's all for now! sorry this is so long, now that you've reached the end, i just wanted to say that i have no authority over what you produce and how you do it. these are simply just things i've learned along the way and i hope they can provide you some sort of revelation.

#please read the last sentence too beyond NO.7 :<#reinforcing that i am not some writing mastermind so please take all of my advice with a grain of salt!#earf's inbox hours ✌️

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gradientdescentthreads · 2 months

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Embroidery Journal: Quilting + Applique For Only-Vaguely-Nefarious Purposes

I've finally cleared out my commission backlog enough to start a new project for myself, and this is one I'm really excited to tackle: an addition to my personal embroidery collection in the form of a horror art panel by @barbatusart. I spent entirely too much time last year embroidering cutesy little souvenirs for my coworkers. I think I'm allowed a little fun for myself now.

However: The solid color blocks in the background gave me brief pause. So I decided to whip up a quick little test project to experiment with how to work them in using a combination of quilting, applique, and lots of really really painstaking work with an x-acto knife. Experiment, steps, and final results below!

Step 1: Collecting Materials

Texture and fabric weight do make a very noticeable difference in any fiber arts project. For that reason, it's important to do test projects using the same fabrics you plan to make the final piece out of. Lucky for me, I have an abundant stash to choose from.

Step 2: Design

Alternately known as the step wherein I began to suspect I was going overboard by hand-drawing original artwork just for one little test project. In other news, guess what y'all - I can free-hand sketch eyes now!

Step 3: Quilt The Background

Please excuse the cat hair. For this test I'm just going for two color blocks but I think it's clear how this concept would extend to the geometric background in the artwork we're building towards.

Step 4: Create A Stencil

The idea here is that we should create cut-outs in the quilted layer, from under which the white fabric will show through. My design is not ideal for this because it has a relatively light outline, so there's not much margin for error. However, looking back at the comic panel that is my ultimate goal, the outlines there are fairly heavy and bold. If I can make it work on my sketch, I'm confident I can make it work on the final piece.

Step 5: Cut, Bond, and Hoop

A spot of quilter's spray adhesive was adequate to fix the two fabrics together. A keen eye will note that the final stencil was just a bit larger than intended and didn't quite perfectly line up. This is where the thin lines in my design aren't doing me any favors. But - good enough for now.

Step 6: Hey Look, It Worked

Would you look at that! I think this did actually do what I wanted to.

Notes For Improvement:

Using stabilizer on the quilted layer will help reduce distortion when it comes to placing it over top of the base layer - probably very important with a bigger design

Double sided iron-on stabilizer might be the way to go to keep both layers nice and bonded and prevent wrinkles

Thick outlines on the design border are definitely a must

That maroon fabric looks ok in this picture but in poor lighting, it very quickly disappears into the black, I might need to pick a different fabric

#embroidery #handmade #tutorial #applique #quilting

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welldonekhushi · 1 year

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Wishing you all a Happy New Year for the welcoming 2023!

Yes, this year might have been tough for you, but I'm proud that you've come this far! Hope this new year will give you a life full of prosperity, blessings and positivity.

I too had some ups and downs, but they taught me how to take a stand and make me stronger and better! From the progress of my art this year, I can confidently say I have worked hard, and I will keep on working harder. Improvement has no end, but satisfaction is ultimate once you achieve it. So, I really wish that this upcoming year would give me, including you lots of surprises and success!

The people who have been there for me this year and I'm so lucky to meet them, namely: @alypink @kaitaiga @pricescigar @samatedeansbroccoli @mikk1n @sleepyconfusedpotato @stargazing-sapphire @saintvulgaris (they suddenly deactivated but will be missed)

And many more peeps whom I'd never forget what they did for me, thank you! 🥹

Anyways, signing out, I once again wish you a very happy new year, and take care (⁠ﾉ⁠◕⁠ヮ⁠◕⁠)⁠ﾉ⁠*⁠.⁠✧

#happy new year 2023 #cod #call of duty #cod mw #call of duty modern warfare #call of duty modern warfare 2022 #modern warfare 2022 #john soap mactavish #call of duty oc #samantha scarlet wright #soap x oc #oc x canon

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cilil · 4 months

Text

New Year & Resolutions

So... 2023. As with many of us, it wasn't a great year for me. Lots of stress and struggling irl, family members getting severely ill, some tragic accidents... and with some of these situations being ongoing and big scary exams coming up, 2024 isn't looking much brighter for me in that regard.

However!

I still have my stories, my blorbos and my friends - and that means you guys - to keep me company and brighten my day. I don't know what I would do without you and all of the fun things we do together and for that, I'm endlessly grateful.

In late 2022, I (re)entered the Silmarillion fandom (as in, I was never interacting before that, but I was there), and in 2023 I joined and participated in a whole bunch of events and met so many great people - many new, but also a few I remember from back in the day. It felt great to finally, after all these years, have the courage to reach out and let you know that I love your works. Let's hope for another year of creativity and community, and I'm very much looking forward to what everyone has in store...

... which brings us to my new year's resolutions.

⊹ ࣪ ˖ I've started working on expanding my character pool, as some of you may have noticed in the more recent events and challenges I shared on my blog, and I want to continue doing that. Comfort is a fickle thing and I'm always worried I don't get it right, but I try to take it as an opportunity for creative growth either way.

⊹ ࣪ ˖ Related to the previous point: I want to continue using the drabble and ficlet events specifically to give gifts to friends, mutuals and followers alike, so once again: If you have brainrot or fun ship ideas or anything of this sort, let me know, hit me up, let's chat. I love hearing new ideas. And if it's ever something I don't feel like I can write or talk about at that time I'll let you know, so no worries at all.

⊹ ࣪ ˖ I want to continue being present for events, but I need to find some time for my personal projects as well, which I haven't really managed this past year. There are several ideas for bigger projects I have lying around and collecting dust (both Angbang and otherwise) and I also have old fics from back in the day that I want to rewrite and share. It won't be easy, especially with the aforementioned exams and all, but I want to at least try.

⊹ ࣪ ˖ That also includes requests I have yet to fulfill and unfinished events. My apologies to all those who have waited longer for something than they should have - I assure you, I didn't forget about it. I'm just a bit of a bumbling fool who gets too excited about her hobby and then proceeds to bury herself in too much work.

⊹ ࣪ ˖ On the other hand, I did manage to make some progress in regards to being more motivated, being more productive and taking better care of myself and I want to continue improving in that regard, be it when it comes to fandom or otherwise. I also want to say thank you to all those who supported me during difficult times - you know who you are. Thank you. I appreciate you more than you will ever know.

⊹ ࣪ ˖ As generic as it sounds, I also want to continue improving my craft, both writing and, dare I hope, art. I had several moments over the year where I felt like I improved or I learned or understood a new thing, but there's always room for more and I'm someone who enjoys learning.

I might have forgotten something so there may be edits, but that's it for now.

I wish all of you a happy new year and all the best for 2024, even if things aren't looking too bright for you either. Despite everything, I'm confident that we can get through this together, and if nothing else just know that I'm here for you, trying to share the things that make my life better and hopefully bring others a bit of joy too.

By which I mean hot angel porn -

Bye~

#new year #new year's resolution

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