@mamodewberry showed me her tsum collection this morning, so here is mine!

…I know there is a squirtle plush in there somewhere…

March 15, 2016

Also I am not going into work today because my body has decided to rebel and kill me dead. Which would be okay, except that I am pretty sure that I just LEFT a drawing of a deer on my desk last night. I usually put that stuff away why did I leave it out

I mean he’s super cute and even has a bow tie but I don’t think that the brokers will get it

March 15, 2016

I would be upset about losing two followers overnight but they were porn blogs so idefc. Not sure what they were hoping to find in the first place, since all of my art is PG at worst.

March 15, 2016December 4, 2018

I DID IT. I COLORED PIGLET. <3

Isolating Lineart in Photoshop

March 15, 2016

trash-cats:

ok, so i just saw the most convoluted method for this ever, and i see a lot of convoluted methods for isolating/transparent-izing your lineart, and listen, you guys, my method is so fast i can literally do it in less than five seconds. here are some pictures to walk you through it.

here’s your lineart. see, it’s only one layer, and that layer is the background layer.

make a new layer.

return to your background. select the whole thing. copy it. go to the new layer. paste it. now you have a background layer with your lineart, and a new layer with your lineart. now, make sure you’re on your new layer, not the background layer, before you do this next part.

so you’ll note in my little hovery tool box thing i keep “layers” and “channels” together. this is the main reason i keep “channels” in a tab. so, you’re going to see that list of things – red green blue etc – and then at the bottom, there is a wee dotted circle. see? click that circle.

holy mother of god what’s happening here!!! a whole bunch of dotted lines vaguely outlining your lineart should appear. look down at your keyboard. find the delete button. hit it. then, go back to your “layers” tab.

see how on the new layer, the lineart seems to have disappeared? it hasn’t. look where it says “lock” just above the layers. while on the new layer, hit the square directly next to “lock.” then click anywhere in your image to deselect and make those lines go away. switch to your background layer and just turn the whole thing white. you can use a big brush or whatever, i like to select white and white and then just run a gradient across it.

either way once your background is pure white, you’ll see what’s happened to your lineart. it looks kind of faded, right? that’s because what you just did was delete every ounce of white from your lineart. awesome, right? sure. but you don’t want your lines to look faded like this. this is easy to fix.

switch to your new layer. select a color – any color you want your lineart to be. i like to use colors other than black, like dark blues and reds and so on. get a big brush. run that brush over every inch of your lineart. see how it darkens up again?

so now your lineart is transparent, and just as nice and dark and vivid as before. make another layer, between the background and the lineart layer.

color that shit however your heart tells you to.

the end.

there are honestly way more pictures in this tutorial than, like, the amount of effort that goes into this. i usually just open picture, copy paste, delete, lock, recolor, and it’s over. genuinely less than five seconds. try it out!

this method also enables you to recolor your lines if you like – if you want to make the hair lines hair colored, or whatever. it’s really flexible and i like it a ton better than just using multiply. hope it’s helpful!

Tips to help avoid Art Block

March 15, 2016

eskiworks:

eskiworks:

A while back I answered this ask, and because I recently mentioned it a gain some of you wanted a rebloggable version! So here it is.

I started to write an answer about emotional motivation, but the truth is that underlying reasons for needing to get art done are not a factor in being able to keep going. WHY you need to get your art done doesn’t factor in to HOW.

So on to the HOW!

Make a Schedule
Making artificial deadline has never helped me, but making a schedule has. A deadline alone doesn’t help you decide how many hours to work per day and how many days per week etc. A schedule seems more strict, but surprisingly has relieved a lot of my deadline related stress. Once your schedule is made and you know what you are doing from a day-to-day basis, the stress of uncertainty goes away. You wake up knowing what’s on the agenda, and all you have to do it get to it! It takes a while to find a schedule that works for you personally, but once you hash it out you’ll settle right in. It helps me to have a wall calendar and write in my schedule.

Allow for lots of breaks
You are not lazy for taking breaks. When you rest your body, mind and eyes from your work, you are refreshing yourself to be able to do BETTER work. If you don’t take breaks, you work won’t be a good, you might make more mistakes, and you might find yourself working more hours than if you just walked away for a bit to get a breather. In artwork, this also helps because when you come back you have fresh eyes on the piece you’re working on! You may see something you wouldn’t have otherwise.

So take small breaks throughout the day, make sure you have your “me” time every single day (I take my mornings usually) and schedule time during the week to get out of your studio and be with your loved ones. And if you didn’t meet your goal for the day, STOP AND GO TO SLEEP. You can always do better work when rested.

Get comfy
You are probably spending a lot of time at your drafting table or computer. Make sure your work space is comfortable for you! Get a great chair, make things as ergonomic as possible. Have things near you that cheer you up or inspire/help you work. I have photos of my pets and inspiring art all around my work desk. I’ve seen some artist put up cork boards and change things out on a weekly basis. Sometimes anatomy charts and other useful things are up on the cork board, or other helpful art references. And if you’re like me and need something kneed/touch/mess with with one hand, get a stress ball or some putty!

Get your process down
It’s hard to get a commission done when you don’t know where to start. Get a process down that works for you so you know each step of your painting. I start with visual research, then move on to gestures to warm up and get a feel for the character/painting. I usually choose one of those gestures to create a refined sketch from. Then I add flat color underneath that sketch, and move on to shadows/light. Only after all the color is blocked in do I move on to any sort of detail work. I KNOW each step, so I know what to expect for each painting.

Love the process
Doing commissions for some people can get boring because they would prefer to paint their own ideas. I beat this by loving the process of painting by itself. Love every step in the process of making a painting, from gestures, to refining anatomy, to planning colors, to painting details. You will never hate your work regardless of subject matter if you love DOING the work!

Have an outlet for your own ideas
If you lack time to make full paintings for yourself, make enough time to at least get some ideas out. It doesn’t matter what format it’s in; sketching, writing, gabbing to a friend about it. Just get them out of your head so you can concentrate on your work at hand. It’s hard to get to work when your mind is bursting with ideas that have nothing to do with your task at hand.

Know that art slumps happen
When you find yourself in an art slump and you just can’t seem to work through it, ride it. Do your best to forget your art completely, leave your home, and go have an adventure somewhere. Art isn’t all about creating, it’s also about taking in the world and creations of others. Think of painting like driving a car. You can’t run on empty, you have to refuel. Often art slumps happen because you’re out of gas. So go refuel, go experience the world and be outside and take things in! Get AWAY from your computer and your work area and get your mind off it all.

I wrote this a couple years ago, and for me personally it still stands. Today I’ve gotten a few asks about art block, so I figured it would be worth reblogging the whole thing!