Abbi Normal's Brain

[art, crafts, writing & tutorial-collecting]    I like to make things. I'm always making something. I like stitching things to other things, and colourful shiny things, and skittering bitey things, and Strange Ancient Things Without Names. |

[filibusterfrog]

I really love your artstyle! Could I maybe get some tips on how to give variety to faces? My style has a little same face syndrome unfortunately.

personally i found that when i used to sameface its because i was afraid of making an ‘ugly’ face but!! imo an ugly but interesting face is more fun than a good-looking but boring face. go forth

[xamag-main]

Sorry for the disorder, but I wanted to ask if you could do a tutorial on lineless art! By the way, nice art!!!

thanks! lineless art it is, then

i start with the sketch, obviously. since you won’t have the lineart to guide you later, a clean and detailed sketch is pretty important

then i make it transparent enough so that i could focus on the shapes, but was also able to tell the details of the sketch, and pick some background color

then i slap on the colors i wanna use. the accuracy of these splotches of color depends on my mood and patience and the amount of details in the drawing (lol), so it’s fairly arbitrary i guess

the more accurate it is, the less it takes to clean it up later, but the opposite sometimes adds life to the drawing and welcomes the experiments with the colors and shapes

if there’s something that needs extra accuracy (like the earring here) or i just don’t feel like cleaning it up again later, i use several layers (face, hair, etc) or add the details later. but i love using one single layer whenever possible

aaand then i just start erasing / adding stuff to make it all nice and crispy!

there isn’t really a certain point when i start doing it. like, here i added those light hair streaks before defining the shape of her head, so that i could erase the messy parts altogether, but i could also clean up the head first, then lock the layer and add the streaks

when i decide that it’s comprehensible enough for me to work without the sketch, i hide its layer. you could continue working with it, of course, but i find it distracting. it’s nice to take a fresh look and figure out what it’s gonna look like in the end

details time! i enjoy adding lines here a lot, it’s really not the same as creating the lineart beforehand. there’s something comfy and lively about this process, because you compliment the shapes, silhouettes and color rather than just redrawing the empty carcass of a sketch. besides, it adds more definition and movement to the shapes

hope that helps!

[starfur12]

Little tutorial on how to paint Ghibli style grass

[nudityandnerdery]

[christinaroseandrews]

This guy knows what he’s talking about. He’s one of the lead writers for Leverage and if you ever watch the series on DVD, do yourself a favor and listen to him talk about how the scripts got written. Some of the advice he has is stuff I use all the time: 1. Don’t introduce an important plot person or thing after the first half of the story. 2. Always tie up loose ends. 3. Introduce important things in the middle of unimportant things. 4. If you have to infodump, find an emotion to tie it to and it will seem less like infodump and more like a motive rant. Seriously this guy knows how to write.

[abbi-normals-brain]

Cat-Dragon WIP, now with fuzz 

Furred sculpture, built out the body. Added a silver spike and pale yellow tuft to the tail after taking the pic

[abbi-normals-brain]

I promise he'll look less goggle-eyed when the fur goes on and bulks his face out a little.

[chizuu-deactivated20200817]

a visual note on the difference between human and animal facial structures, showing how humans and animals faces really aren’t that different! this is meant a guide for people who’d like to start drawing furries but are used to drawing humans, or vise-versa.

the blocked on colors on the second version aren’t entirely representative of accurate anatomy, but they’re in the ballpark to show shapes work with faces!

[art-res]

The beauty of divergent evolution in action.

We are more similar than different compared to a lot of mammals (and other animals, actually)

[wolfman-murphy]

Pet Peeve Commission by Abbi-Normal

This mischievous little guy is done and on his way home!

[abbi-normals-brain]

oops, posted to main. Here is is where it’s supposed to be.

[abbi-normals-brain]

Cat Dragon WIP. I'll have to put it away for a bit to work on a commission; this is how far I got before it came in. The head got badly burnt, and had to have a thiiin layer of normal-coloured clay covered over it everywhere that the skin is supposed to show through the fur.

[magic-memester]

what a dandy crown 🌼🌻

[wolfy-gecko]

Anybody know how to do this? Im dumb an I dont know how

[jeep-truck]

Yeah can someone tell me how to make flower crowns I’ve always wanted to learn how

[patton-deserves-the-universe-de]

Oh I would love to make flower crowns and give them to all of my friends for pride month, if someone could tell me how!

[vangoghsmoonchild]

Have it, sweet people. I love you.

Btw, if you have questions tell me uwu

[patton-deserves-the-universe-de]

YOU ARE AN ANGEL THANK YOU

[abbi-normals-brain]

WIP Cat-Dragon skeleton. Making something for myself between commissions. Long body, neck, and tail with short legs, like an Eastern Dragon. Gonna have a cat-like head, front paws like 3-fingered hands, and hoofed hind feet, with electric blue fur with white trim.

[abbi-normals-brain]

This guy was made not too long ago on commission. It was fun bringing someone's Dungeons & Dragons character to life, and this guy specifically has magnetic hands (and another magnet in his sword hilt) to let him hold his sword by himself. He's also got an optional pair of gloves in his blue Bag of Holding.

[abbi-normals-brain]

And I’m now officially back from holidays, and back to work in the Lab!

[abbi-normals-brain]

of course, my "gone for christmas" post turned out to be a lie, since i can't stand not doing sOmEtHiNg, so "Bewilderbeast" is now up on the Redbubble.  

[ami0amii]

Do you have any tips on how to color the light underside of a dark skinned person's palm? How much lighter should it be, and should it be pale or have a redder tint like blush? I'm white and I worry I've been doing it incorrectly.

OH   B O I  ~

Eesh, coloring darkskin palms is one of those things i’m good at doing but not so good at explaining, so i’ll try my best on this one

Okay so starting off

The palm of a dark skin person’s hand is simply just a reflection of their undertone

Everyone has an undertone and black people are no different. A dark skin person’s palm is a part of their hand that has little to no melanin. Without all of that melanin the only thing that’s left is their undertone

Black people with an orange undertone tend to have orange looking palms

Black people with a neutral undertone tend to have a mixture of pinkish orange-ish looking palms

And black people with red undertones tend to have pink looking palms

So how exactly do you determine the palm color and undertone of a darkskin black person?

ight so  B  O O M,

When it comes to a black person with a neutral skin tone rather than raising the color up in the Spectrum simply just lighten the skin

Skin tone can be complicated so I made a few examples:

Make sure when coloring black palms to always add a gradient

(( Many artists have done this and I too am guilty of it so dont sweat it ))

♡Hope these tips help you out♡

[redxwritingxhood]

When you get the advice to “read more” to get better at writing, it’s not very concise and really sounds unhelpful after the third time you’ve heard it. So here, this is what you’re getting out of it (besides grammar or whatever):

You observe the way a story is organized and how it achieves its flow

You become familiar with tropes and archetypes

Story structure becomes an easy to recall memory, and every novel you’ve ever read becomes a reference book

You develop how you write stylistically, the things you hate and the things you try to emulate

You gain the skills to critique books in a smart manner, and therefore can recognize flaws in your own works that you remember bashing a novel for

[abbi-normals-brain]

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Krampus

And the holidays are upon us!

Even mad scientists like some time off in the dead of winter, so while orders can be taken for later fulfillment, work on any new commissions after today (December 22nd) and shipping on both commissions and pre-made items is on hold until December 30th. This applies across all my art socials.

I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but I'll be away from my Laboratory workshop until then.