I Don't Even--

[as-warm-as-choco]

A master post of Thomas Romain’s art tutorials.

There’s not enough space to post all of them, SO here’s links to everything he has posted (on twitter) so far : 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12. 

Now that new semesters have started, I thought people might need these. Enjoy your lessons!

[akaikane]

Because I keep losing it, here’s a bunch of tutorials for when I get stuck with backgrounds. 

[persnicketese]

akaikane‘s character Jon glorious in a gown. Sketchiness. Someday I’ll clean it up and finish it. >_>; lawsofcanon

[akaikane]

Empress Jon has arrived to choose the worst dialogue options and leave your game (and heart) in ruin.

[heroesneverdiediedie]

SO I WAS REALLY SAD THAT LEGACY WASN”T WORKING AND DECIDED TO DUEL THE ARISHOK AGAIN.

NAKED (I mean, he’s almost naked. It’d even out the playing field.)

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED WHEN I REMOVED MY EQUIPMENT.

MARIAN NO. STAVES DON’T GO THERE.

SOMETIMES THEY DO BUT NO.

[akaikane]

someone had an interesting night at the blooming rose

[heroesneverdiediedie]

This is exactly what I was thinking when I was flirting with Gorim.

"Seeing as dwarven politics are kinda scummy, I could just kill whoever comes in, and if it’s my brother or my cousins I could just kill them. Hence giving me the throne and freedom to bang you as hard as I’d like in the royal chambers. It’s win-win Gorim. Win-win."

I am not sorry.

sigh gorim why did you have to be the original Jacob :C

[theartofanimation]

Swing Swing Submarine

[helpfulharrie]

How would you go about drawing and coloring realistic angel/bird wings? Thanks much!

First off, I’d go read Thoughts On Wings by uzlo, it’s the best tutorial on drawing bird wings that I know of!

When it comes to colouring them, you want to remember the feather structure and work with that. I would suggest cleaning your sketches into distinct solid blocks of colour:

then you want to start blocking your shading over the top, softening those layers:

It’s a good idea to do lots of studies of birds! As humans, we have a preconceived idea of what things look like, which doesn’t actually look like the thing.

So use lots of references!

I’d also suggest treating each brush stroke as a feather and building things up gradually:

Small but important thing to remember: feathers aren’t solid, they flex and bend, and they’re also slightly translucent.

[helpfulharrie]

When coloring a figure/face/object, how do you know what to shade darker and what to shade lighter (shadows and such)? How do you know what to leave lighter and what to leave darker when it comes to shading with light sources?

To be able to shade something, you first need to understand how light behaves, and you also need to think of the thing you are drawing as being a 3D object.

First, lets talk about how light works. Here we have a light-bulb,

Light spreads out from this light-bulb in lots of little rays that travel in straight lines. They start out with lots of energy and brightness, and then the further they travel, the weaker they get until it gets dark again.

So closer to the light source, the stronger the light will be. Now, if we stick something solid in the way of these light rays,

then the light cannot pass, and you get a shadow.

-

Now lets talk about the object itself. When something is facing a light source straight on, it’ll be fully lit

But then as it begins to turn away from the light source, the intensity of the light will diminish.

and the further it turns, the harder it will be for the light to reach it

Until eventually it’ll face away from the light source completely and it will not be lit at all!

-

Now lets move into a three dimensional space instead of a flat diagram. We’ll start out with a cube,

If we put in a light source, the light rays will travel in a straight line and be able to reach some faces of the cube, and not others.

if I add in those rays, can you see how parts of the cube will be lit, but not others?

You can then move the light source around, and different parts of the cube will be lit

The different sides are like that flat plane from before, when the face of the cube is facing the light source, it is fully lit. Then, as the faces angle away from the light, it gets harder for the light to reach it, until it becomes fully shadowed.

It’s a good idea to draw a little x on your page so that you know where the light is coming from!

-

Now, if we take something like a sphere, it becomes a little trickier because there are no clear sides, right?

Well, I’d suggest thinking of them like a football:

Lots of little flat sides slotted together to make one round shape, kinda like a low-poly 3D model!

And then you can think of things as little planes again, all facing the light source to different degrees

Then you can smoothen them away to make it round

You can break anything down into planes, including the face. In fact, you can buy a model that does exactly this!:

but it’s awfully expensive, so thankfully there are plenty of photos of them online for you to look at

(https://warosu.org/data/ic/img/0016/87/1395670599047.jpg)

(http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/210/b/4/Face_planes_reference_by_artofpros.jpg)

[lawsofcanon]

Back yet again

Long time to see, everyone! Sorry to have disappeared once again. I’ve been busy with family emergencies and my portfolio, which I have a sneak peek for below. It’s of the first chapter of my original story, Laws of Canon, and if all goes according to plan, I’ll start formally releasing pages at the end of January. Until then, however, I’ll be posting tidbits of teasers here and there, so I hope you enjoy. :)

[akaikane]

Juuuuust gonna leave these here so I can signal boost. :'D

[tastefullyoffensive]

Cats Wearing Tights [meowtfit] Previously: Dogs Wearing Socks, Animals Wearing Dinosaur Costumes

[zimbolt]

[anatomicalart]

Let me link Yall’ to this holy grail. I present to you Character Design Reference on [Pintrest] || [Tumblr] || [Twitter] || [Facebook] || [YouTube]

I couldn’t even include all of the reference boards this blog contains on this photoset. That’s right! There’s EVEN MORE! There are pages and pages of them! It is an inspiration treasure trove! Bookmark this link! Fill your life with inspiration!

[akaikane]

yessss

[tldrwikipedia]

[catmud]

I love the 50 shades of grey trailer 

[versatlie]

Ah yes, the flute

[bettersupes]

Little Girls Are Better At Designing Superheroes Than You is a project where superheroes are drawn based on the costumes of young girls.

This is Shooting Star! With her corkscrew pigtails and her Chucks of justice, she flits through the night shooting stars to turn darkness into light. 

Drawn by yours truly,

Alex Law

;)

[pixelreblags]

This project is Still The Best.

[garnetquyen]

[tastefullyoffensive]

[garnetquyen]

[writeworld-blog]

Stereotypes, Tropes, and Archetypes

What are the differences between stereotypes, tropes, and archetypes? What are they? How do writers use them? Let’s take a look at some vocabulary and how we define these terms to make sense of them for ourselves.

Stereotype (n): A widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing.

To elaborate on this, stereotypes can be seen as sets of characteristics or behaviors that are commonly associated with one another, thus making it easier to intuit some of them if one or more is known. Stereotypes, though, are not literary. They refer to beliefs held about groups in reality, not types of characters. The literary cousin of the stereotype is the trope.

Trope (n): devices and conventions that a writer can reasonably rely on as being present in the audience members’ minds and expectations.

If tropes seem a little too much like to stereotypes for comfort, that’s because, technically speaking, they are stereotypes. “A Trope is a stereotype that writers find useful in communicating with readers.” (x) However, because the word stereotype has become so stigmatized in society, we prefer to think of tropes as specific to storytelling.

You use tropes in your writing. It is nearly impossible to escape them. And that is okay.

Tropes are things that pop up repeatedly in media as cultural norms in storytelling—types of characters, settings, plot lines, etc.. Stuff like a Manic Pixie Dream Girl who exists to usher a male character to his higher level of emotional awareness or personal growth, or a case of Mistaken Identity where Hilarity Ensues. Tropes are culturally-based, which is what sets them apart from archetypes.

Archetype (n): a very typical example of a certain person or thing; types that fit fundamental human motifs.

An archetype is a kind of character that pops up in stories all over the place. A trope is a character that puts that archetype in a cultural context.

For instance, let’s say you have a character who is a Geek. The role of a Geek in literature is a trope, because it is common in a certain culture (i.e. Western, though depictions of the Geek will vary within Western Civilization as well). Broadly and therefore in terms of an archetype, the Geek is the Scholar, a person who is constantly in search of knowledge. Various stereotypes about the Geek (like poor social skills) might then be inferred by characters or readers based on their understanding of the society in which they live.

It’s important to mention that none of these things are necessarily clichés.

Cliché (n):

A trite or overused expression or idea; often a vivid depiction of an abstraction that relies upon analogy or exaggeration for effect, often drawn from everyday experience.

A person or character whose behavior is predictable or superficial.

For more about clichés, mosey over to this post. Essentially, clichés are boring and overdone by definition, but tropes and archetypes can be useful. Yes, this is a subjective distinction.

So here’s the breakdown:

Stereotypes: Not literary. We avoid using this term to talk about classifying characters, settings, plot points, etc..

Archetypes: The broad, all-encompassing norms of the stories humanity tells. The same archetypes can be found in all or nearly all cultures.

Tropes: Culturally-specific norms in storytelling. Tropes are cultural classifications of archetypes. There can be many tropes found under the umbrella of one archetype. Literary devices are not tropes (i.e. narrators, foreshadowing, flashbacks, etc.).

Clichés: Overused and hackneyed phrases, characters, settings, plot points, etc.. Archetypes do not become clichéd. Tropes can become clichés if they are used too often and readers get bored of them. Clichés are defined by a loss of the meaning or as a distraction from the story.

Let’s focus on tropes and archetypes now as these terms are often used as a sort of shorthand when writing. Once you have firmly introduced a character as one type of archetype and/or a trope within that archetype, you do not have to elaborate on the character as much before moving on in the storyline.

While this can be useful and can help keep a section moving, it can also be very lazy, can help to perpetuate unhealthy stereotypes that carry over into the real world, and can make for one-dimensional characters. All of this forces the readers to focus on the way the story is being told instead of the story itself. Not good.

Here are some questions to keep in mind when using trope and archetypes in writing:

Is this derogatory? Does this demean or belittle? Is it harmful to the reader? For instance, the Dumb Blonde trope from American culture can assume that all blondes are easily-fooled, flighty, and even promiscuous. In the real world, the Dumb Blonde trope certainly translates into a derogatory stereotype, so is it something you want to use in your writing or can you manipulate the trope to create something unexpected?

Is this really necessary? Do you actually need to use a trope or archetype as a base for your character to keep the flow moving or the characters easy to remember, or are you using it so you don’t have to bother to give your character, well, character? Laziness is no excuse for poor writing. Using a trope can flatten a character very quickly if that’s all that they have going for them. There’s even a term for a character whose personality is limited to a single trope; they’re called stock characters.

Is this actually the one I want? Perhaps the empty headed and hot cheerleader trope is not the one you want. Maybe the secretly hot booksmart nerd is a better fit for your story. Maybe not. Really think about what base characteristics you give your characters, because they an come in handy farther down the storyline. Browsing tropes is fun, but at the end of the day, try combining character traits to create something that is unique for you is what makes a character worth writing.

Am I using this to bash someone? While almost all tropes can be harmful in one way or another, how you present them can have a big effect on whether or not you are actually using a trope or are pulling away from your story to offer the reader a stereotype instead. Being nasty because of someone else’s perceived shortcomings won’t help your story, and, if that’s not enough reason, it can be harmful to you because people will call you on it. Depth is key.

How can I use this in a way that is helpful? By making your characters more personalized and three-dimensional, you humanize them and give the reader a better chance of empathizing with them. In Creative Writing Tip: Avoiding Stereotypes, Matthew Arnold Stern says:

The antidote to stereotypes is to create well-rounded characters with clear and human motivation. Even a character who appears briefly in a story can benefit from depth and complexity. Such characters add realism and depth that draws us further into the story.

Choose a base trope or archetype for a character, and then elaborate on it in a way that breaks expectations or defies convention. A shy, sweet, nerdy girl who is not afraid to loudly tell someone to stop when she is uncomfortable and is happy with who she is could be a much more interesting character then the throw away filler character of a compliant, scared bookworm. A big, popular jock who is not afraid to stand up against bullying and treats his parents and teachers with respect has more hidden depth than the usual sneering bullies that populate literary sports fields.

All in all, archetypes and tropes can be a handy writing tool when used sparingly, but we have to remember that the stereotypes we perpetuate in our writing resonate with people in real life.

Speaking in terms of subject matter and not story construction, stereotypes have their place in literature, so long as the writer and the reader are completely aware of the fact that they are being used. Perhaps you are using a stereotype so you can later break it in an interesting way as a plot device, or you are driving it home as a stereotype that you feel is justified. For instance, there is the stereotype that drug dealers are dangerous and violent. The fact that anyone who is actively complicit in illegal activities is potentially dangerous is true, and it probably is best to avoid and not trust someone whose livelihood revolves around convincing you to break the law.

In Is Stereotyping Bad?, Brittney Weber said:

"Stereotypes have the potential to show a member of a particular group how to behave or how others believe they do. The latter may be apparent in the way they are treated by society at large, while the former encourages them to remain within the confines of that definition."

So think before you write, and be considerate of the effect your writing may have on others, as well as the effect that devices like tropes can have on your writing.

Further Reading: 

Avoid Stereotyping

Using Inclusive Language to Avoid Stereotypes

Creative Writing Tip: Avoiding Stereotypes

TVtropes.org

12 Common Archetypes

Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious

Character Archetypes

Archetypical Character

-Ji, O, and C