KT's Art Blog

I am currently runnin around in a circle until I get tired.

[bonzlydoo]

Welcome! You can call me Bon.

I sometimes blog, but mostly I keep many sketches here. You can learn more about characters via their character or story tags. My inbox is open to friends and strangers alike.

I love OC asks. Requests/suggestions are welcome, but please remember that they are suggestions, meaning drawn responses are not a guarantee.

Please be respectful. And be aware, I take intermediate hiatuses from socials.

Where else can you find me online? [Socials]

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Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

except it’s family friendly so it’s

Dr Tickle and Mr Peekaboo

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Pleasure to draw your character @eyespyscience

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I had a dream last night that Mr David Lynch popped up in.

He said to me “if you keep falling back to sleep your life will only ever be half awake.”

And then I woke up! And… fell asleep again.

Anyway, thank you ghost of Mr David Lynch. Guess I’ll work on it.

[circusheart]

May I please have 1 everything

[bernieandtheaeroplanes]

Noah's Ark if every animal reproduced asexually

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Interesting I like it

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🙋Question! Why didn’t Noah save a single plant?

[princeofthebookshelf]

What I've got from the transfem Jax debate is that some people think that "this character being a bad person automatically means they're bad rep"

And "this character being likeable and transparent/understandable automatically makes them good rep"

As Jax and Zooble respectively.

Like both of those characters present equally true parts of the trans experience, just one is more complex than the other

smh

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[wiccitork]

How to not stereotype Tourette’s (from someone who has it) PART ONE

PART 2 | PART 3

I felt inspired to write this post because a lot of people will write characters like Ticci Toby in an unfortunately stereotypical way, especially with the types of tics they give him and how they are portrayed. So I wanted to make a guide to hopefully help people change that!

This will be long, fair warning.

HOW TICS FORM:

First off, tics can develop for many different reasons when you have Tourette’s. Sometimes they come about randomly, sometimes they’re connected to something you do. (For example I developed tics from drawing and playing mobile games often, as well as due to certain conditions such as sensory processing disorder.)

They can also change over time. The tics I have now at 19 are very different to the tics I had at 12. Some can last for a very long time (like how I’ve had a nose scrunching tic since I was a young child) while others can form and disappear over the course of a few months to a few years.

The severity of your tics can change over time as well. You can have periods of only having a few minor tics to then developing many much larger more noticeable tics, then back to minor ones. This of course changes from person to person depending on the severity of their condition. Some will have minor tics for the majority of their life and others may have debilitating ones, others a mix of both. It’s very fluid and presents in many different ways.

HOW TICS CAN GET TRIGGERED:

Now, as for how they get triggered, that can be for many, MANY different reasons. Tics in general can be very sensitive and can get triggered from just talking or even thinking about them. They can also get worse with stronger emotions, louder environments, or stressful situations. Many are present all throughout the day, but certain tics will only come about under certain conditions.

For example, I have developed a tic where whenever I am drawing with my tablet I will press my pen down into the screen as hard as I can (yes, this has damaged both my tablet and my pen 🥲). It doesn’t happen when I’m writing, or when I’m drawing on paper, only when I’m using specifically my drawing tablet.

But there are many other minor things that can trigger different tics or make the constant ones get worse. Some people will get triggered from certain lights or sounds. Sometimes even certain colors can be a trigger! It can all get very specific and I heavily encourage you to do your own research if you want to include tics like that in your story/character/etc.

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This is a lovely post to see. Also, as someone coming to terms with my own condition, I’ve had to learn that there’s a difference neurologically between Tourettes triggered ticks (reaction first, thought patter second) and OCD triggered ticks (thought pattern first, reaction second). The line between the two can sometimes be VERY fine and hard to distinguish, both as an individual or as a professional but it makes all the difference to the space the condition is held in AND how it’s written.

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I was tagged by @or-what-you-will to post six non-selfie photos from my camera roll.

Thanks for tagging!

I guess this was in my drafts and I never posted this because it wasn’t six. Life’s too short. Have 10.

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Party rockers in the house tonight?

[audrac-blue]

Hell yes!

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Yoink.

[audrac-blue]

*GASP*

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Party rockers in the house tonight?

[audrac-blue]

Hell yes!

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Yoink.

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An @artfight friendlyfire for @marinscos who's Forgive Me Not characters I have been meaning to draw since last year. What wonderful designs you always make! Such a joy to draw

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Party rockers in the house tonight?

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Hello! I love your art so much! I am also trying to go into animation too and I was wondering if you could say more about your experience learning from don bluth? Im wondering if I should try learning from him too??

Thank you!

Yeah, interesting course. Different from what I expected. I took part back in its second year. I kept a detailed blog during my attendance. If you want to see what actual classes were like view my Don Bluth tag.

Opinions on the Don Bluth University range from dream come true to scam. Neither are words I’d personally use. I applied after my animation BA and treated it like a specialist qualification. I think many went in seeking a full general animation education, which it's not. The marketing is misleading on this front. DBU will NOT make you immediately hireable (no single year course will). It's not designed to help you specialise, and you learn no digital software skills. You will learn many traditional animation fundamentals. The industry is primarily digital now and steady employment will require software knowledge; what little traditional specialist work exists is highly competitive, and generally you have to do a LOT more work to have an industry-ready portfolio. I say all this because in the past I have received emails from people ask me directly whether this course is worth putting themself into debt for, in the hopes of pivoting their career (all because it’s Don Bluth). And no, I would never advise that. Dept is not a requirement to pivot your profession.

From what I remember, DBU was opened because Don Bluth was frustrated, witnessing a lack of fundamentals / traditional animation principles being retained in the industry. He wanted to challenge this via education. The course was managed by Lavalle Lee (who runs @traditionalanimation).

The course's one year fee was comparable to one year in UK animation university and is a fifth of many US animation schools. No degree, you receive a certificate. The truth is, a strong portfolio and good contacts gets you far further in the creative world so I wouldn’t knock that detail. Some people learn far more from uni settings, some from intermediate courses, some self educate using entirely free online resources. There's no strictly right or wrong. Me, I NEED pre-organised structure, which DBU gave me, as well as the flexibility to study from home and work my retail job.

The course itself was 95% online. Students would be assigned increasingly challenging exercises, weekly. They ranged from draftsmanship, character design, layout practice, traditional storyboarding to traditional animation. I've gathered, past and future years were given the exact same exercises I received.

Course structure: A single video lecture at the start of each week where Don Bluth presents the assignment. Handover at the end. Work review was a livestream, with a student text-chat box. There were x2 staff members + Don Bluth directly giving feedback on camera. If you didn't make it to the stream it was recorded so you wouldn't miss it, but you WOULD miss your main chance to ask any direct questions. Also, your questions weren't guaranteed to be read aloud by staff for Mr Bluth, (who never read the chat directly). If it was read, Mr Bluth would either understand what you meant by your question or he wouldn't and things would move on. I usually pre-type my questions in advance of my review slot hoping they'd be seen quick enough. As you can imagine, asking any sort of complex questions was difficult, and failed question attempts felt discouraging. Sometimes it felt like being on a conveyor belt, which is a structural critique. I think a designated video meeting once per week per student would have helped. I have no idea if these issues resolved or survive to this day 7 years on.

Between classes there was a class message board for asking questions, but I found it pretty janky, and a lot of the time students ended up helping each other with varying success. I'm the kind of person to not put all my eggs in one basket, so I instead ended up finding a really good unassociated animation Discord server where I sought advice and feedback and I will forever be thankful because the space I found was run by @doigswift and it was just such a encouraging, responsive space. It was also through these lovely people that I ended up meeting my partner Eoin.

The final stretch of DBU (optional attendance) welcomed students to join a week or so long in person master class. This was by far the most beneficial aspect. No more tech hiccups. Actual timely one-on-one feedback, draw-overs and critique in a timely manner. It's the part I focus on when I look back on it, and I wish the rest of the course had felt as responsive as this.

We were all assigned to make a 'short film' in this time. Anyone who does animation knows that this is no time at all to work with, and it certainly felt like it. Few finished.

Towards the end we were all given copies of Don Bluth's Animation Tutorials DVD boxset, complimentary, as well as given the opportunity to ask Don Bluth to sign one item of ours, which was a big point of excitement. Garry Goldman also turned up, which was a surprise. I myself didn't know what to ask for. I stuck my head in my work and in fact I almost missed my chance. Lavalle kindly checked in to remind me. I have a complex relationship with fame-fawning. People who know me well know why. I've just been exposed to some nasty sides of it.

In the end I asked if Mr Bluth could please write me some words of encouragement or advice in my sketchbook. Words I could carry with me through life, as a creative. He did. And I deeply treasure them.

I think that’s the note I’d like to leave this on. "You are in charge of your future — Prepare and it will be wonderful” — Don Bluth

I think everyone should hear those words.. Ultimately, I'm am grateful.

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WIP art of @marinscos Forgive Me Not characters. I just thunk they're neat!

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compilation unfinished purge art from this very emotional year

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Artfight WIP 🤫🤫🤫

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Artfight attack to @audrac-blue featuring their two creatures (nameless creature on the left and Mephisto el Gaito) hanging with Phenex in Hell's court.