Dragon Elf's Den

The Art of N. A. Trudel

[thebruise-deactivated20151210]

Nobody tells this to people who are beginners. I wish someone had told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase; they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative, work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know that it’s normal and the important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you finish one piece. It’s only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take a while. It’s normal to take awhile. You just gotta fight your way through.

Ira Glass  (via realdwntomars)

[dragonelfwarrior]

inktober sketches days #9-#16!! I really should upload these to tumblr more frequently. There’s a wide variety of characters this time, some I’ve drawn before, some revamped, and some new.

[dragonelfwarrior]

Inktober day #8! This time with a bit more emotions in it...these poor ladies :(

[dragonelfwarrior]

My internet was really rocky on the weekend, so connecting to the internet was a bit tricky. I also took time to celebrate my birthday with my friends! I should be all caught up not though for Inktober!

Days #4-#7

[dragonelfwarrior]

I know i haven’t really uploaded my art much on Tumblr before, but I hope for that to change! While my page set-up isn’t quite ready yet, no harm in starting to post the art at least!

I’ve been uploading my Inktober challenges to Facebook and Twitter, may as well post them here as well! I drew these two ladies in uniform a couple months ago, and their story is really swirling around in my head this month. I hope to push my abilities to do more characters interacting in illustrations, since i haven’t practiced enough. Wish me luck! :)

[dragonelfwarrior]

How Gimli really got to go the Undying Lands

Thranduil: ok Legolas everything is set are you ready to go?

Legolas: Yes. Are you ready Gimli?

Gimli: -nods-

-He and Legolas join hands-

Thranduil: um. Legolas. This is awkward as fuck but you know Gimli can't come, right?

Legolas: -stone cold glare- I'm sorry what.

Thranduil: Here we fucking go...You know the rules son, he-

Legolas: -throws bag to ground- MY PLACE IS WITH GIMLI. IF THERE IS NO PLACE FOR GIMLI THERE IS NO PLACE FOR LEGOLAS.

Thranduil: Legolas we talked about this, you-

Legolas: GIMLI IS GOING TOO

Thranduil: The rules say that-

Legolas: THE RULES ARE STUPID. CHANGE THEM ADA

Thranduil: Legolas! I can't just-

Legolas: CHANGE THE RULES OR IM STAYING HERE

Thranduil: oh for fucks sake...

-Thranduil goes on a long perilous journey across the sea and appeals to Manwë and the other Valar-

Thranduil: Yeah hi there, I'm King Thranduil, you might remember me from the shit life you have dealt me...um anyway, so I'm here to ask that Gimli the Dwarf be allowed to come to Valinor.

Manwë: but why would you, Thranduil Oropherion speak of such for one of the Naugrim. You have no great love for their kind.

Thranduil: Tell me about it I...ah, it's not me. It's my son, Legolas. He...he...Damn, I'm not drunk enough for this...HE FELL IN LOVE WITH GIMLI OK. And now the only way he will agree to sail is if freakin Gimli can come with him. He's so damn stubborn, I don't know WHERE he gets that from GOSH.

Manwë: um

Thranduil:

Manwë: you mean 'in love' like Beren and Luthien 'in love'

Thranduil: fucking yes.

Manwë: woo. Oh boy. Ah. I'm sorry. I see your concern but never before has one of dwarvish kind set foot upon these shores

Thranduil: yeah and trust me I wouldn't want them here either but...Legolas. As much of a pain in the ass that little shit can be, I do love him. And like, it would only be ONE dwarf.

Manwë: hm, this COULD eternally amend the blood feud between the two races and pass into legend as a shining example of love and my kindness that I could bestow upon them. Give them my blessing, have a few or 15,000 ballads written about it. Good for PR you know.

Thranduil: yeah...so?

Manwë: it is decided. Your son may bring the dwarf.

-Thranduil returns to Middle Earth after a terrible journey back across the sea-

Legolas: So can he come? Did you get permission for Gimli to sail?

Thranduil: oh hello son, nice to see you again too. Yes the journey was terrible thank you for asking. That stupid steward of mine was sea sick all over my favorite robe, there were orcs on the way back through the forest, and I ran out of Lembas and-

Legolas: can Gimli come?

Thranduil:

Legolas:

Thranduil:

Legolas: can Gimli-

Thranduil: FUCKING HELL YES. IT CAN COME WITH US.

Legolas: GIMLI DID YOU HEAR THAT MY LOVE

-Gimli and Legolas passionately kiss-

Thranduil:

-still kissing-

Thranduil: -reaches for glass of wine-

Thranduil:

Thranduil: -throws glass to floor and grabs the bottle-

Thranduil: -chugs wine-

Thranduil: an eternity of this...fuck my actual life.

ALL OF THIS

[egobuss-deactivated20150421]

character development 

[rais-in]

nope that would be called successful female socialisation in a patriarchal society

[egobuss-deactivated20150421]

Please do not use feminism to shame my interests.

I like pink and dresses and art and music and fashion. I also like blue and sports and comics and I choose not to wear makeup and have had short hair for the past five years. I am a person with feminine and masculine interests. I have not been socialized to be more feminine, I have adopted new interest, grown as a person and learned to embrace both my feminine and my masculine sides.

If you want to do a feminist reading on this silly ass comic about how I’ve changed over the past decade maybe you should look at why I actively avoided things typically viewed as “feminine”.

You’re not helping feminism by making me feel like I don’t have control over myself. You’re not helping feminism by shaming girls who consider themselves more feminine than masculine.

Thank you and goodbye.

[myvegansensesaretingling]

it’s truly strange that one person could look at this and see “successful female socialisation in a patriarchal society” when all I see is “shedding internalized misogyny”

tbh when I was 10 I prided myself on being a “tomboy” and only hung out with boys (and one girl who was just as tomboyish as me) because I thought “girly girls” were the scum of the earth

took me a long time to unlearn that shit, but once I started wearing dresses, I started celebrating girls of all backgrounds

[onebuttscratcher]

PSA

[borntobekings]

I’ve seen this post and the discussion that accompanies it many times, but I thought I’d see if I could apply science to it today.

Lo and behold, studies show that girls commonly go through a phase of rigid gender adherence at a very young age, and likewise often a phase of vehement gender rejection a few years later. By the time they hit ten years old, they’re often deep in the grips of the latter.

In other words, girls have already been socialized to associate the color pink, frilly dresses, and the like with femaleness at age three or four. A ten-year-old is not a bastion of pure unsullied female power and wisdom. Meanwhile, a twenty-year-old is someone who’s had time to actually think that shit over and come to her own conclusions on it instead of simply having unexamined kneejerk reactions. Those reactions in question may be representative of internalized misogyny, or they may be a juvenile act of rebellion against oppressive gender roles. I’m not sure there’s a way to study that. I’d wager it’s a combination of both.

Either way, a twenty-year-old woman wearing a pink dress is not a brainwashed drone of the patriarchy, but a person making the conscious decision to style herself as she sees fit. Whether it’s because she genuinely enjoys it or because it makes her life easier in dealing with the patriarchy, it shows character development from the young girl who eagerly embraced and then just as thoughtlessly pushed away femininity.

[branewurms]

disliking pink and dresses and frilly things for yourself is you expressing your gender the way you see fit. that’s great! telling other women that they shouldn’t like pink and dresses and frilly things is internalized misogyny, not feminism - it assumes masculine coded things as default and good and inherently desirable and feminine coded things as exceptions and bad and inherently undesirable. surely you can see how that’s misogynistic? there’s nothing revolutionary about telling women what they should or shouldn’t like. that’s what society has been doing all along.

[moonsheen]

I violently avoided skirts until I was 19 because I considered it a sign of being a TOOL OF THE PATRIARCHY and I felt girly girls were weak silly people buying into the whole thing. Then I realized I actually loved skirts and find them way comfortable and fun and use them as a way to express myself. I owned who I was far more wearing fun sundresses than I did wearing crappy sweats and jeans because I thought looking like a grubby dude and having all dude friend groups who treated me like crap ANYWAY somehow made me intellectually superior (gee, I wonder where I got THOSE toxic ideas?)

[dragonelfwarrior]

This is pretty much what I’ve been going through, and coming to terms with liking pink and dresses again

[chirart-deactivated20181203]

the nature of creating art

The frustration between your desire to make good art vs your current skill set is a good thing. It’s a really, really good thing. That frustration is you CARING about your work. If you didn’t care you’d feel nothing.

If you didn’t have that frustration there would be literally no point to making art. Without that frustration you’d have no drive to improve, no desire to see your work live, no connection to what you created. Your standards are high and skill takes time to learn to meet them. Lean into it rather than fight against it.

It’s like giving birth. Painful and hard and a war zone on your psyche but after you can see what you brought into existence live and it’s worth it for that.

[dragonelfwarrior]

JUST....ALL OF THIS

[henamyung]

I got some messages about colouring tips. Apparently my colouring technique is so bad, but these are the best tips I have.

[wolfsheim66-deactivated20150621]

What’s the difference here?

[the-exercist]

The first woman is a real human being. She controls her own body and has her own personality. She has control over her own actions and can make autonomous decisions in her life. She also has to directly deal with the people around her and the bigotry, stereotyping and harassment that she is exposed to. She is real, she has emotions, she has thoughts, and she has rights. 

The second woman is fictional. She was created by other people who exert full control over her body, appearance and actions. Her sole purpose is to be literally bought and sold for the entertainment of an audience. She cannot make her own decisions, she cannot control her own body and she is not real. She is not responsible for her behavior or appearance: She is the product of the environment that she was created in. 

The first woman, by virtue of being a human being who identifies with the feminist movement and acts in accordance to those beliefs, is therefore a feminist. She is actively participating in feminism and is choosing to dress herself in a manner of protest that best demonstrates that she alone controls her body, and that no others have a right to access her body without her consent. She is a multi-faceted person who has agency, and part of that agency includes the ability to look sexy while refusing to consent to her own dehumanization. Her actions are not only one small part of what makes her a person, but she is also participating within a cultural trend of protesting rape culture. 

The second woman, because she is not autonomous and was designed by a series of outsiders, is sexist because she is the passive product of sexist content creators. She exists as an ornament. Her clothes were chosen as fan service so that she can be sexually available and gratifying at all times, most likely for straight male gamers. Her erotic appearance has little functional purpose other than to please an audience. And since she exists within an industry that is consistently criticized for ostracizing female participants and creating a large gap between the depictions of male and female characters, her appearance is simply one detail within a much larger array of sexist problems. 

Get it?

[transbutch-deactivated20150608]

omg thank you finally someone puts it into words

[kokoronis]

to my friend, whom i have never met.

[hkrieg]

I just saw that you printed out Rusty and the Benditoots comic at NYCC last year. Do you have any copies left? And are you willing to sell online?

Yes! Bendytoots comics are actually completely sold out, but I still have a few Rustys available, which are available online here.

I am also doing another print run of both comics (and also… more comics…) for MOCCA fest in April, and the leftovers will once again be available online after it’s over. SO, if anyone missed their chance to buy a Toot or a Rusty the first time around, keep your eyes peeled in April!

[dragonelfwarrior]

Gotta keep my eyes peeled for April!!!

[chirart-deactivated20181203]

Aren’t your prices too expensive?

If you can’t afford me, don’t commission me. Maybe lower your prices a bit so that it’s more accessible?

If you can’t afford me, don’t commission me. I really want you to draw for me but I can’t afford these prices…

If you can’t afford me, don’t...

[dragonelfwarrior]

THIS. THIS RIGHT HERE. This is EXACTLY the message the world needs for all creative communities!! You can't afford it? Don't commission. We need money to live just as much as everyone else. Save for it if you really want to, or just admire from afar, but I'm tired of people whining about commission prices being too much. We understand that affording things is hard, but if you REALLY appreciate our work, you'd understand why we price the way we price.

[saiayoko-blog]

So I decided to take a picture of all the FAKE material that I have. Just for shits and giggles.

Now before anyone says anything, I do not have FAKE Japanese Reprint 04 because I’ve been unable to find it for sale… FAKE English volune 2 is being lent to my friend, and FAKE English volume 5 is somewhere in my house that I wasn’t able to locate during my very short period of excitement over taking this picture.

So yeah. That’s all my FAKE stuff. The only thing I’m missing right now, that has something different in it maybe, is FAKE Second 01-02. The book that was released that had both the first and second of the second season in it. But since I have the actual books… I don’t think I’ll be buying that one.

[dragonelfwarrior]

OMG I would give ANYTHING for my FAKE/Sanami Matoh collection to be this vast...especially all the doujins. I wish I can find a site that I can order them from...

[evankart]

Do you want to buy a copy of this book ?

If you want, leave a reply here. If there are over 50 people who want to buy it, I will make in English version of this book and sell by air mail. (not EMS) I guess that the cost will be 12$ (included delivery charge). Paid by Paypal to me. Also I can sell this A4 size illustration collection(2.5$) too.

Just let me know your intention by reply :)

[dragonelfwarrior]

I will buy 2 or possibly more if my classmates want them as well!!!

[howtofightwrite]

Divorce yourself from this idea right now, author. While I’m sure it is the narrative you’ve been presented with your entire life, I’m here to tell you that it isn’t true. Women do find building up muscles in the upper body more difficult than men, but since power does not...

[grandfather-madara-deactivated2]

[dragonelfwarrior]

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ピーチネク太