references

some tags: full taglist themes anatomy sai brushes photoshop brushes faces !!NSFW!!

[gachagachagogo]

Japanese Resources

Essentials

Rikaisama - Pop-op Dictionary - based on Rikaichan Yamasa.cc - Learn Handwritten Stroke Order Anki - Spaced Repetition Software Japanese Stack Exchange - Ask Questions, Get Answers Dictionary Codes and Meaning - ex: v4k, vi Chinese and Japanese Characters Mnemonics - Stroke Orders, Lists, Study Sheets A better Japanese font for Windows web browsers Verb Conjugation Chart - gaoshukai Similar Kanji Lookup

Dictionaries

Jisho.org Tangorin - English⇆Japanese Online Dictionary Honyaku Star - Simple and Fast Dictionary | No ローマ字 | Specifically for Translators JLect - Japanese Dialect Word Search TMdict - vocabularies from games, books, anime, and other works by Type-Moon.

Kanji Alive_ Web App - Kanji Lookup, Stroke Orders, Examples, Picture Mnemonics Kanji Dictionary - 漢字辞典 Etymologies - A comprehensive, illustrated dictionary with etymologies, pictographs & definitions in English and Japanese More Eymologies - Traditional & Simplified CH/JP Oichan’s Dictionary - CN/JP/EN Dictionary Proverb Dictionary - Dutch, English, and Japanese

語源由来辞典 - Etymology Dictionary 平明四字熟語辞典 - 4-Character Idiomatic Compound Dictionary 故事ことわざ辞典 - Proverb Dictionary 日本語俗語辞書 - Colloquial Language Dictionary 日本語コロケーション辞典

IT用語辞典 e-Words - Internet and Technical Terms 三省堂 Web Dictionary - Sanseido Weblio - 辞書 - Main Dictionary Weblio - シソーラス - Thesaurus Weblio 翻訳 - Translate alc.co.jp - Another Great Dictionary goo.ne.jp - Goo’s Dictionary kotobank.jp - Uses yahoo.co.jp dictionary with a nice Interface Tatoeba - Example Sentences Tsukuba Corpus 複合動詞レキシコン - Compound Verb Lexicon Yamasa.cc - Learn handwritten stroke order kotoba.ne.jp - Extremely useful once you learn its capabilities Excite.co.jp’s Dictionary with Pitch Accent

Software

Houhou SRS - Dictionary + SRS Tagaini Jisho - Dictionary on each OS zKanji - Another Dictionary + SRS Capture2Text - Get Text from Manga and Other Images JGloss - Automatically annotate Japanese text with readings and translations KanjiTomo aard OmegaT - Translation Memory Tool Foreign Language Text Reader Learning With Texts Language Tool - Proofreading/Spellcheck Program Lingoes - Dictionary & Translation StarDict Wakan - Dictionary App for Chinese and Japanese

Thesauri

Goo.ne.jp’s Thesaurus 類語同義語辞典 - Quasi-synonym/synonym Dictionary

Learning the Language

Wanikani - Learn Kanji Through Spaced Repetition (Paid Subscription) Japaneseclass.jp - Vocabulary and Kanji Kapibara - Apps and Materials U-biq - Japanese study Japanese Stack Exchange - Ask Questions, Get Answers Tae Kim’s Guide - Site for Complete Beginners Chinese and Japanese Characters Mnemonics - With much more material Japanese Parts of Speech - 日本語 Japanese Linguistics - General Terms, Parts of Speech, Particles, etc - General Linguistics Loanwords - gaoshukai.com Esaura - Q&A site dedicated to J<->E translation. Lang-8 - Write Journals, Get Corrections from Natives (All Languages) Japanese Reading Practice with Tanaka Corpus Tips on Japanese JLPT Study Materials JLPT Vocabulary Lists HiNative - Q&A OnomatoProject - Practice Japanese onomatopoeia (擬音語) and mimetic words (擬態語) with examples and illustrations!

Grammar

Imabi - Lessons From Basic to Classical Japanese | Everything You Need for Grammar Kanzen Grammar - Sentences broken down in detail JGram - Japanese Grammar Database Renshuu.org - Over 600 entries for Grammar Jtest4you Auxiliary Verb Chart

Radicals

Kanji Radical Names - 仮名 and ローマ字 214 Traditional Radicals - From Kanji Alive Radical Names in Japanese - with kanji used More Kanji Radicals

Kana

Rapid Recognition Trainer for Hiragana and Katakana Multiple Font and Stroke Magnifier Kana - Anomalous Cursive Syllabary

Advanced Learning

Mistakes & Differences Guide Different Kanji With Same Reading and (Usually) Meaning Slight Different Meanings Read Your Level

Reading Material

Aozora Bunko - Japanese Project Gutenberg Bauddha.net - Similar to Aozora Children’s Reading Material - Fairy Tails Reajer - Bilingual Texts & Frequently-updated Language Blog

Manga & Light Novels

Comico - Manga & Light Novels Mangabox Vomic - Manga with Voice (Mac users download VLC web plugin) Kadokawa - Free Comics

Light Novels

Tueee 小説を読もう！

Anime

AniChart Anime List Hummingbird - MAL Alternative Anime Recommendation Finder

Crunchyroll - Watch Anime Legally Japanese Subtitles

News

SmartNews - Japanese Smartphone News App SANSPO.COM（サンスポ） NHKニュース and NHK Easy Version 朝日新聞 - Asahi and Children’s Edition Japan Times Japan Today MATCHA and Easy Japanese Version - Japan Travel Magazine Metropolis Magazine | Japan’s Number 1 English Magazine Tokyo Weekender - English Magazine Yomiuri, Children’s Edition, and English Edition Easy News - Newsinslowjapanese.com Nikkei Sankei

Japanese Sign Language

ITEC More Lessons

Dialect Study

JLect - Dialect Word Search Osaka-Ben Kansai-Ben Kansaiben.com Kansai-Ben Word List

Pitch Accent

U-Biq Pitch Accent Diagram Excite.co.jp’s Dictionary with Pitch Accent OJAD Online Japanese Accent Dictionary

Recommended Books

White Rabbit Japan - Buy Things From Japan - A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar - A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar - A Dictionary of Advanced Japanese Grammar - Dictionary of Misused Japanese - Kanji Dictionary - 1006 Kanji Picture Dictionary - ALC’s Japanese for Business: Business Etiquette

J-LIST - Buys Things From Japan - Handbook for Newcomers, Migrants and Immigrants to Japan - Bilingual - Encyclopedia of Japan - Bilingual

Amazon - The Kodansha Kanji Learner’s Dictionary: Revised and Expanded - Kodansha’s Furigana Japanese Dictionary (Kodansha Dictionaries) - The Kodansha Kanji Dictionary - The Original Modern Reader’s Japanese-English Character Dictionary - The New Nelson Japanese-English Character Dictionary

Culture & Life

AFA Channel - Japanese Pop Culture Video Channel Becomming Legally Japanese - Information on Naturalization Danny Choo - Culture Japan Japan-guide - Your Guide to Japan Japan Subculture Research Center - Yakuza and other cool culture information Just Bento - Blog About Bentos Just Hungry - Japanese Food & Recipes néojapanisme Spoon & Tamago - Japanese Art, Design, and Culture What Japan Thinks - Surveys of Japanese People Niponica - Free Multilingual Magazine in HTML, PDF, or E-Book Nippon.com - Your Doorway to Japan

Music

JPop Asia - Asian Music Videos, Top Charts, Lyrics, & Forum Kasi-time - Lyric Search Utamap - Another Lyric Search utaten - Lyrics with Furigana Lyric Get - Copy Lyrics on Restricted Japanese Lyric Websites

Information

JLPT - Japanese Language Proficiency Test Information JNTO - Japan National Tourism Organization JET Programme - Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme Japanese Language Schools - List of language schools in Japan Society for Teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language

Scholarships

JASSO - Japan Student Services Organization Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program - U.S. Citizens

Work

GaijinPot - Jobs and Other Information Japan Today Jobs - International Jobs in Japan Kansai Flea Market - Jobs, Classifieds Metropolis Classifieds O-Hayo Sensei - The Newsletter of (Teaching) Jobs in Japan White Companies - Information

Wanikani Extensions

KaniWani - Reverse WaniKani Duendecat - Sample Sentences from WaniKani Progress WaniKani to Anki Exporter

Misc

Free Japanese Kana and Kanji Fonts http://www.find-job.net/startup/ Convert Japanese Dates and Western Dates Japanese History - Wikibooks Japanese Ghost Stories - Hyakumonogatari Reading Speed, Comprehension and Eye Movements While Reading Japanese Novels - Scholarly Article Hinoki Project 何年.jp/ - Japanese 平成 (Heisei) Year Lookup Math Symbols & Readings Traditional Colors of Japan - With Hex Values Color-sample - Colors in detail Onomatopoeia Picture Game - in Japanese Kanji Used in Important Documents Free Beautiful Handwriting - Handwriting Practice Sheets with Your Own Data

[justletmedieinpeace]

@godsllama

[foodffs]

Chicken Florentine Pasta

Really nice recipes. Every hour.

Show me what you cooked!

[ask-penumbra-vulpes]

SO I’ve been meaning to post these for a while, but these are two brushes I’ve made! Nebula and Small Stars.

Feel free to use to your heart’s content! Just please don’t go spreading these around like you made them ;u;

[jubyart]

People don’t like creases in posters! I know that I was taught never to fold art. So I devised a very uh… thrifty… method to prevent such crimes.

This is how I will be mailing my posters via letter-size envelopes. Would anyone be interested in this method? It’s about $18 cheaper than the alternative (mailing tubes).

Also feel free to try this out because I think it could be helpful to many.

Oh, and if there are concerns about me taping to the printed side, it is actually easier to peel off the tape from the oil-based ink. :)

[paexie]

Program: Paint Tool SAI  Canvas: 1950x1950 px at 300 dpi Time taken: 1 hour to sketch, 2 hours to color.   Tools used: brush tool for lineart at a low density and the pen tool at full density to color. Water tool was used on the skin for a subtle gradient. Overall process: Lineart is set on multiply. Flats are on different layers and layer masks (skin, hair, jersey, gloves and background, etc). Right clicking picks up the color your cursor is currently over. I use it between colors to blend. The more you do it the softer it will look. Compare how the flowers are colored to how the skin is.

[mylittledoxy]

Please support me so I may continue making tutorials and guides for everyone!

https://www.patreon.com/doxydoo?ty=h

[groundlion]

HEAD’S UP ARTISTS THAT RESIZE IN PHOTOSHOP. This really saved my life. I’d noticed that gross halo around art whenever I resized something but never knew how to get rid of it til Onta showed me and ahhhhh. I’m just so happy there was a solution to it so I really hope this helps others out too!! (also look at more cute bear faces I drew~)

[owlgams]

YOU HAVE SAVED MY LIFE, I do some contract work often and I need to transform objects and layers all the time and I noticed this the other day that the quality of each element was going fuzzy and gross and It made me a bit like “oh crap wtf” 

thank you!!

[cryaotic]

For those artist nerds.

[theaydin]

How to repair Wacom Intuos 4 USB port

The wacom Intuos 4 is known for having issues with poorly attached mini-USB ports, and my tablet (Intuos 4 Large) finally broke down completely, as explained here wacom wanted hundreds of dollars to fix it.

Being a total newbie and never having soldered anything in my life I still managed to fix it for free. Instead of using the USB-connector I chose to bypass it completely and instead hard-wire the USB cables directly to the circuit board. This is a small guide for how to do that:

What you need: Soldering iron and solder. Tiny screw driver Plastic card (like a credit card) Wire cutter. (or anything to cut an USB wire) Glue.

How to do it: - Screw open the wacom tablet. Remember the screws under the rubber feet. - There are internal plastic clips located by the buttons. Use your plastic card to disengage them. Be careful not to snag any wires. - Remove the back cover of the tablet. Find the broken USB port you want to bypass. - Cut the USB connector off your USB cable, we won’t be needing it. - Strip the wire to expose 4 smaller wires inside it. One red, green, black and white. - Strip a tiny bit of the smaller wires to expose the metal inside them. I melted away the plastic - Put some solder on the end of each wire and then solder them exactly like this diagram shows. The circuit board of course have a lot of different stuff on it, chips, transistors and whatnot. But in this image I just drew the important ones that we will work with. Make sure you do not short circuit by using too much solder or having exposed metal from the wires touching each other.

- Glue the large USB wire to the plastic of the wacom tablet. - Screw it back together.

Done and done!

Update: Do you have a Medium or Small tablet? In that case solder like this:

[sanjanasart]

Echiveria done in my watercolour Moleskine, using Dr Ph. Martin’s Hydrus liquid watercolour. Only 3 colours used - Quinacridone Magenta, Blue Aqua and Hansa Yellow Medium  :)

[yourbigsisnissi]

wow

[discokitties]

[fancyref]

deathinheavens:

Colors from Adobe Color CC (Kuler)

Respect artist rules

Request via ask box

10/26 Updated with more colors

[7975834693]

ARTIST ALLEY STARTUP GUIDE

Hello! My name is Toril, or Starlock, and I’m an independent comic artist! In the past two years I’ve tabled at a number of extremely different conventions:  Otakon Vegas, Anime Boston,  Emerald City Comic Con  MoCCA Fest, TCAF,  Anime NEXT,  Anime Expo,  Otakon,  SPX,  MICExpo, and YaoiCon.  

Prior to this, I had never sold anything at a convention before, and I had barely considered the possibility of being able to make a living from my own work. To put it simply: I had no idea what I was doing. I would have crashed and burned without the help of my incredible friend Emily, but since not everyone has a friend who’s been making a living off of anime conventions for years, I thought I’d put together a post about everything I’ve learned to help out artists who may be thinking about jumping on this train.

Full disclosure: I was able to earn back my expenses (and profit) at every con I attended except Otakon Vegas and TCAF. Otakon Vegas in 2014 was a small con with low attendance, high expenses, and I was ill prepared. At TCAF 2014, I failed to account for the currency exchange rate in spite of selling out of everything, and spent a lot on transporting books over the border (I’m from the US and couldn’t drive at the time).

Of course, every person’s work, circumstances, and personality are wildly different, and your experiences will assuredly vary from mine. I can’t guarantee your success. However, I learned a remarkable amount about art, business, and checked bag fees over the past few years, and I hope what I include here proves valuable (or at least interesting) to anyone who’s interested in the North American con circuit!    

☆

Before you even think about choosing a convention to attend or what you’re going to sell, there’s an unfortunate truth we have to get out of the way:  You need to spend money to make money. I recommend setting aside $500 USD for registration, production costs, travel, and other expenses.   This is an extremely rough estimate. Your actual expenses will vary wildly– that said, be prepared to spend at least this much. Anything you save is a bonus.

☆ TYPES OF CONVENTIONS

Choosing the first con that you’ll sell at– or any con, for that matter– can be overwhelming.  

Comic: Once a haven only for fans of the classic DC and Marvel empires, comic cons now often invite videogame, television, and film guests and companies. Cons like NYCC and SDCC are some of the biggest in the country, but can be difficult to land a table at, especially for a newcomer.

Anime: Mostly centered around fandoms for Japanese media and culture. AnimeExpo and Otakon are among the largest in the US, but more and more are founded every year, and you can find them all over the country.  

Small Press: Shows dedicated to independent comics, webcomics, zines, and their creators– shows like TCAF, VanCAF, SPX, and MoCCA can be quite exclusive, as well as expensive– MoCCA’s 2015 tables went for $460 each. Never be afraid to apply, though, because they’re always on the lookout for new blood!  

Furry: Cons specifically geared towards furries, and furry and anthro artists. I personally have not been to a furry con, but I’ve heard they can be extremely profitable for artists.  

Try to choose a con that suits your taste and intended audience!  Artist Alley is the most common name for the venue set aside for independent artists and craftspeople to sell their products. Artist alley tables can range from $50-500, but usually fall around the $75-150 range. Larger cons also often have Dealer’s Halls which provide space for vendors, publishers, and artists who have a lot of stock. Dealer’s Hall booths tend to be far more expensive, often upwards of $1000.  

If the cost is daunting, or you’re afraid that you won’t have enough merchandise to display at your table, consider splitting with an artist friend! I’ve split a table several times and it has never affected my sales– if anything, it makes the whole con a lot more fun~ you’ll have someone to talk to and complain with, and you can take turns watching the table while the other takes a break!  I can’t recommend splitting a table with more than one other person, however, unless you all only have a few items to sell.

Signup is usually six months to up to a year in advance– get on mailing lists, follow con twitter accounts, and keep an eye out for announcements! Some cons sell out in seconds after they open for artist alley signup, others have tables available for months.  

If you can, try to find an event happening in your area– close enough that you won’t have to pay for a hotel or transportation (aside from gas or a train ticket).  However, beware smaller cons that no one seems to have heard of! Even if it’s in the neighborhood, putting time and money into preparing for a con where there will be more artists than attendees isn’t worth it.   It also helps to apply for a table at a con you’ve been to before as an attendee! That way you’ll have a feel for what people sell there, the attendance, and what the general atmosphere is like.  Don’t make any travel arrangements until you’re sure you’ve got a table at the con.  

☆ MERCHANDISE

I don’t have time to go into detail on how to make merchandise– and there are tutorials for making nearly anything online– but figuring out what you’re going to be selling is important! You’re also going to have to decide whether to manufacture it yourself or pay to have it done for you. Here are some products I’ve seen sold at cons to give you an idea of what’s possible: business cards, prints, postcards, bookmarks, keychains & phone charms, stickers (some cons don’t allow stickers: make sure you’ll be able to sell them beforehand!), comics (zines, books, etc), printed sketchbooks and artbooks, dolls & plushes, apparel,  patches, washi tape, buttons & badges, and commissions.

FAST PRICE GUIDE (USD):

8x10" print - 10$ or 3/$25

11x17" print - 15$ or 2/25$

books: 3x the printing cost per book

Always bring AT LEAST enough merchandise so that if you sold 100% of it, you’d earn double your expenses.

☆ FAN vs ORIGINAL CONTENT  

There’s a lot of waffle over whether original content or fanart sells better at conventions, and the truth is that in my experience, there’s no solid answer to this question. The best advice I can offer is: make what you care about.  

It doesn’t matter if it’s fan art for the latest, trendiest manga, or a promotional poster for your own webcomic– your audience can tell when your heart isn’t in the work. If you make things to sell based solely on what you imagine is popular at the time of the con, you won’t get very far.  

Do not make fan art of independent properties– especially if they’ve asked publicly that no unlicensed merchandise be sold. It’s disrespectful, and can be damaging to their business.  The ethical and legal dilemma around the production and sale of fan art in general is not one I want to get into in this post, but I tend to support fan culture.

If you don’t have an audience for your original content already, it’s true that no one will know what it is and that it will be harder to sell it. That’s okay! You’re at the con to promote your work, and you have to start somewhere.  

☆ PRODUCTION TIPS

Make sure everything’s in your hands a week in advance before the con.

If you’re printing books, try to leave enough time to order proofs.  Make sure everything you’re bringing can fit in your bags without being damaged. For prints, you can buy a file case, but I find the box they’re shipped (if you’ve ordered them online) in works just fine.  

☆ TABLE DISPLAYS

There are a number of display methods, but the two most common are wire storage cube displays and pipe/clamp displays. I prefer the latter– for a basic pipe display, you will need:

2x Irwin Quick-Grip Clamps

6x 24"  long, ½" diameter PVC pipes

1x 18" long, ½" diameter PVC pipe

6x ½" diameter straight PVC pipe connectors

2x ½" diameter elbow PVC pipe connectors

this will run you around $30 USD at a home improvement warehouse like Home Depot or Lowe’s.

You may also need: book stands, business card holders, tape, scissors, zipties for the cubes, clips, and post-its to write prices on.

Here’s a shortlist of online manufacturers & printing services!

Fireball Printing

Catprint

Vistaprint

Gotprint

OvernightPrints

RA Comics Direct

Keness

1984 Printing (vegan!)

Amazon Createspace

Artscow

Digital Art Wear

Zap Creatives

☆ TRAVEL

Pack light. Most of your luggage will be your merchandise & display. Bring a change of clothes, toiletries, and other essentials– phone, sketchbook, etc. Leave valuable jewelry and electronics at home.  

ESSENTIAL CON EQUIPMENT

- tax papers & registration confirmation & cheques (you may have to pay your taxes at the con, or register for a table for next year!)

- square reader (or equivalent mobile POS system) + smartphone + exta battery

- notebook to keep track of sales

- water bottle & snacks, painkillers, any meds you take

- small bills for change

- do NOT bring a cash box. they’re bulky, heavy, and more likely to get stolen than a money pouch.

Be aware that most domestic US airlines start charging you anywhere from $50-200 if your bag is oversized or over 50lb. You can usually avoid a 50lb+ bag by having two smaller suitcases. Most airlines will also let you check boxes or crates, provided they’re securely sealed and labeled. CHECK on your airline’s website before getting to the airport so you won’t be surprised by a fee. 

Be careful taking luggage on Amtrak or buses: usually you’re only allowed one piece of checked baggage, and Amtrak sometimes won’t take check bags at all.  

Do NOT book a connecting flight to the con. You don’t want to miss your connection and arrive a day late!  

Do NOT carpool with strangers. Ever.

Cons often offer deals on rooms at nearby or sponsoring hotels. These are the most convenient option but can still be pricey– if you have friends going to the con, share the room! I find 3-5 people can generally split an average hotel room comfortably, as long as everyone manages to be respectful and sensible.  If you have friends or family in the area, ask if they can put you up! Of course, pay them back with a dinner date or baked goods~  Finally, check out AirBNB! You’d be surprised at the level of accommodation you can find.

Here is a list of travel services and airlines that come recommended: kayak.com, MegaBus, Porter Air, Jet Blue, Southwest Airlines, Virgin America, Alaska Airlines, Amtrak    

☆ AT THE CON

Confirm that you’ve arrived with the Artist Alley staff, check in for your table, and set up ASAP. Confirm what times the artist alley opens & closes. Ask if the hall will be locked overnight– most cons do this, so you can leave your things under the table (NEVER leave your money or any valuables unattended)  

REMEMBER: you’re at the con as a working professional. Act like it!  

Get to your table before the alley opens. Regardless of how busy you think business will be, it’s nice to be early.  Greet potential customers warmly and engage them in conversation.  

Some fall-back lines I use: “How’s the con so far?” “ I like your cosplay/outfit/hair!” “Are you dressed as ____? They’re my favourite character from ____!” “ What’s going on out there? I’ve barely left my table” “This is my webcomic, it’s about _____” etc.

NEVER TALK DOWN YOUR WORK. If you can’t speak about your work or yourself without being self-deprecating, why are you at the convention? If you don’t love your work, why should anyone else? This is the most important point in this entire post. 

Never pressure anyone into a sale.  

If business is slow and nothing’s going on, feel free to pass the time by drawing, checking your phone, or otherwise occupying yourself– but pay attention. I can’t tell you how disappointing it is to go up to an artist and find them withdrawn behind their table and totally off in their own little world, with barely a word to say to their fans. A lot of us– artists and fans alike– are shy, but we’re all people. Make an effort. Be polite.

SELF CARE:

- drink lots of water

- eat properly

- get enough sleep  

Finally, get out from behind your table and walk around! You’ll never know who you’ll run into, what cool artists you’ll discover, or what new friends you’ll meet!!

☆ PROFIT!

Congratulations! You’ve spent a weekend selling your own merchandise, and you’ve earned back your expenses– and then some. Treat yourself to dinner with some of your fellow artists, you deserve it!  

…or maybe it didn’t go so well.  If you weren’t able to break even, it’s okay. Take a deep breath. It’s not easy to earn a living with your art alone, and conventions are by no means a reliable source of income. Even the most profitable cons– and artists– have off years.   However, now isn’t the time to make excuses. Ask yourself the following questions– and be honest when you answer them. It’s likely your answers will tell you why you weren’t as successful as you hoped you’d be:

1. Do I have a significant pre-existing following online– fans who are ready and willing to buy my products? Did they know I would be here?  

2. Did I bring enough merchandise to sell? Did I price it correctly?  

3. Was the con busy, or was it clearly low attendance? If it was busy, was my table ignored or bypassed due to a poor or unclear display?  

4. Was I friendly, polite, and engaging? Did I make an effort to sell my products and appear happy to be there?  

5. Are my products appealing and well-crafted?    

When it comes down to it, you should not be attending a convention if all you want to do there is make money. Cons are an opportunity to meet and befriend peers in your field– people from all over the country (and world) who you would otherwise only interact with online. Don’t be afraid to spend time socializing, buy the things you like, and remember– stay in touch! The weekend will be over before you know it, but you’ll be chatting online (and meeting up at future cons) with your friends for years to come.

And finally, the last piece of advice I have to offer:

DO YOUR TAXES!!!

[spx]

Definitely do your taxes!

[neothm]

PULSE #08: └   preview & features: one, multi-columned   |   pastebin   |   freetexthost

·   A flexible theme which layout goes from one (any post size) to four columns (responsive posts) and with an unobtrusive sidebar ·   Please like or reblog if you consider using this theme.

[moomill-blog1]

based on @baefongfamilygoesporn’s meme!! I just did my own cause i wanted a little more variety!

soo send a number and character name (+series that they’re from in case I don’t know it) and I may draw it!!

keep in mind these are just suggestions and there’s a chance I may or may not draw it! (I may open commissions for these in the future though!) 

[asieybarbie]

I get tons and tons of messages about my sparkly stickers on a daily basis, so I made a short guide on how I create them. 

[urdchama]

[urdchama]

Wait, How Do I…? Vol. 2 – the second sketchbook by Chama

“I wanna draw dudes touching! Wait, how do I… actually do that?” This book collects exploratory sketches and figure drawing studies focusing on male anatomy. MATURE CONTENT: Contains artistic representations of guys making out and engaging in sexual activities. With each other.

9″ × 7″  •  48 b&w pages  •  color gloss cover  •  $15

Available at Lulu.com

Crazy savings this weekend at Lulu!

25% off all print book orders. 

Offer ends August 17th at 11:59 PM | Use Code: GWW25

[sakurahayato]

When I saw Otegine…….“that’s pretty ass”!!!! 

Oh well, it’s truth =^=)b 

Source: http://boards.4chan.org/vg/thread/112657751/touken-ranbu-general-22#p112994439

[kingcholera]

[rileyav-moving]

artist tips

don’t save as jpeg

as a former yearbook editor and designer, let me explain this further

if youre only planning on posting your art online, them please save it as .png ;this is also better for transparencies as well

BUT

please, if youre planning of printing your art, NEVER use png. it makes the quality of the image pretty shitty. use jpeg or pdf instead. and always set your work at 300dpi to get a better printing quality - this means, the images are crisper and sharper and theres no slight blurriness. i had a talk with my friend who is currently taking design, and pdf is much better to use when youre working with a bigger publishing company because it still has the layers intact, but if youre only planning on printing your stuff at staples or at some small publishing store, the jpeg is the way to go.

this has been a public service announcement

I’ve replied to this once before but I see it’s doing the rounds again.

This is all utter bullshit.

I’m sorry but if your qualification is working on the school yearbook, you have no qualifications. Do not pretend otherwise. As a former professional photo manipulator for advertising brochures, I can say that you’re not comparing apples to oranges here - if anything, you’re comparing fruit to farmyard machinery:

JPEG is a lossy format. It is suitable for web imagery because it sacrifices detail for reduced file sizes, but in doing so it introduces artifacts that weren’t in the original; if you load a JPEG for editing, then save it as a different JPEG, then you’re adding more artifacts formed from those first artifacts. Do this often enough and you end up with a horrid glitchy mess that looks like a puddle’s reflection after a stone’s been thrown in. You’ve seen those memes that have 3 or 4 different “found at” tags along the bottom, that look like fingerpainted copies of the original? That’s why.

PNG is a lossless format that comes in two primary flavours, PNG-8 and PNG-24, which use 8 and 24 bit colour respectively. 8-bit colour is what you have in GIFs, a limit of just 256 different colours in a predetermined palette, usually automatically chosen by your software when saving. These files will look the same as GIFs, potentially with large patches of solid colour instead of the usual gradual shading seen in 24-bit imagery. This is usually better for small banners or pixel art, as it can yield smaller filesizes than GIF format. (There is an animated version called MNG but it has very little web support, hence the continued use of GIFs.)

PNG-24 is great for larger images where detail is as important as colour depth, as well as printable RGB images and (if supported by the client) full colour images with gradient transparencies. It most certainly does not make “the quality of the image pretty shitty,” as it preserves every nuance. File sizes can be smaller than JPEG for small images, or significantly larger for large images.

PDF is a container file, whatever you put into it will be pretty much preserved as it was, so you gain nothing but lose nothing.

TIFF is what you need to be using for archival or print-quality imagery. It has support for multiple layers, multiple colour channels (RGB as well as CMYK, which is essential for accurate print rendering), and everything is preserved exactly as it was seen on-screen when being composed. There are compressed versions available, they use similar methods to PNG in order to maintain detail without sacrifice; next to whatever your graphics program uses natively, this is the most interchangeable format available for professional use.

DPI is important only when used in combination with image dimensions; in and of itself it serves no purpose. If you make a brilliantly detailed 640x480 image & set it to 300dpi, you’ll receive a brilliantly detailed 2 inch x 1.6 inch print. This is great if you want to make a postage stamp, but not if you’re creating an A4 flyer! Determine the image’s dimension then set the DPI accordingly; 72dpi isn’t hideous especially for text-heavy work (it’s ~3 pixels per millimeter), and 150dpi can be suitable for many images. Unless you’re interested in photo realism, 300dpi is usually overkill - for our hypothetical A4 flyer, you’d need a file of 2490x3510 pixels for edge to edge printing, with a correspondingly high memory requirement and filesize even if using a compressed format.

Keeping the layers intact is utterly unimportant for print work unless you want to use a separated colour print method that requires multiple passes to lay down each ink. If you send a file with all the layers, masks, etc. off for printing you’re liable to get it sent back unactioned, as they won’t want to take responsibility for choosing the wrong elements for printing. Save your work with everything intact, then save a flattened copy especially for printing purposes - this is one of the reasons Save Copy As… is a common option in graphics manipulation software.

This has been a Public Service Rebuttal.

[suchirolle]

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