expression, not perfection

DP BY MYOEEENnnNnnNnn i post whatever

[thinkingabout-girls]

the funniest moment in dungeon meshi is when marcille is having her nightmare and brings up her dead bird while also talking about her dead dad, saying “papa and pipi” and laios automatically assumes pipi is marcilles third nonbinary parent on top of her mom and dad

[ouppygirlcity]

[illustromic]

My thoughts on drawing wings (an unofficial tutorial)

Do you want to get better at drawing your favorite winged character? Do you have winged OCs? Just want to learn something new? I can't promise this post will help, but maybe it'll give you some helpful tips.

I know, I knowww, wing tutorials have been done to death. I don't care. This was initially inspired by a conversation on twitter, but actually I've wanted to write down my notes on the topic for a long time lol. Basically wings are one of my special interests so it's very important, for me, to draw them both nicely and also realistically.

On that note, let me first show you my resume *distant sound of floodgates opening*

Like what you see? Read on! (Oh, and I will only be covering feathered/avian wings bc those are the type I know best.)

Now, I'm not here to give you a step-by-step guide on wing anatomy and aerodynamics, because there are plenty of other resources that cover this already, and I'll list my faves at the end of the post. Right now, I'm going to give you some easy guidelines and tricks that I wish more artists knew.

1: Wings do, in fact, have bones (crazy, I know) and are actually very rigid because they have to support the weight of a living creature. There are some positions you cannot physically force a wing into irl.

2: Flight feathers are not placed willy-nilly on the wing, because then they wouldn't catch the air properly. Again, like the bones, they are rigid and strong, so don't draw them like fur or ribbons. All wings have the same pattern of feather placement, with slight variation depending on species. If you learn the feather sections, it will automatically improve your drawings a lot.

2.5: Feathers overlap each other like a handful of playing cards, and this looks different depending on which side of the wing you're drawing. They always do this unless they're extremely untidy.

3: The size of the wingspan is important if you're going for a more realistic design. There is no "scientifically accurate" measurement when it comes to fictional creatures, but my general rule is when in doubt, you probably need to make them bigger. Personally, for my original winged human species, I give them wings that can be up to 12 feet long each (the artistic sacrifice is that it's really hard to fit the wings on the dang page lmao, so make your own call).

4: Get used to drawing folded wings. Most of the time, birds keep their wings folded because it prevents them from getting damaged and it conserves energy. The trick is to get good at visualizing how the joints bend and overlap (look at plenty of photos!) In general, they can fold much tighter than you think.

5: Wings and feathers take a lot of patience to draw, but the results are worth it. I've seen so so many incredibly beautiful and skillful artworks that are---well, maybe not ruined, but still negatively affected by a pair of wings that look like an afterthought, or not even like wings at all. You have no idea how much a little extra time and practice will add to your work until you see for yourself.

Finally, some notes on "stylized" wings: Of course it's perfectly ok to draw more simplified/cartoony wings if that's your preference!! BUT there is a difference between a stylistic choice and a lack of effort/poor understanding of the subject matter. Even cartoonists have to learn the fundamentals of realism so they know how to make their designs logical and appealing. Here are some examples of more stylized wings that I feel retain the core principles of anatomy/aesthetics:

And last but not least: A list of helpful links I use personally for reference and inspiration!

I made this pinterest board for general artsy inspo, and this board to curate my very favorite tutorials/refs/information, focusing on the scientific aspect of wings and flight in general. Feel free to use both! (I also suggest pinterest in general for pose refs and such, but try to only practice using photos at first and not other drawings.)

I highly recommend this blog and this blog if you want examples of artists who draw more realism-based winged creatures!! They are both huge inspirations for me and I think you should totally follow them even if you don't plan to draw wings lol <3

If you're REALLY serious about it, my favorite ref books are: Winged Fantasy, a lovely drawing book by Brenda Lyons; Proctor & Lynch's Manual of Ornithology; and Angelus vincens by R. Spano, which is essentially an artbook by someone who (I believe) designed biologically plausible "angels" for their senior thesis.

Ok, idk how to end this lol but I hope it helped! I know it's not my normal kind of post but I'm super busy with college stuff rn and this was all I had time for. If you guys have any questions or feedback, please let me know!!!

-Hearth <3

[nnebuchadnezzar]

had a fun encounter with a customer today

[nongunktional]

i do think the negative interpretations of "im probably nonbinary but i have a job right now" are kind of reaching. it's obviously a waste of time to theorize the op's intended meaning, so instead i think it's better to recognize how the phrase can be a useful framing device to criticize how much of a fucking hassle it is to get gendered correctly. "but i have a job" e.g. will face discrimination that could threaten livelihood; e.g. don't have the mental bandwidth to explain gender to others; e.g. don't have the time and energy for the soul-searching necessary to confirm. all three of these are labor issues. yes you could interpret it as "but being nonbinary isn't important enough to worry about", despite that being a blatantly bad-faith read. it's more useful to interpret it as "but being publicly nonbinary requires a lot of social effort that, in many cultural contexts, will create more problems that you can't afford to deal with". like cmon it's a really good jumping off point for productive conversations about queer labor rights

[quezify]

Any tips on capturing the likeness of real people? I love how even in the more stylized pieces I can still tell who you’re drawing

this is a great question because it made me go huh! how DO i go about capturing a likeness...? so i drew a couple quick portraits of sunny side characters to get a better grasp on my own process lmao

i realize that not everyone knows these characters, so how can you judge whether or not they look like who i intended them to look like. good point. should've drawn more universally beloved superheroes or something. i did TRY drawing people from other shows or movies, but unfortunately i'm sick in the brain and had to draw sunny. anyways, for reference:

when i'm drawing a character for the first time, i usually have to give it a couple of tries before it starts looking even remotely like them. here's the very first rough sketch of ryan versus the one i ended up painting over:

who the hell is that first guy. that doesn't look like anybody, let alone the real person it's based on. try again!!!!!

during this sketching phase i've also moved away from drawing from a single picture. when you look up a character on google or pinterest or whatever for a reference, you're going to get the same images that everybody else is getting. i think that will inherently make your rendition feel stale. anybody in the fanbase for that media will have seen the image you're drawing from, like five hundred times. using a variety of pictures to composite your sketch, or sketching while watching an episode or something, immediately helps the drawing feel more like yours.

as for trying to capture a likeness. i personally am not interested in realism or accuracy, ever. i always assume everybody will just get the gist. for these drawings, the things i found myself focusing on initially was the face shape (especially the cheeks, jawline, and forehead) and the size of eyes and noses. i feel like once you've got that, you're almost all the way there.

after that, i picked a few key characteristics and made sure i accentuated them enough to be recognizable, without leaning too hard into caricature. hopefully. maureen's defined eyelids, ryan's undefined chin and jaw. maureen's toothy grin, ryan's greased down hair.

it also helps to add in personality and characterization into the drawing. for example, maureen ponderosa is always looking up at dennis very sweetly and innocently. so i emphasized her eyelashes and gave her big pupils, a feature i normally don't add to characters. ryan mcpoyle is one of the grossest, slimiest characters on the show, huffing spray paint and drinking warm milk. so i added a lot more gray to his skin and tried to make him more droopy looking in general.

once i get the sketch and basic colors underneath it, i start painting on top and stop looking at the references. i'll go back and check once or twice if i feel like i've lost sight of the character, but at this point i'm more interested in making it my own thing. i let my hands do what they want and start really stylizing. i may lose a lot of the actual actor in this process, but i feel like i gain more of the character.

this is my favorite part, the most fun part. it's easier when you're drawing characters from a cartoon or comic or something where there's an established way of drawing things that you can either mimic or distort. trying to do this when drawing live action isn't the way to go, in my opinion. my most versatile piece of art advice is do what you want forever and ever, and that applies to stylization of characters too. don't try and force the character into "your style." try not to have an "art style" at all.

whatever works for you works for you, and i'm not against having a specific way of doing things, far from it. but i think it kinda makes your art stiff and uninteresting when you go "this is how i draw noses. these are the different eye shapes i use. i color with this technique and shade with this technique." then it's like. well i know this is dee from always sunny because she's the blonde woman, but i don't see any dee in there.

and this is speaking from personal experience, i used to try and force characters into my "style" or i'd focus too much on making them look exactly like the actors. and they just never ended up... dynamic. they were flat, didn't have all the quirks that make every human face weird and beautiful. all of the drawings themselves looked the exact same. one day i am going to redo all of my teen wolf fanart.

look at some of my dees:

there are some similarities, some details i add every time, but i'm not worried about making my drawings appear consistent. i also wasn't worried about making her look exactly like kaitlin olson in any of these.

however, in these drawings i did want dee to look more like the real person behind the character. even still, they're stylized totally differently. it's a balance! how many features of the actor do you want to factor in, how much do you just want to do your own thing? like, now i've drawn dee so many times and in so many different ways, i feel like i have My Own Dee. she's got kaitlin's big eyes and blonde hair, but i don't really know what else. and that's fine!

in summary: look at a lot of references, sketch a bunch, accentuate the unique features, add some character personality, do your own thing.

[libetsdelae]

They’re friends

[libetsdelae]

Another one

[kittyscabin]

transfem Jax wearing a kimono

i really need to stop taking requests and running with them so much because this was supposed to be a quick one LOL

gangle ended up here too, because what else can you expect from me

[the-haiku-bot]

gangle ended up

here too, because what else can

you expect from me

Beep boop! I look for accidental haiku posts. Sometimes I mess up.

[tpwrtrmnky]

It's really quite bizarre how much work in trans healthcare bases itself on the idea that a patient who deliberately seeks out the Penis Removal Doctor and says "Yes, Penis Removal Doctor, I am certain that I would like to have my penis removed" might be lying to the Penis Removal Doctor, so that they can have their penis removed without actually wanting that.

[tpwrtrmnky]

Fun fact: The vast majority of people who have a penis are terrified of losing their penis. There is a whole cultural Thing about that, and deliberately going to the Penis Removal Doctor in the first place is a strong indicator of wanting to end up without a penis.

[nn-ee-zz]

The passage of the seasons - Spring defeating Winter

Inspired by a short story in which Spring is embodied by a bring who faces winter and demands every living thing to awaken and fight to conquer a place on earth

[taacck]

picnic time

[hoaxghost]

Redesigning a character for FC: Prince Renatus! A lover of fine fabric and boundless luxury

[kymcat]

the economy is in shambles…i don’t know

[pixelatedbugs]

would you rather have one cigarette for 5 dollars or 500 cigarettes for 5 dollars

[vioyume]

Two au ideas:

1. Silksong but Hornet brings Grimmchild with her for some reason.

2. Silksong but Hornet finds a vessel living a content life in Pharloom.

[druid-for-hire]

Really liked this moment in Silksong. Possibly my favorite part of Act 2 :-)

Also an experiment in painting and going lineless. Pretty proud of it!

Original sketch below.

[publiccmenace]

which of these things does NOT happen in hit indie game Hollow Knight: Silksong?

The protagonist gets an abortion

A beloved side character goes to Bloodborne's Old Hunters DLC and dies badly

The protagonist enters a one-sided D/s relationship

The protagonist performs heart surgery at least three times

There is an elaborate Phantom of the Opera homage

The protagonist attends the funeral of a beloved side character's mother figure

A beloved side character has a crisis of faith after reaching the bug Vatican

The protagonist meets, recognizes, and is ignored by a herald of the apocalypse

The protagonist takes a nap

The protagonist experiences pollen allergies

The protagonist goes to the zoo

The protagonist helps introduce blue mint to an ecoystem and it gets out of hand

Voting ended onJan 9

survive my gauntlet.

[palesiblingszine]

The Pale Siblings Zine

cover art by @bluequillss

The Pale Siblings Zine is complete! Featuring the works of several artists and writers, this zine explores the sibling relationships of the Vessels, Hornet, and the several other Void creatures we see in-game, like the Collector or Kingsmoulds.

You can find the zine on Google Drive.

[bluequillss]

YAY ITS OUT