gonna show u guys a little opalescent highlight hack i threw together today
rainbow gradient above your main figure (i usually have all my main figure folders/layers in one big folder, so i can clip gradient maps + adjustments to it!). liquify tool to push the colors around a bit. STAY WITH ME I KNOW IT LOOKS STUPID RN I'M GOING SOMEWHERE WITH THIS
THEN: set it to add/glow (or the equivalent in ur drawing program), lower the opacity a bit, and apply a layer mask. then u can edit the mask with whatever tools you like to create rainbow highlights!!
in this case i'm mostly using the lasso fill tool to chip out little facets, but i've also done some soft airbrushing to bring in larger rainbow swirls in some areas. it's pretty subtle here, but you can see it better when i remove the gradient map that's above everything, since below i'm working in greyscale:
more granular rambling beneath the cut!
u could also just do this with a brush that has color jitter, but what i like about using layer masks for highlight/shading layers is how simple and reversible it makes everything. i can use whatever brushes i want, and erasing/redoing things is super low stakes, which is great when i often approach this stuff with a super trial-and-error approach.
example: have u ever thrown a gradient w multiple colors over an entire piece, set it to multiply etc, and then tried to erase it away to carve out shadows/highlights? it's super frustrating, bc it looks really good, but if u erase something and then change ur mind later, u basically would have to like. recreate the gradient in the area u want to cover up again. that's how i used to do things before figuring out layer masks!! but masking basically creates a version of this with INFINITE undo bc u can erase/re-place the base layer whenever u want.
anyway, back to rambling about this specific method:
i actually have TWO of these layers on this piece (one with the liquified swirls shown above, and another that's just a normal concentric circle gradient with much broader stripes) so i can vary the highlights easily as needed.
since i've basically hidden the rainbow pattern from myself, the colors in each brushstroke i make will kind of be a surprise, which isn't always great -- but easily fixable! for example, if i carve out a highlight and it turns out the rainbow pattern in that area is way too stripey, i can just switch from editing the mask to editing the main layer and blur that spot a bit.
also, this isn't a full explanation of the overall transparency effect in these screencaps! there's other layer stuff happening below the rainbow highlights, but the short version is i have all this character's body parts in different folders, each with their own lineart and background fill, and then the fill opacity is lowered and there's multiply layers clipped to that -- blah blah it's a whole thing. maybe i'll have a whole rundown on this on patreon later. uhhh i think that's it tho! i hope u get something useful out of this extremely specific thing i did lmao
i watched one (1) video on how to draw hands that changed my life forever. like. i can suddenly draw hands again
these were all drawn without reference btw. i can just. Understand Hands now (for the most part, im sure theres definitely inaccuracies). im a little baffled
I've been resource gathering for YEARS so now I am going to share my dragons hoard
Floorplanner. Design and furnish a house for you to use for having a consistent background in your comic or anything! Free, you need an account, easy to use, and you can save multiple houses.
Comparing Heights. Input the heights of characters to see what the different is between them. Great for keeping consistency. Free.
Magma. Draw online with friends in real time. Great for practice or hanging out. Free, paid plan available, account preferred.
Smithsonian Open Access. Loads of free images. Free.
SketchDaily. Lots of pose references, massive library, is set on a timer so you can practice quick figure drawing. Free.
SculptGL. A sculpting tool which I am yet to master, but you should be able to make whatever 3d object you like with it. free.
Pexels. Free stock images. And the search engine is actually pretty good at pulling up what you want.
Figurosity. Great pose references, diverse body types, lots of "how to draw" videos directly on the site, the models are 3d and you can rotate the angle, but you can't make custom poses or edit body proportions. Free, account option, paid plans available.
Line of Action. More drawing references, this one also has a focus on expressions, hands/feet, animals, landscapes. Free.
Animal Photo. You pose a 3d skull model and select an animal species, and they give you a bunch of photo references for that animal at that angle. Super handy. Free.
Height Weight Chart. You ever see an OC listed as having a certain weight but then they look Wildly different than the number suggests? Well here's a site to avoid that! It shows real people at different weights and heights to give you a better idea of what these abstract numbers all look like. Free to use.
People often say to me: “You draw like some kind of inhuman machine. If I eat your brain, will I gain your power?” The answer is yes, but there is another way.
The key to precise drawing is building up muscle memory so that your arm/hand/fingers do the things you want them to do when you want them to do them. Teaching yourself to draw a straight line or to make sweet curves is just a matter of practice and there are some exercises you can do to help improve.
If you’re going to be doodling in class or during meetings anyway, why not put that time to good use?
This is so important to mention to all artists. The reason PRACTISE improves drawing ability over time is it increases the literal, technical movement in your hands and arms through /muscle memory/.
THIS IS VERY GOOD, to all the people that like my lines. I do similar but less constructed doodles like these in my sketchbook all the time, it basically just teaches your hand how to move
In an effort to replace my pc wallpapers with my own art (rather than someone else’s); I figured it was time to throw my OC’s into a fake dating sim/visual novel
I use OC as a loose term - realistically they are the product of IFS Therapy - but potato potato
So to start with, as always, is Bella - the resident siren; she’s not bad is she? just drawn that way
High Mage Spicata Aurantifolia, Heir to the Fructerran House Citron and Envoy of Rotgarden
Mojito Wizard (Necromancy) - Level 5
Who by fire, who by water, and who by the smell of rot and mint?
Death is an old song and Spicata has heard it’s lullaby all her life. Inconspicuous at first, unnoticed by a child of Mellowmel Meadows. She was the heir to Fructerra’s rising Arcane Metropolis. A rising wizard of high esteem.
Life was the melody she sung but marked as deep by fate, death was close behind.
The night of Mentos Mori stole so much from her; family, home, country. She fled with the refugees into the welcoming arms of Candia and, due to her Candian Mother, was given the title of High mage and Rotgarden Envoy beside a place at court. She was 15.
Candian Court was an adjustment; hedonism and strategy side by side. The King and Queen were likewise themselves children but, the King especially, held a drive Spicata could not share. They handed her responsibility for magic beyond her ability and a child beside, Lady Cassandra-Anassa, to be her apprentice. Her ward, over the crowns.
But she was not entirely soiled by the tragedy; it kissed her with a gift. She was transformed by the rot and ruin into a necromancer, flourishing with the soft-mint of one who plays with the cycles of nature.
Her abilities were tested, by herself and the crown, beyond a breaking point - a triumph and a failure that ever-marked a point of relentless progress. Spicata, with Lady Cass to teach, would devote the rest of her life fighting to get back to that moment of brilliant hubris.
But with so much lost, and the pride of one who sees death as merely a temporary set back, what else will she sacrifice to finally come home?
Whisperer Adalwolf Salzlakritz, The White Wolf of Court
Licorice Rogue (Inquisitive) - Level 5
Those with nothing to hide have nothing to fear - so why are we all afraid?
Just beyond the borders of Gumbia rests the twin regions of Cane and Maple. The latter is named for the rocky mountainous wild-woods of maple root that house the Malic-Morass; the former is for the labyrinthine Underdark of the Candy Cane mining ports that carve the mountain out from below.
Port Bon-bon of the infamous massacre, The Bon-Bomb Banquet, is part of this region, but its ill-fitting crown is Salzlakritz. It is by far the rowdiest of its kind - a lawless sort of place where state-power battles with resident authority to create a haven of misadventure. But it is prosperous and a master of the trade.
For that reason, their Noble house of the same name is often forgotten. A licorice family of nobodies who fail to control their populace but are always sending their taxes on time. Irrelevant to all but the economy.
Until Adalwolf, that is. Adalwolf was smart and strategic. Adalwolf was raised by a guiding hand towards the purest form of currency; secrets.
He, like Lady Hazel, waltzed into Castle Candy at it’s hour of need with a charming air and wolfish grin. It didn’t take long for him to snake his way into the court, hypnotic in his ability to lull the deepest secrets from everyone, no matter the stature.
The greatest secret he discovered, however, was the love inspired by Queen Rain-Beau. He fell for her, hard - and their secret flourished inside the castle. A love to be shared in their home but traitorous should anyone outside the castle walls discover it.
It is the nature of mortals to lie and shield their truths, for the sake of self protection. But as the Spymaster of Candia, Adalwolf knows more than most how some are kept for the protection of others.
When all the secrets erupts from within him like a tempest, what destruction will be left in the Wolf’s wake?
Honour and Duty are bound to Knighthood as is sacrifice. No one thinks about the survivors guilt.
Sir Mor is... was a King’s Knight. Has always been The King’s Knight. Mor was raised to forgo the life of their title and hunt for war instead. Even as a child they was a brutal fighter but good-hearted, which earned them a position right beside the Prince Scotch, having recently returned from his fated Sugarplum Fairy-tale. They shared their youth and before long were not to be parted.
Not by title, grief, or stately marriages. And yet, by death, they were.
Mentos Mori is a night Sir Mor cannot remember. Try and try and try as they might, only flashes remain. Nightmares of a fevered King Scotch demanding the guard ride off in the middle of the night - screams - blood - a foul smell. Then yearning.Yearning is the most unnerving.
People say Sir Mor was brought to court a blank slate found wandering, an amnesiac five years after the catastrophe. Others say they were in hiding; A rare few say they sold their soul to the Sugarplum Fairy to survive, but many are too scared to agree.They do serve, though, as her soldier as true as the Crowns. Tenuous as their relationship may be.
Sir Mor’s life now is stunted as a knight of war in a time of peace and ruined by their daily duty of royal babysitting for their True King’s baby brother. Their old life is gone. Their King is gone. Honour is sunk under the crushing weight of so much humiliation and loss.
If hope dies along with those we love, is there any chance of redemption after death?
Lady Hazel Hydnell, Heir to the Candy Mountain Druids and Lady-in-Waiting to the Queen
Mint Pirouette Druid (Circle of the Hungry) - Level 5
There is nothing in nature more bloodthirsty than a bored royal court; it takes a beast to muzzle it
The Druid Circle of the Hungry are the feral ones, the ancient custodians of the brutal lands high in the candy mountains. They are of the old ways with a disdain for modernity no rules bar the most primal. Eat or be Eaten.
Or at least, they were. Rumors lingered some years ago of a meeting with a pilgrim, a traveler, who sought their wisdom and saw it’s value. In a move that shocked Candia to it’s core, the apocalyptic protectors reached out in a time of need and produced their heir for the court’s use. Lady Hazel Hydnell.
A woman both well-mannered and wild - she stalked through the sea of nobility and barked; ever the born predictor controlling a flock of prattling prey. The Queen saw her for a sister and the pair became inseparable. Cohabiting, codependent, bonded to their very cores. As Lady-in-Waiting, and Queen in all but name, she was the perfect balm to the aches left by King Kalle’s decent into madness.
But there is always more depth to those whose wolfish soul was born to hunger. She is an heir, still, to a secretive and secluded circle of druids. A family of lunatics and a ravenous pack embracing true natural destruction, or so they say.
When the tides call for violence, what will drip from her teeth... blood or water?
