My Therapists Recommendation

My therapist said this might be a good idea (giszmo, any pronouns)

[stariteart]

🏳️‍⚧️ TRANSGENDER DAY OF VISIBILITY 🏳️‍⚧️

DON'T LET THE BASTARDS GET YOU DOWN

[thats-a-cat]

that's a cat ✅️

[oobbbear]

[robogrind]

drawings are secretly the enemy because they start off very nice and unassuming but then when they're about 80% done they start emanating a malevolent aura that makes finishing them the scariest activity you can imagine

[beanswithbones]

reblog the art you like good fucking god reblog the fucking art you like or leave a fucking comment I'm going to lose my mind at these fucking ratios

[beanswithbones]

okay coming back to show what i mean, these are the rations on some fucking fantastic Iron Lung fanart, some good fucking shit and It pisses me off IT PISSES ME OFF

[beanswithbones]

"don't take away our reblogs we love them!!"

No you don't. Or at least not with art you don't.

[backfliips]

A lot of people on twitter wanted me to explain how I draw expressions, so here you go

Unless you're drawing explicit realism, in my opinion, expressions should be exaggerated to some degree. If you aren't doing a 1:1 recreation, the point is to get the FEELING across. Try making the expression you want to draw and feeling how your face pinches and stretches.

Skin doesn't just "disappear" when your face moves it around --- that's where wrinkles come from! Pay attention to where your skin creases when you emote, and use it to your benefit. It's a fine line between overdoing it and underdoing it -- find your own balance.

Ultimately, every expression has a little bit of push and pull, unless your face is completely neutral (and even then, there are still some wrinkles...). Learning to think of expressions as actions and reactions is VERY helpful in learning to draw them without needing a reference, and in learning how to stylize and push expressions based on references as well!

I think a lot of people end up with stiff or unexpressive emotions in their art because they're just trying to recreate a picture instead of understanding WHY and HOW the face is moving --- and it's a tough thing that takes a while to really pick up and learn. Hopefully is helpful in showing a way of thinking about it that can influence your process and approach to emotions!!!

Also, bonus: even without the lines, the planes alone still show a LOT of emotion.

[knighthearts]

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

[knighthearts]

for those of u asking for the vid!

[thickness-protection-program]

So I'm not gonna post too many updates on this one bc I want the final result to be mostly a surprise, but for those asking to see progress pics, this is about an hour of blending and layering. Sure I could speed it up and press a little harder to get the color out faster, but a smooth seamless blend takes time. And if you work in light layers you can catch mistakes in your coloring earlier and fix them before it's too late.

Right now the face is under construction with me gradually mapping out the values of the shadows and then using multiple pencils to mix into a good skin tone. Important to remember though you can get away with not an exact color match to the reference, but if your values are not correct and your shadows and highlights are only two shades apart your pictures will always be stuck in Flat Stanleyville.

[thickness-protection-program]

A good trick to see if you're on the right track with your values while using color is to take a picture of your work and make it black and white. I'm still not close to finishing the face but here you can tell my highlights and mid tones are almost identical, so I need to work on differentiating them, while also making my shadows POP more bc some of them are blending with the mid tones too. Then once you lay down all the other darkest parts of the face like the eyebrows and facial hair that's when a recognizable face REALLY comes together. Drawing a face honestly is a lot like putting together a puzzle

[thickness-protection-program]

The eyes are usually the very first part of the drawing that I completely finish, bc I just feel like it centers the rest of the drawing, and if I ever get stuck on what to do next I just work from the eye outward. I'm working a little out of my usual order though as I've already mostly finished the lips when I normally do them very last. Now that I've mapped out where all the general colors and shades go, this is now the start of the burnishing phase, the phase where you press harder on the pencil to get full color payout. Burnishing is not necessary for every colored pencil artist/drawing, but for me is a must since full vivid color is my bread n butter and I don't like the white grain of the paper showing that much. But if you like that look then around this stage you're good! This is also the slowest part of the process since you're still color mixing while burnishing, and you can easily mess up your values during this stage, so it's very important to be patient. You can erase colored pencil while in light layers but once you burnish it's incredibly hard to erase and flattens the tooth of the paper, to the point I simply wouldn't recommend erasing after burnishing otherwise risk ruining your drawing

[thickness-protection-program]

Burnished areas vs unburnished areas. See the difference?

[thickness-protection-program]

Finished the face! There's a clear distinction between the shadows and highlights, the blends are blending, and I'm honestly SO happy with the proportions apart from the ever so slight crimson chin jaw I gave myself lol. The sharpest highlights, the highlights that give a drawing a POW factor, such as glare in the eyes or hair won't be done until the very last step since that requires using some kind of pen. I might do one update after I finish the neck and maybe one last update when I start the hat. I want the finished thing to be mostly a surprise but I will still take progress pics and maybe post them after if anyone is interested. Btw the face alone used about 70 different pencils to various degrees

[thickness-protection-program]

Finally finished all the skin! The skin is normally the hardest part of the drawing for me, so after finishing that the rest of the drawing is smooth sailing albeit still time consuming. But just WAIT til I add a dark background to this bc the whole face is gonna POP right off the paper

[thickness-protection-program]

Final update. I gave the background an india ink wash bc I deadass don't feel like burnishing the entire background, but I do plan on going over it in pencil later. And I finished the blue part of the headscarf to put my floating head into context. I still have SO much left to do and I'm at the point of the artistic journey where I just want this to be done now so I can see the final result but the only way out is throughhh

[estro-boi]

Please make art. You don't have to bare your soul or make a masterpiece, you can be silly and you can be derivative if you want. You don't even have to show it to anyone. Just please make something, it's so good for you

[lakemojave]

It really helps to not be picky about what art you engage with actually. Gotta mix up your diet a bit from time to time

[lakemojave]

If you find you're bored of the folk punk you always listen to, try out a rap album. If you only ever watch classic cinema or more grounded art films, check out a fast and furious movie or something. Or try reading a book if you only ever consume film or tv. Or comics. Or go to an art museum. You may not like whatever it is you try out, and I promise you don't have to like it, but I can guarantee that you can't subsist on a monoculture. Be open to experiencing new art. Even if it's bad. Especially if it's bad, actually.

[teomodo]

art books on the internet archive for you

morpho books

figure drawing for all it's worth (+ creative illustration)

framed ink

will eisner comics and sequential art

will eisner graphic storytelling and visual narrative

understanding comics (+ making comics)

folder of various animation production art

burne hogarth drawing dynamic hands

perspective for comic book artists

michael mattesi force drawing

the animator's survival kit

color and light james gurney

be free

[bedupolker]

I've recommended this one before, but for all the non-human vertebrate likers out there... the art of animal drawing

[surprisebitch]

X/Twitter might have actually hit the final nail in the coffin this time. It's no longer a safe space for artists to post art.

I urge you if you know any artists from there, encourage them to make a Tumblr account and post their artworks here!

[cesiscribbles]

If you are still on that hell site, RUN.

[bornt-urnge]

Felt this was important to add (from @humblegoat)

[clevermanka]

🍁 Xavier 🍁 (@xavierck.com)

Here are 543 images (1.5GB) of items at the Philadelphia Museum of Art arms and armor exhibit You're free to use them for anything, even c

[the-ocean-is-trans]

casual reminder that this museum has their entire collection digitized and available free for public use: https://art.thewalters.org/ and they have armor/weapons there

[ecultured]

eartha kitt photographed by carl van vechten, 1954

[ad-wills]

[shencomix]

"oooo i'd draw that but i can't draw"

brother get this through your head

NOBODY can draw

we are literally

ALL

BULLSHITTING

[lemonemenom]

No one owes artists anything.

But existence is lonely and sometime you throw hours and hours of effort into a void, on the slim chance it will say something back.

[clinical-space-podcast]

Reblog if your art project has not, does not, and never will make use of generative ai at any point in your creative process.