Quartervirus

The Artist Formerly Known As SAK (#sakart)

[quartervirus]

💥COMING THIS SATURDAY TO A TWITCH STREAM NEAR YOU!!💥

This Saturday (23rd May 13:30 UTC+2 (CEST)) @lizcreedart and I are going TOE TO TOE, HEAD TO HEAD, WOMANO A WOMANO and doing a JOINT STREAM!

I'll give her one of my skinny twinks, she'll give me one of her beefy beefcakes - NEITHER of us knows exactly WHO or WHAT we're drawing until we start! What could possibly go wrong?!

Hopefully everything. It promises to be a chaotic afternoon of mayhem and madness and we hope to see you there!

Watch this video on Twitch Live

Watch this video on Twitch Live

[quartervirus]

3 hours to go!!! Hope to see you there!!

[quartervirus]

💥COMING THIS SATURDAY TO A TWITCH STREAM NEAR YOU!!💥

This Saturday (23rd May 13:30 UTC+2 (CEST)) @lizcreedart and I are going TOE TO TOE, HEAD TO HEAD, WOMANO A WOMANO and doing a JOINT STREAM!

I'll give her one of my skinny twinks, she'll give me one of her beefy beefcakes - NEITHER of us knows exactly WHO or WHAT we're drawing until we start! What could possibly go wrong?!

Hopefully everything. It promises to be a chaotic afternoon of mayhem and madness and we hope to see you there!

Watch this video on Twitch Live

Watch this video on Twitch Live

[quartervirus]

No livestream today, folks. After all the shrieking and screaming yesterday my throat needs a day to recover before doing it all over again Sat!

Thanks to everyone for an absolutely UNHINGED and wonderful time!

Today will be spent updating www.patreon.com/quartervirus ... We have a NSFW tier now, for those interested ...

[quartervirus]

💥COMING THIS SATURDAY TO A TWITCH STREAM NEAR YOU!!💥

This Saturday (23rd May 13:30 UTC+2 (CEST)) @lizcreedart and I are going TOE TO TOE, HEAD TO HEAD, WOMANO A WOMANO and doing a JOINT STREAM!

I'll give her one of my skinny twinks, she'll give me one of her beefy beefcakes - NEITHER of us knows exactly WHO or WHAT we're drawing until we start! What could possibly go wrong?!

Hopefully everything. It promises to be a chaotic afternoon of mayhem and madness and we hope to see you there!

Watch this video on Twitch Live

Watch this video on Twitch Live

[lizcreedart]

IT FINNA BE MORTAL KOMBAT - IM GETTIN DAT ASS

[quartervirus]

YOU GONNA BE GETTIN' THE SKINNIEST ASS - NO ASS LEFT TO DRAW

I'M GONNA TORTURE YOU!!!

[quartervirus]

💥COMING THIS SATURDAY TO A TWITCH STREAM NEAR YOU!!💥

This Saturday (23rd May 13:30 UTC+2 (CEST)) @lizcreedart and I are going TOE TO TOE, HEAD TO HEAD, WOMANO A WOMANO and doing a JOINT STREAM!

I'll give her one of my skinny twinks, she'll give me one of her beefy beefcakes - NEITHER of us knows exactly WHO or WHAT we're drawing until we start! What could possibly go wrong?!

Hopefully everything. It promises to be a chaotic afternoon of mayhem and madness and we hope to see you there!

Watch this video on Twitch Live

Watch this video on Twitch Live

[shoomlah]

how do you consistently draw the same character without it looking weird or off every different time?? also how do i coordinate faces, i always make the eyes too far apart or too big or too small or make the mouth too close to the nose or chin edge. If you have any advice I'd really appreciate it since it looks like you have your art shit figured out 🙏

Oh man SO so much of it is just practice, and you're not alone! I honestly think everyone struggles with a sort of "generification" of their characters' features the more they draw them, even seasoned professionals. There's a tendency to just sort of average everything out into an unrecognizable mush over time, and it takes a lot of conscious effort to push back against that.

Here are a couple tips and tricks that I've found to be helpful over the years:

Make turnarounds and model sheets. There's a reason animation/game studios do this, and it is because we are all still bad at drawing a consistent face. Despite being gainfully employed. What are we, graphic novelists?? We wish. Anyway it's a great way to familiarize yourself with your character's face from multiple angles, and it gives you a single source of truth to return to anytime you need a refresher:

Gather real-life reference. Anytime I'm designing a character I'm pulling together a ton of reference of actual people who look, to some degree, like the character in my head. It's always a collection of analogues, never just a single person, but it can be a great cheat sheet for understanding how your character might move, emote, etc:

Make a 3D model. I know it seems daunting, but with the advent of programs like Blender and Nomad Sculpt it's becoming remarkably more accessible. Heck, even James Gurney was sculpting maquettes out of clay for Dinotopia back in the day! It doesn't have to be particularly detailed—just a sort of proportionate lump will do—but it's another great way to have dynamic reference that you can rotate and light accordingly:

Practice, practice, practice. Make expression sheets for your character! Either right there on the spot, just start drawin' expressions, or you can slowly collect drawings of your character that you like, as you draw them, and compile them all in one place for your own reference. Need to draw your character's head from a weird angle? Maybe you've already drawn it before and you can copy your own homework! Doesn't count as stealing when the call's coming from inside the house 😎

I'd love to pretend there's a magical point where you can just immediately rotate your character's head in your brain like some sort of photorealistic apple in a twitter meme, but a lot of the time it's reference, hard work, and whole lotta repetition. 😐👍🏼

[ains-art]

He's waving hello to you

.... or maybe he's getting ready to take off

[gelly-art]

Some innocent Tav-on-Tav action in between me drawing not-so-innocent stuff. Zumara giving @quartervirus's Jaris a lil' smooch after they finally start to get along.

[quartervirus]

Careful Zumara, that's how you get cooties.

[thegarbagechute]

The canonical height difference between Az and Laz (@quartervirus).

[quartervirus]

Where is the lie?

[quartervirus]

Could I pester you for who you got your veneers done by? 🥺 I have veneers because my teeth were trash to begin with, and my dentist then wouldnt do this for me. But Id still LOVE to do this, and ypurs look GREAT

I am located in Sweden so I don't know how helpful my advice will be, but I went to a practice called Aqua Dental. You may have more success looking for other cosmetic/prosthetic dentists in your area.

It's unfortunate that your dentist was unwilling to do fangs, but I understand their reluctance. As a rule they are not allowed to "harm" their patients, and these types of cosmetics risk damaging your gums, lower teeth, or altering your smile if the fangs interfere with your other teeth.

I lucked out in that the orthodontist failed to "fix" my slight overbite, which gives me about 0.5 cms (5 mms) to play with before I risk hitting my gums.

I hope you're able to find a dentist willing to help out and best of luck with your new fangs!

[quartervirus]

On This All Hallow's Eve

Cara Carini is one of those characters that's been stuck in my head for SUCH a long time. It felt SO GOOD to finally put her to paper!

That said, if I never have to render a veil again, it will be too soon.

Unfortunately, as with most of my characters, Cara came complete with a backstory I'm itching to illustrate one day, so it's all but assured I'll have to draw that veil again.

I can regret my elaborate design choices later ... for now

👻🎃👻Happy Halloween!!🎃👻🎃

Neopets.Com - Virtual Pet Community! Join up for free games, shops, auctions, chat and more!

[quartervirus]

🦇👻🎃 HAPPY HALLOWEEEEEEEENNNN 🎃👻🦇

Halloween really snuck up on me this year. I intended to upload old, vaguely-thematic art throughout the month, then Life Happened and suddenly it was October 31st.

Here's my last-minute fit thrown together from what I had lying around for the company party I didn't know was happening until I walked into the studio on the day to find it done up like a Haunted House!

It's a lot of straps and chains and I definitely have a terrible allergic reaction now, but it was worth it.

I can also finally show off my NEW, TOTALLY PERMANENT VAMPIRE VENEERS!!!

I was 12 when I watched Interview With A Vampire for the first time and I've wanted fangs of my own ever since.

I am now 33.

I'd say 20 years is long enough to safely say it is no longer "just a phase", mom.

Of course, now that I have them and have gotten used to them, I'm already thinking about getting them longer ... and mORe ...

For anyone interested in details or are considering permanent fangs of their own:

These are ceramic veneers capping my existing teeth. There was no filing, extracting, or damage done to the original teeth. If I change my mind and want them removed at some point, it will be possible to remove them without issue using the old scans and X-rays as reference.

Most dentists may not agree to the procedure for personal or legal reasons. I had to really shop around to find these, which is largely why it took me so long to get them done. I finally found a dental practice specialising in cosmetics and prosthetics.

From there it was a simple matter of consulting with a dentist, taking a 3D scan of my teeth (upper, lower, biting), and sending them to the lab. The specialists mocked up a design which I tweaked until we got it looking just right, and barely two weeks later they were ready to pop in. It was so fast!

My dentist was so sweet and lovely and so excited to have such an unusual request. It turns out I'm not even the first person to ask for vampire fangs ... He and the lab made sure to brief me on the pros and cons and potential side effects, but were ultimately very happy to accommodate me.

I've had them for almost three weeks now. Talking was no issue, but I wore pop-ins throughout high school so I had some practice with more cumbersome teeth. It took a little longer to get used to how the fangs felt in my mouth, and I definitely startled myself a few times in the mirror.

Eating, however ... It didn't even occur to me until I was staring down a plate of food that it's not exactly a thing vampires are known for.

We're mostly fine now.

Spoons are sometimes an issue.

I am psyched and very happy with the veneers and 11/10 would get them again. Of course, now that I've gotten used to this bite, I'm already suffering "teeth envy" and considering future alterations ...

💀⚰️🦇 Happy Halloween, little batlings 🦇⚰️💀

[quartervirus]

Damned If I Do

I've got a cocktail of issues, but at least now you know how to summon me. 👿

Speaking of life kicking you while you're down, this year has been a continuous fight against stress, anxiety, lethargy, exhaustion ... my body issues hit new lows; on bad days I sequester myself indoors, on worse days I have terrible thoughts I'd hoped to have moved on from.

I beat myself up if I'm not banging out art EVERY. DAMN. DAY. Which doesn't lend itself to creativity so much as dooms oneself to a self-fulfilling spiral of failure, frustration, and further art block.

Thankfully, I had the extreme luck of finding a very good therapist who has been instrumental in overcoming even the smallest of hurdles, and yet they seem like mountains to me. For the first time in what feels like forever something finally shook loose and I was able to sit down, make art, and actually enjoy the process again regardless what the final product became.

It was a challenging bullet to bite – getting past my body image crap long enough to crank out a self portrait – but as ever I deal with shitty things by poking fun at them. Life sucks enough without adding my damage to the mix.

[quartervirus]

Oh no it's Halloween and I don't have any new art queued up uHHHHHH is this is thematic enough

Happy Pumpkin Day, my fellow bats 🎃👻🦇

[quartervirus]

Antidote

Between a full time job, contract work, and day-to-day obligations personal art has taken a real nosedive this year. Add to that @gelly-art gifting me Baldur's Gate for Christmas and you have a recipe for disappearing me straight into the void.

Or up into the Nautiloid, as it were.

But after months chipping away at the game between back-to-back NDAs, utterly failing to maintain any sort of personal routine in favour of sitting at my computer, and over 400+ hours of gameplay later, I can proudly say I have finally finished just ONE full playthrough!💀

I definitely did not see that ending coming – and outright missed a Certain Big Reveal until Gelly yelled at me to roll back (of which I am very grateful. You were right, it was worth finding, thank you for that) – but I had a TON of fun! I am already well into my second playthrough, but as I am still discovering new options, alternative endings, and even some areas I missed the first time around –

SSHHHPTHTHHSHHTT! NO SPOILERS!!

NONE!!

SHUT!!

I can't wait to bombard you all with BG3 related art and comics that have been gnawing away at the back of my brain, but until such a time as I can draw them, here's a quickie I whipped up to get back into arting after so long.

[quartervirus]

I realised belatedly that only Patrons have seen my Tav and even fewer would remember this character. The blue squid is not Blurg or anyone else, it's my Tav after I ceremorphosed ... ceremorphosised ... cere–??

After I squidded him.

⚔ Jaris Valdir – Mephistopheles Tiefling and Rogue ⚔

I look forward to drawing comics about his ridiculous run so I can share the chaos of my first BG3 experience. In the end I'd like to think it wasn't bugged cutscenes that made certain characters get along with Jaris so well but that he is, in fact, just THAT charismatic.

[quartervirus]

Quartervirus' UC Neopets: 🦇 DARIGAN Edition 🦇

It's long overdue, ugly as hell, and the code so basic even Web 1.0 is shaking its head, but after sitting on them for months I have FINALLY uploaded my Darigan Neopet Redesigns to

Dregnost the Krawk's PetPage!

The restoration of old, unconverted art via NCUCs has made all my 12-year-old Dreamies come true and I will be singing TNT's praises forever for that. However, there are still so many Paint Brushes out there and many more designs that feel uninspired to me.

I have been playing Neopets virtually nonstop since 2003 and credit the site for turning me onto art and the games industry as a career. It has been instrumental in my development as an artist and whetted my appetite for creativity and storytelling, and it has been an honour to work with them in an official capacity this year, and so much fun trying my hand at adapting the art I thought could use improving with these redraws.

If you like these designs, please feel free to share them (with proper links and credit) on the Neoboards or appropriate, official channels! Who knows, maybe if we get enough eyes on them TNT might make one or two of these official!

Or better yet, hire me for the job!

I'll draw your Neopets for you!!

If there are any fellow Neopians out there, feel free to drop me a Neomail or send a Neofriend request! But please do tell me who you are so I know who I'm adding.

* * * Neopets Main * Darigan Redesigns * * *

[quartervirus]

For those curious, here they are side-by-side their original designs:

These aren't nearly all the designs – or even the only Paint Brush – I hope to tackle. Hopefully I'll continue having fun with these and can share more ideas soon!

[quartervirus]

Quartervirus' UC Neopets: 🦇 DARIGAN Edition 🦇

It's long overdue, ugly as hell, and the code so basic even Web 1.0 is shaking its head, but after sitting on them for months I have FINALLY uploaded my Darigan Neopet Redesigns to

Dregnost the Krawk's PetPage!

The restoration of old, unconverted art via NCUCs has made all my 12-year-old Dreamies come true and I will be singing TNT's praises forever for that. However, there are still so many Paint Brushes out there and many more designs that feel uninspired to me.

I have been playing Neopets virtually nonstop since 2003 and credit the site for turning me onto art and the games industry as a career. It has been instrumental in my development as an artist and whetted my appetite for creativity and storytelling, and it has been an honour to work with them in an official capacity this year, and so much fun trying my hand at adapting the art I thought could use improving with these redraws.

If you like these designs, please feel free to share them (with proper links and credit) on the Neoboards or appropriate, official channels! Who knows, maybe if we get enough eyes on them TNT might make one or two of these official!

Or better yet, hire me for the job!

I'll draw your Neopets for you!!

If there are any fellow Neopians out there, feel free to drop me a Neomail or send a Neofriend request! But please do tell me who you are so I know who I'm adding.

* * * Neopets Main * Darigan Redesigns * * *

[quartervirus]

In collaboration with @upperdeck-blog, Neopets' new trading card game is out and available in stores now!

⭐The NEOPETS BATTLEDOME TCG⭐

I had the incredible opportunity to be part of this amazing project from Neopets and Upper Deck! It has been a truly surreal experience working alongside so many talented artists I have looked up to and admired for years, and an absolute joy to work on. I'm not sure will ever be able to properly express how much it means to be a part of this collaboration, and to see my art featured alongside theirs.

Upper Deck were even so sweet and kind and sent us all personalised boxes with first edition sets and prints of our individual cards!!

I have been playing Neopets virtually nonstop since 2003 and credit the site for turning me onto art and the games industry as a career. It has been instrumental in my development as an artist and whetted my appetite for creativity and storytelling, and it has been an honour to work with them in an official capacity this year. It feels like the culmination of all my childhood dreams, 12-year-old me would have died and gone to heaven if she knew she of this experience 20 years later.

I sincerely hope everyone who picked up a copy loves playing the game as much as I have loved making it, and enjoys all the incredible art my fellow creators and I worked so hard on. I had a ton of fun drawing so many classic characters from my youth, and look forward to future opportunities to do so!

Thank you to everyone who made this possible! Thank you to Upper Deck and their liasons, who worked tirelessly to keep the machine moving smoothly between so many artists across so many countries. Thank you to the fans for their support, to the loving community who has held Neopets in their hearts for so long, and of course, thank you to all of you for sticking around being so patient, especially when life, commissions, and frequent mental health oopsies take priority 💙

Happy gaming, and I'll see you in Neopia!

[quartervirus]

Kiss Me Like You Hate Me

I didn't plan on Ophelia's public debut to involve her getting it awnnn, but here we are. 🔥

Surprising absolutely no-one, running with these pack of ingrates as a Priestess of Selûne gets you some funny dialogue, not least where Shadowheart is concerned.

It turns out there was a bugged cutscene meant to play after gifting Shadowheart the Idol of Shar, but it didn't work for me. I haven't been back to see it myself yet, wanting to draw what I imagined actually happened before I knew what I was missing. It's basically just lots of passionate angry-snogging.

Get it out of your system, girls.

There's a larger backstory between Ophelia and Shadowheart I hope to draw one day involving the childhood she forgot, but until such time as I get around to it, I hope you'll accept this humble offering of The Disaster Goths instead.