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@redridingheart
Hiiii!!! I just wanted to say how much I love the way you draw Tamarack in Our life N&F! As a bigger girl myself it makes me so happy to see a character like me drawn to be so pretty 🥺💞
I appreciate the kind words, thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoy Tamarack since I really enjoy drawing her too!
I hope you've been enjoying Artfight so far! I'm back on my Aiyue bullshit to ask if you'd ever do a timelapse of drawing her from sketch to flats to doing her freckles to finish? I saw that one ask asking if you used a brush or not and saw you do them yourself and thought that sounded really cool! (Plus....... =m= she's one of my favorite OCs you've made. Pretty and pink (says the girl whose favorite color is blue lol)
Waah late reply but I have been! I couldn't dedicate as much time as previous years but I've still been having a good time! I wanna make sure there's a few people/characters I get to before the event ends.
I might not be able to include the sketch since I do a lot of them only decide out which ones I want to finish when it's done, but I'll keep note to record it sometime! I love Aiyue too so it makes me happy that you do too!
I saw before you mentioned you enjoy doing Art Fight so have fun with the event this year now that it's starting!
I get to hang out and draw with a bunch of my friends so I really do love it! Thank you so much!!
feel free to ignore but since your most recent posts/asks are on the topic of art, as a non-artist i was wondering how many layers do you typically use? i like watching people draw youtube and then i'll double take looking at how many layers they have (60 or 75 or sometimes even more than that) gnfjkgndfjgn i'll be sitting there thinking "omg i didn't realize how much went into it all". well i mean i know a lot goes into making any art but at the same time i didn't if that makes sense... your pieces always look so intricate so i was wondering if you used a lot too!
I know this varies a lot based on the piece but I tend to use around 25-ish? Around 10 for the character and the rest towards the background elements. It still feels like a lot for me though, since I started using layers with dA Muro which would completely crash on me if I had more than 10 layers, haha. For the visual novel assets that I make, sometimes a few dozen layers can be made for the expressions alone since I try to keep as many parts separated as I can.
when you draw freckles do you draw them by hand or do you use a brush? you always draw them so nice!
Thank you! I draw them by hand! I try to make them a little different per character so I like to control that.
sorry to bother you! do you have any tips on drawing afro textured hair? whenever i look up tutorials, i can't ever find any that suit an anime style. also if you have any tips on drawing plus sized characters, i would appreciate it. mine always look pillowy but i want to draw more diverse body types
I think there's a lot to be said about drawing things in an anime style that aren't as widely represented within it so forgive me if this isn't as in depth as it needs to be. I'm also not an authority on these subjects, but I think that both of these end up having the same piece of advice which is that it's really important to look at real photos of the hair/bodies/features that you're trying to capture and learn to interpret them through your own eyes and hands.
This isn't putting the idea of looking at this content down at all, looking at tutorials and other artists' work is helpful to learn ways to simplify different features. But I think artists also run the risk of not actually developing a solid understanding of how things should look/work, and things are always being lost along the way in favor of what's commonly represented, and what appeals to large audiences, and where artists' flaws come through in their work. If artists are referencing other artists' works and someone else references that, I think a lot of the nuances don't get telephoned through. Your observational skills come in handy when it comes to that, since you'll start to see what gets drawn more than others and you can identify that there's more outside of that.
Looking at photos helps me to play with my own process, and I think this will be different for everyone so I'm hesitant to give out definitive advice. For example, if you often sketch with contours, it might be helpful to capture volume by blocking things out first instead, but I'm not sure of where your starting point is. For hair, there are a lot of really nice brushes out there too, but I think it's valuable to learn how to draw things yourself first if you struggle to do it. If your bodies are turning out more pillowy, it'd probably be good to try and focus in on how parts of the body will sag and fold. Everyone recommends Michel Lauricella's Morpho: Fat and Skin Folds but I also think it's good reference material.
Every texture and curl pattern can be a little different, and fat distribution also varies from person to person, so building on your foundational skills is more helpful than trying to learn the stylization of one type of hair or body.
On one knee ready to risk it all for Aiyue, pink diamond ring and all. I was reading the lore of your various OCs on Toyhouse... I'LL TREAT YOU RIGHT, AIYUE, THOSE PEOPLE MENTIONED IN YOUR BACKSTORY DON'T DESERVE YOU! 🥺might there be anymore Aiyue lore that hasn't been added onto Toyhouse yet (might she... be interested in women? I have some OCs myself jsdnksjdnf)? I'm a huge fan of Wilhelmine's design too, her hair is fro goes that's my hair without shrinkage after picking out long enough jsdkngjdfe I hope she and Aiyue are good friends if they know each other directly in the story!
(Sorry for bothering you 3 days in a row about your OCs X'D)
It makes me happy that you were reading some of the stuff on Toyhouse! I mostly set it up so I could look at my own characters, so I always get surprised to know that someone else has taken the time to look at the information there. Especially because I don't think the code I made is especially flashy and ends up being all text.
There's nothing formally written out for Aiyue that isn't on her profile, but I do think about her a lot! She also has lots of sketches in my files since she's one of my favorites.
As a few extra pieces of information, I based her on the experiences of lots of people in my life where responsibility and people pleasing often come at the expense of your own desires. I also grew up at a time where characters like Aiyue who struggle to stand up for themselves, and who also crave affection from others were put down for being weak-willed and shallow (especially next to other female characters who come off as stronger), so I've always had a soft spot for personalities like that since there's a lot of inner struggle that comes with being that way that tends to be dismissed.
Aiyue also does like women! She learned that about herself when she was in school but since she has trouble putting herself out there, she doesn't tend to be very successful. I feel like the way a lot of her relationships tend to start in general is that she gets asked out on the street by strangers, and even if she's not really feeling it she can't find a good reason to say no so she says yes instead (she needs to stop doing this haha).
I love Wilhelmine too so I'm glad you like her! There's lots of little drawings of her in my notebooks. I always have a lot of fun drawing my more artsy characters, since their styles feel more distinct in my head. Due to the nature of Aiyue's magic, the two of them don't know each other in-story since Wilhelmine doesn't remember her. Still, because of her own powers, Wilhelmine retains more knowledge of the time they spent in her dream. It gave Wilhelmine a way to reflect on her own circumstances, allowing her to voice her discontentment for herself, so there's a strong part of her that really wants to meet Aiyue. She still has a bit of her image lingering in her head, which is why she ends up painting girls that sort of look like her.
Also don't worry about bothering me, I love OC talk!
puppy dog face 🐾
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Continuing the WTTM questions, do you have a favourite character? If so why?
It's Meredith! I don't have a lot of experience with putting my writing out, so I thought that it was important that I really cared about the main character and what direction her development went in. It helps me keep the course clear in remembering that she isn't the central protagonist for the sake of having one, but the character whose feelings are the most emblematic of the story that I wanted to tell. I particularly love her earnestness contrasted with the quietness of her struggle to understand the others.
A very close second is Merpati, who's put together on the surface but is really just good at listening to what other people want them to do. I think the uncertainty running underneath is a very real part of not just being a teen, but a person in general. Thank you for the ask!
Back at it again with the WTTM asks! How would you say since your the story's original inception, how has the story and your OCs evolved overtime to reach the point that it is now? Ramble as much as you want, I'm invested! (Fun fact: Gelsey and I have the same birthday!)
Thank you for the asks, these characters mean so much to me haha. Also waah the birthday thing is so fun!!
The story and characters have changes a lot since I first made them. I conceptualized all of them in middle school which was like half my life ago at this point. There was little plot surrounding them and very few ties bonding them together. They were set in a school for witches, with individual stories about how they'd develop their powers over time set into my head. It was a lot more whimsical at the time - an issue that the students would solve is how to put a fallen star back into the sky, for example.
They weren't characters I invested much time into especially art-wise (besides Meredith, who I drew from time to time), so they mostly swirled around in my head during lectures and things like that. Some notes that I recall from that era was that Meredith was a lot more of a happy-go-lucky protagonist, Merpati was a lot more solitary and stoic, Elsie was the studious and widely admired type, and Posie was a shrinking violet with a troubled background. Clementine was definitely the closest to her current iteration, personality wise. I also had a much larger cast, since this was the main setting I had in mind for characters that I designed but didn't have much to do with. Some of these concepts show up in the current version of Wish to the May as side characters - there are very few characters that I designed purely for the latest iteration.
As a kid, I was really into roleplaying my characters with friends on dA but I was always a little discontent that I never had anything that felt like it was entirely mine or that I could enjoy on my own, so I went back to these characters again and again. I have a love for melancholic stories and the sincerity that goes into making them, so at this point, the story revolved around Merpati's overly-giving nature and how it leads them to leave nothing for themself. It was only Clementine who saw the extent of Merpati's efforts. Meredith's story would mirror Merpati's in how she felt like she had nothing that made her a worthy person, and as they developed a bond they'd find themselves little by little. It was also in this iteration that Posie's role shifted from being a character with visible conflict, to Meredith's closest friend who struggled where others couldn't see. Elsie also found more of herself at this point as I thought more about the anxiety of being perceived and how that ends up shaping peoples' actions. I pared down the main cast to these five since they had the most natural stories come up to the surface.
I'd say it was only in recent years where I've developed the desire to share their story, and when that started to happen I started to organize its presentation in order to create something more cohesive. I used to be the same age as the characters when I first created them, so something that I gained in the meanwhile was the ability to reflect on that period of life through an outside lens.
A running thread throughout that time was the struggle of me and my friends to look to the future when we felt like we had little power to do anything about issues that seemed bigger than anything we were capable of solving - namely depression and the inability to simply get away from whatever was troubling us at the time. As difficult as it could be, I also remember the warmth of trying as hard as I could to take care of someone that I treasured, as well as what it was like for someone to look out for me.
Admittedly, I had a lot of reservations when I started writing since it ended up being a lot more sentimental than initially intended. But it's very much the kind of story that I would have enjoyed all those years ago and I still think there's value in that. I appreciate you giving me the opportunity to ramble!
Kinda inspired by the previous ask, but what medium will WTTM be told in like is it gonna be a novel, VN, comic or somethingelse? I'm really intrigued and excited to know more about your story and characters :D
It's a kinetic novel! Kinda like Planetarian: Chiisana Hoshi no Yume, which I love. It has a linear story that I wanted to tell but I still wanted to draw CGs/sprites! I appreciate the interest!!
Love all the little information we've gotten on WTTM over the years and I was wondering what sort of magic do Posie and the Lovedream Magicians specialize in? I know you said on Toyhouse that the magicians affiliated with Cœur all have outfits suited to their taste but Posie doesn't, got to wondering about that and then it turned into 'I wonder what magic they all can do'
Waaah thank you so much for taking interest in them!
In Wish to the May, Cœur has four magicians under their care who draw magic from them as the source. Their individual powers and capacities are limited, but what they all share is the ability to access other worlds, or "fronts" created by the interaction between a human's strong feelings and the fragments from a shattered artifact that Cœur aims to restore.
However, magic can manifest in others naturally as well since it stems from the same feeling as aspiration. While this is exceedingly rare, this is Posie's case. Because of this, she has a wider range of things she's able to do. Her magic can be unpredictable even to her, in spite of/because of its role as a reflection of herself.
The thing that kicks off the story is her disappearance from the human world, a wish that she was able to actualize through her powers. As an inhabitant of other planes, flowers appear at her feet when she walks which evens out any terrain — trading "everything" for "anything," it allows her to travel wherever she wants on foot, but she no longer has her connection to reality or its earth.
The others only really have one or two things that are under their care, but still reflective of their characters. Similar to how their transformed outfits show their comforts and preferences. They all possess a greater level of control in magic spaces, but they can bring a lesser version of it into the real world.
Merpati — Like Posie, Merpati's powers let them go anywhere, just through levitation instead. This reflects their bird motif (Merpati means dove in Indonesian) but also their current mindset in life where they don't hold ambition for their own sake and feel as if they can be pulled in any direction. People have high expectations for them, but they want nothing for themself and it feels like that potential is wasted on them. In fronts at least, it makes them happy that it's a power that can help them get to those in need. In the real world, they have telekinetic abilities over small/light objects.
Gelsey — She creates floating, konpeito shaped stars that act as lights. They possess a warmth that soothes familiars that reside in fronts. In the real world, they're much smaller and dissolve into stardust with touch. Her powers reflect her desire to make an impact on people through her creations and ideas, even if it's bringing them simple comfort. Her real-world manifestation of these powers lack that warmth, but they are stars in the dark regardless.
Clementine — She can make herself imperceptible while moving throughout fronts. In the real world she can make herself completely invisible, but only for very short periods if she does nothing else. She describes it like using a muscle that she isn't used to controlling. Her ability notably contrasts with her character as a sunny, enthusiastic person who captivates her peers. It's more of a rejection of vulnerability and another way for her to shield herself from being truly seen. This additionally grants her some extra awareness of things that don't seem right/don't belong.
Meredith is the last to join Cœur and she does this in order to see Posie again. The real benefit of having magic comes from the shared ability to transverse worlds. She has her own unique powers as well, though I'll refrain from telling for now since it's something she learns in the story itself.
I appreciate the ask! I love sharing things about them. Chapter one release this year maybe...
Hello hello! I really really love your art especially how you draw hair! Would it be alright to ask what is your process on that?
Thank you! I feel like I struggle with this question every time I pick up the pen honestly.
I think the best things to try and think about is how the hair is layered, how it's parted, and what the weight/texture is. I think the other parts of my process generally come from trying to serve those elements as best as I can. I also don't really use heavy shines for hair since it's not a part of my personal preferences.
Hiya! Do you have any tips for the people trying to recreate your style to make OLNF sprites? ^^
It's a bit of a hard question to answer since I draw in my own style without having to be so intentional about it!
In terms of my process, I do lineart while putting colors on another layer underneath - sometimes I see some people emulating my style through painting with minimal layers, and while the results can be really close (and pretty!), I think that knowledge can still be helpful since I think that separation tempers some of the softness/extra cohesion that painting brings. It also lets you edit things like expression more.
Also as a boundary (so not directly towards whoever's asking), since this has happened before, please don't trace over my OC's 🙏
Hi there! Ive been wondering whats up with the dotted sew lines on your art pieces? Is there a reason they're there or are they an artistic choice?
It's just part of my personal style!
Hihi!! I really love the way you color your lineart!! It looks very soft and cozy :3 What’s your process like for coloring your lines?
Thank you! I don't think my process is very special personally - I just lock the opacity when I finish the lineart, then color each section (like the skin/hair/clothes) in with a darker color than the base. I'll go back and pick a slightly brighter/darker ones if things turn out too dull or lack contrast until it looks okay to me.