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2025 on Tumblr: Trends That Defined the Year
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@strides-art
My Commissions Are OPEN!
So, not too good at making a commissions sheet that I really like, but if you ever want some art from me, consider checking the commissions tab of my ko-fi!
Commissions Open! Click to see Boredom In Strides's commission menu.
This is mostly for having a good list out there, so if ko-fi/paypal don't work, I can also take payment from Cashapp!
Loto Addict
A reminder to the employees of NanoTrasen that the company's insurance plan does not cover ego death after drinking lotophagoi oil. Please drink responsibly.
Shadekin Soldiers
Just a sketch that I wanted to try and flesh out a bit, yes I'm alive but also very easily distracted from making the stuff I want to :P
Allergy Season
I forgot what spring was really like until this morning...
Cargo Bay Break
Also another thing to really show I'm not dead(?). This one I made yesterday. Alright back to another month or so of being radio silent ^.=.^"
Anomaly to Anomaly
Hi I'm pretty sure I'm not dead? I think? Here's this thing I had sketched that's just been sitting around for a W H I L E.
being a self-taught artist with no formal training is having done art seriously since you were a young teenager and only finding out that you’re supposed to do warm up sketches every time you’re about to work on serious art when you’re fuckin twenty-five
someone: oh yeah, do this exercise during your warm ups! it’ll help
me: my what
What’s up I have an actual college degree in art and I was never ONCE taught to do warm ups.
when i was in undergrad, it was kind of mentioned in and offhand way that we should do warmups, but we were never shown what that meant. And, y’know, we were young so it didn’t matter so much.
Being older now and having an art job it’s…kind of essential.
So: a quick primer for those of you who are like ‘ok but how do i actually go about doing this warmup thing.’
1) you may be tempted to do ‘a warmup drawing’ which is just a drawing that will take longer than it needed to and probably be frustrating and kind of bad because you didn’t warm up first. It’s tempting but always a trick your brain is playing on you! Do not trust!
2) warmups will vary based on what feels good to you/what task you’re about to do/what motor skills you want to practice. That being said, some good standbys:
a) circles. Just a whole page of circles on whatever drawing surface you’re going to be using, whether that’s your tablet or your sketchbook or a drawing pad on an easel. For these circles you should make sure that you’re drawing from your shoulder and not your wrist. In fact, you want to be drawing from your shoulder rather than your wrist most of the time! forever! your wrist is delicate please preserve it!
In order to ensure that you’re drawing from your shoulder, when you’re holding your pencil or whatever drawing tool you’re using, the only part of your hand that should be touching the drawing surface is part of the last two fingers–some people prefer the finger tips, but I tend to favor the first knuckles. Either way, the fingers should really be ghosting over the surface, providing guidance rather than support.
I usually start with big circles and then go to smaller circles and lines of ellipses, and then try to fit circles and ellipses inside other shapes i’ve already drawn as a precision exercise, but i don’t do that unless i’m feeling loose
b) spirals! i don’t always do spirals, but if i’m stiff and the circles just aren’t cutting it, spirals are a good fall back. I start from the center and work outward, going both clockwise and counterclockwise until i feel comfortable with the whole range of motion. Some people really care about getting perfect spirals but for me it’s all about making sure i’m comfortable with how i’m moving so who really even cares about how the spirals look. Not me!
c) lines! straight lines! in parallel! i do a mix of vertical, horizontal, and diagonal. These are often more from the elbow than the shoulder, especially if I’m working on a smaller surface. For this exercise, I recommend holding the drawing tool perpendicular with the surface
d) connect the dots. This is a precision and accuracy exercise and takes two forms. The first is to draw two dots and then draw a straight line between them. The second is to draw three dots and draw the curve that connects them. This sounds a lot simpler than it is in practice. Take time to ghost over the line you plan to draw before actually committing to your line. (I don’t always remember where I picked up my warm up exercises, but I’m pretty sure I got this one from Scott Robertson. His how to draw and how to render books are very technical but also accessible and worth checking out)
e) cubes, spheres, cones, and cylinders. These help get your brain into a more volumetric space. I draw multiples of each, rotating the forms around, and I’ll often take the time to do some rough shading on at least a few of them
f) spidermans! This one is really good if you’re going to be storyboarding or working on dynamic poses. Just fill a page full of spidermans doing all sorts of acrobatics.
g) beans. I don’t do beans too much anymore, but I know a lot of people like it so I’m mentioning it here. Fill an area with different size bean shapes without lifting your pencil off the paper.
h) short medium and long line repetition. draw a short, medium, and long line on your page, and then draw directly on top of them 8 to 12 times, doing your best to exactly trace what you’ve already drawing. Repeat with a wavy line. I’m bad at this one, which means I probably need to do it more.
And there are lots more options too! Hit up youtube to see what other people recommend, put together your own go-to list, mix it up when you’re getting bored, etc.
This is a long list, I know, but I usually don’t take more than 10 to 15 minutes to warm up, and I can warm up one handed while I’m drinking coffee, so, multitasking hurrah.
Sometimes I’ll advance to a precision warmup and find that I haven’t loosened up enough yet; it’s totally ok to go back to an earlier exercise! Also, all of this has the added benefit of kind of ritualistically getting you into the drawing mode so even if I’m not feeling it before I start, by the time I’ve gotten to the end I’m usually Ready For Drawin’. Brain hacks.
so, yeah! that’s a lot of words, but! Warmups are important! Save your joints, take less advil, do better drawings!
Duality - Vintage
Guess who got into Vintage Story and made an OC specifically around the game?
Quick Sketch - Remnants
So, a friend and I played some modded Vintage Story, and went through the usual song and dance of removing mods when they just don't work. One of those mods, however, still colors the hill we live on...
Meina 2025 - FRC
Remember, if you ever need a merc out on the Frontier, some are crazy enough to only demand action as the payment! For example, my main character on the various Frontier servers, Meina-Nia!
Violet 2x25 Edition
Can you believe that I've had Violet this whole time, and no proper refsheet for her current look?
Big Moff Hour
Aaaaa, been a bit since I've sent any art out to the net! Been making a bunch, I just keep forgetting to send it out >_>" As I get some other projects going, though, enjoy Violet in her Frontier Ready Clone, now with a psionic rift where a heart should be!
Shine On - 2025
So, this was the last thing I was able to draw before my tablet decided to just act weird. I think it's working again, for the most part, but if it doesn't? This is a proper send off drawing it made!
Dragon in Dwarves' Clothing
Been playing some Reclamation with friends! I love the Embers mod, just as much as I hate it!
Routines
Always easy to forget as a shapeshifter that you don't have to keep being the same thing you once were!
New Age - New Name
Times change, and so do I! This is pretty much just a quick sketch to highlight for myself how far I've come, as well as a tease for what just might be my fursona's new design in the coming days! (Once I figure out what exactly I look like in my mind's eye >w>")
Quiet Core Prelude - 01
Guess who decided to make a comic for one of my character's story events? I'll try and post how much I've made of this like... once a month?
