#ask mera

[captainmera]

If it's okay for me to ask, how do you draw fabric or wrinkles on clothes? I LOVE how you draw clothes, and I struggle with drawing clothes that would look realistic

Do you have any tips or tutorials?

Hope that helps! :]

[ask-saiki-and-friends]

Any experience with shady jobs Mera ?

Mera nooo

[captainmera]

I've been rereading bits of TGB (binged the whole thing in 4 days a couple weeks ago) and I have to be the next person to tell you that Caleb is the most endearingly slippery wet rat bastard of a dead man I've ever read. istg I can *hear* his awkward fibbing gesticulations through the page! It's honestly pushed me to trying to write my own fanfiction for this show

Thank you! :DDDD!!!! I'm rather fond of writing scallywags with a conscience, lol, I'm happy you could see him so clearly in your mind when you were reading! :D What a compliment!

And I'm even happier it inspired you to write something too!

[captainmera]

I dont know if you answered this before but could you show how you draw the base for your poses? Ive been struggleing for a while to figure out how to draw a full body proportionally accurate for a long while 😭

Hello @cheekybirb ! :] Sure! I can try.

But I'm not that good at being proportionate. I am always learning, so this is the blind leading the blind. Every time I draw, I feel like I'm just exercising teaching myself anatomy.

It looks something like this:

It's a bunch of shapes. The better you get at drawing boxes and tubes, and knowing what part of the body should have what shape, the better you get at stacking things correctly.

The rest is eyeballing and vibes.

Style also plays a big part in if you want things anatomically correct 100% or stylised anatomy (cartoony). Me, personally, I like cartoony anatomy. It gives me more expressive freedom in what *I* want to create. Which is comics and illustrations. Maybe conceptual art here and there.

But maybe you want to draw for a different reason than I. Maybe you want to make realistic illustrations or portraits. In which case I recommend the amazing morpho books:

They also explain the whole... boxes and tubes thing.. Way better than my 20 second rushed doodle.

ALSO!!!! References! Photo references are key. Look at a lot of photos, look at muscles. Look at your own limbs.

And, Hey, like, controversial maybe - but sincerely, take photos of yourself and trace them.

WORK SMARTER NOT HARDER.

Sometimes when I struggle "making something up" I take a photo of myself, and photoshop my own limbs around and maybe enlarge my head or stretch out my legs. Then I make a SKETCH over that photo, a quick trace. Then delete the photo, and sketch a new one over my first sketch, and then go from there.

AND... Flip the image, often. flip-flop-flip-flop. You'll hate it, because you'll see all the wrong things. But that's the beauty of it, too. You'll get better proportions by flipping the image and correcting the flaws in the sketch.

I hope this helps? <:D Best of luck to you!

[captainmera]

favorite word?

In Swedish it's "romantik" and in English it's "whimsical"

[captainmera]

I know I said probably this before but, AAA I love your art of Caleb so much I cannot get over the way you draw him is there anyway you can maybe give tips on how you draw him? not art-style tips more of just how you draw him in general expressions, or more- or design choices. /nf ofc I don't wanna force you :)

Thank you very much! :D And, sure, I can try!

Here's some quick thoughts:

I also keep his noodle to the left, I don't know why really, it just grew to be a consistency choice over time and now it's always to the left.

I try to invoke as much of his personality as possible when I draw him, so that when you look at him, you can immediately get his vibe.

As a comic artist, I'm always looking for a way to cut my work short (work smarter not harder) and any storytelling that can be said with visuals alone saves me time.

Expressions and body language can say thousands of things - which means I don't have to draw a ton of pages or write a ton of dialogues. If a face says it all, let the face speak for itself.

I try to get better at "jaw stretching" when I draw characters in general, too. Which is a bit of a struggle for me. But I'm getting there.

[captainmera]

Would trying to inject your art directly in my veins a better or worse compliment ?

In reference to these posts: [1.] and [2.] and [3.]

(this is all just for humour, I'm not offended /gen)

[captainmera]

I want to eat your art (malicious)

In reference to these posts: [1.] and [2.]

And thank you very much! :] I'm happy you like my art!