#nuclearvampire

[manyblinkinglights]

I’m really materialistic but at least I actively derive limpid joy from each and every one of my posessions

[formerlyashkatom]

@nuclearvampire replied to your post: Transistor is on the iOS App Store for $1.99!

Is it good, I got a steam giftcard for christmas.

Transistor is probably my favourite game of all time. It’s beautiful, the story is perfectly cohesive (sad, though, be warned!), the mechanics are a) fun and b) mesh perfectly with the narrative, and it’s by Supergiant so of course the soundtrack is beyond amazing. For $5 I wouldn’t think twice about it, easily one of the best gaming experiences around.

[mulattafury]

nuclearvampire

replied to your post

“u know what’s a nice thing to do when you’re in a bad art rut fucking...”

.....I'm allowed to do that? I mean not post it as mine, but.....just....trace and kind of let my hand learn the structure? Like....I always feel like I learn really well when I can watch someone else do it, and then figure out the whys and hows of what they did, but I didn't know I was allowed to straight-up trace different bits and study that way.....

you’re totally allowed to do that! ugh i wish i had a gif of favorite youtube artist borodante voguing while saying ‘do whatever you want’

but yeah, i see a lot of people reblogging or commenting here saying “yeah do that just don’t post it” and i’m like, um why not, who cares? if you’re worried about copyright stuff use free stock resources like pixabay or pexels. You can also go into “tools” on google images and filter your results to show only photos labeled for reuse -- I’ll make another post explaining how to do this.

tracing is a really good way to practice a lot of stuff. If you’re trying to learn to draw a specific object, it can help to trace shapes/construction lines over it to get an idea of its form. It’s a good way to practice steadying your hand to get good clean linework, and learning how to manipulate line weight to give your image depth (because a deadlined, traced image will look kinda shitty and flat). From there, you get a piece with nice, clean, solid lines to practice rendering various materials.

It’s a good practice method, and ultimately just another tool in your belt. Tracing in illustration is a great option for small, detailed, hard-surface objects that are easy to get “wrong” but add a lot to your image when you get them “right” -- things like weapons, cell phones/other small gadgets, food containers or wrappers. Tracing a pose is rarely a good idea but sketching a gesture over a pose can help when you’re stuck.

Like, for example:

(fullview on this post)

I traced the handaxe and the ibis (in fact, i traced half an ibis and mirrored it). i don’t think i traced the skull but it was heavily referenced.

here:

(original post)

traced the bow, and iirc i traced a gesture over a photo of someone drawing a bow

here:

(original post)

traced the machete

i’ve also traced shoes now and again, though it’s not something i do that much anymore. since i’ve gotten pretty good at drawing shoes. from tracing them.

also building environments in sketchup, even if it’s just boxes and cylinders to check your perspective/scale, and tracing/building on that, is a technique i’ve employed a lot. Especially for drawing the same environment from multiple angles. is there a comic you read that manages to have really accurate, detailed environments, and give you a really great sense of the location where the comic takes place?

they probably do this.

For example, I’m 99.999% sure that Coffee of Doom from QuestionableContent is a SketchUp model. It’s also a great reference for 3d models of things like cars and machinery.

in general, tracing (from photos!) isn’t “cheating” because it still takes skill and technique to make it look good. and if you’re proud of what you make go ahead and post it! it’s still work that you did and you’re allowed to be proud of it. i think it gets questionable when you’re misrepresenting fully traced work as your own, and it’s kind of a different ballpark when you’re tracing another artist’s illustrations without permission, but at the end of the day art is just about ripping stuff off anyway. :P

[adigitalmagician]

Admittedly I don't have a nickname for you, but I always think of you as that super cool trans lady who's really smart.

I’ll just be blushing over here in the corner.

[lizardlicks]

nuclearvampire

  Watch out, I heard this person called @lizardlicks...

No, I saw them, they totally are.

LIES.  LIES AND SLANDER.

[mercurialmalcontent]

More replies to replies from last night’s posts:

nuclearvampire replied to your post: “Replies (in reverse order because Tumblr gotta Tumblr):[[MOR]...”

Dude, your constant belligerence in the face of discrimination is cheering and makes me feel like it's okay for my little afab self to be cranky and not 'nice' all the time. Your writing is a flaming middle finger to people that tell us to shut up, and it helps me get my own defenses in place, instead of dithering over whether I'm being too 'mean.'

I am so glad that my cantankerousness is good for more than increasingly being the embodiment of ‘old man yells at cloud’. <3 EMBRACE THE CRANKINESS. You might overcorrect occasionally but I’ve found that it’s way better to have to apologize for being overly grumpy sometimes than it is to be walked all over constantly.

thecolossalennui replied to your post: “Ok, I guess not all is well in brain land because I feel caught...”

THE WORLD NEEDS ART!!! every day I go and do The Science and I am so happy when there are Stories waiting for me when I come home, it is a good service

This really helps, because Doing Science is so amazing and important and the idea that people who Do Science can come home and be excited about Stories and that helps keep them going to do More Science makes it the whole ‘art is important’ thing concrete in a way that my brain gremlins really sit up and take notice of. (Man, did the whole ‘Logic and Science are better than everything else’ thing worm its way into my head or what.) Anything that gets my head to stop that nonsense and listen is both amazing and an important thing for me to have to cling to when I need it, and I really need it right now. Thank you.

copperscales replied to your post “Ok, I guess not all is well in brain land because I feel caught...”

Hugs, bro. It's hard to fight your own brain like that, I know. But stories aren't frivolous, they're art and the world is going to need all the art it can get. And you deserve to be paid for creating things that make other people happy.

<3

[obstinate-nocturna]

nuclearvampire replied to your post: cries because somehow we’ve managed to run out of...

Aw, Noct….. *pets you softly*

I’m okay now, the traitorous little organ eventually surrended under relentless barage of heating pad. Day 1 is always terrible but once I get through it the rest of the week isn’t so bad.

I will accept pettins tho.

[everlind]

Oh man, so I saw these, and started cracking up, cause John from your holiday helltime series would totally buy these.  And Karkat would be flustered. And it would be great.