@live-creatively / live-creatively.tumblr.com
Compiled some basic information I know about drawing fat characters for beginners since I've been seeing more talk about absence of really basic traits in a lot of art lately.
Morpho Fat and Skin Folds on Archive.org (for free!)
i hate that every time i look for color studies and tips to improve my art and make it more dynamic and interesting all that comes up are rudimentary explanations of the color wheel that explain it to me like im in 1st grade and just now discovering my primary colors
โred and green are opposites ๐ฅฐโ cool now how do i paint a tree with pinks and blues without it looking like a childโs finger painting or incongruous blobs of rainbow vomit
ok i canโt explain it very well but im looking for tips and techniques for rendering art like
with specifically the highlights and colors being hues that compliment each other, donโt distract from the scene, and make it more interesting/visually appealing
is it too much to ask
gonna drop some sources I have saved on Pinterest! I don't know if these all link back to the original sources so apologies for that
This one's more for palette building but I think it's useful and can be applied to the other ones
Cohesion within compositions/lighting
"Chromatic fringe" - I also see people using this with shading, they bring in a transition color that is a different hue than the base color or shadow, it makes it so that less vibrancy is lost and it doesn't get muddy!
This one specifically has a lot of process behind the style of painting you're looking for!
Also one of my favorite artists who makes bright and colorful art like this is Not Sorry Art on TikTok & YouTube, her website is here and it's<3 my fav. She has some videos where you can see her process
With the oranges painting you put as an example, I noticed they painted the lighter values more toward yellow - they also exaggerated the hues of the undertones of the photo, so I'm guessing they either did it in their head or bumped the saturation up to get a closer look! I really love these paintings you shared and I definitely share your desire to paint/draw like that :)
thanks this is super helpful! /gen
i watched one (1) video on how to draw hands that changed my life forever. like. i can suddenly draw hands again
these were all drawn without reference btw. i can just. Understand Hands now (for the most part, im sure theres definitely inaccuracies). im a little baffled
for those of u asking for the vid!
for all the artists out there, here are my favorite resources i use to learn!
Show some respect, people.
THANK YOU
The story of Balto is interesting. He led a team of sled dogs across the Alaskan wilderness in the dead of winter with diphtheria antitoxins to stop an outbreak in Nenana Alaska. Diphtheria is a deadly infectious disease that could wipe out a third of a townโs population. It is mostly unknown to the public today because of vaccines. Baltoโs body is preserved in the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.
Heโs a big hero of mine!
Letโs not forget Togo! Who, at 12 years old during the serum run, lead his team 200 miles through much more dangerous conditions during the first leg of the journey before Balto ran the last 55-mile stretch.
Togo and Balto didnโt bust their asses for dying children for you to turn around and not vaccinate your damn kids
The actual story is fascinating.
The town of Nome, situated in Western Alaska, was a relative hub for even smaller communities in the region, but in winter was utterly cut off fromโฆ nearly everywhere. The harbour iced over in winter, there were no roads connecting it anywhere else, the nearest railroad line was nearly 700 miles (1000+ kilometres) away in Nenana. Air travel was still new at the time and planes couldnโt handle the inclement winter weather.
In 1924, the community had a single doctor and a few nurses who served approximately 10 000 people, including large Eskimo populations in the area (the town itself had a population of roughly 1000 people - bear in mind how few children lived in this community when you see the casualty counts). He had realized his diphtheria vaccine stock was expired and had ordered more from mainland USA months earlier. When it failed to arrive on the final ship of the season, he was a little concerned, but diphtheria was fairly rare, and he figured heโd just restock in the spring.
Of all the rotten luck, January 1925 was when a diphtheria outbreak hit the region.
There was a scramble, in the mainland USA as well as Alaska, to find a way to get the vaccine to this town in the middle of winter. There were attempts to fly a vaccine supply over, but the planes were grounded by storms. This was part of the United States in the 1920s. There was no way to get there.
Except by sled dogs, running the vaccine from that train station in Nenana, 674 miles away. Over 1000 kilometres away, in the dead of winter in Alaska, by 20 mushers (mostly native Athabaskans) and 150 sled dogs running in relay, switching off at tiny villages and rest stations along the way. It was bitterly cold. As in, -85ยฐF (-60ยฐC) at the coldest. There were blizzards, hurricane force winds, and at some points visibility was so poor the men couldnโt see their dogs in front of them.
No man or beast should have been out in that. You freeze in seconds if youโre not moving. Multiple dogs died from being run so hard in such cold weather. Mushers grappled with hypothermia and frostbite. One needed hot water poured over his frozen hands because he was frozen to his sled. Anotherโs face was black with frostbite. Some strapped themselves up and lead their packs when their lead dogs collapsed.
This relay team traveled 674 miles in 5.5 days. Togo and his owner, Leonhard Seppala, did by far the longest and most dangerous run, travelling over 260 miles (about 420 kilometres) including the initial travel to his pickup spot. Gunnar Kaasen and his lead dog, Balto, did the final 53 miles (85 kilometres) into Nome, where they were greeted as heroes.
Prior to the vaccine arriving in Nome, 5-7 children officially died of diphtheria, with dozens of confirmed cases who may well have died without treatment - but itโs suspected the surrounding Indigenous communities were much harder hit, with numbers impossible to confirm.
When you think that this happened less than 100 years ago, how desperate this community was for a vaccine, how much these mushers risked and lost to get it to this town as fast as they possibly couldโฆ
I wonder what theyโd think of people today.
(this is the Iditarod. this trek to deliver vaccines was so important, that we immortalized it the way we immortalized the marathon.)
some anatomy tips for drawing cat legs - works for big cats too
More art tutorials by Disney artists Griz and Norm Lemay
my new smoke brushes are available on CSP Asset Store :)
Something like this would be so colossally helpful. I'm sick and tired of trying to research specific clothing from any given culture and being met with either racist stereotypical costumes worn by yt people or ai generated garbage nonsense, and trying to be hyper specific with searches yields fuck all. Like I generally just cannot trust the legitimacy of most search results at this point. It's extremely frustrating. If there are good resources for this then they're buried deep under all the other bullshit, and idk where to start looking.
>:)c
May I present to you, nationalclothing.org?
It doesn't have everything, but it's still my first source when researching traditional clothing from other cultures.
There's also this resource on historical fashion: Claireโs Historical Fashion Reference & Resources
another addition as far as physical media goes there is the encyclopedia of national dress (that i still need to buy myself bc this kind of thing is super important to my sort of fantasy designing) but yes i do agree i wish there was EVEN MORE documentation on this
Not sure if you guys know about Simplicity's Adaptive Line. Links are for simplicity.com.
There are also the adaptive patterns from Mood,
I've talked before about places like pixabay etc for free picture resources but today I have a bunch of websites where you can grab open source illustrations and svg images. Great for budding web designers or hobbyists on a budget.
Undraw - completely free open source high quality illustrations for you to use.
Atlas Icons - Open source library of free icons.
SVG Repo - Half a million open license SVG vector and icons.
Storyset - Free illustrations related to business / corporate environs
Humaaans - Mix and match illustrations of people
DrawKit - Free illustrations and icons.
LottieFiles - Lightweight animations for websites and social media.
illustrations - Open source illustration kit.
Free svg illustrations - take a guess lol
UXcelona - Free SVG illustrations.
Open Doodles - Open source collections of free illustrations.
If you'd like more free useful resources, check out this list.
How I join skeins
Cleeeeeveeer!
Itโs good to learn, remember, and share stuff like this.
When my mom or her sisters did crochet growing up, their dickhead older brothers thought it was hilarious to snip the yarn somewhere in the middle of the bundle. I suspect mom wouldโve found a trick like this really handy.
Oh, this is a modified Russian join!
Hereโs a full one:
ALT
1) find the end of both pieces. Iโm using an off-white and a variegated green so you can easily see what Iโm doing, but this can be used to join any two pieces of yarn that are the same weight as each other whether theyโre the same color or not.
ALT
2) wrap the ends around each other like this. You donโt actually have to lay them down, I did it for clarity in the photos.
ALT
3) youโll need a needle like this. Theyโre sold under the names โtapestry needleโ or โyarn needle.โ If you ever manage to find them made out of bamboo or wood, PLEASE TELL ME.
ALT
4) thread the yarn through itself as shown in the video above. HOWEVER, where that video shows strand #1 being threaded into strand #2, with the Russian join youโll thread strand #1 back into itself, using the wrap around strand #2 as an anchor point. I use my toes as a โthird handโ when doing stuff like this, but Iโve also seen people use the heel of their hand or a convenient paperweight or even nothing at all. Whatever will let you create a tight join is what you want to use.
ALT
Make sure you get this loop as small as you can.
ALT
ALT
5) repeat on strand #2. Trim the remaining ends.
ALT
6) youโre done! This is one of the strongest joins in crochet and knitting. Itโs virtually undetectable in a finished project, and because of the wraparound shown in step #2 it canโt pull apart like a knot will.
Actually, waitโฆ
ALT
7) donโt forget to put away your needle! โIโll just stick it in the ball for laterโ is a comforting lie. The needle will disappear into the ball and you will never see it again, unless your foot finds it later. Donโt do it to yourself. PUT IT AWAY.
It's the last brush drop of the year: the Extra Border Trim Brush Pack is live and alive (and free!) over on Patreon.
For posterity, here's a roundup of all this year's freebie brushes:
Border Trim Brush Pack | Flying Flags Brush Pack | More Daggers Brush Pack | Beads & Bracelets Brush Pack | Bloody Bloody Brushes Pack | Starry ๐ Firey ๐ฅ Bubbly ๐ซง Effect Pack | Texture & Clothing Decorations Pack | Tails Tails Tails Pack | Galactic Brushes | Super Bokeh Brushes | Rainbow Burst Brushes | Shiny Sparkly Jewelry Pack | Grunge Brushes (Krita) | Valentine's Lace Brush Pack | Twiggy Patterns & Brushes | The Pack With Cracks
How I join skeins
Cleeeeeveeer!
It's good to learn, remember, and share stuff like this.
When my mom or her sisters did crochet growing up, their dickhead older brothers thought it was hilarious to snip the yarn somewhere in the middle of the bundle. I suspect mom would've found a trick like this really handy.
Oh, this is a modified Russian join!
Hereโs a full one:
1) find the end of both pieces. Iโm using an off-white and a variegated green so you can easily see what Iโm doing, but this can be used to join any two pieces of yarn that are the same weight as each other whether theyโre the same color or not.
2) wrap the ends around each other like this. You donโt actually have to lay them down, I did it for clarity in the photos.
3) youโll need a needle like this. Theyโre sold under the names โtapestry needleโ or โyarn needle.โ If you ever manage to find them made out of bamboo or wood, PLEASE TELL ME.
4) thread the yarn through itself as shown in the video above. HOWEVER, where that video shows strand #1 being threaded into strand #2, with the Russian join youโll thread strand #1 back into itself, using the wrap around strand #2 as an anchor point. I use my toes as a โthird handโ when doing stuff like this, but Iโve also seen people use the heel of their hand or a convenient paperweight or even nothing at all. Whatever will let you create a tight join is what you want to use.
Make sure you get this loop as small as you can.
5) repeat on strand #2. Trim the remaining ends.
6) youโre done! This is one of the strongest joins in crochet and knitting. Itโs virtually undetectable in a finished project, and because of the wraparound shown in step #2 it canโt pull apart like a knot will.
Actually, waitโฆ
7) donโt forget to put away your needle! โIโll just stick it in the ball for laterโ is a comforting lie. The needle will disappear into the ball and you will never see it again, unless your foot finds it later. Donโt do it to yourself. PUT IT AWAY.
For your SlowMo Wrimo the first thing to decide is your daily word count goals. And as Mo the Wrino says, they need to be achievable.
My initial promise was that you can write a complete novel in a year. When I say that Iโm talking somewhere in the vicinity of 70-80k, which is in the zone for most YA, Romance and Mystery. Fantasy and Science Fiction can run longer, but if youโre writing in those two genres Iโm going to encourage you to aim for a word count on the lower end of things, just to keep it doable within 12 months.
Now anyone with a calculator can see that if you divide 80k by 365 you get 219.ย
So if you write 219 words every day then presto, youโve written your novel!
Which is true! But I donโt think itโs reasonable to assume itโs possible to write every single day, with no days off for an entire year. I know some writers do manage that long term, (or at least claim to!) but if youโve been struggling to get words out, itโs not an achievable plan.
Instead I want you to create a series of Mini-Maxi goals.
That is, have a baseline minimum, but also hold yourself to a maximum allowed. This is a term drawn from construction standards.ย
For example, if youโre hanging drywall, there are rules in building codes about how many screws are required per sheet. The lower limit makes intuitive sense to most people. Yes of course when you hang something from a wall there should be a minimum amount of screws. You need enough to keep that thing in place.
But there is also often an upper limit. If you put in too many screws, you will compromise the structural integrity of the drywall, or even the wood framing behind it.
So how does that apply to writing?ย
The idea of setting a minimum word count goal is pretty widely understood. Thatโs usually the method most people go into Nano with. A plan to write a minimum of 1667 words a day.ย
For many people thatโs hard enough to reach, let alone exceed, so the idea of maximums doesnโt really enter the picture.
However for this challenge I want you to commit to a far lower daily word count, something you can accomplish in fifteen to twenty minutes. Because even if your schedule is very busy, writing for fifteen minutes most days is achievable.
But that begs the question. What if itโs Sunday afternoon and I have a few hours to write! Oh joy! I shall binge write several thousand words!
Here's the problem with that. Overdo it and weโre back with the same burnout and creative exhaustion issues that brought you here in the first place.
So I want you all to set a safe maximum word count too.ย
My recommendation is that you go no higher than around 5x your daily minimum. Or approximately what you can write in 1:15 to 1:30 hours.
But what if, you say, what if, after that alarm goes off at 1:30, my brain is still teeming with ideas?
Good! Make some brief outlining notes and then go do something else! You will be all the more refreshed and excited to write tomorrow.
The goal here isnโt to wring every drop out of your creative well in a single session, but to create a long term writing practice.
Like that piece of drywall, you donโt want to compromise your overall creativity by overdoing things.
So, to summarize, your task for today is to select a comfortable minimum daily word count, (an amount you can easily write in 15-20 minutes) and a safe maximum binge-writing word count. (5x your minimum)
If you donโt know how fast you write, do a series of timed sessions over the next few days, and find out. You might be surprised at how much you get done in a short focused session.
Coming up next: Managing your writing time, taking breaks, and sticking with it for a whole year.
Maree
P. S. If you'd like to join the challenge, make a post! use the tag #slomowrino. If have any questions, please shoot us an Ask either here or on the discord.
Links: SloMo Wrino Intro The Discord Server
Just to make a point, every time I finished a panel of this I would export it as a PNG on the perceptual setting and use it as a color reference for the next panel
IT'S BAD
PLEASE CHECK YOUR COLOR SETTINGS
EDIT: If you're still having problems, it might help to switch from "Save/Save as" to "Export (as a) Single Layer". Just. Make SURE the box labeled "Expression Color" is set to RGB. I've been messing with this all day, and it looks like this combination of settings will allow exported PNGs to maintain their colors perfectly. To you. So far both Discord and Toyhouse still only display desaturated images and I cannot for the life of me figure out why
WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN ITS NOT JUST A MAC PROBLEM
GUYS IT HAPPENS WITH KRITA TOO
Don't know if this applies to any of you guys, but you're the only artists I know on tumblr so figured it couldn't hurt to tag you <3
