Learning A Language At School Is Like I Can Debate Important Political Issues In This Language But I

Mushroom Staff

I wanna cut my hair but what if I enjoy it too much and accidentally come out

xie lian

dancing goddess is a thing i would never like to see in my life with my own eyes

How did you get so good at drawing such expressive bodies/faces??? tell me your secrets!! (But srsly your skills are amazing)

AAAA THANK YOU!!

I think my initial inspiration was about 10-11 years ago watching Adventure Time and finding Rebecca Sugar’s boards. Sometimes I get a little frustrated because she gets so much more notoriety than the other very very amazing AT boarders, but….. her expressions man…. she was always able to convey so much with SO LITTLE. (SU’s expressions are on another level of course, but I think AT’s are just so impressive to me because they’re dot eyes)

But the thing is!! I’m also a fan of deadpan. Which AT also does very well. It’s tempting to want to do BIG, extreme expressions at every moment, especially in comedic comics, but you really don’t need to. I find that characters often feel more expressive if you reel it in more often. That way, when you DO have bigger expressions, they FEEL bigger!

for example, a panel where the contrast between big and subtle expressions sells the contrast:

I don’t really,,,, know exactly what I do that works, ?? I kind of just like, think of the emotion I wanna convey, make the expression, think about what my face feels feels like, and try to convey that. Using a mirror helps!! You’ll feel a little stupid but it’s funny.

some misc expression tips:

Definitely prioritize eyebrows, eyes, and mouths!

Noses aren’t as important BUT flared nostril can totally sell an expression, so it depends!

Remember that your upper jaw is stationary, and your lower jaw can move, and then your lips and cheeks can move all around that!

Just subtly changing the placement of eyelids and location/size of irises can completely change an expression

Don’t be afraid to make your characters look weird or stupid.

Don’t reinvent the wheel! Take reference from different media you like that stylize expressions in different ways, and find what works for you. I take a lot of inspiration from AtLA

Again, NUANCE! Like, when most people are sad, they do their very best to try NOT to cry. People hold things in. Sometimes what characters don’t say can speak louder than what they do.

some expressions I’ve done that have varying levels of nuance:

Also framing!! You can use the composition to help project how the character feels:

As for body language!

Having a better sense of three-dimensional form and anatomy isn’t necessary, but it sure helps a lot

Hands!! I have adhd and my family is italian so I use my hands a lot when I talk. But even still, most people don’t just leave their hands hanging loosely by their sides. People cross their arms and fidget with their zippers and put their hands in pockets.

Head, neck, and shoulders. If you can master the foreshortening of these overlapping shapes at most angles, you will be very powerful

Hips & feet!!!!! People RARELY stand straight with both feet flat on the ground with even balance. Most people will shift their weight to one hip, leaving one leg looser and at an angle. It also helps to practice perspective, because people also rarely stand with their heels lined up side by side. One leg may get kicked foreward or loosely bent backwards. I sometimes cross my legs when I stand.

Ultimately, if you want more lifelike expressions and poses, study from life!! Don’t worry about your drawing being “good” or “bad”, instead think about what can make it successful. Ask yourself, “is this conveying the expression I want to convey?” and if it’s not, figure out what you need to change to get it there.

Elie Saab | Fall/Winter 2019 Couture

I feel like there’s this whole subgenre of fic that just really, aggravatingly, doesn’t get bickery banter couples, which means that a lot of the content for them just ends up reading like emotional abuse.

Like! The thing about couples that bicker for fun, the thing that makes it romantic, is not ‘I hate this and I’m sad and hurt and uncomfortable, but I’ll put up with it because I love you and at some point you’ll start being nice to me’. That’s not fun bantering! That is, at best, a serious miscommunication!

The thing that makes it fun and (potentially) romantic is ‘We know each other so well that we can be rude and gross and weird together, we can transgress the rules of polite society with each other without actually causing any real hurt, because we know where the real lines are and don’t have to guess at them or use the rules from a game that neither of us wants to play.’

It’s fundamentally about intimacy, not about treating your SO like they don’t have feelings that matter.

a 9 panel tribute to Princess Mononoke, one of my favorite movies in the world 

Japanese chopstick etiquette.

Fun fact! : Chopsticks (hashi 箸) have been around for over 6,000 years, first coming from China. I was looking up do’s and don'ts… and there are so many don'ts!! (Ｔ▽Ｔ) I listed the most common ones. I’ll just try to remember what I can and I don’t think my local Japanese restaurant will mind my ignorance. Chopsticks are used in some funeral rites, which is why some of these actions are taboo. And some actions are just considered improper etiquette. Here we go!

Don’t eat directly from common dishes, you should pick up food and put it on your own plate.

Don’t hover over food with them, you should be decisive.

Don’t dig in food dishes, you should take from the top.

Don’t wash them off in soup or search for things in your bowl with them.

Don’t suck on the ends of them.

Don’t pass food from your chopsticks to another’s, you should use a common utensil to pass food.

Don’t rest them across your dish. *see below*

Don’t stick them straight up in your food. 

Don’t cross them on the table or over your bowl like an X.

Don’t pull a plate or bowl toward you with them.

Don’t point at people or things with them.

Don’t tear food apart with one chopstick in each hand.

Don’t hold the chopsticks and a dish in the same hand.

Don’t eat with an unmatched pair.

When not using, the pointed ends should be placed on a chopstick rest (hashioki 箸置き). Sometimes when using disposable wooden chopsticks (waribashi 割り箸) there is no rest provided. You can make one out of the paper wrapper. If there is nothing you can use, in a casual setting you can place them across your dish, but try not to do this in a more formal setting as it’s considered slightly improper.

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