Latest Posts by lotusclouding - Page 6

the human experience 

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.

WANGXIAN+ MDZS MANHUA chapters 255/256 魔道祖师/255 -/256 画幅补完 illustrations by @maotuanxjj

sk8ter boi x jock 🛹⚽️

late night cuddles with wangxian~

Very much inspired by Holly Warburton’s illustrations, which I absolutely adore.

Hi mdzs enjoyers if you could reblog/reply with your sibling status (ex: single child, middle child, etc) and fav + least fav mdzs character i would greatly appreciate it. For ~research~

🌅 light 🌅

Mdzs manhua panel redraw. Smiling lwj extended my lifespan by 10 years :,)

• I'm also on twitter •

Art by bbbeyonce099

Posted with Permission (reprint/edit and/or commercial use prohibited)

Summer and Monsoon

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

Abandoned Shrine

the moon to my stars

:bangs hands on the table: JIUJIU JIUJIU JIUJIU. Teeny waist, dressed to kill, whip in one hand nephew in the other, happy birthday you beautiful disaster man you’ve ruined my whole life

finished!

day 9: allure

so at my new job there’s been a lot of confusion over my gender (which as an enby is great) but somehow in the confusion my coworkers came to assume I’m a trans man and even though I’m AMAB I’ve used the confusion as leverage to get them to put tampons/pads in the men’s room and add a gender neutral bathroom for any transmascs/enbies down the line and I kept thinking “this is like the ‘my gender is whatever makes the joke funnier’ thing but the opposite??” and anyway tldr here is my “My gender is” alignment chart

Oh this is amazing so many of these are a mood

Diamonds & Spots

the hottest pattern this and every upcoming season

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

Different Stories Resonate with Different People

so I got into grad school today with my shitty 2.8 gpa and the moral of the story is reblog those good luck posts for the love of god

Jin on Weverse 20210601:

헉 자고 일어났는데 빌보드 일위 무슨일..! 감사합니다 아미 히히 좋다

[ENG]

Heok I woke up and saw No1 on Billboard what’s happening..! Thank you ARMY Hehe good

(trans. by @choi_bts2 on Twitter)

go to sleep

look at those

Here’s HSTHETE, the 24 hour comic I drew this year!  Thanks to everybody who followed along on twitter this weekend as I posted these pages <3

a short comic for trans day of visibility about being isolated during the quarantine months

have a gender moment about being divine and human

if u see this can u rb with ur ranking of biology, physics, and chemistry please and ty <3

an unforgettable chilly memory ❄