Couldn't Resist, Yo. Art By Tom Rhodes Widgets Made By Me With Samurize.

If you want to paint yourself and your friends weird colors for Halloween season (OR if you’re a nerd who cosplays at every opportunity, or even when there aren’t opportunities because you’re obsessed with makeup like meeeee) I would like to reccomend airbrushing :D

Top photo is my airbrush kit which fits in a toiletry bag from ikea. It includes a mini compressor which you can get for about $40 on amazon.

I use a $20 Badger airbrush from Michaels. I honestly use it more often than my nicer double-action professional airbrush because ngl I get tired of cleaning that thing out. Paint doesn’t actually go through the Badger air gun at all so its easy to clean.

BEST of all, if you also make props or paint fabric for costumes, you can stop spending money on spray paint! Seriously, airbrushes are where it’s at.

THE KEY ITEM is the Badger to Master brand adapter! The most annoying thing about airbrushes is there’s no standard sizing and shapes for ANY brush item or accessory between brands. I got mine in a set from Amazon for about $9. This way you have the choice to use any compressor instead of the expensive air cans.

Anyone who’s tried to do white makeup knows how ANNOYING it is no matter what! Creme makeup has good coverage but it’s gross and gets everywhere no matter how much powder you use to set it! Airbrushing lets you get 100% coverage with water-based liquid body paint. I got the best results with two layers of white and two of Ben Nye final seal (a layer of sealer FIRST helps the color stick and adds a small amount of protective barrier from sweat/oil). The key is to get full coverage with the thinnest possible layers, it flakes off more easily the thicker the paint is applied. Diluting liquid makeup with sealer instead of water or mixing liquid helps too, I don’t have a brand preference and have Ben Nye and Mehron colors, and some more expensive alcohol-based brands for experiments.

Examples! My QT frans (and me, whatever lol) :3 I painted em and they did the rest of makeup and powder. Powder pigments for colors and shading seem to work best before paint is entirely dry, if it gets too dry for blush/shading/etc, I’ve had good results with a light spritz of sealer to make it tacky again. Riles glows in the dark because Mehron has glow body paint so I had to try it, NATURALLY! Also used pure glow pigment as ~gremlin blush~, TKB has it I want to buy it by the pound, lol LOOK AT THAT SPOOKY GLOW THO

OK hope that was informative enough, I’m trying not to make this twenty pages long ok? K.

Oh lordy how did I not know you went to CMU?! You've been such a huge influence on me artistically; I think I had every single thing you'd ever posted on DA saved in a folder when I was in high school. I can't believe you went to CFA!Just so you know, nothing's changed (I'm in Drama, but its still a Fine Arts degree). I'm having a huge struggle finishing because I feel like the only thing I'm learning is how to be pretentious. My professor claims everything I draw is anime and unacceptable and I'm banned from using digital. The only medium we're allowed to use for renders is watercolor, which I despise with a passion. I get so caught up in trying not to fail out that I've been in an artistic rut for years. I'm sorry someone as talented as you was treated so terribly. It really seems like CMU can't appreciate anyone who deviates from their narrow worldview.I was in CS before I was in Drama and don't get me started on that....ug.

Well I gotta say I'm not exactly forthcoming on the internets about rough times in my life nor am I keen about turning this blog into incandescent rants about my thoughts on the structure of modern art schools... aha. But. That divide between fine/"high"/contemporary/SERIOUS art and design/commercial/art-as-trade/"low" art is unbridgeable in an academic setting. I certainly didn't know anything about any of this at the time, I'd already been burnt out from attending an extremely competitive high school, and I just didn't have the confidence to turn down such a great opportunity in order to find my own way (and find a school that was a better fit). The irony is still that I do take my art very seriously, just not in the omg-I-am-so-deep-and-challenging kind of way that professors want at critique time where developing any kind of technical skill is an afterthought. I had nothing against the art that goes in contemporary exhibits that make you feel like you're being trolled (if you don't find this pile of broken glass on the floor to be the most deep and mind-blowing work of the year you are a PHILISTINE) if you don't "get it" until I went to art school. Its the environment of insisting that true art is anything and everywhere and all points of view are valid when they clearly aren't just... made me so sour yep I'm ranting

Deep down I've always known what kind of artist I was/am and as a square peg being told I could fit into that round hole if I only tried harder!! well its no huge surprise that didn't work out. I do want to finish college someday but I'm interested in biology/medical illustration due to it being the best way to combine my love of art and science :D Also I just really really really want to take lifedrawing classes where you observe surgery instead of models! 

I wouldn't take any of it back since I learned so much from it, I just also hope one day to have learning experiences that are hmmm... more enjoyable lol

experimental boot painting with purple/gold chameleon pigment from paintwithpearl mixed into leather studio clear gloss. Im sure much better results could be achieved with airbrush but I dont feel like it! I think Ill goose the effect a bit with interference orange on top...

ww!

pooryorickdraw answered your question: I know AEM takes place in a sort-of magical Ottoman Empire, but does that mean other “real” countries exist in the setting?

Yeah... other than having my story take place in a tiny kingdom that splits off from the Ottomans, not much is different politically, mainly because it's outside the scope of the story. If I had it spanning more countries I'd definitely consider what might be different. I know WWI happened a lot sooner, and technology would advance faster with the ability to harness a really powerful versatile energy source (MAGIC). Steampunk is based on the idea that there was an energy revolution in technology and analog/mechanical tech, instead of what happened in our reality where there was a digital/information revolution. I figure there's still roughly a British Empire, Austro-Hungarian, Spanish, etc. But yeah other than having rough ideas of where different characters come from and whether or not its plot relevant, there's a bit of geography gap in that area. One that... kinda makes me want to work on it...

Rabbit with *~sparkly~* pink pincurls because I said so. I started doing more with this because I have too many fancy design elements not to, but not the time to complete it right now…which is annoying cos that’s my favorite part :C Yes, clipart and filters are my favorite part, leave me alone

SPG’s new album is SO great, YOU NEED IT, I love albums that tell a whole story, I love rock operas, I love SPACE, SO MUCH!! My favorite songs are SteamJunk, Sky Sharks (with my bb Professor Elemental, squeeee), Oh No, and Necrostar *3* BRING IT INTO YOUR LIFE~

What is the hardest part about worldbuilding for you?

Logistics, PLOT... lol. Having an idea of what you want to happen with the world and characters but then trying to make it all fit and work properly... augh. Plot holes drive me so crazy in other works that I am really really obssessive about... not having them in my own work. If a question goes unanswered it needs to be deliberate. If there's a Deus Ex Machina plot twist it needs to GO (or at least have a precedent earlier in the course of events), it needs to be coherent and follow some kind of internal story logic.

Can't abide lazy storytelling *fistshake*

Sharing art from 2009 without sharing anything from 2019? Because I don't really draw like I used to. I'm sad about it sometimes, but I don't see it as having quit art. I still sketch regularly, but for years now my interests have been absolutely all the way into Making Stuff. Lots of learning and experimenting with Skills and less easily consumable content to share online...

Since I made my illustration I still like to call my Masterpiece (lol), my life changed a LOT. I changed a lot with it. The mockup of companion poster I started not long after is STILL asking me to complete it, it belongs right next to the poster of my Elf Son. I made a file of unfinished illustrations that I still Care about, this is the major one. I miss how much mental real-estate my elves took up, it was fun! But had to make room for Other things.

Stuff I've learned since drawing less: C/C++ (I'm garbage at it but I keep trying lol), Crochet & Knitting, writing small programs for Arduino, Blueprint Reading/Creating, metal machining on lathe and CNC milling machine, Circuitboard Design, Sculpting/moldmaking, Drafting slopers and clothing patterns from scratch for sewing... Next will be welding xD I want to MAKE! AND! BUILD!

How to achieve your dreams when you have 6 or 7 of them? I've abandoned two already (professional puppeteer, stage magician) but I still have only so much time on this earth! ;p

I also keep quiet these days cos I dont seem to have relatable problems. Creative block? I don't know herrrr.

When I die there will be 38,472,000 unrealized project ideas that simply cease to exist ಠ_ಠ

I'm keeping the Illustration skills in my back pocket, but it was honestlyyyyy never what I REALLY wanted to do forever, I want to do SO MANY things. I'll be 35 soon (hhhhhhhgh) and if I view my life as ONLY an illustrator then I peaked REAL early and have been Struggling since lmao! My destiny is tangential to colorful drawings. But lets be real its tough to be literally ANY kind of artist. Im just a lot busier Adulting and trying to survive/thrive in a worker-unfriendly economy with insufficient mental health care xD

ALL THAT SAID, I really do want to finish that poster, eventually xD and the elves need their story out in the world in some form. Still gotta decide what that is.

Taken with Instagram

Eads, CO

I use HDR Camera+ app to tweak exposure/saturation/etc. I do actually own a real camera but lol who uses those anymore :p it kinda makes me want a camera phone with real HDR and the fancy cases that let you attach real camera lenses geez. I don’t have room to take an actual camera with me when I’m out on bsns, despite some sweet photo ops out in The Nature. To think I used to view camera phones as the silliest thing ever (I still find them silly, but let’s be honest, the thing smartphones are worst at now is actually being a phone).