Ref - Blog Posts
Sheridan animation: international student stuff
i’ve been getting quite a few asks re:sheridan animation as an international student, so to save future askers/myself time i thought i’d just make a post to refer people to (in addition to this portfolio thing from a while ago that’s probably outdated now)
of course not everything here might be accurate so definitely double check !!
Keep reading
Tips on Likeness: 1. Basics
Today(Jan 4 2016), I’ll be replying to as many questions/messages as I can, and a several of the questions so far, require a tip/tutorial posting for each. Here is one of them.
akiira-lee asked: How do you draw a character from any angle looking the same?For example, how do you look at a photo and see the character from the front and be able to draw him ¾, but still looking the same?
The biggest factor in capturing the likeness of a face in any given angle is in correctly studying the proportion of the individual’s facial features in relation to one another. If you study different faces in comparison to an evenly proportioned face (using loomis method), most individuals have certain features that stand out. These are the features that create unique/memorable proportion of the individual’s face that you need to capture in order to get the likeness. Sections to look for the unique proportions (simplified): - overall head shape - T-zone of the face (eyes, eyebrows, nose, mouth) - Jaw size - head size (hairline above and below) - Ear size ** look for width, length, and overall curvatures in proportion
Exaggerating this unique proportion of the face will enhance the likeness to that person as long as you don’t completely disrupt the rest of the relative proportion of the other features. This is also why good caricaturists are able to capture the likeness of the person even when they go for extreme proportions because they focus on exaggerating the unique proportion that’s already in that person’s face.
(art work by Pete Emslie)
Once you figure out the unique proportion of the person’s face, then you need to figure out the detailed characteristics of each features. There are too much for me to cover in this one article, but the main point is that, You need to separately study different types of each features such as: ( eyes- eye brows- nose- mouth- Jaw line- Cheek line)
Practice each types in different angles. If you’re having trouble with figuring out the angles, pick an actor or actress with the type of feature you want to study(e.g. droopy eyes), and find a video clip with them in it. Pause the video on different angles for you to practice off of.
With the individual’s unique proportion and details of the features in mind, now you need to place the features on to a strong base structure of a face. There are different theories and methods for drawing a base structure for a face. I personally recommend studying the “Loomis method” by Andrew Loomis.
Step by Step:
1. Draw the base structure in multiple angles. 2. Rough-in feature locations. FOCUS on the unique proportion. 3. Render in the features. FOCUS on the detailed characteristics of each.
If you stare at a person long enough, your eyes get accustomed, and what used to look unusual to you get familiarized and no longer stand out. Thus, to capture the likeness of an existing individual, instead of only referring to a single shot image of that person, studying a group shot is a lot more helpful. This is because if you use a group shot, the contrast between different faces will help the individual’s unique features to stand out constantly.
This may seem like a whole a lot of steps and things to keep in mind just to draw one face but eventually with practice, you’ll get to a point where you no longer need to take all the steps or spend as much time in figuring each out.
To conclude this long-ass post, I would like to say that, while these are all important skills to practice, also keep in mind that capturing the high level of likeness in face and keeping it consistent is not always the number one priority unless that’s the main focus of the type of work (e.g. portraitures). Some professionals have to balance out how much time they spend on likeness of the face and rely more on broader elements like, colour, hairstyle and outfit in order to spend more time on other areas of the work such as composition, character acting and cinematography depending on the type of work.
So ya.. it’s important but don’t beat yourself up to the point of hating your own work ( - v-)
*dies slowly since there's no way to send an anon message* Would it be a bother if I asked how you make your sprites? ((Or whoever makes them, sorry!)) they look amazing and I'm really curious by the style!
Aww, thank you! It’s not a bother at all! I do the same process I use for my non-pixel art drawings: I sketch something, then I do the lineart using only one color, then I paint the drawing using flat colors, after that I add the shadows and the lights, and then I recolor the lineart so the lines blend better:
I’m pretty amateur with pixel art, so I only know a few things, but one of the most important things to consider is to avoid messy/jagged lines, here’s an example from this thread:
Also, one of the best pixel art tutorials in my opinion would be this one. There are a lot of tips on how to properly shade sprites in order to avoid “pillow shading” and bland color palettes.
Dearest Kisu, the characters you draw are always full of like and dynamic! Do you have any tips to draw more dynamic characters/poses ? I love your art so much, you're such an inspiration to me
1. The action line:
It’s a line that you use when you create the posing that will help you translate a strenght/ an intention and give “a direction” to the body.
2. Perspective
It can help making a posing more dynamic if you vary angles, perspective and directions
3. Don’t be shy, exaggerate!
That’s how you really can translate mouvements through drawings!
4. Try to avoid “mirrorl” stuff.
It works very well when you want to do artistic stuff (like tarot card aesthetics) but not so much when you want it to look lively.
(Making hair and clothes flow help a lot too hahaha)
5. Try to do “one stroke” line so it doesn’t “break” the mouvement
HOLY FREE ART PROGRAMS BATMAN
I’ve had this list sitting around for a while (in case I ever want to try something new) and I thought I’d share it, because why the hell not, everybody loves free stuff. I’ve only used a couple, so for all I know these could be complete shit. BUT YOU NEVER KNOW, RIGHT?
*= available for both windows and mac os
GIMP * - Does a lot of the same stuff as Photoshop.
FireAlpaca * - Similar to Paint Tool Sai, so it’s a good alternative for Mac users.
Autodesk Sketchbook Copic Edition * - Simulates the look of copic markers.
MyPaint * - Basic stuff, nothing fancy.
Pinta * - Drawing program modeled after paint.NET.
Inkscape * - Vector/drawing program meant to be similar to Illustrator.
ArtRage * - Digital painting program; you can get the trimmed down version for free or buy the full version with more features.
Sumo Paint * - In-browser drawing app.
DAZ Studio * - Some sort of 3D model poser thing.
Pencil * - Software for animating.
SketchUp * - Tool for making 3D models. Looks handy for stuff like architectural drawings.
Blender * - Pretty popular 3D software.
escape motions * - Some browser apps, fun to fiddle with when you’re bored (the fluid fire simulation is pretty cool imo).
Twistedbrush (Pixarra) - Seems to be meant for replicating the look of traditional media.
Pixia/Phierha - A popular program in Japan, according to the website.
Krita - This was originally made for Linux and it looks like the developers haven’t ironed out all of the kinks in the Windows installer.
Artweaver - Another trimmed down free thing if you don’t want to buy the full program.
paint.NET - Pretty basic kit, probably good for simple stuff.
Project Dogwaffle - I’m not sure what this one is all about because I couldn’t stop laughing at the terrible website.
Speedy Painter - Lightweight digital painting program.
mtPaint - Originally made for pixel art; simple enough to run on older computers.
Chasys Draw IES - Supposed to be some sort of drawing+image editor thing.
PaintRibbon - Seems to be another plain old basic image editor.
DrawPlus - Looks like it’s made for graphic design and vector stuff.
SmoothDraw - I’m guessing this is a basic thing for people who don’t want to bother with complicated stuff.
If you ever want to draw your gemsona but you’re stuck on how to get a color pallet from their gem, I recommend using one of these sites:
CSS Drive
(You can upload an image or paste image url)
DeGraeve
(You can paste an image url)
Pictaculous
(Can only upload images from computer)
If you guys know of any others, feel free to link them, these are just the two I use the most.
Make Some Pocket Extenders for Your Pants
So I don’t know about you, but I’m often frustrated by the ridiculous smallness of girls’ pockets. At a bare minimum, I need to be able to shove my cellphone in there - come on, pants companies! So what I started doing was making myself pocket extenders. I’ve done this several times, for pants and shorts. It’s great.
I just got this pair of jeans, so I thought I’d show you how to do it. I kind of feel like it just hasn’t occurred to some of you that this is an option, so maybe now it will. All you need is your pants, some fabric (I just took a random piece from a scrap bin), a needle, and some thread (thread doesn’t even need to match the fabric since literally no one will see it).
See? Ridiculous. Like, half a cellphone, or only 2.5″. Useless.
So turn those inside out to expose the pockets.
Figure out how big you want your pockets to actually be. I kinda go by whatever looks like might be right. I didn’t really measure them. Fold the fabric in half, so you have a pocket, and then fold it in half again so you can have two equal ones.
Try to get the edges to line up enough, pin it in place, then sew up the sides! Are your stitches crazy uneven and wonky looking? Doesn’t matter; nobody’s going to see it. These are in the inside of your pants. The only thing that matters is that it holds up. So I double-did the corners, since those tend to get the most stress.
Cut open the bottom of the existing pockets.
Pin it in place, then sew around, joining the new pocket to the old pocket. I did this by keeping my hand on the inside, so I wouldn’t accidentally sew through the other side. Again, I reinforced the corners, and didn’t worry about what it actually looks like. Then I turned it in side out to make sure the inside was all joined properly.
Yay all done! And the pockets are so much bigger now!
Whaaaat I can fit my entire phone and entire hand and probably something else now, are girls’ pockets even allowed to do that?! Heck yeah they are.
Walt Explains Multiplane Camera
I’ll also do some notes on perspective and dynamic posing later. (We’ll see how dynamic posing goes considering I’m not too great at it myself so… yeahhhh.)
You bored, or feeling artsy but don’t have any inspiration...? *updated!*
Do you need to distract yourself? Or are you simply bored? Here are some great websites to make the time pass.
create pixel art
Awesome photo editor and art program, all free…!
Totally free transparent textures
make a cute chibi
draw some cool generative art
be a graffiti creator
create a picassohead (you don’t need to be a picasso to do so)
paint online
another awsome site to create pixel art on
and another one
create your own mandala
or color one
create an avatar
or you can try creating your own superhero
here you can interact with organisms in different environments to see how to music changes
here’s a website that translates the time into hexidecimal colours,
Here is a website where you can travel along a 3D line into the infinite unkown
here is a website where you can listen to rain with or without music
Need a model in a certain pose for drawing? here
Want to build your own planet
here is a website where you can create your own galaxies
make your own pattern (very useful if you need a new background)
create next hit comic
make a city which looks like something from 90′s games
draw a mandala like design
jig saw puzzles
more jig saw puzzles to solve
create a stunning HTML5 animation - no coding!
make a movie
create and dress up dolls
play a piano
you can also play a guitar
create sounds
another sound creator
create a logo
design your dream home
sketch rooms
explore fashion trends and create your own sets
build a website
try this app for building a website
Or maybe start learning how to code!
design your own t-shirt or a beanie or sweatpants and order them
design your own phone case
pretend to be a graphic designer with this cool online tool
Make your own Glitch art
Here’s another glitch art maker
And another!
Holy hell, here’s a third!
make an image look like it was created by a commodore 64
freaking cool text generator!
Easy to use word processor
Make up really cool patterns or run your photos through it :)
Write an essay on anything with no hassle
Wanna see how something you write would look like if it was on JacksFilms YGS((Your Grammar Sucks videos on YouTube))?
Make pictures out of text
ASCII word generator
Need an idea for some fanart-here :D
Still haven’t found something that would float your boat? Try these:
watch a documentary
learn to code
do something yourself
workout with the help of this great youtube channels
learn things
play pokemon or zelda or other awesome old school games
waste your time on miniclip
play games at additing games
or try games at agame
calm your thoughts
the quiet place
it will be okay
vent or listen to someone
pour out your soul
explore the sky
look at art from around the world
virtually visit museum of iraq
explore world with arounder
create a music playlist
list through rare books
scroll useful science website
create sand art
brain games
try out tastekid and discover new favorite band or movie or book
interactive 3D anatomy
random street view
post a secret
create a family tree
find our what’s the difference between x and y
help scientists and become volunteer researcher
create your own font
read a classic short story
In the mood to read, but not sure exactly what book to go for?
scribble on maps
listen to letters
play with acrobots
listen to podcasts
make a bucket list
Ever want to see the most truly useless websites in creation?
Prank a friend with this blue screen of death!
Zone out watching the colors drip down
Maybe none of these peeked your interest-maybe you’ve been wanting to create an o.c, but never really knew how to start-or you just enjoy making O.C’s….
This masterlist is to help you in making your own OCs….it can also apply to developing RP characters i suppose! (´ヮ`)!
How to Write Better OCs:
basic tips on how to make your oc even better
tragic backstory? learn how to write one/make yours great
writing specific characters
a wordier, great guide on how to develop your character
kick out those vague descriptions and make them AWESOME
Character Development:
how to actually make an OC
Q&A (to develop characters)
more Q&As
giving your character a backstory
how to write an attractive character
Need an Appearance idea?
Humanoid generator? check
Here’s another one
and maybe if you didn’t like those this’ll work
Need Monsterpeople?
Well, then here ya’ go
Maybe you need Cats?
Diversity
adding more racial diversity
avoiding tokenism, AKA, how to add diversity to your cast not just because you “need” it
writing sexuality and gender expression (doesnt include non binary, if you have a good ref to that, please add on!)
masterpost on writing more diversity into your story
cultures of the world
guides to drawing different ethnicities (not just a great art reference, but also really helpful in appearance descriptions!)
Mary Sue/Gary Stu
Test to see if your character is a Sue
Explains subdivisions of Sues/Stus
Powerful Characters Don’t Have to Be Sues
Villains
villain generator
need an evil sounding name for your evil character? bam
villain archetypes
what’s your villain’s motive for being a villain?
Relationships
character perceptions (What your character thinks of themselves and what others think of them)
how to write strong relationships between two characters
8 ways to write better characters and develop their relationships with others
OCxLove Interest Handbook
develop your couple with good ol’ Q&A!
how to write realistic relationships
how to write relatives for your characters (this is more OC related to a canon character, but will help in writing family members in general)
ARCHETYPES
12 common archetypes
8 archetypes for male/female characters
female archetypes (goes pretty indepth from two main categories)
a list of archetypes
NAMES
how to name your character
random name generator
most common surnames
surnames by ethnicity
APPEARANCE
tips for better design
basic appearance generator
pinterest board for character design (includes NSFW and images of skeletons/exposed muscle (?) so tread carefully!)
clothing ref masterpost
Clothing generator
Another clothing generator
More clothing generator
Aaaand even more
Steam punk clothing
Char Style preference
Dress Generator
DETAILS
give your character better powers
a list of professions
proactive vs reactive characters
positive and negative traits
interest generator
skills generator
motivation generator
123 ideas for character flaws
list of phobias
Oh shit someone died
Backgrounds and stuff? yep
Quirks
Personality. you need that shit
Need something fandom related?
City generator hell yeah
location? got ya
World-building?
make your own god damn laws
Landscape.
Need Item names?
Fantasy/sci-fi/etc. medicine names
Stuff to make things more interesting.Weapons, clothes, treasures… whatever your characters need.
Item & Artifact Generators
Other stuffs!
Genre, Plot, & Story Prompt Generators
How did your characters meet?
Fanfic plots. you bet your ass.
i did not use a reference so idk how accurate this is :thumbsup:
some self care tips
things i do on my lower days to feel less icky, from me to you:
brush or tie your hair; ponytails and buns are quick and easy, headbands are good too
clip your nails; grit gets me down, so clipping my nails makes me feel like i have a fresh start
bathe/shower; if you can’t get up the energy, at least rinse your feet and wash your face
try to use soap either way, good smells lift spirits
moisturize; have some lotion in the bathroom or keep some lip balm in your pocket
don’t wear baggy/loose clothes; t-shirts are fine, but slightly tighter pants/shorts make me feel less lazy and more mobile
put on slippers or socks
sit outside/open up a window for some fresh air or turn on a fan
clean your room; sounds hard, but even a tiny corner of it is good
put on some soft music
or put on the soundtrack to a musical and sing along
eat a light breakfast
heat up the food you’re eating if it’s usually eaten hot
keep a light snack handy; a small pack of gummy bears, some fruits, crackers, whatever makes you feel good, but try to cut down on grease or heavy flavoring
DRINK WATER! stay hydrated! add some honey if you like but please drink lots of water!!
feel free to add more to this list if you have any personal tips and tricks!
ACADEMIC PHRASE BANK MASTERPOST: CONNECTING WORDS
Addition
To begin with,
In the first place,
Firstly,
The first reason
Additionally
Furthermore,
Another reason why
Secondly, Thirdly,
Next,
Pursuing this further,
Also
Lastly, Finally
In the same way,
Comparison
Similarly,
In the same way,
Likewise,
As with,
Equally,
Contrasting
However,
Nevertheless,
On the other hand,
Even so
Alternatively
At the same time
Otherwise
Instead
Conversely
Result
Hence
Therefore
Accordingly
Consequently
Thus
As a result
In consequence
For this reason
For this purpose
Time
Meanwhile
Presently
At last
Finally
Immediately
Thereafter
At that time
Eventually
Currently
Subsequently
In the meantime
Importance
Importantly
Especially
Above all
With attention to
Example
For example
For instance
That is
Such as
As revealed by
Illustrated by
Specifically
In particular
For one thing
This can be seen by
An instance of this
Literary
Clarifies
Conveys
Depicts
Demonstrates
Determines
Displays
Emphasizes
Establishes
Explains
Exemplifies
Highlights
Illustrates
Indicates
Potrays
Represents
Shows
Signifies
Suggests
Beginnings/Causes/Effects
Affects
Generates
Ignites
Impacts
Imposes
Influences
Initiates
Introduces
Involves
Launches
Leads to
Presents
Promotes
Prompts
Results in
Summary
In conclusion,
To sum it all up,
To summarize,
In the final analysis
You can see why …
Finally,
Therefore,
In summary,
In short,
In brief,
I can’t make a post without offending somebody
First I made a post on my RWBY blog about how fan fiction usually isn’t as good as the canon and I had a 15 year old Asian (wouldn’t specify where they were from, only that they’re Asian) girl attack me for it. And now I had somebody get mad because I compared a quote from Canaan that centers around not using hatred as a weapon to fight their battles.
I could literally say “I like ham sandwiches” and somebody would get offended now a days.
So lets get all the offensive material out of the game right before Christmas during the worst year of the last decade. Attack me in the reblogs if you want but remember that this is more of a confession post.
1. So here’s the least disagreeable opinion I have. Scientology is a hoax and L.Ron Hubbard just wanted to take your money. The religion is based off money and how dedicated you can be to it, unless you’re really rich, then you won’t be mistreated nearly as much as if you were poor. I
I know that a lot of other people out there agree with me on this one but Scientologists do exist and for the most part they’re very aggressive.
2. I don’t think that adding in a homosexual character to your story is necessarily progressive in and of itself.
Okay let me explain this using my own writing. Almara.
I have written homosexual characters into the series but the fact is that I wrote them as characters before I decided what their sexuality would be. Over seven years I created my characters and ended up having them go through many different experiences. Kali (A thin metis woman with black dreadlocks who’s capable of fighting with an assortment of different weapons) and Aria (A tall, broad built, and busty black woman with shoulder length black hair and green eyes. She’s more capable of using healing magic to support her friends, but that plays more into her narrative for the first act as she’s Kali’s emotional support) only became a couple after I worked on it for a while and realized that they are the best for each other I had them end up together quite early.
My main character, Margaret, was going to be married to a man but I ended up having her marry Lilith after I wrote a character named Lilith for a while I realized that they were foils for each other and would be able to both feed off of each other.
I’ve since reworked that male character into Ty (a black man who has mastered offensive magic) who will gain a relationship with Penelope (a tall and slender white woman who can turn into a gaint spider).
My point is that you should write a character relationship naturally, regardless of whether or not it’s homosexual while writing lead characters that think progressively. If they end up being in a homosexual or heterosexual relationship it just sort of happens. I personally don’t think that you should set out with a character’s sexuality in mind while writing them, instead leading your character evolve into their sexual while exploring who they are.
Using other examples is that people will often use homosexual arguments to argue that something is better. Like how various people have been saying that Miles Luna is not allowed to criticize “Legend of Korra” because his own writing (RWBY) isn’t nearly as good and it has homosexual representation.
I mean I agree that Legend of Korra is much better than RWBY, hell I argue that it’s much, much better than The Last Airbender as well. But having homosexual characters doesn’t make something better by default from a narrative stand point.
All that said, I do like it when people have homosexual characters in their writing or when a yaoi or yuri manga or anime is written well enough that I can understand the people getting into a relationship. I’ve been hearing the term Yuri on Ice coming up a lot recently in discussions and if you read this far, leave a note explaining why it’s good, I haven’t seen anything for it yet but I am looking for an anime to watch in my free time, I just don’t know whether or not it’s worth my time or if it’s just fan service-y.
3. This one isn’t as contraversial as the last one, in fact I think it’s a lot more progressive in a way of thinking. I think that everything should have at least one strong female character in it if not more. You don’t need to have a female lead in your story but I do feel like you should have a strong female character in there who’s not there as some sort of end goal for the main character, if the main character and the strong female end up together it’s not wrong but that shouldn’t be the end goal of the franchise and she should never become a damsel for him to save. A good story can usually be ruined for me if a previously strong female character is downgraded to a damsel in distress. Like how Sword Art Online was actually decent for the first half a season before the innate sexism of the franchise kind of set in.
This idea can be subverted with examples such as Zelda from “Twilight Princess” where the end goal of the game is saving Hyrule and defeating Ganon. In this one she actually gives up her freedom and in return Ganon doesn’t hurt her people. She’s also basically a Queen in this one, having absolute power over Hyrule. But for the most part it takes a lot of narrative skill to be able to pull this sort of thing off and shows that the writers do, in fact, know their characters.
The only reason this is on here is because there are a lot of people who seem to think that by voicing my opinion this matter that I’m actually trying to censor their own writing or the writing in their favorite video game, movie, or show.
4. This was mentioned above but I do think that most fan fiction is worse than it’s source material. Especially when the source material isn’t currently finished.
Much like anything else that gets popular RWBY has a lot of really bad relationship fan fiction. These are often written specifically with a certain ship in mind but they don’t actually have a story that they want to tell with said ship. As I said earlier, you need to have the characters perfectly in your mind when writing for them, if you can’t think of a legitimate situation where the characters could end up in a relationship and continue to write off that then you shouldn’t be writing the story your writing.
Other fan fiction includes having things written with depressing overtones to the fan fiction in attempt to write characters in a depressed state without, again, having a story in mind.
A premise is only a starting point and not a finished product and the first draft is not the final draft you’ll ever write for that story.
And this is only going from a narrative stand point. I’m not taking grammar into consideration because English isn’t everybody’s first language. In fact I care a whole lot more about how well you can tell your story.
5. Big breasts on a female character are not sexist. I mean I shouldn’t have to say that having large breasts isn’t sexist, though generally the larger your breasts are the harder it is on your back in the long run, much like how having a large tummy is hard on your back if you’re either a man or a woman as breasts are a build up of fat.
That said there is a sexist way to draw female characters…
This series (Highschool of the Dead):
is quite a bit more sexist. Every female character in this series is curvaceous and constantly have to be saved by the male characters, the show is not well written and the only aspect this show has is to show off how well they can show off the female body.
This series (Deadman Wonderland):
Is not sexist. The character in the image, Makina, is both in a position of power and willing to go against her superiors to make sure that her sense of justice wins out in the end, which it does. She’s both cold and compassionate, both harsh and gentle. She’s a well written character who had a character in mind before they designed how curvaceous she is. Her design even creates this idea of being a rose with thorns.
Even when she becomes crippled later in the series (which she ends up working to get over) she doesn’t stop fighting from the side lines using her tactical intelligence to aide the people who can still physically fight. She can have horrible things happen to her (like ever character in Deadman Wonderland) but instead of crawling into her corner and crying she continues to do her best to make herself useful to her cause.
This is a good example of a character who is meant to be aesthetically pleasing.
I could also bring up Shiro from Deadman Wonderland.
Another really good example of this done well is the series One Piece, as much as I’m not huge on the franchise all of it’s female characters have decently developed personalities even though they all have decently large breasts.
6. Fan service is not sexist if done using a small guide. This goes for fan service series centering around male characters as well.
Step 1: Don’t do it all the time.
You can do it frequently but no every scene.
Bringing Highschool of the Dead again, well, this series is just terrible for this sort of thing. Big bouncing breasts everywhere like they aren’t wearing support, which they obviously aren’t, this series would actually put it’s female characters through physical pain to make them look attractive rather than just giving them appealing designs that don’t revolve around how large their breasts are. This series is just wrong on so many levels.
Countering this I can bring in another series called Negima. We actually get frequent fan service in this manga series but it’s not every other panel. Akamatsu went from creating love Hina to creating a series where there are 32 different female characters, each of which get at least a chapter dedicated to them as well as serving as supporting characters throughout the entire series. It allows us to get to know each of them and makes each of them memorable for more than just what they look like or through how overly sexualized they are.
Step 2: Don’t make the male lead overly perverted
Again with this you can write a main character as a bit of a pervert, but you shouldn’t make them overly perverted to the point of being sociopathic.
A bad example here is not Highschool of the Dead, thank god, as that series just had a bland cardboard cutout of a male lead. This time I’m going to talk about a lesser known series called “He is My Master” (which I watched 4 years ago, be and a friend do an anime trade off thing, I gave him Canaan and he gave me this).
He is My Master revolves around a young woman (18) getting a job as a maid in a teenage boys (16) house. I assume you can see where this is going. The male lead is extremely perverted and is only hiring a made so that he can spy on her while she bathes in his in mansion bathe house (it’s explained why he has a mansion in the series) or while she’s sleeping. You should never have a main character actively trying to make fan service happen. Even Love Hina, which I’m not too fond of because it is a male fantasy series, knows that you can’t do this. This is a bad example of writing a perverted character and being this level of a pervert is not good.
Again Negima portrays a character who isn’t at all perverted but ends up getting people into fan service-y situations. If he blows a character’s clothes off it’s because he’s still an inexperienced magi and he had mispronounced a couple of words turning a memory erasing spell into a fabric destroying spell. He makes Asuna’s breasts bigger because the girls are trying to argue over who gets to take care of Negi and using breasts as a reason that they would be a better mother to him (it’s a folk belief in Japan that breasts represent motherhood as breasts do actually grow during pregnancy, to these girls larger breasts mean that he would be a better mother to him, he’s 9, they’re between 14 and 15), this backfires. Even the perverted character in the series, who’s a supporting character, is constantly being punished for being a pervert and he never outright puts the girls into perverted situations.
7. Writing female villians is not sexists if you write your villains like humans.
Lust from Full Metal Alchemist isn’t sexist as she has a character aside from being a seductress.
Shiro from Deadman Wonderland becomes a villain after having been on the side of the protagonist for most of the series because she’s tired of pretending to be happy.
Kuvira from Legend of Korra is a military leader who shows that she’s willing to do what ever she needs to to bring law to the world but shows a mass amount of compassion throughout the series.
Lapis Lazuli, Peridot, Jasper and Bismuth in Steven Universe are all portrayed as individual beings with their own mental turmoil.
The villain to the first arc of my writing who’s grown up in a racist atmosphere but learns a lot more about compassion nearing the end of her life while still having sociopathic tendencies.
You have to write them as characters instead of putting them there as just villains. As much as I do enjoy a force of nature villain from time to time they aren’t the best villains over all, especially if they don’t function to counter the main character in any way.
In Conclusion:
I hope you guys can understand these opinions, though I am willing to take the hate I might get for stating them. I’ll try and get my “Progressive Fiction Characters” post for Effie done for tomorrow.
bfdi cat dog au thing idk
more doodles n’ stuff under the cut
I want to write a book called “your character dies in the woods” that details all the pitfalls and dangers of being out on the road & in the wild for people without outdoors/wilderness experience bc I cannot keep reading narratives brush over life threatening conditions like nothing is happening.
I just read a book by one of my favorite authors whose plots are essentially airtight, but the MC was walking on a country road on a cold winter night and she was knocked down and fell into a drainage ditch covered in ice, broke through and got covered in icy mud and water.
Then she had a “miserable” 3 more miles to walk to the inn.
Babes she would not MAKE it to that inn.
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.