Mundane Scenes Are Important.

Writing is first and foremost about having fun.

Write the story you want to write, no matter how cliché or overdone of a concept it might be. You are allowed to write your story, even if it's filled with billions of things we've already seen before.

As long as you enjoy what you're doing, and you're passionate and excited about your project, that's what matters.

And don't give too much thought into what other people are trying to tell you. There's an audience for everything. Some people do actively search to consume stories about ''washed up'' concepts.

AO3 donators, it’s voting time. And one particular candidate not only doesn’t understand AO3 on a fundamental level (somehow, despite being a tenured user and an unfortunate volunteer) but actively wants to push censorship. They are the exact kind of person we don’t need involved with OTW or AO3 for that matter. The same kind of person we have to actively fight against like, all the time. I frankly don’t know how the hell they even became a volunteer but, anyway. Got vote for people who won’t actively work to destroy it.

Tons more info in the reddit thread here https://www.reddit.com/r/AO3/comments/wlxk3m/otw_board_election/

There’s already several posts around here on tumblr of people with the same worries, but not enough imo.

I think passion as humanity's driving force is widely misunderstood. Like sure, people driven by their love and passion for what they do have made more individual advances to art and sciences than people driven by milder, more rational motives, but claiming that passion is the most efficient driver for human progress would be like claiming that the water-cooled 7.7mm Vickers medium machine gun is the most efficient way to heat water for tea. That's really just not how it works, and thank goodness it isn't.

Most people just don't have that kind of a passion. That's a good thing. Most people don't have six fingers, either, and not being born with an unusual quirk doesn't mean that you're lacking or incomplete. You're lucky if you don't, because most of the time, the successful people who were driven there by passion for what they do are a not a fair selection, it's 100% survivor bias.

People who are passionate about one thing and one thing only don't get to choose what they're passionate about. If you ask them, they'll tell you they wouldn't trade their own thing for anything else in the world, and of course they wouldn't - just like a parent in a birth ward being handed their own baby wouldn't trade that one for any other baby in the world. It's special and you love this one because this one is yours.

And having something you're passionate about doing means you can't be stopped from doing it. Even you can't stop yourself from doing it. Even if it isn't useful, if it isn't productive, if it isn't profitable, your tracks still can't get turned any other way. If your passion cannot be turned into a career, the best that a therapist can do is get you to grudgingly agree it's best to get a day job that you don't care about so you can do the one thing you want to do on your free time.

The people with a passionate fixation on hard sciences, who become astrophycisists or theoretical mathematicians purely because they are passionate about doing it are rare outliers. Not equally rare, but far lesser known ones, are porn artists. Not even shitting you - there seems to be an absolutely bizarre amount of them out there who originally started drawing because they personally happened to have a fetish so bizarrely niche and specific that they couldn't find any porn of it, and saw no other choice than to draw it themselves. And then cultivated remarkable skills over the years, because they fucking love drawing that one specific thing.

Anyway, I have theories about the sources of the remarkable amounts of money that clearly frequently exchange hands in the furry community.

Parasite and Girl

👑The Queens return 👑

@theeretblr

you can pay for what you did to me

I'm sure you've been asked this hundreds of times but how did you develope your art style? I especially love the way you color your pieces. They're chefs kiss for sure lol

i think of art styles as just ways you view the world,, how you choose to emulate what you see from life. disregarding how skilled you are in art, how you draw rn is your style, it just develops over time.

if you follow artists on social media, you’re gonna see elements of their art style you enjoy and may want to include in your own art (you might copy the way one artist draws eyes, another on their noses, another for their coloring style, etc.)

(i answered a separate ask about my own inspirations that influence my style here!)

and the more you draw, you’ll slowly find out what works for you.

for example, if you copy the way one artist draws eyes and continue to use it in your own style, over time, how you draw eyes could develop into your own way. that artist was just the foundation to help pave the way for your own art style.

like, your art style isn’t just made up of your favorite artists’ styles, it’s also based on choices you make. your style can be made up of:

(1) things you find appealing! if you like sharp angles and geometric shapes, your style may be more angular because it’s something you like! it’s not necessarily because an artist you admire did it, it could just be because you like drawing things that way and like how they look.

personal example: i like drawing lines in hair! i find it really appealing and like the shapes they make when i do it. i took inspiration from a friend who drew in a geometric style, but i didn’t rip this exact hair technique from them or any specific person. i just happened to do it and liked how it looked. i find it appealing, so now it’s just part of my style.

(2) things you just have fun drawing! if art is your hobby and something you really like doing, of course you’re gonna wanna have fun as you do it! so find particular things that you really enjoy drawing out.

personal example: when i sketch, i really love little scribbles like these! it’s just so fun to taper off lines this way.

i’ve done them so much it’s practically become second nature when i sketch. i like to be loose with my lines and don’t like making them entirely clean cut. i like the freeing feeling of letting my lines go wherever, and often the result is just scribbles like these. they’re fun to do, so i keep ‘em!

(3) techniques done just for the sake of convenience. you may start to find shortcuts in drawing/coloring certain things, and over time that technique will just become implemented in your style.

personal example: as aforementioned, i like keeping my lines loose and sketchy. if you look at my lines, you’ll see that they’re not very clean; they go off the edges and are open ended sometimes.

it’s a mix of inspiration from ramonn90’s art, but also it was just convenient for me.

i’ll be honest: i’m lazy. sketchy lines are convenient because i can be lazy: i don’t have to spend time cleaning up my lines and i can leave in my mistakes.

additionally! y’know how some artists complain that their outlines look boring and less expressive than their initial sketches? i also felt that way about my art in the past, but i found a way to counteract that that worked for me:

nowadays whenever i sketch, i copy and paste it onto a new layer. i keep the parts i like, erase the ones i don’t, and then continue to outline everything else onto that layer.

for me, this is convenient because it helps maintain the expressiveness of my initial sketch, because i’m keeping parts of the sketch in the final outline.

another personal example: how i color backgrounds. again, i’m lazy. because i’m lazy, i don’t really draw out backgrounds—i don’t want to spend time drawing every little leaf and tree and detail in the back. instead, i throw a bunch of blobs of color onto the canvas and call it a day. let viewers interpret it for themselves.

this was all out of convenience because i’m lazy. but hey! it works, i like the way it looks, and i have fun doing it.

there are probably more factors that play into the development of your style, but that’s all i can think up atm.

also, if you’re curious about my coloring in general, i like impressionism and blocky coloring styles. i love traditional paintings where you can see each brushstroke and color. here’s a pinterest board of art with that kinda style that i like!

compare that to some instances of my coloring—

and you can see the influence.

i used to get so hung up on what my style was, but as i continued drawing, the development just became natural and not something i put as much thought into.

this is all just how i interpret art styles, so i hope that gave you some insight on my thought process!

literally if you’re new to tumblr: reblog shit

“it wont fit my aesthetic” make a sideblog. reblog to it.

“i hate tagging” don’t tag then. reblog it anyway.

“but my likes are public” ppl here dont fucking look at your likes. they dont do anything anyway. reblog it.

“you just want attention” jokes on you, I dont make shit anymore. I’m talking about other artists.

“it’s embarrassing” tumblr is an anonymous platform. make a sideblog if you’re too cowardly

“but on twitter its fine to have lurk accounts” well they suck ass here and are assumed to be bots. reblog.

We took the drunk train home.

They were all absolutely infatuated with him and whispering about how much they wanted to pet him and then shushing each other saying “no that’s rude you can’t! just leave him alone!” so I told them they can pet him if they want and they were absolutely overwhelmed with happiness, while simultaneously being very concerned for his well-being, continually asking if I was very sure that it was okay and that I should please please tell them if I need them to leave him alone.

Basically, it was a great ending to a VERY long day. Sometimes people are really great.