Attention non-artists who commission artists: don’t fuckin do this???
Actually had someone do this to me too. Was doing a art stream, it took me over 2 hours to do his inked commission, he got a refund cause ‘it took too long’ that he figured I wasn’t going to do it after I gave him the file.
Don’t do this. Do not.
I’ve had this happen to me with a $350 comic I had already finished it, it was full color, 6 panels and had a full bg in every panel. I was lucky in that I didn’t spend him money yet, but it left me without funds. I’ve also had the above happen to me as well.
Don’t do this shit to artists. We’re people too. Drawing for you is more than a hobby. It’s a job.
Use Paypal Invoices.
I cannot stress this enough. That shit helps A LOT when it comes down to Paypal refunds/disputes.
There’s a description box that let’s you put in what the product is/how long it’ll take/yadda yadda, and then there’s another little memo box that only you and paypal can see where you can say it’s a digital commission and doesn’t require shipping (So Donald Mcfuck can’t say that they never got their commission).
And there’s also a box for your Terms & Conditions where you can say, if you have any conflicts/want a refund – email me, or you can actually tell the user that this is a digital commission and they won’t be getting a hard copy of it.
ARTISTS. PLEASE USE PAYPAL INVOICES. it will SAVE you. And to: the people who do this to artists – Fuck you. It’s okay if you change your mind and want a refund. But freaking TALK to us and let us know what’s going on. Let us WORK with you.
ALSO A HUGE TIP: Invoices paid will automatically set up a shipping notice which, if not fulfilled, can land you in SERIOUS hot water with PayPal. Since a lot of artists don’t print and ship the commissions, this is a huge problem.
However! Totally manageable. Just go to your PayPal, scroll down to find Seller Preferences
>> Shipping Preferences
>> Display Ship Button. Make sure all the boxes are unchecked. Then you’re all set!
Some nasty undead blood husk Morgan. I have had SO much trouble getting this design to a point I’m pleased with, but this is pretty dang close. Big thanks to @fablepaint for the commission that really helped me get my creativity gears turning again.
Everything subject to change, but the basic idea is that she kinda messed up some revenge self-necromancy (ensuring her corpse will reanimate to wreak havoc on the person or thing that did her in), and she ended up stuck in a nasty disintegrating corpse.
Being a blood magic construct, new blood and flesh are necessary to keep her from just kinda falling apart. Her body tends to mutate new bits somewhat at random (usually from things she’s eaten), and shed rotten or useless bits.
She’s pretty unresponsive and harmless as long as she’s not hungry and you aren’t her target…
DON’T PLAY WITH BLOOD MAGIC, KIDDOS
Temporarily reblogs this here while no one is looking
a thing i only recently realized i knew abt character design that isnt just common sense apparently:
do not start ur character design by doing a full, refined turnaround/model sheet.
like. everyone in my childrens book il class is fuckin doing this even though most of them are illustration majors and its a huge mistake (our prof literally warned them against this, and YET)
any time you design a character, start by not caring. by just doing what feels right. dont settle on the first thing; play around. and then draw your character a shitload of times before u start a ref sheet
dont finish anything, just. do super fast sketches of them over and over and over. fill up a page or two. as you draw them theyll evolve. that will happen whether your sketch it out at the beginning or jump right into a final draft, and lemme tell u, u do NOT want ur character evolving and changing AFTER ur final draft. u want to get that out of the way early so u can get a decently consistent finished product
then when you go to do your model sheet you will already be able to keep your character on model without it bc youve drawn them a shitload of times. then it wont be “struggling to draw the character the same every time” itll just be “this is what the character looks like and i could draw them with my eyes closed bc of muscle memory”
dont just jump in and be like “shit i gotta have this full complex polished thing right out of the gate!” like. in the beginning, Do Not Work Hard. play. play a lot. and THEN do a refined drawing. your refined drawing will look way better, too, bc by then youll be completely comfortable with your design
its just a super bad idea to present a character as “heres a ref sheet” as soon as you have a concept. your concept will evolve and u have to let it, or else ur designs will look rushed/bad and your drawing will looks stiff and uncomfortable bc u can only draw ur character at a ¾ths view in a particular pose bc youve drawn them twice in ur entire life
hey!! sorry to hijack this post, but there are a bunch of ways you can make videogames without knowing shit about computers!!
for starters, there’s Twine, which is fucking great for making all kinds of interactive experiences (it’s what Crystal Warrior Ke$ha was made in so you KNOW it’s good) at all skill levels (i picked it up and made a game in two minutes a few nights ago)
if you want a bit more involved experience there’s Inform 7 which is a simple language for text-based adventure games that reads like slightly-weird English and also relatively easy to learn
you can do some pretty fucking cool stuff with Unity (my personal engine of choice) but you may need to dig a bit farther to get at the good stuff. there’s lots of really good presets though (i made an entire game just mixing and matching pre-existing templates and adding in my own art, won an award at a game jam for that one) and if you want help the community’s pretty dang friendly from what i’ve seen!
this is just a taste of what’s out there from what i’ve seen, but there’s so many cool resources out there. if anyone wants help getting started, i’m around to give you a leg up on making something in the coolest, most unexplored art medium around!
I’m addin’ to this post because lowering the barrier to entry for making games is super important to me!!!! If y’all have any questions about making games, you’re welcome to come and ask! I made this list a while back with some friends, so it has some of the programs John already mentioned.
2D Editors:
GameMaker : Potential for pure drag-and-drop “programming”. It is recommended to read-up on the program’s functions to make good use of it. Good for prototyping. Uses its own language called Game Maker Language (GML) that is similar to a C language (e.g. C++ or C#). For both Mac and PC; free version available.
Construct2 : Drag and drop level editor that uses an “If-Then” event sheet structure for programming. Good for prototyping and for beginners. For PC; free version available.
GameSalad : Drag and drop with no code requirement. Good for programming. For both Mac and PC; free version available.
Solpeo : HTML5 based game engine for 2D and isometric game development. Some programming knowledge needed. Platforms supported: Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer 9+. Free version available.
Stencyl : Drag and Drop “programming,” templates you can edit the variables/values for.
Scratch : Lego-block-style coding platform by MIT; totally free and a great intro to thinking in code. Very kid-friendly and comes with a community site. Browser version available.
3D Editors:
Unity : 3D editor that creates 3D games. Can build games for browser, as an app, or for mobile devices (iOS and Android). For both Mac and PC; free version available.
UDK (Unreal Development Kit) : Full-fledged, highly advanced editor. Features a complete set of tools that go from level design to visual scripting to cut-scene creation. Uses it’s own programming language called Unreal Script that can be arranged with Kismet, a visual code editor. For Mac and PC; free.
2D Art/Animation Software:
GIMP : Free photo editing and digital painting software.
Easy Paint Tool SAI : Free digital painting software with a UI similar to Photoshop.
Mischief : Free digital painting software with an endless canvas.
3D Art/Animation Software:
Sculptris : From the company that created Zbrush, this free software is ideal for beginning 3D sculptors.
Maya : Animation, VFX, lighting, and rendering software.
Magical Voxel : Voxel Art (3D Pixel Art). Very intuitive and quick to pick up.
SketchUp : Architectural modeling software, great for creating 3D environments and buildings. Free version available.
Text-Based Games:
Twine : Create interactive text stories using Twine’s visual map system that links your game together. Easy to learn and use. End result is browser-based. For Mac and PC; free.
Quest : Interactive text stories that you can build in-browser.
Ren’Py : Create visual novels using a modified version of Python that reads like a combination of stage directions and a CYOA novel. For PC, Mac, and Linux; free.
Audio Resources/Editors:
Indie Game Music : This site offers free indie music with no need to worry about royalties or licenses.
Audacity : A free, open-source, cross-platform sound editor that allows you to record and arrange sound.
Super Flash Bros. : This site allows you to record theremin-like (8bit) sounds and export them as .wav files for your games.
Have you ever been trying to draw tiles on a wall or on the floor in perspective, but notice that after you’ve drawn them, they don’t look like they’re all the same shape or size?
Well here’s a tutorial on how to fix that.
Your picture probably looks like this, right?
Well, i’m here to tell you how to fix that…Let’s start out with your basics.
The gray line is the horizon line, and the black dot is your horizon line. These are essential for the first steps of perspective. Without these, your perspective may turn out wonky and just not flattering to the eyes. Right now we’ll work in One point perspective.
Now let’s pretend we’ll be drawing a hallway. Draw a vertical line where the edge of the wall is.
Now, from the tips of the bottom and top of your wall, you’re going to need to draw a line extending all the way to the vanishing point. If you’re working in photoshop you could either use the line tool, or shift+click. If traditional, you’ll need to use a ruler.
Now that we have the wall that’s in perspective, it’s time to draw the rest of the lines. here I’ve drawn the wall facing us that’s closest, the ceiling, the floor line, and the end of the hallway. ASSUMING that you are working in one point perspective, all vertical lines are straight and parallel to each other, and all horizontal lines are straight and parallel to each other.
Now here I have erased the lines that extended beyond the back wall, and found the center point of the edge of the left wall. From there, you draw an extended line just as before towards your vanishing point.
now make a vertical line where your first “tile” is.
now this may be a little hard to explain. Now you’re going to draw a line coming from the corner of the wall, through the corner where your line meets the tile you just drew, and all the way to the ground line.
You see where these two lines meet? you’re going to draw a vertical line to the ceiling from here.
Like so!
Now rinse and repeat! you should have perfectly even spaced tiles now! And if you have tiles on the ceiling
Just draw horizontal lines connecting to the vertical lines!
Now just erase anyhing you don’t need and…viola! Perfect tiles in perspective!!
Seriously! I just found out I have wrist tendonitis and its pretty painful but it could have been prevented if I’d taken care of my wrists properly!! Take breaks whenever you draw, even if it’s just to get up and walk around! Stretch your wrists during those times! Stretch BEFORE you start drawing!! STRETCH ALL THE TIME
Take care of you non-dominant hand, too! It works just as hard typing away at the keyboard when you’re drawing digitally! That’s what happened to me, I was stretching my right hand plenty, but my left hand kept being jammed into the same position over and over again with no breaks! Don’t do that!
Your wrists and hands are almost always the most valuable part of your body when you’re drawing, and they need to stay healthy. Stretching not only prevents and fixes any short-term damage but it’s been said to prevent arthritis! Now I’m not an expert, but that seems to be a pretty good trade-off for losing a few minutes of drawing time just to stretch!
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