Here’s A Zine I Made (the Printed Copies Look Great!!) Thought I’d Share Them Here, Too!

Here's the next sketch for my 100 Themes Challenge. There was a character in the middle, but I think I'm going to draw that part digitally because all the lines were starting to get visually confusing for me.⠀ 🔹⠀ I've been wanting to put more patterns and Zentangle elements in my work. I'm hoping this turns out good. 😊

The internet is keeping score

Tumblr, we know you’ve been fighting valiantly to restore net neutrality. Whether you added widgets to your Tumblrs, or reblogged posts to spread the word to your followers, or contacted your reps asking them to keep the internet free and open as we know it—you’re helping. You’re doing it. Let’s keep that momentum up. 

BattleForTheNet.com (@fight4future) is letting Congress know that the internet is keeping score of every Congressperson who is and is not supporting the restoration of net neutrality. 

Right now you can visit that scoreboard and easily look up whether or not your reps support the Congressional Review Act resolution. 

This CRA will restore the net neutrality rules the FCC dismantled back in November 2017. They have 177 signatures, but need 44 more. You can help make that happen. This grassroots effort is working. Just two days ago Rep. Mike Coffman listened to his constituents from Colorado and became the first Republican to support the Democrat-led CRA. Keep putting that same pressure on your congresspeople. Urge them to sign the petition. If your congressperson has already pledged to support the CRA, reblog this post, add the new widget to your Tumblr (just copy and paste the small line of code from Battle For The Net right into the customize theme page on the web), and shout out what’s happening on all of your social media accounts. We have to spread the word.

Keep going, Tumblr. This matters, and you’re making a marked difference.

How to Draw Hands by zephy.fr

Support the artist and follow them on instagram!

I haven’t drawn anything in forever. (4 months 😬) I’ve been really busy but it felt nice to draw for myself again. 😌 Inspired by some artists InkTober prompts. I hope to ink this soon.

gif example for the first 3:

another example of applying measuring:

I know poppin’ to be roughly 5 feet tall. I also know that, on average, the height of a room is at least 8 foot tall.

I also know that the pokémon centre has two levels to its base floor room, so I’m thinking it’s a bigger room than average but still a little less than two storeys tall. I decide to make it 12 feet tall, thats one and a half rooms. Considering the average size of pokemon is like, huge, it sounds about right to me.

So I measure that out:

then I add another floor on top, and that gives me the height of the building!

this is the same as measuring out the cubes, I just applied a number this time! the pokémon centre is about four poppin’s tall, or four cubes if you will

there’s all kinds of things you can do by using just a few lines to measure things out. I wanted to make sure hugh was taller so I measured that out too!

so when you’re drawing things like architecture instead of thinking of it as a big complex shape, break it down and think about the size and position of things - especially the edges - relative to each other, and you’ll find it much easier to draw.

It’s very time consuming, but if you’re patient you can draw anything no matter how complex :^)

Reblogging because this is really good advice!

Hi Jenny, I was curious and looking for advice. I graduated from LCAD just last year, but I'm still having a lot of trouble achieving a more natural look to my digital art and linework. (I took Vargo's digital painting class, but my linework usually looks like stairsteps instead of smooth). Your work is always very lovely, smooth, and natural looking, is it okay if I ask what you do to achieve it? Or what program/tablet do you prefer to use?

Hi there, thanks for the kind words! First off I want to make a disclaimer for everyone here at the top: these are my own thoughts and opinions based on how I personally work & perceive my work. This advice is not for everyone, if it’s not for you that’s totally cool, everyone has their own path!As for your question this is a really difficult one to answer. There is no program or brush that helps with what you are trying to achieve. All the drawings I do are done in photoshop on a Wacom Cintiq (sometimes an iPad) and each drawing uses a variety of the Kyle brushes. I understand the frustration of not being taught how to clean digital line work or even to be able to sketch digitally but the best way to think of it is if you are inking on paper and to treat it the same way- difference is there is the safety net of the Cntrl Z hah. I also was never taught how to sketch or draw in any program so I was self taught, even through college. I had to just practice constantly until I was able to achieve the line quality that I was after. 

Here are some great tips I have gotten over the years:

-The line is the essence of what you are drawing, it’s more than just the contour of the form or an identifiable path; it is the flow and movement in which the drawing is given life

-Try not to make mindless lines, every line should have it’s purpose so do it thoughtfully. This means being thoughtful of your silhouettes, straight against curves, so on & so forth.

-Try not to lift your pencil off of the paper so much, if you want to avoid the “hairy line” 

-Be aware if you are using your shoulder/ elbow movement to draw or if you are tensing up & only using your wrist. This breaks fluidity in your body thus also breaking the fluidity of the drawing.

-Be confident in your lines- it shows!

-Less is more

I’m sorry there isn’t a definitive answer for this question but I hope these tips help. In the end it really just took me a lot of practice, self study & self discipline. Don’t give up & just keep practicing! <3

Beautiful and inspiring landscapes

Art by Vera Dochich

As 2019 peeks around the corner, here is my Christmas gift to all illustration freelancers, webcomic artists and comic artists. An invoice and accounting management tool in Google Sheets. Open the link then click File > Make a Copy to save your own copy to work with.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1amiimlkqXpEA6niD9XLW3lZIOP9iCaY17drAUIegUlg/edit?usp=sharing

So, I use this myself because I find programs like Quickbooks don’t really work as well for Freelancers/International artists (in part because Paypal refuses to work with it properly). This is very easy to use, the key is just to enter things in it regularly. The key to managing your money properly is to know where it is, and inputting things daily means short bursts of work where you can clearly see where your money goes instead of pure panic at the end of the year.

In this Sheet you have a monthly breakdown for all your expenses and income sources. Each month has a “month” grid where you can enter and view your expenses per week, and a “details” grid. In the “details” grid you basically enter everything with Descriptions and Categories, which allow you isolate deductible amounts. What can be deductible varies on your type of freelance work and location, but I, as a comic artists working from home in Canada, can deduct part of my rent, electricity, and all comic purchases.

The Categories have an integrated pre-build drop down that you can just copy over when you add a new line. Every day you receive an income or spend money, you should enter stuff IMMEDIATELY. Small daily work = less work at the end of the month.

At the end of each week, compile your totals from the “Details” tab in the monthly grid. Then, at the end of the month, compile those in your Annual tabs. Then, at the end of the year, you can literally just hand this to an accountant along side your other paperwork, it’s ready!

Right after the Annual Income & Expenses tabs I included a little invoice management tab so you can keep tabs on commissions and clients!

! hope you all find this useful, be sure to check with an accountant tied to your location for what qualifies as proper deductibles!

This item is free to use - but if you want to grace me with a donation for it, my Paypal is secondline@gmail.com (also that would be filed under the “gift” category).

Might try this idea!

If you're an artist looking to diversify your faces:

click this link

draw whomever you get

don’t worry about making it super-accurate, just focus on the characteristic parts of the face and have fun

the outcome might not look like the ref, but it will be different and more varied than faces you draw out of your head, an dprobably pretty rad on its own right!

feel free to reblog with your drawing, if you want!

Theme 7 Memory is done! I'm so glad I finally finished this. In truth, I wanted it done last year, but I was busier (and then sick) than I expected. Oh well. Have a belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I hope yours is off to a great start. 😊