Eads, CO

cbt!

What about Character Building Thursday (Thorsday), because question: What type of character is more difficult for you to write convincingly? For me, it’s villains.

- cthonicseraph

Oh sweet I didn't know there was a specific character building day, I'm definitely going to have to switch to this for a while. I have a hard time with grey protagonists, sympathetic villains ok, but heroes with shitty personalities are tough! I think making a villain likeable is easier than giving a hero some really unpleasant traits and still making them likeable. Lots of people take for granted that you're just supposed to like the protagonist by virtue of them being the protagonist and we know how well that works :p Though I haven't really tried it with main characters I do have a few goodguys who kind of suck. Either selfish or cowardly, even have one that is unapologetically racist. There's two characters I really struggle with in my fantasy because I don't LIKE them, and I'm trying to decide if I have to like them. You have to have some empathy for characters to make them three-dimensional and believable right? And it's not like having a villain who gets redeemed thru character growth to become good or at least... less... bad. How do you redeem someone who is already supposedly good? A lot of it is so relative and "good" maybe just means "winning side" but there's a lot of assumptions that come with it. Like... likeability. So hard.

It's interesting to learn that you are hypersensitive. I, for one, have been enjoying your art for a very long time. What I don't understand is that there are people out there that would die for your talent, yet you are nervous about sharing your art. To me, artists who are that good shouldn't be shy about their work... So stop being shy about it! :)

... I had to sit with this for a while.

This... I get that it comes from a place of good intentions, and that's nice, the sentiment is nice. But I'm not here for it, because like you said, you don't understand. I'm well aware that my opinions are strange but they're opinions about MYSELF and you're essentially telling me how to feel about myself and that's really unfair. And unrealistic? Emotions don't work that way. (You have a feeling? ITS WRONG. FEEL DIFFERENTLY) I will defend anyone's right to their feelings and it took my entire life to learn how to defend my own. I feel these misunderstandings boil down to a few things.

1. A view that my difficulties in sharing stem from an insecurity, or that I take my skills for granted in some way.

Not the case. I was hesitating as usual to say anything because I didn't want to make any artists who have yet to reach a similar skill level feel bad, but I don't want anyone laying that at my feet ok? (die for my talent?? How do I NOT construe that as a guilt trip D:) NO artist gets where they're at by taking their talent for granted. But lets not pretend I got where I am skillwise without pouring a ton of my blood/sweat/tears/years/life/soul/time/energy/everything into developing said skills. Art is a SKILL. I don't really want to have the skill vs. talent argument but if you're wondering what side of the fence I am on, its that side.

2. YOU DON'T KNOW MY LIFE

Aaaaaaaahhaaaa. Augh. Really tho. Like I said I wasn't always this way but I've had a lot of experiences (unrelated to art) that have made me a very closed off, private person. I've been called selfish, but I don't see how making things for myself in order to cope and then... keeping those things... is selfishness and not self-care. Do you ask a starving person to share what little food they have with someone who is just sort of hungry and will be fine without it? I hate using that comparison but if you follow artists on tumblr I'm sure you get plenty of nice stuff to look at on your dash, you'll be fine without my stuff on there all the time. I DO try, otherwise I wouldn't have artblog at all.

Serious Question: What if the hypersensitivity is the REASON for said ability? Two sides of the same coin. I've read some things that link sensitivity and creativity and if that is the case for me then would it still make sense to push me to be somehow different? I DO know artists who are VERY talented/skilled and don't have these struggles, and I also know artists who have struggled with serious huge ego problems too. I'm not trying to say it's gotta be one or the other, but maybe at extremes, its gosh I dunno, harder to be balanced about these things. I do occasionally dabble in arrogant snobbery but I can keep it to myself.

I feel some type of way about this. :/

I really like the look of that Naroth fellow! Why don't you tell us something about him?

Naroth was born into a very superstitious tribe that took his red eyes and hair as a bad omen and tossed him and his mom out because she refused to sacrifice him. They were taken in by a surly desert dragon who raised Naroth as his own after his mom died of heartbreak due to exile or something equally pitiful. He's a very talented warmage and specializes in casting spells in song/chant form but due to having a strict slightly brainwashy master/apprentice upbringing by a dragon he is really socially and emotionally stunted. His sidekick role to Errikan is a typical cold silent loner, but really brutal in battle.

I needed my own super sentai-inspired hero, so here's Heliolux :D I started a big overly detailed design sheet becase someday IMMA WEAR THIS.

wanna color but I have work in the morning 8|

It's truuuue

a super good friend of Ru and i created this amazing poster. she even got it signed by SPG - and look how BIG IT IS

and by created, i mean she art’d this. seriously. for real.

Its Friday the Thirteenth and also my birthday and also I'm thirty. Whaaaat

Thank you for being honest about how your college life killed your art. I've completely stopped working on my art. I only doodle at work now. Your art has always inspired me and it's good to know that I'm not alone in feeling stressed anytime I want to sit down and finish something more than a doodle. Someday I will draw again, or maybe I won't but at least I won't feel the same level of shame & betrayal to my supporters anymore. I gotta heal up and find my motivation again, my reason for art.

-octopusowl

I had an old post talking a bit about how much I hated art school… heh. I KNOW YOUR PAIN THOUGH. I UNDERSTAND. I have SO much unfinished art that I think could be really great but I just... can't. I've always avoided persuing art jobs cos it's hard enough for me to draw the stuff I *like*. I see how much even my most talented and well-connected artist friends struggle and they actually love what they do and I'm just like nope. Not gonna.

I'll be real with you, this is gonna freak some people out but I don't love drawing. I hate drawing comics because it is too much damn drawing, and discovered very early that I could never be an animator despite how much I love it because the thought of drawing that much fills me with existential horror. I love CREATING. Drawing is just the best way to get my ideas out. I was driven to draw well so I could convey my ideas clearly. I actually enjoy making stuff so much more, but crafts and fabricating is EXEPENSIVE and drawing is practically free. Making things requires tools and workspace, drawing at the minimum requires a pen and paper and you can do it anywhere. So basically 99% of what I draw is stuff I want to make but can rarely afford to :C My dream is to someday have a props/costumes shop where I just make so much cool shit (for example dyeing and styling wigs with weird colors and crazy anime styles is SO much fun omg- PLUS I'm currently obsessed with the idea of making glowing fiber optic wigs but once I calculated how much it would cost... uh. Augh. Still totally gonna make it happen eventually though). That's why I care about practical costume design, when I'm drawing clothes I've pretty much already drafted the patterns in my head and have chosen the fabrics, etc. I make decent money right now so that's actually what I'm working toward and yes holy cow it costs SO much. And next on my to-get list is a high quality sewing machine I can feel my bank account crying already :C

UM SO my theory is sometimes its possible that the thing you struggle to do is actually tangential to the thing you REALLY love and that's why it can be difficult and unsatisfying, despite seeming like its something you "should" love. I hope you can find that thing. I only just realized this about myself recently. And even if that's not true for you, at some point you may end up in a better headspace and find joy in it again, because if you did once, why not again? I can understand the guilt but just remember that art is a gift, given freely *when you can afford to*, and you don't owe anyone gifts.

When designing characters (especially costumes--I'm thinking specifically of the organic-nanotech Iron Man) do you find yourself doing a lot of research specifically for that project, or does it tend to grow more often out of subjects you've already taken an interest in/have knowledge of? Are there any particular resources you find yourself using frequently for that kind of research?

-tyuran

Gosh. WELL. I read. A lot. Like when I go on a research tear I read so much it freaks out people around me 8| Super easy to read lots because I own a kindle. I just get obsessed with things and I have to learn everything I can so I tend to start with wikipedia and then move on to books, and lurk on discussion forums about the topic. (example, I am obsessed with jeeps, I am a member of the cult of Wrangler we have a secret wave and everything and I want to turn mine into a zombie apocalypse response vehicle someday :p and now it is super easy for me to talk about cars with all the dudebros I work with ffff)

Specifically with biotech Ironman tho? I was majoring in biology before I had to quit school for the final time due to uh, poverty. I love SCIENCE so when I nerd out over sci/fi I get tons of ideas for story and character design. It makes me a huge snob tho, like seriously people need to stop giving JJ Abrams all these sci/fi franchises he can't science fiction at ALL. UGH. Like sci/fi is exciting cos science is exciting dammit, and looking toward what's really possible. I saw that the Daily Show has a new segment called Neil Degrasse Tyson: BUZZKILL OF SCIENCE lol that man is my hero.

SO YEAH. Character design I do lots of research on... everything. And if I have a new character who does something I don't know anything about (like, my character Shae is a pilot so I spent some time studying seaplanes and helicopters while I developed her), then it's pretty exciting to learn a new thing! I've actually redesigned my character Edie (she's a giant robot mechanic lol) a bit recently because I've been working with industrial mechanics at my dayjob and have learned a lot about work clothing/industrial safety gear that I didn't find out thru reading. It's like that writer's thing where you just call all your life experiences "research" lol so that's pretty cool.