Symbols And Signs: Animals

Some of you have been asking for a tutorial on how I draw faces so I threw together a thing for you. *finger guns*

teach me?? how to draw?? the action of kissing????

Step 1. yearn

Free to use textures, credit optional.

Made a quick tutorial about dynamic linking in Blender… It’s really useful for iterating designs that need to have the same changes as the original. One of my clients wanted me to try out many colors of models, but I wanted to make sure they all retained the same changes of the original, and this is how I figured out how to do it! Try it out if this is something you’d find useful!

Face tutorial for Anon!

I wasn’t sure whether you meant heads or facial expressions, so here’s a very basic head tutorial! Of course not all faces are the same so proportions and the size of ears/eyes/noses etc. can vary! Feel free to explore and play with them to create unique and interesting characters! I hope this is somewhat helpful, and let me know if you’d like a tutorial on expressions as well!

I have two questions! First: have you ever thought of doing a tarot card suit for your characters? I think it'd work really well for them! And two: help me how do I draw legs

@gravitality

Hi!! I’ve absolutely been thinking about that, yeah, in fact I recently talked about that to my boyfriend just recently. It’ll likely happen after october! And to answer your second question! I made a thing on legs that i hope you’ll find useful!!

So. I’ve already explained basics on legs here, but I don’t think it hurts to go through some extra details to help you understand legs some more.

The very basic thing is to imagine legs as teardrops. Again, this has already been covered in said tutorial above, but I figured it’s still good to mention even the most basic thing that I know of. I still highly recommend you check it out to get in more detail and to see some other examples and practices that you do. But basically, think of legs in the shapes of teardrops, when it comes to shape. If you need a simple stick-figure to connect the legs in the first place, make sure that they bend at the knees a bit so that the legs don’t come off as stiff and unnatural. 

As you can see, this method works perfectly for realistic legs as it does for stylistic ones. Remember to use these as a guideline, never to be the exact base of the legs you will be drawing. If you draw traditionally, remember not to draw these guides too hard, or they will be hard to erase/do freestyle!

But how do you actually draw out the legs without drawing them perfectly straight, as shown to the left? The trick is to add volume to them, and how you do that can be winged to your own liking. The idea is to think in curves. As no leg is perfectly straight. You may make these curves minimal if you don’t want them to be curvy, but keep in mind, still, that not even your own bones are perfectly straight, so it is highly recommended that you make them bend, at least a little. 

It all depends on how you draw them as well. Say you put your legs together, as shown in this picture, what happens to the fat and muscle? Naturally, they press together, much like how thighs squish on the surface when you sit down (I’m sure most people know what I’m talking about). Make sure this shows in your art! This is very important to keep in mind, because it makes it all look more natural and believable. Try to cross your legs or stand up and sit down again for real-life examples!

The same applies for stretching your legs, more or less, except they appear to become more ‘hollow’ and slimmer. They become less soft to the touch, too, and might show. Try stretching your legs and feel where the muscles tense and where it feels ‘hollow’. This is very helpful with your art.

Many leg tutorials talk about legs without mentioning the behind. It requires a tutorial on it’s own, in all honesty, but this is the most simplest way to draw it connecting to the legs. Remember that it comes in many different shapes, and this is just a super basic guide! Two circles overlapping, while following the line and flow of the legs. Remember the muscle/fat as mentioned above!

Okay, so we got the basics of leg shapes figured out? What if you want o draw them in a certain pose, or with a certain silhouette, but perhaps do not have the reference for it? Or you want to blend your style into it? The key is to not shy away from doodling the form. Make mess, draw lightly and don’t care about the anatomy. That way you’ll get everything down without it appearing stiff. You can clean up the sketch later, always, and if you can, use a reference after you have drawn your pose, to correct your drawing.

Remember that the hips do a lot to the pose of the legs! Make sure they are in flow with your legs, so that it can look more natural. Remembers that hips ‘rotate’ with the spine.

I’ve talked about this method before when it comes to posing, and the same applies for the legs. One way to make legs appear ‘steady’ is to picture them standing in a line, and one of those legs need not to stray from the lines too much, making it steady. If you want a dynamic pose despite the steady pose, you can always have the other leg stray from the line, since it only matters that one leg is steady. This method can create good, casual poses without making them appear boring. (also notice how the teardrop shapes are used here, despite the highly stylized legs)

Do you want a highly dynamic pose, or them to appear unsteady, then skip the line entirely and make both legs aim away from it completely. As you can see, the legs appear more moving, in action, as if they’re fighting, falling, or dancing. As you can imagine, this is not a pose that one could stay steady on, suggesting that it’s taken mid-movement. More about posing and this ‘line’ method is talked about in this tutorial.

Hope this helped you, if you have any questions let me know, and if you’d like to check out all my tutorials they can be found here!

How to draw feet by zephy.fr

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Symbols and Signs: Flowers

Sometimes by using flowers we can convey messages about a character and their motives. Meanings behind plants can differ by country or region and some can be completely different. Using flower symbols is a subtle and poetic way to say things. Like instead of saying Trump is wanker, you can describe him as holding Aconite, Begonias, tansy and hollyhock. (See below for meanings)

Positive Flowers

Aloe Vera: Healing, protection, affection

Amaryllis: Pride

Anemone: Forsaken

Angelica: Inspiration

Apple blossom: Preference

Arborvitae: Unchanging friendship

Aster: Symbol of Love, Daintiness

Basil: Good wishes

Bay: Glory

Bluebell: Humility, kindness

Red carnation: admiration

White carnation: Innocence, pure love,

Pink carnation: Rememberamce

Yellow carnation: rejection

Chamomile: Patience

Cumin: Fidelity

Daffodil: Regard

Daisy: Innocence, hope

Forget-me-not: memories

Gardenia: Secret love between loves

Holly: Hopefulness

Honeysuckle: love

Hyacinth: play, rashness

Blue: Constancy of love

White: Loveliness

Ivy: Friendship

Lavender: virtue and loyalty

Lily: Beauty, freedom, death, purity, Motherhood

Oak: Strength

Roses:

red: love

pink: Happiness

White: purity, innocent, worthiness

Rosemary: Remembrance

Valerian: Readiness and calmness

Rue: Grace

Sunflower: Adoration

Thyme: Courage and strength

Violet: Loyalty, devotion, faithfulness, modesty

Yarrow: Everlasting love

Negative Flowers

Aconite (Monkshood): means ‘hatred’ and ‘be cautious’. Also poisonous.

Butterfly weed: ‘Leave me’.

Orange lilies: symbolize hatred, pride, and disdain.

Petunia: symbolizes resentment and anger.

Begonia: Beware

Cyclamen: good-bye

Hollyhock: Ambition and pride

Purple Hyacinth: Sorrow, forgiveness, regret

Yellow Hyacinth: Jealousy

Yellow Rose: jealousy, decrease of love, mourning

Dark Red Rose: Mourning a lover

Tansy: anger and hostility

Willow: Sadness

Yew: Death

I am so serious when I say if you want to learn about light, you NEED to at least look at modeseven’s tutorials. even if you’re not pursuing a painterly style, this is all essential theory that can be easily adapted to different coloring styles. notice how none of these ever say ‘light with these colors and shade with these colors’? notice how this is teaching how light works on a mechanical level, and reminding the audience to adjust the actual colors they choose by context? THAT is good advice.

(if you’re thinking ‘wow I want to study more of this persons art!’ I encourage you to do so, but proceed with the knowledge that modeseven draws pretty much exclusively weird as hell kink art. sometimes wisdom comes from horny places)

I was wondering what's your process for creating plants? Specifically where you have to create leaves/flowers/branches out of a stem.

i really enjoy making flowers. basically, when i find one that looks fun to model, i’ll get a few photo references of real flowers, like this one from Home Depot’s website 

so i can get a basic idea of their colors and shapes. 

after that, i pretty much just make each component separately, one piece at a time. the stem, pistil, and stamen are essentially just long cylinders that widen and narrow at the ends, the leaves and petals start out as circles that i shape and alter over time, and then after coloring and detail work is done i move each separate model into place so that they start to resemble a complete flower

it’s kind of like putting a puzzle together, except you also make each of the pieces.