Gabbab

I found some Heavymedic angst doodles I hadn't finished! Exploring the Cheavy fight aftermath/being together again. They're in a shitty little motel in the two sketches

Happy B-Day!

Oof, you asked a hard but also a fun question. I have learned art mostly by myself and I don't really umm know what all my art stages are.

But on the top of my head: sketch with a bigger brush than what you are going to use with the lineart. Like, I usually make my lineart with a 10px size brush, so I sketch with a 15px or 17px art. Then it kinda forces you to make things more vaguely. More shapely. Can't do details well.

Then I switch to either 10px or like 12px brush to make a more detailed sketch so I can make sure the pose works. Like uhh

And when I am coming up with what to draw, I tend to sketch things out multiple ideas before I find the vibe I am going for. That is also easier when you use the bigger brush you know you are not going to be using for the final piece anyway. Be comfortable deleting a sketch and doing it again. The first thing don't need to be the final thing.

My ideas come to me whether I liked it or not. My brain just is on creative mode 24/7 if I am not dead tired or depressed etc. I go through lot of ideas that I either "well maybe I'll do them one day" or "I have to sketch this out NOW".

With faces, at first I sketch out the "vibe" of the expression. The end result might change along the way tbh but that's ok! A sketch is just a suggestion in the end

Tf2 has taught me to look at cheek bones and jaws more. The face moves a lot when we do faces so the first step is to be comfortable to "change" the face shape when doing expressions. It doesn't matter if you draw them "wrong" when sketching, too. You are just making shapes to support the final uhh face.

Like, here:

Medic's resting bitch face is pretty handsome. Like he is conventionally attractive. Long face, strong jaw etc.

And then he moves his face and suddenly he can look pretty goofy

And also, look at references A LOT. Like, all the time. Even with the little things. I have traced Sniper's van more times that I can count. Fuck drawing cars. Maybe I will be able to draw them one day but won't bother with simple fanart

Ahem, anyway. I don't know if this is anything. I hope it is

I hope you've had a great birthday!!

Sorry for the delay with answering!

Art block sucks. I will give the bad news first: sometimes you have to wait it out. Trying to force creativity in this instance will just hit your self confidence in a bad way.

Art block can happen because you are struggling with something in real life so until the outside things have been settled, the art block cannot be fixed :( I know, it sucks.

BUT if this is not the case and this an art block that is happening for some other reasons, my go to advice is to forget about making things you've used to making.

Meaning, lower your expectations and let the art be meaningless. For example, make just shapes. It might be a bit frustrating to even do because "it's nothing" but tbh the idea is to just get your hand to do the mechanical side of drawing without making yourself sad that you can't do your usual art.

Another thing is, do what you want and leave out things you don't want to make. Don't think what you "have to draw to make art finished" or anything. Like, if you don't want to draw the hand past the sketch stage, don't. I mean it.

Get your body back to knowing what it's supposed to do and reward your brain with finished work by changing the rules on what's finished. You have time to draw something like you usually do, it don't have to me today or tomorrow. Even if it's a month from now, it's still happening.

In short: The second you get sad about not being able to do something, change the rules on what you are doing.

I use clip studio and currently using these:

This is the one I am so in love with atm AAAAH there's the content ID for a quick search

This is such a nice lineart pen, too. Have to be more precise with it, tho. I've modified this a bit myself, added some textures:

And then some of my old faves (the first I use to sketch the most)

Idea for a TF2 update: if a Soldier rocket jumps while a medibeam is still on him, Medic is allowed to hunt him for sport next time they meet. Or you can mark him for death and your team Heavy gets to hunt him down. Either is good with me

I had this sketched out, forgot about it and then finished it in one day (today) after I found it again lol

All this tooth rotting fluff for Medic's punchline? Yea...yea.

Casual old husband banter (after issue 7 Heavymedic)

Extra:

Hi!

Ohhh I can talk about character design for days AND about Tf2 character design for forever. Lemme tell ya, my artistic skills got so much better after I started to learn how to draw the mercs! It's not easy but so worth it

EDIT: I forgot!! Loadout.tf is a life saver, too!! LINK HERE

Soooo, lets start with the faces:

I love the facial structures of these fuckers so much. They're so shaped! Like look at them and tell me, do many modern games even come close to making their characters this unique??

Ahem, anyway. The faces are all very distinct shapes so ya just gotta remember that when drawing any of the mercs. Like ya know:

Just the outlines if that helps more idk

The basics of drawing anything is figuring out what shape it is tbh. With everything. Like the overall head shape but also the shape of the nose, of the chin and jaw. Here's some other pointers, too:

One of the things many might ignore (I know I did for a while) is the neck thickness. If your Heavy seems weird, check the neck!

Now with their body/whole designs:

Every merc is designed so that you can recognize 1. who they are and 2. what their job is from a distance.

Let's look at Scout+Spy+Sniper: Scout is lanky but not thin like Spy. Sniper is taller with a bit wider frame than Scout n Spy.

Also, while Medic is pretty uhh balanced/proportionate (+ big boobs), next to Spy he is very toned. Also, Heavy's legs are the shortest of all the mercs. Even Engie has longer legs!

And the yaoi hands of TF2, never forget:

I admit, I draw Heavy's hands so much smaller than what they actually are. Spy is the only one with normal hands. He has baby hands compared to everyone else lol.

Also, it doesn't show here and I admit, I forget to add it many times, but I do love that Sniper has a Garand thumb and what I've understood, happens when ones thumb gets stuck in the reloading bullet chamber thing in some rifles. I just think that's a neat detail

So uhh yea. Shapes shapes shapes! Turn the mercs into shapes!

And don't stress too much about making them look like "men", especially if you're not used to drawing more masculine people in general. Just draw what you see.

Plus, all the same shape language can be used to make fem versions of the mercs, too!

forget me not - tf2 heavymedic fancomic ♡♡♡