🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈

a little while ago someone asked me how i do my fur, so i made a guide!

the following tutorial was originally written for chickensmoothie's oekaki (chickenpaint v2). ymmv using this guide for other programs, though i have done my best to make this guide general!

1. choose colors, lay down your base

if you want your base to have an established pattern (like stripes, spots) do so now while coloring your base!

personally i have only tried this technique with a limited amount of colors (3-4), but it should be possible to use whatever colors and as many colors as you like!

if you have a hard time choosing colors, you can stick to black and white and instead practice only using values (dark and light). later on, you can use a color mode (like "overlay") to colorize your artwork in cs, or drag your artwork to another program where you can color it instead!

be aware that the next step is blending (during which new colors are created and some colors might not "blend well"!)

2. blend

i blended here using the default watercolor brush on cs!

if you have difficulty using the watercolor brush (or do not have access to it), you can alternatively try a low opacity pencil/pen, the air brush, or a soft edge eraser.

i blended on the base layer, but we'll be doing the "fur strokes" on a new layer above (taking advantage of "clipping" layers, to keep our brush strokes within our base!)

i like to leave some "brush strokes" of my blending tool visible to make the base more visually interesting! but you can try for a more smooth gradient if you prefer the look of that

creating a nice base is a super essential step!

for more realistic animal coats, you should follow the anatomy of your subject. for example, coloring the "upper coat" darker and the "undercoat" lighter

be sure to account for the patterns of your subject too, don't blend them out too much or they might lose their shape!

3. following the fur direction, start adding brush strokes

make a new layer above your base, this is where you'll add your individual fur strokes!

using a small brush with size sensitivity and opacity sensitivity, go between each section of color, using the base colors already set down

using varying size and opacity, continue to add small lines of color to resemble fur strokes. for longer fur, draw longer strokes. for shorter fur, draw shorter strokes

eventually, i will use the color picker between strokes to add more variation in color

the goal is to use the blended colors we created during step 2 to "blend" out sections, making a gradient with individual fur strokes

you don't need to color pick often if you remain in areas of "similar" color!

i also like to use the soft edge eraser to lower the opacity of some strokes, and to soften the tips of some strokes to make them blend better into the base

if you do not have a tablet or pressure sensitivity, you can manually adjust your brush and eraser to change the size and opacity. i also recommend using the soft edge eraser often to create more "variation" of opacity with less effort!

4. keep going, keep adding fur

be patient here, this is a time consuming step, but well worth the wait!

basically, keep going with step 3 until you've filled out your whole base (or are otherwise satisfied with it!)

5. duplicate your strokes layer and box blur it

here i just duplicated my strokes layer (i used 1 layer for all my brush strokes), then i used the default box blur on cs (find box bur underneath the "effects" menu at the top)

skip this step if you prefer the plain look and rather not blur it!

for those not using oekaki, this is basically a low amount of gaussian blur over the entire layer of fur strokes!

6. lower opacity of box blur

here, i set the opacity of the blurred strokes layer to about 50%, but you should experiment and see what opacity you like best!

of course, if you prefer not to lower the opacity of ur blur, u can do that as well!

7. add brush strokes outside the lines

optionally, for more realism and to make your subject look fluffy,

you can add a layer atop your lines and color pick from your fur to add a few brush strokes outside the lines!

and that's it! now you've got some realistic looking fur!

below is an example cat i've colored using this technique:

background: qwertyo on cs (Solminol on th!) lines: adamanted on cs and th! edits and coloring: castiiian (hey that's me!!) character owned by Lokisaurus on cs!

You are the YW. Incredibly young by guardian standards but with a lot of raw power that, once truly refined, would rival even the most legendary guardians, and you already have a couple great feats under your belt already.

The city is invaded while you are away, and you get to Ghaul’s flagship to fight him and get his army out of the city. You then proceed to have everything taken from you over the course of 30 seconds. You lose the Light, and your closest friend is knocked out of your hands to the ground several hundred feet below. You are alone with no weapons, no way to call for back up, and surrounded by enemies you never had a chance against.

And then you fall

I also believe this is compounded by the cliff we fall down not long later when we are fleeing the city. We miss a jump trying to follow Louis and that can’t have been good for the trauma.

* body language masterlist

* a translator that doesn’t eat ass like google translate does

* a reverse dictionary for when ur brain freezes

* 550 words to say instead of fuckin said

* 638 character traits for when ur brain freezes again

* some more body language help

Frank having fun

They’re in the same order as hummingbirds and, in some positions, you can see the resemblance

But like… a hummingbird that’s cosplaying as a falcon.

Sleek. Efficient. Aerodynamic. Perfectly optimized.

Also they like to sleep in chimneys, hence the name, and when they perch they become very very flat

They also like to sleep in groups

Anyway 10/10 weird little beast. Love these little flat fuck hummingbird falcons

Look these thoughts have been in my head for a few days now and I gotta write them down. These def apply to both romantic rships and just close friendships.

– I saw this in a different post a long while ago I think but I HAVE to bring it up again because I love the hc so much: Hunters who are close friends with each other will cut off a little patch of their cloak to ‘swap’ with each other, so you will definitely see Hunters running around with pristine cloaks, aside from a little patchwork bit that seems random but will absolutely mean something.

– Following on from that if a Hunter gives you their cloak to keep you warm or even just as a gift, you know you’ve done something right.

– Hunter dens. There are SO many scattered throughout Earth and other planets, but Hunters will make little hideaway nooks for when they’re out on missions in the area so they have a place to rest. They will show these dens to others they’re friends with so they also have a place to rest if they need it, though other random Hunters that stumble upon them are usually welcome too. Titans and Warlocks generally don’t know about most of them.

–Leaving gifts in places people will find them. It is not the Hunter way to just give something to someone, you have to leave it where they could potentially trip over it like a cat.

– Gifts can also be the randomest stuff. Like, hey I found this rock and it made me think of you.

– Existing near someone. Obviously not all Hunters are the same, some will love to ramble on and on and others won’t like to talk much at all, but I think it’s a universal thing that a favourite activity is just existing near someone they like. Even if they’re both doing completely different things, sharing space is just a way for them to show someone they care.

– Giving knives. Hunters WILL have like 10000 knives at least, but a sign of affection is definitely giving one of those knives to someone else. I hc that Hunters tend to keep knives that have a lot of history to them, whether it’s because they’ve had it since the Dark Ages and it’s super old or it’s the knife they took with them in for a big fight, so to give a knife that means so much to someone else is a big thing.

– Sleep pile. Idk why I just have the feeling that when Hunters do sleep, a lot of them are a lot less solitary than the stereotype makes them out to be.

– If you are a Titan or just taller in general, sorry but you are definitely gonna have a Hunter on your shoulders at some point. That’s just how this works. I feel like perching is just a Hunter Thing in general, like if there’s a tall place, chances are a Hunter is going to want to climb.

And DONT REPOST stuff that’s already here! WHY do we even have to go through this again huh? DON’T. DO. IT.