Clarey Marie

How to relieve menstrual cramps using pressure points.

A long time ago an anon asked my thoughts about drawing backgrounds, so I finally got around to putting this together. It’s more prop-centric, but it still represents my philosophy to backgrounds. 

Heck yeah! Lets do it now!

First I made my own silicone molds because buying molds is espensive …

Supplies:

Pourable silicone, a bunch of stir sticks, a marker, a dice set, some clay of some sort, and some appropriate sized cups

First I mix the silicone according to instructions, slowly as to make as little bubbles possible but long enough to be thorough. Thump the silicone to get all the bubbles out.

Then I put a LITTLE bit of clay on the “1” side of a die. Very little is needed but it helps stick the die to the bottom of the cup when you pour in the silicone. I write the type of die, such as d6, on the outside of one of the cups so I know which mold is which when I’m done.

Then pour in the silicone super slowly and gently or it might knock the dice off the clay. Try to cover the dice completely without using too much otherwise it will be hard to get dice out. Wait for about 24 hours for the silicone to harden then gently cut down the side of the cup. A clean cut means you can put tape over it and use it again.

Here is how my mold came out (in use as of now lol). You take the clay out then with scissors or an exacto knife or something, cut gently so you can get the die out. Then use your marker to write on the bottom of the mold what die it makes. Yes it will fade, I haven’t come up with a better way yet.

Then I bake the molds in my oven between 250 and 275 for 2 or three hours. If the silicone isn’t set right it can react with the resin and leave the dice sticky (if you have sticky dice just put them in the oven, same as the molds).

Now for actually making the dice!

(This part will differ as everyone’s process is a little different)

You will need:

A towel you don’t mind getting dirty, some resin, measuring cups (resin might come with them), stir sticks, anything you want to put in the resin, a heat element (a lighter, heat gun, hair dryer, matches, your breath etc.), possibly some tape, and your molds.

First I heat up my molds in the oven (same as above when I was curing them, 250 degrees for however long I need) I find heating them up helps pop bubbles when I pour in the resin but be sure to make them cool a bit or your resin will boil while in the mold!!!

While those are cooking I pour resin but first! to save money I take my two plastic measuring cups and label one A and the other B and I only use solution A in cup A and solution B in cup B. I do the same to two stirring sticks as well.

(I got some really nice measuring cups when I ordered some molds once)

Measure out the same amount of A and B and mix in a separate plastic cup, make sure you use those A and B labeled stir sticks to scrape out almost every drop. Then stir agonizingly slow as to make the least amount of bubbles possible.

Some people like to add their “others” (beads, acrylic paint, glitter, etc.) to the resin before they mix but I like to do it after. You see, when you mix part A and B the resin looks SUPPPER cloudy and I like to make sure I’ve stirred it all completely before I add anything. Make stir you stir it til it looks like clear crystal water or your dice will turn out bad.

If there are a lot of bubbles you can use a “heat element” to get rid of them. I use a long lighter like this:

And whole the resin won’t catch fire, be careful not to melt the plastic cups. And never heat the resin in the oven or microwave because it will get so hot it will melt the cups and stink up your house. (I’ve done this before)

I like to take out my molds from the oven before I add my paint or anything, so they can cool while I slowly stir in the extra. When they cool off, if you see any molds with some major gapped seams use tape to seal the sides together. You’ll have to be careful because most tape doesn’t stick to silicone so I tape it to it’s self.

Then I put all my molds in a box and wait at LEAST twelve hours. If they came out wrong you might have mixed the resin wrong, the resin reacted to your additive or molds badly, or even something I’ve never encountered.

When the dice are done I use a rotary tool to shave down the stumps and very fine grit sand paper to make it smooth. However this will make the dice matte and not shiny. I haven’t got it yet but I’m planning on using resin polish to shine them up but I’ve heard other things work too.

To number the dice I dab fingernail polish onto the numbers then use an old rag and fingernail polish remover to clean it up. And viola! Done!

Throw ya OCs at me! (Pokemon Trainer Sonas / Pokemon are cool too!) 

I won’t do ‘em all, but I’ll do some till I’m tired! Make sure to give me a reference!

Throw ya OCs at me! (Pokemon Trainer Sonas / Pokemon are cool too!) 

I won’t do ‘em all, but I’ll do some till I’m tired! Make sure to give me a reference!

Tutorial: Painting Straight Hair by EndlessRz

And heres my little tutorial for watercolors.:D

This is why too i think that experimenting with it and trying things is really good because you learn a lot by just doing tests and trying to use you mistakes to your advantage.:)

for the scanning I made a tutorial about that the other day here!:D

Materials

So, this past weekend, I took my 11-year-old daughter to SuperCon to meet her favorite actor (and favorite Doctor), Peter Capaldi.

She wore a little blue TARDIS-decorated dress and some Doctor Who pins, and she nearly cried with joy when Capaldi greeted her for the photo op. He was a consummate gentleman and such a sweet and enthusiastic person.

An hour or so after the wonderful photo op experience, she and I were sitting at a table in the food court area.

A burly, older man plopped down nearby.  He looked at my little girl’s outfit, smiled, and said, “Do you even KNOW anything about Doctor Who?”

WTF, dude?

I was too stunned for a second to even respond, so he started right in with the ‘quizzing.’

“Who are the Doctor’s biggest enemies, and what planet does he come from?” this stranger asked.

Now I had moved past shocked and right into indignant/angry/protective mode.

“I don’t want her to be quizzed on something she loves, because I don’t want her thinking she has to prove ANYthing in order to be a fan,“ I told him.

Looking at my daughter, I said “You don’t owe strangers explanations or information, ok?“  She said OK and looked relieved.

Still he pressed on, patronizing grin and all: “Oh, I just want to be sure parents are raising their kids right.” Then he turned to my daughter again and asked “Who was the first Doctor, then?”

I cut him off right there. “No. I don’t want her quizzed. At all.”

Dude blinked in disbelief, sighed, and left about a minute later.

“Thanks,” my daughter said. “He was making me feel awkward.”

I held her hand and looked into her eyes. “Some men think they can have power over you by making you prove yourself. You never have to do it. They’re just insecure and pitiful, so they want to make you feel like it, too.  It’s not only about fan stuff, and it’s not always just men, but be careful not to fall into that trap, ok?”

That crap isn’t harmless fun. It sets up a pattern of approval-seeking, self-justification, self-doubt, and fear of exclusion that is very dangerous for children (particularly girls).

Fuck that.

TL;DR:  Do NOT come at me, my little girl, or anyone in my vicinity with your condescending, gatekeeping bullshit.

The next time, I won’t make the mistake of even TRYING to be polite.

Good:

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Better:

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I wanted to draw Frisk and Madotsuki, and then I asked myself: “ why not draw more character from cute rpg horrors?” 

This was a request and at first I wasn’t sure if I had anything to provide with, but as it turn out it got a little longer than I expected because there were actually things I had to say!! Wow!! 

Anyway, this is some guidelines I follow when I try to make the face expressfull, more specifically the mouth! It is often neglected, since it’s actually pretty hard, I’ll admit. But I’m here to help (hopefully…)! A mouth expression tutorial as per request. Enjoy and hopefully it will help some a little. ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ

Draw the teeth at the right angle. 

This is super important. The upper jaw follows the angle of the head, and the lower jaw will depend on how open it is. Make sure you have a rough estimate of where the teeth are, and how much of them you’re going to see!

The lips will VERY roughly follow the same angle as the teeth. It really depends on the character, but it gives you a sense at least. 

If you DON’T do this, you’re going to lose so much volume and the mouth is going to end up looking unrelatable. I showed this example in this tutorial:

It’s not just the lips! 

The cheeks, chin, and tongue play a role too! 

Try look at your own mouth or references! I have a very pliable and large mouth, so that’s one reason why my characters have it too lmao.

ASYMMETRYYYYY (ง ͠° ͟ل͜ ͡°)ง

I cannot emphasize how important asymmetry is when drawing expressions. It applies not only to the eyebrows to achieve the Dreamwork Face™, but also the mouth. Seriously if you draw a symmetric mouth I will deliver myself to your mailbox and then shout at you until you fix it. 

Look at the difference between these two for example: which one has more “life”? 

I think you get the idea.

Push and squish - give it flow

Here’s an old drawing I have but it illustrates how I think when I squish the mouth, and use folding and wrinkles to my advantage.

Look at your own face and see where skin bundles up, where it creases the most and when bumps appear on your chin. Subtle details makes all the difference! 

One VERY effective detail is illustrated in the first sketch, where I pull upwards on one side, and downwards on the other. That’s a good detail to use when the character is making a skewed expression, or is extremely frustrated. I encourage you to play around with that concept bc it’s ~super effective~!

EXAMPLES:

Happy: Your entire mouth is pushed upwards, not just the corners of your mouth!

I tend to draw a :3 mouth bc I’ve been drawing Lance too much….. You don’t have to but it’s basically imprinted in my motor memory by now. 

Pouting/frowning: corners are pushed down, middle pushed slightly up. Sometimes, there’s a slight dip in the middle too. It can give a sense that the character is biting their lips.

Showing frustration/intimidating/is intimidated: basically showing a lot of teeth. The corners are as open as possible and the middle sorta more squished. An extremely important detail here is showing some of the gums, and open space between the cheeks and teeth. That way it looks like the mouth it open to it’s full potential. Here is also where you basically MUST add folds and bumps, or else it’s not going to look relatable. 

(Here I am again with the pulling upwards on one side and downwards on the other, as illustrated on the last sketch)

And then again, here’s just another doodle showing how important it is to show the gums. It’s the same face twice, but the second one looks slightly more frustrated doesn’t it?

(from my other tutorial on how to draw facial expressions)

As you can see, this last one is very versatile and I draw it a lot. Play around with the basic shape and see how much subtle details makes a lot of difference! 

That’s it! 

Fantastic hands references by the website Hong14cafe.