Lovecake

Team Star want to introduce you to their new honorary member

Giacomo couldn’t bear Clive’s hairstyle for a minute more.

Atticus thought a new look, with the Team Star logo, would be appropriate.

Penny and my character, who I decided I’m gonna call Riley, approve u.u

They pick a soaking wet teenaged girl ghost in their cab and take her home. They pull up to the house and ghost girl looks longingly out before resigning herself to be sent back to the roadside.

Protagonist is just like, “so that’s $14.50.”

The ghost is surprised, she’s still there. She fumbles for cash but she didn’t die with any.

Does she feel oddly warmer than normal?

The seat more solid against her skin?

The protagonist sighs, “of course.”

They couldn’t just leave a teenage girl out there on the side of the road in the middle of the night, something bad could have happened to her. But he still had bills to pay.

“Come on. This is your parent’s house right? I’ll walk you in.”

For the first time in twenty years the ghost opens the car door and steps out onto the sidewalk.

The protagonist knocks on the front door and her parents, use to the midnight visits, wearyily open the door.

She starts to cry and hugs her parents tight. Apologizing for sneaking out. Babbling about what happened to her. How her friends had egged her into going deeper into the woods. How they had gotten separated. She’d fallen into a river.

Her parents are crying too. She finally made it home. They finally had confirmation of what happened to her. No body had been found so they were never truly sure.

The protagonist awkwardly interrupts, “so there’s still the matter of her cab fair…”

They don’t want to be insensitive but they need to get going and bills don’t pay themselves.

Eagerly her father rummages around in the pockets of his coat hanging by the door and pushing a twenty dollar bill into the protagonist’s hand. He knows it’s more than enough.

They thank the protagonist for bring her home, “keep the change,” they tell him.

As the protagonist gets in their cab and drives away the ghost can feel herself slipping away from life once more. But not back to the river and woods, waiting endlessly for someone to pull over and offer her a ride.

Her unfinished business is complete.

She’s moving on.

To somewhere warm and bright, she can feel it.

Her parents press final kisses to her cheeks as she starts to go. Through tears they whisper, I love you’s.

Had some fun writing these up today after a chat with a friend, a lot of people are a bit nervous about trying out cocktails based on the price, but here’s some very tasty, cheap Borderlands surprises to try at home: Hammerlock (Hot Toddy)

½ filled regular sized mug with boiling water

2 big ass tablespoons honey

2 equally big ass tablespoons brown sugar

½ squeezed lemon

Sprinkle of cloves

2 shots good quality whiskey

Warm, spiced, sweet and soothing. If you have a cold or sore throat, or just want a nice nights sleep, he’s got your back.

Wainwright (Whiskey and Ginger)

Can of high quality ginger ale, the spicier the better, poured over ice

Teaspoon brown sugar

½ a lime squeezed

2 shots good quality whiskey

Tangy and sweet, with a hot finish. A Jacob’s should only need one shot, but the second is to make sure the job gets done.

Calypso (Do not twin these)

Tall glass with handful of ice

½ fill with fresh Pink Grapefruit Juice

½ fill with fresh Orange Juice

Dash of fresh squeezed lime

2.5 shots Malibu coconut rum

Looks sexy, smells sexy, tastes sexy, will flat out murder you instantly if you try and take down 2 at once. Stick with one at first and see how you feel. I’m serious. You’ll see Troy and he’ll pull your heart out of your kneecaps.

This fabulous bitch

She makes a shit ton of poses (like 16,000 or some crazy nonsense).  I used this lovely lady to draw so much as a teen.  Whether it was some nerdy pose for my Mary Sue as fuck OCs

or for full on fight sequences

or for tragic deaths of my OCs in the arms of a totally OOC main protagonist.  

this bitch hooked me up.  

And with the wildest, craziest stuff that you could see in your head but had no way or resources to reasonably draw like

or this

or this

DUDE!  INASNE SHIT!!  So I was using her for a pose reference and decided, you know what, I owe this bitch some cash.  Lemme dole it out for her.  BUT then, I looked and saw she only has 286 fucking patrons!!  This chick gives out free shit and spends countless hours arranging these shoots and setting this stuff up.  

I’ll fork up the cash, SenshiStock.  You’re worth it.  

We live in a pretty great digital age and we have access to a ton of amazing tools that artists in past generations couldn’t even dream of, but a lot of people look at a cool trick and only learn half of the process of using it.

Here’s the missing part of this tutorial:

How do you populate your backgrounds?

Well, here’s the answer:

If the focus is the environment, you must show a person in relation to that environment.

The examples above are great because they show how to use the software itself, but each one just kind of “plops” the character in front of their finished product with no regard of the person’s relation to their environment.

How do you fix this?

Well, here’s the simplest solution:

This is a popular trick used by professional storyboard and comic artists alike when they’re quickly planning compositions. It’s simple and it requires you to do some planning before you sit down to crank out that polished, final version of your work, but it will be the difference between a background and an environment.

From Blacksad (artist: Juanjo Guarnido)

From Hellboy (Mike Mignola)

Even if your draftsmanship isn’t that great (like mine), people can be more immersed in the story you tell if you just make it feel like there is a world that exists completely separate from the one in which they currently reside – not just making a backdrop the characters stand in front of.

I’m a 3d artist and have been exploring the possibilities of using 3d as reference for 2d poses. I want to add a couple of tips and things!

Sketchup is very useful for environment references, and I assume it’s reasonably easy to learn. If you’re interested in going above and beyond, I highly recommend learning a proper 3d modeling program to help with art, especially because you can very easily populate a scene or location with characters!

Using 3ds Max I can pretty quickly construct an environment for reference. But going beyond that, I can also pose a pretty simple ‘CAT’ armature (known in 3d as a rig) straight into the scene, which can be totally customized, from various limbs, tails, wings, whatever, to proportions, and also can be modeled onto and expanded upon (for an example, you could 3d sculpt a head reference for your character and then attach it to the CAT rig, so you have a reference for complex face angles!)

The armature can also be posed incredibly easily. I know programs exist for stuff like this - Manga Studio, Design Doll - but posing characters in these programs is always an exercise in frustration and very fiddly imo. A simple 3d rig is impossibly easy to pose.

By creating an environment and dropping my character rig into it, I have an excellent point of reference when it comes to drawing the scene!

Not only that, but I can also view the scene from whatever angle I could ever want or need, including the character and their pose/position relative to the environment.

We can even quickly and easily expand this scene to include more characters!

I got pretty fed up with looking for words to replace said because they weren’t sorted in a way I could easily use/find them for the right time. So I did some myself.

IN RESPONSE TO Acknowledged Answered Protested

INPUT/JOIN CONVERSATION/ASK Added Implored Inquired Insisted Proposed Queried Questioned Recommended Testified

GUILTY/RELUCTANCE/SORRY Admitted Apologized Conceded Confessed Professed

FOR SOMEONE ELSE Advised Criticized Suggested

JUST CHECKING Affirmed Agreed Alleged Confirmed

LOUD Announced Chanted Crowed

LEWD/CUTE/SECRET SPY FEEL Appealed Disclosed Moaned

ANGRY FUCK OFF MATE WANNA FIGHT Argued Barked Challenged Cursed Fumed Growled Hissed Roared Swore

SMARTASS Articulated Asserted Assured Avowed Claimed Commanded Cross-examined Demanded Digressed Directed Foretold Instructed Interrupted Predicted Proclaimed Quoted Theorized

ASSHOLE Bellowed Boasted Bragged

NERVOUS TRAINWRECK Babbled Bawled Mumbled Sputtered Stammered Stuttered

SUAVE MOTHERFUCKER Bargained Divulged Disclosed Exhorted

FIRST OFF Began

LASTLY Concluded Concurred

WEAK PUSY Begged Blurted Complained Cried Faltered Fretted

HAPPY/LOL Cajoled Exclaimed Gushed Jested Joked Laughed

WEIRDLY HAPPY/EXCITED Extolled Jabbered Raved

BRUH, CHILL Cautioned Warned

ACTUALLY, YOU’RE WRONG Chided Contended Corrected Countered Debated Elaborated Objected Ranted Retorted

CHILL SAVAGE Commented Continued Observed Surmised

LISTEN BUDDY Enunciated Explained Elaborated Hinted Implied Lectured Reiterated Recited Reminded Stressed

BRUH I NEED U AND U NEED ME Confided Offered Urged

FINE Consented Decided

TOO EMO FULL OF EMOTIONS Croaked Lamented Pledged Sobbed Sympathized Wailed Whimpered

JUST SAYING Declared Decreed Mentioned Noted Pointed out Postulated Speculated Stated Told Vouched

WASN’T ME Denied Lied

EVIL SMARTASS Dictated Equivocated Ordered Reprimanded Threatened

BORED Droned Sighed

SHHHH IT’S QUIET TIME Echoed Mumbled Murmured Muttered Uttered Whispered

DRAMA QUEEN Exaggerated Panted Pleaded Prayed Preached

OH SHIT Gasped Marveled Screamed Screeched Shouted Shrieked Yelped Yelled

ANNOYED Grumbled Grunted Jeered Quipped Scolded Snapped Snarled Sneered

ANNOYING Nagged

I DON’T REALLY CARE BUT WHATEVER Guessed Ventured

I’M DRUNK OR JUST BEING WEIRDLY EXPRESSIVE FOR A POINT/SARCASM Hooted Howled Yowled

I WONDER Pondered Voiced Wondered

OH, YEAH, WHOOPS Recalled Recited Remembered

SURPRISE BITCH Revealed

IT SEEMS FAKE BUT OKAY/HA ACTUALLY FUNNY BUT I DON’T WANT TO LAUGH OUT LOUD Scoffed Snickered Snorted

BITCHY Tattled Taunted Teased

 For example if a wanted to make a cartoon character realistic and use a real person for reference or to edit the photo to look like them?

https://generated.photos/faces

This site probably has what you’re looking for!

Look at what you can sort by!

Please tell me if any of the links aren’t working

Faces:

Face Tutorial

How to Draw the Human Face

Quick Face Tutorial

How to Sketch Faces

Profile Anatomy

Drawing Heads

Basic Head Layout

How to Draw Ears

Basic Ear Tutorial

Ears and Noses

Drawing Noses

How To Draw Mouths

Mouth Tutorial

Lips

Lips Ref

Semi-Realistic Eye Tutorial

Tips for Drawing Eyes

Manga Eye Tutorial

Pixel Eye

Eyes in Different Angles

Expressions

Step by Step Expressions

How to Avoid the Same Face

Head Angles

Beards

Neck Help

Skull Tutorial

How to Draw a Skull

Hair:

How To Draw Braids

Headband Braid Tutorial

How To Draw Hair

Hair Tutorial

Another Hair Tutorial

Also Another Hair Tutorial

Tutorial: Hair

Tutorial for Hair

Simple Hair Tutorial

Hairstyle Tutorial

50 Male Hairstyles Revamped 

Let’s Do Hair!

Female Hair Tutorial

Curls

Pixel Hair Tutorial

Manga Boys Hair Tutorial

Bodies:

A Guide to Drawing the Human Body

How To Draw Hands

Hand Tutorial

Hand Gestures

More Hand Gestures

Arm Tutorial

Feet Drawing Guide

Foot Tutorial

Drawing Feet

Knees

Sitting Poses

Drawing Torsos

Abs Tutorial

Clothes and Accessories:

Clothing Tutorial (Notes)

How to Draw Flower Crowns

Helmets and Hats

Hoods

Fashion

How to Draw Tights

Jeans

Boot Tutorial

Plaid Tutorial

Lace Tutorial

Armour Tutorial

Creatures:

Wings

Folded Wings

Thoughts on Wings

Tutorial on Creature Design

Bat Wings on Humans

Pegasus Wings

Animal Legs on Humans

Dragon Tutorial

Dragon Wing Tutorial

Dragon Hands and Feet Tutorial

Dragon Mouth Tutorial

Dragon Head Tutorial

Dragon Scales

Clawed Hand Tutorial

Basic Horn Tutorial

Sauropod Tutorial

How to Draw Centaurs

Werewolf Anatomy

Animals/insects:

Animal Noses

Basic Animal Anatomy

Paw Tutorial

Fur Tutorial

Pixel Fur Tutorial

Painting Fur

Fur Painting Tutorial

Horse Tutorial

Horse Proportions

Horse Hooves

Horse Legs

Dog Anatomy

Simple Dog Tutorial

Wolf Paw Tutorial

Wolf Head Tutorial

Drawing a Wolf

Canine Leg Tutorial

Feline Comparison

Big Cat Paw Tutorial

Lion Head Tutorial

Cat Faces Tutorial

Snow Leopard Tutorial

Tiger Tutorial

Fox Tutorial

Rabbit Drawing Tips

Butterfly Tutorial

Rat Tutorial

Owl Anatomy

Feather Tutorial

Bear Anatomy

Objects:

Glowing Stuff

How to Draw 3D Rooms

Gun Ref

Slime Tutorial

Chain Tutorial

Gemstone Tutorial

Bullet Metal Tutorial

Lightsaber Tutorial

Gold Coin Tutorial

Jewel Tutorial

Nature/Food:

Tree Tutorial

How to Create Stars (With Photoshop)

Stars Tutorial

How to Draw Clouds

How to Draw a Rose

Simple Roses

Grass Tutorial

Another Grass Tutorial

Quick Grass Tutorial

Bush Tutorial

Rain Tutorial

Water Tutorial

Underwater Tutorial

Fire Tutorial

Snow Tutorial

Light Tutorial

Light Sparkle Tutorial

Mountain Tutorial

Another Mountain Tutorial

Moon Tutorial

How to Draw a Apple

Strawberry Tutorial

Colours:

The Psychology of Colour

Basic Colour Theory

Colour Theory 101

Quick Colour Reference Sheet for Designers

The Art of Colour Coordination 

Colour Profiles and Printing Explained

The Colour Strata

The Art of Harmonious Colour Schemes

The Ten Commandments of Colour Theory

How to Use Colour in Your Design Scheme

Colour Theory: The ABC’s of RGB

RGB vs CMYK

The Business of Colour Psychology

The Psychology of Colour

The Psychology of Logo Colour and Font Style

What Colours Communicate

A Colour Guide for Designers

Colour Theory: What People Really Think

Colour ROI

The Colours of the Web

Colour Design

Colour Help

How To Colour

Colour Blender

Colour Scheme Designer

Colour Meanings For Roses

Colour Palette Generator

Upload an Image and Get a Colour Palette

Another Colour Palette Generator

Color Hex

Colour Harmony

Skin Colour Palette

Pastel Colours

Greyscale Tutorial

Colouring Cloth

Hair Colouring

Photoshop Colouring Tutorial

Other:

How to Draw Dimension

Pixel Art Tutorial

Another Pixel Art Tutorial

Photoshop Brushes

Photoshop Layers Tutorial

Glitch Effect (with Photoshop)

Gimp Soft Shading

Blending Tutorial

Free Digital Sculpting Tool

Skeleton Drawing Tool

Repeating Pattern Tutorial

Free Art Programs

Silk - Interactive Generative Art

Creativity Cards

Character Ideas:

Character creation masterpost

Character Alignment Chart

More character alignment descriptions

Muslim Character questions

Characters with magical powers

Building a new character advice

How to create a character for an online or tabletop RPG (also a good guide on creating characters in general)

Royalty/nobility TV Tropes page

Basic character profile

OC masterpost

Random character generators - (1), (2), (3), (4)

D&D Character Building Tool

Character Design Ideas:

How clothing affects a character’s personality

Character Design Inspiration blog

Concept art, fan art, cool art to be inspired by

Character design references and inspiration

Sources for POC character design ideas and models

Create your own character model using HeroForge

For horned characters

Body and hair types guide

Random outfit generator

Naming Help:

Amazing site with an endless amount of naming resources

General advice on avoiding naming appropriation

Hispanic Surnames

Gothic Victorian names

Huge master list for character things in general

Masterlist of names of all types - including but not limited to ancient/old world names, Celtic, African, Northern European, Southern and Central American Native names, Japanese, Chinese, Mongolian, Polynesian, and more

Another name masterlist

How to pick a character name guide

Yet another names masterlist

Creating Background/backstory:

Character Sheet/Development Sheet

Another character development list

In-depth character personality, motivations and traits sheet

320 talents and passions for characters

On writing likes and dislikes that aren’t frivolous

Why you should write non-human characters non-conforming to the gender binary

Stereotypes, tropes, and archetypes

Random backstory generator

Assassin and thief character tropes to avoid

Character Interactions and putting your character into your world/story:

Comparing character height/height references

Characters who are scientists and writing about them doing science

Describing what different voices sound like

Describing skin tones

Writing friendship interactions that are platonic

Why having one character knock their friend unconscious to prevent them from doing something is a bad idea

Advice on shipping OCs with canon characters and what to avoid doing

Sweet Polly Oliver and Sweet on Polly Oliver situations (think of Disney’s Mulan for an example)

How to write multiple viewpoints/juggling a main cast of more than 4 to 6 characters

How to make readers care about your morally gray hero/anti-hero

On platonic OC and canon character relationships

How to avoid Godmodding in RPs

When it’s cheap to kill off a character

Writing dialogue

Things you shouldn’t do to canon characters

Avoiding purple prose in writing and RPs

Slang resources

Dialogue tips

Websites to chart your story/plot/character relationships