Here since forever...

I'm an artist and medical student, and I use art to help me pay some bills.

I built a free, helpful tool because to help prevent other talented creatives from undercharging, as I really see this a lot online.

It's a calculator with a built in reality check

Input your survival costs and expenses

True billable hours

Get the rate you actually need to charge to hit a 20% (or whatever you choose) profit margin.

It generates the rate, a template negotiation email + final invoice.

Plan to keep this tool free, ad-free, and open to everyone.

🔗 Check your math: fairpaycalc.artres.xyz

If the "Thriving Rate" calculation empowers you to double your quote on your next job, please consider hitting the "Buy me a coffee"button. It keeps the server running and the code flowing <3

I've been on and off working on another neopets comic, and in it, there is a panel where characters are standing in the Faerieland Library/Bookstore.

I took a look at the reference material (And those butterfly wing railings), and decided this shot would be a good candidate for a 3D modeled, rendered, and re-painted background.

You see, while a lot of people use 3D models to trace over, I'm trying to go a little further and use rendered images as a base to then paint over. This is a common practice in concept art, and I think it could be very useful in comics and illustration as well.

Here is the 3D model

And here are the rendered pieces

These are- SELECTION FLATS - For selecting chunks of various editing for easier editing and paint over. These work similarly to professional comic flats, and can be easily achieved with Blenders "Workbench" render engine. UNSHADED COLORS - Colors with out the lighting so I can remove shadow and light from various areas. I do think I messed these up (They rendered too dark), but they still worked for what I needed. (I adjusted the values in post) SHADED COLORS - The shadows and light rendered with out lines. This is what get's painted over, and works well as a base for your painting. LINE ART - Rendered separately so I can easily edit the lines, since Blender Grease-pencil lines are hard to get perfect, and because we don't want the lines in the way of the painting. COMBINED - Mostly used for reference. Fun to A-B with your final image.

Here is those layers shown cleanly (Sorry the pink highlights on my custom Krita theme are like that. >_> )

Here is the layers after I did a ton of paint over work. (Behold my crappy labeling system and totally intentional typos.)

And here! Is the final outcome!

This isn't the first time I have tried this, but this is definitely, in my opinion, my most successful attempt, and I absolutely want to use blender more in my illustration and comic workflow.

The model took about a day's worth of work, and I will keep it in my back pocket should I want to set more neopets comics or illustrations there. This is about the same amount of time it would have taken if I had drawn it all by hand, and now I have a cool model I can reuse! The actual painting took maybe an hour or two.

Here are some crazy grasshopper mouse facts for those who are not familiar with the most badass mouse species on the planet

- They are fully carnivorous, and their diet is made up of not only bugs but also snakes, lizards and other mice.

- They hunt like true predators, slowly stalking and creeping up on their prey before ambushing them. They will sometimes let out a screech as they attack.

- Like wolves, they howl to establish territory and have a specially developed throat to produce louder vocalizations. They will stand up on their hind legs and throw their head back to howl- a sound that can be heard from 100 meters away!

- Grasshopper mouse behavior is linked to lunar cycles and they are more active during a full moon.