#spywi

Come and Join the Show everyone!~

I saw this and was like ‘eh I’ll get to it later,’ but you said challange and I literally cannot turn down a challenge so I GUESS

Yui: Minecraft Lets Plays HAH JUST KIDDING (not really.) Yui’s channel wouldn’t have a focus to it, because Yui cannot keep herself focused on a singular thing. I mean, yes, guitar, but in terms of content she wants to share with the world, scattered.

Yui just as SO MANY THINGS the world needs to know about. Gitah is definitely a big one, and probably was the first thing she uploaded, was an Introduction To My Best Friend Gitah. And talked about him for 5 straight minutes, then played him for the next 15 minutes.

But then Ritsu shows her a video of someone doing the Hot Knife thing, and Yui’s like RICCHAN, and they get a knife, and try getting it really hot, and it ends bad and Mio is about to call the fire department, and Ui came home that day very disappointed.

As she goes on, she also notices people sit. And eat. And that’s it. That’s their video. And for a period of time, there’s a heavy emphasis on videos of Yui (and usually the other girls in the club room) sitting, eating, and drinking their tea.

So basically every episode of K-ON is a Mukbang so….

Work ethic is low. She doesn’t see it as work, but rather stuff she wants everyone to know about, and what she currently loves, which also plays into her upload schedule being the most random. For a week, she has consistent videos of her and Ritsu trying to learn Parkour at their school. Then she disappears for like, 2 months, and comes back with a 5 second video of her annoying Azusa.

Yui’s an enigma, and her channel reflects that.

Mio: Candle Vlogger  HAH JUST KIDDING (I’m not.) UUUUUUUh, I dunno.

Part of me says like, literature reviewer, but I find it hard trying to picture Mio being confident enough sit in front of the camera and be the sole focus.

Which brings me to she would be the “official” social media marketer (with Azusa, and side Mugi) for HTT. She posts videos from their concerts, or the Official music videos, or whatever.

She’s more conscious about when to post and has READ UP on posting times and such

Ritsu: The New Elijah and Christine. I’m not even gonna joke with this one. Ritsu would vlog, but it would be ridiculously extra vlogs.

Like like like, when the girls try filming their “recruitment” video, Ritsu was the one directing, and supposedly?? the one with the idea? And it was just so weird, and extra, and please just watch this one video from the people I’m talking about and try telling me Ritsu wouldn’t try doing this (up until the “we post new videos everyday” but they dont)

Mugi: I still stand by my “Mugi is not a content creator” thing from my K-ON/Social Media post. Like, it’s almost like the importance of having a (ATLA reference) Nonbender amongst the group of Benders. Mugi as a consumer is just as important as the content that she is consuming.

I think it’s in Mugi’s supportive, selfless nature to not really want to post videos of herself, or whatever. I just have a really hard time picturing her trying to create a name for HERSELF, but rather making sure her friends that are posting are seen and supported.

That said, Mugi would be in charge/takes to posting HTT related stuff. She becomes the unoffical behind the scenes poster, or the one who posts their music videos and such. Not out of making a name of them, but because she wants to compile all these memories somewhere to keep and access. And if people find them and enjoy them, and it brings them happiness, then that’s a bonus

Post is also not regular. It’s also dependent on when someone particularly caputres her interest and she puts it up. Their music video posting times however, are researched by Azusa and Mio as to what time is best to post that for the demogrpahic they’re trying to reach where they would receive the most applause and enagement

Azusa: bish reposts cat videos i’m not even kidding

I’d like to think I’ve updated my animation skills.

(Check out the full video!)

I’ve struggled to make my art “look good” for the longest time.

But I just couldn’t match the quality of those artists that I look up to.

However, within the span of 2 years, I leveled up my art from this:

To this:

The question becomes: “How can I improve in such a short amount of time?”

I’ll show you my improvement process in 5 steps right now:

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STEP 1: FIND YOUR FAVORITE MEDIUM

Not everybody works the same. Some people prefer traditional art, others prefer digital. Find what works for you and stick with it

Personally, I’ve been using Clip Studio Paint on the iPad Pro, with the Apple Pencil, and honestly I’m not changing art programs anytime soon.

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STEP 2: COPY, DON’T TRACE! (No, wait, don’t go! Trust me!)

I’m not saying plagiarize. I’m not saying trace. I’m not saying copy other people’s styles exactly down to even where the hair is placed or the hands are posed. I’m saying what LITERALLY everybody in the art tutorial community has said at one point or another: Take inspiration from someone else’s work. Use it as a guide to learn the techniques and create your own style.

AND ABOVE ALL, DO NOT POST ANY TRACED ARTWORK THAT YOU’RE USING AND CLAIM IT AS YOUR OWN. THIS IS JUST FOR PRACTICE!

For example: Say you like how Artist A draws their eyes, and you want to know how it’s done.

Import the art into your art program, go in and break down how they draw the art. 

What the form is like? Where do they place the shine or the shadow or the lashes?

(Anime reference is NOT my own. Apparently the character is from Girls Und Panzer but I do not know the original artist or original poster. Please let me know who the OP is or the link to the original. Thanks!!)

Great! Now do that a hundred times. Get it into your muscle memory, and once you do that, start to add your own little flavors. Maybe put in less shine. Maybe make the shape less round, or more round.

At NO POINT did I say to use the exact copy in your own work. Do not post other people’s work, even if it’s just copying the eyes or the head or hand shapes. What you are doing is learning the basics, learning the drawing techniques, learning how the talented people’s brains work, thus giving you more to work with.

(Not perfect, but certainly better than what I would have done without learning the basics first)

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STEP 3: WATCH ALL THE TUTORIALS!

This ties in with step 2. There are hundreds of hours of video tutorial content on the internet, from step-by-step guides to speedpaints to animations or gifs. The entirety of YouTube is at your disposal, so make the most of it and learn from the people who clearly know what they’re doing.

Slow down speedpaints so that you can see what someone’s process looks like. Go back and rewatch step-by-step tutorials until you can recite the steps by heart. Draw alongside someone’s video so that you can clearly see what they’re trying to teach you.

Learning from videos honestly gave me a bunch of little tips and tricks that I was able to integrate into my own workflow, and made me level up my skills super fast.

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STEP 4: SHARE YOUR PROGRESS ONLINE!

There’s nothing that lights a fire under your creative spirit than to post your content online and seeing the progression of your skills as you go!

There’s nowhere to go except UP in terms of improvement.

Wherever you decide to share your progress, it’s a great practice to go back every now and then and see how far you’ve come since a few years ago, since a few months ago, or even since last week!

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STEP 5: ASK FOR CRITICAL FEEDBACK!

Don’t forget to ask for feedback!

Don’t start spitting fire at those that disagree with your art choices.

Look for the things that people tell you, and learn from the advice.

Make those changes, see how you like it, and you might surprise yourself down the road.

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Let’s review:

- Step 1: Find what type of art you like to create, and go for it!

- Step 2: Copy, Don’t Trace!

- Step 3: Watch All The Tutorials

- Step 4: Share Your Progress Online

- Step 5: Ask for Critical Feedback

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This is by no means the ultimate guide to improving your art. Rather, this is a testament to the fact that improvement does happen, but it just takes longer than you think it will.

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Anything else you’d like to add/discuss? Leave a comment! Share some before/after artwork of yours, let’s see how far you’ve come since you started.

Check out my social media links if you wanna follow along on my art journey, otherwise please share this post. It’s greatly appreciated! Thanks!!

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~ Spywi's Mind Palace

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPwB09DF7a040A4YRkHoERw

Twitter: https://twitter.com/spywimindpalace