arus2001

Go grab some classical anatomy books and freehand, trace, or whatever you need to do to help convey the source. Don't fall into that trap of preferring anime and, as a result, using it as an excuse to forego the fundamentals. Learn about things like head scaling, divine proportions, the types of perspective, applying math to art, the color wheel, color mixing, and so on. It can all be daunting and certainly make a hobby feel like work at times, but if you're serious about actually getting good at drawing people, animals, nature, or whatever, you can't cut corners. Modern tech like Photoshop may make it easier to produce and modify work, but it's not a replacement for the user's knowledge. Otherwise, faces, hands, and feet will be difficult. You may find numerous techniques out there, but still feel one doesn't click or the end result still looks off. Sometimes this is where outside help can be useful, but also don't go into it looking only for praise. Constructive criticism is also a talent artists need to learn how to cultivate, both in giving and receiving. I'd further encourage physically interacting with other artists in your area, or even better, find a teacher even if it's just a weekly meeting or so. In the end, know it'll be a struggle. You'll have times where you'll feel frustrated when what's in your head doesn't match what's on the canvas. You'll see other artists and get mad you're not on their level. You may have periods where you don't want to touch a pencil or whatever for weeks, if not months or even years. You might wonder if you're original enough or if you even prefer doing things that could be considered popular. Do you publicly cross the lewd barrier? Because some artists cultivate multiple identities for that very purpose. Journey of a thousand miles and all that jazz, but it's a process. And one I've certainly stumbled through despite recent attempts to rekindle my interest.

Been having a bad night so I wound up loading the site up remembering I had an account from forever ago that never really got anywhere. To sort of sum up my current head space, "It sucks knowing there are millions of people on the internet, but you can still be lonely AF." Why that may be the case is certainly nuanced, and from my own perspective, I guess I can only take so much of putting myself out there and getting nothing in return. Social media and its variants have pretty much failed me. More specifically, I suppose I'd joke that there are no women on the internet in Ohio. Breaking that number down further into those who like or at least tolerate anime, on top of my other geeky pursuits, feels like dividing by zero at times. Being in my mid-30s also doesn't help, since unless demographics have changed here in my absence, it seemed more like late-teens and early 20-somethings were more the regulars. Not against making friends with folks outside my age range, but when you are hoping for more than that, it can be its own unique form of torture when you're basically in the friend zone by default. Would I entertain a relationship with someone outside of comfortable driving distance? Possibly, but I'm also 0 for 3 in that regard and it would be a very hard sell at this point in my life. Which also presents what I perceive a bit of a social paradox. If someone is feeling lonely and they threw themselves into a crowd basically being all, "Hey, look at me!" how would you respond? My own gut says not favorably. Maybe they'd be seen as a nuisance. Maybe you're around for a specific someone or group of and don't really have time for them. Perhaps their approach just rubs you wrong way. They could come off looking a desperate clown. Basically, there's lots of ways it could all go wrong, but so few they'd go right. I call BS on it being about not being able to talk to girls, personally. Being a decent human being isn't difficult, even if the internet may make me question that at times, but it's more like there's a pressure for the stars to align in a miraculous confluence of circumstances just to get your foot in the door because all the other thirsty boys or bots are in the way. We're told to be ourselves, but when that isn't a shirtless Chris Hemsworth, what then? In my case, I happened to opt to use a pic of one of my dogs to at least hope a potential partner would think he's cute, and thus an icebreaker. A pic of me certainly wouldn't have that advantage, and may even prove a detriment since I'd label myself a 6/10 when it comes to the genetics lottery. Honesty, right? Or are we actually supposed to lie and gloat? "The Game" really is a pain in the butt, especially on dating sites. Anyway, part of this is just me venting, but at the same time relating to anyone who may feel lost or alone. I could offer some commentary on how building relationships is probably harder now than it was a few decades ago, but that's a dive into politics I'm not really interested wading in right now. And yeah, political alignment is also a dating factor for me, which makes being a lefty in rural Ohio pretty rough. More dividing by zero, as it were.