Bonus ~ QnA~

I've been using Photoshop pretty much since it came out so I didn't really go through the same kind of experience beginners would now; we didn't have a lot of options back then, it was either Photoshop or ClarisWorks lol. Later I tried some stuff like Sai and Painter (and oekaki boards) but I was already used to how Photoshop worked so I just stuck with it. PS isn't super affordable for a beginner but if you're a student, with the new cloud version, it might be more affordable than it used to be. I've literally never tried anything else that might be available now so I'm sorry I can't give useful advice on that :(( I'd also recommend getting a cheaper tablet to start with, so you can take some time getting used to the tools before investing in a more expensive tablet; most of them work just as well as the more expensive ones, with slightly less pressure sensitivity, and if you're just starting out you're not really going to notice that. If you have the money and want a more expensive one then I'd recommend a medium Intuos; I've found you really don't need more than that to do good work.

Reapersun

Do you have advice for artists who want to try out/get into digital art? What would be the best program or tablet or tools for artists new to digital art? : )

I use my head as much as possible for people; I use a lot more reference for landscapes and items. I find my time studying animation helps me a lot with various poses, since I can kind of picture the character in the scene and see how they move around from pose to pose, and it feels like I'm just pulling out keyframes of a larger motion, rather than trying to figure out which poses to use for which frames. I hope that makes sense lol...

Reapersun

I'm on the futanari boat personally :)) I actually really haven't puzzled a lot about what male/female means in the ABO verse; I kind of started down a line of thinking that it relates to who possesses mammary glands and maybe in ABO's past people lived more like family units where the women nursed all of the infants in a unit, but maybe as society evolved into monogamous relationships, professional wet nursing was a big thing for m/m couples, until formula became available... Idk, I haven't really thought through a lot of it. I'm not super keen on male omegas growing breasts during pregnancy, personally, so that's probably part of what's leading my thinking there, haha.

Reapersun

I use a lot of reference for items and locations, mainly so I can add realistic detail, not so much for perspectives; for example, I have a mental image for what a desert looks like, but if I use photo reference there will be details in configurations that I couldn't just imagine up, like particular kinds of rocks or shrubs etc. I do a lot of construction for stuff like perspective, rather than looking at reference; I don't do it in the technically correct way, and eyeball a lot of it, but I'd still usually rather try that first. There are some things I have trouble visualizing though; cars for example, and guns, I usually need to find reference for particular angles.

Reapersun

I've been drawing my whole life, I drew like little kids do and pretty much never stopped. And yeah I'm definitely inspired by other fan artists (and writers!) and I follow tons of them on Tumblr. I love seeing everyone bringing their own things to the table, their own ideas and styles and quirks, and while we're all drawing the same things everyone makes it their own. It's part of the reason I dislike style copying so much, even though it's not something that most people consider ethically wrong; I feel like if you wanna contribute to fandom, why wouldn't you bring your own strengths to it rather than copying someone else? Otherwise everything ends up looking the same :(

Reapersun

Hmm... I don't think there was one thing I could point to, it was just one long process; when I was a little kid I drew my own ideas as well as horses and Ninja Turtles, and as I grew I drew my own stuff as well as Pokemon and Dragonball fanart, and it just kinda kept going from there? Even when I'm doing a lot of fanstuff I'm always still bouncing around original ideas. I guess part of it is that it's just fun to make fan stuff, it's fun to draw two characters interacting in a way they never would in canon, and another part of it is, after the internet, it helps me connect with people. If I were doing only original stuff my whole life I doubt many of you would have ever found me :)

Reapersun

(related to an existing question) How do you get references for drawing comics? Or do you mostly just use anatomy knowledge for body poses?

This is related to omegaverse. It wasn't addressed in your first omegaverse comic post and I highly doubt it will be addressed in the comic itself... I'm curious, what are your personal headcanons about alpha women and how they work and fit into the dynamic with the other genders?

Lova | Hachiseiko

I saw your post about a reference for anatomy, but what about items and locations? I ask perspective-wise. Are you able to spatially organize items in your brain and know how they're meant to look (perspectively), or do you try to find a reference photo that has the angle you're looking for and work from that?

Do you admire or are inspired by other fan artists? How long have you been drawing?

What was the thing that drew you into fandoms and fanart? (As opposed to doing original works only.)

Ina_K

I find women's bodies are easier to draw because they have more distinct shapes, but their faces are harder because the shapes are more subtle; with men, I feel it's the opposite, their faces have distinct shapes but the shapes of their bodies are more subtle, unless they're a musclelord. As for trickiest/time consuming, FEET, and back muscles; I've been practicing both and I think I get something nice occasionally but I haven't really nailed it down. I've been meaning to sit down and just do a bunch of anatomy studies when I have time, that usually helps me a lot.

Reapersun

About 50% of the time I use reference; I feel like sometimes I can draw them okay but then sometimes I can't get it right even if I draw the bone structure first and build up from there, so I'll eventually cave and go find reference. I do find that helps sometimes though, drawing the bones first, then overlaying the muscle and skin. It works with a lot of anatomy struggles. Hands just gotta be assholes sometimes I guesss~

Reapersun

Mannn, I think it's Willl... I actually thought Hannibal was a creepy asshole until pretty much the end of the series loll, but I lovvvvved watching Will go from broken teacup to competent manipulative badass. I always love a story about a downtrodden character becoming powerful, especially if they're a bad guy XD

Reapersun

First I write an outline, that just has a sequence of events and important details in it, and then I expand that into a script with all of the dialogue and actions and even paneling notes here and there. Then I thumbnail based on that. The whole process is organic so I make changes as I go, like I sometimes get to the thumbnailing part and realized a scene needs an extra panel or doesn't need a particular line of dialogue. Recently I added a whole page while I was inking the thumbs because I felt like a scene moved on too quickly. This is how I prefer to work, although I admit I only have outlines for a lot of my original comic; it's so long it would have taken me a month to write the whole script up front, so I have an outline and the script for the first "chapter", and I keep adding notes to the outline with dialogue for the ending, based on how I'm writing the beginning. The events are set and I have a goal, though, and I wouldn't have started it if I didn't know where it was going to go.

Reapersun

Do you find it more difficult to draw women over men? What do consider the trickiest/time-consuming aspects of anatomy? (I ask about men vs women because I've always had a difficult time drawing men)

I think it's being able to share a weird thing that you love and having a bunch of people immediately GET it. Like when I'm like "how about Mads' TEETH tho" and people are like "mm HMM yes I know what you mean". I used to feel pretty bad for liking some of the things I liked :P

Reapersun

I like to draw figures, and I like to draw dudes with nice thighs, to be honest lol. Lately I've been enjoying drawing Will, and scruffy unkempt baras~ I can't think of a particular piece that I'm proud of... I draw so much that once something's done I forget about it pretty quickly, and when I see it again I notice all the flaws in it :P Maybe the Ghostbusters pic, just because it made so many people angry haha~ Or my monster/ghost comic, I was always pretty happy with how it came together :)

Reapersun

Do you use reference for hands? I love your hands SO much, it's the hardest thing for me as an artist.

xanbuck

Oh I like this idea! But probably because I can be kind of a creep, eheh. 😅 But yes, Hannibal and Will are the perfect set of perfect equals and can't be separated from each other ever, but now I'm making you pick one, Aahhh! Hannibal over Will, or Will over Hannibal 'n maybe a little 'why' too? 👍😁

Alyssa Vanderwulp

I'm really curious about how you plan out such long comics - it looks like you thumb them all out, but do you have a script that you follow in your mind, or is it pretty organic? Do you write your dialogue down and plan it out?

What would you say is the most rewarding thing about fandom?

what's your favorite thing to draw, like a certain character, pose, or anything? which piece of yours are you most proud of?

lezbfrenz