What Some Person Says: You Need To Do Research For Fantasy And Think Critically About How Your World

“It seemed to be a chronic disease. It was as if even the most intelligent person had this little blank spot in their heads where someone had written: ‘Kings. What a good idea.’ Whoever had created humanity had left in a major design flaw. It was its tendency to bend at the knees.”

— Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay

YES

like….not 2 get into this really but..freedom of speech means that the government can’t tell you what you can and can’t say. freedom of speech does not protect you from the social/private repercussions of your actions

How to show expression with the mouth!

This was a request and at first I wasn’t sure if I had anything to provide with, but as it turn out it got a little longer than I expected because there were actually things I had to say!! Wow!! 

Anyway, this is some guidelines I follow when I try to make the face expressfull, more specifically the mouth! It is often neglected, since it’s actually pretty hard, I’ll admit. But I’m here to help (hopefully…)! A mouth expression tutorial as per request. Enjoy and hopefully it will help some a little. ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ

Draw the teeth at the right angle. 

This is super important. The upper jaw follows the angle of the head, and the lower jaw will depend on how open it is. Make sure you have a rough estimate of where the teeth are, and how much of them you’re going to see!

The lips will VERY roughly follow the same angle as the teeth. It really depends on the character, but it gives you a sense at least. 

If you DON’T do this, you’re going to lose so much volume and the mouth is going to end up looking unrelatable. I showed this example in this tutorial:

It’s not just the lips! 

The cheeks, chin, and tongue play a role too! 

Try look at your own mouth or references! I have a very pliable and large mouth, so that’s one reason why my characters have it too lmao.

ASYMMETRYYYYY (ง ͠° ͟ل͜ ͡°)ง

I cannot emphasize how important asymmetry is when drawing expressions. It applies not only to the eyebrows to achieve the Dreamwork Face™, but also the mouth. Seriously if you draw a symmetric mouth I will deliver myself to your mailbox and then shout at you until you fix it. 

Look at the difference between these two for example: which one has more “life”? 

I think you get the idea.

Push and squish - give it flow

Here’s an old drawing I have but it illustrates how I think when I squish the mouth, and use folding and wrinkles to my advantage.

Look at your own face and see where skin bundles up, where it creases the most and when bumps appear on your chin. Subtle details makes all the difference! 

One VERY effective detail is illustrated in the first sketch, where I pull upwards on one side, and downwards on the other. That’s a good detail to use when the character is making a skewed expression, or is extremely frustrated. I encourage you to play around with that concept bc it’s ~super effective~!

EXAMPLES:

Happy: Your entire mouth is pushed upwards, not just the corners of your mouth!

I tend to draw a :3 mouth bc I’ve been drawing Lance too much….. You don’t have to but it’s basically imprinted in my motor memory by now. 

Pouting/frowning: corners are pushed down, middle pushed slightly up. Sometimes, there’s a slight dip in the middle too. It can give a sense that the character is biting their lips.

Showing frustration/intimidating/is intimidated: basically showing a lot of teeth. The corners are as open as possible and the middle sorta more squished. An extremely important detail here is showing some of the gums, and open space between the cheeks and teeth. That way it looks like the mouth it open to it’s full potential. Here is also where you basically MUST add folds and bumps, or else it’s not going to look relatable. 

(Here I am again with the pulling upwards on one side and downwards on the other, as illustrated on the last sketch)

And then again, here’s just another doodle showing how important it is to show the gums. It’s the same face twice, but the second one looks slightly more frustrated doesn’t it?

(from my other tutorial on how to draw facial expressions)

As you can see, this last one is very versatile and I draw it a lot. Play around with the basic shape and see how much subtle details makes a lot of difference! 

That’s it! 

I hope that cleared some things up and was somewhat helpful! Enjoy drawing ✨

Suckers

I’ve been lied to

{ RvB: Home }

 a lyric comic about being found, then finding yourself __________________________________________

 Wow…2 and a half weeks, 61 frames all concepted, storyboarded, sketched, lined, colored, rendered, and edited in over 80+ hours of work. A huge thank you to everyone who’s been supporting me and helping me reach this final product, and everyone in the cursed discord for encouraging me! 🌻🌻🌻

Buy me a coffee? || Follow me on Instagram

Heads up for people who need to feed themselves and their families: Tuesday, July 16, 2019, from 7am-7pm, participating IHOP restaurants will be offering 58¢ pancakes. The offer is 1) only valid at participating locations 2) limited to 1 short stack per guest. As far as I know there is not currently a list of the locations participating.

The fine print in the image reads "Dine-in only. Not valid with any other discounts or coupons. Limit 1 short stack per guest. Valid at participating restaurants only." This advertisement is via the official IHOP Facebook page

As you opened the door, the sight greeting you was not, as your friend put it, "a teeeny mistake with a summoning spell". In a hasty attempt at a barrier on one side of the room was a couch, your friend staring fearfully at the scene in front if them. Two entities, one whose face was constantly changed from different animals to humans, with a cloak of billowing blue smoke surrounding them, the other a attractive figure that glowed gold and grand, gravity defying jewelry and an extra set of arms the most prominent features. They seemed completely different, the only thing in common the rage on their faces and tendency to hurl insults in odd languages at eachother. God's who had been ejected from there plane lost their powers, and it seemed these ones we're not taking it will. With a swift gesture with your arm, a nearby vase shatters in the middle of the angry gods, all tension in the room halting as three sets of eyes land on your figure. You couldn't tell if they were surprised by you being there or your bored expression. Maybe it was the words that came out your mouth next. "If the both of you would stop throwing a hissy fit, we can actually address the current slightly more civilized than primal apes. "

At the insult, the multi-faced god's, well, multi-facing, became erratic and quicker, speaking in an odd dialect.

"]ou $are ßpeak ïn ßuch æ \ay [o ?e. $o ]ou ñot (now \ho \e ære? "

After deciphering that the first letters consisted of the appropriate human symbols, you had run out of mental energy from the journey here, lack of sleep, and promised vacation bullshit.

"Yeah, a couple of powerless gods who think they can overcompensate for their usefulness with their ego. "

Whilst the first gods face recedes into a display of anger and shock, face shifting, hw other breaks out into high pitched tinkling laughter, teasing the other god with a child's naitivity and mentality.

As you sighed, a dark premonition crept up, assured by the human in the feeble position still behind the couch and reconstructed vase flying at your head.

If humanity truly is in the hands of gods, we're all fucked.

When your friend had called you up to nervously tell you that they’d had a small accident with a spell and needed your help, you had expected something simple and mundane. What you had NOT been expecting, was to walk in and find your best friend very nervously waving at you from besides two deeply pissed off, and completely powerless, gods. 

And to think you had been hoping for a quiet week.

Japanese tea bag maker Ocean-Teabag has been making waves by creating little parcels of aroma in the shape of marine animals. Luckily for us, their wide range of tea bags are available at online Japanese novelty retailer Village Vanguard, maker of such fine products as Space Tea and cat-shaped kitchen utensils.

Ocean-Teabag’s earliest designs included beautiful dolphin tea bags filled with blue mallow tea leaves. Steeping them turns your otherwise normal pot of water into a tranquil ocean. Proving to be a hit among tea lovers, Ocean-Teabag expanded their repertoire to many other sea creatures including the sea turtle (butterfly pea jasmine tea)…

the distinctive ocean sunfish (Japanese hojicha — roasted green tea)…

the graceful manta ray (tropical mango tea)…

and even a blood-thirsty shark (blended herb tea).

The newest addition to their robust series of marine creatures is a tea bag shaped like an innocuous sea cucumber. This little parcel is filled with jasmine tea, as well as a smidgen of sea cucumber powder to lend some authenticity. Ocean-Teabag warns that some people who have a sensitive tongue may find it tasting a little fishy.

The company also crafted a deep sea series that will satisfy even the most adventurous of tea drinkers out there. A few such examples are the anglerfish (earl grey tea)…

the creepy giant isopod (Eastern Beauty oolong tea)…

the horseshoe crab (white apricot tea)…

…and lastly the king of them all, the enormous giant oarfish. ( Delicious Assam tea of epic proportions! ) Just like its namesake, it measures a whopping 19 centimeters (7.5 inches). Drinking tea becomes an art when half of your tea bag hangs out of your cup.

 While the notion of turning your cup of tea into fish-inhabiting waters is not new, these tea bags will hopefully conjure up images of gentle ocean waves in your mind. 

WHERE TO FIND THE TEA

On this day...18 years ago...

246 people went to sleep in preparation for their morning flights. 2,606 people went to sleep in preparation for work in the morning, 343 firefighters went to sleep in preparation for their morning shift. 60 police officers went to sleep in preparation for morning patrol. 8 paramedics went to sleep in preparation for their morning shift. None of them saw past 10am on Sept. 11, 2001.

In one single moment life may never be the same. As you live and enjoy the breaths you take tonight before you go to sleep in preparation for tomorrow, kiss the ones you love, snuggle a little tighter, and never take one second of your life for granted. ~Kathleen Donohue, via Facebook.

Ravelry Ban

Hey guys, I know a lot of you may not be crafty people, but please listen.

Ravelry, the largest online crafting community (of several million people), just banned all Trump support on it’s platform claiming that he is a white supremacist and all of his supporters must be the same.   Let’s start:  First off, Trump isn’t a white supremacist.  Thought I should get that out of the way.  

Secondly, you just banned the political opinion of HALF OF AMERICA.  You are saying that HALF OF THE COUNTRY are racist.  Even the ones that don’t happen to be white.  You are saying that anyone can say anything politically, except for the Trump supporters, who we say are second-class intellectual citizens based on a lie that they aren’t allowed to refute.

Thirdly, Oh Yeah!  If you complain about this, they will delete your comment.  You can’t protest, you can’t get mad, all disagreement is hate speech.  

Fourthly, Ravelry is a HUGE source of income to crafters!  It is where you buy and sell patterns, yarn, and other yarn crafting supplies.  Ravelry is also where crafting events are organized.  They are essentially saying that you can’t make income unless you agree with their false claim.  

Fifthly, this is a precedent for other sites.  After doing some research, ravelry followed in the footsteps of rpg.com, who did the same thing.  If we let Ravelry sweep people they disagree with to the side, and essentially gag a whole spectrum of viewpoints on a false claim, then where do they stop?  Other social media has tried to take down conservative viewpoints, and said the same vile things, calling people racist, bigoted, homophobic, and essentially sub-human, as if saying those things without evidence and shouting them louder when they are refuted makes you cozy and inclusive.  It’s a very us vs. them mentality, and I have to wonder if the people who make these rules are ever around people who disagree with them, or if they realized that people they knew did disagree with them would they turn them out in an instant or see common humanity? 

Again, I know this isn’t everyone’s thing, but if you could reblog or make your own post, I would be eternally grateful:  I am trying to use the hashtag notokayravelry to get things going.  Crazy knitter types can’t let injustice stand!