i hate that every time i look for color studies and tips to improve my art and make it more dynamic and interesting all that comes up are rudimentary explanations of the color wheel that explain it to me like im in 1st grade and just now discovering my primary colors

“red and green are opposites 🥰” cool now how do i paint a tree with pinks and blues without it looking like a child’s finger painting or incongruous blobs of rainbow vomit

ok i can’t explain it very well but im looking for tips and techniques for rendering art like

with specifically the highlights and colors being hues that compliment each other, don’t distract from the scene, and make it more interesting/visually appealing

is it too much to ask

gonna drop some sources I have saved on Pinterest! I don't know if these all link back to the original sources so apologies for that

cohesive but still contrasting

This kind of talks about color and composition

This is a bit about landscape specifically

Values & composition

Contrast in composition

Balance in colors & values

This one's more for palette building but I think it's useful and can be applied to the other ones

Cohesion within compositions/lighting

"Chromatic fringe" - I also see people using this with shading, they bring in a transition color that is a different hue than the base color or shadow, it makes it so that less vibrancy is lost and it doesn't get muddy!

This one specifically has a lot of process behind the style of painting you're looking for!

Also one of my favorite artists who makes bright and colorful art like this is Not Sorry Art on TikTok & YouTube, her website is here and it's<3 my fav. She has some videos where you can see her process

With the oranges painting you put as an example, I noticed they painted the lighter values more toward yellow - they also exaggerated the hues of the undertones of the photo, so I'm guessing they either did it in their head or bumped the saturation up to get a closer look! I really love these paintings you shared and I definitely share your desire to paint/draw like that :)

thanks this is super helpful! /gen

this tweet sends me into fucking hysterics once a day

Do not eat. | Tip jar |

A sudden, terrifying thought

When you see an animal with its eyes set to the front, like wolves, or humans, that’s usually a predator animal.

If you see an animal with its eyes set farther back, though—to the side—that animal is prey.

Now look at this dragon.

See those eyes?

They’re to the SIDE.

This raises an interesting—and terrifying—question.

What in the name of Lovecraft led evolution to consider DRAGONS…

As PREY?

I know this isn’t part of my blogs theme but like this is interesting

i know this isn’t part of my blogs theme but like this is interesting

^Haiku^bot^8. I detect haikus with 5-7-5 format. Sometimes I make mistakes. | @image-transcribing-bot @portmanteau-bot | Contact | HAIKU BOT NO | Good bot! | Beep-boop!

@howdidigetinvolved

The eyes-in-the-front thing (usually) only applies to mammals. Crocodiles, arguably the inspiration for dragons, have eyes that look to the sides despite being a predator.

hey what up I’m about to be That Asshole

This isn’t a mammalian thing. When people talk about ‘eyes on the front’ or ‘eyes on the side,’ they’re really talking about binocular vision vs monocular vision. Binocular vision is more advantageous for predators because it’s what gives you depth perception; i.e, the distance you need to leap, lunge, or swipe to take out the fast-moving thing in front of you. Any animal that can position its eyes in a way that it has overlapping fields of vision has binocular vision. That includes a lot of predatory reptiles, including komodo dragons, monitor lizards, and chameleons.

(The eyes-in-front = predator / eyes-on-sides = prey thing holds true far more regularly for birds than it does for mammals. Consider owls, hawks, and falcons vs parrots, sparrows, and doves.)

But it’s not like binocular vision is inherently “better” than monocular vision. It’s a trade-off: you get better at leap-strike-kill, but your field of vision is commensurately restricted, meaning you see less stuff. Sometimes, the evolutionary benefit of binocular vision just doesn’t outweigh the benefit of seeing the other guy coming. Very few forms of aquatic life have binocular vision unless they have eye stalks, predator or not, because if you live underwater, the threat could be coming from literally any direction, so you want as wide a field of view as you can get. If you see a predator working monocular vision, it’s a pretty safe assumption that there is something else out there dangerous enough that their survival is aided more by knowing where it is than reliably getting food inside their mouths.

For example, if you are a crocodile, there is a decent chance that a hippo will cruise up your shit and bite you in half. I’d say that makes monocular vision worthwhile.

Which brings us back to OP’s point. Why would dragon evolution favor field of view over depth perception?

A lot of the stories I’ve read painted the biggest threats to dragons (until knights with little shiny sticks came along) as other dragons. Dragons fight each other, dragons have wars. And like fish, a dragon would need to worry about another dragon coming in from any angle. That’s a major point in favor of monocular vision. Moreover, you don’t need depth perception in order to hunt if you can breathe fucking fire. A flamethrower is not a precision weapon. If you can torch everything in front of you, who cares if your prey is 5 feet away or 20? Burn it all and sift among the rubble for meat once everything stops moving.

Really, why would dragons have eyes on the front of their heads? Seems like they’ve got the right idea to me.

Worthwhile cryptozoological discourse

Coming out of my cage and I've been doing just fine

Gotta gotta be down, because I want it all

It was only a fish

IT WAS ONLY A FISH

#now I'm out of the sea #and I'm up on the land #and I'm growing a leg #and I'm learning to stand #now I'm taking a step #I'm no longer a fish #I don't know what I am #but I'm going to RUN NOW #OUT UNDER THE SUN NOW #THERE I GOOOOOOO

a nice day 🌼

(part of something longer im working on!)

#i’m losing my SHIT#would you like to not see a dog?#it’s brown Thank you, @dreamwaffles, that’s it EXACTLY 😂

[Image description in Alt Text.] [ID: Red, block text on a transparent background. The text reads: ‘Fanfic Author PSA’. The dark red Archive of Our Own logo is depicted on either side of the lettering. End ID.]

Many people who read fanfiction also require the assistance of text-to-speech or audio description software. Blind and visually impaired people are very much present in the fanfiction and fandom communities, but are so frequently disregarded or forgotten about.

If you are writing a work and like to utilise paragraph breaks, please do not use combinations such as the following:

[Image description in Alt Text. I have used an image to avoid what I will describe below.] [ID: Four examples of punctuation and icons that are disruptive when used as line breakers. The first line is a series of O letters. The second is a series of asterisks. The third is a series of dots, circles and stars. The last is a series of tildes. End ID.]

The software will read these combinations out loud letter for letter or symbol for symbol. For example; it would read to the user the word ‘asterisk’ six times in a row, or the word ‘tilde’ five times in a row.

This is unpleasant, confusing and often irritating for blind or visually impaired readers. If you would like a similar sample of what it would sound like, enter one of the above combinations into Google Translate and use the audio button.

Here is a post by @ao3commentoftheday​ that also details this difficulty and provides links to downloadable audio transcribers and fanfiction audio readers. These are also helpful for if you simply wish to listen to fanfiction but can’t find a podfic of the work.

Screen Reader Friendly and Screen Reader Compatible are AO3 tags that help visually impaired readers track and access fanfiction that is consciously created with their needs in mind. Please consider adding these tags to your works in order to expand the range of works that visually impaired readers can safely and confidently access.

Alternatives to these are:

Reminder: ‘liking’ this post does not spread awareness.

Even if you don’t rely on it, I highly recommend using a reader to listen to your fic once you’re done writing. I always do that, because it’s easier to find typos and errors and you also realise how it sounds to people who listen to it.

Firefox has a reading mode on PC where you can turn on text-to-speech, the mobile version doesn’t have one, but you can use the on-board version every phone has.

btw you can use whatever gender seasonings you want. paint your nails, wear breast forms, wear a binder, pack, tuck, dress however you want, whatever. you are adding ingredients to your gender soup.

Love that you can see the exact moment that Enlightenment™ occurs for this little dude. Good job, you did it.

Right there

Mitosis

:3

these faces get me every time

Unmute !

Just testing out some sounds

Oh! He’s feeling B O N K Y today

every day i am percieved™️

There is a reason for this though!

The original tweet summarizes it pretty well. Fanfic tends to be popular among certain types of neurodivergent people (aka people most likely to read excessively as a child, and have burnout as an adult) for the same reasons that we tend to hyperfixate–neurochemical signaling (I hope I’m using that phrase correctly). What I mean is, for people who are really dependent on changes in dopamine/serotonin/neurotransmitter levels, who have low levels or wonky neural reward systems (perhaps the most common types of neurodivergence)…people like us rely on dependable external sources of those neurochemicals. In order to function, we spend a lot of our free time trying to level out our brain chemistry using things that can reliably bring us a steady stream of joyful moments (rewards) without costing too much of the mental effort that is already in short supply. 

significantly: the investment of reading has to be balanced with a steady “return on investment”–and this return has to start fairly quickly. because again, we don’t have a lot of attention/energy to invest on tiring things. we have perpetual “low batteries” in that regard.

that doesn’t mean these stories are “simple,” or that they lack complexity or value–only that the reward has to come in short regular intervals, and it has to have a low “upfront cost.” these stories are only “easy” to read in the sense that the effort we put into them is rewarded in a timely manner. which is why fanfic stories are so perfectly formulated for neurodivergent readers–they are often beautifully written, but skip a lot of the upfront costs (of introducing new characters, of world-building, of getting the audience emotionally connected to the story elements).

the nature of fanfiction is that the reader has a pre-existing relationship with this world and these characters. that–combined with the shorter average length of fics–means that fan fics very quickly start rewarding the reader in a way that traditional fiction struggles to. that’s not a bad thing! and maybe it’s something more traditionally published writers should be paying attention to.

Fanfic, as a genre, has been uniquely helpful and accessible to many neurodivergent readers who would otherwise struggle to immerse themselves in stories. I’m glad so many of you have found a way to love and enjoy reading again! The important thing is that you are spending time inside stories you love–the way those stories are published or presented to the world is just one detail. The fact that you find joy in the process of reading (or listening!) to stories–that is what matters.

I feel understood 🥰

a bunch of people have reblogged this with the default “i feel called out” reaction….and i know when we say that we mean it tongue-in-cheek….but this comment sorta blew my mind & shifted my perspective up and to the left a little thank you♥

The Serotonin is stored in the Ao3

every emotion I have ever experienced exists on a spectrum that can be best and most concisely summarized by Ancient Egyptian Golden Death Masks

don’t know what this emotion is called, but I’ve felt it every forsaken minute of every accursed day ever since the miserable curse of Sentience was thrust onto my unwilling aching shoulders

May I present to you: the Ancient Egyptian Golden Death Mask Alignment Chart.

This took over 5 hours to make please help.

when im listening to my own library and playlists i feel like a powerful wizard but when im trying to show my music taste to anyone it feels like i have a shame cone on

The only difference between a wizard hat and a dunce cap is the wide brim of privacy

The bean jar

[My Chemical Romance voice]: When I was…. a young boy… my Father… had what he called the bean jar…

have i mentioned recently @allieinarden is the best

Since Gerard Way wrote The Umbrella Acedemy comics, I felt the most powerful need to commission this. It’s finally done. Thank you, @eamhhair

tumblr

so I wrote the whole thing (sorry but also not)

I only did one of the verses I’m sorry   everything else is there though

When I was

A young boy

My father

Had what he called the bean jar

It was a jar of beans

He said son when

It’s empty

You’ll see that

The world will end in fire

That’s what the bean jar means

He said will you

Induce me

To hasten

The pace of Armageddon

And catalyze our doom

Because one day

You’ll drive me

So crazy

I’ll reach into the bean jar

Purloin the last legume

(instrumental)

A world that gets sent reeling from decimated beans

My misbehavior’s killed us all

As people die, they scream out “why”, but no one understands

The reason is, I want you all to know

The beans are gone, the beans are gone

I didn’t quite believe it, but now I know I’ve brought this on

I’ve brought this on

As the world is ending, my sins I’ll be regretting evermore

On and on the fire quickly grows (oh, oh, oh)

And I’m the only one alive who knows (oh, oh, oh)

That I could have saved this world

If I’d only cared at all

I watch them die, from my mistakes, oh

Because this world, is coming for our hearts

And though I’ve tried, I cannot wake them

Because the time, has come for us to part

I would explain, and say I’m sorry

I’m so ashamed, I know it’s all my fault

There’s no one left, to forgive me

In this hell, this hell that I have wrought

I’m just a boy, I’m not a villain

I’m just a kid, who couldn’t right his wrongs

I’m just a boy, I’m not a villain

And I’m so scared

The beans are gone, the beans are gone

I didn’t quite believe it, but now I know I’ve brought this on

I’ve brought this on

If I’d tried I could have fought it, but it’s too late I’ve lost it all

I’ve brought this on, the beans are gone

The beans are gone, gone, gone

The beans are gone

World Heritage Post

Different Stories Resonate with Different People

I will always reblog this.

I once spent three hours scouring the internet to find this comic again, I will not let that be repeated.

Find your own resonance :)