thatconfusedcactus-blog
111 posts
Latest Posts by thatconfusedcactus-blog
Cheat Sheets for Writing Body Language
We are always told to use body language in our writing. Sometimes, it’s easier said than written. I decided to create these cheat sheets to help you show a character’s state of mind. Obviously, a character may exhibit a number of these behaviours. For example, he may be shocked and angry, or shocked and happy. Use these combinations as needed.
by Amanda Patterson
30 Days of Art Improvement Challenge
Are you tired of feeling like your art just isn’t improving? Do you want to do a 30-day challenge that’s actually useful? Welcome to 30 Days of Improvement Hell. >:D
I made this because I’ve been feeling super ‘blah’ about my art these days, and I needed something to kick-start myself. Who wants to do this with me!? Start now or whenever you can (now you procrastinators!). Challenge yourself and have fun at the same time!
Tag your posts with #Improvement Hell so everyone can follow along and see each other’s awesome artwork. I may even create a blog and reblog them! :D
What are you waiting for? START!
Self-Portrait - Introduce yourself
Draw a figure using a reference - link to reference
Draw a figure that’s in action, using a reference - link to reference
Draw a part of the human anatomy you have trouble with. x20, with atleast 5 being skeletal/musculature studies.
Draw more figures. Quick gestures and silhouettes. x20, with atleast 10 different body shapes
Let’s have some fun. Design a character from either This or This character generator! Be creative and bring something to life!
Pick the weirdest object in your house/room. Draw it. Shadows and Highlights.
Find 2-3 objects, make a scene with them. Draw it. Bonus points for creativity. Double points for dramatic lighting.
Draw a landscape of a place you’ve never been or drawn.
Draw a BG with 1pt Perspective. Negative points if it’s a railroad or an empty street.
Draw a BG with 2pt Perspective.
Look out a window. Draw what you see. Bonus points for adding something interesting.
Draw an interior setting with the character you designed on Day #6 in it.
BG with either bird’s eye or worm’s eye view.
Halfway there! Draw three ‘action’ scenes with different compositions in each. Quick sketches are fine, just make them interesting and understandable! Bonus points if it’s the same scene, but different composition.
Draw a single page comic with 5-7 panels (the story begins and ends on one page).
Draw an animal you’ve never drawn before. x10 Link references.
Draw a car. Negative points for whining. Hint: Use a perspective grid.
Think of the thing you hate drawing the most. Guess what? Draw it! Negative points for lying to yourself.
Pick an object in your house/room. Now design a character from it, using the shapes, forms, textures, purpose and colors as inspiration. Also link/post the object you used. Negative points for using a humanoid action figure.
Draw a character/object/scene, and shade them using ONLY solid blacks and whites. Bonus points for good use of lights/shadows
Draw a different object/scene/character. Shade using hatching, crosshatcing, and/or pointillism. Bonus points for lights/shadows and textures.
Colors! Pick a color palette, and paint a scene/character/object using only those colors (some blending allowed). Bonus points for good use of lights/shadows.
Draw and color a scene/object/character - no lines allowed! (aka - lineless art). Don’t forget light and shadows!
Draw a scene/character in a style you’ve never drawn before. If emulating an artist, credit+link. Bonus for color style.
Draw a character. Draw 10 emotions/expressions. Bonus points for 'uncommon’ emotions. (i.e. anxiety, guilt, despair, loneliness etc.)
Draw three random shapes using your opposite hand (or your foot). Now design characters from those shapes.
Turn on the tv (or load your illegally downloaded movies). Pick an actor and draw them.
Almost done! Let’s have some fun. Draw some fanart. Bonus points if it’s super obscure and unknown. Make people guess what it’s from.
Last day! Find a drawing you did within the last year. Now draw it again using what you’ve learned! Link it for comparison!
Look at all that amazing improvement! Congrats!
[Update] There is now a sequel challenge, Draw All The Things!
Rather than drawing your character standing there doing nothing over and over again, here’s 100 other ideas to put them in action and challenge yourself as an artist.
Yes hi hello, guess who has been enjoying @breezered‘s Star Trek Clexa AU and decided to do a drawing with what is probably a wildly inaccurate portrayal of their uniforms. (Me. The answer is me).
Anyways, go read the fic.
Happy International Lesbian Day!
Ambient sounds for writers
Find the right place to write your novel…
Nature
Arctic ocean
Blizzard in village
Blizzard in pine forest
Blizzard from cave
Blizzard in road
Beach
Cave
Ocean storm
Ocean rocks with rain
River campfire
Forest in the morning
Forest at night
Forest creek
Rainforest creek
Rain on roof window
Rain on tarp tent
Rain on metal roof
Rain on window
Rain on pool
Rain on car at night
Seaside storm
Swamp at night
Sandstorm
Thunderstorm
Underwater
Wasteland
Winter creek
Winter wind
Winter wind in forest
Howling wind
Places
Barn with rain
Coffee shop
Restaurant with costumers
Restaurant with few costumers
Factory
Highway
Garden
Garden with pond and waterfall
Fireplace in log living room
Office
Call center
Street market
Study room from victorian house with rain
Trailer with rain
Tent with rain
Jacuzzi with rain
Temple
Temple in afternoon
Server room
Fishing dock
Windmill
War
Fictional places
Chloe’s room (Life is Strange)
Blackwell dorm (Life is Strange)
Two Whales Diner (Life is Strange)
Star Wars apartment (Star Wars)
Star Wars penthouse (Star Wars)
Tatooine (Star Wars)
Coruscant with rain (Star Wars)
Yoda’s hut with rain ( Star Wars)
Luke’s home (Star Wars)
Death Star hangar (Star wars)
Blade Runner city (Blade Runner)
Askaban prison (Harry Potter)
Hogwarts library with rain (Harry Potter)
Ravenclaw tower (Harry Potter)
Hufflepuff common room (Harry Potter)
Slytherin common room (Harry Potter)
Gryffindor common room (Harry Potter)
Hagrid’s hut (Harry Potter)
Hobbit-hole house (The Hobbit)
Diamond City (Fallout 4)
Cloud City beach (Bioshock)
Founding Fathers Garden (Bioshock)
Things
Dishwasher
Washing machine
Fireplace
Transportation
Boat engine room
Cruising boat
Train ride
Train ride in the rain
Train station
Plane trip
Private jet cabin
Airplane cabin
Airport lobby
First class jet
Sailboat
Submarine
Historical
Fireplace in medieval tavern
Medieval town
Medieval docks
Medieval city
Pirate ship in tropical port
Ship on rough sea
Ship cabin
Ship sleeping quarter
Titanic first class dining room
Old west saloon
Sci-fi
Spaceship bedroom
Space station
Cyberpunk tearoom
Cyberpunk street with rain
Futuristic server room
Futuristic apartment with typing
Futuristic rooftop garden
Steampunk balcony rain
Post-apocalyptic
Harbor with rain
City with rain
City ruins turned swamp
Rusty sewers
Train station
Lighthouse
Horror
Haunted mansion
Haunted road to tavern
Halloween
Stormy night
Asylum
Creepy forest
Cornfield
World
New York
Paris
Paris bistro
Tokyo street
Chinese hotel lobby
Asian street at nightfall
Asian night market
Cantonese restaurant
Coffee shop in Japan
Coffee shop in Paris
Coffee shop in Korea
British library
Trips, rides and walkings
Trondheim - Bodø
Amsterdam - Brussels
Glasgow - Edinburgh
Oxford - Marylebone
Seoul - Busan
Gangneung - Yeongju
Hiroshima
Tokyo metro
Osaka - Kyoto
Osaka - Kobe
London
São Paulo
Seoul
Tokyo
Bangkok
Ho Chi Minh (Saigon)
Alps
New York
Hong Kong
Taipei
Tea? It’s like a hug in a cup.
Dirk, at some point. (via incorrectdirkgently)
Dirk Gently is the PERFECT example of why a tragic past (or just a tragic life in general tbh) is no excuse to be an asshole.
Here’s something to chew on.
wELP im finally getting round to colouring some inktobers !!
inktober #29 2015, “you’re brilliant” tfw ur showing ur gf how to do some magic & she gets all mushy (x)
When I was in school, one of my art teachers used to say “this world needs more creators. There’s more than enough destroyers in the world today.”
Just a reminder, if you create anything–art, writing, food, machines, ideas, equations, knits, tools, gardens–the world needs you.
know what’s wild? that the trope of like “my father always wanted a son so he treated me, his daughter, like a boy” is so popular and like lowkey loved, but if you ever saw a mother who talked about how much she wanted a daughter instead of a son, or if she treated her son like a girl, like??? people would think she’s awful and that poor boy??
damn wonder why that is 😒
i owe my heart to every lesbian who has ever created lesbian art, lesbian literature, lesbian music, etc. your talent comforts us, uplifts us, shows the world our history and love and pride. you make the world a much more beautiful place
a bouquet for butch lesbians: 💐 and a big old fuck you to those who equate them with men
Interesting, that soldier lady. She could be the making of my sister. Or make her worse than ever. Either way, we better upgrade their surveillance status. Grade three: active. Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson. I was both requested and challenged for this yesterday, so I did a fem!lock. Yey?
I find it crazy how guys are such control freaks and perfectionists. They want girls to look like Kim K without makeup on and will drop a girlfriend as soon as she gets the SLIGHTEST imperfection. I don't even think they love girls. They love this romanticised, porn filled version of girls. They don't actually love real girls. Lesbians on the other hand? You get the picture.
Men hate women. They just like femininity. They have high heel fetishes, and silicone-shaped-like-breasts fetishes, and red lipstick fetishes.
Femininity is sexualized, packaged and sold. And it’s bullshit, it hurts us, it harms women. So I’m beyond fucking done with people who think feminine=female.
Femininity is wrong, hurtful, degrading. On the other hand, women are strong, amazing, intelligent, valuable.
Beyond all that, only women can understand and respect women in the deep level we do. Lesbian love makes the world go around tbh.
/Mod A
My goal isn’t to make people feel beautiful. It’s to make them realize that feeling beautiful doesn’t mean jack shit. Beauty fades. Beauty is not reliable. Beauty is subjective and fluctuating. You take up the space you want and say “I might not think I’m beautiful. Hell, I might be ugly to some people, but I still deserve to be here, to be loved, to do what I want.” I don’t think I’m beautiful at all, but I try not to stop that from getting in the way of living my life. That’s a much more powerful thought than “I’m beautiful too.” Don’t be afraid to be ugly and stop holding yourself to impossible standards in public. Ignore the male gaze. Ignore all gazes. Focus on yourself and what you’re trying to accomplish.
I love girls who are proud and uninhibited about their intelligence and will brag about their accomplishments and take no shit from pretentious boys who look down on women in their field. girls who are outspoken and a bit arrogant and ambitious in a world where we are told that we must hide our intellect and to always put the needs of others (i.e. men) in front of our own are amazing
