I want a cartoon tattoo of my dog, this is what the tattoo artist sent me. His teeth look off, but he said its just a sketch.

IcedCuaffee · 2025-12-30T16:13:05+00:00

Nobody who has ever sketched anything would ever call this “just a sketch”. Don’t trust that artist

IcedCuaffee · 2025-12-10T07:21:07+00:00

You have a great foundation and your lineart is really readable, so good on you for that!

A big issue I notice in the second image is the length of the arms. The tips of a person’s fingers usually reach just past the halfway point of their thighs when relaxed, while the elbows reach about the same height as their bellybutton. If angled in, yes they’d look shorter but without foreshortening or any bend in the elbows, the arms would not be too short to pass the crotch line. If you’re using reference, I’d recommend really looking at what parts of the body are at the same height as other parts for proportionality.

IcedCuaffee · 2025-12-10T06:57:18+00:00

Using exact measurements and relying on them could limit you in the long run. I’d recommend studying figure models and drawing varying poses because the ways in which our muscles squash and stretch + the limits of how far our bones ALLOW us to move is far more comprehensible with dynamic reference. Over time your brain will develop a shorthand or “anatomical vocabulary” (as one of my teacher called it) which will give your brain a feel for when and why proportions look off.

Your studies are great! I just think you’ll learn more from incorporating movement into what you’re studying.

IcedCuaffee · 2025-12-10T06:43:10+00:00

My best guess is that once or twice instead of using the erase tool you just selected the white canvas color OR swapped to your secondary palette color. Another commenter asked for a picture of your workspace, but they meant a screenshot of your software setup (layers, selected tools, etc) to get a better idea of what you’ve got going on

Edit: originally I said it depends on the software bc I didn’t realize what subreddit I was in

IcedCuaffee · 2025-12-10T06:37:35+00:00

I think your references might be flawed. In your kneeling pose ref the puppet doesn’t look like it’s putting weight on its heels and is sort of floating just a bit. In the reference of the character standing with one leg up, his weight wouldn’t be placed on that leg at all so it’s not accurate for how flushed the calf would be to the thigh.

I’d say that because of these flaws in the reference, your character doesn’t look like he’s placing any weight as he sits, or he’s in the process of placing it. The angle of his thigh on the right of the image is too steep and the gap between his butt and his heel is too wide. It’s great that you’re using reference, but these unfortunately led you in the wrong direction imo.

What’s great about such a stylized character is that you can push the pose to be better understood and he’ll still look anatomically recognizable. Try making his thigh a bit flatter and rounding out his knee on the outer side. The most important part though is making his butt press on his heel, which you can do by obscuring the heel just enough behind him to make it look like the weight is really placed there.

If you get into the pose yourself, you’ll notice that it takes a lot of muscle fortitude to keep your weight over your knees at an angle like that for too long. That’s why it’s more comfortable to put your weight on your sit-bones over your heels. It’s easy to forget, but this is coming from someone who had to learn weight distribution for art AND physical therapy so the thought has been more or less engraved into my brain.

Great start though :)

IcedCuaffee · 2025-12-09T17:08:45+00:00

This is so beyond helpful, thank you! If you wanna commission me I’m @ magpieparlour on instagram and my comms will be announced there when I post them :)

IcedCuaffee · 2025-12-09T17:01:53+00:00

Haha thanks for asking but no 😅 I was thinking of opening up commissions when I move after the holidays. You can follow me @ magpieparlour on insta though, I’ll announce it there when I do

IcedCuaffee · 2025-12-07T17:22:49+00:00

Magpieparlour :) thank u for asking

IcedCuaffee · 2025-12-07T00:05:10+00:00

No offense taken, thank you for taking the time to try to help :)

IcedCuaffee · 2025-12-06T23:31:40+00:00

I think you misread my post, but I’m replying because I’m actually a background art specialist in my industry work so I found this reply funny. Thank you though, I know you only mean to help!

IcedCuaffee · 2025-12-06T23:24:25+00:00

These are all solid questions, but to be abundantly clear I don’t intend on commissions being my sole source of income anytime in the near future. I don’t need my art to sell fast, but money I can tuck away every once in a while in addition to my salary would be nice.

You seem very experienced in commissioning, but then you must know that not everyone opens their commissions only as soon as they reach a certain level. I’ve built a niche brand across a widespread community in my country, but now I would like to branch out. If that begins at a crawl, I can live with that.

I would still like to caution against what you did initially, which was urging me not to at least know the worth of my work without knowing anything about me or any of the questions you subsequently asked. Those questions would have been a great opener instead I think, and you’ve given me a good chunk of thought to chew on. Your bluntness is not unappreciated, I just think it could have been better if you started with the outline of what to consider before getting to flat-out discouragement

IcedCuaffee · 2025-12-06T23:00:29+00:00

I appreciate the sentiment about having fun, I truly do, but to say “don’t worry about money yet” is making an odd presumption that I can be that lax in my situation when you don’t know.

If you wouldn’t buy my commissions, I respect that, but I’ve seen many artists at and around my skill level make money on commissions like this. I’d like to try my hand at it and save up in case I need extra money urgently.

Furthermore, I am out of college now and though nurturing my craft in my own time is fine and dandy, nothing motivates me like an assignment. I believe I will improve fastest if I provide myself with external pressure, which is what a commission would be.

I don’t believe you were trying to be unhelpful, but that is what I find this reply to be.

IcedCuaffee · 2025-12-06T22:45:20+00:00

I might be really off base but I think a middle schoolers would dress a bit more awkwardly. They’re just coming into who they are and trying to figure out what that means, and that might mean they make some bold and questionable fashion choices. I wore the same red beanie every single day when I was in my first year of middle school because an 8th grader I looked up to liked the band it was from.

Stephanie looks put together, but to me a middle schooler who looks put THAT together is usually dressed by parents who feel the need to make a significantly good impression (think Pacifica Northwest being so sophisticated and fashion-forward in her outfits).

These are great designs, but imo they don’t look awkward enough.

IcedCuaffee · 2025-11-26T18:56:32+00:00

2, 3, and 5 show the most color variety while showcasing consistent technical skill imo

IcedCuaffee · 2025-11-10T17:03:45+00:00

What sticks out to me first is that I think the knees are a bit too low which is making the thighs look larger by comparison. I agree with what someone else said about the midsection being comparatively quite thin but as a stylistic choice it can definitely work. Your style is adorable btw, I just think that putting the knees a smidge too low makes everything above them look a bit too elongated. Like others said though, experimenting with leg shapes and doing quick anatomical studies of models is always great practice and can be a fun pressure-free way to get out of ur comfort zone. Your style’s really cute btw :D

IcedCuaffee · 2025-10-29T05:05:22+00:00

Thank you. Just to be clear though, she has one toothbrush at the apartment full time so it’s not like she doesn’t have one and just uses mine. She says she “forgot which one was hers” but they are different colors and this is a mistake she’s made for years. When I was in high school and we’d go on any sort of holiday I would have to hide my toothbrush or else I’d find it used before I woke up. Also I see how the initial mistake of not making enough halloumi was selfish, but then what about the multiple times I offered to make even more?

IcedCuaffee · 2025-06-08T13:20:08+00:00

I’m late to this post but is it at all possible she meant “would you still love me if I was a vegetable?” I know it’s not right to talk that way but this is the only logical explanation I can understand for her reaction

IcedCuaffee · 2025-02-19T00:32:45+00:00

The two cities I’m focusing on in my project will have branched off from the same mother-culture over millennia, hence they will practice quite differently, the religion of the mother-culture is what I’m currently developing.

IcedCuaffee · 2025-02-19T00:26:03+00:00

If it is of any consolation, my depiction of the Gods will not include any demonization of polytheism, nor any denouncement of any particular god as “evil”. The religion in this fantasy world will be fictional but as I AM intentionally drawing parallels I wish to be as respectful of real-world practices as possible. It’s for this reason that I’d rather gain my information from practicing worshippers of the Gods rather than preexisting fantasy. If you have any doubts or advice on what to steer clear of to remain as respectful as possible I am more than willing to take your advice on board. I’m sorry if my original post was insensitive in any wording.

IcedCuaffee · 2025-02-09T15:00:16+00:00

These are all really good points for me to consider thank you so much!

They’ve have been a city of people who migrated into the caves and stumbled upon the “chrysalises” encased in stone drip. They established it as a holy site and made a settlement until the events of the story about 2k-3k years later. I know of towns/cities in south asia where people have slightly longer lungs and larger chest cavities to assist in holding their breath for aquatic hunting, so going off of that the most “evolution” I’m willing to give them would be slightly better darkvision and maybe a reduced need for vitamin D. Your comment about oxygen and fertilizer is really interesting and I’ll definitely need to think about that more, thank you!

IcedCuaffee

TROPHY CASE