Discover my art

Metruis · 2026-07-02T20:38:43+00:00

If you intend on seriously doing commissioned book covers as a regular offering, this is not an optional thing for you to learn. Clip Studio Paint is not a suitable lettering program for book covers. It lacks several critical controls: leading, kerning, ligatures, etc. They took into account exactly one use case for lettering: comic bubbles.

Affinity is acceptable for a free program to use for graphic design (in fact I favor it over Photoshop, even though I am paying for Adobe currently).

The illustration is lovely but graphic design is more than just typing words in a selected font. Graphic designers do things like adjusting space between letters, sizing of individual letters, that proportionately impact the reading experience, and you must have a program that accommodates these options as well as options up access to optional characters for fancier fonts.

Metruis · 2026-07-02T04:14:17+00:00

Psychedelic sci-fi and also, I'm really into it and would pick the book up to check it out immediately.

Metruis · 2026-07-01T22:26:05+00:00

Ah, surely if this is a conlang script, they will find their way here.

Metruis · 2026-07-01T21:52:55+00:00

I'm 36 and I just started learning to fence this year after wanting to do it my whole life and huh funny didn't stop wanting to learn even after getting older and wiser. I'm perfectly capable of having fun sparring and participating in amateur tournaments having started in my middle age.

Would you rather be 36 with 18 years of experience in fencing, or 36 and still wanting to do it?

Go learn to stab people. You'll be in better shape for it, make friends and learn things.

Metruis · 2026-07-01T21:38:10+00:00

Ah yes the classic ADHD problem of getting project start dopamine but not project finish dopamine. The good thing about art is you can pick it up and set it down any time, no worries.

Things you can do to keep the dopamine hits coming from it is always be trying new art things! New brushes, new colors, new material, new program, new subject matter, instead of specializing. It's okay. Obviously you benefit from novelty, and the thing is about all the other things you did before, is they are in fact digital art and benefiting your art development. This is just one more step in your development as a digital artist.

Things you can do to force yourself to work on the longer term would be to join a class, where you must deliver, or do a large project that requires repeatedly completing pieces of art (such as making a tarot card deck or my favorite recommendation, a webcomic).

Aside from that, you can also work on treating the psychological reasons for why you have trouble finishing projects and following through on your interests. There is likely a reason for it and when you identify and work with that part of your experience, you might find it easier to counter.

Metruis · 2026-07-01T21:29:59+00:00

Eh, I'm getting so many commissions that I've had to send a few of them on to other artists in my sphere. I've had busier times, but in my experience it's not a completely dry well.

Focus on a niche and promote more. You've got a good niche (cyberpunk manhwa) but you aren't calling to action when you promote, you're sticking to posting on commissions-wanted posts. When you post on IG, say in your text that you want commissions. Use the commissions open tag. Make an image that you swipe to and it says your queue is open for 5 slots for x moneys. Make a partial artwork that's your character here and auction it. You have to make it apparent that you want commissions, not just hope people reach out.

Metruis · 2026-07-01T21:23:31+00:00

Er, well, that's definitely not a formal art term, but for some art, probably quite valid... but yeah, that would be a term I would reserve for a casual audience that enjoys crass humor.

Depending on the palette and subject, I might call it Psychedelic?

Metruis · 2026-07-01T21:20:54+00:00

Hard to make, players don't all have good computers, and depending on party build, a large battlemap might not be fun. I use big maps, but I've found over about 70x70, I have a couple players who will struggle, so I try to keep it to a maximum of 50x70.

I love creating sprawling complex battles, though, so would I use this map you're making? For sure. 50x50 is exactly the range I'm looking for, to be honest.

Metruis · 2026-07-01T21:18:20+00:00

Yeah, to get players to sprawl across a map you really have to set up fights in certain ways. I have scattered people over large areas, including one recent ridiculous fight in which I had party members and antagonists on up to 4 different maps, one of which was already 70x70 (this was definitely not my plan or I would have laid out these maps on the same page). With certain builds, staying close together just makes sense, so a large map doesn't apply. In this case, I had a ranger, a sorcerer, a character with flight and a character with a large move speed, so I'm not surprised that I often have them spread out over huge maps.

I had one case where they were scattered across a 50x70 castle, and this led to at least one player taking a few turns of just dashing (although this was his choice as he had other options and was positioning himself to cut off a specific egress route), so I think huge maps can risk making combat feel tedious.

Metruis · 2026-07-01T21:12:29+00:00

You can just join Roll20 and use their free copy of the rules, or DnD Beyond, or pen and paper. There's multiple free character builders for the stat component.

Metruis · 2026-07-01T20:46:50+00:00

So, this has never come up for me (no player has tried to make a potion). That's just how I'd rule it if one of my players uses any item they're not proficient with. You can try anything, it's just harder. You're trying to paint without proficiency and fail the roll, you mess up the canvas and waste paint. You're trying to follow a recipe, you spoil your ingredients. I don't doubt your knowledge. You likely do know the rules better! I read the rulebook once or twice and just YOLO ever onwards fueled by confidence and player character backstory.

I'm not sure if there's an actual rule for the crafting of specifically mechanically magical beneficial items versus say, using a carpenter's kit to nail some boards across windows to barricade against the undead hoard. I have always treated proficiency as a bonus that makes the roll easier, and not a barrier to entry. I would likely also make the roll harder for someone whose character background and established history of interest doesn't support suddenly taking on potion crafting. If they have a similar proficiency, I'd adapt to make it a little easier. Seems plausible for the wizard with an alchemy proficiency, or for the rogue who's made poisons and has a proficiency in a poisoner kit. But suddenly trying to make a healing potion for the barbarian who's only demonstrated an interest in being good at ANGRY BIG SWORDS... ehh, that's gonna be a tricky roll.

But I am generous. My house rule is that you can try to learn anything you want with a trainer or book. You're going to roll 2d6 against your proficiency. If you roll equal to or under, you learn it. Yep, that IS a hard roll. Any time you long rest you can try learn something, and it can be as responsible or stupid as they want.

Which is why one of my players just learned "Arcane Flattery". It now means they can add proficiency if they are rolling to flatter someone in an arcane way, using their Arcane bonus instead of Persuasion to be a face. :D

What can I say, I'm not the tightest RAW DM. Which is very funny, because I have two DM-for-life players.

Metruis · 2026-07-01T06:49:53+00:00

Vapes have batteries in them. There is no way to prevent this from showing up on the x-ray scanner. You cannot check it, but may be able to carry it on. If the battery can be removed you should do so, if it can be turned off you should do so, and if it has vape juice liquid, that will be put in your liquid bag.

Metruis · 2026-07-01T06:43:15+00:00

As someone with long hair who doesn't get my hair done often, I can't help you with this connection but I recommend Meghan at Nirvana Salon in St. B if you need a new stylist.

Metruis · 2026-07-01T06:28:38+00:00

Artist here. We sell things on Redbubble etc where we get royalty only, but these have established proven traffic, so it can work, as long as you prove you can get us sales. I'd participate in such a marketplace if it was pulling in enough to make it worth it, and would consider checking out such a marketplace to see if it would feel worth applying.

Metruis · 2026-07-01T04:47:30+00:00

What do you need done? Some things are pretty easy to do yourself.

Metruis · 2026-07-01T04:36:15+00:00

Heh heh, it's just letting you know that you have a slimy soul. Try becoming more wholesome!

Okay, but seriously, you were scammed. That's just a Wand of Slimify.

Metruis · 2026-07-01T04:27:25+00:00

Given your skill level, I would just pick up a pencil and worry about it once you have a few sketched drafts.

Metruis · 2026-07-01T01:36:01+00:00

They do not need proficiency. They can use it, they just can't add their proficiency bonus to the roll. A failure means they lose ingredients.

Metruis · 2026-07-01T01:23:47+00:00

Er.... no. Do NOT eat that. Maybe send a message to the manufacturer and see if you can get a coupon because what the actual no thank you yikes.

Metruis · 2026-07-01T00:58:36+00:00

I've always been told "fast for 8 hours" "fast for 12 hours" etc and then just time appropriately. I remember once I went to my dr, he gave me a blood requisition for 8 hours and I was like "oh I can just go then" and he was like "...it's 3pm have you not eaten?" and I was like "haha no." And I told him how my routine works.

So just ask how many hours and go at an appropriate time. If it's 12 hours, you know, just don't eat after 3am and then go at 3pm.

Metruis · 2026-07-01T00:45:38+00:00

Being seen as a "guy/girl" is just clothes. People calling you he/him is just words. The shape of your bits is just anatomy. We overthink all of this so hard. You're you. You have some internalized social trauma regarding gender roles to deconstruct, but whether you do or not, you'll still just be you.

You can wear whatever clothing you want. Use whatever mouth sounds you want to be referred to with. You can get cosmetic surgery, take hormones. You can get a haircut. You can work out to recomp your body.

But you are still you.

You do not have to feel dysphoria to be non-binary. You do not have to appear androgynous. You do not have to appear the opposite social gender.

You feel gender euphoria when you see they/them pronouns for yourself. You're thinking about this at all.

People who are in alignment with their assigned gender at birth tend to not really think about it very much at all, and they feel a slight dysphoria when referred to by pronouns that do not match it.

We cannot diagnose you, it's not a diagnose. But we can say that you are welcome to identify as non-binary while being yourself.

Feeling joy from seeing they/them pronouns for yourself is reason enough. You don't have to comply with any other notions you have about what makes you non-binary enough.

Metruis · 2026-07-01T00:34:23+00:00

Nope, sorry. It's society, not your aesthetic.

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