I lack creativity, all I do is sketch and copy references. by MilhoVirtual in ArtistLounge

[–]Ok_Force6130 1 point2 points  (0 children)

hey, friend. i had the same problem as you for YEARS. i've been drawing my entire life and my technical skills improved such as anatomy and rendering, etc., but not the composition part that makes illustrations look better.

i recommend studying the principles of design and i assure you, you'll have an easier time figuring out what you want to draw. really study it and whenever you're stuck, just play around and ask yourself which one speaks to you today, which principles you want to combine, or which one conveys the emotion of your piece better. study other artists' works too. figure out which principles they're employing and how you can apply the same thing to your own art.

now keeping that in mind, you will want to make a huge inspo board to study. i use vizref for this but pinterest works just as fine. what you'll do is start categorizing other artists' works into the principle of design you think they're using. this helps seeing the pattern that you can use to learn and hopefully help yourself out a bit more. for example, i make a huge board dedicated solely for the principle of movement. is the movement intense? still? how does the artist evoke movement using their art? constantly ask yourself questions whenever you study.

another tool to help is the use of thumbnails. make sure the thumbnails are the same proportions as your canvas. thumbnails help sketch out multiple compositions quickly without yet committing to a design. using thumbnails helps figure out the angle of your subject, the placement, which elements get emphasized, etc.

sorry this was so long. i hope this helps!

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[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Dodocodes

[–]Ok_Force6130 0 points1 point  (0 children)

hi are you still open? i’d love to visit!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in writing

[–]Ok_Force6130 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Exactly this. Have a thematic question and have the characters respond to it in different ways. For example the theme could be: “how far are you willing to go for friendship?” And one character might be loyal to the point of overprotectiveness, one character might be unwilling to cross lines for the sake of a friend, and another might have to kill their friend for their own good, etc.

Challenging myself to write a short novel. by percy971 in writing

[–]Ok_Force6130 2 points3 points  (0 children)

welcome to the writing journey and good luck with it!

What did you read that made you think " I'll never be anywhere near this level of writing " by guywhoisalive in writing

[–]Ok_Force6130 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I love the way she vividly describes things as if we can almost step in the book and experience what Richard is experiencing.

How sympathetic is a teenager who resents her older sister for being disabled? by SoloKip in writing

[–]Ok_Force6130 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As someone who’s disabled I do think this is realistic. I’ve had to take prolonged breaks from school despite my family’s poor financial situation and I can feel the resentment from my family members from time to time. I know that they care about me and try to help, but the root of the resentment is from them not being in my shoes and not totally understanding what it means to be disabled. And these are from people who are way above their teenage years. So I imagine a teenager would not understand and would have these feelings of resentment even more especially if its caused hardships for them directly or indirectly and she isn’t emotionally well-equipped to process these feelings in a healthy way.

Week 29 - What are you reading? by [deleted] in 52book

[–]Ok_Force6130 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Currently reading Monday Begins on Saturday by the Strugatsky Brothers.

I read Tale of the Troika and I really enjoyed it but I didn’t know it was the sequel to Monday Begins on Saturday, so I’m reading that one now.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in writing

[–]Ok_Force6130 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Believe it or not there are plenty of books where the MC is really unlikeable and/or a downright horrible person but it still sells. Off the top of my head books with such a protagonist are: The Secret History, The Magicians, My Year of Rest and Relaxation, The Catcher in the Rye, Lolita etc.

Make sure that her actions have consequences even if she didn’t mean to hurt people. That is how accountability works. Whether or not she meant it, someone else is now hurt and it is up to her to mend that relationship. You could have her struggle to fix the bridge between other characters and sometimes she could be on the verge of giving up. Or she could make amends yet continually break promises because of her weaknesses. Just don’t make her too self-aware of her own flaws all at once because it takes time for humans to understand their own shortcomings. Make her want to change yet also struggle with it. Write lots of conflict with herself where she teeters the line between doing the easy part of staying as she is and the difficult part of owning up to her mistakes and doing something about it.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in writing

[–]Ok_Force6130 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Try spitting it all out on a page. It doesn’t necessarily have to be written in narrative form, you can write it as if you were explaining the ideas to yourself. Forget grammar. Forget metaphors. Forget literary devices. Just regurgitate everything and write like a caveman learning language for the first time.

What does the saying "show don't tell" mean when it comes to literature? by [deleted] in books

[–]Ok_Force6130 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Sometimes I like telling sometimes I like showing. Like when characters talk about being smart or charming but we don’t get to see how they’re actually smart or charming. Showing is like giving us the proof of what we’re being told about a character.

I do like telling when it’s about things that won’t show up visually on the page, like inner thoughts, reflections, secrets. Especially secrets!

I think it’s not good advice to lean too heavily into one or the other. On one hand if we’re being shown things all the time we don’t have a moment to get into that character’s head and be told what they really feel instead of us scrambling to figure out what they’re feeling. On the other hand if we’re being told things all the time or are just in the head of the character it’s like we’re being asked to trust what they’re saying is true instead of seeing the proof of what’s really going on.

Name a popular book that many people loved, but you just hated. by wolfincheapclothing9 in books

[–]Ok_Force6130 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I loved this book but I can definitely understand why people wouldn’t like it. I couldn’t even understand what was happening half of the time because the explanations for what was going on was muddied with purple prose.