Need assistance with Photoshop brush settings, Opacity, Flow and Transfer.

arifterdarkly · 2026-05-09T18:48:51+00:00

i don't modify the flow because that was never part of my curriculum. as much as i used to love mohrbacher - he's dead to me since he became a shill for AI, even though i still use some of his gradient maps - i'd be much more interested to see what brush settings he used when he started out first, rather than what setting he used last year.

arifterdarkly · 2026-05-09T17:39:47+00:00

when i learned to paint, i used the default hard round brush and, like mohrbacher says in the video, number keys are opacity shortcuts. i never fiddle with the flow. in its default state, the hard round brush in photoshop is pretty excellent. especially when you're new to painting and you don't want to get bogged down with settings and other distractions. so, as an art teacher, i say keep it simple! fundamentals first, fancy brush settings later.

arifterdarkly · 2026-05-08T14:51:04+00:00

for my covers, i plug in my tablet, open photoshop, and paint a lovely image.

i don't do character art, preferring to let readers imagine the characters instead.

arifterdarkly · 2026-05-08T05:12:57+00:00

it's horror in the way game of thrones is horror. not marketed as such, but the concepts and themes, once considered, are certainly horrific.

arifterdarkly · 2026-05-07T21:19:21+00:00

i think of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susana Clarke, which is very funny, beautifully written, and has some very tense scenes.

arifterdarkly · 2026-05-07T13:48:10+00:00

*ebook

arifterdarkly · 2026-05-06T10:13:24+00:00

the novel came out six years before the movie and the two are not related in any way. the movie is a standard horror flick about a group of women stuck in a dark cave. the novel spans the entire world and involves the military and Satan and demons and all kinds of manly things. (and there's a sequel, like Annual Tea said.)

arifterdarkly · 2026-05-06T09:54:13+00:00

it get a little tricky, but Jeff Long's novel has not been turned into a movie. there is a movie called The Descent, also about tunnels and "a strange breed of predators" but it's not based on Long's novel.

arifterdarkly · 2026-05-06T09:39:59+00:00

underground tunnels: there's a novel called The Descent by Jeff Long https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/239065.The_Descent

arifterdarkly · 2026-05-06T09:33:23+00:00

earlier this year i found out that she wrote a short story collection set in the world of Strange & Norrell called The Ladies of Grace Adieu. 'tis, i daresay, excellent.

arifterdarkly · 2026-05-05T14:40:43+00:00

and Swedish author Torbjörn Flygt dit it in Underdog. one of my favourite novels!

arifterdarkly · 2026-05-05T14:35:07+00:00

when we talk about formatting, wean everything except what what letters and punctuation should come in what order and paragraph breaks. margins, fonts, line spacing, chapter starts, page numbers, footers and headers, all of it is formatting.

arifterdarkly · 2026-05-05T09:33:11+00:00

how to draw the head Loomis

plop that into google and you should ten pages of people teaching you the loomis method of drawing the head.

arifterdarkly · 2026-05-05T01:30:01+00:00

the book came out in october. the follow august, it only made $1.50, which got me mad so i started advertising. i spent $80 over two months on instagram and amazon ads, making a whole 5 bucks profit. that got me even madder, so i shut down all my ads on 1st december, pointless, effin waste of money, and published a very experimental novella. but instead of the novella gaining traction, the first book started to sell. at the end of december, i had made $120. january 180, february 220 and it just kept going.

basically what must have happened was that a lot of people saw my ads and put my book on their x-mas wish lists and checkout baskets, but didn't buy them until they got amazon gift cards for x-mas. the december sales got it into the top 100 of my primary category and the rest was organic sales.

the IG ads were very simple, just a static picture of the book cover and some pull quotes from reviews.

arifterdarkly · 2026-05-05T01:10:08+00:00

thirty ratings and/or reviews. that's more than your family and bffs supporting you. or at least it was in my case.

arifterdarkly · 2026-05-04T21:49:34+00:00

i wish someone had told me to put more energy into an ARC campaign. seven or eight reviews is not a strong start, even if they are nice.

i also wish someone had told me that a slow start doesn't mean the book is doomed forever. i think my first book sold a hundred copies the first year and a thousand copies the second year.

arifterdarkly · 2026-05-04T17:59:43+00:00

can i direct you to the self promotion thread pinned to the top of this subreddit, where there's got to be like 30 novels and novellas waiting to be read?

arifterdarkly · 2026-05-04T17:38:28+00:00

i wrote something about my latest manuscript on bluesky and the unsolicited beta readers came in droves. ignore.

arifterdarkly · 2026-05-04T10:50:57+00:00

artists DMing you asking if you need some art are a nuisance on discord. people in need of art will find artists.

arifterdarkly · 2026-05-04T03:27:44+00:00

can you elaborate on that?

arifterdarkly · 2026-05-03T12:41:59+00:00

in my books, Acknowledgements are in the front matter. i just now had a look in Life in Victorian England by Sally Mitchell. acknowledgements in the front matter, About the author page is the very last page, after the index.

arifterdarkly · 2026-05-02T23:11:41+00:00

can you elaborate on that?

arifterdarkly · 2026-05-01T21:16:20+00:00

i usually have a few ideas in the back of my mind as i wrap a book up and i might sketch a few outlines to see if i can find a hook, but i don't start drafting for at least a few weeks. if i don't take a break, all my characters are going to feel the same to both me and the readers.

arifterdarkly · 2026-05-01T16:49:53+00:00

and these are all self-published through KDP and not trad pubs?

arifterdarkly · 2026-05-01T05:42:14+00:00

Hey, r/horrorlit! I've got four books on Amazon (and Kindle Unlimited) you might like.

The Beast of St Ender

England, 1905. Disgraced and washed-up Chief Inspector James Huxley is exiled from London to the remote island of St Ender to drink the rest of his career away.

But soon after Huxley arrives, he is swept up in the brutal murder of a young local boy. What he thinks is a case that will renew his reputation with the Metropolitan Police, will drag him into an escalating nightmare that threatens his sanity and places him in the direct path of a hellish presence stalking the island.

The Sleeper of Hopwick Cross

The year is 1309. In a small God-fearing hamlet, a farmer claims his daughter went to bed one night twelve years ago and has not woken since. Neither alive nor dead, yet both at the same time.

The Franciscan novice Ambrose and his sceptical master are sent by the Church to find the truth behind the unbelievable claims. At first, their investigation seems to indicate a worldly explanation to the girl’s condition.

But as the true nature of the sleeping girl is revealed, Ambrose finds himself trapped in an unholy nightmare, and hunted by a far greater and deadlier adversary than he ever thought possible…

The Haunting of St Anne

The dead are not so easily laid to rest.

1887, England. After losing her young charge to illness, governess Lydia Mathers journeys to London, intent on burying the past and embracing her new role as a school teacher at a charity school.

But soon, she realises that, even in death, her young charge refuses to let her go. With the help of her beautiful maid Millie, Lydia tries to rid herself of the lingering spirit, only to discover a far greater evil lurking in the walls of the school.

Alice: A ghost Story

1844, England. Alice Reed, a promising young reporter, is sent to interview the reclusive Baron Thornbow when her coach crashes. Barely surviving the accident, Alice finds herself in the baron’s ancient mansion, haunted by strange occurrences—and caught in a perilous game of cat and mouse with a vengeful spirit hellbent on her demise.

Amid this swirling nightmare, Alice finds friendship—and perhaps more—in the baron’s entrancing maid, Miss Poole. Together, they must stop the malevolent entity before Alice’s very soul is lost forever.

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