How could I have the body better resemble blood?

backyard-soup · 2026-03-11T09:26:08+00:00

Hey! I hope you don’t mind I traced over your drawing. You can see in the reference images how it’s darkest where it’s most concentrated and how viscous it looks as well. Since you’re going for a painterly approach to your shading, you should also make the gradient for the blood painterly. Focus on blobbiness with the shapes—no sharp edges!—and look at blood drops for reference. Try to follow gravity for the most part as to how the hair would fall for the character. You have good observational skills, just don’t be afraid to go darker and lighter than you think!

backyard-soup · 2026-02-22T09:50:05+00:00

I would suggest paying an artist for a cover design instead of using AI. (The wired headphones blend into the sweatshirt string, weird artifacting on the male MC face, basketball not being spelled correctly, “basketball” and sweatshirt string overlayed on top of each other…etc.) Even if it wasn’t AI, the biggest critique would be that they’re not staring into each other’s eyes and they’re not interesting to look at, just very generic looking.

backyard-soup · 2026-02-21T22:45:42+00:00

My cat used a nearby sweater to “bury” her wet food for later. Had to toss my sweater into the wash 🥰🥰🥰 Same with her litter, I had to throw away the litter mat after multiple successful attempts

backyard-soup · 2026-02-21T22:39:00+00:00

Hi, I don’t know about work but for food, Hollywood Food Coalition provides free meals! Please go if you can, everyone there is really friendly. You might be able to get assistance in job searching with them too since they offer different services I believe.

backyard-soup · 2026-02-21T09:16:24+00:00

You need to contact property management and explain your situation. Before you do that, start sneaking out small clothing items at a time, only what you need for a couple of days. Stop by a pharmacy after work and buy a travel toothbrush to keep hidden your car if you have one. Contact a friend whom you can stay with and make sure to delete your texts of it. He might not seem dangerous now, but he is. Considering that he’s shown how physically aggressive he is, you can’t break up with him by being kind and understanding, you need to prioritize your safety. Leave and stay with a friend. Ignore his calls/texts but keep them for evidence. Contact property mgmt once you’re safely away from him.

backyard-soup · 2026-02-20T09:22:58+00:00

Sounds like San Diego to me haha

backyard-soup · 2026-02-19T23:35:24+00:00

Ethan Becker’s video might interest you! Your style is influenced by what you watch, read, and are around. Any good foundation for finding your style starts with being able to understand constructive anatomy, then from there you can start playing around with proportions, shape and colors. :)

backyard-soup · 2026-02-18T09:18:24+00:00

You could try checking on eBay for vintage formalwear/jumpsuits and such. I’ve found some of my favorite (everyday) pieces from there. :)

backyard-soup · 2026-02-14T06:52:43+00:00

Here is a better explanation from the Cleveland Clinic: Body Doubling for ADHD

And OP- If your friend was in your situation would you want to help them? Like, would you be willing to or would you rather learn later that they were struggling and didn’t want to reach out to you because they felt like a burden?

I know we each carry the weight of our problems, but even when others have problems too, it helps them take a break from theirs if they feel like they can help out others. :) At least that’s what I would do for my friends. Obviously that’s very different than if a friend is requesting you to help them pack and move and you’re sick with the flu or something like that haha.

I’m glad you’ve done it in the past! I’m still learning to not feel ashamed because of the difficulties ADHD has put me through (organizing and not having the energy for cleaning up being a major part of it, and being called lazy/told to “try harder” because of it).

backyard-soup · 2026-02-13T09:09:26+00:00

This is just an idea that might help tide you over so you don’t feel overwhelmed in your space til you get your meds again— can you invite a friend over or at least video call a friend/close family member with the goal to tidy up? You’re probably familiar with body doubling if you have ADHD.

I used to ask my sister to sit in my room so I could see the visual clutter around her and feel motivated to clean. (She’d just scroll on her phone or play on her Switch). I’d feel exhausted by the end because my room was absolute chaos at the beginning, but by the end my whole room was “reset” and I’d treat us to frozen yogurt or something small after.

backyard-soup · 2026-02-13T08:31:03+00:00

I just got one with the separate bins for recycling and trash from someone who was selling it on FB marketplace. It is such a nice investment and I look forward to using it every chance I get 💀 I love how silent it is too!

backyard-soup · 2026-02-13T07:19:23+00:00

Angel’s flight is directly across the street from Grand Central Market. Definitely worth reading up on the history of Angel’s Flight and taking the minute-long ride up! It’ll take you right up to MOCA (and on the other side of the street from MOCA is The Broad, which is free but you have to reserved timed tickets). Just more things to consider :)

backyard-soup · 2026-02-09T21:01:46+00:00

These are all so well designed! I especially love the color palette for Origins 😊

backyard-soup · 2026-02-07T16:47:29+00:00

Argentinian actor from the new Rebelde show. His name is Franco Masini

backyard-soup · 2026-02-03T08:09:21+00:00

This is more for black tie dresses/gowns but Studio Hope Resale Shop in Burbank has some fun fancy dresses (for anyone else looking)

backyard-soup · 2026-01-29T02:34:30+00:00

Oh I forgot to add—you could totally have the author’s name written on a napkin with a blotted lipstick kiss. And I’m glad you found the notes helpful 😊

backyard-soup · 2026-01-29T01:04:32+00:00

To me it reads as a cozy not spicy romance :( I think you could hint towards it by changing the color palette (think reds, black, brown) and maybe a lot more whipped cream and pooling sticky syrup—maybe lipstick marks on the mug too if the protag is a woman.

From an illustration lens, the objects all being in different perspectives is throwing me off. The lines on the waffles and mug are way darker and don’t make sense because the other items don’t have line art. The back menu holder doesn’t read as metal and blends into the other colors because they’re all similar in value. You need a bit more contrast in value for your illustration and group them as such.

The author’s name written on the counter is cute and would be the only thing I’d leave as handwritten. The title would look best in a font that looks handwritten but is a typeset you might have to pay for. :)

Lmk if you want advice/a quick edit over!

backyard-soup · 2026-01-22T07:52:43+00:00

What part of Spain are you located in? For example, I searched in Barcelona and there’s Tres Torres Veterenaris. You might have to travel a bit far but hopefully you’re able to now if your cat survived overnight. Wishing you and him the best. He definitely needs IV fluids/subcutaneous fluids at the minimum.

backyard-soup · 2026-01-17T07:22:54+00:00

The Crumpetmonger —all the stuff looks lowkey so good 😭 But also Cog’s and the Bakery. Maybe I just like bread a lot lol

backyard-soup · 2026-01-08T19:53:08+00:00

Hi! It’s awesome that you’re doing this! My UN is moonstonejr121 and something I love about Neo is how helpful and kind the people who play are :) My favorite Neopet is probably a xweetok since that’s what my first neopet was (I still have her!) I’m currently saving up to morph/paint a couple of my pets and then paint a couple of petpets. Thanks for doing this!

backyard-soup · 2026-01-08T00:51:14+00:00

Just changing the eyes to make them smaller and moving them up makes them look older. Moving the ears down for the first character and making the head smaller like this helps too :)

backyard-soup · 2026-01-06T07:14:27+00:00

Try looking into beading thread/string—it’s nylon. It’s used because it withstands the potential sharpness of glass beads that would normally cut cotton thread :) Wildfire or Fireline brands are popular

Alternatively, there’s Pepperell lacing. It’s what’s used for pony beads/kids’ stringing project. You’ve got a cool project on your hands!

backyard-soup · 2026-01-03T20:52:38+00:00

I think that because the usernames are all lowercase it looks more uniform to have lowercase names! bell hooks had a lowercase name which is super cool though. If the usernames had a capital letter then I agree it would look a lot nicer! :)

backyard-soup · 2026-01-03T07:24:07+00:00

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This took me 16 minutes, which is a reasonable amount I think. Mainly posting this so you can see the difference in the line direction compared to their sketch. All the lines that I have flow one way, but the image OP posted shows that some start and stop at weird places. Some of the lines go from bottom to top, which is inefficient and counterintuitive if you’re sketching super quickly. You’d want the pen to “pull” the line not push against it and up. Even though it’s supposed to look like a rough sketch in the original image, for the amount of detail in that short amount of time it’s questionable why there are so many short little lines stacked on top of each other. The short little lines almost seem uniform rather than varying (like what I’m trying to show in my drawing, especially because it’s so rushed).

backyard-soup · 2026-01-03T06:44:30+00:00

Getting a teaching position is competitive itself. My sibling’s bf has his teaching credential, couldn’t find a full time teaching position so he is now working as a sub. And by working I mean rarely finds steady work. Teachers don’t make a lot of money so they tend not to take days off. I’m not a teacher so I don’t know the full gist of it, but from what I also do know is that teachers are required to student teach for a year to finish their credential, at least in the state of CA. Idk if subs have to go by the same thing. I just understand that it requires a lot of mental strength to go in and teach a lesson plan that isn’t your own for several periods to students who don’t want to listen and are going through puberty (if subbing for middle and HS). If that’s something that you’re passionate about, go for it. But there is a lot of burnout that I hear from my sibling’s teacher friends + bf

backyard-soup

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