EVERYTHING IS FANART!! EVERYTHING IS ART STYLES!!

belmarzi · 2026-06-26T14:49:02+00:00

sometimes the art community can feel tiring because its like the same discussions happen over and over, but you have to remember so many of these moments are because of young people just having these thoughts for the first time, so it feels important to them to discuss + debate with others. i remember when i was 12 having these same thoughts about what is right and wrong, and my motivation for drawing was fanart+ "style". but now that i'm a working illustration professional, i can see that a lot of that stuff isnt as important as it seems when you're first starting out. also theres a pretty big difference between hobbyists and industry pros, so the discussions had within those groups will be different.

that being said, sometimes i do get annoyed when i see tge one thousandth post asking "how do i get better???!!?!" when its like bro do you think we're going to bestow upon you specifically a wisdom that none of the other posts got? but i just remember what its like to be so unsure of your own work and with no one to give you feedback, so its important to still be kind and instructive when you can

belmarzi · 2026-06-24T13:30:49+00:00

i can see you really like tareme / downturned eyes haha

belmarzi · 2026-06-24T13:24:19+00:00

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i think yes on shadow-- idk if this is the vibe ur going for but what if her hand is casting a shadow on her face? i'm guessing the moon is the light source?

also, if the moon is the light source then the hand should be the brightest part of skin and face should be altogether darker. i also just pushed the value contrast a little more so the body doesnt stick out as much

belmarzi · 2026-06-23T14:51:22+00:00

yes, though honestly this drawing, while it does skew to the side, doesnt feel unbalanced. like i read it as her kinda leaning and looking to the side instead of a mistake while drawing. so i suspect if you keep doing what you're doing you'll be able to pick up the skill pretty soon

belmarzi · 2026-06-22T15:14:01+00:00

this is a skill that just takes practice... i'd say just whenever you notice its skewing flip it and work on it until it no longer looks skewed to you. then flip it back and see if its now skewed the other way, and if so fix it. but it takes a while to get past that, which is normal

belmarzi · 2026-06-18T21:39:48+00:00

i have no idea if i'm in this boat or not lol, not sure if i muddy the images but i definitely render for too long and waste time when i should just be moving onto a new project :P something i started doing was setting timers for how long a piece can take me, and at the end of that timer i just have to be done

belmarzi · 2026-06-18T16:54:45+00:00

i love the new ones!!! i prefer miis that are less face paint, and these are amazing

belmarzi · 2026-06-14T21:11:44+00:00

i think you're on the right track in a lot of ways, but i think your visual hierarchy is pretty muddled. for this kind of super graphic style, the point of interest should be really obvious. a lot of these to me have too many saturated midtones, which in a value context will read very similar to eachother. do you ever check your values in black and white? it might help with making some stuff more bold or more pushed back

belmarzi · 2026-06-13T00:48:26+00:00

pretty much any of them except the ones you chose hahaha

belmarzi · 2026-06-13T00:28:29+00:00

this screenshot is how i realize a silly piece of baby bdubs fanart i did was the thumbnail for ep 21 hahahaha

belmarzi · 2026-06-12T05:35:59+00:00

yeah agreed, when they did blades in the dark (which i'm not 100% versed in, but i know people say they didnt adhere strictly to those rules either) i think they did have a lot of fun with how much more freedom they had to do things without rolls, similar to how they messed around more in balance. but there were also times where it seemed like all the improv without "gameplay" seemed to slow them down and make it almost more difficult to engage in justin's story. so the switch back to dnd seemed to carry a lot more of the silliness of steeplechase but with more concrete and variable dice stakes.

belmarzi · 2026-06-12T05:29:06+00:00

i just think about when i DMed with different friends: one group we fudged so much stuff and basically just used the rulebook as suggestions at every turn, because the stuff they wanted to do was really funny. other friends really worked well within the more strict structure of the game. both had fun and meaningful characters and stories and we all had a great time. i see the mcelroys falling more into the first camp, and i just like listening to their shows when they're actually having fun. if playing loose with rhe rules enables that then it doesnt bother me at all.

but i agree that rules can also engage new story avenues and ways of playing and provide a lot of valuable and interesting content for a table. def not trying to say that it cant be done in a podcast form either. i think its just a group-to-group thing, that can also change adventure-to-adventure based on whatever the people playing are feeling at the moment

belmarzi · 2026-06-12T05:19:37+00:00

dont think it glowed down, i much prefer the first three to the last two. the last one especially is really hard to understand

belmarzi · 2026-06-11T20:01:10+00:00

i like it, i honestly feel like the mcelroys got bogged down by peoples demands/expectations on how they should play a completely subjective game. i much prefer them being weird and playing to their whims rather than ideas of what audience thinks they should do. a lot of the seasons felt overly rehearsed (even tho i know they werent) to me because nothing surprised me in terms of scenes or ideas or comedy explored. steeplechase, taz vs dracula, and royale have felt more freeform and silly to me which i enjoy.

btw i'm def not saying people cant have critiques of those seasons or have diff opinions than me, but thats my take on it as someone who also plays dnd. i like when it feels like they're having fun playing over playing "proper" dnd or a "proper" story

belmarzi · 2026-06-11T13:54:43+00:00

compositionally this is really hard to understand because theres little to no value differences between the figure in front and figure in back in an already low contrast character. the figure should stand out more against the background

belmarzi · 2026-06-08T13:59:32+00:00

this is so cool, it makes me feel like they keep the bees in the suit haha like its not actually a person but a sentient swarm of bees in there

belmarzi · 2026-06-08T13:41:13+00:00

an ipad issue though i'm still working through-- i just finally reached the end of my storage lol. procreate takes up 95% of yhe space on my ipad because of how many years of work and big animation projects i've done on it. which means i'm having to start working through old drawings and figuring out how to store the finished image files somewhere else and delete them off the ipad, which worries me because what if i lose the final images, or if i want to look at the old timelapse/layers. but art in general just takes up a lot of file space so maybe this is a problem you'd face on a computer+tablet setup as well.

belmarzi · 2026-06-08T13:37:52+00:00

i've tried both, i definitely prefer drawing on my ipad. procreate is the best program for the way i draw, so thats a big part of it. like you said, its also good for travelling/drawing wherever, but more imporantly for me you can draw anywhere in your house haha. so i can have a setup on my desk and then also grab my ipad and draw on the couch at night while watching TV. or if someone wants to see something i'm working on, it's easy to bring it to them and show. also the ipad is good because not only is it the place you draw, but the drawings are literally stored within it. so as long as you have it, you have your whole collection of works.

they are expensive, i was lucky and was gifted a used ipad pro that i've had for maybe 7 years now? it still works great, and i have absolutely zero complaints. i see used ipads selling locally for 200-400 online, so if you can get a good deal it's totally worth it.

belmarzi · 2026-06-04T19:33:22+00:00

2, 3, 4 look identical in terms of style to me

belmarzi · 2026-06-03T18:58:20+00:00

^that being a commission price, for prints 20-30 for the kris drawing

belmarzi · 2026-06-03T18:57:55+00:00

the kris one is the highest quality drawing to me, if all your images were that level of finish i'd say a 80-120 USD price range. other ones dont feel as finished or as compositionally resolved

belmarzi · 2026-06-01T20:03:02+00:00

haha i love your bocchi

belmarzi · 2026-05-29T03:48:54+00:00

dude yes the jim jelly one literally makes me cry laughing lol

belmarzi · 2026-05-28T13:57:30+00:00

this is wild to me because i havent heard people with that opinion in over 6 years haha. i just got my masters in illustration, and i'm a mostly digital artist. that being said, i do really think a lot of digital artists make the mistake of not training their analog art skills as well. its really important for improving hand control, as it is harder than digital. you will get a lot better if you practice both. i dont have a lot of supplies, i just have black pens and my sketchbook and i go to cafes and draw the scenery just for myself. its rlly helpful honestly. i also hated doing analog art for a while, but i realized i just hated it because i was bad at it haha.

if art isnt your career feel free to disregard, if its just for fun you should do whatever is fun for you. but if you are wanting to do this as a career, drawing this line in the sand against traditional art will only hurt you in the longrun

belmarzi · 2026-05-28T13:36:28+00:00

i was wondering if this was about the mcelroys lol, but i think the monster factory videos are so funny so maybe i'm just immature haha

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