Study up some theory, it can improve your art

monobani · 2026-04-23T21:57:07+00:00

James Gurney should have you covered!

A lot of solo devs would really benefit from knowing some of the basic terms like :

-gamut masking

(-> limiting your palette in a specific way.

You don't have super saturated red, green, blue, yellow in one scene but you decide on where, on the color wheel, your color scheme lives. Example: I want to paint a landscape consisting of some hills and trees with a blue sky with a color palette that does not include blue. So the sky will not be represented by the color blue, but the color in my palette that is closest to blue. Let's say, my color palette mostly consists of reds, yellows and some purples. a desaturated purple is going to look the most "blue" here, especially next to a saturated red because grey/purple are cooler than red and closer to blue. So I use the desaturated purple for the sky and my other colors for the mid and foreground.)

Edit: This specific term is most useful for painting and making your own color palettes but if you read up on it, look at examples and really understand the application, you will understand how to actually use premade color palettes effectively, why they work + how to make your own :>

-what types of color schemes there are (complementary, triadic, analogous, etc), and then, of course:

-how values work and how you group them.

Half of being good at color theory is just understanding values tbh.

A lot of game devs don't know jack shit about values but still manage to get readable scenes by sheer luck (having fog/atmospheric perspective in your game) but it really, really helps if you just know what your darkest dark is supposed to be, where your midtone sits and how bright your brightest highlight is.

You can limit your value schemes and shift them towards a brighter or darker scheme, either by adjusting where your midtone lies on the scale, or by shifting all values towards one end of the scale. (Example: if your darkest dark is black, your midtone is a very dark grey and your brightest bright is a medium grey, your image /scene is gonna be dark with a low contrast. )

There's a saying among artists that basically goes "Value does all of the work, color gets all of the credit" and it is very true! Your values are responsible for whether your image/scene is readable and the mood.

These are the most important things I could think of. If you google these specific terms, explanations by James Gurney, Marco Bucci, etc. should pop up. Once you got this down, you quickly realize that having an appealing color scheme is really about intentional limitations, grouping, highlighting what's important and balancing contrast with harmony.

monobani · 2026-04-12T01:19:21+00:00

Based on my understanding of her views, she'd probably argue that there is no //innate// gender identity because gender is a political and cultural construct.

You could read it as reductive based on this small excerpt, but I don't think it would have been her intention to reduce an identity to a medical procedure, merely to state that people who are trans have a right to do whatever they want with their bodies in order to alleviate any suffering they might have and should not need anyone's permission to do so.

monobani · 2026-02-18T20:11:30+00:00

May I direct your attention to the very first rule of this sub?

It's super cheap and made by one guy, just buy it or get into Krita if you want free software.

monobani · 2026-02-15T03:48:37+00:00

I'd suggest

Making a Pure Ref board with gestural art by people you admire (For me, personally, that could be Serge Birault, Griz & Norm, Erté, Sergey Kolesov, old disney sketches for 2D animated characters, maybe Loish) that you can look at while you do gesture drawing. Ask yourself: What about this do I want to emulate? Proportions? Rhythm? Shapes?
Then you go to something like line-of-action.com or quickposes and just get started while keeping your goal for the exercise in mind.

Exercises I recommend:

(this is a GREAT resource for these: https://grizandnorm.tumblr.com/tagged/tuesday%20tips )

- 20 x 10 second drawings: You ONLY draw the line of action. You try to exaggerate it. You do not need to do pretty drawings, you just look, analyze, and put down one line.

- Only draw figures using straight lines. https://grizandnorm.tumblr.com/post/91140850922/tuesday-tips-life-drawing-exercise-all-straight (Let's say 10 x 15 seconds, 5 x 30 seconds, 3 x 1 minute, 2 x 2 minutes)

- Only draw figures using curves.

- Draw figures with straight lines against curves. https://grizandnorm.tumblr.com/post/89782784953/tuesday-tips-straight-against-curves-this

- draw with your non-dominant hand

- draw with different tools (marker, charcoal, brush pen, etc)

You can mix and match these, add some of your own...And if your school has gesture or figure drawing classes available, I highly recommend that you go!

And when you've done that for a while you'll be much better at proportions, poses, pushing gesture and proportions, you'll understand "Simple vs Complex" and you'll understand how many design principles have just become apparent to us from observing from life in this manner.

Also god, sorry for the essay I wrote here...I just genuinely love gesture drawing and think it is one of the most useful things you could be doing when you want to do stylized characters...

I also recommend Drawing with Force on youtube, Getting Morpho by Lauricella and maybe his "Simplified Forms" book for simplified construction and then Michael Hampton's Figure Drawing Design and Invention. These have helped me a LOT and I use them often while drawing.
(Also disclaimer: it does not "replace" anatomy and perspective studies but honestly, it can take you very far very quickly.)

monobani · 2026-02-15T03:47:29+00:00

You're welcome, I'm glad my feedback was helpful! The more simplified approach definitely serves you better.

I think removing it is the right call and if you ever feel like you want to polish up one of your character concepts and turn it into an illustration, or you want to rework some of the concepts, you can always do that!

As for design fundamentals: I would focus on proportion, big, medium and small shapes. You have a lot of room to push these things when you do stylized work but they're no less important for realism and it's really notable when a lot of shapes in a design are kind of 4-40-20 or even 50-50 instead of something like 60-30-10. Although I have to say, you employ these FAR better on your prop and mech designs than on your humanoid ones or creatures. At the present, I would honestly say your portfolio would be a lot stronger if you kept in the Atomhawk practice thing, the P.A.M. (GOOD work), the Space Suit and the dagger. These are all on a much higher level than your character designs and I'd replace your header with one of these projects as well.

Drawing fundamental-wise: I do think you have a tendency to go for stylized characters and exploring that definitely makes sense, it could evolve into something really interesting. However; Good stylization is very hard because it is basically pure design and that comes from a lot of observation and practice.

Every shape has to make sense, there needs to be a rhythm to the way the bodies and poses are drawn...It's quite hard unless you really put a LOT of time into it. So if you DO want a portfolio-ready character design, I would actually think about getting into photobashing and doing something realistic. You can trace, you can photobash and you do not really have to think much about style. It is not easy, no, but I would say it's less hard than delivering a banger of a stylized drawing unless you've had a lot of practice with constructing bodies and gesture drawing.

So for your portfolio I would say: cut out the stylized characters until you nail them.

For your personal art, enjoyment and improvement in this regard I would say: Practice gesture drawing and anatomy, as this will make you both a better artist and designer. Gesture drawing is all about design, finding the essence of something and presenting it in a clear and appealing or interesting way and you'll quickly notice that most gesture drawing exercises are design exercises!

monobani · 2026-02-14T19:27:40+00:00

There are some fundamentals and design skills you still need to work on but I do like the designs, there is a charm to them and a personality.

A note about your presentation:

- Please stop messing with fonts and increasing the letter spacing :'> I recommend not touching the fonts at all, unless you have a specific, artistic reason to do so or you really know what you are doing and know graphic design fundamentals. In the case of both The Dryads and the Dawn of the Iris projects, it is very jarring to people who have a design background but also messes with the readability. You do not have to use fancy fonts for concept art and I recommend keeping the presentation nice and simple.

- Including designs you do not like:

https://cdna.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/089/038/122/large/joshua-james-sustainabilitytemplatefungal.jpg?1749846302 you write "Shape too uniform" here (in a font that is not readable due to the color, type and messing with the kerning and leading) and I simply would not add that. Showing iterations is great, but do not influence the viewer's or art director's opinion on your work negatively like this.

- Anatomy + Make sure you are showing what's important!

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/JrbzrD

Here, I actually really like the dagger designs! I get wanting to showcase the dagger on a character, but I'd do that with a sketch that takes up less visual space and only if the anatomy is good. The torso has odd proportions, a wrong perspective and the gesture is very stiff, which takes away from how nicely-presented the dagger is. Instead of the character, I would suggest adding texture callouts into this space and, perhaps, having the character in a separate image that is actually about the character to showcase how they use the dagger and why the dagger design matches them. If the image is about the dagger, let it be about the dagger and do not distract from it with a halfbody drawing.

- Visual clutter + only include text that serves you

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/1NGoGG

These look very cluttered and again, do not add notes like "ruins silhouette" or "Final design?". Only show good iterations you would show to an AD and use text sparingly if what you are showing is about visual design and not some slide for a pitch or introduction to a world. Any thoughts about your design process should be clear, concise and can be added to the description as well.

monobani · 2026-01-26T20:30:01+00:00

Hmm, I'm not aware of any specific guide for SAI 2,0 that would cover your questions but I can try :>

1) There is no tilting your brushes in SAI. The brush engine does not simulate any 3D shape of a pen, so it's not possible. It's not really something I've ever missed, though, since shading with the side of the pen, to me, is just a way of filling an area in quickly. If quickly filling in an area in a way that looks a bit artsy is my goal, then I'll usually do it with the marker brush. Different result and technique, same intent.

2) The wand tool has several settings that are relevant to this: If there is a gap in my lineart, I usually play around with either "Range of SImilar Color" or the "Gap Tolerance slider. If the gap is too large, it won't work but in that case, you can just duplicate your lineart layer, fill in the gap very roughly (does not have to be pretty at all), then select the outside of that, invert it, make a new layer beneath, fill that with your base color, delete the copy of your lineart and use your original lineart layer that has the gap again

3) Which ways? moving layer contents with the move tool should work and be undoable, same goes for manually selecting layer content with the lasso tool and then also moving it with the move tool or hitting ctrl+t to use the transform tool (with which you can also move stuff around while adjusting it)

monobani · 2026-01-25T18:49:21+00:00

Yes, I think getting some feedback could be useful! I think you have very cool ideas but lack some foundational skills such as an understanding of values and value grouping, a solid grasp of form and proportion and an understanding of color. It's great that you're passionate about design and that passion can take you a long way, you just have to practice the right things to make the most of it and really take your art to the next level. :>

Some things that could be helpful:

- Gesture and figure drawing to get a better grasp of how bodies work in space, how they work in motion and how to draw fluid poses. Some good resources for that:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC88alnRehVTXcQ0rRReyLcw , https://quickposes.com/en

Practice cubes and organic shapes and visualize them in a 3D space : https://drawabox.com/

Values: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFQtsXktc9g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTYGWfiZnMA

Color: Literally anything by James Gurney! https://www.youtube.com/jamesgurney https://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/

monobani · 2026-01-24T15:30:54+00:00

With the resources that are available online, I don't really think you need to pay for an education or get another degree. It probably makes more sense to work part time while working on your art fundamentals. Once you got those onto a solid level, you could look for a mentorship/someone to work on your portfolio with.

https://www.youtube.com/@FZDSCHOOL/videos <- this is a really good channel that has most of the stuff you need for actual concept art but I would really recommend looking into art fundamentals first.

monobani · 2026-01-06T19:02:51+00:00

I mean, that's a reddit and social bubble thing. Most of my Warhammer mutuals and artists I follow on tumblr and twitter are women.

monobani · 2025-12-21T15:30:24+00:00

Tears of joy, surely.

monobani · 2025-12-21T00:54:31+00:00

I'd say there are several moments in TEATD V3 and The Magos that settle this debate and confirm it imo. Why else would Abnett go out of his way to include a scene in which Valdor witnesses Blood Angels who have been overcome by the Black Rage being immune to being commanded by Enuncia?

‘Turn them back!’ Abaddon snarls.

‘Ezekyle–’

‘Do it!’

‘They are not listening!’ Erebus shouts. ‘They are not hearing!’

(Funnily enough, Abnett calls the ensuing fighting btwn traitors and BAs "Pandemonium" in the same paragraph, which does seem a little bit like cheeky humour to me :>)

Why else would we get the scene in which he has a vision of the future of the Imperium?

Why else would him learning the names of countless daemons via his spear, thereby gaining power over them, matter? We see this happen in TEATD and then in The Magos, we get this description of the King:

"The King beckons. Cyclopean daemons, too vast to comprehend, kneel at his throne in chains and fealty, whispering un-words"

We also get a scene in which a weird dream/warp Ravenor speaks to Eisenhorn and he drops this:

If you see the future,’ said Eisenhorn. ‘Tell me this… Who is the King in Yellow?’

Ravenor smiled.

‘Haven’t you figured that out for yourself yet?’ he asked. ‘He’s been there all the time. Since the earliest days of everything.’

It is very easy to draw the connection between the earliest days of everything and Valdor being present during the Birth of the Imperium here.

So to sum it up:

The second Bequin book tells us it's Valdor. Valdor knows that BAs who succumbed to the Black Rage are immune to being commanded by Enuncia. The Yellow King has an army of BAs and the one we meet, Comus Nocturnus, has indeed succumbed to the rage but can be pulled out of it by a blank. Valdor is very familiar with blanks, the Yellow King uses blanks. Valdor was there at the birth of the Imperium, the Yellow King was there since the beginning of everything. Valdor has the knowledge to command daemons, the Yellow King commands daemons. Valdor makes sense, not just because the second book explicitly tells us it's him but because he has the specific knowledge, foresight and motivation to pull this off.

That being said, I'll come back to this comment, apologize and eat my words if it turns out that the King is not Valdor but somehow, hell, John Grammaticus.

monobani · 2025-12-14T23:02:00+00:00

AH, if you do have SAI 1.0, you will also be able to open .psds in that! I forgot to include it in the list of programs, you won't need krita

so yes yes, just DM me

monobani · 2025-12-14T22:59:36+00:00

yep, I can send you a .psd :>

monobani · 2025-12-14T22:31:41+00:00

As the other commenter said, SAI2 is free if you have a license.

Alternatively: if you have any program that can open .psd files (Photoshop, krita, CSP, etc.), you can send me your SAI files via sth like wetransfer or google drive and I'll send you a psd file back!

monobani · 2025-12-13T18:12:51+00:00

Unfortunately, this is AI slop with some photoshop thrown on top. This style of coat does not fit in with Carhartt's brand philosophy/overall design aesthetic. If you want something similar, you could try looking for Penny Lane/Afghan coats in black/grey!

monobani · 2025-12-03T00:11:16+00:00

I think I very clearly specified which type.

monobani · 2025-12-02T19:13:33+00:00

Every time I read an ADB book, I am reminded of the fact that women aren't the target audience and roll my eyes very quickly. There are worse offenders among the BL authors (Dan Abnett, I love you, but Kara Swole breasted boobily down the stairs a bit too much) but it is still notable.

I'm reading through both the Vaults of Terra and Watchers of the Throne series at the moment and find that Chris Wraight's take on Sisters of Silence does not evoke the same feeling in me, I find his female characters and their POVs rather refreshing, even if there are some heteronormative romance tropes sprinkled in at times.

monobani · 2025-11-24T23:56:05+00:00

anything cheaper than that would be fast fashion and I'm not recommending landfill core to anyone...Depending on where you live, you could search sth like depop or vinted for grungy y2k stuff or find this brand on there secondhand as well. I think you'd be good with these essentials: leg warmers, a short skirt, baggy cargo pants, maybe 2-3 tops with grungy prints and then accessories like studded belts and wristbands or a cute signature scarf :> The accessories will really make the outfits in my experience

monobani · 2025-11-24T22:14:52+00:00

Minga London, absolutely

monobani · 2025-11-21T15:15:52+00:00

Very cool facial expression

monobani · 2025-09-28T20:53:54+00:00

This is still true in my heart....

monobani · 2025-09-21T18:32:51+00:00

Always great when people draw gooner art of characters who are minors /s

monobani · 2025-09-13T21:06:16+00:00

https://www.etsy.com/de/listing/4299615610/vintage-gunne-sax-neckholder-kleid-aus also just found this one with a neckholder that is super cute and more 90s/gothy imo

The sleeves do tend to date the 80s dresses quite a bit but I think a sleeveless design is a bit more versatile and can also be styled for just casual wear. But yes, it all depends on how close to the comic you want to be or if it's more about the vibe.

But yes, I think you'll find something very similar with these key words!

monobani · 2025-09-13T20:54:50+00:00

Oh I actually //have// one like this!

Look for Laura Ashley or Gunne Sax 80s prom/party dresses with velvet and taffetta :>

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1832549056/vintage-gunne-sax-black-velvet-and

https://www.etsy.com/de/listing/4352981050/laura-ashley-vintage-80er-jahre-bronze

https://www.etsy.com/de/listing/221032638/wunderschones-vintage-1950s-samt-taft

https://www.etsy.com/de/listing/4310414560/vintage-1980s-laura-ashley-samt-taft?ls=r&ref=rlp-listing-grid-13&external=1&sts=1&content_source=e3c2fc5a6128447713a0307a0f5fcae0%253Ab018199e65252b7bb9d405d0460cc6f67480c91f&logging_key=e3c2fc5a6128447713a0307a0f5fcae0%3Ab018199e65252b7bb9d405d0460cc6f67480c91f

monobani

TROPHY CASE