August 2023

Hihi! Are your commissions still closed?

they are! i’m dealing with a lot of stuff in my life at the moment and can’t take on that much more 🥲

i’ve been thinking of officially opening a waitlist on tumblr though and contacting people once i’m done with my current commitments and am in a better place mentally, since i know that some have been waiting for my commissions to open again for a few months and are worried about having missed my announcement. i might do that once i figure out how exactly i want to implement google forms into the process, and then post about it here on tumblr.

hiii I'm normally too shy to send asks, but I just wanted to let you know that I've been scrolling through your art posts for thirty minutes now, just gasping in absolute awe

everything you draw is seriously incredible and I'm so fascinated by your use of color!! it's truly inspiring

have a good day/night!!

ahh that’s so nice to hear, thank you for taking time out of your day to send me this ask 🥹

Forever in awe of the way you draw the folds in clothing and clothing in general, your art is incredible!

thank you so much!! 🫶

HOW do you draw such good feet? Please share your secrets

a) thank you b) my only secret here is using references. sure, looking up and studying the anatomy helps very much, as does the fact that i’ve been drawing for eight billion years, but you need to actually know what something looks like before you draw it, especially a body part that’s rather complicated-looking. so i observe stuff in real life and look at photo references (most of which i take myself). and when i don’t, it’s because i’ve studied and drawn that particular angle/position from references and real life enough times that i now can do it on the fly 🫡 honestly applies to many things i draw

your poses are always so cool and natural and convey so much emotion

so glad to hear that! 💜💜💜 conveying emotion through posing is honestly one of the most important things for me when it comes to drawing. thank you!

There's something iver noticed about your Artstyle and the way you color and do lighting. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it almost looks like you're going for the "visible paint strokes" style, but in digital art instead of traditional?

If so, that's such an amazing way to portray texture and depth in an otherwise 100% 2D plane! I love it a lot ❤️

ah thank you! yes, that’s pretty much exactly what i do. now that i’m thinking about it, it’s funny how i arrived at this art style despite the fact that prior to switching from traditional to digital art around a decade ago, i was never a fan of opaque mediums like oils and acrylics (though i did have experience painting with them). it was watercolors only for me 😂 but yeah, i absolutely employ the same techniques in digital art that i would with opaque paints.

I wasn't the original person who submitted the ask about how to improve at art, but I read your advice post. I realised that most of the art that really speaks to me conveys emotion through movement/gesture or facial expressions, with supplementations through light and colour and it's not something I ever really thought about before in a conscious way. So thank you for that post, it's definitely changed my perspective on some things!

i am extremely happy to hear that that post was helpful to you! honestly speaking sometimes i’m unsure whether my rather meandering and very much not hands-on explanations are even useful, so receiving this ask made me feel much better about the practicality of my advice 😂 i’m glad it helped you realize what you like most about art and i hope it will also help decide what to work on next! thank you for messaging me 💜

I said it before but you're such an art inspiration... your anatomy, your colors, your expressions, your composition, EVERYTHING is so well-made, and you have such tenderness in your drawings. I love them and I'm blessed that you like the same ship i do ;o;

thank you!! glad to be delivering some tenderness for the ship you’re into! 💜

ah i think im a bit late to this but happy birthday!!! ive been following you for i think about close to 2 ish year now i think and i love your art style a ton! hope you had/have a wonderful day<3

hi, thank you!! i feel like i need to explain myself, my birthday was two months ago actually, i just keep queueing the cats i received/have been receiving as a result of my birthday request for cat pics 😂 it makes it seem as if it’s constantly my birthday but no, my followers are just super kind and have been sending me tons of cats. thank you so much for messaging me and following my art for so long! 💜

Hi!! I really admire your work, and really enjoy the way you render. I was wondering what brushes you use when rendering and in what program. I’m trying to do master studies of all my favorite artists but I can’t seem to accurately replicate the textures and blending with the brushes I have in Photoshop.

hi, thank you! 💜 you can find a link to my brushes in my pinned post, but unfortunately i can’t help you with ps brushes because i do my rendering entirely in paint tool sai.

hi! love your art, especially how expressive it is! i actually had a question about tattoo tickets. I've been meaning to get a white pearl tattooed to signify shadowgast, dunamancy.etc., and I really love how you have rendered the pearls in this piece -> https://www.tumblr.com/zmeess/724213136101638144/for-how-much-caleb-has-changed-essek-sometimes-i?source=share

I wanted to ask, do you allow tattoos of your art, or inspired by it? Is there a tattoo ticket that can be purchased if so? No worries if you don't, just thought I'll shoot my shot! Thank you for sharing your art and hope you have a nice day!

hi hi!

you actually taught me what a tattoo ticket is with this ask, totally not a thing that exists where i live (i wish it were though). i am not against some of my art being used for tattoos in theory, and i’ve been commissioned for tattoo designs in the past, but i don’t know the legalities behind the process of creating a tattoo ticket for an existing work of art, and the issue of coordinating derivative work and monetary compensation thereof is a little bit too much to research and organize at this point in time for me. i’m sorry i can’t accommodate your request right now! i’m really happy to know though that you like my art enough to consider making it a permanent part of your body. 🥺 thank you for asking!

hello! your work is SO lovely and i’ve adored it for ages, i’m a costume design student and the way you draw clothing and fabric is both utterly gorgeous and super inspiring as i try and learn more skills in that area. i had a question! i saw your and io’s essek exchange (essexchange. esschange) and i was wondering if you are comfortable with people drawing your essek outfits (if you are credited, of course)? like i mentioned your designs are such an inspiration and i’d love to draw them in my style but i also completely understand if that’s something you would rather not be imitated, you put lots of effort into those and they’re very unique and cool. either way i figured i would ask! if no, that’s totally fine, if yes, then expect art sometime early august once artfight slows down lol. hope you’re having a lovely day!

hi!!

thank you very much, it’s so heart-warming to know that my outfits are good enough to inspire people to want to depict them too 🥺 to answer your question, i would prefer to be asked on a case-by-case basis in DMs and such before people draw/cosplay any of the outfits in my art, for multiple reasons. don’t hesitate to shoot me a message, i’m absolutely terrible at replying swiftly but i am not inherently opposed to the idea and i will not shun anyone for asking. thank you for taking the time to inquire about permission first!