Background tip: if you don’t like drawing backgrounds, try pretending that you’re making a house in the sims or something fun like that. Include things about the world to exaggerate something/to reward people who are paying really close attention. Have you seen how many crosses were around in like the 1300s? Also try looking at pretty things with in the same genre. I like playing assassins creed 2 and getting inspired from those type of games because they’re *so* pretty!
@@bella_daze3092 yeah it does take a while to translate words to art, I’m pretty lucky in that I think I have pretty good spatial awareness naturally but it’s certainly a skill that has to be refined for everyone trying to draw scenes
@@Qwertyuiop1095_ Assassins creed mentioned!! Ac is my hyperfixiation and I like to draw the houses and some landscapes from the game to train how to draw backgrounds
the word balloons being too empty, too tight, or shrink wrapped can actually be a good thing if you're using those as emotive techniques. Too empty makes the character feels quiet and shrinking away, too tight makes them feel loud and obnoxious, and shrink wrapped makes them feel tense and anxious.
@@vaporean_boylove.0w083 yeah, that's the thing with art. It's all about intent. Are you drawing the character assymetrical in anatomy because thats their design or because you don't know how to draw it yet? Are you making the speech bubbles wrapped around the text to make it feel cluttered and anxious or because you don't know how to space them yet? Intent is important and it can elevate or sabotage an otherwise amazing piece of media
The self-deprecating section is SO necessary. When people do it, they're putting the other person in a position to either a.) argue and assure them their art is Good Actually or b.) agree and come off as a tool no matter how they spin it. When you're the one in the self-deprecating position, no compliment feels sincere and any criticism feels like a personal attack. It's a lose-lose interaction. I used to self-deprecate on impulse until I ended up having to placate someone else so I wouldn't risk hurting their feelings one too many times. There's ways to be humble without putting yourself down in the process!
@@5TR3TCH3Z It’s really funny because since taking my Creative Writing classes, I’m used to people agreeing with me when I self-deprecate about a piece of my writing. They agree and give me proper criticism/advice to accompany it. I never see anyone as a tool if they present their thoughts in that way.
i've found that if someone has that attitude it's best to not treat it as an actual argument or opinion but an emotion. logical "that's not true/i don't know why you'd say that" or vice versa responses don't work because insecurity can't be deconstructed logically. something like "i don't get that impression of you but i've had that feeling about myself as well before so i get it" can work wonders in just acknowledging it and moving on without needing to corner yourself into reinforcing the content of their opinion. of course immediately it comes more naturally to try and express your discomfort in how they're expressing that insecurity but it's a more kinder perspective to assume we've all probably felt that way about showing our own works to other people at some point even if we didn't say it out of respect to not spoil the mood or depreciate the art, they just might not be as ready to confront that for themselves yet.
One thing that helps me stop self deprecating is I think “Would past me think this is cool?” Even if the art isn’t perfect by any means, me from 3 years ago would usually be impressed. Try to impress the you that just started drawing.
Huh. That's actually really good advice! Younger me woulda been fuckin STOKED to see the kinda things I can draw today and that honestly kinda makes me feel a little better about my art. This one's for you, little me! Thanks for the advice, mate. This surprisingly helped a lot
@@CorruptedAmbrose ME TOO?? I had a fall a few years back which broke my teeth and split my lip , It never healed properly but I never thought about it as a flesh fang its actually cute to think about it this way ! I feel less alone knowing someone has the same kind of scar as me ahah
10:51 YES. Usually when i draw animal-like characters, their ears expand from where the human ears grow to the top of their head. It's functional and not annoying because it's only two of them
I also do this. I try to get the ears to properly connect where the previous human ones were. Unless it's just not working like horse ears! Helps mix the two anatomies.
@@hamstersandwich9917 Last time I checked human’s don’t have animal ears so I don’t think we should be concerned in regards to the size of them for realism 😅
I don’t think people don’t wanna draw backgrounds because it’s not fun. I’m sure that’s the reason for many, but personally I was always (still am to some extent) scared to draw environments because of the intrinsic fear that it will drag down the rest of the piece. You can have the most interesting characters known to man but I often fear that a bad background will ruin the entire thing. If you feel the same way, I urge you: draw BAD backgrounds! Draw bad environments! Keep doing it until you find the fun in it! I used to hate making collages, but I forced myself to do it for art school purposes, and after a while I really started to enjoy it! Do the same with backgrounds, you’ll get there
A piece of advice I saw a while ago was, "treat your backgrounds like you do your characters." This didn't immediately make me want to draw more backgrounds, but it sure helped me recognize their importance. Now when I draw them, it comes super easy to me! I won't ever forget this advice.
I kind of had the reverse problem growing up where I love drawing environments but was afraid of drawing people cuz I thought they'd look bad. I got over it but man I really was drawing more landscapes than character design that weren't monsters I swear
I think a healthy habit to stop self deprecating is to try to point out AT LEAST one part of a new thing you made that you liked and are proud of It’s not so much that it makes you egotistical, but it helps you remember that you are more skilled and creative than you think Also, remember to be proud that you even are creating! Making art is hard, no matter the medium or practice. Be proud that you made something, no matter the end result
Honestly, some societies have created this RIDICULOUS, flattened, oversimplified idea of what makes you egotistical. _PRAISE YOUR OWN ART!!!!!_ Because ultimately, what matters isn't praising your art this little and bashing it this much. What matters is that you're looking at your own work through a critical lens, and looking at it in a pros-and-cons kind of way. The pros are something you can try to do next time too, and the cons are things you can try to adjust or make up for in the future, through trial-and-error.
The human/animal ears! 😂 I made a ninja turtle OC when I was 13 who was a wolf shifter. She had wolf ears and human ears. BUT I did that on purpose. She was mutated with the goal of having pure mutant shifters with no outward animal characteristics. She was one of the only partly successful ones, but she still had wolf eyes, ears, fangs, claws, and a tail. The human ears were also deaf 😅 This affected her later when I did the obligatory ninja turtle fanfic thing of having them figure out a way to appear human. She ended up being incredibly hard of hearing once her wolf ears got hidden since her human ears were deaf. TLDR: I did the cursed four ears thing but for a reason 😂
Arknights also has an explanation, because almost all of the playable characters are mutated from regular humans. They would be normal humans if not for the virus and mutations that ravages their bodies, so it makes sense why those with animal ears have human ears too. I can defend RWBY too a bit because it seemed like the fanus were just alternate races of human with no difference between them aside from their animal traits even though there was never an explanation given. 😅
Yeah, the issue with ears bugs me as well, but I also understand the conflict there. If a character only has animal ears and then we get a shot of where their human ears would be and there's just nothing, it can be kinda' jarring, hence why most characters done in this way usually have that spot covered by their hair at all times. That said however, if we did characters like that more often, then we'd get used to it and it wouldn't be so jarring to see them without the human ears. Also, screw flesh-fang. It's weird.
That's why you make the animal ears anatomically correct by extending the bases to the earholes in the middle of the head. Don't wanna do that? Do the 4 ears. I think it looks okay personally
@bleh329 Yeah, but removing features doesn't look as acceptable to my brain as adding them. That's why I don't like the "no human ears" kinda approach. If you remove the human ears, why have the animal ones just awkwardly sit on the top? If you remove the human ears, just extend the animal ones down and ta-dah! No empty sides and no human ears. Everyone wins, no?
@bleh329 I'd have to see it to figure out if I like that idea of extending the hairline or not. And as for "having 4 ears with no explanation" I feel like that kinda thing is also applicable to having animal ears just sit on top of the head. That also doesn't make much sense. Why would they be there, if not because the ear canals on the sides were occupied? It doesn't really matter. It's a matter of taste in the end. I just personally feel having no ears on the sides whatsoever looks kinda weird, considering most mammals don't look like that.
yeah, although i do like when some shows actually make that a part of the character's narrative (but rarely are since most are kemonomimi beings that exist in that world). The whole my disguise magic isn't as strong/I'm inexperienced. Needs more stable "mana" (yet bro your like 99% there - although i do give a pass if there true form leans more toward antho since they would need more power. of course only works if they eventually gets there as character growth.
There are also instances where, rather than having the animal ears on the top of their head, will instead have long, fury ears where the human ears would be. A kind of hybrid.
When I read this, I thought that “flesh fang” meant literal gorey teeth that that are made of flesh. Then I googled it and it’s a lot more wholesome than I thought
On the topic of no noses, I think it really depends on the art style. Sometimes, those little lines or dots for noses can work DEPENDING ON THE ART STYLE. In the anime screenshot you showed, yeah, it just did not fit at all. It would fit more for a more simplified art style imo. Then again, I would sometimes just prefer there to be no nose depending on how simple the art style is. The dot/super small line nose just removes the focus from the expressive eyes. Those triangle noses would’ve also been a bit better, since they aren’t so simplistic and tiny and are just. There I guess. Gosh I hope this made sense. Also, flesh fangs. I like them occasionally. Key word is occasionally. In the right context, it can make the character look cute or mischievous. Other times, it looks very, very weird. If it’s a constant thing, like the character is drawn to have them all the time(even if the setting isn’t a fantasy or whatever)I’ll come to be okay with it. If the character has fangs but the artist doesn’t want to show it all the time(since fangs=scary ig), it can make the character seem a bit cute. If a random character suddenly gets a flesh fang for no reason, it can be a bit distracting. If it’s to show the character’s mischievousness, I’ll be more or less okay with it, even though I think there are much better ways to show that with the mouth than a flesh fang imo. Other than that, I don’t like when it shows up xD it seems out of place and like the artist doesn’t really know what they’re doing. Also, it should never, NEVER, be drawn alongside actual teeth. I hate that haha. Also also, animal ears+human ears. Oh my goodness. The only time I’ve been okay with this is when the animal ears have been like. Added on as a magical mishap or genetic mutation that added it on. If they’re born with both(like most of the time ugh)it’s not great. I want to know WHY there is both, but there is no explanation other than the artist thought it would be weird for no human ears to be there. There are many solutions to this, such as making the animal ears connect to where the human ears would be(but still having them on top of the head), having the animal ears BE where the human ears would be, or just covering up where the human ears would be with hair or something.
Yes, but the fact people use it to avoid drawing noses (even though noses are real easy to do) in styles that *REALLY SHOULD HAVE AT LEAST A LITTLE BIT OF NOSE DETAIL* is what annoys me (particularly when the characters have detailed noses *when looking at them from any profile view* 🙂🙃🙂
Yea I was watching that part like "but that's my artstyle..." I could draw noses but with how I've designed my characters, they don't look right. I don't really care much about drawing noses in the first place anyway. Why? No idea, just don't care for it I've compensated for this (for my nonwhite OCs in particular) by giving them other ethnic features, usually textured hair for their respective ethnicities. My black/biracial OCs all have some sort of high volume curly/wavy look to their hair to convey that they are of color. I've also started learning how to properly color their hands since POC tend to have less melanin around their hands, and making this more prominent the darker their skin is, and depending on their specific ethnicity
Finally someone who is on my side with flesh fang! I have an OC with it and I think it works because she’s a mutant, and a very nonhuman looking one at that. (MHA oc, looks about as human as Mina Ashido)
The last one point about self deprecation I can really relate to, especialy as someone who is trying to learn at at 22 (albe it out of love for art, the process of making it and out of pure spite for AI art), and I think alot of it comes down to (for me atleast) is that we can tell when something we make is "good" and "bad" unlike kids who cant tell so we worry about what others will think or hold ourself to an imposebel standard so early on, as if it matters at the end of the day if you just keep going, but we do it none the less becasue we are human. On the other hand Felsh-fangs are pure nightmare fule which need to be destroyed in my honest opinion.
I have a really bad problem with self-deprecation. My theory is ... My teachers in school, college, and uni always found/find multiple things wrong with my work or need improvement without fail. I know constructive criticism is part of their job as teachers, but it constantly makes me feel super insecure. & Whenever I try to come up with a story idea for a comic, I always find myself taking too much from other stuff I've seen or heard of. Then I find & get hooked on a series that feals so original & new to me onlly to think, "omg this feals so fresh and original, why can't I think of something like that".
I know how you feel. I often think my art could be so much better, that so many others can draw stuff so much easier than I can. That they do it so much faster than I can. But, despite that I want to keep going, to get better. Even if I'm not going as fast as I would want, I'm still getting better. One thing to remember about your 'art journey' is that it isn't a race, it's not about who can get to the end first, it's about the *journey* and you should enjoy it, at your own pace. Also, I to sometimes use the power of pure spite towards Ai. Spite is a powerful motivator, but don't let it be the driving factor.
My doge, I'm pushing 40 and started actively drawing last year. I went through the "this sucks, but it's mine" phase, and I think it's something everyone goes through. You be confident in what you make n_n
@@tatugasshow6047 The tools of "ai art" have been used to steal from artists to create poor imitations of their work. The people behind those image generators don't help much with their focus on making money at people's expense, making bold claims of "We'll replace artists, this is the future!" and etc.
I worry that self-depreciating artist set poor examples for up and coming artist. Someone might love a person's art, see that they are trash talking the final results, and think to themselves "If this person who I look up to doesn't think their own art is good, why should I think my own art is good?" It honestly feels like I have culture shock sometimes whenever I see someone say good things about their artwork.
The last point is SO true. I have been drawing, like, wanting to improve on my art, since I was really REALLY young, like 5-6 years old or something like that, and I was growing and improving in a much healthier time when art wasn't just a competition to be won. Now, my little brother is beginning to show passion for art as well, but since we have a large gap in age, he doesn't think he's good enough because he can't draw to the level I can yet. He's only 6, the age I started drawing as well, and it's so sad to see him look at his art and say he hates it.
While I definitely do think Social media has made the issue worse, I feel like that kind of doubt and comparison has been around for a long long time. Growing up, my sister and I didn't have a lot of access to tech, and social media like we know it today just wasn't there yet. Similarly, I started drawing in very very early elementary school, then REALLY started applying myself in highschool and college with the help of classes, independent practice and study. My sister, who is 7 years younger than me and never took an interest in drawing until she was in middleschool, decided she wanted to learn how to draw. After only maybe 6 months (and no classes) she gave up because at 13 years old she couldn't draw as well as I could at 20. Unfortunately I do think its more of a sibling/close comparison issue as its not uncommon to see the younger sibling give up on music due to a musically inclined older sibling, or for them to avoid sports/a particular sport because their older sibling is good at it and they don't feel like they measure to that standard. But still... we artists got to be kind to ourselves in our learning periods.
The same thing has happened with my younger brother. He's turning 10 soon and has been drawing since he was 5. He's pretty good for his age, but he compares his drawings to mine, which aren't even that good since I took a 2 year break, but still I've been doing art for much longer than he has. I tell him all the time that he's a good artist and not to compare his art to mine
30:42 wtf I started crying 😭😭 As a beginner artist, it’s hard not to compare myself to people who are better. But looking back at my old drawings compared to my new ones makes me confident I will do just fine. I’m gonna continue to grow my garden.
Undertale's prologue is on the good side of length. A bit lengthy, but thankfully it is immediately useful by Flowey's action (on a surface level), because we know exactly why they do what they do later
Well... yeah. Because that game's prologue was done RIGHT. Prologues can be a great tool for a story as long as they expose you to the STORY, not the LORE. Prologues, like any part of a story, should push the story forward... not dump info on you!
Flesh fang can actually be a good character design trait for more monster-like/inhuman characters, but I’ve never seen them on characters that look human and I gotta agree with you, that makes me wildly uncomfortable 😭
I agree with you on the nose thing. I hate when the nose is just a microscopic speck. I don’t need something super complex, I’m even fine when the nose is basically just a line. Just do anything more than just a tiny speck
duuude noses are so important! I think the reason a lot of studios go for the dot noses is because if u draw the nose even slightly off it can make it look like your character is looking in the wrong direction and it can be a very fickle thing to tackle when you have such a large cast of caracters (like on love live).
YES! Backgrounds are so fun to draw. I didn’t like to draw them too much as a baby artist, but I did them anyways. And nowadays, I’m really enjoying backgrounds, and it’s slowly turning into me enjoying perspective and want to actually improve at backgrounds. And heading your reaffirm that further inspires to keep doing backgrounds in my works :)
Shows relying on outside material to give context to the show was one of the bigger issues with RWBY. They made a whole separate show to explain things, which is a weird thing to do when the first few seasons are set in a school and it could be brought up naturally in that setting.
I mean, maybe but I appreciate the effort to avoid any forced exposition. Plus, said school is a university where the basics have been long covered in classes they took years before.
Also they cancelled that side series because the writers kept breaking the lore they already set up and didn’t want to hear about breaking the lore anymore 😅
@@riotkitty Um... not sure when you last saw it but said lore being "broken" was based on legends and myths. The kind that were always subject to chance in universe. It would help if you supported your argument better.
@@matt0044 the lore breaks were about the kingdoms. Vacuo, Mistral, and Atlas all had contradictions and breaks in the way they were portrayed in the show, comics, and books versus World of Remnant. There are some myths but it should remain accurate as the character narrating World of Remnant should know the accurate information, so it wouldn’t make sense for him to lie or misinform the viewer or go ‘just a myth’ cause he would know it isn’t like with the Maidens.
The self deprecation point is exactly why I firmly believe that young artists should NOT post any of their art online for their first years and should focus on having fun and making art that makes them happy. Build your foundation of art on love for your own art. Personally, I recommend that young artists should keep their art private during their first years for several reasons. The first is that many young artists are simply not ready for criticism so they should focus on making art that they are absolutely proud of until they are ready and open to it. The second is that they will subconsciously develop their own art style because they will draw what they believe looks good increasing its uniqueness. The third is self motivation. Many young artists give up because they don’t get likes or feel like they are even seen ;however, that is not a healthy relationship to have with art. By building one’s foundation of art from love of their own art in private, they become their self sufficient well of admiration and joy which builds self esteem. This will encourage them to seek self improvement which will increase the quality of art and the cycle continues.
I am so glad you talked about Bad Ink studios! They are amazing and give so many helpful tips. I also appreciate the tips about giving enough information and not over/under doing it. I look back on my first chapter that I just did and already see some things I can make clearer. I don't plan on redoing those first pages for a long time, but if I do, I know what to do now. Thanks for the tips!
11:22 I wanna say a little fun fact about flesh fangs: I have crooked teeth and my fangs are placed a bit higher and closer to the lips compared to other teeth, which shows up when i smile creating a similar effect to a "flesh fang" 😅 personally for me, it looks fine unless they open their mouth or have a wide smile cuz with a wide smile lips stretch and reveal all the teeth INCLUDING fangs!
As someone who's been starting a (literally hand drawn with pencil and paper) comic, this was very helpful! Thank you! Also, I do agree, loooong lore drops at the start are not only very frustrating, but can detract from what you're writing as well. Sometimes, not knowing everything at the start is the perfect way to add whatever emotions and feelings you want, and to have people more eager to explore the world building and plot as everything goes on. I could also say about other things, but this comment is getting long.
only reason i defend flesh fang: only on non-human characters does it look cool (tho i think flesh fang is cute). i have a demon jester named Zimi who has a flesh fang mouth and actual sharp teeth underneath, and when she goes full demon mode, the flesh fangs get turned into actual full demon teeth kinda like a demon skull. basically put, her flesh fangs have a bigger purpose if she's full demon mode
I agree!! I draw dragons a LOT and often use "flesh fangs" for them (I didn't even know that's what they're called 😭). I think it looks normal on them.
yeah I think it works best on non human characters, especially if it's mythical. I kinda see it as a smaller version of the zig zag mouth: just a weird shaped creature skull
@@randomperson-kx6mv same here with drawing 'flesh fangs' on dragons. personally i think of them as simplified shorthands for things like bony or keratin protrusions around the mouth, or sometimes just weird scale/skin structures (look up renders of Glavernus from Monster Hunter, that's more or less what i imagine unsimplified flesh fangs as.) i guess it looks weird on humans/humanoids because there's a lot more leeway and freedom with the facial structure of fictional creatures? or maybe its the skin textures, like you wouldn't expect someone with regular human skin to have spiky protrusions over the mouth and therefore your brain's gonna be a bit weirded out by it, but it's a lot more believable with scaly/spiky animal characters? just spitballing here tbh
It could be normal thing for some non-human races, even as just a feature. But your take on it is interesting... And I'm incredibly curious to hear more... Does full demon mode have impact on idle form or demon mode form is coming from the base form? Is there some pattern of changes? If "soft" version gets injury, will it affect demon mode form? Does hair become sharp whips or needles? Do you have any comics or something?
18:39 *insert image of the dragon prince breaking up the main couple off screen in a comic between seasons right after they finally got together and never explaining it*
26:25 “Since that day, I’ve been worried I’d been wandering the night, but I had forgotten that this is a world upon which the sun does rise. For that alone, I’m much better off than I was.” This is a line from Berserk, one of my favorite stories ever told. Guts has suffered so much tragedy, but in SPITE of all of it, in SPITE of the world he was born into, he finds hope. He has people he cares for, people who care for him. No matter the darkness that surrounds him, he sees light, he sees a faint glimmer of hope. It may be a long journey for him to see it, and an even longer one for that hope to be realized, but its been a beautiful journey and I hope it continues to be.
@bleh329when it comes to styles, you can give your character hands or noses or whatever if you want. Art isn't linear. When I used to draw, I didn't care about improving, I just wanted to make my cute cat people. I agree with you, but let ppl live art is subjective /lh
@bleh329 I mean if you want to, then absolutely. However I think the issue is the assumption that everyone DOES want to. Not everyone’s like me who wants to turn my art into a career (or at least a source of income). Some people ARE just doing it as a fun hobby.
@Unknownnw I mean it's not like they're held at gunpoint? I doubt people would click on a video on how to fix various writing and art quirks if they don't atleast have a willingness to improve
Completely agree with you on the point about backgrounds! I used to avoid drawing them like the plague in my own art because I didn't understand how to give them depth and because I balked at the effort needed to repeat various intricate textures across an entire scene; but some years ago now I needed to do one for a certain picture that I wanted to make. And instead of agonising over it, I just threw myself into it, giving myself the reasoning that I could make it super-stylised so then it wouldn't 'matter' if it didn't look good or didn't have the level of detail it needed. And I found I didn't hate the end result. So from there I just started to put a bit more effort into backgrounds. Think about them a bit more. And, to my surprise, discovered that I can actually enjoy the process! They're still not my favourite thing to work on, and some of my attempts are still misses; but these days I'm happy to do them when needed (to the point of sometimes getting a bit *too* carried away with them!), and it's really benefited my artwork in general ^^ I love your simile about art being like a garden, too! I've never been at that point of giving up on art, because for the longest time I never expected to make anything of it, it was just a hobby and so it didn't 'need' to be good; but I definitely still had a "80% of what I draw is garbage and I want people to be forewarned of that" phase for a time, and that is an absolutely fantastic way to look at it. Thanks for another great video!
I think my favorite series that handles tragedy well is Your Turn to Die. It's such good writing, art, and character design and growth. The situation is grim with a bunch of people from all walks of life being forced into a game where they could be killed at any moment but it's not hopeless. The characters build each other up, the trauma of seeing allies die actually affects the characters and they are talked about a lot even after death. The game is just incredible and I will always sing its praise because it's inspiring in so many ways
I don't mind flesh fang if it isn't a constant part of the design or if the overall art style is abstract or stylized. if the character sometimes abstracts as a chibi chaos gremlin its fine! Same face syndrome is definitely a bit of a big pet peeve, but mostly if a cast is intended to be large and diverse.
Thank you for putting into words why I couldn't quite get into The Walking Dead despite everyone telling me how good it was. I hadn't thought about it in a while (basically, since season 3 first aired or something like that) so I might've realized this if I put a little more thought into the series and why it didn't really vibe with me. The self-deprecating bit made me like the video. "Art is like a garden" is amazing advice and the "dead flowers" becoming fertilizer for the next generation of plants is such an amazing, inspiring visual, I can't thank you enough. I'll be honest in that I had all but given up on drawing as a form of creative expression, opting more for a written medium. Perhaps I'll pick up a colored pencil sometime soon.
9:55 The reason why characters with animal ears almost always have human ears too, is because humans without human ears look uncanny, if the place of the ears isn't covered by hair. they look kinda like people without noses, as you have said before. My assumption is, that Star is so frustrated by fleshfangs, because as an experienced artist, she is used to analyzing small details of the designs of characters, while the sole purpose of this design elemet, is to create a little bit of sharpness, and a feeling of wildness, by also letting the character to stay cute, and not incorporating the menacing look of pointy teeth, that makes vampires scary for example. You are just not supposed to think about them so mutch, they are designed to influence you subconsciously. I completely agree with the loredumping part however. I for example love the One piece lore summary at the start of each episode, and I also love how in kill la kill we get to know 90% of the actual lore in the last quarter of the show.
Tokyo Mew Mew as mentioned fixes that though - the ears go all the way down to where the human ears should be. It's a little innacurate with cat ears (they do go a bit further down but not all the way to the cheeks) but it keeps the silhouette while filling that space.
One of my characters in FFXIV is a male Viera, he doesn't have human ears. So he has to have hair that hides his lack of human ears, the really short hairstyles just look bizarre on him.
Tbh the human ears annoy me too, but I think its mostly because a lot of these characters have hair that would disguise their supposed human ears anyway? Maybe if I've seen more bald people with them. 😂
When I was first getting into posting art online in the early 2010's self-deprecation was THE ADDITUDE to have among the artists I saw on Deviantart, so I adopted that mindset because I thought that was how I was supposed to look at myself and my art. It ended up causing life-long self-esteem issues for me and made me quit art for a long time. I'm currently getting back into art and trying so hard to break that mindset that festered in me for so long. The garden metaphor was so beautiful and inspiring, and one I'm going to keep with me. :'3
I like your points, I can relate to a lot of the criticisms of writing and story telling. On the Topic of grief, if you haven’t watched it already, I suggest reading the manga as there’s more detail that the anime either misses or changes up weirdly, but Bleach is a story I find that deals with grief, and other topics, in a realistic light. Well as realistic as Soul Reapers go. Tire Kubo has a more show and less tell when it comes the story. Simple things like rain have a symbolic tone to the main character and how he feels in terms of guilt and perhaps even elements of depression and slowly but not completely overcoming it as the story continues. It’s one of the more realistic and down to earth Shonens you’ll come across.
I also hate the four ears thing. Whenever I design a character with animal ears I try to make the ears come up from where their human ears would be. It looks much better and less weird. 😅
I've seen creatures with 4-6 ears, but one type (charr from Guild Wars). Having two or more different pairs of ears could be excused if character is failed experiment or other abomination and this issue is adressed in the story. I also love the meme with catgirl wearing human-ear headband
Oh my god THANK YOU I HATE the four ears thing. I think the reason for it is that people get scared to remove the human ears for fear that it looks weird or that they don't think their characters' hair is enough to cover it. But I think even if there's no hair or not enough it still looks FINE. I think what people fail to do is consider the anatomy. Here is a tip that I do when drawing animal ears on a human head. Start the animal ear at the top or middle of where the human ear would go, then end the animal ear at eye level of the top of the head. This is how I've always done my ears and it looks fine. It makes them big and they make sense with the anatomy. Hell you can even start the animal ear at the BOTTOM of where the human ear would go. There's a tutorial by Fireflufferz on furaffinity that shows it and basically encapsulates what I'm talking about. I'd link it but every time I do my comment dies. This is also why I feel like the movie Cats got a lot of flack among other things, but I think if they had taken the anatomy into account it might have made a difference in how weird it looked.
What a beautiful message at the end. My creative drive is back and ROLLING BABY. I will be wipping out new content for myself. Thank you! Just earned yourself a brand new subscriber!! 😤
I really love the videos where Star shares her accumulated art and/or storytelling wisdom. It’s enthralling to listen to her talk about. The final part was wonderful, hearing the passion in Star’s voice (accompanied by that beautiful print), and as someone who struggles with self deprecation and confidence in my own drawing and writing, (and in general), this section made me really happy and I’m definitely going to rewatch it whenever I need to hear it again. :)
About The Walking Dead, your point is definitely valid! But I do believe you jumped off at the last season to have this problem. Without spoiling, two new characters come in here and the shoe from here on out has a goal, and that goal does come with hope. So, I'd say, watch season 3 and see how you feel afterwards. I've watched and without spoiling, we do get a happy ending(ish) Other shows/spinoff expands on the story and its awesome. Give the show a chance! I'd think you may like it.
Don't really blame her though because I also HATE, no I LOATHE, shows that drag on and on and take forever to actually get to the point and progress the series forward. This usually happens to me during the FIRST season, I couldn't imagine sitting through three whole seasons of that. The beginning of your show, specifically the pilot if it has one, is supposed to hook you in and establish a storyline and a goal for something if there's a conflict, but the Walking Dead fails to do that for three whole seasons, which drives people like this person away because the show takes to long to move the story forward. It's also why I myself couldn't get into the Walking Dead and why I hated whenever my parents would watch it because I couldn't stand watching the same recycled bullcrap for hours It doesn't help that I like watching more fast paced shows and movies and just hate slow paced things in general and it may or may not have to do with my ADHD, but don't quote me on that. It's also why I like Hazbin, even though it's kinda rushed because A24 screwed Viv over. I'd gladly take a rushed show over a dragged out show in my opinion
@@yanderegabby_18 Not gonna lie, I got kinda bored after the 4-5th season. I t got hard to watch almost hour long episodes where it felt like nothing was happening. Payoff was good but show was WAY too long.
The Walking Dead point is valid just no against TWD! i hate sad history's that make the world miserable just because Yes when Everything could be solve if the characters in the story have COMMON SENSE.
I used to be extremely self deprecating about my art. It was how everyone around me acted, and I thought that no one could judge me for being cocky or unaware of my flaws if I stated those flaws upfront The thing is… when I slowly challenged myself to hold back- just to let my art speak for itself- I started to feel better about it. It honestly didn’t change the way anyone interacted with me, aside from making it just more positive overall. I also think there’s a lot to be said about being kind to ourselves for the sake of others. Beginners or younger artists will pick up on the language of others, and when they see someone bashing a piece they find impressive (and see as better than their own work), that will be internalized.
10:02: i avoid thus by generally putting the animal ears where the human ears are usually located. It just looks better to me and i don't have to worry about the weird vacant space left if their ears are on top of their head...its especially helpful with short haired characters imo
Also I have a few characters with "flesh fang" but that's because their mouths are actually shaped like that LMAO. It's most common for my more reptilian characters. It was also inspired by undertale :3
Thank you for suggesting comics in your videos I may have already commented this last video but the point still stands Tales from Alderwood has genuinely one of my favorite comics and while I don’t always resonate with something I’ve been suggested it’s always great when I’m constantly getting to see new stories and even falling in love with some of them
Ive been having the worst art block and lack of motivation for drawing or anything related really and i think i needed to hear the advice at the end especially. This was such an amazing video and it realy helped a lot thank you ❤️❤️❤️
Dude I fucking LOVE flesh fangs. I adore that style. Maybe I’m just built wrong but I ADORE that character design. Mwah. Peak. I didn’t realize people hated it LMAO
@@somegoodsoup7008I don’t actually believe that, I always just say I might be built wrong when giving a potentially controversial opinion because it always goes over better, lmao
@@gluttonousmaximus9048both. If it’s not intended to be teeth, or to just be the very simplified version of teeth, then just removing it when the teeth are shown is generally a good idea. However I also just like the idea of actual flesh fangs too. It’s a weird gross concept in a big fan of
I feel like the thing about having four sets of ears can depend on the character. With high detail characters they look awkward without it since they look human enough. Characters who’s ears pop out on the top of their head usually have human ears already removing them look weird
I’m so glad I’m not the only one that loves and appreciates bigger and detailed noses in drawings and animations! They are a very underrated facial feature and it’s a shame that so many modern artists are going the route of just little black dots or shapes for noses. There’s so much you can do with a nose for a character. They can scrunch when a character closing their eyes tightly, they can flare when a character is sniffing something nice or gross, or they can do both a scrunch and flare when a character is going to sneeze. That’s why I always show my appreciation to artists, like yourself, that puts that extra time and effort into drawing noses. I have a friend that used to draw big and detailed noses on his characters, I thing I really liked, but then some people started telling him his noses were too big and weird on his characters and caved into doing the small black dots or shapes for noses. It made me sad to see that some artists are doing the small dots and shapes for noses not because it’s faster to do but because some people keep criticizing them for making noses “too big” in drawings. After all, there was a time when anime characters had uniquely shaped and detailed noses before the period of the dots and shapes method. But, again, I do appreciate that you take the time to make actual noses that are detailed and work for specific characters of yours.
how can you prefer a catgirl with smooth, empty skin on the side of their heads??? its uncanny!!!! and the animal ears are cuter on top of the head like the animal has, so i dont like them to grow from where human ears grow. 4 ear supremacy!!!! also im DYING at flesh fang
Dayum, was listening to this while working on my own stuff and I wasn't expecting the ending to this vid to be so sweet and encouraging. It's true though. I played around and drew terrible comics for years before getting into my current one, and my current one even started off bein' pretty rough around the edges. But you gotta endure and never give up, like you said! And the more you grow and believe in yourself, the less you find yourself self-deprecating too. :)
Congrats on the Skillshare sponsorship, Star! My biggest writing pet peeve is a character who has very toxic, self-destructive flaws but refuses to address them until the very last proverbial minute of their story. Think Steven (Steven Universe Future specifically; Steven was pretty solid for the original show and great in the movie) or She-Ra 2018 Catra. This kind of character can be done right, but they NEED the time to turn themselves around. You can’t just brush off their recovery in a fourth of their show’s narrative or the literal final episode of their series. From an artistic standpoint, it’s when too many characters have the same general color palette. Since Star’s already covered Hazbin, I figure I should offer my two cents on it. Vivienne is a good character designer, but she’s horrible at working with any palette that isn’t some combination of red, yellow, black, and white. If Vaggie still had her navy blue and gray palette from Zoophobia, I guarantee you she’d look a billion times better.
@bleh329 it's a weird balance for the creators to strike, especially when they probably knew their movie is gonna represent a wide part of colombian culture, do they aim but "realistic" or "idealist"? Its already a story of a family with superpowers, it is wrong to try to send a positive message? But on the other hand, you're right that its kinda unfair to irl people, a common crit of encanto is that the ending is too rushed, feels like the plot of 3 season TV show got shortened to 1 movie
Okay, but hear me out: Noses are simple, hard to draw without making the entire face look wonky. One mistake in the nose, and suddenly the *entire face* looks wrong. It's surprisingly difficult for newer artists to get it right. (Or maybe I just suck.) In many art styles, the implied nose isn't really distracting to most people, depending on the art style. It's a crutch, much like eye patches or hair covering the eyes.
About the 4 ear thingy, Istg it makes sense for my character I’M SO SORRY. but my character wasn’t born with them, it’s a mutation and it’s supposed to be perceived as disgusting and weird + she’s based on a bat, so she’s supposed to have inhumane hearing
As someone who's also been trying to diversify their character designs through introducin unique nose shapes and other features.... I do find myself still really liking the dot/shadow for full front-facing shots. Which are few and far between, but it really feels like it looks the best for that angle especially for characters with elements that are also occupying the mid-face (middle strand of hair, glasses, etc) because it gives everything else room to breathe. Then they turn their head slightly and the shape starts to assert itself again, with how much detail I put into it depending on the angle or general mood. But then I see people try to use the dot for a full 3/4 or even 4/5 looking away from the camera and it boggles the mind because then the only time they DO draw the nose is full or nearly full profile views.
that garden metaphor in the end is such a great way to put the learning experience with art. I’ll think about that if I ever say anything self deprecating.
I actually got a lot of my character creation inspiration from Miis. You can whip up really creative character looks with the mii maker, and translating that into your art style gets unique face shapes.
I've seen a video saying that the big sparkly eyes are actually why you use just a tiny nose. Since the eyes are a lot of focus and detail, so next to it you place the nose as low detail, or so
The last message was absolutely beautiful, iveb33n feeling really down about creating and sharing my art because of everything happening in the wolrd and AI but this really made me smile and tear up. Thank you SO SO much :)
9:59 I have a character who has both animal ears and human ears, however despite the animal ears being real, they don't work. Only her human ears work lol
You saying that hope is the vital component for enjoying a dark story makes complete sense to me, explanation point made a video a couple years back about that very subject
10:12 Dude, same!!!!!!!! This one of the few animes i have noticed that did this correctly when it came to animal ears. I never understood the 4 ear syndrom in anime!
About your comment on constant suffering in sad stories. I watched a video a while back about making sure your story isn't flat. Basically, your story won't be interesting if the entire thing is one emotion. If the story stays in one state. For example, if your story is happy the entire time and nothing goes wrong, that would be pretty boring, but if your story is extremely sad the whole time and nothing good happens, that would also be pretty boring. The person in the video said that stories should be like roller coasters, full of ups and downs rather than staying on one level, and that is something that I feel like is even more important in tragedies. The tragedy comes from the "what could have been" and "what almost was." When you see characters having a good time, fixing things that were broken, or when they are so close to happiness, and then it gets taken away. It's something I find really interesting, especially as a writer. You mentioned The Walking Dead, which is super funny because as soon as you mentioned the constant state of tragedy, I was like, yep, The Walking Dead. But I want to compare it to another zombie apocalypse story, one that exists in an arguably worse apocalypse than The Walking Dead, which is The Last of Us. I was talking about it with my friends, and one of them mentioned that the terrible thing about the Last of Us's apocalypse is that fact that it will only get worse the longer it goes on, the more the zombies mutate and adapt, and yet, it never feels quite as helpless. And I think one of the reasons for that is that we get a lot of slower, more character-focused moments where characters are allowed to just be humans. For example, despite how soul-crushing the second game is, we get little moments like Ellie and Joel going to the museum, which adds to the sadness because despite how sweet it is, we know how it ends. Similarly, the scene with Dina and Ellie on the farm with JJ seems like an ideal life, which is why it is so heartbreaking when Ellie leaves. The emotions we get from Ellie coming back to find the empty farmhouse wouldn't have hit nearly as hard if we hadn't seen the kind of life she could have lived there. I could go on and on about all the moments like this in the games, but I'll leave it there for now. (And I'm probably biased because I love The Last of Us, but I thought I would mention it anyway)
I actually like flesh fang, but I do sometimes see people who when they have a character with big eyelashes, they'll have some of the whites of the eyes go out into those eyelashes, and it always drives me nuts because it looks like their eyes are melting/leaking out and it's so weird to me, so I get it, hahaha.
Omg YES. It weirds me out sometimes… there are a few drawings I’ve seen where I actually like it (I think because the rest of the art style in that image fits with it) but a lot of the time, in my opinion anyway, it can look a bit odd. I do understand it’s a stylistic choice though.
I get the need for hope in stories, it helps me feel like there's a point of going through it. Thank you for the great video. Hope you have a great day or night.
9:20 I made it a plot point in my RWBY fic. Fic, Winter, and Weiss were both Fanus that had their bits cut off. Weiss was fine after regrowing her tail. Winter, however, couldn't get used to having four ears and talked in whispers throughout the fic. She even stated she had earplugs in all of them.
17:30 I think one of my favorite examples of this done well is the Dresden Files actually. The author does a great job of catching readers up on books they might not have read or reminders for people who are already familiar but may have forgotten. When characters from other books show up, the author does a fantastic job of reintroducing the character without feeling too long or lore-dumping. I actually started on the 7th book and didn't feel like I was missing any critical information.
I like intros where it shows action at the start and then cuts to a character being like "your probably wondering why this is happening so let's go back to where this all started" because it allows you the info out and by breaking the fouth wall, it conveys a laid back tone and sense of self awareness which me as a reader really enjoys because it intrigues me and puts me at ease.
27:18 I SCREAMEDDDDDD WHEN YOU SAID THIS!!! guys, i cannot fathom enough to PLEASE of all things holy to stop doing this!!! i did this when i was younger and it got me nowhere, if anything it hindered my process so much and was one of the leading causes on why i took an art hiatus (i think it lasted about 2-3 years). embrace your style, treat it like your baby!!! it’s OKAY TO LOVE YOUR OWN ART GUYS LOL (of course, not to a bragging extent but i feel like everyone here should get the point!!!)
A good sad story I found through RUclips just after really getting into BSD (bungo stray dogs( it’s a super god anime btw)) but on wattpad there’s a story between the characters Dazai and Chuuya called “a spring without you is coming” it’s amazing and has made me cry every time, it’s a slow-ish story but it just gets better and sadder the further you get in I REALLY recommend :3
Thank you star as some one who self doubts all the time I was really thinking on putting down my pen and move on from art your words speak volumes to me. funny my brother yesterday was trying to get me back on art thank you very much for your kind words may you have a awesome day
I've been an artist for four years and I've learned a lot of these things the hard way, but now I'm so much better at art and I don't say self deprecating stuff anymore, and it's awesome being able to experiment with new things and not judge myself harshly when it doesn't turn out right.
23:41 this is insanely based bro i genuinely can never get behind stories that are excessively sad and depressing just to be sad. I need to feel like something’s being actually worked towards that isn’t just delaying of the inevitable. I think also if theyre gonna go the route of stripping away the hope in MY PERSONAL OPINION it realllly needs to be done at just the right moment with the right amount of effort beforehand or else it either slips into being boring (not enough buildup and effort) or infuriating and frustrating (too MUCH buildup and effort.) I know some people like the trope of the good ending being stripped away at the very very last moment but personally for me it literally ruins the entire story and instantly takes me out of it. It doesnt make me feel for the characters, it makes me think “well *thats* a shitty ending.” It just takes me out of the mindset of the story and makes me think of the writers instead. And makes me feel like i wasted my time being invested in allat.
21:55 If you're looking for a show that balances interesting, fresh action with meaningful emotional impact, watch Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. It's really good at this and the plot is complex while staying cohesive. Also, the character writing is an absolute gem.
FEAR AND HUNGER MENTION LETS GOOOOO! Love your advice! Lots of pet peeves and things I agree with. I had the same problems with walking dead, not sure how the comics handled it but the seasons I watched past where you stopped and while I think it had good elements I had the same problems with it as well. I recommend Bloodborne if you haven’t looked into it!
![BLACK BAG - Official Trailer [HD] - Only in Theaters March 14](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Du0Xp8WX_7I/mqdefault.jpg)
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
Background tip: if you don’t like drawing backgrounds, try pretending that you’re making a house in the sims or something fun like that. Include things about the world to exaggerate something/to reward people who are paying really close attention. Have you seen how many crosses were around in like the 1300s? Also try looking at pretty things with in the same genre. I like playing assassins creed 2 and getting inspired from those type of games because they’re *so* pretty!
@@Qwertyuiop1095_ backgrounds are hard because of spacial awareness, I guess? Like I can write them out but can’t draw it out as easily
@@bella_daze3092 yeah it does take a while to translate words to art, I’m pretty lucky in that I think I have pretty good spatial awareness naturally but it’s certainly a skill that has to be refined for everyone trying to draw scenes
@@Qwertyuiop1095_ lol, I dont even like decorating house in sims.
But yeah, gotta find what's the best method
@@Qwertyuiop1095_ Assassins creed mentioned!!
Ac is my hyperfixiation and I like to draw the houses and some landscapes from the game to train how to draw backgrounds
Yeah I hate those decoration things in games. Way too tedious.
the word balloons being too empty, too tight, or shrink wrapped can actually be a good thing if you're using those as emotive techniques. Too empty makes the character feels quiet and shrinking away, too tight makes them feel loud and obnoxious, and shrink wrapped makes them feel tense and anxious.
Oh they definitely have their specific uses! But it’s not something you want to use 100% of the time
I thought the same. Tho not many ppl know when and where to use them sometimes. But this is a great tip to give on a mood or characterize someone.
@@vaporean_boylove.0w083 yeah, that's the thing with art. It's all about intent.
Are you drawing the character assymetrical in anatomy because thats their design or because you don't know how to draw it yet? Are you making the speech bubbles wrapped around the text to make it feel cluttered and anxious or because you don't know how to space them yet?
Intent is important and it can elevate or sabotage an otherwise amazing piece of media
@@mertensiam3384
Well said!
imagine this situation
“WHY DO YOU HAVE FOUR EARS!?”
“huh? oh, these are fake”
“well thanks for-“
*takes off human ears*
The self-deprecating section is SO necessary. When people do it, they're putting the other person in a position to either a.) argue and assure them their art is Good Actually or b.) agree and come off as a tool no matter how they spin it. When you're the one in the self-deprecating position, no compliment feels sincere and any criticism feels like a personal attack. It's a lose-lose interaction. I used to self-deprecate on impulse until I ended up having to placate someone else so I wouldn't risk hurting their feelings one too many times. There's ways to be humble without putting yourself down in the process!
@@5TR3TCH3Z It’s really funny because since taking my Creative Writing classes, I’m used to people agreeing with me when I self-deprecate about a piece of my writing. They agree and give me proper criticism/advice to accompany it. I never see anyone as a tool if they present their thoughts in that way.
@@CosmiccNova I think it's because it's less "agreeing that it's bad" and giving you pointers on how to improve and make it less bad.
BROOOO it pisses me off so bad because you’re putting your baggage onto other people and expecting a compliment… like no that’s not how it works
i've found that if someone has that attitude it's best to not treat it as an actual argument or opinion but an emotion. logical "that's not true/i don't know why you'd say that" or vice versa responses don't work because insecurity can't be deconstructed logically. something like "i don't get that impression of you but i've had that feeling about myself as well before so i get it" can work wonders in just acknowledging it and moving on without needing to corner yourself into reinforcing the content of their opinion. of course immediately it comes more naturally to try and express your discomfort in how they're expressing that insecurity but it's a more kinder perspective to assume we've all probably felt that way about showing our own works to other people at some point even if we didn't say it out of respect to not spoil the mood or depreciate the art, they just might not be as ready to confront that for themselves yet.
@@mirulei this is actually a great point, haven’t thought of it that way
One thing that helps me stop self deprecating is I think “Would past me think this is cool?” Even if the art isn’t perfect by any means, me from 3 years ago would usually be impressed. Try to impress the you that just started drawing.
My older self would genuinely cry seeing present me
To that question, the answer in my case is still no. My most ambitious and meticulous drawings belonged 10 years ago on my sketchbooks.
ngl younger me would be like EW ITS NOT ANIME but i think shed admire my character designs even she doesnt like my style LOL
I'll try that out, thanks for the advice :)
Huh. That's actually really good advice! Younger me woulda been fuckin STOKED to see the kinda things I can draw today and that honestly kinda makes me feel a little better about my art. This one's for you, little me! Thanks for the advice, mate. This surprisingly helped a lot
On the topic of the flesh fang: I actually have one because of a scar on my lip that didn't heal right! Just a fun little fact
@@CorruptedAmbrose ME TOO?? I had a fall a few years back which broke my teeth and split my lip , It never healed properly but I never thought about it as a flesh fang its actually cute to think about it this way ! I feel less alone knowing someone has the same kind of scar as me ahah
@@IlostMyteethh flesh fang twins!! I haven't met anyone else that had something like mine!
@@IlostMyteethhthis is genuinely amazing and i hate to interrupt you two but
fitting name lmao
@@CorruptedAmbrose I like cause thanks to Gacha life I find it cute 🥺🥰
Cringe@@PGbutalsofourteenplus
10:51 YES. Usually when i draw animal-like characters, their ears expand from where the human ears grow to the top of their head. It's functional and not annoying because it's only two of them
I also do this. I try to get the ears to properly connect where the previous human ones were. Unless it's just not working like horse ears! Helps mix the two anatomies.
Won't that make the ears too big?
@@hamstersandwich9917 Last time I checked human’s don’t have animal ears so I don’t think we should be concerned in regards to the size of them for realism 😅
Reigen pfp spotted
@@hamstersandwich9917 If you do it right and the character isn't bald, it won't look too much bigger than the regular top-of-the-head-only look.
"Noses are cool, okay?" That's another one for the Star out of Context list.
23:28 One of us! One of us!
ONE OF US! ONE OF US! ONE OF US!!
*ONE OF US! ONE OF US!*
ONE OF US! ONE OF US! ONE OF US!!!
I don’t think people don’t wanna draw backgrounds because it’s not fun. I’m sure that’s the reason for many, but personally I was always (still am to some extent) scared to draw environments because of the intrinsic fear that it will drag down the rest of the piece. You can have the most interesting characters known to man but I often fear that a bad background will ruin the entire thing.
If you feel the same way, I urge you: draw BAD backgrounds! Draw bad environments! Keep doing it until you find the fun in it! I used to hate making collages, but I forced myself to do it for art school purposes, and after a while I really started to enjoy it! Do the same with backgrounds, you’ll get there
A piece of advice I saw a while ago was, "treat your backgrounds like you do your characters." This didn't immediately make me want to draw more backgrounds, but it sure helped me recognize their importance. Now when I draw them, it comes super easy to me! I won't ever forget this advice.
I kind of had the reverse problem growing up where I love drawing environments but was afraid of drawing people cuz I thought they'd look bad. I got over it but man I really was drawing more landscapes than character design that weren't monsters I swear
I think a healthy habit to stop self deprecating is to try to point out AT LEAST one part of a new thing you made that you liked and are proud of
It’s not so much that it makes you egotistical, but it helps you remember that you are more skilled and creative than you think
Also, remember to be proud that you even are creating! Making art is hard, no matter the medium or practice. Be proud that you made something, no matter the end result
@@SnowFox-gv2rn THIS EXACTLY😭😭 that’s what I do!!
Honestly, some societies have created this RIDICULOUS, flattened, oversimplified idea of what makes you egotistical. _PRAISE YOUR OWN ART!!!!!_ Because ultimately, what matters isn't praising your art this little and bashing it this much. What matters is that you're looking at your own work through a critical lens, and looking at it in a pros-and-cons kind of way. The pros are something you can try to do next time too, and the cons are things you can try to adjust or make up for in the future, through trial-and-error.
@@prayagsuthar9856Yes!!!
The human/animal ears! 😂
I made a ninja turtle OC when I was 13 who was a wolf shifter. She had wolf ears and human ears. BUT I did that on purpose.
She was mutated with the goal of having pure mutant shifters with no outward animal characteristics. She was one of the only partly successful ones, but she still had wolf eyes, ears, fangs, claws, and a tail.
The human ears were also deaf 😅 This affected her later when I did the obligatory ninja turtle fanfic thing of having them figure out a way to appear human. She ended up being incredibly hard of hearing once her wolf ears got hidden since her human ears were deaf.
TLDR: I did the cursed four ears thing but for a reason 😂
@@hopethornhill3905 Okay, now that us a very neat concept. 👌🏻
Honestly, this sounds awesome!
I think it's fine to do as long as there's a plot reason behind the four ears.
Arknights also has an explanation, because almost all of the playable characters are mutated from regular humans. They would be normal humans if not for the virus and mutations that ravages their bodies, so it makes sense why those with animal ears have human ears too. I can defend RWBY too a bit because it seemed like the fanus were just alternate races of human with no difference between them aside from their animal traits even though there was never an explanation given. 😅
I love that Star can identify an issue and give positive feedback to help fix it instead of just punching down.
Yeah, the issue with ears bugs me as well, but I also understand the conflict there. If a character only has animal ears and then we get a shot of where their human ears would be and there's just nothing, it can be kinda' jarring, hence why most characters done in this way usually have that spot covered by their hair at all times. That said however, if we did characters like that more often, then we'd get used to it and it wouldn't be so jarring to see them without the human ears. Also, screw flesh-fang. It's weird.
That's why you make the animal ears anatomically correct by extending the bases to the earholes in the middle of the head. Don't wanna do that? Do the 4 ears. I think it looks okay personally
@bleh329 Yeah, but removing features doesn't look as acceptable to my brain as adding them. That's why I don't like the "no human ears" kinda approach. If you remove the human ears, why have the animal ones just awkwardly sit on the top? If you remove the human ears, just extend the animal ones down and ta-dah! No empty sides and no human ears. Everyone wins, no?
@bleh329 I'd have to see it to figure out if I like that idea of extending the hairline or not. And as for "having 4 ears with no explanation" I feel like that kinda thing is also applicable to having animal ears just sit on top of the head. That also doesn't make much sense. Why would they be there, if not because the ear canals on the sides were occupied?
It doesn't really matter. It's a matter of taste in the end. I just personally feel having no ears on the sides whatsoever looks kinda weird, considering most mammals don't look like that.
yeah, although i do like when some shows actually make that a part of the character's narrative (but rarely are since most are kemonomimi beings that exist in that world). The whole my disguise magic isn't as strong/I'm inexperienced. Needs more stable "mana" (yet bro your like 99% there - although i do give a pass if there true form leans more toward antho since they would need more power. of course only works if they eventually gets there as character growth.
There are also instances where, rather than having the animal ears on the top of their head, will instead have long, fury ears where the human ears would be. A kind of hybrid.
Make a cat girl with cat and human ears and a flesh fang and treat them as odd mutations she’s gotta deal with
I feel like if I had a flesh fang in real life I would not stop licking at it like a loose tooth😭
When I read this, I thought that “flesh fang” meant literal gorey teeth that that are made of flesh. Then I googled it and it’s a lot more wholesome than I thought
Tempting...
Some cats do get double ears
@@austincde ugh why is that so gross to think about 😭🤣
On the topic of no noses, I think it really depends on the art style. Sometimes, those little lines or dots for noses can work DEPENDING ON THE ART STYLE. In the anime screenshot you showed, yeah, it just did not fit at all. It would fit more for a more simplified art style imo. Then again, I would sometimes just prefer there to be no nose depending on how simple the art style is. The dot/super small line nose just removes the focus from the expressive eyes. Those triangle noses would’ve also been a bit better, since they aren’t so simplistic and tiny and are just. There I guess. Gosh I hope this made sense.
Also, flesh fangs. I like them occasionally. Key word is occasionally. In the right context, it can make the character look cute or mischievous. Other times, it looks very, very weird. If it’s a constant thing, like the character is drawn to have them all the time(even if the setting isn’t a fantasy or whatever)I’ll come to be okay with it. If the character has fangs but the artist doesn’t want to show it all the time(since fangs=scary ig), it can make the character seem a bit cute.
If a random character suddenly gets a flesh fang for no reason, it can be a bit distracting. If it’s to show the character’s mischievousness, I’ll be more or less okay with it, even though I think there are much better ways to show that with the mouth than a flesh fang imo. Other than that, I don’t like when it shows up xD it seems out of place and like the artist doesn’t really know what they’re doing. Also, it should never, NEVER, be drawn alongside actual teeth. I hate that haha.
Also also, animal ears+human ears. Oh my goodness. The only time I’ve been okay with this is when the animal ears have been like. Added on as a magical mishap or genetic mutation that added it on. If they’re born with both(like most of the time ugh)it’s not great. I want to know WHY there is both, but there is no explanation other than the artist thought it would be weird for no human ears to be there. There are many solutions to this, such as making the animal ears connect to where the human ears would be(but still having them on top of the head), having the animal ears BE where the human ears would be, or just covering up where the human ears would be with hair or something.
Yes, but the fact people use it to avoid drawing noses (even though noses are real easy to do) in styles that *REALLY SHOULD HAVE AT LEAST A LITTLE BIT OF NOSE DETAIL* is what annoys me (particularly when the characters have detailed noses *when looking at them from any profile view* 🙂🙃🙂
i always just cover where the ears would be with hair for animal characters. we dont have to see it!!
Yea I was watching that part like "but that's my artstyle..."
I could draw noses but with how I've designed my characters, they don't look right. I don't really care much about drawing noses in the first place anyway. Why? No idea, just don't care for it
I've compensated for this (for my nonwhite OCs in particular) by giving them other ethnic features, usually textured hair for their respective ethnicities. My black/biracial OCs all have some sort of high volume curly/wavy look to their hair to convey that they are of color. I've also started learning how to properly color their hands since POC tend to have less melanin around their hands, and making this more prominent the darker their skin is, and depending on their specific ethnicity
Finally someone who is on my side with flesh fang! I have an OC with it and I think it works because she’s a mutant, and a very nonhuman looking one at that. (MHA oc, looks about as human as Mina Ashido)
@@HopeIsADrug11037lol I cover all ears with hair unless they’re animal or elf ears!
The last one point about self deprecation I can really relate to, especialy as someone who is trying to learn at at 22 (albe it out of love for art, the process of making it and out of pure spite for AI art), and I think alot of it comes down to (for me atleast) is that we can tell when something we make is "good" and "bad" unlike kids who cant tell so we worry about what others will think or hold ourself to an imposebel standard so early on, as if it matters at the end of the day if you just keep going, but we do it none the less becasue we are human.
On the other hand Felsh-fangs are pure nightmare fule which need to be destroyed in my honest opinion.
I have a really bad problem with self-deprecation. My theory is ...
My teachers in school, college, and uni always found/find multiple things wrong with my work or need improvement without fail.
I know constructive criticism is part of their job as teachers, but it constantly makes me feel super insecure.
& Whenever I try to come up with a story idea for a comic, I always find myself taking too much from other stuff I've seen or heard of.
Then I find & get hooked on a series that feals so original & new to me onlly to think, "omg this feals so fresh and original, why can't I think of something like that".
I know how you feel. I often think my art could be so much better, that so many others can draw stuff so much easier than I can. That they do it so much faster than I can.
But, despite that I want to keep going, to get better. Even if I'm not going as fast as I would want, I'm still getting better.
One thing to remember about your 'art journey' is that it isn't a race, it's not about who can get to the end first, it's about the *journey* and you should enjoy it, at your own pace.
Also, I to sometimes use the power of pure spite towards Ai. Spite is a powerful motivator, but don't let it be the driving factor.
@@boohawk659 why do you hate ai art lol
My doge, I'm pushing 40 and started actively drawing last year. I went through the "this sucks, but it's mine" phase, and I think it's something everyone goes through. You be confident in what you make n_n
@@tatugasshow6047 The tools of "ai art" have been used to steal from artists to create poor imitations of their work. The people behind those image generators don't help much with their focus on making money at people's expense, making bold claims of "We'll replace artists, this is the future!" and etc.
I worry that self-depreciating artist set poor examples for up and coming artist. Someone might love a person's art, see that they are trash talking the final results, and think to themselves "If this person who I look up to doesn't think their own art is good, why should I think my own art is good?" It honestly feels like I have culture shock sometimes whenever I see someone say good things about their artwork.
The last point is SO true. I have been drawing, like, wanting to improve on my art, since I was really REALLY young, like 5-6 years old or something like that, and I was growing and improving in a much healthier time when art wasn't just a competition to be won. Now, my little brother is beginning to show passion for art as well, but since we have a large gap in age, he doesn't think he's good enough because he can't draw to the level I can yet. He's only 6, the age I started drawing as well, and it's so sad to see him look at his art and say he hates it.
he's already so self-critical at that age!? He needs a hug man...
While I definitely do think Social media has made the issue worse, I feel like that kind of doubt and comparison has been around for a long long time.
Growing up, my sister and I didn't have a lot of access to tech, and social media like we know it today just wasn't there yet.
Similarly, I started drawing in very very early elementary school, then REALLY started applying myself in highschool and college with the help of classes, independent practice and study.
My sister, who is 7 years younger than me and never took an interest in drawing until she was in middleschool, decided she wanted to learn how to draw. After only maybe 6 months (and no classes) she gave up because at 13 years old she couldn't draw as well as I could at 20.
Unfortunately I do think its more of a sibling/close comparison issue as its not uncommon to see the younger sibling give up on music due to a musically inclined older sibling, or for them to avoid sports/a particular sport because their older sibling is good at it and they don't feel like they measure to that standard.
But still... we artists got to be kind to ourselves in our learning periods.
The same thing has happened with my younger brother. He's turning 10 soon and has been drawing since he was 5. He's pretty good for his age, but he compares his drawings to mine, which aren't even that good since I took a 2 year break, but still I've been doing art for much longer than he has. I tell him all the time that he's a good artist and not to compare his art to mine
30:42 wtf I started crying 😭😭
As a beginner artist, it’s hard not to compare myself to people who are better. But looking back at my old drawings compared to my new ones makes me confident I will do just fine.
I’m gonna continue to grow my garden.
I clicked on your channel out of curiosity, and your art is amazing! Keep it up :D
Honestly you're actually pretty good at it. Keep going!
I've been drawing for just over one and a half years, you are still better than me
This part made me genuinely smile and more confident(?)
I just love how stars talking about How much she dislikes prologs done wrong and then has game music from a game that has a prolog.
Undertale's prologue is on the good side of length. A bit lengthy, but thankfully it is immediately useful by Flowey's action (on a surface level), because we know exactly why they do what they do later
Well... yeah. Because that game's prologue was done RIGHT. Prologues can be a great tool for a story as long as they expose you to the STORY, not the LORE. Prologues, like any part of a story, should push the story forward... not dump info on you!
@@nomoretwitterhandles yeah I agree Undertale one of my favorite games for a reason, I just thought it was funny.
@@icarue993 That's the point. It's LENGTHY
Flesh fang can actually be a good character design trait for more monster-like/inhuman characters, but I’ve never seen them on characters that look human and I gotta agree with you, that makes me wildly uncomfortable 😭
Yeah I have a mutant OC with a flesh fang
I agree with you on the nose thing. I hate when the nose is just a microscopic speck. I don’t need something super complex, I’m even fine when the nose is basically just a line. Just do anything more than just a tiny speck
duuude noses are so important! I think the reason a lot of studios go for the dot noses is because if u draw the nose even slightly off it can make it look like your character is looking in the wrong direction and it can be a very fickle thing to tackle when you have such a large cast of caracters (like on love live).
YES! Backgrounds are so fun to draw. I didn’t like to draw them too much as a baby artist, but I did them anyways. And nowadays, I’m really enjoying backgrounds, and it’s slowly turning into me enjoying perspective and want to actually improve at backgrounds. And heading your reaffirm that further inspires to keep doing backgrounds in my works :)
Shows relying on outside material to give context to the show was one of the bigger issues with RWBY. They made a whole separate show to explain things, which is a weird thing to do when the first few seasons are set in a school and it could be brought up naturally in that setting.
@bleh329 ya know what, fair
I mean, maybe but I appreciate the effort to avoid any forced exposition. Plus, said school is a university where the basics have been long covered in classes they took years before.
Also they cancelled that side series because the writers kept breaking the lore they already set up and didn’t want to hear about breaking the lore anymore 😅
@@riotkitty Um... not sure when you last saw it but said lore being "broken" was based on legends and myths. The kind that were always subject to chance in universe.
It would help if you supported your argument better.
@@matt0044 the lore breaks were about the kingdoms. Vacuo, Mistral, and Atlas all had contradictions and breaks in the way they were portrayed in the show, comics, and books versus World of Remnant. There are some myths but it should remain accurate as the character narrating World of Remnant should know the accurate information, so it wouldn’t make sense for him to lie or misinform the viewer or go ‘just a myth’ cause he would know it isn’t like with the Maidens.
The self deprecation point is exactly why I firmly believe that young artists should NOT post any of their art online for their first years and should focus on having fun and making art that makes them happy. Build your foundation of art on love for your own art. Personally, I recommend that young artists should keep their art private during their first years for several reasons.
The first is that many young artists are simply not ready for criticism so they should focus on making art that they are absolutely proud of until they are ready and open to it.
The second is that they will subconsciously develop their own art style because they will draw what they believe looks good increasing its uniqueness.
The third is self motivation. Many young artists give up because they don’t get likes or feel like they are even seen ;however, that is not a healthy relationship to have with art. By building one’s foundation of art from love of their own art in private, they become their self sufficient well of admiration and joy which builds self esteem. This will encourage them to seek self improvement which will increase the quality of art and the cycle continues.
I am so glad you talked about Bad Ink studios! They are amazing and give so many helpful tips.
I also appreciate the tips about giving enough information and not over/under doing it. I look back on my first chapter that I just did and already see some things I can make clearer. I don't plan on redoing those first pages for a long time, but if I do, I know what to do now.
Thanks for the tips!
11:22 I wanna say a little fun fact about flesh fangs: I have crooked teeth and my fangs are placed a bit higher and closer to the lips compared to other teeth, which shows up when i smile creating a similar effect to a "flesh fang" 😅 personally for me, it looks fine unless they open their mouth or have a wide smile cuz with a wide smile lips stretch and reveal all the teeth INCLUDING fangs!
Star Teaches Us about How to Maintain Our own Art Garden With showing her least Favorite garden futures and How to make them better
As someone who's been starting a (literally hand drawn with pencil and paper) comic, this was very helpful! Thank you! Also, I do agree, loooong lore drops at the start are not only very frustrating, but can detract from what you're writing as well. Sometimes, not knowing everything at the start is the perfect way to add whatever emotions and feelings you want, and to have people more eager to explore the world building and plot as everything goes on. I could also say about other things, but this comment is getting long.
only reason i defend flesh fang: only on non-human characters does it look cool (tho i think flesh fang is cute). i have a demon jester named Zimi who has a flesh fang mouth and actual sharp teeth underneath, and when she goes full demon mode, the flesh fangs get turned into actual full demon teeth kinda like a demon skull. basically put, her flesh fangs have a bigger purpose if she's full demon mode
I agree!! I draw dragons a LOT and often use "flesh fangs" for them (I didn't even know that's what they're called 😭). I think it looks normal on them.
yeah I think it works best on non human characters, especially if it's mythical. I kinda see it as a smaller version of the zig zag mouth: just a weird shaped creature skull
@@randomperson-kx6mv same here with drawing 'flesh fangs' on dragons. personally i think of them as simplified shorthands for things like bony or keratin protrusions around the mouth, or sometimes just weird scale/skin structures (look up renders of Glavernus from Monster Hunter, that's more or less what i imagine unsimplified flesh fangs as.)
i guess it looks weird on humans/humanoids because there's a lot more leeway and freedom with the facial structure of fictional creatures? or maybe its the skin textures, like you wouldn't expect someone with regular human skin to have spiky protrusions over the mouth and therefore your brain's gonna be a bit weirded out by it, but it's a lot more believable with scaly/spiky animal characters? just spitballing here tbh
same, love those. I love giving them to demon characters.
It could be normal thing for some non-human races, even as just a feature. But your take on it is interesting... And I'm incredibly curious to hear more... Does full demon mode have impact on idle form or demon mode form is coming from the base form? Is there some pattern of changes? If "soft" version gets injury, will it affect demon mode form? Does hair become sharp whips or needles? Do you have any comics or something?
18:39 *insert image of the dragon prince breaking up the main couple off screen in a comic between seasons right after they finally got together and never explaining it*
26:25 “Since that day, I’ve been worried I’d been wandering the night, but I had forgotten that this is a world upon which the sun does rise. For that alone, I’m much better off than I was.” This is a line from Berserk, one of my favorite stories ever told. Guts has suffered so much tragedy, but in SPITE of all of it, in SPITE of the world he was born into, he finds hope. He has people he cares for, people who care for him. No matter the darkness that surrounds him, he sees light, he sees a faint glimmer of hope. It may be a long journey for him to see it, and an even longer one for that hope to be realized, but its been a beautiful journey and I hope it continues to be.
31:06 I genuinely am crying right now. life has been so shit for me and ive been putting myself down for it. Thank you star. Genuinely.
Noses are the bane of my art existence. I draw semi-realistic noses on my characters and it is an unceasing nightmare. F@#$ noses.
@bleh329when it comes to styles, you can give your character hands or noses or whatever if you want. Art isn't linear. When I used to draw, I didn't care about improving, I just wanted to make my cute cat people.
I agree with you, but let ppl live art is subjective /lh
Real! I hate doing realistic noses!
Yeah I just draw like little lines as the nose bridge with an inverted triangle at the bottom..
@bleh329 I mean if you want to, then absolutely. However I think the issue is the assumption that everyone DOES want to. Not everyone’s like me who wants to turn my art into a career (or at least a source of income). Some people ARE just doing it as a fun hobby.
@Unknownnw I mean it's not like they're held at gunpoint? I doubt people would click on a video on how to fix various writing and art quirks if they don't atleast have a willingness to improve
Completely agree with you on the point about backgrounds! I used to avoid drawing them like the plague in my own art because I didn't understand how to give them depth and because I balked at the effort needed to repeat various intricate textures across an entire scene; but some years ago now I needed to do one for a certain picture that I wanted to make. And instead of agonising over it, I just threw myself into it, giving myself the reasoning that I could make it super-stylised so then it wouldn't 'matter' if it didn't look good or didn't have the level of detail it needed.
And I found I didn't hate the end result. So from there I just started to put a bit more effort into backgrounds. Think about them a bit more. And, to my surprise, discovered that I can actually enjoy the process! They're still not my favourite thing to work on, and some of my attempts are still misses; but these days I'm happy to do them when needed (to the point of sometimes getting a bit *too* carried away with them!), and it's really benefited my artwork in general ^^
I love your simile about art being like a garden, too! I've never been at that point of giving up on art, because for the longest time I never expected to make anything of it, it was just a hobby and so it didn't 'need' to be good; but I definitely still had a "80% of what I draw is garbage and I want people to be forewarned of that" phase for a time, and that is an absolutely fantastic way to look at it. Thanks for another great video!
I think my favorite series that handles tragedy well is Your Turn to Die. It's such good writing, art, and character design and growth. The situation is grim with a bunch of people from all walks of life being forced into a game where they could be killed at any moment but it's not hopeless. The characters build each other up, the trauma of seeing allies die actually affects the characters and they are talked about a lot even after death. The game is just incredible and I will always sing its praise because it's inspiring in so many ways
For animal ear anatomy I recommend Winged Canvas’s video about them! They’re super helpful in general and it’s free art education
I don't mind flesh fang if it isn't a constant part of the design or if the overall art style is abstract or stylized. if the character sometimes abstracts as a chibi chaos gremlin its fine!
Same face syndrome is definitely a bit of a big pet peeve, but mostly if a cast is intended to be large and diverse.
Thank you for putting into words why I couldn't quite get into The Walking Dead despite everyone telling me how good it was. I hadn't thought about it in a while (basically, since season 3 first aired or something like that) so I might've realized this if I put a little more thought into the series and why it didn't really vibe with me.
The self-deprecating bit made me like the video. "Art is like a garden" is amazing advice and the "dead flowers" becoming fertilizer for the next generation of plants is such an amazing, inspiring visual, I can't thank you enough. I'll be honest in that I had all but given up on drawing as a form of creative expression, opting more for a written medium. Perhaps I'll pick up a colored pencil sometime soon.
9:55 The reason why characters with animal ears almost always have human ears too, is because humans without human ears look uncanny, if the place of the ears isn't covered by hair. they look kinda like people without noses, as you have said before. My assumption is, that Star is so frustrated by fleshfangs, because as an experienced artist, she is used to analyzing small details of the designs of characters, while the sole purpose of this design elemet, is to create a little bit of sharpness, and a feeling of wildness, by also letting the character to stay cute, and not incorporating the menacing look of pointy teeth, that makes vampires scary for example. You are just not supposed to think about them so mutch, they are designed to influence you subconsciously. I completely agree with the loredumping part however. I for example love the One piece lore summary at the start of each episode, and I also love how in kill la kill we get to know 90% of the actual lore in the last quarter of the show.
Tokyo Mew Mew as mentioned fixes that though - the ears go all the way down to where the human ears should be. It's a little innacurate with cat ears (they do go a bit further down but not all the way to the cheeks) but it keeps the silhouette while filling that space.
One of my characters in FFXIV is a male Viera, he doesn't have human ears. So he has to have hair that hides his lack of human ears, the really short hairstyles just look bizarre on him.
honestly characters not having human ears never looked uncanny to me lol
Tbh the human ears annoy me too, but I think its mostly because a lot of these characters have hair that would disguise their supposed human ears anyway? Maybe if I've seen more bald people with them. 😂
I’ve never really thought about human ears and animal ears on a character until RWBY, but only because Blake has a terrible haircut. 😅
THANK YOU for saying to "stop self deprecating". Ive had this issue with people for so long. WHY would anyone do this? Take the pressure; improve.
Alternet Title :
Star Rants about Things
(then says how to fix them)
This video is literally the summary of why you're my favorite artist.
11:10 You had spoken my feelings thank you so much
When I was first getting into posting art online in the early 2010's self-deprecation was THE ADDITUDE to have among the artists I saw on Deviantart, so I adopted that mindset because I thought that was how I was supposed to look at myself and my art. It ended up causing life-long self-esteem issues for me and made me quit art for a long time. I'm currently getting back into art and trying so hard to break that mindset that festered in me for so long.
The garden metaphor was so beautiful and inspiring, and one I'm going to keep with me. :'3
31:42 “So without further ado…”
Me: gets an add*
Happened to me too
I guess there certainly was a further ado
I like your points, I can relate to a lot of the criticisms of writing and story telling. On the Topic of grief, if you haven’t watched it already, I suggest reading the manga as there’s more detail that the anime either misses or changes up weirdly, but Bleach is a story I find that deals with grief, and other topics, in a realistic light. Well as realistic as Soul Reapers go. Tire Kubo has a more show and less tell when it comes the story. Simple things like rain have a symbolic tone to the main character and how he feels in terms of guilt and perhaps even elements of depression and slowly but not completely overcoming it as the story continues. It’s one of the more realistic and down to earth Shonens you’ll come across.
9:38 THANK YOU THAT'S WHAT I'VE BEEN SAYING FOR YEARS! In turning red when mei has Panda ears and human ears it made me so upset
@MidnightRose007 to be fair, in that instance its Mei deliberately using her panda ears as decorstion and not fully transforming.
I just got to the part of the video about the 4 ears THANK YOU ITS ONE OF MY BIG DESIGN PET PEEVES AJSJDFKGLGL
YES! 😅 4 ears... I can only imagine the hearing with 4 ears 😭
@dweeborea Orin from Touhou Project says hi!
Having cat ears would already be really weird to get used to, *IMAGINE HAVING ×3.5 HEARING POWER* 😳
I also hate the four ears thing. Whenever I design a character with animal ears I try to make the ears come up from where their human ears would be. It looks much better and less weird. 😅
I've seen creatures with 4-6 ears, but one type (charr from Guild Wars). Having two or more different pairs of ears could be excused if character is failed experiment or other abomination and this issue is adressed in the story. I also love the meme with catgirl wearing human-ear headband
Oh my god THANK YOU I HATE the four ears thing. I think the reason for it is that people get scared to remove the human ears for fear that it looks weird or that they don't think their characters' hair is enough to cover it. But I think even if there's no hair or not enough it still looks FINE.
I think what people fail to do is consider the anatomy. Here is a tip that I do when drawing animal ears on a human head. Start the animal ear at the top or middle of where the human ear would go, then end the animal ear at eye level of the top of the head. This is how I've always done my ears and it looks fine. It makes them big and they make sense with the anatomy. Hell you can even start the animal ear at the BOTTOM of where the human ear would go. There's a tutorial by Fireflufferz on furaffinity that shows it and basically encapsulates what I'm talking about. I'd link it but every time I do my comment dies.
This is also why I feel like the movie Cats got a lot of flack among other things, but I think if they had taken the anatomy into account it might have made a difference in how weird it looked.
What a beautiful message at the end. My creative drive is back and ROLLING BABY. I will be wipping out new content for myself. Thank you! Just earned yourself a brand new subscriber!! 😤
this is what i rly enjoy about the art community, that we can inspire each other so much 🙏
I really love the videos where Star shares her accumulated art and/or storytelling wisdom. It’s enthralling to listen to her talk about. The final part was wonderful, hearing the passion in Star’s voice (accompanied by that beautiful print), and as someone who struggles with self deprecation and confidence in my own drawing and writing, (and in general), this section made me really happy and I’m definitely going to rewatch it whenever I need to hear it again. :)
About The Walking Dead, your point is definitely valid! But I do believe you jumped off at the last season to have this problem. Without spoiling, two new characters come in here and the shoe from here on out has a goal, and that goal does come with hope. So, I'd say, watch season 3 and see how you feel afterwards. I've watched and without spoiling, we do get a happy ending(ish) Other shows/spinoff expands on the story and its awesome. Give the show a chance! I'd think you may like it.
Don't really blame her though because I also HATE, no I LOATHE, shows that drag on and on and take forever to actually get to the point and progress the series forward. This usually happens to me during the FIRST season, I couldn't imagine sitting through three whole seasons of that. The beginning of your show, specifically the pilot if it has one, is supposed to hook you in and establish a storyline and a goal for something if there's a conflict, but the Walking Dead fails to do that for three whole seasons, which drives people like this person away because the show takes to long to move the story forward. It's also why I myself couldn't get into the Walking Dead and why I hated whenever my parents would watch it because I couldn't stand watching the same recycled bullcrap for hours
It doesn't help that I like watching more fast paced shows and movies and just hate slow paced things in general and it may or may not have to do with my ADHD, but don't quote me on that. It's also why I like Hazbin, even though it's kinda rushed because A24 screwed Viv over. I'd gladly take a rushed show over a dragged out show in my opinion
@@yanderegabby_18 Not gonna lie, I got kinda bored after the 4-5th season. I t got hard to watch almost hour long episodes where it felt like nothing was happening. Payoff was good but show was WAY too long.
The Walking Dead point is valid just no against TWD! i hate sad history's that make the world miserable just because Yes when Everything could be solve if the characters in the story have COMMON SENSE.
I used to be extremely self deprecating about my art. It was how everyone around me acted, and I thought that no one could judge me for being cocky or unaware of my flaws if I stated those flaws upfront
The thing is… when I slowly challenged myself to hold back- just to let my art speak for itself- I started to feel better about it. It honestly didn’t change the way anyone interacted with me, aside from making it just more positive overall.
I also think there’s a lot to be said about being kind to ourselves for the sake of others. Beginners or younger artists will pick up on the language of others, and when they see someone bashing a piece they find impressive (and see as better than their own work), that will be internalized.
10:02: i avoid thus by generally putting the animal ears where the human ears are usually located. It just looks better to me and i don't have to worry about the weird vacant space left if their ears are on top of their head...its especially helpful with short haired characters imo
Also I have a few characters with "flesh fang" but that's because their mouths are actually shaped like that LMAO. It's most common for my more reptilian characters. It was also inspired by undertale :3
11:46 I only give fleashfang to my bug anthro characters since that’s kinda how bug mouths look like
Thank you for suggesting comics in your videos I may have already commented this last video but the point still stands Tales from Alderwood has genuinely one of my favorite comics and while I don’t always resonate with something I’ve been suggested it’s always great when I’m constantly getting to see new stories and even falling in love with some of them
"Noses are cool, ok?"
TheStarfishface 2024
Ive been having the worst art block and lack of motivation for drawing or anything related really and i think i needed to hear the advice at the end especially. This was such an amazing video and it realy helped a lot thank you ❤️❤️❤️
Dude I fucking LOVE flesh fangs. I adore that style. Maybe I’m just built wrong but I ADORE that character design. Mwah. Peak. I didn’t realize people hated it LMAO
You're not "built wrong", you just have a different opinion. You're just being you!
@@somegoodsoup7008I don’t actually believe that, I always just say I might be built wrong when giving a potentially controversial opinion because it always goes over better, lmao
Do you like seeing them along with actual teeth, or do you usually see them on relatively simplistic faces?
@@gluttonousmaximus9048both. If it’s not intended to be teeth, or to just be the very simplified version of teeth, then just removing it when the teeth are shown is generally a good idea.
However I also just like the idea of actual flesh fangs too. It’s a weird gross concept in a big fan of
omg SAME i love flesh fangs. I think they look so cute
The end made me cry. Thank you.❤
I feel like the thing about having four sets of ears can depend on the character. With high detail characters they look awkward without it since they look human enough.
Characters who’s ears pop out on the top of their head usually have human ears already removing them look weird
I’m so glad I’m not the only one that loves and appreciates bigger and detailed noses in drawings and animations! They are a very underrated facial feature and it’s a shame that so many modern artists are going the route of just little black dots or shapes for noses. There’s so much you can do with a nose for a character. They can scrunch when a character closing their eyes tightly, they can flare when a character is sniffing something nice or gross, or they can do both a scrunch and flare when a character is going to sneeze. That’s why I always show my appreciation to artists, like yourself, that puts that extra time and effort into drawing noses. I have a friend that used to draw big and detailed noses on his characters, I thing I really liked, but then some people started telling him his noses were too big and weird on his characters and caved into doing the small black dots or shapes for noses. It made me sad to see that some artists are doing the small dots and shapes for noses not because it’s faster to do but because some people keep criticizing them for making noses “too big” in drawings. After all, there was a time when anime characters had uniquely shaped and detailed noses before the period of the dots and shapes method. But, again, I do appreciate that you take the time to make actual noses that are detailed and work for specific characters of yours.
how can you prefer a catgirl with smooth, empty skin on the side of their heads??? its uncanny!!!! and the animal ears are cuter on top of the head like the animal has, so i dont like them to grow from where human ears grow. 4 ear supremacy!!!! also im DYING at flesh fang
Dayum, was listening to this while working on my own stuff and I wasn't expecting the ending to this vid to be so sweet and encouraging. It's true though. I played around and drew terrible comics for years before getting into my current one, and my current one even started off bein' pretty rough around the edges. But you gotta endure and never give up, like you said! And the more you grow and believe in yourself, the less you find yourself self-deprecating too. :)
Congrats on the Skillshare sponsorship, Star!
My biggest writing pet peeve is a character who has very toxic, self-destructive flaws but refuses to address them until the very last proverbial minute of their story. Think Steven (Steven Universe Future specifically; Steven was pretty solid for the original show and great in the movie) or She-Ra 2018 Catra. This kind of character can be done right, but they NEED the time to turn themselves around. You can’t just brush off their recovery in a fourth of their show’s narrative or the literal final episode of their series.
From an artistic standpoint, it’s when too many characters have the same general color palette. Since Star’s already covered Hazbin, I figure I should offer my two cents on it. Vivienne is a good character designer, but she’s horrible at working with any palette that isn’t some combination of red, yellow, black, and white. If Vaggie still had her navy blue and gray palette from Zoophobia, I guarantee you she’d look a billion times better.
@bleh329 it's a weird balance for the creators to strike, especially when they probably knew their movie is gonna represent a wide part of colombian culture, do they aim but "realistic" or "idealist"? Its already a story of a family with superpowers, it is wrong to try to send a positive message? But on the other hand, you're right that its kinda unfair to irl people, a common crit of encanto is that the ending is too rushed, feels like the plot of 3 season TV show got shortened to 1 movie
4:16 it's hard! Okay!!
@@betsykadiri SKILL ISSUE
Practice then lmao
Okay, but hear me out: Noses are simple, hard to draw without making the entire face look wonky. One mistake in the nose, and suddenly the *entire face* looks wrong. It's surprisingly difficult for newer artists to get it right. (Or maybe I just suck.) In many art styles, the implied nose isn't really distracting to most people, depending on the art style.
It's a crutch, much like eye patches or hair covering the eyes.
About the 4 ear thingy, Istg it makes sense for my character I’M SO SORRY. but my character wasn’t born with them, it’s a mutation and it’s supposed to be perceived as disgusting and weird + she’s based on a bat, so she’s supposed to have inhumane hearing
13:03 No one tell her about cleft lips
As someone who's also been trying to diversify their character designs through introducin unique nose shapes and other features.... I do find myself still really liking the dot/shadow for full front-facing shots. Which are few and far between, but it really feels like it looks the best for that angle especially for characters with elements that are also occupying the mid-face (middle strand of hair, glasses, etc) because it gives everything else room to breathe.
Then they turn their head slightly and the shape starts to assert itself again, with how much detail I put into it depending on the angle or general mood.
But then I see people try to use the dot for a full 3/4 or even 4/5 looking away from the camera and it boggles the mind because then the only time they DO draw the nose is full or nearly full profile views.
that garden metaphor in the end is such a great way to put the learning experience with art. I’ll think about that if I ever say anything self deprecating.
I actually got a lot of my character creation inspiration from Miis. You can whip up really creative character looks with the mii maker, and translating that into your art style gets unique face shapes.
I've seen a video saying that the big sparkly eyes are actually why you use just a tiny nose. Since the eyes are a lot of focus and detail, so next to it you place the nose as low detail, or so
The last message was absolutely beautiful, iveb33n feeling really down about creating and sharing my art because of everything happening in the wolrd and AI but this really made me smile and tear up. Thank you SO SO much :)
9:59 I have a character who has both animal ears and human ears, however despite the animal ears being real, they don't work. Only her human ears work lol
@@tahliawilliams6506 is there a particular reason for that !! 😭
@ aesthetic 🤷
I've always seen the animal ears as fake things, but when they're real, I can see how that gets annoying.
Listening to this during my break at work and I'm holding back my tears about your last message 😭
Thank you
I LOVE THE STARDEW MUSIC
You saying that hope is the vital component for enjoying a dark story makes complete sense to me, explanation point made a video a couple years back about that very subject
This video has actually been really informative, thanks!
That message at the end was absolutely beautiful. Very wise words❤
10:12 Dude, same!!!!!!!! This one of the few animes i have noticed that did this correctly when it came to animal ears. I never understood the 4 ear syndrom in anime!
About your comment on constant suffering in sad stories. I watched a video a while back about making sure your story isn't flat. Basically, your story won't be interesting if the entire thing is one emotion. If the story stays in one state. For example, if your story is happy the entire time and nothing goes wrong, that would be pretty boring, but if your story is extremely sad the whole time and nothing good happens, that would also be pretty boring. The person in the video said that stories should be like roller coasters, full of ups and downs rather than staying on one level, and that is something that I feel like is even more important in tragedies. The tragedy comes from the "what could have been" and "what almost was." When you see characters having a good time, fixing things that were broken, or when they are so close to happiness, and then it gets taken away. It's something I find really interesting, especially as a writer.
You mentioned The Walking Dead, which is super funny because as soon as you mentioned the constant state of tragedy, I was like, yep, The Walking Dead. But I want to compare it to another zombie apocalypse story, one that exists in an arguably worse apocalypse than The Walking Dead, which is The Last of Us. I was talking about it with my friends, and one of them mentioned that the terrible thing about the Last of Us's apocalypse is that fact that it will only get worse the longer it goes on, the more the zombies mutate and adapt, and yet, it never feels quite as helpless. And I think one of the reasons for that is that we get a lot of slower, more character-focused moments where characters are allowed to just be humans. For example, despite how soul-crushing the second game is, we get little moments like Ellie and Joel going to the museum, which adds to the sadness because despite how sweet it is, we know how it ends. Similarly, the scene with Dina and Ellie on the farm with JJ seems like an ideal life, which is why it is so heartbreaking when Ellie leaves. The emotions we get from Ellie coming back to find the empty farmhouse wouldn't have hit nearly as hard if we hadn't seen the kind of life she could have lived there. I could go on and on about all the moments like this in the games, but I'll leave it there for now. (And I'm probably biased because I love The Last of Us, but I thought I would mention it anyway)
I actually like flesh fang, but I do sometimes see people who when they have a character with big eyelashes, they'll have some of the whites of the eyes go out into those eyelashes, and it always drives me nuts because it looks like their eyes are melting/leaking out and it's so weird to me, so I get it, hahaha.
Omg YES. It weirds me out sometimes… there are a few drawings I’ve seen where I actually like it (I think because the rest of the art style in that image fits with it) but a lot of the time, in my opinion anyway, it can look a bit odd. I do understand it’s a stylistic choice though.
I get the need for hope in stories, it helps me feel like there's a point of going through it. Thank you for the great video. Hope you have a great day or night.
9:20 I made it a plot point in my RWBY fic. Fic, Winter, and Weiss were both Fanus that had their bits cut off. Weiss was fine after regrowing her tail. Winter, however, couldn't get used to having four ears and talked in whispers throughout the fic. She even stated she had earplugs in all of them.
17:30 I think one of my favorite examples of this done well is the Dresden Files actually. The author does a great job of catching readers up on books they might not have read or reminders for people who are already familiar but may have forgotten.
When characters from other books show up, the author does a fantastic job of reintroducing the character without feeling too long or lore-dumping. I actually started on the 7th book and didn't feel like I was missing any critical information.
I like intros where it shows action at the start and then cuts to a character being like "your probably wondering why this is happening so let's go back to where this all started" because it allows you the info out and by breaking the fouth wall, it conveys a laid back tone and sense of self awareness which me as a reader really enjoys because it intrigues me and puts me at ease.
27:18 I SCREAMEDDDDDD WHEN YOU SAID THIS!!! guys, i cannot fathom enough to PLEASE of all things holy to stop doing this!!! i did this when i was younger and it got me nowhere, if anything it hindered my process so much and was one of the leading causes on why i took an art hiatus (i think it lasted about 2-3 years). embrace your style, treat it like your baby!!! it’s OKAY TO LOVE YOUR OWN ART GUYS LOL (of course, not to a bragging extent but i feel like everyone here should get the point!!!)
A good sad story I found through RUclips just after really getting into BSD (bungo stray dogs( it’s a super god anime btw)) but on wattpad there’s a story between the characters Dazai and Chuuya called “a spring without you is coming” it’s amazing and has made me cry every time, it’s a slow-ish story but it just gets better and sadder the further you get in I REALLY recommend :3
Thank you star as some one who self doubts all the time I was really thinking on putting down my pen and move on from art your words speak volumes to me. funny my brother yesterday was trying to get me back on art thank you very much for your kind words may you have a awesome day
You made me scared of the flesh tooth, just by talking about it.
I don't know how but It now creeps me out 😅
I've been an artist for four years and I've learned a lot of these things the hard way, but now I'm so much better at art and I don't say self deprecating stuff anymore, and it's awesome being able to experiment with new things and not judge myself harshly when it doesn't turn out right.
23:41 this is insanely based bro i genuinely can never get behind stories that are excessively sad and depressing just to be sad. I need to feel like something’s being actually worked towards that isn’t just delaying of the inevitable. I think also if theyre gonna go the route of stripping away the hope in MY PERSONAL OPINION it realllly needs to be done at just the right moment with the right amount of effort beforehand or else it either slips into being boring (not enough buildup and effort) or infuriating and frustrating (too MUCH buildup and effort.) I know some people like the trope of the good ending being stripped away at the very very last moment but personally for me it literally ruins the entire story and instantly takes me out of it. It doesnt make me feel for the characters, it makes me think “well *thats* a shitty ending.” It just takes me out of the mindset of the story and makes me think of the writers instead. And makes me feel like i wasted my time being invested in allat.
OHMYGOSH THAT'S WHAT'S BEEN MISSING!!! A NOSE!! You just solved my art style man tysm
21:55 If you're looking for a show that balances interesting, fresh action with meaningful emotional impact, watch Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. It's really good at this and the plot is complex while staying cohesive. Also, the character writing is an absolute gem.
flesh fang is cute idc
Okay your amazing voice stopped me from snoozing because the Stardew Valley sound track makes me tired im sorry 😭😭😭😭
FEAR AND HUNGER MENTION LETS GOOOOO! Love your advice! Lots of pet peeves and things I agree with. I had the same problems with walking dead, not sure how the comics handled it but the seasons I watched past where you stopped and while I think it had good elements I had the same problems with it as well. I recommend Bloodborne if you haven’t looked into it!