Steve Why Is He Always Like This-

 Steve… Why is he always like this-

Metal tutorial

Fire tutorial

Making & using a lace brush in CSP

saw this tweet on twitter,

https://twitter.com/ClipStudioTips/status/1216735942658199554

which actually goes over using file objects to make repeating textures, which is the same method I used to make my lace brush shapes! I elaborated on the process on twitter, and I’m just crossposting this here.

So the first thing is to make a new file object as explained in the tweet, and then if you make use of CSP’s symmetry rulers you can make some complex repeating patterns like this!

The flowers were all done using a 6 line symmetry ruler, and the part at the bottom used a 2 line ruler.

& when you set the file object to tiling, you can set what directions it tiles in, too!

Once you’re all done drawing your pattern, you want to make it a brush tip. You need to set this up correctly! CSP’s brush tip engine works as black = primary colour, white = secondary colour,

so to ensure that the brush changes colour as expected: make sure you’re working on a transparent background, and convert your layer to greyscale before you save it as a brush tip material!

This step is important, if you don’t set the layer to greyscale, it will not change colour, even if it’s in black & white.

Anyway with that done you can make it into a brush tip shape by going to edit > register material > image… Here are the settings you’d want for a lace brush! Make sure to tag it so you can find it later.

Once that’s saved you can make it into a brush,

go to brush tip and change the material to your new lace tip

go to stroke, and enable ribbon

if it’s repeating in the wrong direction, go back to brush tip and change the angle to either 90 or 270 (depends which way up you want it)

And you’re done! But as for actually using it, actually prefer to have my lace brushes using the figure line tool, and to make a vector layer for them!

That way you can adjust the line as you need to create more realistic deformation. This works fine with the brush tool too, but drawing a line with the brush tool will create a lot of anchor points so it’s a little trickier to work with.

Anyway! Here’s an example of me using this method

[1] Color Zones of the Face [Tried to find source, I think it’s here ] 

[2] Navate’s Skin Chart Supplement – the actual tutorials are:  Section I: Skin Basics &  Section II: Skin tones

Two brilliant skin tutorials. Do not use flat colors for skin! Underpainting is important for realistic, vivid skin. Remember, underneath your skin is fat, muscles, red blood, blue veins, bones. 

Consider reblogging this to support the original artist. I recommend following them as well!

More Helpful links: Ask a Question/Request a Tut | Submit a Tutorial | Promote Your Art Commissions to +18.3 K Dashes | Stay Updated on DeviantArt! | Visit me @astrikos

american leftists seem extremely focused on anti imperialism (good) but rarely- if at all- discuss decolonization in their own fucking country, despite acknowledging that it is a settler colonial state.

Horror Recs for Magnus Fans, Part the Second

Last time I did this I was assuming that anyone who was listening to a horror podcast already knew some horror, but I have since learned that this is not the case, so there are a few more classics in here, as well as some more of my faves.

For anyone and everyone who listens to TMA: Sarah Monette’s Kyle Murchison Booth stories, many (though not all) of which are collected in The Bone Key. Queer information professional would very much like for ghosts and monsters to leave him alone, does not get what he wants; can’t resist the impulse to help out people who are more fucked over than him anyway. I love Booth so much, he deserves much better things than he gets.

For Web stans: Blindsight by Peter Watts, a sci-fi horror novel about free will and consciousness. Lydia Nicholas named this as one of her favorite books in the first Assistant’s Round Table; I respect her for it, but I read this once and it gave me an existential crisis. Highly recommended, but make sure you’ve got a palate cleanser.

For jonelias fans and/or fans of the Corruption: Candyman (1992). With bonus folklore & urban legend meta! Kissing bees into your (potential) lover’s mouth in order to convince them to become a murderous spirit of vengeance just like you! “All you have left is my desire for you”!!! It’s extremely sexy, is what I’m saying, in all the best ways. (Trigger warnings for violence against children and a fair amount of gore, in addition to the aforementioned bees.)

If you love the no-holds-barred social commentary of season five: The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle. No, I will not shut up about this book until absolutely everyone in the world has read it. It’s short! You could read it in an afternoon! This is Lovecraft’s “The Horror at Red Hook” from the point of view of a black musician and hustler who’s hired to help out with the ritual, and it’s incredible. (If you’re enjoying Lovecraft Country, absolutely do not miss this.)

If you miss the standalone statements of season one and two: the works of the early 20th century cosmic horror and ghost story writers: M.R. James, Algernon Blackwood, Arthur Machen. Machen has a tendency to get pretty eugenics-y, and they’re all either misogynistic or don’t have women in their stories at all, but goddamn do they do atmosphere. (“The Magnus Archives” is named after James’s “Count Magnus,” Jonny’s favorite M.R. James story.)

For Stranger fans and those who love unexplained mysteries: The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher, a Southern horror (not a Gothic) about a woman who goes to clean out her abusive grandmother’s house to sell it only to find that there are things other than his wife that her grandfather was afraid of, and for good reason. Features hot competent neighbors, extremely practical reactions to terrible monsters, and a Very Good Dog (the dog does not die).

For Lonely bitches: “The Horla” by Guy de Maupassant, the story I use to describe my depression to people. That’s a pretty good content warning, honestly.

If you loved the “Am I still human?” plotline: The Monster of Elendhaven by Jennifer Giesbrecht, a grotesque little novella about monsters in (dysfunctional) love. I’m a bit iffy on the ending, but honestly landing the ending of horror is so tricky that I’ll almost never discount something just because I’m iffy on the ending. The body horror and emotional repression throughout make up for it.

If you crave the supernatural adventure series starring Gerry Keay: The Sandman Slim series by Richard Kadrey - modern noir, so gritty you can feel it in your teeth, featuring all kinds of monsters, demons, curses, and narrowly-averted apocalypses. Not as misogynistic as noir can get, but it is noir so there’s definitely a bit of that (but definitely not as misogynistic as Jim Butcher). Trigger warnings all over the place; this is B-movie horror in book form.

For Distortion fans: The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. Bears almost no resemblance to the Netflix series of the same name, or any of the movies based on it; this is a twisty psychological novel with a profoundly unreliable narrator and a lot of repressed queerness. Michael/Helen would be right at home in Hill House. (Content warning for suicidality.)

If you want your horror to make you cry: El Orfanado, directed by Guillermo del Toro; a family moves into a house that used to be an orphanage, that is, of course, haunted. This is a tremendous distillation of the way that horror movies are so often centered around women not being believed, so content warning for gaslighting (and for harm to children); I saw this movie once and entire scenes are embedded in my brain in full color. (Honestly you can’t go wrong with any Guillermo del Toro movies; he’s fantastic.)

If you want your horror to make you cry, but make it gay: In the Flesh, two seasons of a zombie TV show tragically cut short (yes, it ends on a cliffhanger, I’m sorry). Uses zombies as a metaphor for homophobia, but also includes actual queer people. Content warning for small-town-typical homophobia and tragic gays. Please come yell with me about Simon Monroe, I love him so much.

For Slaughter fans: The Shining by Stephen King - look, look, I know. He’s not great. He needs an editor. The movie is all kinds of fucked up. But this book is one of the most raw, personal horror stories I’ve ever read, and it’s got an excellent combination of supernatural influence and real-life mundane fear of addiction and personal weakness that really grabs you by the intestines. Again, an iffy ending, but it’s worth it for the slow descent into paranoia and madness.

If you just want to try to find some authors to read: The Borderlands anthology series, paperbacks from the height of the 80s horror boom; there are so many different kinds of stories in here that I can pretty much guarantee you that you won’t like some of them but you might well find something new to fall in love with. A lot of these writers are out of print but readily available at used bookstores or for pennies on Amazon.

As always, let me know if you liked any of these or if you have a specific need: it is no longer my job to recommend books and media to people but it is still my very favorite thing to do and I will be obnoxious about it forever