Literary Works

The subject this time, will be about my literary works. Though they may be crude, unfinished, and rather rushed, I still felt proud at the time I finished them and clicked the publish button. Keep in mind that these literary works are Fan Fictions, you might not like them, but the fandom loves them. You might think of it as unoriginal and sloppy, which some may be, but that doesn't change the fact that I started from the ground up with fan fictions.

These were made in around 2015- 2016 with the most recent (and most presentable) update at December 2018.

My updates became rather inconsistent when summer of 2016 ended, only being able to update bi-monthly, to monthly, to even as bad as yearly.

I had a burn out with making stories, and also school got in the way and as such I didn't have time to be dwelling on imaginative stories, or rather I just got tired of it.

The following are links to the works that I made.

https://www.deviantart.com/psychoticchoco/art/True-You-Killer-x-Reader-ONESHOT-591931372

https://www.deviantart.com/psychoticchoco/art/Forgiveness-Sabo-x-Reader-BIRTHDAY-FIC-597768834

https://www.deviantart.com/psychoticchoco/art/Low-Class-One-Piece-x-Reader-pt-1-AU-637535052

The last one is the start of a series of my proudest work, I already have a basic plot to it and such.

These might not seem like much but these are still my life works. 

Childish and dumb some may seem, I'm still proud of them as they showcase my progress throughout the years and I treat them as my own children.

Hobbies and Crafts

This might be a little off the mark if we're talking about digital work, since today I'll be showing everyone about my personal hobbies and also provide some pictures as sample. I want you, the readers, to know more about me, even though you might just read my blogs in passing and not mind me. Analyzing myself, this particular hobby of mine really tested my patience, diligence, resourcefulness, and precision. 

I'm talking about origami. 

It's the art of folding paper which is mostly associated with the Japanese culture. I do have my fair share of interest in the Japanese culture, such as anime and manga and the like, but there's also origami which piqued my interest.

It started as some things would, from childhood. Ever since I was a kid I was rather artistic, or at least that's what my parents told me. It further made me pursue my inclination towards the arts, no matter what form it took.

As I grew up I took interest in singing and dancing, though I wasn't very talented in the latter. I tried learning the guitar but gave up halfway through. In high school, I learned a little bit about playing the piano, but I can't play it professionally. 

Then in that time period, I grew more and more interested in origami. 

I have cousins from Japan, and when they visited I played with them a lot as a kid. They taught me how to make a paper heart, I learned somehow different drawing techniques from them, and I got more absorbed into their culture.

I practiced more and more, and researched more and more, until I got to the point where I am now. Suffice to say, I have improved a lot over the years.

Here are some works of mine.

 

 

Pictured above are origami flower bouquets, made from paper, obviously, some yarn, some crepe papers, and a lot of tape. Each bouquet took me at least 2 to 4 days to finish, but during that time of course I had other things to do so I couldn't really focus on it alone.

I don't really have these anymore as I made them as gifts to people special in my life on special occasions, namely their birthdays.

I do plan on making money off of these soon, if only I had more exposure.

Though I put my blood, sweat, and tears into these works and gave them away, I know from their expressions that they truly appreciated what I made from them.

 

These are also origamis, though specifically they are called modular origamis as you would have to assemble them, with or without glue.

These are called kusudama, translated to Medicine Balls in English.

These were also made for special people on their special day.

I also have other works, such as an origami dragon and phoenix, unfortunately I didn't get a picture of them.


More on my hobbies, I have also picked up on how to create dream catchers. I won't say any more, since it's just the same details as before, I learned about it, researched about it, then practiced and practiced and practiced.

 


In conclusion, I have a lot of spare time and can dedicate a lot to a certain cause.

My Past Artworks

Today's blog will be about me previous artworks, unfortunately I can only provide a few pictures as most of them were made traditionally and I didn't have the means to turn them into digital ones.

These were made in around 2016 or so, I cn't exactly remember what year but these were one of the first few and ACTUALLY presentable digital artworks that I actually published and posted in my social media accounts.

These were made in MyPaint and the brushes that I used gave off that loead pencil feeling as if you were simply making traditional art, and I loved it back in the day.

My art style was still in the scope of anime, but further down the road I did my best to change it into my own style.

This was also made around the same year, if not later.

This was made in Krita, and I utilized the symmetry tool greatly in this particular artwork.

In conclusion, looking back on my previous artworks I can clearly see the huge difference in my skills and also in how I use my tools. My previous artworks aren't the best, but I can see how it made me happy when I finished them. 

Digital Tips

So you have a tablet, you have program, now you only have to draw! Drawing digitally will be a bit different from drawing traditionally, but it's still the same concept obviously.

Experimenting digitally will have less repercussions than experimenting traditionally, in the traditional sense, you would have to get dirty at times. For example, getting paint on your skin, on your clothes, maybe making an illustration with charcoal and you only use your fingers to blend and other instances.

You'll also need to dedicate space solely for your art materials and your collection will only grow from there. From simple crayons, to colored pencils, watercolor pencils, charcoals, color pastels, acrylic paint, etc., you'll need quite some space if you have a lot of materials for storage, and you'll also need a space where you'll create art. With digital art, there's less clutter and more just clicking the buttons.

I'll be explaining on how to make your life of creating art easier with some tips that I've learned along the way.

Layers
  

We all know what a layer is, but if we had the same experience with traditional art, you haven't been able to utilize this, and we've only been drawing on one layer where if you make a mistake with coloring, it will surely mess with your line art.

Layers are where you draw or color, it's pretty straightforward.

You can also edit these layers so you can get various different effects from the elements in said layers.

Take note of the layer's orders too, it plays a big role on whether or not the output will look decent or not.

Also make sure to create layers for different layers, if you mess up with this, it will really mess your illustration up.

Hotkeys

Tablets come with different kinds of express keys and buttons, so check your tablet's specifications to be able to utilize it to the fullest.

If your tablet does have express keys and/or buttons, then with the driver installed, simply look for the driver settings and edit the hotkeys.

If your tablet doesn't have that many express keys/buttons, then don't worry because every application has hotkeys so you can just use your keyboard. Make it a habit of searching up hotkeys on the internet or just figure it out yourself by pressing different keys while drawing. Applications also have customizable hotkeys so just edit them until you feel comfortable.

Experiment

This is basic for everything that you do, and it also hones your artistic abilities.

Just basically never stop learning and never stop being the curious person that you are. If you think that you are lacking at something, then search up some tutorials and learn.

You don't like your art style? Try to copy some already famous styles then incorporate them into your own.

In conclusion, the internet is your friend. You can learn from other people's mistakes or learn from your own. Just keep on creating art for art's sake.

Painting Applications

The next step on your digital art adventure would be finding a suitable painting application. There are different kinds of artists for different kinds of applications so you better keep that in mind, subsequently, I’m an artist that excels in illustration of characters so the basic painting applications are best suited for me, none of that editing jazz like Photoshop, though Photoshop is still a great program that some artists use to draw.

MyPaint

MyPaint (different from the normal Paint) is the very first painting program that I used.

It has a very simple interface that beginners will like, as opposed to Photoshop which will overwhelm you as soon as you open up the program and are met with tons of buttons and side bars that you can’t understand.

It’s very straightforward and I personally prefer it if I were to paint digitally, as referred to the very name of the program.

It has a ton of brushes already installed so you can experiment and choose which brush you prefer.

It’s more suited for straightforward digital painting rather than for editing drawings, so if you are the artist that loves to experiment with brushes, colors, and layers, then this program is for you.

Krita

Krita was the second program that I discovered and became my favorite until I met my next program.

It’s vibe is that of Photoshop, and it can also be used to edit pictures as it gives you more tools to experiment with on the left side bar as opposed to MyPaint.

It also has a ton of brushes already installed, but not as diverse as the selection from the previously mentioned program. Still, it is still a rather great program for you to start with.

My experience with Krita was wonderful, it offered more tools than that of MyPaint, namely the symmetry tool, grid tool, selection tools, stabilizers, and others. These, if properly utilized, can greatly affect the outcome of your illustration. No more uneven eyes, no more shaky and jittery lines, I had such a wonderful experience with it as I also learned more and more of what kind of an artist I am.

Paint Tool Sai

Paint Tool Sai was the actual second program that I discovered, but shrugged off as I didn’t really get it’s rather complicated interface at first glance. But at the recommendation of a friend and it’s need in the classes of my multimedia arts course, I went back to using it.

It’s my current favorite program to use for drawing as it’s editing tools are more suitable for my style than my previous favorite program which is Krita.

I believe that this is the best program for my kind of style, in which I prefer neat line art and also being able to edit said line art. It’s made possible with the tool ‘line work layer’ where the lines that you have drawn in the specific layer can be edited.

Though you only start with a few brushes, you have the option to create a new brush or edit an already existing one which calls for more experimentation. This greatly helps if you feel like a certain part of you illustration is off and it just needs a little bit more of that pizzazz.

Additionally, the layers can also be edited in which you can give it a papery texture or something else just so that the illustration you’re creating has more life.

In conclusion, all of the programs that I have mentioned differ greatly from one another, but as I have mentioned earlier in my opening paragraph, it depends on what kind of artist you are and what kind of program you need for your specific area of expertise. It just so happens that Paint Tool Sai is the program that I am most comfortable with, and as such it is the one that I recommend if you are the type of artist that draws characters and likes neat line art.

I am sure that there are more applications and programs to be explored rather than the three that I have mentioned here in my blog, but I will leave it up to you if you want to explore more or not, as these are merely my experiences that I am sharing with you.

Starting off Digitally

As this will be the first post to this blog, I figured it would be appropriate to start it off with a warm welcome to the digital side of the art community. Take a moment to appreciate how far we've come as a species and also how far we've come in this aspect of life, which is creating art.

Before, we were simply drawing and writing on the walls, then we transferred to paper and now we can create art with our computers, rendering our creations as immortal through the Internet.

 It will be a bit of a hurdle to transfer from drawing traditionally to digitally but bear with me, soon it will be as easy as pie.

First off, you will need something we call a "Drawing Tablet" or at least that's what I call it. There are lots of respectable brands such as Wacom, Huion, Bamboo, and many more. But beware, as most of them are rather expensive, even the cheapest model can cost you some thousand pesos, but it's worth it as its performance is top notch and also lasts a long time if taken care of properly.

My First Tablet (2014 - Current)

Above is a picture of my first ever drawing tablet, it's still alive to this day though I don't use it as much anymore.

It's an 'EasyPen i405X' as you can see in the picture and the following will be a link to the site if you want to know more about this particular item.

 http://us.geniusnet.com/supports/easypen-i405x

It was bought for me as a birthday gift from my family, and suffice to say I was very happy to have received this as I have been wanting to broaden my artistic horizon. 

I learned new things such as pressure sensitivity, painting applications, layers, importing and exporting, and many more.

The tablet itself was great, it was easy enough to understand on how to operate it properly and how to take care of it.

It was enough for a total beginner like me at the time, but then as time went on I wanted something more... expensive.

My Current Tablet (2017 - Current)

Now this is my current tablet, also received on my birthday from a relative.

It's much more expensive than what I had, and also a lot better in terms of performance. Here's the link for its specifications.

https://www.xp-pen.com/product/44.html

It performed better than my last one but it was also a bit of a challenge to get used to it.

It was at least twice the size of my last tablet, so I couldn't just put it on my lap haphazardly and then draw, I actually had to dedicate a space since it was so big. I still didn't use the express keys though I have modified them to my preferences, as I was so used to using the keyboard. A bigger tablet also meant I couldn't pack it in my bag and use it on the go, good thing my last  tablet didn't break so I can use it outside of home.

In conclusion, tablets are the first step into the digital art world. Though there are some artists that don't use tablets and only use their mouse, it's still up to you. The mouse is the most basic of devices when using a computer, so it's alright if you still don't have the money to afford a drawing tablet. It all depends on the person whether you want to save up to but a tablet or just keep on using your mouse.