I present you with… My child.

Monkeh.

She’s naughty, stinky, and bites me, but love her to bits 🐾🐾 She’s also a bit mental at times 😂 loves to try and eat her tail, until she realises it hurts because it’s attached… Hahahaha!

Bonus Monkeh beans

Leaves for half a year

And all of a sudden a ton of weird porn bait accounts start following this account.

LOL

Is it any wonder why I left?

Good grief…

“but adult content isn’t allowed on Tumblr, Kato!”

Riiiiiight….

Originally posted by just-r-connection

1. Use photographic references to learn what you want to learn anatomy wise. – I know it’s easy to be discouraged into thinking that if you reference photographs you’re somehow ‘cheating’ or that it makes you less of an artist if you can’t do things all on your own, 100%. However, this is not true. Professional artists often use photos and real animals as study subjects for either learning or a baseboard for most their work. You may not always see them doing it as eventually they become well versed enough in certain things they can draw them easily without reference, but when it comes to thins that are unfamiliar or just a bit tricky, looking at a photo of the real thing helps a lot in seeing how it works – how it should look.
If you’re looking for one pro who is a really good example and posts lots of tutorials and advice on how to do this, check out Aaron Blaise! He has a YouTube, a Website, and is really quite fun to watch and learn from. Especially if you’re looking for tips on how to work out anatomy in real time.

2. If you feel a need/desire to reference or draw direct inspiration from another artist’s work, at least credit them. – Seriously, it’s no big deal and it’s not as if it makes you seem less of an artist. We’re all inspired sometimes and sometimes that inspiration is directly from a fellow artist and that is OK. Just give them credit if you post your piece. If anything it helps keep the art world turning in a positive way because it shows we’re all appreciative of each other’s work. I know for me from a personal standpoint it’s flattering when someone tags me as an inspiration for their work or an art piece.
I will say right here and now that it’s always a good idea to ask the artist first before you post your piece to make sure they’re okay with it. If they say they’d prefer you to not post it, then adhere to their wishes and do not post it online.
However, there is a difference between being inspired by another’s work, and being a copycat. A good way to determine between if you’re inspired or copying is this – If you’ve got the artist’s work open in view while you’re doing your work and you’re trying to copy and mimic it as closely as possible, you’re copying. If you have it open and you’re just looking back to it as a means to keep you inspired to work, you’re not copying. Bear in mind, some artists don’t mind if you copy their work heavily and some do – it’s always a good idea to ask first if you want to copy something from an artist for any reason. Bear in mind, no means no and if they say no it’s out of respect for another person’s wishes to accept that.

3. Art quality will always be subjective. – No matter how hard we try we will never please everyone with our work and we do not need to. It’s easy to be discouraged when people run down your work and say it’s not good enough but in truth they might be right. Art is something that doesn’t always effect all people in the same way and where one person sees beauty another will see mediocrity. If you’re a hobbyist then take heart in that while this judgement might be harsh to deal with it has little impact on your work as a whole in the broader sense.
As a professional artist it’s hard to swallow the bitterly harsh judgement because we feel we need to please people to make good business. As if people disliking out work and calling it 'bad’ will drop our value and lose us work.
There will always been someone out there who likes your work and thinks it’s the bee’s knees. Appreciate those people and take their praise to heart and let it uplift you and keep you going. These are the people who will be customers or would-be customers if they could. They’re the ones that appreciate your work and enjoy seeing it and their words should mean a bit more than those who would seek to bring you down.
To cover my arse here – I’m not saying to not accept or open yourself up to useful critique – Critique is a valuable tool and is often done to help further your skills and encourage you to do better because someone believes you can. It may at times be harsh and upsetting but it is valuable and you should at least read it with an open mind.
You do not, however, have to take every bit of advise to heart lol If it’s helpful to you then use it. If not, then thank the person who gave it for their critique and move on.

4. The best treatment and cure for art block is art. – I know it sounds obtuse but it’s true! As artists we can always get stuck in a rut, be it unable to coordinate our hands and brain to draw things we’ve drawn a billion times before, or just not being able to create worth a damn. It can be frustrating and even more so when you know you have things you need to do (commissions, projects, etc).
The best thing you can do is put your mind to trying something you’ve not tried before and try to learn a new medium or technique. Never painted with oils before? Go buy a cheap set of oils, look up some tutorials, and give them a try. Never used Sculpey™ before? Get a little square of it and try sculpting something! Try something new – trust me it actually helps.
By pushing your brain to try a new thing you’re stimulating it to think outside the norm and as such causing it to rekindle a desire to learn. Learning might prove frustrating and you won’t get something the first time you try it, but keep going. If anything this will help remind yourself that you can do something if you put your mind to it and eventually you will find your muse again. It will take time but expand your repertoire, broaden your skill set, and explore your options in the vast and wonderful world of art.

5. Practice - Practice - Practice! – If you’re wanting to improve at anything, practice it! Open a blank canvas or pull out a piece of scrap paper and look up photo references of whatever it is you want to learn and draw what you see. Just focus on learning how to draw it and try to retain what you see in your mind. Look at every aspect of what you’re studying and try to understand why it works that way. Draw it 10 times from reference and then draw it 11 times without – You’ll find the more you draw something the easier it becomes to draw it. This is due to retaining knowledge and a lovely thing most humans have called 'muscle memory’. The more you move your muscles a certain way the easier it is for your brain to move them in a similar fashion the next time such movements are needed. A bit like riding a bike: you start off wobbly and unsure but after a bit of time, a few falls, and nerve you eventually start to ride naturally. Then for about 2 years you don’t touch a bike and one day you hop on a bike and boom, a bit wobbly a first but within a shorter time span your muscles and brain remember the sequence and you’re off riding naturally again.
The more you practice the easier it becomes to do something. Don’t ever be afraid to just draw one thing for a while if you want to get better at it. Not sure about how to draw dog noses? Draw a bunch of dog noses with reference from different angles! Not sure how to draw giraffe hooves? Flip open some reference photos and draw some giraffe hooves at different angles.
You might not get it at first but like riding a bike you will get it eventually the more you do it. As an artist your mind already knows how to do something but it take getting used to doing it. Don’t be discouraged if you can’t get it from the get go, just keep at it.
Draw something 10 times with photo reference – then draw it 10 times without. Try to use your memory from what you learned and if you find you can’t do it, revert to a reference and study some more.


6. Don’t stress and don’t be afraid to take a break. – Art should be fun as much as it should be a journey. If you’re getting frustrated, take a step back and take a bit of time off away from the drawing board. In personal experience I know that sometimes I can overwork myself and I’ll begin to feel thin and overdrawn. This is never good and it will have a direct impact on the quality of work put out during that time. So, to remedy this I usually take a few days off to recharge my batteries. Sometimes I won’t draw at all or sometimes I’ll turn to doing something I haven’t done in a long time art media wise. Sometimes a change of pace helps to relax the muscles a bit and get your mind refreshed and back in the game. This kind of thing isn’t always plausible for the working artist, but all the same – do what you can to recharge and reset.
If you’re finding it difficult to separate yourself from your stress, take a walk and look around you. Try to find the beauty in what you see around you; art is everywhere be it naturally created or built by another artist. It helps to go out and see and appreciate the beauty and creativity around you when you can to bring you back down the Earth.
On your break be sure to focus a bit on what you want to draw, paint, write, or create for a bit. You won’t feel as pressured to make everything as perfect as can be if all you’re doing is a personal piece. I’ve found that  I find it easier to take more leniency in my personal work. I don’t have to present a clean cut or perfected piece to people and if I don’t think it’s worth sharing, I don’t have to. That’s the beauty of it really.
Just relax, doodle when you want, and practice regaining your muse again for a bit.
However, be sure you let anyone you may owe work know that you might need a bit of a reprieve to recharge. They’ll usually be understanding as they know you’re human and need a break, and they’ll appreciate you letting them know ahead of time.

7. Critique is not your enemy. – I know it seems so when you have someone picking apart every aspect of your piece; I’ve been there plenty of times lol However, truth be told that most of the time when someone offers up critique they are aiming to help you improve or to see things that might not be noticeable to you. Bear in mind that just as art quality is subjective so can art style preferences and such so if a critique doesn’t quite apply to the look you were going for you can easily just thank them and move on. You do not have to adhere every critique to your work but you should take all useful advice and critique to heart for future reference. Don’t feel obligated to change your work to appease someone else’s perspective on it. If you’re unsure about something and it’s a commission, converse with your employer in the early stages of the commission if need be to ensure you’re doing things properly.

8. PLAY. WITH. COLOUR. – The world isn’t tones of black and white and art doesn’t always have to reflect what is seen in the real world. Don’t be afraid to go a bit wild with your colours in your work and don’t feel you have to shade anything with tones of black and white because other colours are intimidating. Black and white are the bridge between darkening and lightening colours and it’s kind of rare that anything be fully shadowed in black or white, there’s usually always a colour added into the mix.
Shade that fur with blue or shade that dress with ruddy brown – you can set a mood and pitch for your piece with the colours you choose and here’s a really good advice by my friend in tutorial format – Establishing Mood with Color _{(note, if you don’t watch ►TamberElla yet you should lol they have some fantastic work and post some really cool tutorials on their patreon and gumroad! I’m not sorry for the plug, Devin *wink wonk*)}
Point is, play around with your options and don’t stick to one shadow colour or colour palette for everything. It might be the easy way but it can sometimes make you feel like your work isn’t moving forward. It can also be right fun to see what you can come up with!

9. Do not feel like the only way people will see your worth is if you’re making money with your art. – I know I know, it’s pretty common sense but I have seen a lot of young artists struggle with the fact they’re not making a lot of money with their work. More so when they see other’s selling their work and commissions for a lot of money. Truth is all of those artists started out somewhere and it wasn’t selling their work for $300 a pop. It was more like $3 lol (speaking from personal experience here). If you’re looking to sell your work, start small and if you con’t sell at first then take a break and work for you. Don’t focus on making money as your main reason for drawing otherwise you will set yourself up for disappointment.
When I started commissions I didn’t aim to take on art as a job, I just did it for a bit of side money so if I was only making $3-$4 on pieces I was fine because it wasn’t a big deal. It also wasn’t a big deal if I didn’t get a lot of commissions. I did art for fun and as such if I made a little bit of money doing it it was a bonus more than a need. As time went on I found I enjoyed doing the work and I did a bit of advertising and so on and so forth and soon I was taking a bit more commissions. I did also, however, aim to improve my work to make it more appealing to a possible audience. This meant studying anatomy, reworking styles, and trying to improve my work because I wanted to learn and because it seemed only right that if I was to get more customers they’d be more inclined to buy work that looked worth the money and effort.
$3 went to $10 and then $15, then it move to $20 and so on. It took time but it didn’t bother me that it did. The business world is a ladder and if you try too hard to reach the top you’ll faze out quickly once you get there. It’s a lot more fun to gain the experience by taking the journey one rung at a time. You meet more people and you experience more situations and learn more as you go.
It’s easy to be tempted to copy another artist whose making bank with their work but it won’t satisfy your spirit to cheat your way up. Not to mention people do notice and not always in the way you want them to.
Take your time and just do art. Even though art is my job and it can get tedious I still love what I do because I enjoy doing it.

10. Take your time. – Don’t feel like you have to improve too fast or get 'better’ at art because people say you need to to be good enough for their liking. You do you and learn at your own pace. If you’re a hobbyist this is a bit easier, but as a professional it’s not that hard either. More often than not as a pro you’ve already studied things and have a pretty good standard of quality under your belt and people who hire you know this. However, it’s never too late to learn new things but it’s also no need to rush to get good at them. If you’re looking to learn something learn it at your pace – more so if it’s something you yourself are taking on learning individually. If you choose to learn how to draw horses, take your time doing it. If it’s not a mandatory course with a set time limit then don’t limit the time you spend or need to learn how to do it.
If you’re not comfortable with your progress, don’t share it unless you want advice/critique because you’ll get it even if you don’t want it lol However, it will often always be to help benefit you. Especially if it comes from an artist who knows how to draw the subject in which you’re practicing and working with. Learn at your pace since you know how you retain information best. The worst part of rushing is feeling like you’ve missed out on something or passed something by. Breathe and take your time when and if you can.

I am not very active on Tumblr these days mostly because a lot of what wound up filling my dash gave me anxiety and annoyed me and because people didn’t bother tagging certain stuff.

I don’t mind people having opinions and all that but when you use Tumblr Saviour to block certain stuff out and people keep posting said stuff without tagging it it defeats the purpose overall. 

So I kind of avoid it here sadly. Too much politics and sorry, I’m not into US politics lol They just annoy me (as they do a lot of people) but a lot of those I followed started posting them nonstop and it was just unbearable. Eventually I had to unfollow a ton of people because their pages went from fandoms we shared to political jargon and poses =/ 

One day I might resume activity on here but I’m more active for art up on DeviantART and I have a Twitter too where I just kind of muck about and post silly things lol 
So sorry everyone for coming back over drama but I couldn’t have some kid trying to start shit over nothing and drag my ass through the mud to make themselves look good. 
Not my bag of bones and snares, y’know? 

That all being said, I just wanted to pop on and roll this out so it’s not like I’m avoiding people on here. I don’t have many followers anyway so it’s not too much of a loss I imagine, but I have some friends I met here and such but most of them know me elsewhere as well. Those who don’t again, I’m not very active anymore. Even with the ‘safety zone’ thing here it doesn’t do much good of people don’t tag things lol 

Thanks for reading, 
- Kato 

not.