Neko's Failtastic Art Thread

[Suicune's Fire]

Sometimes I wish I'd be more involved with the -planning- of stuff since I far more enjoy making things for people to enjoy than being the one enjoying it (if that makes sense?) but the senior staff don't seem to require any assistance on things, and that's fine.

Okay, just wanted to chime in here because I feel like people are still salty about the PXR Birthday thing: that was a one-time thing, and it's been cleared up that it was not designed to exclude anyone. If you're not talking about that, then I apologise for bring it up again. And actually, we do require help with things. But mostly, mods need to be proactive and ask to help, which is how people get involved. :] And if you're unsure when there's a new project up, all you gotta do is check the staff section because that's where things get posted. Also, I'm not sure if you forgot about the tokens, or didn't want to continue doing them or what, but there are still tonnes that need to be done and we enlisted your help, because you're the perfect fit for the job. :]

As for the whole self-berating thing, I think the whole discussion about it needs to be dropped. I personally see the thread title as unnecessary and berating yourself, but you and Speed see it as light humour, which is fine. It's a difference of opinion. Neo's red capitalised letters were not yelling, or being pushy; he was trying to emphasise what a lot of people have said in the past, myself included. He's trying to get rid of the negativity, not breed more of it. If he accidentally did, then he didn't mean to. Trust me, I know the guy. I've worked pretty closely with him. He cares about everyone, and you're no exception. :] Please don't take offence. The issue needs to be dropped now, haha.

On the bright side, it's really good that you've been better with it all! I feel like you've been better too, and maybe Neo was looking at the old stuff and didn't realise it was old until you brought it up, and your confusion is just a testament to how you've improved! I think it's well established that we all think you're wonderful at anything creative, and finally you're starting to realise it too! xD

You can! The shift trick works for horizontal/vertical lines- I can't seem to get it to work for diagonals even though it IS possible. I'll have to mess with it more later on.

And you've seen nothing when it comes to layers. That Digital Painting Final (or the sink with dishes tonal) are in the HUNDREDS of layers. 8D Most of my things don't get past a few dozen depending on the subject. Comic pages get quite a few more layers, but that's how I structure the pages more than anything- I'm sure I can cut down the layers if I tried. xD

And I maintain: MTMTE is a comic worth reading even for people who aren't fans of Transformers. It's got such wonderful writing and the main artist is amazing (though, it seems his time working on it is done </3)- I've never felt so emotionally attached to cars/robots before. </3 There was a lot of screaming at the end of season 2 on my end. The Lost Light Fest / Inktober nonsense was to celebrate the end of MTMTE and the beginning of Lost Light (essentially MTMTE season 3 just with a different name.) It's won the best sci-fi comic award this year- best ongoing serial comic and best writer in 2015 too!

Ohh I thought you were doing it with diagonal lines! Silly me. You're probably just really apt at them since you'd have a lot more practice than I. xD

Hundreds! God! What the heck do you put on them?! XD I think that's pretty incredible. xD I mean, they clearly all help with the final composition which is always wonderful.

I would, but I'm far too broke to spend money on comics. That's awesome! Trust me, I would read them if they were at my disposal. xD If I had the money for comics, I'd be knee-deep in all sorts of 'em.

[Nekomata]

I get where Neo is coming from. I think he has good intentions but is coming off as a tad pushy.

However, self-deprecating humor IS a thing and despite Neko having a history of berating herself often...like she said, she has been INFINITELY better about it lately. But yeah, I personally see nothing wrong with the title myself, either. It's meant to be silly in a self-deprecating way.

THANK YOU. I've got a weird sense of humor, and the title was never meant in any self-berating way. >.>

In response to the rest of the post, I think I've covered my thoughts on that in previous posts. I'm trying to slowly transition back into the swing of things here. >.> WONDERFUL START.

Damn. I wish I could draw backgrounds that good. Or at all. XD I absolutely adoooooore the way you do lighting, and it's really quite magnificent. Your mountains are especially well drawn, like Speedy said. I also love the Pumpkaboo one for Halloween, and I may be partial to the Alola Ninetales cause it's one of my new favourites. xP

I've always wanted to learn how to draw proper clouds, to be honest. I can only seem to do cartoon styled ones. xD I'd like to see a tutorial or something from you sometime!

I'm sure you draw backgrounds just fine! xD I'm not so great at them myself- or not as good as I'd like to be- but I'm definitely better than I was in the past. And that's good enough for now. It's just a lot of practice and a lot of reference photos at this point. And maybe selling your soul.... okay- not that last part. xD I find myself incredibly fond of working with strong atmospheric perspectives. I always love the effects you can get with that. I'm happy with my backgrounds lately- when they're not in comic form where I end up rushing them for the sake of "THIS PAGE IS DUE TOMORROW" xD

As for clouds, I don't draw them consistently from piece to piece yet- still working out what method feels best with my overall style. If you pick one of the paintings with clouds I can put together a few process shots of how the clouds were painted. I didn't record any of those, but the way I work usually involves a lot of layers so I'd be able to show the layering at least. Or I could make a quick video tutorial later on (might be a while on that!)

And yush, Neko, no one likes to see you berating yourself or your art. </3 I know you probably don't mean it this way but, to me, it makes all the hard work and effort you put into it seem like it means nothing at all. Not only are you belittling yourself and your work, but also a lot of other artists who strive really hard to reach the kind of level you're at. Just think, for a moment, how they feel when they see you saying such awful things about your great work and they may not even come close. They might think to themselves "well if she thinks she's no good then obviously I'll never get there". And even if you're joking, not everyone else knows that.

That's just one viewpoint, but I'd like you to understand. Like Neo said, it's okay to be humble and have off days but please recognise your skill level and take pride in your work -- even if it may not live up to the standards you yourself may want. As a perfectionist my artwork will never seem perfect to me, but that doesn't mean I'm not pleased with how it turned out. You should be happy with all your artwork, no matter how it turns out. As an artist what you do should make you smile and be happy. If you're not happy in the first place then why draw? You learn from everything you do, no matter how it turns out in your eyes. I know it's always hard when you you don't get feedback, because you feel as though your work isn't important or that no one loves it. But that's not true! A lot of people may see it and just not give feedback. More importantly, if what you do matters to yourself then it's never a wasted effort. C:

Okay, okay. Please stop. I know when I deserve to be lectured for self-berating- and trust me, I've deserved it PLENTY of times in the past. BUT- I've said NOTHING self-berating in this thread that I can see, let alone in the ONE post I've made in the last several months. I've been relatively happy with my work as of late (as happy as I ever get, anyway) and haven't been hating on my own work in a non-joking manner for a good while. So please stop with the whole self-berating lecture. I'll gladly (and grudgingly) take it when I deserve it, but right now it's just stressing me out because I don't see where this is all coming from. I come back from a several month break from PXR- something I wouldn't do if I wasn't feeling up for the task- and this isn't exactly what I came for.

Next time I AM tearing up my own art in a non-joking manner, by all means feel free to lecture me cause I'll have deserved it. Right now I feel like I'm being scolded in band rehearsal for missing a note at a previous rehearsal despite playing just fine in the current. It may not be the intent of you or Neo, but I can't help but feel a little stressed over it all.

Okay, just wanted to chime in here because I feel like people are still salty about the PXR Birthday thing: that was a one-time thing, and it's been cleared up that it was not designed to exclude anyone. If you're not talking about that, then I apologise for bring it up again. And actually, we do require help with things. But mostly, mods need to be proactive and ask to help, which is how people get involved. :] And if you're unsure when there's a new project up, all you gotta do is check the staff section because that's where things get posted. Also, I'm not sure if you forgot about the tokens, or didn't want to continue doing them or what, but there are still tonnes that need to be done and we enlisted your help, because you're the perfect fit for the job. :]

I was on break for several months because of things that happened in... Oh- April? May? My break didn't start until a while after, but that's because I found myself feeling very hurt for an extended period of time and decided a break was needed. I'm still not 100% past some things, but I decided I was gone too long. Long enough to not know what the heck happened with the Birthday thing. Unless it was that one event over the summer in which the mods were told nothing about- then I remember that. I was probably annoyed with that, but mostly cause I'd have loved to include the PRS section for some nonsense. But I've over that.

And again, last times I was proactive and wanted to help with things I was told "Our way or f--- off" (maybe not that harsh, but I'm pretty peeved right now, sorry), I spent ages putting together a thought out post only to have the thread locked before discussion could start, and then there's- .. actually. Not even going to go into the third one cause that's a whole different unrelated rant. Point is, unless I know I've been told I'm actually -wanted- on the project, I want nothing to do with it because trying to force yourself in ends up with resistance, arguing, and unneeded stress. I've tried to get involved with other people's projects, but it hasn't worked out. My section/s are currently to dead to attempt some of my own ideas. I hope to work on getting activity up before attempting those.

And I haven't forgotten tokens. Again. I took a long break for reasons that are still slightly touchy for me. The tokens are... minimally related to this- but I do wish to continue them once my muse returns from the war. And after the grad school applications are in and I can work on fun stuff guilt-free.

As for the whole self-berating thing, I think the whole discussion about it needs to be dropped. I personally see the thread title as unnecessary and berating yourself, but you and Speed see it as light humour, which is fine. It's a difference of opinion. Neo's red capitalised letters were not yelling, or being pushy; he was trying to emphasise what a lot of people have said in the past, myself included. He's trying to get rid of the negativity, not breed more of it. If he accidentally did, then he didn't mean to. Trust me, I know the guy. I've worked pretty closely with him. He cares about everyone, and you're no exception. :] Please don't take offence. The issue needs to be dropped now, haha.

On the bright side, it's really good that you've been better with it all! I feel like you've been better too, and maybe Neo was looking at the old stuff and didn't realise it was old until you brought it up, and your confusion is just a testament to how you've improved! I think it's well established that we all think you're wonderful at anything creative, and finally you're starting to realise it too! xD

Again. There. Has. Been. No. Self. Berating. For. MONTHS. -whines loudly- I've skimmed this ENTIRE thread for it and didn't see any. Why was there ANY reason to bring it up other than some silly thread title- which, let's be real here, I wouldn't have actually used if I really felt that way about my work. I wouldn't have a thread for art if I felt that way. I deleted my old thread because I DID feel that way. Past tense. PAST. MONTHS AGO. Sorry if I'm sounding agitated here, but I am. >.> Again, I'll GLADLY/grudgingly accept this lecture when I've done/said something to deserve it, but I haven't. Not in a long while. Unless I've missed something, there's nowhere in this thread where I state my art is crap in a non-joking manner.

Ohh I thought you were doing it with diagonal lines! Silly me. You're probably just really apt at them since you'd have a lot more practice than I. xD

Hundreds! God! What the heck do you put on them?! XD I think that's pretty incredible. xD I mean, they clearly all help with the final composition which is always wonderful.

I would, but I'm far too broke to spend money on comics. That's awesome! Trust me, I would read them if they were at my disposal. xD If I had the money for comics, I'd be knee-deep in all sorts of 'em.

Nope! Lots of ctrl+z is the key! Or if you're really impatient, draw the line horizontal and rotate it. That works too. I try to not do that cause it's faster not to, but whatever works.

Hmm... let's see, typically I'll have each object in an image (or group of very similar objects) as its own base layer. Then each of those layers has at least 4-10 layer masks on them for shading, details, lights, AP, etc. So my layer count goes up really fast. Plus side of working like this? I can edit tiny things without messing up other things! Downside? WHAT LAYER IS WHICH AGAIN?

As for comics. I may know a site or two you could read them for the less-than-legal way. Alternatively, I think I've got a humble-bundle code for the first 4 volumes that I haven't used. (The end of the 4th volume is a big cliffhanger though.)

[Chibi Altaria]

Okay, okay. Please stop. I know when I deserve to be lectured for self-berating- and trust me, I've deserved it PLENTY of times in the past. BUT- I've said NOTHING self-berating in this thread that I can see, let alone in the ONE post I've made in the last several months. I've been relatively happy with my work as of late (as happy as I ever get, anyway) and haven't been hating on my own work in a non-joking manner for a good while. So please stop with the whole self-berating lecture. I'll gladly (and grudgingly) take it when I deserve it, but right now it's just stressing me out because I don't see where this is all coming from. I come back from a several month break from PXR- something I wouldn't do if I wasn't feeling up for the task- and this isn't exactly what I came for.

Next time I AM tearing up my own art in a non-joking manner, by all means feel free to lecture me cause I'll have deserved it. Right now I feel like I'm being scolded in band rehearsal for missing a note at a previous rehearsal despite playing just fine in the current. It may not be the intent of you or Neo, but I can't help but feel a little stressed over it all.

Oh, and I didn't mean it had to do anything with your thread, or title (which is funny btw), I just meant in general since everyone was on topic and from what I knew you did that quite often. I'm glad to see it's not a problem anymore, and I'm sorry if it upset you any, Neko. O:

[Suicune's Fire]

I was on break for several months because of things that happened in... Oh- April? May? My break didn't start until a while after, but that's because I found myself feeling very hurt for an extended period of time and decided a break was needed. I'm still not 100% past some things, but I decided I was gone too long. Long enough to not know what the heck happened with the Birthday thing. Unless it was that one event over the summer in which the mods were told nothing about- then I remember that. I was probably annoyed with that, but mostly cause I'd have loved to include the PRS section for some nonsense. But I've over that.

And again, last times I was proactive and wanted to help with things I was told "Our way or f--- off" (maybe not that harsh, but I'm pretty peeved right now, sorry), I spent ages putting together a thought out post only to have the thread locked before discussion could start, and then there's- .. actually. Not even going to go into the third one cause that's a whole different unrelated rant. Point is, unless I know I've been told I'm actually -wanted- on the project, I want nothing to do with it because trying to force yourself in ends up with resistance, arguing, and unneeded stress. I've tried to get involved with other people's projects, but it hasn't worked out. My section/s are currently to dead to attempt some of my own ideas. I hope to work on getting activity up before attempting those.

And I haven't forgotten tokens. Again. I took a long break for reasons that are still slightly touchy for me. The tokens are... minimally related to this- but I do wish to continue them once my muse returns from the war. And after the grad school applications are in and I can work on fun stuff guilt-free.

That's fine. Nobody's saying it isn't. xD I'm just letting you know that if you want to get involved, all you have to do is keep an eye out for an event and go for it. I know you tried a community event, as have many other people, and the idea did not go through because of one reason or another, and, like others, it doesn't mean it's your fault. I didn't want you to justify yourself. x)

I have no clue what you're talking about. Threads don't get locked here, like, ever. xD Unless it's spam, the OP's request, or it's a stickied thread like a Rules thread which is closed from when it gets initially posted. I've been in the higher staff for over two years now and I've never seen that happen. xD And nobody has told you "Our way or f off." xD Come on.

I'm not asking for a reason. You said you wanted stuff to do, and I pointed out that there is stuff to do. x) People take leave all the time. I'm just saying, it's still there if you're looking for something to do.

Again. There. Has. Been. No. Self. Berating. For. MONTHS. -whines loudly- I've skimmed this ENTIRE thread for it and didn't see any. Why was there ANY reason to bring it up other than some silly thread title- which, let's be real here, I wouldn't have actually used if I really felt that way about my work. I wouldn't have a thread for art if I felt that way. I deleted my old thread because I DID feel that way. Past tense. PAST. MONTHS AGO. Sorry if I'm sounding agitated here, but I am. >.> Again, I'll GLADLY/grudgingly accept this lecture when I've done/said something to deserve it, but I haven't. Not in a long while. Unless I've missed something, there's nowhere in this thread where I state my art is crap in a non-joking manner.

...I know. xD That's what I said. Hence why I said the topic needs to be dropped. By everyone. I literally said you were getting better, and that Neo may have seen OLD posts. xD

Nope! Lots of ctrl+z is the key! Or if you're really impatient, draw the line horizontal and rotate it. That works too. I try to not do that cause it's faster not to, but whatever works.

Hmm... let's see, typically I'll have each object in an image (or group of very similar objects) as its own base layer. Then each of those layers has at least 4-10 layer masks on them for shading, details, lights, AP, etc. So my layer count goes up really fast. Plus side of working like this? I can edit tiny things without messing up other things! Downside? WHAT LAYER IS WHICH AGAIN?

As for comics. I may know a site or two you could read them for the less-than-legal way. Alternatively, I think I've got a humble-bundle code for the first 4 volumes that I haven't used. (The end of the 4th volume is a big cliffhanger though.)

Yeah, I can relate to that too. xD I basically spam it until I get a line that looks remotely accurate, and sometimes that means I CTRL Z an actually good line. xD Oops. Yeah, and also it turns sorta pixelly. :c

Oh wow, you do masks for shading? I have no idea how to use masks, other than using them to erase lineart in case I want the lines back. XD Yeah, that's the thing--so many layers = so much chaos! x__x Well at least it gives you great results. :D

Oh I love Humble Bundle! And hey, I won't say no. ;D Ahaha. I did read the Pokemon manga online. x: Oops... XD But I don't have to take your code if you wanna save it for someone. cx

[Neo Emolga]

The title wasn't meant to be self-berating, just silly. If I was going for self-berating, I'd put "Neko's crappy art." or something like that. Failtastic is a silly word in my book and therefore is used in a silly way.

I feel a bit silly, I didn't know you were trying to be humorous about the self-depreciating stuff. Maybe I've come across way too many people that were too self-critical in the past and I'm naturally on the lookout for it. I dunno, maybe it was my mistake, but each time I read it, it seemed like you were serious. Sometimes it's a little hard to detect emotion by just reading. XP

Maybe we just have different styles with how we go about making fun of our own fallacies. And that's totally fine. :P I'm seeing the humor more now and things are looking better.

It's normal, I know that. I'm not one who likes to bother people with VMs/PMs. I always worry about coming off pushy that way. I do use mentions whenever I respond to posts- but I try to minimize the number of mentions I send between posts. That's why I can be slow to respond in this thread- I typically try to make sure I've got new art to post with the mentions. I do have a mention list for PRS stuff, but I forget to use it a lot. And again, I don't want to ping/mention people 5 times in a row and spam their inboxes. My fault there. Either way, I'm well aware activity is low. That's why I don't expect this thread to stay active for extended periods of time. I'm fine with that. I'll just take breaks and come back as I've always done.

I actually love mentions! XD The one time I had like "Notifications: 7," it felt like I struck the jackpot. Felt like a gold mine of PXR love I got to unwrap and check out! X3

I honestly feel most people wouldn't mind the mentions at all. I know I wouldn't, so if you want to start with me, have at it. I'm sure most people wouldn't see your mentions as spam. Quite the contrary, I think most people would love to see what new art you just put up, but sometimes they're not aware of it until they get the heads up.

I'm very guilty of being a lurker. I admit that. Half of it is because I don't know what to say, the other half is I'm afraid to say the wrong thing and upset people. And I'm not one to post "If I review yours, will you review mine" type stuff. Again, I don't want to a bother in that regard. I do need to be better about not lurking.

I've been around for what... years? I'm not well known because of my lurker status and I'm sorta okay with that. Sometimes I wish I'd be more involved with the -planning- of stuff since I far more enjoy making things for people to enjoy than being the one enjoying it (if that makes sense?) but the senior staff don't seem to require any assistance on things, and that's fine. Anyway, the last time I got involved with a community thing it backfired in my face and is why I took a long break. Personal issue more than anything, but I'm still a bit hurt/upset over it. I'm going to be taking it -very- slow about trying to get back into the community as a result- that's why I started with my art thread and PRS. Not that it's been a great start >.> I'm not a very sociable person by nature, though I do like to be social. I just find it very difficult at times and can get a bit discouraged.

But imagine what would happen if we were all like that!

I'll admit, sometimes shyness feels like a shield. But I've come to realize that if I have it up too often, I miss out on too many good things thinking they were bad. And there's been times where I've said the wrong thing or goofed up here and there. It happens. And yeah, there's times when things backfire. It's not fun, but it's really just a matter of getting back up, dusting yourself off, and trying again.

But yeah, when new ideas pop up, don't hesitate to chime in your thoughts. Otherwise everyone else just thinks you don't have anything new to add or that you just don't want to be involved. As for the senior staff, I think the only concern there is activity level. Someone that's known to go on hiatus a lot might not get as much opportunity as opposed to someone that's active on a regular basis. The more you're active on a general basis, the better it looks.

Lurking is like being a spectator. Actually posting, getting involved, and communicating makes you more of a player on the field. I think if you want people to come to you and want you to help with planning, you need to show that drive to get in on stuff by getting involved throughout the community. But if you only lurk (spectate), the coach of the team isn't going to go into the stands and pick out fans to get in on the game. They'll go to the prospects first, the ones that show the drive, enthusiasm, and the skills (and you definitely have the skills!). So don't just be a fan, join the team!

That's all we're saying. Everyone here would love to see you get more out there and join us in all of our enjoyable adventures. We're crazy in a fun and entertaining ways. XD

[Nekomata]

Oh, and I didn't mean it had to do anything with your thread, or title (which is funny btw), I just meant in general since everyone was on topic and from what I knew you did that quite often. I'm glad to see it's not a problem anymore, and I'm sorry if it upset you any, Neko. O:

It's fine. Sorry if I came off harsh... just... I don't know where this all came from. >.> It's frustrating when you're getting a lecture for things you haven't done in ages. (I admit I'm guilty of it at times, but I do try to be better about it.)
@Suicune's Fire

That's fine. Nobody's saying it isn't. xD I'm just letting you know that if you want to get involved, all you have to do is keep an eye out for an event and go for it. I know you tried a community event, as have many other people, and the idea did not go through because of one reason or another, and, like others, it doesn't mean it's your fault. I didn't want you to justify yourself. x)

I have no clue what you're talking about. Threads don't get locked here, like, ever. xD Unless it's spam, the OP's request, or it's a stickied thread like a Rules thread which is closed from when it gets initially posted. I've been in the higher staff for over two years now and I've never seen that happen. xD And nobody has told you "Our way or f off." xD Come on.

I'm not asking for a reason. You said you wanted stuff to do, and I pointed out that there is stuff to do. x) People take leave all the time. I'm just saying, it's still there if you're looking for something to do.

I know no one literally said "Our way or f off", but it essentially can feel like that when you try to offer suggestions, they all get shut down without discussion or ignored entirely cause the project lead or whatever is already so set in their ways. As for the thread locking, I'm referring to WAR. I wrote out a really long detailed idea on suggestions to salvage it for future years. Thread was locked and I recall someone making a really snarky remark along the lines of "If you think you can do it better, then run it yourself next year." You may not see it, but the head staff can be very protective of their ideas and can be quick to shut down discussion at times. Not always, but usually when I try to get involved. My bad luck, perhaps. It's just easier to stay out of things unless you're invited, that way you don't feel like you're not really wanted on the thing.

And then there was that one project that I stupidly got excited for. 8D Aaah... I'm not starting that rant. I'm sure a few people have gotten it already.

I'm not saying this as an attack on the staff- just my experience. I'm sure others have had far better luck than I have.

...I know. xD That's what I said. Hence why I said the topic needs to be dropped. By everyone. I literally said you were getting better, and that Neo may have seen OLD posts. xD

There is none in old posts. I'm still very confused where the heck any of this came from.

Yeah, I can relate to that too. xD I basically spam it until I get a line that looks remotely accurate, and sometimes that means I CTRL Z an actually good line. xD Oops. Yeah, and also it turns sorta pixelly. :c

Oh wow, you do masks for shading? I have no idea how to use masks, other than using them to erase lineart in case I want the lines back. XD Yeah, that's the thing--so many layers = so much chaos! x__x Well at least it gives you great results. :D

Oh I love Humble Bundle! And hey, I won't say no. ;D Ahaha. I did read the Pokemon manga online. x: Oops... XD But I don't have to take your code if you wanna save it for someone. cx

Photoshop is good about rotating things without making them pixely. It may be your art program or some setting that needs to be adjusted.

Masks for shading helps a lot- clipping masks to be more specific. It helps keep the shading on the actual object.

I don't mind giving the code out! It cost me $1- I got it so I could help get new people into the comic since I know it can be quite pricey to catch up. I know there are sites online that have the comic, but it does feel better to support the actual release. I got a handful of them in the last bundle- as many as the site let me pick up, anyway. It may be a while til the next actual sale of the comics at this rate. There's MAYBE one or two a year. xD


@Neo-Emolga

I feel a bit silly, I didn't know you were trying to be humorous about the self-depreciating stuff. Maybe I've come across way too many people that were too self-critical in the past and I'm naturally on the lookout for it. I dunno, maybe it was my mistake, but each time I read it, it seemed like you were serious. Sometimes it's a little hard to detect emotion by just reading. XP

Maybe we just have different styles with how we go about making fun of our own fallacies. And that's totally fine. :P I'm seeing the humor more now and things are looking better.

I guess no one here knows what my humor is like. I like self-depreciating humor. I think we could all stand to make fun of ourselves from time to time, so I practice it. People can be far too serious when it comes to jokes.

I actually love mentions! XD The one time I had like "Notifications: 7," it felt like I struck the jackpot. Felt like a gold mine of PXR love I got to unwrap and check out! X3

I honestly feel most people wouldn't mind the mentions at all. I know I wouldn't, so if you want to start with me, have at it. I'm sure most people wouldn't see your mentions as spam. Quite the contrary, I think most people would love to see what new art you just put up, but sometimes they're not aware of it until they get the heads up.

I still don't like to be a bother. xD I only mention if I'm responding or if I've been requested to. Right now my art thread has no mention list. The PRS thread/s have one- but I forget about it a lot. Whoops. xD

But imagine what would happen if we were all like that!

I'll admit, sometimes shyness feels like a shield. But I've come to realize that if I have it up too often, I miss out on too many good things thinking they were bad. And there's been times where I've said the wrong thing or goofed up here and there. It happens. And yeah, there's times when things backfire. It's not fun, but it's really just a matter of getting back up, dusting yourself off, and trying again.

But yeah, when new ideas pop up, don't hesitate to chime in your thoughts. Otherwise everyone else just thinks you don't have anything new to add or that you just don't want to be involved. As for the senior staff, I think the only concern there is activity level. Someone that's known to go on hiatus a lot might not get as much opportunity as opposed to someone that's active on a regular basis. The more you're active on a general basis, the better it looks.

Lurking is like being a spectator. Actually posting, getting involved, and communicating makes you more of a player on the field. I think if you want people to come to you and want you to help with planning, you need to show that drive to get in on stuff by getting involved throughout the community. But if you only lurk (spectate), the coach of the team isn't going to go into the stands and pick out fans to get in on the game. They'll go to the prospects first, the ones that show the drive, enthusiasm, and the skills (and you definitely have the skills!). So don't just be a fan, join the team!

That's all we're saying. Everyone here would love to see you get more out there and join us in all of our enjoyable adventures. We're crazy in a fun and entertaining ways. XD

I've had trouble getting involved for ages. Partially cause I stress out easily when it comes to social situations- I try though. That's why I'm trying to ease in after a long break this time around. I'm not looking to jump into any major projects at the moment- just to slowly get posting again. Most backfires I can just shrug off with a short break. Some.... hurt. A lot. Those are the ones that cause my longer bouts of inactivity. I'm one to bottle in frustrations cause I hate having to fight/argue. Makes it hard for me to stick around when I'm holding in too much negativity though. Unhealthy, I know.

And I'm a lurker by nature. I've always preferred working behind the scenes to make things fun for others. I don't know, I just find it more enjoyable for me to make other people happy than participating. I'm not sure if that makes sense. Doesn't mean I don't like to participate or won't- I do, I'm just... bad at it. xD My activity levels are sporadic, so I try to avoid taking part in events that require my posting to continue. And then I'm just really bad at knowing what to say in posts. That's why I'm starting slow with the areas I'm comfortable with for the time being. I'll spread out a little more as I get back into the swing of things.

[Trainer17]

THANK YOU. I've got a weird sense of humor, and the title was never meant in any self-berating way. >.>

In response to the rest of the post, I think I've covered my thoughts on that in previous posts. I'm trying to slowly transition back into the swing of things here. >.> WONDERFUL START.



I'm sure you draw backgrounds just fine! xD I'm not so great at them myself- or not as good as I'd like to be- but I'm definitely better than I was in the past. And that's good enough for now. It's just a lot of practice and a lot of reference photos at this point. And maybe selling your soul.... okay- not that last part. xD I find myself incredibly fond of working with strong atmospheric perspectives. I always love the effects you can get with that. I'm happy with my backgrounds lately- when they're not in comic form where I end up rushing them for the sake of "THIS PAGE IS DUE TOMORROW" xD

As for clouds, I don't draw them consistently from piece to piece yet- still working out what method feels best with my overall style. If you pick one of the paintings with clouds I can put together a few process shots of how the clouds were painted. I didn't record any of those, but the way I work usually involves a lot of layers so I'd be able to show the layering at least. Or I could make a quick video tutorial later on (might be a while on that!)




Okay, okay. Please stop. I know when I deserve to be lectured for self-berating- and trust me, I've deserved it PLENTY of times in the past. BUT- I've said NOTHING self-berating in this thread that I can see, let alone in the ONE post I've made in the last several months. I've been relatively happy with my work as of late (as happy as I ever get, anyway) and haven't been hating on my own work in a non-joking manner for a good while. So please stop with the whole self-berating lecture. I'll gladly (and grudgingly) take it when I deserve it, but right now it's just stressing me out because I don't see where this is all coming from. I come back from a several month break from PXR- something I wouldn't do if I wasn't feeling up for the task- and this isn't exactly what I came for.

Next time I AM tearing up my own art in a non-joking manner, by all means feel free to lecture me cause I'll have deserved it. Right now I feel like I'm being scolded in band rehearsal for missing a note at a previous rehearsal despite playing just fine in the current. It may not be the intent of you or Neo, but I can't help but feel a little stressed over it all.



I was on break for several months because of things that happened in... Oh- April? May? My break didn't start until a while after, but that's because I found myself feeling very hurt for an extended period of time and decided a break was needed. I'm still not 100% past some things, but I decided I was gone too long. Long enough to not know what the heck happened with the Birthday thing. Unless it was that one event over the summer in which the mods were told nothing about- then I remember that. I was probably annoyed with that, but mostly cause I'd have loved to include the PRS section for some nonsense. But I've over that.

And again, last times I was proactive and wanted to help with things I was told "Our way or f--- off" (maybe not that harsh, but I'm pretty peeved right now, sorry), I spent ages putting together a thought out post only to have the thread locked before discussion could start, and then there's- .. actually. Not even going to go into the third one cause that's a whole different unrelated rant. Point is, unless I know I've been told I'm actually -wanted- on the project, I want nothing to do with it because trying to force yourself in ends up with resistance, arguing, and unneeded stress. I've tried to get involved with other people's projects, but it hasn't worked out. My section/s are currently to dead to attempt some of my own ideas. I hope to work on getting activity up before attempting those.

And I haven't forgotten tokens. Again. I took a long break for reasons that are still slightly touchy for me. The tokens are... minimally related to this- but I do wish to continue them once my muse returns from the war. And after the grad school applications are in and I can work on fun stuff guilt-free.



Again. There. Has. Been. No. Self. Berating. For. MONTHS. -whines loudly- I've skimmed this ENTIRE thread for it and didn't see any. Why was there ANY reason to bring it up other than some silly thread title- which, let's be real here, I wouldn't have actually used if I really felt that way about my work. I wouldn't have a thread for art if I felt that way. I deleted my old thread because I DID feel that way. Past tense. PAST. MONTHS AGO. Sorry if I'm sounding agitated here, but I am. >.> Again, I'll GLADLY/grudgingly accept this lecture when I've done/said something to deserve it, but I haven't. Not in a long while. Unless I've missed something, there's nowhere in this thread where I state my art is crap in a non-joking manner.




Nope! Lots of ctrl+z is the key! Or if you're really impatient, draw the line horizontal and rotate it. That works too. I try to not do that cause it's faster not to, but whatever works.

Hmm... let's see, typically I'll have each object in an image (or group of very similar objects) as its own base layer. Then each of those layers has at least 4-10 layer masks on them for shading, details, lights, AP, etc. So my layer count goes up really fast. Plus side of working like this? I can edit tiny things without messing up other things! Downside? WHAT LAYER IS WHICH AGAIN?

As for comics. I may know a site or two you could read them for the less-than-legal way. Alternatively, I think I've got a humble-bundle code for the first 4 volumes that I haven't used. (The end of the 4th volume is a big cliffhanger though.)

I'm a huge die-hard fan of your work despite my lazy *** attitude at times. No worries about the tokens as off now. Let me know when you're back to kicking *** and ready to go. I didn't know if you were okay because I remember you told me before hand about hell week and exams and such. I can totally relate to that. No pressure Neko <3



Sent from my SM-G901F using Tapatalk

[Nekomata]

@Trainer17

Thank you! And I wouldn't exactly say I've been 'okay' the last few months. Just harboring some negative feelings that kept me away for a while. Hell week/exams is always a very temporary thing.

Anyway- new art I did to distract myself tonight. Rough night. Also doubles as productivity cause token art.

Plus video process of each. Both took about 30 mins individually.

[Suicune's Fire]

Photoshop is good about rotating things without making them pixely. It may be your art program or some setting that needs to be adjusted.

Masks for shading helps a lot- clipping masks to be more specific. It helps keep the shading on the actual object.

I don't mind giving the code out! It cost me $1- I got it so I could help get new people into the comic since I know it can be quite pricey to catch up. I know there are sites online that have the comic, but it does feel better to support the actual release. I got a handful of them in the last bundle- as many as the site let me pick up, anyway. It may be a while til the next actual sale of the comics at this rate. There's MAYBE one or two a year. xD

I do use Photoshop. o: I am pretty oblivious to many of its features though, despite the fact that I've been using it for like 6+ years. xD Awks. Maybe

I use clipping masks, but that's pretty much it. I learned that from you or Gigi. xD

OOO: Well I'd love to if you want to give it to me. xD You don't have to though. Up to you! Or let me know when they do a Transformers bundle next and I'll buy it myself. cx

[Neo Emolga]

These only take you 30 minutes!?

I have to be doing something wrong, because one little picture takes me HOURS. In any case, these are really awesome and I like the color choices! They definitely stand out and are nicely colorful. :3