Quote Originally Posted by Speed-X View Post
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.

Quote Originally Posted by Lunar Latias View Post
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.

Quote Originally Posted by Suicune's Fire View Post
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.)