Dannychai1617 - DANNY CHAI

(i apologize for any formatting issues, im on mobile)

this took a few weeks of drawing on and off to finally finish, since the paper is i believe about 3 x 2 feet

i used a mechanical pencil for the sketch, which might have been the most time consuming part. in the sketch i messed up the perspective and proportion while trying to make it more dynamic, which i had to fix when i did the lineart (with tombow ink pens).

i did the shading in only a couple hours using greyscale alcohol markers. i didn't use the reference image for the shadows, because i wanted to be particular about the lighting

the final piece is still a slightly different angle than the original photo (of the Canterbury Cathedral, found on Britannica), and while it was on purpose, i still need more practice with the execution

round, skittering, and meaty, it can't get any better than this

Congratulations, youre body has taken on a new form! Spin this wheel three times. These words describe your new body

this is super helpful!! I've been trying to figure out how to stay on top of the news without getting facebook or twitter.

If you live in the US and want a way to follow good non-right wing news for free, consider:

Subscribing to PBS News on YouTube (they have a news hour every night/half hour on weekends, broken up into smaller consumable segments. Sometimes they live stream national events like the inauguration. You don't have to watch it all, but pick and choose what to watch & when. Like, say, only watching the half hour weekend segments).

Subscribing to NPR News on whatever podcast app you have (they do 5-minute news updates throughout the day; you usually only need to listen to it 1x/day to get highlights).

Subscribe to nonprofit investigative online news source ProPublica; you can sign up for either daily, weekly, or top news stories sent to your email. You can also follow them on sm.

Okay this one isn't free, but if you have any extra money, don't underestimate how important or endangered local newspapers are. Subscribe if you can. Some papers will also send you short summaries if you're a subscriber, and you can also follow local papers on social media.

Remember that just generally getting deluged with news on social media is not good for your mental health, and is much more susceptible to misinformation or propaganda. Getting news online works best when it's supplemental to verified news sources; usually as grassroots, on-the-ground info from people you know and trust who are living out a certain experience.

You can keep a particular online space "safe" from politics without hurting anything, provided you make routine space for good, responsible news in your schedule.

AND that you make sure to follow a diverse group of people and support their inclusion in that space, even if you're online for a niche interest (in almost any online hobby, there are lots of people who are not at all the same class, race, ethnicity, gender identity, from the same place, etc, etc). Honor, protect, and value a wide variety of voices even in your online hobbyist spaces, while also making regular time for real news? You'll find yourself with a decent snapshot of information from both the top down and the bottom up about how the world works and is impacting a wide variety of people.

Without feeling like you have to absorb/respond to everything happening every single moment of every day. For the next 4 years

cowboys

two of my newest OCs,

this was my second attempt at this piece! the first didn't turn out how i hoped because i tried using chalk pastels for the first time in a while and i made a few mistakes

for this, i used sepia-toned alcohol markers and ink pens for the lineart and woodgrain

"Message to all Americans" / "Why don't Americans just..." / "How are all Americans this stupid" / "The thing I wish Americans knew..."

Please god please we know we see it we're feeling it we're living it

We see the horrific things happening in the world, we see the horrifically stupid things happening within our own country, we understand that we're not the only country in the world. We're not deluded, we're scared. So many of us are scared. We recognize that there are other people who are scared in the world, and we're scared with them. For them. For ourselves. Angry, too.

I don't know what I'm trying to get at with this. I know too many good activists and too many real, living people whose lives are going to be in real, tangible danger and at jeopardy over the next few years to be able to just brush all this off anymore. I'm not talking about online discourse, stop treating it like it is.

ART PROGRESS:

lineart improvement from September 2023 to March 2024 (6 month difference)

i used the same ink pen for both of these (Tombow black brush pen)

i have become more patient with my lineart, and while this isn't an exact comparison (straight geometric lines vs. curved organic lines), i do think my line work looks more smooth and precise. the hatching has also improved drastically as i allow myself more time to consider each line. lastly, I'm leaning more into line weight, using thin lines for shading and details, and thick lines for emphasis and parts of the drawing that are "closer" to the viewer

portrait studies - the first is Hugh Dancy and the second is a photo of a man i found on Pinterest, but I'm not familiar with him. i did these using Krita, a pencil for the sketch, and a simple marker type brush for the coloring, with the color palette in the top left

trying out painting on a sleeveless tshirt

i used regular acrylic paints mixed with "gac 900 golden fabric medium", and I'm heat setting it today by ironing it

BEGINNERS GUIDE TO BLUESKY

Hiya! Curious about joining bluesky but intimidated by all the features? Already on bluesky but want to learn more? Then welcome to my quick guide on getting started and navigating bluesky!~

What is Bluesky?

it’s a social media site that’s owned by no single person or company. it's aim is to bring back the early days of twitter before bots, elon musk or algorithms took over. Personally I find the site really cozy, wholesome, and engaging. my Bluesky account for example

What’s unique about Bluesky?

→ CUSTOMIZATION: ‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎your timeline is very easy to control. There’s tons of options, so be sure to go through each tab in your settings. some options include: turning off autoplay, changing the order in which threaded replies show, changing DM settings, content preferences and lots of visual app settings.

→ MODERATION LISTS: human made, mass blocklists. These are public lists of accounts that when you subscribe to you automatically block or mute everyone in that specific blocklist. A great way to avoid unwanted content, and interactions. ✦ Moderation lists I recommend will be below the cut

→ STARTER PACKS: recommendation lists on who to follow, made by users. You can even curate your own starter pack of recommendations! ✦ Starter pack recommendations will be below the cut

→ FEEDS: public timelines, basically. There are a lot of feeds you can join, or you can even create your own. I made a feed featuring just my pixel art so it doesn’t get cluttered with text posts or other photos in my media tab. ✦ I’ll post feeds I recommend below and link you to a tutorial on how to create your own feed

→ BLOCKING/MUTING: bluesky has a great blocking system. When you block someone they can no longer see, or interact with you. They also have a feature to make your blog inaccessible unless logged in. you can also mute specific people, delete post replies, and even detach your post from a reblog. You can also mute specific words, phrases, tags etc.

→ NSFW: bluesky allows NSFW content, including artwork, porn, lewds etc. They also have a great moderation page to avoid the content completely, censor the content, or show it if you’d wish. ✦ just go to settings > moderation > toggle on NSFW settings and it’ll let you heavily moderate.

→ LABELS: this is a really cool feature on the site, you can subscribe to certain pages that enable a lot of fun/useful labels that help you in different ways! (like pronoun tags, artist tags etc) ✦ Labels to browse will be posted below

→ COMMUNITIES: the vastly diverse communities really feel like the best parts of tumblr. since you can so heavily curate your experience, it can really feel like a calming oasis. Mine is mostly artists, and other creatives.

there’s also a large community of professional artists, art directors, authors, celebrities, and even the best shitposters from twitter. the app really is what you make of it but it’s thriving right now.

RECOMMENDATIONS & LINKS BELOW ⬎

→ MODERATION LISTS:

HATE SPEECH: NAZIS | MAGA | MAGAv2 | MAGAv3 | TRANSPHOBES & HOMOPHOBES | FAR RIGHT | FAR RIGHTv2 | FAR RIGHTv3 | ELON MUSK FANBOYS | ANTI-BLACK | ANTI-VAX

NFT/AI/CRYPTO: MASTERLIST | AI/NFT | AI/NFTv2 | AI FANBOYS | CRYPTO | NFTs

SPAM/SCAMMERS: SPAMBOTS | BOTS | CONTENT SCRAPERS | CONTENT FARMING

✦ to block or mute everyone in the blocklist at once, click subscribe in the top right corner:

→ STARTER PACKS:

ART: PIXEL ART | PIXEL ARTv2 | WOMEN OF PIXEL ART | BADASS DIGITAL ARTISTS | MAGIC THE GATHERING ARTIST | PAINTERS OF BLUESKY | INDIE COMIC CREATORS | LGBTQIA+ COMIC CREATORS

GENERAL: WOMEN OF BSKY | AUTHORS | LGBTQ NEWS

SHITPOSTERS: JUNIPER | JUNIPERv2 | MASTERLIST | SCIENCE SHITPOSTERS

✦ for more niche starter packs, use the search function. search your specific interest and ‘starter pack’ and you’ll find some!

→ FEEDS:

DISCOVER | WHATS TRENDING | MENTIONS | ART | TRENDING ART

THE GRAM: a timeline for exclusively image posts from those you follow. no textposts etc. ONLYPOST: similar to the gram, it shows a timeline of only those you follow. no reposts, just original posts. 📌: a way to bookmark posts. just reply with the pin emoji.

✦ there’s tons of others feeds as well! just use the feed tab and you can browse feeds or search for specific ones.

✦ TUTORIAL ON HOW TO CREATE A CUSTOM FEED FOR YOUR ART/POSTS

→ LABELS:

SKYWATCH: most popular label. Lots of useful labels!

AI Labels: identifies AI users, can also enable hiding the posters.

Pronouns: self explanatory but useful. can add a badge with your pronouns!

✦ you can search for additional label bots on bluesky!

OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS:

✦ EXPIRIENCE ENHANCING TOOLS RECS ✦ CLEARSKY: TRACK BLOCKS AND BLOCKLISTS ✦ SKYFEED: CREATE CUSTOM FEEDS EASILY ✦ use the block function often. do not entertain trolls or hate speech. ✦ as well as starter packs, there’s also lists! lists can be used in the same way to create curated lists of accounts. it’s a good way to keep track of specific genres of posters you’re interested in, and finding new ones! ✦ hashtags: use them! they’re beneficial in boosting your post. you can even link hashtags in your bio making you easier to find. another method of making you more visible is if you post an ‘interest’ post! basically just type things you’re interested in and it’ll help people find you / vice versa ! ✦ update your profile first thing, like bio avi etc. make a small post so people know you're real. interact and engage! the communities there are so welcoming!

I think that covers abt everything i wanted to cover! Hope this was helpful and thanks for reading lol