Not really.

But I forgot to blog about this last week. Sorry. ^^;;>

Well, what happened last week was that I decided to bite the bullet and buy some figurines or pose dolls(not sure what to call them haha) to serve as my drawing aids.

Why did it take me so many years to decide on buying these stuf, yadda yadda?

It’s because I have a huge complex and I end up self sabotaging myself because of my frugality, lol.

Oh, you need figurines as references for posing? Are you such a noob that you have to rely on them because you don’t have much faith in your skills as an artist? Figurines aren’t even accurate. It’s a crutch. You’re not a real skilled artist if you have to use them.

I’ve been grappling with that toxic mentality that I managed to get over a week ago by getting suggested with these products and suddenly remembering a Manben episode of some professional comic artists actually using figurines as their reference for their works.

I was surprised tbh. It was reassuring seeing all these professional manga artists actually have very messy “UNaesthetically pleasing” workspaces and doing whatever method they prefer. All those rules about having to use a G pen, etc. gets thrown out of the window when you see that these artists have their preferred tools of the trade. One of them just uses mechanical pencil and a micron pen and mentions how her editor didn’t know about those, haha.

I say the series is reassuring because they also don’t give off a wishful thinking vibe at all when it comes to making art. Oftentimes, I get discouraged seeing the workspaces of some artists in social media because they look very neat and appealing and meanwhile, my workspace is….an incoherent mess, haha. _{It’s not exactly what my mum would call a “girl’s desk.” I can say that for sure.} That seeing these pros make a lot of mistakes behind the scene and redoing faces, expressions, etc. is all part of the process and it’s nothing to be ashamed of.

As much as I want making art to look like some “that girl” aesthetic where I would have my hair and makeup done well, wearing a chic outfit, sipping coffee and tea gracefully, and go on my aesthetically pleasing looking desk with all those beautiful plants surrounding it as I draw with such a relaxed expression on my face…..making art look so romantic and so pleasing to the eye……

……it’s not like that at all, haha. (How I wish!)

I know women have this societal pressure to look like they came out of a unicorn’s butthole while doing tedious, messy work including art so I can see why many women artists portray themselves like that on social media. And I can see how the”it girl” or “it artist(?) ” can motivate you to work on your art seeing videos that romanticise art making like that….on a short term basis.

The problem is in the long term, it actually makes you feel worse.

Am I doing this right?Why am I struggling badly, why can’t I look as well put as those artists I see in those videos? Why is my workspace so cluttered unlike theirs?

It gives so many unrealistic expectations to aspiring artists/artists as if making art looks that organised, pleasing and enjoyable when it’s not like that most of the time, let’s be honest, haha. Especially with digital art, it’s mostly staring at your screen for hours alone in the room, haha.

Seeing even the women comic artists in Manben having cluttered desks and looking normal and struggling in some panels when they’re working on their comics, it was refreshing and motivating.

One of my favourite artists, Mateus Urbanowicz has an article in his blog that explains why this wishful thinking in art is destructive for artists. (PS that article is how I found out about the Manben series.)

I went off a tangent again, as always, haha. But I love Mateus’ article about that stuff there so I really recommend for people to read that. (and his other articles about art.)

ANYWAY, back on the topic of figurines,

I was feeling really guilty putting these two figurines in my shopping cart. They were unfortunately, really pricey, like 30 USD each, haha. My frugal arse was nervous af when I clicked “Buy” haha. I mean, think of all the coffee I could afford if I don’t have to spend that much on some plastic figurines. One thing to know about me is I don’t buy anime figurines, haha. Main reason is the space. I don’t have any space to put them anywhere in my room, haha.

But I was encouraged to buy them because they are an investment and they would be useful for my future art/comic projects.

And this took me some time to think it over.

But aren’t there free CSP figurines/poses? You could just use them instead of shelling out a lot of money for these figurines? You can customise their proportions and their height. And they’d be easier because you can directly draw on it when you do digital art.

There is that and yeah, sometimes I use CSP 3d poses but it’s still a different feeling when you have a physical figurine. And sometimes, my computer lags so it’s going to be a pain to load those 3D figurines. It also takes a lot more time to edit the joints on a digital figurine compared to a physical one. A physical one is quicker to customise its joints.

And aha, this is where I can use my proficiency in proportions…..at least the little I have of it since proportions are still my ultimate weakness, haha.

To sum it up, having both digital and physical is beneficial for me, long term.

Here are some photoshoots with my phone that’s…really broken on the screen, haha.

Look at dem phone photography skills, in my cheap mini lightbox, haha. Look Ma, I can finally be a professional photographer…….not.

These are actually poses for my next comic strip. But it’s BL so ignore those bewbs on the fem figurine.

My problem with the male figurine is that he’s too buff. Maybe he’d be a good reference for TKB but not for Michel or Hagi ot any other slender male characters. >.>

Ah well, it’s just about reducing the muscle size, ehe.

I don’t bother with changing the hands. I worry about breaking the figurine haha and well, it’s a minor thing and I know the basics of drawing hands anyway so….