PhantomMod's Art Fiesta


#321

“Hips Don’t Lie” starts playing


#322

I started doing the 20 styles thing as a little fun side project, a little refresher

While I’ve experienced impostor syndrome on a few occasions in the past, none have been experienced…to this degree, not after I read some comments after I posted the progress piece elsewhere

and now, I find myself in a difficult spot, especially as I attempted to continue working on the next card and comic. Naturally I tried to just draw how I normally do, but then I remember the comments, and suddenly what I’m trying to create seems so…inferior compared to what I could have been making in the eyes of others.

Yet, it’s not so simple as to just follow the criticisms of others and switch my style entirely according to their vision. This style I’ve made, it’s grown with me for the past 4 years, and it’s an identity I’ve created for myself. To suddenly swap over to another style which arguably looks better, would be to erase a huge portion of that identity I’ve been building up. The art style I try to mimic, doesn’t represent me even though I appreciate it.

So frankly, as a result? I’m lost, I don’t know what to do, I feel like whatever choice I make in this, I’ll either disappoint myself, or you guys.

Either way, I’m…kinda tired in general, with everything that’s happened in the past week outside of this art shenanigans piled on top of family issues. Maybe that’s why I can’t think straight atm.

I’m honestly at my limit here…

…but I’ve made promises. To you guys, to friends, I can’t just abandon them like that, it would be selfish.

Y’know what, I was told to be honest with my feelings rather than bottle them and it ends up snowballing into something worse down the road. I’ll just leave it up here…in case I decide to go on an indefinite hiatus.

I’m sorry if I do go on a hiatus, as that would mean I’d have broken that promise of getting The Realm’s first update and character cards done before Christmas. I don’t want to have to do that, I want to be able to honour that. I only hope this art block phases past fast.


#323

It will bee better to be more self-caring - not selfish - than to give in to the capitalistic ideal of pleasing others.
Seriously, if you feel more comfortable with a style that you like, then you should stick to it. Going out of your comfort zone every once in a while should be a short trip that maybe gives you something newly discovered - a certain style you happen to enjoy, or maybe learn that you don’t like a style at all.
What matters is not the way people react to it, it’s that you’re enjoying yourself while doing it. Feed your creative spark, don’t suppress it for others’ acknowledgement.


#324

A criticism I receive a lot is that I make my eyes too big, and I always ignore it because I love drawing big eyes. I’d rather draw what I like rather than what everyone else likes. Do what you love, and love what you do. Hope ya feel better, Moddy!


#325

Aw big eyes are so cute, too. It’s a shame people don’t like em. But phantom, whatever you do will turn out beautiful and we will love it!


#326

That style fits you, idk what they’re talking about


#327

Being “good” vs having a style aren’t exactly something you can compare apples to apples. Can you improve your style? Perhaps. But it doesn’t mean remove what makes it yours, even if it is an inspiration of another style. Art isn’t samey in the slightest, especially with cartoony characters. That’s what makes them unique. If there was some everlasting race for people to draw “better”, you’d lose sight of what make it yours and just becomes a ratrace to the top.

If they don’t like your style, fuck 'em. If the other styles are so much better, go fucking suck them off instead. They want to bring valid criticism to the table, that’s fine. But this is just being picky for no reason. We all can open an anime-tracing book, but does it make any other difference to the thousands of other animes that follow the same style?


There will probably never be an end to the Quality vs Style debate, but on that hand, you can’t please everyone. What pleases you comes first. You do what you must going forward, but don’t let a couple of snot-nosed shit-for-brains start giving you a jostling. Even if they’re people you might respect; they’re obviously not returning that respect if they’re not even going out to be constructive.

In closing, fuck those guys, they can go jerk it to the other artists if they’re going to be this obtuse about it.


#328

everyone else has said what i wanted to say so here:

duck says moddy style good, doesn’t need to change just because a few people complain about it being wasted potential


#329

no im pretty sure ducks say quack


#330

what if its a swedish duck?


#331

kvack?


#332

I think your style is cool and unique, and it just comes downs to peoples personal preference.


#333

I’m back with additional tips!

an art style isn’t just the thing you naturally do and that’s how it goes down for the rest of time, an art style is also something you can consciously develop if you think another way of doing things looks better than what you’ve got now. this does not mean you should simply drop everything and switch to a different style like what these fuckheads are saying, the key difference is that you should only feel compelled to alter the things you think need adjusting. for example, if you decide you liked the way the eyes turned out on the umbrella drawing, you can take just that element and incorporate it into your normal style, making adjustments where necessary. I believe challenges like these that you’re doing are actually intended to have this sort of effect, it forces you to recreate all these little elements so you can see what they look like when done by you, so you can then reassess your current “default” style if you’ve done something new that you kinda like and want to keep.

I’ve actually done this sort of thing to my own art style several times, I decide I want to try adjusting a particular element and I examine a bunch of reference images of things done in other people’s styles, and I grab the things I like and stick it onto mine. a lot of these changes have been very subtle because my style is so basic, so you might think they’re just from me “getting better at art”, but they were actually conscious choices I made to change something I normally did to something else I thought another person did better. my style is still noticeably mine though despite swiping so many things from different sources and more talented artists.

some of this advice is coming from this video I watched once, specifically parts 3 and 4:

again though, it’s important to only swipe elements you like and not the entire style. that rabbit hole never ends, and you’ll just feel worse about yourself when you inevitably have to switch to yet another style. maybe after 4 years you already understood this on some level in which case I apologize for blathering on about it, but I’ve been drawing for quite some time too and only really got into this sort of approach relatively recently.

also, one last thing I want to point out if it’ll make you feel better:
I am fairly confident that the reason that MS paint commenter feels that way about your MS paint drawing is because of the number of bits on the armor. lots of people have this misconception that more and more bits on something makes it “better”, because it requires more effort or looks more visually complex or something. but little bits like that don’t actually have anything to do with “quality”. I’m willing to bet that guy quite literally does not know what he’s talking about. if you hypothetically recreated the same outfit in your normal style, he’d probably have something different to say. not that you should actually do that, I’m just saying for comparison purposes to try getting across the concept. it’s a concept I’ve noticed in several other people, but haven’t quite had to put into words before. I hope this makes sense.


The General Chat Thread
#334

Thank y’all for the comments and support~ <3

Admittedly I’m still a little dampened and I haven’t been able to draw as well as before, but that’s ok, I’ll still try as always u wub

As for other matters, well, can’t stay sad for too long. Though it’s a lonelier Christmas this year, at least I still have the power to make it special for my sis~


And with that, I say, let’s finally wrap up 2020 with an art summary. But first, random stream header:

W41


Well, that’s quite the art journey, always seems to fly by in a blink of an eye. I’m sure 2021 will have more things in store ahead!

Merry Oryxmas to all~ Let’s try to end 2020 on a good note <3


#335


#336

I don’t really want to write about this again, but I also don’t want to leave everyone in the dark, so I’ll make this a brief update on why there hasn’t been any new posts and lack of replies.


I had a loved one locked up due to substance abuse before Christmas. That was honestly a heavy blow, considering they were my main source of love and encouragement whenever I felt down. I felt so alone, but nevermind that, I slowly picked myself up…

Then right before 2020 ended, I was informed that my dog was diagnosed with skin and bone tumours that are causing him to be quite blind, and would only have a few months to live. I knew he had problems with his skin, but I didn’t know his time would come so soon. I hate it, I feel so hopeless knowing I can’t do anything other than ensure my dog has the best quality of life I could provide for him until he inevitably passes.

Just 3 days ago, the 2nd closest dog I’ve been connected with; my aunt’s dog, was mauled by the mongrel she took in 3 months back. I’ve not met a more cheerful and excited doggo in my life until her, I always recall her scrambling to me whenever I visit and rolling over for tummy pats. And now? I can’t do that ever again. Let’s just say, this picture did not age well at all

Let’s slowly drift away from that and talk about those broken promises. I told myself I wouldn’t be like Artist 1, the one who delayed Wilhuff’s comic until there was no longer any hype for the story. I told myself I would finish those character cards before 2020 ended. Suffice to say, I failed those 2, and I realised that I’m just too unreliable and slow. I could blame it on my family issues, but I’m not here to make excuses, so at the end of the day, that’s on me, and I’m terribly sorry for that…

Lastly, lack of replies. Had a few try to reach out to me on Discord to see if I was ok. I feel the intention there, good intentions. But I recall back when I was completely ok, and whenever you guys texted me, I usually…never replied back immediately, or I’d reply back only in a few days. Why do I do that? I feel I owe an explanation for that delay, but I know that explanation is usually “I read your msg, tabbed out and forgot to reply back until now”, and to me that feels like a pathetic reason, so I end up delaying my response longer, which makes me feel guiltier to the point I just respond back and pray no one asks why I only decided to respond 4 days later.

So for me to come back, just to vent to you guys about my problems, when I never replied back most of the time? I can’t, it makes me feel extremely guilty and “needy”; that I’d only approach you guys whenever I feel like it. That’s why I never responded to the recent replies or vented, I just kind of told myself I deserved this and that it’s just karma doing its job. That’s why I isolated myself.


How do I feel right now? With bad news after bad news, I was just increasingly getting moodier, sad, tired, maybe even a bit of anger at life for throwing me all these in such a short span of time. But now, I don’t feel that anymore, or any emotion really. I just feel hopeless, awaiting the next bad thing to happen, because that’s what’s been happening non-stop for the past <30 days, so why would it ever change? The only reason I haven’t given up entirely is because I still have a younger sister to take care of. It’s the best thing I can do at this point.

Regardless, that’s my update post. If it disappoints or angers you, I’m sorry, I don’t really have much else to say or add on. As for when my next art post comes, I also don’t know, I haven’t felt any motivation to do anything else aside from hopping on for a few minutes of Realm or sleeping the whole day off.


#337

Hey there,

I have been through times like this before - I’d end up staying in bed all day and letting my academic and social life suffer. It led to things like academic probation and loss of friends. I can’t say I’ve had your exact situation happen to me (and we all experience things in different and valid ways) but in my case, the best way to get out of the rut was to do something each day - it didn’t matter what. It doesn’t matter if you fail to reach your goals - it matters that you keep trying.

Each day that we make a non-zero day, that is each day that we try to do something, is a day where we win. Make your bed and brush your teeth? You’ve already accomplished two things that day. In addition, this sounds like a bout of depression to me. You my want to consider seeing a therapist. That, too, has helped me in the past.

Hope you stay well.


#338

oy

remember a few months back when I was ranting about not having the mental energy necessary to draw due to my extremely high workload and stress and you said don’t worry about it you’ll get better soon? the lesson you should take from that is that having bad periods is a normal thing to have so you shouldn’t feel bad about it. we’ve all been there, and not all of us had it as bad as “lose 3 loved ones all in a row”. if you don’t want to draw, don’t draw. come back to it later when you’re less horrifically traumatized.

I have no advice for tackling the depression side of things, my solution to beating my own bout of depression was related to me suppressing my inner raging lesbo which doesn’t seem relevant to your situation. I can say though that you shouldn’t have to worry about “I saw your message, meant to reply, and then forgot” excuse sounding flaky and weak because I’ve done the same thing several times. if you just open up about that next time it happens, the other person will understand and the more times you explain yourself the easier it’ll be to open up about it in the future.

no one “deserves” depression, it’s just another one of the horrible symptoms that make getting out of it really hard.


#339

This occurs with me as well a lot. But from what I’ve had, most of the time…people will accept it.
You shouldn’t be expected to be able to handle everything at once, because you can’t - physically nor mentally.
If you’re feeling guilty because you’re “letting people down” on promises you made, just know that you couldn’t have foreseen any of this. You were in a frankly terrible spot from what you’ve said, and to then hold you accountable for it is just ridiculous.

It’s only needy because you need some sort of social contact from time to time. No one is going to judge you for it, because all we want is to see you healthy, and if that means giving you a space (in this case, a thread) to vent all of these thoughts and events, so be it!

Finally, I have… one small tip for getting out of that slump.
Try to minimize your “zero days”. Get just one tiny thing done each day - it doesn’t have to be a lot. Say, make a milkshake for lunch. Move a few books in your shelf so it looks neater. Make a paper crane. Anything so at the end of the day, you’re able to say “I did something today”.
We’re still here for you.


#340



I don’t want the thread to close while I’m on break Q^Q Have a little…erm…prototype animation~

This isn't really part of a bigger project, just made out of curiosity to see how RotMG characters would look if they were animated with the no parallel pixels rule. It has no rigs or pivots used, so all of the individual parts were manually angled and positioned in each frame in Paint Tool SAI, then processed through an online GIF maker. I've found a potential 2D animation software that comes with rigs and pivots, so I might make more experimental prototypes to test the boundaries... As for my actual art, well, I've drawn some in the past 2 months but haven't really mustered up enough confidence to post them, but they'll come soon, I'm sure of it~

Sprite used:

image