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Some thoughts I've had on my mind
14 years ago
General
I came here, to FA, because I knew I had unusual tastes. What I didn't expect is that I'd be weird even by this place's standards. I just want to get some things off my chest - I'm not judging anyone, or saying I'm fed up with this place or anything like that - it's just that I have some things I want to say. Some observations about myself after almost three years on the site.
1. I'm not interested in bare breasts. Even the "artistic nude" sort. I have no idea where this came from, but that's true of pretty much everything on this list. It's not as strong a revulsion as I have to some other things I'll get to, but there's something - especially about nipples - that makes me go "yuck", regardless of species.
1a. I have no trouble with bare chests, male, female, or otherwise, as long as there are no nipples and the breasts (where applicable) aren't too big. Preferably they're just smooth - not too muscular, not too flabby, not too skinny.
2. I'm also not interested in sex organs of either the male or female variety. Well, more than just "not interested" - it's the easiest way to send me into instant-close-the-window mode. I'm as mystified by this as by #1, but it's definitely a reaction I have. Species doesn't matter, either. It's sad, too, because a lot of the things I'd otherwise really enjoy are marred by this one detail.
3. Less prurient and more just sort of odd, I don't really like paws or claws. It's not as major a thing, but just more of a distaste. I'll draw characters with them, but never as a focus, and I always prefer to give them proper humanoid hands and feet. I honestly have a lot of trouble imagining how claws would be practical - how do you keep from scratching everything up? Wouldn't you just tear through your bedsheets? And so on. The thing is, I'm not that fond of fingernails either, so the answer for now is to keep drawing the sort of featureless blocky fingers I tend to. I imagine this will change over time.
3a. The paw thing is probably more of an overactive need to empathize with characters - to be able to imagine myself in their body and how it would feel - and paws just ruin that. I can't imagine them feeling any way but restrictive and clumsy.
4. The multiple limbs thing ties in a bit with #3a, and with a larger feeling I get here, sort of a combination of frustration and self-loathing that we can't actually be our characters in real life. That's how it is for me, anyway. I have a long-standing difficulty with keeping a "personal" character longer than a few years without it feeling awkward (a topic for another journal entry), but even so, I like to imagine how it would actually feel to be the things I draw. My overactive world-building urges generally turn this into "what would the world need to be like for this to happen", and I also can't help but try to make my characters seem like real people for the same reason.
Daphne, for instance - I know I sort of let her story lapse, but one of the most important things about her personality is that she's determined not to be defined by having two heads. She's not a one-joke flat character who only exists to have a specific body shape. I wanted her story to go this direction - the other kids at Ecliptic would tease her, in the way that kids do, and she'd go through a period of being depressed about how nobody will ever see her as anything but a freak before she finds a mentor (Rryl, from that "Tripping Over Yourself" thing I wrote a while ago).
5. I need to learn a better way to color stuff. My usual methods aren't really cutting it any more for what I want to see. So expect more of that to crop up - experiments with techniques, that kind of thing.
That's all, I think. I ought to use this thing more - it's a good way to get stuff I want to say out there to the right audience.
1. I'm not interested in bare breasts. Even the "artistic nude" sort. I have no idea where this came from, but that's true of pretty much everything on this list. It's not as strong a revulsion as I have to some other things I'll get to, but there's something - especially about nipples - that makes me go "yuck", regardless of species.
1a. I have no trouble with bare chests, male, female, or otherwise, as long as there are no nipples and the breasts (where applicable) aren't too big. Preferably they're just smooth - not too muscular, not too flabby, not too skinny.
2. I'm also not interested in sex organs of either the male or female variety. Well, more than just "not interested" - it's the easiest way to send me into instant-close-the-window mode. I'm as mystified by this as by #1, but it's definitely a reaction I have. Species doesn't matter, either. It's sad, too, because a lot of the things I'd otherwise really enjoy are marred by this one detail.
3. Less prurient and more just sort of odd, I don't really like paws or claws. It's not as major a thing, but just more of a distaste. I'll draw characters with them, but never as a focus, and I always prefer to give them proper humanoid hands and feet. I honestly have a lot of trouble imagining how claws would be practical - how do you keep from scratching everything up? Wouldn't you just tear through your bedsheets? And so on. The thing is, I'm not that fond of fingernails either, so the answer for now is to keep drawing the sort of featureless blocky fingers I tend to. I imagine this will change over time.
3a. The paw thing is probably more of an overactive need to empathize with characters - to be able to imagine myself in their body and how it would feel - and paws just ruin that. I can't imagine them feeling any way but restrictive and clumsy.
4. The multiple limbs thing ties in a bit with #3a, and with a larger feeling I get here, sort of a combination of frustration and self-loathing that we can't actually be our characters in real life. That's how it is for me, anyway. I have a long-standing difficulty with keeping a "personal" character longer than a few years without it feeling awkward (a topic for another journal entry), but even so, I like to imagine how it would actually feel to be the things I draw. My overactive world-building urges generally turn this into "what would the world need to be like for this to happen", and I also can't help but try to make my characters seem like real people for the same reason.
Daphne, for instance - I know I sort of let her story lapse, but one of the most important things about her personality is that she's determined not to be defined by having two heads. She's not a one-joke flat character who only exists to have a specific body shape. I wanted her story to go this direction - the other kids at Ecliptic would tease her, in the way that kids do, and she'd go through a period of being depressed about how nobody will ever see her as anything but a freak before she finds a mentor (Rryl, from that "Tripping Over Yourself" thing I wrote a while ago).
5. I need to learn a better way to color stuff. My usual methods aren't really cutting it any more for what I want to see. So expect more of that to crop up - experiments with techniques, that kind of thing.
That's all, I think. I ought to use this thing more - it's a good way to get stuff I want to say out there to the right audience.
As for 4, your worldbuilding and elaborately fit creature models is what drew me to your art in the first place. I was originally looking for four-armed characters to use as a reference, and when I started reading the descriptions for your art, I was instantly hooked by how much detail you put into a world in which such things would evolve.
With regard to claws and their practicality, I can definitely see where you're coming from. But in my experience with animals, claws really aren't that destructive unless the animal is purposefully trying to destroy something. I'm trying to think back, but I can't recall any instances of major property damage that came as a result of normal wear and tear. And whether it's at home or in the wild, animals seem to get along quite well with clawed limbs. Most things that simply wouldn't work with claws in the way could probably be redesigned to accommodate them. Or just encourage a population to develop certain habits. Claws tearing your bedsheets? Wear gloves and sturdy socks to bed! :)
Concerning your coloring, you should try talking with bunches of other artists and see what they do for their own art. Most would be more than happy to share their techniques with you. :)
Personally I set my content filter to general+mature but no adult. It'd be nice if there were a finer-grained filter, though; I love multibreast stuff but don't care for giant boob-centipede-taurs with dicknipples, for example.
My coloring technique works pretty well for me; the writeup at http://beesbuzz.biz/d/about-the_cre.....on_process.php is laughably outdated but my basic technique hasn't really changed much since then (except that now I do more painterly techniques, especially for shading). The basic flat coloring is pretty quick, in any case.
I color regions using fuzzy select (magic wand) > grow selection by 2 pixels > fill (on layer underneath). It's saved me lots of time.
#4 addendum - I used to keep a fairly constant theme about myself until I started growing tired of the mould, and went on to switch to a different species... then many different species... then start using other colors... and so on and so forth. Blanche as seen here is no longer a thematic vixen but rather an extension of fantasy that can take whatever shape suits my fancy at the moment - technically these forms could each be different characters but for the sake of convenience it's simply easier to say it's just one person who can morph and change. And this way I need to remember only one username and password! Although I adopted the "four arms and classy evening dress" look because it's easier to draw and makes for a good entry-level peek into the world of multiplicity goodness.
Attention to detail is also what draws me in. The pictures are anatomically sound. They do not rely on the camera angle to fit many arms on a single set of apparently flattened shoulders. Things are calculated and planned out such that it is feasible to go around the character (in one's own head) while keeping track of where the limbs are and remain certain of how they are arranged.