FRENDEN @FRENDEN@mastodon.art

And done. Best Fiends.

I’m seeing a lot of new faces which is rad. Here’s some work to give you an idea of what I like to make.

Hint, monsters. Lots of monsters.

I actively try to make BAD things at the silhouette/thumb stage. It's freeing to say, "I'm going to sit down and purposely draw the worst I can."

It's SO anathema to how you're used to working that your brain and muscle memory for mark making kick in and will not LET you make the worst things possible. It's almost impossible to set outrageously bad drawing as a goal.

Do that a few times and you realize that by giving yourself that initial permission -- no, the dictate -- to make awful things, you actually give yourself the freedom to work at your highest level.

Sketching should never be about the quality of work (unless you're doing a study and not just ideation) but rather about making a record of ideas. And rejecting any idea outright is no bueno. Just let whatever comes out come out.

No one ever has to see it but you. Unless, like me, you show everyone your awful thumbs like an idiot.

I was talking with a pal that's down on their work. It was classic impostor syndrome and I suffer from it too.

The only people with blind faith and utmost confidence in their abilities are crazy or dumb. Just say fuck it and make stuff regardless.

You WANT your taste to outstrip your abilities. That's what's gonna motivate you to get better.

The fact you see things you don't like means you have a good eye and standards. That's a good thing! Just...

...note it, move on, and hope to apply any lessons learned to the next piece.

Look at it this way -- are you gonna fucking quit? No. So, if you aren't gonna quit, the faster you let that go the better. It's just fuel.

And I'm in no way perfect about this. I'm just telling you the things I tell myself to work through it.

One of the greatest things about art as vocation is that the skill ceiling is so high.

My taste CONSTANTLY outstrips my ability and I rush to catch up. Over. And over. And over again.

I hope I'm still learning as long as I'm breathing.

Last of today’s #ttrpg adventure module art. Space at the top for the story info.

Whoooooops. Forgot to add the legs to the foremost insect.

Finished spot illo for a #ttrpg adventure module.

Twenty minutes. I start by inking a loose outline and then just ink more over that. No pencils.

This method is basically me saying I need to trust my instincts and allow myself to be messy and stop polishing things to death.

#ttrpg #osr

Two hours of work (straight to inks) on some adventure module book art. #ttrpg #osr

GOOOOOOBLINS. #OSR #TTRPG

More.

Inks on the iPad. #OSR #ttrpg #art

Drawing some beasts and things for an #OSR #ttrpg adventure module. The last two days of noodling.

I finally found a “dirty” inking #art style that suits me.

#ttrpg #OSR #dnd

I’m doing almost all my finished work on an iPad Pro lately. #ttrpg #art #dnd

‪I lost 100lbs in ten months and have a normal (whatever that means) BMI for the first time since high school. Not bad at 37. Haha. ‬

Power’s out and I have a few deadlines, so I’m arty-ing like it’s 1999.

I just got a Mac for the first time in a few years. Between the iPad Pro being an art device I use daily and recently switching to an iPhone off of Android, it felt inevitable.

I missed using Scrivener natively, so that's a big positive. But I gotta say, iCloud is a thonker. I'll stick to Dropbox.

Is there a single human that uses and likes iCloud?

My kobold monk, Bakon.

#ttrpg #dnd

Shoutout to Steak, my half-elf Warlock that just rolled 6 for the first four of his 4d6 x6, drop lowest, stats.

I usually roll around the standard array, but damn.

#ttrpg

Finally finished this two page spread of #ttrpg #art.

The composition seems a bit funky at a glance, but there's a gutter in the middle.

I usually doodle in the margins of my #TTRPG session notes, occasionally making small doodles on the actual pages too, and this is what I got up to during my Paranoia and Stars Without Number games this week.