You and a couple others have asked me on some insight on how I draw the skelesons. Since I can’t really put it into words…I spent the lat 30 minutes whipping up a quick tutorial. Sorry if it’s not super insightful, it’s just how I go about things. uvu)9
I go about drawing the skeletons a similar way I draw humans. Basically, their basic head shape is what dominates their overall appearance in the end.
Step 1: The shapes Sans starts as a circle and primarily stays that way up to the final product. However, with Papyrus I make him longer to match his sprite a bit more. So his overall shape is an oval with a pointy tip at the bottom where his chin ends.
Step 2: The guidelines Self-explanatory. I use these to know where to put their eyesockets, noseholes and mouths. It also helps me locate where their cheekbones would go, which is basically the next step. I sometimes skip this step since I’ve grown used to drawing them, but for more difficult angles or expressions it definitely helps.
Step 3: the cheeky cheeks I draw San’s “cheeks” the way I would draw a chibi or a child’s. It’s a similar way to how I draw my version of Frisk. Basically, it adds to his roundness and is also pretty reminiscent to his in-game sprite. With Papyrus, though, it takes a bit more realistic approach of how skulls actually look (but still keeping it cartoony.) His cheekbones protrude to the sides and I actually draw his mandible. I also redefine the line where the top of his head would go, trying to not make it too big or bulbous. After the cheekbones, I draw their noses in the middle, where the guidelines intersect, and work my way around from there.
Step 4: Expressions + overall details Expressions for me is the best part and it’s where I have the most fun. Sans is much easier to do since I love drawing big grins and big eyes and I’ve gotten more practice with him. However, Pap is a joy to do too! I use his cheekbones to determine how happy he is and I try to do my best with conveying emotion into his smaller eyes. It’s sometimes a challenge, but it’s fun! 😀
Step 5: mm yes. Then we add the clothes and colours and everything nice. yay. Some notes: I make both of their heads less spherical with the lineart, since…skulls aren’t perfectly round. I try to always draw the same amount of teeth (depends on the expression) Around 4 frontal teeth usually. Sometimes i break my own rules if im doodling lol.
this is my first “tutorial” explanation?? sort of thing, so sorry if I’m bad at explaining! Also, I only did busts, but if more people are curious I can do full-bodies too! or of other characters. idkkkk. Hope it explains something!
Edit: this is just a tutorial I found online. My original post made this clear but it was low quality so I reposted it in higher quality so that I could put it in my art ref tag. I did not realize this post would pick up so many notes and I am not intending to take credit!
Hi! Thanks so much for liking my art! ;w; I’m not quite sure about a full on tutorial since most of the time i don’t quite know what I’m doing (as most of us are lmao)
SO i put on a step by step on my coloring process instead!
I will be using my OC Haru as the test subject. A friend asked me to draw him in this monster hunter headwear (if you’re wondering)
Here we go!
I use the air brush tool and use a new layer with color dodge setting.
I use Clip Studio Paint, so the option is in: Edit >> Tonal Correction >> Tone Curve
aaaaaand you’re done! My coloring is pretty simple
entropyalarm said: When describing embarrassment, blushing is typically used as an indicator. I’m white, but I recognize that darker skin tones shouldn’t show blush the same way as lighter tones. My friend, with medium skin, told me it only shows in her nose and ears, felt more as intense heat radiating from her cheeks than a visible color change. What is your insight on handling blushing? I feel this is especially important for proper portrayal of PoCs in romantic situations.
Anonymous said: You’ve written some great advice for describing black characters, but I was wondering whether you have any advice for describing a black character blushing? I have face blindness, so I’m having a lot of trouble with this. (otherwise I could just look up pictures and describe those) So sorry to bother you!
I’m glad you’ve asked. It bothers me how often I’ve heard “Black people don’t blush” which only seems to be another way to dehumanize Black people (and defeminize Black women) for not possessing this base human reaction, even if it’s not always notably visible.
Everybody blushes. Or rather, can blush. It’s the physical act of blood rushing to the face, ears, and other areas of the body; how visible the output doesn’t dictate whether one blushes or not.
While fairness has its part, I think blushing and how visible it is has a lot to do with the individual (some folks have better blood flow) + the undertones within their skin.
I’m going to steal my undertones chart from the Skin Tone Guide here:
As shown above cool skin colors have undertones that mostly fall under red/pink shades.
I’ve seen dark cool-skinned people with naturally rosy cheeks. I can only imagine when they blush, those reddish undertones are emphasized or brightened.
On the other hand, warm skin is usually in the golden, orange spectrum. Not so much reds. Still that doesn’t mean red coloring doesn’t appear on dark warm skin tones.
I have warm medium skin with golden orange undertones, and I definitely get flushed from extrinsic factors, such as if I exercise hard (I turn a berry-red coloring), plus the winter cold pinkens my nose like Rudolph.
I’ve also had friends call me out on blushing, but I can’t tell you exactly how that looks for I’ve never checked a mirror at the time, though I imagine it’s like a slight tinting or an enrichment of the undertones in the skin, brightening them, paired with a “coral to dark red” reddening.
In general, though, it can be redundant to constantly refer to blushing to show shyness or embarrassment with characters of any skin tone. It seems blushing is one of those things that happen more often in stories than daily life. Kinda like green eyes.
For variety, also consider these indicators:
~Pages from the Emotion Thesaurus, seriously every writer should buy this book 10/10 would recommend.~
To reiterate; dark (cool) skin with red/pink undertones might show blushing more notably than warm skin, as an enhancement of those reddish undertones.
Dark (warm) skin without red undertones, more “richening” of the undertones with pink to dark reddish coloring as an influence, likely depending on how harshly they’re blushing.
In any case; if you’re describing the blushing from the character’s perspective, it makes more sense to focus on heat and sensation.
~Pages from the Emotion Thesaurus, seriously every writer should buy this book 10/10 would recommend.~
To reiterate; dark (cool) skin with red/pink undertones might show blushing more notably than warm skin, as an enhancement of those reddish undertones.Dark (warm) skin without red undertones, more “richening” of the undertones with pink to dark reddish coloring as an influence, likely depending on how harshly they’re blushing.In any case; if you’re describing the blushing from the character’s perspective, it makes more sense to focus on heat and sensation.Followers, any personal experiences or thoughts?~Mod Colette
AngelMihe 