— AAOC Times #86.

⠀ ⠀› 〉 Tsu is presenting...

⠀ ⠀ ⠀   › 〉 AAOC TIMES #86 !!

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Hello hello AAOC! Welcome to the 86th edition of AAOC Times. AAOC Times is a department dedicated in writing helpful advice articles, bring you all the latest AAOC news, fantastic artist features and more to come.

Let's hop in!

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⠀ ⠀        ││ TABLE OF CONTENTS :

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⠀ ⠀        ││ 01) Feature of the Week

⠀ ⠀        ││ 02) Art Advice Column

⠀ ⠀        ││ 03) Staff and Squad News

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presented by Peacharie.

      :shaved_ice: ⇆ FOTW . · . ❜

      ◌ ◌ :: feature of the week ↴

      ⺌ AAOC Times :dango:

      ៹ Cappa ╱╱ :cake:

      。。。 Peacharie :: :bouquet:

      *ﾟ ﾟ･ ✧.｡. *. •.°*ﾟ

     ┊┊┊┊ ➶ :ice_cream: ｡˚ ✧

     ┊┊┊ :icecream: ⁺    ⁺.

     ┊┊ :love_letter: ͎. ｡˚ °

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     ┊ ➶ ｡˚

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⌣⌣⌣⌣⌣⌣⌣⌣⌣⌣⌣⌣

-ˋˏ ┊ ｡ﾟ･

🥮

• ˖ ࣪𖦆 ˓ 🥛 ★ ﹆ׂׂ ˖ ◗ ᥫ᭡ ˖ ࣪ ‹ 𖥔 ࣪ ˖ ぅ ་ ᳝ ◝ 𖥻

Hello everyone and welcome to a brand new Feature of the Week article! Today we will be interviewing “The Drunkards”!

• ˖ ࣪𖦆 ˓ ★ ﹆ׂׂ ˖ ◗ ᥫ᭡ ˖ ࣪ ‹ 𖥔 ࣪ ˖ :oden: ぅ ་ ᳝ ◝ 𖥻

⌢⌢⌢⌢⌢⌢⌢⌢⌢⌢⌢⌢

Bold: Peacharie (Interviewer)

Normal: Cappa (Artist)

⌣⌣⌣⌣⌣⌣⌣⌣⌣⌣⌣⌣

-ˋˏ ┊ ｡ﾟ･

🥮

• ˖ ࣪𖦆 ˓ :fish_cake: ★ ﹆ׂׂ ˖ ◗ ᥫ᭡ ˖ ࣪ ‹ 𖥔 ࣪ ˖ ぅ ་ ᳝ ◝ 𖥻

-ˋˏ 1. What inspired you to draw this piece? ❜

Ironically I was going through art block so I drew this. I usually draw original characters and do character design, but I’ve been so uninspired that I had to find something to draw that I had a clear idea of what it would look like. And I’m taking art history right now too, which takes up way too much time in my schedule so it somewhat inspired me.

:shaved_ice: ⇆ . · . ❜

-ˋˏ 2. How did you choose the characters? ❜

I chose the Monstadt characters because the title and subject were about musicians. I knew I had to draw Venti to be the one playing the instrument. There was also a character picking grapes that seemed more distant from the rest, so I thought that Diluc - the man who hates wine but loves grape juice- fits that role perfectly. At this point, I knew I had an image of not musically talented people as a group but a group of Drunkards, thus a play on the original piece’s name “The Musicians” and I knew Albedo and Aether would be roped into Venti’s drinking tendencies. Originally I debated about choosing Albedo instead of Aether but I can’t see him as a drunkard and honestly he would be the one painting them drunk. Aether and Kaeya’s positioning in this piece was based off of an elimination process - I just thought that the expression on the third character wouldn’t suit Kaeya so I just chose Aether.

:dango: ⇆ . · . ❜

-ˋˏ 3. What is your favorite thing about the piece? ❜

My favourite thing about this piece is most definitely the folds in the clothes. I’ve always loved drawing clothes, but more so recently as I’ve been invested in fashion (which you might notice in my recent works) so I spent a long time on them and it turned out nicely.

:fish_cake: ⇆ . · . ❜

-ˋˏ 4. What do you think you could improve on? ❜

There’s so much I could improve on. First is the background, I did that in a rush because at that point I had untouched assignments piling up and I really didn’t have the patience to finish it. I also didn’t touch up on all of their hair (Venti’s I put slightly more effort in because he’s pretty). Normally I draw really glossy flowing hair. But also normally I just draw girls so maybe that’s why I didn’t paint the characters’ hair with much love?

:shaved_ice: ⇆ . · . ❜

-ˋˏ 5. Would you change anything? ❜

There’s not much that I would want to change. At least not right now. The only thing I want to change would be the hair and it’s details. I also wanted to experiment with my usual style, which is usually more vibrant and there’s more details that creates shines and sparkles. I was too scared to do it though because 1) my patience was running out and 2) I was worried that it would look too out of place and weird because of such contrasting art styles. I did add some very subtle elements of my personal colouring style however.

But yeh, give it a week or more and I probably would want to change this whole thing and never want to look at this piece ever again.

:dango: ⇆ . · . ❜

-ˋˏ 6. How did you come up with the idea? ❜

I came up with this idea because it’s quarantine and my daily life consisted of art history and Genshin Impact. The way I memorize history is to retell everything to myself in an interesting way. So I was learning about the Rococo style, which features frivolous aristocrat life and I thought it would be funny to draw Genshin impact characters as frivolous aristocrats. But there wasn’t really a painting in the Rococo style that struck out to me, and personally, I loved Caravaggio’s artworks so I ended up drawing them as one of his artworks.

:fish_cake: ⇆ . · . ❜

-ˋˏ 7. Any tips for the AAOC Amino community? ❜

I can’t provide much advice because everyone has different learning methods and such but I can tell you guys what worked for me.

1) Never be satisfied. There’s a difference between being pleased with your progress and being blinded. Some people might argue with me, but honestly I think that mentality of never being satisfied is what pushed me. I wouldn’t be satisfied with hair, I dedicate my time to studying how hair curls. I wouldn’t be satisfied with my colouring method, I study colour theory. I would think my art is too plain with just a character, I learn background art etc. There’s always room for improvement. Even if you are satisfied with your new work, always look for things to improve on.

2)Study real life references. I know, I started art with creating knockoffs of anime characters because honestly I was only interested in drawing anime characters. But by studying real anatomy, clothes, and hair, it really helps you understand and breakdown how they work before you can exaggerate them. I’m not saying to throw away your ion for anime art, but quick cafe figure drawings of real people can quickly help you improve anatomy and the natural posing of people.

3) Stop asking artists for brushes and step by step tutorial, then copying their process. Sometimes they work but sometimes they don’t, which in my case they don’t. A lot of people use procreate and it works for them. But it doesn’t work for me because I don’t like they’re blending and etc. Find and experiment first with what you like before recreating similar effects with what you’re comfortable with.

4) Some types of tracing is okay. You can trace anatomy or textures like fur because it’s more efficient and you can’t claim a person’s pose or texture.But tracing an entire artwork and only changing colourings, stealing someone’s design and calling it your own, is not okay. Just make sure you differentiate between them. But otherwise tracing anatomy helps if you’re just learning anatomy.

• ˖ ࣪𖦆 ˓ ★ ﹆ׂׂ ˖ ◗ ᥫ᭡ ˖ ࣪ ‹ 𖥔 ࣪ ˖ 🧁ぅ ་ ᳝ ◝ 𖥻

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• ˖ ࣪𖦆 ˓ ★ ﹆ׂׂ ˖ ◗ ᥫ᭡ ˖ ࣪ ‹ 𖥔 ࣪ ˖ :icecream: ぅ ་ ᳝ ◝ 𖥻

This is the end of this week’s FOTW! Thank you so much Cappa for your amazing answers and your stunning piece! to send some love to them on the comments and on their blog! Thank you all for reading, I hope you all liked this article and that you have an amazing week! Bye bye :two_hearts:

• ˖ ࣪𖦆 ˓ 🥧 ★ ﹆ׂׂ ˖ ◗ ᥫ᭡ ˖ ࣪ ‹ 𖥔 ࣪ ˖ぅ ་ ᳝ ◝ 𖥻

-ˋˏ ┊ ｡ﾟ･

:cake:

presented by HarakeeArt.

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✧*̥˚ !! Hello Hello !! *̥˚✧

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I’m Harakee! I’m here to bring you this week's Art Advice Column!

Where you can ask your art related questions and we do our best to give our advice.

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆ ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆ ｡･:*:

The first question for this week is asked by

✧*̥˚galactic_bagel*̥˚✧

who asked

“How do I stop comparing my art to others?”

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆ ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆ ｡･:*:

This is a good question and one that a lot of artists struggle with throughout their artistic journey. Comparing your artwork to others can cause a lot of insecurity in yourself and your art, and it’s hard to overcome.

One thing I enjoy personally doing when I feel a bit down on my own artwork is to remind myself how far I’ve come. So I’ll dust off my old artwork and instead compare where I came from, to where I am now. That helps to encourage you to know “I’m improving and I’ve come a long way.” I’ll even go as far as finding an older piece that inspires me and I’ll redraw it. Just to give myself an added ego boost. that the artists you’re comparing yourself to were also once at level 0 and are working to improve their art every day, the same way you are.

Another thing you can try is when you catch yourself comparing your artwork to theirs is to change your mindset. Instead of saying “Their artwork is so much better than mine,” Instead become inspired. It’s easier said than done, since a mindset can’t change in a day. However, the more you catch yourself comparing your artwork, the easier it’ll be. So when you see these artworks try conducting an art study! Take their piece and study what exactly it is about that piece that makes you want to do better. When you channel the insecurity into inspiration then you are changing it from being unproductive to productive.

No matter where you are in your art journey, whether you are a beginner or a professional, comparing your artwork to others is always something that we, as artists, will struggle with. It’s about what you do with it that can make a difference. Instead of comparing, become inspired. I hope this helps!

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆ ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆ ｡･:*:

The second question for this week is asked by

✧*̥˚Madrigal*̥˚✧

who asked

“How should we go about transitioning from a realistic style to a more stylised one? What I mean is, how can we start making characters with non-realistic features when we've never done that before and haven't ever used a stylisation method... I feel like a lot of people struggle with "fixing their anatomy" on their stylised Ocs or something but I haven't heard much advice from people who actually want to start stylising.”

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆ ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆ ｡･:*:

This is a really interesting question! Transitioning from any style to another is difficult, but especially if it’s from realism to a stylized style. So hopefully I can give you some helpful tips!

I would say start off by finding the direction you want to go with your style. Go on instagram and find artists that spark your interest with their style and start collecting names and saving different pieces from artists that make you go “Yes yes, I like this! I want to draw like this!”

Once you have these different pieces and artists in mind, start to conduct art studies. Pinpoint what it is about those different styles that you like and start mashing them together.

You like this artist's line art but this artist draws cool eyes? This artist can draw women really well but the way this artist draws men's faces is *chef kiss*

Start playing mash up and see where it goes. If mashing them up is too much then just stick to one artist at a time. Soon you’ll start to figure out what works together, what you like, what helps to create your vision.

Also, that it’s okay to have multiple styles if you’re struggling to stick with just one. Experiment, go outside of your comfort zone, mess with different brushes, pens, color palettes, etc. And just see what works for you.

Your art style is already there. You as an artist already have deep within your brain where you’ll go because you are your own style. It’s just a matter of practice, studying art, and finding that style in your own time. And It’ll probably take a long time to find, and that’s okay. I hope this helped!

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆ ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆ ｡･:*:

That's it for this week! If you want to know where and how you ask your art related questions then please refer to the wiki here

AAOC Times Advice wiki

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presented by Tsu.

STAFF AND SQUAD NEWS

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Hello hello everyone!! My name is Tsu and welcome to the news section. Today, I will be bringing you AAOC's latest scoops about the community!!

Hope you'll give them a read ♡

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— CHALLENGES.

• Kitchen Chaos - Mid-Month Staff Challenge

Are you hungry for a new, refreshing challenge? Craving new tastes of a fun and interesting prompt? Well look no further than our mid-month staff challenge! The task is to create a character out of a food or beverage you hate and find absolutely horrid. Give it a try and , bring the lamb sauce!

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— PENDING.

• AAOC Times Applications

Well well well, if it isn't the applications for AAOC Times (us!). The applications recently closed their doors and the leaders of the department are in the process of picking the best candidates. Keep a close eye on the feature page for the results if you've applied!

• Chaperone Applications

Our community's lovely Chaperones help monitor the chats, and keep them safe and fun for everyone. They have closed their applications and are in the process of selecting their newly recruited. Make sure to check the front page for the results if you chose to apply!

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— RESULTS.

• Wordsmith Challenge Results

The month is coming close to an end and we have our monthly challenge results out. We hope the participants had fun with this challenge and congratulate the winners! Everyone's entries were fantastic and splendid, great job!

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That's all for this week's news. Thanks for reading.

Hope you all are doing great this month! <3

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That concludes for the 86th edition of AAOC Times! Hope you all had a fun time reading through it and checking them out.

This is Tsu, g out. Toodles <3

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