https://kradeelav.com/diary/tegalog.cgi ja Copyright 2026 Fri, 10 Apr 2026 21:40:41 +0900 Powered by てがろぐ Ver 4.2.0 ]]> bsky thread of mine:

i've already shown this to the doujin circle, but seeing the final shop visits for the latest comic campaign per incoming domain is *fascinating*. here's the breakdown:

    bsky --------- 830
    itchio -------- 155
    kradeelav.com 115
    tumblr ------- 90
    google ------ 25
    dreamwidth - 9
    other -------- 4

a few notes:

*there was roughly equal marketing on bsky/kradeelav.com/tumblr/(mastodon!baraag).

*kradeelav.com being above tumblr (solidly no3!) shows you the power of personal websites, doesnt it?

*itchio's visits started slow but then ramped up when the comic hit the front page for a few tags.

this whole campaign was not profit focused in the least (the slim $$ after shipping/printing is mentally sorted as "seed money" for future doujin), but broad data like this is still useful for estimating where to focus for pre-orders to save on mental energy. work smarter, not harder.

why the transparency?

indie doujin/comics is horrifically niche and opaque money-wise with a lot of headwinds (to use a corporatism) right now. i don't believe in competition with your peers. i really don't. the more mental pain i can erase for somebody through knowledge sharing is a net benefit. -- Posted by 名無し 〔1252文字〕 No.351 ]]> https://kradeelav.com/diary/tegalog.cgi?postid=351 https://kradeelav.com/diary/tegalog.cgi?postid=351 resource Sun, 13 Jul 2025 21:17:14 +0900
preface: it took me at least a year to figure this process out; but once when you've figured out the system & a template, it's smooth sailing. let's use this finished spread from the selfship comic last year to go through the process:



i'm going to assume a certian level of digital program proficiency (knowing what layers are, having a general idea of what vector vs raster graphics are, etc) since otherwise this post would be a book. rest of the post under the cut; this one's going to be a long one as is.

（READ MORE） -- Posted by 名無し 〔4742文字〕 No.312 ]]> https://kradeelav.com/diary/tegalog.cgi?postid=312 https://kradeelav.com/diary/tegalog.cgi?postid=312 resource Fri, 21 Feb 2025 00:02:35 +0900 （READ MORE） -- Posted by 名無し 〔2504文字〕 No.282 ]]> https://kradeelav.com/diary/tegalog.cgi?postid=282 https://kradeelav.com/diary/tegalog.cgi?postid=282 resource Tue, 03 Sep 2024 00:08:35 +0900 Not sure if this has been asked before but: do u have any advice for drawing old men?
-Asked by holdinglines

KRAD: Appreciate you asking, this post would be most relevant there ~ I also did two artbook reviews covering JP-styled ossans, if that’s the specific angle you’re looking for.

Otherwise good ol’ observation, practice, and dignity goes a long way.
（READ MORE） -- Posted by 名無し 〔1871文字〕 No.281 ]]> https://kradeelav.com/diary/tegalog.cgi?postid=281 https://kradeelav.com/diary/tegalog.cgi?postid=281 resource Tue, 03 Sep 2024 00:07:45 +0900 ANONYMOUS: What are your favorite brushes?

KRAD: Ha, you timed that well as I was considering making a ‘what tools do I use’ post. information wants to be free and all of that ~

    Before I get into specific brushes, I need to mention hardware. Two years ago i switched permanently to linux (Ubuntu distro), via a system76 laptop . Linux isn’t for the tech-fainthearted, but if you hav a passion for playing with computers and are feeling increasingly constricted with the subscription BS that mac/win is pushing, consider giving it a trial run.
（READ MORE） -- Posted by 名無し 〔2074文字〕 No.280 ]]> https://kradeelav.com/diary/tegalog.cgi?postid=280 https://kradeelav.com/diary/tegalog.cgi?postid=280 resource Tue, 03 Sep 2024 00:04:35 +0900 -- Posted by 名無し 〔165文字〕 No.273 ]]> https://kradeelav.com/diary/tegalog.cgi?postid=273 https://kradeelav.com/diary/tegalog.cgi?postid=273 resource Mon, 02 Sep 2024 21:02:36 +0900 #fefates gunter/corrin 120k fanfiction, your ruin, my ruin



here's the step-by-step cover progress for the curious, under the cut!
 
（READ MORE）
-- Posted by 名無し 〔8457文字〕 No.267 ]]> https://kradeelav.com/diary/tegalog.cgi?postid=267 https://kradeelav.com/diary/tegalog.cgi?postid=267 resource Mon, 02 Sep 2024 20:25:58 +0900
you don’t have to post it, but make it for the love of god.

I’m serious, by the way, and it doesn’t matter what kind of dynamic you’re imagining, either.

if it’s platonic or familial– play with the body language. does your favorite’s body language change around you versus other people? if they’re a villain, how would they relax in that sense of privacy versus in the public or “keeping the face”? what are the gestures you’d draw for both of you talking? do they touch their face while talking? how would you draw yourself leaning in with attention?

if it’s romantic– how do you draw them relaxing in the space with you, and/or vice versa? if they give comfort with tactile quality, how would they give a hug, and how does the overlapping forms of the bodies interact on paper? how do you draw longing vs satisfaction, and playing with the distance of space of both?

(and yes, if it’s sexual– what kind of kinks have you always hidden away? what’s the shit you can’t imagine poking at with a stick in daylight or in reality? how would you render the textural implements of fetish items? how does the anatomy work in 3D/perspective/the space itself? how do you draw the raw tension lines of intimacy to the point you “feel” the intimacy and/or it feels believable? how do you convincingly portray shyness or lust?)

this exercise, for lack of a better word, also has a funny but cool side effect of letting you play with how you want to present yourself too. are you not feeling your own shape language? change it up! want to wear the clothes you’ve always felt a little too scared to put on? want to play drag? use this chance to study how clothes look, how to render the tactile quality of fabric, what makes silk feel different than leather, how would you draw confidence in a person?

how would you erase the idea of artistic shame in your vocabulary? -- Posted by 名無し 〔2148文字〕 No.255 ]]> https://kradeelav.com/diary/tegalog.cgi?postid=255 https://kradeelav.com/diary/tegalog.cgi?postid=255 resource Mon, 02 Sep 2024 19:30:47 +0900
    (a) figure out an efficient process for professional multi-page artistic works in linux/true OSS programs - from ideation all the way to printer hand-off.
    (b) and a process that fit well with my brain and kept me from spinning my wheels endlessly redoing pages. it’s a common problem with longer projects (aka why you see reboots of webcomics all the time, and also why i haven’t been able to get “what greater sin” out for three years cuz i sucked at this lol).

why the focus on process though?
（READ MORE） -- Posted by 名無し 〔6352文字〕 No.247 ]]> https://kradeelav.com/diary/tegalog.cgi?postid=247 https://kradeelav.com/diary/tegalog.cgi?postid=247 resource Mon, 02 Sep 2024 17:29:36 +0900
* morpho’s skin + fat book is an invaluable reader for an easily-digested anatomy study. here’s that book plus a few others. please support the author if you can.

* like other naturalistic carbon life forms in nature, lines don’t have to be perfect. (personally i find tiktok-standard young people the hardest ones to draw because if you draw a line with the eye a smidge off, it looks weird. old people, you got a lot of forgiveness in them lines. hell, multiple lines just look good as wrinkles.)

*fleshy things sag, and they always sag towards gravity (down). if you had to pick three major areas to draw, the bit under people’s chin, the tits (unisex), and the belly are generally the main three.

* a cluster of wrinkles tend to pop up in joints that bend a lot, notably knuckles, elbows, and knees. those same joints have a habit of enlarging, whether due to inflammation, or the surrounding muscle wasting away a bit.

* you move real slowly and your range of motion is a lot more limited because joints hurt in particular. (aka your hands/elbows/neck/shoulders can’t reach shit they used to.) old people’ll often have canes/back-scratchers/etc discretely within range to help with this, to almost act as a limb-extender.

* with necks in particular, you tend to move your whole upper body in one piece rather than your neck twisting independently from the shoulders.

* … and you really don’t want to fall, and maybe your eyesight’s going too. so you’re always double checking whether or not your surroundings are stable. old people sit down gingerly (hands might grasp a table or railing several times for the best position), and gravity is not your friend getting up either.

* backs tend to hunch over and stay in the bent position. because of this, and the muscles wasting a way, old people often tend to look like they “shrink” slightly versus an adult in their prime. a notable exception is people who’ve had military training, and the difference is striking.

* lastly, when in doubt, watch some videos of some old people even just for a few seconds, and mentally sketch out how you’d draw the freeze-frames. which bits move, and which bits stay stationary? -- Posted by 名無し 〔2204文字〕 No.244 ]]> https://kradeelav.com/diary/tegalog.cgi?postid=244 https://kradeelav.com/diary/tegalog.cgi?postid=244 resource Mon, 02 Sep 2024 17:24:59 +0900
I joke these lines should be called “load bearing lines’ - borrowing a term from building construction (load bearing beam) where if you remove the beam, the house becomes structurally unstable.

these load bearing lines are different than outlines around the form, or even invisible skeletal lines. these can be as subtle as curving around the waist as a belt and transforming into a cloth fold, and back into hair. the key is the load bearing line keeps the eye moving in an arc.

below you can see the few lines in the torso that i’d say fit the description, and a before/after.


the red line is the key since it wraps around the form in 3 axis (left/right, towards you/behind the guy, and from bottom/up, and also is a guide-line for your eye to follow along. there’s other "echoes” of the load bearing line particularly in the hair; always a good idea to have to keep that one smooth motion going.



see what I mean?

these load bearing lines “can” be briefly broken up (see blue line around left shoulder) but should still attempt to use negative space as part of the continuation. try it! :> -- Posted by 名無し 〔1322文字〕 No.243 ]]> https://kradeelav.com/diary/tegalog.cgi?postid=243 https://kradeelav.com/diary/tegalog.cgi?postid=243 resource Mon, 02 Sep 2024 17:21:02 +0900
I started the “Artchives” folder back in college a decade ago when I needed one place to dump every final work i drew, whether it be taking pictures of a sketchbook, screenshots to the now-deleted twitter, or meme-art to share to friends. it’s been a wonderful way to have an organized set of yearly time capsules for my work, and to track improvements over time. if I remember vaguely what season and what year I drew something, it also makes it very easy to hunt for old art.

The $kradeelav (root folder for projects) system was actually borrowed from my dayjob’s server, naming scheme and all. (I manage an international household-name brand at work, with a need to organize tons of mini-projects within). when i started doing larger and more ambitious zines, comic projects, and freelance work – this is a secondary system that helps to house these in a similarly-ordered set of folders without invoices and reference images and who knows what else getting absolutely blasted all over my desktop.  usually i’ll have 2-3 active projects going on at one time, with the folders on the desktop; they get moved into this root folder when they’re closed.

happy to answer questions about these!

-- Posted by 名無し 〔1419文字〕 No.229 ]]> https://kradeelav.com/diary/tegalog.cgi?postid=229 https://kradeelav.com/diary/tegalog.cgi?postid=229 resource Mon, 02 Sep 2024 02:31:32 +0900 -- Posted by 名無し 〔97文字〕 No.202 ]]> https://kradeelav.com/diary/tegalog.cgi?postid=202 https://kradeelav.com/diary/tegalog.cgi?postid=202 resource Mon, 02 Sep 2024 01:16:14 +0900 (posting some tips about art i answered back on the NSFW blog)

ANONYMOUS: Any tips on drawing leather? Yours always looks so realistically shiny

A: Thank you! Honestly feel like I only cracked that code in the last few weeks; it's absolutely much trickier than it looks at first glance. A few tips that helped recently:
- Have an idea where the light source is in the picture, likewise where ridges/creases tend to build up. It doesn't need to be an exact science, but it'll give a sense of consistency (for example, underlighting versus side-lighting versus above will all change how creases look - and they tend to build up around joints, the crotch, and/or if it's folded up in places.)

- I tend to color it all in black, and then go in with an eraser and "draw" out the highlights/creases organically. Much less time consuming.

-Spend the time familiarizing yourself with how it feels in real-life, for example to see if your style works better with textures added or not. if you don't have access to a jacket or gear, movies are a decent option. (ironically the last Tom of Finland biopic was an *excellent* example for research not to mention a deeply moving piece of art on the subculture.) (... there are also, ahem, certain online stores and lifestyle photographers that have a proliferation of handy pictures, if definitely NSFW. :v)
- spend time checking out how different artists do it. I render leather differently than say, how @/kmclaude (twitter), the aforementioned Tom of Finland, @/hawklewds (twitter), or other JP artists do - there's a myriad of delicious takes, and no wrong way. Wishing you the best! -- Posted by 名無し 〔1627文字〕 No.113 ]]> https://kradeelav.com/diary/tegalog.cgi?postid=113 https://kradeelav.com/diary/tegalog.cgi?postid=113 nsfw resource Sun, 01 Sep 2024 20:16:26 +0900 (posting some tips about art i answered back on the NSFW blog)

ANONYMOUS: Do you use references for your nsfw art? If not, how do you get two characters to look right in a nasty setting?

A: "references", snerk. (I actually don't with erotic art, but had to grin at that. :>)
That's a really good question, though - and appreciate the ask! Personally have done live figure drawing (and would heartily recommend that at least in some portion of time in any artist's training), though most of that happened a long time ago.

Interestingly I would say that studying animation and drawing_comics_ as a generality has helped me the most to "get them to look right" - once when an artist has a basic handle on anatomy, it's almost more important to get the gestural, posing, and body language part right. Clear body language has always been one of my top priorities - Walt Stanchfield's two "Drawn to Life" books are the masterclass on this. Read those books, if nothing else.

Now, to be perfectly blunt, I also think kink in general has a lot to teach here.
it's many things to many different people - but very often it's about power dynamics, power play, who controls the scene, how the sub follows, introducing tools/toys/props - but always, always, keeping the magnetic charge the whole way. Even vanilla erotica has some of this to an extent as - thank god - every individual is different and is going to approach intimacy with their own preferences.

However, with kink, by getting into the id and mind of the characters (like an actor) and recognizing the physical cues of someone who controls the moment - the tilt of an observant head, whether they (as a character) prefer subs who kneel (what kind of kneeling? there's plenty. are they a brat? how?), do you use the camera angles to show it from the dom's point of view (or not)? are you going for a rom-com silly- intimate angle or the energy of a hard scene?  you get a *lot* of mileage. And, with a bit of elbow grease - get to breathe life in them. Good luck. -- Posted by 名無し 〔2019文字〕 No.112 ]]> https://kradeelav.com/diary/tegalog.cgi?postid=112 https://kradeelav.com/diary/tegalog.cgi?postid=112 nsfw resource Sun, 01 Sep 2024 20:13:39 +0900