Is there any advice you’d give to a beginner? I feel like I’m always copying stuff, I want to develop my own art style.. Yours is amazing!! I love your art! It deserves more notes than it has rn

threshie:

levity-does-art:

Thank you! That’s very kind – I’m still working on building an audience for my work, but I’m glad that people like yourself are finding it and appreciating it!

My high school art teacher said to me: “you’re a great copy artist, but you never do anything original.”

I’m going to try and give you the advice she should have given me.

  • Find art you love, and drink in all the details that inspire you – colors, themes, styles, techniques. It can feel overwhelming, but try to immerse yourself in it and let yourself feel amazed at the things that it’s possible to create, and remember that that blessing extends to you, too.
  • Be willing to make bad art. Making bad art is necessary, and facilitates eventually making art you consider to be good. (Note: you don’t have to show anybody your “bad art” unless you want to.)
  • Do what you feel drawn to, whatever gets you to put pencil to paper – don’t get stuck thinking that what you really want to draw isn’t worth drawing. Whether you’re tracing, copying by eye, drawing the same subject (like I do) over and over again, it doesn’t matter. If it motivates you to make art when you otherwise wouldn’t be, it is Worthy™.
    Eventually you will feel inspired to do something else – something new and original, or referenced / influenced by something else.
  • I also longed to have a recognizable style, but I still don’t feel like I do. I guess from the outside looking in it’s a little different.
    Keep doing what you’re doing; making art, getting inspired, practicing. Eventually your work will become a melting pot of influences and styles, your own brand of awesome.
  • Challenge yourself, but don’t stress yourself. Allow yourself to grow into the artist you want to be by recognizing, and slowly breaking out of, your comfort zone. Treat yourself with kindness and compassion when you find that hard.
    I recently went to my first ever life drawing class – up until then I had only really drawn people from photographs.
    If there’s something you wish you could do that you feel like you can’t do currently, look into it. Look up a video or a tutorial.
    And again, treat yourself with kindness when stuff doesn’t go in straight away. Repetition, practice and patience will help.
  • Keep going. Don’t give up. You got this 🙂

Great advice all!

Love all of this!!!..also..it’s never to late to start!!!!

deancasbigbang:

Title: Duck Duck Boots

Author: almaasi

Artist: Deancebra

Rating: Explicit
Pairings: Dean/Castiel. (Background Charlie/Billie. Rowena flirts with both Charlie and Sam; past minor Rowena/Gabriel; implications that Sam and Gabriel are endgame soulmates even though we never see them interact.)
Wordcount: 92000
Warnings/Tags: No major warnings, Biker Dean, Veterinarian Cas, Domestic Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Animal Care, Tantric Sex, Impotence, Wet & Messy Sex, This fic features: Rowena + Charlie + Billie + Donna + Sam (+ adopted son Jack) + Jody + Balthazar + Gabriel + Benny + Kevin + Bobby + Rufus
Posting: 11/28/2018

Summary:

Castiel doesn’t DO one-night stands. Once he hit forty, he figured his time was up, his life had pretty much come to a halt, and there was nobody out there for him. He lives in a cute little village, riding his bicycle between his vet clinic and his cottage; that’s his world, and he’s given up on expanding it. But in one last, desperate attempt to find someone, he contacts Rowena, the local witch, and asks her to summon his soulmate. Rowena brings a storm. The storm washes up a trio of ducklings, huddled for shelter inside the rainboots of the new-to-town kindergarten teacher (and retired motorcycle daredevil), Dean Winchester. Ducklings in hand, Dean seeks out Castiel’s veterinary expertise. Somehow, in a flustered, spontaneous burst of attraction, they spend the night together. And just like that, Castiel’s life starts again. With every passing week they become better friends, sharing deeper intimacies, caring for their duck babies as well as each other. But staying together requires taking risks which neither of them planned for. Dean’s risk puts him in extreme physical jeopardy. And Cas? He has to overcome fifteen years of emotional hurt, just to follow where Dean leads.

“So, where do you live?” Dean asked. The sun played up the astonishing green pigment of his eyes, and Castiel now noticed just how many freckles Dean had on his face, across his cheeks and nose and forehead.

“Ah… Down the lane, a few miles,” Castiel said, gesturing with his chin towards the bridge that led out of the square. “Where’s your motorcycle?”

“Over the bridge,” Dean said, walking beside Castiel as they made their way there. “Didn’t seem polite to bring anything with that kind of horsepower into a delicate little place like this.” Dean shoved an elbow towards Castiel, then nodded at all the pretty flowerboxes and newly-leafed trees in planters. “Talk about a bull in a china shop. I got expert control but I’d hate to break somethin’.”

“Considerate,” Castiel said, unable to tear his gaze off the other man as they walked, Dean holding his box of ducks carefully. His skin glowed in the sunshine, apparently bronzed by years on the open road.

Dean tucked his lower lip under the tip of his tongue, making it shiny. He glanced at Castiel as they neared the foot of the bridge. “You know anythin’ about motorcycles?”

“Not a bit,” Castiel said honestly. “I only know they’re loud and fast.”

“And sexy,” Dean grinned, tilting his head. “No?”

Castiel chuckled, head down. “Perhaps. I’ve yet to see your bike in action.” He lifted his chin as they ascended the bridge. “I’m quite impressed, Dean. I saw you examining it but I didn’t find out until today— Rumour is you purchased the Chevy Impala outside Ellen’s inn.”

Dean scoffed. “Wow, word really gets around in this place, don’t it? Yeah. Yeah, she was the whole reason I even stopped here.”

“Ellen?”

“No, the Impala.”

“Ah.”

They slowed to a halt on the apex of the bridge, as Dean had lain a hand on the stonework, eager to peer over to see the river. Just outside the village square, the deep channel ran past central Ingen Steder Landsby like a moat, carved three feet under ground-level. Two swans sailed out from under the bridge, their shapes searing white on blue water. Willow tree roots hung into the water further along, and the line ran into the distance, masked by trees and bends in the river.

“God, this place is so beautiful,” Dean breathed.

Castiel felt a funny shock, deep inside: the static of realisation.

It was, wasn’t it? This place was Heaven on Earth. Castiel had always counted himself lucky to live here, and he’d been trying to practise gratitude – this was beautiful, he was lucky to see this – but it wasn’t until this very moment, standing within touching distance of Dean, hearing him speak as an outsider, that Castiel realised how blessed he really was.

Castiel stared at Dean, thankful for being shown something he’d never seen before, simply because he’d seen it too many times.

deancasbigbang:

Title: Stray Cat Strut
Author: WinJennster
Artist: Pandorana
Rating: Mature
Pairings: Destiel, Sam/Rowena
Wordcount: 21000
Warnings/Tags: Kitty!Dean, Brief Sexual Content, Witches, Spells, Bunker!Fic, Human!Cas, First Time, Love Confessions, Indeterminate Time Frame in Canon
Posting: 11/28/2018

Summary:

Armond DuBois is definitely not the world’s greatest witch. He can, however, see souls and read auras

. Armond believes he’d be incredibly powerful if he could just find a familiar – but there’s not an animal that’s been attracted to his power in his over two hundred years on Earth. He finds an incredibly gorgeous soul and decides to transform a human into the perfect familiar, which is how Dean Winchester finds himself a four legged feline.

Sam and Cas are immediately in love with the adorable kitty they find outside the bunker door, and occupy their time planning how to convince Dean – who they believe is off sulking after a botched hunt – to let them keep their cat. Along the way, Dean learns to use a litter box and hears some confessions he maybe wasn’t supposed to hear, all while realizing just how much he loves Castiel.

Now all Dean has to do is convince Cas and Sam their new pet cat is actually him before they do something crazy – like neuter him!

“Hey, so I ran out to the store and got this pet carrier. I don’t know how he’ll be on a car ride. Better safe than sorry, right?” Sam set a dark blue carrier on the table and opened the metal grate.

Oh hell no! Dean yowled at the carrier and backed away, his spine arched. I am not going into the kitty prison! Dean jumped out of the box and hopped off the table. Ignoring Cas and Sam’s surprised shouts, he dashed down the stairs of the library and into the war room, pulling a hard right at the kitchen. He could hear Sam’s clodhoppers hitting the floor behind him as his brother gave chase, but Dean was tiny now, and four legged, so getting away from Sam was easy.

Dean ran into his own room and looked around frantically for a place to hide. He knew what would happen if they took him to the vet – he’d get his balls chopped off! He’d need those things when he eventually regained his humanity and he’d be damned if Sam or Cas thought they were going to violate him that way. The dresser! Just a few inches off the ground, Sam would never look there. Dean squirmed his way underneath just as Sam entered the room.

“Here, kitty kitty,” he cajoled.

No, dummy dummy, Dean thought.

Sam’s feet moved around the room, joined a moment later by a pair of worn blue Nikes. “Did he come in here?” Cas asked.

“I thought so. I’m not sure now,” Sam said.

“Did you look under the dresser?” Cas knelt and his face appeared. “Hello, Zeppelin. Please come out.” Dean hissed in response. “I understand. You needn’t be afraid. It’s just a checkup. Nothing else, I promise.”

“It’s a cat, Cas. They don’t understand -” Cas lifted him off the ground as Dean came out from under the dresser, hoping his trust in Cas wasn’t misplaced. “I’ll be damned.”

“I think he likes me,” Cas smiled.

wintersastiel:

when castiel broke free of lucifer’s hold to stop him from killing sam in 11.14, it was monumental. here’s why:

sam is lucifer’s true vessel, so lucifer has to preserve sam’s body. but for castiel, lucifer isn’t afraid to rip that body apart. castiel took the risk of being killed to save sam.

deancasbigbang:

Title: Observe and Report
Author: VioletHaze
Artist: Ricketyjukeboxer
Rating: Explicit
Length: 55k words
Pairings: Dean/Castiel

Summary: Recently demoted from his job as a field agent, Castiel is back behind a desk. It’s humiliating to be here with the same coworkers he left behind only a few months ago, but he’s bound and determined to keep his head down, do his job, and prove to his boss that he won’t make the same mistakes twice. Everything is going as planned until he finds himself distracted by one of the people he’s charged with monitoring: Dean Winchester.

Link to fic

Link to art (NSFW)

deancasbigbang:

Title: Now That I Found You
Author: Casloveshisfreckles
Artist: BeesandBroomsticks
Rating: E
Length: 145k
Pairings: Dean/Cas, (minor Sam/Sarah, Charlie/Gilda)
Warnings: No major archive warnings,  slow burn, alternate universe, fluff, humor, past trauma, hurt/comfort

Summary: After a nasty breakup, moving thousands of miles away from nothing but problems doesn’t seem crazy to Dean Winchester. Especially not when it means he gets to be closer to his little brother Sam, in his third year at Stanford. 

Dean’s out and proud and finally in a city that allows the life he needs. What he wants though, he finds when he meets a hipster artist named Cas and all the colors he comes with.

Their broken roads merge during a coffee shop meet cute, and there’s no such thing as holding on too tight if neither is willing to pull apart.

Link to fic

Link to art

deancasbigbang:

Title: Silver and Cold
Author: superhoney
Artist: whichstiel
Rating: Explicit
Length: 64,851 words
Pairings: Dean/Castiel (minor Charlie/Dorothy, minor Sam/Sarah Blake)
Warnings: No major archive warnings apply. Canon-typical violence, minor character death, tragic backstory and resulting nightmares, angst with a happy ending. 

Summary: 

The death of a young man in an apparent animal attack brings hunter Cas Novak to the small town of Sydnam, Maine. It doesn’t take long for him to realize he’s tracking a werewolf, but discovering the killer’s identity is no easy task. All signs point towards Dean Winchester, a lonely recluse who lives in the middle of the woods and whose antagonistic behaviour does little to lessen Cas’ suspicions.

As the investigation drags on, their mutual distrust gives way to a wary alliance. Cas’ instincts warn him that Dean is hiding something, but as he uncovers the man beneath the mystery, his professional interest becomes far more personal. Praying his faith in Dean isn’t misplaced, Cas races to catch the killer before the next full moon rises and another life is abruptly cut short.

Link to fic

Link to art on tumblr or on AO3