Month: February 2021

Let’s Muse: Colors

Posted on February 26, 2021 by Lady T. Musings

Hey Y’all, I’m Lady T. and I make the New Adult Fantasy Comic MagicalMashup!

One of the core elements I decided before starting the comic is that it would be in color. I choose to go this route because, well for one, I LOVE color, but also because it would be a way for me to get in the habit of thinking about color and studying how using color can impact a scene.

A blind oc named Luel with long blue dreads that he keeps tied up a top his head. He is also a mage with a neat support skill.

Coloring a comic that I work on by myself is defiantly a whole extra thing, but I enjoy it and love to see my blackish (I don’t use black in the art for the comic as it’s a very stark and powerful color that commands too much attention in my bright magical world lol) lineart come to life!

When I first started drawing the comic I had a time trying to decide on the character and world color pallets. Due to how expansive fantasy worlds can get I quickly realized I’d need a way to organize my color choices. That is once I figured out what colors I’d be using that is…

Color is such a mindblowing thing that is as complex and vast a subject as it is beautiful. Up until I decided to make the comic, I had no need to keep track of color palettes, even for reoccurring characters. I could just fudge it and guess close enough and be good. That wouldn’t fly with a whole comic though. I started crafting my colors with the characters in mind first and thinking that the colors for each character should tell a little about their personalities.

Junah leaving home to start that independent life

Junah is an overall optimistic person that is very open and excitable, maybe too much so, but it is what it is haha, so I choose upbeat colors for her.

Kaelen on the other hand is more of a grounded person with a more reserved personality and so I choose colors that are more mature.

I had a lot of fun picking their colors, but then I had to think about shading and highlights… that’s when things got really interesting.

An introvert amongst extra extroverts.

When it comes to shading I used to just color pick the base skin tone and just use the color slider in ClipStudio to go down (add black) for shade and up (and white) for highlight.

(Original page from my practice comic MagicalBeginnings! ).

The old practice pages I did foe the comic. Still cannon, just changed my coloring approach to be more lively and magical feeling.

This works aight’, but I found that it felt flat in my newly designed colorful world. I was thinking of ways to improve on this when I found a Twitter thread started by a comic colorist names Marissa Louise talking about resources for learning about color for artists.

Now I thought I was color literate before, but wow did my eyes get opened to the possibilities I hadn’t thought of when it comes to color. I checked out all of the books and resources from the list I could and watched the videos recommended. Afterward, I revised my character sheets and started to look at where my colors were placed on the color wheel using this online Color Wheel. Being able to easily see the different color harmony rules affecting my color choices live was (is) so helpful for deciding what can work with your base color selections.

One way of keeping track of colors

Once I got my colors selected and was happy, I had to figure out a way to make them easily accessible as I’d be using them often. At first, I just made color dots on each character sheet from print screens of my color pics that I could reference, but copy-pasting them onto each page to color pick form was annoying (even if it looks cool).

Another way I used to keep Track colors, way to much going on though …

I then found out about saving color swatches into palettes in ClipStudio and BOOM!! Game changed.
(ClipStudio palette, admittedly not as organized as I wanted).

Clip studio swatches!

I would have stuck with ClipStudio if I hadn’t started using an iPad to give myself more time to work on the comic when not at home, but switching to Procreate offered the same options for being able to color swatch and the color picker tools were a bit more intuitive for me since I knew how I wanted to approach color for my comic.

I really like the snappy ness and convenience of working in Procreate. Keeps me from getting to buck wild.

The main difference I found was that CipStudio offers more spaces in their swatch palette for more colors than Procreate, but honestly, I’ve found simplifying what I have to be the better option for me. Keeps things manageable and I’m able to work faster this way.

Ahhh yes name codes color pics <3

You still get a good bit of options and you can also make a secondary palette to the main one in Procreate, so if you must have more you still can.

Anywho I’m curious about how y’all do your color crafting. Do you use color in your work or stick to monochrome? Fall somewhere in between? What made you decide to go this route? How do you keep track of all of your colors or values that are used repeatedly in your work? I’d love to hear your thoughts/process!

TLDR: There’s a lot that goes into the decision to work in color. I talk about my process from starting with flat color to learning how to incorporate harmonies in my palettes thanks to a few resources and how I use said colors as references in my work. I’m curious to know y’all’s thoughts on the subject.

Diversity in Comics

Posted on February 19, 2021 by Lady T. Musings
Some examples of the characters features in my webcomic MagicalMashup! and all them beautiful skin tones!!

Hi, y’all fellow creatives and musers of the world!

It’s Black History Month, but there is always time to talk about diversity in my book. I make a comic called MagicalMashup! that features a black female protagonist who is also fat or plus size if you prefer, I’m fine with fat as it’s just a descriptor and it is what it is, but I’ve noticed a difference in tags for fat and plus size so yeah… cover all grounds… (body diversity is a whole other can of wigglies that I’m sure I’ll get into at a later date). My cast is also filled with a host of other racially and ethnically diverse characters too with sexualities as beautiful as a rainbow as I draw inspiration from my life. As it is a fantasy setting, the ethnicities are all fictional, but racially speaking I pull from the real world for some relatability and representation. Today I want to talk specifically about characters in our stories and that we draw/illustrate/write that are not white.

As a creator of any racial/ethnic group, do you make black characters or other racial identities that aren’t white and based on real-life people of color for your stories or illustrations? If you do, what leads you to do this? Fill free to share pics of your characters. If you don’t, why not? Are you interested in diversifying your cast or writing?

I think it’s important to look at these types of questions and think about them in earnest and face them head-on as story creators and artists so that we all grow and expand our horizons about each other. I am aware that some folks live in racially homogenous areas so thinking about other races isn’t something that would cross their minds regularly or if you only tell stories based on your life and have never come into contact with someone of another race that would be included in your personal tale, but if you have access to the internet and partake in social media it isn’t hard to come in contact with the diversity of the world and this is about promoting and encouraging that contact.

I thrive in creating works based on fantasy and sci-fi and those two genres are where I like to spread my wings. Growing up much of my exposure to these genres was through white lenses and oftentimes black characters and other racial minorities would be cast as tokens and stereotypes. Even if I didn’t really connect with them, I appreciated them for existing when they showed up in those two genres specifically (Sci-fi had more rep than fantasy for sure though). It’s hard to notice how the things we consume growing up can impact us down the road, but craving representation in the fields that I adore is such a driving force for me that It got me to create art focused around the type of characters I wanted to see (and still do).

I’m not here to accuse or police anyone’s work and I can only speak from the experience I have as a cis black woman living in the USA who is tall, and fat has had a run in with cancer, and often mistaken for a drag queen (no shame in that game as DragQueens are beautiful and extra and I love them, but gotta keep it real as can’t talk about that life from persona experience), but I am curious to know the thoughts other creators have when it comes to racial diversity in their work (which is different from ethnic diversity as racial specifically means physical traits for how people look [skin color and features] while ethnicity is more based on culture. These two tend to go hand in hand, but not always, to be honest, there are more nuances that go into even that so it can get a bit eye-crossing for folks who fall into mixed groups or folks that fall into other groups). For example, my race is Black which gives a basic description for how I look (emphasis on basic), my ethnicity is African American when I fill in paperwork, but I’d put Black American if it were an option as unfortunately I nor my family have had any cultural ties to Africa in generations due to slavery and the loss of any records of where my lineage comes from before my great-grandma. Being Black and American is what I know and there is still more to me than that, but I think you get the gist of what I’m saying.

I started off just doing skin recolors of favorite cartoon characters and making OCs off of them as I didn’t understand the nuances of the differences in illustrating racial groups, but through anatomy studies and people watching (an ongoing learning experience for life), I have been able to apply that to my character designs to make more racially distinct-looking characters. Observation and studies are something I recommend any artist do, and if you are a writer, this also helps when being able to describe your characters with a flair that doesn’t always center around a type of chocolate or food (I love my sweets too, but the verbiage for dark skin is as wide as the sea is vast so don’t be scared to expand form that). There are tons of fabulous resources on writing with color and this is one that I recommend, but there are many more out there, and if you know of any feel free to share 🙂 https://writingwithcolor.tumblr.com/FAQ.

TLDR: Do you create characters that are Black or other racial identities (different from ethnic identities) that aren’t white? if so, how/why do you? Feel free to post examples of your characters of color. If you do not, how come and would you like to? Any resources for creating with diversity in mind are welcomed as well!

Checkout the post on the Tapas forum foe more replies!

https://forums.tapas.io/t/diversity-in-comics-novels/54792?u=lady_t_musings

Wood Mannequin Alternatives

Posted on February 12, 2021 by Lady T. Musings

Hello, y’all,

You know that stiff wooden doll in all arts and crafts shops that’s promoted as that tool all artists have and use because it’s always shown in photos with artists? Yeah, you know the one. IDK about y’all but to my kid self, that mannequin was the tool that would take my status as an artist to the next level, so I had to have it. I saved up my little change and bought one from a local shop and couldn’t wait to put it to use. Yeah so about that… I tried to make the thing sit and it barely could bend over. Talk about disappointment. Admittedly mine was a cheaper version, but even the pricier ones tend to be lacking and just make me go… “But why…?” I couldn’t bring myself to throw it out, so I kept it around for years as a paperweight before forgetting about it when I moved out of my Ma’s place.

Plus size Barbie with a little thickness on her thighs ha!

As I developed as an artist, I’ve come to find that figure drawing form real life is the bees-knees and really makes a world of difference, but sometimes you just don’t have time (or want to) do a photoshoot with someone to get a quick pose that you need, that’s when I heard about using a Made to Move Barbie while listening to the webcomic creators podcast Dirty Old Ladies (not for children as some of the hosts create adult content, but they are a wealth of information as all 3 have different levels of engagement in making comics and are super insightful.) As soon as I heard Amanda describe the multi-joint action of the Made to Move line and that there is a plus-size version (she thick, not fat FYI [a girl can dream though, one day]), I was like OK-Then, lemme go look this up. I found both of mine at Target for about 15$ a piece.

For 15$ whole a$$ bucks you can get a figure with some facial features, hair, clothes, and 10x more mobility than the 15$-50$ wooden figures. The joints bend, the head moves, and this barbie line can sit upright on her own. They are so darned handy and I’ve been slowly building a pose folder of pics to refer to later when I’m “modeling” them (Yeah I know I’m just playing around, but so XD).

Black gal yoga Barbie reporting to the photo shoot! I wanna Afro up her hair though!!

While I was playing around with my two made-to-move gals, my fiance went to his bookcase and pulled down his mad crazy intricate, and expensive limited edition Venom and Spiderman figures (They are from the Square Enix Marvel Universe and Kai Arts line so the ones we have can only be found from secondary places now, but this is the official store and they have others. Some are from games and anime too.) and started to play with me.

Piggybacks and kisses never looked so extra haha

I laughed at first, but have since kidnapped his figures as they are just as flexible as the Barbies and offer different body types for me to work with. I wouldn’t recommend buying them to use as art figures as they are collector’s items and pretty expensive, but if you happen to have some already, give them a go haha! They’ve been in the house for years, but I never would have thought to use them if my darling hadn’t pulled them from the shelves first.

Just hanging with boo

Anywho, you guys have any wood mannequin alternatives you’d like to share, or do you like and use the old wooden folks? I’d love to see and sure others would too :D!

TLDR: Check out Made to Move Barbies for more modeling for your buck as an artistic reference tool or the more controversial collectors figures if you prefer action figures with the same range of motion. Do you use the old wood models or prefer another method?

Favorite Tools of the Trade: Pen Edition

Posted on February 5, 2021 by Lady T. Musings

Hi y’all!

It’s freezing down here in the south and I just want to be in bed with a heated blanket. Anyways, I may be cold, but something that helps take my mind off of not feeling the best is looking up and trying new art supplies. One of my fav places to scope out and test new supplies is JetPens. They provide extensive reviews of all the drawing and writing supplies that they have for sale. Not only that, but everything is OPEN STOCK!! That’s such a big deal. You artist know why ;). Just to not be that one for those that don’t get it though, it means you can literally buy 1 of any pen or pencil/accessory. Try before investing!! That’s such a big deal when trying to figure out what materials you even like to use. Not only that but if you run out of one thing from a pack, you can buy just what you need. Ultimate customization!

Pens pens and more pens! Checkout my book pouch too hehe.

I wanted to share some of my favorite Pens that I use for making comics and why I dig them so much.

That tip is nice for being fast and keeping it loose!

For Work

Pentel EnerGel .35mm ball Needle Point pen (black). This pen has become my favorite pen to do quick sketches within my Notebook. It has sharp lines and great for cross-hatching and tiny details. My handwriting isn’t very legible with it. but that’s not what I use it for.

I’ve never had pretty handwriting (barely legible on a good day) but this pen gives me the control I crave!


Zebra Sarasa clip 0.5. For making notes on thumbnails and having legible handwriting I like this baby. It goes down smooth, doesn’t skip, and not as sharp as the Pentel, so delicate details arent really its thing, but makes my chicken scratch look semi-legible and I like the way it feels in my hand.

For Legibiliaty
Zebra Tapli Clip Ballpoint Pen – 1.6 mm. Since I write fast and loose, I’ve found that bigger tipped pens that glide instead of run over paper give me a bit more control. For that most any pen with a tip of at least 1.5mm gives me that.

Every Day
Papermate Inkjoy .7MM. These are pretty easy to find most anywhere locally and I totally recommend them. They have a nice mate body that stays put in your hand, great ink flow, a variety of tip sizes & colors, and they feel nice in the hand. I use these for scheduling and keep spares in all my bags.

An example of what these pens look like. The highlight sparkles were made using the red/black pen .

For Fun

Pentel Hybrid Dual Metallic Gel Pen – 1.0 mm. These pens are purely for being cute. I just like to use them to add a lil pop to a bunch of black ink. Though sometimes they serve as a color block to help me remember I want to color a feature in a unique or cosmic way. They provide such a neat effect and flow out of the pens nicely, so you can get some good coverage area.

Tiny tiny color pops


Pilot Hi-Tec-C Gel Pen .4mm. They aren’t the best gel pens, but I like the colors they have and will do in a pinch for details or notes. I seem to always have one somewhere…

I love this lil sloth with its lil smile!

Just Because

Sloth Pen – I just love this lil pen from Earthbound and it puts a smile on my face while at work (not the comic work, but the 9-5 job haha). They don’t have it on the site anymore, but they have other kinds and they are surprisingly good writing pens. The ink tube is also replaceable so woot! They also have journals that I really want to get my hands on, but that’s a whole other deal.

What are some of your favorite pens and where do you get them?

TLDR: List of my favorite pens and a good place to find open stock supplies. Do you use pens for your comics or writing? If so what kinds and why do you like them? Feel free to leave reviews of your favs and where you can get them for anyone curious to try them out :).