My Issues with Glaze

So, this post is a bit different than my other posts. It's a cross between a review and a question-oriented post. So let's begin. 

I learned from other artists online that a recommended way to protect your art from A.I. is through a new program made by people at the University of Chicago. This program, which provides a mask for your art, is called "Glaze."

I was working on updating a character page, and just to see if I could get Glaze to work, I attempted to use it in three different ways. Unfortunately, the mask that it puts on my art ends up distorting it in ways that are obvious to me or just completely ruin the art. 

To give you an example, here (above) is the unglazed drawing that I am using to demonstrate.

Now, here it is on Glaze's highest mask setting (most distorting). This one was put on the longer exporting setting compared to the other two (this one took about an hour and a half). 

The other two I am going to show were set to the shortest exporting limit (twenty minutes): 

I set this one (above) to the default setting, and it still made it look wrong. It ended up distorting the background, no longer making it smooth. 

Lastly, with this drawing, even when I put it on the lowest possible setting, it still looks distorted texturally. The distortion is more seen in zooming in and in color difference than in distorting the whole image. It also has a tendency to remove the transparent background of an image, so if you want to mask a transparent image, it seems (but I could be wrong) that you have to do the transparent background part after you mask the image with Glaze. 

If anyone who follows this blog uses Glaze to protect their art, do you have the same problems as me? Or is what I am running into going to happen always, since my art style tends to be flat in terms of shading? 

-Quinley 

Reintroducing Felix & Matilda Moore

Hello everyone,

 Usually, these types of posts are for characters who have been created recently. However, I felt it was time that I reintroduce some characters that have very recently gone through a lot of changes. The characters are Matilda and Felix Moore from Dolls of Wax, Eyes of Glass. They have developed since I first wrote about them in 2021, and I want to show how they have changed, since I mentioned it briefly in an Inktober post. 

 I plan to update their character profiles soon, but I decided I should also reintroduce them here via a blog post. So, let's begin: 

  Felix Moore 

Felix is the older of the two siblings. He believes that the world itself is a dream and nothing more. Because of this, he thinks that there is no meaning to life, and all events, actions, etc. that one experiences or takes essentially mean nothing.

He enjoys spending his time reading, thinking about different philosophies, and having discussions about controversial philosophical topics with his group of friends. Due to a situation within their family (which he won't discuss), Felix has gone from being simply a brother to Matilda to having to act as her guardian. This has caused disagreements between them. 

  Matilda Moore 

Matilda is the younger of the two siblings. She is a quiet person; however, she can also turn rebellious if she feels strongly about something. Matilda is a Spiritualist: she believes one can contact people from beyond the grave. She also has an interest in the occult and supernatural. Matilda often likes to daydream about different adventures that she could have, based on her favorite books. And, like her brother, she often spends her time in the library. 

However, since Felix has become her guardian, there have been disagreements between them. Mostly, these disagreements come from Matilda's rebelliousness toward her brother, but they are also influenced by Felix's (supposed) desire to keep Matilda safe. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Between Felix and Matilda, which are you interested in learning more about (after their changes)? And how have your own characters grown and changed throughout the years? 

-Quinley 

Miscellaneous Drawings #13

Hi everyone,

My blogging schedule will be a bit sporadic in the coming months. But in this post, I plan to update you with the new drawings I've made recently. 

This is a drawing of Arisias. I finally redesigned her outfit to make her more inspired by the new setting and I think it works well. 

I was experimenting with water color pencils here. I don't know who this character is, but I hope to find out eventually. 

This is a drawing of Felix digitized from the one I drew in Inktober. I really like how it turned out. 

So, as it turns out, one of my characters (Elyerin) is a Dullahan (Irish version of the Headless Horseman), so I redesigned him to match that. 

And this is Arisias again using her magic. I wanted to create a Gothic sort of feeling in this piece. 

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Which drawing is your favorite? 

-Quinley 

My Art from Inktober 2023 (Part Three)

Previous parts here and here. 

Hi everyone, 

I have been very busy recently, and because of that I forgot to blog. So, I am going to break the silence with the last part of my Inktober series for last year. I had intended to post it earlier, however I forgot to take the last photos. 

 Here's the official prompt list: 

#21 Chains. I drew Oak with chain-like jewelry on her neck and arm. 

#22 Scratchy. I drew a cat since they are known to scratch things. 

#23 Celestial. Arisias gets a part of her powers from the goddess of the moon, Salissah. So, because of this, I felt like drawing her with the night sky behind her. 

#24 Shallow. I took this to mean shallow water and drew two ducks I had taken a picture of near water. 

Here's the photo. 

#25 Dangerous. I decided to draw a witch's secret hideaway. 

#24 Remove. I decided to draw a Halloween drawing of carving a pumpkin.  

#25 Beast. I decided to draw a sea monster. 

Due to the fact that I forgot to write down the prompts, I forgot which days each of these were for:

 However, the prompts are Sparkle, Massive and Rush, so you can try to determine which is which, since I'm not entirely sure. 

#31 Fire. And finally fire. I watched The Wicker Man (1973) for the first time last Halloween, and felt like drawing the Wickerman burning. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Which drawing is your favorite? Now that I'm back, what kinds of blog posts would you like to see from me in the future? 

-Quinley

Miscellaneous Drawings #12

                  Previous parts: #1, #2 #3, #4, #5, #6,#7, #8, #9 #10, and #11. 

Sorry, for the long disappearance in December. I was finishing some important things I needed to do. But now I am back, and I have some drawings to share. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season.

In this post I will be sharing new drawings along with two older drawings I had not posted before. And I plan to post my final part of 2023's Inktober sometime soon. 

This is a redraw of a drawing from this post in 2022. I decided I wanted to fix her pose and proportions. I don't draw frogs often, so it allowed me to go a little outside my comfort zone in getting the details right. 

   

This is my new header. The drawing was taken from my intkober post (you can read the backstory behind the drawing there) and digitalized. I had a lot of fun playing with the lighting around Arcasia and the sword. 

A drawing of Fiáina. I drew this drawing of her for May Day/Beltane, and never posted it. But I felt like I should post it now. I had a lot of fun drawing the braids in her hair and making it look as if she were wearing them. 

Given my fantasy world's change to being Ancient Greek and Irish inspired, I wanted to change Karleon's design, since it resembled Lord of the Rings elves too much. While Lord of the Rings was my starting inspiration, it's not the end. So, I took some time to redesign his overall appearance, and I am much happier with how it turned out. 

This is an older sketch I did that I never posted of Salissah. 
It is inspired by a painting called Moon Nymph (1883).

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Which drawing is your favorite? 

-Quinley