art trades / requests - sorry, i don't do them! please don't ask. be a little realistic... first of all, i get too many requests to keep up. second of all, time is money people! if i do draw requests of any kind, they are in the form of paid commissions. please respect this and don't ask for free requests.

commissions - i accept commissions from time to time. there is a 'commission status' section in my front-page journal which indicates whether i am accepting them at any given time.

tutorials - i have two step-by-steps posted - one done in paintBBS and one done in opencanvas/photoshop - [link] and [link] . i haven't made any others. feel free to ask about my techniques if you want more information (please check this F.A.Q or image descriptions before asking, though).

programs i use - i use photoshop CS3 for the most part. in the past, i have also used painter 7 and opencanvas 1.1 for a more paintery effect. in every picture i post, the program i used is listed in the description.

many of my older works were done in a program called paintBBS, which is a type of oekaki program. if you have no clue what oekaki is, like many, check out [link] . keep in mind that it's not a program that you download onto your computer. it opens in your browser. just visit an oekaki board, sign up and try it out. google is your friend :b

animation programs i use - for animation, i use a mixture of programs. for frame-by-frame animation, i use TVPaint, a french animation program which has different drawing tools and a timeline. i composite my animations in adobe after effects. in the past i have also used Anime Studio Pro, although i do not do this anymore.

tools i use (traditional art)
- sketch - mechanical pencil
- inking - artline pen
- coloring - tria markers / van gogh colored pencils

tools i use (digital art)
- wacom intuos3 tablet, a6 wide
- brushes: i use the standard brushes that come with photoshop.

since so many people have asked about the brushes i use, here is a rough indication:
[link]
keep in mind that i always change the size and flow intuitively based on the effect i want to achieve, so the settings indicated above are merely a rough indication.

• tips

sketching tips - for sketches, it's good to put more emphasis on flow and expression than on anatomical precision. the general shape of your sketch is more important than details at this phase. this reduces stiffness and awkwardness in your final picture. here are some examples of how i sketch:

[link] [link] [link] [link]

inking tips - if you are inking digitally, it's best to do it on a huge scale and downsize later. it makes the lines look a lot smoother and attractive in your final version. it's a pain in the neck but worth the effort.

coloring tips - with coloring, keep in mind the texture/mass of the object you're coloring, as well as the light source. it's important to sort of feel and emphasize the shape that you're coloring, almost like you're sculpting it with color.

also, when adding shadows, try to avoid using colors that are simply darker than the base color. it helps to use varied colors for your shading, like maybe a bluish-purple for the shadows on skin, rather than just a darker version of your skin shade. this gives dimension and keeps your colors from being flat and boring.

i generally start out with a really messy base layer, where i slap down any color that feels right to me, and then start doing detailed shading once i'm comfortable with this base layer. here are some step-by-step images that show this process:

[link] [link] [link] [link]

texture tips - a lot of folks ask about the textures i use. i use a pretty simple technique which *kitton explains here. some people ask to see my images before they get textured, so here are some before/after comparison pics:

[link] [link] [link] [link]

however, i often paint over my textures - that is to say, i apply a texture during an early phase of coloring, and layer over it with more coloring. for these images it is impossible to show before/after pictures since the textures are a part of the painting process.

using my art on websites / avatars - if you plan on using my artwork in a layout, i insist that you first contact me and show me the layout you plan on using. i only allow for my artwork to be used in layouts when clear credit and links are provided. based on what I see, I will specify whether you can use my work or not. the same counts for avatars: clear credit must be visible ON the avatar.

using my art as reference - if you use my art as reference, i figure it's only reasonable that you provide a link to the original image you referenced, and a link to my deviantart page or website.

PSP tags/tubes - i don't allow my art to be used on these sites anymore due to some bad experiences. sorry!

what i have studied - i taught myself pretty much everything i know, illustration/drawing wise. i learn a lot from observation and mostly practice. i only took some (pretty useless) elective classes for art throughout middle and high school. as for my animation skills, i learned them in college. i did one year of animation school in ghent, belgium, and finished a four-year animation course at the Utrecht School of the Arts (HKU) in hilversum, where i obtained a bachelor in design and a european media master in arts.

college and portfolio tips - a lot of people ask me for tips on art colleges in holland or even the U.S and elsewhere. the truth is, the only thing i can give information about is how i experienced the animation course at the Utrecht School of the Arts, and i know little to nothing about other colleges. please don't ask me questions about animation courses in general - what kind of portfolio you need, what you learn, etc. it is different from school to school and you have to contact the specific college/university you want to attend yourself to obtain such information. however, if you have questions about the Utrecht School of the Arts i am more than willing to help out.

my website layouts - i learned basic HTML from my little sister and a website called lissaexplains.com. whereas i used to write up my layouts in notepad, nowadays i use photoshop and dreamweaver to create my website layouts.

my css journals - i learned CSS from building my own websites for many years. i started using CSS in journals by taking existing templates and modifying them to suit my own style, thereby gradually gaining a better understanding of how CSS works with deviantart journals. by now, i tend to code the journals from scratch. if you do not have any knowledge of CSS, i recommend you simply install an already existing template :] you can find them here: [link]

languages i speak - i understand english and dutch, and i have a vague understanding of french, but you're better off not posting comments in french, spanish, portuguese, or whatever the heck else :b i guarantee that i'm gonna get what you're saying to me.