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ziphi

@[email protected]

Hi! I'm Ren/ziphi.
I make art and music.

Just a fox/dragon/Latias thing looking for love and affection

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@ziphi@meow.social avatar ziphi , to random

Heck. I forgot to draw nostrils.
Oh well. Added them to the final image that I'll use for a sticker, but I'm tired of reuploading it.

@ziphi@meow.social avatar ziphi , to random

You there!
Yes you with the cute creature profile pic!

May I pet?

ziphi OP ,
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@ericjames Pats the wolfy on its cute snoot and scratches behind its ears

@ziphi@meow.social avatar ziphi , to random

This instrument looks like a surfboard to me.

I considered something like this when researching which bass I wanted, but I never was much a fan of Ibanez, and also I realized that I am a nerd and not a surfer.

The most surfboard-ass six string bass you've ever seen.
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@ziphi@meow.social avatar ziphi , to random

Today's mood requires some Katamari music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBovvL03dKQ

@ziphi@meow.social avatar ziphi , to random

Spent some time adjusting some presets in Krita to get some inking brushes that I like better.

At this point, I've got five brushes I've made in Krita that I use for most things.

One for a nice messy solid inking. One for a more textured and rough ink that cuts out here and there a bit. One I use for painting and blending, depending on pressure. One I use for pencil work and sketches, and one I use for more organic textures.

Some custom brush samples.
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ziphi OP ,
@ziphi@meow.social avatar

Mostly I just wanna be able to find my favorites easily without a bunch of scrolling or pop-up menus.

@ziphi@meow.social avatar ziphi , to random

Gonna try to make some stickers for personal use on social programs.

Should I go for grey fox, Lati, or dergon?

ziphi OP ,
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First sticker attempt!

ziphi OP ,
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Second sticker!

ziphi OP ,
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Third sticker!
:ms_metal_paw:

ziphi OP ,
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Sticker number 4!

(edit to add cheek shadow)

@ziphi@meow.social avatar ziphi , to random

It’s not a true utopia if I don’t get a life-sized blue whale plushie.

@ziphi@meow.social avatar ziphi , to random

I wanna draw.
But I have several YouTube tabs open for things I want to remember to watch, and YouTube has a problem with eating up my RAM. So Krita is dragging.

@ziphi@meow.social avatar ziphi , to random

Fuzzy
Foxy
Friendly
Fluffy
Furry
🦊

@ziphi@meow.social avatar ziphi , to random

"All music is actually in 4/4" is the most obnoxious and vapid music theory take that keeps popping up on the internet.

@ziphi@meow.social avatar ziphi , to random

A warm bath on a cold winter day is cozy.

Getting out of a warm bath on a cold winter day makes me rethink my life choices.

@ziphi@meow.social avatar ziphi , to random

🎶
Dark matter flowing out onto a tape
Is only as loud as the silence it breaks

@ziphi@meow.social avatar ziphi , to random

Tonight will have a lot of feelings I think.
It seems that way.

@ziphi@meow.social avatar ziphi , to random

Been thinking a lot about Yoshi recently.

So here are some Yoshi scribbles I've done!

Yoshi about to touch fuzzy, with the caption "Fuck around & find out"
A soft pastel Yoshi in cartoonish style.

A soft pastel Yoshi in cartoonish style.
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ziphi OP ,
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And of course, a digital painting of Yoshi, because that's the way I like to work most.

@ziphi@meow.social avatar ziphi , to random

Really liking "The Lark Ascending" by Vaughan Williams.

Apparently it's in just about every British documentary. But I don't live in Great Britain, so it's not overdone to me.

@ziphi@meow.social avatar ziphi , to random

Thinking about Avatar the Last Airbender.
Specifically the Unagi of Kyoshi island.

What an adorable eel friend.

@ziphi@meow.social avatar ziphi , to random

A content warning is just a digital hug for the body of the post.

@ziphi@meow.social avatar ziphi , to random

I must wait.
I am not good at waiting.

@ziphi@meow.social avatar ziphi , to random

"You're so good! You should be a professional artist!"

But, like, do you actually know what that entails? I'd have to be a manager. A social media promoter. Customer service rep.

All while managing my own mental health.

And being constantly pushed well beyond my skill set by whatever cool ideas my clients have that I don't know how to draw.

Professional art is a tightrope act without a safety net. I've screwed up at it and learned my limits the hard way. It's fucking stressful as heck.

And all for less pay than I'm worth.

@ziphi@meow.social avatar ziphi , to random

Listening to my theme song!

...Thick as a Brick.
Heck.

@ziphi@meow.social avatar ziphi , to random

Content creator?
I'm a discontent creator.
I'm never happy with a thing I make.

@ziphi@meow.social avatar ziphi , to random

Any bronze sculptors out there want to give to me a life-sized full-body sculpture of my dragon form?

Any British royals want to then give me a castle in which to display this sculpture?

ziphi OP ,
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Any mad scientists out there want to do some questionably ethical genetic manipulation to turn me into my dragon form?

ziphi OP ,
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"But with that kind of technology you could cure cancer!"

Well, I don't want to cure cancer.
I want to turn myself into a dragon.

ziphi OP ,
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Honestly, Spiderman's logic in that meme from the comic is bad.

Scientific progress in any field about any subject may be useful in other fields and for other technologies as well. It's not like a slice of pie where there's that much less advancement for other fields.

@ziphi@meow.social avatar ziphi , to random

I wish I could be as carefree and wild
But I got cat class and I got cat style
🎶

@ziphi@meow.social avatar ziphi , to random

When people call each other “Chat,” I imagine it’s the 60s, and they’re calling each other “cool cats,” only in French.

@ziphi@meow.social avatar ziphi , to random

The only computer term I know how to do is “flop.”

flops on your timeline.

@ziphi@meow.social avatar ziphi , to random

Reminded of “Solar Sect of Mystic Wisdom,” and now I want to play Subterranean Animism again.

But I’d have to get good all over again, and that is not something I want to do.

@ziphi@meow.social avatar ziphi , to random

Have some foxy scribbles.

Last scribble inspired by a piece by Khyaber.

Feelin’ foxy. A cute fox on notebook paper.
Fancy boxes for fancy foxes. A fox with monocle and bowtie sits in a cardboard box.
Fox drawing a picture with a pencil in its mouth.

Fox drawing a picture with a pencil in its mouth.
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@ziphi@meow.social avatar ziphi , to random

I can't stress how much I hate being interrupted with "I need you to do something right now and I do not want to wait and am not giving you an option to wait" when I'm listening to an album.

ziphi OP ,
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The way my brain works, I might as well not listen to the rest of the album at all. It ruins the whole thing.

@ziphi@meow.social avatar ziphi , to random

Gonna change my name to “Amir Hugh Mann” so that no one suspects I’m really a dragon.

ziphi OP ,
@ziphi@meow.social avatar

Adergda Huggenkiss.

@ziphi@meow.social avatar ziphi , to random

Got a nice copy of a bunny book coming to me soon. I already have a paperback of Watership Down, but it's beat up and well used, and I wanted a hardcover version to go on the bookshelf, because I love it so much.

I just hope it doesn't get ruined in the mail.

@ziphi@meow.social avatar ziphi , to random

I don’t care too much when games give you “male” or “female” gender options.

I much prefer ones like “Mario” or “Luigi”
Or “Sonic” or “Tails.”

@ziphi@meow.social avatar ziphi , to random

Looking back at this piece from February 2024, I'm much happier with it now than I was then.

It still has all the same issues, but I appreciate all the work I did to get the buildings right. And I think it turned out okay in a lot of ways I didn't quite appreciate at the time merely because I was frustrated with how long the project took for something that didn't live up to all my expectations. It took over two months to finish this piece and I was quite tired of it at the time.

Anyway, here's Niv-Mizzet, from Magic: the Gathering's plane of Ravnica, being an awesome (if somewhat smug) dragon!

A red and blue dragon sits atop a ruined cathedral in an aristocratic city. Behind there is lightning swirling around the Firemind's Aerie.
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ziphi OP ,
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Getting better at art is hard. Especially when teaching oneself.

I think I first noticed a significant change when I started really pushing myself to do the best I could, back in late 2021. Around this time, The Pokemon Company was doing an art contest for their card game, and I wanted to participate (They've done this once since, though I didn't participate a second time).

I did not make even the first cut.

But it definitely kickstarted my art a good bit. Prior to this I had been doing some digital art that was fairly mediocre and quickly drawn. But sitting down, taking my time, and really focusing on what I wanted to achieve helped so much.

As such, these are the oldest digital paintings I have that I would consider "good" by my current standards.

Here were my three entries to the contest:

An Arcanine in an alleyway with a puddle and graffiti on the brick wall.
Galarian Rapidash in a castle hallway adorned with tapestries.

@ziphi@meow.social avatar ziphi , to random

Happy Appreciate a Dragon Day!

A quick doodle of my dragon form in a paper crown with a party noisemaker and big adorable eyes (and empty brain), with the text “Happy Appreciate A Dragon Day!”
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@ziphi@meow.social avatar ziphi , to random

“You made your bed. Now you gotta lie in it!”

Okay. That sounds comfy.

@ziphi@meow.social avatar ziphi , to random

New pinned and ref sheet post!

Hi, I'm Ren! I'm a digital artist and aspiring musician.

I am some flavor of trans and nonbinary, with therian/otherkin aspects being a big part of my gender and identity. I prefer to be referred to by "she/her" or "it."

I am three species simultaneously, yet separately: grey fox, dragon, and the Pokemon Latias. Ref sheets are below, if you want to know what I look like.

I talk about whatever random thing has my interest at the moment, about art, and about my mental health struggles. I post works in progress and completed art pieces. The art tends to take a while though, as I like to work in a very detailed and textured painterly style.

If you would like to support me and my art, I'd recommend finding someone in need (especially trans people in need) and helping them out! There are a lot of people a lot worse off than I am who really need it, and I don't really make art as a living.

But if you are determined to throw some change my way, I have a ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/ziphiren

Ref sheet for my grey fox form. She has a poofy tail with a black stripe on the top and a black tip. she has orange accents around her ears and down to her chest. She has striking teal eyes that most grey foxes don't have.
Ref sheet for my Latias form. She is pretty standard for a Latias, with a few small differences for my own style. She has white accents on her wing feathers resembling the white on a magpie's wings. She has a more realistic jaw and mouth than the anime Latias. She has blue accents around her golden eyes that resemble eye shadow makeup.

Ref sheet for my Latias form. She is pretty standard for a Latias, with a few small differences for my own style. She has white accents on her wing feathers resembling the white on a magpie's wings. She has a more realistic jaw and mouth than the anime Latias. She has blue accents around her golden eyes that resemble eye shadow makeup.
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