I'm not sure if I've hit the right place to post about this topic, but I've seen it mentioned in passing in other threads and decided I would inquire to see if anyone's available and interested.

I'm trying to get some character artwork done for a project I'm working on. I have some references I made using AI art generators. The reason for this is because I have been a patron of artists for a few decades now, and one of the most consistent problems I run into is commissioning artwork of characters that have no existing references. I end up writing everything down as a description and have not had very good luck with getting something that resembles what I imagined. It then involves a great deal of back and forth and constant re-drawing which isn't fair to the artist. It's easier if I can just show the artist an image that more or less reflects what I have in mind so there's no ambiguity.

That said, I'm looking for someone with a style that's realistic or leans towards realism, i.e. no anime or overly cartoon-like depictions. Realistic comic style is fine - Junji Ito's artwork was a big inspiration for how some of the characters are depicted. The story is horror-themed and so hopefully the artist enjoys or at least tolerates horror.

Anyone who is interested can reply here or DM with their prices and hopefully links to their work elsewhere to take a look. Thanks!

I am always interested in how creative people express themselves. There is something very I find very relaxing about creating large scale ephemeral art. Every summer I create temporary beach art / typography with seaweed collected from the shoreline.

Couple of examples:
https://imgur.com/gallery/m7xZIvy
https://imgur.com/gallery/vBrlpBz
https://imgur.com/gallery/zYCpDuo
https://imgur.com/gallery/Mw5NIr2

Generally the process involves sketching out the design in the sand, then collecting 3-5, 39 gallon yard bags worth of seaweed. I then slowly trace the design and weave the seaweed into itself and the sand. These projects take about 4 - 8 hours depending on the scarcity of the seaweed and the size of the design. They disappear with in just a few days due to weather and human and animal activity.

So tell me, artists of tildes, what weird stuff do you create?

Edit: words