Duolingo Fan Art??

Ok, so you know that grumpy little teenage goth girl on Duolingo?

Wait, you know what Duolingo is, right? It's that language learning app with the green owl icon and I'm vaguely aware we're not supposed to use it anymore for the typical Soulless Millionaire Big Tech Company moral/ethical reasons but... guys. I like it. It makes me happy. P...please. Please just let me enjoy this one little thing. I compost and do volunteer work in my community and commute by bike even in the rain, can I use that as my carbon offset tax to play this stupid little app? Please just let me have this without scolding me on the internet ;_;

So, there's this angsty little purple-haired goth girl character named Lily who openly rolls her eyes at your best attempts to learn a foreign language and I love her so I drew her.

(That's my avatar, with the pink hair)

See? That's Dylan Meconis and me in the most accurate picture of us ever created.

With Lily's judgement and derision, I've progressed to a "High B1" level according to Duolingo's stats, which means I can "share [my] opinion, tell stories, and navigate most daily situations" in French! Merci, Lily !

My Instagram ads are scary accurate at offering me up things I am actually willing to spend money on, which is how I wound up buying The Rusty Nib brush set (which was on sale!). This is a big deal for me because I can not remember ever buying digital brushes before? I just use the default ones that come with the program or friends send me a copy of theirs. WAIT NO! I do remember the last digital brush I bought- It was my studiomate Ron Chan's Double Outline brush, which has been massively helpful whenever I have to draw a vibrator cable (which comes up more frequently than you'd guess).

So anyway, about the Rusty Nib brushes I bought: Guys? Guys. Wow.

See, I hate learning new things on the computer. It is genuinely really, really hard for me and I avoid it as much as I possibly can. I'm still using an un-updated version of Photoshop from way before the Pandemic (and before the subscription model) that crashes without any warning because I don't want to have to learn how to use a fancier one (or pay for the monthly subscription). So, me willingly downloading and installing new brushes? Kind of a big deal. And I am loving them.

I've mostly just been sticking to The Rusty Nib 1 (Under the Nibs and Pens category), which is what I used for the illustrations of Lily standing at the top of this post and seated at her desk. Normally I use a really sleek inking brush that tapers to a tight point depending on how much pressure I apply. This new brush has a really nicely textured line that gives all my regular drawing marks this... softness? It feels a lot more natural. I'm diggin' it. I'm havin' fun. I'm learning how to use new tools and I'm leveling up in French and, I dunno, man, life could be a whole lot worse.

Here, actually, can you keep a secret?

I'm working on an Oh Joy Sex Toy comic about a trip I took to a masturbation conference and I've been using The Rusty Nib 1 for both the penciling and the inking (haven't gotten to coloring yet). Maybe it's just a mental trick, but I feel like I'm drawing better??? Like, the grittiness of the pen line is really letting me lean into drawing cartoon-ier? More confidently?? I'm diggin' it!!!