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arwynsays.bsky.social
arwyn
@arwynsays.bsky.social
430 followers 330 following 2.9K posts
i make yarn, things with yarn, and opinionated declamations. read the alt text and wear a mask.

playing with procreate to #MakeBadArt
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arwynsays.bsky.social
so, my best friend, in australia, pointed out that it is currently summer in the south. where the penguins are. and requested a surfboard specifically.

i said what am i, chatgpt??

(...possibly. apparently. except i have a bedtime and i am up past it. oops.)

#MakeBadArt but #SeasonallyAppropriate
a square digital drawing that looks like a paper cut out of a cartoon penguin in a coral and yellow ball cap, riding the waves on a yellow surfboard. the penguin is blue and teal with coral feet and round cheeks (that match the hat), with happy anime smile eyes and wings flung out in joy. the surfboatd is cruising a righteous wave, flinging churned water up behind it. there is a large wave with foam at the crest the penguin is riding and an echo in the foreground in a lighter blue, also with foam at the crest. everything looks inexpertly glued to the piece, and the whole thing is bordered by torn construction paper that matches the board.
December 20, 2025 at 10:49 AM
arwynsays.bsky.social
from a tutorial (art by flo, i think), but i riffed on it. i am REALLY proud of that construction paper boarder, which was all mine. #MakeBadArt (i feel like i should have an #ArwynLearnsProcreate tag or something)
a square digital drawing that looks like a paper cut out of a cartoon penguin in a plaid hat riding a wooden sled. the penguin is blue and teal with coral feet and round cheeks (that match the hat), with happy anime smile eyes and wings flung out in joy. the sled is flying along a three-color frozen lane, leaving skid trails and flinging ice trails up behind it. there are a few six sided, over large snowflakes that look inexpertly glued to the piece, and the whole thing is bordered by torn construction paper that matches the penguin's body.
December 20, 2025 at 5:52 AM
arwynsays.bsky.social
quick and (literally) dirty sketch for today's #MakeBadArt

The News compelled me to change the message just a smidge.
in execrable handwriting, against a poop-reminiscent gradient background, reads "men will do anything to avoid going to therapy" except "do" has been scratched out in red and replaced with "BOMB". the word anything has been distorted and is streaked with a dirty green-blue, there is a scratchy underline under "avoid", and therapy is in all caps in red, with what appear to be blood drops dripping from some corners of letters. in the lower right is the hashtag "#MakeBadArt"
December 17, 2025 at 3:50 AM
arwynsays.bsky.social
third one. looks like a cheat cuz you've seen the doodle before, but that lettering took me forking HOURS okay. #MakeBadArt
a black and white doodle, made of different segments each filled in with a different doodle style, over which black and white bubble lettering reads (is hard to read) MAKE BAD ART
December 16, 2025 at 2:06 AM
arwynsays.bsky.social
apparently this is an ongoing series. #MakeBadArt
black and white digital drawing: in a strong black border, wavy on the inside, the words in all caps MAKE BAD ART descend from above, surrounded by strong blotchy abstract shapes, including triangles, kidney beans, commas, quadrangles, and so on. it exemplifies its message.
December 15, 2025 at 4:20 AM
arwynsays.bsky.social
best advice.
a circle bounded by what looks like an old phone cord, black and white drawing reads Make Bad Art, filled with areas of doodles, exemplifying the very bad art it is extolling.
December 13, 2025 at 6:04 AM
arwynsays.bsky.social
idk, i guess this is a baby plays with procreate account now.
against a stark white background, there is a regal, chill, seated capybarra, in full side view. its ears are mostly back, its color mottled in a surprisingly realistic way, there is a light halo of fuzz around the furry little guy, and the proportions are picture-perfect (literally), and yet it is clear this is a drawing,a reimagining of the real thing, a flimflam, a fake. and not just because of the stark white background, though that helps.
December 12, 2025 at 8:23 AM
arwynsays.bsky.social
and here's why. (this is just proof of concept showing that i can make the text do approximately what i want it to, nottttt a final image)
the same fridge, now with the text "FEED YOUR NEIGHBORS" on the door of the freezer, and "A Guide for Starting and Running a Little Free Pantry and Other Useful Things" on the side of the fridge. both sets of text have been angled to appear as though they are printed on the sides of a 3D fridge.
December 12, 2025 at 6:17 AM
arwynsays.bsky.social
i drew a fridge, from scratch (with grid and drawing guide). I'm not sure it's gonna do what i want it to, but I'd literally never drawn something from scratch before that like... looks how i wanted it to look. that's pretty freaking cool. #MakeBadArt
a black and white, isometric line drawing of a retro fridge with top freezer.
December 12, 2025 at 3:37 AM
arwynsays.bsky.social
more bad art, doodle this time. only used one special brush for one section (stabilized, cuz i canno do that smooth U thing). the rest is just my own bad line work.
a black and white doodle, divided into mostly rounded organic sections, each section filled with a different style of abstract doodle.
December 10, 2025 at 7:14 PM
arwynsays.bsky.social
i'm just gonna keep sharing my "make bad art" explorations with procreate (tutorials: this is from a tutorial on youtube. but like. dis one's mine.)
a hazy drawing of a landscape in oranges and dark purples, with a bright, glowing sun in the center. there are hills, and a body of water, and trees, and reflections of the trees in the water. there are clouds that look like a not very talented six year old drew them, but they are nicely faded into the sky.
December 10, 2025 at 2:39 AM
arwynsays.bsky.social
would you like to see the most psychopathic thumbs up ever?
a purple text message bubble reading "when you die in a distracted driver crash, imma kill you, just for the record". the time says now, and there are two checkmarks indicating it has been read. there is a yellow thumbs up reaction on the message, a sign of crippling psychopathy on the part of the thumbs-up-er.
December 5, 2025 at 9:15 PM
arwynsays.bsky.social
she's not joking.
screenshot of a Speed dial from YouTube music with the following album thumbnails: Joan Jett - Crimson and Clover Kiki Rockwell - Strange Premonition Camper Van Beethoven - Keylime Pie (despite the fact she mostly listens to Take the Skinheads Bowling) Miike Snow - Genghis Khan Peter Schilling - Major Tom Janelle Monae - Archandroid The Last Dinner Party - Nothing Matters
December 4, 2025 at 12:44 AM
arwynsays.bsky.social
teeeny tiny turned pill dish for my food pills, made from a fallen branch from our healthy mature beech tree. it is *so cool* to see and hold something so handmade.

mend a shirt. nuke a cd and tie it in a tree. glue googly eyes on a stick. dry flowers. make something, anything, with your hands.
close up photo of a small light-wood shallow dish, with off-center asymmetrical grain showing. there are radiating lines outward from the center dot, perpendicular to the irregular circles indicating growth. it recalls a fingerprint, representing how each tree, each branch, each piece of wood is unique.
December 3, 2025 at 10:20 PM
arwynsays.bsky.social
i made a gif.
November 30, 2025 at 11:43 PM
arwynsays.bsky.social
final answer. (if only because my tablet died at almost 4am while working on this 🤣)
same as before just slightly more refined, now with a tiny snaggletooth.
November 29, 2025 at 10:36 PM
arwynsays.bsky.social
hmm. this is... addicting.
the same widdle guy as before, now with a few more details, including sparkle eyes, eyebrows, ear tufts, a notched ear and one little drop of blood dangling from the tip of one ivory tusk.
November 29, 2025 at 10:31 AM
arwynsays.bsky.social
i TOLD y'all i shouldn't be allowed near procreate
November 29, 2025 at 7:12 AM
arwynsays.bsky.social
my partners spent the day gathering alllllllllllllll the wool in the house (and buying contractor bags and dry ice). i spent the day identifying what was wool, trying not to panic, and playing with procreate.

meet widdle deviw, a demon-mouse-shrew who just wants to be your fwiend.
a digital drawing of a cartoon creature that is 90% head/torso, 8% tusks, and 2% adorable toe beans. it is all-over grey, has two ears and a pink nose that look sort of bat-like, giant curving tusks that go out to the side, a tail with a tiny tuft at the end, and feet with pink toe beans and sharp sharp talons. it is smiling, with relaxed looking eyes.
November 29, 2025 at 4:55 AM
arwynsays.bsky.social
people.

people.

who let me near procreate??
November 27, 2025 at 7:31 AM
arwynsays.bsky.social
procreate is fun. art?
allow me to sketch you a picture, as this dog head is sketched. against a white background, the first that strikes the viewer is the eye, just one as the dog looks to the left, almost photorealistic (but definitely not), dark and soulful, the only white in the light of a reflection. overall the dog looks like a blond lab (you cannot see the smaller size that says no, this is not a full lab), with dark ears, slight darkening around the nose, a bright black nose. each shade is recreated by scribbles, dozens of colors, layered but noncontiguous. the proportions are photo perfect, pointing to the truth that this was sketched over a photo. the head ends at a royal purple collar with a black plastic buckle and silver leash loop, all half obscured under a slightly-loose-skin ruff.
November 26, 2025 at 8:52 AM
arwynsays.bsky.social
"make bad art" okay. i can do that.
on a butter yellow background, there is a stylized drawing of a crow. the crow is outlined in a wide calligraphy style brush in purple and filled in with black.
November 24, 2025 at 9:08 AM
arwynsays.bsky.social
i gotta say, "it's still more art than anything ai spits out" has been highly liberating for me. so at least ai gave me that?

anyway look i traced a crow. many thanks to the photographer who licensed it on creative commons for modification.
on a white background with a few cut off swoops on the edges from something cropped out, a black line drawing of a crow stands, facing left. it looks both remarkably realistic and also clearly hand drawn (traced). there are details around its face, and its wing and tail.
November 20, 2025 at 12:50 PM
arwynsays.bsky.social
i adore woolen yarns. while damp and after a thwacking, this skein was longer around than the circumference of the drying rack. i get up in tne morning, and it's a perfect circle several inches shorter. 🧶
photo of a purple and blue skein of yarn, very neatly laying in a circle a couple of inches away from the walls of a round green hanging drying rack. the background is a cluttered bathroom counter and a frosted window.
November 20, 2025 at 7:22 AM
arwynsays.bsky.social
my cat is dying. she's 18, she's had a very good life for at least 17 of it, she's still purring when she gets scritches, but she is at the very end. so I'm making yarn, because the wheel is near where she spends time. 555 yards 2ply, south American wool pool. life continues, even as it ends. 🧶
photo of a plump and pretty skein of wool in purples and light blue, balanced on the wheel that made it, a beech and red schacht ladybug. the carpet is grey and there is no cat, but if there were audio, you'd hear her purr from just out of frame.
November 18, 2025 at 1:23 AM