Howard Blast (Libido Kamen) posts
Ota Clinic Episode 91 | A Heuristic System For (Self) Critique
2025-08-16 14:30:46 +0000 UTC View PostOta Clinic Episode 88 | Shape Quality - What to Actually Think About When Copying
A really common confusion is that copying is just a lot of memorizing distances. Here, I clarify the deeper idea behind copies so that you don't waste brain power straining to become a photo copier.
2025-06-19 11:31:07 +0000 UTC View PostOta Clinic Episode 87 | Literary Fundamentals #8 | Motif vs Theme feat. Index and Little Busters
Addressing a common confusion between motifs and actual functional theme. Basically everything you need to know about motifs from an overview.
Absolutely massive 1 hour 15 min vid dropping in 7 days (editing 5 minutes daily).
First battle demo before then and daily clinics for the next week.
2025-05-15 18:55:46 +0000 UTC View PostOta Clinic Episode 86 | (Gamedev Gemmies) When Effort Backfires...
(Gamedev Gemmies are tips particularly applicable for gamedev, but still apply to skill-building in general). Discussing the concept of "effort threshold" and how to understand when the level of effort you put into something will actually make it worse.
Sorry for the slow month btw, I'm back in full swing and expecting...
2025-04-20 21:29:23 +0000 UTC View PostOta Regimen Vol. 1
Here is the beginner guide I promised (=゚ω゚)ノ

Quite a bit more went in than I originally expected, both in terms of effort and content.
While it's a beginner guide, it ended up being universally useful enough that I'...
Ota Clinic Episode 85 | Everything About Line Thickness
A systematic rundown of everything to think about when it comes to knowing what thickness of lines affects in a drawing/painting. We can dive more into subtopics in the future.
New technical blog going up tomorrow.
2025-03-22 05:22:02 +0000 UTC View PostOta Clinic Episode 84 | Perspective Understanding for Otaku
More redpills you absolutely won't find elsewhere.
(I didn't give much Orkastle update here, but streams will resume soon, and demo is imminent! Just needed to take a minute to focus on growing the channel a bit because I don't want the demo not have enough of an audience)
2025-03-10 20:46:24 +0000 UTC View PostOta Clinic Episode 83 | Anatomy Understanding for Otaku
Dropping the redpills you won't find elsewhere.
(Video editing on new Poke/Devlog almost done!)
Ota Clinic Episode 82 | Genre Colorwheel (Plot Archetypes)
Dicussing the fundamental forms plots can take and the consequence they have on handling of tension and the main elements that make them work. This will lead into being able to discuss specific plot techniques in more detail.
Mini-update at beginning, proper update post in a few days.
2025-02-01 08:15:18 +0000 UTC View PostOta Clinic Episode 81 | A Systematic Approach to Posing
Explaining the storytelling component of posing from a systematic standpoint and how to direct your practice for more artistic efficiency using this.
2025-01-15 18:01:15 +0000 UTC View PostOrkastle Update 04 - Poster (+ extra)
Happy New Year! (・ω・)ノ
So, yes this is an update (almost) just about the poster. The main reason being it took a lot more work than I expected ( ˘•ω•˘ )
I literally didn't take it into account with my timeframe expectations at all because for some reason I was thinking it'd get done with just a few h...
2025-01-02 02:48:41 +0000 UTC View PostOta Clinic Episode 80 | The Secret Gains of Illustration
Explaining in depth the mentality and process involved in gains through going all out on a detailed illustration, including a lot of overlooked factors.
2025-01-02 02:14:29 +0000 UTC View PostOta Clinic Episode 79 | Literary Fundamentals #7 | Designing Characters
Establishing basic laws about characterization and some tricks to help guide decisions when creating characters and setting.
Merry Christmas (*‘ω‘ *)
Ota Clinic Episode 78 | Painting | Symbolic Quality of Hue and Preservation of Value
The single most important piece of painting and color wisdom.
Writing clinic tomorrow.
Ota Clinic Episode 77 | Painting | Lower Layer and Upper Layer
Explaining the critical element that makes Japanese painting styles work and the workflow for producing them.
2024-12-12 01:52:20 +0000 UTC View PostOta Clinic Episode 76 | (Literary Fundamentals #6 | Developing Theme feat. Index)
Discussing the mechanics by which having an overarching theme to literature works and how it differentiates itself from moral and philosophical info. I placed my mic badly with this one so there's a lot of peaking, my b. Still getting used to this new mic.
2024-12-05 21:24:26 +0000 UTC View PostOrkastle Update 03 - Tachie, Animations, Chapter 1 Plans, etc.
So what I said last update about dropping updates more frequently, imagine I'm saying that for the first time now (*´ω`)
There's a poke/devlog in the works right now, it's not my sole focus since I'm jumping to little bits of art that still need to be done and writing daily now, so this update will just mostly talk ...
2024-11-22 04:56:42 +0000 UTC View PostOta Clinic Episode 75 | Bodies #8 Knees Part 2
10 most crucial knee poses and explaining what to look for and how to think about them.
Update post tomorrow, next video 'log in editing (*´ω`)
Ota Clinic Episode 74 | Understanding Roughing
Explaining exactly what goes into roughing and how to make sure your roughing is actually helping you.
2024-11-12 11:14:37 +0000 UTC View PostOta Clinic Episode 73 | Bodies #7 Knees
Explaining the principles of what makes good knees. Part 2 on knees will explain different categories of knees whereas this one is more general principles, so it might be easier to follow this one after Parrt 2.
'Kastle update coming soon after 2 more tachie are done.
2024-11-09 06:25:04 +0000 UTC View PostOta Clinic Episode 72 | How to See - Why Directional Changes Might Be Everything
Explaining exactly how to perceive lines properly, how to copy properly, and how to ink.
bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/howardblast.bsky.social
2024-11-01 06:58:52 +0000 UTC View PostOta Clinic Episode 71 | Compositional Gesture, Weight, and Pushing Your Limits
Showing an easy to do, crucial exercise for composition and gestural understanding, which a bit on exactly what the purpose of pushing your limits is.
PS. My brother complained about the face so the thumbnail of the vid reflects an updated version lol
Ota Clinic Episode 70 | Process for Originals
A breakdown of all the elements you have to worry about when coming up with an original composition and what to not do, as well as the steps to perform when stuck.
2024-10-16 16:05:45 +0000 UTC View Post



















