Max Banshees

I mainly use a custom set of brushes in Artstudio Pro for iPad. If you don't use Artstudio Pro, you can use these files/settings to recreate my two most used brushes in the software of your choice: Liner, Wet Charcoal.

On PC, I use PaintTool SAI V.2 for most things (drawing, painting, editing scans and photos.) Here's a guide on how to download and activate it.

For more heavy-duty editing (like camera raw files), I use Affinity Photo V2. For assembling and printing comics, I use Affinity Publisher V2.

I'm usually open to do digital illustrations, and I like drawing for short stories featured in anthologies and magazines the best. I'm also open to any commissions that matches the themes, styles, and mediums shown in my portfolio.

Rates start at $300 USD for one illustration, but we can negotiate if your project is small and/or you'll allow artistic liberty with minimal revisions. Shoot me a message at inbox.banshees@gmail.com if you think I'd be a good fit!

As of October 2025, I recommend these three hosts for (1) their low costs, (2) allowing NSFW, and (3) being in one way or another "easy" for beginners to use (with the exception of the last one.)

HawkHost is around $5 a month and offers more non-code site building options (ex.: WordPress/WooCommerce, as well as their own visual site builder.)

nearlyfreespeech.net is what I use. It's not exactly beginner friendly, but if you're building a static website (same as Neocities), the major difference is that you'll need a dedicated SFTP software to manage your site's files. I use WinSCP on PC, Koder on iPad, and TotalCommander with the SFTP plugin (to view files) + Acode (to edit HTML/CSS/JS) on Android.

(It's taking me a while, but I'm making a more complete tutorial on how to set up a site on nearlyfreespeech.net. Their FAQ is pretty useful, but the site looks deliberately difficult to use in order to ward off people who are expecting a webhost with 24/7 support and non-coding site builder options.)

I usually start by doing studies of art models from reference packs, and then I add things that fit a theme I'm interested in at the moment. I also work from pictures I take.

AdorkaStock, TrueRef, and The Pose Archives have great free references, and Howard Lyon (Patreon, Gumroad) and Vilidian Vilks have great paid references.

For anatomical work, I use Human Anatomy Atlas for iPad.

For many things, I use a color laser printer. Any brand will do, but Brother, Canon, and Epson make good ones.

Please keep in mind that laser printers are typically not the best for fine art prints. They have issues with color accuracy, and the way that they print images is by fusing toner (a pigment and polymer powder) to the surface of a piece of paper. That fused toner ends up being shiny and visibly different from the paper.

If you want good looking prints, consider getting them done through a professional printing service instead. These days, I use Fireball Printing for postcards and large posters, and save my printer for zines, stickers, addresses on envelopes, prepaid labels, and scanning.

I like to use adhesive vinyl sheets for my stickers. After printing, I cover them with matte Oracal laminate. To cut them, I use a Silhouette Cameo 4.

I either use envelopes and stamps (for stickers, zines, and postcards), or rigid mailers and prepaid postage (for originals & large prints.)

For things in envelopes, I like to protect them with a folded card around the items (sort of like those folded holiday/birthday cards you get in envelopes.) For things in rigid mailers, I like to put art in clear bags or wrapped in glassine, and then I sandwich it between 50pt chipboard.

If you're in the US, you can use PirateShip for creating prepaid postage labels. If you can't/don't want to use PirateShip, you can package your orders and take them to the post office in order to have postage labels made for them there.

For gouache, I use Winsor & Newton Designers Gouache (Permanent White, Permanent Yellow Deep, Winsor Red, Winsor Green) and ShinHan Professional Designers Gouache (Ivory Black, Ultramarine Deep.)

Occasinally, when I need brighter purples, yellows, greens, or cyans, I use Winsor & Newton Designers Gouache - Quinacridone Magenta, Schmincke Horadam Artist Gouache - Vanadium Yellow, and Holbein Artists' Gouache - Primary Cyan.

I like using gouache when it's dry, so I put it into a watercolor tin with space for 14 half pans. Here's a video from Sarah Burns on how to set up a dried gouache palette.

If you'd like to learn more about this palette, I've written a free post about it on Patreon.

I also like using these Magnetic Watercolor Half Pans from Shawns3DPrints in Atloids tins. The small tin can fit 5 half pans.

When using gouache straight from the tube, I like to mix on glass from a picture frame.

For brushes, I use Princeton Real Value Brush Set - 9144, White Taklon, Short Handle, Set of 5. I also cut down a #2 round brush to have a wide base but narrow tip so I could do thin lines. You could buy a dedicated liner brush, though.

For pen and ink, I use Higgins Waterproof India Ink and a brush or a Tachikawa T40 nib holder with g-nibs. These Zebra and Kuretake g-nibs work pretty well. Since the Tachikawa nib holders seem to be unavailable in most places, you can try getting this Kuretake Zig Manga Nib Holder.

(Make sure to remove the coating off of nibs before using them!)

For I also like using a Sakura Pigma Micron, Sepia, 0.25mm.

For paintings I sell, I usually use Legion Stonehenge paper (cream.) Occasionally, I also use Saunders Waterford watercolor paper (white, hot press, 638 gsm.)

For sketches and personal work, I use Staples Cream Colored Copy Paper and Strathmore 400 Drawing Paper (smooth surface, medium surface, or heavyweight.)

All of these papers are cream-colored, so if you want bright white paper, look for different ones that say that in their descriptions.

For transferring sketches onto heavier paper, I either use a lightbox, or I turn the brightness up on my iPad and put the image I want to transfer on the screen. You can stop your image from moving around by shutting off the touchscreen with Guided Access.

For tape that won't tear paper, I use Holbein Soft Tape.