#this was supposed to be a sketch but then i started putting effort into some parts and lazy at others then got carried away

[daily-mosscreep]

get godfist threepointed stupif brititsh orb

FINAL ROUND!!!

CHOOSE WHO IS THE BEST MECHANICAL SILLY

I encourage all of you to send propaganda on who you think is the Best Mechanical Silly!!

[dvrtrblhr]

omg hiii your Dimiclaudes are gorgeous and I adore the snippets of writing you add to the pieces 💛💙

aaa thanks a lot! i love drawing them forever, so i'm happy others also enjoy it lol

anyway, i searched my folders for a sketch i hadn't posted and i found this one:

and the scene that comes with it below:

As if to prove that point, while they followed the locals through the tunnels that would lead them to Abyss, Claude noticed that Dimitri was throwing glances at him and looking sulky.

“What is it?” Claude asked in a whisper. Dimitri glanced at him and sulked some more. It was starting to get annoying.

“You don’t think I can take him,” he answered finally. Claude couldn’t help the way his mouth fell open in disbelief. Out of all things, that was what bothered him. It was that kind of moment that made Claude very aware of how different they really were. “Honestly, he’s not even that big. He’s shorter than Dedue, I think.”

“Dedue, who is probably the tallest, biggest person in the whole monastery,” Claude rebutted mostly because Dimitri’s remark was so absurd. “Anyway, did I say that you couldn’t take him? I don’t think so.” They walked in silence for a while longer before Claude continued, “I don’t see why you would want to risk getting hurt because of something so silly. It’s not even your specialty. Or did you forget that you excel in sparring with a lance? That long pole with a sharp tip that keeps the enemy at a safe distance, remember?”

“Why are you so sure I’m going to lose though?” Dimitri asked, still looking offended.

“I’m not! In this stupid thing called fist fighting even the winner gets hurt. Now, if brawling is what you want, then go ahead! Just don’t expect me to cheer for you or kiss your bruises better, all right?” he replied, equally perplexed and irritated, then noticed what he had just said and looked around to see that they had, fortunately or not, fell behind the rest of their group so he continued, “What were you expecting, Dimitri? Did you think I would swoon at your manliness? I’m sorry, but that… doesn’t really impress me. Now, you want to know what impresses me? Your kindness, passion and sincerity.”

It was Dimitri’s turn to be speechless, it seemed. Claude immediately thought he had said too much and felt his face flush at his own corniness. Then Dimitri's hands were caressing his cheeks softly, tilting his head upwards so he could kiss his lips gently. It was the kind of touch that made Claude forget why doing that at such time and place was a really bad idea.

“You are right, I’m sorry,” Dimitri said quietly, still cradling his face in his hands, “There’s one thing, though. You are too kind, Claude. Kinder than I could ever hope to be. And kinder than I deserve.”

Claude wanted to protest about such a useless comparison and about Dimitri’s supposed unworthiness. It was something that had crept into their conversations from time to time, how Dimitri seemed to think he was somehow a bad person. It made no sense considering the effort he put into being as good and helpful as he could, sometimes to the point of exhaustion. He didn’t say anything, though, it was such a pleasant moment��� He really didn’t want to ruin it with an argument, not even an important one he had been procrastinating for a while. And Dimitri was kissing him again, his lips, his cheeks, his neck. He might really turn to mush if that continued.

Then they heard the sound of footsteps and they were quickly pulling away from each other. Edelgard appeared by the corner looking sour.

"What are you two doing?" she asked irritably.

Golden Dawn, Chapter 20, Wind - Underground

[thefaiao]

Do you remember what hooked you on the LISA series? It's a decently impactful set of games so I'm curious as to why you've created so many drawings from it

A great question. I don't think I can answer this with absolute precision, but I'll try. I'll begin explaining how exactly I first got into drawing LISA, and we'll work from there to the reason I believe I am still compelled to draw more of it.

I first played and finished LISA at the end of 2016. I was decently active at that point, but hadn't garnered much attention to my drawings. I had made a Hotline Miami post that had gotten decently popular, and a few Yogscast(1)(2)(3) drawings that also did decently well, but overall nothing super noteworthy. Most Yog fans at the time weren't into what I liked mainly, which was Shadow of Israphel.

I was immature at the time, so had a hard time connecting with people in fandoms. Not to mention, I was a Brasilian in a sea of Americans and Europeans. You'd be surprised how hard it was to relate with people in that setting, but I tried here and there.

I felt pretty strongly about the HM post though, since it felt like a great personal achievement. I felt a drawing I had a clear vision for had achieved what I set out to do with it. Seeing how much people liked it, it was pretty magical when you've never had a post "do well".

Anyway, people were hopping out of tumblr and onto twitter, and I did as well. Twitter, despite everything, sort of puts you way closer to other people. Your reply to someone important is very visible and hard to ignore. It was a type of equalizer. There I had gotten to get my drawings actually seen and shared by Austin, the guy who made the LISA games.

Having had my drawings shared and recognized that way had a strong impact on me, and I even got to talk with an artist I really looked up to at the time, Maren, who had also gotten into LISA. She had done art for SBFP and TF2, so it felt surreal to me to be acknowledged by someone like that. Up to that point I really felt like more of a passive observer to everything.

In 2014 I finished high-school, and 2015 I spent the whole year learning how to draw better. I tried so hard that I ended up dissociating, a very scary emotion, that I didn't even know was a thing at the time. It felt like all that time and effort was starting to pay off, and that there was a way forward here.

First I posted sketches, and the passion I had for the game and motivation from the recognition led me to put a lot more effort than usual into my drawings. I ended up making these, which got really popular, it was very validating.

So because of all that I kept drawing. I'll be honest, a lot of the time I just wanted to get even more of the attention of these weird new cool popular friends that were paying attention to me for some reason. I was very lonely at the time. I think I stayed lonely for a long time after too.

But eventually people move on, as is normal with fandoms. I didn't really feel my passion for drawing and LISA die out though. I had started a massive LISA art project at the time, that took me 5 long years, and also was more focused in college, where I did Game Design.

Drawing wise, eventually I branched out to other RPGmaker games, but LISA was very easy to draw. It was sort of a home-base for me. Something I could come back to when I was uncertain.

I think Urasawa put it quite well, with Billy Bat:

Drawing the same characters over and over is extremely rewarding, and a great way to reflect on your progress so far. I suppose it's meditative, but that's not quite the right word. It's very fun and constructive, and people can also keep track of your progress through that. I did the same with OFF characters, a game I had drawn way before all this.

Of course, I had a lot of issues because of how things developed. I related a lot of my self-worth with the validation I received from people online, and I still do, to an extent...

When I started taking the game I'm making, Meanderer, more seriously, and started living alone, posting anything felt awful. I didn't have the energy for bombastic posts, or the time spent developing the way I draw the characters like I did for LISA, that is, with ease and style. It felt very humiliating, but I understand it was a warped view of things.

It was a long and depressing time in my life, but it taught me a few important lessons, and made me sort of re-evaluate how I engage with "online" overall. But I still liked drawing LISA throughout all of this, I almost felt ashamed of it to a certain point.

All of this isn't to say I didn't love the game itself. It wasn't all just context. I really, really love LISA. It drove me to sobbing tears, which I don't think another game has gotten out of me. It's a fantastic game, that really showed what fresh things you could do with the medium. When I played it I'm not sure I fully understood how much I loved games.

I just grew up with the characters of LISA. Maybe not in my adolescence, but definitely in my adulthood, and with my art. These characters help me orient myself, understand my limits. And it's damn fun to get better at drawing them. Even just a character on an empty blank canvas, with only black and white lines. It's the most fun in the whole world.

To finish it off, I have a general philosophy of not republishing drawings. So whenever I want to do a LISA post I have to draw a LISA post. Just keep drawing and drawing. Don't get hung up on one drawing or idolize one thing you did. Keep making things. It doesn't have to make sense. Just keep drawing.

(There was a power outage while writing this and I had to retype this whole damn post by the way. Appreciate it!)

[alcoholfreenayeon]

chaeyoung loves to draw we all know that... but what about her drawing fem!reader while having sex...

i need her so bad

Masterpiece

Content warning: NSFW, Chaeyoung x Fem!reader

A/N: LITERALLY ONE OF MY THOUGHTS. Like of course Chaeyoung would want to do that. I can also see her trying to draw (bratty) reader while reader is eating her out🤭maybe I’ll do a part two on that🙈

“Why don’t you just stay still…ugh”, Chaeyoung complains.

You don’t answer back, you are too busy trying to control your breath. It’s not easy when Chaeyoung has 3 fingers inside you.

Chaeyoung playfully rolls her eyes at your silence and uses her free hand to pick up a pencil and begin her sketch. You didn’t know how she got it in her head but all of a sudden Chaeyoung said she wanted to draw you while the two of you had sex.

Granted, it’s not the craziest idea ever but it’s a lot of work for everyone involved, like, Chaeyoung has to fuck you and draw you at same time while you have to be absolutely still. How does that even work out??

You’re thoughts were abruptly interrupted when you felt your stomach tightening, each movement of her finger felt so very intricate, like you are the canvas and she’s painting you. Your hips begin to buckle and you gasp as you throw your head back.

Chaeyoung smirks, knowing what’s about to happen and drops her pencil and reaches out for your neck, lightly choking you with a firm grip.

“Ahn, this won’t do y/n. How am I supposed to do my work properly when you keep thrashing about like this. I only have two hands you know”

You can only squeal as your release feels like it’s on the brink. Chaeyoung’s fingers inside you, her thumb on your clit, her other hand around your neck and her looking over you so smugly, all of that is proving to be too much. Or so you thought at that point.

“Hey, your not trying to edge yourself are you?”, Chaeyoung asked, lightly gritting her teeth. “This much is usually enough.” She tightened her grip on your neck and tried to wiggle her fingers in deeper. “I want you to cum for me y/n.”

That’s, when you lose it, her redoubled efforts have an immediate reaction as your breath gets sucked in, your hips buckle up and your knees go limp, you can’t make a noise but you don’t know if it’s because of the sudden burst of pleasure or because Chaeyoung is gripping your neck harder, maybe both.

The next few moments go by in a flash, you can’t really recall what happened other than your orgasm and Chaeyoung’s smug expression. You don’t feel her hand on your neck anymore but her fingers are still inside you. Panting, you look at her and she’s back to drawing.

Taking a deep breath and sighing, you close your eyes and quietly moan as Chaeyoung’s fingers are back to working their magic.

“Shhhh”, Chaeyoung chides, “let me concentrate”

That slightly annoyed you, how quiet is she expecting you to be? You are trying your best. Or you were until that moment. You stay quiet for a few seconds and then let out a loud moan and purposefully thrash around a bit.

Chaeyoung sighs and then glares at you with slightly narrowed eyes. “Ahn, that’s how you want to play.” She drops her pencil and puts the paper away. “You really are too energetic for a poser. But it’s not a big issue, I think after 5…or 10 orgasms you’ll be much more still”

Hearing all that makes you a bit anxious but before you can respond Chaeyoung clamps her hand on your mouth. “I think you’ve made enough noise for now”.

It didn’t take too long for you to cum after that, you were already some way there but Chaeyoung being stern with you just seemed….right and sent you over the edge quickly enough. But of course, Chaeyoung didn’t stop there and kept continuing working her fingers which were probably really wrinkled now after being inside you for this long.

Feeling sensitive from having cum twice in a small amount of time, you felt euphoric but you were starting to feel something that transcends it. Each thrust and movement from Chaeyoung’s fingers felt electric, like they were literally shoving surges of pleasure in you. You wanted to say so many things to her right now if you wouldn’t be screaming your head off that is but with her hand clamped so tight on your mouth you couldn’t even squeak properly.

Breathing shakily, you try to focus on your lover who was now looking at you like a crazy scientist who was watching an experiment take place.

You felt your tummy tighten as an all to familiar feeling started to take place yet again. You so badly wanted to call out Chaeyoung’s name, scream it actually since she was all you could think about in this moment. The way she’s staring at you, the way her fingers are filling you and the way her hand feels around your mouth, god you just wanted to lick her hand.

Your thoughts disappear when Chaeyoung thrusts her fingers in harder than usual and keeps pushing like she’s trying to go deeper even though her fingers are as deep as they can be. Your walls convulse and contract repeatedly as you cum again.

At this point you couldn’t even catch your breath. The feelings were too intense, your heart pounding so hard it felt like it would burst out of your chest. Your legs shaking, hands gripping the bedsheets, cheeks flushed. Chaeyoung finally removed her hand from your mouth and slaps your tits playfully.

“You’re lucky I like you. Now, you’re going to stay still right?”

You weakly look at her, unsure what to say as you are still recovering and are functioning slowly. However, she has already gone back to drawing, thinking you’ll be calm now.

And you were, not by choice thought really, you felt numb so it wasn’t that hard to be still. Glancing you could see traces of what Chaeyoung had drawn so far. It was good, really good but your expression did look slightly unflattering. Surely you weren’t looking this….lost. Your cheeks redden even more.

A few minutes later, you felt yourself getting close to cumming yet again. That kind of scared you, surely cumming this much in a small time frame can’t be good. Yet, your body betrayed you yet again as you let out several loud moans as you were on the brink and that’s when Chaeyoung stopped, pulling out her fingers as well.

“I’m done, I’ve finished it.”, she declares, absentmindedly cleaning off your juices from her fingers by putting them in her mouth one by one. She proceeds to show you the final product and you have to admit, it’s quite an impressive piece of art. However, you can’t appreciate it wholly since your mind had its focus elsewhere.

“It’s great but…..can you please start fingnering me again?” You say quietly, feeling a bit embarrassed about asking since that’s what she was doing to you for almost an hour now.

“What?”, Chaeyoung asks confused as to why you were speaking so quietly.

Frustrated, you blurt out what you really“I want to cum again! Okay? I want you to make me cum”

“Come on! You are so greedy you know, didn't you already get off a few times-", Chaeyoung says in slight disbelief but you can see the eagerness in her eyes.

"Just do it please, I'm really close!", you plead, feeling your release starting to fade away.

She sighs with a smile and quick eye roll, “I’ll do you one better.” She then moves in between your legs, ready to eat you out. “It might be more than once but don’t complain then”

[starsillys]

MASSIVE YAP WARNING!!!

getting this out here so I don’t for get later because the tamagotchi au is fresh on my mind and I forgot to elaborate further (I can yap for hours on end)

Kinito was the first created out of the three and was admired by a certain somebody quite a lot,,, he was a beloved character, so much in fact a silly secret guy basically decided to make his oc real and put a lot of efforts and time and lots of passion into creating this tamagotchi by scratch,, like doing the programming and assimilation and stuff,, so you can imagine the massive disappointment when his friend suddenly started bugging out quite frequently and eventually had just. Stopped working for a long while afterwards! Heart broken and stupid, unable to find the cause for this (something silly like. He like. Slightly dislocated a wire after dropping it or something causing it to constantly just have a blank screen by accident and he was unaware of this.. idk I never had a tamagotchi bfore guys I don’t know how they wor’k) he sold the gotchi as it over time became just. A sad memory for him yknow. Anyway Kinito was still very much on. He was awake and aware during this time of accidental abandonment. He just didn’t know the SILLY reasoning behind why his creator and supposed best friend had just left him aside to collect dust,, all alone,,, with no interaction for years,,, and he couldn’t really come out just as yet because after all that time he still had faith. He believed his friend would come back to him. That he wasn’t forgotten and just needed to wait! No need to come out. What if he was busy? What if he just didn’t had time right now? no need to come out, friend will come back so just stay inside. [spoiled once he was being sold like years later is when he actually finally came to the terms that he had indeed been given up on, and had purposely became inactive everytime you (y/n) after purchase tried to interact by feeding or playing with him via the tamagotchi mini games because he was still like. Horribly devastated. Still going through grief but overtime became more grown to his new friend, you!! Because despite how many times he’s refused to go along with any of the activities you tried to do with him, you never really stopped and gave him hope of some sorts that you won’t really be too quick to give up on him as easily! So he kind of took it as a new opportunity to start new,, and now being a bit more expressive of his needs for attention and care, rather than just waiting for you to do it for him whenever it is convenient for you, he will let you know when he needs something one way or another; being more confident with this new friendship to even going so far as to literally come out of the screen! Wowaz!

also side note. Ummmrrr,, kinito was always a very self aware/conscious entity. Like even during development, while he wasn’t rlly all there to process things and what they meant,, he was always conscious and listening. He’s basically one of those guys who had literally remembered everything since like the day of birth. You know those guys with crazy memory. Never forgets anything. so,, m mmm playing into a personal headcanon his creator who shall go unnamed wink wink nudge nudge is kind of a silly goofy guy,, a lil silly,, who likes to talk a lot even when alone,, ummm,,, Kinito picked up on everything dude. Like he was yess yess mhm I agree and listening silent and supportively. Listening to everything his friend was saying. Admiring his creativity and knowledge with what ideas he’d blurt out or how he’d talk to himself when he’d work. He especially loved the idea his creator would constantly talk about regarding the creation other digital entities(fish oc) Kinito loved this idea because it would mean he’d have friends of his own to interact with, since he figured he couldn’t directly so much with his creator, unfortunately. He would listen and observe the sketches or hear about the ideas and early concepts of jade and sam. He absolutely adored his friends, despite not ever meeting them before.

[ampheenix]

If we stayed connected, would I be forced to change?

TAGS: mizuena, getting together, flirting, texting, fluff and angst, 5k

SUMMARY:

Wait a second. Ena froze.

There was… there was no way she had accidentally posted that sketch of Mizuki on her social media account, was there? That was insane, she would never make such a stupid mistake, so matter how sleep-addled her brain was.

Please let it be posted to the art account, please let it be posted to the art account, Ena begged to herself. That she could deal with - hardly anyone would see it anyway, she thought bitterly.

Terrified thoughts roaring in her mind, she opened the app, frantically wishing that her internet would load faster, fuck!

And then… it loaded… and Ena sat there, aghast.

---

Or, Ena accidentally uploads an incredibly detailed sketch of Mizuki to her public social media, instead of the Nightcord server.

…and it’s not nearly as disastrous as she’d expected.

Mizuki had been acting… different, lately.

Ena chewed on the end of her pencil, brows furrowed in suspicion.

She had always been the teasing type, but she seemed to have upped the ante as of late. A little wink here, a little smirk there, just a touch more flirty than the usual. And especially with Ena.

The most irritating thing about it was that no one in Nightcord had even noticed the subtle changes in her behaviour – or if they had, they hadn’t said anything, which was even worse!

Maybe she was just being paranoid, or overthinking it… but agh, it was so obvious!! Why wasn’t anyone pointing it out, raising an eyebrow, anything?!

Hell, the other day… all of them were in voice chat and in response to Ena making a comment about how tired her hands were from sketching, and how she wished they would cramp up less, Mizuki had been all “and here I thought you were good with your hands!”

That playful tone, commented with a flirty wink as she rested her chin on her hand, had made Ena’s mouth drop open immediately.

Then, after a brief factory reset, she had complained with a hint of pink in her cheeks, being all “ha ha, very funny!! My hands are actually so sore, the least you could do is appreciate my efforts… and at least I’m meeting my deadlines, unlike you!”

And sure, Mizuki said stuff like that all the time, but – argh!

Ena buried her head in her hands, flushing madly. It was different now, for some reason!! And she just couldn’t put her finger on why exactly!

Well, whatever, Ena huffed to herself.

There was no use thinking so hard about it, and stress was bad for the skin, so unless she wanted to break out she needed her thoughts to shut up.

With a tired sigh, Ena ran a hand through her hair, mussing up the silky brown strands. She attempted to turn her train of thought back to the drawing she was supposed to be working on.

Right, so she had a basic head-and-torso draft here… But, hmmm, maybe she could try using this perspective instead, to highlight the silhouette and make it stand out more…

She erased guidelines and pencilled in soft features, bright eyes and a head tilted just so, a hand raised in the beginnings of a wave, fingers delicately posed.

Ena lost herself in the sketch, pencil strokes filling the page. Absent mindedly, she added a touch of lace there on the skirt, soft lips raised in a hint of a smile, long legs, a cute bow and long-lashed eyes…

A black fineliner captured the details, the way light pink strands cascaded in a ponytail over her shoulder, creamy skin and soft cheekbones, a freckle on her elbow and chipped nail polish on her ring finger…

Before she knew it, the birds outside her window were singing, the sky was starting to lighten outside, and the subject of her thoughts was staring out at her from the page.

Ena nibbled on her lip, frustrated now. Well… at the very least, it had turned out an excellent piece. Considering she saw Mizuki so often, it wasn’t a surprise Ena had captured her essence so perfectly.

Maybe… Eugh, it would no doubt be embarrassing, but it really was such a great sketch…

Before Ena could think too hard about it (her spur-of-the-moment decision likely influenced by the bags under her eyes and lack of sleep in her brain) she was pulling up the camera app on her phone and snapping a photo.

Within a moment, it was uploaded to the Nightcord server.

“Practice sketch!” Ena hurriedly typed after. She couldn’t let Mizuki get a big head, after all. She had just happened to draw her by mistake, it’s not like she had put a lot of effort in or anything!

And with those comforting lies, Ena was out for the count – she hadn’t had caffeine at all in the past six hours, it was a wonder she’d lasted so long really… and she could already feel her eyes starting to droop.

Stretching her arms back and letting out a huge yawn, she stumbled into her bed, barely managing to yank the covers over her head before plummeting into dreamland.

When she awoke, hours later, it was to the sound of loud dinging.

Head still heavy on the pillow and eyes sealed shut with exhaustion, Ena raised an arm and slapped the snooze button on her clock – so sue her, she wanted some more sleep after an all-nighter.

But for some reason, the dinging didn’t stop. Already irritated, Ena managed to sit up in her bed, rubbing at her sandy eyes. God, why wouldn’t it shut up? She was so tired, shit… maybe this was her karma for her terrible sleep schedule…

Blinking bleary eyes, Ena’s vision slowly came into focus, enough for her to recognize her phone vibrating on her desk. She didn’t remember setting an alarm on there… was someone calling her?

Suddenly, Ena felt wide awake, shoving back her covers as she jumped to her feet. Because that dinging… that was her social media notification tone, wasn’t it?

Oh god… was Mizuki annoyed that she had tried drawing her? Did they all hate her sketch or something? Ena didn’t think she’d said anything weird, all she’d done was send the image on the group chat.

Ena grabbed her phone and collapsed into her desk chair, sinking into the soft cushions  with a sense of dread as it unlocked. Huh, it was noon already? Wait- wait a minute, 99+ notifications on her home screen, what the hell?!

All of them read the same way, pretty much. So-and-so liked and commented on her post, which would be fine, except she hadn’t posted on her social media last night.

Wait a second.

Ena’s mind froze, going into overdrive.

There was… there was no way she had accidentally posted that sketch of Mizuki on her social media account, was there? That was insane, out of the damn question, she would never make such a stupid mistake no matter how sleep-addled her brain was!

Please let it be posted to the art account, please let it be posted to the art account, Ena begged to herself. That she could deal with - hardly anyone would see it anyway, she thought bitterly.

Terrified thoughts roaring in her mind, she opened the app, frantically wishing that her internet would load faster, dammit!

And then… it loaded… and Ena sat there, aghast.

Because of all the horrible nightmare scenarios that had been rocketing around her mind, this- this hadn’t even been on the list, it made no sense, it- what the fuck???

Because yeah, she had accidentally uploaded her art on her social media, the one that actually had followers, the one where she posted cute selfies of herself.

Which ordinarily, would be the most humiliating experience ever, as it would probably get like fifty likes and one or two nice comments made out of pity, and Ena would never live it down.

But… her art of Mizuki, which she had posted on her public social media…

It had gone viral. Insanely viral. A level of viral that none of her selfies, although popular, had ever reached.

A shaky, disbelieving smile started to spread across Ena’s face as she read the comment section, filled with praise to the point where it was ridiculous. People… people loved all the small details in her drawing, the care taken with each line, the small additions of colour that really brought life to the sketch…

They’d noticed how much effort she’d put into making Mizuki feel real. In not drawing her as some generic airbrushed cute girl, but depicting her as a living, breathing person.

Ena could hardly believe it. She scrolled and scrolled through the comments, looking for one backhanded compliment, one negative remark, literally anything.

Sure, there were a handful of toxic comments as per usual, but the amount of people responding to those comments and arguing with them, calling them out on their bullshit and cutting them down….

With a jolt, Ena realized tears were prickling in her eyes. She sniffed, rubbing at her eyes with her sleeve and hardly able to believe any of it, smile bright enough to light up the sky, because-

Her dad had been wrong. So, so wrong.

And she’d finally proved that beyond a shadow of a doubt, or so it felt like it. People LOVED her art, they really did! This was proof!

There was just one thing niggling at the back of Ena’s mind, as although all these strangers adoring her art and heaping praise upon it was the best feeling in the world…

Well, there were three people’s opinions that she valued more than any stranger’s.

A lump of anxiety in the back of her throat (but a small, unshakeable smile still on her face despite it), she exited the app and opened up Nightcord.

There were 3 unread messages in their group chat, and… 1 DM from Mizuki.

Steeling herself, Ena opened the group chat first.

10:09 AM

K: @enanan, your drawing of mizuki seems to have really taken off! I’m glad :)

10:32 AM

Yuki: It’s a good sketch. Better than her usual art. I’m not surprised.

10:35 AM

K: I wonder why it was posted at 5am though? perhaps she stayed up all night

K: if you did, hope you’re having a good sleep, ena

K: you deserve it after your hard work

Ena initially felt her smile brighten from Kanade’s kind words – supportive, as always. As she read, her lips twisted at Mafuyu’s backhanded compliment, but oh well… that was practically a standing ovation, coming from her.

Ena typed back a quick appreciative response, not letting Yuki’s snide words slide but still appreciating the compliment overall.

 And then… Mizuki.

Her finger hovered over the chat button, paralysed by indecision. She almost.. didn’t want to know what her best friend thought of her sketch. Everyone else loved it, but- well, what if Mizuki hated it?

What if she was irritated that Ena hadn’t asked first before drawing her, or was annoyed that she hadn’t gotten it quite right? Or angry that she had posted it publicly without asking??

Lost in a turmoil of negative thoughts, Ena didn’t notice her finger accidentally touching the screen and opening the chat. She jolted with surprise, eyes immediately darting to read the screen.

5:32 AM

Amia: :)

Wh- what the hell is that supposed to mean?!?!

All anxiety immediately left Ena’s mind, scowling as she typed back a response.

1:13 PM

Enanan: What the hell is that supposed to mean ?! (╬▔皿▔)╯

Just say u love my drawing or say u hate it like a normal person u weirdo

Minutes passed without a response, despite Amia’s status remaining stubbornly bright green and online. What gives?

Ena felt indecision return to her thoughts.

Maybe… shit, she really should have asked first!!

1:20 PM

Enanan: btw sorry I didn’t ask u first or anything, I actually didn’t mean to post it

I was so sleep deprived I accidentally did that instead of sending it to the gc lmao

Ena fidgeted as she sat back in her chair, glancing to where the sketch sat on her desk. It looked the same as it had last night, still maybe one of the best pieces she’d drawn… well, if Mizuki didn’t like it, that was her loss!

Ena huffed to herself, folding her arms. It really didn’t matter that much, it was just a drawing. Maybe she should just go back to sleep, or something…

Then, she heard her phone ding with the Nightcord notification tone, and she instantly grabbed her phone, nearly throttling it in her hands as she willed it to unlocked faster.

1:25 PM

Amia: oh

that makes sense, u would never post ur art to ur selfie acc on purpose

Ena hesitated before responding.

Something felt… off, for some reason.

Mizuki wasn’t using emojis, and maybe it was just the lack of tone indicators but – it felt like she was upset about something.

1:26 PM

Enanan:

well duh!! (ノ｀Д)ノ

still so shocked it blew up like that tho

guess ppl loved the way I drew u lol

Ena typed that last sentence with a sense of boldness, wondering if Mizuki would pick up what she was putting down.

That she had tried really, really hard to capture Mizuki in her element, and that the main reason people loved it was that she had succeeded.

Anyway, she had absolutely no clue what Mizuki was seemingly upset about… hopefully it wasn’t because of her.

1:28 PM

Amia: mmm

congrats on that, ur art’s finally getting loads of attention even tho it was on accident haha

Ena frowned. Okay, now she was sure something was wrong.

1:29 PM

Enanan: hey are u allg?

I might just be overthinking but u sound upset

R u jealous now that I’m famous ♪(´▽｀)

1:30 PM

Amia: you WISH

Just u wait one of my edits is gonna become “that one edit” on tiktok any day now

( ��̀ ω •́ )✧

Ena let out a sigh of relief. Okay, phew, maybe Mizuki was just tired or something, or maybe she had been overthinking this entire time.

1:31 PM

Amia: and btw dw, I’m fine

was just surprised ig

1:31 PM

Enanan: surprised at what?

With a shock, Ena realizes something, scrolling up their messages.

Mizuki’s odd tone started after… after Ena had told her posting the drawing publicly had been an accident.

Was she disappointed? Shit, Ena hadn’t meant to like, imply something about her appearance or anything like that, Mizuki was stunning both in-person and within the drawing and she knew it.

…Right?

1:31 PM

Amia: doesn’t matter

ur art rocks

it’s about time ppl noticed :3

Ena didn’t want to assume… maybe she hadn’t even said anything wrong.

Mizuki seemed fine now, so she shouldn’t push it.

1:32 PM

Enanan: since when r u this supportive

ur always saying my art would be nothing w/out ur editing skills (* ￣︿￣)

1:33 PM

Amia: and it would be

the sketch u posted today didn’t need any editing tho

srsly it’s actually so good ^0^

even yuki thought so, that’s how yk it’s genuine lmao

Ena smiled with pride, cheeks flushing. So Mizuki had liked her sketch after all… well, of course she did. Mizuki always liked her art – although she made fun of it too much for Ena’s liking.

1:35 PM

Enanan: stop ur being too nice its weirding me out

ur right abt the yuki part thoo (*￣▽￣*)ブ

and anyways idk what ur on abt, my art is always better w ur editing

yin and yang or whatever

1:36 PM

Amia: look who’s being weirdly nice NOW

1:36 PM

Enanan: TRAITOR

YOU TRICKED ME

u always make me say the stupidest things w/out realizing omfg

1:36 PM

Amia: o(*°▽°*)o

all part of the charm

Ena let out a light laugh as she rolled her eyes, resting her head on her hand.

1:37 PM

Enanan: please, what charm

You’re about as charming as a stink bug (¬_¬ )

1:38 PM

Amia: ur so cruel enaaaaa

can’t believe I’m friends w you（︶^︶）

I gotta say tho, I’m surprised how many details u got right on ur sketch

I mean u even got the freckle on my elbow (=•ω＜=)ρ⌒☆

Ena paused, feeling her cheeks redden. Well that was embarrassing, Mizuki had noticed? Jeez, it wasn’t like it was on purpose…

1:40 PM

Enanan: well what were u expecting, I’m an artist

It’s my job to notice those thingsss

1:41

Amia: sure but like wow, to that extent? surpassed my expectations enanan, didn’t know u were so observant ~(￣▽￣)~*

u even drew my fave ribbon with the fraying on the side, and the exact shade of nail polish I wear ~ impressive!

Ena buried her head in her hands, EXTREMELY regretting the level of detail she’d put into the sketch. Mizuki would never let it go now, ugh… this was humiliating…

1:43 PM

Enanan: keep talking that way and I won’t be sketching u again anytime soon

o(一︿一+)o

1:44 PM

Amia: awww am I embarrassing u

it’s not MY fault u drew me so well

then again the source material  was gorgeous already so it’s not like it could’ve turned out bad in the first place <3

Ena let out a heavy sigh… Mizuki was kind of right, in a way. She was stunning, after all, it’d have been difficult to mess up a drawing with her as the subject.

1:45 PM

Enanan: should’ve known you’d get a big ego from this…

1:45 PM

Amia: you didn’t deny it

:3

1:46 PM

Enanan: …

Stfu ￣へ￣

1:46 PM

Amia: HAHAHA I KNEW IT (≧∇≦)

Ena bit her lip, considering. A small, teasing smile started to creep across her face.

1:46 PM

Enanan: I don’t get why ur surprised honestly

 Ur literally gorgeous

1:49 PM

Amia: ur being sarcastic aren’t u… ur so cruel enanan ~(>_<。)＼

Ena frowned.

1:49 PM

Enanan: no I’m not u dummy

Ur cute and u own it, idk why ur always trying to get me to admit that

1:50 PM

Amia: oh stop being silly, ik ur not being srs

There’s no need to be so mean ( ˘︹˘ )

Ena’s frown deepened. What? Ugh, since when was Mizuki so bad at just taking the compliment?

Then again, it was true that Ena rarely, if ever, complimented her… well, she didn’t state it aloud, anyway. Mizuki always knew what she meant whenever she was being stubborn about admitting something, so there never any need to say the praise out loud.

Had she really never outright given Mizuki praise before? Ena’s brows furrowed.

This was embarrassing, but… she should keep pushing, otherwise she’d feel like a bad friend.

1:51 PM

Enanan: jeez, ur so bad at taking a compliment

my sketch reflected how pretty u are u dummy, I didn’t put so much effort into it just for u to refuse to admit ur cute all of a sudden

Ena waited for a response, feeling her cheeks warm. Why was Mizuki taking so long to respond?

The three dots indicating her friend typing appeared at the beginning of the screen for a few seconds, and then vanished.

Ena raised an eyebrow.

The three dots appeared once more, then… gone.

After what felt like ages, a new message finally popped up.

1:59 PM

Amia: well obviously I know I’m cute, but it took me off guard to hear you say it yourself, enanan (〜￣▽￣)〜 so bold!

2:00 PM

Enanan: idk I just realized I’d never actually told u upfront and I felt like an asshole

jeez, don’t tell me ur getting an even bigger head now…

2:01 PM

Amia: aha, so that’s it! I was wondering why you were being so honest, it’s unlike you

And how can I not get a big head when I’m told how pretty I am by my dear Enanan? ~

O(*￣▽￣*)o

2:01 PM

Enanan: I’m always honest, screw you!!

Ena felt heat spread across her face despite her annoyance, smiling like an idiot. What was all this about “dear Enanan?” Mizuki was so embarrassing, god.

Not seeing her friend typing, she swiped off the app, going to check her social media again.

Ena’s eyes promptly bugged out of her head. IT HAD DOUBLED IN LIKES?! This was insane… at this rate, she wouldn’t be surprised if her friends from her old art class stumbled across it.

She swiped back to her chat with Mizuki, typing out a message.

2:04 PM

Enanan: good god, did u see my social media

It’s blowing up now even more than before

maybe I should draw u more often lmao

2:05 PM

Amia: I did see it, it’s only natural it should blow up so much when I’m the subject :3

as they say in the west, u should draw me like one of ur french girls enanan – bet that would get loads of likes too ( •̀ ω •́ )✧

Almost instantaneously, heat blossomed across Ena’s cheeks, and she buried her head in her hands for what felt like the third time in the last fifteen minutes. Mizuki, damn it – how was she not embarrassed, making jokes like that?!

2:07 PM

Enanan: you are incorrigible

2:07 PM

Amia: I don’t know the meaning of the word >:)

Ena let out a laugh, tapping away on her phone.

2:08 PM

Enanan: anyway, last time I checked if I drew you like “one of my french girls” I’d get banned u idiot

2:08 PM

Amia: oh, so if that wasn’t a problem, you’d do it then?

2:10 PM

Enanan: I’m not even going to respond to that

ur the worst

I never see u teasing K or yuki like that (* ￣︿￣)

There was a suspicious silence for a few minutes, while Ena slowly realized something.

Why was it only her that was the subject of Mizuki’s ruthless flirting?

2:15 PM

Amia: why, they’re nowhere near as fun to tease, enanan ♪(´▽｀)

And besides, if I tried flirting with yuki like that, I think I wouldn’t survive it – she’d give me a look so icy-cold I’d freeze 〒▽〒

Well, that made sense… but was that really all there was to it? Ena paused, hesitant.

2:16 PM

Enanan: guess that makes sense

I actually have no idea how kanade would react if u tried that on her

she might just stare at u silently

2:17 PM

Amia: I wouldn’t dare tease kanade like that, I have too much respect for her :3

2:18 PM

Enanan: don’t think I didn’t miss that implication…

what a shame, guess if u don’t respect me I won’t be able to draw u again

2:19 PM

Amia: NONO PLS IM SORRY

2:19 PM

Enanan: nope, too late

ur loss

2:19 PM

Amia: （；´д｀）ゞ

why have u forsaken me..

2:20 PM

Enanan: if u don’t want me to be mean, then don’t insult me to my face!! >:(

2:20 PM

Amia: I take it back… I respect you so, so much enanan, I am but a humble servant before her queen o(*￣▽￣*)ブ

2:20 PM

Enanan: that’s more like it

2:20 PM

Amia: all I can do is kneel before ur throne and kiss ur feet in apology (；′⌒`)

Ena grimaced.

2:21 PM

Enanan: ok ew no need to go that far

2:21 PM

Amia: well, perhaps in apology I could kiss somewhere else then (○｀ 3′○)

Almost instantaneously, heat spread like a rash across her cheeks. God, Ena didn’t know how much more of this she could take.

2:21 Pm

Enanan: I am actually going to scalp you

2:21 PM

Amia: …on the cheek, of course!

gosh, ur so dirty minded! :0

Flushing, Ena bit her lip in hesitation, before finally addressing the elephant in the room that only appeared to be visible to her.

2:22 PM

Enanan: okay seriously, what is it with the teasing?? (╬▔皿▔)╯

I swear ur doing it way more than u used to

and the others don’t even notice for some reason- literally why?!

2:22 PM

Amia: I already told u why! It’s fun :3

2:23 PM

Enanan: what, do u just love flustering me or smth?? Is that ur idea of fun ( ˘︹˘ )

For some reason, after that, Mizuki stopped responding for a while. Ena fully thought her friend had gone to eat lunch or something, and turned back to her sketch.

Then, after what felt like ages, her phone pinged.

2:59 PM

Amia: maybe

I mean, I didn’t realize u got so flustered purely by my silly teasing (╯▽╰ )

Fuck!!

Ena shoved her sketchbook to the side, grip tightening on her phone. Her cheeks felt hot all of a sudden, as she realized that Mizuki had no idea that her flirting had been having such an effect on her.

And now she knew just how flustered she’d been!! Ena grimaced- this was humiliating. She instantly went into damage control mode.

2:59 PM

Enanan: I don’t get that flustered, don’t flatter urself ( ˘︹˘ )

I get like… idk

The normal amount of flustered

whatever that is

Ena worried at her lip, anxiety making her throat feel tight. That response was fine, right? Mizuki wasn’t going to think she was weird, was she?

Her eyes didn’t stray from the three dots bouncing on the bottom of the screen, finally relenting when a message came through.

3:02 PM

Amia: real slick ena <3

ur not falling for me are u (=•ω＜=)ρ⌒☆

Mizuki had completely gotten the wrong idea, how embarrassing!! Jeez, there was no coming back from this one… Humiliated, Ena tried to swallow down the lump in her throat, and with a jolt, realized that tears were starting to well up in her eyes.

She was… she was a bit too invested. Why did she care so much about this? Why did she feel so damn anxious? It was embarrassing, but- but not that embarrassing.

Ena leaned back in her chair as she pushed her phone away, hands fisted tightly in her skirt. Her gaze was heavy as it rested on the floor. Her thoughts began to unravel like a ball of thread.

There was no way Mizuki’s joke just now was true, was there? Ena’s deathgrip on her skirt tightened. That was silly, there was just no way- like sure, she cared about her, Mizuki was her best friend after all, but falling for her? Pfft.

Plus, Ena wasn’t gay. She hadn’t really had any crushes on guys before, but that was normal, wasn’t it? She hadn’t liked any girls either, so it evened out.

She was straight, she always had been, jeez. Mizuki was just making some stupid joke.

So why was Ena… why was she close to tears? Her lip was nearly being worried to pieces, humiliation spreading in scarlet across her cheeks, and all the while her heart, it- it hurt.

She felt physical pain in her chest, along with a sense of despair. Ena let out a heavy sob, and then another one, breath starting to come faster.

She- god, she really did like Mizuki, didn’t she. She liked her best friend.

Which meant she was one of them, and that she was… hell, she was practically a pervert. Disgusting. She let out a choked cry, fingers digging into her arms.

They were such close friends, fuck, had Ena been creeping on her this entire time? She was- she was disgusting, sickening, and such an awful person- why was Mizuki even friends with her? She definitely wouldn’t be after this mess.

Mizuki was going to find out the truth, and then she was going to lose her. Slowly but surely, tears started to trickle down Ena’s cheeks, as her arms came up, cradling her head as she rocked back and forth.

What was she going to do?

In the midst of a breakdown, she barely heard the buzz of her phone. She scrabbled at her desk for it, grabbing it and pulling it to her chest as her eyes frantically scanned the screen.

3:15 PM

Amia: enaaaaa where did u go 💔

when I said falling I didn’t mean literally fall, did u lose consciousness lmao

Ena let out a strangled sound that was half-sob, half-laughter. She scrubbed at her tears with her sleeve, watching as her best friend continued to type.

3:16 PM

Amia: or is it true that u have fallen for me after all ~(￣▽￣)~*

wow maybe ur so in love that u fainted after seeing my message

well my dear enanan, just say the word and we can elope togetherヽ(￣ω￣(￣ω￣〃)ゝ

Maybe… maybe Mizuki wouldn’t be as disgusted as she’d thought. She’d always been open-minded, after all.

Ena’s nails dug into her skin, as she squeezed her eyes tight shut, trying to get the pain to distract her from her stupid, stupid thoughts. That was ridiculous, she had to play it safe. She couldn’t risk it.

How to respond, how to respond…

3:18 PM

Enanan:  please, I wouldn’t marry you even if u held a gun to my head

you’d probably try to make me do all the chores and spend all your time sewing

3:18 PM

Amia: I’m not hearing a no! (*￣▽￣*)

and wow, u wound me… if anything, you’d make me do all the work and spend ur time preening in front of a mirror like a peacock! :3

Ena let out a stunned snort, a watery smile returning to her face. Mizuki wasn’t wrong.

3:19 PM

Enanan: well, even if we eloped I doubt ur the romantic type

I’d probably divorce u within a week bc you’d love ur outfit mannequin more than me

￣へ￣

3:19 PM

Amia: lies and slander!!

I would be SO romantic

3:19 PM

Enanan: yeah right

3:19 PM

Amia: well, that’s rich coming from u considering I was able to fluster u with my teasing (★ ω ★)

3:20 PM

Enanan: that’s different

3:20 PM

Amia: how exactly? :3

Ena clenched her jaw, frustrated. God, why was Mizuki pushing this subject so much? Why couldn’t they just move on and forget all of that had ever happened?

3:20 PM

Enanan: it just is

Ur my best friend it makes sense that you’d tease me like that, even if it drives me insane(╬▔皿▔)╯

3:20 PM

Amia: enaaaaa ur so dense

I’m not teasing u like that just bc ur my best friend

( ˘︹˘ )

What was Mizuki on about now? Ena knew the teasing wasn’t because “she had funny reactions,” there were plenty of people Mizuki could tease if that was the case, so why her?

3:21 PM

Enanan: well then why

Just be honest u dunce >:(

3:21 PM

Amia: u want me to be honest?

idk if I can be :>

maybe first u should be honest about why my teasing flusters u so much

Slowly, Ena’s eyes widened, static filling her head. What the hell. What the actual hell was this. Did Mizuki know?

Had Mizuki known the whole time, even though Ena had only realized a few minutes ago?

With dawning realization, she scrolled back up and reread her friend’s messages, but this time in a different light.

Mizuki… Mizuki couldn’t be honest about why she was teasing her, just like how Ena couldn’t be honest about why the teasing had flustered her. Did that mean…?

She took the leap, fingers shaking slightly.

3:23 PM

Enanan: mizuki

be honest rn

yk I won’t judge u for anything

If Ena was right, the situation was very, very mixed. Because on one hand, they’d both like eachother… like that… and the sheer idea had vicious butterflies attacking her stomach.

But on the other, it would mean Ena liked girls.

And she- she didn’t really know what to think about that. Or even where to begin thinking about that.

There was silence from Mizuki for a while, as she waited with bated breath. It was the longest twenty minutes of Ena’s life.

Her heart jumped in her throat as she finally saw that her friend was typing. Come on, come on… she couldn’t remember the last time she’d been this high-strung. Then the typing animation disappeared, and she slumped.

And after a twenty agonizing minutes that seemed to drag on for hours, she glared at her screen. Because Mizuki’s icon had changed to the little grey circle that indicated she was offline.

What the fuck?! Ena finally had the courage to make a move, hating herself all the while, and this was all she got?!

Fuming, she tossed her phone to the side, letting out a frustrated sound. She had given her the perfect opening! The stage was set, for god’s sake!

Maybe… shit, what if she’d misread the situation completely? Did Mizuki think she was weird? Was that why she was being ghosted?

Ena was sick of this. She needed to do something, anything, or she was going to lose it. Her eyes scanned her room, searching for a distraction.

Maybe she could try out a new makeup look? Try and style that pink skirt that was stubbornly refusing to pair with her other clothes? Or…

Her stomach grumbled, obnoxiously loudly, and she rolled her eyes. Okay, maybe should take care of her basic bodily functions first.

Everything else could wait.

And if Mizuki didn’t text back by nightfall, she was going to break into her stupidly pretty best friend’s house and force her at knifepoint to type out a response.

(This is chapter 1! Next and final chapter out soon <3)

[yourpalmickeymouse]

Hi Mickey! Oh gosh I haven’t been in this blog for a little while now, how have ya been? (I’ve been busy with things but I’m mangling them okay I suppose) ✨

I have a question to ask, how do you deal with burnouts (or how do you deal with being unmotivated)? Because I have been quite unmotivated lately, with not doing many drawings as I used to and I’m stuck doing this animatic about…. Uhhh actually best if I don’t mention it 😅 (it’s a bit complicated for you probably ehe), so I wanna know how ya deal with them and maybe I could get tips from you…😅 thanks that’s all I got (for now ), sorry if this was awkward 🥲

Anyway I’ll be signing off now, see ya Mick!

-Sunny☀️

(Also! I wanna give you this cause I can :D hope it isn’t too bad)

Hiya Sunny1927!

It's so great to see ya again! I'm swell, thanks for askin'. Also thanks a bunch for the drawing! I love it!!! 🥰

I'm gonna put it with my other one.

Now for your question.

Ah, burnouts. Those are not fun at all 😔. I definitely can relate to wantin' to start a bunch of new projects, but yet not feelin' the energy to actually start on any of 'em. It's like your body's just not listenin' to what your mind wants. I actually was talkin' to Clarabelle 'bout this and she had some interestin' advice.

She said that sometimes if a project feels too big, we can sometimes feel unmotivated to get started. In that case we could either try and start smaller with tiny things we feel we can do quickly and without much effort. For example when I wanted to work on this giant complex plane model 🛩, I found it was easier to just focus on completin' a single piece each time instead of the whole plane. It took while, but I ended up finishin' the whole model.

She also said that even doin' something that seems unrelated at first, can help inspire you. For example I was really wantin' to get some sketchin' done for a project, but just couldn't get started. So I took a break to watch some TV 📺 and ended up watchin' a really unique show that inspired me with some sketch ideas and I ended up motivated enough to work on the project again.

But I think what she said that really stood out is that we should listen to our bodies. Sometimes our bodies just want to rest, and even though we might see it as bein' lazy or not gettin' what we want done, it's actually more like rechargin' batteries. The time we spend just existin' isn't exactly wasted time.

Clarabelle is one of the wisest friends I have and her advice definitely helped me out. I hope it helps you out too! 😊

- M.M.

[littleplasticrat]

Behind the canvas: Painting 'Finally getting that drink'

This is a post about some of my thoughts while painting Rugan's pin-up for this month. Some technical ideas, rambling and mild nudity below the cut.

Inspo and references

The pin-ups of Gil Elvgren are on the left, and 'Elspeth Resplendent' by Anna Steinbauer is on the right.

Elvgren is one of my favourite artists and I spent some time looking through a book of his collected work to see what ideas I could take for this pin-up project. The things that jumped out at me were:

The women felt like 'subjects' rather than 'objects'. There's some implication of hobbies, an inner life. They're often in the middle of doing something when they're captured on the canvas.

The subjects know they're being looked at, and they are taking it as an opportunity to flirt (signalled through eye contact, coquettish facial expressions and body language). It feels like a conversation between viewer and viewed.

Parts of the body may be exposed, but the eye is drawn back and forth between the subject's face and more titillating parts of the image.

I knew that I wanted to show Rugan in a similar setup, then; in this case, he's halfway through dinner and then catches sight of the viewer. His eye contact and smirk are flirtatious and mirror what you see of him in Act 1.

I initially wanted the pose to mirror Elspeth's in this beautiful Magic the Gathering planeswalker art by Anna Steinbauer, whose work I am obsessed with. Since I started taking art seriously, it's been my goal to paint for MtG, so I often try to study from artists whose illustrations I admire.

However, I didn't want to copy her pose or the composition of the piece. Don't get me wrong, I'm not above doing this - but I felt it just didn't work with the subject. The horizon line (shown in red) is very low. This is a gnome-level view of Elspeth. And I didn't want to place the viewer at the eye level of Rugan's penis.

I kept the composition similar in some other aspects though - there's still a T shape (pale green) that draws the eye to the focal point (pink). I did some sketches where Rugan is leaning forwards/sideways in the same way as Elspeth is, but I feel that this final leaning-back pose demonstrates more dominant body language and allows me to paint the musculature of his torso in more detail. This acts almost as a 'ladder' that draws the viewer's eye up and down between the two focal points of the nude variant.

Painting

I've already said quite a lot on a post that was supposed to be short, so I'll keep it brief here and write more about the painting of Gortash and Raphael (February and March respectively).

It's been quite a while since I've tackled such a detailed painting, so I had to do some research/studies to remind myself of some helpful rendering rules:

Veins beneath pale skin might look blue, but they're actually just a desaturated version of the same colour. There are other parts of this image where the veins are particularly lovely. I'll leave that to your imagination.

2. Highlights on leather are not as saturated as you'd expect until you get to the most reflective part of the material. Also, a good texture brush can work wonders.

3. I try to use as few layers as possible when painting, but I remembered the importance of putting design detail on a separate Multiply layer. Multiply allows the layer to modify/darken the layers below, so you can more easily add detail that follows the shape of the object. For example, the body hair or the snake's head going over the chest. If I were painting traditionally, I'd have had to put in a lot more effort. With Multiply layers, it's one colour. Nice! I got a great tip from @dustdeepsea about the blue-ish tint that tattoos, particularly older ones, can get. I felt like this massive tat is not something that Rugan has had done recently, so I added a Gaussian blur as well.

Well, if you got this far, thanks for reading! This is a great way for me to reflect and record what I've learned from the painting. I want to paint sexy stuff, but I also want to keep improving as an artist!

Keep an eye out for updates on my next pin-up, who will be Lord Enver Gortash. Time to practice using my hair/fur brushes 🥵🥵

[soulkeeper801]

New Girl - Twice Dahyun

Requested:  Can you write dahyun x fem!reader where the reader is a new student and Dahyun has a crush on the reader and Dahyun tries to court her and after a few months, the finally start to date?

Fluff

Dahyun x f!reader ft. Michaeng

Words: 2.4k

A/N: I wrote something like this a while ago, so if you think this looks familiar, it was me!

Also, first time writing for Dahyun! 

“Do you really need to do all of that?” Chaeyoung whispered, finishing some details on yet another sketch she drew in her history book. “The classes are still a month away, you’re gonna have plenty of time to prepare”.

The girl sitting across the table didn’t even raise her gaze to look at Chaeyoung. She knew her best friend wasn’t fond of studying so she made the extra effort to make summaries for the both of them. 

“I like when things look pretty,” she simply answered.

Chaeyoung smiled at such an expected reply. There wasn’t a single semester that they didn’t have pretty notes to study from.

However, on that particular Friday afternoon in the library, Chaeyoung was getting bored.

“Can’t we go take a walk? A pause for you to come back filled with creativity to keep making your study notes?”

Dahyun chuckled at the effort. “Be honest, do you really just want to go for a walk?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Chaeyoung chuckled. “Well maybe we can go for a snack too, maybe tteokbokki, maybe soju…”

“It’s 3pm, Chae!” the older girl shook her head, suppressing a smile but grabbing all of her stuff and putting it in her backpack. 

“So that’s a yes?” the other girl asked, her face lighting up at the sound of a possible dinner in her near future.

“Let’s go!” Dahyun said, getting a glare from the library lady who gestured to her to stay quiet.

“Wait,” Chaeyoung called as they were leaving the library. “I forgot my wallet”.

Dahyun rolled her eyes, “alright, I’ll treat you this time”.

“No, no!” the shorted girl replied, moving her hands fast as if she wanted to keep that idea out of Dahyun’s mind, “let me go to my dorm and get it, I’ll be here in a minute, I promise!”

As soon as the words left her mouth, she was already on her way running towards the room the shared. 

Dahyun sighed at the action and leaned against the wall to wait for her friend. She didn’t have any trouble paying for the food, but Chaeyoung insisted on going back for her stuff.

She took out her phone and scrolled for a bit, focusing her attention on a couple of videos that were shared by her friends. However, when she lifted her gaze, she wasn’t sure if her eyes were okay.

Since when does the university admit angels as students?

For less than five seconds, Dahyun’s gaze followed a new girl who was hurriedly making her way towards the library.

She was the prettiest girl she had ever seen. 

The girl went into the library and Dahyun’s feet instinctively walked towards her. She wanted to know her name, but as soon as she saw her a group of new students also arrived at the place, making Dahyun lose the new girl in the crowd.

“Here,” Chaeyoung said, startling Dahyun, “let’s eat now. I’m almost dying!”

Dahyun nodded, still wondering when would be her next lucky chance to see that girl. After all, the university was big enough to see someone only once.

*

Looking at the calendar, Chaeyoung sighed, “Tomorrow is Tzuyu’s birthday, what are we going to do?”

“I don’t know,” Dahyun replied, “probably getting together with the girls, eating something and then drinking a lot”.

“I like that idea,” Chaeyoung grinned, “you should be our party planner from now on”.

Dahyun threw her a pillow, “good night”.

The next morning they made their way to the supermarket and bought enough food and drinks for the girls and some guests that they could bring. It was supposed to be a small gathering in the cafeteria as they used to do every birthday.

Once everything was settled, Jeongyeon was the first one to arrive.

“Hey,” Jeongyeon said, while looking at the door, as a girl made her way in, “this is my friend, she just got admitted to our department”.

“Sorry to crash, I bought beer to compensate,” you said with a shy smile, hoping your presence wouldn’t bother them.

Dahyun’s jaw dropped to the floor, what were the chances?!

“I’m Chaeyoung, nice to meet you”.

“Dahyun,” she simply said, since she couldn’t believe you were the girl she saw the day before. The girl that left her speechless and she thought would never see again.

As you were about to sit, your phone rang and you excused yourself to go out and answer.

When you were out of the cafeteria, Chaeyoung didn’t miss the chance to tease Jeongyeon about it.

“Nice!” she said, showing her thumbs up towards the older girl who just chuckled.

Dahyun’s heart ached. She wasn’t going to get in the middle if Jeongyeon had already made a move.

“No, no,” Jeongyeon said as if she could read Dahyun’s mind, “she’s just a friend”.

“Yeah, right,” Chaeyoung replied.

“I’m serious, it’s not what you think. Just a friend”. The older girl smiled since she was just stating the truth about her new friend.

Dahyun was relieved.

“Sorry,” you got into the room again, “it was my friend. She’s coming over too. No problems, right?”

“The more, the merrier,” Jeongyeon smiled as they fell into a conversation.

As people kept arriving, you and Jeongyeon took seats in front of Chaeyoung and Dahyun. An empty space next to your seat made Dahyun want to pretend to go to the bathroom just to come back and sit there.

“There she is,” you said, waving towards the new girl who just arrived. “This is Mina,” she introduced as everyone greeted her.

But Dahyun’s attention was only on you and the way you were making her heart flutter.

As Tzuyu arrived, they started opening the bottles of beer and soju that were on the table.

“Are you strong?” Mina asked in a defiant tone.

“Of course, I am!” Chaeyoung answered, ready for whatever was going to happen.

The older girl poured a glass of soju in front of her, “one shot”.

Chaeyoung grinned and obeyed, “easy”.

Dahyun rolled her eyes, she knew that at the end of the night she was going to drag her drunk roommate towards her room and tug her to bed. Not the first time something like that happened.

As she laughed about what they were doing, she noticed you grinning too.

“So…” she said, trying to catch your attention, “what department were you in before transfering?”

Finally, those mesmerizing eyes focused on Dahyun, “oh, I actually was in Performing Arts but ended up changing to Music since Mina and I have been talking about it for a while now”

“You’ll make an amazing musician,” Dahyun blurted out suddenly, making you smile at the honesty caused by the alcohol.

“How do you know that?”

“I can see the future and your future is very bright,” she replied, trying to play it cool but failing miserably.

You chuckled since you found it adorable.

Too much to Dahyun’s fluttered heart.

“Why don’t we dance?!” Mina stood up, clearly tipsy, taking Chaeyoung’s hand in hers and dragging her to the center of the room, “turn up that music!”

“Party girls,” Dahyun chuckled, making you smile.

“You don’t dance a lot?”

“I like dancing, but it isn’t like I’m always on it,” she answered, her eyes never leaving the drunk couple dancing. Some of their friends followed them.

You turned your head to look at her.

“Won’t you dance?”

Dahyun blushed, “I don’t dance…”

“Come on,” you stood up, offering your hand, “You’re not going to reject me, are you?”

Never.

As the night went on, everyone was wasted. They had a lot to drink and the music was loud. It was one of those nights that were better than expected.

“Yeorobun~,” Chaeyoung sang, clearly drunk, with a cup of soju on her hand and Mina wrapped on her other arm, “arigatou gozaimasu~,” she said in Japanese with a heavy accent.

“They are so drunk,” you chuckled as people kept laughing with them.

“Yeah, they are…”

You stood up and looked for your purse while Dahyun tried to think about a way to make you stay.

“Shouldn’t we let them be? It seems like they are having fun”.

Both girls were giggling at each other with stupid smiles on their faces, mumbling things.

“I don’t know. What if tomorrow she gets mad at me for letting her be drunk with a stranger?”

“Chaeyoung is a nice girl, nothing to worry about”.

You still seemed doubtful.

“Yah! Y/N!!” Mina yelled, walking towards you and almost falling.

“Hey, are you okay?” you asked, patting the chair next to you asking Mina to sit.

“Never been better,” your friend answered, giving a look to Dahyun and whispering in your ear, “she’s cute”.

You blushed, “are you ready to go?” she asked, trying to change the subject.

“Yeah, I want to sleep already,” she said, her eyes partly open because of the alcohol.

“Told you she wanted to go,” you turned to Dahyun and smiled.

Dahyun couldn’t wish for anything but seeing your smile again.

“So are you leaving?”

“Yeah, let’s go, Minari,” you said, but got no answer. “Gosh, she’s asleep!”

Dahyun chuckled, “maybe we should carry her to your room. Can I help?”

You nodded and Dahyun wrapped her arms around the sleeping girl. Just as she was about to lift her, Chaeyoung appeared.

“Hands off my girl!” she shouted, as drunk as Mina.

“Shut up, Chae. You’re drunk”.

“I will carry her,” she said, pushing Dahyun aside and lifting Mina herself, “she’s my woman”.

Dahyun couldn’t believe it. Chaeyoung wasn’t that strong, yet she seemed comfortable carrying her.

“Are you sure you can carry her?” you asked, worried if she would let Mina fall.

You only got a nod for an answer, “can you come with us?” you asked, blushing again and speaking faster, “j-just in case she can’t take Mina upstairs”.

“Sure,” Dahyun smiled and followed both girls who were way ahead of them.

Once in their room, Chaeyoung placed Mina on the bed and left a kiss on her forehead.

“My job is done here,” she said, almost falling on her way back to the door.

“Thank you for bringing her here,” you said, but Chaeyoung had already gone.

“She’s so drunk,” Dahyun chuckled.

You chuckled too and your gazes met when the chuckles disappeared.

“I’m so glad I met you,” Dahyun said, not breaking eye contact.

“Me too”.

“Will I see you again?”

“Probably,” you gave her a flirty smile. “I’ll be around. I hope I can see you again”.

“We should go out some time,” Dahyun dared to say, gaining a blush from you.

“I’d love that”.

You smiled at each other in silence until Dahyun bid a goodbye.

*

“Geez, my head”.

Dahyun was already up and changing her clothes when Chaeyoung woke up.

“Are you okay? You were pretty drunk yesterday”.

“I know, I don’t remember a lot”.

Dahyun laughed, “Son Chaeyoung! How can you not remember?”

“Why?” the shorter girl sat up straight with a mortified look on her face, “what did I do?”

“You met this girl and called her your woman,” she answered, still laughing.

Chaeyoung threw herself back to the bed, “Ah… Mina…”

“So you remember her…” Dahyun teased.

"She was so pretty, I wanna see her again!”

Dahyun threw her a pillow, “who are you and what have you done with my Chaeyoung?!”

“Your Chaeyoung?” the still sleepy girl asked, “shouldn’t you ask your Y/N?”

“Oh, come on…” Dahyun said, a smile growing on her face unconsciously.

As both girls finished breakfast, they headed towards the lobby where the classroom numbers would be published.

“Come on,” Chaeyoung said to herself, “We have to be in the same class!”

She ran towards the board and looked for their names.

Son Chae Young – Room 304

Kim Da Hyun – Room 304

“We're together!” she said, gesturing her best friend to see it.

But her eyes went back to the board as she remembered someone.

Myoui Mina – room 304

A huge smile was plastered on her face.

“Why are you smiling like that?” Dahyun asked as she got to the board and looked for her own name, “hey we’re together!”

“That’s what I told you,” Chaeyoung answered, “Mina is in our class too”.

“Oh, that’s why you were smiling like a creep”.

She got hit on her arm by her friend, but immediately searched for a name on the lists.

Y/LN Y/N – room 304

“Now who’s the creep?” Chaeyoung asked her, smirking.

“Hey girls,” a voice called from behind, startling both girls, “are these the names list?”

“Yeah, I’m in the 304, you?” Dahyun asked, pretending not to know it.

Chaeyoung rolled her eyes.

“I’m in the 304, too!” you said, smiling, “Mina too. This is great!”

“Seems like we’re going to be classmates,” Chaeyoung said, “I’m also in the 304”.

“Oh really?” You asked, “Mina will be glad to know it”.

“Will she?” Chaeyoung asked, raising her eyebrows.

“Yeah… she told me she wanted to talk with you but she didn’t have a way to contact you. She’s in our room, you can go now if you want”.

Chaeyoung didn’t need to be told twice as she made her way towards Mina.

“It hit her hard,” Dahyun chuckled as she saw her friend disappearing.

“Yes, both of them. They would look cute together”.

“So we will see each other really often then,” Dahyun said, smiling at you.

You returned her smile, “really often”.

You both stayed in silence. Dahyun didn’t know how to let you know that she wanted to spend more time with you.

“I think I should go now,” you said, “I’ll see you later, Dahyun”.

Dahyun just nodded and saw how you walked away.

“Y/N!” she shouted without thinking.

You turned around and looked at her, “yes?”

Dahyun panicked, “I-I…” she sighed. “Can I be bold and tell you something?” she asked, getting closer to you and looking straight to your eyes.

“Go on”.

She inhaled a lot of air and sighed, “I like you”.

Your eyes never broke contact.

“Oh… well,” you said, getting closer to Dahyun, “I think we would look even cuter together,” you whispered shyly and left a kiss on Dahyun’s cheek.

Dahyun held her breath as you stepped back and gave her the most beautiful smile she had ever seen.

“I’ll see you around,” you said, walking towards the cafeteria.

“L-Let me treat you to lunch!” Dahyun shouted, feeling nervous out of nowhere.

You turned around again and offered your hand, which Dahyun gladly took, “let’s go!”

[milaisa]

Teach me how to speed draw I mean I'm unable to finish even a simple sketch in 2 hours...

The secret of being able to draw "fast" comes down to routine and experience. I've worked in a professional environment where I learned fundamentals of efficient work. However, no matter what your skill level is, you can always start practicing.

In my opinion, the most important thing to remember is that sketches are supposed to be just quick scribbles of your ideas. In a professional environment, artists are encouraged to spend as little time in the early development phase. When you start designing characters for example, your first job is to create as many illustrated ideas in a very short time as possible. You shouldn't focus on details but shape language, silhouette and the general "story" you want your character to be able to tell visually.

To me it sounds like your general problem is that you spend too much time thinking how something "should look" or if your sketch is clean enough. Instead of that, try to focus on sketching the outer shape of the character. Here are some of my sketches I've made under a few minutes.

See? My sketches aren't the cleanest but they convey the message I want to bring. Instead of focusing too much on detail, I make sure the shape language and facial expressions are clear and easy to read. I personally suggest checking out the work of storyboard artists. I think learning about their working habits could help you learn how to spend less time on detail and rather put that effort into conveying the message you want your sketch to tell.

When you gain more experience, build your confidence and grow more familiar with your own style, your sketching habits start to become automatic and you don't need to put much thought process into it anymore. It all really comes down to experience. I've not always been fast at drawing. It took me years of practice to get where I am now and believe me or not, I'm STILL learning. It never stops. I'm still aiming to be even faster.

As a general note, being fast doesn't mean you're a good artist but it's a useful skill while working in a professional field. However, I personally admire artists who are able to pour hundreds of hours in a single painting. I could never be able to do that.

[paradoxcase]

Close kinship structures within a system of universal polygamy

Here's a piece of worldbuilding that I technically drew up for a story that I'm writing, but like, it has nothing at all to do with the story or the characters and is just some background stuff that gets mentioned briefly for approximately two seconds as a segue into something completely different, but I wound up putting a pretty decent amount of effort into it and even drew up a kind of scruffy diagram in gimp using icons from the Sims, so I am kind of brain-dumping it here, in case anyone is interested.

So, the nation of T'arse has a system of universal polygamy, where everyone of any gender is expected to have multiple spouses. This is kind of a sketch of how that traditionally works, what it does to kinship systems, and why it is that way in the first place. The story is about time travel, but somehow, talking about T'arsi kinship systems in English is more confusing than talking about self-fulfilling time travel loops in English, so I'll be using T'arsi words so I don't wind up saying stuff like "your official father's other wives' other husbands' children" and immediately losing literally everyone.

A quick note about spelling and pronunciation here is that the apostrophe up there modifies the T and indicates that it is a retroflex consonant - these are pronounced with the tip of the tongue curled back on the roof of your mouth. In the story, I just use the apostrophe because there are very few T'arsi words in the text, but once you start to have words with like, multiple retroflex consonants in row it starts to get a bit much, so I've just used the IPA characters for the retroflexes here. So basically, if you see a funky-looking character, it's just a retroflex consonant, that's all it means.

So first of all, while people are expected to have multiple spouses, they don't generally have huge numbers of multiple spouses. Usually, you have three. The first one you traditionally get before you turn 20 - your parents traditionally arrange this one for you. Then you are supposed to get a second spouse in your 20s, who ideally should be another person in their 20s who is also looking for a second spouse, and then you get a third one in your 30s, likewise. Most people stop there, but you can keep going if you want. However, it's generally considered kind of weird if you have a big age difference with one of your spouses, or if one of your spouses has a different number of other spouses than you do, so if you, say, don't get married a second time during your 20s, you can wind up permanently stuck in the "weird" category, since it will be hard to find someone in their 30s who only has one other spouse, and only having one spouse also makes you kind of weird. Plenty of marriages happen just for the sake of social appearance - it's not required, or even expected, that you are equally romantic or sexual with all of your spouses, so it's not actually seen as a problem unless people think that a) you might be gay, and are actually just dating your spouse's other spouses and similarly letting your spouses date each other, or b) you're from a recently-conquered territory and a bunch of you all fake-married each other in order to be "taken" and are actually just living your monogamous lives out with your original spouse. In those cases, it's considered "antisocial".

Obviously, everyone can't live with everyone else. Traditionally, the way cohabitation worked was that men were not allowed to own property, and each woman had their own home, and was generally guaranteed one by the government. Men would then live with their wives, traveling between the houses of different wives when they had multiple, staying for anywhere from a few days to multiple years with the same one at a time. The gay people who are all dating their spouse's other spouses would make arrangements like, you guys can have my place while I stay at my girlfriend's house for a few months. In later time periods, it does become possible for men to own property, first through legal loopholes and then more easily, and eventually you even get gay marriage, and the distinction between "people who own homes" and "people who travel between multiple homes" gets a lot greyer, but that's how it works traditionally. The children stay in their mother's house until around age 12 or so, at which point they join their father and travel between his wife's houses, during which time he is supposed to teach them his trade. It's 100% up to the woman who the father of her children is - it doesn't matter if the kid very obviously looks much more like one possible father than another one, whoever the woman declares to be their father is their father.

This habitation pattern leads to different, overlapping sets of close family. Here is where the diagram comes in:

So, the basic terms:

khraizdi means "mother"

zautɽe means "father"

sɖueveʂ means "brother"

maimueʂ means "sister"

ʂɭuiɳ means "true". It's used for your official parents, and your full siblings who you share both parents with.

ghliʈeo means "nursery". It's used for the siblings who share your mother with you, but not your father, because these are siblings that you grow up with as a young child but probably do not see often during your adolescence. The fathers are also called zautɽe ghliʈeo because you would meet them when they visited your mother, and depending on how long they stayed, they might even be a significant part of your childhood, but would see them less often during adolescence.

ʂbiʐɭe means something like "vocation", or "career". It's used for the siblings who share your father with you, but not your mother, because these are siblings that you mostly never meet until your adolescence, but with whom you will learn your trade. Their mothers are also khraizdi ʂbiʐɭe because you will first meet them during this stage of your life as well.

ɖemgh usually means the non-ghliʈeo children of your zautɽe ghliʈeo and the non-ʂbiʐɭe children of your khraizdi ʂbiʐɭe and their other parents, but technically it can be used to refer to anyone who you can connect to you via a longer chain of marriages. It's kind of like how your first cousin and your third cousin can both be referred to as "cousins", but usually if someone talks about their "cousin" they mean their first cousin. And, when people want to be specific, they will also say things like "first ɖemgh" and "second ɖemgh", etc.

Your ghliʈeo and ʂbiʐɭe siblings are still very much your siblings and marrying them is incest. But ɖemgh family is only kind of like quasi-family and it's totally fine to marry them. Traditionally, the first spouse that is arranged for by your parents is a first ɖemgh "sibling", as shown in the diagram, although in later times (or if the ages and genders didn't work out for whatever reason) people would go to second or third ɖemgh. Arranged marriage sticks around for quite a while, and is even sometimes being practiced after gay marriage is normalized and thus there were arranged gay marriages, because many people felt that it was important to get married early, and also felt that teenagers would not make good decisions about who to marry. There is not a lot of visibility into how many marriages fail in T'arse, because divorce is rare and most people who have an issue with one or two of their spouses also have at least one spouse they are good with and just stop seeing the problematic spouses. The owner of a house has the legal right to ban anyone except underage children from their house, including their own spouses, and this has always been enforced by law enforcement, and having a falling-out with one spouse is usually seen as just a regular drama of life. It only becomes a visible problem when a man is banned from all of his wives' houses and doesn't have anywhere to stay. People hold this up as a reason why arranged marriage is a good thing - because it means you always have one spouse that's guaranteed to be a good match, since your parents put their lifetime of experience into picking them for you, right?

So love, and sex, and even children and cohabitation are actually not required components of marriage, mostly because you have other spouses with which you can also have those things. So what is the point? Why is it important to be married at all? Why is it important to be married so young?

The answer is actually nationalism.

You see, "T'arse" (or if we're writing it in IPA, ʈars) is not actually the name of the country. It is the properly the name of a god. And secondarily, it is the name of the country that is that god. The country cannot be referred to as "the Kingdom of T'arse" or "the Empire of T'arse" or "the Republic of T'arse" or whatever, because T'arse is just its proper name, by itself, because T'arse is fundamentally, a god. The ruler is not a queen or an emperor, although outsiders might refer to her as such - like every T'arsi, she is a tiny piece of god, specifically god's will. So, her proper title is the Will of T'arse. Others will frequently be referred to in similar ways - the eye of T'arse, the finger of T'arse, the hair of T'arse, the knee of T'arse, etc.

Because the country is god, it wouldn't do for individuals to remain separated from the rest. Everyone has to be linked together in a vast network of marriages in order to truly form a composite being. That's why being insufficiently connected is "antisocial" - you're not being a proper piece of god, you are trying to be apart from god. Even the Will has to be part of the network, so one of her many husbands (she gets way more than three) is always a regular common T'arsi man. (The rest are generally all princes of patriarchal kingdoms, and she gets to play political games of deciding which one gets to be her children's father. Sometimes she does the ultimate troll move of declaring the common T'arsi man to be a strategically important child's father and a lot of people get very Unhappy.)

This also fuels T'arse's expansionism. Originally, the theology was that everyone on the continent was god. The original proselytism was, let's all be god together and create a perfect society worthy of god. Some people thought their existing societies were good enough already and kept killing the missionaries. Eventually, one Will of T'arse declared the outsiders to only be Schrodinger's god - maybe they're god, maybe they aren't, we don't know until after we conquer and absorb them. Everyone we kill in the process wasn't actually god, it turns out, so that's fine.

Because of this, they actually have a pretty good social safety net. We can't let god starve or live on the streets or die of treatable diseases, that would be sacrilege. There are still massive wealth gaps, of course - the Will of god is naturally far more important than the fingernail of god, and obviously gets far more support, but it's actually fairly good at making sure that the poorest citizens all have some sort of food, housing, and access to medical care. The people who live in the surrounding countries know this... they know that they could leave behind all of the hardships they may face in their home, immigrate to T'arse, be accepted unconditionally as god, be given food, housing, healthcare, and a spouse or three, and never have to live in a country defending from an invasion ever again. But it means they will never speak their native language again, or participate in their native culture, or practice the religion they grew up with, because "god" just doesn't do those things.

[memecucker]

If you wanna surprise people with the answer to a trivia question, ask them to name the first Disney full length movie to use computer generated images?

Because the answer is 1961’s 101 Dalmatians. “They had CGI in 1961?!” you might ask and yes though it wasn’t anything we might call CGI nowadays but they were images which were “generated” by a computer so to speak. And by “generated” I mean they used a Xerox machine.

By 1961 Walt had started to become jaded when it came to animation following Sleeping Beauty being a flop at the box office in addition to costing twice as much as previous animated films from Disney (especially since Sleeping Beauty was something Walt actually put a lot of passion into, similar to Fantasia which and how that also bombed and I don’t care much for Walt as a man but I can get how this would be pretty demoralizing) and shifted his attention to theme parks and his futurist utopianism. So with 101 Dalmatians, Walt was less directly involved than in the previous animated movies and largely was there to approve ideas people had.

One day art director Ken Anderson came to Walt and proposed a cost that they use a new method for animating the film, Xerox machines. The technique is called “xerography” (Xerox is actually both “named after” the word but also invented it) and allowed for greatly reducing costs and time when it came to animation because rather than having people hand draw sketches onto animation cels they would instead xerox those sketches onto the cels. Now at the time this was only viable with black and white images and so the cels would still need to be hand colored but 101 Dalmatians ended up being the ideal movie to use the technique on because of the Dalmatians and particularly how there are certain scenes where you have dozens and dozens and at some points all 101 Dalmatians present at the same time. Imagine the amount of effort that would be used in hand drawing cels where you have all 101 Dalmatians present considering that each Dalmatian is supposed to have their own unique spots and the ample room for animation errors to come up and you can understand the appeal. And while it doesn’t meet modern understanding of “computer generated images” the fact that a machine was copying and producing these images and taking over what was formerly a human task (I mean human animators still needed to color it in but whatever) and Xerox machines at the time were essentially analog computers and you can get it. There’s an interview with Chuck Jones from the 70s where he talked about 101 Dalmatians and used the word “computer animation” to describe it so that was how it was seen at the time and even ten years later

Now like I said Walt had been disillusioned with animation but was aware it was his companies bread and butter so when Anderson came to him with the proposal he replied with “"Ah, yeah, yeah, you can fool around all you want to". But when Walt finally saw early versions of the movie? He fucking hated it and said Disney is never going to use one of those “goddamned” Xerox machines again. It destroyed the enchantment and wonder in Walt’s view. This was a guy that had already sorta given up for the moment on actually putting passion into animated films from his studio and just let the animation department handle it but upon seeing all the end result of xerogrgraphy, he was disgusted! Where was the humanity in this? All he saw was the work of machines and said Anderson would never be an animation director again (Anderson says Walt would eventually apologize shortly before his death).

And I think that’s interesting. Without knowing any better, would any contemporary person watching 101 Dalmatians claim it’s anything other than “hand drawn animation”? Because that’s not what it was considered to be at least circa early 60s Disney animation department. Hell, the technique isn’t even really noticeable unless you’re watching the blu-ray version of the movie which is in a higher resolution than it was ever intended to be watched in (there’s actually a lot of agreement that the film is much visually worse in blu-ray). But for Walt Disney, the futurist who in 1961 had already been stepping away from animation? He only saw the work of machines and something stripped of its humanity. But nowadays? You can have CGI movies in our sense of “cgi” where you aren’t even working off any hand drawn sketch but instead images wholly created by computers being directed by artists and the humanity and passion can be made readily apparent in something even more removed from the days of hand drawn cels than the Xerox machine technique.

Anyway, whenever there’s new technology in the arts it’s normal for people to initially see just the work of machines and artificiality. But once people get used to it and it becomes normal, they stop seeing the machine and start seeing the people behind it. Same as it ever was

[cmbdragon98]

I'm d e e p l y over the casual tolerance for AI ""artists"" and ""art"" within fandom...

Like, sorry, I don't trust folks using that shit as far as I can throw them, with one of my hands tied behind my back. The supposed hours of work they put into editing images that AI produces based off of artwork that's very often snatched without permission-

AI that is trained with stolen artwork!!!! Mind you!!!!

Yeah, ooo, like. Three or four hours fiddling with one image in Photoshop, spending an hour or two "picking out the correct words to get the right results" or what have you, and it STILL has blatant mistakes, or it's clear that nothing new and interesting and creative is being done with it!

Maybe, big big maybe, I could forgive the concept, if someone was like.... Genuinely making like. Wild collage work. Or heavily painting over AI generated shit. Maybe. But from what I've seen?? Nooo. No respect from me...

Don't even talk to me about AI Art that's supposed to emulate fanart. The amount of discrepancies and inaccuracies that I see? Backgrounds that have no logic to them. How fabric folds, or how limbs ought to be placed, or something meant to be a vague ear or some weird hair ornament, but there's no substance to it, like... and this is meant to be AFTER someone with a "sharp eye" has edited the damned thing, like...

No. Anyway you slice and dice it, there is no artistry to be found here. People who try passing themselves off as "AI Artists" should quit while they're ahead, pick up some fucking paper and pencil, and start sketching. Do something real. Do something raw. Don't come into my spaces, and act like you're wrongfully vilified, when I can't know if you're going to snatch mine and all my friends art, our WIPs, fuck, our writing??? Right from under our noses. To train your shitty damn AI. Or to simply slap an AI filter over it, and pass it off as your own fucking work. I've seen that shit done before! None of us fucking deserve that.

Damn right you, the AI Artist, is unwelcome.

You don't get to feel welcome in most spaces, when you work with something that's historically being used to piggyback off the gruelling hard work and effort of traditional and digital artists, who break their backs and sprain their wrists, drawing and painting for literally hundreds of hours at a time. How can we ever trust a self described AI Artist? Trust off of word and woe is me vibes alone?? No, fuck that.

Anyway, fucking. If you make art of any kind, and have a PC, Glaze your work. Nightshade your work. I know it feels very "We're already so far gone, why bother trying anymore." but... Your work matters. Your effort matters. And it deserves to be cherished, loved, praised, without the potential of somebody else nabbing it, and casting doubt on whether you're the real deal, or the person with the trained AI is the real deal.

You deserve better than to have that happen to you. Protect your art.

[zillyeh]

From the Cracks

companion piece to this one

Characters: Zipper Anthem, Castel Baclef

The near open walls of the Serpent’s Hands breezy cathedral let in every sound from the Old North. The repairs that had been done over the sweeps were never structurally sound enough to keep out the elements. It seemed like this time the ON was really putting in some effort, though. They had the funds and manpower for it now. Crumbled walls had real supports jutting out from the top, reaching past where there once may have been stained glass windows to touch the well abused roof.

At the base of the construction, looking far too long and gangly on the floor, squatted a purpleblood. The old drone-brick that still stood strong behind the pulpit interested him, much to the chagrin of the Undertaker.

She thought she was doing enough for him- keeping his uppity little south city bakery from getting Smiles branded bricks through his window- but no. His little bestie twisted her arm with another bribe to let him up here. In her church. 

If money weren't such a problem she never would have entertained this.

"Have you found what you're looking for yet or what?" Undertaker Anthem demanded, her voice rough and annoyed through her mask. Castel flinched at the sound of her voice, but let out a gentle hum in response.

"I may be getting close," he said, leafing through his old, battered book. "It is supposed to be low enough for the damage not to have reached…" The lilt of an Enfaris accent kissed the edges of his words, making Zippie grimace more. Clowns. He lacked the paint, but that didn’t matter. It couldn't. She couldn't afford to not be on edge.

"You could always help," he continued, "It might be-"

"No. I'm staying parked right here." For all her posturing and glares, her voice nearly gave way to the fear underlining her behavior. 

"Relax your shoulders, then." 

"Excuse me?"

"I feel your tension from here," he said with a flippant wave of his hand. "Even if I did bite, my teeth are rather flat, no?"

When she didn't respond, he turned. He flinched once more, struck by one of the daggers she was glaring into his head. He huffed, making some show of not looking away, pretending she wasn't scary. She was. Even seeing past the hardness in her silvery eyes- to her exhaustion- didn't change that.

Castel tilted his head curiously, fixated on her for a moment,  before shaking his head back to the bricks.

“It’s a spiral of names,” he started as if she’d asked. “Small, barely meant to be noticeable. Etched with an errant piece of metal off of one of my ancestors’ companions’ hands.”

Ancestors. The ones that truly existed were nothing but trouble. Bessba’s? Jackass. This guy’s? Forcing him into her church to look for more clues about his silly little existence. Those who could trace their lines like that- who knew that someone specific was responsible for them- were just so…

Annoying.

He traced his long, skinny fingers along the brick, continuing to talk to her (or himself, it was hard to tell) as he scooted further down the wall.

“It's supposed to be at about sitting height, thank goodness. It would be helpful if these walls weren't so dusty, but who am I to- oh!”

Castel's sudden noise and spring to action made Zippie jump. The purple grabbed a brush from his pocket, enthusiastically sweeping at a cracked brick near the middle of the wall. Zippie clenched her teeth, watching him with something beginning to approach curiosity. Some dusty graffiti was that exciting?

“Find what you're looking for, finally?” Zippie asked, tilting her head slightly.

“Shush- I mean yes, sorry, I just don't want the integrity of the brick to be compromised. Oh look at that, that must be all of them…” It sounded like he found what he was looking for. As much as she didn't want to turn her back to him, she had other things to do. He'd be done soon enough. Zippie turned back to her pulpit as he talked to himself, sketching in his notebook.

“Baclef of course, Payark, Sclera, Humera… Goz…. jam or is that silent? H sound maybe, Aarika-”

 Castel’s mumbling suddenly felt like a brick to the back of the head. For a moment she thought she misheard him, but the goosebumps on her arms were too solid for that to be the case.

“What did you just say?” she asked lowly, dangerously. She did not turn to face him.

“...Aarika? Sorry, I know I shouldn't speak that name too loud, but-”

“Before that.”

“Oh! Goz-Gozjam?” The sitting purple adjusted his glasses on his long broad nose. “Am I pronouncing that incorrectly?”

“No, you're not,” Zippie said before she could stop herself.

“Okay!” he said cheerily. He then paused and looked to the Undertaker, who'd turned to face him. The purple's fear of her had been overridden with curiosity. He looked at her, really looked at her and said:

“Your eyes… your pupils are teardrop shaped.” Given his tone, that meant something to him. Zippie hissed lowly behind her mask, straightening her posture further. He flipped through one of the weathered old journals he brought with him, but didn't look like he was reading it as he continued.

“‘It's a funny thing, seeing Gozjam with her eyes uncovered. Rare a sight as it is. So many of us have heavy eyes, it's the nature of our species, but the droop of her lids and the shape of her pupils truly ice the cake of her melancholy. Were she anyone else, I'd only call them droplets- but with her? To refer to them as anything but tear drops would do a poetic disservice to her character.’”

“Stop it,” Zippie ordered as he took in another breath to speak. He stubbornly opened his mouth again.

“‘It's a shame she has to hide them, and the unfortunate rest of her face. She is more lovely than-”

“I said enough,” she snarled this time. She felt something dangerous under her skin. Electric. Defensive. “Are you done over there? Did you get what you wanted? I didn't say you could be here all night.” He paid her bristling no mind, fully facing her on his knees. Examining her from his distance away. Seeing her.

“You don’t even know, do you?” There was something soft to his voice that made her want to punch him. “Anthem, my intention is not to distress you, but-”

“You’re failing, Baclef. I think it’s time for you to go.” It didn’t sound like she’d take arguing well. He sighed, glanced back at the wall, and began to stand. In that same instance, something dawned on her that turned her blood to ice- and her behavior violent. She tugged him up by the collar while he was still knelt down. Her eyes were wide now, showing off the entirety of those teardrops.

“What else does it say about her in those books of yours?” she asked with a panic that didn’t suit her. The rasp in her voice was more prevalent when she raised her voice like that, making her all the more terrifying. Castel stammered. He was unused to being roughhoused, even more so at this angle.

“N-nothing, they were friends that’s-”

“Physically,” she growled, shaking him again. He let out an honest-to-Messiahs eep. 

“He didn’t- tall? Skinny, robot arms-” Another shake interrupted him. He frantically searched his memory for the correct answer. When he looked her in her eyes, damaged red sclera and silvery pupils above a tight leather mask, it clicked.

“Oh, oh- nothing, nothing. I swear on my life he never described her past shape. It was a secret that he kept until they destroyed this place. I always thought it was rather obvious, since- ah!” 

Zipper shoved him back, looking like a snake about to strike. Castel dusted himself off, scrambling back towards the wall as she approached. Unbidden sparks lit up the rivets at the back of her neck, letting off small, ribbon-like bursts of electricity.

“I could be wrong?” he offered, clearly wishing he was less motor mouthed. “I could be way off. It doesn’t matter. Even if I knew I wouldn’t- I couldn’t. For the obvious wrong it would be of course, but-”

“But?” she said through clearly clenched teeth behind that zipper. Her sparking wasn’t getting worse, but it wasn’t stopping.

“...Our ancestors were friends.”

That stopped her in her tracks. The Undertaker swayed on her boots, clenching and unclenching of her fists without taking her eyes off of the heap of giant purpleblood on the ground.

“Get the fuck out of my church,” she said, something almost airy about her tone this time. The shift startled him enough to grab his things in one swift motion.

“Yes ma’am. Sir. I’m- I’m sorry.” Castel scrambled to his feet, still making her wince when he was drawn to his full height. He nearly dropped his books in his haste to leave.

“I’ll have, um, our mutual contact compensate for the trouble,” he called back as he strode towards the doors. “I really am-” He stumbled a bit over a piece of rubble that hadn’t been moved yet, making more of a show of leaving than this already was. 

Zippie stayed unmoving where he left her, staring at that corner of wall. The slam of the church doors woke her back up, and with a shake of her head she said:

“Annoying.”

[the-owl-tree]

not to be cringe but do you have any advice for running a character ask blog? Aiming for something kinda lowkey like with Bean (also I love bean. I love to see what she’s up to)

not sure how helpful some of these will be since they're just what i do for my personal projects but for sure!!!

uuuuhhh basic overview stuff

if you're doing an oc blog, chances are it probably won't receive as much attention as a canon character/story blog. just sort of the way things go! if you want to draw some attention, you might want to think about non-ask related stuff you can post (clangen blogs do this with the mini event posts, keeps the world moving!)

even with canon character blogs, giving pieces of character lore, worldbuilding, mini stories can help keep the world more alive. but that's when you got time and if it seems fun, you should just do things if you want to tbh

i keep all my stuff in a doc and add and edit whenever i put new info on the blog to keep things consistent. i just put them in little sections to help me find things (beanie lore, worldbuilding, spirits, etc.) but simple bullet points are easy.

if you're doing an original character and world, i would highly recommend giving your readers some worldbuilding and lore to help them invest themselves. people don't know the boundaries of things and while you can have them ask, a little nudge definitely helps.

for a canon blog, i'd pick a specific time period. it'll save you grief if you know who's alive and who isn't, as well as the grief that comes with trying to figure out what you want to change (if you want to change things that is. i like fucking with canon but it really is up to you and the story you want to tell).

you can improvise it as you go, but i do recommend jotting them down somewhere after the fact so you can keep things consistent. up to you though, i just have a piss poor memory lol

figure out if you want to try and do an overarching story, mini stories, or no stories. you don't have to decide right away and you can even decide after you start the blog and get a vibe of what people are interested in, but sometimes it is good to jot them down if they come to you right away.

you're supposed to have fun if you're not having fun don't do it, take a break from the blog or steer it in the direction you want. no one is paying you (i think) so everything you do you should do because you enjoy doing it.

art for an ask blog (if ur doing art if not skip this)

your main character should be easy to recreate on model and most importantly: fun to draw!!! overly complicated character designs are fun in the beginning but after five or more you're going to start to hate them.

i'd also recommend against doing too many tiny "floating" bits, keeping things attached to a body part or in proximity to a space easy to recreate them will save you grief. i learned this the hard way after i kept forgetting all those damn tiny scars i put on my fallen stars!firestar design. in comparison, beanie's design for the blog has a few scars but the placement makes it so they're easy to recreate and draw.

(how i style my reference sheets. do not be me. do not fall into hubris and add so many damn floaty scars to a character that is the main damn character of your goddamn big ass au blog. fucking icarus move lol)

if you introduce a new character, make an easy quick ref sheet for yourself. it'll save you grief and keep things consistent.

i'd also figure out if you want to do colors or no colors. no coloring means you have more time to put effort into sketches and can just move faster if you're looking for something breezy and easy. but colors look good, they make it easier to tell cats apart and are just much nicer on the eyes. if you also have a bigger cast in mind, you can rely on colors a little more than body shapes to make sure everyone can be told apart

i color my sketch lines different colors for different characters on the beanie blog but there are plenty of other ways to make sure characters are told apart! @/askcinders does distinct shapes and different base colors for different characters and lines distinct markings so you can tell whose who.

backgrounds are...difficult. i'd recommend simplicity over complexity and save big backgrounds for "big moments", but it's up to you if you like them! i would just say go simple since the focus of these blogs are the characters.

theeeeennn speech bubbles or no speech bubbles. i like doing doing speech bubbles within the text because it gives me more control of the order the reader will read the dialogue, how they read it, the emotions i can elicit from it, and more fun with how i can place the dialogue. buuuuuut that does mean spacing them, and spacing dialogue bubbles can be a pain since it takes up room if you forget to sketch their placement in the original sketch (which i do. a lot).

so the other option is art and then dialogue underneath directly in the post. this saves you room, makes art probably a lot easier, and circumvents the issue of difficult to read speech bubbles! i do both but it's up to you, both methods are tried and true.

aaannnndd that's all that comes to mind? really it's just about having fun. as you work at it, chances are you'll probably figure out your own individual work style. best of luck (and i'm very excited to see what you come up with)!!!!!!!

[nights-nonsensical-ramblings]

ugh, I really need to get a fic done and posted so i can feel like i've actually accomplished something, but at this point so many of them are in a state where i feel like I'll never ever get them done. It's like im just trudging through and endless swamp and that even if i do reach the end they're so niche that they'll barely get any attention and like what's the point of putting so much effort into them then? like i used to draw but all my motivation vanished as i could rarely get it to be what i wanted. I've got some stuff im genuinely proud of, but at this point they feel like flukes and im never going to get something like that again no matter how hard i practice. I still get ideas for drawings but then i remember even my basic sketches make me cringe, theres no way i could draw what im wanting to and then im just goign to be even more upset.

but unlike with my drawing i AM writting but im writting and just going round in circles with the same wips, always addign but never getting anywhere close to done. But actually. some of them are near done, so done in fact that when i go to read them its like reading a completed story/ but there in lies the problem these cycles and bouning back and forth between fics means that when i ome back to these near completed ones im no longer in the writter mindset but the reader and the closer to complete i am the harder it is to get back to them somehow.

like my fics have genuinely turned my life for the better, without them i wouldn't have met or befriended so many wonderful people and i likely would've remained just an observer of the internet and in a much more lonely place. I can't even imagine what the last couple years would've been like my cuz of what my fics lead to, its kinda unreal.

where was i even going with this? I started writing in a miserable state but ive since calmed and now just feel dull so whatever my original point was has faded to. I guess my brain was just being over dramatic about "those good days of people being excited about things you make, ideas you have and so on are eventually going to end". It tends to do that. (I still struggle to fully enjoy a song cuz two of my best friends clowned on it all the time and its been literal years since i've talked to them, and my brain likes to tell me that saying something "wrong" in a conversation has sims mechanics and damages their opinion on me lol.)

Maybe i need update my pinned post to my fics ( i haven't done that since 2022...) That way new people can be aware of my fics. even if i think a majority of them aren't really that great and are full of errors.

Ugh. sorry for this rant whatever it is, this was just supposed to be a "i need to finish a fic" post but i got a lot of feelings and i just couldn't stop typing once i started