#& then i will never colour this scene again

[marigraphia]

Behold: The Yassification of Emma Frost!

So, early last year I went into a haze and read all the Emma backstory comics I could find -- and it was a bit disappointing to find out there's not much focus in depicting her visual journey from ugly duckling teenager to bombshell blonde. Emma's appearance is so important for both her character and her in-universe history, in a way that it is pretty rare in cape comics, and I was looking forward to see it develop in a consistent way... So I did it myself :)

Better look + rambles under the cut

The references were:

Emma Frost (2003) for her school to university years, and everything in between (#1-16)

Generation X (1994) #24 and X-Men (2010) #13 for her brief mental asylum stay (#17)

X-Men Origins: Emma Frost (2010), X-Men: Deadly Genesis (2006) #5 and Uncanny X-Men (1981) #531 for her early Hellfire Club days (#18-21)

And some random comics from around her 1979 debut, for more accuracy in the original costume (#22)

The focus in choosing what to redraw wasn't really impacting moments in Emma's life or anything, just strictly showing her visual journey. Here's what I tried to make each little sketch say:

1- Young Emma isn't a dazzling natural beauty, and also doesn't really know how (or care) to best present herself.

2- Makeover! This is young Emma looking her best. I really kept the makeup in mind when colouring her, you can probably see when directly comparing both portraits (especially how the lips and brows were filled out). Also, her hair was trimmed and straightened.

3- She took the makeover seriously, this is now how she dresses to go to school. Plus a nice expression and angle.

4- You can see her body. She's scrawny and there's not much in the chest area (though I'm not great at drawing small breasts, so this part might not be as apparent). Wears a one-piece swimsuit and does her hair to suntan, indicating a lack of confidence.

5- This one is a bit of a sneak peek for the next post, and it's all about comparing her and her sisters. The focus is also how insecure she was. It's from right before her father announces her as his heir (and she rejects), which will mater later.

6- What one decides to dress when dramatically running away from home says a lot about you. Plus full body shot.

7 & 8 - At work vs eating out, wearing the same outfit. She's much more confident in herself since leaving home.

9- I mostly just wanted to draw this scene (and I absolutely love how it came out!!), but I also like the comparison between her more natural hair and how it looked fresh off the tight ponytail in #8. Just wavy hair things.

10- Fancied-up! There were probably better ways to show off the dress, and how much more confident she must be to wear something like it, but I really wanted to draw her laughing.

11- Serves mostly as a comparison to #10, but also highlights how the dress doesn't really fit her (both because she's still a bit scrawny and because she doesn't have many shopping options at this point).

12- She's finally blonde!! I wanted the hair to look a bit orange, because this was her first time bleaching it (and probably by herself, since she's trying not to be recognised). Her clothes are pretty clearly stuff she had for work, and we never see her wear anything similar again (though the artist changed here, so can't say if it was on purpose).

13- New portrait, now that our girl has officially gone blonde (now professionally done). She's also lost some baby fat since the last one.

14- This comic was released in 2003, so the fashion is Something. Considering the sliding timescale, though, that's probably not far from when current Emma would've gone to university, so I couldn't miss the chance. And I also used this one to show her wearing a padded bra.

15- A better look at her body (now without the bra, which she took off when getting home). I also thought it'd be cute if she still did a side-part when in private (aka not worrying about being recognised).

16- The end-of-arc full-body shots are basically a tradition now.

17- Generation X #24 and X-Men #13 had conflicting info on whether her hair was brown or blonde at that point, so I went with roots showing (which makes sense, it doesn't seem like they were having beauty days in there), though I admittedly have no idea how long she stayed there nor how much it'd realistically grow during the time. Also, the skin situation isn't supposed to be like this under the makeup all the time, it's just the stress. And I gave her mixed skin, because it's what seemed to make the most sense for someone who had a lot of pimples as a kid but apparently no big issue after that.

18- First day at the Hellfire Club! Her outfit here is still based on the one she wears in the comic, but I kind of reverse-engineered it using pieces from the 2006 VSFS segment 'Winter Wonderland of Glacial Goddesses', just because I thought it'd be cool touch lol. (Corset worn by Hana Soukupová, panties/stockings by Ana Beatriz Barros, cape by Adriana Lima, and poofy shoulder thing by Julia Stegner, who also inspired the hair)

19- New portrait to mark another change. I love her necklace! Jokes aside, I've also given her lip and brows fillers. And she lost most of the remaining baby fat. Honestly, I think this is the one ended up the most Emma, if that makes sense.

20- No way I'd skip on drawing her with a freshly broken nose. Mixed her looks from X-Men Origins: Emma Frost and X-Men: Deadly Genesis #5 because I think it'd be cool if the Charles/Moira and Shaw scenes took place in the same night.

21- The moment she becomes the White Queen. I purposefully drew it on the same angle as #5, as a parallel (told you it'd come up later). Not only because of the significance of both moments, but also to showcase the absurd growth in self-confidence. Also, spot the new nose and the bloodstain.

22- Emma, finally, as she was first seen on comics! I'm not super sure why I decided her shade of blonde would start off darker than how I colour it today, and at first I didn't even know when the change to this lighter tone would happen (actually even considering going back and making everything the same), but I really like how it turned out. She doesn't get a crown when becoming the White Queen, so maybe dying her hair almost white was her own personal coronation.

And if you read all of this you get bonus alternate versions 😊

[chippedshake]

prompt request: cherry and bob on their first date WALK WITH ME ON THIS ONE

okay okay so I will definitely be writing this in the near future but for now here's the skeleton of my idea because I'm impatient ok (i've never written either of these characters so bear with me):

we open with a Marcia and Cherry scene

Cherry's getting ready to go on her date with Bob and she's kinda not all that excited because she's gone out with guys before and she always thought they were sweet and smart and nice and whatever but they turned out to just be assholes who were into her because she was pretty and popular

so even though she likes Bob, she can't convince herself that he's different from everyone else

I have developed a whole strategy for how she'll pick out her clothes

I love Marcia so even though she isn't in these bullet points you better believe she's gonna be in the fic

Then Bob appears

Cherry describes like an archetype of what first dates are usually like and Bob will subvert. every. single. point.

like 1st one is the guy always shows up with flowers that are always a pain because they die quickly and Cherry doesn't even like flowers all that much but lo and behold Bob shows up with a chocolate chip cookie from her favourite place

when she asks he says she mentioned once that she doesn't like flowers and finds them depressing and that they ran into each other in the bakery a couple months ago and she said it was her favourite place

Bob is down bad okay

1.5th point because I'm adding this later and don't feel like editing everything: the guy will always say "you look pretty" the moment they see her and Cherry doesn't like it because it feel artificial, like it's just their obligation to say it

Bob trained with Bev (idk if you've seen/heard of the musical but she's a Soc girl they made up to be friends with Cherry and Marcia) about what to say to a girl and compliments her earrings in particular and the colour combination

then the 2nd point is that they always bring her to a way too fancy restaurant that neither of them really like

They go out for a picnic and it's actually a really pretty setting and Bob is a terrible cook so he brought like sandwiches or something that his mom had to help him make

also 3rd point. guaranteed awkward silence when they have nothing to talk about, followed by the guy rambling about himself.

First question Bob asks: what do you wanna work as

and they talk about how Cherry wants to be a kindergarten teacher

then she asks the same question back and he says he wants to be a lawyer

when she asks why he just says his dad's a lawyer

maybe a cute moment where she says he’s his own person? idk

4th point: at some point the guy puts his hand on her thigh or something and she tries to wriggle out as subtly as possible

subverted, as usual

I'm sorry but Bob absolutely will earn the "stood out from the crowd" and "he was sweet" title, okay? In Ponyboy’s words: Cherry's smart. She wouldn't like him just 'cause he's good-looking

5th point: they're ridiculously smooth and are still flirting with her on the date, and it feels like they're trying to conquer her or something and it's incredibly uncomfortable

Bob stutters a bit and messes up and goes back on his words and will accidentally make like fifteen innuendos and apologise each time but Cherry likes it because it makes her feel like he actually likes her and is nervous (that's because it's true mijita)

finally, 6th point: they always try to kiss her goodnight even when she makes it abundantly clear they won't be seeing each other again

Bob actually fucking shakes her hand and goes to head back to his car

They end up hugging goodbye and make sure to coordinate a second date

the end

they're very cute and I love them. I hadn't ever thought about them really so thank you for the ask <3333

[gatheredfates]

It’s been eye opening seeing the discussion around mods here. I don’t participate in RP or go to social events so I never knew the gatekeeping around mods was so pervasive, but I knew about the insecurity with vanilla gpose.

My question is, how do we start making this community better and more inviting? I know one person won’t solve things over night or ever and it’s an uphill climbs, but how do we START?

That's a good question, honestly, and one I think is really multi-faceted! In my opinion, mods are a symptom of an overarching problem within the xiv space as a whole, so making blanket statements around banning and/or cutting them out don't really do anything and serves more as kneejerk response. I really do believe mods have a place when they are utilised properly and for personal joy.

I think the biggest thing a single person can do is keep an eye out for console/vanilla players and advocate for them. It's like I said before in regards to roleplay: if someone is earnestly coming into a space with good-faith intentions, we owe it to them to meet them in the middle with our own and not exclude them on the basis of things they cannot necessarily control.

From a gpose perspective, uplift vanilla creators! I think it's good to uplift creative work in general regardless of tools, and I wish people used the reblog/repost(for bsky/twitter) more, but there's some really great work being done by vanilla gposers and a lot of guides I've personally included on the Compendium about how you can achieve a really pretty gpose if you're limited in your toolset.

From an art party perspective, I think people need to be more considerate of other players and not assume that social media presentation is the norm. Again, I don't really go to art parties (I'm not an artist) but even something like a party host stating on the tin that mare/mods are optional and attendance does come with the caveat that your character may be drawn as their vanilla self may do wonders to help. After all, it's not like a modded player can't put a link in their xiv profile to carrd with their modded screenshots, y'know? But there should be less of an expectation that someone has to jump hoops to see your oc and more of an appreciation they were drawn at all. I'm not about to snuff someone drawing any of my ocs, I'll tell you what SDFJKLGHSDF. I also think, on an individual level, we can hold our friends accountable for their biases around vanilla players when it feels like they're being needlessly judgemental or exclusionary, or even when they're panicking about their own mods not being shown. Again, it's about uplifting people rather than putting them down. Mods don't make a character; the player makes a character through the love, dedication and time they pour into them—whether that is through mod-hunting or spending three days farming an Ivalice top (I'm calling myself out here). It's important that people know that.

From a roleplay perspective, it's kind of the same deal. Ensure within your own spaces/communities that mods feel truly optional. Make an effort to include new people; especially new roleplayers who don't know the ins-and-outs of modding in the scene. Call out biases and remind people that just because a person doesn't have the rp addon or doesn't have mods that they still might be a writer/roleplayer and that the calibre of what they put to paper matters more than personal aesthetic. That goes for how pretty a carrd/website looks, the aesthetic of their tumblr, etc. Not everyone has an eye for colour theory, blocking and everything else that goes into making an artist, but some of those people are fucking fantastic storytellers. Read more short fics and ask replies! Comment on people's word! Express interest in their stories! We're human beings who are supposed to be weird, messy and fun. Invite people to different events and show them what's out there.

I do my best with the spaces that I have, but I have an atrocious timezone for events at the best of times. Just know if anyone ever comes to the Fireside I'm not going to care a lick whether they have mods or not as long as we're having fun in our roleplay.

Beyond that... well, I don't touch a lot of the modding community for the aforementioned reasons. I think that's a far bigger problem than you, I or anyone on this website can solve. The horse has bolted. There's so much decentralization around mods and creators wanting to keep control and potentially make money that can't really be solved. I think as long as people are mindful of the above and don't take mods too seriously, that in itself can be a pushback against it.

[raayllum]

Callum and Rayla in 7x09, Nova

[vakariaan]

ultimate ships challenge - [4/10] she cleans up nicely scenes

[eightyfours]

The Karate Kid (1984) dir. John G. Avildsen

[cbmagus49]

AAAAA JUST BARELY SQUEEZING IN AT THE LAST SECOND HERE BUT

HERE’S MY FORDUARY STUFF Y’ALL ALL IN ONE GO LET’S GO WOOO

WEEK 1: FAMILY

WEEK 2: ANOMALIES

WEEK 3: INSOMNIA

WEEK 4: SWITCHING IDENTITIES

Whooo, that was a lot! I only got properly started on these like a week ago; I’ve been back at school for the first time in like 3 years which is really eating up my executive function, and with all the crap that happened in Jan/Feb on top of that I wasn’t even sure I was gonna do Forduary at all ^^’ Not half bad for a very very very last minute mad rush to get something out before the late entry cutoff deadline :D

(I am so tired T^T)

I had a lot of trouble figuring out what to do for the prompts this time around, and eventually ended up making two sketches for each prompt! ...buuuut I absolutely did not have time to do all of them with how late I left it so I just picked my favourite for each week to polish up. I’m probably not gonna finish the others, but I liked how the rough blocking was turning out and I thought the progression of all of them together looked pretty cool, so since I didn’t wanna just not post them I’ve put all the thumbnail sketches under the cut so you can see ‘em ^^

[sircolinmorgan]

ENDEAVOUR | LAZARETTO.

[sakasakiii]

hi!!! how long does an average panel of one of your comics take??

i love your work so much!! it got me into silmblr hehe

HI NONNIE!!! thank u sooooso much for checking in and for ur lovely ask! it means a lot to hear that my silly ol scribbles were what introduced u to the glorious landscape that is the tolkien fandom! on tumblr no less!! i hope you stay a real long time, and have a blast while you're at it 💖💖

now onto your question! that's some good food for thought uhhhh i can try to estimate?? its been a while but i shld have some rough ideas abt each that i can share! the time frame each comic/panel takes is highly dependent on WHAT kind of comic it is. i hv two kinds of comics I usually do: 1) full-length, and 2) goofy/4koma.

i have a few full-length comics laying about in my archive, but my most recent one/best example is Ghosts which was around uh.... 7 pages excluding the bonus panels! in terms of the process, i usually divide it into 5 stages:

Drafting: this is either the fastest stage OR the slowest depending entirely whether i know what im doing LMAO,, if i have a set idea for what i want to happen, i might get drafts done in a few hours, but if i flounder, it can take a few days 🤔

Lineart: relatively simple enough once i hv the draft down, so id say anything ranging from an hour to half a day if theres nothing else going on irl

Block colouring (main actors): there are DEFINITELY easier and more professional ways to do this with mass-selection and the lasso fill/bucket tool, but idk how to do that on SAI (my art program) so i colour everything by hand HAHA which makes the process longer.... half a day to a day?

Shading: THE WORST!!! definintely my least favourite bc i find it tedious due to all the details/prettification of elves that i am legally obliged to pour into this stage 😭😭 as a result, it can take days!!!

Background + Lighting + Final Rendering: similar to the previous stage haha it just depends on how much effort i wanna put into the final product looking nice. roughly a few days? it kind of meshes with stage 4 anyways haha

just for fun, i hope this process gif for page 6 can illustrate that 👇

these are just rough estimates, bc all in all, the time it takes so finish a page is really dependent on how free I am hahaha. Also, I usually work on full-length comics like Ghost which have more than one page all at once, which means I drafted all 7 pages at once, then did the lineart for all 7 pages at once, coloured at once, shaded rendered bla bla bla 😚 iirc, i think it took me 11 days in total to finish Ghosts before the end of June last year!

For goofy/4-koma, its usually just one page with less detailed/more cartoonish/chibi character styles so it takes a day or two days at most! again, it all boils down to how free i am hehe

YEAH SORRY THIS ENDED UP BEING AN INFO DUMP but thank you so much again for asking and letting me ramble! <3 i ended up having a lot of fun looking back on my drafts n thinking back on my processes.... theres defininitely room for improvement, but thats another worry for another day heheh 😎

[reallytiredartstudent]

Can you tell that i love them?

(as always click for better quality :D)

[taegularities]

regarding: colour me in – HMMMMM okay pls talk to me about this 🎨🤍

[atissi]

WOW...............tf2 man. tf2...........................

[that-spider-fan-over-there]

So uh, do you guys ever think about how Tenko grew up with a man who had the capacity to take away his Quirk - the thing that ruined his life, took away his family - yet seemingly never once took his? That was probably a way to make him internalize he truly wished for destruction the moment he was born?

And Tenko probably questioned it but never dared ask because he was the one who accepted him, and sure he gives you a sinking feeling in your guts to the point you scratch your neck at the mere idea of talking to him (when was the last time you've had a doctor's consult? Or a simple ointment to relieve the pain? Isn't he friends with a doctor?), but he picked you up from the streets (because you don't deserve gentle touches when you're followed by the dust of death. your name is defined by it how do you know the name of that kid who wanted to be a hero) he gave you a place to stay (because your home was based on silent rejections and lies on the very ground you decayed), he accepted you even though you're only an individual born for destruction (and so is the crafted garden you're rooted on, but you could've thrived in another garden, another life.)

And maybe, you're just ungrateful. Your sensei is the only one who can understand the lonely traces of death that follows you, unnervingly so. Even though he's the one who can take that away from you with a mere touch.

(just like you can. just like you did. why can't you feel joy with that? you were born in from for destruction.)

(you could decay your allies with one single touch. they're irrelevant to your goals. why does your heart stop you from fulfilling that now? you had it in you back then. it never mattered before.)

(you tried to help someone ungrateful, once. he was killed by his your hand. they've helped him. why weren't you offered the same?)

(isn't this why you reject the hand that wants to save you? you could've killed him. and he still held your hands. the denied reality you had since you were a child.)

(do you still want to be a hero, shimura tenko?)

(... why can't you start now?)

But then again, how do you know you deserved better when you were nothing but a puppet- and now, with his goals destroyed, a very useless one?

Just thinking about Shimura Tenko.

[raayllum]

RAYLLUM S5 MEME:  4/7 little things — 5x09, infantis sanguine

Rayla, are you okay? I'll be fine. I just... I couldn't do it. I... I'm getting out. No.

[a-shadowedvales]

jane’s appearance vastly changes after season one. her face, features and overall mannerisms begin majorly altering from what we see in canon, versus my own interpretation of her.

hair. we love the curls. <3 but when her hair first starts growing in, the sensation is so foreign to her, and it resembles something akin to phantom pain. she hates it. the feeling that something is there when it shouldn’t be. her scalp is incredibly sensitive, and in the beginning, she does not take care of it in the way that she should. after the first three months, hopper has to cut a relatively large chunk out of the left side, because she hasn’t been brushing it, or tending to it, and it becomes a matted, strangled mess. then it becomes uneven, which she hates even more, so she asks him to cut the rest off and she basically starts from square one again. overtime she does properly tend to it, but it’s only about five months after the cut from hopper, does she get used to the feeling, and come to appreciate her curls. jane always has curly hair. when it starts growing out more, it becomes wavy rather than ringlets. never once in her life does she pick up a hair straightener. not to even test it out. her hair becomes so important to her, that the thought of something happening to it (ie a hot device burning it all off) really worries her.

scarring. it’s already pretty established on this blog that closing the gate affected jane physically and mentally more than the series portrayed. (meta found here!) those veins that appear on her face whilst closing the gate, also form patterns across her entire body; hands, feet, legs, stomach. although they all do fade overtime, the markings on her left hand, and around her neck never disappear. while she hates them, hates that the upside down has physically scarred her, she never attempts to cover them up.

teeth. between seasons three and four, jane gets braces. like her hair, it takes a long time for her to properly tend to her teeth, brush them regularly and understand they need constant upkeep. in the lab, these things were all done for her, and she became very accustomed to not having to do it herself. her overall hygiene is relatively bad during her time in the cabin. i love millie’s vampire teeth, and keep them canon, but i also imagine her bottom centre teeth to be rather crooked. after her first trip to the dentist, she needs to have three teeth extracted due to them rotting. they’re all in the back though, so the gaps are not very noticeable.

posture. her back is always ridiculously straight, having near perfect posture, especially for a child her age. stemming from the fact that she was given no opportunity to slouch or fully relax while in the lab.

skin. jane is extremely pale. she has a vitamin d deficiency due to her lack of exposure to sunlight, and if she’s in the sun too long without proper protection, she burns incredibly fast. jane also hates make-up. she hates the way it makes her face feel. sometimes she will wear lip gloss; on very special occasions she may wear mascara, but that's the extent of it. the most make-up she ever wore in her life was when she was part of kali's gang. skincare falls under the same category of her hair and teeth: it was done for her in the lab, so she's not used to doing it herself. things like shaving, moisturising and plucking her eyebrows etc do not become of interest to her until her early twenties.

strength / muscle. jane has poor motor function and development as a result of growing up so sheltered to physical activity. her muscle development is very minimal and she has little coordination between her mind and physical movement. ie, hand-ball requires use of both mind and action: when to bounce the ball and an intended destination. she struggles with hand - eye coordination, and it would take her much longer to succeed in any sort of activity such as this given the lack of experience. in terms of fitness, she would be very behind in her age range, and would not be able to run very far before getting tired. she is only successful in this sort of area when she’s running on adrenaline.

eyes. jane experiences temporary blindness when she returns from the void. this gets better overtime as she comes into the strength of her powers and no longer needs the bath / blindfold / picture of somebody to find them, but sometimes it does still happen. when this does occur, her eyes turn a bright white, losing their pigmentation. her sight always returns within a half hour, but sometimes that sheer white lingers for days. she can see, but her actual hues can take a while to fade back in.

hands. the middle and thumb nail on her right hand became completely rotten from frostbite during her month living in the snow, and they no longer grow. her hand was immobile for a good few weeks, but it did end up healing for the most part, aside from the two nails. and those fingers do cramp up sometimes. she likes to wear nail polish frequently to hide the black rot, but the skin and cuticle always has a blue/black tinge.

jewellery. jane actually wears a decent amount of jewellery! she loves wearing fancy clips and bows in her hair, alongside colourful scrunchies. she always wears a simple silver chain around her neck, with an opal pendant which belonged to terry, gifted to her by andrew. she never takes it off except for when she’s sleeping (as one night she woke up with it all tangled tightly around her neck). she loves wearing multiple bracelets and rings at one time, and has a fancy jewellery box that she thrifted from downtown hawkins which stores her growing collection of accessories. jane does have her ears pierced! it was one of the first things she did when starcourt mall opened— nancy took her to get them done. it’s very rare you’ll find jane without at least three rings on, and a pair of fancy earrings in her ears. even if the situation doesn’t call for fancy jewellery, you can bet she’ll show up in it.

[ennaih]

Every Film I Watch In 2023:

223. Luv (1967)