#2019 is the year i try new stuff with my art

[team-pace]

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

[mg549]

5 years in review (2018-2022)

[hansoeii]

Hello! Hope you're having a great day/night! I absolutely adore your art, you are one of my favourite artists. I love the way you shade and do backrounds. Also everytime I get into a new show I immediately see your art for it??

I was wondering if you had any advice on drawing more realistically (backrounds, anatomy etc) but still keeping a style?

Hey hey!

Thank you so much!

I have a pretty good understanding of facial structures, because before I got into drawing more semi-realisticly, I heavily focused on realistic portraits. Here are some example, these are from around 2019!

(yes, I was really into danmei and kpop back then, haha)

I just always loved drawing/painting faces and it was all I did. But at some point I realized that I wanted to do more than that because just portraits felt super restricting. So it took me around 2-3 years to somewhat find my style. Thought it would be fun to show a little timeline! Advice will follow afterwards :)

2020

I began working on my OCs in 2020 and since I didn't have an exact reference to work off of, I struggled a lot. My art from this year is super wonky.

2021

Still wonky, but the Lokius obsession was the jumpstart into finding my style! My work from this year is all over the place haha, I was experimenting a lot.

2022

This first ofmd piece is pretty much the first drawing where you can see where my style is gonna go, which I think is pretty cool! This is the year I made the biggest progress cos I was drawing SO much. These two pieces are only six months apart. The one on the right was the first time I gave drawing a background a proper go, too! It was a good year.

2023

And this is where I am now! I'm still constantly learning and improving, but I'd say I have a style you can recognize now!

Now here comes some actual advice, haha:

What I highly recommend you to do is to study your favorite artists as much as you can! I have like 5 A4 sketchbooks all from 2020 that I filled with sooooo many studies, where basically all I did was look at artists I like and copy how they draw stuff, to try and figure out how to stylize certain things. Some of my favorite artists are Ami Thompson, Velinxi and TB Choi. But I also liked to just scroll through pinterest and study all the art I came across that I liked! For example, if I saw a really great drawing of a pair of pants I would copy it many times in my sketchbook and try to learn how they stylized the folds. Doing this for a prolongued period of time will naturally improve your own work! It'll be difficult at first, but you gotta push through, it's gonna be worth it!

I also highly recommend studying unique faces to try and avoid the same-face syndrome. Find some cool looking people and try to draw them as simple as you can! Maybe even draw a little timeline where you first draw them as cartoon-y as you can, and keep going until you end up with a more detailed, realistic drawing. Maybe in the middle of it you find a step that feels the most fun to you, so you can try to build on that! It's a great way to figure out what kind of style might be the best for you.

Here are some cool faces I found on pinterest!

I have a pinterest board with many more!

One REALLY important part of learning how to draw all kinds of things is to understand forms and shapes and how to manipulate them. I have so many pages in my sketchbook filled with just shapes that I drew from all kinds of angles without any references.

This is a great video on it:

6 Ways to Draw Anything by Proko

Learning how to do this is so crucial! Young artists often think they first have to learn all kinds of detailed anatomy before doing anything else, but all that's gonna do is make you tired and hate drawing. Shapes are where it's at! Once you understand how shapes work and which ones to use for certain parts of bodies or objects, drawing is gonna get so much easier! Once you understand them, you can get into details such as muscles and bones!

And honestly the most important point is to just absolutely love what you're doing! I wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't for the fact that I get extreme hyperfixations on certain media that turn me into some kind of beast where I can suddenly draw 10 detailed illustrations a week, haha. Just be passionate about what you do, find something you REALLY love and go crazy!

I really hope this was somewhat helpful! My inbox is always open if there's any more questions :)

[struwberrii]

haikyuu!! at an american high school ദ്ദി ˉ͈̀꒳ˉ͈́ )✧

here are my silly headcanons on how i think the karasuno first years would act if they were american high school students teehee

pt.2 pt.3

ヽ(^◇^*)/

hinata

probably runs to lunch

one of those dorky try hards in gym

wears matching neon nike shorts and tops

literally cries if he ever gets in trouble in class

water bottle flips randomly (he never lands it)

his mom drops him off at school every morning

jumps to touch the top of every doorframe

everyone judges him and thinks hes weird but hes gen the sweetest guy if you ever talk to him

he has a phone he just cant bring it to school guys

offers to do stuff first when the teacher asks (like brings attendance to the office or asks other teachers for dry erase markers)

middle school humor (hes kinda funny sometimes tho lol)

kageyama

lets you copy his homework because he knows its all wrong (or gives you wrong answers on purpose)

wears hoodies everyday even during summer

scared to put lip balm on in public because someone once asked if he was gay because of how he applied it

friends with hinata but is kind of embarrassed of him

girls actually like him but dont talk to him because hes so quiet

probably talks to girls from different schools

plays roblox with the others when they have breaks during practice (he hasnt updated his avatar since 2016)

still reads strictly picture books

also a try hard in gym

still does streaks on snapchat

tsukishima

refuses to acknowledge hinata and kageyama outside of volleyball club (he thinks theyre embarrassing)

constantly gets in trouble for having airbuds in or being on his phone

tries putting girls onto his niche music taste then its just cigarettes after sex

if you arent one of his friends or a pretty person hes probably gonna be rlly mean to you im sorry

has hot topic pins on his bag (yamaguchi forces him to shop there with him and tsuki always ends up walking out with a new pin)

dresses very basic but still nice

bros a bully

tries to correct teachers and make the teacher look dumb

if he can tell he actually hurt your feelings he'll say it was just a joke and gaslight you

him and yamaguchi just talk shit all lunch and study period

walks to like mcdonalds for lunch sometimes

yamaguchi

bully on the DL

the only reason people know hes mean is because tsuki is his best friend

always has fruit for lunch

probably in band and plays literally the biggest instrument in the world

he always smells weirdly minty

has the silliest stickers on everything, his notebooks, laptop, headphones

bought sonny angels for him and tsuki

everyone thinks hes gay

him and yachi are art class buddies

brings his switch to school sometimes

rides his bike to school

lowkey stuck in his 2020 indie phase

yachi

has the cutest stationary

takes all her notes on her ipad and has that paper texture screen protector

ali express warrior

shes the sweetest girl in school

probably a closeted lebanese

already has her drivers permit (probably gonna be the first person in her grade with a license)

packs her own lunches everyday in bento boxes

has a private instagram account with like 20 followers and declines everyone she doesnt know personally

always has lotion, gum, perfume, medicine, chargers, everything. she is not taking any chaces

shes like if the 2019 soft girl pinterest aethetic became a person

reminds teachers about the homework

secretly watches youtube during class

she does NOT play about her art projects

her and yamaguchi trade stickers

probably still uses that 2019 kanken vsco bookbag

⋆｡‧˚ʚɞ˚‧｡⋆

sorry guys half of this list is just me being an extreme hater and projecting

[9w1ft]

I'm a gaylor myself so this isn't coming from a place of hate but I really don't think karlie and taylor are still together, I think taylor still references her in her art and probably will for quite some time because that relationship -- whatever the nature of it was -- left such a deep impact on her. but I really can't see them still being together, I think she's forced herself to move on from karlie and has since dated a lot of other women. that doesn't mean her feelings for karlie have faded, just that they will probably always be there but they broke up for sure before 2019, I think. folklore and evermore, midnights even, are all breakup albums, I just can't see how they could still be together. especially all her anger and sadness in those songs that are thought of to be for karlie (like my tears ricochet or exile or mad woman) also the cover art being shoot in bedfords, new york, the exact same place where karlie got married feels more like taylor revisiting this place to really say goodbye and mourn her for one last final time so she can move on

sorry, this got a bit long, I just don't understand the appeal or the reasoning for lsk's because taylor has indicated so many times that they are over, she's been mourning her relationship with karlie quite publicly since 2019 (wearing all black during the lover era) so yeah

hi! i don’t usually respond to these but i’m not sensing any ill will so i’ve decided to give a reply a go.

first off, for me, i kinda just interpret her wearing black in the back end of lover era because her masters had gotten bought by scooter. and maybe the fact that she decided to not come out. there can be other reasons, but i really do not think that her breaking up with karlie has to be one of them.

another thing i can’t shake is the fact that it was a very notorious troll/manipulative person on tumblr who spread the first rumor that they broke up in 2019, a fact that is well understood by a lot of OG’s, and this troll got in the head of a few popular kaylor and gaylor swift accounts at the time and in doing so she got a lot of people to fold. she then went on to write all this progressively unhinged fanfiction about taylor and karlie trying to make one another jealous and sleeping with all these women, presented with the same level of seriousness with which she pushed the breakup agenda. even to this day, i see present day gaylors talk about stuff that stems from narratives this account and a few other power hungry accounts spread around many years ago and it honestly just goes to show how a lot of well known gaylors may be platformmed up but that don’t really know what they’re talking about.. i only write this because the troll deactivated about a year ago (maybe they’re lurking on platforms with more malleable minds—once a troll always a troll—but at least they’ve left here), they were a really dangerous person.. and several have wild receipts to prove it.

anyways sorry i recognize that’s a tangent, i guess what i mean to say by it is, a lot of the sentiment surrounding the idea of a 2019 breakup and the reinforcement of the narrative by a gaylor community none the wiser stems from the work of someone with disingenuous intentions. a lot of “masterposts” or “realistic timelines” draw from what this person made up and it’s gone through enough filters for it to seem like credible sentiment but like, if you were there and you read all of what she wrote you know how silly it all sounded and how incoherently it was all written.

okay so to circle back to more of a content-centric angle, in my interpretation of the events that gave us folklore, evermore, and midnights, taylor had so much to be sad about. her mom had been very sick, the pandemic arrived and she had to cancel lover fest, she had to come to terms with scott b having sold her work to her sworn enemy… songs on midnights and folklore, and on her lover era apple music playlist allude to certain other things that may have had her in a mournful mood. things were bad! and i don’t doubt that her and karlie have been through a lot. but for me, when you’ve got a ride or die love, you don’t just break up. this has been something frustrating for me and others, i think, to see so many people treat a relationship as either being all systems go or broken up, as if long term partners can’t experience sadness together, difficulty together, even heartbreak together.

i don’t like getting in to touchy subjects so much but there’s just been too much pointing towards what i consider to be a rather simple narrative that is a natural progression for people committed and in love. how did the lover music video begin and end? whats a randomly specific word in a song she performed at the grammys minutes after someone was announced to the world? what about taylor’s envisioned future stands out about the anti hero music video? i think i’ll stop here but idk man 😆 poke around my archive if you feel like wasting a few days of your life… there’s just been a consistent flow of the same kind of hijinks that we’ve seen from them for years, and i’d say that there are many songs that back up everything i’d want in order to stay invested in seeing if what i believe is true.

now, i know i just wrote what reads like a bunch of mumbo jumbo to people not following kaylor. but im okay with that. i’ve accepted that. and i know that the whole patterns and koincidences and twinning and symbolism beat isn’t for everyone and so i respect people’s decisions to believe they aren’t together, but in closing i’ll just say im sometimes at a loss to see time and time again people suggest that kaylors believe in kaylor because they find it appealing or because they want to ship it. when it’s literally not that— it just makes the most sense to a lot of us!

also, does this look like the face of someone mourning?

[funnycreatortimetravel]

Small rant about Sans' character that no one is ever going to read and is probably kind of inaccurate, but I'm going to scream into the void nonetheless because why the hell not and I'm kind of bored.

I feel like the concept of Sans as a whole has been so utterly gutted by the fandom and not in the way you'd think. Not because of the AUs which are all so oddly Sans-focused (but at least we have Underverse which is actually pretty good) but in the sense of the people who claim to "actually understand Sans canonically" and "try to stay as canon as possible" while also equally missing the point sort of. Hence, why we have this long and overplayed image I'm sure everyone has seen a billion times:

If I could lay some groundwork down, Undertale came out in 2015, nearly a decade ago. The internet was a different time and place then and fandom creativity reached new peaks that no one had ever seen before, and as a result, a lot of Undertale was exaggerated, changed, cut up, and then put back together. Why? Because in all honesty, Undertale was a really simple game with a simple premise. Sure there were bits and pieces scattered throughout, parts like who Gaster was, who Chara was when they were alive, who Sans is in general; all the typical fandom theory shenanigans we've come to expect in the recent years. And in that excitement, Sans became the staple of Undertale pretty much, or at least everything it represented. This macabre, yet adorably misleading game with funny moments and interesting think pieces that people are still speculating about. That's pretty much the basis of Sans. So I get why Sans became the quintessential poster child for such a subversively ambitious game. I get why, then, people try to showcase Sans as this badass God character who knows and remembers all of resets and cries over Papyrus and is just an edge lord in general. It doesn't mean it's accurate in the slightest, but I get the idea of it nonetheless. In the absence of content, and there's a lot of it in Undertale, (I mean, it took me 4 hours to 100% it in the Pacifist and Neutral Routes, and 5 hours to beat Genocide, including the times it took me to beat Undyne because she thoroughly kicked my ass and Sans as well) the fans filled those gaps with what they saw fit and what they saw fit was so wide and diverse that the gap overflowed and the game pretty much became unrecognizable.

And I (except for the truly questionable and gross stuff, you know what I'm talking about) love the fandom for that, I truly do. Just the sheer number of comics, spin-off games, AUs, art, and fanfiction that answered every question I had and more was and is impressive, but even so, there's only so much that can be done with the context Undertale provides us before the content gets...stale. Hence my point on why Sans' character was so exaggerated is because Undertale as a whole had been exaggerated and oversaturated and overplayed and generally...not what the game or Sans was originally. But that was peak 2016-2019, though, a few years ago. And the interpretations and eras, like everything, have changed.

Now back to my actual point. It's now 2024. The fandom has noticeably slowed down. All of the AUs and theories and fanfictions that were popular have either been forgotten about over the years, randomly rediscovered or still ongoing, or just abandoned entirely. The game has been pretty much combed through until every file has been cracked, every document leaked, and every secret discovered. It's like a picked over turkey at this point and a lot of the old creators have indeed left behind the game in pursuit of newer things, which is understandable. It's not the center of attention it once was and in that wake, we don't really have a lot of the same pillars in the Undertale community that we used to. And in this transformed community, we have the left over children, now young adults and teenagers, to pick up the pieces. And in that, Sans' character, as well as Undertale itself, has again, been reformed.

That was a lot of words. But I hope I at least set the center stage. My issue, pretty much, is that the leftover fans deem themselves as "above the cringe" the old fandom left behind, which, is fair enough. And in doing so, a lot of the foundation of the 2016-2019 Undertale fandom was kind of overwritten. No, now Sans is no longer this edgy, overpowered God figure ready to right the wrongs of the player, no, now he's this apathetic guy who doesn't care about anyone, including himself, and is only powerful because he cheated. And to be fair, I see some merit in this interpretation. Sans is in fact, a pretty morally ambiguous guy. He doesn't even attempt to stop the player during the genocide route until there's nothing left. He threatens the player on the pacifist route even when we pose no threat. He makes so many allusions about himself not caring about anything. So I get it. Everyone is tired of everything Sans-related. I was too at one point. But in trying to counteract this fanon interpretation of Sans, I feel like this new one is also semi-inaccurate. This new interpretation of Sans is meant to be seen as "mature" and "not cringe" when in fact, Undertale is and always will be sort of cringe. And that's OK! That's why I and others love the game so much, because it's not afraid of being anything other than what it is and what it claimed to be. It had a story in mind that it wanted to tell and it did so unabashedly. The need to separate Undertale and Sans itself from the cringe is so pointless and almost a little juvenile. And imo, even ruins the character of Sans himself.

Sans does care about Papyrus, so so so much. He reads him bedtime stories. He plays along with his illusions of grandeur. He calls out the player when he's killed, despite Sans having to remain objective as a judge. I feel like Sans not intervening in Papyrus' death isn't because he doesn't care, it's because his entire job is to act as a judge and in a position where he's mostly neutral. He knows the player has powers to redo and undo things, so thus, he gives us room to make those choices, for better or worse. He's like, the anti-toriel. He refuses to hold your hand. He tells YOU to make the right choice, and by you, I mean the player. And in that sense, I feel like that's not something a completely apathetic guy would do. Someone like that wouldn't even see the point of choices, of having an option. Someone like that wouldn't care about getting out of bed in the morning, getting several jobs, or telling a person with higher power to just engage with your brother.

Like come on, don't say he doesn't put effort into anything, like he went out of his way to make sure Pap's Holiday party went perfect. He's constantly going above and beyond for his brother.

Sans has emotions and they're so complex and so well-written, but I feel like this counter-cringe culture of the fandom wants him to be this guy who's either too depressed or too lazy to engage with others, or someone who would simply shrug off the death of loved ones when we have proof that Sans does indeed try hard for Papyrus in the ending where everyone dies but his brother. It's an "oh shit" sort of moment when he realizes that Papyrus is the only person he has left and thus, he puts in the effort to be better for him. It's not that he doesn't care or see the point, he's just kind of numb at this point. If Papyrus dies in the neutral routes, you don't see Sans again until the judgment hall and he'll call you a dirty brother killer and tell you to go to hell. That's something someone who at least cares a little would do. He's not above insulting the player and he's not above getting pissed. I've never really seen him as a, "well that's that then," character when it comes to Papyrus dying, for me, it's always been, "I'm angry, but I can maintain my composure and still do what I have to do."

Even in the genocide routes, Sans wants to give up and do nothing. He wants to let himself die without much thought. But he knows that he has to stand between you and oblivion. It's another, "Oh shit" moment, but in the opposite way. He knows he's gonna die. But he still has hope. Not necessarily that you'll be a good person, but that you can try another way and make better choices. He embodies the same mentality Papyrus did at the beginning of the run, believing there's a better chance for another future where everyone can be happy.

Sans isn't a nihilist, not all the way. There's still a chance, still a part of him that has hope for everything, regardless of the route. And should the Pacifist route be completed, you'll see that he's genuinely happy. He DOES care, or at least he's beginning to know that caring about things is ok and healthy even.

Ex 1: If you go to Sans' lab after completing a True Pacifist Route, you get this bit of dialog:

Ex 2: Sans and Papyrus talking about a Christmas party they had on the Newsletter of the 5th Anniversary of Undertale.

The strongest, yet most complex example of this that we see is that he upholds his promise with Toriel and will continue to do so until the genocide route at the very end because he wants to at least give us, the player, a chance. And even if it was a cop-out for being lazy, I believe that Sans legitimately believes there's a chance for us to turn around and be a better person, or at the very least, make better choices. We know that Sans is a person who doesn't like making promises at all, and even though he said that his threatening to kill Frisk is a joke, had he not made that promise to Toriel, I can't 100% say that he still wouldn't intervened in the genocide and neutral routes.

And if you think about it, Sans upholding that promise just makes me question him even more. Like, even if you kill his brother, so long as you don't kill everyone, he won't kill you just because of that. He sticks to his promise and his morals so much, even if it costs him everything because well, what type of judge would he be if he didn't stick to his moral code?

"If you have some special power, don't you think it's your responsibility to do the right thing?"

And by that logic, if he made a promise with someone, don't you think he'd feel he'd have the responsibility to uphold it?

We also know that he makes an effort to give us updates on the Underground after we leave in the neutral routes because he still wants us to know, at least, the consequences of our actions, so it's not like he's just lazily letting us get away with anything with do (even if he does physically.) He still holds our actions above our heads. He still keeps his promise. He still knows that we can make a better outcome. And if that doesn't say anything about him, I don't know what does.

Even in the neutral route endings where things are objectively going terribly for the monsters with Frisk killing Asgore and taking the souls to leave the barrier, Sans still never gives up. Sans, of all people.

And sure, Sans isn't a saint, not by a long shot, but he does have some moral weight in the long run, and by playing the part of a judge, he has a certain level of disattachment that's necessary when it comes to doing his job. Nowadays, I don't see the "fanon" sans that everyone loves to rag on, the one that's overly emotional and jarringly out of character, more so, I see everyone ragging on that interpretation, and then coming up with an equally inaccurate interpretation of Sans just not giving a shit and letting Frisk get away with everything just because he's "not emotional and only wants to be lazy, blah, blah, blah, nihilism, existentialism, it's more canonically accurate, unlike that CRINGE FANON SANS!" /or being a total unserious prankster with no other personality traits, and that's equally as jarring for me.

So in conclusion, I feel like "Fanon" Sans, the one where he's breaking down and sobbing over Papyrus and holding his scarf is just as inaccurate as the "more canon one" where he's apathetic and simply just not caring about his death, or at the very best, says "it is what it is." Sans is a character whose emotions aren't apparent, but he still does care in his weird philosophical way. He loves Papyrus and genuinely thinks he's cool. He's a jokester character who loves a good laugh and being laid back. He doesn't like putting in effort, but he will if he has to. He wants the player to make good choices, so he generally tries to stay out of the way to give us that freedom. Not because he knows we're gonna kill Papyrus, but because he knows we have greater power and wants us to use it to do the morally right thing. He isn't above doing morally grey things either, like threatening to kill Frisk in case they pose a threat to monster kind, but I believe even then, his hesitation to just accept a human in the underground is somewhat understandable given the oppressive tension between humans and monsters. Additionally, he does put in effort when it comes to caring about monsters other than Papyrus, Toriel, and even Alphys and Asgore, he cares about them all: (it's implied that he feeds the amalgamates in Alphy's old lab as proven by the same dog food we see in the lab being in Sans' house and Alphys even calls him a good guy because he helps her in the aborted genocide route ending, him telling jokes to Toriel and genuinely trying to bring some joy in her life even though she's a stranger and doesn't have an obligation to, even staying with her in the Ruins after she's dethroned in the Queen Undyne ending, him acting as the judge before Asgore and even being in such an important position requires you to have a solid sense of morality and conviction, his respect for Undyne as a warrior/leader depending on the ending and in the Undertale Newsletter, he makes an effort to score a goal for his team in Hocky, and Undyne of all people seems proud of him, and pretty much everything that has to do with Papyrus he's at the very least involved or interested in.)

My words don't have a lot of merit. I'm simply saying how I interpret things. But as a big sister, I see Sans as a good big brother who's not too involved, but also deeply cares about his younger brother and his friends. I get that stoicism and being "logical" and "cold" is the new trend and whatnot with all these edits of badass characters and longing for a time when everything was less...emotional, but in doing that, it shuts a lot of discussion about Sans as a person and his complex emotions as a whole. I feel like it's too difficult and kind of silly to chalk him up as either one or the other. I feel like there's a nice middle ground between the "cringe" fanon sans and the "cool, apathetic" canon sans that a lot of fans either go one or the other on. Anyway, that's about it for my rant. It's kind of nonsensical and a little hard to follow, but I hope I was able to get my thoughts across nonetheless.

I guess it was a big rant after all. Oh well. It is what it is.

[duplicitywrites]

Does fandom feel very different to you now than it did pre-2020? This could be a rather myopic viewpoint- I’m in college, so I’m young enough to have never really lived in times where fandom was ridiculed or whatever, but it still felt fringe-like in 2019. I’d go to school and chat about fanfic and fan art with my nerd friends, but fandom did not feel omnipresent in the mainstream- not just fan art or fanfic ( which is still 100% fringe like ) but fandom discussions too. Now swifties get mentioned on the news and crap. Perhaps that’s a bad example since Taylor swift is….Taylor swift, but I feel like a fandom that big and powerful wouldn’t have even formed pre 2020. Swifties certainly existed, but even in 2014, they would not be mentioned in the news.

i'm afraid i can only confirm your viewpoint as myopic because my friends weren't fandom nerds haha. the only other person i knew who read fanfic was this one guy in my year who i think only read what i wrote because he had a crush on me. which, well. not sure if that actually counts 😂

i first started engaging in fandom at large around... 2012? i think? or maybe sooner than that, i don't remember anymore. i used to rp on facebook LMAO but my later fandom experience mostly centers around tumblr and discord.

now that fandom is mainstream it really does feel omnipresent. people as a whole have changed. but to circle back to your other point — swifties have history that relates to this, because taylor used do private fan sessions (screenings)? of her album before release, and i think a majority of those fans were selected from social media, tumblr in particular, because she was active here. you can imagine how that made the parasocial aspect was even worse.

this stuff predated 2020s but it did drive a significant amount of fan behaviour. and ik not every celebrity is taylor swift, but you see a lot of that continues to be replicated because modern fandom is about 🚨 ATTENTION 🚨! so it's quantity over quality, anything that isn't an immediate massive hit gets dismissed, etc. then the stuff that does make the news so to speak gets exploited to death until people are sick of it, which again, you know, takes us back to taylor swift.

things are better when i can just enjoy my little guys in peace. which i do! or try to do. it's difficult because the rest of the world seems to want less and less to operate like that.

all this to say i think fandom can still be close to the way it was. it can still be fringe, with you and your friends in a group hanging out. you just have to block out the noise and really make that space for yourself. then you can still decide how much you want to engage with the rest of it.

[dragon-spaghetti]

Hey! I hope its alright im asking anonymous, you're kinda my idol so im a little shy sorry :,)

Anyways my question would be a kinda commonly asked one but i would like to hear your advice on "How to find your artstyle?" Your artsyle is truly AMAZING and unique to me and inspired me a lot so i thought i would ask you this. I'll stop writting now cause its getting long 😅

(One last thing: You're the best and keep doing the amazing work you do cause im obsessed with it and its truly amazing and have a pawsome day/night!!)

It's absolutely ok!! That's why I have anon on after all ;v; (and thank you omg that's flattering 🥹💖)

Okok so here's the things with artstyles; it's literally just doing what ya want!! You don't need to have a specific one!!

So for mines, it's literally just been me picking things up over the years. I got my start through drawing my little pony, and that still shows through how I draw eyes tbh ;^^ and as you can imagine, over the past few years the hellaverse has had a massive impact on how I draw!!

If you like how an artist does something?? Try and analyse how/why they do that; I grew up watching speedpaints on youtube and taking into account just how people did things, for example if they colour picked for their rendering or if they used layer settings etc!!

Having one artstyle can honestly be really restrictive though, which is why I honestly don't believe you should focus on having one specific style if that makes sense??

These pieces are all by me, but all have different rendering styles!! The first one is significantly more recognisable imo as my style since cell shading is generally what I do, however when I'm feeling particularly art blocked I'll sometimes go for a more paint-like style ✨

A really close friend of mine (who gets referred to as my husband lol) can do so many different styles, yet his art is extremely recognisable on sight to me every time somehow and I'm forever in awe lmao 😭 his art account is @/draconicdeityarts if you want to check out his stuff, cool af

Genuinely my greatest piece of advice? Just have fun and don't be afraid to try new things ;v; trying to put yourself in a box of "it needs to be in this style" will stunt your growth in my experience!! And over time you'll find the things that make your style yours because, generally, they're the part you enjoy doing the most, which can only be found out by experimenting!! My favourite part is rendering and I feel that shows, but the reason I love it so much is because I'm regularly experimenting still with how I do it rather than sticking to one way!!

I hope this helped at all, just remember that art is for fun, and trust me when I say that your art will always have its ways of being recognisable as yours regardless of if you have one style or 20 different ones 💖

For fun, have some of my older art to see The Development lmao; I believe the years in order here would roughly be 2014, 2016 & 2015 (forgive the quality the photo won't properly load), 2019, 2020, 2022, and finally 2023 ✨

[starlightmoon96]

Yandere Jazz x Aroace Kpop fan Millennial( Black Pink) Reader

Hello my first time writing on Tumblr I kind of have a thing for reading Yandere themed stories and art and I figured I give it a try, being a part of the ace community I haven't really seen much of Yandere's with anyone who was in the ace spectrum and since I haven't seen it I'd figure I take the chance and write a few myself in having a type of unique story telling.

__________

 Ever since you where a kid you had always loved Kpop especially with there dancing and stage outfits, your parents didn't understand it at first since they hadn't heard of kpop. As soon as you got into your teenage years that phase didn't go away instead it had increased, by then you had taken a lot of dance classes that where about kpop dancing and had dreams in wanting to be a back up dancer. Normal teenage girl would start talking about boys and who they had crushes on but you where different, you didn't feel attracted to any boy or girl and figured that it would change when you had gotten older. Instead of worrying about why you where different you focused more on your kpop dancing and geeking out over what idol group you loved, also in order to afford your kpop stuff and concerts you ended up getting a job during your sophomore year of high school. So there was no time in you for dating anyway that didn't bother you, in making certain your dreams came true in back up dancing you did take care of your looks as soon as you had hit puberty. It meant eating clean with no preservatives and limiting on junk food and sweets and thee most important was skin and hair care, your mom was happy that you cared about your appearance and had hopes in you finding a man and getting married if you kept up with taking care of your looks. The sad thing for her was that it was never going to happen with your getting married it was during senior year that you had discovered that you where Aroace after you did a little google search on ' why am I not attracted to anybody?' and even did an ace quiz in seeing what type of ace you where, you didn't confront your parents about sexuality knowing that they didn't want to hear it and saying that 'you haven't met the right person' or ' give up the whole kpop thing and you'll find a man.' 

It was in 2016 that you had found Black Pink after you had moved out of your parents place after a year from graduating in not wanting to hear them on repeat ' when are you going to start dating'  getting your own place meant you could decorate your own place however you wanted which meant a lot of kpop, you managed to buy yourself a condo in a nice area in a different city for a fresh start. If your wondering how you where able to afford a condo at thee age of 19, you came from a decently wealthy family and was giving quite a lot of money for your graduation gifts and you had always said that you wanted your own place. Of course you did still work in order to both pay bills and affording Kpop items which had turned into Black Pink the moment you heard them and fell in love in a scenes, also during the time cybertronians had came to earth and many people where shock of course and you were one of them hearing the news. Though your love your Black Pink blocked those thoughts for the good course of a few years after you had managed to get your dream job as a back up dancer for the kpop industry, you where starting to make a name for yourself and even having your own social media that had a decent amount of followers that where over 6,000 on instagram and 10,000 on Tiktok with your dancing skills and was slowly growing.

   Now as to how you Jazz came into your life? It was back in 2019, the two of you had meet when your tires busted and you almost had a car accident in which he saved you while he was out enjoying the scenery. It was your first time seeing a cybertronian in person and of course you thanked him for saving you, after you two had introduced yourselves was when the friendship started. Five years later you still had your friendship with Jazz, you had met his team and they seemed to like you and your personality. You didn't mention being aroace in not wanting to explain things to them in not wanting to confuse any of them, not only where you good friends with Jazz you where also good friends with Bumblebee and a couple other bots as well. However you did say that you where a professional kpop dancer, that part you didn't mind explaining since you had a strong love for kpop. Jazz had even asked you how to teach him how to do a few kpop dance moves which you didn't mind and thought it was exciting since you had never danced with a cybertronian before, it wasn't a surprise that he couldn't keep up with you at first since he had a hard time moving the way you did especially with the you moved with the moon walk the way kpop dancers knew how to move. Yes Jazz was impressed by your dancing skills and slowly he had gotten better, with practice.

Little did you know that you had started something with Jazz's feelings towards you in the first three years of your friendship, he didn't understand it at first. But the more time he spent with you he had realized that those feelings where love, he didn't want to believe that he had fallen in love with a human. He was in denial of those feelings and kind of distance himself a little in hopes of those feelings weren't real, whenever he would see you talking with Bumblebee he felt a twig of anger and jealousy. It only got worse after a week and he had to come to terms that he had indeed fell in love with you, it was when he realized those feelings was when he had confronted you after you had returned from your job at the dance studio like at night around 7.

"Jazz? This is a surprise? What brings you by? Felt like you where avoiding me lately?" Jazz had been waiting for you outside your condo in the parking lot for a few hours in his alt mode before he transformed out of it 

"(Y/N) there's something I need to get off my chest." Him saying that that confused you at first it was when he had crouched down to your level, you saw that he was nervous and trying to find the right words to say to you until he spoke

" You've been a great friend to me (Y/N) ever since I came to your planet, the time I've spent with you and the more I got to know you..." As he kept speaking his face as changed seeing that he was blushing that confused you even more

"Umm? Jazz what are you saying?" You asked that in which made him more nervous until he said it

"(Y/N) I'm in love with you." Jazz blurted that out clear as day to you that left you a little speechless

"What?" Then you realized the avoiding lately which started making sense to you

"That's why you've been avoiding me lately? Oh Jazz." Still being nervous Jazz stood up rubbing the back of his neck

"Ahh...yay." Before he continued speaking he nervously laughed

"Hahaha..sooo?"

"So what?" Where you words then you realized what that meant in which you nod your head no and motioned your hands in the rejection motion

"Oh..No. Jazz I'm flattered really. I'm actually Aroace." Saying that word made Jazz question that word

"Aroace? W-What's that?" You took a breath before answering him

"Aroace is short for being Asexual and Aromantic, I'm incapable of feeling romantic or sexual attraction towards anybody. I didn't say anything cause I didn't want any of you acting weird around me, my parents don't want to accept it. That's why I don't really visit them that much." While talking you looked apologetic towards Jazz

"I'm sorry, I can only see you as a friend. I hope that's alright?"

Jazz acted calm in saying that he was fine with still being friends with you, when you thanked him for understanding and being a good friend to you. He had felt his soul shatter, he had opened his spark to you and you had rejected him and he didn't like that even after you had returned to your condo. He didn't want to accept that you where incapable of love and he was determined in proving you wrong and in hopes of winning your heart, thee obsession had begun the day after you had rejected him. You had started noticing the odd behavior he acted like his old self but he was a little clingy with you and demanding you spending more time with him, luckily for you that you had to go to Korea in performing with your dream idol girl group Black Pink for there tour. It was good timing for you in wanting to get away from Jazz for a bit which was two month and one of your friends would house sit for you while you where gone for those months.

  Getting the chance in dance performing with Black Pink was your biggest dream and meeting the group in person when you arrived in Korea your heart felt like it was going to burst out of your chest, the girls where happy in working with you since they had heard and seeing what you could do. You tried to stay calm saying that you would do your best in making them proud of you and you spoke in perfect Korean as well, the lead dancer Rosé had spoken with you about the dance routine for there tour and you where over the moon happy when she compliment you on your dancing skills. When you and the group along with some of the other dancer where practicing outside on the stage they would perform on you couldn't help but feel like someone was watching you during your practice performance, it was when you stopped dancing you looked around in hopes of finding anyone that stood out to you in which you didn't see anyone you had continued your work even though you had the uneasy feeling. 

It was after the first concert was oven from the tour was when you got the answer on who was watching you, to your shock Jazz was waiting for you outside the buss you and the other dancers including Black Pink used for the tour.

"Jazz what the hell are you doing here in Korea?" 

"I haven't seen you in a while (Y/N) I missed ya?" Something about Jazz didn't feel right to you, more so seeing that he was by himself

"Are you here by yourself? Does anyone else know that your here?" The way Jazz looked at you, cold sweat fell on you and your blood started going cold seeing the look he was giving you. He was oddly calm as he approached you as you started stepping backwards

"What can't a FRIEND worry about you?" Before you could react you felt electric shocked on your whole body that made you fall on the ground being stunned, what you saw was Jazz had held out a type a taser and had used it on you.

"And I didn't want to waste another second away from you (Y/N)" As he said that he had gently picked you up in his hands before he had turned to his vehicle mode which had put you in the back seat still paralyzed from the taser as tears started falling down your eyes realizing he was now kidnapping you, you should have said something to any of the bots about Jazz's obsessive behavior and now you didn't know where he was taking you.... The only thing you knew was the things weren't going to be the same again......  

[horsefreek151]

I went to Pride in a Wheelchair!

I love going to things and haven't been able to do more than one thing a month for YEARS till I got my wheelchair. I went from ambulatory 100% of the time to having to take any trip where I'll be standing for more than 10 minutes in a wheelchair within four years (let's be honest, its been two years since I started using a cane). I got my "over-the-counter" wheelchair last February after using the wheelchair service for the first time at an airport. It's been LIFE CHANGING.

I can run errands with my husband and go to one store on my own while he goes to the other. I can take myself for a "walk" without worrying about falling or getting too exhausted. I can do stuff all day and be in so little pain I can cook dinner and take care of myself and the animals.

I was really anxious (I'm Autistic, have ADHD, and suffer from CPTSD, so new things are stressful), but I decided to go to Pride this year with my husband. We hadn't gone since 2019. I wanted to finally go out again. And I wanted to take my wheelchair. I didn't want to go out, and I knew I would come home and be stuck in bed for two days after.

My Service dog can perform around the chair. Honestly, she does better in the chair because she can reach me more easily. She's six pounds, 2.72 Kg, so it's easier for her to check in and tell me if something is wrong. It's also a good training opportunity. The only hitches were on the way was that there was a dude who thought it was ok to CLIMB over me (The MBTA worker chased him down, hollering at him for it before letting me off, Bostonian MBTA man, you are my hero <3). A very nice Queer Butch Vet helped me when I got stuck at one point partway off the train, with my dear husband pulling me. The other hitch was a very eager pitbull puppy (like a year or two) who practically jumped in my chair to say hi to my service dog (who shockingly didn't bat an eye at the head larger than her whole ass body, just looked slightly confused). I shoved him off my chair, saying "Fuck off" sharply, and my husband hip-checked the dog back. His handlers looked horrified, but we were fine. He was just so strong they didn't realize. We had a wonderful time at the parade, and my service dog had some great socialization (she has a "say hi" command cause people will say hi anyway, and I want her to be able to snap back to attention). I learned she knows the difference between someone in a mascot suit and someone who is a furry in a fur suit (I think she can tell emotional investment; she dislikes mascots and loves fursuiters). I met a photographer and their partner, who gave us a photo of her. I got to go on a roll without my husband and a friend who joined us to go talk to a few booths, Including a queer library where my librarian husband could do some volunteer work. After, we went to the block party, and I chatted with the Sex Workers and Volunteers at the Sex Work Decriminalisation booth (something I'm INCREDIBLY passionate about) and showed off her "Working Girrrl" patch I made her for her little pride outfit (It was a huge hit and they gave her a button). I plan to try to do some graphic design and art for them! We had a wonderful time. We went home after 8 and a half hours. I LASTED 8.5 HOURS. It was amazing. We got home and soaked our sore joints, but I was able to do stuff the next day with no problem! It was shocking; I felt almost normal. I felt like myself again for a bit. I would have barely made it through a bit of the parade, let alone through the T and public transit, with my service dog. I felt free.

I was so glad and told my therapist I wanted to go out more with my chair on trips, to visit places and events! I want to go out and about again! She was very excited.

It's been over a year of resting and waiting till I get better, but knowing deep down, that wasn't going to happen. I'm so glad to have that bit of me back.

[fran-aka-mak]

art development !!

i started doing digital art in 2013 but the template starts at 2015 hehe

[[ template ]]

my essaying about my digital art journey below!!

2015 - i was very immersed in the soul eater community! i kept doing resbangs and making friends, and i love doing AUs, specifically soul & maka centric. this is the HTTYD AU where soul is the dragon!

2016 - yes this is Little Things PH's OCs that i did back in the day! i love their lil guys so much i had to make fanart. this was the art i gave to Ate in person!!

2017 - i drew a lot more pokemon this time ! idk why i didn't draw more of it digitally before. i had too much soul eater brainrot lmao. so i combined them! behold contestshipping x soma AU

2018 - this was the time when i got into K-pop! specifically Monsta X haha, i got more interested in doing fashion, especially for male characters~ (and i had to draw my beloved agenda, somakid)

2019 - my bias from MX, Minhyuk on a whale with Minggom! this was made for an artbook that was sent to him! i hope he got to see this along with my tiny message ;; i delved more into a new tiny chibi art style here

2020 - i drew way too much during this year and it led me to impossibly high standards for my art to this day //sobs. i redrew my Your Lie in April AU fanart and i really think i improved so much….. i went out of my comfort zone to really draw the background and the piano

2021 - genshin brainrot started here !! i was trying to find my style even more, and i love kokomi's color palette. i remember looking at 10x references and combining them into this specific pose in the fanart. i still think to this day this is one of my personal favorite art pieces of all time

2022 - another personal favorite art piece (and something my friend aura and a commissioner personally loved!), i was practicing on drawing men since i wasn't confident, but seeing how this turned out made me want to keep going ❤️

2023 - the latest maka & kid piece that i made! they are so precious to me. i love trying out new poses and dynamics, and i tried changing their outfits a bit more to highlight that i wanna try new fashion stuff ^^; i'd like to say it was a job well done ngl

2024 - and finally, a recent piece that i'm most proud of, and shows a lot of my art style (and i drew the background from scratch!). i redrew an old comic panel from a now discontinued comic, but i feel like i improved so much in terms of rendering, coloring, and anatomy!!

[emachinescat]

A Year in (Book) Review: My 2024 Reading Journey 📚

#40 - The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

Fantasy / LGBTQ+ / Romance / 498 pages / Published 2019 / Finished Apr. 27

One Sentence Review: A stunning foray into story and myth and art and love and life and death and the books we read and the stories we tell ourselves and Fate and Time, this masterpiece turns the conventions of modern storytelling on their heads and breathes life into a huge, intersecting hive of myths, buzzing with wonder, love, stories, endings - and new beginnings, a tale worthy of Borges himself.

Favorite Quotes

"Someone is trying to keep the story from ending, I think. But the story wanted an ending. Endings are what give stories meaning."

*

"A book is made of paper but a story is a tree."

*

"All cats are guardians in their own right."

*

"Be brave ... Be bold. Be loud. Never change for anyone but yourself. Any soul worth their star-stuff will take the whole package as is and how it grows. Don't waste your time on anyone who doesn't believe you when you tell them how you feel."

*

"A boy at the beginning of the story has no way of knowing that the story has begun."

*

"Strange, isn't it? To love a book. When the words on the pages become so precious that they feel like part of your own history."

*

"We are all stardust and stories."

*

"And no story ever truly ends as long as it is told."

My rating: 5/5

A Few More Thoughts (Spoilers):

I positively adored this book! It quickly cemented its place as one of my all-time favorites. It's unlike any novel I've ever read - the way the separate storylines are not only all connected but are the SAME story, the slow, satisfying way all the puzzle pieces begin to fit themselves together, the coziness, the wonder, the magic, the way the author weaves a new mythology tapestry worthy of Athena herself ... this book is art.

Although I had faith in the author that the seemingly unconnected pieces would come together in the end, the way they did so was a complete surprise. The whole book, I thought the end goal was to save the harbor on the Starless Sea, but no, it is destroyed in the end - and it's not even a bad thing. Bittersweet, yes, but necessary. A story is not a story if it doesn't end.

I could seriously write a dissertation on this book. Its themes of story, and its interconnectedness with life, death, and love are positively delicious. Masterful.

Even the best and most beautiful stories have to end at some point - that's what makes them stories. But the end of one story allows another to begin. Therein lies the beauty of stories: they are beautiful and significant and everything while they last, but even their endings forge the way for new beginnings.

[peachjagiya]

https://www.tumblr.com/peachjagiya/758042078814093312/but-i-dont-feel-like-anyone-actually-knows-who?source=share

''Memories and DVDs were filled with Jikook moments that even non shipper OT7 fans complained''

I also disagree with basically everything this anon said, but this part took my attention about something that I was thinking these days, and I wanted to share my perspective about this whole narrative that jkkrs and some armys have about how much jkk we get on official content, and bc of that it somehow proves how closer/real they are. I wish I could say more about the other stuff, but unfortunately it took me almost 4 years of being an army to really start believing in taekook, but I was an active army and I did consumed tkk content, and I believe I had a pretty neutral tl because I did not believe that tkk were together at the time and did follow ot7s and people that shipped all types of ship because I liked to consume fics and fan arts form all kind of ships from BTS. But this narrative of BTS dvds are basically all jikook content that some people try to push is kind of a lie. Yes they do have lot of moments on it, but I was an active army on twt since 2017, and what I remember what happened for like 2/3 years in a row is that one of the first persons to get the dvd and release content of it was Peaches, a disgusting jkkr tae anti by the way, which basically released only their moments or moments that involved only Jimin and Jungkook excluding the other boys, specially Tae. So what actually happened was that for a few hours in twt what we basically had of memories was all jkk content, and you have no idea of how armys had a really short attention span at the time. Memories 2019 for example was released while BTS was promoting dynamite and in the soop was being released, so lots of things were happening at the time and I remember some people did not even talked about the DVD after a few hours due to all content that we were getting and since it wasn`t the freshest new we had at the moment. Not to mention that in memories 2019 was the same dvd that if I'm not mistaken we got like not even 1 minute of tkk content inside of more than 700 minutes of content, so it wasn't even like a fair comparison when the only ship that could make more noise than jikook had like 2 moments for tkkrs to hype it up and when it took hours for us to get in the tl because the only person who bothered to upload tkk content got her dvd later than others when people were not even talking about it anymore. And to give an example of how a person who gets their hand on the content first can impact the tl, what also happened in memories 2021 is that one of the first persons to get it was a taekooker and tl at first was infested with taekook moments and photos, I even remember some tkkrs saying that maybe hybe were finally releasing more tkk contents again, and some army discussing that they seemed to be closer again. This also happened with magic shop in Japan which I remember one of the first moments we got on our tls was the "still number 1 without makeup" because a jpn tkkr got her hands on the dvd first than others. And just to clarify I don't remember army complaining about it anon, I actually remember that in memories 2021 lots of ''army's' and jikooker were desperate and making hit tweets about how peaches needed to get her dvd soon they could get jikook content on their tls, ignoring the fact that they were a whole Tae anti who dismissed him and tkk/vmin moments. My point is that sometimes these kind of narratives are not only created by hybe, but it can sometimes be created by fandom and big accounts themselves and create a whole herd effect of misinformation about who is closer than who, and that is complicated for us to state something when our tls can basically direct what it will tell us, specially when most won't have the patience or means to go through 500/700 minutes of paid content and will probably hype the most out there moments. And to finish just wanted to add but I'm from latam and also became an army in 2017 and at least here jkkrs have been huge since then, totally overtaking tkkrs, and I hear stories of them causing trouble here to armys and Tae way back from 2017

More thoughts.

[cherivinca]

Since the year is almost over, I wanted to make a small 2023 introspection (as well as talk about 2024 plans...)!

First of all, I hope everyone had a decent year! Mine was... okay. Better than 2022, and I've been feeling better in the latter half, I think, keeping myself busy and studying languages, writing, etc. But basically since graduating back in 2020 I've felt pretty lost (not helped by the pandemic, and the subsequent cost of living...)

In the past year I haven't been posting as much. There's a lot of art I kept to myself this year, and others I've posted on my (very small) personal tumblr blog. It's been harder to feel like it's "worth" posting here, though I hope I can change that

The art industry has felt tremendously shaky this year, and it feels even more bleak for someone who hasn't managed to break in <:( I've been working on my portfolio, and there's still more work to do, but I'm applying for schools this fall; if nothing job-wise comes up, then I will probably go back >< I'm already at a slight disadvantage since I don't live in the provinces that have studios, but I can't afford to move unless I have a job... haha (pain). I don't want to call it giving up, but gaining new skills might be helpful regardless. Even if it becomes a hobby, it might make me feel better 🥲 I never planned to be commission-dependent for so long

Anyway, I booked my first international trip (to Europe!!) this coming March, because I told myself I'd finally do it after getting my passport back in 2019 (expecting to travel after uni.....lol) so I'll be taking on comms primarily to help fund that in the next few months. I need enrichment in my enclosure, badly

I've been writing this year too. I don't know when/if I'll share my story stuff here (maybe related art...?) or not, but we'll see if I ever do anything with it. (It's wlw/fantasy hehe). In general, I hope to feel better about posting here, and maybe start making a small amount of merch!! I've always wanted to try :) And stream more, if I can!

Thank you to everyone who has supported my art this year, whether it's been through likes, rbs, following me, or commissioning me. :* Especially in this past year. I can tell that a lot of people have less disposable income, but I really appreciate people who have commissioned me regardless (which is another reason I worry for the future...)

Here's to more art & cool things in 2024!! And hopefully better times!!

[zecretsanta]

To: @handsometimr

From: @juricha-art

Hello, @handsometimr ! 'Tis I, Juricha, your Zecret Santa this year and I bring to you some gifts and Christmas cheer!

Prompt 1: Anything Akane/Junpei, bonus if they adopted a baby Quark post ZTD and uncle Aoi shows up.

This one was the hardest to draw because I wanted it to as cute and cozy as possible, but couldn't for the life of me think of a proper way to do so. Christmas Eve. The tree and decorations are all put up, Junpei is finishing up the preparations, and Akane is trying to put the kids — their twins, Rei and Nova, and adopted little Quark —  to sleep. But they are all too excited, because they know that Santa is coming tonight. So the only thing to do is to snuggle together in a big armchair and tell them some magical stories. After they fall asleep, Junpei finds this idyllic scene and decides to not disturb them, covers them up with a blanket and kisses them all goodnight, his heart sewling with love and joy. And who is that at the door?..

Prompt 2: The first Christmas Sigma/Diana spent together in Rhizome-9. My heart will shatter even more if Sigma's first Christmas without Diana is touched upon. But for Christmas cheer there's always Sigma/Diana's first Christmas together post ZTD, with Phi! I picked the more cheerful version this time, so I hope it's okay! I did my best to touch upon the opther timelines a bit, though! 

Phi visits Sigma and Diana on Christmas and finds out that they are now engaged! They spend a nice evening together. But if one looks closely, one can see the sinister reflections of many a horrible end — and sometimes with some happiness found — they might have met sometime, somewhere. Thank goodness they could find a happy ending to their story! Prompt 3: Anything with Maria, any depiction is cool w me! We need more of Carlos' sister. I drew a festive portrait of Maria, because we never see her in-game. I kinda got inspired by Maria Robotnik, with all the terminal illness and somebody trying to save the poor girls and screaming "Maria!" stuff.  

And I now kind of headcanon her to be a fellow Sonic Adventure 1 & 2 enjoyer, watchnig Carlos play for her. After she was cured, she went to Kurashikis' wedding together with her brother and made friends with Akane and the others. She got so inspired that she roped Carlos into studying Japanese. Akane and Junpei are proud of her. I think the pearls and the purple-pink colors suit her.

All three artworks were done with a new technique I picked up recently — buying alcohol ink and splattering it across the page, hoping it would not go somewhere I do not want it to go. Then coloring the pictrues with the alcohol markers proper, then adding a bit of ink, acrylic markers and pencil (I really like the Cretacolor pencil that I used for outilining Maria, I think it goes well with the lighter colors and not as overbearing as the darker liners) and editing them a bit after scanning. This year was a rather busy one for me, and I didn't draw much (plus was sick through most of December), so I feel like I'm out of shape. I do hope that you — and everyone else — like the end results! Also, I cannot believe that I've been participating in ZEcret Santa for five consecutive years!, since 2019! Thank you for having me on board for so many years!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to @handsometimr , the ZEcret Santa crew and the entire Zero Escape fandom! May the next year be healthy and productive for everyone! Love and cheers, Juricha.

[snowynightlight]

10 years of worlds, wow. It has me thinking about a lot of stuff that have occurred in those years.

Worlds was that album that pulled me back into EDM and interested me in the whole genre back in 2019. I would listen to the genre off and on in prior years, only just to San Holo and some of Said The Sky. I heard shelter back in the spring of 2017 but completely forgot about it. I stumble upon it and thought the cover art was interesting. The color changing haze and the small kaomoji caught my eye. I would listen to EDM while browsing the internet or I would stumble upon it through my older sister. After listening to Worlds it got me interested in EDM again but more deeper. I discovered so many different artists that the following fall. From Anamanaguchi to Moe Shop, I went down a large rabbit hole. Any of my playlists at the time always had one song off worlds.

The artistry behind Worlds is something is so unique compared to the other albums around that time. The visuals for the live shows, the music videos, the anime influence, and the neat aesthetic that it had. The mixed media that the visuals incorporated had were interesting and eye candy to see. Plus the usage of Vocaloid for a couple of songs!! The color palette that the cover has is dreamy. The Final Worlds Live set at Second Sky 2019 is just wow. Especially that version of fresh static snow that is 10 minutes. That version goes so hard.

EDM in general is such an interesting genre to me in so many different aspects. From the production side of things to the different branches of all the subgenres. It’s a giant tree with so many branches. The artistry behind live shows and raves. The culture in those shows fosters. During my free time, I would spend hours looking into the history and discovering new subgenres. Sometimes I go back and forth if I should try producing some and learn how to use a DAW, plugins, mixing sample packs, and music theory. Worlds opened up that spark for me.

Going back to worlds now. The opener Divinity caught my eye and since then it’s been one of my favorite songs of all time. The build-up gets to me each time. Sea of Voices is everything. The production of it is so pretty. Goodbye to a world that takes you on this whole ride from start to finish. Fellow feeling, just wow. That strings arrangement in the start is incredible. Shepherdess/she heals everything from that era is also gorgeous. Worlds is such a beautiful album and ages so beautifully as the time goes on.

Hollowheart is here now 【=◈︿◈=】 it’s so good and wonderful.

also happy 8th to shelter :) (I completely forgot about that until now)