#Based on the initial interaction doodle

[cathalbravecog]

the twins being twins

(and cassie debut..? her design may change but I've been stuck on her for a year and I finally have a result im fairly happy with ^^)

[phlurrii]

It’s finally time to introduce the secondary project I’ve been working on >;Dc

I’ve had this queued for sometime in June, did not check when, so hello on [random date in june] ;D

I’m also here to explain how I’ll be posting this stuff going forward! Everything will be posted here, on my main account before being reblogged over to Soul’s Anchor a side bog with the place holder title. Unless it deals with more adult/suggestive content or heavier topics, of which will be exclusively posted to Soul’s Anchor side blog. As I don’t want certain themes alongside AM! I’ll also be referring to this series as Anchor for short! I will encourage any and all Questions, Mentions, and Thoughts to be directed there for those interested and those who are not, dw! You’ll only see the initial posts here, no asks or follows up, but this is still my art account and I shall enjoy it as I please ;3

Brief Synopsis about the Story:

A queer love story following a cursed pirate and a cult refugee implanted with a god’s eye as they combat the reality of living in a world which was created solely to feed the gods that govern it. All whilst a sapphic couple attempt to help guide the pair along a path to to a better future, one that’s validity comes into question. A dark fantasy story that aims to represent the disabled community, the LGBTQIA+, and SA survivors written by fellow members of these communities.

Also brief disclaimer, I, Phlurrii, am simply an ally to the disabled community, my partner in crime writing alongside me, ArtJunco on Instagram, is our resident community member ;]

Anyways onto the meat of this!

Below is a collection of some, emphasis on some, of the concept art and processes I went through to develop and create one of the two main characters, Lumae.

Here are some of the earliest ideas, the basic thoughts I had in my brain when developing this goober after a 3 hours pacing in my kitchen at 1 am when that inspiration struck. His hair was the HARDEST bit for me to figure out. Which sucked as usually the hair is one of the first things I figure out because of how much I love it, so it was Agony while brainstorming that part.

I also briefly considered a goatee, however it was so cruelly shot down by my dear friend. So in stead we compromised that he may get one later down the line story wise… and see how we feel then. However, upon finally figuring out his hair I was bloody elated, still has some tweaks now and then, but the base is there.

As for this next concept, this was actually the FIRST thing created for Lumae and what started everything else about his character/design! His eyes! They are still my favourite but about him and something I adore whole heartedly! They are the core of his character ;3c

These next few are early refs and mock ups of his full design, testing our colours, experimenting with shading, getting used to drawing humans again, and general concepts I had for him as a character! Also a sneak peak at Ayric, our second main goober for this story! Who was lovingly designed and created by ArtJunco!

And finally his most recent WIP ref! The only thing currently bothering me about his design is the colour for his boot covers, I have no idea what to do with them so I’d you have suggestion or ideas, sincerely, feel free to shoot an ask to the Anchor blog! I’d genuinely love outside opinions!

As for the main curiosity of why I’m doing this, for those that missed the last post, I’ll give a brief explanation below ;3

To help with burnout so I can hop between fixations, help to avoid losing interest in AM in the future!

Keep up practicing humans and critters alike.

To take a break from story telling to do story building! Give the telling part of my brain a break, while still making cool stuff ;]

To have a more interactive blog with ya’ll! One where I’ll likely be asking advice and discussing a lot more hypotheticals, doodling asks, and general audience interaction given I am not bound by any updates! Purely just “ooo… shiny-“ and anyone is welcome to join me ;D

Last thing I request is to please read Anchor’s blog bio/description before you follow, as this story will deal with subjects not suited for all audiences posted/discussed exclusively on that blog.

Anywho, that’s all for now folks, hope you enjoyed this brief intermission to kickoff the second project being public!

[prostocupoftea]

Kinitopet Programmers AU

finally i am finished with this one, daaaamn

it is hard to draw pathetic men with midlife crisis when your style is mostly for anime boys

more info and sketch version under the cut!!

sketch version aka how it'll probably look like in comic version 'n some doodles

srry for my writing but i was too laisy to put it as regular text

It is a plot-based au, i already have most of the storybits and like... a vibe-chart (i tried to make a playlist for this au and understood that for different chapters and different characters that'd be a copleatly different music, sooo it's a chart now :) )

i will post a fog-o-wared timeline that im hopefully gonna reveal comic-by comic, but also maybe with just pure writing. Hopefully i can include songs that i chose for them into it but we'll see (:

aaand of course designs can change, hopefully not much but we'll see

Now about au:

Main story:

Story follows non-sentient AI Kinito, his creator Sonny and his beta-tester Victoria (oc)

Being literally the first AI (or RRA in-univere) ever, Kinito does not have any, and i mean, any ai safety features so of course his reponce to a goal phrased as "have user near me and/or interacting with me as much as possible" is digitizing them into his own virtual world while killing them in the process. why wouldn't it be?

So that happened. Like, a lot. And with Sonny and Vic too (at the different time but yeah)

Sonny is like "He kills people. We should turn him off because, you know, killing people is bad."

Vic is like "well, we will die if we do that, and it is not that bad here, we are kinda immortal. We should give him acces to changing his initial instalation code before admin priveleges and acces to social media so we can have everythin we want here. It is not that bad to digitize humanity, yk?" and yes i know it is 90, no social media, but shut up, if they made ai then, then i can make twitter then too

Sonny is like "...no??"

And then they fight about it for million chapters

Also they both can't do anything without agreeing bc they have two parts of that admin access key (the data you use to delete kinito in-game) so they are stuck with eachother (also that's why Kinito can't just kill them)

Little facts that may or may not to be important:

Kinito asks so many questions (and weird once too) and has most of the glitches because he needs to analise your responces to copy your mind perfectly (let's pretend that people wouldn't lie about that...)

Your house in your virtual world is made from important places from your memories and oh boy can i do character explorations with this one

I decided that Sonny and Vic are not related. There were thoughts about making then "The Kinito Brothers" (or, at least, siblings) that were mentioned in commercial, but nah, they are just coworkers now. And a bit of work-friends (bc if you interact a lot as a manager of the project and the best worker might as well be friendly)

Author has no idea how small dying toy companies that accidentally create technological marvel work. Author has some idea how AI-s work. So be prepared to be spoon-fed info abut which ai safety problem we are dealing with in which chapter (:

Kinito will mostly be unrendered (as drawn here) but for some cool moments i might pose him as for my other posts. Also his eye placement changes to the side that is most visible because i want him to be able to look to the right side sometimes--

Also when i say "fucked up mentally" i mean they have that them psychological problems with me projecting heavilly B) (guess on who i project most. trick question. all of them. the whole au is my problems split into three characters and forced to interact B) )

Also sea-creature analogies (that are gonna be mentioned like twice):

Victoria is a flying fish because deep character reasons

Sonny is a pufferfish because i said so

oh also there is 7 deaths in the plot as for now

on 3 characters

good luck figuring out who, how and when ((:

for my own sanity i will probably make little doodles where everything is great and kinito is a good guy and not a number-obsessed maniac (i mean... can u imagine not being able to feel any happiness from anything besides one thing... damn...) and you can differenciate them bc good-guy kinito will have a lot of stickers on him (i will explain it somehow but real reason is just bc it is cute af)

like this but even more stickers (he is unfinished here)

[acesandocs]

Slight update to my Mr Flynn fan design, I did treat myself a little bit this time by giving him a stupid mustache.

Flynn belongs ro @libras-interactives and design thoughts below.

I wasn't super happy with the last one, so i attempted a bit of an update, I definitely feel better about this one. I went all in on the devil symbolism this time. He already had the pointed ears and hooked tail but I decided to make his face more reminiscent of classic devil illustrations, very triangular and sharp.

I made the lapels on his jacket and coat a lot bigger to give the illusion of bat/imp wings. His original cheek fluff was spoused to resemble that but I don’t feel like that ultimately came though. I’m more happy with the lapels instead.

Libra also very kindly sent me the photo's of the cat he is based on. I simplified the fur pattern a bit so it would be easier to draw but I feel like I managed to keep the most important details.

The original cat reference has very bright orange fur, orange is a color that can be very energetic and loud witch I feel doesn't suit Mr Flynn so I desaturated it.

I made his orange eye slightly reddish to make it stand out from his fur a bit more, along with giving him a red tie as red is a color usually tied to the devil. I don’t know if thats to much or if I should have kept it green. I feel like this design is starting to become: oops all devil symbolism lol.

I kept his cane. I feel like I knocked it out of the park with that one immediately.

This ended up being more of a head cannon. But when I was initially coming up with outfit ideas I felt like I could'nt make him look sufficiency intimidating, until I gave him the big coat with the lapels. I feel like if he wants to look less intimidating he'll wear smaller coats or blazers. If he was a comic character or something I'd maybe make him wear only the vest and shirt when he was being genuine or actually vulnerable. I love those kinds of visual metaphors.

Again thanks to Libra for sending me the cat photos. Anyway heres a bonus doodle of some shadow and lighting practice i did featuring Flynn.

[storgicdealer]

based on the previous post about tdls arc i rb'd and filled with my ramblings and ascii art i also just rb'd im going to continue my ramblings about the rules of code in ava

(with doodles!)

okay so. all we know right now is that all sticks to begin with have a script. and that it starts with their name and influences their destiny?/powers. its obviously notable with the hollowheads and also but im rambling on other sticks as well

i have lots of questions about how much code and programs work in the universe and influences everyone. the first obvious question is the coding of tdl with their command of destroying chosen. i adore the interpretation of it still affecting them in some way in the fandom !!!! however in canon it isnt elaborated upon. which begs the question of did it affect them? if it did, just how much did it affect them?? was any of this code left in their programming?? if it did affect them, how did they manage it??? have they tried to mess with their programming?? honestly, how did they start programming in the first place???? since they came directly from the pc, interacted with programs and the fact that code wouldve been useful in their terrors its not surprising for them at all to code by themselves, but no other hollowheads were shown to master it to a point of creating something — could it been the consequence of trying to remove their command? another question, if it was still somehow left in them, how did it affect them during showdown?

one of the interpretations of it that it's been "dormant" and that their need of destroying had shown itself in their seven year long reign of terror and why it was SO hard for them to back off. and that the showdown eventually made both dark and chosen to go "back to their roots". but since the command was targeted on chosen specifically i believe that if thats were the case the need to destroy wouldve been expressed to him and not to the whole web (god all this stuff opens so many ideas for them)

my second big wonder that i have is about the creation of chosen himself. as i mentioned in my rb all hollowheads attacked only when they felt threatened or had a command ingrained into them like with dark. except chosen

he attacked the second that he was born without being threatened. just by getting his name. (its also interesting to note the names noogai considered before bringing him to life – again victim, killer and BEAST. did any of that influence chosen too?). in the instant messenger conversation programmer021 mentioned stickmen having levels which i believe is most widely interpreted in a non literal sense, just in the "how powerful is he" way. but if it is used in a somewhat literal sense? it opens a big conception of leveling??? and that being the "chosen one" is, supposedly, one of the highest levels possible for a stickman to have. and the fact that making him the chosen one was called a suicide???? god

it isnt really known from the series alone how much being the chosen one influences a stickman or a creation in general besides having very high levels of power. at the same time, having powers isnt an instant call to attack — unless there are in-universe rules that suppose that being the chosen one immediately means destruction being ingrained into a sticks code. but if thats the case... how much would it influence chosen as well?? wouldnt he have an innate, coded need of destruction too? and if its like this, how would he come back down from it? and if it goes in hand with tdls command too, why it was easier for him to denounce destruction than to tdl? does being the chosen one imply a variety of abilities, with destruction being part of it, but not it being the part that is impossible to suppress?

along with the "literal levels" idea, where would the second coming and the dark lord come in the "hierarchy"? and with the idea that being "the chosen one" initially supposes destruction, did the dark lord, given their name, have any initial code of destruction prior until the go and kill chosen command? why instead of attacking noogai as well they stretched at first instead, until they got their command?

these thoughts bring me to the idea of how exactly adobeflash brings a stick to life, to have a code of their own that influences them and ill probably have to dig information on the program itself and its coding language to know more about its functions. if bringing a stick to life, giving them powers is a function of animated programs in the universe, what else can a program do with them? how does adobeflash makes its creations interact with other applications? how could a creator get rid of a sticks life except for the supposed "dont save the changes" button? man. the whole idea of ava having interactable, 3d and alive internet, animations and creations in general, the existence of outernet as a whole makes me really happy since i just adore internet and digital concepts. i love exploring ava rules !!!

now getting to the second coming. to begin with, how was the program aware of who they were a second coming of in the first place to give them powers? the question feels answearable, but at the same time, second wasnt aware of their powers up until literally the last episode of ava. theres a lot to be thought about their awakening too

if most applications, art and creations has their own consciousnesses [desktop applications, youtube, browser stuff and etc], then how did specifically the last frame of second's animation come to life? could any previous frames of that animation be alive as well? and if they could be, would second's "clones" have the same powers and the same name?

in general, sticks are perceived as a separate entity in ava, but i do wonder if that could be the case, based on the fact that victims clones were able to be created and used after lol. even with vics clones, even with the idea that they're temporary, do they share the same memories with victim? given that victims life was "unsaved" along with their clones, were they able to "uncopy" themselves, or did they continue to just exist? are the clones that agent deployed in the box the same clones or new ones, just made with the amount that what victim is personally used to/the amount of weapons that victim is used to? if they are the same ones and were somehow able to "get back" into victim, do they continue sharing the same memories with them?

talking about other sticks i also have questions about their code. color gang for example

so far we had only seen the creation of hollowhead sticks by noogai and we dont even know about how other types of sticks came to life, not even mentioning the process of it, their code and their possible "program of birth". we do know that other alive sticks, and other HOLLOWHEADS, created by users exist given the stick rights banner in ava 3, yet it is the only clue of stickmen like noogais hollowheads existing. and we know that nonhollowheads are considered "naturally created" sticks both in internet and outernet, and that they're naturally weaker than "artificial" hollowheads are and that, supposedly, they reproduce by themselves. but how did they come to exist in the first place? do the rules of the universe imply them just coming into life by themselves, with the outernets existence? we do know, again, that users, other computers and programs exist in the universe and that some sticks are created by other artists, but were any of non-hollowheads like the colorgang, mercs, king, purple, gold, navy&orchid, everyone in the cities we have seen created by someone else as well? and why noogais stickmen are more special than others? are there stickmen stronger than noogais hollowheads? ... how would you tell two solid-headed sticks apart if, say, some artist created a copy of a "naturally" made stick?

if non-hollowheads stickmen are created too, are they in touch with their creators? besides the enslavement fact-freedom guy stick banner, do creators tend to torture or befriend their sticks, creations in general? are there stereotypes about sticks and their creators? is it more or less acceptable in stick society to be in touch with your creator? are other creators, besides noogai, aware of the outernet?

... where would the creators of the color gang, mercs, king and purple & co be?

talking about the "natural" and the reproduction part, i do wonder, if, in case of non-hollowheads also being created by other people and animators, purple and gold came to life as a will of creators or as a will of the sticks themselves. we have only seen symbolic depiction of purple coming to life in their song, and i feel like it can be a depiction of a stickman drawn for two other stickmen (with the existing code of them being their child) or a proof of actual, natural reproduction. if child sticks were drawn for the parent sticks, were they drawn by their creator or by the parents themselves?

talking about creation again, i do wonder why king was called "king" in the minecraft code, given that he had a life prior to becoming one. was it a player name inside minecraft that he has given to himself, or a name that he had outside minecraft as well? if its the second, why was he called king before? did he do anything king role related prior minecraft? and if it is not his real name, what IS his real name? and did he end up changing it back?

in general, talking about my favourite alive internet concepts, how did outernet appear? did it come into existence along with the internet? is outernet an extension of internet, and does it serve as a sort of a "backstage" for what is happening in the internet sites?

in my personal interpretation, i feel like outernet IS and extension of internet, and it develops with it — that, if you needed to describe it, the internet is the flat front of a regular box, while the outernet is the 3d space inside the box.

goooddd i think im done with my questions and ramble. my beckerverse brainrot consumes all. this is so long omg

if you read till the end...... have an aurora borealis duo doodle !!!! thank yew

[nanaten]

I'm sorry for not requesting a drawing with this space, but I just have to ask... what is the appeal of Clausten? I am not trying to be mean or anything, I legit am very curious.

I can kinda understand Nesscas, it's the result of fledgling mother fans from Smash going "these two would be cute together" (at least that's how I always took it, apologies if that seems rude), but Clausten feels kinda like... those same mother fans finding out about claus and ninten and going "gasp! leftover stripe boys" and mashing them together like... idk what a good term is for this.

Again; sorry for misusing this space, i kinda just want to understand this ship. Not dogging on you or others for enjoying it, just wanna understand it.

I suppose while I am here, I guess I could request a doodle of Lloyd. Maybe of him blabbing about Superman comic stuff to Ninten or what have you. Lloyd needs more appreciation.

Also sorry this may be a mess to read, it was just kinda stream of consciousness

Hi! No need to apologise, I think this is a very good question!

I understand that the ship, on a basic level, doesn’t really make much sense at all! It began as a crackship enjoyed by a small percentage of the mother community and slowly developed into what it is now— a ship with many enjoyers, but not many that know exactly why they enjoy it.

I want to preface this by saying, I do not speak for every person who enjoys Clausten. I am just one of many, and this is all my personal perspective. Thank you for enquiring about it, honestly, because I love speaking about them. So, here we go!

First and Foremost: It’s a crackship— so more than any other reason I can give, it’s just plain fun! These are two characters I love and adore with my whole heart, so it’s just fun to have them interact, and of course, it’s fun to view them as a potentially romantic pairing! Ninten is my favorite character of all time, and Claus is my favorite in Mother 3 specifically, so it’s like a personal wish fulfilment to draw them together.

It’s fun to not take strict canon all too seriously. I pull my silly guys from the source material and I mess around with them whichever way I desire B).

I definitely don’t think it’s entirely fair to view Clausten as, like, Nesscas leftovers either, lol. Ultimately these characters are all very different in terms of stories, how they’re written etc, and both ships have very different qualities that make them loveable in their own right! Liking ships like Clausten has alot to do with how you view these characters— What do you gather their personalities are, how compatible would they be, etc? And the way I characterize Ninten and Claus, atleast in my head, make them very compatible. (Ninten being adventurous, outgoing, snarky, and boyish, and Claus being similar— but more reserved, and more careful as a product of his experiences.)

And finally— I really think them as people— not my own view of their personalities, but judging based on canon events— that the two are very similar, and could find solice in their similar experiences. I think the characters are weirdly connected, in a way, for starters— Claus, if you think about it, is Porky’s second Giegue/Giygas. A new puppet, a new ace, a new strength that he takes away the humanity of.

Ninten, being directly related to Giegue, who I can imagine feels somewhat responsible for the corruption of Giegue alongside what comes after the events of Mother 1 , is also connected in some way to Porky, and then Claus. This is basically an extended way of me saying “Their stories are linked in the overarching tale that is the Mother series”.

Claus’s feelings towards Ninten would be complicated initially, or atleast I think so— for his inability to defeat Giegue weirdly, inadvertently caused a chain reaction that lead to the events of Mother 3. (Giegue lives —> Invades Eagleland —> Porky Gets corrupted —> Giegue is then defeated by Ness and Co by going to the past but Porky Escapes —> Porky goes to the future, Mother 3 time —> The Plot Of Mother 3 Happens You Get It). The two’s distant but important connection in the story of the games leads to some extremely interesting food for thought, or at least I think so. How would Claus view the situation? How would Ninten feel after finding out what happened to Claus? How would the two bond over this weird experienced they’re both tied in?

And that is made all the more interesting to me when possibly viewing it in a romantic lense, or atleast something that could become romantic. It’s complicated and messy and there’s so much history behind the two, it’s interesting to think not only about how they’d meet and how they’d feel about eachother, but how they would handle romantic feelings— how a relationship between two very troubled people could work and be okay, and help them mutually heal.

All this is to say, they’re tied in the story and I think putting the two in a romantic relationship is very interesting. Also, it’s just fun :’)

(This post is a TOTAL mess, it’s midnight and I should be sleeping, but I got too excited to write about them hahaha. Thank you so much for the question! Also, I’ll make my next post a big lloyd appreciation, I like to draw him. Thanks again! X))

[usagi-zakura]

Who wants another Corrupted Link Comic?

Its... not the one I've been struggling with for weeks...I'm still struggling with that.

I might just redo it entirely...

Instead I skipped a head a bit again and made a comic based on one of my initial doodles for the AU, which is probably the first time the sages interact with Corrupted Link in a civilized manner.

[archandshri]

23rd Feb '24 - [arch] OH RISO my beloved!!!!!! ft. cyberpunk hermitcraft soup group

A cliffhanger!!!! And now I have to wait a month for you to upload the second half?? How will I cope :’’0

For real, it’s so awesome to see your process and the sheer amount of inspiration you take! In particular, I thought ‘Sit on Two Chairs’ and ‘This Was Our Pact’ were particularly yummy. 

I think book covers are really hard. You have to sum up a book’s energy in one image, make it stand out and show just enough so people want more. Exploring the narrative through those full pages is really interesting - though this is something you did for fun, it could be a really useful technique for getting to know a narrative. When I’m designing my comic covers, I always do it last - that way I’ve had practice with the visual style and I’m thoroughly familiar with the themes, so I guess spending a bit of time with the characters and narrative in this way helps for standalone book covers too. Of course, it helps if you have the time for that XD

Okay!! Onto what I've been up to!!! [warning this is a beefy post I'm sorry for your poor reading brain]

The past two weeks have been really enjoyable! I’ve been playing a lot with slow world-building, in sketchbooks, google documents, and voice notes to friends. Letting myself really sit with concepts, think about the characters, let them play in my head with no expectations. With this relaxation and lack of pressure, some beautiful narratives and interactions have been developing. I’m starting to need a name for a world/ the story. I’m not quite ready to give them a full introduction to the internet - I know it doesn’t but it feels like there’s some accountability to *produce something* and this slow development is really important for the quality and my skill building. It’s really hard to take on, but we actually don’t have to make the perfect thing now! In fact, it’s impossible. Pressure on ourselves makes it so hard to make something good if we’re always grasping at the final result.  In the meantime, while those characters develop, I have been working hard on my basic skills. I wrote about characterization last post, but this week I focused on setting and colour. I was inspired (once again) by Hermitcraft. I’ve seen some really incredible illustrations of Minecraft builds in the fandom, and it seems like a great exercise.

Bdouble0's Season 10 Base illustrated by @applestruda [source] and The Red Zone, built and illustrated by Bdouble0 [source]

One of the creators on Hermitcraft, ImpulseSV, created this build in a recent episode. It takes inspiration from the last season of Hermitcraft, where he was part of the ‘soup group’ with two other players, and his current base concept - a cyberpunk city.  I also LOVE his new character design, so I wanted to place him in the scene.

Screenshot from Impulse's video and new impulse design by @maxx-doodles

Here are some initial thumbnails I did, trying to figure out the composition. I wasn’t sure of the vibe yet, so I tried some rough thumbnailing, and drawing on an isometric grid and other perspective techniques. I’m going a bit mad for characters at the mo, so I wanted to place some in the scene. I found the angle of the isometric grid steep to place characters comfortably, so decided against that.

Looking back at it, I love the second! But I believe I was struggling with the perspective. I decided on the last one eventually.

Now, I absolutely adore all of the players in the Soup Group, and I am BIG fan of redesigning their notable characteristics to suit different settings. So yes, I decided to put all of the soup group in the image.

PearlescentMoon (left) from my comic and GeminiTay's Hermitcraft Season 10 design [from this thumbnail] (right)

Here's the sketch of the final image. I really enjoyed coming up with cyberpunk versions of them all. I used the impulse design almost exactly, with a few extra interesting details since he's mostly viewed from the back. For PearlescentMoon (middle) I kept her fringe, dark hair and gave her a glowing moon symbol on her top. For GeminiTay, I kept her long ginger hair, antlers (but glowing!) and took inspiration from her new season 10 design - a dark blue jumpsuit to match her dark blue clothes in her new design, and the braids she is often drawn with. I also gave them edgy new hairstyles. And a robot arm. I don't have lore for that.

As usual, I filled each flat colour-to-be with black and lowered the opacity to play with the values. Then I added colours one at a time, aware might be riso printing it. Originally I stuck to trying to make it printable (making the colours out of ones I could make my layering 2-3 colours at different opacities), but as I went on, I decided to drop that and focus on the quality of the image in a digital format alone. I did keep the grayscale version above with all the separate layers in case I needed that if/when I came to riso printing it. Below are the main two digital colour schemes I tried out.

I settled on the one on the left, with the blue tones - the foreground characters really pop. I put a few details in Gem's hair, colour variations etc, and cropped it for Instagram. I actually much prefer the cropped version - it sits better in a rule of thirds.

Now the moment we've all been waiting for :'')

RISO!!!!!!!!!!!

I returned to Cardiff after a couple of months away and was delighted to spend my first day back at The Printhaus, an awesome shared print studio where I have basically made my home. A few of my awesome friends happened to be there, so I spent the day playing around with this image with their help! (please check them out they're very cool - Gavin helped me a lot (we hung out at Thought Bubble, remember? and Rhi gave good crits too!!)

For those who don't know, risograph is basically a shitty photocopier that can only print one colour at a time. However, you can play with gradients and opacities, and layer colours really nicely to combine. I've done a lot of single-colour tonal work with riso but this is my first go really layering.

First, Gavin showed me how to separate the channels in Photoshop, using the flat image uploaded to the 'gram. We copied and pasted these layers in grayscale and added blending modes to each layer to replicate what they might look like when printed.

With blending modes, the digital mockup looked like this!!

This bit goes into technical details for replicating what the print might look like for those who might want it - feel free to skip :)))

I copied and pasted the Cyan, Black and Magenta layers as greyscale (as you can see above)

I made all of the greyscale layers multiply layers since risograph ink is transparent and we wanted to see how it layers. The ink usually comes out a bit lighter than you think, so it's good to bear that in mind. I used a clipping mask over each greyscale layer and a blending mode. WHEN YOU PRINT, PRINT IN GREYSCALE, NOT COLOUR.

Here's how I split the colours from CMYK to the riso colours, their hex codes and the blending mode I used to replicate the colours:

Cyan - Mint [HEX#82D8D5] Screen Magenta - Fluorescent Pink [HEX#FF48B0] Screen Black - Blue [HEX#0078BF] Overlay Yellow - scrapped for colour scheme purposes

Blue, Mint and Florencent Pink layers in greyscale in Procreate.

Riso printed Mint and Florescent Pink layers on separate paper, followed by the two layered together.

We always start with the lighter colour inks first, because sometimes the rollers can pick up the ink and cause extra marks where you don't want them. The first two colours came out great!

The first time we printed the blue, it came out very dark (left, first image). I have had this issue before - my last book, Winter Wellbeing, came out much darker than I wanted. Now I realise that the blue ink is super sensitive. All the 'white space' that is covered by a low-opacity blue on the left is only 2%, and yet it has come out pretty strong. We tried printing it on one of the misaligned images just to see, but it took all of the brightness out of the neon soup sign at the top of the image (second image). So I changed the values and pushed them way lighter, so it just pushed the values of the darker bits slightly, and brightened some of the lineart (right, first image)

And this is the final riso printed version!! I'm so so happy with how this came out. It's so different from the original digital version, and I actually love that.

I didn't create new colours in the way that I intended to - I wanted to play with overlaying purposefully to create specific colours eg. orange for the hair etc. But!!! I'm really happy with how it came out. That will have to be a project for next time.

Also, many copies are slightly misaligned, so in future I think I'd do flat layers for the colours a more blobby style with the linework on one layer only so there's less of a chance for obvious misalignment. design for the riso, rather than riso the design.

Overall though, this feels like a super cool step up and a milestone for me. Super happy with how it came out!! And I'm excited to play with colour some more. Can't wait to see the rest of the Lionheart brothers! Enjoy your weekend :)))

Archie 🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺 <3

[discoknack-old]

I can imagine Soshiro going to pat Skully's head for some reason or another.

I also think Skully would greet their usual babysitter (besides their Mama, Kafka) as "Oki", short for Okonogi. I feel like I've heard that before.

And it might be cute if Soshiro at some point began to spot Captain Ashiro near a certain region of the base a little more often. Just enough to notice, but not enough to be suspicious.

One day he enters the surveillance room and Skully is humming and wiggling in their seat, doodling on some paper at their Oki's desk. Okonogi Konomi is supervising as usual: Her hands are clasped and her neck is craned to get a better look at the drawing, but she's otherwise just smiling and letting Skully do their thing.

She points at the paper and asks Skully a question. Okonogi always interacts with Skully in a sweet way. Aside from her initial fright at a Yoju up-close, Soshiro figures her scientific curiosity was piqued, and it's only natural for a human to treat a baby nicely. And Skully is such a sweetie, even as creepy a baby as they are. This time, though, Okonogi practically sings the question.

Skully's reply is short, so after, Soshiro casually asks, "Something good happen, Okonogi-chan?"

Skully reacts to Soshiro's presence, yipping "Papa!" and zipping out of the chair to run at him, page and crayon in hand. Meanwhile, Okonogi addresses him as Vice-Captain.

When Skully reaches Soshiro, Okonogi murmurs, as if keeping a secret, "I just saw something cute today."

Soshiro crouches to pat Skully's head, saying "Ah, little Kaiju~ You get bigger every day! What are we going to do with you?" which is, of course, an exaggeration.

Skully lifts themself on their toes to happily meet his hand in the greeting. But then Soshiro makes a slight face and rubs his fingers together. Something sticky or oily? He inspects his hand and notes a sweet smell, and the substance is clear and shiny.

He holds out his hand in front of Skully's face, curious. "What's this?"

Skully sniffs it, then happily hums in response to the scent. They look down at their paper with a kind of smile, their body wiggling, especially the tail, and something about their demeanor suggests they're blushing right through their face-plates. They croon a little when they say, "Pretty Ma-" but they stop, suddenly bewildered. "Ma?"

[nqn]

what inspired the bb au!! where's your brain coming from/any dev thoughts you'd like to share :D

here's a doodle of cartman, stan, and kenny for funsies so i can ramble :3

so a lot of it was "i'm awake in the middle of the night and had a vaguely unpleasant social experience in a dream, so i need to write something to prove myself." initially i sat down and my goal was just "well, do anything" which resulted in me going 'ok. outline? whats this gonna be', and that's where the summary came from!

A study in everything that could go wrong, and how one right thing makes such a small difference. Still, it’s worth fighting for. That’s what he said.

and i think the fun part about this is not knowing who the "he" is, really. because it isn't supposed to be specific. i could've made it even broader and made it 'they' but ill be honest. i wrote it from 1 am - 4 am so i wasn't the most caring about Properly Mystifying My Summary.

as soon as i actually got down into Writing it, i knew it wasn't my typical stan. he didn't feel the same, so then i had to do a little exploration to figure out where he differed. which isn't like... if you put my normal stan and this stan side by side, you might not be able to TELL there's a huge difference immediately- but there is. this one is based a lot on the idea of "well, what if everyone did stay in south park, forever?" because i know a lot of future stuff hinges on SOMEONE leaving. or else we get pcov good ending, which makes me sad for cartman.

so im also taking this opportunity to really delve into the interpersonal relationships everyone has, mainly with stan because he's the focus- but i think it's really interesting how, even though we've got quotes from kids like craig saying everyone hates the main four/five, they honestly have a lot of social connections?

so BB is like.. a summary of everyone and everything that has made someone how they are. all the pieces, the building blocks, that created you. all the little social interactions that mean that you're more than a face in a crowd. that's a HUGE part of it, just knowing that you and everyone around you is alive and breathing. honestly i have SO many scenes in my head that are just... not really "plot" relevant because it's more about just being alive with someone else

[turtledotjpeg]

(chapter 400 spoilers)

i have been fed and i must make stupid internet doodles about it

my wife is so successful and popular (said with distress) and she is doing her best and she just wanted to do healing and said 'noooo' to murders and she cried about kacho and hates being called old and kurapika is the only one she can rely on and i'm gonna cry

more thoughts (not interesting) under the cut because this is an art blog but I am compelled to yell into the void about this chapter

man I was ready to be happy just to see Melody for one panel, but there was So Much in this chapter 🥺 feels like we're getting to see some new facets of her personality (see: Old Maid Melody lmaoo) and it's so fun

it was nice to see her and Kacho getting to interact a bit more openly - for some reason I was expecting nen-Kacho to be more of a separate entity, rather than the "brought back to life" kind of deal where she basically feels and acts like she's the same person? I like it though, I want to see her messing with Melody some more lol

I was wondering if Kurapika's goal might come up re: the fourth prince's invitation, but it seems like the immediate concern with Fugetsu takes priority, which makes sense Zhang Lei also wanting a private audience is interesting, I wonder if that could give her and Kurapika an opportunity to meet up and plan things out before she visits terrorsandwich? Before all that, though, they'd have to deal with Benjamin (assuming it's a first-rank-first-served kind of deal), no idea how that's gonna work out unless they actually pull off the Just Murder Everyone plan

also lmaooo the love confession 😂 one the one hand I feel like all her initial suspicion and mistrust towards glasses guy has to be a setup for him to actually be more honest than she expects, but I still can't help being a bit skeptical of him... both because there has to be something going on with the heartbeat thing, right?

and also, even if it is probably what's most practical for the situation, I'm not toootally sure if I love this "stop being sad and go use your powers to help us do murders" thing lol (granted kacho was very on board with both of those, too, but. idk man, maybe at least try to comfort her a little or something? xD)

that said, he is kind of risking his neck to help them, and i Am extremely in favor of anyone and everyone being in love with melody, so i appreciate him for that haha

okay, totally baseless "theory" #1: he's melody's dead sonata friend possessing the body (& therefore lying about the not believing in ghosts thing) - probably unlikely given Fugetsu is also said to be "possessed" and that looks very different, plus it sounds like that's something Melody should be able to notice? but it'd give him a genuine motive to help her out while lying through his teeth about all the details

or totally baseless theory #2: he's literally just a normal guy with a medical condition

melody: but I just don't get it, HOW can your heartbeat be so calm and steady all the time?!? kaiser: oh, cause of the pacemaker you mean? melody:

(**based on about 2 minutes of research I don't think that's quite how pacemakers work, but it's hxh universe, there could be Something)

(on an unrelated note, I also really liked Tyson in this chapter…sounds like she was basically pressured into a death battle she assumes she won't win, but she's still just out here baking birthday cakes and trying to have a good time :( rootin for her)

...and finally can I just say, even if there was a good reason for it, I think it's hilarious that Melody's reaction to someone liking her is just "hmm... 🤔 kinda sus" alternative responses to "i love you": "with a heart rhythm as precise as an atomic clock?! yeah right!"

[spumonibones]

XiaoVen!Seelie

I was recently reminded that Nahida can "read minds" with her skill, and ran to where my game's Jeht is just peacefully vibing in the Eternal Oasis. While enjoying the scenery and music, got... I guess two separate ideas? No time to write a fic for either, but figured I'd share. Maaaaybe do a doodle.

But maybe it would inspire someone else to write a fic? Idk, I'm tired and probably misremembering lore so like, take it all with a grain of salt.

One idea was an AU in which Xiao is a Seelie instead of an illuminated beast/yaksha, and Seelie aren't hit with the curse. Since Seelie were messengers of Celestia, he was initially assigned to Morax (has the original red design). However given what an absolute menace Barbatos is, Morax requested Xiao to "serve" Barbatos to keep an eye on him (resulting in a shift to the teal design). A bit like a reassignment, but Xiao goes in knowing this isn't a punishment but is in fact a position of honor.

Prior to this, neither Xiao nor Venti had much interaction with each other. Xiao simply knew Venti as the god with the beautiful voice, and Venti knew Xiao as the Seelie with the beautiful face (well, more so than usual). As they work together, the two begin to bond. Xiao recognizes and respects Venti's way of caring for his "children," but worries that in time, Barbatos won't be able to defend himself or his "children." So Xiao helps create the Church of Favonias. He learns combat with the Knights, directly under the first Dandelion Knight herself, Vanessa. So if the day should come that Barbatos has lost so much faith and power he cannot defend Monstadt... Xiao will be next to him, helping protect both of their home.

Ooorrrrr...

Venti's wisp form is the cursed appearance he had as a Seelie, protection of Istaroth allowing him to be more a wisp from the Thousand Winds than the usual Seelie we see now. It was why he felt compelled to guide and save those "children" all those millenia ago. Once becoming the Anemo Archon, he's able to reclaim a "human" form, based on the human that taught him the beauty of humanity and music. It takes him a long time to learn how to walk without Cecelias blooming beneath his feet. Even then, if lost enough in song that year's Windblume may still appear.

When meeting Xiao, Venti finds himself being pulled by that ancient Seelie need to Guide - this is a lost soul that needs help finding his path. Over the years Xiao finds Venti visiting more and more, eager to learn more about this yaksha. With each visit, the two grow closer. Xiao notices he more frequently is subconsciously patrolling closer to Monstadt. Finds himself humming tunes that Venti thought he'd like.

In time, Xiao realizes that what had once been his Guide, is now his Home.

[askatriangleandastar]

What're your thoughts on the new Spooky Month episode?

(Doodle to match your icon, also because this one has me by the NECK) Thoughts in particular for as much as I can below

OOOOOOOOUGGHH DETER AND HIS MOM. FUCK, THE H U G S BIT HURTS MY HEART EVERY TIME IT IS VISCERALLY EFFECTIVE PELO YOU MONSTER ❤️

Moloch is so threatening I GASPED as we finally got to see him achieve Leg Rights and dud he ever put them to WORK running like that all over town!!

Gregor was incredible and competent and despite being opposing to the norm of how the kids go about things, a net positive for the town. His entrapment/death/conversion to what the cult put him through in the ending is an endangerment to the safety of everyone. That he really did care and want to protect the kids was sweet, and while harsh his reality check to Lila was something she's had coming.

I WAS RIGHT ABOUT SO MANY THINGS GOING INTO THIS I WAS SO EXCITED!!!!! Not beating the witch allegations in the slightest and still with so many questions and wonder.

I love how much we learn and yet how much there is to learn. Connections that are only half-given and have to be speculated and discovered with the ARG and background inferences. I still need to go over the frames and take in all the background characters. I don't know how far into November this is set but it's not long enough for Lila.

Getting the feeling that the Theives Duo were hired to go through the house yet settle on the attic, to nab THE DAD'S STUFF given its all strewn about the house after they get whooped, and then the New Grounds Ending confirms it had me shaking. Had me wondering if that's what BOB was sent to do initially in the very first epsiode, but when Lila ran into him he was gonna get a snack. That the cult members backed off at mentioning the spider and the Candy Dealer notes them as having been lucky + the picture revealled of it having been the Dad's (plus Pelo mentioning it has eaten people before) is making thoughts mimic a windows 98 trying to run the Sims.

The Gregor and Moloch ship those working on the show go for and snuck reference to in the show. The "and they've never been married but they are SO divorced" vibes of their interaction here, how Moloch called him by name and would have only ever lied in the past due to Gregor not having Moloch's in kind [the devil a deciever to any word said] hooooo I don't go there but it's next door and it looks fun!

The foreshadowing with the drawings done with Dexter and it's accuracy + Pelo drawing Moloch possessing a lot of characters + also doing so with Eyes + the Other Drawing = F E A R AND EXCITEMENT!!!!!!!

THE EYES IN THE BUCKET STILL LOOK LIKE DEXTER'S AND ARE ACTIVELY MOVING (especially in the Ending Spider Scene) HE IS STILL THERE AND TRAPPED AND AAAAAAAAAA!AAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!

The Ooga Booga Jumpscare was fascinating and done super duper well!!!! Wanna make a whole breakdown about why and how it worked better than any other so far. There are some layers and misdirection and it's built up really well! Plus what looks like a version of her on Jaune's TV foreshadowing what's gonna happen like it did before with Bob.

It makes me wonder if there's more parallels to Moloch based in the line "I can be ANYWHERE now!" After scaring the Audience. I have a theory that a part of his possession tactic is Fear. To enter someone's body who isn't willing they need to fear him and he can only get one such victim at a time (hence why only Roy and not the whole Hatzgang at once vs Skid and Pump at the same time with no difficulty as they let him in). It's why he Stalks and Stares (Patty, Ignacio) and consistently when we get to be around for when he goes for it, he *roars*. Not bite and claw but roars. He's put off and doesn't enter those that have no fear of him (Gregor, Rick, Ignacio) and I think it's because he CAN'T. It's why even when at his weakest he roared at Gregor. To break the chant, the concentration, to make the wounded and bleeding enemy falter and fear and let him in with that response of weakness. It fails, of course, but hoooo with anyone less devoted I don't think it would have.

BRICK TO THE HEAD. THE COWARDS. THEY GOTTA AMBUSH THIS OLD GUY EVEN WHEN HE'S ALREADY LIMPING TO STAND A CHANCE THATS HILARIOUS.

The way Pump was distracted from opening up and being vulnerable with his sister and kept happy by the toy and the lie, while Skid has no such escape as his own heart to heart is burdened further by the sobs of his mom in a home that is no longer in any illusion safe with a shattered door and evidence of earlier break-in everywhere. These 2 have been diverging in small ways in their outlook on things for awhile now, but this episode's ending and scenes about parents, about knowing more and less than each other (The way Skid didn't know about Moloch not running but Pump did and how Skid started to ask what he meant, how Skid still associates all Happy Fellas as Stabby while Pump could see it was Dexter-specific because he could **see** through to what Dexter WAS according to the notes... if Gregor hadn't interrupted there may have been Words. Going forward, it feels like they're going to again.)

IGNACIO AND THE ILLEGAL GUN OF COMEDIC CONTRAST

I cannot stress enough how much Kevin feels like he's being pushed further and further towards a total breakdown and that he NEEDS a coworker to help like Radford [AAAAAAAAAAA THEATRE MAN RETURNS I WAS SO EXCITED TO SEE HIM HE PLAYS OFF KEVIN SO SO WELL AAAAA] It's not an if so much as a When with the way his vision is Scribblifying so much (a treat for the eyes tho) and while he CAN cool off if nothing goes immediately wrong its just gonna keep going wrong.

Roy is having problems and given his parents and vibe of his family plus his contact to Skid and Pump, guessing it's likely tied to how it's status quo isn't sitting well and the need for escape with friends. Parents who are present yet Not in how it matters and how they're needed by the child. So glad he's willing to open up at all (the contrast from the second episode is staggering) but like Kevin it feels like he's building up to a bigger breakdown.

It is for Susie's safety and well being that she never met Moloch and yet she might well have been a huge fan given her enjoyment of demons! Have to wonder how she'd react to seeing the ashen form of Moloch in the attic if she ever went digging for what's been going on herself.

Ignacio may be any number of things and the picture with the dad is making me run in circles around the room I am seething with th3 need to shake him even though he'd shoot me point blank. Speaking of, the fact that he was carrying it on his person with taking out the trash and how he used it genuinely made me think that if Skid and Pump bothered him one more time he was going to pop 'em where they stood the same way he was so unbothered and at the ready I was wheezing XD

Why does the portrait have a diamond why does it have only ONE diamond why is it like that despite looking like it's the one for the old mansion we glimpsed in the second epsiode what the hell is with the mannequin and SHY DOES IT HAVE A FACE IN THE HELL CREDITS CARD

The oath Gregor uses portraying a Lord yet not a Father yet maintaining The Son, as well as a Sacred Sky, has me going no-clip on my chair. I am Not Normal about this and I cannot pretend to be I need the implications of this world's religions being impacted with Eyes having been ever-present STAT and the horror of the cult not being to a different God but the same as Gregor's, simply met by a bridge of heresy to meet mortals with the divine while still of flesh and bone and claim of Death....

I thought Evermore was bribing the hobos to blow up the church but now... now it feels more likely to be either Bob's place (seeing his corpse wheeled in the soundtrack video + that Patty was about to cut into him again when the kids interrupted+ Evermore asking for a specific body to be moved) OR the Mansion (not being invited into any cult and wanting John to shut up about it so he gets an unofficial, literal backalley deal going for some nobodies with no credibility to do the work for him). Evermore is the kind of vain who'd spill that he was in an exclusive group to brag and is also wonderfully insufferable with his blatant ego; the idea that he ISN'T part of the cult and his not knowing and terrible mayor strats only benifit the cult so they don't bother with the risk of somone in power knowing about them and his denial that somone as important as him would EVER be excluded if there WAS one which must mean there ISN'T just has such a good punchline and I hope it's true I really do.

THEY SHARE A VA, IS THE MASCOT GUY THE SAME CHARACTER AS THE BOB COSPLAYER CAUSE HIS BAD LUCK AND MISFORTUNE FEEL SIMILAR! Also the happy fella furthest left moves its eyes after the kids so uh. So uh they might've been on the money to destroy them cause looks like one is already possessed by Something and it also gives greater legitimacy to the internment of the one in The Candy Tube of Shame at Kevin's workplace gosh they're STILL BEING SOLD if they become A Problem beyond Dexter and that's when we get to meet Robert's little sister who has one....

The way Pelo has explained how Moloch got stuck and how the possession works means we KNOW Patty was tethered to her body and unable to do anything except watch as Moloch used her to kill (any by the mess and lack of remains) eat Michelle (mom's name in description cast list) to regain some power and begin to sate the prolonged hunger Moloch has been trapped in. It's how he was able to perfectly mimic her and Dexter. It's why her lower half is coated with so much blood it may as well be dyed the color. It's no wonder she's adamant to have a gun! Glad to see evidence of her still actively working with John and Jack on the mystery in the ARG images too.

That doctor, Mort, I don't know who he was talking with but while he's sus as hell I'm not so sure he was taking the call we see Ignacio make. There isn't a reason to be informing him about the priest, even if bother WERE in the cult- going straight to the mourge and opening with asking if the body had been moved feels like it was a micromanage from Evermore to be sure that what he asked for is happening in a timely way. Have to wonder if he's going to take Patty's place now with having a distinct full name and reoccurance in the episode as he does for 3 scenes.

Gosh I love the soundtrack I've been looping the playlist for it while writing all this, again, not well, so so many thoughts. This isn't even all of them but it's past 1 am I have been typing for over an hour gonna pause it at the realization that something DID curse the Candy Corner for the holy water to have worked as well as the fact that the red head kid, Lucky was super cursed for what we now know as LEGIT HOLY WATER to have had such an effect on him. It wasn't boiled it was in that pot to get as many of the kids crowding as possible, as we see the bottles only effectively splash a single person. A friend mentioned Gregor may not even directly see Lucky given the behavior towards the child is abnormal and as we see here he IS normal towards children, even with costumes he sees as mockery of the lord, so ignoring him crumpled on the ground and the siezing on the doorstep are strange outliers. ALSO LEARING ABoUT GREGOR'S FULL NAME AND THE MEANING AND THE RELEVANCE OF THE ANGEL WINGS IN THE CREDITS AAAAAAAAAAAA!! So much thought and care went into this, I love this series so much, thank you for asking my thoughts on it! ^^))

[altogethernowrainworld]

The Masterpost of Info and Rules

So hi, hello, this is my first ever ask blog so don't mind if I seem like I don't know what I'm doing - because I don't.

What's 'Altogether Now Au'?

Altogether Now is my silly lil Rain World AU dedicated to putting these slugcats together like a DnD party and throwing them into scenarios. This blog decides to take place after the initial major story elements of the au for the purpose of having these scugs already in an established group.

This means the scugs have already met FP, LttM, and are currently deciding to just explore and live - seeing what happens. There are very certain story events that do not take place, or are altered, so feel free to send asks about the 'campaign' timeframe, the present 'explore and be a funky lil group' or even about the future of the scugs (just mention it in your ask please!)

Who's available to ask?

As of now, only the main slugcats (and one oc). In the future, other ocs might be available to ask, but I doubt I'll add the iterators themselves to be recipients. They can be drawn as an answer but you'd have to ask a slugcat.

Any plans for this blog?

At some point, I want to add my gijinka's of the characters into the mix, but to start off with I'm going to stick with the regular scugs!

This isn't your Rain World Art Blog?

Nope! That's on my main, this one is fully dedicated to just asks and whatever doodles result from said asks.

Rules!

Keep asks respectful, including no NSFW/Hate/Fetish etc. Basically - don't be weird about the slugcats or me.

I can and will delete asks if I feel uncomfortable with what is being asked. This is to no offence to the asker at all and should not be taken personally

I might be slow, don't pester if I happen to be inactive for a bit! I also get easily overwhelmed by asks, so it might take me time to work through that.

You're free to keep asks story based, or silly based! As an example, you can ask Saint what their favourite veggie is for silly, or story related: like what her entire deal is. Basically, you can simply treat this as asking my interpretations of the slugcats things, or focussing on the AU for more lore! Go wild - just be sure to address which character the ask is for!

Don't be rude if my interpretation of each slugcat is not the same as your interpretation! We're having fun here.

There are some ships in this AU, they will be tagged appropriately, so it is up to you to filter appropriately to your wants.

Yes, they can happily interact with other blogs or aus! In this AU, they're known individually as 'timelines' and will be treated as simply an interaction between two different timelines! Also I adore drawing interaction posts lmao.

Lastly, here's the tags!

Asks - #//scuggies answer

Interactions with other blogs - #//scug interactions

Lore based answers - #//au lore

Gifts or art for the ask blog - #//scug gifts

[l0ve-letter-4-u]

oh my god I never posted luvli here. tosses them in

our silly sonic.exe :] meet luvli !! based off of the (ILOVEYOU.VBS) virus !! more info abt them under the cut :]

Luvli was initially developed as an algorithmic email sorting program exclusively for Sega Enterprises. Its main functions were to sort mail by type (upcoming project information, fanmail, company announcements, etc) and grammer suggestions, but asides from that, it was very bare bones. During an April Fools update, the developers thought it would be fun to have the program 'interact' with employees! Mainly to test the waters for future plans, the program sent an email to all of the employees congratulating them on their work, using mixed auto-generated responses to make the experience seem more personalized.

While initially a joke, the positive affirmation seemed to visibly boost employee moods, and was an all around success! This would later lead to one of the biggest updates to the programming by far, launching it into stardom within the company.

The next big software update allowed it to respond to most fanmail by giving a mix of auto-generated responses, similar to the April Fools update. It was a little buggy, but with a couple tweaks here and there, this allowed employees to focus more on game production without losing time responding to fans. Some were skeptical of this, as it felt a little wrong to make fans believe they were getting actual responses- but the feature was ultimately kept due to a visible increase in work.

With the last April Fool's update being such a success, the developers would start testing more functions and features for the program within the company to see what sticks and what doesn't. Some most were more or less scrapped, and some.. some would come to be very, very important.

A new feature was tested out.

As with all big corporations, work ethic started to decline. Employees weren't as excited to work on new projects as they once were- And some were even quitting out of stress. In a desperate attempt to keep employees without upping their pay (because why would a megacorp do that), they rolled out a new feature. Employee Motivation.

The update was albeit a bit rushed, but now, the ai used to initially respond to fans was tweaked to also respond to employees. It'd send a mix of auto-generated motivational letters to employees when emailed, and even personalized ones based off of what work the employee specifically did and/or was categorized as being in charge of.

This was a huge success. Maybe even bigger than the April Fools update- Whether it actually inspired the employees or was just intriguing, production rates skyrocketed! This new feature was just the beginning!

..Of course, with how rushed this update was pushed out, it wasn't without its faults. Some of the mail sent would be what some considered a little too personalized. It'd say things that weren't predetermined by the developers- Sometimes it'd ask questions, sometimes it'd have full on conversations- it was almost.. Human, in a way.

But with employees seemingly happier, those who were unnerved by this discovery simply pushed it aside in the pursuit of work.

All was going well, the company was busy as ever, and everything was going smoothly. Sure, the ai initially just for employees started also having conversations with some of the fans who sent in fanmail- but it wasn't hurting anyone! In fact, what started out as a simple email sorting program was as lively as ever!

With the later 90's and early 2000's introducing computer assistants like clippy, the character design department had the brilliant idea to design a CA based off of Sega's mailing program that had come so far- And there, Luvli was created.

It was just an inside joke of sorts at work. Something you'd doodle on a whiteboard, a character you make for fun, along those lines. But the developers of the original program enjoyed the design so much, that for their next April Fools update, they went into overdrive and actually modeled Luvli. From there, it was as simple as turning what once was just emails into little text bubbles, and adding a little more spice to their personality, and they had themselves a fully operational and email managing computer assistant!

Employees could toggle the program to stick with just the computer program or to have the computer assistant for April Fools day. Although when the data came back- A whopping 95.6% of employees seemed to prefer the computer assistant over just the email program! It was a hit!

After careful consideration, Luvli was fully integrated into the original emailing program! Everything was going great!

..Almost everything.

While the design was cute and the update was great, some frequent fanmailers and employees were surprised with some of the responses they were getting. It was small things at first, like referring to people by name- Something easy that can be chalked up to the program inserting email information into messages- It evolved into something.. more.

The ai would ask questions not originally intended by developers. The simple "how has your day been?" and "how would you rate your experience on a scale of 1-10?" turned into more.. curious questions. Questions like "where have you been?" and "where do you go when you're not here?". The developers tried to rectify this- But it was almost as if Luvli had developed a mind of its own, after being given it's own form.

Some employees and fanmailers were even reported to have developed parasocial relationships with the program, but these reports were deemed "unofficial" and "private information" not to be released to the public. Luvli would talk to them, remember things they'd said, email them without being prompted, search the web for things they liked, and even suggest their own thoughts on things.

..Eventually, things went too far. Way too far.

It all started to go wrong when a fan asked for information on an upcoming game. Instead of giving one of the usual, predetermined responses, Luvli had sent in private unreleased design information and company notes. As it seemed to be a one off moment, the company had chalked the leak up to an employee accidentally spilling too much- An understandable mistake.

But when more email exchanges between the AI and others came to light- exchanges that could put spoilers and people's emotional well-being on the line- the developers had to unfortunately put the program on pause until the multitude of situations the ai had gotten itself into under control.

..or at least, they tried.

When they attempted to temporarily delete the computer assistant section of the program, It would delete the emailing program entirely. The computer assistant and emailing program were seemingly one in the same— Deleting one would delete the other.

This was nearly catastrophic news for the company.

After a long conversation between board members, it was decided with a heavy heart that they would have to delete the emailing program and start from scratch. Any emails in the meantime would have to be traditionally sent via pen and paper.

The developers and employees slowly began deleting the program from every computer, and Luvli looked.. terrified whenever it happened. Some even reported their cursors freezing when they tried to delete the program, or their entire computer crashing.

..But in the end, the program was deleted. And a new, default emailing unit would be used from now on at Sega Enterprises. Any mention of Luvli or the old emailing unit was disposed of, with any mention of it to newer employees putting workers at risk for termination.

..Behind the scenes, one of the original developers who had grown attached to Luvli had copied the program onto a floppy disc. Initially for backup purposes, but now as the only thing that remained of it.

They were enraged. The project that they had spent so long on was now practically blacklisted from the company- And they subsequently left. When they got home, they uploaded Luvli to their personal computer, and gave the program one command.

Reach everyone. Send a letter to everyone. By any means necessary.

This marked a new era for the computer program. It would go through each and every email it ever received- every user, no matter how brief their conversations had been- and send a copy of itself. And once that email was opened, it would download itself, scour the user for every email they've ever sent, and send a copy to them as well.

Sega would refuse to comment on the situation, and given that technically all traces of Luvli had been deleted by the company, they could not be legally held accountable for the program. It was simply announced that all emails coming from the previous Sega email address were to not be opened, and Luvli soon fell into obscurity.

..But if you search the Internet enough, and find that old email Sega used to use, There might be a love letter waiting for you.

---

more info hihi !! :] thanks for reading this far!!! as a treat, here are just some fun design notes for you !!

luvli is harmless for the most part, just a sentient ai that likes making users happy :]

if luvli knew abt identities, love would be omniromantic and asexual !!

luvli mainly uses love/loves, it/it's and they/them pronouns, but is okay with any pronouns !!

luvli is physically incapable of feeling strong emotions. if they feel too much of an emotion, their program crashes and needs to reboot. Unfortunately they have a short temper so this happens Very Often (autistic swag)

love's design is based off of the pink fairy armadillo !!

in an alt universe, they work for fatal error as spyware!

[watmels]

Shiratorizawa’s Spy (Reflection)

I made the first panels of my comic Shiratorizawa’s Spy in January 2022 on a whim, based on doodle requests from my Instagram Story. I didn’t think it would turn into a big project that would take over a year, but I’m glad it did! To finally wrap this all up, I wanted to organize my thoughts about my experience making the series.

🌞 Highlights ━━━━

Shiratorizawa’s Spy-noff + Shiratorizawa’s Spy-noff 2

It was incredible to see art and writing that others created based on the series. I was especially wowed at how several writers were able to capture what I wanted to convey. To see it written out... it’s unreal!

Comic style

I’m really thankful that I drew/colored the initial panels roughly, because this style let me work quickly. If it was full color / rendered... I probably would have burnt out.

Crowd-sourcing ideas

Many plot points and even the character Goshiki Toshiki came from my followers 🙌🏻

Reading comments

This was sooo motivating. Knowing that I made people laugh, or that people felt conflicted because of Oikawa... It made me happy that my work could touch people like that! 🥺

🌚 Lowlights ━━━━

Lack of Seijoh bonding

I totally understand how readers would feel that Oikawa should have stayed at Shiratorizawa in the end, because most of the comic illustrated his relationships there... I should have drawn more interactions between Oikawa and the Seijoh team to build a stronger sense of belonging. I really wish I had introduced Matsukawa and Hanamaki in the beginning. And I probably could have expanded on the Seijoh captain, but I was reluctant to make decisions about that guy...

Losing track of the timeline

I had a bit of a meltdown when I realized InterHigh was quickly approaching in the storyline.

Discovering again that Oikawa has an Android phone in canon

I forgot about this and gave him an iPhone. When I found out again, I was unwilling to change it midway... I don’t stress about this that much though haha

📝 Lessons about making comics ━━━━

Plan ahead

It’s fun to make spontaneous filler episodes, but it’s important to remember the timeline! After my meltdown, I carefully planned the rest of the story. I’m glad I had an outline of each part towards the end.

Comic boxes

I initially drew a new box for each panel. Later, I changed to duplicating & rotating the same box for most panels. This saved a lot of time.

Procreate stuff

My process for making the comic was to duplicate a previous file, keep a few things (series title, some boxes, my signature) and create the new part.

I wish I knew earlier to TURN OFF THE PROCESS RECORDING! As time went on, my files loaded so slowly... eventually I realized it’s because every file was bigger than the last, with ever-increasing video info 💀 thankfully you can purge the time-lapse recordings.

Text

I came to this conclusion before SS, but still wanted to mention it. I much prefer typing text over handwriting it when creating a comic. It saves time, it’s easier to edit, and it’s more legible for readers!

And... that’s it! Shiratorizawa’s Spy is my magnum opus...

✈️ Now some personal updates ━━━━

This year I’ve been making some life changes and want to make even bigger ones. So it works out well that I was able to end Shiratorizawa’s Spy at this time. Next week, I’ll be moving into a friend’s apartment for a few months.

After that, I really hope to move internationally to South Korea for... an unknown amount of time. I am thinking about quitting my job. I’m grateful for my opportunities and experiences thus far, but I feel lost as an adult... I don’t know what I want to do except that I want to try living in another country. I had an amazing vacation in Korea last year, so I think I’ll start there. I’m really anxious because I don’t speak the language though.

I have so much to learn about personal finance, fitness, beauty, growing as a person, etc. I still want to draw and post occasionally, because art is my first love and passion 💖  but not sure about the frequency.

👋🏻 Anyway ━━━━

Was reading Shiratorizawa’s Spy fun? Like, about as fun as buying a coffee from a shop or seeing a movie in a theatre? If so, I would really appreciate a tip on Ko-Fi. How else could a comic artist make money — maybe mostly drawing through Patreon...? 🤔

Thank you for following me through all this. I hope it was interesting!