#But!!!! Right now I just wanted to sketch my mental image!!!!

[doodledrawsthings]

you. Oh my god, you. (Positive)

listen. Before I had internet access, all I had was 1 hour of allotted browser time, bing image search, and a single dantdm play through of a hat in time that never got finished. I googled fanart and got pretty much nothing, I googled fancomics and got pretty much nothing, but you know what I did end up finding?

your art.

from ages 11-14, my goal in life, in art, was your art. I can’t tell you how much I loved finding random screenshots of your posts, because I was always just so impressed by how clean and consistent your sketches are, how the characters always stay on model, the shape language, how you could somehow sketch a character in like 20 lines when it took me 50 to draw sans in my little spiral notebook— like! Holy shit! For years I have looked up to your art! There’s still a photos folder on my dads old huge-ass 12 inch work iPad labeled “holy crap” and filled with your art. Because it inspired me so much. It’s become an undeniable part of my artstyle, now — I still have fanart I drew way back in the day of Hattie and the rest, I didn’t even know anyone’s names because I couldn’t play the game, but you’re the reason I eventually did play the game. Your coffee shop au and different versions of the prince— one of those ieterations inspired the main character of my novel! Well, novel that I tried to write, I was 13 so it was eh, but I tried!!

I’m submitting this on-anon because I don’t want to out my age on the wide internet (I like my privacy) but. Your art has really meant a lot to me. It’s the reason I played hollow knight, and it’s the reason I kept trying to develop an art style I was happy with. You’re the reason I started scribbling comics in my notebooks. Being 13-14 was pretty much the worst two years of my life, but I had Bing image search and the occasional glimpse of your signature, and I’d be so happy every time I found a new (if crusty) three-times screenshotted jpg. You literally introduced me to the concept of polyamory and nonbinary-ness with the coffee shop au. I had no other access to that in my household, and. Yeah. It meant a lot to me.

Anyway. I’m so glad I’ve finally tracked you down (in the most non-ominous way possible) and I’m so glad you’re still active— Please never stop making art. Your art is incredible, and amazing, and also you never know who’s out there on Bing image search. Thank you for creating for as long as you have. You’re pretty much the reason I’m shooting for an art degree (Wish me luck!) so just…Thank you.

(Also I had no idea you were a professional storyboarder, which is insane because that’s what I want to be when I’m through college. Hey, maybe I’ll end up storyboarding a remake of something you’ve storyboarded! hehehe)

Hi anon!

So right off the bat, I gotta tell you that this message made me start bawling when I woke up and saw it. Like I had a full-on cry session while reading your message and lying in bed for almost an hour. I am crying as I am typing this response, on my phone, still in bed. It’s 11am and i woke up at 9. So I hope it turns out coherent.

The last two years have been. weird. I say that a lot because I wanna say “rough” but that still doesn’t feel quite right. I’m almost hyper-aware that there are so many people that have it worse than me rn, so it feels hard to even acknowledge when I’m going through anything, myself, sometimes- REGARDLESS, it’s been kind of an all-time low for my mental health. There was a point within in the last year where I just HATED drawing. I struggled to bring myself to work, I struggled to bring myself to even draw for fun. It felt like I was posting just to post, trying to keep people aware of my existence and it almost felt physically painful to force myself to sit down and do it, sometimes.

I’m getting better now, I think, but. Yknow.

It’s so easy to get caught up in the “oh I can make money off this,” “oh I can get attention off this,” “oh I can prove myself a functional person in society with this,” of it all. I forget why I actually do this, sometimes, or if I even enjoy it. And then I get messages like yours, about the kid with limited internet access looking for A Hat in Time fan art on Bing image search, and I get taken back to when I was a kid scrolling Google images and deviantart for the same thing.

I don’t mean to like. Foster some kind of parasocial thing with you or any one of my followers. There’s a reason I’m saying all this, I hope it ties up in the end.

We don’t know each other. I’m not some mysterious legendary artist, or whatever. I’m a person who gets burnt out, and jealous, and insecure. I need inspiration to function, just like you, and when I don’t have it, I get art block. But I also really like to draw fictional characters kissing and hanging out. I like coming up with comics and stories and playing out dramatic and funny scenarios in my head like I’m mashing Barbies together. And when other people tell me they enjoy the stuff I put out when I do this, it makes me really, really, really happy.

I think I needed to read your message, probably. With the state of… Everything… Right now, especially recently, I feel like a lot of artists are also struggling with a sense of purpose, pride, and reason as the world makes it harder and harder to even BE an artist, these days. And when I read this message it was like Anton Ego at the end of Ratatouille, I got taken back to when I was a kid looking at my favorite artists and studying their style and striving to be better and better at it over years of my life. Not just because I wanted a job for it or cuz I wanted to be a famous Disney animator or whatever, but because it was fun and I just liked doing it.

Thank you, SO much. I say this in the most genuine and earnest way I possibly can possibly express. I wish you luck on your own path in art and art school. And if you decide that animation industry is your thing, then I wish you the best in that endeavor, as well. I think I will keep making art for a long time.

Peace and love on the planet earth ✌️✌️✌️

[therantingsage]

Very very intrigued by @protectorcraft's fic, a bell chimes somewhere. I never turn down an opportunity to draw a creature-beast, so I tried to figure out monster Siffrin! Probably got a lot of details wrong, but as of right now Siffrin's exact bodyplan is decently ambiguous. I leaned into the dragon part cuz that's my area of expertise.

[the-100-days-of-junkan]

THE 100 DAYS OF JUNKAN

Hello everybody! I’m Carbonated-Jem! 

I sincerely hope you’re having a good day as this post finds you.

You’re probably wondering what this is. Well this my good compatriot is the result of a very ill advised task I put upon myself at the beginning of this year. There’ll be a TL;DR at the bottom for those who don’t want my full ramblings (sorry about that btw, not very good at this), but I do appreciate anyone who’ll give a silly person like me the time of day.

You see, I am a fan of Danganronpa, and as a result I like to read a lot of gay fanfic (and if I’m feeling daring I’ll even look at fan art, shocking). This series for all its ups and downs is quite important to me and becoming who I am today. Tokomaru especially helped me through a period of a lot of stress and depression, among other things. 

But as you can tell by the name this isn’t a Blog Dedicated to Tokomaru, it’s a blog dedicated to Junkan. Which might be very surprising to anyone who I haven’t divulged this info to personally. 

I try to make it a habit to not delve too deep into fandoms for the sake of my mental health, I look up fanart, read some appreciation posts on tumblr, read fics, and depending on the series make art for others to enjoy. However one thing I tend to become vaguely aware of regardless of whether I want to or not is what ships are and are not controversial. So I am very aware of the fact that saying I ship Junko and Mikan is bare minimum getting some weird looks from a lot of the people reading this.

Before I give a reason why I’m doing this let me just make clear what this is in the first place.

This is the 100 Days of Junkan, a project I undertook (Kind of as a joke) at the beginning of the year. I have made 100 Pieces to post across the next 100 Days. Some are finished art, some are sketches, some are sketches I added color to later, some are multiple images grouped into one day, comics, and far more. I’ve learned a lot through this project artistically, and some of the surprises I have in store will hopefully be worth the effort. I don’t know 100% for sure what day this post will be on, however the event itself will begin October 1st, and if I did the math right will continue all the way till January 9th. 

Why would I put this much time and energy into this ship, knowing that there are a lot of people who downright hate it? Simple, I just like the ship a lot, and wanted to make more art for it.

And I should further note, there are plenty of fans of this ship as well, however they may be disappointed to hear that unless you’re very much like me, you probably won’t enjoy what I’ve made with these two. In canon (much to my chagrin, because I’m not partial to the direction it took in DR3) this is a very abusive relationship. This is not really my thing, anyone who has seen the ship art I’ve done on my main page will know that I much prefer to draw soft, fluffy shipping art. I try to make art which will leave a positive vibe on people for the most part.

That said I understand why there are people who like this ship for how it is represented in canon. Shipping Junkan has taught me to stop being judgy of people for what they ship (I used to really hate Togami x Toko for example, and while it’s still not my thing I can totally understand why people are into it now). Everyone has their own reasons for shipping something, whether it’s an interesting dynamic, they just like seeing the characters kiss, as a coping mechanism, and plenty of other reasons. I have my boundaries of course, but at this point I try to be open minded towards peoples proclivities.

So if I’m not drawing a Canon Compliant Depiction of this ship, what am I actually doing here?

Well I’ve decided that I’m going to draw niche art for an already very niche ship. I like Junkan on the softer side, where regardless of where it's supposed to be in canon or an AU they just actually love eachother, I've seen and have been inspired by a decent amount of Fanfics depicting this exact thing. It's the dynamic that I find the most interesting personally, as I like the directions you can take it with the characters.

So that’s the deal, for 100 Days starting from October 1st you can expect this blog to post a constant flow of soft Junko x Mikan art. If that’s your thing, I sincerely hope you like all this! It’s been my number one goal to give some art to the people who share a similar desire for softer depictions of this Ship, along with all the people who have already made amazing pieces of writing and artwork depicting the same. If this isn’t your thing, I hope you’ll at least stick around to give it a chance, and if I can’t sell you on it like I have with some of my friends, I hope you can at least walk away from this with a shrug.

Apologizing in advance to all those who peruse the Mikan and Junko tag, because this is gonna be flooding those for awhile I imagine. I fully understand if you wanna block me for this, hope you have a lovely day after that! 

Now dear viewer, please watch this long road unwind and behold such sights as: Me slowly memorizing these two to the point that I can draw them almost entirely without reference at this point, inconsistent colors schemes,  inconsistent heights, so much goddamn blushing, AU’s galore, and the unspeakable things I learned how to do for this project! (And by unspeakable I mean I don’t wanna spoil the surprise!) 

Oh! And as an extra bonus to all this, go check out my AO3 account. I have a singular Junkan Fic on there right now, however as a little bonus for this event (and sure, thematic for Halloween) I’m going to be posting a Vampire AU Junkan Fic periodically throughout October. Partially inspired by the fact that Day 30 depicts a scene I came up with way before the actual fic, and I really want to have it written out and available to read before that post comes out.

The other reason is that if I say i’m going to post it here, that means I am required to actually do it by the law of my brain. Which will likely outweigh my complete lack of self confidence in my ability to write anything making me too paranoid to actually let it go public~

Here’s the link!

And if you stumbled upon this post through the Junkan Tag and not my main account, here’s a link to it!

You’ll find plenty of other Danganronpa Art, including Junko and Mikan on their own. I do other stuff but I imagine that’d be the most immediately interesting, but hey you never know. So hopefully if this blog doesn’t provide anything you’d be into, my normal works will catch your attention! 

I’ve also opened an Ask Box for this blog, why? I dunno. I’ll be real it just seemed like the thing to do. But feel free to ask questions and I'll try to respond best I can!

And finally here is the TL,DR for those who didn't wanna read through my mind numbing rambling.

I like Danganronpa, I like drawing Soft Junkan art for a lot of reasons. I’m posting 100 Pieces for 100 Days of this ship, and hopefully ya’ll will enjoy it. If not, that’s okay! I hope you have a great day! 

Reblogs Appreciated!~ Stay hydrated Everyone!~

[potol0ver]

Could I request some hcs of Erik with a self-conscious s/o, something with lots of fluff, tysm x

Definitely dear <3, this is a very good ask to have right now given I’m in a angsty but fluffy mood rn so thank you.

Tags; GN reader, only mention of body is very vague (not gendered or specific about their body), soft Erik, angst, fluff

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the beginning, he wouldn't have ever thought you'd have a self-image problem. You looked so perfect, so heaven sent to his eyes that he couldn't even entertain the thought you didn't like hwibyoy looked.

So when you did finally let it spill, even if it was the smallest remark about yourself, he would freeze and act like you just insulted a God he was devoted to.

Because in the end you practically did-

“How could you even say that?” he'd ask, more accusatory than he meant to have in his voice. It was just so blasphemous to him- it insulted him-

but he could never be mad at you, frustrated? Definitely, mad? Never.

Once you tell him everything you find wrong with your body, he'd take mental notes because he'd be worshipping those spots on your body more then others.

He’d fill your ears with poetic praise, “My angel you're so stunning, if I didn't know better that you were made of flesh and blood I’d think you were a Greek Statue that walked off its podium.”

For the rest of the day prepare yourself for him to worship head to toe. Hell make sure to have you thinking better if yourself by the time you go to bed.

It would become a nightly routine of sorts, he'd always find some poetic or romantic way to show how much your body was perfect.

Did you think the worship would stop at physical touch and words? Oh no no- he’d be buying the best clothing for you, making you look like you are with more than everything in the opera house combined.

He’d also be sketching you every time he had free time, admittedly, he's nervous to shoe you anything he's done because he doesn't think anyone could draw you with all of your perfection.

And in the end, he was mainly devastated because he knew what it was like to hate your own body. He’d never want you to go through that. So if he had to worship you without stop for the rest of his days so you'd live your body as much as he did, he'd so it in a heart beat.

[kucherkozmokoza]

★ Dr. Brain | sketch reference

• Sketch reference, with the image of my original character Dr. Brain. Here for the first time in a long time I updated his appearance and his whole as a whole. I want to tell you a little about him:

– His initial image was a floating head in a kind of mechanized spacesuit. He was created inspired by the image of Doctor Fetus from MeatBoy Forever

– His exact age is unknown, but as an author I can say with confidence that he is definitely over 80 years old

– Theo considers Brain his mentor and educator, Aaron himself perceives him more as an pet, a funny toy that can be pushed around. This is his experiment and he is interested in what Theo will turn into under his command. No feelings, except for scientific interest

– And although Brain seems hyperactive, lively, energetic and constantly moving sharply, inside he is absolutely cold and soulless. Although his behavior, playfulness and optimism border on outright madness, he is completely devoid of compassion, a feeling of sympathy for anyone and even more so he is never worried about remorse. Nobody knows why and how he became what he is now

– He is an outright psychopath and sadist, sincerely enjoying the pain of others. He is far from mentally stable. He just likes to do something immoral, because it is so interesting – how far he can go in his actions. A real scientist, completely devoid of any concepts of the boundaries of decency, law or ethics. His social experiment is complete chaos and lawlessness. He can do anything as long as it is not punishable. And he is interested in what his actions will ultimately lead to. Many will consider him a psychopath, but he believes that he is absolutely healthy, only INSANELY curious. He is interested in what methods and how many he can kill or simply maim. He has unlimited power, because he can do anything and eventually find out where it will lead him

– This is what you get if you try to mix an intelligent and gallant gentleman with a mentally unstable maniac and season it all with science fiction. He is like a dreadful cocktail, just as unpredictable and random. You do not know what he can do and this is the worst thing. He can spare you, only so that you fall into another of his traps. Or he can immediately, without any problems, completely deprive you of all limbs. Or maybe he wants to have fun and dance with you? Who knows? That's right, no one! Not even himself. His actions may seem random and feigned, but this is not so. He has excellent control over his body, is incredibly evasive, fast and cunning. The effect of surprise, ladies and gentlemen!

– It's no secret that he, like Abigail, has undergone genetic modifications to his body. Now he seems to be, if not immortal, then certainly hardly aging. His body exceeds the capabilities of ordinary morphs. He is also a specialist in the field of bioprosthetics and cybernetic implants, but that's just by the way. All the prosthetics used by the heads of the workshops in "Genesis" are his merit

[maxdibert]

I hate that the face of Severus is Alan Rickman. Like Alan's vibe and face doesn't give me Severus at all. Why was he even casted? The main reason I want the reboot to happen is so I could see a more realistic Snape cast and Alan's potrayal could be cast aside in people's perception of Snape. Some of the art you reblogged fits him well but when it comes to real life look alikes - I have never seen one.

I don’t have a problem with Rickman because, honestly, aside from maybe Evanna Lynch and Maggie Smith, none of the cast really matched the image I had of the characters when I started reading the books. Especially the generation of Severus, where they cast actors who were 20 years older than the characters, and that has always been my biggest issue with this. But it’s something I’ve gotten used to as part of the lore of the movies, which for me exist in a separate world from the books. They differ in so many ways, and most of the characters’ personalities were adapted and differ significantly from the books as well.

I don’t know, Rickman was an amazing actor, and I’ve always respected him a lot, just like I respect Oldman and Thewlis. I suppose they were chosen because they’re iconic British actors. Practically 90% of the adult characters were played by great actors and actresses. I never complain about those things because I like seeing talented professionals bring characters I care about to life, even if they don’t match my mental image of them. For example, I love Gary Oldman, but he was never Sirius Black to me—not even when he was younger did he remotely resemble him (though he was a great Sid Vicious, on the other hand, lol). I feel the same way about Isaacs’ Lucius, who isn’t the Lucius in my head. And I adore Jason Isaacs—I think no one will ever top his Captain Hook because that role was absolutely perfect for him. Or McCrory’s Narcissa. McCrory is an actress who has played some of my favorite badass older women in recent years. But I just don’t see them as those characters. But that’s fine, I guess. Studios want to add prestige to their films, and they do that by casting well-known actors in big productions.

From what I understand, it was Rowling herself who chose Rickman. It’s not like Rickman resembles the designs she’s shown of Snape in the sketches she made while writing Philosopher’s Stone, for example, or the descriptions in the books, but maybe the idea just worked for her. I know they also considered Tim Roth, but he turned it down. Honestly, Tim Roth wouldn’t have made much sense to me either (even though he was 15 years younger than Rickman), so I guess the producers had their own ideas.

For me personally, the biggest issue I’ve had with Rickman’s Snape, and the rest of his generation’s characters, is the age. All of them were played by actors 15–20 years older than the characters, who canonically never even made it to 40. Like, literally, when the series starts, they’re younger than Taylor Swift. In Order of the Phoenix, they’re the same age Taylor Swift is now, lol. Literally, in Chamber of Secrets, Severus is the same age Miley Cyrus is now—it blows my mind, xD.

But aside from that, I have a lot of love for Rickman because I grew up with him, and I’ve always thought he was an incredible actor. So I don’t mind that he doesn’t match the Snape I imagine—not even remotely. None of the actors really do. The one who has come closest to my mental image is Adrien Brody in The Pianist, and even then, he’s not quite right. But, well, everyone has their own vision of these things.

[jojo-schmo]

I really like your artstyle. Especially whenever you draw Dedede. It inspired me to make this:

It's artwork I made nearly two years ago. The left is remade artwork.

How do you stay consistent with your style?

- Jocket

Oh wow!! That's a true honor to hear, thank you for telling me this! Both drawings are so lovely!! But I love how dynamic and in motion everyone's poses are in your new one, and the expressions and colors are so fun!! :D Keep drawing, it's looking great! <3

And that's very kind of you to say that about my artstyle! It's funny you say that, I've been feeling a slight struggle with my consistency these days. (But that's also probably my own perception :P )

I think... whenever I struggle with consistency, I aim for confidence. Confidence in my sketches and the lines I draw. Reminding myself that while the art might not look exactly like the image in my head, I'm doing this to the very best of my ability.

Even when I feel like I'm not drawing something "technically correct." Like backgrounds or perspectives or something I haven't drawn before. I try to remind myself, "This is the very best I can do right now, and it's better than having drawn nothing at all! Because this didn't exist before I put pencil to paper, or stylus to screen. And that's pretty magical!"

Also just studying new things to draw and plenty of practice, I suppose! Practice makes progress! I mean, I didn't draw Dedede AT ALL until I was like 24! And I've been drawing Kirby characters since like, age 11! I just learned to get over my own mental blocks that I created over time. Before, I thought that if I couldn't draw a character "well," I shouldn't even try at all. And that reluctance to leave my comfort zone when I was younger caused me to miss out on a lot of growth in my technical art skills! So I try to remember that mindset more these days.

And hey, maybe consistency isn't the ultimate end goal for everyone's art styles. I mean, art styles are allowed to evolve as much as an artist wants them to! I think I'm personally happier with my progress in my confidence than my progress in consistency. But I'll keep working on both.

I hope that all makes sense :) Keep up the wonderful work!! Your art is something only you can make! And I think that's beautiful!

[eltanin0]

I just found this blog and I noticed that a lot of your stuff seems, well, oddly 3D. I don't mean like in a bad way but it feels like rendered but untextured 3D models? I kinda want to ask what your art process is (sorry for mini-rant)

thanks for checking out my blog! and no need to apologize for anything.

hmm, my art process. honestly i have no idea what to say, i dont know how people normally answer this question so i cant base it off anything either. i'm still kinda new to this whole art thing but i'll try and answer, super sorry if i get this completely wrong and this was all a waste of time.

i guess i'll just talk about how i draw things step by step? for the high effort pieces at least.

ok, so for starters like step 0. when it's a high effort piece, i can already see the image in my mind. i see the pose, i see the general lighting, the layout of stuff, but it's a bit blurry. if i cant see this mental image, the drawing usually comes out extremely poorly.

this is kind of an example of what i see in my head? this might be all useless info idk, but this is i guess where i start.

well step 1 is just the sketch and line. i start with just sketching the general shapes, then slowly refining it until it fits close enough to the image in my head. then in the line layer i'll fix any mistakes the sketch had and add more details to it. oh and for brush, it's just a round brush, like default. i dont know how much of a difference using a drawing tablet does, but i dont use one so... yeah.

i should've put more effort into the sketch for this drawing, but i did not.

next i do flat colors. pretty simple, i just select the smart select the outside of the line layer, invert the selection and now i can't paint outside the lines. i dont really think about what colors i use, i just use whatever the characters normal colors are.

next i do the shading, but first. i duplicate flat layer and recolor it to like a cream color

like so. for high effort pieces, i was told online to shade in pretty much black and white. now actually onto shading. there's 2 kinda shading i do, 1 from the proper light source, and 1 that's kinda just a shadow because things are close together (like corners and stuff). and i'll shade them on separate layers so i can adjust them individually however i want. oh right, i'll either use a very dark color, pretty much black and the the layer blending mode set to multiply. or i'll use a light kind of gray, tinted slightly yellow or something and set the layer blend mode to difference. then i just use a soft air brush and shade in the ways i described above. shading from regular light source, and the corner stuff thing.

normal lightsource - - - - - corner thing

then toggle both layers on and mess with the opacity of each layer until you get what you want.

then you can toggle the normal flats layer, the one that has color and it should apply the shading decently. you can mess with the opacity again on the shadows.

next i do lighting. i just grab a very light color, usually pretty close to white and set the layer blend mode to overlay. then i use a soft airbrush and "light" it? idk i just do like the opposite of the normal shadows, lighter the closer it is to the light source

mess around with the opacity as usual. then i do pretty much the same thing if there's another light source. in this case there was a blue light kinda coming from underneath, so i did that.

now from here i would go back to the flats layer, make a copy, and mess around with different layer styles and properties and settings. sometimes just messing around is useful. in this case, i felt it was too bright and colorful, so i decreased the brightness and saturation of it.

i think it helped a little bit but who knows.

now i do some kinda highlights and details. i grabbed the colors that were in the background and used those. it was a weird pale blue. i had 2 layers for this, 1 of them was specifically for his antenna things at the top, and one was just for his "skin". anyway, the antenna layer was normal, just kinda gave it an outline with the random reflective circles you see normally in pictures, no thoughts behind them. the skin tho had the layer blend mode set to soft light, i thought it looked best this way. it was just more random things to imply it was slightly reflective.

together the layers looked like this. i think it makes him look glossier which is what i was aiming for.

next, and it pretty much the end for pebbles, i got someone to look at it and let me know if they think anything was missing. they said it looked a little unsaturated. which it does. so i made a new layer, set the blend mode to saturation, grabbed the airbrush and made it pretty inline with the lighting layer.

that's kinda it. the background i didnt really care about, just drew and colored it. blurred it a bunch and added a bunch of shadows. i did add some like, "overshadows" is what i call it, i just draw some big shadows down the screen as the top layer.

but yeah thats literally everything i did to draw this. i would like to apologize if this was not at all what you wanted to know, i'm certain i've screwed this up bigtime. super sorry for wasting your time. if there's anything i can do to help, please ask. i owe you a proper answer to your question, i'm just really dumb. sorry for rambling. sorry. and sorry if the drawing i used for example didnt showcase what you wanted to know.

also, i really like your art! please keep up the great work!

[deoidesign]

Just wanted to say I absolutely adore your comic! It reminds me of all the comics I would read when I was little (except now they're gay), the style and shading is amazing.

What would you say is your favorite part of creating your comic, and do you have any tips?

Thank you I'm so glad to hear that!

I think my favorite part of making comics is the way it sort of feels like a puzzle. It's super mentally difficult but it's extremely rewarding to figure out plots and work out my best execution of it! I also LOVE editing, it's where things get to really pull together.

As for tips, I'm not sure what you mean! so I'll just share a few tips for a few different ideas...

Saving time

to save time I save every head I've ever drawn in a file so I can reuse the head (I redraw the face) which allows me to skip the sketching stage, since I only need to sketch for heads!

I also make my backgrounds a single very large image so I can reuse parts of it throughout the whole scene, recolor it for different times of day, etc, which saves a TON of time for me. Then, I just add in some spot blacks on top to make it feel cohesive with the character art! (this ALSO has saved me a TON when I've been converting my pages from scroll format to page format, as I have a high quality version of the background to use when I need the panels to be wider!)

But the biggest thing that saves me time is my line confidence.

So, next I'll talk about lineart tips!

most important is to draw from your elbow and your shoulder, instead of your wrist and fingers. this will get you cleaner lines, but will also save your body in the long run! The wrist is extremely fragile, so start learning to draw with more of your arm NOW rather than later.

Next is practicing line confidence! this basically is what gets you to draw the right line the first time, saving you a ton of time! These two tips sort of go hand in hand.

writing tips

First and foremost, you should be having fun! and I'm so serious, if you are working on a scene that feels like a drag to you, it will drag to your readers too. Whatever you feel like that scene HAS to be there for can almost definitely be accomplished in a different way!

but, really, I like to try to keep the big picture in mind. What is this scene accomplishing, what needs to happen to force these character changes, what needs to be revealed, what information about the world is canonized, etc, rather than thinking about your story as "events that have happened and will have to happen"

building off of that, my personal rule for establishing information is 3 times: If you've mentioned something three times, you can expect the audience to remember it. If you've mentioned it once or twice, it's really pretty likely they'll have forgotten by the time it's relevant.

This is getting really pretty long, I could get into character design tips, worldbuilding tips, tips for characters emoting, layout tips, marketing tips, business tips... there are SO many skills that go into making a comic, it's extremely hard to offer tips without knowing what you're looking for!

[bonnyhoddie]

Ocellus - Teenage Exocolonist OC

I need to post more so here’s something I made in February for a game I love a lot - I was a Teenage Exocolonist!

The character is called Ocellus (yes, like the changeling in MLP I could not think of anything else that sounded sciency or eccentric enough, ideas are welcome!) and their augment is chameleon, because I thought it’d be easiest for my mental health and art block to create a character with obvious signs such as that, without going into classic animals, like a cat or mouse. (Also I had a snake as a pet called Misty and I wanted to give a character a reptile tail)

The idea sketches (as you’ll find from the inconsistent outfits and lazier style, and also Ocellus being pink and blue to match the butterfly, when in the reference, it became decided that those colours would be romantic (I might change them actually)) and the reference drawing was actually made either on the same day or a day before I left my toxic environment lol

Also, fun fact, someone accused me of character theft because a bunch of members were planning to make a mod called Extracolonists (NOT Extracolonist by Seraphic on Reddit) so, AFTER I made Ocellus and just had to do some final details, I was like “omg how cool would it be if I joined in on the mod, they have some space left” so I looked through the discord search thing, looking up “chameleon” and I found a character called “Chanterelle”.

So, finding a chameleon augment character already I was like “oh ok so it won’t go in the mod, ah well, I’ll just post this in the art channel and make a little joke about it.”

Important thing to note: These characters looked nothing alike, aside from being POC and having multi-coloured hair. However, Chanterelle was default blue/pink and all I saw was an image, so I imagine a lot of the functionality stuff like the sign language and the tongue being too big in the mouth, is all mine (or, it’s ours now because sadly I did probably give too many ideas to them). Another thing to note is that I was exclusively following Exocolonist eccentric explorer styles, while the image I saw was Chanterelle’s child version just kinda in a blue hoodie.

And, at first I got compliments and, what confirms my thoughts about the functionality being mine, is that I was being COMPLIMENTED for my ideas AND my character. UNTIL, one person, decided to be like “I’m really uncomfortable with this” and, when I asked why, I get “Because it’s character theft! The characters look exactly alike!”

(They don’t, at all, whatsoever, again, aside from being POC and having multi-coloured hair with COMPLETELY different types of hair texture and multi-coloured types (Ocellus has straight thick hair that’s essentially just very tiny chameleon scales, so it’s a little heavy, with colours at the ends, while Chanterelle had afro space buns and split dye), which, is probably telling that those features make characters look “exactly alike” but idk I’m white, I don’t think I get to decide on what’s telling)

So then, the ENTIRE group, even ones that were COMPLIMENTING me, decided to just turn on me LMAO, (fucking pick a lane a stick to it dudes lmao /j) which, from the perspective of “I had just joined a few days ago and they don’t know me and they have established friendships” I get, but, first of all, I was doing a bachelor of ARTS at the time, which I stated on the first day, I’m sure that I wouldn’t be doing that if I was uncreative enough to be a thief, and, whenever I tried to defend myself and prove my innocence, I was not listened to and I had the EXACT SAME PHRASE repeated to me “you know how it looks right?” Over and over and over again no matter how many times I responded to that, it just was not going anywhere, my attempts of defusing the situation just was not working at all, and I was not being listened to. So then the person who “called me out” decided to post in another channel “let’s make another server for the mod because this doesn’t feel like a safe space for me anymore :(“

EXCUSE ME??? YOU accused me of character theft and dismissed my Timelapses, which is the ONLY way of proving that I didn’t steal a character design. I was reasonable and polite the whole time because I wanted to calm things down and clear up a misunderstanding, while you wanted to argue, and accuse me and my friend of being toxic because she has harsh tone sometimes, while YOU YOURSELF were displaying extremely toxic behaviours, the only bad thing I said to her was:

“I’m so sorry, this saying is only ever said in a mean way and I have no other way of saying this, but, I’m not gonna lie, I feel like it has to be said, you aren’t special, not every coincidence you see in a character is theft against you, and I’m literally in Uni for ART and MAKING CHARACTERS, where I am watched and observed when doing character design tasks, I’m not gonna be uncreative and steal a character design. I just checked to see if Ocellus could be in the mod, that’s it”

Because, I’m gonna be honest, the character wasn’t basic, and was fucking adorable, I’m not trying to insult the character, BUT, she had a LOT of popular character design choices when I checked, and not really much to separate her too much from the norm, which is absolutely ok, BUT, that means that that person is going to see a LOT of characters that look similar, and they can’t expect people to NOT have coincidental ideas of things that ARE unique to the character.

So I just sent a really long message about how I’m gonna leave because I TRIED to peacefully and calmly settle the issue, but everyone was willing to just attack me DESPITE complimenting me before, and not listen to me at all despite showing my Timelapses to show my thought process. And then for the person who started this whole thing to suddenly feel “unsafe” despite the fact that I was the one being attacked.

So, one of my friends (me and 3 others joined because we wanted to be a part of a community) stayed in the server, either that one or an 18+ one to see what happens after or for anyone to try and talk to me through her, and one of the mods did contact her, super sweet like:

“Hey I’m so sorry your friend went through that, we had a talk with the others, we don’t think Chari (me) did anything wrong and we’re gonna make a ticket system so things never escalate like this again, so if they want to join back at all, they are free to, again, we’re so sorry, we don’t let these things slide without a reaction.”

Anyway, I haven’t joined back since, because I said that I would if the person who called me out apologised, and, if I DID rejoin, I should get an apology from the people who escalated everything (bit immature I know and I did state that), but the mod kindly explained that she wouldn’t apologise and would just leave if I joined back, so I just decided that, instead of chasing her out of possible safe spaces by just existing, I was just gonna stick to talking about it with my friends and maybe in the future join another server, which I haven’t done yet. Also there was some Vace lovers /j

So yeah, fun story lol, I wonder how they’re getting on and I do hope the project is going well for them.

Might also add some more patterns and details to some parts of Ocellus and make an Ocellus mod, not out of spite at all, I promise, but because I really wanna do something with them and I really wanna make mods.

Also, despite how it seems, I’m not actually mad, I find this haha funny. I was also stressed and annoyed at the time but not exactly angry.

[inkyu]

part 1 post right here :3

(I'll also be giving tiny story synopsis's because I want to yap about my stories U_U)

Also sense all of my main stories are connected to each other in some way I'll be putting a ⭐ next to a sentence that's connected to Backyard Thursday (I consider BT the plaza of my stories)

Green: Backyard Thursday Pink: Roseburnt

((And no, there's no huge story where they all meet and face a bigger bad, I don't like that trope and I think they've suffered enough(Especially Mandela's Requiem and Backyard Thursday... woof)))

Also geez- lots of old art (here's some recent comic art in comparison before you see the old comic art U>U)

I'm only sharing a few because stories like Rose Burnt do not have any comcis made(Rose Burn was written but I'm moving it to a comic format as writing it in a book style isn't fun for me), Shadow Killed had a few but I lost all files for that and need to go searching for W.I.Ps, I have some panels from the Webtoon drafts I made a few years back so I can go get them for SK

As for the rest I'll show what I can! (TOAK.... Has too many re-do's so i'll only share a few U_U)

Collideists

Yeah... Collideists only had 1 panel drawn of it and never again, and this isn't even the comic style I'm doing anymore

But anywho's, in short:

Collideists takes place in a world where humans go extinct after a bright light lands on Tellus(In universe Earth for context)⭐ causing changes to happen. Two immortal races start to appear called Shadow (Not my species) and Light Creatures(My species). Some were too hostile and others not so much, they eventually re-built the half broken Tellus and travers through wherever they take their half broken planet. Years later Aont is a 17-18 year old high school student currently on summer break (he didn't graduate yet) lives in the most protected country of Tellus and has a secret that if revealed could spark a huge revelation. Despite his secret however he's very reckless and get's caught and news spreads about a "human" being alive gaining the attention of many hostile creatures known as CMJ's.

I haven't really completed writing out all of collideists/it's still in development, but I do have an ending planned, basically Fatum fixes the mess her parents caused (I think you can guess who they are) among the creatures and helps planet travel run smoother in stuff, humans are Moreso still extinct but there are still fake humans running amongst the planet safely (humans are still extinct, the only "actual" human would be Fatum but she's half human (heh.... :3))

All of this is to be changed sense I think I wanna add more sci-fy ish stuff and have it so that thousands of years passed causing 4 planets to be colonized, Tellus and 3 others, maybe only 3 planets or just 2. As creatures in this world do not die of old age (they have the mental stability to live forever as they're just figments of light/color/technically walking corpses(tiny spoilers but not really U_U))

Backyard Thursday

1st image is when I solidified act 1 of BT (2024)

2nd image is when I didn't have a script for BT and just winged it (I knew what I wanted but I made the grave mistake of "fuck it we ball")

Also GEEZ, that art style change is INSANE (Unsure if yo see a different but I do)

Also, Nath's design is TBC because I hate her current design, but she does have other designs like this within BT

I really do prefer her Cold/Saxaisis(country within BT) arc outfit :3 (the paper drawing was made a year after U_U)

Never So Norm

This was at the time where I wasn't used to drawing backgrounds or dynamic-ish poses (I'm still not but they're much more easier for me to draw now!)

this isn't *all* of the panels btw, just a few that I really like, also Never So Norm is one of the few old comic arts I did where I fully sketched out of the chapter instead of "sketch, draw, sketch draw"

I really prefer the sketch all and then draw all format because it's much more easier to follow through U_U

Also here are some headshots I really liked that don't appear in the panels I showed

Despite this world canonically being connected to my other story Rose Burnt that has a lot fantasy elements in it, this story does not. It's slice of life, drama, and school life genre story and it might be one of the most controversial stories I've created. I've implemented a lot of personal elements into my life on this story so it's very personal to me and I'm the most shy when talking about this to strangers U_U

Never So Norm's story (without huge spoilers):

Samy is a 17-18 year old (I'm debating on which/when the story should take place before or after he's 18) high school senior. His friends meet the new girl Cheryl and get into some drama with someone they all hate after Ivan and Ty catches Darrel cheating on Sarah with her best friend Jane. Meanwhile Cheryl meets a new friend and the two get super close, although this closeness slowly determinates after Cheryl discovers something about Alex that not only concerns her but get's her into major drama with someone which ties both Cheryl and Samy's drama together.

Also despite this story focusing on the main cast it will also focus on the parents part of the story which IMO is way darker and shows more on Rose Burnt's fantasy side. (spoilers ahead) I.E an unknown eye virus⭐ and other stuff (some of the main cast will get dragged into their parents drama which causes them to mature more(*coughs* Sarah *coughs*))

(And I'm still figure out NSN cuz it's a whole shit show but I also wanted it to have a little twist to it and not be like other high school drama's ) (Also Backyard Thursday's act 1 takes place in NSN's Earth but this is when the main characters are in their 30's making Ajax and Nath the same as the main cast (When the autism kicks in)) (((And what connects Never So Norm to Rose Burnt is that canoncially a few of the main characters are cousins of the other main characters(Samy and Erg being cousins for example and Samy being a fanboy of a pop singer AKA one of MC's of RB's mom))))

Shadow Killed (I lost the files to the actual full W.I.Ps so take the webtoon draft version I have of it(I never posted it cuz I'm gonna re-do it all once I get to SK in my preferred format))

And that's it cause the rest of it is lost forever :skull:

I wish I saved it better because Shadow Killed is one of my favorite stories I've created, not only because it's my first original story, but also because I loved it so much it survived my story purge back in middle school.

I'm trying not to go ahead and start drawing it right now because I want to get better at art for Shadow Killed, it's one of my biggest motivators to get better at drawing because not only do I want to handle SK with care, but also the art.

As much as I also love Two Over A Kind it's a huge mess right now and I'm trying to clean up the world building because I went a bit overboard on the world building and I'm cleaning it up right now, but I still love it do death!

Trust guys I don't have a favorite story (I do and it's SK)

Story Baisis:

4 roommates Ian, Damien, Hannah, and Victoria live their causal daily life, do their job for bills, participate in guild activities, report any suspicious behavior to the royal guards, and live quietly in the small village of Loyalette. However things go wrong during a mission, Saul Shiskui takes away Victoria's ability after a run in with a wanted criminal Jay. Despite Victoria not being worried as she has a second ability that cannot be taken away, Hannah's vengefulness and anger strives her to find a cure in a cursed village rumored to bring back abilities. While doing so, they catch the attention of the whole world.

That last part is actually a spoiler to the ending of Act 1 of Shadow Killed, to give background/context, everyone has an ability, and if they don't they're called inabilities. there are special people however that have a second ability, these peoples are within a group called the 4 7's or the four seven's, four groups with seven people having a very special second ability. the 7DS, 7HV, 7OH, and 7OM (it's too long to type out the full thing so I always shorten it) the 7DS are seen as evil and must be removed (which is untrue), the 7HV are seen as good luck and must be protected, but somehow all of them keep dying and a new 7OH appears (mainly because of assassin's trying to harbor their ability/take it for themselves, and each death is huge but a kidnapping is not normal(teehee... spoilerssss))

I'm guessing you know what happens at the end of Act 1 as I kidna gave it away with some hints, but if not then I think i'd fun to try and figure it out!

Also this may be one of the few stories that isn't connected to BT, i'm trying to connect it to BT somehow in someway because I love all of my stories connecting! (Maybe SK would just be a universe created the procreator and left to not be added into BT bc it's too powerful or something(more BT universe world buidling AUGAUHAGHU :3))

I'm trying not to go off on SK because of how much I love it, but I have a lot planned for it and a lot of love for this story <3

Two Over A Kind (each image is from a different re-make, it's not from the same remake U_U) (Also yes I did in fact base my username off of this OC, although I'm gonna re-design her and re-name her because I don't want people thinking she's a persona when she isn't U_U)

I'm not sure if you can see the art style change but there has been (+ Gaia has been added to the part 1 introduction!)

Also midway through the CONSTANT re-making they went from 12 year olds to 17-18 year olds

In fact a lot has changed about TOAK, from story name, to world building, to genre.... heck even the main VILLAINS changed a lot, I'd have to make a whole post about how much TOAK has changed. But alas I am not U_U

Story Basis:

Inkyu(Name to be changed but I'm using Inkyu for now) and her friends Luu and Gaia meet the new kid in town Kane. They introduce him around town when weird things start to happen. Eventually they're attacked by a crazy homeless looking lady who sends them into a world called the "Mirror Realm". They eventually escape it and they learn about the world outside of their country having magic and different species besides their own. But now their mirrored clones are out to kill them causing Inkyu and many other of her friends to flee to Kane's old town, so that one of Kane's old buddies can help.

Also the mirror realm stuff is a huge clickbait IMO, they're not actually mirrored versions of the others. They're actually just another species within the TOAK universe (before they weren't but the more I thought about it the more it made no sense to even have it in there) But I think I should save my species ramble bambles or else I'll start going off from the main topic.... like I did with the SK one :Skull: :sob:

(Although I will be happy to answer any OC related species or world building because I really love to ramble about them when given the chance... even if it means spoilering the story on accident qWp)

Extra's/No Comic Art/Comic Art already public

Rose Burnt

Rose Burnt is actually a written story I made on wattpad a few years ago my late freshmen/early sophomore year, I was super into Homestuck (I still am but not as obsessed as I was before) and wanted to try and make a horror-genrefied version of it(RB is no longer horror). Needless to say I gave up on it after like 4 chapters and didn't go back to it until I logged back into my wattpad about and went "Oh shit I forgot I wrote this............." and then I started to hyperfixate on Rose Burnt and things went on from there U_U

here are some sentences/writings from RB that I really like because I still have that TwT (I wrote up to 12-13 chapters before I officially decided that "this would be better as a comic instead")

The premise of the story is the same but some stuff has changed. U_U

I think you can tell (if you're into homestuck) that rose burnt is literally just Homestuck, although it's my version of a sburb game as although Rose Burnt has a lot of elements to homestuck, I think it's different because the goal of their own game is to not get a re-ward but to just get creative/make your on goals

Also those screenshots is beta rose burnt, back when the game aspect wasn't a thing and those ghouls(before they were called monsters but I changed it to ghouls as I solidified their species more and they take on a more spooky-ghost like culture)came to August's and the others world for a different reason, that reason has changed now as I solidified Ghoul culture/their backstoris (a bit)

Rose Burnt baisis:

(Also tiny funfact anything similar to tiktok does not exist in any of my stories because of my huge distaste for tiktok(and also because I need to give the Rose Burnt cast a reason to be outside and not doom scroll all the time as honestly that's very sad...))

5 kids enter summer break ending their 8th grade year, August's birthday just so happens to be coming up. But after a few hours into summer break strange things begin to happen after all of her friends enter a grave yard's house and strange people start to message them about how to handle this situation. August after receiving an early birthday gift from a strange user called "majestic_marryier" uses this gift to help save her friends and stop whoever's hurting them. However, something else stalks August which leads her and her friends into something even more dangerous.

I'm gonna be so fr with you when making the newer beginning to Rose Burnt I wanted to do it in a way that was interesting. Personally I find the starting to Homestuck boring (I think a lot of people do to) and sense Rose Burnt is basically my Homestuck I wanted to write it in a way that I liked, don't get me wrong I freaking LOVE Homestuck, and parts of it's beginnigns, but Rose Burnt isn't really Homestuck in it's own weird way. I don't care if people call it a HS clone or whatever, I just want to write it in a way that makes me happy!

(And I might tag it as "sburb" on MSPFA sense well- the game their playing is SORT OF like sburb but not really-, I'll see when I get to Rose Burnt's story U_U)

Mandela's Requiem

I don't really need to show any art from MR as it's already public so all I'm gonna do is talk about the story basis XP (I also might change up the beginning of MR a bit as the story itself writing wise was based off of old creepypasta storis of "oh haha MC get's bullied and stuff happens", I will def keep the bullying aspect the same but have it so that Isabela is less-sad about it as I kinda wanna distant MR from creepypasta writings and base it off of my own U_U) (I wanna make it so that Isabela is moreso numb to the bullying)

Isabela Sola get's bullied often at her school for being the "weird kid", her vocal stims put people off and the way she talks about things she likes makes her seem weird. Chester Sawyer doesn't find Isabela's habits weird and tries to befriend her but his two jackass friends Henry and Rob prevent him doing so leading into a fight causing Rob and Chester to get detention. Eventually when school ends Isabela get's into a fight with the schools queen Jacklynn. (context: MR is also connected planet wise to NSN and RB, not gonna explain now but when I say queen I mean she literally is the school queen(IRL earth and this earth are not the same)) All of this negativity and mistreatment of others leads something⭐ deciding to stand up and take out other bullies as well as give the victim and supporter a new "forever home" that doesn't last long.

And I think that's all for my yap session U_U, I hope that at least one of these stories interests you as all of them interest me ^W^. I'm still working on my writing skills and I'm getting better by the day.

I hope I answered your question, if you (or anyone who comes across this...) has any questions on any of my stories don't be scared to ask, if anything be scared of my response because I will go on a 50 page essay on the world building X.X (half joking... but I will non stop yap because I love all of these stories dearly!!! even my AU's!!! (i don't prioritize my AU's much but I still love them U_U))

[metrovaliz]

Hi guys, I've been discharged from a psychiatric hospital.

And then, when I was driving to my native Mukhosransk, I threw up in the car

I am a winner in life

In short, it doesn't really matter, at least it made me feel better.

Well, my wife's tumblr account was blocked today

Ask me where my wife came from at the age of seventeen, and even in such a homophobic country as Russia... Well, we're just friends, but more than friends, and I jokingly proposed to her... So yes, we are married.

I don't know why her account was blocked at all, she didn't post anything like that, we also wanted to make a collage as if she (I) was an invader zim girl and she was a jthm girl, like in the meme

But then I was placed in a psychiatric hospital, and I was not up to cooperation, because once a day we were given phones for 30 minutes in VK, I had a delay so that others would not suspect that I was there, well, I did not have time to queue anything in the timer, and in general, I had to I would like to translate some of my content from Russian into English... In short, I didn't have enough time for all of this.

But now I'm here.

I'm not taking antidepressants right now because I've been drinking them for almost a year, although I haven't completely gotten rid of depression yet, but it's fixable, I guess

And the voice actor Gustav from metal family came to our psychiatric hospital, the one who shouted "Sebastian, where's the sharpener?!?" No, damn it, the sharpener, where is Sebastian, ahaha

Well, he brought a guitar, he played it and sang songs. They gave me a trinket for "the song of the king and the fool," and one kid from a mental hospital tried to take it away from me because they were jealous and I was supposedly not a real fan, but I hid it in my room, and now I took it home.

Well, at the end of the performance, this voice actor hugged us, and I asked if he understood the Goth subculture. Goth is a musical subculture of images, and music plays a big role there, and he replied that, of course, as a Goth it was nice

In fact, everything was not quite smooth in the psychiatric hospital, my drawing was torn... But what can you do

Basically, if it wasn't for the psychiatric hospital, I would have continued to hear voices in my head saying "kill yourself."

So to some extent I love the psychiatric hospital and I am grateful to it

Anyway, now I'm back... I have even more work to do, because in the psychiatric hospital I made a lot of sketches in a notebook, and I have to finish them all.

Life is a pain :_)

Well, okay, I'm not really complaining, I'm fine

[femmmie]

I just don't want to be perceived anymore

Author's note: I'm so sorry about this lmao. This is all FICTION

word count: 691 rating: general read on AO3

The room was brightly lit. Cloudy blue wallpaper, calathea plants on shelves, a cat purring in on a small soft stool.

"I guess it's just really hard, you know? Or, maybe not hard... It's weird. Off."

"Please, elaborate?"

The therapist's smile was kind, and Anthony felt at ease with her. He sat on the couch as she sat behind her desk, not facing him directly. It made him feel more relaxed.

"You see... I've been 'on camera' for twenty years now. Sure, I've had my ups and downs, different looks, different eras. Still..." Anthony scratched the back of his neck. "It's like every time I see myself on camera now, I can't help but measure it to my best days. So I always lose."

"Why do you compare yourself to past versions? They are never coming back."

"No, and that's the problem. I'm beginning to see my losing battle with time. Little wrinkles, different kind of face shape..."

"Face shape?" The therapist raised her eyebrow.

"I know, I'm being very vain. And I know it's a part of life and it happens to everyone, if they're lucky to live long enough. Except Oprah of course, she's Benjamin Buttonning."

"Anthony. Let's stay on topic. Obviously everyone ages. But you've done more than age. I'm talking about your tattoos."

Anthony looked at his arms. Long brush strokes ran all the way down them, even over his fingers. He turned his hands. One palm was entirely covered in ink. "I really like them."

"Obviously you do. But, do you think you getting them has something to do with your self-image?"

"I just really enjoy getting them set, and I feel like I am expressing a truth from within me, on the outside. So maybe it does."

You said you're comparing yourself. Did you do that before?"

"I did. I've really done it my entire life. I've never felt like I was enough..."

Anthony looked out of the window. It was a sunny day in California, like always.

"How come?"

"You know my life's story by now, you know why. I can't help it, and I really am trying to work through it, but I don't want to broadcast an embarrassing set of displays of mental breakdown like I did when I first left."

"Left?"

"Smosh."

"Right. Is that all, though?"

"No, of course not."

"Please, Anthony, don't make me pry it out of you." The therapist shot Anthony a look and he laughed.

"Alright. So. I just don't want to be perceived anymore. This last year has been so so good, truly. Buuuut, I've also noticed myself falling into old patterns again. I keep trying to get validation from strangers, it's so addictive. I know better and still I keep doing it.

Anthony sighed.

"And now I have Ian back, it feels... sacred? What we have now, it's so special, truly, right? Like, we've won the lottery, we got our soulmates ending, we did the whole Your Name thing. And making the sketches together has been magical."

He fought back a sob.

"But when we're doing these public appearances, videos, podcasts and all the rest, people I don't know get to butt in on that sacred space. And I don't want them to see, you know? We're finally in such a good place and I don't want it to get contaminated."

The cat jumped from its stool and pushed it's little body against Anthony's tattooed calf. It purred loudly, and left Anthony no other choice than to pet it.

"Have you two done things together that you haven't shared with strangers online?"

Anthony's face lit up. "Yes, and those are the best days. We're in fact planning a short trip to Europe together right now."

"That's good. And do you think this holiday will make you feel differently about all of this?"

"No. In fact, I have made up my mind. I am taking a step back. I will be on screen a little, here and there, but that's it. It's been a long career. And I am ready to retire."

"Fair enough. How does that make you feel?"

"At peace, honestly. At peace."

[badlibbing]

So I read The Screwtape Letters over the weekend...

I enjoyed it a lot, especially the absolute shitlord of a character that is Screwtape himself. I felt a powerful need to draw him and Wormwood, except of course they have no physical descriptions, so I got to design them myself!

(Is this my first time sharing raw sketches here? I think it is.)

DESIGN NOTES:

I wanted to make them look pretty alien overall, since Screwtape emphasizes multiple times the unearthly nature of demons. I started with their heads, giving them humanoid base features and just sort of messing around until I got something I liked. I knew from the beginning that I didn't want them to have hair, but they looked weird without anything on their heads, and stereotypical demon horns didn't fit the image I was going for. I started thinking about their names; specifically the "tape" in Screwtape and the "worm" in Wormwood. The former gave me mental images of something flat, so I went with a sort of flaccid fin structure (I like to imagine it sticks up straight when he's emotional). The latter, naturally, evoked images of tendrils, so that practically designed itself.

You're probably wondering about those legs now. I originally intended to make them bipedal, but then I remembered an interesting detail in the book; Screwtape has a lot of snarky nicknames for humans, and among them are a couple that specifically mention their number of legs. He calls human beings "two-legged animals" in one instance, then "hairless bipeds" in another. This implies that demons themselves are not bipedal. When I realized this, I tried to think up a centaur-like body plan, but it didn't look quite right. So I got a little creative and ended up giving them four legs without a typical quadrupedal body. It ended up working nicely with my desire to make them alien-looking.

Finally, let's talk clothes... or lack thereof. I wanted to dress them at first, but in addition to not being able to come up with anything fitting, I asked myself why demons would wear clothes anyway. The obvious human-centric answer would be "to cover up their nads", but remember, folks, these aren't humans. I recalled a part in the book where Screwtape mentions that demons don't understand the feeling of lust despite its use as a vessel of sin. A complete lack of lust within demons implies asexual reproduction (and therefore no sex organs), which makes sense considering the emphasis placed on their unearthly qualities. Of course, this begs the question of why demons in the book refer to one another with male pronouns and titles. That's a simple answer; even if only one gender (or none at all depending on how you look at it) exists within a society, those folks still use pronouns, so my guess is the demons borrowed male ones from human society as a default.

That's all I have to say about my Screwtape and Wormwood designs! If the lore I mentioned sounds interesting, I recommend reading The Screwtape Letters for yourself. Even if you're not religious, or religious and not Christian, it's an entertaining read. It's also quite short, which is how I was able to blast through the whole thing in less than two days.

I'm bad at outros. Goodnight!

[pretty-pink-seaslug]

Right so this is Simon Lovelace! He’s 23 at the time of PostIncident!Crystal (25 by the time Crystal’s 16) He runs a nightclub (been debating with myself lately whether he owns it or is the manager)

(As you can see his concept sketch image contradicts what I've typed out, that's because that sketch was from august of last year lol) ((also if you click on the right pic he's only holding a heart yall CHILL))

As you can guess I’ve been building his personality and lore in my head, but so far;

His personality: He’s suave, eccentric, very confident in himself, and very loving! He likes to sing, dance, and in general have fun, and make sure those around him are having a good time as well. In general, despite what you’d think with him being a years experienced heartbreaker, a very lively person!

Lore: I don’t have too much built up yet but before him getting the job as a heartbreaker, his major events go like this; He used to be in a circus performing as an acrobat with Attilio (Surprise bww oc + canon tie in! He’s Attilio’s cousin!) and he eventually quit either when the circus went down or when he just felt like it -> a distance started growing between him and his mom for an unknown reason -> he meets Madre, they talk and have a auntie and nephew relationship because 💝 -> his mom eventually cuts him off, in turn distancing him a lil from the rest of his family (still thinking this one out) -> he meets Madre once again and gets the job offer, he promptly takes it because yeah (still also thinking this one out like the reason as to why)

this post is already long enough (I just keep yappin and yappin) so tidbits under the cut!

Tidbit time!! My favorite!!

He can drive both a car (Havent decided on what kind of car yet but it's definitely a very nice looking one +..｡*ﾟ+) and a motorcycle! Do not expect to draw EITHER of these lol I can barely draw weapons

Crystal has a sort of puppy love crush on him (ﾉ∀`) ehehehehehe-

Back when Crystal was still 14 and still reeling from The Incident, Simon tried his best to help her heal, even though he knew he didnt have to since like he's only her job trainer, he still wanted to because he has this innate need to help people where he can <33

-> His help came in the form of ego building and self care! He basically taught her to compliment herself more, how to take better care of herself, and indulge in things that make her happy. It worked! (obviously it didnt heal her all the way because that's not how trauma works- it just helped her to be in less mental and emotional pain)

He can SANG my boy got pipes <3 aside from that (or affiliated with idk) I havent fully decided on a voice claim for him, but so far I'm thinking the main vocals on Tears of Love by SUI UZI is pretty nice (SUI UZI GOATED SUI UZI GOATED)

I was originally debating on whether he should be hispanic, italian, or french, and then while thinking about him being italian I got this idea screaming in my head like *slams fist on table* "DUDE ATTILIO!!!1!!!1!11" So now he's italian! Hooray!

Still thinking about a final design for him graghhgggh

I got his surname from Garcia Lovelace off Black Lagoon (was on a huge Black Lagoon kick when first thinking up his name)

[motionjames]

Wake up girlies, it's time to return to the frontline!

Guess who has insomniaaaa! 🤗💕💕

A month of cramps, nausea, increasingly worse insomnia (but a strangely good mood) has lead me down the path once again. I caught wind of some strange "gfl2" thing and after being struck with nostalgia, I grabbed bluestacks and fell into hell once more. I'd deleted gfl off my phone simply because it took too much space but now that it's on my computer, it's become DANGEROUS...! Github and clip studio up front with logistics running forever in the background. Yes, the ideal working experience.

Anyhow, everyone say hello to Contender.

I've been making more progress in these past two days than I had in the entire two months I spent with my new account because I realized how to (partially) Not Be An Idiot. Turns out there's a thing called "anchored construction" and you can get some pretty nice units (eventually) if you realize it exists! Wow! I got the girly and now I'm working on grabbing Carcano because she is pretty but also insane skillz.

Also, there's a discounted gatcha running right now and that means I can finally get over my mental block and spend tokens... I was surprised at how easy it's been to acquire them, so I've just been shilling em out. My dorm was totally bare until now. I'm sorry, everynyan...

As for actual gameplay, I finally made it past 2-6. It might seem like a simple thing to most but I was yet again, being an idiot. I was under the impression that I HAD to have dupes of the girls to dummy link them when I actually was swimming in dummy cores 🤦🏽‍♂️ What's wrong with me... Well, I jumped over that hurdle, blasted through the emergency missions, and am finishing chapter 3. The first parts arent so bad when you learn how to read! 😃😃😃

First eschalon is good, it's the standard one that everyone seems to use to clear the early game. This second one is a WIP mess that I'm readying for night missions. You see, I'm really hurting for half-decent SMGs and rifles, the second one there is kinda lacking in defense/fire power... I wanna create a decent second eschalon and night mission groupie but I gotta figure out what units to invest in. I hope for Carcano soon. She is cute. Also, feel free to berate me for my bad decisions and suggest decent compositions. I am so lacking in SMGs that dont immediately explode (mpk you are so cute but so stupid). I'm currently looking at friend's compositions to figure out what formations work...

In completely different news and only further proving how dense I am, I only recently learned that Girl of the Bakehouse was related to GFL. I've had my eye on Reverse Collapse for a while now since it's a remake (of a remake?! I didnt play the previous one) of a visual novel I played in 2012 or so. The original vn was made in 2009 in like Kirikiri script and I was a young lad very fixated on all things with girls and guns (Gunslinger Girl was and still is a favorite of mine, I would've read it one summer at my Uncle's out on the front porch). There's an english patch now, but back then it was only in Chinese so I had to use text extracting and image translators, looking up the characters as I went. I got a cup of coco and opened up a patched version last night for old times sake. It's clearly a doujin work with those rough edges but it's so damn confident in its presentation you can't not get swept up in the presentation. The sound work make it very immersive. I highly reccomend reading it if you want a solid, emotional war story. Looking at the sepia soaked sketches, down-to-earth narrative, dense wordbuilding and general war otaku sentimentality... It really predicted a lot of my tastes, huh... 😅

Behold, teh wolfguy...

Back to work. Logistics still running. I can and WILL continue being stupid. The nostalgia is really strong, I'm tempted to draw fanart despite the sour memories of the past. Again, please berate me and tell me of your team compositions. I think my ID is 772030 but I promise you, I won't be any good on teh battlefield 😇 this machine runs off hopes and dreams, not realities!