#Damn can you tell that I'm better on traditional than digital?

[im-not-a-sheep]

Ive been playing the half life games recently and I am completely normal about them

[horsesteak]

“Now thank the good lordy above this absolute belter of a nook is still open in the wee hours of the day!”

The sudden blast of energy the newcomer radiated as his voice joyfully boomed through the tiny, cramped eatery was an immediate overdose for the overworked waitress. It was far too late (or rather, early, according to the man) for this sort of social interaction.

Check out Everything and Nothing by beans (with 6 e's and 6 a's) on AO3! Also check out my co-artist @gearbroth 's (!!!) art on their blog!

For the 2023 TF2 Big Bang! @tf2bigbang

~~~

See below for bonus sketches and infodump!

It's been a while since I did a big art piece like this. It was fun, and it got me experimenting with watercolour pencils for the first time. I'm still learning the craft, and as much as I want my first ever watercolour painting to be perfect, it'll have to do. I'm satisfied with my attempt this time.

Although I do wish I could capture the painting in a higher resolution; phone camera and scanner couldn't cut it, everything is still a bit blurry. Here's the best I can take on my phone:

It's also the original colours, before digital shenanigans were done to it. The work of a sleep deprived art wizard waving his silly little magic wand tool to get everything to look nicer.

The original concept for this mini-comic came to me while I was sitting under a tree, halfheartedly trying to study for my two exams the next day. I quickly sketched this:

I honestly like the lineart of this sketch better than the final. What could be better than demo's sparkley anime eyes?

I was excited I finally came up with an idea after being high and dry for weeks. Basically my mental state:

I was going to have Demo stride in, burst through that door with exuberant energy that filled the Spy's shitty dead-end cafe. And also showcase his traditional Scottish garb, which let me tell you is a whole rabbithole that I eagerly leapt into while researching for cultural accuracy. (I tend rely on real life references alot. Trying to branch out to stylised drawing would be cool.)

What happened next were these little sketches on post-it notes. I draw on them first before committing paper because...it's fun :)

Also in this case, this is a comic, so I could rearrange the drawings how I liked, so this was actually goated.

In the second image, see another case of liking the lineart more than the final. I had half a mind to keep that sketch of Spy and paint over it, but that wasn't watercolour paper, so no... :(

I was surprised how well the sketches turned out. Bloody hell, I'm an artistic genius! Now lets see how that translates to paint, eh? Well, you already know.

Some things to improve on, personally, is to make the lineart cleaner next time, so the paint doesn't mix with the pencil to make this weird greyish colour. Anatomy, always. Clothing folds is another big one. And finally, time management. Man, art is a passion, but damn does having too little time screw my art quality over. Well as they say, scarcity breeds innovation.

If you've made it this far, I am putting a virtual turtle (vurtle) in your hand, because turtles are cool, and you are too.

As a bonus bonus to this info-dump, have the original concept sketch while I was feeling out how to draw Demo in formal Scottish suit and kilt.

THAT IS ALL.

[emeritus-fuckers]

Hello! Hope the match-up event is still going on? I'd like to participate! :D A Papa match would be preferable 👉👈

Sooooo I'm a 20-year old freelance artist, I mostly do traditional and digital paintings, drawings and some animation. Some of my main interests are writing, sewing and fashion history, art history (history overall really) and language learning (I'm multilingual). I love sightseeing/travelling, going to the opera or ballet and talking loooong walks. Aside from that, I'm an amateur cook/pastry chef and have been doing well at that for some years now! :) Despite having some issues with eating myself, one of my favourite pastimes is baking/cooking for my friends and our game nights, it always brings a smile to my face when they enjoy what I've made. My favourite are French, Korean and Italian cuisines so I guess the latter would suit any of the Papas. :P

Oh, I also have two dogs that I love dearly, they're both silly noodle husky/borzoi mixes and they're like five? They like to chill with me when I'm reading. <3

As for my personality, I'm fairly quiet unless spoken to, I can honestly get very talkative discussing most topics. Messes stress me out, I cannot function around them. I'm an extremely anxious person to the point of it causing some serious mental and medical issues, so that's something that sadly has an impact on my everyday life. Sensory overload are a given more often than not (mainly from noise – I can deal with a concert every now and again!), I'm also shit at getting more than 5 hours of sleep a day. I'm a huge perfectionist, that's a flaw that leads me to destroy/discard a large chunk of my works, both verbal and visual. Nothing is ever good enough when it comes to me, my looks or the things I make.

On a more positive note, I used to be very shy around most people but have trained myself out of that and would consider myself fairly charismatic? Hope I'm not tooting my horn too much in this description, damn, YiKeS.

Anywayyyy thank you for all the works you've written for the fandom so far! We love you, byeeee :*

Your match is…Secondo

His hobby is painting, so if you have art to do he’ll paint with you and keep you company.

His favourite piece is a painting he did of you, when you were painting. He hung it up in his office to cheer himself up when he’s got loads of work to do.

He will buy the best seats for the ballet and go with you. He’ll lean across to you, and with a straight face, say his dancing is better. You struggle not to laugh out loud just as the music reaches a quiet part. You see him smile to himself, and he gives your hand a squeeze.

He loves your cooking, especially the Italian dishes you do. He can also cook and date night is sometimes spent in the kitchen cooking together.

He takes it seriously wanting to make the food perfect. But as soon as he gets a moment he’ll walk up behind you and kiss your neck. He’ll pull you close to him and whisper his plans for after the meal in your ear.

That once backfired when you both got far too distracted.

He completely falls in love with your dogs. His favourite thing now is curling up with you all and reading. Sometimes he won’t even read he’ll just sit there and enjoy your company.

He is very tidy so mess isn’t an issue. Even so he has assigned a Ghoul to be on hand to tidy up incase any mess developed. Between him and the Ghouls the place is kept immaculate.

He’ll pay for all your travels and come with you when he can.

He’ll often take you away for a week, any excuse he can find. You will travel all over and sight see as much as possible.

He plans out what sights you will see, and research’s them so he can tell you about them.

Or he’ll hire your own private guide for the day.

~

This post is a part of Match-up Event. The Event ends on July 15th.

Written by Nyx

[transmansplainer]

Yeah, so, PhD in English Literature chiming in here.

I wrote my dissertation on Victorian literature and the birth of science fiction. I have a pedigree, credentials, 24 conferences, and over 20 classes taught under my belt.

So when I tell you that fanfic is real art and absolutely fucking based, I know exactly what the fuck I am talking about.

First, fanfic is old... like, stupid old. We can talk about derivative literature, or get into all the stories which are just reframing mythological narratives. We could talk about how Frankenstein is Paradise Lost but better, or how much "art" is derived from popular narrative. But pretty much as long as we've been telling stories, we've been listening to them and thinking, "huh... I wonder what would happen if...?" And boom! Fanworks.

Second, if you wanna be a real asshole, we could get into what "art" is and how it isn't real at all but is rather a concept that we share among us like a kind of collective fever dream, and that it is, therefore, a constantly moving signifier for which there is no signified... but I would also like to keep this thing short so I'll just say that my bibliography is bigger than yours and leave it at that.

Third, and most importantly, ALL ART IS REAL ART and fanfic, fanart, and adaptation have been around since AT LEAST the birth of the novel.

What makes fanwork unique (and I'll limit myself here to fic bc it's what I know best) is that it an inherently communal and anticapitalist form of creation, which bars it from more traditional markers of legitimacy. It cannot be credited to a single person, so cannot contribute to the cult of the "author" or buy into our dumb creationist mythology of how all great things must derive from a single mind. It also cannot be sold, and therefore lacks both the "aura"* of more traditional forms and the acrural of capital that we use as benchmarks of "success".**

This doesn't mean it isn't "real art"-- only that it openly and purposefully defies the markers of that category. It is an exploration of a shared imaginative space which allows individuals to dream as a collective. It is rhizomatic, with new tropes and head-canons emerging organically among a disjointed, non-hierarchical, polythestic community. It is an inherently blasphemous space which can only be so by both taking the source material very seriously while denying the authority of the Author-God and daring to rewrite it.***

How many times do fic writers take a source text so much more seriously that the showrunners or networks, or actors? How much more do we know about these characters as characters than the people who own them?

This is serious work. It is real art. Even when it is bad, or silly, or stupid, or yes-- racist and bigoted and gross. It is still art.

Unpublished writing is art. Scribbles on paper are art. A drawing o lr a digital sketch or a poem are art.

Because what makes art real isn't some external validation of value and existence by the Other, it is an experience which we go through in its creation, and it is the experience which we have when we encounter it.****

In short-- gatekeeping is fucking stupid, and it sucks hard-core when it comes to the subject of art. How many of us have killed our own dreams because they weren't "good enough"? How many of us have thrown aside our paints because we're not "real artists"?

And how many of us have had to fight our way back to a place of healing where we can be brave and write the damn thing? Or paint the damn thing? Or just put the fear of God into some oil pastels?

So yeah, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. If you want good theory, hmu, otherwise, it is late and god speed and good luck.

*see Benjamin, "A work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction"

**yes, I know that fanfic has been repackaged and sold, but this Tumblr and not my dissertation defense so you get what you get.

***there is a ton of theory behind all this, but Jenkins and whoever wrote "Cyborg Manifesto" are probably the most blatantly ripped off.

****I'm gesturing vaguely to Foucault here from History of Sexuality, Part 1-- specifically in how in a post-Freudian world the subject must "confess" to the Other and have their confession heard and validated to have access to subjectivity and exist under the Law, but christ it is late and I am not pulling quotes.

I am aware I have died on this hill before but people who really strenuously argue that fanfic isn't "real writing" drive me insane. what do you meeeaaaaannn. besides the fact that any attempt to define "real art" vs "fake art" is inherently reactionary, it just doesn't make any sense. it's Writing. people Write it. what the fuck are you talking about.

[unhonestlymirror]

Hello I wanted to ask you for some advice I got a comment saying that they wanted to commission me but I’m a traditional artist and I don’t know how that would work? And I have never been commissioned before so I don’t know how that would work

Hello dear,

I can't say I'm such an expert in comissions myself (van-del if you're reading this I'm sorry xd).

But.

Since that person, I suppose, asked you about a digital comission, not just a comission - the first thing I'd done in your place is telling straight-forward that you are experienced mostly in traditional art. (but if that person didn't clarify then it's much easier to lead them to a favorable field for you.)

(Oh damn, I've seen so much threads about taking comissions but where are they when they're so needed?! xd)

Of course it's preferable to have a comission card(?) I guess, it's called so. But if you're LIKE ME don't have any - no need to panic! Ask about:

How many characters your client wants to see in ONE drawing (in two drawings separately - two prices)

PAYMENT METHOD. This is the most important point. Find out what online money receiving services work in your country - and what the commission is (not a drawing haha). PayPal, Ko-fi, Boostie, ByeMeACoffee, Patreon - and many others. It is better to plunge into jurisprudence and economics than to find out later why the client sent money - but they did not come. However, if the client can pay in cash, that's even better. Just don't forget to wear a long black coat and a hat.

It's preferable to mention in advance what you WILL NOT DRAW - usually people write "porn, furry, mecha, complex backgrounds", etc. For example, I don't draw bicycles, because they remind me of that jerk in a hurry who broke my brother's nose. Remember, that no one can force you to draw something uncomfortable for you money can but i didn’t say it

Ask in details about characters: their age, race, gender, hobbies, behavior, appearance, do they wear accessories (you can rise the price for too much details), their profession, their lifestory - for better understanding.

Usually artist set different prices for "just head / three quarters / full length" of a character. From cheapest to the most expensive.

Ask about what should happen with them on a drawing: they can stay still like manekens or being in a move. If you are confident enough in your abilities - specify the angle.

If something happens to them - specify in what place. It can be a park, a shop, a car interior, a palace - the complexity also increases with the background. Let your client know upfront if you don't draw complex backgrounds.

When you have discussed everything in detail:

If your client is not your close friend, it is advisable to require an advance payment (about 50%). And it is advisable to draw up an agreement in which you undertake to return this prepayment, if during the sketching you suddenly did not want to continue working.

It's time to discuss a deadline. My honest advice: "time you think it will take" + "one week". The overestimation of one's strength is real.

You draw a sketch. You DON'T put in much effort, but you make the future drawing understandable enough. Because your client can change their mind and say "oh, you know, i want them not sitting in a cafe but dancing. with glow sticks". - and you have to put in a lot of extra effort.

Remember: if you discussed all the details - and then you lost all desire to draw this - you are not an asshole if you tell your client "i won't do this". You are NOT an asshole if you drew a sketch, lost your desire, RETURNED THE PREPAYMENT and said "I won't do this". It's your own work.

You start drawing the whole comission. You put effort.

If you're starting to realize "+ one week" wasn’t enough - tell your client about the delay and offer them some additional extra drawings to make amends. If you draw them before the commission, send them first. Show your client "nobody's forgotten, nothing's forgotten".

If your client, after your presentation of the full work, says, “oh you know, I don’t want this at all” - that is, behaves like an asshole - you have the right not to return the prepayment and to tweet what a jerk this person is. (this will be impolite, but you will have the right to do so)

Not to overestimate your powers is just as important as not to underestimate your work! Ask yourself how much you would pay yourself for your drawing - and set that price. Do not get fooled by "why is it so expensive" whiners - if a person does not want to pay, they simply will not.

That is, I think I told everything important. Hope it helps and wish you good money! ☺️

[blindrapture]

I posted 457 times in 2021

131 posts created (29%)

326 posts reblogged (71%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 2.5 posts.

I added 92 tags in 2021

#my music - 33 posts

#sunsetters - 24 posts

#youtube - 11 posts

#throwback frihorse - 8 posts

#sonic music - 3 posts

#our music - 3 posts

#midi music - 3 posts

#:3 - 3 posts

#me - 2 posts

#between the buried and me - 2 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#i often listen to heavy metal thinking to myself in detail 'what would dante think of this music' or 'what would.. i dunno. pericles think'

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

(”A Decade,” a post for the blog What is the Fear Mythos?)

Today is February 14th, 2021. Today is the birthday of our mythos's primary founder, CuteWithoutThe. On Cute's sixteenth birthday, they began organizing the Fear Mythos, getting into contact with the other two founders, alliterator and LizardBite, and planning some of the first stories. Because of this, it is tradition to consider the anniversary of the Fear Mythos to "begin" on February 14th.

Two weeks later, on the last day of the month, Cute posted a thread on TVTropes officially laying out the plans and inviting participation. While by this point we still were not even called "the Fear Mythos," it is tradition to consider the anniversary of our mythos to "end" on February 28th.

Again, today is February 14th, 2021. Cute's sixteenth birthday was ten years ago.

The Fear Mythos is turning ten years old.

Now, in practice, this might not mean much out of the ordinary. Members of the community generally collaborate for the "Fearniversary" in writing an anniversary tournament blog, and this year that is definitely a thing, this is a nice celebration. Getting to an anniversary at all is a cause worth celebrating.

But ten years, wow. There probably is a lot that can be said, in a sentimental sense. Our mythos has seen a lot of blogs over these ten years. We've seen some vlogs too. And we've even seen some games and musical outputs. There have been physical books, podcasts, communities on various websites; there have been busy years, quiet years, and years in between. People have come and gone, the popular monsters to be used in our stories have changed back and forth, and.. well, ten years have passed and yet this mythos does not die.

I have to acknowledge that not one of our three founders has been active in the mythos for some time. I, DJay, am the "oldest" member still sticking around, and even then I'm not that active, not even in my own stories. For some, this is an appeal of our community: It's quiet, a place to read stories and throw ideas around. I did oversee an overhaul several years ago with the express purpose of "futureproofing" our central concepts, the hope being that, no matter how quiet our community became, the ideas would stick around. For better or for worse, the quiet is something for which we were prepared.

I bring this up because something about a "tenth anniversary" feels like the sort of Big Deal that may bring about a change in activity. It's probably the significance inherent in a double-digit number. That's a very human thing. (Like, seriously, very human. The number 10 is only significant to us because we operate under base-10 assumptions, and those are predicated on the number of fingers we have. But I don't need to tell you any of this, not on the surface of what this post is about.) A group that has persisted for a decade has relative age, and age is associated with experience, experience with knowledge, knowledge with a social fertility that "could go Big with just the right input." All of which is to say: Ten is a very different age for a single human than it is for a group of fiction writers.

We have been quiet. Next, we might try something else. That's a scary idea in and of itself, isn't it? A good creepy story: The Day The Mythos Went Big.

I'm playing around, here. The Fearniversary is a communal event, like a damn two-week festival; this is the most appropriate time to dress ourselves up in masks and pretend to be what we haven't yet been, to turn our thoughts to the stars and dream big, to hit upon emotional changes which take us resolutely into the new year renewed and ready for what it may bring.

The Fear Mythos, you see, is yours. Our monsters, the Fears, are legally considered "Creative Commons Attribution," meaning you can do whatever you want with them so long as there's even an implicit acknowledgement of the greater mythos's existence. This is worth spelling out, even to veterans, because it's a strength that's easy to overlook. We can't always guarantee you an immediate active audience, but we can promise you this: Place. You and your creations have a place here, here where not even a decade has erased us, here where the future can still grow, here at the online intersection between fiction and reality. You are free to take our creations as a model to build your world, experiment, see what becomes.

I know. I'm wordy, and if I have any points I'm trying to make they don't consistently come across. Yet still, this mythos has given me place as well. When I've had nobody else, this mythos has been there for me for ten years. Without it, I wouldn't have published two books, written three rock albums, made dozens of surprisingly close online friends, and been exposed to media that has in tangible ways changed my life. I'm maybe a little too close to this mythos to make a proper grand statement in overview, which would be more appropriate for this celebratory post, but I can speak emotive, I can light a signal to confirm to the world that we're still going. To a degree, I can speak both to and for our community in saying: We have known activity, and we have known rest, and somehow out of the ambiguous murk in between the two we have found our Voice persists.

Those of you who are only now finding us, you've got so much to see. Those of you who are sticking around, you're in for a treat.

Another thing I'm doing here is clumsily segueing into another subject: seven years ago, on our third Fearniversary, LizardBite privately proposed setting up a semi-"official" ARG in celebration. (You know the kind: Codes hidden across the web that, when solved, lead down rabbit holes to even more codes, accompanied by some sort of story.) alliterator and I took up the suggestion and spent some time planning behind the scenes. I sought out the consultation of CuteWithoutThe, as well as mythos veterans The Visitor, Omega, and Squeek, in order to work out a setting of lore and game mechanics which would be both ethically appropriate and compelling. This proved fruitful, and when we launched the ARG our players uncovered novellas, audio logs, myths, and art (contributed by the likes of The Visitor, Logic, Wiratomkinder, and alliterator). The subforum on which their efforts were contained still exists, though you may need an account to see it. The ARG went on hiatus two years later, and it has been dormant ever since.

Those who currently frequent the discord community may know that I have been digging the old plans back up, that I intend on bringing the ARG back. It was my intent to bring it back in time for this Fearniversary. I, uh, may still be able to do so in time for the 28th of February, but I am not going to push it, as the content I have under works demands rigorous iteration and testing. I bring this up in this post because it is, by its nature, relevant to celebrations of our mythos, and this news is relevant to this Fearniversary in particular.

So. To conclude.

Happy Fearniversary 2021! We're celebrating a decade of the Fear Mythos!

and

As soon as it is ready, you will know: Nine is God is coming back. New players will be welcome.

10 notes • Posted 2021-02-14 19:36:30 GMT

#4

Summer Sucks is all about the tarantella. What’s the tarantella? Well, some clown went and made the catchiest song alive, turning music into a bioweapon. Now anyone who hears this song has it stuck in their head, forcing them to dance endlessly until their body keels over and dies.

During song 3 of the album, “Found the Fountain of Mab,” we hear a representation of this tarantella. Lindsay had written an instance of the album’s main arpeggio that had a moody twist to a minor key, and I spent Literally Years teaching myself music theory through taking that arpeggio and turning it into... well, this.

And now, you come to me on this, the day of my 26th birthday, to ask me a favour: “Can I hear the tarantella standalone, outside of the 15-minute original song?” And I grant you this favour, throwing in a little tilly.

Because I don’t know how birthdays work.

Musicae vivit.

Diaphanous movement-- dance Vessel for the higher impulse Adiaphanous forever When, how? Prenativity When, how? Postmortemity

14 notes • Posted 2021-01-02 08:44:50 GMT

#3

Lindsay, my Sunsetters songwriting cohort, is involved in other really cool musical projects! Here’s a short little album she’s on, she plays bass and writes moody lyrics!

14 notes • Posted 2021-03-24 18:39:53 GMT

#2

See the full post

18 notes • Posted 2021-08-02 05:00:26 GMT

#1

I have been writing this month. Kinda at the manic end of solitude. Like “lonely” but with an edge, you know how you can be so tired you can’t sleep? Well I’m so lonely I can’t in all good conscience have company. I think feeling this as a kid is what drove me to make art in the first place. So we’ve come full circle. I’ve reinvented a sort of wheel.

Speaking of, the first album by fictional band Coestts will be named Reinventing the Wheel, and I’ve got like 45 minutes of content written for it already. Just wanted to share.

I also just wanted to share this song. Title might not be final, though honestly I dig it. I worked hard on this song. Every note was placed with such care, and I’m combining various skills I’ve learned in songwriting up to now.

I’m lonely. Please give my art some attention. Let this song take you on a trip.

29 notes • Posted 2021-03-23 01:44:25 GMT

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