#Dark days

[antikate]

I think I’m still, somehow, after so many years on earth? Just so terribly naive about what people want.

I know what I want, and I think it seems very reasonable and achievable? I want is a safe future for my kids (stable climate, reproductive rights, health care, access to education, safety from violence)

I want to walk my dog and tend to my garden and do my crafts and write my silly little stories. I want friends and book clubs and bicycle paths and movies and a just this small life of connection and joy

And I want this for everyone else too like I want the weird old guy who lives on my street and who apparently hates me to also have access to healthcare when he needs it. I want the immigrant families at my kids’ school to have access to that school and for it to be good!I want libraries and pride parades and community gardens

… and instead what other people really seem to want is to punish other people. They want violence and the bootheel and to rid life of variance and colour. They want repression and domination

Is it because eggs cost more or they saw a trans person once? Is it because there are black people on tv now? I don’t know. I don’t know anything

I want schools and healthcare clinics and busses and parks. I want everyone in the world to go to sleep at night without worrying their children will die in the dark from falling bombs

And more and more I realise that its a fantasy that very few other people actually share

[sadiegurl]

LANA X SKIMS

[yesloulou]

Daniel trains in the sim with McLaren | July 13, 2022

[adventuresofalgy]

The following morning was a wee bit lighter, and at times a watery November sun managed to squeeze through the clouds for a few brief moments, before it decided that it really wasn't worth such an enormous effort in the wild west Highlands of Scotland at this time of year, and retreated to those more favoured lands where there were fewer clouds to obstruct its rays.

But carpe diem is one of the core mottoes of any truly fluffy bird, so at the first bright opportunity Algy paused in his flight to perch on a convenient branch and sing with gusto, as any self-respecting bird might do when warmed by a sudden burst of autumn sunshine on an otherwise dark and dreary day:

Dark eyes, flaming eyes They implore me into faraway lands Where love reigns, where peace reigns Where there is no suffering, where war is forbidden

[Algy is singing the well-known Russian song Dark Eyes (Очи чёрные), a song first published in the late 19th century which has been hugely popular over the years and performed in countless different versions, with several different lyrics. Like the great baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky in his impassioned version below, Algy is singing the lyrics written by Feodor Chaliapin.]

[vocallywritten]

Luke Newton is out there providing all kinds of Polin Modern AU fodder with his Instagram lately and I thank him for his service. Between that and the press tour, Modern AU writers are gonna have a field day.

[nicstylus]

Skulduggery Pleasant Book Cover Redesign ✩ Master Post ✩

Here are all my covers in one place, all the thoughts and notes about each one and a link to the original post :] I had so much fun making these. Out of every project I've done, this is the one that wins 'most time spent' for sure. I'm so stoked with how they turned out!

Please read, I spent so long on this post... It's interesting I swear :]

Book One - Sceptre of the Ancients

Completed: ~ May 27th 2024 Links: Tom's Cover - Reddit Post (Ver 1.0) - Tumblr (Ver 1.0) (Ver 2.0) Changes made (besides character design/expressions):

Added the Book of Names to fill the empty space in the background

Repositioned Skulduggery and Serpine

Redesigned the Sceptre and changed it's lighting from white to black/purple

Changed the outfits of China and Serpine

Enlarged background flames

Notes:

Skulduggery's outfit: Grey suit, white shirt, black tie

Skulduggery is snapping with his right hand- summoning fire instead of already holding it

"Ghastly Black???" Yes, I draw Ghastly as a POC with asymmetrical scars. Yes, I'm aware he is not described as such

This is actually Version 2 of SOTA. I had to redo Serpine and Skul because I hated how they turned out the first time the more I looked at them.

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Book Two - Playing with Fire

Completed: April 20th 2024 Links: Tom's Cover - Reddit Post - Tumblr Post Changes made:

Redesigned the Grotesquery and repositioned it's... arm? Tentacles? whatever.

Swapped Tanith's Katana for a straight sword*

Changed outfits of Vengeous and Tanith (and Skulduggery's tie)

Added orangey light and sparks to fill the background

Notes:

Skulduggery's outfit: Black suit, blue shirt and black tie

This is the first time I've drawn the Grotesquery, and I still have to google the spelling every time I try to type it...

*I know that Tanith uses a katana, but 1) I think thats stupid purely out of spite (and reasons that make sense) and 2) I absolutely despise trying to draw curved blades

Worth noting again that I don't actually see Tanith like this in my head- but this version of her is more fun to draw imo. Here is how I see her.

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Book Three - The Faceless Ones

Completed: April 26th 2024 Links: Tom's Cover - Reddit Post - Tumblr Post Changes made:

Repositioned Skulduggery and fixed his anatomy

Swapped Valkyrie's black jacket for the jacket with red sleeves

Fixed Fletcher*

Added water reflections on the undersides of the Sea Hag and the Cleaver

Added more water splashes near the title

Notes:

Skulduggery's outfit: Navy suit, white shirt, ??? tie

I dont know that I ever want to draw the Sea Hag again- Tom definitely captured 'ugly creature' better than I did

*Fletcher done with Zero (!!) tracing :D (I mean all of it was but... It's a bad joke ok)

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Book Four - Dark Days

Completed: April 28th 2024 Links: Tom's Cover - Reddit Post - Tumblr Post Changes made:

Added the Faceless Ones portal to fill the background

Added Scapegrace and Thrasher to the zombie hoard

Brightened and added more detail to the zombies

Changed outfits of Sanguine and China

Notes:

Skulduggery's outfit: Black suit, white shirt, red tie

China <3 Billy Ray :] ...Jack :/

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Book Five - Mortal Coil

Completed: May 5th 2024 Links: Tom's Cover - Reddit Post - Tumblr Post Changes made:

Repositioned Skulduggery and fixed his anatomy

Added the Remnants flying/swirling around to fill the background

Replaced The Torment (?) with Kenspeckle Grouse*

Repositioned the headless horses

Redesigned Tesseract's mask

Swapped Valkyrie's black jacket for the jacket with red sleeves

Swapped the strange light in Valkyrie's hand for Necromancy and Fire

Fixed the lighting (esp on Tesseract) to favour the Dullahan's lantern

Changed the outfits of Tesseract, Dr Nye, and the Dullahan

Added hands reaching out of the Dullahan's carriage

Notes:

Skulduggery's outfit: Black suit, seafoam shirt, blue tie

*I'm aware its 'officially' the Torment on the Percival cover, but Kenspeckle won the 'who would you put here?' vote by a landslide on both reddit and tumblr so here he is in all his glory

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Book Six - Death Bringer

Completed: May 6th 2024 Links: Tom's Cover - Reddit Post - Tumblr Post Changes made:

Increased the purple lighting to fill empty space*

Redesigned Lord Vile

Redesigned Wreath's cane**

Changed Skulduggery's outfit

Made Valkyrie throw shadows instead of.. point at nothing?

Added the carved scars onto Melancholia

Increased shadows

Notes:

Skulduggery's outfit: Black suit, purple shirt, purple tie

*The official DB cover has suuuuper pretty flames on it, with the pink and purple lighting- I tried to replicate that as best I could, and actually liked how it turned out more purpley

**Solomon's cane turned into more of a staff/sceptre because I forgot was a cane oops- it would hurt to lean on :D

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Book Seven - Kingdom of the Wicked

Completed: May 12th 2024 Links: Tom's Cover - Reddit Post - Tumblr Post Changes made:

Enlarged the Universe background to fill empty space

Repositioned Skulduggery

Redesigned Mevolent's armour and exposed his face

Redesigned the Godkiller Sword

Redesigned Argeddion (added hair!)*

Put Kitana in Valkyrie's jacket as she takes it in the book

Swapped Mevolent's empty hand in favour of him holding Darquesse's head by her hair

Notes:

Skulduggery's outfit: Brown suit, cream shirt, ??? tie

This is my least favourite Phase 1 cover (and P1 book if I'm being honest) so I wasnt excited to work on this one- But! I think it turned out really well.

*I can't actually remember if Argeddion had hair or not in the story, but he looks bald on the cover and it looked strange to me

I really like how the stars and such turned out here :]

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Book Eight - Last Stand of Dead Men

Completed: May 26th 2024 Links: Tom's Cover - Reddit Post - Tumblr Post Changes made:

Added the Pyramid of the Brides of Blood Tears to fill empty space

Repositioned Ravel to face away*

Changed outfits of Ghastly, Saracen and Ravel

Added golden skull cufflinks to Skulduggery

Notes:

Skulduggery's outfit: Blue pinstripe suit, white shirt, ??? tie (and the golden skull cufflinks!)

*I decided to have Ravel facing away for two reasons: 1) To hide his eyes and 2) Because he's a BACKSTABBING BIT- yeah

Is the Yellow mist: Sand from the Brides? The Golden Eyes effect? You decide!

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Book Nine - The Dying of the Light

Completed: July 20th 2024 Links: Tom's Cover - Reddit Post - Tumblr Post Changes made:

Darkened and enlarged clouds to fill empty space

Added Devastation Day imagery behind Darquesse

Repositioned China and Valkyrie to show the red daggers and Meryyn Sigil tattoo respectively

Repositioned Sanguine raise his sunglasses to expose lack of eyes

Enlarged Tanith to fill space

Changed the outfits of Skulduggery, Tanith, and Valkyrie

Swapped Tanith's Katana for a straight sword

Turned the plain/random blue light near China into glowing sigils

Notes:

Skulduggery's outfit: Black suit, dark grey shirt shirt, black tie

You can see the bones in Valkyrie's right hand because her lightning is so bright.

The sigil tattoos under China's eyes and on her left wrist are glowing, because she is actively wielding her magic red daggers.

This is my favourite one. Part of that is probably because it turned out the best (I had 8 9 other ones to practice on haha)

I love how the Title looks like smoldering embers. Really gives that apocalyptic feel that most of the book gives imo

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Overall notes and thoughts:

I struggle with drawing kids/ young teenagers, but I think I did a good job of making Val look like shes growing up

Her eyebags get bigger/darker with each new cover lol

Skulduggery is wearing a different outfit in each cover! It starts with just the shirt, then the tie, then by Mortal Coil he's wearing a completely different suit each time (I really like this detail)

The Dying of the Light was definitely the cover that changed the most as I worked on it, and it also turned out to be my favourite

The Dark Days changed the least (although Playing with Fire and Last Stand of Dead Men both stayed relatively the same as well) On to Phase Two (after a break but they'll happen at some point) :D

All 9 Lines

All 9 Covers (SoonTM)

Reddit Master Post

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[huariqueje]

The gate to the forest of silence -   Lars Elling , 2023.

Norwegian, b.1966 -

Egg , oil , tempera on canvas , 170 x 150 cm.

[makethiscanon]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, OJIRO!

Warning: Swearing in song lyrics.

Song: Dark Days - Point North

I've never seen a full length Ojiro AMV so for his birthday I had to change that.

WE LOVE OUR TOUGH, RESILIENT L'IL TAILBEAN.

[nezuscribe]

I’m so depressed I haven’t flicked my bean in two days 😔

[wordrummager]

How can I keep singing The singer asks how can she keep from singing but I am wondering how can I keep going at all though I’m trying to be like Winter Warlock with ‘one foot in front of the other’ and I’m eating apples daily now though I’ll mix it up with bananas for potassium because that’s supposed to be good though I ache no matter what these days which leads me to think I’ll probably die young like my dad though he had other issues and mine is I keep breaking my own heart which I will tell the therapist once we get past the first round of triggers at lunch today and oh hell can I really do this again and will it make a change, can anyone really change (Warlock again) but I think so because Paul turned things around after Damascus and I’ve had chances though some have been less than stellar which reminds me how awful this moment is yet I was graced with Northern Lights which has been a longtime dream and that should be a sign but don’t get me started on signs as there are far too many telling me to stop and I’m afraid stopping might mean death and really, how many lives can I try on before fitting in anywhere or is that a myth like “it’s ok” or sirens and harpies, who squandered their chance to fly and be free as they couldn’t stop being destructive and I’m not sure I can either though oh there are moments of clarity when I know this will pass and I can see beauty in both flowers and ruin but mostly I walk in pain and dream less but hope there will be another day after this terrible storm and maybe even a little light for me.

[tobiasforms]

[enii]

I know you are hurting as much as I do but I can't let you stay.

[adventuresofalgy]

Resting overnight, before he continued his quest for the light and warmth which he was convinced could be found somewhere deep in the heart of the winter darkness, Algy had a black, black dream, in which all was shadow but the "lucid line" and "dubious ray" which "wavering reason lends in life's long darkling way"…

When he woke, Algy guessed that many of his human friends might well have been experiencing similar dreams on that particularly black night, and he wondered what he could possibly do to help them, for he knew that he was only a daft fluffy bird, lost somewhere in the wilderness of the wild west Highlands of Scotland…

But suddenly, as the new day began to dawn, Algy remembered that one of those friends, who only the day before had reblogged one of his adventures, had added a comment to that post which started "A bit of whimsy from a storybook land brings a smile to me on this anxious day…"

And then Algy knew what to do, for it was the only thing that a daft fluffy bird could possibly do… He would continue to try his best to bring a smile to the faces of all his friends – and to strangers too – with his wee "bit of whimsy from a storybook land", in the hope that it might provide some faint rays of light in the encroaching darkness:

Huge vapours brood above the clifted shore, Night on the ocean settles dark and mute, Save where is heard the repercussive roar Of drowsy billows on the rugged foot Of rocks remote; or still more distant tone Of seamen in the anchored bark that tell The watch relieved; or one deep voice alone Singing the hour, and bidding ‘Strike the bell!’ All is black shadow but the lucid line Marked by the light surf on the level sand, Or where afar the ship-lights faintly shine Like wandering fairy fires, that oft on land Misled the pilgrim – such the dubious ray That wavering reason lends in life’s long darkling way.

[Algy is quoting the poem Written near a Port on a Dark Evening by the 18th century English writer Charlotte Smith.]

[locadazideia]

🌧️

[nicstylus]

The Necromancer Trilogy is done!

[eeriss121]

the incredibly beautiful china sorrows and skulduggery in their dark days