#I also want to draw some of the landscapes and little bits and pieces I have come up with

[girlscience]

someone do collaborative worldbuilding with me. please 🥺

[tofupixel]

Thank you for getting me to finally try pixel art! I‘ve always wanted to get into pixel art but I never knew what to start with and always ended up procrastinating. Your blog and the post you made on learning pixel art were what finally pushed me to give it a go. It was really helpful and I managed this little animation in Libresprite.

I definitely want to improve and your art is like the ultimate goal lol. Do you have any tips or instructions for how to get better or on what to focus on in the future? I‘d appreciate any kind of criticism/input you are willing to give! How do you manage to make such gigantic and beautiful landscapes?

thank you!! and i'm so happy you decided to give it a real go, you're doing great already!! the rendering on the body and the pink shading is really nice.

i can help a little with animation stuff but i'm not an expert, ill write something out about backgrounds at the end

i hope you don't mind but i edited the sprite a little, just to illustrate some stuff

🤺Animation stuff

i added an extra frame near the top of the arc so it slows down. this is called ease or slow in/out and usually happens at the beginning and end of movements. u can do even more slow but this is just a quick version

i also removed the middle frame (where the tail is straight down) to make the swing appear a bit more powerful. this could be the principle of timing in the same video. you can exaggerate smears if you do this, its up to you!! lately i tend to exaggerate stuff a lot, things arent super noticable in motion

i also got a good bit of advice from nickwoz that helped me, basically when you begin to animate, it really puts the rest of the sprite being still into focus. try to think of how you could animate other parts of the body, even subtly. and sometimes if individual pixels stay still they can catch the eye in an unintended way as well, just keep it in mind!!

if you want to learn animation more, you could take a look at duelyst sprites, they have incredible idle and ability animations, i study them a lot

heres one i downloaded a long time ago. i recommend just downloading stuff you like and looking at it!! i have a huge collection of pixel inspo. slowing animations down can really help you understand whats going on. its just a bunch of simple elements put together that makes it look so good.

IF U WANT MORE RESOURCES/ARTISTS I REOCMMEND TO GO AND STUDY LMK!!! IM LIKE A WIKIPEDIA, I AM A BIG FAN of pixel art and love to share

🌿 OK lets talk about landscape stuff

it looks like you have art experience already, but im gonna talk as if youre a complete noob cos it might help some other people who read this!! ur doing great 👍

❓ how to learn: study (and practise a lot)

what i mean by study: draw it, copy it, try to understand it. you can try to change characteristics about it. changing the angle or lighting can help u understand how something works in 3 dimensions.

sometimes it takes time, dont worry, you will figure out your own style through doing studies, its all a process

❓ how to draw landscape details?

study pixel artists and how they do it recommendations: fool, slym, jubilee, deceiver

also please look at real world references!! you got to build that visual library

❓ how to learn composition?

study traditional artists or animation. i did a ton of studies of ghibli backgrounds which i think helped my growth a lot recommendations: arcane, studio ghibli, traditional painters

im gonna break down a piece as well and maybe that will help. this is one from 2022 but its still one of my most popular and its pretty simple too!!

if we remove all the fancy stuff what we have is actually really simple. just a few large, overlapping shapes that all point towards our focal point. it's the brightest area with the most contrast and many edges point into it.

go to pinterest or google and just search "pretty landscape" or "mountains" or something and you can see what i'm doing is nothing special or unique!! break it down into bigger shapes to begin with, its just different areas of material mostly.

and heres how you can make any landscape from any colours. purple sky or mountain? orange grass? ok !! it all works, it doesnt matter. i just blend the colours.

when parts of the landscape are in the distance they become closer to the sky colour as there is more "sky" in between you and it. its called atmospheric perspective. so if the sky was red, the clouds would fade towards red.

OKKK i dont know what else to say so i hope that helps!! honestly 90% of what i do is intuitive and hard for me to really explain, so you dont have to know The Rules, you just kind of pick up stuff as you go.

GL and thanks so much for showing me your art!! please keep going!! 💕💕💕💕

[eerna]

can you explain your art techniques a little bit further? I just saw your post about arcane helping you drop line art and stuff, and I wanted to understand better (as someone trying to get into digital art)

Sureee, ty for asking! :)

For the first 7 years of my digital art journey I imitated the comicbook-style art tutorials and techniques artists I liked used. This means that I would start out with a sketch, draw the lineart on another layer on top of the sketch, hide the sketch, use solid blocks of color on separate layers for the coloring, and add lighting effects on top of it all. I was never really happy with how it turned out, and I often felt like I shouldn't have gone past the colored sketch phase because the full render would lose so much life. I used pretty much the same brushes I use now, aside from some textured ones, but not to their full potential because they were painting brushes being used for flat shading. Here's a few examples of fully rendered stuff from 2020-2021:

Then, I realized I do NOT have to do things I don't wanna do, and I can totally remove any steps from the process that I wish! I experimented for a while until I settled on a new thing that worked for me. And so my current process is: draw a sketch, color it all on one layer (base colors), add light effects if needed, add another layer on top of everything, and paint until satisfied with the level of rendering. Then I add optional effects, such as fires or patterns. This means I leave the sketch layer visible, so I have to clean it and base colors with erasers as I work, but it enables me to preserve the sketchy energy. The "all rendering on one layer" approach frees my hand and I don't feel pressure to render everything separately and perfectly, which in turn, ironically, makes my art look more detailed because the eye compensates for unfinished bits. In addition, the line between a colored sketch and a fully rendered piece is much thinner, which means I don't have to commit to completing anything, and that is a big deal for an insecure person prone to artblocks. If I lose interest halfway through the lineart-and-blocks-of-color process, I am left with an unusable piece. If I do it halfway through the painting process, I get a charming, messy piece a la my recent Chappell Roan art (I left the armor unfinished, and yet it doesn't clash with the rest of the art). Here's a recreation I did to show what a big difference the different approach makes:

So why didn't I stop doing lineart sooner? I did try, but my attempts tried to replicate what I did when painting traditionally, instead of adjusting to my digital abilities, so it usually looked whack. I remember showing my friends the Rito Village piece back in 2019, which was painted based on a screenshot from the game, and one of them telling me "Don't go back to lineart!" I was like "YEAH I am NOT going back to lineart!!! I will keep painting!!!" Only to realize that painting landscapes with already stylized references and painting portraits were completely different. Here's a painting portrait from one of those trial and error attempts. Later I realized the mistake was working on TOP of the sketch, as I would have done for traditional work, instead of both below AND on top of it - after all, my intention was to preserve the life of the sketch, which was impossible when I couldn't even see it. I also didn't understand color values (or honestly, any color aspects) very well, resulting in some low-contrast, unappealing blobs.

So yeah, my advice to any beginner digital artist is: experiment and figure out what works for you. Think about what makes you happy when creating, and build your process around it. Also, keep researching art theory and applying it to your work. Good luck to you and all other digital artists~

[crystallinestars]

Winter and Christmas HCs

Little HCs on how Kaveh, Alhaitham, Albedo, and Childe spend the Christmas season with you. I might make a part 2 with other boys if people like this.

(Apologies is anything sounds a bit weird. I wrote this while running a fever, so I can't tell if something sounds off)

Kaveh

🍷 Likes the Christmas season because it gives him an excuse to decorate your house and make it look beautiful. Kaveh enjoys decorating the house and Christmas tree together with you because, to him, it's a bonding activity where your hard work can result in something beautiful, which greatly appeals to him.

He goes all out hanging garlands, lights, and paper snowflakes inside your home and also sets up miniature Christmas trees both indoors and outdoors. He pays careful attention to both the exterior and interior of the home, bedecking it with so many decorations that you don’t know how you’ll store all of it once Spring arrives. Helping him set everything up takes a majority of the day, but you have to admit that Kaveh has a good eye for aesthetics because your house looks like something out of a fairy tale.

Kaveh will shower you with praises once you finish setting everything up, but he expects you to compliment his efforts in return. He simply wants recognition for his work, and he values your opinion on whether or not you genuinely like how he decorated the house.

🍷 Is full of Christmas spirit. Gives to charities, goes window shopping with you, and gushes to you about all the beautiful scenery you can find around shops during this time of year. He also enjoys going on short walks with you to admire the winter landscape even if he complains about the cold later. He’s absolutely enamored with how magical this time of year feels.

🍷 He is a master at building gingerbread houses. Rather than buying a kit from the store, Kaveh opts to design and bake his own. Building a gingerbread house is in some ways similar to his work as an architect, so designing one costs him very little effort. Baking isn’t Kaveh’s strongest suit though he’s decent at it, but if you are a better baker than him, the architect will greatly appreciate your help in making the dough for him. Getting all the necessary materials, Kaveh spends hours painstakingly cutting pieces of the house and baking them in the oven.

You don’t interfere with his creative process, knowing that your craftsmanship is nowhere near as precise as his, and your help would most likely result in Kaveh needing to fix your mistakes. Instead, you keep him company while he assembles the gingerbread house, chatting with him and getting him to take breaks to eat because he tends to get too wrapped up in his work. Kaveh won’t tell you, but he genuinely appreciates your company because it makes him less lonely.

The gingerbread house takes a few days to construct, but the final result is well worth the effort. The house looks magical. For a house made out of candy, it looks surprisingly realistic and grand, and it makes you feel guilty at the mere thought of eating and destroying such a delicate work of art. If you look closer, you’ll notice two little gingerbread people holding hands next to the entrance of the house. One looks like Kaveh while the other resembles you.

🍷 Kaveh is also a master at making snowmen. I’m sorry, but his snowmen will blow yours out of the water. He doesn’t settle for simply stacking three spheres together, jamming some sticks and a carrot, and then calling it a day. No, Kaveh spends hours collecting snow and constructing a beautiful snow sculpture that could honestly win a contest if he chose to enter one.

Out of all the ones he makes, his favorite one is of you. He spent way too much time making your sculpture as accurate to the real you as he could, and even added some artistic flourish (flowers, extravagant clothing, accessories etc) to enhance your beauty. His sculptures draw the attention of many passersby, especially children. Will probably get roped into teaching children how to make these sculptures because the little kids want to learn how to make them too.

🍷 He catches colds easily. If he sees you without a hat or scarf, he will take off his own scarf/hat and put it on you while scolding you for not dressing warmly because you could catch a cold. He also gives you his gloves if you don’t have any on you, and is prepared to give you the clothes on his back if you’re still cold. He ends up catching a cold himself instead. Kaveh feels embarrassed by this turn of events and won’t let you care for him at first, but please nurse him back to health. He’s not great at taking care of his health and will almost cry from how loved he feels if you take care of him when he’s at his most vulnerable.

🍷 Is too broke to afford the presents he wants to give you and his friends. Despite his efforts to save up money for Christmas shopping, it’s still not enough, so he makes your present himself. He’s very nifty with his hands so he makes you a little trinket or gadget that both looks pretty and serves a practical purpose that you can make use of in your daily life.

🍷 Likes trying out limited-time Christmas teas and hot chocolates with you to determine which ones taste the best so he can give some to his friends as gifts. Also enjoys making Christmas-themed latte art for you and is very good at it.

Alhaitham

🎧 Doesn’t decorate the house because he can’t be bothered and sees it as a meaningless endeavor. If you want to decorate it, he won’t stop you, though don’t expect him to help (so he tells you). However, if you ask him to help you put up a decoration someplace that’s too high for you to reach, he’ll sigh and come over and do as you ask. For all his indifference towards the holiday season and all it entails, Alhaitham has a soft spot for you and will still help you if it makes you happy. Unfortunately, his nature simply doesn’t allow him to resist the urge to provide critique on the placement of certain decorations if he thinks they’re in a bad spot.

🎧 Has practically zero Christmas spirit. He doesn’t want to build snowmen, won’t bother with gingerbread houses, won’t even look in the direction of all the Christmas-themed mugs/candles/clothes/other junk that serves very little purpose. He knows it’s all just a corporate scheme to get money out of people, however, he actively uses any mugs or sweaters you give to him as a gift. He may say there was no need for you to do any of this, but he does treasure the things you give him and takes better care of them than most other things in his house.

🎧 Among all Christmas-related activities, Alhaitham enjoys reading with you by the fireplace the most. The fire provides enough light for him to read comfortably, and snuggling with you under a warm blanket on the couch while listening to the crackle of the logs creates a nice ambiance that he enjoys. Bonus points if you have a mug of tea or coffee somewhere nearby for the two of you to enjoy while you read.

🎧 He’s not the most creative when it comes to giving gifts. He’s the type to not know what to give someone if the person already has everything they need, so he relies on you to help him shop for presents. It’s easier to fight the crowds with two people instead of one when it comes to getting items before they’re all snatched up, plus leaving the responsibility of picking presents to you absolves him of the need to worry about what to get his friends. Don’t worry, Alhaitham will assist you with the decision-making process by providing his two cents about each gift you pick until you both settle on something you think is good.

He hates shopping during this season because of how loud and crowded it gets, so Alhaitham develops a tendency to hold your hand so you won’t get separated in the throng of people.

Like the slacker he is, Alhaitham also relies on you to wrap up the presents because his initial decision is to simply place them in a bag and call it a day. He’s just not into arts and crafts.

🎧 If Haitham notices you rubbing your hands together from the cold, he will take one of your hands in his and place them in the pocket of his jacket to keep them warm.

🎧 Has a sharp eye and quickly notices if you own worn-out winter clothes or don’t have things like hats, scarves, or gloves. He’ll buy you a high-quality version to replace it, sparing no expense at getting you something durable that will last a long time while also keeping you warm. It’s worth the money, in his opinion. Since he believes in giving practical gifts, expect a brand-new winter jacket/boots/gloves to be given to you as a present from him. That, or a book on your hobbies.

Albedo

🧪 Doesn’t fully understand the hype behind Christmas but joins in on the festivities for the sake of garnering new experiences and trying to determine what people like about it so much. He does end up liking the holiday and winter season in general, albeit not for personal reasons. He finds it adorable to watch Klee and you enjoy the snow, build gingerbread houses, and build snowmen together. He helps to improve your gingerbread house/snowman making by giving a few pointers here and there but otherwise lets you two make them how you want. Albedo finds value in other people’s ideas and thus wants you to have the freedom to express yourselves how you like.

🧪 Wants to try Christmas-related activities, one of which is kissing under a mistletoe. He finds the concept amusing but first makes sure you are on board with the idea. If you are, expect mistletoe to appear in your shared home one day. It’ll be hung above the dining table, the main entrance, and above his work desk. His goal is to get kisses from you before you share a meal together, when you leave or enter your home, and when you bring him tea when he’s working at his desk. Albedo loves it if you become flustered when spotting the mistletoe at first. Your bashful expression gets a soft chuckle out of him before he leans in for a kiss.

🧪 Albedo likes the winter landscape. There’s something so pristine about the white snow blanketing the world and muting all sound. He spends quite a bit of his free time painting the winter landscapes. Once in a while, purely for fun, he makes a painting of you and Klee playing in the snow. The memory of watching you two building Jumpy Dumpty out of snow still makes him smile.

🧪 One of his favorite Christmas-related activities to do with you is trying to concoct Christmas-flavored teas and sweets. He experiments with classic flavors like peppermint, gingerbread, cinnamon, and eggnog among others, and tries to come up with unique flavors by combining several of them. You tend to be his guinea pig during these experiments, and while a few of the results end up being misses, the majority you actually end up liking. It becomes a tradition for Albedo to make you your favorite blend of tea or cookie recipe of his own creation during this season.

🧪 Makes your present himself. As an alchemist, he can make a lot of unusual and unique things, but he settles for more simple things like creating a body wash with a scent you like and that also works wonders for your skin, or giving you a rare plant if you’re into botany, or specially designed gloves that keep your fingers warm no matter how cold it gets. The presents he makes aren’t anything extravagant, but they’re chosen with thought and care. Albedo also helps Klee make a fancy card to give you for Christmas and helps her make a present for you too which ends up being a Jumpy Dumpty plush similar to her own.

🧪 If Albedo notices you’re cold, he’ll give you some of his own clothes to try and keep you warm, such as wrapping his scarf around your neck or giving you his hat. He’ll gently remind you to dress warmer for the winter weather. If you still end up getting sick, he’ll take care of you until you’re all better.

Childe

🐋 Having grown up in a snowy country, Childe is used to dealing with a variety of problems that snow can bring, and even has a fondness for it because it reminds him of his home and family. He enjoys going on walks to admire the winter scenery and gets you to tag along with him. He tells you lots of stories of how he and his siblings used to play in the snow and the shenanigans they got up to.

If you’re the type to get cold easily, Childe will readily give you his winter clothes to warm you up. The cold doesn’t bother him as much as it does you, plus he rarely gets sick, so he can get away with losing a few pieces of clothes to give you. Not that you’re complaining. His winter clothes keep you warm better than anything you ever owned, plus they smelled like him in a comforting sort of way.

🐋 Loves to engage in snowball fights with his siblings, and moreso when you join in on the fun. Him and you getting chased by his three younger siblings who toss snowballs at you. Though the children are a bit clumsy and rarely hit either you or him, Childe still lets them win the game on purpose so the little ones can feel good about themselves. He only asks that you play along and let his siblings win, and feels a surge of love towards you when you do.

Childe likes playing in the snow with his siblings in general. Making snow angels, building funny-looking snowmen, and constructing snow forts are just some of the things they all do together as a family. His siblings like to include you in their activities and try to make you feel like a part of their group.

🐋 Childe likes to bring you along on his ice fishing trips if it’s something that you’re interested in doing with him. He’ll teach you all about cutting through the ice, how to operate a fishing rod, and what to look for while fishing. Though he tends to ice fish alone so he has some quiet time to reflect on himself, he also likes fishing together with you as a bonding activity. He doesn’t make fun of you if you fail to reel in a catch, simply giving you some pointers on what you can do to improve your chances next time.

🐋 To Childe, Christmas means spending time with family. Every year, he always makes an effort to celebrate the holiday together with his family, and after getting into a relationship with him, you become a part of his family celebrations, as well. His family welcomes you with open arms and teaches you about their culture’s unique customs and dishes when it comes to celebrating the holiday. You are urged to try new dishes, participate in festive activities, and help convince the children that Santa is real when their father comes in dressed in the costume of one. Even if you feel a bit awkward about celebrating together with his family, Childe appreciates you a lot for taking the chance. To him, three things are most important in his life: self-improvement, his family, and you. Seeing you get along ith his family makes him really happy.

🐋 His main goal when choosing presents is picking something you’ll like. The secondary goal is picking something that will impress you. As such, he doesn’t limit himself when buying you a gift. If you’re into clothing, he’ll buy you a ton of high-quality, high-end fashion that costs a crazy amount of money. If you’re more into artsy interests, he’ll buy you the most expensive art tools and supplies on the market so your art won’t be limited by money. If you like sports, he buys all kinds of fancy gadgets to make working out easier for you. He buys the best that his money can afford without really questioning it because he believes you deserve only the best.

🐋 Mistletoe isn’t a part of his culture, but he finds the idea of it quite fun. He definitely wants to try it with you and will go as far as carrying a branch of it in his pocket and whipping it out to hold above your heads whenever he wants a kiss from you. Kissing whenever you two accidentally meet under a mistletoe is all well and good, but he thinks it’s more fun to get kisses out of you this way whenever he wants. You might have to snatch the mistletoe away from him because he can get too carried away with constantly pestering you for more kisses. He just can’t get enough of your lips.

[kuni-kuun]

hey uh, consider:

Dazai was an immortal. He thought that if lost the one he loved, he'd never be sworn to another and grieve for the rest of his life and yet- Over and over again, he'd keep finding reincarnations. Again and again, he experienced love and heartbreak. Painful, so incredibly painful, but he loved them. He did it anyways.

They could never remember him. Only a warm sense of familiarity, bits and pieces of past lives and fleeting memories. And yet, they'd always fall in love. Always.

The blond haired man with golden grey eyes, who loved to wear dark shirts and enjoyed the sunlight on his skin, and how he liked tea over coffee. Dazai knew him in and out, countless years of living with reincarnation after reincarnation, many many lives. He looked the same, every life. But his name would change, sometimes he had a beauty mark, sometimes he had teeth a little sharper than normal

Dazai found him again. The man was walking somewhere, a bag packed full of files sat on his shoulder.

In this life, he was wearing glasses. His golden hair was tied into a low ponytail, just like he always did. Dazai knew that this was him. Another lifetime, another him. The name was different, but the personality was the same.

The files on his shoulder were an indication of his job, he obviously worked for some kind of office. (sorry for the long post/ask lmao) also: some past life ideas? idk [a photographer named Masaru (last life)] He took each picture from his partner- his past lover, and looked them over. Each one was beautiful. He had never been to these places in this life, but he felt a strange pang of nostalgia. Pictures of the landscapes, of the mountains and oceans, of the fields and cities, of the shrines and the docks. Some of them had Dazai in them. Smiling, laughing, posing. Some were at his house. Not this life- but the past. He couldn't remember it at all, but it felt right at home. A longing for a home he never lived in.

[a band singer/guitarist (bcs band au rocks, last last last? life) named Kazuya] He flipped one of the photographs. The date was scrawled in pencil on the back. 1947. The photo was of Kunikida's birthday. The name on the cake read 'Kazuya'.

"A while back too..." "This must be from a second, maybe third lifetime ago." He looked closer at the background. A guitar lay in the corner, a drumset glimmered in the dim lighting. "A band?"

"You were quite the charmer, weren't you?" Dazai chuckles, thinking of how often Kazuya charmed his audiences with his music, voice and stage presence.

"... You had the crowd eating out of your hands at your concerts- they loved you."

anyways i am dumping stuff on you now (you don't have to do anything, i just like talking) (sorry again for bothering you) (there's so much text here you get a stroke) (i suffer from 'won't shut up' syndrome and i think that's why i have no friends) (i understand if you literally don't want to read this lmao)

OKAY the REAL reason why i havent gotten around to posting this ask is because I WANTED TO DRAW SOMETHING FOR IT 😭😭 BUT I NEVER GOT AROUND TO... I was so shocked whilw reading it i wanted to make something for it so badly but now it got buried ... ueueue im sorry

BUT ANYWAYS oh my GOODNESS ur writing. Im so. Woahf..the descriptions and the scenes you set up is so good wosg.. i have a bad track record w reincarnation aus bro the past ones i read made me CRY and break down anrd roll around i cant survive thjs one too . Whatevr . Im normal i

[emojellyace08]

Lookism Men x Artist! Reader 🖤🥀🎨Part 2

Warnings: None Genre: fluff ☁️ Reader is gender neutral (and in an established relationship with the character of choice :)

︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵︵‿

Hudson Ahn (Ahn Hyung-Seong)

He doesn't really mind about your hobby as long if it's nothing too weird or bothersome. What matters is that you're having fun and you're comfortable with it.

Hudson will also be curious on how you managed to draw things. I think he'll kind of get close to you when he sees you drawing body anatomy and sketches of fighting poses. He really thinks it's cool. He also thinks it's very creative when you draw Shonen manga like Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, etc. (I headcannon that Hudson watches anime secretly since he thinks that the fighting scenes are so cool). But no matter what art style you're using, Hudson thinks that you're really talented especially when you're passionate about it.

He also doesn't mind it if you asked him for a picture so you can use him as a reference photo. Sure, he has other things to do like training with Taesoo but he guessed that a little break is not really a bad idea. He'll be looking forward for the results while he's away training and not seeing you for who knows how long. Taesoo will ask what he did on his breaks and he'll simply reply "I just spend time with Y/N. She/he just asked me to be her/his model for her/his sketch before I go. It's fine I guess".

And after a really long time of not meeting each other because of his missions and personal problems, he'll visit you again after beating some fucker's ass. He'll ask about your progress and if you're already finished it will make him surprised (though it's not obvious). He knows that it takes a lot of time and patience to make a good artwork just like training for combat, but he guessed that you're just so responsible at managing your time or you're just really good at it. After you gave him the sketch for him to take a good look at it, he'll be surprised on how you did a good job and he'll compliment it "It looks pretty". "Tha-Thank you. I wonder if you would want me to take pictures of you, if you don't mind". "Sure I've got nothing to do anyways". And if he's not satisfied, he'll give constructive criticism on it (though he won't ask for you to draw a new portrait of him since he doesn't like it when you get burned out). He'll also ask you to keep it since he can't promise that he can preserve it's beauty because of his work.

Hudson is your number one fan even though it's not really obvious at times. You're his precious cinnamon roll that he'll protect whoever tries to mess with you :).

Eli Jang (Jang Hyun)

Also your number one biggest fan (he still prioritizes a nice and helpful partner, but also having a talented someone can make his heart explode).

He also finds your own artsyle amazing whether you draw anime/cartoonish, realism/semi-realism, landscape, abstract or gory/horror (though don't show your gory art to Yenna she may cry her eyes out lmao). I headcannon that Eli himself likes drawing. When he's younger and when he was struggling with his personal issues, he would either hum songs that his mother used to sing to him or he would draw a picture of what a happy family looks like since he never got to experienced to be raised in a loving and accepting place, though he never finds it as his future career. But drawing makes him calm and express his negative emotions on a simple paper, so having a partner who also shares the same hobby as him makes you and Eli's bond a bit stronger. He also really admires how you took a simple activity into the next level like drawing everyday things or events in your style and interpretation.

He also doesn't mind it when you asked him for a picture for you to use it as a reference photo. Though expect for him to snap a photo with him holding his baby with that sweetest smile ever (he'll only do it though when you're super close with him). And after giving him your work he'll put it on a frame that hangs up on their home along with other pictures of the Hostel Members and yourself since he just found you very special, especially when you give him something that you made by yourself (he's very sentimental). "You're hanging it up on the wall?" you asked as he smiles while looking at your artwork of him holding Yenna. "Of course. Your works are beautiful and it means so much to me. My family is the most important thing in my life. You, Yenna and the others are like precious gems that needs to be protected and be taken care of. So I'll do my best to protect you even if it means in hurting others so all of you will be safe" "Damn, you actually sound like my parent/s". you replied back as his eyes widened at your reaction as Eli chuckled at your response. "I'm Hostel's Big Daddy after all". "And that's why I love you".

Eli also appreciates it when you babysit Yenna and teaching her how to color! Since Eli's really busy and tired balancing his high school life and fighting the other crews who tries to mess with his family, sometimes he can get a bit lazy of taking care of the little girl (But I don't think that he's a careless father he still spends his extra time with Yenna). But taking turns with him of taking care of the girl can be a relief of him, (though he doesn't assign you for watching out his child since he understands that you need to study too and have your personal space but he'll trust you more if you take care of her). He might even join drawing with the both of you! It can be a special bond and activity that you, Eli and Yenna will do every time you're both free and in the mood to take a break (the others will join too but it can be a mess yet still very fun!). "Yenna you drew a snowman! It looks so cute!" "BA BA Y/N!".

Eli really value you as a really good and supportive partner, so supporting you on your hobby is no big deal either.

Warren Chae (Chae Won Seok)

Fanboy #3. Seriously, he thinks that your talent/hobby is so cool!

Warren finds it fascinating how you draw. He also likes the concentrated face that you make when you're too serious of sketching your reference and not getting it right. "Y/N (why do you look so annoyed?)" he will ask curiously and peek through your sketchbook as you hide it pressing the paper on your chest. "It's nothing" "I noticed that the nose looks weird (like a penis)". "WARREN!"

Just like Zack, he'll feel so special when you asked him for a picture as a reference photo. He'll be so awkward about it lmao (he secretly wants you to draw him anyways soooo....). He'll be posing like an idiot while you scold him for doing a bad job as your personal model. "C'mon Warren act natural." "Like this?" then he'll put his hand on the back of his head with a pouty look making you sigh (though he doesn't like you getting pissed off by him so he'll try his best to be obedient but he just can't take things seriously sometimes lol).

And he'll be so hyped and excited to see your progress! He'll ask about your work if its finished almost every time, "Y/N (How's) the sketch? Is it done?" "No Warren, I haven't finished it yet I just need to add some details." "Okie (I'll wait for it!)" And if you are done and you gave it to him, his eyes will be that emoji ✨🥺✨because he's so amazed that you did a very good job with it! "WOAH Y/N YOU REALLY SLAYED THIS!" "Ye-Yeah thanks".

He will also flex you on Sally, Eli, Derek, Max, Heather heck even Olly. "Y/N so good at drawing (she/he's my everything)". "Yeah, that's why you're such a simp for her/him." "HEY! (BE QUIET!)".

If Warren is one of the approved simps, he'll be also your fan. Just seeing you happy and progressing your talents/skills and also as a good person really warms his heart >3 (keep up the good work!).

Johan Seong (Seong Yohan)

Okay he looks so angsty in this picture though (I just wanna see him happy for once).

If you're childhood friends with him, he'll be in shock and awe on how you managed to draw cute things. "WoW Y/N how are you so good at these stuff?" "Ha... Well, you just need some practice and patience in anything that you do you know. I'm not really good at first but I managed to pass the beginner level I guess". He will also look up to you as a role model especially if he's crushing on you. "I wanna be cool like Y/N too so I'll practice boxing just like Zack is doing right now!" . But if you met him after the God Dog arc he'll be more quiet and reserved. I can imagine the scenario, you and Johan with his dogs will be on the same park while he stares at you sketching something. He will be blushing and he will look away when you noticed him watching you doing your own thing (he doesn't want you to feel uncomfortable). "Sorry are you alright sir?" "Ye-Yeah I'll go no-" "No it's alright really! There's no other seats in here and I noticed you watching me draw but it's okay." "You sure?" "Yeah. Your name?" and the rest is history.

Johan also doesn't mind it if you asked for a photo of him as a reference. Though I headcannon that he'll be mildly uncomfortable about it since he secretly feels insecure about himself. "You want a photo of me?" "Yes!" "What for?" he will ask bluntly but deep down he'll be screaming inside while his cheeks are rosy pink. His crush asking his photo? His day couldn't get any better. "Well I was out of ideas for my drawings and I thought that you'll be a perfect reference" you asked as he looks at you overthinking. What if you're secretly part of the Workers and you've been a spy all along so that you can share his information to Yoojin and destroy him. "Just promise me one thing." "Sure!" he leans closer to you making close contact making you blush. "You won't leak my photo everywhere, got it?" "Su-Sure. I promise".

He secretly likes it more when you draw him pictures of animals like dogs, especially Eden! (He's just like Vasco fr). "You drew this?" Johan asked checking out your work as you smiled back at him. "Yep! I think your dog is cute so I decided to draw her!" you replied cheerfully as he gave you a sly smirk, you look so cute when you give a happy expression to him it makes his day better. "Keep up the good work" Johan said while ruffling your hair.

Having a someone who is kind, warm hearted and also talented is a win for Johan. He can't help but to adore you!

[armoreddragon]

how did you first get into making this stuff? do you enjoy it?

There's a lot of possible answers here.

For a couple years after college, I worked at a laser engraving and cutting shop. Leather was a material we knew we could cut, but nobody ever asked for it, so I looked up some basic info and put together some masks as demo pieces. Then I got fired for unrelated reasons, but decided to keep going with the masks on my own. A decade later, I’m still going.

I've always enjoyed making things. The focused calm of working a craft, the challenge of finding the problems that need solving, followed by the satisfaction of holding in your hands something that hadn't exited before. It’s hard to beat that feeling. If you haven’t done it for a while, I highly recommend making a habit of it.

Sometime in college I realized that if I kept making things just for myself, I would eventually run out of both space in my closet and money in my bank account. So I took the best photos I could of what I had, and started posting it up on Etsy.

In high school ceramics class, I had an idea to try and make a flexible dragon skin out of little bits of clay, all glazed differently. I had no idea how to do this. A friend of mine was like "Yo it sounds like you want to look up how to make chainmail for that." She was right.

I work in architecture by day, and the decision to do that was unrelated but definitely related to my crafting obsession. Designing a kitchen, a café, a house, takes months or years of work, most of which is tedious details like picking tile patterns or looking up exactly what order to layer different sealant tapes to make sure the walls are watertight. Designing a crafting project gives me a creative outlet that is immediate. I can sit down for an afternoon and take an idea from a sketch on trace paper, to a final mask formed up out of leather. There's an excitement to that. A reminder that, yes, I can make cool stuff quickly, without needing to sink two years into a project.

For a while I worked to teach myself to draw. I managed to get pretty decent at sketching from life, with a moderate understanding of anatomy and perspective. I liked art, so I thought I wanted to make art. But I struggled with it. If I was drawing something from my imagination, no matter how well I managed to put the lines down on the paper, I would ultimately look at it and just be sad that it didn't exist in the real world. So eventually I gave up on the drawing part, and focused on the part I seemed to actually care about.

I can't envision a version of myself that doesn't make things. I think on some fundamental level, I measure my worth as a person based on what I put forth into the world. I don't know what else to do.

When you decide to turn a hobby into a business, it of course takes some of the delight away. It's no longer something you do when you want to relax and have some fun. It becomes an obligation, to make and ship orders on time, to pack up your stuff and bring it to craft fairs, to track your expenses and file your taxes, to stay on top of the constantly changing social media landscape. But it also lights a fire under your ass. You can't just keep making the same thing you made three years ago–you have to keep making new stuff, keep improving your techniques, keep reaching for new ideas that have never been made before. You lose some of the joy, but you gain a lot of satisfaction.

All through my childhood I filled my closet with little handicrafts kits, that I got as gifts or that caught my eye when following my dad to the art store. Calligraphy, wood carving, weaving looms, boondoggles, spirographs, knitting, crochet, fancy nautical knots, sculpey, and more that I can't remember. After all those different things, I’m so glad that I found a couple specific crafts that really grabbed me, that take enough work to develop expertise, that have expansive enough applications and possibilities, that I could devote a decade or more of my time to focusing on them.

I’d been interested in the furry fandom ever since little fantasy reading teenager me tried looking for stories where the dragons were the main characters, and I found people online who were doing just that. There’s a powerful do-it-yourself attitude that’s baked into the core of the fandom: The world isn’t giving us the art that we want, so we’re going to make it ourselves. I keep having ideas for things that I want, that don’t exist yet. If I want them to exist, I have to be the one to make them.

My dad was a photographer, and I spent many childhood afternoons with him in his darkroom in the basement, delightedly washing negatives, turning them gently over in their canisters of chemicals, sitting still in the dark as Dad unspooled the sensitive film, squinting in the red light as the projected images magically re-emerged on the clean white paper. What could be more amazing, more normal, more right, than having your own little space to work such magic for yourself.

In about 2008 or 9 I ordered my first batch of metal scales, with the idea of trying to make a dragon tail in time for Halloween. It took probably a couple weeks to figure out how to make it, and within a week I had thought of how to do it better and disassembled the entire thing. By the 3rd or 4th time I'd rebuilt it, I thought that it was probably good enough that I wouldn't feel embarrassed to post it online and see if someone might want to buy it.

Of course I love working on these things I make. But I don't think that's exactly why I make them.

[tolbachik-art]

How does one become good at drawing planets

Hey, thank you so much for the kind words & the question!

I'm still definitely a beginner, and have a long way to go, but it really warms my heart to hear you say that. For starters, getting over any perfectionism you may have is a big must!

I know a lot of people always say this, but practice, time, patience, doing studies, and having fun are the most important ways to get better!

I'll walk you through my progress, and what I've done to get where I am today with things! I will warn you, it did turn out to be a long winded post. If you want the jist of it, you can scroll to the bottom!

So, I've been doing digital art since say, mid 2015 or so. I didn't have much of a grasp on art, and while I grew up loving space and space exploration, I didn't quite understand how things worked.

On August 2nd, 2015 (when I was just 15), I posted my first piece on DeviantArt.

This was my first foray into space art. It may not be the best, but I remember being very excited about it, and actually making a piece like that.

This first piece is a big sign of what issues I would face with space art until very recently; a lack of detailing, leading to a soft appearance.

This would plague me for quite some time; I would put very little effort into detailing, and wouldn't even zoom in on the canvas for quite some time. I would do things from afar, not wanting to zoom in for some weird reason. This can be seen in the following paintings, as well.

This one, also of Neptune, was posted two years after the first one. The framework is kind of there, but only barely. The perspective is off, and once again, the detailing is too minimal and too soft. On top of that, the shading isn't nearly as harsh enough. Compositionally though, I was starting to get a grasp of some basics.

There would be a brief artless period in my life from 2017 to 2020; every once in awhile, I wouldn't do art for a few years. Then, suddenly, I would get back into it and put out several pieces, all before growing quiet once more.

2020, once Covid-19 started happening, would see the return of me to the world of art now that I was suddenly without a job.

Once again, Neptune will be a demonstrator of how my skills changed.

I was starting to get there; in terms of composition, much better than my older works. Coloring is a bit off, but overall, I was starting to actually understand how art works, and why things like detailing were important. One big thing here though; I was still painting with color. That would be one of the last big things for me to get over, although I didn't even know it then.

From the period of 2020-2021, I made a lot of paintings and mission patches for my one friend's KSP youtube series (seen here).

Doing what were essentially mini paintings, I learned a *lot* about composition and detailing. I think the one I spent the longest on was Heywood, in which I did my best to follow imagery from Voyager. Looking back now, however, it isn't quite accurate; that's the south pole! I still had a lot to learn in regards to doing accurate portrayals of celestial bodies, down to inclinations and the like.

Anyways, doing all that really burnt me out, on top of doing free art for people I didn't even know. That's another big lesson; only do gift art if you feel up to it, and for a friend. Do not do it for strangers.

It wasn't until late 2022, in September, that I actually finished a piece again. My illness had been pretty bad, leaving me bedbound for quite some time. However, during that time, I hadn't lost my skills thankfully.

This would be one of my first somewhat decent portrayals of Jupiter and one of his moons, using SpaceEngine for getting reference images and making sure all the parts were in the right place. This would set the groundwork for later paintings, as I always use SpaceEngine now to make sure I have the orientations and sizes of things in the sky right! It's been an invaluable tool, I quite literally don't know where I'd be without it.

Anyways; after that, it was very sparse once more, up until quite literally this year. Sickness sprung up again, and I had a rough winter due to the loss of my grandfather to Covid-19, among other things.

2024 saw, in my personal opinion, the biggest and best change to my art yet.

PAINTING IN VALUES!!!!!!!!!

I cannot stress this enough; understanding what values are, and how to see them in every day life literally changed my entire perspective on things. On life! I cannot go outside anymore without comparing and contrasting values of objects and natural phenomena.

This was before values. Not bad, but still not great. Detailing was getting there. This is from March 27th, 2024, and was part of an art trade with @dan-asd of their worldbuilding project.

And this, this is 3 months later, from July 16th, 2024. Commission for @corvidist, my very first. This was a massive leap in the way I understood and processed the world around me, and in turn, what my art looked like.

Everything is in values. Your phone, with the seemingly pure black LCD touchscreen to the blue and purple phone case. The clouds, with their bright white tops and dark bottoms. The river, with the murky green waters contrasting with the bright orange stones. All values, just differing shades of gray with color added! Everything is light! Everything is the absence of light! Light is the entirety of your piece; you just have to understand where light falls, and where it doesn't.

Apart from that, everything is just rudimentary shapes and lines. The universe is made up of different kinds of lines and shapes. Entire worlds can be reduced to light and lines, people can be too. You just need to know what to look for, and how to process that into artwork.

I cannot stress how much understanding that, and doing tiny little paintings really helped me get a much better grasp on things.

Take some time, get a small canvas out, and paint your favorite celestial body. Take as much or as little time as you need, and just have fun with it. Play with color, play with values, whatever your heart desires!

Once you're done, take a step back, and compare it to the picture. Analyze what areas you didn't enjoy, and what areas you did. Look for what doesn't line up with the picture, and think of how you could better approach it. Think of how you can change the lighting to make it seem more real, what effects are needed to bring it to life.

Art is the process of taking what you love, and putting it to paper (digital or not!). Focus on what you enjoy doing; it will all come naturally with time. You'll start to pick up on things, big and small, that will bring your pieces closer and closer to what you want it to be.

And please, for the love of everything that is holy, have fun with it and don't overthink it! You will be so disappointed in yourself if you hype yourself up for a piece, only for it to come out not the way you expected. That's ok! That's part of learning! It can be disheartening, but if you take the time to look at how and why you don't like the piece, it'll come out so much better next time around!

Talk to people, too! Talking with my dear email-pal Eduardo was my first step into understanding astronomical art, and thinking on how to improve my work. He really helped me step into the right direction when I was just starting out, which I am still eternally grateful for to this day. I think of him and his work often; he really was a massive help.

In more recent times, talking to @whirligig-girl helped me to get a better grip on realism, and how better to portray celestial bodies. She was a huge help in giving me pointers for fixing up my View From Amalthea piece, as well as the ones that followed after. Talking to artists more experienced than you and getting critiques is always a huge help; it can really show you things in a new light!

Speaking of, don't be afraid to let a piece rest and marinate for a bit. A day, a week, or even a year. It doesn't matter. You will come back to it, and you will see new things you never saw before, and think of new ways to improve upon it. I have a piece that's been in limbo for YEARS, and I still have yet to actually get to paint it (the top one, the alien one (i will never finish that Uranus piece though lol)). I have it perfectly envisioned now, so waiting really did pay off in the end.

Essentially, it all boils down to this:

Everything is light, or lack thereof.

Don't overthink it, and have fun.

Do not do free art for strangers.

Everything is shapes and lines.

Step back and look at your pieces, deconstructing them in your mind or on paper.

Examine your everyday life, and see how everything interacts in terms of values and color.

Do studies, please god, do studies they're so fun and eyeopening

Warmup! Warm! Up! WARMUP!!!!! They are critical to getting your mind in the art headspace! You will feel less interested and less focused otherwise!

Don't worry about your medium, just do what you enjoy and works best for you! There is no such thing as a perfect brush!

Talk to other artists in fields you enjoy!

I love talking about art, I really could go on for hours, but I will stop myself here.

You decide what you get out of art; it's your skill, your time, so do what you desire! These are only anecdotes about my experiences with art; they aren't universal, but I do hope they've helped. If you have any questions, any questions at all, don't hesitate to reach out!

Lastly, here are two resources for you for any future artworks you may do:

I got this book many years ago, but the lessons it gave me were invaluable. I mean it; they helped me to understand the importance of doing studies, and for detailing!

Paid membership, but an organization dedicated to doing astronomical art. I have yet to join, but I've heard lovely things about it! Hoping to join later this year, funds allowing.

I will finally end this here. Thank you so much for the ask, and I hope you have a lovely rest of your day!

[iztea]

Maybe you have some drawing tips for beginners?

Your style is incredibly beautiful and it just inspires this thing inside me to grab my iPad and start drawing but unfortunately I have no idea where to even begin

Or maybe you have some recs where to look to learn how to draw stuff?

But I understand completely that it’s your thing and artists should never feel pressured to share all their techniques and secrets, you worked hard on it!

I just really really love your art to the point where I just look at it for 30 minutes straight with this big feeling in my chest

<3

ah it was never about being secretive, i'm pretty open about my drawing process since gatekeeping knowledge is a big pet peeve of mine. It was more like,, laziness because writing a cohesive and helpful drawing tutorial is pretty difficult and i wouldn't even know where to start; i'm afraid i'll get maybe too technical and what have you.

As for tips for beginners, i've shared plenty on my couriouscat so you can scroll through the answers there, i also have some drawing timelapses on my twitter account as well (albeit you'll have to scroll a little)

I'm very flattered you feel that way about my art, it really means a lot to me and i'm glad to have inspired you to draw as well that's awesome and i wish you best of luck!

I actually don't know how different drawing on an iPad is compared to a graphic tablet+desktop, so I am actually pretty clueless in that regard. I think Procreate is the most used digital art app for iPad so you can start by getting it and familiarizing yourself with the UI. I think this step is often overlooked. The brushes and the chosen program can make or break the drawing experience. If you simply find yourself not enjoying Procreate, experiment with other apps or maybe try switching to a graphic tablet, maybe that feels better and is more suited to your tastes.

To be completely honest, one "bad" piece of advice that i should probably keep to myself is to draw something you actually enjoy: fanart, Pretty Girl Portrait(tm), your cat, landscapes etc even if it's above your skill level (becoming obsessed/ fixated on some character from a piece of media also works wonders i'm just gonna throw that out there). The main point is to actually care about your chosen subject in order to get inspired and to have that inner desire of "doing them justice" aka drawing them well. The traditional art learning route probably involves studying the fundamentals, shading spheres and cones and simple 3D forms blablbablah which. Yeah ! sure that's probably better advice but i'm telling you what will make you want to keep going and not get discouraged after a few failed attempts.

As for the drawing subject, I highly recommend having photo references to guide you.. you always need refs it's a recurring thing. My fastest artworks are the ones where I have the right references. the less references the more difficult it is to draw something

As a beginner it is also a good practice to draw OVER your photo reference to get the proportions right ( i'm not talking about literally tracing the contour of a face or limb ( just an example ), but moreso identifying the Main shape which makes up that body part and observe how long is it in respect to the other components, how does it connect to the other parts etc - big difference. Tracing won't help you in the long run).

Another thing you can do is to study your favourite artists and see how They tackle whatever it is that you like in their work. how do they simplify facial features? what about anatomy? color/ light etc and kinda reverse engineer your way through their process. ( but i highly recommend to just keep these practice sketches to yourself, and to not share them on social media- unless you get the artist's permission)

This is how i got into drawing and what i did back then, again, for more technical hands-on information i did answer similar CCs before so with a little bit of stalking you'll find them in no time

I wanna finish this with some resources that helped me:

>youtube guys - sinix, ahmed aldoori, marco bucci, and also just speedpaints in general i highly recommend watching those

>for simplified anatomy i found @/ taco1704 's ref sheets to be very helpful but ........... I'm pretty dry here i just look up refs on Pinterest tbvh

speaking of, here's my pinterest i have a bunch of art related boards board cool stuff overall maybe they can help guide you towards some direction or inspire you in some way idk

ok i kinda suck in the resource department listeN. im starving too just.................. watch youtube speedpaints ok

SORRY IT'S SO LONGGGBGGG i hope it was at least a bit helpful? this was all over the place... I'll try to come up with a tutorial as well but i really gotta be careful with how i go about it. I'll leave you with this for the time being. Again, thank you a lot for the kind words, I really am very grateful and touched esp by that last part about staring with the big feeling stuff eeeeeeeeeeeeee really wow T T that's so lovely and a big compliment thanks ty ly

[epilogue-and-prologue]

What tattoo do they have, where and what’s the significance if there is any? - The Hobbit Edition

These are head canons. I let my imagination run wild with this one. Hope you have fun reading it. At least as much as I had writing it ;). Warnings: Mentions of tattoos, weapons, death, swearing too and the usual: this franchise doesn't belong to me.

UNBETA'D: And I'll probably die on that hill.

TAGS: @heilith @sotwk @asgardianhobbit98 @middleearthpixie @glassgulls @evenstaredits @fizzyxcustard

Note: Headcanon of mine: They have a common tattoo for the whole Company. It would probably be the symbol left on Bilbo's door the first time they all meet. Or an inside joke, at Bilbo's depend I'd wager.

Bilbo: No. None whatsoever. It never interested him in the first place. (That's what he tells Frodo, but he has the one with the Company, although he did complain the whole time about it. Once finished and satisfied with what it looked like, did not seem to bother him so much. He has it somewhere private, where he would not be showing it on accident to anyone, but somewhere he can also see like his calf or above his heart.)

Bifur (cousin to Bombur and Bofur): No one besides his kin knows, considering the axe in his head. I would feel a lot relating to battle and the history of his people. For the placement, arms, legs, some part of his torso, back, everywhere really. You have a needle some ink and a good design and he's in.

Ori (brother to Nori and Dori): The youngest. One. In common with the company. Wants to have more but his brothers are holding him back. He's brave but a little bit daft so they prefer to be sure they all survive before doing any crazy things. (He tried to get one tattooed of a grape of raisin as a bet with Fili and Kili. They stopped him before he could even ask)

Dori (brother to Ori and Nori): The oldest. He would never admit to it because he has some decorum, but he probably had a few made when he was drunk with his friends a long time ago. On unmentionable places (his left buttcheek for example) of unmentionable designs (wine bottles and/or naked ladies).

Bombur (cousin of Bifur): Loads of them. Very intricate details, portraits of dwarf-women, drawings he made himself of trees and prairies, very bucolic.

Gloin (Gimli's father): Not much. His wife's name when he was younger. She gave him grief for it but he never regretted it. A legendary axe along one of his thighs, the details are uncanny.

Nori (brother of Dori and Ori) : A dragon. He would get a dragon before the fall of Erebor and keep it as a reminder afterwards. He adds tons of coins and jewellery. It’s a whole piece on his back. Impressive work.

Oin: He is the tattoo artist, I feel. Old enough, some medical knowledge. Chances are he misinterpreted a few ones. He was taught in Erebor so he is not as steady as he used to, but he always manages to get someone's help everytime. He never lets anyone touch his tattoo stuff unless he is present. Himself has a harp and several instruments.

Fili: He’d have one with his brother, mother and uncle for the Durin line. Maybe behind his ear. I can see a beautiful blade, down the length of his torso from his upper ribcage to his hips.

Kili: Same for Fili. But he's a romantic so I'd say, on his inner arm or his wrist. He'd go for pieces of poetry, flowers and landscapes of mountains.

Dwalin : Everywhere. A lot of geometric figures are arranged in patterns he only knows the reason for. Fili and Kili have a theory about an escape he lead with those tattoos. Dwalin never denies nor confirms it, he finds it immensly hilarious to see them try to figure it out.

Bofur: Names of his lost ones. Pun jokes in drawings, different moustaches. If the chance comes, a portrait of his One on his lower back. Because he is a cheesy, cheesy dwarf.

Balin: One in common with Thorin, that’s for sure. Something they've been through together. One for the company.

Thorin: Words of poetry or song he’d adored as a younger dwarf, some symbolic ones like the one for the Durin line, and the one for the company. One of an animal, (I'm influenced by some drawings I saw though), something symbolic with a greater meaning. No decorative ones.

Bard: I don't think it ever crossed his mind. He'd consider it as a branding of sorts and between his kids, hiding his lineage and the loss of his wife, he has enough issues as it is.

Thranduil: Has enough scars for a lifetime. But if his lover has some he’d be fascinated. Honestly, repulsed at first because why would you scar your beautiful skin like this, but if they are his love, they have taste so the tattoo design would be one he quite enjoys too.

[chronologically-challenged]

passing you a microphone. infodump about something you like !!

:0!!!!!! Hi!!!!!! ❤️❤️❤️

My first thought was Super Mario Sunshine so let's go with that.

SMS aka the game that is such a mess but I adore it dearly. 2CPhoenix has an incredible 11 video part series going into extreme detail on every single level of SMS (both worlds and individual levels) and every single little detail they could possibly get their hand on in regarding the game itself.

Super Mario Sunshine is a bit of an inaccessible game. It demands you to get good at the platforming and its camera doesn't help you do that. It's a big vague in how you actually complete it, and its controls aren't immediately intuitive as any other in the series. Also many of the blue coin placements are stupid tbh. You can tell this game had a rushed development Like All The GameCube Era (Melee and Wind Waker also are Like That bc of this).

But once you get past the rough edges, you get one of the most incredible feeling games out there. The movement is fast and fluid, the level design practically begs you to play on every surface of the world's, and yes, the platforming can be difficult especially in the secret levels, but there's a satisfaction in completing these challenges. The blue coins can be stupid but it's so incredibly satisfying planning out routes to collect them as you go through the game. The discovery elements of SMS aren't a big draw for me, but as a collectathon, the blue coins are incredibly flawed but make each level more dynamic. Suddenly empty spaces that had little use are places where you need to platform carefully to get a blue coin. You're suddenly much more aware of the space itself as vehicles to platform on as well. (But why are some of the blue coins only available for certain levels like whhhhyyyyyyyyyy. You have to look up guides for this game you just gotta).

Also spin jump my beloved. They nerfed you so badly in later games but SMS spin jump is one of the most interesting tools they ever made in Mario. It's difficult to master and understand because inherently you have to have good control on the control stick to be able to accurately go the direction you want to go, and if you play for the first time, you're just gonna end up spinning in a random direction. But as a tool, it is your highest jump, with a slow descent so in the middle of the jump you can use it to combo into a hover, letting you gain a huge amount of height and distance simultaneously. It also has a lot of momentum so you can combo a spin jump into a dive to cover distances you otherwise can't over gaps. Every tool that Mario has is useful for SOMETHING. Dives, groundpounds, hover, spins, even sidles. I cannot emphasize enough just how well designed and fluid Mario's movement is in this game. Some folks say otherwise (mostly because it's a little uncanny going from SM64 tbh. Those two games feel just similiar enough for the skills from one to transfer to the other, but offbeat if that makes sense. Jumps a little different, no long jump in SMS, no wall slide in SM64, etc).

This is nothing on just how fun and expressive the world of SMS is. People usually go into it as a positive no matter if it's a criticism or praise video, so I won't go into here. But I adore the Piantas, the Noki, and just the whole landscape is gorgeous and fun to explore. It's such an interesting way to do level design. So much water centric worlds while none of them feel like a water level per say.

Also. The glitches. I need to talk about the glitches. I play with so many glitches and tbh it makes the game more fun. There are some truly stupid parts of the game, and there happen to be a lot of glitches that skip the worst ones. For example, you can skip the casino section entirely if you go above the curtain. You can just spin hover over and grab a piece of invisible geometry to jump over the invisible barrier to the secret level pipe. There's also a secret level where you're intended to take yoshi on what should be a ten minute journey across various boat rides and you can just... clip through a wall and jump across the ocean floor to get to the island instead. It's so good I love it.

This game has so much jank as a product of a rushed development. Some of the lack of polish is bad and some of it leads to interesting design choices that you wouldn't get in a cleaner development. There are glitches in this game that lead to sliding off platforms and not grabbing things you want to, and others that let you accidently cling to the ceiling of the world, store momentum from rockets to jump across the entire map, and skip through tedious elements from the rougher parts of the development.

SMS is one of those games that you have to know the quirks of it to love and even then, even in my irl friend group who are fighting/platformer nerds, it's devisive to say the least. But I've 100%'d this game 8 times in my life. It's my comfort game. I love it dearly.

I could go on but Ill leave it there!!! Thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk about my fave game ❤️❤️❤️

[lokidotir]

Here's the OC Dice Generator I came up with!

I had three categories I wanted and had to think real hard on how to make them all fit on 6 sides of a dice.

1. Species

I had pretty large groups for each, but being dice it still gives it a bit of a handicap (which is why I like these challenges).

I had

Animal; Human; Monster; Mythical; Alien; Spooky

2. Color Pallette

A huge handicap for creativity is the color scheme. A lot of creations are very much determined by what colors you have available, but sometimes you sketch something out before you think of colors and then struggle to find complementing colors to the art.

I had

Pop; Dark; Warm; Cool; Pale; Rainbow

3. Bonus Time

I really wanted something to make each piece unique in a six-option-only kinda way. Some on the sides have two options to either choose from or use both prompts. But the idea of the challenge is to use the prompt given and work your creativity to its max to make it work.

I also figured this last dice could be rolled twice for maximum creativity spark.

I had

Wings/Horns; Emotion; Accessories; Weather; Spots/Stripes; Pet

This was quite fun to do and I'm excited to find out what kind of creative OCs I can come up with! The whole point of the dice was to help you along with prompts ro make you think and help break you out of your art block.

You could totally use these for backgrounds/landscapes as well. The prompts I used were a mixture of things I really like drawing on a character and prompts I probably would never have tried otherwise. But trying new things is part of having fun!

Anyone who's interested is more then welcome to create your own OC Dice Generator using my prompts or your own. It would be amazing to see the art blocks slowly chipped away with these little blocks of prompts!

@fanatess I told you much too long ago I would tag you when I finished making these :)

[natelia-aldelliz]

Guys... Listen I know I said I'd draw something for valentine's day but I had a bit of a rough week sooooo I'm just going to write it out instead, maybe I'll finish drawing it some day, maybe not. It's behind a show more because it's long.

(also there's talks about having sex but no actual sex, and like, general warnings about Ghost's backstory but it's very vague here).

Soap was hanging around outside, trying to bring himself to do something, anything. But the weather was nice for a February day, and the sun was out, and it was making him feel like a cat basking in the heat.

An arm wrapped itself around his shoulders, a huge body suddenly weighing on him. Ghost.

Soap hummed comfortably. This day was getting better by the minute. Any chill he might have felt from being outside in a tank top out of pure Scottish spite was instantly soothed.

Simon often times saw himself as a cold man, freezing to the touch, hidden behind a layer of ice. A proper little Elsa, Soap almost snorted out loud. The truth was that while yes, his fingers and toes' temperature was sometimes abysmal, especially in bed, the rest of him was the warmest place Johnny had ever been.

"I've got something for you in our room," Ghost whispered against his throat, making Soap shiver.

Simon had begun calling Soap's room theirs a few weeks ago and Johnny couldn't have enough of it. He was so in love it genuinely hurt sometimes to restrain himself from squeezing him to death.

"Is that so?" he purrs, knowing how Ghost likes that. If this day didn't end in sex he'd be very surprised. He'd long learned to recognize when Simon wanted sex and when he didn't, and the way he squeezed his pec in response to his voice was a very easy tell.

But then again Simon was way less subtle than he thought he was.

They made their way back to their room, and there it was, a repurposed shoebox, badly wrapped with cheap wrapping paper. Johnny couldn't be more excited, he had never received any gift from a significant other. To be fair he adored gifting but always felt awkward receiving.

But this was Simon. Something that Simon had chosen to give him.

He sat on the bed, leaving enough space behind him for Ghost to sit there so he could use him as a very comfortable backrest. When he did, he grabbed the gift and began opening it.

He knew that Ghost liked to tear the wrapping paper, liked the sound of it and liked tearing it into the smallest pieces possible after, but he himself loved carefully unwrapping it and folding it flat so he could later maybe do an origami with it or put a piece in his journal. Probably both.

This one was full of tape but he still very much enjoyed himself, considered it a challenge. He enjoyed the chase, wanted to drag it on. Ghost huffed impatiently behind him, a bit tense, probably nervous.

Inside the box was a weird old fashioned clunky thing. It was bright red, looked slightly like binoculars, definitely from the 70's, with a wheel of tiny pictures wedged in the top of it. Memories hit him all at once.

"Oh my god ah remember, my Ma had one of these when ah was a child! My sister and I loved it, it had pretty landscapes in!"

He put it against his eyes, excited to see what this one came with. At his biggest surprise, it was a picture of them. Simon had customised it.

The picture showed the back of himself a bit further away from the camera, pointing at something while in full gear, in a dilapidated town, Ghost's face in the foreground looking at the camera. It looked like Soap was talking to someone, but that person was cut by the framing.

"Wait, ah remember that mission, it's when ah saved Gaz from a landmine just to be shot seconds later," he laughed. "ah spent two fucking weeks in the hospital, ah was miserable. Ye kept joking ah should hiv left Gaz explode while staring at him, he was convinced ye actually wanted him dead!"

Then the next picture was indeed him in his hospital bed, unconscious but the state of his injuries told him he was probably just sleeping at least a few days after his admission, his life no longer in danger. In this one, Ghost was sleeping too, head in his elbow near Soap's head and his other hand holding Soap's hand.

"Who took this one?" Soap asked, moved by the tenderness of Ghost's hold on him in the picture. It would have been right after Johnny had admitted to maybe liking him more than friends, before they were officially dating.

"The hospital one?"

Soap hummed.

"Price did. Said it was for blackmail. Should have seen him, he looked like his child had just married the person of their dreams and had ridden off into a rainbow on a unicorn or some shit. Old man's sentimental as fuck, but I didn't call him on his bullshit, he's already old, that's punishment enough."

Soap giggled in response. The next few pictures were all of them together but each time he was either turning his back or asleep.

"Why the fuck am ah never looking at the camera?" he whined. He wanted some cute couple pictures, dammit!

"Couldn't have you suspecting what I was planning," Simon said, kissing his shoulder soothingly. Only then Soap noticed that he had taken his mask off at some point and turned to ask for a proper kiss, which he immediately got.

"Keep going, there's more pictures," Simon whispered against his lips when he tried to turn around to kiss him some more. His pouting only got him a smirk in response, so he got comfortable again and brought the slide viewer back against his eyes.

He was happy he did. The next picture waiting for him was just Simon in the mirror, almost in full gear, but with one gloveless hand dragging his trousers down so the camera could see the bottom of his stomach, follow along his happy trail and reaching the very top of his pubic hair. The picture cut of his head, but he could see that his mouth was uncovered and he was holding the glove with his teeth.

Soap groaned. "Steaming Jesus, love, you're so hot."

He felt Simon hide his face in the back of his neck, warmer than usual, and chuckled a bit. He loved him so fucking much.

There were four more pictures of Simon, in various suggestive poses and states of undress, some almost showing his cock but never quite committing, making Johnny feel like he was being teased.

He was getting hard though and so ready to be done with the pictures and access the real thing. But Simon was still tense behind him. In fact, he had only gotten tenser and tenser with each click.

Soap was unsure why. They never had a problem with their sexual life, Simon had already changed his mind about having sex after starting and Soap had absolutely no problem with that, was glad to hug him instead and reassure him when he had tried to apologize.

Simon knew that there was no pressure, ever, to have sex. Hell, Johnny would still be happy even if Simon decided that he never wanted to have sex again, and he had made sure to make Simon understand that.

Then he got to the last picture and immediately understood.

It wasn't a picture of either of them, just a little bit of paper, with a few words written in Ghost's awful handwriting.

Just a few words that made Johnny drop the viewer on the covers and turn around to grab Simon's face, worriedly looking in his eyes.

"Are you sure?" he asked, looking for any trace of Simon forcing himself. "Baby, ah'm happy to bottom for the rest of mah life, there's no pressure, okay?"

Simon looked at him with warmth in his eyes and his cheeks completely red, a wrapping bow added on top of his head. "I know," he said simply. "I just want to. I don't want to be haunted by memories anymore. I used to like it, and I want to like it again. With you. Just.... Be gentle, okay?"

Johnny kissed his forehead. "Ah dinnae think ah ken how no tae be gentle with ye, love."

[fieldofdaisiies]

Ars Amatoria | ch. XIII

-all rights reserved-

Elucien AU word count: 3,5k words warnings: none

masterlist

“His brother truly has a very good gut feeling.” Azriel Ardinghelli leans back against the wall of the carriage. Night has already settled over the landscape, the inside of the carriage is dark, one can barely see the other. “Knew something was off. You were taking too long.” 

Azriel folds his hands, leans forward a little, forearms braced on his knees. “There was no sign of your carriage driver. We caught the horse. But the driver…no idea where he went. They either took him with them, which would make no sense or he ran and escaped.” Azriel pauses, averting his gaze for a moment, his face covered in shadows. “Or he willingly left with them and was part of the conspiracy.”

“Conspiracy?” Elain asks, a tinge of panic in her high-pitched voice. Her eyes widen and her body goes rigid which makes Lucien next to her stir. She wraps her arm tighter around him, his cheek still pressed against her shoulder. 

She can barely make out the movement, but Azriel Ardinghelli bows his head. “Yes. The Vanserras have a lot enemies. They are the most important and influential bankers that there are in Italy. Many people envy them, want what they have. We—I am almost sure this was a conspiracy.”

“Could it have been Hybern?” The question just darts out of Elain, she can’t stop herself, but it is the most obvious option. 

Azriel shrugs his shoulders, this movement only visible through the small stray of moonlight that falls into the carriage. “Possibly. But I’ve noticed nothing. And I have people who keep an eye on everything that happens in the city.” Like a spy, Elain thinks, and nods her head at him. Lucien next to her feels cold. Azriel’s coat is draped over him. His breathing is more steady now and he can also sit upright again. Elain's heart is now calmer, sadly beating in her chest, but at least the panic and terror are gone. 

“You are Venus in Jurian’s painting, Madonnna Medici.” And you are my brother-in-law’s secret lover, Elain wants to say, but stops herself, knowing the carriage driver will very likely hear them and actually she is not supposed to know. 

“Yes,” she answers. “And you are Mars.” Elain smiles polity, thankful for the little distraction this conversation offers her. 

“I am,” Azriel answers and leans back again. “How did you and Jurian meet?” Azriel, who is normally not one to talk so much, knows he has to do this for her, too keep her distracted as otherwise her mind would start spiralling again. Just like when he found her and Lucien and she was on the verge of going crazy, wailing and crying. She panicked and barely let Azriel pick up Lucien, seeing him as an enemy as well. Her vision had been to blurry with tears, her eyes too swollen to recognise Azriel immediately and she lost it. She has thrown her fists at him, punched him, also very close to his very private parts, has thrashed her hands out, until she realised who is he is. 

Now everything is better — at least a little bit. Elain feels safer, more secure, and just awaits their return to Florence so a medicus can finally look over Lucien, can finally really tend to his wound. It is all going to be good, Elain tells herself as she draws in a deep breath. 

“Jurian approached me on one of his visits to Venice. He asked if he could paint me and after I had asked my father for his permission he painted me in our family home. The painting he made was called La Primavera, which I love as spring is my favourite season.” Elain smiles a little to herself, her cheeks warming. She still can’t quite believe that he wanted to paint her, and still does so. “A day before he left he came to our house again, asking for the permission to make some sketches again. Those would then be transferred to a bigger canvas and the final piece with you on it would then be called Venus and Mars.” 

Azriel smiles in response. “He is painting you again, isn’t he?” 

When Elain shifts a little on the bench, Lucien moves as well, groaning lightly when a sharp pain courses through his belly. Elain holds him tightly, providing him with a sense of safety. 

With a tinge of sheepishness in her voice, Elain says, “Yes. He wants to paint the birth of Venus, he said. But we have only done half of my face so far.” Azriel hums deep in his throat, nodding his head, but Elain can only barely see that due to the darkness inside the carriage. 

Lucien next to her groans whenever the path is a little bumpier and the carriage wiggles. Elain holds his hand so tightly her knuckles turn white. But she needs him to know that she is there for him, that she keeps him safe, that she protects him. He needs to know this. 

She turns her head a little and rests her cheek against the top of his head. “Just stay with me, we will soon be back and then all is good,” she whispers, closing her eyes for a moment to draw in the scent of his hair. Despite the blood and dirt, he still smells so much like himself — forest, wood fires, nature. The corners of her mouth move up a little and form a small, sad smile. “It is all going to be good, I know this, my husband.” 

She inhales once again, and opens her eyes. Azriel has nearly fully vanished into the shadows of the carriage, his whole figure barely noticeable. 

“Why did you come to find us?” Elain finds herself asking in a hushed voice. She is not entirely sure why she asks, but she wonders why Eris had not sent any people who work for him, his soldiers, or sentries or another carriage driver.

Azriel turns his head back to her, but she can’t make out his expression. It is too dark in the carriage and as they are now going down another path, the moon is no longer facing the window of the carriage. 

“Who else should have come to save you?” 

It is not quite an answer, Elain thinks and furrows her brows. “Well, I don’t know. I don’t know anyone here, safe for a few people. But soldiers, for example.”

“There is not a lot people you can trust these days, but I guess Eris—Messer Vanserra trusts me.” Of course, he does, Elain wants to say. She wants Azriel to know that she knows about them and not having him to feel uncomfortable. But she can’t. She does not know if Lucien would want it that she lets them know she knows as well. It is better to keep calm for now, talk to Lucien one day, and only if he is alright with it, share it with them. 

“But it has not always been like that, has it?”

"What?" Azriel asks, his tone solemn. Elain can hear the unspoken part of his question— is she asking about Eris trusting Azriel?

But she is not. She is talking about the whole situation in Florence. "The situation between the banks." She presses her lips in a thin line, waiting for his answer. She is truly interested how someone who is not part of the feud and not part of either bank views the situation. 

“I am only 28 years old, Madonna, I can’t really say much about the past. But the feud, the feud between the Vanserra and the Hybern bank has been going on for decades. They have always been rivals.” Azriel releases something like a long-suffering male breath and rests his head against the wall behind him. “It is all very complicated and deep rooted and now that the Pope is ill, will only get more complicated.”

“Why?” Elain shudders a little, it is cool, yes, but mostly she shudders because of the uncertainty the future and then new issue Azriel is addressing. What does the Pope's health condition now have to do with it? 

“Because the new Pope will mostly likely be a person stemming from the Hybern family.”

“Why?” Elain finds herself asking again, feeling a little silly for asking so much and always the same question. 

A little chuckle escapes Azriel. “ You are quite a curious one, Madonna,” he says in his deep voice and pauses for a moment. “Because they are influential and have good relationships to the papal state. And the Vanserra family for example has no one to send there. Someone who could become the next pope.”

This makes sense. Well, if Eris and Ianthe had a son, they would have someone. Or if Elain and Lucien did so in the future… But would she really want this for her child. To be sent away at a young age, stealing his choice of maybe wanting family? She knows, she could never do that. 

After quite a long time on the road, Elain finally releases a breath of relief. They are shielded from the outside world and Lucien is safe next to her, the carriage somehow creates a cocoon of security, with Azriel as its guard and that brings her comfort. The sound of the horses' rhythmic hooves against the dusty road create a soothing symphony, almost like a lullaby that makes Elain's lids feel heavy. She yawns, leaning her head against Lucien’s. 

The only thing that occasionally interrupts the peaceful silence is the creaking of the carriage's wheels. And outside the world transformes into nothing but cool darkness, like a veil being placed over the whole landscape. 

✢ ✢ ✢

“What happened?” Eris demands, his voice loud, hollowing through half of the city. Dressed in only his night robe, he rushes out of the family home, his hair disheveled, deep circles under his eyes. Azriel assists Lucien, providing guidance as he exits the carriage. Elain is immediately at his side as well, lifting his arm over her shoulders to also hold him up. The younger Vanserra brother’s lids are heavy, his breaths ragged, his posture slumping. 

“Your gut feeling did not fool you, Er— Messer Vanserra.” Azriel tips his chin. “They were attacked. Found them shortly after Bologna.” Eris walks up to Lucien’s other side, taking him from Elain. 

He extends his arm that is not holding Lucien up and brushes his hand over Elain’s head. A small smile appears on his face when he says, "Are you alright, cara?" 

Tears well up in Elain's eyes at his sympathy. She shakes her head, then nods. "I am. But Lucien isn't! He's injured, badly!" Elain's voice trembles with a mixture of dread and panic, and Eris immediately understands the urgency of the situation. 

“Azriel, you need to inform the medica. I can carry Lucien alone from here on, I have Elain after all. Please get us the medica!”

Azriel understands, and without saying another word, hands Lucien to Elain. Lucien groans, but something about Elain touching him, comforts him. She is there, has not for one second not been there for him. She did not leave him alone, despite him telling her to. She is his wife and she would never leave his side. 

Elain and Eris assist Lucien as they enter the house, carefully guiding him towards the library, which offers the closest available couch. With great caution, they lower Lucien onto said couch, ensuring that no further pain is caused. Elain is shivering, her entire body shaking like a leaf caught in a gust of wind. Sensing her distress, Eris quickly retrieves a blanket and drapes it around her shoulders, before embracing her protectively in his strong arms. Elain continues to weep silently, her tears soaking into his chest. Eris asks in a soft voice, "What happened? Can you recall anything? Did you see anyone?”

Elain's voice quivers as she replies, "No... I was knocked unconscious. Even if I had seen someone, I wouldn't have recognised them. But I heard someone... someone who believed we were dead.”

Eris, his body tense with understanding and concern, releases a low hum. His posture is rigid, every fiber of his body on high alert. 

They medica needs nearly an hour to arrive. It makes sense, Azriel had to run there first and alert the medica who was probably asleep already, and then the medica had to come here. In the meantime brother and wife have managed to help Lucien out of his shirt and have provided the necessities for the medica — a basin with water, fresh clothes and towels and some small bowls for mixing herbs and medication.  

Eris leans against the back of the couch, watching the medica, Madja, as she slowly peels back the fabric and stockings Elain has wrapped around Lucien's torso. Her eyes sparkle with silent admiration as she does so. 

“You are quite a smart girl, Madonna Vanserra,” the medica comments as Elain crouches down next to couch and clasps Lucien’s hand in both of hers. 

It feels like time stands still. Madja, bathed in the soft glow of the oil lamps Eris has brought closer to the couch, meticulously studies Lucien's belly and the wound. With careful hands and coordinated movements, the medica cleans the wound, removing dirt and debris, as well as blood and pus and the small splinters of wood that are still stuck in his skin. When all is clean, Madja observes the wound. A metallic tang fills Elaine’s senses and she realises that she has been biting down on her lower lip a little too hard. She swallows thickly, watching the shallow rises of Lucien’s chest. The rise and fall is slow, but steady. 

From a well-worn leather satchel, Madja retrieves a number of tools and small bottles. Elain knows that Madja’s touch, almost like a soft caress, conveys reassurance and care to Lucien — she takes her time, she knows what she is doing, and she will heal him. She pours the liquid of a small, green-ish bottle onto Lucien’s belly, then dabs it dry with a small cloth. Madja puts cream onto the wound, and then with both Eris and Elain’s help, them holding Lucien up again, she wraps a cotton bandage around Lucien’s middle. The youngest Vanserra brother lets it all, occasionally groaning and yelping, but displaying bravery as he endures it all. Even as Eris and Elain assist him to his bedroom later on, he does not complain about the pain. Instead, he only releases muted sounds of distress, followed by a deep sigh of relief when his body hits the soft mattress of his bed. 

“Anything special happened here?” he groans, his lids closing. Eris wipes his hand down his face, beads of sweat caught in his eye brows. He ponders, not sure if he should tell Lucien. He does not want to put him in more distress, but he opts for telling him. Lucien has a right to know. 

“Jacobo is running for Gonfaloniere,” Eris informs his brother matter-of-factly and Elain can almost hear how Lucien’s blood chills. She doesn’t really know much about politics, but she knows that this is not good. Really not good. 

“And Ianthe is back.” 

“Fuck,” Lucien breathes and a sharp pain erupts in Elain’s heart. It troubles Elain, that Ianthe, who is Eris' wife and Lucien’s sister-in-law, would be talked about in such a vulgar manner. Yes, maybe they don’t love each other, but that is still not the reaction one would expect someone to have about their sister-in-law. 

Eris only huffs in answer, straightens his sleeping robe and drums his hands onto the lower bed frame. “I will head back to bed now. There is a lot to do tomorrow. Call when you need something.” Lucien dips his chin and thank his brother who leaves the room a moment later. The door is snugly shut and silence falls over the couple in the room. But Lucien shits a little, turning to his wife.

“Stay with me.” He looks up Elain, his lids heavy, his head rolling to the side.

“Of course,” Elain answers, her voice soft with affection. She blows out the single candle on Lucien’s bedside table, surrounds the bed and carefully climbs onto it. She hesitates for a long moment, not sure is she should move closer or keep some distance between them. She opts for the former, and rests her head —her arms stay close to her body— on his shoulder, always careful of his wound. 

“I am so relieved it all turned out well. That were are back and safe. That you are fine,” she breathes and a single tear falls onto Lucien's warm skin. 

He leans his head against hers and places a soft kiss upon the crown of her head, a gesture of comfort and affection that speaks volumes without the need for words. Inhaling deeply, his body trembles a little. “I will never be able to thank you enough for saving my life, Elain. What you did…was outstanding,” he finally says and a silent sob parts Elain’s lips. “You mixed herbs, didn’t you?”

“I did,” Elain answers and feels the tiniest bit of pride bloom in her heart. Yes, she did. And she thought of it and she mixed it and she put it onto his skin to heal him. And no one else told her to. It was her idea.

“So smart.” Her husband's voice is laced with admiration and also a hint of pride when he tells her his compliment. “Thank you, really. Thank you so much.”

“You don’t have to thank me. I am your wife. This is my—“ “You saved my life, Elain. And I will thank you for that, no matter what you say.” He leaves no room for discussion, his voice strong and unwavering. 

Elain accepts it, and decides to change the topic. She is tired and she knows Lucien is as well, but she also wants an answer. She has to address it now. Tomorrow too much time will have passed, now the topic is fresh, and as his wife and Eris’ sister-in-law she feels entitled to know. Or…she is just very curious and nosy. A trait she does not like that much about herself…

“So, Ianthe is back.” It is all she says and then waits for Lucien to answer.

“Unfortunately,” he grumbles. Elain finds herself enveloped once again by the same melancholic emotion, as the familiar wave of sadness washes over her again. Why would he talk about Ianthe like that? And would he ever talk about her like that as well? She doesn't believe Lucien is capable of talking about her like this, that this is in his nature, but still the doubt is here, strong and thick as it stretches out like a dark cloud that settles over Elain. 

Lucien must have sensed her troubling thoughts and says, “Ianthe is…she is a bad person. And she, with what she said and did, hurt me deeply. And she also hurt Eris. She is not a good person, she does not own a heart and soul like you do. Her is rotten, spoiled and wrenched.” He sounds spiteful when he talks about her and Elain wants to take the pain from him. Why would this woman have caused him such pain? What could she have possibly done?

“What did she do?” Elain asks, her voice soft, but she speaks through clenched teeth. 

She did too many things, Lucien thinks. Things he doesn’t want to recall, so he opts for the one thing he allows himself to think of, the thing he will partly share with Elain. “I lost someone close to me and on the day they were buried Ianthe told me to behave like a man and stop crying and that it was my fault they died.” His throat is dry, aching fiercely when he swallows around the lump the size of a peach having formed there. He can’t say more, it would break him in his already vulnerable state. He will tell Elain one day. He will tell her everything. But not right in this moment. 

“Now, sleep, Elain. You need to rest. You, out of everyone, deserve it the most tonight.” He kisses the top of her head again and Elain is lost for words, although she wants to protest that he needs it more. 

Even though he does not tell her more, she knows she can believe him. Trust him. Since the day she met him, she has known that he is kind and good. But now, now she knows something else. She knows she is falling for him. And that head over heels. She is falling for her husband — a thought that is not at all absurd, but still surprises her a little. She would have never thought so when she left Venice for Florence.

~~~~~~~~~ taglist AA: @octobers-veryown @velidewrites @areyoudreaminof @acourtofthought @liftyourhipsformelovex @hallway5 @stickyelectrons @honeysuckle-daydreams13 @bibliophiliaxvignette @thelovelymadone @sunshinebingo @arabellatheauthor @autumndreaming7 @nestas-workwife @rarephloxes  @tuzna-pesma-snova general el. taglist: @rippahwrites @shadowhunter2003 @my-inner-crisis @ladyelain @acourtofthought @itwasalwaysaboutthetea @multifictional  @moonlightazriel @aayo-whatt @brekkershadowsinger @sunshinebingo @gracie-rosee @a-frog-with-a-laptop

[baronvonriktenstein]

Thank you, @partyinthemysterymachine

I was not certain how to approach this one so I did a small group of doodles... I'll be honest in that I did less world-building in Juni/Nami's universe so much as... uhh just them as individuals a little bit lol. But it's a ... aesthetic fantasy for me who likes watching movies sometimes that have a specific look haha

Henry is an amateur artist in the town Juniper lives in who sketches landscapes and scenery and buildings. (how he makes money in his day-to-day, I'm not sure) I think Juniper sees him by the beach sometimes drawing the ocean, and Juniper wanted to purchase one of those pieces if Henry was cool with that (Because Junibean loves the Ocean).

This results in him occasionally being involved in the lives of Juniper and Oliver on a surface level, but Oliver is overly friendly and strong and Henry's like ow please stop slapping me on the back but ok. (Olly's dad's rich though so if he wants to buy Henry's sketches for himself or Juniper, well that's fine lol. He's nice enough too.)

On a thing I didn't draw, Nanami having a relationship with Henry would go... a variety of ways and not all of them good. She may just appreciate his art because she too loves the ocean and also likes fancy buildings. Or y'know he is a potential food source because she likes human flesh, or y'know... He means nothing to her because he's just some guy in town. Whatever. I didn't want to draw Henry getting cannibalized today. He has his own problems.

[jugoftrix]

Hey Trixxy here just to say this place is probably just going to be silly little ocs I have and me doing fanart for stuff I’m obsessed with! Also feel free to ask about stuff if you feel so inclined to. I’m also down to take suggestions on stuff to make art of! (My commissions are open tho depending on what you ask for I may want payment /say no. )

Things I won’t draw

Gore

nsfw

vore

some other stuff

Things I will draw

ur oc

fandom art

dragonsss

foxes

Alot of other fun things

Things that I would ask for payment for

anything that’s not just a doodle

me making a oc for you

complex character art

cars (plz no/I’ll try my best)

Longg dragon

I love drawing detail it just takes time and effort

I will ask for more if you want buildings/landscape background

I also love using neons and bright colors!!

Mixing animals with food/themes to make ocs is so funn!!

Honestly if u have a wild funky idea for a character I wanna hear ittt!!

price is $25 for most commissions from me.I will do full color with shading and background.

This would be like art of a oc u like

Art of ur character

Or I can do a custom ^w^.

( a sketch would cost $15)

(You will have to be a bit patient with me bc I’ve never had a commission before)

(This means $25 for one art piece if u want more add $25 for each added)

(Yes this includes everything I listed in things I will draw )

I just want to learn and get better

(I made this at 4am so Srry if it’s a lil scuffed)

(Also I do draw blood just not like detailed gore stuff) creepy stuff is fine tho hell ye crypidsss

My names and usernames

NyancarXwX (TikTok,twitch and most other places)

Names Trixxy/ Leo

Pronouns ✨ask✨

Theirian type short hair tabby

partners <3

@sunlightsshadow

@mossontheshelf