#I don’t really use procreate that much so this pretty much the only custom stuff I got | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

sasamdcu · 5 years ago

Text

Too Many Dads

Rating: 16+ Fandom DCU: Pairings: Cassandra Cain/Raven/Harper Row

Archive of Our Own

For The Summer of BatGalPals. I was super busy all July and am only now getting around to finishing some of these.

July 3rds General Prompt: “Meeting batdad”

Raven groaned as Dick made a fourth pass over her makeup and outfit. Ever since she had let it slip that she was going on a date he and Kori had hounded her relentlessly for details. They bickered like an old married couple about what she should wear and how she should style her hair, advised her to drink or take drugs in moderation and worst of all gave her a speech about the safety of procreation that went far too long. The birds and bees demonstrated with the help of Beast Boy did not help. It began to feel like Dick was more invested in this date than she was at this point.

“Alright, I think we’re perfect!” Dick finally confirmed before packing up his makeup case.

“You’re going to blow them away.”

“I can blow you away right now if you want.” Raven grumbled though Dick didn’t seem to notice.

The one saving grace about this whole fiasco was that her partners weren’t fairing much better. Occasional messages and cries of help came through her phone culminating in a string of Snapchats showcasing Harper and Jason devolving into a literal fist fight over the best style of leather jacket. Tim had apparently tried calling in a ringer since he didn’t know much about punk outfits himself and he wanted to focus more on trying to get Cass to wear a proper dress. It looked like he might be regretting that.

“Oh look at the time! We’d better hurry if we want to make it to Gotham by five!” Dick dragged Raven along to his ‘borrowed Bat Mobile'.

“Remind me again why I don’t just portal to Gotham?”

“Because I need to return this car as well and you love a good road trip.”

“I don’t.”

“Well you will after this! You like show tunes?”

“We are not listening to Wicked the entire trip.“

The doors of Wayne Manor swung open as they approached to reveal Tim and Jason, both clad in slacks and sweater vests waiting. The unnerving display caused Raven to begin to question Dick’s own sweater vest ensemble. While this wasn’t an out of place outfit for Dick with the three in coordination something seemed clearly off.

“Hey there Dick, good to see you.”

“Likewise Tim.”

“How was the trip?”

“Fantastic, we listened to Wicked for the first half and Bye Bye Birdie for the second!”

“Little too on the nose there don’t you think?” Jason asked.

“Not at all, the perfect show tunes for a road trip if you ask me.”

“It was a nightmare.” Raven cut them off before they could continue farther.

A bizarre little shuffle went on as Dick shook first Tim’s hand then Jason’s before they were guided inside. Raven had been to the Wayne mansion a handful of times before with Dick, it was how she had met Cass and Harper after all, somehow though the majesty of it all wasn’t overwhelming. The opulence reminded her of Azarath and of home.

The four of them traveled down the main foyer into a small guest seating room on the left. Inside Raven momentarily forgot all about the weird way the boys were acting because there was Harper and Cass and oh boy was Raven having a gay moment.

Jason and Tim seemed taken aback as well. Raven wasn’t surprised, instead of the outfits they had been getting them into earlier the two were sporting nothing but light workout gear. Harper was in nothing but a skeleton motif tank and loose black shorts while Cass was in skin tight shorts and a black sports bra with attached bat eared hood. If you asked Raven they looked amazing. The toned muscles and various patterns of scarring telling her just how much trust they had in her and how comfortable they were in showing her so much.

“What happened to our planning?” Jason just sank in despair. "I thought we bonded through that brawl."

“You guys got so worked up we were ready like five hours early. We got bored and went for a workout.” Harper shrugged.

“Comfier.” Cass added.

Jason simply wandered aimlessly out of the room, as if his whole world had come crashing down around him.

“What’s up with him?” Raven asked.

“Oh I told him if he helped me dress up Harper it would impress Barbara.” Tim flashed a momentary shit eating grin before becoming rigidly serious again and locking eyes with her. “But onto the real business.”

“Ahem.” Dick cleared his throat. “You two ladies better look after my girl here. Treat here right you hear?”

“What? No, no, no, your girl needs to make sure she treats Cass and Harper right!” Tim countered, upset that Dick had usurped his moment.

“I’m the adult here and I’m going to make sure Raven is treated how she deserves!”

“Well I’ve been teaching these two for years now and I need to know that they’re going to be in good hands!”

Raven felt a small tug at the bottom of her dresses skirt. Turning she found Cass holding one finger over her lips for silence and Harper looking ready to bust a gut. Motioning Cass lead the two quietly out the door, leaving the two siblings to bicker behind them.

“God I can’t believe what dorks they are.” Harper laughed once they were out of earshot. “Do they really both want to be dads that badly or something? And Jason! Oh my god I can’t believe I managed to convince him to wear that stupid sweater vest.”

Cass and Raven snickered with her.

“At least you two got to change into something more comfortable, Dick and Kori made me take a five hour car ride in latex. This stuff doesn’t breathe you know.”

“It’s worth it.” Cass pulled Raven into a side hug, burying herself into the empath’s side and stealing a quick kiss.

“Yea, honestly it suits you a lot. Looks super cute and you don’t even notice the fact that it was probably bought from some kink store.”

Raven was dressed in as Kori described it a ‘Latex Galaxy Print Emily Dress’. A simple black latex dress with blue, purple and red galaxy print swirls across the chest portion, short puffy shoulder sleeves a somewhat short skirt and a high almost sailor collar, finished off by an O-ring attached right in the center.

“Uhg” Raven groaned. “I let Kori pick it out but didn’t take into account her lack of tact and understand when it comes to certain social customs still. A pretty dress is a pretty dress is all she said. Though I have to admit her matching the galaxy design with your hair was a stroke of genius.”

Raven ran a hand through Harper's hair before pulling her down for her own kiss.

“Again, you hardly notice it looks kinky or anything. Either that or I’ve just been spending too much time around the local capes and hoods. Have you seen Cat Woman’s outfit? The dress really doesn’t stand out that much in our line of work.”

“I suppose you’re right.”

“So, we have a surprise for movie night.” Cass beamed at her pushing Raven to raise an eyebrow in interest.

“Oh?”

“It’s an anime. I’ve finally gotten Cass fully into anime, and now it’s your turn.” Harper laughed.

“As long as it’s Cass picking that’s fine with me, the last time it was your turn to pick we ended up watching that god awful Lance and Masks.”

The three settled down together in one of the side rooms, a massive TV adorning the far wall and one large comfy couch for them to quickly pile onto. Raven let Cass guide her in between herself and Harper. While they’d definitely had movies night before this was an entirely new situation for Raven. Previously she had always been off to the side while the lovebirds cuddled. She could definitely get used to this though, something about the way the two of them embraced and held her just made her feel so safe and warm. Harper pulling her almost on top of herself and Cass spread out all across both of them kept her in such close proximity it was almost impossible to tune out their feelings of affection that washed over her like she was being dipped in a warm comfortable bath. It was pure happiness.

Bruce was tired. He had finished his patrol late the night before and hadn’t had time for sleep before dealing with the various Wayne enterprises that required his attention. Refusing to take a day off he had just finished his second night straight of patrols and was running on fumes when he made it back to the mansion.

Upon arriving the first thing he found was Jason passed out in a patio chair dressed like what Bruce could only assume was an attempt at Mr. Rodgers. He didn’t want to know. In the foyer he found Duke scolding Tim and Dick both also dressed in outlandishly PBS father figure style outfits. He had to blink a few times and then go double check on Jason to make sure he was seeing everything correctly. Those three wearing matching outfits was not a good sign.

Checking in on Harper and Cass who he’d heard were opting to spend their weekend at the mansion for once instead of at either Harper or Stephanie’s apartments was delighted to find all three girls snuggled up fast asleep together on the couch. A large comfy blanket sprawled out across them.

“Wait.”

It didn’t take the world’s greatest detective to realize that something didn’t add up, namely the number of people in the pile. Silently he went through a mental checklist of who all was there. There was Harper and Cass yes. But the third girl was someone he didn’t recognize. It wasn’t Stephanie, or Barbara, or Carrie or Kate. Not Violet not Harley(thankfully.) not Selina and not anyone else that sprung to mind.

Rubbing his eyes he wandered into the kitchen where he found Damian eating breakfast and Alfred putting on a new batch of coffee.

“Oh thank you Alfred, I definitely need that today.” He groaned as he plopped down into a seat at the table next to Damian.

“I think what you need is a good sleep sir.” Alfred replied but began grabbing a third cup nonetheless.

Bruce hummed to himself a moment in thought.

“We didn’t adopt any new kids recently have we?”

Damian and Alfred looked at him in confusion.

“There’s a third girl with Harper and Cass. I don’t recognize her.”

“Ahh. That would be Miss Raven.” Alfred turned back to the coffee maker. “No, she is simply here as a guest, from my understanding those three have begun dating. She’s one of Dick’s Teen Titans.”

Bruce nodded in acceptance.

“Okay good. I was worried we would need to renovate and add another bedroom.”

“I’m pretty sure that won’t be a problem.” Duke said around mouthfuls of toast. “Looks to me like they’ll be sharing a bed anyways.”

And that was not what sleep deprived Bruce needed to be thinking about right now. Anything would have been better than his children's relationships, god a Joker attack would be better.

“And do you know what’s going on with?...” he let the question die out.

“On second thought I’ll ask Dick what they were doing tomorrow. Alfred please ignore my earlier request for coffee and cancel my eight o clock, I believe we should still be able to reschedule to tomorrow for that. I’m going to go get some rest after all.”

“Of course sir.”

“Have fun at school Damian.”

“Tch.”

Yea. Bruce definitely wasn’t dealing with whatever else all of this was until tomorrow.

#Cassandra Cain/Raven/Harper Row #Sob19 #Summerofbatgals #Cassandra Cain/Raven #Cassandra Cain/Harper Row #Raven/Harper Row #My Fanfiction #Fanfiction #dcu fanfiction

4 notes · View notes

callistochan87 · 6 years ago

Photo

This...wasn’t supposed to be what I was working on, but here it is. My muse was on Heart of Steel for a bit, mostly because that’s the one story that I really can’t nail down. It was on Stephen, specifically, because he...really was supposed to be the villain of the first book. Maybe not villain; I feel like that gives off a vibe that I don’t quite think fits. He was something of a sort of mad scientist type, curious about Kinesis and willing to test her boundaries because he hadn’t seen anything else like her out there. Except...you know, he didn’t have the gear that a mad scientist would so it was all homebrew, DIY-type stuff.

He was supposed to be the ‘bad guy’ which is why a) Kinesis was the Number One suspect in his murder, and b) it would be shocking when he died, because the reader would know at that point that it sure wasn’t her. If I were smarter I could have done something about having her suspect him for the earlier murders, but that...didn’t happen. Instead we got the Egyptian pantheon and Apep in a big old red herring that completely overtook the Stephen thing.

So I was supposed to be working on more Aspera Virtus stuff, but...my mind wasn’t having any of that right now, it was on HoS and this and wondering if I needed to have a smaller first book—Apep, the Harrises, the pantheon, etc. could all easily come in later, and the first book could have been more about Lisa learning about the full extent of her powers, instead of playing around, while also trying to stop Stephen from doing something awful, either to himself or to others. (She has sympathy for him. He’s too much of an emotional and psychological mess for her to consider dating him, but he may have developed something like a crush on her, or at least a sense of emotional connection that he is so sorely lacking in his life.)

At the same time, I also wanted to get more familiar with actually colouring in Procreate, since 99% of the stuff has been more along the lines of sketching and inking. And...honestly...I kinda know why I don’t do too much in it. Don’t get me wrong, this doesn’t look terrible—any issues are with the sketch, because this was more of a doodle to get the thoughts out of my head, but then when nothing came about, I figured oh well, I’ve invested this much time into it, what’s not more? But it feels like doing stuff is just so much slower than with Photoshop and my Wacom. I have the iPad propped up in a keyboard case that mimics a laptop, and the stylus I use either doesn’t always respond well to the angle, or, more realistically, it flat-out just doesn’t do things the way Photoshop might and it throws me off.

Really, the big issue is blending. I’ve figured out that hooking up the keyboard and hitting ‘Control’ will bring up the colour picker but it’s still pretty slow compared to using the usual method. The hair, particularly, is difficult; I’m still playing around with brushes to get an idea of which ones work. But the one thing that is nice is that the canvas size I use—a custom size called “Screen Size Doubled”, literally the “Screen Size” option doubled—is actually insanely big. It’s hard to tell on the iPad but importing it as a PSD and opening in Photoshop reveals a canvas around 4096 px x 5484 px. It’s huge. That gives me a lot of flexibility and covers up little mistakes when I shrink it down.

(Also, their stubble brush looks pretty good too, just FYI.)

The only thing is that the edges are really blobby, the ‘round paintbrush’ option is pretty good but it takes a lot of pressure to look good. I suppose I can use the pencil tools to clean up some of the edges, or at least give a sharper line, but it’ll take some more fiddling, if I feel like it. I need to work on other stuff and this really isn’t a priority.

I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do that, though. I’ve been watching a lot of Sara Tepes’ stuff (and some other tutorials as well), and they seem to be approaching digital painting very differently from me, merging layers and colouring over their sketch and...you know, not throwing out the sketch like I do and using it to further their painting and stuff. They make it look so easy, and for someone who feels a bit like I’m struggling to do anything for...frankly, months, it’s kind of frustrating. So long story short I was debating whether or not I should do something like that, buuuut what I’ve done so far looks just as good without the lines and would probably screw things up if I tried to incorporate those purple lines into this.

I might finish this eventually, since I’m getting tired of sort of toying around with this, but...I do need to work on more designs. I wasted too much time with this as it is. >.<

#my art #my stories #My characters #Heart of Steel #procreate #In Progress #wip

6 notes · View notes

star-trekkin-across-theuniverse · 7 years ago

Text

Escape, pt2

Word Count: 3635 Tags: @samaxraph99 @shewhorunswithfandoms @distinguishedqueenofbooks @anyakinamidala @anotherotter @little-study-bug @rampant-salamander @goodnightwife @wanderingkat77 @bluebird214 @superwholockedbeauty @eyeofdionysus @all-time-foes @girl-next-door-writes @feelmyroarrrr @castiels-ass-butt-1967 @haven-in-writing @sistasarah-sallysaidso @dolamrothianlady @from-kitten-to-kitsune

Roxanne sat in her office, a stack of records in front of her. After figuring out what all was on Peter’s cassette, she’d rummaged through the back catalogue in the basement and pulled as many of the vinyl copies of the songs as she could find. She was only missing one or two. She wasn’t entirely sure why she was going to such trouble, maybe it was the panicked look he’d given her when she’d said she couldn’t repair the cassette, but she wanted to rip each song from the record, instead of just downloading a cleaned-up mp3 copy of the song. She’d already picked a used iPod from the stack on her desk and reformatted it, so it was just a matter of getting the music. Whoever had made the mix tape had good taste. It was a pretty awesome collection of seventies music. She connected the turntable to her laptop and started the process of digitizing while working on the books.

There was the occasional interruption from staff, but they were pretty good about leaving her alone when she was actually in the store. She’d spent a lot of time interviewing staff for the store because she didn’t want to constantly be bothered for trivial issues. Most of her staff had been there since she’d bought the place. She’d been diligent about ensuring they were capable of managing if her other interests took her away, and she’d ensured that bonuses and raises accompanied years of service and added responsibilities. Having a low turnover in the store was better for everyone involved. With the exception of the Sunday girl, who was going to find herself the no-day girl if she didn’t show for another shift, Roxanne would have been hard pressed to complain about anyone on the staff. They were so good that it allowed her to continue to manage the important details, like the bookkeeping she was working on while she made Peter’s mix, without bringing in an outside contractor. And it was those little things that made her more inclined to try to make the store work, despite just breaking even most quarters.

“Rox, there’s a chick up front looking for info about Starlady and the Astronauts? She’s wondering if there’s going to be an album?” Jeremy had worked the store since he was in high school, and was nearly finished his accounting degree. He said there were a bunch of different certifications within accounting, and he’d still be a couple of years before he was fully where he wanted to be with his education. Roxanne often worried that working at the shop was preventing him from moving forward with his life. He argued that the shop was the perfect place for a university student. He had plenty of time to study, he was making a decent wage, and he loved what he was doing. But he also didn’t talk about what would happen when he finally finished pursuing all his academic dreams.

“There’s a bootleg of last night’s concert available on their website, but right now there’s no plans to release an album,” Roxanne croaked, her voice hoarse from the previous night. The concert had been amazing. As expected, when the crowd recognized all the big names on the stage, the place had gone nuts. She’d tried to see if Peter had made it, but the venue was dark and crowded, and once the band had started it was just too much to keep track of. She changed records and started on the next song, getting back to bills and payroll. The afternoon rolled by quickly. Jeremy brought pizza back at closing and sat with her to help finish up payroll. He’d been helping with the bookkeeping since he’d started university, and Roxanne paid him a little extra to help when she was too busy to manage. They’d already agreed he’d take over all the account management stuff once he finished school, as a contractor. It meant she would still have someone she trusted working with her.

“Is it oldies night? I’ve been loving everything that’s been playing this afternoon. I kinda wanted to patch it through on the store speakers,” he commented through a bite of pizza.

“I had a customer come in yesterday with a worn out mix tape. He was really broken up about it. I don’t know why, but my heart just went out to him. I figured ripping everything from the vinyl would make the transition from cassette to mp3 easier for him,” Roxanne offered, reaching for her own slice.

“A mix tape? That’s so eighties!” Jeremy laughed.

“Hey, watch it, puppy!” Roxanne protested. “Mix tapes were a serious sign of undying affection. Someone spent time on a mix tape for you, it meant they loved you. There was an art to them. Getting the timing between songs right, picking the right music to go together. We didn’t have shuffle back then, you got the songs in the order they were on that cassette.”

“How romantic,” Jeremy deadpanned. Roxanne rolled her eyes.

“My brother made me a mix tape every birthday from the time I was five on. It wasn’t just romance. Mikey was older than me so he was giving me a music education. You can thank all this,” Roxanne gestured around the store, “to my big brother making me mix tapes.”

“So this guy you’re doing this for. Is he hot?” Jeremy asked. Roxanne blushed and looked away.

“Doesn’t matter. It was the tears in his eyes that motivated me,” she argued.

“If an ugly dude had come in and cried about his mix tape, would you have taken the challenge?” Jeremy pressed. Roxanne folded her arms across her chest and cocked an eyebrow.

“Yes I would have. Because this guy might have been hot, but he had d-bag written all over him,” Roxanne countered. “And I avoid d-bags.”

“Well, you try, but you certainly have a weakness where a hot asshole is concerned,” Jeremy laughed. “Rox, I don’t get it. You’re gorgeous, you’re successful. You could be hanging out at your place, poolside, with a cabana boy fanning you with a palm frond while you drank slushy alcoholic bevvies. Instead you’re here, balancing the books and making a mix tape for a dude you don’t even know.”

“You know I don’t have a pool,” Roxanne dismissed with a laugh.

“My point is, you don’t have to do this anymore. You’ve hit the jackpot and cashed the check, Rox. Why don’t you enjoy it?” Jeremy pressed.

“Because this store is all I had. And I love it,” she shrugged.

“The Terrans will put me in a cage and stab me with needles. I ain’t fucking going!” Rocket threw himself into a chair and glared at Peter.

“But you know about the google!” Peter protested.

“No. Go to a library and ask to be shown how to use it. I’m not going with you!” Rocket declared and turned his head away. Peter threw up his hands in disgust and turned to Gamora.

“My skin is green. I’m not stupid enough to think they won’t notice,” she arched an eyebrow.

“I saw people with tattoos and all colours of hair last night, Gamora, no one will notice your skin,” Peter tried to reason with her.

“Peter, I’m not going to help you in your quest to procreate with one of every being in the galaxy. If you want to go research this woman, go on your own.” Gamora was firm. Peter sighed and rolled his eyes.

“For your information, I’ve already been with a Terran.” Peter grabbed his rucksack and headed out.

The library wasn’t far. It seemed nothing was really far in the cities in Terra, despite the overdependence on vehicles. Peter smiled at the librarian and explained what he needed, pulling out his most charming manners. She was more than happy to help him get set up with a computer, and slipped him a piece of paper with a string of numbers on it. A phone number, if he remembered correctly. “One of every being in the galaxy indeed,” he grumbled as he typed his query into the search engine.

The main page for the band was all explosions, and graphics, and tour dates. It didn’t really help him to find out more about the band, or specifically, about Roxy Rain. He backed out of that page, and picked the next page. It was laid out like an encyclopedia entry, with information about when the band was formed, how many albums they’d released, what kind of tours they’d done. When he got to the band members section, he clicked the link for the lead singer and a similar page for her opened. He read through all the background and history, how she’d grown up singing in a girl’s choir, formed her first band as a teenager, played her first concert instead of going to prom. But there was no information on where to find her. And all the photos of her were promotional shots, where she was artistically backlit or on stage and her wild hair was everywhere. There was one shot that Peter particularly liked where her hair was dyed all the colours of the rainbow. It had been blonde with hot pink undertones at the concert.

He noticed the sidebar on the page held all the important details about her. Roxanne Raintree. “That’s weird,” he muttered to himself. How did he encounter two women with the same name in one day? He went back to reading the rest of the information in the body of the entry, tapping the pencil the librarian had given him against his teeth. There was nothing there was would suggest he would be able to find her on his own, other than the article saying she lived in Portland and ever since the band’s first platinum album, had focused a lot of her free time on supporting the independent music scene in the city. He sighed and looked up at the ceiling. The librarian came around to check on him.

“Oh, you’re reading up on Pixie Stix? I’m not really a fan. I heard Roxy Rain did a concert with some other musicians last night though,” she offered.

“Yeah, it was good. I’d never heard of Pixie Stix before yesterday, but the name of the band last night intrigued me,” Peter admitted.

“Star something, right?”

“Starlady and the astronauts.” He pulled out the flyer. The librarian took a look at it and handed it back.

“She probably hand lettered it the flyer. She cut out a lot of costs when Pixie Stix was starting. Just by word of mouth advertising and drawing band flyers. A lot of people still get her to do their flyers for them. I might not like their music, but they give back a lot. So I buy at least one single every release, just on principle.” The librarian was turning out to be more informative than the google had been.

“Really? If I was in a band, and I wanted my poster lettered, how would I find her?” Peter asked.

“Honey, if you were in a band, you would know who Pixie Stix were!” She laughed. “The Vinyl Frontier usually can track her down. It’s on –“

“I know where it is. I was in there yesterday,” Peter interrupted and stood up.

“You’re not a psycho stalker or something, are you?” The librarian’s brow was knit in concern. He laughed.

“No,” he shook his head. She didn’t appear to buy it. “Can I tell you a secret? The truth is, I’ve got this friend, and he’s a huge fan. And he’s really sick. So I thought, if I could get her autograph, maybe that would make him feel better,” he explained. “It’s, like, really sad.”

“You are so sweet!” The librarian clutched a hand to her chest and tilted her head. She ran a hand down his arm. Peter smiled, flexing the muscles of his forearm as her hand ran across it. Her eyes widened and met his, and he flashed his most charming grin before standing.

“Thank you again for all you help,” he paused to read her nametag, “Sondra. I appreciate it.”

Peter had put his restraint to the test and just waited until Tuesday morning to head back to the record store. It was sorely testing his restraint though. He kept seeing the image of Roxy Rain in his head, the tight bustier she’d worn on stage, the thigh high boots. How she wasn’t every pubescent Terran male’s fantasy, he was unsure, but he hadn’t been able to find a poster of just her anywhere. There were plenty of posters with the whole band, but he was thinking more along the lines of the Farrah Fawcett on a Corvette poster his granddad had up in the garage when he was a kid. Something that was just Roxy Rain, looking as sexy as she had on stage.

The bells on the door jangled as he walked in and a tall skinny kid looked up from a textbook at the counter. “Heya.”

“Hi. Is Roxanne in? I dropped of a cassette with her on Sunday –“

“Oh, seventies power tape guy! Sure, yeah, hold on,” the kid interrupted and picked up the phone sitting beside him. He typed something in and looked back up at Peter. “She’s picking through inventory in the basement. She’ll be right up.”

Peter nodded and looked over the kid’s shoulder to the flyers lining the wall behind the cash desk. They were all hand lettered, the same block printing in the bottom left corner giving the details of each concert they advertised. He thought about what the librarian had said and realized the flyers must all be Roxy Rain’s work.

“Same artist do all those posters?” Peter asked.

“Yeah. She apparently never runs out of energy. A million things on the go all the time,” he laughed. Roxanne crashed through the door to the back in a cloud of dust, carrying a box that was stacked high with posters and what looked like t-shirts.

“Jer, come give me a hand, I’ve got another box downstairs. Listen, it’s October, and I just dug out all this Thriller stuff, do you think we can move it? I have promo materials here from when the album came out. I think we have at least a dozen copies of it on vinyl.” Roxanne hadn’t noticed Peter over the mountain of merchandise in her arms. He grabbed the box from her and brought it up to the counter for Jeremy. Jeremy pointed to the floor beside the desk and scurried to the door to help Roxanne with the rest.

“It’s also the 30th anniversary of Ghostbusters, Rox, it might be a good Halloween tie in.” He took the next box from Roxanne and leaned over the top of it. “Seventies mix tape guy is here. And he’s smokin’ hot. No wonder you wanted to help him. You could bounce a quarter off that ass. Please let me know if you wind up bouncing a quarter off that ass.”

“Jeremy!” Roxanne hissed, barely containing a laugh. “I already told you –“

“Well for my sake then, I hope he’s gay,” Jeremy interrupted. Roxanne didn’t manage to contain the laugh. Peter looked up from the desk and smiled.

“Hey, Pete. I’m just gonna grab everything from my desk, and we’ll go over it,” Roxanne called and leaned back to where she’d left the iPod. She tossed everything she’d put together for him in a small box and came to the counter. “Okay, first things first. Do you still want me to speak to you like you are a complete idiot?”

“That would probably be a good plan,” Peter nodded.

“This is an iPod. It’s a type of mp3 player made by Apple –“

“The Mac people? Man, I used to love playing Oregon Trail in school. Is it weird to admit that? Is it weirder to admit it because I’m actually in Oregon?” Peter interrupted. Roxanne paused, unsure how to answer that.

“Yeah. The same people,” she paused. “Anyhow, iPod. It’s like a tiny computer that stores digitized music files on it. I ripped all the songs from the tape –“

“You ripped my tape?” Panic caused Peter to interrupt again.

“No, it’s a, forget it. I didn’t rip your tape. I converted all the songs from your tape from the original vinyl to an mp3 file. I didn’t clean them up or anything, so they’ll have the same quality of sound to them that the cassette had. I put the whole mix tape on the iPod in a playlist called ‘Awesome Mix, Volume 1’. So that’s the cassette part of things.” Roxanne handed the cassette back to Peter, and watched as the tension melted out of his shoulders. She kind of wanted to know why the damn thing was so important. “So here’s where things get complicated. Without knowing what kind of stereo is in your car, it’s hard to figure out what you need to connect the iPod to the system. I’ve included a bunch of cables and stuff, but your best bet might be to just use the cassette converter. You plug it in just like a regular cassette, and then plug this part into the headphone jack. You’ll need to keep a power supply going to the iPod too, but you could connect the charging cable to the power socket or lighter.”

“Cool. What about if I’m not in the vehicle and want to listen to music?” Peter asked.

“Just make sure it’s charged and plug your headphones into it.” Roxanne pulled out a plastic wrapper from the pocket of her baggy cargo pants. “I slip mine into this when I go running so I don’t have to carry it. I included a protective case for the iPod. Don’t get it wet. Mp3 players are way fussier than older portable music players. I mean, they’re way better than a Discman, but I beat my Walkman into submission as a kid and it always kept working.”

“Yeah, I still have mine,” Peter admitted. The iPod slipped out of Roxanne’s hand and clattered onto the counter.

“You still have a Walkman?” She asked. Her tone made Peter feel awkward.

“So I went to that concert last night,” he changed the subject. Roxanne beamed up at him, making him feel even more awkward.

“I was wondering if you’d made it. I didn’t see you, but it was a madhouse.” She slipped the iPod into the protective sleeve for him as she talked. “Did you enjoy it?”

“They were really great. That lead singer was something else,” he admitted. He thought he caught Roxanne blushing, but she was pushing her hair out of her face and couldn’t quite tell.

“There’s a bootleg of the concert on their website. It’s five bucks. The money all goes to a youth arts program here.” She dropped the iPod back into the box of stuff.

“Would I need another iPod for that, or –“

“Nah, I can upload it onto your iPod right now, if you don’t mind waiting a few minutes. You can store about 30 hours of music on this. Follow me.” She grabbed the iPod and led him back to the staff room. While he watched, she connected the iPod to her laptop and with a few keystrokes, sat back at appraised him. “So what’s your story, Peter Quill? You don’t strike me as a complete idiot, if I’m completely honest with you. So why don’t know you about mp3 players?”

Peter smirked. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” He looked around, at the walls papered in concert flyers. “Are they collectible?”

“The flyers?” Roxanne asked.

“Yeah,” Peter confirmed. “Are they collectible because of who does the art? Is that why you’ve got them all over back here and at the counter?”

“Oh, I hadn’t thought of it that way. Not that I know of? I just like having them around so I know what I’ve done for other concerts when I’m drawing up new ones.” Roxanne surveyed the wall and pointed at a clear spot at the desk.

“You did these?” Peter asked. He looked at her again, and caught a hint of pink peeking out from under her blond hair. His heart hammered in his chest. Roxanne laughed.

“Yeah. A girl has to do what a girl has to do to make ends meet. It used to be thin times. The flyers paid my bills when I was living in the basement here,” she admitted.

“I thought Roxy Rain did them?” He asked. Roxanne laughed.

“You’ve been doing your homework, Pete! How cute are you?” She unplugged the iPod and handed it to him. “We’ll square you away up at the till.” She moved toward the door to the store. Peter put his hand on her shoulder and furrowed his brow as he looked at her.

“You’re Roxy Rain?” He was dumbstruck.

“Yeah,” she nodded.

“From the Pixie Stix?” He prompted.

“Yeah,” she nodded again.

“Okay, like you said on Sunday, I basically just crawled out from under a rock in outer Mongolia, but you’re the lead singer for the most successful band in all of Terra right now.” There was a pinching between Peter’s eyebrows that warned him he was going to get a headache.

“Where the fuck is Terra?” Roxanne asked.

“I mean, the entire world. Most successful band in the world right now,” he corrected and mentally kicked himself.

“Well, we’re not U2. But we do have the number one album on the Billboard chart right now,” Roxanne confirmed.

“Why the hell are you working in a record store?” Peter asked.

“I own it.”

#Guardians of the Galaxy fic #Guardians of the Galaxy fic with OFC #Peter Quill x OFC

37 notes · View notes

saintvader · 7 years ago

Note

hiya, would you mind me asking what tablet / programs you use for ur art?? I am really trying to get back into drawing this year but I’ve only ever really drawn on paper n I’m not sure where to start w digital stuff... I have an iPad but I’ve no idea if that’s any good 🙈

hey! i don’t mind at all. Hardware wise, right now I’m between tablets. this is why I haven’t posted anything new in a whil. I used to use the Toshiba Encore Write 2 with the wacom feel digitizer in it (as well as wacom truenote pen) but it crapped out and the pen broke and toshiba stopped making it and supporting it (their suggestion was “buy the new one”) So i reluctantly moved on and ordered a new iPad Pro 12.9 last week (after like.. a year of searching for something new, i wanted a surface pro but theyre more expensive) I should get my new iPad tomorrow. Software wise I’m pretty happy with Clip Studio Paint Pro (formerly manga studio) but I may try out Procreate. I’ve heard good things. I’ve also dabbled with photoshop and PaintTool SAI in the past. they didn’t stick because I’m already too used to PS for photo-editing/other things and learning to paint on it felt weird and I’m also not much of a painter (in colour especially) so SAI didn’t really tickle my fancy (and i feel like it was wasted on the type of art i like to do anyway, it seems its really good for watercolour-y and traditional paint type effects) CSPP has an iPad app now and since I use it 90% of the time, I’ll probably continue using that on my iPad since I have all my custom brushes on there anyway.

#anon #replies #art questions #about me #about my art #kinda #i wish i could say more about the iPad #but i havent actually used one yet #lol #i have a friend who uses one and his art is badass #so between that and CSPP having and app #i was like might as well #Anonymous

0 notes

kayroseoldblog · 8 years ago

Text

iPad Pro w/ Apple Pencil vs. Wacom Cintiq Companion

Hello everyone!For Christmas this year, I received an iPad Pro 12.9in and an Apple Pencil!

As someone who has been practicing digital art for almost 10 years now, I thought it made sense to throw my two cents into the internet about this tool. I also included a few other people's thoughts on each device to try and make the review as well rounded as possible!

Keeping in mine that my Cintiq Companion 1 is three years old now, and my iPad is the latest 2016 edition, you can take this review with a grain of salt if you like.

Let me first start by listing the tools I have used to draw with...

Drawing Tablets I've used:

Wacom Bamboo Tablet (No longer available)

Wacom Intuous 4 Tablet (No longer available?)

Wacom Cintiq Companion (First gen, 2013, Windows 8)

and now:iPad Pro 12.9 w/ Apple PencilDrawing

Programs I've used:

Photoshop Elements

Corel Painter

Sketchbook Express

Paint Tool Sai

Fire Alpaca

Photoshop CC

Procreate App

Medibang Paint App

The Cintiq

I've had a Wacom Cintiq Companion v1 since 2012-2013 ish, and I have always loved it. I took to drawing directly on the screen pretty fast, and since beginning to use it, I've always had a slight disconnect when returning to regular drawing tablets. I'm just not as used to it anymore, but I do use them in a pinch.

The Cintiq has an amazing Tempered Glass screen which gives the texture of the drawing a really nice feel, though it seems to make its accuracy suffer, it's very easy to tell that you are drawing on a SCREEN and theres a bit of glass between you and your drawing, but you hardly notice it when drawing usually.

However, Wacom recently, in my opinion, has been going down hill with its portable tablets...I haven't tried out/seen anyone usng the Mobile Studio, but maybe that one is better! Sure looks promising!

My cintiq's charger has been broken for some time now, and after doing some research I found out that any tablet manufactured before July 2014 has a really bad charging problem...and Wacom will fix it for free, but it's been known to just be a band-aid fix. Many friends have said this about their external drawing tablets from Wacom in recent years as well. It makes me miss my old Intuos 4!

My Cintiq has a battery life right out of the box of between 8-10 hours. I use photoshop extensively to draw, and sometimes switch between that and other programs, making 8 hours about the max I can get out of it. After a year or so, that went down to 5-8. So I wouldnt use this more at home than on the go.

Pros:

OS is up to you (Mac or PC available)

Desktop Applications (Creative Cloud, etc)

Pen w/ eraser on back- Comes with Stand/Case/Pen in one cost

Sort of Portable

Custom Brushes/Downloadable Brushes

Can use on its own w/ no external monitor

Pressure Sensitive

Cons:

Heavy heavy heavy!

Very thick

Fan gets loud

Included stand is pretty bad

Calibration is off near the edges (Granted, not many people draw near the edges)- Wacom usually has problems

Horrible Battery life

Takes a long time to charge

Screen resolution is odd

Colors are always slightly off

While my review is of the Cintiq Companion 1, I've noticed not much difference in my friend's Cintiq 2, aside from the battery charge lasting a little longer, and it being a bit lighter in weight, but they had this to say:

"Haven't used the iPad so i'm biased - t's the industry standard, I like having the touch keys while drawing, i like the texture of the surface, and it's powerful enough to run Adobe programs without lag, I also like that it's fairly portable if you don't mind the weight. The color on screen I think is sliiiiightly off bc whenever I transfer it from there to my phone or elsewhere something is just... off with the colors. Cintiq is powerful. Use it if you're like professional, because Adobe programs and other stuff. Plus it's a laptop. But if you're just looking for something to do digital art on, the iPad is cheaper and will do it for you from what I hear. I enjoy [my cintiq companion 2], it does what I need it to and that's all I asked for."

The iPad Pro 12.9in w/ Apple Pencil

Now to be fair, I've only had my iPad for a week and a half, but I think that's even more impressive, because I love it WAY more than my cintiq

The battery life of the iPad is already way longer than my cintiq ever had. I've charged my iPad once since unboxing it. (it was unboxed at about 70%) and thats with extensive drawing every day. Apple says it gets between 10-18 hours of life depending on what you're doing, and boy is that true The downside is that this thing takes FOREVER to charge again, but for how long it lasts, I suppose it's a small price to pay.

The Apple Pencil has an amazing battery life and charges incredibly fast. I've topped it off once since getting it, and it charges fast. Charging it for 15 seconds supposedly gets you another 30 minutes of life. I haven't tested that out, but I wouldn't doubt it honestly. I was able to charge it from 12% to 100% in just 20 minutes, and that's the only time I've had to charge it!

The Apple Pencil feels great on the iPad, and glides really nicely and naturally. It didn't take me long to get used to it at all, it's very much like drawing on the cintiq screen which I liked. However the pressure sensitivity is even more accurate, and the ability of the pencil to draw exactly where you put down your tip is INCREDIBLE. It's very much like drawing on paper.

The size is also great, as it's like drawing on any A4 paper if you draw portrait, and the real-estate of the screen drawing landscape is even nicer. The resolution is much more comfortable than the cintiq's, and I don't feel like I'm drawing in a super cramped area. (Though this all depends on the App you use, I'm not a fan of Medibang Paint as I feel like everything is so squished!)

The Apple Pencil also has the ability to draw tilted. The cintiq's stylus has this too, but it's not as accurate or helpful. This is what makes the Apple Pencil a PENCIL and not a stylus.

However, the Pencil and iPad, which are sold separately, don't come with anything to hold the Apple Pencil in, so I had to buy a sling for it, which was only 6$, but still. It's an expensive item and you're going to want to keep it, not lose! Before buying the sling, I was constantly worried about misplacing my pencil. I don't mind not having a stand as the iPad Pro is so comfortable to draw with it in your lap, sitting anywhere you like. If you're looking for a stand for it, they're pretty cheap on Amazon

Pros:

Better Pressure Sensitivity/Accuracy

Amazing Battery Life

Extremely Portable

Cheap or free Apps W/ Great Quality. Bridging the gap for Photoshop.

Pencil feels great to draw with

iOS Updates

Custom Brushes/Downloadable Brushes

Feels more natural to draw on

No Lag

Cons

Pencil/Tablet sold separately

Slow to charge

Case/Accessories all sold separately (I'm told Mobile Studio Cintiq will also have everything sold separate)

No Desktop Apps (Photoshop, Creative Cloud, etc)

No cursor to show how big your brush is (in Procreate at least)

ONLY compatible with iOS for iPad

Not a full computer

I was lucky enough to have professional Comic Artist, K. Lynn Smith of "Plume" give me her thoughts on the iPad Pro as well!

"Pros, extremely fun to draw on, it replicates pencil and paper perfectly and it's portability is amazing. You can draw anywhere. Cons: not a lot of storage space on the iPad, sometimes the airdrop goes wonky, and though the programs available are amazing, there are some options not available...like assistance in drawing a perfect circle or stamp/clone tool. "

You can read Plume here!

The Final Word

In all Honesty, I think I'll be using my iPad Pro for most of my digital work from now on. Between all the apps and features, especially with ProCreate, this tablet is really bridging the gap between a Ciintiq and an iPad. Procreate specificaly is missing a few things such as a crop tool, and a text tool. It also doesn't have quite as many ways to edit as Photoshop does, but it's got most of them and enough that it doesn't bother me. You can also save your files from this app as JPEGS, PNGs, PSDs, and GIFs, to name a few.

My Cintiq is currently on it's way out and wheezing its way through life , but I don't think I'll be totally getting rid of it in case I need to bring something from my iPad over for photoshop, but honestly, I do that with my traditional work already so that really isn't an issue to me.

If you're looking to get into digital work, I recommend the iPad Pro 12.9 and Apple Pencil over the current Cintiq Companions. When adding in all the things you'll need, it comes out to the same price as a Cintiq Companion.

While the Cintiq and Wacom ARE the "Industry Standard", you really cannot tell the difference any longer, and I know of many professionals who use strictly the iPad Pro 12.9! Most studios/Art Directors care about what the work looks like, not what you made it on. (unless you're animating!)

#review #jasereview #ipad pro #apple pencil #procreate #art supplies #art supplies review

0 notes