My pal @kbthebearcat and I have been playing around with (and ultimately developed brainrot for) an Iron Giant AU featuring the kids from our ongoing RP, so I ended up sketching what Cricket might look like as a human since she'd essentially be filling the role of Hogarth. I also designed a couple extra outfits for fun, specifically based on my ideas for human Cricket's favorite outdoor interests and activities!
Cricket has something called acro-facial vitiligo, which is a pattern of vitiligo where skin cells on the face, hands, and feet lose pigment (as well as the knees, elbows, or armpits in certain cases). It's supposed to serve as a visual equivalent for the dark patches of fur found in her canon rat design. I always enjoy trying to preserve some aspects of the canon character when creating things like this ^^
22 notes
·
View notes
the "how to write a rec post or masterpost" post
i promised this a few days ago, so here it is: my brief guide on how to pitch yourself or someone else on tumblr to other people in such a way that they might actually click on it! this is what i've found is the most effective way to format a set of fic recs or your own masterpost will typically be, at least to me. this is meant for when you're listing multiple fics in one post, typically intending to help a reader choose one they want to read!
the biggest thing to remember is a rec post or masterpost is a tool for a potential reader. therefore, you want to include the information they need in the easiest-to-read way possible.
first off: if you are trying to list or rec more than one fic, do not use the tumblr 'link' embed function. like, you CAN, but ao3 link embeds get ugly when you have more than about one of them. instead, do an in-line link, like this! this will make a longer post much easier to read.
next, with each link, include the following information: a brief summary (it doesn't have to be the same as the summary/pitch you used for ao3, and probably shouldn't be; instead, a one or two sentence description of what the fic is about is best), the fandom it's in, a sense of the fic's length, and rating. (note that you DON'T need to include all the tags and trigger warnings--if someone is intrigued enough to read it, they'll click on the link, and from there they will see the tags and trigger warnings. this should only be enough information to get someone interested.)
finally, ESPECIALLY if it's a rec post, include at least one sentence about why someone should read it. why are you recommending it? this is different from the summary; if a summary of the fic is "joe hills gets stuck in a time loop", the sentence about why someone should read it shouldn't be "haven't you ever wanted to see joe in a time loop?"
the point of rec posts--and indeed promoing on tumblr--is that people trust word of mouth more than they trust a random summary. so give them that word of mouth! if it's a rec post, say something like "it's a fic that made me cry", or "i never thought i'd laugh so much at a fic until i read this", or "the character-voices are on point", or "i stayed up all night reading this". if it's your own master post. include something like "this might be the fic i'm the most proud of", or "this one is great if you like joe hills and enjoy tragedy", or "this one was an experiment in style". something that is NOT just further summary of the fic, but instead describes a good reason to read it!
so, for example, an entry in my own hypothetical master post might look like this:
to convey a certain brilliance, hermitcraft, T, 21k. joe hills and zombiecleo slowly, and through many death loops, drag their way out of their collapsed base to try to survive after a lunar apocalypse. this is the second hermitcraft fic i ever wrote and i wrote it before we knew how moon's big would end, inspired by super hostile; people still tell me it has some of their favorite joe characterization.
and an entry in a hypothetical rec post i might write could look like this:
the sky weighs heavy tonight by mawofthemagnetar, hermitcraft, T, 79k. an ensemble fic in which a plane being flown by keralis and zedaph crashes, and in which the world is still recovering from the scars of a deadly war. i LOVE snake's writing, and this fic was basically designed to capture me specifically; it has cool worldbuilding, body horror, PLANES, a really cool aircraft investigation plot, one of the best-executed ensemble casts in the fandom, and a fun tone! it's a fairly easy read even given it's length, too; if you haven't read it, you absolutely should.
my only remaining recommendation is that if you're writing a LONG fic rec post or a LONG masterpost, you organize it by categories. these categories can be whatever is most useful for you--by relationship tag, by fandom, by ship or not ship, by genre, etc., it's mostly just to make scanning through the post a little easier.
and hopefully this is helpful for some folks out there! if people are interested i can also do one on "how to promo my individual fic", i also have observations and opinions on that.
217 notes
·
View notes
"They wail in the night.
Drifting in shadow.
The Phantoms of the Machine.
The ghosts."
-----
We are at the very end of spooky season.
I finished this one a while ago. I was wanting to post this at the same time as the other last 3 TID prompts that I was wanting to do*.
I had another idea for this prompt, but I think that would be good for another separate drawing. Plus, I've been wanting to draw Slicer for a while now.
Kinda proud of this one. One of those drawings that I look at and think "wait, I think I cooked here". I had to swap my mouse for a different one, so drawing this (specifically sketching this) was really something. But I'm getting used to it I think.
I had to improvise in the background. Lots of negative space that I had to learn how to fill. Not half-bad.
The next time I draw Slicer it probably won't be with this level of detail. At least in this specific case, it made me discover one or two small details in her design that I hadn't noticed before. It's cool.
Since it's already Halloween, I thought it would be appropriate to finally post this now. (I thought about posting this tomorrow, but not only do I think it's better to post this today, but I'll probably be too busy thinking about Bendy's new announcement tomorrow, whatever that may be)
But yeah. Happy Halloween folks!
*Yes, I'm still doing those prompts. They are being done! I'm just kinda busy. I think I will post them during November. I know that TID is over and I don't need to do them. But I'm stubborn and want to do it anyway lol.
Unfiltered version below:
109 notes
·
View notes
NOTE: Scrapped idea, not canon!!
I realized I had been writing her very oddly, and she felt out of place... partly on purpose but I went a little far, and thought of the only way to excuse it!! I said Kiley was a college student around Our current day, and somehow got heavily modded fo4 to work in vr- (glances at hlvrai)
Thankfully I have reworked the plot and some personalities, a few days ago- we are still doing a layered reality story, but- well you'll have to wait and see ahaha.
Taglist: @typosandtea @pure-vanilla-lilies @mottinthemainpot
15 notes
·
View notes
I'm just figuring out how important music is in my life! This is coming from a long while trying to cut down on my music use, mostly because I was listening to it so much that it felt more like I couldn't do anything without popping in some earbuds, and partially because of other personal reasons. Some of my routines changed, forcing me to not listen to music while doing certain things, and it ended up becoming that besides working on homework or drawing, I didn't listen to music at all. But I've given myself a break today since I have nothing to do and since, for reasons, I'm feeling just a lil crappy today—and boy, I'm starting to realize again just why I love music!!
I love the diverse music taste I've developed over the years! My family is not only big about music but big about listening to it loud, so the majority of my music taste for most of my life has just been Christian hiphop (Lecrae, KB, Andy Mineo, Trip Lee, and ironically Tonex, whose album where he was struggling hard with his gayness has been my favorite concert movie since I was 5) and gospel music (Kirk Franklin, Tye Tribbett, etc.). And music was one of the few connections between me and my race (I grew up feeling pretty estranged from my blackness as a kid, but the popular songs they played at the YMCA in the 2010s were some of the few things I could use to feel more connected) and between me and my classmates/friends at the Y (I still have fond memories of playing FNAF songs in mat forts and reciting lyrics at pool parties). But I got tired of knowing I could never bond with anyone besides family friends music taste-wise when I was in high school, and so I started listening to secular music on my own time. And that's how I first found Ghost and Pals, a vocaloid artist and one of the first secular music folks I listened to as a kid (can you smell the religious trauma yet? Lol), and that's how I bonded with one of my best friends in early college (ironically, also my first time being publically queer). Now I listen to Kpop, anime songs, songs from warriors MAPs, songs from musicals (Hamilton and In the Heights <3), latin songs, metal songs, and even some secular songs young me would've been too scared to listen to.
And music has always been one of my biggest sources of stimming! I can't dance to save my life, but music will sure get me to flick my fingers and hit my fist against my shoulder furiously. Music was one of the first clues that I like stimming with vibration too (since I love laying against the car door and turning up the music loud enough to feel the world shake around me). And music was one of the first things that made me look into ADHD or autism (specifically, listening to Ghost and Pals songs for a month straight and getting my friend at early college [who also has ADHD] to start looking at me funny when I was discovered doing chores and listening to one of three songs for the fifth time). Music is so cool it'll get me to wax poetically. It was one of the things that kept me together during my roughest times and soothed me during my best. I listen to it while I write, while I cry, while I hang out with my friends and family and while I chill by myself. It's how I relax after a long day, and it's how I feel safe. I feel kinda emotional finally having music hit that spot in me without feeling like I need it to do stuff.
8 notes
·
View notes