#I have several WIP sketches of these two as well

[techn0tony]

I keep drawing them they're invading my ibispaint canvas(es)

HELP YOU ARE KILLING ME /POS

[mothmore]

frankenstein spin-off wip (now with art !)

you may have seen a post like this before last month if you follow @petricharme (which you should) , but some of my friends have been working on a frankenstein spin-off story surrounding louis manoir , famous man in our hearts mentioned one singular time in the novel ! they have created a google doc (linked below) with a summarization of the story!

*FMS stands for Forgotten Man’s Symphony, comments on the doc and reblogs are appreciated !

many things on the doc are still subject to change and the story/louis is not fully developed yet and the story is not yet in the actual writing stage. i also highly encourage checking out the other two writers on the story ! there is a FMS discord server you can join , just send petricharme an ask !

i’ve recently started making art for FMS as well! nothing too extravagant yet, mostly just character designs/explorations , but i do have some bigger pieces in mind i wanna start on when i get the chance !

the first two are of our beloved louis , and the last one an experimental sketch of his older brother , lou

and!! additionally, here's the paragraph of manoir's mention, as i think its needed. this is said by elizabeth in her letter in chapter 5 of the 1818 edition:

Now, dear Victor, I dare say you wish to be indulged in a little gossip concerning the good people of Geneva. The pretty Miss Mansfield has already received the congratulatory visits on her approaching marriage with a young Englishman, John Melbourne, Esq. Her ugly sister, Manon, married M. Duvillard, the rich banker, last autumn. Your favourite schoolfellow, Louis Manoir, has suffered several misfortunes since the departure of Clerval from Geneva. But he has already recovered his spirits, and is reported to be on the point of marrying a very lively pretty Frenchwoman, Madame Tavernier. She is a widow, and much older than Manoir; but she is very much admired, and a favourite with every body.

[celestialtrolls-moved]

Aelynn is ready for the ball! The result of blood, sweat and tears (both mine and hers), and now I'm gonna go let my hand collapse and potentially fall off my body!

But that's not all, because I put my whole brain into this design, so click the read more to see ME EXPLAIN NEARLY EVERY SINGLE DESIGN DECISION I MADE AND WIPS

themes that were kept in mind

CARNEVALE CONFECTIONS: A BLOODSTAINED MASQUERADE

Sogno Dell’Arlecchino + Blood & Candy

inspiration focuses were chocolates, vampires (blood and gothic), carnevale (harlequins), decadence and detail, and Italy. just. in general.

DRAFT 1, sketch

writing, from top left to bottom right

makeup is carnevale inspired, maybe jade for vampire/rainbow drinker

ribbon-like chocolate gift decoration (in hair)

drips - blood? chocolate? (necklace)

wavy hair to invoke pouring chocolate

cream filling or icing (around the hem of bust)

rhinestones in hair and in tulle for decadence

tulle (bustle) -> make it lace, more common in carnevale costumes

caramel drizzle, small jewels as 'salt' (decorating the gloves)

corset VERY IMPORTANT for vampiresque vibe

subtle pattern (on the corset)

like little maltesers (on the bustle)

alternating black and white (skirt panels)

the dress shape itself was inspired by several looks from 'salon du chocolat' fashion shows, however this was abandoned

DRAFT 2, lines (attempt 1)

switched to a long skirt for a more classic silhouette, skirt drafts

based on various cake decoration methods, asked in servers which i should go with and then tried to merge the chocolate chips and the icing for maximum decadence, however

chocolate chips were abandoned due to looking somewhat messy

some rhinestones were placed to replace them much later

LINEWORK, attempt 2 (i redrew the entire thing with a thinner lineweight)

as well as the things written here, i switched out the hairpiece from chocolate squares to unturned fangs and roses

i also included the rest of the moodboard i was using in this image so you can see the other things i was inspired by

COLOUR DRAFTS

tried roughly placing colour in this phase, wanted to have a bright lilac main colour to balance out the dark details and hair, since carnevale costumes tend to be extremely bright and eye-catching, tried to avoid using completely desaturated colours

decided to put the gradient at the bottom of the dress because putting it at the top made it look like it wasn't one piece with the bust, wasn't really happen with the contrast between the leg ribbons and the lilac however

part way through colouring i decided i hated the lilac, tried to darken it a little, still didn't like it, turned it black

decided to hand-draw a tonne of embroidery for the corset because most carnevale dresses have heavy detail in texture and lace pattern

the front two panels are paisley/plant-inspired and then the panels on the back which is then echoed for the translucent torso piece are geometric patterns based off of commedia dell'arte costumes for the character trope 'harlequin'

the torso piece also has small unique embroidered flowers in each of the larger empty spaces because seriously these carnevale outfits go so heavy on patterns

more italian gothic architecture, this hatched pattern has a multiply layer depicting the Duomo of Siena onto the fan, which is a fascinating piece of architecture that spanned centuries to finish

[cbsorgeartworks]

The Dragon Mage's Study, 2023 72.5 hours // Photoshop My latest painting!! Commissions Open 🐊Follow me on Instagram! If you are interested in a print, email me cbsorge @ gmail and I'll let you know when I get that figured out. I am planning on selling prints. Thoughts, info, and WIP process shots below:

I started this last summer and only just now finished it!.

I kept careful track of time and logged 72.5 active work hours (not counting breaks etc) over 43 days. So I could have gotten this done much faster if I hadn't taken months long breaks from working on this. Unfortunately I love details and complexity. File time stamp beginning and end:

While I have been working professionally for a long time, for various reasons I do not have a lot of up-to-date work to show for it. I am working on changing that with a new batch of art where I show off the skills I've built up over the years, going as hard as I can. I am hopefully going to be able to finish these faster from here on out. I have lots of plans - merch to sell, projects and series of work to make - so stay tuned!! I enjoy exploring a busy scene when the details all have thought put into them. With this piece I wanted to reward the viewer for looking closely, with details making sense in context. I also wanted to present a lot of "imagination fodder" for the audience to chew on. Unlike my Willy Wonka and the Candyman piece, which was sketched out roughly and only on one or two layers, this one was done meticulously and with dozens of separate layers for a cleaner finish, necessitating several clean drawing passes. I think it worked out well, I did much less re-painting. Process steps: 1) original sketch, 2) first pass drawing, 3)final pass drawing, 4) flats, 5) shading, 6) flats+shading combined for rough painting, 7) final painting. 75% of the work was just the final step, from rough to finished painting.

Also for this piece I experimented with a color gamut mask. I wanted to exclude all warm colors (yellows, orange, red). They only show up on the mage's skin, a focal point. I think I ended up pushing some of the yellow-er greens into there too.

Now on to the next one because I miss having painting to do every day. Yay art!!

[yasmimkilleruwu]

I'm really looking forward to seeing your comic and I can't wait for it, do you plan to post it here? Well, I really love your versions of creepypastas and your drawings of TicciJack (my favorite ship since forever). Well, I especially love your version of Eyeless Jack and would like to know more about the anatomy of your version of him, how everything about him works or anything like that.

(Desculpe, inglês não é minha língua nativa, então me perdoe por qualquer erro)

Wip :)

I will post my comic on my Tumblr, Instagram and TikTok, my username is the same on all my social networks.

I'm glad you liked my versions of the creepypastas and my TicciJack drawings, I already have two sketches of Toby and Eyeless Jack together, I just need to color them.

I'm still redoing my version of Eyeless Jack, I have difficulty drawing the characters in full body and especially making a cool pose for the character, so it's being a little difficult for me to draw my new version of him, but as soon as I finish, I'll draw several drawings and gifs to show his anatomy.

And another person also asked me to show and explain the anatomy of my version of Eyeless Jack, so when I draw everything, I will post the drawings and gifs answering the person's question :D

I'll post the gifs on my Instagram too.

{ English is also not my native language, I actually speak Portuguese, and I use the translator so there are probably mistakes in this post <⁠(⁠￣⁠︶⁠￣⁠)⁠> }

[black-wolf-spirit-art]

It's okay to have some miscommunication and miss some details on some parts. As long as you communicate further to fix an issue, everything is okay!

Since there is money involved, the matter on the situation is much more important, definitely, and the client is the boss.. but don't beat yourself up for this, okay? Mistakes happens and you went through a rough one...

Just take the time to talk things out and take as much details as possible next time so you can prevent unnecessary comes and goes.

Just please understand the client like the client understands you too so everyone gets a win!/lh

Hi there! I assume this was about the Afreakingdorks post. Thank you that's very sweet. And thank you for reaching out.

There was absolutely some miss communication between the two of us and I adapted to all of her requests as best I could. The issues arose when she requested more than 3 edits past the sketch phase. In my price sheet I state that they are alowed unlimited edits in the sketch phase, then 3 free edits past the sketch stage, but after 3 edits I would need to start charging for my time. This is when the issues began because they were unwilling to pay for edits but insisted, I make them for free. When they were unwilling to compromise, and the conversation was seeming to go downhill I agreed to show them the flats layer to prove I did in fact add gray to their Sona's fur and reduced the opacity in the light layers to make them show more. I also emailed the files to them with the edit function enabled so they could mess with the files any way they pleased since it was not quite what they had wanted. I also offered them a 50% refund for the piece which they refused. I know they were also talking about the file "conveniently appearing" after they harassed me on 2 different tumblr accounts. But they didn't consider that I had sent them 3 high resolution PNG's that take a few minutes to send over. So I guess to her it looked like they just appeared after she started spamming me on her two other accounts.

To be perfectly clear to any of her followers that came to my page due to this altercation. She received several WIP's. She made edits to those WIP's which I then made, and she approved of them/ gave the thumbs up for me to continue the illustration. This happened several times during the sketch phase and 3 times during the line art phase. She then received said finished piece but requested more edits for free. When I told her I couldn't make any more edits for free she got upset. She requested I send what I had to her email which I did, and she received it. The transaction was completed.

She also showed screenshots of our conversation but cut them up and rearranged them to make it look like I was taking advantage of her on her blog.

I've been receiving commissions for over 5 years and never had an issue with a customer. I'm always willing to compromise with the customer as well. But once it was clear she was trying to get more work for free and continued to gaslight me in the conversation, it was time for the transaction to end. They paid for a fully rendered illustration with two characters and two side images. I illustrated the background for free for them. Thats the full image they received. I would share our screenshots as well and the image itself but since It was an NSFW piece and there are minors following me I do not want to expose the imagery to on this platform.

There were several instances where they were directing me to manga/comic style while contradicting themselves and insisting I draw it in my own style and liked where the piece was going which added another layer of confusion.

All and all this has absolutely been an interesting customer experience. If she wants to moan about how I hurt her reputation and sladerd her good name, she has ever right and I certainly won't stop her. It's disappointing to see from a 31 year old adult. But what can you do, I'm not willing to add to her pitty party.

I'm sorry to keep going on about this. That was a long post and I really appreciate the fact her followers are willing to stand up for her so much.

I'm just an illustrator she commissioned to draw her sona having sex with Donnie from ROTTMNT in a bathroom stall. I'm not interested in making this into a whole ordeal.

[cacodaemonia]

20 questions for fic writers

Thanks for the tag, @flowerparrish! :D

How many works do you have on ao3? 213, but somewhere between like 85 and 100 of those are just images.

What’s your total ao3 word count? 1,049,952

What fandoms do you write for? Clone Wars

What are your top 5 fics by kudos? Many of the top works are art-only, but if I sort through, looks like most of the fics are those that I have never reread or re-edited, so 😬

That’s Not How It Happened (This Is How It Happened) - My first fic, which I have re-edited since first posting it. Chip arc fix-it

Orbital Decay - Haven't touched this since I posted it. Codywan

Modulation - Also don't think I've re-edited this at all. Echo/Fives

Will You Walk With Me? - The only one of the top five that I care much about XD; Waxer and Boil (platonic or pre-relationship)

Kintsugi - Not re-edited. Codywan

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Yes! I love replying to comments with my usual unhinged yammering :D

What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending You're Just Harder to See Than Most, but it's part of a larger series where the sad stuff in this gets better. As a stand-alone, though, it's very angsty 🙈

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Hah, so many XD Maybe Count Every Beautiful Thing?

Do you get hate on fics? No, I've only gotten it for art, and thankfully AO3 isn't infested with pearl-clutching busybodies like Tumblr is, so I've only had one (honestly hilarious) hate comment there. It was on like the 6th chapter of a a very clearly tagged sketch dump in which several of the previous chapters were fairly explicit smut. And then on that last chapter, the person was like "Ew, they're brothers! This is disgusting." Hah, okay pal, seems like you were really enjoying it if you got to chapter 6. 🤣

Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Sure do! Uh, a variety, I guess, though I suppose I haven't written anything that would be considered heavy kink?

Do you write crossovers? Nope

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I know of, but I've had TONS of art stolen.

Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope

Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yes!

What’s your all-time favorite ship? This is very hard to answer because I tend to latch onto ships for many years at a time. But no other characters before the clones ever inspired me to write fics, so I'll go with Waxer/Boil 🧡

What’s a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? I have an AU fic where the war ends shortly after Geonosis that I really want to write but can't make the brain go very well on it, for some reason. I have pages and pages of notes, some sketches, and like a chapter and a half drafted, but I keep getting stuck. I wouldn't say that I doubt I'll ever finish it, though. I probably just have to shake things around to knock loose whatever is gunked up.

What are your writing strengths? Maybe natural dialogue?

What are your writing weaknesses? I want to describe all the things. I want to put what I see in my head into your eyeballs. But I also tend to over-describe like, logistic-type stuff, I think—stuff that no one but me cares about XD

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? Like a real language or a conlang? I don't know any of either well enough to include much of them in my fics, but when I use a bit of Ryl (which I've largely made up), I really limit it because I get annoyed when there's a ton of conlang in fics I'm trying to read. Scrolling to the end notes constantly is not very fun.

First fandom you wrote for? Clone Wars

Favorite fic you’ve written? Hmm, well I have a soft spot for Will You Walk With Me? but I think my two objectively best fics are My Heart's Red Muscle (78K Waxer/Boil cyborg AU) and We Could Breathe Underwater (5K Force-sensitive Waxer/Boil).

That was fun!

No-pressure tags: @lizardberries @elismor @valkeakuulas @blackkatmagic @amukmuk

And because I always long for a blank version of these tag things to copy/paste, just the questions below the cut:

How many works do you have on ao3?

What’s your total ao3 word count?

What fandoms do you write for?

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Do you get hate on fics?

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Do you write crossovers?

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

What’s your all-time favorite ship?

What’s a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

What are your writing strengths?

What are your writing weaknesses?

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

First fandom you wrote for?

Favorite fic you’ve written?

[unproduciblesmackdown]

days after the bit of rereading inspiring it Hraaarghh summoning the power to verbalize "i appreciate how much Everyone's Really Motivated Rn Huh & Barely Keeping Ahead Of Things is set up / converging At This Moment for the gamers in lackadaisy"

go mitzi lmao with the fraud or whatever (more importantly robbing the last friend in the world cashed in like poker chips you said it wasn't gonna be like that it wasn't supposed to be but etc Great Exchanges) stringing back together the symbolism necklace, are you sure progress is the world, all this on the line to barely hold things together a bit longer & then the payoff of this relies on what's going on with the other active players in the operation, which is "even more haphazardly strung together into an operation" and "it's going: bad"

which is to say, getting An begrudging shipment of goods based on a bluff, which hasn't been made yet, things are hanging together by a thread as it were, mostly nobody's having a good or particularly strategic time but now they're sure More In It than ever. and killing a guy from the most powerful enemy to make around here who is already on the defensive (ft. good offense style) but whoops where's the other guy? well that's probably fine, as was almost getting shot, and the entire run isn't even completed & compare this to the success of the marigold trifecta operation we were just shown. really ramping up the "no way this can go on indefinitely, & only would keep going on if you Need To Believe It Can Work Out rather than bring down disaster 5 min later"

shoutout to zib in whatever stage of imprisonment he's in where initially it's like "well dropping your access to / affiliation with lackadaisy pin down a drain could solely be about 'ha ha, now Another authority won't detect this'" but i'm supposing it's (also) about giving up on the operation / actually intending to cut his losses. But What Will Happen....and will the time devoted to his establishing any rapport with a prohibition bureau agent lead to him Learning Anything important? hmm

meanwhile there's viktor over there not wanting everything to end with paisley & regret, who's also like "wow i'm moved to tragically look at these unanswered letters from my Daughter daughter, whoops i lost (a picture of) her to the abyssal underworld (basement space) & can't manage to retrieve her (photo) from it. sure hope i don't get a call from elsa telling me a daughter figure is doing her first rumrunning challenge for the vine"

lmao MY guy. you imply around mordecai that marigold WAS up to something that could've played into atlas's death, On Top Of that Something's Up currently that's involving him but he doesn't understand it and he can't get any info from marigold about it, it's like two nights later & he's asking gracie about it, what a special time they're having. unfortunate that it's gonna end in ten seconds based on "mordecai is pushing a guy like thrice his size along on a squeaking desk chair through the obstacle course of an abandoned brewery so i don't think that's prime conditions to evade the savoys' detection / catching up to that" and "also wip sketch pages suggest serafine's about to noscope gracie 'what's going on here' shoot first ask questions of the guy who was supposed to have shot him already later" so like, a) mordecai will presumably have the info about gracie's scheduled Next Meeting With Drago (in several days) so like hm what's he gonna do? we know drago is focused on marigold. does he have info for zib, for mordecai? how would mordecai approach a meeting with a fed out here & as little Specificity to work with as he's had in questioning gracie, even if plausibly drago Does have more relevant info? i guess you could abduct him too, for a start. risky, ups the stakes, but that's just what he's Already done (as has Everyone Else, as per the central topic of this post) and so now b) seems like the savoys' getting to go "uhhh so. what's up" about mordecai's antics (like. also do we really think the savoys believe he's Having Fun anyways. i Guess. just also probably they'll very easily readjust that belief lmao)

actually this is just a paragraph break for the hell of it. MY GUY....so that basically it's looking like another thing that'll happen is mordecai will have to accept an Affiliation Outside Marigold with the savoys, simply b/c suddenly they have all this leverage knowing he's up to something, But based on what they've Just said & done, they aren't particularly interested in Telling On Him but Are particularly interested in "yeah we don't assume we or you will work at marigold forever, so also we Do want to be allied outside marigold forever" and like seems plausible they could be interested in [find out what's going on at marigold that Concerns Them but that they can't be more privy to than they are now] designs as well anyways. difficult to imagine that they can get on exactly the same page here, but it could be some Good Enough compromise between all of them. and i hope so because they Are still crushing it out here and i certainly think their allying in recognition of We're All Out Here Doing What It Takes To Survive is a basis of encouraging clarity / accuracy on the matter and of course a powerful teamup to maintain & work with & because like lord the [this is a narrative] target on mordecai otherwise perhaps lmao like he does not have the insulation of "wow, family, beautiful" or "wow, romance, beautiful" or "wow, the 'innocence' to have been insulated from This Kind Of Situation in the first place, beautiful" or "wow, randos happen to find you useful AND personable, beautiful" or "so you're up to violence in the violence business & so is everyone else but did you see all these preceding points?? watch out" like boy he needs the backup here. fingers crossed my special little guy. and rooting for the savoys too. anyways

and like see all my murder mystery musing but ofc i dunno what marigold's other Ventures and other Warnings and other Thorns are all about, but that we know Something's Up, and it sure could be that like whatever retrenchment type of maneuvers might've led to some situation of marigold like ummm maybe we care more about an alliance with atlas being a potential liability rather than an asset and then that nonzero involvement in the interest of Indefinite Survival For The Business will have been a little domino of its own destruction set off. would be wild if such "whoops trying to outrun one's own doom was feeding into it??" & Cycles Of Violence & stuff were like some fundamental themes driving the whole narrative here. would be wild if it was like nooo not the isolated guy too Weird to everyone else nooooo....at least one way or another getting up to plenty of Drama first. that's right

[abysscronica]

Feel free to answer 1, 2 or all three \o/

11. Post something from a current wip or concept 12. The funniest comment someone has left on a fic of yours? 13. Inspiration for Captive? I know it's been complete for a while now, but I'm just curious what kicked it off. (Captive played an inspirational role in my first Eustass Kid fic, so I'm curious <3 )

Thank you Quin and sorry for the late reply! Since the answer to no.11 is quite long, I'll reply to the others in another post (here).

From this ask game. (I have some other asks for it, will get to them later)

11. Post something from a current wip or concept

This is from a One Piece fantasy AU that I'm probably never going to work on fully, so it's a good chance to share it. It's just a draft and it's a OP x reader story, even if it doesn't look like it.

Koby held his breath in the humid darkness of the inn. Or what was left of it, anyway.

The stench of death impregnated the air, stale, heavy. It was hard to make out the details of the dining hall in the moonless night, although the young commander was partially grateful for that. He could see the outlines of the corpses, maimed, men and women alike, but not their horrified faces. He could see limbs, feel the mush of their organs under his boots. The wooden beams of the floor were probably covered in dry blood.

_______________________________________________________

He could hear the buzzing of the mosquitos, always preceding them at the crime scene.

His blond companion, beside him, pressed a handkerchief to his mouth, desperately trying not to puke.

“How many?”

“Eleven, that we know of,” Helmeppo grunted, his voice sounding more like a whimper.

No wonder, Koby thought, with his heightened half-elf senses, the blonde was surely worse off than him.

“Bring the torches down, get the men to collect samples and sketch out the crime scene.”

“What for? The murderer is already in our custody,” Helmeppo said from behind the cloth.

 Koby frowned at the floor. A delicate hand lay at his feet, a feminine one, severed below the wrist by jagged teeth.

“It’s the third case in two moons. We need to reopen the investigation,”

“Fine. Ugh, I need to get out of here,”

 Helmeppo rushed up the few stairs that led outside. The faint light of the stars cast clearer shadows in the inn for a moment, allowing Koby a better view of the massacre.

He looked, trying to imprint to his memory as many details as possible. Not that he could ever forget. Then he turned and followed the comrade outside.

It was a relief when the fresh air of the night greeted him, even there in the Rats Heap, where the air always carried a lingering smell of human and animal ejections.

“Commander Koby.”

 Out of the three soldiers composing his inner squad, only Hibari saluted him as he stepped in the small clearing among the buildings. Koby nodded to her and looked at Grus.

The tall man was leaning against the tumbleweed wagon, arms crossed on his broad chest, serious eyes glued to him.

“Is the prisoner secured?”

“Yeah.” Grus banged the wagon with his fist “Chained up like a damn sausage. Not that it matters, given his state,”

“His conditions are pretty bad,” Hibari confirmed “He’s burning up, even for a half-titan. We tried talking to him, but he doesn’t seem present at all,”

“We should just kill him,” Helmeppo shrugged.

 Koby shook his head.

“What? No. We need to find out what happened.”

“With all due respect, Koby, this looks just like another case of half-titans going mad,” Grus sighed “They do that, you know.”

“It’s been too many cases in such a short time. Also, they usually don’t just fall sick and die immediately after, and yet this is the only one we managed to capture alive so far,”

“So? Maybe it’s something with the stars, the seasons, the year. These guys have demon blood in their veins, who knows what’s up with them,” Grus said.

“Even so, I’m worried,” Hibari admitted “These cases will strain the situation with the half-titans in the city… they don’t do well when they feel threatened. We risk an escalation.”

“And so close to the First Blood Tournament! I hate this job,” Helmeppo groaned.

“We need to find out what’s going on,” Koby concluded “Helmeppo, call the other squads and have them analyze the scene, like I asked you. Grus, bring the prisoner to the headquarter and give him to the healers.”

 Grus blinked.

“The headquarter? I thought we were sending him to Impel Down. They have a lot of titans working there. If anyone knows how to make him talk, it’s them.”

“We’ll keep it as last resource.”

 The soldier shrugged, then mounted on the wagon and spurred the horses down the street.

Koby took a deep breath and glanced back at the inn.

“We need to keep the capital safe.”

Three days had passed since the massacre. No progress had been made in the half-titan case, and the rest of the population was growing listless. Two teenage half-titans had been killed in the Rat’s Heap, the poorest district of Sabaody. The militia presence was very scarce there, and daily disorders were the norm, but not at this rate. They were receiving frequent reports of aggressive half-titans from other districts too.

The only information they gathered on the murderer was his name, Gin, and that he was a hunter in the marshes at the Southeast rim of the capital. Like most titans, he was on a watchlist, but his past before arriving at Sabaody was a mystery.

“NEWWS! GET THE NEWWS OF TODAY!”

 Koby walked through the crowded streets of the Sunlight Market, staying large of the people swarming around the news boys.

“PRINCESS UTA’S EIGHTEENTH BIRTHDAY IS ONLY TWO WEEKS AWAY, AND THE FIRST BLOOD TOURNAMENT WITH IT!”

 Like he needed someone to remind him that.

Humans and half-elves were throwing coins at the boys, papers were being handed over in all directions.

“THE CITY IS GOING TO WELCOME GUESTS FROM ALL OVER THE CONTINENT! ALABASTA! KANO! LITTLE GARDEN! TOTTOLAND! MAYBE EVEN WANO! AND WHAT ABOUT ONIGASHIMA?!”

 Some loud gasps rose from the crowd. Koby winched lightly.

“HOW MANY CHAMPIONS WILL THE OTHER RULERS SEND?? FIND THE UPDATED LIST IN THE LATEST ISSUE!”

 They knew how to sell their paper, Koby would give them that. Those boys were certainly trained by the Lord of Whispers, Morgans himself.

 The commander took a hard turn and put some distance between him and the busiest square of the market.

He had ditched the silver cape of the ground Militia for a casual outfit, a linen scarf wrapped around his chin not to be recognized. He walked for the best part of an hour to a small park by the river. There were very few people around, mostly homeless men hanging in the shadow of the trees. One of them, a blind one, was throwing crumbles at the ducks by the bank.

 Koby opted for a bench right behind him and sat.

“Has the mist dissipated yet?” he asked.

“The fog is all I see.”

 The homeless was wrapped in a ragged cloak, but his frame was still impressive. He didn’t turn nor greeted the visitor.

“I hope you know how great of a risk it is to meet you,” he said, offering some seeds to the closest duck.

“I know. I’m sorry, but I need to know if you have any information on the mad titans’ cases. We are grasping at straws here, and we are expecting the first delegations to arrive in less than a week.”

“I’m working to make sure we don’t get spies from Kaido or Big Mom in the city amid this new influx. Public security is your job.”

“I’m sorry, Sir Diez, but you are the only one that can get me real intel from the streets.”

“Don’t use my name.”

“Sorry. But it’s true. I need… to talk to someone. Someone that can help.”

 The other paused for a moment.

“I heard you apprehended the last titan alive.”

“Barely, yes. He’s in our custody now but he’s mostly unconscious, and when he does wake up he’s hardly more than a vegetable. They’re feeding him through nectar and blood injections, but I’m afraid he’ll die soon.”

“So what are you asking me? I know nothing of this titan madness. Unless you came to me because I’m a half-titan myself?”

“Absolutely not!” Koby yelped, pressing a hand to his mouth immediately after “S-Sorry, I mean, no. What I want is… I’m looking for someone that can get the information out of the prisoner before it’s too late.

…

“You want someone who practices witchcraft.”

 Koby hesitated.

“Yes.”

 Diez remained silent for a while. Of course they both knew that witchcraft was forbidden in the capital, but they also knew that the lower belly of society harbored many sorcerers.

“I could give you some names,” Diez said, rubbing his chin “But there’s no guarantee that you’ll get what you want. These people are criminals, they can be deceiving.”

“Well, at least it would be a start.”

“No.” Diez threw the rest of the feed in the water, and the ducks around him stormed in the river “It’s not a witch that you seek. What you need is a Mind Whisperer.”

 Koby’s eyes widened.

“Wait… we have someone like that in the capital? They’re so rare, I thought they could only be found at the Tree of Knowledge, in Ohara. I put in a request days ago but by the time the crow comes back, the prisoner will be dead.”

“There are illegal Mind Whisperers of course, albeit not many. Usually they are swindlers, or hold very scarce power.”

“So…?”

“I caught wind of someone. Not here – in Water Seven. I’ve only heard of them once, so I don’t know how accurate the intel is. But they say this one is the real deal.”

 Koby’s heart pounded. The free city of Water Seven was just a half-day away by horse from Sabaody.

“Where can I find them?”

“I only know they work as a healer in the Cherry Blossom clinic.”

“Cherry Blossom clinic. Got it.”

 Koby rose and bowed imperceptibly.

“Thank you, sir.”

 As he moved to leave, Diez called him back.

“I don’t know much about this person’s background, but I do know they are discreet and have high profile clients. People that can tamper with others’ minds are dangerous. Be on your guard, boy.”

 Koby looked at the half-titan’s back, then nodded.

“I will.”

[reader is of course the Mind Whisperer]

[coldshrugs]

okay okay! what is tired in thavnair for the wip round up?

okay, so i was trying to write the first time io and estinien get Intimate. these (because it's two things in the same doc) are attempts to find the start of this concept T^T and then saying "maybe i don't need to write this at all" (before trying two more times LMAO)

i still like parts of these so i saved them. here we go:

There is a sag to his usually confident gait, a sense of exhaustion she hasn't seen him wear in months. She doesn't have to wonder at the cause. She feels it acutely; the path they've stepped onto leads to more danger than they imagined, and memories of Meteion and her song of oblivion, her challenges issued in darkness at the edge of all things still shadow both their minds. Determined as he is to get to the bottom of this new threat and aid his friend, he is tired. They exit the great hall and Estinien sucks in a heavy breath. He looks to Io, then shakes his head. "You don't have to do this." He is quiet, but his calm is led by a delicate tether. He struggles to keep the edge from his voice. "You've barely had a moment to rest since–” “It’s been months.” She reaches for him, an instinct that no longer has to be suppressed. He catches her hand, fingers lacing effortlessly between hers, and squeezes. “I’m fine. I’m ready for this.” He nods but says nothing. His disapproval is plain, but he decides to trust her.

and trying to fast-forward them to somewhere with a bed T^T

There is a tall, gold-trimmed shelf against the room's back wall, ornately carved, richly lacquered, and perfectly in line with everything else in this grandiose chamber. It holds very few items, but each time Io finds herself here, something new has been added to the small collection. It began, she suspects, as a repository for avoided letters. A hasty stack sits on the middle shelf, next to unused ink and an undipped quill. Seals of Ishgard pushed into blue or yellow wax. Some are still unfolded, waiting to be read a second time, perhaps. She wonders at the contents but doesn’t disturb them. But there are other things she can touch. An orchestrion, accompanied by several well-used scrolls, a few books describing the local wildlife, and a rather proudly displayed charcoal sketch featuring the eight foremost members of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn. She grazes the edge of the thick paper as the determined smiles of her friends beam back at her. The brightly glazed vase holds a spray of flowers she brought nearly a week ago, lily and ginger collected from the jungle below. And in between all of these are little handmade trinkets from the city markets. She reaches for the newest one, a tiny ceramic karakul painted to look like a blooming shrub. Precious, that these are the things Estinien holds most dear. His silent attention prickles the back of her neck, armor clinking softly as he shuffles by the door. She turns to him, ready to tease, but he watches her with such a rapt tenderness that she can’t bring herself to do it. His joy is hers, and her smile spreads as unbidden as the well of affection in her chest. “This one is new.” She places the little sheep by her flowers. “I like it.” Estinien smirks, though he still looks as tired as she feels. He meanders behind a partition to change. “Aye, a find from the day before last. Seemed in need of a home.” “A good choice,” she says quietly, taking a seat at his dining table. From here, Io can hear Estinien remove his gauntlets. Though her armor is lighter than his, she longs to shed it all the same.

[humblegoat]

🎨🖌️ Artist wrapped 2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣3️⃣🎉: 1, 5,6, 7, 11, & 18

Love your stuff :3

Tysm!!!

How many works of art have you made this year? Oh gosh...So many. On top of art freelance being my full time job, I do my best to draw every day and post my work daily as well - though sometimes my daily sketches are WIPs that pop up again later as finished pieces, I'd have to say I'm still well over 300.

5. What work are you most proud of (regardless of likes/reblogs)? I'll choose a different one from my last answer, since like I said there, I've got a lot of favs!

(con't under the cut)

I'm very proud of this piece done for a podcast called Ten Very Big Books, because I don't do a lot of still life, or semirealistic painting, but this ended up coming out really well despite it being out of my usual wheelhouse!

6. What work of yours has the most likes/reblogs/notes this year? My highest note count is actually by far the image of Juniper with the tigers that I shared in my last post; my second most popular is actually this character sketch commission for my good friend River!

7. What work of yours got more feedback than you expected? I don't know if it got my MOST feedback, but the fervent attitude of the feedback for this piece really brightened my day:

11. What pairing/character/subject did you create the most for this year? I was kinda low on ship art this year, come to think of it. By sheer volume, I believe my OC Loch was the leader. I spent almost two months just sketching him a whole bunch to stretch my design and repetition muscles.

But the character I THOUGHT about the most was probably Juni, whom we've seen several times lol

18. What work of yours do you go back to admire again the most?

This piece, I think! It was a very different process than I usually do for my digital paintings, but the softness and shapes really delighted me. Very happy with this one.

[cmdonovann]

quantum break appreciation month: a quick retrospective

so, first of all, wow, it was WAY more effort than i thought to just POST SOMETHING EVERY DAY. i put a lot of pressure on myself to only post The Good Stuff to this blog, and boy golly is my standard of "good stuff" higher than it ought to be! so this has been great practice for me in "finished is better than perfect."

second of all, i wanna put together a quick rundown of everything i did this month!

Announcement post

April 1st: My Bleeding Clock (My Immortal AU) fanfic for April Fool's Day

April 2nd: Playlist to go with My Bleeding Clock

April 3rd: Sketch of 2010!Beth

April 4th: Sketch of Jack and Beth

April 5th: Reblogged my old post about last year's anniversary zine, as well as a new little sketch to celebrate the 7th anniversary of the game's release

April 6th: Doodle of Beth in a skirt (with pockets!)

April 7th: I literally just posted a passage I like from the QB:ZS novel

April 8th: Started posting old art... completed set of the halo series here!

April 9th: More old art (Jack/Paul this time)

April 10th: More old art, LNEHH edition

April 11th: More old art, Will Joyce edition

April 12th: Some Jack/Paul art to celebrate me and my husband's anniversary :3c

April 13th: QUANTUM BREAK HOMESTUCK AU!!!

April 14th: Surprise! it's even more old Jack/Paul art!

April 15th: Wow! I can't believe it's more Jack/Paul art!

April 16th: Apparently I was busy this day because I just reblogged LNEHH, lol

April 17th: Quantum Break characters, but as Skyrim characters

April 18th: Some blinkie gifs I made using blinkies.cafe

April 19th: A sweater I made using the linocut stamps from last year's anniversary zine

April 20th: Another blinkie gif, hehe

April 21st: Meta post about color palettes and color usage in Quantum Break

April 22nd: A little QB divider I made for my fansite (WIP)

April 23rd: Some terrible glitter gifs, also for the WIP fansite

April 24th: Minecraft skins of a bunch of QB characters!

April 25th: I was also apparently busy this day, cuz all I did was make a stupid phone background for myself XD

April 26th: Took a swing at pixel art

April 27th: A promo for the Quantum Break Discord Server I run!

April 28th: Wrote another chapter of My Bleeding Clock...

April 29th: Art of Jack and Paul :3

April 30th: Started a new longfic: The Symmetry of Fear!

holy shit. that's a lot. i am retroactively impressed with my past self for doing all this, lmao. nice.

third of all! i wanna note that i started several projects this month that i have yet to finish. of course i'm not confining my quantum break posting to one month of the year (impossible) but i will take my time finishing the... uh... three fics and two meta essays i have unfinished, as well as the fansite i am working on. i want these to be GOOD, so i'm not going to rush them. i'm glad this month gave me to juice to finally get these projects started, though!

and lastly... why did i even do this project/event in the first place?

well... good question. i imagine i'm not the only one who has been Going Through It for a while now, and i just... really needed a big project to focus on for a while. and quantum break is like, one of the only things that i never get tired of thinking about, so... are you seeing my logic here?

all that said, i do genuinely want to work on putting more love out into the world. and i love quantum break! i want other people to love it too! (or at least, i want other people to look at my passion for it and be like "i dont go here but you keep doing your funky little thing my man," you know what i mean?)

so, big thanks to everyone who has encouraged me this month, whether it be in reblog tags, in the quantum break discord server, or elsewhere. also, big thanks to my husband, who i would not have married if not for our mutual obsession with quantum break, and who is always down to listen to me talk about my various theories and fic ideas. and finally, a big thanks to remedy, for making this dumb game that i love so so so much.

[sealmunch]

So, i should talk about this here as well. An announcement of sorts + a health update.

The TLDR is basically comms in the future are going to be expensive, this is due to the realization I have been taking too many commissions a month and mot even being close to making enough to cover my part in rent for our house. Not only that, but its starting to effect my health SEVERELY. My arms and hands have really started to hurt, I’ve always been careful about not injuring my hands so its really scary. My sleep has also been god awful because of the work I’m taking on so I have to make a bunch of really big changes for the better to make sure i dont ruin my body permanently within a few years

First off commissions are going to be more expensive and openings are going to be a lot less. I’ll figure out the exact prices later on but i wont be open for a while anyways. I’ve had a lot of friends and artist peers tell me how much I’m underpricing myself a lot as well. This way with only taking a small handful, I’ll be able to spend a lot more time on each commission as well, so much better quality art pieces.

Now the thing I really want to focus on is my subscribestar. I want to work on more personal art, more fanart and such than pumping out comms. It’s a lot more relaxing for me to work on and doesn’t damage me as much. My substar is only 5 dollars a month, no other tiers rn, and you get access to everything! WIPs/sketches, early access to pieces, you can vote/suggest 4 things I should draw. Sometimes i’ll even take ppls ocs. I already have a good chunk of art up on there I’ve been posting my first month of working on it. This does NOT mean all my art is exclusive I will post fulls a couple days to a week later always.

Thank you so much to everyone who has been supporting me thus far, going forward I am very much going to be focusing on my subscription content. I hope you all understand this is much better for my overall health so I don’t end up not being able to do art in a year or two 🙏

(also to everyone who does have a commission slot currently from me do not worry, i’m still working on everyones comms 🖤)

[galactic-pirates]

Ask Game for writers: 1, 7, 10. 😀

In which I should have read this more carefully 🤣 I saw it was about WIPs and didn’t realise it was so fic focused. I guess I could answer this two ways. I could convert it to art which is fandom, or I could vague talk my original novels. Maybe both? 🤔

1) 🦈Tell us the name of your/ one of your WIP(s)

Hmm well I don’t want to share the name of my original novel 🫣 I know I probably should but I get afraid about it. I sort of put up a division between “personal fan me” and “career me”. Not that I have a career (yet) but I can dream.

As for art well that doesn’t have names exactly, and also I don’t have WIPs in the same way. I have a list of ideas and I tend to take one, and finish it, rather than juggle several projects like I did fanfic.

I am currently signed up to the Librarians Exchange and I will be making something for that. I probably shouldn’t talk about that though because of the whole ‘secret’ gifter thing.

I would like to pick one idea off the list and say “I’ll do that next” and talk about it but truthfully what I am hoping to do is practice basic techniques. I spoke about this earlier with my frustration at being stuck with the ‘tracing’ and wanting to do it properly. I don’t know if I will be able to ‘teach myself’ to any level so that I can use it for the exchange. I mean I have had literal years to do so and not got anywhere with it so far 🤷‍♂️ I got a new sketchbook (because clearly the half dozen I already had weren’t enough) but maybe this time I will commit. I got some erasable coloured pencils and sketching in purple seems very fun so 🤞

7) 🖍Post Any sentence from your wip

As said I can’t really do this. I wish I had some kind of sketch to show, but again as I said art “WIPs” are more just ideas unless I am mid-project and I’m not right now.

To make up for not answering this I have picked another question for you.

11) 🛠Is there a scene or anything in the WIP you are struggling with right now?

For my original novel quite a lot of things 😂 but description is usually the hardest part. I can see it in my head but it’s so clunky when I try and write it down. Way too much frowning or smiling going on lol. I am trying to use more body language and less dialogue tags but I need to find more variety in it.

For the art it’s like I said I have my current process of bashing together a bunch of different references. Sometimes this includes selfies when I am struggling to get limb angles to match what’s in my imagination, but it just doesn’t work. It’s a) botched together so a lot of the angles are just slightly off/mismatched and it is unnatural and b) so stiff with no flow/life. It has zero style.

10) 🤡How many Wips are you actively working on?

Well I am actively drafting one original novel. I have benched the redraft I am 1/4 of the way through, the first draft I need to reboot, the first draft I am only about 70% finished with, and the first draft I only wrote a bit of (I think that covers them 🤔). But really it’s just the one for “actively working on”.

For art… well I can’t lose sight of the gift exchange. I’m wondering if I should pick up ‘Sketch a Day’ again. I definitely want to do the 100 heads challenge. I got a copy of the Loomis Method book (heads and hands) and I think I should go through that. Same with Hamptons book (figure drawing). I was doing some screenshot redraws from “What If?” as I adore that art style. I can’t seem to pick a medium (paint, pencils, markers, ink) and so there’s so many options for rendering practice. It’s a bit overwhelming to be honest all of everything I want to work on.

Thanks for the ask ❤️

[ownerofthisaccount]

Hello again everyone! This was probably not the next part you hoped for but I hope I can explain well.

@raisans-art has made some really good AUs, such as the Human Illusion Au. One of them is the Chimera Emmet Au where Emmet is captured and experimented on, turning him into Agee after being fused with his Pokémon. Those who watched episode 4 of Fullmetal Alchemist are getting flashbacks

Well, they made a quick sketch of if Ingo was the one turned, called Chei, and I made a drawing for that afterwards because I have enjoyed both designs. As a child I loved transformations and stories of experiment or body horror, so that’s probably a factor. I later drew a mini comic for it detailing how the first night would go down, as well as a side comic of ghost Emmet. I made hints that a part two would come, and even released a WIP of one of the images. Well…I can’t say it won’t ever happen, perhaps months later, but I don’t think I will finish it right now(most of the betas were deleted anyway, either on purpose for space or by accident because of fat fingers). I have Aspergers, and I can hyperfixate on things. This can be for weeks, months, years, even forever in a couple cases. Chimera Emmet happened to be one of those(the twins are still an interest, but I got into several AUs based on them because of it) and I been seeing it since it’s early stages when Emmet was still himself in there. I just didn’t have the courage to fanart it till Chei came out as I love both but lean more to drawing Ingo. I have really enjoyed drawing the two and seeing their interactions, how this bad end line would go, and mentally thinking up things. It was also nice to see other people’s excitement over this and sees their asks created more drawings and pieces. Not recently I’ve been feeling the start of the interest drop. I hate when this happens because you love the thing but you can feel yourself slowly drift from it and it…sucks. I have the outlines ready to be draw but not the push or energy to complete it. I did managed to finish one, being a drawing of the remaining four Pokémon and Pels going to Juniper and Drayden, but unfortunately this was one of the ones that got accidentally deleted and I can’t recover it(which was possibly another push). On top of that I have actually started doing commissions, and being these and the two projects I’m working on(my graphic novel and my favorite list), Ive been a bit drained myself. I have betas for a couple though that were detailed enough to be salvageable, so I won’t put them to waste.

This was supposed to be Chei reading the floor apology made by Agee, anxiously waiting for a response.

This one was supposed to be Ingo’s spirit sensing something wrong, while Agee comforts a weakened Chei while they think of a way to escape.

And my personal favorite, Ingo’s spirit panicking while Emmet’s spirit starts trying to piece together what happened while wishing he was still alive because Chei and Agee would make for an interesting double battle duo(even in death he thinks of battle strategies)

It saddens me to not have full pictures to share, but I won’t leave you empty handed. I’ll share what I was thinking up if I made the final two parts: so after the first night, Chei wakes up to find a poorly drawn apology on the floor from Agee, who still feels guilty for hurting their friend(and shocked when they see Chei is healed) by accident. Though not fully forgiving yet, Chei accepts the apology and slowly starts being less cautious around Agee. Eventually this comes to head when Agee protects Chei from a threat(most likely the scientists) which fully gains the latter’s trust so the two begin to become friends. During this the remaining four mons meet up with Pels(given this Au has mostly the same beginning, Pels still tagged along and escaped the scientists during the chaos that was capturing Ingo) and reluctantly decide the best course of action is to try to tell others, as they feel with Pels with the they could possibly convince someone. Ingo and Emmet’s souls are in limbo, not having moved on due to the circumstances of their deaths(I headcanoned in my ghost Emmet comic that he couldn’t move on until he knew that Ingo was alright and moving forward, so here the two likely wouldn’t till they both pieced together what happened and got justice for the experiments) watch as time pass and the fusions truly become family. However Ingo senses something is amiss and sure enough Chei is growing weaker. Unlike Agee, Chei is an unstable fusion due to the damage before the experiment. Agee colors dull in these bad conditions but Chei’s body and especially souls struggle to handle it, and start to unravel. Agee refuses to let his buddy die and decide to work with Chei to try to escape. That would’ve been part two. The final part would’ve been Chei and Agee combining their moves(multi train style) to break through the glass and begin and escape. They start breaking out everyone and fighting back the scientists when Chei grows too weak to fight and Agee protects him. Before they can be detained, Rescue arrive with the remaining Pokémon, Pels, and the humans fighting to incapacitate the scientists. Chei is wary around them since trust issues, but Agee is grateful for their help and lifts Chei onto his back to carry him. Once the scientists are defeated. The others help Agee out getting everyone outside where the chimera lays Chei down. The fusion would’ve curled up under a tree with Agee and the others by, leaving it ambiguous if Chei was getting better and healing, or peacefully passing away in a nicer area that wasn’t a cell. The final frame would’ve been the twins, now satisfied the experiments were freed and given justice, walking off into the afterlife together. Not a perfect story but I had fun with it. Now…I did prepare something to give you a nugget anyway:

And here it is! Marshrill design was recently released and as someone who loves and theorize the twins becoming Pokémon, this was certainly up my alley and I had to draw at least a quick sketch. Hopefully it makes up for no huge comic update.

But anyway, final huge props to @raisans-art again and I hope you all still enjoyed this. Thank you all, and have a great rest of your day

[sabrinatvband]

Fat Evil Women devlog 1

I'm working on a new comic and I thought it would be good to share some notes on its production. I think this will be the only devlog I share publically for this comic; I'll probably include a start-to-finish log with all of the concept art and layout roughs as a tier bonus when I sell this on itch.io later. But, here's a very generous taste.

This comic is eventually going to be sold as a CBR file on itch, but I'm also doing to try printing it on A3 paper [which will be folded] and making a small batch of physical copies to give away. It will probably be 32 pages long. It's going to be an anthology [with one particularly long story]. In other words, it's going to be a complete comic, like one you might buy in a comic shop, rather than something more "informal" in shape. In the future, I plan on making enough of these to collect them in trade paperback form, perhaps as a print on demand book?

So far I've done a couple of layouts and compiled a ton of notes. Work on this project began with a simple two-page layout for a bimbo sequence.

I did all the pencilling, inking, and coloring in between two and four hours I think. The first panel on the second page uses an old drawing of the bimbo character I'd drawn several months ago.

I then made a sequence using a Goblin Queen character I'd created around a year ago. Here's the sequence and the original illustration I'd done. The second incomplete panel is from an old drawing I started but never finished.

Yes, the Goblin Queen who looks nothing like a goblin is meant to be a reference of sorts to the Goblin King from Labyrinth, if you were wondering. Except my Goblin Queen mostly hangs out with dark elves.

These sequences are only meant to be rough guides for the final drawings, but I put way more efforts into my layouts than I actually need to. After making these two page sequences, I decided to do something a little more ambitious.

I illustrated a woman wearing a shiny black dress, and she reminded me of an old indie porno producer character I'd created a while ago named Demonia [please ignore how terrible the old three part sequence looks; I didn't know how to draw fat women yet].

When I started plotting this sequence out in my notebook, it was only four pages long. But I added a bunch of extra panels in later and brought it up to six pages [The numbers are original panels, and the letters are ones I added in after making the first complete rough layout.]

I made some concept art for characters I'd mentioned in the script that didn't have designs yet, as well as a few locations. I then compiled all of that into a CBR file I can refer to while working on the final art [the blacked out bits in the thumbnails are photo references].

I then started work on another sequence that quickly grew beyond the six pages I was initially planning on doing.

A few years ago, when I first started using my Wacom, I illustrated an androgynous spider creature. Much more recently, I started moving overseas and started designing new characters in my sketchbook that I was planning on making digital pieces with later, and I revisited my spider concept. If you overlay the rough spider drawing from the sketchbook page with the digital WIP below, you'll notice I did a whole bunch of warping and stuff to the individual limbs to make it look better.

This WIP will appear in finished form in the spider comic somewhere; look out for it.

Anyways, I decided this spider would be perfect for a weight gain sequence, and so I started making concept art.

This is just a fraction of the concept art I created. I've done at least 15 pages of work for this comic, and a lot of it is exploratory work. In the beginning, I had basically no idea what the plot of the sequence would be, and designing new characters and illustrating scenarios gave shape to the story.

After making maybe three or four pages of sketches, and writing a list of elements I wanted to be in the story in my notebook, I made this rough synopsis of the plot. I then started working on a CBR file for the spider sequence that includes photo references, sketches, old designs I want to repurpose, scans of my notebook, etc.

Work was slowing down in my notebook, and so eventually I made a text document and started writing down panel-by-panel bullet points. Of course this all needs to be adapted into rough visuals, but I covered a lot of ground with this after building my foundation.

You might be wondering what the point of all this pre-production work is. The problem with comics as a medium is that it's extremely time intensive, and so you have to get all of the iterative stuff done long before you put pencil to bristol board for the first time [assuming you only use bristol board during the very last stage of your process].

[Old comic artists were sometimes drawing upwards of 40 pages a month, and they didn't have time to think things out so thoroughly. But for people who aren't drawing multiple books a month, it's been common to do multiple waves of layouts for decades, and this pre-production stuff has only gotten more common. Which is good; quality > quantity. The video on layouts below is a great overview.]

While I was doing layouts in my notebook for this spider sequence, I started working out a page that ended up not hitting all of the notes it needed to. If I'd been drawing by the seat of my pants, it would've been a big problem, but when you're doing layouts with illustrations only two or three steps above stick figure drawings, re-doing a page is not a hassle.

You might be wondering what my actual workflow is for producing finished art. Once I got very used to the feeling of using an Intuos Wacom, I told myself I was going to draw comics entirely digitally. It made a lot of sense; I could use layers, perspective work is a lot easier digitally, and I can fix mistakes and/or warp things a lot more easily.

Over time, I realized I hated doing everything digitally. There are many things that are better digital, like coloring. I prefer drawing pin-ups digitally. But I really don't like drawing an entire page digitally, and I realized my previous serious comic attempts had all petered out when it was time to start doing the final work in the computer, after the layouts and stuff had already been completed.

Of course, I'd tried making professional quality work without computers before. But it's nearly impossible to do that inside of a sketchbook [although I'd drawn many joke comics in highschool using a sketchbook], and using only bristol board I had problems with things like perspective; I have a lot of respect for older artists who couldn't use any digital tools.

So, I've resolved to buy a scanner and printer. I'm going to make final layouts in my art programs that have skeletons laid out where I want them, perspective grids, panel layouts, etc, and then I'll print them onto bristol board using light blue ink [which doesn't get picked up by a scanner]. I'll then do the final pencilling and inking on bristol board, scan those pages, and do any touch-ups and coloring in the computer.

I forgot to mention that none of these comics have words. Perhaps future issues of Fat Evil Women will have dialogue and stuff, but as a conceptual thing this first issue is basically completely silent. When I was making panel grids digitally to start working on some final layouts, I noticed that, when you don't have any speech bubbles, a traditional six panel grid looks way too square and vertical. So, I've decided to make my spider sequence on a four-tier grid, which shouldn't be a massive change. The entire story uses uniform rows, and so it just means moving stuff back. There are no dramatic page-turn moments that will be compromised by this change.

I might have to alter the Demonia sequence as well, but probably not. Since the height of the panels in the two page sequences are variable, I think I'll leave them exactly as they are.

I was planning on including a giantess sequence in this first issue as well, but if I reach 32 pages without it then I'll have to push it to a later issue. But since I'm moving to four-tier layouts, I might end up with a lot fewer pages than expected.