#I haven't really drawn traditionally in years

[kj-beastboy]

-How can a man (Flug) get pregnant? It's impossible.

Flug could be a trans man, they can get pregnant bc they're usually born with an uterus. I was. I'm 27 weeks right now🐊🙌🏻✨

I think other people would just explain it with "it's fictional so anything is possible". Black Hat can canonically impregnate people by making them drink his saliva, none of dis shit makes sense or works irl

[non-un-topo]

My Neekeys over the last two-odd years. I was curious to see the changes 🤔

[black-suns-rim]

Who are your favorite yautja artists? And what do you like most about each person's art?

I have a lot of favorites, so be prepared for a huge list

first on my list is @ isei-silva / @ isei-bleeds I love how their artwork looks like watercolor paintings. the grainy texture in their art isn't too obvious, but its very subtle. I love their use of colors in their work, usually having darker shades and tones. I also love their non-yautja artwork. their art style is just gorgeous

next is @ a-z-u-l-g. The amount of shear detail in their rendered artwork is stunning. oh how I strive to get that good lol. its very inspirational. I love their realism and their use of shading.

@ lunaerebus Their artwork looks like it was drawn traditionally and then digitized. it has that same grainy texture that looks like water color

@ crispy-ghee I love their messy but professional art style. though they haven't posted any yautja related things in a while, I still love their work (even if its just art of their favorite basketball players). I also love how they draw short comics.

now i'm gonna get a little biased and include some friends/people I know

@alexstarksblog I love how soft your art style is and your use of colors. the amount of line work you put in some of your pieces is impressive

@pauk-di I love how stylized you draw your yautja. your line work is soft and simple, which I can see it being used for a webcomic or graphic novel. it's very pleasing to the eyes

@shaymin-99 I love how cartoony and silly your yautja are. They either look really cute or done with life. I love how exaggerated the expressions are when you draw them

@cyvorg though they haven't been active online for over a year now, I love their stylized/cartoony art. eyecandy

AND ALL OF MY GOOBERS!

@risen-from-stardust

@predatorsmp

@crowworkz

@bunnyraptor69

@xeno-buggy

they all have amazing and unique art, all worth checking them out, besides just the yautja art (i'm being very biased, lol).

[wolfythewitch]

I'm really tempted to start getting into this bible fandom because seeing you talk about this fanfic so much has really drawn me in

my only question is where do I start? I've got a free version online but there's so many chapters to the bible and like where do I start? Like genesis is the start right?

I'm so sorry for all these silly questions, I was raised strongly atheist and I've actually never touched a bible before so I was wondering if you could help guide a newbie to this fandom that you've spent many years in :D

thank you so much!!

Oh! Hmmmm well traditionally people start at Genesis yeah, since it's the creation story, though it isn't a hard rule. A podcast I listened to started at Daniel because it had a narrative to it. You can kind of pick a book out and read it if you want to. While linear, the different books are almost episodic in a way, especially some of the later books. If you want to read more on like AD stuff, you can start on the new testament instead. Note that each book of the gospels, Matthew, mark, Luke, John, are all written for different audiences, so they omit or include different details, which is fun!

I have to mention that there Is a lot of subtle antisemitism in the new testament you have to be aware of, especially with wordings and later rewrites. It's not so much the intent (I can't speak for that I haven't done enough research) but it's the perspective it can give to someone who isn't fully aware I guess. There are better papers/videos disseminating this haha, I don't have the words for it. But a lot of contemporary christian antisemitism Does stem from the new testament and how people took the text and ran with it

Also for versions, I heard HSV is a good version? I use NIV and NSRV but yeee you can scroll through the different versions and see what works for you

[synthanimal]

#inktober number 1 // I feel for you, but when did you believe you were alone? / You say that spiders crawled inside and made themselves a home 🕷️

Can't believe this is my first post back on Tumblr since 2018!

A late start to this year's #inktober2023 challenge, but a start nonetheless! This challenge has always been a favorite of mine, but I haven't had time to join the last few years. The last time I completed a full month of prompts was back in 2018 (what is time!) after Twenty One Pilots released their record Trench and I was so inspired by the lyrics and color scheme of the album era that it became the theme I drew off of for the whole challenge. I created most of my favorite pieces during that time and I loved the lil' community I formed back then :)

It's also been ages since I've picked up a pen and drawn traditionally. My work, both personal and commercial has mostly only lived digitally, so my inking skills are rusty. But I've been missing drawing on paper, so I'm really eager to get back into it! I might not be as strict with the theme this year and instead jump around between different prompt lists or even just create my own— we'll see!

This first one was inspired by @jlauser.art's "phobias" list this year— the first one being #arachnophobia. 🕸️

[squirrelboidyke]

finally after over half a year trying to figure it out, i have decided on a fursona species! i've just generally been a squirrel, not really able to choose only one species and coat design with such an amazing range of beautiful and interesting squirrels to pick from. but this baby and their pink snoot has won me over!!

it's official- i'm a grizzled giant squirrel, also known as the national animal of sri lanka 🇱🇰🐿

i'm currently working on my first sketch based off of this squirrel, i haven't drawn digitally or traditionally for almost a decade now so i'm rusty and honestly don't even have a distinctive style anymore.. but i'm still going to do my best! i have saved and studied hundreds of references to help me get started again. i started yesterday with a few hours of taking photos of squirrels (especially the faces and complicated feet/paw pads) and breaking them down into shapes over and over to help me get an idea of how expressions would work on a squirrel's face. the grizzled giant squirrel has a slimmer face, naked snout, shorter ears with fur tufts at the tips, slightly different/bigger body proportions, and a longer, thinner tail compared to the eastern grey, fox, and brown squirrels i've been referencing up until this point. but the shapes making up the face as well as the body are the same, so a few adjustments and what i learned yesterday will still be helpful knowledge with my new squirrelsona species. wish me luck, friends! as soon as i get a sketch i'm somewhat happy with i'll post the wip in the first of hopefully many art posts to come! 💞

[fainthedcherry]

MY ARTFIGHT ATTACKS OF THIS YEAR SO FAR!!!! I planned to attack more but...This is the first year I actually like- actively am getting attacked OUTSIDE of my mutuals! Which IS exciting but- at the same time as you can tell...I don't have time to attack people in result omg xD

The first drawing, the character Natsuki, belongs to YoyoyoRiooo on Insta and AF!

The second drawing, the Zora Legzonie, belongs to @meatdog on AF and Tumblr here! (I believe this is their tumblr as the link was scuffed on AF and had to retype it properly and hope this IS their blog LOL) (BTW, this drawing was referenced off weird stock images.)

The graph-paper'd doodles, Calypso, Hazel, Sunflower ALL belong to Luna-Lazuli on DA, TH and AF!!!

I've been revenge-chaining like 4 diff users with no joke, so I got 0 time to think of what to type here otherwise LMFAO

I don't wanna yap too much in this desc, as I'm mega-busy and trying to avenge 4 diff drawings in under 3 days isn't easy for me xD. The 2nd attack here of the zora, was an attack I've drawn tuesday I think, and then wednesday-friday I got 4 ATTACKS AGAIN- SO YEAH I'M AS WE SPEAK SKETCHING THE 4TH REVENGE DRAWING (final one actually for said Yoyoyo person, as it'll be the only characters left, that I haven't drawn of theirs!)

BUT- I can mention, that I loved doing something new again via combining pencils and markers!! I didn't really- like do it “symbiotically” if that makes sense? But yeah, in these drawings the pencils played a much more active role in me pulling off some things with shading or reflections! I got more polychromos, which means, I can combine more and more of the 2 in the future! I can't wait to have more time to draw traditionally though...I might crank back on revenges next year bc I just this year simply had so little time for it

I STILL wish for a 300-Ohuhu set to magically appear in front of my doorstep though some day. A delulu guy can dream! 🥴

BUT YEAH!!! HERE'S PROOF THAT I STILL EXIST!!!! I SHALL SCHEDULE A POST FOR TOMORROW,, WHERE YOU CAN SEE MY 4 REVENGES,,, AND IF I FINISH IN TIME I'LL ADD THE OTHER 4.

YES THIS IS THE 2ND TIME I'M DRAWING 4 REVENGES. THAT MAKES 8 REVENGES. 5 ATTACKS THIS YEAR. I'M TBH PROUD OF MY RATIO THO. I for YEARS wanted to make 10 drawings in the time of AF. BC I'm such a slow artist, this is actually a MASSIVE achievement for me. 😭✨

I HOPE TO PROPERLY CATCH UP ON MY SOCIAL MEDIA SOON THOUGH. I have SO much crap to reply to and SO much to respond to and do in GENERAL with my social medias. I made a Cara acc to get off Insta as an artist officially, so YEAH....Praying things work out and I stay off any social medias planning to use AI algos that feed off posts. We as artists are not safe anymore everywhere unfortunately.. :")

But I'm hopeful, this'll die out in a few years...

[lowpawly]

Hihihiiii I know you're going on testosterone now, which is super cool and I'm so happy for you! What is the process for all this stuff like? Do you have to talk to someone about changing genders or can you just get testosterone without a script? I'm not trans myself, but I want to learn more about all this stuff!

Heya! so full disclosure i live in california in a relatively liberal area and I think that probably played a big hand in my ease of access for transition care but the process wasn't difficult for me and mostly just involved waiting.

the first clinic I contacted is closer to the college here with a lot more traffic from other young trans people so getting a call and appointment was kind of an ordeal because of how long the wait list for transition care was (i think there initial estimate for an appointment date was multiple months after I had called) BUT I was able to get a much closer appointment after I was recommended to switch to the clinic branch that was a town away. I basically just called and said I wanted to look into transition and later I got a call back with one of the nurses (I think?) interviewing me about how I identified and what I wanted/giving me general information about what hormones do and my options and what I could expect. the person I talked to was a very cool trans man and it was nice being able to talk to another trans person about hormones when getting into the specifics of my transition goals.

I think like a month later I had my actual appointment with my doctor who was a very nice young gay seeming cis lady and it wasn't hard for me to talk about what I wanted with her. the nurse I had talked to had mentioned testosterone compound cream as an option for me and I was interested in it but the doctor I talked to said it can be difficult to get it covered by insurance so I ended up being prescribed testosterone gel.

something that I was REALLY insecure about and what kept me from pursuing transition for years is that I want to transition specifically to treat bottom dysphoria and that felt like something that would be extremely awkward to explain to a doctor, but I found out that its actually a common reason for transition lol. I also worried that my identity as a lesbian and not a more "traditionally" transmasculine person would be a hurdle when it came to explaining myself but it wasn't a problem at all. the reason I wanted compound cream is that it can be used more directly for bottom growth but I've found that using a half dose of gel has worked fine for me and my dose has been low enough that I haven't been noticeably masculinized in ways that would feel more personally shocking (that being said I've also only been on for about two months so we will see what happens!)

the BIGGEST pain was actually getting my prescription and it's because my doctor didn't tell me that I needed a blood test first so I was waiting ages for CVS to fill it until I finally called my clinic and figured out I needed to get my blood drawn ghdjfjf and about a week later I was finally able to get it filled and pick it up. I have yet to get a refill so I guess I'll find out if thats gonna be a pain but yeah LOL it was not nearly as painful as I had envisioned it being. I used to feel resigned to never having the body I wanted and I tried all kinds of reverse psychology to make myself happier but now that I'm on track for getting where I wanna be I'm already feeling so much better ^_^

[mi5014jesspark]

PROJECT EVALUATION

Overall I am quite happy with this project, I feel that I have both expanded upon skills I have gained in first year and have explored new techniques within this project. Prior to this course, I haven't so much as touched a 3D modelling software, never mind modelling a character previous to this module. I am very happy that I have produced a model that is both recognisable as human and that can be identified as the same character as the original drawn out design.

I also really enjoyed researching different beliefs and mythology as a way to support my ideas and make sure that the characters which I would go onto create would 'respect' their source material. Each 'story' of each different goddess influenced the design choices for their respective character designs. For example, the use of items which are prevalent when practising a 'ritual' or routine of worship to each goddess is evident on their corresponding character.

I would have, given more time and practice, liked to have done more exploration of the designs of each character to further strengthen them. I would have also liked to 'diversity' the characters further to further explore their cultures and influence, however at the time I made the choice to have each character use the same 'base' body to make sure one isn't favoured over the other during the design process (essentially meaning that I didn't spend more time exploring body shapes on one character and end up neglecting the rest due to time constraints.) However each design choice made has meaning behind it and thought has been made in how each character may work together as a group.

These characters within the parade lack a 'leader', something which is traditionally seen within parade structure, as i feel as if appointing one of the goddesses as a 'leader' would be disrespectful. Appointing a leader would suggest that one goddess is better than the others, and that one is stronger or more powerful than the others. ethically this could be a grey area as that may cause a clash between different belief groups and cultures.

[axzeelspeckles]

Sketchstrid book 2024

More art below, Scroll down and skip the text if you like!

I haven't really drawn traditionally in years and I'm not that good at it when you compare them to my digital works, but what I never realized that compared to three years ago my traditional art has improved majorly and I'm actually impressed!

I've always struggled to fill in sketchpads because I always feel like I wasted them because there was always so much left over white space that I didn't use for my still non-dynamic character drawings, so I set out to fill out every single page and its made me so enthusiastic about the entire process!

I haven't drawn much digitally currently as my tablet dies quickly and its rather bulky and I dont have a desk and ect ect ect its becoming rather troublesome to set up. So I've been doodling a lot (when I die on Lethal Company hahaha) Here is all the works I've doodled so far

[banahbanah]

If you want advice from a no-following artist who draws every six months these days (lol):

First of all: traditional art is great! You can totally stick to that if you like, just look up some tutorials about how to scan or photograph and edit it nicely (really easy, usually just a levels layer in your editing program of choice or maybe even on your phone) so that you're presenting your work in the best way!

If you want to make the switch to digital, though, you can always sketch traditionally, photograph or scan it in, and draw over it on a new layer. Hide/delete your pencil sketch after and bam: digital art. For some reason I have an easier reason working this way despite the fact that I've been drawing digitally for something like 25 years at this point.

Second: while I do struggle a lot with that particular block, I think the best way to avoid it or get through it is not thinking of what you're doing as Important. Try not to visualize the fandom reception it will get, or think this is Your Good Omens art. It's just a thing you're doing while you're doing it. Maybe you'll share it, maybe you won't. Hell, maybe you won't even finish it. Maybe you'll put it away and come back to it later or redo the same thing once you've got more practice under your belt.

Third: Intentionally fail. When I pick up a new medium the first few times I do something I tell myself WOW THIS IS GOING TO BE SO BAD?? What a noob lol. And as a result I take more risks because hey, I SAID it was gonna be bad. And if it is, I get a laugh out of it. If it somehow comes out nice despite my worst intentions then I feel like God's gift to art.

Fourth: VOLUME. Draw just. So much. Much as you feel like.* First of all this will help with technical/motor skills like line stability and knowing your tools. Second of all the more you draw the better chance you have of hitting on something you like, just, statistically. Third of all if you've drawn 100 things it hurts a lot less when one of them sucks. With my creative anxiety it is the worst when I haven't done anything in forever but once it goes back to being a sort of routine I am no longer afraid of my doodles.

I hope this helps a little! Good luck!!

*this is different from grinding. Don't do it if you're not getting some kind of joy or satisfaction out of it. Grinding is the mind killer and it may not even help you improve.

Artists who happen to read this, please help?

(ok to reblog)

I'm someone who used to draw but hasn't drawn anything in YEARS, I've been soooooort of inspired to try drawing again by Good Omens, the ineffable husbands and the fandom.

One reason I haven't been able to draw is my unhealthy thinking pattern of "why bother, if I try to get back into drawing, whatever I draw will SUCK ASS and then I will feel horrible and give up again".

Of course you have to practice to become good, but I'm THOROUGHLY disgusted with myself whenever I make something that isn't good enough, it's really hard to get over that. Even the thought of making a doodle (which by definition is not meant to be perfect) and it not being perfect makes me wanna hide in a hole forever.

Does anyone have tips to get over that anxiety/self-loathing? I think doing something creative would be good for my mental health, but my mind is actively working against me.

Yes, I see a therapist regularly, but input from people who have experienced or are experiencing a similar mental block would be great.

(I've also never drawn digitally, only on paper with lead pencils, and the thought of learning to draw with a tablet and everything is daunting to say the least.)

Me@me:

[anakit]

suddenly realizing now that i have a proper drawing app and free time i can finally actually start DRAWING again

[hellboundhimbo]

MORE JOJ GIRLS joanna's design isn't creative at all with the exception of her dress. like its deadass just jonathans outfit. REASON FOR THIS BEING a lot of my thoughts on her are less abt her design and more abt what her story could be. strap in fellas its time for an Unhinged JoJo Rant courtesy of tumblr user hellboundhimbo.

now i already touched a bit on the subject here, but boy howdy if she still doesn't live in my head rent free. since writing said post, I've had a brain blast in the form of an epiphany that, what if all those concepts, but she's TRANS. i know, i'm a genius (read also: stupid gay idiot). t4t jonaeri, anyone?

i wanted her design to reflect the journey of coming into her own, and finding her own definition of womanhood. at the beginning of PH, she wears very traditionally victorian clothing. long dresses, corsets, those big ass hats, the whole sha bang. over the course of the story, however, she realizes she doesn't need to conform to societal standards to be "worthy" of the title of woman, so she begins to dress in ways she wants to, or is practical for that specific situation. i wanted to make it a point that while she lets her hair down, she never cuts it or is like "EW EARRINGS BLEH' cuz like. femininity isn't her enemy!! its the patriarchal standards that enforce such a rigid, static form of it onto people!!

when it comes to the trans aspect of her story, I thought long and hard about how to go about it cuz like. i'm trans masc myself, and the last thing i'd want to do is try to infuse transness into a story and have it feel like a redundant, shitty commentary that intrudes on the narrative or smth. i think I've come up with a good idea of where to go with it, though.

i think joanna probably came out sometime in her early teen years, around 13-15, but started questioning around the time she met erina, (haven't come up w a name for him yet, if yall have any ideas feel free to shout em.) who came out much earlier, like 9 or so. just like the idea of joanna being like "omg wow u changed ur gender wow that's so crazy haha doesn't everyone feel that way tho" and erina's like. no???? they don't????

anyway once joanna came out lady joestar was like "ok fine u can trans ur gender BUT you gotta be a lady." which sucks cuz no more rugby but fuck it we ball (or I guess. not. ball.) she struggles a lot with being a poised debutante cuz shes like 6'5 and rich dudes don't really like it when their dance partners could chuck them to the colonies with one arm but fuck them. rest of the story remains mostly unchanged, blah blah blah dio blah blah stone mask blah blah you know the drill ANYWAY speedwagon's first appearance is when we really start making some real impacts on joanna's character, with some definite parallels being drawn between joanna, who was lucky enough to be rich and accepted by her family (for the most part,,,) and speedwagon, who lives in the slums with no family to speak of. by proxy, some parallels to dio as well (she'll get her own ramble when I post her design in 284738374 years), because phantom blood sets up so much for a conversation about classism that we see so little of :( love phantom blood tho dgmw

also you can bet your sweet ass that hamon is becoming a metaphor for queer liberation.

don't wanna divulge too much about it cuz like I am hoping to write something about this at some point but,,, big Thoughts here trust me bro.

to address the elephant in the room, how does joanna got honkers if there was no hormone therapy in victorian times? hamon doubles as hrt. if araki's allowed to pull new hamon capabilities out of his ass every 5 seconds, so am I. it works for the metaphor too but like that's less funny.

[carlyraejepsans]

hey, sorry for bothering you but i'm seriously considering starting to draw digitally (i have never drawn before except for when i was a little kid). i love your art so i was thinking if you would maybe give me some tips? about anything, really. like if i should at first just purely focus on the basis and nothing else, graphic program recommendations (preferably free or cheap ones since i'm not 100% sure if i'll actually keep drawing long-term), etc.

just anything that you think would be useful for me.

thank you a lot in advance

OOOH BOY where to start (｡・//ε//・｡)

it partly depends on whether you already know how to draw a little. I'm not saying you have to be good at it, but if you've already put some work into your traditional skillz it's going to help. oh also, if you do have some tradart background and you switch to digital? be prepared because with your first few drawings it's either going to be the best you've ever drawn or it's gonna feel like you're picking up a pencil for the first time in your life all over again. both of these stages are temporary, and generally settle on an equal middle ground in a few days, at least until your hand's gotten used to the medium

my FIRST chance at digital art? drawing with my finger on my phone. it's far from ideal, as you can probably guess, but it got the job done while i played around with the things only digital art could do. the next step, still on mobile devices, was getting one of those pens for writing on your phone. no pressure sensitivity, accuracy was still shite, but it did allow me to draw in a way that was more similar to how i drew traditionally. try to check if your device has compatibility with digital pen accessories, you might get one that's a bit more sophisticated than literally just a tube with a flat nib that works through normal touchscreen. i bought the sketchbook app back when it was still property of Autodesk. I haven't updated it since, so i have no idea how the new company is handling it, but it was a pretty solid app when i used it

if you already want to go full drawing tablet then DO NOT, for the love of god, DO NOT buy a screen tablet. i promise, drawing on a screenless one is in no way harder or more unnatural, you hand-eye coordination adapts to it very quickly. they're super cheap compared to screen tablets, more portable and better suited for a beginner. my first serius tablet was a wacom intuos back in the time when wacom partnered with clip studio paint, which was a DEAL because now i have a lifetime access to it despite having bought the tablet years ago and the PRO version of the program costing like 50 fucking dollars. definitely keep your eyes peeled if they do anything like that again because it's very much worth it, but if they don't you can also choose a cheaper brand. fuck wacom, go small corp.

for pc/laptop art programs your best bet in the open source scene is 100% krita. it has a couple of unique settings that make it weird to draw on for people who are used to "standard" professional art programs (which is the reason I don't go back to it anymore), but if you have no experience with any other art program, then absolutely go check it out, it won't be an issue. it's got a thriving community that keeps updating and adding stuff, so they're not gonna drop you off out of nowhere. as for the drawing itself? once again that's gonna depend on where in your art journey you are. it's been wayy too long for me to remember good videos for absolute beginners, but if you've got some of the bases down then proko and sinix design are some of the best teachers i can recommend wholeheartedly. i do have a couple more people on YouTube in mind, but I haven't seen their work in a while, so i wouldn't wanna risk sending you in the wrong direction.

one final tip that's worked out very well for me. y'know what's one of the best things you can watch? drawfee. animator vs cartoonist. pros animating in gartic phone. not only because karina and julia are the funniest motherfuckers on earth, but because seeing people's drawing process in real time (coupled with the sense of companionship of watching a group of friends have fun for your entertainment) actually puts you in the mindset to draw yourself and lets you study their work in a way that simply viewing the finished product never could.

trace trace trace, trace references, trace photos, trace art you like (but don't post it) and do it smartly ie try to figure out WHAT you're tracing, the shapes you're actually putting on paper and how they interact with one another and their environment. take your time, experiment with different techniques, take a break when you need to, watch your neck and back posture, draw from your your shoulders, not your wrist, those 30s "do this and this and this to draw this thing" style tutorials that don't explain the thought process behind those passages are a scam so fuck em, make mistakes make SO MANY MISTAKES, then learn from them, grow from them and make some more.

oh, and have fun, of course.

welcome to art :D

[fuckyeahfraxus]

Oh buddy, believe me, the pain is real. I love Fraxus with all my heart, thanks to canon material not least, but this struggle has accompanied me all along the way of shipping this ship and I bet there are many other ships out there that end up having the same problems and being slandered by the fandom for the sake of stereotypes.

I must say it is interesting that you mentioned Bixfreed because from what I remember the ship suffered the same problems in fanart and fanfic; that Freed was robbed off all of his character traits and got made into the 'soft shy uwu whiny-bottom boy' while Bix got robbed off less character but still in a way of making him 'blander' so he could fit a stereotype as well. It's what turned me away from this ship completely because as opposed to Fraxus I had no 'passion' for them as a romantic ship. If this has changed or you've seen other portrayal of it nowadays then that's amazing, however! It's been years since I've looked into it so there might really be much better stuff out there by now!

Actually yes, it does seem to be an issue for gay ships involving Freed. I love to hc him as gay but I've also been drawn to Freed x female character ships, one reason being that the portrayal seemed to be much more accurate and pleasant to see/read through. But with gay ships it seems like people see a man with long hair and turn him into a wifey whereas they see Laxus (if we take Fraxus as example), who is a bulky man and powerful and aloof most of the time, and make him top-whore-beast-man without taking much else into consideration.

But Freed? Freed has not much bulk but he's all fucking muscle as well. Freed is fucking powerful as well. He's also aloof but he's become more comfortable showing other sides of his character in his path of growth.

As has Laxus- just slower.

We've talked about Blue Pegasus before. Laxus was fucking uncomfortable and awkward. He doesn't deal well with social settings, especially not one like this where you have to be a host and do flirting. Freed, on the other hand? And Bixlow for that matter? They both flourished. They enjoyed mixing drinks and be hosts. Freed has also always been the one being more comfortable with initiating touch. But he's also always been one of the only people not afraid to scold Laxus and stand up against him.

All of it forgotten because #stereotypingTM.

The fanart thing is also very true. A lot of fanart out there really has Freed look like a genderbent character and it's like they haven't looked at a single official artwork for him. Freed does have the one or other feature that would traditionally be considered more 'feminine' than 'masculine', that being the long hair and lower eyelashes. But other than those? Yea, I'd definitely agree that Freed does present rather masculine in fact! Not only in appearance but character traits as well. But he get deprived of it pretty harshly in a lot of fanart and fanfic.

And it's true enough that the comedy scenes added to the anime have made things much worse. People take these scenes that were thrown in for pure comedic effect and RUN with them, make it the only character trait that matters. Though Laxus admittedly had much less comedy scenes I've never really seen them being taken into consideration. Now I also believe that most people have watched the anime and not read the manga, so they wouldn't know that a MAJORITY of the comedic scenes for Freed do NOT appear in the manga at all.

You've successfully gotten me into this rant but sometimes this is still relevant and it needs to be said over and over again. The mischaracterization of Freed has still to be dealt with. It's also one of the reasons why we've called off Fraxus Love Fest since it seemed to become especially worse as soon as flirtation and sexual acts are involved. People also still get incredibly MAD and defensive when stating that Laxus may just enjoy getting d*ck. Also all because of the stereotypes they have in their head for manly bulk man TM.

We DO feel like it has gotten much better, at least from what we see here on Tumblr. Not sure what it looks like on the fanfiction sides, Twitter & Co but I'd imagine it's still a bit of a battlefield for Fraxus shippers like us.

i gotta say, whist fraxus is easily the most popular freed ship, and one i have always loved, recently ive started preferring bixfreed, if only due to the fact that it’s one of the only gay freed ships where he’s not made into the “flamboyant one”. thats bixlow. noone is out flamboyanting bixlow, and he never loses any masculinity despite it.

ive always hated how common it is for freed to be completely mischaracterised (not even flanderised hes just straight up not the same character anymore) in most gay ships. people seem to really love making him a “damsel in distress” type, especially with fraxus, i can only assume because laxus is so stereotypically masculine.

this really seems to only be an issue with gay ships including freed (although it is especially egregious with fraxus, and a LOT of old miraxus media. no im not getting into that.)

ive never seen a ship involving freed and a woman that has this issue. he’s almost always presented as this suave intellectual, a gentleman, someone independent, but who chooses to help others. (i personally headcanon freed to be gay so its always a little annoying seeing him being characterised so much better in many of these straight ships lol)

anyway back to bixfreed

its always fun seeing freed have to act as the straightman (lol) to bixlow, and it further helps bixlow’s own character. its so good to see a man be presented as wearing typically feminine things (his skirt and nail polish), and be so willing to be silly, to goof around, to hang off ceilings, and yet not once is his masculinity compromised.

I’ve seen a great deal of fanart of freed where i genuinely thought he’d been genderbent. Freed is still a masculine character, but so many fans just see his eyelashes and hair, and throughout the series mashima just fed into this, especially in the anime, with multiple “gags” of him fawning over laxus, to the point where fans started comparing him to juvia (also someone who was flanderised to the point of being unrecognisable.)

im not even sure what my point in this rant is anymore im just so tired of this mischaracterisation. you can have a character be gay without forcing stereotypes onto them so much it becomes homophobic. im BEGGING just leave this in 2016

[bobapplesimblr]

artist meme: 4, 5, 7?

4. how often do you draw?

I haven't drawn in so long. Like really just sat down and drew for my own enjoyment. And that's mostly driven by demotivation and possibly depression? I've been in art school since the 10th grade, because where I live when you get to high school you choose what kind of area you want to go in. Ex.: Science, Languages, Art, etc. And I took visual arts from 10th - 12th grade and then spent 2 years in animation school. I drew less and less the deeper I got, and now I almost completely stopped. And that fact breaks my heart. I love drawing but I don't even want to draw anymore. And that's really saddening to me

5. digital or traditional?

I love watching traditional art (from 1 very specific art channel on Youtube, Drawing Wiff Waffles, she does a lot of drawing in her sketchbook and I love it!!) but I more easily make finished pieces in digital form. I do enjoy making traditional art from time to time, and I'd love to try and force myself to fill an entire sketchbook in like, a month or two maybe, just to get myself back in the groove of drawing, but I don't see that happening anytime soon.

With traditional art I love drawing from life, I love drawing the human figure, and I fucking LOVE drawing with pen and highlighters. And for finished pieces I preffer to use alcohol markers and colored pencils on top when needed. And for example, I'd love to get back to drawing hands. I fucking love drawing hands. I wish I had a third arm to take pictures of my other hands with. Oh my god I love to draw hands.

7. do you prefer sketching, outlining, or coloring?

Traditionally I love sketching, but in digital art my favorite part of all time is *overpainting*. It's when you have your sketch and your flats down and then you use layers on top of all of that to paint the details and make things look smooth and polished and finished.

and here's a comparison! (i painted the skirt on the wrong layer thats why it looks the same. And I kinda gave up on the shoes I was so tired that day)

That is 100% my favorite part of a fully finished digital ilustration. Second favorite would probably be coloring.