#I just started sketching side profiles in a completely different way

[cheezyhamster]

The original (still image) drawing that I had planned before doing this first

Wendy belongs to @yumiiyummech

[gingerteafairy]

 so I saw you said yes yandere dave the sooooooo heres my idea

OK, so I saw this little thing with Dave catfishing the reader so I was thinking Dave is too nervous and too awkward to go up to the reader and talk to her so instead he catfishes her and he gets really deep into it and then somehow she finds out it’s him plus him being a little stalkerish

-L

The way I could see the entire scene in my head just from reading this request omg ajjaowoqjekaka

tags n warnings: suggestive, language, stalking, delulu!dave.

Yandere!Dave: painfully shy and completely infatuated with you, struggling to say a single word without stammering or staring at you like you were the only thing in the room.

Yandere!Dave: who hated social media but made an account just so he could talk to you.

Yandere!Dave: who found a picture of a way more attractive guy on Pinterest to use as his profile picture, hoping to catch your attention.

Yandere!Dave: who started hitting the gym more often and wearing tighter shirts so you’d notice his progress.

Yandere!Dave: who replied to every single one of your posts and stories with the sweetest messages, making you kick your feet in bed.

Yandere!Dave: who set one of your photos as his wallpaper.

Yandere!Dave: who noted down every place you went out to just so he could watch you leave—whether you were alone or with friends.

Yandere!Dave: who carefully orchestrated “coincidences” in hallways and other places just to bump into you again.

Yandere!Dave: who saw all your favorite movies, shows and music to have a nice conversation with you.

Yandere!Dave: addicted to every breath you take by the police.

Yandere!Dave: who dressed up as Kick-Ass and asked for Mindy's help to scare off any potential male threats, ensuring he was the only one who got to talk to you. (she probably feels bad for you)

Yandere!Dave: who followed you home every single day just to make sure you were safe—and lingered a little longer, just to admire your beauty through the window.

Yandere!Dave: who sketched an entire comic where he saved you from bad guys, and you fell hopelessly in love with him.

he also drew you being a merciless villain wearing a revealing latex suit handcuffing the poor boy to the bed.

Yandere!Dave: who filled sketchbooks with thousands of drawings of you in different poses and outfits—or without them—covering his entire room.

Yandere!Dave: who was so caught up in replying to your pictures that he didn’t notice you standing right behind him—until it was too late.

"Dave, it was you this whole time?" you blurted, watching as he shot up from his chair so fast that it scraped loudly against the floor.

"I… no. I mean, this profile… I mean. It's nothing you—" He fumbled over his words, his fingers trembling as he tried to lock his phone and shove it into his pocket, but you were quicker. You snatched it from his grasp and scrolled through the messages.

"Oh my God. It really was you." Your eyes widened as you scrolled through the texts, realization hitting you like a wave. The way he spoke online—it was the same as in real life. “It was you all the time.”

"Yeah. It was me. I’m sorry." His cried out, his hands twitching at his sides before he instinctively reached for yours, only to hesitate and pull away, realizing how weird all of this must have seemed. "Actually, no. I don’t deserve your forgiveness. I mean—I was so fucking creepy. I’m really sorry. I scared you. Shit. You can tell the cops."

"The cops?" Your eyes snapped up to him, still processing everything. "Dave, yeah, this was… really weird. But I’m not mad at you for this… thing."

"Then why…?"

"Why didn’t you just talk to me directly?" you asked, brows furrowed as if trying to piece it all together. "Like, you’re so cool. I like you. You didn’t have to catfish me, you just needed to talk to me.”

"I’m sorry. I… I get it if you don’t wanna talk to me anymore, but please—just let me see you," he pleaded, his voice cracking, eyes glossy with unshed tears. That alone made your resolve soften. “I love you so much, please, please? Please, let me see you.”

"Okay, just… don’t do this again. Just be yourself." You sighed, handing his phone back to him.

"Thank you, thank you. You’re a goddess, you’re so fucking kind," he breathed, practically shaking as he pocketed his phone. "Thank you, thank you. I don’t deserve this. I don't deserve you. You’re perfect."

"God, calm down," you chuckled awkwardly, still feeling a little uneasy but unable to ignore the sincerity in his voice.

"Sorry. That was weird. I’ll stop being weird," he promised, straightening his posture as if willing himself to be normal.

[stale-cornflakes]

Beady Eyes MAP- Part 7

Process video ↓

AYYYY back at it with another Rainworld map! I had a lot of fun figuring this one out! When I first started this I had no idea how to draw scugs and it definitely showed through the lost it all map." But this gave me a great opportunity to experiment with some squash and stretch in a few shots.

Deep dive into the process under cut!

Walking into this I expected the part to be about 5 seconds long. It ended up being more than double at 13 seconds-

This Map was a blast to work on. My fellow participants are a pleasure to work with, and communication between everyone is top tier. Everyone is so nice, and it's an overall pleasant experience. As for the creation of my part itself: My part is to line up with the previous. Due to this, I started the intro with Survivor's side profile last on the storyboard. That way, I waited till the part 6 owner had at least a sketch or storyboard down in order to line them up.

I always jot down my first thought on ibis with my finger and animate on a separate program. You can see it in the process where the aspect ratio is all off, haha. The first iteration is always rough; never taking more than an hour.

In this version there are 2 key differences.

1: Monk shakes their head and follows after Surv.

2: There is a Karma bump from a successful cycle. Monk then wakes up from hibernation, signaling that this was a dream.

While I was thinking of using this, I did not for a better flow.

Once this was completed, I actually took a week break off from art and animation to prevent burn-out. However, with that the wip check was coming up. I was not concerned about it because I had work to show. But, Cioror (the host) was so amazing as to compile everyone's parts into a proto-map for the wip check. I was not aware of this and spent the day sketching out the second sketch with proper dimensions. I posted the adobe sketch 2 minutes before the video premiered, so there was still the small dimensions of Ibis there lol.

Onto the line art and coloring. There is a reason why in the process video I did not separate those two. It's because when working on Lost it all, I found that putting the two on separate layers is HORRIBLE. ABSOLUTELY GOD AWFUL NEVER AGAIN. So, instead, I would go straight to the line art and make fill lines out of frame to color.

This resulted in some frames getting a little messy behind the scenes.

Another thing I considered was rather than the characters being in a void, they would be in The Void. Complete with an animated background. This was quickly stopped in order to save my sanity, and to line up with the previous part.

In my animations I almost NEVER let a character stay completely still. When Idle I always have them alternate between at least 3 frames. It makes it feel like the character is breathing, and not just a static image. It also just feels right to do that. 'Tis my animation style.

The final stretch was cleaning up the lines and making sure the scugs were on model. During this time, Monk's face became wider, and their head sharper. This is also the part of the process where most of the squash and stretch was applied.

Finally, was simply adding the filter gradient on multiply. Basically, wrapping the animation up in a little bow 👍

overall, I've been working on and off on this project for two months.

[peculiar-potato]

dearest author,

explain to me art fight

please and thanks,

a chronic consequences enjoyer

Heyy! It's been a while, hope you're doing well :)

Yes I love infodumping about artfight >:)

This may be a bit long but I tend to get pretty detailed with explanations as you probably already know haha.

Art fight is an art game taking place July of each year where people exhange art of eachother's characters for fun!

Before (or even during) the fight, you upload images or reference sheets of your characters, and there's a space to put some information about them as well! You also set your character permissions, so people know what they can't and can't do with your characters.

At start of the fight everyone who decides to participate is put on one of two teams. The team themes have nothing to do with the art you're making, it's just for fun! (You can also "traitor" and switch teams if you don't like the one you're on, or want a chance to be on both sides)

During the fight, you pick other people's characters to draw. When you draw someone's character and submit the drawing, it's called an attack! You get points for your team each time you do this. (If you attack someone on the same team as you, it's friendly fire. You get less points, but you still get points for it!)

When you attack someone (make art for someone), there's a chance they may decide to make art back for you! This is called a revenge. People are not obligated to revenge, but many people do! If you go back and forth with someone multiple times attacking and revenging, that's called a revenge chain.

This process goes both ways, someone else could also attack you first and you have the opportunity (not obligation) to revenge!

Answers to a few common questions I've seen:

- You get points based on aspects of your art (is it a sketch or lined, colored or not, is there a background, how many characters, etc) NOT based on how "good" it is. It's about effort not skill.

- You can also do many different kinds of visual art, digital, pen and paper, animation, crafts, 3d models, Minecraft skins, jewelry- there's a lot of room to be creative!

- Your characters can be completely original or fandom-based (I have both on my page, including the consequences characters hehe) you just can't upload a real person that isn't yourself or a canon character with no changes to them. Check the rules for a few other specifics when it comes to that.

- Mass attacks are when one person draws several characters typically from different people together in one image. Feel free to specify in your permissions section if this is something you like or don't like.

- If you want to participate, go ahead and save some character references before the fight! The site can get pretty slow at the beginning (although recent site updates have helped with that). Just don't start drawing anything until art fight officially starts.

Here's also some good resources that explain it a little better that I can haha:

Official Art Fight site's explanation of the event: https://artfight.net/info/about

Tumblr post explaining it (which is reblogged by the art fight tumblr account): https://www.tumblr.com/artfight/782630560023576576/whats-art-fight

Also if you look up what is art fight/art fight for beginners, something like that on YouTube, a lot of people have made videos on it!

Here's my art fight profile too if you wanted to see an example https://artfight.net/~peculiarpotato although just to let you know, you can't see it unless you have an account and are logged in. (Mine is also a bit much, This will be my 8th year so I have a ton of stuff that is absolutely not necessary to participate haha. All you really need are characters you want art of and your permissions!)

My number one piece of advice for anyone joining art fight is keep it low pressure! Try it out, don't worry about how much art you're making or if you're getting to revenges, just have fun with it!

Really long explanation here haha but I hope it helps de-mystify the art game for you!

[ninetyminutes]

Hiya :) can you do a fic where chevy and Lorne get egnaged/married? I'm afraid i've become a simp for these two

So while I won’t give you a full blown fic (I have too many WIPs atm), I will happily and gladly give you one of my usual rambles :)

Side note, Rosie and Lorne would have to get divorced, but maybe they did when Lorne started to realize he was serious about Chevy. Rosie was of course happy for him. When Rosie and Lorne got engaged/married, Rosie didn’t want a ring. They did nothing the traditional way, and I think Lorne kinda felt like he missed out maybe just a little bit. Even if their marriage didn’t really last/was more platonic than romantic, I can still see Lorne secretly yearning just a teeny tiny little bit for some of those special moments.

So Chevy definitely gets him a ring and proposes in a super meaningful way. Not in public, somewhere where it’s just the two of them. Chevy would have loved to work it into a sketch, like a cold open where he falls and ends up on one knee in front of Lorne, but Lorne would prob be mortified and also completely off kilter for the entire rest of the show.

Maybe Chevy and Lorne are on one of Lorne’s weekly three-hour Sunday walks around New York City when he proposes. Maybe he proposes at night outside of 30 Rock or up on the Top of the Rock when no one else is around. I actually love the idea of them on the roof when Chevy proposes, like maybe they snuck up there to share a joint or something and Chevy just spontaneously decides to propose because when is it ever going to get better than this moment.

(more below)

Lorne wears the ring to work but says absolutely nothing about it to anyone. He’s always worn a ring on his ring finger on his right hand, but this ring is on his left hand, so maybe that’ll throw them off and they won’t notice. Rosie notices immediately—Drags him to his office and demands to know everything. Where and when and how, I mean every little thing. Gilda notices too, pretty quick. And I feel like John would also be one of the first to notice. He’d be like “Congrats.” And that’s it. Or maybe he wouldn’t even say anything, just look at the ring and then back at Lorne with a raised eyebrow. Lorne doesn’t say anything and waits for John to say something, who prob just pats him on the back and walks away.

In terms of the wedding? I’d think it’s something small but also not small at all. I’m just thinking of everyone Lorne is friends with and that list is long and also very high profile. However, it’d be super private. Obviously it’s held during the offseason. I think they would prob plan it over one off season and then hold it during the next off season because there’s no way they could plan it during season. I think honestly they’d be fine without having a traditional ceremony. ceremony at all but I can totally see Rosie being insistent on them having something small. Maybe they

There’s a few different bands that play throughout the night, maybe John and Danny play some Blues Brothers or something idk.

What if John gives a speech, which is surprising considering he doesn’t get along the best with Chevy and it’s hit or miss with Lorne sometimes. And it’s surprisingly sentimental and nice and it def gets them emotional like wtf John. Rosie definitely delivers the biggest laugh, talking about Lorne calling her to talk about Chevy all the time while she wasn’t still in LA or Toronto or wherever.

Anyway, it’s an open bar so everyone gets absolutely hammered, and maybe some of the cast joke about having to have another ceremony since so many of them don’t remember a lot of it.

[okay-sky]

For the artist ask game: 2, 3, 4, 20 👀👀

spark, ty for asking me some questions!!!

2. i definitely think that a 3/4 view is easiest to draw. side profile or facing forward are hardest. i don't really have a preference to which way they are facing tho! it really depends on the character. like if they have a side part in their hair, it is usually easiest to draw them with their part facing the viewer

3. how little are we talking here lol i loved animals as a kid, so i still really enjoy drawing those. especially cats, wolves, and horses. i've always really liked to study other people, like the shapes of their facial features and their posture and the way they move their hands, ESPECIALLY as a kid. little baby autistic sky who had not yet learned how to mask would just ogle strangers like :0 in awe of the fact that every human is unique and has a completely different look to them. helps a lot with drawing diverse characters

4. can i say everything i really enjoy looking at art that has really intricate clothes, hair, and backgrounds, but i am absolutely not a designer and also i have no fashion sense so i find it really frustrating coming up with interesting details like that. i also despise drawing mouths, but also the way that people draw mouths (especially if they detail the lips and not just an anime-style open hole in their face) is really inspiring and interesting to me visually

20. i find drawing clothes really easy! like drawing folds, and showing the weight and texture of the fabric by the quantity and shape of the folds. i would rather draw a head and hands and then immediately start sketching out clothes rather than try and detail the body underneath the clothes and then sketch the clothes on top. i find it easier to get poses and anatomy correct that way too

[strawberryjamikins]

I do commissions!

(Photos at the end so you can see some of my work :) )

I'm very new to this (commissions, not art), so prices are quite cheap- the average will be about $10, but could go up or down depending on the difficulty of the piece you want. The price will go up eventually, but as for now, I just want to start. Every commission will take from 1-7 days to complete (though the only way I can see myself going up to 7 days is if it's a very large and complicated piece) I will do a few check-ins with you while drawing- mainly just for the sketch and flat colors, to see if they are to your liking, but I may check in a little more if I'm confused by a request to ensure I get the art how you want it.

My rules are as follows: No NSFW No pro shippers No obviously disguised fetish art (think those drawings that have bare feet super close to the foreground, and practically as the focus, but it is "totally not a fetish thing") I am allowed to turn down offers! I probably won't, but if I'm very busy with studying or I just am having a really bad mental week, I will most likely at least postpone. I don't want this to become something that I dread.

(the only way i will draw something in the style of the second one is if it is specficially requested, i only included it here to show that i can do side profiles)

I am also willing to design tattoos! I only have the one reference image for this, as the other I'm working on is still in the sketch phase, however, if you would like me to design a tattoo, all I need is a very in-depth description of what you want! I will do extra check-ins with WIP screenshots so you can inform me if you'd like anything done differently. This will be on your body forever! Be specific so I can give you what you want. However, as tattoos are a bit more tedious, the average for these would be $15, though these can also go up or down depending on difficulty.

[esperanzagalaxy]

🔪 🎼 🌹 ENDGAME ☄️ 💣 🔥

 to a line erased, to friends coming together, to my favorite campaign in the whole world. THANK YOU!

 i just needed to complete the set i made last year with a piece for the ending, regardless of how long it took. and what it took were a bunch of sketches, a handful of different proposals, and weeks of work spread out through months. i love the end result and how different this one is from the rest -turns out i’ve learned a lot and was much more certain about how i wanted to go about this one in comparison to the others, what with opting for a composition where no one in the party was at the center, with going just ham with the outfits, with taking my time with every detail and not skimping on the background, etc. i do think it’s very sweet how wanting to avoid anyone being a central character here was something i realized very early on that i wanted to work with, and, meanwhile, in all previous three pieces it just happened naturally... i like to think it speaks of how the campaign and the team worked. i love them so much. i’m so happy i got to draw wilde and skraak like this, seeing the full party in this style and scene is just so so great. i wanted something epic and i think it worked, this went through a lot of tweaks and i’m very glad the final piece is so nice. i just love rqg so much.

 here’s some close-ups of the characters and patterns!

[ cel // azu // hamid // zolf // sasha // bertie | wilde | skraak | grizzop // blue, green, black // red, purple // gold, ochre // pink ]

 and here’s a twitter thread with all the preliminary sketches! 

 i made this poster in honor of the story ending, and have one more planned in honor of the podcast itself. here’s to hoping it turns out just as good 💕

 also, do check the previous three pieces! they’re still super cute and complete this crazy timeline!

 ID under the cut, it’s a long one!

[ID: a digital, full-color illustration for the endgame of erasing the line. it is drawn with medium-thin lines and is heavily stylized, in a way that all figures are broken down into sharp, strong-shaped segments with bold colors and filled in with intricate patterns. the characters' poses and features are accordingly angular, and it's made so everyone's faces are turned into sharp profiles from the camera.    the scene is of the lolomg standing battle-ready on the roof of the houses of parliament, with big ben behind them. on the frontmost layer is a low, triangle-shaped rooftop over with the party stands, three to one side and three to the other. behind them is another layer of walls and roofs from the building, with big ben at the center, and the furthermost layer corresponds to the sky. the scene is put together so nobody in the team stands at the center, and that space is instead occupied by the clock tower standing tall in the near background. the roofs are blue with a checkered pattern, the walls a faded yellow, and the windows dark. there are cracks, stains and blue bushes with small flowers all across the visible building, which is symmetrical and made from two mirrored halves.    to our left, from bottom to top, are skraak, wilde, and azu, all facing left. in the same manner, to our right are zolf, cel, and hamid, all facing right. skraak is standing closer to the leftmost edge of the roof, with wilde a little further up behind him, and a twelve-foot tall azu behind them both. on the other side, zolf is closest to the triangular rooftop with his glaive upright just at the tip of it. behind him but closer to the right border is cel, and flying just behind and a little above them, is hamid.    to start on the left half, skraak is half-crouched menacingly with an angry snarl on his face. his figure is the only one made up mostly of curves, so from the tip of his snout to his knee he his curled over like a sideways U. his tail follows that direction further and curls a little towards the bottom, with a sharp, curved blade attached to the side end of it, looking a bit like half of an axe. only his frontmost arm is visible, holding the dagger of stalking with the blade back and curving upwards, his elbow high up. his left leg is taking a step forward while the right balances him out from behind. he's colored bright red and has patches of lighter and darker scales in his legs, tail, arms and face. he has a tight, short-sleeved, black upper-body armor that ends when it reaches the belts by his waist. the armor has a streak of silver scales across his chest and a section of red spiral patterns going down his abdomen. he has gray gloves and light-brown bracers around the wrist and bicep, along with matching shin-guards. he has a long snout, many fangs, narrowed yellow eyes and two sets of yellow horns, the first shorter than the next. his neck frill begins above his eye like a furrowed eyebrow and extends back, ending below his jaw in a scaly patch. the webs of it are yellow and every other one has a mosaic-like scale pattern. his striped horns, the spikes along his tail and his claws are also yellow.    behind him, wilde is also giving a step forward with his left leg and the right bends behind him. he's pale, tall and skinny, and his stance is such that his back is towards us, with his right arm bent and the hand obscured by his hip, and his left arm is held up just above his head with the sparkle of a spell around his outstretched index finger. unlike skraak, he merely has narrowed, focused eyes and a slight frown. he has eyebags that look like running eyeliner, in short vertical streaks running down. his hair is long and brown, falling behind him, and it has two broad streaks of white down the side, with spiral patterns all throughout them. his robes of the resplendent thespian have a first layer of deep red long sleeves with silver frilly ends; then poofy, pink short sleeves, and then a glimmering two-tailed coat, the ends of which whip towards our left. the short sleeves have alternating rows of a slim, white curling pattern over pale pink, and of pale pink flowers over hot pink. the body of the coat has stripes of yellow, lilac and purple, and wherever they meet there are dark magenta lines with small white diamond shapes on them. there are tiny sparkles on the stripes of color. we can see the inside of the two tails and they're red as the long sleeves, alternating between vertical rows of red spirals and flowery, swirling yellow patterns. he has poofy, short magenta shorts with stripes of purple and lines of pale pink. he has white leggings and ankle-high red boots, high heeled and with white spats.    towering above him is azu, who yells angrily to our left, holding her right hand high as if she was ordering whatever is coming off-screen to stop. her left hand is holding her great axe steady across her shoulders, so her outstretched arm follows in the direction of the handle of it. she stands with her body facing towards the center of the illustration, left leg bent near the cusp of the roof, supporting her weight as she leans in on it, leaving her right leg outstretched and following on the leaning. her broad form is clad in a glimmering pink breastplate, with a big, sparkling pink heart in the center, surrounded by pale pink and silver feathers in the manner of short wings. the edges of the layered breastplate have thin swirling designs each following on the borders of it, and when the breastplate ends below her ribs, there is another two layers of feathers by the side, and below them comes a tasset colored in pale yellow, with patterns of swirls and leaves on it. there are two layers of shoulder pauldrons, with the topmost one sharing that same yellow color scheme and patterns, and the one below it following in the pink of the breastplate. the shirt underneath her armor has wide, poofy short-sleeves that resemble wilde's, pale pink with thin-lined chains of lowercase, cursive ''e'' shapes. her skin is dark brown, her shaved hair is darker and covered in spiral patterns. she has a small cut on her visible eyebrow, the same running dark lines as wilde under her eye, and from this side we can see her non-broken tusk where she indignantly opens her mouth. her lower lip is painted hot pink, like her nails. she has arm-guards with spiral patterns in pinks and purples, followed by fingerless pink armor on her hands. her great axe is a wide, hot pink blade with thin, white curling patterns across the edges of it. from beneath her amor comes a long, two-layered pink battle skirt that whips in the wind towards the leftmost border of the drawing, the tips of it disappearing off-screen. the first layer is a warmer pink, the one below it is a colder purple. both layers alternate between one plait being just color, and the next being covered in spiral and floral patterns. visible on her supporting leg are pale yellow pants, and knee-high dark pink greaves. they have three hearts along the middle, a marble-patterned spike-like cover by the knee, and then a layer beneath covers the boots with the same pink and purple patterns from the arm guards. with her in the back, her lower half is slightly obscured in a blue haze; skraak reaches up to about the knee of her right leg, and wilde is just below the heart on her breastplate.    moving onto the right half, near the center is zolf. he's down on one knee, left leg down and right leg up, body facing towards our left while his head turns right. his right hand is holding his flaming glaive upright, and on the left he's holding one side of a pair of headphones to the ear we can't see. these connect to babbage, whom he's carrying on a backpack or case made of metal and glass. the brain floats in a green, bubbly liquid. zolf's mouth is obscured by his single-plait beard and his mustache, so only his stern look is visible. his eyes are green and have the same dark lines running down the lower eyelid. his hair is short, white and pointy. there are spirals and concentric circles down the braid of his beard. the mantle of faith is light gray, with an embroidered yellow border and matching four-point stars across a darker stripe just above the edge of the cape. it drags down behind him and the inside of it folds in such a way that every other stripe has a design of golden suns with beaming rays, and the remaining ones are a paler yellow with floating laurels on them. his breatsplate is a light brown-gray, with a laurel pattern on the edges, and two more layers of armor running below it. the second curves with his belly and ends by his midriff; it has a sun design at the center, like the ones in the cape, right below a central dip in the breastplate, and then come rows of laurels and stripes. the last layer is a tasset covering the sides of his thighs, like azu's, but his are simple and rounded and have the same beaming sun at their center. he's wearing a chainmail and plain brown elbow-length gloves with arm guards, which have gray and gold curved stripes. his trousers are plain dark gray and his boots of levitation are white, high-heeled, and go up to his shins. they have gold embroidery in the form of little swirls by the tip and along the side, and both the heels and upper fold of the shoes are deep blue. his glaive reaches just below the clock face, the fire of it white, orange and yellow, with multiple spiral and striped designs on it.    more to the center of the right half is cel. they're starting to fly, just a feet or two above the roof, mid transformation, with an emptied potion on their right hand and a handful of bombs in the other. they have sprouted just one wing, still half closed and beginning to stretch to our right, while their right leg and left arm have turned into something clawed and fuzzy, brown-orange and with dotted lines and alternating tones in a pattern reminiscent of a sweater. their wing is also orange and appears fuzzy at the edges, bat-like with a black claw where it bends and dark red and brown, spotted sections on the webs. their head and body are facing to the right of the illustration, snarling at something off-camera with angry narrowed eyes and a mouthful of big fangs. they have the same dark marks under their eyes, pale skin, their nose has gone crooked from the transformation, and we can see their burnt ear. their hair is a gray blond, wild and vertical, slightly swept back. they have their green-lensed goggles on their forehead. they're holding their right arm up, bending at the elbow so the empty potion bottle is pointing downwards, held by a hand in an elbow-length dark blue glove. their other arm passes over their chest and holds the three bombs in a dark-clawed hand just to the right of the potion. they're a little hunched over in their flight, making their anger seem more feral, and their long, lanky leg curves downwards next to their other, transforming limb. their long, plain brown coat whips to the right behind them, like a fan, and the inside of it is filled with gray swirls. their shirt is visible where their coat is open by their chest, and it has small spirals filled in with light green and orange. there are two bandoliers crossed over their chest.    just above them, by the height where the blade of zolf's glaive begins, is hamid. he has taken off flying and is holding the rod of maximize with both hands, the head of it pointing back, diagonally downwards, along with his cape and wings. he's flying diagonally upwards towards the right, looking on with a determined look on his face. his eyes are narrowed and bitter, brow furrowed low with the same dark lines. he has sharp eyeliner and bright red eyeshadow. his mouth is sternly closed but two fangs are poking out. he has stubble on his chin and his dark brown hair is slicked back, but there are sharp strands poking out in curved ends as they follow the direction of his scalp. he's wearing a black button-up with rolled up sleeves, the sleeves of many garments up to his elbows. his skin is dark brown but there are a myriad of orange and yellow scales down the side of his face, just above his eyes, and on his nose. his arms are completely covered in them as well. his cravat is white and his waistcoat is dark red, with a yellow border and a grid-like design of diamonds and X shapes on it. his trousers are plain black, the shape of them going all the way down to his pointy dress shoes, and he isn't wearing a suit jacket. like cel, he's facing fully towards the right, flying with his left leg up and the right matching the direction of his speed, just like his cape as it trails behind him. the upper part of the cape is a dark magenta, with golden ends and spiral designs on the lower portion of it. the front of it reaches midway down his chest, and the back of it is long and it fans out in segments covered with concentric half-circles in lighter and darker purples. his left hand holds the lower end of the staff up, the shaft of it in line with his forearm and the whole of his right arm, holding the rod back. the shaft is black, and the head is gold, spiky and symetric, the shapes of it floating around one another and with one big red crystal in the center. following in the rod's shaft, the shapes are like a spiky U containing the cristal, followed by a sort of wide M, with crescent shapes on either side of it. his one visible, draconic wing splays to the left behind him, and it's a dark orange in color, sporting the same mosaic-like scales in the webs as those in his arms and on skraak's frill.    lastly, above in the center, guivres' wings spread from behind the tip of big ben. they're a glimmering gold, with blue vine-like patterns across most of the structure of them, and with a shinning mosaic of gold and blue scales on the webs. there are sharp spikes on the ends and bends of it. just above them, the sun shines down menacingly in an orange-blue dust-ridden sky, and blue petals storm around the party as if they were coming from her, unseen behind the tower half covered in blue, blooming bushes. end ID]

[froggyfroo-art]

Decided that waiting for more than three people to read my comic before posting about new characters was sort of pointlessly counter productive (promotion? what's that?) so here's some profile art of Joel, the antagonistic lead singer of a rival band to Spawn called The Pillagers. Joel is an arrogant and aggressive afghan hound who has a bit of an obsessive grudge against Zed, especially after having his own band shown up by theirs. He's bull headed and believes he's a heavy metal prodigy who has yet to be discovered, which could not be further from the truth, but with Spawn as an obstacle to overcome, perhaps he'll start actually acting on the criticism he receives, if only to put Spawn in their place.

This guy was originally just a background character in my initial sketches of the fourth comic - he was basically just meant to be the stereotypical self absorbed frontman of a hair metal/butt rock band - but then I completely rewrote the ending because my comic needed actual conflict so I reworked him into a design that directly contrasts Zed. Despite having pretty similar goals, they they have very different motivations and I wanted them to visually have certain connections (eg. the coloured tips of the hair, the spiked accessories) surrounded by completely opposite features (eg. Zed's cool colours vs Joel's warm colours.) The way he brings his band together also intentionally contrasts with Spawn's beginnings, so you'll soon see that he's not quite as beloved as his counterpart. Ironically he sort of ended up becoming one of my favourite character designs considering how he started out (and the fact he's not going to be the POV character of his band most of the time - you'll see a post about who that really is a bit later).

I actually just drew the one on the left first and had intended to just post it as it, but then decided that I should draw him in a more neutral pose with his head facing to the side so that you can get a better idea of what he generally looks like vjdsvbjdvb

[pa1nkill3r]

"Now How Come I've Only Found Out About This Now?" [G.W]

[Pairing:] George Weasley x Fem!Artist!Reader

[Summary:] So far, George Weasley knows three things about his new potions partner; So why not make it four? Or five?

[Warnings:] use of mudblood, a bit of angst, a bit of swearing, a pov change at some point in the end, idk-- fluff?? (is that a warning??)

[Word Count:] ≈2.7k

[A/N:] i used @buckystrenchcoat 's fluff plots for george weasley: 2. George finding out you can draw (kind of got carried away but oh well :D--) (ps just imagine that classes in hogwarts includes all of the houses together, thanks <3) Y/H = your house. (dk the timeline or what year george and the reader are in but i'd say between 3rd-5th year)

⭒☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☆⭒

The Weasley twins were becoming reckless and apparently, Professor Snape has had enough. The constant explosions on the other side of the dungeon and the numerous attempts at drowning his hair with shampoo has eventually led him to the decision of assigning the entire class their partners.

Thus halfway into the semester, the Weasley twins are never to be seen together again... that is until the end of 2nd period where they will go back and cause mischief elsewhere.

Fred was assigned to a Slytherin girl who George couldn't figure out if she's madly in love with his brother or wants to rip out his guts. While he on the other hand was assigned with Y/N. Truthfully, he never gave much thought to her, but after their first double potions lesson as partners, he began to wonder why he never gave much thought to her.

She was smart but never overbearing, made jokes here and there, sniggered when he made even the cheesiest of puns, and is wicked attractive. Their first task was to brew a calming draught and whilst adding in a smidge more of lavender, she proposed that they should make more while the majority of the class was still struggling.

"Why in Merlin's beard are we going to make more? We can just pass this and leave class early?" He asked, bringing a smile to her lips. "Yeah, yeah, that's what you want, don't you Weasley?" She quipped, looking back up to the red-headed boy who's now readying their vials.

"Just thought that we could make some for people, like, your brother. Poor guy, reckon he's going to rip his hair out getting partnered with Tuttle." And with that, George let out a laugh, a laugh that cost Gryffindor 5 points. Though, all was well when they were the first to finish and send their little vial of calming draught into the hands of Severus Snape, garnering 5 points each and an opportunity to leave class 10 minutes early.

And that was it, that was their relationship; potions partners.

George Weasley learned 2 things that day. One, his potions partner was someone he wanted to know more, to be with more, and two, one should never put a liberal amount of peppermint in a calming draught. (Fred learned that the hard way.)

⭒☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☆⭒

She was the epitome of beauty and brains. So far, that's what he knew about his potions partner. But a little incident in the corridor made two into three.

It wasn't unusual for Fred and George Weasley to skip class, especially if the class was History of Magic. And it also wasn't unusual for them to hide behind a tapestry whilst a stinky dungbomb was set in the first-floor corridor.

What was unusual though, was George not wanting to move from their hiding place, forcing Fred to also not move. "George, mate, wha-?" "SHH!"

Whatever Fred's question was supposed to be, it quickly got answered by the presence of a certain someone whose walking to the Muggle Studies classroom, his brother's potions partner perhaps? Fred grinned mischievously, nudging his brother in the abdomen, and earning a wince.

"Oi mudblood! Was that you?" They heard from a distance, heavy footsteps following the girl he's teasing his brother with. From their point of view, they could tell that the girl stopped in her tracks, sighing heavily as though this was a regular thing.

"Was that me, what?" She asked, clearly annoyed. "Was that you who did it? Or d'you just shat yourself? It smells horrid. Would make sense, as you're a filthy little mudblood."

George's blood was beginning to boil, fingers formed into a fist, knuckles white. Especially when they got to see the silhouette of the two arguing. Perfect, Winnifred Tuttle, his brother's potions partner bullying his Y/N Y/L/N. He had an urge to protect her. To avenge her. To show her how much he cared for someone who's supposed to be his potions partner.

"Was that supposed to be an insult, Tutts?" Y/N spat back, pulling George out of his trance and making Fred shut his mouth. Now he's the one staring intently. "It's honestly just sad. A 'pureblood' like you should know the difference between a dungbomb and a piece of shit. Or perhaps you're probably just that daft?"

The boys were fixated on their conversation now. A hand on their mouths, hopefully covering up their shock even if they're hiding behind a tapestry. George's heart was beating faster now.

"Me? Daft? Well, if I'm daft then why are you taking muggle studies?" Tuttle sneered, an ugly grin splattered across her face.

"Bit hypocritical, isn't it, Winnie? Bye-bye!" She turned her back away from the Slytherin now, walking into the Muggle Studies classroom, holding a few books in one hand and her middle finger in the other.

He knows three things about her now; She's bewitching, she's a whizz, and she's a muggle-born who doesn't take shit.

⭒☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☆⭒

A few more lessons in and one could say that Y/N and George are starting to become friendlier to each other. Acquaintances, sure, but, friendly nonetheless. But the Gryffindor wanted to live up to its name, to its values. He might've just gotten to know a bit about her but he was completely and utterly entranced.

Nothing's going to stop him now.

His right hand held his wand as he stirred the concoction in the cauldron. She, on the other hand, was cutting up the stewed mandrake. The easy silence between them was broken by none other than the lion himself.

"Hey," he called, lifting his gaze from the potion to the girl right next to him. "Hi." She said back.

"So... Today's a Friday, right?"

She looked at him, confused, recounting a particular time in which she looked at a calendar today. "Yeah, I think so."

"And we can go to Hogsmeade after classes?"

"Pretty sure you can, why?"

"Want to go on a date?"

She looked stunned which kind of hurt George's ego but as soon as the slightly parted mouth of hers became a cheerful grin, he felt a whole lot better.

"As long as you stop staring at me and not over mix our potion, then sure, I'll go out with you." She smiled, making George give a shy little grin back before attempting to put all his concentration on the brew. Mind boggled on the way she said 'our potion.'

⭒☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☆⭒

Going to Muggle Studies felt utterly useless now that Y/N's been promised to go on a date right after. But having George by her side, walking her to the class just seemed to be the best part of the day.

He recounted the time when he and Fred hid behind a tapestry and told Y/N all about it, giving a hot feeling to her cheeks. They stopped by the door frame of the classroom, Professor Burbage was waiting inside, pacing around her study as George's hand slyly held Y/N's.

"I'll pick you up later?" He asked with the same shy smirk plastered on his face, cheeks pink and ears flushed. "Yeah. Thanks for walking me here. You shouldn't have." She uttered, heels rising and falling as she bounced on her toes.

"Just making sure that Tuttsy's not going to ruin your day, love." Y/N felt heat rising to her cheeks and ears, as well as an uncontrollable grin. Her heel turned to make her face the concrete walls of the castle, hands covering their face and body slightly swaying from side to side. It was ridiculous, really. Dumb. Very.

"You're adorable when you're flustered."

"Shut up, Weasley." And with that, she pressed a quick kiss to his cheek, leaving him slightly startled, stunned, and very red in the face. "You're adorable when you're flustered." She quipped, walking into the Muggle Studies classroom and taking her seat.

⭒☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☆⭒

Muggle Studies felt oddly slow that day. Usually, it lasted an hour but today it felt like a century. Professor Burbage's talk about electricity and muggle technology went in one ear and out the other.

If you'd ask why Y/N chose a subject she already knew plenty about, her answer would be that she wanted to see things from a different perspective. But truthfully, she just knew that she'd be good at it and it'd be an easy O.

So there she was; A scrap piece of parchment laid on the wooden desk and a pen since Professor Burbage discouraged the use of quills.

Her mind wandered off the moment she sat down on her chair. Feet either bouncing up and down or stuck straight onto the floor, she wouldn't know. What she did remember was her non-dominant hand posing itself as the other one scribbled on the piece parchment.

Her fingers played with the hazy light and the ink added depth. Soon she started sketching other things; The student in front of her, a study of Professor Burbage, a head with a moderately strong jaw and beautiful, short, messy hair. A male side profile with a big nose that has a slight bump on its bridge matching a cheeky grin with dimples. Her hand posed itself once more but this time she wasn't making it look like hers, she was making it look like his. Something she's seen many times before, and guiltily stared at once, twice, more than she could recount.

She was adding in the cluster of freckles when the worst happened; "Miss Y/L/N, still with us?" Professor Burbage stood at the front of the class, standing straight, clearly thinking about her posture. "Miss Y/L/N?"

She felt an elbow nudge her arm, and that was the thing that brought her back into reality. Her head whipped itself to face her seatmate then to her Professor, giving her a funny-looking nervous grin.

"Charm would get you nowhere, Miss Y/L/N. When was the first electricity generator introduced in Britain? And where was it installed?" She has to have something in that brain of hers. It must've been taught sometime when she was in muggle school. "Err-- 1900s something, Surrey--?"

Professor Burbage meekly chuckled, "Nice try. 1881. Godalming, Surrey. A point from Y/H then, I'm sorry."

⭒☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☆⭒

George was faithful and stuck to his word. Even being 5 minutes early after asking Professor Grubbly-Plank if he could go to the bathroom and have a wee, saying that the unicorns would definitely mind if he pissed on their trees.

He did not go to the bathroom but instead went straight to the Muggle Studies classroom. Leaning the side of his body onto the wall by the door. Trying his best to peer into the room and find his potions partner and soon to be his date and maybe even his. But he was getting ahead of himself.

The bell rang and he heard a loud shuffling sound of chairs being pulled back. The door was opened as students from all of the houses started pouring out and there she was. Looking beautiful as ever with her bag slung on her shoulder.

"Glad to see you're alright there, dove." He cooed, earning once again another shy smile. "Anything happened there?" He asked, pointing to the now open classroom.

"Felt way longer than usual, and I lost a house point." She said matter of factly. George chuckled, his heart filled with pride as he turned his head towards her.

"And what have you done to lose said house point?"

She smiled before reaching her hand into a pocket of her robes, pulling out a folded piece of aged parchment before handing it to the curious redhead.

"What's this? A love letter?" He bantered. "Just open it." And so he did. His nimble fingers unfolding the parchment, then he was stunned. Seeing his face drawn in ink with lines crossing over more lines was the last thing he expected. It looked like him. And it didn't look like Fred. It is him.

"I was just drawing in class but then I sort of blanked out and got a dumb question wrong." She paused, looking back up to see if the redhead was still listening. "Hello? Earth to George?"

"You drew me?" He was on a fine line of disbelief and awe. It truly looked amazing. She drew her hand at least three times before he recognized his was also there. She even got the little freckle he had on the middle of his wrist. The full body of ol' Professor Burbage brought so much of her energy and even the way her scarf wrapped around her neck was perfect.

Her cheeks were heating up again, realizing what she just did. "It's not that good. Just-- drew what I saw and, err-- whatever came to mind, I guess." Bad execution, sloppy excuse. "Okay, you've been looking at that for way too long now--"

"This looks bloody brilliant! Now how come I've only found out about this now?"

"Flattery would get you nowhere, Weasley." She joked, but he was serious.

"S'not 'flattery' if I'm stating what's true! It's amazing, you're amazing." She felt her heartbeat increase by a mile.

"Well then, I'm flattered." She said, adjusting the strap of her bag to hopefully let out some adrenaline. "And to answer your question, it'd be terrifying if I just started drawing in Snape's class. I swear that man has eyes at the back of his head. That's why this is a new discovery for you."

"Fuck, this is amazing!" He uttered.

"It's really not that good--"

"'S'really not that good' Some shit standards you have there. I'd put this in a museum!" He said loudly, extending both his arms and imagining that the piece of parchment was displayed on the Hogwarts walls. "If you don't like it then I'll keep it." George joked, expecting disapproval, which, to his shock, never came.

"Are you actually giving this to me?"

She shrugged, "I mean if you'd like a photo of you drawn by a teenage girl then be my guest." He smiled, genuinely smiled. He looked so pretty at that moment and there shouldn't be any holding back now.

"...But," She started, his gaze looked intently at her, ready to listen to whatever comes next. "There's a price."

"Between Freddie and I, we have 26 galleons and a few sickles." He said, earning a hearty laugh and a shake of her head. "Don't really think he'd like me to give all of it to you, I'm sorry. If you want I'd pay a bit then I--"

"No, George." She said, tugging lightly on his tie to gain his attention. "How about... a kiss? Perhaps?"

He grinned. His hand hovered itself across her face before landing on her cheek, thumb gracing itself on its apples, slightly squishing the skin whilst his eyes looked for any signs of discomfort; there was none.

They slowly leaned in, eyes locked on lips before their lips locked onto each other. His lips were slightly chapped but it felt like the softest thing on Earth. He smelled of cinnamon, firewood, gunpowder, and other indescribable scents, but it was nice. It was short but meaningful, gentle, even. His other hand was wrapped around her waist and once again, his thumbs were running up and down whatever part of her body it's laid on.

He learned two more things about the girl that day; she's artistic, and she felt like home.

He never thought there'd be a time in his life where he'd be thankful for Severus Snape. But life goes in unexpected ways.

"If you'd like to tip me then I'm just going to say that I love cauldron cakes." She grinned up at him as they pulled away before settling her face in his chest. George chuckled to himself before wrapping his arms completely on her waist, placing a sweet kiss on the top of her head.

"Yeah, yeah, come on." He said, pulling away to let her shake herself up as he held onto the piece of folded parchment which graced his face, giving it a small peck before putting it in his pocket, patting it three times.

"Better sign that drawing for me, Y/N. How much does an autograph cost?"

"Double the original price—?"

"And the tip?"

"And the tip."

[alcinadimitrescuwu]

The Portrait (An Alcina x Maiden Fanfic)

You walk into the Atelier and find yourself once again gazing at the portrait of the Lady of the Castle, Lady Dimitrescu. She must have commissioned the portrait when she was younger because she looked like she was in her mid-20’s. She stands in an ivory-colored dress with a full skirt, holding a glass of wine. Her face is clear of her laugh lines, under-eye circles, and wrinkles but she is still as elegant and beautiful as ever. You move closer to get a better look and suddenly wonder who might have painted this portrait. Were they close to Lady Dimitrescu?

“Do you like it?”

You whirl around swiftly and find yourself face to face with Alcina Dimitrescu. The corner of her mouth quirks up in an amused grin, making her laugh lines indent into her cheekbones. Her golden eyes are glittering with mischief.

“Well?” she prompts.

You come back to yourself. “I-It’s lovely, my Lady,” you stammer. “Did you commission someone to make it for you?”

Alcina lets out a laugh like tinkling bells. “Why, yes. In fact you could say that the two of us were rather close.” She steps closer to you and the portrait, a knowing smirk on her face. “It was actually me that painted that portrait.”

“You?” you blurt out suddenly. Then you realize how rude you must sound. "Forgive me, my Lady,” you say, ducking your head in apology. “I meant no disrespect. I just didn’t know you were the artistic type.”

“Oh, I’ve dabbled in a lot of different art forms in my life, pet,” she says, and you see her eyes mist over as she reminisces. “I was classically trained in opera, I’ve painted landscapes and portraits, written poetry...I even was a jazz singer for a time. I made that portrait when I was 25. I was a very different woman than the one you see now.” She smiles self-deprecatingly. “Well, aside from the obvious, anyway.”

“It’s exquisite,” you breathe as you lean your head to get a better look at the portrait. You think of something and turn to her. “Do you still paint, my Lady?”

“Lately I’ve taken to sketching. And now that you know my secret,” she says, giving you a conspiratorial wink. “Perhaps I might come in here and do my sketching while you clean.”

You suddenly remember the actual purpose of why you came to this room in the first place. “Right! I need to polish the bells! I’ll just get started on that, then!”

You hear her chuckle low in her throat as you scramble up the ladder, taking out your polish. You look over back at her and she has sat down on the sofa, slipping a pair of pearl chain half-moon spectacles over her nose. She takes out her pens and charcoal, flips to a new page in her sketchbook and bends her dark head down to work.

Soon you and Alcina have a little arrangement going where every time you enter the Atelier to work on your tasks, you know you will soon see Alcina ducking her head under the lintel to work on her sketching. While you are on the ladder, you sneak glances at her every so often. Her lashes kiss the tips of her cheekbones and her brow is furrowed in concentration. Sometimes you will look from her to the portrait and you conclude that if possible, her aging has made her even more beautiful.

You feel a hand on your back and jump making the ladder wobble slightly. The hand braces you against the ladder so you don’t fall and you hear a soft chuckle behind you. “I’m sorry, dear. I suppose I should have announced my presence beforehand. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It’s not a problem,” you say and you feel color flood your cheeks as you see you are truly face to face with Alcina Dimitrescu. Her face is merely inches from yours. Her golden eyes catch the light from the chandelier and up close you see they are not just golden but with hints of silver around the iris.

“There’s this spot around the gears that doesn’t get enough attention that I’d like to show you,” Alcina hands hover around your waist. “May I?”

You nod your consent and she gently moves you on the ladder until you’re on the other side. She bends down and whispers in your ear. “Just between the cog and the gear. Do you see it?” The smell of her perfume is intoxicating. You nod that you understand and she smiles. “Good! I know you always do a thorough job and I wanted to bring that to your attention.” With that she settles back down and resumes her sketching.

This goes on for a while, you working while Alcina is sketching. Occasionally she will take a break and stand nearby observing you as you work. You find it difficult to concentrate when she is around but she eventually smiles to herself saying, “Yes. Very good,” before returning to her seat. A couple times you are not certain but you think you might have seen a flush creep up her cheekbones before she resumes her sketching.

A couple of weeks of this go by and you notice Alcina is not satisfied with the progress of her drawing. You see that she is erasing more often and often starts from a completely new page in her sketchbook. “No, no, this isn’t right!” you hear her say aloud one day. You chance a look at her as you are on the ladder polishing the candlesticks. She is furiously scribbling on the sketchpad and when a loose lock of her ebony hair falls into her eyes, she pushes it impatiently away. You try to lean down further to get a better look. You’ve seen how talented she is, surely the sketch couldn’t be that bad…

Suddenly you feel the ladder twist from under you as you lose your balance. Your arms pinwheel helplessly in the air as you try to regain your footing but to no avail. You shut your eyes tight as you fall, hoping at the most you’ll just sprain an ankle.

Instead of the hard floor, you fall into something soft. You open your eyes and jolt back as you see Alcina’s aureate eyes staring back into yours. She chuckles. “It appears I cannot do much but startle you these days it seems.” She looks at you with a concerned expression. “Are you all right, dear?”

“Yes, my Lady, I’m fine,” you mumble. You blush scarlet as you are very aware that her gloved hand is on your upper thigh, your skirt riding up in her haste to catch you. She becomes aware of this too and smoothes your skirt down, murmuring an apology, but not before you catch the blush in her cheeks.

She turns her head quickly away to hide it, her hat covering her profile. “Would you like to take a moment and rest, dear? You’ve been working so hard, you deserve a break.”

You nod soundlessly and she takes you over to the sofa where she has been doing her sketching. She closes her sketchbook with a snap before you can get a good look at it.

A maid arrives with Alcina’s afternoon tea. “Set out an extra cup for Y/N, if you please,” she commands the parlor maid. The maid nods and pours you both cups of steaming apple cinnamon tea, perfect for a cold winter’s day.

When the maid bows and leaves, you turn to Lady Dimitrescu. You clear your throat. “Um, my Lady?”

She smiles at you over her teacup. “Yes, pet?”

You can’t help it. You’re positively burning with curiosity at this point. “What have you been drawing?” you ask before you can stop yourself.

Alcina’s cheekbones flood with color. “Oh, it’s nothing special really,” she says hurriedly. “Just some scribbles.”

You can hardly believe it. Was Lady Dimitrescu, usually so full of pride and grace, embarrassed? You see a scrap of paper on the ground near the sofa and pick it up. Alcina tries to stop you but you’ve already turned it over in your hands. You let out a little gasp of surprise as you see what Alcina has been drawing all this time.

There on the paper is a charcoal drawing of you polishing the bells. In the corner of the page is a closeup of you, your face shining in the chandelier light.

You look back at her, your mouth open in shock. When you finally gain the ability to form words, you ask, “Is this what you’ve been working on all this time, my Lady?” you ask quietly, your voice barely more than a whisper.

Alcina nods and opens her sketchbook to show even more pages of you. You staring at her portrait, you reaching up on your toes on the ladder to dust off a high shelf, you pouring her tea. There are pages upon pages of your likeness.

Alcina turns her head to face you. “I must confess that I had been in need of a new muse for my art,” she says. “When I saw you gazing at my portrait, something stirred within me. There is something about you that draws me to you.” She takes your chin gently in her gloved hand.

“Your hair,” she says, and she takes off your cap and settles your unbound hair about your shoulders. “Even pinned under your cap, it cannot conceal its beauty.” She takes your hand in hers. “Your skin,” she murmurs, pressing her lips to the back of your hand, making you feel a pleasant shiver go down your arm. “How it shines under the lamplight. Your eyes.” She is moving ever closer. “The way I could get lost in those fathomless depths. And your lips…”

Her face is so close to yours now, her lips parted. “What about my lips?” you whisper, scarcely daring to breathe.

You are not quite sure who closes the distance between you first, but you are suddenly in Alcina’s arms and you are kissing her fiercely, your hands weaving their way through her ebony locks. Her hands settle themselves around your waist as her tongue gently parts your lips. You lay back on the sofa and bring her head gently down with you. She braces one hand on the side of the couch while the other gently holds the back of your head.

The sound of the clock chiming startles you, making you break apart suddenly. Alcina lets out a girlish giggle. “We simply have to do something about those nerves of yours, draga mea,” she purrs. You smile and lift your head up to receive her kiss again.

[riku-writings]

ADMIRATION

Pairing: Mitsuya Takashi x Fem! Reader

Summary: Reader likes to fantasize about The Home Economics Club Leader's Hands.

Warnings: Smut with a smol plot, Fingering.

A/n: I am not really sorry about this ꒰⑅ᵕ༚ᵕ꒱˖♡,,, inspired by that one megumi oneshot in wattpad that i read ages ago. . .((edited hundred times since i just realized now that some of the smut parts were messed up even though i checked it multiple times,,, I'm sorry for the confusion i hope i got the order right ಠ,_｣ಠ)

Wc; 2k

It started with just an innocent admiration of him being a charming dude, that's all. The guy's a good student, an overall husband material with his sewing and cooking skills. He was heaven sent with his overall visual ( dyed hair, piercings and his eyebrow slits). Everyone knows he's a delinquent because of that Pehyan dude who would fight with Yasuda-San just to excuse mitsuya out of the club. Despite his delinquent bg, Mitsuya was respectful and patient. Making every girl and boy swoon over him.

A bad boy with a soft hubby side. Best of both worlds they would say.

You were part of it. The Home Economics Club, they were lying if the whole club wasn't a simping club for the one and only Mitsuya Takashi. It was only yasuda and you who took the club for extra credits. The others well, you could say they were there to see him. Eitherway everyone was cooperative and hardworking.

Not only were you with him in that club. You were his classmate. Even better, his seatmate. You always get a view of his charming side profile.

You find yourself just staring at his features, from his long lashes to his pointed nose, down to his lips. Sometimes his tongue would dart out, out of pure concentration. (You noticed this whenever you try and get his attention to check your work in the club)

Your eyes always latching itself down to his hands. Not that you're a complete freak but you appreciate it. Like if someone asked you what body part attract you the most. You would definitely answer, hands.

His hands were the prettiest especially when its enclosed with those rings that has a cross engrave on it. It was veiny, fingers elongated and a bit bony. Nails cleanly cut. His wrist always had a silver bracelet on it. You don't know why was that attractive.

You had an unpopular opinion that it was soft to touch. You wonder if your thoughts were true. You can feel yourself blush at the thought of him just holding your hand.

You can't help it but you just stare at them with pure admiration. Due to this, you noticed how he liked twirling a pen around his middle and index finger. Fascinated, you tried it once, though you failed. You not knowing he was looking at your failed attempts. Grinning.

"y/n are you listening?" A voice called pulling you out of your own embarassing thoughts. You look up at the owner of the hands you've been staring at for a while now.

"U-uhm yes?"

"Tell me how did you end up with this then?" Mitsuya raises his brow, your messed up fabric lifted up by him. The girls around you giggled at your clumsy behaviour. You retrieved it. "Ehm, I'm sorry leader can you explain it again?"

"Alright, listen this time dummy" He says with a teasing grin, ruffling your hair gently. He sat next to you. Using the seam ripper to remove your mistakes. You just stared at his fingers pointing at where you should redo it.

You wondered how he would shove it in your mo—

You mentally slapped yourself. As you crossed your legs together at the sudden image that came over your mind. "You okay? y/n?" Mitsuya stared at you noticing how you pressed your thighs together. "Hmhm" You responded.

"Leader! can you check this?" Another called out for mitsuya. He stood up and pats your shoulder.

"alright, I'll leave it to you then" He smiled.

The next days you tried to scold your mind for having intrusive thoughts of Mitsuya and his hands. Unfortunately, your mind developed a sudden kink with it. Making every imaginary situation more. . . . lewd.

"Hey Y/n! Hold up your hand" Your classmate suddenly called you lifting his hand towards yours. You knew exactly what he was trying to do, since he's been busy tryna do that with the other girls this morning. "Eh? I don't want to." You replied.

"Bet if mitsuya did it, y/n would do it!" Another classmate of yours shouted from the back. You raised your middle finger, continuing on cramming your homework.

"Leader~ Can you do that for us~" The boys teasingly called mitsuya. Who was back from his lunch raising an eyebrow at them. Hands pocketed "Do what?"

"We're just comparing hand sizes" They shrugged lifting up their hands. "Y/n won't let us~~"

"Eh? Stop bothering y/n." Mitsuya say in his deep voice his feet landing a hit on their butts, before proceeding to you. The men in the back groaned.

Bending to meet your gaze. He grinned "Now you owe me, work on your missed templates with me later" The lilac haired boy reminded. You just rolled your eyes on him mocking a tongue out. He chuckled. "And I thought you just saved me, leader."

You stayed with him in the club room. Doing your templates beside him. Him just handstitching a bunny like doll. The room slowly darkening as the sun sets. He turned on a lamp beside his table. Slowly the other girls started to leave the club room, waving their goodbye's to Mitsuya.

"Hmmmm you've been spacing out lately, are you okay?" He coughed softly referring to your messed up works recently. Eyes going to you.

"Me? spacing out?" You acted dumb, you scoffed in a fake manner. Brushing your hair with your fingers to shake off your stiffening state.

Not meeting any of his gaze, you just continued to sketch.

Did he figure it out? Did he catch me staring at his hands? Nah I need to stop overthinking.

"Alright then." Silence invaded the whole club room again. Your eyes roamed around realizing the rest of the girls left already leaving you two alone.

"Hold your hand up." Mitsuya suddenly commanded. Eyes going to him, you raised your brow. "I wanna know— our hand difference." He explained raising his hand infront of you. Placing his doll down the table.

"You know the boys in our class are just a bunch of perverts right?" Speaking like a fucking hypocrite, your actions didn't match up with your words. Almost instinctively, you faced him holding them up. He pressed his against yours.

Your insides melt at this gesture. Your theory confirmed that he has actually, soft hands.

"You have cute small hands" His lips curled up, slowly his fingers intertwined with yours, locking it with his. "Well yours rough" You lied, cheeks burning as you looked at your connected hands. "Is that so?"

Abruptly, mitsuya pulled you close to him. Making your other hand rest on top of his shoulder. His face centimeters away yours. Lips almost brushing.

"So is this what they're trying to do with you?" He asks in a low voice his eyes piercing through you. Craning his neck, curious.

"Yeah. . . " You broke eye contact. "Good thing I stopped them." He chuckled, eyes closing. He leaned back. Patting your head.

Funnily, that interaction with him didn't stop your thoughts. Actually it made your whole dirty secret worse. Just seeing him tapping his fingers on his lips as his chin rested on his palm. Made your mind run thoughts about the things his hands would do to you.

You leaned back looking around the morning peace in the clubroom. You were always the first one to go here. Since it's more quiet that way.

You closed your eyes craning your neck side to side. Loosening up a bit.

What would his fingers feel wrapped around your neck— no. no.

You shifted on your seat, pressing your thighs together. Mentally slapping yourself.

Changing your attention, your sight caught your pen. Picking it up you tried to do that cool trick again. Trying to twirl it around in between your middle and index finger.

"Ohhh you're trying to do it again?" Mitsuya popped out of nowhere. You jolted a bit, making him laugh. You clearly didn't see him coming in.

He hovered behind you, his chest pressed on your back as he rested his hand on your desk right beside yours. He leaned in observing your half-done project. "Again?" You asked head turning towards his face.

"Well I saw you trying to do this"

He pulled his other hand up grabbing your pen, his fingers did it in ease. "no need to brag leader-san" You tell him grabbing your pen back. "Looks like you're gonna stay with me again later" Mitsuya mentioned pointing at your work.

After classes you proceeded to your clubroom already, knowing you're gonna take so long with your project. Though you were greeted by yasuda leaving you with her tasks because apparently she also had friday plans like the others. The others always had friday plans that it would leave you, yasuda and mitsuya with the work.

"It's okay yasuda-san! I promise to clean up and remind leader to lock the door!" You assured her, she then finally nodded. "Fine fine— Also don't let that slimy delinquent distract leader" She added, you nodded giving her a big thumbs up, she then waved her hands leaving you all alone with the mess of excess papers and fabric from this morning.

You tied your hair as you clean up the place before doing your own project. You actually sat on the front desk as you look around feeling satisfied. Finally continuing your hand stitch. (You gave up after breaking 3 needles into half with your machine.)

You stay seated on the front desk, comfortably doing your own project. Humming a few songs here in there. The door then slid open.

"I'm guessing yasuda san has plans?" Mitsuya came in seeing you on his desk. "yup" You nodded eyes focused on your stitch. Sudden fingers gripped your knees.

"You should stop manspreading in that skirt" He scolded you pushing your knees together. You shivered at his touch against your skin. Due to this sudden awareness of his hand still gripping your lower thighs— you accidentally pricked your finger on a needle.

"Ouch." You hissed as you saw your finger starts to ooze out blood. "You're so clumsy" Mitsuya clicked his tongue removing the cloth on your hands bringing it down to the side. He grabbed your hand and started sucking on your finger.

"U-uhm" You widened your eyes as you saw the sight of mitsuya sucking your index finger. You blushed profusely at this. "Eh? I- I — you didn't have to do that" He finally let go of your finger.

"I don't have bandages on me—plus that always does the trick" He says wiping it. You just nodded looking around. "Tsk what is it that got you distracted again hm?" He questions furrowing his brows he leaned closer to you. He layed his hands on the table, locking you in.

"Ugh you really want me to say it huh?" You groaned. He craned his neck to the side. Waiting for you to continue. "Okay— I may have a small admiration towards your hands. . ."

"Admiration?"

"Well it was honestly innocent at first until it got all dirty and as much as I wanted to get it out of my head you suddenly do things to me"

"And what was my hands doing?"

"Mitsuya . . "

"No dove tell me" He said as the choice of endearment shoot straight to your core. Making you shift on your seat.

"hm shoving it in my mou—"

Mitsuya shoved his middle and index finger inside your mouth. Your cheeks burn at the sudden action. His other hand held your waist, holding you closer. "You like this?" He asked with hooded eyes. Your tongue twirled around his finger, he slowly discarded them letting out a popping sound as it came out of your lips. Feeling your chest warmed up down to your lower belly.

"Is this why you're so distracted lately? because you're too busy thinking about my hands?" He then held your chin with his fingers as he hummed. Lips inching closer to yours. You just nodded feeling feverish. "Do you want me to kiss you?"

Once again you nodded. You can feel the growing lust underneath your skirt. Pressing your thighs together to relief the heat. Mitsuya following the movement. His eyes went back to pierce through yours.

"Say please" He smugly commanded. You pouted.

He taps your lips. Wetting it with your own spit.

"Please kiss me."

Mitsuya leaned in to claim your lips, you lightly gasped as his lips finally touch yours. Closing your eyes, you melt into his kiss. He smirked at his before his hand on your waist went up to your hair tie, pulling it to let your hair flow against your shoulders.

He then licked your lips, instinctively you opened your mouth allowing him to enter his warm wet muscle inside. You whimpered at this, feeling your feverish state get warmer. Spreading all over your body. He caressed your cheek as he kissed you deeper. His other hand caressing your side, slightly brushing up against your chest. You hummed against his lips.

Biting onto your bottom lip he licked it. Before leaning back, placing a soft kiss on yours before taking in your whole panting visual.

"Do you want me to touch you, dove?" He questions, his thumb now pressing onto your bottom lip. His left hand went down on your thighs, softly pinching them.

"Please touch me, takashi"

With that his fingers indulged inside the band of your damp underwear. "Hm you're so wet, princess" He hummed letting his finger brushed up against your folds. You squirmed under his touch, your pussy clenching around nothing.

"Is this what you're thinking about in class?" He whispered next to your ear, placing a hot kiss on your cheek. You nodded, biting onto your red lips. As his middle finger continued to slide so easily with your wet slick. Up and down teasing both of your sensitive clit and your pleading hole.

You then felt the pad of his fingers teasing circles on your entrance, you looked at him with glossed eyes. He licked his lips seeing you practically begging for it.

His other hand held the back of your knees spreading your legs to gain more access. You leaned back supporting your weight with your hands.

Letting your skirt ride up, He bit his lips as he saw your ruined flimsy panties with his hand in it. You just looked at him with a pout wanting his fingers to penetrate your hole. "Please" You plead him trying to grind into his hand. Without caution he plunged his two fingers in your heat.

You bit back a moan. "Don't hold back now, dove." He said with a smug as he felt your hole clench around his fingers. "I-I can't takashi" You say feeling little under him. He chuckled at your pouting lips before placing a kiss on them. "Acting shy now huh"

Mitsuya curled his fingers inside making you squirm. "Don't move." He warned before pounding his hand into your writhing pussy. His long fingers hitting your soft spot almost immediately. You moaned letting your forehead clash itself against his. "You're taking my fingers so well baby. So noisy" He said referring to the slick slapping sounds of your wet pussy. You blushed at this ashamed on how you were making a mess on his hands.

"Aa you're so lewd— bet you've touched yourself multiple times thinking about this" He said adding another finger in your hole easily. You sobbed at the sudden feeling of fullnes inside "Hmm too much"

"Too much? you're a good girl you can take it" He says kissing your cheek once agaib. He thrusted his three fingers into your hole curling it up to feel your spongey walls clenching into him tighter.

"Mmn t-takashi—k-kiss" You mumbled feeling yourself itching up to your own orgasm.

"You want a kiss baby hm?" He hummed as his thrusts got harder and faster. Knuckles deep, the tip of his fingers hitting your sensitive spot. You purred nodding, He kissed your lips deeply making your moans muffled. You felt hot inside you as you panted trying to comprehend everything that he was doing to you. With that you felt your orgasm continue to build up. Your head leaned back breaking off his kiss, grinding back into his hand. Mitsuya felt yourself tighten continuing to hit on your sweet spot. Your own wetness beginning to drip down.

His thumb finally taking notice of your abandoned nub. He played with it. You squirmed as you feel it burn against his thumb.

"'m close" You squeak biting onto your lips. "Go on baby cum on my fingers" He said littering kisses on your neck, hands pounding into you harshly. With those words and his thumb rubbing your sensitive clit. Your thighs started to fidget. You closing your eyes shut as you panted.

You came onto his fingers. You let out a whiny moan as His fingers slowly ride out your high.

"Good girl" He said pulling his fingers out your panties. Your eyes opened seeing him cleaning his fingers clean with his tongue. He smirked as you lolled your tongue out. He placed his fingers on your tongue, letting you lick and suck them clean.

"You look so pretty like that, dove" He say as you finished pulling his fingers out popping out of your lips. He held your waist with his arms, moving you closer again. Leaning in to kiss you softly this time on your forehead. "How was that?"

"Better than what I imagined actually"

"C'mon it looks like we have friday plans too" Mitsuya said kissing your lips. Bringing you down the table. You smiled.

[lofty-immeasurable-sky]

I remember reading somewhere that we communicate nonverbally far more than we do verbally. (I think verbal is like 7% of our communication? Wow!) So, naturally, I projected my fascination with that onto my current fixation on Zukka. Zuko and Sokka canonically struggle a bit with social interaction, but in opposite ways. Their relationship, I imagine, would consist of them frequently helping each other navigate social gatherings. Personally, I struggle more on the Sokka side of things-- becoming too passionate and loud about certain subjects. I tried to make their reactions healthy, because I’ve learned to recognize the difference between being told to shut up and being told to step back, take a breath, and regain perspective. Similarly, I know the importance of smiling at others, and what kind of a difference in your confidence it can make when someone smiles back. 

 Anywho! I created some rough comics surrounding this idea that were going to be a Thing but then I spent waaaaay too long on the panels above. 

The sketches and the ID are below the cut! (Honestly, I like how these sketches turned out better than the main comic I made. Sighhh.)

I originally pictured Zukka’s nonverbal communication to be very sweet, but then I started thinking about how they would definitely also have wacky interactions that would help them escape the occasional and nearly inescapable boredom of their jobs. I  also don’t know how Sokka communicated “mochi” with only a look. I just know that it happened. (I had so much fun with Zuko’s expressions! My favorite is the heckin’ sweet one)

[ID: A digital comic. Zuko and Sokka, who are both visibly older, sit at a table along with two earth kingdom dignitaries. They are in the fire nation palace, in a vast room with two pillars, raised steps, and doors leading to outside behind them. Everything is highly decorated and in golds and crimsons. The table has several scrolls and cups on it. Zuko’s place is very neat, whereas Sokka’s papers are scattered and crumpled. Zuko frowns and looks at an earth kingdom dignitary with glasses. The dignitary is visibly nervous. He says, “So, anyway, Firelord Zuko, um... I think-- er... um... uh...” Sokka looks benignly at Zuko.

The next page shows Sokka’s hand on Zuko’s arm. Blue letters read, “Hey.” Then, a close up of Zuko’s scarred eye, looking at Sokka. Sokka then smiles. Blue words say, “smile!” next to Sokka’s head. Zuko looks down, smiling slightly. Yellow words say, “Oh. Right.” Zuko smiles at the dignitary, who smiles back gratefully and thinks, “Oh, he’s smiling. Thank the Spirits.” Zuko rests his hand on Sokka’s. Yellow words say, “thank you,” and blue ones say, “of course.”

Another page shows Sokka yelling across the table at a fire nation dignitary. Zuko looks at Sokka. Then, he rests his hand on Sokka’s arm. Yellow words say, “Sokka. Take a breath.” An ellipses comes from Sokka. He brings his hand toward Zuko’s, and blue words say, “I know.” Sokka breathes in, then out. He then says, “Anyway, this is an issue I feel very strongly about, and it’s necessary we take the proper precautions...” Sokka bites his cheek and looks at Zuko. Blue words say, “I wasn’t done, y’know.” Zuko smiles, and yellow words say, “I know. You can tell me later.”

On the fourth page, a fire nation noble sits. He is looking very nasty and mean. There is a close up of his eyes, which look in Zuko’s direction. Zuko, in a side profile, startles slightly in recognition. Sokka looks on. Under the table, Sokka holds Zuko’s hand, which is shaking. Yellow words and blue words surround the hand. The yellow ones say, “SOKKA. That man- he was there. At the war meeting. On that day. I can’t do this... Sokka... why is he here... I can’t I can’t I can’t.” The blue words say, “Yes, you can... I’m here... Just 30 more minutes... You’re safe.”

The first sketch page shows a rough drawing on a pillared- room. There is a blue and red blob that represent Sokka and Zuko, respectively. They recognize each other. Zuko looks pointedly at Sokka. Red words say, “Hey. Let’s ditch this party and go feed turtleducks.” Sokka smiles conspiratorially, shows a bag of something tucked into his belt, and points a thumb backward. Blue letters say, “one step ahead of you. I already got the bread crumbs. Let’s bounce, babe.” Zuko has stars in his eyes. Big words say, “HECKIN’ SWEET.” There are stars behind him, too. 

The second sketch shows Zuko and Sokka both dying of boredom in their chairs. Sokka gets an idea. He looks at Zuko excitedly, and blue letters say, “Zuko Zuko Zuko, let’s have mochi later. Zuko wrinkles his nose and red letters say, “I don’t like mochi. You know this.” Sokka frowns and looks at Zuko. Blue letters say, “Don’t make me do it.” Zuko frowns back and red letters say, “DON’T YOU DARE.” Sokka makes a puppydog face. Blue letters say, *dares*.” Zuko silently screams and red letters say, “NO, MY WEAKNESS.” Zuko lifts a hand to shield himself from Sokka’s cute attack. Red letters say, “No No Not again.” Zuko looks forward, then at Sokka, then completely away, then he looks fully at Sokka. Red letters say, “OK.” Then, an “AHEM,” sounds from somewhere off the panel. Sokka and Zuko, who are holding hands and facing one another, are startled. They both grimace and look at each other. Purple letters say, “oops.” End ID]

[mrpenguinpants]

Albedo HCs: Coming Home [Christmas Celebration 🎉]

For the Christmas Celebration Requests, please read this [we have 2 more days but I’ll possibly extend the deadline to Jan 10. I’m tackling all the Mondstadt rq first before moving onto Liyue]

---

Ohhh, I love idea a lot (might have gone overboard anon haha). No worries about being specific, I love getting specific requests. I just finished a super depressing fic and I’m back at it again. Though I will do my best to make this one happy because that Mona fic hurt me. But I’m glad to hear you love my writing haha 💕💕

I also know nothing about Albedo and have never written this man in my life but I’m going to ignore everything because these are happy hours. I love his man so much so this is some self-indulgent stuff (if you couldn’t tell from the word count) istg hcs have turned into fics just without the dialogue. I took many liberties lol what the hell is formatting?  

Also, shoutout to @asheseiler​​​ A beautiful human being that started chatting with me because we both love Childe haha. But seriously, I appreciate you 💕💕💕

---

[taglist]  <- if you want to be added, please read this first.

@hanniejji​​​​​  @mikeysbike​​​​​ @unionwitch​​​​ @musekala​​​​ @twistedsunnshiii​​​ @stanzastic​​​ @akaasea​​​ @xoneaboveallx​​​ @adoring-ghost​​​ @asheseiler​​​ @childelover​​

---

Albedo HCs: Coming Home

As you finally reached the hill top by the Stone Gate, you could just make out the stone walls of the City of Freedom in Mondstadt. You were almost there and the butterfly’s racing through your stomach only seemed to fly faster. You had been on a long trip away by travelling between Liyue and Inazuma. From practicing your alchemy to finding new secrets, it had been awhile since you last saw Mondstadt. While it had been fun going from place to place and seeing all the new arts and techniques, you couldn’t stop the feeling of loneliness of not having an occasionally smug but talented ash blond companion at your side.

You hadn’t seen Albedo since Master Rhinedottir had left and sent Albedo to Mondstadt with a letter of recommendation. You travelled with him to the City of Freedom but you only stayed for a few nights before you departed to Liyue. Your master had different plans for you and you didn’t know how long your own journey would take but you both promised to stay in touch through letters. 

He was now acting as the Chief Alchemist and Captain of the Investigation Team of the Knights of Favonius. He managed to get a lab from Alice and he even had an assistant named Sucrose. He sent over some sketches for you and even if the bottom half of “Sucrose” was just a stick figure, you were happy that he wasn’t alone and cooped up in his lab all the time. You were, however, worried about these “Klee disasters” but happy that he still had the energy to write to you. At first it was hard, you found yourself talking to the air as if Albedo was still there but even after all these years, you couldn’t help but miss him. The occasional letter you received did help to lighten the mood however and you always made sure to store them carefully.

It seemed that your dapping mood was noticeable because even the ever stoic Zhongli asked if you were okay. He was nice and easy to talk to, even if he had a problem with Mora that you sometimes had to bail him out off, but you trusted him so you explained to him your growing loneliness. Which he simply replied that if you missed someone, you should go see them.

So here you are right outside the gates. The knights at the front were nice enough and let you through with ease once they checked that you didn’t have anything destructive. Now the hard part was actually finding Albedo. The knights had mentioned that despite being a highly respectable alchemist and one of the Captains, no one really knew where he was most of the time. Originally, you were thinking of planning some sort of surprise, even had made an entire game plan, but now that you were here. You just wanted to tackle the man, pride be damned.

You began to wander around the city, in comparison to Liyue it was quite small but so much more lively and warm. Christmas was right around the corner so everyone was rushing around hanging up lights and finding presents but it was nice. Everyone seemed to know each other and unlike Liyue, you didn’t need to be afraid if the walls were listening. You looked around for a man with bright teal eyes and ashy light blond hair, even asking around, but no luck. No one seemed to know where he was and if he was even in Mondstadt right now. You were beginning to loose hope and that your trip might have been in vain when you felt a small tap on your shoulder and-

Sweet jesus, what the fuck?

You were almost jealous at how good he looked now. He was always handsome when you were both younger but now it felt like cupid decided to descend from the heavens, laugh at you, then riddled you full of arrows. Was your pulse working? Brain still computing? You knew you had a small crush on Albedo when you were younger- who were you kidding, you were in love with this man since he helped you create cecilia flowers from a dead denro slime - but this was just unfair!

“Albedo! I was looking around everywhere for you. This place is actually a lot bigger than it se-”

“You’re back.”

Albedo was surprised to see that it was really you. He only caught a small glimpse of your profile but he knew it was you. He almost suspected that his vision was tricking him or that he might have accidently set one of his sketches of you to life but you were here. Albedo has always treated friendships with a constant degree of distance, always working or traveling to gathering materials to avoid social interactions even if it wasn’t intentional. He also had no memory of any family, only adventuring deep within the domains with his master and you. But when his Master left with one assignment left for him he couldn’t help but feel a bit hollow, but you were always there to lift his spirits up even if on the outside he didn’t appear upset.

But then you had left and gone on your own journey.

“Hm? Oh, sorry I didn’t mention it in my last letter. It was a bit of an impulse trip. But I’m not intruding in on anything right? You’re happy to see me...right?”

“You’re here.”

At first he was alright with it, even encouraged you to set off to Liyue since it was the closest. Promising that you would both keep in touch even if he found relationships a taxing cycle. But when a few months had passed and it began to settle in that you weren’t anywhere near him. That he couldn’t talk to you about new discoveries, that he couldn’t hear you voice anymore, that he had even forgotten how to sketch you. It felt...weird. He knew what he was feeling was loneliness, he wasn’t deluded or naïve, but even when he had Sucrose or Timaeus it wasn’t the same. But now you were here. He could see you and how the lines in his sketchbook were wrong whenever he attempted to re-create you. He could feel your warmth that sketches he brought to life couldn’t do. He could feel your presence and how it slowly but surely filled the void in him until it was bursting at the seams.

“Albedo? Are you alright?”

“You’re here.”

You were almost afraid that the holidays had broke Albedo. You knew he would sometimes get too deep in thought and wouldn’t register his surrounding but it was just you two. With the sun slowly going down, the snowflakes dancing around you both, and the Christmas light reflecting off his unique blue eyes. You took a slow blinked at him. Once. Twice. The same way you would when you were studying something, trying to unveil its secrets. Before sighing amusingly and opening up your arms to him. He was still the same. 

“I’m here.”

The final assignment Albedo received was too hard, too complicated, far beyond his own limits and he was worried that if he never completed it, would he ever see his teacher again? When you took your first step outside the walls of the city, waving back to him as you set off on your journey, he couldn’t help but feel that like his teacher, you were leaving him too. But when you looked at him with those warm but understanding eyes, opened your arms to him, he let go and stepped into your embrace. He was sure he was borderline crushing your frame but you hugged him back just as tightly. 

“My apologies. I got overwhelmed. Come with me, let’s get out of the cold first.”

You tried to hold it in but you laughed at his statement. He didn’t seem to mind as you felt him smile into your neck. Even with those words he hadn’t let go or slackened his grip in the slightest. So you both stayed there outside in the cold, the christmas lights reflected off snow, the sounds of laughter and singing playing in the background as you both embraced each other. 

I’m home

You’re home

---

Although Albedo was happy to see you again, he was wondering why out of all the years you had been away, all the other holidays you had missed, you decided to come to Mondstadt today. You were at his lab and marveling at all his new devices when he popped the question. You flushed a bit but quickly brushed it off, saying that after all the letters he sent you were finally curious as to what Mondstadt was like and the people he met. Plus, Liyue and Inazuma didn’t celebrate Christmas as much as Mondstadt so it would be nice to finally celebrate the holiday again.

He simply smiled smugly and nodded along before you eventually caved, because that look could steal your heart away, and revealed that honestly, you just really missed him and wanted to spend Christmas together. There wasn’t anything wrong with that was there? So what if you missed him? It was natural. It wasn’t like you were wondering what he was doing on slow days in Liyue. It wasn’t like you we- 

“You can stop laughing at me. I know you’re doing it even if I can’t hear it Albedo.” 

“I’m sorry you must be mistaken. Perhaps your observational skills have rusted?”

You huffed at him before turning your attention to a small but worn sketching book. It was different from the ones he had showed you and much smaller compared to the ripped out sketches he sent you. Albedo noticed your curiosity and almost flushed before striding over and showing you what was inside. It was either he do it now or you would constantly eye ball it until he finally let you see what was inside. 

He took out the old sketchbook and flipped all the way to the first page. They had been sketches of you. When it had just been you, Albedo, and your teacher he would often ask to draw you but he never showed you the finished product. What was surprising was they were all full sketches. No simple lines or unfinished colours. His interest in things, especially when he draws, were fleeting leading him to always create unfinished or basic lines. 

“Wow, was this your first sketchbook? Did you draw anything else? Oh, like your assistant perhaps?”

“No. I only drew one thing here. It’s been sitting here ever since but I tend to make sure it’s in good condition. Should I ever need to draw in it again.” 

Albedo almost reached for his pencil to sketch your smug but bright smile. But set his hand down. While he wants to capture moments so they remain forever with him, he felt that perhaps, it would be nice to live in them. Just for a moment. 

---

I never write at the bottom of my fics but I wrote too much at the start haha (plus tagging my screaming doesn’t work anymore). Not gonna lie, this was going to be different and you and Albedo would have role reversed AND I WAS GOING TO WRITE MONA IN but that didn’t happen. I made it so disgustingly sappy at the end that I want to throw up but when do I not? 

But I kind of like this version more. He’s super out of character but I don’t care and you’re gonna have to take this hcs out of my COLD DEAD HANDS. But I hope you enjoyed this and I’m using this as my Albedo catalyst so come home elevator boy. (cough celebration hcs are still open if you wanna feed me 👀 this )

[my-writings-and-musings]

TFA Bulkhead/Bumblebee

Bulkhead, hoping to paint Bumblebee, finds a number of unexpected hurdles in the form of a willing but very fidgety model.

Got a lovely commission that the commissioner was okay with me sharing, so here it is! I had so much fun writing this, and remember, I'm always open if you'd like a fic for yourself.

Working up courage wasn't something one had to do often when they were as big and strong as Bulkhead, but he'd needed every bit he could spare to approach Bumblebee with what he'd feared was a ridiculous request. The fact he could expect his friend to say yes had brought him little comfort, because being rejected just scared him too much. He didn't want to admit how long it had taken him to prepare…

But finally, the day had come, and he approached the little bot as one might an armed explosive.

"Uh… Bumblebee?" he spoke softly, tapping his big servos together to try and call himself down. Bumblebee was relaxing and watching something on TV, and Bulkhead was so nervous he couldn't even tell what. Primus, he was just grateful they were alone, or else this would have been impossible! Bumblebee thankfully noticed him right away, lifting his helm to look at his friend with a smile.

"What's up, Bulk?" he said in greeting, half turning back to the television before doing an actual double take back to the big bot. Concern crossed his features, and he raised a curious brow ridge before he spoke again. "You feeling okay?"

Bulkhead realized just then that his nervousness was probably showing through like a beacon, and he gulped in embarrassment, wanting nothing more than to disappear on the spot. Just his luck that things would already be going poorly… Steeling himself, he took a deep vent and put on the biggest smile he could manage. "Yeah, f-fine!" he gasped out, trying not to tremble. Wishing he'd written down what he wanted to say, he just managed to put some words together and speak, hoping he didn't look as ridiculous as he felt. "I just wanted… wanted to ask you something."

"Yeah?" Bumblebee asked, expression not changing once. Near to collapsing, Bulkhead soldiered on, wondering with every word if he'd made a huge mistake.

"Well you… you know I've been painting a lot lately, and I was wondering…" he gulped again, closing in on the final thing he'd come to ask and hoping he wasn't making a huge mistake in the process. If this worked, it might just be the happiest day of his life…

"I'm kind of tired of painting trees and flowers… could I paint… you?" he asked, not even waiting for a reply before he clarified extensively. "Paint a picture of you, I mean! Like… would you want to model for a painting? That's… what I meant…"

"Oh, model?" Bumblebee repeated, optics lighting up like a supernova as he repeated the word. Bulkhead felt relief like nothing he'd ever experienced wash over him as the question got exactly the answer he hadn't dared to hope for, enough so that he struggled to stay standing as he sighed. Bumblebee hopped upright and stretched, lean little frame already eager to get moving as he stepped beside his much larger friend. "What are we waiting for? Let's go!"

"Yeah, sure!" Bulkhead said with enthusiasm, trying his hardest not to cry a few happy tears at the turn of events. Moving as fast as he could, he followed Bee to his room, where all of his supplies were waiting for them in the unlikely event this worked out. The big bot had done everything in his power to get all the paint and brushes he would need if Bee said yes, so hopefully he did indeed have enough, or at least what he'd require to get started. He'd gotten so many shades of yellow…

When they arrived to his room, he briefly scolded himself for not fixing it up better, not that Bumblebee ever bothered to clean his own room, but he wanted to be a good host.

Pointing to the smushed couch he sometimes liked to relax on, which was also in a good spot for lighting, he tried to ensure he was calm despite his still fluttering nerves. "You can, uh, pose however you like. How about there?" 

"Sure, sounds fun!" Bumblebee replied, quite enthusiastic as he hopped on over. Not minding that the furniture was beyond lumpy, he began finding a comfortable way for his frame to lay, moving his tiny self about as Bulkhead got everything ready. Trying not to blush at how happy he was, the big bot grabbed a spare canvas and his favorite cans of paint, along with a few brushes in his size. Someday he'd have to properly thank Sari for introducing him to art, and being kind enough to provide tools in his size as well. When his easel was in place, he looked up to see Numb laying himself over the couch and grinning in his usual goofy way. "Paint me like one of your French bots, Bulkhead…"

Even if he hadn't been so distracted by what he was feeling, the big bot would have had no ability to make sense of what he'd just heard. All he could manage was a one word reply of total bafflement. "...What?"

"It's a… a human quote. I don't get it either." Bumblebee mumbled in reply, likely referencing some movie he and Sari had watched together at some point. Not wanting his friend to feel awkward, Bulkhead happily helped the conversation continue, smiling as he grabbed a brush.

"Oh, well um… how about we start small? Just sketches and stuff, you know?" he offered, trying to think of the best way to proceed. It was hard to plan much of anything when he was this happy, especially because he didn't want Bee to know how he felt, in more ways than one. He had to keep going as if this was just a casual thing, and not something that really meant the world to him.

"Works for me, just don't forget to get my good side… which is all of me." Bee said proudly, striking a pose and grinning as he did so. It was a perfectly in character position, so Bulkhead got to work right away, carefully articulating his large digits to control the brush. While small mistakes were just part of the process for painting, he didn't want to make one here. This piece was going to be perfect, so every stroke had to be the same, and thus his digits had an almost vice-like grip. It didn't escape his attention how few bots got to pursue their greatest wish like he was doing now. Keeping his smile to himself, he cast his optics to Bumblebee and back to the canvas, wanting to have the perfect grasp of scale before he began. Having a friend with such particular proportions wasn't going to make this any easier.

Sticking with the core of his muse, he made a few careful strokes to get the basic gist of his friend's pose, hoping to capture both his sense of excitability and his current relaxed mood. It would be hard, but he was more than up for the challenge. This would be worth every last second of work...

"Actually, hang on, my arm looks better like this."

Bumblebee surprised him with the words and the sudden movement he made to match, his arm swinging about to rest almost opposite to its original pose. As he hadn't yet started drawing that particular spot, Bulkhead let it go, having expected a little bit of restlessness. It was also only fair that Bee liked the final result and was comfortable with the process. Getting back to work, the big bot wondered if his friend's face might be a good place to start. His horns certainly added an additional detail for him to take into consideration… Perhaps he'd ask if Bee wanted his face to be more in profile or at an angle. All he wanted was to capture the essence of the bot he was so close to.

Bumblebee coughed, optics looking about bashfully as he blushed and shifted on the couch to move his other arm. It wasn't a big move, but the small bit clearly realized it was inconvenient, and looked guilty for the move. "Need to change this too, it's not working. This look better?"

"Oh uh… yeah!" Bulkhead replied quickly, uncertain how he should respond beyond acceptance as the last thing he wanted was for this to be uncomfortable for either of them. Some small changes would need to be made to what was already on the canvas, but that was hardly a bother. Getting more paint on his brush, he tried to work a little faster as he got the bottom layer established. Not that he didn't trust Bee to keep his word, but the little bot often fidgeted without even meaning to. Sticking out his glossa in concentration, Bulkhead worked fast, using up a fair amount of paint as he got what he presumed to be the core of the piece. Next would come the much tricker details…

Or at least they would have, if he hadn't glanced up to see Bumblebee in a completely different pose and half asleep...

"Bumblebee?" he said on reflex, coughing to try and gain his friend's attention. Startling awake, the little bot looked around in surprise, seeming to have forgotten exactly where he was and what was going on. When recognition dawned on his features, embarrassment wasn't far behind. A light blush lit up his cheeks as he shrunk down on the couch.

"Scrap, sorry, wasn't thinking." he apologized, trying to remember how he had originally been posed and failing to do so. Bulkhead felt a bit of frustration stirring, but he kept it well under wraps. Just because this wasn't going according to plan, didn't mean he was going to give up.

"That's okay! Just… need a new canvas." he said, keeping his smile even if he was a little more flustered. With a little bit of white paint he could salvage the canvas and use it later for something else, plus it wasn't like Sari didn't provide him with plenty of supplies. Getting set up all over again, he looked back to Bumblebee, who was once again settled in what appeared to be his position of choice. Hoping to begin in earnest, he was careful as could be when he broached the question on his mind. "Is that the pose you want?"

"Definitely!" Bumblebee said enthusiastically, giving him hope that he'd be able to paint for real this time. Not wasting even a moment, he painted as fast as he could, glancing back and forth between the painting and his subject to make the process as smooth as possible. It was an effective strategy, as it allowed him to get the outline twice as fast. This time he wanted to fully capture his friend in the picture as he'd been trying from the start. Some part of him just knew it would be worth it, and that they'd both be thankful he put in all this effort.

Or, at least, he thought he knew...

"Actually, sorry about this, but…" Bumblebee was bashful but not especially hesitant as he moved to lay on his side, stretching as he moved into an entirely different position. The poor artist felt his spark drop at the loss of progress all over again, even as his friend tried to cheer them both up by looking as chipper as possible. "That was so much more uncomfortable than I was expecting. Go on!"

Bulkhead didn't say a word as he grabbed another canvas, and did his very best not to look as discouraged as he felt. It didn't seem like this was going to stop any time soon, as much as he wished it would, and that didn't bode well for his wish to get this done. Perhaps he'd been far too hopeful…

Still, he did everything in his power to stay positive and make the painting he'd dreamed of become a reality.

Painting faster than he ever had in his entire life, the big bot ignored the imperfections that came from moving so rapidly, setting his jaw tight as little flecks of paint spattered across the canvas. At this point, such little things hardly seemed to mind. What really mattered was getting this done. A familiar form began to take recognizable shape on the canvas, and the artist started to plan ahead for his next move from then on. Shading would come after these little details, which he'd be able to put together thanks to having a lot of his friend's appearance memorized. Hope blossomed in his spark as he finally saw Bumblebee in the picture he was painting.

Getting so close to what he wanted made seeing a repeat of what had happened before hurt more than it should have.

Catching himself, Bumblebee blushed and shrunk down on the spot, smiling bashfully in apology for his unintentional movement. It really wasn't something he was doing on purpose; he wanted to see his friend happy! Sitting still just didn't work for him. Seeing Bulkhead look hurt, however, made him feel especially bad for the mistake.

"I don't think this is a good idea." Bulkhead said with a sigh, putting yet another canvas to the side and looking quite deflated as he did so. There wasn't anything he could think to do that might change this, and he was ready to just throw in the towel. Perhaps this was just the one thing he wasn't meant to paint.

"Aw come on, why not?" Bumblebee pressed, aware of the answer but hoping there was something he could do to fix it. Staying still just wasn't in his programming, but perhaps… he could get some tape? That wasn't realistic, but he wanted to try something to make up for this. Bulkhead only sighed again.

"You won't stay still?" he said simply, frustrated but not antagonistic in his summation. It was something neither of them could change, and that left both more than a little helpless.

"I…" Bumblebee stuttered off, tapping his digits together as he saw his friend get even more sad. Unable to help getting a little defensive, he got up from the couch, throwing up his arms as the big bot cleaned up some of the mess. "Come on, Bulk! You know me! Staying still isn't my thing, and I can't force that!"

"Well yeah, but… couldn't you just stay mostly still?" Bulkhead asked, still not ready to just give up all at once. Even if he had no idea how to fix things or make it work, he wanted this painting too much to just give up, no matter how many canvases it took. All he needed was a little bit more time than he had been getting. His determination must have shown, because Bumblebee furrowed his brow ridges in consideration.

"I… I can try! I…" he faded off as the pressure weighed on him, and thankfully his friend caught that quickly. To be clear; he wanted this a lot, but he could never want anything badly enough to make Bumblebee uncomfortable. Perhaps it was best they rested a bit, to restore their patience and approach this with clearer heads. He certainly needed a minute to relax from all this frustration...

"How about a break? We've been trying for a while, maybe a bit of down time will help." he proposed, already feeling a little better at the prospect of cooling down. Bumblebee shared the sentiment straight away, visibly relaxing on the spot and letting out a tiny sigh of his own. 

"Great idea Bulk! Let me just grab something…" he said happily, darting off and leaving the big bot alone with his supplies. Deciding to clean a bit to ease his mind, Bulkhead sorted the discarded canvases, hoping that he could paint over the unusable pictures with some white and reuse them. Seeing how much and how little progress he'd made at the same time made him wonder how he might improve on their next attempt. Nothing was coming to mind just yet, but that didn't mean he had lost hope. There had to be something on this planet that would motivate Bee to stay still, and by Primus he would find it!

As he was wiping up some paint that had managed to drip onto the floor, Bumblebee quite literally skidded back into the room, coming to a dead stop after running at full tilt. 

"I'm back! Just wanted to grab my game!" the little bot declared happily, waving the device about as he went to sit back on the smushed couch. The game had been a gift from Sari as well; some kind of earth console that had been sized up a few times over to better fit the servos of a Cybertronian. Smiling in acknowledgement, the big bot nodded as he went back to cleaning. Digital music met his audials as his friend started up the system and began to play, reclining on the couch as he settled in for a much needed break. Bulkhead had only had middling success with the games popular on earth, owed in large part to his size, but he was at least happy his friend could have some much needed fun with them. 

When the floor was finally cleaned up, he took stock of his slightly diminished inventory. There was still plenty of paint, and more than a few canvases, but if they continued at their current pace… He'd have to figure out a strategy before they tried this again, because otherwise this just wasn't going to work. Looking up at Bumblebee, he briefly considered proposing that they try this another day before his thoughts were systematically interrupted. 

Laying on his back over the pile of stuffing that had once been a couch, the small mech was entirely engrossed in his digital world, optics focused only on the screen as his digits rapidly tapped away on the controls. Other than the occasional shift of his expression, he was entirely motionless. It took Bulkhead a moment to process what he was seeing. Bumblebee was so rarely still, and never for this length of time… He didn't need to think much before he was reacting the only way he could.

Moving as silently as a mech of his size was able to, he grabbed what he needed, gathering his paints around himself as he got a fresh canvas and sat down before his easel. He couldn't have asked for a better setup; the pose, the lighting, it was all perfect. It was almost too much to hope this was real. Considering how many false starts he'd had, most could probably understand why he felt that way.

Daring to take his time, the big bot made every brush stroke count, trying to think of all the reasons he liked Bee so much as he made each one. His friend was confident, energetic, brave… All those thoughts motivated him every second he worked, and the results were soon apparent. The form of Bumblebee began to take shape rather quickly, coming together far more smoothly thanks to how relaxed he was. A base layer was ready to go in what felt like only a few minutes.

Oblivious to everything, Bumblebee kept right on playing, occasionally sticking his glossa out as he did so. Bulkhead contemplated including that detail in the piece, but ultimately decided against it. This was going to be a somewhat more dignified painting than that. 

When the time came to add lighting, he was almost over the moon, but he kept all the excitement to himself. Colors mixed together beautifully on his palette, forming the light and dark shades to the vibrant yellows and deep blacks that made up his friend's paint job. It was far more satisfying than painting even the most beautiful landscape he'd ever seen. Perhaps he was just a little biased on that front, but he did believe that painting things you truly cared about just brought them to life. One only had to glance at this piece to understand how much this bot meant to him.

It almost seemed like he was dreaming when each and every glance revealed Bumblebee to be sitting perfectly still, without a hint of movement beyond the minor. If this did turn out to be a dream, he'd at least be happy it was going so well. Fate had truly designed the perfect setup for them to finally get this done without any stress for either individual. 

Everything came together with what felt like only a few of the most well done strokes he'd ever painted. At long last, the bot he'd wanted to paint so badly had been captured on canvas! It was so exciting he couldn't hold back an exclamation as he set his brush down theatrically.

"Done!"

"Huh?!" Bumblebee gasped, half jumping on the spot as his game nearly flew from his servos. Looking about in a daze, he put the pieces together when he saw his friend, at which point guilt crossed his features. Time had slipped away from him even more so than it had for the very busy Bulkhead. "What? I… oh, Bulk! I didn't mean to get distracted! You could have stopped me earlier, I wouldn't have minded."

Waving off the appreciated but unnecessary apology, the big bot only smiled and wiped some paint from his servos, rising from his chair to puff his chest out with pride. "That's okay, I'm already finished."

"How?" the little bot gasped in awe, checking his internal chronometer to see just how long he'd been wrapped up in his game. It had only felt like a few minutes, but this wouldn't be the first time he'd gotten lost in a video game.

"Well, you were pretty content playing your game, so…" Bulkhead allowed his friend to put the rest of the pieces together, and in no time understanding dawned on the little mech. 

"Oh, I gotcha!" Bumblebee replied happily, quite relieved to have not held them up. If playing video games was what it had taken to make his friend happy, then he was quite fine with that. All he wanted was to get a look at the results, which he was certain would be incredible. "Here, let me see!"

Feeling a bit of shyness amongst his pride, Bulkhead handed over the canvas, careful to avoid the still drying paint.

"This is amazing!" Bumblebee proclaimed without hesitation, trying to be delicate even as he felt a surge of excitement upon beholding the painting. Of course he knew his friend had talent, but this was incredible! "Look at me, I look even better than usual!"

Bulkhead looked down to the floor and shuffled his pedes, doing his best to hide the blush creeping along his cheeks. "Well, I had a pretty great model."

"That's gonna sell fast, Bulkhead. No doubt about it." Bumblebee praised as he gave the painting back, confident in what he was saying. It didn't hurt that he was a good looking bot, but his friend had really done an especially good job on this one, and he was sure it would be bought up in no time. Taking the piece, the big bot smiled softly as he beheld it again. It had taken a lot of courage for him to get this, and he was quite proud of himself for that. As such, he held the painting very near and dear to his spark.

"Maybe, but… I think I'm gonna keep it, actually." he said softly, wanting to see it every day. There was a perfect place for it where he could do just that, not that he would say where that was. Bumblebee didn't mind the decision in the slightest.

However, when the little bot ducked in his friend's room later to pick up a borrowed item, he learned the true value of the painting to Bulkhead. On a wall reserved for only his most precious of works, the portrait sat high in a position of honor. Usually unable to say everything that came to mind due to overwhelming volume, Bee had been rendered speechless by the sight. Only a soft smile revealed how touched he was by the gesture. 

[matthew5016512]

Week 6: Digital Concept Drawings

To date doing the digital concept rendering has been the part I was both looking forward to and dreading the most. Before completing this weeks work I had never used photoshop, and avoided any and all Adobe products like the plague (I rendered everything for BENV1010 in Rhino last term, for which I make no apologies). Fortunately (?) for me there was simply no way to avoid it this week.

The final product...

I found Rob's videos invaluable in creating my concept drawings, though there were quite a few points where I had to madly google things as A) I don't use a mac (therefore the shortcuts are different), and B) things did not always go to plan.

To begin with I drew in a very rough copy of the 3 bottle concepts I wanted to take further. They were very rough, but it was good to get something on the screen quickly and messily so I had a starting point.

Blocking in the base colours for the bottles seemed to go ok, and it helped me refine the profiles of the bottles. The symmetry tool was invaluable - I hated trying to free-hand draw symmetrical shapes last week so this was no small blessing.

My layers were a bit weird which caused headaches later on. If you look closely at images 2 onwards the block colour for the bottles either hasn't been erased properly, or I somehow managed to get 2 blocks with different shades of grey from each rectangle - I have no idea what went wrong, but I did it twice and the same thing happened again so I pushed on :(

After I blocked in the colour I tried something different and created another layout layer so that I could (roughly) trace the grey masses and work out where the edges were. I then locked this layer so I couldn't alter it and put it over the masses so that I could put shade and highlight in the appropriate places. This made it much easier to do the shading as my bottles were not purely organic shapes like was demonstrated.

After removing the rough layout layer I was left with some rather uninspiring blob-bottles. I had difficulty with getting the outline to generate on a different layer and it resulted in some weird artefacts that I couldn't figure out why they existed, but just had to manually erase from the new layer. Adding additional layers for the contours ad making it look a bit more hand-sketched and "open" as a concept took a lot of time but was well worth it. I think the shading could be matched up a little bit better, but overall I was happy how it cam out.

Adding in the background really elevated the sketches and made them pop. I'm quite proud of how it turned out, though personally I think it is cleaner without the notes.

Lessons learnt: 1) Photoshop is scary, and has one hell of a learning curve, but it's so much better than trying to draw on paper, so I'll take it any day of the week.

2) Sketching skills are transferable from paper to the digital realm, so I need to continue practicing sketching if I want to be able to effectively communicate and ideate rapidly. CAD has it's place, but I have developed a new appreciation for the artistic side of IDES.

3) The order of your layer stack is important and I feel like I have only barely begun to get my head around it at this point - the layers are soo much more than just different line weights and colours as they are in AutoCAD and Rhino.

4) I'm so glad I had the sense to get a touchscreen laptop with a pen at the start of this year - I cannot for the life of me imagine how much longer this would have taken be if I only had a mouse - and I am certain wouldn't have come out as good.