#I still can't make this drawing program do what I want it to and everything I like just says 'code it urself' and I'm too stupid to do that

[mosspapi]

Everything is bad nothing is good I'm like 3 seconds away from throwing myself out a window

[factual-fantasy]

I've just finished reading your response for the first time,

First off, thank you very much for the GIF and Video, as well as the explanations. I can definitely work with this.

I've downloaded and installed FireAlpaca for myself so I can start comparing what I'm seeing vs what is supposed to happen.

Immediately, Something stood out as weird to me: You're selecting multiple tools at once. That's... not supposed to happen. I tried it myself, Opened like 20 tabs and just started throwing colours at each canvas. This doesn't happen for me At all.

So I'm gonna give you some more instructions. (Tl:Dr for the instructions at the bottom, just above my little rant)

Backing Up your Brushes

FIRST let's make sure you don't lose all of your beloved brushes. from what I'm about to suggest.

in FA, I want you to go to Help > Open Config Folder

That will lead to a folder that, for me, looks like this

Keep in mind that it could look different for you, I have a fresh install with no cool special brushes. (also I can't draw to save my life)

Now simply Ctrl+A (select all) and copy it to another folder. go to like... Documents or Downloads or something, Make a folder called "Brushes Backup" and Paste all of it in there.

Alright, now to the actual thing I want you to do.

2. and 3. Uninstall and Reinstall FireAlpaca

There is some weird glitch I cannot Reproduce. So Just Reinstall FireAlpaca. this is the reason I wanted you to back up your brushes. Deleting the program and reinstalling will nuke all of the settings you use, so by copying the Config folder, you can easily reinstate your settings.

4. Testing

After you have reinstalled the program, I want you to open it, and mess around for however long you think it will take to trigger the glitch. (which sounded like only a few minutes) and see if something happens.

If not: Great!

If yes: You might want to reach out to https://firealpaca.com/report/ and fill out a bug report, and tell them that you have no way of reproducing the bug. (although I really think reinstalling will work)

5. Reinstating your brushes

Now, after you've made sure that FireAlpaca works, only then do I want you to Open the config folder again and put your brushes back. (simply close FireAlpaca after you've opened the folder, delete everything that's in it, and then copy everything from your "Backup Folder" into the config folder. )

6. Testing Part 2: Electric boogaloo

Then if you re-open FireAlpaca I want you to once again mess around a little and pay attention. Because the Bug might come back.

If it DOES come back, It might be one of your settings/brushes that is causing it. Which in that case I unfortunately have to suggest starting over with your brushes.

To recap: I'm asking you to:

Back up your brushes

Uninstall FireAlpaca

Reinstall FireAlpaca

Test to see if the weirdness is gone

Restore your brushes

Test to see if the weirdness is still gone

--- Rant Below ---

I have no clue what's happening to your program. This looks like some bug in the code that just causes FA to say "Nope" and stop responding to the side bar.

This acutally reminds me of a bug I've been encountering in Unity where the program refuses to open one of the UI pages in the Program's settings, which just completely shuts me out of the settings for one of the input libraries. Funnily enough it actually printed an error in my console, and the error was thrown so incredibly deep into compiled code that I was pretty sure I was reading Unity Source Code at that point.

I still don't know what's happening. Luckily I have Other People to interact with that settings page for me.

(This ask is in response to this post)

So once again I took sometime to test all this out, but unfortunately it didn't take me very long to come back with bad news.

So this is exactly what I did in this order:

I went to my config folder and copied everything into a new folder I created in my Documents tab. Then I went to my settings > apps > FireAlpaca and uninstalled. I then went to the official website and reinstalled it.

I opened up what should have been a fresh FireAlpaca and found this,

The red numbers are brushes that I have adjusted/used. And the "Fire roller (multiple colors)" and "twisted ribbon" are brushes that didn't come with FireAlpaca by default. I downloaded them afterwards from their little brush shop. For some reason FireAplaca remembered my brushes..

And of course, FireAlpaca was still breaking in the way that I've described in your last ask.

So I thought "Okay, I don't care if I lose my brushes and settings. I just want FireAlpaca to work." So I deleted that copied folder from Documents that I made, I unpinned FireAlpaca from my taskbar and deleted the desktop shortcut too just to he extra safe I guess..? Then I went to settings > apps > FireAlpaca and hit uninstall. Then went back to the website, reinstalled the latest version and wouldn't you know it,

All the exact same brushes, in the same order with the same settings. And FireAlpaca continued to break the same way.

So now I'm wondering if I did something wrong.. why does FireAlpaca keep remembering my settings? Did I do the uninstall process wrong? I wondered if that cache thing might be holding data or something? I've heard about that before. But with the help of a friend recently I cleared my Google Chrome and Laptop's caches. And FireAplaca didn't change at all and I didn't lose any of my settings. So that cant help me here..

I wonder if somehow my pen could be a problem? I've dropped it on the hard floor 100s of times. Could it be contributing? And what did I do wrong in this process for FireAlpaca to remember all my brush settings?

If anyone has any advice I would love to hear it <:(( Please and thank you very much 🙏🙏🙏

[monster-disaster]

[krampus] Michael 1/3

krampus!Michael x human!Reader Good to know: a bit mean Michael, a bit crying Reader but nothing too serious

Summary: You want to ask your neighbor a favor but it doesn't go well.

You shouldn't do this. It's a bad idea. Maybe even insensitive, too. Probably. But despite your inner battle, you still find yourself knocking on your neighbor's door, a small, hopeful part of you wishing he wouldn't answer. Maybe it would be better if he wouldn't answer. You could go back to your apartment as if nothing happened. After all, he might not even be home. You could still slip away unnoticed. Yeah, best to just-

A faint clink of keys jangling filters through the door, followed by the sound of a lock turning. Your heart stutters in your chest, and you nearly turn to leave, but then the door swings open. He leans against the doorway, arms crossed in front of him. He is dressed in nothing but a pair of grey sweatpants, hanging low on his lean hips, and his bare chest is right at your eye level, all tight muscle and fur. You can see the slight rise and fall of his breathing, a steady rhythm that draws your gaze up to his face. He raises an eyebrow, his gaze curious, almost amused, as he waits for you to say something.

"Hey," you smile up at him, trying to keep your voice steady.

"Hey," Michael replies, tilting his head slightly as a playful smirk tugs at the corners of his mouth. "Can I help you with something?"

Heat spreads up your cheeks, and you swallow, nodding. "Yes," you say, licking your lips nervously. "And, um… you can totally say no," you add in a rush, wanting to soften the blow of your unusual request. "But, well… there's this holiday program at the mall for the kids. A Christmas event."

You watch his golden eyes narrow slightly, suspicion flickering in their depths as he raises an eyebrow. "And?" he asks slowly as if he already knows where this is going, and he isn’t sure he likes it.

"And… we lost an elf today," you say, cringing a little as the words leave your mouth.

His thick brow arches even higher. "Lost?" he repeats.

You shake your head quickly. "Got sick," you clarify. "So, we’re in desperate need of someone to, um… step in as her replacement."

The male's gaze sweeps over you as if weighing whether you're actually serious. "Let me get this straight," he says, his tone laced with skepticism. "You want me to be an elf?"

You let out a soft scoff, trying to play it cool, though the heat creeping up your face tells a different story. "No," you reply, attempting to sound casual. "Of course not."

"You want me to be the Krampus," he states, not asking but knowing. He’s already put it all together.

You nod, swallowing, and manage a barely audible, "Yes."

"You want a krampus to play the Krampus at your little Christmas event so all the kids can run screaming to their parents and Santa?" His voice is firm and steady, his gaze heavy and unyielding as it rests on you.

You clear your throat, trying to salvage what’s left of your request, but his intense gaze makes it nearly impossible to keep a straight face. "Well," you begin, forcing a lightness into your tone, "kids cry over everything anyway."

"You know it's a bit offensive, right?" he asks with a hint of reproach as he straightens to his full height. His chestnut-brown fur catches the warm glow from his apartment. The sight is both mesmerizing and, admittedly, a bit intimidating. "You know how many kids started crying from seeing me just today?"

You are not exactly sure what pushes you over the edge. Maybe it’s his voice, firm and edged with a hint of irritation. Or maybe it's the way he towers over you, arms crossed tightly over his chest, his tall frame casting a shadow over you that makes you feel small and cornered. Then there’s the sight of his horns, long and formidable, curling back before angling upwards toward the ceiling. Or perhaps it’s the subtle snarl twisting his lips, his fangs just barely visible as he speaks. You can't be sure what it is exactly, but after weeks of long hours spent at the mall, surrounded by crying kids and endlessly unsatisfied parents, you feel something inside you start to unravel. It’s the exhaustion catching up to you, the weight of it all pressing down so hard that you can barely hold it together. Your throat tightens, and before you can stop it, you feel the sting behind your eyes. The first tear slips free, hot and fast, and suddenly, you can’t stop them. They fall in quick succession, betraying you before you have a chance to look away or try to fix yourself.

Michael’s posture shifts immediately, a flicker of uncertainty crossing his features as he takes in the sight of you, but before he can say anything to make it better or worse, you feel the words spill out of you uncontrollably. “God, I know it’s a stupid request,” you snap at him shakily. “I know it’s insensitive, alright? I know! I’m not an idiot, I get it. I’ve spent weeks at that goddamn mall with kids crying over every little thing, parents complaining about everything. And don't even let me start with that stupid elf costume I have to wear every day! And I just… I just thought, maybe, just maybe, if you helped, it would make it less awful for a second. But I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked. I didn’t think you’d actually-” You take a breath, forcing yourself to steady your words. “You didn’t have to make it worse. If you’d just said no, that would’ve been enough. I didn’t need- I didn’t need you to make me feel even worse.” Your voice wavers slightly as you continue, the tears starting to slow, but the frustration still raw. "I don’t need anyone else making it harder, Michael." You shake your head, wiping your eyes to get rid of the salty wetness that probably smudged your makeup all over your flushed face.

Taking a deep, shaky breath, you let the silence fall between you for a long, tense second. The words have left you, but the weight of them still lingers.

After what feels like an eternity, you nod, swallowing the lump in your throat. "Thank you, anyway," you grunt, forcing the words out, though they feel hollow.

Without waiting for a response, without even giving him another glance, you turn on your heel and rush back to the safety of your apartment. The sound of your feet pounding against the floor echoes in your ears, but you don’t dare look back. Not even once. You don’t see the way Michael stands there, his eyes following your retreating form, and you don’t see his friend joining him at the door, patting the krampus on the shoulder with a sarcastic hum under his breath, “Well, you really make everyone cry, don’t you?”

_ You can read the other two parts (I will post them on Dec. 24 and 25) on my Patreon where I post a story every day this month.

[ram-bles]

can I have hcs abt daisuke comforting an upset reader? like they were trying to do/make something new and it kept not working so now they’re upset at themselves and like, daisuke comforting them? sorry if this is rlly incoherent

daisuke x mechanic intern!reader | There's always tomorrow.

I know you wanted hcs but I kind of got carried away.... I hope you're fine w this anon 🙇 bonus general hcs

# : comfort. gender neutral reader.

At this point, you could tell the intervals of the static on this clunky monitor with how much staring you've done at it. Continuously debugging and iterating the codes for the test circuit just beside you. The only time you took breaks was when Swansea had to drag you out to eat since you surprisingly didn't listen to Daisuke. Even the crew was impressed that you got Swansea this worried for you.

You pressed on tab, the other intern flinching at how hard you pressed the key, eyebrows knitting as he gave you a worried gaze. He knows that look, you often do it before running the program. Slamming on enter, you stare at the bright green [BUILD SUCCESSFUL...] nervously. It was a whole process really, coding, flashing, building, testing. The problem was always the last part. You've been remaking this stupid circuit for the whole day, but whenever you try to fix one problem, another one pops up. Just like this trial. One of the goddamned LEDs weren't lighting up.

Your palms roughly meet the table surface, shaking everything on top. With a heavy sigh, rub your face aggressively and groan. Better that than screaming profanities, right? You're questioning your career choice again. Your thoughts were disturbed when a hand rests on your shoulder and you tense up for a moment, only to relax ever so slightly when you hear him call out for your name, soft, concerned.

Daisuke was with you this whole time, always reminding you to take breaks and checking up on you. Even sneaking in snacks. He's the only one who could keep you grounded whenever it came to situations like these— it's hard for him not to, after all. Always so mindful of your well-being and how you feel. It makes you wonder if you reciprocate and thank him enough for it.

"Dude, your eyes are like super red." His eyes pop up in your peripherals as he leaned over to peek at you. "C'mon. We can take a break together?" Another heavy sigh escapes from your lips and you leaned back, head resting on his shoulder with closed eyes as he pets your head. He signalled for the both of you to head up and rest with two pats on your cheek, only surprising him when you spun your stool around to bury your face on his chest. Daisuke's chin rests on top of your head, fingers twirling on your hair and unconsciously massaging the back of your head.

"Stupid thing won't work."

"It was lighting up?" His smile became more wobbly when he hears you sigh again.

"Not correctly."

"Dude, I still don't know my shit around circuits and your out here programming them. Do you know how cool that is to me?" You hum, tightening your hold around his waist and he chuckles. There was a moment of comfortable silence, hugging the frustrations away. "The coolest."

"You know what I do when I can't get my drawings right?" You give him another noise of acknowledgement and he continues in a tone as if he was saying the most obvious thing ever.

"Take a break!"

"Sleep on it. Gotta check the piece with fresh eyes to find the mistakes." He tilts his head to face you, combing your hair back. "You wouldn't find it if you've been staring at the same thing for too long, right? There's always tomorrow."

The way you looked up at him had his heart skipping a beat. "Dai?"

"Yeah?"

"You're so reliable, y'know."

"I'm supposed to be giving you the compliments!" You both end up laughing and he stares at you affectionately. "C'mon, we can continue your playthrough, ooor if you're too tired you can just watch me."

[ Bonus ]

🌺 Straying away from mechanic intern, just in general really, he wouldn't be able to stand seeing you be disappointed over yourself. He knows that feeling all too well. Gives you compliments based off on what he wants to hear too. He always asks if you want to figure it out first or if it was possible for him to help.

★ It's okay! We can always get back to it!

🌺 If you do accept his help, he'd be trying his utmost best like always. If it works out? Yay! Let's celebrate by hanging out! If it doesn't? Peek above, take a break and come back to it when you're in a better mindset.

🌺 Ends up barraging you in compliments either way. Hugs, cuddles, kisses, snacks, games, whatever you want as a reward.

🌺 Yeah. Checks up on you from time to time just to see how you're holding up. Not to the point where it's disturbing you though. If he brings you snacks, drinks, or pick me up doodles, he'll pass it to you silently but making sure you're aware that he's giving you the items.

[jealousmartini]

Oh, nothing much, just a list of reasons why I am so excited to permashift to my ultimate 4d reality //better current reality//

∘₊ ✧───────────────────��₊∘

— EXPERIENCING DESIRED SCENARIOS

I am a hardcore daydreamer just like my brother and sister shifters(you guys🫵🏾), and I can't wait to really live the silly imagines I always have in my head. Even if it's something relatively small, I will still get to live every second of them.

Idk if some of you guys will remember that one post where I mentioned Googlebox? But I'm mentioning it again🙄 because I scripted me, my love of my life, his sister who is my bff, my own girl bff and her boyfriend are part of the program teehee. I swear no one will ever understand how much of a comfort show Googlebox is to me and in general.

The idea of being on TV whilst watching TV and relaxing with my favourite people and eating my favourite food just makes me melt. It's such a core memory to me and idk I just love showing off how perfect my family is to everyone else

— FOOD

I can't wait for all the delicious food I'll get to eat. There will never be a single time where I have to eat something I don't like or don't want to ever again, because why should I have to? I'm mostly excited to have stuff like popeyes, McDonald's, seafood boils, those Korean and Japanese foods you see on mukbangs, loads of fruit bowls (I really do love fruit), basically everything meat/barbecue, pasta including ramen, and sweets too cus🧍🏿‍♀️🤷🏾‍♀️

— NO UGLY CLOTHES ALLOWED

Never will there be a day or night where I will ever need to wear clothes that don't suit me or clothes I don't like. My closet is going to be full of the cutest and gorgeous late 90s and early 2000s skirts, shirts, bellbottoms, flares, jackets, oversized ts, shorts, belts, slippers, jewelry, panties and bras etc etc

— ALREADY COMPLETED WORK

In my better cr, I scripted that I am already miles ahead of everyone in college work (and best believe all my work is at distinction level) so I have all the time in the world to do what I want until the next brief; I also scripted the date of month that I will wake up in my better cr in is the 17th April last week so I will have only 3 days of college next week (because i go in on mondays, tuesdays, wendsays and Thursdays) and 4 weeks of freedom to myself. (I also scripted my teachers let me do my own art work in my free time in class, cus sometimes all a girl wants to do is draw their ocs🥺)

Edit :: 17th of may now!!

— CURRENTLY IN MY MOVING ERA

In better cr, I am kind of in the planning process of moving out of my house to my apartment penthouse with my friend group. I'm thinking of moving out at 18 or 19 years old since I'm 17 rn and I still want to explore my better cr house cus it's wayyyy better than this one. But even once I've moved out I'll probably keep visiting my old home where my mum and her husband lives because.

∘₊ ✧───────────────────✧₊∘

Overall, I am so excited to experience everything I have ever dreamed of. I know I deserve my freedom and peace, excitement, and joy. Being able to just do what I want when I want and always knowing that no matter what, everything is going to be okay.

Life is so amazing, and it's so worth living. I know I will manifest my desired reality in no time, and I know all of the stress, time, anxiety, and patience won't be for nothing. Life is mine to explore, and I can't wait to do so

@4ellieluv @livingmydreamlife5555 @theshifterbear @cocozydiaries

[fridgrave2-0]

(something for partners in crime au where felix and turbo both go gamejumping)

once felix overheard a conversation ralph had with gene. ralph was (once again) trying to get positive attention from nicelanders and said that him breaking the building means nothing bc felix has a magic hammer and puts zero effort into the house, for him fixing it is super easy. and this thought stayed in his head. felix started thinking a lot about what he's doing in his life and that without his hammer he is a nobody. on his own he can't fix shit, and when he tried to build something it was worse than what ralph made in the movie for q*bert. it got to the point when felix went to tapper's and got drunk for the first time, and turbo had to get him out of this. turbo was genuinely worried for felix because they knew each other for several years at this point and never it was so bad. mostly it was turbo who had some bad times and felix was comforting him, but now they switched roles in this situation, and turbo tried his best to help. he reassured felix that he'll help him learn at least the basics of building stuff on their own without the hammer, and this was able to cheer felix up. they were taking bricks and other junk to try and make something new out of it - and some time after they actually were able to make some progress, and turbo decided to live in one of the houses (they were experimenting in turbotime most of the time) and while they were working on it, turbo was slowly helping felix accept the fact what his worth doesn't start or ends on having this hammer, and tho it definitely does its job it's not disregarding felix's personality or skills. like yeah, he's the greatest racer in the arcade, but he still continues training and working on his skills, and it's totally ok what felix needed time to get there as well

in the end it helped felix a lot, and after weeks and months of practice he was ready to try something new. building things on his own actually made felix realize that he loves working on design and styles. every building he was making was unique and special because he was putting his soul into it, and this creative process made felix feel something he only knew when he was with turbo. like he actually was alive and not just a piece of code made by someone. the things he was making were his, they were reflecting his personality, his feelings. and they were making him happy when he was ready to try and change niceland, it was the project he put the most of him into. with turbo's (unexpected) drawing skills they designed a completely new building, detailed and magnificent. felix was remaking the niceland for the whole night going beyond the limits of his coding, the hammer was used only to solidify the changes. the house turned out to be just what he wanted, and it was beautiful. for a brief moment even turbo was out of words, he couldn't turn away from the piece of art felix created. there was nothing like it in the arcade, and perhaps even in the whole world. for some unknown reason turbo felt inspired that day, doing his best to break his own limits on the track later that day. he wished he could just return to fix-it felix jr and see the happiness and pride flourish in his boyfriend's eyes. felix did deserve it like no one else

but when turbo came back this evening, niceland looked like it always did. a dull brick penthouse. he found felix at the dump, he looking at pieces of broken marble and colored stone with an empty face. "the game is programmed so that when the building is repaired, it returns to its original appearance. when the day just started, there were untouched bits, something what ralph didn't break. but in the end, everything was wrecked." felix hugged his knees and sobbed when turbo sat down next to him. "it all was for nothing. i can't exceed the code. no matter what i do, it will be destroyed! all i can is to fix this stupid house over and over and over again until they decide to unplug my game. we don't have any control over our lives. this is what's left for us." felix grabbed a piece of marble and threw it far into the pile of red bricks, his hands were shaking when turbo caught them in his. felix couldn't see the anger in his eyes growing. when turbo pulled felix closer, he glanced over the glass of the cabinet and looked at the arcade. "don't worry, love..." he gently stroked felix's hair, "i will figure it out. i promise." it was january of 1987

[artharakka]

Every time I see your art I remember how much I love your colours - its just...aaaah I can't even explain it, but it's so perfect? Its..muted but not washed out? And it gives such a natural feel to the works that I adore! Do you have any proccess for determining colours?

Thank you!🧡🧡 Colours are often what I think makes or fails my drawings so either way means a lot! Sorry it took approximately a thousand years to answer but this inspired me to do an illustration to experiment and explain with. (Though as said, I don’t think I always nail the colours and I have only little formal art education etc so take with a grain of salt)

With line art, I usually fill in different sections (like character, environment in front, background) with base colours first. Most often with some orange or sienna.

And to mimic the effect that underpaint has in traditional art, I’m usually choosing the final colours by picking a colour I think would be close to the “actual” colour (like skintone), and, probably not very professionally, “mixing” that colour with the base colour by using a brush that is not 100% opaque. I’m also testing and fiddling here & usually doing some kind of colour sketch before cleaning them up.

This way the colours become a bit muted & more harmonious (though I also prefer using more muted colour schemes to begin with).

Orange “underpainting” is usually my go-to, especially when doing “neutral” light like in character sheets. If I want the piece to have a certain atmosphere or environment, I might use other base colours. Sometimes I use actual photos as inspiration or guidelines:

Note that I don’t have strict colour reference sheet where I pick my starting colours from. I’m adjusting those as well even before the sketching brushstrokes:

The skintone’s starting colour (1st one) is redder here, because green underpaint eats some of the redness away as red and green are complementary colours. The blue of the lightest shirt is also darker as the character is more shadowed in the latter version.

Here I used red as a base colour. If I had used skintone’s base colour from the green version, it would’ve been too red. Instead lighter and a bit more orange/yellow tone ends up looking more natural (even though still very red, but it doesn’t stand out that much with everything else also having a red undertone). Hair’s starting colour is also more yellow so it still looks like a blond instead of red hair.

Shadows & other details I do with the same method, just using the picked flat colour as the base colour (so for skin, picking slightly darker & usually bluer colour and painting with low opacity brush over the skintone instead of over only the orange/yellow/etc underpaint)

Here I also did highlights with the soft light layer:

I hope some of that was useful as I’m not native English nor art jargon speaker! This was also mostly my line art process, with paintings (esp. ones that aim for realism-ish look) I look more references from photos and how light & colour acts in them.

And as said, sometimes I miss and the work comes out too washed out. For example these Patreon collection icons came out too dark & colours too similar to each other. Against my dark mode drawing program it looked more vibrant, woops. I edited them a little from here, but should probably re-do them at some point.

[dronebiscuitbat]

Oil is Thicker Then Blood (Part 79)

Uzi was sitting on the couch, burying her face in an aeronautical engineering book for the umpteenth time. Sketching out ideas for heat shielding on a notepad, Tera on her lap, inquisitivly watching her mother draw and holding onto her bat plushie.

If she was being honest with herself (which, of course she wasn't) she would admit that it was somewhat difficult now for Tera to sit on her lap like she used to, her baby bump was now fairly obvious, she could still… somewhat, hide it underneath her hoodie, but even then if someone was paying close enough attention they would notice that something was different.

And it was of course at this moment, V crashed into her apartment. The door whipping open suddenly and startling both girls out of their shells. Tera chirped loudly and Uzi very nearly cursed.

“Back, took pictures.” V said bluntly, making Uzi take a deep breath to surpress the urge to beat her over the head with whatever she had in her hand. (A notebook, it wouldn't hurt, but still.)

“Okay. A. Thank you.” Uzi hummed, before her face fell “B. Bite me! You didn't have to scare the crap out of me!” She grumbled, standing up and resting Tera on her shoulder. V smirked, before her eyelights shifted down to Uzi's midsection.

“Huh. You can actually tell now.” She commented, which immediately made Uzi feel self conscious, she wouldn't lie and say that the visible change to her body wasn't off-putting.

“It hasn't been that long since you saw me.” Uzi pouted, turning slightly away from her ‘freind’. V clicked her tongue.

“How are you holding up?” V asked, ignoring her statement and tone much, much softer.

“Fine. Still don't know why you care so much.” Uzi replied, and V looked at the floor for a moment before Uzi got several pictures sent to her over short range, she filed them in a folder titled ‘MYSFLESH:/’

“’Fine’ isn't an answer.” V pointed out, crossing her arms, her attitude was normal grating on Uzi's nerves, but with everything else she had to stress about, it was genuinely beginning to piss her off.

“It's the only one you're getting. Now if you're finished doing everything in your power to make my day harder. I need to look over these pictures.” Uzi turned away, from the door, a sure way to tell V to fuck off, but unfortunately that did not happen.

“You're carrying, N can't be here all the time. It's… It's my responsibility to fill in when he's not here.” Uzi tensed up at V's words, hitting her like a sack of bricks.

“Your responsibility?” Uzi parroted back at her, whipping around to glare into V's visor. “Why is it your responsibility?”

V, for once, looked genuinely nervous about what she was about to say, her tail pressed flat against the floor.

“I don't-” She growled at herself, as if she was fighting her own programing. “It just is! I don't know how to explain it!” She finished, exasperated and throwing her clawed hands forward, showing more emotion then Uzi had ever seen.

“It's unbearable!” Her tail suddenly sprang up, kinking in several places before it went back into its default position. “I don't wanna be here either, but it's so much worse when I'm not!” She yelped, like a dam that had just cracked.

Uzi stepped back, alarmed at the sudden outburst. V began to pace back and forth.

“I-I think the worst part is that I don't entirely hate it! I want to! But you're not actually terrible, you're stubborn as hell and get on my nerves-” V grunted, whatever was making her agitated seemed to suddenly deflate, making her stop her pacing and rest her head within the palm of her clawed hand.

“Ugh. Freaking- God Dammit. I don't actually hate your guts, and I do actually care if you live or die. Happy?” V finished, a small golden blush displaying on her visor, crossing her arms.

Uzi took a moment to process, before snickering into her hand, making V blush harder and growl irritability.

“Do not.” V warned, but now her threats were empty, they always were, but now there was no pretending otherwise.

“Aww. V, that's like, the nicest thing you've ever said to me.” Uzi smirked, watching at V's tail thrashed like whip, displaying her discomfort.

“I don't know what you're talking about.” V replied, breifly looking away before her eyes came to glance at Uzi from the corner of her visor, Uzi was smiling.

And so was V.

-*-

“Alright. Alright. Settle Down!” Khan was standing up a stage set up in the WDF training course. The aforementioned equipment haven been deconstructed and put away, the rows of seating in it's ‘stadium-esque’ design being perfect for holding a bunker wide meeting.

Speaking of bunker-wide, every drone that made their home within the bunker was scattered throughout the seats, a rainbow of different eyelight colors staring back at him, even so seeing everyone in front of him made what he already knew more obvious.

There weren't a lot of them left…

The soft murmur of voices quieted, and Khan cleared his throat, looking back behind him to the other two drones with him. Uzi, sitting with her legs crossed and arms crossed, refusing to look ahead at their audience. And N, who was standing at stiff attention at her side, for once, Tera was not with them. Instead, V was looking after her, offering almost immediately.

He turned back to his audience, taking a deep breath.

“Thank you all for coming. I know everyone is curious on why I called this emergency meeting. So I won't waste time.”

He nodded to N, who nodded back and lifted his hand. A large yellow hologram of Copper-9 appeared above them, enough for everyone to see, it drew so much power from N's systems his eyelights and headband dimmed and he winced.

“This is our home, we've worked, fought, and made lives here for over a hundred years, not always independent, but always here.” Khan’s voice wavered.

“Right now, however, this is what our home looks like.”

With some effort on his part, N's hologram changed, one hole opening up, then another, and two more, until the surface of the planet was reminiscent of Swiss cheese, pockmarked full of holes. Images provided by V's scouting trip.

And out of each one, tentacles reached up out of them, pulsing and wiggling wildly, the audience gave a collective wince, several people gasped. And a few straight up burst into tears.

“After through study, it has been determined that twenty percent of the planet has already been consumed, the rest will follow within six months… give or take.” He continued, the waver in his voice was obvious now, but he powered through. N changed the hologram again, letting a fleshy substance cover the frozen surface of Copper-9.

“My daughter has come up with a plan; one that I will let her explain.” He suddenly turned to Uzi, N's hologram fading out and his glow returning to near normal, though an exhausted look flickered across his face.

Uzi took a deep breath, replacing her father's place on stage, feeling the mic attached to her shirt, heavy as lead.

“I know I don't have the best reputation.” She started, her voice croaking slightly. She balled up one of her hands, all the eyes boring into her as she felt her core speed up. “You all know me as Khan’s outcast, rebellious daughter, the one that brought the murder drones into the bunker.”

And so, so much more

She thought internally.

“But believe me when I tell you I want every single person here to make it out of this situation alive.” She nodded at N, who gave her a small smile before, with another wince, brought up another large hologram.

This one was of a shuttle, large enough to fit the entire bunker, though still very much only a concept.

“The cause of the infection is currently unknown, but the flesh that's spreading across the surface is deadly, contact with it causes rapid assimilation, and a loss of all bodily autonomy.” She paused for a moment, realizing she was speaking as if she was reading out of textbook.

“Zombification, in layman's terms.” She clarified, the audience was dead silent, but with another steadying breath and an even tighter grip on her own palm, she continued. “Our best option is complete planetary evacuation.”

There was a murmur through the crowd, one that Uzi was expecting.

“I hear you. This is our home, we've always lived here. And that kind of change is scary.” She was happy she had pre-written this speech with the help of her dad, otherwise, she would have definitely flubbed something up by now.

She had to give credit where credit was due, Khan knew how to write a speech.

“But leaving is a chance at survival, more then that, it's our chance to truly divorce ourselves from our past as nothing but tools for our creators.” At that she could hear several affirmative mumbles, she thought that might have been a good addition, there were many old drones that still remembered being slaves.

“From today, my plan is to build an escape shuttle, reverse engineering the landing pods already here to head to somewhere where we can start again.” N's hologram showed an image of a landing pod, before switching to a new planet, one covered in greenery instead of ice.

“Without all of us working together, this won't work, so I'm asking each and every one of you to pull together for this. Not for me, but for your family, your neighbors, your friends. And help make this a reality.”

She finished, finally, feeling satisfied with what she had said.

“Those in favor. Head down to the right of the stadium. Those opposed, to the left.”

Despite at this point needing to sleep for several sunlit days, N gave a last hologram, two arrows pointing left and right.

Uzi took the opportunity to check up on him, walking back towards him with a concerned frown.

“You okay? I know you haven't been sleeping well, and that took a lot of energy.” With everyone gathering below the stage, Uzi felt safe enough to place a hand on his chest. He gave a small smile.

“I'm good.” His hand came up into a thumbs up even as Uzi could see the ‘low charge’ symbol blinking at the corner of his visor. “You passed out this morning, I should be asking you.”

His hand came to rest on her baby bump, giving her a very tired grin as the hologram flickered slightly. “Baby has you exhausted too, I'm really proud of you for making this speech.”

She blushed, taking another glance around to insure no one was watching them.

“Let's just hope it was worth it..” Uzi blinked, did… did she just say that twice? Because it was either that or… the mic was still on.

She gasped, looking down at the mic attached to her, still blinking green, showing that it was indeed on. She looked back up at N, who looked equally as shocked. And she quickly turned it off, looking back at her dad, who had apparently been trying to get her attention this entire time, and now was just smiling sheepishly.

The stadium was dead silent.

Like a character in a horror movie, she slowly went to check on the rest of the stadium, the seats now all empty. She peered over the side and-

Not a single person was present on the left, every single drone voting in favor of Uzi's plan, when she was noticed back within view, she got cheers, she could hear congratulations mixed in with the “you go girl”s and straight cheers.

She began to tear up a moment of relief hitting her before the mortification she just announced her pregnancy in front of the entire bunker caught up.

She looked back at N, his hologram now gone, while he shrugged his shoulders with a smile, although a look on his face that was asking ‘are you alright’

No was the answer.

But even still, the plan was set in motion.

Next ->

[penguinmerchant]

"Pet" Binding (with a twist)

This binding is a little different than what I've done so far! This is "Pet" by C.S.Pacat, but with notes from @lucky-clover-gazette. The notes on this read along were SO funny and I knew I wanted to feature them in a bound work, but they wouldn't really make sense without the context of the original work. And so I mushed both the original work and the notes together!

So the idea here was to make it look like a composition notebook, complete with stickers on the front and (as we'll soon see...) drawings and scrawled notes on the inside. "Sam Reads CaPri" is the tag that Lucky Clover uses for her read along notes, and so I used it here just to make it clear this wasn't just the canon work. I used black and silver marbled paper to complete the look of the composition notebook, and more direct-to-film transfers for the "stickers" on the cover. I think it turned out fantastically!

More pics and a LOT of notes under the cut.

So I thought this was a really interesting project because I wanted to use the original work but add to it. I...acquired a PDF of Pet (let me have this one, I bought 2 official english copies of the short stories AND a Polish one I can't even read!) and messed with the margins a bit to make more room for Lucky Clover's notes. Here's what it looks like inside.

This whole thing was done in Libre Office, by the way. I'm sure there's a better program out there that would have done this WAY easier but I didn't want to have to learn how to use Adobe (or pay for it, honestly). But so the little notes are added with textboxes and placed next to their respective quotes, and the quotes themselves are highlighted with highlighters used for bibles, which is apparently a whole subset of office supplies I never knew about! I needed those highlighters specifically because I wanted to have archival color (no idea if regular highlighters are, these are just the only things that came up from a quick search) AND they're really good because they are made not to bleed through really thin bible paper. So on regular paper you can barely see them through the other side at all. They're great! Thanks bible highlighters, I know you thought you would be used for more holy purposes but really there's no better writer than Pacat, so you're in good hands!

So the other problem was that some of the notes were too long to shove into the margins, even after I had made them bigger than normal. That meant post-it notes! Now these aren't actual post-it notes, obviously (I can't imagine how terrible it would be to line those up in the printer) but I used colored printer paper and cut them to size, and it worked out. I used a bit of glue to get them down, and made it so that all of them fold away from the text so that everything is still readable. And then I made some of them poke out the top and sides, because I liked the way it looked.

There are little doodles throughout, some of which I colored in with a highlighter, and I the first word in each section is in a scribbly font, which I thought was funny. All of the notes are likewise in a handwritten font (Amanda Rose) and slightly rotated so that they're not in line with the text.

I also did not trim any of the sides of this textblock, so it's kind of uneven (deckled edges are common on the long side of the textblock, not so much on the top and bottom) but I kind of needed all the space. No endbands in this one either, I wanted to keep it more notebooky and the uneven pages meant it would have been impossible to do anyway. Everything else was bound normally, so aside from the two thousand years it took me to typeset this it was a pretty easy bind.

Oh, and last but not least, the endpapers:

Plain brown butcher paper, in honor of Berenger.

[blinkees]

Hello! I just want to say your blinkie style is a huge inspiration for me! I love how everything looks, and its making me consider using aseprite instead of clip studio :D Do you have any tutorials, beginners guides, or other advice you can give to someone who's specifically wanting to make blinkies in the program? Thank you for all your cool art <3 - @m0dem0n (its a side blog so i cant ask from it OTL, pls @ me when you reply!)

THAT'S SO AWESOME, I'm so happy to have inspired you, @m0dem0n !! :'D

I've got a very quick and rough guide linked in my pinned post, but it's really basic and doesn't touch on any sort of 'advanced' techniques, so I'll go a bit more in-depth below the cut. I'll also include a 'speedpaint' of how I make my blinkies!

Before we get started, just a quick disclaimer: I am not really a professional! I love pixel art, but I really am just a hobbyist. Everything I've learned about Aseprite has been through trial and error. That said,

I've put enough hours into it to have picked up a few tricks, LMAO.

The pacing in this video is... bad. You'll need to pause to read all the text, sorry ;o; I'm not really familiar with making videos, but I did my best. (there is no audio, jsyk!)

A few things I didn't mention in the video:

If you plan on drawing any sort of pixel art graphics for your blinkie, CHECK THE "pixel perfect" BOX AT THE TOP!!! it's a magical option that helps you avoid 'doubled up' lines. example:

If you want several color versions of your blinkie (like how I tend to upload 2-3 versions of the same blinkie in pink, blue, green, etc), select every layer you'd like to change the color of (usually it's background, border, and text, but usually NOT the image), then use ctrl+u to open the hue menu. shift the hue here (it's the slider labeled "H"), and once you confirm, all of your selected layers will shift colors! Note that the preview may only show a single layer updating colors, but when you confirm, all selected layers will update.

You can use the alpha slider under the color wheel to select a fully transparent color. Combine this with the gradient tool for cool effects, but remember that you cannot have a *partially transparent* pixel on a *fully transparent* background and still save it as a gif. So if you have a partially transparent red on a solid black background, it'll work! But a partially transparent red on a fully transparent background will not.

When you save your blinkie, make sure you use the "save as" feature, not the "export" one.

I HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend you save every single blinkie as BOTH a .ase and a .gif. A gif will not save layers!! So if you want to edit your blinkie later, the .ase file will save your layers and make your life so much easier. Learn from my mistakes. ;O;

Aaaaand here's the speedpaint! This is what my process of making a blinkie looks like in real time, starting with my little flashing border template.

i had to shrink that speedpaint gif down so much to get it small enough for tumblr to accept that you can't really tell what's happening in it anymore LMAO, but it IS still real speed at least! also the weird distortion on the color picker is what happens if you have a non-dithered gradient with too wide a range. it clumps different values together to reduce colors and makes it look bad. that's why i recommend using dithering, or using a *very slight* gradient!

I know that was a lot of text but hopefully some of it is useful! o/ i'm gonna go lay down now LOL

[perfectlysanexd]

How do you do your Final Fantasy edits?

The hard way, my friend. No AI is used here, I do it all by hand. 🥰 I assume you mean the screenshot manipulations I create? I'll try and give a simple summary... First, I boot up Remake on PC and use a "free camera" mod(you can find the links to the mods I use on my archive pages for manipulations, which is on my pinned post) to take a couple screenshots that I think will work well together. Sometimes I change my mind and choose a different one. It can be hard to match the camera angles and lighting, so sometimes I have to mess with that later, as well. But it's easier if they fit together from the beginning. We'll take my current WIP as an example. I started with these two screenshots:

I open them in the free program GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program), which anyone can download at gimp.org. Then the first thing I do is choose the base image. In this case, they're both facing the same way, so I choose to flip Sephiroth(you can't really do that with Cloud easily because of his earring, and his hair is less symmetrical). Since the camera was closer up on Cloud, and he's the smaller one, I usually choose Sephiroth's to be the base image. With that decided, I roughly cut Cloud from his background and paste him onto Sephiroth's image as a new layer. Then I position him, resize him, rotate him, whatever I need to do until he seems to be in the desired place, which ends up looking like this: (I ended up adding snow for this preview, so it would look more complete than it is when I showed it to my server, haha)

If you look at Cloud, you can still see a thick outline of his old background around his head. Once he's positioned properly, it's time to remove the rest of his background(I use a size 10 eraser with 100% hardness and zoom in about 5 times). Then I need to think about where they're connected, and how to make them look like they're touching, as well as layering to make them seem intertwined, as if they're truly occupying the same space together.

I cut away some of Cloud's shirt, and the rest of that effect will come with shading later. If I wanted Cloud even closer, I would make a duplicate of Sephiroth and erase his background, so that his lock of hair would appear to go over Cloud's face. I could also make it semi-transparent, so you could see the outline of Cloud's face through his hair. You can see I have some small game defects to fix, such as Cloud's hair clipping through his ear. I leave those tiny details for later, typically. Sometimes, because of their height differences, I have to "rebuild" missing parts of them from scratch, such as I did for this other manipulation:

It's a delicate process that's mostly the clone tool(to keep the textures) and some freehand drawing, but I don't have an art tablet, so I use my mouse for everything, which can be quite challenging. I've had a lot of practice from translating doujinshi, where I'd erase the words, rebuild the missing part of the image, and then place the translated words over that spot.

In any case, I decided I wanted more out of this manipulation than just leaning against each other. I wanted Cloud to be reaching up towards Sephiroth, and perhaps for Sephiroth to be pulling him closer. To do that, I needed pictures of their hands/arms like so:

I've taken hundreds of shots, so I looked through what I had first, but it wasn't the right angle, or was the wrong outfit for Cloud, so...then you open up those images and cut out the parts you want. After that, you work on positioning and things like that again. I haven't finished with that part yet, so it looks a little awkward. (And when you're doing these kinds of things, color matching is very important, but that's a bit advanced.)

I'm not fully satisfied yet, so I'll probably remove the rest of the background from the arms and then mess with the placement. As for Sephiroth's hand, I intend to thread it in Cloud's hair, so Cloud will need to be duplicated in order to create that layering effect, as mentioned previously. Which should end up looking similar to this one:

(I had to draw in most of Cloud's hand because I didn't have the camera mod back then, and the Sephiroth shot was provided to me by Coeurlwhiskers.) After that, it's a matter of shadows and highlights, remaining details, and finishing up the colors, etc. It's a long and difficult process, and can take many hours to complete, depending on how ambitious I get with it. Most of that stuff would be a much longer tutorial, and I did used to do some actual artwork a long time ago, so I...kind of know what I'm doing?? I probably do a lot of stuff the hard way(like not using layer masks) because I just don't have the time to teach myself more than the basics. 😅I know it may seem daunting, but it's really fun! I hope I managed to answer your question properly. Feel free to ask follow ups~

[bara-izu]

Do you have any advice on how to get over lack of skill? I want to do the Astarion Lestate trend but I don't think my skills are ready for it. I have references pictures of Astarion pulled up when I'm working, and even have the game launched so I can turn him if I need to (mostly for the attempts I did at his hair) but everytime I tweaked something or started over nothing looked right. I keep getting frustrated 😭

Hi anon- Sorry this took me a while to get to, i hope you and others can still find this useful! While the basic advise to get over 'lack of skill' is PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE! i hope this will help you knowig where to get started with that!

I'm going to put my teacher pants back on, this might be a bit long so buckle up- I'll go over a few areas:

Primitive Shapes

How to Use References

Delete your work (hear me out)

--------------------------------------

Primitive Shapes:

This is your foundation. Everything starts with this, and while you may find it boring to think of your art in terms of cubes and spheres- i kid you not it will help elevate your work.

If/when you are stuggling to draw a complicated pose, or a specific perspective, refering back to the form in these basic shapes can really help to simplify your process and help you problem solve.

A chill/silly watch for a more in depth discussion on what i mean / how this can help - Give Pikat's 'Draw boxes (correctly) to improve your art' a watch. They also mention this in the video but @/Uncomfortable on youtube also has some great fundermental videos.

-------------------------------------

How to use references.

Okay so references are great 10/10 very useful. But, unless you know WHAT to study from a reference, they can sometimes fall flat of their usefullness.

Anatomy studies are something a lot of us will be recommended as artists, but actually knowing what to pay attention to can boost your confidence in your work. Start with a goal, what do you want to get out of this sketch session? Do you want to get better at understanding the 3D form of a specific part of anatomy? Better at poses? Try to narrow down your learning each session to make it less overwhelming.

In this i'll focus on understanding the form so, lets start with a reference. Linking back to Primitives again, start off by braking down your anatomy into forms. Sketching over the top of your references is totally fine. But make sure you are doing so critically, otherwise it may look like a flat/unnatural trace and you're not really learning from it. Via the first sketch you can see where the primitive shapes fall on the body - think of it like a ball-jointed-doll, hips, knees, shoulders ect are ball socketed whereas arms, legs ect can be made up of tubes. (See the first image, when sketching your tubes, sketch your contour lines too- this can help determind how clothing / hair will fall over the body, and can help you understand the 3D Form.)

A BIG IMPORTANT SIDE NOTE - When using photo references, do be very aware that they may be distorted due to the height of the camera, or camera focal length - (you can see in my sketch i had to edit the torso and head because the reference was a little top heavy)

A few artists/books for some extra reading / reference : - Andrew Loomis (OG for body proportions, books are a little outdated but fundermentals are still useful), - Tenten云画画 (his stylised anatomy breakdowns are very interesting to me) - Anatomy Essentials (I've had this book for years, it covers lots of areas, is a bit complex though, i myself should reread it again 😅

Also, if you can't find a reference for a specific pose, don't be afraid to use 3D programs! Anatomy 360, DesignDoll, Clip Studio, Magic Poser - all nifty options~

SO taking when we've learnt from the primitive forms, you can now try applying that to the Lestrat Picture. (which, granted is a complicated pose, as it also has forshortening and an odd top down perspetive of the bottom character- so don't panic if you don't get it the first time!)

-------------------------------------

Final points- Delete your art (hear me out)

What i mean by this is, sometimes reworking the same face over and over again can bog your down. It can make it very difficult to actually see whats wrong. So, get rid of it and start again. (hide the layer/use a different piece of paper, please don't actually bin it (yet))

Next, redraw it. Use what you've learned the first time, and redraw it from scratch. (in this case, that might be just specifically the head, or the hair, or the eyes ect - you don't have to bin the whole thing, but sometimes it can really help give you a new perspective)

Once you've done this, unhide your original, compare, this may help you understand what you were doing wrong the first time. Or if there are areas of one that you like- its an opportunity to combine them as you see fit! :)

On a side note for Astarion's Hair, the lovely @mistercrowbar actually posted a breakdown yesterday! (i use p much the same method so-)

I HOPE this was of some use- do feel free to ask any questions if you've got them! i'll try to answer in a more timely manner next time 😅

[hordraomin]

Krita tutorial the way I know it.

Basics: What is where.

Gimmicks.

Specific advice on specific tools.

Basics: What is where.

Upon opening the program this is what you're met with. First of all, must comment: The layout is HEAVILY editable so you can just drag menus anywhere you want, even leave them floating amidst the sheet you're drawing on.

You can create custom art templates, I have two o'mine here as both have my signature background color.

As well, you can edit the custom document settings, as in what size you want it, what resolution, even the initial content of the image. As well you can create from clipboard: Just copy some image from your browser and Krita will recognize it (useful for making meme edits lol).

Now, once you have your file, I will show you what is where.

Brushes:

Brushes are easy to edit and there are tons of free bundles to download online. I myself only got one bundle, Jackpack (bit hard to find now due to original source being lost, it is still available but bit tricky to come by).

There. Are. Tons.

Some of these are my custom brushes for calligraphy in neography, you might even guess which ones. You can edit existing brushes, make new ones from the ones you've edited without changing the original, and all sorts of stuff (more below in the third chapter).

There are numerous packages of brushes once you enter Krita, but only one/two are available when you first open it. To unlock them all, click here:

And make sure all bundles are dark gray in color (example of both dark and light below).

Now Tools Options: those will pop up depending on what tool you're using.

Symmetry: Fun stuff. You can drag the lines depending on how you need them and then center them back to the center of the screen if needed.

Gradients and Textures also have their tools options, you can play with those to get the feeling what they can do (more in third chapter).

The Filters tab is useful too. Blurring, motion blurring, color mapping, artistic filters and all that: Quite fun.

Gimmicks.

Krita allows you to customize your workspace freely. Floating menus, tabs, anything you want. It has quite many drivers at that-

To access the workspace templates, go to Window and choose Workspace.

Krita allows for copy-pasting any image onto the sheet. Though, for me it sometimes crashes if I accidentally copy-paste text into it without choosing the Text tool first.

The software allows for both raster and vector work. It is basically Photoshop sharpened to be used by artists primarily.

There are some interesting mechanics regarding the Eraser (default bind E).

You can use it with any brush, allowing for textured erasure/quick work. Good for sketching.

You can use it on gradients (given there's a transparent point on the gradient preset).

There's a Multibrush tool:

People say Krita is good for animation but my brain can't wrap around it yet honestly @~@.

The keybinds:

B - Brush tool.

E - Erase tool option.

M - Mirror (useful for checking accuracy from a new angle).

Ctrl - Color pick (when used with brush or other color-using tools).

Shift+L.Mouse+drag - Changes the size of the brush by dragging left and right.

Ctrl+E - Merge layer with the one below.

Ctrl+G - Group selected layers.

Ctrl+A - Select whole sheet.

Ctrl+Shift+A - Deselect everything.

F - Bucket tool.

G - Gradient tool.

Ctrl+S - Save document.

Ctrl+Shift+S - Save As document.

Ctrl+N - New document.

Ctrl+O - Open document (will be seen in a new tab on top of the sheet).

Ctrl+C - Copy selected layer or selection.

Ctrl+X - Cut selected layer or selection.

Ctrl+V - Paste copied/cut layer or selection.

Q - Multibrush tool.

R.Mouse - Interesting thing: Opens up a quick selector for brushes and colors you've already used in the piece.

1 - Zoom 100%.

2 - Zoom to fit the piece vertically.

3 - Zoom to fit the piece horizontally.

4, 5, 6 - Turn 15 degrees (4 and 6) or undo the turning whatsoever (5).

Ctrl+I - Negative filter applied to layer.

Ctrl+U - Color editing on the layer.

Ctrl+Y - Soft proofing mode (for color mistakes and stuff like that, mostly annoying for me tbh).

Ctrl+T - Transform selection/layer.

Ctrl+R - Square select tool.

Ctrl+J - Lasso select tool.

Honestly you can just hover your mouse over tools and see their shortcut binds, as well. Or edit them in Settings.

Specific advice on specific tools.

Brush:

Brush editor is a great tool for making custom brushes, and it even has a sratchpad to test them out. Lots of settings, but no need to be afraid; Most of them you might never use on purpose.

Use Brush Smoothing for great and pretty lines in lining pieces or making calligraphy.

Gradient:

The four icons to the right top are:

Mirror gradient.

Arrange by lightness value.

Arrange by color value.

Space the stops evenly.

Click the gradient to add a new stop. The three things to the left are:

Make the stop use Primary Color.

Make the stop use Secondary Color.

Make the stop use a fixed color.

[koolades-world]

Obey me! but with the brothers having had always been demons, formed in kid/baby-form as manifestations of the seven deadly sins. Lucifer was raised as the right hand man of Diavolo, appointed the brother of Mammon, then Levi, then Asmo etc. etc.

A version where they are more depraved and dark than they otherwise would've been 'cause they were essentially raised in the outermost layer of hell (think VERY questionable morals, moves like uncanny valley characters, where Satan tears and rips beings apart in his fits of rage, they don't understand MC's sense of right and wrong). I wonder how Lucifer and his brother's dynamics would have been with each other, with Diavolo and Barbs growing up. Would Belphie still have hated Diavolo for his absolute authority? Would baby satan still have formed as a manifestation of Lucifer's wrath, again adding to his rage due to his circumstances?

Lilith based on mythology was described as the 'queen of demons'. If the story was somewhat compliant to that, imagine she fell into the Devildom after the whole 'fall-in-love-with-human shtick' and Diavolo fell in love/took pity on her, which the brothers didn't respect or understand at the time (why feel bad for someone who fell in love with a puny mortal?). The bitter parallels it would draw when they fall in love with MC years down the line.

Imagine that instead of just reincarnating her soul as a human, Dia REPLACED the soul of a human infant with hers (again, being very morally dubious). Maybe he saw it as an interesting experiment of sorts, to see if it would have any effect her human off-springs. He purposely kept an eye on her descendants (hence, mc being brought into the DD). Cunning, manipulative and conspiring Diavolo (Soo-won type character) omgomg

I want the brothers to legitimately handle otherworldly, gory demonic entities (think of that monster from nocturne of nightmares), sort political Devildom affairs, kill/mess around with humans instead of just sitting around attending the demon-equivalent of highschool! They're eons old for crying out loud, why subject yourself to 1000's of years of the Academy??? If anything, their attendance at RAD should be a refresher course that happens for 5 - 10 years once or twice every century or so.

AKA Obey Me! but more Devildom-centric, where the characters got to actually deliver their role in Diavolo's government, where Diavolo had ulterior motives making the exchange program (perhaps to instigate an uprising, an all-out war to overthrow the demon king?). Where the other characters are actually fleshed out instead of just meaningless plot-devices (Barbatos with his powers, Monsolo, Lilith, and etc. all had so much potential)!

Sorry I wrote a lot, this is just everything I hoped OM! would be.

NO OMG I think about this sometimes too!! like I know why they didn't do it but still can't help but wish for more

demons are often depicted as everything but sweet and kind, which is what we see in the game. dia would not be this golden retriever type character (although I love that) he's supposed to be the next king, so he would be much more devious as for lack of a better word. god i wish they explored barb so much more. like why are we brushing over him like he's part of the wall?? he's so powerful it's insane. I'm glad solomon is getting more of a spotlight in nightbringer but I hope they use it to its full extent. i also wish they explored the general worldbuilding more and made it feel more real, like there's stuff outside the relationships mc has with the named characters

i absolutely love the lilith queen of demons thing, like it makes sense as to why it was mc in specific. of course they would bring back someone that important to them over and over again

another thing that feels totally ignored is that it's hell!! most people there are there for a reason! while personally don't know where the line should be drawn for what counts as being a sinner or not, for a fact i know that mc would 100% be meeting murders down there, like actually terrible people.

you put this entire thing so wonderfully so i hope you don't mind if I incorporate aspects of this into my obey me as horror piece! like don't get me wrong I love my silly little demons but realistically they would be anything but silly lol

[olddivan]

hello i hope you are well! if it's ok to ask, how would you recommend working on art technique? i love your art and i think you have improved tremendously since you started posting. i was wondering what resources you use to work on your anatomy and shapes. thank you so much for drawing and i hope you know your art is lovely and you have been a huge inspiration!

I don't do anything special, I mostly take all the sources for inspiration from Pinterest and Artstation. I copy anatomy from some sketches in Artstation and from photos as well. I also used to I took a 3d model, put it right and copied it, ha ha.

In general, a little knowledge of Blender or Maya helps a lot in working with backgrounds perspective. You can also set the light as you need for references, he he. I think there are some other programs, but I have not studied them. I also gained some experience while working as an illustrator and a concept artist. I'm actually a 2d animator by education (not a very promising animator, I'm still ashamed of my graduate work), so I've been drawing almost all my life and got a lot of skills back in college. Thus I'm growing somehow, but I still don't think I'm doing it fast enough, taking into account how many opportunities I had initially. I wasted a lot of time because of severe depression. So I don't consider myself qualified to give any really good advice. But if my opinion is still important, then I advise you to just draw for your own pleasure for a start, ha ha. While I was working in gamedev, I watched various videos on YouTube, if I had any specific questions. Mostly when it was necessary to draw in a casual style. I can't recommend anyone specific, I don't remember where or when I took the information, unfortunately ((. And you need a lot of practice and sketches. Anatomy doesn't work out — make sketches. Don't know how to work with color — experiment on a simple art too, and then make one big art to understand how much progress you have made, and then work on the mistakes. I don't know what else to say, everything is quite trivial — practice and study. Well, it probably makes sense to study the basics of academic drawing, although I studied it, it didn't help)))))) and sometimes I take pictures of myself for references, which is also a good option.

Oh, and in order not to contradict one of the posts — I have rarely drawn for myself lately. And for the last year I have been working to the bone at a conveyor belt where I had to draw backgrounds, props, ugly characters and a bunch of nonsense very quickly in the most disgusting style for me, where you completely degrade. So here's another tip — think a hundred times if you want to work as an artist, so that you don't hate it later.

[mama-qwerty]

Robo Knuckles

Okay, a bit of discord writing. Something something, Knuckles is either turned into a robot, or his entire personality and everything that makes him who he is is downloaded into one. Think Metal Sonic, but in this case the bot kinda IS Knuckles. In a way.

I don't remember if we said this was by Eggman, but I don't think it was. Some other group of scientists or something. I dunno.

ANYWAY, this takes place years and years in the future, when Silver finds the long abandoned base where Robo-Knux is still living, his protective and guardian instincts still driving him.

This was started (as a number of these things usually are) by @nights-nonsensical-ramblings, and then I took it over because my brain went GIMME GIMME. I've noted the different places that Night contributed.

Night

As soon as Silver starts fixing up the old base the robot starts to assist. On closer inspection he can see that the robot has been trying to keep this place maintained, but it’s been a losing battle. The stubborn loyalty to his home reminds Silver of the original Knuckles, and he can’t help but feel deja vu from when he’s watched Knuckles work on Angel Island.

But that’s for another day. He still needs to help this poor abandoned robot and he promises he’ll return with more supplies to help fix the base tomorrow.

And for the first time in many many years a promise of fixing is kept.

Me

As they work together to get the place semi-functional again, the robot seems to be more eager to help. He's often standing at the front, waiting for Silver to come back. He doesn't speak, and Silver can't figure out if it's because his audio circuits are damaged, or if he simply can't.

Memories of Metal Sonic flicker through his mind, but Silver dismisses them quickly. This robot doesn't seem to have any ill intent. He actually does seem to be very much like the Knuckles he remembers.

Over time systems are brought back online. Lights flicker to life. Computers long dead blink awake. Silver isn't as good at technology as Tails was, but he can manage. He flicks through various programs, most of which are of no use or long since defunct. Until he finds the one pertaining to the robotic guardian.

Night

The robot stands beside him as he opens it, watching and observing him as he often does when there’s no task to be done. Silver found it creepy at first, but the robot’s gaze seemed oddly soft, like he was both curious and keeping a watchful eye over him.

Me

A lot of the files are corrupted. Silver can't tell the origin of the metal being next to him, but ultimately decides it didn't really matter. He was here now, what point was there to discovering how he'd come to be? The hedgehog decides to search for diagnostics and schematics instead, trying to make sure his new friend is functioning properly.

It's slow going. Silver isn't really technically inclined, and he needs the robot's help to decipher what a lot of the symbols and labels mean. Through trial and error they slowly begin repairing the metal guardian. Fixing some mobility glitches, patching a few frayed wires. They work for days on what appears to be a vocal speaker. Silver nearly fries the robot's ocular input sensors as he attempts to access the necessary components, and that scares the hedgehog so much he backs off, not wanting to do anything more.

Silver's retreated to the far end of the room, arms hugged around himself. What was he doing?? He wasn't Tails, he didn't know anything about machines, this robot trusted him and he'd nearly caused unfixable damage! He should go. Why was he here anyway? This place didn't exactly seem to be a threat, it wasn't useful to keeping the rest of the world safe. Why was he wasting so much time here? Just because this robot looked like someone he used to know?

Heavy footsteps behind him, drawing closer. He turned, and found the robot echidna mere feet from him. His singular functioning LED eye—the one Silver almost damaged—flickered softly as it locked with Silver's own.

"I don't know what I'm doing," Silver said, and he wasn't sure why he spoke aloud. He wasn't even sure if the robot could hear or understand him. "I don't want to hur—damage you any more than you already are."

The echidna-bot stared for a long moment, before reaching forward and taking gentle hold of Silver's wrist. The bot pulled Silver back to the computer terminal, gesturing to continue.

Silver hesitated. The robot stared, tilting its head toward the console. When the hedgehog still didn't move, the bot reached forward and turned him more square before the computer, and gave a little shove.

A little smile curled Silver's lips. It didn't just look like Knuckles. It seemed to have the same impatience, too.

"You sure?" His voice was soft, with a hint of shake. He really didn't want to mess anything else up. "I might make things worse."

The robot gave a curt nod, before pointing with its large metal mitt.

Silver heaved a sigh, before turning back toward the computer. "Okay. Let's do this."

Hours later. Through careful examination, meticulous comparing the picture on the monitor with the innards of the robot, and more than one near panic attack, Silver worked to repair the metal being.

They'd searched through drawers and cabinets, and managed to find a replacement LED for his . . . its right eye. It was bright green instead of violet, but it worked. The bot gave him a thumbs up when it flickered online.

The voice box was more intricate, and the two had argued over the design. Silver managed to remove what he thought was the speaker, but the robot kept gesturing toward the monitor, pointing at a different area.

"That's in your back, why would your voice box be there?"

The robot pointed almost angrily.

"I see it but that doesn't look like what we need!"

More pointing. A loud whirring sound emanated from its chest. It sounded almost like a growl.

"I don't think that's . . . ugh FINE. I'll check it out."

The bot nodded and turned to allow Silver access. The hedgehog was only doing this to show this stubborn bot that this wasn't . . .

Well, damn.

"You were right."

Silver pulled around the little device the robot had pointed to, and it did better match the schematics of the vocal emulator. The robot held its head up a little, and Silver could imagine Knuckles' smug little smile.

"Yeah, yeah. Finding it is one thing. Fixing it is something else."

It took a long time. Days. The wires were so fine, and the innards so delicate, Silver used his psychokinesis to maneuver around inside it, and even that was painstakingly slow.

But eventually it seemed back to functional order. He reinstalled it, triple checking that everything was connected properly before attaching the last wire. Once done, he stood back, brow furrowed in concern.

"Okay. Try to boot it up. Or whatever you call it."

The robot turned to face him, and its LED eyes flickered slightly as it accessed the repaired component. At first there was nothing, and Silver thought he may have either messed it up, or it had been damaged beyond repair. But then a loud, high-pitched whine split the air, and he slapped his hands over his ears.

The whine cut off, replaced with static. The robot beat its chest with a fist.

"zzzz . . . st-- . . . --pid thi-- . . ."

Another solid pound, and something clicked inside it.

". . . did it work?"

Silver's eyes went wide. His hands dropped to his sides and he stared at the robot.

It didn't just look like Knuckles. It didn't just act like Knuckles.

It sounded like Knuckles, too.