#I think it’s a default procreate one? but will have to check

[roe-oo]

ethogirl?

[sanctus-ingenium]

Just wanted to ask, please forgive me if you've already answred this, what program do you use? Your art fucks HARD and like. I was looking at your art of the two moths over the city they die in and I was hit with the wave of "oh that looks really fucking fun actually." Like i know my art program can't do some of those effects and like, I'd love to try fucking about with them.

hi there, thank you! all my art is done in procreate and paint tool sai

because you mentioned that drawing in particular i thought it would be fun to break it down and show ppl what exactly went into each part of it so check this out

sketch & lineart - the brushes come from georgbrush.club and the urban sketcher is my most commonly used lineart brush, it has a nice irregular shape. the square brush is nice for big blocky sketches.

the cityscape was REALLY hard but basically I got a photo of the skyline of florence, traced some basic building shapes, then bullshitted the rest using the vertical symmetry/mirror tool to cut down on the amount of work (so i only had to sketch one half of the city). then for lineart I turned off vertical symmetry, turned on the two-point perspective tool, and got this:

the rose windows were made using the radial symmetry tool.

I didn't like it being so flat, so I used the liquify tool to make a kind of fish-eye effect (limited success tbh). I liked how it looked but the buildings in front needed something to cover them up to make the liquification less obvious...

first pass colours. I felt they were very washed out, aside from the sun which i loved. I use the spectra brush (default procreate) for skyscapes a lot, I love the texture. Although the clouds were filled in using the lasso selection tool, I softened the edges using the square pencil again and added texture using true grit sampler grainy brushes. The translucency effect comes from my setting the brush as an eraser. The sun rays come from the radial symmetry tool.

Blocking in the moths' colours was done with the urban sketcher again.

Something people may not have noticed is the labyrinth hidden in the sky! yeah I had a bunch of versions where it was more obvious but I found that it clashed a bit and was too busy, so I made it subtle. But yes. I searched for "royalty free labyrinth" and picked one.

The toner grit brush is one you've seen before if you've looked at any art on tumblr lately (this is such a popular brush) and it's from the true grit fast grit set. The pointillism brush is from the true grit free sampler pack, like my grain brushes.

I added shadows to the moths, increased saturation overall, and changed the clouds to a translucent blue (you can even see in the sun where I forgot to block in the sun itself because the clouds over it used to be opaque lol). Moon rays were drawn using the radial symmetry tool but this time with rotational symmetry off. I also moved the moon down closer to the moths because I felt that it was a bit far away, and this served to visually divide the drawing into three equal parts, so I chose to lean into that and divide the sky colours too, to show passing time, or an endless moment - morning, evening, night, etc.

And then the oroborous, I tried a few different effects on it because I wanted it to be very clearly separate from the main scene - I settled on a dot matrix newsprint texture, using procreate's onboard tool, and some heavy chromatic aberration. This is because the oroborous isn't real, it's purely symbolic and the moths' demise started when they became photographers so I liked the print media aspect there as well. The story itself is about grief without closure, cyclical violence, and sunk cost fallacy, while everyone explores an endless labyrinth, so an oroborous fits I think

what makes art fun to me is thinking up ways I can tell a story using just a single image. and sure a lot of it will be lost to an audience who isn't familiar with the characters or backstory but i want to leave enough in there that even complete strangers to my work will be able to construct a narrative about what's happening here, rather than it just being a cool image. that's my goal.

Finally I exported it to sai on my pc to give it a once-over. this is really important because the retina display on an ipad is oversaturated on purpose, to make everything look amazing and vibrant. but what this means is that on other screens, your work might look washed out. it's especially bad at displaying yellows! so i look at it in sai on my pc and i make minor adjustments, in this case I actually added another multiply layer on the moths and an overlay on their non-shadowed parts to increase the contrast there.

finally if you've read this far, I played a little trick with the caption of the drawing. yeah, THEY die... but only one of those moths is a theythem pronoun haver... the other has to survive. he isn't given a choice in the matter.

[aryomengrande]

don't you need them like they need you now? want an art just like this with your f/o? then just meet me at the apt for this event! this is open to anyone aged 18 and above. read the rules below before joining ദ്ദി ( ᵔ ᗜ ᵔ )

you don't have to be following me to join. but you have to be off anon though. mutuals will be prioritized. only one (1) entry per person.

open to all fandoms! my strongest suits are jujutsu kaisen, tokyo revengers, one piece, and naruto.

the pink thunder background is the default background.

⚡︎ one, when you send your ask, please attach a photo of your f/o, preferably face front. tell me if u want the photo as is or if you want anything changed. please tell me what expression they'll be wearing, whether you want to add accessories or if you want me to copy bruno mars's fit with the ballcap backwards and the sunglasses (like i did with baji). the more specific you are with the details, the better!

⚡︎ two, attach a representation of your face—a picrew, a sim, or even a selfie. do tell me what type of facial expression you want as well. don't worry, i won't post the asks and will delete them right after! i usually use procreate's eyedropper to pick specific colors but if you think the lighting is off or the colors are inaccurate in your picrew/sim/selfie, you can send me hex codes of your skin color, hair color, eye color, and lip color. if there is anything else you want to add such as accessories, please let me know. again, the more specific you are with details, the better!

⚡︎ three, keep your asks/DMs open should i have any questions. if you have concerns, don't hesitate to drop by my ask box/DMs as well.

⚡︎ four, please be patient with me. i will do my best to grant everyone's wishes and just, enjoy doing this without pressure or anxiety lol. i thought of this event bc i finally finished my yearly to-draw list so i'm free besides my pending commissions. i also need to give back to this community that has been nothing but nice to me ♡

the inspiration for this theme was my upcoming birthday art for thee satoru gojo which was apt-inspired. i will start posting finished products on the days leading up to christmas and hopefully finish it all before christmas.

i will message you back to let you know whether you secured a slot or not. please check this post occassionally to know whether there are more slots available.

⚡︎ as of [ dec 9 ] : all slots are taken—submissions are closed.

⚡︎ check out the apt’s tenants right here ! #fromaryg: rfrg

rara's favorite random game | © aryomengrande 2023

[chamiryokuroi]

I just downloaded procreate on my iPad (finally) and I’m so excited to start using it. You’re like the Timbern master in digital art and I know the cliche saying of “practice makes perfect” but do you have any tips for using procreate for beginners (i.e. best canvas size for sketching, best pencils/pens, how to do line art)

I can give some tips for sure!

The bigger the canvas the better, but keep in mind depending the size is the number of available layers you will have for your art, so just look at the way you make your art and ask yourself “Am I a multiple layer fiend or an all in one layer monster?” I do use multiple layers so my default canvas is 4000px X 2500px this gives me 63 layers to work with, I could go higher if wanted but I know myself, I do love my layers

Always remember RGB for online posting art CMYK for printing, regardless of digital or printing always go for 300DPI for better quality.

If you plan on using the time lapse option in procreate make sure it is set to 4k resolution and Lossless quality so it is crisp and beautiful.

Talking about video once you have saved the video on your device delete it from procreate to save storage.

Brushes is up to you friend, I would suggest try first the default brushes in procreate, there are many great ones, I personally use the brush Dry Ink for sketching and lineart myself. But there are also many free brushes online you can download. Try them out and once you are more comfortable with the app you can look into the brushes you have to pay for to use.

If you are just starting with lineart I suggest checking the brush settings and make sure it has some Stabilization, it will help you at first, I do think you should also practice without it, so you are not too reliant on it, this is one of those “practice makes perfect” kind of things.

Hope this helps!

[slightly-warmer-hibiscus-tea]

What program and brushes do you normally use? I love the way you color and render everything. Your art is very eatable

First off THANK YOU VERY MUCH ʕ⁠´⁠•⁠ ⁠ᴥ⁠•̥⁠`⁠ʔ♥️!!

Since the beginning of last year I've been using Procreate mainly, but my real go to program is Clip Studio Paint!

I wish I had a more fancy process with custom brushes and stuff, but I mainly work with the default brushes when I'm in Procreate:

Technical Pencil (for whatever line work I start off with + smaller details in coloring + eraser)

Flat Brush (base colors + eraser)

Rectango (this is the chaotic brush used whenever and unsparingly.... I like the texture 👍 on drawings like this it is basically built only using this brush.)

And that's my main brushes for Procreate! Anything else I use depends on the situation.... Soft Brush is good to dust colors, Technical Pen is I actually am forced to do line art, ect ect...

For Clip Studios... I think I use a lot more brushes I've accumulated from the shop and I think one of them isn't even available anymore so I'll have to check ಥ⁠‿⁠ಥ (I've been on Clip there since I was like 13ish??? So it's been a long time)

It's a similar process as procreate, but I feel like I have more control over the details...

Colored pencil (default brush) (used for line work + sketching + coloring)

A marker (Aマーカー) (custom/shop) (used for blending)

커스텀 수채붓 2 (custom/shop) (coloring) unfortunately this grush was deleted by the creator which is terrifying because it is my favorite brush and I'd be ruined without itT^T

And those are the main brushes in Clip Studio!

Again thank you! the main "secret" to my rendering style is in the colors and with finding a messy enough brush (any brush you feel mimics the strokes of a real brush!) Also, don't be afraid to break your line art! In all honesty, I've gotten rid of the line art altogether when doing illustrations and just have a decent sketch, before adding and layering colors.

When it comes to colors, it's kinda a muscle memory thing you have to build up. My biggest advice, if you struggle with color picking, is to consume as much art as possible and observe how others you admire use colors and shading. That's what really helped me develop an eye for what works and what doesn't. Oh, and a fun little cheat is just fucking around with filters and opacity. This can yield some interesting results and get your brain moving when recognizing interesting color combos. And of course, always be willing to experiment with what you learn! Art is all about collecting new rules and breaking any that don't fit you :)

[grimmbitty]

Handmade DC intro title card for a Shazam film that I made up!!⚡️

This post is kinda interesting because I have not tried my hand at video editing in a while. I’m hoping to get one of my friends to help me install photoshop on my computer so I can remake this sequence with actual 3D assets. But for now? They’re hand drawn in procreate.

I thought I would share some behind the scenes of how I made this for anyone who might be interested in doing something similar! :D

[ Behind the Scenes Info Below ⬇️ ]

Okay so I decided to make this intro as kinda like a “ooh what if I made my own Shazam film? How would I do the opening DC title? I would want it to be like a dark and spooky night, then have the camera be panning down through the clouds. Then I could easily transition into the opening scene because that takes place during a dark and stormy night. OOoOoO.”

But first, in order to do that I had to make modifications to the DC logo. I didn’t want to use any premade 3D assets they had; I wanted to make my own. However, I don’t currently have photoshop, so I had to improvise and make a 2D logo kinda look 3D with some extra layers and shading tricks. I did this in procreate, but any art app will do really. Just keep your preferred perspective in mind.

Then after I was done with making sure my perspective was all good and in check I then proceeded to decorate the hell out of the logo with a bunch of clipping masks lol. I just slapped a bunch of different things on there. Some lense flares, some random brushes, some multiply layers, whatever. I didn’t really have a plan in mind when I did this I just kinda went with the vibes.

Then after that I made another file where I just worked on the little sparkle effect that I added in. For the sparkle effect I just picked like a default brush in procreate that looked pretty and then animated it to do a little slide across the letter “D”.

Next, I did some work on the backgrounds. I made sure to have really “tall” files so that way I could make them slide down in my video editor. This kinda gives that vibe that we are descending through the clouds, hopefully towards an establishing shot, for our opening scene, for our fake movie.

I made two parts for this. One animated background where I changed to opacity of the backlight for each frame to kinda give the illusion that lightning was peaking through the clouds. The second was just some clouds that I was gonna overlay on top of the DC logo, so it just felt more like everything was in the scene together.

I would provide video examples of this, but tumblr only allows me to upload one video per post. And if you’re wondering what brushes I used to this? I just googled “Procreate free cloud brushes” and downloaded the top result.

The ones I’m using are made by an artist named DI, and I got them off of gumroad. Info for their socials provided in the third image below.

And then once I had all of those assets together I just edited them all together in a program called HitFilm Express. I used to like it a lot since it’s free, and I used to use it to edit YouTube videos. That was back when I used to upload my Minecraft videos with my friends online lol. However, recently HitFilm has put a lot of features I used to use behind a paywall so :/. I’m probably going to look for alternatives sometime soon.

Normally I don’t mind being restricted in some sense for a free program, but they disabled the ability to fade clips in and out, and I think that’s a vital tool. It’s a shame to see it locked behind a paywall because I used it in pretty much all my projects.

And lastly the audio! I just found free to use clips of rain sounds, thunder claps, and then some ambient music. The track you can hear in this short clip is the intro to the song Redeye - Green House (1994). The artist is also known as Tobias Beldermann if any of you guys were curious where I got that from.

Buttttt yeah! That’s about all I have for showing you guys how I made my little 5 second clip. I’m not really one who’s qualified to make “tutorials” in any sense, because most of what I post online is just me dicking around and having fun, so I don’t want to be super serious. But, I also like showing my process just so if anyone out there is maybe interested in doing something similar, well then they have some ideas for where to start.

Anyways, if you guys want to read my first couple scenes for my Shazam story Shazam:City of Brotherly Love I’m going to link it here.

It’s still a work in progress, and if I end up doing any edits I’m just going to make them to the the post itself. Just because it’s not really worth it to me, posting almost identical chapters/scenes over, and over again lol.

Okiii byyeee!! I hope you enjoyed!! ~✨

[marronbunnie]

9, 23, 26, 30 :3

HI!!!!!! :3

9. What are your file name conventions

i usually draw on ipad so i don't even name them HSIDVHWOEFI whatever the default procreate and medibang names are ... on pc though it's usually the subject's name spelt incorrectly i.e. jyoosh, josh, jyushey, juice, etc...

23. Do you use different layer modes

YES DARKEN LAYERS MY BELOVED i use them soooooo much theyre so good for touchups for me in particular who tends to accidentally start with really desaturated colours and gradually darkens/saturates them as i work on it lol... otherwise i'm not huge on multiply or the other usual suspects just bc it doesn't work super well with my palettes, if i start from grayscale i'll usually use just use gradient maps and wing it from there but occasionally i will throw a hue layer over the top at the end of a piece if the colours don't look very harmonised

26. What's a piece that got a wildly different interpretation from what you intended

i don't really think i draw anything with enough story or symbolism for it to be interpreted in any way other than "wow! nice!" SDKJVN but i'm not a huge shipper so sometimes when i draw two charas for funsies and get ship tags i'm like huh... this reads as ship art? which i don't mind but it's just like an oh. i guess so! kind of moment

30. What piece of yours do you think is underrated

TBH... nothing in particular i think the social media netizens have been very kind to me over the past few years and a lot of the things i post get a lot of love so i'm very grateful ;w;...

if anyone wants to check something underrated out though they should take a peek at this CHUUOKU AU ZINE I PARTICIPATED IN which is really awesome and is only one order away from the first stretch goal!!!!!!!! I DREW JIRO AND JYUSHI TOGETHER FOR IT BTW!!!!!!!!

[zzazztrainer]

a comparison between the way my monitor is parsing the original display p3 color profile vs the artwork after i converted it to the default srgb in gimp

afaict tumblr automatically changes it in the same way as the first image (i saved the post as draft with the original file uploaded into it and went to that image url and saved it from there to look at it) which i decided to check in case it preserved the color profile cause if it did i think it would display in original colors for people with screens in that gamut, but it doesn't

this very much affirms my 'try not to think about the differences in monitor's color displays as a digital artist or your brain will Explode' but i hadn't thought much about the additional wrinkle of different color profiles and whether those change while uploaded

the one i converted specifically with gimp is much closer visually to the original one when looking at it on my ipad in procreate. i can see on the ipad that the whole image is even more vibrant, which makes sense when looking at a comparison graph of the color gamuts since the colors practically all live in the range of DCI P3 outside srgb. on my phone (galaxy s23 fe) the original file is pretty saturated but not as blue as it is on the ipad(?) but it bugs me that the automatic conversions hit the saturation so hard.

it looks like it sets the colors as though the ceiling of saturation is the same, even though DCI p3 can display much higher saturation over all, resulting in the saturation being tamped down

bugs me thinking about how much of this is just randomly happening without users knowing!! i mean i know why, because even having some knowledge about this before hand it still surprises me every time (deja-vu from the last few times i mucked around with cmyk color profiles for print LMAO) so you can just give up on trying to communicate these things to an average viewer, but still!!! damn!!!

.....although, i wonder if this is why my phone came set automatically to a 'vivid' display mode that boosted the absolute fuck out of the saturation of everything, to try and make it seem like a better screen when many of the things viewed on it are automatically crunched down to a lower saturation than the maximum the phone can display by the process of being uploaded. hmm.....

ahh, oh no, another wrinkle, in that of companies adding random switches with 'default' settings that are out of line from the thing that intuitively feels like the most default, which people might not know are not hardware differences and therefore not adjust to their actual preference, i gotta go before my brain explodes, i can feel it coming on, abort mission!!!

[krowspiracyanon]

Oh. OH. I think I've found the problem myself.

The images exported from Procreate Pocket say they're RGB in the metadata and that is apparently the default setting so why question it... but then I looked at the choice of canvases and I've often been choosing Untitled Canvas 2048 x 2048. And next to that?

It says P3.

And "DCI-P3 provides a more extensive color range, especially for professional and cinematic purposes."

And that may be why my colourful art washes out and dulls on being uploaded to Tumblr. My poor choice of canvas means professional grade colours being put onto a consumer quality monitor. I think?

So while I will need a minute to test this theory out... FRIENDS! When choosing a canvas size in Procreate Pocket, check next to the title and choose one that says RGB!

I will also need to work out which canvas size is best for working with Tumblr compression because that can become an issue too. It can apparently cause blurriness on uploading.

There are canvases of a similar size that are RGB so perhaps if that change works this is solved. But it doesn't make me a wizard. Just a dumbass. In my defense I had only seen this desaturation issue discussed showing completely different settings for different programs, and learned about this particular one today. Never touched digital before - I bought PP in August!

I wonder if I can change the canvas format on the art I've already done... probably not unless I copypasta to newly created canvases one by one, or import the lineart only and recolour. FUCK.

But then again it's best I at least found all this out now.

I still have quite a way to go on my art skills and will hopefully have got on top of all this before they improve and there's a piece I really don't want ruined.

[mayordea]

Welcome!

hi, you can call me mayor or dea or delia, formerly known as mayordoi. i'm an aroace artist who really likes kagamine rin and robin fire emblem. this account is where i post art i make :) while i wanna keep it focused on that, i will still answer any asks that come my way!

things of note

art tag -> #mayor doidles

my carrd (contains all my main important links in one place)

my "main" blog (which appears in notifs when i like a post or follow someone) is @mayordeas-clone. that account is where i just reblog things.

reposting my art is permitted as long as you fully credit me 🙏🏻 you can reblog and all that ofc

personal use is okay!! :D for things like pfps, just credit me somewhere

i currently have commissions open! option of three styles with three body crops each, with options for extra characters and complex backgrounds. they're on ko-fi and vgen, so check em out! general pricing info:

some more detailed things about me below the cut :]

what i draw

i draw a lot of fanart of whatever interests me! so please don't follow me if you only want to see fanart from one thing lol. all pieces considered fanart can be found in the #fanart tag.

the most consistent subjects i draw is vocaloid (mainly the mascot characters and how they appear in different songs) and fe awakening (mainly robin, of either gender).

i also have ocs that i might occasionally subject you to. you can read detailed info about them on my toyhouse (linked in my carrd). by the way, all art of my oc can be found in the #mayors ocs tag~

supplies and brushes!

in case you're curious about the things i use to make my art, here it is. i like making both traditional art and digital art depending on how i feel.

traditional supplies

paper - i almost always draw in sketchbooks. for full colored pieces, i'm fond of strathmore's visual journal sketchbooks (the ones i'm using atm are mixed media). for on-the-go sketches and doodles, i use a notebook with dotted paper, nothing fancy. sketching - i like using a red grading pencil (essentially a waxy colored pencil with an eraser) for sketching since markers and paint blend into it which means less erasing. i also use a regular mechanical pencil or gel pen for concept sketches or doodles. inking - there's a lot of inking tools i like! i like using staedtler pigment liners for simple lines and hatching, as well as tombow brush pens for quick line weight. markers - my primary coloring tool. while they're not perfect, i primarily use ohuhus; they're great if you're starting out since they're quite cheap! i also use a grab-bag of other marker brands like tombow or copics, but those are my mains. colored pencils - prismacolors, baybee!! i mainly use these for lineart and additional shading and texture. paint - also far from perfect, but i use the himi jelly gouache for paintings even though i'm kinda ass at it. i also used to use a very crusty windsor & newton watercolor kit. as for brushes, idk i inherited most of mine and they work fine.

digital stuff

program - i use procreate on an ipad to draw digitally. i know it's basic but it gets the job done for me default brushes i like - among the brushes that come with procreate, the ones i like are: HB pencil (sketching), 6B pencil (sketching), technical pen (inking), gel pen (inking), honeyeater (vintage), and campagnia (vintage). would like to make a detailed brush list eventually TwT brush packs i like - i download a lot of brushes, but these packs are ones i absolutely swear by. all are free! jingsketch basics is a must-get for anyone that likes digital painting. i use "soft chalk" to render. rusty rakes is a set of textured line brushes i love to use to add extra hatched textures to my paintings. mainly rely on rr dark. i also use a halftone brush to add texture to my art, but unfortunately i cannot find it or the author! will update when i do~

anyway

thank you for reading. this post might get updated in the future when i think of more stuff to add or change. i would add a new and improved meet the artist, but to be honest i don’t really have a “sona” anymore 😅 maybe yall don’t get to meet me…

bye bye!!

[eggdrawsthings]

Hi! I absolutely love your art! You’ve mentioned that you use CPS brushes for your drawings. But if you used procreate or photoshop, which ones would you use? This sounds dumb but I don’t know how to transfer CPS brushes into either of those programs 🙈 thank you! 💖

oh shit im so sorry for the late reply anon i somehow didnt see this.

Well u can import PS brushes to CSP, but unfortunately, u cant import CSP brushes to PS. I hope we can in the future tho cos i like the CSP brushes im using a lot.

When i was still using PS, I tried out a bunch of diff brushes but the only one that stuck w me for a long time was a brush my friend made and sent it to me. Other than that one, I use Shiyoon Kim's brushes, Kyle Webster's MegaPack (i think they r free if you have PS license), and Goro Fujita's brushes. I did take some of these brushes and tweaked the setting to my liking tho.

I rarely use Procreate cos I mostly work on my laptop. I used some of the brushes from MaxPacks's painter and essential pack sometimes. But now i just use a custom brush i made from the default pencil brush that came w the app lmao

U can check @digitalbrushes as well, they posted a lot of cool free brushes for PS and other programs ^^

I hope this helps!

[rantingoverbadfic]

Whatever could the matri- prefix stand for?

Oh, for fucks sake, learn the difference between maternal and paternal and between matriarchal vs patriarchal. I get that the patriarchal way of thinking is so ingrained in us, that it is difficult not to subconsciously default to first thoughts, but you are a writer and a being capable of critical, self-reflective thought, try to make use of it.

The protagonist’s maternal aunt produces genealogy texts detailing her maternal line. Bu what are the last names of the first couple, recorded in that text? Husband X and Wife X (nee Y). Which means that the wife took on his name. Of course, recording the line of mothers you descend from doesn’t mean that they had to keep their own name (or the singular mother’s full set of predecessors). But the name of the first couple is the maiden name of his aunt and his mother, who, incidentally, also both gave up their maiden name upon marriage. Which means that it was the name of the father that was passed down, with sons, along the paternal line, or it wouldn’t have stayed unchanged until it ended with his grandparents.

That means a bloodline, introduced through the wife in the first recorded couple in the genealogy text might have been the protagonist’s maternal line, but most definitively is his aunt’s paternal line. Moreover, genealogy of maternal line (meaning descendancy) implies that it actually ignores every descendant who is male and only follows on the procreation of female descendants, much like if you read historical texts about aristocratic families, the daughters are only mentioned as a sidenote, but much more emphasis goes to the sons to determine who inherits which title.

And whenever writers in other fandoms start expounding on the idea of “oh! let’s introduce the concept of this family being matriarchal to show how socially advanced we are!!!11!” and what we actually get is the same tired patriarchal bullshit. Either because the last actual matriarch the family has to show was at least three generations back, despite plenty of women being born after, or if not, against all logic, the family name isn’t considered extinct. Or because what they are actually writing is matrilineal family instead of a matriarchal one, but they suck at this just the same, because the male descendants miraculously get to keep their family name.

And to be completely honest, I have struggled with this, too, when I was writing my fic (which is still safely in my WIP folder because I suck at finishing projects) and I was constantly making up relatives of the wrong gender. But there is a reason why I put a big ol’ digital sticky note to check it thoroughly once the fic is finished. It can be done.

[gruviafan-forever]

DAY III:- PERVERSE

A/N: Here the word means 'sexually pervert'.

What a pleasant morning! If it didn't have a dazzling sun up high in the cloudless skies with tiny birds chirping around welcoming the day with warm greetings.

And the entry of that bright radiance of sunlight into the cold, dark room just through the way caused by a small gap between the window screens.

This sunlight falling right on the face of a certain devil slayer who belonged to one for the most well famed guild of Fiore, 'Fairy Tail' which caused him to stir from his peaceful slumber and groan in annoyance.

The next thing he does is try to pull the significant other of his life closer towards him by searching the adjacent side from where he slept then plant a kiss on her head and cuddle for sometime until his 1 year old son decides to intervene their small intimate moment by crying to seek his parents attention.

When he thought things were going by the default routine, sun rising, birds chirping, sunlight falling on his face, him groaning.

Everything was exactly the same but him trying to pull an empty space closer to him is different. That's when he decided to open his eyes which took a few seconds to adjust until blurry vision became clear.

Gray saw his bed was empty nor his beautiful, gorgeous fiancee was in their room. Even he didn't hear his son crying. In fact, the whole apartment was engulfed in silence.

" *yawns* what time is it?" He looked at the digital wall clock which showed 8 A.M. 

Now he felt strange as to where his fiancee and his son would go this early in the morning.

Gray decides to get up and get things sorted out before it drives him insane and also checks around the apartment before going out in search of them.

When he went to the living after wearing his boxer, he got answers for his questions.

There his fiancee was doing workout while their curious bubbly son simply sat silently watching his mama do something which was unique to his blue eyes.

Juvia only wore a sports bra and a 3/4th sweat pants which hugged her figure tightly making her look ravishing and irresistible. The tiny sweat drops on her body made her skin glow even brightly.

Gray felt his throat get dried and his boxer get tightened as she stretched her body from sideways to up and down.

He had to really appreciate her efforts in trying to shed those extra pounds which she gained due to pregnancy. For him, she always looked the same as Juvia with whom he fell in love and procreated their child together out of love.

It was just a few days back, he proposed to her after nearly two years delay. Gray had intended to do this after dating for a year but things got out of hand as she got pregnant before he could propose.

Gray wanted Juvia to know that he was in love with her and wanted to be with her for the rest of life and that's the reason for his proposal. But with the arrival of the baby, he didn't want her to get the idea that it's only because of the baby he was doing it.

Now that their son, Silver is a year old. He proposed to her and made sure she understood the purpose behind it. So, in the next three months, Fairy Tail would hear another wedding bells in the guild.

Gray simply stood there quietly and took in sight in front of him. The way sweat trickled down her face, the way she breathed, the way she increased the intensity of the workout, more importantly, the way her boobs and hips moved in respect to each exercise.

He simply looked like a pervert standing there ogling his own soon-to-be wife even though he had seen wholly of her in every possible sense.

That's when Silver saw his papa standing and called out to him, "Pa..pa…"

Juvia instantly stopped her workout and looked at her handsome man who gave her a sexy smirk and a wink which caused her to blush madly.

"Gray-sama, Juvia didn't hear you get up. Just wait let me just finish this last part." She said and continued doing the jumping jacks.

Gray went near the couch and lifted Silver in his arms and checked the diaper. Luckily, the boy was clean, good news for papa.

"Hello buddy, good morning. Watching your mama do workout huh!!" He kissed Silver's forehead while he sat on the couch.

Gray's eyes were now fixed on his beautiful lady, more importantly, her boobs which hadn't been seen bare for a week.

As soon as Juvia finished her exercise regime, she took the hand towel to wipe those beads of sweat from her face and body.

Now her whole body looks flushed and she heaved to catch the breath.

"Good morning, Gray-sama. Juvia didn't greet you." She said and leaned forward to give a peck on his lips and another one on her son's messy dark blue hairs on the top of his head.

Gray caught hold of her wrist and made her sit on his lap, "Good morning, what were you doing this early in the morning? For a moment, my heart stopped when I didn't see you by my side on the bed." He pouted while Juvia chuckled and planted another kiss on her fiance's cheeks.

"Sorry about that, ever since you proposed and said that in the next 3 months , we will get married. Juvia's trying to get back to her previous shape so that she can look beautiful and gorgeous for her Gray-sama on our special day."

Gray smiled and kissed her forehead, "You always know I will find you breath taking however you are because you look the same to me. Now, you look even more hot and sexy after working out." He winked and had his left arms around her waist and pinched it slightly.

Juvia squeaked and slightly smacked his hand away, "Stop it perverted Gray-sama. Don't do such things in front of our baby. We shouldn't traumatize his little mind." She had courtesy to blush and took her son in her arms.

"Silver-chan, tell your papa. He's bad boy." Just as if on cue, her baby smacked his papa on his chest and babbled some incoherent sounds as he was scolding him.

"See Gray-sama, Silver-chan's warning you." She smiled and kissed her baby's chubby while the little guy kept on calling his mama.

Gray rolled his eyes and looked at his son who now had his tiny fist in his small mouth and kept looking at his papa, "It's good to know you are protecting your mama. Good job, buddy." He patted his head and earned a happy squeal.

"Oh gosh! Looks like someone's really excited today. Come let's go feed you baby." Juvia got up to move and soon Gray did the same.

Juvia squinted her eyes, "And where do you think you are coming Gray-sama?"

Gray laughed sheepishly, "Silver's hungry right that's why, come let's go feed him."

"Juvia's now going to breastfeed her baby. After a few hours, you feed him those mashed bananas. Now go and get freshened up, dirty Gray-sama." She teased him.

"Hey at least, let me come and see how you are feeding him." Gray pouted and stomped his leg like a child.

"Juvia it's not fair. It's been a week since we made love. At least, let me look at my reward." He tried to reason with his fiancee.

"Oh no Gray-sama, Juvia doesn't want to turn pregnant again that's why she's been avoiding you. Believe her, even she misses her Gray-sama." She smiled.

"But if Gray-sama decides to be a good boy and help out Juvia today. She decided to reward you just the way you want." She winked and went inside Silver's room before Gray could enter the door was locked while the latter just groaned in annoyance.

"Man, she has me totally wrapped around her fingers. Okay Juvia, I agree to your conditions. I want to ravish you tonight or before that is also fine." He said loud enough for her to hear.

All he heard as a response was, "Oh perverted, Gray-sama" for which he chuckled and went to get freshened up as he was looking forward to this pleasant morning to turn into a wild, passionate night.

[nikhilgraphic]

I'm a Procreate Illustrator: Here Are the 7 Tools I Can't Live Without

It wouldn’t be an irony to mention that Procreate has changed my life. Before the times of the double-finger undo, with ink-stained hands i might frustrate discard sheet upon sheet of paper, feeling like i used to be wasting both precious paper and time, learn graphic designing the most essential for company just find the best institutions which have provided the best graphic designing course in Delhi service and join them get started.

Or I’d carefully lay out twenty wet-paint illustrations on the ground , hoping a gust of wind from the balcony wouldn’t flip them over and stain my floor.

Then there was the scanning. Oh, the scanning, which I loathed.

Enter the iPad into my life, and with it, the Procreate app. i used to be amazed at how quickly I could create my illustrations, with such realistic-looking brushes! And once I added the proper screen protector (more thereon later), the experience felt just like the real McCoy . the method was quick, clean, and portable! My workflow was such a lot more efficient, and projects took half the time. i used to be hooked.

After a couple of years of trial and error, I’m here to share with you my seven tried and trusted tools that I simply can’t live without.

1. The proper Pencils

If you’re anything like me, you start any project with a sketch. And though you'll easily sketch with, say, a Procreate ballpoint pen- wouldn’t you agree there’s something perfect a few scratchy 2B? While I’m hooked in to the 6B pencil that comes with the default Procreate app, I’ve purchased quite few pencil brush sets, and consistently add my favorites to a Procreate brush set I’ve fondly named “Shelly’s Toolbox”. What makes an honest pencil in my opinion, you ask? For a pencil brush to tick all of the boxes on behalf of me , it's to reply well to the Apple Pencil’s tilt, has got to have good smudge-ability (that’s a word, right?), and be just grainy enough. i do know it once I see it.

2. Paper-like Screen Protector

The first thing i like to recommend people buy once they treat themselves to an iPad, is that the PaperLike Screen Protector. It’s a matte screen protector with an ever-so-slight texture that does exactly what its name suggests: it perfectly mimics that slight resistance you get from drawing on real paper. So if you’ve been sliding around on your glass screen and can’t understand why you only can’t seem to regulate your linework such as you can in your sketchbook, this is often the merchandise for you. It’s on the pricier side with an almost $40 tag , but the pack includes two screen protectors. I’ve found them to be super durable and straightforward to wash . In short, I’m never going back.

3. Paper Textures

One of the most important compliments anyone can give me is to say that my digital illustrations don’t look digital. There’s nothing wrong with digital art that does appear as if it’s been created on a computer, except for my particular drawing style, i really like that I can sometimes trick people into thinking my work is all analog. My most up-to-date discovery, one which I find brings my drawings from good to great, is digital paper textures. i prefer them subtle, but the proper paper texture just makes a bit more tangible.

Check out my quick illustration above, shown with and without a digital texture. You can find these during a huge range of textures and colours (kraft paper, anyone?). you'll find that applying certain blending modes creates the simplest effect – Multiply blending mode works best on behalf of me . fiddle and see which is that the best fit your illustration style. the proper combination of blending modes and textures can make your art come to life. Find a set that most accurately fits your style, like this Magic Paper for Procreate or these Paper Texture Brushes.

4. Portable Battery

In a perfect world, my iPad would have endless battery life and that i could spend all day under a tree drawing away. Alas, that it not the case. Always faster than i would like it to, my battery drained when running Procreate and that i was left with no choice but to get a cute little portable charger. Just charge it fully, and toss it into your bag- you’ll thank me later.

5. Beautiful Art Brushes

I’ve mentioned pencil brushes, and people are wonderful for sketching. except for my work, I often wish to achieve a textured paint-and-colored pencil search for the ultimate colored versions. Procreate brushes are engineered in such how that they believe a source file (imagine the form that defines the comb ’s tip) and a grain file (imagine the feel upon which you’d apply the brush strokes). When a brush is made well, those two elements-along with another really important settings- can create pure magic on your screen.

6. Texture Brushes

So much depth are often added to illustrations by layering some stippling, hatching, and shading to your work. In the spirit of saving time, I’ve also rounded up a couple of wonderful texture brushes that do this work for you! fiddle with a bunch of various brushes and see which works best together with your illustration style.

7. Procreate Grids

As a children’s book illustrator, I often pair my illustrations with lettering, oftentimes within the sort of a book cover. i will be able to often scour Pinterest for hours trying to find fun and artistic text layouts to inspire me. With the assistance of a handy grid guide, you'll create balanced, eye-catching lettering. Just use the stamp brushes to plan your lettering, and voila! Beautiful lettering designs in seconds!

I used a Grid Builder to fiddle with lettering layouts for a book cover sketch. And there you've got it. I’ve shared my Procreate tools with you, and hope you’ll love them the maximum amount as I do. Please share a number of your Procreate must-haves with me below! Shelly Las lo may be a children’s book illustrator living in Israel. She is represented by Christmas pudding Illustration Agency. She has worked with some wonderful clients including Penguin Random House, Osborne Publishing UK, and bravado Magazine. you'll find more of her work here and here.

[shinondraws]

Do you have any tips, tricks, or brush set recommendations for ProCreate? I just got an iPad and oh my God the learning curve... I feel like my skills have downgraded ten years...

Oh boy, I don't think I have even scartched the surface of Procreate myself but I will try to give some tips! Unfortunately I can't say anything about the brushes because I only use defaults - haven't had the need to start making my own! 90% of what I do is done with the Nikko Rull brush and the rest is 6B pencil, soft airbrush and a nice mix of whatever to get some texture effects.

I think what I would recommend you to do is to get yourself well acquinted withe the interface. Spend a good while looking at the tools and options you have and learn where everything is. The interface is very simple and once you learn to use it effectively it can really help streamline your process.

Also I would highly recommend you to learn the shortcut commands (such as the two finger tap for undo, using your non-dominant hand to control the size and opacity sliders and the colour picker etc.)

The program is super intuitive and for me, as an artist who started off as traditional, the interface makes me feel like I can interact with the drawing as of it was a physical piece. I don't know if this is helpful or makes sense but one thing is for sure that Procreate isn't really like any other digital art program despite having all the most common functions.

The best thing you can do starting out is just dick around, see what the program offers you, test stuff, go crazy! There are a lot of helpful tutorials for the shortcuts, process etc available online so check out some of those too!

I heard you can actually stream your drawing process on Twitch so I might try that out some time if people are interested in seeing my process on Procreate!

[tamsythepansy]

VOY: “Workforce”, the transest Star Trek episode ever

So. There’s a two-part episode of Star Trek: Voyager (“Workforce”) in which the crew all find themselves living out new lives as vaguely Fordist industrial workers on a planet called Quarra, all memory of their real lives having been artificially suppressed.

Imagine my surprise when, rewatching it years later, the bogus diagnosis they’re given as their memories start to resurface is...

...which also happens to be exactly what my partners have been reminding me for the last two months (bless them). I giggled.

Lo and behold, it happens to Tuvok as well:

Now, I get that it was the turn of the millennium and this hadn’t really entered the lexicon yet, but... this is just the tip of the iceberg. Watch along with me and see how it all plays out:

Tuvok, of course, is the first to experience memories of his real life breaking through the facade, has a panic attack, and is hospitalized:

Well, if this isn’t relatable to multitudes of trans and non-binary Star Trek fans, I don’t know what is. ���🏻‍♀️

Of course, the ‘treatment’ for Dysphoria Syndrome involves suppressing the offending memory engrams, so the patient can peacefully return to being a cog in the cisheteronormative machine Quarran power distribution facility (read what you will into that). As the expert on Dysphoria Syndrome himself later puts it:

Sounds like an allegory for LGBTQ conversion therapy to me, I mean, what?

Anyway, Seven realizes that Tuvok might be on to something, and heads to the mental health clinic to get a gender assessment investigate:

Stepping into the realm of the purely serious for a moment, I *have* sort of read Seven’s character arc as a plausible trans allegory, and it’s pretty compelling: having her true identity suppressed at an early age, and finally being forced to confront it in adulthood; processing layers upon layers of trauma just to function as an individual; being rehabilitated by a circle of strong, compassionate women, each with their own identity issues (plus the medical wizardry, overeager cisheteronormative life coaching, and starry-eyed / vaguely inappropriate crushing of The Doctor, I guess, so yeah); struggling to reclaim her human (/feminine) sense of self even while the effects of her Borg (/patriarchal) upbringing have thoroughly warped her thoughts (even as they continue to give her superhuman resilience and insight). I’m sure there’s even a comparison to be drawn to transfeminine desirability politics — Seven is continually presented both as an extremely conventionally attractive human *and* as a mysterious cyborg whose embodiment and manner communicates an often-threatening sense of Otherness — but I’ll leave that for a future discourse. I’m honestly spitballing a bit with all of this, but to see it so explicitly referenced, intentionally or not, is quite something.

So, Seven asks the obvious question, and it turns out that, while being trans is undoubtedly a Real Thing, the specifics are... inconclusive:

Let’s take a moment to celebrate the fact that we’re finally starting to see gender doctors who actually understand us in all our nuance, because...

...we already know this is bad news. (Paging Dr. Harry Benjamin.)

Anyway, the compassionate gender doctor goes to the conversion therapy doctor to see what’s up, because clearly something over at the power plant is turning people trans:

One important takeaway from this story is “never walk away and leave your work computer unlocked”:

I get it, though! On a planet ostensibly without Tumblr or OKCupid, trans community is just really, really hard to find. 🤷🏻‍♀️

The compassionate gender doctor soon notices a pattern:

...mm hmm, it all started when a genderqueer person sneezed in the employee locker room, and somehow the conversion therapy doctor wound up with his hands full as everybody in the office came down with a bad case of The Trans.

Finally, the compassionate gender doctor is determined to be just a little bit too sympathetic to these gender deviants, and the now-canonically trans but still awesome at passing Seven of Nine comes to the rescue:

As if this weren’t trans enough...

...check out the subplot featuring Jaffen, a co-worker with whom Captain Janeway has an adorable but bittersweet whirlwind relationship. Though Jaffen presents as male and uses he/him pronouns, THIS TOTALLY HAPPENS, and its implications are never made clear:

Though this is set up as the punchline of a “your father” joke, Jaffen isn’t just fucking around here. Tuvok knows what’s up, and proceeds to Vulcan-splain the joke right back to him:

Which begs the question, how do Norvalians procreate, anyway? Are they clones, like the Vorta? Do they deposit their genetic material into pods, like the J’naii? Do they pick up ready-made offspring, like the Kobali? Whatever the intent is, it has serious implications for whatever kind of relationship he and Janeway would have (like, it’s not on the cisheteronormative trajectory of sex and babies, at the very least). So, bear with me for a moment, because this is my honest-to-goodness fan theory: 

(okay, I admit I just had that image lying around, and this seemed like as good a moment as any to use it.)

What if Norvalians reproduce parthenogenetically, leaving the entire need for a biological “father” out of the equation?

This could mean one of two things: as with terrestrial Komodo dragons (I think), parthenogenesis happens but binary sexual reproduction is still an option (which honestly doesn’t seem like the most likely explanation, given the way Jaffen and Tuvok both frame it), *or*, as with terrestrial whiptail lizards, parthenogenesis is the default, and male (i.e., sperm-producing) offspring are extremely rare and/or usually infertile.

So yeah, okay, they reproduce parthenogenetically, Jaffen is a rare male and is probably infertile, and therefore the Jaffen/Janeway relationship is more about companionship and cooperation than sex and babies. I’m fine with that, and I actually find it quite heartwarming.

But, with that in mind, do we need to assume that Jaffen is male, whatever that means for his species? After all, whiptail lizards engage in female/female courtship behaviour, which somehow makes them more fecund — and remember, it’s the Delta Quadrant; we’ve seen enough weird sex shit by Season 7 (cf. “Elogium”, “Favorite Son”, “The Disease”, “Ashes to Ashes”, off the top of my head) that we can reasonably conclude that all bets are off. 

My interpretation? Jaffen is an honest, gallant, leather-waistcoat-rocking, he/him pronoun-using, parthenogenetic Space Butch. Maybe I’ve spent too much time on Sapphic Star Trek Tumblr, or have finally disappeared up my own genderqueer ass, but I’m convinced it’s the simplest explanation that’s congruent with the facts.

[I just spent a bunch of time trying to find the “Captain Janeway is a closet lesbian, change my mind” meme, but no dice.]

Anyway, if you’ve made it this far, it’s time for me to deliver on the non-binary trans lesbian Star Trek shitposting that I’m usually all about. Having been closeted for a long time, I know a thing or two about relationships that seem straight on the surface but are actually hella queer under the hood, so to speak. Just look at these two u-hauling it on the third date (it’s adorable!):

This also seems really gay for some reason:

And, at the end of the day, he’s a good ally:

Watch the whole episode for the obligatory Sad Lesbian Ending.

The icing on this three-tiered Tholian gay wedding cake

...yup.

[Thanks to Em for subtly egging me on (ha) and Bry for putting up with me procrastinating all night. Love you both.]