#I’ve got issues rn and drawing them helps

[adorabledrugl0rd]

Did I make a turtlesona? Perhaps

[vacantgodling]

tl;dr i need help paying rent and health insurance this month. with the money from my recent paycheck, all i need is $263 (usd) to cover these expenses.

i hate to ask for money all the time but idk what else to do.

this month (august) was supposed to be great for getting my finances in order. i would be getting paid 3x, and i had a system that worked.

unfortunately things didn’t work out that way. this month has been the worst month this entire year:

the main issue is i caught covid (after 4 years of never having it once, i succumbed to people’s uselessness and having to go in person to work) and that kept me out of work for a week. the mini vacation was “nice” because my symptoms weren’t too bad, but the looming fear that i wouldn’t have enough for rent has now reared its head.

the week before, i already took 2 days off because my partner was informed their abusive father had been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and that sent them spiraling. he hasn’t kicked the bucket yet (ig cockroaches don’t die easily), but from what they said that week they thought he would pass by that sunday.

this past wednesday, the stress of their not so great extended family reaching out + grappling with this ended up with my partner having to go to the hospital for (tw) excessive vomiting—unable to keep water down and extremely dizzy. we were discharged that night thankfully once things calmed down and they are technically fine, just still resting and trying to slowly get back to eating normally. the drs weren’t able to determine what caused any of that to occur, but our current theory is just stress and not eating enough so stomach rebellion. i had to miss 4 hours of work to take them to the hospital so, my next paycheck is also gonna be short but not too terrible overall. i’m not really worried about it.

i don’t want to bore you all to death with all the details of all my other debts and struggles that i’m dealing with rn. i just want to illustrate how this week just fucked me over really badly. i’m currently the only one working between us bc my partner is disabled (and got denied disability for them last week so cool cool. love this country love it here).

and if it helps you feel more inclined to donate to me i’m black, queer, and transmasculine. marginalization bingo etc etc.

if you can’t spare anything i understand, i know we’re all broke and struggling and there’s other causes that are definitely more pressing. this isn’t a matter of life and death. just would really help to not have to get screwed over by this.

i offer commissions so if you wanna check my ko-fi -> https://ko-fi.com/vacantgodling/commissions

(just know there’s a small of a list rn, i haven’t been drawing as much as i need to for the commissions i do currently have and i’m sorry for that i’ve just been stressed out. thanks to everyone who’s ordered for their patience i’ll be getting to stuff as soon as i can)

but if you’d like to just donate to my paypal -> https://www.paypal.me/pinkpurgatory

if you don’t have anything to spare (which again, totally fine) please spread this around if you can i’d appreciate it.

thanks for reading and i hope you have a good day 💛

[raptorrobot]

hi! i hope you don’t mind receiving long asks because i tend to be a Long Ask Person. thankfully it is about my icarus brainrot so hopefully that should help lol

1) i’ve never really read oc x canon before but you’ve done an absolutely fantastic job getting me to appreciate it with violent sun. when i have more time i want to try and leave proper comments on it but for now please know that i’ve started Pondering icarus lately. he lives in my head now. help /j

2) i went through the daily icarus blog and made a bunch of concerningly high-pitched noises when i saw the minotaur…you draw it so cutely!! i just want to give the sad bull amalgamation a big hug ;w;

3) i really like your concept for husk daedalus…it makes me wonder what a ‘meet the parent�� situation would be like with him + icarus + gabriel! (probably better than the Other ‘meet the parent’ situation involving God LOL)

4) lastly…um…i’m a massive v1 enjoyer (and a robot lover in general) so i couldn’t help but wonder…is icarv1el a thing that could happen in some hypothetical slightly less doomed universe? i also think the thought of icarus and v1 bonding over coping with gabriel’s relationship to his faith is entertaining haha

please excuse me for massively thoughtdumping about icarus and leaving…chapter 18 dropping made me go back and reread the entire fic and now he won’t leave me alone, please come collect your son he is causing havoc /j

ANONNNN THIS IS SO SWEET.... i'm blushing so hard rn kicking my feet giggling n shit i'm so so elated that people are sick in the head about my boyyy <3 NOW !! i shall answer thine queries >:]

1. genuinely same . i was not into oc x canon really at ALL before writing violent sun i just got so violently ill about ultrakill and exploring gabriel's brain specifically, so i gave him a weird situationship to cry about

2. minotaur my beloved..... oh how i care for you so....... i like giving it the spotlight and some well needed love <3

3. i have thought about this !!!! daedalus meeting gabriel would be SO comical . very much a 'he looks a little Gay but my son loves him so whatever makes him happy❤️❤️' type situation. and gabriel 'daddy issues' ultrakill would be losing his mind over any kind of parental affirmation . daedalus makes the former judge of hell cry by calling him 'champ' and clapping him on the shoulder

4. I HAVE ALSO THOUGHT ABOUT THIS !!!!! (and i'm also stealing that ship name) gabriel loves them in different ways; icarus provides gentleness and a warm familiarity, v1 provides something new and exhilarating; he gets the best of both worlds !! icarus and v1 dont really harbour any of those feelings towards each other, but they do have a shared desire of studying gabriel like a bug so they're chill

i love long asks sm i love yapping about this guy i made up <3<3 tysm once again mmwah

[cloudyswritings]

Wasteland au thing? Also OCs

So this is an idea my brain cooked up at like 1 this morning. Basically this is a look at a group of characters living in the wasteland during the golden age of Hallownest.

Gomer: He’s a common cockroach who got a little(a lot) too popular in his home kingdom and was publicly beheaded by his political rivals. Except it didn’t exactly take, you see all of the adoration and belief from his fans elevated him into a higher being. I’d say he’s basically the equivalent of one of the great knights, but he’s physically much weaker and also missing his head. Despite being a higher being getting beheaded is still going to kill him eventually so he fled into the wastes(carrying his head) to search for a solution to his problem. He’s super charismatic and is a fantastic conman, although his pride and ego is what got him in his situation in the first place.

#9: She’s a worker ant who defected from her colony, specifically she’s a marauder ant supermajor. She fled her colony during active combat with a nearby fire ant colon. She’s extremely good at cartography, making maps at least on par with Little Ghost. Her mapping skills are the reason our little group hasn’t been killed yet. She’s slowly working her way out of the colony mindset that she’s expendable. She hasn’t picked a name for herself yet. Nominally the protagonist should I ever decide to make this into a fanfic.

Smiles: An extremely grumpy desert scorpion who nonetheless is loved a ton by their very, very large family. Joins our group after #9 helps them find their little brother who had wandered dangerously close to the border of a Wyrms territory. Per scorpion traditions a life is owed for a life and Smiles doesn’t mind tagging along nearly as much as they seem to. They’re fond of complaining but never actually mean anything by it. Smiles isn’t their real name, but a nickname that they use in place of it to prevent it from being stolen-there’s a superstition in the wastes that hiding your true name makes it harder for the Wyrm-Winds to strip your identity away.

Heleden: A spiky isopod(please look them up they’re adorable 😭😭) and by far the most lost out of any of our group members. She originally hails from the dense costal jungles far, far outside of the reach of the wastes. How she got there is a mystery to everyone including her. She’s got some memory issues, although if they’re a symptom of the wastes or merely her personality isn’t clear. She can secrete a highly deadly toxin in small amounts. The wastes are incredibly dry and being an isopod she needs a lot of moisture, so she wears layers and layers of soaked cloth to keep her from drying out. Even still running out of water is an issue. She’s a very powerful magic user, although there are some indications that she’s drawing her magic from a god she doesn’t consciously remember. She’s bright yellow/orange.

Alright so that’s it for the members of our little caravan, but there’s some other characters I’ve got mentally made rn

Golmagor: Supposedly killed a Wyrm in his youth, he’s an old bug now but no less fearful of a warlord. His primary weapon is a nail, a nail which looks suspiciously like the burrowing tooth of a Wyrm- it’s made from a blue-purple metal which no-bug has been able to identify. The blade constantly leaks water and is a large part of why he’s so successful as a warlord. By the time our group meets him his son(who’s name I’ve not thought out yet) is vying for control of his territories but hasn’t yet reached the town from which Golmagor controls his forces. He captures our crew and threatens to keep them as slaves unless they capture his son for him. He’s a Brazilian wandering spider, and a master of water and poison sorceries.

The Heirarch: The apostle of the long dead(??) god of lifeblood. Saves our crew after an incredibly deadly battle. Seems peaceful but likely has ulterior motives. Their species is unknown but he doesn’t seem to have an outer shell of any sort. May not be a bug at all. Wears a mask with five eyeholes that seems almost liquid. The only feature of theirs which is obvious through all of the elaborate blue robes they wear is their three pairs of arms.

Squidge: A blue death feigning beetle, she’s a merchant passing through the waste with her caravan. She herself is a native to the wastes and was born there. Bears a charm of an unknown make and function. She trades water she collected for charms, weapons, foreign currencies, or anything her caravan is currently lacking in. Her caravan manages to avoid being devoured by Wyrms despite traveling through their territories by collecting Wyrm pheromones from fresh Wyrmfalls-I headcanon that the (actual)death of a Wyrm acts as a sort of whale fall in the wastes, entire towns have sprung up in the long dead corpses of ancient Wyrms) and using them to scare off larger predatory bugs and gods.

Husk: A bug bearing a strange pale mask and terror-black chitin. They’re oddly sociable and tower over many other bugs they come across(Somewhere between THK and Hornet in size). They have a limp in one leg and horns covered in hundreds of small curved thorns. Their initial flaw was joviality and a desire to help others. The wastes haven’t dulled their good nature and they’re always willing to help out weary travelers by sheltering them until they’re ready to move on. Lives in an elaborate burrow system they dug for themselves, it’s roughly equal in size to the crossroads. Lives with their sibling Pebble, though no-one has met them…

Assorted other ideas I had for this AU/story

Masks are an absolute must in the wastes, they prevent the whispers that dead Wyrms leave behind on the winds from stripping the soul, mind, and moisture from a bug in moments.

Everyone in the wastes knows that if you see carnival tents on the horizon, smell fire without an obvious source, or hear carnival music, you turn around immediately and find another path to your destination.

There are many secret/hidden towns and kingdoms far below the surface of the wastes, finding your way into them is difficult but doable if you really need to, just be ready to deal with a higher being or worst case scenario a god

Hallownest is directly in the middle of the wastes and is perhaps the best known kingdom in the wastes for both its riches and hospitality. Although some say it’s ruled by a wyrm, these are widely considered false claims, afterall Wyrms are fiercely territorial and unlikely to rule as anything but a tyrant.

Warlords are a real problem in the wastes and often fight for control of good trade routes or sources of water.

Water is a very, very rare commodity in the wastes, on par with food, gold, and Wyrm metal.

There are some species of bug native to the wastes, they tend to be colored to blend in with the fossil stones and well adapted to survive surprise dust storms.

Cave bugs are also more prevalent on the surface here than elsewhere because the constant whipping of the winds blocks out any ambient lights(plus it seems like something happened to the sun locally…)

Theres a flea circus that periodically travels through the wastes led by a higher being. Yes they do hate Grimm for giving circuses a bad rap, they just want to make people smile. In fact their patron might be the god of joy or some related concept.

[purpleicedteas]

My life has been hell recently. I know I have not been active on here, Discord, AO3, etc. I’m planning to give a more formal “statement” (lol for the two people who care) later, but rn I just need to VENTTTTT

Right now I’m staying with my parents. I’ve been staying here off and on, and I’m planning on moving back home due to my disabilities and health issues.

The problems:

1) My old bedroom is no longer mine, and I stay in a tiny room that was once our “computer room” (2000s flashback) that is connected to, and the only way to get to, the laundry room.

2) My mother is a narcissist. I love her. She is my closest friend and confidant. But she is a narcissistic parent. She helicopter parents me despite me being in my mid-20s living a boring ass life with no risks to helicopter over.

3) After living in the city, I have no car, so rely on my parents to get me places. I can borrow my dad’s car, but he’s gone a lot either at work or caretaking for his mother.

3a) My mom will not let me drive her car. That’s her right to draw the line, but when I have two cars at my disposal and one is rarely available, it means I am essentially home bound.

4) I have been dealing with sleeping issues for over a year since I got COVID. I think it’s some combination of long covid and perhaps some other issue, but nothing seems to help. I need to nap during the day. If you wake me up, I am in the foulest mood, have insane anxiety, and can sometimes derail my whole day. I know this is something I need to work on in therapy, but I currently can’t afford it. I have a sound machine, but my dad loves to yell and my mom knows how to wake me up.

4a) My mother has ADD and cannot sit still. She does at least a load of laundry a day. If there’s nothing to wash, she’ll just wash bedding or something random. I’ve asked to help with the laundry, I’ve asked to do the laundry, and she refuses. She has her set way of doing it, and gets pissed/angry otherwise. She also somehow can tell any minute difference in how I did the laundry (how much detergent, what settings, how long it was in the dryer, etc) and berate me on it.

4b) She seems to LOVE to do laundry when I am asleep. Which once again, I am in the room that you have to go through to get to the laundry room, whose door has cracks throughout so the light and sounds instantly wake me up. There are plenty of opportunities for her to do laundry when I’m awake, (I sometimes point them out to her) and I’ve also suggested multiple times to do it myself, and have sometimes done so without asking. This problem persists. I woke up today to her doing the laundry and changing my garbage bag right next to my bed (it’s a tiny room) WHILE I AM TRYING TO SLEEP claiming my room “stinks” (it didn’t and doesn’t.) She just gets manic and has to do shit so she’s not sitting still irregardless of others.

5) “Whatever you can do, I can do better!” I had a headache last night? She’s been having migraines for a week. I’ve been having digestive issues? She’s been having intense gastro pain. I have allergies? She has allergies. I have back pain due to my 40 degree scoliosis curve? She has arm pain, or neck pain, or shoulder pain, miraculously and only once I’ve mentioned my pain.

This is already a thousand years long and I could go on and on. I have not even touched on my father, which is a whole other bandwagon.

I feel stuck between a rock and a hard place. When I was visiting here, things were better. Now that I’m being treated as a permanent fixture, things have gone to hell.

Help me.

[happychappy]

She just told me that her course friend kept being fucking touchy today. Slapping her ass, cuddling her, kissing her fucking head. I can’t help but feel…RED. I feel so fucking possessive I’m so scared I might hurt her. It’s even worse because I used to be insecure about them together but she reassured me. Hearing that…I want to rip her friend’s head off fr. And then she told me that her friend wanted to hookup with her other friend? Like CLEARLY she’d want to get with MY fucking gf too. All those fucking signs and she still has the nerve to say “No ShE woUlD NeVeR hOoKuP wIth Me” ah FUCKARPPP don’t act dumb bro 🧍and then she says “also, her bf will be at the party” but like what the fuck is the difference if she said it about Kiyanou? Make it make fucking sense. All I can think about is claiming her in front of that whole fucking party now. Just fucking her right in front of her friend’s fucking face. Making eye contact with her friend while my fingers are inside her, her juices dripping from her pussy. Like fuck off bro. Don’t touch what’s not fucking yours you hoe motherfucker. I feel such a fucking rage right now I literally just wanted to rip my room apart. What the fuck. I HATE this feeling. Why can’t I be normal? I just want to put a leash on my gf. Give her hickies everywhere. Put handprints on her ass. I want to just mark her. She’s too fucking SEXY. WHY?! Why the fuck does she have to look so fucking good all the fucking time? Why does she have to draw everyone’s attention to her? Why can’t she be like me? My jealousy issues are a lot worse than I thought. It’s like literally any time she gets a smidge of attention from someone else, I shut down and fucking go cry baby. Like fuck up. Just accept that she was born like that and go on your merry way. She can’t control what other people fucking do bro. Oh that’s also why I’m mad. When she was explaining what she was doing when her friend was being a fucking whore, it didn’t seem genuine. Like she didn’t mind it. Where’s the “fuck off bro”? Where’s the getting angry and pushing her away and screaming? No. Just a “stop 😐” NOT ENOUGH FOR FUCKS SAKE. If you liked it then just fucking say that. She said she was into “nonconsensual consent” too 🧍 she’s right next to me and I miss her so much. But I still feel possessive and I don’t want to hurt her. I feel so empty rn bro. I want to cry HAHAHA after such a good night, it had to end like this. Sophia, if you’re fucking reading this…you’ve betrayed me 🧍 even knowing how my trust issues are. Don’t fucking do it again. I promise I’ll literally break up with you over this reason alone. This is a test of trust

So…I’ve been thinking for a pretty long time now. I was making myself more mad just thinking about it. Finding things to get more upset about, to the point where when I closed my eyes, I tried to think about what makes me truly happy and content. First it was my gf, but then I saw her and Amahre and got fucked off. Then I thought about killing Amahre…it felt good. So I started thinking about killing everyone else that ever even simply looked at my gf and I felt satisfied for a while. Then I started thinking…is this worth it? Is this really what our relationship should be like? My baby does so much for me, and I love her so much. Am I really gonna be upset at her about something she couldn’t control? She’s been working so fucking hard today to pull off her amazing performance, and then I end the day being a shitty gf. That’s not how I want it to be. My mood swings are getting too much for me, it’s fucking pissing me off. She doesn’t deserve that at all. I started thinking about all the things she’s said to me, when she’d reassure me or when she’d be there for me. No. She deserves the world and my fucking trust issues are getting in the way of that. I’m going to start trusting her now. If she hurts me, then she hurts me. And we’ll break up. But for now, I’ll trust her for real this time. She fucking belongs to me and no one else, I just have to understand that. I’m the one that gets to hold her, kiss her, love her, fuck her, grow with her, learn with her, experience life with her. I could not be any more lucky than this.

Also…I kept imagining fucking her and I’d say things like “When you cum, I want to hear my name come out of your slutty mouth. You’re gonna cum for me, and only me. Open your fucking mouth and say who you belong to.” And I’d imagine exactly how she’d sound…that made me happy for a while too. I’d also slap her ass and tell her that if anyone else fucking does that to her, you tell them to fuck off and think of me. “If anyone touches you, you think of this moment where I’m fucking you til you only know my name. My hands. My voice. Me.” I don’t know how my brain is so fucking good at talking, but I’m a quiet little bitch when it comes to real life 🧍 I swear in my head, I’m such a good talker. I’m just too insecure to say it out loud. BOOOORIIIINGGGG

[hugthesquids]

So there is a user here that has been harrassing me and my friends. They’ve been stalking us, threatening us, abusing us and causing my friends and I deep trauma. This was the creator of the then su au called “Walktheline“.

It’s been so much and I just am mentally broken down by this. A lot of people were affected by the creator’s abuse. I didn’t want anything to do with them, have blocked them and months before told them I don’t want anything to do with them. And yet they still are stalking me. I had blocked every blog they had and yet they continue to find me and interact with me. I also found out they of course did not live up to their promise of not doing anything with us or my characters either and yet they’re still doing all that without any of our consent.

Now a lot has happened and this even got so bad that even the creators boyfriend told us to get a restraining order for our safety. There were 10 other people in the Walktheline project who also got harassed and affected by this too.

This person is NugatorySheep, who also has an alternate account called pm-deadbees and another blog called ns-archive. I don’t want anyone to witchhunt anyone or anything (please don’t harass anyone), the only reason I’m speaking out here is because I at this point don’t know what to do anymore. I have reported this user to tumblr multiple times, even the posts that were direct threats against me and my friends safety. I tried getting an restraining order, my friends even reached out to the sister for this person in question to get them to stop harassing us. I’ve blocked this person on all media, and yet this person isn’t leaving me alone.

This was the threat I received from this person

I have reported this to tumblr months ago, but tumblr doesn’t seem to have banned this person. After my friends got in contact with the sister, Nug deleted these posts so the evidence isn’t there. But people involved and Nug herself confirmed making these posts too and confiming they were directed at me and my friends, but of course as Nug has always been in the months we knew them, didn’t take it seriously and tried to shrug it off as them being edgy and that they’re only like this when they’re in this mindset.

There is a lot of things Nug has done and I just want to have this person to leave me and my friends alone. We’ve made that clear multiple times. I’m very traumatized by all the stuff that had happened and I’m still trying to recover, so having them still trying to interact with me after having to deal with this I am absolutely scared.

Again I really, really don’t want anyone to go after anyone with this. I am just really out of options and I’m really scared that this person continuing to interact with me after having abused, threatened and stalked me and my friends before, and has said they enjoy seeing us suffer too.

The WTL au ended as a safety percaution against Nug as they were continuing to harass us during the project and were obsessed with us and the project. And yet now they’re still drawing my characters without my consent and drawing them in things that’s very triggering to me.

I am literally just so scared rn. I hadn’t previously wanted to talk about this thing, since it’s a very sensitive issue and I didn’t want any drama or people witchhunting anyone. But after this person’s year worth of abuse and the fact I’ve blocked all of their blogs, have reported the threats to tumblr, trying to get a restraining order (outside US), and my friends reached out to the person’s sister and boyfriend and none of them could help us and Nug continues to stalk me and my friends and being obsessed with us, I really just see the only option is to spread awareness of this.

I’m just really scared and want this person to leave me and my friends alone.

[meruz]

once again i am answering asks in a big compilation post. included is... gotham, patrick stump, tips about drawing backgrounds, tips about drawing in general, links to my faq, and infinity train

like.... the tv series? No... I’ve drawn dc comics fanart before, though. But it’s been years since I’ve been really into it. I like jumped ship like 10 years ago when the New 52 happened LOL.

AFJHDSLKGH I’m sorry I (probably) won’t do it again??

Actually full disclosure I have a truly cringe amount of p stump drawings/photo studies in my sketchbook right now LOL. He’s just fun to draw... hats, glasses, guitar, a good shape... but I don’t think I’ll rly post those until I can hide them in another big sketchbook pdf.. probably Jan 2022. Stay tuned........ (ominous) 

(ominous preview)

These are all sort of related to backgrounds/painting so I grouped them together even though they’re pretty much entirely separate questions.... ANYWAYS

a) How is it working as a BG artist? Is it hard? What show are you drawing for?

I think you’re the first person to ever ask me about my job! Being a background artist is great. It’s definitely labor intensive but I think that could describe pretty much any art job (If something were rote or easy to automate, you wouldn’t hire an artist to do it) and I hesitate to say whether its harder or easier than any other role in the animation pipeline. Plus, so much of what truly makes a job difficult varies from one production to the next, schedule, working environment, co-workers etc. But I will say that I think while BGs are generally a lot of work on the upfront, I think they’re subject to less scrutiny/revisions than something like character/props/effects design and you don’t have to pitch them to a room like boards. So I guess it’s good if you don’t like to talk to people? LOL

A lot of my previous projects + the show I’ve worked on the longest aren’t public yet so I can’t talk about em (but I assure you if/when the news does break I won’t shut up about it). But I’m currently working on Archer Season 12 LOL. I’m like 90% sure I’m allowed to say that.

b) ~~~THANK YOU!! ~~~

c) What exactly do you like to draw most [in a background]?

@kaitomiury​ Lots of stuff! I really like to draw clutter! Because it’s a great opportunity for environmental storytelling and also you can be kind of messy with it because the sheer mass will supersede any details LOL. 

I like to draw clouds... I like to draw grass but not trees lol,,, I like to draw anything that sells perspective really easily like tiled floors and ceilings, shelves, lamp posts on a street etc.

d) Do you have any tips on how to paint (observational)?

god there’s so much to say. painting is really a whole ass discipline like someone can paint their whole life and still discover new things about it. I guess if you’re really just starting out my best advice is that habit is more important than product. especially with traditional plein air painting, I find that the procedure of going outside and setting up your paints is almost harder than the actual painting. There’s a lot of artists who say “I want to do plein air sometime!!” and then never actually get around to doing it. A lot of people just end up working from google streetview or photos on their computer.

But going outside to paint is a really good challenge because it forces you to make and commit to lighting and composition decisions really quickly. And to work through your mistakes instead of against them via undo button.

My last tip is to check out James Gurney’s youtube channel because hes probably the best and most consistent resource on observational painting out there rn. There’s lots other artists doing the same thing (off the top of my head I know a lot of the Warrior Painters group has people regularly posting plein air stuff and lightbox expo had a Jesse Schmidt lecture abt it last year) but Gurney’s probably the most prolific poster and one of the best at explaining the more technical stuff - his books are great too.

e) Do you have tips for drawing cleanly on heavypaint?

@marigoldfool​ UMM LOL I LIKE ONLY USE THE FILL TOOL so maybe use the fill tool? Fill and rectangle are good for edge control as opposed to the rest of the heavy paint tools which can get sort of muddles. And also I use a stylus so maybe if you’re using your finger, find a stylus that works with your device instead. That’s all I’ve got, frankly I don’t think my drawings are particularly clean lol.

f) Tips on improving backgrounds/scenes making them more dynamic practicing etc?

Ive given some tips about backgrounds/scenes before so I’m not gonna re-tread those but here’s another thing that might be helpful...

I think a good way to approach backgrounds is to think of the specific story or even mood you want to convey with the background first. Thinking “I just need to put something behind this character” is going to lead you to drawing like... a green screen tourist photo backdrop. But if you think “I need this bg to make the characters feel small” or “I need this bg to make the world feel colorful” then it gives you requirements and cues to work off of.

If I know a character needs to feel overwhelmed and small, then I know I need to create environment elements that will cage them in and corner them. If a character needs to feel triumphant/on top of the world then I know I need to let the environment open up around them. etc. If I know my focal point/ where I want to draw attention, I can build the background around that.

Also, backgrounds like figure compositions will have focal points of their own and you can draw attention to it/ the relationship the characters have with the bg element via scale or directionality or color, any number of cues. I think of it almost as a second/third character in a scene.

Not every composition is gonna have something so obvious like this but it helps me to think about these because then the characters feel connected and integrated with the environment.

Some more general art questions

a) Do you have any process/tips to start drawing character/bodies/heads?

I tried to kind of draw something to answer this but honestly this is difficult for me to answer because I don’t think I’m that great at drawing characters LOL. Ok, I think I have two tips.

1) flip your canvas often. A lot about what makes human bodies look correct and believable is symmetry and balance. Even if someone has asymmetrical features, the body will often pull and push in a way to counterbalance it. we often have inherent biases to one side or another like dominant hands dominant eyes etc. you know how right-handed artists will often favor drawing characters facing 45 degrees facing (the artist’s) left? that’s part of it. so viewing your drawing flipped even just to evaluate it helps compensate for that bias and makes you more aware of balance.

2) draw the whole figure often. I feel like a lot of beginner artists (myself included for a long time) defer to just drawing headshots or busts because it’s easier, you dont have to think about posing limbs etc. But drawing a full body allows you to better gauge proportion, perspective, body language, everything that makes a character look believable and grounded.

Like if you (me) have that issue where you draw the head too big and then have to resize it to fit the proportions of the rest of the body, it’s probably because you (I) drew the head first and are treating the body as an afterthought/attachment. Sketching out the whole figure first or even just quick drawing guides for it will help you think of it more holistically. I learned this figure drawing in charcoal at art school LOL.

oh. third mini tip - try to draw people from life often! its the best study. if you can get into a figure drawing/nude drawing class EVEN BETTER and if you have a local college/art space/museum that hosts those for free TREASURE IT AND TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT, that’s a huge boon that a lot of artists (me again) wish they had. though if youre not so lucky and youre sitting in a park trying to creeper draw people and they keep moving.. don’t let that stop you! that’s good practice because it’s forcing you to work fast to get the important stuff down LOL. its a challenge!

b) I’ve been pretty out of energy and have had no inspiration to draw but I have the desire to. Any advice?

Dude, take a walk or something.... Or a nap? Low energy is going to effect everything else so you gotta hit that problem at its source.

If you’re looking for inspiration though, I’d recommend stuff like watching a movie, reading a book, playing video games etc. Fill up your idea bank with content and then give yourself time/space to gestate it into new concepts. Sometimes looking at other art works but sometimes it can work against you because it’s too close. 

Also something that helps me is remembering that art doesn’t always have to be groundbreaking... like it’s okay to make something shitty and stupid that you don’t post online and only show to your friend. That’s all part of the process imo. If you want to hit a home run you gotta warm up first, right? Sports.

I should probably compile everytime i give tips on stuff like this but that’s getting dangerously close to being a social media artist who makes stupid boiled down art tutorials for clout which is the last thing i want to be... the thing I want to stress is that art is a whole visual language and there are widely agreed upon rules and customs but they exist in large part to be broken. Like there's an infinite number of ways to reach an infinite number of solutions and that’s actually what makes it really cool and personal for both the artist and the viewer. So when you make work you like or you find someone else’s work you like, take a step back and ask yourself what about it speaks for you, what about it works for you, what makes it effective, how to recreate that effect and how to break that effect completely, etc. And have a good time with it or else what’s the point.

for the first 2, I direct you to my FAQ

For the last one, I don’t actually believe I’ve ever addressed artwork as insp for stories/rp but I’ll say here and now yeah go ahead! As long as you’re not making profit or taking credit for my work then I’m normally ok with it. Especially anything thats private and purely recreational, that’s generally 100% green light go. I only ask that if you post it anywhere public that you please credit me.

(and I reserve the right to ask you to take it down if I see it and don’t approve of it’s use but I think that case is pretty rare.)

a) @lemuelzero101 Thank you!!! I haven’t played Life is Strange but actually  that series’ vis dev artist Edouard Caplain is one of my bigger art inspirations lately so that’s a really high compliment lol. And yeah I hope we get 5-8 too...!

b) Thank you for sticking around! I’ve been thinking about Digimon and Infinity Train in tandem lately, actually. They’re a little similar? Enter a dangerous alternate world and have wacky adventures with monsters/inanimate objects that have weird powers... there’s like weird engineers and mechanisms behind the scenes... also frontier literally starts with them getting on a train. Anyways if anyone else followed me for digimon... maybe you’d like Infinity Train? LOL

c) @king-wens-king I’M GLAD MY ART JUST HAS PINOY VIBES LOL I hope you are having a good day too :^)

a, b, c, d) yessss my Watch Infinity Train agenda is working....

e) aw thank you!! i think you should watch infinity train :)

[capricioussun]

Hm

I know I like, haven’t talk about it ever at all but I’ve had this longstanding hc that UF Papyrus actually knew Chara as a ghost when he was younger (for reasons that make more sense with context I won’t get into rn) and that he actually can still see them when Frisk shows up in the underground but pretends he can’t (again, for reasons) but like. Eventually they find out he can see them and it’s like, this whole thing.

Anyway as with most of my headcanons that one changes a lot and sometimes Chara winds up stuck w/ Frisk even on the surface, and in VF especially they actually wind up able to follow Void, too, so long as he’s in the timeline (hence their appearance in that one drawing where Void is dancing w/ Frisk and Flowey).

Anyways again lately for some reason I’ve also been thinking a lot abt multiverse situations, and that US and/or SF Chara wind up getting along especially well w/ Edge and just like. Idk. It gives me a lot of feelings bc I have a hc parallel between Asriel and Chara and Sans and Papyrus so like. They’re this kid who’s just. Had a really hard time with things, and then went through some pretty serious trauma underground bc of geno runs, and wind up being able to talk to Edge about stuff they feel like they can’t with anyone else and he helps them process and cope and helps them recover from the idea they’re evil etc etc and in turn that actually helps him unpack a bunch of stuff he’d long since repressed and helping them lowkey helps him, too and just. Ough, yeah

Specifically what brought this on tonight was thinking about a scenario where all the bros and kids are together under one roof for Christmas/Gyftmas for the weekend, and US Chara has a terrible nightmare in the middle of the night, they rush to find either Stretch or Blue or Astilbe and wind up running into Edge, who’d been up from his own issues (hard time sleeping in a house with so many others, feels like they’re vulnerable to a serious attack all in one place at one time), but he’d gotten up to see what the fuss was when he felt a sharp spike in upset intent.

They’d talked a little before, he knows the kids got issues, but never anything super in depth, and they’re so upset, he’s very concerned, especially when they realize it’s him and not even someone from their own timeline, but they still just grapple onto him anyway, shaking and trying to muffle their sobs. He picks them up and takes them to a more secluded room so the two of them don’t wake/worry anyone else, and he just holds them, calming them until they finally stop crying. They don’t talk and he doesn’t ask, but it’s the first time that kind of sets a precedent for them seeking him out when they have the opportunity and need the help.

[brothersapart]

I’ve got an idea (and an oc) for a supernatural x Sherlock g/t. I don’t have many (practically no) followers that’ll see it though. Should I still go for it? Also the oc is part of another series that’s not gt but supernatural, should I do that first?

- I’m just gonna rant a little now, sorry -

Here’s why I’m afraid to post my stories anywhere: I’m just so confused and conflicted rn lol, I know it’ll make me happy writing it but I tried to write on Wattpad but someone plagiarized my stories so I took them all down no matter how hard it hurt me or the people who loved it. It had over 6k reads (I also didn’t have much time to write anymore ofc).

I’m sorry this is so long, but ig my point is I’m afraid. I’ve been afraid to share any of my writings anywhere because of that one person who decided to steal my writing and hard work. Idk how to get over this fear. I truly miss writing.

Now, I'm gonna preface this with I've never actually used or posted on Wattpad, the most I've done on that site is read a story someone sent to me.

As for the theft, I've dealt with similar in the past. It just wasn't for stories, it's for my fractals. If I take one of them and do an image search on Google, there's a good chance they'll appear (it's exhausting).

Deviantart is very helpful there, because anything I've posted is protected under a creative commons license (last I looked into it, it could have a different name all these years later).

Having the date on my stuff be from before the others who posted it is the main proof when I ask other sites to take down those works.

I haven't had the same issue with my writings, but I would follow a similar process. Just provide the site that you wrote it first and ask them to take it down, it was posted without your permission.

I would recommend sites such as Deviantart and Archive of our Own for posting for reasons such as this. If others have different experiences or prefer different sites to post on, I encourage them to write about them if they want to share!

If you do end up writing a SPN-Sherlock g/t crossover, I'd be willing to give your story a shout out on this page! I love encouraging readers to find new stories and writers, and there's still plenty of people out there who love both of those series!

There will always be people out there who are willing to steal legitimate fanworks, it's a threat we all take. You can try and cut down on this by not posting about the story until you have it officially up, keep them from stealing your characters. I still get angry to this day when I get a message that one of my fractals has been found on a site. NFTs were a real thorn for a while, you wouldn't believe how many people tried putting MY work up for those $3,000 prices.

As for the writing itself, it's all up to you! Which story do you think should be told first? A good method might be the SPN-Sherlock part, to draw people in with characters they're familiar with, and then giving the OC's backstory later on, once they're interested. Writing is something that comes best with inspiration, so just let it flow!

[heartslobbf]

let’s talk about perfuma. imo, she’s one of the best characters in the show despite being underdeveloped, and i wanna explain why. she could’ve been extremely average, just some lanky flower girl that doesn’t believe in violence and loves everyone, but she is so much more than that (and it pisses me off that y’all reduce her to that).

in her introductory episode, perfuma is clearly in denial about the horde almost destroying plumeria. she doesn’t want to acknowledge the problem, wants someone else to take care of it for her. she’s scared of change, and that is because change makes you vulnerable. if things always stay the same, there’s a whole lot less danger and uncertainty, and therefore you’re safe. secure. perfuma’s kingdom is dying and she can’t bear to accept it because it is unknown to her. it’s putting her in a position where she is no longer secure. this fear of vulnerability can also be seen at the beginning of 1x10 when the princess alliance falls apart and she literally says ‘being together makes us vulnerable.’

the thing is, perfuma isn’t wrong. look at her choice of words. she says that being together makes them vulnerable, not weak. here, she kind of has the words mixed up, but we see that by s5 she has come to understand the difference. that’s what’s so great about perfuma, her motivation to do better, her hunger for self-improvement. it’s why she’s such an important part of catra’s redemption, actually, because she embodies the kind person catra is or wants to be.

let me explain: perfuma is an angry, impatient, short-tempered character. we are shown this again and again with her passive aggression to others and how easily mermista can annoy her with trivial things (sitting in her seat in the war room, for example). catra is also an angry, impatient character, but perfuma works every day to manage those emotions. she knows she needs them, she uses them as a tool (calling catra out, for example, is a time they were practically pivotal for getting her point across) but she also acknowledges they can hurt the people she loves. we know she does a meditation ritual each morning and we see in 4x02 how quickly she can unravel without it. she wants to be better. she puts the work in. that is such a valuable lesson for a character like catra who has always felt she’s just not good enough, she’s always going to be this angry and unlovable and no one can do anything about it.

so, 4x02. it’s a brilliant episode for perfuma’s character, really, and the first proper development we’ve had since 1x04. we see her anger, her impatience, but we also see her self-doubt. her belief that she’s inadequate, ‘just a flower girl.’ this is also when we get introduced to her little mantra that becomes a bit of a motif later on, ‘i can do this.’ we know perfuma doesn’t wholeheartedly believe this, but she says it anyway because she wants to. perfuma wants to be better. she will do whatever she can to be her best self, whether that be actually conquering her gripes with cacti or realising there’s a loophole with the roots (love that conflict resolution by the way, another good deconstruction of hero bs by spop).

this episode is also significant because it comes back to perfuma’s fear of change, of vulnerability. she’s thrown into a situation she doesn’t want to be in, one she feels miserably unprepared for, and she hasn’t done the one thing that puts her at her best beforehand, but she pulls through in the end because she is surrounded by people that support her, that listened to her and consoled her when she was vulnerable. 4x02 teaches perfuma the power of self-worth and the power of true, mutual, unconditional love, which can only come with vulnerability.

and this is where her character gets really interesting, in my humble opinion. ngl, one of the reasons i love perfuma so much is because she’s a pisces and i am too. i’m not gonna go astrology hoe on you rn, i’m just using this to demonstrate the part of her character that teaches others. pisces, if you don’t know, love to play therapist. we like to help the people around us with whatever strifes they may have because we think we’re fucking great at it. perfuma actually is.

you know how i said perfuma learns the importance of self-belief and vulnerability? yeah, she teaches both of those lessons to other characters in s5. like i said, perfuma is a character who values self-betterment and also happens to be a pisces, so when she sees scorpia, riddled with so much self-doubt and such low self-esteem, her immediate response is just i’m gonna teach that bitch how to love herself. and she does!

i’ve seen some people say they don’t like scorfuma because it seemed as though the writers just decided to ‘fix’ all of scorpia’s problems by giving her a girlfriend. that’s very dumb, first of all because they aren’t even together by the end of the show, they’re just interested in one another. second, the whole point of she-ra is that we’re stronger together. scorpia doesn’t go through growth in s5 because a girl likes her, she goes through growth because someone is showing her support and love for the first time in her life and that empowers her. you know, the worth that scorpia finds in herself doesn’t hinge on perfuma, like it did with catra. it’s about her as an individual, and perfuma so clearly makes it about that when her big lesson revolves around singing. scorpia loves singing. perfuma tells her she should do it because she enjoys it, a sentiment you’d never hear in the horde, and when scorpia does sing, she is actively rejecting the people who did make all her self-worth hinge on them catra. she’s doing something for herself, because she enjoys it, because it makes her happy, because she can.

it’s that same mantra: i can do this, i can do this. i really love how this was brought back from 4x02, how perfuma repurposed something that taught her such a valuable lesson for someone else. perfuma and scorpia are great foil characters actually, both constantly underestimated and thought of as weak by their groups, but some of the strongest characters in the show due to their deep value of love and self. i can do this, and i know i can because you believe in me, because i believe in myself. it’s brought back again in 5x10, when the last thing perfuma says before scorpia breaks the beam is ‘i know you can [pull through]’. she tells catra she believes in scorpia. it’s that belief, that support from other people that empowers the self to believe it too. we are stronger together, you know??

anyways, onto vulnerability. return to the fright zone is in my top ten episodes of the whole fucking show and you might think that’s a bit weird but i don’t. 5x10 encompasses so many important themes of spop so well and tells them with scorfuma and spinnetossa, our two side lesbian couples. this is significant since perfuma literally draws a parallel between her and catra at the end of the episode, and catradora and spinnetossa have always been significant to one another. i’m gonna say it, perfuma is the reason catra is finally able to confess to adora in 5x13. i’ve already talked about how important perfuma is to catra’s motivation to improve, but she literally makes catra rethink everything about strength and vulnerability, two words catra has a lot of feelings about.

catra fears vulnerability. we know this. she has such a deep love for those important to her but is never able to articulate it because she worries she’ll be taken advantage of, shot down, laughed at, whatever. all of this stems from the abuse she suffered at shadow weaver’s hands and her attachment issues, and it’s also why catra pretends to hate scorpia’s very open displays of affection and love: she sees it as weak because she has been taught to, but it’s all she ever really wanted to be.

we also know perfuma used to fear vulnerability. she doesn’t any more. the entirety of the episode leading up to her and catra’s heart-to-heart is her being vulnerable, putting herself in a position where she’s in danger but believing it’s worth it. and it is. despite what everyone said to her, perfuma is right: it was worth it. she got through to scorpia, even if it was only for a moment. she literally spells it out to us and catra with one of the best lines in the whole show: it’s hard, keeping your heart open. it makes you vulnerable, but it doesn’t make you weak, and i have to believe it’s worth it.

back in 1x10, perfuma was right: being together makes you vulnerable. horde prime tries to use people’s relationships against them, that’s literally the plot of save the cat, the point of pitting catra and adora against one another. he sees them as weak, just like shadow weaver deems adora’s feelings for catra ‘confusing’, just like light hope insisted adora was a danger to her friends as long as she was around them. they were all wrong. yes, they’re vulnerable. perfuma acknowledges that vulnerability puts you in danger, that it’s difficult to do that, but she knows it doesn’t make you weak. weakness vs strength is a big conflict in 5x10 literally introduced to us with netossa’s theories on everyone’s weaknesses in the first few minutes.

like perfuma says, friendship isn’t a weakness. it’s her greatest strength. her belief in love is literally what saves her and adora’s lives, it’s what saves everyone who got chipped, glimmer, bow. belief in love, both of others and yourself, is what saves adora in her dying moments. perfuma summarises she-ra’s entire fucking message to us repeatedly in 5x10 and she tells it to catra because catra is the one who will do the most with it. that glance at adora, it’s obvious what it means. perfuma is telling catra she should be open with adora about her feelings because you have to believe it’s worth it.

you won’t get anywhere waiting for other people to make the move. she-ra couldn’t heal plumeria’s lands, so plumeria had to fight their own battle alongside her no matter how much they felt unable to. the rebellion couldn’t move mara’s ship, so perfuma had to despite thinking she wasn’t strong enough. the reason they always win in the end is because they have each other, they have love and support and people motivating them to do better. just like perfuma motivates herself to do better.

it’s the mantra. i can do this. i can be vulnerable and still win, because i have love. and it’s hard, it’s so fucking hard to be vulnerable when you’ve feared it all your life and you’re so angry, so hurt, but you have to believe it’s worth it. and it is. it is, it is, it is, love is stronger than anything and being vulnerable for the people you love is the only way you can ever get what you want from them. perfuma as a character embodies that, having learnt it herself, and teaches the lesson to one of the characters who needs it the most.

adora is dying, and catra loves her, and she knows she does, and she just has to believe. adora is dying, and she loves catra, and she knows she does, but she doesn’t believe. not until catra teaches her too, in that moment, to realise they were all wrong, light hope, shadow weaver, horde prime. adora doesn’t need to let go, she needs to hold on and believe she will be pulled back up by the girl she loves. she needs to believe she deserves it. that it’s worth it.

and it is.

[shoichee]

Hey luv! I just got my braces off and I don’t know if I like myself with or without them cause yah girl has ✨confidence issues✨ so can you do the GoM + Kagami and Teppei thanks my savior

OH, rn i have braces too (although they’re ceramic and harder to see) but I definitely can understand the apprehension when you have them taken off after for so long;; 

the amount of characters requested actually exceed the rules, but since i’ve taken a while to get to your request, i’ll still do them but they will be shorter^^ THANK YOU FOR STICKING BY THIS BLOG AND READING MY STUFF <3

[Headcanons]

Kuroko Tetsuya

right away, he notices that something was amiss with you, and asks upfront if anything was bothering you

you replied hesitantly, but while you talked you held up a hand in front of your mouth:

“Um… I don’t know if I like how I look right now…”

Kuroko stares at your nervous eyes and then looks down to your hand in front of your mouth before asking why

“Just got my braces off, and I feel a bit… weird without them? I feel like I look strange without them…”

“Do you mind if I see you?” he asks, softening his eyes at you

“W-Well… you’re not someone to judge, I know, but don’t… laugh or anything.”

“I won’t, (y/n)-san.”

he slowly brings your hand down and you slowly smile to reveal your teeth to him, and he gives you the purest smile… and that catches you off guard so badly like… YOUR TEETH GOT HIM TO SMILE LIKE THAT??? DAMN, MAYBE YOU SHOULD SMILE EVERY SECOND TO SEE SUCH A TREASURE—

“(y/n)-san, I think you look wonderful,” he muses, bringing your same hand that was in front of your mouth into his own hand with a gentle squeeze. “I’m sure everyone who sees you will think the same.”

ah Kuroko, the individual who has a knack in comforting people with his genuity (example: see Momoi)

whenever you do have those moments of self-consciousness again, he’s always there to calmly reassure you otherwise

Kise Ryouta

IMMEDIATELY sees your teeth when you talk, and freaks out like a little kid on Christmas

“(y/n)-cchi! (y/n)-cchi!!” he hoots around, pointing at his own teeth. “You got your braces off today! You look amazing!”

when you hesitate and tell him that you’re not so sure about yourself without your braces, he pinches your cheek and gives a little dramatic huff

“But (y/n)-cchi…! Come onnnn, trust me!” he says, giving a signature pout, and you laugh at his antics

“Ohhh, do that again! Do that again!” (he craves for your laughs, and he wants more)

he definitely tries to get you to smile and laugh to get you more comfortable with your braceless teeth

whether you have braces or not, he doesn’t mind so much because what he really cares about is your smile, and if he sees your teeth showing, braces or without, it means that he knows he’s doing a good job in making you comfortable and happy

while he showers you in praises every single moment, when you feel really down, he takes an extra measure or two to cuddle you gently while being much softer in delivering those compliments

always gives a daily compliment to give you a serotonin boost

Midorima Shintarou

he’s confused… why would you be upset that you got your braces off? you looked great before and even now, so does the fact of braces really change your perception of your appearance that much?

he won’t make any comment on your new appearance unless you bring it up to him and ask for his opinion/reassurance

he’s just happy for you that you have another milestone of your life, and not to mention, braces generally promote better oral health and fix misaligned bites

“Hm? What do I think of how you look? D-Don’t be ridiculous… What am I supposed to say?”

“Well, I just… think I look a little odd… I kind of… want my braces back.”

“You know you can’t do that, nanodayo,” he sighs. “So much money, effort, and care were invested into your teeth for many years. You did the most you could to take care of them and achieved the goal you set out for yourself when you first got braces, correct? That isn’t something to be ashamed of, nanodayo.”

despite his lecturing, his words do have some merit, and Midorima’s words were comforting in his own way

“But Midorima, um… sorry for annoying you,” you say, giving a chagrined smile

Midorima takes a good look at your exposed teeth for the first time and widens his eyes in a fluster before turning his eyes back to his astrology book

“I-I-It’s nothing.”

bonus: he’s definitely that one fussy parent who forces you to wear your retainers religiously, NO EXCUSES—he doesn’t want the whole process to be all for naught just because you got lazy in wearing a simple metal thing

Aomine Daiki

idiot #1

“Whoa, your teeth look different,” is something he would say tactlessly

immediately, you slapped your hands over your mouth at his words

forgive him, he usually says what’s on his mind with no filter and consideration

by then, he’d realized that the tone of his words was poorly delivered and would try to correct himself before he says anything more to dig himself a deeper grave

“Er, sorry, what I mean is… I didn’t know you were gonna have them off today…”

that actually made you more self-conscious and you try to flee from the scene

“W-Wait, hey!”

insert Aomine clumsily explaining that he didn’t mean to be tactless with his words and that he just meant that he was surprised in a good way

definitely shows you a lot more wholesome affection in addition to his usual PDA, but you wonder what he thought about your new “appearance,” so to speak

“What kinda question is that?” he scoffs. “You’re still hot and always will be.”

if there’s one sure benefit to his blunt words, it’s that his straightforwardness can easily dispel all your doubts and clear up any misunderstandings in one go

if you’re still doubtful about yourself, he’ll gladly resort to action to prove his point… perhaps makeout sessions with him would become a lot more exploratory and… just putting it out there, but we will leave this up to your imagination

anywho, he’s not afraid to give you more direct kisses to try to show you that he doesn’t care about your teeth and your lack of braces

definitely would tell out-of-pocket jokes and laugh more to get you to grow comfortable; after all, smiling is contagious right? who can resist Aomine’s smile???

if someone tried to make you uncomfortable by drawing everyone’s attention nearby in how you got your braces off, whether intentional or not, he’s scaring them away, no questions asked and he’s taking you away from the scene

Murasakibara Atsushi

“Oh…” he says with his usual drawl. “You got them off, Chibi-chin?”

it was a usual day with him tucking his own head into his arms to nap on the table when you walked up to him apprehensively, and he immediately notices your presence but lazily picks up his head to look at you when he noticed

“Er… yeah…”

he slightly tilts his head to the side like an inquisitive child to silently question what was wrong

“It’s nothing really! Just feeling tired… not in the talkative mood today.” as you said this, he noticed that you were more… tight-lipped, speaking in a quieter manner as if you were trying not to show your teeth as much as possible

he beckons a languid hand over and you reluctantly sit by his side, your face still slightly turned away

you thought he was just going to go back to sleep like he always does, but imagine your surprise when he easily picks you up from the side and placed you on his lap, face-to-face

Murasakibara then pulls your cheeks apart, revealing your pearly whites to him

“H-H-Hey!! Lert… gorw!”

“Don’t wanna.”

“I’m… serwious!”

he stares at you impassively for a few moments before he suddenly lets your cheeks go and yawns

“... you look fine, Chibi-chin,” he mumbles, and he sets you off his lap before getting up with a stretch. “Besides, now that you don’t have braces anymore, you can finally eat whatever you want right…?”

“I… guess I can…”

and he’s already reaching for your hand to tug you to the nearest takeout with a slight shine of excitement in his dark pupils

“Chibi-chin, we can finally eat those candy apples together you’ve always craved for, lots and lots…”

he’s very fixated on you eating with your braceless teeth for the next few weeks with a small smile on his face, because you enjoying the food you eat are some of the simplest joys he loves when he’s with you (and you hadn’t been able to do that because your braces forbidden you from eating a list of things)

definitely drags you out for food outings a lot more for the next few weeks

he tries his best in trying to make you not think about your teeth and your self-consciousness about them in his roundabout way (note: see his cheek pulling, distracting you with your favorite snacks, etc.)

he’s not someone to make any deal out of it because worrying over such a trivial thing is annoying to him, but nonetheless he certainly wants to make sure that nothing is bothering you because that’s the greatest inconvenience (since he doesn’t like to see you in such a state)… you being upset and worried makes him upset and worried, after all

Akashi Seijuro

he immediately understands that feeling of self-doubt/self-consciousness, but nonetheless he compliments you to let you know that he truly finds you desirable/beautiful inside and out

still, words alone sometimes don’t convince you and even when he gives physical affection to comfort you, there’s still that nagging feeling of how you felt about your teeth

and he’s totally okay with that, and he knows that feeling very well himself (regarding having inner voices that taunt him)

rather than constantly hammering in compliments because he knows that at some point they’d feel more disingenuous the more he says them, he offers you to help overcome the self-consciousness on your own terms

Akashi offers the suggestion of wearing face masks (not necessarily the surgical ones, but the cute/plain colored masks you’d see around!) if you have certain days where you feel low about your braceless teeth

he’d be quite sly and teasing all the while; whenever you wear your cute mask for the day, he’d be a lot more affectionate with the PDA and give pecks on your lips… but the mask is always in the way, preventing you from feeling actual contact with his own lips

he can tell you’d definitely get pouty when you don’t really feel those kisses and he simply laughs and walks on

“You…! I know you only try to kiss me when I have the mask on! Don’t play dumb with me!”

“Hm? Is it really a crime for me to show physical affection to the person I love?”

he eventually does help you coax you out and become comfortable, and your face masks would eventually be stored away in a drawer

he rewards you for being strong in overcoming your own doubts:

“To celebrate your strength in overcoming a huge milestone, what would you like your reward to be?”

“For starters, give me back all those kisses you tried to give me throughout all the times I wore a mask!”

“Of course,” he chuckles, moving closer to your lips. “How could I ever resist you when you’re this stunning?”

Kagami Taiga

idiot #2 (see idiot #1)

unlike idiot #1, idiot #2 doesn’t notice the change on your teeth, at all

he doesn’t know why you’re fidgeting around or acting really, really strange… were you hungry? upset at him for something he didn’t realize he did wrong?

so after a few days after you got your braces off, he finally asks:

“Is there something wrong? Did I do something to upset you?”

poor guy doesn’t know if he was at fault or if he was missing something, and he physically holds his head to try to recall EVERYTHING for the past week

you reassure him that it wasn’t anything like that, but you still had furrowed brows and you were very careful in how you were talking

Kagami thinks you haven’t eaten and offers to make dinner, but eating in front of him for some reason really didn’t sound like a good idea to you so you declined

you’ll eventually tell him that you just felt a bit self-conscious after your braces got taken off

“Huh?”

he stares at your teeth for a very long time, and you immediately regret it, not wanting to draw his attention to you like that

he snaps out of his intense daze and immediately apologizes for making you uncomfortable

“M-My bad… I just didn’t notice until you told me.”

“Really?” you ask, slightly relieved that the change wasn’t as drastic as you thought it would be

“Er, yeah…” he mumbles, scratching his cheek, “you look good, by the way…” but by the time he finished his compliment, it came out as a cough

you can only laugh in relief, knowing that everything he says is always earnest and sincere

Kiyoshi Teppei

definitely noticed that your braces were off, but pretends to not notice until you bring it up yourself because he’s quite sharp and in tune with other people’s emotions

so he treats you like he always does, being the sweet “airhead” that he is, and he waits until you bring it up yourself (because he knows how self-conscious you were about your lack of braces)

you yourself are confused… like… was Teppei actually dense? was your whole inner dilemma not a big deal like your mind thought it would be?

you tug on his sleeve one day and ask him if he noticed your teeth, pointing to them all the while

and he immediately chastises himself (“silly me”) for not noticing, and he tells you that you were beautiful either way, and whether you had braces or not didn’t change that inherent fact (and that was his “reason” for not noticing to reassure you)

all while giving his easy going chuckles and ruffling your hair

laughs at your shyness at his words, not because it’s funny or anything but he truly finds you adorable

once you get comfortable without giving a second thought about your braces gone, he just drops the truth bomb on you so casually like:

“Ahhhh (y/n)-san,” he sighs in nostalgia. “You were really cute when you were so shy about getting them off, you know that?”

“Now wait a second…”

“Hm?”

“What did you say?”

“That you’re really cute.”

“No, no, the other part.”

“Whenever you get shy.”

“That is not what I mean and you know that—”

“Aww, you’re being really cute right now, (y/n)-san. Don’t tempt me to carry you around when I just finished with my physical therapy.”

[ratsoh-writes]

The character limit on asks cannot stop me from submitting my matchup request

I apologize in advance. I have dumb bitch don’t shut up disease. There’s nothing I can do 🤷‍♂️

The elephant in the room: I’m neurodivergent. A mix of adhd and autism. I was born with disabilities. I have Chairi type 2, I did get surgery as kid for it, and an auto-inflammatory disorder as the biggest in my life. Chronic migraines, joint and muscle pain, stomach issues etc. I take meds to help and try to keep up with low impact activities. I do get an injection for the auto-inflammatory disease and then botox and nerve blocks injections in my head and shoulders for intense muscle stiffness. Hurts like hell but it helps me a lot. 

Personality: I’m quite low energy and quiet most of the time. I like familiarity and having to change how I do something stresses me out hard. I try to appear calm and sarcastic but I’m a lot more sensitive than what I want to admit. Rejection sensitivity dysphoria messes me up bad and I’m generally an anxious person. I do have a knack for analyzing things. I can get too involved the world’s problems with this but also pinpoint how someone feels and maybe why once I notice their pattern. I really want to make people happier. If a loved one asks me to jump, I’ll ask how high. As for humor, I adore stupid tumblr and gen z humor. Me and the boys DO go out looking for beans thank you for asking. 

Hobbies: I love some existential games. Little Nightmares 1 and 2 are iconic. I could go on and on about the symbolism. Speaking of, once again I like to analyze. Media analysis is a fun pastime for me. As I said, I get into larger issues and I find different media’s are wonderful media for exploring them, specially horror. My new thing is horror podcasts. Archive 81 is my favorite rn. I’ve been trying to nurture my inner kid. I have plushies that I sleep with and ones that I attach to my bag to bring with me places. I wanna rewatch some childhood shows/movies like Monster High, Barbie, and Pokémon. I’ve been sewing and crocheting a lot. I made a stuffed whale with a starry looking yarn. Space whale ❤️. I draw and paint a ton. I like gauche, markers, pencils, and digital but I wanna go back to sketches. I like learning, it sounds so dumb but it’s true. I wanna go into a research field actually, specially with birds. I really like animals in general though. I have some dogs and cats and a bearded dragon. I have a sorts punk-cryptidcore-fairycore thing going on. I really expressing it through clothing and eye and lip makeup. I’m a big lipstick fan. I always wear it out. I like big and bold eyeshadow looks. I want to be soft and huggable while also looking like I came from hell.

Pet Peeves: If I say I’m busy or not in the mood, I really need that person to listen. I get into angry moods sometimes and just need to be left alone. I hate feeling like that and I despise snapping at people. Talking over me every time. I got in trouble a lot for interrupting so now I’m very cautious about it and I’d like the same. In the same vain, never listening to what I’m trying to say. I’m excited or invested in something and then they keep talking to someone else or looking at their phone. I have bad sensory issues. Don’t bother me about it. I can eat a sandwich one day and the next it makes sick. I don’t know why, don’t ask. I also can’t stand a variety of sounds. It doesn’t matter if it isn’t loud, I can hear it and it hurts. 

Dealbreakers: I hate being brushed off when I’m upset. I rarely communicate it, so when I do it’s a leap of faith from my perspective. I don’t want to be told I’m being defensive or emotional or be left alone.

Values: I hate so much about the world currently, and a lot of it is how people don’t question things. Why is this necessary if it causes hurt? Do we need it? Can we alter it? I find a lot of good people agree on fixing things but don’t understand the deeper issues that cause them. I guess I really value compassion. From a scientific standpoint, humans got so far by being really good at taking care of each other. We took care of the sick and elderly and cared for babies and children. I want things to better for my younger siblings and their kids. I truly believe in silent rebellions and hope in dark places. I’m disabled, very very queer and a lot of my family are immigrants. I’m very proud. So many people and systems tried stop me but I’m still very alive. I think living as happily and indulgently as I can is the best F you to those people and systems.

Oh! I think I have it down with this one!

The boy I’m matching you with is…..

Papyrus!!! The cool man himself!!

What attracts papyrus to you is the fact that you never loose hope! You aren’t naive by any means, but you still see the good in humanity and want to add to that. Plus your creativity is a big bonus. Papyrus is usually attracted to the artsy people. Anyone who creates

He an amazing communicator and is so forgiving and compassionate. If you’re looking for a respectful boy, paps is your man. He’s good with quirky partners and rolls with it well. Especially if you’re willing to entertain his own quirks in return.

One thing about humans that he’s super jealous of is lips lol. Papyrus jokes about wishing he could feel his “hair” in the breeze, but if he had lips, you’d bet he’d be wearing lipstick every day too. He adores it when you wear yours and will pretend not to notice if you ever leave lipstick stains on his cheek lol

He doesn’t get gen z humor very well, but does enjoy the dirtier jokes. He won’t admit that though! Gotta keep up his good boy image!

[knifesxedge]

hi love im deep in ur art blog for reasons and im SO in love with the fact that ur ghoul has his OWN nickname tattooed on him in party's writing they are SO 🥺 was wondering if you wanted to talk a bit more abt ghouls tattoos??? theyre just SO gorgeous and intricately laid out

HI i LOVE u i am KISSING u i would love love love to talk about ghoul’s tattoos 🥺❤️

^ yeah ghoul & party have each other’s handwriting tattooed!! for party it’s one of the only tattoos they have & it’s right over their heart (im sure ive mentioned this fact before but idk if ive explicitly noted that it says ‘sunshine’) and ghoul didn’t have the space to put his right over his heart because poison’s kj symbol is there so his is on his upper arm (they ARE soooooooo 🥺 i love them)

ghoul’s tattoos are a healthy mix of sentimental ink and things he just thought were beautiful. when he met the rest of the four he didn’t have THAT many tattoos because 1. he was 14 2. he’d only been in the zones for a little under a year and a half at that point but the ones he DID have (aka his oldest tattoos) were his knuckle tattoos (‘freed’ and ‘fuck’ what can i say he was 13), the big raven on his upper shoulder and neck (he started believing in the witch very early compared to other cityborns but yeah that tattoo was both a way of symbolizing his devotion to the witch and a way of marking himself as a killjoy/shedding his past in the city in the way that he considered clearest), the fangs on his hand, two bats on his leg, the zombie bite on the other side of his neck (i could get a little more into this but BASICALLY ghoul being an ex-crow trainee + a cityborn + being the only surviving member of his first crew had a problem with feeling inhuman and a lot of survivor’s guilt and so he really. idk he connected a lot with zombies & frankenstein’s monster and ghosts & the like when he was a runner for dr. d post-his crew’s deaths. he got better about Seeing Himself as a Person especially once kobra + the other two showed up but the fascination remained) (also not tattoo-related but that’s when he chose his name. before that he’d been called ‘sandpup’ by his old crew & he never had a chance to tell them before they passed but he really loved that they used that as a name for him especially with how much he didn’t want to associate himself with the city) (ghoul had A Lot of issues but the difference there is that he worked thru them a lot earlier than the rest of the four) and “I FORGIVE U” on the back of his neck (in remembrance of said former crew).

umm along with that kind of fascination with the undead/feeling that kind of connection are the frankenstein stitches on his wrists (tho thats more of a common hc) and he has this pretty big tattoo of abstracted bones following his vertebrae down his throat and chest that he’s gotten expanded/fixed/touched up over the years. ik i do a lot of b&w doodles but i feel like i’ve been kind of inconsistent about coloring (most of his tattoos are color). pretty sure ive mostly drawn them in green (???) but in my head they’re like a faded light blue using natural skin tone as highlights.

his more sentimental tattoos…let me see if i can outline them here. this might not be exhaustive but i will do my best to list what ive figured out at least thus far:

the two little bats on his right thigh are for his grandmother and little sister. his sister (juliet adele fujikawa, b. april 2009 d. december 2014) was killed in a car crash shortly before he left the city, and likewise, his grandmother (charlotte fujikawa [藤川 千尋] b. june 1936 d. december 2014) was “moved to retirement housing” at about the same time. that was pretty much the last straw & ghoul left battery city within the week

there’s his crewmates’ symbols on his chest (in order from his right to left: kobra, jet, party) (gotten when their crew had been together for a while. dating this one is based on a couple things: 1. ghoul had been with them for long enough that he felt secure 2. poison and ghoul were friends by this point, or else he wouldn’t have included their symbol and 3. poison’s is over his heart so you can read into that as you will)

text from the graffiti bible on his right calf, as protection for his crew & as a reminder of one of his former friends who was a droid that believed very strongly in destroya’s return

his raygun on his chest (he was pretty proud of the design! this was when he was ~15 or 16) that he had poison’s added to post-sing post-engagement pre-commitment ceremony (so. september 2023) (yes i have my handwritten timeline + my own drawings + my fics out in front of me rn cross-referencing sldkdksksbx!)

one of the girl’s childhood drawings (one she drew of him & her & the stuffed animal he made for her when she was a baby all having a tea party together) from when she’s about 5 or so on his right hip (december 2022 or so)

shooting stars on his upper right shoulder, partially because they’re pretty and blend well with his other tattoos and partially because they’re a reminder of a lot of things, including but not limited to his first night out in the zones seeing the stars for the first time, stories his grandma used to tell him, and right when he’d first joined the fab four and him & kobra sat on the roof during a meteor shower

besides the other one i already mentioned ^ he has more of poison’s handwriting on his left inner forearm — this is also one ive mentioned before but once they’ve been in a relationship for a while they get into the habit of leaving little love notes around for each other! there’s nothing particularly special specifically about the one he got tattooed, besides the fact that it reminded him of poison and they love each other. the text in full (which i don’t think ive ever put anywhere, though im pretty sure ive put fragments of it in fics and art) is as follows:

Good Morning baby <3! I needed new paints, went on a run. Kobra has the Girl @ the Crash Track, Jet’s at the station. call me when you wake up! I love you, be back soon. XO Party <3

he also has the anniversaries of when they started dating and their commitment ceremony (03•03•21 and 10•26•23 respectively) on the inside of his right wrist ^ !

he’s got a snake wrapping around his left leg that kobra picked out and a hand of cards with the ace of spades face up that jet picked out (and these ofc are because they remind him of his crewmates!!)

he has the phoenix witch tattooed on his ribs, left side, styled vaguely after catholic saints (since that imagery can still be found in the inner zones & especially where ‘joys who still practice that religion gather!)

there’s a version of the eye from the mailbox on his right shoulder, and this one is also a sort of symbol of protection/good luck, to show devotion to the witch and to help protect himself and his crew

the constellation libra on his left forearm! this one was done a little while after he started running transmissions and supplies for dr. d! he liked the connection that astrology — whether he believed in the practice or not is up for debate — gave people to the stars, and the feeling that he had a place in the universe, predestined or not

after charlie is born, he gets a portrait of her (~age 4) with her name and birthday underneath done on his left thigh! (~2036)

and on his lower back, he has a fairly simple tattoo of two crows on a wire with their beaks pressed together (aughhhhhh romance) that he gets done as an anniversary surprise for their 10-year (so. 2033)!

his non-sentimental tattoos are largely based off of images from books, either from dr. d’s collection when he was working as a runner for him or from cherri’s after he joined up with the fab four, or else they’re naturally occurring in the zones!! this includes but is not limited to: california golden poppies on the back of his left shoulder, strawberries around his left bicep (he doesn’t ever have a strawberry until he’s like 35, this one is absolutely based off of a particularly pretty illustration), a thundercloud with lightning on his left elbow, a moon on his right inner bicep, a ring of thorns around his right forearm right under the elbow, a dagger on his inner left calf, and a sun, small bat, cross, rose, ribbon (with the word ‘faith’ in script), and wing on his right forearm and hand, all picked from flash sheets

so yeah! that’s about everything i have to say about ghoul’s tattoos atm but ty ty ty sm for letting me ramble abt them i think about his tattoos so much 😔❤️

[yozzers]

vexos hcs and random notes

ill update as i go, because yes i do update my masterlists every once in awhile, i should probably add them to my pinned... 

General

I sincerely hope they have a small living arrangement so I can inflict them with the pain of having to share almost everything with each other

I just want Shadow and Lync to share a bunk

Like to think that alongside Volt, Mylene and Lync were also recruited by Hydron

None of them officially joined until they were a bit older but probably trained to eventually join the Vexos; in the mean time they probably worked for Hydron or something like that

Volt recruited at 11; Lync a year later and Mylene following not long after (respectively 13, 8, 12 when they’re all gathered)

My reasoning to why Volt is patient with Lync’s antics and Mylene less so but doesn’t lash out as badly as you think she would around annoying little kids; grew up tgt moment

Spectra probably forced his way into the Vexos like “hiiii i see you dont have any Vexos members <3″ bcs obv he wasn’t using royal scientist dad privelages (i think, bcs Clay seems horrified abt Spectra being a Vexos and well, being Spectra) 

Shadow had an advantage of being a nobleman (in terms of him being accepted into the Vexos’ ranks)

the Vexos and their set of rules magent-ed on the fridge door or something and every time they go over a page they have to staple/tape a new page on

Joined in this order, Volt, Spectra, Shadow, Mylene, Lync, Gus 

Vexos being a “chance of death low but the chance is still there” type of job... they feel like idols girl help they are bakugan idol group who work for the government 

sorry the way the vestal kids talk about them... going to treat the Vexos like a kpop group now

Spectra Phantom / Keith Fermin 

[canon] son of a (royal?) scientist. definitely had it good and comfy

think it’d be REALLY funny if he already knew Shadow before he became Spectra, Shadow just doesn’t recognize him bcs of his stupid get up

throws childhood friends Shadow Spectra at you, just two weirdos 

Keith specifically keeps Shadow from ever meeting his sister which is why neither of them really recognize each other

Pre-Spectra; probably would’ve been really into bakugan biology and what not. Feels like the kind of person to talk w/ his dad about “do you think we could change their appearance if we messed w/ their mechanical ball form or would it not carry over to their released forms”

this mf looks like a biology major i feel it in my guts 

mom isn’t dead she just divorced Clay bcs he didn’t know how to balance family and work, good for her

probably lives in another city now, and it’s a bit more of a hassle to meet with her kids so they don’t see her as much but she is present in their lives (keep in contact in other ways) 

probably went a bit silent when Keith went missing

didn’t bleach his eyebrows bcs he didn’t want to harm the skin around there and he never thought he’d take the mask off around others, or about how stupid he’d look without the mask

please please please please draw him with his pink hair roots in his MS fit he should've grown out some of his bleached hair by then

daddy issues is truly the root of evil

Gus Grav

Just Some Gut background; middle class just living life

[canon?] was going on a route to being an “idol brawler”, because that’s kind of what their brawls felt like, since it was all purely for show with some competition. it felt less like a sport and more spectacle.

Gus wanting to be an idol brawler is actually such a funny string of words put together I’m making that a thing, if he didn’t join the Vexos he would’ve been an idol brawler

I like the Gus needs glasses hc (shoutout to @marmeladebois ‘s post on that) 

The hc of him being half human and Runo’s half brother is so good 

Cooks well but refuses to help cook fr the Vexos (unless Spectra specifically asks) --> that job is usually left to Volt

not related but reminds me heavily of yugioh vrain’s Spectre (or other way around... Gus was the blueprint) 

Shadow Prove

[handbook canon] a vestal nobleman 

has an older brother (oc; Lux- casual Haos brawler)

inferiority complex or whatever, the only thing he bested his brother in was Bakugan

the Prove family being typical prim proper noble family and forcing Shadow to be repressed is something, but the Proves having the same kind of wavelength as Shadow but in different variations is funnier. They’re just Like That.

Probably not a military family, does work closely with the government still; um im thinking somewhere under the Fermins but not by much

Considered running away from home several times 

Unwillingly has knowledge on Vestal classic literature/ music

hard clutching a wall whenever he wants to join in on discussions about it bcs he knows this stuff but no way is he going to make himself look like a nerd + hes not actually that interested

*debates you for fun and bcs i hate u <3* 

You know how he doesn’t take his job as a Vexos member super seriously, I wonder:

did his parents force him to be a Vexos since he wasn’t interested in the political side of his family and probably against taking up anything related to it, so they had him do something that’d still be beneficial to the family?  

joined to pursue a freedom he didn’t have as a nobleman and is now just taking it really easy?

has clowns > jesters debate with volt; obv he’s team clown, volt is team jester

incredibly irrelevant but if he was a human he’d be chinese, i’ve claimed him, prodigal son older brother and fail son dynamic is there 

Mylene Ferrow

While I like the idea of her being from a military family, I want to make her like Ling Wen (TGCF) in the sense she started from the bottom and climbed to the top... it fits her ambitious nature of grasping for more, she hasn’t reached what she considers the top just yet... 

[very Ling Wen specific but Mylene being put in jail fr crimes unknown to me and being recruited  by Hydron bcs she kicked serious ass is an entertaining thought] 

I like to think she’s closest to Shadow due to the fact he kind of forces his presence onto her so... not her choice in that matter. “annoying” to “endearingly annoying, you still aren’t getting special treatment though”

Ofc Volt and Lync are on the same level, but I think they all know when to give each other space so they’re more of a “we hold each other at a distance, but we’re aware of out closeness which is enough for us”

Then its Spectra and then Gus in the “closest to Mylene” scale; she just straight up hates Gus and it’s mutual

whoever made the “Mylene and Spectra were exes” hc I think it’s really funny so I’m adding it here 

terrible fashion, she’s the one who chose the outfits when she and Shadow went to earth; her fashionable armor look she usually has was designed with Volt’s help, she just voiced what she generally wanted 

Her red lipstick look was bcs she thought it’d make her look more serious/ intimidating (Volt and Lync approved, it rlly does work on her)

Shadow matches w/ her (via his red nails) after they get teamed up tgt several times bcs he thinks they’re basically the go-to duo matchup whenever they’re assigned work n it’d be cool

Very forthcoming about the fact she used to be considered a criminal and was from same rundown area Volt and Lync come from

She’s grateful she got out of jail but she still has no respect for Hydron and despite how much she tries to hide it she does make it pretty clear to him she doesn’t really like him

I wish I had more to say about her... but It’s all relationship esque, i think in general she’s enjoyable and good so what I want more out of her is character dynamics

Lync Volan

[eng dub] he has grandparents; whether they’re still alive or not is...? 

was part of the same area Volt is from

probably aware of each other but didn’t really know each other

you sound like you have mommy issues 

came from the same area as Volt, but lived further out and closer to those areas where there were some bits of nature left 

ill expand on why he got picked up by Hydron another day lazy rn

Volt Luster

[canon] he’s from an area that just straight up looks like yugioh 5ds’ Satellite, and Hydron was the one who pulled him out of there  

He says Hydron pulled him out of there when he was a kid? I’d assume at youngest it’d be like Hydron (8) and Volt (11)

has a neat collection of handmade jester dolls 

lot more artistic than he seems 

Had his guardian bakugan with him the longest; had Brontes even before he met Hydron

Would the others consider him weird fr having a talking Bakugan that acted friendly with him n cracked jokes? 

[prisonhannibal]

no worries if this isn't something you want to talk about but do you have any tips for someone who's trying therapy for the first time?? i've definitely struggled w mental illness my whole life but grew up in a family that doesn't believe in psychology and i want to see a therapist but i don't really know how it works or what you even do in therapy LOL

sorry I took a while to get to this ask i’ve been working 💖 I don’t mind questions about mental health or treatment, i’ve been very open about it so it’s fine!

I’m probably not the best person to ask about starting therapy because I first got put in therapy at 12 lolll but I did that for about 4 months and then started again at 16 and I’m still getting therapy (not super rich, just norwegian so I don’t pay for it) so I am a bit of a therapy review blog if I do say so myself. i’ve done CBT, DBT, trauma-focused CBT, EMDR, MBT, hospitalizations, and regular talk therapy, so that the kinda tips and mindset I could talk about depends a LOT on what kind of problems you’re getting help for + the type of therapy you are doing. this is what I can think of rn tho that probably applies to a lot of stuff

if you can switch therapists, don’t be scared to do that if it’s not working out! i’ve had great therapists (one who genuinely changed my life, I can’t describe how grateful I am for her she was like a relative to me) and absolutely horrible therapists, one bad experience doesn’t mean therapy isn’t for u!! just keep trying! it’s important to set boundaries and let them know if there’s problems in the therapy relationship too

be honest with your therapist, even if it’s about issues you have with the therapist. communication is important!

remember that therapy is something you DO. you can go and sit there for an hour every week, but if you don’t do the work and actually use the skills you learn, it’s not gonna help. believe me I did that for years and I thought that it was hopeless and that therapy wasn’t doing anything, but the reason it wasn’t working is that I just let a therapist talk at me for an hour instead of doing the work myself. therapists can’t do it for you, only help you do it for yourself

some coping skills sound stupid, but really help, so give them a couple of chances

sometimes it gets worse before it gets better (especially with trauma stuff!!!) so don’t give up when it gets hard, but communicate with your therapist about what way it’s hard, so you can figure out if it’s helping or hurting

you don’t have to talk about everything immediately. be honest, but don’t rush or overwhelm yourself, you have time

diagnoses aren’t the most important thing, but they can really help get the right sort of treatment. if a diagnosis doesn’t fit, don’t be scared to say so. if they evaluate you again they’ll either a. realize you have something else and hopefully change the treatment plan if needed, or b. find out that the diagnosis is correct. it’s fine either way, it’s always good to figure things out. personally I was misdiagnosed with BPD, so the therapy I got for like 2 years wasn’t helpful for me because it focused on relationships etc and I don’t have ANY of the relationship+identity problems people with BPD have, so it was kind of a waste of time for me. I literally just had mood swings, impulsivity and self destructive behaviors because I’m bipolar, so when I got diagnosed and treated for it I immediately got better

you don’t have to prove that you’re “sick enough”

sometimes you go in thinking you’re getting help for one thing, but end up having other things that need to be addressed too, just be open

if something is hurting you, please set boundaries. therapists and the mental health system aren’t flawless, and if something is harmful to you you are allowed to speak up about it and not just uncritically go along with whatever they say

it may take a lot of time. look at me lol. just don’t rush through it! it worked out for me in the end ❤️

that’s all I can think of rn! I hope it was helpful in some way. remember to take care of yourself, maybe a little bit extra right now because you’re probably going through a lot since you’re considering going to therapy, and also since you’re going to deal with some stuff that might be difficult. just be extra nice, treat yourself. sometimes it’s nice to eat some chocolate or draw or paint my nails after therapy sessions just because it can be intense sometimes. I wish you all the best hope it can help you with the healing you want and need 💖💖💖💖