#I'm still figuring out how to draw em but it's going

[coqhee]

LOSE MY BREATH

✷ enhypen's reaction to wearing what you wore on your first date

day 24 of melodies to memories ― ot7 x f!r fluff ⨯ petnames skinship kissing ⨯ 1607

em's note ★ not really an advent anymore is it but that's ok!! i refuse to abandon this since we're really just 2 fics off (one now!!)

─── ♡

LEE HEESEUNG

heeseung would be coming home from work ready to go out on your date then WOW

tries to play it cool at first, giving you his usual charming smile, but you can see the way his gaze lingers

quickly tries to recompose his cocky-sweet persona, and makes sure you know how perfect you are

“hi bab- woah” he’d say as he looks up after putting his bag down.

“hm?” you pretend to mindlessly hum as if you didn’t plan it, smoothing down the fabric of your dress as if it was just another one of those expensive dresses he’d buy you.

“you look prettier than the first time i saw you in this” heeseung grinned, looking you up and down.

“oh, please,” you laugh, rolling your eyes, but he doesn’t miss the way your cheeks flush at his words.

he smirks knowingly, stepping closer and tilting his head slightly. “no wonder why you asked to go to that shitty diner again,” he snapped, the pieces all falling into place.

“mmhm,” you hum again, this time a bit smug as you shrug. 

“c'mon let’s go get food poisoning or something,” he leans in close, pressing a kiss to the top of your head before taking your hand in his and leading you out to the car. 

more under the cut!

─── ♡

PARK JONGSEONG

comes home with roses then BOOM jaw on the floor

it’s not even that he recognizes that you’re wearing what you wore on your first date he just thinks you look absolutely stunning

being the gentleman he is, when he does realize, he’s sending compliments your way the whooole night

“you look amazing, sweetheart,” jay quickly regained his composure with a smile on his face after seeing you in the same stunning dress.

“notice anyyything different?” you asked, drawing out the words teasingly.

he narrows his eyes playfully, stepping closer to you with a hand rubbing his chin in mock thought. “hmm, let’s see… is it the shoes? no, wait��it’s the way you’re absolutely glowing right now.”

“mm mm” you hum out loud while he takes one long look and realizes.

“no way,” he breathes, his smile growing impossibly wider as he steps even closer, his hands gently resting on your waist, reality clicking in “you actually kept it all this time?”

you nod and grin, pleased with his reaction.

─── ♡

SIM JAEYUN

poor bro doesn’t even realize cause he’s just so in love with everything you wear

as soon as you tell him though he’s running back to his room to find that dorky striped shirt he was wearing

he’s trying to recreate EVERYTHING from that first date

“you really don’t recognize what i'm wearing?” you sigh feeling a little disappointed, yet incredibly understandable from jake’s perspective. you have way too many outfits for your own good.

“i seriously don’t know angel, im so sorry,” he pleads, scratching his head desperately trying to figure it out.

“it’s what i wore on our first date,” 

"no way." jake’s voice drops to a whisper, as if he’s just uncovered the biggest secret of the century.

you nod, your grin growing wider as you cross your arms. "way."

his face drops to a look of shock and runs to his room. a minute later, he emerges, proudly wearing the very green and white long-sleeved shirt he had donned on your first date. the one that was a little too big on him back then, and still is now, though it somehow manages to look even cuter.

“ta-da!” he exclaims, throwing his arms out with a grin, though it falters slightly when he notices the faint ketchup stain still adorning the hem.

“oh my god, jake,” you laugh, covering your face with your hands. “you kept that?”

"of course i did," he says, feigning offense as he spins in place to show off the shirt. "this bad boy is iconic. and now, we match." as he extends his hand to help you up from the couch, pulling you into his arms for an embrace while smiling into your neck.

─── ♡

PARK SUNGHOON

immediately notices since he bought it for you so you could accompany him to some charity gala his parents asked him to bring a date to

he’s fully in the moment asking you to do a spin for him, again and again

he don’t gaf about the date anymore

“i think you made it prettier than it was already,” he smiles warmly

you can’t help the heat rising to your cheeks at his words, his warm gaze making you feel like the most precious thing in the world.

“oh, stop,” you mumble, swatting lightly at his chest, though the smile pulling at your lips betrays your feigned humbleness.

“what?” he teases, catching your hand mid-swat and holding it on his own. “i’m just being honest. you make everything look better—always have.”

you roll your eyes, but your heart is beating just a little faster. “you really don’t have to lay it on so thick, hoon. it’s just an outfit.”

“just an outfit?” he repeats, eyebrows shooting up in disbelief. “baby, this is the outfit. the one that made me think, ‘wow, i’ve got to do everything i can to make sure i get a second date with her.’”

you laugh, shaking your head. “you’re so dramatic.”

─── ♡

KIM SUNOO

of course he’d remember that outfit cause you chose to match on your first date as if you were already a couple

though actually, you didn’t even remember what you wore and he’s the one to call you out

he’d fake pout and be dramatic about how you don’t love him

“you realize what you’re wearing right?” sunoo asked with a crinkle of his nose from smiling seeing you in it.

“huh? is something wrong? i know it’s a little small on me now, but i haven’t worn it in a while,” you say worried, checking yourself out in the mirror feeling a slight bit of self doubt.

“what? no it looks great sunshine, don’t worry. you look amazing as always” he reassured, stepping closer, his hands brushing against your waist as if to emphasize his point. “it’s just… that’s what you wore on our first date. is it some special occasion?”

“oh it is! no wonder i haven’t worn it in a while,” you saw his face shift immediately into a pout.

“you really don’t remember? are you sure you even love me?” he asked, fake wiping a tear from his cheek.

you couldn’t help but laugh at his dramatic tone, rolling your eyes. “oh, stop it. of course i love you, you big baby.”

─── ♡

YANG JUNGWON

another bf that remembers for SURE!!

you two weren’t even going out anywhere but he thought he’d clean out your closet for you as a favor since it was a mess and the second he laid his eyes on it he wanted you to wear it again

jaw dropped eyes bulging yet hyping you up at the same time saying you should live in that outfit. 

“baby c'mere,” jungwon called out from your room.

“yeah?”

“put this on,” he’d hold out a lump of clothes and you quickly took the pile and changed in the bathroom.

you stepped out of the bathroom, the clothes now on you, and he looked up from his phone, a wide grin spreading across his face.

“you look—" he paused, clearly taking in your appearance with a pleased expression, "absolutely perfect. this is what i was imagining the whole time.”

you raised an eyebrow, a bit of confusion flickering in your mind. “seriously won? it’s just a hoodie and jeans.”

“yeah but it’s the hoodie and jeans you wore on out first date, and you look amazing.” you rolled your eyes at his praise

“mmkay loverboy,” you giggled pulling him in for a small kiss before heading back out to the kitchen.

─── ♡

NISHIMURA RIKI

surprise surprise, your first date outfit was his hoodie cause you spilled on your shirt 5 minutes in

of course he likes seeing you in his hoodie and he can’t help but wanna giggle on the inside but he’s gotta keep the nonchalant act up

complain about you taking specifically that hoodie but it basically became yours the second you put it on

“i swear, do you only like the hoodie cause i gave it to you on our first date?” riki asked with mock annoyance when he saw you in it, waiting for you to get ready faster.

“mayybe maybe not, either way im still gonna wear it,” you smirked running past him to the door to put your shoes on. 

“hey, no fair!” he called after you, his voice light and teasing. “you can’t just run away from me like that, especially when you know how much i love seeing you in that hoodie.”

you shot him a playful glance over your shoulder, pausing for just a second before continuing to slip on your shoes. “oh, i’m just giving you a little taste of what it was like back then. you remember how i looked when i first wore it, right?” you teased.

he brought his nose down to sniff the clothing scrunching his nose. “now it smells all like you,” he sighed, joking with no actual complaint in sight. “guess i have to get myself a new one,”

“oh shut up, you like when i wear this hoodie so stop whining and lets go,” you rolled your eyes as you turned around to look at him smiling at the tall man, admiring the way his eyes gleamed in adoration.

─── ♡

melodies to memories tl (open!): @wonziz @hhmnya @ourhees @lovuegi @letmein2urheart @firstclassjaylee @ancnymcnzjy

@ coqhee 2025. all rights reserved

[gumibuki]

[ezlo-x]

Some Ganondorf pose practice

(under cut is me rambling I should actually go to bed)

helloooo it is time for the lovely late night posting from meee

lately ive been feeling frustrated on how i draw anatomy. i want it to be simplistic like idk 2000s MTV or Adult Swim cartoon show art style I'm very tired and sleepy but just know its part of that era of art that I've been searching inspo for. but honestly i feel like i havent done proper body drawings in a while and I love doing it. idk why i just felt motivated to practice drawing ganondorf, I've also been feeling frustrated that the way i draw characters posing has gotten really stiff. so ig the perfect storm was created and a combination of things happened when drawing and i gotta say im pretty proud of it

i took pose refs cause i havent done that in a long while. I took the way i draw totk ganondorf and used certain traits and give em to LF ganondorf and i really love how it turned out. Im also trying to figure out still on how to use my new tablet cause this is actually the first time I'm properly using it (classes didn't gave me much time with it). my mind just went blank i was gonna say more anywayz uhhhhhh imma let this be rebloggable cause i liked how it turned out, IM very shy abt sharing stuff like this but i will share it to you all

enjoy topless ganondorf <3

[stormz369]

☕💖 Can I Get Your Number? ☕💖 Ch 9

Jason Todd x (f)Chubby!Reader

written with a female reader in mind, first person pov, no use of Y/N, will probably get NSFW later, let me know if there's anything else I should tag this with!

warnings: some slightly confrontational conversations wc: 1.7k

Chapter Selection

Ding!

I groaned softly, looking over at my phone. 2 unread messages; Jason's daily ‘good morning 😌’ had just come in, but there was also one from Damian. I clicked on Damian's name, blinking groggily, and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. There was no text, just an attachment; a photo of a page from his sketchbook where he'd drawn a portrait of himself and his friend Jon.

I smiled softly, examining his drawing. It took my sleep-addled mind a moment to realize that what I originally took as a swirly background design was in fact writing. ‘Nice line work! But I'd like to see you branch out a bit’.

Damian: Attachment 4:03am Me: You're a very talented artist! … But, did your teacher write on your work??? 🤨 8:30am Damian: He did. 8:40am Me: … Wtf?????????? That's not cool!  8:41am Damian: It's just a sketchbook … I was considering giving it to Jon, but I can always remake it. The perspective is a bit off anyway. 8:45am Me: …. Oh. Hell. No. 8:46am

I jumped up, calling Jason, and got dressed. Jay answered after the third ring.

“You’re up very early, did I wake you?” He sounded a bit sleepy, and I could picture the little smile on his face.

“Yes, but that's not important right now. Do you know which school Damian goes to?”

“Um … yeah? Why?”

“... I promised him anything he talked to me about would stay between us. But I do need to go to his school. Do you think you can take me there?”

“... I guess? … Just … promise me that everything’s ok?”

“Everything’s fine, I just need to get there.”

“Alright, give me fifteen minutes. I'll be on my bike; wear long pants and closed toed shoes - boots if you've got ’em. … And maybe we can get breakfast after?”

I giggled and nodded; “sounds perfect! You're amazing, Jay!”

He stuttered a bit, mumbling a shy; “I … not really … I … I'll see you soon…” before he hung up.

Damian: What? 8:55am Me: That's just really not ok! What's your teacher's name? 8:56am

I threw on jeans and ran downstairs as Jay arrived on his bike. He held out a helmet for me, smiling softly. “Hey Doll~ … anything you can tell me about why we're going to the school?”

“... Not really. I just need to talk to one of Damian's teachers.”

Jason nodded, opening the bag on the side of his bike and offering me a red leather jacket. “Alright, well, this isn't how I had planned to give you this, but … anyway, here, put this on.”

I blinked a bit, taking it. “... Thank you? … It's really not that cold though…” I put it on anyway, figuring he wouldn't take no for an answer. It fit me perfectly, and had a soft lining on the inside. In the pocket I found a pair of black leather gloves, which I slid on as well.

“It's not for the cold - it's to protect you. If you're gonna be my backpack, you're gonna have proper layers on, in case we get in an accident. … Not that I think we will, I'm an excellent driver, but still. I'm not risking it. Not with you…”

I could feel my heart filling with warmth as I realized why he'd brought the bike today. This wasn’t just a riding jacket, it was my riding jacket. The helmet he gave me was my helmet. He'd gotten these things so we could go riding together... “Ohh, ok~ … What do you mean your backpack?”

He gestured to the seat behind him. “When you’ve got a cute girl riding with you they're called your backpack.”

I giggled softly, climbing on, and wrapped my arms around his waist, just like Red Hood had shown me all those months ago. “I see. Arms here, right?”

He nodded, gently stroking the back of my hand. “Perfect. There's a bluetooth headset in our helmets, so if you need anything just tell me.”

I nodded, leaning against his back, and we took off. Jason was so warm in my arms, and I'd never held him like this before. We'd hugged of course, and cuddled a bit, but this felt different somehow. Maybe because my hands were usually on his back, not his chest or stomach. I quickly started having to consciously remind myself not to fondle his abs, no matter how incredible they felt through his shirt…

All too quickly, we came to a stop in front of a private school. Once our helmets were off, I kissed his cheek. “I'll be right back!”

He blushed a bit and nodded, taking my helmet. “Just don't get kicked out.”

Ding!

Damian: What are you doing? 9:15am Damian: … It's Mr. Jackson. 9:16am Damian: Why aren't you responding??? 9:45am Me: Sorry, was on Jason's bike. Don't worry about what I'm doing. … Shouldn't you be in class? 9:46am

I approached the front office, tucking my gloves into my pocket while I waited for the secretary to get off the phone. When she looked over at me I offered her a warm smile; “hi. I'm here to speak to the principal.”

“Do you have an appointment?”

“No ma'am, but I do need to speak to them.”

She raised an eyebrow and looked me over, getting up and going into the back office. An older man followed her back out and offered me his hand as he introduced himself.

“How can I help you, Miss …?”

I introduced myself. “I'm here on behalf of one of your students. It seems a Mr. Jackson was grading his students' sketches and thought it was appropriate to write his critiques directly on them.”

He blinked, an unamused expression on his face; “I see … are you the mother of a student here … young lady?”

“No, just one of their trusted adults.”

“... I see. Well, I'm afraid we cannot have non-parental figures at school during the day. You'll have to leave now. School policy, you understand.”

I smirked, observing him for a moment. He reminded me of my high school principal; an old, rude man who had no respect for those he viewed as under him. “... Oh, I see. I thought you'd rather speak with me about this matter, but it's fine. I'm sure Bruce will handle it.”

The bell rang as I turned on my heel, heading for the door. Before I got to the main entrance, I heard the man following after me; “excuse me? Young lady, are you saying you're here on behalf of-”

“What are you doing here?” I jumped slightly, turning to face Damian who had seemingly materialized behind me. I put on a pleasant smile.

“Ah, hello Damian. I'm so sorry darling; I tried to handle this matter just between us, but it seems your principal,” I turned to him, putting on my best bored and slightly disdainful expression, “what was it again? … Right, Mr. Cole. Well, Mr. Cole won't speak with me, so I suppose I'll be calling your father instead.”

The principal paled, stuttering out; “the- there's no reason to bother Mr. Wayne at work. I'm sure he's very busy. Why don't we head back into my office and we can discuss this?”

“Oh!” I pretended to be surprised; “well, if you're sure. I would hate for you to break school policy.”

He shook his head, practically pulling me along. “I insist, please.”

Damian followed us, frowning a bit; the principal looked like he was about to argue, but thought better of it. Once his door was closed and we were all seated, he cleared his throat. “Now, … what seems to be the problem with Mr. Johnson?”

“Jackson. The art teacher.” I frowned a bit, sitting back a little. I turned to Damian, smiling gently; “would you like to tell him, Damian, or …?”

He shook his head once, a guarded expression on his face, and I nodded before turning back to the principal. “Mr. Jackson wrote a critique on one of Damian's pieces, and-”

“Art teachers have to critique the students, Miss. I'm sure it wasn't meant to be harsh, but-”

I held my hand up, hoping my expression was as stern as I wanted it to be; “The issue, sir, is not the fact of the critique. The issue is that he wrote it on the piece. Writing on top of any artist's work is just wrong, even, perhaps most especially, when those artists are your students. Your students work hard on their art, and what they do with it after submitting it for their assignment is their business. But they cannot do anything with their art after class if your teachers are writing on their work.”

The man shrunk in his seat as I spoke, looking between me and Damian. “... I … I see. Yes, that is … not ideal. Of course. … I will speak with Mr. Jackson.”

I nodded. “I'm glad to hear that. Well, I think that was everything. For now. Unless Damian would like to add anything?”

The boy shook his head again, getting up, and we left the principal in his office. Damian walked me to the main entrance and out the door before he spoke again; “... You didn't have to do that…”

“Of course I did. What your teacher did broke all the rules of common courtesy. And if he's doing it to you, he's doing it to the others too.”

Jason raised an eyebrow as we approached, nodding to Damian. “He's not coming with, right? I can't take both of you.”

Damian rolled his eyes. “It's not even lunch yet, Todd.” He looked up at me, a curious expression in his eyes; “... You hold your own admirably.”

I chuckled softly. “Well thank you. Let me know if there's any fallout, I'm happy to do an encore performance if they try anything. And I hope you'll send me a picture of the completed piece, when you remake it. It was beautiful.”

His lips curled up ever so slightly and he nodded before heading back into the building. Jason stared at us, offering me my helmet. “... Did he just smile?”

“Yes, the boy knows how to smile, Jay.” I chuckled, pressing a kiss to the side of his helmet above his cheek before slipping my helmet on. Once my gloves were on and I was in my seat, I wrapped my arms around his waist. “So, how about that breakfast?”

Next ->

Divider by: @saradika-graphics

Taglist (open):

@jawdropforkpop @krys0210 @snowy-violets @superthoughts @wordsfromshona @mystic60 @iwannabealocalcryptid @morstuavitamea-a @frosty--giants @arisa191 @prized-jules

[astro-inthestars]

THANK YOU CHIP I LOVE YOU SO MUCH AND HOW YOU DRAW HANDS

Me when I fall asleep! Hi bestie, I just wanna know... How do you draw hands?? You have a certain style to it, that makes it look so shaped yet still fluid like... I can't describe it, but what's your process when drawing ✨hands✨ (...of tiIIIME– sorry.)

Huh! Well I guess I never really thought about it... I kinda just auto-pilot when I draw hands now that I think of it, so I don't really have a "process" But I'll try to explain the best I can regardless!

Though not what I always do(sometimes I just wing it), I start with the usual shape base for the palm! Though sometimes I forget it's the palm and just use it as a base- and it's not a strict base! Don't gotta follow it 100%, if you gotta break it to make the pose work better, do it! I always have an idea of where the fingers will be when I draw the base, so I don't really map em out at all like others would with the circle thumb trick n all. (nothing wrong with that trick of course, just never worked for me)

More under cut!!

During the sketch I usually just vaguely map out the fingers like this, like mittens! And honestly, more often than not I keep em like that in the final product, lmao.

Don't be afraid to merge together two or more fingers if it helps get the pose across better! Just make it obvious it's not one huge finger by adding bumps or a line where the fingers would usually split.

I always add a curve to the base/fingers to make the poses less stiff! No matter the pose, I try to avoid straight lines on the hands! Even the slightest curve is enough for me. Though that doesn't always fit! Sometimes you gotta have a straight line or two, especially if it suits your style more! Nothing wrong with that.

Remember that the thumb and the index finger are attached! Try to make their lines flow together when possible.

Also, when I draw clutched hands, I make the index finger poke out a bit!

I don't usually draw hands with wrists attached now that I think about it(I like drawing long sleeves,,), but when I do, I make sure there's a clear dividing line between the wrist and the palm, so they don't look merged together!

Use reference pics when needed! Pinterest is usually my best bet for quick and easy hand ref pics of all kinds! Though you can also use your own hand! Whether by taking a pic or just posing it long enough. You are your own free model or something rejiagdlzf BUT if it's something simpler, I usually just pose my free hand under my desk and feel it out/imagine the hand and go from there.

And of course, the thing everyone says...

Practice makes perfect!

Though I suppose if I'm being completely fair, I never really followed that and just drew for 7 years and hoped something happened... I still struggle with hands ALLLL the time, but these are some things that I learned over the years that made em a bit easier! I guess my number 1 tip would be to just- not stress about it! I don't pay attention much when I draw hands and just let my brain go off while I think about I dunno Hatstache or something LMAO

But uh! Yeah! I hope that helped and was at least a bit comprehensible! Hope I didn't forget anything- If you need something a bit more specific then I could whip somethin up for ya real quick! Just ask! ^ This also goes for anyone reading- if I can be of any help, I'd love to try my best!

[gingerale13]

I churned this out so fast excuse the quality.. anyways there's a cheesy ass note to my mutuals + followers under the cut bc I love you guys 🧡🧡

This year kinda whizzed by for me! A lot happened in my personal life that I don't want to share online, but throughout all of the highs and lows I was always able to come back to this wonderful fandom. It's been a huge comfort seeing other people theorize and discuss my favorite characters!

I've meet a lot of awesome people through Tumblr & Ao3, cosplaying, and various TF2 groups. As of writing this post I've got a solid 260 followers, which is an insane number to me when this blog simply started as a place to organize my creative works 😭

All of the little tags and comments on my stuff have seriously kept my life whimsical (for lack of a better term) and I would like to shout-out some notable people and works that kept me going through 2024!

First up, and probably the biggest one, is the lovely @aussie-bookworm and their fic, Going Through The Motions. These updates seriously made my day, and I couldn't have been happier you accepted my offer to proofread. It's been super fun discussing the differences between our countries, yapping about the Mercs, and different AUs. I hope to read many more of your works in 2025 B)

Next, another fanfic author, is AhChunta! If you like slow burns, mystery, and Speeding Bullet, I would really recommend Stolen Pieces. It's a super cool crime boss AU that I've been enjoying this year. Plus it deserves more attention!

Another awesome artist is @800db-cloud, who is honestly CARRYING the Freak Fortress fandom. I love how silly your depictions of those freaks are 🧡 and also YOUR ARTSTYLE IS SO COOL AND SATISFYING TO LOOK AT ARGHHH.. You're just super awesome 👍 also shout-out to @riskreward1, my chillest mutual. I think your Getting Milk comic series is hilarious and amazing, but seeing all of those other fandoms you draw is like a gateway drug to me because it's drawn in your KICKASS artstyle‼️plus you like The Mountain Goats and that's based

@thechocolatearmor!! The other Medic Cosplayer I met at my first con!! My friends still mention the in-character convo we had, you were hilarious and I'm so glad I got your Tumblr because I love reading all of your takes on reblogs. I hope I see you again so we can be insane together again 🔥

also @mikimel, I admire how silly you are 😭 I still have that little doodle you drew at the con, and I wish your Tomodochi Miis well <3 AND THE SOLLY FIGURE. He's beautiful. Your fashion sense is fire, and I hope to see more of your cosplay projects! :0 (specifically Soldier Miku. If that's still a thing hehe)

@ivvyzzspark you. You know what you did.

Another HUGE thanks to my very very patient proofreader @emiette for helping me make Crates readable! Em dashes are my new favorite form of punctuation.

And lastly I would like to thank @mvabank because you were the one who made me start rotting over TF2 in the first place 🫶 Magmas were always so fun with you and the image of your little sona with the big ass eyes is forever seared into my brain <3

Maybe it's because 2025 is divisible by 5, but I have a feeling this year is going to be a good one. Stay safe out there, people! Cheers 🥂

[egophiliac]

I was wanting to try doing an art piece in the style of the signature spell poster art pieces you create. But I’m not really the best at coming up with a composition for such a thing.

Do you have a process for how you come up with the compositions for them?

oh, awesome! it is an INCREDIBLY enjoyable style to work in; I hope you have fun with it! :D

I'm not great at putting my thought/art process into words, so my apologies if this doesn't make a lot of sense, but I'll try! my first step is always to do a LOT of thumbnails to figure out both the idea and how I want to show it; not trying to do a real sketch or anything, just little doodles to figure out what exactly I'm trying to portray. (I also call these "garbage passes" because they're not meant to be any good, they're just there to throw things out. aha. ha. ...anyway.) I think it's important during that first stage to really focus on the idea and the layout and not to get too bogged down in the actual drawing yet!

I tend to save my final thumbnails, so I'll use 'em as examples (I posted the ones up through episode 5 here if you're interested!) (and, uhhh, spoilers through episode 5 also in this post, hopefully that won't be an issue!)

the main thing I try to think about in composition is balance -- not necessarily in terms of symmetry, but in where each element is placed and how much space it's taking up. remember, empty space is still space! it's also really important to think about the parts that don't have anything in them, as much as the parts that do!

personally, I like to divide things up roughly by both halves and by thirds -- there's a lot more in-depth info out there on why the "rule of thirds" in particular works well visually, but in short, our brains tend to focus on things that are placed closer to imaginary division lines, instead of in the exact center of an image. so even when I'm doing something that is very centered and symmetrical, I try to keep that in mind and generally aim around those for landmarks like faces/eyes (or...where they would be, anyway) and other focal points.

it's not a formula of "the character's face should be in this division of this grid" or anything, more like "our minds like to focus on these areas, let's think about how to use that", if that makes sense! and of course rules are made to be broken, art is lawless anarchy, and so on. but it can be a good starting place for deciding where you want to put things!

(blue - thirds, red - half)

and against the finished versions, because they do usually end up changing a lot (including the empty space of the border):

(...these actually lined up a lot better than I thought they would. :') it makes me look like I do things way more intentionally than I do.)

other stuff I just try to keep in mind is that our eyes like following arcs and paths, which can be a good way to guide the eye:

and frame and control the focus:

honestly, composition is one of those things I feel like I struggle with a lot, so I'm not sure how much of this is helpful or actually makes sense outside of my head. but hopefully it helps a little! it's all just stuff to think about while drawing and not anything hard-and-fast, so don't, like, stress out about making sure things are lining up exactly on the thirds or anything. again, it's more "our brains think these are the dopest parts of the rectangle" than anything else! take advantage of the cool parts of the rectangle!

NOW GO HAVE FUN DRAWING seriously though, it is always super cool that other people like this idea and style enough to want to do it themselves and for other/their own characters! thank you! ❤️❤️❤️

[subway-boss-jericho]

Fuck it. Silly post time

My doodles from my class notes this + last week. I have been struggling to draw my guys on model lately so you can see some of the Struggles. go ahead, look at em. i am so human but watch me go. Anyways, these are in order from oldest to most recent (the ones I did in class today.) Trying to figure out how i want to draw them again, because it seems I can never quite do it the same way twice. Mildly frustrating, but it does leave space for silly posts like this. I hope someone else finds as much amusement in offended tynamo as I do.

AUs include spirit keeper (I've forgotten how to draw??? his hair??? which is like his most identifying feature???? don't know where THAT muscle memory went but it is GONE) and also Steady Tracks Ingo (who I have Never figured out how to draw in the first place tbh). Also pictured: an intentionally rare little ingo appearance. Also noticed I've been drawing more canon-compliant doodles than I normally do, so that's neat! Top right image (the third one) is my INSANELY botched attempt at drawing the One Move twins. Literally turbo fucked that one. look at ingo's face. Unrecognizable. Will I stop using an ink pen? when I die maybe

Anyways. God be damned I am Having Fun. Wanted to offer you my doodles in the hopes they make someone else smile too today. Oh the train is just a train, I just figured you guys would like that one. Even though I'm struggling to keep my pen steady or my lines consistent, I am still very happy with several things here. The smoke on the train, and the two middle Emmets on the very last image in particular I really love

silly post complete. have a great timezone

[get-rammed]

The idea for this AU comes from the games, but mostly follows after Shadow Generations with some modifications, hence the AU part. It's mostly self indulgent since he's always been my favorite, and I saw an excuse to draw body horror :}

Will contain spoilers for Shadow/Sonic Generations. But whomp whomp, more information for my version of Shadow/the basis of this AU below.

So the main idea for this AU is that Shadow didn't lose his Doom Powers after he defeated Black Doom. He overcame his violent angry nature to remain a morally grey good guy. Who just happens to have sick ass extra powers now. I am unfortunately a sucker for "I was born to be bad, and I do the wrong thing sometimes, but I want to be good and I'm trying my best."

Another large change for this AU is designs and heights. They're super powered aliens. Let em be a lil bit bigger. Plus that's just kind of what I specialize in :')

--

When Black Doom and the Time Eater were defeated, it caused various rifts to be left open with nobody to close them. Which in turn allows anomalies into Shadow and Co.'s world. They can range from simple items (pens, cups, occasionally buildings, things of that nature), to lost and confused people/animals/what have you, to large dangerous beings from other worlds and timelines.

Sometimes the things that comes through the portal, don't want to go back through it, so that's where Shadow found his purpose. He gets to fight and devour the anomalies that won't go home :)

Shadow uses his Doom Morph to consume dangerous anomalies, absorbing their energy in the process. When he's in this form, he's far more reactive and hostile. So they have to clear the area before deploying him. There a handful of people he won't outright attack even in this form, but Rouge is one of the few who can calm him down if he starts to slip too far into the darkness. Because I am a sucker for their friendship :')

There are a number of agencies and world governments who call upon Shadow now for help. Basically if they send Shadow after you, you're not surviving. In a way he does absolutely hate becoming an attack dog for all these agencies, but he also knows he's the only one (sometimes with help) who can stop some of these anomalies.

That being said, if he doesn't agree an anomaly is dangerous, he will not fight as strongly or destroy them. He still maintains his idea of what's right and wrong. It's Shadow, he's not going to blindly follow orders.

--

Shadow has become a little more open after finally getting to properly grieve the loss of his family. Finally got to process everything. He's still standoffish and slow to trust, but he's at least willing to try to trust more people.

--

With his Doom Powers remaining, he has to constantly fight the urges to commit to the chaos and violence he was born for. Most times it just gives him a headache to fight back mentally. But when the urges are very strong, he has to fight the internal war much harder. Which is where he ends up with bloody noses.

The bloody noses can happen suddenly, and be rather aggressive. In the cases of bloody noses, he'll chaos snap out of the room and try to find somewhere quiet and dark until his internals heal themsleves.

It's basically a case of his blood pressure spiking insanely fast and bursting a bunch of delicate vessels in his nose. Also the idea of the darkness inside of him just kinda. Chewing away at him metaphorically and physically.

He's had enough time to figure out what sets him off, but occasionally random things trigger a nose bleed. This has forced him to be more delicate with how he responds to things, but also has forced him to be a bit more open about what's wrong with him.

The bloody noses also help act as a power balance thing so Shadow isn't just all powerful all the time. If he's not careful, he can go too far and hurt innocent people. Which he'd rather not do. It's an indicator of sorts that he's leaning too far in the wrong direction and he needs to check himself.

Lack of inhibitor rings. With the retention of the Doom Powers, Shadow has more going on internally to help balance his chaos energy. More in tune with himself, but not fully connected if that makes sense. Not wearing some of his inhibitor rings allows him greater access to the Doom Powers at all times.

It also happens that if he wears his wrist rings, they limit too much energy and he becomes sluggish and tired. He now requires more energy to function, and all 4 inhibitor rings limit too much.

He keeps the ones on his ankles on as he does still need some kind of a blocker so he doesn't burn himself out. Only having 2 on is a good balance so he can function and fight.

[cozymoko]

THANKヽ(*´∀)ﾉﾟYOU for doing my request (the Mukami sister one)! I loved it so much!!!

You mentioned that Platonic Yanderes are your favorite, so I hope you don't mind terribly if I make another request? Your headcanons for the Sakamaki or Mukami brothers (whichever you prefer!) with a young sister who's energetic and adventurous. She is always eager to try new things (regardless of danger), tends to run off to explore her surroundings and, worst of all, loves to meet new people. Basically a nightmare scenario for her poor brothers haha

RECKLESS, SOCIAL LITTLE SISTER

Note: No thank YOU and keep 'em coming, I enjoy doing them very much! (≧∇≦)

SYNOPSIS: Sakamkai's with little sister who enjoys exploring, is reckless, and loves to meet new people.

Pairing: Sakamaki brothers (seperate) x platonic! sister reader

Format: Headcanons

WARNING(S): Yandere themes, mentions of murder/obsessive behavior in Kanatos' part.

Want more Diabolik lovers? → Masterlist! ★

SHU SAKAMAKI

The ridiculous amount of energy you have is already enough for him. Shu doesn't so much as try to keep up with your childish eagerness anymore. You'll learn your lesson sooner than later so he does very little interfering with your careless endeavors. That is if they don't cause you any serious trouble.

However, he draws the line at your friendliness. Nothing gives him more of a migraine than your pointless interactions with everyone you meet. It's exhausting, to say the least, and he prays that you'll grow out of it someday. But if it makes you happy as of now, then so be it.

"Tsk, troublesome girl...What do you gain from interacting with strangers? Hah, figures, at this rate I'll have to tie you to a chair."

REIJI SAKAMAKI

You've had your fair share of punishments by Reiji's hand, which was no surprise. For instance, when he caught you dangling from that villainous branch that framed your bedroom window or even seated on your knees to coo to a mere alley cat who caught your eye. He. Was. Livid.

Your need to befriend every person you see is ridiculous. As a young lady, you should be focusing on your studies and extracurriculars he arranged in your stead. There's absolutely no time to be dwelling on insignificant people who will do little to better you. But a little begging goes a long way, my dear.

"Young lady, have you lost your mind? Such behavior is absolutely unacceptable. Have you no care for your safety? This kind of behavior cannot possibly go unpunished."

AYATO SAKAMAKI

Ayato couldn't give two fucks about your "adventures", better yet, he'll tag along just to "protect" you. (Or taunt you for better wording). With you being immortal, death didn't come as easy as other things so he has no real worries for you...safety-wise.

Now, this is the utmost disrespect. How could you possibly want to speak with anyone but him? Ayato is a narcissist so save yourself the pointless arguing, you won't win. He's petty to the point that you almost forget that he's older than you! But I digress, a few shots to his ego and he'll be as good as new.

"Oi, what's the point in talking to other people when Ore-sama is here, you're wastin' your time. I'm way better than 'em anyways!"

KANATO SAKAMAKI

You're lucky. If you weren't his sister, he'd kill you. Everything about your personality plagues him and his sanity. Or whatever's left of it. He found your recklessness to be incredibly unladylike. If ruining dresses was a sport, you'd be a pro and he despises you for it.

Not even his own sister is exempt from being locked away. Kanato may not be as inclined to do it but the option is still on the table. Nothing terrifies him more than the possibility of you leaving or attempting to replace him, he won't allow it. Even if he has to kill everyone you meet.

"Hey! Don't do that, you'll ruin the dress I made you! Uu...You're so careless...hic...are you trying to worry me?!"

LAITO SAKAMAKI

Though not the protective type, Laito never strayed too far from your side. In mild curiosity, perhaps, but mostly for his own enjoyment. If you truly need it, he'll save you; however, don't expect this to happen often. You're a vampire after all, why would he ruin his fun to rescue someone making rash decisions? Even his precious sister is no exception~!

At first, he found your boldness amusing. Ranging from painfully awkward encounters to the potential blooming of new friendships. But he simply cannot ignore the lingering stares you received, some in astonishment and others not so much. That left him in quite a sour mood.

"Ah~! That boy, do you know him? Fufu~ he was definitely flirting with you just now. What a shame, I'd never allow such filthy men to touch you."

SUBARU SAKAMAKI

As we all know, Subaru is awful at suppressing his emotions despite how hard he tries. Nothing will ever prepare him for this heart-stopping behavior of yours. Subaru understands that you're growing up and you can take care of yourself, but even that isn't enough to ease his nerves. Especially not with you taking after your "dumbass of a father", as he'd say.

The first time he witnessed this he almost had a heart attack. His fair skin was drained of every drop of color and he appeared absolutely mortified, which he was. Subaru had left your side for a mere second and here you are, seated at a table, completely engrossed in a conversation with mortals that looked to be your age. All in all, he's just anti-social and protective, don't be too hard on him!

"Oi, don't go talkin' to just anybody, got it? Ha—? what do you mean 'why?' Tch, forget it, I'll beat their asses instead."

[brawlstars-dragon-au]

Sketch dump time! A whole bunch of requests from the crazy ex-bird app

In Order: Maisie, Pam, Colette, Buster, Chester, Chuster ❤️🧡 (and a teeny Gus), Leon and Sandy (Leondy 💚💜), Bull, El Primo, and Mandy!

Extra notes about each sketch:

Maisie:

Her breath attack is a condensed foam material, similar to that of a fire extinguisher. Using a gas similar to a pressurized CO² (based on gas-based fire extinguishers!), she shoots it out at high speeds. These hits can potentially cause frostbite and even severe damage to the body if left unattended. She's quite powerful in this AU due to this ability 👀👀 being able to put out the fires and overpower another dragon's breath? Now THAT'S some queen moves right there! She can also simply spray out the foam substance at short range without that pressurized gas. This helps with more close range fire fighting work.

Her right wing and front leg were undeveloped, a disability she'd had since she hatched. However! With the help of mechanics, she uses these prosthetics to help her fly. Still gotta test out how to draw it to make sense, as well as sort out how it stays in place. I've been using inspiration from Toothless (HTTYD) and his tail that Hiccup made.

Pam:

Pam is a bulkier dragon, very much on the larger side of all of them. I'm at odds with myself to figure out whether ot not she'll have wings 🤔 so I had two copies there! Perhaps her wings may be a bit smaller if I do give her them.

Pam spits out molten magma that's stored up inside her as an attack. However, it can also be chunks of scrap metal that she stores up. Otherwise, it's just magma.

Though I didn't draw this, I want Pam to be very resilient to fire in general, as her species/family of dragon use their ability to spew this magma (technically Lava after ut leaves her body? I'll do more research on this...) in order to craft and shape metal. While other dragons need to spend some time to build up a fire hot enough, the Junker family line is able to do this much more easily. (Amber is a close second, though)

Her skin has the ability to crack and seep up lava out of it, potentially coating her body in this to give herself a temporary lava shield, something extremely hard to break through. (In the future, little Jessie may also be able to do this... however, Pam doesn't think she's ready at the moment and avoids the topic or any ideas of teaching her how.)

Colette:

Colette flies in a sort of funny way, twirling around and flapping her wings to maintain somewhat of a chaotic flight pattern. Think of a snake slithering through the sky, but with large wings and the grace of... a teenage dragon (not much, but it does work).

When she gets better at flying...pray and hope she isn't able to catch up to her favourite brawlers cause she isn't ever gonna let go of them 💀 It makes for a great attack, actually! Charging at enemies and coiling around them like a snake to prevent movement, like a big hug ❤️ she just loves everyone SO much 😍

Buster:

Finally kinda set on a design for this funky guy! He's a larger dragon (smaller than El Primo or Frank, but still definitely up there in size)

His wings never quite grew fully, so he wouldn't be able to fly 😔 however, that'll never stop him and his dreams of being a cool movie star 🧡🧡

Buster, at the heart of it, is an unstoppable force when he sets his mind to something. He'll charge in with the same ferocity as his favouite protagonists, rivalling the audacity and hard-headed nature of even Bull! All while doing so for his friends 💪 we love Buster in this AU frfr

Chester:

Chester always has theatrics when he flies. Flips, spins, and fun aerodynamic movements up in the sky! He's gotta compensate for his lack of speed compared to other wyverns after all, but he thinks he's pretty great 😎

Loved drawing this kinda unique pose tbh! That's what I loved with these drawings, I got to experiment without really thinking too much for em with how polished and clean that look. It was very fun! 🔥

Chuster ft. Gus❤️🧡:

We love some goofy gays here 🥹❤️🧡 I just wanted to let em have a little nuzzle + smooch! Dragons don't necessarily kiss, but little side boops like this are the equivalent of a cheek kiss.

Also, a little Gus on the side 🥹🥹 I love this sort of found family dynamic that have! Buster being the cool dad vibe/big bro to Gus, and then Buster being in a relationship with Chester so that he's also a cool dad too 😎 Gus loved these two guys from the very start, they're funny 🤭 never a boring day for these silly lads.

Leondy 💚💜:

My beloveds 🤲 I really do cherish the ship, as well as strong friendship Sandy and Leon have. (Btw in my HCs, Leon and Sandy are 13 & 14 respectively, just to clear that up!)

Sandy, I've mentioned a few times, is very inspired by Capybaras, so Leon finding one is just perfect 🤭 silly little deadpan face lads.

Bull:

BULLDOZERRRR- What a lad! Bull is inspired by- uh, Bulls! Great creatures, large bodies and thick necks to support those headstrong charges 🐂 I love making his posture all confident, strong steps to say, "Yeah. You TRY and stand up to me. I DARE you." Don't wanna mess with him on most days 🏃‍♀️💨💨

El Primo:

Still figuring out a full-body for El Primo, bit he's roughly the same size as Bull! (Maybe a bit bigger)

El Primo has got really small wings, similar to his El Dragón skin. Even his scales and horns are inspired by that mostly! Love when characters have preexisting dragon themed skins 🤭 makes it a lot easier to make ideas!

His "mask" is actually just body paint. He has similar paint on his body, really showing off the vibrant colours and persona he puts on for the crowds.

He WILL beat up his enemies into a pulp in matches. Thank goodness there's the gem powered regeneration and the respawn system in place 😭 I plan to give him a very strong body and tail, enough to support him when he needs to go on his hind legs and overpower his opponents. Buster is designed in a similar way as well!

Mandy:

Last but not least, the Queen of Candy herself. Not even the Dragon AU let's her escape fast food work 😔😔

Her super attack is purely a magical sugar-based rainbow blast, as shown in the sketch. Also, I'm now realizing that I forgot her red spots oml- No wonder she looks so empty 💀 uhh sorry about that, lads 😭 I'll redraw her one day to show off that glowing effect of her spots 🥹🥹

And that's all! Thank you for reading if you made it this far! Hopefully I can make more of these sketch dumps 🤭✨️ maybe take reqs from here too! We shall see. Take care y'all!

[mostlysignssomeportents]

A year in illustration (2024), Part one

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/12/07/great-kepplers-ghost/art-adjacent

As I go into my fifth year of writing Pluralistic (!), I find myself increasingly reflecting on the unexpected pleasures of creating the collages that head each post. I am by no means a visual artist – my drawing skills are sub-stick-figure, and my spatial sense overall is remarkable terrible. I can't solve jigsaws, I get lost in hotel corridors, and I can't find things that are right under my nose.

But addressing the challenge of illustrating extremely abstract ideas related to tech policy, corruption, monopoly and other hard-to-visualize ideas has awakened some kind of latent, heretofore unsuspected interest in visual communications in me. Relying exclusively on Creative Commons, public domain, and extremely solid fair use claims in selecting my source materials adds a spicy challenge that makes the whole thing even more engrossing.

I've written about my process in finding and preparing these sources before. Here's 2023's notes and highlights:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/12/21/collages-r-us/#ki-bosch

And here's 2022:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/25/a-year-in-illustration/

This year saw some new, exciting discovering and challenges. First and foremost is my switch to kagi.com as my preferred search-engine, which is like having access to a time machine that's connected to pre-enshittificated Google:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/04/teach-me-how-to-shruggie/#kagi

Kagi's image search is amazing, far better than Google's, and it has great copyright-based filters. When combined with tineye.com (for finding high-rez versions of images that might not be correctly tagged for rights status), it's even better. Even so, often Kagi will surface thumbnails of images Tineye can only find as high-rez on proprietary stock art sites like Alamy, covered in gross watermarks. These images are still in the public domain, watermarks or no, but erasing the watermarks is a lot of work. However, Alamy is a pretty good source of bibliographic information about the original sources of these images, for example, which issue of a 19th century boxing magazine they came out of, and then Kagi can find me high-rez scans of these sources, at the Internet Archive and/or the Library of Congress. I snag those PDFs and import them into the GIMP (which I use for editing) and pull, clean and crop a new high-rez version of those images for my own use. This year, I got much better at saving and organizing all that work on my laptop, but next year I'm hoping to get into a rhythm of uploading my high-rezzes to Wikimedia Commons so everyone can use 'em.

Getting better at collaging isn't merely getting better at using search tools, of course. Knowing what to search for is even more important, especially given the constraints of only using public domain/CC sources. The Library of Congress is a wellspring of visual material, but its own search tool is sadly lacking; however, Kagi's image search comes to the rescue again, thanks to the "site:loc.gov" flag, which restricts results to the LoC.

It was through these searches that I realized how many of the source images I was pulling down were the work of Joseph Keppler (1872-1956), an American political cartoonist who worked extensively for Punch:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Keppler

Keppler was called upon to illustrate many, many political issues that have parallels with the modern competition, corruption and geopolitical stories. A scant few of these remain in the periphery of the public's imagination today, most notably "The Bosses of the Senate," quite possibly the most significant antitrust cartoon of all time:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bosses_of_the_Senate

But Keppler is a wellspring of great public domain images, and I've been drawing on them heavily. It gives me great pleasure to do so, not just because they're so well-suited to the stories I write, but also because his posterity deserves it. He should be in the American illustrator pantheon alongside the likes of Norman Rockwell!

Besides my search engine and my sources, 2024 saw one other gigantic change in my collage-making: I had cataracts removed from both my eyes in September, and my ophthalmologist implanted lenses that corrected my severe astigmatism and permanently focused one of my eyes at 23" and the other at 25' (this is called monovision). My new eyeballs are still bedding in, and there are days when my vision is severely subpar, but I'm experiencing continuous improvement, and I think this will be a game-changer for 2025.

2025 will also see the long-awaited Version 3.0 release of The GIMP, the free/open image editor I exclusively use. GIMP (Generic Image Manipulation Program) was first released a quarter-century ago, and it's been in version 2.x for twenty years, so this is a big milestone. I can't wait!

https://lwn.net/SubscriberLink/998793/6c8d00bd1b2a7948/

Well, enough forematter. Let's get into this year's best illustrations. If you want high-rezzes of these (or any of my other collages), you can get them at full rez from my Flickr gallery of Pluralistic collages:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/doctorow/albums/72177720316719208

Someday, we'll all take comfort in the internet's "dark corners"

This one combines three sources: a public domain image of the Las Vegas sign, a CC 0 image of a western ghost-town, and a fair use gank of Mark Zuckerberg's metaverse avatar. I spent a lot of time hand-cropping the blades of grass around the sign's footing to create the illusion that it was planted in the ground. I'm also pretty happy with the dirt effect I managed on the sign.

https://pluralistic.net/2024/03/23/evacuate-the-platforms/#let-the-platforms-burn

Vice surrenders

I got these cover images from a gallery of old Dutch government workplace safety poster; they're delightfully gory in a way that rests comfortably in the cannon of Dutch bluntness. I did a lot of futzing with the Perspective tool to get the alignments right, atop the actual magazine covers (I believe they were Italian fashion magazines).

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/24/anti-posse/#when-you-absolutely-positively-dont-give-a-solitary-single-fuck

How America's oligarchs lull us with the be-your-own-boss fairy tale

Man, I wish this one had a higher-rez original. The 19th century painting of a kid being read a bedtime story by her kindly granny was perfect, except it was only 804 pixels wide! The grinning Uncle Sam is from Keppler (Keppler's Uncle Sams are many, varied, and great). The grinning kid is from a 19th century collection of photos of child laborers, and I love his expression (he's a newsie). I think I did a really good job blending the US $100 (works of federal authorship are all public domain) with the bed curtains. I was disappointed with how the gold brick that granny's foot rests upon game out. I even followed my friend Alistair Milne's tip of cropping the brick, desaturating it, and putting it atop the gold texture in overlay mode and tweaking the curves. It just wouldn't pop the way it did in my mind's eye.

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/16/narrative-capitalism/#sell-job

How I got scammed

This one uses some public domains stock art of a hacker in a hoodie, an online make-a-custom-credit-card generator, and two of my favorite visual tropes. The first is the 'code waterfall' effect from the credit sequences of the Wachowskis' 'Matrix' movies, which I use whenever I'm trying to illustrate something with a nexus with the digital world. I have a folder full of these, generated with this code waterfall generator:

https://github.com/Rezmason/matrix

The other element, of course, is the eye of HAL 9000 from Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey'; there's an SVG of this on Wikimedia Commons by a user called 'Cryteria,' licensed CC BY 3.0, which I use whenever I want to illustrate a harm caused by computers:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/05/cyber-dunning-kruger/#swiss-cheese-security

(Image: Cryteria, CC BY 3.0, modified)

Solar is a market for (financial) lemons

I often write about scammers and hucksters, casting about for good visual representation. It wasn't until late January 2024 that I thought to look for an image of a carny barker and turned up this picture of WC Fields in full flight. He makes a lot of appearance after this point!

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/27/here-comes-the-sun-king/#sign-here

(Image: Future Atlas/http://www.futureatlas.com/blog, CC BY 2.0; J Doll, CC BY 3.0; modified)

Boeing, Spirit and Jetblue, a monopoly horror-story

I was really determined to get the right aircraft for this story about Boeing 737s, but that meant cropping out the plane from Vitaly Druchenok's photo and then painstakingly recreating the Spirit Airlines livery. In the original version of the image, the airplane was sticking out of the roof of the Supreme Court, but my wife (wisely) vetoed that as suggesting a terrorist attack on the court (I wanted to imply that the court had caused the airline to crash).

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/22/anything-that-cant-go-on-forever/#will-eventually-stop

(Image: Vitaly Druchenok, CC BY-SA 4.0; Joe Ravi, CC BY-SA 3.0; modified)

Tech workers and gig workers need each other

I cropped out these two women strikers from an early 20th century photo of a picket line and superimposed them on a photo of a massive union rally from the same era at (I think?) Madison Square Gardens. I am really chuffed with how nicely the (public domain) hacker/hoodie stock image and livery of a gig bike-delivery rider (fair use, ganked from a gig company's promo materials) blended with the strikers.

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/13/solidarity-forever/#tech-unions

This one is in the running to be my favorite illo of the year. I knew it was going to slay the minute I found the image of the U Illinois campus secret society (spears! fezzes!). There's a really good public domain SVG recreation of the "Think Different" wordmark on Wikimedia Commons that I used here, spending some time getting the overlays and textures right:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Apple_logo_Think_Different_vectorized.svg

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/12/youre-holding-it-wrong/#if-dishwashers-were-iphones

End of the line for corporate sovereignty

I use this ogrish rich-guy-in-a-top-hat image all the time to represent the thuggish application of wealth; he comes from a delightful Soviet editorial cartoon called "Capital Controls the Government":

https://craphound.com/images/ussr-capital.jpg

Putting him behind the podium in a UN plenary room with a UN crest in his hand worked really well, though in hindsight, the cropped version I used for the post's hero image is even better:

https://craphound.com/images/27Mar2024.jpg

https://pluralistic.net/2024/03/27/korporate-kangaroo-kourts/#corporate-sovereignty

(Image: ChrisErbach, CC BY-SA 3.0, modified)

Conspiratorialism and the epistemological crisis

Another "thing at the front of a big room" image; this one works better that the UN one, I think.

Both of the sources for this have weird CC characteristics. The hearing room image comes from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a federal agency, and I am 99% certain that makes it public domain; however, whoever managed the NRC's Flickr account in 2014 applied a CC BY license to it, so I did the whole attribution for it, even though I think it wasn't needed.

The crumbled cardboard box image comes from a British company that sells cardboard boxes; they upload product shots to Flickr under CC BY 2.0 and require that the attribution string include their store's URL (not necessarily the URL of the image), presumably to get SEO backlinks. This is fine, but the CC BY 2.0 licenses have a serious defect in that a failure to correctly attribute them can give rise to serious ($150K!) copyright liability, something that a group of "copyleft trolls" have brutally exploited:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/02/commafuckers-versus-the-commons/

Which makes this kind of funky attribution a minefield. I try to touch all the bases by attributing to both the store's URL and the URL of the image. The real solution to this is for Flickr to finally update its CC licensing to push all its images up to CC 4.0 and push a notice to all users with CC images telling them they either have to consent to upgrading to the latest licenses, or have the licensing on their images reverted to "All Rights Reserved" (maybe with an asterisk explaining that they still have irrevocable but dangerous CC 2.0 licenses attached to them).

https://pluralistic.net/2024/03/25/black-boxes/#when-you-know-you-know

(Image: Nuclear Regulatory Commission, https://meanwell-packaging.co.uk, CC BY 2.0)

Your car spies on you and rats you out to insurance companies

I had so much fun with this one! Check out all those gracenotes! Munch's (public domain) "Scream" reflected in the mirrors, the windscreen, and the dashboard. The 'You Wouldn't Download a Car' parody reflected in the blade of the giant knife sticking out of the steering wheel!

https://pluralistic.net/2024/03/12/market-failure/#car-wars

(Image: Cryteria, CC BY 3.0, modified)

Wellness surveillance makes workers unwell

I love how this one turned out. The labcoated figure is actually a dentist from a gallery of images from the National Museum of Health and Medicine. The little flying guy in the back kills me.

https://pluralistic.net/2024/03/15/wellness-taylorism/#sick-of-spying

(Image: Cryteria, CC BY 3.0, modified)

Amazon's financial shell game let it create an "impossible" monopoly

I love this one. First of all, Hieronymus Bosch's 'The Conjurer' is a great visual representation of a slickster pulling a fast one on gawping yokels. But once I added Doc Searls' great shot of Jeff Bezos in mid-crazy-laugh to it (from a 2010 Techonomy Summit) it became perfectly trenchant. This was part of a short series of images that I added extra fingers and pupils to after someone scolded me online because they (incorrectly) believed I'd generated a collage with an AI image generator. Thankfully, that kind of absurd witch-hunting seems to have waned in popularity. What a ridiculous waste of everyone's time!

(Image: Doc Searls, CC BY 2.0, modified)

Part two

Part three

Part four

[eschergirls]

November 2024 Escher Girls Updates & Patreon Thank You!

Hi everybody!  It's November, so it's time for a monthly update and to thank all our wonderful Patreon subscribers!

For a quick update about Tumblr, if you've been following the blog you probably noticed that in late September/early October, the Escher Girls Tumblr ran into the infamous "shadowban" bug, which is not actually a shadowban but just a bug that happens to random blogs on Tumblr (more info here). After bugging Tumblr about it a few times, they finally fixed it, which means everything is back to normal and I can send and receive DMs and messages as normal on Tumblr (just in time for the Caption Contest which was handy for giving out prizes to the winners!)

I appreciate everybody who helped me figure it out and especially @haveievermentioned who messaged me to let me know that they weren't getting updates from the EG Tumblr! In the future if you run into any issues with Tumblr or the main site, please don't hesitate to let me know!

Also, if you missed it last month, I've been fixing up the main site and I updated the submission guidelines and also the submission form which now lets you choose a name to submit with and also let me know if it's okay for me to reply to your email address if I need more info about your submission. The new and improved form can be found here: https://eschergirls.com/form/submit-content

And, all new posts on EscherGirls.com now link to the corresponding Tumblr post so site users can easily navigate to the Tumblr cross-post and see what Tumblr users are saying. And when I fix up old posts, I'm now fixing up the Tumblr version as well and adding a cross-post link. It's twice the work but given that many people still view the site on Tumblr, I figure it's worth it to everybody. :3 There are some posts without a Tumblr cross-post link because the Tumblr post has been deleted/hidden because of Tumblr's mercurial algorithmic flagging which can't tell the difference between stuff like a coloured body suit and nudity.

As usual I've spent a lot of time this month working on fixing up old posts, restoring broken images or finding higher res versions of old images, and fixing broken links, etc, also fixing all the formatting of older posts and finding sources.

Here are some of the posts I fixed up this month (for any that want to check them out, the links to the Tumblr versions are included in every post):

This "How To Draw" book depicting women's waists as a ball joint (which explains a lot about why artists think women can just swivel around like rotor blades), and an associated post with that infamous Jennifer Blood cover

The infamous "muscleboobs" how to draw page depicting women's breasts as muscles 

Two different Soul Calibur posts: one with Talim in a boobs and butt pose (and a redraw fix of it), and another with Xianghua, Talim and Ivy in various states of rubberization

Black Canary described by my friend as a miracle of modern plumbing

War Goddess giving up War Goddess-ing and instead going into the butt-selling business

The infamous Glory/Avengelyne cover (the first time I posted Liefeld on this blog after the first 800 posts without him to prove a point that it wasn't just him putting out the insectoid women art) and an associated post

And a caption contest with Avengelyne and Ravyn in pretty hilarious poses and also the winners of that contest

And now I want to give a big thank you to Escher Girls' Patreon subscribers for October!

Thank you so so much to:

Anne Adler Cat Mara Chris McKenzie Em Bardon First Time Trek Greg Sepelak Ken Trosaurus Kevin Carson Kim Wincen Kristoffer Illern  Holmén Leak  Manuel Dalton Mary Kuhner Max Schwarz Michael Mazur Miriam Pody Morgan McEvoy randomisedmongoose Rebecca Breu Ringoko  Ryan Gerber Sam Mikes Sean Sea SpecialRandomCast  Thomas 

And a very very special thank you to JohnnyBob8 for buying me a coffee on Ko-Fi!!!

Thank you so much for helping to keep the site running! The Tumblr technical issues and algorithmic flagging are reasons why Escher Girls has a dedicated self-hosted site, and why I appreciate the support on Patreon and Ko-Fi so much as it helps me pay for hosting, domain costs, and site upgrades and keep the site running.

And thank you to just everybody, all of you interacting with the blog on both Tumblr and on the main site, and who participate in caption contests, and submit things to me, or just generally send me kind words. Thank you all! You make running the site so worth it. :)

Ami

PS: As a reminder, we added a button that links to the Escher Girls Tumblr and to our RSS feed for those who want to follow that way. (For newbies, RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and is basically a feed you can read using an RSS reader. Simply copy and paste https://eschergirls.com/rss.xml into an RSS reader and it will keep you up to date on Escher Girls!)

Make sure it is eschergirls.com and not eschergirls.tumblr.com, as that is Tumblr, and not the self-hosted site.

If you have any issues with the site or suggestions to improve it, please do not hesitate to contact me and let me know!

If you wish to support Escher Girls, you can subscribe to our Patreon at: https://www.patreon.com/ami_angelwings or donate through Ko-Fi at: https://ko-fi.com/amiangelwings.

[skele-bunny]

Thank you for the post :) Have any more Calida content? Maybe with some more family stuff?

You're welcome 🩷 I'm always down for more step dad Aether content!!

Over The Phone. (No CW) Aether/Dewdrop

CW - NONE

Tags: Step-Dad Aether, Baby/Pregnancy talk, sex talk, trans male Dewdrop, nonsexual lactation

Characters: Aether, Dewdrop, Calida (Kit), Mountain, Misc Ghouls.

(Divider by @ wrathofrats !)

Dewdrop had a ritual after rituals at venues. He'd hand his guitar over, go to the dressing room and quickly strip himself back into his sweat pants and one of his many stolen shirts from Aether's dresser he took before leaving on tour, then he'd be glued to his phone for the rest of the night as much as he could. Scrolling through messages and photos sent to him from the previously mentioned with their daughter.

He hated being so far away from his family, but as she got older, it became somewhat easier especially now that Aether was retired. The fire ghoul would laugh, showing the rest of the pack and Papa pictures and messages of their shenanigans.

"Oh my Lucifer, shut up! Is she holding your guitar?!" Cumulus swooned, looking at the picture Aether had sent of Calida holding the much too big acoustic that had Dew's initials. "That's adorable!"

"Tell me about it!" Dew laughed, turning back around in his seat as the van continued towards the hotel. "She's growing up so much, I hate it."

Mountain leaned over, gently nudging his mate's head with his nose. "We have to put her in an ice box so she can stay little forever."

"Tell me about it... But! Wouldn't it be so fun to have rehearsals with her? You should see how excited she gets when me and Aeth play for her."

The earth ghoul simply laughed, pressing a kiss before leaning back. "Wasn't too long ago you pushed her out in the back of the bus, literally... I still can't believe you bit Zephyr."

This time it was Phantom's turn to speak. "Wait, you had Calida on the tour bus?"

"And when did you bite Zeph?" Swiss added, holding an astonished look. "What did that lovebird do to you?"

Turning around in his seat again, Dew smiled as he held back laughter. "Yeah, I had Calida while on tour, back when I was still with Papa Terzo. My water broke suddenly, no one had a clue what to do and I surely didn't either. So I just—" Dew mimicked pushing something. "Pop! Baby. I bit Zephyr like a week after while on the bus because I was asleep, and they were trying to readjust the pillow under my head. Post partum me thought xe were trying to take her so I... Bit em'."

Finally laughter overtook Dewdrop, which caused a chain in the van. They arrived at the hotel, Dew shuffling his jacket on to flip up the hood as he had no desire to fully glamour his horns. Taking time unloading themselves and getting keys, Dew entered the room next to Mountain—their bags already sat inside by the stage hands.

"Is it okay if I take the bathroom first?" Mountain tilted his head, kicking his shoes off immediately to let his hooves come back out with a few bone crunches.

The fire ghoul shrugged. "Go for it, I gotta call home anyways."

"Have fun when E.T phone home." Mount teased, grabbing his backpack and closing the bathroom door.

Flopping himself on the bed furthest away from the air conditioner unit, Dew flipped on his phone again and pressing speed dial. The screen showed a picture of Aether asleep with their sleeping infant on his chest, holding a stuffed banana toy. It rang for about a minute before the other end picked up, and a moment of the loading the screen.

"Mana!" A high pitch voice yelled, instantly snatching the phone away. Black hair took over the camera accompanied with red eyes, but the biggest smile. "Mana! Mana!!"

"Hi baby!" Dew yelled back, sitting against the headboard. "I missed you so much!"

"Me too!! Oh, oh, look what me and Daba did!" Calida smiled so wide, putting the phone down to hold up a drawing of three crude stick figures that perfectly resembled the little family.

"No way! You and Daba did that?!"

"Yeah! And, and I got to see Auntle Mist and Auntle Birdy today, too!" Finally in the background, Aether came into view, waving but staying silent to let Calida have her moment. "They took me to the playground, and then we had nap time, then we watched Mulan again!"

Readjusting a pillow to be a prop, Dew placed the phone down while he leaned over the bed to open up his own bag. "That's amazing, Calida! Sounds like you had a busy day, did you have fun?"

"Uh-huh!"

"Oh, good!" Dew came back into view, holding a toy still in the box. "Look what Mana found in the store today."

A loud, ear piercing shrill came over the speakers, Dewdrop laughing as he seen Aether quickly cover his ears from the siren call. "Is that My Life?!"

"It is! I know you wanted the food set, so when I seen it I just had to get it!"

Calida's eyes went wide, gasping. "Mana, I have to go tell Aunty Sunny! Don't go, okay?!"

"Okay love, I won't! Pinky promise."

The kit smiled, giving the phone to her father as she ran out of the room. Aether waited before giving a look. "There is no way you dropped, how much?— On a toy set?"

"Hmm..." Dew laughed a little, looking away as he had been caught. "Fifty-seven dollars..."

Aether went to say something before Dewdrop interrupted. "Ah! Ah! You can't yell at me for it! You bought that girl a fucking tricycle! I don't wanna hear it!"

"Ugh, you're just awful." Aether laughed, leaning back into the bed and holding his phone up. "How was the show?"

Finally, Dewdrop's facade broke, glaring at the camera and growling as he gently placed the toy down. "Fuckin' terrible. Tell me how my guitar cut during my solo in Watcher?! Not only that, but my last siren? Yeah? Cut! Again!"

"Yikes... I think that song is just cursed at this point. We've all had so many issues playing it."

"You're telling me." Dew sighed, rubbing his face in irritation. "Not only that, Phantom fell and busted his ass after missing a step so he's got a pretty welt right on his left ass cheek. Plus, I don't know what you did to me before I left, but— Wait, Calida's still gone right?"

The quintessence looked up before confirming. "Mmhm."

"Okay, I don't know what you did to me, but my tits have never hurt so much before. Feels like when I'd get swollen from not pumping." Dew mumbled, lifting his shirt to reveal he had put nursing pads on to stop the very slow leakage he was experiencing, turning a bit to show the swelling.

Aether whistled with a grimace, sucking through his teeth. "I'm not sure, I'm sorry love. Might just be galactorrhea, have you been... You know, letting people suck?"

Dew shook his head, now massaging his right side, wincing as pain shot through. "No, even I haven't touched them from how much it hurts. Last one to touch was you."

There was a moment of silence between the two, Aether furrowing his eyebrows as he tried to remember anything different they may had done before the departure.

"This would be easier if I was there. Maybe have someone try feeling around for lumps, you're too aware of your body and can miss things sometimes."

As they went to talk, the bathroom opened and a 'soggy furball' as Dew liked to call him—stepped out, towel wrapped around his waist.

"Mountain! Perfect! Come squeeze my tits!"

The earth ghoul's face immediately went red but his tail perked up from under the towel. "W-What?!"

Dew waved him over, "Come here!"

"I'm not cucking Aether." Mountain grumbled, but still came over.

"Ooh, I like that idea, but not right now. We're trying to figure out why my chest is being weird."

Aether's laughter could be heard from the phone, the drummer leaning over to wave as he sat on the bed after placing the towel under him more. Carefully, Dew took off his nursing pads and kept his shirt up, still in view for Aether so he could attempt to try and figure out what's going on.

"What exactly am I looking for, let alone doing?" Mountain asked, carefully bringing his hands forward.

"Just see if there's any abnormal lumps or anything. Also, hi big boy! Thanks for touching our mate when I'm not there."

Mountain laughed at the comment, but still nodded, moving both hands to the left side and slowly feeling. His thumb pads pressed in on his areola, all three of them noticing Dew's nipple leaking again. He continued pushing around but shook his head. Going to the right, he noticed Dew's grimace as he pushed in, and the same reaction but at a heavier flow.

"He just feels, pardon my language, really fucking full like when he was still nursing." Mountain shrugged, continuing to press against the right side as the more that came out, the more Dew's face relaxed. "Think you might be pregnant?"

Dewdrop's eyes shot up. "No way in hell! We've been using protection since, I am not doing a round two!"

"Well..." Aether whined. "There was that one time in the practice room a week before you left..."

"Really? The practice room?" Mountain huffed.

"Yell at us later! Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Dew groaned, now full of paranoia. "Aeth' this is fucking serious now! I've been smoking and drinking!"

"Okay, okay, calm down. I'm sorry, I shouldn't be feeding into that, and while it still is a possibility, we don't know for sure! There's a multitude of reasons this could be happening." The nurse was now fully sitting up in the bed, trying to keep his tone calm. "There's— Calida's back. Hi baby!"

Mountain immediately tore away and got out the frame, picking his towel up and getting dressed. Dew did the same, covering himself and quickly masking.

"Mana! Aunty Sunny said that when you get home we're gonna play together, okay?" The ghoulette chirped, climbing back on the bed and completely oblivious to her parents panic.

"Ohh, that sounds absolutely perfect! Which dolls should we use?" Dew tilted his head, smiling so wide for his daughter.

She began to ramble about which one of her many assortments of dolls would be perfect to play as a chef and the waiters, Dew just listening intently and nodding although his mind was a bit more to the side. Mountain got into his pajamas and made a little motion to Dew, pointing at his own chest. The fire ghoul looked down, grimacing as his shirt was quickly getting wet, trying to subtly place his pads back on.

"Those sound perfect! Hey, want to talk to Uncle Mountain really quick?" Dew purred, the earth ghoul getting the hint.

As he took the phone and came into view, Calida squealed again and now Mountain covered his ear the best he could while laughing. Taking the opportunity, Dew took the shirt off and redid his pads, reaching into his bag again to pull out a simple tank top.

"—Next thing you know, you're going to take your Mana's guitar." Mountain chuckled, now simply wandering around the small room. "What song do you wanna learn first?"

"Ohh... Can I learn the song about the mommy?"

Aether joined after Calida. "Witch image?"

"Yeah!"

"Ohh, that's a good one!" Mountain's ear flicked. "You'll have fun with that one, definitely going to practice that solo, though. I'm positive you'll get it down when you start learning!"

Calida giggled, moving to lay against Aether with a yawn, his arm carefully holding her close and the other still keeping the phone up. She rubbed her eye, purring softly. "Uncle Mounty, can you tell Mana I'm tired?"

"Absolutely."

He turned, waiting for Dew to settle a bit more before giving a thumbs up. The two now sitting together and being in the frame.

"Sleepy, sol?" Dew cooed, leaning his head against Mountain's shoulder and watching as she nodded. "I'm sure you've been wide awake this entire time until I called, hm? I'm sorry little love. Why don't you go ahead and go get cuddled up in bed? I'll make Daba leave the phone in your room so I'll be right there."

Calida nodded, holding up her two fingers for 'As Above', Dew responding with 'Down Below.'

"Sing to me, Mana?"

"Of course I will. Now go get in your nightgown, yeah?"

He watched his daughter once more nod with another yawn, kissing Aether's cheek before padding off. There was a brief moment before Dew exhaled, dropping his smile.

"Love..." Mountain whined, pulling Dewdrop close.

"What the fuck?" Tears slowly began to go down. "I can't... Have another child, I don't think I can handle doing it all again. Calida's birth was traumatic as is, and even just talking about it I'm getting terrified again."

Aether sighed, "I'm sorry, firefly. Listen, you only have a few more weeks until you get back, then we can figure out for sure what's going on. You still have options if, worst case scenario, you are pregnant again."

Nodding, Mountain chimed in to hug Dewdrop tight. "He's right. No matter what you chose, or what comes up, we're right here. In the meantime, it's definitely time to cold turkey everything again just in case."

The quintessence nodded, propping himself up more. "Absolutely. Just, take a big deep breath, okay? Everything's going to be alright. We're going to figure it out, and maybe it's something silly we can laugh about!"

Inhaling sharply, Dewdrop groaned and rubbed his face, getting rid of his tears as much as possible. "You're right, I'm sorry... Lilith save me, I can't even think about going through baby 2.0. Oh fuck, the diaper changes?!" Dewdrop began to laugh as he reminisced, gagging somewhat. "The things that came out of that girls ass would've been classified as chemical warfare during the Cold War—And that's when I had a healthy diet! Satan only knows the terrors now."

Very quickly the mood had been lifted as the three continued talking about the baby terrors, ending with their softer memories. After a bit more soothing and calming, Dew had whispered his goodnight to both of their mates. Keeping true to his word, Aether propped the phone against Calida's lamp and tucked her in. Calida just smiled, waving before holding tightly onto her childhood toy. The banana plush that haunted so many kithood photos.

Double checking Mountain had his headphones in so he wasn't effected by his mate's voice, Dew got comfortable as well.

It was simple, soft. "White ladder, water and whine, forever." He sang "Crying, oh time."

When Calida had been taken care of by Aether and Mountain while Dewdrop was stuck in the infirmary in a coma—They would play this specific album, humming to her softly and sometimes Aether would use his acoustic. It was the only thing that helped put her to bed, and even as she was almost seven, it's still all she wanted.

Sometimes Calida had moments that made Dewdrop double think her element; Her siren shrieks, how her voice echoed when she tried to sing, and just her pure fascination for large bodies of water. But no matter what Dew would do to try and test out a water element, fire always took hold. For example, Mountain had been boiling water for pasta, and Dew held Calida up to gently encourage her to ripple the water—instead the stove caught aflame. Luckily Dew was quick thinking and secluded the fire, but Mountain was very not happy that his new pot was burnt beyond fix.

But, that wasn't important to Dewdrop. What was important, was little moments like this. Continuing to sing for his daughter, watching her eyes slowly flutter close, occasionally trying to stay awake before finally accepting her fate. Dew continued until he knew for a fact she was asleep, moving his own phone to the bedside and plugging it in, flipping his light off and laying down to watch his little one rest peacefully.

He loved these moments. It's what gave him the strength to keep going through the tour, as soon he'd be home and holding her so tightly. But the thought of returning home quickly became worrisome, his chest aching in reminder. He slowly moved a hand to his abdomen, exhaling and trying to calm himself.

That would be a home situation that had multiple possible endings. Clouding his mind. So, he let his focus go back on Calida who had started chewing her toy in her sleep, making him giggle a bit.

Yeah. That would be a home problem.

[puntastic-artist]

Sometimes I go to google and type in Microwaved Soup and The Evil Merman AU to look at art of Giovanni and Oliver being gay

And then I remember

Oliver is my OC.

He's not in Epithet Erased

I have to draw him and Giovanni kissing and hugging myself.

I have to feed the masses.

Me I'm the masses. I feast upon my own AU and OC x Canon ship

BUT THE MASSES ARE NOW GROWING AND I'M SO HAPPY Y'ALL ENJOY BOTH OLIVER AND THE EVIL MERMAN AU I PROMISE I'LL MAKE MORE OF THEM I PROMISE, I WILL FEED YOU

I'm also still freaking out over the Fics by Epithetfanatic69 and Just_A_Ghostie for this AU, I love their writings and I look forward to seeing other things they write

If y'all wanna read em, I'll drop them here!

Here's Just_A_Ghostie's one shot called How to Become a Human

A Drabble from Epithetfanatic69 from their Breakfast Trio Drabbles series called "Meanwhile in a Parallel Universe 2"

And another one of Epithetfanatic69's works, Fathoms Below Friends!

IF ANYONE HAS ANY MORE EVIL MERMAN AU FICS OR ART PLEASE FEEL FREE TO TAG ME I 100% WOULD LOVE TO SEE IT

Annnnnd maybe I'll just turn this into a thread of Microwaved soup/Evil Merman fanfics/drabbles if more pops up. I'll write my own eventually too I just gotta figure out what to write lol

Anyway that's all for my ramblings for now 💙

[punkforkos]

Heya!! I was looking at what you posted for the ask game and I wanted to ask some questions about my favourite dragon paladin Cosima! You can of course answer whichever ones you’d like to, but I was extremely curious about #8, #40, #28 and (extremely self indulgent question as a fellow player in the campaign she’s in) #22! Anyways, I will be drawing her a fair bit, so stay tuned!!

These are fascinating questions to ponder for Cosima!!

For anyone who has no idea who Lady Cosima is, she's my new dragonborn/tiefling sorcadin for a Curse of Strahd campaign! Here's some art of her (Her usual look, altho she doesn't currently have the wings + a bonus version of her that is more dragonborn-presenting!)

Anyways, question answers are below the cut!! <3

8. What were they told to start/stop doing most often as a child?

Cosima has been told what she ought to be doing for most of her life, honestly. She was caught between her two lives-- one as a revered member of her church and the other as a nobleman's daughter... Both of which held a lot of expectations for her and how she should act. She was frequently told to pay attention and not get distracted by anything outside of where her head needed to be. Let's just say that she had an interesting upbringing... one that a lot of neurodivergent kids might be able to relate to, a la: feeling like a weird kid or just kind of out of place, but when you try to go off into your own world, you were told you couldn't really do that either. And you had to engage with what you were told to engage with. So you did. I have much more specific stuff I could say for this, but I'll hold off for now because it might come up later on!

40. How sensitive are they to their own flaws?

I would say she's in the process of learning more about herself, which means she's still learning some of her own flaws and shortcomings. I think she gets flustered whenever she figures out new flaws of hers, embarrassed even, but she's figuring out how to get better at adapting and responding to em! She's eager to grow and experience more, so she can take it.

28. Would they prefer a lie over an unpleasant truth?

Cosima is the type of person who was pretty sheltered and became quite sensitive as a result... an unpleasant truth will sit bitter on her tongue, linger in her mouth, and be a challenge to swallow... but she's also the type of person who has only ever been told what people think she wants to hear or half-truths or It means a lot to her whenever anyone tells her what's really on their mind, even if it's unpalatable. Even if it hurts. It's real, at least.

22. How does jealousy manifest itself in them (they become possessive, they become aloof, etc)?

This will certainly be elaborated on more in-game, but... because of the dragonisms, I think she gets kinda possessive/clingy with people she is close to. She's not insanely overbearing with it, but certainly gives off the aura of wanting to keep her people with her. ^^ This is smth I'm definitely gonna have to feel out more in the campaign to know for certain how she'd react!! I'm not quite sure what behavior feels right for her or what moments would bring out some jealousy, but !!! I am intrigued thinking abt it nonetheless.